Basher Eyre
Basher Eyre describes himself as a "Church crawler, Pevsnerian, Wikipedian, Groundhopper, Steam Nut and Supply Teacher". He is a prolific contributor to the Geograph site that I am also addicted to. Since 2009, I have contributed 16,387 images to Geograph but Basher Eyre has contributed 160,669 images. That is quite an astonishing difference.
Basher lives in Hampshire and when he arrives in a place he gets clicking with his camera. He is especially fond of clicking in and around churches. Notice that he describes himself as a "Pevsnerian" after the great architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983) who painstakingly judged the merits of all significant ecclesiastical buildings in England and indeed many other secular buildings with true architectural merit.
Recently, Basher Eyre has been out and about in a large Hampshire village called Liss. Like a fisherman returning to port, he hauled in dozens of photos of Liss and to give you a flavour of Basher's unique photographic style, here are three of his Liss images:-
The bus stop on Mill Road
Looking from Forest Road into Briar Wood
Lamp post on Forest Road
Personally, I doubt that "Basher" is Mr Eyre's actual first name. I suspect it is just a nickname but if that is the case, it is a highly appropriate one for a man whose recent income has mostly come from supply teaching!
I have never had a nickname apart from the one I gave myself for the purposes of this blog - Yorkshire Pudding - sometimes altered to YP, Pud, Yorkie 0r Puddingman. However, if I were to select a proper nickname for myself I might also choose Basher. It is kind of cool and co-incidentally Mr Eyre and I look rather like brothers!
If you were to pick a nickname for yourself, what would it be and why?
________________________________________
Dear Basher Eyre,
If you have stumbled upon this blogpost at some point in the future, I hope you are not offended by it. That was certainly not my intention. I hope you are still submitting images to Geograph. 160,669 is an amazing number - a photographic fecundity which leaves me in a state of slack-jawed admiration.
Best wishes,
Yorkshire Pudding
I would guess my nickname for my sell would be Jack Reader instead of the somewhat famous Jack Reacher character. The why is the easy part. I love to read and gain knowledge by reading only non-fiction. I guess there is some irony in the fact that my nickname is based upon a fictional character but I can live with that.
ReplyDeleteNickname based on a fictional character... I think Bluto would suit you better.
DeleteI'm surprised someone who only reads NON-fiction knows the name of a fictional character. One of my favourite fictional characters at that.
DeleteWhat? Bluto is fictional? I thought he was real.
DeleteNikolaus Pevsner. That's a name I haven't thought of in decades. If my memory serves me correctly, I heard him lecture while I was at Oxford for an American summer-abroad study many, many years ago.
ReplyDeletePevsner is a legend when it comes to English architecture. How amazing that you attended one of his lectures Kelly!
DeleteWell, Pud, I like that you have so many nicknames and will have to start using them when I comment. My Dad nicknamed me "Aunt Blabby" when I was a kid as I had a bad habit of just blurting stuff out that people didn't think I should! I quit doing that years ago, Puddingman!
ReplyDeleteOh dear Ellen (Aunt Blabby) you can call me by my proper first name which is Neil - think Sedaka, think Armstrong.
Deletethe guy has been busy to say the least. Now I cannot believe that you, a teacher, did not have a nick name or two from your students. The only nick name I gave myself is Red and that was by accident. The first email account I opened didn't accept Keith and I did not know I could put a one or five in some place and keep my regular name. So I said Red, for Red Deer. Family nick name : grandfather High school nick name :Pop Eskimo name :Ehongaq
ReplyDeleteI thought your nickname was Red because you are a Revolutionary Communist.
DeleteHaven't heard the term revolutionary communist for a long time!
DeleteEver since you appeared in court in Ottawa charged with sedition.
DeleteHave you posted many photos of yourself on the blog? Because I don't think you resemble Basher. That is a prodigious number of photos for you AND for him. I've had many nicknames over the years: Magnet, Mag, Mags, Maggie, Maggie Mae, Magritte, Magpie, Maggot(I had brothers) but now I'm simply Margaret. It's a name that wears well in my estimation.
ReplyDeleteHow about Margarine? I don't like "Maggie" because that reminds me of Margaret Thatchers.
DeleteI don't like Maggie either. But some college friends did. They thought everyone should have a nickname. Strangely, I escaped Margarine somehow. Starbucks employees sometimes think I'm "Morgrat" or "Margrat" which they write on my cup. ;)
DeleteBasher does sound like quite an achiever but I think a walk with him might require patience.
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with your post, I recently came across a dish from your area called a curd tart. That's curd not cured. It sounds interesting.
I love a nice curd tart. Delicious. Sadly, the bakery down the road from us closed. It used to be a special treat sometimes.
DeleteMy nickname would be Drifter, like my blog, Drifting Through Life, even keeling most of the time, because that's what I do. Drift along, go with the flow, roll with the punches.
ReplyDeleteI take a lot of photos when I'm in the mood to, but most of them don't make it to my blog.
Is it like in "Moon River"? "Two DRIFTERS off to see the world..."
DeleteMore like a slow flowing river meandering through the countryside.
DeleteI'd be the driftwood.
DeleteThank you for explaining about Pevsner. Otherwise I would have had to ask you what a Pevsnerian is.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Basher Eyre, I think I wouldn't be happy to see my portrait displayed on a blog without having been asked first. But I am not Basher Eyre and who knows, he might be glad about a bit of publicity.
Like you, I have given myself a nickname for the purpose of blogging; Librarian was the obvious choice because that's what I trained to do after school, and what I wanted to do.
Meks is the nickname my sister gave me when we were little, about 6 years old. We don't know why she came up with it; it rhymes on Keks, the German word for cookie, and I have always had a sweet tooth. I use Meks as part of my main email address.
I am not going to tell you O.K.'s nickname for me, but it's funny, not embarrassing.
Now you have got me puzzled... about O.K.'s nickname I mean. By the way, Basher's picture is in public view on his Twitter account. Does that make it okay? You know about such issues. Pevsner was German.
DeleteI thought so when I read Pevsner's first name, Nikolaus. That's the German way to spell it.
DeleteAs the UK is not part of the EU anymore, I wouldn't know what the UK regulations about "Recht am eigenen Bild" and "Kunsturhebergesetz" currently are, sorry.
Alright, here is a hint about O.K.'s nickname for me: It has to do with bacon.
Is it Schwein?
DeleteNo it is not :-D
DeleteHmm... not sure whether my comment went trough; it all looks a bit different. Maybe blogger have (once again) updated stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt went through just fine Meike.
DeleteMy blog name is Northsider because I live on the North side of a peninsula in Southwest Ireland.
ReplyDeleteWell I would like to give you a different nickname! Womble!
DeleteGoodness YP, your hair isn't that long is it? In photos you've posted of yourself you look casual but smart and well turned out, with a neat haircut. Much slimmer too - Basher looks quite tubby.
ReplyDeleteHave never bothered to give myself a nickname, although at school I was known as Caz - much to my parent's horror! They gave me a short name so that it couldn't be shortened! Fortunately this hasn't followed me through life.
Not sure I would want to see many of his photos if this as a sample, but the street light in the last one looks identical to the one just above my house!
A diplomatic comment Carol... or should I say Caz? "Tubby" is, I think, a nice word. Rather like "chubby". I am not fond of the word "obese". It is too clinical and judgemental too. I also don't like "body mass index" and I bet Basher Eyre also dislikes that term. I thought of another nickname for you - inspired by early episodes of "Coronation Street" but I am not going to say it for fear of causing offence.
DeleteI never really had a nickname, although P used to call me Wombat.
ReplyDelete"Short legs and a thick body with a large head, round ears, and very small eyes..."?
DeleteYep, that's the one.
DeleteOh!
DeleteThe only nickname I have had is Penguin as in Adellie Penguin
ReplyDeletePeng = Penguin? Sounds like it stuck.
DeleteMy high school nickname was Cougar. When I was a rock and roll disc jockey I was "Bruce on the Loose". Throughout my adulthood I was just Taylor, my last name, though I frequently called myself TGT, for The Great Taylor. A "friend" has called me "Old Taylor" for years. And, finally, when I began my blog I chose Catalyst because I wanted the blog to be a catalyst for thoughts and opinions. That's a helluva lot of names! I like "Basher" and my first thought when I saw his picture was that he might be a rugby player.
ReplyDeleteYour first thought was most generous and kindly. These days "Cougar" means a mature woman who grapples with young men in her steamy bedroom.
DeleteI recognized the "Pevsnerian" reference because we have Pevsner's architecture guides in our Library! When it comes to photography, Basher seems to appreciate quantity first and foremost.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are envious of his photographic techniques.
Delete