Very, very, very slow fashion

The tale of a 1980s Gaultier shirt.

The garment appeared in my life after I bought it a second hand clothes shop in Birmingham in about 1985, then it continued to feature in my wardrobe until last week, September 2026. I'd worn it a few times each summer but after more than forty years! maybe I'd grown used to it just hanging there and other garments had taken preference. So, I put it on Vinted and someone in Spain bought it. 

Made in France, re-sold in Birmingham, worn in the Uk and all over France, and now, new life in Spain.

Just goes to show, an originally, no doubt, expensive garment lives on, decades after anything Fast Fashion would have hit landfill. Vive second hand!

Things I know very little of

but, I'm trying to learn a bit about . . .

Anyone following this blog will know I am deeply sceptical of almost anything A I related, mainly as being involved in the art and music worlds it's terribly depressing to watch everything heading slop-wise, well, not everything, but far to much. Plus of course adding massive problems to our already overloaded planetary bio systems.

 

Following on from a few posts back where I posted an at-that-time recent video by someone who really knew their A I stuff, this is an up to date look at where we are at. And, if what he says is true . . . well, humankind sawing off the branch we are sitting on seems to be a 100 % understatement. 

It's a complex subject and I've watched this through twice to try and gain at least the basics. Great interview with some weirdly funny moments like where Conner states that in the last decades that the AI firms have domesticated the nerds - come in, free food, endless math, great wages, I paraphrase as I can't find the exact bit now.  

As someone trying to write a futurist novel set in 2093, imagining what happens next up until that point is beyond a challenge. Think I'll just leave a sort of blank and the reader can fill it in with their own ideas of apocalyptic events. There's a few to choose from . . .

Musical experiments and conclusion

Banjo, drum kit - both electronic and 'real', electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, violin, mandolin, mini-synthesisers made out of recycled electronic components...vibraphone (might have happened if it hadn't been a rather too expensive musical experiment). All virtually self-taught to an impressively high level. For his very first instrument, the banjo, we signed him up for some online tuition from The Bluegrass Academy in Louisiana.

Our son's musical pursuits have always been fascinating, but the guitar has been the phase that has extended into permanency. Personally I was very sad when the violin ceased to be played but I understood the constraints - the need for a good teacher which was not possible at the time, the fact that he had started rather late, at twenty-five rather than five, and trying to find a local Irish band to join in rural France wasn't happening.  

The guitar is always there, a quick tune, or not even and it's ready to go; perfect for composing, accompanying songs, or just noodling away on at a gathering or in the bedroom, compact, portable, and versatile.

When I met him yesterday there was talk of visiting the local guitar shop as he has been idly viewing a certain Gretsch model and was curious to see if it was in stock. I'm always up for a music shop trip so we went. It wasn't in stock but there was a very handsome and almost flashy orange and gold Gretsch which was not quite the one he wanted - possibly luckily as just under a thousand euros would have required some very serious justification . . . mind there's a fair amount of music related unused stuff that could be sold waiting in the garage or his old room should it become a reality.

I sat and watch him play with that parental joy that can only come from watching the fruition of a rather remarkable musical talent born of all the previous experimentation and development over the years. 

I suspect he'll be ringing for a chat fairly soon about whether it should be the orange one, the blue or the olive green . . .

The orange Gretch

Several years ago in his Bordeaux student digs with the old Epiphone that I found in a house clearance
 

A glimpse of island life

I have been spoilt this year - at least four trips to the sea, each time short visits but all the more memorable for that.

I'd tried to book an interesting looking cabin in someone's garden on the île-d'Arz a couple of months back but being full on holiday season it was unavailable. Beginning of September, la rentrée has happened and suddenly everything quietens down dramatically. This particular island has around two hundred and fifty permanent residents but on an average high season day the number can rise to anything around two thousand - non residents plus the permanent folk - unless they've had the foresight to let their place and escape somewhere else. 

Rucksack packed and dog in tow we arrived on the foot passenger ferry (no cars for visitors) half way through the afternoon and walked to our rustic lodgement situated in a small village a couple of km from the main 'bourg'. 

Old veg brought from home made into a fry up, following exploration walk, a drink in the local very  interesting bar/epicerie, and we were ready to sleep.

The following morning started with my sea-swimming obsession. No one about and a large curving beach to ourselves. The tide was a fair way out so walking on a soft sand carpet was part of the swim; water lovely temperature and sun rise through the pine trees bordering the coast. Perfect. A top five swim of this year.

Mark's first sea dip of the year

The day passed in bike rides, more exploratory walks, investigation of the main town (big village) and its very beautiful and incredibly ancient church (C12th); naps, excellent lunchtime crêpes, an equally excellent fish dinner in the embarkment point hotel - L'escale - with its bay views.

It was a small glimpse into island life, and I have many questions to ask a local next time about how you might get a new mattress/furniture generally/breeze blocks/gas bottles/ anything really thats more tricky to carry than a couple of carrier bags of purchases. There's only one small shop too, and I couldn't see much signs of food being grown there, so the passenger ferry and larger ferry for the vans and cars that we did see are obviously total life lines all year round.

There were unused wells dotted about all over the island from days when water didn't appear from a pipe line from the mainland - I did look this up as I couldn't imagine there was a huge aquifer under the island - did I get grade E in A level geography . . . yes.

Also, incredibly! there was no boulangerie on the island . . . a bit sad as I learned from a museum visit that each hamlet had its own bread oven, wheat was grown and there was tide-powered water mill - now reconstructed but not used. Perhaps this will change in the future, the mill wheel once again turning, bread ovens constructed. 

The old tidal mill

There are several other islands in the Golfe de Morbihan, including the largish île-aux-Moines 

(monks), and small ones, some inhabited, others not. Future trip . . . I hope so.

                                                        Dog, less keen on ferry than me

                                                         camera on panorama mode on a boat