Engine Punk

I spotted this Ford Anglia at the recent Powderham Show, run by the Crash Box & Classic Car Club of Devon . It was a Ford Anglia that my parents had when I was born and my father dropped me on my head in it. My mother turned over the Ford Pop that she was driving during the winter of '62/'63 whilst pregnant with me so I couldn't really turn out any other way. With such a long standing affiliation with small Fords it's surprising I don't have one... I have always liked the Anglia saloons and am partial to the vans but the estates left me cold until I saw this one. Anglia estates look too tall and frumpy whereas the cars look sporty and the vans look just great to my mind. I think it's the rear side windows - there are too many vertical lines. Slam it into the weeds and panel in the windows and the Anglia estate is transformed. Our American cousins would call this a sedan delivery. I remember seeing a Morris Oxford once converted on similar lines but...

I saw The Wedding Present play at The Hippo in Plymouth on June 20th and thought they were brilliant. When I was a student in Coventry they were spoken of frequently but, as far as I can tell, I never heard any of their songs. Friends of mine knew about them but never imparted their knowledge to me. So when some of my mates mentioned they were going to see them in Plymouth I quickly checked them out on the internet. Hearing them for the first time, they sounded like a cross between The Smiths and Joy Division. I also discovered that they'd had 18 Top Forty singles in the UK without hardly anyone noticing. There was quite a gang of us at The Hippo in the end. Unlike when I was a student, word had spread in an understated kind of way. Those who knew of The Wedding Present playing that night had perhaps mentioned it to only a few of us and, when they had, they'd typically omitted to say that they were going along. Only The Usual Suspects (Garry and Rich) had been suffici...

It's not just me that's inspired by my surroundings. Gonamena is the tale of ordinary Cornish farming folk who experience tremendous upheaval when mineral prospectors come to their farm and turn it into a copper Klondyke. During the boomtime it's live hard and play hard but when the copper price crashes not only is there no work but no farm, either for the land has become poisoned. Emigration is the only solution to avoid solution. This could be a mawkish and self-righteous account of environmental disaster and the Cornish diaspora but it's bloody funny and gets its point across without preaching -- although there is a preacher among the central characters. For several weeks throughout June, what are known as the Gonamena guerillas have been targeting local supermarkets and shopping centres to publicise the show at Sterts Open Air Theatre. A gang from our row went to see it because one of our neighbours is in the chorus and I really enjoyed it. For a cast lar...

If things have been a bit quiet on this blog recently, it's not because I have fallen off the world. I went to one of the inspirations for the Wild Hunt, the Le Mans 24 Hours race and since then have been making the most of what is turning out to be a fantastic summer. This was the view from my sleeping bag of a morning - that's the Morgan of my mate Al parked in the Houx campsite within the circuit and in the distance are the tribunes around the start and finish line. Everyone was there because they were enthusiasts and we had a great time enjoying the atmosphere together. I felt very much like this during my time in this year's Land's End Trial. Of course, what I should have been doing at Easter was promoting the launch of The Wormton Lamb for this was published on the Easter Saturday but this was the very day that I was making my almost triumphant ascent of Blue Hills near St Agnes. At Le Mans I should have been promoting the Engine Punk thing and networking...

I'm continually impressed with the material this other blogspot is throwing up - Engine Punk Litmus . It's been set up by a fan - I know ! I can't believe it! Huge grin! Anyway, everything on here so far provides an accurate example of the Engine Punk aesthetic and I have to say that so far these are all in tune with what I had in mind when writing my tall stories about Nick Hob and The Wild Hunt. It would appear that, somehow, I have struck a chord with other people and not only understand what I was on about but are coming up with more examples. So - I would like more people to join in because I don't know where this is leading. I'm going to have a word with the administrator to see if other people can contribute. I would like to see what you lot think is Engine Punk. I'll still get worked up about Vintage Things but exploring the Engine Punk Aesthetic isn't just about me anymore - your views count!