My "bump" was in 2016 when, aged 48, I suffered a stroke. This blog charts my recovery. (Header clipart licensed by pngguru.com.)
Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD? It’s the same thing, people going into the computers and loggin’ on and stealing our music.
Britney Spears
It’s funny how the music industry is enraged about the Internet and the way things are copied without being paid for. But you know why people steal the music? Because they can’t afford the music.
Tom Petty
for Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), thief.
Last week, Jim (NewEpicAuthor, A Unique Title For Me) set a theme of termination (my selection). This week, he gives us the theme of spices.
It was a gift when I saw today’s prompt.
Being from Liverpool, I grew up with The Beatles, and greatly admired John Lennon’s voice. And when his elder son, Julian, started recording, everybody was blown away by how alike they sounded, so I was pretty much a fan by default. Even today’s choice has hints of Strawberry Fields about it.
Julian doesn’t have anywhere near the commercial appeal that his father had, but nevertheless he has come out with some blinding tracks over the years, including this one from 1991. Let that date hang there for a moment, because if you follow the lyrics, the song addresses issues of both the environment and poverty. So, how long have they been around as issues? Forever. You can judge for yourselves, for all the rhetoric, how much has actually changed.
This song was written by Julian Lennon in collaboration with Mark and Leslie Spiro. I couldn’t find much about Leslie, but Mark is certainly an established musician/songwriter – the tracks of which he has been a part have sold more than 100 million copies. Saltwater originally reached #6 in the UK chart, #1 in Australia. You might have heard of it more recently than 1991, after a 25th anniversary version was re-released in 2016.
We are a rock revolving
Around a golden sun
We are a billion children
Rolled into one
So when I hear about
The hole in the sky
Saltwater wells in my eyesWe climb the highest mountain
We’ll make the desert bloom
We’re so ingenious
We can walk on the moon
But when I hear of how
The forests have died
Saltwater wells in my eyesI have lived for love
But now that’s not enough
For the world I love is dying
(And now I’m crying)
And time is not a friend
(No friend of mine)
As friends we’re out of time
And it’s slowly passing by
Right before our eyesWe light the deepest ocean
Send photographs of Mars
We’re so enchanted by
How clever we are
Why should one baby
Feel so hungry she cries
Saltwater wells in my eyesI have lived for love
But now that’s not enough
For the world I love is dying
(And now I’m crying)
And time is not a friend
(No friend of mine)
As friends we’re out of time
And it’s slowly passing by
Right before our eyesWe are a rock revolving
Julian Lennon, Mark Spiro, Leslie Spiro
Around a golden sun
We are a billion children
Rolled into one
What will I think of me
The day that I die
Saltwater wells in my eyes
Saltwater wells in my eyes
August 13, 1969, Chicago. The return of the Appollo 11 crew, the first lunar mission.
For Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), homecoming.
Reblogging this post, in case it is any use to anyone. Sue wrote another post, which she highlighted a few days ago, and which I also shared.
This post is a second response to the Block Editor concerns of some of our blogging colleagues
Links to the printable and downloadable guides, Parts One and Two are located at the end of this post.
Both guides are basic introductions to the Blocks, intended for bloggers who simply want to write a blog post and insert a few images, pretty much what most of us want! And as said previously, don’t let the amount of blocks put you off, most of us will only ever use two or three.
Part One dealt with composing a post using the Block ‘Classic Editor’, this is a version of the old Classic Editor previous to the existing Classic.
Two Editors named Classic – what were they thinking? Confusing to say the least!
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Jim’s prompt this week is Midnight at the Oasis, a song which conjours up all sorts of visions. For me, the very first thought is of the desert, Egypt, the Sphinx. During lockdown I have responded to this prompt, normally with a song of my own, but this week, let’s do something different.
Firstly, apologies to my UK readers, who might well have seen this one on the quiz show Eggheads a few days ago. In fact it was because I was reminded of this question so recently that I post it today for an international audience.
We’ve all heard of the Riddle of the Sphinx, right? The riddle that says What is it that has one voice, and is four-footed and two-footed and three-footed? And we all know that the answer is a person, because the three stages represent the three stages of life?
But did you know that there was a second, less well-known riddle? This one goes along the lines: There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?
Anybody got any idea what the answer is? Sure, you can look it up, but where’s the fun in that?
If you think you know the answer, post it in a comment and I’ll publish the correct answer, also in a comment, shortly after 6PM my time (GMT + 1), tomorrow.
Yay, it is Friday again, and Fandango has just published his Friday Flashback post. The idea is that he picks a post from this day in a previous year, to give newer readers a better insight into what does and doesn’t make him tick.
I have always liked that idea, so shall also post my own reminiscence. As much as anything, it reminds me of where I was, where I am now, and how far I have come. Hopefully, you will find it entertaining along the way.
This is a post I wrote just about a year ago, I’d been “reading” a book via Audible. I’m not massively into fiction, but I read the synopsis of this book and it sounded like it might be interesting. My wife later told me that it was a big hit, had been dramatised for tv, etc., and that she wouldn’t have thought it was my taste at all.
The book was called Outlander. The basic plot is that the book starts just after WW2. She is out walking in the highlands of Scotland one day and is magically transported back to the 1700s – clansmen, redcoats and the like. Once there, she ends up with this clansman. If you’re interested, you can read the detail for yourself but the long and short is that they end up married, back then. I thought it might be interesting, taking life in the 1940s and mixing it up with life two hundred years earlier, but in the end I’m afraid my wife was right – where I first thought the idea might be worth exploring, I came away thinking that the book was rubbish. It was far too lovey-dovey for me. In this post I was obviously in the middle of listening to it and obviously picked up on a specific tiny bit of it.
That reminds me, not long ago I canned my Audible subscription because the credits just kept building up. I posted way back about the books I have been reading – yes, I am still getting through them and yes, that is how slow I am! Which reminds me, I finished Renia’s Diary and am intending writing something soon, but it is still very raw. I’m listening to the Louis Theroux book at the moment, which is far easier.
Anyway, a year ago:
Here’s a scenario for you all to consider. I’ve criticised my current Audible read in a previous entry, but it does provoke some thought.
The woman, originally from the C20th, has been transported (somehow) to the C18th.
The man is, and always has been, of the C18th.
The tale is set in the C18th, when they are also married to each other. Bear with it – if you bought that she could get back to the 18th century in the first place, this other should be no problem!
They’re having a row. She snaps at him, “why d’you always want to behave like bloody John Wayne?” Obviously, the response is “who’s John Wayne?”
Think about it. To try to explain movie star, you first have to explain movie. You probably then need to go back to still photography, how an image can make its way onto a piece of film…
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As I please I can travel around,
While the rest of the country’s locked down,
Needn’t follow the rules,
Only made for the fools,
I’m afraid I can smell something brown.
There is a story in the UK which will not die about our Prime Minister’s most senior advisor. While the rest of the country stayed home, he was making roundtrips of hundreds of miles to see family. This was uncovered by the press, and is now out in the open. The advisor has done a lot of squirming, defending himself by saying that technically he was not breaking the law (something which is disputed), and to date, our Prime Minister has staunchly stood by him. The advisor also happens to be one of the chief architects of the UK government’s flagship Brexit (alleged) policy. The story has had top billing here for about the last week.
My offering was inspired both by this story, and by Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC), resign, which, frankly, indicates the advisor’s correct course of action.
The Guardian is a very reputable UK newspaper, although was chosen at random to provide the link. This story has been reported by most sources in the UK.
This week, as well as my own post. LindaKempWriter posted a song from the Eighties, by Bette Midler, which she stood up and sang solo at church. Ouch! The sort of thing we do willingly as children but as adults, wonder why. It’s funny because I remember a few Bette Midler songs from the time, but not this one. So thanks, Linda. And if you don’t already know her, I thoroughly enjoy reading Linda’s other material, short story fiction, so I’d recommend checking out some of her other posts, too, if you have a few minutes.
Oh and I’ve got news, especially since people have started joining in with this idea. This week I posted #33 of the series, and I have 41 of these posts planned. After that, I’m not sure. I always realised that there would be a time on this one when I ran dry.
It’s funny, because people sometimes ask (especially on prompt questions) what our favourite piece of music is, and I’m basically indredulous that somebody can choose just a single piece of music above all others. I certainly can’t. I’ve found 41 of them (well, they have mostly been songs). I’m not sure I could narrow it down much more. My Song Lyric Sunday posts, even then I went through my collection and picked out some favourite songs that might be good choices if the right prompt comes up – and came up with just shy of 400 tracks! A goodly stash of tunes for the next few Sunday mornings, but not even close to finding that single song which stands above all others.
If anybody has any suggestions what I should do after #41, I’m all ears. Even if it is to move to Outer Mongolia.
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