Twang joins Tiggerlion, MosleyMoles, Leeds Boy and SteveT in the pod to discuss the lockdown. The team consider what cultural gems kept them sane in this difficult period, gratuitous spending, what they have planned for an unlocked summer as we stumble, blinking, into the light and pause for a moment to consider whether we might actually miss a time of low pollution, no traffic and working on the kitchen table.
The Afterword #106: The lockdowncast
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What a lovely surprise. Welcome back people.
Great work, Twang.
It always amazes me how you put these together. One day, you must give me a tutorial!
Gosh! I hope @SteveT is fully vaccinated.
Steve’s new nickname is Litmus Paper.
Is that because of his pink shirt?
@Tiggerlion I have my second jab this week.The cinema I go to is small and has gaps of two seats between every two.
The first gig Steve Gibbons is in an outside courtyard with heaters and is a small venue max 50 people.Second gig is the Jazz Cafe and is a table style supper club venue hardly much different to eating a meal in a pub which we have already done about 4 times since 12th April.To be honest everywhere we have gone has been extremely well managed and the clientele have been very well behaved. The infection rate in this country is I understand about 23 per 100,000 and of those maybe 1 will be Ill enough to need hospitalization. I have spent a year adhering to all of the rules when infection rates were at a level to warrant all of it. The environment has changed significantly – I hope for good but if it isnt we just lockdown again. I am taking my opportunities to enjoy myself while I have the chance. You are a long time dead
I like the cut of your jib. Good luck to you, Steve.
One thing I didn’t point out in the cast is that only a tiny percentage of infections in this country came directly from China. To begin with, it was mainly our own population enjoying the ski slopes of Europe or travelling on business. Then, in September, it was holidaymakers coming home from Spain and the like. The vaccines make travel much safer and, it seems, also reduces asymptomatic transmission. The rate of new UK infections hasn’t risen since the last two steps of lockdown release. Things are looking good.
Hi @Tiggerlion – I noticed you were asked to give a professional opinion on the situation during the podcast. I must have missed it if you’ve mentioned it over the years – what is your profession?
Ah. I’m a GP. Just like retro. We even went to the same medical school but never met. He was in a different year to me. I qualified in 1982 and joined my practice in 1989.
We were a ‘hot’ site March to July last year and have been busy vaccinating since December. We decided to be ‘hot’ because we felt we could control the flow and the exposure of our staff better, having seen what happened in Italy, as I mentioned. Fortunately, we could get a good PPE supply from a local firm who clear out asbestos from buildings. We also had someone who made us scrubs. Our patients were incredibly generous.
Kudos to you and your staff. Incidentally if you want to know how we got vaccines so soon, here’s a modern history lesson.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-next-big-idea/id1482067226?i=1000520420962
Erratum: I didn’t train in Brum, just started work there in 1981. I was St Thomas’ in that London.
Sorry.
In that case our paths could have crossed!
Lovely to hear you all again, it was like you were all in my bathroom with me while I cleaned the mould off the shower tiles.
I love gigs, the smaller the better, but I can’t see myself going to many for a good while yet. I don’t have a fully-functioning immune system, and was in Shielding during the lockdowns. I’m not prepared to share a room with people who might not have had both (or any) vaccines, it’s simply not worth the risk. I went years between gigs at the height of illness, I can do it again for a while longer.
If you are fully vaccinated then you should be fine. Given what we know now it is extremely unlikely you can then get serious illness.Even one jab gives you a high degree of protection, but everyone can make their own choices.
A new pod! Is the war over ? Can I come out of my bunker ? Blimey there are people and cars and noise……… I’m going back in the bunker.
There’s a headline on the BBC website this morning “It’s great to wear trousers again”….TMI, dude
Can anyone else do an Afterword podcast and publish it or does it have to be sanctioned by higher powers?
My favourite part is the introduction of the guests and their meekness at being present. It’s so Monty Python.
“I like my anonymity” 🤣 The caretaker was visible though!😝
Tiggerlion’s voice is so cuddly! His enunciation of ‘prepared’, “Pruhpared.”
I’m going to take this as a compliment.
Thank you @Mrbellows.
Definitely!
The first lockdown was fabulous. What are you talking about?
My god this is so middle class. Is this Butterflies or The good life? Not to be condescending just fascinating.
The marvellous Mrs. Maizell though. 👍
One of my WhatsApp groups actually made a recommendation for cold brew coffee yoghurt yesterday. Now that’s middle class.
I am a big fan of the Aeropress myself. One of those things that should not work as well as it does! Made by the guy who invented the flying ring that my kids would zip into trees in the local park on a regular basis.
I tried making cold brew a couple of times last summer but it seemed like a lot of trouble for something that wasn’t that great. Happy to be proved wrong if someone can point me in the right direction.
I’ve never found it a lot of trouble. Just make up a cafetière with cold water and leave it in the fridge overnight before pushing the plunger down.
Some coffees make nicer cold brew than others – Monmouth do some beans which are particularly good for it – but an ordinary, relatively light/fruity roast ground coffee from the supermarket should do fine.
It seems to require a lot of planning which is probably beyond me. Why should I want to drink cold brew coffee?
It’s nice on a hot day. Why should anyone want to prepare any food or drink? It’s just… quite nice!
I’ll give it a go (if/when we get some hot weather).
The “why” of it is where I’m at a loss also.
See above. Have you never made yourself some nice food or drink? Christ, if 30 secs prep before going to bed is an inexplicable time investment for a bit of pleasure, I hope you chaps aren’t the cooks in the house 😉
I used to love a Nescafé frappé in Greece. Teaspoon of “Nes”, condensed milk and a couple of ice cubes in the shaker, rub a dub dub, delicious.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/real-narcos/id1504486636
Anyone up for a ‘half of us are dead now’ UFO retrospective podcast?
We can dedicate to James Blast
I actually saw UFO I think, in Liverpool. I think the guitarist had a Flying V which is all I can remember.
That was probably Lugwig Spencer who had a short lived period in the band according to Wikipedia.
Schenker liked a Flying V did he not? Unless…
Yes he was a Vee man. It was probably 1977 ish. Which is Schenker era is it not?
I am desperate to be included in these podcasts. Mainly because I like to hear myself speak but really because I love a good old chin wag with opposites and lovely people that can skewer an opinion in untold fashion.
Everyone is welcome to take part. Any particular subject interest you?
I’m quite looking forward to the answer to this question, let alone the actual podcast.
Counting the minutes till he wakes up …
Fruit & flowers?
As long as it starts “Good evening Mr Bellows”, I think it could be a winner.
Mustn’t be middle class or timid though.
Fright seems to have come to the fore as a subject. I’ve been ruminating on this all afternoon whilst at work. Fright from songs for example. There’s one Led Zeppelin song that I can’t remember at the moment but when I heard it for the first time it scared the bejebbus out of me. Also the child catcher from Chitty Chitty bang bang. Frightened the life out of me. So, yeah, let’s do one about fright? Do you want to do this? How does it work technology wise? Who else wants to join in this conversation? I’m so excited! And I just can’t hide it! I know I know I know I know I know I want you, I want you!
We should record this and put it out at Halloween.
I’d love to have on board, lodestone, Gary, Moose, Steve T, Tiggerlion and a female function if one is available.
Incredible as it seems some people don’t want to be on the podcast which of course is perfectly fine.
I think I’ve had it with Skype which seems to work worse and worse so I would probably set up a zoom meeting and record it, then I edit and top and tail it with the intro/outro. Easy peasy.
The hardest bit is finding a date everyone can do TBH.
The child catcher in Chitty Chitty bang bang scared the crap out of me too.
@stevet . I would love to have you as a fellow guest on the future podcast I’m trying to put together with Twang.
Probably Immigrant Song. Or Kashmir.
Dazed and confused. Full on Satanic!
How’s about it @Moose. Will you join the adventure of broadcast via the medium known as the afterword podcast? You’re a dolphin, right?
@leedsboy👍
I’m all in but now I’m thinking about changing the topic to crooners and crooning. Perhaps we could do both? Fright and croon.
Crooners is a good one.
Settle on crooners then and leave the fright one for another day? I’m up for that.
Enjoyed that Gents, thank you. Recognised a lot in myself in relation to Netflix consumption, the pleasures as well as the difficulties of lockdown, and the changes to music listening habits. Like some of you on the podcast, the daily commute was a key part of the day to listen to music and without it I have probably listened to less than normal during the pandemic. I struggle to listen to music whilst working unless I am doing some very humdrum task, so that doesn’t help.
In answer to @tiggerlion ’s query about ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’, I am one of those who have kept playing it after the first flush of hype upon its release. More than any other record old or new, it was my lockdown record. The timing was perfect, with ‘Murder Most Foul’ being released at the end of March, and ‘I Contain Multitudes’ in April, with the whole album following in June. And those two songs in particular seemed to speak to the pandemic, though the whole album, in fact, was written and recorded before it. ’Murder Most Foul’ combined a description of a national trauma with a welter of conspiracy theories, and that seemed apposite. And then in that amazing litany of music and film references in the second part of the song it felt like an assertion of and a victory by music and art – of the things we make and value – over whatever shitstorm – including Coronavirus – may be hitting us at any time. And ‘I Contain Multitudes’ was a short, and funny riff on all our individual complexities and singularities. Again, it felt like two fingers to the pandemic (even though, of course, it wasn’t written as such). The album is patchy – I don’t think it’s up there with his very best work – but it’s good, and I enjoy it still. Not for the first time, I was grateful to the old stager for helping me to keep on keepin’ on.
And thanks @twang for opening up the pod again – good to have it back.
Thank you. I’ll have to listen again.