You like fish? You like coral? You know that coral is made up of lots of animals that hang around in packs, right? Well, I got some right here, go on, have a shufty.
The Last Tuesday Society
On Saturday I went with a friend to explore The Last Tuesday Society, a very curious museum tucked away in Mile End. It’s a dark, mysterious pit of a place, so I couldn’t get any photos inside, but some exhibits were:
Beautifully carved skulls, giant crab shells, dildos, mummified mermaid corpses, stuffed two-headed cats (and two-headed teddy bears on sale in the shop), skeletons of many animals, books of porn, broken dolls, tropical butterflies, many dead moles in a jar and some strange sculptures. It was very much the personal collection of a rich, artistic and slightly twisted eccentric. That eccentric is the still-living, party throwing artist called Victor Wynd. Wynd is a lecturer at the London Institute of Pataphysics (Pataphysics is what happens when artists get hold of science.)
We also got to meet a number of living animals, such as chameleons, water dragons and snakes. I got to walk around the museum with a Nicaraguan Boa curled around my arm. I’ve not held a snake before, he was reassuringly heavy and mellow, and his skin felt pleasantly shiny and smooth; a beautiful animal.
Upstairs in the cafe, we spotted they sold insects to eat. This is something I’ve been curious about for a while – after all, if our global troubles with population with continue, we may have to start eating insects soon. We got the insect platter and chocolate worms. I have to be honest, I didn’t like the insects much, the flavour was ok, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was eating a load of insects, the texture was too papery and crispy, and just too much like I would expect a dead insect to be like. I also felt sort of guilty, there were so many of them, all those tiny lives snuffed out so that I could crunch on them feeling a bit sick. The chocolate was nice though.
Look At This! It’s A Thing!
I am the shill, hear me roar!
So here again is a small excerpt from my book which got published, and you can even buy it right here. It’s all about magic, love, drugs and the pursuit of something, anything, beyond the humdrum. It’s about how imagination is a powerful force for both creation and destruction.
Vurt is raging now, preaching about the evils of cocaine, of billy, the evils of all drugs.
“It’s all just sloppy! Sloppy and messy. Look at yourselves choking and gacking and sweating. Don’t you get it? There’s nothing cool about this. This is too easy, too obvious. Anybody can take cocaine!” His podgy face is patched with red and he is lurching about the kitchen in a frenzy of belief. I shimmy over to the breakfast counter, lick my finger and dip it into the powder sack. Cant makes his way over and is looking at me all cute-eyed and squirmy. I hold out my white-coated finger to him.
“Suck on it rich boy.”
He narrows his eyes, takes my hand in his and my finger into his mouth. His tongue is rough like a cat’s. He starts gagging, flailing around for something to take away the taste. I jive away across the kitchen. Vurt is still preaching, so I put my hands on his shoulders and dance in time to his words.
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Frogs and Caterpillars
Today was a good day for wildlife, so I thought I’d share. I hope no one has the heebies jeebies about the above animals, ‘cos here are some…
I saw a dark shape sitting amongst my orchid roots…
I was a bit alarmed, then saw it was a frog, frogs are great.
Beautiful Creatures
Continuing my celebration of Monday good things…
I took this photo at work. We have a tropical butterfly event on at the moment, and I saw this one just sitting on a flower with its tongue out. I think it may have got drunk on the nectar.
And below are some pictures of the butterfly pupae after we stuck them onto canes, ready to go into the puparium to hatch. Some look like leaves in order to hide from predators. Sometimes I find the butterflies can be annoying, smelly and a bit icky; so it’s good to remember that they are also beautiful and fascinating.
Pupae
Please tell me about a good thing on your Monday, no matter how small.
I Want to Introduce You to Victor
Victor has been in my life now for over twenty years. Most of the time he has that look of quiet, patient dignity, occasionally it changes to a look of suppressed rage or weary indignation. Here he is looking natty and cool in a baseball cap. For twenty years I have kept him hidden away, a secret all mine. Now I think I need to share him with the world, I’m not sure what the world will do with him, but let’s find out.
This is Victor the Head. He will be back soon.
Banishing Gloom – a Monday Good Thing
A lot of bad things have been happening in the world recently, and now it’s cold, everyone is miserable and I keep forgetting to notice all the good things that are around me.
So I’m going to make a point of, every Monday, posting something good from the week. Either a photo, an observation, a piece of news or a delightful fact.
So what about you, what has brightened up your Monday? What good things are in your life right now?
If anyone feels like joining in, that would be fantastic, I’m happy to link or feature.
This Monday’s good thing, some photos of the frost where I work…
The Abandoned Hotel
“Jess?”
“Hmm?”
“You remember the hotel?”
“Which one?”
“The haunted one.”
“Oh that. It wasn’t haunted, it just had squatters.”
“Squatters don’t howl like that.”
“Sure they do.”
“Squatters don’t make you shiver like that.”
“No, but being soaked through and standing in a derelict and draughty hotel can.” She sat up and stared at David. He was gazing into the distance with a look that would have been dramatic if it wasn’t so obviously rehearsed. “It was just a building, David. It’s fine.”
“Some places you can’t ever really come back from,” he said still staring straight ahead. She wasn’t impressed with his melodrama anymore and just assumed the faint flicker of darkness in his eyes was a trick of the light.
Photos my own
Motivational Posters for the Inept pt. 8
I’m not sure I’m even trying to be motivational now, more observational…
Just a Brief Warning…
Over the next few weeks I’m going to clean up my blog a little and remove a few of the old stories. I’m going to take off Henry the Psychic Goat and a few of the longer, older stories (eg In the Sphere, The Corporation will Always Win, Not Awake) so if you think you’d like to check them out, then now is the time.
This is not the most exciting post ever, so here is a picture of a parrot scratching it head.
inkbiotic 