I went to Arles and discovered an artist

 As you wander the streets of Arles, echoes of the past are with you always. It's like no other place I've ever been. Like much of France it has a frayed beauty. Everywhere you look there is something interesting. A feast for the eyes. A crinkly smile comes to me as you look up at a quant building.

Van Gogh fell in love with the place; it's not hard to understand why. It's packed full of Roman and mediaeval architecture. So centre ville won't have changed that much since his time. There is a photograph around every corner, and I've probably taken that many. Here are a selection:

Nowhere man

 It's over a year now since moving to France. For a number of reasons it's not been an easy ride but it has been a necessary one. I consider myself a refugee. A Brexit refugee. Someone who has fled the rain, the disappointment and the gross stupidity that is England. I feel that the country of my birth birth has rejected me and my ilk. I certainly don't feel that I have rejected my country. The country that I knew and loved no longer exists; ruined by racists and other assorted morons. It is a country firmly in self destruct mode. It will not improve until it rejoins the EU. I can't imagine I'll live to see that day.

If I'm honest I don't feel totally at home here, but I've no desire to go back. I feel like I'm living in a nomansland. I am a nowhere man treading water. Don't get me wrong, I live in a lovely place and the people are very friendly here. I'm the problem. I don't really fit. But then I don't really fit anywhere now.

Alt Text Zealots

 This is possibly going to upset some people unfortunately. There are usually two sides to every story and I don't think that the alt text zealots realise how much anxiety they cause people like me by judging everyone who falls short on the alt text front as being all the same. I believe in equality. It upsets me if I upset other people. I want the world to be as inclusive as possible and I have no desire to discriminate against the partially sighted. But do you know how painful the stress of trying to think about describing a picture, and failing to do so, can be? I just can't do it. It's why my alt text is either sparse or non-existent. It's one of the reasons I'm an artist. I think in pictures, I just can't put into words what I want to say. I have virtually no descriptive powers. I am descriptively illiterate. My brain doesn't work like that. It's why my alt text is a few words or nothing at all.

My ability to put into words what I see is next to useless. It stops me from putting many pictures on social media. Perhaps that's a good thing? I really couldn't say. All I know is that I'm constantly torn. Do I publish a picture or do I not? Perhaps my sight privilege is distorting my opinion on this? I do not know.

I do hope that one day AI will be utilised to provide a solution because it not only impacts on those with impaired visibility it also impacts on those of us of limited descriptive ability.

It's not about laziness. If it was I wouldn't have written this! It is upsetting for me. I don’t like being like this.