There is something deliciously primal about a decent bonfire. The best take time and effort to build. The hours spent cutting wood in different seasons, from field and copse, heaped up on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons. The brambles cleared from the hedge. The scrub cleared from the meadow. That wood has its own unremarkable [...]
Posts Tagged ‘essex’
Bonfire Night and Halloween come together in Langdon Hills
Posted in personal, tagged essex, langdon hills, me on October 30, 2011 | 1 Comment »
“Men of the Hills”: Reflections on a Winter’s morning walk and the frosted beauty of Langdon Hills
Posted in natural world, personal, tagged basildon, essex, family, langdon hills, me, natural world on January 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Ever since my childhood, there has been an association between walking around Langdon Hills and Saturdays. Autumn walks particularly are fixed in the memory, the family – not just parents and siblings – slipping into boots and pulling on coats and setting out into Coombe Woods an hour or so before dusk (Coombe Woods is known [...]
The beautifully different faces of South Essex
Posted in arts, personal, tagged arts, basildon, essex, me, public art, woodsman on January 20, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Looking over Ellie’s art, and writing about the decision of the Council to remove “The Woodsman”, reminded me how beautiful this part of Essex is – in very different ways. Ellie’s art, as she explains in her words in my post below, is heavily influenced by the landscape of her childhood. We grew up nestled [...]
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About Me (Ben Williams)
With far too many interests, I've never been known to be short of an opinion - to the infuriation of friends and family alike. As a result, over the years I've come to recognise that "contradictory" and "contrary" are not unfair descriptions of me.My Lib Dem politics, my doubt-stricken Christianity, my love of revolution, my fear of change, literature, art, music, writing, my fascination with new tech, gaming and MMOs, diabetes, my passion for poker, my disdain for gambling, Cornwall, Bavaria, the places that inspire and depress me, my relief in lonely countryside and my attraction to the cruel crush of the city: at some point it will all end up here.
This is my space to share those reflections on all the things that provoke me and just perhaps I'll capture some of those fleeting fragmented thoughts that otherwise are lost in the ether of busy days.
Ben
N.B. For the time being I am taking a little break from the political commentary. History, art, social observation, culture, technology, weather, people, places, faith, religion, entertainment, the arts... But no politics. ;-)
Where am I coming from?
My Political Views
I am a center-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 1.64, Libertarian: 3.29
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Reflections on a Spring morning’s commute
Posted in comment, environment, history, natural world, personal, tagged basildon, essex, laindon, langdon hills, me, pitsea, trains, travel on March 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Each morning the C2C trains trundle into London, beginning their journey in Shoeburyness, the end of the line that lies in close proximity to the secrecy-shrouded MOD facilities of the tidal island of Foulness. One hour and ten minutes later they arrive in Fenchurch Street, the oft-forgotten commuter terminal for East Essex that hides between [...]
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