Grey skies ain’t gonna clear up.

I don’t know whether it’s the continual rain and grey skies that we get here in the UK on a daily basis that is wearing me down, but I don’t feel moved to do anything. Certainly, there’s no inspiration to paint. The sky, the airwaves are grey. Everything feels as though it is collapsing under some huge, damp and weighted, wet blanket.

Actually, I do know what it is.

It’s all those soft, pudgy, corrupt rich people who were under the impression that they could run our lives and are now, (oh God please keep the momentum going), getting what’s coming to them… (at least in the UK). It’s slowing me down because I can’t wait for the justice to come.

Unfortunately, some, like the fat, disgusting orange monster who appears unaffected by the present hoo-ha and is still in the White House with his fat, but tiny finger poised ready to do what he does best and kill another few thousand people, all in the name of helping them out (see Iran).

Sad to say, he may take a little longer to face justice. But I hope, once the American people awake from their 239-year slumber, he and his slimy cohorts will soon face the guillotine.

Bondi, Patel all of them. I can’t wait to watch them shed tears and plead innocence on the grounds that they ‘were only following orders’, before they are dragged off to serve long jail terms. In the meantime, however, we have to steel ourselves and continue to watch their daily arrogance and the unbelievable stance they display. A performance that shows plainly that they think they can (literally) get away with murder. Of course we have seen it before. If you have ever watched any of the archive from the Nurenburg trials, you will have seen the mirror image.

For me personally it has always been the general American population that I have found difficult to deal with. I’m sure I’m not the only one. The rest of the world has spent years watching open-mouthed at Americans insatiable greed, mind-numbing ignorance and their real belief/religion if you will, that they are the most important country in the world.

However, probably, maybe, hopefully (all though I doubt it), for the first time in their (neglected/made up/forgotten) history, we might be witnessing a light leaking through a very thin chink in their armour.

I think if it were possible to find anything good about Trump’s rule, it would have to be that he might (a small might), have shown the average yank that they are breakable. That they can grow the bushiest beards and put on the most muscle in the tightest tee-shirts (and that’s just the women), but in the end they are, as the rest of the world has always suspected, bloated, fat and full of hot air.

Whatever it is, they elected Trump.

So, it goes without saying, that there is something very wrong with them. They are, to use a Trumpism, losers. Like their Lord and Master, everything they touch turns to dust.

One can only hope that when this is all over, they would have learnt some humility. But of course, in our hearts and minds, we know that there is…

NOT A CHANCE of that happening.

…and give it a few years for this mess to cool down and you can bet your bottom dollar something like this will happen again,. Let’s face it…it’s in their nature. They can’t help it. The arrogance is their DNA.

A quick fix

e have become obsessed with the notion of success achieved by ‘a quick fix’.

Whereas once, a long time ago, the dream was to raise a happy family, have a good job and see our children on their way, we have now turned inward. The ‘dream’ that appears to permeate our every waking hour now has to do with being noticed. We all want to be famous. We see ourselves as somehow, ‘more’.

Not only have we become dissatisfied with our lot we are easily bored and absolutely dissatisfied. We want more than the 9 to 5 can offer. Money, (easy money), quickly, rather than a workaday route to a bigger house, has become the road to escape.

My plan was, on writing this to blame everything on the digital age and the growth of the internet but in moment of clarity I realised that was too easy and what was ‘old people do’. I actually became suddenly aware and realised that it was probably all my fault. That in fact it had all started some time before Bill Gates and the like got a grip on us.

I blame the Beatles and the Boomers (like me).

I confess.

The fact that we now have an insatiable appetite and desire to be noticed and recognised, is the fault of four working class kids from Liverpool. Oh yes, and us boomer idiots who took everything at face value without thinking.

It was these four ‘rascals’ who showed us boomers that, anyone could do it. Anyone could become rich and famous. We were suddenly festooned with colour and sounds we hadn’t heard before. Our sad little lives changed in what seemed overnight, and… we caught the bug. We were fooled yes, but we walked willingly, straight into a trap of our own making.

We (boomers) interpreted the fact that as they (The Beatles), came from where we were, it meant we could go where they went. In short, if they could do it, so could we.

In truth, they did in fact break barriers. The class thing cracked. Doors opened up to the obvious.

Holy Mother of God, there was talent within the working class. The notion that the working class were more than rough labour with dirty fingernails and tattoos of anchors and saucy ladies, could indeed harbour poets, painters and musicians. It was true. Amongst these uncouth people there were talents that with nurture (money), could prove lucrative.

Inevitably, those with the filthy lucre noticed the profit potential and the realisation that there was ‘gold in them thar hills’ struck home.

For us of working-class origin we noted a way out from the sheeple pen and so, as you do, away we went.

Or so we thought. Away we went, totally forgetting the one basic need that everyone who wants to forge a new path so absolutely needs, talent. Talent and the fortitude and where-with-all to work at it. What we really wanted (and some of us still do), was ‘The Quick Fix’, an easy way out. (The need to escape is strong in this one).

Anyway. None of this is an apology or a plea to return to some golden age. It’s just a ramble amongst sad and sorry thoughts. A note on evolution and what can happen when there is a sudden shift in what we believe is the norm. An experience of a social revolution that I now realise can take some time to recover from.

The need for an easy life is still there. Success without too much hard work continues to pulsate in the background. The 9 to 5 still exits (unfortunately), albeit in different forms. Some of us are still dissatisfied and would give anything to escape. The trouble is time has moved on and life (for some) has become easier. And it has become increasingly more difficult to define what it is we want to escape from. Hey ho.

Something in the air

**‘Relaxing in the Garden of Tranquillity’. Acrylic on 12″ x 16″ canvas. £60**

the outsider art of Ian Frederick Harris — **‘Relaxing in the Garden of Tranquillity’. Acrylic on 12″ x 16″ canvas. £60**

I don’t know about you but there’s something in the air. I know not what, but it feels like something BIG is about to happen.

Thinking about it carefully and taking into consideration the way the hairs are raised on the back of my neck, this feeling must be based on something on the scale of…

1: Instant annihilation.

2: The return of the Messiah formerly known as Jesus.

The truth is, either way, I must admit I am not looking forward to any of these things, for these reasons.

ONE: No-one wants instant annihilation. We all like a surprise now-and-again but instant annihilation is a step too far.

(Admittedly, and on the hard to find plus side, a theory of such a sudden death that exists in the mind of people who study such things says, We/I/You won’t know much about it as it will all be over in a literal flash).

& TWO: I do not want to be around when Jesus cottons on to what we have done to His and His Father’s planet. Boy, is he going to be pissed off. We all know what He is capable of on those rare occasions when He loses His cool.

(This time I believe it will be a little more than the turning over of a few tables).

One can only hope that that these feelings of dread will pass and the hairs on the back of my neck will settle down. That these dread-filled thoughts are merely a symptom, a consequence of sharing the same space in time as the present lunatics who think they run the Earth.

One can only wish that my feelings of close and present danger, are merely hopeful misinterpretations of what is going to happen to the present slew of despots and dictators. Monsters, who are making life particularly unpleasant for the innocents attempting to live a ‘normal’ life everywhere. One can only hope that what I am ‘picking up’ are the sictator’s (see what I did there), death throes.

Perhaps I am having a premonition of what is about to happen to them. Maybe, hopefully, they are about to get what history shows us, they always get.

What they deserve.

America eats itself.

I should be in my shed, painting. Instead, I am watching a horrendous spectacle. I’m watching as…

America eats itself.

The unfortunate truth as far as I am concerned, is that Donald J Trump has taken up residency in my head, rent free. The unfathomable plight of the American people and why they have allowed HIM to happen consumes me…anyway…this…

It’s obvious that I am not the only one in these here parts to be watching in astonishment as America eats itself. Things have got so bad that the jokes about ‘the orange one’ etc are no longer funny.

So much so, that the TV shows that are brave enough to criticise the President by showing never ending clips of his ridiculous statements or behaviour, are in my opinion becoming tired and ineffective. Once upon a time, humour was a powerful weapon that could be relied upon to slow down the progress of the most powerful wannabe dictator. Not anymore. They have cracked all the jokes, shown all the videos and the Fool is still there.

Trump is as he is portrayed. Stupid and dangerous. The radio and TV stations of sensible America are merely telling the truth as it is and thereby have lost any barbs that they might have had. It can tell its audience nothing new about its corrupt President.

The time has come to stop laughing.

The ‘joke’ is over. Time to get serious America. Time to get serious or die.

Trump is as mad as a box of frogs. He is a conman, a narcissist. He is greedy and a grifter.

America, Trump will destroy you.

It’s all been said and it’s all true. It therefore follows that the truth because of its constant repetition holds no longer holds shock value. The surprise, the step back in ‘shock/horror’ effect has dissipated. The TV stations are merely telling their audience what they already know.

In short, main street media has lost its edge. And is now merely feeding the masses who hate Trump with what they want and expect to hear. And it is these feelings of audience self-righteousness and the ‘told you so’ effect, that is keeping them from rising in anger from their over-stuffed sofas. They are too ‘comfortable’. And under the mistaken allusion that the TV companies/personalities will fight the battle for them. They need to wake up and organise before it is too late. Which it might be already.

What also amazes me is the sycophantic Republican party. Their complete lack of realisation that they cannot go on like this is embarrassing. Their day, (sooner rather than later one hopes), will most definitely come and no amount of money and guns will save them from the fury of the crowd. Or should I say, mob.

History has shown us many, many times that empires will fall, some quicker than others. And the way America is isolating itself from its one-time friends and allies, this could be one of the quickest falls from grace ever.

It doesn’t take a great brain to realise that when the fall comes revenge will be taken, and heads will roll. If I was a present-day Republican decision maker, I would already be feeling rather uneasy and wondering about the future for me and my family.

Meanwhile the orange slob sits in the White House appointing idiots to the most powerful jobs in the administration, and for a purpose.

It means that when the consequences of their crazy decisions become too much for Trump to bare. He will deny all knowledge of the decisions made and blame the idiots he himself appointed.

Easy come – easy go.