'CSNY 1974' & other thoughts... Ho-hum !!

Greetings World's.....

How is your bit of the Universe treating you, this very fine & bright day ?! Life here - well.... more of that, later...

When I was in the hospital, last Summer - one of my fellow bed mates, well...... he had had a bike crash. He & his wife were heading towards North Devon & somehow, somebody had taken them off the road.

Now - we live in an area, where - apart from the French.... more of that later, as well...... a lot of motorcyclists come off &, unfortunately, land up dead. It happened to one guy, while I was in the hospital..... he crashed, at the bottom end of the village. There are some lovely flowers, always, put where he died.

Anyhoo - most of the bikers do come off, thru' travelling too fast. But - when the guy, in the hospital told us, about the crash.... he said "It wasn't my fault !" and - for once, I believed him !! After all, his Wife was on the bike - and she was un-injured..... so, I sort of gave him the benefit, of the doubt. I believed him......

But - well, last night (I think) we had a so called "Super Moon".... and I was looking at the various pictures, on various web pages, before writing these words. What has all of this, got to do with the biker, that I met in the hospital ?!

Well - seeing the pictures of the Moon.... it reminded me, of a conversation the two of us had, about the Apollo Moon landings. He was of the firm belief that no one, nobody at all, had landed on the Moon & the whole American space programme was fictitious !! I am the first one to defend the American's on this..... having grown up, watching the early space flights & seeing those old TV images.

I stayed up - all thru' the night & watched the first images of the 'Apollo 11' guys, actually walk on the Lunar surface..... nothing, anybody can say to me - unless, of course, it's one of the surviving Apollo astronauts - will ever convince me otherwise !! Man has been to the Moon.... and that's about it !!

So - the biker & I came to an agreement.... we agreed, to disagree on the subject !! After a few week, of sharing our thoughts - and several very interesting conversations, he was transferred back to the hospital, in Birmingham. I hope he did Ok - I fancy, altho' I was in the hospital for sooooo many months - he had the worst of it. I only had a bad back.... he had a broken arm & leg, to get repaired & back into use. Oh well.....

Ok - back to the now.......

I've been up a few hours..... and, I'm quite pleased to say, I was able to help B - My Wife & Dearest Friend - put up a double washing line !! Last week, she managed to break one of them, by cutting thru' it with some hedge cutters...... she also did a bit of damaged to the second one, at the same time !!

So - one of my jobs, this morning, was to "Mr Helpful" - and try to put up a new line. In the night, I spent quite a bit of my waking time, trying to think thru' what I was going to do..... As it turned out, I just had to take the old line(s) down & stick the new one up, to replace them !! I was well happy with myself !!

Please remember, I still struggle to walk, unaided - so.... to put a new washing line, altho' it might not seem like much, it meant the World to me !! To be able to do a few odd jobs, around the house - well, it feels good !!

As I type - B has just taken Murphy, back to his house. He had been, in the back garden with the 2 of us + Archie !! He - Archie - is the only one of our cats, who goes anywhere near the Smurf Monster !! Mind you - he is only 12 months old.... so, he has grown up, with Murphy around the place...... It's not unusual, to have the pair of them, here together !!

As for the rest of the family...

Well, B is going into town later... and will take in a visit, to see the M & M's new kitten. I think he is still being called Bruce - which as far as names go, is a pretty good one !! There is a meeting - that B is going to, so... she will do the whole banking & stuff, while she is in town. Me - I'll just stay here & listen to some of my latest Cd's.... which, even for me, are really excessive !!

The only thing, that I will say - in my defense (not that I need one !!) is that, all of the discs that have come my way, over the last week, have been birthday pressy related !! Not even in my wildest dreams, would I have gone into HMV & bought all of these, for myself !! Life has it's ups & downs.......

The "down" part - well.... that would be the lack of any "Happy Birthday" type greetings, from one very important person & one - not quite so important person !! Nevermind....... my life will go on - no matter what !! Having said that - I'll probably die in a few minutes, just to teach me a lesson !! Ho-hum...

At the moment, I'm playing the live set, that I have mentioned before, by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young... simply called 'CSNY 1974'.

It contains 3 live Cd's & a DVD.... the latter is a bit of something & nothing.... only containing 8 tracks. The Cd's - on the other hand - well, it's really a fantastic "Greatest Hits" live !! I think I'm right in saying, it contains 40 tracks.... and.... apart from the massive price.... it's a pretty good collection !!

The tracks are:

CD 1

  1) Love The One You're With
  2) Wooden Ships
  3) Immigration Man
  4) Helpless
  5) Carry On
  6) Johnny's Garden
  7) Traces
  8) Grave Concern
  9) On The Beach
10) Black Queen
11) Almost Cut My Hair

CD 2

  1) Change Partners
  2) The Lee Shore
  3) Only Love Can Break Your Heart
  4) Our House
  5) Fieldworker
  6) Guinevere
  7) Time After Time
  8) Prison Song
  9) Long May You Run
10) Goodbye Dick
11) Mellow My Mind
12) Old Man
13) Word Game
14) Myth Of Sisyphus
15) Blackbird
16) Love Art Blues
17) Hawaiian Sunrise
18) Teach Your Children
19) Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

CD 3

  1) Deja Vu
  2) My Angel
  3) Pre-Road Downs
  4) Don't Be Denied
  5) Revolution Blues
  6) Military Madness
  7) Long Time Gone
  8) Pushed It Over The End
  9) Chicago
10) Ohio

As I say - it's an expensive bunch of stuff - but, if you have any idea, over the guy's back catalog, well... you have some pretty great tunes, all collected into one package !! Ok - some of them, well - if you don't want to pay£60 for this set... there is a single Cd version.... but, that really is a very edited & slightly watered down version, of the above !! You pays your cash & takes your choice.... I'm happy with it tho' !!

What else do I have in front of me....

Well, B bought me a 5 Cd set, of 5 Lp's by Mountain........ one of my real old time favourite bands !! The Lp's are:

'Climbing'
'Nantucket Slieghride'
'Flowers Of Evil'
'Twin Peaks'
'Avalanche'

I already have 2 of the above, on Cd - but.... to get the first 2, on their own, would of been a good buy... to get all 5... heck, that's just a big bonus !! There is a great version of 'Satisfaction' on the last Cd... worth paying for, just to have that one track !!

Also, in front of me.... I have 'Man & Myth' by Roy Harper..... & 'A Letter Home' by Neil Young. Add all of those, to the ones, that I had at the Exeter record fair + at the beginning of the week..... I'm in "Hog Heaven" !! All I have to do now, is find time to give them all a good listen !! That will take a while - I think the CSN & Y Cd's are about 3 hours long..... so, it's going to take a while !!

Right - my plans for today......

Well, hopefully soon.... the nurse will be here, to change my dressings. I'm not looking forward to the deed, but - it would be good, if the nurse could get here, before B has to go out !! It gives me, a little bit of support, to have her here, while the damage is
done !! Oh well..... I'll see how things go, on that, I guess.

I also have to stack a pile of cassette tapes away !! I took some up - last week, but.... as yet, I've not got around to putting them, onto the shelves. I'm glad I decided to do a few 100 at a time !! Otherwise, B would have had tapes all over the place & it would, most certainly, have been my fault, for leaving them, in her way !!

For my sins - and because I'm just sad - I want to do some labels, for the latest Zeppelin Cd's. I know - they come, already labeled....... but, I want to put them all, in one or two cases & leave them, like that. Heck - I know it's sad.... but, it will keep me occupied, for a few minutes !!

Oh - I mentioned, about the French... way up, at the start of this..... "What did I mean ?" I hear you asking...

Well, we do have a nasty habit, of having French motorist, coming towards us, on the wrong side of the road !! It doesn't happen very often - but, too often for my liking !! Please remember..... in England - we drive on the left hand side of the road !! Nevermind..... Happy motoring.....

I must be on my ways..... things to do & stuff like that....

Before I go tho'...

I telephoned a friend, earlier - it's exactly 4 years, to the day, that we attended Sister Meg's funeral..... so, I 'phoned her Husband, a little earlier - to let him know, that we haven't forgotten him, or his fantastic Wife !! A lovely lady & a sad loss, to us all....

Must go... I thank you all, for logging in & reading my words...... until next time...

Bye Bye