the convoy prophecy

10-4, do you read me, over


it is one of the peculiarities of life that each year, roughly more or less exactly at this point of time the film Convoy rotates into my existence. oh certainly, yes, there are very specific reasons why this would be the case, look you see, but this year it came about in a most unusual way.

Spiros, i will have you know just as he let me know, had a dream. well, ok, this is not unusual in itself, for all of us dream, whether we remember and recall it or not. it is also not unusual for him to share his dreams with me, whether i wish to learn of them or not. this one was different, however. whereas, for the most part, the dreams of Spiros feature liberal, buck young men, clad in leather, drenched in sweat and enjoying grappling with a roller disco whilst Hot Space off of Queen plays through a suitable sound system, this dream featured the film Convoy. sort of.

in his dream it was the case that, for reasons as unknown as they are inexplicable, Spiros had to procure for me a copy of the soundtrack for the film Convoy. it was for reasons unclear that this was the case, but the only place where he could get it from was a gentleman called Mr Patel.

no, i am not making this up. strangely, this is an actual legit account from Spiros.

i have elected, then, to view this dream as a prophecy of sorts, or perhaps some weird kind of foreshadowing. foreshadowing is the current buzzword for reviewing films and books and that, as quite a lot of people believe they seem clever and better than everyone else if they see what was once called "obvious plot twists" as "foreshadowing", so i am comfortable using the word.

anyway, in fulfilling the prophecy, it was obvious that i thus had to listen to elements of the soundtrack of the film Convoy today, and the internet obliged this in ways which Mr Patel has not so far done.

there are implications to this action of mine, i shall not deny. is it possible that there are dangers too? hard to say. this might be thinking of it a bit too much or too far, but in effect by listening to it i have fulfilled the prophecy, and so it could be said that anything which happens today happens today as a consequence of me having played the soundtrack.

what of the film Convoy itself? well, it's been discussed here on this blog before - if not at length then with some quasi-annual frequency. a quite smart film it is, to be sure, and it is worth your time either watching it, or if this should be the case watching again.

will i be watching the film again today? possibly not. i have, and i am very comfortable in this, met any obligations of me in this regard by having the soundtrack on. and anyway, it's EuroVision tonight, and i will be giving that a bit of a gander, thanks.

many thanks, then. to my bum chum Spiros for introducing me and class 70s films what had massive truck in them into the lurid realm of his dreams. it's going to be pretty exciting to see where this prophecy leads me today.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a broad definition of north east

hello there


yeah, i know, we're all still very excited about the return of The Stone Roses in a new music sense, look you see, but still the world rotates. and still, alas, it seems that the standards of the BBC continue to drift downwards. time to nitpick, if you wish to see it that way, or otherwise call them to account.

after the disaster of somehow confusing Lineker for Shearer you'd have thought that the BBC would have admonished the staff on the football reporting side, instructing them that no further mistakes were allowed to be made. if such an admonishment happened, i can assure you that the effects of it lasted exactly up until the reporting of games being played on the evening of Wednesday 11 May 2016.

yeah, sure, mistakes can be made with a "live" feed. but also no. someone has typed this in and read it to check all is OK and then pressed "enter" to publish it. and these mistakes are far from typos. but let's have a look in some closer detail, yeah?

i trust that you spotted the mistake? if not, well, i can assure you that Sunderland did score three goals in the match, but the opponents, in real terms rather than symbolic ones, were Everton. yes, that 3-0 win did relegate Newcastle, along with Norwich (more of them later), but believe you me the game was not actually against them. if the match had featured Sunderland vs Newcastle and the result was that and the implications were the same, i assure you it would not have got as far as the final whistle, and fans would now, some 24 hours later, still be rioting and punching police horses in protest.

why does it matter if the BBC makes mistakes like this? because the world trusts the BBC. i was one of millions around the world following the games on their site. for all their political bias, and their alleged cover ups of the behaviour of their staff, one is supposed to count on the BBC for accuracy and journalism of the highest level.

the confusion over which team was playing which is, sadly, not the end of the folly of the BBC from last night.basic geography seems to escape them, as indeed does the rules of relegation.

to be fair, behold, look, you see they got the two teams right. Sunderland did indeed beat Everton; a result which was to be the last for the then Everton manager. pretty much everything else, however, is wrong.

in that last paragraph there the BBC state that their "might not" have been any North East teams in the Premier League next season, but then said that there would be in fact two - Middlesbrough and Norwich.

i would assume that you are seeing the mistakes there. firstly, if not, then the only place Norwich is "north east" of is London. i know the BBC are based in Manchester now, but still their London-centric view of the country persists, it seems. whilst we, as the North East, reserve the right to maybe annex Norwich as our own, at this stage we have not.

secondly, the rules are that if you finish in the bottom three of the Premier League you are relegated. Norwich finished in the bottom three. ergo, Norwich are in fact relegated, irrespective of any debate about their geography. Sunderland, who as the BBC state in the first paragraph, "ducked the drop", and so are the second of two North East teams in the top flight.

i would suggest that even with my poor attention to detail i would do a better job at the BBC, but as nepotism remains rife in their employment policies there's no point me even applying. and yeah, we pay our licence fee so they can pay people to make these mistakes.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Stone Roses - All For One

wow.

so, after much speculation, hope, hypes, false dawns, promises and, look you see, fears of disappointment, The Stone Roses debut their first song in 22 or so years, give or take.

All For One is a throwback, a lovely, whimsical slice of uplifting psychedelic pop. it harks back to the hippy, trippy psychedelia that was at the heart of their inspiration to begin with. also, it's got the usual clever, mischievous, say a lot with a little wording to the lyrics.

a twenty second or so sample of the first play of it off of that Annie Mac woman on Radio 1? sure.

is it the best thing what the band has ever done? no. is it exactly the best thing they could have done right here, right now? almost certainly.

if this hints at what a possible album will sound like, much like Love Spreads did with Second Coming, then we're in for a treat - a real, pop psychedelia album that's made to make everyone who digs that sort of thing good. and that, for the most part, is what music is meant to be doing.

people all over that internet thing are getting really excited about this. one generation under the same groove appears to be all generations under one groove. splendid, most splendid.



do be excellent to each other xxxx

is #TSR13052016 a thing?

hi there


and so here we go again. the rumblings and the musings are happening, look you see. reports have surfaced once more that The Stone Roses are ready to unleash on us, the fans in general and the world at large, some new vibes.

oh hell yes, look you see, we have been here before. back in March many of us were all over a brief "tweet" on that Twerker thing which suggested that The Stone Roses were releasing a surprise record. that, of course, came to nothing but some excitement.

why is this day, ostensibly #TSR13052016 i suppose, considering records are now released of a Friday, different to that? well, a few reasons. for one we know that the band are actually recording music, as confirmed by Ian Brown after fans congregated around a studio they were in. on that note, a fan (and i have no reason to doubt them) said they bumped into Mani last week, and that Mani said they should "keep an ear on the radio", and that the Friday to come would be a good day to be in a record store.

also, this all around Manchester as of today.......

these pictures were taken and shared by fans on all that Twerker business - my thanks to them for taking the time to not just record these but to share too.

the lemon slice has become the symbol of the band, and in recent times has come to signify an announcement is due. up to now the announcements have been "mega gigs", which are awesome, but us fans do, in a non-demanding way, have a tendency to wish for something more......

why the excitement, the interest and the buzz? in practical terms we are speaking of a band that released one amazing album 27 years ago (eek!), followed it up with a very good in places but, as their setlists this century show, pretty underwhelming album 22 years ago (eek!) and never had a number one single, not back then when the charts actually mattered. well, yeah, them be facts, but it's The Stone Roses, man. i, dare i say we, wanna hear whatever it is they wanna sing, you know.

what's the new music going to be? it could be some awesome stuff they've been inspired to do, it could be a (barring Ian Brown's solo ventures) collection of out of character cover versions, it could be reworked cast offs from the solo careers of Ian Brown or John Squire, it could be stuff that Reni worked on with The Rub or it could be stuff that Mani did what Bobby Gillespie said wasn't gonna be done by Primal Scream. don't know, don't care, or if you like DFK DFC. just bring it on, man.

i guess i will be off to HMV on Friday then, whether there's any actual confirmation of a release or not.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

us white dudes all look the same

hello there

firstly, look you see, many thanks indeed to those of you who responded to my rather sad and pathetic wishes by clicking on my boss soundtracks of 1986 (yes there's the link in yellow again) post in the hope that i may see it in the top ten of most recently read. so far, alas, not enough to get it to chart, what with stories of Spiros dominating somewhat.

on the one hand it is quite distressing to see a blog post about a loaf of bread which had the date of Star Wars day as it's best before marker outstrip in popularity the music of Prince and Queen, but on the other i wrote and posted both, so there you go. but hey, onwards to the discourse of the day today.

most of you would, i would imagine, have little or no interest in the rituals which accompany my breakfast. i shall share an aspect of them anyway, in that i tend to have a gander at the news as i do so. when i did that this morning i was quite surprised to see this mistake off of the BBC

yes, you are reading that right. somehow the BBC confused the grey haired, bum fluffed moustache bearing joys of Gary "did i mention i was off of Leicester" Lineker with the bald, clean shaved to perfection Geordie legend Alan "why aye man" Shearer. and to think that once there was a time when the BBC could be counted on as much for precision and accuracy in facts as they could for blatant political bias.

a theory i have, dear reader, is that Jermaine Jenas wrote the text. whilst i have no quarrel with the lad, and thought him to be a superb player, me mate Fraser would not refer to him as anything but the village idiot. actually, he would use a certain other word to describe him, but i am not permitted to repeat that word here.

the interesting thing here is that as it's a well known white English dude that is the case of mistaken identity it's nothing more than a gaffe, a clanger and a reason to mock and pour scorn on the BBC. had they by any chance confused Thierry "handball cheat" Henry with, say, Nicolas "transfer percentage" Anelka or Rio ""Plug" Ferdinand, there would be screams, shouts, handbags, tantrums and tiaras about how racist it all was. hey ho, the world we created.

right, let me go and have a read of this stuff about how maybe this week is the week on which we will hear some new quality vibes off of The Stone Roses. as is the legacy of that band, and in reference to the above, one generation under a groove man, get on it and why can't we all just get along......



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

call me tiger

howdy folks


more of the kind of thing that you all like to look at here, look you see, as in that it is something what myself does not feature in as such. my (considerably) better half has engaged in further painty doodles exploits, with "painty doodles" being her chosen preference for what she calls her art.

the fact that i coined the phrase "painty doodles" and have attributed it to her without her every using it should, i feel, on the whole, be overlooked. anyway, moving on.

what was the subject of muse for my (considerably) better half to paint this time? why, modesty almost forbids me from saying, but she elected to do a "symbolic" portrait of me. as in, not a direct likeness of me, but something which captured my immense sexual prowess and masterful, awesome like predator instincts. and so she did a painty doodle of a tiger.

ha ha, no. that's not why she did this rather splendid painting of a tiger at all. as fate or chance happened to dictate, the only suitable paints what my (considerable) better half had available to her were the shades of white, black and orange, and so a tiger was a fairly formal choice.

and quite a splendid painting / painty doodle it is too, i trust you agree, although one would suspect that you hardly need me to point this out as such.

throughout modern history there have been several cases of gentlemen speaking the words "call me tiger" to ladies. quite often this happens in what one would consider a sexual setting, and frequently the gentleman speaking it has quite a lot of confidence in their skills and talents for doing a sex.

history has, however, only ever recorded one incident of a gentleman speaking those words and it being in any way convincing or appropriate. well, i say one - obviously modesty forbids me from saying that yes, i do it and it works. here you go with the one example then.

why yes but of course that is The King, Elvis Presley saying the words. and why not.

if you are really bored, please would you consider clicking on and reading the coloured text to go and have a gander at my soundtracks of 1986 blog post. i put quite a bit of heart into it and it saddens me to see, in the light of the deluge of posts i did over the weekend, that it didn't make it into the "most recently read" section to the side. thanks if you do, i understand if you don't.

another gander at the tiger painty doodles of my (considerably) better half? sure.

righty-ho, forwards not backwards, as it were. off i go with the rest of my evening, then, and it is an evening which i suspect involves that documentary featuring dragons, sex midgets, people coming back from the dead and so forth. whilst i know that, as it is on television, it must be a documentary as why would anyone waste broadcast time with a fiction, but do you know i am beginning to think that it's not actually real.

more as and when motivation to do so sees me post here once more!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

box twenty five

greetings people


and yet more tales of unpacking. no, alas, look you see, we still don't have everything unpacked, some two and a half years after packing up and shipping. in defence, though, most of the stuff what remains boxed relates or pertains to my high sense of materialistic collection.

i had reason to unpack some items today, however. oddly the box of the title was not one of them, but, well, we will get to that story as we go.

it would probably be best to start and the beginning, but we won't - here's a picture of box twenty five which i took after i removed it from its storage spot and hauled it up to my elevated shed.

what i was unpacking was stuff what had numbers on it, although one did not need the numbers to identify just what they were. one of them had quite a ceremonial number, however, so we will have a look just now, but very much for now here is why box twenty five is all of a sudden unpacked.

yep, vibes, man. discs. compact discs, or if you like discs which are compact. i had to move box twenty five out of the way to get to what i wanted unpacked, but decided to look up on my lists to see what exactly was in it. when i saw there were some truly tremendous vibes, i thought ti myself that this box would be a most smart one to have up in the shed as i do writing and that.

can you make out that later of discs? if not, there's on the one side some Talking Heads, some Hendrix, some Oasis and a few Stone Roses Bootlegs. over on the other side is some Led Zeppelin and further Talking Heads. with regards to the latter, in particular there is Stop Making Sense in both its original release and special edition form, with the original release version on right now.

not that it was just vibes in the box. i was particularly delighted to discover this t-shirt was in there too

a most comfortable t-shirt this one is, dear reader. alas i have forgotten the provenance of it; i suspect ether me mum or me sister got it for me, but anyway it is one which was made in china so it is assured of being of the finest quality. yes, i suppose in a literal sense i am a kind of a big deal. and yes it shall be having something of a wash before i wear it again.

a bit of a gander at the next layer of discs of vibes in box twenty five? i see no reason not to.

at the top there's most of Ian Brown's solo career, as well as a bootleg of his first ever solo career. also, some of The Stone Roses, including three copies of Second Coming. why three? one bought on the day of release in England by my Dad for me, one is a "limited edition" version featuring the four track Crimson Tonight live EP bought by my Mum and the other is an "Australian Tour Edition" with a slipcase on to that effect, also bought by my Mum for me, presumably whilst she was in Australia at some point. so no, as it happens, thus far in life i have not bought myself a copy of Second Coming as such.

also there's more or less the complete works of super group Cream, some Oasis and a bit of The Who. in respect of what treasures of The Who are there, there's the first two editions of Live At Leeds to be released on CD; the as originally released on lp six track version and the first "expanded" edition which has, i think, 14 or 15  tracks on. further versions were released, of course.

what was i doing that led to me getting box twenty five out? getting bikes out for the boys. one of which, as it happens, was the first ever item packaged up by our shippers of choice, as you may see in the below.

i suppose it should be mementos or poignant or something that item one of our packing and shipping is now out, but alas no. the bikes we brought are, surprise surprise, alas too small for the boys now, some 3 or 4 years after they were bought for them. but rode them is what they did anyway, since we have a blistering warm day today, to be sure.

the third and final layer of vibes within box twenty five also has some absolute gems, too. well, they would be. why would i buy rubbish, for one, and if i had bought rubbish, why would i then ship it across the seas and over the equator?

up in the top corner you can see Who's Last. that's actually rubbish. it's them live in the USA in 1982, ostensibly on their "last ever" tour, and the performances are awful. Daltrey is as animated and as passionate as ever, but John, Pete and the then recently instated Kenny Jones are the personification of contractually obliged performances alas.

on a better note, the smart 30 Years Of Maximum R&B box set of The Who is there, in the days before for some reason R&B came to mean "sampled rubbish". there's also both editions of Misplaced Childhood off of Marillion, the original 2CD issue of Tommy by The Who, and then some selected highlights off of the careers of Morrissey and The Smiths, although them two overlap somewhat.

i have tried to get images of the CD stands which i have also unpacked with some of the CDs in, but alas on my side it seems that google has rotated them the wrong way. bonus if they come out the right way on your side, but i suspect not.

yes, kids, i know that you can download or "stream" everything, and i know you can invest in a device which keeps hundreds of thousands of songs on it for you and do so in a small space. i just happen to like playing CDs. the quality is better, for a start, and looking at an actual product rather than a folder list is part of the pleasure of selecting and listening to vibes, man.

if your life is all the more easier and better for relying on downloads, streams, etc, then nice one. but i don't see a day dawning where i move away from actually owning the music that i love so.

what do i have on now? well, Stop Making Sense was on, but now it's Strangeways, Here We Come off of The Smiths. an album which, arguably, was the best "we know this is farewell, so goodbye, no more" album to exist right before Blackstar by David Bowie came, sadly, along.

time to finish what i started here with this post then, which is somewhat at odds with the second song on the album what i am listening too.......

hope you've all had an amazing, boss, mega epic ace weekend. more as and when it happens!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

le coq du lac

hello dear reader


after the excitement and, if we are honest about it, getting carried away yesterday, back to the more harsher realities of this blog with the day today, look you see. yes, that does indeed involve, or if you prefer resort to, being a conduit for things what Spiros has seen around whilst on his travels, and wishes for the wider world to see as he sees it.

what has he seen this time? well, as far as he is concerned, what he has seen is a bold, stark priapic work of French artistic statement placed in the Thames, that most significant of London rivers. i am not so sure that is what he has seen myself, but let me not cloud your interpretation of it.

if this indeed the work of the French, that sort of off-grey thing which Spiros has sort of framed with the background if not centred, then i would concede or perhaps yield that it is quite possibly the most French thing, ever. it is, after all, well known, documented and recorded that virtually all French are is focused on the priapic when it is not concentrated on the oedipal,  although somewhat obviously there are distinct parallels between these two cornerstones on which French art has always balanced.

why would the French, with a noted disdain of other cultures, elect to place a work of important French art in one of the dirtier and more polluted sections of the Thames? because, in essence, London is a French city. by the measurement of population, London is France's 4th biggest city, and is considered crucial to results when the French have what they consider to be acceptable elections.

the above is what makes many of the fears around a possible "Brexit" all the more laughable. it is the case that the European nations want and need us as much as we want and need them in terms of friendly relations and trade negotiations. what is not needed is the EU bureaucracy that dictates policy and law alongside it. does anyone really think that if the UK elects to vote for a departure from the formal EU then countries like France are instantly going to demand their nationals leave the country and return home? no, not whilst there is money to be made and important, priapic artistic statements to be made in rivers.

that is indeed the HSBC building in the background. i would not be too shocked to see if this statue or monument, if it even is such, was the work of them and not the French. i mean, the statue or monument thing looks sort of OK, but also it lacks the high quality one would nominally associate with French art.

right, well, anything else that i wrote here would be something of a distraction from your admiration of these pictures off of Spiros, so i will leave you to enjoy.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a message from The Jesus (not that one) to the lesser 19 teams in the Premier League

hi there


well, what a day. a day of triumph, look you see, and not just in regards of any successes which i may have experienced whilst grocery shopping. no, the triumph of the day today must go to my loyally followed, often derided football team, the Boro.

now, then, is as good a time to look ahead, or if you like forward, to the next season. there is considerable stuff to look back upon, but forward we shall go. to that extent, here you go, here is an image for you of The Jesus off of The Big Lebowski.

The Jesus out of The Big Lebowski is the personification of perfection in a cameo. his presence in the film is limited to once scene, and he has but a few words to speak. and yet, close to some twenty years after the film came out, he remains one of the most memorable aspects of a very memorable and highly celebrated motion picture.

of the few words he speaks, those first words he spoke came to mind today as we marched back towards the Premier League. they are poignant, meaningful and very valid words, and are words which should only be heard by a mature audience. but hear them you will if you click below.

i would like to think that someone who dresses as smart as The Jesus out of The Big Lebowski, and that can do a bowling so smart, would be a Boro fan. i have every confidence that those first words you heard in the above clip are the words he would wish to ask of the 19 lesser teams we will play in the league next season.

whilst i don't take any particular satisfaction or joy from speaking ill of other teams the facts cannot be ignored; we are superior.

good luck to the four teams in the play-offs then. i am thrilled not to be part of them and i am truly sorry for the fans that have to endure the process.


be as excellent as Boro are to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

soundtrack 1986

heya


thirty years, man. wow. thirty years ago my beloved football team, or if you like the team i so dearly follow, had the padlocks placed on the gates to the ground by the tax man. it was all to do with the club having "unsustainable debts" of £2million. now, of course, we live in a world where football teams are allowed to be going concerns despite having debts in excess of £500million. for the sake of balance, my dear team are playing right now in a match which, to the victor, is worth an estimated £175million.

but, as i listen to how that game goes - and so far so good for my team - i am not here to ponder or write about the football of 1986 (although Mexico 86 was a tournament of note), but rather the music of it. no, not all, but some very specific sounds from that year. sounds of soundtracks, and furthermore soundtracks what were done by rather regal sounding musical concerns.

yes indeed, folks, as you can see currently on heavy rotation on my vibes machine these days are A Kind Of Magic by Queen and Parade by Prince (and the Revolution, for the final time). two albums, as promised, spawned off of films and by artists, or if you like artistes, of a distinguished royal name.

a distinguishing feature of 80s pop music would be amazing songs written specifically for films and recorded by the biggest names of the day. off the top of my head? Cat People and (This Is Not) America by David Bowie, (Don't You) Forget About Me by (eventually) Simple Minds, We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner, Together In Electric Dreams off of him off of Human League and loads more, in particular by the two here, but we will get to that as we go.

and following quite nicely on from the above, let's kick it all off with the soundtrack that is patently a soundtrack yet was unequivocally released as "not a soundtrack, honest".

of the nine songs which compromise A Kind Of Magic by Queen, seven are either used in or are directly related to the motion picture Highlander. the name of the album is a line from the film, and indeed the song of the same name is made up of lines from the film, in particular the "there can be only one" tagline for the movie. several of the promo videos for singles featured footage from the film, with one in particular famously featuring the Highlander himself, the French Christopher Lambert, having a duel with Freddie. and yet no, this is not a soundtrack record; officially - at the time at least - in a rare move no official soundtrack record off of Highlander was ever released.

Queen 1986? at the zenith of an incredible few years. the 80s started with them unleashing the awesome Flash Gordon soundtrack, run the risk of losing their fans with Freddie's gay club inspired Hot Space album, were shunned, vilified and castigated for breaking the cultural boycott to play in South Africa, delivered an incredible and quite extraordinary album in the form of The Works and then delivered the single greatest and most iconic concert in history in the form of their unexpected triumphant, where the hell did that come from dominating performance at Live Aid. whatever they did next was going to be a huge success; a bonus that it was for the most part amazing.

some sounds? sure, here's a snippet of the incredible free flowing, loose, relaxed and wonderfully immersive A Kind Of A Kind Of Magic, a demo / early version of A Kind Of Magic included on the CD.

so how is the album? as an album, frankly disjointed and not greater than the sum of its parts, but a record which has some incredible highs. most of the Highlander songs are amazing. the main three are A Kind Of Magic, which is just beautiful, Who Wants To Live Forever, which is a tragic ballad all the more hard hitting when you consider Freddie's diagnosis a year or so after the release of this, and Princes Of The Universe, a stark reminder of the band's awesome hard rock origins and ambitions, laced with fabulously flamboyant and arrogant lyrics ("i have no rival, no man can be my equal"). some, however, would leave audiences confused if they had never seen nor heard of a Highlander. one song, for instance, features lines off of the Kurgan, spoken by Clancy Brown himself, dubbed over the song.
 

there you go, the only acknowledgement of a link to Highlander which appears on the album; a note which says some songs in some different versions are used in the film. what stopped them embracing the film and this album as a soundtrack proper? no idea - could be a legal thing, or maybe a suspicion that being called a soundtrack proper would dampen sales. in regards of the latter, no chance - as i said, anything Queen put their name to in 1986 would have sold shedloads.

weirdly, one of the few non-Highlander songs on the album is celebrated as being off of a film, even though it was not written nor recorded with the film in mind. One Vision was used in the OK film Iron Eagle; a movie which featured a boss scene of a young lad flying a fighter jet and firing missiles whilst having his walkman on the go. but there is no mistaking that One Vision was very much written with memories of Live Aid in mind, and for the most part it's one impressive tribute to organizer Bob Geldof.

and, in that sense, one particular section of the song has proven to be a spectacular gift. i would argue, just over 30 years later, and considering the event itself and all that happened for better or for worse after it, these words echo how most of us of that generation would look back at Live Aid.....


I had a dream when I was young, 
A dream of sweet illusion, 
A glimpse of hope and unity, 
And visions of one sweet union
But a cold wind blows, 
And a dark rain falls, 
And in my heart it show 
Look what they've done to my dream

would i jump up and down and recommend to people that they rush off and secure a copy of A Kind Of Magic off of Queen? yes, if for some reason the people listening were of my age, remember Live Aid, remember Highlander fondly and for some reason don't have it. for the more casual sort of Queen fan in passing, well, as i said, the record doesn't really work as a complete album as such. i would speculate that the majority of highlights of the record can be found on any one of the many "greatest hits" collections out there.

on we go, then, to a record which was most decidedly, definitively and proudly released very much as an official soundtrack, but in this regard it is a soundtrack that most people would not consider as such.

Parade off of Prince (and The Revolution) is the official soundtrack for the movie Under The Cherry Moon, a film conceived and (eventually) directed by Prince and starring Prince. and, you know, Jerome off of The Time. more of all that in a bit, but as was with Queen, let's have a quick rundown of how Prince got to 1986, with some paraphrasing.

the recent, sad passing of Prince led to many tributes. one of the more frequent ones made reference to how prolific he was, and matched this with high quality. and when i say high quality.....


1982 - 1999 album
1984 - Purple Rain album and film
1985 - Around The World In A Day album
1986 - Parade album / Under The Cherry Moon film
1987 - Sign O The Times album and concert film
1988 - withdrawn Black Album / Lovesexy album
1989 - Batman album

in solo artist terms, the only peer Prince ever had was David Bowie's prolific and great run in the 1970s. people who run around saying that Prince was one of, if not the greatest and most important musician ever are perhaps not at all wrong to be doing so, when you look at that collection.

a snippet of the music of Parade, an album released as a soundtrack although the film had a different name? why sure, here's some of the opening of Mountains, a really funky and musically rich number.

why is it, then, that people would perhaps fondly remember the album Parade but not associate it with the film for which it was ostensibly a soundtrack? because the film has been largely forgotten. it was a box office failure. credit to Warner Bros to trusting Prince to do whatever he liked, for he had proven to be right with every move by that stage, but we as an audience in 1986 were not ready for a black and white comedy film. audiences wanted, perhaps fairly expected, more of the engaging magic of Purple Rain and we just did not see reviews which said that's what the film would deliver.

is Under The Cherry Moon as bad as the box office and average reviews suggest? not really, but in our grief for Prince, we must be mindful not to rush to suggest it was better than it was. plot? well, if i were to say to you name an 80s film which featured two men on the French Riviera seducing women to swindle them of coins of money you would no doubt say Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. as it happens, Under The Cherry Moon from two or so years before that one had the same premise.

oooh, lovely. that football match i mentioned has finished ever so well for my team. most splendid, most happy day. hurrah, bravo my side. i can breathe now.

in contrast to the Queen one, as proud as this album is to be the soundtrack for Under The Cherry Moon, little or none of the music on Parade directly relates to the film as such. beyond the opening and closing tracks, for instance, there are no references to specifics of the film, which as we have seen is quite the opposite from A Kind Of Magic. well, that's 80s music for you.

as an album, just how is Parade? beautiful. after some grumbles that Around The World In A Day was whimsical, disposable pop (yeah, sure, that's exactly why Raspberry Beret gets played so often 31 years later), this was a very fast return to the innovative, creative genius which established Prince so firmly in the first half of the decade.

highlights of the record? well, other than Mountains, this features the hit single Kiss. it also has the magnificence of Anotherloverholeinyourhead, New Position and Sometimes It Snows In April. and, you know, all the rest.

for those keen to discover, rediscover or explore the works of Prince in the light of his passing, Parade is an album i would suggest you get on the stereo right after you had played Sign O The Times, Purple Rain and 1999. dig it, man.

right, that's enough of 1986 for now. let me return, albeit reluctantly, to the present day, to mostly celebrate the momentous football result of the day today via the medium of grocery shopping.

thanks for reading, and if any of the above has inspired some new or recalled listening pleasures, well then so much the better.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

passing the time post

hello there


nothing of great or good consequence comes to mind to write as such today, look you see. this is not out of the ordinary for me here, but yet i still feel compelled, if not obliged to do an update. it just, in my mind alone, keeps it all ticking over, i suppose.

what have i been up to? nothing much out of the ordinary or the routine, i suppose, although that should not be taken as a sign of it all being mundane. i have done a good deal more business with mobile phone network providers than i had anticipated for a start, and i am currently discussing with Royal Mail what exactly does and does not constitute a delivery to the correct address.

more on the latter when they condescend to reply to me (hopefully to the correct address), but for now here we go, look what caught my eye in the window of a book shop today, Waterstones i think they are called.

no, not that one to the side and no certainly not the one to the top; the middle(ish) one. yay, a new Charlie Parker character novel off of John Connolly. i do really like this series of books.

yes, if you bother to search through this blog, there have been one or two of them which have been sub standard. the last four or five, however, have been excellent.

somewhat thankfully this new book, A Time Of Torment, is only available in a hardback format right now. i shall wait for the paperback, and hopefully clear the collection of paperbacks i have here waiting to be read by the time it comes out. i am half way through the second of two books required to do a sort of review thing here, and after that i shall be reading the new John Grisham one, Rogue Lawyer, which somehow came out in paperback this week - i was advised it was only being released or if you like published in that format in July or August.

in a post a little while ago i uploaded or placed an image of how The New Yorker paid tribute to Prince. it strikes me as only fair to do the same with the cover NME issued too.

a different approach taken, as you can see, but all the same an approach which shows just how and why we shall all miss him so much. the world is poorer for him not being in it, just as it was all the more richer for the sake of his presence.

anyway, tally-ho, i am off to do things. tomorrow is also quite a big day for the town which is, lest we forget, a "ceremonial" part of Yorkshire......



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

vauxhall and i

heya


alas, no. as in, look you see, the title of this particular blog post does not allude to the spectacular fire in Vauxhall today, which knacked the trains and tubes and also caused some problems for people voting for the new Boris down in London. also, somewhat sadly, it is not a reference to the celebrated Morrissey album Vauxhall & I. but now that i think on maybe i should do one of them "classic album" posts on that subject.

the vauxhall of this blog, and hence it being used in the title, is all to do with that car manufacturer of the name. no, i do not have one of their cars and strictly speaking no i have not had any involvement directly, as such, with one of their cars. i have, however, recently encountered an aspect of one of the vehicles what they produce. here, look, you see......

yes, that is a shiny bit off what i assume or otherwise imagine is one of them fancy vauxhall cars, and yes that is indeed a reflection of me you can see in the shiny bit, hence this being called vauxhall and i. oh, i know and i agree, rare is it that my titles have that much intelligence to them.

what's the proper name for this shiny bit off of a car? not sure. i think it might be called the decal, since decor feels wrong. badge seems to short change the ambition of it some, and emblem is just a word that is plain crap outside of a game of scrabble.

the above picture was, as point of fact, taken yesterday, which was my second encounter with this. my first encounter was the day before yesterday, as opposed to today, when this item was placed in a somewhat slightly different place.

why yes, astute, observant and regular reader. this shiny item is, more or less, in the exact same spot where the shiny silver shoe of hope (refer to blog posts of April 2016) was discarded and allowed to lay waste until Mark, who i won't single out or name, decided to get involved with it all. he has, thus far, not had any interest in this one.

what thoughts and feelings do i have about this one? well, i am assuming, perhaps hoping, that someone got quite cross with their own car. whilst they were cross i imagine that they ripped this off their car, as if to quell their cross-like feelings, and elected to insert or otherwise erect it within a nearby train as an action of celebrating their victory.

if that is what in fact happened, i trust that this quashed their anger and now they have been able to get on with their life in a more peaceful way.

that stretch or strip of path seems to be developing a reputation as being a bit of a magnet for shiny things, does it not? i'm actually quite interested to see what shiny or silver thing is deposited there next. yeah, sure, of course, no matter what it is, pictures will be taken and shared here.

anyway, off i go with what remains of the evening. if you are interested in what that involves, you need to find better interests but should you insist some channel has started showing all them X Files documentaries about that fella and the lass that run about after aliens and that.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

star wars day 2016

hello good people


today is a day, look you see, which marketers have declared as being Star Wars day. that's because the day today is 4th May, and so you can say "May the 4th be with you", which sounds a bit like "may the force be with you", a greeting or farewell sentiment expressed by parting friends in the films.

let it not be said that i did not participate in the festivities, or if you like celebrations. look, behold, here are my celebrations or if you like festivities.

indeed that is the smart Darth Vader mug what the boys got me for Father's Day last year, along with a loaf of bread with had the day today, the 4th May, as an expiry or best before date.

i trust your celebrations were as enjoyable as mine.




live long and prosper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLUBBING with SPIROS

hey you


yes, it's true. after something of an absence here for the last few weeks or so, Spiros makes a welcome return. well, not actually Spiros in person, look you see, but an account of his further adventures. and no, despite how you may well have read the title of this post, Spiros has not been off to Alaska, or any other such area where seals are plentiful.

Spiros has, as the greatest legal mind of his generation, been involved in some top secret matters of late. these are things i am aware of, partially, and cannot disclose beyond saying yes, it involves that whole EU thing. what this has meant, in practical terms for you and i, is that he hasn't been able to engage in fisticuffs with drivers much of late, and nor has he been able to meet men to form brief but meaningful friendships with.

this is something which changed somewhat when someone elected to open up a roller disco within walking distance of one of the offices he presently works out of.

as far as i can work out this splendid new club is called Bump, although also i suppose that first letter might not be a B and maybe it is called Rump. whilst the former is more plausible, the latter is certainly more appropriate, going on what Spiros told me of his adventures in there.

and adventures is what he had, ladies and gentlemen. seldom, if ever, does it take much persuading to get Spiros to get down and get with it at a disco, and once placed within walking distance near where he was doing some legal stuff meant that legal stuff was set aside, or otherwise passed on to someone else to do.

more of the disco later, but i know that the Spiros you know and love reading about is the Spiros who engages black cab drivers in bouts of physical combat. in that regard he has, alas, been a bit quiet of late, but a recent billboard has inspired him to have a crack at this "Uber" business.

Spiros, as is his way, sees the potential threat of an Uber driver possibly trying to interfere with him sexually during a ride as nothing more than a challenge. it's a challenge he wholeheartedly invites. at present, then, when he is not inside a roller disco he is very much using the Wi Fi of black cabs to summon Uber drivers to see if they want to try it on with him.

leaving that aside, then, back to the roller disco. Spiros was well taken by it, in particular the fact that the Village People were playing on the stereo as he went in. which song off of the Village People? it doesn't really matter, they are all smart.

the inside of Bump / Rump looks just about as smart as you would expect it to from the outside, or if you like exterior, and that to me seems like a very serviceable roller skating rink.

do i roller disco? alas, no. weirdly i took to ice skating rather well and could probably do that again if there was for some reason a requirement for me to do so, but with roller skating i was always hopeless. this has, in fairness, translated over to my driving skill and prowess.

a moment of your time, ladies and gentlemen, to appreciate the cover of the latest edition of The New Yorker, a most splendid publication. this is the first edition, i would hardly need to tell you after you saw it, to come out after the passing of Prince.

succinct? the very definition of it, ladies and gentlemen. what a perfect, simple, beautiful tribute to have made.

anyway, roller disco. a review of it off of Spiros? he says that it's virtually identical to his favourite nightclub of all time, Klub Knight Riders 2000. he reckons the differences are minimal,  with them being limited to this new club being in London rather than Entebbe, the music being rather more 70s disco rather than modern kwaito and rap, and that the progressive laws of England compared to Uganda mean that men in this new club are not afraid to embrace each other out of passion for the music.

ah yeah, in that picture i would say that it's pretty clear it is called Bump rather than Rump. you never know, though, a rival disco might open up and call itself Rump.

Spiros also reckons that the gentleman's bathroom facilities are some of the finest which he has ever hung around in. he says that they are spacious and provide ample room to socialise and meet other men, yet also that there are parts of it where privacy can be sought. i think, going on the timing of emails he sent, Spiros spent upward of an hour in the facilities, no doubt making some fantastic friends, even if only for a little while.

what do i think of LTDA using the threat of how you might get interfered with sexually if you use Uber as a means of transport? i'd never use Uber anyway as it sounds like a twat thing, made for twats by twats. but i suspect that this is not the sort of thing the authorities quite had in mind when they relaxed the laws of the land to allow comparative advertising.

is it at all likely that i will go to this roller disco? quite probably as and when i next go to London. by the sounds of it Spiros is now set on pretty much living there, so to see him i must go there.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the octogenarian selfie project

hello people


as a pretty conventional, standard and thoroughly enjoyable part of my weekend i went, over the course of this last weekend, look you see, to visit Gran & Gramps. this was all after the main activities of the Tour de Yorkshire passing through our village, and so i was able to show them some of the pictures which i took.

whilst Gran & Gramps were both most pleased by the pictures, Gramps was quite curious to know how it was that i was able to get all four of us into a picture and yet it be me that took the picture. to this extent i explained to him the basic principles and procedures which surround the art of the selfie. ultimately, however, i felt a practical demonstration would be best.

yes, sorry for me being in the picture and that, i know you have seen more than you would care to of late, but using the actual phone to let Gramps take a direct selfie himself might have been a bit too tricky for him.

did Gramps like the experience of a Selfie? he was most impressed with the picture, but i can't see him all of a sudden deciding that taking pictures of yourself is, like, totes the best thing ever and wanting to do such a thing every few minutes.

in the interests of fairness, balance and what have you, yes, indeed and of course i also showed Gran how the fine art of the selfie works, too

it's entirely possible that i am being somewhat hasty in suggesting that neither Gran nor Gramps would want to engage in more selfie action going forward. the next time i visit could well see them, for all i know, ask me to get them one of them Nokia iGalaxy phone things so that they may take more such pictures as they go about their day to day concerns.

thank you for your patience with regards to how often images of me, which many of you find unacceptable, have appeared here of late. indeed i shall try to limit that in posts for a little while.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Captain America Civil War colouring pictures

hi there


not all that much for me to add, here, really, in terms of text. i just wanted to make available a few colouring in pictures off of the new Marvel film, look you see. and here they are.

i think that if you click on them they go bigger, and are of a decent enough quality to save and print out. i certainly hope so, at the least - enjoy!

people, in particular us parent types, do rather like being able to browse the web for colouring in pictures for the kids to sit and colour in the print outs of. sadly all too many people out there who host colouring in pictures like these run all sorts of adverts, or have you pay to register, or make you download compressed files which can sometimes be dodgy. i figure if i throw a few fuss free ones out there then maybe it will be of help to someone.

not that it is just the kids who like colouring in. far from it. i find that sitting and doing some of these myself is a most relaxing way to spend some time, with it just not always being the case that i have the time to sit and do such a thing. i suppose i should make the effort to make more time.

have i seen this Captain America Civil War film yet? no, but i look forward to it. so far just about all of the Disney-Marvel films have been excellent, and this looks awesome off of the trailers. i shall no doubt end up waiting for the home video release of the movie, for even on a DVD or Blu Ray disc it is a home video.

the V in DVD, fact fans, stands for versatile and not video as some imagine it does.

what Marvel films did i not care for? well, Iron Man 2 was good, but not great. it was more or less an excuse for more Iron Man action without much in the way of a well developed plot. on a similar note, the second Thor film was just plain boring. other than that, all the other films what i have seen have offered ace viewing, and entertainment experiences you can enjoy again and again.

why do our friends in America call these coloring pictures rather than colouring ones as they should? i have no idea. i don't know what their issue is with the use of the letter u, but it's them that are missing out, although in fairness they seem to be getting along just fine without using it.

yes, i pretty much am running out of things to say or write in between all these pictures. the text does not matter i suppose, i just hope that some who want them find these images here. and, of course, have fun printing them out and colouring them in.

nope, nothing much else comes to mind; probably best to just let these last pictures speak for themselves, really.

except to say, am i on Team Captain America or am i on Team Iron Man? i don't know, i am not 100% sure why they are fighting. i much prefer a world in which we all just get along, so hopefully whatever has upset them is a matter they can resolve with a handshake, although not Sepp Blatter style.

and there you have it! once again, for the sixth or seventh time, i can but hope that these colouring in pictures have been of use to you! have fun!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and the bands played on

heya


it's now some six or so hours on from when these pictures were taken, look you see, and still the music plays on. as part of the festivities and celebrations of the Tour de Yorkshire coming through our village we have some sort of "mega gig" on the go, with (i believe) three bands playing live on one of the many (two) greens that we have. there's also, well, also lots of stuff, but more of that as we go.

after much anticipation and excitement in the build up and getting ready, today was the day that was day three of three of the Tour de Yorkshire. the day began with an "unofficial" outside of the actual race start within the boundaries of metropolitan Middlesbrough,  before moving on to us on the official route.

the above pictures is about, give or take, an hour or so before the cyclists were due to pass us by. people had started coming and getting ready from about 9am, with the race only due to get to us at some stage between 11:30am and that central part of a day what gets called noon. i can assure you, and as i trust you shall see, more still came to watch as the morning progressed.

we got down there ourselves at not much after 10 in the morning, having a walk around and a bit of a gander at all that was going on. as has become custom with the Tour de Yorkshire, villages like ours have taken to celebrating the event with a get together, featuring local businesses selling their wares from both their usual place of business and from some specially erected stalls positioned at suitable spots.

even the library was open on this somewhat wet Sunday, and it was upon the steps of the library that we felt we'd get the best view of it all. so, there's where we ended up, and stood and waited for the race to come.

i should probably warn you know, if i should have not done so earlier, that if you are looking for any sort of facts, figures or details about the actual race itself then it's probably going to be best for you to go right ahead and consult a different site. although the Tour de Yorkshire is the backdrop for the day today, this is all going to be very much just us for the most part, with some race images later.

as i mentioned earlier on the build up for the day today has been going on for quite some time, with many people putting a lot of time and effort into decorations to celebrate the race coming our way. for at least six weeks, possibly eight, a number of blue and yellow decorated bicycles have been placed around the village to mark the event.

as for just how many such decorated cycles are around, here you go, here's the boys with yellow and blue bicycle number one hundred, situated just outside Suggitts.

yeah, sure, you can see more of the number 100 than you can the bike, but still. look, you can make out the yellow tyre of the front, and the handlebars beneath the bunting.

how many yellow and blue bicycles did we have around the village? i believe, as mentioned in my post yesterday around the value of parking suspensions, the final figure was 108, but it could well be the case that there were a great number more.

if the day today, as far as it is conveyed in these pictures, looks like it was a bit wet and rather cold, that would be because it was and indeed it is. no matter, for of the many traditional items of Yorkshire cuisine which were available, but one was the magic of hot chocolate.

the above, as regular readers here would hardly need me to point out, is indeed young William. both he and James, who you will catch a further glimpse of just now, were both all very excited about all this Tour de Yorkshire business. at school they had spent a reasonable amount of time discussing it, and indeed had between the students made a banner which was on display. they also, i believe, had one of the competitors from the Tour last year come in and give an assembly.

yes, i have uploaded quite a few pictures here and indeed i am struggling somewhat to know what to write when around these images. stick with me, dear reader, or otherwise skip the writing and just admire the pictures.

speaking of pictures, is it at all possible, you may be asking, to have a picture which features just the 75% of my family that you all actually like, which is to say one without me present in it? why of course it is, here you go.

that is indeed my (considerably) better half, dressed in her finest summer wardrobe, also enjoying a warm beverage. not hot chocolate, though. no, what she has is what they now call an "Americano with milk", which once upon a time was called a white coffee.

the Denis Leary prophecy off of Lock N Load has come true. you can't just order a coffee any more, you have to ask for an "Americano". otherwise they ask you if you want a latte, a cappuccino, a skinny or something. what was wrong with just having coffee flavoured coffee?

anyway, the Tour de Yorkshire. after some coffee, some hot chocolate, some more wandering around and a little more waiting, the signs were with us that the race was soon to be passing our way. one of the more interesting signs was the sight of Airwolf out of Airwolf passing overhead.

ok, so that's not actually Airwolf out of Airwolf, but it is a helicopter so it's pretty much the same thing.

i would not suggest that i am expert in such matters, but i would suspect that the helicopter in the skies was there to perform two important functions - to film the race for the benefit of TV broadcasters and to observe any problems which unexpectedly laid ahead on the roads of the race.

did we have any other signs that the race was close to coming our way and did i make any video of such signs before the battery on my phone ceased to have enough charge in it so as to make it possible for it to be a going concern? yes, absolutely.

what was the police presence like? exceptional and impeccable. whereas one would understand why you would need a police presence at an event in order to make sure that all went as it should, there really wasn't a need for one. everyone was there to celebrate the coming of the race and to enjoy it.

to this end, then, the police pretty much just served to alert all that the riders were coming, and to remind all and sundry that the roads must be kept clear. and they did so in a friendly way, slowing down and giving "high fives" to the children of the village. quite exciting for them, seriously, as in our day to day life here it would be quite rare to see a member of the constabulary. 
 .

it's our general behaviour with things like this that does make me proud of our English way of doing things. sure, there's an incident every now and then when someone gets carried away, but normally we can be trusted to behave with the dignity and conduct the event requires. one of the loveliest things i ever had said to me was by my dear friend Ronel in this regard. we were at verk watching the most recent of Royal Weddings. neither she nor anyone else watching in that office in Johannesburg could quite believe that the tens of thousands watching were just slowing and considerately walking towards the Palace. she pointed out that if a similar event happened there, there would be a stampede, a riot, and people would be dead.

over the years - and i do mean centuries - us English have done much wrong. we have, however, atoned for it all and then some, and also we have done so much so right. i do wish we could, on a wider scale, celebrate the good that we do and deliver to the world.

but hey, a picture of me and the boys before we get to have a look at some of the actual race? sure, why not. a better quality picture than usual, too, since my (considerably) better half took it with her fancy phone camera thingamajig.

and so, after all the preparation, after all the waiting, and quite soon after we were advised that the cyclists would be coming, here we go, the Tour de Yorkshire made its way through our home village.

how was it? quite exciting, both minutes of it. yeah. well, i mean, it is a race, after all, and the idea is for the cyclists to go through as quickly as they can, not to stop around and wave. i'd like to think, though, that when the cyclists reminisce about this day, they remember and recall fondly how the applause and cheers were that little bit bigger, more passionate and enthusiastic as they came through our way.

i am informed that the TV coverage of the Tour de Yorkshire did exceed itself in ensuring that the section of race through our village was given full and superior coverage. my brother over in the Africa of the South was watching, and was delighted to see it come up on screen. alas no, i doubt he or anyone else would have made us out in the crowd, what with the coverage meant to focus on the cyclists rather more that the spectators. it is smart, though, that people around the world saw broadcast images of something what we were involved in. something good, too.

i would imagine that most, if not all, of the cyclists who sped past us during the day today will be featuring in the Tour de France. whilst i am very much just a cyclists of leisure, i would suspect and indeed hope that the Tour de Yorkshire gives them all some valuable practice ahead of that race. of course ours is a prestigious thing to win, but let's be honest here - the Tour de France is the biggest thing in cycling. it's the one that all and sundry have heard of, and is quite a remarkable thing.

and so a little while after the cyclists had safely and speedily passed by us, an absolutely massive billboard on a truck followed, welcoming the world to Yorkshire, thanking all for contributing towards making this race a spectacular success and advising everyone that the roads behind the truck were now open.

a quite handy notification too, as many were heading from us towards Whitby, so that they may have witnessed two different stages of the race on the same day. a bit like when Phil Collins played a concert in two countries on one day for Live Aid, except you would hope that them that went to Whitby from us were considerably less twat like about doing it.

did we head off to Whitby? no. we thoroughly enjoyed what we saw, and had a wonderful morning out as a family, doing all that sort of family stuff you are supposed to do on days like these. and, yeah, selfies.

the intention, i believe, is that the Tour de Yorkshire will take a different route each year. this will allow all areas of our beautiful part of the world to host days like ours, and i think that's just brilliant. sure, it means that it might be years - if ever - before we get to see it again, but there you go, we got it once, and good luck to those that follow with it, hope you have better weather and just as an amazing time as we did.

yes, i can still hear music coming from the direction of one of the greens we have here, some six or more hours after the cyclists have passed and some two or so hours, as far as i know, that the whole race had concluded in Scarborough. i believe the parties and festivities are planned to go on throughout the evening. and so they should.

nice one, thank you, bravo and well done to all and sundry who contributed to making the Tour de Yorkshire a thing. i trust all around the world who saw the race saw just what a beautiful corner of the world i have the luck of birth to forever call home.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!