Graffiti

I was over at Josephine's the other week and saw a shot of a graffiti pirhana which I thought I recognised... that one there in the USA so similar to one here, nearby, in Aldershot... and then our wandering friend also had some great graffiti too...

But I couldn't find the pirhana shots from last year so I had to go back and take some more.

But alas the pirhana was not there anymore :(

There was a bird though ;)

Question: OK, what d'ya think this is?

Right, one is feeling lazy today yet compelled to post something, so here you go... a little quiz thingy for you... what do you think this is?

Getting High

I dunno what it is... a head for heights, lofty ambitions or maybe I should have stayed in the cadets and been a pilot, but I have this thing for being high. No, not drunk, stoned or shit-faced, more of an "up on the roof" kinda urge ala "The Drifters"...

Then maybe having lived in a bungalow for the last 7 years it's the simple appreciation of getting a good vista...

...today, for the first time ever, I climbed up on the roof of my place and took in the view. Such simple pleasures. I can see Farnborough Hill, the highest point in Hampshire from here, built by Thomas Longman, the publisher, then home to Empress Eugénie (de Montijo) the wife of the exiled Napoleon III of France, who is buried in the crypt of St. Michaels Abbey here in Farnborough.

But that's not what I came up here for. The Farnborough Airshow is in full swing right now and, although my new camera is not here yet (I blame the French) I still wanted to take some photos. So I snapped away, dissappointed at the current image quality of roaring jets and frustrated that it has taken so long for lazy Parisians to despatch my much-needed digital SLR at a time when it is so desperately needed.

Unfortunately, even if the EOS 350D does arrive tomorrow, there will be no time to use it for aeronautic purposes over the weekend as I need to visit my seriously ill father in East Devon, who is now, thankfully, off the life support and needs his family about him. C'est la vie :)

Anyways, go climb, things look good from up there ;)

Heatwave

Well, for those of you outside of our United Kingdom, there's a heatwave going on here right now. Apparently today is the hottest July day since records began which was 1911.

Today's temperature, recorded in Charlwood, near Gatwick, is 36.3°C (97°F) but could get higher by the end of the day.

That's nice. I know it's not exactly scientific or laboratory conditions, but my cheapo thermometer says it's 116°F (47°C) in my back yard !!!

Yo Blair

"Yo Blair" indeed.

Only a trained chimp addressing his pet poodle can be expected to use that sort of language

Why does the President of the United States of America feel the need to "communicate" with fellow world leaders in such a tone?

Why does the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom allow himself to be condescended to as if he were some sort of cowgirl ranch-hand bitch?

What if Tony B-Liar had responded with "S'up, Nigga?"

Was the decision to go to war in Iraq conducted with the same mature manner?

The sooner the world is rid of these two imbeciles the better.

Word.

Lulworth Cove & the Durdle Door

On a blazing Sunday in the south of England, where else is there to go but to the south coast, to the picturesque village of Lulworth Cove in Dorset to get some sea air, sunshine and blue skies.

Lulworth is a tiny little village between Swanage and Weymouth, at the start of the World Heritage Jurrasic Coastline with an amazing natural cove, formed some 10,000 years ago by a combination of the eroding powers of both the river and the sea. The harder Portland stone remains standing whilst the softer Purbecks have been swept away to form some beautiful scenery...

...Like the Durdle Door, a magnificient wave-cut arch promonotary sheltering a beach just a mile west of Lulworth Cove. The place was buzzing with activity on a sunny summer afternoon with the usual bathers and sun-burners, flocks of dopey European field-trip students and, in the water, people swimming, jumping off the rocks into the waves, jet-skiing, sea-kayaking... And back on land strangely enough there was not one mountain biker on the coastal path like you see on the South Downs way...

Now I only tarried for a two hours because the sun was skin-roasting hot and there was only enough change in the car for a couple of hours worth of parking. But I climbed the cliffs, got blisters on my feet (should have worn my Berghaus boots and not my Airwalks) breathed some good sea air in my lungs, sweated profusely, caught some UV rays, had ice cream in the village and spent some time chatting to some random lad about the Canon EOS 20D, the merits of EF-S over EF lenses, improved image quality and adjusted focal lengths etc...

And then the 90 minute drive home turned into 180 as hoardes of ravening Brits flocked off home for their evening tea & barbeques. I blame The Sun readers that jam up the "kiss-me-quick hat" beaches at Bournemouth myself, whilst the more discerning day-tripper gets an eyeful of the picturesque Lulworth Cove & Durdle Door :)

Set the controls for the heart of the sun

R.I.P. Syd Barrett (January 6, 1946 – July 7, 2006)



Damn. Syd Barrett died.

:(

The later Pink Floyd stuff was all great, but the original Syd Barrett era I remember so particularly poignantly...

Syd's was there on all the real trippy Floyd tracks from my hazy days, nearly 20 years after he left the band in 1968 - Arnold Layne, Remember A Day, the simple riffing of the main reprise on the epic space rock Interstellar Overdrive, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and particularly freaky - two of my favourite tracks covered on LPs that I hankered for, and recovered over the last 6 months - Astronomy Domine, as covered most excellently by Voivod on their awesome Nothingface LP, which I lost the vinyl of many years back (try picking up the CD for a decent price!) but luckily found a cassette copy kicking around, and The Gnome, as picked up on Neil's Heavy Concept Album...

Syd man - reclusive, talented, burnt-out, trippy, acid hero Syd. We'll miss you, dude.

The Red Arrows

Well, considering the Farnborough Airshow is coming up, The Red Arrows just put on a quick run-through to polish up their already amazing flying skills, even though it is a bit overcast today.

Beer

Does anybody out there know of anywhere in the world where there is a village, town or place called Beer other than in the county of Devon in dear olde England?

Noisy Bastard Uphill Gardeners

Sorry about the noise, I'll explain in a minute.

Now I dunno if Uphill Gardeners is their name or not, but firstly it's a great derogatory term and secondly they do, funnily enough, live up a hill, Sandy Hill in Farnham.

Uphill, as I shall call them forthwith, are my elderly next-door's friendly neighbourhood gardening folk. Friendly, that is until they;

1. Park their van across my drive. OK, it's a very wide drive, but if they stop just one of my cars getting out then that's just not on, is it?
2. Charge my elderly neighbour the same amount (£25) to mow just her front lawn as they do to do the front lawn, back lawn AND trim the hedges. The full monty only takes 30 minutes meaning they're on a decent rate of pay, so to spend 5 minutes mowing a very small front lawn is ripping-off our senior citizens if you ask me.
3. Power-up their petrol hedge trimmers at 7:40 in the a.m. and then continue to make a noise for another 20 minutes.
   

And that's what got me up and pissed me off this morning. Uphill Gardeners revving up a petrol hedge trimmer at 20 minutes to 8.

It was a hot, hot night with all the windows open and, after a fitful sleep, to be awoken by their racket nearly a full hour before the alarm normally goes off meant I was NOT best pleased.

First off I slammed the kitchen door shut which was satisfying but not enough to subdue their din. They were working within six feet of my kitchen door and were wearing ear-defenders. Then I went out and told then how pissed off I was, only to get a feeble sorry and a defensive "We're allowed to make noise from 7am to 11pm"

Well that noise I recorded was in the hallway of my home so you can imagine the sound in the kitchen and in the garden... no friggin' wonder I got woken up!

After I went back indoors I heard the bastards (one young guy, one middle aged woman) moaning about me. The cheek of them! They woke ME up and I rightfully gave them a piece of my mind and then THEY whinge about being told off. Aw boo hoo. So I go out there AGAIN and remind them how inconsiderate they are.

The woman then quips;

"Haven't you got a job?"
Yes, I have got a job but it's not as easy as yours.
"Well you should try this some time, then we'll see how easy you think it is. We're only up early so we can get the job done because it's going to be hot today."

What? Pushing a mower and trimming a few hedges is hard work? Being out in the sunshine is hard work? And it's going to be hot outside in the radiant sun and the fresh air, blue skies overhead, being at a different place every half an hour and clocking off early... So just how many years do I have to spend at college to become qualified in order to trim bushes, cut grass and have a copy of "The Sun" on the dashboard of my van?

I've done much tougher physical work in my time, lumping hod loads of bricks up & down ladders all day, digging foundations with a shovel, pushing around a few tons of cement in a friggin' wheelbarrow (not all at once, mind you ;) )... Now THAT's hard work so these lawnmower-pushing plebs can stick their gardening implements where the sun don't shine.

What goes around comes around, so I very sincerely hope their van doesn't get broken into again or they'll lose their livelihood of stealing from old grannies.

Amen.