You've been running so long, but the finish line is finally in sight.
Then, just as you think you're going to get there, someone throws a bear trap into the race track. And it's not the people you're running from... it's the people you're running to.
Suffice it to say, it's been one of those weeks. Hopefully I dodged the trap, but it's been a lesson learned. The race never really ends.
Times like this, I want to go hole up in a log cabin and read a bunch of books for the rest of my life... just like Canadian singer-songwriter Tim Grimm...
I returned to The Bad Place this week, to work out the last two weeks of my notice before starting my new job. In the four weeks I've been away, quite a lot has changed (they've moved further towards Hell in a Handbasket), but I'm past caring about any of that now and feel more like an impartial observer at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
One thing I did notice though was how few people are still wearing masks in the college building. Before my sick leave, they were enforcing that pretty rigidly and all staff were wearing masks in the wider building, only removing them in offices and classrooms. They were also encouraging students to do the same. Now, hardly any students are masked anymore and a lot of staff seem to have given up bothering to.
This reflects a wider trend in society. I'd say it's down to about 50/50 in the local supermarket between mask wearers and unmasked types, but a lot of shops I've been in lately, nobody has been masked... except me. All this despite rising covid numbers and some creepy new variants.
But there's another reason I don't want to give up my mask: I like it! In fact, I've grown to love it. I find it a tremendous comfort when I'm out and about, not because of covid fears, but just because I can mutter and mumble away to my heart's content behind that mask... grimace or sneer or even stick my tongue out at the undesirables we encounter every day, feeling much more secure that they can't see what I'm thinking or hear what I'm mumbling. Can't we just keep wearing masks forever? Please?
In case you haven't heard it yet, Wet Leg are back with a follow up to my Single of the Year. And while the follow-up isn't quite as stop-you-in-your-tracks amazing as Chaise Longue (what could be?), it certainly confirms this band as way more than just one hit wonders.
"Baby, do you want to comе home with me?
I've got Buffalo '66 on DVD"
That line alone had me sold. And the video's just as good as the last one...
Back in the early 80s, New York power poppers Sorrows (no The, so as not to be confused with the 60s Merseyband band that used the same name complete with definite article) looked tipped for big things. Their debut record Teenage Heartbreak had set them on the right track, and the record company had high hopes for the follow up, Love Too Late.
But it all went wrong when they were assigned a producer from the 60s who drafted in session musicians and layered the album with trendy synths. The band hated the resulting record and so did the fans. And that was the end of Sorrows.
Until now.
Forty years later, three members of the original band drafted in a new drummer and re-recorded the album from scratch, the way they'd always intended it to sound. And it sounds great. They've even made a documentary telling the full story of the record.
Check out the full album on bandcamp. I bet Brian will love it!
Earlier this week I was leafing through Sam's notebook (largely full of made up football scores) when I saw he'd scribbled a name on the inside front cover...
Not because he's been watching Blue Velvet, Easy Rider or the Sicilian scene from True Romance recently. No, because he's become quite a fan of a song I've featured here previously, Dennis Hopper by The Waterboys.
I continue in my mission to teach Sam as many out-of-date pop culture references as I possibly can.
All of which has nothing to do with this week's Snapshots, which featured ten songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. No, I couldn't find a photo of either of those gentlemen holding a camera...
10. Jerry's neighbour, associated with Walrus home.
On Seinfeld, Jerry's neighbour was Kramer...
John Lennon lived in (and was sadly killed outside) The Dakota Building.
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides By the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will
Helps his fellow bloggers solve the clues and work out the connection
On Saturday Snapshots.
10. Jerry's neighbour, associated with Walrus home.
9. Speaking clock gets spicy.
8. Roger Whittaker... or mother-painter?
7. Steven or Johnny or Andy or Mike... but only one of them.
6. Could be a stranger, a battlefield or a wonderful colour.
5. Parchment secretaries.
4. Upmarket joiners.
3. The apples are falling, but there's still time to gather in the crops while the sun is shining.
2. Lima found inside people you don't know.
1. Royal bassist down.
And I will strike down upon thee With great vengeance and furious anger
