Non Existent Sunday

First we went out for a non existent bootsale at Witton Albion ( wait until I see that charity shop lady ). Then Archie went to non existent badminton lessons down at the high school. Seems they had a tournament on today. Mr. Pilchard forgot to tell anyone. Then home for non existent breakfast beacause we had no white bread ( I was quite happy with brown ). Now we are going out for a non existent walk.

Yesterday did exist, at least in my memory. We went to a church fete which was a typically dull, knitted affair. Lots of tombola where you could win knitted things, doilies, bath salts etc. Archie won a plastic garden gnome which he immediately donated to the white elephant stall! Hazel won some brussels sprouts. They had a game of "Higher or Lower" where you have to say what card is going to be revealed next. Archie spent about three quid and didnt win anything! It was one of those days. Still it was for charity. The man doing the Bruce Forsythe impression was very apolygetic everytime someone lost.

The walk did exist and we fed the ducks with our meagre bag of stale bread and took some photos of the berries and funghi etc. The car park was absolutely packed and found out later that the other car park , around the other side of the lake, was closed for re-gravelling or something. We felt better for some fresh air and stretching our legs. After burning off some calories we went home to have tea and cake and put them all back on again!

Spike Jones & The City Slickers

I just had to share this with you just found at You Tube. Spike Jones and pals at there bonkers best!

Bubble Gum Cards

Funnily enough, Graham Rawle was talking about his collection of bubble gum cards the other day at the MMU and today I found some in Northwich market. See "Brain Destroyer" example here. A bout 30 of the "Outer Limits" from the 60's, two "You'll Die Laughing" cards and one N.E.M.S. ABC "Beatles" card. Sadly I missed Graham's talk but Hazel bought home the video so I could watch it . Hazel also got Graham to sign his latest exceelent book "Woman's World" and he wrote a nice dedication inside which cheered me up no end. Still have a rotten cold but it's not as bad as it was last week.
Also bought a scart to scart lead to try and copy a NFCS? american video tape to VHS. I still keep getting lots of weird interference so gave up in the end.
Wilfred seems to be settling in but we don't see much of him. The water bottle leaked so I bought another and that seems to leak even more! Not much luck with gadgets today.
Have been copying "The Shadow" an old Columbia serial from the 40's onto DVD. Sadly its only episodes 7 - 15 but as they all seem to begin and end the same one can imagine the first six episodes are very similar. The fight scenes and stunts are very funny as the actors or stunt men are pathetic and hit thin air on regular basis!

Wilfred

Here's a new addition to the family called Wilfred or maybe just Wilf? No sure yet - it may change. He's a young albino hamster who darts around the cage very quickly and so difficult to get a photo of him that isn't blurred! He loves his wheel and woke me up last night racing round in it ( where's that oil can? ) and that in turn made Flo the rabbit ( in the hutch inderneath ) very grumpy and bang her feet so quite a racket going on. Hazel didn't hear a thing ofcourse.
Still have the lousy cold and so stayed in again today and caught up with some blogging and Sunday papers.
Hazel and Archie took Audrey to hear a choir sing carols over at the Craft Centre. They came back with gifts including a handy gas lighter for singeing all the hairs off the back of your wrist and some sugar monster teeth. Also a nice victorian looking glass lamp to burn candles in.

Colb In De Nobes

Full of cold at the moment and don't feel much like doing anything. Even this blogging lark is an effort. Thankfully the terrible sore throat has gone and but left with a very red nose ( no change there then ). Made a very hot curry last night but couldn't taste it really. Spent most of yesterday feeling sorry for myself and watching old films as I transferred them to DVD. Good to see Citizen Kane and the Magnificent Ambersons again. Orson Welles really was a genius.
Cant even face a walk into town. I think Hazel and Archie are going later to buy a new hamster.
This collage is one I made in 1968 before ignoring collage for twelve years and concentrating on painting. One wonders where it might have lead if I had been encouraged to continue with it.

Crewe - Flea market

We went to Crewe market this morning with Audrey. Luckily the cheap postcard stall was there so bought a few more for 10p each. Hazel got about 20 including this nice old amateur collage of the "Saving Gamp".
Also found an EP by Winifred Atwell playing some boogie-woogie on her "other" piano ( which she used to call her upright ).
The market was very crowded but very few stalls outside which was a shame as the weather was very mild and sunny. Hazel bought Archie some rock samples including Feldspar and Obsidian. I think she is trying to encourage him to be a geololist for some reason? Home for seedy bagels, edam and chutney.

Boot Sale - Brighton Belle

Another boot at the Brighton Belle in Winsford . The charity shop lady who goes to most of them said it would be the last as the council have closed it. You are not allowed to have more than one a month it seems? Spoil sports. It wasn't a very big boot sale - ten stalls in all but quite handy for Morrisons. I found some cassettes of old 40's British Dance Bands - Felix Mendelsohn and His Hawaiian Serenaders, Lew Stone and Henry Hall. Hazel got a spring weighing gadget.
At Morrisons we stocked up with Soya Milk and other sundries including new tooth brushes.
Thankfully the power has been restored and has been on since yesterday morning. I keep expecting it to go off again though.
Hazel and Archie have been in the garden scooping up the leaves. They went to the garden centre to get a proper rake and were back in time to see a japanese animation called "Pom Poko" - about some raccoons that can change shape and were trying to defend their natural habitat from developers. Very strange film but then most Studio Ghibli films are slightly odd. Wonderful drawn animation though which makes recent Disney efforts seem quite garish and flat.

At The Ends Of The Earth

A very funny and inventive animation by Konstantin Bronzit.

Powercuts!

We have been plagued by a series of powercuts over the last 24 hours which is driving us barmy. They must be mending the fault with a paper clip or sellotape or soemthing because after about 10 minutes or 4 hours the power goes off again and sets off the burglar alarm at a neighbours house - this isnt much fun at 3 in the morning! Needless to say we havent been getting much sleep and they still keep happening. It's on at the moment but no assurances that it will stay on. I've phoned Scottish Power on several occasions but mostly just get a recorded message saying the engineers are looking into the matter. Once , by mistake I'm sure, I got put through to a real person in a kilt, tossing a caber and he said he's not heard of any problems! "Look McTwerp" my alter-ego said, "Even your flippin' recorded message admits there is a problem so how come you don't know there is?" Anyway, I didnt say that and asked politely when the trouble might be fixed. he said he would send some men up some poles to poke the wires with long pointy sticks. No , what he really said was he'd try and send someone out to find the source of the problem or words to that effect. Fingers crossed. Hazel thinks the ancient system is on its last legs and needs a complete updating. Oh, for our own windmill and a solar panel or three!
Actually it was quite pleasant sitting in the dark with a log fire and candles flickering, listening to the DAB radio running on battery power. It felt like 1935.

Fireworks, rabbits and polish.

Hazel is polishing everything to try and cover up the smell of damp rabbit bedding. We have moved her indoors because of the fireworks and the frosts.
Granma and Audrey and coming over later to celebrate our anniverary and let off some sparklers. We are having some warming vegetable stew and jacket potatoes. Letting off the ten quid box of fireworks from Aldi.
Last night we went to the local display put on every year by the Northwich Round Table and Rotary Club. It was pretty good and well up to the usual standard. More people came along if anything and it was quite crowded in Verdin Park with the small funfair and hot dogs etc. ( standing too close to the bonfire?)
I took a few photos which you can find above and on Flickr.
Today was the boot sale at the Brighton Belle in Winsford . It wasn't all that big - probably ten stalls or so. I didn't get anything but Hazel bought some old glass xmas tree decorations in the original box and a plastic gadget for measuring rings.

Freezin' Friday!

Not quite our 23rd anniverary yet- not until Sunday. This is an old card I made for our 21st.
Hazel walked to the station this morning as the traffic is very bad on a Friday coming out of Tescos and the added disruption caused by the railway bridge being closed one way and the detour round Lostock way takes forever.
I walked into town after seeing Archie off to school. I got some nice old postcards from the market bookstall and a 1953 Chicks Own annual for a quid. I had to wait ages to be served though as the owner of the stall was nowhere to be seen. They were hiding behind some cloth stalls they own too.
Also bought a crusty loaf and some vegetarian sausages for National Sausage Week. There was a bit about it on the news this morning from a factory owned by Prince Charles. I think thats what they said? Organic sausages from Charlie's farm fed exclusively of swill from the royal kitchens I presume.
I'd put a coat and scarf on as it was very cold earlier but by the time I walked home it was getting quite warm and I regretted dressing up so much.
Some nice post today from the Exoticaring group ( a CD by various Mexican rock 'n' rollers looks particularly interesting ) and badges, stickers and poster from Allen Bukoff in the Fluxlist Yahoo group. The postman pointed out that the cardboard tube containing the Fluxus stuff arrived at its destination all the way from the U.S. despite only having the post code and no street or house number. He looked very pleased with himself as he cycled off, my praises ringing in his ears!

Halloween

Typically spooky All Hallows Eve with the internet being invaded by ghosts and gremlins. It was still down when we went to bed last night but back up again this morning thankfully so dont have to phone somebody in India to find out what what to do! Now the electricity has gone off and half an hour later is back on again. More gremlins?
The usual visiting witches and mini-ghouls and soon the basket of goodies was looking very bare indeed! Luckliy they stopped coming by 8.30 and so we hid out pumpkins ( pew! dont they pong with candles inside!) and tried to find a suitable spooky film to watch. Earlier we watched "Resident Evil" which was about as scary as Tescos on a Friday night. Archie demanded more scares but we'll save "The Thing" and "Alien" for another day I think. I ended up watching the Chelsea v. Barcelona match and blogging at the same time.
Jim from Basingstoke sent me a batch oif cassettes which he wants putting on CD. Some interesting titles including the Armpit Jugband and Dave Peacock.

Eccentric by Sharon Keighley

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This is a lovely animation of a Gideon Conn song "Eccentric". I cant seem to see it play here but perhaps you can. We saw it a few months back at the Cornerhouse when we saw one of Archie's animations on the Music Night. Gideon played a great set afterwards in the bar. Seems he's getting lots of deserved Radio One airplay and was on the Russell Brand show last week too. He used to be one of Hazel's students a few years back.

Walk through the woods.

Is It Going To Rain?
Originally uploaded by wastedpapiers.

Went for a short stroll through Marbury Park this morning. Hazel was feeling like some fresh air . I think we all were. We stayed in all day yesterday. Hazel slept for most of it! Nice to get out while the sun was shining. No boot sales though - most seem to have finished now around here.
Geese gathering on the mere making a terrible racket. It sounded like hundreds from afar but once we saw them realised there was only a three or four dozen. Lots of mad seagulls too who went bonkers for the bread Archie was throwing. Afterwards did a big shop at Lidl. Half the trolley seemed to be cake and biscuits. Hazel says she needs more sugar. I bought a mouli blender - the sort you can buy in France for mashing up veg into soup. We used to make lots of soup when we lived in London but seem to have gotten out of the habit when we lost our last mouli. I expect its in one of the boxes in the kitchen cupboard that we haven't unpacked since we moved 8 years ago! We have a couple of pumpkins to carve so look forward to making some soup with the left-over bits.


It was delicious, even if i say so myself!

If It's Not One Thing It's Another

My back is a lot better so have been venturing out. Went to town the other day on the way back from dropping Archie off at his friend Jacks in Weaverham. Had almost an hour round the charity shops and library etc. Didn't find any bargains though.
Yesterday was a quiet day in with Hazel and Archie in Manchester. Archie was showing some students how to use Flash. They went to Johnny Roadhouse and bought a Capo ( clamp for the guitar neck ) and some felt plectrums for the uke. Also a kazoo for the one-man band that Archie might do in a school production of Oliver!
Today it's Hazel's turn to be poorly and she came home from college early feeling faint and very tired. She scraped the new car against the side of the house slightly when parking due no doubt to her fragile condition. Hopefully she will be better after a rest - if not it's the doc's on Monday.
A package arrived today from an old mail art contact PLG, in Germany, its was for Hazel and contained a cigar box full of odd metal bits so Hazel was cheered by this and sorted through it when she's had a nap. Inside were many bottle tops, pins, buttons, paper clips, an ancient screwdriver, a couple of badges, a brooch, a nice old pencil sharpener, pencil holders and all manner of wonders. Some will no doubt end up on her BLOG.

Tiger Balm and Heat Patches

Still suffering with a bad back though it seemed to be getting better a couple of days ago and I walked into town yesterday which probably was a mistake. Back to the heat patches which ease the discomfort a little.
Archie's old chum Jack is here today. He lives in Weaverham now so hardly ever see him. He's put on a growing spurt since we last saw him and now towers over Archie despite still being 13. They all went to Shackerly but I stayed at home to creak and groan and watch some old Glastonbury I was transferring to DVD from video.
No Boot sales today but probably just as well as I dont think I could walk very far or bend over to look through boxes of old records.

I've Done My Back In

acornerofroom2000
Originally uploaded by wastedpapiers.

I don't know how but walking in to town this morning I felt something go and I was stooped most of the way there and back again. I was hoping that walking would ease it but it just got worse. I feel a bit like a geriatric at the moment.
In town I hobbled round the usual haunts. Found two more scratchy records in the Help The Aged- A dull chinese pop record and a dreadful folk choir from Italy. Thankfully I did find something to add to the Boot sale Sounds blog- a demonstration record 7" that plays at 33 and third for Stylophone with Rolf Harris for 35 p ( no sleeve ).
Also borrowed the new Razorlight and Basement Jaxx from the library.
I made a big vegetable stew this evening for dinner with some crusty olive bread. No dumplings though much to Archie's disapointment - must get some vegetarian suet.

Running Jumping and Standing Still

The Running Jumping Standing Still Film
Uploaded by Tomsutpen

Delighted to find this on the net. Dick Lester's first film in the U.K. with the help of Peter sellers. Spike Milligan etc. and he went on to direct the fabs ofcourse and a Show Called Fred which influenced Monty Python. We used to watch it at art school back in the 60's along with other visual gems like "The History Of Nothing" by Eduardo Paolozzi and "Flintknappers" about the lost art of splitting flint into smaller bits of flint!

A Busy Saturday

Over the hills 2
Originally uploaded by wastedpapiers.

Up early for a couple of hours blogging and then walked into town for some exercise. Did the usual charity shops. Found a great pile of old records in the Help The Aged including some Fados from Portugal, Irish comedy, Brazilian samba, Hank Williams singing religious songs, "It's Trad Dad" film soundtrack from the 60's and a weird 10" LP (no sleeve) of a talk given by a german woman about a chalet!? All or some will no doubt turn up on Boot Sale Sounds in the near future. I bet you can't wait!
In the afternoon we went to the Regal to see "Open Season" which was amusing in parts but not quite in the same league as Shrek or Ice Age. We had a short chat to the manager as he tore our tickets about how sorry we were it was closing. Hazel suggested a campaign to save it but he said it was too late now. He seemed resigned to being made redundant.
Later in the evening we celebrated Archie's birthday some more with a meal out at the Bengal Dynasty which from the ouside looks like a community centre in the middle of the countryside but inside is quite posh with dozens of circular tables and semi circular alcoves, plush seating and white linen tableclothes etc. We just had the same as we normally have - a mixed vegetable dish, spicey cashewnut dumplings and bombay potatoes, rice ,poppadums and chutney and yoghurt. They try to make you order bread and extra rice but this was too much as it was and we had to leave some. We waddled home afterwards feeling very full. Archie seemed to enjoy it anyway as it was a treat he'd especially asked for.
Good news to about his animations for MTV Flux which apparently are being shown this week and his "Dancing Bear" has been used as an ident, they liked it so much. I phoned my brother-in-law and sister later to see if they got MTV Flux as part of their cable package but they said they didn't know but would look out for it.

Friday the 13th!!

It hasnt been too bad so far- touch wood, cross fingers, spit through rungs of ladder etc.
Here's Archie practising some new chords he learnt at school on the guitar. We need to get a better mike for this computer as the internal one makes it sound very tinny but you get the idea.
I ventured out to get some sawdust for Flo the rabbit as her bedding area was getting pretty stinky. I managed to avoid any black cats and ladders. Also posted a packet of photos to Jon and Sylvia - so look out for them soon you guys. You chaps. You chums.
Archie has been showing me how to get a robotic voice to sing to the tune of The Hall Of The Mountain King (or is it Peer Gynt?) any words you type into "Text Edit" and click on Speaking. It's funny for about 5 minutes.

Archie's Birthday

It was Archie's 14th birthday on Tuesday so Granma and Auntie Audrey came round after school for a slice of cake and watch him open his cards and presents. We filmed the whole thing for posterity. We have nearly all his birthdays on film in one form or another. Hopefully it will be nice for him to look back on in years to come. I wish I could see what my birthday celebrations were like when I was a baby, toddler and teenager. Modern technology makes this all possible now and we take it so much for granted. When I was growing up in the early 50's you were lucky to get snapped by a box Brownie! I dont think I have any photos of any birthdays infact and have forgotten them all now which is a shame.
We are going out to the cinema at the weekend to see "Open Season" a new animation. Followed by a curry - another late birthday treat. Sadly it may be the last time we shall go to the Regal in Northwich as it is closing down for good soon as it isn't a viable concern anymore - people would rather stay in a watch a DVD it seems. I do understand that it is quite an expensive night out especially if you buy popcorn and drinks etc. but no replacing that unique feeling of laughing or crying in an audience. Mind you, the rustling of sweetie wrappers and the chair backs being kicked during the film does get a bit annoying at times I must admit. The end of an era. Its a lovely old 30's cinema too. I feel like watching "The Last Picture Show" by Peter Bogdanovitch and getting very nostalgic about the whole thing. If only we could get some tumbleweeds to roll past the Regal in it's final moments.