http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/ Nothing but the truth... (Armin Grewe's Weblog) en-gb Copyright 2009, Armin Grewe blog@ministryofpropaganda.co.uk (Armin Grewe) Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:15:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/images/rss-propaganda.gif http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/ 140 70 http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100320-boatfire.shtml Quite a lot going on the canal at the moment: British Waterways have gone ahead with the felling of the Poplar Trees in Aldermaston Wharf, most of them are gone by now. However, that is not what this entry is about, I'll write about the trees in a week or so once they are all gone. Today I'm going to mention a boat fire I now see the results of in the morning. I go jogging along the canal towards Woolhampton every morning. The last few months I passed a small sports boat every morning, wondering if it was abandoned as I never saw anyone in it. On Thursday morning I was greeted with this sight: [More about the boat fire on the Kennet and Avon Canal (with three pictures of the aftermath) in the full entry] Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:15:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100320-boatfire.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100213-poplartrees.shtml One of the reasons I moved to Aldermaston Wharf are the lovely Poplar trees lining the canal outside of my flat. During the summer they provide some nice shade while during the winter when the leaves are gone they still let light into the flat. They are very tall, so any visitor is getting a first view when driving into Mallard Way on the way to Lockside Court: [Read more about the poplar trees, see pictures of them and learn why they will soon be all gone in the full entry] Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:43:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100213-poplartrees.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100109-snowtree.shtml The 'novelty' is wearing off a bit and I'm getting a bit bored with all that snow. In a way 'cabin fever' is setting in as well, having involuntarily worked from home the last three days with the roads being so treacherous. Yet there are still nice points: At lunchtime today I went for a long run along the Kennet and Avon Canal, from Aldermaston Wharf to Midgham Lock (3.5 miles one way, I think, i.e. 7 miles return). I took a lot of pictures of the snowy landscape, but this only happened by chance, and I really like it: [View a picture of snow covered tree branches against a blue sky in the full entry] Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:28:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100109-snowtree.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100108-snowmen.shtml Unless you are a hermit you will have noticed that it currently is rather cold in the UK and we had a lot of snow, so much snow that almost the whole country has been turned white. Many pictures and videos have been published about the snow and what comes with it, so I thought I might as well add mine as well. For this evening they are of the Snowgiant and his wife as well as some icicles: [View the pictures of the giant snowman with his wife and some icicles in Aldermaston Wharf in the full entry] Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:55:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100108-snowmen.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100101-newyearswalk.shtml Happy New Year! Time to get used to writing 2010 instead of 2009. While the snow from just before Christmas is now all gone New Years Day in West Berkshire turned out to be a very nice day. I spent the morning and lunchtime listening to the New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic while having some nice food and later on opening a bottle of Bruichladdich PC8 Islay single malt whisky. A good start into the new year. Then I went for a walk along the canal in the afternoon: [More about my New Years Day walk to Woolhampton with 5 pictures in the full entry] Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:26:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2010propaganda/20100101-newyearswalk.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091220-gloaming.shtml The (long) weekend finished as it had begun, with snow and wonderful weather. Some of the snow from Friday was still around and a further dusting had been added over night. Not much, but enough to make it all look pretty again. Through the day we had brilliant sunshine with clear skies, leading to some fantastic light after sunset, also known as 'the gloaming' or twilight. [View three pictures of Aldermaston Wharf in the gloaming on a brilliant winter evening in the full entry] Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:25:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091220-gloaming.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091218-snowycanal.shtml Should today turn out to be the only nice snowy day this winter I picked the right day to take a day off. While it wasn't very much snow it was enough to make the landscape along the Kennet and Avon Canal look very nice. When the sun came out late in the morning I went for a long run along the canal, all the way from the lock between Froudes bridge and Aldermaston Wharf to Midgham Lock (near Thatcham) and back. Here are a few pictures I took during the run: [View the six pictures of the Kennet and Avon Canal in the snow in the full entry] Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:53:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091218-snowycanal.shtml Armin Grewe http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091121-cityhall.shtml Long time readers of this blog will know that I quite like Idlewild. Recently I bought their latest album, Post Electric Blues, which I've been listening to quite a lot. A few days ago I found a nice video of them playing an acoustic version of 'City Hall' on FlyTV, Idlewild // In The Courtyard to be precise. A very nice version I think: [Watch a video of Idlewild performing City Hall live acoustic in the full entry] Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:50:00 GMT http://www.ministryofpropaganda.co.uk/2009propaganda/20091121-cityhall.shtml Armin Grewe