Keeping the records clean

 The week might of started better for missing both the weekend football and a story reading site online I like wasn't good but the thing was actually I felt pretty off and so had to be resting and very much off line.

Usually I tend to have a bit of background music on when I'm like that as apart from being soothing it does mask a bit of the general noise indoors from next door and outside as I really don't need that when I'm unwell.

I did mention on the other blog about having a new record, well the thing is records do demand a bit of maintance such as putting away properly and keeping the surfaces clean to get the best they can offer.

Indeed I often find even new records need a clean if as seems to occure these days the places that make them don't seem to a clean as you might expect.

Thus yesterday this cleaning kit came with some stuff to fetch any debris out of the groove and off the surface and some stuff to take away everything it had removed so it doesn't end up on your stylus.

I find this stuff by Vinyl Revival is really effective and doesn't leave anything behind unlike some I recall from the past.

Reflections upon the Funeral of HRH Queen Elizabeth

 Week is almost over with things moving more towards where they were before just over a fortnight ago following the sad but beautifully executed funeral of Her Majesty on Monday, choreographed to a tee with immaculately turned out people performing the ceremonial roles. So british.

I was with my parents who could remember George VI's funeral in February 1952 reading accounts as at that point neither had television at home although by June of 1953 and the Queen's Coronation Dad had got television with pictures on the one and only BBC channel from Birmingham and Mum saw it at a cousins who had a set.

This time sat together having prepared a light midday meal so no one would miss much I was in my green jersey, grey shorts and grey with green bars turn over socks, a nod towards Cubs without going the whole nine yards just looking like a kid following it as they talked about the past.

For me it didn't just bring back memories of the Queen Mothers Funeral on April 9th 2002 but Prince Philip's outside of those family funerals I attended when I was younger so I could understand what Prince George and Princess Charlotte would of been feeling.

These things are a bit hard to get your head around when you're young.

Photo credits: BBC/PA

A nation mourns

We did not touch upon the developing news on Thursday as last weeks entry went to press simply because things were changing that rapidally so it was on the other blog earlier this week we touched upon the death in the afternoon of thursday September 8 of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral.

There was a special on CBBC by Blue Peter looking at her role and her appearences on the show itself such when she was awarded the Gold Badge.

Indeed reports since showed even some of her family were not able to arrive at her bedside before her reported death and that in effect there was a news embargo upon issuing it until the royals all knew having a family member working at ITN News.

As a Monarch she was very hard working, well prepared knowing who about the people she was to meet and the topics that would be discussed and very friendly even where sometimes protocol can trip one up when it comes to how exactly you engage with her.

She was the longest serving monarch we have had - many of us have only known her - seeing out some 15 Prime Ministers in her time.

The Royal family is just that - a family whose only major difference to us is they are born to serve - and I prefer to look upon her death as that of a girl who became a woman who reigned, who had a family we all followed, making scrap books of as children who themselves had children that we all knew.

In later years we saw the girl within with her jokes, those timeless expressions as things just turned comic and not least the great Paddington Bear sketch she recorded for her 70th Jubilee we only celebrated in early June.

Today we have our new King, Charles III having been proclaimed across Great Britain and Northern Ireland plus the realms and territories who will do his very best to follow in his Mother's footsteps and we give our thanks to her.

God Save the King.

Why best friends?

Seeing the difficulties some people are facing I thought the wisdom of Winnie The Pooh seemed rather appropriate because the kind of friendships we formed initially at school, then our home circles and later on college or work do go a long way in meeting our needs.

The company of those who may be connected around a cause or hobby by itself seldom enough because it lacks the depth being focused on the role and not actually about getting to know and understand the whole you such as what really matters to you, the times you may struggle with confidence or in need of emotional support.

Yes boys and men do have emotions and need to let them out as much as to let in others they trust for their own emotional wellbeing, talking through things.

Memories of the school bus

 

This time of year brings back memories as next week, school is back in England and I suspect for some of us the school bus is one possibly the best and the worst rolled in one.

If you were very lucky you may of had a escort in addition to the driver to deal what often happens when a group children are all together in a confined space.

One starts whispering things in the ear of another as the other soon enough works out they are the subject and dispute breaks out, meanwhile another starts pulling a girls braids or pony tail which is followed by screams as typically one boy starts a fight with the other over football or a girl.

Soon enough the bus stops and everyones told to "cut it out" and you're all back in your seats.

Some of the things I had was travelling all the way down to London and back sat on a upturned bin as we has insufficient seats, holding on as the bus would sway to side to side and vibrate as we went over potholes.

Another was trying to stop an unsecured wheelchair sliding in the back of bus coming toward me in those days where modern health and safety seemed eons away.

Somehow travelling on train was just a bit more civilized.