Out Indie Country
So, on a recent week off I took a little trip back from whence I was born, it was not so much a choice thing really as the car needed a visit to the garage for some fixing to the front suspension (not a cheap job!). Thing is I have always taken my cars to the same garage mostly because I trust the guys there and they always seem to do a good job…and I guess I am just a creature of habit. I dropped the car off early as I knew it would probably take them a morning to get it sorted and then ambled off down the hill to grab some breakfast and a welcome cuppa in the café in town, I spent as long as I could in the café as sadly the town itself has very little to offer nowadays, I guess much like many towns and cities in the UK that have great big holes in the high streets where once stood proud many and thriving retail outlets. Times move on and businesses possibly just don't get the in-store influx they once had with online shopping now taking the forefront in that whole retail experience and leaving towns once thriving as just hollow empty ghost towns (there's a song about that!).
You're Gonna Find Me...
Anyway I exhausted the pleasure of the town and headed back to the main park where I spent a lot of time as a child and a teen. Some happy and not so happy memories live there, nonetheless nostalgia kicks in and I wandered through remembering places in there we used to go to hang out.
Out In The Country
It has smartened up from when I was a kid and some of its features have changed, some for the good. It is a quite serene place and has a path through the centre lined with memory plaques of those who fell in both World Wars, it was actually designed as a park of ‘memories’ in 1946 with its original wrought iron worked gates designed by an ex RAF serviceman who learned welding a metalworking in a POW camp after being shot down.
I carried on through it down to a copse which we used to go down to either with friends and even my Dad when used to take me for walks along the river. My friends and I used to hit through the copse and down to the river by the old railway bridge which you could cross safely and end up in the nature reserve where we used to go to sit atop an old World War II pillbox armed with a few beers and chat until the evening started drawing in. The Bridge and river are still there and although grubby looking the river did contain a lot of small to medium sized gudgeon so I guess it must be clean!
And Cue The Music
The whole visit reminded me of chums and a gift I received from one of them on my birthday, a 12” remix by the band The Farmer's Boys called 'Phew Wow'!
They originally started out on the independent Backs Record Label with their first record in 1982 called ‘More Than A Dream’. One of their other tracks which kind of fits in neatly with this post is from the E.P. released on the major EMI label called ‘In the Country' released in 1984 with its amusing video at the link, but was originally by Cliff Richard and the Shadows way back in 1967, catch the video at the link here. You kind of have to get ‘The Young Ones’ on television we're very popular at the time and Rik always tipped a cheeky nod to Sir Cliff.
Have to say I walked my feet and legs off and after several other long walks in the same week I kind of realised I am getting old, by the time I made it back to the garage I was quite glad to hop back in the car just for a sit down even. (I used to do that much walking and some even going to school just up from the same park every day when I was a kid!). It was a good step back in time for me though, not too much heavy thinking, just being in the moment which was a good thing.
Anyhow with another slice of musical memories here is something from my teens from 1979 with a track from Fad Gadget i.e. Frank Tovey with ‘Back To Nature', a little gem of electronic music on that well known independent label Mute Records, home of bands such as Depeche Mode and other artists mentioned in previous posts at the tag ‘Mute Records’.
Gif Thanks
Picture Thanks
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