Tick, tock, tick, tock... Captain Hook may be scared of that repetitive sound, but I am personally delighted. Each iteration is another second that gets us closer to my annual highlight. Although a couple years back I could have cursed that frozen water which stranded me twice in twelve months in France and the US, the white powder has since regained its place in my heart. I was in Seattle last week for what was the second anniversary of my crazy flight back home, my heart skipped a beat when I heard of snowfalls in Europe. An ambiguous mixture of anxiety and anticipation. But since the UK was spared for now, the earlier gave easily way to the positivity.
However Some say that positivism is always a tiny step away from lunacy. I think that this video speak for it. Best watch in full screen mode...
So let's conclude this weekly post with a philosophical touch. As a way to reassure myself that my fixation on snow flakes is nothing but enlightenment:
"The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself." Lao Tzu (6th Century BC)
It is this time of the year yet again! If autumn is usually synonymous of doom, gloom, spleen... For me it is an Ideal. Autumn first of all is a brilliant subject for photography. I loved walking the Japanese back-country a few years ago to capture its reddening. I like clicking around the parks in Paris or elsewhere to snap as the ground blends with the remainder of the canopy. More recently I have started enjoying sharing with my little one the exhilarating feeling to kick dead leaves around (a shared pleasure I can testify).
But one more reason for enjoying fall as our friends from the other side of the Atlantic refer to it... is that it precedes Winter! This year, more than ever, I have been looking forward to the first snow flake. Dreams of deep snow-covered slopes have been haunting me. Ski magazines have materialised on my bed-side table. Internet session history have logged more and more time on sites like this one or this one... I have always been impatient. This year will not be an exception.
And to conclude with another appropriate quote from my home country:
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower". Albert Camus (1913-1960)
After a well-deserved break during which I realised that a growing number of Brits are slowly but surely adopting French best practices like "bridging", I was back in London this week-end. And I loved the sight of this sign. I already wrote about UK's unique relationship to time in an article called "Lost time is never found again", but Jacob Von Hogflug brings it to a whole new level...
To accompany my Saturday shots, I tend to look for an intelligent quote... But I think I will opt for something more popular... straight from the pop iconic musical "Rocky Horror Show":
"It's astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
But listen closely
Not for very much longer
I've got to keep control
I remember doing the Time Warp
Drinking those moments when
The blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling
Let's do the Time Warp again
Let's do the Time Warp again
It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let's do the Time Warp again
Let's do the Time Warp again"
Richard "Ritz" O'Brien (1942-)
