The weekend was a bit wild with storms late Friday and into Saturday, some odd Tm conversations regarding delayed items so really it felt like a time for a rest really around just what it is that beyond the most essential things I need and maybe you do to.
It isn't easy to get things, stuff just seems to land on you put it's worth it.
It's taken a week to get around to doing this but there were other things going on but last weekend I was away to our Halloween Party in the Midlands which for me started the evening before with a train journey and a shared cab from the railway station before arriving at our venue and changing into something more comfortable.
After reintroductions and a few introduction as we had some new faces, we had a meal which for me was a small fish and chips, not a bad thing for me as I'm watching what I eat a little more these days.
We did have some "Trick or Treaters" in colourful costumes call too which was interesting .
After chatting for a bit it was soon time for bed and the next morning where the event proper was to run.
The first event was a Halloween based treasure hunt where you had to find ghosts, pumpkins and things cut out and hidden within the grounds with special prizes for those who found the both the most and the specially marked one.
I might only of found two but it was fun to just run around looking for them.
It was based partly on general knowledge and part on music but as I was having "spoons" issues I needed to miss it.
I mean when you're making several attempts to involuntarily fall from a chair you really do need to rest a bit.
We had a buffet with various cold things like pastries, salad and chicken and pizza's and a enjoyable trifle.
A few left in the late evening as the rest of us slept.
Sunday morning was the great rest as some clearly needed it although I'm a early riser pawing up the stairs whose most were sleeping.
A good number of us had an enjoyable meal together at a local pub before making our goodbyes and in my instance being given a lift tot the train station back home with only short delay due to "events" on the network.
Thanks to Miss Green for hospitality and organizing the event and everyone for making it a super time spent together.
Around 2010 via a number of no longer with us download sites apart from Amazon, music in the form of digital audio files arrived not that "audiophiles" really cared for it given many were still unhappy with the root of them, the Compact Disc and back then pretty any and all downloads were "lossy" Mp3's or Apples Aac's designed to take over from dodgy sites.
I bought a Sansa Clip+ to play some on while travelling on the bus although you had to swap files out due the limited memory.
To be fair they did sound a bit better for having higher bit rates as some of those other sites were chasing getting the most files on the limited memory capacity back then but in time software came available to make as a good as cd copies of them and more sites offered cd quality downloads.
Then around the fall of 2014 and into 2015 the so-called High Definition download arrived that could sound better than cd and more like the Super Audio cd without having to upgrade both the player and disc catalogue so I had a Fiio X3 MkI and later on a X3 Mk II which added a jogging wheel to scroll with and the cheap but great for the money X1 that took a few less necessary functions off but offered much of that units performance.
Given my dexterity issues Smartphones were unusable I bypassed the listening on the phone stage of the late 2010's and 2020's.
The worst of this bug appears to be going away at long long last as apart from being very unpleasant it was rather getting me down to be honest.
We have made some super progress reloading missing audio files although where they and at least one player has gone I have little idea in the all over place period around 2023, early 2024 as I had found a bunch taken from cds on a Hard Drive (there's something to be said for back ups) and that a good number of bought titles mainly High Definition 24 bit ones were still able to be downloaded from 7Digital where I'd got them from.
The only ones that weren't were some Electric Light Orchestra ones but I had back them up eons ago tthank goodness together with the earliest David Bowie ones up to and including 1973's Pin Ups, his cover album of mid 60's songs that came out at the same times as the first era themed box set of his albums, b sides and live sets came out.
There's three Rush titles that need adding at some point and we are almost there.
The next step would be replace a couple of players as one has a duff battery so needs to be used off an mains unit and a over active jog wheel for searching and there's a need for one for the Classical albums.
I've been going through a small number of records bought, cleaned and playing postponed until I'm better and seeing it's blowing a lot here it's been opportunity to play them before final filing which helps - M for mess doesn't work.
Other things stem more from what I'd call websites that are still are kind of active in ways one is anything but and really relate to where the balance between individual rights and that of the wider community come into play given much of what we love to do.
These things may include things like short dresses or skirts that are likely under normal conditions to expose underwear which may give a thrill to the owner but likely to offend others who after all haven't been invited to any such event.
Much the same may go for those who enjoy on being edge of "needing to go" - while accidents can happen when it's more deliberate really the public at large don't wish to see obviously damp attire or chairs as in outdoor cafés.
Those who have continence issues normally take precautions to avoid the embarrassment as all they want to do is going and enjoy themselves.
Sometimes we have to understand there are places all and in which we don't put our quirks in other folks faces.
A few things will be dealt with in due course such as some remarks on Extra in a series I am buying although it's not in my preferred format and newer legwear given my liking for short skirts even in the fall.
The main thing is a bit more work removing duplicates that happen not because I've had a memory failure buying the same things twice although we've all done that once but more because I compare editions of cds and records looking for the best sounding and in best condition if used ones.
It can take a couple of attempts, sometimes more to get a copy I'm really happy with being at times frustrated at both how some treat their records and cds and just how bad some people are at grading even visually.
It can produce bundles that do take space, space that as we get to CatMas will be needed for new things so they're going Tuesday and the odd clothing item that just didn't work out but is in great shape.
Well this week is officially the 1,250th post on this blog that goes back to time of early social media that made making connections easier, finding out about websites with fairly specific focusing when it came to what they were about
Today such sites seem endangered - will there be an endangered sites listing like we have with buildings? - but music was a focus of one and music is an interest of mine going right back to childhood.
