Curly's Capers

A crazy world , horse racing cancelled in Victoria , because of heat wave (43.5 C) see Gordon's  Blog "Adelaide in pictures " (my blogs I'm following ) , whilst here it's all cold and depressing. Here is a holiday picture to cheer us ; from Devon. Yesterday (30/01/'09) saw the passing of two different , but special people. John Martyn , guitarist and songwriter and Mr Bill Frindall , statistical facts keeper for radio's "Test Match Special ". They were both sons of the sun , in contrasting ways.  I remember in the '70s seeing John playing , sitting ,  head down with curly beard , on a lazy July summer afternoon at the Cambridge Folk Festival. He was totally engrossed in his music and seemed to care little about the audience ; as long as they were quiet , happy and warmed by the solar glow . He bent the notes through his echoplex machine and mumbled the words into the mike ; looking up on occasion at the sky with a wry smile . He was content. ...

As the Late Jim Morrison  nearly said , the photo is of Buscot Weir , The bridge of  which I walked over today. For the first time in 2K9 , the weather was benign and Father Thames was in slumber mode. A shaft of sunlight followed me on the starboard side ; whilst wildfowl played catch-up upon the gently lapping river ; a peaceful canvas and a tonic for the troops. NP. "Waiting for the Sun "   The Doors NR.  "Red Sky At Sunrise " by Laurie Lee - my daily reader , an excellent companion for the new year. Ciao4now Ck.

Well we are having a cold spell here. The Car's temperature gauge was stuck on minus five , when I started it yesterday at 11:00 am. Through the day it gradually unglued itself and ended up at minus one. The picture is an exterior view of 'The Robert  Raikes ' public house in Gloucester. It has been elegantly restored to its former glory , with no expense spared by the brewers 'Sam Smith ' and has been open for service for the last seven weeks. Robert Raikes was born in Gloucester in 1736. Proprietor  of the Gloucester Journal from 1757 which he inherited from his father , he became known as the instigator of the Sunday Schools' movement. So successful was this movement that by 1831 , it has been estimated  that one and a quarter million children were being ministered to, or 25% of the population. It can therefore be rightly , in my view ,  be considered as a forerunner of the national education system.  Robert Raikes died in 1811. Formerly a pub and a shop , th...

I thought I might look back over the blog and see what I have learned. Firstly I have noticed that blog is organic in growth terms. The greater your confidence , the more you want  to put into your blog. Unfortunately this is not reflected by the blog , which always opens on the most recent post , with all your gadgets , and changes in place. Since I have started , I have added a calendar , a comment section , a daily photo , other blogs to follow ,  a labels bar and a web-reader which brings news of Apple, Green Issues , Beefheart and Horse Racing. I hope to add other devices this year , including a limited amount of video ; but I also realize that the essential essence of the blog are the words which adorn the page and that is why this post will be photo-free. Looking back I noticed on the 26th September of last year , I was very enthused with " The Road " by Cormac MCcarthy and thought it would make an excellent film ; well I am very pleased to report that this post-apocal...

 Happy New Year to one and all! I thought it was a suitable picture to cheer us out of this cold start. Minus 2 in Cheltenham , but racing goes ahead here. I feel that I have been in this year for quite a time , what with the dire predictions regarding the ' credit crunch ' , loss of jobs and falling house prices ;'o9 seems a bundle of laughs already. The other week I was looking at some biscuits on the supermarket shelves and thought them to be an out of date product ; until another customer pointed out that the date was  August '09 ! -I'm clearly bored with this year, don't like odd numbers,  anyways there is the Apple keynote from 'Frisco next Tuesday morning ; so after that ,  we don't need to bother with the rest of the year , do we ? Prediction time: Football - Liverpool win Premier League , just from Man. Utd. Chelsea take third spot from Arsenal , who come with a late run. Horse  Racing : Binocular to win Champion Hurdle ; Alan King's selecte...