Category: Photography

THE FISHING HAT

A HATXJust back from town which is roiling with obsese ladies! 88 bus down filled with yammering wimmin all at peak volume but so weirdly accented as to be unintelligible.

Boots’ glucosamine was £14!  Went to SuperDrug instead and it was only £10. Burger King was visited for first time ever for their £1 burger offer !

Eight ALDI choc-ices were 69p.

ODDLY DISTURBING

RAMWoke at 9:10am today to hammers pounding the landing edge, but I’m calm and rested after taking a group on a tour of my DN build of the Oceania Surf Club.

Nothing to see for my Cornerhouse matinee today apart from “Whiplash”. Hmmmmm. Ponder I shall. There’s also Chinese food in St.Anne’s Square; things to photograph in Chinatown, and Whitworth Galllery to be visited.

David Moss despite being to keen to see me after ten years was oddly distant… and fatter! His asian boyfriend looks like a Cambodian Bayon temple carving. No phone numbers were exchanged, but he’s living out of town while he hunts for work in Marketing and plans to get Giggs in central Manchester later.

NO PC SO….

I took two buses to get me to the recently reopened Whitworth Art Gallery but the queue for entry wass huge! I left and went straight to the Contact Theatre for the Queer Youth Debate (from 4-6pm). I left at 5.30pm after having had BME explained to me! Home to the DVD of “The Scent of Green Papaya” and a microwaved Indian meal.

ROGAN JOSH ?

I couldn’t hide away from the Curry Club, so set off but found our bus stop out of action because men were laying red tar! I walked 2 blocks and got the bus then a tram. Huge demolition underway opposite library. Saw a couple of men baring their beefy calves in shorts! Springing? Hmmmm. 40 days til…

SUN ALL DAY!

I’ve turned my bedroom heating down from max to Regulo 5.

I grinned and borne the ALDI shop which was half the cost of an equivalent ASDA one, but forgot lunches and desert treats too. Oh, well… Treated myself to Primark undies…

Another Fine Daybreak

DSCF0001aToday is ALDI day. I watched two films last night as there was nothing on TV after “Escape to the Country” at 3pm. Same again today. 

I sort of enjoyed the B/W DVD called “James Dean” featuring James Preston with his sublimely perfect teeth, but the chain-smoking became wearisome! Then “La Cage Aux Folles” and the lovely Laurent. Today I will watch “Bruno Earlene Go To Vegas”

This is the warmest,calmest Manc winter in my 12 years here.

A FINE MORNING

I bought a Fairy Liquid and a big pack of anti-runny pills and then shuffled off to Arndale to find HMV. In passing I called at the health food store and found a real young man there who was willing to chat about knees. Really very sweet and he relished being stripped by my rheumy eyes and sold me two bottles of Turmeric which ‘supports digestion’.

Then given directions I sped to the LGBT section of Fopp where I spent £20 on five DVDs.

BONG BONG

DSCF0001Woke at 8.45am to the sound of a huge log being battered against the Great Bronze Bell of Bedlam! What are these workmen doing?   It’s Wednesday and I’m really stuck in the selfy-schtick.

Thanks to an ASDA “fresh” fish supper I had almighty runs last night. Too much stres ! I notice I’ve started shuffling my feet as I walk; a thing I’ve not done before.

I dipped into three novels last night: Patrick White’s “Twyborn Affair”, P D James’ “The Lighthouse” and “The Quiey Violence of Dreams” by K.Sello Duiker. Duiker was born in 1974 and lived in East London (as I once did) and went to the same university as I did before dying in 2005.

Of the DVDs I hired I had a brief look at “The Secret Path”. All hand-held camerawork and two “modern” looking men dressed in baggy ill-fitting period clothes but the dom wearing a russet-red waistcoat and the sub wearing pants of the same colour!  I couldn’t bear to watch it as none of the dialogue could be understood and one was left wondering why the  en were being bumpily followed and peered at through the long-grass. I ejected it and laughed at “Outnumbered” instead.

9AM WAKING

DSCF0001Blue skies and bright sunshine today and the wind seems to have got over it’s n mood! Utterly endless loo-trips during the dark hours. MRI claims I have a large bladder. Hmmmm.

My hair is amazingly frizz-free thanks to a miracle lotion. I shall catwalk it to the library to find more P.D. James. Watched “Apocalypto” last night and thought it was fun.

       

January 13, 2015 at 12:00AM

BARE GRILLS ???

DSCF0003Back from Sunday lunch at Alchemist where my waiter was a younger Channning Tatum – buzzcut and all! I ate an omelette called Mish Mosh (I think) which contained chilli-bombs of chorizo and was delicious.

Then to newsagent to check my EuroMillions ticket. Nothing. I asked about a glossy fashion mag called “Hero” and was told it cost £6.  Flicked through GQ mag featuring Mr Grills… Hmmmm .

I did not fall over despite the huffy winds. Instead I spoke to a youth in shorts who unplugged his earpiece to hear me. “You’re very brave to wear shorts”, I lisped. He smiled and made my day.

RIGHT WRIST OUCH!

DSCF000110:02am Friday. All is calm here, but I feel as dizzy as if I’d swallowed a couple of tequila! Using my right wrist and thumb is painful. Time will heal it I’m sure.  Some consolation: I watched my Dutch DVD called “Jogens” yesterday and got all emotional. My mother was Dutch-ish so I empathised with the four jongens training for a relay-race. Such beautiful considered shots which brought a tear to the eye. Then a fairly decent meal of baby lamb-chops and french-fries graced with mayo in the Belgian mode.

I keep replaying my fall of yesterday and am mystified. I was walking calmly along a pavement, then stepped off it onto the new flagstones around the Central Library when wallop I was suddenly on all fours, breathless and unable to find the strength to get up.  The flagstones were damp but not slick. So strange. I remember looking into the amber eyes of the man who helped me up and saying “thank you” with feeling.

SPLATT

DSCF0002After my sumptuous Rogan Josh lunch at Whetherspoon I walked calmly past the war memorial in brilliant sunshine and stepped off the granite paving to land on all fours with a crash onto the new stone-paving round the library. OUUUFFFFF !!!

Three kindly people helped me get up. Ohhhh the twinges!

ALL TISSUED OUT!

DSCF0001I quite understand how the cold weather culls the elderly! My grim cold/chest/cough persists like the eternal xmas celebrations. When do things get back to normal? Is Hogmanay ever going to show up?

My television still has no signal and nothing can be done until the Scheme Managers return at/after New Year. I watch obscure DVDs in full 32 inch splendour meanwhile.

XMAS DONE And DUSTED!

DSCF0001 (2)My sister phoned me at 8.30am to wish me greetings of the season. It’s weird really as I’ve not had a family since 1960 when I left South Africa! I’d certainly never dream of phoning her. Ian Wilson also phoned to say his son Sohrab is ‘seeing’ a girl from Rome. He also said RSA is going to the dogs and offered to send me proof by way of an article which I didn’t get. I hooted with joy watching the crazed old lady judge stumblingly read the Pistorious verdict.

I watched telly open-eyed with amazement – utter tripe of course, apart from the ballet of “Winters Tale” and the 1950’s “Guys and Dolls”in which Marlon Brando sang. Brando’s son lives in Austratia and was a Versace model, says Google.

Stupidly I lolled about in boxer shorts and T-shirt and got a cough in my chest pipes, so I dressed and walked to the corner shop to buy cough syrup and Beechham’s Cold and Flu pills. Endless night tossing from side to side. Set about building a house in the DreamNation Sandbox…..

Nothing to see until 7pm..

HISTORIC

I was served by a divine olive-skiinned twink called Troy and collected item 482. I propped it on my shopper-thing where it was string-tied and then walked up Market Street in the Xmas throngs and drizzle to the taxi-rank.

I got home and was £2 short of  my full taxi fare. “Don’t worry “, said the long grey bearded driver. So I didn’t ! Nice.

I shall open the TV and plug it in tomorrow. Such a huge change ahead. All my hundreds of DVDs must  be viewed again.

Jackhammer Onslaught

I must draw £50 today to pay for my podiatry tomorrow and to pay for a taxi to get me there by 10am! Rainy, but mild. I’ve a bit more to do on my painting, but other than than I have no plans. I so miss KRO. I’d love to have lunch somewhere but other than the Art Gallery Restaurant I’m baffled.

The building work here continues. Huge pounding noise of a hammer as I type. Television is agony at present. Every programme is stuffed with awful smiley, dimply people begging one to buy stuff.

I watched the DVD of Tennant as Richard III in an long wig and bare feet doing a sort of Messiah vibe in a white shift. Horrible! As if Bushy, Baggot and Green had nailed him. Ugh. The person I am going to enjoy heading for a fall is Ms Jolie. Too much lip.

Shower time.

Gusty

DSCF0001It rained all night but was calm. I was snug under my Sherpa fleece. Utterly awful TV on all channels. Saw a bit of BBC 3 on Afghanistan where a sergeant yelled at luminous eyed 19 year old squaddies and his every second word was “fucking”! Why do they/did he hate intercourse?

I’m debating whether to call up a Cresta Car or take the free bus and walk to get to the theatre queue. No rain at present and fine sunshine lighting up the buildings against grey clouds. I’m wearing my white  ski-top and new knitwear! I plan to add my leatherette hoodie too!

Ethereal

ALDI was a “Little Shop of Horrors” preview! I went mad with impulse ‘special buy’ purchases. Sherpa Fleece? Cardigan with zip? Turtleneck skiI top? Panetone in a tin? Slipper mules with a griffin on the toe?

LED LIGHT

ALDI morning at 09:28am.  I totally dread going to Market Street today.

Last night I watched the Royal Variety then the Tatler programme. All so-so.   Must find a sleep mask today, but where?

If  I queue at Theatre Royal tomorrow at 10am I can get a £10 banquette seat for “Little Shop of Horrors”. Hmmm.

NICE

I think I’ve solved the breakfast issue with something called ‘FUEL’. A splendid morning at home being calm, cheerful and productive.

Filling the hours between 4 and 7pm has been solved by finding a box-set of an obscure “Primeval” set of 4 discs with three chapters on each for £5 at Oxfam.

A session in the studio with brusque brushwork…

WARM FLAT RETURN

Phew. What a circus! Hordes of folk with wires coming out of their ears and clutching beakers of something… eh? The rest busy making phonically constantly. Gnarr.

Had breakfast then bought until 11.30. I had a ghastly salad at Zizi (I miss KRO so) and everything was lulled by mind-numbing hymns! Weird folk ‘let out’ for festive frolics…

I shall pass hours reading ‘The Oldie’, ‘Tatler’ and ‘Gay Times’

Thursday

A very happy visit to City Health Centre and was greeted like a lost son!  

Dr.Sindh tested my BP, pulse and heart. All OK. When questioned about my constantly nightly trips to the loo he said it may be a prostate issue… I won’t enjoy being fingered. 

STUFFED PARTRIDGE ?

DSCF0001It’s the only thing in my fridge but I felt iffy after gnawing four quails, so I’m zipping to RBS to pinch £150 and then to the library (on foot because there are still no trams there!) then onwards to ASDA Etihad and a Flying Start breakfast!

A NEEDED BOOST?

DSCF0001Extraordinarily beautiful sunny  morning! My taxi arrived and then I found that the bus stop had  been re-opened!  D’oh. Lush breakfast at KRO involving scrambled eggs and toast before tootling to the library where I hired a DVD called ‘Turtlehill, Brooklyn’.

Then to the Arndale for 2015 diary (£43) and a 2015 calendar, but found that the poundstore sold diaries for £1! Grrrrr. Bought a £1 can opener in rage. And then…

and then…

I found ‘Win Naturally’, a store brimming with style and sugarfree everything! Quinoa, spelt etc but most importantly two muscle boys with healthy skin and bulging biceps. They were too charming and they spoke Kween’s English and smiled! Such a refreshing change. One of the gave me a loyalty card and I shall be back!

GLORIOUS!

DSCF0001A beautiful sunny and cool day. I used my mobile to call Cresta Cabs and swished to ASDA at Etihad with my Telegraph in my wheeled shopper! The Asda people were charming as always and I found some Calvalo Nero which I read in River Cafe blurbs but never cooked or tasted.

I’m quite surprised at how many women jump up and offer me seats on trams! Do I look so vulnerable?

SUPER SKINNY STRETCH £10

Oh my. At the PoundShop I bought Fairy and a grey XL wife-beater vest, but was then seduced by pair of shop-window dummy legs at Primark. I took the lift down to -1 where an Indian lady helping to find dark khaki jeans (size 38/30). None available so I went to fittingroom and tried on a pair of 36/30 and they fit! Bought item and lifted up to Costa to celebrate with buttered toasts.
They are a ludicrous purchase really as the patella of my left knee will protest about the superskinnystretch mode, but on the plus side I shall look trim for the Russian Recital on Friday and the opening of the huge annual Buy Art Fair in Spinningfields…

DEMENTED QUIZZZ

DSCF0001 2Woke at 3.30am to trot to the bathroom then set myself the task of remembering the name of the Scottish village where I lived in the schoolhouse. Blank!  Hmmmm. To the PC for map of Lochgilphead and there it was… Achnamara!

ALDI shopping after yummy KRO breakfast and me wearing my Primark hat! The only hat in the village!

 

APPLE 6 QUEUE

The tinted boys in their hundreds are avid to buy another phone! Why not wait til #7 comes out?

Hotty Lucas failed after two more tries to find a vein! It’s too much tension for me. I begged off any more and will see him in 3 months for another try.

To Arndale for breakfast at Bella Italia (£7) and to TESCO for fly spray etc (£7) Home at last at 11:47am, but am due to bus to Cornerhouse in an hour to see my matinee.

So pleased at the “no” outcome.

SPEND SPEND SPEND

DSCF0001It will end in tears!

Letter from Doctor Clode at City Health Centre asking for more to test my B12 levels. Oh my. Does this mean a 121 with the lush Lucas again?  *simpers*

Oxfam DVD contains 11 discs!

Yes? Or No for Scotland?

PECCADILLO DVDs

Is that how one spells it? Hmmmm.

Complaint! I plug in my hearing-aid because there are there are no sub-titles and listen. Two boys heavily into isosex…

Tom: Mfftttyuu?
Dick: hpplllsdrwed aseedt himbdgg hohhj
Tom:(smiles) hihi tyyy hicsszxxx mm !!

Yuck. I cannot understand a word. It’s all in Brando-esque mumble-talk.

I’m reading a superb novel. This is one of the greatest joys of retirement; reading. Especially finding books which surpass expectations. I’ve reached page 218 of Paul Russell’s “The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov”. It has one of those useful LGBT rainbow logo stickers on the spine. Apart from the Russian names which are impossible to say it unfolds joyfully.

My food-shopping at ALDI was oddly scattergun yesterday and the result is a fridge packed with weird things like ‘savoury eggs’, sweet peppers stuffed with cream cheese, vegetable pate, etc. At the PoundShop where I spent £11, I bought a really fine blue oven dish and a digital alarm clock. Of course, I haven’t a clue what I’ll be eating for 7 days.