Salt

Chemists define the mineral halite, or common table salt, as sodium chloride (NaCl). The combination of sodium, an unstable metal that burns when wet, and chloride, a derivative of the poisonous gas chlorine, creates the world's most widely used preservative and food condiment.

 

It's Been One Week

Monday 4th March                                                                              Monday 11th March

The difference one week can make

The Elster-Saale Canal

The construction of the Canal was drafted in 1926. It was meant to connect Leipzig with the river Saale near the village of Kreypau. Work started at Burghausen near Leipzig in July 1933. The construction work was stopped in February 1943 because of the war. Less than 11.5 km of the canal were finished.

This canal would have given Leipzig access to the Elbe via the Saale and thus to Hamburg and the North Sea. The canal was planned for ships up to 1,000 tonnes in weight. Plans to resurrect the building of the canal were drawn up in February 2007.

The Sun Rising

The Sun Rising by John Donne

Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windows, and through curtains call on us?

Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?

Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide

Late school boys and sour prentices,

Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,

Call country ants to harvest offices,

Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,

Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

Buildings in Black and White

A balconet (or balconette) is an architectural term to describe a false balcony, often referred to as "Juliet balconies"

Ivy acts as a thermal blanket, warming up walls by an average of 15 per cent in cold weather and cooling the surface temperature of the wall in hot weather by an average of 36 per cent.

The Thames Estuary

The River Thames is the longest river entirely in England, stretching 215 miles (346 km). It has always been important as an economic resource, a water highway, a boundary, a fresh water source; a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. But it has not always been a pleasent river to be near. In 1957 the National History Museum declared the River Thames as biologically dead. How bad was it?

On September 3, 1878, The Princess Alice, a passenger paddle steamer set off on the "Moonlight Trip" from Swan Pier near London Bridge to Gravesend and Sheerness. At around 7.40pm, as the steamer was approaching the North Woolwich Pier, the half way point in its journey and where many passengers were to disembark, she collided with the Newcastle bound vessel SS Bywell Castle and split into two.

366

366 was a year long project, that started on February 1st 2012 and ended on January 31st 2013. By filming every day of the year and picking a few seconds from each day 366 was created.

Thank you to everyone who tolerated me filming them, even if most people never asked what I was doing. Special thanks goes to Anna and Simone. You know why...

Music by month:

February Stars - Foo Fighters

March into the Sea - Modest Mouse

Wake Up April - The Promise Ring

Month of May - Arcade Fire

June on the West Coast - Bright Eyes

July Flame - Laura Veirs

August 8th - NoFX

September Morn - Neil Diamond

October - Jonas Alaska

November Rain - Guns 'N' Roses

Black Day in December - Said the Whale

January Hymn - The Decemberists