Saturday, 9 February 2013
Friday, 8 February 2013
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Skylark Ukulele.
I have an eBay watch out for 'vintage' ukuleles.
I'm just interested to see what gets sold and for how much in that category.
It doesn't help that there's actually a uke manufacturer called 'Vintage'.
Back in the dim dark past, probably about fifty years ago now, I had a ukulele.
I played it incessantly till, at about eight years old, I came home form school to find the neck had been snapped off it.
My eBay search alerted me to a ukulele that, in my mind's eye, looks vaguely similar to the one I'm playing in my memory.
It has a blue label in the sound hole proclaiming it's manufacture in the Peoples Republic of China and comes with its original (tatty) box.
I expected this uke to sell for somewhere in the region of £80-£90 so felt safe putting a 'flutter' bid in at
£30 via a sniper.
I forgot about it until I received the email telling me I'd won the auction:
Of course it's only now that it occurs to me to do a bit of background research into the Skylark brand.
Before I can say anything about this uke I have to fit a set of Aquila strings.
I'm just interested to see what gets sold and for how much in that category.
It doesn't help that there's actually a uke manufacturer called 'Vintage'.
Back in the dim dark past, probably about fifty years ago now, I had a ukulele.
I played it incessantly till, at about eight years old, I came home form school to find the neck had been snapped off it.
My eBay search alerted me to a ukulele that, in my mind's eye, looks vaguely similar to the one I'm playing in my memory.
It has a blue label in the sound hole proclaiming it's manufacture in the Peoples Republic of China and comes with its original (tatty) box.
I expected this uke to sell for somewhere in the region of £80-£90 so felt safe putting a 'flutter' bid in at
£30 via a sniper.
I forgot about it until I received the email telling me I'd won the auction:
Before I can say anything about this uke I have to fit a set of Aquila strings.
Thus Begins The Age Of The Horse Mausoleum!
And so ends the age of The BigMetalTower.
The wheel has turned.
Welcome to the age of
The Horse Mausoleum
Monday, 4 February 2013
Pussy Cats, Bunny Rabbits, Cake Cough, & Evershed.
'am a right tart, me.
I gave up on organising my own birthday celebrations.
I learned it is impossible to organise a party and enjoy it at the same time.
Girl-on-Wire has a new home and therefore is obliged to have a housewarming.
GoW suggested we combine my birthday and her housewarming.
SpaceMan: "Will I have to do anything?"
GoW: "No".
SpaceMan: "'am in".
The event was to take place during the afternoon of the day BeHeld were to play at Evershed Arts Folk Club.
The snag being GoW's new home is a little to cosy for housewarming parties.
It was decided to have the combined parties at a house in Billingshurst.
The saintly Jonathan now enters the picture.
For it is in the sanity Jonathan's home that those about to party will party.
Now, ask yourself this question:
"Would I open my home.to around 15 people, all of whom seem to be musicians, to have a party in?"
Jonathan considered this question and decided to risk it.
And so I spent an afternoon in a home where pussy cats, and bunny rabbits, and hamsters roam free.
It was like being inside the Internet (without the bare ladies).
I'd go into the details of the 'cake-cough', but I'm not proud of what I did when I blew out the candles on MY birthday cake by coughing on them.
It was very selfish of me not to consider other people may have liked a piece of MY birthday cake.
This post is to say thank-you to all the people that made that party happen.
Best ever.
Evershed Arts
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Saturday, 2 February 2013
On A Plate 2013: 033
Given to Girl-On-Wire in appreciation of her organising a birthday party for me.
Delivered to the recipient:
Friday, 1 February 2013
Be Gone Dull Music Stand ! (meanwhile, back in the OSM Ind lab).
I'll have you know I'm taking this dull music stand thing very seriously.
I think everyone can agree my last invigorated music stand was a complete triumph.
I've got a new one.
It involves a cardboard box:
Once upon a time I bought an old Tannoy speaker cabinet from eBay.
I used the front to create a cardboard stencil:
I think everyone can agree my last invigorated music stand was a complete triumph.
I've got a new one.
It involves a cardboard box:
I used the front to create a cardboard stencil:
I sprayed it over with matt black stove paint:
I then had a cardboard box that looked like this:
I bought some light blue paint and some beige paint in tester pots, picked up my brush, put my tongue out of the side of my mouth, and:
Stage one complete.
It now needs some kind of plinth.
The Condition: Don't Wanna Go In The Machine (again).
There's a suggestion that the nerves at the base of my spine may be 'diseased'.
I don't like word 'diseased'.
It has connotations.
My first encounter with the MRI scanner did not go well.
I was disturbed by my reaction to the experience.
The run up to this latest scan caused me sleepless nights and it seems, no matter how much I try to analyse the situation, fear trumps rationality ever which ways up.
Linda accompanied me to the scan this time as it doesn't look weird if I'm holding her hand.
If I'd asked Mystic Rog to come with me holding hands may have lead to considerable misunderstanding.
08:20 and I'm back in the MRI anti-chamber.
A very nice nurse asked me all the same questions I'd been asked the last time I was there.
She had an MRI scanner picture book for me to look at.
I was surprised to discover the scanner was open at both ends and is actually a torus shape.
I told her my previous experience of being inserted in the machine had not been a good one and asked if she had any advice on what approach I should take.
Should I try to block it out like I did on that first time or should I stay 'in the room' so to speak?
The poor woman didn't really have a definitive answer, but told me she'd keep me informed as to what was happening throughout the process and said that I should think of it as being inserted into a large toilet roll.
I entered the scanner chamber and assumed the prone position.
Then I had to get back up again as I had to have a cod-liver oil capsule taped to the top of my spine.
I didn't catch the reason of this, if in fact there was one.
I'm sure they know what their doing.
I lay down, My head and neck are clamped, and I'm inserted.
No headphones due to the neck clamp, earplugs this time.
Am I Okay?
Yes, I'm Okay.
I look at the mirror and straight into the control-room's smoked glass window.
I can see the nice nurse and the operator.
I can see my fingers.
I make my fingers do some energetic dancing.
I'll cut a 25 minute story short.
The nice nurse came in before each scan telling me when it was about to start and how long it would go on for.
That's all I needed to know.
I feel a bit silly about my reaction to the first scan.
I'm probably not cut out for psychological techniques.
If laying on one's back, eyes tight shut, trying to think of anything but what was happening, and all the time shaking with fear can be described as a 'psychological technique'.
I also had to have a chest X-ray which seems to be done in a photo-booth nowadays.
Linda and I went for a coffee in Bognor Regis's new Sainsbury's supermarket.
The cafe is on the upper floor and affords a panoramic view of the surrounding trading estate.
I scratched an itch at the top of my neck and found the cod-liver oil capsule still taped there.
I swallowed it.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
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