Canal life

Took the wrong bus into work today and ended up down a road I don't know, recognised the old heritage market tho and headed out for it. The heritage market is a fantastic old building, I think it used to a US army depot in the second world war. I have also heard tales of Elenor Rooservelt being stationed there for a time.

From the heritage market I knew all I had to do was head north, pointless even deciding that, its not like I had a compass, and soon I would hit Vauxhall Road. What I didn't bank on was bumping into the canal, fantastic as I knew it would snake up to just below the vauxy.
As soon as I happened upon the canal the sun broke and the place brightened up, the canalside side is actually quite clean considering the state of the scotland road area in general. I saw a few maintance workers hard at work and its nice to know that at least some people care about the state of their local area.

Their was also some pretty groovery graffiti on one of the canal walls, as it was a pretty sprawling bit of artwork it was hard to capture, but I gave it ago.

scrawl

archaic

Today as part of my job i have spent a while scanning in photgraphs from bygone eras, don't know who took these but some of them really are pretty and really rather arty, i thought i'd share a couple with you. Enjoy..

Redwall abandonned

A terrible thing has happened, a personal hero of mine has sadly passed away. Brian Jacques, best known for his Redwall novels, died last week at the age of 71.

As a child I grew up on the Redwall series of books, devouring one after another in my youth, the are directly responsible for my love of literature and a darn good book. It's not a great leap to say I was in love with the books, looking back and rereading its clear my taste has moved on, but my heart has stayed true.

Redwall books where expertly wrote, long intertwining stories and dashing heroes solving fiendish riddles. What I liked most was they way the books asked a lot of the reader, each tome tipping the five hundred page barrier. They had complex social hierarchies between the animals (did I mention that the books told the story of animals? Mainly revolving around Redwall abbey and the legend of Martin the warrior, a mouse, and the beach side fortress of Salamanderstron, the mighty stronghold of badger kings and his hare army), each having distinct accents and colloquial idiomatic quirks. Brian wrote a total of twenty one books which have spread worldwide, being translated into 29 languages and selling twenty million copies.

The books have been made into a animated television series that for a time ran on channel five, a series I sadly only caught a couple of episodes of, and apparently I have just discovered, a opera. I really, really want to watch a Redwall opera.

Brian Jacques was a great man and a much loved author, my thoughts are with his family, for he will sadly be missed. I'll leave you with this fantastic anecdote, Brian was once caned by a teacher who wouldn't belive that a ten year old could create such a detailed sotry about a little bird who cleaned crocodile teeth.

Post one

Gardening I'm afraid,

It's February and its cold, and windy, windy enough to break Liverpool. Until spring hits us, there's not much I can do. We don't have much over winter stock in the ground, well none apart from our 2^nd gen garlic. In a spurt of wanting to do something I bought two small dwarf trees to live inside the house (last year my blueberries were pilfered by some feathery bastard), the tree's are a Fig and an Olive. The former to bake and the latter to eat off the tree, its also nice to have a bit of green adorning the window.

Hello and welcome,

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Stephen Green and I am an aspiring writer/journalist.

I work for a small community newspaper based in Liverpool, while it gives me a good platform and a place to sharpen my wordplay. Artistically and creatively I'm feeling a little stifled.

That's where this comes in, a chance to reach out and spill the contents of my head upon the world without being reprimanded by an editorial board. Whilst this blog will lack a direction so to speak, intentionally of course, there will be a number of re-occurring themes. In prime place I suppose will be my love of growing your own, I like to cook and I like to eat well, and by growing your own food I think you can add a little provenance to your food.

Now while I have dabbled with growing in the past, potatoes, garlic and onions, as well as the ubiquitous herbs, I have never really had a fully functioning kitchen garden. Now with spring looming and cash in the back pocket I intend to end the year with a good harvest.

Now don't be fazed, there will be other things, my love for books and video games among others. To break up the text I also pledge to carpet the place with photographs galore. All no doubt taken with the 'Hipstamatic' app on my iPhone, have you used it? Cutting edge tech bastardised to produce lo-fi over exposed prints, perfect.

But that's enough for now, welcome to ink & wine I hope you enjoy yourself.