The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Six. Working For the Man.

My first job, other than doing errands and helping out at home for pocket money, was a paper round.

That's not me in the picture, but I remember the cold dark nights and early Sunday mornings, out in all weather delivering to even darker places.

Then during my final school year, I got a real job at a working men's club. Just like this one.

My job? I can't remember the job title, but it was working as a glass washer and general dogsbody in the main concert hall bar. I mostly worked weekends when it was really busy and a little rowdy at times. Furthermore, I must have been earning at least 70 new pence an hour.

At the end of each weekend shift, it gave me one of these.

Which meant I could do more than just look at things in my local toy shop.

In reality, I was never a big spender, but it did help me buy one of these.

The TV was black and white, had a very small screen, and had an indoor arial that was not always reliable. 

I think I bought it from Comet.

Thanks for reading!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Five. Marshmallow or Book?

 A while back, someone posted the image below on Twitter X. It speaks for itself.

We live in a world where you can buy a book, new, for a few pounds or less. Self-published are often offered for free. Buying a book could well be one of the cheapest forms of entertainment around at the moment. You can spend £5 to £10 on a magazine these days.

Then I came across this picture.

A marshmallow for £3.95? I'd rather buy a book, or maybe two for that. Then there is the bargain-basement, or charity shops, car boot sales, flea markets…

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Four. Andy Pandy is Coming to Play.

Amazingly, this is my most viewed tweet on Twitter X in 2023 and for a brief period, a few weeks after posting, it was trending.  It has 7200 views. Go figure.

Andy Pandy. pic.twitter.com/xeZTauSFc6

— Lost In Words (@LostInWords2023) November 9, 2023

Andy Pandy (1950)

Each episode began:

Andy Pandy is coming to play, la, la-la, la, la-la,
Andy Pandy’s here today, la, la-la, la-la.

And ended:

Time to stop play, just for today,
Andy and Teddy must now go away.
Time to stop play, just for today
Andy is waving goodbye …, goodbye …, goodbye.

If you grew up in the 1950s or 1960s, this was most likely part of your childhood. Not that there was much to watch on television. Andy Pandy is coming to play. Don't have nightmares.

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Three. A Billion Kindle Unlimited Reads

Just to say right at the start of this Christmas post, the billion reads on Kindle Unlimited does not refer to my book. I wish! No, it refers to a tweet I came across on Twitter X yesterday (I'm still going to call it a tweet regardless of what Elon says). 

Here's the tweet.

That is over one billion reads, which is remarkable.

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Day Two. A Load of Rubbish

Back in the 1960s and 70s, every house in Britain had one (at least) of these. 

The tin rubbish bin. This was long before recycling and different bins collected on different dates. Everything went into this one bin, and it was small. It would be collected every week and occasionally would go missing. Sometimes there would be a heated argument between neighbours if they picked up your bin, which just happened to be newer or shinier. 

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: A Bit of Television Nostalgia.

Well, this will be ambitious. I came up with this idea, a blog variation on the twelve days of Christmas, ambitiously called the twelve posts of Christmas. Ambitious because so far I think the most number of posts that I have done in any month is five. I will have to see how it goes.

So, here's the first one.

The Christmas Radio Times seems to be a tradition for many households. It gets bought even if no one reads it. Here is a selection over the years.

1940. 

With Hitler planning his invasion of Britain, which thankfully never happened, The BBC offered its Christmas Radio Times for two old pence.

1957.

Seventeen years later, and the price had increased by a penny.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed: A Book Review

I finished reading Cheryl Strayed's book Wild a few weeks back and have been meaning to write about it, a review. As often happens, other things got in the way, so I thought it was about time that I did that review, because it is a good book. 

 

Wild is a memoir that describes her adventure as she hikes the Pacific Crest Trail. The book is subtitled From Lost to Found and starts off by giving us some of her background history. The author is very open about her own flaws, her failed marriage, drug use and relationship with her family, especially her parents. Her mother died young of cancer, a battle that did not last very long. Her mother's death had a big impact on her life. Strayed embarked on what becomes a journey of self discovery.

It has been a long time since I read a book that started with a prologue, and Wild has a very good one that achieves its objective, which is to get you to read on.  Strayed tells the story of when she loses one of her boots over a cliff edge. Now, barefoot walking is a thing, but out in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere, with stones, sharp rocks, rugged terrain, you are left wondering, what is she going to do now? No spoilers, you will have to read the book!

A Book Haul, Courtesy Of the Local Park

I was cycling through the local country park very early this morning to do some shopping, when I came across a bag of books. The park exit takes me across a walkway close to a river and through a small car park. There is a wall that runs alongside the river, the plastic shopping bag with the books inside had been left there. I decided that if they were still there on my return journey, I would have a look.

This was not the first time that I had seen books left in that spot. I assume that a local resident, having read the books, had perhaps put them there so somebody else could have the pleasure of them. A sort of book recycling. It's also possible that they were just a litterbug, someone who couldn't be bothered to take them to a charity shop. I'd prefer to think it was the former. 

I did have a quick look and decided to take them with me. There were clouds gathering, the possibility of rain. If I left them there, they would get a soaking. I thought that if I had no interest in them, I could recycle them to the local charity shop. One way or another, someone would appreciate them.

When I got back, I took the books out of the bag. There were four books, all fiction. Now, I am more of a non-fiction reader, I probably should make an effort to read more fiction than I do, especially as right now I am trying my hand at writing fiction. The last time I did that was at school, years ago. I don't think I was very good. 

Here are the four books that I found.

All the ratings are from the Goodreads website. 

1) Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen.  4.17 average review rating. 14787 ratings and 1339 GR reviews (as of writing).

NATIONAL BESTSELLER — Rizzoli & Isles are back! From New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, this “shocking and fast-paced” (Karin Slaughter) thriller has Jane and Maura investigating a brutal murder with dire implications, and this time, with Jane's intrepid mother, Angela, looking into a mystery of her own.

Listen To Me

2) ALEX by Pierre Lemaitre.  4.09 average review rating. 17009 ratings and 2349 GR reviews.

Kidnapped, beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage, Alex Prévost is in no position to bargain. Her abductor's only desire is to watch her die.

ALEX  

3) The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.  4.20 average review rating. 78370 ratings and 4321 GR reviews.

Bringing together Michael Connelly's two most popular characters, “The Brass Verdict” is a thriller which reaches for, and then surpasses, the highest level!