"Little Victories" - A Homage

One regular feature on this blog, is that of "Little Victories", those odd little highlights during the day when one feels one is 'winning' in life. Usually this means finding 5p left in the coffee machine, or an under priced bag of crisps in the vending machine.
What you probably don't know is that I took the phrase from "Porridge", a UK sit-com from the 1970's starring Ronnie Barker.
Sadly, this week, Ronnie Barker died at the age of 76. His writing, comedy and acting talents made his craft look easy. The legacy of the work he willleave behind is enourmous and will entertain generations to come.

Listening Post #0001

Overheard in Post office queue

Mother: No use looking at those birthday cards you've missed his birthday
Child 1 : Oh! I'll be 13 next birthday
Child 2 : I'll be 11
Mother : And I'll be 27!

Am I Getting Old #0002
Spotted this in a "High Fashion" establishment in Crawley (yes such things do exist). Can someone explain what type of person would wear this???

How about that? Blogger can now post images :-). To commerate this event, here's a lovely picture taken on the K750i of a sunset over Walton-on-Thames last week (as viewed from the Swan Public House)

Am I Getting Old...?

E-mail I sent to local radio station today

"I am writing to you in connection with a publicity stunt on the Running Horse roundabout in Maidstone, that I believe to be connected with your radio station. This caused considerable inconvenience to many people who use that roundabout, either to access the London bound M20 or to get into Maidstone itself. I shall explain.

As I joined the A229 this morning, from Burham, at approx 8am, I had to queue to get onto Bluebell Hill, an occurrence that only usually happens when there has been an accident. During the 15 minutes it took me to travel the 1 mile from the Shell garage to the Running Horse Roundabout, I witnessed two incidents that nearly resulted in motor vehicle collisions and one incident of "road rage". These all occurred directly in front of me and as a consequence of the traffic build-up. Drivers attempted to jump the queue of traffic or had to negotiate blocked exits on slip roads and roundabouts approaching the Running Horse roundabout.

At the roundabout, I discovered the reason for the delay. On the grass verge, was a vehicle festooned with Invicta Radio insignia and two young men enacting a Star Wars light sabre fight. I believe one was dressed as Obi-Won Kenobi (Episode 1-3 era) and the other as Darth Vader, who incidentally was the weediest Darth Vader I have ever had the displeasure to see. This was deemed considerable enough distraction by motorists, to slow down and cause the build up of traffic.

I'm no "killjoy" but I do think that this stunt was ill-conceived, reckless and potentially dangerous. Traffic at that roundabout is often very busy and requires drivers to concentrate fully on the road. The delay it caused to my journey this morning was frustrating, annoying and needless.

In the future please consider the impact such events have on road users, particularly during rush-hour, when many of us simply want to get from our homes to our place of work."

I'm No Neil Peart #00003


8:47am... the CD kicks in "Another piece of Meat", boy those Teutons can play. They sounded good with Schenker on lead... but if I was Maths Jabs I'd have been well pi55ed off continually making way for the rhythm guitarists brother. I pass a squished fox... I tell you.. it's not fox hunting they sound be banning but motorways, more foxes get killed on the M25 than they do by the Sevenoaks and Berlin Hunting Pink Fox Ripper Hunt. Dave would love this album... real nostalgia.. don't recall it in his ripped CD catalogue he sent me, but then I have 10MB limit on e-mail traffic, I only got A-E and I know how hard it is getting e-mails out of prison... surpassingly harder than getting letters boobie trapped with razor blades it would seem. Still it was nice to get that monogrammed mail sack for Xmas... only 3 more years of his sentence to go... he'll be out by June. I get distracted by the artwork on the "Lovedrive" cover and desperately search the booklet for the rear cover artwork... alas it is not included..."Hey let's go.. don't put on a show.." mind you the show they did put is awesome... it's hard to forget the sight of Rudi Schenker, Francis Bassplayer and Kleine Guitarist forming a human pyramid on stage at the Liver Damage Odeon in December '89... 8:53am "Coast to Coast"... it's an instrumental! Why call it "Coast to Coast" I'd have called it "Toast to Toast" far funnier... I think of Mr Toast and his obsession with heated oxidised bread and the various toppings/methods of oxidising... I quickly think of something else... wonder if it's called "Kist nacho Kist" in Germany... America maybe Wunderbar but is Potters Bar America? Unlikely....

I'm No Neil Peart... #00002

"Ikhnaton And Itsacon And Their Band Of Merry Men"

It's a damp steely morning on the M23 slip road leaving the M25, I'm 15 miles from my destination "I Know What I Like (In my Wardrobe)" straining away, "Me I'm just a lawnmower", I smile, remember that Genesis used to play as "Under the Garden Wall" at secret warm up gigs. "Six saintly shrouded men move across the lawn slowly" Essex Radio... the only copy I had of "Supper's Ready" for years was the one I taped off Essex Radio. Was that the night Schenker the goldfish got a mention, probably not. What was this guy on? "Dad diddley office, Dad diddley office", glad I'm not eating this supper, I thought the nightmares started after you eat not before. Apocalypse In 9/8... there was a time when I knew every single biblical reference in this verse, now I just wished I hadn't and I wish it were a pure stream of Gabriel consciousness. I write another letter to Dave, I ask him where he stashed the 75,000 CDs the police couldn't account for. A pheasant flies across the motorway at a height of 4 feet... evolution will sort that flight pattern out for sure...

I'm No Neil Peart #00001

"There I was stuck in another interminable jam on the M25. The strains of "Home by the Sea" were just starting. How I wish I were home by the sea now, instead of sitting behind N.Dentrsangle, W.Betz and E.Stobbart. E.Stobbart, now there is a name to conjure with, sounds like a Dickensian poet, or is that Poet of Dickens... I forget which side of the Medway I am on. Phil starts singing
'Creeping up the blind side, shinning up the wall...." for some strange reason I have visions of my dearest friend doing some bizarre mime to these lyrics... I must ask him if he remembers that next time I visit him in Prison. Poor Dave, how many people get prosecuted for copying the entire music section in the Edinburgh library system. Damn you Sony, Damn you EMI, Damn you Warners. Still Warners make good cartoons and without the wacky incidental music from the 1930's we would never had "La Villa"... poor Alex... wonder when his trail is coming up. Visions of Metallica playing "St Anger" in San Quentin prison pop into my brain, as quickly as that piece of juggernaut tyre flew up into the motor cyclists face 4 cars in front. Just as pass him sprawling on the floor I see a Pheasant squished on the floor; that's 3 pheasants and 2.5 foxes this morning alone, what is going on?....." (to be continued)