Leonard Cohen recites “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae

Rain drifts gently down from a milky grey sky. There’s not a breath of wind and the sound of footsteps is all that can be heard. Ahead loom two huge pillars thrusting upwards through the drizzle. a standing figure gradually comes into focus between the pillars, resting like Samson against the wet marble, one arm holding a torch high in the air. Another figure lies spread-eagled across what could be an alter. The weather seems appropriate to view this sombre reminder of the many Canadian soldiers who fought so valiantly at the battle of Vimy Ridge in WW1. To the left of the steps a semi-naked figure reclines, gazing down on a piece of cloth draped across her lap. Capital - We need proverbs because they reflect who we are Proverbs. They’re old-fashioned, folksy, pithy — and everywhere. From old chestnuts like “no pain, no gain” to sports wisdom like “the best offence is a good defence”, there seems to be a proverb for everything. There’s good reason: proverbs touch on just about every aspect of life, providing a connection to truths that go beyond one person or any single moment in time. Proverbs have many names: they can be called axioms, old saws, sayings and adages. Defining a proverb isn’t easy, but like pornography, most people believe they know one when they see it.

Remembrance Day in delhi, India - November 11th, 2012 Pictures filed with London News Pictures where they can be licensed for editorial usage, or via my Photoshelter site where professionally-produced prints can also be ordered.. Remembrance Day was the first day of my two week trip travelling through Delhi & Rajasthan. Links to my other posts covering the trip are at the foot of this post. [photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000vowiga3Htik’ g_name=’Remembrance-Day-Delhi-11-11-12′ width=’600′ f_fullscreen=’t’ bgtrans=’t’ pho_credit=’iptc’ twoup=’f’ f_bbar=’t’ f_bbarbig=’f’ fsvis=’f’ f_show_caption=’t’ crop=’f’ f_enable_embed_btn=’t’ f_htmllinks=’t’ f_l=’t’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’f’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ f_topbar=’f’ f_show_watermark=’t’ img_title=’casc’ linkdest=’c’ trans=’xfade’ target=’_self’ tbs=’5000′ f_link=’t’ f_smooth=’f’ f_mtrx=’t’ f_ap=’t’ f_up=’f’ height=’400′ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ ] * Delhi & Diwali * Udaipur & Ranakpur

Tales from the bar - a tour of London's 'great pubs' Image copyright Charlie Dailey Giant oak wine barrels sit above the bar of the Cittie of Yorke in Holborn - which is more reminiscent of a great hall in a Tudor mansion than than a traditional pub. The jury is out as to whether or not the massive casks were ever used as genuine storage vessels - or simply part of the inn's Tudor makeover in the 1920s. In Flanders Fields What did WWI inspire to the poets ?What messages did WWI poems convey ?Final task : you are invited for a ceremony on Remembrance Day and you are asked to read a poem.

Culture - What’s inside the Queen’s handbag? Her Majesty the Queen has never yielded to fashion’s whims. As royal designer Sir Norman Hartnell said rather sternly to The New York Times in 1953: “The Queen and the Queen Mother do not want to be fashion setters. That is left to other people with less important work to do.” Dolce et Decorum est Lesson 2 : Ducle et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen (1917) Describe the image.Read the title then click on the icon to understand the meaning. Ducle et Decorum est is a poem written by Wildred Owen during World War I. The 50 Most Influential Gadgets of All Time Think of the gear you can't live without: The smartphone you constantly check. The camera that goes with you on every vacation. The TV that serves as a portal to binge-watching and -gaming. Each owes its influence to one model that changed the course of technology for good. It's those devices we're recognizing in this list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time.

A new poem by Carol Ann Duffy, a sonnet in which the poet laureate mourns the “wound in Time” left by the first world war, will be read aloud on beaches on Armistice Day as part of a nationwide gesture of remembrance for next month’s centenary. The poem, published on Monday, was commissioned by the director and producer Danny Boyle as part of his commemoration of Armistice Day, Pages of the Sea, which will see thousands of people gathering on beaches in the UK and the Republic of Ireland at low tide on 11 November. As well as readings of Duffy’s poem, the event will see the portrait of a casualty from the war, designed by sand artists Sand in Your Eye, drawn into the sand on beaches around the country, until it is washed away by the tide. “I hope that Carol Ann Duffy’s poem will be something that you’ll read privately as individuals, or with friends, or publicly among people on the beach on 11 November,” said Boyle.

Leap Year 2016: It's nearly February 29th - but why is there an extra day every four years? Why does the extra day fall in February? All the other months in the Julian calendar have 30 or 31 days, but February lost out to the ego of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus. Under his predecessor Julius Caesar, February had 30 days and the month named after him - July - had 31. The Wound in Time. Read the tile : what is a wound ? What does it mean ?When was the poem composed ? Culture - Are these the most iconic fashion items ever? “Fashion is the essence of everything that’s going on at any time,” says Paola Antonelli, a senior curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, MoMA. “Because what people wear is the immediate expression of the moods, the feelings and the ideas of a moment.” The exhibition, Items: Is Fashion Modern? explores the fascinating factors and characteristics that make certain pieces of clothing timeless or symbolic, and takes an in-depth look at what our clothes can tell us about our past, our present and our future.

Culture - Jugaad: An untranslatable word for winging it You know that feeling when you improvise something in a pinch but may seem unusual to an outside observer? Well, turban-wearing Punjabi men who are driving a motorcycle and want to use their mobile came up with a clever solution: they put the phone in their turban, so they can talk hands-free. That idea of patching something together in a very makeshift way to get a result you want is common in India.