A Drop of the Black Stuff

You may have noticed that Trainspotting 2 is released next year.  Now, we are 90s kids, from the same generation as Ewan McGregor and Trainspotting was a seminal film for us.  Putting aside the plot's dark heroin underbelly, Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life and Underworld’s Born Slippy are guaranteed to get us up on the dance floor, blowing our whistles and waving our hands in the air and the “choose life” slogan has been etched into our psyche. 

Robert Carlyle on the set of Trainspotting 2...

...is it a Voodoo Street bucket hat?

Before I go any further, what you are about to read is not a Ewan McGregor fan page, but a series of life events/coincidences which has led to a period of reflection and indirectly informed our work in recent weeks.

If you’re on Instagram, you may be aware that Ewan McGregor loves VWs and motorbikes and has in fact previously graced the pages of Hayburner Magazine, the cool independent magazine dedicated to all things Vdub (look out for our ad in the forthcoming issue). 

Hayburner Issue 20, out soon.

This week, he uploaded a photograph taken during a visit home, with his dad, on a break from a burn up outside the Green Welly Café near Rannoch Moor. As former motorbike owners, we loved the travelogue series he and his friend Charlie Boorman produced: “The Long Way Down” and “The Long Way Around” and our Highlands road trip this summer took us past the very same café, which is surrounded by roads just built for cruising on motorcycles.  

Johnnie Fox's Pub

So, we’ve been blowing the dust off some old photos and reminiscing.  Here’s a photo taken on a road trip around Ireland donkeys years ago outside the famous pub Johnnie Fox’s in County Wicklow (oh, the Guinness really does taste better over there)...

Babies

 …and here’s another of the two of us on that same trip when Voodoo Street was but a twinkle in the eye.

Incidentally, some years after this photo was taken, I took up a post at a TV/Video Production company, best known for pre-school children’s shows Wheels on the Bus and Underground Ernie, featuring a soundtrack from Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff and a lead character voiced by Gary Linekar, which leads me to my last Ewan McGregor story.  He was the favourite to voice the character of Ernie and I remember sending a script to his agent.  She assured me he read it on a plane trip, but sadly he turned it down.

Although we are known on the VW circuit, we appreciate cool rides comprising any number of wheels; skateboards, BMX bikes, café racers, VWs, hotrods - you name it.  If it’s aesthetically pleasing in a classic kind of way, then we approve.  Our trip down memory lane has resulted in Gaz deciding to add to Voodoo Street’s collection of rat look motorcycle inspired stickers.  Given that my long departed grandfather was once asked to ride for a certain British motorcycle company originally based in Birmingham, a Voodoo Street “Norton” sticker it had to be.

Sadly I don’t remember my paternal grandfather, as he died before my first birthday.  I’ve also been frustrated in my attempts to get more details on this story, although I can confirm that one Ernest Taylor owned and rode a Norton for some years and turned down the offer to ride for Norton, as he was a humble and dedicated farmer (and probably had little concept of potential this opportunity offered).  Apparently he was known to bring back a sheep over the tank of his bike!  Not sure whether sheep get the same thrill from a motorbike ride as us humans, but these were different times.

We've also decided to share our love for Vdubs in a more obvious way by putting our Volks Whip logo on a T-shirt - bold white screen prints on black extended tees.

Volks Whip Tees on website now

This may look like a simple design or even the original VW logo at a glance, but switching the letters around was a bastard to successfully complete in the same proportions as the original.

New little back prints

We’re constantly on the look out for something new to play with.  Our reliable VW T4 is a workhorse, but our heart belongs to ratty vehicles that have lived a life and wouldn’t look out of place in a scrap yard.  Recently we’ve been looking at Ford Pops and Morris Travellers.  We test drove a Ford Pop around a farmyard last week.  It was surprisingly comfortable, given its age, but it was full of filler, the paintwork wasn’t original (matt black) and there were some strangely flared wheel arches.  In other words, too much work for the time we have at our disposal.  Still, we like them enough to have used one for our Black Friday ad, so don’t forget to check in tomorrow.  

See ya!

Where The Wild Things Are

No, this isn’t a blog on Donald Trump or my state of mind when I thought there would be a Marmite shortage.  This is about a little Voodoo Street Indian summer hiatus whilst awaiting the arrival of some new products.

Well aware that October often heralds the start of the English monsoon season, we’ve been making the most of the sunshine and taking to the great outdoors. The surreal sunsets we all experienced a couple of weeks back kicked it off.  Like the rest of the central region, we shared our sunset photos on social media, naively believing that we were the only folks to have captured these fiery skies, which seemed to indicate the imminent arrival of alien visitors.  You be the judge.  Here are a couple of ours. 

The Aliens Are Coming!

Woodland Sunset

Not bad eh?  Until you see this one (below) captured by a certain Mr Salt of Penkridge, allegedly taken at the back of the local tip. 

Penkridge Recycling Centre?

Real or fake?  All we know is that the housing market has spiked in that area in recent weeks!

To avoid switching on the SAD lamp, (big f*!k off lamp which simulates sunlight and wards off the blues associated with seasonal adjustment), we’ve been hotfooting it around the place as much as possible, seeking out pockets of wilderness on our doorstep.  

Yesterday, I decided to throw on a Voodoo Street extended tee to show that girls can wear them too and to give our eyes a rest from screen use, we took off for a walk in one of our favourite places. 

Only 10 minutes by car takes us to this country estate at Enville, which is occupied by the family of the former Earls of Stamford. The family name was Grey, best known through Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for just 10 days in 1553, before being beheaded by Mary Tudor.  There’s a right of way in front of Enville Hall, which leads up onto the hills.

Enville Hall Estate

  

Enville Hall's Cricket Pavillion

Enville Hall Lake

Once on the top, the views are incredible and aside from the occasional passing car, you will not hear a man made sound.

That tree has seen better days.

Pretty sure this isn’t a fashion statement, but can anyone shed any light on why this sheep is wearing a harness?  He did seem to have quite a punk attitude we noticed, aggressively nibbling at other sheep, so maybe he was influenced by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's style from the SEX Boutique days after all.  Or maybe I'm overthinking this.

Sheep Fashion Icon

Punk Chic Sheep

There are other forms of wildlife of course and I encountered a couple at a family member’s 80^th birthday party last weekend…and no, I’m not referring to Gaz.

A conversation with a retired farmer and his wife from Herefordshire, was pretty genteel until talk turned to their farming days.  They told me that they can still see their old farmland from their new bungalow, but that the new owner has planted trees on the land and is no longer using it for farming.  Apparently it’s his intention to grow a forest to leave for future generations.  As honourable as this is, I asked how he was making a living from it.  The answer was not quite what I expected.

“Well, he made a lot of money from magazines,” said Jean.

She could have left it at that, but instead, chose to add, in audible-to-everyone tones and with a raised eyebrow: “PORN mags!”  I had resigned myself to discussions about The Great British Bake Off, turning 80 and the weather we’ve been having, so this took the wind out of my sails!

Finally, in an unusual twist, the octogenarian in question, Jimbo, cut his cake with a ceremonial sword!  Wild thing!

  

We also headed to the Shropshire hills and paid our monthly pilgrimage to the Church Stretton Antiques Market.  I know, I know, this evokes twee images of pottery, mirrors and watercolours, but the Church Stretton Antiques Market does a good line in the bizarre and macabre, which appeals to our dark sense of humour.

For example, mounted Emu feet.  Sorry, but I just can’t take this image to the grave alone.  You have to share in it.

  

£85.00 - Anyone....?

There is also plenty of taxidermy gone wrong, but I’ll spare you from this.

Anyone know which animal this skull may have belonged to?

Horse

Here are some pretty cool and of-the-moment teapots.  I was tempted, but the eye watering prices put paid to that!

Finally, we came across this creepy ancient lift – straight out of a Hitchcock film – named after us.  The view down the lift shaft almost gave me vertigo!

  

From wildlife to wild rides, Gaz has been drawn to this rat style sit up and beg Ford Pop with its original engine but with a Heath Robinson turbo set up.  It's been ruled out of the running now, but looks amazing doesn't it?  

Next up, I will be boring you all about Halloween amongst other things.   In the meantime, stay safe and don’t talk to clowns!