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Another
life!
There
is, of course, more to life than work. Needless to say, I would
have preferred if someone had told me that before I chose a career
in graphic design. Be that as it may, occasional breaks in work
afford me time to do other things, such as wood turning and other
craft activities.
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Wood
turning is the ideal therapy after a day staring at a computer
monitor. I only use native timber from trees felled by storms
or, through necessity, by a tree surgeon. Often this means
the tree was diseased or even dead when it was taken down.
Whilst much of the timber may be rotten, you will often manage
to get your hands on some very nice material. In many cases,
a fungal infection causes 'spalting' in the timber - a dark,
threadlike effect that can look very attractive in a finished
item.
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Click
on any of the small images above to view a larger
image.
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In
a previous art college life, I also enjoyed skinning my knees
on Dublin's gritty pavements in the pursuit of art (and beer
money). The proof is here, should you need it!
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Seeing
as nature sometimes conspires to rob birdlife of suitable
trees in which to nest, you can, albeit temporarily, get
your own back and make some nesting boxes.
These
are put together with scrap timber, and do actually work!
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Of
course, one must endeavour to keep fit in this relatively
sedentary lifestyle. What better way than to take a light
jog around Dublin? In this case, I decided to have some company,
and chose to include about 10,000 other lunatics who also
thought it might be a good idea to do the Dublin City Marathon.
This was way back in 2001, and no, I won't reveal my time
(unless you are a long -term client of mine who pays me lots
of money...)
In
case you're wondering (about the photo), nobody is looking
at me as there is obviously something far more interesting
behind me. In addition, I drove myself in that morning, ran
the race on my own, and then drove home again. Thanks, everyone.
Duly noted in my Christmas card list.
More
recently I have taken up rugby again after a short break of
about 22 years... short break might be an apt phrase in this
context. I have only been in training since Christmas 2003
and my list of injuries would be impressive for a stunt man
or full-time team tag wrestler...
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to explain this one? Well, basically this is me as a specialist
extra on the film set of King
Arthur.
I could bore you with lots of stories about how and why I came
to be standing here, dressed as a 6th Century Anglo-Saxon warrior,
but it occurs to me that it might be more fun for you to have
to think about it for a while. Unlike the guarded secret that
is my marathon time, I can be tempted to regale those within
earshot with hilarious stories from the set (well, I think so,
anyway...) |
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