please empty your brain below
Your post reminded me of an old Tony Hancock script where he is bored on a Sunday afternoon of course in the 1950's and early sixties not much was open on a Sunday in the UK. I agree the weather this summer is the same as last summer cool and wet. that is why I went to Spain again 2 weeks ago for another dose of sunshine and will go again in a few weeks if the weather here continues as it is. You could have gone yesterday to Trafalgar Square and watched West End Live.

John | 24.06.13 - 7:24 a.m. | #

I'd have to be heavily sedated to watch West End Live.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 7:31 a.m. | #

If I could find the image online again (I can't) I would give you the Grammar-Police badge you're obviously seeking this morning.

Geofftech | 24.06.13 - 7:38 a.m. | #

I'm sure there's an explanation for the minimal punctuation in this post.

ganching | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 7:47 a.m. | #

I suspect that DG is trying to prove how good writing is perceived as poor without punctuation, in line with many recent research reports.

I think it's DG's usual style, but without commas and fullstops.

But, I note that apostrophes are still present.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 8:16 a.m. | #

No, it's not quite as simple as that. There is more wrong than just omitted punctuation. One small example: "I may have mentioned this". That phrase belongs in speech, not a written piece. There's plenty more if you look.

The whole article could have been written by someone with plenty to say, but little or no training in how to say it.

I still don't know what DG's point is though. Doubtless we will learn in due course.

Malcolm | 24.06.13 - 9:17 a.m. | #

You should have gone to the sound sculptures on Greenwich Hill, by the Royal Observatory. They were fantastic, especially in the high winds on Saturday, when I went.

Baldassaro | 24.06.13 - 9:29 a.m. | #

Island gardens used to have a nice cafe and shady trees when it was just the end of the DLR

| 24.06.13 - 9:32 a.m. | #

I'm not the only one to notice that this isn't your usual writing style then. I look forward to the explanation in due course :)

Hazel | 24.06.13 - 11:08 a.m. | #

Malcolm - yes, on closer reading (I didn't bother to read properly the first time), you're right - but, there are bits where he's slipped into his usual style (vocabulary and phraseology use).

Blue Witch | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 11:15 a.m. | #

Erm... is he talking about us??? :(
I've got an awkward feeling that this is his impression of how we talk on the south side of the river.

I was also sorry to see that there weren't any events listed this year, for, say, Roman Road.

It probably sounds churlish (given that it's all free) but I didn't think Friday and Saturday's performances of 'As The World Tipped' had anywhere near the same wow factor as last year's 'Prometheus Awakes.' (That [ATWT] also was an "allegorical save the planet thing" which started to, er... go on a bit)

I actually took a look at 'the Tunnel' as well. I felt a bit like someone tramping through the ashes of a K Foundation bonfire, hoping on hope to see some evidence of all those millions of pounds that Greenwich reputedly poured down the hole :(

RogerW | 24.06.13 - 12:21 p.m. | #

This was one of the first things I read on Monday morning and I noticed the difference in tone straight away it reminded me a little of Catcher in the Rye but perhaps it was just me yes I am sure it was just me after all.

Andrew | 24.06.13 - 12:45 p.m. | #

Blue Witch - yes, it is recognizably DG (not Salinger!). (Perfect spelling, to name a minor point).

But I'm keen to find out the point of the "style". I suspect that he is doing some kind of experiment, to see what conclusions we draw, and how much of the content is still visible through the childish style. Quite a bit, to judge by the mainly content-related comments so far. And no, it's nothing to do with Sarf Lundun. But the "how we speak" might be a giveaway. It has some of the attributes of a transcript (without the ums and errs).

Malcolm | 24.06.13 - 1:12 p.m. | #

did he even go - none of his own photos... was it a sunday afternoon outing via the web?!?

dg writes: That whale-like thing in the bottom right-hand corner. That's a photo.

| 24.06.13 - 1:52 p.m. | #

Perhaps he just fancied a change of style. Again. Keeps us on our toes.

Sarah | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 5:11 p.m. | #

I suspect the whole article was 'written' on an eloctronic device, perhaps a mobile phone application via twitter which restricts the word count, or maybe a text to speech application. Am I warm D.G?

Doug Robinson | Homepage | 24.06.13 - 5:23 p.m. | #

You kids with your short attention spans, giving up on a performance 'cos it starts a bit slow. And then you go an look a paint drying on some ceiling!

martxw | 24.06.13 - 8:27 p.m. | #

I think it's leaning towards the typical local newspaper website commenter without the aggression or invective, and with better spelling. Like another commenter here said it's almost like reported speech - perhaps a typical old school Londoner with poor knowledge of punctuation reporting their experiences.

Stephen | 24.06.13 - 8:31 p.m. | #

Sarah has the closest answer.
Just occasionally, hell why not?

diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.06.13 - 12:20 a.m. | #

This was posted too late for Bloomsday (16 June) but to me it reads a bit like Molly Bloom's thoughts in the last section of Ulysses.

Charles | Homepage | 25.06.13 - 1:48 a.m. | #

Certainly changed my reading habits with this blog; looked at it and thought 'if he can't bother writing it, then I won't' bother reading it.' My loss, I'm sure.

David | 25.06.13 - 9:02 a.m. | #

Not even a nod to Betjeman DG?

NLW | 25.06.13 - 1:48 p.m. | #

I'm afraid that I gave up reading about half way through the fourth sentence, at "poplar". I came to the comments to see whether I was missing something clever, read them and went back and skim-read the rest.

The stream-of-conciousness style didn't work for this reader.

verity74 | 25.06.13 - 8:13 p.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy