The Afterword

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Time & Tide: The Songs of Big Big Train.

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Author:Andrew Wild and Dr. R Douglas Helvering

Wow. At 540 pages, this weighty tome is a huge undertaking for both author and audience. Andrew Wild’s research is both detailed and comprehensive, while Dr. R. Douglas Helvering provides the musical expertise, as well as an invaluable list of the musical theory terms which will crop up in the text.

Next up are some lovely essays by the current band, plus Andy Poole, Ian Cooper and Rob Aubrey, culminating in a beautiful piece by Sarah Ewing about David Longdon.

Then, we’re into the meat of the book; four chronological sections that take us through the recorded works of Big Big Train, from the very first demos through to an incredibly detailed examination of Woodcut, the band’s most recent album.

Each section is packed with interviews, photographs and ephemera from the time, all of which are a joy to discover. Yes, even Bard and Scop are included in this dissection, something I know that The Passengers, the band’s devoted fans, will appreciate, nay, expect.

To give you an idea of how each album is approached, here is a brief summary of the chapter on the album, English Electric Part Two.

The chapter opens » Continue Reading.

New Gov.UK. Figures.

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According to Gov.Uk. there were 21 people killed at work by a falling object, last year. I would double that for items falling on people from a high window, round it up and say that 50 people per year are killed by falling objects.

As to the objects, I’ll bet that 99.9% of them are printers.

And, yes, I have spent the last two hours trying to get a new printer to connect to the WiFi.

Afterwards, my computer asked me to name the printer, which is a Canon TS4150i.

As far as the Device Manager on the PC is concerned, the printer now identifies as BASTARD.

An August weekend in 1968.

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August 1968. Kempton Park Racecourse, Sunbury, South-West London.

I’d never heard of this gig but that’s a pretty stellar line-up. Friday, from 8pm, The Herd, with Peter Frampton, Marmalade, Jerry Lee Lewis and Time Box. The first three acts named would have been very wary of following Rory Gallagher’s Taste, an incendiary live act.

Saturday afternoon saw a load of jazz whereas the evening was sensational. Deep Purple kicked things off, the band were only 5 months old, then The Nite People, Joe Cocker, (almost a year to the day before his groundbreaking performance at Woodstock,) Tyrannosaurus Rex, (Marc Bolan’s folky band, pre-T Rex,) Arthur Brown and Ten Years After. Somewhere, they squeezed Ginger Baker in, (Cream’s farewell concert at The Royal Albert Hall, with Yes as support, was just 3 months away,) before Jeff Beck appeared. The Jeff Beck Group in August ’68 was still the classic lineup of Jeff, Ronnie Wood on bass, Mickey Waller on drums and Rod Stewart on vocals. They had released the album, Truth, just a week earlier and were, by all accounts, a fantastic live act. Headliners were The Nice closed out the night, the band featuring Keith Emerson, just a few weeks » Continue Reading.

New rules for World Cup 2026

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I really hope these changes are implemented in domestic football, next season:

When a substitution is being made, a player will have 10 seconds to leave the field of play. Failure to comply will mean that the ongoing substitute will be held by the 4th official for one minute. In a friendly last night, Iceland made an 84th minute double-substitution. One player beat the clock but the second one didn’t. His sub was held on the sideline and Iceland had to play with 10 men for a minute. During that time, Japan scored what turned out to be the winner.

If a goalkeeper goes down with an injury, players will be told to stay where they are on the field. This prevents the current spate of fake injuries by goalkeepers to allow his teammates to go to the sidelines for a tactical chat from the manager.

There will be timed restarts for throw-ins and goal kicks. Failure to restart within 5 seconds will result in a throw-in being given to the opposition and a corner-kick to the opposition, in the case of a delayed goal kick.

Any player receiving on-field treatment for an injury, (except for the goalkeeper,) will have » Continue Reading.

Short announcement.

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I had a CT scan on Saturday and was told this morning that it showed no new issues. The physical exam confirmed that I have no new lumps ‘in all the relevant places.’

The chemotherapy is working.

That’s all I need to know.

That ends this short announcement. As you were.

Chemo Day 3.1

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It’s session No.3 today. Rituximab and Bendamustine are the two main drugs today and it’ll be 7 to 8 hours in the chair.

Back tomorrow for another 3 hours of Bendamustine.

Let’s ‘ave it!

Chemo Day 3.1