Summary: I had a fall and dislocated my shoulder last week and off I went to A & E……I also needed stitches in my ear….the doctor involved was telling me he treated Jimmy Krankie when he fell off the beanstalk during the Glasgow panto five years ago….when I told him that Jimmy was singing one of songs at the time we were both a bit flaggergasted…..small world or what. Reminded me of the time I was invited to form a skiffle group and and appear at a big concert in Finland…I was working on Radio Merseyside at the time with Monty Lister…the show took place in Hankasalmi which is 500 miles north of Helsinki…after which a guy invited us to his restaurant and on the way put on a CD of Rock and Roll…and what comes on…Monty Lister interviewing Bill Haley in 1958……at the precise time I would have been on the radio with him that morning….some co-incidence? The Northern Lights have been on full view in Scotland….can’t see them from here….I once went (with Monty Lister) to Tromso in Norway…the most northern town in the world…to do a radio programme on the famous Lights….despite the fact you couldn’t be any closer we couldn’t see them through the clouds…so I have YET to see them….I did however meet Patrick Moore and have a chat over a beer…great character…sad loss. Watched a programme on B.B.King….fascinating…I’ve never been a blues fan but I really enjoyed the documentary……he is living proof that if you want to be a success you really have to WANT to do it. His classic line was “I don’t do chords”…as B.B. sings then throws in riffs…never plays and sings at the same time…he’s now 88 and much respected by all the top guys. On the news front it has all been a bit depressing…blanket coverage on the two terrorists who killed the soldier have got life sentences…outside there were mass protests wanting hanging to be brought back…all carrying home made wooden gallows….and the Irish bomber whose trial was abandoned because he had received a letter (mistakenly) saying there would be no further action…there has been a backlash on that…but people have to realise WE don’t count…what we think or feel makes n difference to those in power who merely pay us lip service…that’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will always stay. Don’t even get me going on “human rights”. and finally…..there is a move afoot to give lonely old folk,who have nobody, food bags for £2……along with a distinct probability that the minimum wage is going up by 70p or something…then in the same breath we hear that the top bankers are getting 140% rise….while the staff get 3%...they don’t call it “bonus” any more…it’s a payrise…which makes it O.K. Then we have the highly intelligent Wayne Rooney getting £300 thousand a week……which is the wages of 600 soldiers….now there’s food for thought. There’s THEM and there’s US……end of.
