...port hand Bill

I had a little experiment today.
My scribbles are becoming a little too polished for my liking, what with adding colour & finishing off slogans on the PC. (If you could see some of the stuff I drew when I was 16, you would notice its all b&w rough and angular.)

So I had a go at drawing with my left hand today to see if I could get a little rawness back into the lines.

Im fairly happy with the result if not the subject.
I seem to press harder with my left hand, so get more defined lines and colours .
Scanning cuts out half the pastle pencil shades I put on paper, so it does not do me too many favours.

I used to be far better at hand writing too, but it gives the text a nice childish quality I like.

I might try this more often.

...devils and devil dodgers

Now the question is :

a) Is this scribble a parody on the tolerance, intergration and acceptance we have of societies many facets and colours of lifestyle choice ?

Or

b) Me just drawing devils at lunchtime ?

...three little pigs.

No matter how clever youve been putting up firewalls & anti virus, the evil buggers out there are gonna come up with something to counteract.
Lucky it was not nasty, just irritating.
Hence the scribble, the complacent piggy invites the wolf.
The pro-active piggy should go out and hunt the bastard down.

...statistics

Wth ! ,
I installed one of these statistics things out of interest and have become fascinated by it.
Since I started this blogging lark at the begining of the year iv'e have a dribble of people passing through, not leaving comments or sadly any abuse, being offended and leaving promptly.
Until this weekend when suddenly I get hit 50 times in one day.
What on earth prompted that I dont know.

Its interesting a number of popular blogs appear to be cartoon based, be it mostly politically founded.
I wonder what it is that catches peoples eye as they randomly zip through blogs.

Anyway Im happy to say that on the Truthlaidbears' scale of things Ive evolved from an 'Insignificant microbe' to a 'Multicellular microorganisum'

Does this mean I'll have to start thinking for myself at some point in the future.?

...combat penguins

I finished my scribble early this lunchtime , so I carried on and done a second one.

Work interfers far to much in my liesure time.
Never mind it's now light enough to go sailing in the evening

...cultural exchanges.

Language barriers from the point of view of us English are there mostly due to attitude & laziness.
The little island off the coast of England (Europe that is) tend to learn English as a secondary language from an early age. So most of our chaps don't bother with another tounge or are arrogant enough to think they should not need to bother.

My problem with it is different, I am not fluent , but have enough Spanish to get me by, but Im to embarrased to use it for fear of making an total ass of my self. Could this be the real cultural barrier. Just being a stiff Englishman?

I refuse to try to speak French though, because it has the potential to annoy them if I don't.

...Caterpillas

I really want this to be true.

...evil clowns

All clowns are evil, without exception.
Name one that isn't.

...how not to treat those who care for you.

Colin was trained by the Fonz

...odd pets

Talking to people at work about their hobbies & things they keep as pets, I realize there are some strange folk in the world.
....& then realize I'm one of them.
....Probably.

...petrol money

A fond moment from one of my past rugby club tours.
The bus home visits many pubs along the way, the beer kitty slowly empties.

...the one in my head

There were several scribbles done while on board ship, all were left behind.
This is the one that sat in my head and didn't get drawn while aboard.
(for those not in the know "two,six...heave" is the call used when pulling in unison on sheets , ropes and halyards.)
The "heave" is what I did for most of the first day.

...not so good

...& so today I help out mending jetties at my sailing centre. For my pains I get hit in the head by flying nails as old boards are pulled off , not once but twice. Drawing blood both times.
To add insult to injury I push a rip saw into my thump, nicking it and making me do the "thumb hugging dance" on the spot. To the ammusement of others.
If this is weekend fun let me go back to work.

...being as filthy as a Frenchman

Strange I'm still shattered from my trip, fell asleep at lunch yesterday.
So this the first scribble since I got back.
Based on the phrase after washing, "to be less French".
This is how I felt after my return Journey.
The Journey started like so.

4:00 am Finish my final Watch on board & go to sleep.
6:10 am. Wake & make ready for an early breakfast.
7:00 am Breakfast.
7:45 am Clean , bunks boat & any thing that doesn't move.
9:00 am Sign off as part of ships crew.
9:30 am Bus arives & we make our way to the Airport for our two hour wait prior to take off.
11:30 am Departures lounge. Waiting. (bored)
12:15 Pm Take off.
4:15 Pm Land in Gatwick & mince about through baggage retrieval, passports, customs, (grumpy & hungry)
5:00 Pm Make way to the Trains for the Journey accross London. Oh Joy its Rush hour & I have 20KG of sailing kit in a large and cumbersome bag. (More grumpy , still hungry)
5:40 Pm Get onto the Tube at Victoria Station, Miss three trains because I can't get my bag on. Too crowded. Grr. (Very grumpy, Hungry , hot & greasy). Ticket machine won't accept my ticket. (mild anoyance)
6:30 Pm Finaly arrive at Arnos Grove in North London, Ticket machine still playing up. (annoyed, hungry, hot & greasy)
6:45 Pm After the mile walk to my brothers house to pick up my car. Very heavy bag digging into me. Its cold outside, It's dark & It rains. (Cold, wet, very grumpy, greasy & hungry)
7:00 Pm Arrive at my brothers. Finaly a cup of tea. Happiness spreads. Heating has broken so is 23+ degrees in the house. Now very hot & clammy. (Mildly grumpy, too hot, still moist,greasy,tired, still hungry but a little better for tea.).
7:30 Pm Head off for home. Window wiper has been broken on the car and it's still raining. (grumpiness levels rising again). Enjoy the drive through London traffic, navigating through the rain , at speed, buggerd wiper. Miss my exit and have to carry on round the North Circular. Grr.
8:10 Pm Final get on the correct road & start to head for home. Now this is where the Journey starts to get interesting for me. Only 120 or so miles left to go. Iv'e been on a boat for seven days & the whole world is still moving up and down & side to side as I sit still. Im tired & find myself. Nodding off, shaking my head to keep awake. Driving down the motorway I can feel my self following the world as it sways around me. The car gently swerving from side to side as if im drunk. Time to stop. (emotionless, tired, hungry, greasy, starting to feel as filthy as a Frenchman.)
10:40 Pm Arrive home. Push the Door open against the weight of Junk Mail. My Insurance company has writen to me to inform me they have cancelled my car insurance. Joy. Throw every thing in a pile & go to bed.
6:30 Am Crawl out of bed & go to work. (Numb, still hungry, still tired world still undulating).

I like travelling.

...Tall sheep.

Returning from crewing on the tall ship.
So I arrived back last night after 10 or so days awayat sea.
Tired from an 13 and a half hour journey including hitting the London underground in rush hour with 20 KG of bulky sailing kit in tow.
So I have not been drawing, & so no posts have been made for a few days.
This shall be rectified when I can keep awake.
For now make do with the photo taken from near the mast head, me hanging on for dear life.
This was an interesting experience all together. One in social interactivity in a reletively confined space more than just a sailing experience. One iv'e not really reflected on yet. So im not going to comment.
Did I learn anything about myself ?, well possibly, but not what I expected.
The accent of a 135 foot mast in rolling seas seems only a little part of the whole.
I may write this up soon & make fun of it ,but for now I need sleep.

...standoff

looking back through really old cartoons I found that I have re-occuring themes.
Ive discovered that :

a) Apparently I don't like sheep or kittens.
b) There are no women in my cartoons, which is very odd.
c) I appear to find the pineapple a comedy item. (See above if you can read the tiny writing)
d) I seem to like things that explode. (Possibly the fire pixie in me)

I know I draw things at random, but looking back even I can't explain some of the obscure & surreal lines of thought I had at the time of drawing.
Some of the things upset my moral standing, which is probably why they amuse me.
I don't intend to offend I just offend with my intent.

...the inner me

...because it's all about how you feel about yourself.

...offside

Well that was an odd day.
Lack of focus seems to have been the overriding theme.
I've been staring at this one Hotel project for so long now that I am just plain bored with it.
Bored, bored, bored , bored, bored , bored bored !
It fails to hold my interest and my attention span where it is concerned is zero.
So the day has been all about finding ways to look busy , yet avoid doing any work on the project.
Skirting around issues, doing other trivial tasks, skrimshanking ,buck passing, ducking, dodging & diving anything but take the project by the horns, which is silly because it's not going to go away.
It's my albatross.
But i'm in holiday mode , only one working day left & I have to admit, I just can't be arsed with it.

...nailing kittens to poles.

Ok , even I know this scribble is wrong in almost every socially acceptable way, but this is stream of consciousness drawing on my part.
I'm glad it's on paper and not still lurking in my head.
I like kittens, honest.