Tuesday 1 September 2009

Back from my little jaunt

Well, I'm back. Anything interesting happened while I was away?

We've been on the once-every-two-or-three-years trip to Indonesia to pay respects to Mrs Byard's extensive family. Young Guthlac met his relatives for the first time and is now going through attention withdrawal at only having his parents, big sister, neighbours, child-minder and grandparents cooing over him. Djangolina has acquired a Chinese name and had her ears pierced, and we got to do some apparently quite desirable holiday things, of which more anon in future blog postings. So much to blog, such rubbish internet connections...

The soundtrack to the holiday was Indonesian pop phenomenon Mbah Surip, the reggae-singing tramp. Sadly, after decades as a street busker - often living rough - Surip achieved belated stardom this year and then died suddenly at the age of 60.

3 comments:

Gadjo Dilo said...

Welcome back, Gyp, glad you had a good time. Hmm, Mbah Surip, the Indonesian Bob Marley with the Idi Amin laugh - actually better than his billing!

Daphne Wayne-Bough said...

He has remarkably good teeth for a down and out. Can you get me his manager's number? I think I know someone else he might take on - McStreets, the ranting Scottish poet.

Gyppo Byard said...

Gadjo bor - he was indeed a talented and charismatic performer; more 'wandering busker' than tramp per se. But when have I ever let mere facts get in the way of a euphonious phrase?

Dapphers - back in the days when false teeth were made from other people's real ones, the teeth of the poor were much prized for their quality. Something to do with not being able to afford foods containing loads of processed sugar, apparently.

Wordver - conned. Hmmm....