Dave Cryer, Cave Dryer

08 March 2007

09:11:39 o'clock GMT

Dave's blog has moved to Yahoo

Not having updated for a long while, I'm not sure if anyone's still reading this blog. If you are and you'd like to stay in touch, my new blog is at http://uk.blog.360.yahoo.com/davinhudds ~ I was writing daily at Blogit, but have become disillusioned with that site, so now Yahoo will be my regular base for the blogging of journals, poetry, prose, travel & photography.

If you follow me there, I'll see you soon. If not, thanks for the reading you've done here and to the scribes among you, good luck with your writing.

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03 November 2006

11:32:17 o'clock GMT

Carlisle: A Day at the Races # 1

Most things of note in my life at the moment happen on our weekends in Keswick. On Sunday 29th, our guest for the weekend took us to the horse-racing at Carlisle.

We'd never been before and what a day it was. The late October sunshine warmed us and with the time approaching for the first race, punters began to gather around the paddock to see the horses parade.

Just milling around before the afternoon's races was an experience in itself. From the very rich in tails and toppers to a man wearing his pyjama top, all of English society was represented there.

This is just a taster for you. Horses and their tales to come soon.

***

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01 September 2006

10:50:12 o'clock BST

A bit of Cryer on BBC Radio 4

Dear All,

It's been a while. I've been neglecting this blog a little, writing elsewhere.

However, here's some news for you all. I took part in the recording of a Dave Gorman show called Genius back in May. And on September 14th, the show I'm on will be aired. 18.30 on BBC Radio 4.

The first one airs this Thursday coming, September 7th with Johnny Vegas as genius guest.

Mine airs the week after on September 14th with Carol Vorderman.

For those of you outside the UK, if you follow the link to the Genius show, you should be able to hear the station on the Listen Live link. The show may be available on their Listen Again service after it's aired.

If you do listen, enjoy!

Here's the link to the show... http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/genius/

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18 July 2006

15:57:28 o'clock BST

How She Can Haunt Me

Meadow, midriff, mountain:
Here's a strip of fountainous female
Throwing her drops upon me
From a sidelong glance.

Headgoes, midswift, howsay:
Here's a drip of bountyplus nature
Showing her threepart to me -
Forms my step to dance.

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30 June 2006

10:00:13 o'clock BST

Derwentwater and Cat Bells from Friar's Crag

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25 April 2006

15:34:45 o'clock BST

Are some birds actually invisible?

We were sitting in the pub beer garden on Sunday night, me with a Guinness, Sam with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The spring-sprung sun was holding on above the rooftops and we were enjoying our first outside drink of the season.

And the birds were enjoying themselves too. The smoker's cough of a magpie came from behind me and I turned to see said magpie hawking and spitting from a nearby chimney pot, obviously clearing his lungs for his next Benson and Hedges.

Then there was a wolf-whistle and a general builder-with-a-cup-of-tea-three-sugars arrangement of non-specific random pop-tune notes - of course, it was a blackbird. I looked left in the direction of the sound and there he was, blasting out a Kylie Minogue from the top of a thin tree.

It was only us in the pub garden. We were drinking and thinking, together but on parallel lines of contemplation.

I honed in on the bird sounds. There was a chipping chirp coming from the roof of the pub. I looked up. Nothing. From a ragged spindly bush there came a tittering and a tattling. No birdip there though. In the trees to my left a cacophany of skiddups and whipplewhopples and scissor-scissors rang out like ten symphonias tuning up. It was a veritable beakers' corner, but was there a wingy wonder to look at? No, not a sausage.

I scanned my surround-sound panorama of peeps and parps and poople-pipping. I winced at walls, radarred roofs and telescoped trees for several studious minutes.

Surely I could see one of the little buggers?

No.

I turned to Sam: "Are some birds actually invisible?" I asked her.

She turned to me: "Probably."

We returned to our Sunday sipping.

So what do you think? Are some birds actually invisible?

********************************************************************************************

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21 April 2006

19:50:45 o'clock BST

Take the waters, my friends

This is a view of Cat Bells from Crow Park in Keswick. In the distance you can see the 'Jaws of Borrowdale' and on the lake is the Derwentwater Launch which will take you to six different spots from which to begin any number of walks. Derwent Island, behind the boat, has a crumblesome mansion on it which is rentable from the National Trust.

As I sit here at the computer screen, I'm back on the shores of Derwentwater. And soon enough, I'll be back there again. Subsume myself into the photograph and I can feel every tract inside me filling with wonder, bulging with spikes of joy.

Leave the screen, leave blogging, leave the internet and give myself the reality of that spot and every little blemish, every faulty part of this, my human frame, every horror of the stark inevitability of all human lives - all of that - just ebbs away into the lapping waters of the lake.

Take the waters, my friends, take the waters.

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07 April 2006

09:04:21 o'clock BST

Drive-By Truckers: Alabama comes to Sheffield, England

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21 March 2006

09:59:14 o'clock GMT

Leave the leaves, I'll take you as you are

Solitary, standing, lakeside lover,
Stripped of leaves, you have no cover,
Foothold floats in field of fury,
West wind whipping through your wings,
With a subtle slice that sings
Of judgement juiced up by your jury -
Stand there, be there, hold there still:
I have the way, you have the will.