Things will be a bit different this week for a variety of reasons one being actually I'm not well being on hot drinks, throat pastels and the like as I have a bit of soar throat and cold.
The other is while all this is going on my Broadband is being upgrade to "Superfast Fibre" by my provider for free which should give me a speed of on average 67mbps which is just over two-thirds as fast as my current speed.
Part of that is done electronically, throwing a switch to send my internet via the service but to fully use it I need to change my modem and router combination for a new all in one faster hub which even if I'd been well would of been taxing so I'm kind of dependent on someone doing it when it suits them.
That means I may not around this weekend gone to write this blog and other things like Storytime at FA so I'll have to occupy myself with comic and music until I'm back up ready to change the Wifi name and password across laptop and chromebook.
Yesterday was rather wet so I didn't get around to taking any pictures which was my intention and indeed I was lucky to spot a moment where I could slot in a walk in the drizzle but while doing so I did see a few things that came to me.
I've always had a fascination with snails and I saw rather a lot of them not just in gardens as you would expect but actually on the curb and pavement where they had paused so I had to be careful not to accidentally break the shells which is easy to do.
While aesthetically I don't like slugs I do find them fascinating to watch making their moves taking in their food stuffs on a well lubricated trail.
Also Orson, the literary cat was hanging about wanting food and shelter having been out overnight looking a little bedraggled from the wind and rain that woke me about 5 am on Sunday morning.
We had quite a lot of thunder and lightning too which isn't my idea of fun.
There is little denying we are moving toward Fall, where there nutkins start to gather up nuts and acorns to store and the birds in my garden start eating the berries like there's no tomorrow round the back and near to where I often walk.
With the present political mess going on I find getting out and away from it all helps.
Something I did pick up recently was this three cd set of albums by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes who were one of the leading Philly Soul bands of the 1970's as it had a couple of albums I lacked plus some alternate mixes.
Lead vocalist Teddy Pendergast, left the group in 1975 and his career was one I followed having all his solo albums so this set nicely completes a set of his recordings for me.
Today actually marks the tenth anniversary of issuing of "The Beatles Remastered" and specifically the day in which I had my "The Beatles in Mono" box set, quite possibly the most expensive musical purchase I made (so far!)
Given it's being written on this blog and not the one the original piece was written, put simply in general the cds issued in 1987/8 were widely criticized for being poor sounding being rushed and for not having the sort of presentation fitting for the most important musical act of the twentieth century.
Specifically the catalogue of albums as issued then ignored the fact that mono versions both sounded different having radically different mixes and were more overseen by the Beatles themselves being more complete whereas the the stereo versions were rushed and done by studio engineers alone.
The clamour for those versions had lead to a short lived mono reissue series in 1981 but by 1987 when the first cds were issued all that was ignored.
This time around it was decided to issue all those mono albums as a set and the remastered stereo versions either in a set or individually.
That tied in well with another idea well executed which was each album would be packaged as a miniature lp with outer plus inner sleeves that matched the original lp issues and in the case of the white album the posters too.
As you can see from the photograph above they all fit snugly in one box with a booklet explaining their history.
That whole package sold itself to me as only thing I really wanted outside of the new stereo cds of Abbey Road, Let It Be and the Past Masters set that rounded up stray singles and tracks otherwise not to be found within the original studio lps.
This set is something that is treasured as an object of art, played often for the music contained with it and easily was the best couple of hundred pounds I ever spent.
This week has been a bit busy with getting some basic ideas for an upcoming event sorted out, finishing off some redone MiniDiscs and out doing various things for folks so I did a bit a check through my stuff.
I mean how many of us know our sock draws intimately when I noticed a few of mine were rather bobbled and even had worn bits around the heels and that so I needed to replace several pairs.
No, this isn't featuring a record review although there's a Mars Bar going if you get one hidden somewhere here but these are new long socks in grey featuring bows cos I'm a Neko!
Bows also happen to be very pretty too as well as super smol and are vailable from regular children's and schoolwear suppliers cos I'm small really.
I also have a new coat too which is as well given we can have rain or snow from late Fall through Winter.
The good news is the all the old socks get turned into textile fibres that can be use to make new things.
As you read this it will be the August bank holiday which tends to mark the return of school over here and as it happens also is being marked by family fun days this weekend in churches and public houses where I live.
Not unsurprisingly in the local newspapers and some national media too we are seeing the various promotions for such things around uniforms, where in the UK the majority of schools have one, stationery and equipment.
This is a good example of the sort of advertising we have, here for the Matalan discount store with photogenic models and needless to say the cardigans, socks setc are all available from the store too.
Being taken out to the local uniform shop in the last ten day or so of August is a ritual many of us remember well, being told we'll 'grow into' our clothes as you feel a bit like a scarecrow with everything being a bit big and baggy on you.
This lovely Panda Plush pencil case is a good example of the variety a regular stationery store such as W H Smiths over here stocks and yes things like Football one exist for boys too
A decent geometry set helps for math and science and this is an example from W H Smith although you'd need to add a compass a 2hb pencil and rubber to it plus some decent colouring pencils and ballpoint/fountain pen with ink.
Personally I'm with fountain pens as a good broad nib often improves the flow of the least good handwriting which even if this an age when digital often prevails, still is worth cultivating.
Yes, it's the fantastic 1970's again where equipment had wood effect surrounds and we had four speakers as in this lovely Sanyo unit that has a built in Q8 Quadraphonic and stereo tape player, a FM/AM radio, an aux input and a "matrix decoder" to get four channels out of records using that system.
Into that era some of us had odd ball likes compared with our peers and one of mine was a liking for Country music which takes me to two cds that merged recently by an artist of this era I liked, Charlie Rich who having experimented with blues settled on country.
This one contains a all time favourite recording of mine "The Most Beautiful Girl" which its rich arrangements from 1973's Behind Closed Doors and his 1975 album Every Time You Touch Me.
The Silver Fox is a autobiographical medley of hits by him setting out his recording career while Very Special Love Songs is a selection he loved and chose to record with his backing group, the Nashville Edition both from 1974.
The common denominator is all four albums apart from being favourites were originally Quadraphonic records and tapes, the very tapes you'd play in that Sanyo unit with four matching speakers in the corner of your room
Because of the Super Audio cd format, all of those Quad versions are made available again in higher quality than we had originally on these re-issues apart from the stereo versions on the regular cd (plus the super audio cd layer)
