Saturday 21 April 2012
The Nips
My MP3 player is always set to Shuffle. If you read this nonsense on a regular basis you’ll know that I have posted about this a number of times before. It continues to fascinate me that at least once a week the player throws up a song I haven’t heard in years and can’t remember uploading to the machine. This time it was a song by Shane McGowan’s pre Pogues band The Nips. If you are looking for traces of any Irish accent or influences on this track you won’t find them.
I seem to remember at the time reading that Shane McGowan was a massive Jam devotee and followed them around. I saw them once supporting The Jam at The Music Machine in Camden. They were good but not outstanding.
This song and its B side “Vengeance” are outstanding though and have stood the passing of 30+ years very well.
Thanks to this song I always think fondly of the 73 bus “into the city” despite never having got on it.
Gabrielle- The Nips
Thursday 19 April 2012
Posh We Are Yet Again
Another Tuesday night and another trip to see The Posh. Firstly on a positive note we are staying up. That is good. It is something to be proud of for the team and Darren Ferguson and us the fans.
Unfortunately the game was poor we went two down very early on and although we had some good moments of possession and plays we were always second best to Southampton. We lost 3-1. I haven't seen Posh win at all this season.
I decided to pay a bit extra and sit on the second tier of the South/Family Stand. It was a good seat right on the half way line. Funnily though I didn't enjoy the game anymore than if I had stood on the London Road Terrace as normal. In fact, I think I enjoyed it less. Why? In a word, atmosphere. Simply put there was none.
I missed the random made up on the moment songs and chants against the opposing team's keeper. I missed the camaraderie of the terrace. I even missed the drummer. I won't be changing to seats until I have to, which as it happens according to Football League rules after three seasons in the Championship which for Posh will be the season after next. If we don't get relegated next season, that is.
There were a couple of thousand Southampton fans there. They were very excited and sang all the match, drowning out London Road for most of the game. One of their songs which they seem to sing after each time they scored was amusing. To the chorus of Road To Amarillo it went "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (repeat x3)Who the fuck is laughing now?". Well it made me laugh.
On the way home,the long 3 and a half hour train trip, this song came up on my MP3 player. This band would have been called twee back in the day. The breathy slightly out of tune female vocal and occasionally bizarre lyrics appeal to me.Anyway this song made me feel good. It created images of sunshine, happiness, love and freedom.It made me feel young again. It took some of the pain away of another 400 mile round trip to watch your team get beaten.Good music can do that.
The band are touring the States in a couple of days and are playing some dates in UK prior to flying out. I missed them on their recent UK tour.
Use Google to find their web site. I can't do everything for you.
Allo Darlin'- Lets Go Swimmimg
Unfortunately the game was poor we went two down very early on and although we had some good moments of possession and plays we were always second best to Southampton. We lost 3-1. I haven't seen Posh win at all this season.
I decided to pay a bit extra and sit on the second tier of the South/Family Stand. It was a good seat right on the half way line. Funnily though I didn't enjoy the game anymore than if I had stood on the London Road Terrace as normal. In fact, I think I enjoyed it less. Why? In a word, atmosphere. Simply put there was none.
I missed the random made up on the moment songs and chants against the opposing team's keeper. I missed the camaraderie of the terrace. I even missed the drummer. I won't be changing to seats until I have to, which as it happens according to Football League rules after three seasons in the Championship which for Posh will be the season after next. If we don't get relegated next season, that is.
There were a couple of thousand Southampton fans there. They were very excited and sang all the match, drowning out London Road for most of the game. One of their songs which they seem to sing after each time they scored was amusing. To the chorus of Road To Amarillo it went "LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (repeat x3)Who the fuck is laughing now?". Well it made me laugh.
On the way home,the long 3 and a half hour train trip, this song came up on my MP3 player. This band would have been called twee back in the day. The breathy slightly out of tune female vocal and occasionally bizarre lyrics appeal to me.Anyway this song made me feel good. It created images of sunshine, happiness, love and freedom.It made me feel young again. It took some of the pain away of another 400 mile round trip to watch your team get beaten.Good music can do that.
The band are touring the States in a couple of days and are playing some dates in UK prior to flying out. I missed them on their recent UK tour.
Use Google to find their web site. I can't do everything for you.
Allo Darlin'- Lets Go Swimmimg
Monday 16 April 2012
Middle of The Month
This month is dragging. Not you understand that I am wishing my life away. At my age (51 in case you’re interested)I can’t afford to be too careless with time. I have lived (probably) longer than I have left to go, and whilst we are not quite at the every day is precious and a gift stage death is not as far over the horizon as it used to be.
I put the sense of time dragging this month firmly down to two things.
Firstly my wife is between jobs. She is waiting to start her new one with a national charity but , it seems as we were told, the Third Sector is very poorly organised and there is a delay in her starting. The Easter holidays haven’t helped as no one of any importance in the organisation has been around. Thus she has had a lot of time on her hands and my mornings/evenings and weekends have been spent saying things for reassurance to her. It makes the days drag by you know.
Reading that back I realise makes me seem heartless and uncaring, but I’m not and I do care.
It’s just that I know my wife and I know that my life is a lot easier (and I can waste hours running, listening to music, idling on the PC, pondering Peterborough’s chances of relegation etc.) when she is busy and occupied and therefore happy and not so bothered about new showers and decorating rooms and things like that. If she’s not occupied and busy I have to pay attention to her ALL the time and make plans to decorate this, replace that etc. Like most men I am essentially lazy. I know that's generalisation and I shouldn't use them but I believe it to be true.
Secondly and, of course for me most importantly, it’s my job. Again. Unfortunately the honeymoon effect of the office move and new area of the city and my exciting public transport commute has worn off already. Barely two months in. I was expecting a good half year of new challenges but so far I haven’t found any to speak of and my enthusiasm has dipped to a very low level. At least in my old office I was pretty busy even if it was with the mundane daily stuff. Whereas in this Office I am either missing the point very badly or in fact nothing much happens. I fear it’s the latter.
On the plus side I have had plenty of time to read about Neuro Linguistic Programming and all the self-help stuff I am interested in and I have had time to brush up on my Spanish and more regularly write for this blog. So things aren’t all bad.
If it wasn’t for our overzealous IT Police team I could while away hours on the Internet at work but I can’t risk it.
I’m going to have to volunteer for bits of additional work in the wider organisation. This is s something I don’t like to do because I don’t like to be taken away from my prime role. But if my prime role doesn’t really seem to exist, I’d better start positioning myself for the time when the powers that be realise there is no need for me here.
I put the sense of time dragging this month firmly down to two things.
Firstly my wife is between jobs. She is waiting to start her new one with a national charity but , it seems as we were told, the Third Sector is very poorly organised and there is a delay in her starting. The Easter holidays haven’t helped as no one of any importance in the organisation has been around. Thus she has had a lot of time on her hands and my mornings/evenings and weekends have been spent saying things for reassurance to her. It makes the days drag by you know.
Reading that back I realise makes me seem heartless and uncaring, but I’m not and I do care.
It’s just that I know my wife and I know that my life is a lot easier (and I can waste hours running, listening to music, idling on the PC, pondering Peterborough’s chances of relegation etc.) when she is busy and occupied and therefore happy and not so bothered about new showers and decorating rooms and things like that. If she’s not occupied and busy I have to pay attention to her ALL the time and make plans to decorate this, replace that etc. Like most men I am essentially lazy. I know that's generalisation and I shouldn't use them but I believe it to be true.
Secondly and, of course for me most importantly, it’s my job. Again. Unfortunately the honeymoon effect of the office move and new area of the city and my exciting public transport commute has worn off already. Barely two months in. I was expecting a good half year of new challenges but so far I haven’t found any to speak of and my enthusiasm has dipped to a very low level. At least in my old office I was pretty busy even if it was with the mundane daily stuff. Whereas in this Office I am either missing the point very badly or in fact nothing much happens. I fear it’s the latter.
On the plus side I have had plenty of time to read about Neuro Linguistic Programming and all the self-help stuff I am interested in and I have had time to brush up on my Spanish and more regularly write for this blog. So things aren’t all bad.
If it wasn’t for our overzealous IT Police team I could while away hours on the Internet at work but I can’t risk it.
I’m going to have to volunteer for bits of additional work in the wider organisation. This is s something I don’t like to do because I don’t like to be taken away from my prime role. But if my prime role doesn’t really seem to exist, I’d better start positioning myself for the time when the powers that be realise there is no need for me here.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Easter Weekend
A classic, cold and wet Easter, too much chocolate and too much family time.
I was back at work today but only until lunchtime. I had the afternoon off because a tree in our back garden- a Pussy Willow- needed to be felled. It had grown too big and was threatening to bring down the fence. When it was windy in the winter it moved and swayed dangerously.
It took the two guys (Chris Gill Tree Surgeons- in case you need someone)about an hour to cut it down, drag it through the garage to the machine that shredded and chipped it which was parked at the front of the house. Just an hour to destroy a tree that was well established when we moved in here 20 years ago.
I was back at work today but only until lunchtime. I had the afternoon off because a tree in our back garden- a Pussy Willow- needed to be felled. It had grown too big and was threatening to bring down the fence. When it was windy in the winter it moved and swayed dangerously.
It took the two guys (Chris Gill Tree Surgeons- in case you need someone)about an hour to cut it down, drag it through the garage to the machine that shredded and chipped it which was parked at the front of the house. Just an hour to destroy a tree that was well established when we moved in here 20 years ago.
Tuesday 3 April 2012
War- what is it good for?
The thirtieth anniversary of the start of the Falklands War brings back memories of that time and thoughts of modern day conflicts we are still engaged in.
I heard a guy on the radio ( a Falklands veteran) saying that he thought it was the last war which made sense to people in that the premise was simple -our territory had been invaded and we wanted it back. I suppose now with the wars in the Serbia and Bosnia , Iraq and Afghanistan it’s hard to remember the shock of actually going to war. The Falklands war was the first real war for the UK since the Korean one in the Fifties.
The BBC has tried to be even handed in its coverage and has had Argentinian veterans on.They even sent Sheelagh Fogarty to Buenos Aires ( nice for some) for what I don’t really know why.
In reality , it was a short brutal war( hand to hand combat) our soldiers were professional, their’s were mostly conscripts. We did bad things and so did they. That’s war. It’s better not to go to war unless you absolutely have to.
Which brings us up to date to Afghanistan. What the hell are we still doing there?
One positive thing the Coalition has done is set an end date to our fighting role there. I'm not convinced Labour would have done if they had retained power. Iran/Syria/Libya are the next battle grounds I think as no one is bothered about Sudan/Somalia or other non-strategic African countries.
There are now hundreds and thousands of the armed forces servicemen and women who have seen active combat and who are carrying the mental and physical reminders of this. What will be the long term personal effect of this on then and on us,our society?
We do seem to have got better at supporting them ( Help For Heroes has done a marvellous job in that respect)
At least we have moved on from post Falkland’s war celebratory parades where the wounded were hidden from sight or not allowed to participate for fear of upsetting people.
I have already posted the Faith Brothers Falklands War lament Easter Parade last Remembrance Day so I'm not going to post it again. Do go back to that post and download and listen to the song or look at Billy Frank's Facebook page where you can watch him perform it at the Brixton Academy in 1985.
Who today is going to write a song as chilling as that about the conflict in Afghanistan and why hasn't that depressing and wasteful war captured the public's attention like the Falklands one and Vietnam before it?
I heard a guy on the radio ( a Falklands veteran) saying that he thought it was the last war which made sense to people in that the premise was simple -our territory had been invaded and we wanted it back. I suppose now with the wars in the Serbia and Bosnia , Iraq and Afghanistan it’s hard to remember the shock of actually going to war. The Falklands war was the first real war for the UK since the Korean one in the Fifties.
The BBC has tried to be even handed in its coverage and has had Argentinian veterans on.They even sent Sheelagh Fogarty to Buenos Aires ( nice for some) for what I don’t really know why.
In reality , it was a short brutal war( hand to hand combat) our soldiers were professional, their’s were mostly conscripts. We did bad things and so did they. That’s war. It’s better not to go to war unless you absolutely have to.
Which brings us up to date to Afghanistan. What the hell are we still doing there?
One positive thing the Coalition has done is set an end date to our fighting role there. I'm not convinced Labour would have done if they had retained power. Iran/Syria/Libya are the next battle grounds I think as no one is bothered about Sudan/Somalia or other non-strategic African countries.
There are now hundreds and thousands of the armed forces servicemen and women who have seen active combat and who are carrying the mental and physical reminders of this. What will be the long term personal effect of this on then and on us,our society?
We do seem to have got better at supporting them ( Help For Heroes has done a marvellous job in that respect)
At least we have moved on from post Falkland’s war celebratory parades where the wounded were hidden from sight or not allowed to participate for fear of upsetting people.
I have already posted the Faith Brothers Falklands War lament Easter Parade last Remembrance Day so I'm not going to post it again. Do go back to that post and download and listen to the song or look at Billy Frank's Facebook page where you can watch him perform it at the Brixton Academy in 1985.
Who today is going to write a song as chilling as that about the conflict in Afghanistan and why hasn't that depressing and wasteful war captured the public's attention like the Falklands one and Vietnam before it?
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