Curly's Capers

" Hello all , Wyeford-Clarke here,feeling a deuce chipper these days, with  the onset of Spring. The sap is rising, the knees are cracking and the mornings are a tad lighter. Told my man Baxter to ' anoint the willow ' with the Linseed oil, in readiness for our annual cricket bash in May. Went out with our  gardener ' Mouldy ' Muldoon to inspect the square. Told him light rolling could commence when the ground firmed up a little  more. We play at the behest of our local Vicar, The  Rev. Edward ' harris-ed '  Harris  of St. Needfulls. The Memsahib is in charge of the catering and all monies raised will go the Vicar's new chairs for the church.  I am allowed to bat if needed,  at number nine. I am left when fielding, to patrol the  distant boundaries; where I attempt to stop the ball; which in reality means anything from waist to neck possible; anything above or below unlikely.  Baxter, though  is a very useful bowler f...

This watercolour is entitled "  Avon Gorge And Bristol Hotwell. "  It was painted by J.M.W Turner,  in 1791/2. Incredibly he was only seventeen years of age. This painting comes from " An Intimate Touring Show Of Eight Works .....; " entitled  'Turner Watercolours from the West. " It is being staged at The Wilson, Cheltenham ( 13/3 - 10/5/ '15 ). The Wilson Last Monday D. and I went to have a look. It is  wonderful that great art can tour the provinces and clearly this exhibition had been tailored for the South West region, with pictures of Bristol and Bath amongst others.  Last November, you may remember,  we visited The  Tate for the 'Late Turner Exhibition'. Here is the Blog entry: Turner and Co. Having seen the wonderful "  Mr. Turner " film;( video clip on the above Blog, ) one could imagine the young Turner sitting by the River Avon, sketching the scene with his chalks and pastels and of course repeating the process a...

The thing about Apple,  is that they know the drivers that motivate us; mostly it has to be said, greed, envy and covetousness. But on the softer side of the sell I believe, they have developed a maternal desire. Let me explain. We all want to belong, be comforted  and be part of a family. The Late Steve Jobs knew that the 21st Century was to embrace design values. We were  all tired of tower boxes and flat geometric shapes. So the Apple range brought in curves, reduced clutter, removed sharp edges and made thinness a virtue. They dropped computers from their title and re-emerged as Apple Inc. In so doing their product range developed iPods, iPhones and iPads, which could be held in the hand, caressed, touched and admired on a daily basis. We felt good about them and confident of their reliability . As an aside to this, a rumour is going round that the'Pads aren't selling like they used to be. Correct: but the reason why sales are slowing is partly because t...

What are the qualities that define the great thoroughbreds? Certainly conformation; great horses generally look the part; movements are fluid and graceful. They must possess bursts of speed, when required and that undefinable quality a big heart; the ability to keep up to their work, when conditions are against them. In other words, to be able to look defeat in the face and say " not today." Such an animal was our flat race horse of the month, the great Brigadier Gerrard. Beaten only once as a two year old, the Brig was expected to challenge for all the top one mile events as a three year old. Forward to the 1971 Two Thousand Guineas, being the classic test for the top milers of their generation. The race, as always held on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket in early May. That year there was only six runners, making it an unusually small field. But consider the class, for those six had raced 33 times, and  won no less than 27 of their  races. The three principal ru...