divine brush-strokes-

Film Club #1 Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset

...for the first film club meeting, a group of friends and I watched a double bill of Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset... They were both excellent films, with a lot of depth, interesting dialogue and filled with subtle nuances. What really got me, was the very simple idea behind the film. Before Sunrise tells a captivating story about two strangers with very different personalities and outlooks on life connecting on a chance encounter on the train and spending the day together...talking, wandering, sharing- just living; the connection between the two characters was so beautifully organic and more importantly, real...

I found myself really relating to the story... throughout my life I've met some of the most amazing people by chance in the same serendipitous way that Jesse met Celine; at train stations, galleries, cafe's, Museums and I've often found these connections have stayed with me for the longest time... I remember all the streets we walked down, all the bridges we crossed, all the strange things we saw, landmarks we passed, characters we spoke to and most importantly the conversations we shared and the ideas I took away with me...

Anyone who has spent a single day just walking through a beautiful city with a stranger, just talking and sharing ideas with someone so different to themselves will know exactly what I mean, it's def the closest thing to magic, I've ever experienced... Before Sunset is also an incredible work of art, it shows just how much the lives of the two characters changed in the years to follow and how affected they both were by their meeting...I can't wait till Before Midnight comes out! Watch these films if you get the chance.

Crayford Marshes

Erith Yacht Club

...a lone shackled horse and wandering girl, apart- yet together; bracing the bitter cold winds...

Industrial Wasteland

...took this one today on a walk from erith to slade green via the thames/ river darent and crayford marshes, more photos to follow...

Between a Reverie and a Hard Place

Hi Guys,

I've put together some of the short stories I've written over the last few months and self published a small book, 'Between a Reverie and a Hard Place.' You can read it online for free or order a hard copy from lulu.com for £2.32 (non-profit) :-) I'm hoping to put together a book of poems within the next few weeks too before starting work on a new book project entitled '-a hundred hues of beautiful'.

Between a Reverie and a Hard Place

...a collection of quirky and poignant short stories told by a number of interesting, if not slight deranged, city dwellers.

'So there I was swaying from side to side in a sea of people; faceless, nameless people and then someone must have pushed  me. I'm not talking a gentle push, I'm talking one great big violent mammoth push. Actually it must have been a whole crowd of people. Anyway I felt something go through me. I didn't feel it, because somehow I stopped feeling a long time ago, remember that depersonalisation stuff I was telling you about? I didn't feel it, but I sensed it. Something was wrong, and then I looked down. I looked down in horror (I think it was horror) at the metal hook protruding from my stomach...'

'It's that sublime satisfaction I receive; lucid and transitory, of being out the system- your system. Your system of not jumping- of taking strides, walking, maybe running. You're system doesn't allow for you to hop or leap or fart or jump. I do all of these. I take great pleasure from doing all of these. I am a jumper. I jump higher every time....'

http://www.lulu.com/shop/saira-niazi/between-a-reverie-and-a-hard-place/paperback/product-20708973.html

http://www.pdfhost.net/index.php?Action=Download&File=75a03f47177bd08bf80d6fbc3256c45a 

London Markets

...took these in camden market and borough market a couple days ago....

Mister Tough Guy

...camden pigeon...

The Rabot Estate

The Light

pink gloves and a smile

Felixtowe

Got the 77 bus down to Felixtowe a few days ago with my sister, it was great, we hung out in the empty arcade, bought some fish n chips, went for a walk, and finished off with tea and candy floss by the sea front before getting the bus back... t'was def a nice way to spend her birthday...

Sunset over the Harbour

Reflections through Glass

Took these photos behind glass this week from a load of different places including a bus, coach and cafe...

The Ridgeway: A Hike to Remember

I went on a hike with Tooting Sisters Circle yesterday. It was quite possibly the most surreal hike I've ever been on! We walked for ten hours (more than 15 miles) from Tring to Berkhamstead through Ivanhoe Beacon via the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way. More than 3 of those miles were in the woods after dark..!

Against the Sky

...a beautiful folk song...

....reach....

a map, of sorts...

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” 

― Ani DiFranco 

“The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world” 

― Democritus

I've been working on a collage to submit to a small upcoming art exhibition on diversity/ multiculturalism... so far I quite like how it's turning out, still needs work though...

Dino Shop Diaries

Day 12

So today, when it was quiet, I closed the glass doors and I emptied a thousand bottles of water out onto the floor. The water rose higher and higher until my ankles was covered. I then placed a tiny T-Rex on a wooden raft and watched him float around and around in circles. 

Day 17

All in all, a good day, I'd say. I unpacked all the excavation kits, all seventy nine of them and with the sandy mud, I made a great big pile right there in the middle of the shop floor. And then, get this, from nowhere an egg appeared! A real egg! I'm waiting for it to hatch. I'm sure it won't be very long, before it hatches.

Day 21

One of the dino pincher's started growing today, at a lightning speed! It's head just grew and grew and grew. Out of curiosity (or perhaps sheer idiocy) I stuck my head inside it's mouth, his razor sharp teeth snapped around my neck! I must have died right there!

Day 23

My neck is still hurting. It's a miracle I survived that little accident. I shan't be doing anything so silly again...

Day 26

It was a slow day. I began to feel very drowsy all of a sudden and so I spread all the soft stretchy dino's out onto the floor and took a nap! It sure beat sleeping on my hard mattress at home. As I lay there, the ceiling disappeared and the stars appeared. It was just delightful. Best. Nap. Ever. 

Day 35

Everyone seemed to be communicating in roars today. ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAR!!!!! ROAR!! RAAAAAAAOR!! I didn't understand a thing. A hundred and ten different dialects of roar! Blimey! My ears are still ringing!

Day 42

Little Timmy paid for his projector using five hundred penny coins. It was past midnight when he finally finished counting them. By then everyone had left, even his parents.

Day 63

The pterosaurs gliders came to life this afternoon. They caused utter mayhem, flitting around the whole shop, biting at noses and scratching at heads. The people went crazy, babies cried, the children tried to chase them, they sure looked like they were having a good time, the gliders and the kids, that is...

Day 87

Baby Peter took a dump on the shop floor today, it was bright pink and quite smelly, just like  Stegosaurus droppings. Completely gross, of course. 

Day 121

I rode out on a triceratops today, the plush one, it came to life and it was ten times its size. I jumped on and he rode on out of the Museum, straight down to Hyde Park. He stopped off at the fountains for a drink and then we continued on towards the sea.

Last I heard, I'm in big trouble... 

Wimbledon Common II

Crystal Palace Sphinx

Sky over the Common