Photo of the day: The joys of commuting

For some reason I felt compelled to take my camera to capture anything on my commute to London that might be interesting. I don't know how this amazing idea popped into my head when I awoke at 6:30am because I am usually incapable of rational thought for at least 3 hours after I get out of bed.

I took this photo at King's Cross just as I was about to enter the underground at 8:15am. Actually its a bit quieter than usual this week. I think that many people are on holiday.

Photo of the day: Train sunset

There was a pretty amazing sunset this evening. I took this photo on the train coming back to Cambridge from London. Looking at it now on the PC, I wish I didn't cut off the ground as much as I did. I guess I was too distracted by the clouds at the time to notice.

Sevans Dalek models - videos!

Here's two videos that I made just before I flogged my grey Sevans Dalek on eBay last year. The first one I did just for a laugh, the second is one that did specifically for the auction in the hope that it would help to sell it better.

My Sevans Dalek before I eBayed it last year!

Here's a few pics of my Sevans Dalek before it was flogged on eBay in November 2006! As you can see, it was a bit of a wreck compared to how it looked when it started off life in the mid '80s (click here and here to see how it used to look).









It was repainted and modified many times, and dropped a few times! The cat knocked it off a window sill a couple of years ago, almost destroying it completely! He also enjoyed pulling out the sink-plunger! These thumbnails link to some pretty big images. I have a video of this Dalek floating about somewhere that I might upload at a later date...

TARDIS console model

I came across a couple of photos of this cardboard model I made in the mid '80s. I think I made it when I was 13 or 14 years old (click to enlarge). It's the late Tom Baker / early Peter Davison TARDIS console. I believe I scaled it from the "Doctor Who Technical Manual". I remember that it didn't take too long to build.

Sevans Dalek models: More photos

As a follow-up to my original post about my old Sevans Daleks I have dug out a few more photos of them (click to enlarge). I took these when I was about 12 years old in the mid '80s. I have to say that these pics make me feel terribly nostalgic. I built the grey one with my father. I will post some more pics soon of the grey one. That one survived until last year when I sold it on eBay. It was in a terrible state.

Just to clarify, I had two Sevans Daleks. One was painted up as a "Resurrection" model, and the other was gold and silver. It was later repainted silver/blue (an "Evil of the Daleks" version. One of the photos below shows before/after this happened.

Sketch of the day: Kitchen stools

Another sketch from when we were in Central Asia in 2005. It's just a quick scribble, and not too exciting to be honest, but I like it because it reminds me of the flat where we stayed. Click to enlarge.

SEVANS Dalek models - readers' Daleks.

DrGaz's Stuff reader, Alan MacKenzie recently wrote to me regarding Sevans Daleks following my original post which can be found here.

Alan currently has two Sevans Daleks, one gold TV version and one much more imposing, black AARU film version (pictured - click to enlarge). The gold one is the older of the two, dating from March 1992, whilst the black was built in early 1998. Not long after building the first, Alan adapted it by fitting the innards of a Marx "Bump & Go" Dalek into it, so it trundles around looking quite realistic. Unfortunately, he never got around to converting the black one! The black one carries a customized squadron marking on his dome, taken from the cover illustration of the 1964 Dalek Book!

Here's a link to Alan's Dalek e-books: www.newdaleks.co.uk. Currently two books can be found here; "Redemption of the Daleks" and "Quest of the Daleks". A third, entitled "Triumph of the Daleks" will soon follow to complete the trilogy and will feature Dalek Caan from the new series. Well worth a look!

UPDATED: 11th August 2007: Here's a few more shots of Goldie. Thanks for sending them in Alan!

Do you have a Sevans Dalek you'd like to share? Go on send in a pic! You know you want to.

All images in this post are copyright Alan MacKenzie ©2007.

Horror Dream Diary: The Human Abattoir

Usually my nightmares are frightening because of they contain a supernatural aspect. This one is instead a good old fashioned gore-fest with plenty of blood and guts. This time there’s no poncing about in haunted houses. This nightmare goes straight for the jugular (almost quite literally)…

I dreamt that I was on a hiking/camping trip with a friend (I have no idea who) somewhere in the English countryside. We were lost and in the middle of a great wilderness. We came across a ramshackle collection of small buildings and outhouses that looked industrial, like a small factory or a farm.

The unusual thing about the place was that there were no roads leading up to it. It also appeared completely deserted. The location was strange – very remote, and built into a depression in the landscape making it completely invisible from miles around.

We were curious and decided to investigate further. We circled the buildings from a distance so that we could approach discretely from the rear.

We found a long single storey brick outhouse with a corrugated metal roof. It had a pair of heavy steel doors, one of which was slightly ajar. I pulled it open and stepped inside. My friend waited inside.

I stood at the end of a long room. Rows of metal benches stretched the length of the room. The place was deserted and eerily silent. Clearly it hadn’t been unused for some time. The benches were strewn with old and dirty knives, cleavers and saws. Looking down I noticed long drainage channels cut into the concrete floor that bore the signs of dark, encrusted blood. There was a stench of death and decaying flesh.

To my left were pair of large swing doors made from a heavy yellowish translucent plastic sheeting. I pushed my way through and found myself in a room of horrors. Rows of stripped human carcasses hung from meat hooks. The ones closest to me were freshly skinned, their naked muscles and tendons glistening. Those towards the back of the room were almost unrecognisably human due to their advanced state of decomposition. Some had been disembowelled, their bellies cavernous. Others had been partially stripped of flesh or dismembered. To my right was a low doorway. I stooped to enter and found myself into a smaller room. There was a stainless steel table in the centre. On it were smaller cuts of flesh, expertly butchered. Shelves containing neatly packaged portions of human meat lined the room.

It was clear that this was work-in-progress, and that the place wasn’t as deserted as I’d originally thought. Panicking, I retreated to the meat-hook room and just as I began to heave myself through the plastic doors I was violently seized from behind. Somebody with immense strength lifted me clear of the ground, pulling me backward. I was manoeuvred into place next to a carcass. I was lifted a little higher, back a bit and then I was released. I heard a crunch and felt a searing pain as the unseen butcher hung me on a meat hook from the back of my neck.

I was alone in the room, my body swinging gently from the hook. I distantly heard sounds of metal on metal. I knew my spinal cord had been severed. I was conscious, but completely lifeless from the neck down.

That’s about all I can remember. I wonder what happened to my friend.

Horror dream diary: A House without Windows

I was in a leafy suburb - a wealthy area with large detached houses with substantial grounds. The house I stood before was square and imposing. It was built from a sandy coloured stone and its overgrown grounds were encircled by gnarled wrought iron fencing. It was early evening and the sun was low, casting long shadows. Stray branches and overgrown bushes were sillhouetted against the golden sky.

The unusual thing obout the building was that it had no windows. This made it look like a mausoleum. There were large depressions in the walls where windows should have been. The surrounding stonework was intricately decorated with engravings and carvings of snakes. My instincts told me that I should leave, but there was a warmth and beauty that drew me in.

The next thing I knew I was standing inside the house. It was silent and gloomy, and the walls were oak panelled. I was in the main hallway at the bottom of a grand staircase that led up to darkness. Corridors at each side of the staircase also led to darkness. I saw a beautiful young woman with pale skin and blood-red lips. She had long black hair and wore a long back dress that touched the floor. There was an air of malice about her, but like her house, there was something alluring about her. She drifted past, seeming to have only a vague awareness of me. Then she turned and made eye-contact momentarily. Her eyes burned into me and I sensed immense power within her.

Others were there too. There was a tall slow-moving man – a butler perhaps - and some servants. I remember having a conversation with the butler, but generally I was invisible to everyone and explored the mansion as I pleased.

I don’t remember anything else of what I saw in the house, but I do remember that I spied on the girl, and discovered she was a witch. I witnessed her practising black magic in a downstairs room. She performed some complicated rituals, and my understanding was that I was the target for them.

I soon noticed other things – vague things that I can’t remember - that made me realise that things were working against me in the house.

I was trapped in the building. There were no doors or windows to escape from. My exit method was quite bizarre - I started to feel an enormous force surging through my body. The energy built up inside me for a few seconds and then I flew straight through the roof, bursting through the floors like Superman!

The last thing I remember was looking down and seeing an amazing ariel view of house and the grounds from the sky as I flew back home.