Well day three of my challenge and I am up to 1959 the third year of my life. Actually the charts had lots of great music , but I always loved the Coasters with their atmospheric mostly Lieber / Stoller penned songs which still stand strong today cobined with a wickedly knowing sense of humour delivered with street born panache.
Just sitting in Stoker not yet dressed in La Rosa with a view of the abbey through early morning fog in the armchair by the balcony. Feel free to join me . I do love this place so relaxing , no phones , radio or television, just a laptop free wifi so I can let you know what I am up to . Aren't I so not with the program. But I will soon be going out to get papers before having my breakfast delivered in a wicker basket. This place is CAF. (see Inspiral Carpets if you don't know what that means.
Yesterday had more than 100 people wish me a happy birthday via Facebook which made be feel nice.
It's quite amazing how much dross hits the charts , but I always loved this song , and wile never an avid Perry Como fan I still like this . I will never forget Bryan Ferry's riposte to interviewer who asked him his opinion on Cockney Rebel's Judy Teen , he said he preferred the Perry Como version.
This weekend will be spent in the Stoker Room in La Rosa in Whitby , which is my favourite hotel in the world bar none. I would love to hire it for a long weekend and fill it with my friends. The room does have a view across the river to the Abbey which I will be visiting also.
These posts are going to be by their nature heavy on video and light on the text. Some may even just be the video, but I wiull try and find something interesting to say.
Whitby is one of my total favourite places and no doubt I will be instagramming .
I took the title of the Faces compilation that my lovely daughters bought me for my birthday because it is such a great feelgood sentiment and we need lots of those.
But my favourite take on it was the wonderful Anthony Moore.
OK here's the thing today I'm 58 , well my body is, my brain / personality / curiosity etc is still i the 14 - 16 age group. I still have wonder, I still love it in others , I still crave love , knowledge , attention, friendship and happiness. Maybe my caring, love and valuing of friends has grown over the years . I do look out for people and when times are bad I am there for them it does spread me thin,
Some people need me more than others. I need some people more than others.
Anyway here's the thing , here's the task. You know I love music so there will be 58 posts , one a day , each with a record from a year in my life. They may mean something , they may mean nothing, the may be relevant to the post or not.
So whats , number one , this originally was going to be Harry Nillson's One a very sad song , but I was just going to base it on the day number , but this gives me a chance to play something uplifting and worthy , and the words to this resonate so well Little Richard's "The Girl Can't Help It " from 1957
This is really difficult. That i snot in a bad way , but someone has inspired this post and I can't say anything about who she is or what caused this but it is not anything bad or worrying, There's a new girl in the office , but turns out she has been with the company for sometime. Continuing my modus operandi of talking to everyone about anything I asked her name and she showed me her pass and said it was very unusual .
I countered with well yes it is , but I am very familiar with that name as he has a composer credit on of my all time favourite albums, now over 40 years old . She came back with yes that's my uncle and he played on that album and the hit single as well.
That's as far as I can take it. The rest is secret as I can't betray confidences, well I wouldn't say anything without permission. People could probably work it out but I don't think they will.
But again talk to someone , it will do you both lots of good . I have lots of meets lined up this week to talk with friends I don't see all that often , and to help some friends in their pursuit of something special. I hope you can do the same my friends
If you want to share do it, if you are hurting let a friend help , we can add our strength to yours.
I want to do a TED talk based on this idea , that we should talk to each other more , even if it seems irrelevant or trivial I will do it soon have it ready to submit when they are looking for speakers.
Very often if we don't talk , especially if things aren't going well , things seem to get darker, some times you can't do things on your own and you need a helping hand.
A while agao the was a lovely shop called Cake in Newcastle , and one day it wasn't there. I lost touch with the owner , a totally lovely girl, and as you know I don't take losing friends lightly , especially if they may be experiencing hardship.
On Friday I was chatting with people at work about the fact it's my birthday and I may get cake from Pet Lamb , and said that I had been upset when Cake shut. The girl I was speaking to said she knew the proprietress and is going to get her details for me. She has probably forgotten me but it would be nice to be in touch again.
The thing is I suppose I am a devil for not asking for emotional support when I need it but I make sure I am always there for others, but writing this has lifted my mood, and today has been a great day seeing friends and chatting with them and the more I think I about what has happened today the better I feel. I do have people I can talk to , and recently our head of finance threatened me with a severe talking to if , as expected , my presentation over ran it's allotted three minutes.
So please talk to someone , even if you don't feel you need to , you may find something useful , you may feel better , you may make them feel better. Just do it.
There's only one song for this isn't there , it's this.
This is an addendum to my last post. In the UK it's now dark , and usually wet and damp in a good devils to fight my bad devils),
morning. If someone is in a dark place they will be feeling even worse just because of the weather. This means that if you are in an OK place , like I am (OK I am a devil for hiding when I feel bad cos I don't think anyone needs to be bothered with such trivialities, although I have
So here's your task for today:
Smile as much as you can if you are happy
If you are not happy ask a friend to meet (that might be me)
Phone A friend
Hold Hands
Go For A Coffee
Just Talk
It's easy to think you don't matter, no one wants you , and you mean nothing . That is not true. Reach out and I will give you my hand and give you a hug. I've included two Big Daddy songs , play these and your day will be better and you will smile.
Sometimes things go wrong , life isn't always easy. For some of us it's fine , but for others it's not. They may be homeless , ill , under pressure at home , lost , any number of things. Sometimes the offer of a hand , a kind smile , a drink , a talk , can make all the difference.
I haven't written for what seems ages but, thought I would just post something upbeat, one of my favourite songs but the sadly missed Kevin Ayers , this always makes me smile and hope it will for you.
I have two very busy weekends coming up , but I always make time for my friends, always have a smile for people and that always makes me feel good.
Tomorrow when you are out , smile at more people , that person who wasn't feeling too good might feel a little better and you will have done a wonderful good deed.
