Oct 1: There’s always a catch
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
“That’s some catch, that Catch-22.”
According to Wikipedia, Joseph Heller’s book was originally to be called Catch-18, Catch-11 or Catch-17. Glad he changed his mind. Otherwise I’d have had to call this blip two little ducks.
Oct 2: Quickly Fading Light
I hate to play the “blip that got away” card, but …
When I first caught sight of this section of the coast on my drive home from work, it was really glowing. I think I might have gasped.
In the time it took me to pull over, park the car and run back to a good vantage point, the evening sun had sunk a little lower in the sky. Still, I thought Cockenzie power station looked bonnier than it has a right to.
Oct 3: Goodbye Goombahs?
I love it when kids come up with their own words. George, for instance, calls motorbikes “goombahs” – and because he’s mad about them, he says it a lot. This morning though, he was wrestling with the idea of calling them “mo’bikes” so it seems the word may be on the way out. Sad, but at least it’ll live on in blip.
Good news this morning on the Molly crisis. She’s been given a clean bill of health by the vet, who is mightily impressed by her Lazarus-like qualities. They’re putting it down to the fact that she’d snaffled a whole birthday cake the day before she’d got ill. Now that it’s out of her system she’s fine again.
We did mention the cake to the vet, but they thought the symptoms were too dramatic to be caused by it.
Oct 4: Sunshine and Stealth Sandwiches
Beautiful crisp morning, bright sunshine hitting the Corn Exchange dome, and a red light for just long enough to grab a blip. Wish all days started so nicely.
Went to the local sandwich shop later on, for some soup. Deciding to go crazy, I ordered a roll with it. “Want butter on that?” asked the girl in the shop.
“No thanks,” I replied.
“It’s just that some folk like a bit butter, eh. Some like it on both halves.”
“Er, yeah, I see.”
“There’s even one wifie likes a bit cheese in it an’ all.”
I thought for a moment. “Wouldn’t that be more of a sandwich?”
A pause. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” she said.
Oct 5: Jonathan Livingston Shitehawk
I can’t quite make my mind up about seagulls. When you see them wheeling overhead, and listen to their plaintive cries, it’s hard not to get all Richard Bach about gulls.
But get up close, take a look at their evil beady eyes and vicious beaks, and you can see why people call them names.
Oct 6: May Contain Nuts
Young George was given this bag of goodies by these people. It was full of stuff aimed at getting young kids interested in books.
Which makes the warning a little bit puzzling.
Oct 7: Soil In Dinghy
Took a walk round North Berwick harbour after taking Andy to the swimming pool there.
In the boat park, we came across this dinghy, full of soil. As well as the grass, there were plants growing in it – with little plastic markers identifying them. Some kind of eccentric plant nursery, perhaps?
Oct 8: A Mini Argument?
I don’t know why these two weren’t talking.
One of those days when you walk round the corner, and it’s as if someone’s been carefully setting up scenes to enhance your blip life.
Oct 9: The Pyramids of Geezer
Here’s an ingenious thing: a cardboard pyramid stuck on top of a fragile load, as a reminder not to stack anything else on top. Simple, and probably effective. Well, I wasn’t tempted to try, anyway.
Wonder if I can get one for my desk?
Oct 10: Non-essential
It’s fair to say that this old sign, on a doorway in Leith’s Great Junction Street, is non-essential. After all, I don’t think Andrew Cook’s been doing any engraving there for quite some time.
But I have to say that Kay’s little addition to it was pretty non-essential too.
Like some deranged urban archaeologist, I snapped a few more of these old things. There’s one here and one here and even one of these that Ms Innes didn’t enhance. All very non-essential, but I like ’em.
Oct 11: Vesting Sunset
Back working in The Netherlands for a couple of days.
Hectic day, then back to the hotel where I was staying last time, which meant I could go back to the Vesting. Because I knew where I was heading, this time I had more time to wander round its little streets: though of course, it got darker a lot sooner, so there were probably fewer blipportunities!
Oct 12: Big Back Garden
My second day working at Boekesteyn is busy, but in a good way. While yesterday was pretty frantic, today is more about getting down to writing stuff.
The grounds here are amazing, and you often see groups of people wandering round them. Apparently it’s around a 10km walk to Hilversum, that magical name from old radio dials.
My flight back isn’t until 9.35, so I have the time to visit every little shop in Schiphol more times than anyone could reasonably want.
Oct 13: Hibernating Cats, Animated Rats
Good to be back home again. It’s funny, but the boys always seem to wait till your back’s turned before growing a few extra inches.
Looking round the garden, Autumn’s well under way, and the cats have made little nests for themselves among the fallen leaves. Who knows? Maybe theyhave decided they’re going to hibernate this year.
Took Matt and Andy to see Ratatouille today, which they both really enjoyed. Thought it had a fair amount of charm to it, but (a bit like Cars) it had to work fairly hard to make you interested in its subject in the first place. And I found the voiceover slagging off critics pretty cringeworthy.
Maybe I should’ve just kept laughing at the funny rats, eh?
Oct 14: A Rabbit, Caught In The Sunlight
“Ma bunny eat tones,” George pointed out to me this morning – and right enough, the furry feller did appear to having a feast of gravel.
One good thing about getting up at stupid o’clock with the boys is that (once the sun comes up) the light can be beautiful. Actually, it’s possibly the only good thing.
Took Matt and Andy swimming later on, and Andy did brilliantly – really trying his hardest for once. We’ve got one of his pals over for a sleepover now, so it’s all starting to get a bit wild …
Oct 15: Young Candidate
Only three-fifths of The Candidates could make tonight’s rehearsal – which meant we were without a drummer.
Luckily, Alan (the blur on the left) had persuaded his young son Sean (the blur behind the kit) to fill in. Not only did he do so rather well, he also significantly reduced the average age of the band.
Unfortunately, it did mean we couldn’t go for a drink afterwards, but you can’t have everything.
Oct 16: Unconnected events
Had a meeting this morning, in the area of St Paul’s and St George’s Church (I’ve always wished there was a corresponding St John’s and St Ringo’s, but life is full of small disappointments).
During the meeting, one of the clients suggested we set up some kind of Skype link so we could present to them face-to-face via the magic of t’Internet. As they’re in Holland, we’re not, and there’s loads to do, this seemed like a great wheeze. “We’ll get right onto it,” we said – and left the meeting.
“Brrrr brrrr,” cheeped the phone, minutes later. “Hi Red,” said a voice from the business centre. “Sorry about this, but the Internet’s down, I’m afraid. Not sure when it’ll be fixed.”
Bugger.
Oct 17: Later, by The Shore
A strange day, due to lack of Internet. Had to work at home in the morning, then in the office this afternoon.
Bit of a late finish (but not as late as it could have been) so on the way home, I tried taking a shot of the reflection of The Shore in the Water of Leith. Of course, in a few weeks, I’ll be able to take a shot like this at almost any time in the afternoon…
Oct 18: Industrial Decay
I don’t think they despatch many things from the front despatch office ofScottish Agricultural Industries Ltd any more.
But you’d probably guess that if you were to drive past.
Oct 19: Friendly neighbourhood spider, man
Found this hairy-legged beastie on the wall when I arrived at the office this morning, and thought he must be frozen stiff. But when I headed home later, he didn’t seem to have moved a millimetre. So maybe he’s just a stiff.
Now, in theory, I shouldn’t really be scared of a dead spider. But what if he’s just pretending?
On that cheery thought, have a top weekend.
Oct 20: Funny-looking seabird
Had a trip out to North Berwick to visit the Scottish Seabird Centre, which seems to keep on getting better.
This unfortunate beast was part of a temporary exhibition, showing illegal stuff that’s been seized by customs: elephant-skin handbags, rare birds’ eggs, ivory – that kind of thing. Turning a big cat into a rug seems like a fairly poor use of human ingenuity.
In one display case there was an exhibit described as “4 tins of Iranian caviar”. Oddly, there were only three…
Oct 21: Training Day
Although he’s too young to play for the team, Andy has started going along to Matt’s mini-rugby training sessions. He seems to be enjoying it, and what he lacks in height, he makes up for by shouting.
I’d say George is fairly keen to get in on the act too.
Oct 22: The Certainty of Chance
This was a completely accidental shot.
Someone had asked me to email them a quick head and shoulders snap of myself this morning (I like a bizarre request on a Monday) and this appeared among the gurning mugshots, where I’d pressed the button by mistake.
I must say, the light in it caught my eye. And as I looked at it, it occurred to me that we’ll soon be decorating this room, the stereo won’t be on that wall, and we’ll be sorting out the cracked tiles on that hearth.
Then it struck me that there won’t always be a rocking-horse there, or a packet of baby wipes. There’s more than one moment caught in this random shot.
And if I hadn’t just randomly read this blip, I probably wouldn’t have blipped it. So blame him. But then, you could probably blame him for most of this thing we call blip.
Oct 23: Haymarket Clockstrosity
I’ve never liked this clock. The reason, I think, is that it looks like it’s wearing a stupid hat.
Glad I got that off my chest: thanks for listening.
Oct 24: Walking With Blippers
Do your friends, colleagues, partners, or children end up twenty paces ahead of you?
You may think this is because you’re always stopping to take pictures, thinking “hmm, that might make a nice blip. Well, it might, if I spend a few hours checking the 326 images on my memory card, faff around inexpertly in Photoshop, whittle it down to, say, 10 shots, hem and haw a bit, and then try to write something to go with it.”
Maybe they’re actually walking ahead because they’re a teeny bit embarrassed.
Oct 25: Folie de Blip?
If you see someone you know walking down the street, it’s probably quite normal to lean out of your car window and shout something like “Hey Andy! How’s it going? Long time, no see” or some such thing.
That would obviously work best if the person was called Andy. Which, in this case, he is.
It’s probably less normal to be so wrapped up with taking a quick blip* of one of Leith’s oldest pubs that you fail to notice Andy at all, other than as “bloke who walked distractedly in front of pub”.
A terrible thing, turning people into blip-props.
* only while the car is stopped, of course.
Oct 26: Always A Warm Welcome!
It’s a bleak kind of day when even Newhaven harbour looks bleak.
Walking back from the harbour, a piece of graffiti made me chuckle: someone called Bamba wanted us all to know that “The council have far 2 many tosspots.” Which may, or may not, be fair comment: I suggest you phone them and find out. How many is “far too many”, anyway?
Anyway, have a good weekend, blippers, as well as all tosspots and non-tosspots alike. Hell, even Bamba. After all, he’d written it in chalk.
Oct 27: Blinded By The Light
Had to pull down the blind to keep the light off the TV earlier – and I liked the way the imperfections in the glass, and the shoddy old paintwork on the frame, were projected onto it.
After showing no interest in TV whatsoever, George has become obsessed with a programme called In The Night Garden, which he calls “Ninky Nonk” after the wee train in it.
It’s very strange.
Oct 28: Spot The Ball
In all the excitement of rugby training, the boys seemed to have forgotten all about the ball itself.
A fine day for sitting around making encouraging noises in their direction, while slurping a sneaky coffee and doing the crossword. Well, I think it’s important to give them all the support you can.
I’ve often been told I’ll never see 21 again, but to my surprise, this morning I found this attached to our hedge.
Oct 29: Sunlight On My Bass
I just liked the way the sunlight was falling on my instrument case – so I opened it up, and let it play on the bass itself.
The groovy shadow on the left is the furry lining of the case. I’ve spared you the macro shots I took, as I’ve discovered I have a terrible case of finger dandruff. Ew. The camera can be very unforgiving.
Had a call from an agency today, to say their client didn’t want to go any further with a project I was working on. I was hating the work anyway, and they’re paying for my time to date. Result! I feel like I’ve been given a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card.
Oct 30: A Nice Sit Down
It’s on mornings like this that I wonder why I walk past this chair to drive 30 miles and sit in an office chair.
I wouldn’t mind so much, but it keeps lowering itself of its own accord.
Oct 31: Big Train Set
This fake model photography idea has been blipped before (and much better). I’d link back to them, but I’m not sure of who did what, or when – so maybe if those blippers are passing, they could add a link?
Anyway, I always fancied trying it. It’s sort of appropriate too: after having a few beers (and a few more) last night, I felt a bit “tilt and shift” myself this morning. Which is why I was on the train in the first place, come to think of it.
There’s a guide to doing it here if you want to give it a go.