It may be cold outside but inside there’s always music

There’s not much to see in the garden at the moment but the compost heap is still composting, the fish are swimming at the bottom of the pond and there’s protection all around the garden for the forthcoming cold snap(s). Apart from the odd bit of tidying up we haven’t done that much apart from visiting the compost heap with the odd teabag and veg peelings. When we can remember we always stick a small layer of already made compost on the heap from the dalek bin beside it which will hopefully help the whole process.

We’re also in the process of looking through our seed tin. Even if we can’t do anything in the garden at the moment at least we can plan for the spring.

And if you’re finding the cold is getting to you, get your stereo/headphones on and have a listen to the studio version of Radio Clarion for an hour of trumpet based delights, well worth listening to. It also features at 8.40 minutes in a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” with tracks from The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook.

And thanks to our good friend Gerry Hectic here’s a great trackfrom Telefís ‘Falun Gong Dancer’ with Jah Wobble – Donkey’s Gudge Dub. Excellent stuff with a nice video too.

The trumpets sound, the angels sing

A week tomorrow (and the Sunday after) Radio Clarion takes to the shortwaves via Channel 292 with a trumpet themed broadcast. Tune in on your shortwave radio or by clicking here at 1200 UTC on Sunday 23rd/30th January on 9670 kHz.

There will be a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” featuring The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook. After the broadcast the audio of Radio Clarion will be posted up here. #shortwavesnotdead #trumpetsnotdead

There are eight million stories (in a south London garden)

It was the last day of our six week furlough today (we can’t believe it’s June already!) and we’re back to working from home tomorrow so any gardening will now be done during lunchhour and after work.

Today’s final day of furlough gardening action featured seeing steam come off the compost heap and we could feel the heat, as we stuck a garden fork in to turn the pile. Those dalek bin’s ain’t great when it comes to turning compost but at least something is happening in there. #compostingduringlockdown

And we’re loving the poppies that are either self-sown or are as a result of our “chuck the seed anywhere” favourite method of seed sowing technique. #poppiesduringlockdown

Keep em peeled for the cooler weather later this week and for a bit of well needed rain just as we hear there may be a hosepipe ban in force soon. And thanks to that damn lockdown the side bed has never been so tidy! #gardeningthroughlockdown

Lessons learnt during lockdown: 1. To fix a pull-down cord lightswitch in the bathroom – just give it a tap around the sides with the head of a screwdriver. 2. Putting your bins out as early as 2pm on a “bin night” during these troubled times is acceptable, there is no stigma attached. #itslockdownbinnight