Falling in Love Again

In 1982, a friend of mine played me a song he'd recently taped off the radio.
That song was 'Run To The Hills' by Iron Maiden.
It's fair to say that this changed my whole musical outlook.

Favourite bands at the time were The Jam, Human League and Ultravox - with a side-order of Slade

My appreciation of The Jam remained constant, but was now coupled with an equal fixation for all things Iron Maiden.
Basically I was a Heavy Metal Mod, a combined Mod and Rocker.  In the words of Ringo Starr, I was a Mocker.

The Iron Maiden fixation continued until 1990 and the release of 'No Prayer For The Dying'.  It was still Iron Maiden in all their bombastic pomp and glory, but it just didn't move me in the way they had before.
At this point me and Iron Maiden parted company.  Apart from the purchase of Fear Of The Dark in 1992 (I was going to Monsters Of Rock, Maiden were headlining and they were bound to concentrate on tracks as it was part of the tour in support of the album), no more Maiden product was added to the collection.

Until last week ...

Last Thursday was my birthday, and is is usual for such occasions I was presented with a selection of gift wrapped items.
One of the 5" square parcels contained CD copies of 'Powerslave' (Iron Maidens 1984 album) and 'The Final Frontier', their latest album released in 2010.

Listened to The Final Frontier this morning, and it was like the return of a long lost friend.
The sound and the song construction was familiar, and inspired me to go back and exhume the vinyl copies.  Because of the elapsed time since last listening, it all sounded fresh & new (in spite of the fact I could still remember all the words to the songs).  Even 'No Prayer For The Dying' (the album which caused the split) was an enjoyable listen.  It contains the single 'Holy Smoke' which is currently lodged in my head/ear and will not go away.

The next few Amazon orders are likely to be Iron Maiden-centric, and for the purpose of completeness the Blaze Bayley-years will be included

Regional Accents

Regional accents dictate different pronunciations
For example:

glass and glass

grass and grass

raspberrry and raspberrry

tomato and tomato

potato and potato

Have noticed recently that more newreaders are applying 'local pronunciation' to place names.

Best example is Newcastle being spoken as Newcastle.

This also applies to international names - Afghanistan has been pronounced as Afghanistan

(Hang on? This doen't work when written down)

Vehicle Registration Plates

The '11' vehicle plates offer much humour with the potential 'personal' plates that can be had (well, its humourous to me anyway)

Registration       Personal Plate For
RO11 OVA      Dog owners
RO11 TME      Del Amitri fans
BU11 DOG      Beatles Fans
LU11 ABY       Anyone with a new baby
MU11 ETS       Someone who is stuck in the 80s
CA11 GAL       Lady who will visit you for something enjoyable
DO11 ARS       Donald Trump
TA11 EST        Stephen Merchant
BE11 IES          People of a "larger frame"
RO11 MOP      Lovers of pickled herring
WA11 IES        (I can think of a few candidates for this one)
DU11 ARD      (see above)
BE11 END       BMW Drivers

Several years ago, I changed my name to AHW 913V, just so I could have a personalised registration.
I sold the car within 6 months and then had to change my name again.

I read a book once - it was a blue one

Other than books read for exams at school, text books for college or instruction books for stuff (rarely do I read these - blokes don't read Instruction Books), my reading habits were limited to the point of virtual non-existence.

In the last 6 months or so, I have stopped buying a newspaper to read at work everyday and bought, borrowed or found some books to read during my lunchtime, or whenever else I feel like reading something (usually Saturday & Sunday mornings when no other bugger in the house is awake - just me, a book, a cup of coffee and some fags (or cigarettes if you're reading this in the USA of America)).

Buying a stash of new Books every 6 weeks or so is (as my dear wife1 informs me) is getting expensive.
The solution: a visit to the Charity Shop.

I've just bought 6 new books for the princely sum of £3 - cheap at half the price.  And I've given to charity without being mugged in the Town Centre by a do-gooder with a clipboard wanting my bank details for Direct Debit donations

These books will be consumed (ie read, not eaten) and will either be retained in the 'Library'2 or returned to the charity shop when I next stock up.

Key Points:

1. Books are great - how come its taken me this long to realise?
2. Support your local Charity Shop with both donations and purchases.  It would be a crying shame if the majority of what was in the shop I visited at the weekend were to end up in land-fill.
   "One mans rubbish is another mans Treasure"

PS The Charity Shop also had a stack of Vinyl, CDs & DVDs which warrant future investigation

Notes:
1 Why is she referred to a "my dear wife"? Because she's expensive to maintain (boom boom tish)
2 I say 'Library' - in actual fact it is a series of shelves in various rooms, and the books will be inserted wherever there is a space.  Or (as is often likely) just piled on the floor of my office/den/crap hole of a room)

Grow Your Own

I've only ever grown 2 things in my life.
1. A Beard - it was decidedly patchy with flecks of grey nestled in the dark stubble.  It looked bloody stupid, yet every holiday I am intent on growing my 'Holiday Beard'
2.  A Beer Gut - this is an ongoing project, and is tended to with care each and every weekend

So why have I got an Allotment?
Answer: I haven't.  The Allotment is the property of my wife - which means I have to assist with the care and horticultural activity.
So for nigh on a year I have been digging weeds, raking stones and erecting a fence for what?
I don't even eat vegetables, but I continue to assist for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, she's my wife and helping is part of the marriage deal, and secondly for the gift of Amazon vouchers & chinese food (not that I'm in any way mercenary).

Thing is, I'm always reminded of The Young Ones when they went all 'Good Life':
"We sow the seed, Nature grows the seed, and then we eat the seed"

To paraphrase (is that the right word?) Rick in this clip: What about CDs? What about Beer?  What about Takeaway Curry?  Can we grow any of that?
Sadly not, we don't have the correct seeds apparently

However - in answer to the Beer question, once the Allotment is all clear and established, I'm going to get some Hop plants and grow my own hops.  I will be brewing using my own hops, so it might not all be bad.

The bit I don't get about Allotments, or indeed gardening in general, is why would you want a weekend hobby that leaves you sitting on your sofa on a Sunday night nursing a bad back and feeling more shattered than you were when you finished work on Friday?


In Other News:
40 Pints of IPA have been bottled, and a 40 pint batch of Cider has been prepared.  Should now ferment for 7 days (or so) before bottling.

The musical accompaniment to this task: Sham 69
(I'm not going to write a long, drawn out missive about "Why 'The Adventures Of The Hersham Boys' is the great lost classic album of 1979".  (It is good though))

Shuffle - Good or Bad?

The Shuffle function on iPod, iTunes, iwhateverapplehasbroughtoutnow, or the Random function on Media Player or any jukebox/player, is the easy way to play music without having to select or plan what you're going to play.
The Library is already there, it contains stuff you know, so you're unlikely to be disappointeed by its output.

Shuffle effectively replaces the time and effort needed to create a mix-tape/mix CD.  But is that a good thing?

Guidance for creation of the perfect mix-tape is widely available, not least in 'High Fidelity'.

Mix-tapes (I still call them that, even though they are obviously on CD) tend to be produced either:
1. to show off new music & old favourites to friends
2. to catalogue the tunes that are currently "floating your boat"

In the case of item 1, I would go out of my way to find a host of relatively unheard tracks with the prime intention of introducing friends to great bands and songs they may not have heard (also know as 'showing off')

Item 2 is a real "this was where my head was at then" affair.  I recently found a box full of old tapes I'd made, and on listening to them re-discovered a series of lost/forgotten songs, and every so often hitting a "what the f**k was I thinking" moment.

I'm still making mix-tapes, usually every couple of months.  Its a whole lot easier know - you just drag the required files into iTunes or Media Player and the system tells you how long each song is and how much space there is left on the disk.

Years ago, making a mix-tape was a virtual science.  The process was:

• identify the songs you want
• find out the time of each track
• sequence logoically
• calculate the time used on each side of the tape (ie max 45 minutes) - remember: there is nothing worse than a song ending halfway through because you've run out of tape
• re-sequence if necessary
• record
• listen back
• re-sequence & re-record if required

The Shuffle function negates this process, but it also loses the flow/sequence of what you are listening to.
When making a mix-tape, you're unlikely to order it so that as a Motorhead track ends, it is immediately followed by Steeleye Spans 'All Around My Hat'.  No, you have to build the bridge between the songs, gradually slowing down and changing style.  With Shuffle, it will happen, and then be followed by Ram Jams 'Black Betty'.

Shuffle - it has a purpose, it does the job - but it can never replace the greatness of a perfectly sequenced mix-tape

Cultural Metrication

Imperial measurements can no longer be used.

All imperial measurements must now be expressed as the metric equivalent.

The following must now be re-titled

Manic Street Preachers - 4st 7lbs => 28.6 kilograms
Tyrannosaurus Rex - One Inch Rock => 25.4mm Rock
Splodgenessabounds - 2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please => 1.136 litres of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please
Proclaimers - 500 Miles => 804.7 kilometres
Free - Tons Of Sobs => 1,016 kg of Sobs
De La Soul - 3 Feet High & Rising => 0.914 metres High & Rising

Thousand Yard Stare => 914.4 Metre Stare
Gallon Drunk => 4.54 litre Drunk

One Foot in The Grave => Approximately 30cm in the Grave
The Green Mile => the Green 1.6km
44 Inch Chest => 111.7cm Chest
The Whole Nine Yards => The Whole 8.33 metres

Gregory Peck => Gregory 9.09 litres
Garry Bushell => Garry 36.4 litres