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28 July 2023
This week’s one from the suggestions list is The Damned
Photos
Thanks to Linda’s husband and Tracy’s husband and to George who had a random encounter with another Skwiggles customer in an exotic location. Thank you everyone, and as always, thanks for buying from us.
If you’ve been to a concert, or just have a good photo of you in your Skwiggles T-Shirt, let me know and I’ll put your lovely face above.
See more lovely faces in Skwiggles T-Shirts right here
Our Diary
Here’s the key points from our week
Friday
Has anyone seen this?
Diane wanted to watch a nice Disney film, and we hadn’t seen this one before, so we gave it a go. It’s about girl’s getting their first periods and turning into giant red fox-like creatures that destroy half the city…
…now I understand.
Saturday
Norman eats everything, sheep poo, dead things, stuff in bins, even broccoli (and no one does that) – but he won’t eat his monthly worming tablet. Why do they make them taste so horrible? Please dog worming tablet company add some artificial flavourings to it, even if it’s rotten-mouse-behind-the-shed flavour.
Sunday
Saw this sign in the street.
My bike’s slow so I had to go somewhere else.
Monday
I have some bad news. You remember I wrote about this romantic elderly dog-walking couple
Who I saw snogging passionately in the car park and got a bit splashed on the way passed. Well, I think they’ve split up.
I’ve seen him walking alone with the dog for the last few weeks, but didn’t have the heart to ask ‘Been dumped mate?’ so, as usual, I’ve assumed the worst. It’s good for me though, I’ve just bought a new jacket and don’t want to get slaver on it.
Tuesday
I’ve been watching 1883, the Yellowstone spinoff, and I liked this quote:
‘Freedom is riding wild over untamed land with no notion any moment exists beyond the one you are living.’
Not sure why I took a picture of my telly, but anyway it’s a couple of cowboys riding wild over untamed land with no notion any moment exists beyond the one they are living.
Wednesday
Saw this:
And thought – must be scared of traffic
Thursday
This has been on our wall for 4 years.
It says ‘Live for the moments you can’t put into words’. As you can see, we haven’t had any.
I’ve been listening to a bit of Bob Dylan this week, hence the Bob Dylan t-shirt design. But I can’t just listen to him, because then I don’t get what he’s trying to say, so I have to read the lyrics while I’m listening and in that way I mostly still don’t get what he’s trying to say.
I hurt easy, I just don’t show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get lowdown, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lieBOB DYLAN – THINGS HAVE CHNAGED
If you have some favourite lyrics, let me know
Could be daft, meaningful, inspiring, whatever you likeArtistYour nameSubmit
It’s summer in the lakes.
This photo of Catbells and Derwent Water has been carefully cropped to give the illusion of tranquility. I’ve cut out the 300 people feeding ducks on the shore.
That’s it for now. Have a great week. Come back soon.
Ian and Diane
21 July 2023
This week’s one from the suggestions list is the great Don McLean
Photos
Thanks to Gordon, who was at the Kiss concert in Glasgow last week, and to Ellen and Dave. Brill photos, and as always, thanks for buying from us.
If you’ve been to a concert, or just have a good photo of you in your Skwiggles T-Shirt, let me know and I’ll put your lovely face above.
See more lovely faces in Skwiggles T-Shirts right here
Our Diary
Here’s the key points from our week
Friday
Our daughter came home for the weekend, so me, my daughter and Norman (Norman didn’t really have a choice) decided to have a Wim Hof moment and release some dopamine, it’s always good to release the dopamine I’m told.
Not sure if that’s what dopamine looks like but anyway, in the 40mph wind and driving rain, we drove down to the beach and ran into the sea. The tide was out, so this also involved a half-mile jog in my swimming trunks, something you never want to see. I don’t have any photographic evidence of this but as usual, I’ve done an incredibly accurate drawing to show you exactly how it was:
My dopamine has never felt so free.
Saturday
I did a calculation today and discovered that, apart from drawing, the second thing a do most every day is carry poo. The highlight of my day is when Norman poos next to a bin.
Sunday
Did this
And then this
For 5 hours.
Watched the Wimbledon final.
This isn’t strictly accurate because I wasn’t watching two tellies, but you know what I mean.
Monday
You know I love bin day, so much so I’ve already written about it:
Twice:
and even worse, we did a video:
Well, big news, I don’t like bin day anymore.
For the simple fact, there isn’t one.
The bin men are (you guessed it) on strike in our area and have been for months. Sometimes they take it away and sometimes the seagulls do.
Tuesday
I’ve got some old wood behind the shed, so I panicked and went outside and started hammering it together for the sake of humanity and all the animals. As you know, I’m from Cumbria but I can’t remember seeing it rain this heavily for 24 hours solid. No one else seems to be making an arc, so it was down to me.
Look Norman, there’s not a lot of space and what benefit are you to the future of the world?
It stopped raining before I had to make my final decision.
Wednesday
The next day wasn’t much better
I needed a wee but Norman wouldn’t come out
Thursday
I was really planning on being totally miserable today until I saw this:
That spoiled my plans.
Everyone loves Don McLean’s American Pie, and since I’ve just sketched him this week I thought it would make sense to quote a lyric from the song, but in all honesty, I don’t know what it means, none of it, so I’ve randomly picked a verse.
Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
And moss grows fat on a rollin’ stone
But that’s not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and meDON MCLEAN
I’ll leave it up to you to decipher.If you have some favourite lyrics, let me know
Could be daft, meaningful, inspiring, whatever you likeArtistYour nameSubmit
It’s not every day you see a giant-sized Snoopy peeping at you over the trees, so thought I’d share it with you
That’s it for now. Have a great week. Come back soon.
Ian and Diane
14 July 2023
You’ll be glad to know, I’ve got another one done from the list
Photos
More Springsteen photos from Hyde Park came in this week. Thank you to Paul and all his mates ‘The Cuerdenites’, and on the bottom row, Sam (drinking again), Daniel and Karen. Thank you everyone.
If you’ve been to a concert, or just have a good photo of you in your Skwiggles T-Shirt, let me know and I’ll put your lovely face above.
See more lovely faces in Skwiggles T-Shirts right here
Our Diary
Here’s the key points from our week
Friday
As I was going to a Kiss concert on Saturday, I obviously listened to Kiss songs all night, just to warm up, had a few beers and in the morning discovered yet another ideas list I didn’t understand. I always write down things that pop into my head on Google Keep, a lot of it is complete rubbish. Tonight was no exception. Here’s what I wrote.
‘The pointless gate – Highlight the futility of being hemmed in’
(not a clue what I was thinking)
‘It ain’t a crime to be good to yourself’
(this is a Kiss lyric, probably to justify that third extra beer.)
‘What’s the word for a noisy sketch’
(eh?)
‘Sirius Black – magical high altitude rain cloud’
(haven’t got any Harry Potter T-Shirts yet, but I don’t think this idea is going to make the cut)
‘Anyone who says an onion is the only vegetable to make you cry, has clearly never been hit in the face by a turnip.’
(Tim Vine joke, don’t know why I wrote it down.)
My Google Keep app is full of this meaninglessness. Thought I’d share it with you.
Saturday
We arrived in Glasgow in the middle of the TRNSMT festival and instantly felt like that bloke who choose the wrong chalice on Indian Jones and the Last Crusade
The streets were filled with teenagers, mostly girls wearing hardly any clothes. If you were a teenage boy you would’ve loved it, but me and Pete, ancient fathers with daughters of a similar age, started saying things like ‘I wouldn’t let my daughter out like’ and ‘She’s just wearing her undies’ so before our ancient features started crumbling into dust…
… we headed out of town to Argyll Street where old men wore Kiss T-shirt and we could discuss the virtues of Paul Stanley’s solo album in peace.
Sunday
We were slightly hungover and we did something we’ve never done before. We didn’t have a Wetherspoons breakfast. I know. I don’t know what’s happened to us, and I think we’ve got above ourselves a little because we went to the M&S Cafe instead and belittled the fools in Wetherspoons. It was lovely and quiet with a nice big cup of coffee.
Monday
Norman got fat shamed. We took him to the vets for his yearly jab and she said he had a little bit of chub on his ribs.
This was brilliant for Noman because his dream in life is to be really fat, but then he realised I didn’t share his long-term goals, so he’s on a diet.
Tuesday
We went on two long walks with half rations. If you think that’s cruel, well I’m on the same regime, I’m so glad the vet didn’t pinch my belly on Monday after the last couple of weeks
Wednesday
If I’m admitting to stupid ideas then here’s another one, my idea for a quiz. Who are these famous characters?
Number 1:
Number 2:
Number 3:
Add your answers to this very difficult quiz here:
Number 1 is:Number 2 is:Number 3 is:Submit
Thursday
I saw a man who was just carrying a dog’s lead. So in the spirit of friendliness, I said to him ‘Wow, an invisible dog.’
I wish I hadn’t.
‘No, I haven’t got a dog, never had one in fact. My friend left this lead at my house, on Tuesday, no it wasn’t Tuesday, it was Monday around 9 just before it started raining, which I really appreciate because my garden needed it and I don’t like to use the hosepipe because, you know what happened to Thames Water…’
It was at that point that my soul died.
Luckily, a year later when I finally got away, these lot cheered me up.
We had another lyric suggestion, that I had to do some research on, because I’d never heard of the band.
But we did nothing, absolutely nothing that day
And I say, what the hell am I doing drinking in L.A. at twenty-six?BRAN VAN 3000
But when I heard it, like whoever sent it in (thanks) said I would, I knew it, but didn’t know where from. Then I did some more in-depth research (googled it) and it’s from the Rolling Rock beer advert in 1999. Here’s the ad to jog your memory – Rolling Rock
I’ve added a name to the box below so I can tell who sends the suggestion in.If you have some favourite lyrics, let me know
Could be daft, meaningful, inspiring, whatever you likeArtistYour nameSubmit
Look another Skwiggles T-shirt photographed with its superstar. – Noddy Holder. Thanks John for sending that in. You can just see the tee on John’s son on the left. Noddy liked it, I’m told.
That’s it for now. Have a great week. Come back soon.
Ian and Diane
7 July 2023
I’m claiming that I’ve got two done this week, with this one
Max from Stranger Things running up that hill with Kate Bush singing, so that’s Kate Bush and Stranger Things from the to-do list ??
Photos
Thank you to Rich and his band Hodgson Kain for all wearing their Skwiggles T-shirts and to Karl and his mates at the Madness gig at Delamere Forest. Brill x
If you’ve been to a concert with your Skwiggles T-Shirt, or just have a good photo of you in your Skwiggles T-Shirt, or a friend or a stranger or anyone, let me know and I’ll put your lovely face above.
See more lovely people in Skwiggles T-Shirts right here
Our Diary
Here’s the key points from our week
Friday
We went to Edinburgh to see our daughter. We always meet a load of nice people in King George V Park, the reason we get on is that their dogs are as bad as Norman. That’s the way to bond. But there was one guy who wasn’t quite as friendly.
Norman was sniffing around behind a bush and I heard this person shouting at me:
‘Watch out mate, my dog will rip your dog to shreds.’
I panicked and raced round the bush to see what was happening and was confronted with this terrible scene. I don’t have a photo but this sketch is close to what I remember:
I assumed he must’ve been joking, but the man continued: ‘You’re lucky he likes him, or that would’ve been carnage. Yours is the right colour, if it was a black lab he would’ve had him etc etc.’ He went on about the gruesome capabilities of the smallest whippet I’ve ever seen.
Thought I’d better share this. Black lab owners in Edinburgh – be careful.
Saturday
We went to Portobello beach, and look at this, I’m not wearing a Skwiggles T-Shirt, absolutely disgusting.
We had fish and chips in 50mph winds whizzing down the Firth of Forth. The bloke further down the beach opened his mouth and got most of my chips. It reminded me of holidays as a child in Anglesey or Weston-super-Mare.
Sunday
Went to Stockbridge market, to check out the local artists and decided if I really wanted to be a millionaire I needed to swap art for paella. The queue at the paella stall was massive all day. We had some, it was delish.
Monday
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Thanks for the photo Hilary and the inspiration for a t-shirt this week. Absolutley love Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Tuesday
I watched a little bit of The Ashes yesterday, for a moment it got a little bit exciting. If you think cricket is boring then you’ve probably seen me about 30 years ago on the local pitch. If you want to know more, click below
Wednesday
I became 57 today, but luckily I have done a lot of research into this, and a tonne of calculating to come up with this complex equation.
A friend sent me this T-Shirt (as if I need anymore T-shirts)
Also got this card with cheesy jokes, I like this one the best:
Thursday
Also got this one today, that I might get future inspiration from
I’m going to see Kiss in Glasgow Saturday night, so the only lyrics I could think of were these.
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day
I wanna rock and roll all night and party every dayKISS
If you have some favourite lyrics, let me know
Could be daft, meaningful, inspiring, whatever you likeArtistYour nameSubmit
Thanks to everyone who bought the motor neurone disease T-shirt last week, we’ve made £223 so far including gift aid, so that’s brill. Here’s Dave who was doing a triathlon of weight lifting, cycling and walking/running each day for 7 consecutive days. Some of it in his Skwiggles T-shirt as you can see.
That’s it for now. Have a great week. Come back soon.
Ian and Diane
