Willow wilson

It's got a couple of tricky looking formulae in it, maybe you'll understand them, I don't, but apart from that I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

My adolescence started when I left school late 1959, without a certificate to my name. A lot of the time was spent in coffee bars; the 49, el Toreador, which had an upstairs called Sargasso and had fishing nets and glass floats hanging about. The 49 was on 3 floors. They were all packed out with teenagers weekend evenings. We went there some Saturdays lunchtime after the Gaumont show. The sound system in the 49 was 1 plywood box about the size of a weetabix box per floor but it was all a new experience. There were two brothers used to frequent there, Ron May and Billy May. They went on to work the oil rigs in 65 according to The Post. Brenda Lee, Everleys, Elvis, all played thru that speaker. I really love and treasure those halcyon days, good atmosphere good friends, mediocre coffee, and a mysterious, exciting and inviting future life beckoning. We would visit the Flying Dutchman coffee bar in the lace market or that cafe at the top of Victoria Street in a basement where they regularly played Blue Moon by the ??Marcel's?? One week I'd be Elvis, another, Duane Eddy, and then James Dean. I really fancied my chances. Lol. Well I was 6ft, slim, 12 stone with a mass of black brylcreemed hair. These days I can say I'm 6ft. I went to St Margaret's youth club a few times where there were a couple of youths who flashed flick knives about but it was all bravado, they weren't threatening. Besides, I knew them, they lived up Grassington road somewhere. I'm on a roll now so I'd better stop.

............feeling the pathos.

Marcus du Sautoy, "The Music of the Primes" is my current re-read, 300 pages but also includes short biographies of mathematicians of the last few centuries. There are other books. With regard to ourselves I guess we are all a bit of the universe and at the same time privileged observers of it. But I'm straying into the subject of consciousness there so I'll stop.

Wednesday's musings. I read recently a book by a mathematician who informed me that there are 2 infinities. One is a knowable infinity derived from integers and the other an unknowable infinity derived from irrational numbers. I was wondering, is the universe aware of our system of numbering things and processing these numbers by maths and formulae. It does its thing without an instruction manual. It's not read our books. Or maybe the manual is the material. Apparently modern computers have identified the first 10 billion or so prime numbers but we haven't yet derived a formula to predict subsequent prime numbers starting from anywhere in the series. Are prime numbers relevant to the universe or an abstract invention. A scientist will say, that's near enough but a mathematician will say no, it's got to be perfect. (So I'm told). What interests me is that the universe built itself without reference to our mathematics or theories. What we call laws of nature are laws of humans constructed from observations & which give us a good basis for predicting things. When we say "why this" we investigate but the results more often pushes the ultimate solution another step away from us. The universe leads and we follow. I wonder if it's playing with us like we would play with a kitten or a fish on a line. We are stardust, we are golden. We are billion year old carbon. (Stardust, Crosby, Stills, Nash.)

I didn't use that end, that was the welding shop. I went in Malt Cottages entrance, past the bike shed and up the flight of stairs to the 1st floor.

That's it Cliff Ton. Thanks for that.

I've just been browsing the bus threads, some posts referring Hanley street. I used to get on my bus home there and I now have vague vision of a pub attached to the west end of the CO OP at the top of that narrow street the bottom of which came out on Toll Hill. Was there a pub there coz I'm sure I've been in it?

Always an enlightening subject. When I was a lot younger the raw guitar riffs inspiring my emotions were Tobacco Road by Nashville Teens, Stones Satisfaction and All Over Town and, later, any of the guitar bits in Ramjams Black Betty. And The Kinks You Really Got Me. Hmm ...1964...Skegness..Butlins..... Anyway, Earnie Shears' intro to Cliff's Move it we also considered brilliant because we could easily copy it and annoy the parents, along with The Pirates Shaking all Over. Alvin Lee got a mention earlier and quite rightly too, most of his work was impressive imo. So, moving off riffs, consider the guitar in his The Bluest Blues 2nd improv, it hints at a bit Gilmor-ish in places. Knopfler was always good for a riff too. So much to choose from it's difficult for me to make a definitive choice, it depends a lot on the weather.

Round Sneinton market in the 80s was the Prits, Cliffoe (Clifton later Marketside), Bath, Vine, Madhouse, Alfred's, (Earl) 'ow, Lamp, Billy, Peel, Stag, Castle, Mill. Brit, (Admiral) Drunkan. And once a year the beer fest in Vic baths. Done 'em all but not all in the same lunchtime.

Yay. Got a free pint on the house the day that opened, about 1965 I think. And joined the darts team. I seem to remember the Juke box always playing Tom Jones what's new pussy cat and The Fortunes Here it comes again. Which is what we sang to anyone of the gang who'd drunk too much and was surrendering it to the lav. Prior to that we were customers of the Manvers back room: darts, table skittles, Juke box, beer. Rinse and repeat next evening. Calmed down a bit since then.

"anyone remember it I was in a maths class at the time" I remember it well and I was also in the maths class, poohbear. That teacher's got to be Kinder!

Think the metalwork staff in my era 55-59 were "Ben" Lion and Wrathall who owned an MG TC at one point. There was one teacher who owned a 3 wheel Morgan special? It was made of thin planks of wood gracefully sculptured into curves from front to back. It looked like an upside down rowing boat with a hole cut out for the driver.

Straight from school I started work at Syd Smith And Sons on Egypt rd Basford making and calibrating bourdon tube pressure/vacuum gauges. Doing a net search of that company produced some promotional literature and a bit of history. I think the Egypt rd site was the original family owned business and later, early 20th century, the family for some reason split and started their own individual businesses each with the name Smith or S Smith. There was one offshoot on Cinderhill rd one on Bobbers Mill rd and the original in Basford all in the valve business. The Basford one had an annexe machine shop somewhere up Palm st where I trained on capstan lathes. They also had a unit down Lenton lane where Easter park is now. The Basford business was taken over by Hattersley Newman Henderson (I think that's correct) in the early 60s after I'd left.

This would be a man who called himself Carl Danger. I and few friends backed him in a gig in a pub on Birkin avenue (Albany?) Hyson Green in 1960. He was a very good Gene Vincent lookalike and was quite handy playing piano. He liked singing Pistol Packing Momma. I think he was a Scotsman and he lived in the Bobbersmill rd. area. In his back yard was an old Rudge motorbike with girder forks. I'd never driven a m/bike but I had a go at this one up and down Bobbers Mill road until I got the hang of it. Carl once did a 24 hour piano playing marathon in the Commodore rooms. I saw the real Gene Vincent at the Empire Theatre.