SET

SET, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

In Classical Egyptian mythology Set was an evil beast-headed god with high square ears and a long snout; brother and murderer of Osiris. His worship was brought to Thorpe Hamlet by the Romans and that his cult still exists in some of the darker parts of Norwich (ie The Pilling Park Estate) can be seen from this example of graffitto on Riverside Road. The rituals of the devotees of Set are infamous for their central use of animal and human sacrifice. No child is safe while this cult is allowed to continue.

Poetry Trail: A True Story

Poetry Trail: A True Story, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

This is a strange one. I walked out of my front door on Sunday morning to find that someone had carefully laid a trail of pages torn from an anthology of love poetry for about 300 metres along the opposite roadside.

Was someone saying adieu to love? Was it some sort of art installation? Was it literary criticism? Was it farewell to a hated set text? Was it a ceremony and ritual? Was it rage or pain or laughter or disdain?

As I watched the wind started to move the pages from their appointed places; they had been all facing the same way, all roughly the same distance apart and if a parked car was in the way then they had been placed underneath.



There was something unsettling and hysterical if not unwholesome in the way they had been arranged. I walked down the hill to look into the river (The scene of two suicide attempts already this year) but when I got there no one was drowning.

The roads and streets were Sunday empty. I carried on to the newsagents and bought a newspaper and some milk. Then I returned home and made myself a bacon sandwich.

By lunch time, the pages of torn poetry had drifted like autumn leaves into odd corners and doorways, their sequence broken for ever.

Imaginary CD

Norwich Buskers Title, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

The title picture to a flickr set called Norwich Buskers.

This set features photographs of musicians (and others!) playing on the streets of Norwich. All the photographs have been taken with their permission. I have attempted, with this title page, to create the cover to an imaginary CD featuring their music.

This picture was made using Mosaic Maker utilising photographs that make up the set and then made more exciting with Paint Shop Pro and Virtual Painter.

It may not be art but it certainly wastes a lot of time.

I have not finished it but am pausing before I do any more.

THE JOY OF STATISTICS

Seeking Immortality, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

The Actual And The Actuarial

two of these people will be unhappy for most of their lives,
half of them will have marriages that end in divorce,
one of them will have a cat that does not prefer Kit E Kat,
four will be a victim of violent crime,
five of them will suffer from clinical depression,
one will be saved by the love of a good woman,
three will never fully acknowledge their sexuality,
three more become vegetarians (though one of these makes an occasional secret exception for bacon),
one will be a taxi driver
another a nurse.

Over a half never know true poverty.
Three of them will have criminal records but one of these while in jail finds Jesus.
Some of them will have children, all of whom will be either male or female.
All except two will, at one time in their lives, own cars.
One of them will die before they are eighteen.
Most of them, at some time, will worry about their appearance
One will become blind while another becomes a millionaire.
Two will fail the Pepsi test
One will be stuck in a broken lift for two hours with a man called Don
while another is destined to spend sixteen hours every week watching Soap Operas on television.
There is at least one alchoholic
A heroin addict
There is also someone who life is given over to good works.
And another who buys a lottery ticket every week of his life but never wins the jackpot.
There is the one who will read The Guardian while many of the rest choose The Sun.
One of them will spend their twenty first birthday in Spain.

All of them fall in love
most of them with other people.

All of them will die.
Most of them will be sadly missed.

With a pin you can choose which.

Victorian Postbox, Prince Of Wales Road, Norwich

Victorian Postbox, Prince Of Wales Road, Norwich, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Marked V R but it does not have a crown insignia. (The first I have seen without this royal mark). It is quite short being not much over four foot tall.

This last is interesting to me. Family legend has it that my great-uncle Henry Buchanan (whom I was partly named after) would win drinks by betting that he could jump onto the top of a pillar box. Maybe this lower style of box was the secret of his success.

Incidently the post office often moves around boxes; on Rosary Road the Victorian wall box was replaced by a George VI one about ten years ago.

Here is another Victorian Postbox.

Street Lamp

Street Lamp, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Good Afternoon Mr Cooper

Good Afternoon Mr Cooper, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

A chance meeting on Little London Street.

Since the 1950s when he first performed at Antoinette ‘Black Anna’ Hannent's The Jolly Butchers public house, Albert Cooper as a musician, blues-shouter, promotor, one time part owner of The Jacquard Club and general good egg has been one of the most influential figures on the Norwich and Norfolk music scene. Even now he has one of the most remarkable voices never to have become famous and his infrequent concerts and guest appearences are sought out by the cognescenti from all over the country.

If you read this I urge you to seek him out and listen to him.