SAD TIMES

A double whammy last Saturday, when news came through of two deaths, on the same day, of two of my heroes, The Captain and Ralphy Coates. How funny it is to put the two of them into the same sentence. Had they not sadly passed at the same time it might never have happened, and why should it? They were at two opposing ends of the entertainment spectrum, indeed Ralph, who played for Spurs in the seventies, scoring the winning goal in The League Cup Final at Wembley and at the same time confusing my very good friend Nick Iddon with his shiny shorts, ,probably never considered himself as part of the entertainment industry. He was a great little player. I remember him for having an even greater 'comb over' than Bobby Charlton. Many's the time I witnessed him flying up the wing with it streaming behind him, like a jet vapour trail. He was only recently interviewed on the pitch at half time and now.....he's gone.

And then there was The Captain. Childhood friend of my hero Frank Zappa and a little bit weird to say the least but as usual with artists such as his eccentric self, a genius, capable of mind-bending harp playing such as I first experienced as a callow, youthful hairy muso, when I bought the sampler entitled 'Gutbucket' As well as The Groundhog's 'Still A Fool', TonyMcPhee's 'No More Doggin' and The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band's 'Can White Men Sing The Blues?' , there was also the classic Beefeheart track 'Gimmie That Harp Boy' and I can honestly say that as a 15 year old I had NEVER heard harmonica playing like that. And then there was his vocals. I was converted. His classics 'Safe As Milk' and 'Trout Mask Replica' were soon added to the collection and the highlight for me arrived later in his contribution to Zappa's album 'Bongo Fury' to be followed a few years later by the magnificent 'Observatory Crest'. click here to view and listen to the track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2yWkgs_Nk

I suppose there will be more to add to this list next year and soon our own contemporaries will start to fade away and then.......

Anyway.......Happy Christmas!

CHAOS

It was a great idea last summer!

It was coming, and we all knew it. The country was braced for it the weather reports warned us, you could see it coming...........but as usual the few centimetres of snow that have fallen have brought the country to another pathetic standstill.

Winner of the 'most clothes on' competition!

Yesterday, when the 'storm' had passed, Trish and I went for a walk around the village. For those of you that don't know this village, there is a small hill that runs past the pub and up to the crossroads. We walked that way yesterday, for a reason, to participate in one of my favourite spectator sports, watching stupid English people try to drive in the snowy conditions.

Our road last night

Roads round here remain untreated and really, anyone with half a brain would stay at home until the worst of the conditions passed, but Oh no, with the spirit of Cook, Hilary and Fines coursing through their veins, the English can be seen climbing into their cars to tackle the snow covered roads with less skill at their disposal than the sum total of the England football team. How they slithered yesterday. One after another they wheel spun up the insignificant gradient, that seems to be the plan for most of them, rotate the wheels as fast as you can so as to provide the optimum purchase.

The top of wheelspin hill

Those friends who live in Sweden are often asking me why we don't have laws forcing people to change to winter tyres at the beginning of the 'season to be merry'. It's always been a good question, and now I know the answer. According to BBC news last week, insurance companies, instead of being happy that people swap to safer tyres actually charger higher premiums for those that do. Unbelievable? Click here for confirmation:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11969958 What a pathetic country we live in.

Anyway, for those of you who are regular readers, you will no doubt remember my promise last spring, whilst marooned in Kuala Lumpur, never to moan about our climate again, I must point out that I'm not moaning about the weather, I'm moaning about the English attitude towards it and their way of dealing with it. Round here it's turned from beautiful to extremely beautiful and while I was on my way to the paper shop I thought I would take some photos. And here they are. Now I know people like Ally and Jim don't like this kind of weather but I think you will agree, that if you are in anyway interested in photography, you will go a long way to beat the sheer scope and variation of the photo opportunities afforded to residents in this land throughout the year, if only they could drive!