What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
The pretty village of Chalford
Chalford is a pretty Cotswold village set in a beautiful valley east of Stroud, Gloucestershire. The valley carries a road, a river, a canal and a railway along its length at this point. It’s simply the most obvious route.
The village accommodates these four features with complete ease. The road is quite high up one side and is not visible from the bottom of the valley. The river is, of course, a natural feature; it belongs here in a way that the other three don’t. It’s a delight to see and hear, in some sections constrained by walls and crossed by foot bridges, in other places with natural banks full of plant and animal life. The canal is derelict, but due to be repaired again one day, the railway is barely visible because, like the road, it’s well above the bottom of the valley.
It strikes me that people are rather like the valley in the sense that they carry channels of temperament, thought, action and habit. A person’s temperament is natural, like the river, already present if you will. Thought is a linear process that begins before birth and continues until death, so like a river it has a beginning and an end. Actions are driven by temperament and thought. Habits are formed by actions frequently repeated.
Looking at the news stories in recent days, with wars and riots causing so much pain, anxiety and death in so many places around the world, differing opinions being expressed and denounced, so much trouble everywhere, my hopes and prayers are that the channels of temperament, thought, action and habit in the great majority of people will remain predominantly peaceful and kind, and that life might be as beautiful as the prettiest of valleys, and the places where we all live return to the peaceful life of a village like Chalford.
Themed image collections
The links below will take you to the first post in each collection
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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
It’s quite amazing how life clings on, even in the most adverse circumstances. This plant was growing in my front drive, somehow finding a way to get its roots into a narrow gap in the block paving. The blocks were designed by a garden landscaping company and manufactured to particular standards of hardness and resistance to my car rolling over them. They were designed to last.
The plant, on the other hand, is a living organism. Nobody designed or manufactured it – life is much more wonderful than that! The universe we live in is tailored to build ever more complex things from very simple beginnings. A handful of quantum fields is all it takes, and these are exquisitely able to give rise to fundamental subatomic particles. These group together, eventually settling into simple atomic nuclei. As the universe expanded and cooled, atoms of simple elements appeared, almost entirely hydrogen and helium. Stars condensed and formed heavier elements up to iron. I could go on, but it’s a long story! Maybe some other time?
For now, just consider the battle between order (my paving blocks and the urge I have to remove weeds that neither I nor my wife want to see growing there) and disorder (weeds thriving wherever they can, despite my best efforts). Life always wins in the end, it seems!
Themed image collections
The links below will take you to the first post in each collection
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
The junction of two canals in Stroud
This wooden carving marks the point where two canals meet in Stroud. The Stroudwater Canal to the right allowed Severn river boats (trows) to carry Welsh coal to Stroud to power the steam engines taking over from the less efficient water power in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The Thames and Severn Canal, opening a few years later, enabled the smaller London barges to make their way to and from Oxford and London to the east.
Cargoes would need to be unloaded from barges and reloaded on trows or vice versa to make the entire journey. But London barges were not suitable for the waves, winds and currents of the River Severn, while trows were too large for the locks and other facilities of the upper Thames.
Shaking hands is an interesting choice in a sculpture to signal agreement and mutual benefit. Agreement and mutual benefit are essential and helpful in human societies, and are recognised as such worldwide. When agreement and mutual benefit break down we have arguments, murders, violent demonstrations, and even wars. These are all social on some scale or other. How much better it would be to stop those behaviours and shake hands. But that’s not always possible, sadly.
There’s a saying that it takes two to have an argument. That’s true – but it also takes two to stop arguing and shake hands.
Themed image collections
The links below will take you to the first post in each collection
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
Here’s another view of the gardens at Hidcote. Lawrence Johnston designed Hidcote with the concept of ‘garden rooms’, one of which is the focus of this photo. Walking through the Hidcote garden you pass from one room to another, to another repeatedly. There are constant surprises every time you turn a corner or pass through an opening in a hedge. It’s delightful.
I love this kind of garden and I think you might too, if you ever have a chance to visit Hidcote – take it!
This, to me, says something about the nature of creation in general. There’s a design stage during which the idea of ‘rooms’ is a foundational step, and even some of the layout, or even most of it, take shape in the designer’s imagination. And almost always there’s a second stage after things start to be laid out on the ground (for a garden). In this second stage, it may become clear that improvements are possible once you see the ‘lay of the land’. Little tweaks and changes can improve the design significantly.
But always, in any creative work, something comes into existence that was simply not there before. Any creative work seems quite magical, as what was only in the creator’s mind appears in actuality and can be seen and touched, or in the case of a garden – walked in and admired.
Themed image collections
The links below will take you to the first post in each collection
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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.
A waterlily at Hidcote
Hidcote is a wonderful garden near Chipping Camden, north of Cirencester where we live, and I took this photo in June 2024. Donna and I spent a while casually strolling around, enjoying the sunshine and the gardens and stopping for lunch. Hidcote is managed by the National Trust to very high standards, and National Trust food is also very good. We are National Trust members so we don’t pay an entry fee and can come here as often as we like, we know the place really well.
Most of us would agree that a water lily flower is a thing of beauty, yet it is also ephemeral; it’s here today, gone tomorrow. Living things are all like that, from the tiniest bacteria to the largest blue whale. Life makes up for temporary fragility by it’s abundant reproduction and ability to adapt to new opportunities. Life is amazing!
Themed image collections
The links below will take you to the first post in each collection
If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!
What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m posting an image each day, or as often as I can; a photo I took, an image from Wikipedia, NASA, or some other open source, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy. This is the second in the series.
The robin at Pretty and Pip
Pretty & Pip is one of my favourite coffee shops in Cirencester. I wrote ‘therobin‘ because he’s always there, in their lovely courtyard. If I didn’t know the guy that owns and manages this place I might even think the robin ran it! He certainly thinks he belongs there, and he does a pretty good job of picking up cake crumbs and generally keeping the place spick and span.
But come on mate, get preening! How do you expect to find an attractive female robin with scruffy, untidy feathers like that?
Favourites
For convenience, here’s a list of my favourite images:
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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.
I’m going to post an image each day, or as often as I can; a photo I took, an image from Wikipedia, NASA, or some other open source, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy. This is the first in what may become a long series.
Roadworks on the A417, at the Air Balloon Roundabout
The scarp slope of the Cotswolds is steep, and roads usually have to twist and turn to reduce the slope to acceptable levels. A new section of dual carriagway is being built near the village of Birdlip, to complete the link from the M4 near Swindon to the M5 near Gloucester.
It’s involved the demolition of a famous old landmark, the ‘Air Balloon’ pub, and the amount of rock being moved is astronomical. All of this to smooth out a course for the new road that will let it make the 300 m climb in one, long, sweeping bend. The completion date is estimated to be Spring 2027.
Cirencester
For convenience, here’s a list of all the Cirencester area images:
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Notes from bygone years – Julys duly described Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
July 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Solar panel installation
We decided to take the plunge and install solar panels on our roof. We had a long wait as demand was high, but the installers arrived in July and after a few days work we were delighted to have the system reducing our electricity bills to almost nothing. Of course, we knew it would be different in the winter months, but with a 10 kWh battery included, we found we could get right through the night on our own stored energy in the summer.
I was also experimenting with a reduced eating window, having breakfast around 11:00. I’ve tried restricted eating before, but this time I’m following evidence-based suggestions from Zoe (see also the Zoe website) .
I was doing Monday walks most weeks with my friend Stephen. We met at one of CBC’s Small Groups here in Stratton, and we got on really well together. Among other interests, Stephen played saxophone in the ‘JJ Band’. We shared similar views on many things and both had backgrounds in computing.
Stephen lived in the town so I’d usually walk down to meet him, we’d enjoy a walk in the park, and often buy coffees from the van or sometimes in town. I always looked forward to my Monday walks.
This was a busy month, I walked several sections of the old Thames and Severn Canal (something I’ve been doing again in 2024), we were regularly arranging the chairs at CBC on Fridays, and two people I knew died, Bob Morris and then Michael Sleggs.
Donna’s Dad was getting weaker and his Parkinson’s symptoms were worsening, so her Mum was needing more help than before and we travelled to Poole to help out more often.
We were living in St Neots, this is a view of the River Great Ouse flowing through the town centre, an easy walk from our house in Eaton Ford. Donna was looking for a school placement for her teaching, I was meeting with a group of friends in coffee shops, hanging out, doing Bible study here and there, hopefully helping people grow and thrive. I was also meeting at home with friends from various local churches.
World events: Israel attacked the Gaza Strip; and a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over Ukraine by a missile.
I went to a house church conference and was astonished to bump into my friend Jim Russell there. He’d always thought my views on church were not right, yet here he was! We had some great conversation and he took my photo while I took his. I had no idea that this would be the last time I’d see him.
Donna took part in the Bedford Race for Life organised by Cancer Research UK, along with her friends Gayna and Claire, pictured here wearing their medals. There was a big turn out, along with large numbers of pink-themed balloons and so forth.
We were living in Donna’s cottage near Kimbolton and had decided it was much too small for us both. We’d been looking for somewhere larger and the image shows a survey document for the house in St Neots that we eventually bought.
We visited Mum and Dad in Cirencester on my birthday. As usual we enjoyed spending time with my parents. The photo shows my nephew Tom, my Mum, Beth and Judy chatting together in the back garden. Rachael, Dan, Rosie and Tom were here the same day so it was good to see them too.
Debbie flew to Bordeaux on her French exchange trip (her exchange partner, Anne, had come to stay with us in March). We saw her through check-in and then waited with her on the tarmac, waving goodbye as she walked out to board the plane.
It seemed very strange to drive back home again without her.
We had a summer holiday travelling through Wales from south to north, staying at bed and breakfast places (gwely a brecwast). A few days before we set out, there was a fairly large earthquake, and in Bethesda our landlady was anxious as aftershocks were still continuing. The photo shows Debbie and Beth at the top of Snowdon with a train waiting at the summit station.
This was a short note on a combined staining method for plum reproductive tissues, to aid microscopical studies of the fertilisation process. It wasn’t published as a scientific paper as far as I recall, but was part of a poster presentation at a conference. I hoped other people would try it on different kinds of plant material so that together we could get a much broader view of its usefulness. I don’t think anything came of it in the end, but it’s important to try – that’s part of how science works.
World events: The Sony Walkman first went on sale in Japan; and NASA’s Skylab space station re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Judy must have become pregnant about this time, but we didn’t know that until a little later, of course.
The Severn Bridge was only eight-years-old, and it still seemed amazing that we could drive to Wales instead of queuing for the old Aust Ferry or driving all the way to Gloucester. And there was no thought of a second crossing, of course! I took this photo, but forgot to adjust the focus (no auto-focus in those days).
I was lodging at Archgrove House in Long Ashton along with other students working at the Research Station that summer. Judy sent me the postcard from York (pictured) where she was on holiday with her parents and brother Frank. You won’t believewhat her Dad said about York Minster!
World events:John Fairfax was the first person to row solo across an ocean (the Atlantic); and Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the Moon (we watched this live at Archgrove House).
Dad drove out to the gravel pits near South Cerney. Some of these were still being used to extract gravel, but some had been worked out and were used by anglers, for swimming, and for water-skiing which we’d never seen before. I took two cameras with me, my old Kodak Starmite loaded with 127 colour transparency film, and my new Kodak Retinette loaded with 35 mm black and white. This photo shows Dad using his camera and my sisters Rachael, Ruth and Cindy.
World events:Malawi became independent of the UK; and NASA’s Ranger 7 send back the first close-up images of the Moon.
I thought you might like to see this birthday letter from my Grandpa. He had emphysema, and died on 22nd August, my 11+ results came in before that and he knew that I had passed. Granny had decided that a sleeping bag would be a useful present as I was off to Cub Camp soon after my birthday and would then move up to the Scouts.
This is a postcard from my Mum to her family back in Northern Ireland. She writes about Cindy and me suffering from chicken pox. I had it before Cindy, so it’s likely I gave it to her (sorry, Cindy). Read the card.
My very first birthday came at the end of the month, a special day, no doubt, with doting parents and grandparents. I must have had other birthday cards, but this one from Watermoor Church is the only survivor. That’s interesting in itself; Mum would have kept them all for a while, but this one seemed more important, perhaps because of Mum and Dad’s strong faith.
On the back of the card is written, ‘Christopher James Jefferies, 37 Victoria Road, baptised October 24th 1948′.
Dad, along with his friend Joe, travelled by lorry, train and bus to Yatesbury where radar training began for them and many others. Dad liked this posting, writing, ‘Radar people seem a good lot’. He was able to hitch home in two or three hours to see the family in Cirencester, sometimes Joe came along too. By the end of the month Dad and others were using radar equipment to plot movements of real aircraft (‘pukka kites’). The photo shows an old aircraft hanger at Yatesbury in 2014.
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There was a young man holding a baby just a few weeks old, and right opposite him a young woman, clearly the mother. The three of them were interacting so beautifully
Here’s a short story from a morning recently, here in Cirencester where I live. It involves the very briefest of interactions between me, a young man, a young woman, and their baby. Maybe we can learn several things from what happened, useful lessons about life, about ourselves, about politics, and about the nature of Love itself.
I sat in Coffee#1 in Cirencester enjoying a white Americano, I’d walked into town and had a heavy load of shopping in my rucksack to take back home, a range of fruit from the market stall in the beautiful old Market Place, and a loaf of fresh bread from a traditional bakery. I fancied a break before setting off for home.
I put down the weighty rucksack and my hat on a chair at a vacant table, ordered the coffee and waited while it was prepared, then returned to the table, put in my earbuds, and caught up with some of the news following the previous night’s exciting General Election. While I was watching and listening, I couldn’t help noticing the people at the next table. There was a young man holding a baby just a few weeks old, and right opposite him a young woman, clearly the mother. The three of them were interacting so beautifully, the parents obviously very fond of one another and completely relaxed, the baby equally happy to be held by either of them, and both the adults alert to the needs of the little one. It was a triangle of love and of trust, a happy and peaceful grouping.
They were still there when I got up to leave and I had to pass their table to reach the door. I put on my rucksack and hat, stopped briefly at their table and said, ‘I just have to say that you three are such a lovely little family, and I want to wish you the very best going forward’. I received two huge smiles and headed out through the door to the street. As I passed the shop window, they were still beaming and the young man and I waved to one another, both smiling.
Why am I sharing this little story? Because it seemed notable to me. How many young families are there with difficulties and troubles? All of them! We all have problems during our lives, the important thing is not whether we have them, but how we will handle them. The threesome at Coffee#1 will likely grow to four (maybe more) but it seems to me that they’ll deal with any difficulty wisely and lovingly and will come through any troubles stronger than before. Love is such a powerful thing. There’s a lesson there for everyone.
Go through life pouring out love towards those you meet along the way, and you’ll fare better than if you approach life asking, ‘What can I get out of it? How can I profit? How can I become wealthier or more successful? How can I benefit by ignoring the needs of others?
This is not irrelevant to the politics of our day. For some time there has been a rather nasty drift towards selfish, arrogant, pushy, self-serving, uncaring attitudes from some quarters. It’s not too hard to find examples of this approach in Britain or America with some disturbing and growing trends towards noisy, yet empty politics. The old adage remains true, ‘Empty vessels make the most noise’. In Britain, the Labour victory may work to quell this for the next four or five years, and hopefully the electorate will appreciate the change and clearly understand the dangers, and not support parties or politicians that behave like that.
We now have a chance for more well-considered sanity in our politics, and less mis- and dis-information, or so I fervently hope. We need debate that is less like the destructive accusations and anger inevitable in broken families, and more like the love and gentleness and hope for the future of that young family in Coffee#1.
I like what Paul wrote about love in 1 Corinthians 13, here’s an extract:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
Such love was abundantly present in those parents in Coffee#1. They clearly cared for one another, and they trusted one another completely in caring for the little one. Babies are vulnerable and helpless, it takes parental love to keep them safe and to guide them well as they grow. And the examples provided by two good parents will give a child the best possible chance to develop the same sort of love themselves as they grow and mature.
Paul, as he wrote about love, was thinking of the love of the Creator King acting as Parent, Offspring and life-giving Breath, showing love and care for us all; and the love that we have for one another, for the world, and even for our enemies as we do our best to follow his lead. Paul expresses this clearly, but he was also thinking about the nature and attributes of love itself.
The Victorian teacher and writer, Henry Drummond, had some wonderfiul perspectives on John’s words to the believers in Corinth; he, too, draws out deep truths about love.
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The field was a lovely thing to have, we and all our neighbours shared it and it became a place to relax, a sort of unofficial reserve at the end of the garden.
Notes from bygone years – Sing along to some crazy Junes Hint: Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
June 2023 (1 year before publishing this article)
Dunrobin Castle and gardens
Donna and I had a Scottish holiday; we flew to Inverness Airport and took a hire car anticlockwise around the North Coast 500. It was an amazing journey! The photo is of Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland early on the road trip. We saw many interesting features in the towns and villages, the countryside, geology, and coastline. Definitely a holiday to remember.
We walked a section of the Cotswold Way with Donna’s brother Paul and his wife Vanessa.
This view is from a point near the old ‘Air Balloon‘ pub, now demolished to make way for road improvements. The view is north-west towards Gloucester; Crickley Hill is on the right and peeping up beyond it is Churchdown Hill. Coopers Hill rises from the horizon on the left of the image. Hazy in the far distance are the Malverns and Wales beyond.
World events: There was a G7 summit in Germany to discuss events in Ukraine; and a NATO summit was held in Madrid.
Vanessa was running in an event from Sharpness to Gloucester along the old ship canal. Paul, Donna and I made the same trip by car, stopping to watch her pass at several points along the way. After completing her run she joined us in the old docks area, now being redeveloped and including the Gloucester Quays shopping centre.
It was Aidan’s eighth birthday in June and he had an animal themed birthday with everyone able to hold and interact with many different creatures. The photo shows Meredith getting all wound up about a snake! Ten years ago all our grandchildren enjoyed themed birthday parties; and my word, didn’t we have some amazing themes!
We met our newest grandchild for the first time (that’s the one on the right in the photo). Verity was only a few days old, and it was lovely to see her already holding a philosophical conversation with her Dad. But seriously – new life is such a precious and wonderful gift.
I bought my first electronic camera with 640 x 480 resolution, ie 0.3 megapixels! We had a week’s holiday in Scotland with our friends Rob and Jean, staying in a log cabin between Fort William and Loch Ness. The photo (taken on my new camera) shows Rob, Jean and Donna in Leakey’s, an Inverness second-hand bookshop.
Beth had bought a small kite when we went to the Bristol Kite Festival in Ashton Park, and here she’s flying it on a windy day in the field at the bottom of our garden in Stowey Road, Yatton. The field was a lovely thing to have, we and all our neighbours shared it and it became a place to relax, a sort of unofficial reserve at the end of the garden.
World events: The film, ‘The Lion King‘ was released by Disney; the last Russian troops left Germany; and MS-DOS was no longer supported by Microsoft.
Dad sold us his old car, a Volkswagon, and we drove to Cirencester in Jumbo to collect it. Here, Judy is about to travel home in Jumbo, and I followed shortly afterwards in the VW with Debbie and Beth. A little later we sold our old Marina for not very much; it had served us well, but was now near the end of its life.
It was about this time that we waved goodbye to Computer Tutor and the Clever Clogs range of software. I wrote some simple educational games for the Sinclair Spectrum, just for my daughters to use; and brother-in-law, Peter, developed the concept as a viable business and extended the range considerably. By this time Peter had sold the business to Argus Press Software, and none of us remained involved.
I was working on fruit pollination full time by now, having transferred to the Pomology and Plant Breeding Section at Long Ashton Research Station. I had a particular interest in temperature effects on pollen tube growth. By June I would be starting to study the samples I’d collected earlier in the season. The squiggly, yellow lines in the picture are pollen tubes.
Judy’s parents and her brother, Frank, had a chance to visit the Falconry Centre at Newent in Gloucestershire. She took my camera with her and grabbed this lovely portrait during the trip. I needed to be at work that day so couldn’t join them. Work? Day out? No brainer, really, but it just wasn’t going to happen, sadly.
World events: A bomb exploded in Westminster Hall; and Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina.
I was working on the final sandwich section of my Bath University Horticulture course. I’d been assigned to Long Ashton Research Station (LARS) near Bristol and worked for Eddie Catlow and Martin on the experimental farm team. This placement had the advantage that Judy and I were be able to meet up at weekends.
World events: There was a serious collision between an Australian aircraft carrier and a US destroyer; and Judy Garland died in her London home.
I was taking my O-level exams at Cirencester Grammar School. The photo shows a page from one of my exercise books (not related to an exam). ‘The happiest days of your life’, people told me. But I found exams a real trial, suffering with intense hay fever made far worse by everyone wanting the windows wide open because of hot weather.
World events: Greece rejected direct talks with Turkey over Cyprus; and Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa.
This month brought Rachael’s 2nd birthday, Ruth’s 3rd, Dad’s 33rd and Grandpa’s 80th, I was still 10 in June, nearly 11. We were living at Queen Anne’s Road in Cirencester, the photo shows me, Rachael, Cindy and Ruth playing in and around the blow up paddling pool in the back garden. Summers seemed to go on forever in those days!
In June I was enjoying the start of the long summer school holiday. I was still five-years-old (nearly six) so this was my first school summer holiday. I probably felt very grown up to think that when I went back in September I would be in the second year. Meanwhile I had time to play inside or out in the garden.
Dad had his 23rd birthday in June, but of course I was not yet storing long term memories so I don’t remember it. But at nearly eleven months I’m sure I joined in the fun and certainly would have appreciated cake if there was one! It’s likely I was able to stand if I had something to hold on to, and I might have been able to say a few words, but any notes Mum and Dad might have made have been lost.
World events: A rhesus monkey, Albert II, was the first primate in space but died on return due to parachute failure; and the first TV Western, Hopalong Cassidy, aired in the USA.
Dad noted in his diary on his birthday (4th June) that the city of Rome had been taken. And on the 6th he wrote:
‘D. Day!! At last the second front has started. Was transferred to C. shed. Was on guard at 2 Site all night and spent pleasant evening in guard room. Listened to Montgomery and King on radio. Wrote to Phillip and Ronald. Letter from Nor.’
(Nor was his mother, and later my Granny).
At the end of the month he heard unofficially that he was to be posted to Yatesbury (a centre dedicated to radar training).
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Journeys of Heart and Mind 
