A Homely Hallowe'en

 

With so much of modern Halloween imagery focussing on horror and gore, how refreshing to look back to the seventies, and a far more homely Halloween.

Nice Bunch of Pumpkins.

Bonus - Scientists Investigating Rare Antigens Discover An Entire New Blood Group

The Horror. The Horror.

 

There are so many ways of coping with the horror of modern life.  Personally, the Chocolate Bath Olivers sound like the better choice.

The slide was from an odd box of slides, many of which defy explanation. Like this one.

Bonus - Also indescribable...  Cindy und Bert

Attack of the Fungus

 

Wherever there is moisture, warmth and time, fungus can attack.

Here, Jamie the wake-board, surf-boy is being attacked by some sort of mildew cloud thing.

Bonus - Smashing Pumpkins - Elephants.

Bonus 2 - Potatoes - Choice Cuts

Chopstick Akimbo

 

As I await my own "Foreign Muck" food for the evening (A very nice Pizza, if you must know) let's take a moment to appreciate these brave souls from the late fifties or early sixties.

Not only out for a meal in China Town, but demonstrating their mastery of Chop-Sticks...and smiling simultaneously.

Actually, there is a long history of Chinese Food in America, and this article is a fascinating read.

Bonus - 

Hair Shirt

Bringing In The Harvest

 

An almost timeless scene.

Except for some primitive threshing machine (I guess), this could be from anytime in the past 300 years, provided that Kodachrome 35mm film existed.

Bonus -  This CANNOT be a good idea

Due to Financial Cutbacks

 

... the fourteen separate UK Army Bands, Orchestras, String Quartets and Pipe Bands will be merged into a single unit, and reduced in number as shown adjacent.

Harsh.

Bonus - Sometimes, my brain just pictures something, and I have to comply.

Obviously unrelated to this

"The Stump"

 

As we tumble towards Halloween, it's worth visiting some of the spookier corners of England.

Today, we visit "The Stump". Also known as "Hilda The Hangman's Tree", this tree was reputed to be the home of (yes) Hilda The Hangman, or her ghost.  Famed in Dorsetshire for her attempts to abduct young soldiers from the nearby Army Camp with promises of "Nookie".

Alas, once enticed into the woods, to this very stump, Hilda would vanish, leaving the horny soldiers hanging here.

Fascinating, no?

Bonus - ‘World’s dirtiest man’ dies in Iran at 94 a few months after first wash

Bonus 2 - I am an evil man, and laughed at this.

Once in a ...ummm

Portrait of Vinyl Sofa and Cushion

 

Judging by the relative proportions, the Sofa and Cushion are of greater importance than Granny and Norbert.

Strange World.

Bonus - 

Top Names

Yup. Americans Love Parades.

 Especially involving the "Wind Bills"

Bonus 

Lily Loves Lounging

 

Enjoying the last rays of summer sunshine, have shaved her legs especially for the occasion.

Note Uncle Milton in the background, with clothes on this time. Thank Heavens.

Bonus - 

Chilly around the Weekend

 

Looks like someone's has a woopsie on the ice.

With my warped and odd brain, I was intrigued to see a medical gurney with wheels used on ice., but I suppose it still needs wheeled to the ambulance once it's off the rink.

Bonus - Still on the UK PM fiasco... 

Here's Boris !

Britain Needs a New Prime Minister.

 

Why Not Bob?

As Liz Truss sinks rapidly in the west, the hunt is on for a new Prime Minister who is untainted by Brexit Battles, who is unafflicted by Party Politics, and won't get into new scandals

Why not Robert "Bob" Livingston?

Admittedly, he's not an MP, or even a member of the Conservative party, but that shouldn't be a hindrance.  He also died in 1978, but this is not the time to succumb to petty alive-ist prejudices.

Vote Bob.

Bonus - 

The Fashion, Around These Parts

 

Around these parts (South Slideshire), this is pretty much what passes for normal work-clothes. Normally topped off (sort of) by a pair of wooden clogs, but that turban is de rigeur.

Bonus - How Cars Are Destroyed For Movies & TV

The Desert Landscape

 

One of the side-effects of watching quality television is that certain scenery become inextricably linked to certain actvities.

Case in point, years ago, I would have seen this image and thought "Lovely desert scenery". Now, my thought is "I wonder if this is where Walt and Jesse cooked up in their Winnebago."

Bonus - Also TV programme related, this 1967 musique concrète track by Pierre Henry, and Futurama

The Merchant

 

Written on this slide, in very small writing, "This merchant has his wares displayed right on the side walk which attracts and audience of children."

Current thinking is that this merchant, crap tho' he is, is a better choice as Chancellor of the Exchequer than Kwasi Kwarteng or Jeremy Hunt.

Bonus -

Damned Logic

I won it in a raffle .... can I keep it?

 

Baby Raffles were an occasional thing in rural Lancashire, and often teenage girls would return home after six months with Aunt Hilda with a baby that she'd won at the town fair.

Of course. That's the only possible explanation.

Bonus - Florida clown murder trial postponed after discovery of ‘clown sighting file’  In 1990 incident, Sheila Keen Warren is alleged to have dressed as a clown before shooting her employer’s wife in the face.

Bonus 2 - 

Engagement Saturday

 

The pose is the stereotypical "We're engaged" snuggle.

The slide is dated 1964 July. July?   He's wearing a shirt, tie and pullover????

The couple are probably Maureen and Colin, or maybe Brenda and Norman. Definitely NOT a Chantelle and Maximilian. 

Bonus - Flip your computer monitor vertically. It will change your life.

Ding .... Ding ... Haircut?

 

This looks like a photo of a photo - A magazine article perhaps?  

But, what the heck is going on?

Bonus - Every country has quick dial, easy to remember emergency number... except North Korea.

Bonus 2 - Ah Phooey. R.I.P. Robbie Coltrane.

The Cake Balancers

 

These kids were in a bunch of slides showing Machu Picchu and related high-altitude "stuff", and they have the look of South American natives.

However, I have no idea about why they are wearing / balancing fruit meringues on their heads.

Possible some strange local Saint's Day celebration.

Bonus - 

Ahhhh. Memories.

The Gypsy Violinist

 

Bloomin' 'Eck.

I'm still testing positive for The'Rona.

This is getting Tiresome. 

Bonus - 

Mummy, that didn't help.

Man On An 'Oss

 

Yup.

A sculpture of a Man.  On a horse.

Outside a building.

Great.

Bonus - According to the urban legend, if the statue shows the horse posed with both front hooves up in the air, the rider died in battle.  If the horse is posed with one front leg up, it means the rider was wounded in battle or died of battle wounds. And if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died from causes outside of battle.

Hogwash

Bonus 2 - 

Ship-Shape and ....what?

 I've often looked at this slide, and wonder "What, who, where and when." And I have no answers.

It looks like some sort of converted ex-war ship, but converted to what?

The name could be "WESTERN LA...", but that's open to debate.

It's annoying.

Bonus - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Interior People.

A712 X A713

 

Yes, the return of RoadSigns Of Britain.

Written on this one - "Kirk... sign nr New Galloway (on A782)  March 1976".

I was in the region a few weeks ago, and I should have tried to track down that sign...but Google Streetview suggest that it's been replaced by boring modern signage. 

Bonus - Yes, I'm still recovering, and improving.

Bonus 2 - 

      

The Reverend "Bob"

 

And the news is - I'm getting better !   Yay !

South American Street Scene

 

Yup.

Still infected,

So have this random South American Street Scene.

Bonus point is some identifies the exact location. 

Medically Unwell

 

Yup. Still infected.

And today, the NHS confirmed the C-19 diagnosis (thru' a PCR test.) 

So, time for some medical images...  The rest of the box as rather ... graphic, so this blurred shot seems like a safe(r) compromise.

It Was Inevitable...

 

Today, after 936 days of working from home, and anti-Covid-19 precautions...

...I tested positive for Covid.

Arse.

And I feel distinctly crappy.

Where in the world? Number 414

 

Once again, a slide with no information, and I've a hankering to try and track down the location.

And I succeeded.  Well, I am a genius.

So, to share the fun, do you think it is

A. Local Government Building, Aukland, New Zealand,  or

B. College of Design and Architecture, Budapest, Hungary or

C. Canadian Defense Forces HQ, Quebec, Canada, or

D. Oregon State Capitol Building, Salem, Oregon, USA.

Answer.   Streetview   Nice water feature.

Bonus - Thirty Years Ago today, Concrete and Fire: The crash of El Al flight 1862

A Mom and A Son

 

Just a simple photo from, oh 1955 I guess.

As the weather here in 2022 gets chillier, I thought junior's winter weather suit, and mom's warm and practical corduroy dress and sweater combo seemed ideal.

Rock on !

Bonus - 

The Approaching Storm

 

I have to admit it, post of the time I am searching through boxes of slides, looking, hoping for some image that I can sneer at.

But occasionally, I come across a 35mm slide that makes me thing "Flipping Heck, that is an excellent image."

Today, we have another one of those. The only info is "July 1968" printed on the Kodachrome slide. Probably England, from the look of the other slides in the box.  Excellent.

Bonus - Things I Do Not Understand About Modern Life.    Number 32 - Haute Couture.

Today, Balenciaga showed their Summer 2023 collection, with scrawny models, wearing ridiculous clothes, tramping thru' a badly lit recreation of a mud-slide. No, Really. 

Fine Day for a Wedding

 

Had a new box of old slides delivered a few days ago, and yesterday I scanned them in. Mostly dull, but this was one of the better ones. Slide is marked Sept 1967, so... 55 years ago :-)

Synchronicity. Today, my Sis and B-i-L are off at a wedding in sunny (?) Derbyshire. I wonder how fashions have changed then to now.

Bonus -