5th January 2020

5th January 2020

Well it's happy new year 2020 and the sound of that feels like it is something to do with science fiction. I can remember reading 1984 in the 1970s and that future year seemed like the far future and I can still recall thinking about it walking up Shiphay Lane in Torquay and also thinking that in the year 2000 I would be nearly 40 and how old and far away that would be. Now that I am 58 being 40 sounds quite young!

It's been an interesting start to the year. I went to a new years eve party and I think I am finding it a struggle to party until midnight and prefer being at home reading a book if I have to stay up late. Yes I know I'm a boring old fart! The next day I saw Torquay United lose at the Theatre of Pain with my very good friend Jerry. Back to work in my office in Exeter the next day after being on holiday since 13th December 2019, but seemed to cope with it and getting up early in the morning in the dark. The next day on Friday felt very very tired and it was time to say farewell to Nico02. He liked the A to Z of Ashburton that I had written out for him where he will be working. This included A for Ashburton and B for bus stop etc. Absolutely hilarious if you work in my office but undoubtedly not so if you don't!

Met up with Graham Moores after work in Exeter on Friday evening and finally got around to paying him for the Thrilling Blunder Stories artwork. We talked about our music which included when Graham recorded some of the songs of Iain Smith who I was at school with at Torquay Boys Grammar School. I can still remember parts of the first day at that school quite vividly. Queueing up in the car park outside the school first thing in the morning with Nadi Jahangiri a little further along in the queue. He had a brown satchel over his shoulder. Nadi would later be the guitar player in a local punk band called Das Schnitz. This link with information about his band is very interesting.

https://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/DAS%20SCHNITZ.htm

The drummer of Das Schnitz was Kevin Perry also at the same school and in fact I was also at Sherwell Valley junior school with him. I remember being sent to detention once at that junior school and Kevin was there in the same room, also on detention mucking about with some pencils that were on his desk.

One of the other things I remember about my first day at Torquay Boys Grammar School was sitting next to Iain Smith and when I got home after seeing Graham I found this on youtube, which is one of Iain's songs which was recorded by Graham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf0PjU2rFc4

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