Author: Seb Palmer

Much more than half in love with easeful death…

FOOTNOTE: (8/2/‘24)

Well, I’m still here. But I posted the above, fairly obviously, in a moment of deep dark depression. such moments have been too frequent, alas, in my life. And in the last year they’ve plumbed new depths. Prior to this I only really thought about suicide. But in the last 12-18 months I’ve attempted it. Twice.

It’s kind of embarrassing to leave this post in public view. But I feel that I ought to. Such things are, sadly, a part of many people’s lives. And sometimes their deaths. And having this out in the open might help someone, be that me, or whoever, to see that such things usually pass.

Hmmm!? Apparently this ‘new’ Beatles track is an old unused demo, of a song by John Lennon. And, so I’ve read, rather as tech’ was used by Peter Jackson recently, on the Beatles film (?), this allegedly uses AI, to flesh out the meagre source material.

It’s quite a nice if rather maudlin ditty. I don’t mind it. But I’m not crazy about it either. The biggest problem for me is it smacks somewhat – as does so much ‘cultural production’ these days – of…

Myaah… I can’t be arsed! Read other folks reactions. They range from enraptured to (almost) enraged! GOAT often gets bandied around in relation to The Beatles. They’ve never been that for me. Merely a very good and very popular ‘beat combo’, with a better than average songbook.

I took up the carpet, in the ‘master bedroom’, over the last few days. We’ve been here nearly eight years, and I’ve been wanting to do this since day one!

The old Victorian floorboards are all long gone, alas. Instead we have chipboard floors. And, rather weirdly, the name Billy appeared, in one corner, once the carpet was gone.

I did a layer of grey underpants… er, I mean undercoat! And then a layer of ‘heavy duty floor paint’. Both shades o’ grey (albeit not 50).

And I did all this after an evening delivery shift (5.45-9.15pm).

Once I’d got to the point pictured above, I took a break. I then resumed, but took no more pics. I opted to move all but one of the larger chests of drawers (that’s three out of four!), and paint where they sit.

This still means I’m tackling the floor piecemeal; the room’s too heavily in constant use to simply clear it. Plus there’s too much stuff and not enough space to do so anyway. So I’ll have to work around stuff.

The undercoat was dry in next to no time. The heavy duty floor paint needs a whole lot longer to dry. I’ll be checking in on it tomorrow – which is actually now later today! Pics of that to follow…

Went to the doc’ today.

Several reasons, inc. renewing Co-codamol prescription. It’s always a struggle to persuade them that I need this drug. I think it’s because known as addictive. Anyway, I succeeded.

Another reason was this ‘orrid looking thing – see above pic – that’s appeared recently on my lower right leg. Any and all new/weird lumps and bumps always bring a ‘big C’ scare

I’m waiting to hear what the professionals make of it (via my pic!). Maybe they’ll need to take a better look? One would hope so!

Today was a really weird day. I’m drawing to the end of a course of 13 counselling sessions, that have been really helpful for me.

Overall, I feel I’ve made massive progress. But every now and again, like just now, in the last day or two. I can feel awfully, no, indeed, appallingly depressed.

Not only that, but I also have physical dimensions to my ailments. I have psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis. Both of which are very effectively treated by the sea medications that I take.

But nonetheless they do take a toll on me. Perhaps even the treatments, as much as the illnesses? Probably this is manifested primarily in terms of energy. Or a distinct lack thereof.

I spent all of today until about midday in bed, sleeping. And there’s so much that needs to be done. Both that I want to do. And that I simply have to do. So I really haven’t got time to be just sleeping the day away.

Anyway, when I finally emerged, from the cozy cocoon of bed, I decided to tackle a more fundamental job then I had hitherto intended. I would take up the old carpet in our bedroom (we’re also trying to de-flea our house).

It’s filthy, ages old, totally not our tastes, and frankly, disgusting and depressing to contemplate. But the issue is our bedroom is so full of stuff that it’s barely possible to move. Never mind do a big job like that.

So, of course, removing the old carpet entailed moving tons of stuff. An activity that, on a daily basis, I waste masses of time on. Nevertheless, I got on with the job. But soon enough I discovered I didn’t have the appropriate tools.

One of the things I needed was a four-way extension cable (or more, but four at the very least). We have loads of these, but they are generally all full of plugs that I don’t want to disconnect, or I simply can’t find them. So I bought a new, one very cheap (£4), from Boyes.

But getting onto the more specific tool area, I had tried using a Stanley knife to cut into the carpet. But all my Stanley knives are old and rusty/dull-bladed. A quick trip to ScrewFix sorted this out, however.

Whilst there – and enquiring about extension cables that have USB sockets built-in – another guy at the counter enlightened me, re carpet cutting; what I needed was a hook blade. So I bought a pack of these (£2.49, I think?). And, sho’ nuff, once back home, they did the job like a dream. It was, to use an old cliche, like slicing through warm butter!

The above are two of many folders, and suchlike similar baggage, that I’ve been carrying around for years. I’ve never gone back to their contents, except to have a look. So they’re useless. Today I’m burning them.

Rather unpleasantly I found this dead rat, whilst preparing my fire. It went on to the pyre.

It always feels good to purge oneself of such detritus. I do t do it near enough! Talking of purging… I need to ‘log on’, in the medieval sense.

Teresa asked me to design the Halloween pumpkin. As usual, I’ve gone with a simple traditional design.

I drew the design. She cut it out. And she used the innards to make pumpkin pie. Pumpkin, to light the evening, and pumpkin pie, to eat.

I picked Teresa up from work, at the local railway station. It was very musty or foggy. Quite aptly spooky. And on the drive home see stopped to look at a particularly fancy display.

Once home, Teresa and I picked The Pit And The Pendulum, for our televisual entertainment. Price – as both Nicholas and Sebastian Medino – is, well… priceless!

This 1961 International Pictures ‘classic’ is the second in a trilogy of Poe adaptations. We also have the first (The Fall of the House of Usher), but not the third (The Tomb of Ligiea).

This amazing building gets its own post.

What an amazing building. I can’t help feeling that these awesome and inspiring spaces need to be repurposed somehow. Perhaps, in the vein of Alain de Botton’s Religion For Atheists, as secular spaces for ‘sociology-spiritual’ well-being?

Kings Lynn is graced with a great deal of fabulous architecture. I was in town to flog off a Tanglewood guitar, at Cash Converters. Alas, times are hard.

I got £80 for the axe. Which was a good result. I got the guitar for nothing. It’s bridge had come away from the body. And the owner didn’t want the hassle or expense of fixing it. I was keen to try my hand at making and fitting a new bridge. Which I did very successfully.

Until I examined it more closely, I didn’t know what this building was.

I do love these old doors. Esp’ when they’re green.

Sounds like there’s more to The Guildhall than meets the ear.

This metal plate on the pavement is interesting. I’ll have to look into the whole Kings Lynn whale thing.

The town prison has a museum. I didn’t go in, cause it costs, and I’m broke. But get a load of those shackles or manacles, or whatever the Hell they are.

I saw a poster advertising an event at the Duke’s Head Hotel: A Jazz life, featuring a drummer I know, John Petters. What a great venue for such things.

As I was thinking of leaving, I passed the above tower. It’s set in a lovely little park. Some photos of which I include below. The tower was originally at the centre, kind of, of an enormous complex of buildings.

On another side of the park, the above walls intrigued me. Going round to the from one sees the building pictured below. A library. What a terrific building. If only modern libraries – and other municipal buildings – might be so beautiful.

Look at the doors below. Now these are proper portals!

Inside there’s this atrium, and a stained-glass feature in the roof. Exquisite!

And just off the atrium, there’s this fabulous spiral staircase.

I finally headed home, satiated, with a bellyful of architectural indulgence. En-route home the heaven’s opened. And there were, afterwards, some very impressive cloudscapes.

As I drove out, headed to Downham Market and Kings Lynn, today, I spotted this monster Buick. Well, okay, so it’s hard to miss! You don’t see cars like this very much round our slummy end of town.

The from is quite something. lol at all that shiny chrome! And the grill? Just beautiful.

This monster has a kind of prolapsed ass! And it really literally does look like an add-on, or bolt-on. Crazy. The spare wheel cover (‘tonneau’?) is fab.

I always wanted to fake white wall tires on my MX5, but never did get around to it. These beauties also have a wee thin band in the body colour as well. For added bling/class!