Speech archive

For those of you who want to hear the sound of people from everywhere, why don't you look at this speech archive. It is good to hear the voices of others from the world.

Smoking man

Allow me to tell you a magical story. I was walking by a shop that was covered with mirrors, so that the caught and bounced in spectrums of colour in a way that looked like it belonged on the front of a science textbook. I decided to take some photographs, but when I looked at them later, I realised just how dull the beautiful effect looked in my camera. The only interesting photograph which I had taken was of a man in the blue and silver uniform of the underground train. He was smoking quickly, with his  hand on his hip. His face had been so angry before he smoked his cigarette, but it began to calm down. From this photograph I did a drawing, quickly like the man. You, too, can share the magic of this smoking man.

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Twelve drummers drumming,

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eleven pipers piping,

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/making-bagpipes/query/bagpipes

The Tenth Day of Christmas

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Ten lords a-leaping,

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

Ok, so there's only one. But it's a pretty impressive leap.

The Ninth Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Nine ladies dancing,

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

http://theuglydance.com/

The Eighth Day of Christmas

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Seventh Day of Christmas

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Sixth Day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Six geese a-laying, 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Fifth Day of Christmas

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 

Five gold rings,

Four calling birds, 

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Fourth Day of Christmas
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 
Four calling birds, 
Three French hens, 
Two turtle doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Third Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me  

Three French hens, 

Two turtle doves, 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

The Second Day of Christmas

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
 Two turtle doves,
 And a partridge in a pear tree. 

Image Courtesy of: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/hawksbill-turtle/

The First Day of Christmas

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A partridge in a pear tree"

Looks like I'm your true love then:

Dream

The other night I had a bizarre dream. I dreamt that a friend of mine could take out her teeth, and inside them she kept small precious things like jewels and small wooden toys. When she had showed them to me, she put the things back into her teeth and put her teeth back into her gums. Bizarre.

Empty Spaces

I saw this building, and looked at the walls. Some were tiled, and some were wallpapered or painted. They would have had furniture against them, and been cosy: surrounding those who lived within. Now there are only empty spaces of air, where once there might have been people and books and chairs and mess.

Armistice Day

At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month we are silent. For two minutes we think of the lives and deaths that war has affected. This idea was introduced shortly before the first anniversary of the Armistice by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick. King George VI, who approved the suggestion, wrote in the national newspapers that ‘there may be for the brief space of two minutes a complete suspension of all our normal activities’. This silence is held each year, and is a significant event in the national calendar. In the two mute minutes we are able to sharpen our focus on the suffering caused by war, and our silence is also symbolic of the silences left by war.

Fashion

'Fashion is derived from facio to make... Hence it is that a man is fashioned by his tailor.'

John Scott & John Taylor, The London Magazine, 1825

Images by Richard Hamilton, Courtesy of:

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/search/fashion/1#supersized-search-243838

The dreams of the blind

In the lead up to the anniversary of Armistice day, I thought it would be appropriate to mention Isaac Rosenberg, whose poem, Returning, We Hear the Larks, I have been reading:

Returning, We Hear the Larks

Sombre the night is.
And though we have our lives, we know
What sinister threat lurks there.

Dragging these anguished limbs, we only know
This poison-blasted track opens on our camp-
On a little safe sleep.

But hark! joy-joy-strange joy.
Lo! heights of night ringing with unseen larks
Music showering on our upturned list'ning faces.

Death could drop from the dark
As easily as song-
But song only dropped,
Like a blind man's dreams on the sand
By dangerous tides,
Like a girl's dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there,
Or her kisses where a serpent hides.

When reading the poem, my mind went off on a slight tangent, because of the line 'Like a blind man's dreams on the sand'. I began to wonder, and thought that you might like to read this article about an investigation into the dreams of blind people in comparison to the dreams of sighted people. I have no idea whether the article gives us an accurate interpretation of people's dreams, but I found it fascinating to read.

Sweet summer

Autumn is beautiful and golden and grey, full of rosy cheeks and melancholy. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic about clean, bright summer. Years seem so natural, but also very strange. I don't know.