The Truth Is -

Ah, Yes, Jeff Beck -
O you were expecting different? Tough.  It's my blog and if I feel like harping on about a record from back in the Sixties then I will.  I was listening to "Truth" by Jeff Beck and friends, and there are some corking tracks on there.  Well worth a listen.  Somewhat to my surprise, The Hit That Shall Not Be Named is on there, too, as the very last track; Conrad suspects that some suit with a sadistic sense of humour had it included.
     FYI, I refer to "Hi Ho Silver Lining", which, to Jeff's undisguised horror, became a major hit single when released.  To him, it was utterly unrepresentative of his work.

Jeff looking ever so saaaaaad.
(Beck's Bolero is a great track, though)

     Well, Jeff, that'll teach you to write catchy pop tunes, eh? - a process he repeated with "Love Is Blue" and yes, that's on the "Truth" reissue as well.
     Another record bought at the same time was "I Sing The Body Electric" by Weather Report, who also had an entirely unrepresentative hit with "Birdland".  ISTBE isn't exactly avant garde, yet it's nothing like Birdland, either.  One wonders quite what Joe Zawinul, who composed the song as an instrumental, thought of it's success, and also of Manhattan Transfer doing a version with (gasp!  shudder!  the horror!) lyrics.

A birdland.  Close enough

     Well, time to strap the motley into the rocket sled, and because we've done this before, this time the motley can get strapped in upside-down and back to front!*

This Will Make You Smile -
Of course, it might just be me, but it did bring a satisfied smirk to my normally flinty features.  Art?

Endorsed by JC himself

     There you go.  A trifle starey, perhaps, but not a bad pen sketch of The Greatest Documentary Maker Ever.  Ah, but there is a Part Two.  Art?

     Thoroughly chortlesome, eh?  Ha, what a card!  Well, it made me laugh.     <thinks>
     John never did reveal how he got away from the ruins of Outpost 31, or whether McReady or Nauls were human or actually Things in disguise, did he?  There might be a perfectly reasonable explanation, yet then again -

Look how steady John's hands are in this shot; I would have been a quivering wreck!

     Best not to shake hands with him next time we meet.

A Very Loud NO!
Conrad was perusing the pages of the Beeb's website when he came across something rather worrying: the stated determination of a television suit to keep a series going for 10 years.  Art?

NO!!
(Yes, this merits TWO exclamation marks)

      Conrad has seen some of "The Handmaid's Tale" in passing, mostly whilst sitting down and consuming my tea, so I know of what I speak.  I would not choose to watch it, because NOTHING HAPPENS, and it HAPPENS VERY SLOWLY, and is mostly IN THE DARK.  Clearly some of you out there are guilty of watching it, because it's now in a second season, after running out of more book to adapt.  I shall be keeping an eye on you lot.

A wary and suspicious Conrad
(Only wearing 3 pens!)

This One Is For Darling Daughter
For she is known to use images of the possum in her posts on social media.  Art?

     
     I've enlarge it so you can get a better look at the boss-eyed little rascal, hopefully without the synchrony lines being too intrusive.
     Conrad knows nothing about the possum, apart from that phrase "playing possum" - meaning to sham death in order that charity salesmen and other callers leave you alone? - as they are not amongst the species native to the Allotment of Eden.  Do they make good pets?  Can they be house-trained? And, if all else fails, what do they taste like when roasted?

"Has it gone yet?"

Finally -
As I am wont to do, I was pondering idly the other day, and the first thought that popped into my head was - "Why is Leighton Buzzard so-called?"  Art

Nary a bird to be seen

     Because the buzzard is another species not native to these shores.  Could the name derive from "Bustard" perhaps?**
     Alas no.  Back in the Middle Ages there were two towns called 'Leighton', so the local Archbishop named one after a minion of his, Theobald De Busar.  Over time this got corrupted to 'Buzzard'.
     How dull and boring!  Real life, you are a failure!

     - and with that, I am gone ...



*  I know, I know, I'm a stinker.  Heh!
**  This sounds rude but it is a species of bird, honest.

A bustard
(With passengertard)