Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

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Nostalgia alert! Nostalgia alert!


About 30 years ago, I was out tatting (Collecting old rags and scrap) and someone gave me an old portable typewriter. It came complete with a little case that contained a spare ribbon and even some typing paper. When I got home, I tried it out and it worked fine. I spent the rest of the night typing on it, and the following day I sold it to the bloke from the second hand shop.

I had forgotten all about it until yesterday. Mrs Red was sorting through some old papers and she passed me a single sheet of A4. It was very creased and yellow with age. I unfolded it and there, amid dozens of spelling mistakes and some very iffy punctuation, (Some things never change) I found this little story. 




Being King can have it’s drawbacks, especially if you are fifty nine years old, scarred by many hard fought battles, physically restricted in your movements… and black.

The old King reflected upon his past life as he stumbled back towards the territory that for so many years he had struggled to defend against the invading hordes. He thought about the quiet periods between wars when he could be close to his beloved consort, and surrounded by his loyal subjects. But, he admitted to himself, even then his time was not his own. He had to be constantly on display, like as work of art, there for all to see.

He remembered countless battles in the past when, although not always victorious, his warriors had fought well and many of them had given themselves gladly in his defence. Now, all his men had fallen, he stood alone.

He could see quite clearly now the sallow features of the youth, not yet twenty, that commanded the enemy force. Directing them with small movements of his hand, closer, ever closer.

In that moment, the old King knew that it was useless to run. He also knew that he would not suffer the same fate as the rest of his men. He would be imprisoned, deprived of his power and of his liberty. For someone like him, that would be the end.

It would be better, the old King thought, if this stubborn will that drives me on would just let me surrender. After all, this is only a game, and I’m just a wooden chess piece.

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While Mrs Red and I were on holiday someone suggested we visit the market at a town called Mogan about 20 miles further up the coast. I love markets, and I wanted an excuse to go somewhere on the motor  scooter we had hired, so of we went.

We drove along the coast road for about 5 miles, and then we came to a sign for Mogan that pointed inland. Now I knew that Mogan was on the coast because I had seen it on the map and I knew that if we just continued to follow this coast road, we would get there, but the inland road looked exciting, snaking up into the mountains, all twisty and turny like the ones in car adverts on the telly. We decided to give it a try.

In no time at all we were climbing at a very step angle. Hairpin bend after hairpin bend we weaved our way skyward. It seemed endless. We couldn't see how much further up we had to go, we were too close to the mountain, all we could see was it's vast bulk towering above us. We could look down though, and we couldn't believe how high we were.

It was exciting, but as time wore on and we continued to climb, it also became a bit scary. I didn't say anything to Mrs Red, but I was acutely aware that we hadn't seen a living soul for at least an hour.  High up in the mountains you would expect it to be cool, but there wasn't a breath of wind and the rock seemed to trap the heat and reflect it back at us. It was fine while we were travelling, but as soon as we stopped, it was like standing near the open door of a furnace. It was too hot to breathe and the bike tyres almost melted on to the road. What if we had a puncture? We had no spare and no tools. We would be stranded. No shade and only about a litre of drinking water. Surreptitiously I checked my phone. No signal.

"Are your ears popping?" Asked Mrs Red innocently. "Yes" I replied, "My ears are popping, it's because the air is getting thin" I didn't tell her that the air was getting so thin that I could easily detect the change in pitch of the scooter's engine. We were so high that the rarefied atmosphere was affecting the balance of the air-fuel mixture in the carburettor causing it to "Run rich" we seemed to be using fuel at an alarming rate. We had over half a tank when we set out, good for at least 80 miles, but now the gauge was bouncing between quarter full and empty.

We stopped for a drink, and I looked up at the mountain, and then looked at Mrs Red. She smiled and puffed her cheeks out, wiping her brow with her fingertips in a "It's so hot" mime.

Suddenly, I realised that I was very scared indeed.



 

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!0 minutes later, we had reached the top and started to descend down the other side. This side was out of the full glare of the sun and much cooler. I cut the engine and we coasted down into Mogan. Easy peasy!

I couldn't work it out though, we were still miles inland, and I had seen Mogan on the map, it should have been on the coast.

Where ever Mogan was, I was mightily relieved to be there.

We eventually found out that there are two Mogans. Mogan proper, the inland one, and La Playa de Mogan on the coast.

Inland Mogan was definitely not tourist orientated. It was just an ordinary little town were ordinary people lived and worked. Well, I say they were ordinary, and they were, except for the giant sized random objects in their gardens.

Does anyone have any idea what these are all about? 

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Have you ever noticed how palm trees grow? Well I watched one near our apartment for a week and they seem to shed their skin.

First the old skin goes dull and lifeless, and then it splits open to reveal a brand new one underneath. Ta da...


 

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How long before this happens here?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7515907.stm

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I'll see your $100 billion, and raise you $400 billion.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7515823.stm

[Karabiner]

I'll see your $100 billion, and raise you $400 billion.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7515823.stm

It seems a dreadful waste of money to even print them, and I wouldn't fancy playing poker with Mugabe.

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Some dogs just know how to chill

[Tractor]

I'll see your $100 billion, and raise you $400 billion.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7515823.stm

That is just crazy.

Going back to your montain pics, we had a very similar thing happen this year in Feartevntura, we had minibus with two families in at the time, my friend was driving and we just kept going higer, round a bend, higher, road getting narrower and we all started off laughing and joking well by the time we were twenty minutes in all so it was deadly silent and i could see the panic on Martins (the driver) face, what made it worse was the fact that there were flowers at the side of the road every few hundred metres and you could see where the cars had gone over, we were so releved when it started going down the other side.
Nice pics, keep them coming.

[RED-DOG]

I'll see your $100 billion, and raise you $400 billion.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7515823.stm

It seems a dreadful waste of money to even print them, and I wouldn't fancy playing poker with Mugabe.

I know we lead a sheltered life in this country Ralph, but I can't get my head around stuations like those.

[RED-DOG]

I'll see your $100 billion, and raise you $400 billion.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7515823.stm

That is just crazy.

Going back to your montain pics, we had a very similar thing happen this year in Feartevntura, we had minibus with two families in at the time, my friend was driving and we just kept going higer, round a bend, higher, road getting narrower and we all started off laughing and joking well by the time we were twenty minutes in all so it was deadly silent and i could see the panic on Martins (the driver) face, what made it worse was the fact that there were flowers at the side of the road every few hundred metres and you could see where the cars had gone over, we were so releved when it started going down the other side.
Nice pics, keep them coming.

Oh I know. We saw several rusty wrecks that had gone over the edge.

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Dogs do have expressions, but they are very fleeting and easy to miss, or misinterpret.

This however, is an easy one....

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And then there's this...

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And this