The micro-pond has disappeared so have the leak detection team alongside the Mole which is wrapped in a black bin bag at the back of their white van. We will miss you all and we don’t really want to be seeing you again (in the nicest way possible). Thank you LDT!
The mains water leak has been fixed and there is no longer a micro-pond in our front garden. The Leak Detection Team (LDT to those in the know) came this morning in their unmarked white van as not to attract attention. We were expecting the said team to bring out their sophisticated “mole” device but it was kept in the back of the van in a bin bag while a bloke wrestled with a digging instrument that looked like it was from out of the middle ages.
It took the three blokes 15 minutes to fix the leak with them saying “I wish all our jobs were as easy as this one” while we were shown a cracked piece of lead piping from the days of old. Running water and heating are now back on at Weeds HQ and the Mole was not needed this time. Big thanks to the Leak Detection Team!
Not exactly the finest weekend here at Weeds HQ. We had a burst water main that meant an addition of a micro-pond in the front garden so presently no running water and heating and to add to that a pair of glasses were lost on the P4 bus.
We did however have a little firework celebration earlier this evening with a pack of giant sparklers and a £14.99 box of fireworks from Lewisham Lldl. Obviously it weren’t as long a show as the fireworks they put on at The Thames for New Year’s Eve but they weren’t bad for the price either. We even burnt a fair bit of wood we cut down from the tree next door earlier this year (here). Musical accompliment to said firework display (unlike the ELO, Rolling Stones and Elton John they play on NYE) was provided by The Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room 23.10.2023 where he plays a fair few tracks from The Other Others LP. A fine show!
Whilst the fireworks were fireworking we were reminded of those public information films of the 1970’s where they used to try and frighten the living daylights out of you (and always used to go on about keeping the fireworks in a closed old biscuit tin). So to end this post here’s a few that are embedded in our consciousness. Have a good bonfire night!
Big thanks to Rich R in the Lake District for sending us these great pictures. The snow cap peak is Blencathra or as the Victorian Tourists named it, Saddleback. What is strange is that the pic was taken (from his front doorstep) 3 years ago to the very day.
Now fast forward 3 years and look at the weather up there today (pic below), you wouldn’t think it was November. This morning in Forest Hill we picked some ripe cherry tomatoes off a plant in the back. How mad is that? Cheers for the pics Rich!
It’s November and things are definitely slowing down as the winter weather is now coming in thick and fast and so are the dark nights. No frosts as yet but lots of wind and rain. There’s still a few flowers in the back garden as well which is a nice suprise.
As for the butternut squash, it is still producing fruits and the big one has been dug into by something and is split in the middle. We won’t be eating that! There is no way we’ll get some warmth or sunshine to ripen them up sadly.
And as for the pond, if we have any more rain we’ll be bucketing some water out of it as it’s well close to the top now. Crazy weather we’re having!
Thanks to our good mate Gerry Hectic who recommended this piece of dubwise this morning from Jay Glass Dubs from Anthens, Greece. It’s very gardening related too what with the name of Narcissus. Very nice.
And one from us on this sunny but cold day, a nice Jazz type dub vibe from New Zion Trio out of New York with a 9 minute version of Ras Michael and the Sons Of Negus’ None A Jah Jah Children Dub. Wow, what a tune.
Thanks to our good friend and musical collaborator Jasmine Tutum for letting us know of her recent album for Jahtari Music as The Other Others. It’s eclectic and out there (in the best way possible) and is well worth having a listen.
Here’s a track to the late great Ari Up called “Can’t Trust”, excellent stuff.
And some dancefloor business with Daze Days. Mad!
And cheers to Jasmine for sending us pictures of her balcony of Scotch Bonnets which are being harvested today as frosts are immiment in Germany at the moment. They look great and making us think of growing some Scotch Bonnets next year.
More on The Other Others LP on Jahtari Bandcamp here.
Blimmin eck, it didn’t half come down in the early hours today in London, so much so that the water in the pond is quite close to the top. If it rains any more those goldfish will be touching the pea netting which is there to keep the Lewisham Heron out.
Talking of showers or “music like shower” to be exact, a big shout goes out to Steve Barker of the excellent long running On The Wire radio show for getting back to us on the name of the mystery tune on the compilation from the Little Axe label. It’s called So long baby/An Irie Version by Derrick Morgan & Paulett/Prince Trinity and it’s a heavy tune!
If you want to hear a top show full of reggae and all sorts of great records tap into the latest shows of On The Wire on Totally Radio here or have a look through the archive on the blogspot here. You will enjoy it! Cheers again Steve!
Well things should be coming towards an end in a couple of week’s time and all that outside gardening fun may be slowing down but we still can grow stuff on our windowsill. The chillies we got in a plant swap are still going well. If it gets the heat and the protection from frosts it may survive and give us more hot chillies. Even the butternut squash outside is still cracking on.
Also the other day we relistened to the B side of a compilation we bought a couple of weeks ago and found (at 17 mins in on the above) a 1970’s Bunny Lee/King Tubby’s sounding cut of the wonderful Shirley & Lee’s – Lee Goofed. There’s versions out there by John Holt & Hortense Ellis (So long Baby) and The Love Children/The Marvels (Lee Goofed) on youtube but nothing sounding as heavy as the one on the Little Axe Compilation (A label which releases some wonderful tunes by the way and worth checking out). Any ideas on what the version on the compilation is? Any ideas appreciated.
The cut reminded us of those 1970’s old singles on the Grounation label like these two corkers below. Now there was a good label.
Here’s Sunday night’s transmission of Skybird Radio International which was broadcast through the services of Shortwave Gold. There’s tracks from all over the map and genre’s galore.
At 45 seconds in is One Deck Pete‘s third mix for Skybird Radio International and here’s the track listings:
Madtone – Diamonds in the Sky (Excerpt)
Les Maîtres Fous – La Mort d’Icare
Aselefech Ashine & Getenesh Kebret – Wegenne
Narcy – Nehaya
Wilmoth Houdini – Blow Wind Blow
Unknown Track off “Cantos Oscuros” from Little Axe Records (at 05.18 in on Side 1).
Enjoy the sounds from all around this Earth of ours!
Weeds up to me knees 