once more to Fortnum & Mason

hello there



and so some more on my adventures in that there london place, look you see. yes, indeed, as the title gives every instance of indication, it was once more to my most favourite place in the whole of that fine, celebrated city. Fortnum & Mason holds a special, unique charm and attraction not solely for me but for many millions, but i can only speak of moi.

of course i called in, or popped by, Fortnum & Mason. invariably on any trip to london i would do so, but in this instance i so happened to be in the vicinity if not on then exceedingly close to my birthday, away from it in a time measured better in hours rather than days. so why would i not treat myself to some of the finest of excellence available to civilised society.

above are aspects of the items i purchased on this particular trip to Fortnum & Mason. these, and at least one other particularly fine provision, shall be explored in further detail below. to warn those who care not for such things, also below are a number of selfies, featuring moi, in and around the premises. if this is something that you have no wish to see, yet for some reason you care to read and consider what i write, then i have every confidence that you can scroll quite quickly past such images that cause such offence.

why the fascination and passion for Fortnum & Mason? over the last few years i feel that i have sufficiently expressed musings on this subject. but, for the sake of clarity whilst we are all here now, it is so that Fortnum & Mason exemplifies, indeed personifies, all that is good concerning the idea of the English way of doing things. do the finest possible and be the finest possible. this is their highly effective approach to any given matter, and reveals all that one may wish to know of any "secret" behind why they, as a provider of provisions, have existed, survived and flourished as a going concern for a good many more years than many countries in our world have even existed.

indeed, there i am, in full tilt "selfie" mode, hence it being a "reverse" image. partially i feel as though i am disrespectful to the name of Fortnum & Mason in not rotating or "flipping" the image, but for some reason it just feels correct and right to present it this way.

further, yes, once again i am wearing the Levis jacket what Zama got me off of a stall behind Jozi taxi rank many years ago. it remains perfectly serviceable, despite certain questions lingering in concern of its provenance and authenticity. perhaps at some stage i should invest in another jacket, but i am not convinced. wearing it on instances such as this feels very much like i am honouring a friend. there is also every chance that the entrepreneur who sold it to Zama (for a fee that just so happened to be exactly what i gave him, no change), is an avid reader of this blog, and takes some pride (perhaps satisfaction) in seeing where in the world a garment he sold ends up.

one major consideration in why Fortnum & Mason have flourished is that of how they have always set about things in a way which remains loyal to the values of Fortnum & Mason. but, let none speak any such ill that they do not have an awareness of external events, or accommodate such. which is exactly why one can, for a suitable seasonal period of time, purchase their special (and undoubtedly exquisite) Easter Blend tea.

did i by any chance elect to purchase some of this (and there can be no question of this being the case) finest of fine teas for Easter? alas, no. decorum and having an acute sense of perspective of my place in the world prohibited such. it was either £60 or (probably) £90 for one of these modest sized yet elegant tins of loose leaf tea. the message given by this sophisticated pricing was one which spoke of how if you were to consider the price of this item then it obviously was not meant for your consumption. undoubtedly the tea would have been far too fine and sophisticated for me, and so would have just been wasted on me.

with an unexpectedly significant amount of free time to spend in Fortnum & Mason, i took advantage. my sole priority for the day was to resolve matters at south africa house in respect of some passports. as this was achieved with (very) relative and (decidedly) comparative ease, it was my distinct pleasure to experience a rare sense of the freedom of being left to my own devices, to do that which would please me most. so yes, indeed, in the above image i am in one of the fine lifts (or elevator, if American) which Fortnum & Mason make available to select patrons.

to which levels did i go in the lift within Fortnum & Mason? very nearly all of them. i, in particular, went to the third floor, as that is where the gentleman's restroom facility is conveniently located for gentleman patrons who may care to wish to spend a penny, or are otherwise in urgent need of a gypsy kiss. oh yes, by my word, the restroom facility within Fortnum & Mason is one of the most remarkable to be found in the world. sadly, for you hoping otherwise, it felt exceptionally inappropriate to take any images of such, in particular with regards to ever present staff eager to assist being stationed there.

although rather (considerably) more famous for tea, it is so that Fortnum & Mason agree to meet requirements of all patrons, and so too sell coffee. pictured above are some examples of the coffee they sell. rather like the Easter Tea, in their wisdom it is so that they have carefully priced their coffee so as to alert people of an unsuitable class that it is not particularly intended for them. as the price of one superb jar of this coffee would cover the cost of regular, ordinary folk coffee for me for some two, perhaps three, months, i did not make a purchase on this instance.

on previous visits i had indeed experienced the privilege of purchasing their coffee. i bought one of their small, modest selection sets, priced of a fashion that only limited budget sacrifices needed to be made or were required. my experience of the coffee was that it was clearly intended for a quite different social circle than the one in which i am trapped, and so i have never felt any compulsion or need to explore such further.

go on then, another selfie. this is moi before one of the magnificent staircases, resplendent with superb bannisters and what must be the finest, most expensive carpet on which i have ever set foot. i appreciate that many (if not all) of you would have rather preferred a look in detail at what i describe, but what can i say, my blog so instead mostly it is a picture of me. someone somewhere must like such, i suppose. or presume.

it strikes me that i have given considerable time, and a straightforward to count number of words, discussing (and exploring) items at Fortnum & Mason which i did not purchase. perhaps now, at this juncture, or point, or moment, it is fitting, proper and appropriate to rather discuss items and provisions which i did, as point of fact, purchase.

the overwhelming majority of items i purchased are pictured above. for a broad overview of them, here you can see some fine Highgrove tea, which i believe is off of His Royal Highness Prince Charles. central in the image is a most agreeable sized packet of Fortnum & Mason's Afternoon Blend tea, which is splendid. finally, and by no means least, a most distinguished chalice, emblazoned with an image of the flagship Fortnum & Mason grounds, located in or on Piccadilly.

what sort of coin count did i opt to relinquish in return for these items? i suspect it would be uncouth and inappropriate to reveal precise figures. however, it could be said that i spent less than £1 per year that i have been on the planet, which when you place in such terms surely strikes one as being both reasonable and agreeable.

above is a jar of marmalade which i (fairly obviously) purchased at Fortnum & Mason. usually, or normally, it is so that i would purchase either one of their select set of three different marmalade varieties in a spiffing presentation pack, or would simply purchase one jar of Sir Nigel's special recipe marmalade. on this instance, what with it being quite near a birthday, i decided to embrace the much vaunted "yolo" approach of the youth of today (except Greta) and purchase one that i had not tried before. as you can undoubtedly see in the above, it was The Monarch marmalade which i purchased. more on this subject a little later.

perhaps, or arguably, one of the more interesting purchases i made (at least in the eyes of the more casual visitor here) would be that of the tea off of His Royal Highness Prince Charles. let me give some more detail on this for you, then, commencing with an image.

i am not sure if the above is all that clear, but you may all the same be able to detect that these are not what you would consider "normal" tea bags. no, far or quite removed from it. what one gets instead, then, are "silky" tea bags. as i am no fashionista or similar i could not say for certain, but i believe it is correct to say that they are indeed "silky" rather than allowing them to be described as "silk".

the cost of these fancy, silky teabags? once again i must insist that giving specific monetary amounts feels rather crass and uncultured. but, for those of a mind which shall not yield its inquisitiveness untl satisfied with some form of answer, i can confirm that the fee commanded by Fortnum & Mason for this is just south of the £10 price, for twenty bags reasonable and agreeable.

back, briefly, then, to The Monarch marmalade. whereas i had no regret of my purchase of this, there was some trepidation, or fear in me with regards to using it. the very name of this marmalade, and the text on the jar, did after all give every (possible) indication that it was intended for members of a social class far higher than mine. eventually, after a week or so, i did succumb and tried some.

it is perhaps best (or appropriate) to describe The Monarch marmalade as a most decidedly confrontational one. there is a very direct nature to the immediate taste, which is perhaps what one would expect. ruling monarchs do not have time to dilly dally with needless pleasantries, after all. yes, i rather like it.

let me return, then, to the (considered) matter of the silky tea off of His Royal Highness Prince Charles, and indeed my most splendid of things, the chalice of Fortnum & Mason. the consolidation of this particular tea with this particular device for consuming it represents one of the single most expensive cups of tea which i have had, if not  the most. although there was one incident at Heathrow in the 90s. again, it would be quite vulgar and crass to reveal (or otherwise discuss) the price of my most splendid Fortnum & Mason chalice, but it may be said that the price commanded for it was as point of fact south of £30. somewhat.

how did i find this tea? agreeable. it would be an act of indecent dishonesty to proclaim it to be the finest cup of tea which i have ever had. experience suggests that the very best cup of tea which anyone ever has is dictated as such more due to the circumstances in which they enjoyed it, rather than the content as such.

yes, William, a keen and ardent lover of tea, was permitted to have a sip, actually, he was encouraged to do so. as it turned out, he had a more forthright response. in his view it was little more than "just water with sugar added to it", and so soon thereafter he returned to the pleasantries of Yorkshire Tea.

every visit to Fortnum & Mason undertaken by me carries with it the possibility of it being my final such excursion. one would hope such a day would not come any time soon, but often these matters are beyond any and all reasonable control. with this being something which may be true of the visit, i made the very best i could of it all, engaging in conversation with the devout staff at all opportunities. they were all quite kind and indulgent with this.

one particular exchange resonates somewhat. as i approached a till to make good payment for my provisions, a fellow patron - a lady - approached from another side and sought to "cut in" before me. the representative of Fortum & Mason, a lady behind the till, made it sternly yet agreeably clear to this lady that she was in the wrong, and must proceed to the correct waiting point for her turn of service. it was so that this patron did as instructed.

under the terms of the English way of doing things i felt particularly awkward for my entirely innocent part in this. on approaching the till i spoke to the lady representing Fortnum & Mason, assuring her that providing service first to the other patron would have been acceptable. to this the lady said that there was a special layout to service and it must be adhered to. but she also commented that i am quite the gentleman for how i spoke, and expressed a view that my wife was a particularly lucky and fortunate lady. so far i have refrained from sharing this with my (considerably) better half, so as not to upset her or hear her laugh.

well, that would appear to feel to be it for this particular episode. certainly, to be sure, there are one or two further items from my most recent adventure in london that are worth comment, i will do what i can to share such here.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

greggs and sex (presumably) and cigarettes on the streets (apparently)

hey there



yes, just another one of them posts that is both, look you see, about certain observations made on my travels and pretty much covered in detail by the title. but, as we are here now (even if i am just metaphorically, or whatever, with you by virtue of writing this), so if you have a few moments you could consider thinking about having a look at this. or not, if you are busy, or simply have something better to do.

so, well, right then. as i wander around this world, for those unfamiliar with such posts as this, i see, every now and then, some peculiar things. once in a while they suggest themselves as being full worth of placing on here. even if that suggestion is quite a spontaneous (or heat of the moment) thing, and in truth no it is not worth sharing.

this time (much as the title suggestions, or quite clearly states), it was not just the one thing i saw, but a total of three. a trilogy, if you like, or triumvirate, but i suspect the latter is only supposed to be used in Shakespeare plays what are considered historical or what have you.

i insult you and disgrace myself if i suggest that the crystal ultra clear Commodore 64 mode image above requires any sort of narrative or discussion concerning what is featured. but, yes, for the sake of completeness, pictured above are a used, slightly distressed "classical" greggs cup, some extinguished (spent) cigarettes and a prophylactic (the poshest, most sanitised and family friendly term i can think of for a rubber johnny) that from a distances appeared soiled and i was certainly not going any closer to confirm such.

perhaps the positioning (i am reluctant to say juxtaposition) of all this is one of the more fascinating aspects, indeed elements. is this all, i wonder, the route of an adventure someone (presumably a gent, for some of it in the company of a lady or perhaps a fellow, like minded gent) had? maybe, looking at the placement near the kerb, they emptied all of this out of their car, which gives every indication of whoever left it having a far more interesting and involved time of it than me whilst driving. or maybe the previous owner (custodian) of all this was diligent enough to put it all in the rubbish, but the bin bag tore as they took it away for responsible disposal. this latter theory is, you would think, the only way whoever did this could avoid getting knacked off of that Greta lass.

oh. it is literally (as i write this) only now that i note a rather splendid pair of sunglasses has also been included in this menagerie of excess. you can see them in the below, just north of the distressed greggs cup yet south of the drain which missed the opportunity to take these items away to the sea.

exactly how many parallels are there with the above items and my own life? not many, really. yes, of course cigarettes remain something that i am most enthusiastic about, especially how since not once when mending my kidney (or whatever) the medical professional attending me drew attention to fags being at fault. as for the greggs cup, well, i don't particularly like their coffee, and drinking tea out of one of them paper cups is just crass and done only from desperation. with regards to the sunglasses and the contraceptive device (spent or otherwise), generally speaking my life is one which apparently has little requirement for either.

where in the world did i see such a spectacle? i had no wish to reveal that this was redcar, for certain preconceived ideas of the place may have led to some readers making a rush to judgement. so far as i am aware it would be secured in safety to suggest that sights such as this are possible to see in the majority of towns and cities in our land.

anyway, if there was little to say of all this at the start there is less so now. very much nothing else, as it happens, except to thank you for whatever time you opted to use reading this.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

collecting a passport (or document) on behalf of someone else at south africa house, london

howzit


just one of those "public service access" posts, look you see, in which i try to help people out. and the people do seem to need some help, going on my encounters with such on my second (and may it be final, for a long time at least) trip to where they do the south african passports (and documents) for people in the UK. that would of course be at 15 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DD.

i should probably do a second, more intensive post on the how to go about actually applying for the passport and what you need to do it. for now, let me give you once again this link to the first thing i wrote on it. and to state again, in no uncertain terms, take every official document you have with you, and take photocopies of all of them with you. failure to do so will cost you a lot, and cause even more delays.

with respect to time and delays, yes, get ready to write off an entire day when you go to apply. indeed, i shall get to the important stuff of collecting just now, but here we are.

just over the roof of that passing (less than opportunistic) van you should be able to make out quite the congregation of people. that is the queue for the sa embassy office, or south africa house. at 8:30 in the morning, when it opens at 8:45. i am not kidding with you, the people. one person i spoke to arrived at 4am to commence queuing. the service here is at least equal in terms of being inefficient and inept as all such services in south africa. come early, and be prepared to stand around for hours. and hours.

one very small, slight mercy is that (ostensibly) collections people do not have to queue for hours and hours. well, not as such. yes, you must join that queue first, but they come along and pull people aside who are here to collect only. and make sure you have all the documentation and letter you need to collect, or else "no soup for you", to quote Seinfeld. because it is my blog and i can, to be sure.

right, part one of what you need to take with you. part two is later, and as important. but, first, documents required. these are the current SA passport or (passports) of the person (people) you are collecting for. your own passport. if possible the SA ID book (or card i now believe) of the person (people) collecting for. your SA ID book (if you have such). the original, unabridged birth certificate of everyone you are picking up a passport for. not sure if i needed it now that i think, but for good measure the unabridged marriage certificate in cases where the passport/s being collected are for children with just one parent going to collect. also, you need the original receipts issued. yes, you need to complete the section at the bottom of them, but you need a letter too - see below.

please, if you are going to go and collect passports (or anything) off of south africa house, take the time to re-read that check list. don't go without the above (or the below important thing) unless for some reason you thrive on frustration.

where in london (innit) am i (moi) in the above picture? stood outside the single most profitable shop, or any such business concern, in the city. just what makes it so? they are the nearest place to south africa house to have a photocopier. a very slow, rubbish and expensive one. if you want to make a lot of money very, very quickly, then get a shop unit as close to 15 Whitehall as you can and put a big poster up advertising doing photocopies.

i am not kidding. the information about them needing photocopies of all documents (in many multiples) is hidden on the official website. by around 9am there was already a queue of 6 or 7 frustrated people at this shop waiting for photocopies to be done. by the end of the day, and going on the conversations i had with people waiting in the queue ("we don't need photocopies it did not say anything about them on the website", i was rebuffed more than once), i expect that shop made a right tidy profit.

back to important stuff. so, i will do italics and bold. you need to have a letter with you, signed by the person you are collecting for and yourself, stating all the details of what you are collecting. yes, indeed there is a section on the receipt to put all of this, and i suggest you fill that in and sign it, too. but as someone there at the same time as me discovered, they have no interest in that at all. whatsoever. no separate letter, stating all of the passports (or documents) to be collected, no collection.

sorry to diverge (or take a detour) once more, but why not. exactly how you get to be so inefficient and incompetent is a wonder. something that does not help is that apparently all staff go on a ten minute break after speaking to three people. never mind the queue outside. generally, also, i would suggest that passwords exist for a reason. that reason is not to write them in big letters on a piece of paper and leave them on a desk for all to see. data protection rules were created for a reason.

anyway, the letter. if you want a basic template, here you go. bits that appear in them chunky brackets [like this] are for your details.

[name & address of authorising person]

South Africa House
Office of Department of Home Affairs
15 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2DD

[date]

Ref : [reference from receipt/s]

Dear Sir / Madam

I, [authoriser name], South African ID [ID number], SA Passport number [passport number], hereby authorise [name of person collecting], [nationality of] passport number [their passport number] to collect the following passports. Due to the distance required to travel I am unable to attend in person

Name : [person for the passport]

SA Passport Number :  [passport number]

SA ID Number : [id number]

Application receipt number : [receipt number]

(you need to do this for all the passports or documents on the same letter, just copy above as required)

Thank you for your assistance

[name of authoriser, signature above]          [name of collector, signature above]

or any sort of word variation along those lines, i guess. but all of that information must be in the letter, and all passports being collected must be on the same letter. to cover bases i prepared a letter with all of them on and one separate one for each. i presented them all and they said that they would not accept separate letters for multiple collections. 

yes, indeed, another selfie for those of you who for some reason are interested in seeing how i am getting on. mostly fine, if you are asking, mostly fine. just a minor (and quite painful) kidney (or similar) infection which laid me out for a bit, but i am sure some sort of transplant or swap would get it all mended. further, or also, yes, that is indeed nelson's column in trafalgar square, rather close to where the sa place for passports is.

something which they do make perfectly, and abundantly clear, is that south african house london (here it is in bold) accepts cash only. do not go thinking you can use a debit or credit card, or a cheque. no, cash only, british pound notes thank you. why is that? lots of reasons, i suppose. officially, i suppose, it is a convenient way for an "emerging" (or developing) nation (think they used to be called third world but you probably can't use that term no more) to hoover up some "emerged" (or developed or first world) nation stable currency. there is another possible reason, which would be how hard cash (unlike cheques, debit and credit card transactions, etc) can be neatly folded or bundled, put in diplomatic bags and taken, no questions asked, to be put in any safe or vault anywhere in the world which a senior member of a ruling government instructs it to be.

how about another look at the quite daunting and very depressing queue which awaits anyone who arrives at south africa house, london, after 6:30am ahead of their 8:45am opening. not to show off, but just to show how frustrating a day it shall be, and why it is a good idea to go armed with absolutely everything you will need in duplicate, triplicate or more.

my hope is that anyone who needs to go (and it would be a need, for no one would endure this simply for fun or giggles) finds all of this and it is of some help. best of luck for those of you off to endure all of the frustration, the lack of assistance, the incompetence and the inefficiency.

no, i am not an sa passport holder, never have been. but my (considerably) better half is, and so i went to collect for her. that feels like some sort of level of commitment or dedication, willing to endure and sacrifice such and to travel so far for it, but it is all probably something that would be assumed and taken quite for granted. oh.

right. that's about it. be ready, be prepared, be lucky.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uf6 الكعكة الصفراء

こんにちは


just one of them random sort of posts, look you see, on something which took my fancy. and, for no apparent reason, what took my fancy was the mysteries and curiosities of them there 'ufo' things. which are unidentified flying objects, or alien visitors.

no, so far as i am aware, i have not had any direct (or indirect) encounters (or experiences) as such, bar seeing absolutely every episode of X Files at least once and many twice. do i, for the want and the wish of a better expression, "believe" in such things? it is not a subject i am prepared to use such strong, committal phrases on.

below are some images and videos what claim (purport) to feature these ufo things, doing their thing. one or two are clearly tricks of the light or the creator, others not obviously so. over to you so as you may see that which you would wish.

let's start with the obvious first step. is there, somewhere "out there", other life? without any, or at the very least not a great deal of direct, evidence, i think we have to say yes. assuming what we are told is true, which is the "universe" is limitless, that it has no start nor end (what, after all, would be on the other side of such?), then any sort of humanistic theory of probability - accurate or wildcard - is going to say that such is "highly likely".

to go another step, then, with the second taking place right after we accept that there is probably some variation of life out there. could, or would, life out there be more "advanced" or "evolved" than we find ourselves as being? highly debatable. for everyone that says humans are surely at the bottom end of the universal evolutionary scale, someone shall say no, we are the business end, us humans are as good as the universe can produce and it shall get no better.

but, for the sake of simplicity (fluidity, perhaps) here, let us acknowledge, whilst allowing for the term to be relative, "advanced" is a certain, distinct possibility. advanced enough to be able to travel what we measure as billions (millions) of miles (kilometers, you frenchies), safely and in such a way that they could return to their "home planet"? one again, to keep things easy, let us say "yes".

why, then? i mean, for what reason is it that these aliens (visitors) would use such to come all away across the universe (if that is "far" for them) to our corner of our galaxy, just to dart around a little bit quite fast, and then vanish? that is all they seem to in any of the "captured footage", bar (depending on your proclivity to believe such) the odd bit of human abduction and violation, crop circle creation and inexplicable cattle mutilation.

of course, they seem to dart around a bit quite fast and then vanish in terms of a very human being way of looking at it. this is us seeing what we are conditioned to see, from our perspective. there are, i suppose, an infinite number of things that we could not even begin to imagine that they are doing. also, allowing for enstein's theory on such, time and space are relevant. what we perceive to be seconds could, to another form, be hours.

and what of no contact, communication, interaction or "evidence" (as in stuff left rather than these debatable sightings) of them being here? well, again, you run the gamut of humanity. by our perspective they seem not to. for all we know, yes, all this kind of thing has happened, and in their way, they have indeed done all of the things that i mentioned, and more, frequently.

there is a particular dynamic, or dilemma, which i am very fond of. it has troubled some of our greatest artists, as well as simple minds such as mine (and not simple minds the band). not sure if it has a proper name, but i guess you could call it the "reverse reality" paradox. what we accept as reality is in fact a "unified dream state" for us all, and that place in which our dreams happen is our actual reality as we know it. such would explain much.

how does that last part relate to ufo or alien sightings? well, it does and does not, i guess. there is so little we actually understand of the human condition that seeking to comprehend another life formation strikes me as being, at best, ambitious. i can't do it, but if you can, then nice one.

a brief consideration of the various items of folly with these "ufo" sightings, and what have you, then. mostly, they really do assume that the human form really is the business end of evolution; it shall not get any better. hence, the "craft" we see all appear to be ones we would easily visualise people of a human size being quite comfortable in. most 'alien encounters' also involve meeting someone (some thing?) of a slightly altered but basically humanoid shape.

one of the interesting crossovers, or agreements, between ardent evolutionists and convinced creationists (can't we all just get along) is that mankind is "perfect" for our planet. whether that was via means of evolution to adapt to the planet or because we were created such does not, for the moment, matter. on this broad level, the important thing is that any alien who evolved to be so much like us would have had to do so on a planet very, very, very similar to ours.

which prompts other questions. if their physical form is so adapted to a planet similar to ours, just how is it they have different resources to be able to travel so? or what are we missing with ours that prevents us from the same? yes, i know, to some the answer is "but we can", just government conspiracies, majestic twelve, etc, are preventing us from doing it.

my main issue, or query, or question mark around "alien visitors" and "ufo sightings" is the remarkable lack of them over the last ten or so years. oh sure, there have been some, but not, to put it bluntly, f***loads of them. and there should have been.

our world, and this really is now a planetary wide phenomenon, is overloaded with more cameras than we could possibly need. we have cameras welded to phones, cycling helmets, cars, buildings, remote areas, everywhere. i am not sure of the stats in a specific sense, but i seem to recall reading that more video is shared across the internet in one day than it would ever be possible for one person to watch in a complete lifetime.

perhaps it is just my thinking on the subject, but surely all of that shared video is not just recordings of people doing that sort of thing, or weird things happening in traffic. i would reasonably have expected, going on accounts prior to cameras being everywhere, thousands of videos of aliens and ufos to be taken every year for the last four or five years, if not every month. but, apparently not. unless some sort of government agency is very good indeed in getting them offline very quickly, the way they apparently cannot with anything illegal or similarly unfortunate.

it would probably be very nice indeed if there were any of them alien things out there, or if any of these ufo sightings were true. this, however, would be in the "cool" or "that's nice" sense, for i can see no practical benefit or visible difference such would make based on what is known. unless, of course, some of these incidents are true, and the contact made has had an effect, but we are just wildly unaware of the how and why of it. which again means it does not really matter, for we are unaware of it.

the truth is i, we maybe, don't understand that will seemingly intrinsic in all life that we know that to preserve and fight for the continued survival of life is usually at the forefront of action. exactly how we could comprehend another form of life when we do not really know our own is, once again, probably all too much for my simple mind and limited imagination.

just dig what you dig, really, and believe in whatever gets you through this life, doing so in a way that does not interfere with others doing the very same.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!تكون ممتازة لبعضها البعض

a pint and some films with spiros

hey there


well, yes, the title of this post probably does say it all, look you see. all of any immediate relevance is right there, to be sure, so if you happen to be in a rush i suppose you could just have a quick scroll down and a gander at the pictures, then get on with whatever it is you need to do that is more pressing, or important, or simply more interesting.

for those in not so much of a rush, or just wish to read more (by choice or via having absolutely nothing better to do), well, then, i will do my best to make this interesting, at least in part.

my recent (brief) adventure in that there london place meant, of course, a chance to catch up with Spiros. this was straightforward to arrange, really, for if it were not of his generosity as a host i would not be in london, as i simply could not afford their outrageous ideas of what they believe to be modest accommodation fees. in regards of how we opted (or selected) to make use of the time whilst i was down there, well, see the title.

yes, indeed, no that is not the sort of drink you would expect to be seeing Spiros waving around. usually it would be a pimms, or some sort of elaborate so-called 'cocktail', or a more straightforward babycham or similar, whatever is currently de rigueur in such circles. unless, in respect of the latter, curiously named eastern european lagers is now where it is at.

the pub, or bar, what he took me to was also not what i was expecting, or what you, the enthusiastic readers of the adventures of Spiros, might have expected. for a start, there seemed to be a pretty even balance of male and female patrons, with one or two open displays of hetero relationships. also, it was hardly at all that Spiros disappeared off to the lavatory in the place, so as to form a short term but mutually beneficial friendship with a fellow gentleman patron. just the once, from what i could recall, when a particularly dashing chap in a TfL uniform caught (or gave) him the eye.

if this was an unusual way of having a drink with Spiros, then stranger was yet to come with film watching. on previous experience, Spiros recommending a film more often than not would see me follow him to a less than official sort of cinema, to be seated in a makeshift auditorium with an audience made up exclusively of men, in order to watch a (to put it broadly) graphically romantic film featuring an all male cast. when he has been lured to more conventional, or mainstream cinema, at his behest i have found myself watching things like Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park and American History X. quite peculiar, then, to be in his company watching films which appeared to lack such rigid components.

but, in fairness, i would say that neither of us knew a great deal about a film called The Dead Don't Die prior to watching it. the title rang a vague bell in my mind, but these days that could mean much of anything.

as the film commenced, all looked like it would be good, then. we got an early glimpse of Bill Murray, which is usually a sign (or indicator) of good things to come. there too was him out of Star Wars, well, the new ones, that Adam Driver lad, who was not too bad.

everything seemed and felt like it would be a decent modernist, perhaps self-knowing "zombie" type of film with a very decent cast. but then came along, very early on, a quasi "break the forth wall" moment, where him out of Ghostbusters said that the song on the radio sounded familiar and him out of Star Wars (new ones) pointed out they had just heard it on the movie credits. oh, it is was going to be one of those films, was it.

yes, indeed it was. this is one of those films best described as "meta". for better or worse, as in some of you will find immediate appeal in such, whilst some shall go look for something else. on the whole, and for what it is worth, i am kind of somewhere in between those two approaches.

it is so, then, that The Dead Don't Die has quite a selective audience. this film is for those who don't mind watching actors and a director basically let you watch highlights of them messing around with an idea for a movie rather than an actual film. also, it is for all of those who cannot get enough of heavy-handed anti-fracking commentary, and indeed anti-anything which is not considered "cool" by all the "cool" twitter users or whatever.  bravely the film concludes *** SPOILER WARNING *** with a declaration of how certain addicted smartphone users are the modern day zombies, which struck me as rather attacking those most likely to think in favourable terms of the film.

would i recommend The Dead Don't Die to anyone? kind of, i suppose. the bloke what made it did Broken Flowers, which i always considered excellent, and he did a few things with Talking Heads too. i do feel some sort of compelling partial would not mind thought to have another look at it, to see if i missed something. but no, if you are looking for a conventional horror, comedy, zombie film, or any sort of conventional film, this is not for you. and that does not mean you are wrong.

there was some mild disappointment expressed by Spiros when i confessed that i had not ever gotten around to watching a motion picture called Grimsby.  he insisted that a remedy (or fix) be applied to this as soon as was possible, and so i agreed to watch the movie with him.

do i need to give you a plot summary? very well. some lad living in Grimsby (Sacha Baron Choen) pines for his brother, who he was separated from in circumstances that are revealed as the film goes. it turns out his brother (Mark Strong) is now a quite well to do, somewhat violent espionage spy secret agent type. and so a reunion happens, with somewhat predictable consequences.

predictable, but exceptionally funny consequences. yes, the humour here is puerile, tasteless and what have you, but if that is what so happens to be funny then there really should not be a problem. sure, certainly, there is a certain high brow, clever element to some of that which Sacha Baron Cohen has done over the years, but mostly it's all about generating laughs and entertainment with the shocking and the unthinkable. well, perhaps obviously not unthinkable, since obviously either Sacha or one of his crew (gang, perhaps) had to have had the thought, otherwise they could not have done what they did.

again, and as usual, i am uncertain if my recommendation for a four or so year old film what had a built in audience is going to be of any value. but, if such is required or of interest, yes, this was all jolly funny, and well worth a look.

right, then. i have a stack of other things to post off of my trip to the london, but they shall not, alas, feature Spiros or a pint or two. perhaps some, in a tenuous way, links to films, but that might be pushing it some.

for now, then, i would just wish to express my thanks as ever to Spiros for his hospitality and entertainment, and of course for the fact that i may very well (co-incidentally) now require a new kidney, or similar, depending on how accurate the doctor was with his diagnosis.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the congregation of cockneys and geordies

cor, blimey gov


this shall be one of several posts which relate to that there london place, look you see. once again i had reason to travel to that very popular and extremely busy city. some of the reasons as to why, in terms of me being there, will occur in other posts. but, for now, a look at something which might be of interest to select groups, although certainly not me.

i made my way to london via the means which was the most practical, as well as being the most unreliable and expensive. yes, train. oh how once there was a time when you planned to travel via train and did not have fears about it not turning up, or missing connections, they just ran. but, anyway, in this instance mostly all went as it should.

when one travels from the north to london, one sees many sites. and sights. some of them give every indication as to how close one is to their destination. a most recent (in relative terms) which allows you to know that kings cross station imminent is this.

yes, the emirates stadium, which ostensibly is home to arsenal football club. one of the more agreeable and (this might be pushing it) acceptable london clubs going, really. well, they are not west ham, so they are not bad.

for those who some reason like to work out where i was and when, by chance my travels took me past this stadium just shortly before a particular match was due to commence. it was a so-called premier league fixture, with arsenal hosting north east "sleeping" giants newcastle.

did i take some video of the congregation of cockneys and geordies? yes, of course.

how, exactly, did the game (or match, if you prefer) (fixture, even) all work out? well, it would be fair to say that the first half went quite well for newcastle, with the second half going very well indeed for arsenal, who concluded the match in triumph.

it has, in truth, been a while since i went to a match myself. there are perfectly straightforward (rudimentary) reasons for this. firstly, getting to the match. with public transport (the buses and trains) in my decidedly non-london area been cut to nothing, there is no practical way to get there and back. also, the cost of a matchday ticket is usually north of £30, which in no way whatsoever represents any likely value for money with how bad (dire) my beloved boro are at the moment.

anyway, i don't particularly have much else to say about any of this, in truth. i am not at all sure who exactly will have any interest in this, but if you are someone who has, well that's excellent.

more, but probably less football related, stuff soon, then.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bromley council services (and david bowie)

howdy pop pickers


well, well, well. this post very nearly, look you see, holds good on my commitment to not write of bowie at least once a month, in place ever since i finished my quasi magnum opus on his albums. this concerns something which proclaims itself to be of bowie but, as you may have worked out from the title, perhaps does not have him quite as much in focus as you may have thought.

just a word of if not warning, then caution or maybe general advice for any of you out there who are planning on making a documentary on david bowie. or anyone really. whereas i profess to be no expert, and certainly have not made any form of documentary myself, if when watching a provisional edit of your work you can't but help notice that it seems to provide more insight, comment and detail about the various services offered by bromley council than it does the ostensible primary subject, either rename it or consider another edit.

for the record, i shall try not to mention bromley council quite so many times as it features in the documentary what i watched. in theory this is easy, for if i avoid going north of one thousand mentions of bromley council (and their services), i will have achieved this.

the above (and indeed below) image is the cover of a dvd what is called David Bowie On The Rock Trail. although i have noted that it has been released in several variations, some featuring a basic what i believe is called "spoonerism" (or false palindrome) in the form of On The Rock Trial With David Bowie. i would imagine that variation is quite rare, for his lawyers would have stepped in to question the use of "with".

provenance of my copy? why, it was a most generous and kind Christmas gift from His Excellenct, the Most Honorable Viscount of Stockton, the Marquess of Tees Valley and several other titles. in his wisdom he believe that "basically anything with david bowie written on it" would be a gift that i would welcome. he was and indeed remains correct in this regard. i am not complex at all, i am very simplistic in this regard.

as you can see below, the claim is that this dvd is an "intimate and fun-filled trip", and so forth, i cannot be pestered typing the rest up, just rather read it. on the back, in slightly (as in very) smaller print is a note that it is not official, contains no involvement or endorsement by bowie (or anyone remotely connected to him) and absolutely none of his music.

dvds of this nature for well known musicians are quite common. there is presumably a market for them, and that market would be "ooooh, so and so likes that singer / band, look at that big picture of them on the cover, i shall buy it for them as a gift". which is how we have gotten her. let me be brave and assume that all of them, no matter which artist or band is covered, are as bad as you might expect; likely as awful as this one.

it was a gift, mind, and i tried to be fair in watching it. this fairness goes out of the window quite early on, and not just specifically for the numerous (and disproportionate) number of mentions bromley council gets in it. just south of an hour is a woefully short period to try and cover the works of someone like david bowie. indeed, there are some songs he has done which could barely be covered in a decent way in a ninety minute documentary. so, presumably you have to be quite careful and relatively precise with what you do with the time you have, especially when quite a bit of the documentary you have planned as a "locked in" amount of time set aside for a look at the services offered by bromley council, then.

with the above in mind, i was quite surprised to see how much time was given to a (generous) look at the album The Man Who Sold The World, which it would be fair to say did not find an audience at the time but very much has since. more surprising was that Hunky Dory was dismissed in less than one half of a sentence, with the implication being that it was a "nuisance" which somehow "got in the way" of The Man Who Sold The World and Ziggy Stardust. oh. that would be the Hunky Dory album which features Changes, a song one could argue as being one of his more iconic works, as well as Life On Mars?, which routinely tops "fan poll charts" as being his greatest ever (no, would not be my choice either, but there we go). also, it has Queen Bitch on it, which is excellent. pushing the boat out and giving the album a full sentence, at the least, would have been nice.

one of the biggest problems in making a documentary as cheap as this is the sheer lack of funds available to use actual, proper pictures of people. there are one or two "stock photo" images of bowie on display in the documentary, but also the above. from what i could gather, the above is supposed to be a "portrait" of david bowie and mick jagger. is this a better picture of them than, say, i could do? yes, absolutely. does this make it a decent image of them? no, absolutely f*****g not. unless you think it is. if so, well, there is a treat for you just now.

for the makers of this documentary it seems that the promises of this being both "intimate" and "fun-filled" were ticked off the list of "done" by considering what services offered by bromley council david bowie had reason to use. it has never been a matter that interested me, but i shall take the word of this documentary that david's marriage to angie and the birth of their son zowie bowie (joe jones then duncan jones) were both registered at bromley council services. this is underlined by two (at least) separate shots of the sign on the door outside of bromley council. no, not a sign saying bowie was there, just an actual sign letting you know that the building is where one indeed can access the many wonderful services offered by bromley council.

perhaps i should have had a closer look at the credits on this disc, instead of ripping it out of the player as soon as possible after it was finished. maybe the credits mention, in passing, that some (or all) of the documentary was funded by bromley council. it would make sense if so, and that is the only possible reason i can think of as to why the services offered by bromley council feature so heavily.

that said, maybe i am in the wrong here. perhaps this documentary was made by people with far greater insights than i could ever hope to see. maybe they identified that much, if not all, of bowie's success over the years stemmed from his wisdom in trusting bromley council services to register certain matters. i have no way to test this. you might, i suppose. if you happen to be a pop star but are presently not experiencing the success you had suspected, anticipated or hope for, then why not pop along to bromley council and register something with their services? should you start selling out stadium tours after that, i shall issue an apology to the makers of this documentary as soon as possible after i have verified your claim.

being fair is what i try to do, mind, and to his credit the person credited with this documentary, Liam Dale, has (somehow) made a living off of doing things like this for 40 years. if i could have gotten a job where all i had to do was say vaguely accurate and questionably relevant things about famous people, then i would have. sadly, i never got the big break he did, which appears to have been holding a ladder for someone who was doing something or other for the stage set design for liberace.

another class portrait from the dvd, as promised earlier? yes, why not. here you go, and for fun why not try and guess who this is supposed to be?

i am informed by the commentary on the dvd that this is indeed supposed to be freddie mercury, the much loved and much missed legendary singer off of queen, and in his own right a singer of a solo nature. no, when i think of freddie, this is not how i picture him. but, the artist did, so there you go.

would i, in any way, shape or form, endorse or recommend this documentary dvd to anyone? not really. i mean, if you knew someone who had no knowledge of bowie, had no interest in knowing anything about bowie but was for some reason prepared to give just south of an hour to watching a documentary which would kind of give some basics, then this is the disc for them. a very strange and specific demographic, but what an incredible world we live in where even such a minority gets their requirements taken care of.

something of a cherry on the cake here is the back of the dvd. let us, for the moment, leave aside the "rare ability" championed for Liam Dale. i draw your attention to the second paragraph. the one in which bromley is described as "unremarkable suburbia". that may well be true, but it does not stop the importance of bromley council services from being explored and celebrated here. along with, every now and then, david bowie.

perhaps (maybe) one day i shall go to this bromley place myself. in general terms i would say that it is fair comment to consider me unremarkable, so i could well find i like the place. mostly, though, i of course wish to see if i can access the drama, the thrill, the buzz and the excitement of making use of bromley council services. at this moment in time, i would say me visiting bromley and having reason to register something with bromley council services seems more likely than me watching this documentary ever again.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shoot it up, now, shoot it up

heya


one of the things about writing this blog, look you see, is that it is predominantly lonely. sure, i mostly just write it for my own amusement (get it all out of my system, so to speak), but it is rather weird when quite a few people seem to read it and yet not many ever comment or what have you. for, or to, those that do, my most exceptional thanks, it is always lovely to hear.

and then of course there are some instances of people reaching out and getting in touch which make me wonder (sometimes) (about sound and vision). well, not wonder, i guess. i believe that they are attempting, or trying, to sell me something or other. or do one of those "phishing" things, trying to scam me or otherwise engage in a confidence trick.

such an instance of this has happened, to be sure, recently. as in quite recently. here it is, and yes indeed i have elected to take out the website that they encouraged me to try and visit.

my instinct was to say this is quite interesting, but of course no, it is not. the assumption i am going to go right ahead and make is some sort of automated process, or a "bot" sets about scanning websites such as mine, identifies what it thinks is a spelling error and triggers a stock scripted mail to alert me to the folly.

unfortunately my limited imagination and lack of education leaves me bereft of any idea as to what it is they think i might have been trying to spell when i used the word "sigue". like, presumably, you, i cannot be bothered to look, so am going to go right ahead and assume that it was detected in a dual way, and done so as and when i will have mused on the subject of legendary band sigue sigue sputnik.

if they are at all bothered and they are reading this - or you know them and fancy mentioning it to them in passing - Tony James, Martin Degville, Neal X, Ray Mayhew and absolutely Chris Kavanagh might be interested in knowing that some automated spam bot thing off of an "internet" reckons they made a mistake with the name of their band.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

daley decathlon

hi there


should you ask anyone (randomly or specifically) what they believed to be the single biggest, best or most important "anniversary" to celebrate (or commemorate, look you see) in 2020, there is every chance of it being one of two answers. it is so that either they will say that this year marks the 40th anniversary of Daley Thompson's splendid performance at the Moscow Olympics or that it is indeed the 36th anniversary of Daley Thompson's excellent performance at the Los Angeles Olympics.

with this (probably) being the case, it is only fitting and apt to pay tribute to one of the many ways that tributes have been paid to his excellence. and indeed many are the number of tributes of respect which have been made over the last 40 (or 36) years.

yes, in terms of the most financially successful (and indeed critically acclaimed) tribute to Daley and his decathlon heroics, one must of course acknowledge the splendid work Sylvester Stallone did. when you think about it, after all, Rocky IV is a film which more or less tells the Daley Thompson story of Olympic gold quite well, if in something of a metaphorical or symbolic way, and if you in particular overlook that bit where Apollo Creed gets punched in the head to death. but, that is not what i am going to focus on here.

no, the focus here shall be one of the greatest tributes what can (or could) have been paid to anyone. that is of course the 1984 (or was it 1985) computer game made in homage to Daley Thompson, namely Daley Thompson's Decathlon. well, specifically the (proper) Commodore 64 one, but we will get to that as we go. if, of course, you read on.

as you would hardly need me to tell you, only the greatest and the bestest were considered worthy of being immortalised via the conduit or forum of a Commodore 64 game. the prestige, this honour, was only bestowed upon those deemed worthy, and indeed the ones who game producers believed would deliver a game which was both lucrative and profitable.

it was of little surprise, then, than Daley Thompson was selected. either they (and in this instance i think we can say that they they was ocean, them what made the computer game with him in it) (actually computer games, for others followed) believed his success at LA 84 was going to make the game a winner, or that they assumed the gold he got there to go with his Moscow 80 meant it was a formality, depending on whether or not they made the game before or after the olympic games. it is not something that i can be bothered to look up.

oddly, any success with Daley Thompson's Decathlon was not as much of an automatic guarantee as Daley winning medals. far from it. there was no overt or over saturation of decathlon based computer games at the time, simply because one particular game was considered so perfect as to be untouchable and dominant. i speak, of course, of The Activision Decathlon, which at least in Commodore 64 mode was, is, and always will be one of the greatest games of all time.

despite the excellence of the existing Decathlon game (which i might be inclined to always acknowledge as being the better one), Daley Thompson's Decathlon was a spectacular success. whereas i do not know the precise sales figures or what have you, it must have done rather well, for ocean went on to make somewhere around seventy more games endorsed by the man. actually i think it was only two, or perhaps three others, but seventy sounds better, does it not?

so, how was the actual game? not bad, in truth, not so bad at all. it had ludicrously excellent graphics, even by the superior standards of the Commodore 64, and the gameplay for about 90% of the game was outstanding. well, maybe 80%, or even 70% of it. but, we will get there.

i often wonder if the advertising panels you can see there were paid for by the brands who they belonged to. my most basic guess is of course yes, for why would you give away free advertising (at the time, mindful of how i do free advertising on this blog for things i like). also, i am sure the likes of Woolworths, Pepsi, Boots and the other one (is it Cooper?) were delighted to both have Daley Thompson as an indirect ambassador for their wares and reach that all important target market of socially inept teenagers in their bedrooms. some of that is, after all, the current, basic business model for that "internet" thing one hears so much about.

my praise for the game of Daley Thompson's Decathlon is, of course, limited exclusively to the Commodore 64 version. yes, it was available on other (inferior) computers. like, for instance, the ZX Spectrum.

ZX Spectrum variations of Commodore 64 games ranged from being mildly sh!t, to quite sh!t, to unbelievably sh!t, ludicrously sh!t and abjectly, pathetically, woefully sh!t. yes, i suppose, in many respects the ZX Spectrum was to the 80s what that Ed Sheridan (or whatever his name is) is to the world today. mostly pointless, not very good and yet for some reason popular, as if everyone is actually pretending it is any good and just throws money at it in the hope that it convinces others.

above, for your consideration, then, is an image, lifted off of "internet", of the ZX Spectrum version of Daley Thompson's Decathlon. you might have noticed something unusual there, in that Daley Thompson is for some reason depicted as a ghostly grey white chap rather than the black dude what matters of ethnicity say he is. this, with some derision and amusement, was noticed at the time, too. relax, for there was no overt or covert racism involved in it all, just the fact that the ZX Spectrum was so incredibly incompetent and lousy that it could not handle making graphics more than one colour at any time. but, by all means, go ahead and kick off on twitter or whatever, have some historical outrage and offence at it all should that sort of thing amuse you.

how about a bit more video? in truth i find it quite difficult to video the game and play the game, but for your pleasure i have given it a go. this, if i remember right, is off of the discus event of the decathlon, which is in the minimum 70% (or 60%) of the game which is enjoyable and fun to play.

earlier on i mentioned that at least 10% (possibly more) of the game was not as enjoyable to play as it could have been. those familiar with the game will know only too well what that 10% comprises of. for those not so blessed as to know, this would be the final event of the game - the 1500 meter race.

any and all "running" (or swimming) events on computer games involve "waggling" the joystick. in practical terms, what this means is that a young teenage lad in his bedroom had to grab the shaft with his (presumably) right hand and furiously waggle it left and right to gain a consistent level of speed, momentum and enjoyable pleasure. no, absolutely no idea how they devised this approach.

such was ok for the 100 meter race, and indeed the 110 meter hurdles. going further, it was also kind of ok for the 400 meter race too, with the most ardent and gifted of furious joystick wagglers able to maintain the stamina and pace required. but the 1500 meter race was a different proposition.

over on the other game, The Activision Decathlon, a rather reasonable and agreeable approach was taken. for, say, the first 1100 meters or so you only had to do a steady waggle, and then all of a sudden had to belt the hell out of the joystick for the last 400 meters (or however long). there was no such easy ride with Daley Thompson Decathlon, though. no, if you wanted the gold, you had to totally and utterly waggle away at the highest speed possible for the duration of the race.

there is a case to suggest that Daley Thompson's Decathlon should rather have been called Joystick F****r 10 instead, for few were the joysticks what could handle more than 2, maybe 3 full tilt goes at the 1500 meter race and still be serviceable. as point of fact, the only joystick i am aware of that was capable of repeat goes was the chunky, solid built to last type of bulky one what came with the Atari 2600. believe me, i went through enough of them to establish this. in retrospect some joystick manufacturer - Quickshot, say - should have bought the rights to the game, and given it away free, gratis, to every Commodore 64 owner in the world. that would have been highly effective marketing.

yes, Mike, i know (and appreciate) that if you are reading this you are going "well, yeah, ok, but what about Kikstart II", as you do for any time i write of a Commodore 64 game which is not that one. at some stage probably i will do that one, but apparently not this very day. and, anyway, we are all done here with this now.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

soft rains continued and each storm waited

hello


well, here we are. the third brave (and bold) month of 2020, which like the third month of 2019 (and presumably 2021, if we make it that far, look you see) is most commonly referred to as march. had everyone at the time just all agreed on, embraced and accepted the Napoleonic calendar, it would be called something else. what, exactly? from what i remember it would have been of a more floral nature in name, but anyway.

there would not be a great deal i could add to your understanding (or knowledge) of march as a month which was not covered last year. indeed, the title for my calendar post for march 2019 was slightly better, if you happen to be an advocate of all things ocean colour scene. and who among (or amongst, i never know which to use when) (and no i do not care) us is not?

as usual, then, a look at my calendars. this is not, to be sure, me showing off, trying to act all posh simply because i have such in my home. no, this is rather for the benefit of that slightly off the beaten track kind of reader who really cannot be bothered with their own calendar, yet for some reason quite likes the idea of using mine for any possible calendar related matters which occur in their life.

quite a dull and dreary one for the Star Wars calendar, then, in the form of them fancy space planes they have. x-wing fighters, i believe is the correct name for them. this is ground i have covered before, but again we see the penchant for Star Wars merchandise to be either space planes or any character that happens to be a robot (gay or otherwise), or otherwise normally has a bucket on their head. it is not for reasons of fan popularity that this is so, but rather that if you steer clear of using images of any actual people in the films you do not have to pay them royalties or image rights use fees. purely a business decision, then.

does it really, or particularly, matter that all Star Wars merchandising decisions are taken from a purely fiscal perspective? i would not think so. all of it is very nearly "win win", for fans of anything will pretty much appreciate anything shiny associated with the object of their affection, and besides, very nearly most of the films in the franchise are agreeable.

but for now you would possibly (or probably) wish for some dates of relative consequence to look out for in march. my view is always that you should concentrate on what is important to you, but if these help or provide some "really" moments of interest, then great.


2 - it was on this day in 1990 that Nelson Mandela was elected deputy president of the ANC. less than a month after coming out of prison. man, that is some remarkable rehabilitation and reintroduction to society success.

5 - Mark E Smith out of The Fall was born on this day in 1957. of his many achievements, the greatest is considered to be that The Viz identified him as the first person ever to say that "Viz isn't as funny as it used to be".

9 - on this day in 1978, ITV screened what is considered one of the best, greatest and most important episodes of George and Mildred ever filmed.

12 - a very happy Mauritius Day to one and all, for this day is the day on which the nation celebrates becoming a Republic, back in 1992. yes, that Mauritius, where it was the only place where the dodo existed. on the one side, sure, in evolution terms they got lazy and lost the ability to fly. being able to do so might have prevented human intervention from making them extinct, but we shall never know. us humans can never ever be as determined or as thorough when it is destruction we have a mind for.


15 - today is the birthday of no less than Umut Bulut, widely and universally considered by some to be the greatest, best and most important Turkish footballer of all time. born in 1983, of all his displays of excellence most would say his hat trick in the Turkish destruction of Andorra in September 2013 stands as the finest.

Umut Bulut image credit

22 - on this day in 1963 the first (or if you like debut) album by The Beatles, Please Please Me, was released. not sure anyone expected what was to follow.

24 - the cherished and much loved oil company exxon became (slightly) less cherished and loved on this day in 1989 when they launched an ambitious attack on seals, otters, salmon and so forth in Alaska. no one is entirely sure what score was trying to be settled, but nature somehow more or less prevailed. well, with a touch of help.

26 - happy birthday to author Patrick Süskind, born this day in 1949. yes, the only novel of his i have read is Perfume, which you should read too. the eventual film version was excellent, coming after years of attempts to make it by the likes of Kubrick and Scorsese. also Nirvana paid suitable homage to the novel with their song Scentless Apprentice.

27 - Duran Duran released the single Out Of My Mind on this day in 1997. ostensibly it was off of the film The Saint, featuring him out of Top Gun what had the better hair, although it did also feature on the Duran Duran album Medazzaland. which is an excellent album, but for some reason got released hardly anywhere in the world. anyway, the shirt what Simon le Bon (Simes) (Simon le Bloody Bon) wears in the video for this particular single is one of his most elegant, foppish best.

29 - the world rejoiced on this day in 1985, for Police Academy 2 Their First Assignment was released. it is a motion picture widely regarded as being - by some distance - in the top four of all the Police Academy films ever to have been made of the ones which starred Steve "Steve Guttenberg out of Police Acadmey" Guttenberg. should you ever meet anyone that disagrees, simply dismiss them with the phrase "haters are always going to hate". if they persist, then take to social media and write things like "#F***TheHaters", "#TeamSteveGuttenbergOutOfPoliceAcademy" and so forth. also, update your status to say "thoughts and prayers with Steve Guttenberg Out of Police Academy".


for the more esoteric, or secular (or indeed discerning) calendar user, yes, of course there is a look at my sensational new zealand calendar for the month this month. which is march, in case you are looking from a different month.

having not been to new zealand, no, i have not been to this place. oddly, though, i have indeed been to a place called three sisters in australia, which if i recall right is full tilt next door to new zealand. katoomba, the blue mountains, i believe. one never knows, maybe one day, in answer to any question you may have. either about this or anything, i guess.

right, then, i believe this gives you ample means to plan your month out and gives you some dates to consider as you do. yes, with all being as it is and as things stand now, of course a similar post shall appear in april, but it should (i expect) rather be about that month than this.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!