Memory

The last few days I've forgot things I should know , but the fact that I've remembered that I forgot means my memory is not totally shot, though it has never been good.

Firstly I forgot the name of a model of a Ford that I once had (two cars) , I knew the car just not the model name then I forgot the name of someone I've been working with. Someone mentioned her name and it clicked in, the information is in there just at times it refuses to surface.

I did a search of Ford car models and there it was , Ford Sierra, a car I liked but the name just wouldn't come to mind. And that's the thing , I may not know things, but I know where to find things , or to spot things in the midst of other things. The thing is , if my memory is so bad , how can I know how to find things , because that ability must be something that resides in memory.

It's not something that bothers me, because I always fine what I need.

I'm going to share a Spanish video of Soft Machine's "Memories" with Robert Wyatt on vocals, which is a song I've always liked and has been revisited by Robert down the years.

A Few Thoughts on Going Vegan

No I'm not going vegan , though I enjoy vegan and I am really happy at the growing number of vegan outlets in Newcastle, though a few people have taken my Facebook posts to mean that I have become vegan. (similarly because I support GAY rights, some people have taken that to mean I am GAY, well only in the fact that GAY is an acronym that means GOOD AS YOU so I am as good as you though my sexuality is standard) but back to the vegan thing.

Vegan food is inventive, although I find the vegetarian / vegan sausage / bacon thing a little odd especially the bacon thing. If you want something that looks and tastes like meat then eat the meat. Sausages are a little different, they are offal enhances by spices and other tasty additives, so replace the offal by vegetables and add a vegan casing and that is fine, though I've yet to taste a vegan sausage I like.

Non vegans often argue that man is a carnivore / hunter so we are built to eat meat. Well look at our teeth and jaws and "claws" , just like a lion or a tiger aren't we , readty to rip our prey apart.

Just from a resource thing veganism is sensible, we take or food at source instead of letting it go into a cow, pig or sheep then get converted for months or years before killing the animal and cooking it.

I am not a big meat fan, though I lkie a bacon sandwich, I am fine with eggs and like most fish. So I am not vegan and am just fussy but if someone offers me vegan food then I (99% of the time) love it.

So what song do I choose this morning?  I just got a mention at 6:45 on the Chris Hawkins show for a made up Half Man Half Biscuit song title. This was the email:

"I had a nut roast at The Cozy Dove in Newcastle yesterday before the match (I support Preston so I didn't go)

Also the best HMHB Tribute band name is "It's Not Half Man, Mum"

My Title is

"I Printed My Sunday Roast (On My 3D Printer) Before The Match""

I was thinking mybe Paul McCartney, Half Man Half Biscuit but there are many vegan bands about and I have just remembered a Robert Wyatt song that would be perfect, if very dark. "Pigs In There" .. and that is one of the reasons for being vegan.

The Wildflower Hour and The Quest For The Perfect Vegan Sausage

At the weekend I was jealous cos I missed out on a vegan all day breakfast then I saw Jessica at Wildflower was now doing one. While I love Wildflower , often my work lunch break doesn't give me time to get there, have a meal cooked, eat it and then get back in a reasonable time. Wildflower is probably a ten minute (uphill) walk , and fine on a summers day but in the current climate, not quite as attractive a walk, though what's at the end is so worth it.

Gorgeous Wildflower Vegan Lunchtime Breakfast

Then I thought why not use Facebook Messenger and ask them to start a meal for me. So I did. And they did, and when I got there I got a huge come of coffee and soon was presented with and gorgeous all day vegan breakfast. There was toast, with a lovely spread , beans, hash browns, mushrooms and vegan sausages. I will be honest I am yet to find a vegan sausage I like, but it was so filling that I ended up leaving a slice of toast and half a sausage. It was absolutely gorgeous and you should visit to try this and the many other vegan culinary delights in store.











So a combination of social media and an excellent cafe meant that I had an absolutely brilliant lunch (even though it was a breakfast) and has set my mind ticking on what would the perfect vegan sausage contain? I thinking lentils, chickpeas, spices and herbs (not sure which ones) and some way of binding them together but not making it too dense or inedible. I'm sure that some of my culinary friends can point me in the right directions.

I found this recording of The Wilde Flowers featuring Robert Wyatt singing "Memories" which seemed fairly appropriate even though it's almost fifty years old now.

It's Friday and the weekend starts here. Enjoy my friends.

Another Saturday Night - Jazz or What?

It's funny, the drive down to Litton was remarkably relaxing despite the numerous fogbanks and traffic bottlenecks in places. I must say I am very tired after the journey but wish I could have taken some photographs of the sun through the fog and the amazing images that the fog threw up (is that a good choice of words?)

Cloud on a Crane

I am always amazed by the images that nature creates for us and often they are only there for seconds, so I am grateful for the handiness speed and quality of my two year old Samsung Note 4 phone that sometimes allows me to capture these images. Like the crane holding up a cloud from a couple of years back. A few seconds later that didn't exist.

We're close to the end of November and I thought I may have just hit double figures, but I have actually done over twenty posts this month, that surprised me.

How Strange?

I can actually write quite a lot of rubbish, but I am so glad that people actually read it. Several people tell me they look forward to my writing, and that is one of the reasons I do keep writing. Anyway I need to choose a song for this post and decided on "Sonia" from Robert Wyatt's "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard". It's remakably uplifting and many years ago when I first got made redundant I put together a radio show for a local station and used it as a theme tune, but it never got broadcast.







Enjoy your Saturday Night my friends and enjoy this wonderul  Robert Wyatt piece. Is it Jazz or What?

Memory

I may have written about this before, but I've forgotten about it, but it is an excuse to play Robert Wyatt's beautiful "Memories" again.

My memory , ability to remember things , has never been that good. I can't remember quotes, I couldn't remember case names when I did Law (although I could the remember Case outcomes and the reasons for it), so often people will ask me how to do this and I won't know how to do it, but I will know how to find out how to do it generally, not always but generally.

The other thing is that I can usually do maths, so I can work things out and instantly understand formulas and am OK with algebra but get lost with calculus, and I am ok with the geometry. If I can't remember things how come I can sometimes so things without thinking.

I can ride a bike, drive a car, cook , make meals up and I'm ok with electrics. My home network works though at times that is a bit mystical to me, more "Oooh that did work" that knowing something will work.

These days we have computers , the internet and hand held computers that double as phones. There are very few phone numbers I remember these days. You have an app to solve anything you want, hand held dictionaries and scientific calculators as well as satellite navigation (which I have not yet succumbed to, I would rather trust my own knowledge and intuition).

Anyway that's just something that came into my head today, I can remember somethings but I do use technology quite a bit to supplement that.

Have a wonderful evening , enjoy this baking weather and have a great time.

I Keep Forgetting

,br> I was just checking my blog and this post a bout the potential closure of Newcastle City Hall here, had been getting a lot of attention. I don't know who from but it's the third most read this week. I also missed the Dictators on Wednesday and Chase Park Festival today (here is my review from last year) , I have been amazingly remiss in my gig planning.

These days pessimists will start talking about Alzheimers , but the reality is that we all forget things, we remember things for no reason and some stuff becomes buried deep , so deep we don't know it's there.

One of the reasons I keep this blog , is the same as keeping a diary , except this is online and anyone can see it, and because of that people look at things that I had forgotten about and causes me to remember and revisit. Sometimes I remember that I had recorded something and then search the blog to find it. It really is a useful tool.

My memory has always been strange . When I did Law and English Literature I could remember all about cases but not the names of cases , and I knew what happened in plays but could never remember any quotations. I usually don't know how to do things but I do know where to look to find out how to do things.

So anyway I thought I would just share that with you and you could always do a random search of this blog , you never know what you might find.....even I don't know exactly what I will find ... and I'm the one who wrote the damned thing.

Der Blaue Engel

I've chosen a re-edit of Robert Wyatt's Memories spliced with the finale to The Blue Angel , and that has led me to a whole new treasure trove of discovery

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Oh and below is Robert Wyatt's take on Peter Gabriel's Biko , and I just love it, one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard and although it sound slight at first , it works it's waky into your psyche . I love Robert Wyatt... and this one of the discoveries that I mentioned.

How Times Have (Not) Changed

In 1974 Robert Wyatt was at a party , possibly worse for wear , fell out of a window and broke his back and never walked again. Not good for a drummer . He didn't let it stop him and released this version of The Monkees' I'm A Believer on Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label.

It was promoted by an appearance on Top Of The Pops , but some BBC manager decided that a guy in a wheelchair was too disturbing for the public and he wasn't allowed on again unless he sat on a normal chair. Nice treatment of people who have to use a wheelchair then.

Anyway the record is brilliant and it may get you into Robert Wyatt. The follow up to this was Chris Andrews' "Yesterday Man" , and hopefully everybody has heard his wonderful rendition of Elvis Costellos Shipbuilding.

Rant over and hopefully the BBC are different now (but probably not).

The Moon In June

This was one of the songs that I had down for the June's Tunes. Obviously it could be used any day , but less obviously it is probably a tune most of you don't know. Always loved Soft Machine , but lots of you will know Karl Jenkins and maybe even Robert Wyatt - banned from performing on top of the pops because he was in a wheelchair and it might disturb sensitive viewers. He actually was on once with a stellar backing band featuring Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) , Fred Frith (Henry Cow) and may others when he covered The Monkee's I'm a Believer . It may actually be already on this blog (check the Robert Wyatt tags). Oops it's not but I will actually post about it soon.

Anyway summer is still with us and is likely to be here all week.

Happy days

Why Blog?

Although I know this now I didnt when I started blogging. I knew people kept diaries and some famous people actually got them published. I started the blog as a way of recording places I'd been to then started adding music and technology related stuff , until i just started recording anything that interested me or caught my eye.

My memory is not all that great , I'm not great at memorising facts but I am good at remembering where to find those facts. Someone once was shocked that Einstein didn't know the speed of light. "Why do I need to know that? I can look it up in a book" was his replay. Now we have the internet and loads of ways of accessing what has now become the greatest reference work ever. In our smart phones and tabllets we hold in our hands our very own Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy and proposed by the sadly missed Douglas Adams.

Anyway back to my point , this blog gives me a searchable reference to things that have happened to me and caught my eye. If other people are interested then that's great , but it's still here for me. I also would love to write a book and hoped that this blog would spark off something that would result in a book. With Amazon's self publishing package anyone can publish a book now.

Yesterday Graham Norton was interviewing Maureen Lipman and she said that she could trace her life through her newspaper columns , so I'm not the only person doing this.

So basically blogging enables you to jot down things you don't want to forget, and online blogs also enable you to search back through your life both digital and real.

Here's my first post and dip into blogging on Sunday 18th February 2007 almost six years back. This is 401 posts on , here's to the next 401 posts.