A cold start to the day...

Cold start to the day as I type this out as plans got altered yet again due to the weather as yesterday we had minor snow that cleared  and now this morning it went below minus 2 degrees and we have ice which means post and amazon deliveries are all being delayed.

Given the last amazon delay saw me gain a delayed delivery vouch, near enough a "rain check" that we used to have I do wonder if this latest delay will earn me another?

I did read this weeks Beano - they've been going with a modified version of the more rounded duo colour sixties logo minus the definitive article on the front masthead - enjoying long stories involving the Bash Street Kids and Rodger the Dodger.

I loved the animated tv Josie and the Pussycats cartoons in the 1970's although tracking down the comics was hard going being American but that scene is believable knowing people who'd insist on having the very sleeping attire they prefer even if it just isn't practical to get it so most of us would either borrow Pj's or sleep in underwear.

There's nothing like folk,eh?

I'll also watch the 1984 End of year review of Blue Peter before that resumes this Friday on CBBC.

mm

ccc

From Beatles For Sale to Help"

We're back after the CatMas break pretty much cold as it is minus five outside today which really is no good at all for me even though I'm pretty warm blooded so I'll be staying in by the gas fire today doing some reading.

One thing I had at Christmas was this book which is the ninth and final one in a series that looks at the recording and stage career of The Beatles but divided by what became session for their albums and when I mean albums, the albums they were working toward in the U.K rather than necessarily I (or North Americans) may have.

The series really began as a extended essay come factual record connected to the Sgt Pepper album and has gradually made its way through all the albums although you might, like me prefer to put them in the shelf in album era order.

This volume takes us back the Fall of 1964 after the commercially and critically acclaimed A Hard Day's Night film with it's album and the Long Tall Sally E.P when thoughts were on the fall and winter of 1965 tour and the need for a new album (and singles).

The strength of the book isn't just in taking you though that whole period but also looking at everything in what was the precursor to modern pop culture that surrounded it such as things in the new, films, what other artists were doing and how each album and single was received at the time using reviews and recollections so we see the impact at that time.

This was the period the beatles lyrically were starting to move away from fairly simple love songs or plain pop songs with catchy chorus and into more introspective and personal songs such as I'm A Loser, I'll follow The Sun, Help (an early indication of how trapped he felt being a beatle) and Yesterday, a modern classic with a string quartet. 

At the same time a second movie was expected and delivered although the plot is somewhat surreal and the pressures of being on the road in Europe, Japan, Australia and North America were taking away some of joy of having made it big and the issues around making songs in a studio that just could not be performed to 17,000 or more audiences all screaming were coming to a head.

The book works very well helping to place each album in its context in the time and from that aid a true appreciation of their albums.

Christmas Day edition

In recent years we've had a as it happens Christmas Day post but with events that wasn't going to happen not least as my spoons were on the low side so I needed more rest and less chromebook time.

One thing that's been a staple although much has happened from the over fifty years since I first started having it is the years  Beano Annual, today with newer characters such as Rubi matching our changed world but where they are with those we fondly recall still as old as they were back then.
 

 Providing in someways at least more of a connection with the past has been the Classic Beano and Dandy gift book that features themed reprints from the decades, often in better quality than those early colour editions on newsprint could offer.

 

Christmas albums by popular artists to be honest are more of an American thing and tend to be limited because of the specifically christmas nature of the material but this one does reveal much of the Beach Boys harmonies and in a year that saw the loss of Brian Wilson, in many ways the guru of the group, is a fitting tribute to what they contributed.

This lp has the original mono mix he envisioned and isn't otherwise readily available. 

Linking to that theme of past Christmas's Novembers two cd set "Wings", a highly comprehensive summary of Paul McCartney's bands work from 1971 through 1979 but not strictly speaking definitive has many hits singles I loved as a child and appropriately Mull Of Kintyre, the Xmas 1977 mega chart topping  single that is like The Snowman, a CatMas staple here
 

There were Jellybabies, chocolate and money to put towards other things I love in the New Year

The CatMas Pause

 We're almost there, I think, having just posted one card, seen this years Christmas Blue Peter on the tv and finished the list for Christmas shopping today so with folks coming and me going places it's time to pause this blog until sometime next week.

 

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and all the best for 2026

Preparations

 

We're getting there however slowly and whatever complications seem to com to try you just as you thought you had everything planned but my tree a miniature  tree is up with its decorations and lights have been put across the window facing the road.

Nothing fancy like some today but at least it looks a bit more like CatMas given the last couple of years were very sparse.

It's not that you expect and in our case had a lot although we used to put up streamers and there are a few hooks in the ceiling still where some decorations would be fixed pointing downwards.

It's really more if you'd of walked in you wouldn't of known although I suspect a part of it lies in the Grump never being that much into CatMas, even one year wanting to get rid of all the decorations which is why I did wish to see something more like it this year.

Yes you can go crazy on all that stuff and miss the meaning of CatMas but it all started from a sign that took us through the story that lies at the heart of it.

Advent is here

The slow wind to CatMas begins even if this weekend is a cold and very soggy one having been out when this was typed up with the gas fire fully burning.

The extra CatMas cards were got on Friday from Sue Ryder a chain of disability connected charity shops while going into Morrisons for a few things so all we need to do is find a few stretches of time to write them before posting or paw delivering given how much First Class mail is these day although I'd sooner us them thank the likes of Evri fur stuff. 

We did get an Advent Calendar, to count down the coming of CatMas this year going all teddy rather than celebratory characters from Tv shows and that and I might add the chocolate tastes very tasty too.

I've pre-ordered the concluding recording a series of Brahms symphonies for New Year as a 24 bit high resolution download for the Windows toplap and its external digital gubbins and me Fiio M21 portable player with 1tb micro sd card. 

Exit the X1

 Getting a bit close to Christmas here and I'll work out the blog publishing and forum arrangements for that shortly if we can avoid being run out of time and we do have a Thanksgiving present although it wasn't originally planned to be.

Around twenty fifteen and sixteen I thought had this digital audio player business sorted, I had been using mainly my portable minidisc recorder for run of the mill portable music  having established several hundred discs most recorded on various home recorders but in twenty sixteen the last home recorder died and let's say the ergonomics of my two thousand and four Sony Hi-MD portable were frankly ghastly.

Around that time better quality downloads became available and I'd bought the dbPoweramp cd ripping program to make quick work of making them into files for the digital audio players to play.

That had resulted in a lot of cards which being tiny you wouldn't want to be changing on the bus - they'd fly out to anywhere you couldn't find in seconds - so I bought a budget Fii0 X1 but recently the scrolling jog wheel started acting up so i wanted an inexpensive replacement.
 

That was where the Surfans F20 came in being roughly the same price as the X1 was a decade or so earlier.

 

 It borrows a lot from those earlier Fii0 X1, X3 and X5 players in using a rotary encoder made by Alps and a centre okay/pause button to navigate menus and can be stepped through categories like Albums (which is what I prefer), songs, files and so on.

Where it scores is you can use upto 256 gb micro sd card where the X1 was limited to 128gb and the 5,800 odd songs limit for indexing doesn't apply. Like the X1 it lacks a digital output but then for around £100 you can't expect absolutely everything and you do have a fixed line out output for active speakers or your hifi.

In use it's more like a modern X1, easy enough to navigate to your albums, can be set to play gapless which is a must making a great replacement.

It drives my BayerDynamic DT 770 32ohm X's well.