If it looks like a Strat, feels like a Strat, sounds like a Strat and plays like a Strat it must be a bit of a ... fraud, skulduggery, misrepresentation, fake, trickery, duplicity, forgery, deception, dishonesty, counterfeit, sham ... and so on. Nothing is real but something might be almost real. Some parts might be genuine, some features, something maybe abstract, some ghostly existence, a spirit that might be real enough. The hidden soul of the beast.
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Fraud
If it looks like a Strat, feels like a Strat, sounds like a Strat and plays like a Strat it must be a bit of a ... fraud, skulduggery, misrepresentation, fake, trickery, duplicity, forgery, deception, dishonesty, counterfeit, sham ... and so on. Nothing is real but something might be almost real. Some parts might be genuine, some features, something maybe abstract, some ghostly existence, a spirit that might be real enough. The hidden soul of the beast.
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Farty Owls
Me hiding (or at least tinkering with stuff behind the scenes) and keeping warm in our partly completed renovation project. I can see the town clock from here. The beer is being served at a satisfying room temperature.
Monday, December 27, 2021
Orbiting Spheres
A brief moment in time and space: Baubles, stellar dust and snowflakes in an erratic orbit around the head of a hypnotized cat that shows no interest whatsoever towards viewing the BBC adaption of "Around the World in Eighty Days" starring David Tennant (Detail).
Sunday, December 26, 2021
Seven Candles
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Friday, December 24, 2021
Eternal Christmas
Long road out of Bethlehem: There will never be a year without a Christmas. The festival of economic complexity and cultural elasticity that cannot die. Religion and belief are unimportant because they never were important other than as a means to gain power to rule the calendar. We've been fooled on a grand scale and we're all caught up in the incessant flow of repeat performances.
Not having Christmas is just unimaginable for people in this part of the world, or so I imagine. The timeline was doctored and hijacked for the convenient pagan stuff. We're conditioned and programmed (just a bit).
Maybe that's the key to destroying civilization, simply ban Christmas. Have done with it etc. We'd be rudderless. Rewrite the code. Purge the whole thing into a black hole. We'll vanish in a puff of tinsel and the sharp lens click of a selfie on a phone. Just pop that fizz and see.
But what about the children, the antidote for Covid and the factories in China?
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Anyone Can Wear a T Shirt
P.S. Tim Horton's drive thru makes excellent coffee.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Fake Log Review
He's still going strong, Mr Marmaduke Spartacus McTesco stands/lies down to guard this precious consignment of fake logs near the store entrance. It's all about enticing would be buyers with a well placed cat. The logs will be sold at a knock off price to ensure that the good people of Fife have a cozy Christmas season along with reasonable fuel bills. (Aye, that'll be right).
By way of a fake log review; I've tried various types over the years and none really deliver the heat, burning time and promise of well being and world peace that I had expected. So despite the fairly un-green credentials of real logs, at the moment they remain a better bet than the over processed variety.
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Hot Plates
"Not here old boy, please. The Plates are never hot". This cartoon from nineteen canteen drawn by the wonderful "Pont" says it all. For a while I thought that I was a bit crazy and alone by holding up warm/hot plates as a measure and a standard for serving hot food, now I know I'm in step with at least a few others. I try not to comment on this when eating out, I hold my views and criticisms in. I've become used to it and I don't want to be served a "sneezer". In doing so I enjoy a curious mixture of disappointment and smugness, a self indulgent curse. None of these reactions are healthy but it's the best I can do living in a world where most of the things that people do don't actually make any sense.
Monday, December 20, 2021
Voices From Another Side
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Disappointed Visitors
The Homeland of Perpetual Gloom: I'm feeling a bit sorry for the numerous Chinese tourists who turned up in town yesterday. Burdened down with complex looking cameras, rucksacks and portable devices hoping no doubt to get some good shots of the iconic bridges. Alas it was not to be, we were beset by wet blankets and duvets of seasonal coastal fog. The number 43 bus was kept busy returning them to our partly destroyed festive capital, now known as Underbelly Land, where the beers and welcome flow like Bostik.
Unfortunately the fog, like concrete candy floss, drifting slowly up the river for the past few days has landed us straight into Brig o'Doon territory. A mythical place wrapped up in thick, eternal Scotch mist and ancient mystery that can never be truly found, only stumbled upon by bemused American singing stars with perfect hair. During this difficult and eerie time the pubs, cafes and Co-op have stubbornly remained open thanks to benign spiritual guidance and face mask wearing.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Pursuit of a Dumb Idea
Friday, December 17, 2021
Brave New Morning
Thursday, December 16, 2021
World's Smallest etc.
Continuing with the tedious theme of not doing things by halves but just doing them by tiny fractions we present the (not really) world's smallest Christmas tree. A little straggly perhaps but it's tinsel powered heart is in the right place.
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
The Exploration of Geography
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Search Yourself
Some days you just have to decide to do something.
Monday, December 13, 2021
Circles of Convenience
Our circle of commerce is slowly shrinking. We're in a wee town, you can walk around easily. I'm not counting the internet options in this as it's less of a circle and more of a pin head. So from our current location we have a lot of service and retail convenience pretty much at our doorstep (this is on turning left, turning right produces a different list):
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Intestinal Maps
The unknown artist once famously said of this piece; "It's just the way that the ancient world wants to do it's work, relax, you must find your own place of peace".
That powerful statement remains as true today as when it was originally spoken all of three weeks ago on the premises of the local sheep dip micro-brewery when it was being officially opened for business by a local celebrity whose name escapes me. Lies, more damn lies and tittle tattle.
Then there are the never ending questions about the tiny hairs that detach themselves and travel down the inner canals of the nose and become a source of irritation. And with regard to your sexuality, pronouns and your knowledge of conkers I care not a jot.
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Radio Days
Some say it's 2021. We have phones, computers, smart TVs, amps, speakers etc. This is how we listen to music however, using the age old tradition of the Pyrex bowl loudspeaker as first invented by the Sumerians back in sometime around 2900 BC. Reception is a bit better and clearer these days but I'm less sure about the overall content.