tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11078507571324795012010-01-01T00:31:28.531ZYatterings of Stephen Woodward....links in pale blue and take you through to related websites....try clicking the titles of the blog as these may take you to related sites. The main themes I'm interested in are: firstly, the Midlands as a social, economic and environmental zone; secondly, psychology, mental health and well-being; thirdly, professional development...happy surfing....Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-45257998856322639172009-12-28T22:28:00.002Z2009-12-28T22:40:44.362Z

Well, an enthralling game of sorts - I did take a large number of shots again - I can't wait for the light to come back so I can take shots without the blur that's created by low light. It's been interesting trying to get to grips with sports photography but I have reached a bit of an early plateau. There are action shots close in on the players that I can take, there are shots of the ball as

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-7393304222487854132009-11-28T20:28:00.010Z2009-12-03T18:29:06.516Z

While many of my views on politics may not be that well thought through and Id say I'm definately not what I'd class as well informed, I think there's a distinct possibility that I am right on a few occasions every now and again regarding a few relatively important issues: the naivity of the Labour Party Leader, Gordon Brown to state there was an end to boom and bust when the UK economy is so

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-77191889987672006072009-10-25T20:57:00.004Z2009-10-25T21:15:17.081Z

After several years away from non-league football, the display of football on Saturday at the home ground of Solihull Moors was a refreshing experience that brought back a number of good memories of the years I supported Moor Green when they played at The Moorlands on Sherwood Road, Hall Green. The quality of the football had improved, Solihull Moors, by my opinion at least frequently outclassing

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-87905039192702343552009-08-29T19:57:00.003+01:002009-08-29T20:06:38.753+01:00

T'was a merry day with very little to show for the effort I was making. At the start of a bank holiday get all of the naff jobs out of the way quite quickly and then get on with a few things that will be a bit more fun. As I was trying to get on with a few of the naff jobs I was hoping that they'd be done and the little ones arrived scampering around the house and garden full of the joys of life.

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-77900714096296222702009-08-28T20:58:00.003+01:002009-08-28T21:07:45.200+01:00

Another job begins and all the questions hanging over the last few jobs I've had seem to evaporate. I've made efforts to get to grips with what was going on in the last few years and while the occasional conscientious employer has tried to get to grips with the issues I've been putting forward, I haven't managed to resolve any of the underlying questions regarding how some people may get pushed

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-88168256972673781912009-07-23T00:43:00.004+01:002009-08-23T14:21:55.770+01:00

Gardening wasn't high on the agenda earlier this year but I must admit to having got some form of bug. It makes me feel like I'm near the sea - that sense of timelessness and freedom away from the pressures of daily strains. There's so much in the way of water just standing around at the top of the garden after a few weeks of rain, I'm wondering if any of it will be used over the coming months

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-79794056909653239982009-06-27T00:30:00.005+01:002009-07-25T11:38:44.248+01:00

The changing man, Mr. Paul Weller, was live at Cannock Chase I guess I can say last night because it was yesterday as we creep into the early hours of Saturday the 27th of June. I watched the gig from a position not too far from the sound desk - the sound was by the way excellent if you do get a chance to see how much better the forestry commission are at organising gigs than they are at saving

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-85981356014649374252009-05-27T13:52:00.007+01:002009-05-27T14:01:58.680+01:00

Both ZappaJazz and Courtney Pine shots are online - nearly a month since I took them...the urgency has gone from my photography at present. Despite having a few ideas of what to take photographs of while I was working on Lower Essex Street, while I was working on the reception of a probation office, I didn't get anything done. I guess the feeling of originality has been lost from much of what I

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-82231911980834451602009-04-18T02:31:00.003+01:002009-04-18T10:39:53.760+01:00

Well, I saw the band, I did the photos and then didn't do anything about them until quite late in the day. I like the band, Grand Pianoramax, quite a lot - it was a pretty good gig but was there something lacking just a little bit somewhere for me - though I'm used to seeing five piece bands all the time these days with only Bee Bop to draw from. I don't think the balance in the band is quite

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-40964655245162233522009-03-03T18:05:00.005Z2009-03-03T19:46:59.395Z

Statistically, it's about ten times more likely that someone in their twenties will suffer from depression than their 1950's counterpart. Some of the 'facts' about depression and the increases in morbidity rates that have taken place in the last fifty years of a number of categories of mental illness are what can only be classed as alarming. I am not convinced that there are the bio-psycho-social

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-53188365084382836982009-02-17T18:55:00.004Z2009-02-17T19:18:18.678Z

It happened to me a few weeks ago. I met someone in a job centre whom I saw going red quite easily...I don't know if I should state this but I think it wasn't our first meeting. I seemed to have some recovered memory as I quite frequently do of an incident which occurred on the canal towpath that I must have been cycling along on my way to work one morning when I worked at Teleperformance. There

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-23001699922204837942009-02-15T08:15:00.003Z2009-02-15T09:07:36.072Z

Dear All, Friday was the funeral of an uncle of mine and later in the day I went along to the Rush Hour Blues in the foyer of Symphony Hall. Uncle Les was a very charismatic type of person to me and my brothers - in some ways he seemed much larger than life. My parents had interests, but they didn't seem quite so colourful or expressive as the things that Les seemed to get up to. He had quite a

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-9466451748579752692009-02-08T21:18:00.002Z2009-02-08T22:01:57.118Z

More duff photographs from the Symphony Hall Foyer Commuter Jazz event which was held on Friday 6th January. Steve Yenga & Crossroad Collision did a couple of good sets which went down really well. I was surprised so many frozen pensioners who seem only to live for jazz on a Friday made so much noise....maybe they weren't put off by the snow because they all come out of a freezer on a Friday

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-32397959899597924352009-02-06T12:19:00.002Z2009-02-06T12:37:22.034Z

It's been a week now since I paid up the funds for the tribunal through tribunal action. I don't feel particularly confident at present, they didn't seem to know what they were doing. Watched a bit of Folk America on BBC4 this week - it was good to see Graham Nash and David Crosby - teach your childrenteach your children is a bit of a classic. Nothing much has happened this week. Can I do a

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-23225301943412798592009-01-30T22:03:00.004Z2009-01-30T22:32:05.289Z

There are a few more shots on flickr of Simon Harris & The Bright Size Gypsies at Rush Hour Blues tonight. It was not a bad show and the sound quality was also pretty good on the whole, guitar solos sounding particularly good. The shots are weak if I say so myself but I like one or two. From a couple of weeks ago, shots of the Barry Green Trio from the 23rd January 2009 are also online. I didn't

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-80206701957788936292009-01-10T01:48:00.003Z2009-01-13T00:13:09.543Z

Chris Aldridge and Beebe were pretty good last night, it was great to see Levi with Brian again. I'll finally get around to buying a CD from them one day.

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-90813148219642026042008-12-28T10:46:00.006Z2008-12-28T22:44:24.361Z

It doesn't seem like that long since I logged in and started writing about what had been happening. It is really feels like only a few days since I last wrote about what I was doing but it’s about a month. I've been pleased on the whole with the last few weeks of my life - I haven't achieved anything special but I have at least stopped drinking and this has left me in a position where I can stop

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-37073238908723320642008-12-01T14:04:00.002Z2008-12-01T14:22:42.462Z

It wasn't much to achieve this weekend but I managed to get my sleeping patterns back in place. I don't know what the research into sleeping patterns involved at the University of Plymouth, but it does strike me as being a good area to research. I don't have major problems with the amount I sleep, what tends to happen is that I don't have a great deal of control over which eight hours in the day

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-73328765206216723922008-11-26T14:21:00.002Z2008-11-26T14:58:58.988Z

I don't know what I was expecting when I booked my ticket for Herbie Hancock at Symphony Hall a few months ago. It was a show that I think probably fell into the ranks of indescipherable progressive jazz that is only of note because of how lacking in melody it can be. I had quite long spells in the gig when I couldn't fathom out what I was meant to be listening to and then almost suddenly, as if

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-89596103670728729482008-11-16T01:32:00.004Z2008-11-16T01:39:54.869Z

Carole Westwood and Archie Cotterell Trio played Rush Hour Blues on Friday. I caught most of the first set which was quite nice - shame her kids got embarassed. I thought they were okay. I went along to the Hall Green Ward Committee meeting held in Hall Green School afterwards which was worth having attended if only to see the how things were handled - I'd only been to Kings Norton Ward meetings

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-63772536950393285962008-11-14T13:18:00.006Z2008-11-14T14:07:48.933Z

It strikes me that in a city the size of Birmingham there are probably a few hundred people who have been the subject of action of the authorities, whether UK based authorities or those overseas, for the purposes of state control, social management or however we prefer the notion of illegal government activity to be termed which is supposedly carried out in the name of national security. I don't

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-7240028564520390612008-11-09T21:44:00.002Z2008-11-09T21:57:11.879Z

Friday, I saw the The Tomorrow Band as part of Gigbeth which appeared to be a relatively successful undertaking. I like Chris a lot as a saxophonist but the band although intentionally bare in some respects could do with a couple of other members - either Levi or Rob on keys and one of the many trumpet players on the local scene - it's only my opinion though. The band which came on before them,

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-92025775619329385142008-11-01T13:04:00.003Z2008-11-01T13:14:51.999Z

In some respects this is just another saturday - I don't feel very much at ease with the notion of continuing with this blog and not tying it into the themes that it is meant to linked with more strongly. I should be doing what I do to very strong effect and I don't know if I'll get round to doing it but who knows maybe I will actually get round to applying myself one day....There are some shots

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-37173840410781005042008-10-29T21:46:00.004Z2008-10-31T20:23:12.018Z

I didn't realise when I was sat in the lectures that were part of the MSc in Public health and health promotion at the University of Manchester why there was constant reference to 'interventions' rather projects schemes or programmes. These would be regarded as more suitable terms for health promotion activity within say the context of regeneration funded initiatives which is one of the major

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1107850757132479501.post-25383744833218998772008-10-14T18:18:00.004+01:002008-10-31T20:18:00.773Z

I'm currently lounging around in a hostel that I've had a little de ja vu in, this non-paranormal experience does make me feel very much as if I should be here. I did only want to spend two days here but that could easily change to four if not longer. It will be nice to get out tomorrow on the bike that I've hired - the walk to Barberino along the Poggibonsi road was really quite nice and it

Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/04417943963182478197noreply@blogger.com0