Paris 2014 (from the archive)

With J being busy doing editorial stuff and Chummy off to a health farm I thought something from the archive would be a good idea. This is the Halloween window display at the boulangerie in the 5th, next door to our Paris apartment. The witch is made from Chocolate. Here is a hot link to the book < https://redbeakdiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/more-travel-less-travail-1.pdf>
Chummy told me the health farm provides every chook with its own perch and provides a specialized diet, you know free range and organic. Sounds great.
024 09-05-25

Chummy is spitting

Chummy is spitting, she said it’s ages since I last drew her. She says not drawing her is tantamount to a breach of her human rights. J says chooks don’t have human rights. Free range and organic rights may be, but not human rights.

And she said ‘no more cartoons until I find the plot.

I said fat chance of that happening (but not out loud).
 020  25-04-25

Wrong way

The worst part of restructuring is that I always end up with both my bum and head pointing the
same way.
Surely J would not do this on purpose? I mean what have I ever done to deserve such ignominy?
No Chummy, you can’t help!! Just bugger off (strong language is allowed at times like these).
And stop cackling.

019  11-04-25

Skedaddle

Chummy said the dude was me? Surely not!!
She’s an expert skedaddler, though. I guess chook’s need expert skedaddling skills. A good skedaddle solves a lot of problems.

Maybe it is time for me to skedaddle.
017 010-04-25

Restructure

Restructure

J’s going to restructure the whole caboodle! Chummy will be told to skedaddle.
I will have to submit a plot, for her approval, before publication!
This is appalling. I mean having a plot already planned? Ridiculous!! She has no respect for the creative arts!

Still not sure who the dude was…

016  08-04-25

J’s the editor?

J thinks I have lost the plot. She said she is taking editorial control.
I can’t let that happen. I mean who in their right mind would publish this?
There is no story, no plot, no nothing. I mean…really? Just a picture of some random dude wearing a rubber glove. I wonder who it is?
Chummy’s done another runner. That’s a surprise, not!
015 03-04-25

Chummy and I are still hiding

Chummy and I are still hiding; hence we have decided to fall back on the archive.

All of the archive postings are from the <Redbeak Diaries – Extraordinary Times> If you go to the site you can access all of the content. The site is completely free and publicly available.  

You can subscribe in the bottom right-hand corner. The subscribe button will disappear if you scroll down, however it will reappear if you come back to the top.

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Flying lesson (from early covid times)

J’s not pleased

I wonder what’s caused this. It’s probably Chummy’s doing, There again it could be the return of Syd (according to J, Syd suffers from an overdose of self-opinion).  Actually, it could be that J has seen the cartoons. I just hope it is not that. Things often go pear shaped when she gets hold of the content. Maybe I will stop using actually and very. These words could be the problem.

I think I might spend the day out of sight.

011  21-03-25

Syds back

Sydney’s back

Sydney’s re-appeared. Things go from worser to worser (Actually I do very well without an editor, thankyou Mrs. Redpen!!). I told Sydney that he wasn’t helping. 

Now what am I up to. Wordle and the Olympics preparation. No Sydney you are not on the team and if you run into the dumbcluck then please tell her the saying is silly goat not goat silly (maybe that was my rejoinder).

Life can be very complicated. Perhaps I need to put the pens down.

010  18-03-25

Calamity calamity

009 16-03-25

Total calamity, Chummy the chook has complained. She said that it is so unfair to draw more cartoons without her. I said they are not cartoons because they are not funny (according to J).  Then I said get a life (Chummy, not J). She (Chummy not J) said that’s what she means.  She said she doesn’t exist if I don’t draw her. I said stop being a dumbcluck. She said don’t be so rude. She said calling a chook a dumbcluck is like calling a goat silly. I was speechless. Couldn’t think of a rejoinder. One will come to me but not until tomorrow and everyone knows a rejoinder delayed is a rejoinder denied.

Now she has gone off doing that silly chook run that looks hilarious from the back…   

Disaster averted

Disaster narrowly averted. I lay awake all night berating myself for being so stupid. How could I. Telling J she was the Brow wiper for my Olympic team would have led to all out fisty cuffs. I woke up this morning and had a brainwave. She will of course be the Brow wiper team leader, the camp mother of the brow wipers. How’s that for meeting the moment!! (no editor required at this rodeo)

 Someone somewhere seems to shouting stop digging…no idea who, no idea why, so hum de ho who cares…? Roll on the Olympics, that’s what I say.

008 15-03-25

The colour of envy is green

006 10-03-25

I hear tell that Wordle will be included in the next Olympic Games. This is exciting, particularly because I will be a shoo-in. I won’t mention it to J until closer to the time because the colour of envy is green …not my favourite colour. So, for now I will keep it under my hat!!

To tell or not to tell

005-07-03-2025

J is looking well pleased.  Might be a good time to tell her that I am probably a world leader at the Wordle game . There again her mood may plummet when she learns that I am now up to 17!!! She probably won’t want to tell me what she’s up to….. it wont be anything near mine…

A new day, a new dawn

A new day, a new dawn. Don’t know what it was yesterday. Today all my troubles seem so far away. I mean what could possibly go wrong….? (yes, it actually needs a question mark!! I am very good at punctuation and certainly don’t need an editor!!)

Not quite daily post

This is the Not Quite Daily Post that goes on to Syd’s Instagram site. The not quite bit is because doing it daily doesn’t quite work for me. Maybe it would be better named the often, or sometimes daily post. Any way enough of that. The best thing is that I am drawing again. The pens that M and K from T gave me for Christmas are the catalyst. Add to that I have decided to be a minimalist (no colour, just stark realism) in my drawing. For some years now I have been a committed brutalist; now by way of a change I am a committed minimalist. Quite like the term.

The next book in the Sydney sagas

Hi there and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The next book of the Sydney sagas is here: Chummy, Chuckles and the Chap.

J played a large part in the completion of book, and it is thanks to her that it is presented in a coherent fashion. J says that it is best viewed and read in full screen mode

You are welcome to copy it on to anyone you think may enjoy it.

Best wishes for Christmas and 2023.

Cheers

L and J

PS The Zephyr and Me is available from Amazon as a Kindle book. Please buy it. The sales figures could do with a hurry up.

PPS: If you are unsure of how to get to full screen mode, try this: Click on Tools (or the double arrows on the far right of the pdf bar), and then click on presentation mode. This should take you directly to full screen mode. To exit full screen mode, click Esc on your keyboard. Let us know how this works for you.

Drum roll . . . they’re back

The story continues. L has been persuaded to pick up the pencils. We all hope he’ll be funny this time. We also hope the editor manages a working link to Still Dithering. Otherwise, despite the fervent wishes of Chummy, it will all remain a figment of the imagination. Unlike previous series, Still Dithering, is presented in book form rather than individual blog postings. Enjoy.

The rumours are swirling

August 7, 2022

Long time, no posts from Sydney or any of the others, but there’s rumours swirling about the imminent return of one or two or maybe even all of them. How soon and in what form, who knows? One rumour is that their next appearance will be in the form of a book. Not sure how they’ll manage that on a blog post but maybe Syd is smarter than he looks and has learnt the trick of linking — just like this: More Travel, Less Travail. Check it out, see if it works.