DJ360

Cut my grass a few days ago. It's growing like the clappers. Just finished painting out the new loo today. For some reason both Mrs Col and me were 'knocked daft' by the primer I used on some new timber. That's all gone now. Undercoated it all yesterday and a coat of gloss today.. though Mrs Col decided to dip out and go to her sisters while I did the work. Won't get much time here on Thurs as I have a dentist's appt. to look at doing summat with the tooth I had the abscess on a few weeks back. Also, Thurs night 21st, I'm going to see Professor Brian Cox, doing his Astrophysical Show in Liverpool. Mrs Col bought tickets for Christmas. Then an early night as I'm on the 06:28 train from Wigan to Bristol for the Bristol Hi Fi Show. on Fri 22nd. A geekfest of epic proportions.... We will spend much of the day listening to assorted hi-fi kit. Much of it will be crap. The 'big names' tend to fail spectacularly at these events. Some bloke with a sensible pair of speakers and a moderately powered amp, much like what many of us use.. tends to get 'sound of the show'. I treat it as a day out. I've already got the best system I can put together and afford... you get a bit jaundiced after a few decades of shows featuring much the same... Just a pity that while geeks like me seek the 'ultimate', most people have no clue how much better they could hear music, for not much. Rant over. I'll report back Sat 23rd .. ish

Ben and Trogg. I'm in Nottm Thurs 7th March for an evening meeting with frends. I can be in Boowul Wethies Friday morning 8th., before heading home. Would be great to see you both again. All others welcome obviously. Col

Turn off the location stuff on yer phone. I imagine.. with little evidence, that 'yer phone' is finding your location mostly from your nearest mobile mast. The things are everywhere. No need for your phone to have a direct connection to a satellite.

Time for more 'Minutiae'. Sadly, I don't have pictures. And I may have related this before but I can't recall.. it's an age thing... As we looked out from our house on Southglade and over towards Rigley's we saw a hollow meadow , leading to a steep bank. That bank led up to a flat area created by Rigleys Wagon Works, as a storage area for assorted rail rolling stock which they serviced, repaired or scrapped. It was essentially a large private set of rail sidings. I think I've already described how one tree, growing from the base of the Leen Valley Line and the 'Rigley's Bank', and no doubt being older than both.., served as our 'swing tree' in the fifties and left me with scars I still bear.. However, one summer morning probably around 1956-58.. I awoke to a lot of banging and hammering on the 'Rigley's Bank'. Back in those days, though I was only about 8 or 9 years old, I was.. like all the other kids. allowed to roam freely on the fields. I wandered across to the bank and was seriously impressed. A group of 'bigger boys', had laid a double row of railway sleepers down the bank and were in the process of nailing sheets of scrounged up corrugated iron to them. They were using any old nails they could get, also from the Rigley's area and mostly what I later found were called 'cut nails'. The nails were used to secure ragged sheets of corrugated iron sheeting to the double row of rail sleepers, to create a 'run'. Next.. the idea was that some hero would ride another sheet of corrugated iron down the 'run'. So. we have rough sleepers (not the current kind...) jagged sheets of corrugated iron... sticky out 'cut nails', gravity and young lads. .... What could possibly go wrong..?? As I recall.. a steady stream of 'walking wounded', with cuts, grazes, lacerations etc., but with character suitably built. Them wer't days.

'Second star to the right and straight on till morning..' (Actually.. being a bit of a namby pamby Snowflake, I prefer 'second star to the left..', but it's no biggy...)

Nobody said the job was in Cognito. Too far for me to travel I'm afraid .

Map here: https://www.google.com/maps/@53.0451275,-1.2044131,972m/data=!3m1!1e3 Carlingford Rd leading to what is now called 'Linby Walk' I suspect it's the old Black Pad that I used to walk up to get to Linby when I was at mining college and attached to Linby Colliery. 'Linby Walk' now leads to a newish looking industrial area which could well be on the site of the old Linby Colliery, though it seems to go under the railway and I don't recall that. A long time ago. 1965.

So. feeling pretty enthusiastic after getting past tooth abscesses etc., I agreed to go for a walk with next door neighbour. We set off up Billinge Hill and over the other side via assorted footpaths ending up at a little place called Pimbo. There's a Garden Centre there where we had a quick coffee before heading back by a slightly different route, again across country and back home. A total of about 8 miles and my 'Samsung Health App' was congratulating me on my biggest daily step total for a while. Trouble is, from about halfway on the outward walk, my legs were beginning to give out. Not just the worn out right knee, but both legs. .. .tired.. heavy and painful enough to stop walking being a pleasure. Most of the walk home was 'purgatory', but there are no buses and I didn't want to resort to calling out Mrs Col. My neighbour was insisting that this wasn't right and strongly urging me to see a Doc about this. Thing is.. less than ten years ago 20 miles in a day wasn't a problem. Last mile or so was torture as I had to will my legs to move forward and by the time I got home I literally felt sick. Woke up next morning with a very fast heartbeat and then struggled to get downstairs. Just moving about today has been hard. And I've booked a Doc's appointment. Am still inclined to think I probably just overdid it, but disappoined that it has come to this.. and wondering if it might be more.. some sort of 'claudication' or other circulatory issue related to my ticker etc. It's a real downer. I used to love running, then I loved walking.. Not much of it left.

This song seems to be doing the rounds on tv ads at present. I recall it from the late 60s but I'd be lying if I said I recalled who it was...

Pretty much thanks. Had another flare up of tooth abscess and another 8 days off the booze due to strange antibiotics, but all seems OK now.

I may have posted this before. but I love it... The Vernon Girls started as a group of girls woking at Vernon's Pools in Liverpool. As a kid in Nottm, I thought they were seriously uncool. Naff to be honest. But looking back now they were just girls having a good time, sending themselves up and making a crust. Well worth reading the comments under this vid. The most famous Vernon Girl was probably Vicki, who married Joe Brown and whose Daughter Sam Brown had a huge hit wth 'Stop' in the 80s.

Was listening to a Radio 4 interview with Polly (P.J) Harvey this afternoon. Must admit that I don't know her music as well as I should, but she was talking about her theatre music composition and how one play featured repeated playing of Liebestraum. (Dreams of Love) by Franz Liszt. One of my fave tunes of all time.. On Saturday last I was at friends who played a bit of Robert Cray on Spotify.. I determined to dig out my copy of his album 'Strong Persuader', which I haven't played for about 20 years.. Anyway.. Dig!!

Dunno.. but sharps disposal is essentially a personal and public health issue which ought to be legislated for and funded equally nationwide. It shouldn't be down to variously loaded and variously local Councils.

Hmm.. MRI.. good point. I must look into it once I've saved my £20k....

I sympathise Carni. To use the correct medical terminology, my teeth have always been crap. I've always brushed and flossed regularly. I visit the dentist regularly too, yet my teeth just continue to crumble. Thing is I dread the thought of any type of denture and will endure anything or any cost (within reason) to keep them for as long as possible. If I had a spare £20k or so, I'd get a nice new gob full of implants and veneers, but that's unlikely to happen.