I’ve been retired now for eight years. So work is perhaps not the right word. Perhaps the question is really, “What do I listen to while doing my chores ?”
I stream this station, up to eight hours a day, sometimes more. They are the soundtrack to my life. The primary reason for my choice is the eclectic mix of music played, followed closely by the distinct lack of babble.
Music is the priority, no inane chatter from self-indulgent DJs. Below is a snapshot of the music that has been playing while I type this post.
In their own words …
RP is a blend of many styles and genres of music, carefully selected and mixed by two real human beings. You’ll hear modern and classic rock, world music, electronica, even a bit of classical and jazz. What you won’t hear are random computer-generated playlists or mind-numbing commercials.
Our specialty is taking a diverse assortment of songs and making them flow together in a way that makes sense harmonically, rhythmically, and lyrically — an art that, to us, is the very essence of radio. We hope that you’ll enjoy RP so much that you’ll want to share it with your friends, family, co-workers, neighbours, Facebook buddies, Twitter followers, etc.
Bill and Rebecca Goldsmith
Notably absent from the RP airwaves are the typical pop chart fodder. There is a distinct lack of breathy blondes, boy bands and rappers. What you will find is rock, prog rock, folk, jazz, classical, reggae, and pretty much every other genre. A veritable musical stew whose ingredients have been intelligently curated.
I have never been bored by the music they share. Sometimes, a track will be aired that I don’t particularly like, but just like with life, I grin and bear it. There is always the next track to look forward to.
Every so often, RP plays that classic track, work/chores stop, and I ….
The primary activity that I engage with is reading. Once I am locked into a good read I have no idea where time goes.
Ask my wife, she will confirm. Two days already, this week, I have spoilt our evening meal.
Just last night I virtually incinerated a beautiful gammon steak while my nose was buried in the latest Lindsay Buroker offering. She may not be a challenge for the Hemingway buffs but her books are a good read with enough pace to keep the adrenaline flowing and great dollop of humour too.
Here is my list of things I know to be absolutely certain.
Death – The one inevitable thing that none of us can avoid. The ultimate destination
Taxes – Only the very wealthy come close to avoiding personal taxation. The wealthy or crime-lords.
Utility Bills – Gas, Electric, Water, Sewage, Refuse Collection …. etc … etc. Unless you live totally off the grid you have to pay to maintain your living standards.
Hunger – We all have to eat. Hunger pains are our body’s way of reminding us to eat.
Thirst – We all need to drink to survive. Whilst we can survive quite a long time without food, we really can’t survive without water. Personally, I prefer to dilute my water with alcohol in the form of beer or wine.
Dust – If we do no cleaning, our homes fade away under a pile of dust. It’s in the air we breathe and settles everywhere. I read somewhere that if you leave dust alone for seven years, it doesn’t get any deeper. Good enough reason not to clean. Just don’t move the ornaments.
Politicians Only Lie – How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. When has any government ever fulfilled their election promises ?
Old Age – Like death, old age is inevitable. Old age come with lots of baggage. Just when you have time on your hands, you don’t. Your body becomes like that old rusty bicycle in the shed. It still works but reluctantly whilst noisily complaining via creaking and squeaking and groaning.
Weeds Always Win – No matter how hard you try, you can never totally eradicate them. Just you pull out that bothersome bramble. But leave one single smidgen off root in the soil, and it is guaranteed to return. Grass grows out of every little crevice from seeds delivered by birds and the wind. Remember, a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.
Music Solves Everything – Good music makes you happy, can calm you down when you are angry. It makes you feel like dancing, alone or, better, with other people. Music can transport you to far off places without the bother of packing a suitcase or the tedious queues at airports. For example, close your eyes whilst listening to Echoes by Pink Floyd and you can be standing on a clifftop looking out over a vast landscape with nothing but the sound of the wind and the cawing of the crows.
If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?
On first read of this question my mind went straight to the typical historic and celebrity figures.
Most of my historic choices like, Ghandi, JFK, Churchill etc. are dead. So that would be a very macabre setting indeed. But I’m guessing the food and drinks bill would be cheap. Given the journey they themselves took through some of the most turbulent times in our history. I wonder what they would make of the world that we now live in.
As for the celebrity option, I would lean towards those of a musical bent. No deep philosophical thinking is required. Dinner with the likes of David Bowie, Jeff Beck, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Manitas de Plata, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and the list goes on, and on, and on. What tales they could tell. What a dinner party that would be. No after dinner speeches, just a huge musical jam. What a blast that would be.
But, descending rapidly back to planet earth and reality. When all is said and done, I would truly only want to invite my friends and family. Historic and celebrity figures don’t know me, they would only be there because I asked. Friends and family would be there because they want to be there. They are the people who I feel most comfortable with. The ones who know my back story, who truly know me. The ones who will come back time and again.
Aside from beef, cheese, and wine ? Why, me, of course.
Who doesn’t prefer a 25 – 35 day aged steak. So tender and full of flavour.
Or, how about a mature, vintage cheddar, complimented with a nice wine.
And then on to me. As I have aged, my palate has improved, allowing me to appreciate the aforementioned beef, cheese, and wine.
But, as I have aged and my palate improved, so my confidence has also grown. In part, this is down to my own life experiences but also my years at IBM, where they nurtured and encouraged me to be more self reliant.
Ageing has, in turn, led to my growing intolerance, of idiots, and of loud, rude people with an enlarged sense of self-importance. I’m not sure if this is actually a positive result of ageing, but I have convinced myself that it is.
After my earlier post regarding a proposed development of 29 flats, I have just become aware of this new proposal.
This new proposal would place 90 new homes adjacent to the existing West of Waterlooville (WoW) development, which currently has plans for some 2.5K homes.
So another 99 homes is definitely more woe for Waterlooville residents.
I don’t intend to repeat my points from my earlier post. Since the two developments are probably less than a mile apart, my concerns are still the same.
This is just the latest in a series of proposals for developments in the centre of Waterlooville.
Courtesy of The News 08-07-23
Once again, the focus is on residential rather than the commercial aspects of the town. Our town centre is slowly decomposing but nothing is being done to reverse the trend.
We need the town centre to become a viable commercial centre with traders offering various goods and services where our already increasing resident population can go to spend their earnings. We already have a surfeit of hair salons, nail bars and charity shops. Although some of the charity shops have closed.
Havant Borough Council (HBC) have subdivided the town by pedestrianising the centre, diverting the A3, and promoting “out of town” style shopping to the west. Free parking there, but still parking charges in town. All contributing to the isolation of the centre. They, HBC, have also used the same strategy in Havant. Just take a look at the traffic chaos that has created.
Apparently, eight parking spaces is deemed adequate for twenty nine residences.
I’d like to know where these new residents will be working to earn the money to pay their new mortgages. Where are the jobs ? Yes, many could be working from home. But, what about those who can’t. Waterlooville has direct bus services to Portsmouth, and obviously, destinations further afield are possible with changes. Similarly, rail travel is feasible for a commute to other destinations, but you have to get to the nearest railway stations in Cosham, Havant, and Petersfield. Not everyone is going to want to clamber onto a bicycle. Clearly, the most convenient mode of transport is by car, but with nowhere to park when you get home ? And what about visitor parking ?
I know, we are supposed to be giving up reliance on our cars. But, really, the infrastructure isn’t there to match the convenience of door to door.
The News article also cites the impact to local medical services. Appointments to actually see a doctor are rarer than rocking horse poo. And just try and sign up to a dental clinic.
Over the years, we have been promised changes that would create jobs, provide social and entertainment opportunities.
Where is the 60 room Hotel on the old BAE site ?
We were told categorically there would not be a McDonald’s on that same site.
So far, we have no hotel and none of the jobs that would have created. But we got a McDonald’s !!!
Similarly, we were told there would be a hotel and conference centre on the Dunsbury Park development. No sign of that or the associated jobs either.
The modified road system has provided a play area for the local petrol heads to hoon about on. But that’s the subject of a different post.
Bowling and cinema complexes have been mooted, but nothing happens. “They” say Waterloovilles’ population (approx 66k) can’t sustain these businesses. So, if we want to bowl or see movies, we have to travel to Portsmouth (10 miles), Whiteley (16 miles), or Chichester (15 miles). That’s not exactly carbon friendly.
It’s time HBC stood up and did something for the existing Waterlooville residents. Force the developers to include the provision of additional services and facilities. How about increasing local taxes on the landlords who allow their properties to remain empty. Might make them reduce the rents, attract new businesses.
Waterlooville, town centre is ripe. Come on HBC, do something really radical. Make Waterlooville somewhere people want to visit.
This really is a hard task to fulfil. Over the years there have been many vacations, as a child / teenager with my parents and sisters. Then, as a family with my wife and daughters. Finally, there are those adventures with just my wife and occasionally with friends.
Each trip has featured predominantly high points and, occasionally, some low points.
So, I choose to tell you about an ill-fated camping holiday which turned out OK, more than OK, in the end.
The holiday was to be a camping trip down to the West Country, i.e. Devon and Cornwall. The plan was that Gerry and I would drive down to our friends’ home in Limpley Stoke, just outside of Bath. We would be taking the camping gear. This would be after Gerry finished work. Then, the following day, we we would head west.
However, our car, an aged Ford Consul Mk II, had other ideas. When I was ready to leave work, I went to start the car. The engine turned briefly, but not enough to start. My friend and I fairly quickly determined that the starter ring had spun off the flywheel. Well, we bump started the car, and I drove us home, taking care not to stall en route.
Things were not looking good for our camping trip.
I rang Gerry at work to give her the bad news. She hung up on me !!!
I then rang Jane and John, our friends. They decided to drive up to ours to discuss what to do. They arrived before Gerry got home from work.
Gerry arrived home in a less than happy state, slammed the front door, and headed straight to the bedroom. As she passed the door to the lounge, she took a double take as she spotted Jane and John sitting on the couch .
Her anger deflated by their presence, we settled down to discuss a new plan for our vacation.
The net result was that we would all travel down to Limpley Stoke and use their house as a base for our holiday, taking day trips out.
I feel I should explain that their house, a cottage that used to be the chapel for Limpley Stoke Manor House, the garden of which was subdivided by the local railway line. The lower garden, accessed via a private crossing, ran down to the River Avon. Jane and John had been given permission to make use of this lower garden area. This was going to become core to our vacation.
And use it we did. On numerous occasions. A lovely grassy embankment open to the sunshine but with overhanging trees to provide some shade. It was an idyllic quintessential English countryside setting where we would picnic on the river bank, chill our bottles of cider and/or wine in the cool water. John and I swam in those chilly waters, down to the weir and back upstream, much to the chagrin of the occasional angler.
As I said, Limpley Stoke is near the city of Bath. So on a number of occasions, when not enjoying the delights of the riverbank, we visited Bath, where we explored the town and its historic architecture. No visit to Bath would be complete without a tour of the Roman Baths. The city of Bath became a spa c.60AD. It had the Latin name Aquae Sulis. The Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although hot springs were known even before then. Unfortunately, when we visited, there were restrictions regarding the hot springs, if my memory serves, something nasty in the waters.
One day, we decided that a trip to the seaside was required. Weston-super-Mare was our chosen destination. So early in the morning, we pitched up and staked our claim to a patch of sand at the waters edge. Due to our early start, we all lay down to doze in the sun, but when we awoke, the sea had disappeared. John and I thought we would walk out to find the sea for a swim, but the numbers of people coming back, covered in mud, put us off.
The problem with Weston-super-Mare is that it is situated on the Bristol Channel, which has a huge tidal range. The low tide mark in Weston Bay is about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the seafront. The beach is sandy, but low tide reveals areas of thick mud, which are dangerous to walk on.
Needless to say, we didn’t get our swim. I have no idea where all those muddy people went to get cleaned up. We never saw the sea return.
Although we should have been camping, the time we spent based at the cottage in Limpley Stoke was, to put it simply, gorgeous. Camping would not have been as relaxing or allowed us to chill out in the way that we did. Would we have found as nice a place as we had down on the river bank. I doubt it.
Sometimes, the unplanned, the spontaneous events turn out to be the best of times.
Having been retired for just on eight years, I have realised that I am not an authority on anything.
Least ways not anymore. While still working, I might have been an authority on in house processes and product safety standards. But what use is that now. It’s just a rapidly fading memory.
Now I am the very epitome of that age old saying….
WrAnTz 