Three Books

Temperatures are rising but the snow is still on the ground , and when I started to type this , nothing happened. Thought the batteries on the wireless keyboard may have run out so checked in notepad , which was working fine and then the blogger software started working again.

It is a cold Valentine's day and the footpaths in places are like ice-rinks, not very safe if you are not steady on your feet.

Anyway the subject of this post is the two books I am reading . "Left Out" is about Labour under Corbyn , and is almost like reading a newspaper. You are not part of what is happening , it's also a physical book so sometimes I can't read it with my contact lenses in. It is very engrossing and interesting but the reader is not drawn into it, and I suppose that is the nature of any book reporting facts, especially when it highlights the faults and frailties of an organisation and person that you have admiration for. Unfortunately , because of our first past the post electoral system , the only alternative to the current government is The Labour Party. It is a book I would recommend to anyone interested in the UK political situation.

The other is "Imajica" by Clive Barker which at over a thousand pages I  gave away my physical copy and bought it for my Kindle Fire. I am about a third of the way though and am slowly making my way through it once more, and this draws me into the book itself , you are there, you are part of it, and I know that I will not want it to end (again) but that must come, but although Clive Barker is not everyone's cup of tea , he certainly drags me into he books, stimulating my imagination and leaving always wanting to read just one more page, and then another. This is my favourite book ever, and reading it today , I know why that is.

This week I am considering the abridged audio book of Richard Osman's "The Thursday Murder Club" which is available on BBC Sounds here. I find Richard Osman an intelligent engaging quiz show host and person (as well as Fulham supporter) so a book of his really is something you need to engage with. I have downloaded it on my Kindle Fire so that is queued up for this week.

So what do I share today, I have The Byrds "Untitled" playing as I write this and teh studio album contains "Chestnut Mare" , one of my eldest daughter, Juliet's favourites , and one of mine too , so we can go with this on this Valentine's Sunday afternoon.

-3°C

It is still cold , so cold that the snow gets a bit slushy during the day then freezes at night. The lowest I've seen is minus eight degrees centigrade and friend in Dalgety Bay have reported minus fourteen degrees centigrade.

Walking out and most of the snow on footpaths has turned to ice, it's the middle of the and the temperature is zero , freezing. It isn't snowing but it is cold, with the only sign that this is over , the fact that most of the snow on the rooves has gone.

This is just a very short post , the day before Valentine's day and it is the thirteenth. Strange how sending a  Valentines card to someone you don't know turns you into a stalker in todays environment , and I am sure there is a great horror story in that situation . Someone gets a card from a stranger and that marks them as the next target. That could destroy the Valentine's card industry.

St Valentine was a clergyman who was martyred but is also the patron saint of epilepsy. Wiki details are here

So what song do I share?

I know it's the day before but I know the Motorhead / HeadGirl / Girlschool "St Valentine's Day Massacre" EP is on YouTube in full , so we will go with that. The lead song on the EP is a cover of "Please Don't Touch" by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates.  I find it slightly odd that the CD copies are now selling for more than the vinyl copies if you check out the links below.

The actual massacre is described thus:

" 1929 murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park garage on the morning of that feast day, February 14th. They were lined up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants who were dressed like police officers. The incident resulted from the struggle to control organized crime in the city during Prohibition between the Irish North Siders, headed by George "Bugs" Moran, and their Italian South Side Gang rivals led by Al Capone.[1] The perpetrators have never been conclusively identified, but former members of the Egan's Rats gang working for Capone are suspected of a role, as are members of the Chicago Police Department who allegedly wanted revenge for the killing of a police officer's son"

Pancake Valentine

After Pancake Tuesday we now have Valentine's day which is just another commercial opportunity. Again it's a traditional thing where people exchange gifys and tokens. I was under the impression that Valentine cards were sent by secret admirers so you didn't know who the card or gift was from but greetings like "To Girlfriend / Boyfriend / Husband / Wife etc" sort of take the secret and mystery out of it and a Tesco £3 red rose hardly shows a great deal of thought.

I've always wondered who certain shops were targetting as they advertise their "cheap perfume from £1" or the like.  If the main criteria for buying a present is that it has to be cheap then I would be looking and making something or doing something that was free. This is not getting at people who can't afford things (and everybody should be able to afford things but Western Society is now built on keeping people poor so they can be sold credit and kept under the thumb by corporations on starvation wages), but less of my political ranting.

Here is the Wikipedia take on it and the first thing I think of on Valentine's Day is the "St Valentine's Day Massacre" EP by HeadGirl (Motorhead / Girlschool) named after the notorious event in Chicago in 1929 (you know the date) , so on the cold cold morning it has to be their cover of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates "Please Don't Touch".

Have a rather good day everyone and wrap up well.