Albion

I'm a Considerate Creator...

2007-12-27T10:58:00.000Z

It's official. My Personal DNA makes me a 'Considerate Creator'.

To read my DNA report click

You can also follow the link and create your own - WOW! Just what you wanted for Christmas but nobody realised...

Yes, I know I've been away a while. More soon. Promise.

Albion.

Remittance Girl

2007-03-19T20:04:00.000Z

She's back.

New Website (...oooh!)

New stories (...mmm)

New comment (...OH!)

Visit her site, please; I promise you won't be disappointed.

But a word of warning...if you visit, be prepared to stay quite a while...

I'd say more, but Remittance Girl can say it far better than I ever will.

Just read...then tell me what you think - please. It's just between you and I...honestly...

Ciao, my lucky friends

Albion.

Wear Sunscreen

2007-03-09T23:12:00.000Z

Hello, Good people,

Short post. Found myself remebering a raod trip I had to do that kept me away for a few days and it was disorientating. As the memory of it floated around in my head and my body recalled the feelings, something that I had forgotten came back to me.

I turned the radio on and heard something that - it seemed - the whole world had heard except me. Perhaps I had, but it was only at that moment that I lsitened. Whatever it was, I haven't heard it since until just now when I looked for it, goaded by my absract recollection of that long journey. To hear what I heard, click the link at the top of this post, or this one:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/bazluhrmannsunscreen.htm

Have a good weekend.

Dance.

Albion.

The Lunar Eclipse

2007-03-04T17:03:00.000Z

Well, it was quite a sight, I have to tell you. Worth being a little tired today, I assure you. And this is what it looked like:

This series of images took around three hours between 21:30 and 00:30 GMT, by which time I was having to cover the camera to stop my breath from condensing on the lens. If anyone wants higher res images to print, just email me - they are free!

Well, I was up early this morning, even after shooting the eclipse; the boiler had gone out and the house was getting cold, so while Vivienne hid under the quilt I mended and then cleaned out the iron beast that keeps our cottage warm. Worth it in the end; there's nothing quite as tasty as bacon cooked on a wood stove...even the tea tastes better...

...speaking of which, I feel another cuppa coming on...

Ciao!

Albion.

The Eclipse passes

2007-03-03T23:53:00.000Z

I have some excellent news; Remittance Girl is back! She has a new website and it it great!

This lady has just the finest eye for a photograph, the sweetest, hotest, shiveriest touch with words and one of the best reality-check blogs I've come across.

Please, I beg you; visit her website and submerge yourself in her writing...but be careful, for she will seduce you until you will gladly drown...

RG, we, your readers, love you, and your new site is like the passing of tonights eclipse; we can once again bask in the welcoming worlds you weave...

Yes, tonight really is the Lunar Eclipse, and I will post images here and on the Suicide Girls site.

My camera is still outside on it's tripod, so I'll go and rescue it now from the midnight damp.

More later...

Albion.

Strider RIP

2006-12-27T18:54:00.000Z

Cat. Felis Silvestris Catus. Not much to describe the one-eyed (no, he's not winking!), chewed eared ruffian that we rescued and who became our companion and friend.

We had a bad week. On the 7th December we had to go to Essex (nearly four hours motorway from where we live) to visit Vivienne's mum, who was very ill. We arrived home in the early hours of the morning to find Strider sick. He'd been fine when we'd left him that morning and by the time we found him he was one ill boy.

We took him to the vet - yes, it was about 2am, but without it he would have died by the time we woke up in the morning. We got drips in him, and fed him a diet of re-hydration and supportive medications and kept him going a little over 36 hours. Then the thing we feared happened; the phone rang at about 9pm. The treatments had only helped to slow his decline, Strider was starting to suffer and the duty vet wasn't prepared to let it go on. So I went down there, shedding more than the odd tear or two as I drove into town, and as soon as I saw him I knew I had to help him.

I held him and talked to him, and eventually he relaxed, lay down with his paws and chin on my hand, just as he alwasy did at home, and started to purr his contented ragged, off-beat purr.

And he died.

We gave him the shot anyway, as he was already catheterised, just to make sure he wasn't in pain, but in truth he had already gone...

A little while ago we had nursed another adopted poushca through kidney failure; he died in October this year as I was driving home from a day working away; if I hadn't been stuck in traffic I would have been home. As it was Vivienne was home on her own and had to look after him as his heart failed.

Not nice.

And so it was that when Strider needed help on his way I wasn't about to put her through it again, and went on my own. As it turned out it was as good an end as we could ever have hoped for. This was one crittur that had had a tough life; he parted us with grace and dignity...

...and the other day we brought him home again. I didn't want to bury another cat; I'd already done two this year, and a third was a bit much even for me, that has been doing all the family pets for pretty much the last twenty years. So we had him cremated, and at the crematorium they placed his ashes into a sleeping black cat sculpture and he came back to us with a bunch of flowers and a condolence card. He's great...in fact he's sitting on the coffee table behind me and joins me on my desk occasionally, just as he always did.

A few more tears fell the day he came back, and I find myself choked up now as I write these words.

He was old and it was his time, but we're going to miss that old boy.

When I feel a little more distance and clarity I'll tell you about the other cats that have shared our home; Magic, Arfur, Katie, Rumour and more about Strider.

Till then, I feel in need of a cup of tea. And possibly even a nice glass of this really dark rum I just got...or even two. Well, I have a friend to toast...

Ciao.

October Song

2006-10-21T19:25:00.000+01:00

Every year at this time of year I play the same track off the same album...or CD as it is now ('though it was vinyl when first I began this ritual)...so what is it?

October Song
by Robin Williamson

I'll sing you this October Song
For there is no song before it
The words and tune are none of my own
But my joys and sorrows bore it.

Since I first heard this tune (in about 1977) I was hooked on Mr. Williamson's lyrics and musicianship; he is a fine player of just about anything he picks up. Damn him... no, I can't seriously be envious of one that has brough so much pleasure into my (and many other people's) worlds. When I hear these lyrics '...birds fly out behind the sun and with them I'll be leaving' (another quote from the song.

To hear this and more of Robins early work buy the album 'The Incredible String Band' on the Elektra label 7559-61547-2. You can buy the recordings from Robin's website: http://www.pigswhiskermusic.co.uk

Their music won't blow you away...it will carry you away on gentle wings...it will surprise and delight...

Wherever the String band are heard they leave little bits of themselves lying about all over the place...

Have a good October and i'll write more soon

Yours aye,

Albion

Cold fingers, warm thoughts

2006-03-03T21:41:00.000Z

I went walking tonight in the dark and the snow, the sound of it under my boots crashing back at me off the buildings like the memory of lovers past. I don't want to freeze like the world around me so I have put on a variety of cold-beating layers that have surely made me look a complete mess lacking the attractivness of an unmade bed. I am wearing one half of two pairs of my favourite gloves, each partner a victim to my travelling nature.

At least they are both blue

Snow is falling angel-feather soft from the bright-jewelled velvet cape of a goth goddess. If she wrapped me in her arms I would surely feel warm even as my heart froze for she whispers in my ear all the things my solitude needs to hear...or are they the voices of the lovers I have longed for and never known?

I want to be home now, to where the logs in my stove spit and crack and sigh as they are consumed by the flames they love to ignite. I need tea and alcohol and warmth; the sort of tea that is black and smokey and sweet; the sort of alcohol that hits deep; the sort of heat that only a huge chunk of iron can give.

I have created for myself too many things to do that keep me from writing the words of the stories that embroider my dreams, from the people that could be friends, from the friend that is my neglected lover, the lover that is my neglected friend.

And words.

They are my friends too; my friends and my tormentors. They scream into my ears, buzz around in my head, a swarm of bees in attack mode and then, when I try to rid myself of them, they change places with each other, running around on my electronic paper until they find the most crass and cliched and mundane form in which to portray me and betray me.

And yet.

I am a dog at the start of his year. Though it is winter the words are thawing. Though my life has been standing still the earth now moves beneath my feet; she breathes and purrs and becons me to her.

Put the kettle on and lift the bottle down from the shelf; I have an arm full of firewood and I'm coming home...

Ciao,

Albion.

Why must the toad work squat on my life?

2006-02-06T22:06:00.000Z

Sigh. The stories still overdrive my brain in the early hours only they never spill onto the page. The headfull of ideas still drive me insane. It's a shame the way they make me mop the floor.

Sorry Bob.

Can't I use my wit as a pitchfork and drive the brute off?

Ciao.

Spammers

2005-09-13T20:51:00.000+01:00

So now we have to tolerate spammers using our blogs to try to sell us stuff like 'how to make money from working at home' Yeah, right. In case anyone out there is in doubt, I offer this; Work is where I work and earn my crust; home is where I drink beers and act the fool and entertain friends and listen to wild music and write my blog (occasionally) and do other stuff (quite often). If you are one of those that has chosen or is unfortunate enough to have to work from home then this is my advice:

Create a room where you work: put a lock on the door: set your work hours to suit your life: when you work, unlock the door and go in to the room and work: set proper break times: when you leave work, lock the door behand you and don't go in there again until it's work time again. Simple. Important. How do I know? It's what I didn't do for years and now wish I had.

Oh, and one last piece of advice: don't waste time sending irate emails back to spammers; it does tham a favour by highlighting an active address and it wastes your life; Just delete the mail in the sure and certain knowledge that the spammer (receiving no responses from his or her mail list) will die a slow and excruciating death from loneliness and starvation. And poverty.

Okay, if you feel you must take out you wrath on something, here's what to do. In the dead of night under a full moon walk out into your garden or someplace outside with a person that you love/admire/have to hots for. take off all your clothes. Yes, both of you. Construct (using materials perviously placed with great care in a Tesco carrier bag) a doll that represents your hatred of spammers. Place the doll between your naked bodies as you tease and caress and cajole each other to a screaming orgasm, thus charging the doll with your sexual energy. Go to bed on a high and sleep or make love all night (this is optional). The next day you go to work, sit the doll on top of your desk or monitor. Every time you get spam mail either;
a. stick a pin in the doll, so releasing your anger and a little of your sexual energy to go with it, or
b. look at the doll, remember the night and imagine the poor, sad and lonely soul who's sole excitement in life is extracted from sending spam and who will never, ever, have a wild night of passion under to moon. Like you did when you made the doll.

Will this get rid of spam? Doubt it, but you will have a fuck of a lot of fun trying. Next full moon is on the night of 17/18th September 2005. Get ready...
Have fun. As you reach your climax, scream my name to the moon. Then email me the pictures of the doll. I'll put them on my blog site. Have fun, my friends.

Ciao

Albion x.

Jerusalem

2005-09-11T11:11:00.000+01:00

So you want to know the words to Jerusalem by William Blake? I'm being asked a lot recently. I wonder why? Well, here they are for you:

Jerusalem
By William Blake.

And did those feet in ancient time
walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire.

I shall not cease from Mental Fight
nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand
till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant Land.

Hope you enjoy many a rousing verse, and when the TV reporters stop you on the street you will now be able to stun them into silence with your word-perfect rendition. You will also be able to astound your friends with your better-than-pub-quiz knowledge that this is where the film 'Chariots of Fire' takes it's title from. But of course you knew that already...

Ciao,

Albion.

Flams and other rudiments...

2005-09-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

[Sigh...] You can tell by the title of this post that I'm feeling a little wacky today. For those of you that don't know, a Flam is a Drum Rudiment...it's the one where you play two beats very close together...so close that you can only just make out the two beats but you play it so evenly that it creates a driving rhythm...lazy stick high is, apparrently, the rule to get the right sound...

...sadly, in my case, it sounds like they were meant to be played together but my timing is off...story of my life. Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you that:

Zyra has a site update that you should visit - just follow the link -
I have a new link to a site that is under development - Domain X - worth a look
My own site will be up soon - watch this space...
Remittance Girl has new writings for your delectation - yep, follow the link...

Catch you later.

Ciao, Albion.

picture test

2005-07-13T20:11:00.000+01:00

Haven't posted a picture here yet. Here's one I made earlier...
...it's a door...want to know what's on the other side?

...ask me...

Albion.

Fast Post...

2005-06-15T08:08:00.000+01:00

Vivienne's daughter gets married today. I'm doing the wedding car bit for them - ribbons and all - so we're on a tight schedule and it looks like rain...wish us luck...

I don't do poetry - but my sister does. Recently our mum found an old dictionary that had this written in the front;

In the air that I breathe
Flies the dust of other generations
I need not fear the darkness
When I am to become so light
TAW/1981.

...more later...

Picture Post...

2005-06-13T22:33:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie...

I finally sorted out a few pictures to kick off with. This should contain a link to them, but if not you can find them through the links menu. In time I'll get my own site finished, but things keep getting in the way...like bills that need paying that make me go out to work.

Hope you like what you see. Watch out for more...

Ciao,
Albion.

Thoughts on Porn and Erotica

2005-06-12T01:11:00.000+01:00

I originally wrote the words that follow in responce to a discussion on REMITTANCE GIRL'S blog. You must read her words; they are beautiful, delicious and scary tingly. Chilli Icecream...

...anyway instead of just re-subbing the same stuff to the new discussion I've posted it here so you can read it if you want to and either comment below or on RG's site. Please be aware that I might quote you back to RG's blog, especially if your words are nice. Here it is then...enjoy...

Thoughts on P&E...
An ages old dilemma, this, and one which apparently argues that Pornography is base, vulgar, crude and a low form of expression. Erotica, on the other hand (or, one might say, in the other hand) is an art form and so is cerebral, sensual and examines our deeper emotions and so is a high form of expression. Therefore porn is vulgar and so has no place in our society; it is morally indefensible. Erotica, as art, has a place and a defendable moral high ground to occupy.

So what is my stance on this? Well, who cares? So long as the bodies involved are there willingly and under no duress then it’s acceptable to them and so to me, even if they are a minority from which my own preferences exclude me.

I think both have their place, but they are different. How? Like this:

Porn is excluding and one sided. It is about men doing sex to women: it says watch us, look at my perfect body, my hard tits, my willing cunt. Be envious of my huge cock and how someone takes it down their throat. Look how we shave ourselves so that you can better see how well endowed we are. See how she can’t resist my erection, how she has to grip it, how she begs me to stick it in her mouth. Watch as we tirelessly screw for hours. We don’t get sore. My cock never goes soft. Watch how she writhes at the hugeness of my cock in her. Don’t you wish you could have women like this? Don’t you wish your sex was like this? Watch us. Envy us.

Erotica, by comparison, is two sided. Erotica welcomes you in. It says: Feel my body and it’s imperfections and know what your touch does to me. Touch my breasts with your fingers and know their texture. Take my nipples into your mouth, this is how it feels and it’s good. Know what it feels like for me to want you. Wrap your fingers around my erection, and know what an erection feels like, even if you’ve never had one. Feel how your arousal makes it ache right into my belly. How my balls get tight and feel full as juicy, fat grapes when you suck them. My erection focuses all my attention on my hips, making them want to thrust. Even if you don’t have a clitoris I want you to know how it feels when it is stroked, how the sensations don’t stay there, but run up my spine. My back arches because of the tingling in my clit, and I have to let it. My hips move in a way that spreads my legs wider and opens me up for you. I know you can’t see it, but it does something to the opening into my womb. This is what my wet pussy feels like when it opens like a flower for you. It’s hot, and the wetness heightens my arousal. I know you can smell me; we both can and it makes you want to dip your tongue in me as I want you to. This is how it feels for me; please tell me what I taste like…

You are with us, now, we are one. Our relationship is incomplete without you. Our sex is complete with you…come, experience with us our joy and know the sensation of having a warm, wet pussy enveloping and gently gripping our erection, of having our pussy filled by a nice firm cock that’s big enough to make the bones of our pelvis spread, of having our lips around our nipples.

Come into our arms, come into our bed, come press into my wetness, my hardness, my tightness, my throbbing…come into my head…come into my sex…oh, god, come in me…

gtg. Ciao, Albion.

I did this personality type thing...

2005-06-11T19:09:00.000+01:00

...I wasn't sure I would want to know...or maybe I didn't want it to tell me what I was afraid I knew already. never one to back down from a challenge I did it anyway and here are the results, listed in order of completeness of match...

Your #1 Match: INFP

The Idealist

You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world.
Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.
It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close.
But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop.

You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

Your #2 Match: INTP

The Thinker

You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can.
Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge.
Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat.
A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it.

You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor.

Your #3 Match: INFJ

The Protector

You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity.
Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is.
You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience.
You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them.

You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher.

Your #4 Match: INTJ

The Scientist

You have a head for ideas - and you are good at improving systems.
Logical and strategic, you prefer for everything in your life to be organized.
You tend to be a bit skeptical. You're both critical of yourself and of others.
Independent and stubborn, you tend to only befriend those who are a lot like you.

You would make an excellent scientist, engineer, or programmer.

Your #5 Match: ISFP

The Artist

You are a gifted artist or musician (though your talents may be dormant right now).
You enjoy spending your free time in nature, and you are good with animals and children.
Simply put, you enjoy beauty in all its forms and live for the simple pleasures in life.
Gentle, sensitive, and compassionate - you are good at recognizing people's unspoken needs.

You would make a good veterinarian, pediatrician, or composer.

What's Your Personality Type?

Perhaps you might like to comment. Or recommend a good therapist. Or guffaw. You might even be brave or foolhardy enough to TAKE THE TEST YOURSELF
There are loads of other rediculous tests that you can take there too. Maybe we ought to all take the same test the same week and share the results. I'll read the results myself and tell you as truthfully as I dare how close it gets...

I think I'll do the Fast and Dirty IQ Test next...

...but only because sometimes I like it fast and dirty. Watch out for the results...coming your way soon. HeHe...

Hey friends, Ciao.

The answers to those questions

2005-06-11T18:25:00.000+01:00

Can writing (or any media) be :
...erotic without being sexual ? YES. It's what happens in your mind that counts.

...sensual without being sexual? DEFINITELY. Describe eating chocolate or sitting in a beautiful garden sipping an ice-cold beer...or wine...or what ever is your preference...steady now...

...erotic without being sensual? NO. If the writing doesn't kick-start your sensory involvement you're probably reading the contents list on a packet of frozen food. Monosodium glutamate. Yummy.

...sexual without being sensual? THAT'S PORN... Why? Because it removes the sensory aspects of the very thing that any half-witted lover works hard to intensify. Otherwise blindfolds would be pointless. And if sex didn't feel good, why would we do it? MSG gets used because it makes food taste even better...

...wait I feel an invention coming on...

...chocolate and MSG flavoured...now stop it. You're getting me all of a lather.

Ciao. Albion.

A new post at last

2005-06-09T21:52:00.000+01:00

Well, I read the other day that 70% of bloggers post once...then never again. As I'm in danger of becoming one of those I thought I'd better do something about it...and welcome a another new blogger at the same time.

Hi, beaNN.

When his blog materialises I'll post the link here.

Phone's ringing so I ought to do some work.

Ciao.

Hello, World...

2005-01-31T01:30:00.000Z

Welcome to my empty handed leap into the internet void... ...well, perhaps not quite empty handed, for I bring with me things to read and (soon) photographs to see, all for your enjoyment and comment. Over the coming weeks and months the content will grow and change, as I'm sure I will...

...not empty handed also, as I feel the hands of friends - those who have made this journey before me - in mine, their spiritual arms around my waist as I step out on this, my latest adventure; slightly less physical than previous ones, but with all the same apprehension and excitement and fear and new experiences and self learning...

So what can you expect? Writing, obviously...some erotic, some fantasy, some literary. Surprisingly some poetry (I don't do poetry...). Some you will find fulfils several of these genres; some you will find defies description even by me...

Photography. I would like to consider myself a picture maker. I'm not one of those snap-happy people that will post pictures of just anything. It is very possible that the picture will only appeal to me because I remember the time, the place, the people, the wind, the rain, the smell of salt and vinegar on the hot fish and chips, the taste of sea-side ice-cream on your lips…

…but, like the writing, it’s something I want to get better at, so I invite your comments on everything you find here, words or pictures…

I don't want to sound like an Oscar speech, but before I step out on the road there are a couple of thank you's that I would like to...need to... say to people...

To the red haired lady that steps at my side in this rush through life. You are my inspiration, my mentor, my finest and most sensitive critic, my insight into hidden lands and minds, my best friend, my lover... You are the breeze that blows freshness into my souls’ forest and I love you. Thank you.

…You may meet her one day as she strolls among these fallen leaves…

To Remittance Girl.

…for introducing my writing to the world among your own gorgeous words, for showing me the world of Blog, for seeing through my nervousness, for knowing that I’m not a Cyberstalker …for persuading me to ‘…share like a good boy…’ and for your kind and encouraging words when I did, you have my solid gratitude…
…for writing deep and rich and wild…for trusting us enough to bare your soul and your body…for taking us into places where we’re not sure we want to go or what we will find out about ourselves… for being caring, honest and genuine and everything that is RG, you have my admiration. Thank you.

Please please visit RG’s site; read her words, see her pictures and talk to her. Good or bad, writers need to know that we have touched people…

Talk to me too. A few of you have already, by leaving comments for me via RG’s site, and I am most grateful.

So here it is…the tentative first step. I can’t tell you how excited I feel – but I will when I find the words to describe it…

…Oh, and do send me stuff that you have written and photographed for the ‘Guest Room’…

...I look forward to meeting all of you along the way….

Until then, Ciao.

Albion