Get ye to Guitres ..

 

 

 

 

 

There's a village in France called GuÎtres, a quiet little place with an ancient abbey, an old town hall .. and a Mayor in trendy trainers who's decided to stage a photography exhibition!

He and his cultural association have invited me to be the first person to display my pictures in their 'mairie', and are going to kick off my two month show there with a 'vernissage' - or opening night - at the Abbey, with a post-punk DJ playing music alongside a selection of my work.

What started as a small show of my Joy Division pictures has grown to include an extra 20 or so images from my archive of 1970s Manchester photographs, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to share my Manchester upbringing with the lovely people of rural France. (Copies of my new photography books will also be available to purchase! End of commercial break ;-) .. )

The show opens to the public on April 22nd and will run until the end of June. Guitres is just an hour from Bordeaux, in the wine-growing area close to the fantastic Chateau de Geai (Best red I've ever tasted!).

It would be great to see you there .. especially if you're wearing Converse One-Stars!     

Time, gentlemen....

I follow Guinness on Facebook - the drink, not the actor - and they posed the question yesterday "When was the last time you laughed out loud?" When I saw the price of a pint! .. I replied, although I think they might have removed my comment by now! Old Georgey Osborne might have knocked a penny off the price of a beer, but it still costs rather a lot to go out of an evening these days, doesn't it! In fact, Lesley and I still joke about one of our earliest dates. We had a glass of wine each in a posh pub in Wilmslow, and the bill came to £14! Fourteen quid? That'd keep me in cheap cider for three days! Makes me laugh when people say it's the smoking ban that's killing the pub trade! No .. it's the price of the drink, dudes! Do the math, as they say in The States! Anyway, I thought this shot was an appropriate accompaniment to today's rant - a boarded-up pub called The Museum! "Oh yes, dear grandchild, in the old days people used to go in them all the time!"

Poo to pumpkins ..

Hallowe'en? Ya Boo Sucks! Let's get this crass, commercial American crap out of the way and make more space for good old English Selection Boxes on the shelves at Sainsbury's. And while I'm moaning about The States, can we all stop saying "I do" instead of I have" ... Have you got a bad mood on you today, Martin? I do?
Blaaaagh! ...