Week Forty- Nine In Which We Crank The Electricity Bill!

You inherit weird stuff from your parents without realising it, and sometimes do stuff the very opposite as them by a long chalk, as a reaction. My mum was a nurse and in the better run, cleaner hospitals of the Fifties, when she was a Matron, the ward staff, all the way to including the cleaners, were under the boss nursey’s authority. And Christmas was brief and included sparse decorations in the hospital, removed usually before January the sixth, or 12th Night. And never any ‘˜Fairy’ lights as they used to be called.
So, now, even before my birthday on the 9th December, (the same day as Seventies heart throb Donny Osmond and soap Coronation Street) the Christmas decorations come out, first weekend. The weave of three extra mains multi-plugs one a six-way and that in addition to the eight or so spare mains sockets about for chargers, and other visiting toys, has meant we can collect things that light up. We have eight strings about the room, with some LEDs in coloured plastic balls, some amazing colour-changing jobs just purchased, a bunch of blue LED flashing stuff and two ancient strings of the non-transformer type. And there are three multi colour LED sets and two blue sets of LEDs on the tree. I simply don’t get the drive to light up the night for everyone else by putting stuff all over the front. Besides, as you drive up to our gaff in December, the front room looks like a grotto.
The biggest car hook up in the UK was done at Ultimate Street Car at Santa Pod this last summer with literally a hundred thousand watts and in the video embedded in the story about the six cars, all pumping at once, you can hear the DJ refer to me as ‘˜Oi Fatbloke’ That DJ is called Jon and is a deeply involved dude in the whole sound off scene and a true traveller on the car audio path. I have met up with him at shows up and down the country for a few years now. He lost his dad suddenly last week and I found myself speaking at another funeral, by way of helping him out with some laity celebrant type eulogy about his dad. Who by all accounts was as cool as his mate’s Brad’s dad, with whom I go fishing! Car Audio really is a community I loved that shot of the ‘˜SQ Fairy’ in the write up of a Talk Audio meet. (now that’ll take some finding for youtry ‘Meets and Events’) I knew it academically as I joined Talk Audio but now, I know it to be fact from sage experience.
None of which serves for excuse but is partly why I am a tiny bit behind again although regular readers will know this to be a constant in my world, hell, most everyone’s world these days. We are all pedalling like fury and forced to decide ‘front or back burner?’ on stuff. So, as ever, I shall go get on
Oh yes, I did rock up at the Gadget Show Live At Christmas at the ExCel centre on Friday and picked up a couple of delightful toys for audio persons before going onwards to the above mentioned. Video clips soon to be unleashed. But meanwhile do check out link
Adam Rayner On Line Editor