ROY X CONE contest, 1.1.11 - 2.1.12

[Paul T]

Dr Heech unleashed - excellent!

A strange, wonderful weekend. My first literary festival, at Cambridge, one of the UK's two oldest university towns.

It's a whacky place. We checked in at our hotel and wandered into town - and on the way, encountered a busker singing "I'm The Urban Spaceman". While hidden inside a bin. I checked the bin later, it is insanely small. The nipper gave him money, of course. Respect!

It is Cambridge's main literary festival, lots of hugely well-known authors. The two best-known were Ian McEwan, who wrote Atonement, among others. He could well be Britian's best known novelist. There was also a famous comedienne, Dawn French. And er, me!

Bottom left of the window display is my book, right next to McEwan's. And even more literal rubbing should ers with fame that evening when I arrive at the theatre at half five, half an hour before I'm due on, and get ushered into the dressing room with McEwan (seems very pleasant, surrounded by posh, adoring people of course) and Sam Harris - who just published a book called The MOral Landscape, which included criticism of the Koran, I believe, and for that reason was followed everywhere by two huge bald security guards. Cool!

The show was a blast. I was quizzed by an old mate, a music writer called John Harris who is now a political commentator and regularly appears on current affairs shows. I am full of admiration for him… and he did all the work, he asked the questions, so all i had to do was answer them. Most important of all, we got a decent turnout. Well, 60 people, which up against Ian McEwan was good enough for me. Then a signing session afterwards… I got all the signing resists, altho John had a book out too (to be fair he did a quiz based on his book later and got way more people than I did!). They also had very decent beer in the theatre, Sam Smiths pure brewed lager so really, couldn't have gone better. After three or more years stuck by myself writing the damn book, you can imagine how wonderful it was to get out and meet people.

THe theatre… OK, my name ain't up in lights.

The nipper and lady t had turned up (It was bloody difficult answering the questions without swearing and I had to censor some of my stories) and we were starving after. There was a damn good restaurant,, the Chop House, which does good old british food like rabbit and game. I had an old speciality, for the first time - Pork faggot!

We had pork crackling to start…

And the nipper stepped out between courses to check out this clock, in the corner of Corpus Christi library - the theme is the Time Eater, a locust-like creature devours time itself. It is a beautiful, complex, artefact, modern but also reminiscent of 18C automata or fabergé concoctions.

Kings College is opposite where we were eating, and looked very beautiful, too:

After the meal, mrs t took the nipper back for bedtime, I met an old mate in a pub down the road. It was the most hilarious, bizarre evening. They had some sort of shorts ready, vodka shots I think, which we downed straight away. And we were all pretty hammered. They'd all been at the talk, and my mate's wife was bombarding me with compliments… how calm and impressive I'd been, more in command than the other guy (not true), how cool my jeans were (really), and my boots… you name it… then towards the evening she tells me "I really like you…. so how about it?" While hubby and friend are going, "no Christine, no!" She was very attractive, 15 years younger than me, and a nurse, so it just shows what Roys and rubbing shoulders with celebrity can do.

I was still laughing as I staggered home, by the Cam, the main river in Cambridge.

[Paul T]

THis morning I felt great, slightly high from the painkillers I'd gobbled to ward off the mother of all hangovers. We spent most of the day ambling around the colleges. They are all very beautiful, many of them dating back to Tudor times.

And before the train home… a hair of the dog at The eagle - a lovely old pub, which served an excellent Greene King Celebration Pale Ale. In this pub is where Watson and Crick first announced they'd unlocked the structure of DNA.

Cheers! I think my Roys are bringing me luck, hope they do for y'all, too.

Finally home, tired, and ready for another drink. A quick fit shot, as Dr Heech has been hassling me, tho I know I should bother after mike's show-stopper.

[riff]

Good family fun almostnice! Paul - sweet pics! I finally got a chance to start reading last night - am really enjoying it!! The light was on until the wee hours

Dr Heech - great investment in that cam.... I can barely rep anyone in this thread anymore...

those pics have my vote for "best pics of the RoyxCone Contest book".

Agreed!! Awesome stuff Mike!

[Dr_Heech]

Paul - great posts as always (esp. the bin busker), and great seeing you get some wear outta that G-1 ( too hot for me now to be wearing mine).

@Riff. Not the cam-phone this time, the missus used her EOS.

.

[Maynard Friedman]

Paul,

That lady making a move on you, it was Dawn French wasn't it...

[Paul T]

Paul,

That lady making a move on you, it was Dawn French wasn't it...

Yes, and she had her country vicar outfit on, very arousing....

[riff]

Yes, and she had her country vicar outfit on, very arousing....

Last weeks my Roys & I scouted out some singletrack. The weather was great for a change, and we explored some places I haven't been to

The trail

Scenery

Later on, in another area, we spotted this little guy sunning himself

Hopefully he also noticed this hawk circling above

Caught another gorgeous sunset

But the weekend weather was shite - pouring rain & driving winds on Saturday. And this was Sunday….

Cleared up a bit today, tho, so I wheeled the old bird out to see if I can get her going again!

[Dr_Heech]

Great shots as always Riff.

Loving the roys teamed up with that duck jacket. Is it the Rising sun model, like rnrswitch's?

.

[riff]

^ Thanks Dr Heech! It is indeed - Xmas prezzie, finally warm enough to wear, with woolies underneath.

Also meant to post a gratuitous Roy shot

[rnrswitch]

How dare you!!!

ROYs, Roys, and ranch jacket.

[DocBlue]

no mining, not anything special.....

[robbie]

lookin like a dork

I donated a pint at a blood drive today, too bad they didn't reciprocate .

The tornadoes back home last week resulted in this drive being timed perfectly.

-rF

[eltopo]

Awesome stuff everyone!!! Mike man those Roy's are looking amazing. Super busy lately but had a few minutes to shot a couple shots. Included a couple shots of the Quoddy Grizzly's that arrived last week.

www.banditphotographer.com

[fre-co]

Awesome stuff these last few pages. I keep trying to rep but to no avail.

Roys looking great eltopo. They look almost like they are black denim in those pictures.

Quoddys look nice too, I have their boat shoe in the same leather at almost 2 years old now.

[ranonranonarat]

this thread suddenly exploded with kickass-ness

[grooveholmes]

Wonderful photos, everyone. While I think Mike's pair is in a category all it's own, I dig seeing the different kits and fits people are sporting-- they're all coming along nicely.

[Joseph Hill]

Well, I think it's a fight for second place from here on out. Mikes' mine filth is alarmingly swoon-worthy.

The problem being that there really is no second place, as every contender has brought a certified A game. I need to get my ass on track!

[DocBlue]

Well, I think it's a fight for second place from here on out. Mikes' mine filth is alarmingly swoon-worthy.

The problem being that there really is no second place, as every contender has brought a certified A game. I need to get my ass on track!

8 more months to go... plenty of time to catch up. those diggers wont last the whole race.

[zissou]

8 more months to go... plenty of time to catch up. those diggers wont last the whole race.

I have the same feeling, actually. I've mentioned that I predict this isn't necessarily the most durable denim (and I don't mean that as a criticism in any way), so I wonder how well they'll hold up after another 6 months of abuse, even. Maybe the foreseeable repairs and relatively quick fading will make them look more like two year old jeans after a year.

Speaking of repairs, I have to restitch my top button hole soon, as it's all coming apart. Like I said, none of this is complaining- I'm enjoying the hell out of these jeans, and they make me want to wear only Roys in the future.

Joseph Hill- You have someone in mind for first already?

[almostnice]

shot this at 20:00 german time and believe that the dawnlight is presenting the colour and wear quite realistic.

[Paul T]

Looking perfect, Markus.

Do you spend much time on your knees?

(I do, but mostly metaphorically)

[almostnice]

Looking perfect, Markus.

Do you spend much time on your knees?

(I do, but mostly metaphorically)

oh yes.since i experienced two herniated discs in march i admit that kneeing down was much more in favour than bending.i am getting old,sigh...

[morse9443]

I've heard he does. edit: shit, late pass. Great shot Markus. Early morning lighting hides your wrinkles very well.

[almostnice]

cheers.did i said dawn? 20:00 means dusk of course.wish i could move my wrinkles into the denim.

[fre-co]

i am getting old,sigh...

You are not the only one. I had my first back trouble a few months ago after lifting boxes of records I packed a year previously and lifted no problem....

On the plus side I got drugs that got me higher than I have been in years.

[Maynard Friedman]

shot this at 20:00 german time and believe that the dawnlight is presenting the colour and wear quite realistic.

Stay right where you are Markus, you're doing a great job preventing that wall from toppling over!

[Maynard Friedman]

You are not the only one. I had my first back trouble a few months ago after lifting boxes of records I packed a year previously and lifted no problem....

On the plus side I got drugs that got me higher than I have been in years.

I believe Paul T had similar problems caused by all the phrases he lifted for his new book.

ONLY JOKING OF COURSE!

***** I don't want to be hung out to dry by Paul's hotshot legal team*****

[Paul T]

You a funny guy!

[almostnice]

You are not the only one. I had my first back trouble a few months ago after lifting boxes of records I packed a year previously and lifted no problem....

On the plus side I got drugs that got me higher than I have been in years.

i feel you.i had some lumbagos the past years and got always a little bottle of Tramal liquid which was fantastic but didnt worked this time.the doc gave me a huge bottle of Valoron ,which wiped away the pain with no problems but my blood circuit went so low,i decided to deal wit the pain.maybe i check if i can sell it to the local junkies.

[DocBlue]

Speaking of repairs, I have to restitch my top button hole soon, as it's all coming apart. Like I said, none of this is complaining- I'm enjoying the hell out of these jeans, and they make me want to wear only Roys in the future.

i had to repair my crotch too..

i like the denim, i kinda like the way it ages, i love the cut (ROY is good, mean real top) but BUT i miss warehouse, i miss my riders, my other babies cry for daddy. so sad to leave them for such a long time