On the Boat: what’s working and what’s coming up next…
On Friday, I had a lovely package in the post: the new shiny edition of the Summer 2013 Permaculture Magazine. And why? Because there, on page 23, is my ‘Diary of a Solar Panel Builder’. I’m really pleased with how it has come out, and the photos look great. You can find out more about Permaculture here. And here’s a photo of the magazine: The solar panel that I made for the article is doing well, topping up my batteries whilst I’m away and making a start towards saving on my diesel bill. Yesterday, I made a second one, which is sitting on the bedroom floor waiting for the silicone to set so that I can wire it in with the other one up on the roof and get more sun-power into the battery bank. The solar process is detailed in the...
Sarah-Clare Conlon and David Gaffney: Les Nouveaux Collaborateurs
At times, in the rare heat of midsummer, Manchester can achieve a breath of Paris. I meet Sarah-Clare Conlon and David Gaffney at the Cornerhouse, that most long-lived of arty, intellectual hangouts. It’s far from summer today, even with the sunshine, but inside, with the posters for French films and the feeling all around of intellectual discussion, Clare and David come across as the de Beauvoir and Sartre of Oxford Road. I stop as I write that and give it some thought: a bit pretentious, perhaps? I check with my other half: if you had to give Parisian designations to Manchester, where would you place Oxford Road? We agree that the Northern Quarter is Montmartre. But Oxford Road? The Latin Quarter, perhaps, known for ‘its student life, lively...
Benediction by Kent Haruf: a review of the best book you haven’t yet read
Dad Lewis is dying. In fact, he’ll be dead by the end of the summer. You might think that basing a novel on one man’s quiet decline is a hard act to pull off, especially when nothing much else happens. Within the pages of Benediction by Kent Haruf, however, you are drawn completely into the world of Holt, a small town in Colorado. You live the summer with Dad and those around him and you remember that true drama comes from the everyday. A benediction is ‘a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service’, and endings are all around us here. Benediction is itself the third volume of a trilogy (the others being Plainsong and Eventide), and the most obvious ending within the novel is that of Dad himself. Then...
Journey to the End of the World: Review of an Apocalyptic Event
It felt like a journey to the end of the world. I’m guessing that, if you live in Preston, it’s quite easy to find your way into the bus station. And if you arrive on a bus, of course, it’s just a matter of sitting there and being delivered. I don’t know Preston that well, and get easily mazed by the one-way system. So, on Saturday night, I was flushed with success at finding a parking space within visual range of the iconic Brutalist hulk which is currently Preston’s transport hub. With the wind blowing straight from the plains of Siberia, however, it was not so good to realise that I had no idea of how to get in. Bent against the icy blast, the end of the world felt uncomfortably close as I followed a chain link fence around the side of the concourse, and...
David Hartley: Bringing the Apocalypse to Preston
The apocalypse is on David Hartley’s mind. Or maybe not the apocalypse. Apocalypses. Apocalii? For a start, this Saturday he’ll be taking up a temporary residence in Preston’s doomed bus station, leading a ‘Choose Your Own Apocalypse’ adventure story. Twice. When I met up with David earlier this week, I also got my hands on a copy of his new collection, Threshold, which is much concerned with world endings, alternative worlds and the world as we know it slipping out from under us. What with reading the stories and thinking about Saturday’s event, I’m overcome with the sense that something is going to happen. Let’s be more specific. Imagine that the volunteer from the audience for the first performance on Saturday chooses exactly the right sequence to bring about...
Handmade solar panels: if I can make them, anyone can!
I’ve been planning the handmade solar for a while, and this February I finally pencilled off what I thought was enough time to get it done. The week started on Sunday when I drove to Manchester, where I’d arranged to get the bulk of the work done, and realised I’d left my multimeter at home. On Monday, I found that the power lead of my soldering station wouldn’t reach the plug. On Tuesday, it came to my notice that I did not have a board to use as a top layer whilst curing the silicone. By Friday, one of the panels wasn’t working at all. During Saturday, I trawled unsuccessfully around the area for a non-return diode. By the time Sunday came around again, though, I was nearly done. I spent all afternoon up on the roof and, despite...
Ten Things I’ve Learned about Love: in conversation with Sarah Butler
When a book has a title like this, it’s almost impossible not to start making lists. For instance, ‘Ten Things We Talked About In The Interview’, or ‘Ten Questions I Forgot to Ask’. I’m going to give in to temptation, and go for ‘Ten Kinds of Love’: lost love and hidden love; sibling love, one-night-stand love, secret love; the love from father to daughter or aunt to nephew; love for a house, an area, a way of life. These all make an appearance in the book, although I wouldn’t want to give the impression that you notice this is happening. The reading experience is much more subtle, more complex, than any list allows for. Sarah Butler and I met for this interview at The Cornerhouse on Oxford Road. If anyone had been listening in to our conversation, they’d have...