The Beatles "Please, Please Me." 50 years old on 11th February 2013

I was just 15 years old in the February of 1963. We had passed through one of the hardest winters in decades. January was the coldest month of the 20th century, at that time. 

February came in with more snow, and a 36 hour blizzard which affected most parts of the country. It drifted in the gale force winds, and I can still remember that the snow completely covered up the side door of my grandmother's house. It had formed a snow "bank" as the wind blew on that side.  

The front door was passable. 

The road outside was impassable except for a track which people had made down the middle. 

As I looked at it, it seemed like undulating waves of the sea which had frozen white. 

Drift after drift, after drift, rippling towards me as I walked in the single pathway up the hill. The deepest parts of these drifts were almost 5 feet in height. The shallowest, like the dip in the waves, being knee deep. 

I have no idea who cleared the snow to make a passage possible.      

Into all this mayhem of a winter, came an explosion on the music scene which changed four young men almost overnight. 

The Beatles recorded  their album "Please, Please Me." at the Abbey Road studios in London, in just 12 hours. 

And it catapulted them into fame.

My own personal LP  Now 50 years old!

It was absolutely brilliant being a teenager at that time. The "Liverpool Sound" was everywhere, making the city fashionable, with it's "Cavern Club"
I bought the LP and still have it today, along with "With The Beatles."
Everywhere there was Beatles music coming from the radio and they appeared on TV. WE were all glued to the spot!
Other groups began to emerge "Gerry and the Pacemakers", " The Hollies", "The Searchers", we couldn't get enough of them!
Our small town boasted an excellent dance hall, and I saw The Hollies, and Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas perform live. It was great to be on the dance floor to such great sounds!

I went to see "Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders", and on one bizarre occasion we spotted "The Animals" when one of them had come out of one of our local shops. This was just before they became very famous.

It put the North of England very much on the map! A lot of the new groups were from Liverpool and Manchester.     

    I was studying music as one of my GCSE exams, and I learned a lot about the Dominant 7th chords that the Beatles used! (Obviously not the only chords they used, but it was such a radically different sound then, to anything else we had heard.).       

Snow in February 1963, Burnley, Lancashire 

  We danced to their music at parties,and on the sleeve of the LP is a stiletto heel mark where I  had accidentally stepped on to the cover. Thankfully the LP was not inside!
Looking again at some of the chart topping songs of that year, brings back so many memories.
I sang Skeeter Davis' song "The End of the World" at one of our Grammar School concerts in the summer.
The whole presentation being directed and performed without any staff help. Including a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Trial by Jury". I and several of my musical friends were in the chorus.
       We did however, have our very own brilliant musician called Johnnie Iveson, who played as his first instrument, a trombone. So he and several others put together a band for the occasion, which was a great hit.
He went on to make a name for himself in London circles, becoming principal trombonist with the  Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1965. I attach a link to his profile.

                http://www.brasswindpublications.co.uk/acatalog/Iveson.html

As I read the list below, of the UK hits, it transports me back to that brilliant time when, like the Shadows instrumental, it was fantastic to simply "Dance On" !!
How the music stays in your head!!
My dad was asked one day, as he went into his office in Manchester,

"How come you are singing "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" ?

"How on Earth do you know the words?"

So he replied:
"I have two daughters at home.......and it is played constantly!"

Not such an old "fuddy duddy" hey!
 

Some of the chart songs of 1963.

03 Jan	Cliff Richard and The Shadows	The Next Time / Bachelor Boy
24 Jan	Shadows	Dance On
31 Jan	Jet Harris and Tony Meehan	Diamonds
21 Feb	Frank Ifield	Wayward Wind
14 Mar	Cliff Richard and The Shadows	Summer Holiday
29 Mar	Shadows	Foot Tapper
11 Apr	Gerry and The Pacemakers	How Do You Do It?
02 May	Beatles	From Me To You
20 Jun	Gerry and The Pacemakers	I Like It
18 Jul	Frank Ifield	Confessin' (That I Love You)
01 Aug	Elvis Presley	(You're The) Devil In Disguise
08 Aug	Searchers	Sweets For My Sweet
22 Aug	Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas	Bad To Me
12 Sep	Beatles	She Loves You
10 Oct	Brian Poole and The Tremeloes	Do You Love Me
31 Oct	Gerry and The Pacemakers	You'll Never Walk Alone
12 Dec	Beatles	I Want To Hold Your Hand

February! A week of birthdays!

               A Week of Birthdays!                                     

Birthday bouquet.

The first week of February begins for us in a rash of birthdays. Three in quick succession before we reach February 8th.
There has been a sense of week long celebrations beginning with mine on the 4th. It was an extra special day, as we went to see our new granddaughter. She was born before the expected date of 7th, which would have meant one more event to cram into the first eight days!
  Libby Joanna made her entrance into the world in a precipitate hurry on 30th January. A sister for   Samuel.
The next birthday was on the 6th, our friend Rosie. More cake and presents enjoyed with friends that evening.
Stephen's came next on the 8th and we spent the day having lunch with one friend by the side of a roaring log fire at a country pub nearby. In the evening, a lovely dinner spent in the company of another couple of close friends.
   
So much for thinking maybe I would join "Weight Watchers"!!
How is it whenever I think about it, I just gravitate to all the food that should be "forbidden" !!!
Naughty but nice!

Well, it WAS all our birthdays!

At the end of the week on Saturday I found myself with a group of friends (organised by my hubby) making a clay sheep in a craft session.

Can you hear the concentration! 

We all enjoyed it very much, and await the sheep back from the kiln in around 15 days time.

We were guided by the artist who had set up the workshop.
Afterwards, our group went for more lovely food and nibbles, and a glass or two of red wine, at Rosie's house. Although the nibbles in themselves were fairly substantial. (I think I have said before that our friends do not do things by halves!)

Substantial nibbles!!

                                   The end of a thoroughly enjoyable week!

All we are waiting for now as February is passing by, are more signs that spring may be fighting it's way in!
This winter has seemed long. Today it is very wet, and hasn't really become properly daylight. Grey, dull and very cold. Cosy indoors.
I finish with a poem from my favourite poet, Edward Thomas, as already, inspite of the weather, the rooks are beginning to build their nests in their familiar colonies. And the blackbird has begun to sing his sweet song early in the morning.




"Thaw" by Edward Thomas

Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed
And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flowers of grass,
What we below could not see, Winter pass. 

Baa...aaa..rmy. (Before kiln firing) 

A snow day! 500 schools closed in our area on Monday, 21st January

It snowed all day on Sunday, and into the night. The schools were closed. Our road was like a sheet of ice. It looks beautiful, but as I have already said, throws up all kinds of problems.

The hospitals are busy treating people who have slipped and fallen.

 I had to stay indoors yesterday, waiting for the man to look at the washing machine, which had decided not to spin at the end of the usual programme, resulting in sodden clothes! As I wrung them out by hand, it reminded me of our holidays in France on the camp sites, where, from time to time I did the laundry by hand, in the basins provided outside! It seemed a novelty then! But at least it all dried quickly in the sunshine. (Eventually I progressed to using the pay machine. Unless it had a label on it saying "en panne!")  I learned quickly that it meant it was "out of order".        

Monday 21st January.2013. 

  I waited more in hope, than in any conviction that he would negotiate the hazardous roads, and arrive. He rang the doorbell at 4.00pm. A cheerful chappy, who took one look at the washer and, having been informed what was the matter, proceeded to tell me that there was nothing wrong!
"Ah" he said, "I'll bet when I put it on spin it will work".
It did!
The explanation being the programme computer had "got itself confused". If I left it next time when it appeared to have difficulty with it's spin, rather than switching it off because it was not working properly, it would "rebalance itself" !
When I asked how long I had to leave it spinning before it corrected it's "balance", he replied, "Could be an hour" !
I put a load in, after he had gone cheerfully on his way, and was very happy to hear it rev up and set off on it's spin, increasing the speed by degrees. It corrected itself almost immediately.  One happy bunny here is now washing everything in sight. Where would we be without electricity and modern appliances!                  

Tuesday January 22nd 

Today it's the turn of the dishwasher engineer to come along. It has been out of order for two weeks. This time it does need new parts! Glad to say it is still under an extended warranty.
The third thing that happened " Quel horreur!" My hairdryer packed up!! Oh Nooooooooooooooo!
Disaster. That hairdryer has seen good service. It is always one of the first things that I place next to my case when going on holiday. Been drying my hair since 2004. Not bad going!
So, farewell faithful friend.
Good job I have a spare!
Now I need another spare!
        

And still it is snowing!

10.20pm  20th January 2013.

It is 10.20pm and has not stopped snowing all day. The trees and shrubs are weighted down.
Already many schools are closed tomorrow.
Timelord is going to London on the train, in the morning, hopefully(!) and is making preparations for the walk to our local station, (which is 5 minutes on a  normal day).
He looks as if he is going to the North Pole once he has all his gear in place. Hiking boots, all weather jacket, which he has used for our treks in the countryside or Lake District, when we've been on holiday, and climbed some of the lower to medium fells.Scarf, hat, gloves and thick socks!
         A quick change may be needed on train.........arriving in London on business in hiking boots would seem a little strange! ;-) But there again, who knows!
At least he has the privilege of travelling first class. (As long as he is at work).
    So, we'll see what the morning brings.
No mail has been delivered since Friday, and the man who is scheduled to repair the washing machine is due at some point during the day. But I think that will be a lost cause! Our road is like a skating rink, and now the snow has fallen on top of the ice.
      The Council do not grit this road, even with a school opposite.
With the amount of extra traffic during the day, and after school, it will be interesting to see what transpires if the school is not closed!
      Just walking along the pavements is treacherous.
So watch this space, as the saying goes.
Now where's my book...........nothing like a good read at bedtime.          
     

"January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow"

As I sit and write it has begun to snow again outside the window. I am snug and warm inside looking out over a scene which looks beautiful. The snow arrived on Friday, 18th January and by the afternoon, several airports, here in England, and the schools in areas were the snow was reaching 8-10cms in depth, closed.

3.30pm Saturday January 19th 2013 (Photo taken on our walk)   

However. for those who used public transport, (trains and buses) it was a difficult time. Driving became hazardous and in some places downright impossible.      

We went out for a walk on Saturday afternoon, in the cold icy air.Temperature below freezing. There  is always a magical transformation of the landscape after snow has fallen.
Everything looks so dazzlingly white.
Animal tracks can clearly be seen. I noticed where a fox had obviously followed the line of a fence by a grass verge. The brush of his tail making a mark    alongside his paw prints.
Our own cat is always mystified when, on opening the kitchen door for him to go outside into the back garden, he is confronted by the scene in front of him.He had several attempts to brave the elements, involving sitting by the half open door until I closed it, as it was letting all the heat outside.
Contrarily then he wanted me to open it again......once again turning back at the cold air.
I closed the door once more.
But, no, at the third time he quickly stepped out and found himself into snow up to his middle! He took the plunge thinking if he ran fast enough it would make a difference. But all his usual familiar pathways were invisible. This was quite comical to watch! He was hopping like a rabbit. After several minutes of re orientating himself, he made it to the top of the garden and off into next door's.
A plaintive miaowing by the patio window heralded his return.                          
Conversely, Doughnut, next door's cat, had tried to make his usual leap from the adjoining fence on  to our extension roof. He missed his footing, not being able to gauge the edge, and landed slightly on and slightly off his target. His back legs not reaching their mark.
I realised this had happened as there was a very loud yowling, and thinking he and Tiger were fighting I went to look.
All was quiet.
Then I saw the tell tale evidence of Doughnut's demise in the pawprints at the corner of the guttering just above the fence. Scramble marks.

Garden, Saturday January 18th 2013 

 I refilled the bird feeders on Friday, and there have been blue tits, great tits, greenfinches  a robin, blackbirds, starlings, redpolls, gold finches and sparrows. The red wings have arrived, a sure sign of increasingly colder weather. I was amused by a magpie perched on a branch, trying to peck at the coconut shell filled with fat and seeds, hanging on to another one of the apple tree. It was just that bit too far out of his reach. At each peck, it swung away from him, only to swing back again and hit him. He persevered for awhile before admitting defeat.
The great spotted woodpecker, however has mastered the art to perfection, only he uses his talons to cling on to the shell whilst he digs out the fat and seeds which are encased. A red flash of his rump, and the white and black of his plumage. I love to watch him.        

A local road at 3.45pm Saturday 18th January. ( Photo taken on our walk)

Later on in the evening we braved the neighbourhood pavements, now icy, to walk to our friend's home along with some others, for supper and board games. Our walk home about 10.45pm was along quiet roads, not much traffic, and the surfaces gleaming like glass. Snow muffles sounds.  

A little bit of January sunshine!

Timelord and I took advantage of the early sunshine yesterday to go for a walk. My attempts at a panoramic view were not entirely successful, (if you look very carefully!) but it does capture the crisp light of a beautiful morning. There have been so few this past months. It was not as cold as it has been lately, nor as wet. The birds are now beginning, tentatively, to practise their first new notes in readiness for spring. A long way off I know, but I saw my first crocus in flower, on a verge by the side of the path. We meandered along a lane, and eventually came to the farm shop and café, a sight which always gladdens my heart!                                                                                                          We both had a coffee and then set off once more, this time in a homeward direction.

Later on that same morning I went to sit and wait in the summerhouse at the top of the garden, along with my camera, in order to try and photo the redpolls on the feeder.
I did manage eventually, after sitting still for what seemed like an age, to take a picture of one of the goldfinches.
Today, I took one of my little redpolls. They are so dapper with their snazzy red caps. I love to  watch them all when they arrive.
But I could not be a wildlife photographer, as they must have to wait for hours and hours in one place before taking the shot they most prize! Stamina and  patience are required! I must be lazy, preferring to sit and watch them all as they come and go, as I drink a steaming mug of tea!

 A goldfinch on the nyjer seed  feeder

One of the redpolls.   

     

New Year's Day 2013.

The 1st of January 2013 greeted us here, at least, to a cloudless clear icy blue sky.And sunshine! Something I cannot resist! So, wrapping up warm, I decided to have my breakfast outside sitting at a patio table covered in ice patterns.

A first for me, like the day itself. Hubby was snuggly oblivious to all this, being in the Land of Nod....zzz

I so enjoyed the novelty of the sun, low down in the sky, as it's rays climbed and crept across the garden, melting the frost.  

The steaming mug of coffee left a ring where the ice had been. 

The previous evening having already spent 3 hours in the cinema earlier, to see the new Hobbit film, we decamped to another friend's house to await the old year disappearing.    

Breakfast on New Year's Day. 

 I had not had much sleep the night before, necessitating another visit to the doc's on the morning of New Year's Eve, (due to a continuing bout of sinusitus), so we left before midnight, like Cinderella, to drive home. But we were able to watch the fireworks all around the area, as they burst into the sky, and the sound resounded in the clear air. We were in the loft bedroom, which has a panoramic view over the gardens and rooftops. As we remained there for awhile, Chinese lanterns began to appear, floating one by one against the back drop of the stars. We counted 15 in total, a they drifted high up, from the west to the east.
So the New Year was ushered in for us.
Uncharted territory.                    

The Hobbit

As a passing reference to The Hobbit, we found it a bit too long. I have read the book twice, and also The Lord of The Rings, which caught my imagination in the early 1980's. I think you either like Tolkien or you can't understand what all the fuss is about!
The film itself is extremely good. A second being in the pipe-line.
There are 3 in the Lord of the Rings saga.
The epic journeys undertaken in the books are translated very well on to he cinema screen. Yet, as I have already remarked, the whole thing was very drawn out.
So, as I write, Tiger having insisted on sitting on my lap, and  now curled up asleep, the first day is now no longer fresh and new.
(Incidentally, typing on a laptop which is balanced on the arm of the settee, can be a bit tricky at times! Fur ball having taken the available space).
It is almost time for tea. We have spent a lot of time today out of doors, completing a walk this morning and another after lunch.
The cold fresh air is beneficial for me.
It creates a healthy appetite!
Now it needs satisfying............before the day closes.