Bromford and Aardvark …

 

As I return home from this year's last grocery shopping to the penthouse on the rooftop above the fifteenth floor of the apartment building on 666 Whitaker Lane in Bromford, the friendly town by the bay and seaside, I find the llama sitting on the couch in the living room with a very unusal guest.

»Oh my goodness,« I exhail sharply and startled, »who is this, llama?«

The animal is jumping up from the preperations of a New Year's Eve party we had not really planned or spoken about earlier this month or before I left the house this morning.

»Do you know The Ant and the Aardvark?« the llama asks nervously, »a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971?«

»What?«

»The short films with the blue aardvark who is chasing Charlie, the ant, with same success and like Wile E. Coyote is chasing the Road Runner.«

I am shaking my head trying to pack up the groceries into the shopping bags I have dropped on the floor.

»Blue Eliza is a female aardvark in the Klingon version and voiced by the same Klingon actress who is also the one and only true voice for Miss Piggy in the Muppet Show in Klingonia and also Raquel Ochmonek, the Tanner family's neighbour in ALF.«

»Animal!« I try to interrupt, »What are you talking about? Is an aardvark an anteater? And who is our guest?«

The uncanny being - half African Orycteropus, half  buffed human male in a ridiculously tight and sleeveless blue shirt - stands up reaching out one hand in a greeting gesture.

»May I introduce myself?« he says. »I am Aaron Aardvark pretending to be a party planner but in fact being a private eye and bounty hunter searching for a supervillan names Albert Ant. He was last reported being your guest in August 2024. Have you seen him lately? Are you still in contact?«

I am not shaking his hand.

»You are not blue,« I remark. »And your name is not Eliza.«

»I think it is more French like Elise and less like Eliza Doolittle in Klingon,« the aarvark replies. »But you haven't answered my questions.«

»What?« the llama shouts out. »You are not a party planner? In this case I have to ask you to leave immediately, dear Sir.«

And with some well-placed boxing punches and kicks the llama directs the aardvark out of the penthouse door.

In the meantime I have placed the shopping bags on the kitchen table.

»What is going on here?« I ask returning to the leaving-room where I find the llama rewinding some colourful streamers.

»I don't know,« the animal says.

»And who is Albert Ant?«

»I don't remember, dude,« the animal answers putting back some table-fireworks to the boxes.

After a short time of sitting silent next to another on the couch the animal says,

»It has been a very long year. Don't you think, dude? A lot of things have happened.«

»Indeed,« I agree. »Indeed, animal.«

»What do you think are the chances of us two having a New Year's Eve party tonight?«

»I don't know, animal,« I say, »I don't know.«

💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠 💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠 💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠💠 💠

Today is Wednesday, the 31st of December 2025.
New Year's Eve

Two-thousand-eighteen Shades Of Bromford - Part 407 & Part 408

Today is Monday, the 29th of December 2025.

Are there really two-thousand-eighteen shades of Bromford, asked eight of the nine little red birds the one other little red bird of the nine.

How could I know?, the one little red bird answered. We have to ask our guru, Twenty-Five, the little tawny owl.

Feels like we are following him for years without even knowing why, the eight sang in a sad little song in the midth of a cold December day.

And then they came back from the ride, whispered one of the bats mysteriously, with the red bird inside and the smile on the face of the tiger.

And Twenty-Five, our little tawny owl? What did he do?

He stared at the horizon quoting Friedrich Nietzsche once more,
“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

And in all possible secrecy twenty-nine tigers joined the twenty-three lions, the fifteen face-cats, the seven wolves, the thirty dogs, the twenty-two face-monkeys, the fourteen speak-no-evil-monkeys, the six hear-no-evil-monkeys, the twenty-eight see-no-evil-monkeys, the twenty astro-cats, the twelve hipster-cats, the four dragon cats, the twenty-seven hacker cats, the nineteen stunt cats, the eleven ninja-cats, the three pouting cats, the twenty-six crying cats, the eighteen weary cats, the ten kissing cats, the two cats with wry smiles, the twenty-four smiling cats with heart-eyes, the sixteen cats with tears of joy, the eight grinning cats with smiling eyes, the thirty-one grinning cats, the twenty-three spiders, the fifteen scorpions, the seven ladybugs, the twenty-nine bees, the twenty-one ants, the thirty crickets, the twenty-two mosquitoes, the fourteen caterpillars, the six snails, the twenty-six butterflies, the eighteen bats, the ten more chicks, the two chicks, the twenty-five chicks, the seventeen penguins, the nine little red birds, and the one little tawny owl…

🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯
🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯
🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯🐯

"Bromford In The Wilderness"

Unfinished renaissance masterpiece, the lights low to preserve its grandeur
Uncertain as we listen to a story that could not be stranger
Is it desecration to upgrade potential? Break it into pieces to increase the label
Sell the part that's finished, the rest is wasted, throw in the trash or use it as a table

Reunited, rejoined, reassemblеd, restored
Icon that was quintisectеd is made whole once more
It's made whole once more

A pale face in isolation, unaware he's decapacitated
In another world, another fragment, recognise the pattern, could it be completed?
A challenge to align the segments, solve the puzzle, document the flow
Show your working, assign the regiment, no surprise here, one piece has yet to show

Reunited, rejoined, reassembled, restored
Icon that was quintisected is made whole once more
It's made whole once more

His face is haggard from fasting and penance
His hard eyes determined and defined
His outstretched hand clasping a solid rock
About to beat his brest in penitence
Emotional turmoil, intuitive torment
But is it the story of the subject or the artist?

Reunited, rejoined, reassembled, restored
Icon that was quintisected is made whole once more
Is made whole once more
Is made whole once more
It's made whole once more
Whole once more

"Bromford Bay Blues"

I got the blues when my baby left me down by the Bromford Bay;
An ocean liner came and took her away
I didn't mean to treat her bad, she was the best gal I ever had;
She said good-bye, made me cry
Made me wanna lay down my head and die


Well I ain't got a nickel, and I ain't got a lousy dime?
She don't come back, I think I'm gonna lose my mind
She ever comes back to stay, it's gonna be another brand new day
Walkin' with my baby by the Bromford Bay

Well, I'm sittin' here on the back porch, don't know which way to go;
The gal that I'm so crazy about, she don't love me anymore
Think I'm gonna take a freight train, cause I'm feelin' blue
Gonna ride it to the end of the line, thinkin' only of you


Well I ain't got a nickel, and I ain't got a lousy dime?
She don't come back, I think I'm gonna lose my mind
She ever comes back to stay, it's gonna be another brand new day
Walkin' with my baby by the Bromford Bay
Walkin' with my baby by the Bromford Bay
Walkin' with my baby by the Bromford Bay

The Colour of Time - Part 26 / Merry Christmas ...

 

Dora of Wye - the mighty and magnificent witch and sorceress - enjoyed the Fuchsia of this moment and the thoughts of a City of California.

The footsteps she followed through the snow from the round door of her fortified barrel led her over a drawbridge over the River Why to the last open gate of the City of Earth where a guard in a colourful armor and a helmet with a taily crest made of red and orange dyed feathers blocked her way with his halberd.

'What is your business in the City of Earth?' the guard barked. 'What is your concern?'

He did not recognize her, she thought, or otherwise he would have sent her away immediately like all the other guards over all these past years. And all of this although or maybe because she had put down all the spells and enchantments that had made her appear like an ageless woman.

'I'm just an old woman who came a long way to visit the places and the memories of her past live,' she said.

'I know your face,' the city guard said and let her pass. 'And I think there are a bard and his llama companion waiting for you near the booksmith's forge close to the city walls. They have arrived here just moments before you.'

'I know,' Dora of Wye thought, 'I have read that in my book of knowledge and experiences and in the bard's clear-blue eyes last year when he came here to seek for my help and guidance.'

With that exact book of her life in her hands and a knowing and expecting smile on her face Dora approached the bard and his llama. Behind the two of them at a set of stair treads she saw a familiar blurring glow in the air, the same glow that accompanied the entrance to the Temple of the spring and well of forecast most of the times.

'I know the colour of time!' Bromford, the bard, shouted out aloud across the street. 'I know La Couleur du Temps! It's a song!'

And he rammed the end of his staff-flute into the ground between two dark cobblestones and started singing. And while his staff-flute played and he was singing, Dora knew that everything was good.

La Couleur du Temps

Je connais la couleur du temps
Je connais la rue des enfants
Je connais les rues de l'hiver
Je connais le monde à l’envers
Je connais l'odeur de l'argent
Je connais la folie des gens
Je connais ta mère mieux qu’ton père
Qui faisait la pluie, le beau temps

C'est une histoire de fou
Aveuglé de partout
Qui rêve debout, à poings fermés
Qui fеrme les yeux pour oubliеr

Je connais l'enfer sur la Terre
Je connais la fille du marchand
Je connais les yeux du néant
Et je sais que naguère
Reviendra la guerre
Je connais le bord de la mère
Je connais des yeux si troublants
Je connais la couleur du temps
Et j'espère qu'il est encore temps

Manu Chao

The Colour of Time

I know the colour of time
I know the street of children
I know the streets of winter
I know the world upside down
I know the smell of money
I know the madness of people
I know your mother better than your father
Who made the rain, the sunshine

It's a madman's story
Blinded from all sides
Who dreams standing up, with clenched fists
Who closes his eyes to forget

I know hell on Earth
I know the merchant's daughter
I know the eyes of nothingness
And I know that long ago
War will return
I know the edge of the sea
I know eyes so troubling
I know the colour of time
And I hope there's still time

Manu Chao

"Bromford Blues"

It's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got arrested down in old Bromford
He got twenty years' privilege taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong

And now he's poppin' the piano just to raise the
price
Of a ticket to the land of the free
Well, he says his home's in 'Frisco where they
send the rice
But it's really in Tennessee

That's why he says
I need someone to love me
Need somebody to carry me home to San
Francisco
And bury my body there
I need someone to lend me a fifty-dollar bill
and then
I'll leave Bromford far behind me
For happiness once again

Won't somebody believe
I've a yen to see that Bay again
Everytime I try to leave
Sweet opium won't let me fly away
I need someone to love me
Need somebody to carry me home to San Francisco
And bury my body there

That's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got arrested down in old Bromford
He got twenty years' privilege taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong.

Today is Friday, the 26th of December 2025.
Second Christmas Day
Boxing Day