OK, it's a bank holiday, there's plenty of fuel after all ( even if it does cost more than gold, frankincence or myrhh in bulk these days )
My son is away with friends for the day and night, I'm off work and so's my wife. This morning I cheerily suggested a day out, "You know like we used to?"
"Where would you like to go?" says I, "Your choice darling, I'm at your disposal !"
I was thinking of a stroll round the Roman walls in Chester maybe, perhaps followed or preceded by a decent pub lunch sort of thing. You know "chillaxing" as they say !
Where did she actually want to go? Cheshire ruddy Oaks that's where...
Heaving it was. Full of what appeared to be escaped mental patients, universally clad in hooded garments. Most seemed intent on elbowing me, stopping dead in front of me or barging me out of their way in their rush to buy another pair of trainers or track suit bottoms large enough to circumnavigate their enormous backsides.
Why don't I keep my big mouth shut? I shall need alcohol tonight...
:-(
Where are you going / have been ?
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Fri 6 Apr 12 at 16:12
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Went out for a few beers with my CAB friends last night - £25.00 for beer and curry in the local Wetherspoons...!! Slightly bad head this morning - had to go and collect the X1 from where it was left last night....slightly off colour all day....
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>>£25.00 for beer and curry in the local Wetherspoons<<
I hope that was the total for all 5 of you!
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Curry less than a fiver in ours and most beers a couple of quid or less.
Hope I don't get your liver in a transplant.
;>)
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My local Wetherspoons does a promo of curry and a drink for £6.99. £25 must have been a lot of both! Happy Easter!
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>>....slightly off colour all day....
Thought you must be. I'm still trying to figure out how (or more accurately why ) you'd go from Chester to Warrington via the A500...
:-)
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Layed in bed until 8am, sat in the garden nearly all day today reading the local paper - nice wev,
Splashed some creosote on the gate, that's about it really, gonna watch A Place in the Sun now on more4 as I'm scheming about buying a place in Cyprus and turning my ass on "Great" Britain.
Wild horses wouldn't get me into any shopping emporium.
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Assume that is the Wetherspoons in Bangor unless there is one in Anglesey I some how don't know about.
So far all I have done today is drive :(. Had to drop my sister off in her flat this morning, then onto Currys to pick up a PVR for my mother, then onto my suppliers to get pars and finally onto look at the outside of a workshop I am thinking of renting.
Sadly no beer plans at all and it is looking like its staying like that all weekend :(.
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>> Heaving it was. Full of what appeared to be escaped mental patients, universally clad in
>> hooded garments. Most seemed intent on elbowing me, stopping dead in front of me or
>> barging me out of their way in their rush to buy another pair of trainers
>> or track suit bottoms large enough to circumnavigate their enormous backsides.
>>
>> Why don't I keep my big mouth shut? I shall need alcohol tonight...
>>
>> :-(
>>
>> Where are you going / have been ?
Are you completely incapable of absorbing life lessons? How many times has this happened to you and yet you still fall for the same old dogpoo
Lesson 1, avoid place where other people are on bank Holiday weekends.
Lesson 2, "fancy going somewhere else" is ALWAYS followed by suggestions you want (not forgetting lesson 1)
I'll give you this lesson for free.
"Fancy going out as we are both off? I would suggest cheshire oaks but it will be heaving, how about lunch in chester?"
Notice the subtle bribery contained within the suggestion, and the warning that you will be very grumpy if you go to cheshire oaks
Look and learn boy, look and learn.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 6 Apr 12 at 17:37
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Ahead of you, already suggested and negotiated a walk along the canal with the dog to the pub for "supper" tomorrow...
:-)
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Stable door old son, Stable door.
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>> Look and learn boy, look and learn.
'I'd suggest an indulgent afternoon's 'window shopping' in Bond Street but it'll be heaving. How about a snack at the Little Chef outside Haslemere on the way back from a couple of hours - four at most - doing wiping-poo-off-the-lens duty while I try to capture the Yorkshire Kangaroo in action on one of its rare outings, that 0-14-0 layout makes wonderful squealing sounds even on straight stretches, pity it derailed on all curves and never came into service... how about it darling eh? Eh? Look you're not on the rag are you? Ow!
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oh wow, is the YK running? I am off out the door....
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It was good training for retirement. A lifetime of having to put up with the other workers who are cluttering the environment at weekends, bank holidays, and school holidays will teach you to do your roaming during the week and when the little darlings are locked up in school.
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How does one put this, you H need retraining, never ever do you open the trap unless both your size 11's are bolted to the floor.
My lad's like you, he ends up going to those nightmarish shopping parks, often driving from Northants to that Cheshire Oaks site....bonkers the pair of you.
A more fruitful day would be Bicester, if for no other reason than the scenery could not be further removed from your description, if you follow..;)
:-)
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The only comfort I take though GB, is that faced with 4 consecutive days off, The C/Oaks thing or an equivalent form of torture was always going to happen at some point. At least now, having suffered it, I don't need to dread it for what remains of the holiday weekend. What's more, my brownie points score is exceeding high as things stand so in summary, it's all looking good...We did in fact manage a surprisingly good quick lunch at a rather too grandly titled on site "brasserie" as well so all was not entirely lost.
Still, I think it's probably sufficiently close to dark to open at least a decent blend if nothing else...
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Ah i see the thinking, yes swallow that bitter pill and wash it down for the duration with some carefully chosen nectar, if the punishment was coming anyway then can't fault you...and lots of brownie points too....devious, not a descendent of William Wallace are you?
My way (training her up over time pays off here..;) is to go to work tomorrow (rota'd) and SWM is going herself early to get the stuff she needs...She gets her stuff, i don't go near the hellish dumps, and i still get the brownie points... and hopefully some nice scenery to peruse en route.
Prefer my way.
:-)
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Humph is a real boy at this. Its really quite pathetic.
Now what you do Humph, is you get her to have some shopping pals. Then you pack her off to < insert shopping hell here > with her friends and the words, "Its ok dear, you go and have a good time, I'll just stay here, I am sure I can find something to eat around the house, maybe i will mow the lawn while you are enjoying yourself."
Of course mowing the lawn takes 30 minutes and you have the day to yourself ~ AND ~ now wait for it ..... Martyr Brownie Points the most valuable of all, tinged with gold those things.
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We were planning on going up to the caravan in Blairgowrie for a few days but the gearbox hasn't arrived from the breakers yard yet so no car to go in....
Don't fancy taking 2 adults, 2 grown kids and a black lab in a VW Beetle....
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Oh, and looking forward to Celtic winning the league tomorrow (hopefully) and then with the end of Lent, I will be able to have a beer or two !
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You could always take them shopping instead Bobby. There's that place at Livingston...Bet you'd find yourself a nice pair of shoes too. Those you bought last year must be minging by now !
:-)
Alternatively, take the Beetle to the caravan, if you offer to drive you won't be the uncomfortable one !
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Humph, the only attraction in that shopping centre is the Cadbury's factory shop!!
Don't like driving the Beetle, just don't like the car at all!!
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Goodness Bobby, assumed i'd missed the update and you were up and sailing again.
The 'breakers' scouring car parks as we speak looking for the correct model are they..;)
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Both detest shopping so that's never an issue. So today went to a Suffolk wood to hunt for a particular reasonably hard to find plant- her to ooh over it and me to photo it with new camera. Success.
Sunny and warm enough for a picnic, then coffee and cake at some little place or other, wandered back slowly across country lanes seeing the sights.
Twere a good day.
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It was fine here just faffing about. A bit chilly this evening for drinkie-poos on one of the new patio areas in the drug-lord's hacienda this place now looks like from some angles. The brazier didn't do the trick really.
But the nephew's pizza oven, stoked for hours with small chunks of oak, really cut the mustard. We are looking forward to roast meat and bread later on when he's really got the hang of it. I'm not a pizza freak but they were good.
Not a deer to be seen on our waddle. I reckon they know when it's a bank holiday and lie low in dead ground instead of foraging. Grockle alert! But we might just have not spotted them.
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My day today began with the last of the week's 3.00am starts. No traffic about until 11ish, so I was well ahead of myself and didn't mind the lunchtime queues on the M1 one bit. Finished for a week now, picking up my (now 5-year-old!) son in the morning for 7 days of ice cream and zoos in the rain.
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First thing in morning to town shopping for new born granddaughter she is a week old now.We had a coffee in Costa Coffee.Few hrs visiting daughter then dropped missus off to church.Second visit to eldest son and home about six.Hope to talk to middle son in N.Zeeland
on skype in morning miss him, he is coming home in September.
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Whereabouts in NZ is he Dutchie? Most of the country is having a mild and sunny Easter weekend, so hopefully he'll be out and about enjoying himself. Only downside is milk powder and noodles from the Rena wreck now washing ashore on the beaches around here. No oil thank goodness though.
SWMBO has started a huge garden project, so my new trailer and I are becoming very familiar with the green waste section of the town dump :-/. Oh well did get a good pub lunch in the sun yesterday whilst the nipper was snoring away in the car outside :-)
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>> Whereabouts in NZ is he Dutchie? Most of the country ......
>>
I suspect Dutchie means Zeeland, Netherlands, rather than down-under.
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>>I suspect Dutchie means Zeeland, Netherlands, rather than down-under<<
Give ee this if ya see im ~ rememberbuilding7.org/10/
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>> >>I suspect Dutchie means Zeeland, Netherlands, rather than down-under<<
>>
>> Give ee this if ya see im ~ rememberbuilding7.org/10/
>>
If you see this:
www.flickr.com/photos/jennlortz/5763743951/
remember you are down-under (sea level)...
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Breaker 1 and Breaker 2 had my gearbox in stock.
Then when went to buy only Breaker 2 had it so I bought it.
Then they phoned to ask about a specific feature of the gearbox and it tuns out its the wrong one but they have another.
The other turns out to be faulty but they have another still to be removed.
Removed and shipped to me on Thursday but still not arrived, courier can only be contacted by email !
Mmm
Meanwhile breaker 1 phones to say they now have one to fit mine in stock, it has came off an Altea with only 25k miles on it so if my gearbox doesn't appear by Tues I may order that one instead and cancel the credit card payment!
Breaker Breaker, feel like I am on the CB !
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>> Meanwhile breaker 1 phones to say they now have one to fit mine in stock,
>> it has came off an Altea with only 25k miles on it so if my
>> gearbox doesn't appear by Tues I may order that one instead and cancel the credit
>> card payment!
What proof for the mileage Bobby and what sort of warranty offered on these things?
I haven't had to use a breaker for many years, i would have known where to go 20 years ago but if i needed something now i'd probably find an estate of town houses has sprung up on the site.
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>> Not in Alesbury GB ?
>>
Nope you've lost me RP, there's probably a play on words there and i'm too obtuse to see it..;)
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I was thinking of the resident pilot's recent purchase !
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Ah.... Aylesbury.
No there is still a breaker there.
www.asm-autos.co.uk/aylesbury.htm
As it happens... a mate of mine works there.
Last edited by: swiss tony on Sat 7 Apr 12 at 17:24
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Ah the missing Y, i thought a tasty beverage was the word play, not the town..;)
I missed the continuation of the Aylesbury thread, didn't realise it had reached a happy conclusion.
Northants used to have some excellent scrap yards, some old school where you could get stuck in whilst wallowing like an overjoyed hippo in knee deep mud, and some catering to the more recent usually insurance write off customer.
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Had a trip round the hill climb section of the Olympic cycling road race this a.m.
Are they going to remove the speed humps?
Lunch in The Edward Tylney, a Weatherspoons pub, in Leatherhead. V. pleasant.
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I assume you mean zig zig lane at box hill? They didn't remove them for the test event (where they did for the rest of the course). I guess because they will be climbing up zigzag lane at a slow pace and coming down at speed on another route, (7 times i seem to recall)
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Returned Easter Monday after staying with family in the Seychelles. We booked Emirates flights on Xmas Day ex Manchester for £976 the 2 of us, and arranged things so we were away for 18 days but only used 10 days holiday. Minimum temp was 26, max 34, so very pleasant. Up at 5.30 most days to watch the sunrise, read plenty of books, ate lots of fish & chips, octopus & chips. Saw lots of interesting driving techniques.
Hand on heart the only thing I missed was decent beer, and some museum kulture. If I had Seychellois citizenship I would seriously consider buying a place and living there 6 months a year. Not quite the island paradise you see in the brochures, but still a pleasant place to work & live.
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Z is spot on. The magic words ''shopping pals''. My better half has a milestone bday this year, and would appreciate a weekend in the Lakes staying at a nice hotel. However, I would be grumpy because she would not take favourably to early starts being dragged 20 miles over the tops in all weathers. Fair enough. So, I suggest, I shall treat you to a stay at the Marriott in Leeds, shop till you drop, and share a room, wine, food with your bestest shopping friends whilst I stay at home, mow the lawn, clean your car, walk the dog (eat curry & drink beer with my friends).
Consequently, I now have more brownie points than I know what to do with. Top result all round.
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Marital brownie points have a very limited shelf life. I earned a shedload on Monday by re-doing the sealant round the shower tray and mowing the lawn, only to see them not only disappear but go into deficit last night when I knocked one of her thimble collections off the wall and broke half of them.
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Top end of Portobello Road RR, North and South of Westbourne Grove, trinket shops and stalls there that have (I seem to remember) repro-type china thimbles and no doubt other thimbles too. Pack them carefully, then waddle down to the Duke of Wellington for a few Leffes as a reward.
Of course if the thimbles you so cruelly smashed were priceless genuine antiques you may have to range further afield.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 11 Apr 12 at 15:06
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Brownie points for sale here! £70 and lower. Panic buyers welcome! >:)
Last edited by: Meldrew on Wed 11 Apr 12 at 15:53
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I'm off today so I'm going to cook tonight. It will be man food however, Saucissons, pommes de terre en purée et des oignons frits avec HP, I thought. But she'll be grateful hopefully...
:-)
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>> I'm off today so I'm going to cook tonight. It will be man food however,
>> Saucissons, pommes de terre en purée et des oignons frits avec HP, I thought. But
>> she'll be grateful hopefully...
>>
>> :-)
>>
Nah, she'll just moan that you're to tight to take her out for a proper meal...
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A thread in which it might be allowed to report a new variation on the acronym SWBO? I have just come across LHG = Long Haired General. Nice!
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All I can say is that you would all have to work a lot harder than that to earn Brownie points from me.
Pat
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>> All I can say is that you would all have to work a lot harder
>> than that to earn Brownie points from me.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Hear hear!!
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Can't be doing with these high maintenance women. Had one, sacked her. Cost a few bob but worth it in the end. Got a proper one now. Much more useful...
:-))
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>> All I can say is that you would all have to work a lot harder
>> than that to earn Brownie points from me.
>>
>> Pat
>>
I suppose you'd expect flowers from the petrol station then Pat?
Old smoothis that I am, I've done that many a time.
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>> I suppose you'd expect flowers from the petrol station then Pat?
>>
>> Old smoothis that I am, I've done that many a time.
>>
Flowers have never worked for me....
Here's an example....
Ex Girlfriend 'You never buy me flowers... would be nice to be surprised with a nice bunch from time to time....'
Me 'Hmmm you know I love you - I prefer to give you a present that lasts....'
(thinks to myself - get a bunch in a few weeks, see if that helps, but without being to obvious about this dig......)
A couple of weeks later....
'Here you are darling - I saw these and thought of you'
Hands over a large, expensive bunch of her favourite flowers....
She throws them to the ground and reply's...
'OK.... what the **** have you done? - I'm not stupid - you must have done something you NEVER buy me flowers!!'
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 12 Apr 12 at 01:01
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I dont understand whats wrong with Petrol Station Flowers? They are exactly the same biological life forms as Florist Flowers. A rose is a rose is a rose, does it matter from what outlet they came?
Women, different world.
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We don't want flowers from a petrol station or a florist.
We want a small bunch of violets, picked from under the hedgerow and made into posy with your own loving hands.
We want a meal cooked for us AND the washing up done.
We want you to listen to us, even if we're not saying anything interesting.
We want you to let us warm our feet on your back in bed.
We want the loo seat putting down after you've used it.
Most of all, we want you to hide our embarrassment at dropping the stupid cutlery some restaurants have when we drop it.
Do you get the theme?
None of the above cost money, just your time and patience and thoughtfulness.
Worth far more Brownie points than all the grand gestures.
Pat
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>> We don't want flowers from a petrol station or a florist.
>>
>> We want a small bunch of violets, picked from under the hedgerow and made into
>> posy with your own loving hands.
Probably illegal.
Certainly thoughtless. What about other members of the public who now won't be able to enjoy those flowers?
Noisy inhalation of breath.
www.thewildflowersociety.com/wfs_new_pages/1f_code_of_conduct.htm
Last edited by: Duncan on Thu 12 Apr 12 at 06:45
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One of AC's big raspberries to you Duncan.
They grow wild all over my garden and I pull them up and throw 90% away every year, but they are all back next year.
If anyone fancies being an old romantic they are welcome to come and pick mine.
Pat
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>> I dont understand whats wrong with Petrol Station Flowers? They are exactly the same biological
>> life forms as Florist Flowers. A rose is a rose is a rose, does it
>> matter from what outlet they came?
>>
>> Women, different world.
>>
from mars apparently
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oh, canis... thats where ive been going wrong
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Pat is fortunate in having a plague of violets in her garden. They are quite rare elsewhere and I was pleased to spot some on a road verge the other day on a walk with herself. She confirmed them and is generally my authority on plants. I haven't yet pointed to a plant she can't identify. Dead-nettle, bugle... the speedwell isn't out yet but soon will be... she's been educating me in English wild flowers.
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>>oh, canis... thats where ive been going wrong<<
S'ok beekeeper, its more accepted these days anyway.
:}
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>> Venus actually.
Hmm song on the radio just reminded me. Venus and Women.
Bananarama, supremely talented musicians and gifted song writers, or just complete tripe?
What does the panel think?
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banana rama? eye candy knob throb
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>> supremely talented musicians and gifted song writers, or just complete tripe?
Could easily be a bit of both. Quite a lot of art is like that.
Alas, I cannot call Bananarama's sound to mind so have no opinion in this case.
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>> Alas, I cannot call Bananarama's sound to mind so have no opinion in this case.
>>
Here you are, AC -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDXtM8XaSKw
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the blonde one does it for me
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Tripe end of the spectrum to my ear judging by that track.
Empty meaningless bubblegum. And the record an engineer's product, processed over and over and through and through.
Winsome looking babes, didn't hurt your ears but boring as hell. For children really. But perhaps Zero's track is better.
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There's the pre-SAW Banarama (collaborators with the Fun Boy 3) and the post-SAW. I would have liked to see what they could have done on their own; I'm not a big fan of the SAW sound.
Pre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=doHQjoQmr1E
Post: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH3WvI_S6-k
EDIT: sorry, SAW: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_Aitken_Waterman
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 12 Apr 12 at 16:46
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Both Focus's links were much better numbers. Indeed I do remember 'Venus' from the wireless in its day.
The other number was a live performance on TOTP or whatever they call it these days. Same tired old formula though with the audience made to hand-jive and so on... when was that on TV? It looked live anyway. Do these bands still mime to their engineered records on TV? I lost real interest so long ago...
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>> It looked live anyway. Do these bands still mime to
>> their engineered records on TV? I lost real interest so long ago...
Live performers miming to their track. Only a few bands played (or at just sang) live eg. New Order. But although some people made a fuss about the miming it was generally much better to hear the track as you'd hear it on the radio on a programme like that.
TOTP departed our screens years ago.
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>> But although some people made a fuss about the miming it was generally much better to hear the track as you'd hear it on the radio on a programme like that.
Makes sense from the recording industry's point of view. But it's childish to watch a 'live performance' which is just a simulacrum, even if the artists being promoted lend themselves to it. If you want to listen to a record, listen to it.
Our appetite for this tosh, so much more accessible than the real thing, encouraged the appropriation of art by engineers and music executives and its separation from the actual artists. So that some quite famous rock bands, without the overdubbing, synthesizing, session musicians and God knows what all else could sound more than a bit pathetic left to their own devices with a sound system and nothing else.
The Beatles and Stones sometimes used to fool around and make it obvious when they had to mime.
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>> But it's childish to watch a
>> 'live performance' which is just a simulacrum, even if the artists being promoted lend themselves
>> to it.
But I think it was mostly kids who watched TOTP.
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>> I'm not a big fan of the SAW sound.
...except for one of the best records ever made of course
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGuNsiSZ9RI
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I thought Venus by the Bananas was OK, actually.
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Easter Holiday excursions? - R.P.
