Author Archives: onedeckpete

A message from Kyiv

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As always, it’s good to hear from Wlad (US7IGN) in Ukraine. If you remember, Wlad was featured in a Radio 4 documentary called Lights Out in an episode called Call Signs (here) which was about life as a radio amateur living and working in Kyiv during the Russian invasion. He also has two books out about his experiences and they’re well worth reading if you want an insight on what is life is like out there. More about the books here.

Wlad was telling us that his good friend Sergiy (UT3UFD) is not only growing a banana tree (more on that here) and bonsai but he’s also growing seeds from fruit he eats. The photos above and below are his avocado plants, brilliant stuff. Thanks for keeping us updated, Wlad, and as always, our best wishes to you and Sergiy over there.

We’ve found something on the RHS website about growing avocados plants from seed here. It’s interesting stuff.

And now the end is near

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The back garden is in a bit of a mess at the moment as we haven’t been able to go out there as much as we would have liked to of late. There’s a still a couple of things that make us smile though. This morning we saw this cosmos (above), peeking through the broken paving slabs at the back of the pond after our “throw them everywhere” sowing experiments earlier this year.

The echinacea we got from B&Q (above) is still making a stand and hopefully if it don’t rot off over the winter due to the heavy soil here we’ve get more next year and the calendula (below) which was sown by the same method is great too. Do send us your end of season pictures (to one deck pete at gee mail dot com) and we’ll post them up.

 

A view from north London

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Cheers to Debby H for getting out in the garden and taking some pictures for us now things are coming to a close but you wouldn’t think it with these photographs though.

Above are the cosmos that are still flowering and looking great and below are some cosmos deadheads which’ll be used for seeds. Debby told us you don’t even need to break the seed heads up that much, just put them as they come in a seed tray in the spring. We have to deadhead ours actually, before it starts getting wet and the chance of things going mouldy on us.

Below “The sedum is now looking very pretty” she said and she’s right. It’s a nice plant and seems to do well in UK gardens. It loves full sun and can even tolerate a bit of shade and the bees and pollinators seem to love it.
Below, “Interestingly, one of the dwarf sunflowers that we thought was dead has grown three flowers where there was previously only one.” Brilliant stuff Debby! We look forward to more photos and thanks as ever for sending them on.

Gerry Hectic in another mix up style

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Big shout to our good friend down south Gerry Hectic, for including a couple of Weeds up to me knees related tunes in a mix he’s done for the excellent Dubmission show called “I blame the coal board”. The show includes all sorts of great stuff on it and so much we’ve never heard before, so tune in. Wonderful mix Gerry, ta for including the tunes and hope all is well in the garden!

The pic above (of Gerry’s fence during a well windy period the other year) is quite apt what with the windy conditions we’re supposed to be experiencing later today.

Gerry Hectic’s “I Blame The Coal Board” Mix
Azimuth – The Tunnel [Late Night Tales]
Leo Chadburn – Move Like a Freight Train [Library of Nothing]
Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet – Beautiful People (Slow Version) [NoPaper]
Radio Halesowen Town – Commenetary Grimbsy Borough vs. Halesowen Town [FA Cup UTY, 13.09.25]
Madtone – Interval Signal Jazz (Blossoms Kitchen)
Farda P – Catfood Supachunka (‘Wolverhampton’ Edit)
Rockers Hi-Fi – Going Under [!K7]
One Deck & Popular – Enrico (Hay-eer-yah’s Harmonica Cut) [Black Country Route]
Session Victim – Behind The Glass [Delusions of Grandeur]
Kuniko Yamada – Tetsugaku Shiyo (Viens Philosopher) [Rush Hour]
Public Enemy – Fight The Power (Robot84 Jazztastic Edit) [Robot Edits]
Pittsburgh Track Authority – Slide (7am Mix) feat. Brandon Markell Holmes [In The Machine Age]
Jean Jaques Smoothie – 2People feat. Tara Busch & Rochenko (Dubwise Mix) [Colour & Pitch]
Biggabush – This River feat. Jackie Walters (Gerry Hectic’s River Stour Towpath Extension) [Tru Thoughts]
Lynyn – 4m Hiero [Sooper]
Darren Morris – Deep Morning [Ramrock Noir]
Gerry B. Hectic – 10 Seconds Over Bournemouth (aka The Beginning Of The End)

But, do you know where you lad’s going tonight?

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This morning we found the long version of the 1970’s public information film “Do you know where you lad’s going tonight?”, the shorter version of it used on One Deck Pete‘s “Lesson 1” mix here at 9.09 in.

The full version has a cockney sing-along by who we first thought was Lonnie Donegan  but turns out it’s Joe Brown and the Brothers.

It’s a real shame though that the tune didn’t have lyrics around the subject of the advert (being 1970’s vandalism) like “I’m bored with the crap in the biscuit tin, may go down the town and put a few wind-aws in. A neighbour’s greenhouse has all its panes intact, I’m going to smash them all now, with a brick in fact” but you can’t have everything!

Do you know where you lad’s going tonight?

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Here’s a recording of last weekend’s Skybird School of the Air broadcast via Shortwave Gold featuring an education theme. There’s all sorts of school/university/teacher references in there including a mix called “Lesson1” at 2.57 in from One Deck Pete.

Here’s the tracklisting:
Timetable – Anti Chamber
Madtone Vs Biggabush – Where’s your bike
Teacher Jekyll – Otro Sonido
Do you know where your lad’s going tonight? 1970’s Public Information film
Eccentronic Research Council – Bun Fight in the Open University Staff Room
Madtone Vs The Upsetters vs Kenny Everett
L’Equipe du Son – Lesson 1

Enjoy the start of term vibes!

For your Sunday listening pleasure

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Here’s a wonderful tune found while looking for music for a forthcoming shortwave mix and again it is from the ever-wonderful Mississippi Records here. From the lovely cover of the LP with a beaming Alick Nkhata behind a radio mike in a room full of records, this tune Kalindawalo Ni Mfumu has a sort of a rock n roll feel, lovely harmonies with even a brass band (it sure sounds like it) and lovely tinkering of the ivories thrown in towards the end. This tune will not fail to make you smile!

Listen carefully

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We’ve posted this up before thanks to discovering the tune off our good friend across the pond Justin Patrick Moore. It’s by Glenda Collins and called It’s hard to believe it. Denis H from The Joe Meek Society send us this alternative take a while ago but last night we found a lot clearer version which features those shortwave radio samples even clearer. Are those a couple of tape rewinds at 0.17 and 0.25?

We can’t remember exactly what Denis H told us but it was something like Joe may have had a subscription to an electronics magazine like Practical Wireless at the time and given his excellent knowledge of electronics he had more than enough skill to put together a shortwave radio. Great to hear the samples in all their glory!

We had joy, we had fun, we had a season in the sun

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Last weekend we returned from a week away visiting some great East Sussex locations such as Camber Sands, Eastbourne and Brighton. Weather weren’t too bad (a bit of rain in the morning but usually sunny in the afternoon) but it has seemed to have changed when we got back home. Everything in the garden is now winding down, the tomatoes have their last fruit on them, the cosmos are still going (more on those later) and the giant sunflower (from seed bought off ebay) is doing great, following the sun as usual (more on that here).

We brought in the houseplants that were having a holiday outside, a chilli in a pot which will hopefully survive the winter and be back outside in the garden as they are technically perennials and even a couple of the pelargoniums taken from cuttings from the ones at the local train station. Why not? It’s nice to have a bit of the outside indoors.

Our north London correspondent Debby H has suggested we should get a page together of how people’s cosmos did this year and have a bit of a gallery going on and we think it’s a great idea. If the slugs got at your seedlings earlier on, don’t worry we will repeat it next year but any pictures of your cosmos to one deck pete (at) gee mail dot com please.

Also a massive shout and thanks to Jon Harris from the excellent multi-genre music  show called Coughing Pigeon on Brum Radio here. On the 1st August show they played Madtone Safety Council V BiggaBush‘s Lock your bike at 01.15. The show continues in the usual unusual way with all sorts of great stuff from the dubby to this wonderful tune from Christie Laume called Rouge Rouge, wonderful stuff indeed.

 

As it says on the website “You should approach every Coughing Pigeon show with a degree of both certainty and curiosity about what you will hear. Household names feature alongside the relatively unknown in a quest to create a unique listening experience” and they are right!