tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3652396620862183352024-02-08T11:35:39.768-08:00Radio Radio: A Retro BlogA trip back to the 80s, a journey from boyhood to manhood on the radio waves with a soundtrack by:
• The Police
• Spandau Ballet
• The Jam
• U2
• The Cure
This blog has everything… rock music, sex, big hair, bigger shoulder pads, trainers and mix tapes!Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-56651927660247729082012-03-08T14:59:00.002-08:002012-03-08T14:59:12.696-08:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Saturday, the tenth of May 1980<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
accordance with the age old convention of “my house my rules”, these are the
by-laws as laid down by Alun Jones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Actually
this is a note that he slid under the door to my bedroom while I was out at
work today. I got home and there it was, lying on the carpet just inside my
room, at first I thought someone cared enough to send me a letter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Children
should be seen but not heard is just plain wrong. You shouldn’t be seen either.
Henceforth you will stay in your room unless invited to come down and join
civilized people. You have books, a TV, a stereo and more records than you know
what to do with, so there’s no excuse not to stay up there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We
have a nice house full of nice things. But somehow you manage to make the place
look scruffy (consider as precedent the “blue-denim-stains-from-your-jeans-on-an-expensive-cream-leather-sofa”
incident). It’s a talent, I admit it. The only areas in the house you may enter
without permission are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Your room<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The attic bathroom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The Kitchen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The garage<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Your
table manners are atrocious, and put others off their food. Because of this the
only time you are invited to eat with the rest of the family is Saturday
evening and Sunday lunch. It’s nothing personal – except that it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I am
surprised to find that someone with your lack of personal hygiene and
inter-personal skills has made friends of any sort, let alone started a
courtship! I congratulate you on finding a member of the opposite sex who,
quite obviously has such low standards that even you seem like an attractive
proposition. You will not, I repeat NOT, invite her up to your room for a
“coffee” (or whatever other euphemism you youngsters use these days). We all
know where that will lead to. And frankly, I don’t think you can support
yourself, let alone a wife/girlfriend and a baby!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">WELL
DONE on finding a job. It’s such a pity that it’s only part-time. Still, I
suppose there is a recession on. If you want any help, say searching the
Evening Echo looking for a bedsit, feel free to let me know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
took the note to mum. She showed it to Alun. There was a blazing row. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Of
course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In
the end Alun explained that it was a joke and that I had no sense of humour.
Mum sided with him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">So
it’s all my fault coz I can’t take a joke.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
know when I’m not wanted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-89723379077465655692012-03-08T14:56:00.000-08:002012-03-08T14:56:45.267-08:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Thursday, the eighth of May 1980<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">A
big fat blob of sweat rolled down my nose and landed on the top of the sizzling
meat patty of a Whopper. It wasn’t the first time I’d added my essence to a
burger, and so long as I work in the fast food industry it won’t be the last.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used the big metal tweezers to pick the
burger up and slide it onto the bottom half of a toasted bun, and then flipped
the top of the bun in place and stuffed it into the steamer draw. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
checked the clock on the wall; six PM. Right! That’s me out of here. I sprinted
upstairs and tore my uniform off, stuffing it into a plastic carrier bag from
Woolworths, dressed in jeans, a Motorhead t-shirt, Doc Martens boots and a
black leather jacket. I had to get home fast – Top of the Pops would be on at
seven and I still had to get home and have tea! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Home
is a town house, a tall narrow three story building in a horseshoe-shaped
terrace. In the middle of the road was a raised bed of meticulously tended
shrubs. At the back each house had a pocket handkerchief of perfectly groomed
lawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Mum
and my step-dad, Alun, seemed to be happy here, and that was what mattered – to
them. Nobody asked whether I was happy. Why would they? I’m seventeen, still a
kid. If I want to leave home nobody’s stopping me. Hell <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Alun
would positively encourage it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">If
you get the impression that there’s no love lost between me and Alun then let
me be the first to congratulate you for spotting the patently bleeding obvious!
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
let myself in and went straight to the kitchen on the ground floor at the back.
There was a half baguette hollowed out and stuffed with grated cheese mixed
with chopped cucumber and salad cream, something that Mum had invented, she
called it a Cheese Shoe. I got a can of Coke out of the fridge and ate and
drank like my life depended on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">My
room is right at the top of the building in the attic. I’m not allowed to take
food up there, and I want to catch tonight’s entire chart countdown on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
did a half-arsed and hurried job of washing my plate and ran upstairs two at a
time. The living room’s on the first floor. I can see Mum and Dad are sitting
in reverential silence watching something on BBC 2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I
ran into the big attic room with the skylight, slamming the door behind me. I
switched on the small black and white portable TV in time to hear the announcer
say in his clipped, precise BBC voice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“And
now it’s time to see what’s Top of the Pops with Kid Jensen and Mike Read.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Made
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-38752066090825025812012-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:002012-02-22T13:16:17.476-08:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Episode 3 <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Monday, the fifth of May 1980<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Jump
in.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She
was tall, slim, pale, red-haired and beautiful. She gave me a cool look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“My mum said I shouldn’t
take lifts from strangers,” her soft voice thrilled me. “I know you though - you
come into Slipped Discs every Saturday.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“Not just Saturdays, I go in
on week days too but you’re not there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“I only work on Saturdays.”
She wore a baggy black jumper like a dress with leggings, slip-on pumps and an
army-surplus bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“So, do you want a lift?” I
asked. “Only we’re holding up traffic.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“OK.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“You like Blondie,” I told
her as we pulled away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“How do you know?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“You’ve written their names
like ten times on your bag.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“You a spy?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“No a DJ.” I said proudly.
“Only on hospital radio though…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">My car’s a fourth-hand
Triumph Spitfire. Nan and Granddad wanted to give me a big present for my
eighteenth – so I asked for a car. It’s got faults, but it’s also got a stereo.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I turned the radio on, the
Knack pounded their way through My Sharona. Then Kid Jensen hands over to the
newsroom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
siege at the Iranian embassy has ended dramatically with an assault on the
building by the Army’s Special Air Service regiment…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We
paused at traffic lights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This
whole thing’s been like an episode of the Professionals that’s escaped into the
real world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yeah,
but why does Radio One have to give it such heavy coverage?” She asked. “They’re
a music station, they should just do the headlines and play the hits.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Should
I take that as a hint - you want music?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If
you like.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
opened the glove box and grabbed a cassette. The keyboard intro to Rip Her To
Shreds starts and I pump up the volume. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
don’t know your name.” She announced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll
tell you mine if you tell me yours.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“OK,”
she paused hesitantly. “Suzanne – but my mates call me Suze. Your turn.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Steve
but all my mates call me… Steve.” I did a swift eyes left, Suze was grinning.
“Do you want to go <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">straight</i> home?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
have you got in mind?” She sounded suspicious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
dunno,” I shrugged. “If you like we can go to the Overcliff, look at the sea,
talk…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“OK.”
She dipped into her bag and pulled out a pair of shades. “I’ve been revising
all day, I thought – enough’s enough, get out while the sun’s still shining
girl. I’m glad I did now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Revising
– you’re at university?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hardly
– I’m only sixteen.” She giggled. “No, got my O’Levels are coming up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
parked, down below the too-small beach was empty, in the day its standing room
only. We talked about music, exams… everything…anything. We talked until it was
dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I finally got round to
running her home she’d agreed to go ice skating with me on Friday night. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
drove home doing my own singing along to Roxanne. Even the high bits that Sting
has trouble with!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-78314991047082142102012-02-22T13:13:00.001-08:002012-02-22T13:13:43.519-08:00<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Episode 2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Wednesday, the second of April 1980<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
TV’s on but the sound’s off. I’m wearing headphones and the Clash’s debut album
is on the turntable playing loud. I find this the best way to watch the news.
It’s all doom and gloom, specially the economy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>News
At Ten is now like one long very depressing set of football results. I’m
waiting for the moment when Reginald Bosanquet says:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
in unemployment news, British Steel South Wales – 11,000 redundancies; Tyneside
Shipbuilding – 8,000 redundancies, British Steel will now go on face ICI in the
recession championships.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Look
away now if you don’t want to know the results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
TV screen is red. A line of cops are silhouetted on a city street against a
back drop of raging flames. There’s a riot going on. Inner city Bristol is
burning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at that moment, almost as
if it was planned as the soundtrack, the Clash start singing “White riot - I
wana riot, white riot – a riot of my own.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
song lasts barely two minutes. When it’s over I lift the stylus off the record
and take my earphones off. The journalist’s measured tones are clearly intended
not to scare the viewers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“…While
the majority of the rioters are black, it is unclear what the causes of the
riot are. However, there are suggestions that it started after a raid on the
Black and White Café – a known drugs den.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t the last riot, and ITN might not
want to guess what the causes are, but I know, deep down everyone knows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In Bristol it might seem to
be because of police attitudes to black people. Or at least that might be why
the government will claim the coming riots kick off. But the real reason is
that young people feel like they’re getting crushed by the recession. There’s
no hope, no future, and if we feel like there’s nothing to lose then there’s
nothing to stop us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I know I’m luckier than
most. My step-dad’s a barrister, and mum’s a lecturer at the local further
education college. We’re not rich, but we’re not exactly skint either. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I studied at school and got
O’ and A’ levels like any good middle class kid. The results weren’t brilliant,
but they would’ve got me into a polytechnic. But why? What’s the point?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Getting a degree would’ve
meant, once, that after graduation I’d have swapped my diploma for a job as a
trainee manager in a humongous factory. But the way businesses are closing, if
I went off to study now, by the time I graduated there might not be any
industry left for me to manage!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Besides, I want something
more than just to be a faceless cog in a machine that turns out…I don’t
know…widgets. That’s almost as soul destroying as being unemployed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">On the screen a thin line of
cops are using dustbin lids to shield themselves from a rain of bricks and
petrol bombs, and I put the headphones back on and cue up Police and Thieves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-1933845746895560672012-02-12T08:58:00.000-08:002012-02-12T08:58:41.082-08:00Episode 1 - The twentieth of March 1980<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">It’s a little after midnight. Somewhere out there on the North Sea a rusty hulk is sinking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“Radio Caroline broadcasting on 319 metres, 9-63 kilohertz. Well we’re sorry to tell you that due to the severe weather conditions and also to the fact that we’re shipping quite a lot of water, we’re<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>closing down and the crew at this stage are leaving the ship…“<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Meanwhile I’m underneath the bedclothes with a transistor radio, a torch and a well-thumbed copy of Penthouse. I’ve stopped looking at the glossy breasts; all my attention is focussed on what’s happening on the old rust bucket with a radio station shoehorned into the cargo hold.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">“…Obviously we hope to be back with you as soon as possible, but we just want to assure you all on land that there’s nothing to worry about we’re all quite safe, just for the moment we’d like to say goodbye…”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Then there was static. I took the earphones off, switched the torch off and went to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I live in Bournemouth. God’s waiting room on the south coast, where blue-rinsed OAPs come to die. I don’t want to be here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I come from Stoke-on-Trent. Someone had to.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">If you come from Stoke you can accept the fact without questioning it, settle down with a local girl called Sharron and get a job in a pot bank or down a coal mine, and live there for ever and ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Or you spend your time moaning about what a dump Stoke is and how you can’t wait to get out, and then you settle down with a local girl called Sharron and get a job in a pot bank or down a coal mine and live there for ever and ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">As you join the M6 motorway heading south there’s a big sign that reads: “You’re leaving Stoke now, but you’ll be back. Oh yes!”<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">There isn’t I made that up. But there <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OUGHT</i> to be one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">One day last summer my step-dad came home from work and he announced that he’d been promoted, and that meant that the family was going to move down south.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I was eighteen, and I’d just taken my A’ Levels, I was waiting for the results – I wasn’t confident that they’d be good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see that leaving might give me a new start. It also meant saying goodbye to my friends and family. I was torn.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">In the end, I reluctantly accepted that I had no say in the matter, and settled down for some quality sulking and moaning that life is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">SO</i> unfair.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve got a job now we're down here in Bournemouth, nothing I’d call a career. Let me put it this way; I have a nametag and a baseball cap. And my overwhelming feeling concern is: life, there’s got to be more to it than this! <o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-365239662086218335.post-8801261342201194932012-02-12T08:50:00.000-08:002012-02-12T08:50:06.841-08:00In the Beginning<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The eighties: Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands War, the miners’ strike, U2, modern romantics, the Sinclair C5, Madness, Spandau Ballet, ponytails on men, shoulder pads on women, mullets and big…BIG hair… but above all, it was the decade (just) before the internet. So no blogs, no Facebook and no Twitter, which was a pity really. They'd have been useful back then. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The closest I ever came to a blog was keeping a diary and I was never much cop at that! But if I had kept a diary, this is what it would have been about:<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Music<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Love<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Fun<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Radio<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Sex<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Though NOT necessarily in that order!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Carlos the Chickenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05303989927532634088noreply@blogger.com0