Here at Upside Down In Cloud, we are not at home to the World Cup.
Damn.
Even so. On Saturday I was out and about on the bicycle, dropping in on the Harbourside, where the Festival of Nature was in full swing-a-go-go. Pleasure mad, they were, as you can tell from the photograph. I caught up with some old friends, and narrowly avoided being signed up for several causes- "I 'ave recruited 6,000 people," said the french chap at the Wildlife Trust stand, and I could well believe it, as I found it very hard to escape the glittering eye that he'd fixed me with.
On Park Street there were young men clutching cans of beer and festooned with St George flags, shouting at each other. I smiled at a bunch of them sprawling out of a bar, and one instantly called to another, "Yer in there!"
"Not a solitary chance, maggot," I thought as I carried on.
I have now learned what a vuvuzela is, and heard one... well, heard several, actually... on the radio. What a horrid sound. I wrote this.
A clarinettinst from far Venezuela
Loathed the tootings of the vuvuzela.
"You can't play baroque on it;
Please put a sock in it.
I'd far rather hear a zarzuela."
I hope that they ban those things soon. They are like bees, except that bees sound better. (TV reception is bad here today so I don't have to put up with the match)
ReplyDeleteYou get chatted up quite alot on the quiet - hope they aren't all maggoty. The Morris dancer was nice.
My visitors abandoned me to go to the local bar to watch the ball kicking, what is that all about?
ReplyDeleteCaroline XXX
There's an art to avoiding being signed up for Worthy Causes without appearing to be a Heartless Bigot, isn't there. I'm not very good at it so adopt the "head down I'm not looking at you" approach.
ReplyDeleteMy Saturday was footy-free. And maggot-free, fortunately.
Apologies for the multi-comment-spam, but today's PM programme is too good not to share as a footnote to this post.
ReplyDeleteGiven this masterpiece, open this BBC iPlayer link and move the slider to about 0:56:40.
Only a very few times, Anji; and occasionally nicely. But not in a going-anywhere sort of way.
ReplyDeleteI think it's about changing your friends, Caroline. Strewth.
Thank you for that link, Jenny. Now that would be something to see! -it is a shame that they don't sing at the matches. You wouldn't get the fans at a Welsh rugby match all firing up on kazoos, would you?
I totally agree. Caroline - you need new friends!
ReplyDeleteThe MorningAJ household is also closed to football and I had so far managed to miss the sound of the vuvuzela completely. Typical of the BBC and Bill & Sian to go and ruin that record for me this morning by doing a VERY long report on them.
I shall rebel by switching over to Channel 4 and watching The Hoobs!
My wife heard them on the news the other day and said something about killer bees...
ReplyDeleteI don't have much use for either of them!
Your verse puts it mildly!
alan
My taste in music and noise is very eclectic. I like vuvuzela, now that you've turned me on to it! It's about people pleasing themselves and having fun, like when I used to toot on my recorder or a kazoo. I also like some baroque, some zarzuela, even Mazatec peyote chants. And I also like to not have to listen to it unless I'm in the mood.
ReplyDelete