Top Of The Pops

Buying music is not the same as it used to be. That sense of expectation going into 'The Sound Of Music' to see if The Jam's new single had arrived, or the feeling of disappointment when 'Ciren Sounds' were still waiting for the delivery of Anita Ward's 'Ring My Bell' (I hope that was intended for a present for someone else but I fear it might not have been). Everything seems to be available at the click of a mouse now.
I know the Top 40 is still announced at Sunday teatime, but are the listeners still there like we were, nervously waiting to hear the new number one ( whilst probably naughtily taping the best songs)? And then there was the excitement of knowing the Christmas Number One. This has largely been taken from us by the X Factor influence. TV has sabotaged the whole process, and no longer will we have the opportunity to enjoy previous christmas number one classics such as Bob The Builder, Mr Blobby, Lily The Pink, Ernie(The Fastest Milkman In The West) and Two Little Boys. Ah . . .

Working in a Winter Wonderland

After two weeks of sub-zero temperatures, I finally gave up struggling with frozen stone and ground. And now the site is covered in about 20" of snow with more to come and no sign of warmer weather.
Fortunately I have a second career at times like this - that of the local snowplough driver. Well, the farm has the council plough, and right now the cows need all the help they can get, so no-one is free to drive it. So far it has been local roads in the village only, but last year I was asked to go all the way to Cirencester. On my own.
The reaction generally is welcoming, though there are some not so far away who say I remind them of the picture below. Can't think why.

It's A Bit Parky Out

Winter has arrived early this year. Fortunately The Cotswolds, so far, has not had the heavy snow, and the wall I am working on is long enough that there are sections that aren't frozen solid. OK, I have seven layers of clothing, the kettle won't boil and the local policeman stops by to check my sanity, but at least I have still been able to work.

I was warmed today by the bizarre 999 call reporting a stolen snowman. Perhaps, finally, Aled Jones can move on. The police sent two of their smaller special branch officers, to see if they could get a drift of what had happened. After a light dusting they found no fingerprints. They did apprehend a youth rolling a snowman away just down the road from the victims house, but let him go when his snowman was found to be much larger than the stolen one. They looked for witnesses, but some people sledging nearby turned out to be aussie cricketers. They are now concerned that the stolen article will just melt into the background, but will continue to plough on through the evidence.

So that this type of crime doesn't snowball, the police will try and work with the local community, but are unsure whether to use the carrot or stick approach.

Meanwhile, one snowman says to another - "Can you smell carrot?"