Jen Harvey

She only ever plays a few notes.
The sounds so small and weak you have to stop and concentrate to hear them.
But most people simply walk on by.
Amid the hubub of the street, her music goes unheard, drowned out by the incessant din of life.
Sometimes you’ll catch a passerby throwing a glance in her direction, confused [...]

Posted on June 25th, 2009 under Amsterdam, Miscellaneous Musings. Comments: None

Sick of turning on the TV and being bombarded with doom and gloom on all fronts. So this is my doom be gone! playlist, guaranteed to cheer up even the most pessimistic of doomsayers
Yes, there are a few Scottish bands in there, but hey, we’re a happy lot, us Scots :-p

Posted on May 4th, 2009 under Miscellaneous Musings. Comments: None

I’m peddling along the Prinsengracht, late in the afternoon. Dawdling really, because it’s a go slow kind of day, because it’s warm and the trees are green and the tourists are out and about again, mulling around outside the Anne Frank House, and not looking where they’re going. Which always makes me laugh for some [...]

Posted on April 22nd, 2009 under Amsterdam, Miscellaneous Musings. Comments: None

There must have been something so absolute about it, so certain about it, when he looked down.
A 54 metre drop. 110,000 cubic metres of water plunging over the edge each minute. The froth and rage of water as it hits the Niagara River.
You throw yourself into that abyss expecting nothing other than obliteration.
How does it [...]

Posted on March 12th, 2009 under Miscellaneous Musings. Comments: None

It’s not possible to write anything to do this magnificent musician justice. So I’ll let the music speak for itself, because that, after all, was what John Martyn was about.
Thank you for the music.

Posted on January 30th, 2009 under Miscellaneous Musings. Tags: John Martyn. Comments: None

[I went for a walk with the dog. This is what I encountered]
Perhaps it was the wind that caught him unaware. After a week of damp south westerlies there was a sudden about turn. A sharp chill from the east that brought with it deceptively blue skies and a last hurrah of summer enthusiasm.
In [...]

Posted on September 17th, 2008 under Amsterdam, Miscellaneous Musings. Tags: Amsterdam, death, pigeon, things you see on the street, walk. Comments: None

The sign above the door should have alerted me I suppose.
Boutique.
No mere shop this. No, this was a sophisticated outlet, catering for the more discerning fashionista.
Despite this, I went in.
Those who know me well will be the first to admit that when it comes to fashion, indeed to attire in general, I am detached [...]

Posted on September 1st, 2008 under Miscellaneous Musings, Parenthood. Tags: Children, Fashion, Parenthood. Comments: None

In 1954, my father, then just fifteen years old, made a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
It was, by all accounts, a life affirming trip, made all the more memorable by the monumental effort it had taken my father, and his friends from the local youth club, to raise the necessary funds.
For three years they had toiled away [...]

Posted on August 25th, 2008 under Miscellaneous Musings, Religion, Travel. Tags: France, Lourdes, Religion, Travel. Comments: None

We’re at the zoo, sitting in the small garden, just watching the people go by.
When you’re only one year old, it’s the comings and goings of people that remain fascinating, rather than the idle lounging of lions or water buffalo.
From her vantage point on the lawn, Helena watches the people come and go, babbling and [...]

Posted on May 19th, 2008 under Miscellaneous Musings, Parenthood. Tags: Helena, Parenthood. Comments: None