Temporary capital of culture

We've been on holiday, down in the English/Welsh Borders.
I'm blogging this from Hay on Wye, the second hand book capital of Europe, for their celebrated literature festival. (My first sniff at ethernet since we left home).

...and what great icon of cultural delight did we go to, I hear you ask?

HARRY HILL!

To be fair, he does have a book out, a rather odd Children's story called Tim the Tiny Horse.

Here is Harry signing David's copy. We hadn't the heart to tell him we got in the discount shop in Hay!



Karen has returned home, leaving us boys to play. Woo Hoo!

Karen, David's favourite ice cream flavour remains blackcurrant.

UPDATE: More of Harry Hill HERE.

The appliance of Science

In my pre-teens, I had a motley selection of education magazines, called Understanding Science and Mind Alive. I wasn't particularly aware of where they had come from but I became conscious that there were a number of them missing. When working out from the index that a particular copy would help me in school I asked if there were others around. After deciding that I was old enough, my parents reveled a treasure trove of them in binders which I devoured with delight.

When I first went to senior school, a few days into the first week, an announcement was made in assembly about a meeting for those of us who were interested in science. The big hook that caught our attention was that the first event was on the topic of explosives.

I made my way to the hall balcony that lunchtime to find that there were about twenty other 11 year old hopefuls. A Sixth Former told us about the British Association of Young Scientists (BAYS) and what it got up to. I went to the first meeting the following week, a very noisy and entertaining lecture about bangs which culminated in the setting light of a wad of cotton wool- drenched in liquid oxygen. The resulting fireball stunned us all and I was well and truly hooked.

BAYS was the junior wing of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a venerable institution of Scientists that lived up to their legendary stereotypes. The most well known Member was Dr. Magnus Pyke (we jokingly called him Dr. Magnus Prick in newcastle BAYS). The BA was formed as an an alternative to the Royal Society which was regarded as rather aloof at the time (and still is).

BAYS held an event every month, half of them being lectures, the other half film shows. The movies were somewhat variable, generally being hand me downs from the likes of ICI and the oil companies about industrial processes and such. The film shows were held in the Newcastle University Faculty of Engineering Claremont Building which was distinguished only by having a tower block served by Paternoster lifts, an endless chain of slow moving two person cars that remained the right way up as they reached the top (& bottom) & changed direction.

The lectures were generally held in the Science faculty closer to town and this was memorable by having a pair of huge concave mirrors at either end of their long entrance hall. The topics were many and varied but in order to appeal, they were always very practical, with the emphasis on participation and showmanship.

I continued to attend throughout school, joining the organising committee in my 4th year and becoming the school rep in the 5th form as there were no VI formers interested. Despite a huge publicity campaign with posters on all the noticeboards and assembly announcements, my balcony briefing attracted a big fat zero response.

BAYS organised occasional events, the first one of which I attended was a "Micro meeting" at Huddersfield University which featured a lecture on fluorine (and probably the only chance anyone ever had to smell it) and a Saturday evening film show - Those mganificent men in their flying machines. I also went along to a number of annual Conferences which ran for a week during the Summer and attracted considerable press interest. (From memory I went to three, held at Stirling, Canterbury and Bristol, the latter being in the 80s).

I met one lad called Robert Spackman at Huddersfield who was a real character. He had passed his A levels at 16 with A Grades and was going on to a London University because Cambridge wouldn't take him until he was 17. He had been given his Gran's house in Penge (Sarf London) by his parents and he had a couple of lodgers. Several of the rooms were padlocked off for no obvious reason other than they were full of furniture. I went to stay with him a couple of times for events and for when I got onto the National Exec. He sneaked me into his former boarding school in the Medway area once for the sole purpose of watching Monty Python as he didn't have a telly.

Travelling down to see Robert (generally to align with an Exec Board meeting at BAYS HQ) involved going on the all night bus from Gallowgate Bus Station in Newcastle to Victoria Coach Station. Unfortunately, it took all night, leaving at 9pm and getting in at about 6am, stopping all over the place for pickups and toilet stops. Over the years I grew to intensely dislike Motel Leeming (now Leeming Services) near Northallerton as you had to go by then and it was turnstile toilets.

Then, one day, a letter arrived from the BAYS office with a black border. Robert had died in an (unexplained) accident at Waterloo Station. I was absolutely devastated, this was the first time a friend of mine had died and it was an unnerving experience. Then, about three weeks later, the phone went and my mate Keith told me to turn the box on, Robert Spackman was on the Telly. Indeed he was, making a posthumous appearance on University Challenge. This was unnerving and Keith reckoned that he had faked his death. The reality, of course, was much more mundane; the programme had been filmed many weeks previously.

Being involved with BAYS had two beneficial effects. The first one was that it helped me get my first job; being active at National level in such an organisation stood me in good stead at the bulk interviews to find twenty-four Technician Engineer recruits from the hundreds of applicants.

The second opportunity was to meet my first celebrity- the legendary Botanist, Dr. David Bellamy. The BA had organised a lecture by him in the University Curtis Auditorium and BAYS were invited along. The lecture was called the edge of evolution and it was all about moss & lichens at the land/ice boundary towards the North Pole. I have to say it was a rather dull lecture... about mosses and lichens, livened up only by a slide of their portable house being helicoptered in for the expedition. At the end, I was invited to join the BA luminaries for a meal in the University Refectory whilst the great hairy one held court at table, entertaining us with stories about his travels.

I was suprised to see David Bellamy in the celebrity audience for the Comic Relief 5000 Miles video (by Peter Kay and Matt Lucas with the Proclaimrs). More than thirty years on, he looks almost exactly the same, a bit ruddier & wrinkled in nose & face, but otherwise the character he has always been.

Newcastle Royal- seats at all prices...

When I was at newcastle, I took loads of photos knowing that with available light and without a tripod, some of them will turn out blurry no matter how fine they look on the small screen. These ones are passable.

I took shots from various places around the theatre auditorium. This is the back of the stalls.

The back of the Dress Circle (not on the centre line)

The back of the Upper Circle,

The front of the Gallery (Follow-spot positions below)

and the very back of the gallery.

Finally, a bit of nostalgia- the original location of "my" follow-spot, and the view I had. If Mike or Bernie swapped sides or went where we couldn't cover them (in my case, anywhere far stage left), we had to swap beams!

I took a couple of triple panorama shots from an upper box and was surprised to notice afterwards that I managed to give the theatre six boxes a side rather than four due to a dodgy picture lineup.

It really looks like this:

With the normal wide angle setting, we see much less, although it looks more. (The same vantage point, angled down a bit more to take in the stalls. (I couldn't do that for the Panoramas, as it would have been practically impossible to align the camera which was braced on a brass rail.

Some splendid ceiling detailing from the gallery slips

Have you ever wondered what it looks like behind all of this wonderful fibrous plaster icing? Here is a glimpse into a void space. Definitely not for public view!

Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!

The Glory Box storage shed has arrived from Sheds 'r us. We need to get it secured with a Scuffer-Lock (Shedache scheme) before we can put anything valuable in it though.

Call me twosheds...

I didn't want to get sent off...

A quick nip into the Theatre Royal Building Site.

The rules are hard hats, high visibility jackets and safety boots...

...the height of builder chic!

It keeps us safe from the vestigial toilets...

I don't think the gear will help if you fall down the lift shaft though!

In a few weeks, this will become an educational studio space with bleacher seating. They can't get rid of the girders though, the building structure is too complicated.

Soon it will look like the first floor space.

One is cherished, another rots...

Whilst Grey Street is looking really smart in Newcastle, Pilgrim Street is not. The former Paramount which closed in late 2002 now looks destined for the wrecker's ball.

The fire exits have been bricked up to keep any unwanted audiences out.

Missing- a D, an E, an N and two Os

Let us hope that a museum rescues one of the two metal Paramount logos high above the street at projection suite level.

The company who now own the whole block (10 acres) from top to bottom
includes the Odeon building, have lodged plans with the council for complete
redevelopment including apartments, offices and shops..

This is one sleeping beauty who may get a rather rude awakening. Some interior glances here.

Newcastle's Theatre Royal

Yesterday, I was up in Geordieland to see various technical innovations introduced in recent refurbishments of Tyneside's premier touring theatre.

On this outside view, you can see a builders compond down the side of the building. This is for the renovation and expansion of various front of house and ancillary spaces, as well as an education space.


When we got inside, we were treated to the delightful new mural of an actor taking a bow in Grey Street. This is fixed directly onto the safety curtain which was originally relatively plain.

After being told about the project, the safety curtain was flown out to reveal the stage as the audience never see it- the dream factory laid bare.

From the stage, the auditorium can be seen in all of its Matcham glory. I can remember it being described as like performing inside a wedding cake by Jimmy Edwards in Big Bad Mouse with Eric Sykes back in 1970, the first Pro show I went to see by myself. (Aisle seat, row C, front stalls).

From the back of the stage, the auditorium looks rather small in scale to the height and width.

The stage right area is new- extended into an old Barclays Bank with some forthcoming access into some vaults below for flight cases and such. When I worked the 75/76 Panto (and indeed up until a month or so ago), the wall finished to the left of the thick column next to the large white electrical box, narrower even than the auditorium on that side of the stage.

Standing centre stage and looking up, the fly floor can be seen, along with three gallery levels.

The grid, sixty feet above stage level.

In the upstage right corner is a dumb waiter lift, intended for raising chain hoists (or anything else) to grid level, safe working load 450kG.

After flights and flights of stairs, we eventually arrived at the grid. This is very unusual as it is the first one in Britain made of Plastic, or more accurately Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP), a Fibreglass (but stronger) based structural composite widely used in industry.



The Grid covers the acting area but not the wings, due to the sloping roof construction. There is a large smoke lantern over the grid, the glass painted out (but needing a repaint!)

The large yellow fixtures are movable spot loading points. All of the vertical ladders and handrails are made of GRP which is workable somewhat like timber. This view is of the counterweight and header pulleys. Note that the last four sets have an extra pulley to allow for ladder clearance.

After climbing down three sets of vertical ladders, we arrived on the flyfloor. This is a brand new flying system on the normal counterweight principle, although it is possible to link up some motorised units for powered flying. The blue weights are used to balance the bar without loading and are at the top of the cradle rather than the bottom due to height constraints in the fly tower. (It is a grade 1 listed building and much of the original timber & steel beams have been preserved)

This is the Flyman's view from the fly floor, raked the same as the stage.

This is a double-purchase system, where the rope and cradle move only half the distance of the stage bar. (It has to be this way to give the stage dock clearance stage right but is more difficult to operate for the flyman).

This is an architects model for the construction work on display in the circle lobby. The stage haystack lantern can be clearly seen at roof level.

More about the new work in another posting.

Is she really going out with him?

Last night, we went to see Karen's favourite musician ever, Joe Jackson. It was held in "The Plug", a sort of cowshed turned night club with disco lighting. The walk to the live venue was relieved (slightly) by urban graffiti style murals, whilst the main hall (which resembled an agricultural or industrial unit) was painted midnight blue with the only lighting (other than the audience wobblies & stage rig) being very deep blue panels behind the bar.

It has a high stage and a crash barrier, but it is standing throughout.

Shortly after it started to fill up, the ventilation system was turned on and it sounded as though one of those road sweeper sucker trucks was parked backstage. Fortunately the sound of the PA was mostly loud enough to overcome the sounds of a thousand Dysons, whilst the ear bleeding and the subsonic woomph becomes comfortable after prolonged exposure.

After several dirges by a fairly uninspiring support act, the Jackson Band came on to a warm reception from a mostly middle-aged crowd and performed for about 90 minutes with new songs as well as old.

He didn't do my personal favourite- (Home Town from the Big World album, suitably balladized for solo piano) but he did do "Different for Girls" and "Is she really going out with him?" (It is bizarre that he still gets put off by everyone shouting Where? after the line Look over there. He started the show with Stepping Out and finished it with A Slow Song.

Here is the one that made him famous:


(Photo image montage from Mondaypapers.com)

A Royal visit

I had a day off work yesterday to indulge my technical theatre muse. I was also out yesterday evening at a gig so was unable to blog. In the meantime, here is a teaser...

Healthy dinosaur food

This morning, I was slightly surprised to find that we were a bit short of cooked meats for our packed lunches, so I had to raid David's.

Here it is arranged on my desk for a photo-opportunity.

O Canada!

I want to get round to blogging about my stints in Canada which is not like America at all, apart from the cars and domestic appliances.

I was introduced to Canadian Culture whilst in Saudi Arabia by being loaned a cassette of Bob & Doug McKenzie, a parody of local cable Saturday afternoon hunting/shooting/fishing shows.

The Canadians love the great outdoors and will head north at every opportunity.



Their twelve days of Christmas is funny as well!

Not all politicians are scum...

Freedom & Whisky asks: And where is Britain's Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is a Texas Congressman running for presidency in 2008. He is a libertarian conservative Republican.



(He saw it on Lew Rockwell's Blog who got it from Josh Purinton)

To take away on holiday...

I enjoy Fabian Tassano's Mediocracy Blog, incisive thinking with occasional snippets from his book of the same name.

I have now tracked down his book and am happy to plug it here, in exchange for his extended Christmas signing offer.



(Disclosure- I haven't read it yet, although I have dipped in and enjoyed what I have surfed.)

Idiot Head

When I was a schoolboy, I had a friend called Bruce, commonly known as "Toota" (although I don't remember why). He was a member of a schoolboy band called Applecore along with Stew, Tud and a fourth lad whose name escapes me.

Toota came from what today would be called a dysfunctional family. He lived with his Dad and Brother on the 9th floor of a tower block in the centre of Newcastle.

His Dad was a journalist for the Newcastle Journal and went by the non-de-plume of "Joe Cona", inspired by their coffee machine. The brother was called Norman who was large, fat and hairy, wearing denim and liking heavy music. Norman had an unusual hobby- he transcribed cricket scores out of Wisden almanacks into exercise books. He was friendly enough, although another of Toota's friends used to wind him up mercilessly.

Toota shared a room with Norm but as Norm mostly watched Telly, whenever I came round we would go into the bedroom and Toota would play guitar. He had a Hofner Bass copy as he was a big fan of Paul McCartney and the Beatles. He wore a leather jacket and had hair long at the back.

At some point along the way, the Dad reconciled with his Mum and she moved into the flat. One one occasion, I was invited to join them for tea, which strained the crockery arrangements somewhat and they rustled me up whatever the meal was on a saucer. Using my vast wit and repartee, I said "I've never had my tea on an ashtray before".

After that, Toota's Mum took something of a dislike to me and it was a small source of argument between the couple, as his Dad rather liked me as I had intelligent conversations with him (something his two obsessive Sons were not good at).

Toota told me once that she was openly hostile about me, saying "Is that Idiot Head coming round again?", although when I was there she just treated me with silent distain.

I sometimes wonder what happened to Toota. He got a job at a hardware store (a traditional old fashioned brown overall job in the Handyside arcade) but got the push after he was caught shoplifting an Album from Callers record department. The silly fool had stuck it up his jumper but they had recently fitted a security alarm system which went off as he went out of the door and he was caught banged to rights. He was an excellent guitarist though and had the talent to go far.

By chance, many years later, I bumped into Stew at the Kenton Bar, a large Pub near my Parents' house. It was his wedding reception night and it seems it was a bit of a shotgun wedding. We were invited back to Stew's parents house, were we found the Bride sobbing on the stairs, crying "I never wanted it to be like this" and the two families arguing. Exit stage left...

A night at the races...

Last night we went charity pig racing, organised by Batley Ladies Circle, the Paramilitary wing of Batley Round Table.

The first race the pigs went in all directions, so for the other races the pig "owners" could guide them.


The event included a pie & pea supper

Yorkshire food- Pie, mushy peas, mint sauce, brown sauce.

The last race- a close thing. One of the owners gave David number six to take home; a generous gesture after he had just forked out £20 for it. (They are £5 in Leeds market).


The event raised £550+ for cancer charities and one particularly persuasive Round Tabler who had lost a friend to cancer that week at 49 persuaded us to fork out another £104.

Just in case you've not seen this type of pig before, this vid snippet shows you how they move. You can't really hear them oinking, but they do.

Well done, Batley Ladies Circle!

Quick, call the style police...

I have an uncle who lives in Canada, now the only surviving Grey on my Father's side. He is perpetually known as uncle Allen, even though he is 78.

I've been to Canada a few times on business, two of them for extended periods. I was based in a small town in Ontario called Belleville, whilst he lives in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto. Being 125 miles, it is regarded as a short distance in North America.

Last time I visited his apartment, I took a(n anti-) shine to a really hideous piece of furniture, something to rival the Coronation Street duckworth's Bar in its kitsch naffness. It features an electric fire on a hearth and the surrounding mantlepiece is actually a Radiogram. I think the Canucks call this the "Colonial" style.

Anyway, I came across the photo recently and felt a bizarre urge to share it with the Interweb.

The clock, however, I like, for sentimental reasons. That was my Granddad's and I used to have one myself that I bought in an antique shop in Maidenhead. It chimes the hour and possibly the quarters as well.

First records...

Graham at work tells us that this was his first record. (Although his was the Mamas & Papas version).



We had a lad at school called Geoff , or more frequently, Paddy (Patterson). He started knocking around with two lads called Peter & Paul so inevitably- he was nicknamed Mary...

My first record was Jake the Peg, backed with Sun Arise, by Rolf Harris. I swapped it for my Space Hopper on Radio Newcastle Swap shop when I was about 11 or 12.



I'll tag all of the BlogPowersphere to pick up their first record meme.

(Spacehopper image from Museum of Childhood)

Clear White Light

We have now got better quality, whiter light in our streetlamps where we live in Morley.

I can't think of a more fitting song...

A load of rubbish

Leeds introduced wheelie bins into Morley in the mid nineties. They were sold on the benefits of increased capacity and making it permissible to include garden waste. In return, we were expected to wheel them to the kerbside on collection day.

A couple of years later, green recycle bins were launched. The collection, however, was on alternate weeks, black then green. There was still quite a restriction on what was recyclable then (cans, foil, paper) and the end result was that everyone's black bin was overflowing by collection day and the green bin was half empty.

After a year or two, they had a rethink and changed the system. They went back to weekly black bin collection and a four week cycle for green. This worked out fine, but over time and with the expansion of allowable contents (cardboard, plastic types 1/2/4, carrier bags) we found that four weeks was now too long. Leeds were happy to let us have a second green bin and we now pretty much manage to fill both of them, bolstered by the vast quantity of junk mail we still get despite being on all of the preference services.

A couple of years back, Leeds decided to fit RFID tags to the bins, to help with future management decisions. I'm not aware that they have done anything useful with this, however, and seeing as how bins occasionally go missing and others get reclaimed, their database will not be particularly accurate. (There is a rogue green bin in our street that has traces of number 21 on it but has been disowned by that house).

It now appears that we will be moving to fortnightly green collection as well as offering glass and garden collections- this is to be welcomed as we can then get rid of our extra green bin. I don't think our black bin has enough capacity for two weeks of rubbish though, and I don't see us making any significant lifestyle changes that would make us turn into the Good Life or weave our own yoghourt.

I saw a feature on Craggers on the Beeb the other day and it strikes me that greenery is starting to show symptoms of mental illness, or at least some form of mass delusional hysteria.

The computer press describes green energy as pointless tokenism (there is so little of it in the UK) and there is even green gas now- the extra you supposedly pay goes on sustainable energy projects. (Sustainable bandwagon non-job projects, more like, or even scams!)

(Bin image lifted from- rampantscotland.com)

Low key showbiz

In complete contrast to the Supertramp Gig, the Summer of 1976 was rather flat with the diary fairly empty at the City Hall. There were two things to look forward to on the horizon though- our new lighting and sound installation, and a two week residency at the nearby Gosforth Civic Hall, a fairly new building replacing the ghastly flat floor asbestos clad Central hall which burnt down in the early 70s. (I did see a couple of am-dram shows there and had my first attack of stage fright.)

The custodian at the Civic had a fortnight holiday and Colin had been asked to cover there for a number of events, mostly weddings and parties. I leant a hand and he split any tips he got with me. I took great pleasure in relamping everywhere and fixing anything that needed attention, as well as setting the stage lighting to best effect for the events.

It also had two backstage dressing rooms in a locked off area that were a handy hidey-hole for a bit of peace and quiet during the evening.

Our first proper show back at the City Hall was Richard Stilgoe, supported by a Christian group called Nutshell. (I still have the album they gave me, called "In your eyes", I have never played it!) Colin and I were sitting Front Circle with our new lighting & Sound desks and there were only about fifty people in the audience downstairs.

During the first couple of songs, they had some real problems tuning up and staying in tune. During a protracted tuning session and several apologies, I shouted out "Do you want to borrow a welder?"

Colin sat there chuckling right until the interval. When I commented to him that it wasn't that funny, he said that the funny bit was that it was me that had shouted it, being so out of character!

An early career crisis

Supertramp played Newcastle City Hall as part of a thirty date sellout for their Crisis? What Crisis? tour in 1975/76.

I don't recall the exact date, but I know I was only a few weeks away from my Mock "A" levels in the upper Sixth Form so it was probably November.

(There is a Supertramp time line online here but it has gaps in it).

The reason I remember it so vividly is because I was offered the chance to tour with them as road crew. Let me fill in the story some more...

In 1974, Supertramp released their seminal Crime of the Century Album and it rapidly became a favourite album amongst those of us at school into progressive stuff (ELP, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Rick Wakeman even). Many of our school colleagues were into much heavier stuff (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix) and to them Supertramp was a bit too "soft rock" but to those of us with an ear for sensitive melody and thoughtful lyrics, Supertramp were a delight.

They followed it up with the Crisis? What crisis? Album, the quote being (wrongly) attributed to Jim Callaghan, the then Prime Minister, returning from holiday into the midst of industrial strife in the run up to the eventual Winter of Discontent. The album cover featured someone sunbathing under a yellow parasol in what looked like a burnt out industrial wasteland.

I had bought the new album a few weeks before the gig and was getting nicely into it. I had been looking forward to the Gig ever since I had seen it listed on Moose's typed bookings list as Crime Of The Century was still my favourite Album at the time.

In advance of the Gig, I was told about how Supertramp were not like other bands. Most shows hired in the sound and lighting from the big name tour production Companies arranged by the Promoter as a package, generally with Edwin Shirley Trucking for the logistics and sometimes with a catering Company. Supertramp, however, owned most of their equipment in order to contain costs and paid the crew directly rather than through others. (Roxy Music were another Band that did something similar, they had a their own PA).

Come the day, the get-in was a fairly regular affair, although they also rigged a black backing drape (a curtain) with screen behind. Once the humping had finished, I offered to stay on, hoping to see the Band appear and sound-check in due course. Sitting near the mixing desk whilst the channels and speakers were checked out, I suddenly realised that the people nearby with Wives and Children were the mainstays of the Band, Rick Davies and Rodger Hodgson. They both had beards and Rodger looked rather Jesus-like despite wearing Jeans and a T shirt. They were also cool enough to say hello. (Contrast that with those of massive ego who insisted on the venue being cleared before they would sound check- Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Paul MacCartney).

Suddenly, they realised that they had a mini-crisis. As well as an electric Piano, Rick had a touring hammond Organ with a large traditional Leslie speaker in a polished wood cabinet and the Leslie had big problems making graunching noises. A Leslie speaker is a full range phase effect unit which contains spinning horns and sound drums to vent the music out from the speakers producing a distinct spacey sound via the doppler effect (where the pitch of a horn changes in an oncoming car that passes you). It is the mainstay of blues organ (Think Booker T & the MGs) and it was essential to Rick Davies' sound on certain songs. Someone from a music shop in the Handiside Arcade was summonsed and offered much Wonga to put it right again.

I then leant a hand focussing the lights onstage, holding a large metal A-frame ladder whilst the lighting designer (the Lampy) nipped up and fine-tuned the positioning. In the middle of this, as time was pressing, the band decided to come on and sound check around me. Dougie Thomson, the Bass player, was standing right next to me tuning up and was fingering various riffs. In the middle of it I recognised the distinctive sound from hide in your shell which is only four repeated notes (Dah-Dohw-dah-Dooooooaaaaaaooowww) but really deep and compelling. I gave him a big grin, he winked back, then suggested to the others they check using Hide in Your Shell so I was in near rapture holding this ladder in the middle of my favourite supergroup playing my favourite song!

All too soon they cleared the stage and we carried on focussing. We continued to gingerly move the ladder around the stage. I was just about to step back when the lampy said "Freeze!" I stopped, looked behind me and saw that I was about to stand on a badly positioned guitar... That could have been very career limiting!

We were relaxing afterwards and we were talking about lighting design and what a pile of poo the house rig was. He then made me an extremely generous offer- If I wanted to I could light the support band from their front of house lighting desk (an Electrosonic Rockboard, complete with Cigar lighter, a de-facto desk of the 70s) and using the House Follow Spots. Was I up for it? I couldn't believe how generous he was being. We had got on OK but I was just a 17 year old kid with a lighting obsession. Was I up for it? Course I was, even if I wasn't getting extra money for it (as it happened, I did get the show rate). He limited me to a number of presets (the back truss washes) so as not to use up all of the visual effects but that was fine, the other crew members were up for it as well on the follow-spots.

He then dropped his second bombshell offer- the road manager came over and asked if I would be interested in coming along for the rest of the tour? They were one short on the stage crew and I'd just be a dogsbody but I seemed to know what i was doing and if we liked each other, there was the chance to tour with them worldwide in the Summer...

I have to say that I thought long and hard about it for a few minutes. This was my favourite band and if I wanted to work in show business then crewing with a band at the peak of their success was a great leg up, rather than doing all that bottom feeder stuff like theatre in education and the Krankies do Pontins. I then thought about the down side. Life on the road is hard work, stressful, disorienting, insecure and full of risk. I had seen so many roadies turn up out of their heads on hash (or harder) and not knowing what City it was. I was also in the run up to my mocks and to give up school then would have effectively thrown away my 6th form and chance of going into higher education. I was planning to do Electrical & Electronic engineering at Newcastle Poly which would have meant that I could hopefully have continued being on the City Hall Crew for several more years. Also, whilst I loved rock & roll, by real love was theatre rather than concerts. I swallowed the bitter reality pill, sanity prevailed and I said "Thanks, but no thanks".

By now, it was nearly time to let the punters in. I asked about the support act- a Band called Joan Armatrading and the Movies. They suggested that I go and talk to them so I made my way to their dressing room and asked what kind of lighting they would like. The Movies were indulging in a rather dodgy home made cigarette (sickly sweet smell...) and Joan Armatrading looked extremely uncomfortable with them doing so! (She probably wasn't endeared with the idea of sharing a dressing room with six blokes either...). She seemed pleased that someone had actually taken the trouble to ask her what she would like and the Movies were too busy worrying about where the Mars Bars were to offer an opinion. Mellow, smooth, blue for a particular song were the directions.

Anyway, the first half passed without incident, a very good set tastefully lit my Moi, ably assisted by the CSI guys up top. I don't recall very much about it now other than that I thought Joan Armatrading had a great voice, a great guitar talent and would go far (and indeed she did). It felt very strange sitting out front in the middle of the audience to light a show, I had been used to being in the Wings or in a Control Box at the back of the balcony.

At the interval, my job was done and I could enjoy the main show. Supertramp didn't use Follow-Spots, although they had asked if it was OK to use one as an effect at the end of a particular song (Not quite right, a song about mental health). They might not get round to using it they said but we were fine. Just before the House Lights went down, one of the crew came on with a large yellow parasol and raised it behind the drum riser, that got a big cheer...

The show was superb, clear sound and tastefully lit. When Not Quite Right came on, I nipped up to the back of the balcony to strike up one of the CSIs, just in case they used it. (They take a minute or so to reach full brightness). Spot on time, one of the crew appeared to do the cue. It was tight on Rick's hands as he did a piano playout riff that went a bit awry, then the beam did a sort of St. Vitus dance up the backcloth and was extinguished as the cuckoo notes were played. Succinct, visual and clever!

Whilst the show was brilliant, there was one downer- John Anthony Heliwell, the Saxophonist. He was the voice of the band and he came over as a bit of a tosser, a cross between Timmy Mallett and Alan Partridge. At one point he sung the Alphabet Song wrapped in Tivoli lamps and his lighting cue was "Turn me on man!" He was a great horn player though...

The final song of the show was "Crime of the Century" and this included a video sequence. (Actually 16mm film, video projection was in its infancy in the mid 70s). As the song built up to its long and laborious climax, we drifted through a star field of unknown space. Eventually a small blob appeared and resolved itself as we got closer into a pair of hands at the bars of a celestial cage. This expanded to fill the screen then we were through and into space again, a real tingles down the spine moment. (I have a more recent supertramp DVD and they still use this visual effect, although it also includes other Supertramp motifs like tightropes and shears as part of the progression).

They may have done an Encore, I don't recall. The crowd left ecstatic but of course we still had work to do.

The get-out was unremarkable and rather tiring. As the truck doors were closed and they were ready for the off, the crew wished me well and hoped to see me again.

Unfortunately, next time they came in November 1976, I had been sent to Coventry, but that is another story...

The Barbecue Police

Over at spiked, Nathalie Rothschild tells the story of how Camden's barmy PC event rules threatens a long established Summer Festival by stifling it through bureaucratic nonsense.

Story HERE (You all come back now!)

This is the sort of thing that has turned me off getting involved in community events.

I'd suggest Primrose Hill Community Centre sticks two fingers up to the council and raises the money privately.

And that Camden Council concentrates on what it does least worst;- emptying the bins.

Now a short musical interlude

Note- you have to play this at YouTube, click picture to watch it.

Where have Master Bates, Roger the Cabin Boy and Seaman Staines got to?

Snopes says they are an urban myth.

Now something a bit more relaxing...

(This song always reminds me of Captain Digger Scrotum and his unfeasibly large Organ...)

Scott Adams- the Anti-Corporate Presenter

Every day, I get my Dilbert Fix. I often read Scott's Dilblog as well.

Now, I know what he sounds like...

Pretty much like I expected. Great presentational timing, although he is a bit of a martyr to visual aids...

A non-schmaltsy Disney film!

Yesterday, we went to see Bridge to Terabithia, a Disney Film that is rather un-Disney-like. It has some escapist fantasy moments but the characters are all too real, real life intrudes in many gritty realistic ways and there is a part where they don't live happily ever after after all. Also- not a talking anthropomorphic animal in sight!

It tackles the difficult issues of bullying, growing up, neglect, stifled aspirations, death and friendship through adversity. It is thoughtful and enjoyable, painting an interesting picture of contemporary American rural life.

I enjoyed it enough to want to track down the book, and it is always better to see the film first as movies are no match for imagination in their abridged offerings.

Recommended, take your kids if they are beyond CBBC.

Photogenics

The Thongster complains that the current batch of photos are "unphotogenic".

In response, I put up this, still tasty, after all these years...

(Chip, I don't fancy yours much, although she is Welsh...)

Photo from Wiki.

MØØSECRAP

I have previously mentioned a character called MØØSE and the little gadgets he used to make to make music (or noises) on.

I came across an old photo of vintage Mǿǿsecrap, assorted odds & sods and some old Tannoy PA stuff (particularly that turntable).

He really did label it Moosecrap!

Domestic crisis averted...

The problem of the collapsing kitchen light has now been satisfactorily resolved. I even managed to find one that took the correct lamp. (The old ones took an R63 size but the suitable efficient lamps were too gloomy so they were fitted with R80 lamps instead).

There was a downside, however. My favourite T shirt is now on the slippery slope to threadbare oblivion. I bought it at Disney Florida in 1995 and after twelve years it is past its best.

Tonight, after I cleaned up the plaster dust, the other members of my family group independently started laughing hysterically when they saw me. I knew I had a fine coating of plaster in my hair but I didn't think it would have looked that funny.

Then they pointed out my "Wardrobe malfunction".

I can't wear that at the next dress-down day, the bin beckons...

We have a domestic crisis...

This happened last night after some fairy elephant movement from David upstairs.

I've bodged it three times and three times it has done SPADOIIING!!!

An emergency trip to B&Q is imminent...

How to stop the Wife reading the Blog...

...put up a picture of Dean Friedman!

(She is a bit of a Deanophobe)

Karen has promised a rebuttal:

Another blast of Efteling

After anguishing over what to upload, I eventually lobbed a load of pictures & video snippets into a folder and let PowerDirector do its magic via the wizard tool.

Here is a four minute precis of our trip last weekend and for a random compilation it is rather pleasing.

(I recycled the Flying Dutchman theme though).

Almost gone- but not forgotten

In amongst the mediafest of Blair's departure, Raedwald reminds us of unfinished business likely to come back and haunt the Labour Party.

In case they had slipped your mind:

* Cash for Honours
* State Funding
* Navy hostages Board of Enquiry
* Birmingham terrorist raids leak
* ID cards fiasco
* EU treaty
* CSR 07

Read the details here

More fairy tales

Dream Flight is a delightful ride through at efteling, designed and themed in-house. You travel in suspended carriages through a fairytale wonderland with much to look at accompanied by mellow themed music. There is even a bit of a thrill when you spiral down at high speed through a forest towards the end. There is a good Wikipedia entry here.

I tried to take some on-ride photos but the light level was too low. I quickly swapped over to video mode and present that footage below.





In the inevitable gift shop, a cornucopia of fairy gifts were available.

This one didn't have a price tag!

Meanwhile, if you want to see political fairy tales, see Gordon Brown go down the pan over at Morleygate

Clobber a Dobber

I first heard the term Dobber from a Dave Spikey routine. It is a Chav variant and the people are generally fat, stupid and ignorant, a sort of Chav underclass. His routine refers to an imaginary shop selling rubbish clothing, which he wanted to call "Dobber Clobber".

Anyway at Efteling, I was amused to come across a sideshow called "DobberBal"

Do you throw the balls at Dobbers, or is it expressly for Dobbers, I wondered?

You have to get the ball into the buckets which move and have a dobber in them already to make it trickier.

The girl manning the stall was very bemused with me taking a photo of her stall!

(Online translation tells me that Dobberbal means floating ball, but I think my translation is better...)

Turning Japanese, I'm really turning Japanese I really think so...

Your Japanese Name Is...

Hiroshi Imaidegawa

What's your Japanese Name?

Hat tip the hairy ozzie scot.

Bargain ipods

I received the following email today:

Subject: FW: Super Mini-Ipod

Just to let you know. I've been offered the chance to buy a couple of dozen ipods for about £25 each (all above board) and wondered if you would be interested in one.

They were apparently originally earmarked for Ghana but are compatible with British PCs, all USB leads, etc. There may be some additional shipping costs but I'll confirm those before order, we are only talking of a few quid extra.

For all you technical geeks, the attached picture is the exact model on offer. Let me know asap as they will move out of here pretty quick.



Cheers



**********************************************************************



Scroll down for the image...

A cultural treasure in Yorkshire

I first visited the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in 1996, a few weeks after it had opened. It was organised by the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), an organisation that I still belong to as an associate. When we first visited, we were unable to see quite a bit of the building due to ongoing rehearsals and snagging but we were privileged to have the legendary playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE spend quite a bit of time with us telling us about the history of the theatre company and the long, complex move into their third home.

Whilst our original visit was cursory, we did get the opportunity to stay and see a show- "By Jeeves!", a rehash of the Jeeves & Wooster stories turned into a musical with Andrew Lloyd-Webber and such a piece of fun that I took Karen to see it a week or two later, then again when it ran in the west End, and now it is one of David's favourite DVDs.

Fast forward eleven years. We had visited the theatre a couple of times in the intervening years (including a special 50th Anniversary celebration in 2005) and are still on their mailing list but now was a chance to see the building in much more detail.

The Stephen Joseph Theatre is actually two theatres, housed in the shell of the original Scarborough Odeon. The foyer and public spaces were restored and the back circle was retained to become the McCarthy Theatre (8 rows of seats to an end stage, seating 165) whilst the stalls and stage end were excavated to form the Round (which seats 404 on four sides) with workshops and rehearsal spaces below.

I imagine that one day, the Round will be renamed the Ayckbourn but let us hope that it is posthumous and many, many years away yet. (Alan Ayckbourn had a stroke early last year, but he is now back at work and his output remains high both in quantity and quality).

Our guide for the afternoon was Paul Baines, the theatre manager. We met in the lower foyer which houses the box office and would have been the original wet lobby. This leads on into the inner lobby with the former entrance to the Stalls (now a toilet block) and a Circle staircase. The current colour scheme is a pale tangerine and our tour guide pointed out a number of subtleties in the design, described as "threes". The skirting board was a triple piece of woodwork, the recreated deco light fittings were triple lamped and there were three colours in the carpet. The carpet design was a recreation of the 1930s house Odeon style and it was pointed out that the arrow effect always led patrons in the direction of the screen.

The inner foyer also houses an extensive bookshop and it is rare that I don't buy something when I visit. Yesterday was no exception- Sir Alan's authorised Biography- and a fridge magnet!

Pausing at the foot of the stairs, we could see a niche that had been uncovered during reconstruction. It was painted in what were assumed to be the original opening colours- pale green with golden aztec motifs. The internal decorative schemes were attended to by Lily Deutsch, Wife of the Odeon proprietor, Oscar Deutsch. (ODEON was later claimed to stand for Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation, although it is thought to have been reverse-engineered.)

Odeon buildings were mostly very stylish in a relatively plain way, bold bands of plasterwork in art deco style rather than the highly ornate interiors of the American school of design (such as the Paramounts and Astorias). Their exteriors were particularly striking and the trademark motifs were the cream faience tiling (with green bands), the Crittal metal windows (which could be made to follow curves) and the strong vertical fins.

Odeon cinemas were generally just picture houses with vestigial stages rather than Cinema-theatres, although a number of seaside resorts were better equipped with Organs and full stage facilities. Scarborough had accommodation for an Organ planned into the structure but one was never installed.

Going upstairs, we arrived in what had been the Circle foyer, now the upper lobby. This leads into the large Cafe area (which doubles as a multi-purpose space) and further stairs (originally for the rear circle) lead on to the McCarthy theatre above.

The main route into the Round is through what had originally been the Circle Vomitory, which is the arcane term for an entrance that leads directly into a seating (or staging) area. It now leads into a bridge/stepped walkway that passes through an Atrium (internal space) the full height of the building, the Atrium providing light down to various internal backstage spaces as well as providing an accoustic barrier between the two theatres.

Rather than follow the bridge route, we went down a side corridor and through a security door and found ourselves backstage. The Round has four blocks of tiered seating and the space below forms the Stage management domain, known as the RunRound. There are three entrances onto the acting area, one in the centre of the seating block nearest the atrium (Vom 1) and the other two in the corners of the opposite block.

Theatre in the round does not require much in the way of scenery but more in the way of Props, i.e. items around the set or carried on & off by the actors (books, spears, lanterns, buckets etc.) Many of the Props for the current show appeared to be musical instruments.

Carrying on through the space and out through Vom 2, we found ourselves onstage in the Round. It is called round because the actors are surrounded by audience on all sides, not because the auditorium or stage are circular (although some are). This space is hugely intimate, you are never more than about 20' from the stage and you can see everything, other than what the cast may be obscuring by their presence. There are two innovations here, one strikingly obvious, the other hidden from view.

The obvious one is the steel mesh ceiling with stage lighting above. This is colloquially known as the Trampoline grid and is strong enough to walk on whilst rigging and focussing the stage lighting. This saves a huge amount of time over ladder access and is much more flexible than fixed catwalk arrangements.

The hidden piece of technology is the stage itself; it is actually one of three pallets and is supported on a huge hydraulic ram. This gives the theatre the flexibility to change the set and work in repertoire as required. The stage cannot be lowered with an audience present, however, it is necessary to fit guardrails and lock the auditorium doors before any platform movement is possible.

The Round looks rather bleak when lit by fluorescent working lights, lots of black relieved only by the blue of the seating. With the house lights on and an audience in, however, a definite air of theatrical expectation occurs.

After a brief visit into the technical control room (which is unremarkable other than having a desk for the Deputy Stage Manager (the show caller on the book, i.e. cueing and actor calls,) there not being a Prompt corner possible elsewhere) we carried onwards and upwards. We visited their third space, the Boden Room which is suitable for meetings and events, located in the upper floors above the parade of shops to the side of the building. (Some of the shops are let, others in use for the Company use with administration and the education office).

Pausing at the top of the audience bridge, the various offices overlooking the Atrium were explained. We had also passed an archive office squeezed into a spare space, stuffed to the gills with files (and an archivist). At night, various coloured lights were projected onto the atrium walls and a smoke effect showed up the beams nicely- until smoking was banned in the Green Room below!

Up some more stairs and we found ourselves at the back of the McCarthy. This doubles as a Cinema and it is an awkward space as it is very wide but rather shallow, with only eight rows of tiered seats facing and end stage with very limited flying capabilities and little over-stage height due to the roof. As part of the reconstruction, decorative plasterwork grilles on the original splay walls were preserved and replaced (somewhat cut down) as decorative features either side. The original projection box has now become the control box and the get-in is through two large dock doors 50' up in the air- if it isn't too windy. This possibly qualifies for the worst get-in ever, although the eight person passenger lift mitigates this slightly.

We couldn't linger there as the space was in use, but we did visit the electrical workshop where we were able to step out onto the trampoline grid for a quick bounce and admire their collection of vintage lanterns, a couple of which probably dated from 1955.

Making our way back downwards, we were unable to visit the workshops, wardrobe or rehearsal rooms due to things going on there but we were able to see into the workshop from observation windows and could see into the stage lift shaft. (I was able to see into the rehearsal rooms from windows on the outside of the buildings afterwards, I was surprised by their size and height). We passed on down to the Green room which is on two levels, the upper zone is where the refreshment facilities are and below are all of the comfy chairs which also sprawl out into the bottom level of the Atrium. Our guide explained that kettles were banned in offices and there were traditional tea breaks at 11am and 4pm when the Company were encouraged to come down, make themselves a drink and mingle. Staff were expected to provide and wash up their own mug and there was a "Mugs of shame" bucket for miscreants to be suitably humiliated. There was also a water feature there (Sophie's Fountain) which was a tribute to an up-and-coming actor who had died whilst on tour with the Company.

Our visit was now coming to an end. What we didn't expect was how much was squeezed into what was admittedly a very large building but was now riddled with convoluted staircases, corridors and multiple levels. Practically evey wall was covered in some form of Company history, particularly framed programmes from past productions in the fire exit corridors that would not normally be seen by the public, unless they asked of course.

The visit is actually open to the public every Saturday morning in the Summer and for the princely sum of £3 anyone can participate. It comes well recommended and I think I'll take Karen and David once the summer comes.

I took lots of photos and here are a selection in a rather quirky order- reverse alphabetical. (It's a blogger thing...)


The upper lobby- bridge to the left through the doors

The mis-spelt trampoline/grid rating sign
Paul shows us the mug of shame bucket

One corner of the Round

The outer lobby and Box office

The McCarthy in the back circle

The niche with original colours

The inner lobby and gift shop

Hard hats in the runRound

The grid looking through to the Round

Bouncers on the trampoline

The staff cups in the green room on the upper level

The Green room lower level

View from the bridge to the upper lobby

The Round control room, lighting desk in the foreground, sound mixer beyond

The electricians bench with practical props

The Atrium, underneath the bridge

The atrium towards the green room

Sophies fountain

The archivist at work

Shock rock

One of the down sides of chav culture is the coarseness and uncouthness of it all, especially chavs at play.

On trips to seaside resorts the gift shops frequently have an "adult" section with various novelty items, some edible, others Anne Summers specials. This is a zone we have to gently steer David away from as we'd quite like to extend his childhood to at least puberty.

I was in Scarborough today and popped into a rock shop to bring David back some sugar mice.

I was rather surprised to see an unusual new product line out on the shelves underneath the humbugs and rock jars. I thought of buying Karen one for shock value but I was too tight to pay £2.99. Click on the picture if not easily shocked.

I wonder what flavour it might be though!

The Efteling Donkey

Watch out- that donkey poops gold coins!

For 30 Euro Cents you get a commemorative Ducat.

The flying pagoda...

...on a lolly stick!

This is the calmest ride at Efteling theme park- unless you don't like heights, in which case you'd prefer the lake boats.

In amongst all of this greenery is the fairytale forest and quite a few pink knuckle rides too.

(By the way, the music is the Flying Dutchman ride theme tune)


Efteling from above.

This is the original concept art for a donkey in the fairytale forest.

Have a guess what special animatronic trick it does, answer (& footage) tomorrow!

Netherlands by sea- then a Dutch flight

The Flying Dutchman is the stuff of legend. Many myths and stories surround the ghost ship that sails the seven seas, the sighting of which is regarded as a bad omen for mariners everywhere. When Efteling, Holland's premier theme park, wanted to challenge the industry with a world class ride, they chose the Dutchman legend for the theming.

The ride was due to open in April 2006, however technical problems thwarted this and it actually opened for the 2007 season on April 1st this year, twelve months late.

The new ride is located on a lake shore in an area already with a nautical feel- a huge pirate ship called the Half Moon is nearby, as well as a spinning ride where your carriage is ship-shaped. There are two roller coasters nearby- Python is a steelie with white tracks, whilst pegasus is a Woodie that borders the lake setting.

As the ride comes into view, the show building is a sight to behold. It is a 17th Century mansion in Dutch style in stone and timber, with balustrade gargoyles and dormer windows made from up-ended ship bows. An ominous tower can be seen towards the back of the house, with roller-coaster tracks emerging from on high and tipping sharply down into the abyss below. A catchy seafaring hornpipe tune can be heard, which follows you on your journey.

A queue space outside zig-zags through ropes, eventually leading to the front door of the house. Inside, it is rather bleak and grey, with smoke-damaged pictures and slightly lighter squares where pictures used to be. Passing through several rooms, a mirror transforms into the face of the flying Dutchman who gives ominous warnings (in Dutch).

The internal queue space continues through a large (ripped) framed canvas picture of a ship and downwards through a dark secret tunnel. In nearby cellars, glimpses of forgotten treasure can still be seen. As you make your way downwards, roars and footsteps can be heard above whilst smoke and ghostly red light seeps downwards.

Eventually, you reach a stone staircase, which leads you into the upstairs rooms of an inn and what looks like a chaldlers. Through occasional windows, glimpses of a bustling harbour can be seen. On leaving the upper floors, you are on a stone gallery looking out onto a 17th Century harbour night scene which is a hive of activity (well, of fellow riders queueing for their turn).

Down the stairs to above dock level, and here you make your choice to go left or right down more stairs. There are two loading platforms with a central island platform for the loading crew. (Apparently the disabled get to ride twice when there are an odd number of cars running as only one platform has access facilities with no way of getting wheelchairs across to the other side).

Each ride car holds fourteen people (in a 3-4-3-4 configuration) and the back two rows are elevated in order to see over the headrests of the rows in front. The car is boat shaped with an ornate lion shaped inner prow, supporting a flickering bows lantern.

(Apparently, the ride can run 11 cars maximum, with six in the station and the other five in various blocking zones around the ride).

On boarding a large padded lapbar holds you firmly in place. With various creaks and groans, eventually the ship commences its journey into the unknown.

On leaving the station and passing under the people queueing on the stairs, you slowly head out to sea between the hulks of two large vessels. One is busily loading supplies, whilst the other is hauling up water in a leaky bucket. You notice that the ships both have Lion prows and that there is a distant storm approaching.

Discreet doors slide quietly open ahead and you enter a mist. This mist rapidly becomes so foggy that you can hardly see the lantern in the Bows and if you are wearing glasses, they suddenly become sodden. Eventually you emerge from the mist into a storm. In between thunder & lightning flashes, you can discern a curtain of water ahead. On this wall of water, a ship appears and is rapidly bearing down on you. Suddenly you lurch upwards and the golden form of a prow can be seen above as you suddenly lurch down into the abyss. A striking musical chord is heard and the walls light up as a watery red. You rapidly make your yourney steeply upwards at at the top the ghostly image of the Dutchman steering the ship can be seen. Then the boat tilts downwards again, the doors open to the outside and you are on your way round the track. Swooping steeply down into a mist filled tunnedl, you bunny hop into a horseshoe bend and slow into a block brake section in an elevated barn structure. Your momentum carries you on outwards over another hop and then down into the splash zone, your boat burning off speed as flumes of water shoot into the air either side of you. You gently trundle back along the lake shore and then back into the show building, where you disembark, exhilerated and not too wet.

They spent more than $25,000,000 on this ride, much of which would have went on the theming and effects. Is it worth it?

Well, a qualified yes. It is supposedly a high throughput ride, rated at 1,900 people per hour. To achieve that figure though, it needs to despatch a boat every thirty seconds and they are nowhere near that, more like 60-90 seconds. Consequently, it gets big queues (45 minutes when everything else was 5-10 minutes). The effects indoors are a little tricky to see, especially for spec wearers. We rode it twice and David wasn't too keen the second time as he doesn't like the dark bits. Unfortunately, our second ride was extremely quirky, we stopped in every internal scene, the effects played their repertoire and then we were just in the dark for another thirty seconds or so before lumbering onto the next zone. It gave me a chance to take in some of the subtleties of the design but we all had visions of the thing packing in and us having to be rescued on planks and waders. We headed straight there at rope drop and had to wait outside for ten minutes or so as they advised us that it sometimes took a while for the ride to get going in the morning. (Indeed, it was still rather lethargic for us!)

It is worth a twenty minute queue but no more than that and the outside bits aren't particularly high adrenaline. You can find buckets out about it at the dedicated website- www.dvhe.nl (in Dutch, I'm afraid, but includes a live Webcam).

A trip to Yoorop

Today is a public holiday in England.

Planning for this, we decided to have a weekend trip to Efteling Ientrance pavilion above) in Holland travelling by the overnight North Sea Ferry from Hull to Rotterdam.

Efteling is, after Disneyland Paris, the most delightful theme park in Europe and our fourth visit (David's third).

There are stories to tell, but in the meantime let me share an unexpected event- the duck parade.

I've seen penguin and bird parades before, but never with a one man band.

Two bits of good news today...

Not only did labour get trounced off Morley Town Council, but Dean Friedman is appearing in Morley Town Hall.

Champagne in the Fridge...

Have a great bank holiday weekend!

Caption competition

A man in pantaloons holding a tribble?

Another Councillor on the tap...

My megaphone has been borrowed for tomorrow. I bought it on eBay for a Tenner three years ago and they aren't much use for most of the time so I'm not going to miss it. Hopefully he'll replace the batteries...

Another huge building

I didn't have my camera with me today on my trip to Manchester for a convergence event. This meant I wasn't able to photograph the neon sign that said "SEXY FOOD" at Love saves the day outside Deansgate station.

The event was at the Deansgate Hilton which is in a humongous tower block called Beetham Tower. The lifts go up to 23 for the hotel but it actually has 48 floors with apartments in the higher bits (where it juts out).

The Hotel may only be 12 months old but inside the decor is somewhat timeless apart from the carpet (which is showing signs of wear) and the toilets (which have trendy circular basins on pillars).

Contrast them to the toilets in the Central Library which I had an urgent need to visit on my walk from the station this morning as the Sanisette euro-loo in Piccadilly Gardens was Closed, not accepting money. (& the porta-urinals had gone!)

The library toilets were stainless steel with vestigial seat strips either side and as I was washing my hands I noticed that there was a CCTV camera at ceiling level trained on the cubicle doors (but not the urinals, which were screened off).

The camera did not have an associated loudspeaker, fortunately. You can imagine the banter:

"Number three- cubicles are intended for single occupant use only, for the purposes of defecation."

"Number one- I can see you waving under the door but it is not the responsibility of security to replenish the consumables".

"Come out number two- your time is up!"

That building looks like a Dalek...

...commented David as we passed the new Bridgewater Place building nearing completion in the centre of Leeds.

It seems he wasn't the first to notice!

Dusting down the rosettes...

When I decided not to restand on the Council, I thought that my trusty rosettes would be destined for the scrap book & bin.

However, I received a surprise phone call from one of the Independent Councillors yesterday. He understood that I might have a purple rosette or two and could he possibly borrow them for him and his Wife on election day?

Certainly, I replied, although they do say GREY on them! Why do you want purple?

Because Maroon and White were the old Morley Borough colours, he replied.

I'll look forward to seeing you wearing them, and best of luck! I said.

Here is a picture of David when he was Six, wearing one of them.