One Sketch 327) (Friday 15th Feb) Monsieur Orson Peluche

The teddy examines the train
"A mystery here, yet again!"
No driver, no guard
Oh isn't it hard
Such mysteries drive me insane"

I really didn't have time to make anything approaching a proper sketch yesterday. So I started doodling with a red biro on a piece of file paper during lunchtime and ten minutes later this is what I'd come up with. This is Orson Peluche (ours en peluche) the world famous Belgian teddy near detective, in a scene from his most famous case, "Orson Peluche et la Locomotive Abandonee. He has just discovered the abandoned locomotive and suspects foul play!

One Sketch #120) Del Boy

Effervescent he (that means bubbly)
My opinion of the show?
Lubby jubbly.

I may have mentioned this before, but just in case I haven’t, let me start by saying that my ‘day’ job, as it were, is that I’m a teacher in an 11-16 Secondary School in South Wales. Not an Art teacher, no. I have no qualifications in Art at all. I do, however have a Postgraduate Certificate in Education – a PGCE, which is one of several qualifications, any of which enable you to teach in the UK. I also have an honours degree in English, so that’s what I’ve spent a little over 30 years teaching. Today (Monday) and tomorrow are the last two days of this academic year, after which we have a break of just over 5 weeks until the new year begins.

I know that the long summer holiday for teachers is a bone of contention. I may come back to this before I’ve finished this post. Still, once you get to the last couple of days, a much more relaxed attitude sets in. For one thing, attendance takes a nosedive. My first class today is usually one of my more ‘challenging’ classes. (translation from teacher speak –challenging = bloody awful)There were just 4 of them in school. On the principle that Art has charms to soothe the savage beasts, I gave them each a piece of paper, and told them about my challenge to make at least one sketch a day for a whole year, and showed them some of the pictures on this very blog. I asked them if they had any suggestions for what I might do for today’s sketch. One of them suggested a V12 Dodge Charger. Now, okay, I don’t have anything against sketching vehicles in general, and cars in particular. However, this just didn’t really light my candle. Then another of them suggested Del Boy. This surprised me a little, but it does at least show the lasting affection for the series “Only Fools and Horses”. I mean, these kids surely weren’t around when even the last Christmas Special was broadcast. 

There’s a couple of things I remember with great affection. I remember in one episode when Del’s father turned up from Heaven alone knows where, and Del, very much against the old rogue, described him with the memorable phrase “He sold his soul for half an ounce of Old Holborn!” Both my younger brother and I fell off our chairs laughing at that one, since we had often used such a phrase to describe our own father. Long story. 

When my kids were a lot younger, the only family holiday we could afford was taking the 26 hour bus to Calella in Spain, and staying in a ‘2 stars and lump it’ hotel. The drivers had a deal with a transport café somewhere in the south of France, and would stop there at stupid o’clock in the morning on the way there, and stupid o’clock in the evening on the way back. Well, the last time we took most of the kids must have been about 2005. The bus happened to stop while it was halfway through showing the 2002 Christmas Special of Only Fools and Horses. There was a mutiny. Seriously, all the passenger refused to get off the bus until the DVD was finished, even though these later specials weren’t really as good as the series had been in the 80s. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree. Finally, in 1985 I took my then girlfriend, who has been my now wife for the last 31 years, to meet some of my extended family in Brighton. As we were walking out of the station, who should we pass in the street? None other than David Jason. Sir David, I hope that you appreciate the way we smiled and nodded, but didn’t ask for autographs, or stop you to talk to us, or jump up and down shouting OMG it’s Del Boy etc. 

Hmm, I'm burbling again. I might say something about holidays tomorrow.

One Sketch #102) Little Owl

I'd have to say a little owl
Would rank among my favourite fowl
It may not be so much in size
But who's to say it's not as wise?

Yes, this was another lunchtime at work 15 minute special. I like owls generally, and little owls especially. Made this with my parker pen.

One Sketch #79) Buzz Aldrin in Biro

Who can imagine
The incalculable worth
Of taking those first firm steps
Beyond the Earth?

Why Buzz, I hear you ask. Why not Neil? Well, there were very few photos actually taken of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon. But it's more than that. I have a brother who is a year older than me. He was 6 and I was 5 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. His name? Neil. So whenever we'd play at being astronauts, he got to be Neil Armstrong, and I got to be Buzz. Could have been worse. I also have a brother 18 months younger than me, and he had to be Michael Collins back on the command module.

Why did I suddenly think of this? Well, in yesterday's post I made mention of childhood visits to London's Natural History Museum. Well, this would always be accompanied by a visit to the Science Museum next door, and one of the star Exhibits was a mock up of the lunar module, and the actual Apollo 10 capsule.

One Sketch #60) Old Hospital Bed

My tonsils gave me constant gyp
The Doctor said, "Let's get a grip,
It's time that you were sent, old Scout
To hospital to whip them out
I wasn't brave, just sad and glum
And made a fuss, and cried for mum.

One of my classes had to produce a piece of autobiographical writing for an assessment, with the them being a time that you learned a valuable lesson. I wrote one as an example, telling of how , when I was 8 or 9, I had to go into a grim old Edwardian hospital in Ealing to have my tonsils out. Horrible as the place was, the anticipation of having my tonsils out was far worse than it actually happening.

One Sketch #51) Waterloo Bridge

Where are the Samaritans?

Look around

They are beside you

In front of you

behind

Look in the mirror

And let one look back at you. 

On the way driving home from work yesterday, I had the radio on and was listening to Radio 2, as is my wont. A guest on Steve Wright's show was a very interesting chap called Jonny Benjamin. He was telling of how he was saved from carrying out his suicide attempt on Waterloo Bridge by a passing good samaritan, and of his subsequent internet search for the man who saved him, which forms the subject of a TV documentary he made, and a book he has just published. 

As a depressive myself, I found him, and his work campaigning to raise public awareness of issues regarding mental health, to be quite inspirational. 

Another biro sketch made in a snatched 10 minutes at lunchtime at work.

One Sketch #50) Ant

Alone, I am nothing
But I am not alone.
Alone, I'm worth nothing
But I am not alone
Alone, I achieve nothing.
But I am not alone.
And a million nothings
Are something.

This is actually a biro sketch I made it in work today. The inspiration was the fact that since the weather has become warmer we've developed a little bit of an ant problem here in my house. We found where they were getting in, and my wife bought some ant killer. Now, I have a bit of a problem with this. I don't want to go killing them. So I picked one up, told him what was going to happen, and that poison was being put down, and he had to warn his colony. Since my wife put down the ant killer, we haven't seen any. I can but hope that it's my warning which did the trick.

One Sketch #26) Seagulls

Yes, I was looking for inspiration at lunchtime, and these little buggers were standing on my windowsill. I snatched up my biro and a piece of paper.

There's pickings to be found

On the grass, on the ground

Everywhere, all around

It lies.

With my claws and with my beak

I will gather what I seek

I am neither shy, nor meek

No surprise.

So before my verse is through

I should ask, is it not true

- If I'm vicious, aren't you too?

Tell no lies.