Hidden past

I'm glad that some of Dundee city centre's past is on display despite the grime and clumsy modernization. Doorways signs and business names remain intact after who knows how many years of closure. The businesses are long gone, forgotten by all and part of an ancient history story that's faded away and too tired out to recount, but the marks and trade names are still visible, just.

Rare live appearance

Thanks to Malcolm for this photo taken last Thursday at OOTB in Edinburgh. I am playing the house guitar but wearing my own glasses. Ali is singing and also helping me interpret the actual content. 

List

Pic by Andrew F at BOO.

Extracted from an organic to do list with absolutely no actual/possible song titles hidden therein:

shim sunburst strat neck pocket*

fix pussy cat telecaster electrics

lubricate car roof and motors

fix plastic bit on conservatory roof

progress car radio done

shed empty at Kinghorn

visit the dump / bottlebank

paint well top done

do some more cement work / pointing

tidy work space

work more with audio interface

work on short stories

cat litter

chop kindling up

back step

wire brush / wash weatherboarding

purge wardrobe

purge old records / work docs etc.

cement work at back door

use less fewer capitals

eBay cardboard

avoid distractions

Air BnB Bilbao 

*replace centre pickup screws and also shim P Bass neck pocket.

Things I didn't say

For people of a certain age 

Nostalgia hooks like crack cocaine

Somewhere between divine and profane

An antidote and poison

I'm sick of blood poured on the tracks

Of friendly warnings "don't look back"

"You'll give yourself a heart attack"

As if I'm even bothered

Health warning mantras for those who know

Ignore them and the prostate goes

There's love and cancer up the road

And a series on iPlayer

The past is littered with the past

I lost it once but lived it fast

Now we're the bus pass underclass

The pensioned shuffling strangers

Tomorrow is a better day

Specsavers see through fakes and haze

You're aches and pains will melt away

On some brave new hejira.

For people of a certain age

Nostalgia hooks like crack cocaine

The worries they just melt away

I'm better now I'm older.

The fabric of our lives

Some things change, some stay the same. There you go. The fabric of our lives. Familiar, recognizable, solid, steady, fluid, different, damaged, cared for, washed out, washed in, comfortable, torn, lived in, loved.

Hands

Some hands are tender hands, some hands are dirty hands, some hands are soft hands, some hands are loving hands, some hands serve and soothe, some hands fix, some hands make fists, some hands aren't hands at all and end up like this. Dangerous.

Highland fence posts

OK. So I suppose you could say that these images would be best suited to a life lived on Instagram under some niche heading where they might attract attention or arouse interest. I'm too lazy for that so they are only going to have an on-line life here where everything is relatively easy. As I was exploring the lower slopes of Glen Orchy at the weekend  I was quite taken by these old fence posts. Each one differently rotten, rugged and weathered out of shape, moss covered and rusty wire, hairy splinters, decay and destruction but still somehow standing, faithfully obeying their last order to mark a line or a boundary, to keep in some sheep or to prevent chickens from running all across the yard. They are the forgotten markers of once worthwhile industry and endeavour and remain almost upright in place, stubborn and redundant, trapped out in all weathers, mutating and growing as they fade and splinter away back into the highland soil.

A bag and two kittens

Bank holiday Monday, returning from a break in the Highlands, all sun and blue skies and parade of caravans and motor homes. Stopped off for supplies on the way back and then to the cattery to collect our two incarcerated beasts, these two cute kittens were playing in their pen outside. The farm shop near Stirling is called the Smiddy, staff there are pretty PAF (posh as fuck) but nice. A few just walked around doing nothing, interns maybe. All the Doune and Bridge of Allan set probably hang out there for their artisan foods and neat and niche local produce. Nice lunch though and, despite my rude observation, nice staff and ambience, maybe I'm slowly turning over into the dark side.

Sunny Bunny #2

This is completely meaningless. Like most things. Amusing for all of three seconds but completely recyclable. So that's fine.

Sunny Bunnys

Another nice day out, so I made six sunny bunnys. You're welcome. (No actual rabbits were injured or damaged during the construction of this piece of work.)

Plum tree planting

Work to create the great plum harvest (and chutney brewing) festival of 2028 has just begun. It's good to invest in the future, even though it's likely to be someone else's and as I know very little of the early life of plum trees and the behaviours they might exhibit. At the moment anything seems possible. 

Peace breaks out

Every other post seems to feature a cat photo these days, I'm clearly turning into the sort of person my parents warned me about.  They weren't too keen on cats and a number of other activities I've tried in my sixty odd years, they're gone now so it's ancient history. Here's Twink and Clint completely ignoring one another in the garden the other day. Normally some unheralded/unexpected cat presence around here results in fur flying, loud howls and one cat being chased up a tree by another. There's a lot of scampering, hissing and hissy fits. Nice when they actually seem to get on for a bit because that's rare with cats, they (local ones, maybe not typical) are pretty awkward socially and like their own space. As do their eccentric owners perhaps? (I know fine that you can never truly own a cat).

Non glamorous vehicles

Number 1 in an unlikely and irregular series of photos I probably wont cherish or Istagram or do anything with, ever. So here's a big red Porsche tractor I was able to stand next to yesterday. 

Signs of summer

None of this anything to do with either cup finals or royal (deliberate small r) weddings.

Daily Tesco cat v existential angst

The wonders of modern life: easy to take a photo of a cat in a supermarket entrance and then just paste it all across the internet's various trading posts using slightly different filters and crops and amusing if not particularly clever captions so that you can fill up space and  so burn up your precious time. Will there be any true or meaningful interaction, any likes, useful outcomes or comments? Doubtful but you will do it anyway. The endless optimism and desire for some common and pointless expression brought home by the black, bottomless and busy void we've moved into despite the fact that it was created for a range of much more worthwhile activities which we've all now completely lost sight of. What were they again?

Dunbar daily photo

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and I happened to be in Dunbar getting my car's stereo fixed.  Took the opportunity to go for a wander down by the shore and harbour, very quiet and colourful. That's about it.

Return of the cat

Twink the cat is a semi-regular visitor to our garden. He's generally rewarded with two tins of cat food when he arrives, usually for in time for the night shift at about 2300. Today he turned up early for some  breakfast, lunch and tea and took up position in the barbecue for some reason.

Tiny oranges

These tiny oranges (well one example is shown here) were grown on our (tiny) indoor orange tree. You can't really eat them because you just might die, so say the experts. You can only look at them and marvel at their quite nice warm colours and juicy texture. You can also breathe in a rather pleasant orange aroma, faint, elusive but orangey. All that was yesterday, they deteriorated overnight and now they are in the compost bin. They remain a pleasant, pungent memory however...however badly you might write about them or remember them.

Skyline Chimneys

Day out by the bridges. The skyline, broken up by various designer chimneys. Pedestrians looked up. It was that kind of sunny evening. Over by the water two large bridges seem to have appeared from some early morning mist now long evaporated and there are some things we'll always agree about, others not so. Later, much later and after sleep I settled for two poached eggs on toast and surprisingly strong coffee. Being served strong coffee in weak crockery is unexpected these days. Bland and over processed is the normal, taste and tang are mostly managed out of things to create as dull and experience as possible. The softest of drugs measured by uneducated testers. Then without any warning Google once again interfered with some random photo stock and turned it all tasty and panoramic. I'm still in very mild shock.

RIP Andrew L

This lovely tribute to an old school friend of mine came up in my Facebook feed. I've not seen him for over 40 years but we communicated somewhat clumsily via social media. He passed away very recently. Now I regret failing to meet up for a pint and a blether. I didn't know that he was ill or that he'd gone until this morning when I saw this thoughtful, heartfelt FB post from his daughter which is worthy of sharing and far better than anything I could write.

Today I visited a place which a lot of people perhaps have never heard of or maybe don’t even realise exists. But, to me it’s a place that I have forever wanted to visit...Wilmington, North Carolina. And today, especially, it lived up to its expectations, and here’s why...

I received a phone call this morning telling me that my Dad peacefully passed away in Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary in the early hours of the morning.

Getting told the worst possible news when you’re half a world away from home is devastating. In February we came to learn that my Dad had been living with cancer. Since being diagnosed he fought an incredible fight, defying all doctors odds and seeing through a couple more months to spend time and see his family again.

I wanted to visit Wilmington thanks to an American television series called One Tree Hill. Some people may find this stupid or a little extravagant (I know my dad did) but I can’t even begin to explain to you how much a simple TV programme has helped me get through some pretty hard times; a long distance relationship, heartbreak, anxiety/depression and now...loss.

When you are given such heartbreaking news it’s hard to know what the best way to react is. You instantly want to break into a thousand pieces, but you know that the person you lost wouldn’t want you to do that.

My dad was the best man in the whole world and someone I always looked up to and pestered non stop for advice. I have an emptiness inside me now which will never be filled but I know that I made him so incredibly proud and I will make sure I continue to do so.

I left a little part of my dad in Wilmington today. By writing who he was to me on a bench situated in ‘One Tree Hill’s’ most memorable locations - The River Court.
For me, this made me feel that tiny bit better and I know that’s exactly what my Dad would want.

I love you Dad, so much ❤️

“It's hard when you miss people. But you know if you miss them, that means you're lucky. It means you had someone special in your life, someone worth missing”