Fluff

It has been pointed out to me that most the stuff that I appear to write these days is “Fluff”! At no point in time have I ever said that the scribblings of this old man are anything but fluff, I simply put down on the page whatever is floating the clouds in my brain, I mean this is going to be fluff, I don’t care it is what it is, I have a long list of stuff that I want to write about, but if a spark is fired then lets get the word down, and if I like I will post it!

This is not above solving the problems of the greater issues, this is simply me staying in touch with my reality, life is not always great and I have had some horrible moments in my past that I thought I would never get over, thankfully at this moment I am in a good spot so if I do write some drivel, I mean fluff I believe I’m entitled , I do strive to write something meaningful at all times however that’s simply something can not be controlled, life is what it is and we have no control over it, we all can simply do one step at a time and then hope that we reach our destination safely.

However at times when you think that you are heading in the right direction, a small speedbump however can send you spiralling off the road into arguments with people, some who matter some who don’t, when it spirals like this to be honest I really don’t care, the old me appears and then its not fluff that gets spewed, the world and his dog can go and get fucked, it also shows in my writing, as a number of people have picked up that my writing appears to be “happier” its quite astonishing how people who have never physically met me seem to know me, probably better than I know myself.

I would like to have more of a footing in the real world, but what with work and my health issues and family pressures it appears that is not likely to happen anytime soon, but I will keep writing, its all that I can do, for me myself and my sanity, what little I have left, so if its fluff I post go with the flow, its where I am at that particular moment in time, there’s not really a lot that I can do about it, some people have said that the more I post the fluffier it gets, the more sporadic I post the more “real” it seems, to be honest I have no idea what they mean, I have flows and ebbs regarding what I post there’s not a lot I can do about that.

So life goes on, a small missive to keep me happy as this was in my head as I started typing, this was fired from the hip so to speak, stay safe stay alive, this will appear at some time, I don’t know when hopefully on a day when I am slightly happier, (I was happy when I started, I wasn’t by the time I finished)watch the skies for incoming, but until then …..Toodles!

Four on the Floor – Top Ten Album Covers.

In no particular order here are ten albums covers that impressed me as a kid and I do mean as a kid, as I have grown my tastes have changed, I like what I like, do I like all of the albums musically, mmm some of them I love some of them I’m not bothered about, but the album covers are stunning, some bands are missing in action, I love Queen and I like the artwork of most of the albums “like” being the operative word. I love most of the Iron maiden albums covers and Mark Wilkinson artwork for both Fish and Marillion and many other artistes, again there’s nothing here from them. So lets delve into my youth and see if there's anything that you like!

1. Blue Oyster Cult – On Your Feet or on Your Knees 8.5/10, the first album I bought with my own money, (Tubular Bells at a charity shop doesn’t count) there’s just something sinister about the cover, I had a huge poster from Callers in Newcastle I was there when they took it down in the shop and my mum asked them for it, if I had asked they probably would have told me to bugger off, but my mum asked and I got it rolled and put in a tube, it took one whole wall in my bedroom, I had a girlfriend who didn’t like to visit me simply because of that poster (LOL).

2. ELO – Out of the Blue 8/10. An album cover that’s quite simple (unlike the music) but whenever I see it it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, again an album of its time and a time when I was usually happy, I know me with my reputation, times were good just like this album!

3. UFO – Obsession 9/10. what an album, what a cover they both blew my mind , I already liked the band, but this simply took it to another level and it took me a while to realise that the artwork was actually the bloody band, why only 9 out of ten, well about 20 years ago I went to an exhibition of alternative artwork and this was there in a multi colour version of this that was simply stunning!

4. Wishbone Ash – Live Dates 7.5/10. an album my brother had and I always wanted this as a

t- shirt, I love the art and I do like the music, I did see this as a t-shirt for sale in the USA but it wasn’t worth $80, but I was tempted, I do go back to the album from time to time, but the artwork has stuck with me.

5. Kansas – Point of Know Return 8.5/10. I kept seeing this album cover long before I ever heard it, but the second I heard it, I had to devour everything that I could, still one of the only bands I wanted to see that I never got to, and yes I do play most of the mid 70’s back catalogue of this band I simply loved Steve Walsh’s voice!

6. Tom Robinson Band – Power in the Darkness 9/10. The album cover that was the first thing painted on my school haversack (it was a 70’s thing) the album came with a stencil (which is now worth more than the album) I played this album non stop when it came out, the next thing on my haversack was The dickies logo, it lasted a fortnight before I repainted the TRB logo, that shows you how easy the stencil was to use because I did it myself (the second time) and it stayed for the rest of my school days!

7. The Skyhooks – Guilty until Proven Insane 8/10. the cover made me buy the album, I paid £1 for it my local shop cut out bin (I used to by a lot from there as I was always skint) and I loved the whole album, I knew nothing about the band but I played it a couple of times a week (and I still do) about a month after I bought this, a band called Iron Maiden released a cover of Women in Uniform that came from this album, I prefer the Skyhooks version.

8. Molly Hatchet – Debut 9/10. their best album but the album artwork by Frank Frazetta turned me onto the artwork of this fab artist, who I unknowingly had liked his previous album artwork ( Nazareth) good album great artwork.

9. The Scorpions – Lovedrive 9/10. At the time I thought that this was a weird cover (just about all of the Scorpions album artwork was) however similar to the UFO album, the band was on fire as was the artists, this album artwork was produced by Hipgnosis as were quite a few of this list and a lot of wonderful other artists, the album kicked the band out into the stratosphere I think the album cover helped.

10. Judas Priest – Killing Machine 9/10. I love this album cover (and all of the music) I do actually like quite a few Judas Priest album covers (there’s a couple of stinkers as well) this just about brought the decade to a close, things from here went through the roof and again if I went through the decades I probably compile a top one thousand covers, no I have no intention of doing this, don’t worry I know I do wander off the beaten track from time to time but with this I can assure you that I will stray this time!

Now this was all about the covers not the music , mind you I do like all of the albums, some of them I love, believe it or not 99% of the time covers have not influenced my buying pedigree of music, but that 1% of the albums I have bought based on a cover and not knowing anything about that band all of them have have been fantastic! Now what to blog about next time, you will just have to wait and see but until then …….Toodles!

Greatest Hits.

I have been watching a couple of podcasts of late and a couple of made an impression, with peeps saying top tens and the such like, I had a little time so I put pen to paper (so to speak).

Favourite Comedian – Billy Connolly, I have him seen more than any other comedian, and I have never seen the same show twice, (26 gigs in total), I do like a lot of American comedians, but this man to me is the King of Comedy!

Most Inspiring Sportsperson – Gordon Banks, still my favourite goal keeper and the person who really did inspire me to want to take part in sports, it was soon decided I was too small to be a goal keeper, so I became a defender, I believe people should get paid for what they deliver, however I think that the modern day sports people are paid obscene amounts, maybe that should be a full blog for later!

Favourite piece of classical music – I do like classical music but there’s a lot I have no idea what they are called or who the composer was, but to be honest the piece I will go with is O Fortuna by Carl Orff, if you don’t know it, its the piece that Ozzy used as an opener, I liked it before that I will say that the rest of the opera that it’s taken from is rather dull!

Favourite Song – Rainbow Stargazer, I honestly thought I would struggle with this one but no this popped straight into my mind and every other song I thought of that I pitted it against Stargazer, however not one single song could compete, this eight minutes of superb majestic rock music, it was also my mothers favourite song “play the song about the wizard” sill makes me smile!

Favourite Style of films – now this one I did struggle with this one, but it has to be British Movies, predominately Black and White classics, way too many to mention, I will be honest and if you ask on another day I might have another answer, watch this space!

Favourite Book – now this one did indeed give me a massive headache and I have bounced backwards and forwards between so many including in no particular order Taipan – James Clavell, Magician by Raymond E Fiest anything by James Elroy, Stephen King and so on and so on, but I’m going to stick with the three books that I learnt to read as a child and its by Enid Blyton The Magic Faraway Tree series, the first and still simply the best!

Favourite Actor – male or female I have no idea who I would or even could nominate for this position again I would probably nominate people from the golden era, so I’m going to raise a white flag and cop out of this one, there is simply way too many great actors!

Favourite Singer – Freddie Mercury, listen to the first seven Queen albums unbelievable, the later albums are good but the seeds were sown here, and he can sing any style, nuff said!

Work Of Art – I have no idea, I know what I like, I know what I don’t like and with this I mean classical art pieces, I do like modern artists (Mark Wilkinson) but I am going to go with Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh!

Favourite type of food – I like all styles, I haven’t come across much that I don’t like, but I would say home made Egg and Chips again purely from a nostalgia point of view, it is what it is

Lets see if I think the same in a years time!

Falling Apart at the Seams.

Another one about the fact that my body is quite literally falling apart at the seams (and yes the name game is in play) I had an appointment today for my diabetic feet testing, oh the joys of getting old!

As I sat in the waiting room, as always I was on time, as was the nurse, now that was a surprise, I was treated like a human being and the nurse was on point with all of my queries while conducting the testing, the appointment was what the NHS used to be all about, time taken to understand the persons needs, it wasn’t a conveyor belt type of appointment, time was taken and the appointment was a joy, well apart from when she attacked my feet with a machete, OK so I’m joking, but I hate being touched by other people (me weird oh hell yeah) I had a couple of semi serious questions (nothing life threatening) stuff that I wanted to talk to a health professional rather than looking stuff up on Google, yes the answer to all of my queries, the reply was “diabetes” for all of them. Oh nope hang on one of the answers was “Cellulitis” a hold back from a cheap holiday about twelve years ago, it flares up every now and again usually when I’m tired.

Oh boy am I tired, at the moment it feels like I haven't had a decent nights sleep in years, for about the last 18 months I have averaged around four hours sleep a night, the problem I have is once I’m awake that’s it I have to get up, that then knocks my whole day off kilter, when I get up I have my breakfast my dinner is usually around nine in the morning I try to go as long as I can, but once hunger sets in, my heads in my bait box looking for something to eat, I have my evening meal usually as soon as I get home and then its the long ride through until bedtime and then back to my four hours sleep, I do wake up feeling refreshed for a short period of time, I will admit to being rather tired after eighteen months of a sleep pattern that’s not very helpful to my health.

I was doing my walking through the house on Tuesday morning, in the dark so not to disturb anybody who is still in the land of nod, and as I walk like a bloody penguin, I accidentally kicked something hard there on the landing in the dark! Ouch was not the four lettered word that sprang to mind, my toe was badly bruised (and still is) but thankfully isn’t sore any more, typical of the little injuries that you pick up when you are wandering in the house in the dark.

I had my little incident because I fell over (see the blog Scream) which shook my sense of invincibility and that set my old neck and shoulder injury off, thankfully I didn’t bruise my forehead or smash the toilet with my thick skull, over the years I have had a number of similar injuries minor nicks and bruises that always seem to resurface at the worst time to remind me I’m not as invincible as I like to think that I am! Over the years the little niggles have generally gotten bigger with time and the fact I never went to get them fixed when I should have.

Oh the big things the broken bones, I’m not that dumb, I hobbled to the quacks as quick as my body would allow, but the niggles I never went, stupid then and regretting it these days, but we all learn the hard way, actually I’m not sure that I learn, we will see how it goes once I have my new knee, I will make sure that I get to stick with my rehab so that I can get on with life, all I do know is if it doesn’t happen soon, there will be further issues as my old and ancient body breaks down.

There are other maladies that I am having additional tests for at the moment, nothing specific or being spoken about until they have all of the details, I’m not too worried because the Dr doesn’t seem to be too bothered, they are simply being super cautious because of my age and already existing health conditions, I will go with the flow until the bell tolls and they can finally nail the arse of what ever is causing said issues, what is annoying is the fact that mentally, this is possibly the brightest spot of the last five years, I am trying really hard to be a more positive person, I’m not saying that I’m perfect and I’m also not saying I haven’t had some small blips, well because that would be a lie, I’m not happy with my sleep patterns (as already discussed) which to be truthful are usually pretty crap, there doesn’t seem to be any answers as to why over the last eighteen months I wake up after fours hours, I have done all the tricks, taken all the supplements (magnesium and the such like) last night I had the best sleep of this year, I had roughly seven and a half hours of sleep, helped by the fact I had drank rather a large quantity of vodka last night, I certainly don’t want that to be the answer, not that I don’t want to have a drink, but I have a tendency to get the munchies when I have had a drink, I am trying to watch my weight as I want my knee operation, too much of the munchies and the weight will come back on, a very vicious circle.

So there you go, another blog and the one thing that the sleepless nights has been doing is helping me write more than I have been, that can only be good for the blog, so stay safe stay alive and keep watching the skies the intention is to try and do a blog (or at least publish ) every five to six days, I know I’ve said that before lets just see how good I can keep the promise of delivering plenty of blogs, until the next one…………..Toodles!

Four on the Floor – 1982.

 There were so many albums that were released in this year that I thought I would struggle to pick four, but I did quite easily, now don’t get your knickers in a twist, this is my choice, you will have your choice, if you do start your own blog, you might simply enjoy writing about it, you might also get a large amount of abuse for your choices, don’t say I didn’t warn you if you do!

Tygers of Pan Tang – The Cage. 8/10.

Quite a swerve from previous albums they went all polished and added keyboards and tried to go a little bit like Queen, it nearly died a death as the band had a full album of material already written with John Sykes (the demo’s are out there) one track survives the cover Love Potion no9 , its a cracking cover but to me feels out of place on the album, the record label spent money to get a “name” producer Peter Collins (Rush, Gary Moore, Nik Kershaw to name but a few) the band were struggling to come up with songs, they turned to Steve Thompson who is from my neck of the woods, and who I did converse regarding song writing wise around the same time period, he was very helpful, the songs on here were a little poppy, the only issue for me is the opener Rendezvous, I think it was slightly too “poppy” I could have done without the syn drums at the start, a lot of the songs are around the three minute mark, I like the album, however it all turned to crap after the tour, they regrouped but it never hit the heights of this album.

Asia – Asia (debut). 8.5/10.

A supergroup that everybody said would end in failure, they turned in the biggest selling rock album of the year in the USA (10 million copies worldwide and still sells), a great debut produced by Mike Stone, 9 tracks of superb muscular music, there’s not a bad track on the album, ride easy which didn’t make the album being a b side and it really is, they only did a gig at Wembley in the UK, with a juggler as a support act, again it didn’t last the second album was rushed with John Wetton leaving / being sacked halfway though that tour with Greg Lake stepping in (the video is on YouTube) and at the end of the tour Wetton was back and Steve Howe had gone as well, I personally prefer the third album(Astra) but on this album they simply didn’t put a foot wrong , great cover, great album, great band!

Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance. 9/10.

They have never made a really bad album (maybe the debut) there have been some bumps in the road, Point of Entry was probably a little poppy for the rock crowd (although the tour for that album was so good) they regrouped to Ibiza and recorded a classic, nine tracks, one cover, one instrumental, a great cover, there was nothing wrong at all with this album, why 9/10 well the hit single outstayed its welcome (for me) I like the song, but it’s just the only track they ever seem to play, my issue was the home tour which was at the tail end of a massive world tour with around seven months in the States and Canada, a lot of UK fans felt neglected, it was worth the wait, Quiet Riot supporting, the city hall full to the gunnels probably the best gig in Newcastle for me, and they played some awesome gigs there up until this point,

Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast. 9.5/10.

I love the first two albums, but to me this was when the blue touch paper was lit, Martin Birch cracked the whip and the band took the bit between their lips and ran with it, 8 awesome tracks the band hated invaders and wanted to put the B – side Total Eclipse on the album, I’m glad they didn’t as it was a bit of a plodder, the fact they still play half of the album live (and in the original key says so much), I go back to this album more than the current crop of albums (and I still like those albums) but I would love them to get back to the short sharp punch of this song style, this album, a short review simply because there is so little wrong to pick to pieces, is it perfect, no, but it’s as near as you can get it dammit.

Wind Weather and Storm.

 

Yes as usual the name game is in play, this small missive all about the Hurricane, my name for my grandson The Hurricane! He is having some issues in life and we all are trying to assist him. I’m not going to go into all of the issues that he has, when he’s cool he’s fab, he’s as bright as a button and for his age he’s damn smart, smarter than I’ll ever be, he has taught himself how to play the piano, however there are times when he has ticks and other issues, I wish I could wave a magic wand and help him. Unfortunately even in this day and age that’s not what’s going to happen!

He wasn’t always the same way, as he’s gotten older, his issues have come through harder and stronger, and as hard as he attempts to do good things, sometimes it simply doesn’t help, we have had many sleepless nights, stressful times and worrying times, things that we didn’t ever think that we would have to fight, everyday I tell him that I love him and that he will get out of life what he puts into it, I’m trying to instil a sense of empathy for his fellow humans, something that because of his condition he has little understanding, he knows he is loved, however sometimes as much as he is, things sometimes go slightly askew!

We love having him here in the house, but at times its hyper stressful, sometimes its nothing but argument after argument, and to be honest I learn something new every day, about him and his condition, it can be extremely draining for us, sometimes its good sometimes its not, we strive to do our best every day, and you know what sometimes even our best is simply not good enough. But we try, and we will keep trying no matter what it takes. In the bad old days you would just been battered for being “naughty” however that’s not what its about, its about trying to help, even when he doesn’t want it, listen to me the new age person that I have become…………..NOT!

Why have I felt the need to write this small blog just to let people know, that no matter how good you try life can turn to crap in the blink of an eye, but no matter what you have to keep moving forward, you never know what people are going through and watch the skies, there’s a couple of blogs simmering away, so until then………..Toodles!

The Cinema Show.

I don’t as a rule watch a lot of TV, as I think that the bulk of reality TV is crap, but I have come to realise that I do watch an awful lot of films, and that quite a few of them are old or are of the “classic” genre, and to be honest I don’t mind what people think of me, am I old, no I don’t think that I am.

Even as a child I didn’t watch that much TV, I didn’t seek it out, it was usually on in the background if I was downstairs but if I was upstairs I would be playing music and reading, but Saturdays were reserved if the weather was bad for films, my original go to was cowboy movies, I didn’t mind what or who starred but I did love the John Wayne films, I didn’t care then and I don’t care now for his politics, I was a kid what did I know and the films I enjoyed, even now they bring a glow, that’s not to say that I’m insensitive to the themes, there is one or two that I wouldn’t sit down and watch now, as I’m now an adult and I understand what was being said, and I don’t agree with the sentiment because I now understand the “adult” themes but most of them still bring me the joy that they gave me in the past!

I like old films the gangster movies the original horror, even some of the comedy, and just occasionally the odd Rom Com, I would howl with laughter to the likes of Abbott and Costello and some of the farces, the romance films and the war movies and yes even some of the things that they call “Classic” if its black and white I will plonk my self down with a cup of tea, the wife will roll her eyes but soon sits down and takes an interest, she loves the TV. I loved going to the pictures, my first experience of most of the early Bond movies, at time when you could see most when accompanied by an adult, when my parents split up the few times that our father picked us up we would end up in Newcastle at the Odeon watching triple bills of films that when I look back they probably weren’t appropriate for us kids, one that sticks in my mind was a film called Zig Zag with George Kennedy starring, I should say thank you because this really started my love of cinema.

When I finished junior school as a treat the whole school went off to The Tyneside Cinema and sat watching Errol Flynn starring in The Adventures of Robin Hood, simply stunning in colour on that big screen, the first of many trips to that particular cinema, as I grew up I discovered “Classic British Cinema” the likes of “Kes” and “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” and sank back into earlier classics like “a matter of life and death” and “The Third Man” growing into newer films like “Get Carter” and on into films like “Excalibur” “The Long Good Friday” the list goes on and on I think its safe to say that I enjoy films!

As always there is an exception to the rule, I do like a well thought out horror film. I love the classics, but I don’t care much for this modern gore porn, if you do good luck to you, but to me you know when its going to happen and that doesn’t float my boat, I like to have to think about what I’m watching, so lets just say modern classics such as “Dog Soldiers” and films like “let Me In”

“A Werewolf in London” and “The Thing” are great its not that I don’t like horror, I just prefer having to think and work it out, not like modern horror!

I certainly love discovering films that have passed me by, oddities that I didn’t think at the time that they would appeal, the likes of “Dead Man Shoes” or “Twin Town” far too many to mention, I like the Marvel and DC films although I will critique them, I like action films, I like certain actors and actresses (when did that not become a word these days everyone are simply actors) people have asked me to blog more about films but I don’t think I can, because every one has there own tastes, and to be honest I don’t think that I’m articulate enough to say anything about films, I like what I like, I’m not a snob, if you like something good luck to you.

I am going to put my current top ten up, its for me I probably could have done a top twenty but I’m not going to be greedy.

1. The Searchers.

2. The Quiet Man.

3. A Matter of Life and Death.

4. White Heat.

5. The Maltese Falcon.

6. Casablanca.

7. Excalibur.

8. The Adventures of Robin Hood.

9. The Dawn Patrol.

10. The Fifth Element.

Yes I know a bulk of them are “classics” but that’s where my head is at the moment, give them a go you never know you might like one or two of them, depending on the comments to this blog I might simply start doing the odd classic film top fives films of various actors and lets not get started with directors, anyway I feel as if I have droned on enough about films. So stay safe and stay alive until the next one…………..Toodles!

Scream.

Or rather it should read as, in my bathroom it should be “in my bathroom nobody can hear me scream” I continued on my journey to being an old person this very morning! I continue to not sleep very well, as I awoke this morning at around 3.45, a little bit of a lie in for me, the day started in the usual way, I woke up and lay for a minute in the vain hope that my body would say “roll over and go back to sleep” it didn’t, it did as it usually does, it laughed long and hard at me being so bloody puny!

I did the usual ablution's, got washed and brushed my old and ageing teeth and then decided to get changed, that’s when my luck ran out, trying to get my feet into my shorts. Wrong move, standing on one leg, the other one was being uncooperative and not wanting to do as it was told and that precise moment my other knee gave way, allegedly I went down like I had been shot by a sniper, my head something hard as did my shoulder and by my estimates I was out cold for around 30 minutes, I was sore I was dazed and I was definitely confused! I tried to clear my head and I also tried to stand, battered and bruised I gingerly made my way downstairs, I sat in a chair and finally pulled my shorts on, took some painkillers (they didn’t work)and attempted to make a cup of tea (well its the English way to start the day) I then sat and contemplated my own mortality.

In the last 5 years or so my body has gone from being generally quite fit, to the wreck at the bottom of the ocean that stands before you all now. Slowly but surely it has started to disintegrate, obviously it has been going on for a lot longer but its taken me a lot of slaps to the back of my head before I stopped and took any notice, by then the rot had started and well truly set in, oh dear is the sound that was heard all around the world!

I realise as life goes on that I’m not as immortal as my teenage body thought I was, over the years I have had some knocks, and to be honest most were my fault but in reality if I had thought about it, you pay for it in later life, not when the knocks occur, I am trying harder to be a better person and look after what's left of my body, some days I’m successful and well some other days I’m not, thankfully those days are far less than I imagined, I have always been a bit of a car crash but at least I’m sitting up and taking notice!

We are not all bullet proof some of us are luckier than others, I’m desperate to get my new knee and that will help do better, and I have promised myself to do better in the maintenance of this broken down shell of my body, I’m hoping and praying that I don’t have any more near misses, especially in the bathroom, as I do believe I was very lucky this morning and I’m not a bloody cat, I do not have nine lives! So there you go another little missive, I do believe I am sorting out my technical issues in my life and that I have been having with the blog, fingers crossed, good times are coming in all aspects, thanks for the kind words thanks for the reading of the blogs, so stay safe and stay alive, until the next time…..Toodles!

The Zoo.

I make no secret of the fact that I do not drive, I travel 90% of the time by public transport, the rest of it is usually in the company of my wife as she screams abuse at other drivers, while I sit there looking pretty, for the times that I actually use public transport I do spend some time waiting in public waiting areas, now most of the time I’m not there for very long, however there is one place of waiting I seem to spend an inordinate length of time and the place is like the proverbial Zoo!

I like to be there before the time of departure any time I use public transport, yes I know I’m sad, , in this modern age you can track your bus, you can see which bus its going to be, its wonderful, but it can also give you a sense of dread when the bus disappears from the App as you then know that you could be in for a very long wait, I’m not going to go into details of the crap service my journey home from work has turned into, I don’t have time or the will to live/die! I’m also intending to make this blog slightly shorter than normal it’s simply me firing off a quick missive to keep my hand in, so to speak!

Where I normally have to wait, I have never seen so many people strumming banjos in all of my life, there are waifs and strays from all walks of life you have people who have money, some who are retired, you have school kids, College kids, people going to or from work, you have some people who obviously have mental health issues and are usually there with their carers, you can tell who are their carers are, they are usually the people on their phones ignoring the people that they are there to look after, you have the teenagers strung out on giant cans of Monster, the drunks, the junkies and then the prisoners who have just been released from prison, how are they known to the general public, simple they are  the ones with their possessions in clear plastic bags and they have a four can pack of Stella Artois in their hands and they seem inebriated simply because they are carrying them!

There is always a huge amount of noise in the venue no matter what time of the day it is, people shouting, arguing and simply not being concerned for the people around them, the rubbish is so bad that they have hired a team, not one person but a team to continually tidying up after these pariahs of common sense, there are fights on a regular basis, usually of the handbags at dawn variety, but occasionally there can be a number of more dangerous confrontations, I have even seen armed response police in the area to try and get them to calm down, it never lasts. Occasionally I have to wait longer than I want to, usually around 25 minutes for my connection, only on a morning thankfully when its reasonably quiet, sometimes I can make the earlier connection, unfortunately not always!

On the return journey my bus journey is 45 minutes, if it turns up at all however if it’s not there I simply get the bus that goes to my final destination via Stanleygrad (trust me its grim and it looks like the Wehrmacht is still fighting amongst the ruins) but this adds another 40 minutes to my journey, something which I would gladly do, purely so that I don’t have to stay a moment longer in that modern day version of bedlam! I either get a longer snooze or I simply get to play more music, either way I win and I get the chance to completely destress before arriving home.

This little missive arrives courtesy of Go NorthEast, my local bus service which up until recently I was happy with, in my 35 years at my last job I can think of only two times that a bus didn’t turn up, yes I know there will be more but in the times that I was travelling only two times a bus didn’t turn up, these days that happens at least twice a week, with no explanation, definitely a longer blog full of bile and vitriol  for a later date, so that’s this one done, thank you for all of you following, stay safe and stay alive, until the next one ……….Toodles!

Four on the Floor – Top Ten Live Albums.

I was having a conversation the other day and as usual it evolved into what’s the best etc and it was mainly about live albums, I also noticed that it was primarily albums between 1973 and 1983 ish, so I thought long and hard, actually not really these ten have been my top ten for most of my life, these are my top ten, if you disagree, I have no issue, there’s bound to be a couple that I have forgotten about or there might simply be a reason why I haven’t picked them, buckle in here we go.

Deep Purple – Made in Japan   10/10.

In my opinion simply the best live album ever, not one overdub, yes I didn’t believe it until I heard the bootlegs of the same performances and listened to the Live in Japan box set which gives you the entire concerts that the tracks are pulled from, the band are on fire, great songs yes there’s other Deep Purple live albums and loads of other “official” releases which to be honest are pretty damn awesome but this simply has never been beaten, it was also the first live album I ever heard, nothing has ever come close to this…….OK!

Blue Oyster Cult – Some Enchanted Evening     8.5/10.

My favourite BOC live album and there are tons of them, I have at least ten “official” live albums from different era’s but I prefer this one, maybe because I’m on it (Tee Hee) why not a perfect score, personally the sound is a bit weedy but still better  than “On Your Feet or on your Knees”  which someone once said was mainly due to them going wireless, I do like all of the live albums by them, but this does take the biscuit, great cover, gets in gets out, some of the later ones simply repeat the greatest hits or resorts to covers (ETL’s Roadhouse Blues which I hate) and while it’s not (its close) my Fave BOC number I don’t think that the version of Astronomy has been beaten in any other live format!

UFO - Strangers in the Night     9.5/10.

This album blew my mind pretty similar to Made in Japan, simply stunning, great songs, great playing Schenker at his best, (the box set that was released recently superb, all of the nights that this album was taken from) I loved the cover (don’t ask me I like what I like) I had discovered them six months previously when Obsessions had been released, that beat me up as up until that point I had never heard anything so sonically superior to what was being delivered by other bands at the time, this was the perfect set list I played the album quite a lot once I had borrowed it and taped it, I couldn’t afford many double albums at the time, the only track that was missing for me was “Cherry”, which in actual fact is the reason it gets it scoring, I don’t know anybody of my age who doesn’t like this album!

 

Kiss – Alive     9.5/10.

The first album I ever heard by Kiss, Christmas morning 1975, my brother got it from my mother and I can’t even remember what I got, that album was played to death over and over again for the next couple of months until my brother started buying the studio albums, they looked great, they sounded great, even on a one speaker Dansett record player, what’s not to like from the opening of “you want the best you got the best etc” it’s a non-stop rock n roller coaster, and if I’m honest its probably the Kiss live album that I go back to time and time again there’s nothing wrong with the others this is simply the best live album they ever did!

Thin Lizzy – Live & Dangerous     9/10.

What’s not to like?  that cover is simply awesome, great sound, the only issue for me is there’s two songs I don’t care for, one is Johnny the Fox and The Rocker, there are better tracks to put on in my opinion, I mean I don’t turn those songs off, but they aren’t my favourite tracks, I never saw a bad concert by them and this is simply the best example for those who couldn’t get to see them in real life, the bands on fire, they never topped this as a live recording, Life was a poor second best for me, the closest for me is when they played Sydney Opera House with Gary Moore and Mark Nauseef, let’s just sit and bask in the glory that is Live & Dangerous!

The Scorpions – Tokyo Tapes     8.5/10.

My brother bought this as an import a week before it was officially released in the UK, oh how I laughed, he had brought a couple of albums earlier in the year but the live album was simply fab, I know I will get asked again but it’s down to tracks, I was never a fan of Uli Jon Roth’s voice and although I do like Hellcat and Polar Nights his voice puts me off just so, and I could do without the rock and roll medley, even Queen couldn’t pull it off, again I never liked any of the following live albums although I would have loved a live album from the Lovedrive tour simply for the additional tracks, Roth’s playing on this album was superb but he had already left before this was released, they were turbo charged after this, but what a great snap shot of what was!

Blackfoot – Highway Song     9/10.

The absolute peak for this band, after this they added Ken Hensley and they were never the same ever again, great album after great album and then this tour blew the roof off the UK  and made a big statement, just listen to the crowd especially on “howay the lads” from the Mayfair, who knew the car crash that was about to happen, this was/is my going out on a Friday night album, can I get a hell yeah, this was their brightest moment out in the sunlight and damn it was good!

Cheap Trick – At the Budokan     8/10.

Probably the weakest of all of the live albums in this top ten, but whenever I listen to it I do get a big cheesy grin all over my stupid face it’s a great album and the very first album I ever heard by them, it was everywhere back in the day I know quite a few of my friends who owned a copy, it was a rites of passage type of thing, I had a friend who literally had twelve different versions of it, in different coloured vinyl, and different sleeves, I believe it was the fifth CD I ever bought, like all of these albums being listed they transport me back to a better time.

Journey – Captured     8.5/10.

Again, the first thing I ever heard by them and I loved it, shame I missed them a week later at the Mayfair supporting Pat Travers, D’oh! I loved this album again a great double live set, with a great cover, who knew that they were about to go on and simply be practically the biggest and best band in the USA for the next few years, a near perfect set list, Perry singing like an angel and the rest of the band literally burning up the stages as they went out everywhere, I’m not sure why they put a studio track on as the last song I’m sure they had plenty of material to fill it up, it’s a small gripe for a rather spiffing album!

Al Di Meola, John Mclaughlin, Paco de Lucia – Friday Night in San Francisco     9/10.

A curve ball I know, but I simply cannot get enough of this particular album, a total guitar fest, I had a couple of friends who saw them on this tour and it simply blew them away, when I was presented with a copy of this album my jaw simply dropped, I eventually was able to see all three artists just not all together on one stage, this has five songs and lasts 41.00 minutes some absolute fantastic technical ability, it simply brings a smile to my face.

Now that’s my ten, it might not be yours I don’t care, its all about the memories, and these albums have been chock block full of memories for me, now you might notice that there’s no Rainbow, Ritchie is there with Made In Japan, lets not get greedy and there are so many great “official” live albums or video’s of that line up so lets not go there, No priest , well to be honest I’m not a fan of the later day live albums Unleashed sounds a little doctored, I’ve heard the bootlegs off that Japan tour and the Bootlegs sound better, the live B-sides from the Killing Machine singles from the Agora ballroom are the best released live tracks I have ever heard from Priest so raw, No Queen, no simply because the officially released material has no balls the bootlegs are so much better, the Houston summit gig is simply wow, the Hyde park gig, even better the Crazy Tour dates are mind blowing, I’m sorry but the tracks speak for themselves, no Aerosmith simply because their bootlegs sound better than the sanitised versions of their Live albums, no Frank Marino his Live album is awesome but he leans in too heavily on the Hendrix vibe for me, nothing from Fish, there’s too many to choose from and to be honest his voice is shot most of the time, No Wishbone Ash Live dates the list can go on and trust me it does, the ten of my list are pretty consistent, they might move position but  they rarely drop out of the top ten, No ACDC, I prefer their bootlegs it’s all about personal choice and that’s mine, it’s all subjective like what you like, enjoy music it’s all subjective, YouTube is a great leveller there is so much stuff that’s not under the control of the artist, some awesome some great, and some that frankly shocking but it can still be good, I don’t care, music simply lifts the spirit, even bands you don’t like, to other people the stuff you like lifts you it’s all good in the hood, until next time play your music loud and enjoy…..Toodles.

Kid in a Candy Store.

A lot of you lot have been asking me what makes me tick, happy, awed and well just about me, now to be honest I believe that I have answered these self-same questions a number of times over the years but hey ho lets go, what makes me happy, in a none family sense of the question, MUSIC, always has been, always will be, if I could write all day every day (you would soon get bored) with regards to music, gigs, just anything music related I would, but unfortunately life isn’t always kind to me and from time to time I wander off onto other subjects I do try to be happy, as we all know I’m not always successful!

Anything even remotely musically and I get quite giddy, I love chatting with mates about all things musical, and no I can’t play an instrument, and yes i have tried,  yes, I used to sing in a couple of bands a couple that never got out of the rehearsal space and one that I wished had never got out of the same space,  I have the feeling that I probably made Lemmy sound like an opera star, but I enjoyed it, I did it for me, now was I any good, erm to be honest that would be a big fat NO but at least I knew, and as I have already mentioned, it was done for fun and it was done with mates, but I did love it, we all know as I have blogged long and hard about I wrote songs for nearly 4 years  professionally, I kind of loved that until it all went pear shaped, find the blog and read why it crashed and burned, I’m not rehashing it in this blog here.

I love reading,  mainly musical biographies (me obsessed, yes just a little) but I am and always have been a history buff, I like doing research on stuff, I like doing research on the things I write about, purely as my brain isn’t what it was like back in the day when I had encyclopedic knowledge on obscure B-sides of obscure music from the 1970’s up until the mid 1990’s then life got in the way, and although I still had a burning desire for all things musical, time always seemed to get the better of me, which leads me to another thing that makes me happy, that would be the wife (yes we bicker from time to time but that’s life) and our kids and the grandkids, now I bet they would say I was grumpy around 55% of the time, but I worked bloody hard, I was entitled, my family for all of their issues were still the thing that got me out bed most day (and no not just to escape them).

But the biggest pleasure that floats my boat these days is writing, who knew, not me, I started blogging on Myspace back in the days before I knew better, back when it was like the wild west and I spoke to many people stars of a bigger nature, I remember chatting to Jim Vallance (yes that Jim Vallance) one afternoon with regards songwriting, it was fascinating, but as always everything grinds to a halt and after a couple of genuine death threats, retreat was the better part of valour and for once I did what I was told to do by a nice man from the good old US of A, but I couldn’t stay away from this pleasure we call blogging for long, I kept  a few friends, well I say friends, I should say readers (Broadsword Calling Danny Boy) some lovely people with kind words (as well as some harsh ones, words that is) not everybody agreed with me, I do believe that was the point.

From small acorns the blog has grown and I honestly don’t know how or why, the wonderful world of the internet, really feels strange sometimes, I keep contact to a low burn, sometimes if a question makes me sit up, I might converse but not for long and definitely not for keeps!

I have a friend who insists that I should set up a webpage for the blogs and stuff maybe if I was doing it full time, I would consider it, but I would have to be more consistent than I am now, and I’m not sure it fits, is it something that would gain traction? You tell me? I doubt that we will ever find out, Farcebook keeps asking to monetise and make money from the blog, but it’s not something that I want to make from, yes, I do want money, but I feel that the money would corrupt the art form of the blog, and the serenity of knowing that I did something  (well maybe sometimes) good, simply for the benefit of me myself I. put out a number of books that sold well ( a couple of hundred copies of each but I did them for not for profit so they were done relatively cheaply, but again technology kicked me in the bollocks and that soon died on the vine).

Other than that, I simply bimble on trying to make sure that the wife is ok, I will gladly help everybody in the family, but it’s the wife that is my number one priority, well when I’m not compiling ideas for the various blogs, I have thought of maybe a Farcebook profile however I don’t really want the giant boots stamping all over me, there is a rumour that Myspace is coming back and if it does well I might try there one more time, simply without going out of my way to upsetting rednecks, some of my best friends are rednecks! it’s a work in progress, a little bit like the wife!,  so watch this space (Myspace perhaps!)but going back to the original question how do I feel like when I’m happy, it’s like being a kid in a candy store (yes the name game is in play) so on that note I will quit while I’m ahead and I will possibly post this in a day or two after I have stewed on it, so thank you to all of the peeps reading this drivel, I mean these important mind blowing missives, keep spreading the word, stay safe and stay alive until the next its ………Toodles! (watch this space).

March or Die.

 

Actually, this blog should be called “Type or Die”, I have used the bulk of “finished” blogs that I had typed up, so my cunning plan didn’t quite fall at the second hurdle, but work has gotten in the way of typing them up! It hasn’t stopped me in my tracks, but getting down to the nitty gritty hasn’t been helped!

I am still compiling thoughts and ideas; I simply haven’t had time to compile them into a cohesive set of blogs! I did have an awesome idea that I wrote the title and the brief outline of my idea down on a piece of paper (all that I had to hand at the time), and yes you guessed I have since misplaced the bloody thing and it’s doing my head in. I remember the title but not the idea behind it, I will save the title (it’s a song lyric not a song title) for a later blog, but I really would like to have completed it, as it was quite a good thought, not that I seem to have many of them.

The blogs of late seem to have doing well, however “In my Life” seems to have taken on a life of its own, easily outstripping the other blogs of late, that one has legs and is easily doing the same numbers three weeks later as the later ones when usually when a new blog comes out the older ones have a tendency to wither. That’s not to say that there’s not plenty of ideas, I have at least six” Four on the Floors” in gestation but to be honest they do need a little tweaking, they will probably arrive like buses, I have enough questions for at least three “Now hear This” type of blogs but I will sit on them as I don’t like to spoil that particular style, and I like there to be a gap between them, that doesn’t mean that I wish for you to stop sending in queries, you never know yours might just be picked!

I’m typing this missive up on my lunch break between writing various reports and Teams meetings, I do more teams meetings than anything else on certain days, get to work you lazy bums, it’s the most annoying thing that winds me up at work, there’s one person I haven’t seen in the flesh in over 18 months, I’m not even sure if they are actually in the country or sunning themselves on a beach between meetings, I’m not angry about that, I’m just busy, more so than a lot of other people, I’m only saying what I’m thinking, I know that has a tendency to get me into trouble.

I have a friend who wants me to turn the blog into a podcast, and that was met with a resounding “NO”, I simply don’t think that I have the chops for doing it, I also have the face for radio, and unfortunately I would have to do them with a bit more consistency, and as we all that word is like volcanic ash in my mouth, I’m enjoying this at the moment so I’m trying not to get distracted, other than for work as that’s what pays the bills and yes I do have bills, now if I win the lottery I would have myself some staff, an editor,  a podcast, a YouTube Channel, there would be books T shirts world domination would be up there for the grabs, sorry I’m delirious after finishing a bag of Skittle Sours!

I have made a promise to the wife (as if she cares) that I won’t be blogging during my initial rehab after I finally get my new knee, as I will be out of my gourd on big painkillers! Mind you god knows when that finally happens, but yes, I do intend to blog the lead up to the op, what happens after the op, and my actual rehab, just not while I’m off my tits on strong painkillers (actually that doesn’t sound like a bad idea LOL) actually it does! So does the future look so bright that you all might need to wear shades, its looking positive, fingers crossed let’s hope it stays positive!

So, there you go a quick blog just to keep my hand in, and to let you all know what potentially is intended going forward, and yes the name game is in play, and finally for one last time as I will simply never mention it again the Lady/Girl mentioned in the blogs “Girls” and “In My life” will not be named, and that is the last time I intend to reply/answer any queries regarding this subject matter, it’s time to move on, besides there’s lots of other blogs that you lot can read or reread so crack on, so again thanks for all of the views I don’t know what you lot are doing but it’s wokeep up the good work, so watch out for more incoming, yes the name game is in play as the album is what I am listening to at the moment, so stay safe and stay alive and until the next exciting episode is ready………….Toodles!

Four on the Floor – 1981.

 

Some would say an excellent year for rock music, but I happen to think it’s the year that the rot set in, these are still good albums however I believe the seeds of a new movement in the rock world was set in motion in this year, it may have taken seven or eight years to come to fruition but this was the edge of the precipice, read on and I’ll explain.

Blue Oyster Cult – Fire of Unknown Origin. – 9/10.

The last decent album for nearly Fifteen years, the next studio album The Revolution by Night was good but not great, but this was the pinnacle until Heaven Forbid came along in 1998. It was also the second and the last album produced by Martin Birch who always seemed to get the best out of bands, playing wise, song writing, bands seemed to step up to the plate for Martin, it’s also the last album of the original line up before Albert Bouchard had a hissy fit and buggered off, the songs (all 9 of them) are of a great standard and the artwork was something special, I remember having a shop display poster in my bedroom which took up most of one wall, after this it was the start of ever decreasing circles for the band they were and still are a great live band, but albums of quality were few and far between, they remain in my top three of bands that I love, but it was a slippery slope after this recording wise.

ACDC – For Those About to Rock.  6/10.

I know I’m going to get slaughtered for this but I do have my reasons, released a little over a year after back in Black, they then toured for the best part of a year and then jumped into the studio in the six weeks Mutt Lange had spare from all the other work he was doing in 1981 and the production for me suffers, as does the songwriting, maybe they should have had a little longer off, is it a bad album, hell no, it simply sounds tired, I saw the band on this tour and it was great and the songs that they played sounded so much better live than on the record, a couple of the songs are amongst my favourite Brian Johnson era ACDC songs, Lets get it up, Breaking the Rules and COD (Care of the Devil) I love, the rest were simply ok, again they remain a massive band but with the exception of Back in Black, I only like a couple of tracks from the rest of the later albums, they did start taking longer between albums and they are still one of the biggest bands in the world. but even Rick Rubin and Bruce Fairburn couldn’t save the albums that followed, they relied on their own abilities too much when in reality sometimes an outside set of eyes would have helped, to be honest the later albums didn’t have the sparkle of the Bon Scott era which every album was chock full of classics!

Foreigner – 4.   8/10.

Yet another Mutt Lange production from 1981, he was heading to a more polished sound to his production tasks, and to me again although Foreigner did some good albums after this, nothing that matched the quality of this, the album took 8 months of spit and polish to complete and there were many tears and tribulations along the way, was it worth it, I think so this album broke the band worldwide with the album breaking into the top twenty just about everywhere in the world and selling six million copies in the USA alone.

Van Halen – Fair Warning. 8.5/10.

As usual a short album a little ove31 minutes, but those 31 minutes are chock full of riffs and squeals, again I think this is the last great album of the original band , yes I enjoyed diver Down (basically a cover album) and 1984, again just over 30 minutes of mayhem but  the writing was on the wall as the band were going their separate ways, Eddie was wanting expand from the riffs and the talking type of singing ( hence when they became Van Hagar) I remember having a dodgy video of a gig in the USA from this tour, and they were simply awesome, the only issue for me on this album were the last two tracks, its like they needed something to fill the album up to the obligatory 30 minutes, and simply took two demoes that weren’t finished, but who cares when you hear the riff for Unchained kicks and everything else is forgiven.

So that’s my take on 1981, yes there were loads more classic albums, but I picked these because to me these bands were never the same after this, yes they remained big bands but in reality thrash was just around the corner and grunge was creeping up on the coattails, bands got rich and bloated in 1981 and the rot set in shortly after, please don’t send any death threats its just an opinion we all have them!

Sell your Soul

 

 

Over the years, employee expectations have changed as a result of the increased workload and stress in the workplace. When workers are fatigued, they are not as inclined to participate in the building of culture but more concerned about a manageable workload, wellness and realistic performance expectations.

The single most important thing employees want most is respect. The most powerful corporate culture initiative is a commitment to fairness, listening, identifying and caring for contributions, and caring for well-being.

There is an increasing practical perspective towards work among employees. They prioritize a job based on financial and personal requirements and not look for identity, purpose or community just from their employer.

Many organizations attract workers because they show, rather than tell, that they care. Often, it's more important to do the right thing, say the right words and behave in the right way than to conduct a well-executed culture campaign.

Excitement used to be created by providing free snacks, game rooms and casual Fridays. Most workers today consider these benefits to be less important than job security, purposeful work, flexibility and career prospects.

Staff listen attentively to leaders' decisions. Inadequate transparency, poor communication, or perceived unfairness can lead to lack of faith in management decision-making and discourage participation in other cultural programs.

Staff have a desire to learn, grow and progress in their work. In organizations where job growth is not clearly defined, it's hard to retain and motivate talented employees without a clear job progression plan.

Motivation is not something that can be done with words. But the number of employees who are assessing their companies' payouts is on the rise, and they're taking financial recognition as a more tangible measure of appreciation than slogans or employee branding.

Flexible work schedules and remote work opportunities have become more important to many workers than office amenities. The freedom to manage personal responsibilities and have work-life balance is more likely to influence satisfaction than culture-driven events.

People get bored when the values they hear about at work are inspiring, but the actions at work are not. If there are actions by leaders that are in contrast to the principles, trust is lost and employees are suspicious of actions or acts that look like performance rather than action.

In My Life.

I have to admit I have thought long and hard regarding doing this blog and it’s a kind of continuation from the blog “Girls”! that blog is my most read blog and I have had more than 25% of the readership asking for more details,  now the details I’m going to give might not be the details that some of you want as there will be nothing salacious, but I feel the need to at least tell the story of how she made such an impact on a young teenage boy that was to last, for a very very long time!

I met the young lady for the very first time in the first year of my senior year, to be honest it was nearly the end of our first senior year and our house (no it wasn’t Hogwarts) had won the house points table so we got to on a trip to Whitby, I had to my knowledge not noticed her before and yes I had noticed girls as I had gone out with a couple of them, but when I got on the bus for that trip I noticed the best looking girl in my year and to be honest I was totally gobsmacked by her, the trip was a fun day and the trip back was the first time that I actually spoke to her, nothing of any great importance, but we spoke.

Over the summer me and my best friend spent our time doing what boys did during summer holidays, fishing swimming generally doing what boys did and just occasionally I would see that girl where we were, we didn’t speak but I saw her and she definitely saw me, the holidays finished we went back to our school, but after the first year we transferred to the main school, further away for me, but closer for her, and soon we had the first school disco and all the boys sat around the hall gazing at our feet and the girls danced, by this time my friends had guessed that I liked the girl as I was tongue tied whenever she was close by, I chickened out and bolted, one of my friends simply walked up to her (mind you he had been in her junior school and knew her well) and simply stated “you like him he likes you so that should  make you two a couple” and she said yes! He then dragged me from my hiding place, and we actually spoke together for the first time!

I soon calmed down in her presence , and I do admit to feeling like I was the luckiest boy in the school, as she was way out of my league, I would walk to her house(which by road was a little over 3.5 miles, however in good weather I would cut across open country and get it down to under two) things went swimmingly, at least I thought so, a typical male I didn’t foresee any storm clouds on the horizon, at the time I was allegedly an angry little boy, and I don’t think that I was the most popular boy in the school although did try my best not to annoy people, I have a sneaking feeling I wasn’t always successful, my mouth had a tendency to work way quicker than my brain, at this point I was angry with myself not with other people (read some of the previous blogs you might get a hint) it seemed as though we were drifting apart, and sure enough we did split up, simply because of my insecurities, nothing new there then, and we drifted apart, we didn’t fall out with each other, we just went our separate ways, mainly because of me, I know it now and I knew it then. 

I have already described in a previous blog how we got back together so I won’t rehash it, but by this time I was a mess of real insecurity, I definitely had anger issues again towards myself, it turns out I scared her, I found this out much later and I have never been so unhappy about my actions in my life, at no point did I ever want to cause her pain suffering or unhappiness, but I was teenager who didn’t have a father figure and I certainly was starting to hate my (own) life,  our relationship ended after making plans to see her at the weekend and as I was walking to afternoon registration I got pulled by my history teacher who was trying to get me into the “O” level stream, again a blog for another day, the upshot was I was going to sit a mock O level paper on the Monday morning to prove I was capable. I asked someone (one of my friends…allegedly) to explain to her I wouldn’t be able to make it this weekend because of this exam the following Monday, the next break all hell broke lose with one of her friends telling with glee in her voice that she never wanted to see me ever again, I did try to speak to her but her friends blocked access at every step of the way, in reality I should have fought harder but this just proved that the world hated me with all of its might!

Now this is where it gets silly, the person who I asked to pass the message about the exam, went out with a girl who lived directly across the road from my now ex-girlfriend, and they had broken up so to twist the knife and to pay him back I went out with her, primarily so I could have an excuse to see my ex-girlfriend, childish I know, but I was a sultry teenager who should have been slapped across the back of my head and told to grow up (I didn’t and it would take a while before I did, some say I still haven’t) we went out for over year and in that time my ex-girlfriend went out with the older brother of one of her fiends (he definitely hated me) I was oblivious I simply wanted a chance to see her, my relationship with the girl across the road lasted a year it had the occasional bump in the road, the worst one which blew up as (allegedly) my ex-girlfriend had told her all the bad things about me to her and she threw it all in my face (I wish she had said it to me when we were going out , I don’t blame her for not doing so) and our relationship finally came crashing down when I came back from the army, at this point I hated life and everything and everybody in it, alcohol became and best friend and my worst enemy, when in reality I was and always had been my own master of my downfall.

I never saw her again at least to my knowledge, I am aware that she was in a pub one night over thirty years ago with friends and my brother said the immortal words of “don’t turn around now….but” unfortunately she was gone by the time I did turn around, I have never tried to find out how she has done, does she have kids, did she marry, does she still live in the area, I do know that she is the one regret in my life (hence the title of the blog and a well-known song) I would love to have a coffee and simply tell my side of the story as to what actually happened, and to return her Lene Lovich single that I borrowed so I could tape the B-side, I still have it and cherish it knowing that it was hers and not out of spite , I would willingly return it ,I would say sorry, because I feel the need to be contrite, however she did rip my heart out and go and bury it out on the moors never for it to be reclaimed. It took me a long while before I realised that, and I have to say just about every relationship since then has been guided by the harsh words spewed at me by her friend who lived across the road, as I hated the person who it described, however it was all obviously true as I dated simply see her!

Since my diagnosis of face blindness I wonder most days has she passed me by thinking that I’m ignorant, the girl across the road works as a health professional and came in at the end of an appointment that I had and said hello and I didn’t recognise her, not because I was being a twat, simply because I struggle to know who most people are in my life are! The only good thing that came out of the relationship was it gave me a foundation for love song lyrics that I put to bloody good use for four years while I was a lyricist, I would say 99% of those lyrics were for the girl who stole my heart, even if I didn’t know it at the time!

And there have it, the story as I remember it, I doubt she remembers it in the same light, if she remembers it all , it’s the only thing that I cherish from my teenage years and it’s the first real relationship I ever had, she was the best thing that happened to me and yes I know I screwed it up, so there you go a kind of historical blog just not musical, oh and by the way the mock exam that I was supposed to have that caused the whole ruckus, was cancelled on the morning of the test as the head of history hated my guts, definitely another blog for another day. So, if any of you know me and went to school with me and you know the person that I have written about, lets just leave it here she doesn’t need to know that for 45 years I have cursed the way we ended, I wish her nothing but happiness and I’m sorry I caused her so much pain because she didn’t deserve it!

Right Here Right Now – 9.

So where do we go from here, the blog for some reason has been getting phenomenal numbers, and I am no bloody wiser as to how or why?

My intention is to try and keep a semblance of order and balance and some kind of routine in place so as not to lose momentum, I have a little production line of late where I try to write a blog every two or three days and then pick a one to polish for it to go out into the big bad world, as I feel as if there is simply a process to keep the flow even as in the past where I have had low moods they have impacted just as my writing (or so I’m told ) has been making progress, by keeping a small pool of blogs simmering away so that I can, if needs be pull something together on a regular basis, I have discovered by doing this I am usually in a better place for writing, it’s a theory lets see if it actually works!

As always there’s a number of cunning plans, and one of them is to try and understand why certain blogs do better than others not that I want a template to simply copy the plan, I always write what’s in my head anyway, but if I can predict the better ones (even I don’t have a clue which ones they will be) there a couple that I have published of late that I am proud of, “Broken Promises” is probably the best piece of writing that I have attempted, I was happy with it from when the words went down the paper to the published effort, I don’t think It will be as good as that every time but its something to try and achieve.

I do have one coming very soon which will put the saga that started from the “Girls” blog in which I have decided to put an end to the story once and for all, after this blog there will be no more mention of it ever again so stop asking questions! I have received over 800 queries regarding that blog all of a similar theme, this will hopefully end that line of thought, if it doesn’t there will be some unhappy people when I tell them all to Foxtrot Oscar!

In the real world we have so much going on in our real life that its mind boggling, not all that will be blogged about, family is strictly off limits but needless to say that there is a lot going on, we are trying to sort the house out we had an issue with the upstairs lights that finally got resolved at a cost of £1800 yikes was all I said when I saw the bill, we have a couple of other things that we need to do but we will have to be careful with the pennies as we go along, the little doggie is costing an arm and leg but I don’t care as he is a little misery just like me, he’s old going blind and we think that there could an issue with dementia as sometimes he’s simply not all there, but as long as he’s not in pain we keep trying to keep doing our best for him.

We still have a large number of items in the house from the Kraken’s which either need to find a home or for them to go in the bin ( I keep promising to hire a skip) but our house has been upside down for nearly three years its time that we sort the stuff once and for all, I don’t want to throw anything of sentimental value but there needs to be a semblance of order, and I don’t want to fallout with the wife, I could do it in a weekend but it would be brutal and that’s not what I want!

What I do want is to lead a normal life since the epidemic we have barely moved out of the house, I miss the people we know, its nearly a year since we mingled with friends and we have been invited (ok so the wife was invited and I intend to tag along as always) to someone’s birthday party, we went last year (the last time we went out with people) and I am determined to make sure we attend this year, watch this space because will do a blog  about us interacting with real people ……woo hoo!

So there you have you now know all of the plans going forward, will the all come to fruition, of course not, will they change, more than likely but lets see what we can do so until the next one………Toodles!

Four on the Floor – 1980.

Queen – The Game.     8/10.

I will be honest I didn’t care for this album when it was released, I was stuck in the old ways, but over the years it has grown on me like fungus, there are still tracks that I don’t care for, but the tracks that I really like are great, lets start with the stinkers,  Coming Soon and Save me, Live save me works but it sounds flat on the album and coming soon sounds like a b side , or something that should have ended up on a Roger Taylor solo album, then there’s the singles Play the game nearly as bad as the first two songs mentioned, another one bites the dust , its got a groove and I do like a groove, and crazy little thing called what’s not to like its short its simple with a cracking guitar solo, then we get to the meat of the album, Dragon attack  just sticks to you like glue and live it was even better, sail a way sweet sister a simple Brian May ballad that could have appeared on any of their previous albums, Don’t try suicide Freddie having fun in a kind of accapela style which simply won’t let you go, Rock It this is not the best version but it’s still great, there’s a couple of versions with a full Freddie Vocal and one with a full Roger vocal, they spliced, Roger writes this kind of song in his sleep and he’s damn good at it, and the last track need your loving tonight John Deacon writing a simple rock song that actually works, he didn’t write many but he never wrote a bad song, I’m glad I stuck with it over the years its not as good as any of the first seven studio albums but it holds its ground.

Stiff Little Fingers – Nobody’s heroes.     8/10.

I loved this band when they came out this second album is the start of the polishing of their sound, still it had a nice bit of rawness to it and there’s only one track I don’t care for and that’s Bloody Dub, there’s nothing wrong with the track, but it’s the only song that I would skip and the track after goes just a little too long I like it, but a shorter version would have made me happy the track in question Doesn’t make it all right I think was written by Jerry Dammers of the Specials, good song but way too long for me, this was how I liked my punk in 1980!

Peter Gabriel – 3 (melt).    9.5/10.

At this moment in time, I wasn’t a huge fan of his the first couple of albums they were a tad eclectic for me, I was soon to learn the error of my ways as soon as I heard Intruder, I was hooked all of the songs the lyrics kind of grab you by the ear and demand that you listen to them, to try and understand the nuances of them, it was this album that turned me into wanting to be a lyricist, to be a writer of some sort,  there was always a number of different meanings and I just found it to be clever and so bloody different, there’s not a bad track on the album so why not a perfect ten, well the track Start the short instrumental is simply that a short interlude, now I wasn’t expecting a twelve minute epic with blazing guitar solos, maybe it was just that an interlude so that you could gather your senses before the onslaught of ideas that was to follow, I still can’t decide whether Intruder or Family Snapshot is my favourite song, the latter lyric is so devastating, I wont spoil it for you, but there are two stories over lapping and the end verse is just a plot twist of gargantuan proportions I love this and his fourth album but then I drifted from his catalogue as he went more poppy, I still listened but this album shook me to my foundations!

Ted Nugent – Scream Dream.      9/10.

I know I will get some stick for this one but this to me was the last great Ted Nugent album, its still my favourite, I rarely play it now as he has turned into a cartoon character, its his life he can do what he wants to, but its not for me anymore, he chased glory instead of sticking to his guns, some of this is so raw it would make a Motorhead song sound  like Journey (honest) Flesh and blood was the single from the album and its like a bloody big train just running you over over and over again, there’s the outrageous Wango Tango still his best moment the ZZ Top inspired Terminus Eldorado and who does not like the ballad (not) of Violent Love, he never matched the heights after this again, he came close with Crave man, but then he became the overlord, he always had great singers on his first albums with Ted only singing a couple, after Scream Dream he sang everything and the quality suffered he can still do it live as I have seen him a number of times in this country and the good old USofA  but the cartoon has destroyed the master that he was.

Fool’s Gold.

So I travel everywhere by bus, yes I am that person, a bus wan**r, I only ever sit my butt in a car and that’s when the wife has to pick me up or whatever we get to do as a pair, by and large I have a tendency to get the same bus into work 06.00 to the nearest metropolitan space and then another to my place of work, every now and then I might go in on the 07.00 bus it takes me to the same destination however it does go a slightly different route, on that particular bus there’s a young lady (early twenties) who gets on with her mobile phone glued to her hand. Occasionally she sits in front of me I have noticed that she is playing on line gambling, not just occasionally but all the time, she must win at some point because for that forty minute bus ride she plays non stop she was doing as the bus pulls up and was playing as she got off the bus, not taking any notice of the people or the world around her!

I have seen the same person in the Tesco’s near the bus station buying scratch cards, yes, I said cards as in plural, and they aint cheap, so at some point she must be a winner. Now I don’t understand the logic of the people who do this, I’m not against anybody gambling I know I’m simply not very good at it, the only gambling I do is I occasionally do the lottery, and get wound up if I don’t win the entry fee back,  but to spend what seems to be every waking minute gambling  is well to be honest shocking.

I do have friends who gamble and they do seem to do quite well, as one explained he has good days and bad days, but by and large he is up in his stakes he might not win big but he has never lost, well not substantial amounts, the wife and I have a friend who had lost £4000 on the first day of a racing meeting and was a little down as he thought he would do better, this was a Friday night, “I’ll win over the course of the weekend” it was a bank holiday weekend and by the Monday he was up by £14000, WTF, my mind was blown I simply could not comprehend the thought process, like I say I’m unhappy if I put the lottery on and don’t win my tickets price back.

Now I have worked with some older people (this was when I was a teenager, I know a long time ago) and some of those people would literally bet on anything, one guy even bet his house and lost, his wife did  batter him after it happened, but she didn’t leave him, they were still together the last time I saw them (about twenty years ago) they seem to have a system, that’s most gamblers, my brain doesn’t seem to work the same way, sometimes I wish it did, but I know that I’m too much of a coward to even try.

Now what brought about this little missive, well this morning we had an amazon delivery and they never close the gate and it was banging away, I was working from home and I knew that the gate would distract me, so I did my duty to shut the gate who was walking up the road to the bus station, but the young lady from the bus and yes she had a handful of scratch cards in her hand and she was scratching away, its funny how you notice some people and you don’t know them, but they keep popping up in your life!

Yes, I know this is a short one but you can’t have and peace all of the time, yes the name game is in play this was the track I was playing when I first saw her on the bus all those years ago, I made an entry about the thought for a blog and after seeing her this morning, I dug out my notes and with the exception of this last paragraph have typed what my notes words in my notes, if your interested I’ve had those notes for over five years, sad I know, or maybe I was gambling that I might actually get a blog out of it, ha ha ha ha did you see what I did there, anyway, enjoy stay safe and stay alive, until the next one ……Toodles!

 

Oh, and by the way I am working on something special that will be arriving soon!

This Dog Don’t Hunt.

I’m not a very competitive person, I kind of never have been since I was a kid, allegedly if you come from a “broken home” god I hate that expression, Girls and I mean all girls become super competitive, boys either become super competitive or not as the case maybe,  well in my family group my brother became the super competitive person, and he still is and I kind of simply Bimble along, that’s not to say I didn’t have my moments but I do get less competitive as I get older, let me explain.

I played football for various teams, school and the boys brigade I wasn’t particularly good, but I had speed, I was an ok defender but not many could catch me, so I used that to my advantage, I was soon found out and by the time I was 15 I kind of wasn’t interested anymore, I used to have the odd kick about but it was once in a blue moon amongst friends although I had the chance I never joined another competitive team, I was a really good short distance sprinter and I destroyed the competition for five years, my last race at school I got beat for the first time and then basically lost interest, the only thing that I was super competitive about as a child was history, my favourite lesson at school, my lowest score in 5 years was 96% and nobody came even close to me in all that time at senior school, I was a sponge and I soaked it up, I could do a massive blog about my time at school for history as the head of the department hated me, but I got the last laugh, hey ho possibly another blog down the road.

After that I simply didn’t give a rats ass, if I got beat I got beat I shrugged my shoulders and moved on, I played against my brother in squash for six months, he gave up as I wasn’t a challenge, I never won a game, he refused to play me after that, he didn’t understand why I was simply happy to play but not win, it’s not that I don’t wish to succeed, but I do the best that I can on the day, I am good at certain things and I always work to the best of my ability, I have no desire to suck at anything, I always put my best foot forward, but as far as I’m concerned it is what it is!

I was ok at a lot of things but over the years with successive injuries I have kind of got worn down, and I have had quite a few injuries, I only have one rib left to damage and then I will have a full set, I have broke both legs twice, I have broke my collar bone twice, various bones in my feet, I have destroyed my rotator cuff in my right shoulder, I haven’t had it repaired so I kind of manage with it, I explained the numerous hits to the head as a younger person and the fallout regarding those hits in a previous blog,  my knees have been destroyed by twenty years of half marathons and only one full marathon (never ever again) and 35 years of working in a place where the floors didn’t give adequate support for your knees (solid concrete) I wore my supports and assorted PPE, but wear and tear catches up with you ( I don’t look bad for 92).

I am very happy to take part but don’t expect me to be competitive, at times I wish I was, but this old body is well worn out so the chances of me shinning in  that department have long gone. That also doesn’t mean that I won’t get super competitive if I have a point to prove, I like to think I’m a good father (I could do better and I always strive to be) I’m good at my job (I could do better and again I always give it my best) I like to think I’m a very good husband ( thankfully that’s due to the tutelage and help from my wife) but as always I probably could do better, at least I’m not as angry as I used to be.

Why have I written this blog , well today I do actually feel like a very old person, I dropped something on the floor and the noises that were escaping from me as I tried (thankfully successfully) to retrieve said item were disturbing to say the least, thankfully there was nobody else ( I hope) in the room to hear me, me being competitive and super fit well that ship has sailed, and if I am being truthful I really don’t care, having said that I am slightly competitive regarding the blog with the intention that each one does better than the last.

So, another one down and just some kind random thought that popped into my head as I travelled to work and thankfully I got the bones of it down in a note book I had to hand, that’s how mind works these days, thank you to the people who are still reading these missives as the numbers for this year have been fab, so keep watching the skies there will be more incoming soon, stay safe and stay alive until the next time….. Toodles!