1 Art 101
A few years back, this was a house warming gift from friends Margo Buchanan-Oliver and Clay Bodvin. here it is, proudly on display at Maple Grove.
2 Art 102
Clay has used the vase before. with a mixed media approach to stunning effect. More of his work here.
3 Art 103
Another piece from Clay, starring Margo!
4 Lee Child
Writes a cracking yarn. Blue Moon maintains the hot streak.
5 Purdettes
Jade and William's wedding was a superb event last week. We all met up again afterwards for family time. I love these people!!
Left to right - Jesse, Ashleigh, Adam, Keegan, Jade, Samantha, me, Jacky, Asher, William
Overtime:
1 Vinyl revival
The market for DVDs has been destroyed by streaming services like Netflix (guilty as charged - I rarely buy DVDs these days).
But...vinyl continues to grow as a format as this Guardian article reports: However, it wasn’t all bad news for physical formats. The continuing vinyl revival generated LP sales of 4.2m – up 1.6% on 2017. Some 12,000 albums were released on vinyl and the most-purchased was the Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which became the fastest-selling LP in more than 25 years, shifting 24,500 copies in seven days after its release in May.
2 Men Without Women
I moved onto this collection of 7 short stories by Haruki Murakami, this week. He's more hit and miss over the short format - that's the nature of the beast really, but there are some classic Murakami moments in this collection - and it's a cheaply priced entry level book at Waterstones.
3 Roger Daltrey
After enjoying his autobiography I've kept my eye out for his solo albums. His latest, As Long As I Have You, has just been released (it's good too). Since then I've found Daltrey, Ride a Rock Horse and McVicar - all on vinyl.
All have value but taking a punt on the McVicar soundtrack has paid off handsomely. What a great album! I'd forgotten that Free Me was on there.
4 Lee Child
Picked this up for under 10 quid before Christmas - the latest Jack Reacher thriller. Lee Child never disappoints and this is a great book to read on holiday - although they usually take me a day or so - easy to read, absorbing and addictive!
5 Christmas is football!
Always a frenzy of activity over the festive period - notably Liverpool lost their 100% winning record and Man City lost three games! Loads of drama to follow on MOTD.
As to my teams - Rochdale are solid in the lower reaches of League One and the gunners wobbled. But we still beat Spurs 4-2!!
January transfer window is always interesting. We need some defenders please.
Overtime Steve Coogan
I'm a fan. Here's a Guardian article on him that's worth reading.
