Strange how memories are triggered..............

 I’ve just been reminded of a very strange conversation that I had with a ‘well-known’ person, must be over 30 years ago now. It proved how easy it is to get away with being cheeky, and how easy it is to upset your Other Half.

We took our small son to Olympia in London to a computer show. Walking between the stands, coming the other way, was an extremely good-looking young man, dressed head to foot in shiny, expensive black leather, with a glass of whisky in one hand, and seemingly a few more inside him.

So – the conversation was very simple:

Me: Are you a real biker, or just a poseur?

Warren Cann: Would you like to see my bike?

Me: Is that a proposition, by the way, this is my husband

Warren: It’s parked out back. You’ll like it.

Out back………….

Me: Nah. It’s a Harley

Husband………………..bright red and embarrassed.

To be fair, it was a gorgeous pearl white Electra-Glide, and he went out back to call someone to pick him and the bike up after the show……………….

If you don’t know who Warren Cann is, you can Google it

Oddly, that memory came out of a discussion Dick and I were having about antiques experts. The only connection I can see, is that Harley…………………………..

So, Ferry 'Cross The Mersey.............

Well, actually, not. I didn't take the ferry, but I have just come back from a few days in Liverpool.
Can't make up my mind whether I like Liverpool, or not. It has its' good and bad points.

Since we were last there. it has undergone some remarkable modernisation and regeneration. Unfortunately, this has left the main shopping area seeming no different from other cities and towns. I regret the loss of Lewis's department store. We went in there just before it closed its' doors, mostly because I wanted to see inside the wonderful Art Deco building that housed it, and it is sad to see such an old family-run firm gone.

However, the regeneration of the waterfront, particularly around the Albert Dock, is excellent. As well as the new Arena for events (what imaginative person thought up THAT name?), there's the new Museum of Liverpool. We thought we'd poke around in there for an hour or so, and ended up being in there for over 4 hours! We'd done the Museum of Slavery and the Maritime Museum last time we were in Liverpool, so didn't expect much more of interest to come from this new collection.

How wrong we were! It gives a fascinating insight into past ways of life in Liverpool's heyday, as well as feature areas dedicated to the cities' more famous sons and daughters.  You can't escape the Beatles. From the Beatles Story at Albert Dock, to the Cavern Club in Matthews Street, they are everywhere. And rightly so. They are, after all, the most important group in the history of popular music. But, down by the docks, between Albert Dock and the new museum, is a statue of Billy Fury. Long one of my all-time favourite singers, he is much neglected in my opinion. It was good to see him featured in the Museum.

The other person featured, who gets an entire gallery all to herself currently, is the late Dame Beryl Bainbridge. Yes, I'd heard of her, but no, I was not over familiar with either her novels or her paintings. The gallery was quite an eye-opener. I can't say I liked all of her work, but one or two really made an impression on me, such as this - 'Boarding The Titanic' from the late 1990s.

Anyway, the upshot of this is, I've been researching Dame Beryl, and I now have a thirst to read some of her novels. Apparently she was runner-up for the Booker Prize 5 times! How has she slipped through my net?

Well, so, the trip wasn't an entire waste of time, from a cultural point of view.

Oh, and did I mention the plethora of SuperLambBananas? If you've never heard of them, or seen them, they are everywhere in Liverpool. There was only one, when we first went there, now.....oh dear..........

Why people write blogs..............

Heaven knows why some people write blogs!
I know why I write mine.

I've just been reading another person's blog, with comments about 'blogger jealousy' and I'm amazed!
How can people become jealous of other people's lifestyles, without ever knowing that person, or understanding the circumstances of their life?
Don't they understand, the world of blogging, with the best intentions in the world, is not completely real?
You only get to see what the blogger wants you to see. Whether it's how proud they are of their children, how clever they are at making things, how committed to their religious beliefs they are, or whatever. You don't very often get to see what they're not good at, what they fail at, how they lose their temper with a loved one over something trivial, or lose their car keys, or forget a dental appointment.
You can't really know a person, or understand them, without meeting them, and spending a considerable period of time getting to know them.
Reading a blog, is the same as reading a novel. You are introduced to the main character, you follow the plot learning as much about that character and no more as is necessary to follow the storyline, and when you have finished reading, you close the book.

I read other blogs because I'm curious. Curious about other people, how they live, what their thoughts are, what they do. But I don't envy them. I only have a few blogs I follow regularly, and those are mostly about things I'm interested in, whether it be motorcycles, craftwork, or whatever. Other blogs I just select at random, when I have spare time to kill.

There's only one blog I read regularly, where I am actively interested in her life-style. That's not to say I'm jealous of her, or her life-style, because I'm happy with my own life, thank you very much. But I admire her free spirit and her way of life, and who knows, had my life panned out differently, maybe I would be living in a similar world myself.

If any of you have read my blog, you would have found that I use it to put my thoughts into words - to cement my own thoughts and reasoning, to express myself in a way that it is not always possible to verbally.
I also post about things I'm interested in, motorcycles, music, crafts, history, and yes, occasionally, I write about things I've made. But not to elicit praise, more to store my ideas, and realisations.

For years now, I've worked in the computer industry, and I've seen computers change from industrial machines to a 'must-have' for every home.
Whilst it can provide great entertainment, and is a boundless source of information, I do fear that some people have become addicted to modern technology to the point where they are in danger of forgetting what it's like to stand in the street chatting to a neighbour, or wandering around the shops seeing and feeling the products at first hand, or whatever. Simply interacting with life outside for real, instead of existing purely in a cyber-space world.

This does not necessarily bode well for the future, because, it seems to me, people are becoming evermore isolationist, devoid of compassion, and really only interested in themselves.