Could have been Tuesday's, but the cheap ticket at cameo was Monday in late eighties. Always good to keep an eye on Gandalf. Looks like we just missed each other as I was back in the dear green place by March 1990 though wait a minute,I then returned in 1992 so infact we were in the same pub at the same or different times. In fact I remember making you laugh by asking you (in reference to the Gandalf) Do you have to dress like that to be a juggler? I had longer hair bit like James Grant from Hipsway. Stopped me getting a room in a vegan flat (well they were only ever pretending to rent it and it had cats). Not just the quiff but the black linen baggy suit. The vegans did not like it (I was vegan too at the time). Then bizarrely I went to pub with Big Davie Whyte and one of his socialist organiser mates knew the vegans who were all in the IB too.
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Spotted
(14472 posts)- Started 13 years ago by recombodna
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Posted 9 years ago #
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@IWRATS I'm afraid that I failed to recognise you given the unprecedented context of your not approaching from behind accompanied by iconic bell ringing or passing by on the occasions that I've stopped to chat with John. I am glad that you appreciated my well-wishes at least...
@gembo as well: I take it IB is the Internationl Bar? I too used to be a Tollcross State juggler, but we always used to attend the Blue Blazer on Monday nights in the early noughties...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Wilmatron's Cow going up London Road past my window at Porridge O' Clock.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I saw him last week where I usually spot him curving round the meadows lovely wee cap on. But it's so funny how we don't talk anymore (I do not do Twitter)
Posted 9 years ago # -
@jdanielp, if you make jam or drink gin I may start that Maybe they are the same people nonsense again when I got confused one Friday evening after too much jam or was it gin and thought that either IWRATS or Instography were mucking about with the handles on here.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@gembo I'll confirm that I neither make jam nor drink gin
Posted 9 years ago # -
@gembo
Early nineties IWRATS followed the sumptuary laws then in force for chemistry PhD students;
* Greasy Docs
* Levis 501s stained with the salts of at least three transition metals (my favourite pair had ruthenium, platinum and iron stains)
* Airtex polo shirt
* #2 short back and sides Woods styleWe did not speak to people in black linen suits. Pretty much a hermetic order. Gandalf got nowhere in his attempts to live in our flats.
Posted 9 years ago # -
IWRATS I would never have worn black linen suit to IB. I had it on for work with rather natty John Smedley cotton polo shirt and plastic DMs, remember I was a vegan.
In IB also 501s. To jog your memory the John Smedley polo was a luscious purple/red colour.
Posted 9 years ago # -
This is some quite impressive thread drift.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@arellcat - we've had worse. For example I am maintaining a retrospective Spot of IWRATS on Monday or Tuesday late October 1992 in the IB when he was perspiring slightly from juggling at Tollcross with his DMs, 501s and a Fred Perry, well he recalls it as an aertex polo shirt but it was not a ben Sherman.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Spotted Gembo's Hoover on my late, late how late it was run in along the canal after a diversion to get my rucksack and bike lights back following Saturday's Blue Methanol Incident.
Turns out that the Hoover has Nitto Albastache handlebars (I had to google @kaputnik's post) as well as the two front wheel panniers, thus ensuring the resemblance to a catfish.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Spotted adamthekiwi adding a third bike to the two-bike rack on the Dunblane train this morning. I was waiting behind to attempt bike number four.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Pretty sure Dave spotted me this morning. I must confess I didn't spot him.
A white bike came by on the towpath and its pilot greeted me as they passed. By the time I noticed the greeting, stopped thinking about the other things I was thinking about and got my mouth into gear it was too late to say anything.
On the basis that the bike was white and had a dynamo, I'm guessing it was Dave...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Bird watchers have a concept called 'the jizz', where you recognise a bird by way of a combination of a movement, a flash of colour or a habitat without actually getting a positive white rump, black supercilium positive ID. On this basis...could it have been @Greenroofer at Morningside Cross about 19h00 last night? Brompton, longs, hi-viz gillet, excellent road position, no helmet, high-powered rear light...? I gave chase, but Mr X turned off into Braid Avenue.
Also Madame IWRATS spotted coming the other way on Gogar Station Road in an automobile at 09h00, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@IWRATS was that you catching up behind me on the canal towpath prior to the turn off for Gogar Station Road, or did I end up greeting a stranger? I responded to the now familiar bell ringing, but then became unsure about the provenance given that you didn't then pull up alongside.
Posted 9 years ago # -
IWRATS do they have birdwatchers in France would the concept be called juisance (will somehow check that spelling)..
Reading down and out in Paris and London at the moment and Orwell describes the patrone of his hotel Madame F as a splendid Auvergnat peasant woman with the face of a strong minded cow. The Paris section is peppered with slangy antiquated mild swearing. The edition I am reading has put this back in as the french version in 1930 had all the swearing but the English version required the swear words to be deleted. I am reading it in English. I commend Orwell's writing to anyone reading. He wrote an essay on how to write English which is the best style guide you can find. He also sticks to his own guide and writes lucid and interesting prose at all times. I do not think down and out reads like journalism today but believe it was received as such on publication.
Posted 9 years ago # -
gembo: yes, quite right about Orwell.
Will Self recently wrote an attention-seeking piece decrying Orwell as a "literary mediocrity". I won't link to it, as it was largely nonsense.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@jdanielp
Indeed, it was I(WRATS). Tried to express friendly greeting through the bell without performing a quite unnecessary overtake. Keep an eye out for any solitary gnats.
@gembo
I guess the twitcher term comes from 'gist'? Maybe it's spelled 'gis'? A frenchman might think you were lying if you used that spelling.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@IWRATS. Yup - that sounds like me. Time, place and kit are right.
I'm glad to hear that the rear light is working. Ever since having the dynamo kit installed on the Brompton a few months back I've been getting childish pleasure from seeing it in action...
Posted 9 years ago # -
@iwrats, not essence or life force? I once had a funny exchange with a french garçon in The Nose Wine Bar of West Didsbury, greater Manchester. I had been reading Foucault and asked him what he understood about the term juisance. He said Every three days. I said, no I mean the philosophical situation linked to essential life force. He said Ah, in that case, every day.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@gembo
Jouissance? Joy in all its glorious and manifold meanings, but also has a weird legal tinge in that it covers the English 'enjoy the right to...'.
My weak joke based on the obscure verb gésir has backfired I fear.
My brother used to live in Didsbury, but I've never been to a pub there.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yes sorry jouissance apologies
@ stickman Will Self spotted holidaying on Jura where Orwell lived.
Self I actually like but should cut out the poncey words. He thinks he is second rate JG Ballard but I think he is more a third rate Orwell.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@gembo Down and Out In London and Paris is a terrific read, particularly the Parisian bits. I had a good wander around Rue Mouffetard last time I was in Paris simply on the basis of its association with the book. The life of a tramp in England is interesting too.
Homage to Catalonia is great stuff too, as is The Road To Wigan Pier.
By their very nature, some of the collected essays are patchy, but you don't have to wait long for a decent bit of insight.
I really should pick up 1984 and Animal Farm - haven't read them since school and I'm sure I'd have a very different appreciation of them now...
Posted 9 years ago # -
To my shame I once convinced someone in the Traverse Bar that I was Will Self's agent. In fact he decided that and I co-operated in his fantasy. He tried to sell me his novel and I made a night of it...
I can be a bad boy.Quite enjoyed Self's Cock and Bull and the gonzo journalism from the 1997 General Election. Don't mind poncey words - quite like to see our language being sweated hard by someone who knows what the words mean.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yellow-clad pedallist with yellow Ortlieb on drop-handled machine, heading west on George Street's new infrastructure at 8.57am. Rear view only, but I'm guessing this was a @kaputnik spot?
Posted 9 years ago # -
So...home and away spot of Lilac Helmet lady yesterday. She is still well.
After the diversion due to the motorcycle-under-bus incident last night I took a new route home. Spotted an incredible rig that was half monkey bike half electric assist bike. As the rider urged the brand new machine up the initial incline of Kirk Brae it started making The Engines'll No Take It Cap'n type noises and I began to pull on the upstroke and passed it with ease. Suspect the portly lady riding it thought she was on a motorcycle.
On the canal this morning a guy was taking his dog...for a swim. On the telescopic lead. Not sure if it was the dog that had fallen in the harbour and was now making its way inland, but it was a magnificent sight. The owner/trainer refused friendly eye contact, making me wonder if it was in fact the dog that was in charge of proceedings.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Spotted big John on the boulevard across from Freewheelin cycles of slateford, gave him wave got big wave with additional poly bag back. Last night at 18.00 hours
Is there a james brown song Down on the upstroke that he wrote when considering clipless cleats?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Lilac Helmet Lady was running early this morning given that I spotted her on the towpath prior to Harrison Park. On Tuesday I gave way to her on the aquaduct to cheerful thanks and yesteday she gave way to me in return so I thanked her and remarked on how nice the morning was turning out. I also spotted her on the way home. I still haven't remembered to actually note her natty new winter jacket though despite all of this...
Posted 9 years ago # -
kaputnik, presumably also admiring the Jeepy thing doing a suspiciously unplanned-looking 180° around the Hanover Street/George Street roundaboutlet.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Posted 9 years ago #
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