… You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you will say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Top House 2 – North Shields
Pete Beat.
Lauren Stones
Jackie and Helen
Arrid Foo on percussion
Jaktrax & Arrid Foo
Jaktrax
Jaktrax
Top House 2.
Live streaming
The night wears on.
I had to dig deep for this week’s Travel Theme: Costume; these pictures were taken at the Bevagna Festival in 2000. This annual event takes place every June in the searing heat of an Umbrian summer, less than ideal for the heavy medieval costumes of jute, wool and velvet.
On initial inspection most participants seem indistinguishable from their ancient ancestors except for a few obvious signs which continuity failed to notice – designer watches, spectacles and some very good dentistry:
The pictures pre-date full conversion to digital and were taken with a Minolta Dynax SLR and then transferred to Picture CD by Kodak; when edited I was amazed by just how low resolution the images are when compared to what the modern full frame DSLR manages to capture inside the camera – almost medieval.
It is eight years since we were here last. Then snow tyres rattled along the roads, the streets were snowy and empty and we walked along the shore of the frozen Baltic. Things have changed; certainly it is warmer and I am told the shops have improved whilst the streets, far from being empty, were swarming – there were four cruise ships in the purpose built harbour.
Tallinn is a mini Prague, more compact and less wearing; everything is accessible and a short up and down hill hike. The old town is in stark contrast to the suburbs which are haunted with crumbling Soviet housing schemes and overly wide road systems designed to give easy access to tanks entering the city from the East. Outside the old town in the shadows, pressed between architecture of the old regime and the new regime, are the remnants of an entirely different history.
The churches, castle and museums are unchanged and predictable. It is the unexpected which sticks in the memory – on this occasion the Tallinn TREFF Festival – Different Cultures, one language! www.nuku.ee.
northumbrian : light 