What About the Chinese Ladies?

It was great to see Andy Murray win... at long last. He's an awesome player and he's finally got enough confidence to show this to the world, but we've all known for a long time that he has it in him and that he's up there amongst the greats. So why all the hype? Shame on the media for not making more of the fantastic achievement of Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng in beating the Ozzie girls, Barty and Dellacqua, in a game that showed tennis at its very best. To add insult to injury, the Guardian online showed an image of not Hsieh and Peng, but Ashleigh Bart and Casey Dellacqua holding their runners up trophy. Why? And why go on about all those matches the Australians failed to lose and say virtually nothing about the Chinese girls' mastery on court?
To make up for this travesty, here are a few pictures from China:

And, of course, Shuai and Su-Wei...

Newly Discovered Talent

How wonderful to discover new  talent. For me, recently twice.
I don't usually  learn much from watching the telly, but the other day I was bowled over by a programme about Vivian Maier, the recluse, unassuming Chicago nanny who went around her home city, New York and indeed much of the world, with her Rollieflex... almost unnoticed. She died in poverty, the world unaware it had lost one of the greatest photographers of the last century, and therefore of all time. An incredibly sad story, but life is sad, and sadness tinged with compassion is what the struck me seeing those images for the first time. I'd heard her name in photographic circles in recent years, but had never truly focused on her photographs before; my jaw dropped as I watched the telly bio of her life, drinking in fabulous image after fabulous image. As a photographer and sometime photographic judge, I'm always on the lookout for 'wow' images, but as with other great photographers, Vivien Maier went far beyond the 'wow' factor; something to do with a natural talent for getting to the very heart of what it is to be human with the click of a shutter.
What, I wonder, would the other greats of the past (Henri Cartier-Bresson, Tony Ray-Jones, Ansel Adams, Robert Capa etc) have made of Maier's images? If only they'd been given the chance as the BBC gave us the chance last week.

The other talent, a novelist, Michele McGrath, lives on the Isle of Man. I'm not normally a reader of historical fiction (certainly not the Wolf Hall variety of the genre), but I visited the Isle of Man for the first time last year and was keen to revisit the island of her tortured past. This writer's ability to transport one back to the perilous time of the Viking Raids in Manannan's Magic enthralled me. The characters truly came to life and I could hardly wait to read the sequel, Niamh of the Golden Hair. Who says men don't like romance? Chick-lit that pokes at men without really touching them (no, I won't explain!), definitely not, but the sort of earthy romance that Michele McGrath deals out... love it! And as in real life, the romance in these books is only a part of the story. I believe (and hope) there's a third novel in the series. As if to produce two seriously good novels within one year is not enough, the same writer has also written an intriguing novella set in France during the Napoleonic period (as with Mantel's Booker price winner, inspired by historical fact): Duval and the Infernal Machine. She has also published some short stories and a light-hearted fantasy romance, Gigi's Guardian, both of which are very different.

Yes, newly-discovered talent is a wonderful thing - particularly the talent of a child. Take at look at the story of a thirteen year-old winner of a school writing competition that I recently judged:
http://childrenaswriters.blogspot.co.uk/

Ten year-old Texan granddaughter just called out,'it's tea-time'... so, bye bye, wheelie bin and off you go into the digital ether...

In December 2012, Ben Fogle, a UK celebrity, tweeted the following concerning gun-related deaths across the world last year:

Japan 48; UK 8; Switzerland 34; Canada 52; Sweden 21... USA 10,728

(Visit: http://fullfact.org/factchecks/handguns_kill_united_states_twitter_last_year-28677 )

And so it goes on: the taking of innocent lives in the USA to protect the interests (sporting, financial... whatever) of red neck gun lobbyists. Read what they say in the Huff Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/24/guns-children_n_2359661.html

Statistics on gun-related deaths in the US compared with those from other ‘developed’ countries vary, but one thing is consistent... that deaths in America exceed those in most other countries over a hundredfold. Surely, we all thought, Americans will now listen to their President after he delivered a very powerful speech asking his compatriots to join him in tightening up on firearm legislation in the wake of the murder of 20 elementary schoolchildren and six very brave schoolteachers in Newtown, Connecticut.  But no, the second amendment pretty much gives every US citizen the right to bear arms (in case they need to shoot a ‘bad guy’ with a gun). Fox news chose to ignore the Gun Debate, focusing instead on the fertiliser plant explosion in West, Texas (New York Times, April 19^th 2013). A terrible thing that explosion, and lives were lost, but it was a one off. More effective gun control is about saving lives... including young lives. Important... or not? And democrats voting against reform that could stop even a few children getting killed?

Could someone tell us outside the USA what is going on? Trouble is, I’m not totally outside. I’ve lived and worked in that country in the past and have two beautiful Texan granddaughters who attend a lovely school in Houston. The fear that they or any of their friends could get gunned down as happened not only in Newtown, but is a regular occurrence somewhere in the US, is a very real one for me. 

Last Sunday I attended mass with my Texan granddaughters in Houston... in a huge church that would dwarf many European cathedrals, and it was almost full. My mind drifted to the December Newtown killings and I wondered how many of the folk in the congregation had guns back home. None, I hope. After all, does the Bible not say ‘thou shalt not kill’? What other reason can there be to hold a firearm? And is there any reason for anyone, outside the field of battle, to have an automatic weapon apart from mass, indiscriminate killing.

Did someone mention Columbine High School? 1999. 12 students, one teacher murdered. Michael Moore tried to get his compatriots to wake up to the fact that lax US gun control was killing their schoolchildren:

http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/

Did anyone who has influence in America listen to him? And if effective action had been taken because of Columbine, might some of those murdered Newtown children still be alive?

Perhaps shame stopped Fox News from effective coverage of the voting in the Senate (a bastion of democracy?) that allows the killing of children to go on... and on and on... No, I think not. More to do with 'allegiance to power, the National Rifle Association, gun manufacturers and gun sellers' (New York Times letter to the editor, April 19th 2013).

Meanwhile in China, President Xi Jinping, did not ride around Beijing in a taxi to experience first hand the plight of his citizens (who have no gun-loving senators to stand up for their rights) in the pollution-laden capital of the world's most populous country. Red faces somewhere in Xinhua, the official governement news agency, for saying he did, then retracting the statement. But maybe now he will take that taxi ride... if only to save loss of his own face.

Oliver Eade

http://olivereade.blogspot.com/

A Lonely Writer's Runaway Wheelie Bin: Little Lives

A Lonely Writer's Runaway Wheelie Bin: Little Lives: Our 4 yr-old granddaughter was in tears. Inconsolable. The reason? Nothing to do with being told 'it's bed time' or 'no you can't have that!...

Been to the movies recetly?

Les Mis! Stunningly good. Only got 2 out of 5 stars from a particular reviewer of one national newspaper whilst Tom Cruise’s latest bang-bang-you’re-dead offering got 5, so I knew I was in for a treat. Even preferred the film to the live musical which, for a musical must say something, particularly as Les Miserables is one of my two all-time favourites, the other being Fiddler on the Roof. Amanda Seyfried had the perfect voice for her part (and she's beautiful), Anne Hathaway sang ‘the song’ with true feeling, Sacha Cohen (I hate Borat)  and Helena Bonham Carter made a great double act and Hugh Jackman put all he had into the role. Even Russell Crowe was acceptable. I did not, of course, see the Tom Cruise movie. Not with 5 out of 5 from that particular critic. The same film critic awarded Life of Pi only 3 stars, so that was definitely worth seeing. Wasn’t disappointed, either. In fact, the movie made more sense of the strangely unconnected beginning and end of Yann Martel’s astonishing novel.

Haven’t yet seen what the (critic) man says about Lincoln, but saw the movie regardless. Daniel Day-Lewis must surely go down in Thespian history as one of the greatest actors of all time. He was Lincoln… I swear he was. The real Lincoln must have crossed over from another dimension… perhaps made use of a closed time-space loop... and entered Day-Lewis’s body. Sorry, Tom, but you really must see this movie to learn what real acting is all about.

And now the Year of the Snake is upon us. Read somewhere it’s a ‘black’ snake this time round and for some that’s good omen, but they're not having a very good beginning in the Eastern sea-board States. 

Hate snakes. Don’t think I’ve ever eaten them, mind you… but who knows, these days? That’s the trouble with processed food. Soon we'll have to do DNA testing to find out what we’re really eating. Actually, horse as ‘cheval’ is quite popular in the French Swiss Canton of Vaud where our daughter lives… though could it possibly be ‘boeuf’ in disguise?  

Guess we’re lucky to have any food at all. 925 million world wide don’t have enough (2012 figure).  In 2010 in the USA 17.2 million households (approximately one in seven), were ‘food insecure’. The word ‘hunger’ no longer appears in official US statistics, but in the 6.7 million very food insecure households there must have been some pretty hungry children. 

And it’s still happening in America… the senseless loss of innocent young lives. 15 year-old Hadiya Pendleton was merely sheltering from the rain at a bus shelter when she got shot dead in Chicago. When will it stop? America, please, please listen to you president. Surely he’s not alone amongst US politicians  in wanting do something about this. Who really needs a gun… I mean really?

 A US smoker

A smoker in China

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), China

Christmas in Edinburgh

Kittens in St Petersburg

Sunset in Turkey

Do mosquitoes have any friends?

Why did the chicken....?

Edinburgh again...

... and New York

What a beautiful world we live in! Why wasn't Hadiya allowed to live on? The US gun lobbyists bang on about their 'rights' under the Second Amendment, but what about Hadiya's right to live? Who really took her that right away from her?

Oliver Eade, 10th February, Chinese New Year

My links:
Website plus other photos 
Writing blog plus more photos

Little Lives

Our 4 yr-old granddaughter was in tears. Inconsolable. The reason? Nothing to do with being told 'it's bed time' or 'no you can't have that!'. She told us, in between the sobs, that she doesn't want to die.
She has absolutely no cause to worry about death. A fit European child without any known medical problems, death should be an extremely long way off. Living in Switzerland, her life expectancy at 4 must be one of the best in the world: 82.25 years from birth, as far as I can gauge second only to Japan at 82.93 years, despite all that cheese. Clean mountain air, perhaps? Whatever, she allowed her young mind to be clouded by dark thoughts. What really troubled me was that after a tortuous explanation of how she's going to have a long and happy life (how do I know?), marry and be a mummy herself ('boy and girl, ay?'... no, '2 girls!') and then the bit about going to heaven and meeting up with granny and grandpa again (can I be sure?), after my lengthy positive reinforcement, she just stared at me with those big sceptical eyes then burst into tears again and said: 'after... I don't want to die after!'

Heartbreaking, but what does one say? What can one say? And look what happened in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th 2012, one of the blackest days in American history: twenty first graders and six teachers shot dead in cold blood. And one of the most horrific... no, evil... events I can recall. It's not just about numbers (nearly 300,000 people, children included, were killed by the Tsunami of 2004 - haven't yet seen 'The Impossible', but will do), it's the fact that children were deliberately targeted. Compared with other animals, humans do some pretty evil things but for me the Newtown shootings went to the very top of the evil scale. The gun lobby's response? Well, those of you who watched the news channels at the time will remember the man who said, 'the only way to deal with bad guys with guns is to use good guys with guns' (or something similar!). Sir, would you please define a 'good guy' with a gun. Would you happen to be one of those yourself? Well done, Obama! Your press speech was magnificent... and good luck with those red-necks down south.
Something must be done, for I also have two lovely granddaughters in Texas who attend a lovely school and frankly the thought of a gunman getting into that school, whether or not policed by 'good guys with guns', fills me with horror. I want them to live their statistically allotted lifespan (78.24 for the USA... one of the lowest in the developed world, and we probably know why (guns and an inefficient insurance based health service... I've worked as a doctor in the USA so I do know what I'm talking about, you Tea Party people).

So, a few thoughts please. What do you say to a child frightened of dying when living in a country with great survival prospects? What do we, the human race, do about the killing of children in USA?

Life can be worrying...

...and life can be confusing, particularly where feet and specs are concerned.

A place to look for answers?

A horse with a telegraph pole attached to its ear... listening in?
By the way, the bread in Switzerland is very good. Does that contribute to the longevity of the Swiss, perhaps?

A depressing thought for Swiss cows who must surely believe the answer lies embedded in Swiss cheese:

Or is it shovelling snow that keeps the Swiss fit?

Or the Swiss mountain air?

And meanwhile in Texas, please God look after my beautiful granddaughters in their lovely school...

Bye bye, wheelie bin...