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Shake it off, shake it off, find the light….enjoy the steam from the cuppa.

Its a new day, its a new dawn, blah blah..bit tired, world weary?

Weekend just not long enough? Need another day, just to re-group before getting back to  rejoining the human race? Arrgh…not ready?

I know how you feel. I need to hear a few more jokes this week and need a bit of sofa, friends and me time ( am not going to get it, but will …soon) and some belly laughs..even a few titters will do.

So my song of the day is gonna start us on a trail blazing quest for the bright side of life..as I for one, need to be reminded today.  Have a great day. x x x

SONG OF THE DAY


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So one moment,  walking around London, making my way from here to there and back again, surrounded by eight million other bodies, pushing and pulling and generally getting on just fine, usually accepting each others amazing differences and eccentricities, everyone watching their backs.. maybe just a little, or  maybe quite alot..

it is a miracle we all  usually get on so well, seeing as we are so all bunched together, in each others faces…literally. The city’s transport treats us as equals – it is oblivious to our stature, beliefs, creed, culture, similarities or diversities. When you are on the tube, or the buses, we are all the same, first one in gets the seat. I often feel like I have been starved  of space in so many areas of my life, especially when I get out of the City and suddenly feel, smell, hear and see it all. I  sometimes wonder how I have lived in a City for all of my adult life. Its all about roots, that seem to embed themselves just where you are, even if the soil is not quite suitable -so be careful if you stay still too long..uprooting can be perilous.

Then, as if by magic I am transported by a train to another world, where I walk to the sound of birds singing. So, surrounded by nature  with a bunch of glorious teenagers who are learning my acapella arrangements so fast, I can just about keep up! At lunch time, I race up the hill from the place we are staying to see the world. It is an amazing day. Blue sky, crisp, incredible light. Just for a day and then back to the concrete and the underground. I need to escape more.

SONG OF THE DAY

Mercy Street -Peter Gabriel -Live in Milan

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A quesion posed by the brilliant ‘blog-a-day’ mentors. So much music, so many genres, so little time. There is one album that I listen to most when I need  to get connected, and again, here comes a little French link..The group are called Deep Forest, and the album is called Boheme . I first heard ‘Deep Forest’ and the album of the same name in a shop in the mid 90’s and it was one of the first of those hybrid mixes of ethnomusicological ( wow-did I spell that first time?)  vocal sound-bytes from Africa and wonderful synthesized beats and harmonies. I wore this one out. When Boheme came out I listened a bit, but as the years went by, the tracks continued to get under my skin. The first track, “Boheme’ has an intro that to this day has me in tears before the vocal even comes in..I don’t know why.

Its funny as there is what seems like a lot of programmed stuff in it, which I like on a purely physical level – some people call the style ‘ethno-introspective ambient world music’- obviously have a lot of time on their hands -but perhaps the linking of the electro, rhythmic and the most amazing set of real vocals…well, I love it, and more than anything, I keep coming back to it for solace. So that is my one album -like a fine wine. A compilation album of 10 tracks…now there’s another story for another day. have a good day.x x x. x x x

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Oh deep shame. Their ideals were wonderful – and they were real ideals that they put  into practice.

To get on a train at any time, and always pay the same fare, around £44 return. Brilliant! So now if I want to step on a train with no notice  at 8am  in the morning , a SINGLE from London to Shrewsbury is £118,  and that is not even direct. The Wrexham and Shropshire had lovely  wide old seats that did not make you feel like a sheep

in a lorry pen (possibly why they are called Pendolinos?).

The loveliest staff. I for one think  it is a deep shame and another sign of the crumblingness that is the end of the civilized world as we know it. I hear things that amaze me everyday. So  much is being cut from education funding  that a huge swathe of us are now so uneducated that modern technology is just a complete waste of time, as are books and poetry and art. The World Service is being cut, 650 jobs going for the saving of a quarter of a Jackson Pollock painting…crazy world…people starving…massive proportions of the food we produce just goes in the bin.  Woops…started on a mini rant there, when  I was supposed to be wishing the Wrexham and Shropshire  a peaceful demise and I for one will miss their courage and independent spirit in this cut throat world.

SONG OF THE DAY

PROUD – dedicated to the railway workers everywhere(even Virgin) I would be no-where with out you (apart from here) I know it is ‘con lacto’ cheesy, and  am not a big fan of the tense soft palette, rolled back tongue  vocal sound of dearest Heather Small, but I have heard 2000 kids sing  from Camden this at the Albert Hall, full voice with fire in their hearts and it was  uplifting. Great sentiment .