Tom Wiggins, Letter Carver & Writer

Excitement is steadily building for Slow Club's appearance at Gloucester Guildhall on Thursday 26th January.  I was introduced to them by a friend at stone masonry college last year, but it was only recently that I've started to listen to Complete Surrender, their latest album.   I bought a ticket for myself and my friend Simon (of Glass Walking Stick fame) even before I knew whether or not he could go. This post is in part an appetiser for him, although it might have the opposite effect if he doesn't like their sound.   Although it isn't even afforded a title on the album and is put at the end of it almost as an afterthought, it's sung with poignancy and real heart and I think it's close to the record's finest.  

Now, let's get this straight: I don't make a habit out of watching The Voice, but I did watch it on Saturday.  And I thought this cover of 'I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)' by Daniel Duke was pretty special. Ostensibly, it's a bit of a novelty song, but it wasn't until I heard this cover that I realise that it's a really touching love song.  Hey, who knew!? I know I may lose all musical credibility when I say this, but the original song by The Proclaimers may actually be one of my favourites of all time.  It never fails to put a smile on my face!

If your working week is comprised of a series of weights all tied together and draped around you from joint to joint to joint, know that  there are  those of us  out there who would if they could magic those weights away.

Peugeot of France    If you want a strong, reliable and unfussy racing bike, a Peugeot is a really safe bet.  The company have a long history as a bicycle manufacturer (I once rode a Peugeot bicycle that dated back to 1906!) that even predates its long-established car-making division. With lugless tubing and no particular flourishes in terms of design, it might be a little too safe for some people's taste.  But I've bought and sold my fair share of racing bikes and I can very confidently say that what sets the Peugeots from every other 1980s racing bike is its paint job, which is nothing short of exceptional!  I don't know what the French did differently to their English counterparts, but they got it right.  I bought an absolutely filthy Peugeot racing bike last year and it took me at least two hours to clean it.   Like an obstinate Frenchman, the paintwork was impervious to everything that had been thrown at it - it had simply ...

I spent all of last night drawing an isometric projection (a three-dimensional drawing set at 30 degrees) for a column base as part of my stone masonry class.   Drawing and setting out the templates is easily as important as actually working a piece of stone, but it can be very time-consuming.  Before a hammer and chisel are even touched,  we're asked to draw the isometric plan,  the bed mould, the sections and reverses, as well as transferring them onto plastic and zinc.  Some of the other students have complained that too much emphasis is placed on the setting out, but I enjoy the process just as much as the work that follows.   I brought the isometric drawing home because I didn't want it to eat into my college time.  Anticipating that the isometric projection (arguably the most difficult drawing from the ones we're asked to do) would be more like a marathon rather than a sprint, I plugged into BBC 6Music.  Since I started listening to it ...

It’s hard to imagine a film pre-release period as problematic as the one that faced The Interview .   A hack might have at least proved manageable for Sony Pictures Entertainment, but that was just the tip of the iceberg in a much wider hack that spelled an utterly torrid 2014 for the company.   As for writer-director partnership of Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan ("This is the End", "Superbad"), they could only sit and watch as a series of unfortunate events that would disrupt the film's release.   What followed were terrorist threats from a hacker group that had supposed links to North Korea, a pulled theatrical release, resulting condemnation from the President, and a collective silence of opinion from the Hollywood elite.   Sony’s withdrawal and Hollywood’s shuffling of feet was a sign that it found itself in uncertain territory.   Hollywood vs. Communist Russia used to be as simple and as inoffensive as a Rocky IV montage, but Hollywood vs. North...

Place yourself in front of a view  that has aided a past recovery.  Raise your hand to eye level,  and turn it over  like a word repeated,  until the image splits from  meaning. See your hand as  something else, until the only thing you can do is marvel at its sheer mechanical magnificence.  Consider the odds - evolved and yet evolving -   as you watch it work.