Plum Blossom

Track of the day - Partlife - Prince Edward Island.



The plum trees at the end of the road are coming into blossom. I expect it's the heat from all the local exhaust pipes.

A Gentle Stroll

Track of the day - Partlife - Prince Edward Island.



I have just got back from what was intended to be a gentle stroll with the dog. The dog had other ideas.
He seems to have two modes - fast asleep and hurtle.
The back lawn used to resemble a bowling green but thanks to the dog's hurtling it now resembles a ploughed field.

Hearing Test

Last week I took my ancient analogue hearing aid along to the local hospital to get it retubed and to get some of their wonderful free batteries.
The receptionist took one look at it and decided that I needed a more modern model.
On the wall of the audiology unit there was a poster showing museum pictures of NHS hearing aids. It indicated that my hearing aid was discontinued some time before 1980 which just shows how long the NHS waiting lists for hearing aids are round here.
With any luck I might get a new digital model some time before my eightieth birthday - if I ever reach that landmark, which seems unlikely if Stanley doesn't master his braking system.
At the moment the old retubed aid is working fine except that the new tube is too short and I'm a bit self conscious about appearing in public with a lump of pink plastic hanging out of my left ear.

RSPB Birdwatch 2008

Mrs B decided that I should give up an hour yesterday to count the birds in the back garden.
Usually there is an endless stream of feathered visitors but there were very few flying in yesterday.



It might have had something to do with the bedraggled sparrowhawk that decided to lurk in next door's apple tree. Mrs B feeds the little birds and the little birds feed the sparrowhawk.
Next time I spend an hour counting birds I'll make sure there there isn't a sparrowhawk in the area first. I would have frightened it off but without my glasses I thought it was a pigeon.

Prince Edward Island TV

The PEI band videos are available here from MySpace TV. I always wondered what happened to the suit I donated to charity. It had full length trousers when I used to wear it.
Question - Is Prince Edward Island the only band currently displaying an ironing board on TV?

Prince Edward Island TV

Track of the day - Partlife - Prince Edward Island.



Four songs from Prince Edward Island's BBC 2 Scotland gig are available in glorious technicolour here on the BBC iPlayer but only if you live in the UK. For those who do not have the Gaelic, there are subtitles.
The video tracks are also available on the Rapal website. Perhaps they work outside the UK.
The original tracks and the videos are on the band's Myspace site and also on Myspace TV.

Prince Edward Island On BBC2 Scotland

Track of the day - Partlife - Prince Edward Island.

I took a short sabbatical but they sent me back.

Christmas came and went and was followed inexorably by the New Year.
The festive tree stayed outside in the back yard and the lights and decorations remained in a box in the upstairs cupboard.
Stanley took up residence downstairs while the children who are no longer children took up temporary residence upstairs, bemoaned the lack of Christmas decorations and then moved out again to celebrate the New Year elsewhere.
Stanley, having nowhere else to go, decided to stay.

We discovered Stanley in a local rescue centre. He's mostly greyhound and runs very fast except when he's sleeping with his paws in his ears to block out unwanted sounds. Unfortunately his brakes don't always work.
"Here Stan! Here boy!"
can sometimes result in me being dumped on my back in the middle of a muddy field.

Hole in the Ground Bar News

The Hole in the Ground bar manager and his family suddenly upped sticks and decamped to America. So if your local bar has recently been taken over by a useless fat Limey who never goes behind the bar to serve anyone, you have my sympathy but please don't send him back.
Because of the smoking ban I don't know what the current state of play is in the Hole in the Ground bar but it couldn't be any worse than it was when he was in charge.

Blackout

The lights went out in Bogsville at 6:50am this morning. Alarm clocks failed to go off and heating systems failed to switch on. Bogsville bodies stayed in bed and local schools and businesses ground to a halt. The power was back on by 9.20am but they'd already sent the kids home from school for some inexplicable reason.

Prince Edward Island

At 6.45pm on Thursday 24 January the band known as Prince Edward Island, they who penned the memorable lyrics -
"You look like I need a drink
A little something I can cling to!
Is this it?"
Partlife
will be appearing on BBC 2 Scotland. Not much use to anyone who lives anywhere but Scotland, unless of course they have access to Sky Channel 990.
This recorded live BBC gig is interesting in that it was the band's only gig of 2007.
The video tracks should appear on the Rapal website from Friday 25 January.