'ats

another of Brenda's Saranac Photos .Lots of fine hats & bonnets......Part of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival

my contribution to the first sepia saturday of 2018 is around the theme of "hats". 

To see the contributions of others , visit here

I dont own a hat. I tend to borrow from others........

in 2008 i was a member of Grant's Stag Party in Benidorm.Most of the lads were from an Oldham rugby club .Grant was ,at the time,on St.Helens books. Mick (pictured with me) is an ex-prop forward with Oldham RLFC.We all went as members of Village People ( i was the token Polish Plumber).It was so fucking hot.....I had hold my moustache as the sweat prevented it sticking properly.......see other photos here

2005 in the car park of a shoppimg mall in Northampton,Massachusetts.it was Febuary & freezing...My son,  Chris,pictured next to me.We were guests of my good Muslim  friend Ayse who was studying in New England at the time. a grand photo i took of Chris & Ayse.https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-ff4c2/i-7Q9TK8x/O

at the 2015 Peterloo Massacre Memorial in Manchester.See more photos here .( i took a lot of photos of famous TV & Movie 'faces')  Actually that IS my own hat...but I look a bit of a prune wearing it.(Its in a drawer, somewhere.........!)

n.b. See more of my photos https://zimnoch.smugmug.com/

death is a lousy disappearing act

My Son Chris is 25 today. I love the bloke. He's doing really well. Busy building walls .Making Paths.Doing Horticulture. Chopping down trees.He's had some trouble this year.But thanks to HIS strength & the help of  Calderdale NHS (that's even better than Obamacare my American friends!),My Son has grown so strong again .
Meanwhile, Ive not been well for 7 days.(just flu & stuff).& .I sat and watched David Cameron today on the tv
.Irony :(today of all day's) he announced that ,if elected again,he would take away all support for those under 25.Its just so fucking cruel.(READ details  )

(I know I have lots of American readers.I would like to say ,you must be puddled if you don't support Obamacare.)

Me & Brother Zyg in 1961

The old magician takes the stage {n.b.reminding me of David Cameron's speech today& various recent comments from Republican TeaParty spokespeople}

His act does not improve with age  Observe the shabby hat and gloves.... The tired act that no-one loves..... There was a time he produced doves
A mirror and a puff of smoke His mysteries are now a joke
His poor assistant black and blue She's tired of being sawn in two
Hidden trapdoor, velvet cape Still from death there's no escape ......Words of sympathy and tact.... Only underline the fact Death is a lousy disappearing act
Lord have mercy and be kind When our faculties unwind
Overlook the hat and gloves The tired act that no-one loves There was a time we produced doves
The old magician takes the stage With sleight of hand he’ll disengage
As dignified as you’ll allow He’ll take his last, his final bow He’s lost all his illusions now .......
He’ll take one last, one final bow This weekend each year i go the Rugby League Grand Final at Old Trafford in Salford.We meet beforehand at The Halfway House Pub in Royton.(not going this year due to sickness) I was out drinking with friends in Manchester the other week.My friend Jim Stridgen was telling me something i never knew concerning The Peterloo Massacre in Manchester.
He told me that the woods behind The Halfway House,at Tandle Hill were manmade in the 19th century.Orginally open  land ,local people would assemble there to protest ,talk & plan against the authority of the time.
After Peterloo,fearing further protest,the authorities cunningly planted lots of trees there to make marching & grouping more difficult.

A way of blurring the view? Of altering the landscape to  prevent folk seeing clearly ?It depends on your point of view i suppose.

This week's sepia Theme is around blurred & unclear photos.Here are 3 of mine.The 2nd a fairly recently one ( 2005) on Boston Common.Me Chris & Ayse had walked in it and a sweet lady offered to take a photo of us together.It was February.Tons of snow on the ground.The sun was both blinding & low.Lord knows how she managed it ,but the snow&sun seemed to leech all the detail out of the image.I still like it..albeit in an abstract kinda way.

The 3rd photo is a rare one of me & my Dad .It must have been taken 72-73.I must have been 21 years old at the time....'back from my year away working in a London Youth Hostel.While in London my weight had shot up to 15 stone.I was on a diet (eventually i lost nearly 5 stone!) but i look poorly in the picture.Over 9 months i studied and gained 6 o levels & 2 A levels (i had no qualifications at the time)I passed & later in the  year entered Teacher Training in Liverpool.

But the combination of book-learning & lack of food can be seen in this shot.Its blurred but it still evokes a lot of memory for me.

This is a Sepia Saturday Post

behind garden walls

Evinize gelen yeni bireyden ötürü sizi kutlarız!

I hear from Ayse that she gave birth in Montreal this week! Welcome Baby Zehra ! Much Love From Tony   X

A wee timeline to inform this post:
*February 16th 1968 saw The Beatles,Mike Love,Mia Farrow,Donovan travel to India to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh.

*July 12th 1968 saw The Belfast Orange March .(which was to be the last trouble-free  march for 30 years)

*5th 1968  saw the start of Northern Ireland's "Troubles": {"The Troubles:1968-1998"}

My brother Ziggy gave me & Phil (the X-Fireman) a lift in his car to catch the Heysham -Belfast ferry. It was 1968.
This was my second holiday without my Mam & Dad.The previous year, 5 of us from School had hired a caravan in Great Yarmouth.
This time only me & Phil.  As i write this I realize that , for the first time , Belfast was the  only occasion we have ever been abroad together.He nearly came to my house in Italy a couple of years ago..but because of his mother's illhealth ,had to cry off at the very last minute .)
Anyway......I knew nothing about Northern Ireland politics..I didn't know it was going to blow up only months after we had been there.
In fact Belfast harbor itself 'blew my mind'.A big beefy Policeman glared at us as well walked off the ferry.A big fat gun on his hip....It looked more like a Chicago mobster movie to me...I felt like Elliot Ness on a Mission....
Phil's dad Bob was a Protestant Ulsterman.  His family lived on the Shankhill Road. Phil had never been before,so we had to walk with our rucksacks through the terraced streets .They all still had the archways & bunting & dates& King Billy scrawled on walls from the previous month's Orange March......Seriously fucking weird.
Phil had primed me beforehand."Dont talk about religion" "tell 'em your CofE";We were hitching from Belfast to Dublin afterwards.The agreement was we swapped religion at the border.
(Strangely.Phil would join The British Army a couple of years later & patrol those same borders again.)
His family made me very welcome .Being both Cof E & an English accent gave me browny -points i guess..........
After as couple of days we set of out of Belfast.Camping &hitching our way to The Free State.
Eventually we got to Dublin.Staying in a Youth Hostel opposite Mountjoy Prison
After that we walked inland........eventually  staying  in a pretty rural Youth Hostel on the other side on Bray.It  had a   Graveyard  with  bodies of Germany Navy sailors from World War 2.
we stayed for several  days R&R....& meeting new arrivals.  It was like a scene from Easy Rider! This American dude & beard rode his motorbike into town with a very young girlfriend in tow (she must have been 10 years his minor).
The Irish wife of the hostel warden was scandalized ( she looked like the housekeeper from Father Ted).But she let them stay a night (saying something to the effect of 'Good Riddance' as they rode off into the horizon the following morning)
He was a really friendly bloke.Said they were from California .They were just touring Europe for a few weeks on their own.
Thing was.He looked like Mike Love from The Beach Boys.We were too shy to ask him more......Now this may have been an opportunity missed?But ,on the other hand, our silence then allowed us to dine out on the possibility ever since!
A few weeks after returning to England, i happened to be reading in the NME that Mike Love had spent August 'holidaying in Europe'.......who knows? Perhaps....? From this distance , its nice to imagine that Me & Phil might have had a couple of walk-on parts in the The Californian  Dream.

Phil The Pre-Fireman  in 1966

Say a prayer to any gods you know.My best friend Phil is going through hard times at the moment.I have known him since we went to school together in 1963. He is like a second brother to me.I have many tales to tell.Watch this space! The Summer of 65 ,on hearing I was going with my family to relatives in Poland,he asked me to "Bring Back A Piece Of The Iron Curtain".I have been trying to do that for him ever since.......we shall call it unfinished business..
{. Sandy Denny & Fairport Convention: Like An Old Fashioned Waltz :Live at Clark University, Worcester, MA; April 27, 1974. }

Ken,Tony ,Phil & Iris: This Afternoon in Halifax.

Some photos [here] from this special meeting today in Halifax.Much Love is Here. No doubt,I will talk later about this all .....