Old Man By the Sea

  The Chalice Well. Our second favourite place in the whole world is Glastonbury, Somerset. Since the late 90s, we try to get there at least once a year (although this past few years visits have been slightly longer apart). We spent a couple of days in the town this week and, whilst it rained quite a lot, it was still enjoyable. Glastonbury is known for its other-worldly presence. Many people believe that there is a deeper, spiritual connection to the place rather than just an old, medieval town steeped in legend. To me it's very peaceful and full of a diverse range of people, which makes it interesting to someone who has always held more than a passing interest in Sociology (if I have regrets one of them would have been not studying Sociology at A-Level/degree). The smell of incense and spices flood the streets. As well as grass!!! I did stop and warn a young lady toking away on a rather pungent smelling spliff in a doorway that there were two police officers literally coming roun...

  Imagine if COVID was actually a much more deadly virus created in a Chinese laboratory by a shadowy cabal of World Leaders, the ringleader of which bares a strong resemblance to one Boris Johnson. Imagine again if the lead scientist of the project decides not to go through with the deadly virus but to destroy it and replace it with a much less lethal virus that changes a person into a thoughtful, compassionate human being...until the deadly gas is released. That's the premise of Kill Them With Kindness - the latest book from Will Carver. It's quite the page turner, especially with the memories of the pandemic still fresh in people's minds, but it's also incredibly dark. The humour is very, very black. Not at all laugh out loud. Each chapter seems to drip with cynicism and you turn each page with a feeling of dread and anticipation but also strangely feeling like you're reading a cosy murder book or another "Before The Coffee Goes Cold". Like Sam Holland ...

The Harrier Hide This week is World Wetlands Week and the WWT were giving away free entry to their sites. We decided to travel up to Martin Mere in Burscough, Lancashire. A great day was had (with lovely humus and carrot sandwiches!). We saw a Ring Necked Duck that had been blown in from America (probably escaping the madness over there!), Whooper Swans, Ruff, Pintails, Pochards and a lovely Kestrel flying near the Harrier hide (above).  

  MOO SHALL NOT PASS!!! A trip to Llyn Bargof can be quite an experience. The rules of the walk to the lake are thus: The cows will determine whether you proceed. See rule 1. Suffice to say, we turned around and went the other way!

  I didn't! On a walk around Aberdyfi village in the summer a couple of years ago I stumbled across the Tides Inn bin. This old geezer doesn't always follow the rules, but this time he did! I kind of feared the consequences somewhat!

Earth Disco! Sometimes the Earth is just one big party! let x = 200; let y = 200; let size; let palette = ['#1cb9e4','#e4d086','#142c44','#5b64b1','#d0aed8', '#34291c']; let p; function setup() { createCanvas(400, 400); frameRate(5); angleMode(DEGREES); } function draw() { background(0); noStroke(); p = floor(random(palette.length)); for (let k = 7; k

An example of the Motion Binding Illusion. The below animation looks like it is four lines moving but is actually one square moving in a circle! You can see for yourself by hovering over the animation and holding down your left mouse button And here is the code: let x = 200; let y = 200; let t = 0 function setup() { createCanvas(400, 400); rectMode(CENTER); } function draw() { background(255); strokeWeight(10); stroke('blue'); x = 200 + 10 * cos(t); y = 200 + 10 * sin(t); rect(x,y,100,100); if(!mouseIsPressed){ noStroke(); fill(255); rect(150,150, 50,50); rect(250,150, 50, 50); rect(150,250, 50, 50); rect(250, 250, 50, 50); }

The View from the Shelter On a fine day you will often find my wife and I sitting in the shelter in Penhelig Park Gardens, adjacent to Penhelig Terrace, eating a picnic and sipping wine before strolling down to the beach for a walk along the dunes.   

In the late 1970s, and early 1980s, kids science programmes were filled with these kind of animations. They were always hyped as "The Future of Computer Graphics". Fifty years later and we have 8K screens showing bazillions of pixels, graphics that blow you away and some even think FDVR is around the corner. But, for nostalgia, nothing beats the feeling that these kind of things invoked in me all those years ago. If you want to see the code:  https://openprocessing.org/sketch/2858706

When I'm not walking along the beach at Aberdyfi, I like to code in p5js . This is an example of White's Illusion. The two squares are the same colour. Below is the code to make it yourself. function setup() { createCanvas(400, 400); noStroke(); } function draw() { background(0); fill('blue'); rect(250,50, 100,100); fill(255); rect(0,200,400,200); fill('blue'); rect(50, 250, 100, 100); for (let i=0; i < 210; i+=20){ fill(255); rect(0,i, 400, 10); } for (let i = 210; i< 400; i+=20){ fill(0); rect(0,i, 400, 10); } }

A Winter's Sunset On a mild December afternoon along the Dyfi estuary - a place known for its striking winter sunsets - I was lucky enough to capture this stunning moment. The beach walk from Aberdyfi to Tywyn can often be windy and chilly during the winter months, but conditions that day were just right. A bottle of wine to salute the sunset was the perfect addition.