Do the Shuffle
13 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
The great beauty about reaching a certain age is that not only can you get away with a fair bit of whinging and moaning about life but people actually expect it. One of the things I do not whinge about is technology. I have followed home computing since I bought my first ZX 81 and now-a-days we do practically all our shopping online (you would not believe what you can buy from Amazon). No I am quite a lover of technology. However I cannot forgive CDs for killing the single.
Ah the joy of buying just the song you wanted to and then listening to it over and over again until you parents threatened to smash it, those were the days. Yes you could set up a CD play to repeat but you had to fork out for the whole CD first. As a true blood Yorkshire man I had to admit that I baulked at buying music I did not want nor particularly like.
Music buying for me all but stopped during the 90’s. I could be stereotypical and say that the quality of the music had a lot to do with my choice not to buy music but I would be lying. No I stopped buying music because I could not buy just the music I wanted.
Then along came MP3 players. I was intrigued, as I am with most new technology; I wanted to give them a go. By the mid-noughties they were practically giving them with boxes of cornflakes so I bought one. I was not going to buy an expensive one because, as I said at the time, I would never use it.
I am now on my fourth Apple IPod (the famous IPhone) and I love them to pieces. I would not leave the house without one. Music has flooded back into my life as has not happened since the early 80’s. Joy of joy you can buy just the songs you want thanks to digital downloads. Even better; one of my greatest joys as a teenager was to get a pile of singles, randomly mix them and pile them on the spindle of my old gramophone. How I would love the randomness of that mix. This joy I can live again thanks to modern technology and I just do the shuffle!
Friday Snowfields
10 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Photography Tags: Nottingham, Winter, woodland
Just to prove that I have nothing against snow…
World of Wonder
10 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Poetry Tags: boyhood, Philosophy
Picture found on the web.
The Sound
10 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
It was a sound like no other sound; it was a cacophony with a multitude of origins; it was a bastardisation of the airwaves. It was a mewling, screeching, scraping, pealing, cawing, croaking, bawling, sobbing, laughing and sighing sound. It was the sound of the snow falling, of the wind howling, of raindrops against a window and of hail bouncing off a car roof. It was the sound of the crashing of the sea, the sound of the sighing of leaves, the hiss of windswept corn and the sound of the rattle of money in his pocket. It was a beautiful, joyful, sad and ugly sound.
It was a sound that smelled like disinfectant and tasted like chip butties. It was the sound of the smell of coal dust and warm classrooms. It was the sound of the smell of hot tar and the sound of the smell of freshly cut grass. It was the sound of those gut twisting pangs of embarrassment, it was the sound of love, it was the sound of lust. It was the sound of the thrill of discovery. It was the sound of cold fear. It was the sound of hate, the sound of defeat and the sound of triumph.
It was the brittle sound of selfishness. It was the warm gentle sound of compassion. It was the sound of mellow nostalgia and astringent hope. It was the sound of laughter both joyful and malicious. It was the sound of falling tears, tears of pain and those more painful tears that never fell. It was the sound of failure and the sound of success. It was the sound of regret and the sound of satisfaction.
The white robed technician stepped forward and removed the sensors from my forehead. “That’s the sound your mind makes,” he said.
Before The Snow Fell
09 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Photography Tags: Winter, woodland
Steeped in drab, grey skies and miserable rain with days spent slipping and sliding through filthy, frozen slush is it no wonder that winter has a bad reputation. Before the snow fell we were treated to a wonderful few days of beautiful weather. We gloried in brilliant blue skies, sparkling bright sunshine and fresh, crisp clean air. They were those precious sorts of days that make winter all worthwhile. Yet even if you stack them up against the ephemeral ecstasy of a thick blanket of virgin snow, clear winter days can still hold their own without all the ostentation and mess that is sure to follow a good snowfall.
The first time I flew on a plane was on a bright, crisp, clear winter day. And that bright clear blue sky stayed with me all the way to Spain. What a treat! Imagine my delight at being able to look down upon the Isle of Wight and see it look exactly as it looks on the maps. I saw the ferries cutting their way across the English Channel looking like tiny graphics in a computer game. Wonder of wonders was crossing the Pyrenees and seeing their lofty peaks sprinkled with icing sugar snow. It was a trip I will never forget and I dare to postulate that it was only made possible by the brilliance of a clear winter’s day.
The day before the snow fell I was walking through a tiny copse when I found another winter gem. The IPhone camera struggles to capture the true wonder of the light but it does its best.
Once Upon a Time
27 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
I took this picture of my children about six or seven years ago. It is my very own fairy story and as such it needs no further explanation.
