They may be closely associated with nightmares, but I’m a big fan of cheese dreams. A corner or two of mature cheddar before bed seems to produce incredible psychedelic experiences that stick with you through the day. And I’m pleased to find this old Daily Mail article, based on a British Cheese Board press release, which reveals the cheddar leads to nightmares thing to be a myth.

Last night I was in an enormous crowd gathered at New Century House, the Co-op’s Manchester HQ. The building had been moved to a location that offered the best view of its neighbour, the CIS Building (virtual tour here), as it bent in the wind. All tall buildings bend in the wind – the CIS Building is the UK’s tallest solar project – but this was a true feat of architecture. It bowed down to the ground and snaked through the streets without hitting anything at all. New York’s Chrysler Building joined for a short time. Everyone wanted to get high up in New Century House, but each time you made it into a lift, you discovered that it would only go down. We had to climb the walls instead.

There was some debate as to whether those working in the offices should be allowed home, given that all that bobbing and weaving must have distracted them from their work. But that would surely have defeated the purpose of designing buildings with such incredible flexibility.

1 graffito, scrawl more »

My mother-in-law, Patricia Bernadette St. Claire-Johnson, has died suddenly at the age of 67. She had been in frail health for some considerable time. In September 1998 she spent several weeks in intensive care at Leicester Royal Infirmary. We made more than one hurried trip down from Manchester not really expecting her to still be there. But she survived and went on to give the impression that she would go on for many years.

The subsequent choices Pat made often frustrated Katharine and me, but they were her choices to make. She’s to be admired for having lived her life how she wanted to live it; independently, privately and perhaps a little eccentrically.

In the end distance was unkind. It was not unusual for Pat to miss a phone call and so it was several days before we called the police and asked them to enter the house. Leicestershire Police have had a particularly bad press of late, but we could not possibly find fault with their conduct. They have been sympathetic and kind, always available and acted as a dependable first point of contact throughout.

Pat was not an easy woman to love, but she was loved and clearly loved her daughter and late husband above all. I suspect death always brings some regrets and in recent months Katharine had felt herself growing closer to her mother. Perhaps the tragedy is that relationships take too long to build and mend… we always need just a little more time.

2 graffiti, scrawl more »

Knowing that Paul Heaton of Beautiful South lives in the next neighbourhood to mine gave me the creeps even before I’d heard his latest warble, Manchester . You can read the lyrics here, but just look at the artwork; a bus station that’s not even in Manchester.

Here we have two very old buses, services 33 and W3, decked out in a livery that dates the pic to between 1974 and 1981. The W3 is no more, but the 33 continues to serve Wigan. So that’s where we are; an admittedly grim fringe of the county of Greater Manchester at its mid-to-late 1970s worst.

It’s no coincidence that Brian & Michael’s supposed tribute to LS Lowry is a contemporary of this photo. They sat at number one for two weeks a couple of years after the death of one of our greatest artists and alleged that, ‘he painted matchstalk [not matchstick] men and matchstalk cats and dogs’.

Paul Heaton probably thinks he’s ever so clever; embracing a negative outdated image of Manchester and saying that what you hate is what makes us great. But just as Brian & Michael destroyed Lowry’s reputation by portraying him as a mere populist, a Jack Vettriano if you like, he just reinforces old stereotypes.

Anyway. If Paul Heaton’s so fond of grim northern towns, why doesn’t he slink off back to Hull?

29 graffiti, scrawl more »

Anne Charnock says this is art, Cornerhouse agrees and so I guess it is art.

But if, like me, you’ve spent the best part of the day looking at tracked changes in Microsoft Word, it looks more like work than play. This is art that doesn’t so much invite the response, ‘I could do that,’ as, ‘I do do that, except mine’s more interesting.’
This posted via mobile via Flickr and so not so closely proofread. Click the pic to see it large (there’s an ‘all-sizes’ tab for really large).