Well may you ask what has a scarf to do with five whales. You will also have to use your imagination to see them on my Mary Quant scarf. You may even liken them to tadpoles.
On the 1st October, out of the blue, I was requested for an interview with The Telegraph and also for a photo session with their own photographer. I had many scarves in my remaining collection from which to choose. That morning on the early morning news I heard about five whales which had found their way from the open sea, up the Forth of Clyde and then northwards to an inland loch some five miles long by three miles across, the Gareloch. Having sported an international offering of scarves to the New York Times the previous week, I wanted to wear a British designer for the Telegraph. There on the top of the pile was Mary Quant's scarf. Very English and Carnaby Street. I counted the number of sea creatures....five. Perfect. On that day, there was mounted a huge effort by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue to drive the pod of five northern bottle nose whales southwards towards their proper environment, the open sea. The pod divided into two adults and one adult with two juveniles, making the rescue effort more difficult. I likened this to our human divisions during the pandemic with families parted. The operation was abandoned as it was feared Man's intervention would stress the animals. I have since tried to find out what has happened. Perhaps some Scottish readers may enlighten me. The story seems to have gone dead.
The photos were shot and Mary Quant's scarf went into newspaper print but no blog written about it. I am now putting that right.
In my quest for information about the whales, I found that there is a piece of music named FIVE WHALES IN A DREAM. May I now introduce you to 2D. The younger readers will recognise 2D is a fictional universe cartoon character in the music group GORILLAZ. This number is not particularly well known. 2D, so named because of two dents in his head caused by a fall from a tree aged eleven, has a front tooth missing, his hair fell out and grew back a weird blue colour and he lost the colour in his eye pupils. GORILLAZ was a musical project created in 1998 by a British musician and a British cartoonist. Poor 2D's greatest fear is of whales. How extraordinary he sings the vocals in this number about five of them. I checked with my grandchildren whether they liked this music and I find that my eldest as a teenager was playing it in a very antiquated car, much to the annoyance of her two younger sisters, when their car caught fire at the petrol pumps. A miracle they escaped alive. They now tell me the group have a concert scheduled for December. For my whale 'fix', I do feel that Felix Mendelssohn's gentle Hebrides Overture is more my cup of tea, but I am open to a pop concert in young company. If 2D can face his fear of whales, maybe I can risk my eardrums!
The whales have entertained many people in Scotland cavorting in the loch but it's time they observed social distancing and got back to the wider ocean.
Busy Bee, Scarf Face!
Series 2, Blog 15.