Wednesday 17 June 2009

All blogged up...

I thought it was about time I explained myself, ‘came clean’ if you will. About my blog – well what can I tell you?

I’ve had quite a few people comment both on the blog (thanks to all who have commented - if I know you like it I can do more and if I know you don’t like it I’ll still do it but at least I know you don’t like it - after all ‘it is all about me’) and I’ve had comments by mail, twitter, facebook and (gasp!) to my face.

Some people find it all a little weird, others a lot weird. Thanks! One of the things I set out to do when I started blogging was to expand my own horizons and (I hoped) the horizons of the people I hoped would read it. It has worked for me - I hope it has for you. I spend a lot of my free time thinking ‘blog’, usually in the early hours, planning what to try next, how I’m going to keep your attention, what might interest you, what interests me. Often though the best things aren’t planned, they just come along or happen spontaneously – it’s almost like the blog has got a life of its own, sometimes I could swear that it talks to me.

Not everyone gets all of it - some don’t get any of it, and that’s okay.

As you know my wife thinks the ‘Bloody Blog’ is really annoying. In her eyes it takes up way too much of my time and her husband (me) has turned into a weirdo as a result – actually she knows that I’ve always been a weirdo and that the blog is just the most recent manifestation of my weirdness – but I do get where she’s coming from. I’m continually looking for blogging opportunities.

Think about this.

How would you feel if your partner carried a rubber duck with them everywhere they went and thought nothing of getting his rubber duck out in public, laying down on the ground - despite the crowds of people - and then photographing said duck in quite ridiculous circumstances and in the most public of public places? How can I blame her for sitting a hundred yards away while I do this and then pretending that she doesn’t know me until we are completely clear of the bemused crowd I seem to attract? It has to be hard to accept that your partner has a friend who is made of rubber, looks like a duck, and is called Dubby – and it must be even harder if your partner’s duck has a girlfriend called Dilly who is also a duck, made from rubber and covered in large pink flowers.

And then there’s Misty. Misty is at least a real cat, but if your loved one began to claim that they knew what a cat was thinking and that the thinking was about surrealist painting and the frustration of not having any painting materials – well, what would you do? Call the doctor? Call the police? Run away very quickly?

And what about all those beach sculptures? Would you be happy to spend hours on the beach whilst the ‘mad person’ that you used to know so well collects rubbish and rocks, and then makes the silliest things out of them, weaving strange stories about what they are and how they got there? Hardly normal behaviour is it? Not normal? Who says? Well, Gaynor often points out to me that this kind of behaviour isn’t normal, whatever normal is – and I can see her point I think.

I don’t think she minds the memory stuff (well at least the happy memories), and I think I know that she doesn’t mind the ‘event reporting’ stuff - but the dreams, the cloud pictures, my ‘flights of fancy’ – well, yes I can see how that could seem strange – and I know that she doesn’t like me sharing her recipes.

WAWL is an experiment. I'm just seeing where it meanders, what boundaries it crosses, taking in the countryside it travels through, enjoying the company of it's inhabitants - whether they be cats, memories, rubber ducks, dead heroes, whoever and whatever - it's almost like having my own country to play with.

So where will the ‘Bloody Blog’ go next? The answer is I don’t know and that is probably why I like it so much - no not like, love. I have absolutely no idea where it is going or what is going to happen next. This time last week I had no idea that I’d be in touch with Orson Welles or that he’d be commenting on the blog, and I haven’t any inkling who or what will be in the blog this time next week. It’s a changing, living, fluid thing - although not all of it is exactly, strictly, absolutely, true – it is an experience to be enjoyed and be in no doubt - I am enjoying it.

If that ever stops then so will the blog, I’ll let you know if it happens - but for now it really is a wonderful life.

What’s that? Oh yes, the blog says thanks for reading him and he’ll try his best to keep on entertaining you (please don’t tell Gaynor that the blog can talk, she’ll have me sectioned).

Now try this, it is easy and fun – I built the top and tail montages with it and it is as random as the blog. Go on try it out - you'll love it.
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Google montage builder Link

11 comments:

  1. This feels like you are attempting to justify your blog - you don't need to. The blog is very introspective as you say, 'it is all about me'. That's fine. If I have ever questioned the contents it is only because I share Gaynor's concern about your sanity. I love your beach sculptures & your reminiscences. Some of the photos are superb. Your enthusiasm for the small pleasures in life is infectious & sometimes uplifting. The rubber duck & the talking cat are a bit worrying. They are harmless enough but lets be honest, is this 'normal' behaviour for a gentleman of a certain vintage?. However, England should cherish it's eccentrics, even encourage them.
    Where this all begins to become a little bit disturbing is when you start communicating with the afterlife. By your own admission, the blog itself has started to take you over- don't allow more sinister forces to engulf you in the same way! Bring back the sculptures & the gentle musings on life. After all, isn't WAWL about the here-and-now: the clue is in the title.

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  2. Go with the flow AKH or against just meander.What you will. It is great and keeps me sane and thinking. I can only say thanks to you and to BMD for introducing us in web(by)world.
    Another thought. Your blog is like a great wide ranging conversation with a very good friend. Aquaintances talk about thiings/people they have in common; friends explore and discuss all things.
    I think it was Christy Nolan who wrote" accept me for what I am and I'll accept you for what you're accepted as".
    Thanks to Gaynor for sharing.

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  3. I love the randomness of your blog. You don't know whether you are going to get a history lesson, a piece of art/photography, a glimpse in to your imagination, gardening, cooking, ducks .............

    It's like a lucky dip.

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  4. God! Thanks my friends. It makes it all worth while. Sometimes when I'm rushing to meet my own internal deadline to deliver the blog I think 'Hey, why bother'? Now I know why I do it.

    By commenting, and writing your comments so well, you add much to the experience. If I was under fifty I really would consider entering this landscape that is WAWL for the Turner prize - I'm convinced that one day something that has been created in this fantastic virtual reality that is available to ua all will be recognised as the art form it is.

    Alas, age has beaten me again.

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  5. Clap, clap, clap.

    Give this guy an Oscar, he'd draw a tear from a glass bead eye. I won 16 and was nominated for a further nine, but nobody gave me praise like that... except for Senator Joe McCarthy of course. Ha!

    A good artist should be isolated. If he isn't isolated, something is wrong.

    Guess this guy is isolated then?

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  6. crikey you gave me such a scare AKH. I thought you were leading up to say that you were going to stop blogging out of consideration for Gaynor.I'm very fond of Gaynor and I sympathise with her on a number of the points you mention but .... your blog belongs to all of us and it would be wrong to deprive us of a much regarded companion to our daily lives.

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  7. There is nothing strange about a duck getting out and about with the one it loves and enjoying life.
    Now, that bloody cat on the otherhand....

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  8. Scared me too - I also thought you were winding up for a big farewell. I'm not bothered by wierdness. I don't even think ducks etc are wierd. We're all eccentric in some way or another. After spending 0 to age 20+ desperately trying to be like everyone else, the rest of life should be about enjoying NOT being like everyone else.
    What's this age nonsense though? ('If I were under 50...') That's just an artificial restriction, imho. I watched a prog ages ago about some tribe in a jungle somewhere, and the people had no idea what age they were. It just wasn't relevant to them. I loved that. Having done things like once sailing across the atlantic with a bunch of 60+s, I try to ignore age as much as pos, as a self-limiting thing. Rant over.
    Thanks for the blog. I wouldn't pass an exam on every detail, but I love to dip in and its made me laugh, cry (yes, once), and it is a blogging inspiration. It's also made me think differently about the importance of the written word. Enough ego boosting.....

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  9. I don't get you humans. He can't catch mice, he can't jump high, he hasn't even got a tail to chase - all he does is sit at that computer thing making up ninsense and you all like the ninsense he makes up!

    Ninsense, ninsense, ninsence.

    Haven't any of you got anything better to do?

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  10. Rik - you are so wrong about that cat .......

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  11. I think it has a lot to do with interpretation - you can read as much or as little in to it as you like, and dip in to and out of it as you see fit - rather like a good book... Personally, I enjoy reading it and feel I have had an insight into a variety of topics...! Whether happy or sad, reflective, light-hearted or dark, the reader can choose what they take from it...
    When all's said and done, it is a web log, and logs thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences - isn't that what we as readers and you the author want from it...?

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