A big thanks to Rich in the Lake District who took the above picture at 7.46 am this morning and as he said, “I would assume that the shepherds were suitably panicked.” Yes we couldn’t agree with you more. He told us “We had 9cm rain yesterday and the wind speed on Skiddaw was recorded at more than 100mph. I’m staying indoors!”
We’ve just been in the polytunnel thinking it was a good idea to do some tidying up while the wind was rattling around us, never again!
Before the bad weather came to SE23 this afternoon we did a bit of tidying up in the polytunnel, giving the bench a good wipe down, making sure water weren’t building up in the plates/trays under the pots, lifting anything we could off the floor and general cleaning up as we’d hate to have any disease or what have you, especially on our first year of having one.
We looked online and it’s poor ventilation, lack of airflow and hygiene, that brings in the diseases so we’re a little paranoid to say the least. We heard via Facebook that Bez lost a load of seeds due to rats in his tunnel and he has only recently put the thing up as well. You’d be well disheartened if that happened.
We covered what we could with some spare bubble wrap and even put a makeshift cloche over some seedlings. We even put a couple of polythene bags over the ginger, lemon grass and basil plants on the bench. In the foreground is a tub where the garlic has been planted. We’ll lift them off every now and check to see how things are under the bubble.
It was 14°C in there today so we had the door open a little bit to get some air in but not so much so it brought the temperature down. It’s supposedly sunny tomorrow with a bit of wind so we’ll try and open a couple of vents but the door will certainly not be left open if there’s wind about! Told you we’re not paranoid (much).
As for the Star-of-Bethlehem seeds that we were kindly sent by Debby H, they are doing well on the kitchen windowsill. We’re chuffed that they germinated and can’t wait to see what they turn out like.
Hope those storms (Steve Austin and Bolero) subside soon, and they aren’t causing havoc to our gardening mates around the various part of the UK, so we can all enjoy that extra hour in bed and a Sunday tipping around the garden.
Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for another two great pictures. He took these from a couple of walks he’s been on recently, taking advantage of some good weather. He even managed to see a couple of Deer on his travels. Great stuff Rich and it looks lovely up there!
Cheers to Rich up in the Lake District for sending us some pics taken above his house when trying to capture the latest aurora activity up there. He may not have caught the northern lights but the milky way counts as some heavy stuff. Lovely pictures Rich!
He was telling us that last week was wet and windy in the week. I wonder if we’ll be getting some of that weather down here this week?
And a couple of skyward related tunes for you.
Seen on our travels the other day around Clerkenwell, a bonkers-style bird nesting box made from an old builder’s boot. Wonder does the steel toecap keep in the heat at night? And do you reckon that there’s a camera in the heel part to document the future bird resident’s progress?
We’ve just finished a shortwave International themed mix and chose this cracking version of Manzanita‘s Paga La Cuenta Sinverguenza in a Cumbia Rebajada style (slowed down).
Below is the track at the original turntable intended speed. What speed do you prefer? The track now sounds a bit “Pinky & Perky”.
A couple of weekends ago on Imaginary Stations a programme called CLSC was broadcast via the transmitters of the great Shortwave Gold. “Music we like to think is classic, or classical in nature” was the theme of the show and featured all sorts of loosely defined classic(al) tunes. Have a listen to below how the theme was translated by the Imaginary Stations crew.
Also at a couple of seconds in, is a mix from One Deck Pete called Classical Gas.
Tracklistings are:
Yussef Dayes – Magnolia Symphony
Classical Mechanics – Porphyry
Scientist Ft Alicia Previn – Scientist Spacewalk
The Salsoul Orchestra – You’re just the right size
The Poplar Bluff High School Bands – GRC – Classical Gas
There are more episodes of CLSC to come including CLSC2 which was broadcast last weekend and appears on the Imaginary Stations Mixcloud here.
Firstly thanks a million to Mike from The Crossroads Appreciation Society (here) for his prompt reply and sterling work for finding the episode where the punk band were featured and for putting the clips up on youtube above. It’s a bit of a classic! From these clips we have found out that the band were called The Foremen (a play on four men perhaps, but the band is made up of three men and a women) and the line up was:
Danny Fielding – Lead Guitar and Vocals
Wally Roberts – Keyboard and Synth
Jeff or Geoff Blake – Drums and Percussion
Tracy – Bass Guitar and Personal Manager
They were at the Crossroads Motel reception on their way to the basement studio to record two singles. One of the songs was influenced by or used the lyrics from William Hughes Mearns‘ Antigonish or so Danny told Meg Mortimer later (Wikipedia mentioned that “David Bowie is believed to have partially inspired the lyrics for David Bowie‘s 1970 track “The Man Who Sold the World,” which describes an encounter “upon the stairs” between Bowie (who “wasn’t there”) and the titular figure”).
With songs like this and the use of a synth, could they be considered even Post-Punk or New Romantic with that image? Or are we being very genre-pedantic there?
Mike told us “There was a ‘story’ to the recording studio which was opened by Chris Hunter (David Hunter’s son). It was called Eldorado Records which had Kate Long (Kate Robins) as its major star. Really Lew Grade’s way – as he had several times prior – to
get a chart single seen on Crossroads to get into the charts.” Brilliant stuff.
He went on to say “Not sure it would be classed as a social issue, but for whatever reason, ATV wanted to show the punk group in a positive light. The alternative music show Revolver at that time had been produced in the studio next door (which is) possibly the reason they did it”.
We love the clip, which starts “With Meg being annoyed with them, playing their music loud in the reception. But later one wanders into her office, she assumes to cause trouble, but he instead has a nice conversation with her.”
It’s terrible to think that all of this time that we thought the band were the ones who started the fire. Apparently not but Mike added “A long time ago one of the actors who played a punk in the band did email us to mention he also played one of the ‘thugs’ that started the fire”. We knew that Danny Fielding and his mob were the good guys!
If you want to know anything about the long-running Soap Opera and we mean anything we recommend you to visit the fan club site here. There is so much info on there, including music related referenced, including a Coventry Connection (of course) here:
Cheers again Mike and thanks very much for your help again!
While we were putting together a shortwave mix we came across a cover of the Crossroads Theme Tune that we couldn’t stop smiling to by The Lost T-Shirts of Atlantis. It is some tune! (The cast above including Carney the Gardener, Benny and is that Buzz the hippy character with the long hair and beard at the back?)
Question of the evening is “What does hearing The Theme from Crossroads by Tony Hatch, mean to you?” Answers to one deck pete (at) gee male dot com.
The other month we got this great multi-coloured Bolivian Rainbow Chilli Pepper plant from Herne Hill Market that is now housed in the polytunnel and seems to love it in there so much as we are now getting more great purple flowers. Great stuff!
