Larry and His Flask

I fear there is a long hard road ahead learning how to operate my new iMac. 

If I say so myself, I'm usually pretty good at what I know and I'm a whizz around Windows but this Mac is literally a whole new ball game (not that Jamie Oliver version of literally where he describes something as literally every other sentence).  Hey ho, I wasn't planning on getting stressed over anything in my real life (non-work) for the forseeable future so this will do.  Even the wireless mouse seems to need an extra long push to get it working.  Mind the 27 inch screen is probably partly to blame as well.

Just got a message on Facebook (no more asterisks) that Larry and His Flask (I implore you to click on the link) at Dr Brown's on 23 April.  I think I might have wrote a few words about when they played Liberty's last year. 
This photo's from the iPhone again and my photography teacher says you are supposed to capture an odd number of people rather than even and it's not particularly in focus but I think this gives the general idea.

 

It's going to be one of these pay what you like shows as well and we all know how they end up in the Boro (in tears) but these are bloody marvellous and I implore you all to join me on 23rd. 

New technology

I've had my new computer since Tuesday and I still haven't set it up. I should be excited but it's filling me with dread. I used to be fairly computer savvy, people even used to ask me advice and occasionally I even used to be able to assist.

In saying that there's nothing like a task to get me focused and with that in mind I've put my mind into techno mode.

So far today I've downloaded an app so I can post entries to my blog on my phone and set it up so I can send emails. For the last year I've only been able to receive them.

I'm lying down having a rest and then I'm going to take on the iMac!

Alas, can't find a spell checker so please be kind.

Entry posted from iPhone

Good Friday

Went for an great walk along the cliffs from Runswick Bay to Whitby today finishing off with fish and chips in Whitby.

I think it's quite a test getting up to the cliff top but it's a piece of cake once up there.  We tried to walk into Whitby along the beach and I got caught by the incoming tide up to my knees.  Somebody must have been looking out for me though because at least Shamila didn't.  I wouldn't have heard the last of it if she'd got wet.

Saw quite a lot of the yellow ball in the sky which was refreshing but it was still generally bloody freezing.

That still didn't fully explain this lot.

 

 

It was only at one point and I wondered if it was Sheep wool or something as we approached it.  Not sure my iphone pics do it justice but it looked bloody weird.

Mam and Dad

No crummy words tonight.

Photo taken 26 December 2006.  As good as it got. 

Came downstairs and turned the TV on.  Had a look at the guide and saw the England match was on.  Football's not my thing other than (just) my Boro nowadays but I thought I check the score.  It was
1-0 to England then Moldovera or Montenegro or or somebody had about 6 shots at goal (really) in the space of about 3 minutes and then equalised.  Needless to say, in Spence family tradition the TV went off.

It's not that I dislike football as a sport per se,  it's just as I've said many times, I just don't think much of the hype/entertainment ratio of the supposed best domestic league in the world or our national team for that matter.

"Our" top teams are usually ok when knocking spots off the likes of Reading or QPR but as soon as they come up against anybody decent (any of the top teams in Germany, Spain or Italy) they just turn into Boro.  I'm allowed to say that as a Boro supporter as are any other Boro supporters amongst my readers.  Nobody else though.

As for Middlesbrough the bubble has certainly burst.  Am I upset?  Not really.  We are the Boro, no matter what division we're playing in.  We were punching above our weight, living above our means, we were over the moon and it all ended in tears (please add your own football cliches).

And now like Maxine Nightingale ................... (best Northern Soul song bar none) we're right back from where we  started from when I started supporting Boro in the late sixties and early seventies.  And the similarities are there.  Quite a few local players, seasons that started well before tailing off and the ever present malcontent supporters. 

Anyway, just listening to the driving hail outside has just reminded me that a real sport will be back in about a month's time. 

Brrrrrrr.

Another sparse post

At least I've sussed out how to post from an iPad.  I'll have to work out how to post from my iPhone next and then how to work out how to work my new computer which should be arriving in the next couple of days.

It was very expensive.  It's supposed to be a flying machine but I'm going to have to work to justify the extravagance and cost.  Blummin' heck, I'm making it sound like work!

That'll have to do.  Trying to post on an iPad is purgatory.  Back home tomorrow, so will do a proper post.

For some reason as long as I can remember I've found Sunday nights (school or work the following day) to be even more of a drag than the Monday morning.  You would think that means work always turns out to be better than I thought it would.  Sadly, it's seldom true.  Oh well, just thought I'd share that!

God, I was hung over this morning.  6 pints of strong European lager at The Mink Tattoo Coffee Bar took their toll with my fragile inner workings.  Still, I managed to avoid the temptation of having a tattoo done upstairs.  It wasn't actually an option last night but apparently it is if you go in during the day.

Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six (I count that as 7 but there were only 5 of them) describe their music as lyric driven dirt swing or rockabilly cabaret blues and I wouldn't argue with that other than to say there was a bit of Balkans eurovision stylee in there.

 
















Well worth the entry fee (free).  So after a bit of faffing I reverted to my old rules of supporting the band by buying a CD of them.  I haven't listened yet and I'm not expecting much but you never know.

A big bonus for me was a 2 set support slot by local bluegrass/country band, The Bluebuds. Views were mixed amongst the people I was with but I thought they were great. They even did a couple of Old Crow Medicine Show covers. They're up there with the best of the local bands and the song below is well worth a try.

Me and Gary made embryonic plans to go to Stockton Calling next Saturday but we both had separate second thoughts this morning.  I'll make a late pitch inspection later in the week before making my final decision.

So the morning after the night before?  Shamila and I were supposed to go walking but jeez!  I know I'm starting to sound like one of those old fellars that just go on about the weather all the time but it was just too bloody cold!

Cheers

It's Sat'day Night I'n'it!!

And to quote Johnny Moped (again) "we should be out pogoing and dancing and fings" and with that in mind I'm going out to see Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six at The Mink Tattoo Coffee Bar in the Boro.  Free before 8.30 apparently.

It's no warmer mind.  It would be cold for the middle of December never mind the middle of March.  Still no snow though on Teesside. 

Been listening to the original Soundtrack to Night on Earth which arrived today.  It's listed on Amazon as a Tom Waits album but he only sings on a few of the tracks.  As ever pretty weird.  Will need a few listens to get into but that's TW.

Anyway, what have I been up to?  Nothing much really.  Read all the newspapers as usual, Morrison's, got rid of my recycling.  I could type aimlessly and hope for some inspiration or share a news article that I find incredulous.  Then again I could go in the bath and listen to some music.

A quick poll in Kirkstone Hall -  A bath it is.

Cheers

How cold?

I can't remember a colder March day ever.

Sham took the day off (did I mention that yesterday) and we planned to go for a long walk.  Thankfully for various reasons we only had time for a quick sprint up Eston Hills and it was just as well because the cold and the biting wind made the conditions extremely unpleasant to walk in.  The peaks looked amazing which I tried to  capture (not very successfully) on my phone.  I had my camera with me but it was just too cold to get it out.

 As you can see there was no snow where we were, a small amount over Roseberry Topping but the peaks not much further were completely white.  Talk  about localised weather!

We're planning trying to get out again on Sunday but I think the forecast even worse than today.  I might be throwing a sickie.

For those that don't know East Middlesbrough, I live just over there.

Another Spensian - How about Regional Retirement?

The week-end's soon come round again. Being off mid-week definitely worked for me and I ended working week with a  couple of drinks and tea in pub with some of mates from work.  Could definitely get used to that.

Tried out another Spensian out on James and Steve and it went down pretty well so I'll share it with the world or at least the 16 people that have tuned in for the last 2 nights.

Admitedly Tuesday's night idea was more of a bit of a vibe rather than a bona fide action plan but I thought it was at least a pretty good vibe unlike Ozzie's "plan" to assist people to buy second homes to help start a new unsustainable housing boom.  He must have really enjoyed the sweetness of the plaudits he received from the so called experts yesterday.  Pity it's all turned sour today.  Only The Guardian and the BBC are running the story (probably in that order) but from my experience where they go the others follow.

Anyway my latest "Spensian" is based on data collected by all sorts of groups, although not by me.  Don't worry I'm not going to quote loads of stats.  I think it's a good idea and although I haven't searched extensively I can't see that any other respected writer has come up with it so dibs it's mine. 

The idea is a variation on the Tory government's "Race To The Bottom" plan, the bit about regional pay whereby public service wages will be based the cost of living in each area.  In simple terms people in say the South East will get paid more than those say living in say the North East because the cost of living in the South East is much greater than that in the North East.

So how about regional retirement whereby people start receiving their state pension based on the life expectancy for the area.  For example, according to data provided by the Office of National Statistics based on all deaths between 2007 and 2009 a male born in Glasgow City can expect to live 71.1 years whereas a male born in Kensington and Chelsea can expect to live to 84.4 years.

So say a man should be able to have a retirement of say 10 years (this could be tweaked up or down by the government) in Glasgow the retirement age for a man will be 61years (rounded down) and in Kensington and Chelsea it will be 74 years.  Funnily enough in Middlesbrough and Stockton based on my plan the retirement age will  be 65 and 66 respectively.  Close to what it is now.  How weird's that?

Another economic spin off might be (alas no data to back it up) that because the retirement age is lower in the poorer areas more people and businesses will want to move there thus improving regional economies and help reduce people congestion in the South East?

Everyone's a winner!  Feel free to share.

HMV, soon to be no more

Made good use of my day doing chores areound the house.  Did all my ironing, a bit of painting and some general cleaning.

Watched the budget and the only surprise was the 1p off a pint of beer.  That should save me about 50p a year.  On the other hand by my reckoning 10p on a bottle of wine will cost me about £10.40 a year.  Also, I can look forward to a maximum of 1% pay rise for the next 3 years so I should be amongst the front runners in the race to the bottom.  I suppose least it means I don't lose much pay when I go on strike so it's not all bad.

Picked Shamila up from work and went over to Teesside Park to do a bit of shopping.  She went to M&S and Argos and I detoured to HMV, probably for the last time.  I normally just browse but on this occasion the "closing down sale" discount brought the CD's down to what I would pay on the Internet so I bought a couple of CDs for old time sake.  Bought The Stand In by Caitlin Rose which was on my to buy list anyway and Standing at the Sky's Edge by Richard Hawley.

HMV was never my favourite shop to be honest.  I remember when it was near the Lord Raglan on Newport Road.  It closed and we were without an HMV in Middlesbrough for quite a few years.  Not really sure what that was all about, but we had a lot of record shops then so it was probably the competion (then it was Dean Wycherley's Record Shop,  now it's Amazon, maybe things  haven't changed so much).  There was a branch in Stockton though and it was pretty good for a while.  Blank Frank, the former Blitzkrieg Bop singer worked there. I seem to remember he ran the singles section and it was at cutting edge for post punk for a while. 

HMV eventually re-opened in Middlesbrough and until the Internet took hold of my music buying habit I bought a lot of my mainstream music there. Sadly they never had decent world music or reggae sections so I often trekked up to Alan Fearnley's or had to buy mail order.  Part of the problem was the branches were no longer allowed to be autonomous.  It was clear that everything became ran from the centre and what little personal touch they had was lost.

So their presence on the High Street has gone the same way as other national chains, Our Price and Zavvi/Virgin to name but two.  Ironically HMV bought some Zavvi stores when it went under back in 2009. That was a quick turnaround in its fortunes. 

No doubt the name will live on though.  According to the NME the Administrator wants to sell whatever shops are left by 25 March.  No doubt it will be purchased by venture capitalists and I suspect they will run HMV mainly as an Internet operation possibly with a few flagship shops dotted around our major cities. 

We've lost 3 branches in the area and probably about 20 jobs will go.  Teesside could have done without that.  But as a music buying junkie I know it's not trendy or cool but the Internet satisfies my needs.  I can get pretty much anything available and if it's been deleted I just put it in my eBay list and I get an email when somebody is selling a copy.

So on a personal level am I bothered?  I'm not a hypocite, so no.

PS according to spell check all is ok.  I doubt that very much but who am I to argue.

A Spensian Solution To Our Economic Problems

So we're on strike tomorrow.  The cabinet office think it's futile and I tend to agree.  We've got no chance of getting anything other than what we are given and we will be expected to be grateful.

I'm ok, because I'm happy to have a day off without pay but plenty of people are a bit peeved and I don't blame them.  Our call to arms is being led by our our "radical socialist" leader, Mark Serwotka who receives a salary before pension contribution of something over £100,000 and lives in a house in Surrey worth over £500,000.  Excuse me, for thinking his  rally call sounds a bit hollow.

The country is on it's knees though but as I said the other night I'm unconvinced about this debt thing.  That said we have to do something to get people spending money. A tax cut at the lowest rate?  A VAT cut?  I don't know but the best way to get money circulating is by giving it to the poor.  Give more money to the poor and they will spend it.  Give more to the rich and they will save it. 

I've been told my view is Keynesian.  Excuse the spelling if it is wrong but I have no intention of looking him up to check.  I've never read any of his stuff and I don't feel the need to have my view endorsed by an economist (?) from the olden days. The past is a foreign country ..... (L P Hartley) and all that.   It's bloody obvious anyway.

Of course I've heard of him and seen his name bandied about, usually from right wingers wanting to ridicule socialism so I'm guessing he was a socialist.

How do you get start getting quoted like that anyway?  I made some social predictions just after Margret Thatcher came to power about the underclass that have turned out to be right.  I wish I'd written them up.  Maybe that could be called Spensian?

I also remember also suggesting everybody working part-time to create jobs for the unemployed about the same time.  Richard Branson claimed that one as his idea last year didn't he.  Bugger, if I'd written it up the Telegraph would have been saying "Branson suggests Spensian solution to problems".

If only I'd started my blog 32 years ago!

Anyway I'm not falling for that one again so he's an idea to create employment and to raise the wages of the poor for the likes of radical socialists such as Mark Serwotka to peruse over in a new series of Spensian solutions. 

The average salary I think is about £25,000 so anybody receiving over £25,000 recieives a 20% pay cut to bring their salary down to either the greater of the resulting figure or £25,000

IE

Before Salary £30,000 = after salary £25,000
Before salary £100,000 = after salary £80,000

The money saved by employers could be used to achieve any combination of the following,

• reduce the price of their goods making them more competitive,
• employ more people
• give their lower paid employees a pay rise
• in the case of union leader's reduce members union subscriptions
• in the case of MP's, local govenment or central government employees reduce our tax (the tories should like that one)

I know what you're thinking.  People have financial commitments.  I've thought of that one.  I'd phase the changes in over a few years, similar to how they've done with my pension contributions which I've had to absorb with no pay rise.  I've just cut back and it's ok because we're all in this together.

What do you think?  I might even write and suggest it to my radical socialist union leader but remember where you heard it first if you hear somebody else coming up with it or suggesting something similar.  If you do please feel free to say "so basically you are a Spensian"

Can't post on Shamila's IPad

Up to 10 views yesterday.  It may not seem many but from a low base of 1 (me), that's an increase of 1000% since last Tuesday.  Cheers.  That's the thing about stats from a low base improvements can sound impressive if you measure them by percentage.  On the other hand if today they go back down to 5 (and they probably will after this post) they will only have gone down by 50%.  Oh well, I know it's not great but still I've only lost 50% so that's still 950% since last Tuesday. If another one of the 5 drops off that will be another 20% leaving 980%. 

Of course discerning Goffa From The Block intelligentsia know that's bullshit but many people out there wouldn't.  They don't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to numbers so how are they expected to understand the figures and percentages that are being thrown at them on a daily basis to judge how well or badly the country is doing?

So what have we got to measure how well we are doing.  We've got the interest rate, the inflation rate, growth in GDP, factory output, structural debt, public debt, factory orders, the trade balance, the balance of payments.  That's about it, no sorry forgot about business confidence, consumer confidence, house price index, currency exchange and so on and so on.

What I'm saying here is I'm not sure if I believe what I'm being told and to be honest it's beyond me.  And if it's beyond me I'm pretty sure it's beyond a lot of people so being a bit of an investigative journalist I thought I'd try and find out so I could let you know.

Anyway, forget it, it's beyond me but I did find an explanation of how debt works.  I've lost the hyperlink but it goes something like this.

A German tourist goes into a British hotel and says he wants to rent a room for a night.  The hotel owner says he has 1 room left and tells him it will cost £100.  The tourist says he would like to have a look at the room first but as a sign of goodwill he will leave £100 on the reception desk.

As soon as he sets off to go to the room the hotel owner picks up the £100 and runs around to the butcher to pay him the £100 he owes him for the weekly meat delivery.  The butcher is very relieved because times are hard and he owes the hardware shop £100 for a new set of knives he had to buy and the owner of the hardware shop has been giving him a hard time over the debt.

So he tootles round to the hardware shop.  The hardware shop owner is very grateful because the credit crunch has driven him to drink and he has built up a debt of £100 at the local pub.  He will now be able to pay up and get the local landlord of his back.

He quickly runs round to the pub and coughs up.  The landlord is pleasantly surprised and very grateful.  Times are hard in the pub trade which has led problems with his marriage and he ended up with him using the services of the local prostitute at a cost of £100 and he still owes her the money.  Fortunately she is sat in the corner of the pub so the landlord goes over to settle up with her.

A stroke of luck really because the prostitute is broke and she owes the hotel owner £100 for the use of one of his rooms where she takes her clients.  She runs straight round to the hotel and leaves £100 on the reception desk.

Meanwhile the German tourist came back down the stairs after what seemed a long time.  He says the room is filthy and tells him "it looks like a brothel" and tells him he will find somewhere else to stay.  He picks up his £100 and leaves.

I think that's probably as good as explanation of public debt as I'm going to get.

Another quick post today, not sure what time I'm getting back from Sheffield and I want to keep the run going.

Alas, technical problems and I've got to go so just one of some random lasses from EOTR 2011.

The week end is here, at last.  I don't know how you lot manage to work 5 days a week.  It was lovely finishing early Tuesday but it wasn't worth the pain of having to go in to work this morning. 

At least we're on strike next Wednesday.  Although it's not easy trying to find out what we're actually striking for.  Apparently amongst other things we're paid 21% less than comparable workers in the private sector. Of course we deserve it and of course we almost certainly won't get any pay rise at all but I'll enjoy the extra day off nonetheless and worry about losing a days pay at the end of the month.  Work is for suckers anyway.

Just watched Question Time on catch up.  The panel was made up of that fella who always comments on the Cvil Sevice, Francis Maude, Dragon's Den's (apparently) Theo Paphitis and the actually quite convincing Chucka Umunna.  It was broadcast from Wales so they also had somebody from the Welsh Nationalists and the leader of the Welsh Lib Dems

Fact of the day - Apparently Question Time's been on the go since September 1979.  It might be worth remembering, you never know it might come up in a tie break some time.

I started watching it again after a break of many years about 6 weeks ago but it's just the same old shit infantile political point scoring every week as it ever was.  The Daily Telegraph made a fair point about Stephen Twigg's nose on last week's show, that was pretty good but to be honest I'd rather sit and watch a still photograph of Robin Day's grave for an hour.  I'm going back to re-runs of The Big Bang theory and my Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD's.

Off to see Mike in Sheffield tomorrow with Chris and might buy a new computer.  We'll see.

I'll just leave you with this.

Just finished my tea.  I'm at Shamila's so it was all cooked for me.  I'll give her a hand with the pots but that's all I'll have to do. 

She's watching Comic Relief in Zambia.  I can't watch it.  It goes without saying that I can't abide the cretinous celebrities but that's not the only reason why I can't watch.

What was that quote "To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life".  Per WWW it was either Rudyard Kipling or Cecil Rhodes.  Whoever it was, it was a different age and they weren't talking about life in the Tax Office on Teesside but let's be honest for many of us in this country life's a piece of piss.

I finished off the bottle of wine I opened last night, thus my talking daft again. 

Anyway, Bonnie Tyler.  Have you heard it? 

 

 
Sadly, it's no Puppet On A String nor Boom Bang A Bang and in recent years for every Beg Steal or Borrow there's been a Scootch and Engelbert  and as Mike Harding said on Facebook what chance has she got in Sweden when she lost in France.

We loved Eurovision when we were kids.  Me, Ian and Russ used to watch the whole show and our mam and dad used to come in from the pub and watch with us for the scoring (the best bid).  We always did well and usually winning was great but to be fair we always had good songs.  The football team was crap but at least we were good at Eurovision.

Of course it's a bit of a joke now, certainly in this country.  There are conspiracy theorists about why Britain doesn't do well but as a student of pop music for over 40 years I can tell you it's nothing to do with that to do with politics.  Countries vote for other nearby countries for cultural rather than political reasons.  And the people of Europe generally vote for the best songs and they don't vote for us because ours are crap.

And it's no coincidence that it's often those little fancied strange sounding songs  (often from the Balkans' countries funnily enough) ridiculed by philistines Wogan and Norton do really well when the voting starts because they're usually the best songs.

Bonnie Tyler's song is the epitome of AOR mediocrity but I can see a top 10 finish which circa 2013 will be a bit like when a British tennis player (pre Tim and Andy) got to the second week of week of Wimbledon.

Then again, apparently she's popular in Europe (no doubt why she was selected) so you never know.

May 18, be there or somewhere else.. 

Tomorrow?

Just had a rant on Facebook about wealth and privilege and access to healthcare.  Oh well, in my defence I've just drank half a bottle of Rioja with my late tea/supper.

I always eat late on a Wednesday because I go to my photography night class and I'm normally starting to wind down for the week-end, Thursday being my Friday and all that.  Alas got to go in for a few hours on Friday.  As Cam said "we've all got to do our bit" or something like that.
 
Sadly, thanks to my wasting time on FB I haven't got time to do a proper post. I could just as easily have ranted here.  I was going to do a piece about Bonnie Tyler and Eurovision as well.  Don't worry,  I might do it tomorrow instead.

By way of consolation here are a couple of bridges over the River Tees.

 

PS.  Just had an offer to go out on Saturday night with Ste.  Rock Garden Reunion, The Ruts supported by a Clash tribute band.  Mmmm, now should I stay or should I go?

I used to say to people "I do a blog" and then I started saying "I used to do a blog" and now I don't even mention it.  So here I am with my second post of the year.  Just had a look at my resolutions....  Yeah, they're going ok. 

Haven't been up to much. Only been out 4 times this year.  Only been to see one band, The Dutch Uncles - I think they're playing the Stockton Festival.  Them plus Primal Scream = 2 good reasons to give it a miss this year versus one very good reason to go named Dexys?  We'll see. 

My friend and fellow blogger Richard from Thoughts on Music keeps his ear fairly close to the ground commented  on the great quality of music currently on offer.  I'm sure he's right but for now it's all passing me by.  The Kids Are Solid Gold appear to have re-camped to Stockton, mams and dads favourites (but not mine) Stornoway show aside.  Can't blame Phil and Andy, full houses at The Georgian Theatre or half full at The Westgarth?  No contest really.

Hopefully things will pick up but if they don't I've still got long time faves, Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle to look forward to on successive Thursday nights in May.  They're both on at The Sage where I'll be returning to see the final part of The Ring Wagner) at the end of June and then a couple of months to kill before The End of the Road Festival at the end of August.

Talking of EOTR, the Festival Spotify playlist is brill (although probably only of interest to people planning on going).  Needless to say unless the weather is shite it promises to be a great week-end.

EOTR aside I'm not really with it at the moment and that is reflected in what I've been buying and listening to.  Got the last Bruce Springsteen album (I'm still a sucker for his brand of formula Americana) and Neil Young's bonkers re-working of old American folk songs.  I'm sure he's just done it to piss the Yanks off.  I bought the wonderfully titled One Day I'm Going To Soar,  I never doubted it was going to be magnificent and the last Tom Waits album.  Been listening to lots of Tom Waits actually.  I'm particularly enjoying the triple compilation Orphans Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards and I'd forgotten how many great songs Paul Simon has written.  So, just been listening to old guys really.

Anyway,  time for bed and just a though. It may be grim up North and I may be feeling the pinch like lots of others (not all) but ..... what was it McLaren said after we got beat 8-0 by Arsenal?  "We move on.  And with that in mind ere's a little number to make our hearts soar. One, two, three, four....

Until tomorrow.