Changing face of the High Street?

A 'commentator' on a radio news programme this morning 'commentating' on the apparent demise of 'Blockbuster' stores suggested that the fact that three* 'High Street Stores' have been forced to close in the past week - with the cost of thousands of jobs - is not really that much of a problem. It just means - apparently - that we will now have different shops in our High Streets - and if these shops are of the pound shop varieties or similar, well that's OK because they will still provide jobs.

Sadly this commentator did not point out that these newer stores usually employ part time workers, and on basic minimum wages. Indeed one of these type of stores was involved in a scandal not long ago by helping the government give work experience to the unemployed at no cost to the store chain and no wages to the unemployed.

High Streets/shopping areas change. Other Half and I were remiscing yesterday how when we first lived in our village [40+ years ago] the local store owner delivered groceries for free on a Friday evening via his bicycle with the big carrier thing on the front. Now I go online, order groceries from one of the large Superstores 3 or 4 miles away, pay the delivery charge and have the shopping delivered to a time of my choosing any day that I wish. Not really conducive to ecological harmony as the same lorries whip up and down our little road delivering to various houses on several times a week. But modern life and all that....

I am not against change. The function of High Street shops change with differing demands of residents and consumers. With the growth of out of town shopping malls grew predictions of the decline of local shops and of course this happened in many areas. And those who cannot or do not want to experience the Out of Town Shopping Mall inevitable suffer. Online shopping has of course taken up a lot of the slack especially now that so many 'online shops' offer free postage even for small purchases. [Apparently 'free' - we all appreciate that the postage is factored into the overheads when prices are set, don't we?]

But here's the rub. We are hearing that large online retailers like Amazon who are not paying income tax in the way that they morally should are probably responsible for the demise of some of those High Street shops like HMV and Blockbuster. We should of course boycott such retailers. But when you live in a little village like mine which has never had a book shop, record shop, don't drive and - to be honest - are a bit lazy, what is easier than clicking on 'buy it now' on the friendly lap top? Especially when it will be popped through the letterbox in a day or two and due to the said tax paying proclivities of the retailer the item is a couple of pounds cheaper than an independent retailer would charge even supposing one could be found. And that is without paying car parking charges and fuel costs if Other Half takes me to the nearest town with a book/record shop - and that book/record shop has the book/record shop has the item in stock because they are struggling with stock because online retailers are undercutting them?

And because these big online retailers are not paying their fair share of taxes the government claim they cannot afford to pay  increased benefits to the unemployed which will now include those from the shops which have probably just closed due to the price cutting from the big online retailers......

Re-reading this, to quote a bit of Bob Dylan [on another subject, but any excuse after all]:
                         So now as I'm leavin'
                         I'm weary as Hell
                         The confusion I'm feelin'
                         Ain't no tongue can tell
                         The words fill my head
                         And fall to the floor**


And again, to quote a radio commentator this morning, about 17,000 jobs have been lost 'on the High Street' since Comet's went into receivership just before Christmas. If this had been from a factory closure there would have been far more 'fuss' about it. Please let us all protest about so many lost jobs.


* Jessops, HMV, Blockbuster


** With God On Our Side


Postcard of Eltham High Street c1910 above published courtesy of http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/greenwich/assets/galleries/eltham/high-street-1910 http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/greenwich/assets/galleries/eltham/high-street-1910

Music is my tardis

A good friend wrote the above phrase on my facebook after reading my last blog, just about the time that I realised that I hadn't mentioned music in my list of memory inducing 'prompts'. So I dedicate this blog to Carl with the hope that he will listen to all my favourite 'tunes' and not suffer too much at some of them....

Like humour, one's own musical tastes are so subjective. I have seen really good friends nearly come to blows over the 'best' rendition of a song. Just this last week I entered into a really fierce facebook debate on the best version of Leonard Cohen's wonderful Hallejuah - obviously John Cale although not everyone agreed....

And memories induced by music don't always mean that the particular piece of music is one of one's actual favourites! For instance whenever I hear Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come On Eileen it reminds me of a holiday in Woolacombe in the 1980s. I like the song but it wouldn't be one of the pieces I would chose for Desert Island Discs.

I know you are all waiting for me to start quoting all the Bob Dylan songs that mean a lot of me and all the memories they hold. Well there are so many that I will just give the one song, from the first Dylan album I ever bought [Bringing It All Back Home] way back when. The song is Love Minus Zero and reminds me of hours spent in my mother's front room with my old mono record player [yes that was what they were called back along!] I can't find a YouTube that does justice to Dylan singing it so have mixed two musical memories to link to this version by Joan Baez.

Most couples have their own tune and we have ended up with
Where do you go to my Lovely? by Peter Sarstedt . How this happened we have no idea but it is a ripping good tune...

I am hopping all over the place with these memories, why Queen appear next with Bohemian Rhapsody I have no idea, except memory is like that - random and not orderly! We used to listen to Queen constantly when we were 'exiled' in Germany [working for Ford] in the late '70s. And to the embarassment of all my children Other Half and I both know all the words to this whenever it is played anywhere and sing along with it - loudly!

Back to the late 60s and hippy times, to when we first heard Arlo Guthrie singing Amazing Grace. Since then we have heard lots of artists perform this, including massed bands, but there is still something unique about Arlo's performances. We have had it played at Christenings and Funerals and I am dropping hints for a forthcoming wedding!

Another completely random choice would be something by Paul Robeson. A favourite of mine, but he was also a favourite of my Father's. The trouble is, I really don't know which one song I would choose - the lullaby my mother used to sing, one of the Welsh songs he sang to support the miners, the hymns ..... Oh well Mum, here's your song Curly Headed Baby!

Roy Bailey is the music man I probably go to see most frequently these days. So my song from him I Ain't Afraid would be and the memory is of him and Tony Benn doing a great set at Cambridge Folk Festival in 2000. A set we have seen many times and enjoy every time!

I could go on for ever but must stop but before I do there are two songs I cannot ignore. Family know why I have Joan Baez singing Dylan's Forever Young. A very special memory.

And lastly, Billy Bragg's version of The Internationale. This song encapsulates so many memories: Family, friends, beliefs, hopes and ideals. And it is my ringtone on my mobile. And Billy and I are both 'Made in Barking'!

No photos today - the PC won't play.

Take care of all your memories.

Its really too hot to work, so have been chatting on Facebook and I happened to remark how depressing I found a comment just heard on the radio:

Windchimes always remind me of my Nan

Being a great windchime lover [yes I have them all over the house and garden] I always thought they expresed our hippy past rather than our increasing seniority! Although I do remember when first putting up a bamboo chime in the garden nderneath our bedroom window just before going to bed one hot night, Other Half getting up in a temper at about 3am as its lovely tones were keeping him awake...

I went on to comment that Yardleys Old English Lavender Water reminded me of my two Nans - and I have also been searching the net ever since to try and find pictures of those fly traps that were cardboard pictures of things like budgerigars or kittens in a basket which hung from the ceiling [we are talking circa 1955 btw!]

So a thread developed about what sparks off memories. A smell can take one back years. My mother wasn't a great one for cosmetics, but there was a certain face cream my mother used which I have very rarely smelt since a child - but if I ever catch a whiff of it - wow! And my Dad - well there was the smell of the wood in his wardrobe mixed with the sort of moth balls they used way back then - that sounds awful but was actually rather nice!

I am not a foody person so cooking smells don't do a lot for me - but that smell of candy floss at the sea side or fair, or better still - toffee apples. My mother used to make these and I do remember one batch she made and when we came down the next morning they were covered with ants who had also been unable to resist the smell..

My two grandfathers: the English one was 'Granfer' and had whiskery stubble on his cheeks which I laughed to rub my cheeks against. I think that began my love of bearded men! [Other Half, Brian Blessed...] My Welsh one: Granfa [note spelling difference] had such a round face and smile and used to talk to me about piano playing. Both passed over too soon.

Strawberry smells remind of the day I got home from school and found the house empty but smelling deliciously of strawberries. I couldn't find a relative or a strawberry - but to be honest I was most worried about the latter. I was in the fortunate position in those days to live next door to more family and it eventually turned out that a new baby had just been born and thus everyone had left my house for next door. So the smell of strawberries reminds me of that cousin! [The strawberries were eventually found in our house, neatly turned into pots of jam. And I can't stand jam!]

My father died when I was a teenager so I never really got to know him as a person rather than a 'Dad'. But when I find an old book with his signature in it I feel close to him, finding a little bit of his character in his choice of books. And his writing was so appalling because he was a lobby correspondent and never learnt shorthand - used his own system and wrote very quickly! I have always loved seeing Eldest Son doing jig-saws because it reminded me that as a child if I left a jig-saw unfinished overnight, when my father got home from reporting on parliamentary matters he would finish it!

When my mother died and we cleared out the loft and emptied the house two things that had to go to the tip upset me . One was the old electric radiator that used to get wheeled into my bedroom every time that I was ill - very often in the 1950s as I was asthmatic! - and the other was the suitcase that came down from the loft at holiday time. It still had some of the stickers on it from when we sent it on ahead by train [before the years of the car!] The suitcase was old and tatty, although Other Half offered to keep it I couldn't inflict it on him!

The last thing that we took out of that house was one of my mother's evening dresses that had somehow survived from the 1960s/70s. Eldest Daughter had worn it to a legal ball when at uni and I couldn't send it to the charity shop somehow. A couple of years later Youngest Daughter decided that she would like to wear it to her school prom. Youngest Daughter being shorter than Eldest Daughter and my mother meant considerable work had to be done by me to get it to fit but I managed somehow. I bought Youngest Daughter a pair of smart sandals to go with the dress - but being ever the individul she decided to wear a pair of pink converse boots with it! I must admit she looked good, but since I worked in the school at the time I got fed up with other teachers telling me the following week what a good idea that had been and threatened to put a note on the staff room notice board with the receipt for the sandals on it!

My children never seemed to remember the things/outings/events we thought that they would - the trips to places of interest, educational visits etc etc. But they do remember me turning a film off before the end and telling them the [false] happy ending. And Youngest Daughter embarassed herself in front of her driving instructor when she refused a wine gum because she thought it contained alcohol. [That was one of Other Half's jokes when she was very young] Plus the driving instructor was his best friend so that was a double embarassment for him]

My grandchildren [eldest aged nine] are already savouring memories - and what odd things they remember - never what one hopes! Eldest grandaughter remembers 'the lovely meal' I cooked on holiday once - my sphag bol which is one of the only things I can cook and really doesn't rate that highly in culinary terms! Eldest grandson on visiting the holiday town we hadn't visited for nearly a year remembered exactly the position of the shop which sold delicious fudge. Are children's memories always food induced?

Funny what things spark our memories isn't it! As Bob Dylan said:

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them

I am not on my usual computer so can't access my photos. I hope I have downloaded a link to 'Memories' from the musical 'Cats'.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan!

Well, Bob Dylan is 70 years old today. That actually seems impossible to me, I absolutely cannot have been following the genius that is Bob Dylan for almost 50 years. Yet I have.

I suppose that to me and many others of my generation the name 'Bob Dylan' is synonomous with the change that seemed to rush through the early to mid sixties in music, art and society - to the generation that was young then. To badly filch and paraphrase Wordsworth:

Exciting was it in those years to be there, But to be young was very heaven!

My twin gods were Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. I can still remember the shiver that went down my spine - literally - when I first heard the tune and listened to the words to With God on Our Side, it expressed so exactly what I was fumbling to say at those early CND meetings I was attending.

The 'Bob and Joan' combination provided me and my friends with many adventures in and memories from those days. One of the things that drew Other Half and I together was our mutual respect for Dylan. I remember a madcap ride with friends [this was in the late sixties] to the Electric Cinema Club in the Portobello Road, Notting Hill to watch the film Don't Look Back which was a documentary about Dylan's 1967 tour of England which showed other artistes including [obviously!] Baez, the Animals, Donovan and more. The Electric at that time was falling apart and there was a very strange smell in the air. I suppose the occupants were dressed oddly, not that we were any different in our ponchos, ragged trousers and long skirts. The music and light show before the main film started was King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King. Then there were the festivals and shows, with longer and longer gaps between our attendance and children started to arrive and thus the buying of the records replaced the buying of tickets.

Unravelling Dylan's words and music helped us to think. Maybe they even helped us through the Sociology parts of our degrees. Certainly they were often played loudly at those times! His music and voice [yes!] have been a comfort, a friend and an encouragement.

We went on Dylan's musical journey with him, not always liking the twists and turns but always appreciating his depth of knowledge and skill. I loved it when he 'went electric' but wasn't so keen on his Planet Waves era. But I stuck with him and am still enjoying his recent stuff - Modern Times was awesome. And yes I loved his Christmas Album of Christmas 2009 - it was for charity too! - and laughed and cried at it!

As our children got older they started listening to the music and being dragged [not unwillingly I hope!] to the festivals and concerts to hear our heroes. The cross-over point occurred not when they began actually asking to come with us but when eldest son announced he had bought tickets for us and him to see Dylan in London. And we realised when we got to the venue that there were lots of parents our age with children our son's age and wondered if they were being similarly 'treated'?! But eldest son is a true Dylan fan and named his eldest son Dylan as proof. And whenever his Dylan talks about the older Dylan he refers to him as 'Bob not me'. Fair enough.

A new 'audience' has been reached with Bob's Radio Hour, first broadcast on US radio and successfully 'imported' here. His deep musical knowledge has been confirmed to a new generation - great work!

So on Bob's 70th birthday today we are having a Bob fest and playing his music all day. Not necessarily all sung by him, so many other artistes have recorded his music all around the world. The dear old Beeb have been playing some wonderful tributes and programmes about him for nearly a week. One tribute programme featured Billy Bragg talking about a show he was at in the then Hammersmith Odeon in the early 90s, I realised that was the show we couldn't get to because we were snow bound and which we were are still sulking about - now even more so because I missed out on Billy Bragg too! Last night the BBC news even 'leaked' that at one time Bob took heroin. Shock, horror. We never would have guessed. However, for all that has been written and discussed about him , for all the interviews that he has taken part in - he is still a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.

A couple of years ago we threw a Bob fest in a hall and charged an entrance fee, raising a tidy sum for charity. Another year we decorated the outside of the house - as we often do that neighbours just thought we had yet another relative, this time called Bob. This year I thought I would just write about him and share my gratitude for all the pleasure he has given over me all the years with you. Thanks Bob.




The Times They are a-changing. When I clicked onto the site to show the lyrics for With God On Our Side the banner ads at the side of the site were for the Weight Watchers organisation rather than the adds on the back of my precious copy of Subterranean Homesick blues as shown in the above picture. On the back of that sheet music the ads are for other sheet music by: The Weavers [Pete Seeger's Band]; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul & Mary; and a 'Young Folk' mix. Ahh the memories! The Electric Cinema Club, after going through some very bad times and getting even more decrepit is now swish and is an experience.

Christmas and Giving

Elizannie's tongue-in-Cheek guide to Christmas season with some serious bits
I do like the Christmas season. Not all the Commercialism and Consumerism, but the sort of Cosiness that occurs when families and friends get together and when one opens a Christmas Card from someone not Communicated with since last Christmas. If it wasn't for Christmas there would be no Communication between one and other for goodness knows how long. All those little Christmas Customs too - not necessarily religious ones but just the ones that have grown up within individual homes. Notice all the words beginning with 'C' in this paragraph so here is another one that I like about the season, the giving that goes with 'Charity'. And I am not even going to mention Christianity or Churches because for so many people Christmas is just a holiday at the end of December, not a religious festival. For those of us who do Celebrate it as a Christian festival, an extra dimension is added.

I am sure that lots of you reading this will think, 'who is Elizannie kidding?' Families and friends forced together over the Christmas Holiday season inevitably end up fighting and arguing - to which I reply it doesn't need a festival occasion to cause that. I can have an argument in an empty room if so minded, and of course the internet aids that considerably. Arguments usually occur because people are attempting too hard to get on - so it is far easier not to try and just be natural! Certain board games should be avoided. I love board games and never get annoyed if I don't win but one year we played Scruples and I ended up not speaking to anyone because of what was said about my driving skills....

When a Christmas Card arrives I love to try and guess who has sent it before I open it. This drives Other Half to distraction but is just one of my more annoying Christmas Customs... I love it when one of those photocopied Christmas letters drops out of a Christmas Card. I love Catching up with the news of family and friends and cannot understand why these letters are so derided! Being a bit of a technophobe I especially love the ones that have been decorated with Christmas motifs and little photographs. Sometimes I even try and emulate these which passes a happy hour or two for me and a not so happy hour or two for Other Half trying to re-set the PC. Back to the Charities and giving. I like to buy Charity Christmas Cards but temper this generosity by buying them in the sales after Christmas, for the following year, arguing that the shops will have already given the charities their share so it is only the shops [and Consumerism] which are losing out..

If able to afford it, giving presents is nice. But I really don't like the desperate 'selling' in the media of the latest 'must have' gifts - particularly for Children. Within our own family we buy only 'proper' gifts for Children, with just token gifts for the adults. And we are not above giving Charity shop items - thus helping Charities again. And often these are 'Comedy' items which will be re-donated after Christmas and hopefully raise more Cash in the New Year.

Hopefully Charities will raise a lot of money at Christmas as people are more generous or feel guilty at the amount they are spending on food and drink. When my Children were younger they always loved to help in raising funds for the Blue Peter Christmas Appeal and what I especially like is the fact that Children are not asked to send money but donate items or their own time etc. Details of this year's appeal can by found by clicking on the blog title above.

There is a bit of a discussion going on the Facebook site at the moment where 'friends' are asking one and other to alter their profile pictures to one of their favourite Cartoon Characters from their Childhood to raise awareness of Campaigns against violence toward Children. Some of these messages are adding 'if you do this please donate to the NSPCC'. Questions have been asked as to whether this is an 'official' NSPCC Campaign or not, but as was pointed out by one Facebook member not everyone can afford to donate and raising awareness Can only be a good thing. A very good point - Charitableness is not only about money but about attitudes. However if anyone does want to donate here is a link: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/Applications/Donations/DonatePredonation.aspx

Mind you I was a little bit horrified at hearing that someone Collecting officially at a football match for the Centrepoint Charity yesterday was told off by a policeman for rattling his bucket aggressively. I have done a lot of Charity Collections - on the street and door-to door - and know the rules about not approaching people and I really hope I haven't rattled anything aggressively but only in a pacifist way. One has principles after all..

I am a sucker for a good Charity CD - especially if it is by an artiste that I love! So it was no pain last year to buy Christmas in the Heart by Bob Dylan. Extremely lush plus all proceeds go to homeless Charities in perpetuity (UK sales benefit Crisis) and this year Annie Lennox's 'A Christmas Cornucopia'. It is a fantastic sound and all of Annie’s income from ‘Universal Child’- one of the tracks -will be paid to the Annie Lennox Foundation, Annie’s own Charity that raises money for Charitable projects supporting and educating women and Children in Africa with HIV/AIDS.

We used to live abroad and have brought home a Dutch/German [along the Upper Rhine] Christmas Custom of the festival of St Nicholas [6th December], which starts tonight. On December 5th Dutch children leave out their Clogs or shoes hoping that they will be filled with small presents or sweets [in our house!] Children that have not behaved in the past year are 'rewarded' with twigs and straw! Luckily we also brought Clogs home with us. St Nicholas is shown in the picture at the top of this blog.

There are other religious festivals around the end of the year/beginning of the New Year and I wish everyone, celebrating a festival or not, joy - I am sorry that I am late wishing my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah. My wish for all is that we Could all be a bit kinder and Charitable to one and other what ever the time of year.

September the 11th and a 'Bridge Too Far'

Dedicated to all who have died or suffered as a result of all wars and violence everywhere.

Say the words 'Twin Towers' and most people will remember exactly where they were on September the 11th, 2001 as the news started filtering through about the attack on the Twin Towers in New York. I had just finished teaching the last class of the day in a comprehensive school and was in my office with a colleague when her husband - also a teacher - rushed in and told us about the first attack. We ran down to the staff room just in time to see the second 'plane fly into the second tower and amid silence joined the other staff watching in disbelief. After about 40 minutes I drove home, still in disbelief listening to radio 4. Arrived home, turned the TV on - sitting stunned in front of it - soon joined by Youngest Child [then a teenager]and Other Half who came home early from work on hearing the news. We sat like this for hours - occasionally taking and making 'phone calls when we heard that offices in London had been evacuated/'locked down' to find friends and relatives. An awful night.

Ironically I was teaching history at the time, and this was only the second week of term. I had been doing 'the importance of dates' with the new intake classes and in trying to get them to 'identify' with the whole concept of history being 'built' I would fire dates at them: '1066', '1812', '3rd September 1939'asking if anyone knew what had happened then and would always add in a more recent date. That week for a laugh I had added 8th September 2001 because there had been a big football game on that day and England had won something [for the life of me I can't remember what] The next time I had to teach that lesson, on September the 12th I just couldn't do it in a lighthearted manner. I just told the children that they had witnessed something so momentous and dreadful that they must surely know without any more explanation how history was 'made'.

Why am I talking about this and not paying tribute to those who died or the brave individuals of the emergency services or offering sympathy to the victims and their families? Because all that has to be a given, as my dedication 'headline' should tell you. War and violence are so bad that every day we should all remember all victims if the same mistakes are not to be made again. Teaching history is part of that remembering and just as this month has seen and heard many TV and radio programmes remembering the Blitz of 70 years ago here in the UK, September is also the month of the commemorations in Holland of 'Operation Market Garden', the subject of the book [by Cornelius Ryan] and film A Bridge Too Far about the battle for the bridge at Arnhem in World War Two. My Beloved Uncle [mentioned in the Ryan book] was in this battle, shot, taken prisoner and fortunately survived to tell the tale which his son put into a book so that we could all remember and not forget. If you would like to read more about these commemorations in Holland click on the title above to take you to the link.

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.

Bob Dylan

Indulge me - its my birthday!

I bought my first Bob Dylan album, vinyl LP, 45 years ago [I was a precocious child] Because I am half Welsh everyone always thinks I must like Tom Jones - I won't lie to you, I have never really liked his style of singing until the 'Reload' CD came along and I bought it. And then of course the fantastic 'Islands in the Stream' with Nessa and Bryn - Gavin and Stacey fans will understand.

The two facts about Bob Dylan and Tom Jones are related. One of my birthday presents today [by request] is the new Tom Jones CD with the Dylan song on it 'What Good Am I'. Fabulous. So I am sharing it with you:

What good am If I'm like all the rest
If I just turn away when I see how you're dressed
If I shut myself off so I can't hear you cry
What good am I ?

What good am I if I know and don't do
If I see and don't say if I look right through you
If I turn a deaf ear to the thunderin' sky
What good am I ?

What good am I while you softly weep
And I hear in my head what you say in your sleep
And I freeze in the moment like the rest who don't try
What good am I ?

What good am I then to others and me
If I had every chance and yet still fail to see
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within
Who tied them and why and where must I have been.

What good am I if I say foolish things
And I laugh in the face of what sorrow brings
And I just turn my back while you silently die
What good am I ?

And to sample at youtube and then go out and buy the CD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3-2oAzJ_h0

No photograph today as we are camping on a cliff edge and the dongle is being precocious and will only download certain things...