Good day to you all, fellow adverntureres and admirers of the Age of Steam.
Well, my observations of this town have moved on apace today, after another sojourn to the Gallery, and some fascinating interviews with all manner of strange and charming people. This art gallery greets you well before you enter it. As you walk down the main street, the first thing you see is a giant two-wheeled machine which my minder informs me is a motor-cycle, most likely of the Harley-Davidson variety. It's very big, and appears to me to be almost as inconvenient a thing to ride upon as a penny-farthing. But who am I to judge? After that, you cannot help but notice the giant locomotive, which has apparently bored its way through the substrata, and is flinging itself into the air in a very flamboyant fashion. Sadly, the shrivelled gentleman inside it appears to have expired, due to the rigours of underground steam-travel. Still, I expect he died happily doing what he loved, and that's always a comfort. Further down the street on the next bit of grass is yet another splendid steam engine. I am quite ignorant as to the uses of this wondrous machine, but it is certainly an impressive sight.
As if all these weren't enough, on approaching the Gallery entrance, the visitor is welcomed by Oscar, the one and only Steampunk gorilla, who is directing proceedings from the top of his very own (somewhat rusty) horseless carriage. He looks slightly puzzled, but masterful, nonetheless. Above the main door is a most wondrous banner made by someone called Andy Galaxy, and depicting, amongst other things, a very racy gentleman tearing across the front of the building on two wheels.
Once inside the Gallery, I quickly interviewed two charming ladies, Barbara and Megan. When I asked them what they thought about the exhibition, Barbara said that for her, 'words couldn't do it justice.' Megan said that 'she just absolutely loved it, and considers herself to be a roving Ambassador Extraordinaire for Steampunk.' She also said that she would be dancing at the big opening tomorrow, but that her 'character' couldn't comment until she had her outfit on.
After that, my attention was immediately captured by something I had noticed before, the Earnest Ruderford Atomic Entanglement Coinwallet Extractor. This magical device is for the procurement of money. It is, in fact, a donation box. It is a most splendid affair, and is the brainchild of Mr. John Mitchell, an artist and inventor of some notoriety. I managed to get an interview with this canny gentleman, and he showed me the original plans, and explained how the current Extractor had come about. Turns out, it it the offspring of a large glass bowl and an old crock, cunningly disguised by all sorts of other things. John turned the bowl upside down over the crock, and it fitted. Serendipity!!! After that, his three handsome assistants Rick, Bill and Verne, all added their own special skills to the mix. It was most disturbing, the way the money rattled in my pocket, trying to escape and fling itself down into the extractor. I tell you friends, that thing'd eat all your cash before lunch, if you didn't watch it. I'm thinking of getting one for Sir Cecil. His fortune is considerably smaller than it was in the past, before I met him, and this could be just the solution!!!
Anyway, must dash, I'll catch you all later...

Comments on my visit to the Libratory

Greetings, Dear Readers.
Well, my exploration of this mysterious 'Steampunk' business moved on apace yesterday, with a visit to a young man called Professor Damotimus, in his Libratorium, which is in the basement, which is actually in the attic, of something called the House of Observation, which, perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, is in a painting. (A painting by someone else, in fact...the incredibly mysterious and awesomely talented Watts Davies.)
Professor Damoticus also goes by the name of Damien McNamara, who I found to be an enthusiastic young gentleman who will almost certainly never suffer from boredom, as he has more ideas buzzing about his head than he can hope to express in one lifetime. I expect he is going to need several, and I suggest he gets cracking on a Rejuvenation Chamber, or similar, for when the youthful energy runs out. I know our one at Poppycock Manor finds frequent usage, and indeed I attribute much of my youthful energy and beauty to it's credit.
On my inquiring about the Libratorium, Prof. Damoticus told me a rather long, sad tale about it's creator, a Professor Maximus, who had failed to contact H.M. Queen Victoria the Third for quite some time. The canny monarch, suspecting that something may be amiss, sent her faithful henchman, Prof. Damoticus, to investigate. In a series of events almost to gruesome to relate, Damoticus discovered the sad remains of his predecessor. Through a process of trial, error, dismemberment and general poking around, Damoticus then stumbled into the Basement, which is in fact the site of the Libratory.
What, I hear you ask, is a Libratory? Well, it is a cross between a Laboratory and a Library. A repository, in fact, for books, gadgets, works of art, works in progress, and a whole host of grand ideas. Indeed, I could not help but feel that all it needed for Sir Cecil to be right at home there was a large, well-stuffed leather armchair, a roaring fire, and a tray with the usual bottle of fine whiskey and one of Cook's splendid Black Forest gateaus.
There is also, I believe, a brand new Secret Service (oh dear, perhaps I shouldn't have said that?) and some sort of megalomaniac plan to rule the town, the country, the world, and eventually, one presumes, the entire known and unknown universe thrown in...well done, I say!!! what will the younger generation think of next???
After my thrilling interview with Damoticus, I asked his alter-ego, Damien, what on earth he was thinking of, when he embarked on this somewhat unusual undertaking.
He said, very succinctly, I feel, that he wanted to make something that would make  people go 'whaaaaaat is that?'   Well, Damien you have succeeded admirably.Many, many people are destined to say'Whaaa...', and some of them may even trip over their own jaws on the way in. As Sir C. would say, well done, that man!!!
Well, I am now going to fling these words at the mysterious Interweb, and see if it catches them...here goes!!!

First Impressions

Greetings, Dear Readers.
I am venturing far from familiar territory, (the Real 2010, with all it's wonderful steam-powered inventions, and intrepid explorers), into the uncharted and dangerous waters of the Other 2010. That is to say, the one where fossil fuels rule, and the Glories of Steam are but a distant memory.
I have been asked to cross time and space to the lovely town of Oamaru, to see how the locals are getting on with something called the Steampunk Movement.
Dear Reader, it is almost as though they've turned my whole life into Art, and most of it isn't even framed!!!
Still, they're trying, God Bless them. I note there is a pathetic attempt to reconstruct some of Sir Cecil's and my earliest discoveries by a local couple. Well!!! All I can say is they've done their best...although the real sky-dragons would be much shinier than these ones, and radiate a quiet air of palpable evil, extending far beyond their glass case.
I'd have to say that in all my years as a psychic explorer and intrepid traveller, I've never come across anything quite as strange as your Reality. This blogsite, for instance, what a fantastical notion!!! My minder in this Reality says that by pushing a few buttons ( the right ones, of course, in the correct order), my comments will take flight into something called the Internet, and land on a website where anyone at all can read them. I have to say that it's very like Sir Cecil's Cosmic Concentrator Cap, only working in reverse. The C.C.C. hoovers things up from space, while this gadget you call a 'computer' flings them out wholesale.