Skip to main content

If The Concrete Never Comes.


It’s not every day you get to see a Garth Brooks-themed industrial vehicle (unless you work for Doherty Concrete on a 24/7 basis, that is).

Garth Brooks-themed Doherty Concrete vehicle (near-side view)


When I spotted it on my way back from town this morning, I did a double take. I was so close to it initially that it took a while for the enormity of what I was passing to sink in. At first, the style of the artwork made me assume it was a fairground attraction, but no, it was something much more mundane than that; it was a way of transporting large quantities of sand, gravel and cement from A to B with the intention of mixing concrete, that happened to be decorated to a country and western motif. 

Garth Brooks-themed Doherty Concrete vehicle (off-side view)
 

…and why not? Let's face it: Garth Brooks and concrete are synonymous. They’re both the most successful in their idiom; I challenge you to name a bigger-selling C&W artist or a more widely used composite building material, and I dare you to say it to my face.

(I may mould a giant concrete Stetson in tribute.)

I won’t take the piss out of the people driving it, however, as they were kind enough to let me take pictures, after clearly staring the first time I walked past, then returning a few minutes later when I realised I couldn’t let the opportunity to document it pass me by. I lied a bit though, by saying my mum was a big fan; of Garth Brooks, not haulage.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

'...I'm Gonna Look at You 'til My Eyes Go Blind."

Over the past week or two, I’ve been on a bit of a Sheryl Crow kick, largely thanks to rediscovering her cover of one of my most-liked Bob Dylan songs. She has one of my favourite female voices, yet despite this, I only own one CD and that’s just a single (her '97 release ‘Hard to Make a Stand’); on that basis, you can only imagine how much of her back catalogue I’d own if I hated her (it would fall into minus-figures). Dylan, conversely, takes up more of my collection than anyone else, save The Beatles and Paul McCartney’s solo work. He’s one of those artists who, when you get him, you really get him - and once I’d tuned into his style as a student, I'd time and again be blown away by his lyrics; he’ll have more jaw-dropping imagery in one track than other people fit in a whole career. These days, I mostly listen to music in the morning when getting ready, and more often than not, this will consist of a suggested YouTube playlist when I’m in the bath, r...

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...