by Steve Tanham
We’ve known each other for just over a decade, though the oak has lived for at least ten times that. It’s a tree and a very special place in the landscape. It’s conveniently at the end of our shorter dog-walk, so I get to see it in all seasons. This time of year is mellow, and the colours in the landscape reflect that. Soon, … Read More The Oak and I
by Steve Tanham
From the road that curls around the small hills on the way to the beach at Reef, in the Uig district of Bhaltos, it looks like a large cairn. The second time we drove by we saw the noticeboard and stopped to take a closer look. We climbed up the path to find a beautiful and touching monument on the hilltop, whose design was … Read More A Hebridean Diary (5) When power is unchecked
by Steve Tanham
“You might wonder,” said our guide. “Why the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) would spend £112 million on a completely new interior for its world-famous theatre, only to leave in place these scruffy wooden boards… Looking at me, he continued: “Do you realise, Sir, you are treading the same boards that creaked beneath the stage shoes of Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton David Tenant and Dame … Read More A photo tour of the RSC (1) Treading the Boards
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by Steve Tanham
We were visiting Stratford: a tour of the backstage side of things, then a matinée of Richard III. It’s a play I’d never seen, and very much wanted to. An excellent production nearly three hours long left us desperate for coffee. We left the RSC theatre and headed into the centre of town. We passed this amazing motorcycle on the pavement opposite a restaurant. … Read More Stratford visitors
by Steve Tanham
We had wondered about the real nature of this landscape. On this our third day on the Hebridean Island of Lewis, we paid a long-anticipated visit to Callanish, the place of the famous stones – though the main site is not a stone circle. There, I came across a sign that perfectly described the rather barren landscape all around us. The sign read: Welcome … Read More A Hebridean Diary (4) The Drowned Lands
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by Steve Tanham
The funeral of a much-loved ‘uncle’ from my childhood meant I had to take my 92 year old mother from the care home in Morecambe down to the old home-town of Bolton… in 30 degree heat. Mum has multiple heath conditions and the logistics are always a nightmare. In addition, she has recently had a fall on the promenade and broken her wrist – … Read More Not the usual post… Golden girls
by Steve Tanham
So high above this Lakeland landscape, it’s difficult to imagine its industrial past; in particular, how an army of labourers toiled here, competing with an impossible deadline to deliver a vital transport link between Preston and Kendal. It’s 1819. The industrial revolution is in full swing. But this wasn’t the railway. This was prior to the coming of steam. The labourers were navvies – … Read More The High Watercourse
by Steve Tanham
In Part One, we looked at how most of our daytime consciousness is made up of actual words that are spoken within. This can be quite a revelation if we have become used to them but never really observed the fact. This flow of internal language is busy narrating the events of our existence, our opinions and our reactions, as though we carried it … Read More The worm-word and I : ZERO
by Steve Tanham
We had gone to bed early – exhausted by the journey from Poolewe to Uig. What felt like a full night later, I woke, refreshed, to find the sun streaming through the bedroom curtains… Not a sight we were used to on this trip. I smiled. It’s always nice when something really special ‘just happens’ on your birthday. Ahead of me was a day … Read More A Hebridean Diary (3) Of Coats and Kings
by Steve Tanham
The tree on the right marks the farthest point the setting sun reaches on its solstice progression across the ridge beyond the garden. From the dark wood lattice of winter, through the joyous green spring, to the fullness of summer, I never tire of standing outside the house and attempting to capture a little of its evening splendour… Falling away, now, as it nears … Read More Falling from Solstice
by Steve Tanham
In part one, we looked at a simple but effective technique to remove us from the ‘head chatter’ of the flow of verbalised thoughts in our mind. Use of the deep word ‘ONE’, although another word, itself, can act like a ‘bullet’ to stop the stream of often unconscious words that cloud our attention, affect our emotions and drain our energy. If you’re tried … Read More The worm-word and I : TWO
by Steve Tanham
The day was already old by the time the ferry from Ullapool had docked at Stornaway. We had been warned that shops were few and far between on the Hebridean island of Lewis and advised to take advantage of the supermarkets in the capital. The no-sunday trading laws imposed by the ‘Wee Free’ Presbyterian church were in force across the island, and we were … Read More A Hebridean Diary (2) Long road to Uig
Sun in Gemini 