Nostalgic Meanderings

A couple of weeks ago we made the annual trip to the garden centre to pick our Christmas tree. I had measured the height, floor to ceiling, in our lounge to ensure that the fir that we bought was sufficiently large.  I remember from when I was little how critical that factor is. Shallow I know...but I'm thinking back to when I was 7 or so. And I remember being disappointed on more than one occasion. All of the trees in our local garden centre are pre-netted and so there's no way of knowing which are shapely specimens and which not.  So I use my tried and tested tree-hugging t..

Only 19 sleeps to Christmas (as I write this)... It was a regular December memory that I recall from my childhood so it definitely qualifies for my little Christmas countdown... These days it has been sanitised somewhat... And for once I'm glad about that... Because, in retrospect, it was one of the most mind-bogglingly nuts ideas... And potentially horrendously dangerous too... Have you guessed what it is yet? It was an idea for a Christmas decoration... So far so good... With tinsel... Lovely... I like a bit of tinsel... Baubles... Even better... A wa..

This is when it started to get serious... Christmas really was coming. The first sign was the appearance of the advent calendars... Not that they were a massive surprise because they were the exactly the same ones as we'd had last year... When I say exactly the same... they WERE the advent calendars that we'd opened last year... only all of the doors has been closed again. We didn't have a load of money, as you can probably guess. Did it matter that they were the same old, familiar calendars returning? Not one jot! It was all part of the Christmas build-up ritual that we..

Remember Evel Knievel? He was huge when I was little. Definitely larger than life... He had 2 claims to fame from what I can remember. Jumping over stuff on his motorbike...  It was usually buses... and lots of them at once... I seem to remember that canyons were his other speciality for jumping over... Little ones I would think... but even so... He was THE daredevil... And very 70s in his Elvis style white leather outfits with stars and stripes on... source: https://www.history.com/news/evel-knievel-motorcycle-jump So cooooooooooooooooooooo..

A while back I wrote about the bands from back in the day which are still doing their thing... Human League, The Cure etc.  If you missed it you can read it here. And that got me a thinking... Who would you most like to see again if it was possible to pop them into a time travel machine and have them perform now exactly was they were then? And don't be boring and go for the obvious ones... get quirky (and ideally embarrassing!) Remember when the news used to feature hoards of screaming girls at Heathrow when their favourites arrived? The Osmonds... source: https://d..

I'm nervous... I came up with an idea last week and I'm not sure whether it will go down a storm... or die a horrible death through lack of interest. So I'm using the response to this email as a barometer as to whether to press on with the idea or not... so if you like this sort of thing please take part and leave a comment below. I know... that's a load of gibberish without knowing what I'm on about... so here goes. I saw the lineup for one of the jubilee concerts last week... and it featured Duran Duran. "Blimey... are they still going?" thought I. Must be. I wonder wh..

  Back in the day... I think it must have been the 80s... there was possibly one of the strangest things to be broadcast on the radio... and it used to happen every Sunday.  Anyone tuning in mid-stream must have been proper confused. It was on a London independent radio station... LBC.  They had a programme devoted to home computing (dominated by the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum from memory) and it was presented by Tommy Boyd... Remember him off Magpie?  He used to present that with that bloke called Mick who had wild hair... in my mind he's the identical twin of B..

  Hello I went to Wembley last Saturday to watch the League 1 playoff final (football!) where my beloved Wycombe Wanderers were playing Sunderland.   We lost 2-0 sadly... on the day it was a fair result... but that's part and parcel of supporting Wycombe...   and the defeats make the victories all the sweeter. So much has changed football-wise since watching The Big Match on Sunday afternoons in the 70's.  Much for the better but also, like with so many aspects of life these days, it was so much simpler back then. ... and where's the nostalgic fun i..

Hello David McKee sadly died about a month ago.  He was 87, which is a good innings in anybody's book. You're probably thinking... who? To tell the truth, I'd have been doing the same. If you'd mentioned the name "Michael Bond" to me I'd automatically have a mental picture of... "Paddington Bear". Oliver Postgate (good name!)... the Clangers and Bagpuss... oh and Noggin the Nog... and Ivor the Engine... and others (Mr Postgate was prolific!). Gordon Murray... Trumpton, Chigley, Camberwick Green (love 'em!) But David McKee?  I wouldn't have known which progr..