Welcome To The Working Week! ๐ผ
Happy New Year! Well, that is another year done and dusted, it goes pretty quickly and looking forward to this one with hopefully some positive vibes around it, I have to say it hasn't started off quite with that whole peaceful kick off with events around the world, but fingers crossed.
Christmas Lights & Nice Pubs
Anyway, I did a little solo jaunt up in London during Christmas and New Year hopping on the all 'new' Mildmay Line (basically the original orange coloured London Overground but re-badged) and headed towards Kentish Town West as the main Kentish Town tube station has been shut for a few years now. Anyway it isn't too far to trot to Kentish Town High Street, I had a mooch around some shops and then headed down Gaisford Street to a nice pub off the beaten track called the Lion & Unicorn from there popped on a bus up to Tufnell Park station where I headed up Dartmouth Park Hill passing by the lovely big houses all done out with their lights and Christmas trees just as it started to get to sunset. I turned off down Chester Road and hit upon a sweet little pub called The Star, ordered a lovely smelling mulled wine and pulled up a comfy chair after the long walk, ahh very relaxing!
I headed off, the weather now turning a little drizzly, however in the dark the beautiful array of houses all decked out for the festive period was a wonderful sight. I hit upon a small gothic style church which I tried to get some photos of and then around the corner along heading towards Hillway there is Holly Lodge Estate, with it's big houses and...Wow! probably the most Christmas decorated house I have seen! It is recognised as the most Christmassy House in Camden according to Westminster Extra. Here are a couple of snaps...
Memories Are Made Of This
I finally made the another pub called The Duke Of Saint Alban's a lovely old pub that sells some great independent ales, porters, stouts and ciders. I had a half of 'Dead Wax' a London Porter dark and really tasty.ย I headed off to my final destination down Highgate Hill called The Southampton Arms another pub in similar style, proper old and extremely busy as it is very popular offering as described on the side of the building Meat, Ale & Cider. I had a cheeky half of another independently brewed dark beers before heading round the corner to Gospel Oak and home again.ย It was a lovely day out lost in my own little worldย exploring some of the back streets of North London, admiring the architecture, Christmassy vibe and also the wonderful London pubs which must go into Mrs Akin's London pub list!
So, 2024 has had some good memories which the Mrs and I have enjoyed. You can catch the links to the posts below:
- Ambient Light & Bright New Year
- Medicine๐Art๐จFood๐
- Fulham Fallout โข
- Immersive Art Illusionairesโจ
I Hope It Don't Kill You, I Know It Won't Thrill You
And so after taking a whopping 16 days worth of leave from 2024 and feeling slightly more refreshed I head with heavy heart back to the grind of work, a bit of a culture shock after such a long break I must admit. The only small saving grace is that finally my flexible working application has been approved and so from this year I only have to work 3 days a week from now on, yay!
And with that, on to the sounds for this post. And with that whole dreaded work thing in mind I could think of little else but this little number which was originally released as a B side on the Independent 'Stiff Records' label all the way back in 1977 by Elvis Costello and produced by the legendary Nick Lowe. The track is 'Welcome To The Working Week', a very short burst of energy in a little gem of new wave/power pop at a mere 1 minute and 20 seconds. The A side was 'Alison', both tracks are great in my humble opinion and they were from the brilliant debut album 'My Aim Is True', the latter track being the opener for the album.
The Band
At the time of the release of this album Elvis Costello was working with a Country Rock band called Clover, the 'Attractions' seemed to occur on release of 'Watching The Detectives'. Anyway for 'My Aim Is True' the band line up was:
- Johnny Ciambotti - Bass/Backing Vocals
- John McFee - Guitars
- Sean Hopper - Keyboards/Backing Vocals
- Mickey Shine - Drums
- Elvis Costello - Lyrics/Vocals/Guitar
- Nick Lowe - Backing Vocals
In the year of the albums release it was to reach the dizzy heights of #14 in the UK Album Charts, not to bad for a debut!
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Anyway wishing everyone out there a very Happy and Safe New Year!
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Video Thanks
Picture Thanks
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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash