I was at primary school when I read John Christopher’s brilliant sci-fi novel The White Mountains and it terrified me. This was around the time I’d first heard Orson Welles’s The War Of The Worlds broadcast, and a good few years after I’d had my first nightmare about a Dalek invasion of my village, so reading about the alien Tripods’ takeover of earth had quite an effect on me.
Being a youngster of fertile imagination, and desperate to believe in anything supernatural or extraterrestrial, I was awe-struck by the Tripods’ scale and power. When you’re the sort of child who grows up seeing a Dalek every time you happen across a council-issued dustbin, a lot of stuff nestles in your subconscious, only to leap out at you in your dreams later. The Tripods never quite left me but it was only recently that I realised this.
On a trip home to my family seat on the Ayrshire coast, after an absence of a couple of years, I caught my first glimpse of our new Monopod masters. Huge windmills were peeking over the tops of the hills and I was awe-struck all over again. Continue reading
Swimmers” (subtitled ‘the Alternative Spencer Tunick’), where the public are invited to bring a towel and swimsuit and get their limbs entangled – pray for a less than parky day. The event will be soundtracked by Gareth Kennedy’s fantastically surreal “Shout!”, where the brass section of the Artane Band sit within a converted concrete booth, performing songs by the 80s pop band, Tears for Fears. The event takes place between 12-6pm.
