Judefa

Dear Cloggo, I thought for your birthday we’d do a bit of time travel.

I nipped up to the attic while you were asleep and brought these pix back down - all surely full of memories for you, ancient or more recent.

So get into the driver’s seat and off you go.

Start where you want; I will be your amanuensis.

And Happiest of birthdays and New Years to a living treasure!

xoxo

Pic sources:

1. Carpark Austin Seven Cockpit, 2. brothers in arms, 3. Dutch winter carpet, 4. Snow House, 5. www.flickr.com/photos/photimages/5229941708/, 6. Kahlila with Dragline, 7. Piping, 8. Beamish Tramways - in action no matter what the weather!, 9. Waiting for the End., 10. The command post, 11. Thomson Boeing 767-200, 12. Similarity, 13. Journalism BC: Before Computers

cloggo:

I see that Sanrio have revived the Hello Kitty Shoulder Massager. So now you won’t have to pay $100 for one on E-Bay but can get an unused one for $10. Good news for those with stiff shoulders or other needs.

Click HERE for full story

Hello Pussy!

You do like to challenge me don’t you, Cloggo. I can’t and won’t read JA owing to my 6th-form experience (force-fed Northanger Abbey, refused to read it, AAA+ for assignment nevertheless after masterfully cribbing something together from reviews found in the public library).
A mix of The Pallisers and Brontes would be more realistic, though the only way they could meet is for Glencora Palliser to go out incognito (and she would, she was quite wicked). Agreed the hound of the Baskervilles is a must, as is the moor xo

cloggo:

Another triumph for Judith Avery. Read how Georgiana Darcy meets Heathcliffe on the wild Derbyshire  moor above Pemberley—— how an enraged Fitzwilliam Darcy hunts him down with his pack of Baskerville Hounds—— how Hindley Earnshaw becomes Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s toy boy——how Mr Rochester kills George Wickham in a duel over Jane Eyre’s honour—— how Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of the Flesh Eaters of Wildfell Hall.

cloggo says this is “Two Sherlock Holmes Fans at the Lincoln Steampunk meet smoking ridiculously oversized pipes”.

… which reminds me of my first cigarette - proffered to me by a printer in the subs’ room of our local newspaper (I was 16, and new to the working world). With a roomful of slightly older but much more worldly workmates looking on, I accepted the offer. And when he held the lighter to it I … blew on the thing.

Anyway, I know now. Suck, don’t blow, unless it’s a saxophone.

“The old boy took one look at the managers office and made himself right at home” - Li’s Blog Roll

Make yourself at home here too, old boy.

To those not in the know, this is Cloggo unmasked, a very rare candid picture of a living treasure.

Dear Cloggo, lovely story, and Hansel and Gretel always held a special magic for me owing to a fantasy I had of stuffing my mother into an oven (don’t ask).
Well, do ask. That story was significant because it made me aware bad people can be put in ovens and everyone lives happily ever after.

Now, not to kill your story-telling, but what really happened yesterday was this:
I had an arrangement to meet five guys at an abandoned warehouse about 20 minutes walk from my place.
As it happened, I had bought a new — blood-red — skirt on Friday and couldn’t wear to wear it.

So I set off very early on a cold winter morning knowing I would be seen, photographed and talked about.

On the other side of the wintry trees (this is a park near where I live) are the unconverted warehouses we were to explore today, and all I knew was five guys — called Tom, Max, Nathan, Jay and Siva — were to meet me at the first one.

I found the address on Abercrombie Street and around 9am entered via a door that was already open … to see, sauntering casually out of the darkness, the five young men I’ve just mentioned.
They looked like pop stars, all of them! If I didn’t have my heart locked up pretty tight, Cloggo, Tom or Shiva or probably both of them would have stolen it, along with my body.
I went into a total spin and imagined them singing like this … (watch the video because I can’t embed it here)


Funny thing is, they didn’t even comment on my skirt and I got the distinct impression they were out of my league.
They didn’t show any interest in or knowledge of urbex either so now I wonder if they were just using the warehouse as a prop?

I worry that urbex — and steampunk as well — are just being used as vehicles now to launch glamorous careers.
Did these guys ask me ANYTHING about the warehouse and its past?
Did they have even one camera between them?
Do I think this band of boys will be back for more urban exploring?
No no and no.


PS How DO you get up from an all-time low?

I can’t seem to get the ribbon to stay put, my hands are filthy, half the keys are missing and those that are left bear symbols I can’t read. Today it wouldn’t even connect to the net, so I left the desk in disgust. You thought I was making it up, didn’t you Cloggo, till I sent you the evidence.

cloggo:

Jude explains her lack of posts lately by saying she has computer problems. ” I think it could be my keyboard”  she told me “What do you think”

I had to agree.

Dear Cloggo, I have felt for a long time that your blog needs a few men in it but sadly not too many men have been prepared to wear the gear required to get your attention. These two, however, were desperate once I had told them all about you and your stories!

Now if you really love me you will write them into one for me.

Thanking you in advance, with love and deep respect,
Jude, on behalf of Kahlila and the CAS

morbidfashion: (via welldressedfortheapocalypse)

cloggo:

 Cherry Willingham, Project Leader of the Robot Section of The Royston Vasey Womens Institute, travelled all the way from Royston Vasey  to Harrogate to The Great Yorkshire Show carrying samples of The W.I’s Jams for the W.I. Marquee at the show. She travelled in a rickshaw pulled by RUR 1 (Royston Vasey  Universal Robot) built by the Robot Section members under Cherry’s leadership. RUR 1, known to the Ladies as  Rufus, averaged a speed of 30 mph trotting down the A64. To  Cherry’s mixed alarm and delight she found her suspenders caused quite as much interest and excitement as Rufus.

How much of this picture is taken up by suspenders? A speck. The suggestion of them takes up a centimetre perhaps. And yet eagle eyes zoomed right in and incorporated them into a bite-size story. There’s more spark in the “gnarled old Yorkshireman” than most of us have in a lifetime!