Showing 1-50 of 1,249 posts. Most recent first | Next 50  
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
  
|
  
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  
|
|
|
|
Showing 1-50 of 1,249 posts. Most recent first | Next 50
A long time Cope fan from Essex who discovered 'the Great Outdoors' at about the same time M'lud Yatesbury put out Jehovahkill..... some time back, then. Got into the 'stones' - and generally all prehistoric stuff - through stumbling [sometimes literally] into them when out and about on the Welsh hills... usually in the pouring rain ..... and thinking, 'you know, perhaps the Drude's actually onto something with all those crazy sleeve notes?' Perhaps... so it was the ancient mountain-top cairns you must cite as the origin of a prolonged case of 'Gladmania', for better or worse. I hope it's the latter....
I've travelled extensively around Britain and Ireland ever since in an ongoing attempt to try and determine - at first hand - the relationship these magical, hauntingly evocative places have with the human psyche. Why do they possess such a fascination for some, yet are dismissed as 'piles of old stones' by others? Why are TMA-ers like myself not satisfied with the proverbial 'beach holiday in Benidorm?' It would appear the reasons are multiplex, but I would cite stunning scenery, close encounters with wildlife, the appreciation of exquisite forms of sculpture and the sheer joie de vivre of experiencing nature head on - whilst attempting to understand our own fleeting role in the tapestry of time - as ample reward for those willing to brave a little discomfort. Hey, you even have to exercise the grey matter a little and can write about it afterwards.
The onset of dodgy knees - it happens to us all in the end - has meant you're just as likely to find me hanging out within a 'circle than upon a summit cairn these days. But I still have my moments....... having said that, I make no special claim for my contributions. My images are scans of prints (pending a long resisted, but inevitable move into digital) and I'm certainly no more than a very amateur, albeit enthusiastic, field archaeologist. So please forgive (and kindly correct) the occasional error and I'll do my best to avoid any lapse into trendy 'New Ageism', which I believe not only be-littles the immense physical achievements of our ancestors, but also mis-represents the manner in which they related to their surroundings in a metaphysical sense, too. Suffice to say if I can add a little to the enormous efforts of everyone else, help celebrate these marvellous places throughout these marvellous islands of ours and hopefully make myself a better human being in the process... that'll do for me.
So cheers... to Mr Cope for being his inspirational, confrontational self, showing that field archaeology can be FUN! - hey, who'd have thought it? ...to my sister for being the living incarnation of Mam Cymru, using her female 'macro' vision to help me see the detail throughout an ongoing re-exploration of the South Walian uplands... to my own mam for insisting 'young men should have adventures'.... my Dad for inspiring a profound love of high places with tales of climbing Snowdon 'in Jack's old shoes'... and to Aubrey for simply being 'The Man'. You know who I'm talking about!
Some of Gladman's other 'inspirations' include:
George Orwell, Charles Darwin, Michael Collins, Karen Matheson, Will Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Martin Gore, Richard Dawkins, William Wilberforce, Shane MacGowan, Sophie Scholl, (the one and only) W A Mozart, Manic Street Preachers, Pat Jennings, King Harold II (what a difference half an hour or so would have made!), Gromit, Hugh Dowding/Keith Park and 'The Few', Marc Almond, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Kurt Gerstein, Harvey Milk, John Le Mesurier (perhaps the coolest man ever?), Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider, Jeremy Brett, Scooby and Shaggy..... and ...last but not least, Belfast musician Jake Burns for hollering the line 'Question everything you're told!' into my teenage ears. Sound advice, indeed, my friend.
Take care and make time to feel the wind in your hair. If you have any, that is.
|
|
Log in |
Register
Top of page