My Picnic Hamper Man's happy day !!

Greetings Worlds....

A special BIG "Hi" to my reader in Australia...... it's nice to know you're there !! You can always drop me a comment - as can any of you - at anytime. I honestly don't mind - good or bad, it's always good to hear from you guys !!

Ok - it's a Saturday.... I'm calling it "day 1" of the big storm !! What am I going on about ?! Well - according to the weather guys, on TV... it's meant to be a horrid few days.... starting from today... in our area of the Universe & as yet, it's pretty good outside.... The trees are hardly blowing, from what I can see looking out of the window, down towards the school..... and as for the rain - well, we have had a bit, but nothing too heavy, as yet !!

Mind you - I'm not thinking about going anywhere today...... I've had a few busy days, this past week... so, I'm having a bit of a "rest weekend" !! More of all of that later....

First, the family...

As I type, B is sat a few feet to my left, on the 2 seater... sort of finishing a cup of her caffeine free tea. Not being a tea drinker (or coffee) I'm not sure how good or bad it is - but, I guess it's good enough !! As for the rest of the clan....

.... Well, ME is in bed, having down another nightshift, last night.... with another on the cards, for tonight !! I hope, her new job - which I think she will start soon - will mean less night work & all days.... it's up to her I guess, but I do worry about her !!

As for J - well.... as far as I know, he is still in Wales, doing his Uni course. Good luck Son...... I'm guessing we will see him at Christmas.... don't really know for sure on that one !!

Just took a short break - to "help" B move some stuff off of our bedroom shelve..... in the end, she did nearly all of the work - mainly as the box was too heavy for me to move, with-out tearing at the wound in my back !! I hadn't really thought too much about it - but, as soon as I tried to move the blooming thing, my pain level went way up & I handed the job over to B !!

Oh well.... I was able to help with a smaller (shoe) box.... which made me feel a little bit better with myself !! Nevermind - hopefully over time, as my back heals... I will be able to do a few more things... with-out killing myself in the process !!

Which leads nicely back to my hectic week... which I've covered a little bit, already - check my earlier posts... and you will find out that - on Wednesday - my Consultant was over the Moon, with my back... so much so, that between him & the nurse, I was allowed to leave Rover behind me & start  anew with-out him !! Also - he was going to send me to see the plastic surgeons.... and that happened yesterday.......

So, B & I went off.... back to the hospital, for my 3pm appointment & - much to my surprise - the guys were running, more or less, on
time !! The best part was - it was the same plastic's guy, that I saw, when I was actually in the hospital - so, he knew me & my "history" from that first meeting...... It's not a great lot of fun, seeing new guys & having to explain everything over & over again !!

He was well happy with how things have gone & I'm being sorted out a bit of theatre time, down in Exeter - possibly with a spinal surgeon sitting in, sometime in the coming months. It might not happen, until after Christmas... which, in the scheme of things might sound like a long time.... but, it's only another couple of months !!

However - as I said to the guy.... I will go down, at the drop of a hat - short notice type of thing !! To put it to him, as best as I could, to the guy.... I've had to "live with this" since May 28th & - to be honest - the quicker he can get me sorted, the happier I will be !!

By now - I had hoped to be well passed it all, but.... well, it's been a hard slog & I am getting very pissed about it all now.......... I need to get it sorted, so I can move on.... hopefully getting 2014 together & having a better year of it all !! It can't get much bloody worse... it really can't.... Oh well !!

Life goes on....

On to music... at the moment I'm playing Cd 1 of the 'Monterey Pop Festival' set - that came, I think, earlier this week - I don't really remember !! The track of the moment is Eric Burden's version of 'Hey Gip'...... I had hoped his cover of 'Paint It Black' would of been on the set - but, I can't have everything I guess..

But - I would like to tell you a true story - dating back to 1975....... when 4 guys, packed up their stuff & really early in the morning, headed up to Knebworth, to see Pink Floyd. It was about a 4 hour drive - this is before the M25 - so, they had to tackle the old North Circular Road... to get around London - then up the A1....... yep, it was a long time ago !!

In among the stuff they took, was a basket thingy... like the old picnic things that used to be around many Moons ago........ with a pack of 24 cans of coke wrapped to it's lid. It was a bloody heavy thing - but, there was a plan to it all.

As the bands came & went, the food in the basket got eaten & the cans of coke got drunk... all except a few things, which - at the appointed hour - opened up to reveal their hidden cargo.......... A stereo microphone, a half (for it's day) decent tape recorder, 4 two hour tapes & enough batteries to light up a small village... well, maybe not that many, but... you get the picture !!

Even the guys who were with him, didn't know of the basket owners plans........ luckily, with everything all wrapped up.... neither did the security guys on the gates !! Why bust their asses, opening up a pack of 24 tins of coke, just to get into a picnic hamper full of food........ after all, it was only their job to do just that - but.....

So - everything was put together & as Floyd played, the various tapes were put in & - all in all - things went really well !! The whole show was taped & the guy was well happy with his little plan, as it had all come together, just like he hoped it would.

Moving on to 1978 - the guy got mixed up with the wrong crowd & had all of his bootlegs - including the Floyd tapes - taken away from him... "Boo-hoo". Luckily, however, a few copies of the recording did get made, by other people - so, all in all, it wasn't a complete wipe out.... there was always the hope the tapes would surface at some point.......

Now - we have to go forward to last night & I was trawling thru' various stuff.... and I found a recording on YouTube of the Floyd's '75 Knebworth show.... and, you've probably guessed it.... it's the same tape as the one "Mr Picnic Hamper Guy" recorded, 38 & a bit years ago !!

As I was playing it - I was telling B what was going to happen next & sure enough.... it all happened !! It's the same tape - right down to the "West Country" accents in the background...... it's well good & "Mr Picnic Hamper Man" is a very happy puppy today !! Oh well.....

Some of the details, on YouTube are wrong.... but, all in all..... it's a pretty good copy of the show.....!! Life is very good.....

Oh well.... with that little story out of the way, I better think of shutting down for now - it's 3pm & I'm getting a little finger sore, from typing !! I have to get on with a few other things - so, what the heck... it's time to sign off.... until next time.....

Bye Bye