Desperately Seeking Eric

Rockabilly Busker, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Which reminds me. One of the legends floating around is that punk era singer/songwriter Wreckless Eric can be found busking in Norwich City. I've never seen him and not sure I would recognise him these days. The story goes that three years ago he applied for a job as a delivery driver with Rainbow Wholefoods. They turned him down. This is NOT a photo of Wreckless Eric. Er I think.

Someone's Daughter

Someone's Daughter, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

The Adam & Eve pub, Norwich

The Adam & Eve PH without all the cars parked outside, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

I am old enough to remember when the Adam and Eve did not have a bar just a tap room. You were served by old ladies dressed as Lyon's nippies (if you do not know what they were think of a french maid's costume with a slightly longer skirt)

Just Willie

Just Willie, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Artist, Sculptor, engineer, furniture maker, motor mechanic, Violin maker, toy maker, etc.

A Shady Shady Lane

Old Post Office Court, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

It's thirty years since you could buy anything in the Walnut Tree Shades from knocked off jewellry to fake MOTs yet Old Post Office Court in which the pub is set still retains a furtive quality. People don't seem to merely walk down it; they scuttle.

Picture yourself on a path by a river..........

Cheese, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

Fifteen klicks outside Pont L'Eveque, on a footpath by a river we meet a wandering French cheese vendor. He is wearing a blue smock, clogs, a pair of brown neatly pressed trousers, a red scarf and a top hat. In his arms he carries two baskets full of cheese and a red umbrella with a wooden handle carved in the shape of a bird's head. Behind him is an unsafe jetty, an unlikely looking wood and in the far distance we can glimpse hilly meadows. The whole scene is bathed in hyper-real colours. On the man's (rouged?) lips there is fixed a smile.

Guitar Doodling & Noodling

Guitar Doodling & Noodling, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

These are two photos I took of the same busker that I am very pleased with.

When ever I get too full of myself I go to Brian Ledgard's flickr pages to quickly discern the difference between myself and a photographer. He is so good I may have to kill him.

Here is a link to his pages of Folk Musician photographs. Just Click on the little pictures to make them big.

Richard Thompson is here

K T Tunstall is here

47 live performances are here

The 2006 BBC folk awards are here

A graphic project he is sharing with John Tams is here

All Saints Hethel, "Little America"

All Saints Hethel, "Little America", originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

It is very moving to find this monument in a quiet, isolated and very green English country churchyard; It brings home to one that not so long ago this place was, however improbably, at the centre of a great battle.

But what are we supposed to do with the wee and poo?

But what are we supposed to do with the wee and poo?, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

put it in the bin? Only in Norwich.

Listeria Hysteria Revisited or The Return Of The Killer Chicken

Do You Want A Press Release?, originally uploaded by Colonel Blink.

It was my own fault; I was doing the shopping and was holding a Rainbow Wholefoods Bag for life and I think she got the wrong idea about me. This person in the black skirt striking the pose is (I think) a Petra press spokesperson. I have never been so flattered as when she mistook me for a press photographer. (It must be the blood rimmed eyes and the smell of alcohol). I felt almost guilty disabusing her and I am not certain she believed me any way

She kept following me offering this press release. I did consider digging into my bag and using the Pickerings Organic Sausages I had got for Master Blink's tea in much the same way as Van Helsing uses a cross and garlic against Count Dracula but decided this was probably a bit over the top.

As far as I could ascertain they had got dressed up as a publicity stunt and had informed the press they would be there but the press were not biting.

I think the fix is in with such photo-opportunities as our "betters" are doing everything to prevent panic in the streets where bird flu is concerned. Somewhat unsuccessfully.

But hang on a minute. We must not laugh too much. This was not a harmless bit of eccentric behaviour. These people were dressing up for a purpose. They are trying to make you, I and our children scared. They are exploiting peoples fears - by wearing what is supposed to look like biohazard suits - to push their views on vegetarianism. They are not bothered that you cannot catch bird flu by eating poultry. Their purpose is soley to push their agenda by feeding upon our fears. Like all tuppenny-halfpenny zealots they are less concerned with the truth than with conversion.

ADDENDUM
Nothing New Under The Sun
Bird Flu Facts stolen from The Independent newspaper.
..--..
A form of avian flu was first identified in 1878, in Italy.
The current H5N1 strain was first found in 1959, in Scotland.
Date of first human death connected with H5N1 strain of bird flu:1997.