The Afterword Person of the Year.

Who should it be? It doesn’t have to be from our lovely place (even if mine is.) .

The Turkey Crown is browning. The spuds are in, the veg is prepped. I’ve had smoked salmon blinis .

I’m listening to some, frankly, cheesy Christmas tunes. I’m listening on my lovely, stylish Loewe Klang. It’s lush. It fits my criteria, my brief. Mrs Steady is happy with the aesthetics. What more could you want? So , @pencilsqueezer, you are my Afterword Person of the Year.

Who’s yours?

FAO our dullness correspondent.

39 years! What, exactly?

And to prove it, here’s their Triffidesque video of a new song. Nice jangle, nice hook. No Ploog, PK or MWP natch but it’s ok I guess!

So Engerland’s thorough Ashes preparation (bar a 3 day match against England Lions to come…bizarre) is over. A clinical 3-0 defeat against New Zealand in a ODI (Bizarre!) series. It’s not the management’s fault , it’s something to do with the Future Tour Programme.

Predictions then anyone? Are you going full on Glenn McGrath? Will Pat Cummings absence in the first test give us a chance of 4-0? Will our bowling attack be up to snuff? Will we lose a wicket with the first ball of the first test?

Let’s be positive…2-2!

For me it’s Crime of the Century, Dark Side of the Moon and Black and White.

Yours?

We’ve just ditched Virgin Media Tv and Broadband, brought a new Smart Tv and now have Brsk broadband. So far so good though there were a few teething problems with the broadband and returning VM’s equipment wasn’t as easy as maybe it should have been but no matter.

So now everything will be streamed but “all” I’m after is after is Sky Sports and TNT (or is it Discovery?) Sports….It doesn’t seem possible to bundle it all together under one provider (Unless you live in Europe and are a customer of NOW TV,) so is the solution only to have a separate Sky and TNT subscription?

I know it’s first world problem but any advice appreciated. I hate change, me.

Was fine yesterday, playing CDs and streaming. Just turned it on to listen to the new Sparks cd (It’s MAD!) and it just continuously reads it with no end result. Can’t even eject it.

I’m heading out shortly to see Sparks so the plan is it will work miraculously tomorrow. Fräu Steady wonders if the heat has affected it’s delicate mechanisms but it’s in a cool spot in the kitchen and is slightly cooler today than yesterday.

MAD!

The Ashes are a few months away but let’s not that stop us getting worked up into a froth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket

Lovely low key melancholic vibe to this.

New album due September. But, grrrrr, only on vinyl and streaming…no cd. …

Basically, do they work?

I have a Pure Evoke Dab Cd player. Recently, every single cd I’ve played has jumped, clicked, stopped playing. The CDs have been cleaned so it’s not them.

My technical skills have been limited to moving the player to a different location but to no avail.

So, would a lens cleaner be a worthwhile investment or is there anything else I could do?

TIA

I’m watching, (on catch-up!) Michael Portillo on his Channel 5 travel programme in Portugal. (I know, Tory etc but his travel programmes on various channels are really entertaining…).

He just met up with a cataplana making Coppersmith. My immediate thought was “He produced the Jam didn’t he?”

I’m doomed.

The majestic Curry Mile used to be one of my favourite parts of Manchester. A seemingly endless procession of curry house, each one touting something slightly different from the rest and many of them open to the pretty early hours. But times and tastes have changed and the strip now seems to mainly consist of Shisha joints and kebab cafes. The flagship restaurants are long gone it seems.to me.

So , am I wrong ? Is there still somewhere I could get a good curry? It’s a significant birthday in a few weeks and I’m planning an early start in some of my favourite pubs and would love to end up early evening with a curry.

Has anyone been recently?

REM : Imitation of life

https://youtu.be/0vqgdSsfqPs?si=LBmp6GICmcfpVgI1

I’m having a Stranglers binge tonight.

The Raven was a great album but not quite up there with Black and White which remains a constant theme in my life.

The first two albums had a mixture of absolutely brilliant tracks with a bit too much filler. I might be wrong, I might be right.

Your thoughts?

Planning your go for a long weekend in March with Mrs Steady to celebrate a significant birthday of mine, hopefully going Thursday evening to sometime on the Sunday. I have been before, a good 20 years as go, on a sensible stag do.

So, recommendations please. Areas to stay , places to go, culture ,food, beer, the usual stuff.

Danke schoen

On the Great Lost Singles thread.

So I can’t view it. I think it’s something to do with lots of You Tube videos as it’s not the first time it’s happened.

It’s annoying, a first world problem for sure. Anyone have any ideas on a cure? I have an iPhone 8 (I think)

Go on, be mean.

The Thompson Twins.

No idea what it is about them, they are just annoying.

2.02 minutes here.

When JJ does a kind of whooormfh with his Baracuda Bass.

Yours will be different no doubt.

Or am I missing something?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy31pk1w0lo

Anyone ever used one of these? Seems a step up possibly from my slightly rickety Vox Amplug, bass version. Lack of wires is appealing though they don’t appear to make one specifically for a root note plodder.

TIA.

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/220815390950008–nux-mighty-plug-pro-headphone-amplifier

I’ve just had a clear out of unwanted mainly music books. A variety of tomes…Joe Strummer, Jah Wobble, those boring Alan Jones books , Me and Grant, various others and also some WW2 books and a decent dictionary!

Get yourself down to the Sue Ryder shop In Ashton on Mersey near Sale.

I quite like the fact that people have come a long way to hear this,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68209691