Neil
@neilclasper.bsky.social
A good service is operating on all other lines.
Semi-suburban salaryman. London.
Semi-suburban salaryman. London.
I’m on to a chapter about the National Service and milk-bar lifestyle of your younger days now.
![dailies. Luckily, National Service lasts only two years; after that, they go home and back to work, still readers of these publications, but soon also men with commitments, with more demands on their time and money, probably with a good chance of picking up older, neighbourhood rhythms, with a good chance of escaping from the worst effects of what can be a glassily hermaphrodite existence (life like a permanent wank [masturbation] inside you,' as a soldier once described it to me), and one not connected to any meaningful sense of personal aim. I know there are exceptions and that much is being done to improve matters; but, given the background described in the preceding chapters, this is for many the predominant atmosphere during the period of National Service.
Perhaps even more symptomatic of the general trend is the reading of juke-box boys, of those who spend their evening listening in harshly lighted milk-bars to the 'nickelodeons'. There are, of course, others who read the books and magazines now to be discussed - some married men and women, perhaps in particular those who are finding married life a somewhat jaded affair, 'dirty old men', some schoolchildren - but one may reasonably take those who, night after night, visit these bars as typical or characteristic readers of these most developed new-style popular journals.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2qcbpvgv6ednco6adxbohe7h/bafkreielsejjtha6uphmjbkx354ucxdkss5mznvdq5pjgiga36ujt7d6gy@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I’m on to a chapter about the National Service and milk-bar lifestyle of your younger days now.
Media fragmentation circa 1957.
November 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Media fragmentation circa 1957.
Extra marks for simply naming two different places where the flats aren’t located as ‘features’, of course. (I’d probably have mentioned the Elizabeth line there, but what do I know about selling flats?)
November 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Extra marks for simply naming two different places where the flats aren’t located as ‘features’, of course. (I’d probably have mentioned the Elizabeth line there, but what do I know about selling flats?)
Intrigued by this new church-to-flats listing in Woolwich. How are you supposed to incorporate these old altar rails into your day to day home life? And what is this kitchen-cupboard(?)-fitted space for, given there seems to be a kitchen elsewhere?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
November 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Intrigued by this new church-to-flats listing in Woolwich. How are you supposed to incorporate these old altar rails into your day to day home life? And what is this kitchen-cupboard(?)-fitted space for, given there seems to be a kitchen elsewhere?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/1...
Reading a bit of the ol’ 1950’s sociology. Time to rehabilitate “Nark it, chums”, I think.
November 28, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reading a bit of the ol’ 1950’s sociology. Time to rehabilitate “Nark it, chums”, I think.
All the latest tech, I assume?
November 28, 2025 at 9:16 AM
All the latest tech, I assume?
Japanese Jazz at the Barbican tonight was very much a concert of two halves for me, Clive, but the multi-generational quintet were *fantastic*.
November 23, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Japanese Jazz at the Barbican tonight was very much a concert of two halves for me, Clive, but the multi-generational quintet were *fantastic*.
And now a pint of Dark Star Hophead, which really doesn’t seem to have suffered for its recent(?) strength reduction. 🍻
November 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
And now a pint of Dark Star Hophead, which really doesn’t seem to have suffered for its recent(?) strength reduction. 🍻
Went to the Lee Miller show at Tate Britain this afternoon: very good, very sobering, and very, very busy.
November 23, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Went to the Lee Miller show at Tate Britain this afternoon: very good, very sobering, and very, very busy.
[extrapolating from one billboard]
Our culture is stuck.
Our culture is stuck.
November 23, 2025 at 1:50 PM
[extrapolating from one billboard]
Our culture is stuck.
Our culture is stuck.
Could become the ‘Keep Music Live’ sticker of the late 2020’s.
November 19, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Could become the ‘Keep Music Live’ sticker of the late 2020’s.
Maybe not the main point, but perhaps Ofcom should think a bit harder about YouTube.
November 19, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Maybe not the main point, but perhaps Ofcom should think a bit harder about YouTube.
Durham Cathedral + snow.
November 19, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Durham Cathedral + snow.
King’s Cross muscling in on St Pancras’s station Christmas tree installation territory.
November 19, 2025 at 8:59 AM
King’s Cross muscling in on St Pancras’s station Christmas tree installation territory.
Hatton Garden - November 2025.
November 18, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Hatton Garden - November 2025.
Good morning, workers.
November 17, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Good morning, workers.
C’mon Italia! Strike a blow against Haaland hegemony! Give it some catenaccio! Do it for [various flamboyant but ultimately corrupt characters]!
November 16, 2025 at 8:07 PM
C’mon Italia! Strike a blow against Haaland hegemony! Give it some catenaccio! Do it for [various flamboyant but ultimately corrupt characters]!
Durham Cathedral and Castle in what passes for daylight at this time of the year.
November 15, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Durham Cathedral and Castle in what passes for daylight at this time of the year.
Good morning from Spennymoor.
November 15, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Good morning from Spennymoor.
Gone to see the County Durham railway-themed son et lumière, haven’t I?
November 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Gone to see the County Durham railway-themed son et lumière, haven’t I?