sheep in the road
vol 2
alan rutherford
Sheep in the Road vol. 2
Living to work? Or preferably, working to live! We are all sheep in the road
B
Sheep in the Road vol. 2 Alan Rutherford
HAND OVER FIST PRESS
2 0 1 5
HAND OVER FIST PRESS
This volume (2) published by Hand Over Fist Press, 2015 email: alan.rutherford@blueyonder.co.uk website: www.handoverďŹ stpress.com Design, photographs, all text and additional artwork by Alan Rutherford
... some people cannot understand ideas like equality and freedom because their faith is based on them never understanding ... FFS!
Still dedicated to Ann, Joanna, Tanya, Callum, Cameron and Oscar ... My family For Anne, my sister, and her family For Guy, Jenny and family, hold on to what is true! And in memory of my mom and dad, and brother Brian
D
Contents Introduction 1 1
an abstraction
3
2
Lennon presaged ...
13
3
red nam
15
4
Wellesbourne Market
49
5 Frocester
89
6 Photomural
97
7 Badges
105
8 Demo
121
9 Dementia
135
10
Following on ...
143
11
Tiddesley Woods
147
12 Gloucester
161
13
An alternative ...
189
14
Family step up ...
190
15
Red face ...
201
16
Comic-Al ...
205
17 Exactly ...
215
ix
Sheep in the road
Photograph from around 1974, when Ann and I were in Abba, with our daughters, Chalk and Cheese ...
Introduction A second volume of a set of sorts containing all sorts ... originally intended to be from the mumblings, imaginings, wanderings and ramblings of one of the sheep in the the road, to the hiding and skulking rebel in the margins of a page, to outrage ... but, now probably better described as a photobook with some texture. Tinkering, adding, subtracting, tweaking, rewriting ... oh hell ... a kind of impatience has taken my hand and made me press ‘publish’ ... probably some of the content may suffer from this recklessly premature move, I don’t think so ... but the well used anology ‘you can’t polish a turd’ has informed my action. I thank you. Alan Rutherford, July 2015
1
Sheep in the road
2
1
––––––– an abstraction Spitting expleting adjectives, society’s cracks are showing and stalking the world advising cataclysmic adjustives: cuts, privatisation, scapegoating ... with governments propping up banks, condoning tax avoidance while criminally delegating their responsibilies to unaccountable charities. Flaunted class and wealth divisions are just too obvious and war and pestilunce tug and tow... well, are we to stare at the wall, seek out a sympathetic window? Fuck off! Nala Drofrehtur
3
Sheep in the road
4
windows
can be ...
5
Sheep in the road
6
7
Sheep in the road
8
9
Sheep in the road
... or just plain frightening
10
11
Sheep in the road
12
2
––––––– Lennon presaged by Lenin You’re having a laugh? Yes! I suppose I am ... 13
Sheep in the road
14
3
––––––– red‘nham Cheltenham, the butt of all kind of gentile living jokes has always had its fair share of lefty hot-heads, like most places ... in 1842 the last trial in the UK for blasphemy took place in Cheltenham when socialist, George Holyoake, speaking at the Mechanics’ Institute, was fitted up by Dean Francis Close and his associates. Holyoake’s talk was about Robert Owen’s idea of Utopian communities, where between 500 and 3000 people, sharing produce and profits, would try to be self-sufficient. Holyoake invited questions from the audience, and a man named Maitland asked whether there would be any churches and chapels in these proposed communities? Holyoake said that there was great economic distress in the country, and churches and religious institutions cost the nation about twenty million pounds annually, ‘Worship being thus expensive, I appeal to your heads and pockets whether we are not too poor to have God?’
15
Sheep in the road
Hollyoake continued, ‘If poor men cost the state as much, they would be put like officers on half-pay, and while our distress lasts I think it would be wise to do the same thing with deity.’ Speaking of his own beliefs, he said, “Morality I regard, but I do not believe there is such a thing as God.” If Holyoake had stayed away from Cheltenham, he might never have been ‘brought to justice’, but he decided to return to the town to defend his position. At another lecture at the Mechanics’ Institute, a row of policemen stood at the back of the hall, and after he had finished, Superintendent Russell, without a warrant, arrested him. Holyoake eventually agreed to walk down to the police station, where he was kept for the night. Three Cheltenham magistrates, Newell, Capper and Overbury, upheld the charge of blasphemy based ‘upon the common or unwritten law of the land that any person that denied the existence of a God, or a Divine Providence, or was guilty of blasphemy, was liable to imprisonment, corporal punishment and fine.’ and he was to be held in Gloucester Gaol. The trial of George Jacob Holyoake took place on 15 August 1842, before Justice Erskine. Holyoake pleaded not guilty, but in the charged atmosphere the jury quickly found him guilty, and Justice Erskine sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment in Gloucester Gaol. Holyoake protested: My lord, am I to be classed with thieves and felons?’ The judge replied, ‘No; thieves and felons are sentenced to the Penitentiary, you to the Common Gaol.’ Hollyoakes lifted/adapted from article by Jill Evans on her interesting gloscrimehistory.wordpress.com site. Photo: Cheltenham’s old police station, in use from 1840 to 1970
16
17
Sheep in the road
From 1894 to 1906 Leckhampton Hill was the focus of a significant episode in the history of Cheltenham. This was the struggle to protect traditional rights of way across the hill, which its new owner H J Dale proposed to close to the public. He built a house (‘Tramway Cottage’) for his quarry foreman in an old gravel pit beside Daisybank Road, which had been a favourite spot to set up side-shows and stalls on bank holidays. The building also blocked the main footpath up the hill, and later the area above it was also fenced off. On several occasions crowds destroyed the fences, and in 1902 four working men, known as ‘the Leckhampton stalwarts’, were charged with obstructing the police, but were acquitted. This encouraged as many as 2,000 people to gather and walk in procession to Leckhampton. They stopped at the Malvern Inn to hear a rousing speech. They then made for Tramway Cottage, which they dismantled until hardly a stone was left standing. A judge found in favour of Dale’s enclosure and only three paths were granted as public rights of way. Dale rebuilt the cottage exactly where it had been. On Good Friday 1906 another crowd assembled at the site and the Riot Act had to be read. Arrests followed and eight men were tried at Gloucester Assizes. Sentences of up to six months’ hard labour were imposed, though these were substantially reduced on appeal. Leckhamptoners licked their wounds, and Dale imposed conditions for access to the hill. The story had a happy ending, however. By 1929, the Quarry Company had gone out of business and Cheltenham Town Council was in a position to purchase the 400-acre estate, thus securing the freedom to walk on the land. And so it goes on, and so forth and so on ...
18
19
Sheep in the road
20
21
Sheep in the road
22
23
Sheep in the road
24
25
Sheep in the road
26
27
Sheep in the road
28
29
Sheep in the road
30
a luta continua 31
32
33
Sheep in the road
34
35
Sheep in the road
36
37
Sheep in the road
38
39
Sheep in the road
40
41
Sheep in the road
42
43
Sheep in the road
44
45
Sheep in the road
46
47
Sheep in the road
48
4
––––––– Wellesbourne Market
49
Sheep in the road
50
51
Sheep in the road
52
53
Sheep in the road
54
55
Sheep in the road
56
57
Sheep in the road
58
59
Sheep in the road
60
61
Sheep in the road
62
63
Sheep in the road
64
65
Sheep in the road
66
67
Sheep in the road
68
69
Sheep in the road
70
71
Sheep in the road
72
73
Sheep in the road
74
75
Sheep in the road
76
77
Sheep in the road
78
79
Sheep in the road
80
81
Sheep in the road
82
83
Sheep in the road
84
85
Sheep in the road
86
87
Sheep in the road
88
5
––––––– FROCESTER: World Music Day 1990
89
Sheep in the road
90
91
Sheep in the road
92
93
Sheep in the road
94
From the day’s programme design & production, Hand Over Fist Press
95
Sheep in the road
96
6
––––––– PHOTOMURAL: Ruskin College Oxford 1986
97
Sheep in the road
98
99
Sheep in the road
100
101
Sheep in the road
102
Photomural in place at Ruskin College’s student commonroom, Oxford 1986. Photograph shows Ken Gill (centre), general secretary for TASS, a trade union which was active in the fight against apartheid ... so much so that when Nelson Mandela was released and visited the UK, he chose the TASS union conference hall to meet and thank ANC exiles and activists.
103
Sheep in the road
104
7
––––––– BADGES: from a life well-RED
105
Sheep in the road
106
107
Sheep in the road
108
109
Sheep in the road
110
111
Sheep in the road
112
113
Sheep in the road
114
115
Sheep in the road
116
117
Sheep in the road
118
119
Sheep in the road
NO To WAR 120
8
––––––– DEMO: London 15 February 2003
121
Sheep in the road
122
123
Sheep in the road
124
125
Sheep in the road
126
127
Sheep in the road
128
129
Sheep in the road
130
131
Sheep in the road
132
133
Sheep in the road
134
9
––––––– Dementia No words .... absolutely no fucking words!
135
Sheep in the road
136
137
Sheep in the road
138
139
Sheep in the road
140
141
Sheep in the road
142
10
––––––– Following on ... a train of thought Things just coast along when your engine is well maintained, even though it may be old ... it can really steam and chuff.
143
Sheep in the road
Once the fire dims, the fuel of life starts to run out ... schizen! I have seen enough people reach a time in their lives where the quality has gone ... or worse they have passed the signal that says ‘end of the line’ immenent and are just helplessly shuffling and screaching for the exit in a slow and bad way. I am determined to take control at around this point and jam on the brakes, a good journey should not be spoilt by a shit ending.
144
145
Sheep in the road
146
11
–––––––– Tiddesley Woods: in search of bluebells
147
Sheep in the road
148
149
Sheep in the road
150
151
Sheep in the road
152
153
Sheep in the road
154
155
Sheep in the road
156
157
Sheep in the road
158
159
Sheep in the road
160
12
––––––– Gloucester: tall ships
161
Sheep in the road
162
163
Sheep in the road
164
165
Sheep in the road
166
167
Sheep in the road
168
169
Sheep in the road
170
171
Sheep in the road
172
173
Sheep in the road
174
175
Sheep in the road
176
177
Sheep in the road
178
179
Sheep in the road
180
181
Sheep in the road
182
183
Sheep in the road
184
185
Sheep in the road
186
187
Sheep in the road
188
13
––––––– An alternative Gloucester Services on M5
189
Sheep in the road
14
-––––––– family step up to the plate 190
191
Sheep in the road
192
193
Sheep in the road
194
195
Sheep in the road
‘By the time the new human being is fifteen or so, we are left with a being like ourselves. A half-crazed creature, more or less adjusted to a mad world ... The Family’s function is to repress Eros: to induce a false consciousness of security: to deny death by avoiding life: to cut off transcendence: to believe in god, not to experience the Void: to create, in short, one-dimensional man: to promote respect, conformity, obedience: to con children out of play: to induce a fear of failure: to promote a respect for work: to promote a respect for ‘respectability’ ... This is also known as selling one’s birthright for a mess of pottage.’ R.D. Laing, The Politics of Experience and The Bird of Paradise, 1967 Advice: Be brave, be bold, be bumptious, make the most of it, make a noise, take all thats given in good faith ... and above all, take no shit!
196
197
Sheep in the road
Cameron
198
199
Sheep in the road
200
15
––––– Red face in the pub ... a comic-al I personally cannot see the point of debating a point of contention with someone who, when woken by a thorough face-slapping with a stinking, rotten, wet mackerel, insists they were soothed awake with a soft chiffon caress … whereas Ann, bless her, loves the interaction, seeks the verbal violence, tries to lift that veil ... pointless as it is.
201
Sheep in the road
Oh my god ... what the fuck did he just say?
202
Did he say banker or wankers, oh dea la-la-la-la-la-la-la
rs ar, a
The pub, the quiz, the team; the chit-chat floats and mingles with all the other voices of those crowded around the quizmaster … uh-oh … ‘agree to disagree’ wafts feebly like a helpful caption to the scene before me as I hear UKIP being hoisted up, and then being rightly sullied by Ann; the rapacious banks are chastised in passing … … and then, from the elevated dais of further education; the elitist rosette of a university degree; the heated puffed-up breast of a person whose life’s meaning is being unintentionally maligned; the cage is rattled … and the shots are fired. Opinion based on gut feelings so gallantly expressed (by Ann) is trampled by a determined and repeated ’I know I’m right’ stamping of the feet and the accompanying vacuums of burning red cheek flashes.
our eyes … all embellished and pointedly full-stopped with the blistering, ‘I have a degree in economics, so I know what I’m talking about!’ Its unconvincing, if I heard him correctly. And this is, in fact, just plain red-faced indignation, a poor substitute for those looking for elucidation; a dubious blustering debating tactic employed by some to intimidate and bully a shaking head; to silence those who dare to say out loud, ’the emperor is naked!’ Sometimes I am just so proud of Ann I could levitate …
Despite others trying to pacify, what we get is a heated defence of the bunkum, which parades as the discredited and failing economic template we are lumbered with, as practised by today’s capitalists, politicians and bankers. In the fire its proffered disingenuously as a fabric of wellworn platitudes, splutteringly woven into a woollen jargon intended to be pulled over
203
Sheep in the road
Hey!
204
16
––––– Comic-Al and the search for happiness The pursuit of happiness is an ever constant aim ... but constant happiness exudes the curse of smugness. How to attain a happy medium, a balance between the unhappy but necessary downers in life and the exhausting pure highs of ecstatic occasions ...?
205
Sheep in the road
... the deliberate pursuit of happiness invariably disappoints ...
OK ... but lets get rid of these fucking frames
206
207
Sheep in the road
There is a sub-plot here, where our intrepid explorer, activist and all round crazy, having got rid of any restricting frames of reference, decides to try and subvert this comic medium and enter some sort of meditative state by disappearing into the spine of this book ... and then to mooch about your house while you read this drivel.
208
Hmmm ... lets try this ... into the book’s spine and ...
... and so while you linger on this page, by some sleight of a deceit, he wanders about your inner sanctum. And, because he thinks you may have it, he metaphorically pokes his nose into every crack or crevice of your psyche in his search for the secret of happiness.
209
Sheep in the road
Back, empty-handed, from that suspension of reality, and it seems you also don’t have what he was looking for ...
Just been rooting in your fridge ... you want to check some of those ‘eat by’ dates ... sheeesh!
210
OK, but before this becomes too silly, you all should know happiness is not found by searching for it ... Happiness is a by-product of attempts to reach other, less banal, goals ... so ... as you were then!
Oh yeah, right!
211
Sheep in the road
212
!
213
Sheep in the road
214
17
––––– Exactly one year ago ...
215
HAND OVER FIST PRESS
BOOKS • DESIGN at www.handoverfistpress.com
1 9 8 6 SHEEP IN THE ROAD Vol. 2 Alan Rutherford 2015
SHEEP IN THE ROAD Vol. 1 Alan Rutherford 2014
IRISH GRAFFITI some murals in the North, 1986 Alan Rutherford 2014
NICETO DE LARRINAGA a voyage, 1966 Alan Rutherford 2014
To read/view a book, please go to BOOK page on website and click on their cover and follow the links ...
KAPUTALA The Diary of Arthur Beagle & The East Africa Campaign, 1916-1918 Alan Rutherford Updated 2nd edn: 2014
â–ź MAGAZINE
SHEEP IN THE ROAD issue 3 October: 2015
The first issue Sheep in the Road magazine has writing, photography, cartoons and odd assemblages of ideas, rants and reviews ... eminating from a socialist and thoughtful core. Available to view/read at: www.handoverfistpress.com
Sheep in the road
HAND OVER FIST PRESS
2 0 1 5
218