Lurker - Genesis

 Meanwhile lurking by a stone in the mud
two eyes looked to see what I was and
then something spoke and this is what it said to me........

Clothes of brass, Hair of Brown

Seldom needs to Breathe Don't need no Wings to Fly

Ooh and a Heart of Stone and a fear of Fire and Water

Who am I?

One of Rock Music's great conundrums, whatever were Genesis talking about, it was years before I was to find out. Penned by the 3 remaining band members, after the departures of Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, it was considered the nearest they had come to Gabrielesque since the break up. Originally released on the Abacab album, it was a 'coda' to the moving Dodo track which tells of mans destruction of the species.

The LURKER referred to in Saturday's post was in fact this superb and well 'off-station'

BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS seen and photographed by Josh Simmons the Skipper of the Weymouth Charter Fishing Vessel 'FISH-ON WEYMOUTH'. Resident in the Southern Oceans, this individual must have traversed both Capricorn and Cancer, the Equator and the Doldrums (said to be a natural barrier for such birds reliant on wind and up-drafts for flight) to settle in the English Channel just 30 miles from Portland Bill. 

I spoke to Josh yesterday, congratulating him on his find and accompanying splendid images. All of these photographs are © Josh-Simmons-Fish-On-Weymouth (who may be contacted via this link) and if you decide on fishing some of the most productive waters around the coast of Great Britain then Josh's reputation precedes him!

The 'Big Red Ball' Project

 

 Is touring the country at present to highlight NOTHING and represent NOTHING. It is just a Big Red Ball that's meant to be nothing more than fun. A view from Saturday when it was jammed in the Weymouth Sea Front Underpass. - © Johnny Read.

Dear Captain Bagsy

I found your blog yesterday, and I was fascinated by a couple of things. I was deeply into bird watching some years back. While I stayed at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory in 1965 I found the first Royal Tern for Britain and perhaps for Europe, which made me very happy (It had been a dead bird in Ireland before). There was even an article in British Birds (1968) that started with my name, and I was young at the time and very proud. They had found a dead Red-flanked Bluetail at Sandwich Bay some months earlier. Later, I went on a trip to eastern Finland in a try find it, but I never saw it. Ref header photo.

The other thing that made me interested in your blog were some photos of the Porpoise submarine (Your blog from May 2011). I have for some time been interested in submarine operations. I was looking into the operations in Swedish waters in the 1980s, and I used a lot of time to go into details. There was an earlier photo of the Porpoise that also showed the white pattern on the sail. I guess it was taken between 1982-85 after the Porpoise was taken out from regular operations to some kind of special operations. Your photos are very nice and they are even better than the photo I had seen before, but when and where were these photos taken? In Scotland, I guess? You refer to your friends. They might know when they were taken?

I found there are some similarities between bird watching and the studies of submarines. You only are able to detect by the sound or by some movement in the water for a second under the most strange circumstances.

Best wishes Ola Tunander

Research Professor Ola Tunander

Peace Research Institute Oslo
PO Box 9229 Grønland
0134 Oslo
Norway

Photographs show the Porpoise Class Submarine HMS/M Porpoise (my last ship in the Royal Navy) after decommissioning in Loch Fyne, Scotland being use for development of Underwater Weapons (date unknown).

 

Today the Big Red Ball moved to the tiny north Portland hamlet of Chiswell (pronounced Chisel) which is literally perched on the edge of the world famous and natural wonder of the world, Chesil Beach.

 

 Not surprisingly, the organisers did have a degree of difficulty inflating and positioning the ball

 

Both ball photographs above © Janet Read.

 

The view from Chiswell along the 18 miles of Chesil Beach to the north.

 

The Cove House Inn

 

The southern end of the beach where it meets Chiswell and the West Cliff of Portland.

 

 

 

 The Ball well jammed into a corner of the pub.

Lurker Interpretation: 

"Clothes of Brass" - reference to the exterior of Submarines, Brass fittings used for its resistance to corrosion.

"Hair of Brown" - the seaweed caught around the upper half of the submarine as it surfaces.
"Seldom need to breathe" - subs supply their own air and very infrequently need to resurface.
"Don't need no wings to fly" - wings not needed to fly through the ocean.
"and a heart of stone" - Uranium, the stone that powers the nuclear reactor which powers the vessel.
"and a fear of fire and water" - the 2 deadliest elements to the Submariner, Fire burns up the oxygen and everyone dies, Water in reference to a hull breach also deadly.
"Who am I?" - a Nuclear Submarine.

Dodo/Lurker from the album 'Three Sides Live' take a listen!

Taking a look at this clip for about the millionth time today, I noticed for the first time that Daryl Stuermer (brought in as Lead Guitar to fill a huge chasm left by Hackett) is in fact playing Bass Guitar/Peddles, leaving usual Bass player Michael Rutherford on Lead Guitar. Chester Thompson, recruited to take on most of the near vacant Collins roll, is on drums as Phil now takes centre stage as vocalist.

Finally, we end on a slightly sad musical note:-

 Bob Welch of Fleetwood Mac dies

 

Bob Welch (left), a former member of Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, also standing, John McVie and wife Christine nee Perfect) who went on to write songs and record several hits during a solo career, died on Thursday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Police spokesman Don Aaron said Welch's wife found him with a chest wound at their south Nashville home around 12:15 p.m. Welch was a guitarist and vocalist for Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974. He formed the British rock group Paris in 1976, and had hits including "Sentimental Lady" in 1977 and "Ebony Eyes" in 1978. Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham did backup vocals on "Sentimental Lady." He was 65.