A ROCK N ROLL TALE.

When I went to my rock festival in Kent in August.  My friend  and I met a man in Fathersham (or even Faversham) who wanted to know which bus to board for the festival.  My friend told him that we were going there and we would show him which bus stop to get off.

We sat upstairs  and chatted about the line up and previous concerts we had been to.  I rhymed off seeing Thin Lizzy, Enerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, Blue Oyster Cult and of course when I  saw Kansas in Warsaw..., yawn!.  It was a pleasant bus journey with lots of rock n roll nostalgia and humorous anecdotes.

The man told us that he once went to see a legendary rock star at some rock festival.  The 'legendary rock star walked (stumbled) on to the stage. Clearly very inebriated and stoned.  He duly fell over a stack of amplifiers which crashed to the ground.in pieces. He was then heard to say:

"Eff it.  We will have to play the acoustic set now!"

Well it made us laugh.


 Have you ever seen some famous rock star rather the worse for wear?

I Got My Thin Lizzy Stamps.

The good lady wife did purchase me two Thin Lizzy stamps this very morn.  The black rose on the left is the name and front cover of their classic Black Rose album.  The great and much missed Phil Lynott is on the stamp on the left.

They cost one Euros each.  I won't be using or posting the stamps.  We will put them away and hope they will be collectables one day.  Especially when it's commemorating Thin Lizzy's 50th anniversary one year early.

• Hope you like them?

A Stamp Dedicated To Thin Lizzy.

The leaflet that our postman delivered.  Do you like the Border Collie coasters?

An Post have just had two limited edition stamps Thin Lizzy stamps made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the band.  I will be getting mine this week.  Who knows they might be worth something one day?

Thin Lizzy are one of my favourite Rock bands.  I saw them at Manchester Apollo in November 1981.  When I was just seventeen.  It was the Renegade tour and the belted out all their classics.  Phil Lynott was a big Manchester  United fan and he was only 36 when he went to Heaven.  Snowy White was also in the band and I saw him again in 2013 playing in Roger Waters band in Warsaw.  I also saw other former Lizzy member Gary Moore play at Milton Keynes and I have seen Eric Bell play The Mariner in Bantry twice.

Somebody recently pointed out that Thin Lizzy's 50th anniversary is not until next year.  But does it really matter?  Fair play to An Post for printing the special edition stamps and dedicating to Thin Lizzy.  Fair play for posting the leaflet too.

Here's an appropriate Thin Lizzy  video called ' Dedication', enjoy!

Going For A Third New Potato Crop.

You can see new potatoes  sprouts pushing up their stalks in the polystyrene packaging case on the left.  

We have grown early new potatoes in the polytunnel which were ready to harvest in May.  Then we sowed some carrots in their place and we grew potatoes outside in the veg plot too. 

Stuff grown in the polytunnel was far more successful and quicker to harvest and it didn't have to contend with the very mixed weather, lots of rain and a field day for the slugs and snails.  Perhaps Ireland should see if it can apply to the EU for an enormous  polytunnel grant and cover the whole of the country?

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My dad used to tell me that my grandparents always had new potatoes ready for Christmas.  So I decided to save some little ones and go for a third crop.  Hopefully the frost won't blacken the tops with them growing in the polytunnel?

Anybody else growing any out of season vegetables?

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Built A Railway In Cork.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/Historic-stone-culvert-from-the-1850s-is-uncovered-in-perfect-condition-in-Cork-38676d5d-d169-4310-98fe-3e3196bffda3-ds

One of my Victorian heroes was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  He wouldn't have been concerned about some pernicious perennial root on his allotment, oh no.   This man was bordering on architectural and engineering genius.

Any road.  Or railway.  The man who built ships that crossed the oceans and connected telephone cables under the sea to India...   He also built the Cork to Midleton railway in county Cork. 

Some Irish wit once remarked that the English  built the railways and the Irish got on them and emigrated!

They still lament the demise of the  Cork, Bandon and South Coast railway in 1962.  Imagine if people could commute to Cork from down here by train?  I could go to Rock concerts, shop, watch a football match, go in Wetherspoon's or even work there.  If anywhere needs rural jobs, West Cork does.

I think my dad caught the train to Cork and caught the boat train to Holyhead in the black fifties.  He was only 17!

I read the above article today and was awestruck with the craftsmanship of the people who built this stone culvert.  It reminds me of the tale of some stone Mason carving a gargoyle  high up on the roof of some English  cathedral.   His workmate remarked:

Nobody will see that.

The stone Mason continued chiseling and said:

Yes, but God will.

Didn't  they have pride in their work way back when?

Homemade and Homegrown Kale And Onion Soup.

We lit the solid fuel range stove in the kitchen this morning.  So I decided to make some soup.  The onions have already been picked and live in a stainless steel bowl in the utility room.  The Kale Triffids are  turning into tree trunks in ye olde polytunnel.

We (me and the wife) had a lively and heated discussion  yesterday about the Kale polytunnel crop not being harvested and ate.   I was told that I only want the space for "MORE BLOODY" plant cuttings!  Am I  really that obvious?  I did plant some potatoes in the tunnel and (hopefully) will be ready for Christmas.  Did you say Christmas Dave?  Wonder what else one can grow other than plants and shrub cuttings?  Maybe VEGETABLES even!


Here's  the soup in the pan on the range:

Do you have any soup recipes?  Anybody make Mulligatawny soup?  That's another product from the British Empire along with Snooker and  Piccalilli and IPA.


Hope you're  well and keeping warm and dry?

A Bruised Knee, Wet Days And Time To Plant The Japanese Onion Sets.

It's not been the best of weeks weather-wise here in not very sunny West Cork.

Storm Lorenzo could hit Ireland and Blighty in the next few days.  Gale season seems to be happening more frequent than the usual November to March.

I prepared the ground a couple of weeks ago when it was dryer.  Every week we have been asking our local farm cooperative hardware store if the sets had arrived.  This week they finally did arrive.

So this morning I cleared the newly appeared weeds, picked a few stones and planted the Japs.  I hurt my knee last week.  A wheelbarrow decided to stop suddenly when I  was pushing it.  I think it was the pruned branches in the wheelbarrow that wouldn't fit through the gate.

Any way or road.  I forced myself to pike and rake and get the old knee joint working.  I was like the tin man in the Wizard of Oz.  That's a parody on self determination and agnosticism you know?

Here's the Japs:

If you have never grown them before I thoroughly recommend you get some.  Its wonderful to see the green stalks poking through the snow and ice.  They're tough old beggars those Japanese onions!