Birthday Treats

A busy weekend - birthday treats for Hazel - to the Halle Orchestra and Fireworks at Tatton Park on Saturday evening. Took a picnic and trudged through cornfields for 15 minutes to the lake where the stage was set up. Over 6,000 people attended apparently and it felt like it. We decided we could never go to Glastonbury or similar big gatherings- just one evening amid a big crowd was bad enough. We had to move shortly after the music started as the party next to us just got louder and more drunken! We moved our folding chairs closer to the stage and lake and got a better view as a result. The fireworks and floating Viking ship on the lake etc. were quite stunning as was the music- Nessen Dorma and a few other classical chestnuts which we have been humming since we got home. The Ride Of The Valkyrie with rockets was something else!
Luckily got a quick exit and out of the park by 11. We imagine some people nearer the stage didn't get out of the park by midnight.
The next day we drove to Llandudno and stayed in our usual B&B on the front overlooking the sea. It poured at first but soon brightened up. In the evening went to see Ken Dodd and his Happiness Show again at the Venue Cymru.
Another great show that went on until midnight - 5 hours! Mind you there were two other acts - a ventriloquist and a lady pianist/singer. No Diddy Men this time round.
The next day we got the tramway up the Orme again and walked down to Happy Valley (see video) where a herd of sheep pole vaulted over the fence and ran amok through the park. The new gallery Mostyn has been re-furbished and now a wonderful exhibition space for local and other contemporary art. Nice opening show of varied sculpture painting video and junk pile by African artist to walk through. Hazel bumped into one of her old students in the shop there who was working behind the counter. Small world eh?
Nice meals of fish and chips and pizza/pasta and walks along the pier - the penny slots- air hockey - shopping for tat etc. All the things you do at the seaside.

Signals

Another quiet week looking out at the drizzle.
Have been scanning some of the cigarette cards that I bought last week. Examples here
here and here.
The library sale yielded up a few bargains including some obscure foreign films and less obscure like Dr. Who, Body of Lies and Rescue Dawn ( whoever she is?).
Hazel went to Manchester for her birthday for lunch with the MAG lot. Archie made her a great control panel card with flashing lights and beeps etc.
Masses of starlings on the tree as I write- going crazy - feeding frenzy!
My brother is a little better - slowly does it.
Time to chop up some onions to fry with the vege burgers.

Control Panel Heaven

A busy few days with lots happening like my little brother having a stroke and ending up in hospital ( get well soon John ) but thankfully he seems to be responding to treatment and getting some movement back. Archie passed his Grade 2 piano and dumped his keyboard in the back room. Mind you- since he's rejected it he's been playing it more now than he ever did when it was in his bedroom. So this was the secret?
Went to Chester the other day and got drenched with torrential rain that came down in buckets. My umbrella developed a leak actually got wetter holding above my head like some surreal Daliesque soggy mannequin.
Hada pleasant enoughtime before the heavens opened around the usual charity shops and the market etc. Didnt find much. Had a vege sausage roll under a tree by the cathedral. A one legged pigeon hopped by and said "You'd better get back to the car as this drizzle will turn into a flood soon!" and he was right.
Yesterday we went to the Secret Nuclear Bunker at Hack Green near Nantwich. A great couple of hours of cold war paranoia and old gas masks etc. The deep bunker isnt very secret anymore and seems to be run by a couple of ladies in the NAAFI cafe upstairs- who take the money and make the tea!

We thought there might be a few control panels there for Archie's art project but delighted to find there were hundreds - whole rooms full! So that cheered him up. He went round snapping away happily for ages. The austere bleak doom laden ambience only made us laugh louder at the dummies wearing all manner of strange garb and expressions on their faces etc. Luckliy not many people around to overhear our chortling.

Shtum!

You didn't see me - right?
Forget everything you have read here - it didn't happen.
Another weak has gun by. Beautiful sunny weather for the mostly part. A little bit of rain is most welkum. Kool soft flowing drippy wet rain. Just the job for the garden. You should hear the moaning- oh no- what awful wevver! People have short memories.
I cant be bothered to look in my diary t see what happened last week. It wasn't all that exciting. On Sunday we went to the boot sale at Weaverham. I got a few daft films including a Russian sword and scullery epic called Wolfhound that was a bit like a cross between LOTR and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. very funny in parts but I'm sure it wasn't suppozed to bee.
Taking grate joy in seeing the words being underloined in red.
Hazel got a few bits for her blog including a tin of pen nibs and lots of plants for the hanging baskets. Archie bought a big jigsaw of a planes cockpit and dials for Audrey and Granma to do. He just wanted the picture on the front for his art project about control panels. He's making some out of card but hopes to make a larger one.

Wednesday again and a walk into town. Borrowed a Sweded film about vampires from the libary. Had a chat with Betty in the Age Concern shop. No boots this week she said- maybe one at the pub in Weaverham. Looks like rain anyway. Luvvly rain to make the grass grow. To make it all grin again.

World Still In Pieces

Busy week making second batch of caramelized onion pickle - just three jars which made the house stink of vinegar for a couple of days. Archie complained bitterly - anyone would think it was a mustard gas attack!
Very warm and high pollen count which made us all sneeze- Archie especially who suffers from hay fever. He's taking pills which help but make him feel sleepy and lethargic.
Hazel still has the tickly cough she had a fortnight ago.
Went to two boot sales on Sunday. At Verdin Park we bumped into Will and Adela who had some big bags of plastic animals they found. I didnt find much but Hazel bought some nice old fob watched for a quid each and gave me one. Just noticed it has a quartz crystal inside so cant be all that old but better than a wrist watch - I can keep it in my pocket or on a chain.
The boot sale at Hartford High School was better for bargains - got a few films including Crash and Identity. Also an old EP by the Stringalongs ( see audio blog ).
Hazel got a few things too including plants and leather wallet full of gold leaf.
Archie made a rare boot sale appearance and got some plastic electronic toys for the innerds. He's taking them apart to make a mad scientists control panel for his art project - flashing lights and ossilators etc.
It was his final piano lesson and grade 2 test on Monday so he was happy and the news that 6 Music had been reprieved really made his day!
A walk into town yesterday and more films that I'll probably never get round to watching including the original King Kong, Under Seige and Hairspray by John Waters.
The image above is the cover of a mail art project I did back in 1984. Quite a nice publication that Dick Turpin's uncle printed for me. The mail was stuck up on a bulletin board my me every day at the Whitechapel gallery as part of the annual Open exhibition. It was quite a job but fun to do at the the time.

Photo-boots

Hazel is still full of cold a week later. She had last Monday off and stayed in bed but struggled in Tuesday.
This photobooth photo is on Archie's wall now- hence the reflections. Taken by one of Hazel's students -Olivia Glasser - at the Interactive Arts degree show. We thought it was just one photo but the camera flashed agin when we were piling out (knocking the curtain down ) and Hazel jumped back in for the last one.
Busy day on Tuesday. Went to the Sorting Office and took down the feet shaped postcards that have been there over a year now. No chance of adding anything new to the cabinet so left it empty. Bought a cheap MP3 player with my birthday money and spent a a while adding lots of stuff to it. I've never really seen the point of getting one before as I would hardly use it but going to Manchester on the train last week with the clunky MD player made me realise it would be quite handy. This Archos is tiny and holds up to 16mbs with added memory slot thingy.
Wednesday watched the football - England v Slovakia which we scraped a win - a portent of things to come.
Archie went into college for final exam - General Studies.
Weather has been very warm and no rain for ages - most unusual for June!
Archie sat outside too long and got heat sickness and headache so he had Thursday off college.
Friday I walked to town and back despite the heat. Made a Waldorf salad for lunch with pecans.Yum! The onion pickle I made a month ago is ready to eat and is delicious even if I say so myself. I shall definitely be making some more!
More futball.

Went to town with Hazel on Saturday. No bargains. Glastonbury started. Watched some I recorded the previous night. Highlight was Bombay Bicycle Club.
More futball. In the evening went to see Bernard Wrigley ( The Bolton Bullfrog) at the local theatre. Phew- it was a bit hot and muggy inside what is basically a corrogated tin hut! Bernard was great though despite bits of the show being , as Hazel described it - like a Saga Holiday sing-along!
Boot sales the next day at Walnut Tree fram and Whitegate football club. Very hot- so hot I wore a silly big hat I bought in New York.
Got a couple of games and Hazel found a few bits and bobs including a fruit bowl, a gyroscope and a packet of old fuses - just what every girl needs!

Watched to England v Germany horror show in the afternoon and cried into our beer.
O well , we'll have to wait for the European championships to try and make up for it.
Had a nice bar-b-q outside later despite the noisy neighbours who seemed to be strangling a pig and sawing up some scaffolding poles with a bread knife.

Belly Funny

New animation by Archie.

Merz Day

As Creative Thing ( long time mail art chum ) keeps telling me- my birthday is also Kurt Schwitter's. Celebrated with a boot sale at Moss Farm. We had to park miles from it though as the car park was "full up" but when we got there it seemed half empty! Didnt find much- a DVD of Silence Of The Lambs with extras disc for a quid. Hazel was full of cold but bravely trudged round for my sake and bought a few weird things- a wooden ruler with an inch missing, an intricately peirced watch part, a watch chain fob? Then in the afternoon we went over to Granma's for fish 'n chips and a big sticky cake they had bought at the church fete.
It was Father's Day too so got a nice double card from Archie he had collaged with two flaps - one for birthday and the other for fathers. Box of chocs, set of collaging scalpels and plastic box box from Granma and Audrey and some money. Hazel found me a nice old toffee tin at the boot that I'm sure I had as a child.
Home to watch the football - exciting game between Brazil and the Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast left it a bit late for a fight back and lost 3 - 1. It all got a bit silly at the end with lots of diving and play acting.
Hazel was feeling terrible so went to bed early.
This photo was taken a few weeks ago but sums up how happy I felt yesterday being with my family.
Previously in the week we'd been to Manchester and the degree shows. Had lunch with John Hegley and his girlfriend in the Cornerhouse. He opened the Interactive Arts show later with a song and cut the purple ribbon. He then rushed off to the University theatre to do a gig which we managed to catch luckliy. We shared a taxi back to the centre of town. We we all feeling very tired so declined the offer of a drink in the hotel bar. The next day Hazel had to look after the gallery and keep an eye on the students but cold was kicking in. Archie and I wandered round all the rest of them - fine art, graphics, illustration etc.
So a pretty busy fun packed weekend. All that culture gave me a headache!

Budgie

Found this old collaborative mail art "pass along" piece in a folder today. The late and much missed Michael Scott added most of the words with a glue that looks a bit like treacle? Maybe it was treacle?
Another week and bit flashed by. The weekend was marred by the rain but did get to the indoor boot sale at the memorial Hall. Got there too early and passed the time by wandering around the town and looking at bits of buildings we hadnt really noticed before - wooden gargoyles, brightly painted imps, grotesque statuary - and that was just in the newsagents! No, I'm kiddin' ofcourse- some lovely corners and crooked nannies around the back streets of Northwich. Looking above the tarted up shop fronts you see some lovely old brickwork and ornate guttering , wonky chimneys and pointy roofs.
Back at the memorial Hall the Q's had formed and it was a bit packed inside with everyone shuffling around trying to get in each others way. So we didnt stay long. Hazel found a strange biomechanical bracelet with knobs on- for transforming a nervous wreck into a chilled out yoghurt. I found some cheap DVD's ofcourse- 50p each with no sleeves or boxes - he just put them in a paper bag like toffees.
The Comic Strip from the early days of Channel 4 when they showed some good stuff. Also some 10 hours of old cartoons on 4 discs with lots of Betty Boop and Popeye and other Fleischer Bros gems amongst the dross.
Later we went over to Granma's to plant some flowery plugs and weed her overgrown beds- not in that order ofcourse.

Today I ordered my new glasses- both long and short sighted specs. Boots are much better than Specsavers and I don't care who knows it. A little more expensive maybe but at least they treat you properly and you don't feel you're being rushed through because you are over 60.
Archie has been revising for his A levels and had two exams this week- Chemistry and Biology which went OK he said . Its General Studies next week. He's hoping to form a band but has only one conscript so far.
Looking forward to the football fest soon but I don't think Hazel is! I think we will refrain from draping a 6 foot union jack from the upstairs window though.

June Already!!!

A weekly feast of whelks? Why did i write that in my diary? Gawd nose.
The last couple of whelks have whizzed by at an alarming rate. Can't belive it's the 1st of June today- feels more like February! I have the heating on and wearing my thickest shirt and jumper!
So back to the diary to see what I was up to - if anything - for the last few days.
Had to lock up Rob's chickens again. No sign of them in the gloom so presume they were snuggled up inside the coop. They all trooped out the next morning. I could see an egg far back inside but I couldn't reach it. Rob said we could have the eggs if we found any but these chickens are a wiley bunch and super glue them to the back wall.
I finished ICO , well except for the boring final boss and borrowed the sequal , Shadow Of The Colossus from the library. I'm glad I didnt buy it as its not as good as ICO and mostly fighting which gets very tedious. Amazing landscapes to explore though. We watched Avatar on DVD which I heartily recommend for 2 and half hours of escapist nonsense. I can see why its done so well. Shame it means that everything will be in 3D from now on though!

Went to boot sale in Nantwich at the Vagrants Club and got a couple of films by John Carpenter. Hazel found a few things for her cabinet of curiosities. Propelling pencils ( that I found) and other stuff that I forget now. See her blog for details. It was incredibly hot and so unlike the weather today. Too hot to stay there long. After an hour I found Hazel and Archie who had hidden in the shade of a large tree.
O yes, Hazel found me a nice old tin post box with a mangled slit - attacked by some mad child with a cleaver, trying to get his pennies out.
First bar-b-q of the year in the garden.
Hazel trimmed the lawn with the new strimmer which sounds like a Boing 707 taking off.

Went to see excellent Charity Shop Cabaret at Plumly village hall - part of the Cheshire Rural Touring Network. We sat right at the back so didnt get roped into the daft audience participations - like the After Eight mint stuck to your forehead and slid down your face towards your mouth!
Bought some wine vinegar and jam jars and made a batch of caramel-ized onion pickle.Which i can eat on my birthday in two weeks ( hint hint ).
I boiled up a whole saucepanful and it reduced right down and filled two small jars. Hopefully should be tasty though.
No boots this Sunday so went for a nice walk around Shackerly mere to see the gooslings and feed the ducks etc. Dropped Archie off over in Wettenhall to camp out in a field with some college chums. We ha d a drive around the lanes and ended up back at the Broken Cross by the canal for a drink. We shivered outside waiting for boats to chug passed but saw just one solitary duck that seemed attached to some underwater rail- it kept going up and down, mainly for our benefit.
Terrible pub- beer was off- had to have bottled and their sandwiches are rubbish. We had nuts instead.
Yesterday it was Bank Holiday so a boot at Frodsham. Nice and sunny. Got a couple of scratchy records- Burl Ives and Attila The Stockbroker. See Boot Sale Sounds for details.
Also Village of The Damned (another John Carpenter film )Dragon Quest on PS2 and some spillikins for Hazels collection from Betty. Surprised to see her there. She explained her daughter drove her - else she wouldn't have bothered.
Got Archie from the camping field. He hadnt slept much and is making up for it now. 4 o'clock in the afternoon and still no sign of him!
O well, thats my news pretty much updated. The collage above is for the Mary Greg project that Hazel is involved in at Manchester Art Gallery. Mary Greg collected all kinds of weird stuff, some mundane and some fanciful. The toy ark I saw and the broken animals gave me the idea of the hospital ark and the animals with bandaged legs and paws etc.

Nature Calls

Just found this old video in the dusty recesses of the Archie Archive - from about 6 or 7 years ago when he was knee high to a grass hopper.
Back from a walk to town and back as it was so nice out - bright sunshine after a nippy start. Got a couple of DVD's to watch including Avatar from the library, to see what all the fuss is about. I really hate the idea of every film being a 3D blockbuster. Also - 3D telly - what's that all about? Hope it goes the same way as Cinemascope and Smellivision!

Leslie,Carl, Bethan Visit

Hazel's old college chum Leslie drove up to see us for the afternoon from Walsall yesterday. We had planned on a picnic but the weather was a bit iffy so we erred on the side of caution an had a buffet lunch indoors. I made an asparagus quiche and salad and also there was sausage rolls and warm crusty olive bread. Hazel made a rather disastrous meringue which hadn't cooked properly and was a bit gooey in the middle despite being in the oven over an hour. It was Delia Smith's recipe so we blame her! I got some small meringues from the co-op and we had strawberries with them and double cream. By this time we needed a walk to get rid of all the pounds we had added so went to Marbury to see the bluebells and enjoy the smells and sounds of the woods and meadows. Short edited Flip film above gives you an idea.
Then to Granma's for tea and cake and put on the pounds we had just walked off!

Tiny House

New animation that Archie had to make for A level course at college.

Tatton Biennale

Two boot sales today at Hartford and Antrobus. Not many bargains but plenty to rummage through in the bright Spring sunshine. Star buys were DVD's of Burn After Reading , a recent Coen Brothers comedy with John Malkovich and George Clooney etc. which is worth seeing again. Saw it at the cinema when it first came out. Hazel got a few things including a bag of needles, buttons and poppers from the 50's or 60's. Also a lovely gadget for measuring the distance between bowls - the crown green kind, to see who is nearest the jack. I expect all these things will appear on her blog in due course.

In the afternoon drove over to Tatton Hall to see the sculpture Biennale in the gardens. There was also art in the house but didn't have time to do that as well. Hazel's ex students Ryan Gander and Austin Holdsworth had made things for it. We met Autsin by chance on the way round as Hazel was rattling the doors to the small mobile cinema he was manning. Austin jumped out of a bush and said "There's always someone isn't there!" which was quite funny.
The gardens looked very beautiful at the moment with all the rhodedendrons and daffs and bluebells etc. Some of the sculpture was good too. A small selection in the short film above. I did the "magic" edit mode so the Flip camera does it automatically and splices segments together. Its a bit jumpy but gives you an idea of what we saw.
Austin made the water pumping sculpture you see briefly which has a pineapple and partridge inside those cannisters being "fossilised" over time. Ryan made the bird of paradise that loos like a mask in a glass case in the window of the house. That's Lord Egerton (who's family used to own Tatton )driving around in his jalopy. His old 8mm films were edited for the small cinema on a loop.

May Day Weekend

Lucky with the weather yesterday as they predicted torrential rain but it didn't turn up until the evening. Went to town with Hazel early on to do the usual round of charity shops and the market. Didn't buy much. Found a DVD of "Coffee And Cigarettes" in the Hospice Shop - a Jim Jarmusch film that I hadn't seen before.
In the afternoon Hazel and I drove over to Marbury to walk through the bluebell woods - the short Flip film above does not do it justice. It was quite stunning as always and amazed it was so quiet with just one or two people walking dogs or on mountain bikes etc. You'd think the place would be packed on a Saturday to see such a sight as it doesn't last for long.
In the evening we watched the Fantastic Mr. Fox animation which was OK but the American voices didn't seem right really for a Roald Dahl story. All the baddies were played by veteran English actors though - why is that? How come we are so good at playing baddies or is this just how the rest of the world sees us?

Today it was a bit cooler to say the least but at least the rain held off for the boot sales at Verdin Park and Vic. Stadium. Verdin was best with quite a few stalls and hardy folk shivering behind their piles of tat. I bought two old battered tin toys - a duck and a car. A quid each which I thought quite reasonable. Hazel bought lots of odd bits including a 60's hair trimmer as used by Flash Gordon, a Bakelite needle case and some plants.
Good to get back into the warm after the windswept car park of the Vic. Stadium which only had about ten stalls. Nothing there.
Hazel has made some delicious choc chip cakes. Yum!

Zoooooooooooooom!

Another week and a bit has flashed by and I haven't added anything to my poor neglected blog. The first blog I started infact - back in 2004. I seem to have been on the internet forever but it's a mere six years - I can hardly believe it!
I can just about remember last week. nothing much happened. The volcano stopped spewing out noxious fumes and ash and the planes started flying again. Not noticed much of a difference really - maybe they are flying another route now?
Spring has really arrived with warmer days and chilly nights. One morning Hazel had to scrape ice off the windscreen of her car before she set off to the station.
The new lawn is looking nice and green and lush - all the joins have vanished and it looks like a proper lawn and not several chunks all slapped together.
The lovely red flowers above were a a present from my sister Barb who came to visit about six months ago. They haven't stopped blooming since then - all through the Winter!

Hazel had to lock up our neighbour Rob's chickens one evening while he was away. I let them out the next morning. What a funny looking lot they are too - one has a Beatle wig and another is short and squat. The other is small and more like a guinea fowl. Sadly the smallest was taken by a cat or a fox last week. We felt very responsible looking after them but thankfully they all seemed fine the next day as far as we know.

Yesterday I walked into town early to do some shopping. Bumped into Will and Adela outside WH Smiths. They were off to buy squid for a bar-b-q. Nice chat about Robs chickens, bluebells and fish. I showed them the cheap stir fry sauces I'd just bought from Poundstretcher - I don't think they were very impressed!
Then off to get a few things for a bar-b-q as this suddenly seemed like a good idea with the sun coming out. So I bought some vege sausages and baps . Took DVD's back to library. We watched them both earlier in the week. New Coen Brothers was OK though not many laugh out loud moments. Same with the new terry Gilliam which seemed rather blighted by the death of Heath Ledger. Nice that they should carry on in his memory and make it into a kind of homage to him but really it was all very dijointed and bitty. Some lovely CGI though - quite magical in places.

Today we we drove to two boot sales over at Walnut Tree farm and Whitegate Football Club. The farm one was very quiet with just a few stalls but the Whitegate one was quite busy with cars on three sides of the pitch. I got a few DVD's for a quid each including Poltergeist and a Tarantino shlocky film with Kurt Russell as a racing driver. Also a scratchy portugese jazz LP which looks quite interesting. Hazel got a load of plants for the garden and a nice old mixing bowl. It had rained earlier but the sun came out and was very pleasant - driving down the country lanes looking at the budding trees and greenery.

Volcanic Ash Cloud

Neglecting my blog for a while- time to catch up. Have been having fun with these illustrated lists of randon songs plucked from the record shelves for a Flickr group started by Big Al.
Hazel was supposed to fly to Glasgow yesterday for a conference about Museums ( part of her Manchester Art Gallery project ) but ofcourse thwarted by the cloud of volcanic ash floating over from Iceland! You couldn't make it up! Hazel feels like she's in some version of The Truman Show.
Over Easter we didnt do much except for recover from our trip to Wales and go to a few boot sales. The one on Frodsham was pretty dull and I only got a silly game for 60p. Hazel found a few bits and bobs. Archie came too which was unusual but he didnt find anything. The ground was like a quagmire at Sutton Fields too. Very depressing. Stopped off at Lady Hayes to look round the antique rooms and the book piles. Not much here either. Hazel bought some candles from the Spit the Dog chap.
Drove to Chester the next day for a wander round the charity shops. Hazel bought herself a dress in Morgans. I bought a CD case and some corn pads which I put on by the Cathredral walls as my toe was throbbing. Lots of Japanese and French tourists wandering by obviously thinking this must be a strange english ceremony of some sort.
Hazel and Archie laid the turf we bought at B&Q. the next day. Lawn looks pretty good now a few days later- all the lines joining up and blending in.
We rolled the turf down the back passage on a skateboard much to the amusement of the neighbours I expect.
Have not seen much of our new Polish neighbours but the little boy was out in the garden the other day kicking the ball about and it came over our garden once or twice and he was very polite in asking for it back. I told him he should get a longer pole with a net on the end and he just looked at me blankly so I guess his english isn't as good as I thought.
Hazel picked the winner of the Grand National and won 50p off me and Archie. Shame she didn't go down the bookies!
Nice pile of old Honky Tonk tapes from John Mister . Ive added a few to my audio blog. I made him some CD copies and sent them off.
The boot sale was in Tarporley this Sunday. Got a set of Ealing comedies for three quid and some old VHS tapes fro 25p each including Vampire Circus, The Adama Family and Django ( spaghetti western ). More nice sunny weather.
Hazel in garden cutting down some branches to let more light into the garden.
Dave Smith was supposed to come over Tuesday but got the day wrong so we ate the salmon we had cooked. The next day he did turn up and we had salmon leftovers in a quiche which turned out OK. Lots of salad and cake too. Yum!
So that's about it in a nutshell. Still the volcanic ash blows out way but lovely blue sky outside so hard to imagine it's up there!

Wales

Hazel was feeling brave so we drove to Wales for a few days - not really planned it in detail just wanted to get away and see some old friends and "have an adventure".
First stop was Knighton in Powys - just past Shrewsbury. Andy Hazell lives there in a converted school that he's filled with all kinds of interesting stuff, sculptures and staircases that seem to go up to hidden rooms and platforms filled with yet more things. It seems to be a large artist community and all around were easels and paintings in progress. In the playground are many "art cars" including a hearse and a space ship. They all light up at night. I made a pasta and vege sauce dinner and we drank some wine and had a nice chat. Andy kindly let us stay in his guest room in the west wing.
Popped over to Shropshire earlier too to a great little museum of just about everything in the village of Craven Arms- amzing room after room of junk and collectables all piled up higgledy piggeldy - like walking through a Bruce Lacey installation in the basement of Better Books in 1967.

The next day we drove through some torrential rain and sleet to Rudry near Caerphilly. Stopped off breifly in Hay-On -Wye to look round the bookshops and buy some naughty postcards. Went into a cafe for late breakfast and a cuppa tea. Rain was still falling so carried on our journey. Through the Brecon beacons where the snow was thick on the tops of the hills and the little lambs knees were knocking together. Quite alarming but we got down the other side OK- some amazing views through the drizzle. Hazel wanted to visit her welsh roots in Aberclunky but no time really and the weather put us off.
managed to find Big Al's house eventually at the end of windy potholed lane. He greeted us like old friends though we'd only met on the internet some 5 years ago!
So it was great to meet at lastand have a lovely lunch and tour of Rudry with chorus of chickens, sheep and dogs in the background.
Then off to a strange B&B nearby to stay the night that smelled a bit of old fags.
In the evening Big Al drove us over to one of his local pubs for a drink and chat.
The rain never stopped!
The next day it was off to Cardiff by mistake guided by the Tom Tom. So we decided to havd a wander round the market and arcades. Archie bought some dustcarts for his collection and we took a few photos of piles of welsh baps etc.
Then we met up with Jackie and Terry in Penarth - a small seaside resort nearby , and had a toasted teacake in the cliff cafe.
Still more rain. When would it ever stop?
Then to visit Jackie's Dad who was poorly in hospital.

Then the long journey home via The Forest Of Dean ( naughty TomTom !) and Ludlow for a stop off and stretch at large farmshop/deli place full of posh food.
Got home just in time to miss the first bit of the new Dr. Who. Phew ! it was great to be home though - we felt like we'd been away for a month!

Duck Impersonators

A strange week of low level excitement which included the ram raiding of the local tiny branch of Nat West bank which had a big digger imbedded in it's back wall. As I walked passed the other day the forensic team had just arrived and were dabbing it with finger prints. It was all cordoned off and a policeman was standing there by the digger incase anyone stole it. I could not see anyone inside the bank which was shut. It must have happened in the night I suppose. I looked around for tenners stuck in the nearby bushes but didnt see any alas.

In town a man was doing duck impressions but on further investigation it seemed he was trying extract some phlegm at the back of his throat.
I found a VHS vid of THe Brain Eaters - A classic B movie from the 60's- or so it says on the sleeve. Also got the Buy & Sell mag to look for local boot sales but none this week as far as I could see. A few happening over the Easter weekend in Frodsham and Sutton Fields.

A bird of prey spotted tearing apart a starling in our garden yesterday. Hazel saw it on the tree house. Through the binoculars it looked like a hawk of some kind with a mottled brown front. All that was left was a pile of feathers and a beak.

Southend Art School 1954

ART CLASS

Looks like a younger Leo Hardy here in this hilarious old British Pathe newsreel from 1954. Thanks to George Young for the link.