To Elland Back

Literally, Folks
At 9:00 Phil, team leader, cautiously approached Conrad and enquired if I'd be interested in doing some "Disaster Recovery Plan" work.
     Conrad, smelling minty-fresh thanks to his shower not 20 minutes earlier, and thus in a good mood, agreed straight away, even if he had no idea what was involved.
     "Great!' said Phil, pleased to have found a volunteer.  "The coach will be outside in 30 minutes."
     What now?  Yes now.
     Thus Conrad and about 15 others across the Seventh Floor were sped on our way to an industrial estate in Elland, near Halifax, where we sat in a room and diligently tapped away at our keyboards.  Then we came back to the office, hence the title.
     It was great!  Hardly any background noise, no phones and no interruptions from any management, as we'd thoughtfully not brought any along.
     Meanwhile back at the office, the phones were mental.

A Glimpse Into The Creative Process Here At BOOJUM!
I did mention that frankly gorgeous lady Annette Peacock last night, and here she is again:

Annette, rocking it with a rather peculiar hat

     Now, she's not only graced with cheekbones sharp enough to shave with, she's also a talented musician.  She was an early devotee, player of and composer with the Moog Synthesizer, and expressed regret that the Sex Pistols never took up this new instrument instead of guitars*.

The Moog synthesizer

     Conrad's brain - inexplicable even to him - then promptly jumped to Willo The Wisp, a children's cartoon, because that featured:

The Moog.  Honestly.

See?  Told you so.

     "Willo" was knowingly narrated by the late great Kenneth Williams, and that reminded Conrad of a Sunday afternoon radio series that Kenneth -

"Oi!  Kindly illustrate me!"

     - there you go, Ken - featured in, a kind of comic version of "The Man From Uncle" who fought the evil organisation B.R.A., which stood for "Brotherhood -" and there my memory gives out.

As racy as it gets round here

     A rare and telling insight into the mind of Conrad - which should probably be written The Mind Of Conrad.

"Cross The River On Your Own"
By those Danish indie-stadium rockers Mew.  I love this track, so much I've been playing it four times a day for weeks now, and still love it to bits.  Here's a link for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXAvZWjfTXk

   Now, bear in mind that these chaps are Danish, from Denmark**, yet they sing in English, and make sense in it, too, and in fact speak it a lot better than some of the locals.  Er, when I say "make sense" I actually mean that I'm not entirely sure what the song's about; a bit more metaphorical than just wading across a stream with pretensions, I'm sure.

Here they are, wading madly

      Actually the sound on that link is a bit poor, so go out and buy the album.  From Fopp!

The Shower Is Done
Indeed it is, and a very good job done too by our artisan craftsman, and for a very reasonable price, too.

Silhouette of old fat man added at no extra cost

  The kicker is that the silicon beading needs a full day to cure, which means Conrad is forced to go skulking*** to the showers at work tomorrow, again.
     Oh well.  At least I will be minty-fresh once again.

Malleting The Metro
One of Conrad's perpetual stand-bys is taking a pot at the Potty Paper.  As a newspaper it makes one hell of a papier mache source.
     For instance.  Take yesterday's cover:

Aha, notice the journal edging into shot there?

     This is a giant advert that the venal publication takes money for.
     I'm afraid Conrad's thoughts were not very wholesome as he scowled at this.
     "I'll give you a surprise with your Special K," I muttered.  "Surprise!  Today's production run of processed cardboard was made with flakes of glass as the core!  Your bleeding^ gums didn't expect that, did they!"
     Then there's "60 Seconds", where someone I've never heard of is given a publicity platform after their publicist pays the Potty Paper.
     Still, it does make for a productive rant 'n' tant, doesn't it?

PARSNIPS!  THE DEVIL'S CARROT

I rest my case

"Gravity's Rainbow" By Thomas Pynchon
I'm about 1/3 through this novel, so, if you read that headline with a sinking heart, be reassured that it won't be going on over summer.
     I did mention above how those talented Danes Mew do so well in English.  Now, Tom's native language is English, so you expect him to facile in it.
     What makes him impressive is the detail he brings to the description of that addled old sponge, Brigadier Pudding, as regards the First Unpleasantness.   "Wash me in the water, that you washed your dirty daughter, and I shall be whiter than the whitewash on the wall" he writes, and you might imagine he's made up another song.  Not a bit of it!  It's a genuine song of the time.  Not only that, Tom mentions "White Sheet Ridge".  This is very obscure - it's the Tommies version of the Belgian "Wytschaete Ridge" and once again I reckon 99.9 % of readers will pass over it, utterly unaware.

HM The King on Wytschaete Ridge.
A real-life Slough of Despond.

* Unlikely as Sid wouldn't have been able to hit people with a Moog.
** The two do not necessarily follow.
*** It might be sneak, creep or slither, you get the idea.  
^ Literally, we're not being vulgar here.