Well we are out of the EU. An old guy yesterday said it was a beautiful day because we were out of the EU and he was free , free as a bird. Some people said they didn't realise their Leave Vote would actually count... that's how voting works!
I probably feel even worse that when the Tories got their majority, but like all advertising campaigns the Leavers hit more voters than the Stayers. While the margin was narrow for such important decision , that was basically the criteria and we have to abide with it. Somebody said Democracy was where you always go with the majority decision until it's not the result you want.
Lots of people are asking for a second referendum but what they are really asking for is for the result to go their , like Dumbledore in Harry Potter awarding Harry's team extra points so they beat Slytherin. It ain't going to happen and it shouldn't happen
I just hope the country realises what it has done done and turfs this Government out at the first opportunity.
I know this is not my normal sort of post , but I hope we can steer ourselves away from the cliff that we are heading towards with the country drifting further to the right.
Father's Day is one of those made up things to con you out of money in the form of cards meals and presents... but ... we can always turn these things to OUR advantage , which effectively me and my wonderful daughters did.
We did lunch in Bar Loco on Friday which was a first for them and is now a definite favourite with them as well. If it hadn't been for Fathers Day we may not have met up this soon but it provided the impetus and we met and talked and had a great time. Lots of smiles and hugs and I got a copy of the excellent new Dexy's album that is playing as I write this. So all in all a great day.
My Dad with Me at Morecambe Long Long Ago
The weekend has been relaxing with lots of catch up TV.
Today I have phone my dad three times but not got in touch , although he'll get his card and presents
eventually.
These days are maybe commercially and cynically motivated , but we always have the option to make them out own and make something good out of them.
Also this week this post on Spoongig here got some major hits which made me happy.
I hope you had a great day today whichever side of the fence that you were on, I hope you are rested for the coming week , which will no doubt be excellent, well it will be for for me
Smiling makes you feel better . You may feel you have nothing to smile about , but do it and something good has happened. You smiled. And That's good , so you can smile again. A smile causes the release of the same endorphins as a bar of chocolate, without the calories.
At work there are three people who ALWAYS have a smile on their faces , they raise my spirits and I'm sure they raise others spirits. I also know that these people have not had the easiest of times but they have found happiness and spread it around , making others happy.
If you smile people tend to smile back and then you raise each others spirits and they day gets better. Whatever you are doing gets easier, you get inspired , you work better and you just do better.
There are those who don't return smiles and you cannot force people
to be happy, but the more people who do smile , well they can spread it to the ones who don't think they can smile.
Yes it's Monday , and yes I feel tired despite nine hours sleep and a lie in til mid day yesterday , but for some reason the visits to this blog have doubled , so that makes me feel good that people actually want to read what I have to write. I try to be upbeat and despite so much negativity in the media they is a lot to be positive about.
This week is going to be relatively relaxing so hopefully I can see off my cold and get back to normal. I've woken up to mist and fog but I reckon that will burn off and we will have a very sunny
day.
I've just finished John Lydon's autobiography , Anger Is An Energy, 500 pages of not exactly easy going but some great insights to the man and his bands and the music industry and the media. I would recommend it to anyone who likes a challenging read, his opinions on certain people will probably surprise you.
Anyway this is just a quicky and we can have one of my favourite PIL songs Fishing which is just awesome though it doesn't get a mention in the book.
Didn't get out to AKQ Stottin' last night but I know Trillians would have been packed and it meant that I could watch some good films and get a reasonably early night. Today looks incredibly dreary , grey , wet and not exactly the ideal summers day.
I also didn't realise that England and Wales were in the same UEFA 2016 group , and Wales are top and Russia got a last minute equaliser although the bits of the match I saw looked fairly good, but whether Russia are meant to be the group fall guys I don't know , because Wales are looking good.
Anyway today is going to be a relaxing day , I will be practicing songs , listening to music , perusing the papers , getting irked by the Red Tops whicjh will tells us how immigrants will cost Europe £20 Billion (while the UK allows Corporate Tax Evasion / Avoidance of £200 Billion) , but knowing that they are rags written by idiots for morons.
Anyway today is going to be another positive day, enjoying the abundant greenery , maybe taking awalk with a hat or an umbrella , because walking is good for you and does make you feel better and does not cost you anything but time and energy and you can find lots of unexpected things if you go in a random direction. And that thought has given me a song for this piece , George Harrison's"Any Road".
There are so many reasons to be happy , find them and have a great Sunday my wonderful friends.
I really like to maintain a positive attitude and generally post positive things in here, but I do notice that the things that most of the public like are things they can complain about , things that they can moan about. I always used to think that the closer you got to Manchester , the more miserable people got .. after all that's where Coronation Street is set and let's face it it's not the happiest of places , though that can be said of most TV soaps , it's just that Coronation Street has been around for as long as me.
But really there are lots of great things going on. Newcastle has been holding the Jesterval where my friends Gavin Webster and John Scott performed and they always make me laugh , though John's gig was 10:30 to 11:30 on a Tuesday night, as I left the tent in front of the Baltic Mill I saw that last Quayside Bus disappearing meaning a walk to the Taxi Rank outside the Akenside. I realised I needed some cash and as I went to the ATM I was accosted by somebody who ran up to me and said "I've Had A Really Bad Time , Give Me Some Money Now!!" Really ? I took my money from the cash machine and suggested he made his may elsewhere and I wouldn't be threatened into financing whatever he wanted.
Tonight Trillians celebrates a year since it's reopening with the mighty AKQ Stottin' on the stage , and unbelievably I have never seen them so tonight that will be rectified. This is the thing about Newcastle , there are so many things to do , places to go , in such a small city. I just love the place. Also Trillians has become a regular lunchtime eatery for me with an all day breakfast or Bangers and Thrash watching whatever film they are playing with music leaning toward the rockier side, though their take on Black Sabbath is hilarious.
Today the weather is grey and rainy , but I mowed the lawn and it's not too cold, well really it is quite summery. So I am going to include videos of the three acts I have mentioned and this is hardly scratching the surface,
Although I managed to miss my friend Nick's daughter Alisha's debut at The Three Tuns, I love her voice , check her out here
SO everybody have a brilliant weekend , there are lots of great things to enjoy , go enjoy yourself .
I try to keep things positive on this blog but am a little sad to be thinking about the passing of two greats , Dave Swarbrick , fiddle player with Fairport Convention amongst many others as well as being an artist in his own right , and Muhammad Ali , peerless boxer and human rights activist.
I was introduced to Muhammad Ali from an early age , as he was the nearest thing to a hero for my my dad , a boxer himself who had to give up because he cut so easily. I knew him as Cassius Clay and then went the tmedia trauma of him converting to Islam and changing his name. We had Henry Cooper but Muhammad Ali was the man, my dad was dismissive of Cooper and eulogised Ali.
I was never into boxing because I was far too not liking the pain , also I remember seeing a book about Ali called GOAT , which was on Amazon with a retail price tag of £2,000 . You can now buy it here for a more reasonable , but still expensive £99.99 , but I wondered about the title, GOAT is an acronym .... Greatest of All Time.
There are so many stories surfacing , especially about his links with Tyneside , how he got married at a mosque in South Shields , raised money for a local boxing club , and basically just go on the net and you will see loads of information about the great man.
Another great loss was Dave Swarbrick who I saw at the Tyneside Irish Centre in 2014 , performing on a stage I have (dis)graced myself , my memories are here and he was incredibly funny and talented , I think I also saw him with either Imagined Village or The Albion Band at The Sage.
I first heard him on John Peel accompanying Martin Carthy on "Prince Heathen" , but remember the speed of his playing on "Fiddlestix" on Fairport Live which I still can't hear in my head , I have got to listen to the recording to hear is brilliance.
I do feel that 2016 is a year of incredible artistic departures but their legacy will endure, like Muhammad Ali's fights and words and deeds , we will always remember them, like Swarbrick's music. I'm going to include Johnny Wakelin's "In Zaire" about the Rumble In The Jungle with George Foreman and Swarbrick's live rendition of Fiddlestix.
