Scott's antarctic expedition photographs and the poetry ambulance

Yesterday morning I read that some of the photographs taken on Scott's doomed expedition to Antarctica are going on sale. The Guardian article includes two of the pictures for sale. I was drawn to read this article for a couple of reasons. Firstly it was about photography but mostly because last year I read The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, which is his account of Scott's expedition. He was a young man on the expedition. The book was recommended to me under unusual circumstances.

Last June I joined my Mum and her best friend Angela at the Stoke - on - Trent Hot Air Literary Festival.  It was a brilliant few days. One of the initiatives they had there was a poetry ambulance. You could pop in for some emergency poetry treatment. The poetry para-medic was a literature lecturer at Keel University who also takes her poetry ambulance to nursing homes where she writes and reads poetry with patients who have dementia.

We had a lovely chat about what poetry and literature meant to us. After which she prescribed me three poems to read, quietly with a cup of tea. She also recommended reading the Worst Journey in the World.  I found the book extremely moving. A rivverting read of adventure and folly. Set at a time where modern technology was first being used, like the ill fated motorised sleds but being used by men who were Victorians. It's full of stiff upper lips and under statement, of bravery and friendship.

So the article about the photographs piqued my interest. The article mentions the Scott Polar exploration museum in Cambridge where I really must visit.

Of course at the Literary festival I did take some photographs. Here's one of my favourites from the opening celebration at Trentham Gardens. It's a sculpture of a sprite pulling a dandelion clock. I love how the sculptor  manages to create movement.



Then this morning I came across this article mentioning the Scott Polar Exploration museum again and a modern collection of photographs of the North Pole. The stunning images are beautiful but the photographer Timo Lieber says the images show global warming at its worst which is a terrifying thought.