Senses working overtime #598

1 Roctober's third week

Photo by Anna King on Unsplash

2 Visited: JB Hi Fi (Hastings)

Their 20% off deal during this long weekend was a great chance to pick up a cheaper copy of the newly reconditioned/ augmented Rubber Soul (I opted for the double vinyl album version, So, $80 as opposed to $115).

3 Listening: Van Morrison - Remembering Now

A joyous experience - try Down to Joy.

4 (Still) Reading: Anne Tyler - Back When We Were Grownups

5 Doing: Long weekend chores

Spring cleaning Maple Grove. Putting up the sails over the zen garden. Catching up on some reading.

Overtime: Byron Pulsifer

A lot of people seeking new beginnings have never finished with the past.

Senses working overtime #576

1 This week: Celebrating with my Arsenal family: We love the Arsenal, we do!

What a week! CHAMPIONS!!

2 Also this week - autumn's frosty days

Photo by Caleb Stokes on Unsplash

3 Viewing - Person of Interest season 3

4 Feeling thankful: to Nick Marfell

Thanks to an interweb connection to NZ collector Nick Marfell, I have been able to collect two items that were lost years ago in a house move - Let it Be box set from 1970 and John Lennon's Roots album. Now sleeping sounder thanks to Nick.

5 Listening: Everything But The Girl at Maida Vale

Overtime: Dalai Lama

Happiness is not something ready-made; it comes from your own actions.

Senses working overtime #575

1 Groundhog week

A lot of rinse and repeat this week - with not much free time to progress through books (Moonraker/ Bread of Angels) or TV (Person of Interest).

2 Listening: The Who Sell Out

Ahead of its time and yet encapsulates 1967. Appreciating this one all over again this week.

3 Reading: Uncut Take 346

I am not a fan of Uncut (Mojo is far superior) but I'm a sucker for a Beatle cover!

4 Listening: Weirdo - Emma-Jean Thackray

A recommendation from Uncut paid off in this jazz inflected album from 2025. The messages may be as dark (and funny) as the cover image, but the music is joyful.

5 Living vicariously: GK's trip to Blighty 

GK at Doc Martin's digs in Port Isaac.

Overtime: Michael Nolan

There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart. Pursue those.

Senses working overtime #555

1 Christmas week...

found us spending Christmas in New Plymouth with my in-laws. Hoping you all had an equally cool yule!

2 Reading: Cultish

  

Continuing to read Amanda Montell's book. I wrote a post on Baggy Trousers about it.

3 Listening: The Beatles Anthology 4

Money (that's what I want) seems an appropriate song to include here.

4 Viewing: Pukekura Park's Festival of Lights

Photos by Jacky

5 R.I.P. Sam Moore

Sadly, the week also included Sam's funeral. The next Wozza's Place blog will post on this tragic event. Gone far too young.

Overtime: For Jacky, happiness is...

As Jade aptly commented - Of course. She'd make a great Noah if the world floods.

Senses working overtime #502

1 'Twas the week before Christmas

2 Reading: Jimmy Barnes - Working Class Man

I bought this after finishing Working Class Boy (inspired by Anne Marie's week on WTWMC - Loved Ones - see below). WCM's not as visceral or as wildly funny as WCB but great on the background to Jimmy's solo career and reuniting with Cold Chisel. 

3 Listening: WTWMC - Loved Ones

Last week was Anne (no hyphen) Marie's turn, next up is my dad - Graham Purdy. Then, after him is the final week with Kev's mum - Barbara Simms. It's a fabulously eclectic playlist that the amigos have conjured up to celebrate their partners and parents. Listen to it best on shuffle mode.

4 Listening: WTWMC - Christmas Crackers

Our seasonal playlist of 21 songs is indeed a manageable Christmas cracker.

5 Reading - When We Was Fab - The Beatles

Jade gave me a copy of this for my birthday - it's full of great memorabilia, photos, and text relating to the Fabs 1964 world tour, but concentrating on their Australasia section.

The forensic nature of the book is amazing - i.e. the letters and captions detailing the people. The Jimmy Nicol incident (replacing Ringo for the first stages of the tour while he was in hospital) is especially detailed and great to read.

Overtime: 

It’s officially “Let’s circle back in 2025” season (according to Morning Brew)

Senses working overtime #500

Photo by Tessa Edmiston on Unsplash

This is the 500th edition of Jewels For The Thirsty (the blog's title comes from an XTC song called...Senses Working Overtime - see what I did there?) 

I've selected one item from each of the top 6 most popular weeks of all time (well, since it started with week #1 in April 2015).

1 The most popular week so far has been #178 - 

 John Cage's 10 rules for teachers (#178 from 2018)

2 Christmas is football (# 193 - below is from 2019) 

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.

3 The Fab Fabs (#263, from 2020)

They heighten my senses every day, let alone every week.

4 Vinyl celebration #213 (below is from 2019)

 
It's been a funny old week. But then I connected up my turntable after a long time in storage. It felt good! This week's edition is late. Wah wah. Cry me a river. Here are five plus vinyl celebrations.

 

5 Waterloo Sunset (#209, below is from 2019)

 

The Kinks masterpiece goes under the Thom Hickey microscope on his great blog - The Immortal Jukebox.

Overtime: Senses working overtime #57 (below is from 2016. This one is a peach. Hard to pick just one item so do yourself a giant favour and go to the link. But if you shove...try):

Cool

I was never a cool kid, never hip, so this piece from a kindred spirit struck a nice chord.

Senses working overtime #493

1 Theme of the week: Slow recovery

Photo by Sofia S on Unsplash

2 Reading: Joan Baez - And A Voice To Sing With

3 Listening: Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

One of her best, try Hello In There if you just want one.

4 Watching: Macca doing Now and Then

Another view of The Beatles version here (but be warned - it gets emotional)

5 Listening: WTWMC - Beasties

75 songs now with two weeks to go.

Overtime: Kindness

Being kind to others is mostly about your actions.

Being kind to yourself is mostly about your thoughts.

James Clear

Senses working overtime #459

1 The feeling this week

Photo by Dan Freeman on Unsplash

2 Listening: Across The Borderline (Van Dyke Parks, Gaby Moreno, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder)

3 Watching: Argylle

After a full-on week (see #1 above), Jacky and I went to the movies to see this one. Perfect action/comedy fare for us on Friday night.

The movie features the Beatle song Now And Then quite a few times so, of course that's been back on high rotation at Maple Grove.

4 Listening: The Beatles - Now And Then

5 Reading: The Anne Tyler from last week and the latest Mojo on my coffee table (# 361)

Overtime: Work

Lettering artist and illustrator Jessica Hische on what procrastination reveals:

"The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life."

Source: Humble Pied (courtesy of James Clear)

Senses working overtime #443

1 Start of the week

2 Listening: Courtney Barnett - End Of The Day

3 Watching: Quarterback (Netflix) 

Really enjoying this one (although Jacky isn't). A lot of leadership lessons to be drawn from this series.

4 Reading: The Beatles - Now and Then

5 End of the week

Overtime: 

Haiku 307

I feel autumn rain
Trying to explain something
I do not want to know.

Richard Wright (1960)