Where are we?

It is supposed to be hotting up this week so maybe you'll be out a bit but  if you're from some places in the UK where you may be going may be known or associated with may be different to what younger generations may recognize.

A generational difference for many of is is what is the North of the Island of Ireland, part of the British Isles was know to us as Ulster but today goes under the title Northern Ireland perhaps a good thing given the dual histories and traditions of communities there as it doesn't have Unionist (and Protestant) baggage.

Like a number of us who were educated in the late 1960's and 70's our "map" of Great Britain differs from that later generations being based more on the Traditional Counties, rather than local goverment regions of Wales, Scotland and Metropolitian areas of England, some of which haved changed again in the last quarter century.

Much of this map is where my mental map is at although for a map showing traditional counties, although Yorkshire folk will wonder what "South Yorkshire", a 1970's area centred around Sheffield is doing there when we all learned of the Three Ridings of Yorkshire, North, West and East.

London, our Capital always was an exception as The City slotted into Middlesex and from the seventeenth century grew outwards with rather adhoc governance that resulted in the establishment of a London County Council but that remained different to the traditional (ceremonial) counties and that of the Post Offices boundaries.

Can any one really say where "Greater London" really ends? Epsom, Staines, Chesham?

You can make good arguments for saying whole areas that may cross counties might be better served by local administration operating within it but the sense in which we have affilation and feel for our County Identities matters and "changing the map", removing signs, rewriting historical accounts with local government names today when at the time it wasn't misrepresents the past.

For me the County Boroughs of Walsall, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and  nearby Urban Districts remain like Perton, Kinver and Wombourne in our glorious county of Staffordshire with its two massive conurbations at the top and bottom of it. Never part of Brum.

May memories

Well it is Wednesday here and I have a few things to get done as much as I'd like just play and get the viewmaster out, watching the Pink Panther and the Lion King.

May always had certain memories with me, later on when I was out of school, often I went away then as it was just at the start of the season but generally a fair bit cheaper  when it comes to accomodation but most facilities being open like heritage railways and zoos.

When I was in school it meant practising our Maypole dancing for public display which is an age old tradition certainly in England and I believe elsewhere within the United Kingdom.

 The dance is performed by pairs of boys and girls who stand alternately around the base of the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. They weave in and around each other, boys going one way and girls going the other and the ribbons are woven together around the pole until they meet at the base.

While I was never brilliant at it, I did manage and enjoy this traditional dancing.

Bad memories and a disc

This week we go back a bit to the early days of the great rebellion against longs clad outside school wearing red with white side panel trim sports shorts with a one a half inch inseam around 1980/1 when we were getting the hang of leaving subtle hints for what records I wanted for Christmas and birthdays.

It also came around a period of more hifi awareness around getting decent crackle free sound from them so I had a brush to clean them with having been suitably chastised by my my older brother for leaving the Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats in chocolate stains at the age of 12.

Anyway come Christmas hint had worked as a copy of the current AC/DC album from July that year, Back In Black was in the christmas pile with the £3.99 price sticker on it.

This was the album issued after Bon Scott had died in February and Brian Robertson had taken on vocal duties and remains one of their finest with a few pictures of eternal schoolboy Angus Young on the inner sleeve who I wanted to resemble in class time.

Anyhow time went on, a copy of Denim And Leather, the Saxon album and a original 1967 3d cover version of Their Satanic Majesties Request on green Decca arrived as disaster struck.

Note I mentioned about keeping records clean and Dad had suggested using neat Surgical Spirit BP on a cloth so thinking he might have a point I duly cleaned them with it.

The first signs something was wrong was white thick paste covering the stylus after a couple tracks that never went and then any lined inners developed funny wavy lines that seemed to stick to the surface of the record.

One day borrowing my older brothers part tubed hifi, I decided to tape the AC/DC album which went well enough on his hand tweaked and tuned cassette deck.

A couple of days later all hell broke loose as seemly he'd gone to play a record and the stylus had become unglued from the holder on the cantilever necessitating replacement which wasn't cheap and this was because of the Surgical Spirit had melted the glue used at the factory to bond the stylus tip to it.

I did well to escape a sore behind but that now mean any records treated could no longer be played on anyone elses equipment and didn't play to well on mine as the gunk on my stylus needed cleaning every few tracks.

In time those records left because of those issues that had ironically started with the nobel idea of clean discs leaving cassette copies.

Recently I managed to get a near perfect copy of that AC/DC album that matches the very copy I had rather than a later repressing that sounded great and more importantly but all the emotional baggage associated with it to bed.