More weird pics from Seafront..

Howdy..  more pics from the De La Warr Pavillion grounds and seafront from a few weeks ago..

http://twitpic.com/photos/Larus_Argentus
(c) Matt Ellis Photography

Enjoy

Larus A.

Mary Portas...nearest thing to God or is that Goddess!

Howdy...

Mary Portas presented her report on 'How to save the High Street' yesterday. Early days but loads of great recs. about how we can get the town thriving again. Here is her 28 'Bullet point' easy reference link.

http://www.maryportas.com/news/2011/12/12/my-28-recommendations/ 

or for her full report see here..

http://www.maryportas.com/news/2011/12/12/the-portas-review/ 

Good reading..

Larus A.

Go see Andy Warhol followed by our very own Roger Arguile!

Seen the Warhol exhibition...having a fag on the DLWP patio and don't know what to do next...

IDEA- Go see brilliant exhibition @ Ark Studio in Sackville Rd by our very own Roger Arguile.. ENJOY! 

Here's a taster..

http://rogerarguile.blogspot.com/

Must fly

Larus A.

Weird music stuff from the DLWP today..

As it says 'on the tin' (sic)
'Year 5 students from Lewes Old Grammar School performing a "food orchestra" composition, inspired by ingredients from Campbell's Soup. An education event for the Interpretation Team at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, part of "Warhol is Here".

Hope fully some pics to follow and a sound file maybe?
Must Fly
Larus A.
http://soundcloud.com/giuseppe-marinetti/campbells-soup-food-orchestra

Why are there so many charity shops in Bexhill..Here's why! Lets get the Vox Pop out and see what people think about it

Morning....Just woken up to Mary Portas report on how we can 'Save our High Street' Twitter is trending her at the 1st place so EVERYONE is really interested in this issue. As the Charity shop capitol of the UK if not the world...this is of pressing concern to all of us in Bexhill. We have 'cut and pasted' the feature here.
'The Charity Commission is examining over 700 cases where shop owners may be reducing their business rates liabilities by paying charities to sign tenancies for empty shops.
Last month, a Financial Times investigation found that charities were getting donations in return for signing tenancy agreements on hard-to-let shops.

Charities occupying commercial property qualify for a mandatory 80 per discount on business rates, provided the property is used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. Local authorities also have the discretion to grant the remaining 20 per cent as a further discount.

The Charity Commission says it has heard concerns from a number of local authorities where charities are entering into tenancy agreements on commercial property but where in practice the property is, or appears to be, empty. Charities often claim they require the properties for storage or other purposes.

It warns: “As the regulator, we are concerned that these charities may find themselves involved in what local authorities might consider to be business rates avoidance by landlords. This could potentially result in charities losing the discretionary discount and being required to pay 20 per cent of the business rates.”

The Charity Commission is examining 700 cases where the above practice could be the case, warning that it could be risky for charities involved if they do not follow a proper and reasonable decision-making process before entering into these tenancy agreements, and if they are not physically occupying the premises.

The Charity Commission is aware of cases where charities are being approached by retailers and landlords. Equally, some charities are actively marketing their willingness to enter into tenancy agreements with commercial landlords.'
Until next time
Larus A.
http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/news/content/11150/charity_commission_is_examining_practice_of_charities_letting_empty_shops_for_donations

News of an 'unusual' tour in London...

Hello...News of a rather interesting weird tour in London reaches us here @ KBW.. The good folks at UK UNCUT are organising walks of Londons financial district. From the blurb.. 

Occupy London Tours presents...
THE CANARY WHARF EXPERIENCE  
 Dates TBC
Meet at St Paul's or Canada Square, outside Canary Wharf tube, at 5.00. Look out for the tour guide with the umbrella! 
Canary Wharf - one of the hottest destinations that London has to offer. Marvel at the sights and sounds of the UK's newest financial district, from tax avoidance and bonus bonanzas to financial mismanagement and dirty tricks.  
Join Occupy London for this unique tour as we uncover the true story of the mess we're in...

"Without doubt, the most exciting tour in London. Five stars". The Evening Standard

Details...http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions/770

Must fly (down to London..)

Larus A. 

The fantastic Keep Portland USA Weird !

As it says on the Tin   KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD...

http://portlandweird.tumblr.com/

Must Fly...

Larus Argentatus x

Pic from our friends from over the pond @ Keep Austin Weird

Enjoy...
http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/786625014/IMG_0818.JPG
Larus A.

Weird people on the seafront Part 2....

Hi again.. weird pic. from Sunday

 

Larus A. 

Pic. (c) Matt Ellis Photography 2011

Weird people on the seafront yesterday!

So much weirdness in Bexhill yesterday...particularly on the seafront!  It's becoming a crazy people magnet down there...1st up somone has posted a demolition order on one of the shelters...!  talking of shelters several people (I think they were people..) were doing some art installation in one of them..We are processing pics. as we write..ALL will be revealed ASAP.  In the meantime more weird stuff from Bexhill, this time in Sidley.. from Christopher + Truday  ENJOY..

Must fly

Larus A.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw3UChKVvTI

New Wave, Next Wave or Wave goodbye?

God..we have really tried to steer well clear of commenting on anything to do with the 'New Wave' project on Bexhill seafront...but recently our e-mail inbox is jammed with letters  weirdbexhill@hotmail.co.uk 
The whole issue has divided Terns against Gulls, Swans against Pidgeons etc. etc.

From a gull point of view the shelters are great to perch on..there will be a nice build up of guano soon for RDC workmen to scrape off.  The new colonade is brilliant also as all the family can drop 'snack' mussels all day now with impunity.  I was a little disconcerted however by the new  Bidets (I think the humans call them water features..)  We love to get a good cleaning after our Guano duties, our salt water dives and our  'bin bagging' raids around the town. We as a gull family are really over the moon that RDC has put all these facilities here for us..it must have cost them a fortune! So we will have no -ve comments here please..you will all enjoy the new facilities.

 Until next time

must fly ...Larus A.

Wednesday 30th November 2011....

I know Bexhill usually thinks it is in a 'Hermetically' sealed bubble..and outside events and issues do not usually impact on us but in case anyone hasn't heard there is a MASSIVE day of National action on Wed. 30th  see...
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/solidaritea
People who wish to protest and others actually on strike are meeting up in Hastings @ 11.30am at the Pier (or what's left of it!)  to march from the pier to Hsts. town centre for a rally.
http://falseeconomy.org.uk/nov30/event/hastings-march

If we as Bexhill citizens care about what is happening countrywide then we might like to support this..It's clear that we are definitely not all 'in this together' as someone is so fond of saying.  I'll be flying overhead to support you all!

Until next time..

Larus A.

A real treat for you all!

Loads of our friends say "Larus..what's it like up there flying about? Well it's difficult to explain especially if you have never known anything different...What I can say is there is a wonderful feeling of freedom..to illustrate this I asked those wonderful people @ Google to produce a video for all my friends in Bexhill to feel what I feel.

ENJOY...

Larus A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecjwkBCEMmI&feature=related 

Birds eye view from the DLWP

• A funny thing happened to me last Tuesday..I was flying from Edgerton lake to the seafront about 8pm, hoping to get a late supper @ the seafront. When I approached  the DLWP a sudden gust of thermal took me by surprise! I emergency landed on the roof and wondered where all that hot air had come from. I found a main pavilion window that was open and listened for a while...Amazingly there was speaker after speaker banging on about "we want a town council"! What a revolutionary thought..and what passion..rarely seen in this sleepy hamlet.  After about 10 minutes I flew off..as the meeting started to deteriorate when one speaker unleashed a vociferous diatribe aimed at our HQ leader..he almost had to be 'wrestled' off the podium. What fun..and drama at the DLWP..something rarely seen here for some time.
• Must fly.. Larus A.

Wonderful video of weird Bexhill by Lorraine Bowen....

As it says on the tin!

Larus A.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCzRP_WVXzU

Hurrah...more dark forces defeated in Bexhill!

Really +ve news reaching us here @ Keep Bexhill Weird front office...Apparently the cool people from the 'Save Bexhill Cinema' have won the 1st round in their campaign of the same name...(no doubt there will be many such nasty applications comming in from the corporates via the back door in the future) Now it is up to all the people of Bexhill to really be creative about how we can save this space for all sections of the community. To all the doubters out there...have a look at how Hailsham saved their cinema, and that was in a pretty bad state with hardly a roof to speak of at one time! Again great news...

http://www.bexhillobserver.net/news/bexhill-news/cinema_plan_thrown_out_1_3257754 

Until next time 

Larus Argentatus x

Keep Bexhill Weird is now on Facebook!

As it says on the tin..just click here to get through to Keep Bexhill Weird Facebook page..Please 'like' us or be friends with us etc. to keep up to date on the weird things happening in Bexhill on Sea...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-Bexhill-Weird/291577300873632?sk=wall&filter=1 

must fly..

Until next time

Larus A.

ps our E-mail as always is weirdbexhill@hotmail.co.uk

Weird...what do you mean by that...!

Yes we anticipated being asked about our choice of the word 'weird'...  In certain quarters there has been a connotation around the word that has a dark or paganistic quality..Here are a few definitions.

Weird

Collins Concise-'strange or bizzare'

Dictionary.Com-'Fantastic'

Google Dictionary-'Quaint'

Princeton Uni. Dictionary-'strikingly odd...unusual or outlandish'

Macmillan Dict.-'strange, unusual, a bit unsettling'

Most of the towns in the USA that use the 'Keep.........Weird' idea tend to use the word Weird as 'Unique'..that's a GREAT word to use when describing Bexhill!

Must fly

Larus Argentatus

What's happening down at the old Putting Green?

Very weird things going on @ HQ ie. the Town Hall according to The Bexhill Con-server...Reports of a serious outbreak of  handbags at 5 paces..Cllr Maynard aka 'The Godfather'  was not happy at being thwarted by our wonderful Independants @ HQ , who shall be forever now  referred to as the Bexhill Gang of 3, RE- the unilateal re-naming of our glorious green space on the seafront. Apparently and without public consultation the Metropole Lawns (old putting green) were to be called Diamond Jubilee Lawn  (yawn, yawn..) and West Parade to be re-named Diamond Jubilee Parade! You couldn't make it up...Any way the Weird people of Bexhill wish the Lawns to be re-named Freedom Lawns and the parade Independance Avenue to celebrate Keep Bexhill Weirds Independance from the rest of the UK. So that's put an end to that nonsense straight away from the Brede Valley mafia!

Must fly...

Larus Argentatus

Weird goings on at the De La Warr Pavillion...

It seems that these good folks are obsessed with putting things on the roof of late....

Me and my mates like to hover above the roof and drop mussels down on it..This trend for roof top shenanigans by the DLWP management has put a stop to that for us...

At 1st there were big dead bodies... http://www.criticismism.com/2010/07/30/antony-gormley-critical-mass-1995-2010/  

and they were followed by a beach...didn't someone tell the DLWP staff that there was already one  a few yards away to the south!   Anyway order has resumed...but I do not know where they dumped the sand...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robotperson/3587068528/ 

If they try similar stunts next year a gang of us will get together and S--T on them all!

must fly..

Larus Argentatus

MORE WEIRD TOWNS FOR EVERYONES PERUSAL....

Weird towns...mainly in USA....
http://www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/
http://www.keepportlandweird.com/
and the wonderful    http://www.keepboulderweird.org/

Until next time...

got to fly...

Mr Larus Argentatus x

ps I also found this site after reading the book of the same name....Some great ideas here have a look..NOT FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED...    http://shitlondon.co.uk/

KEEP BEXHILL WEIRD...MANIFESTO

Lots of chatting in The Harp about what we stand for..and our Raison d'etre...
From all the scraps of paper put into the hat containing everyones ideas,  I have written a provisional  'Keep Bexhill Weird' manifesto..the principals and statements that follow are open to change, deletion and updating. E-mail us with your views  to    weirdbexhill@hotmail.co.uk

• We the weird people of Bexhill..
• Do declare that Bexhill is now the Weird capitol of the UK!
• Demand that we have our own town council re-instated
• Ask that the present Rother council give us 'Participatory Democracy'..as seen in the programme 'Town' the episode of Tues. 4th Aug. 2011 BBC 1 focussing on Scarborough  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01321dm
• Are totally committed to practising random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
• Refuse to associate with all those who have made a 'premature pact with mediocrity' and are part of the Geriatric Gang Culture developing in the town.
• Will tolerate no racism here..we are all gods children..
• Give notice to all those who would wish to 'keep us down' and crush our spirit in the town. Of particular mention here goes to the Bexhill slum landlords and the Commercial property cartels...We know who you are and where you work from..Please cease and desist and start behaving yourselves or severe weirdness will be meted out to you! 

  • Do acknowledge the massive input that our very own Bexhill Police (Weird Division) play in keeping us safe and secure from dark forces. 

  Until next time
  

    Mr Larus Argentatus
  
  

Just found a weird letter to The Observer...

We are in the groove here now...1st up is an example of weirdness from a Mr J Horton from Cooden Drive...Typical Bexhill weird letter...

Until next time

Mr Larus Argentatus

Weird structures  

Published on Friday 13 May 2011 08:00

JUST recently I have been making regular visits along the Bexhill seafront to see the so called re-development.
With all these weird structures – those two corned beef boxes that represent shelters, and wind traps – it is now looking like a fly tipper’s paradise.
Surely it would have been a wise financial saving to have left it as it was.
J HORTON
Cooden Drive
Bexhill

And so it begins....

As I walked around the town tonight, just like any other evening, I came to the realisation that Bexhill is not as weird as it used to be!

There is a sort of feeling that we as a community are being dragged into a bland modernity...Our regenerators (sounds like an army) at HQ aka the town hall are trying to move us forward...but there is a feeling that during this present economic downturn, their ideas just will not be powerful enough.

Talking to a few friends in The Harp recently, we came to the conclusion that we need another USP (unique selling point) for the town..

Hence the launch of the 'Keep Bexhill Weird' initiative!

For those not familiar with the 'Keep Bexhill Weird' idea do have a look at what our wonderful brothers and sisters across the pond in Austin, Texas, have been up to! Seriously weird...

Is Bexhill ready for this?

Until next time..

Ms Larus Argentatus

http://www.keepaustinweird.com/current.html 

ps for a 'taste' of present Bexhill weirdness have a look at our very own Danny McEvoy...Nice socks Danny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO79qtWdaE