Smell-A-Vision

Danish Pornography

2009-07-17T15:20:00.001+01:00

I remember it well
The year I lost all faith in the lord god almighty
The year I discovered
My parent’s stash
Of 1970’s Danish pornography.
It was Elsie who displaced
My image of the Virgin Mary
With her waspish thin waist
her perfect round breasts
And nipples like the nails
That fixed Jesus to the cross
But It was Jesus’ cock
Beneath his loin cloth
That kept me distracted
During matins.
Back to the matter in hand
Nipples suckled
Trouser belt unbuckled
Hand inside my pants
As I slowly wank
All through vespers
Praying for his seed
It was Jesus’ erection
That kept me on my knees
It is at this orgasmic moment
that the Holy Spirit enters me
The holy trinity
Father, son and Holy Ghost,
An orgy of icons
My arse aches for the lord god almighty.
And my balls drop
Like Moses striking the rock
My spirit springs forth and …
my spunk lies over Elsie’s pages.
And Jesus still watches from the cross above the bed
And the three popes framed on the wall
The font of holy water at the door
The sacred heart of Jesus pulses on
And thirty years of shame is soon begun

All the girl's I've ever said no to.

2009-07-17T15:19:00.001+01:00

There was that girl with the hairy upper lip,
The one with odd shaped hips,
The girl with the third nipple.
And not to forget the one who was a bit too round around the middle.
The one with the protruding lower jaw,
The girl who when she slept she snored.
The one who wanted to meet my Mother.
The girl who’d slept with my little brother.
The one whose left leg was longer than the right,
The girl who saw only in black and white
The one who communicated entirely through song,
The girl who brought her little sister along,
The girl whose hair was falling out,
The one whose nose looked like a snout.
The one who only would turn left
The girl with the palette cleft
The one with the belly button ring
The girl who thought she could, but couldn’t sing
The one with the tattoo of a Cuban rebel
The girl who’s best friend was a pebble
The one who tied me up and bit my back
The girl who paid her way through school by selling crack

And then there was this second girl...

UKPoetrypodcast episode 11

2007-08-20T23:42:00.001+01:00

21/08/07 - 05/09/07

Poetry from
Dorothy Fryd
David Bryant

Interview with
Frank Burton

Events
ROOM OF ABANDON
Wednesday, 22 August 2007 – 7.30pm
The Cross Kings Pub, 126 York Way, London, N1 0AX (5 minutes walk
from King's Cross tube).
Agnes Meadows
Kayo Chingonyi – Rise Poetry Slam winner 2003- http://www.myspace.com/requiem87
Lucy Leagrave – http://www.myspace.com/lucy_leagrave

Morris Quinlan Live Experience, 12 Bar Club, Denmark Street, London WC2
Wednesday September 5th – doors 7.30 - £6 advance
http://www.12barclub.com/gig_listings.html

for a listen in advance – www.myspace.com/morrisquinlan

www.writeoutloud.net.
SUNDAY 19th
Sheffield: Opus Unplugged, Riverside Café
Leamington Spa: Pure and Good and Right – The Fox
Bristol: Open Mic, Eldon House

MONDAY 20th
Bristol: at The Hatchet, Frogmore St. Open Mic, at late time of 9.00 pm.
Derry: Masons Bar – FREE PINT for performers! Don’t tell Boltonians. You’d never get them off the stage.
Stanley: County Durham, I presume? The Lamplight. BUT CHECK first on 01207 218899
Cork: Ó Bhéal, open mic poetry and acoustic. Tigh Fili Gallery.
Harrogate: an eclectic open mic – open to al artists and film makers, musicians, didgeridoo players (it says here) but not, drummers. No drums aloud (er, allowed).
The Iron Duke, Harrogate

TUESDAY 21st
Oxford, Coventry, Glasgow, London, Swindon and Bracknell

WEDNESDAY 22nd
Sheffield, Limerick, Hebden Bridge

THURSDAY 23rd
Camelford, London, Oxford, Penzance and Galway

FRIDAY 24th
Nothing! Except two separate events in Galway! OK one is during the day time so you can get to both.

SUNDAY 25th
Apart from our own Olde Boar’s Head night in Middleton, Manchester, there’s loads of stuff in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, London, Sheffield…

reviews

Staying Alive Bloodaxe books www.bloodaxe.com
Stephen Fry - The Ode Less Travelled - published by Hutchinson www.randomhouse.co.uk

Smell-a-Vision podcast episode 10 out now

2007-08-02T07:12:00.001+01:00

Smell a vision podcast episode 10
01/07/07 - 01/08/07

Events
Poetry masterclass with Roddy Lumsden masterclass@tall-lighthouse.co.uk
Saturday 18th August £25

Vintage Posion Upstairs@ the Old crown Pub 33 New Oxford Street, Tuesday 21st August
www.myspace.com/lucy_leagrave
lucy_leagrave@hotmail.co.uk

Farrago Summer Slam Thursday 16th August @ 7.30pm, RADA Foyer Bar, Malet St WC1
www.myspace.com/farragopoetry
farragopoetry@yahoo.co.uk

October 5th - Re-Launch of Smell-A-Vision as UKpoetrypodcast.com at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, contact smellavision@mac.com or ukpoetrypodcast@mac.com

Poetry from
Metis -Brand new Day & Rushin'

UK based Spoken-Word / Hip-Hop artist Metis, originally from California, has performed widely throughout both London and New York. His passionate and fiery delivery traverses the spectrum from race to self-identity to relationships, all unified by a philosophy which is both deeply introspective and personal.

http://www.myspace.com/wordsofmetis

Matt Lloyd - The Revolution
www.matlloyd.com
www.myspace.com/matlloyd

Frank Burton My Shark and Kev's Got a Satellite from COLLECTED WORDS: THE POETRY ALBUM
http://www.frankburton.co.uk/
Interview with

Donall Dempsey part 2

A Live Podcast Event

2007-07-31T00:12:00.000+01:00

Back to stay!

2007-07-01T20:58:00.000+01:00

I'm back - sorry it's been so long, but I was in the states, and then I was running around getting ready for Glastonbury, but now I'm back.

I've booked the poetry cafe for a re-launch night for the poetry podcast, which I've been thinking of a new name for the show too - so keep October the 5th free for a night out. More details to follow.

Smell a vision pod-cast episode 9
22/05/07 - 10/07/07

Events
Thursday 5th July - poetry upstairs at the stoney street cafe, hosted by Ken Champion - in borough market, nearest tube London bridge

south-bank London literature festival from 29th June to 12th July - lots of poetry incl. Roger Mcgough, John Agard, John Hegley, Simon Armitage, Aoife M
annix on weds 11 July , poetry for children and the newly opened poetry library- all in or around the royal festival hall and the queen Elizabeth hall

THE 'ME' IN ME
Thursday, 28th June, 7.15pm
Inspired Word training room, 2nd floor, The Positive Place, 52 Deptford Broadway, London. SE8 4PH.
Admission: Voluntary Donation Contact: inspired.word@yahoo.co.uk or ebele@ebele.co.uk

SALT MARGINS
Thursday 5 July - Doors 7pm, first reader 8pm
The Whitechapel Gallery - 80-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX
FREE ENTRY
---

Salt Margins presents an evening of cross-cultural, cross-current poetics in the relaxed, hip environment of the East End's Whitechapel Gallery.

RICHARD BURNS is a truly international writer, having lived in Italy, Greece, the USA, the UK and Yugoslavia. He reads from his latest collection The Blue Butterfly (Salt), poems of revenge and forgiveness set in the Balkans.

LANE ASHFELDT performs Music For Cold Weather, fusing words, visuals and ambient sounds to tell the fantastical story of a DJ from Finland. Lane's writing is featured in The Guardian, Tell Tales and elsewhere.

Irish poet AOIFE MANNIX has lived in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and New York and brings her cross-cultural background to bear with magical poems from her latest collection The Elephant in the Corner.

Joining Aoife is HEATHER TAYLOR, Canadian poet and playwright. Heather is author of Horizon & Back, and one of London's most talented multidiscipline writers.

Produced by penned in the margins in association with Salt Publishing

Poetry from
Victoria Mosley
Neelofer Mir

Interview with
Aoife Mannix
//www.myspace.com/neelofermir
http://myspace.com/VictoriaMosley
http://www.aoifemannix.com/

interuption to your regular service

2007-05-14T22:01:00.000+01:00

There will be a three week lag before the next episode of Smell-a-vision is broadcast, I'm off on holiday to the USA, hopefully to try and record some poets and poetry in Florida.

I'll be back at the start of June with poetry from Victoria Mosley and Neelofer Mir and an interview with Aoife Mannix.

Dominic

Podcast Episode 8 now available

2007-05-09T07:47:00.000+01:00

Smell a vision podcast episode 8
8/5/07 - 22/05/07

Events
Wednesday 9th May, Loose Muse, Poetry Cafe, Betterton Street,

Saturday may 12th, Lazy Gramophone Presents, The Luminaire, 311 High St Kilburn, 8pm £7/£9 info@lazygramophone.com www.lazygramophone.com

Saturday 12th, The Cellar, hosted by Niall O'Sullivan, the Poetry Cafe, Betterton St £5/£3

Thursday May 24th, Farrago Slam, 7.30 at the RADA Foyer Bar, Malet St, WC1, £6/£5, farragopoetry@yahoo.co.uk

Poetry from
Aoife Mannix, reading from her book, Elephant in the Corner, available from www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk

Peter Donally, reading from his CD Rhymes of the Racker, more information from mandpdonnelly@eircom.net

Interview with
Donal dempsey

Problems with iTunes feed

2007-04-30T22:09:00.000+01:00

I've been trying to get the podcast re-listed in the right category on iTunes, and ended up submitting a new feed, and in the process breaking the old one. If your having problems not receiving any updates in iTunes, delete the podcast and re-subscribe, either from the link on the right or search in iTunes for smellavision.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Dominic

Smellavision Podcsat episode 7

2007-04-25T07:19:00.000+01:00

I've just put out the most recent podcast, brim full of poetry this episode, there's Dave Bryant and The Bros. grim and an interview with Michael Wyndham, who we had on last episode. I reckon I now have 25 subscribers, I need to get more flyers out there, and some posters too.

And you've heard it here first - I've just begun to plan a live event, to 'launch' Smellavision, it will have six or so of the poets I've featured here, and be in a central London location, with a few open mic slots, to give me time enough to plan and promote the night, I imagine it will be on around September, most likely to coincide with episode 15! Anyway, on with the show notes

events
Night of the Living Dolls
wed 23rd May 8pm Old Crown Pub, 33 New Oxford Street, www.vintageposion.co.uk

Lazy Gramaphone, the Macbeth, 70 Hoxton Street, Wed 25th April, 8pm, www.lazygramaphone.com

Four Pack, BAC Lavender Hill, Thurs 10th May 9pm, www.applesandsnakes.org

3rd May 7.30pm, Basement Theatre, Lately Bar, 175 West End Lane, NW6 (no contact details)

Farrago London Slam, 28th April 7.30pm, GBS Theatre, RADA, Malet St, www.myspace.com/farragopoetry

London Liming, Friday 27th April, The Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, 8pm - 12am, www.renaissanceone.com

26th April, Broadcast, hosted by Roddy Lumsden, Poetry cafe, 22 Betterton Street

review Aoife Mannix Elephant in the Corner
www.tall-lighthouse.co.uk

Frank Burton Collected Words CD
www.frankburton.co.uk

Poetry from David Bryant
www.myspace.com/davebryantpoetry

Interview with Michael Wyndham

poetry from The Bros grim
www.brosgrim.co.uk

It's my birthday

2007-04-04T07:21:00.000+01:00

Now, I'm one for parties and getting down, and especially on my own birthday, but today has snuck up so quickly, that I don't really feel like it's really here - also I normally take the day off work, but not this year.

It's a birthday meal for me tonight - my favourite, Spaghetti Bolognese!

Dom

Vote for me at slamidolpodcast.com

2007-04-01T01:02:00.000+01:00

My entry in this new slam is up for voting - I could be the first poet to win two slams in a row - actually I don't know if thats true, but I'd love to win it twice, Simon sent this post through.

Hello Poets,

The voting process for the Slam Idol podcast, in which you're a competitor, starts today, and will run for about a week.
Spread the word and get everyone you know to visit the web-site at http://slamidolpodcast.com and give each poem marks out of ten. It's important the voters give a fair vote to all 6 poems, otherwise their votes will be discarded.
Please also spread the word to other poets you know that might like to participate in future contests.
Now would be a really good time to resume your audioblogging to share your thoughts on the voting process and the other poems in the contest.
Subscribe to Slam Idol podcast or keep visiting the web-site for updates.
Good luck!

Simon.
http://slamidolpodcast.com
http://poetrypodcasting.org

P.S. Slam Idol will be 2 years old tomorrow!

Podcast Episode 5 - Notes

2007-03-29T07:55:00.000+01:00

I should have been doing this for the previous Podcasts, but better late tan never. here follows the notes and web addresses that I mention during the show.

If any corrections need to be made please do not hesitate to contact me.

If you have anything you would like to include in future shows, again, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ver Poets (St.Albans) Open Competition 2007 visit: http://www.verpoets.org.uk

Poetry on the Lake International Poetry Competition 2007. Info: poetryonthelake@yahoo.co.uk tel: Gabriel Griffin (+39) 347-8464227 www.communigate.co.uk/lakes/poetryonthelake

Pulsar, Year 2006/2007, Poetry Competition Address for information, entry forms and submissions - Poetry Competition Administrator, Pulsar Poetry Magazine, 34 Lineacre, Grange Park, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 6DA, UK.

Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2007 SAE for details to;
The Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition 2007, 48 Highbury Road, Hitchin, Herts. SG4 9SA or e-mail warecomp@waitrose.com

Iota Annual Poetry Competition For further details visit: http://www.iotapoetry.co.uk

http://books.guardian.co.uk/poetryworkshop/0,,1314872,00.html

http://www.seattlest.com/archives/2007/03/14/microsoft_and_the_business_of_poetry.php

http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2034425,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=10

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/03/after-cooking-recipes-yahoo-india.html

http://www.brosgrim.co.uk/

http://www.poetictales.com/ Mervin Scott's site

This is living

2007-03-24T16:14:00.000Z

I'm a bit of a techno freak - ok maybe not going so far as to graft bits of circuitry to my arms, but I like to have the latest gizmo - so here, sitting alongside my wireless network, sits my new PS3. Finally my HD TV has some quality content (except for the Sonic the Hedgehog game i bought), but I sat down last night to watch the new James bond, in glorious 1080i HD goodness. Even the girlfriend was impressed - and not only by that blonde blue eyed killer.

In keeping with my poetry theme - my PS3 id is smellavision - if you see me online blowing away chimera in Resistance fall of Man, come shake hands!

Dom

The dot com revolution

2007-03-22T22:12:00.000Z

So what have I been doing. Firstly I've been 'casting, that's podcasting, Jethro. I've been recording a poetry show, with news, reviews, performances and interviews. I've done three shows so far - and one compilation of how I got started with audioblogging (I was let down at the last minute for an interview - and had to go with what I had!).

I know the first and second shows were quite raw, the third show improved somewhat, and the fourth (or fifth show actually), when it comes out, is even more honed. I've got trailers and idents for the group I belong to.

There's a link further down this page to the association of poetry podcasters, and a rotating graphic link to all the poetry podcasters with that organisation.

I had intended to do this show on a monthly basis, and I suppose in the heat of doing something new, I've been getting something out weekly - I do know this will slow down soon. In the mean time though I'm having fun!

On a professional note -
Event Organisers - I will read out Poetry Event information, email your flyers to smellavision@mac.com, try and get them to me as early as possible.
Poets - I will accept any recordings for inclusion on the show, and if you'd like to be interviewed we can do that too.
Publishers - I will be reviewing books, pamphlets, CD's, performances, any submissions will be fairly (if amateurly) reviewed, but mostly I'll be reviewing the books and stuff that I've bought!.

All that needs to be said is where to go -

smellavisionpodcast.com, the poetry podcast for all the senses.

Blogging is so passe, dahrling.

2007-03-02T01:23:00.000Z

Ok - so I'm not the best blogger in existence - but i've enjoyed what I've been doing for the last two weeks, enough to seriously consider becoming a bit of a podcaster - so I've created a feed, uploaded it to iTunes, and you can subscribe to what will hopefully be a weekly poetry podcast here.

You can also subscribe directly through iTunes here

Day 10 - finally got there

2007-03-01T01:24:00.000Z

Helen

Caught up in your gravity well,
caught up in our very own big bang,
for those few years that you were the centre of my life,
and everything revolved around you,
when we lay on our backs at night,
watching satellites, spin past in the sky,
watching for the one, bright, light, that was the Shuttle,
in orbit for the very first time,
when we spoke of the principles of geometry,
and theories of relativity
and string theory, ties more
than my sticky, pocket bound fingers
it furls my tongue, leaves me twisted
folded upon myself,
n-space, not Euclidean space,
but cold vacuous space.
Like the space between us in our bed,
in the last days of our relationship,
when our gravities were so polarised,
we repelled each other.

We lay awake, on opposite sides of the world,
yet in the same room,
and stared up at the same night sky,
realising that the world had stopped spinning,
that the sun had stopped shining,
that we were being tossed
from our warm womb by our own inertia,
being sucked away by the cosmos’s vacuum.
Then things changed.
No longer were you the centre of my world,
No longer did I revolve around you,
but, my world, had become the centre of my world
I could do nothing but think about myself,
become me-centric, my orbit, erratic
going from never having missed a trick,
to a self obsessed lunatic.

Like continents, we slowly drifted apart.

until that day, I looked up, to see you there
in your familiar place, like you’d never been away.
What then brought you back?
what papal decree? what wishful dream?
did you see me descending
through my own circles of hell
through my saturnalian rings
was it the end of time?
or was it the remembered promise
that you would be mine?
I’m just grateful you took me back
pulled me to you, comforted by your warm skin
Whatever, I must leave it unquestioned
unobserved, un-quantified
I am too afraid to ask,
to open that box,
to determine a state of flux,
to stroke Schrodinger's cat.

I can’t trust that a love returned
can ever be the same,
as that first time, when we lay,
on new dew dappled grass,
in the morning of our lives.
While here, at even song,
I hold your hand in silence,
your thoughts, somewhere,
and mine,

somewhere else.

Day 9

2007-02-28T01:04:00.000Z

And the competition is drawing to a close - I read my poem at Unplugged tonight, and got a good response, you can hear it as Day 9a on the player to the right. I then toodled off home, and made some more minor adjustments.

Day 7

2007-02-27T00:02:00.000Z

I'm back from my trip to Ireland, all refreshed and smooth of skin from excessive use of the hotels sauna and steam room, and free moisturisers, and having recorded and edited my poem over the last few days, have uploaded the podcasts to the flash player on the right hand side of this page. Also, I've done a bit of a mind map of the poem to help me think out the process.

Slam Idol Audio Blog

2007-02-21T18:56:00.000Z

Day 3

I'm off on holiday for a few days, and will record while I'm away, and post when I get back.

Dom

A gig, a gig, my kingdom for a gig.

2007-02-21T00:08:00.000Z

Now, i hope that title is not legal and binding, but following on from my successful competition winning entry, I have been asked to do two ten minute slots! First up is Wednesday 28th at Borders book shop on Oxford Street, and then another slot in May at Farago poetry Slam at RADA.

Life is good. I don't know why I didn't see that before!

and the winner is....

2007-02-19T00:09:00.000Z

I was named the winner of the latest round of Slamidopodcast.com's poetry slam last night. It feels great to have won something, and firstly I'd like to thank all those that took the time to vote for me, thanks to Simon for hosting the event, and thanks to the other poets for making it such a good competition.

For a while I was thinking of retiring the poem 'all the girls...', but you know, it may get a new lease of life yet!

So what now? At last I'm able to put something on my poetry CV, and that should make submitting work to magazines a bit more worthwhile, and thats what I want next, to get something published. Also I'd hope that I could get a five minute set somewhere, some night, but that means getting out there, schmoozing the hosts, and making a name for myself - somehow I don't think letting my poetry do all the talking for me is enough. There was a night last year, at a rooftop party in LA, when I met the writer, Jimmy Palmiotti, who gave me some advice, ' have the balls to belive in what you want to say, and then have the balls to say it, and never apologise for what it is you've just said' I've kinda paraphrased him, but it's something that has stuck with me this year, and it's the attitude I need to maintain to make some headway in this writing business.

So, whats next? A new slam idol competition - this time an audio blog over a ten day period writing another poem. I'm usually quite quick in dashing off a poem, so making it last ten days might be tough - or it might show me how to hone a poem in new ways. My first thoughts are to do something more media savvy with the poem, some video, some music, something more web 2.0, a scoial network of a poem! I'll be posting something here over the next few days - then I'm off to Ireland for a long weekend - I'll bring something to record my thoughts.

Keep coming back!

Thanks

Dominic

2007-02-17T22:54:00.000Z

Starlight (or Cycling at night through Hyde park)

Blue shift,
twin pulsars rotate
and spin
in this gravity well.
Doppler
red shift,
I lose sight of
red stars as they fall,
over the edge of the universe.
Dim swollen yellow giants
float by me
I free fall through stars
blinded and burnt by their light
I free fall through pieces of some dying sun
each and every one
burning
like lithium on the skin
tearing and blistering
till I am bloated and puss ridden.

The bright light battles against the dark
and I am left
cycling at night
through Hyde park.

2007-02-17T22:53:00.000Z

Changes

She said she was going through some changes,
and then she went through some changes,
some minor rearrangements
just tiny adjustments
to an already perfect life.
She changed the time of the setting sun
the tides, ebb and flow were reversed,
and the leaves on the trees
changed to another shade of green.

She changed the bird song to be more in tune,
and then she changed the moon,
she changed the words in my book
she changed how the world looks
she changed me from short to tall
Just some minor rearrangements “That’s all”

And after all the changes she made to me
what was left
was not so much me, as she.

2007-02-17T22:52:00.000Z

On the Download

I have the tools
and the where with all
with just a few clicks
and swift mouse moves
running peer 2 peer software
through open ports
below the firewall
searching for
something I missed in the cinema
or some tunes I’ve heard on the radio
or a band I’ve seen
on video screens
or a missed episode of a tv show
or the winners of the Brits
or Oscar nominees
I’m a pirate of the
virtual seven seas

and I’m stealing you,
bit by bit

2007-02-17T22:51:00.000Z

Gallery Life

White walls and
veneered floors
the squeak of sneakers
and the hissed voices
of mothers
calming children
refusing to appreciate
great art or sculpture
even at the sponge-like
age of four.
Sunday supplement educated parents
egged on by peer review
and colour wall charts
set their children on orbits
that will far surpass their own
but like all orbits
will decay
and burn up in the sun.

Interview with a vampire, erm, er, poet

2007-02-10T15:25:00.000Z

Slamidol Interview

You can listen to my interview with Simon Toon on the above link. I'm really pleased with some of the comments he made about me, some great compliments. I am a little 'less-than-fluent' at times, erm-ing and err-ing my way through some of the questions, and mis-quoting the title of my own poem! I think I may have got a taste for a life of fame, at the very least Simon has convinced me to podcast a little more - and get a few more audio mp3's out on this blog.

A vote for me is a vote for freedom...

2007-02-08T21:41:00.000Z

Voting has started on the poetry slam I'm taking part in, currently I'm in joint second trailing by one point, so please, log on to www.slamidolpodcast.com and click on the link in the top right hand corner to vote, vote for all the poets or you will be discounted, and don't just give all the others 1 and me 10, be fair, but give me loads of points!

I really want to win this one, I'd love to be able to start my poetry cv with a win on this competition.

Dom

2007-02-04T23:28:00.000Z

I've been working on this poem for a week and a bit now, and changing only subtle things, having started off with Love as the title, I then changed my mind, after writing the poem, and decided to title it about an ex - as it sat well with poems I've written about ex's. In particular Corina, who I spent a lot of time high with - and now with the latest change, I've removed the pet names, and removed the line about being high (at the end anyway), the last verse didn't scan well, one too many lines, and removing that line made the poem scan a little better. Now, though, without the mention of being high, I'm wondering if I should remove the reference to Corina from the poem altogether! Back to square one!

2007-02-04T23:22:00.000Z

Corina,
you left me high and dry
you left me dry and bitter
you left me bitter and twisted.
twisted and perverted

Corinia,
you kept me twisting and turning
you kept me turning and dizzy
you kept me dizzy and confused.
confused and lost

Corina,
you brought me fruit and flowers
you brought me flowers and thorns
you brought me thorns and briars.
briars and the rose

and all the roses and briars
all the thorns and the flowers
left me lost and confused
dizzy and turning
perverted and twisted.

2007-02-02T17:27:00.000Z

You should have seen me when I was wee
Maybe 1972 or 73
waiting at the bottom of Rathcormick Hill
as the Big Yellow school bus
came thundering down
and crashed into us

It was a blue January morning
and the snow had started falling
and the skim of water on the roads had turned to ice
I learned then of the duality of nature
how you could never get two things done
when reading the signs that said
suig sious, dun an doras.

2007-02-01T23:23:00.000Z

2007-01-30T23:13:00.000Z

Here's me performing the first draft of the poem, which, on the spur of the moment I titled Amanda, but I may change it to Corina, for reasons you are about to hear! Unplugged

2007-01-29T23:42:00.000Z

Techiquette

The world went black
and then the servers flashed and freaked out
autonomous programmes and bot nets
viruses, worms and Trojan horses
distributed denial of services attacks
flash floods of data
data fusillade focused on a single port
port 254
they were rerouting traffic,
through rotating IP addresses
Domain Name services translating
All asking just one question
are you virtual?

in the dim glow of a monitor
my answer is typed out
in courier
size 12
The last rhyme in history
The last poem known to man

Work in progress

2007-01-29T23:32:00.000Z

Love,
you left me high and dry
you left me dry and bitter
you left me bitter and twisted
twisted and perverted

Honey-pie,
you kept me twisting and turning
you kept me turning and dizzy
you kept me dizzy and confused
confused and lost

baby,
you brought me fruit and flowers
you brought me flowers and thorns
you brought me thorns and briars
briars and the rose

and all the roses and briars
the thorns and the flowers
left me lost and confused
dizzy and turning
perverted and twisted
bitter, dry and high

The above, is my first draft of a poem that has been bubbling under this week - influenced by Bob Marley's Them belly full..., there's a bit of a rolling lyric in that song, and I thought I'd use the form myself. First thoughts - I don't like the wrap up at the end - it's not punchy enough, but I'm going to perform it tomorrow night and see how it 'feels' in my mouth.

King of the internet

2007-01-24T21:26:00.000Z

So I've taken over the internet this week, and will hold on like a rabid terrier and not let go - you can hear three of my poems online, two on Nic Treadwells http://www.homegrownpodcast.co.uk/ and one on Simon Toons http://slamidol.tripod.com/v2/, where you will be able to vote for me to win that slam in a few weeks time. I can recommend both pod-casts thoroughly, slamidol is always fun, and throws up some great poets, and homegrown always has some great music on too.

Dominic

king of the internet

Virtual Slam

2007-01-22T22:34:00.001Z

More poetry news - I'm competing in a slam contest online - Simon Toon's http://slamidolpoetry.com, so once all the poets have had their say - vote for me! you know it makes sense. The poem is 'All the girls I've ever said no to', which you should go to his site to listen to. I've been listening to Simon's podcast for a year or so now and have been really enjoying the poets who have appeared there, in particular look out for the video podcasts.

new year new slam

2007-01-18T23:42:00.000Z

Another night at Farago Poetry Slam, and I finished joint second - ok there was only one round, and I scored the same points as four others. Got some great feedback from other poets, and picked up a couple of books too. One thing I need to work on is my performance, I need to learn a few more poems, but I need an 'act' too, although the poet who won tonight won on the merit of his poetry. Had a really good performance from last years Slam Champion D'isreli. Maybe next month at the love slam.

Lead Baloon

2007-01-17T00:13:00.000Z

I read again tonight at the unplugged poetry night - and was so unprepared. Last night I wrote a draft of a poem about Batman, and read that. I've promised myself that I'll write one new thing for every week that I go to the unplugged night, but usually I have a bit more time to edit and redraft a poem, this one was too rushed. I also had speech balloons, which I drew myself, with a felt tip pen, ten minutes before the event started - another big mistake, but hey, I think the idea works, the execution needs working on.

The draft of the poem is about 80 lines, I need to get it down to 30, also I need to get some meter and rhyme in there too. What i'm trying to say with the poem is that cartoon violence has vicious consequences.

I'm a big fan of my super-hero comic books, and as such have found it very difficult to write about a subject I really care for, as much as I'm willing to put my heart and soul on the page, or read out some shameful secret of mine, I daren't make a bad move around Batman!!

Also been reading other peoples comments about my performances on their myspace pages, pleased that people are talking about me, but wish they had something better to say. What I've learned is it's time to change my repertoire at poetry nights!

Let them eat cake

2006-12-22T23:51:00.000Z

so heres' how the cake turned out. Again wih my grandmother recipe, I've had to cut the cake from an 8" square in two, to make it easier to transport to the future sister-in-laws for christmas day!

Merry Christmas everyone

The Pudding has landed!

2006-11-27T17:48:00.000Z

Day 4

Finally, after allowing the pudding to cool, I've taken it out of the tin. It's just like mother used to make! Mum would normally wrap the pudding up in the local newspaper - The Munster express, which was sold out in my local shop - so I thought I'd use my own local newspaper, the Southwark News.

As some of the commentators have tried to claim about the lack of greaseproof paper in the wrapping process - please let me point out, that yes, the pudding is wrapped in greaseproof paper first, then tin foil, and then an outer layer of newspaper!

If your comments are going to be so pedantic, I'm going to take my blog, and go home with it!

more pudding goodness

2006-11-26T15:31:00.000Z

It's now half way though the cooking process. It got off to a bad start too, the belt I used to keep the lid of the tin strapped down, didn't survive more than an hour in the boiling water, but string has done the job. There's been a bit of seepage from around the lid, I do need to ensure it's kept more securely - also I think I may have overfilled the tin. Oh well soon be proved right or wrong - another 4 hours to go!

Christmas Pudding

2006-11-26T00:05:00.000Z

I'm baking a Christmas pudding, and using a recipe that has been handed down from my grandmother, and I'd think at least from her mother too.

It takes three days to prepare, day one is mixing all the dry ingredients, day two is the fruit juices and butter, day three is the eggs and alcohol.

What was fun was trying to get the recipe from my mother, her first draft was unintelligible, of course she could follow it, but it made no sense to me. So I got her to write it out again. I went into the shop to buy all the ingredients, and realised that all her measurements were in pounds and ounces - and here I am, metric boy, all meters and litres, I spent ten minutes tracking down an assistant who knew the conversion rate!

And it's not just the recipe that's a family secret - it's how you cook the thing too - or more to the point what you cook it in - an old fashioned sweet tin. I've spent two years looking in cookery shops and kitchen suppliers for such a tin, and to no avail, I went out last year and bought a saucepan that I thought I could use.

Last week my mother came over on holiday and brought with her the tin that she has used for the last 15 years, and that my grandmother has used for 30 years before that. There's more history in this tin than I've seen in my whole life, and I've been welling up with tears, and saying silent prayers to my family, both alive and gone. I only hope that I do them proud, not just in producing a good pudding, but in continuing the history

Slam, bam, thank you mam

2006-11-17T19:45:00.000Z

I performed last night at the Farrago Poetry slam, at RADA, and made a mess of my performance.

I've been trying to learn the following poem

All the girl's I've ever said no to.

There was that girl with the harelip,
The one with odd shaped hips,
The one with the third nipple.
And not to forget the one who was too round around the middle.
The one with the protruding lower jaw,
The girl who when she slept she snored.
The one who wanted to meet my Mother.
The girl who’d slept with my little brother.
The one whose left leg was longer than the right,
The girl who saw only in black and white
The one who communicated only through song,
The girl who brought her little sister along,
The one whose hair was falling out,
The girl whose nose looked like a snout.
The one who only would turn left
The girl with the palette cleft
The one with the belly button ring
The girl who thought she could, but couldn’t sing
The one with the tattoo of a Cuban rebel
The girl who’s best friend was a pebble
The one who tied me up and bit my back
The girl who paid her way through school by selling crack

And then there was this second girl...

You can listen to this poem on the flash player in the right hand column.

On the night the bright lights, the unfamilliar atmosphere, and I suppose the competition left me flailing about half way thorugh the poem, I lost track of where I was, what came next, what I'd already recited... it cost me in points, 21 out of 30, and I didn't make it through to the second round!

This was only my second competitive performance, and last time I read rather than performed, I might revert back to reading for next months competition!

Money, money, money, would be funny...

2006-11-14T13:00:00.000Z

Money is top of my worry list, at this moment. I'm about to get a mortgage to buy the flat I've been renting for the last 13 years - and it's £140,000 worth of debt I'm getting into - and before I can do that, I have to clear my credit card debt too! It never rains, but it pours...

I've even reduced myself to thining how can I sell some of the junk thats lying around my falt - and can I get anything for it - a couple of hundred cd's, piles of comic books, second hand, well thumbed books. I know if I turned to eBay I'd spend more time posting and packaging than making money.

Maybe a second job is the answer - but even a Saturday job wouldn't help me out, it would take me six months to earn enough to pay off my ccards, and I have to find the money by next month!

There's always my Donald Duck money box - if only it had been Uncle Scrooge instead!

Space Invaders

2006-11-08T20:54:00.000Z

I found another Space Invader yesterday on my way to the poetry cafe.

I'm trying to learn my poem 'All the girls.." off by heart, so I can 'perform' it at the poetry slam, I think the humour and the length is appropriate. However I'm finding it really hard to learn, it's been years since I've had to learn something off by heart, and as a kid I couldn't understand why you should have too - now that I'm 'performing' I can see the reasoning now, it gives you an ability to engage with your audience, that you don't get when you have a sheet of paper in-between you and the audience. The other thing it gives you is the opportunity to edit your poem again, finding better rhymes, finding more appropriate spaces and pauses, and also what works with the audience and what doesn't.
Last night was a point in fact, that poem, at first, can be misinterpreted as being anti-women, and for some reason last night, the cafe was swamped with women, and with mostly women who haven't been there before - and as I launched into it - all I could see were these frowning faces - it really put me off and I had to resort to reading it from the sheet!

Excuses, excuses and statistics

2006-11-05T22:28:00.001Z

So where have I been?

I left my last job as a Building Surveyor at Southwark Council at the beginning of September and joined the Metropolitan Police - still a Building Surveyor, but now in a management position, and not getting out and about or getting my hands dirty. Also the official secrets act means I can't photograph or say anything about what I'm doing. At least noting directly - so for the first couple of months I haven't brought my camera out with me and have neglected this blog. The whole management thing is a good move for me, a step up on the ladder, with the potential for further advancement over the next three years - my next step is to secure my professional qualifications.

What I have been doing is writing more and more poetry, and performing it around town. On Tuesday nights I'm at the open mic night at Poetry Unplugged at the poetry cafe. I've also been going to the Slam poetry nights at Farrago, at RADA, submitted some poetry to the National Poetry competition, and also entered in the Slam Idol (http://slamidol.tripod.com/v2/) poetry podcast.

I try to have a new 'poem' to read every Tuesday, and I get a good feeling about what needs to be changed, edited, altered, and over the next few weeks, work on it, and then try and perform it again, just to see if it's worked. The fifteen poems here are those that I've worked on a few times, but that is not to say they wont change again. I'm currently working on getting a 'chapbook' together, something to punt around the publishers, which is what I want to do next.

So, enter a few more competition, push my stuff around the magazines and try to get some floor spots outside of the Poetry Cafe - that's what I'm trying to do - that and hold down a day job, run some personal meetings, be a member of my residents association, volunteer at the local Buddhist monastery and find some time to spend with my beautiful fiancée. All in all I'm really enjoying myself at the moment.

Are you still here?

2006-11-05T17:10:00.000Z

It's been a while since I posted here, a lot to do with my new job - which I'll explain later - but please find halfway down the page, some recordings of the poems I've been writing recently. I'll introduce them more when I have time. All I will say - is they deal with adult themes, take what you want from them, and leave the rest.

Dominic

Tiles

2006-08-08T22:51:00.000+01:00

I've spotted two of these tiles around town, and I'm sure I've seen more - anyone care to explain?

Poetry, please

2006-08-08T14:02:00.000+01:00

I've been back writing - and performing - some poetry at the Poetry Cafe, Betterton Street, London, and here's an example,

Our web based life.

Do you blog? Do you?
Is your life a list
Of bits
Or bytes
Are you jpeg, gif,
Or maybe photoshop compliant.
My life, myspace, my U.R.L.
I surf, without getting wet
Though I do get board.
And my head
In some sub-set
A well
A host of alien annihilation
Soldier slaying
Shaman sleuthing
Stealth em-ups
I’ve left behind the life
Of control-alt-delete
I’ve switched OS
And have been virus-less
Even wireless
Since 1984.
I’ve seen, with green, LED’s
That Armageddon glow
Of dusty, super cooled
Deep blue, processors

In the dim glow of a monitor
I follow a golden thread
Through this online world
And find my way
Not to freedom
But to a minotaur
That bull headed man
Who cuts my thread
With either a sickle or a scimitar
Whichever,
It leaves me dangling
While my service provider
Tries to remember
My seven digit password
Both characters and numbers
This security protocol
The keys and the packets
State of the art,
Encryption and ciphers
It’s done me no good
This keychain of secrets
Virtual paperclips
Dot docs dot exe
It doesn’t really bother me
This lack of PGP
Any level of privacy
It bothers me not one bit (or byte)
Not one jot

I was there when
Kasperov failed
When humanity died
And the water cooled processor
Checkmated our lives.

But more importantly
My g-mail account
Kept me alerted
With always on push technology
My fruit based PDA
Always by me,
It’s comfortable vibrate function
Quietly compelling me
To a technological orgasm.
This life of bits
This life of bytes
I am a binary hero
One, one, one, zero, one zero

The Jazz Man

2006-07-29T11:16:00.000+01:00

My friend is over from the States to play at Ronnie Scotts. Ladies and gentlemen I present Lyman Medeiros!

Life under canvas.

2006-07-26T22:50:00.000+01:00

Ok, so it's not quite canvas, but a modern mono fibre, industrial mesh weave and a lightweight, durable nylon ripstop rainfly with a silicone/PU coating for waterproof protection and UV resistance.
Aeolos 3P Tent

We just got delivery of our new tent a few weeks ok, and tried it out the other weekend, it went up in ten minutes, was secure, but best of all, the ventilation kept the tent cool even as the temperatures rose to the mid 30'c. So much for the tent, the campsite was good fun too, we went to Gillingham, Dorset for the weekend, following the advice from our fave camping book, Cool Camping by Jeremy Knight, it turned out to be run by a tantric sex cult - but hey, we made the best of it - thats what being british means!!

a long time a-coming

2006-07-08T16:33:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay, wrong leaves on the tracks, any old excuse really. Recently London held an Architecture biennale, and as part of which I took my family to London Zoo. The theme of the day was Designing The Zoo of the Future. So it's monkeys in rocketships, and lions with ray guns all around. What really happened was that we got a tour of the zoo from one of the zookeepers responsible for the design of the enclosures, with a lecture on what was actually the problem the zoo faced with creating enclosures for our furry friends. Being in the heart of a city provided their first problem .... space. The big animals, lions, tigers, apes etc, need such sizes and spaces that most of the herd animals (of course I've heard of animals) have been removed to the countryside, to Whipsnade Zoo, where they get to rove free on the plains of bedfordshire. The city Zoo's now have to make use of small critters, which is why London Zoo spent a lot of money on the new Insect House. So our brief then was to spend an hour studying one of the animals, and to come up with a proposal for a new enclosure. We decided to study the Meercat. Now when I say we, my mum and dad where there, Sally's Dad, her sister, niece and grand niece. The course was aimed at children and we had conned our way in by bringing along our three and half year old grand niece, whereas the average age of our group was 45! Still we had a great day gluing together a collage of what we had seen, what we had drawn, and what we hoped our furry little friends would be able to live in the future. So if in the days to come you are buzzed by a stripy mammal with a jet engine on his back, think of us!

A Cunning Punt

2006-05-18T23:40:00.000+01:00

I'm back to work, following an accident on holiday I twisted my knee, tore some ligaments, and was signed off work for a month by the doctor - I work at heights and this was deemed enough for me to stay at home and get cosy with the old Playstation, the back log of books and comics I'd left piling up - so including my holiday I've been away from building sites for two months, and when I get back - there was a party to go to.

There are a couple of archaic superstitions amongst the building community, the breaking of the ground needs a blessing (and a Demolition Notice submitted in triplicate to the local council), the Cornerstone usually covers a buried treasure (lucozade bottles and crisp packets usually), the topping out ceremony (when the building reaches the highest point, it's common to have a drink up on the roof (Health and Safety have clamped down on this in recent years - bah humbug), and the completion ceremony - and if there's one element of humanity who likes a good drink up it's builders.

Augustus Court is finished - on the site of the now demolished Ceasers Palace, an Old Kent Road drinking establishment, which on examination by the Archeological Department, was found to be on the site of a Roman Burial Ground (Old Kent Road is a Roman Road) - and the builders threw a toga party and invited me along. Never one to break a superstition I turned up, not with a toga, but with the completion certificate for the job - made my presentation, had some Lambrusco, some chicken and olives, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

And as for the title - I went to Cambridge the other weekend and got to go for a punt on the River Cam, good fun it was.

Two, there always are. master and apprentice

2006-04-04T00:53:00.000+01:00

During my visit to the states I got to see first hand and up close the work of one of my favourite architects, Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright) lived from 1867 to 1959. During most of these years, from 1885 to 1959, he was a prolific architect, with close to 500 of his designs built (and hundreds more remaining unbuilt) - a career lasting three quarters of a century, and unequaled in output. Mr. Wright worked for architects J. Lyman Silsbee and Louis Sullivan, and he later himself trained many architects at his Taliesin School. Frank Lloyd Wright expoused "organic architecture" and is responsible for the Prairie and Usonian residential styles. Mr. Wright was born in Wisconsin, and he lived most of his life there, also spending some time living in New York City, Germany, Japan, Oak Park (Illinois), and the winter location of his school in Arizona.
It was this winter school at Taliesin West that I got to visit, and to see his work "in the flesh", or the concrete and mortar, the shapes, the forms, were breath taking.
I also got to visit two projects by one of Wrights students, Paolo Soleri, born in Turin, Italy on June 21, 1919, Paolo Soleri was awarded his Ph.D. with highest honors in architecture from the Torino Polytechnico in 1946. He came to the United States in 1947 and spent a year-and-a-half in fellowship with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona. In 1956 he settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, establishing the Cosanti Foundation, a not-for-profit educational foundation. The Foundation's major project is Arcosanti, a prototype town for 5,000 people designed by Soleri, under construction since 1970. Located at Cordes Junction, in central Arizona, the project is based on Soleri's concept of "Arcology," architecture coherent with ecology. Arcology advocates cities designed to maximize the interaction and accessibility associated with an urban environment; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land, reducing waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment.

Going Downtown

2006-04-03T12:31:00.000+01:00

Whenever I get to go abroad, it turns out to be more of a becoming holiday for me - I spend more time looking at building sites rather than the tourist sights. This time it was a trip to Los Angeles, and as with all things American, the scale of construction is so much larger than here in the UK. This site, I'm assuming, next to Staples Centre in downtown LA, home to the Clippers, I'm thinking this is going to be either some conference centre, or such. The first site has what appears to be a Transfer slab - with great big lumps of steel, I'd estimate the slab to be 1.5m thick, steels ranging in the 40mm range. The second site has been excavated about 10m below the road level, and what struck me first is the soil - even at ten meters it's so sandy, there doesn't appear to be a bedding layer - which will explain the sheet piling around the perimeter, and the size of the pad stones marked out.

I can't resist the touristy views of some of the greats of modern architecture either, and spent some time running around Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall, and the classic Bradbury Building on Broadway, downtown LA, made famous in Blade Runner, but in it's own right a fantastic example of cast iron architecture.

Reading the signs

2006-02-22T20:48:00.000Z

It's hard to read between the lines of a sign post. It's not what they are designed to do - it's supposed to be there in black and white - or red and white for danger signs. I like Syd's sign, it does what it says on the tin, the building is going to be demolished - wear your hard hat - falling masonry can cause brain damage! The other blue demolition sign is a little more subtle - yet contains a greater danger - it warns of the removal of asbestos. This sign also conforms to standard regulations for warning signs, clear, plain, uncluttered and hidden away from prying eyes. The plaque (ok - not officially a sign!) shows the donations made by local and international dignatries for the local methodist church, the final sign I came across in the bowels of Southwark Councils Town Hall, and must hark back to the heady Labour led days of the 1980's. I know I sleep better at night knowing I'm not going to wake up glowing green.

On the Waterfront

2006-02-17T13:49:00.000Z

So the majority of the new work coming into our borough is all along the north of borough, the South Bank of the river, not all of it comes under the scrutiny of local authority Building Conotrol, and the majority of the cash value work goes to private Approved Building Control Inspectors, so here we are at one of the wharfs that up until recently were used as they were originally intended as warehouses, and then in the ninetys began the development and the conversion of the warehouses to residential units. The only problem is when the tides out - the mud gets quite sticky!

The Finished Product

2006-02-07T19:11:00.000Z

The above building is a temporary building -it's lifespan is designed for 25 years or less, I understand it was given Planning Permission on that basis, as it dosn't really blend well with it's surroundings. In effect the building is little more then a shed. A steel portal frame with a stretched fabric cover, and inside it's just one large space, sub-divided into public and private areas. During the excavation of the foundations the basements of bomb damaged buildings from world war 2, were uncovered, causing some problems with pouring the mass concrete foundations. The ammount of material that had to be removed before concreting could begin was enormous, leaving barely enough earth to excavate!

Tanks for the memories

2006-02-07T19:06:00.000Z

I wonder if this vehicle is exempt from the Congestion Charge?

Twisted Metal Black

2006-01-30T21:11:00.000Z

OK, it's more of a grey colour, but what a great photo - the existing foundations of an old warehouse torn down to make way for a new housing block. What I love about this photo is the organic nature of an inorganic man-made structure. The steel is 20mm diameter from a strip foundation, with about 25mm of concrete cover, the strip foundation has lain about 1 metre below ground level for about 50 years, and the steel has remained vertually as good as new. Exactly what it should do.

Spot the deliberate mistake

2006-01-17T22:33:00.000Z

It's not all clear sailing on building sites, more often than I would like you come across work as shoddy as shown inthese photos. It is unusual to see it on large sites, where a lot of money is being spent. Here however a lot of corners are being cut, in order to save some money, however this is going to backfire, much of the work that has already been undertaken here, will be condemned and will need to be rebuilt.

So what is wrong with this picture?

Let's take the photo of the ladder. Firstly, the ladder isn't adequately secured, one it's resting on a mound of excavated earth, which could collapse, (ok - you can't see it in this pic.) the top of the ladder isn't fixed, the angle of the ladder is too steep, the landing that the ladder goes up to, isn't protected by edge barriers. There's a second ladder, with a plank of wood laid on it, that spans the hole. This plank/ladder (with no barriers) is used as a walkway. The builders carry cement from the mixer on the ground floor, up the first ladder, then load up a wheelbarrow, and roll that over the plank/ladder.

The second picture - what looks like a forest of timber planks - is the temporary support for a cast-in-situ concrete staircase. The timber is wedged into place, any movement in this timber, will cause the formwork for the staircase to move, causing the concrete to settle unevenly - possibly not covering the steelwork adequately, leaving the stair either structurally unsound because of warping, or at risk of the steel rusting, and causing collapse later.

The top two pictures show two of the workmen cutting a hole in a reinforced concrete roof. Any other site I've been on, would have hired a concrete cutter, a large pincer, to remove the concrete, here the two guys are using a kango hammer, and an anglegrinder to cut the steel. Neither of the guys are adequately protected, no goggles, no hard hats, no boots, no ear protection, but worst of all, no safety harness. Working at any height, these guys should be tied onto something.

Health and safety issues on building sites are not the remit of local authority Building Control - ours is just to control the 'building', the physical construction. In order to take action on this site, I've had to notify the Health and Safety executive.

At the feet of my Mentor

2006-01-09T23:15:00.000Z

In 1985 I changed schools and began to change the direction I was studying. I moved from computing to construction, and was taught by one of my most influential teachers, Hugh Curley. Hugh is an Architect, an Irish speaker, an ex-rally driver, and one of the best teachers I've ever had. I readily recall being spun around the countryside in his Audi 80 Quatro, being taken from project to project, all being built by himself and his brother a building contractor. Hugh inspired me to make a scale model of a Norman round tower, Reginald Tower, one of Waterfords outstanding landmarks. Hugh has always been the source of inspiration for my career, I always wanted to teach, to build and drive furiously around the countryside. Hugh gave me my first t-square, my first parallel motion drawing board and the source of joy I get in seeing a brick laid well upon another. He also designed many houses and homes in Waterford, and the above photo's pay very poor homage to his work on one of my friends house.
The glazed door panel was designed and made by another friend of ours, Paul White, and I played a small part in actually reviewing Hughs plans just prior to construction when Tommy and Linda asked me to look over them.

Let me apologies for the poor quality photo's it was Christmas, late at night, and I had been drinking!

Merry Christmas, One and All

2005-12-23T13:17:00.000Z

Thanks to all of you who've visted this blog, thanks to all those who's faces have appeared, and thanks to all the bricks, mortar and steel that have gone to creating South London, without which I wouldn't have a job!

Ho, ho, ho.

Dominic

Church and State

2005-12-16T13:29:00.000Z

This is St Peters Church, in Liverpool Grove, south London, one of the few remaining churches designed by Sir John Soane. Built in 1822, it has remained untouched for years. Soane was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished career, in 1837. I've been living next to the church for fifteen years, and only just earlier this year have I actually seen inside. This week I was able to visit the crypt of the church, where a cafe runs Monday to Friday, with good coffee and a good choice of food.

Me, Myself and My Manager

2005-12-10T00:12:00.001Z

This week I was sent on a management training course. With my manager. Now, the way I see it, it was a real slap in the face for him to have to attend an introduction to management when he's been managing staff for ten years, or it says something about his ability.

To be honest, I was taken aback by his openness and honesty on the course, although I did find it uncomfortable to go through some of the exercises with him present - I can't really go to town on 'What makes a bad manager' when he's sitting on the other side of the table!

Regardless of all that, I really enjoyed myself, I don't think I learned anything new, just new ways of thinking, which I suppose is what the course was designed for, also I got to speak to the departmental head, who said, the course is no guarantee that any of us will ever actually be managing staff ( I had to glance sideways at my cringing manager at that one!)

OK - back to the real bricks and mortar - Chumleigh Gardens is one of the remaining Victorian buildings in Burgess Park, a Park created in the 1960's, by demolishing the surrounding Victorian terraced houses - not any major bomb damaged area - more a town planner damaged area - and this unique building, and it's grounds were kept as council property. More recently the building has been converted into a Cafe, and a World Garden, with different areas, such as ponds, formal, and wild gardens. The buildings house some training rooms, the Park Rangers (Smarter than the average bear, boo-boo), and a new nursery school, which I'll show some photo's of soon.

The Art and the Artist

2005-11-21T13:31:00.000Z

The Royal College of Art (http://www.rca.ac.uk/) run a charity auction every year, where they ask artists to submit a postcard sized piece of art anonymously, which on sale days, you might be picking up a Tracy Emin, a Damien Hirst or now a Dominic O'Rourke! Last month I received an application pack and submitted my three pieces, a photo montage, a ink wash drawing and my autobiography - all neatly on a 5x7 inch card!

I attended the Artist party on Saturday night, rubbing shoulders with the great and the beautiful, there was some fantastic pieces there, many media, and some good fun pieces too.

It made me feel really proud of myself, to have all my pieces accepted, and the thought that someone out there is wanting to buy my pieces is tantalizing (Mr Satchai, call me anytime!)

a karmic venture...

2005-11-19T13:13:00.000Z

Last week, both listed building consent and planning permission were granted to the monastery to convert this building to their new monastry. A conditional building control approval was issued last month, so it's all stations go for the new project - except for the fact that I havent been able to get any plumbers to voulenteer their time and expertise to oversee that aspect of the job.

e-mail me if you have a CORGI certificate!

Skate or die...

2005-11-15T13:04:00.000Z

Here is the first time I've ever had to inspect a skate bowl, not that I had to really, as it's not a habitable structure, it doesn't really come under the control of Building Control, but I cast my professional eye over it, and my skater eye too, and to be honest, it's the most boring bowl I've ever seen, the bowl itself is constructed off site, in 6 pieces, and fixed together, with drainage at the bottom, and a concrete skirting around the edges. This bowl forms part of a new sports park being constructed, which includes an all weather hard surface football pitch and an internal climbing wall.

The building itself will be covered in grass, with children slides over the peak of the building. This is the second grass covered building I've done recently, and again the system used is a Bauder Roof, this is a layer of water resistant membrane with a sandwich of insulation, and a a further layer of insulation with a clay covering, and then the grass.

One of the questions here, is whether the slope of the roof is too steep to maintain a grass covering, only time will tell.

Handy around the kitchen

2005-11-07T21:48:00.000Z

Here's my girlfriends recently redecorated kitchen, we had an argument over how to do the job, so she threw me out and hired a professional! Not that I took it personally, but after sulking for a week I finally went around to admire their handiwork, and it's fantastic. New light fittings, new shelves, a new lick of paint on the walls and the cupboards, and Sally's deft touches of Cath Kidson tins, glass jars full of pasta, and the better use of existing storage, and it's a pleasure to work in - you see, I'm the cook in this relationship, and I'm the one who has to use the kitchen - ok so I don't have to live there, but I have to produce miracle meals with only two saucepans!

I should stick to looking down holes!

Caring for children

2005-10-31T13:28:00.000Z

St. Thomas' hospital has opened the Evelina Children's Hospital here in south London, and has plans to expand further. The site they intend to occupy next year, owned by the trust, the property is an old Victorian School building which is currently occupied by a Buddhist community. I have been advising the Buddhists in their move from the above to new premises. If the quality of the new building is reproduced with any new development, than the disruption the Buddhists are undergoing will be worthwhile.

The green, green grass of home...

2005-10-14T13:34:00.000+01:00

These punny titles are a little stretched now! But this football changing room facilities are one of the greenest buildings I have ever worked on. The water supply to the building is pumped through a kilometer of pipes, in holes 100m deep, below the building, an earth heat exchange system, which results in water coming out of the ground at between 11 and 13 degrees Celsius. The water is then put through two refridgeration units, and the latent heat is then transferred to the water as it comes out of the ground for a second time, to eventually bring the temperature up to 40 degrees, a safe and warm showering temperature. The electricity within the building is provided by photovoltaic panels along the south face of the building, the other glazed panels also provide enough heat to warm the corridor that connects the changing rooms. The building has a grassed roof, which provides a greater insulation value than traditional roofs, and with such low energy costs, coupled with the potential to sell energy back to the national grid, it is estimated that the building will have paid for itself (approx £1.2 million) within 7 years.

Up, up and away!

2005-10-04T22:10:00.000+01:00

You have to have a head for heights to work in this industry!

A Bright Spark

2005-10-04T19:33:00.000+01:00

As far from a hole as we can get, here we are on the fourth floor slab of a nine story residential block of flats. The Arc Welder is fixing the metal sockets, for the railings of the balconies to the structural steel cage, ready for the concrete slab to be cast around them, and the railings themselves to be slotted in at a later date. Having seen the lift pit, and the poor quality of the fixings there, here's a shot of how it should be done. This steel cage is not complete, the plastic chairs that the steel sits on, the steel spacers that hold the top layer apart from the bottom layer, and the cage of steel bars themselves need finishing off, but then this slab is still a week away from the concrete being poured.

Heres one I prepared earlier...

2005-10-03T23:02:00.000+01:00

From the last post, this hole has now been prepared to take the concrete slab. A steel cage is formed, in this case from 12mm steel bars, bent, and tied together to form this 300mm thick 'cage'. The red discs are 'spacers' to keep the bars away from the edges, and the larger photo, you should be able to see the cement blocks that are tied to the bars to keep the bottom of the cage off the surface. The blue material is a 1400gauge thickness damp proof membrane. The lift pit is now ready to recieve the concrete.

Turning in the grave...

2005-09-27T21:55:00.000+01:00

What we have here is the excavation for a lift pit. The pit is approximately 2 meters deep, 2 meters wide and 4 meters long, the soil here is a very heavy clay, dark brown, on top of a sandy clay. The ballast, or the layer that any foundation will be able to bear on, in this area is a river gravel. This excavation goes through a discontinued drain, and the brickwork and the fill from the drain can be seen at the end of the hole, this 'fill' is about finishes about 1.2m below the finished floor level. When I inspected this job the bottom of the hole had been trampled flat by the workers, and to confirm that they were into the gravel, I had one of the workmen dig a small trial hole about 200mm deep, to confirm that they were into the gravel.

Room for one more?

2005-09-22T16:42:00.000+01:00

here we go down another hole, this one again is underpinning of a party wall, with an unusual, for a victorian building, proper foundations below the splayed footings of the wall, which extend about 700mm below the footings. When I say proper, it's a lot of brick and stone thrown into a trench and covered with a very weak mix of cement. This is unusual for this type of building which would normally be built straight on top of the clay. This pin is 2.4M deep, and about 1.3M square, Carl, my able assistant, models this hole perfectly!

Out with the new, in with the old

2005-09-20T19:08:00.000+01:00

here's a building with an interesting history. The plaques on the wall, are Coadstone, a cement stone invented by the first woman of construction, Mary Coad, and used extensively throughout neo-classical construction, the most famous are the Lions that perch either side of the south side of Westminster Bridge. This building was described by Nicholas Pevsner as the most important building in London, not that it looks like much, but it was the source of all the coadstone decoration for all of Londons most important buildings and monuments. The Surrey canal ended at the front door of this workshop, and barges carried stone, lime and cement to the door, and carried away some of the most beautiful decorative pieces that are the real reason why Victorian architecture is remembered. On this site, buildings have stood since the 17th century, although what remains of earlier buildings is no more than the foundations. The building seems to have been knocked down and rebuilt several times, and most recently at the beginning of the 1900's, the remaining plaques, possibly apprentices pieces, have changed position many times. Up until recently the building was derelict and in danger of collapse, but the conversion of the property into residential units is nearly complete, the restoration paid for by the construction of a new block at the rear, through the old coach doors.

Something old, something new

2005-09-14T22:23:00.000+01:00

So this is the choice we are making. The top photo is one of the 1960's Haygate tower blocks, of which there are five in total, which are due to be demolished. The lower image is a sample of what is to replace them. The Haygate I believe was designed and built by the GLC, the cities architects, and was to be a series of linked estates that would run from the Elephant to Peckham. The modern building is designed by Piers Gough, who up until now has been a favourite architect of mine, that is until I got to see inside one of his earlier designs, The Circle, at Tower Bridge. My problem with his current design is that it looks like a beach front hotel, something you may see in Miami, and not south London. As this is the first development in what could be an eight year long construction phase. Come back this time in ten years and see how it fits in with the new buildings, and after the facade has weathered in.

How to fill in a hole...

2005-09-12T17:39:00.000+01:00

Remember that hole http://smellavision2.blogspot.com/2005/09/going-further-underground.html here's whats happening to it. The walls are being cast in concrete, the steel bars are formed, like the base slab, into two layers, tied together and spaced apart from the front to the back, next a board is raised to form the front of the wall, this is known as formwork, or shuttering, and is usually treated with a release agent, so that when the concrete is cast behind the formwork, when it sets the board can be reales without it sticking to the concrete.

Up the Elephant and around the Castle

2005-09-11T12:37:00.000+01:00

This is the heart of my community, The Elephant and Castle shopping centre. It just so happens that it is seen as a blot on the landscape, and is due for demolition, assuming that enough money is left over from building the Olympic centre, then the redevelopment of the E&C is due to go ahead. Contractors are nominated in December 05, so some more news soon! The red building is the shopping centre, with a civil service office block above it, behind these buildings is the railway tracks, and just beyond that are three nine storey residential blocks, known as the Haygate, it is the demolition of these residential blocks that will create the most change. Currently grey concrete monstrosities, with concrete pedestrian walkways and subways, and a high level of crime, only matched by the low level of investment over the years, many of the residents have already been re-housed, some outside of the area altogether, and a large portion of what was once social housing will be laid aside for private development. As a confirmed socialist I find this aspect of the redevelopment abhorrent. When we take large strides into the future, it doesn't seem to matter who we step on.

It's cold up north...

2005-09-06T21:45:00.000+01:00

This old warehouse conversion was commenced the first day I started university, back in 1994, and was recommended to me as a place to buy - I decide to stay a council tenant. Today I did a final inspection of a studio flat, that could very well have been my own flat. Not only did they guy have a wall full of the same DVD's I watch, have a bookshelf full of the same books I read, he also had original comic cels from my favorite Batman animated series, some of the comics that I collect, all the AD&D role playing books I have. This bloke could have been my twin - except for the difference in salary!

Going further underground...

2005-09-06T21:31:00.000+01:00

Here we have the deepest hole so far, this is about 4 metres below ground level, and is part of a lift pit. Note the sheet driven piles around the edges, like large crinkled sheets of corrugated iron, these sheets are driven into the ground, usually by a pile driver and then the ground is excavated. At the base of this pit a concrete slab is about to be poured, two layers of steel bars are tied together, and spaced apart to form a raft of steel. The concrete is delivered ready mixed and poured onto the steel, and is usually vibrated into place to ensure that no voids are left. What I am checking for is that the steel sizes are as per the Engineers design details, that the steel bars are lapped well, tied together, that there are spacers (in this case steel chairs - usually plastic spacers are used), the spacers are to ensure that the concrete covers the steel by a minimum of 25mm to ensure that no water gets into the steel and causes it to rust. Basically, I was taught on my first job to ensure that the steel is free from crisp packets and cans of coke, not much else can go wrong.

Only Fools and Horses...

2005-09-05T13:40:00.000+01:00

...Work. It seems regeneration works too. Here we have the new public square in peckham, viewed from the Surrey Canal path, now grassed and treelined cycle path, to the left the Sterling prize winning Peckham Library, designed by Will Alsop, to the right the Southwark Building Design Services, Peckham Pulse, a health and fitness centre and the third side of the square is bound by the Peckham Arch. Home this year to the Peckham Festival, and every Sunday to a farmers market - where I bought the beef for this weeks Sunday roast!

How many holes does it take to fill the Albert Hall?

2005-09-02T17:46:00.000+01:00

4000.

That's according to the Beatles, and I think they were comparing it to Blackburn, Lancashire. So we finally get around to the subject of holes. We've seen quite a few buildings go up, but here lies the secret of a good building. Firm foundations. Many of the jobs I undertake are to support buildings that have begun to move, this picture shows (and not very clearly, but squint and persevere) a 1.5m deep concrete slab, or 'pin', sitting under a 450mm wide brick footing, a footing is where the bricks of the wall are splayed out, usually in three or four courses, to help spread the loads that are transferred down the wall from the floors and the roof above it, onto the soil below. In this case it is onto clay. London Clay is one of the better soils for small buildings to bear onto, it is very firm, and usually to a 3m depth. Of course modern design would not be satisfied with a three storey building bearing on such shallow footings, here they are about 500mm below the level of the external ground. The wall has been moving because of an underground stream washing the clay away from under the wall, so an excavation of the clay is undertaken, in this case 1.7m deep by 600mm wide, the sides and the bottom of the pit are cleaned up, brushed down of any debris and the void is mass filled with concrete. Once this section is set, the next pin is excavated, jointed to the previous pin, and poured.

Wash away those blues.

2005-08-31T21:02:00.000+01:00

This is the Public Bath House, at Camberwell Green, and home to my local gym and swimming pool. A classic victorian building, built 1896, a facade of brickwork hiding an industrial shed behind. The shed itself is a cast iron frame, with lightweight roof panels and extends about 150m back from this facade. It hosues a 25m pool, badmington courts, a gym and various speciality rooms. It also house me every other morning when I turn up for my half hour in the gym and half hour in the pool!

Bring on the Big Guns

2005-08-30T22:15:00.000+01:00

The Imperial War Museum, is another building on my list of works, currently I am inspecting the property for a new exhibition, Lawrence of Arabia. The building was once a mental hospital, and linked to the origin of the word Bedlam. As a museum it's interesting also, well laid out, bright and airy, and equipped with some of the most interesting exhibitions. I've spent a lot of time around and about the museum, and find time to spend in the peace garden, opened by the Dali Lama. My favorite exhibition isn't even inside the museum, to the left hand side of the main entrance is a section of the Berlin Wall, with some highly emotive graffiti.

Peace.

Dust to Dust

2005-08-30T21:14:00.000+01:00

Within only a few days the Tower block has been reduced from a nine storey concrete frame to a pile of rubble.

I'd imagine that this building probably took about nine months to a year to construct, and I'm working with one of the people who's first job was to oversee the construction of this estate.

This demolition program seems to have become a little more complicated than at first. Not only has there been an accident with the machinery, a number of hold ups that delayed the start of demolition, tenants who refused to leave, and finally squatters.

Now there seems to be trouble with asbestos. This building is completely enclosed with plastic, and a series of port-a-cabins have been set up to decontaminated the workers. The asbestos should be removed from site and disposed of by an appropriate contractor.

My type of day

2005-08-29T23:59:00.000+01:00

There has been a trend recently in London to tear down the old blocks of flats that they built in the 1960's and 70's. This is one of the lst remaining tower blocks on the North Peckham Estate. It's been entertaining watching as this block has come down over the last few months, firstly they stripped away the external cladding, then the cruncher comes in.

Last month, a shorter cruncher, which was precariously balanced on top of a four storey mound of rubble, tipped over and fell, with the driver safely strapped within his cockpit, it landed about two meters from some of the new house.

This larger crane was brought in last week to carry on the work. There are two more nine storey blocks yet to be demolished, further pictures to follow.

Smell-A-Vision

2005-08-29T23:54:00.000+01:00

Smell-A-Vision

What a great blog to find!

Dom

This is where it all starts

2005-08-29T19:30:00.000+01:00

So here is my first post.

Hello and welcome to the internet, and welcome to my wonderful world of construction.

About three years ago I started to photograph the buildings I was working on, and started to publish them on my web pages. When I lost the digital camera I was using, it became too dificult to use the old fashioned analog camera. I've had to wait until now to get my hands on my own digital camera.

What is to follow are images from my working life.

Enjoy