I'm writing this from our hotel room in Sudbury, Ontario. Lovely spot. We drove up this morning. There was an accident just outside of Parry Sound which required us to detour. There was a nice gentleman on a motorcycle directing traffic until, I suspect, the OPP made it to the scene. We checked in, ordered room service, and I got down to work. Jimi Hendrix! First ever Siteway Weekly illustration not completed in Toronto (some of the original Siteway illustrations were completed in Nottingham, UK, but I started doing a weekly in Toronto in January 2005).

Labels: FeaturedIllustration, SitewayWorld, UK

¶ 8:46 PM

Read Part 1.1 and then Part 1.2

Part 1.3
Avery started to jog through Victoria station. He was much hungrier than he had previously thought. The desire for a smoke had subsided, and instead he found himself in the Whistlestop Food & Wine looking for a sandwich to wolf down. Bacon, lettuce, and tomato. Excellent. He grabbed a bag of salted Walker's crisps and a plastic bottle of Lucozade to wash it all down. Meanwhile, Gus Moustachio was sweeping up near the WHSmith. Sometimes known as Gassy Moustachio to his workmates, it was not an ironic nickname. A curly moustache did drape his upper lip and, against employee policy, a pair of headphones rested on his head. Nobody complained because Gus was always keen to work and never complained. The tapes on his walkmen were audiobooks (novels) and Gus found them relaxing. His logic was simple: the work wasn't hard, the hours were long, and boredom was a constant threat. Gus would essentially meditate and travel the globe while all the while he was not giving his union boss any headaches. And because he kept to himself, his co-workers had no fuel with which to entangle him. On this particular day, though, Gus was struggling with the logical conclusion of his lifestyle. His mind could wander but his body was a prisoner to his financial poverty and all of a sudden it depressed him. But, in a way typical of Moustachio, he turned this depressing thought into a challenge. Maybe he could leave. He worked in a train station, after all.
 
Avery was finished his sandwich (which was excellent) in under five minutes. He wiped his lips with his knuckles, kissed the bottle of Lucozade, emptying it of all liquid, and discarded his refuse. The crisps turned out to be wishful thinking, but he was happy to have a snack saved for later. Hands on hips, outside on Buckingham Palace Road, it was now time for that cigarette he'd been craving. He took his Guardian, ripped out the wanted ad, left the rest of the paper on a park bench, took out his packet of Marlboro Lights, and and lit a smoke. It was time to see what this artist had in mind.

Labels: AveryHutch, Fiction, UK, Vague

¶ 2:30 PM

I haven't updated my blog in some time so here goes. School continues to go well and I have some fairly exciting projects I'm working on for Siteway. The final philosopher caricature, Bertrand Russell, should be ready for late July. I've also recently launched the EdPhil Books site. I saw Devil in a Blue Dress again yesterday at the library. I think this might be my favourite Denzel Washington performance. Don Cheadle as 'Mouse' alone makes the film worth watching.

Labels: Cinema, Freelancing, Philosophy, UK

¶ 6:18 AM

Spent a very enjoyable weekend in Derbyshire, with the Philosophy society at the university here. We stayed in what is best described as a dormitory in the middle of nowhere. I think they rent it out to schoolkids on field trips and biology students doing field work. In any case, it was pretty cool.

Labels: Philosophy, UK

¶ 11:28 AM