Full steam ahead

What do you get when you cross a post-apocalyptic future

with not only the American Wild West but also all the

best bits of the Victorian era?

Hang on to your hat gel it's blowing a bit.

Perhaps an irradiated cowboy who is certainly "not amused",

maybe a homeless saloon girl dressed as Prince Albert

but most definitely a genre of fiction and assocated

subculture imaginatively named Steampunk.

Sounds like my kind of scene, so bring it on!

Reminds me a bit of Noddy Holder.

Let's play with HG Well's time machine, come and ride in an

airship and work it all out on Babbage's analytical machine.

But hold on a minute - first of all we need to be dressed

for the part.  Oh goody!

Schmoking!

However, please don't get confused and come all got up for

retro-futurism as that would never do and your street

cred would plummet to a bit fat zero.

A bit Lord Byron or is it Fontleroy?  Nice helmet btw.

I'm afraid the guide lines are so sketchy as to be practically

non-existent and this is where a good imagination might

come in handy.  Think granny's bloomers and Great

Uncle's waistcoat topped off with a parasol; tailcoats,

top hats, flying goggles; corsets, bustles, petticoats;

medals, militaria and moth holes; holsters, spurs, lassoos.

Go on - give us a twirl.

Stop there as it's all getting a bit too shades of grey for me now.

Have a go, have fun, don't frighten the horses and, above all,

have one eye open for the rozzers or you may wind up with

an asbo and an electronic tag too for your trouble.

Not sure about the dreds.

A little more steam and less punk please Dougall and if 

you've never read Para Handy you won't have the faintest

clue as to what I'm on about.  So what's new?