..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
green credentials
a part of the recovery process, for me at least (and i do hesitate in appearing to have adopted evangelism) is once again, comfortably achieving activities that i accomplished with ease prior to my recent health scare. one of those will be the ability to ride my bicyle over distances once accepted as entirely normal; speed is currently far less of a consideration. however, i like to think that i am more than just a one-trick pony, sometimes fearful of being perceived as a cyclist and little more. in truth, i played drums for several years before becoming a dyed-in-the-wool velocipedinist, and retaining the ability to do so is, currently at least, every bit as important in my eyes.
though i have indulged in a modicum of 'air drumming' in recent weeks, there's no denying that sitting behind a real set of drums for up to three hours and making oneself heard above the cacophony of amplified bass and guitar is a few steps above pretending to be a soundless buddy rich or gene krupa. however, for the past twenty years or so, i have undertaken to play four gigs annually at one of bowmore's local hostelries, making up the third of a 60s and 70s trio. and two of those gigs arrived over the friday and saturday of easter weekend.
having already managed 10km on the bicycle at one sitting, i felt more or less at ease considering two successive evenings of three hours each, though i won't deny a certain degree of trepidation on the friday eve at least. it seems there may not be a standardised manual for the recovery procedure, meaning more or less, one step at a time. the potential problem is quite what to do if one of those steps provides a negative outcome? however, i am more than pleased to relate that both evenings went off without a hitch; i am not a particularly heavy-hitter when it comes to percussive technique, and i'd imagine that the majority consider drumming to be often more strenuous than is truly the case. witness max roach or bill bruford for confirmation.
however, two gigs in one weekend inevitably meant that my cycling progress took a justifiable hit. mrs washingmachinepost is struggling more with the receovery process than am i, a not altogether unexpected outcome; after all, i'm the only one who actually knows how i feel, and judgments on how to proceed tend to be based on the perceptions of those who are considerably less active, and dare i say, as fit as was yours truly. the hospital consultant advised as much. the condition that led to my infraction, hereditary as it has been adjudged to be, apparently took this long to surface due to the fitness conferred by regular cycling. and the speed of recovery has seemingly been aided and abetted by the same factor. however, not wishing to become estranged from those who undoubtedly have my best interests at heart was always going to involve compromises.
and rather than the usual process by which the drumset is delivered and collected from said hostelry (manually), my son, who is an electrician and thus in possession of a van capable of swallowing a cased set of dw drums, was happy to drop off the kit on friday morning and retrieve it again on sunday pm. however, the same lad was once a regular member of the sunday peloton before the arrival of a baby daughter and an increase in the number of hours required to satisfy demand for his expert services. he is therefore historically accustomed to the hospitality provided by sunday lunchtimes at debbie's, and did not shy from the opporchancity to suggest we take a van drive to deb's for coffee and a toastie prior to collecting the tools of my peercussive trade.
it was an invite from which i did not see fit to demur.
i'm sure that there are all manner of habitual activities that incur feelings of regret when deemed no longer practical for inclusion in day-to-day existence. every saturday i was in the habit of visiting debbie's at lunchtime for a soya latte and double-egg roll, and again on sundays for an esteemed cheese and tomato toastie. the latter were easily justified having been preceded by several kilometres of graft in the saddle; though the ambience of debbie's persists, there's something just not right about indulging in said victuals without the foregoing velocipedinal activity.
this situation reminds of an article read in a mountain biking magazine many years ago, where the author praised the practice of hammering miles of singletrack, not necessarily for the physical benefit, but more for the opportunity to scoff an extra doughnut at ride's end without recourse to feelings of guilt. it seems those feelings persist in the majority who undertake strenuous physical activity (and let's face it, those who do not ride bicycles consider any pedalling activity as 'strenuous'). though our easter weekend visit to debbie's took place at lunchtime, there seemed something untoward about indulging in a soya latte and cheese and tomato toastie without any preceding effort whatsoever.
cycling is life. the rest is mere detail.
monday 21 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................never mind the quality
while i do pride myself on having (outdated) mechanical skills when it comes to bicycles, sadly those skills seem non-transferable; my biggest contribution to diy is a pile of newspapers on the floor. however, though many of the tools still scattered about thewashingmachinepost bike shed are no longer of any use (two variations of a suntour freewheeel remover for example), their lifespan was a tad longer than some of the bottom bracket tools that emerged in response to the standards fervour of recent years. however, with the continued technological developments, companies such as park tool must be rubbing their hands with glee, while their own development teams work seven days a week, attempting to keep up.
but, where the phrase, "every day's a new day" must resonate loudest, would surely be within the world's tyre manufacturers, attempting to keep pace with constant change.
in my very early days of road cycling, i once purchased a pair of 19mm tyres, the very width that appeared as a common choice for time-triallists. since a few of us had instigated weekend time-trials of our very own, leading from bowmore's round church to islay international airport and back (vaguely close to ten miles), i thought it best to show willing and aim for victory by fitting such narrow rubber. the apparently logical contention of the day was the narrower the tyre and the higher the pressure, the lower would be the rolling resistance. it is still an inference that some think to be correct, no matter what various studies allegedly proved. i can but admit i'd be very loathe to repeat the exercise nowadays, given the deteriorating road surfaces on which we now pedal.
in the right hands, 19mm might well have provided an advantage, but inflated to 120psi, it made a concerted effort to remove all my fillings and separate my skeleton from my skin.
as is no real secret, i harbour cynical thoughts towards many things in modern life. while propping up the bar, nursing a glass of fizzy water on friday night, i spied on the counter, a bottle of islay whisky, amongst the thousands this particular hostelry possesses, one on which the label proudly stated hand-filled. with nothing else to occupy my mind at the time, i wondered just how the method of filling a bottle of whisky could have any bearing on the taste or quality of the dram? not that i asked, but i'd be willing to bet that particular bottle carried a premium price entirely on that basis.
and so i harbour concerns about the nature of bicycle tyre widths. for many a year, the rule of thumb was that a budget road bike featured 25mm tyres, while one more worthy of the cognoscenti's attention was more likely to feature a 23mm width. that particular state of affairs remained in force for many a long year until someone, somewhere, thought it a wizard wheeze to extend to 28mm. the reason for my cynicism is, at the time, there were very few road bikes capable of accepting those extra millimetres. i own a colnago c40 and a colnago master, neither of which work particularly well when their tyres are bestowed with those extra 5mm.
however, apportioning lower rolling resistance to wider tyres, and thus more comfort, allied to the knowledge that the pros were now adopting such widths on their sponsor-provided prototype bikes, was always going to be a marketing clincher (pun intended).
we are constantly being told that the world in which we live features an abundance of interconnected life, where destruction or promulgation of one part will immediately have a positive or negative effect on another perceptibly unrelated part. there's a good case for suggesting a similar set of connections within the cycle industry. when disc brakes became a de facto standard on carbon road bikes, if that was the stopping power of your heart's desire, you had no option but to acquire a new frame. there's no practical or economical means of retro fitting discs to a rim-brake carbon frame. so while the component manufacturers benefitted, so did the bike manufacturers.
now we have a similar situation occurring with tyres. my ritchey logic will, at a push, accept 30mm tyres, but definitely no wider. when you learn that several teams were sporting 33mm and 35mm rubber at this year's paris-roubaix, there's no doubt that such unadorned luxury is beyond my grasp; unless i buy a ritchey montebello, or simply discard my ritchey altogether and ride everywhere on my specialized crux cyclocross bicycle. and unless the roads improved in the near future, there's an excellent case to be made for so doing, enjoying the greater comfort of a pair of 33mm challenge chicanes. however, it's also relatively self-evident that placing wider tyres on road bikes has been at the behest of disc brakes. i know of no caliper rim brakes that could accommodate anything above 33mm.
there's that interconnectedness again.
it would be foolish to deny the benefits to be gained from wider rubber, especially by those of us who don't actually race. though tyre companies still attempt to justify the increased width on the basis of improved rolling resistance, i doubt any of us could or need to tell the difference. but 28mm run at 60psi as opposed to 23mm at 90psi on hebridean/scottish/british roads is a no-brainer. so while 40mm on a road bike (assuming you can find a bike on which they'd fit) might be unadorned luxury, there's every indication that we're inexorably headed in that direction. and when we eventually get there, someone's going to have to come up with a new name for 'fat bikes'.
sunday 20 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................divergence
there is little doubt that, currently, electric vehicles have their limitations. where fossil-fuelled vehicles can stop momentarily at a filling station when the gauge advises, run out of e-power, and the wait could be a relatively lengthy one, always assuming there's a charging point within earshot. admittedly, battery technology improves on almost a daily basis, but still struggles to overcome its weight problem. according to some, electric was the wrong way to go, and just to pile more pressure on the dislikeable american, the blame might fall at the feet of elon musk.
in point of fact, musk was not actually wrong, but his initial success with tesla convinced the world's car manufacturers that they were in serious danger of being left stranded if they failed to adopt electric strategies of their very own. alternatives to electric cars are available, but no-one wanted to spend the time developing any of them while tesla was eating up their customer base. in fact, i have read that the sensible alternative would have been hydrogen fuel cells; these have been explored by several manufacturers but mostly alongside battery power.
hydrogen has two clear advantages; the only emission from a hydrogen-powered vehicle is water, and it would take no longer to refuel than is the case for petrol or diesel cars. however, though criticisms of the nation's charging network are entirely valid, those would probably increase dramatically were eyes to be set on comparable facilities for hydrogen powered cars. seemingly gone are the days when it was considered a plus to tread one's own path. but, as mentioned above, tesla's success provided the financial incentive for all to follow its lead.
and keeping faith with the motor car for a few more paragraphs, the one-time justification for motor racing rested predominantly on its purported research and development value to the motor industry as a whole. features tried and tested on the race track, so went the argument, could only benefit the average motorist driving a family saloon. that may have once been true, except cars capable of carrying only a driver while travelling in excess of 200mph bear scant resemblance to a ford puma or a vauxhall astra. i'm not denying that certain aspects of grand prix motoring have not subsequently found their way to the average motor car, but it's hard to see how the return on investment stacks up.
in respect of the above, cycling, in a more modest way, suffers similar slings and arrows. history is unlikely to record whose idea it was to apply hydraulic disc brakes to road bikes, but there's little doubt that so doing presaged a necessary re-think of certain aspects of bicycle design. for instance, take the front fork; on rim-brake bicycles, the calipers are affixed at the sturdiest point of the fork: the crown. thus even under heavy braking, solidity was never in doubt. changing to discs however, entailed strengthening the leftmost fork leg to withstand the substantially increased torque experienced at the thinnest part of the assembly. and beefing up that fork leg essentially meant it became a great deal stiffer, and no longer capable of offering the ride comfort it ws originally designed to provide.
i've no doubt that many a framebuilder is far more well aware of this situation than am i. but if your competitors are all offering disc-equipped road bicycles, the danger would be losing market share by either remaining true to rim-brakes, or researching the alternatives. it's the electric car syndrome all over again. similarly the increasing of tube diameters, sticking the cables inside the head tube and necessitating an ovalised steerer and all the myriad bottom bracket standards that must be the bane of every cycle shop service department.
and that brings me back to the formula one conundrum.
though i'm unaware of any single cycle manufacturer that has cited the reason for going racing as a means of research and development for their catalogue range, but i think we can probably presume that to be the case. however, if you go racing, you have to produce bicycles that suit those who enter races. to be blunt, that's not you or me. so when we learn that the latest model is worth an additional number of watts at 50kph over its predecessor, there ought to be a great deal of soul searching; how many sunday peloton members do you know who can sustain (or even reach) 50kph for any appreciable distance? same goes for anything else that presumes to be aero. and in fact, had we remained true to the one-inch headset, the head tube would already have been sufficiently svelte as to dispense with all those hours of wind-tunnel testing.
several years ago a friend of mine purchased a specialized peter sagan edition road bike. after a week or so he mentioned that while impressively fast, it was very stiff and uncomfortable. of course, there's a reason for that. my original colnago c40 features carbon tubes that replicate the steel tubing of colnago's master frameset. it provides a remarkably comfortable ride, probably far more so for andrea tafi across the cobbles of paris-roubaix than that experienced by mvdp on his canyon last sunday.
many modern carbon monocoque road bikes are designed for speed, the sole facet required by the professional racer. tadej pogacar is regarded as being at a higher level than the majority of those in the pro peloton, so one can only imagine how many levels he is above you and i. yet we are regularly provided with the same velocipedinal wherewithal as the slovenian. even the most ardent cycling fan must surely be aware of the disparity? assuming momentum to be conserved it seems probable that road bike development will take it further and further away from good old down-to-earth reality. are you telling me that a sunday morning rider actually needs shimano dura-ace di2, or campagnolo's super-record wireless? want? yes, but need?
the trouble is, a bit like the electric car, things are probably already too far down what some of us are beginning to suspect might be the wrong road.
saturday 19 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................sense and sensibility
in my softly written tirades agains the reputed hot tech featured in reecent youtube videos from taipei and sea otter, one of the most common offenders, apart from wheels, has been the burgeoning increase in the number of carbon-fibre, stem/bar combos, eager to pronounce their aiding and abetting of not only minuscule reductions in weight, but the ability to take advantage of the aesthetically pleasing, yet highly impractical internalising of gear wires and brake hoses.
and just as a brief aside, though i have long endorsed the practice of relating cycled distances in kilometres, purely to seem far more impressive than if referred to in miles, providing weight loss in grammes almost appears to verge on what lawyers might refer to as 'sharp practice'. in another recent youtube video, weight-savings through prudent choice of componentry advised a potential reduction of 100g; in old money, that's a mere four ounces which, in my case, could easily be achieved by a decent haircut. the day that the tour de france is lost because the runner-up was astride a bicycle four ounces heavier than the winner, i will eat humble pie. ridiculous.
digression over.
however though i have rarely, if ever, had cause to adjust the angle of my handlebars once they have been clamped in place, i am ever thankful that the manufacturer - in my case, ritchey bicycles - have allowed me the freedom to do so. though the levers can be adjusted on the curves at each side, sometimes it's most gratifying to have the option of turning the bars just a smidgeon, to allow micro-adjustment. after all, as one of my work colleagues is in the habit of reminding me, we're all different.
but the combining of stem and bars and allowing internal cable routing appears to be only part of the fashion choice. the rule of thumb to which many of us have adhered since the dawn of the dinosaurs, was selecting bar width based on the distance between one shoulder and the other. that, it appears, is no longer the preferred dimension, achieving, by common youtube advice, a width in excess of that seen to contribute towards the most advantageous aero positioning. apparently comfort is no longer the guiding principle.
i have reiterated on several occasions that i have shied away from including any direct reference to the world of offroad, though that condition has been sorely tried in the face of overwhelming gravel. there are any number of mountain bike blogs and vlogs that are far more pertinent than the post; i don't even own a mountain bike. however, it appears that the roadgoing fraternity does not hold a monopoly on common sense (though some would say they never did). while roadies drool over the scant weight of a combined and integrated cockpit, there are those supplying the springy farm-gate adherents with a far simpler and eminently more pragmatic solution to steering.
starling cycles, builders and purveyors of 'pure and simple' steel mountain bikes, have revealed their clutch stem, so-called because it is a "...tough, timeless and beautiful way to clutch your bars tight and set you apart from the clones." despite being fabricated in taiwan, the stem is "...made by a bloke in a workshop with his hands", before being powder-coated at starling's premises in bristol. the faceplate features two starlings as a subtle nod to its makers, though currently only available in a limited edition of 50. first come, first served.
keen to point out that the stem will "...clamp your bars tight for decades", in response to the question "how much does it weigh?" starling responded, "who cares? compared to a cnc stem, it adds fewer grammes than that squashed banana you've got strapped to your frame." that's surely the kind of thinking that ought to prevail towards everyone in the world of road, apart from, obviously enough, the professionals. starling cycles founder, joe mcewan, said, "everything else out there is built to meet marketing specs or chasing pointless weight savings. We wanted something that felt like one of our bikes; handmade, unique, built to last and the perfect match for your starling frame."
unfortunately, mountain bike stems are a whole different bucket of cable ferrules than those aimed at the average roadie, meaning no real crossover market, stumped, not least, by its remarkably minimal 35mm length. but in addition to offering to match the colour of a starling frame, mr mcewan has undertaken to repaint the stem free of charge if owners opt to refurbish their frames. as alluded to above, mountain biking, though enjoyed by tom pidcock and mathieu van der poel, is not a genre to find much in the way of favour on thewashingmachinepost, but i do admire their way of thinking.
i live in hope.
friday 18 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................this makes no sense
as far as i can recall, thewashingmachinepost has perpetuated the 'custard yellow' background for the majority of its 29 years in existence. granted, there has been the odd occasion when i opted to change to pink during the giro d'italia, but that was fraught with unforeseen colour clashes that had me decide to refrain from repeating the exercise on an annual basis. the yellow did, at one point in time, feature a grid pattern, a design i purloined from a long since demised graphic design website, and the text header did morph several years past when the digital type foundry, house industries, released the final version of velo.
i'm sure i don't have to spell out the connection.
i should admit, however, that the lack of variation, even in terms of producing a responsive web design, one which adjust its shape and size depending on what type of device it is being viewed, is a combination of technical incompetence and sheer laziness. the current html and css design is retained because it's very easy for me to maintain. in fact, in the absence of proprietary software, these pixels are effectively generated by apple's text-edit, a copy of which arrives free of charge on all new macs. for the lethargic and cost conscious blogger, it doesn't get better than this. in addition, i'm somewhat loathe to upgrade the post experience, preferring instead to believe that message is of greater importance than its presentation.
of course, not everyone will agree.
rapha's existence as a brand that hit the ground running is predominantly at the behest of its founder, a gent whose career up till that point in 2004, was that of a brand consultant, advising corporate britain how best to portray their position in the firmament. and there is no doubt that brand promotion and perception is every bit as important as the products or services being provided. i and many others are more than happy to purchase products from a computer brand entitled apple, but i might be less inclined had messrs. jobs and wozniak opted to sell their technology under the name pomegranate. and heaven forfend that mr mottram of rapha fame had settled on the far more trivial whizz apparel
you see, it does matter.
however, that hasn't stopped many a business opting to change the name, yet not really changing what it does. a few doors down from my bowmore main street office are the offices of naturescot, an environmental organisation previously known as scottish natural heritage (snh) before which it was referred to as the nature conservancy council (ncc). following each change of name, every instance of vehicles, clothing, stationery and office nameplate across the nation had to be altered at what can only have been considerable cost. yet those employed by the renamed organisation carry out almost exactly the same tasks as they did when originally constituted. feel free to join me in a collective 'why'?
at each twist and turn, statements released by those who probably ought to know better, claimed that this outward change of identity was conceived to "...help it deliver on its mission", a phrase that has found itself echoed this week as cycling organisation cycling uk also changed its branding. developed in close partnership with the creative agency 'elvis', cycling uk's new brand is designed "to underpin the charity's commitment to creating happier, healthier and greener communities through cycling." it's glaringly obvious how none of the latter could possibly have been achieved under the previous branding. isn't it?
as far as i can determine, cycling uk will continue to represent its members in the face of economic and political adversity, while maintaining its campaign for the rights of cyclists throughout the uk. in other words, precisely what it has always done, even when known as the cyclists' touring club. chief executive of the 'elvis' design agency, tanya whitehouse, claims that it is "...setting a bold vision for what's to come." additionally, the rebrand is designed to "...inspire more people to see cycling as an easy, sustainable, and fun way to get around.. is it not incredible nowadays what can be achieved by a different logo and a change of colour?
confusingly, the new look and feel aims to show that "...more people cycling has far reaching benefits for everyone, and not just for those who cycle." though i will happily concur with accusations of cynicism, i'm none too sure that those who don't cycle could really care less. we are also told that the new branding reflects the charity's 147-year heritage, a claim that has me even more confused. the first thing i thought of on seeing the new logo was certainly not that it represented almost a century and a half of velocipedinal activity. the cog and horizon reputedly symbolises a new dawn; all well and good, but ten or twenty years from now, will the dawn still be new?
but more to the point, does anyone actually believe all the above to be true? though i do like the new look, i'd be far more impressed, though a tad concerned over the cost, if they'd simply said they fancied a change.
wednesday 16 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................vintage
i have occasionally mentioned from time to time, my desire to possess and play a particular model of vintage snare drum; namely, a slingerland radio king, famously played by both gene krupa and buddy rich. i would be hard-pressed to explain just why this particular drum stands out midst rogers dynasonics, a round-badged gretsch or a ludwig jazz festival, particularly in the light of my contention that there is very little to choose between the sound of each. and perhaps more pragmatically, the fact that audiences for which i regularly play would scarcely notice the difference between a quality snare drum and a cardboard box.
however, uniquely amongst the aforementioned, the original radio-king snare from the 1940s featured a shell made from a single plank of maple, steam-bent into the required shape and held in place with particularly solid reinforcement rings top and bottom (as an aside, it is my singular contention that all drums ought to feature reinforcement rings. just because they should). drums from that era, and this model in particular, also included internal mufflers allowing a degree of control over any undesired overtones. and differing from contemporary snare drums, the counterhoops required to exert tension on the drumheads, were made from brass and, for reasons not altogether clear, plated with nickel.
these vintage snare drums are much in demand by drummers of all genres, apparently on the basis of their ability to produce the very sound beloved of studio recording engineers. based purely on the knowledge that it is almost half a century since i last graced the interior of just such a facility, you would be well within your rights to enquire why my desire had settled upon just such a drum? however, as pointed out in my opening paragraph, i really have no cogent response to that query. and just to add insult to injury, many of the examples over which i have drooled, sported age-related flaws of varying degree; for the prices demanded, i felt it a smidgeon over-reaching to acquiesce and purchase.
that, however, has scarcely lessened the sense of slingerland desire.
to provide some sort of perspective to this convoluted tale, i should point out that the slingerland drum company has long been dormant, with drums bearing that name last seen in the 1990s, when owned by the gibson guitar company, and resembling only a pale shadow of their former selves. however, in 2019, the son of drum workshop founder, don lombardi, bought the rights to the name as a present for his father, from which time many of us have eagerly anticipated the resurgence of the iconic slingerland cloud badge gracing a new range of drums. several months past, our patience was rewarded with the announcement at america's national association of music merchants (namm) exhibition, of a limited edition range of eight slingerland radio king snare drums. these were available in four different shell colours or wraps in 14" x 5" and 14" x 8" sizes. only 50 of each were made.
despite the ludicrous amount of money charged for each (complete with radio king embroidered case and alternative calfskin head), i opted to purchase one of the shallower drums with a vintage marine pearl wrap, reminiscent of those played by messrs. krupa and rich. my rationale, such as it is, surrounded the supposition that such a single-ply drum would be the verisimilitude of those vintage examples, but less prone to disintegrating before my very eyes.
of course, vintage in the drum world, is a definable thing. there are numerous drum stores specialising in satisfying just such a demand. and it's not so very long since rogers drums arose like a phoenix from the depths of infatuation once again, reputedly built in the manner of the originals. the reappearance of both slingerland and rogers in the 21st century exists in perfect harmony with the originals from yesteryear.
for several years now i have been on the receiving end of regular e-mails from german-based steel vintage bicycles, alerting me to the availability of a wide range of pristine cycles from yesteryear, often at impressively high prices, depending on the cycle's perceived rarity and condition. of course, steel vintage bicycles is scarcely the sole purveyor of velocipedes from the past, advising that there is most definitely a market for cycles with the brake cables exiting the top of the brake levers, and ornate, polished alloy chainsets with the requisite 53/43 chainrings.
at the risk of being accused of stating the glaringly obvious, so far, so good. but the question i have harboured for more than just a few months, is why few, if any, of the world's cycle manufacturers currently offer a modern edition of their most favourable cycles from cycling's rich heritage. granted, there are one or two (colnago and gios spring to mind) offering lugged steel framesets reminiscent of those of which i speak, recreating models from the 50s or 60s, but offering them as complete bicycles for sale is very definitely not a commonality.
of course, the cost of doing so, with modern editions of 20th century campagnolo groupsets, may well be of an order of magnitude greater than reproducing a 1940s snare drum, but i wonder if anyone has checked to find out. the modern-day slingerland has not only commissioned the manufacture of replica lugs and stick chopper brass hoops but even slingerland embossed internal washers. as carbon becomes ever more ubiquitous and bicycles embrace the complexity of electronics, just as with vintage drums and motor cars, surely the demand for the simpler and arguably more heart-warming days of yore might be expected to experience a recognised increase. after all, how many of us really need hydraulic discs, twelve electronic gears and aero credentials that really only kick in above 35kph?
and as a throwaway aside, subjectively, my radio-king outperforms all my other snare drums, particularly when outfitted with the calfskin head.
tuesday 15 april 2025
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................