“What has happened to the children who once played freely on the streets?”
This question was asked by british artist Bruno Taylor, as part of a new project to explore public spaces, and their use.
“71% of adults used to play on the streets when they were young. 21% of children do so now. Are we designing children and play out of the public realm?
This project is a study into different ways of bringing play back into public space. It focuses on ways of incorporating incidental play in the public realm by not so much as having separate play equipment that dictates the users but by using existing furniture and architectural elements that indicate playful behaviour for all.
It asks us to question the current framework for public space and whether it is sufficient while also giving permission for young people to play in public.
I’m vaguely entertaining the idea of getting a new desk as part of moving to my new house.
Through some random occurrence on the internet, I came across these guys, who have manual and electrically-adjustable desks, in heights from about 25” to 50-some”.
Having just contacted Rockford (the local distributor) today to get price information, I came across this link in my RSS reader, not 30 minutes later….
Even though I don’t shoot film, it looks pretty sweet.
You take half day off, sleep in, are well rested, get ready and head to the title company.
There you meet up with your Realtor and the representative from your mortgage lender.
Then you meet with the representative for the title company, sign all your paperwork, sign away your firstborn AND second-born.
It wasn’t actually THAT bad. In the whole process, it was rather anti-climactic. I signed a bunch of paper, initialed a few pages, and we told lots of stories (and discussed good restaurants).
And then it hit me. I now own a house. Well, mostly.
After lunch, and after I got to work, the phone started ringing incessantly.
The title company called, we missed a signature on one of the million pages.
The mortgage lender called, they had an error in underwriting, and needed some extra paperwork to explain my mother’s gift of money to me (to help with funding the house).
The insurance guy called, and during the conversation we found out he hadn’t sent me the paperwork to sign yet.
This was followed by the most expensive next 30 minutes of cellphone time. 2 calls to Norway, several calls to the bank, lender, title company, etc.
I think it’s all good, and as far as I know, I’m still the owner of a new (to me) house.
I am sorry, dear readers, for having neglected you as I have for the last few weeks.
Life has been rather busy and eventful - so it’s been difficult to find ways to express everything in a concise manner, without taking to run-on sentences, excessive blather, et cetera.
(Blah, blah, stop avoiding the subject, Dom)
Fine, fine.
Here goes:
I am getting closer on the house purchase. Against all odds, the government and the banks decided to approve my financing. After 10am tomorrow (Tuesday) I’ll have a house. My very own house.)
I spent an evening a few weeks ago with some fellow photographers making images. Surprisingly enough, the image I like the most, didn’t get popular. Another one did instead. Strange.
I was coerced to attend a wedding for Memorial Weekend (under duress.) Nah, it wasn’t really that bad, just hot, humid and sweaty. All ingredients in a Texas summer wedding. I happened to take some photographs while there, carefully avoiding upsetting the photographer they had hired. I think I did well— we ended up exchanging business cards and lighting/equipment tips at the end of the day.
In my own infinite wisdom, I spent Memorial Day outside in the heat sweating while looking for small hidden containers. This is also known as geocaching, and apparently a dangerous summer sport in Texas. (I spent the evening recovering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. (Despite having drank water - apparently not enough.)
Did I mention I’m closing on my house tomorrow?
(Yes, you did.)
I spent this last Saturday floating down the Guadalupe river in an inner tube. Being a very common Texas recreational activity, it was much fun. On the downside, I did lose my sunglasses— on the bright side, they weren’t my expensive prescription ones.
I did bring a camera on this trip, but it wasn’t without it’s own problems. The LCD on the back was broken (effectively shooting blind), and we briefly lost the camera + photos toward the end of the trip. I’ll let y’all know when those photos are up.
