Cupboard love

This weekend was spent in the company of James and Janneke up in Manchester. Although Janni is still suffering from the effects of Long Covid she was in fine form yesterday and today. Both she and James get a kick out of up-cycling old pieces of furniture: James has recently restored an old 1960s stereogram and given it a brand new lease of life, c/w blue tooth connectivity, whilst Janneke is in the middle of bringing this retro kitchen unit into the 21st century; with a little help from Lily.

We go again

Following our hugely successful first night at our new home last month, Monday Vinyl returns to The Carousel in Hockley at the end of this month with an absolute blinding record: Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy is, you'll not be surprised to learn, in a rather splendid tome that lives on the bookshelf in my local entitled 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Yet another reason why The Abdication in Daybrook is one of my favourite pubs of all time. Blowing the froth off a sensational cask ale while delving in and out of what I can only call the musical bible (I lose all concept of time when I open its pages) is, for me, the perfect way to spend an evening. Feel free to come and join me. Likewise, there's an open invite to anyone reading this who happens to find themselves in Nottingham on the 29th. What could be better than listening to (and talking about) the Dan in convivial surroundings with like minded coves?

Steely Dan - King of the World (1973)

A big thank you to Ben and Christos for looking after us so well at The Carousel - the perfect hosts; as too are Matt & Lucy at the Abdication.

The Carousel, 25 Hockley, Nottingham NG1 1FH

The Abdication, 89 Mansfield Road, Daybrook, Nottingham NG5 6BH

Scottishish

Matthew (left) - Portpatrick, 30.10.21

My friend Matthew has lived and worked in Scotland for 28 years. His two grandchildren are called Hamish and Angus. He eats square sausage and even has a Scottish bus pass - you get them when you're 60 north of the border. But even though he's probably more Scottish than Rod Stewart (in some quarters he'll always be a feb - Matthew, not Rod; though Rod technically is too), Matthew isn't Scottish. But when I took this photo of him on Saturday in Portpatrick he came pretty close.

And here we both are. It was taken in 1986 at Warwick University by our mutual friend Richard Rigg. Matthew and I are going to Los Angeles in March next year where Riggsby now resides. I may ask him to recreate* this photo (whilst Matthew and I are both still able to climb steps unaided).

JM (left) & Matthew
...

Postscript

*As promised, Matthew and I in the Getty Museum, LA. (Photograph taken by Riggsby, March 2022.)