Back Now

And off to work soon. I've spent the weekend driving back and resting and not really doing much bar watching some catch up TV such as the brilliant Elementary, Blacklist and Arrow and the truly atrocious Hostages (good idea for a film not a TV series but although it's not been recommissioned it'll be a staple of daytime TV in future ). I am watching Hostages just to see how bad it can get, apparently based on an Israeli TV series, like the excellent Homeland, which went off the rails after the first series but still kept your interested to due to excellent scripting and compelling characters.

Also noticed in the proliferation of betting shops a "Set Your Limits" campaign. Don't they realise that anyone addicted to slot machines, daily lotteries , or the proliferation of betting options will not do that , the only people who will are those in complete control. Then you add the facts that William Hill are looking to open shops 24/7 because slots and electronic casinos are open 24/7 , then combine this with one staff member per shop, and Paddy Power  taking bets and joking about the Oscar Pistorius , see this Guardian article, and it shows that they are only interested in one thing.

Tonight I have a meeting at my local practice' patient forum (details here) so am going to away from the house for 13 hours again today , but it's good to be involved with these things and you can't complain about things if you don't get yourself involved.

Anyway I know that this is not my normal sort of blog post, and I apologise, but when I get home tonight hopefully I can post something more positive and uplifting. Still enjoy your day, I know I will.

Friday Feeling

Well it's Friday and it's the last day of the holiday , but has been a great week.I found out the guy who runs the farm we are staying at restores vintage cars for a hobby so hopefully I'll get some photos of those before I leave. The weather has been mostly excellent and is very sunny again today.

It's almost eleven o' clock and I've still not switched on my phone , which I have used quite a lot as a camera. It's amazing now how mobile phones are replacing cameras and music players because they are capable of doing all these things.

Add that to Instagram and Facebook and you can be completely connected and let everyone know everything you are doing but whether that's a good thing I'm not to sure.

I've just seen a black ladybird with red spots , apparently seeing a ladybird is lucky, so who knows what may happen , but there's always something good so I know that will come true one way or another.

Although it's Friday the song "Saturday Gigs" by Mott The Hoople is playing round in my mind so I'm going to include that, ain'y Youtube useful?

Anyway I'm going to enjoy the rest of the day and hope that you do too.

Worcester Records, The Good and The Bad

The Rise Vinyl Racks

Well the bad news from Worcester is that Mann Audio and Phoenix are no more, or as far as my experience goes , never were. However the good news is that the Rise Records go from strength to strength , with a lot on offer in a small shop, and I ended up buying some books (well it is World Book Day today, though as far schools are concerned it's Dressing Up Day) , was talking to the guy in the shop who was very knowledgeable and let me take pictures and told about the record shops that had gone , but there was a great second hand shop called Market Hall Records.

While I was in there, there was something playing that made me think of The Cure and Joy Division , and turned out to be the Eagulls , so that went onto the purchase list as well, whuch can be seen on my Instagram Feed.

Market Hall Records

Market Hall Records has a big selection of stuff and the guy is really good to talk to, if you go to their website you can find out where they are, and they are sensible enough to use the web as just an advertising hoarding, which is a fine low maintenance approach. I also picked up a Julian Cope disc called Ambulance.

So all in all a successful day, Worcester has two excellent record shops (HMV doesnt count although they have one), so it's a good place if you want to improve your music collection and expand your horizons. I'd never heard The Eagulls before today but thatnks to the visit to Rise I now have their album and thingk that you might like them too.

I could post a video, but there are pictures and links so I will leave you to find the stuff. That's part of the fun of the internet , you can lose yourself for hours looking for stuff you didn't know that you wanted.

Worcester Records

A short post. Today i will be visiting Worcester which according to The Vinyl District has three record shops. I know the excellent Rise which has a few shops in the South West, but there are two more Phoenix and Mann Audio but the web searches don't look too hopeful for these two.

Anyway no doubt I will have something to report later

A Purple Bit

Hendrix and Zappa

Yesterday when I was in Stratford I looked at The Vinyl Disctrict app on my Samsung and it came up with Purple Vinyl. HMV is long gone so in Stratford the only source of getting ohold of music is the charity shops. The thing is there were a lot of tourists there, but obviously not enough to support a record shop.

Purple Vinyl Sign

Anyway I found Purple Vinyl close to Shakespeare's birthplace, and they have a Facebook presence here.  The Stratford shop had a lot of Zappa, Hendrix and Pink Floyd stuff nicely displayed and I spoke to the proprietor who told me they were essentially an online operator (check them out here)

I can't remember the guy's name but he was really nice to talk to, and though I didn't buy anything, I'd recommend going along just to see what they have out , or smapling their online selection.

I saw a 99p Jimi Hendrix BackTrack compilation which they were selling for £30, and was almost tempted as I had had it my original record collection. I now only my vinyl as artefacts rather than to play, and they still feel substantial compared to CD or the ephemera of MP3.

Given the amount of Hendrix they had on display and their name, there can only be one song can't there?

Anyway it's good to see a record shop in Stratford and hope they live long and prosper.

Have a pleasant evening everyone.

Periodic Moan

I try to keep things posutive on this blog but sometimes you have to let it out when things annoy you. Sometimes they are not really all that much of a problem, but let's face it 90% of the world prefers having something to moan about rather than having good things happen to them. It may be contributory to the state of the world at the moment.

Last night I went to see Wolf Hall based on the Hilary Mantel book at the Swan Theatre / RSC in Stratford. I cannot recommend this highly enough to anyone. I haven't read the books but the play is well paced , easy to understand, and a sparsely visual treat.

Firstly , I know that students are in the process of learning but there were about ten who didn't understand the relevance of seat numbers at a sold out seated event. I find the same on local buses where studens try to congregate on the footplate of the bus despite the rest of the bus being empty which results in the driver whizzing past stops because they thing the bus must be full, when all they have is about ten students.

Worse that that is the numpty suit who replaced them, then continued texting at every opportunity with his screen on full brightness. He was probably an iPhone owner and needed to let everybody know he had his iPhone at an important play. I was tempted to borrow one of actors weapons and "get biblical on his ass".

Then the Vauxhall Astra I haveon hire this week, despite being a two door model, is too long for many parking spaces. I was wondering why parking was a little awkward, but it is easy to drive and looks like a white Batmobile.

Also I've finally started Breaking Bad and love the use of Periodic Table entries in the credits. It is a truly brilliant program. So this week there's been loads of great things happening and to experience with a few niggles, and really the message is treasure the good things and ignore and forget the bad stuff.

A Feast For The Eyes and Ears

Today is bright but cold and also means a trip to Stratford to see Wolf Hall at the RSC followed by Bring Up The Bodies on Wednesday, based on the best selling award winning books by Hilary Mantel. Last timewe were at the RSC we saw an excellent production of the Tempest, my favourite Shakespeare play, and was very impressed as the place was comfortable, and the air conditioning was excellent throughout the play, meaning you can actually watch and enjoy the play without the fear of falling asleep. Too many theatres just get warmer and warmer throughout the performance , so I would recommend the RSC.

Also started watching Breaking Bad this week as well as continuing with Boardwalk Empire (which I borrowed off a very good friend several months back) , so this week is going to involve a lot of watching stuff either live or on TV. I'm including the full movie The Tempest by Julie Taymor (as long as it stays on youtube) who incidentally gave a brilliant TED Talk which I've included below. So lots for me to watch and lots for you to watch. Have a great day.