The Obscurer

Well, that’s me for a while. I am about to set off for a cottage in Cornwall for a fortnight, and when I get back this ol’ blog will be moving to its all-new-all-singing-all-dancing domain of www.obscurer.co.uk. Exciting huh? Don’t click on that link now as it will just redirect you back here in a sort of “looking at a reflection of a mirror in a mirror until infinity” type thing. I will post here again the day before the big move, probably on the 25th of May, and the new site should go live on the evening of the 26th if all goes according to plan, which it almost certainly won’t. It is all an act of spectacular pointlessness I know, the main purpose of which will be for me to plummet down the Google rankings; but holding the domain name for about a year and doing very little with it is also pretty pointless, so you takes your pick.

But for now my thought are for Cornwall, land of oddness both ancient and modern. We are fortunate enough to be going in time to catch the historic Helston “Furry Dance” as we did a couple of years ago, although that occasion was somewhat marred by my son’s undiagnosed lethargy throughout the festivities, which we finally found out was due to an ear infection, but not before some frantic drives between Penzance and Truro hospitals. Hopefully the Furry Dance will pass off this year without any such concerns.

For examples of recent Cornish eccentricity how about this record shop we spotted last time we were in Falmouth, surely the most unenthusiastically named shop in history. It is certainly the antithesis of CD-Wow. Or The Rising Sun pub in Mevagissey which advertises itself on its website by saying “once you have found us, please remember to KEEP THE SECRET”, an unusual tactic for any business to adopt I would have thought. I suppose it could be a double bluff, getting people like me to spread the name of the pub by word of mouth while simultaneously conveying the image that it is a lovely quiet pub, I really don’t know.

No, Cornwall is odd, but I love it; I feel right at home there. I wonder why? See you in a few weeks.

…I am the New Year” sang The Breeders way back when on their Last Splash album, and who am I to argue?

Yes, I can tell it’s New Year and that the holiday period is over because once again we are being inundated at home with sales calls at all hours of the day. I had forgotten what it was like to hear the phone ring and assume it is my credit card company mithering me, but that feeling is back in earnest.

So the tele-sales people are back at work, but here at The Obscurer I just can’t be arsed at the moment, so this is little more than a “holding post”, to say that I have survived the seasonal excesses and I am still alive, but when normal-ish service will be resumed I cannot tell. But I shall return; I’m going nowhere.

Welcome to my Blog. Who knows where we will go from here. It may be funny, it may be serious, it may by entirely devoted to football. It may never get much further than this welcome message. Watch this space and find out.