As I've said before, I am not much of a musician. I'm resigned to the fact that, at my age and with arthritic hands, I will not get better - but I am still ambitious, within my limitations. I try my best. When One for the Wall re-formed, eight years ago, the idea was just…
It used to be cheap. It no longer is, but I don't care. I've enjoyed every day I've spent in Greece. Having just come back from a fortnight in - possibly - my favourite country, I'm waxing lyrical yet again. We day we left Herne Hill began rather strangely. While waiting for our train to…
We haven't been annihilated by Russian missiles. The invasion of Ukraine continues, with thousands killed and millions made refugees, but it all seems far away, certainly far enough to be forgotten on a sunny day in May. I have a feeling that British interest in this war is waning, as it becomes almost normal, a…
You have to treat yourself once in a while, innit? I freely admit to having several guitars. There is the Fender F55 12-string I've had since 1973. But one of the tuning pegs is knackered and it has no pickup or on-board tuner. I don't play it. I could sell it. Maybe I will one…
It's one of those situations where people, especially those with a Brummie accent, will say, "I could see that coming!" Very, very annoying - and the more so because they are right. The trouble with a mandolin (or mandoline?), as opposed to a ukulele, say, is that it is an inherently dangerous piece of kit.…
Since I last posted I’ve been busy. Not full-on busy... but it’s hard to know what others are doing - aside from The Wife, who’s been slogging away, non-stop. Meeting after online meeting, all day long. She gets up early to get some actual work done. So I ought to do my bit. But I…
It’s a fortnight since I wrote my last blog on - you guessed it - Coronavirus. Which certain persons close to home have suggested was alarmist, depressing, over-reactive etc. But it wasn’t hard to guess that where Italy led we would follow - even if we are still a few paces behind. If I sound…
Memories of 1980s Oxford, for the second time this month. In the same week in which I received an invitation to the Osma Centenary Symposium, Andrew informed me that he'd turned up a cassette tape from 1982 while looking (inevitably) for something else. He digitised it and emailed the result to Bernard and me. The…
I am an enthusiastic, if very limited, "musician". I don't think of myself as a musician - and neither does anyone else! I've never been able to read music properly, I've never had a lesson and I am certainly no virtuoso on any instrument. But music means quite a lot to me, and not just…
I was 19 in 1974. The year began inauspiciously with the Three Day Week, power cuts, a miners’ strike and a General Election. It was a matter of debate whether Ted Heath’s government was really in power or just pretending. I can’t say it bothered me much, apart from when the pubs were shut. The…
The Wight Stuff 