David J Rodger ¦ Secret Window
| 2003 - South of France - Jo August: Jo's hair was finally growing back after most of it got chopped off, following the removal of the braids she'd put in for New Zealand. This was my second visit to the South of France, my second summer with Jo as my lady.
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| 2003 - South of France - Djr August
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2003 - Barcelona - Djr, Oj August: Another trip to South of France. After a couple days of lying on the beach and swimming in an ocean that was 28C, Jo and I jumped on a train to Barcelona. The air con on the train led me into a false perception of temperature. I thought Barcelona would have been cooler than France. Dead wrong. The heat was insane and as the day wore on, it became unbearable. I so love the cold. But the heat I could not escape from. Memory of getting back to my hotel room, collapsing on the bed and not moving for four hours. Staring at the wooden support struts of the ceiling and thinking they looked like the gate of some medieval fortress, trapping me inside. Luckily, Jo returned later in the evening and lured me out. That's when I discovered the wonder of Barcelona. Wacky street performers, two men with huge eyeballs mounted inside cardboard boxes on thier heads that tracked people as they walked by, street-side bars; Jo and I sat at one of these bars drinking and watching the world stroll past. Next day we were up and out early. My favourite parts of the city are Gaudi's park and the wonderful arrangement of medieval streets that are still lived in, daubed in reactionary graffiti, scrubbed clean every day yet never shifting the centuries-deep grime |
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell - Djr I kept thinking of the William Gibson novel. |
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell - Oj
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell
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2003 - Barcelona / Park Guell August: Walking down from the crucifix structure I spotted a butterfly setting down on a tree. I've had a strange thing with butterflys cropping up in places in my life, sometimes in sealed rooms, often at unique moments. I got close enough to snap one shot before it flew away, but then to my delight it glided round and came back right at me, almost hovering in front of my camera before darting off and then coming back again and again. I was giggling and spinning round in circles as this thing kept zipping around me.
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2003 - Barcelona / Sagrada Familial
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2003 - Barcelona / Sagrada Familial External towers and facade.
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2003 - Barcelona / Rambla Del Mar One of my favourite parts of Barcelona if only for the relief from the stiffling airless heat of the Old City in full afternoon sun. There is a fab place to eat and drink here called the Tapas Bar. Jo and I (you can see us both in one of the reflected panels) ate there twice in one day, and I went back the next day for brunch because it was just soooo good. Memory: ice cold wine, crab sticks and advocado with shredded tomato.
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2003 - Barcelona / Catedral de Barcelona As I drifted through the cloisters (was still very early so barely any tourists) I spotted this priest striding through, or rather gliding through. He must have been 80 years old at least but there was something magical with the way he floated at speed clutching his leather valaise. I decided to follow him. He led me out through a small open doorway and into a labyrinth of lanes and squares. I imagined following him through another archway and suddenly finding myself stepping into Medieval Barcelona. |
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2003 - Barcelona / Old City Memory: walking through a network of alleyways, not a soul in sight, then hearing this aria coming from an open window above me. Standing there a while, just listening.
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2003 - South of France - Djr This was the trip Jo's cousin Charlotte came over - a whole day with three to four of us trying to clamber onto an inflatable crocodile in the ocean.
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2003 - The Happy Flat - Nadia August: I got onto the bus after the gym one night and got chatting to this girl next to me. We hit it off like a house on fire - swapped numbers, then she came over later the same night to eat Chinese and watch DVD's. Saw her a couple more times but then the fun seemed to fizzle out. |
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2003 - Peru (image from) - Simon P Simon and his wife Vicky dumped thier jobs, packed away thier lives into boxes, left London and embarked on a world sorjourn. They're now a few months in. Some fab images coming back. Although whenever Simon E-mails me he gives a couple lines about his travels...but then launches into an entire essay on Game. He's talking about moving back to Bristol. |
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2003 - The Park Bar - Sarah C Sarah C used to work for me at the Agency. The past few months have seen a lovely routine forming between us, of leaving work together, driving fast to some burger bar where I can secretly fulfill my craving for junk food, before grabbing a movie with her. This was the night we met up with James Mad Biologist... his cousin, Douglas Coupland was in town to read from his new book H-- N----------!, and James had invited me to come along and meet him. Sarah joined us. Rather than junk food I devoured udon noodles from Wagamama, rather than coke or coffee, I drank wine. Douglas Coupland put on an entertaining performance, droll humour, clever pauses, great timing, and funny anecdotes that had all the audience laughing. |
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2003 - Gary Numan I was seven, in 1978, when I got the album Replicas - Tubeway Army. Numan's discordant style of singing, and cold machine-love lyrics created alien landscapes in my vivid imagination. They meshed with my descent into the Mythos in '84, and embraced me during my fusion of cyberpunk and Mythos in the late '90s. Numan has always been there, despite the sad fact for him he was in publicity exile for about fifteen years. This was due to lambasting from journalists who did not understand or tolerate his ragged break away from the norm. Most people only recall Numan for Are Friends Electric, or Cars, and for that he is referred to as the grandaddy of electronica. But Numan's music goes far beyond electronica. He's always had a punk inside of him, and I feel his lyric writing places him in the forefront of early cyberpunk culture, "Me I disconnect from you," and, "I'm in the building where they make us grow," and so many other soundbits of man/machine-humans playing God in a frightening techno-society. Numan's soul was already in the 21st century back in the 1970's. Numan's music has evolved with every album. From the machine-code culture of Replicas and the Pleasure Principle, through the Post-Apocalyptic vibe of Warriors, the soft jazz film noir atmosphere of Dance, and I Assassin, the blue frenzy of Berserker, and into the more slowly evolving period of Strange Charm through to Sacrifice, breaking out again with the brilliant Exile. The album 'Pure' is a blinding piece of work, obvious collaboration with Trent Reznor - Mr Nine Inch Nails - has given Numan's sound a powerful new edge. |
| 2003 - The Happy Flat - Jo September: this was the summer of "bruised dumpling" weekends following our return from New Zeland.
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2003 - Joe Cubas Cafe / Bristol - Djr, Philippe T
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2003 - Turnmills / London - Devina, Djr, Jenny The Park August: I did another trip to London, this time to see Jenny The Park. |
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2003 - London - View from Louis W's Sky Palace August: I got back from Turnmills to Louis W's at 7am. Louis had slept with a mobile phone on his pillow so he could let me in when I rang him. Little angel had made me my bed on the Sofa From God, and when I pulled back the duvet there was a little birthday card. Lovely. Louis went back to bed but I sat up buzzing for a while. Chomped the Extra Big pot noodle I managed to buy somewhere outside Turnmills..... the same pot noodle, clutched in my hand on the tube ride back, earned me some scathing looks from other people... I must have looked a right lonely saddo.... going home with a pot noodle.... never the less, twas a delicious snack.
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| 2003 - Old Street London - Banksy I took this shot walking down towards Louis W's sky palace. |
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2003 - London/ Covent Gardens - Ben, Djr, Jenny the Park, Devina August: The weekend expands into a lovely thing. I meet up with Ben, and bring him together with Jenny The Park and Devina. Jo gets in from Bristol and we all have wine in Soho... before Jo and I head off to my birthday treat: Jo's bought us tickets to see The Lion King. |
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2003 - - Covent Gardens / London - Jenny The Park, Devina |
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2003 - Greece (photo from) - Vega$ August: Matthias was unable to come with Jo and I to South of France, so, missing the mad sandcastles on the beach, he decides to go one step further with the whole sand equals construction thing, in Greece. |
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2003 - Greece (photo from) - Vega$ Matthias has been perfecting his House Gymnastics - this is taken from the balcony opposite their hotel room... there's a drop of several stories below him here. |
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2003 - NYC How's this for heights? I love this picture. |
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2003 - Rolf Harris like you never saw him before.
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2003 - Bristol - Vega$ September: Nice Guy Tony got a nice promotion (ITX) which left me needing another backside to fill the empty seat. I call Matthias, and another friend touches down in the NAVC hot seat. |
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2003 - Bristol - Vega$, James Mad Biologist, Djr September: James rapidly becomes a good friend. This is the night we went to Le Monde and I had the best steak since Paris. |
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2003 - Castle of Tranquility- Djr, Vega$, Zed September: Zed's 19th birthday. I don't think we've all been together like this since 1999. One of the guests brought along a bottle of Nitrous Oxide. Oh My God. What a hoot! |
| 2003 - Castle of Tranquility- Vega$ September: The guy is too cool for words. And like Tony, having a working relationship together doesn't appear to affect our personal friendship. He's still living in Ashley Road. |
| 2003 - Castle of Tranquility- Sonja Nitrous smile. |
| 2003 - Castle of Tranquility- Vega$, Zed Nitrous Smiles. |
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2003 - Bristol - Sarah C, Djr September: I left Zed's party buzzing on Nitrous and whisky, got to Creation (Slinky Night) and met up with Sarah and her mate Maxine. |
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2003 - Bristol - Djr, Maxine September: Maxine was a laugh. We all went back to mine after this. Which is when Sarah's man rang up and caused a bit of a scene. I went down to shake his hand and introduce myself. He wanted to burn my house down. |
| 2003 - Bristol - Sarah C September: Sarah grabbed a special place in my life. Always had a laugh with her and was easy to spend time with. Plans are in motion though, she's moving away from England early 2004 - which is a real bummer. |