Foraging for Vinyl Gems and a Truly Private Record

It's nearly a week since my last post and I would like to be able to say that something significant has happened in the past week. I'm afraid there hasn't, apart from the transition from January to February.
Group has been very poorly attended this week and I worry that if we are successful in our funding bid, we will have insufficient numbers to justify the money we have requested. We are really going to have to look at increasing our numbers somehow though I'm aware there are members of the Group who are uncomfortable with new people joining. I can understand this. It has taken them time to build the trust and confidence to feel able to discuss anything they wish in a secure environment. When new people join the group, there is a tendency for members to become reserved and reticent to discuss things openly.
There is a lack of energy generally at the moment. Group meetings have been quite downbeat and moods have been lower than normal. I too have felt this and it is becoming increasingly difficult to raise any enthusiasm for tasks. My writing is the only thing that really keeps me afloat, besides my music of course which can certainly influence mood. I feels almost as if the January 'blues' are a little late this year. Weather may be a factor. Whilst we had the snow, there was something interesting happening. We now seem to be in a bit of a lull but there is severe weather forecast for next week which threatens a return of the snowy conditions of last month. I suspect in a week or two, I will feel different.
I wouldn't normally be here on a Saturday afternoon. I'm normally to be found at my dear friends Roy and Jan. I'm suffering again with my back today having strained it sifting through some records in a second hand shop this morning. It has the effect of lowering my mood so I've taken the precaution of staying at home this afternoon and have sent my apologies via email.
My rummage through the second hand shops this morning unearthed a number of vinyl gems among them a twin LP set of Bob Newhart and a 'Joe Loss Plays Glen Miller' LP. Others were of popular music from the 70's and early 80's. In one of the shops, there were so many records there simply wasn't the time to go through them all and frankly I would have crippled myself if I had attempted to. Instead, I left some boxes and shelves for the following week having taken note of a Tijuana Brass box set featuring Herb Alpert destined to join my collection in week's time. So all in all, a very successful morning.

I'm making good use of my typewriter. I have decided to begin keeping a 'paper' diary. I've never really been very fond of writing and I have always preferred to type. Since I have a nice 'new' Imperial 80 typewriter, I have decided to use it for the purpose of typing my diary. The reason for doing so is so that I can leave something physical for whoever is interested when the time eventually comes. I know my blog and other digital musings and ditties will drift around Cyberspace for the rest of time but it is nice to have something that is really 'private' and that no one else will see until the day it is discovered. In this digital age, it really is difficult and almost impossible to label something as 'private', but I know that with my paper diary, I can, and that is hugely reassuring.

Snowy Sunday Thoughts

There's a a lot going on at the moment. The weather has brought snow to many parts of the country and as usual, it has caused travel disruption and what can only be described as farcical scenes at London's Heathrow Airport. Should we be surprised? No, it happens every time we have snow and the slightest amounts result in cancelled flights and misery for travellers. Why do we get it so wrong every time. It is true that we are the laughing stock of other countries used to snow. Maybe it is just a British thing. We like to suffer and make things as difficult as we can. Snow is inevitable, especially in a changeable climate such as ours yet I read that we choose not to invest in snow clearing equipment as it is rare and wouldn't justify the expense. Try telling that to the passengers, many of whom have spent at least one night on the cold floor of the departures terminal.

On my mind this week have been money matters, specifically being asked for money we don't have. I know this causes my wife stress and she often spends sleepless nights worrying about how she is going to make her meagre part time wage stretch to cover our outgoings. With me, the worry is always there but it manifests itself as anxiety which will often build until an event such as a final demand letter or a threat of legal action sends me over the edge into a pit of despair. We've managed to keep the wolves from the door until now but I do feel we are headed for just such an event. In an attempt to prevent a crisis developing, our defence has been to send letters pleading our case. For the most part, this has been successful though there are cases where I am left wondering whether the letter has actually been read - as is the case with South Holland District Council. They are insisting we pay hundreds of pounds in council tax despite being told we cannot and having been sent a copy of our financial statement. They were also told of my delicate mental state which they also seem to have ignored. They will certainly be getting a very strongly worded letter.
I do try to reassure myself by realising we are not alone and that there are many thousands of families up and down the land in a similar situation. It doesn't stop me fearing every letter that comes through the door.

Therapy for me is the things that I enjoy, such as writing, listening to the radio and music - specifically finding music in the form of vinyl records in second hand shops. Saturday morning saw me again rummaging through a box of LP's in my favourite second hand store in Long Sutton. There is normally something new each week and out of five or six records, at least one will turn out to be a real gem. My gem(s) this week were a record of Henry Mancini's music which included the 'Pink Panther' and 'A Shot In The Dark' themes, and another K-Tel LP containing various well known songs.

A piece in today's Sunday Express highlighted the link between the effects of the recession and the rising suicide rate. This is something many have been aware of for some time, especially those who work in the field of mental health. It's a startling reminder of how things like financial well being and job security can push many to the brink and beyond. Those seeking re-employment having been made redundant are likely to become depressed as being constantly turned down for jobs leads them to view each day as pointless, often remaining in bed. I recognise and understand this very well. The numbers seeking psychological therapies has rocketed from 92,000 in 2009/10 to 320,000 in 2012. The figures speak volumes.
Yet there is no easy solution to any of this. The economy won't miraculously improve creating thousands of new jobs so the numbers of those suffering mental illness is likely to increase further. What makes life worse for so many of those affected is the poor care and support given to the mentally ill. The assessment process for benefits is so demeaning and flawed that many are made worse or pushed over the edge. Others simply decide not to go through it and end up in relative poverty. The system has to change.

Finally, I am utterly disgusted at hearing the new that Camelot are increasing the cost of lottery tickets. Surely this decision is simply based on greed. After all, they have failed to provide any satisfactory reason for doing this. I am sure I won't be alone in voicing my disdain at Camelot's decision and I for one will be boycotting the National Lottery in favour of the ethical alternative The Health Lottery who have also made public their views. So there.

I failed to record an audio journal this week, so I'll make sure I do an extra long one next week.
My Moodscope rating today is 61%.

Will My Son Be As Fascinated...?

I remember when I was young having a fascination for things electrical. I was very curious to understand how things worked and on many occasions I would take things apart to see what was inside. This included the 26" family TV set in the lounge which I would remove the back from and poke around whenever I was left home alone. At that time I was oblivious to the enormous voltages circulating just inches from me and on one occasion, I did poke too far and received an electric shock large enough to propel me across the room. Thankfully I escaped unscathed though my screwdriver had been significantly reduced in length.

I was fascinated also by video and I would sit watching schools programmes wondering not how the human body functioned, but how the pictures got from the cassette to the TV screen. I remember hounding my parents so much that they finally gave in sometime around 1985 and I received for Christmas my first video recorder, albeit rented from Granada - as it was then. Having been familiar with cine film (I at that time had a small projector), I had always assumed the video tape to be like film with individual framed images printed on it. Of course, it is very similar to audio tape.
How ancient these things seem nowadays with our DVD's and digital downloads. Despite the digital age we all now live in, I still have a fondness for the past. I miss the fact that you can't now see something working, like tape spools rotating. I miss that.

Sound recording was another thing I had a fascination for. I would create my own sound effects and splice the tape, physically editing the soundtrack by joining the two ends and physically feeding the tape past the play heads. I used to splice the effects together for a local amateur dramatics society I had a brief liaison with  around 1990. At home, I had several machines and many reels of tape and soon I had mastered the art. All the machines and tapes have long gone. I can't actually remember what happened to them, but I would do anything to have one of them here again.

The audio cassette was most people's preferred audio medium during the 70's and 80's. I still, like many people, have boxes of old cassettes. I keep meaning to transfer everything to CD but I've never got round to it and suspect I will go to my grave still not having done it. They will all be left to my son. On a few occasions he has asked me what they are. He is so used to seeing discs for everything that he cannot imagine how music is played from it. He must see everything as so ancient, much like I did with the old formats.
I'm hoping he will grow up with a degree of respect for technology and how it has evolved over the years. Just because something is old does not mean it should be consigned to the history books. Like VHS, it can still perform and it would be a shame to scrap everything that became obsolete. I still have a couple of VHS recorders, and I still use them. I have lots of VHS tapes and it is nice to watch some of the old programmes and home movies again. I did once have a Betamax machine and a great many tapes. Woolworth's were selling them off cheap so I bought as many as I could. Sadly I only have one left and I wish I had a machine I could play it on. My wife would never allow it especially as now they command such a high price on eBay, a sure sign of their rarity.

I have already been successful in introducing my son to vinyl records and he enjoys playing with my horned gramophone. I have quite a collection of 78's which he knows to be careful with. I think there is already an acceptance of sorts. Of course when he is my age, the DVD and hard drives will have been superseded and we will have solid state storage devices with no moving parts.
I hope very much that alongside these devices, there will still be space for the VHS recorder, the reel to reel tape deck and the record deck.