Martyn Pearson's Blog

It’s not often that I get the chance to relax on a Sunday morning, what with getting the viewing room ready for client meetings, or processing images or getting ready for a morning portrait shoot. Sometimes I feel I could meet myself coming back. Anyway, on a Sunday morning recently, I found time to cook eggs, smoked bacon, sausages (tomato and basil, my favourite), fried bread and all the trimmings, all from Boothes in Lytham. Count those calories baby!

Sitting down to eat the best meal of the day and wash it down with mugs of tea. Got to be Yorkshire tea, aah, best drink of the day. In the India Knight column of The Sunday Times I discover that the huge chain of book shops, Waterstones is having difficulties. Perhaps everybody now uses the web to access literature. It’s fast, it’s cheap, it’s open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I hate the type of verbal shorthand that results in twentfour seven. How many seconds of your life do you save by saying 24 7, and what are you going to do with them?

Large, out of town chain stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets all can buy large volumes and because of this, hammer the costs down. This then enables them to sell for less than smaller retail operations. We all know this. Waterstones have put paid to many small independent book sellers only to find themselves falling victim to those that can slash costs.

It’s not just this of course. I teach photography to young people and often ask them which books they read. I find it horrifying that the majority have never read a book, ever. Whoever the parent’s of these young people are, shame on you. Read to your children, from a book. Enid Blyton, Laurie Lee, J. D. Sallinger, whoever. People of independent thought, creative thinkers, intelligent individuals need to feed the machine of the intellect.

There is a whole universe out there in books. Buy books, read them and feed your intellect. Or just read for entertainment. Don’t watch those appalling soap operas or even worse, those brain shrinking X Factors and Big Brothers of this world. No wonder we are becoming a nation of stupid people. 

However, there are still good independent book shops out there on the high street. Where you can smell the paper and the glue that binds the paper to the cover. Where you can order a book long out of print, where the staff will contact you when it arrives. Often we will buy a quantity of books for family and friends as Christmas gifts. We order them and the bookseller will collect them together, even wrap them. This book shop is Plackitt and Booth in Lytham. Alison and Pat run the place and do a wonderful job. Don’t allow shops like this die just because you can buy a best seller for a pound or two less at Tescos.

Plackitt and Booth are on Clifton Street, pop in or give them a call – 01253 796958. Treat yourself or somebody close to a real book and support a local business.

Last weekend the Fylde coast was treated to a few foggy days. The light was soft, noises were dulled. It seemed we were cocooned in a blanket of cotton wool. I had been seated at my computer for a few hours and felt more than a little bored with the tasks in hand. Also after such a huge breakfast, I needed a walk. So I went down to a local beauty spot, my intention being to make some photographs. Granny’s Bay, near Fairhaven Lake is an area of Lytham that has great panoramic views, lovely light and as usual for the Fylde, big skys. I’ve posted some of the results here. If anybody out there knows what the metal frameworks are, then please contact me. They could be something to do shellfish cultivation or farming, I’m not sure.

Shellfish farming?

Shrimping perhaps?