Showing posts with label Settle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Settle. Show all posts

Tuesday 9 May 2023

Bookmarks


Still reading Dawn of the Dumb by Charlie Brooker, and charged my bookmark from the one I got made for me for reviewing a book on Norse mythology to a freebie I picked up on my last visit to Barter Books (link below).

It is really useful because it is like an old wooden ruler with lots of measurement conversions written on it. Check it out here.


If you want to buy a book my dark poetry is on the link below.


I've included "Finding My Way" by Rush which when I first heard it on John Peel I thought was Led Zeppelin, but we use bookmarks to help find our way through books.

I recently found out that my American Amazon Author page has a feed from this blog which you can see here. It only shows on the .com site but not others. C'est La Vie.

Mike Singleton - Vocal Stories

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. Barter Books - An Amazing Bookshop In A Railway Station In Alnwick
  2. Another Raven - A Take On Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven"
  3. The Cleaner - An Autism-Focused Christmas Special
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag
  6. The Accidental Book - Helping a Great Vocal Friend Resulted In Me Publishing My First Book
  7. Call Me Les - A Great Friend and An Amazing Writer

Monday 9 December 2019

Back


I'm back in Newcastle and back to work and sort of sad that I'm not still in Settle, but finances don't currently allow me to be on permanent holiday, I am not impressed with the so called "Christmas Village" that has been rammed into Newcastle centre, to me it's just blocking where I can walk and messing up the road system but it does make me more determined to shop locally, especially in The Grainger Market.

Apart from catching up at work I will need to send my Christmas cards this week and must sound curmudgeonly as I see this and Christmas decorations as a chore. I am fine with people celebrating Christmas , went round to my neighbours for impromptu drinks and socialising and love things like that, Christmas can do a lot of good but I do hate the adverts saying that to really celebrate Christmas you need to spend a fortune on Amazon. No you need to socialise , talk to people and have fun.

I am old enough not to need presents and in some ways would like to put a fiver limit of people who want to buy me things.

For some reason the song "Temporary Secretary" by Paul McCartney has been going through my head, love the repeated sequencer motif that runs through it, and this has nothing really to do with this most but maybe it is a Monday Morning record.

Sunday 8 December 2019

The Weight


One of the reasons I write this blog is as a diary, another is when something happens or grabs my attention that I can , however tenuously, link to a song that I can then share with my readers and listeners, maybe I should try a podcast too, though I'm not sure that the sound of my voice will enamour everyone, an ex boss once told me he couldn't understand a word I said!

Anyway I don't eat healthily, I dislike regimentation intensely (diets, exercise - especially gyms) so obviously I am destined as I age to just get fatter and fatter. I do see some people, and they may have a lot of issues, but I think "didn't you at some point realise you were getting fat". I know damned well I could easily be 30 stone if I didn't constantly say no to certain temptations, although as Oscar Wilde said "I can resist anything but temptation", so I suppose I do think about what I eat at times.

For the second time after a week away in Settle I have lost a kilogram bringing me down to 96.75 Kg  (see here on Instagram) that's fifteen stone three pounds in imperial measure. I remember maybe being 13 stone in the late seventies so I have been a lot lighter. The thing is on holiday you normally over eat and indulge and there was fish and chips, big breakfasts , curries , potato salads and a Terry's Chocolate Orange all part of my culinary intake.

So as this has been on about my portliness and weight, I'm going to share the song "The Weight" by The Band, which was pencilled for inclusion in the "Easy Rider" soundtrack, but the producer either had a falling out with The Band and went for a cover of the song by a band called Smith, I've chosen a live take with The Staples Singlers from the Martin Scorsese directed "The Last Waltz", an awesome concert film, well worth watching.

It's a cold sunny Sunday so have a great day everybody.

Sunday 1 December 2019

To Make You Feel Good


I'm lucky enough to be on holiday in one of my favourite places, Settle, and thanks to the internet and technology I can share time and pictures with all my friends all over the world.

Today has been relaxing wandering around Settle , down to the Ribble and up Castlebergh Crag sharing pictures and generally feeling good knowing that I can share all this with my friends.

The cake was well and truly iced when I switched on the TV and the film"Local Hero"w as playing, one of my favourite feel good film, which has a perfect Mark Knopfler soundtrack which is an album I never tire of. The album reminds me of the film and the film makes me feel good and it is good to share these things with friends.

Also I handed a found wallet in to the local police station. It looked like it had been stolen and emptied but it had photographs which may have been important to the owner. The lady police officer looked and said I know those children I drop it into them, so that made me feel good.

We should appreciate all the things that make use feel good and try our best to do more of those things.

So for this first post in December I'm going to go with Mark Knopfler's "Going Home / Wild Theme" from the film "Local Hero". If you haven't seen it .. see it and get a copy of the soundtrack.


Saturday 30 November 2019

Keep In Lane


Sometimes the odd things cause me to write posts. Yesterday I was walking to work and the path was littered with puddles so it was difficult to keep in a straight line as I didn't want soaking feet and there were people walking slowly in my direction and towards me and they were trying avoid puddles as well.

The ideal thing when you are walking is that you keep to the defined path, but everyone was all over the place, at want point I had to walk outside of the parked cars on the main road.

This reminded me of an instrumental piece that I bought in the early seventies called "Floating Music" by Come To The Edge and ensemble featuring and led by percussionist Stomu Yamash'ta and I bought it as a mid priced Island release because of the beautiful cover. It was also the first album that I bought when I started recollecting vinyl.

The piece was "Keep In Lane" and the premise was that the instruments kept in their own lanes but played at different speeds overtaking and being overtaken but keeping to their own path. Whatever the concept I think it is an excellent piece and you can judge for yourself. I still love it and a digital copy often accompanies me on my walk. "Keep in Lane" is eighteen minutes into the video as I could only find it as part of the complete album, though the whole of it is worth listening to.

This is the final post of November 2019, it's a bright frosty day and I am now packing and waiting for a taxi to take me to the station to take me to Settle , Christmas Lights and the Pigs In Blankets Pie at The Talbot.

"TURKEY AND PIGS IN BLANKETS PIE £10.95 
 Turkey breast meat and bacon wrapped sausages in gravy 
 topped with a puff pastry lid 
 served with roast parsnips and chips "

Wednesday 6 November 2019

Packing In Lollipops


Today has been a busy but relaxing day. My first goal was to photograph the Ribblehead Viaduct . The problem was that I had a thirty minute window to take the photo's shortened by the fact the outward train was ten minutes late then I misread the return time which knocked another ten minutes off my free time. If I didn't catch the return train then I'd have a two hour wait for the next one, and the distance to the Viaduct was downhill and probably would take twenty minutes so my compromise was to take photographs from the car park of the Station Hotel and from the platform of the Station which you can see here on my Instagram feed.

Secondly, on my return to Settle, I walked to The Hoffman Kiln which is a remarkably eerie experience to walk through. I haven't a clue what lime burning entails but it seems a huge physical enterprise for the production of lime. You can see my walk through it here. There's more information than I can tell you here.

Vinyl From SCAD
When I came back to Settle I visited the S.C.A.D. charity shop, and ended up buying three vinyl LPs. I don't need any new vinyl but there was a Weather Report eponymous album that I've never seen before, some Debussy (Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune is one of the most beautifully creepy pieces ever), Vaughn-Williams and Delius.

One of the things is this blog does enable me to share music with friends all over the world, and I love when I do mange to share something new with them to increase their experience.

Sometimes it's something you like, sometimes it leaves you cold but it can be like food, I am not a fan of most Thai food and am picky about sushi and it is the same with music.

So what should we go with? Well I have seen a lot of fifties vinyl, including The Chordettes "Lollipop" which is always good to share with friends.

Enjoy

Tuesday 5 November 2019

Fireworks


I got up this morning for a quick walk round and get fresh air , and saw a fading rainbow over Giggleswick (you can see it here) which was wonderful but like many atmospheric events you have to photograph them now or else they are gone.

I then noticed the date and it's the fifth of November , Guy Fawkes Night

"Remember, Remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot"

We could do with Guy Fawkes today methinks ....

But that made me think of the song "Fireworks" by Blue Oyster Cult from their "Spectres" album which a lot of people put down for being too polished, but it is full of great songs and is worth having in your collection, I have all their albums and that is one of the stand outs.

Today will be a trip to Skipton to visit The Huntress of Skipton Castle Woods as I always do when I came here.

I know this is a short post but I need to be getting on my way to catch the train to Skipton.


Sunday 3 November 2019

Comedy (and a Smile) is Good For You


This is post #300 this year. Here is Post #300 from last year, which is basically a list  of reasons that I have come to love being in Settle.

I've known a lot of people who are only happy when they are miserable, and are always looking for something to complain about. The glass is always too full or not full enough ensuring there is always something to complain about.

You should always smile at people, more often than not they will smile back and then at least two people are happier than before you smiled. Smiling release endorphins and takes much less effort than frowning, so a smile will just make things better.

Share a joke, or in our digital world share a funny video, YouTube is full of things that will make you laugh, but sharing it with friends just makes it better. Smiling is good for you , search Smiling Benefits on google and you find articles like this

Now I wasn't intending to write anything tonight ,  but things happen and you just want to share and smile. Seven Days In  has had over 340K visits since I started it twelve years back and last month there were 43K visits that's about one a minute over the last month.

I wanted to use this to share one of my favourite songs , "Comedy" by Liverpool band Shack , which I play often and it always raises my spirits. So go out there and SMILE .

>

Always


I got to Settle on Friday and thought I would start up the laptop (which I am writing or should that be typing ) this on and  the web browser wasn't saying it was insecure. Basically I hadn't used it for six months and battery needed charging but there was an avalanche of Windows 10 and ASUS Laptop updates that required installing , and as usual I said yes...... Ten hours later I think it finished , well it didn't because last night it required another restart and update.... and to quote Eddie Izzard ... Nothing has changed (Apparently).

This always happens and really I should start this up when I'm at home, but I don't, so it's my fault , at least partially,

Yesterday I walked to Scalebar Force (also signed as Scaleber Foss) and it was only a mile and a quarter but hadn't factored in the one in five (20%) gradient, and was amazed that on the way back down that there were two guys of my age or older biking up the gradient , that showed amazing determination and stamina. There are some photos and video on my Instagram feed here.

It's Sunday Morning and I have plans to visit The Hoffman Kiln again, and it's always great to share things with people. It's not good to always keep yourself to yourself , although solitude is good and necessary at times to recharge your batteries and do what YOU want. Remember the most important person in your life is YOU , if you are not there and 100% you cannot be there for those who matter to you.

And a record has been playing through my head for some reason, ans I think I first heard it on John Peel and I want to share it with you because it;s a great record and you are important to me. I'm almost shocked that I've never shared this before, there's over 2K posts on this blog, but it's the excellent "Him or Me" by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Enjoy.

Monday 19 August 2019

Never Ending


This morning my alarm awoke me from a very vivid dream at a point where I was trying to get into a folk club for a gig but thought I had no money so I'd have to find a cash machine, but the person on the door tok my wallet and pulled out a fiver (the admission fee) and pointed out I still had a tenner left . This was the last bit of the fairly vivid dream which has now completely disappeared, barring the location of the folk club that was either near Amen Corner in Newcastle , somewhere in Edinburgh or Settle three disparate locations I know but all places I go often.

I think I've probably written more about "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" than any other book , and in form it reminds me of Bob Dylan's "Tarantula" which is a book that I will keep and reread. But the latest "episode" (the "chapters" are fifty to a hundred pages long so don't look for a text break although there are some images in book one ("The Pyramid and The Eye") but I'm working through "The Golden Apple" at the moment with around thirty pages to go before I hit the final book "Leviathan", but the latest "episode" manages to link in religion and mythology including Adam and Eve as Bavarian subversives and linking them to Kull and Conan characters brought to me by Robert Ervin Howard and portrayed in film by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jason Momoa.

So it's a bright Monday Morning, and given that for people who read it's just a never ending journey, Limahl's excellent Giorgio Moroder collaboration for the title song of  the film "Never Ending Story"  (my girls loved it) would be appropriate.

Have a good one.

Friday 22 March 2019

Waiting For Things To Happen


It's strange at times when you are trying to do a lot of things simultaneously, your focus obviously drifts and because you are waiting for something to complete before you can continue task ne you start on task two that engages you until you reach an impasse and you check task one and you are still waiting for something to complete so you start task three and then forget about task one that then sits waiting for you because you away with the faireies on task four by now.

Part of the reason for this post is to include "Rahaye,Rahaye" or "Rahe Rahe Jaan Waliye" or probably about ten other title variations by The Safri Boys , an absolutely joyous piece of Bhangra that I discovered on a Bhangra compilation many years back and then couldn't remember the title when I wanted to your use for a post in Settle about it's excellent pair of Indian Restaurants Ruchee and Royal Spice . I am lucky I also have Rajnagar round the corner from where I live, as well as Solomon's Dhaba fairly close, so I am well served with Indian restaurants both at home and on holiday. Also when I go to Oswaldkirk in a month or so I can sample the excellent Helmsley Spice.

So as the week draws to a break, I am thinking about Indian cuisine and Bhangra Music, which is not a bad thing in my opinion.

Thursday 7 March 2019

Another Week In Settle


This week has been quiet and relaxing. I have managed to finish the excellent "Deadwood" , start "The Terror" ,binge watch two series of "Shakespeare and Hathaway", and that's part of the relaxation in the cottage. For some reason I have woken up early, before seven every morning after going to bed between eleven and midnight each night.

I have managed to walk up Castleberg Crag (Instagram video here and a climbing video here) and The Hoffman Kiln (Instagram video here) . There is a decent video of it here.

The amazing thing is the immense relaxation I have got from this holiday. Settle is full of great walks, pubs, eateries and the people are amazingly friendly. It is remarkably well served by public transport, though not a place to drive,many of the streets and roads only six feet wide.

I picked up some vinyl from Skipton Sound Bar and Skipton Market and visited The Huntress of Skipton Castle Woods (Instagram video here) , the train journey from Settle to Skipton  is maybe 30 minutes, so absolutely  local and easy to get to.

So I will share the Bronski Beat / Marc Almond take on Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" which is one of the 12" vinyl records I picked up from Skipton Market.

Friday 1 March 2019

On A Train To ...


Today I took a train from Newcastle to Settle via Carlisle. The thing about this journey is, if you don't do it every day, the scenery is wonderful, going along the Tyne and through the Pennines. The first part of the journey was slightly marred by two Manc druggies on speed who never shut up between Newcastle and Carlisle, continually asking where they were and how long before they got there, and I was thinking pleasant though the journey was (apart from the numpties), I wouldn't like to take children on this journey.

Then on the Carlisle to Settle leg a Jamaican lady with four young children got on, and I feared the worst. I needn't have, they were incredibly cute an well behaved even though the youngestkept running off down the carriage requiring his mother to retrieve him.

So I am now sat in the cottage having eaten at the amazing Ruchee Indian restaurant in Settle, the staff are welcoming, funny and helpful, and food is superb with more than decent size portions, this is one of the many reasons Settle is such a great place to stay. I basically ordered far too much but it was all excellent.

So there was Bhangra music playing all night , I don't know what it was but I have include "Boliyan" by The Safri Boys who I do like a lot.

Monday 7 January 2019

There Is No Map In Hell


The title is the name of the book by Steve Birkinshaw that I bought from 3 Peaks Cycles in Settle just because of the title. I didn't look at the back cover or find out what it was about I just bought it. It's about the guys attempt to run ALL Wainwright's 214 Fells in seven days, this was like running two marathons and ascending / descending 35,000 feet each day. Oh, and just to make it really easy he went public to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. I have a couple of friends who suffer from this horrible debilitating condition so that raised Steve in my estimation, he really does care for others.

This whole thing is not a subject that normally interests me and had you said do you fancy a book about a guy running the 214 Wainwright's in seven days I would have taken a pss. The book is large format and around two hundred pages but I am half way through at the moment enjoying the mentons of places and areas I know and finding out on how he powers through the challenges he faces

This book is a prime example of just diving in and trying something that is completely new for you. I could have easily hit a brick wall and discarded it but the narrative of fell running, nutrition , friends and family values and challenges with the added bonus of familiar locations (Steve works for Newcastle University as well) are making this a joy to read. I will resume my re reading program after this, but this is an enjoyable read from a most impressive man.

So something appropriate to accompany this, there's obviously "The Race" by Yello, but I'm going to go for "Man In The Hills" by Burning Spear because the only thing it has in common with STeve is the title and it is a brilliant record. I know it's Monday , but enjoy it, I 'm off  to the doctors and then to deal with something that will be unpleasantly annoying at work.


Friday 4 January 2019

New Year, New Book


I've finished "swords of Corum" by Michael Moorcock and now taking a break from Science Fantasy (though there is little Science and a lot of Fantasy and it suffers like "Elementary" of finishing off incidents too quickly ("I Killed All The Gods")) , and now I am starting "There Are No Maps In Hell" by  Steve Birkinshaw about his record breaking run of the 214 Wainwright Fells.

This is a book I bought just because of the title when I saw it in the 3 Peaks Cycle Shop in Settle (which also sells book and breakfasts and the people are really helpful. I'm hoping to get back there soon and try their breakfasts. They say never judge a book by the cover, so should you jusdge one by it's title? Well the title sold it to me and the cover is fairly good although completely different to my recent reading.

After this I will be back on Moorcock's Corum books in the "The Prince With The Silver Hand" which is heavily based on Irish Mythology, so looking forward to that as well.

This morning 6Music (John Hillcock) played "Bang The Drum All Day" and it sort of sums the feeling of coming back to work after the New Year for me. It is Friday though, so have a great day.

Thursday 6 December 2018

Settle For This


This is my 300th post this year but it is really just going to be a list of reasons why I like Settle. I have been once before maybe fifteen years back, so maybe my priorities have changed and maybe Settle has changed. Like Totnes it has no chains, no Greggs, no Fatface, no McDonald's, no Starbucks.

It has a Barclays and HSBC and Skipton Building Society so you can get money. There are also cash points at the Co Op garage and Booths Supermarket.

It has loads of coffee shops and cafes and three excellent pubs, The Royal Oak, The Golden Lion and The Talbot Arms.

It's in the middle of the Leeds to Carlisle railway line and Skipton is quite close by rail, also there's a regular bus between Skipton and Lancaster that runs through Settle.

The people are all really friendly and talk with you.

Mike Harding lives here and he talks with everybody.

There's great countryside views from Castlebergh Crag and along the River Ribble.

I have still not visited all the places in Settle and next time I come I may not use a car, just come by train, it's that easy.

So what piece of music should I share with you today, given that the only musical connection I've mentioned is Mike Harding., though I prefer his long poems like "Napoleon's Retreat From Wigan" and the like, but he does have an extensive catalogue.

But I'd missed the Victoria Hall where they show films and concerts and next week The Albion Christmas Band are playing next Friday but I won't be here, but I will share their take on "Sans Day Carol" with you.




Wednesday 5 December 2018

Settle, Skipton, Sound Bar and Russia


I have to say Settle is a lovely place to say, although not a place to drive round. The people are friendly and everything is in walking distance. On Monday I met up with a hero of mine Mike Harding in The Golden Lion although missed him in The Royal Oak the same night, and absolutely lovely, funny and great man.

The cottage we're in is at the bottom of Castlebergh Crag and I went up there Monday afternoon and took this video. There's a few photographs and my fear of heights was tested. The Crag is used for rock climbing but that's not anything I will try out of choice.

Russia?
Incidentally the blog has had over a thousand hits from Russia for some reason, I don't see my posts as particularly Russo-centric, but I'm not complaining to much.

Yesterday I took a trip to Skipton to revisit The Huntress of Skipton Castle woods and see what the town had to offer as I'd only been briefly once before.

The train journey was incredibly cheap, half what The Trainline tried to charge me, which would have been cheap anyway.

My big discovery of the day was The Skipton Sound Bar and vinyl and music shop and bar and there's a short video I took here. The people are really friendly and I picked up a newspaper copy of "Thick as a Brick" by Jethro Tull, a Kool and the Gang 12"single and a Best of Duke Ellington 45rpm single. I'd recommend the place to anyone.

It is worth visiting for their posters and photographs, but they are very welcoming and were really helpful when I couldn't open my bottle of prosecco.

I also had coffee and cake at The Kibble Bakery a dog cafe which was again most excellent and much preferable to the adjacent Cafe Nero.


So I'll leave you with the lead track from the Best of Duke Ellington single which is actually rather good.


Sunday 2 December 2018

Two Suns


When I've been looking for music to share the image of this Pink Floyd song is always there in the selection list, so this has come thanks to Youtube prompting. It is a wonderful song, with a great evocative title "Two Suns In The Sunset" referring to a nuclear blast although the song is anything but based on the music but but the words do tear into you.

It's from "The Final Cut" which I think was Roger Waters finale with the band.

I suppose this song has been haunting me and now I have shared it with you, in it's brilliant bittersweetness of the finality of life, but the song will finish and life will continue but we do need that memento mori to keep us grounded in reality.

It is late on Sunday night and I'm in the basement lounge of the Settle holiday cottage having watched a few interesting programs tonight. I am not sure what tomorrow will bring but I will see Mike Harding, and , weather permitting, may go to the top of Castlebergh Crag above Settle to get some views of the place.
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Copy Wrong


I do find copyright application very strange and often just like bullying for the sake of it, like you see from traffic wardens, council officials and post office counter staff. I have just had eight notices from Instagram for copyright infringement from Warner Brothers for an old video, which is now blocked, which I posted to show off a shop (RPM) and it's vintage record players. Now anyone interested in the music would have probably gone out and bought it, so what I was doing was free advertising, but no that has to be stopped.

I posted a Christopher Lee video which YouTube initially took down for the same reason after nearly hitting 10K hits in one day, details are here, but Charlemagne Productions, the copyright owners were absolutely fine with it, since we lost Christopher Lee it seems we can now post, so my latest post has hit 10K.

This is just my opinion but copyright should enforced if people are being detrimental to the originator, or effectively stealing from the originator, say trying to advertise your own product using copyrighted music. If you are trying to share the music with others to get others to support the artist by buying records and going to concerts then that should be OK although it's probably impossible for a machine to determine where the real benefit lies.

Although this is my second time in Settle this is the first post that I've mentioned it in, and it is a lovely place but not the best place to drive in. I may write more about it this week but I am enjoying it. Among other thing it is home to the world's smallest Art Gallery which was opened by Brian May of Queen (my mate Jim Stevenson told me that) and you can see my Instagram take on it here.

Another plus is that Mike Harding lives here and hopefully I'll get to see him on Monday night.

This afternoon Guy Garvey played a song by The Monkees "Me and Magdalena" which I had never heard it before, and it's absolutely wonderful so that is the one that I will share with you.