Channeling Pink Floyd Meddle

Musical Motorbike in Kaiteriteri

You may have noticed my absence. That’s because I was working on a 2-month contract which had me working long hours, with little mental energy for much else. It ended on Friday and I am officially unemployed. I’m looking for my next gig, so think of me if you hear of anything :).

I get posts on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Pink Floyd account with photos and posters of old concerts. The other day there was a post about the album Meddle.

If you ever wondered, the cover image was photographed by Bob Dowling. The image represents an ear, underwater, collecting waves of sound (represented by ripples in the water. The album's title Meddle is a play on words: a medal, and to interfere. Storm Thorgerson of the art-design group Hipgnosis originally suggested a close-up shot of a baboon's anus for the album cover photograph. He was thankfully overruled by the band, who informed him via an intercontinental telephone call while on tour in Japan that they would rather have "an ear underwater".

It is an excellent album, with some awesome tracks on it. One that I really liked was Seamous. It reminds me of a time when I was flatting in Sarsfield Street, Ponsonby in Auckland. I used to sit on the front steps of our house, with my German Shepherd ‘Lady’. I would play the sitar, and she would howl. I never worked out whether she loved or hated the sound, but we had fun, I think.

Anyway, flashback to the late 1970s. I was working as a foreman on a tobacco farm, a job I thoroughly enjoyed.

Tobacco before and after.

I had a Honda motorbike on which I had mounted a Toa horn speaker and on the back a solid white case, which I had rescued from a Police Special, from my days working at Tait Electronics, which was going into the jumbo bin, as the Police upgraded their radios. Inside that box, I had mounted a cassette player. That meant I could ride my bike, and if I wasn’t going too fast, I could listen to music.

I had a variety of music and I clearly remember riding my bike through the camping area at Kaiteriteri Beach, playing Seamus, perhaps a little too loud. I’m a big Roger Waters fan, and this album had a lot of his magic on it.

Anyway, today was a nice day and having remembered those fun days, I took the roof off and headed for a drive to our local beach, playing, you got it, Meddle.

I should have recorded a little video with the soundtrack, but I hadn’t decided to write this post at that stage. So as the lyrics say “The sun sinks slowly” and I’m going to sign off for another day.