Tuesday, July 15, 2008

What would you do if I sang out of tune?

A painting of my friend VicThis is a portrait of my friend Vic, whose thirtieth birthday we've been at this weekend. She is the first person I have painted who isn't a blood relative and thus could conceivable disown me if my painting compared to my cake-decorating skills. As she was still talking to me a full 48 hours after seeing it, fingers crossed.

We had a very good weekend. Vic rented out an enormous house called Black Dyke Barns, not far from here, where a small gang of us hung out and lounged about for a few days. Apparently (according to the guest book) the place has been used for filming by the adult entertainment industry. This knowledge haunted us throughout the weekend.

Other highlights included our performance of With a Little Help From My Friends on guitar, ukelele, tin whistle and a string instrument which is possible a zither (we weren't sure), played in a key that none of us could consistently sing at. There were also sparklers (see below), my decisive victory at Bagpuss, the boardgame and the formation of a top secret underworld organisation of as yet indeterminate purpose. A shadowy figure drawing a V with a sparklerWe came up with a really good name but it is top secret.

Having borrowed and learned to play Don't look back in anger on aformentioned ukelele I have fallen in love. It only has four strings! My guitar is broody! And I've already seen a purple one on eBay!

Anyway, had a really good weekend, made new friends and probably didn't knacker myself too badly.

A belated Happy Bastille Day. Vive la France!

5 comments:

akakarma said...

Beautiful painting! I had no idea you were so talented, besides writing I mean!Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Bagpuss, the board game? You can't just leave it at that... I need to know more.

PS if you need an evil megalomaniac with plans for world domination for your secret society, just give me a shout.

D Phoenix said...

With a name like "Black Dyke Barns," you didn't think it might not have some interesting tenants? Does dyke mean the same thing in the UK as it does in Canada/US? Sounds like an interesting get-away. We have a huge ukulele club in Vancouver and they regularly have over 50 people playing. I've wondered about it. I just might give it a try!

I like the painting.It looks like you caught her energy and the spark in her eyes.

The Goldfish said...

Akakarma - Thank you :-)

Jack - Bagpuss the board game is a very simple game which involves the collection of "Lost things" illustrated on playing cards. It is of course a very slow-moving game of chance, but I became rather competitive.


PS if you need an evil megalomaniac with plans for world domination for your secret society, just give me a shout.


I shall certainly bare you in mind. ;-)

Donimo - yeah, dyke has the same connotation, but this part of east Anglia was wetlands that was drained a few hundred years ago for use as farmland. Therefore there are some dykes in the original sense. Although what makes a dyke black, I'm not sure.

The ukelele is great fun, I recommend it. I'm now saving up for one of my own (although I think they're very cheap, I'm just broke at the moment).

Thanks for your compliments.

Anonymous said...

We had a very good weekend. Vic rented out an enormous house called Black Dyke Barns, not far from here, where a small gang of us hung out and lounged about for a few days. Apparently (according to the guest book) the place has been used for filming by the adult entertainment industry. This knowledge haunted us throughout the weekend.