I wonder if I could have your personal point of view?

Have you ever been stopped in the street by someone with a microphone, and asked to give your point of view on something topical? 

It's happened to me only once. It was in August 2016. I was at Bridgnorth, in the West Midlands. A man from the local radio station, with a microphone and some kind of professional-looking recording apparatus slung over his shoulder, was strolling along the High Street, clearly looking for people to interview. I thought about avoiding him, and walking the other way: I wasn't eager for stardom. On the other hand it was an intriguing situation. Suppose he accosted me and gave me the opportunity to speak? Would I be equal to it? Would I be able to assume a confident air, and discourse eloquently on some important issue of the day? It would certainly be a novel experience. In fact a test of coolness and quick thinking. But I wasn't sure. 

Fate intervened before I could escape. No doubt it was inevitable. Perhaps I looked exactly the right kind of educated person who could string a few words together. And if I only spouted incoherent tosh, he'd still be able to edit out anything that made no sense. It would be all right. At any rate, I was accosted. I prepared to be the ideal interviewee, a lively, good-value Person In The Street, well worth his time.  

But he totally threw me. He wanted to know what I thought about the Olympic Games then going on at Rio in Brazil.  

Poor man: of all the persons he could have stopped and interviewed, it had to be someone who took no interest whatever in sport. No, I hadn't watched any of the Games. No, I didn't know the name of any competitors, nor how they had fared. No, I couldn't care less who had won, nor what the tally of medals was. Really, I had no opinion at all about the Games. 

He saw he had made a mistake about me, but he persevered. Did I think the Games were an inspiration to young people? Yes, I supposed I did; but I couldn't go on to say why or how. Did I think it would be a matter for great national pride? I supposed so, if the British Team did well. What might it mean for the West Midlands, and Bridgnorth in particular? I couldn't say - I was here on holiday. I had no local or regional standpoint.

He couldn't get blood out of a stone, so we left it there. I was quite certain that my few words would be wiped. I didn't mind that. But as I walked away, I found I did mind his thinking that I was an idiot, oblivious to world events and current affairs - emphatically not true - or that I was snobbish or superior about the Games and what they meant. I almost blushed with shame for my indifference, for I was certain he'd have judged me to my detriment.

That feeling soon passed, obliterated by the excitement of riding down Bridgnorth's cliff lift, and then photographing from an overbridge the spectacular steamy happenings at the Severn Valley Railway's Bridgnorth station. 

But later on, I pondered what had happened. I felt a dim sense of injustice. Why should anyone pay the Olympic Games - or any other sporting event - any special attention? Did we - or specifically myself - owe the athletes anything? No. I hoped they did well for themselves, and fulfilled personal ambitions, but that was all. Was I being unpatriotic? No; not when I felt that the Games - and international sport generally, football especially - was dishonestly conducted, far too political, and a waste of national money and resources. 

My one and only radio interview, a failure, left no lasting legacy except to make me very wary of ever doing the same thing again. It's much too easy to seem foolish or ignorant when speaking on the fly. And nowadays there is the added risk that someone will find one's stumbling words objectionable, with dire trouble ensuing. No thanks.

Custard pies and days out in Calais without a passport

Only one post in February! I have to go back to April 2009 to find a month in which I wrote so little. The constant happenings in America have distracted me. 

King Donald has been chipping away at normality every day. Clearly a man in a hurry to make big changes while he can. And all suavity and pretence have now been discarded. I was appalled to see President Zelensky spoken to so cruelly, and then hustled out of the White House, probably never to return. This very public humiliation of a visiting head of state may well show how all other leaders will be dealt with in future. Sir Keir Starmer - whom I think is proving more capable at foreign diplomacy that I'd have believed a year ago - had better expect to hear some blunt words when - or if - he next meets King Donald. Actually, such a meeting may be left to Mr Vance, who shows a clear talent for calculated viciousness and diversion from the expected agenda.

Should the state visit (King Donald meeting our King Charles) go ahead? Actually, yes: it will be interesting to see how a pretend King copes with a real one. He is bound to trip up on protocol. Besides, in the name of honesty and free expression, I'd like to see several well-timed Hollywood-style custard pies hitting King Donald in the face. It would make 'great television', and I fully expect King Donald to laugh heartily at the joke. The throwers should, of course, get either diplomatic immunity or a Royal Pardon. 

The world is realigning. I expect to hear soon that there is to be a European Alliance to succeed NATO, composed of the UK, the EU, and all other like-minded states in what is geographically Europe. It won't include America or Russia, simply because they are not 'in Europe'. To facilitate this new Alliance, and fund its own destiny, Europe will have to integrate. I think that, for Britain, this will undo much of what Brexit achieved (if it did in fact achieve anything). Back in 2016, I voted enthusiastically for Brexit, on the sole point of having our own sovereignty and the ability to go our own way. But things have now changed, and I would feel happier and safer living in something like a United States of Europe. Naturally I want Britain to be a key player in that entity. It's a second-best for 'independent sovereignty' but a chance to re-connect with the continent and get necessary things done. 

Four ways to fail

I'm following the first weeks of President Trump's reign as the new King of America with keen interest. It's so dismaying. And I'm puzzled how, given that the US Constitution is supposed to have 'checks and balances', he can do what he does. It looks so very much like the exercise of arbitrary and unrestrained power. You know, how a real dictator would behave (and there are plenty of those around the world, prominent or petty, who can serve as role models). 

I hear that half of America - the sensible, responsible half - is groaning at President Trump's media posts and his public posturing, if not actually beside themselves with concern that he will ruin the country (and the whole world) with his policies. I always had a personal prejudice against anybody who wears baseball caps: such a bad sign. How right that instinct was. President Trump is blatantly and crudely pandering to his home supporters: badly-educated misogynistic rednecks, the gun-obsessed, the bible bigots, and all those millions who wallow in selfish self-interest in El Dollarado. It doesn't seem to matter that a misbehaving and fast-imploding America, once the Bastion of Democracy, is becoming a land at odds with itself. What a delightful thing this must be for rival superpowers to see. 

It was a mistake to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Will the Atlantic be renamed the 'American Ocean'. No, of course not. The Pacific Ocean will get that name.

How can all this win global appreciation and respect? How can America become 'Great Again' by sneering at its own allies, and making existential threats against various territories? It will only make America a country to be wary of, and soon a country to avoid.     

Politics is a serious business, and not for amateurs, whatever their experience as deal-makers in real estate. It needs an unusual kind of person, not like you or me. A person who combines principle, vision, deep knowledge, wisdom, foresight, subtlety, stamina and personal appeal. I exclude ambition, and a hunger for power and prestige, from my list of essential qualities, although sadly these baser propellants usually go with the finer attributes.  

Where will it end? President Trump faces four likely outcomes. 

First, he will succumb to old age. He'll soon be eighty. Then it will be 'Sleepy Donald'. There will be calls for him to retire to Mar-O-Lago. He may indeed run out of steam, make slips, and lose his grip. Then the sharks - the younger aspirants in the Republican Party - will have a feeding-frenzy. In the first instance, the replacement has to be the current Vice-President, Mr J D Vance. But Mr Vance has stiff competition, who will try to shoulder him aside. Whoever eventually grabs the reins of power in the 2028 elections, he will ensure that Former President Trump's legacy is trashed in favour of his own.

Second, the cuckoo in the nest - Elon Musk - will nudge him out. Mr Musk is a self-obsessed amoral man of no conscience and crazy ambition. But he is much younger, and even richer, and if anyone has to choose between the two of them, Mr Musk is superficially the more attractive choice. He's unelected? Tush. A mere detail. 

Third, President Trump will over-reach himself and get ensnared in a constitutional net, an outcome especially likely if the US Supreme Court, despite being composed of mostly his own appointees, turns against him. Senior judges have a habit of regarding themselves as jealous and independent guardians of legal principle, and even Republican-minded judges have red lines. President Trump could well find himself impeached and pulled down. Nobody has forgotten Richard Nixon.

Fourth, President Trump may fall victim to another - and this time successful - assassination attempt. America has a disturbing history of political assassinations. Personally, I hope it doesn't happen, as making him St Donald the Martyr would be no solution. 

How soon? President Trump looks vigorous enough for now, but it won't last. As time goes by the chances of his making some calamatous error of judgement will increase. If he can bring himself to do it, it would make sense to bow out while riding high. But this is a wayward man who does the unexpected, and he may hang on well beyond his sell-by date, convinced that he can still pull off astonishing deals. That won't be good to watch. Perhaps someone can persuade him that heading up (say) PGA Tour would be a more suitable career.

Hoods and street photography

I don't like hoods. I don't like the feeling of my face being hemmed in. I especially don't like having only a front-facing view (tunnel-vision so to speak) and not being able to see what is going on - movement at least - to the left and right of me. 

When out and about, good peripheral vision is surely a vital thing to possess, so that one cannot be caught unawares, either by people, traffic or street furniture. Even without a hood, I am constantly looking about and checking where I'm going, and who is on the edge of my eyesight. I can't afford to trip up and fall. Nor do I want to collide with someone and hurt them.

The chances of a mishap seem to have greatly increased in recent years. So many people think they own the pavement or pedestrian area (the concept of 'a pedestrian' must elude them; perhaps it's not taught in schools any more). I'm thinking of kids (or childish adults) on a scooter or bike, or an idiot staring at their phone screen while they walk forwards (effectively deaf as well as blind, because they have their earbuds or headphones in place), or a selfish jogger. But young women with babies in buggies are not always blameless. A too-close encounter with any of these could be upsetting. And, of course, I would be blamed and badmouthed - even if they walked into me, and I was shaken up or injured. 

I particularly want to avoid anyone intent on street robbery or some other harm; beggars as well. 

So I need to have 180-degree vision. And that rules out a deep hood. 

There's also something else. I want people to see my face. I don't want to hide. I think I am far likelier to be treated as a human being if I'm not buried in the shadow of a hood. 

So I'm really happy with hats as an alternative. They give presence, and add height. I walk taller and more confidently in a hat, especially my very latest, but I have others. A good chin-strap stops the hat blowing off in the wind. Combined with a turned-up coat collar, a hat confers the same feeling of warmth and protection from the elements as a hood provides. Furthermore, a hat provides the same psychological benefit as a hood - by which I mean the comforting sensation of having a roof over one's head. 

But a hat doesn't shut the world out. I've long suspected that many people you see around in hoods are rather wobbly about contact with strangers. They might even be afraid of meeting anybody but their similarly-hooded friends. I think that's so sad. 

Then of course there are furtive hood-wearers of the criminal kind who need to keep their faces hidden. They are the ones who give hoods a really bad name. 

Mind you, in a cold arctic gale, none of the above applies. The weather determines what to wear: hoods are going to be necessary if out in driving snow. 

Getting back to what I said above, about staying alert to whatever is happening around one and not relying on only a narrow forward view, I consider this should apply in particular to street photography. People (not necessarily the subject) do sometimes get seriously annoyed when a person with a camera is snatching pictures. They may object sufficiently to harass the photographer, and one needs to see that coming. Then again, most modern cameras likely to be used for quick in-and-out street photography will cost a lot, and are worth stealing. One needs to spot potential muggers before they close in. This is not so much about wearing hoods as squinting into a viewfinder, with the other eye idle or closed. That effectively renders the photographer blind while taking the shot. Most unwise. Especially unwise for a woman. The better alternative is to use the camera's rear monitor at waist level, or even a film TLR (these are starting to reappear in shops). 

It helps if one can look 'official'. A student getting material for a project probably has a licence to grab shots that others wouldn't get away with. So might an obvious professional of some kind. I personally wouldn't indulge in anything fraudulent, but - this is tongue-in-cheek - wearing a hat with a card stuck in the band above the brim with 'PRESS' typed on it, might be a plan!

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I'm on Wikipedia!

Any search on Google or elsewhere using my name will throw up numerous hits - my Blog and my Flickr photos of course, but also some other references and credits. I suppose that will be true for anyone who has been active on the Internet for a while - and I started the Blog, and joined Flickr, way back in February 2009, sixteen years ago. So it's scarcely any surprise that a search for me will produce so much, even though I'm certainly not famous, and have never been in the news. 

But one thing eluded me, something I rather wanted. That's a mention in Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia. I'd never expect a full article devoted to - say - my miraculous birth and extraordinary upbringing, my exciting career, and my adventurous retirement. No; something much more modest would do, so long as I was cited as a serious source on some serious topic.

Now I have been! In fact since 2021. 

Somebody has listed me as an impeccable source of information on the Wester Pipe Railway in Caithness.

Look at this:

OK, it's only a technical article on an oil pipeline assembling facility, but it references one of my Blog posts. A post called The Long Pipe, published on 4 July 2019. You can if interested look it up.

I might add that I went back in September 2022 for another look at this pipeline railway, which runs into the sea south of Keiss. It wasn't active at that time, and seemed to be mostly mothballed, although some kind of work was going on to renew the supports for the double-track underneath the road bridge on the A99. A few pictures will reveal the state of play in autumn 2022.

The plaque on the road bridge had been refreshed.

And (taken from official articles and pamphlets) these pictures show what happens at the sea end of the railway, when the line is active. 

No doubt that huge towhead, when not drawing a length of pipeline into the sea here, is put to work elsewhere in the world.

Well, there you are. Fame at last. (Though as we all know, fame costs...) I'm up in the area in late May. I will definitely return to see what's happening then. Did you know that I possess a yellow hard hat? I'll take it on holiday, just in case the guys invite me to look at the fabrication yards at either end. Now that would be a memorable experience!

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President Trump's menacing signature

Glancing at the BBC News app, I started reading an article about President Trump's first Executive Orders, and there was a picture of him signing one of these Orders.

He was using a big marker pen, so the signature would naturally be big also. Even so, that's a very striking signature. Was it his normal signature? I looked him up on Wikipedia, which often shows the typical signature of well-known people:

It is indeed his normal signature. I wonder what it says about him? For me, these words come to mind at once: wilful, determined, aggressive, impatient, intimidating, uncompromising, ruthless, vindictive, relentless. It's the signature of a man who wants to appear overwhelmingly vigorous and strong - and a formidable and dangerous person to mess with. 

I am not applying any tests drawn from 'graphology', a thing once taken seriously but now rightly discredited as a way to assess 'character' or 'true personality'. Rather, I'm considering the actual physical hand-movements President Trump would have to make in order to write like this. It would be a series of highly-controlled stabbing thrusts, some short, some long; and no trailing off into artistic twiddles or other whimsical meanderings. Certainly, it's the signature of a man who can hold a pen firmly, and is not the vague scrawl of a weak and feeble hand. To compare, I looked up Ex-President Biden's typical signature on Wikipedia, and I think it does reveal him to be a tired old man:

Perhaps the thing President Trump most wants to convey, with the way he signs things, is that he's still a force, and not a man who is being pulled down by old age, as Ex-President Biden clearly was. 

I am sure he must be afraid of encroaching senility, diminishment as a man, and fearful of what will happen when he begins to lose his grasp of events, and with it his grip on power. 

He'll be seventy-nine in June. Once eighty, damaging comparisons with 'Sleepy Joe Biden' are bound to be made, and younger contenders will sense weakness, and start to position themselves. So he hasn't really got all that long to make his mark: maybe only a year and a half to achieve a lasting legacy. Meanwhile, he needs to employ every trick he can to convince his followers that he is robustly in charge, and remains a man to reckon with. So even signatures matter.

I wonder if he consciously and deliberately developed this very sharp, spiky signature for business situations, and then after that, adopted it for his political career, where a particularly 'strong' signature would be an impressive asset.  

Does he employ it in all circumstances? Imagine receiving a Christmas or birthday card from him, signed in this way. Or a love-letter! I know what I would think.

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