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.
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.
