#trainspotting

some trainspotting sketches

fuckers took my wheels, cant have shit in detroit

Giving in to peer pressure

@catastrotaffy@asteridaes

“We start off with high hopes, then we bottle it. We realise that we’re all going to die, without really finding out the big answers. We develop all those long-winded ideas which just interpret the reality of our lives in different ways, without really extending our body of worthwhile knowledge, about the big things, the real things. Basically, we live a short disappointing life; and then we die. We fill up our lives with shite, things like careers and relationships to delude ourselves that it isn’t all totally pointless.”

Trainspotting(1996)

           BOOK STARTERS VOL.47    TRAINSPOTTING    IRVINE WELSH

1. ❛ We start off with high hopes, then we bottle it. We realise that we’re all going to die, without really finding out the big answers. ❜
   
2. ❛ By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be. ❜
   
3. ❛ I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. ❜
   
4. ❛ And the reasons? There are no reasons. ❜
   
5. ❛ Love does not exist, it’s like religion, made to control you. ❜
   
6. ❛ After all, we’re not fucking stupid. At least, we’re not that fucking stupid. ❜
   
7. ❛ You fucking knew that fucking cunt would fuck some cunt. ❜
   
8. ❛ Everything in the street today seems soft focus. ❜
   
9. ❛ What does that make us? The lowest of the low. ❜
   
10. ❛ Take your best orgasm, multiply the feeling by twenty, and you’re still fuckin’ miles off the pace. ❜
    
11. ❛ It’s as if everything is a copy of what you knew before, similar, yet somehow lacking in its usual qualities, a bit like the way things are in a dream. ❜
    
12. ❛ It’s all okay, it’s all beautiful; but I fear that this internal sea is going to subside soon, leaving this poisonous shite washed up, stranded up in my body. ❜
    
13. ❛ It cuts me up. It confuses me. ❜
    
14. ❛ It’s not funny laughter. This is lynch mob laughter. ❜
    
15. ❛ Protect me from those who wish to help us. ❜
    
16. ❛ They mean well, and they mean well to me, but there’s no way under the sun that they can appreciate what I feel, what I need. ❜
    
17. ❛ The pit of melancholy is a bottomless one, and I am descending fast. ❜
    
18. ❛ Living like this is a full-time business. ❜
    
19. ❛ I’ll stand or fall alone. ❜
    
20. ❛ We are no wiser now than at the start. ❜
    
21. ❛ This is pathetic, and fucking boring. ❜
    
22. ❛ Death is usually a process, rather than an event. ❜
    
23. ❛ We’re ruled by effete arseholes. What does that make us? ❜
    
24. ❛ We are all acquaintances now. ❜
    
25. ❛ The problem is that this beautiful ocean carries with it loads of poisonous flotsam and jetsam. ❜
    
26. ❛ Life is beautiful. I’m going to enjoy it, and I’m going to have a long life. ❜
    
27. ❛ The grim reality of impending death can be talked away by trying to invest in the present reality of life. ❜
    
28. ❛ There must be more to life than this. ❜
    
29. ❛ We all see what we want to see. ❜
    
30. ❛ Statistically speaking, you’re more likely to be killed by a member of your own family or a close friend, than by anyone else. ❜

           BOOK STARTERS VOL.47    TRAINSPOTTING    IRVINE WELSH

1. ❛ We start off with high hopes, then we bottle it. We realise that we’re all going to die, without really finding out the big answers. ❜
   
2. ❛ By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be. ❜
   
3. ❛ I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. ❜
   
4. ❛ And the reasons? There are no reasons. ❜
   
5. ❛ Love does not exist, it’s like religion, made to control you. ❜
   
6. ❛ After all, we’re not fucking stupid. At least, we’re not that fucking stupid. ❜
   
7. ❛ You fucking knew that fucking cunt would fuck some cunt. ❜
   
8. ❛ Everything in the street today seems soft focus. ❜
   
9. ❛ What does that make us? The lowest of the low. ❜
   
10. ❛ Take your best orgasm, multiply the feeling by twenty, and you’re still fuckin’ miles off the pace. ❜
    
11. ❛ It’s as if everything is a copy of what you knew before, similar, yet somehow lacking in its usual qualities, a bit like the way things are in a dream. ❜
    
12. ❛ It’s all okay, it’s all beautiful; but I fear that this internal sea is going to subside soon, leaving this poisonous shite washed up, stranded up in my body. ❜
    
13. ❛ It cuts me up. It confuses me. ❜
    
14. ❛ It’s not funny laughter. This is lynch mob laughter. ❜
    
15. ❛ Protect me from those who wish to help us. ❜
    
16. ❛ They mean well, and they mean well to me, but there’s no way under the sun that they can appreciate what I feel, what I need. ❜
    
17. ❛ The pit of melancholy is a bottomless one, and I am descending fast. ❜
    
18. ❛ Living like this is a full-time business. ❜
    
19. ❛ I’ll stand or fall alone. ❜
    
20. ❛ We are no wiser now than at the start. ❜
    
21. ❛ This is pathetic, and fucking boring. ❜
    
22. ❛ Death is usually a process, rather than an event. ❜
    
23. ❛ We’re ruled by effete arseholes. What does that make us? ❜
    
24. ❛ We are all acquaintances now. ❜
    
25. ❛ The problem is that this beautiful ocean carries with it loads of poisonous flotsam and jetsam. ❜
    
26. ❛ Life is beautiful. I’m going to enjoy it, and I’m going to have a long life. ❜
    
27. ❛ The grim reality of impending death can be talked away by trying to invest in the present reality of life. ❜
    
28. ❛ There must be more to life than this. ❜
    
29. ❛ We all see what we want to see. ❜
    
30. ❛ Statistically speaking, you’re more likely to be killed by a member of your own family or a close friend, than by anyone else. ❜

Trainspotting(1996)

Skagboys is the prequel to Irvine Welsh’s phenomenal 1993 novel Trainspotting which was later immortalised by Danny Boyle’s feature film in 1996. Welsh later followed the success of Trainspotting with other novels and short stories, most of which are based in the familiar setting of Edinburgh and Leith.

There is much to enjoy about Skagboys. It is always nice to revisit memorable characters but the general subject matter is not largely different from Trainspotting itself. Skagboys details the lives of Renton, Sick Boy and Spud amongst others as they embark on heroin addiction. It hints at the choices people make which change their lives and the political and social circumstances which led to drug abuse being so prevalent in 1980s Scotland.

Typically Thatcherite policy bears the brunt of the blame. A growing underclass with no possibilities or hope of progression are easy fodder for the escape which heroin promises but ultimately fails to deliver. The death of working class values leads the majority of the book’s characters down a road to oblivion, be it drugs or in the case of Begbie, extreme and at times indiscriminate violence.

Renton’s character is perhaps the most interesting in this book. He throws away a promising university career and beautiful girlfriend for the aimlessness and depression which drug addiction is certain to bring. Whether or not it is because of his childhood or disabled brother’s persistent struggle against illness is ambiguous. It seems that Welsh leaves readers open to wonder if many users begin drug habits just for the sheer fun or curiosity of it.

Skagboys is a lot less enjoyable than Porno, the 2002 sequel to Trainspotting which brought out the more humorous and debaucherous side of Welsh’s writing. It may be a worthwhile read for fans of his work but there is little in it to merit publication as it is all familiar and well tread territory. Having said that, Welsh remains one of modern fiction’s most ambitious writers and anything he has published deserves the benefit of the doubt.

cuirassofthesaviorshide:

Ewan McGregor photographed by Lorenzo Agius for Trainspotting, 1996.