Saturday 7 November 2020

The Leviathan

Leviathan is a biblical name for a sea monster, big water serpent or a whale. In the Bible it was a symbol of a devil power.

There has been a footage circulating on the  internet, which shows a scary scene. In the waters off California coast, a woman surfing on a kayak was nearly swallowed by a whale. The giant animal jumped out suddenly from the deep, while hunting the shoal of fish. The woman was lucky, it was near miss.

Less lucky was Rainer Schnepf, a scuba diver, filming in 2019 in the waters of Republic of South Africa. Out of the blue, he found himself in the mouth of a whale, who was chasing sardines. Fortunately, the big mammal  spat out the man before long, evidently finding him not to its taste. It reminds me the story of Jonas, who according to Bible jumped out to the sea from a ship, and thanks to God's intervention, wasn't drown, but was gulped down by a big fish ( most probably it was a whale). Jonas spent 3 days inside big monster, to be eventually spat out safely on the shore. It makes me think, what was the real inspiration for creation of the story of Jonas ?



Sunday 26 October 2014

Bloody morning


The morning was gloomy ; at 7 am when I got up there was still dark outside the window , or at least just a little better than in the middle of the night . I have never liked getting up from bed very early morning - because of this weird, overwhelming feeling of darkness creeping around . I didn't have to get up so early for a long period of time and actually had forgotten about this feeling by this time  . Anyway , I jumped out of  my bed and took a quick shower . And when I was in the kitchen , I looked through the window and it was getting brighter - the sunrise came over . I watched the fast-rolling dark clouds and red-orange sky in the background with fascination . I felt like in the other world - it was worth waking up early morning to experience this phenomena .

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Yes or No ?

The final date is so close; this Thursday . The future of the country will be decided : not only the future of Scotland , but of the whole of United Kingdom .

So the question is ; Yes or No - for the Independent Scotland . However , as I have been following the public dispute over that matter , at last I can see there is a clash of interests . Nothing has change over centuries in Scotland . Like before , the main line of division is the conflict between traditions , national pride against maintaining financial benefits of being in the Union . Pretty the same as at the time of declaring the Act of Union , back three hundred years ago . Poor but patriotic Highlanders standing behind the lost cause of Stewarts and english-speaking population of "Lowlands" ,  happy with Union for its financial support .

What "No" campaigne says is that the Scottish will be poorer ,  less safe .
"Yes" campaigners say - we will be independent from the Westminster .

As to me , the result depends on the level of conformism and fear , not ideology . To be safe or to risk being independent .

Sunday 22 June 2014

Man v Birds

On this planet human race is a dominant kind ; other species are no match . Since the time of Industrial Revolution , Homo Sapience have transformed lands and oceans in the name of progress . Wildlife retreats as a result of fast urbanisation ,extensive farming and pollution . That's well known fact . However , few species have adopted to this situation and even thrive well alongside us. Like rats or more recently , foxes moving to cities . And undoubtedly  birds , which learnt perfectly how to coexist with us , people . But I am not sure if those flying creatures are so welcome anymore . Unlike rats which are respectful towards people keeping  mainly off underground , birds have no respect whatsoever . Nowadays they are often consider as pests . For instance , I have heard stories how nasty could be flocks of starlings - large flying squadrons of these birds make such a noise , not to mention birds' droppings . In Rome the city council scares flocks of these little aerial acrobats emitting sounds of  birds of pray. Another example , seagulls venturing from the coastal areas - it seems they perfectly know where and when is a bin collection day , leaving mess around on early mornings .
Recently a woman in Glasgow who has been a victim of a sea gull's attack , sued an owner of the building for not removing  bird's nest from the roof .Having heard that news on the radio , I thought that Alfred Hitchcock creating his " Birds " had had to be inspired by similar stories .
On my daily route to my place I pass under two sets of bridges , where I observe a regular battle between man and birds. Between civilisation and intruding nature . All because of pigeons perching on the ledges , clinging wherever they can  . To prevent them from sitting there and leaving excrement , rows of iron spikes has been set  on ledges , street lamps .The underbelly of the old iron bridge has been covered with a new wire net , to keep birds away . Sometimes I could hear birds' flutter , trying to get through the net . The service maintaining the bridges did the best to repel pigeons .

All that measures don't seem to work however , as birds are very resilient . To my amazement when I was walking under the bridges recently , I saw a nest located directly on the lamp between prickles and pigeons calmly nesting . What an irony .



Saturday 22 March 2014

Wednesday 12 March 2014

The sky

The last evening the sky was set in fire ; a spectacle that one can observe for free .The Gods are sometimes favourable .

Sunday 2 March 2014

Embracing the wind


Looking at that larch tree , one can say the wind has become a friend of this tree . Instead of resisting the element , the plant got to terms with it .