w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

Today's lyric:

"Japanese god-jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They're so tired of shooting protest singers, that they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume and sodden trading stamps
They'll hang the bullies and the louts to dampen down the day."

Elvis Costello: "Tokyo Storm Warning"
From the album: "Blood and Chocolate"

Last night, in semi-sleep, I had a half-decent topic drafted and parked in my sub-conscious. Really.

I'll remember it in a mo'...

Oh, yes - it was a sort of offer.

When I was a kid - and forever being the odd one - while my mates were collecting train numbers and suchlike, I used to go down to the beach - very early in the morning - and watch the Royal Navy ships sailing out of Portsmouth harbour.

From that 'hobby' of jotting down the ships' numbers F73 (frigate), D98 (destroyer) etc. sprang collections of photos and postcards, contributed to by friends' fathers who'd been in the navy and which have been languishing in albums (the photos, not the fathers) for donkeys' years.

I've recently found a couple of websites who buy such things, but it occurred to me that there may be some of you out there who might know someone who'd be interested in them? If so, let me know specifically which ships are involved and I'll see if there's anything in the archives that I could pass on?

Hmmm. Not actually that interesting a post, after all. That's the problem with making 'decisions' while you're half akip.