The Sugar Pot

"Land of hope and glory, mother of the free, How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee?" sang out Vera Lynn's voice from the gramophone in the corner. The cool night air drifted through the open door, playing with bits of loose paper and petals that had fallen from the vase of flowers on the table. On the wall the clock ticked and outside a frog was croaking, he had been getting slower and slower over the last half hour and was sounding very tired indeed. 
"You know" said the Moose leaning back into his armchair. "If you were to ask a large number of people questions such as A: Why are things the way they are? and B: Why do they think this is so? Both answers would be more or less the same, are you with me?" He turned and looked at me with his head on the side. I thought for a moment, "I am" I said nodding "Though to be fair, I don't think there's any other way that people come to conclusions really, they assemble what they know in a way that makes sense to them and form their opinions from this without realising they're forming opinions from their own opinions and so on"
The Moose chuckled and walked over to the window, tapping his pipe on the sill. "I say..." he said after a moment swinging both windows outwards and peering into the dark. I looked up from the old yellow newspaper I was reading "What is it?" "Oh I just thought I saw something..." the Moose shrugged and leant on his elbows and blew rings of smoke out the window. I went back to my newspaper. The song came to an end and all that could be heard was the lazy frog croaking and the Moose noisily puffing his pipe which I found annoying after 24 seconds. "Listen to this" I said standing up holding the newspaper under the light to read "Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, was safely delivered of a Prince at 9:14 p.m. today. Her Royal Highness and her son are both doing well." The Moose raised an eyebrow, "I suspect that newspaper may be a wee bit old" he said turning around to lean out the window again. I put the newspaper down and walked over to the gramophone, took the record off, put it in its sleeve and searched for another one to play. "You know what?" I said looking through the records "No I do not" said the Moose, "Well, I just feel like listening to Vera Lynn again, don't you?" "Not in the least" "Why not? What's she ever done to make you hate her so?" "Shhhh!" The Moose motioned to be quiet and beckoned me over to the window. I walked over and looked out and then back at the Moose and said "What?" with my nonplussed face. The Moose pointed to a bush half a stones throw away, after a moment I saw it shake and then two eyes caught the light. "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" gasped the Moose. The next few moments were rather long and hard to count as the Moose, the two shining eyes in the bush and I stared at one another. "We can see you, you know" said the Moose and the eyes blinked and then the body they belonged to stood up. It was a man in white overalls and a black bowtie, "What were you doing in that bush?" asked the Moose "Why are you wearing white overalls with that black bowtie?" I asked, the Moose elbowed me. Still the man said nothing, "Maybe he can't talk?" suggested the Moose "Maybe he can't hear us?" I also suggested. The Moose shook his head to that, "No he can hear us, I'll ask him if he wants some sugar cubes. Would you like some sugar cubes?" The man smiled and walked toward the window wiping his hands on the legs of his overalls "Indeed I would, indeed I would" said the man smiling sheepishly, "Get him some sugar cubes my good chum" said the Moose turning to me, I grabbed a screw driver and walked over the the loose board in the floor, levered it up and took out the sugar pot (If you're wondering why we keep a sugar pot in the universally recognised safest of places it's because it's make of gold and inlaid with jewels) and walked over to the window. "Careful he doesn't snatch it from you, run off to sell it on the black market and live off the money for the rest of his life in luxurious comfort" whispered the Moose in my ear, apparently too loudly for the man in overalls (who was a good man but had lost his wife in a shopping mall and finding life very hard had quit his job and taken to searching for bird eggs under bushes which he sold to Lombards and Chinese egg collectors) jumped up and snatched the sugar pot made of gold (and inlaid with jewels) and ran off selling it on the black market whereupon he lived off the money in luxurious comfort for the rest of his life. The Moose tapped his pipe on the window sill and  scratched the top of his head, his eyes slowly getting larger and larger. I fell back into my chair on the newspaper then stood up and put the newspaper on the coffee table and fell back into my chair again. No one said anything. I swallowed loudly and my stomached made strange noises for next fifteen minutes while I tried holding my breath and squeezing my arms against my stomach to make it be quiet. The frog stopped croaking, presumably he'd passed out. I looked at my finger nails; they were all short and neat so I smoothed out a crease on my pants and then tried touching my nose with my tongue wondering if I'd ever tried to do it before and if not why. The Moose took a big breath then let it out for the next forty three seconds which was very annoying and made me want to hit him with bats. I watched a little moth hurling itself at the lightbulb and wondered what on earth it could possibly hope to achieve from doing this strange thing.

Ezekiel Chapter One with Dopplereffekt

Ezekiel Chapter One Verses One to Twenty-Four

1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

² In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

³ The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.

Dopplereffekt - Myon-Neutrino

⁴ And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire unfolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

⁶ And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

⁷ And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

⁸ And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

⁹ Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

¹¹ Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

¹² And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

¹³ As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴ And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

^15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

^16. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

^17. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

^18. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

^19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

^20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

^21. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

^22. And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

^23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

^24. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

Meeting Eccles

I leant back against the wall and looked down the busy street to my left, the cars slowly crawled past bumper to bumper and on the footpath the situation wasn't much better. People bumped past me, all with their heads down, each trying to get in front of the other. Everyone was in a rush to get somewhere, but not me, I stood among them yet so aloof, so disconnected I might have well been far away on top of mount Everest. Suddenly I saw a tall blue hat go past, this struck me as rather odd but it rung a bell somewhere in my mind so I decided to follow them since I had nothing better to do. I kept a few heads behind them and they weren't hard to follow, the hat was a good foot and a half above the heads of the surrounding people. After about a block they turned down into the subway, I followed them down the stairs and onto a platform where they walked over to a bench and seated them self. I could see now the person was a tall woman or perhaps a man, it was hard to tell for they had a long drawn face with a long, sharp nose, thin lips, large dark eyes and long black hair reaching past their shoulders. Their attire was of black and white striped pants, a dull green vest and dark blue shirt dotted with yellow stars, a red tie and of cause the tall, blue top hat. "Ello, what you lookin' at then" they had caught me staring at them, I stuttered "I-I-I was just admiring your lovely hat" I said trying to smile. They squinted at me as if to gauge whether or not I was telling all, "Okay then, have you seen Davonshire about lately?" they said after a moment, I frowned "I'm sorry?" "You heard me" they pulled a long file out of their pocket and started filing their nails, which were painted blue, red and green. I walked over beside them, "Who's Devonshire?" I asked "Davonshire -with an A" they corrected me, "Who's Davonshire?" I asked again. "You'll know 'im when you meet 'im" was the response. "What do they call you?" I asked "Eccles" was the reply. "Do you know why you followed me?" said Eccles, I shrugged "I was bored and saw a blue hat go past so decided to see where it went" "Wrong" said Eccles, "You followed me because I have something for you" "I think you have me confused with someone else" I said confused. Eccles reached into a pocked and brought out a small box wrapped in brown paper with a red ribbon "This your name?" they said holding out the name tag, "Yes, yes it is" I said, for my name was indeed neatly written on the tag. Eccles put the box back in its pocket "I'll give it you later" I dearly wanted to know all about this person but thought it rude to ask and didn't know where to start. The train arrived and we both got on and walked to the last car, no one had said anything but we were now friends. We sat in silence till after the next station when Eccles nudged me "You'll be getting off with me then?" I hadn't really thought about what was going to happen, "Where are you going?" "To see Davonshire of cause" said Eccles, "Oh" I couldn't think of anything else to say. "Who's Devonshire again?" I asked, "Davonshire, with an A as in Bat or Dwale" Eccles corrected me, "Who's Davonshire?" I said sounding out the "A" carefully, ""You'll know soon enough" Said Eccles. We were both silent for another while when Eccles pulled out a pack of cards and shuffled them "Pick three cards and don't look at them" I pulled out three cards, Eccles thought for a moment "You have the King of Spades, the Eight of Diamonds and the Two of Clubs" I turned the cards over and to my surprise this was indeed what they were. The train had stopped at a station, "Come now, lets go see Davonshire" said Eccles helping me up and a few minutes later we out in the chilly night air and on our way to meet Davonshire.

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Lobby

What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Lobby


Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

The Lucid Caliginosity

It is early in the morning, sun has not yet risen. A snail crawls up a blackberry, over the thorns leaving a trail of silver behind. Perhaps a wonderful beautiful thing has happened here, perhaps not. Solace. Nobody saw anyway...

Love will always win if you let it. Satire. A snail will also win if you let it. Love doesn't grow unless it's fed, and even then love always dies. Hate will win if you don't control it. Ink. But like all passions, hate will also fade and die...

Catching a glimpse or a feeling of something you not what but you can never let go of it and it plagues you forever until you start to wonder whether dreams really do tell the future, then you remind yourself that they mean nothing, breathe, but convincing oneself is possibly the hardest thing on earth...

Sometimes it's the implications that impact. A realisation that slowly winds it noose around you and then tightens. Like a dirty window suddenly shattering and then you see. Ignorance.  Why the house at the end of the street has always been for sale. Why the neighbours suddenly moved away. List. A dead telephone number. Delve. A note left in an unmarked envelope...

Slamming ones fingers in a door hurts...

I like walking along the the top mountains, jumping from one great peak to another. Over the oceans and over cities, over deserts and forests...

The wall holding back the flood of hatred is indeed leaking. Bleeding cuts, weeping wounds, at any moment threatening to burst forth. Everything could be prevented, but then again nothing bad that has ever happened was prevented. Denial. Hopelessness. Philosophers sit on the bank, while nature takes it's course unabated...

Perhaps can sit on your pile of silver coins and whisper to the cockroaches that gather at your feet for crumbs from those mint flavoured chocolate biscuits you greedily munch on...

Most people try the right way first. Most people try to be happy first. Adolf Hitler wanted to be a painter.