Mr Knitter

31 Days of Music – Day 31

by Mr Knitter • August 31, 2020 • 2 Comments

We made it, we are here at the end of the line, do we still have all aboard for the final Magical Mystery Tour of music from Liverpool/Merseyside. An abundance of Scousers from what is known as Liverpool: “The Pool of Talent”

I thought you may all like to see part of the Wall of Fame which is in Mathew Street with bricks inscribed with bands who have played the famous Cavern.

Today’s final musical offering is from something that is dear to my heart and I have been to see them more times than I can remember. I have wandered their building and listened to not just them, but other bands from all around the world. Who are they? The RLPO, which is The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

The RLPO has been gong for 180 years, and the only orchestra in the UK that has its own hall, and the oldest orchestra in the U. The original hall was opened on 27 August 1849 but burned down on 5 July 1933. The hall was rebuilt in Art Deco style and opened its doors on 20 June 1939. Incorporated in the hall is an organ built by Rushworth and Dreaper, which most of my uncles worked for and began their life long work with pipe organs. The pipework is hidden behind decorative grilles either side of the orchestra platform. The organ console rises from beneath and was originally built on a turntable, allowing the organist to face the audience and conductor, or the choir. The console is now fitted with wheels and can be played anywhere on the platform. A Walturdaw rising cinema screen is also housed under the platform, the last such screen in the world still in working order and is used quite a lot through the year showing films where the orchestra plays accompanying music. M and I have spent many many nights in the hall and have been privileged to see all the “staff only” side of the hall. Every year there is an international music festival and many musicians play there, my favourite was a Hindustani band who played the sitar and tabla, and before playing they explained that they have no written music and there is a pattern to what and how they play, all musicians joining in playing along making it up as they go, but to a prescribed pattern. It was amazing to listen to, and I spent a few hours just sitting on the floor listening. It is a place of happiness.

I had always intended to finish with the RLPO when I started my month of music, and what better than Sibelius’s Finlandia.

I hope you have all enjoyed this trip as much as I have enjoyed posting it for you all.

Celebrations, Hiking, knitting, Photos

Anniversary

by Mr Knitter • August 30, 2020 • 10 Comments

Today M and I have been married for 12 years (together 21 years this year), so to celebrate, we went for a nice walk and bought lots of lovely snacks and treats. Due to the way the world is at the moment we did not want to go to a restaurant or pub for a meal. We were not too sure where to go as we tend to drive for hours to go somewhere different, but again due to COVID there are so many places in Yorkshire and Lancashire that are said to be hotspots, so that was out too, and I love to walk on the moors in the footsteps of the Brontes as it is rugged and wild.

We finally set on Lydiate where I grew up and walked along the old railway lines from where Lydiate station used to be back in Victorian Times. (1884 to 1952) and headed south along the lines, then on to the canal bank back to the car. All told we walked 6km. The dogs loved it and are currently sleeping. Mazikeen must have run (as she does not walk anywhere) about 20km, back and forth.

I took a few photos along the way which are below, including some yarn bombing along the way.

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 30

by Mr Knitter • August 30, 2020 • 1 Comment

Today’s penultimate pick is from The Boo Radleys. Wake up Boo! was a hit all over the world, and when I first heard it all those years ago, I thought the lead singer was a woman, quite wrong as it was Simon Rowbottom (Sice). The band split in 1999 and Simon decided to write a book set in Victorian Liverpool call “Thimblerigger”. The name Boo Radley was taken from Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A Mockingbird which is a favourite of mine, hence calling my dog Harper-Lee.

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 29

by Mr Knitter • August 29, 2020 • 2 Comments

This is one of my favourite songs from A Flock of Seagulls, “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)”. I love the ’80s especially new wave/synth pop. Nothing more to say about this track apart from ENJOY!

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 28

by Mr Knitter • August 28, 2020 • 0 Comments

Today’s artist used to live in one of the roads I happened to live (20 years ago now), just 5 miles up the road from where we are now. Marc Almond OBE is mostly known to those outside the UK as the lead singer of Soft Cell. One of the most notable songs was Tainted Love, originally performed by Gloria Jones, and in all honesty, you cannot beat her performance. Marc had a good career with Soft Cell, but his solo career gave him more hits, this track, a cover of “The Days of Pearly Spencer” got to No 4 in the UK charts. The original was done in 1967 by David McWilliams who came from Belfast

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 27

by Mr Knitter • August 27, 2020 • 2 Comments

Wow, day 27 and I still have so many more local talent to share.

My father and his family are all from Liverpool, mainly from a suburb called Huyton, which is where today’s singer Carol Decker is also from. Some may know her name, some may not, but I am sure that everyone knows her band, T’Pau. They had many hits with their ballads/power ballads. Not my cup of tea, but as most know I am a heavy metal and goth boy. I give you Heart And Soul by T’Pau.

General, Life

Busted Nose

by Mr Knitter • August 26, 2020 • 4 Comments

When I was 17 I had my face smashed in as I was attacked by a thug, for want of a better word. He came up behind me spun me around and punched me with the heal of his hand, smashing my nose and breaking other bones in my face and fracturing my eye socket along with other injuries to the face. It turned out that it was mistaken identity, he was sorry, but the police were there and he was handed over to them, but he also got a good slapping from one of my neighbours who was a tough lad and thought the thug needed it, which I agree.

Now 33 years later I am still having problems with my face. I have had many operations to fix, rebuild and correct problems, but like the Martians in the musical War of the Worlds, but still, they come. My latest problem started three weeks ago with a severe nose bleed. Now, I get nose bleeds all the time due to the damaged anatomy of my face and I never think too much about it. However, this one was different insomuch as when it finished my nose whistled. Comical indeed, but after some time it became weary and yes, bloody annoying, yes pun intended. This now adds to the problem I have with my sinuses because nothing is really right, or in the right place. My septum has deviated, and even though the tube on the right side was replaced, it is still not easy to breathe out of my nose.

Yesterday I went to the doctors to see if my septum was perforated which is a common reason for whistling noses. He had a good look with the basic equipment available at the surgery, and could not give a definitive answer apart from telling me the anatomy was all a little messed up and the maxillofacial team would need to take a look with all their cameras to decide what to do next. He could not find much information about the previous operations apart from me being admitted to the plastics unit at one of the top hospitals. I explained all that had happened and what operations I had had along with my last operation in 2005 when my tonsils, adenoids and uvular were removed and I had laser surgery on the back of my throat. Do I snore? he asked and yes I do, quite bad these days because I cannot breathe through my nose. He thought that maybe the back of the chambers had collapsed hence little airflow and could also be the reason for the whistling.

Due to COVID, the wait for a hospital appointment could be some time, so who knows when that will happen, so until then I will have to be part of a squeaky toy or take up the nickname of Wheezy from Toy Story. I must point out I had no idea who Wheezy was until a colleague told me.

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 26

by Mr Knitter • August 26, 2020 • 0 Comments

One band from the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s was The Beautiful South. Jacqui Abbot the and Paul Heaton are the main vocalist of the group. Both come from Merseyside, which was a surprise to me many years ago as I knew that The Housemartins Paul’s previous band was from Hull, as was the basis of The Beautiful South.

The song I picked today has two versions, the official version that could be played on the radio, and an explicit version, so I thought I would put both versions on for you all, first one clean, the second naughty. Take ya pick!

knitting

Got To Love Bargains

by Mr Knitter • August 25, 2020 • 0 Comments

I love a bargain, and I am sure we all do, especially a knitting bargain. Today was one of those days. We have a garden centre about 4 miles drive from home, and I pass it each day to and from work. They tend to put up adverts every few weeks showing what the latest offers are. I was not due to be in work today, however, the accounts system had two technical errors on it, and I am the only one who knows how to sort any of the IT problems, so off to work I went for all of 45 minutes. On the way back I passed the garden centre and saw an advert for two large pots of chrysanthemums for £15, bargain as I know they are huge pots. I collected M and we went to get them and have a look at the plants.

They have various sections to the garden centre as well as a restaurant, book section (not just gardening or plant books), aquarium supplies, clothes section, hobbies and a pet section amongst other things. A quick visit to the pet section, we needed the flea and tick treatment as we were about to use the last of what we have. This stuff is only used as a precaution every 4 weeks as the dogs are always in long grass, so ticks are easy to pick up, but this product is made of natural products and no chemicals. When I used to take Mazikeen to puppy training the trainer asked if we all used flea and tick treatment, most held their had up, I did not, as our dogs have never needed to be treated and we check for ticks after being out in long grass. However, I said that we did not feel we needed to and if they did get fleas or ticks I would get a product from the vet that would do what I needed immediately rather than off the shelf products. She then said to the room that my dogs are therefore treated better as the products used for flees are harsh and had anyone noticed that the instructions state “wash your skin immediately of spilt”, “may burn” and “use gloves”. She said that if it does that to us imagine what it may do to our dogs. I inwardly smiled and carried on. She agreed that she would do the same as me if the dogs were to get either parasite. However, as this stuff is natural, smells really nice and I have tested it on my skin first, we now use it.

I also happened to wander (purposely) into the hobbies section and there it was the yarn sale section. This is a rare thing that they have yarn in the sale. The packs I bought are Caron Pantone “Tree Rings”. Each collection is £9, however, the sale price was £4.50. I got the last two packs and with all the other things headed to the checkout. The woman who served us I deeply dislike as she was rude to M and me when we went to the checkout one time telling us that someone else was in front of us, which they were not, they were behind us in the queue and she refused to do anything until we let them through. She was very friendly with the couple and finished chatting and serving them saying “see you tomorrow”. Therefore they were her friends and she was throwing her authority about to let them queue jump. I hate this shit and decided to speak to the manager and tell her how we had been treated, especially since M is disabled and struggle with his mobility, never mind having to wait in line for another 8 minutes. The manager said she would deal with it and let me know the outcome. She checked the cameras and saw that we had been told to move and therefore dealt with the woman reprimanding her as this was not acceptable.

So, back to the bargain. The yarn should have been £19 for the two sets originally, and in the sale £9, but when she scanned the barcode as I had them in my hand with the labels together she must have presumed that I only had one pack and I was charged £4.50, and the receipt states only one set. Grand saving of £13.50, but it went on. The total bill for all I had bought was £65.93, according to the till until she pressed the total button and it shot down to £37.63. I paid and quickly left and checked the receipt. All apart from one set of yarn was there, discount after more discount seemed to be applied together with a final £4 off. Now, we had our face coverings on, so she had no idea who we were, and being honest, I do not think that she would have remembered us. After all the discount it showed that the pack of yarn was £4.07, therefore each yarn pack only cost me £2.03½p for each set. YAY!

This is the fabulous yarn which is a bulky yarn made up of 60% acrylic, 20% nylon and 20% Merino wool. It is luscious to touch and I cannot wait to find something to make with it all.

Music

31 Days of Music – Day 25

by Mr Knitter • August 25, 2020 • 0 Comments

Lets up the tempo and hit the synth-pop/electronic genre. This band is a little on the unusual side of the Merseybeat/Liverpool music artists. I like the video as it is a scene of winter that I would like to see again. Last time we had really bad winter weather and meters of snow was 10 years ago.

Check out some more of their other songs as most of the videos are really odd and quite hypnotic.

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