It's coming...

 

Well, I'm not in the best of shape with a very bad back brought on by standing for too long for a much delayed bus so am on painkillers and bed rest while I recover but we are getting closer to that day having written a few cards and organized presents bar one which I'll do shortly.

Tree and Nativity seen is out.

This time of year tends to see carol singing and and many Mr Claus's about in the bigger stores - how come he manages all that I have no idea - and in many areas a float comes around your estate which might be by your local Round Table raising funds for charity or your Scout or Girl Guiding unit.

This should be happening on Sunday here.

Computerized life

Messy, rather wet afternoon of a day that started with drip, drip drip by the front door as I woke up today so trying to get a few things done between nipping out to get the papers and the tinned fruit I forgot yesterday when shopping.

These days I try to avoid working with anything computer related in the bedroom as I found it changed my conception of it as a place to rest, chiil and go sleep altered to a spot of activity that sometimes went way beyond twelve midnight which really messed up the following day.

I never owned a Tablet not least cos I struggle scrolling for things and using virtual keyboards but Chromebooks currently a 14 inch screen Asus which works well for anything not needing a local program installing like copying music for the music player's sd card as I redo portions of the library.

I can easily understand how as a modern young teen I'd struggle with all the distractions of social media, gaming sites and that as it can pull me in despite having more experience and really would need some strict rules in place to prevent me really messing up.

No wonder Australia is set to effectively ban teens under 16 from it - I need something like that to be honest - and it has caused a whole shedful of problems in and out of school, some deadly.

It was never intended for teens more young adults needing to network but they chased the easy money and the moderation systems leave too much up that doesn't remotely belong.

I don't mind being honest about some of my issues and battles to get control over my life.

Making plans for Crimbo

 Although Tuesday night saw temperatures drop to the point we did have ice but often melting and frost we did get out although some of the estate roads were a bit tricky as building plot design tends to result in limited sunlight so it takes noticably longer to clear as I was out in Gss and thick long argyle socks talking to the odd parent as they were making their way to school.

I think, done right, just everyday conversations help to brake down some misconceptions around people like us and any "chinese whispers" as they see you as just another regular human being albeit on who presents a bit differently than the majority of legal adults and we do respect boundaries when it comes to children.

We are moving towards Crimbo, you may of noticed may stores stocking gift items specifically for it, cards, Advent calendars and while you walk around you may notice Christmas Post Box covers, temporary fairs and at least a decorated Christmas Tree in the town square or central spot on your estate.

I will be making some plans shortly when it comes to blogging as it does take time to think out, sometimes research and then type the entry three times a week and then there is things like contributions to forums which for our own does mean time moderating.

Obviously things get busier as you need to get things in before the day plus things like seeing relatives and writing cards that make Christmas -and here the focus is very much Family and Friends - because we make it for all of us so I will drop off contributions although if you think you can break our rules with no action over the period, think again!

One plus One equals more capacity...

Officially it was minus Three degrees c when I woke up on the day this was written, only venturing as far as the bins as it was too icy for me to get about.

Given some of the things I had in mind were off I had been working on redoing some albums on the earliest micro SD cards which go back to around Twenty Ten when using lossy digital file formats was a must as good as the programs I used to do that with (and in isolation you'd be happy enough with it).

Ultimately they may be retransferred to a new higher capacity card as much to minimize the risk of card failure as much as that redoing a significant number will need more space the the old cards could allow for.

With two others that were done in the much better sounding Lossless form you could either attempt to merge them to one card but all but one player may struggle handling a card with a capacity over 128gb reliably or getting a player a bit newer than the oldest but came with two card slots and the ability to accept 256gb cards that is exactly two times 128gb.

That means you can just take the existing cards and slot them in and they'll be properly indexed working as if you'd of put the contents one a single new card.

That was the plan with getting the FiiO X5 mk 2 from 2016 that has the same old hat but easy to use jog wheel with press keys rather than modern touch screens that I find hard going and it was their top model back then with excellent audio.

Putting a few things right

 

Life is just different for some of us and sometimes that does pose questions for folks who aren't aware or totally misunderstand with conviction what it really is to be age dysphoric.

First off, as this is a matter of being more involuntarily child-like, it's not say kink connected even if  you may keep things out of parts of it it isn't "age play" or cg/l and being age dysphoric  you wouldn't be going to any kink clubs. I certainly wouldn't wish to.

There is no sexualization involved at all.

You just do those child-like things you enjoy and feel more confortable in yourself doing in an environment that would be safe for a child, where you could just play and maybe enjoy the company of like minded people but everybody there is in law an adult.

While we share those same interests and do feel much younger than are years we do understand and respect why spaces based on chronological age are appropriate as none of us would want what at least in law are adults to have unsupervised access to children because we understand child protection matters.

Some of us may argue that because of things connected with us individually we too need some protection due to our vulnerbility but that doesn't alter the chronlogical childs needs. 

There are issues sometimes around things like special events where the child version is more suited for us by way of interest to that of adults but how that is handled depends very much on how the event is organized and whither activities are individually centred or grouped.

It may be possible to keep one side of  an exhibit just for people like us so chronological children don't mix with us or to put a special version specifically for us but the welfare of children and parents concerns need to be respected.

Job done

 

Portable sound of sorts has been about since people started going out and wanting favourite sounds from pocket instruments, attaché case portable radios, record players tape and cds machines and so on.

We just seem to want that sound - our favourites - with us and at consumer shows like CES some of these things have been seen making a bit of a comeback with Toshiba's Sound Burger a open wide and play portable player selling well.

We have actually made our Pop and Rock lossless micro sd card from copies of my own cds and bought downloading 80's favs like Martha & The Muffins, 24 bit remasters by Rush and Taylor Swift's albums that only were on Mp3's on another card although the nature of it is other recordings will be added and I have added a few things to other cards too.

And we have a New unused player with case too to enjoy them on when I want to be free from staring at screens that really doesn't do me any good at all. 

Unfortunately unlike older cassette players there's no belt clip to put around my grey short trousers so you have to hold it in your hand but hey we've done it!

Spooky months end

The first thing to say this week is there will be no scheduled Monday  Blog tm this week as I'll be away across the weekend so unable to put anything together before then and in light of things across the last few months I certainly could use it.

Things this time of year do get a bit spooky, so spooky they mave give the would be photographer the shakes with all those ghosts and spirits from the past and present being around before you bring in the crowd from Hogwarts...

All Hallows was our thing back in the day but from the 80's onwards that shifted to the American preoccupation with and customs centred around Halloween such as Trick of Treat.

Progress is being made with that missing files restoration we referred to a couple of weeks back, recopying some from compact disc where I have it, getting those I haven't from download stores in either regular cd quality or better than HD quality.

While legacy cards may reflect the realities of those times when sd cards of even modest sizes such as 32gb were expensive and players were more limited in terms of the sorts of files they would play so they tend to be Mp3's (or lossy 256kbps M4a) there's no reason in 2025 for a new card to start with anything other than lossless as the default and in time a new card will be established.

Late autumn thoughts

Well in parts of this district school is out and in others it starts after 3.45 this afternoon well before Blue Peter but I cannot see a "five o clock shadow" and a moustache ever being permitted - heck we didn't have them in the sixth either.

The only concession was for girls to apply a bit of concealer or plain lipgloss in the sixth toilet block but in so many ways I'd of sooner of worn a uniform more like this rather than this drift towards casualization when it comes to school and work attire.

There wil be a bit of a pause come the first Monday in November after the annual ceremony of messing up time as I'll be away for a few days without Chromebook enjoying meyself which given some things of late here I definately could use.

Before I drift off for a bit, I'll get around to playing my new copy of the Fourth Monkees album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. from late 1967 when things took a more countrified approach rather like that of the the Byrds and their brilliant The Notorious Byrd Brothers album. 

Restorations II

Autumn is very much in the air as I noticed on Wednesdsay going into town as we slowly work our way though this virius infection well wrapped up and masked between working on some of that restoration work.

Some of the work around downloads has been done so we should be getting somewhere with this by christmas as has adding the odd missing title from cd as sometimes a used cd can be cheaper than a download if for whatever reason you didn't get it at the time

The main thing is creating your folder structure and dealing artist labelling differences such as "Rolling Stones, the" and "THE ROLLING STONES" as that only ends creating two sets of files which isn't what you need.

I mean technically artist followed by the definative article ("the") is correct when it comes to making your  alphabetical order but some sites insist on The "Artist Name" which is then used to creat the artist folder that all abums by them get filed under.

Classical music is usually a nightmare as some prefer Composers (although recording by more than one can get complicated), others performers such as Orchestras ot Conductors.

Another kind of a restoration involved this record that in my original copies form had suffered from leeching from PVC outer jackets with a grey coloured haze plus some groove damage and worse still a pvc lined inner sleeve it had started to stick to that ironically back in mid 1983 I'd put it in thing it would protect better than the plain paper one!

Fortunately I tracked down a near mint copy as the record is much better sounding than any cd version, an early mixed down to stereo digitally one which was common place in Canada back then unlike the UK and at least on this copy worked out very well.

Recovering

Haven't been too great this week  so sorry if responses to personal messages and that has ben a bit sluggish but I've been coughing my guts up and sneezing somewhat with irritated eyes so really apart freeling off I couldn't look at the screen much.

I did wrap up as I needed to do a lens test before submitting feedback as the one I bought with the Nikon as a kit didn't really fit that well into what normally do needing to cover more moderate telephoto to avoid needing to change lenses over most of the time and I felt the original lacked contrast.

It might be being spoilt with a Minolta film system with marque fixed length lenses that I grew up first  my standards tend to be rather high and I didn't care for anything that that lacks that systems simplicity but it was time to put that right as blogging was what drove to digital photography having bypassed the whole auto focusing slr film era totally.

Anyway I did go out for shortish hike well wrapped up and took that picture that apart from a touch of straighting up has otherwise not been processed and that was more like it.

It proved to be an easier lens to focus by hand on.

Restorations

Looking into the question of the missing Digital Music Players and more importantly the cards that were in them it looks that most can be replaced.

This is either in the case of some rock high defination downloads, they were backed up on a external hard drive and regular files were from discs that I had and still have so should over time I wish restore them as I have an an excellent cd ripping (copying) program that does lossless files with embedded art.

In others, lossless downloads, increasingly 24 bit are available from sites at cost that do sound sound very good sometimes with Pdf booklets too.

The history of downloads goes back almost as much as this blog thus there was always a legacy of Mp3 and Apples Aac files often downloaded from those heady days in 2008-2010 when downloads free of any digital rights management became available  as well as those I made myself when players were smaller had limited memory and everything was set around that

It's ironic that these older cards still survive as curated but making a new card will to be tied in getting a newer player to take full advantage of higher capacity cards, more suited for lossless espcially higher defination downloads as much as anything redone can be played from the Windows laptop.

Tuning In, Tuning Out

 Tuning in seventies style generally took three forms, the portable radio, something with it built in such as a radiogram or music centre or a seperate unit you attached to a Hifi of which this is one Tandy aka Radio Shack sold that did just what you needed.

It had VHF stereo for which a red coloured indicator came on if you tuned in a stereo station and Medium Wave (marked as AM) which had stations that weren't otherwise available although they didn't sound too good like Radio 1 for Pop Music.

Today there are different ways of "tuning" in such as internet radio stations, podcasts and streaming which is quite popular.

Streaming allows people to hear individual pieces of music or whole collections stored on line that you curate either for free with adverts and some restrictions or alternatively for a monthly or yearly subscription which in some ways is a virtual record or cd library when we paid so much for a weekly loan in the past and potentially the quality can be better.

Recently there has been some noise that a big player Spotify has improved the quality of its premium offer to something that potentially a bit better than standard cd but not as high as some specialist companies.

If your market is mainly people on the go, things like a persons data allowance comes into play on mobile phone contracts and in any event this tends to eat more battery current when the background itself may not that quiet.

All reproduction has compromises and perhaps this works best for their target audience rather than audiophiles with very quiet often treated rooms  and very fast home fibre internet?

The 500th post

 

Somehow it can seem to escape you but this modest blog marks its 500th post today when other things are in the news but we'll escape the heavyweight political stuff and concentrate more on what this blog was about.

In some respects it's less a material things blog looking more about things that affect and influence me rather than just a post about things, it came about through Tumblr before that went crazy when many of us noticed others...like us.

That of course changed as 2018 became 2019 as much as last year Misterpoll ceased to be a thing taking with it hundreds of posts in and around school uniform specifically boys uniform which was unfortunate.

Our forum continues to go from strength to strength even if peaks and throughs in absolute posting  bring in new people with things about what being a adult little boy means to them and how childhood pasts influence it in setting that keeps the focus on just that experience.

We've been fortunate to have little drama, just some strong personal opinions about socks and short trouser lengths although there's no reason adult little girls couldn't join perhaps starting threads more suited to them.

We've looked at fashion, toys we look at events such as halloween and christmas on here as I experience and enjoy them and that's likely to continue as that's both satisfying and helps promote discussion around them, what makes them the things we enjoy.

Here's to next 250 posts.

A pile of Mud...

Music was one of our social currencies back in the day, exchanging likes and tidbits of information in an era devoid of internet, music television and mbile phones.

There were artists you were definately fans of, having posters, fan club memberships albums and singles of apart from seeing your heroes live on stage  which for me was The Rollers, Sweet and the Wombles and there were others you may of liked singles by but weren't your main thing.

 The Carlshalton, Surrey group Mud, originally a rock and roll revival act was one of those having been picked as a means of Rak Records owner and employer of a song writing team of having hits and you could say they went for the ride.

Those chart hits from Crazy, Tiger Feet, The Cat Crept In, Rocket, Oh Boy, Secrets That You Keep and Moonshine Sally were records I did like, fitting in as a cross between Glam Rock with a lead vocalist who could "do" Elvis well.

The Xmas hit Lonely This Christmas remains a favourite seasonal song of mine as while on the one hand its a tongue in cheek Elvis inpersonation, it does touch the very real issue of feeling alone at Christmas were everybody else isn't and that's all you see.

Two albums were issued but here that schism between their act and their chart hits shows because especially with Mud Rock, it's mainly a live album of rock and roll covers with only one full hit, Rocket, which isn't what a fan of the singles would of expected.

Mud Rock Vol: II is more of a fake live album with just odd really live track and the rest overdubbed with crowd noise but is a much easier listen for being better recorded and this did have a couple of full hits on it.

This was a "contractual obligation release" as after one day signing to Rak they signed to another record company Private Stock, home of the seen to take off Blondie and David Soul so Most of Mud Rock II actually was finished by December 1974 although it was a Spring 1975 release that didn't trouble the charts much.

I wouldn't say they were particulary worth seeking out unless you're a completest while that "Let's Have a Party-The Best Of Mud is compilation on cd of this era of the group.

Part of the reason for going to Private Stock records was they wanted more input into their songs and the arrangements  but those albums have been very hard to find so I did get this 2004 double compliation of singles and album tracks instead some years ago with singles and album tracks instead.

This does feature actual hits, not played as much as they might on oldies radio shows such as L L L Lucy, Show Me You're A Woman and Use Your Imagination plus the B side to Beating About The Bush, Under The Moon Of Love  was covered by Showaddywaddy reaching #1 in 1976 but the tide was turning from most of the glam rock era artists seeing sales drop and contracts end and Mud were no exception unfortunately however good this later material was.

If you just want the Rak era hits on vinyl, beyond the original singles I'd suggest Mud's Greatest Hits from late 1975 used as a good copy will sound great given it was mastered and cut at Abbey Road studios.

The space creator

"Say what?" "Making plans for Crimbo already???"

One thing about this part of year is we have the build up to Harvest Festival, Halloween, Guy Fawkes night and yes Christmas and that last one always had a bit of preparation beyond lists from the days you'd be encourage to sort through things to go.

Somethings may be more a bit worn, some might of been grown out of, some might just be the limits on the total amount of space in say your toy box, shelves and all that when you were younger.

Well this week I was doing that, from the odd book I bought which ultimately didn't really do very much for me duplicates where I may of auditioning different copies of certain albums for how they sound (some do sound markedly different) and even the odd one that proved to be a total misstep.

This does create space for any and all upcoming Crimbo presents and as it happened they were donated to a leading Cancer Charity so they can benefit from selling them.

Billy Joel's Greatest Hits revisited

Suprisingly the last and only time we mentioned Billy Joel was February 2024 and that was to note after a long hiatus from recording anything he'd issued a new single.

Billy Joel and me go back a long way late 1977/1978 actually in that period Elton John was off the charts, he snucked in and grabbed my attention.

Suffice to say I bought whole albums by him, all currently on cd or hybrid super audio cds but no records but way back - well around this time 1985 - I was enjoying You're Only Human (Second Wind) which was the lead off single for a compilation of his called Greatest Hits Volumes 1-2 issued around that time on record and tape.

The main strength of that compilation was having the original edited singles versions all in chronological order that really showed how great he was at writing and performing songs and these songs are amongst my most favourite of all time.

Songs like, Piano Man, Moving Out, Only The Good Die Young,My Life, It's Still only Rock and Roll To Me, Allentown and Tell Her About It take me back to people and places and on August 22nd this was reissued on record.

Thus I bought it for the pleasure of just plunking the stylus down and enjoying the times and memories in the way I was used to back then.

It was the quietiest pressing I've had in a good while do for just £26 was a bargain.

Taking a step back to be the best you can

Cooler week this week which helps with me normally bein a bit on the warm side and also when it comes to getting things I like in from the shops like ice creams and lollies.

Everybody is a bit different, some more extrovert, others not, some go headstrong into things while others are more cautious, being fearful, some struggle taking things in.

Credits: eggs doodz

What may not phaze you, may well do that to another, perhaps getting a little emotional so we all exhibit differences and none are necessarily wrong or right but what matters is we try to understand each other, listen, showing support.

It's never wrong to care.

Updates for the toolbox

It's been a hot week so feeling a bit rundown here but we've been doing a few things like reducing some of legacy bits and bobs connected to the hifi which needed bits and things unscrewing.

I doing do much around that (or d.y.i) cos of my hand issues but sometimes you might need to so I did get a new set of screwdrivers.

This have relatively short handles that can help in fiddly spaces, tilting tops and a magnetizer which isn't something I'm likely to need as getting anything magnet around tape or record devices is the last thing you need but if you've taken anything apart and had screws land anywhere or not sit where they're not meant to you'll appreciate.

They are very well made with a mixture of popular sized flat and cross-head fits.

They'll prove useful over the years.

Round ups from the couch

 Been a bit of a rough week of which Wednesday was really a big drop from the energy front after being out so I was yawning alot and struggling to keep the peepers open while keeping an eye over the forum looking out for anything that needs attention and where Orion is providing A.I. based relevant art rather well matching what the site is really about as much as we have to issue the odd reminder to folks.

It's been replacement time as a couple of stylus's wear starting to show signs of wear so I needed to order them up - I keep a few less exacting ones around for less than perfect records where a trade of absolute fidelity works better for less noise on things like me original 45's.

Talking of which I'm reading a book about one group I rather loved whose 45's come in that category which I may say more about Monday but it's gripping and more around life from inside than a facts and figures sort.

Christmas came early too with a couple of things ready for then as christmas stuff always starts production and distribution especially around now ready for a few months time so they'll have to filed away here.

Sun is out so time for a glass of milk and a biscuit!

87 Years of The Beano

It's Friday, we enter a new Month and by coincidence we do mark an anniversary many of us are glad of even if you may no longer be a reader of.

On July 30th 1938, the Beano was born by Dc Thomson of Dundee, Scotland and if you look in those early decades of the Beano you will detect a bit of that scottishness even though it's very much british centric as many of its illustrators back then were scottish, drawn from the Scottish media empire they had and the cartoons in those newpapers.

While that picture is fantastic for showing a man inroducing a modern child to the very first edition of The Beano ina world very much different than today where values and childhoods might seem a world away the comic isn't quite as it was published.

Looking at the top left of masthead of the front page that illustration of a black child eating a watermelon has been taken out of the copy we see in the top picture.

Now I will say that has racial overtones I cannot endorse but such attitudes were not uncommon 87 years ago in adults and inevitably the spilled over to children having read children's encylopaedias of that era with text many of us today would strongly disapprove of .

The only sensible way to deal with such things is to talk about them and explain why those attitudes, words and phrases are wrong thatwe should not use them rather than airbrushing them out of our history.

Facing challenges in its early years thanks to Mr Hitler and those evil Nazis waging war on us with paper shortages, children found comfort in stories they could relate to and laugh loud at while in the decades the way the stories would be told changed from illustrations and text to the more modern speech bubble and changed times as society altered.

By 1967 it had reach it's 1,000 editionwith many staples we all know such as Dennis The Menace, The Bash Street Kids Biffo Bear and Minnie the Mix having come in and if you were reading the Beano in the 1970's and 80's you'd feel quite at home with that apart from the change of currency we went through.

In time some comic strips that we enjoyed but did have some racial stereotypes like Little Plum went and some of borderline "queerbashing" in Dennis The Menace  directed at Walter got toned down as as a society and as children we did begin to understand to be more respectful of differences and cultures as our society itself evolved.

In the nineties full colour came in and we moved from small newsprint to A4 glossy paper as slowly traditional humour comics dropped off to to today where the Beano is the only survivor of the old school comics.

It's moved a bit more toward a magazine format, is more inclusive even if I feel it can be too heavy going around some topics at times - kids like a laugh and a joke and stories that are entertaining not slavishly earnest but it is here.

A link to the past, a window on modern childhood as unimagable to us today as forty or so years today might be.

Happy 87 years!

A change for the months end

 The  end of the month which generally means awaytime which it must be said I am somewhat needing at the minute as much as I try to avoid projecting that around when things don't always go to plan.

Sometimes it's more that what you might of got isn't as it should be or you're left wondering how something can be listed as being in one condition are turn out to be very different in much worser way.

Anyway  this view of the Knoll at Arnside is something I just love with Morecombe Bay in the foreground so that and more should really help.

In case anyone happens to thing they know what if any my politics might be then I'll say that as a rule I don't bring them on to the blog, the odd piece on Current Affairs aside and as far as things on the forum go then I don't and between both of us moderators go, we don't want politics on their as it just gets in way of why we have it.

Certainly I've no interest in pushing any particular point of view nor do I care about which way any and all of you may lean politically if any and having voted for candidates of all three main parties at different times I'm hardly an extremist!

Those things are and do remain with you unless you talk face to face or via messaging to each other on  the forum and that is your own business, not mine.

Just a few things to arrive before I'm off.

July round up

The heat left us, which was no bad thing although here in the West Midlands we have been put on drought orders as I was beginning to feel I had been well baked with heatstroke.

We're almost finished when it comes to completing those Japanese Mini lp style cds of the Beatles with the very last one ordered and due here within a week with all the others having been checked over on arrival so that 2015/6 project is now done.

The final announcements in the Analogue Productions 75 years audiophile series have been announced although some titles are still scheduled to ship being later than first announced so the series finishes with 80 lps nearly all 45 rpm editions for the highest possible quality.

Connected with that attempt to deal with the backlog of some 43 super audio cd issues of these titles has been agreed as the plant that makes them was closed for over two months and as far as I'm aware there's only two in the world meeting everybodys  needs when it comes to cutting and pressing them.

As I've a few on pre-order still that's a relief.

Come september there will be some four modern classical lps issued which I have preorders for  as there are few new releases and most re-releases tend to be older analogue era titles.

The week that was

Phew it's a warm one today as I catch up after being out this week as part of the project we're competing is moving towards completion some nine years on which is great to finally see as they come in a bit at a time.

Being out was good although it was starting to get a bit unbearable later on with the sun being very intense so needing reapply suncream and battling with the great Seagull waiting for your ice cream but fortunately not my my fish and chips as I had them indoors.

They were most tasty as was my coconut ice I bought from a sweet shop.

This very day elsewhere we mark the scouting blogs 2,000th post not that you can ever take the eternal cub scout of of me.

Rubber Soul

Week has been cooler after the great heatwave of Monday and in preparation for the arrival in the last in a series books covering the life and times of the Beatles albums, I've been reaquianting myself with the cd portion of their albums here covering as the do a series of box albums (The Mono box, Capitol Albums Volumes 1&2, EP set) loose U.S. albums discs and a bespoke stereo box I assembled of 1987 original cds in stereo and Japan 2014-17 mini lp issues where titles were only release on cd originally in mono.

One that got missed off was the Japan 2017 remastered version of the 1986 remixed Rubber Soul that upsets purists but as the stereo original isn't that great with extreme seperation that one had remained in its rather brash sounding original UK cd form so I recently got a deleted copy in mint condition.

Part of the reason is that mini lp presentation, holding feels like a record rather than a tri-fold digipak and also the sound is fuller that takes some of the cold 80's digital feel from it (the mono cd set version has the original stereo mix as a bonus).

I feel it was worth it in the way with the more flawed remix of the stereo Help it just doesn't so I keep a copy of the original as a reference about.

Coping with disabilities

Things do vary a bit when if, like me, you're disabled such as the times you are able to get about on foot, the "plastic" feeling I get in my bones, the trials of trying to read fast moving information screens when you struggle with reading and so on.

I recieved very little practical support in school either in the classroom or life skills education on managing your disability and indeed it is deeply ironic I find following younger peoples sites better use for talking about the very things and strategies we never got back then.

Services for adults with disablities are patchy at best and reductions in local authority funding in recent years haven't helped.

One thing I had found difficult is the relatively low toilet which with limited strength makes it difficult to raise and get oneself steady on your feet but getting an adaption to raise it with grip bars has actually helped a good deal apart from just feel more comfortable.

Trangeley enough I've never had an assessment made in all my life!

1981 and making your mind up

Some years do hold certain memories and sometimes I talk a bit about them on here but 1981 was one for being the year I  had moved up to the Sixth the academic year beforeso what was going on outside school was more important than it had for most of my previous years.

Much went on that year from the shocking attempt to assassinate President Reagan who'd been sworn in to replace Carter amid much concern, a ultimately doomed Royal Wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer that we all followed and rioting in many of Englands major cities in the summer, the comments I made to one teacher proving ahem...interesting.

It was a great time for the arts even if funding issues raised the heads bring forth the arguments between grass roots community art and the big institutional galleries theatres and ballet while the music scene had one of its finest years across many genres.

I may of been "In the sixth" but for me somethings remained very much as they did for years such as my reading tastes, play and generally feeling more a young child in "big" school.

Television taste were a mixture of children's programming such as cartoons and series and some more family shows such as Blakes 7, Tomorrow's World, Top of the Pops and Ask The Family while I continued to watch Blue Peter which then had the second "dream team" of Simon Groom, Sarah Green and Peter Duncan who later went on do much for Scouts.

Overall it was an interesting, colourful year even if it was difficult managing expectations of an older boy with still being one on the inside.

Changes on Blue Peter

It's been an odd kind of a week with events not anticipated but it's time to return to a topic from earlier in the year and that television show.

For a few weeks after the controversial announcement that live from the studio Blue Peter was to end the show had repeats to which the BBC did not explain to the bemusement of the shows young fans and then returned.

That return showed a more overt magazine style show recorded outdoors edited seemlessly with just the program intro and outros added although it is said come September bits will be recorded with an audience and edited in to whole the show rather than the show presented withe the audience dropping in prerecorded footage.

So how is this going down?

The move to more an adventure feel in the program is appreciated and personally reminds me of the 1970's  to 90's Blue Peter although sadly we don't have two eposides a week for that "Oh what are they doing this week?" feel we looked to where sometimes the show had looked too routed on the indoors more childrens general entertainment show.

It seems to have refreshed the show giving it a clear focus on challenging and informing children so we'll see how things look in september.

mm

More thoughts on Dandy Summer Special

It's been a challenging week physically and for that matter emotionally but as remarked on Monday reading this years Dandy Summer Special it was a bit underpar because for some reason D C Thomson effectively made it a compilation of Jamie Smarts take on Desperate Dan exclusively.

That may of been in the mistaken belief that actual children would sooner read those mid to late 2000's versions because they enjoy Jamie's newer work for The Pheonix but with those there's no long established backstory when it comes the story or set style guide in the way that D C Thomson have had for all their comics.

Thus you see them as a all new thing where handling legacy series brings conflicts from those who used to older styles and those who are coming in cold.

The other thing was there were no other comic series in it where the Dandy has a big legacy of the including of course Bananaman who when the Dandy folded as a weekly, got transferred to the Beano and just two three page strips of him would of helped.

Plus it does link to the modern Beano.

But the other thing was we lacked the iconic Korky The Cat and Keyhole Kate that I'm sure today's children could relate to and really that's where they got it wrong I feel although I do have high hopes for the upcoming Annual.

kk

Exiting May round up

 It's a bit late to be typing this with having a few unexpected things to attend to in the middle of the week but as we exit this month and enter official Summer there's two topics on my mind I'd like to talk about.

Unless you're a hermit in the UK, you will of heard of and perhaps had been impacted by the hacking of two shop websites including Marks and Spencers and a few other things for little apparent reason by some dispersed group that apart from affecting internet sales also rather messed up the stock control systems of their physical stores.

Well, it seems the same kind of thing is going on when it comes to interest based websites as Elvis Presley fans found when five were hacked beyond ribbons with not a jolt of useable content left which contained much talk around elvis recording, tours, projects that had been built up over the decades went although to be fair it seems the owners didn't do much around backing up regularily and keeping board security up to date.

That lead them to moving to another more generalist site trying to put together the course of events that lead me to remark over there that old school forums seem to be on the decline as people run Facebook (and other) groups that don't offer the ease of threads within a forum have.

We've seen that loss of content with Misterpoll in the last six months or so.

The other thing is this:

After much clamouring that box of 11 original UK catalogue albums in mono cut from tape in September 2014 with a double disc of non album singles and EP tracks is getting a repress with replicate jackets and inners.

I bought the individual discs in twos and threes back then, putting the cat on cheap rations, but since copies went off the selves several years ago prices shot right up with the full box with book going for over £1,500 as those who were late to the vinyl revival party kept saying  "I missed them" or "I couldn't make my mind up".

I knew I needed them, that high quality re-issues from the original tapes don't happen much as today they prefer to copy once to high resolution digital to cut wear and tear to that tape and made my plans.

I only hope those who didn't then and are are interested in this boxes content make the arrangements this time as there may not be another.

Buddy Holly and the weekend

It is almost Whit Bank Holiday so as we're likely to get rain I've sorted a couple of discs to play between getting the lego out and listening to the bank holiday specials on Boom Radio.

You might recall me mentioning about having to use pen, paper and cheque to send for a speciality cd on Rollercoaster Records and it came the other day.

What it is is the first Buddy Holly album credited for label reasons to the Crickets but using modern A.I. remixed from mono in stereo so well you'd never know it wasn't recorded that way with full seperation covering songs like That'll Be The Day, Oh! Boy and Not Fade Way and a version also in stereo that removed the ill advised background vocals by the rather square Picks producer Norman Petty added.

It sounds amazing.

That two on One cd came out in 2000 and adds the original mono Chirping Crickets to his second album attributed to him alone "Buddy Holly" from 1958 that featured Rave On, Listen To Me, Everyday and Peggy Sue.

Although various albums were issued since his death in 1959 from sessions that were too incomplete or earlier recordings often overdubbing new backing really these are the only two studio albums you need.

As we said way back in 1978 when the 20 Golden Greats compilation of hits was issued that webought back then Buddy Holly Lives, his music influencing british rock.

Coping with the sun

So it is Friday at the start of yet another hot day in a week where one has keep in during the highest UV spots and where the heat leads to you having to drink much liquid to stay hydriated and we all know where that ends up!

I do keep a RADAR key on me while I'm out but given I've at least 1.8 miles before there is a public convenience that's not so much use if I'm taken short so you have to think things through, always going just before you go through the front door.

Then if I'm out, if there's not a RADAR one you may have a toilet that's too low to easily get myself up from - I do have issues raising myself up from sitting at times - and that doesn't help my back any apart from the getting up bit.

Then there's the great A for application as in insect repellent for anywhere wooded or with long grass where ticks lie in wait given I have very severe reactions from bites having needed penicilin several times and sun cream as you can burn easily.

That said I do like the summer months it's that there's stuff to think about.

Going back to old school life...

While this week has been taken up with VE Day events and memories both on the forum and here watching the services and parades sometimes things things can go a bit old school as sometimes you do get the odd personal letter or card.

Then when was the last time you set pen to paper yourself AND sent it?

Well I did yesterday as I wanted to by something a specialty cd and I tried to order it online but the site was corrupted so you couldn't go from basket to check out.

As this was a small UK concern, they did have a mail order address, price and say how you could place an order and pay by cheque.

Well, when was the last time you used a cheque? By my notes 2020 but I still have a cheque book having had a cheque account from leaving school and then adding a debit card so I end ed up writing a old fashioned letter requesting the item with my address in the top right, date and landline on the left and writing a cheque and posting it with a stamp.

So with pen, ink, paper, cheque and stop I ordered something!

Physical media

After last weeks brief and sooner not had to mention anything about it post this week between sweltering in the heat that had followed me from the weekends activities I had spent a bit of time listening to some recordings on the newly installed amplifier after the hasty installation before going off as for me at least, it was and is all about the music and rather less "the gear".

The gear is a means to an end, the re-production (intended hyphenation) of that music as captured be it a vocal, a traditional instrument or a synthisizer at home as close to the performance as we can.

Thus when something is installed and I'm happy with it, then it stays around for a while because it is doing its job, it satisfies my ears.

It is interesting to note that physical reproduction via media is a fairly new thing becoming more popular from the early twentieth century and mass collecting really rather more from the nineteen fifties from records of shellac and vinyl, through tapes of various sorts to the compact disc.

People prior to that tended to have smaller numbers of titles with the Great Depression obviously affecting disposable income and in some ways the shift towards streaming rather than physical ownership is affected by things like sky high mortgage and rents and the overall cost of living crisis we're living through.

It doesn't mean there won't be physical media or for that matter people have turned their back on music and its reproduction simply that they're doing the best way they can given how life is and there are always those who hanker the the feel of owning something that's tangible.

In my lifetime I've bought different formats as each had their own strengths and weaknesses, a common criticism of the compact disc is the artwork and how you access it has less of the feel of holding and reading that gatefold cover and text is often small spread over many pages where the record is more like reading a newspaper.

Over the last year I have been picking a limited number of favourite albums from the nineteen eighties that originally had on compact for their seen at the time as outmoded lp record equilivents for that feel apart from anything about how some early compact discs sounded.

Examples of which do include Heart's self titled and Bad Animals albums, Depeche Mode's People Are People and Music For The Masses, the Tracy Chapman debut album from nineteen eighty-eight (a reissue after being deleted for decades) and The Pet Shop Boy's Please and Actually albums that were amongst the first cds I ever bought.

Holding them just feels different and more of a pleasure.

End of month edition

 It's the end of the month, one that has started with one set of concerns and concludes with other more troubling personally set that I'm not really able to get much into publically regarding my godchild that in some respects cuts though much of what I'm about and this blog is about leaving me upset, and very disappointed to put it mildly.

That's one reason I haven't been around on site for most of this week despite a good number of great posts and observations that in more normal times I'd of had more to contribute.

The other is thank goodness is just being away over the weekend where while getting organized has been a challenge not helped by feeling demotivated where at least I can get away from much of that and enjoy the Easter I really wanted this year with the bombshell I got on Easter Monday instead.

Hopefully I'll feel a lot better by next week.

Easter greetings

It's been an akward week with having some pain in my knees, having to keep an eye on dad as he wasn't too well plus having a few things to get done so I wasn't able to be around as much as I had liked this week and morever I haven't got done a few other things I had planned.

There have been a few things here that arrived such as a super audio cd pre-ordered way way back in late 2022 that has finally emerged and given today is Good Friday, a couple of easter eggs and cards.

I should be away next Friday for a bit of a get together all being well but until then:

ll

Hey! Hey! We're The Monkees

Something I had recently was three of the first five studio albums by the Monkees a band famously assembled for the TV show of the same name although two members Peter Tork and Michael Naismith were actual musicians.

For me the start point was this compilation on Music For Pleasure that while missing Alternate Title, does sound really good and gives a short but sweet overview of their hits and "deep cuts" such as She in its 1974 original form.

That's the 1981 reissue but using the original metalwork so it sounds just as good.

I had missed the tv show first time around by a few years but records by them were around the house as my older brother was old enough to of seem them and later on in the 1970's the BBC repeated the shows which I saw.

Much was happening in late 1965 and 1966, pop music was getting more sophesticated by the month with The Beatles issuing Rubber Soul and Revolver, the Stones issuing Aftermath, the Beach Boys issuing the brilliant Pet Sounds which was wonderful but had left what today we call "Tweenagers", the nine to thirteen year olds out who yearned for relatively simple songs that were relatable.

Similar in someways to why we for much of the early to mid 70's we loved our Partridge Family, Barry Blue and Bay City Rollers records while our older siblings went for Prog Rock or more mature music.

Perhaps that explains why several years on I fell for their music?

The first two albums have the music that originally featured in series one of the tv show and are relatively simple, sometimes more comedy but included gems like Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow, Mary Mary, Take A Giant Step as well as the hits I'm a Believer, A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You  and the Monkees Theme.

Interesting More Of The Monkees  issued in the U.S. in January 1967 was an album they knew nothing about until a fan at a concert brought it for signing  having neither taken part in an album photoshoot nor even been given complimentary copies!

That resulted in a major dust up with Don Kirshner, the person who was in control of their music and they won the right to control their music.

The third album Headquarters recorded after that dust up  sees them write, perform and arrange more of their own songs such as "Alternate Title", You Just Might Be The One and Shades of Grey and probably is the one essential album beyond of a compilation.

These issues from 2021,22 amd 24 respectively all come with a bonus disc of alternate version such as those recordings actual used on the tv show or songs while being featured in the show were not part of the albums issued at the groups height of fame.

They managed two more albums before the tv show got cancelled as ratings had dropped (however often tv shows featuring teen bands tend to have short runs anyway) and in time they went their seperate ways.

I originally had these albums bought used in "mono" but really in the UK unlike the U.S. they were just the stereo recordings combined and cut in mono for the portable mono record players teens had back then so there wasn't much to be said for getting replacement originals and actually these records sound the best the albums ever could.