Music and memories... I love them!

 I have loved music my whole life. My first musical memories are of my Dad’s reel to reel tapes filled with late 1950s and early 1960s hits.

I had my first record player of my own (not a toy one) at three years old, followed shortly thereafter by my own reel to reel tape recorder.

When I was little, it was well known on the fairgrounds we travelled on, that I loved music and when they’d been replaced by the latest hits, the ride owners would give me the old records they weren’t going to play anymore.

By the time I was 10, I already had 1000 singles of my own.

As a teen, pretty much all my money was spent on records. I steadily built my collection over the years and recorded the records I couldn’t yet buy, off the radio.

And as the years went on, I’ve built collections of records, cassette tapes, mini discs, CDs and even transferred them all to mp3s.

But it’s not just a music collection.

It’s my collection of memories. So many songs take me back to times and events of the past. Days out with my Mum and Dad, people who’ve been part of my life, record shops that knew me so well, they’d save records they’d think I liked for me. Discos I went to, parties I attended. Girls I went out with, loneliness at boarding school (when my records were my best friend). I could go on and on.

Pretty much daily, I hear a song that will take me back to a specific time and place.

I’m at the moment, collating my 100 favourite songs. The funny thing is that they’re not chosen for their magnificence as pieces of music. The majority are chosen because they take me back in time, to one of those memories.

It means that you will find some ‘cheese’ in amongst my choices. But I don’t care. The music represents a little slice of my life and that’s why it’s in the list.

What is surprising though, is that I did a Top 100 list back in 2005. It was different to the list I’m forming now as only 29 songs that were on that list have made it onto my newest one. Not surprisingly, most of them were on the list because of linked-memories.

What has become obvious to me is that I’m much more nostalgic now than I was then. I suppose that comes with age. I find myself thinking back to my youth and of the people that I was with at the time.

But what has become even more obvious to me is that without the music I’ve listened to over the years, I probably wouldn’t have the memories that I have. The majority of my memories are inextricably linked to music.

Let me share with you a couple of memories that I’ve had this morning because of the songs that I heard on the radio today.

It’s 1970, and Mum and Dad are taking me and my sister, Debra, to Weymouth. We’re going to see my Uncle Jimmy & Aunt Iris Chipperfield and my cousins James, Robert Charles and Louise.

At the time Dad has two Rover P5 cars, almost identical. Both are very dark green, so dark, they look black. One is 3 litre, the other is 3.5 litre. Beige leather seats, maple walnut dashboards and with a radio in them.

We’re on our way. We cut across the Somerset villages and get to Yeovil. As we’re skirting around the outside of the town, Anne Murray’s ‘Snowbird’ comes on the radio.

Why I remember that I’m not sure. I remember that it’s a part of the journey by which time, I always thought to myself, “Not far to go now.” The funny thing is, it was only probably just over halfway there.

But whenever that song comes on the radio, I’m taken back. I can smell the leather in the car. I can see the part of the road going uphill to the roundabout near the ‘Quicksilver Mail’ pub where we turn left. I can remember the excitement of seeing my cousins soon. It’s all still in my head. I’m always 11 years old when I hear that song.

Five minutes later, I hear the familiar start to Jeff Beck’s ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining.’ I’m now in my late teens and at a Showman’s football ‘Dance’ at the Bali Hai, Streatham. The place is full of young showmen who had, earlier in the day attended a football match between two teams comprising of showmen representing their ‘section’ of the country.

This would have been on this occasion, London, and they would have been playing another section, most likely the West Midlands (their biggest rivals) or the Eastern Counties, Lancashire, Gloucester Welsh. I know it wasn’t Hampshire, because I played for them and I hadn’t played in the game that day.

At the time, Disco was the becoming ‘a thing’. And through the course of the night, tunes like Gary’s Gang’s, ‘Keep On Dancing and  Sylvester’s ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) would have been filling the dancefloor.

But the minute ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ came on, it changed the evening. All the London attendees in the room would start singing the song at the top of their voices. This was the first of two songs that were associated with the London football team at the time. The other was David Essex’s ‘Gonna Make you A Star.’

When those two records were played, the atmosphere became electric. Everybody you looked at would be singing with the biggest smiles on their faces. It was joyous. The feeling of togetherness was one I’ve not felt at any other time.

I could look around the room, surrounded by people I knew and it used to make me swell with pride, even at that age. I just loved it.

And that’s why I love music so much. It’s a major part of the fabric of my life. It’s why I love oldies. So many songs hold so many memories.

I can think of nothing that compares as a ‘memory jerker.’ Most of the time, the first few notes of a song can transport me back on a trip to the past. The majority of the time, it’s accompanied by a memory that reminds me of just how fantastic my life has been. Other times, the memory that comes to mind can just as easily make me want to cry. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I really can’t think of anything else that brings back memories like a song or a piece of music. And that’s why I love music so much.

But I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know because music probably does exactly the same thing for you.

Great isn’t it?

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James' Top 10s - things I've done to earn a living

 

10 Staff trainer - New Look (Weymouth)
Started off as a picker (picking clothes for the shops) progressing to trainer within 6 weeks of starting

9  Car Valeter - Self Employed
When I left New Look, and needed to do something started cleaning cars on industrial estates across Dorset

8 Warehouseman - MFI (Staines)
A winter job in 1978, for what were, at the time, a highly recognizable furniture company

7 Hi -Fi salesman - Rumbles Cycle and Radio (North Camp, Farnborough)
My first job, in the Winter of 1976 after we left Burnham on Sea and moved to Farnborough.

6 Market Trader selling Records Tapes & CDs - Self Employed
Started this business using my own collection as a starting point - working on markets in Dorset and Somerset

5 Signwriter - Self Employed
Started off painting fairground equipment showmen the year I got married.

4 Travel Agent - Self Employed (when I owned Go2morrow.com)
Started this up to be much like 'LastMinute.com" but concentration on Dorset,

3 DJ and Radio Presenter - Self Employed

Started DJing in 1977 and after taking a break, went back to it in the 2000s - started doing radio in 2009, aged 48 - I'd wanted to do it since I was a little boy.

2 Arcade minder and Bingo caller - Working for my Dad
I learned how to give change in my Dad's arcade when I was aged 6. By 11 I could mend machines and the same year my Dad taught me how to call bingo numbers and run the Bingo. By the time I was 15, I could run our arcade and bingo and did so often.

1 Travelling Showman - Showman
Travelled on fairgrounds with my Mum and Dad until we moved to the coast. Started in my own right  with my own equipment when I was 20. I travelled on fairgrounds across London, the Home Counties, East Anglia and the West Country.

************************

Along with that little list, I can add many other things I've done to earn a few quid including, Network Marketing, Selling pens and cassettes out of a suitcase on markets (much like Del Boy in 'Only Fools and Horses', and supplying and fitting lighting displays.

You could say I'm a Jack of All Trades and a master of none.

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The Music Of My Life #8

A few years ago, I bought this album again.

My Dad had this when I was a kid. Frank Sinatra made it all sound so easy. I'm a huge Sinatra fan.

On one of my Dad's tapes were 'Witchcraft' and 'River Stay Away From The Door' so I knew his voice from an early age.

But this album started it all for me. Just stunning!

If you can't see the video, click here

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A huge mistake I could have made with disasterous consequences

I am writing this blog in the hope that if anyone finds themselves in the same position as me, they don’t feel the way I have over the last week or so. This is a long read, so please be aware at the outset.

If you have aren’t one for gruesome details, you may feel it’s better to give the post a miss, but I want to share this so that I may help just one person. I make no apologies for sharing intimate personal details, even though I find it embarrassing and humiliating to do so. There is a bigger picture to share.

The backstory – December 2016.

After having a lump found on my kidney, I had the kidney removed, After a couple of days in the hospital, they removed the catheter from my penis and once I’d passed water six times, I was allowed home.

After a week or so, I noticed that when I went to the toilet, the flow appeared to be weaker. Over subsequent weeks, it deteriorated more. I was struggling to go to the toilet even though I needed to.

Visits to the GP followed and tests were done; feeling that it could have been a prostate problem, I spent six months taking tablets only for it to get slightly worse.

After another consultation with my doctor, we both agreed that perhaps I should see a specialist.

After seeking specialist advice and more tests at the hospital, it was found that there was scarring in the urethra (which I maintain was caused when the catheter was pulled out after the kidney operation), and an operation would need to be done to repair the damage.

In 2018, the operation was done and was fairly successful and for a short while, all was back to normal. And then the same problem started once again.

After another trip back to see the Specialist, it was decided that temporarily, I would have to self- dilate on a daily basis with a catheter to help empty my bladder for three weeks.

That turned into daily for a year. After a year (into 2019) I went back to the specialist and he decided I should continue, but on a weekly basis.

After a couple of months, it was obvious that the situation was getting worse again. In fact, I continue to self-dilate on an every other day basis.

So I had more tests and it was found that I didn’t just have one stricture (scarring), but three,

It was then that we discussed the way forward with the specialist, I was given three surgical options.

1)      1) To repair the Urethra – which entailed slicing the penis lengthwise and doing the repair. It would mean 4 operations spread over a year.

2)      2) To have a bypass and wear a bag to collect the urine.

3)       3) Have an operation, whereby they would make a hole in the perineum and they would cut the pipe that runs from the bladder to  the penis and graft it to the skin which would form a new opening and mean that from then on I would have to sit down to go to the toilet.

4)      4) Leave it be and wait six months to make the decision.

We decided to wait for 6 months. And then we had the lockdown and after a telephone consultation with the surgeon, I decided that perhaps, for me, option 3 was going to be the way forward as sooner or later the operation would need to be done.

And that brings us to yesterday and going in to have the operation done.

In the run-up to yesterday, you can imagine how often myself and Debz have talked about what was going to happen. My life would be changed forever.

All along, I’ve been saying I don’t want the operation (for obvious reasons) but I know that I’m going to have to have it sooner or later, so I’d agreed to the date.

I went in yesterday prepared (or so I thought) to have the operation. I met with the anaesthetist who explained what they would be doing.

I met with the surgeon’s assistant who talked me through a separate procedure that was also going to be done (in the same vicinity). He told me the possible side effects and that he felt, I didn’t need to have it done at this moment in time, but I said that if they were going to cut me in the same region anyway that I may as well have that procedure done at the same time and save me having to come in and get it done later.

And about an hour later, the surgeon came in, ran me through what was going to happen but once again reminded me that once the operation was done there could be no going back.

What if the operation wasn’t successful and it the pipe narrowed? Then they would dilate it to widen it again (but it is unlikely that would happen). So I could possibly end up having to do what I’m doing already but with a life-altering operation having been done.

Even knowing this, I signed the consent form.

Why? And this is an important lesson – because I felt that if I didn’t go ahead with it, I’d have taken an operating slot that someone else could have filled and I would have possibly cost the NHS a fortune in wasted time! How stupid a decision was that?

My slot time for the operation was 3.15 – As the time approached, I got undressed and ready to go to the theatre. And 3.15 became 4pm – then 4.30 and I still hadn’t gone down.

At 5 o’clock, the surgeon came in and said, “Bad news.” They would not be able to operate as they had over-run, and while he was willing to stay on to do the operation, he now had no theatre staff to assist him. So, unfortunately, they were going to send me home and we’d have to re-schedule.

Once I got home last night, the events of the day started to play on my mind and I started to feel sick. I really didn’t want to go through with the operation at the moment, because after working on my weight for the last year, I am at the moment, feeling healthier than I have in years.

Had I had the operation, I would now have a three week period wearing a catheter before going back to the hospital to have it removed. Then after three months, I’d have to go back to see the surgeon and see how it was going.

The more I thought about it last night, I realised, that right now, I really don’t want the operation. I’ve been saying it for weeks but justifying having it because I know that someday I may not have a choice.

As the night wore on, my stomach was churning and I realised that mentally, I wasn’t prepared for the operation, and had I allowed it to happen, I could well have woken up this morning regretting my decision, but too late as it would have been done.

I began to think I’d had a lucky escape. But what now? The surgeon told me the booking office would call to rebook as soon as possible, probably for mid-December.

I couldn’t sleep last night, so at around 2-3 o’clock this morning, I wrote my GP a letter, explaining exactly how I felt and why I’d made the decision to have the operation. I told him that I don’t really want the operation now while I’m feeling so well, especially as a year has passed since I’d gone back to the surgeon and had the options explained, and I’m no worse now than I was then. I told him that although I may well need to have it done in the future, I don’t think that for me, now is the time.

I also asked him to call me back.

I emailed the letter to the surgery this morning and by 10am my doctor had phoned me.

We discussed the situation and how the last year has progressed, how I was feeling about it and why I’d progressed toward the operation, and he agreed that I should take the opportunity to call it off, for now, come off the surgeon’s list, and when and if it gets to the stage where I feel like I need to have it done, I can get back on the list then.

He told me that it was fine for me to change my mind, that I wasn’t wasting anyone’s time and that it’s perfectly acceptable for me to postpone it and see how it goes. He agreed that for whatever reason the operation didn’t go ahead yesterday, it was a blessing in disguise.

He is going to write to the surgeon and get me taken off the list until such time as I want or need to go back on it – the operation can always be done another time should it be needed more urgently.

And finally...here’s my point and what I want to share.

If you’re ever booked in for an operation and you’re not 100% happy, don’t agree to going ahead with it. The consequences could be a lifetime of regret. Make sure you know what you want.

I would have gone ahead with it yesterday because I felt obligated to go through with it as I’d agreed. I’d have had it done, even though my mind was telling me to say ‘No’ because I felt that I could have stopped someone else having that spot, because I would have wasted people’s time and the NHS’s money.

My stomach has been telling me “No’” from the very start, but I’ve gone along with it because I was too scared to say, “No”.

If you find yourself in a position like I’ve been in – if you’re less than 100% sure of what to do, get advice, get more information and then do what you feel is right.

I was lucky yesterday. I may end up having to have this operation sometime in the future, but having spoken to my Doctor this morning, I have now done what’s really right for me.

I honestly can’t tell you how different my mental state would have been today had I had that operation yesterday.

I think I dodged a bullet and I hope that if you are feeling about your situation like I was, you’ll make a better choice than I was going to.

Luckily, things conspired to save me from me and making a huge mistake. I sincerely hope that by laying myself open to embarrassment and humiliation here, it helps one person from making that same mistake.

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We are what we read!

 

I read something today that ‘we are what we read and that the books we read tell more about us than the colour of our eyes or our haircut’. 

And that’s very possibly true. Over the years, I’ve read hundreds of books. I’ve always been a reader. I have been since I was a little boy.

I love to read positive mental attitude books, autobiographies and biographies. I love a factual book. Don’t get me wrong, I like fiction too, but always seem to go back to non-fiction.

I’m intrigued by people and their stories. I love to see how people made something of their lives. I love it when I read something in someone’s story that makes me realise I can put that idea into good use.

I enjoy reading about people who, when faced with adversity, keep going and tell me what they did to overcome it.

I love reading things that make me see the world differently, that show me ways to overcome situations in my own life.

I love to read books about music, stories about musicians, decades and styles of music. Books that give me the stories behind the songs.

I learn so much when I’m reading.

I love to read detective books, thrillers and classics too.

I love that when I open a book, I enter a different world. I’ve found so often that reading a book that I’ve seen as a film always makes me enjoy it more. It’s always more in-depth.

I’ve got friends who’ve never read a book and I can’t understand why. They don't know what they're missing. after all, there's not much point learning to read, if you don't.

In our house, all three of us devour books. We’re always reading something or other. I have books in my office, downstairs in the living room and also by my bedside.

It’s not uncommon for me to be reading three books alongside each other.

The editorial I read that brought this post to mind talked about how he started to change his profile picture on Facebook to a ‘bookface picture’ and with a quote from the book alongside it.

I liked that idea, so I’ve done it as well. I’m, hoping it may encourage some conversation about books too. I may get some reccomendations I may not have otherwise considered.

Feel free to join me in doing the same – and leave your book recommendations below and I’ll check them out.

And if you want to read the piece that was the catalyst for this blog, click here,

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The Music Of My Life #7

Many of you will have heard about my Dad's reel to reel tapes. On one of them was a gem of a tune, released in the December of 1957 by Bert Weedon.

Called 'Play That Big Guitar' it never charted in the UK, but I loved it and spent years searching for it. I finally found it about 4 years ago.

Like I've said before, the music on my Dads tapes started my passion for it.

So I thought I'd share this with you.

If you can't see the video, click here

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My favourite photo...what's yours?

 I have literally thousands of photographs. Even more, if you count the digital ones that have never been printed.

I've loved photos since I was a kid. My Mum and Dad had suitcases full of them. Mum had the nickname, 'Polaroid Pearl' because in the 60s she always had a polaroid camera in her hand.

When I was still at home, Mum would get the suitcases out and we'd sit and go through them and she'd tell me stories about the majority of them. She'd tell me who was in them. She'd tell me stories about the people.

This continued even after I'd got married. We'd go back to visit, and she'd get the cases out and look though them again. This was an ongoing event.

In 1993, I borrowed the suitcases of photos, took them home with me and spent almost a month videoing them to make a film of all the photos. When I'd done that, I created a soundtrack of songs from the 50s and 60s to go with the film and dubbed it onto it,

Early in the new year, I presented Mum and Dad with the video. They were over the moon and I'm so glad I did it because in May that year, my Dad died suddenly,

It was only after he'd died that I was told that whenever anyone came to see them, he'd put the video in and show the photos to whoever was there. I'm so pleased that I did it.

When my Mum died in 1997, the only thing I wanted of my Mum and Dad's were the suitcases of photos. I still have them today. So as well as my own, I have all of theirs too.

So when it came to trying to decide which was my photo of the many that I have, it was really hard to choose just one.

But in the end, I chose this one. It's my Mum and me on the night of my 21st birthday. The reason I chose it was because it was my Mum who really started my obsession with photos. However, there are so many that I love, particularly the ones with my two sons. It was so had to narrow them down to just one.

It seems fitting though, that I'd choose a photo with me and her together. After all, when I look back, it was her love of photos and our nights going through their photos that really started my affinity with photos.

Because of her, I've had a lifelong love of photos, particularly old ones.

Have you ever thought about what your favourite photo is? Feel free to let me know. You're welcome to post it on my Facebook page and me the story surrounding it. Who knows, you could even see it in this blog if you don't mind me sharing it.

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10 Early memories

 

Here's this week's top 10 - my early memories.

1. When I was little and on the fairgrounds, a man named Alf Silver used to come on the fairground selling the lights that the showmen used on their equipment. He has a light blue Volkswagen camper van. He was always nice to me and I can remember him taking me to the shops and buying me records.

2. When I was little, my Dad had a reel to reel tape recorder and his tapes had all the hits of the late 50s and early 60s. In Mum and Dad’s trailer, I can remember they had a fold-down be (funnily enough, called a Murphy Bed). And during the winter the tape recorder would be on the floor under the bed. I can distinctly remember crawling under the bed and turning it on and playing it while they were still asleep. I bet they loved me waking them up to that! My sister Pearl told me last year that at 2 years old, I loved Charlie Drake’s, ‘Splish Splash’ and knew exactly where it was located on one of Dad’s tapes and knew how to switch the tape recorder on, and how to fast forward or rewind the tape to that particular point on the tape where the song was.

3. When my sister Pearl was a teenager, her mates would come around our place and get me to do my party trick. Apparently, before I could read or write, I knew all of the records of the time, just by looking at their labels – they would ask me to find a certain record in the box and I could pick it out of all the records in the box. Pearl told me that once, one of her friends asked me for a record, I went for a rummage, pulled it out and gave it to her. She said, I’d given her the wrong song, and I apparently told her to look at the other side – I was right!

4. Being at Butlins, Clacton on Sea aged 3 or 4 and seeing a film being made with Freddie & The Dreamers in it. We had side stalls in the park and I have a vivid memory of them coming in the front gate and crowds of people watching the filming. The film was called, ‘Every Day’s A Holiday.’ It also starred Mike Sarne who sang ‘Come Outside’ with Wendy Richard, John Leyton, who sang ‘Johnny Remember Me,’ The Mojos, who sang, ‘Everything’s Alright’ and other actors including Ron Moody. I bought the DVD a few years back – I wasn’t in the film. And it wasn’t very good either!

5 Two fairgrounds always stay in my mind from when I was a kid, and both are associated with sweet things. Victoria Park in East London was a favourite place of mine as it had a big playground and as there were a lot of us kids, we always used to go and play there. Close by was a little snack bar and in it, they used to sell Jubblies – Pyramid-shaped blocks of flavoured ice. At the time I only remember the orange ones. The other place was Tooting Bec – and the reason I remember it so well was because just outside the ground, against a fence was a ‘Micky’ machine. A ‘Micky’ was a chocolate mild drink, much like you can buy today, but back then, they were sold by United Dairies via the Milkman. Therefore, the Micky machine was a rare thing and for 6d (2 1/2p) you could buy a little bottle of it.

6 When we were in the park at Butlins, Clacton, not far from our side stalls was a photo machine and I loved going in there and getting my photo taken. I’d take 2 shillings from the takings, and go and get photos done – you used to get 4 photos taken – usually, you wouldn’t see my face until the last photo – the other three were often the back of my head as I was climbing on the stall!

7 We were at Burnham with the arcade on the seafront. I was around five years old and playing on the beach. A bigger boy came up to me, punched me a few times and took my bucket and spade. I ran back crying to my Dad and got the first of many lessons from him. He looked at me, told me to point the boy out on the beach which I did. He then said words to this effect, “Go down there, fight him and get your bucket and spade back. I’m not always going to be here to fight your battles so you may as well start now.” Although I didn’t want to do it, I did. I went up to him and told him I wanted my things back. He laughed. And so I did as Dad said, ran at him and started hitting him. He was too strong for me though and he soon started getting the better of me. However, my Dad had followed me and stopped the fight and got my bucket and spade back. I’ve never liked fighting from that day, but that was the occasion where I learned to stand up for myself and I’ve done so ever since.

8 Also, while we were on the seafront, my Dad became friends with John Tandy who ran the donkey rides on the beach. I spent a lot of my time on the beach with John, helping with the donkeys (at least, I thought I was helping). I took a shine to one donkey in particular and John told me I could name him. I called him ‘Pinto’ and my Dad painted his name onto his bridle for me. John Tandy was like my second Dad when I was little. And I was his little ‘Donkey Boy.’

9 I was at St. Andrew’s Junior School at Burnham when man first walked on the Moon and I have a vivid memory of the whole school watching the landing on a black and white TV the following day. There was a dividing section of wall that could be folded back, opening up two classes and making one big room and that’s what happened that day. It was so exciting for us to see it and I can remember it was just before the end of the summer term.

10 When I was around 9 or 10, I decided I wanted to learn to dance and enrolled in the Julie Bowden school of dance. I was one of only two boys in the group and we learned ballet and tap. Each year the dance school would put on summer shows in the Princess Theatre and I was given the job of compere. In the Mary Poppins film, Dick Van Dyke sings a song that goes “It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary,” well we had our own version. At the start of the show, I’d welcome everyone to the show and I had to start the show with a song and this was the song, except there were some word changes. I can’t remember it all, but part of it went, “Have a Jolly Holiday at Burnham, Burnham makes your heart feel light.” And then the rest of the kids would join in with me. It was very much like the variety shows of the day, and we’d all have little things to do and then we’d do group dances. I’m thinking I picked the wrong career and should have gone on the stage!

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Me, Des O'Connor and a little bit of heckling!

 

Des O’Connor has died. He didn’t have a bad run at 88. And I have my own story where he plays a central part.

 When I was a little boy, at the end of the year after we’d closed the arcade for the year, Mum and Dad would take us to London for the week to visit family and have a few days playing holidaymakers in the West End.

 We’d have a trip to London Zoo, got to Hamleys, where they’d buy us some presents – to this day I remember the little spin art machine they bought me.

 You’d put a piece of card on it, turn the motor on, and pour paint onto it and it would make some great little patterns... but I digress.

 They’d also take us to the pictures and then to see a show. The show, however, was more for them than for us I think.

 One year, 1969 I think, they took us to the London Palladium to see a show. The star of that show was Des O’Connor.

 We were sat close to the front row, to the right of the stage but in a very good position.

 The acts came on and did their thing and then Des came on. And bored me to tears. So much so, that I stood up and shouted, “You’re rubbish!” at him.

 Mum and Dad’s faces were a picture! The audience burst out laughing and Des O’Connor looked at me, looked at the audience and shrugged his shoulders – which got an even bigger laugh.

 Just imagine being heckled by a nine-year-old!

 Suffice it to say, Mum and Dad were embarrassed and none too pleased with me.

 I just wish it had been filmed!

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When you just can't help yourself...

 I woke up feeling nostalgic this morning. And just to prove it, I bought these little beauties advertised locally.

I'll probably never do them - I just needed to have them. Another of those buys where my heart rules my head! 

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Too much telly, but it's OK, it's box sets of things I liked!

This year I've watched more TV than I have in years due to the lockdowns.

And I've bought more DVD box sets of the shows I loved to watch in times gone by, Why?

Well, it's probably because I don't enjoy a lot of today's telly. It's either too dark (in mood), unfunny (I don't like political humour and there's too much of it these days for my liking), and there are too many game shows and reality shows for my liking.

Which leaves me watching a lot of documentaries or re-runs.

I was thinking about the box sets I've bought over the years and find myself re-watching. Shows like 'The West Wing,' Michael Palin's 'Around The World In Eighty Days,' and shows like, 'Ballykisangel.'

I have to say I like to buy DVD box sets, as most programmes I used to watch, I never saw all of them. I've not been good at being in front of the telly at the same time every week, so I like being able to watch when I like.

I suppose that's why Netflix and Prime are so popular - TV on demand.

But getting back to my DVD Boxsets, over this last year I've bought loads of them. shows that I loved over the years. Some have been as good to watch again now as they were the first time around, some not so.

Remember 'Howard's Way' from the 1980s? I only ever saw the first series, but for some reason, I loved it, even though it was a bit corny. So I bought the complete box set - £30. 13 episodes in each series and there were 6 series - hours of entertainment for the price of going out for something to eat!

Debz bought some box sets from work - shows like '24' and 'ER', as well as a few films.

I bought 'Lovejoy,' 'Sharpe,' 'Miami Vice,' 'Magnum PI,' 'Quantum Leap,' 'Born & Bred,' 'Monarch Of The Glen,' 'Land Of The Giants,' 'Sunday Night At The London Palladium,' 'Some Mothers Do Have 'em,' 'Frasier,' 'The Avengers (John Steed and Emma Peel years),' 'McCloud' and more.

We've topped them up by rewatching boxsets of shows like, 'Minder,' 'The Darling Buds of May,' 'Friday Night Lights,' 'Man In A Suitcase,' 'Inspector Morse,' 'Lewis,' 'Jeeves & Wooster' and more.

You may notice there's a lot of what I call 'Sunday Night Telly,' easy-going stuff that doesn't tax you too much. I think I inherited my likes from sitting in front of the telly with my Mum and Dad when I was at home.

Yes, I may have spent a few quid on box sets - most were second hand from Ebay or Facebook Marketplace which meant they weren't too expensive. I'll tell you this though, for us it's been really enjoyable watching programmes we knew we were going to like.

It means that although we've watched a lot of telly, we've sidestepped the soaps, not got involved in the talent shows and managed to avoid 'Naked Ambition,' Dinner Date,' 'Pointless' and programmes of that ilk - and we've avoided the news at all costs as well.

For the most part, it's kept us sane, and calmer than we otherwise might have been!

I'm not saying that the stuff we've avoided isn't worth watching - it's just not our taste. We'd rather watch the shows above and a few documentaries. What we've watched may have bored you to tears, but as I said we've enjoyed it.

That's what we've been watching - what's graced your screens? 

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The Music Of My Life #6

I was staying with my sister on a fairground at Crowthorne and on the Saturday afternoon, I was walking across the ground and from David Traylen's Octopus I heard a song that was stunning. It turned out to be T. Rex's 'Jeepster.'

I went over to David and he had the album Electric Warrior (Can't remember whether it was a cassette or LP). He played it all and I knew that when I got home that was going to be one for the collection,

It's an album I've loved ever since. But the song started it all off for me.

If the video deosn't play, click here

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James' Top 10s and where the idea came from...

 A while back, I read both of DJ, Chris Evans’ books. I have to say they were both really good reads.

And to start each chapter, he did a list - 10 things - Basic things about him – 10 things about his Dad – Resounding things he remembered from school – that kind of thing.

I really enjoyed reading them, so I think I’m going to nick his idea and also some of his subjects and try to come up with a Top 10 list each week.

And I’m going to start it off as he did with 10 basic things about me.

10. Born 29^th July 19609. In Leigh-on-Sea, near Southend, in the county of Essex

8. Mum Pearl was born in a Travelling Showman's family in 1925

7. Dad Bill was born in a Travelling Showman's family in 1923

6. I have a brother, Bill (b 08-11-1950) and two sisters, Pearl (b 25-09-1948) and Anita (although we’ve always called her by her second name, Debra, (b 07-03-1962)

5. My schools were all in Somerset, (3 in Burnham on Sea, 1 in Bath (although at the time it was in Avon, and 1 in Taunton)

4. At the age of 10, I needed glasses and much to my mum’s horror wanted the cheapest national health round specs because John Lennon wore them at the time. The frame though was metallic light blue. I was really disappointed when everyone, when they saw me used to say, “The Milky Bars are on me!”

3. On a school trip at the end of Summer Term in 1974, I had a bad fall on Brean Down which resulted in me Fracturing my collarbone, dislocating my elbow, breaking my wrist and two fingers. It hurt like buggery and resulted in me not being allowed to play sport for a year!

2. Although I went to two public schools, I left without any qualifications as I didn’t take any ‘O’ Levels because my Dad was taken seriously ill just before the exams and I stayed at home to run the family business instead.

1.You may not know this, but I’ve always loved music!

 

More next time...

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How many ad jingles can you remember?

 

I’m a member of a lot of retro and nostalgia groups online. And the other day, someone started a thread about the advertising jingles that were on the television when we were kids.

You know, those little songs that even 30 or 40 years later you still remember.

Try these out for size:

“Only the crumbliest flake is chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before”

“She flies like a bird in the sky ....”

“For mash get Smash...”

“A finger of fudge is just enough...”

“Do the shake and Vac and put the freshness back”

Just hearing those words brings the pictures from the adverts back into mind. Each advert was like a little story. In fact, I’d as far as to say, they were as good as watching the programmes at the time.

How many of these adverts from the 80s do you remember?

Click here if the video doesn't play

Feel free to leave a link in the replies for your favourite add - there are 1000s on YOUTUBE!

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Why can't people be more caring?

It was in the July of 1984, when I was walking back onto the fairground at Caversham with a pile of records I'd just bought from 'Pop Records' in Reading, that, after taking a look at what I'd bought, Georgie Traylen said that I was born too late. He felt that I should have been born 20 years earlier. The records I'd bought had all been made in the late 50s and 60s. He reckoned that I was an old man in a young man's body. And I think he may have been right.

A couple of nights ago I was watching something on the television and someone said that if you have a yearning for nostalgia, you are inherently sad. Again, I think the speaker may have been right.

I make no bones about the fact that I'm a nostalgic man. I'm also one that feels at odds with the world I'm surrounded by.

A world in which people won’t stay at home in a lockdown because they don’t want to. Where people don’t care about the greater good. Where they’re so selfish they only care about themselves.

And where, whilst the first lockdown was on, were rioting on the streets, taking their kids to the beach and then moaning when it was time to take them back to school. Were going to parties and meeting up with friends.

And not only that, even before the nastiness was coming to the fore. Our world becoming more spiteful.

We have a world in which politicians are wished dead. Where Vegan extremists (for crying out loud, even the name make me grimace) target meat-eaters. Where people stabbing each other on the streets is deemed as part of life living in a major city.

Where liberal parents no longer keep their children in check and don't expect them to behave with respect for others. Where even worse, they have children and decide that they aren't a boy or a girl, they're gender-neutral.

Seriously, what kind of world are we leaving to children of the future?

I could cite many more examples of things that are happening today that make me yearn for a time when things such as respect, discipline, caring and so on were more to the forefront.

Perhaps I'm naive. Perhaps the world in which I grew up listening to the songs of innocent love, has coloured my vision along the way.

Perhaps I'm just sick of the nastiness and hatred that spreads across the planet.

My mum and dad always taught me to be nice to people, to always treat people as I'd like to be treated. To see the best in people.

Don't get me wrong, I've got a mouth on me and can be scathing at times. If I'm asked a question, I've been known to say exactly what I think and it's not always complimentary. But at the same time, I'm not malicious, but I won't lie and blow smoke up your backside either.

I'll rant and I'll moan about things. That's me.

But I honestly can't think of a time when I've been downright nasty to someone.

So yes, I'm probably sad at the way the world is going. Perhaps that's why I look back at times gone by with rose-tinted glasses. Because it seemed a much simpler time for me. It may not have been, but that's how it seemed.

However, don't think that because I'm sad at how things are going in the world, or that I'm unhappy because I'm not. Of course, things could be better as they could be for anyone.

But I've had a wake-up call in my health and am happy to be here with a future still to look forward to.

 I just wish that people could be nicer to each other though.

 Have a great day!

 

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The Music of My Life #5

I was about 11 years old and I had some money for Christmas, so I went down Jotchams record shop in Burnham and had a look around, not knowing what to get and I came across this.

My brother had the single 'Ask The Lonely' and the 'B' side was a song called 'Where Did You Go' which I loved.

As soon as I saw it was on the tracklisting, I didn't hesitate and scampered off home with the newest acquisition in my hands.

Even today, that song is still my favourite Four Tops song.

If video doesn't play, click here

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Freeview Play and a whole new world of rather sedenatary lockdown TV...

 

We have been devotees of Netflix and Amazon Prime for a few years now but have always been a bit blase about Freeview.

That's probably because we've gotten so used to watching 'on-demand' that we can't be doing with watching programmes when they're 'on'.

However, there are a lot of programmes that are on the Freeview channels that we want to watch but are on at inconvenient times for us.

We were talking about it the other day and thought about buying a new TV that had Freeview Play so that we could record the programmes we'd like to see but I didn't want to spend £300+ on a new TV when ours is perfectly fine.

We were in our local supermarket the other day and I needed to buy some contact glue, however, they've changed everything around in the store and so I couldn't find any.

What I did find, however, was a set-top hard disc recorder for well over a third of the price of a new TV,  And with a second lockdown starting this week, I decided to splash out and buy one.

And it's like a whole new world of programmes I like, have now become available. As you can see from the photo, my interests include re-runs of old telly series and food programmes! I've already got 36 different shows recorded and none of them are the big hitter shows - you won't find Coronation Street or Eastenders on it. You won't find Pointless and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and most definitely won't see X factor and I'm a Celebrity type show there either.

What you will find is plenty of documentaries like The South Bank Show or Daytime telly such as Antiques Road Trip and American Pickers.

There will be plenty of music-based shows - already recorded are Frank Sinatra's Main Event, The Sammy Davis Jr Story and Long Hot Summers ( The style Council story).

Add a healthy dose of shows like Who Do You Think You Are, How Do They Do That?  Heir Hunters and a few Murder and Crime documentaries and it's the perfect mix of shows for us.

I think that just about proves how boring we are!

And whilst we're on this next lockdown, I think I'll be spending more time in front of that box in the corner than I normally would.

What are your lockdown plans?

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