Russell Davies

Shoe conspiracy

I'm reading Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexi Sayle, it's good. He's refreshingly clear-eyed about how rubbish the 70s and early 80s were. I'm especially enjoying his slightly unpredictable obsessions - the state of UK manufacturing, car design, etc.

I was brought up short by one moment - with that shock you sometimes get when you discover something innocent and unremarkable from the past is revealed to be, in fact, the product of a vast and unfathomable conspiracy.

"You could buy your shoes in a multitude of different shops with names like Freeman, Hardy and Willis, Saxone, Trueform, Bertie, Dolcis, Manfield, or Curtess, thinking they were separate entities, when in fact they were all the same, all just fronts for the British Shoe Corporation"

This turns out to be true. 

The shoe stores that dotted the high street of my teenage years were owned and controlled by a sinister vast conglomeration. Since my Mum would never spring for the luxury of real Clarks Commandos or real Adidas trainers we would traipse in and out of these various shops, trying to find the least awful imitation, never realising we were just dropping in and out of the gaping maw of the same multi-armed corporate squid. Appalling.

Strategy versus Robots

I'm giving up on the 72 Seasons thing. The rhythm's not working for me, not for my blogging anyway.

But - just in case you're missing a stream of reverse chronological emanations from me - you can now go over to tumblr and follow Strategy Versus Robots.

I suddenly remembered, yesterday, that I'm talking at the APG conference in a couple of months and the theme of the thing is, strangely, Strategy Versus Robots. I have no idea what to say about that but I am starting with my usual tactic - accreting a pile of stuff that might be vaguely related. That's what that tumblr is - not my thoughts, but my collection of stuff.

It's almost nothing, but not quite.

(I made the video above at a robotics trade fair about 5 years ago, maybe that will finally turn out to have been a useful trip) 

Season Seven - A Bit More On The Internet

72 Seasons - Hibernating Creatures Open Their Doors

Here - A Bit More On The Internet

First, I suggested some books in Matt's splendid new books venture.

Second, I've started writing for Campaign again.

Season Six - Plans Show Their First Buds

According to 72 Seasons, it's Plants Show Their First Buds. They include a haiku:

Contract done

lower your umbrella

and gaze at the evening sky

It's from by Morikawa Kyoriku. Apparently, March 5th was traditionally the time when an employee's contract would end with his master and the employee would return to his hometown before farm work began. I think I'm probably missing something there but never mind.

For me, it's been rainy and cold. And I've got a cold. On the other hand, the sun is definitely making more of an effort. And the shape of the year is starting to emerge - schemes, ideas etc. So, for me it's Plans Show Their First Buds

February 2016

Season Five - Talking About The Light

According to 72 Seasons we're now in Haze First Covers The Sky. Here in modern Russell-land we're in People Have Noticed That The Days Are Getting Longer And Are Talking About The Light. We seem to have hit a moment where early morning journeys among people I know are starting to happen in daylight.

There's an uptick in optimism (optick, uptimism).

I wonder if some Social Scientists could come up with an equivalent finding to this:

Reminder: the day gets longer today (in percentage terms) than any other day this year. https://t.co/0Gl8X2CzFv

— Alby (@Alby) February 14, 2016

Season Four - Attention To Small Objects

Season Four, according to 72 Seasons, is The Earth Becomes Damp, that's been true for me too. Everything's become damp. So I've mostly been inside and my steps have dropped off noticeably. I've been typing a lot and distracting myself by photographing the things on my desk.

Season Three - Chillier Than You'd Think

72 Seasons tells us that it's now 'First Spring 3: Fish Rise From The Ice'. For me we're entering Chillier Than You Think.

The highlight of Season Two was going to see Tim Dunn talk about the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum at the Model Railway Club. (Yes, they are the Model Railway Club.)

Good, random facts that I noted down:

Sierra Leone has used a former Isle of Wight hovercraft as a ferry (though it is not currently in operation.)

Those Bounty ads were filmed on Sierra Leone beaches.

Freetown is twinned with Hull.

One of the locos on the SL railway was very similar to Russell of the Welsh Highland Railway, after which, family history has it, I was named. (That last fact was not noted in the talk.)

Less randomly, the Sierra Leone National Railway Museum is a good thing.

 

Season Two - The Knees Refuse

According to '72 Seasons' we are now entering The Nightingale Sings. For me, it's been Friends Pop Up, or maybe The Knees Refuse.

I went to a 4 quick little talks at the magnificent Fitzrovia Chapel. It was, basically, a Woods Bagot internal meeting but they were kind enough to make it public and it popped up on the chapel's twitter feed, so I went. One of the talks was about 'the Maker movement' and referenced Newspaper Club. It was a proper little thrill to see them pop up on the screen. Made me realise how much I miss them.

And we played 5-a-side the other night. On a newly-laid bit of astroturf near Warren Street. It's fantastic to be playing there, right in the middle of the city, in the shadow of the BT Tower. My ageing knees are not actually up to it but I loved it. Running around, teenagers versus grown-ups, a bit of inter-generational football banter. (Though as one of our party pointed out the teenage football banter is incredibly densely-packed, short bursts of impenetrable meta-reference. I couldn't get most of it, though I assume they were patronising me.)

It seems vaguely ridiculous to suggest that Fitzrovia is 'gentrifying' but it is. The investment money is pouring into property and squeezing out the older little communities, so it's nice when you see stuff going on at the chapel and local kids playing on the 5-a-side.

Season One

Chris pointed me at this 72 Seasons app. It's the least appy app you could imagine, more like an intermittently released PDF, but maybe that's why it makes me happy. Occasionally it reminds you that you're entering one of Japan's 72 microseasons and that there's a new food, animal, flower, haiku etc to read a bit about. They all have good names too - yesterday we entered Season One, the start of a new year - East Wind Melts The Ice.

I've been looking for a new periodicity for this blog too. I wrote a post every day in 2015 and I enjoyed the discipline of that but most of them were just a picture or a postcard, there wasn't much actual writing. But, if I don't have deadlines I don't do anything*. So, now I've decided to follow the 72 seasons and write a new post every time the app tells me it's Mist Starts To Linger or Plums Turn Yellow or something.

So, this is that, my first season for 2016 - Resolutions Have Failed. Happy New Year.

*And, if I do have deadlines, I don't do anything either. In fact I'm writing this as a way of avoiding another deadline I curently have.