I heard the news today......It's that time again!

I’ve got this years Beatles Week programme. I am quite impressed. It’s a nice size they’ve downsized it to A5 and its 100 pages long! There is nothing missing the band information and photographs are all there. Plus all the listings of  events, We'd be lost without that! I’ve already had the highlighter out putting the mark on my choices.

There are a few familiar bands but most of them I don’t think I have heard of; Magical Mystery Men, Sheepdogs and Apples Band for example. I may get time to check some of them out. Most of all though I will make my favourites Beatles week bands the priority: The Tearaways, Gavin Pring, Instant Karma USA, Nube 9 and of course Beatles Week wouldn’t be Beatles Week without The Shakers! Oh and there is one person I have forgotten..good old Hal Bruce!!! (my mum’s favourite). Where would we be without him and his trusty guitar singing all those Beatles tunes!

The last few years I’ve really let Beatles Week pass me by. I’ve been mainly in a  drunken state in the Adelphi sitting on the couches or the carpet talking to friends. Maybe then this year I will try and  make some time for the bands as well. Beatles Week is only once a year and all these bands come to Liverpool to play Beatles (and sometimes other stuff) from all over the world.

I think this year the booze will stay behind the bar. I think I might just do quality not quantity this year. Long gone are the days in the 1990s when I used to travel up from my home in Sussex 10 hours by coach, get about 10 hours sleep all week and eat next to nothing. I’ll be taking my time watching the world go by…

Right I'm off to listen to some Beatles to get me in the mood..ask me that by the end of next week I'll be sick of hearing them, at least for a while!

Joe Strummer

Last night I started to read the next book in my rather large stack of books. A brightly coloured pink one. You might think a girlie book but no it is a book about; Strummer, Jones, Simonon and Headon. If you are not sure who they are, then where have you been? They are a great band from the punk era of the mid to late 1970s, The Clash. It’s funny because 21st August would’ve been Joe Strummer’s 59th birthday and until I started this book I had no idea!

So how fitting that I do a blog about them to celebrate the music that hit the charts with an all mighty bang in the seventies. The two songs that I personally remember are the reissued songs ‘Rock the Casbah’ and ‘should I stay or should I go’. They were reissued when I was a teenager and I’ve been a bit of a fan ever since.

They were a fresh band and to me they are better than the Sex Pistols. The Clash are a great punk band and should have the crown for THE BEST British punk band. During their career they played Liverpool’s famous Eric’s club on Mathew Street. They also refused to ever appear on Top Of The Pops, and without them, bands like the Manic Street Preachers would not exist.

The Clash were influenced by the 1960s and bands like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. They were also influenced by Reggae music. I think it is a perfect time to revisit some of their music..

"I called myself Joe Strummer because I can only play all six strings at once, or none at all".

Turn of the Internet and go do something less boring instead!

I haven't written an online blog in a week. I got caught up in all the frustration of the riots here in Liverpool. I spent alot of Tuesday night listening to angry Scousers phoning into Pete Price's radio show. Meanwhile helicopters and police cars rushed by outside. I didn't get to sleep until well after 3am. Thankfully there has not been a repeat of that night since. 
Last night I decided to do something positive. Nikki my friend suggested a while ago living as we used to in the 1980s; No Internet, no mobile phone etc. Could it be done? Could we cope now? The subject kind of went away and nothing more came of it until the last day or so. 
It has been playing on my mind and I suggested to Nikki that we should try it, at least for 24 hours. What would happen if we couldn't check updates online or be constantly attached to our mobiles waiting for texts from friends. Looking at what everyone else is doing has become a hobby for most. If we have time to do this all the time there must be something wrong.? I have to admit over the summer that what I have been doing a lot of. I REALLY can't wait until I go back to university and get stuck into painting again. I won't have time for all this then.
It became clear from the media coverage this week that mobile phones have become more important than anything in our lives. A youth wasn't at all sorry for causing trouble in his town and they asked the judge "When can I have my mobile back?". When another was asked about being sorry for destroying their community. Their response was; That it wasn't their community. Their community was the Internet.
The Internet, yes it sure is a useful tool for me it is the social thing that when I am out in noisy places I can not have a conversation (as I am deaf). It is very hard to lip read all  what is said and especially when you are in a group. I have to face a person when talking to them. In pubs and clubs it is virtually impossible. So I end up most of the time just nodding and trying to catch a few words,try and make out what they are getting at or just getting upset cause I can't join in and feeling lost. I do like the fact on Facebook it's written there for you, but it is also very faceless and you can't tell peoples emotions or how they really feel,but there is other stuff outside your door, don't make it your whole life. There are REAL people out there!
I've discovered reading books is much better for me! I've STILL got a big pile of them to get through.
That is why I am going to try at least for 24 hours live without all the technology we rely on SO much today. I will get frustrated and probably bored, but I may just learn something. If all goes well then I may turn it into a longer project for university.

Nothing that I wouldn't do.....

Well the main reason me and Nikki travelled all the way to Ross on Wye (home to a certain Top Gear presenter). Was to attend the Hereford county fair where he was to be the president again. It was good last year I enjoyed it and it would probably be my only chance this year to say “hello” to him. Our hotel the Chase Dale was just outside the town, a lovely old-fashioned hotel. There is no train station and only a bus an hour to Ross from Hereford so it is quite cut off if you don’t drive. A lovely place full of quant shops.

I booked us a taxi the night before to make sure we would get there (there are only 3 taxi firms in Ross). A man said, “Yes we have one left about 10.25” in a very strong West Country accent, so ok it was booked.

At 10.15 we both went down to wait outside for the taxi. I was feeling nervous and was worried that it wouldn’t turn up. ‘Wonder who will be there. The usual suspects I guess…umm hurry up would we get there in time’. I was already worried as you do when you know you have to be somewhere at a certain time.

Wish I had phoned about 10am to check it was on its way. But thankfully about half ten it turned up and an oldish man got out. Great here we go I thought. He said, “do you know where we are going?” he asked. I replied “Hereford County show, Whitfield court”. He said he didn’t have a clue where that was. I tried to explain it was 7 miles southwest of Hereford on the A65 as that was the instructions that the website had.

So we all got into the taxi and he drove onto the main road. I didn’t spot a sat nav or a map anywhere in sight! I got my phone out to Google the address as my phone has directions. We thought he was heading towards Hereford. When we arrived at the roundabout he took the opposite exit to Hereford. Under my breath I said he is going the wrong way, but I thought maybe he knew to take another route and turn off somewhere so I didn’t think anymore of it.

I tried to give the man instructions of where to turn off, and Nikki was too and we were trying to write them down, but he seemed to totally ignore anything we said and we continued to get lost.

It then began to sink in that he (or we think) he hadn’t a clue where he was going. I tried to tell him to turn off in the direction the map was telling me but he seemed to ignore that. I think both me and Nikki started to panic by this time. Nikki said “oh take us back to Hereford! We will start again”. I then said “NO we can’t we haven’t got time, if we go back now we could just end up lost again”. It was about 11am by this time. I knew from last year Richard arrived at the show about half 11! So I was praying we would at least get there by 12.

He continued to drive, I began to feel sick inside and panic. We were truly lost, or at least me and Nikki were. At least I wasn’t on my own. I would’ve been REALLY scared if I had been alone. He was also driving quite fast and all I could see was fields and sky for miles. I couldn’t concentrate on anything.

THEN I spotted the metre “OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!” I said out loud, but this time I felt too frustrated to be polite. It was costing us £37 so far and we were lost.

The taxi driver got a call from the office! “You know where you are going?...Can’t see it on the map”…I can’t remember what else was said I was boiling up inside no matter how calm I seemed on the outside. A BLOODY taxi driver without a map or a sat nav! He might as well been on a horse and cart. He was local and surely knew his way around from Ross to Hereford? After all it was the next town!!! I think he was literally taking us for a ride!

FINALLY I saw a sign for Hereford 5 miles, right at least we were in the right direction. I spotted a car sales garage “Stop here we can ask directions!” and for once the driver listened. Nikki got out and it looked good! Yes she had got some directions..so fingers crossed. The driver actually managed to follow them just about. PHEW we finally saw signs for the show…and then the traffic slowed down to almost a halt we still had some way to go though as I could see cars as far as I could in front. Moving a snails pace I thought at least we are nearly there. I even considered getting out and walking the rest but I knew I couldn’t. We reached the sign that said 200 yards to entrance.  We made him pull in by the bus stop.. The metre read £63! He said “don’t worry about the change, just give me the £60”. I was quite annoyed and replied, “oh you can take the rest of the day off now after that fare”. I wish I had refused to pay that now as we were told it would be about £30, what if we had only had that amount on us!!!? I was angry but didn’t show it!

We started to walk and follow the flow of the cars toward the estate. I turned to Nikki and said “Oh I wish someone would stop and give us a lift”. Not long after I did this man hung his head out of his 4x4 and said “Need a lift?”. I replied, “are you offering? Yes please”.

He pulled over a rather handsome man dressed in full country attire, tweed flat cap, jeans and checked shirt jumped out. He had a look of Richard about him! (if only it was). He told us to jump in. he made space in the back. The shelf divided Nikki and me usually that was used in the boot, but he had his 2 Terrier dogs in the back (it did smell a bit doggy LOL). The couple were very friendly and asked where we had come from. When they found out I was from Liverpool the man said, “Oh I used to live on the Wirral”. It turns out he lived in Hoylake, the rough part he said. They now live the other side of the estate. He said it was a VERY long walk up to the show ground. So I am glad we got a lift. We wouldn’t have made it in time.  I noticed he even had a silver bracelet on his left wrist (like Rich wears).  I caught him checking his bright white teeth in the rear view mirror, which almost made me laugh out loud but I just grinned to myself. We explained what had happened to us with the taxi and he advised us that we should try and get a lift back to Hereford or Ross, plenty of people would be going that way and he was sure someone would. We arrived at the gate where we were supposed to pay. I had my purse at the ready and the man just said “two in the front” they got tickets and then drove in! We got in free! Nikki said thanks as she thought after what had happened that would be way of compensation. I don’t know how they didn’t see me in the back though; children are free but I hardly look that young!

They parked up and told us to enjoy our day. We never got to find out the kind peoples names, not because we were being rude. I think we were still in a state of panic from the taxi journey. We wondered down to the show and there we saw exactly what we had come all this way to see Richard Hammond.

By half three we had seen Richard and were both knackered and totally exhausted. We had also caught the sun and got a little burnt. I was feeling quite funny and thought I might have heat stroke. We wandered around the car park, I felt quite sick. I asked a few people if they were heading back to Hereford or Ross. But the people I asked either said no or they had kids and animals with them. We went up to where the cars were leaving the car park, I even tried to put my thumb up to stop someone but no one did.  I thought I would have to resort to St John’s Ambulance if I started to feel any worse. I spotted a couple that didn’t have any animals or kids with them. I asked Nikki if she would ask them she did and they said YES, They were a couple about the same age as my parents I think. They said they would drop us off in Hereford and we agreed to pay for their trouble, petrol is so expensive these days. They were called Jean and Ian and lived in Ledbury. Lovely place I’ve been there. We explained what had happened to us that day. They said they would drop us back in Ross in the end which was great for us and we were very grateful to them. If I had been anywhere else I don’t think I would have dare ask a stranger for a lift, but all the people we met this weekend were VERY helpful apart from that bloody taxi driver, who was sooo relaxed and not bothered it was worth a jobs worth award!

It certainly is a different world down there, they seem to live in a different time. Different from what I am used to but it was interesting and I liked it at least for a weekend!

Taxi firm we used...a joke surely!

SATURDAY

It might be Ross On Wye, but I've found a Costa. So I can have a rest before I head back to the hotel. So far it has been great to get away for a bit. from the hustle and bustle of the big city rat race I call home, Liverpool. The hotel we booked is called the Chase Dale. It's old and probably hasn't changed much for many years. There are lots of old reminders of how things used to be. The view from our hotel bedroom is so pretty and you can see the green hills and trees for miles. They also do a really nice full English breakfast.
The best bit about our hotel room is the en-suite bathroom with a bath! I only have a shower at home, so I purchased some bubble bath from the local Morrisons. I am almost tempted to pour the whole bottle into the bath, but I don't want to flood the place. While in Morrisons I half expect Richard Hammond to pop his head around the corner pushing a trolley and saying 'You felt the baps lately?'.
The hotel has lots of nik-naks; old ceramic hot water bottles, pictures,  suitcase, vases etc. It would fit well with a country television drama set of the 1930s. It is just out of the town centre and back off the road. There is also a pub called the Prince of Wales. We had a drink and shared a lovely desert of Eton Mess, it was small but very rich..lots of cream! The seating was lovely red swivel chairs. We sat playing a game on my mobile phone for a bit. The pub was very quiet. It was great for me because I really hate noisy pubs you can never have a conversation in one. There was also a lovely Audrey Hepburn picture on the wall a large canvas one.
Looking around the shops in Ross it is mainly charity shops, tea shops and thankfully lacks chain stores that are in most shopping towns and cities these days. In fact it has a good variety of shops. It does however have a Boots, Superdrug, Peacocks and Costa. Most of the shops are quaint little shops a good chance to root around for a bargain.
We went to a Deli and saw a list for "Richard's choice of cheeses'..what was that? Was it Mr H? I asked what it was about they said 'Oh its just his choice'. Who was he? I didn't like to ask! Oh well we would NEVER know who HE was. More than likely it was just the shop owner. I did try a piece of their Hereford cheese it was very nice. Also went to the local sweet shop where I purchased cider toffee. I wanted the honey comb covered in chocolate after seeing a boy eating it at a bus stop earlier that day.
We wondered around the shops. i brought a lovely navy dress and jacket from this vintage shop called 'oooh!', some coffee 'packed in Ross' from the local organic shop. Nikki brought a VERY large cake called a lardy, which is a local cake. Which we thought would take a few sittings to eat, but we ate it in one. 
While we were there we also sampled a local ploughmans lunch and a gorgeous fish and chip supper. the best chips I've had in ages!
I also spotted a wax jacket in a charity shop for £3.50! BARGAIN in Liverpool second hand ones are selling for £40 at the moment. It fitted so I got it!
Nikki got some odd ments of jewellery from a charity shop for her making.
We also saw the Ross carnival go past twice it was a lovely weekend.
I also saw a original teasmaid in a shop for £10 but I was unable to fit it in my case a real shame!
I'm glad the weather was ok.

Dusty....

Springfield is  a great icon from the 1960s. She had an amazing soulful voice and when she sings it sounds as though every word is meant.
She also had amazing hair with added hair pieces. The make up she wore in the 60s. Thick black eyeliner, which she went to bed wearing, not bothering to take off.
I also think her clothes are very glamorous and her outfits always looked great on her!
My favourite album is Dusty in Memphis. I think of her best songs are Son of a Preacher man and Love Power and Spooky. I was very sad when she died from breast cancer a sad loss to the music industry.

Astrid Kirchherr

A kind lady said to me the other day "You look like Astrid Kirchherr". I replied "Thank you" . Then I explained to her how flattered I was because she is one of my 'heros". Astrid was good friends with The Beatles and took some FABULOUS photos of them in Hamburg during the early days.
Her boyfriend was Stuart Sutcliffe artist and bass player with the band for a short time before he died at 21.

Photography is a a great hobby of mine and I have always loved the impact that black and white photographs have on me. It's my favourite way to catch a moment in time, but I do miss using the darkroom to develop my own images. That is all part of the art of photography. Having control over the final image.

All I need now is to find my own Stuart Sutcliffe.............