We are delighted to announce the birth of Henry David Price – or Henry for short. He was born in Ashiya Hospital on Tuesday 11th August, weighing 3552g. Henry and Becca are both fine, and doing well.

Many many thanks to all our friends, including all of Imagine’s members, for their help and support. We really appreciate the kindness and understanding that everybody has shown. Henry is sure to be visiting Imagine from time to time, so hopefully you will have the chance to meet him for yourself soon.

Trafalgar Square is in the heart of London, and is home to Nelson’s Column, one of the UK’s most famous landmarks. It also contains an empty plinth (the base for a statue). For the last few years, various artists have contributed temporary artworks to occupy the plinth. Now is the turn of Antony Gormley, one of Britain’s most famous artists.

His idea is to have real people, who have volunteered, to stand on the plinth for one hour, each and every hour between 6th July and 14th October 2009. That will be 2,400 people, doing whatever they want to do for sixty minutes. The project is called One & Other, and it is happening right now. You can watch the event live at this website:

UK Web Archive

If it were you on the plinth, what would you do?

There are some great artists playing at Summer Sonic in Osaka this year, not least Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin. My number one recommendation however, has to be Phoenix. I saw them at Club Quattro in Shinsaibashi in 2006, and it was one of the best gigs I have ever seen. They come from Paris, although they sing in English, and their songs have a very distinctive sound: melodic, simple, and always memorable. Their new album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” has just been released. I prefer their previous album, “It’s Never Been Like That”, but the new one is definitely worth a listen, especially the single “Lisztomania”:

Summer Sonic 2009 – Phoenix – 1901

If you get the chance, see them for yourself at Summer Sonic:
PHOENIX | LINEUP | SUMMER SONIC 09

With the cherry blossom in full bloom, and the sun shining brightly, it seemed like the perfect time to visit Kyoto. There were lots of beautiful things to see as ever, but the highlight for me was a gentle stroll down The Philosopher’s Walk（哲学の道）.

The last time I was there was in the autumn and the maple leaves provided a bright red backdrop to the canal and its many bridges. This time however, the colour scheme was a wash of pale pink, with the slightest gust of wind causing a blizzard of petals to fall into the water. It reminded me that nothing lasts for ever, so it’s better to simply enjoy the moment while you can.

I love trying food from countries I’ve never been to. It’s a great way to visit new places without having to get on a plane. In that spirit, I’ve just come back from Sweden – and I can highly recommend it. We went to Ikea the other day, with great plans for buying a new coffee table. We couldn’t find any furniture we liked, but the Swedish food store was great. We bought lots of foods we had never tried before, and had a Swedish feast. In the picture is some gravlax (a sauce made from dill which goes very well with salmon), smoked salmon (one of my favourite things), Swedish blue cheese, and pickled herring with dill (a Swedish speciality), all on dried bread flavoured with cardamom. It was delicious – I’ll definitely be visiting Sweden again soon.

At imagine* we offer a variety of textbooks and learning materials to our members. We think it’s important for people to able to choose what, and how, they want to study for themselves. Whenever possible, we also like to use real resources. This might be a magazine or newspaper article, a recipe, a website, or a clip from a TV show on You Tube.

Using real English language materials like these can be a challenge, but it’s an excellent way to judge your progress – and you are more likely to find something that really interests you. If there is anything in particular you would like us to help you with, let us know – we’re always looking for new materials. In the meantime, here are some links to authentic resources we have used in our lessons recently:

1) Video Jug is website full of “How to…” guides. In this lesson we helped a member with his Italian cooking:
Videojug on youtube

2) For a lesson about describing homes, the singer Joss Stone helped our member with household vocabulary:
Joss Stone – MTV Cribs on youtube

3) Some of our members are very interested in English football. This website helps us keep up to date:
BBC SPORT | Football

When I was young I wanted to live in a treehouse. I think I liked the idea of having my own base high above the everyday world on the ground. I would be able to watch the comings and goings down below, and swing through the trees on my way to school. Finding this website of green (environmentally friendly) treehouses has reminded me of that. It shows new designs from all over the world. Some of them are a little strange (especially the one in Okinawa), while others are truly inspirational. Trees are the ‘mansions’ of the future!

See more images:
In pictures: The best green treehouse designs | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Elbow are a band from Manchester in the UK. Their last album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ won the Mercury Music Prize (the top award for new British music). Here is a link to the video of their song ‘One Day Like This’. I like the song because it’s uplifting. The video is a little out of the ordinary, but for me at least it’s powerful and life affirming. See what you think.