July 2009
Monthly Archive
Sargeant and Taylor at FitzWilliam
Posted by Suzi on 28 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Art, Music
I went to hear Chris Sarjeant and Benedict Taylor at the FitzWilliam on Sunday. The Sunday music concerts are really nice - nothing quite like sitting in an art gallery listening to gentle music. Sargeant and Taylor are folk musicians and some of their stuff was very sad and thoughtful but none the less great to listen to.
Emmaus, plums and picnics
Posted by Suzi on 26 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Environment, Places to visit, Things to do
Friday was the last night of the town bumps and so I braved the rain to go out and cycle up and down the towpath supporting the race. It really is the best kind of fun. Mum and me cycled down the Baits Bite Lock assessing which team we thought was the best and then when the four minute gun went off we’d position ourselves alongside them and wait for the one minute gun and then the start. There is the sound of splashing oars, cheering supporters and the crunch of gravel underneath bicycle tyres as you speed up the path. The speed and the excitement are thrilling. It’s the best night out I’ve had for ages!
On Saturday the sun came out so we cycle down the towpath to Milton, on to Landbeach and then to Waterbeach in search of Emmaus a community for homeless people. They have a large shop there selling all sorts of recycled things and furniture. They even have new pine furniture they make there. If you’ve got stuff you’d like to donate to them you can drop it off or ask for it to be picked up. We just happened to be there for the Solidarity Sale for Emmaus International so everything was half price and we had great fun bargain hunting.
We cycled back picking plums and munching them. There are lots of plum and apple trees and apples seem to be very early this year. We’re already enjoyed plums and custard several times as well as blackberry and apple crumble this year and we now have a freezer stuffed full of plums that should last us a good few weeks.
I then popped along to the Stop The War picnic on Lammas Land near the play area before calling it a day and having an early night.
The Bumps in Cambridge
Posted by Suzi on 23 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Things to do
I’ve been watching the bumps since I got home from work. It’s great fun. The boats row up and down and the supporters cycle along the bank shouting advice and support. If a boat ‘bumps’ another one then the loser has to pull to the side and is out of the race. The winners get bits of willow pulled from the trees along the bank to wear in their hair. For each race there are lots of winners which makes for a nice feeling. We keep getting sudden showers so at the moment so the supporters are whizzing around with umbrellas. The balcony will seem a lonely place when the bumps are over next week.
Sculpture at Jesus College
Posted by Suzi on 22 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Art
I spent some time on Monday night wandering around Jesus College. There is some amazing art work there, including modern sculpture in the grounds by Anselm Kiefer and stained glass windows in the chapel by William Morris and Ford Maddox Brown.
See more of my photos on my website.
War kills civilians
Posted by Suzi on 19 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Politics
Everyday I hear on the news how many British soldiers have died in Afghanistan and how the military wants even more resources.
I continue to be appalled by the situation in Afghanistan. This is one of the poorest countries in the world. Years of occupation by Russia followed by the repressive religious regime of the Taliban, numerous humans rights abuses and three decades of civil war has made life unbearable there and forced many Afghans to leave the country. In 1999 Amnesty noted that the six million people (1/5 of the population) who had left between 1979 and 1992 had been unable to return due to continuing arrest.
I cannot imagine that bombardment and occupation by the US and GB can improve the situation at all. It seems the primary reason for involvement is that ‘Afghanistan [is] traditionally a perfect route for exporting oil and gas to Western countries’. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline - a natural gas pipeline that will run through Afghanistan that has been on the cards since 1995. There was an oil pipeline proposed too.
Meanwhile how many civilians have been killed in Afghanistan? No-one knows although estimates have been made and a dossier complied by not really reported in the western press. Brief glimpses into the horror of the situation demonstrate that the war has not improved things for civilians. In early 2002 Media Lens commented that the press was remiss about reporting that 100 civilians were dying every day in the Maslakh refugee camp to the west of Herat while keen to report other situations around the world.
Since 2002, more than 5 million Afghans have returned to their country, primarily due to massive repatriation operations but about 3 million remain refugees. Inside the country there are tens of thousands of internally displaced persons. The problems that led to people leaving their homes have not been solved and although the government has international support there is massive insecurity in the country and humanitarian aid is often prevented from getting to people. At ‘the end of 2007, there were almost 3.1 million Afghan refugees, or 27 per cent of the global refugee population.’ Although they could be found in 72 asylum countries worldwide, a massive 96% majority were in Pakistan and Iran. What is more ‘Iraqis were the second largest group, with 2.3 million having sought refuge mainly in neighbouring countries’. UHCR Statistics
The wars in the Middle East are causing massive problems for civilians - not solving them. In March of this year the UNHCR said that ‘Iraqis continued to be the largest nationality seeking asylum in the industrialized world’ and that Afghanistan ‘recording a significant rise in applications’. And according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon ‘civilian deaths resulting from armed hostilities between insurgents, the US military, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and government forces have increased by 24 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2008′.
What does the UN say?
What Refugees International says.
In the good news section - the Viva Palestina convoy, which was held in Cario for 10 days has been allowed in Gaza.
Straw hats and boaters
Posted by Suzi on 13 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Education, Environment, Things to do
Yesterday morning I sat on the balcony in the glorious sunshine munching English muffins and butter and watching the myriad of rowers battle their way up and downstream. To compete the illusion of a life of idleness I donned a massive straw hat and sipped a cool drink. This is the life. When I finally torn myself away from the balcony I went to see an exhibition by Katy Bailey at The Pumping Station on Cheddars Lane. There were some artists exhibiting as well as some photos up. It was great nipping between bits of old machines to squint at the pictures.
I then cycled into town over Midsummer Common to get to Parkers Piece so I could help out on the Cycling Campaign stall. Wandering around I also met the Humanist Society and have resolved to go along to some of their events and find out what they’re like. To finish the day off I met up with Andy and sat on the wall outside King’s College chatting about life, politics and other such great matters!
Pif-Paf at the Sedgwick Museum and bike shopping at Horrid Halfords
Posted by Suzi on 11 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Environment, Museums, Performance, Politics
I went to see the fireworks last night on Parker’s Piece. It wasn’t a massive display but it was nice. Afterwards Andy and I wandered the cute little streets of Cambridge which were surprisingly busy. After a much needed lie in today I went into the center to the Sedgwick Museum to see Pif-Paf perform their short play Under The Floorboards which was all about important 19th century figures in Geology and what they discovered that contributed to our understanding of geology and the formation of the earth. They ended the play by telling us we were entering an era of human made geology which left a million questions buzzing in all our heads.
Andy and I spent the rest of the day buying him a bike on the ‘bike to work scheme’. It sounds like a great idea - people are encouraged to ride bikes to work and the money to buy your bike is taken out of your wages and you benefit by not paying tax or national insurance on it. The downside is that your employer gets to decide where you can get your bike and Halfords isn’t a great choice. Most of the customers in the bike department were clutching their bike to work vouchers with a sort of manic desperation. I was left undecided as to whether they really did need a tax break on their bikes or they just wanted it because it seemed like a really good higher purchase scheme. Perhaps the air of desperation was due to being in Halfords which is possibly the worst place to buy a bike from. I am convinced that the lack of choice of where you buy your bike from is a major drawback of this scheme. Halfords has an expensive and unimpressive range of bikes, it was chronically understaffed and the staff seemed to have a total lack of passion about bikes. Give me a little bike shop any day, where people know what they are talking about and can offer you real and valuable advice.
Cambridge Cycling Campaign and The Big Weekend of fun and fireworks
Posted by Suzi on 10 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Things to do
I went to the Cambridge Cycling Campaign meeting on Tuesday night and met the people who set up Cycle Streets. Over the weekend I thought I’d help on the campaign’s stall at The Big Weekend. Tomorrow night I’ll be there enjoying the fireworks with Andy and no doubt for the rest of the weekend I’ll be hanging out enjoying the council run show on Parker’s Piece.
Finding home
Posted by Suzi on 08 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Cafés, Politics, Things to do
It was a busy week last week. Work ate a huge chunk of every day and then the evenings were spent cycling backwards and forwards to the letting agent to sort out the flat key and other such neccessities. I did manage to get out a bit and squeezed in a Stop The War meeting at the CB2 Cafe on Monday evening. On Thursday Andy and I wandered around the centre of cambridge, stopping for chips at the Greek Fish and Chip Shop, tea at the Copper Kettle, a bottle of cider at one of the many river side pubs and a plastic cup of lemonade at The Mill.
I then spent the entire weekend moving, lugging boxes, bags and flat packed tables around. I couldn’t have done it without Mum. By midnight on Sunday we were dropping with exhaustion as the adrenalin wore off but we nipped off the the train station to collect Tim so we could hear all about his trip to Vancouver.