Shades of Grey

Clothes have never been very important to me. I tend to wear dark trousers and white or blue short sleeved shirts most of the time, rather Homer Simpson-ish. I don’t remember taking any interest at all in what I wore until the First Year Christmas Party at Senior School back in 1969. For that I chose (or my mum chose) a purple shirt with a collar that would have suited Harry Hill, a psychedelic kipper tie that was about 10″ wide and a pair of platform shoes with 4″ heels. I felt like a million dollars and looked like a right twat.

The party discos were during the day for lower school so the oil wheel projectors didn’t show up very well, I had to wait for the third year before I could appreciate the light show. (& by the 6th Form, I was doing the school Christmas parties myself).

I can remember getting a fairly awful purple suit a couple of years later from C & A which looked suspiciously pink in daylight but the first genuine choice of mine was a black velvet jacket, in the mid 70s they were the height of cool, particularly with Denim jeans. I can recall buying a cut away vest/T shirt with the Southern Comfort logo on for humping (get-outs, not hanky panky!) and was given a “Lay Chix not Eggs” T shirt for my 18th by the girls in the VI form, organised by a girl called Jackie Powton. (My mate Wally got one as well as we had a joint party and they also had DORIS on them in large friendly letters. Doris was a bit of a VI form catchphrase, along with Ahoo!, Shitpit and Tierra Del Fuego). I probably had a half a dozen or so T shirts given by tour managers or band crew, I can recall SAHB, Osibisa, Manfred Mann, Sounds (the Music Paper) and a Supertramp one. (I got more singles and albums than clothing though). Moose & Colin (the non-concurrent resident staff) generally did much better, sometimes getting much coveted tour jackets.

My First Dinner Jacket probably wasn’t until I started going to 18 Plus AGMs in the mid 80s (semi formal dance in the evening) but I am probably onto my fourth now and it is rare I go a year without wearing it at least once. Nearly every man looks good in a DJ (Tux for our Merkin cousins), my mum says every man does but I did once see a bloke who was so shabby that he didn’t. (If you are British ald old enough, think Michael Foot…)

After I got into Disney (i.e. the last ten years or so) I have acquired various theme park clothes items. Alas, my favourite one is only fit to be a duster…

I can vividly recall in the mid 80s my old Boss, Richard Moore, commenting that I was great at my job but sadly lacking in sartorial elegance. (I think it was more a case of lacking a steam iron!) I’d occasionally let my girlfriends choose clothes for me as I like to feel that it stamps them with a sort of seal of shaggability. Somewhere I have a pink tie that was in fashion for several hours back in 1988…

So, I dress to impress no-one really, apart from at interviews as it is sort of expected. I don’t change jobs very often. Do you think I’m giving the wrong impression?

Note that not all of these illustrative photos are of me! To finish off, here are a couple of Elton John songs back from the 80s, Little Jeanie followed by Sartorial Eloquence. (Tom Robinson wrote the latter).

Another classic track featuring Saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft.

I was trying out a thermal camera at work today. It belongs to another department but they were happy for me to borrow it (provided I fixed the software first!).

It gives you a fairly low resolution (128 x 128 pixels) picture and there are lots of tweakables for the display style but it is easiest to set it to auto-ranging.

I took this picture below of a colleague looking at some computer equipment down an aisle in our Data centre. (you can see the heat of the equipment to the left). He certainly doesn’t qualify as a Doreen Slater (the stick insect girlfriend of Adrian Mole’s Dad) but this picture makes him look like a Weeble.

When i showed him it he was struck by the resemblance to Mr. Stay Puft the Marshmallow man.

We went to a family wedding recently, a daughter of Karen’s Cousin. I didn’t know them at all, although I knew their Grandparents. It was held in three venues in Stockport, all within walking distance. The wedding was a Civil Ceremony in the Town Hall, followed by a blessing in a church and then the wedding “breakfast” (i.e. the Reception) in something called the Stockport Masonic Guildhall..

The wedding was actually held on the landing of the ceremonial staircase with the audience sat in the lobby below. It is very ornate with rich marble and worked well for a marriage (it wouldn’t in Morley, the staircase is a bit too dismal and the hallway too shallow) but it felt a little odd because you knew that it went off to some other grand rooms beyond. What it did work very well for was the striking arrival of the Bride from above and the photo opportunity afterwards (as below).

Their cake was also a picture. From afar it looked oddly proportioned and plain but up close it had this really delicate butterfly motif icing work.

Stockport is also famous in entertainment circles for the Plaza Super Cinema and Variety Theatre, run by a Charitable Trust and complete with Cinema Organ & trimmings. The Plaza has a huge facade on Mersey Square and is extremely unusual in being built deep into a hillside. Note the large concrete staircase to the right of the picture.

As you climb the stairs, the fly tower comes into view, but it does look rather shallow and not particularly tall either.

From behind, the fly tower is only about six feet deep. Does the venue really have such a shallow stage?

The answer is surprising. The theatre has a 23′ stage. 4′ in front of the curtain, 6′ with full flying height and then a further 13′ with limited height actually under the pavement behind. So why is only a third of the stage equipped for flying? Well it was constructed as a Cinema-Theatre to present Cine-Variety, i.e. performances in between the movie showings. So the flying height is essentially to be able to raise the screen (and associated loudspeakers nowadays) clear so that the stage was available, dressed with drapes rather than scenery. From memory, I’ve only seen one other venue like this- the Lewisham Concert Hall in Catford, now known at the Broadway Theatre.

The Sagrada Familia dominates the skyline from afar. This view is from Park Guell to the North- tall spires and cranes.

Walking to it, you can’t actually see it up close until you are a few blocks away.

Here we are at the Metro exit. Now for a quick walk round.

This is the Eastern side, known as the Passion Facade. The bells are in these spires and the carved figures are stark in their styling. The wording repeated on the spires is very vibrant and colourful in the flesh, with biblical glory words like Sanctus.

The southern facade isn’t actually built yet, it will be known as the Glory Facade.

The Western side is known as the Nativity Facide. It looks almost organic and is so busy that it looks a bit of a mess in this photo but I have seen professional shots that show up the detail as being stunning.

After a while, you notice that there is a huge Christmas tree at the top!

The northern side is the Apse, or dome. I think that this is where the Altar will be.

We are now back at the corner between the Apse and the Passion Facade. When you look closely, you can see stone snails slithering down the walls.

As I said, it was just a brief visit. I’d like to go back but I’ll be long gone before it is finished (and it might even fall down anyway).

There is a good photo review of a visit here.