PACIFIC PERSPECTIVE

I am much struck and deeply moved by this extraordinary 1967 painting, 'Pacific': the work of Alex Colville (1920-2013), a Canadian artist and print-maker, responsible for works of Magical Realism that confront the viewer with mysterious imagery that beg questions and provoke propositions. 

 

There is so much discipline in its composition: the precision of painting: the geometrically-tiled floor; the table (with its curious measuring rule – establishing a formal sense of order, control or, perhaps, indices of time and space) and the portentous pistol carelessly, or precisely, abandoned or just waiting; the louvered window and the seascape beyond all contrasted with the figure of the shirtless man, turned from us, head and features unseen, watching, we presume, the gentle breaking of a single wave...

CROCS FOR A CROCK

My faithful best friends and constant companions...

Photo © David Weeks 2015

EARLY MORNING

Photo © Brian Sibley 2015

THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!

My first career ambition – when I was six years old – was to be a Punch and Judy Man.

Every year, for several years, we holidayed at the Kentish seaside resort of Broadstairs and, in 1955, I had a unforgettable experience. My obsession with P&J ensured that – day in, day out –  I'd be there watching the show on Broadstairs sands. I saw it so many times that, eventually, I knew the politically incorrect dialogue and knock-about action by heart: Mr Punch laying about him with his slap-stick, clobbering poor Judy, the hapless Baby, the Clown and the Policeman; the crocodile stealing the sausages and Mr P's final rendezvous with the Hangman...

One day, the Punch & Judy Man (or 'Professor' as they are known in the business), having noticed my daily attendance, called me over and asked why I kept coming to see the show. I told him how much I loved puppets and how I thought I might, one day, like to follow him into the profession.

Being a naturally garrulous child I also told him that it was going to be my birthday in a few days time – 14 July – when I would be six!  In response, he made me the most wonderful offer: as a birthday treat, I could join him in the booth and help with the show! Today, no one would dream of suggesting a child should be closeted in a little, dark tent with a stranger, but those were more innocent times.

The birthday eventually rolled around and I was beside myself with excitement as the Professor held back the flap of the tent and I went inside.

Throughout the show, I had the hugely responsible task of taking the puppets as they finished their scene and handing him the characters for the next scene...

Magic!

Decades passed and, one summer, David and I drove down to Broadstairs for a day-trip. I hadn't been there for years and I was repeatedly overwhelmed by waves of nostalgia and the memories of seemingly endless sunny days that, again and again, came flooding back.

Stopping to buy a postcard to send to my parents to remind them of those happy holidays we shared, I spotted this book...

Thinking it would be the perfect reminder of days gone by, I picked it up and began leafing through the pages of black-and-white images, only to be pulled up short by this one...

July 1955, and a sea of young laughing faces watching – what else but a Punch & Judy show...

July 1955!  

I was on holiday in Broadstairs in that very month, that actual year...

Goodness! I might so easily be somewhere in that crowd...  

Mightn't I...?

I examined the photo closer and, suddenly, there I was! 

And there I still am: in the midst of the throng, the young Brian Sibley – aspiring Punch & Judy Professor – watching with rapt attention and laughing with delight!

The years fell away as I unexpectedly encountered my former self and, for a minute or two, I was six once more!

Ah, well, too late now, I guess, to start up in a new profession..

OLD CROCK... NEW CROCKS

My first ever pair of crocks! We are in love...

IN PRAISE OF OYSTERS

Jonathan Swift said: "He was a bold man that first eat an oyster."

I think it may also be the case that it is a bold man who eats his first oyster!

Recently dug up in the Great Move: the shell of the very first oyster I ever ate – aged 42!


David and I were in Whitstable, premier British home of the oyster – and actor Peter Cushing!

In the Royal Native Oyster Stores Restaurant David ordered half a dozen oysters and, for the first time in my life, I plucked up the courage to try one...

And––

It was simply one of the most wonderful sensations I've ever enjoyed: I was like eating the seaside! There's no other way to describe it.

I immediately ordered another half-dozen! I can see them now: on a plate of ice and seaweed. It was an unforgettable experience and I kept that first shell...


As a shell it is the wrong shape for putting up to the ear to hear the sea, but just holding it in my hand – with its craggy back and pearlescent soul – I can perfectly imagine the sound of sea on shingle, the cry of wheeling gulls and the pungent aroma of ozone.

CROSS CURRENTS

As George once remarked in Seinfeld: "The sea was angry that day, my friends – like an old man trying to return soup at a deli!"

Thanks to Polkadots & Moonbeams for spotting this sign when we were in Hastings.

WINKLE-PICKERS

Sorting through the effects of our late friend, Ali Bongo, we came across a curious find: a winkle shell filled with wax and a membership card of the Hastings Winkle Club.

Click on the image below to enlarge and read the hilarious club rules...


After we'd finished laughing, we consulted Professor Google and discovered that, 109 years on, the Hastings Winkle Club is still going strong.

In fact, it turns out to be an internationally famous charitable organisation originally formed by Hastings fishermen to help the under-privileged families of Hastings Old Town.

The club's headquarters, opened in 1882, is located at the Fishermen's Club: a building given in trust for the use of Hastings Fishermen and initially used for the making and repairing of nets.

Winkle Club members have included some illustrious personalities such as HMs the Queen and the Queen Mother, Lord Montgomery, Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of Windsor and a number of showbiz personalities of which Ali was obviously one.

Each Winkle Club Member (or 'Winkler') carries a winkle shell which they must produce when challenged to 'Winkle Up'. Failure to do so results in a fine which goes towards local charities.

You can read more about the history and work of The Hastings Winkle Club here.

Time, now, to lower the tone (if that is possible!) and remind you of that saucy old music hall number -- all together now -- I Can't Get My Winkle Out!

Take it away, Paul Carr! And, please, everyone, feel free to join in and sing along...