Bob Griffiths

@bobgriffiths20.bsky.social

4592 Followers 3358 Following

Aquarius type, goes well with a paintbrush, goes well with a plectrum. Ingredients: ✨💦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇬. Best before: 23.06.2016, or ask wife/children/grandchildren. #FBPE, #FBPA, #FBPPR

Screenshot of the info page for this petition (‘Ban Foreign Media Ownership, Enact A Social Media Levy & New Regulatory Reform’) showing that at the time of posting a total of 21,156 people have so far signed.
Photo of a Hobgoblin Brewery promotional Hallowe’en 1 pint beer-glass from 2017, long before Boris Johnson was crowing some nonsense a couple of yrs ago about us getting pint-glasses back. The straight-style glass is screenprinted with a Hobgoblin image and the brewery name in a bold white design with bright orange lettering. The date 2017 is clearly to be seen, with the 1 pint standard measure (validated by the CE mark) also clearly in evidence. Iirc, Bozo’s fuss was all about the additional point that the traditional ‘crown’ mark was being reintroduced too - thanks to the marvel of Brexit. I, however, am pretty sure that you could buy pint glasses with the crown on all along in any case. The usual Johnson bollocks then, basically. The glass is shown on our bijou ‘Berlin’ model beechwood mini dining-table bought from local independent high-street furniture-shop/superlative cabinet-maker (they built our bookshelves, too). Also in the shot a black granite mat supporting the salt n pepper, etc and part of an etched-glass table-mat. Beer itself not pictured; no idea where that went😉
“WAAF Instrument Mechanics At Work” by Dorothy Coke (1941). The busy workshop is rendered in a geometric composition in industrial tones of indigo, slate-blue, browns, fawns, stone and earth - to my sensibility giving the work an ‘organic’ and human dimension that a straightforward b&w photo wouldn’t so effectively convey.
Screenshot of a classic children’s book “Our World In Space And Time”, published in 1959. Wonderfully informative and richly illustrated with hand-drawn/painted illustrations (not photos), it was a great non-fiction book. In its pages - amongst all the other science, history, dinosaurs, Egyptians, outer space and everything else a bright kid would want to know about - our current global warming dilemma was predicted clearly enough - OVER SIXTY YEARS AGO. We had over 60 years to to mitigate our present burgeoning crisis but we’ve done bugger all.
Two Heineken bottle-tops on an oak worktop. The bottle-tops are green, with white writing saying ‘Heineken Original’. In the centre of the tops is a white outline circle containing a white-edged five-point red star.
Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology commented that: ‘Sexually manipulating images of women and children is espicable and abhorrent….I, and more importantly the public, would expect to see Ofcom update on next steps in days not weeks.’ She also noted that the Online Safety Act: ‘…includes the power to block services from being accessed in the U.K., if they refuse to comply with U.K. law’ and that ‘if Ofcom decide to use those powers they will have our full support.’
Screenshot of info about the Audition range of guitars sold by FW Woolworth in the U.K. in the 60’s/70’s. This one is a solid-bodied electric, in a warm sunburst finish. They were popular as budget, beginners’ guitars and were decent value for money.
Screenshot of info about - and an example of - the budget range of electric guitars sold under the ‘Audition’ brand name by the British high-street store Woolworths in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The picture is of a typical solid bodied, two pickup electric guitar in a warm sunburst finish. Cheap and cheerful, and OK for the price for a budding young guitar player.
A slightly-cross-eyed Welsh seaside gable looks pleasantly surprised to find that it isn’t raining today on the shores of the Conwy estuary. (The way that the curtains are arranged on the two upstairs windows give an appearance of two - cross-eyed - eyes, with a downstairs window giving the effect of a pleasantly-surprised mouth. If you are as ancient as me the facial effect is similar to the faces on the Sunday morning children’s TV animation “Shoe People” which I used to watch with our children back in the 1990’s (?).
Google Maps view of Portswood, Southampton where the recent ‘protest’ disorder occurred. The police station that was the focus of the clash is located in the centre of the screenshot. Nearby consequential (?) road-closure is also prominent - shown by a no-entry symbol and red & white highlights.
Screenshot of some of the main cast of the Belgian crime-thriller series “Code 37: Sex Crimes” from a few years ago (aired in Belgium 2009-2013??) in the context of who would make a good Belgian-national role as BBC TV’s ‘Hercule Poirot’ adaptation. Marc Lauwrys as ‘Charles Ruiters’ (2nd down on left-hand column) was a great characterisation; here as a rotund, scruffy, down-at-heel but thoroughly-decent detective, but could no doubt play an excellent Poirot. Ditto Michael Pas (top of second column); his character ‘Bob de Groof’ was a slim, suave, rather sexist ladies-man, but could carry off Poirot’s debonair panache (with some judicious midriff-area padding). Ben Segers as ‘Mark Vermaelen’ (4th down in l/h column) could also carry off the Poirot role, imho. A notional discussion in any case because I’ve no idea whether the BBC actually wants a Belgian to play the role in the first place😂; this is just one of those agreeable exchanges that you get on BlueSky on cultural topics. The obvious choice would be David Suchet from ITV’s original adaptation but with in advancing years he might not want it. Will it work? Well, the recent remakes of both “Bergerac” and “Van der Valk” were both credible and to my mind successful reinterpretations…!
Group photo of the characters from the TV sitcom “The Royle Family”, posing on and around the saggy old-gold/mustard (?) sofa in the set of the family living-room. A profusion of items - a cup, baby-bottle, various snacks and an overflowing ash-tray are on the coffee-table in front of them.
A flourishing Lewisia rockery-plant in a round shallow pot on an Indian-sandstone courtyard. The plant has the typical rosette of leaves with an array - of in this case - pretty, coral-pink flowers in full bloom. The plant is in a gritty compost, set slightly above the soil-level and surrounded by a grit top-dressing and a decorative circle of pebbles. This will help to keep slugs away and to prevent the rosette from rotting in the colder, wetter weather. We’ve had this lovely plant for about 3 (?) weeks. It came as a (much smaller) special-offer freebie via a mail-shot voucher from our local garden-centre…!
Superb painting of a formation of Spitfires, showing five planes in a setting of bright sky against a backdrop of towering cumulus clouds. Below, the (English?) countryside is rendered in warm, golden shades of tan, green, and russet , whilst higher in the sky are shown the vapour-trails from earlier dogfight combat. The ‘lighting’ maybe suggests late afternoon, with the Spitfires returning to base after an op. The detail on the planes, especially nearest plane (squadron code K-FY), is finely-handled by the artist, with a great sense of form and surface. Sadly, the painter isn’t acknowledged in the book’s credits.
View of Conwy Castle in Wales seen in the evening sunlight.The castle battlements and stonework glows golden in the light, as does the road-bridge over the Conwy estuary to the left of the castle. A sandbank in the near distance and a wall below woodland (Bodllondeb Woods) on the other shore glow with the same warm tones, contrasting with the soft grey-blue of the water and the dark bronze-green of the trees across the water and on the near bank. Moored yachts add pinpoints of white to the composition. Above, the sky is a clear duck-egg blue contrasting with slate-coloured and cream clouds.
Gable-end of a house where the positions of the curtains in the pair of upstairs windows give the effect of two slightly-crossed eyes. An offset, bigger window below gives the effect of a rectangular open mouth well to one side of the face, giving the effect of an askance expression of surprise, looking expression-wise a bit like one of the shoe characters from the vintage kids TV Sunday-morning cartoon series “Shoe People”.
Screenshot of a post, the gist of which is that The Electoral Commission can be contacted about the Reform U.K. party’s protection-racket-style proposal to site detention centres in areas that didn’t vote for them in the May local elections. The Electoral Commission website will give details.
A group of vintage Moorcroft pottery (two vases, one bowl) on a bookshelf. The bowl has the harder-edged, linear, graphic quality of the more modern ranges and the design depicts lilies in warm coral colours against a background of cream and shades of cobalt blue. The vases are older (1930’s - 1950’s?) and although not from the same design-range they do complement each other in terms of their soft, rich range of reds, creams and greens on a deep green/blue background. I’m not entirely sure of the flowers depicted - on the larger one, the flowers may be hellebores or possibly anemones; on the smaller, the flowers are almost certainly irises.
Still from a video-clip from @deanowens1.bsky.social from their gig in North Staffs on Wednesday evening. Subject of post is Dean Owens & The Sinners guitarist Craig Ross and his immaculate Deusenberg guitar.
Screenshot of a graphic from the net of tonight’s football fixture between Peterborough United and Port Vale.
Photo of the flyer for Ian Pearsall’s exhibition entitled ‘City Of Fire And Beautiful Bricks’ at Two Doors Studios, ST7 2JA, together with a postcard-sized print of one of his distinctive contemporary paintings: a wintry scene under a lowering sky, with a snowy lane undulating through fields and trees towards a distant farmhouse and woodland tree-boundary with a glimpse of a distant ridge beyond.
Screenshot of Google AI’s response to my pretty vague question about a song that I’d heard but for which I didn’t know the artiste. It sounded like a Pretenders song from the vocals and the jangly guitar work. I put in a section of the lyrics and the Pretenders angle - and Google AI (a) got it and (b) explained why the Pretenders angle was entirely understandable. Am very sceptical about all the hype over AI as the best thing since sliced bread - but it worked very capably for that garbled enquiry of mine.
Screenshot of images of works by contemporary artist Bryan Evans. Rich colours within lively, representational compositions that have a painterly richness and a depth that a straightforward photo of the same view wouldn’t.
Photo of the late Gary Holton. Besides being ‘Wayne’ in the TV drama “Auf Wiederesehen Pet”, he was lead singer of the band The Heavy Metal Kids. Sadly missed, he died at the age of 33 in 1985 (?). Here he is seen at the mic, right arm aloft with long dark hair and wearing a white jacket with a red patterned neck scarf.
Two small boys in Hitler Youth uniforms, arms aloft with drum-sticks and wearing big drums on shoulder-traps from a familiar 1930’s (?) newsreel-style black-and-white image.
Screenshot of images of the filling-station used by N. Farage for his recent stunt/photo-op over fuel prices in Derbyshire. Nowhere near Clacton or the House of Commons.
Screen-shot of final result of Congleton Town v Bootle this afternoon, as posted on that other place Tw*tter. Final score 1-1 in a match that Congleton could maybe have won. Two red cards late on for the visitors, with the manager and a defender going. Hampton scoring to equalise for the Bears.
Three bottles of the excellent S.A. Brains beer ‘The Reverend James’ arranged on a circular, glass-topped side-table. Also visible is part of a variegated house-plant on the floor below and a square agate/mineral coaster that is in shades of mossy green, warm brown, cream and amber. Part of an olive-green gemstone sphere is also visible behind the right-hand bottle.
Screenshot of breaking story: ‘Lord Mandelson arrested on allegations of misconduct in public office.”
4-pack of Wonderwall limited-edition lager, currently on offer on the Aldi clearance-shelves at £1.99, previously around the £5 mark iirc.The pack is in a red-and-white cardboard carry-box. An individual can with its distinctive paisley-effect artwork and bold Wonderwall labelling in red, gold and white stands beside it. The arrangement sits on a glass-topped table with plants to be seen in the background. Also in shot is part of an agate coaster, a gemstone sphere and a pen.
A poster showing a gentleman in a nut-brown suit and trilby (lower left corner) and his lady (further away and dressed/hatted in similar colours) standing by a bright red roadster-style car as a huge, silver four-engined airliner fills the rest of the image as it roars very low overhead against the blue, cloud-bubbled sky. A striking composition of diagonals, firmly set in vintage 30’s-40’s times.
Black-and-white photo of popular British comedian Tony Hancock looking characteristically ‘down-in-the-dumps’ and disenchanted. Hancock’s era was the 1950’s and 1960’s; a modern equivalent in terms of depressive, cynical mood for comic effect might be Jack Dee. Here, Hancock is seen - a little slumped - at a table, eyes engaged moodily with the camera. He has a cup of tea in front of him (it’s probably gone cold), with a plate and cutlery from a finished meal next to him. He is wearing a black, woollen overcoat over a white shirt and his trademark black, Homburg (?) hat.
Photo of fallen autumn leaves from a sycamore tree in a tapestry effect of different (natural) colours that are caused by the sugars in the leaf-cells. Here are reds, yellows, greens, browns and deepest (almost black) purple shades. The tree is near the gate of my little grand-daughter’s school and she collected some as a present for us…!🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Screenshot from the other place of the great atmosphere at Vale Park for Port Vale’s 150th Anniversary celebration match v Exeter City. Crowd scene of Manager standing in front of a packed Lorne Street Stand, full of optimistic fans holding aloft their black-and-gold commemorative scarves. Spoiler alert: the scoreline didn’t stay 0-0, predictably….🙄 Still, it was a memorable day out for its warm, homely atmosphere and the love for our club which was much in evidence. ‘The Wonder Of You’🤍🖤.
British singer/songwriter and style icon Paul Weller sitting on a very heavily-accessorised Mod-styled Vespa scooter. The paint-job is Union Jacks (a Pop-Art inspiration, rather than the more recent ‘nationalist politics’ connotations). The scooter is adorned with rather more lamps and mirrors than strictly necessary. In the words of Justin Hawkins of the band The Darkness: “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth overdoing”. By contrast Paul Weller himself is understatedly dressed in blue jeans, a white tee-shirt and dark blue tailored jacket. And shades.
Screenshot of Speke Hall, a National Trust property near Liverpool, U.K. The building is in the distinctive Tudor half-timbered, black-and-white style and is pictured here in its pretty garden surroundings. Timeless ‘Olde Englishe’ charm, yet Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport is literally just over the garden fence!
Screenshot of the Fender Jazz Bass used by John Entwistle of The Who for the recording of the song “My Generation”. The bass looks to be a standard model of the 60’s Jazz Bass twin-pickup range; body is the traditional amber/orange/deep brown/black sunburst colour with an ivory scratchplate and rosewood (?) fingerboard. In later years he normally favoured pointy, ‘Explorer’-style basses, custom-made by Warwick, Alembic and Status.
A 50’s/60’s b&w photo of the Broadway cinema, Portswood in its heyday, resplendent with the ABC logo high up on its pale stone, sort of marble-effect Art Deco facade. I believe that the cinema building is still there to this day and is currently repurposed as a Gospel church.
1970’s (?) view of the Broadway cinema in Portswood. Typical 20’s/30’s vaguely Art Deco pale stone, marble-effect facade. 30’s era building next door is Alec Bennett’s, a well-known motorcycle and scooter dealership.
Screenshot of the Fascist baddie Vincenzo Danioni in the TV series “Hotel Portofino” (played superbly by Pasquale Esposito. Suave, well-dressed, little bloke, likes a smoke and a drink, has the gift of manipulative leadership….Take away the moustache and U.K. viewers might well feel that they’ve seen this political type in real, present-day life.
Black-and-white photo of Gerry Marsden (of Merseybeat pop-group Gerry & The Pacemakers) performing at the 1964 NME Poll Winners award event. Ever the clean-cut exponent of good stagemanship/showmanship of the times, he appears with a Beatles-ish hairstyle (and wearing a Beatles-ish short jacket over his shirt and tie). He is playing a dark-coloured Gretsch (?) semi-acoustic electric guitar and his shirt-cuffs and the guitar’s pale pickguard show up well under the stage-lights as he sings into a mic. He had a distinctive way of playing his guitar, held high up onto his chest - quite unlike the low-slung, crotch-level stance typical of the later punk and metal eras.