our feet get bigger as we get older(who knew?)

r

A photo of Len presenting me with one of his old string vests.It was to be part of my 'costume' as The Polish Builder in The Village People on a Stag Do in Benidorm

A personal best today!
 I swam two miles in Sowerby Bridge Pool before 930am!
The reason for my being there was that ,next door to the pool, was my NHS Podiatry.I was later visiting for an ingrowing toe nail.
My Foot Nurse  told me that ,as you get older,your feet tend to get bigger.Imagine!
 I told her that it was nice to know that something got bigger when you got older (she looked at me as if I was a bit  soft.......)

These photos I took in Rochdale tonight.Some of the lads from The Rochdale Hamam met for a drink
.A nice night.Thanks for the organisation,Martin (& your photos of Carter Lane Youth Hostel ( where I lost my virginity)

I was sorry to hear about the death of Len from Marsden.

Len fought the 2nd World War in North Africa ,The Middle East  then up the spine of Italy. I knew him in his later years  at The Rochdale Hamam. Rest  Yourself Now, In Peace , Len X

behind garden walls

Evinize gelen yeni bireyden ötürü sizi kutlarız!

I hear from Ayse that she gave birth in Montreal this week! Welcome Baby Zehra ! Much Love From Tony   X

A wee timeline to inform this post:
*February 16th 1968 saw The Beatles,Mike Love,Mia Farrow,Donovan travel to India to visit Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at Rishikesh.

*July 12th 1968 saw The Belfast Orange March .(which was to be the last trouble-free  march for 30 years)

*5th 1968  saw the start of Northern Ireland's "Troubles": {"The Troubles:1968-1998"}

My brother Ziggy gave me & Phil (the X-Fireman) a lift in his car to catch the Heysham -Belfast ferry. It was 1968.
This was my second holiday without my Mam & Dad.The previous year, 5 of us from School had hired a caravan in Great Yarmouth.
This time only me & Phil.  As i write this I realize that , for the first time , Belfast was the  only occasion we have ever been abroad together.He nearly came to my house in Italy a couple of years ago..but because of his mother's illhealth ,had to cry off at the very last minute .)
Anyway......I knew nothing about Northern Ireland politics..I didn't know it was going to blow up only months after we had been there.
In fact Belfast harbor itself 'blew my mind'.A big beefy Policeman glared at us as well walked off the ferry.A big fat gun on his hip....It looked more like a Chicago mobster movie to me...I felt like Elliot Ness on a Mission....
Phil's dad Bob was a Protestant Ulsterman.  His family lived on the Shankhill Road. Phil had never been before,so we had to walk with our rucksacks through the terraced streets .They all still had the archways & bunting & dates& King Billy scrawled on walls from the previous month's Orange March......Seriously fucking weird.
Phil had primed me beforehand."Dont talk about religion" "tell 'em your CofE";We were hitching from Belfast to Dublin afterwards.The agreement was we swapped religion at the border.
(Strangely.Phil would join The British Army a couple of years later & patrol those same borders again.)
His family made me very welcome .Being both Cof E & an English accent gave me browny -points i guess..........
After as couple of days we set of out of Belfast.Camping &hitching our way to The Free State.
Eventually we got to Dublin.Staying in a Youth Hostel opposite Mountjoy Prison
After that we walked inland........eventually  staying  in a pretty rural Youth Hostel on the other side on Bray.It  had a   Graveyard  with  bodies of Germany Navy sailors from World War 2.
we stayed for several  days R&R....& meeting new arrivals.  It was like a scene from Easy Rider! This American dude & beard rode his motorbike into town with a very young girlfriend in tow (she must have been 10 years his minor).
The Irish wife of the hostel warden was scandalized ( she looked like the housekeeper from Father Ted).But she let them stay a night (saying something to the effect of 'Good Riddance' as they rode off into the horizon the following morning)
He was a really friendly bloke.Said they were from California .They were just touring Europe for a few weeks on their own.
Thing was.He looked like Mike Love from The Beach Boys.We were too shy to ask him more......Now this may have been an opportunity missed?But ,on the other hand, our silence then allowed us to dine out on the possibility ever since!
A few weeks after returning to England, i happened to be reading in the NME that Mike Love had spent August 'holidaying in Europe'.......who knows? Perhaps....? From this distance , its nice to imagine that Me & Phil might have had a couple of walk-on parts in the The Californian  Dream.

Phil The Pre-Fireman  in 1966

Say a prayer to any gods you know.My best friend Phil is going through hard times at the moment.I have known him since we went to school together in 1963. He is like a second brother to me.I have many tales to tell.Watch this space! The Summer of 65 ,on hearing I was going with my family to relatives in Poland,he asked me to "Bring Back A Piece Of The Iron Curtain".I have been trying to do that for him ever since.......we shall call it unfinished business..
{. Sandy Denny & Fairport Convention: Like An Old Fashioned Waltz :Live at Clark University, Worcester, MA; April 27, 1974. }

Ken,Tony ,Phil & Iris: This Afternoon in Halifax.

Some photos [here] from this special meeting today in Halifax.Much Love is Here. No doubt,I will talk later about this all .....

David Bromburg & Larry Campbell:Band on The Wall in Manchester:4th August 2014

urban psychosis in manchester 3&4th August 2014

Urban Psychosis:Holden Gallery:Manchester

14th July-22nd August 2014

retail therapy [shop till you drop]

Visit www.bdsmovement.net to get more info on how you can to support Palestinian commercial rights.

I attended this day of action in Manchester today  to protest about the murder of ,now, 1000 Palestinians by Israel.
Last week had seen an even  larger march in Manchester.
today's march was smaller ,maybe because of the "Direct Action" element?
Today was a walk  through the city centre.Stopping off at Banks & businesses that support Israel.
It ended at the Kedem shop on King Street.
Kedem has now been targetted for 7  days.Today we were met by a couple of hundred people who supported the shop.They waved Israel flags & union jacks and were not happy (they lost another whole day's trade today..Ironically their 'friends' helped to prevent any shoppers going  anywhere near the place)
Kedem is an upmarket beauty product shop that sells stuff made in Israel & sourced from the Dead Sea.
One of the Kedemians  was rather rude to a young Muslim woman who had brought her young children on the protest.
"You should be ashamed of yourself bring children to such a dangerous place" she spat in the Muslims face.Which is rather ironic.Non?

So mournful that the dove just laughs the steadfast gasps

Oh, to be not anyone
Gone this maze of being skin
Oh, to cry not any cry
So mournful that the dove just laughs the steadfast gasps

Oh, to owe not anyone
Nothing to be
Not here but here
Forsaking equatorial bliss

Who walked through the callow mist
Dressed in scraps
Who walked the curve of the world
Whose bone scraped, whose flesh unfurled

Who grieves not, anyone gone to greet lame
The inspired sky amazed to stumble
Where God's get lost
Beneath the southern cross

rocking in the free world

Photo taken in Burnley by Michael H Gregg In the meantime please consider this......
.Neil Young's Israel Concert Cancelled To Not 'Put People In Gaza Rocket Range At Unnecessary Risk'

.Indeed .Poor Zion..

I took these photos in Burnley Municipal Cemetery this morning.
I had given Chris a lift for an Interview he was having with Burnley Council's  Parks & Garden Dept.(he finds the result of this within the next couple of weeks)
Quite a surreal place to have a job interview ! But a pleasant wait for me.

































Burnley has it's own muslim area of burial.
This morning I  said  prayers for the murdered innocent men,women & children of  the current  Gaza Ghetto Uprising
 May they rest in peace
 & may their Israeli murders find some apropriate  punishment. somewhere down the line.....
Plus,Burnley has  a fine War Memorial for the British dead in two World Wars
.Also,a surprise, a memorial for The Hapton Valley Colliery Disaster 1962
To my shame,I had never known about.......

The new Hapton Valley Colliery soon acquired the name Spa Pit on account of the discovery of a mineral spring around 1818 by Ambrose Eastwood a local farmer. The spring was close by the new pit, and the name adopted. The method of coal extraction at this time at Hapton Valley would have been by pick and shovel working the pillar and stall method of extraction........

....The most fateful day in the collieries history of course was the disaster of March 22 nd. 1962, when a total of nineteen men perished...........

"The Ship Song" Nick Cave: Live at the Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany; February 13, 2013.

may you never.....

Ciao Pennadomo! Possiedo Via Caldora n.43.
I currently work three days a week. (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday).So when I approached my line manager  recently to ask if "I may work Thursday 10th July in order to go on Strike" She thought it a pretty fucking stupid idea.
Which i guess it was!
 Anyway,today i wasn't technically  withdrawing my labour...But I was there anyway.

The Gentle Author & Pauline ,from Work,picket the Halifax Council Buildings during today's National Strike.

Post by Tony Zimnoch.

JOHN MARTYN "May You Never" Live at the Teatro Antoniano, Bologna, Italy; May 18, 1977. John Martyn ,you will recall, pissed on my shoes in a gents toilet in Liverpool in 1979.Read all about it[ here ]

The Rolling Stones:Live at the Ernst-Merck-Halle, Hamburg, Germany; September 13, 1965
.SATISFACTION.
 Sir Mick sounds drunk/stoned/Outatune!

le tour de Hebden Bridge

up the junction

Squeeze:Live at the O2 Academy, Glasgow, Scotland; November 23, 2010. [soundboard]

Me & Cath spent a couple of days in Harrogate.We returned home tonight.
Harrogatians  are gearing up for the Tour De France, which starts tomorrow
Here are a few of my photos.
The Tour comes near  my house in Hebden Bridge on Sunday.Hopefully some more photos from that next week?

.Two  intial thought.....

The hotel me & Cath stayed in last night cost us £89.

We stopped in the St George's Hotel

[On the other side of the road, was where we saw T-Bone Burnett & Elvis Costello play live at in The Royal Hall on the 9th November 1984 .]
Tonight the same room will cost some poor soul  £325 per night!(Le Tour goes through Harrogate both days.It's something of a "hub")
Plus,my house is 50 yards from the Hebden Bridge route on Sunday,what a shame I didnt get me a UKIP flag during the recent elections.Had I one,I would wave it with vigour this weekend....
This weekend in Yorkshire Bike Riding appears to be "the new Rock & Roll" (as opposed to football or tennis...*sniggers*) Only fair then,I should share the best ever Rock N Roll video about Cycling.I give you Wild Billy Childish and The Buff Medways...............

..............Eat Your Heart Out Bradley Wiggins..

We have talk of 30,000 folk turning up in Hebden Bridge on Sunday to watch the tour de france.Hebden Bridge is known as "the lesbian capital of Britain".It is illegal for women to take part in the Tour.[DISCUSS] [above-press to play]Elvis Presley/Heartbreak Hotel:Live at the Freedom Hall, Johnson City, Tennessee; March 17, 1976.
n.b. you can hear the entire (good quality) Johnson City 1976 concert here

Sometimes Hebden Bridge tries too hard:Sometimes it becomes a parody of itself..........

here are some random photos taken in Hebden Bridge today.

+Me and Cath went to the Birchcliffe Centre.Can I say some nice things about PoesCeramics.Very Good & Very Well Priced.Buy ALL Your Christmas Presents from them this year!

Birchcliffe Ceramic Centre

cant find my way home.

Really Nice To See Bob from Bacup  & Noj & John & Jim in Hebden Bridge at The Eastern Spice with Ken & Phil the X-Fireman.Thank You All.Again soon I think. I am blessed with friendship.

The main audio is Steve Winwood recorded Live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Telluride, CO; June 20, 2014.Just 7 days ago!{An old Blind Faith song ,as I recall....] The second audio here (press to play) is Fleetwood Mac/ Peter Green live in New Orleans,; January 30, 1970.Who knows where the time goes...?
Finally. I've been really interested in Edinburgh's Young Fathers.They first appeared to me in January.They are so good.I love everything about them.
They are trying to break America.Good Luck Guys!The Music they make is rather special........If you like what you hear,give me a shout & I will run you off a copy of the latest album.The ghost of Jackie Leven lives on!

I'm Ready To Go Anywhere........

Image by Arthur Tress.

Audio by  The Byrds

Me & Phil the X-Fireman and Ken went supping in hebden Bridge on 18th june 2014. Here are some photos.....