Les Morts Dansants

Another fallen star, we are at the age of life where people move from this mortal coil, people outside of our family circle, people from our friends, and yes even some musicians are friends,

Tony Clarkin passed the day I posted the last blog, if I hadn’t spent time typing the previous blog up this would have gone in its place, I’m not going to claim to know him, because I didn’t, I met him about four times, I think I said hello twice and then moved on, the wife however was a friend and followed the band for a number of years, it was Mr. Clarkin who gave her his  and his wife’s back stage passes for Donnington to her and her friend, how do I know this, because I have seen the pictures and yes Kirk Hammett looks all of about 17, the wife and her friend were close to the band, hell they even took baby clothes to Bob Catley upon the birth of one of his children, this was all before I had met the wife.

Having said that, we travelled in the same circles, because I saw Magnum about a dozen times between 1978  and 1988 they were the perennial support band, along with Budgie ( I saw Budgie just a few times more) the first time I saw them was supporting Blue Oyster Cult, I always liked to see the support bands, yes I was young and naïve, I enjoyed them but I thought they were ancient Clarkin was 32 I was 13, I didn’t think I would see them again, oh how wrong I was.

A number of friends and acquaintances liked them and we would travel to see them if we could, I saw them in Blackpool (in 1980) where we didn’t think we would get back home as we coasted into Durham on fumes, at the city hall supporting the Tygers of Pan Tang I did get to see them make the transition to bigger halls and become ever more polished, and I can honestly say I never saw a bad gig, but life gets in the way and other bands took over so I didn’t see them again until nearly 20 years later when SMOR (keep up boys and girls) got us in on the guest list to see them, and it was like being a 13 year old again, we saw them a few more times after that and we were actually thinking of going to see them on this tour, before the sad announcement of Tony Clarkin’s passing, a man who steered the band through nearly 50 years of albums and touring, a great songwriter and an inspiration to a lot of bands, but like taxes, death is the only other thing guaranteed.

A short one for sure, but I felt the need to comment, the name game is in play, but come on boys and girls its really not that hard, a couple of blogs on the boil including some musical blogs are on there way including a new Now Hear This Blog, don’t say that you haven’t been warned! So until then stay alive and stay safe…………Toodles!

Free Falling.

A short missive (allegedly) as I work on something slightly larger, it would appear that I have the agility of a hippopotamus on a unicycle, I have fallen more times in the last two years than I have in the previous 57 years, go figure!

 

I don’t mind falling, actually that’s a lie I do, but I have noticed that it tends to hurt a lot more than it used to, and they always seem to be in slow motion, let’s make a list over the last two years, lets get you the reader’s opinion!

January 2022. I slipped on ice as I walked diligently towards Durham Train Station, I landed on my back and because I wear a big bag, I kind of got whiplash, which if I’m honest I am still suffering from now, I did see someone, I still do the exercises for my neck, but most times it still hurts and I mean it really hurts.

May 2022. Conducting an evacuation drill and talking sound measurements, I kind of got lost as wasn’t paying due care and attention, I landed on my knees (my poor damaged knees) onto solid stone floors from two steps up on a set of stairs, thankfully nobody saw me, but when I exited the building, everybody rushed, no that’s wrong they all laughed at the old man who was crippled and could barely stand!

May 2022. The very next day I misjudged my step onto the bus (and yes it was daylight) and thankfully a kind person grabbed my bag from behind, and saved some of my dignity, I was still suffering from the day before.

May 2022. You can see a theme developing can’t you again I missed a step in the house as I went downstairs (in the dark, as I train to be a ninja) I overstepped, missed the last step and face planted the floor in the passageway, and nobody woke up to see who was being murdered!

July 2022 I was getting ready to disembark from my bus to go to work when (allegedly) a small child ran in front of the bus (they did, I simply didn’t see it) and the driver unfortunately had to slam the brakes, as myself and two others ended up in a heap at the bottom of the stairs (its why I hate sitting upstairs) thankfully my fall was softened by two youngsters, bless I don’t think that they were impressed as they hit the ground before me.

October 2022. The funniest fall by far and thankfully the one that hurt the least, I was walking across a flat surface when I slipped and went into full Norman Wisdom Mode, it would appear that I went up in the air did a somersault and landed back on my feet, only my pride and my knees suffered any real pain, but after people stopped laughing and picked themselves up, we all had a look as to what caused me to be an acrobat, four of us looked and nobody found any clue! Spooky to say the least.

December 2022. By the worst and most serious of this year’s incidents, I fell in the loft while attempting to sort out the Christmas dec’s, thankfully my youngest was up with me and was ready to pounce in case that I rolled to my left and out of the hatch, it hurt the most , again my knees and hands took the brunt but I jarred my dodgy shoulder as I fell ( as always in slow motion) and put my hands out, I suffered for about a week and my ribs were sore but not from laughing!

January 2023. Thankfully just a small slip as I was attempting to climb the Matterhorn, I mean climb in the car thankfully the door saved my dignity, the wife looked at me slightly funny, but didn’t make a comment as she knows I usually respond with a quick “oh F*** off”

March 2023. I was sorting out the training facility and I turned and tripped over some fire extinguishers, I lay there for a while not much damage done other than to my dignity and some scraped flesh from my shin!

March 2023. I nearly fell out of the shower, again it’s a new bath tub and I struggle to be able to exit the bath safely, its quite a high side, I have a cunning plan, however this time I decided to use something other than the safe method of exiting, thankfully my knees clashed against the bath tub and I simply had to right myself.

Augst 2023. This one I have no idea what happened I simply know I landed face down on the pavement near to my local pizza place, it wasn’t wet or icy there was no alcohol involved I simply went down as though I had been shot by a sniper, again nothing hurt other than the last of my dignity being totally shredded!

November 2023. We dropped the shopping off in the yard the wife went to park the car and I dragged the bags into the house, I got everything in except one bag and as I bent at the waist to pick it up  again my knee gave away, the bag was light I went down ricked my shoulder and my knee and landed on concrete and the sympathy I got off the wife as she came in the house and I informed her of the deed was “you stupid bugger”

The last two falls, were definite assassination attempts by the wife, she will argue the toss but she has form for this kind of thing I will let you decide:

December 2023. The first was a small fall in our house in the Grandson’s bedroom thankfully I rolled off the bed to a kneeling position, why do I suspect the wife, well seconds after the incident I heard from downstairs “Are you alright?” simply because she sounded guilty as if she has set up the trap, I slept that night with no dignity left and with one eye open!

December 2023. By far the worst fall since the first one we were entering the house and because of my knees it would appear that I walk like a penguin my foot caught something and I fell my face hitting the wall my shoulder hitting the radiator, and the final injury I had in my arms a big tub of used batteries that we were going to dispose of correctly, if anything the tub gave some protection, but as I hit the floor I knew that (yet again) I had definitely cracked a couple of ribs, it took around 15 minutes for me to even attempt to get up off the floor and as people tried to assist I was loud and uncouth telling them in no uncertain terms I didn’t want any help, as I was (and to some degree nearly 4 weeks later in a lot of pain) not sure if I had actually broken something, thankfully I didn’t have any dignity left.

How have I remembered each incident well I made notes because I actually felt a blog coming on with each fall / assassination attempt, there were a couple of other minor ones but they were so inconsequential they barely even deserve a mention in this footnote, as my knees get worse my balance is shocking the falls are varying degrees of horrific, I think I realise that my death will be caused by a bloody fall, each day is a blessing I simply await the final fall!

So there you have it, what was meant to a small missive has turned into war and peace (no surprise there then)so onwards with the new year, this one is a little late due to family life being what it is and the fact the wife had a fall out in the street yesterday, thankfully there was a good Samaritan who stopped their car and came to the wife’s aid, none of us seem to be getting any younger, so take care and stay alive until the next one……..Toodles!

oh and yes the name game is in play!

Hot Night in a Cold Town.

Ok I'm going to say something controversial, I like Uriah Heep, most versions of the many line ups, now I have seen a couple of the line ups, and then other members in solo bands and the such like, lets go by  Vocalists David Byron, I kind of liked but that was about it, the first album I heard by Heep that I can say “yes” that’s the album was Return to Fantasy, I had a friend who had them all except the album Salisbury, thankfully because I hate the album with a passion, so I did like a couple with Byron but not many full albums , there was always a couple of cracking tunes but not always full albums, but in them days they had to make sure that they released an album every two and a half weeks, i simply liked it. I never got to see the band with Mr Bryon but I did see his solo band at Newcastle Mayfair around about 1980 I know I was still at school so it might have been 1981, His band was average as was his performance as he was hammered on stage, the on the only good thing was Robin George was his guitarist!  And the venue was embarrassingly empty!

I got to see Uriah Heep for the first time with John Lawton ( and I liked all three albums he sang on) on the Fallen Angel Tour at Newcastle City hall march 1979, the venue wasn’t full and the setlist wasn’t appreciated by the hard core fans, I got to see them play Free & Easy  and Choices so I was happy, it should have been my brother going but he was ill for some reason (probably simply didn’t want to go) so I took his place, the three lads were a couple of years older than him so about 5 years older than me, I was left to my own devices at the venue, I can remember the support band was a four piece, however we arrived as they finished the last song of the set, I enjoyed the gig but I don’t think many of the others did, its probably why John Lawton left after the tour was he pushed or did he jump, I’ll wager nobody actually cares!

The next tour was with John Sloman and again at the city hall, I didn’t care much for the Conquest album ( the first album ever recorded digitally ) but Sloman seemed to suit the older songs and they opened with “Stealin” one of my favourite songs by them, again I went with older people thankfully people from my school, Sloman’s version of The Wizard was great as well, but again the Hall was emptier than the first time I saw them, things did look so good, I honestly thought that this would be the end!

Fast forward two years and they came back with Pete Goalby (who I knew from Trapeze) to be honest I like him as my favourite Heep singer, I did three dates in four days with friends from Durham and was nearly killed in a car crash (slight exaggeration) but that’s enough for another blog, actually I have already covered the story in an earlier blog, the album was fantastic the band were quite literally on fire, opening the set with “Sell your Soul” they even threw in “Son of a Bitch” which was a B- side, the Newcastle show was the worst of the lot and they tore the roof of the venue they were so good!

Then the last time I saw them I didn’t believe that I was actually going to see them, it was in some shitty little, I’m going to say that it was a sports hall I don’t remember exactly, I know it was in March of 1985, again the band was great but you could tell Pete Goalby had had enough, yes the venue was full but it was a pokey little sports centre, he quit not long after, it was good for me as I swapped details with him and I spent the summer of 86 writing a handful of tunes with him, nice man and paid on time, that’s always a winner with me.

And I haven’t seem the since their albums have gotten progressively better since the first couple with Bernie Shaw, a Canadian who has spent nearly 35 years with the band, so he must be doing something right, mind you the last couple of albums are blinders, there’s life in the old dog yet,  I have had a couple of chances to see them but have never made that final leap so to speak I remember the golden years with Pete Goalby, that’s my version of the band, the band is still lead by the nicest man in rock Mick Box who is always jolly and pleasant and yes I did see him throw up at the rear of the Mayfair, I don’t think he can drink Newcastle Brown Ale said Bob Daisley, who was a tad naughty and had been plying Mr Box with it all day.

So there you a musical historical one for you lot, how patient can you be, this should have been out yesterday however I was a little off colour, its an age thing I think, so onwards, upwards, forwards enjoy and spread the word around the name game is in play and so look to the skies for the next exciting episode, until then ……………Toodles!

Yes, the name game is in play but honestly, how easy do I have to make it!

New Years Day.

So once again I still have to get used to being off at Christmas time with no loss from your actual annual work holiday allocation, third year running and I’m really still not used to it. This holiday has rushed past and I haven’t done anything that I actually wanted to, but not for any reasons that you might have guessed.

This time the intention is that its all for the wife, she has had an incredibly shit year, I simply wanted to give her the best time that I could, did it work, I will let you be the judge, this was always going to be an emotional one, going forward, in reality it was always going to be just me and the wife, or so we thought, anyway the time off went off to a strange start, I got to see a Dr it wasn’t a happy ending, I did get to vent my annoyance (notice not anger, If I was angry the NHS simply bar you so they win, one more off the list) I was happy I had had my say the Dr wasn’t happy, as she wasn’t aware of the issues, the member of the pharmacy team sat in his seat and squirmed (more on that later) I came home and decided I need (yet another) work bag, bag ordered (its green by the way, matches my winter work coat), the day slide by and  I did some work as it was the last day of the work year and I was working from home because of the Dr’s appointment.

Friday started as it normally does, except it then went sideways the wife was taken poorly, I honestly thought she had had a stroke, an ambulance was called, it came quite quickly, we got to the hospital quickly and it said that it would take 4 hours to get seen to , that bit was correct it was the crap that happened after, the upshot we sat for another 4 hours after being lied to, it took the head nurse to explain that the Dr had lied to us, we went home (at a cost of £45 for a taxi) I’m not going to do a long rant about the NHS, its in a crap state, lots of people doing fuck all and nurses having to input a shit ton of paperwork that some chinless wonder has decreed that they need to do, its dying and will continue to die no matter what we say or do, the politicians have decided they always get what they want, my solution clear out the middle managers and use the money to actually pay the nurses a decent rate of pay and actually get more staff, I could do a full on rant but I won’t the NHS I was brought up on no longer exists, I hope I die before it becomes a private company, its going to happen its just a matter of time.

I disliked the time in the hospital as all manner of ghastly thoughts go through your mind when in reality its not as bad as first thought, so it was a weekend on the settee so she could recover, we had some repairs scheduled so that had to happen, repairs completed I screwed my roller shutter the one that was repaired literally 3 weeks ago, this was something different but £500 I could ill afford, the guys were very prompt and professional  is this how the holidays were going to go? I also received an email I had to go back to the surgery on the Monday, oh goodie more shite.

But it wasn’t, I got to see the person who I had been trying to see since September, (she had some family issues with the same hospital that we had been to) she went off on one especially as I had to see the pharmacy team again, but guess what, yes you got it, they had all taken the day off, what because of me surely not, they will regret it as the person I was seeing was not impressed and left four very professional voice mail messages telling them she wanted to see them all when they came back the next day, I was happy, I got my old medicine back and I got to see my health care professional go atomic on their asses(watch this space for any further developments) she really is what the NHS should aspire to.

On the Sunday we had to jaunt to the place that can’t be named so we sort out the seats for our next massive adventure (that will bankrupt us) seats sorted I bought the latest edition of Fireworks (the music mag) My two Fish Box sets came they are great but I don’t have a very good set up so I really don’t want to play them as they will likely bounce all over, to be honest there’s nothing on them I don’t have on them I’m simply being a completist, sad me, who knew. We finally had the kitchen painted by professionals my body is too knackered to do it, as much as I wanted to do it, I simply couldn’t do it, it’s no wonder I walk around with my head hung low in shame, it’s not like I don’t want to do it, I’m simply in no fit state, honest if I was a pet a vet would have no issue with putting me down!

Thursday was a day of relaxing we had a cunning plan to complete our shopping on the Friday which went wonderfully, first a stop to the Chemist to get my prescription, then off to Costco to get everything special that we wanted, I even treated myself to a rather large bottle of Vodka (it’s the size of a bloody artillery shell, me have a problem erm I honestly don’t know), we got home and the hurricane arrived we still had to go to Tesco for the family shop, which again went really well, again I treated myself to a bottle of Rum I had been looking at this particular bottle for about the last six weeks, sod it , it can only kill me, honest I don’t have a problem, this will last for the coming year, the older I get the less I want to binge (not like the old days).

Saturday was again a lazy day I put the gas on to our meter, and then chilled music, food, more music, a bit of tv, yeah it was all good in the hood and I was at all times keeping an eye on the wife to see if any symptoms resurfaced, they didn’t! Christmas Eve the Hurricane went home, and then the day, the main attraction was upon us I was expecting a lot of tears from the wife as this was the first Christmas day without the Kraken, she did get misty eyed a little bit (but way better than expected) and the Dinner was probably the best one I had done in a while, my sleep pattern was shot to shit still with me averaging about 4 hours a night I was starting to feel like the walking dead, I probably looked it as well. You all want to know if I was a good boy and did I get a lot of presents, I didn’t get much, I never want much I prefer for others to enjoy, but I did love everything I got, I also have a cunning plan for next year’s Christmas Eve Blog to do a spoof on a Christmas carol, my version, lets see if that happens but I do have many coming cunning plans, I’m really not a very Christmassy person.

Boxing day we had the eldest and the kids, it was an easy day, but the day after I nearly had a full on meltdown you upgrade something and everything stops working correctly, I wasn’t good to be around on that day, the hurricane returned as there as always ongoing issues we are trying to help but there s no quick fix, when he’s here he’s as good as gold when he goes home he turns into Damian, I would hang him upside by his ankles, his mum is trying to do all the right things she is a lot more patient  than me, but again with us he masks his problems, one day at a time hopefully we will be able to help fingers crossed on that one!

Thursday was a crap day as I hadn’t lifted my spirits, I felt ill will to the world and most of the population, don’t ask me I simply was but the Hurricane helped get through the day, hopefully we can help each other, I decided to do a blog simply to vent all the bile in my system and to make myself feel better, you know what it worked, this blog was the next planned blog, but its heart would have been black and I’m sick of doing that type of blog, I wasn’t really in a bad place I was simply pissed off (me with my reputation……NOOOOO).

Friday was a whimsical day as I received a call from a friend, and I found out some peeps were coming to visit us from the South Shields massive, it lifted both our spirits, we cracked on with a bit of a spring our steps (as much as two old people can) , Saturday was a great day full of busy, busy, busy, then our friends turned up it was a great afternoon, much pizza, much crack, the Hurricane behaved himself and after the friends returned down the mountainside, we went and did the weekly shop, it took us all of 30 minutes, a quiet night and then a miracle of miracles, I slept for a full 14 hours yes you read that right 14 hours and I felt great, it was easily the best sleep of the year, go figure.

New years eve was just us pottering with small tasks, we were alone for the night as the Hurricane went home like a little angel who turned into the devil spawn as the night progressed, no surprise he has returned today, but not before I cooked another pleasant meal for the wife, it’s the thing I like best about the holiday, I’m not very good, but I do try my best, good solid food nothing fancy, well not as fancy as beans on toast. So, there you go the first blog of the year, 2023 we had over 116,000 hits to the blog so what ever you lot are doing by all means keep doing what you are doing, yes the name game is in play, yes its bloody simple I don’t care, I can name them what I want, there’s around three or four on the boil I do not intend to do more than one a week this year no matter if inspiration takes me, there will be moments of relaxation, I intend to enjoy the blogs this year and the intention is to have a social life so that it can feed the blogs once more, yes it will all be written in code, so watch the skies for incoming, so stay safe and stay alive, until the next blog…………………..Toodles!