Leaving a trace, Oliver Sacks, Steven Smith and Alban Levy

After giving my short 'volunteer led' tours of 'Life on Foot' at London's Design Museum a connection (from my performances I suppose) in my mind took me back to my Electrical and Electronic Engineering studies in 1970s Cardiff, as well as the engineering elements of the course I was on there was some time spent studying  'Communications' (in the way we communicated with other) and during those studies we were required to make a presentation. I recalled very little of this apart from  video taping of our efforts revealing various 'tics' and foibles - mine included some self contained arm wrestling as I spoke (which I think is now replaced by other mannerisms).

Not the School of Athens but in fact St Paul's Cathedral

Asking one of classmates recently who it was that taught us he (thankfully) remembered that it was Alban Levy, seems odd that Alban who was an educated and engaging instructor has so little about him on the internet, he could have passed on but the memories and links  of him very seem limited apart from references to a volume of poetry from his young-self  published in 1946 (Nab Valley Poems).

{I think he was a Swansea youth much enthralled by Dylan Thomas}

So when I look at my own presence (created by me) it seems odd that so much of little consequence has piled up  (including a rather neat infographic of my CV) - when all's said and done though we are, hopefully something beyond a digital footprint.

Apart from those thoughts I was also transported and connected again to the Design Museum's 'Life on Foot' by journo' Steven Smith with his rather alluring BBC radio 4 study The lost are of getting of  lost.

I hope to  be able to include some of the threads that Stephen assisted by both 10cc's  Graham Gouldman and the always amusing writer and walker Will Self revealed in the programme that (perhaps) focused on how it is more challenging now to get lost and lose ourselves  but not for me actually.

The other gem that the BBC has given me this week is Alan Yentob's 2011 Imagine programme about, the now late Oliver Sacks, great stuff and the science/philosophy of cognition and brain behaviour it focused on are something for me to mull over and potentially get 'lost in'.

Let's hope the Lib-Dems don't make this just a memory too