lest we forget

Here's a tricky question for you.  If you had to lose one sense - your hearing or your sight - which would you choose?

I suspect most people would say they would rather be deaf.  On the face of it managing without your hearing would seem to be so much easier than being blind. From a purely practical point of view, that may be true but I'm sure I would find it so much harder emotionally to be without sound.  Think of it another way.  Would you rather see Bruce and not hear him or hear him but not see him?

I've told you previously how much music means to me.  Not only Bruce, but music, any music is a central part of my life.  Music evokes such memories.  I can't listen to Homeward Bound without thinking about my late mum and although my dad died over 30 years ago I'm immediately transported back to my teenage years with him when I hear Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Talking to my brother a few weeks after my mum died we found that, quite independently, we had bought a CD of Michael Holliday's greatest hits.  Our parents played an old album of his over and over again when we were young.

I say when we were young but actually my brother is eleven years older than me so when he was 16 and playing music a lot in his bedroom I was only five.  He had an LP record carrying case which I wasn't allowed to touch. I had a sneaky peak from time to time, though, when Ian wasn't around. When I opened the lid there was an amazing smell - I'm not sure if it was the case itself, the LP covers or the vinyl but I loved that smell.

 Maybe it was because they were off limits that these bits of plastic seemed so intriguing to me. I can still remember many of the covers and the songs will always

take me back to a particular time in my life.

This Rolling Stones cover was particularly fascinating 

It had a real zip.  I had no idea at the time that there was anything untoward about undoing a man's trousers!

Mike's favourite song is Thunderclap Newman's Something in the Air.



This featured on a cassette of Mike's I have talked about before.  He had made this cassette of his favourite songs long before I met him. Well they weren't all his favourites - in those days you couldn't just download any track you fancied - you were limited to the records you owned, so although some tracks were favourites, some were just fillers.  All the songs take me back to the early days of our relationship, bring back such amazing memories and remind me how much I love my husband....because sometimes in the drudge of day to day life I forget.

This week during the run up to Remembrance Day Radio 2 featured a series in which mother's talk about their sons who were killed in action.  They told their very moving stories partly through the music  their son's loved.  Here is a link. If you have time to listen to only one it's worth it - all the stories are so moving and set me off thinking what music might be a reflection of my life and what tracks I would chose myself - hence the reminiscing.

Bruce has been doing his bit this week too.  His annual joke always makes me chuckle - he's no stand up comedian that's for sure.  The start of this clip is quite funny.  You can hear someone complaining about the shirt!



This made me laugh too

And finally the story of Andrew Kinard who was given Bruce's guitar by the person who won the auction.  More about this where else but at Blogness on the Edge of Town