Royal Oak

My first mobile was a 2003 Motorola with the "beeping" kind of ringtone. You could compose your own tone, so I transcribed "Blue Train" one slow afternoon at work - it took absolutely ages. You couldn't programme any sort of syncopation, so it ended up very square-sounding.

Exactly.

Band On The Wall in Manchester in 1998. Gene Harris and Stanley Turrentine - I don't remember why Stanley didn't show, but it was still a motherfucker of a night. BillF - were you there?

Spooky for March: students out in shorts and T-shirts. I KNEW you two and Sidewinder would be posting on this thread today! We Brits are so predictable! Bloody lovely here anyway.

Now finished "A Walk On The Wild Side". On Balance, I preferred "Man With The Golden Arm". Like that book, the author's flights-of-fancy and dream sequences started to lose me as the book went on, but I enjoyed it. A horrible ending, which I didn't see coming (I never do!)

Don't know about "British". I'd say that picture is by the French artist, Eugène Boudin. Of course, I could be wrong. Well, the music is British - English even. Though British arty types have always had a thing for France. I think I have a copy of the Bridge recording on vinyl. I shall give it a spin this weekend.

Allergies, more than a month earlier than last year. I feel your pain. I was a hay fever sufferer from the age of 7. Now in my forties, I find I no longer have it, which I find strange.

da-da-da-DA-da-da-DA-da da-da-da-da-DA-da-da-DA etc (Crap Stravinsky reference) Definitely Spring here this week - frogs, daffodils, a few bees, even the grass is growing. My favourite season.

Know what novel you meant, but the title you posted brings a very different scenario to mind. Oh yes - never noticed that!

Nelson Algren - A Wall On The Wild Side

My only Farrell is on the Pat Martino "Strings" album, which I was listening to the other day. "Minority" is a real flag-waver.

"This Spinal Tap meets Brideshead launch" Imagine that....

Two words - Paul Weller.

IMO, this just isn't right. Why would you want to listen to four men in their 50s rehash youthful nonsense? I was too young for punk rock. By the time I knew what it was, it was long dead (think Kenny Everett doing Sid Snot). In Manchester student / indie nightclubs of the 80s/90s, one would see small groups of ageing punks, clad in leather jackets with Cramps or Dead Kennedys patches, with the mohicans, their cider and their glue. They seemed hopelessly old and anachronistic then.

I remember these cartoons being shown in the UK, possibly just after John Lennon died. I was beginning to think I'd imagined them!

Damn, you beat me to it!

Iceberg Slim - Long White Con

Lady Gardner of Parkes Sir Hyde Parker General Douglas MacArthur General Dreedle Major Major Milo Minderbinder

Well put. One shouldn't be afraid of abandoning books one finds dull just because they are highly rated. I liked this one, although it's a little stodgy; it could have done with an edit. If you enjoy it, I recommend you try A Walk on the Wild Side, which is much better. I ordered them both at the same time. I must say, "Wild Side" was the one I originally searched for, but decided to buy the pair.

Bill - you're obviously a big fan. I am currently reading "Tinker Tailor" on the recommendation of my wife. I am bored with it - none of it makes sense to me. What am I doing wrong? You're doing nothing wrong. LeCarre was in his depths by then. His best are his earliest 5 or so novels, and he's written better ones (like The Night Manager) in later years. I couldn't follow Tinker either. Struggled to the end then got rid of the copies of The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People that I had been planning to read next. I consoled myself while reading Tinker with spotting instances of bad grammar and poor sentence construction. A pity, as I liked The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. You surprise me Crisp. Those three novels, published collectively as 'Smiley vs Karla' are easily my favourite Le Carre's and are generally regarded as not only his best work but the best of the genre. While they all have complex plots I never found them particularly difficult to follow, just superb storytelling. Part of the problem may be that Le Carré deliberately sets out to mystify the reader as part of his narrative method. Very often his central characters don't know what's going on themselves, particularly in the earlier parts of the books. His use of secret service jargon ("lamplighters" etc) without explanation is another factor. But all gets resolved eventually. My wife kept telling me to stick with it, but it continued to bore me. I already do enough stuff which bores me, so it's been ditched. Now reading Nelson ALgren's "Man With The Golden Arm"

Thought this was a Randy Newman thread....

I agree. In 1988 I cycled from Manchester to Blackpool (about 65 miles). I was 19, I had trained for several weeks beforehand, but it was a real eye-opener. For a few miles I found myself at the head of a big pack, feeling good about myself. All of a sudden, the Raleigh Banana Team silently ghosted past me as if I were standing still. I remember getting on my bike again about 2 weeks later and my legs were like jelly. I don't think I've cycled more than a mile ever since - certainly not at all for over 15 years. I don't give a shit what others do. I ride because I enjoy it. I've never road trying to compete with others. That would just ruin the experience for me. It wasn't about competing Tom. I simply didn't want to get back on the bike for a few weeks after, then I found I'd got a pilonidal sinus. I had surgery and it was over 3 years before the wound healed for good. After that I finished with cycling, other than the occasional short ride for purely practical purposes.

Just watched Spinal Tap for the millionth time. Still made me laugh.

I agree. In 1988 I cycled from Manchester to Blackpool (about 65 miles). I was 19, I had trained for several weeks beforehand, but it was a real eye-opener. For a few miles I found myself at the head of a big pack, feeling good about myself. All of a sudden, the Raleigh Banana Team silently ghosted past me as if I were standing still. I remember getting on my bike again about 2 weeks later and my legs were like jelly. I don't think I've cycled more than a mile ever since - certainly not at all for over 15 years.

When I occasionally watched the show as a boy, I always thought he was called "One Epstein".