We have lived together for more than 50 years, so I can say, with a reasonably accurate statement, that we are suited to each other!
We started to live together in about 1970 while I was living in Upper Street in Islington, and we started to sleep together, but we didn’t get married until much later, to the disgust of our landlord then, who claimed that it would ruin our relationship – it didn’t! We worked in Interaction then, which was a group of people with an idea of Ed Burman, an American who looked just like Frank Zappa and behaved much like him too! For some info about Interaction, please follow this link. http://www.unfinishedhistories.com/history/companies/inter-action/
We worked in Interaction for about a year, I with theatre technique (we ran a number of theatres) and Lotty worked at office work. One desperately depressing work which we did, was to work in a remand home, which was supposed to be a “model” of good practice. But in fact it was truly awful! For a minor disobedience kids were locked up for 24 hours! And loads of kids were there who hadn’t committed any crimes, but simply were too much for the youth work people to handle. A terribly depressing place to work in! So I didn’t work in it for long! Others did, more strength to their elbows.
After this, I was Production Manager at the Roundhouse and Lotty worked in schools – as a teacher. A lot of what we did was based on our plans to head for Australia – to which end we bought a yacht in Spain (which a friend had told me about), and Lotty sailed it to England, and I drove home, the intention was to sail it to Australia but we ran into storms on sailing off to Australia, so we ended up in Holland, which we enjoyed and in which we had Jake (our son), who was diagnosed with internal problems, so we found that we would have to stay inc Holland for the immediate future. So we sold Mjojo, our sailing boat, and bought a commercial barge, the 120 ton Luxe Motor which we lived on for the next 24 years, only selling it when we moved to France….. More about this later.
We have lived in a number of countries together…. England, Holland, France, (Lotty lived in Switzerland) Angola, China, The Philippines, Malaysia, and finally, Australia! So, all in all, we have lived all over the world, and had fun in all of those countries.
I came across this machine in Hanoi, while I was there. It was in a room in what was known as the Hanoi Hilton, a prison that had famously had one of the Presidential candidates while it was still a prison, John McCain. The whole experience of seeing the rooms they were held in was deeply disturbing, and then to find this machine, left over from the time that the French ruled in Vietnam. It was in a room, nearby the cells, and had been in use, horribly, during the French period, and later in the Vietnam period.
I was absolutely horrified at the idea that this machine was used to “punish” people.
Paradoxically, while I was building our house in Australia, I recreated a field of guilleteens. Actually, I built this for the posts that would hold the floor of our house up. So there were about 167 of them…..
Wayyyyyyyyy back in 2012, I posted a little video celebrating Lego’s 80th birthday, and I see no reason not to do it again….. So, here is the film that was used to celebrate Lego’s 80th birthday…………..
On my father’s side I have the pleasure of having descended from a splendidly eccentric collection of odd-balls.
My Great Grandfather and Grandfather, who were Grant Duffs, were variously governors of the Bank of England, Honorary Colonels-in-Chief of that wonderful Scottish regiment, the Black Watch, oh, and also The Baron Monkswell, the current holder of that title being my cousin Gerard, who upon entering the House of Lords made it possible for a bunch of militant feminists to abseil into the chamber of the House of Commons during a sitting.
His father, Larry Collier – a splendid bloke who I was very fond of – was one of the very curious British things, a lord and a Communist, and only felt able to sit in the House of Lords as it gave him a chance to actively pursue his aims as a life long Communist. Well, like many British Communists, he left the Communist party in 1956 when the Russians violently invaded Hungary and suppressed the move of the Hungarians to move away from Communism.
He is also notable for his work in the ’30’s in helping refugees escape from Nazi Germany – by the simple expedient of marrying them, getting them to Britain, ensuring that they thus became British citizens, and then divorcing them. I gather he managed this a number of times. Trump would love him!
And my favourite, Granny Lilly as she was known in the family, was a wonderful woman, whom I had the good fortune to know before she died. She started out as a Lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria then became active in the fledgling British Communist party, where, as with most of her kids, she remained an active member until 1956, when much disillusioned, she left the party. One of her most notable feats was during a Communist International in Geneva in the ’20’s where it was solemnly decided that good Communists should support and practice free-love, she stood up and announced that she had been practicing this for years, and thought it was a splendid idea – this went down like a lead balloon with the others there, as they approved of the idea, but in reality, not the theory.
She was also notable for climbing a mountain in Crete with Bertrand Russell (an unlikely pair if there ever was one!), which was renamed in her honour by the Cretans as Mount Lilly, which I believe it still is called.
Furthermore, she chain smoked Woodbines, a very cheap and nasty cigarette, and used to stay in the Dorchester Hotel when in London, always taking a room that overlooked Park Lane, a very “posh” street in the centre of London. Here she used to wash her underwear and hang it out of the window over Park Lane to dry… A real no no as far as the hotel bosses were concerned, but no one dared to try and stop her doing this, as she was capable of being very much the Grand Dame at need.
A lovely, kind and superbly eccentric woman who was much loved by all who knew her – apart from the owners of the Dorchester perhaps.
In a recent post I mentioned that I had a problem with the words “Loose” and “Lose”, I can never remember which one I need.
This caused this rather long, but funny and apposite poem to happen.
Written by a Dutchman a fair while ago, it is a very sharp and clear, if despairing, look at how English is spelled and pronounced. So whilst it has nothing to do with much, I am posting it here for your amusement.
So read on and be prepared to be amazed at how the world’s major language is such a mess.
DROP YOUR FOREIGN ACCENT: BY CHARIVARIUS
Dearest creature in creation,
studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse;
sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you’ll tear,
so shall I!! Oh, hear my prayer.
Pray, console your loving poet,
make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare, heart, beard and heard,
dies, diet, lord and word,
sword and sward, retain and Britain,
(Mind the letter, how it’s written)
Made has not the sound of bade.
Say‑said, pay‑paid, laid but plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
with such words as vague and ague,
but be careful how you speak,
say break, steak, but bleak and streak,
previous, precious, fuchsia, via;
Pipe, snipe, recipe and chair,
cloven, oven, how and low,
script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
daughter, laughter and terpsichore,
typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
exiles, similes, reviles;
wholly, holly, signal, sighing;
Thames, examining, combining,
scholar, vicar and cigar,
solar, mica, war and far.
From desire, desirable. Admirable from admiral.
Lumber, plumber, bier but brier.
Chatham, brougham; renown but known.
Knowledge done, but gone and tone.
One, anemone; Balmoral,
kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
scene, melpomene, mankind,
tortoise, turquoise, chamois leather.
Reading, reading, heathen, heather.
This phonetic labyrinth
gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth and plinth.
Billet does not sound like ballet,
bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
nor is mould like should and would.
Banquet is not nearly parquet,
which is said to rhyme with darky.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
toward, to forward, to reward,
and your pronunciation is OK,
when you say correctly croquet.
rounded, wounded, grieve and sleeve,
friend and fiend; alive and live,
liberty, library; heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache moustache; eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
people, leopard; towed but vowed.
Mark the difference moreover,
between mover, plover, Dover,
leaches, breeches; wise, precise;
chalice, but police and lice,
camel, constable, unstable,
principle, disciple, label,
petal, penal and canal.
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal,
suite, suite, run, circuit, conduit,
rhyme with shirk it, and beyond it.
But it is not hard to tell
why it’s Pall Mall but pell mell,
muscle, muscular, goal, iron
timber, climber, bullion, lion;
worm and storm; chaise, chaos, chair,
senator, spectator, mayor,
ivy, privy; famous, clamour
and enamour rhyme with hammer.
Pussy, hussy and possess,
desert but dessert and address,
golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants,
hoist, in lieu of flags, left, pennants,
river, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
neither does devour with clangour.
Soul but foul, and gaunt but aunt,
font, front, want, wont, grand and grant,
shoes, goes, does. Now first say
finger,
and then, singer, ginger, linger,
real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
marriage, foliage, mirage, age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, job, blossoms, bosoms, oath.
Though the difference seems little,
we say actual, but victual,
seat, sweat, chaste and caste; Leigh, eight and height,
put, nut, granite but unite.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer,
feoffer does and zephyr, heifer,
dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
rint, pint, senate and sedate,
scenic, arabic, pacific,
science, conscience, scientific.
Tour, but our, and succour, four,
gas and alas and Arkansas!
Sea, idea, guinea, area,
psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
doctrine, turpentine, marine,
compare alien with Italian,
dandelion with batallion,
Sally with ally, yea, ye.
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay!
Say aver, but ever fever,
neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Never guess, it is not safe.
We say calves, valves, half but Ralph!
Heron, granary, canary,
crevice and device and eyrie;
face but preface, but efface,
phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
ought, out, joust and scour, but scourging,
ear but earn and wear and tear,
does not rhyme with here, but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,
asp, grasp, wasp and cork and work.
Pronunciation‑ think of psyche!
is a paling stout and spiky?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
writing groats, and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel,
strewn with stones, like rowlock, gunwale,
Islington, and Isle of Wight,
housewife, verdict and indict!
Don’t you think so reader, rather
saying lather, bather, father?
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
though, through, plough, cough, hough or tough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup….
My advice is, give it up!
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑o‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
See what I mean?
I have always been astonished that any non English speaker has ever managed to learn my language…
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So, here we have the language with the largest vocabulary of all the world’s languages, but owing to where it gets its words from, the most illogical spelling and pronunciation of all the world’s languages too. Any thoughts on this?
This image rather says it all, this artist is a morose fellow, at least in his artwork, and his drawings are amazingly depressing, and rather beautiful in their own way.
Not only does he draw amzingly horrid creatures, (which he does!!!) but he also draws all sorts of gentle artworks, which I will show you now…..
A feeling woman.
As you can see, he is able to communicate in a number of ways…. For us, he is interesting as a character illustrator, in other words, a strange maker of art.
Here is a typical example of his work………..
And here is a drawing called “Old Maid”…. Pretty well sums it up methinks.
And to give another idea about his capabilities…. Here is a completely different one. Called Dark Princess… Not sure what that means, but what the hell………
A science fiction woman
And here is yet two others of his creatures…….
Two horrid creatures
And to give another idea of what this talented painter can do…….
A digital image…..
And another one of these!
Another digital image…..
All in all, he is a very talented and various artist, capable of many different styles, and one of whom I rather like….. If you like him as well, give me a comment below and I will answer you.
And to finish off, here is a link to his blog and an interview….
Hi, to begin with I will talk about the past, by which I mean the past that I have experienced, not that one that you may have experienced. I have experienced no end of life, as I have been alive for about 81 years, so I have experienced war, several of them, and peace, many more of them, happily. I have lived in about 10 different countries, and have enjoyed life incredibly, so far!
One thing I have learnt in all of this living, there is no such thing as “my country, right or wrong”. All countries are the same, and all people all over the world are the same, occupied with raising their kids, and possibly doing their work…. So all such things as Flags, and Nationalities are a waste of space.
I have lived, so far, in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia (twice), and England, so I reckon that I speak from experience.
All I want to say, is that I firmly believe that all life is the same, and such things as nationalities are absurd, and National Anthems are totally idiotic – apart from ones that are good, musically. Most are pompous and silly songs praising a land, which is identical to another land. And a waste of space. I have two flags at home, one the Angolan Flag, and the other is the Chinese one… Not because I love those two countries but because I enjoyed living there, and had fun living in those two countries…. I also enjoyed my time in Holland, France, England, Australia, Singapore and all the other countries I have lived in – basically I have enjoyed my life and whichever country I was living in at the time. All of them!
Anyhow, that is my view of the world, accept it or not, who cares………….
Here you will find a number of images that will appeal to you – at least, I hope so!
They are a collection of strange and weird images that should spark a creative stream in you……. Gathered from the internet from a number of places, these photos should spark a creative spark in you…. Well, at least they did for me.
So, here are these photos, and I hope that you will be able to use them in some way.
Strange men on street……
Strange man.
What a HUGE beard, and I know what I am talking about…. I have a beard.
Strange young man
What can I say about this?
Anyway, here are a collection of very strange images for you to play with.
OZTHOUGHTS 