For most of my adult life I have been aware of Truman Capote but I’m afraid to admit know little of his work. According to his Wiki page his books are recognised literary classics but they have passed me by. This drawing has a feel of the film noir about it so it may have some relevance to Capote’s work but as I have not read any of his books how would I know?
Every now and then I wonder what the hell have I done with my life? I guess we all do from time to time. However, there is one object that has come to dominate my life in a way that I really couldn’t imagine. The object in question is this, a medieval packhorse bridge over the River Soar. For most people as they rush by in their cars they probably wouldn’t even notice the bridge. However, I have spent more than seven years trying to answer one simple question – why is the bridge there?
There is a straightforward answer to this, to allow pack horses to cross the River Soar but this doesn’t really come close to answering the question. As I started to explore this question other questions started to arise and from this I started my historical research which is nowhere near complete. The quest for the answer has taken me all over the english midlands and all the way over to the medieval port of Boston in Lincolnshire.
One day I feel I will be able to truly finish the quest but that day is a long long way away.
So we are official off and running and already it would seem that both of the main parties are trying to pretend that the last five years haven’t happened or rather their version of the last five years. Now I can understand why they are pretending that they are fighting for an overall majority but when everyone else seems to be saying that this isn’t going to happen it does look rather strange. In fact it tends to underline the impression that both parties are living in a detached world of their own making.
Back in the real world it all seems rather irrelevant. Whomever forms the next government will have to cut things and probably about the same as the other side. You have to remember that the wonderful economic miracle that we are living through is very similar to the economic plan being put forward by the last Labour government should they have been re elected last time. It doesn’t take the brains of Einstein also to realise that many more billions will be spent on the NHS, whether that is by opening up many more services to private provision (shocking I know but it does work in places) or reorganising the way things are done (yes there will be another one no matter who is running things).
In truth this election isn’t about Labour or Conservative but rather about the Lib Dems and SNP. Which of these two parties has a good election will shape the next government. At the moment the headlines are all upside for the SNP and downside for the Lib Dems. I don’t believe this for two reasons. Firstly, the Lib Dems are concentrated in specific areas where their local organisation is very strong, which includes Scotland. Secondly, I suspect that many of the new SNP supporters who have moved over from Labour are very soft SNP. I don’t think, come polling day, they will vote or won’t vote in the numbers that the polls are suggesting. This doesn’t mean that I think the Lib Dems won’t take a bath nor that the SNP won’t make gains it just that they won’t be as great as some are predicting. In fact one of the most interesting seat to watch will be Gordon in Scotland, the seat that Alex Salmond if contesting. If the SNP don’t take this then they could be in for some real humble pie, something that I think Alex Salmond won’t like eating. It will also mean that things aren’t quite as bad as the polls predict for the Lib Dems.
So five weeks and one day to do before election day…it’s going to be really hard to stay enthusiastic about things for so long.
Hit me with your rhythm stick indeed.
There are certain things you shouldn’t do when you’re tired. Some things are obviously more serious than others, driving when tired just one example. At the far more less serious end of the spectrum is trying to make a quick portrait sketch. Really don’t try this at home.
Oh you pretty thing…
So you know what it is like, you need to get something done fast and so you just put something down quickly without too much thought and then you have to go back and back to try and get it right but you never do. Well that is what happened to this quick sketch, 10 minutes I thought, well ten minutes soon morphed into an hour and it still isn’t right. Well that isn’t true as whilst this isn’t what I planned I quite like it.
So Jeremy has gone will the other two follow suit? I’m not sure and to be honest I don’t really care. Clarkson was the heart of this incarnation of Top Gear and it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they had a complete clear out and started afresh. One out all out I guess is what I am saying.
One of the strangest things that I have heard over this whole nonsense is that Clarkson is a “..man of the people…’. An ordinary bloke who spoke the truth and was a rallying point for the ‘white van man’. I’m really not sure what a very wealthy, public school educated metropolitan man has in common with the mythical white van man? He is, after all, friends with the Prime Minister as well as many celebrities and lives in some of the most expensive parts of England. I guess it must be filled under the same heading as Nigel Farage talking common sense. Neither, in my view, is anywhere near the truth and I think that at least Clarkson knows this.
So goodbye Jeremy you will be missed however the world will continue to spin and it isn’t really the end of the world.
I have no idea why I have decided to make some digital sketches but it does seem to be the thing that is taking my fancy at the moment.
Like most people, I suspect, my mind works in very strange ways. This morning I was walking along a local canal towpath when I started to wonder at how spring is very much a product of the weather rather than closeness to the equator. I know this is a very simplistic notion but I did tell you my mind does work in strange ways. Anyway, the reason for this notion is that my friend has been spending a few days in New York which, as I am sure you are all aware, is much further south than up here in the British Isles. Yet, whereas the lakes in Central Park are frozen over, here spring is in full flow. Of course it is still very early and we could have a late winter snap (lets hope not) but it is nonetheless true we have a much more temperate weather here than in the hot and cold that seems to be the norm for much of the States.
Then, as I was coming to prepare things for this blog with this though rattling around in my mind I thought about making a very quick sketch of one of the characters in Frozen. Pick the bones out of that.
Its the way it makes me feel.
Round Round Baby…
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