Why I Love Light

09-10-2009

For those who weren't at the LoveLight event last night - or for those of you who were there and don't feel you can survive without a copy of my funky riff:

 At the end of the movie, after Senator Rance Stoddard has told the real story of the Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, Maxwell Scott � editor of the Shinbone Star - reaches across for his young reporter�s notebook and tears up the story that�s been told.
�This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact � print the legend.�

So I�m here to honour the memory of Tom Doniphon, the forgotten man, and tell you the truth of Why I Love Light.

I�m the only person still alive who was witness to these events, and my attention was elsewhere at the time � as you�ll appreciate, so you�ll just have to take my word for it.

We�re at 365 Halesowen Road, Old Hill, in the county of Staffordshire. The date is 18th August 1953 � and I am about to be born.

The labour has been going on for some hours, and the midwife has sent my father off to fetch Dr. Ryan from the Haden Road Surgery. Finally, at either quarter-to, or quarter-past, one in the morning � depending on whether you�d asked my father or my mother. And that little disagreement has played havoc with my astrological charts ever since.
 
And then a strange thing happens: having cut the cord, and before he places me in my mother�s arms, the doctor lifts me up to the bedrooms� central light � one of those old fly-catcher bowls, in a sort of amber-orange-white vaseline-y type of finish � and he says � words to the effect -  �The Force is Strong with This One�.

And at that moment, the agents of fate, hovering above the bed and waiting to sprinkle me with their Rock�n�Roll Superstar oofle dust, all look at one another, shrug their shoulders and disappear into the night.
Bastards.

So, you see, I had no choice in the matter. It was all decided for me by the antics of a crazy shaman GP. And that's why I Love Light.

I�d like to leave you with a few paraphrased words from that great Wessex wordsmith: Mr Reg Presley:

�I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes.
Cos light is all around me, and still the feeling grows�.

Other Stories from this Blog

A (very) basic guide to ethical specification
Lighting design: it's a client thing
Calculating obtrusive light: whose job is it?
When there's nothing in the catalogue
When is a chandelier not a pendant? When its a lantern!
When clients learn too much . . .
One of our details is missing
Where will light fittings come from?
The end of the light bulb?
Always something new . . . again
Always something new . . .
Combining old and new
On being in the dark . . .
Riffing The Internet of Things

RIBA CPD in 2015

Here are the links to my event calendars

Events

Published Articles

CONDUIT (6) - Lighting for Winter Gardens
CONDUIT 5: Home Lighting - LED Lighting (2)
FX Magazine: Lighting Focus - Sustainability (Issue 258)
CONDUIT 4: Home Lighting - LED Lighting (1)
Can Smart Lighting Save The Planet?
CONDUIT 3: Home Lighting - The Bathroom
Can Lighting Save Us From Ourselves . . . NO!
CONDUIT 2: Home Lighting - The Dining Room
 
Read More

Blogs

PUBLISHED ARTICLES
BLOGS - LIGHTING DESIGN
HOME LIGHTING CONSULTANT
BLOGS - CPD RIBA CORE PROGRAMME 2015
BLOGS - SUSTAINABILITY
BLOGS - LIGHTING HEALTH AND WELLBEING