"Is It Just Me?..." Well, Yes.

Writer's block is coming across again as I write this post, as it's been rather empty again here in Canterbury.
I'm hoping tomorrow to sort out my form for getting into halls early although considering the price it costs per day, I'll probably not arrive there more than a week before the semester starts.

There's a book I have somewhere which I brought a couple of years ago called
"Is It Just Me Or Is Everything Shit?" questioning the everyday things that irritate people.
At the time I found the book a rather amusing read which it still is to an extent, although it's not until the last year and especially after going into hypomania that I have started to realise that the majority of things really are shit.

This mainly relates to music, humour and especially radio, the sort of things I have to pretend to like in order to get on with everyone else at University. Add to the list ridiculous drinking games such as "Bus Driver" and "Ring Of Fire" which I can barely understand how to get enjoyment out of.

There are a few exceptions such as Stoobie who has a similar taste in cooking to mine resulting in everyone else living with him giving him stick for "only making things that are orange".
Him and housemate Denis also have quite a good taste in films as well with
"Dead Man's Shoes" being an example and the front room contains a poster for "Hot Fuzz" which we went to see when it came out and I may dig out again sometime.
Both films happen to star Paddy Considine although his involvement is just part of what makes those films entertaining.

But overall, if I'm still alive by the end of 2009 then I'll be pretty stunned as things don't seem to be looking bright at all.

"You Boy!"

Today may have been the only day this month where I've had both of the windows open as it's actually been pretty good outside.
It doesn't seem likely to last however so that's more or less this summer finished with.

Earlier today I found a video from an episode of Grange Hill in 1982 on a visit to Chessington Zoo where Jonah and a very young Zammo Maguire end up getting into quite a mess in the usual fashion.
I'm too young to remember this episode when it was originally shown although during the 1990s Children's BBC showed vintage episodes of the series on Sunday mornings and I can remember this being one of my favourites.
Also appearing are Roland Browning and his friend Janet St. Clair who would always call him "Ro-Land" which continues to be the topic of many jokes to this day.

With the series making it's bow from our screens in a few weeks I'm sure this will be a reminder of what made it popular with children and not so popular with adults.
To be honest though I doubt many people will even notice it's disapeared as they've stretched it out a long way from what it used to be in the last 15 years.

I've also started watching the second series of Peep Show introducing the "Flagpole Sitta" track as the theme tune although I preferred the original one by Daniel Pemberton that suited the style of the programme better with snatches of it still being heard in scene changes.
One scene I liked in the first episode was when Jez's girlfriend Toni tried to get his attention by saying that "the Brand New Heavies have a new album".

Around the time the episode was shown the band had just introduced a white vocalist called Nicole Russo to the line up for their album "Allaboutthefunk" although her stint as lead singer didn't last too long and didn't go down well with the fans.
A couple of years later N'Dea Davenport was brought back and they released an album called "Get Used To It" although I didn't think it was too good.
Some suggested that the album had been written for a different vocalist as the album's release came so soon after N'Dea's return.
To be honest, their last decent album was "Shelter" and that's over 10 years old now.

It's safe to say that the 90s was the decade where soul, jazz and pop managed to cross over succesfully and get recognised by a large audience.
There's still similar stuff out now on a smaller scale from the likes of Incognito and Jiva who still have the "Midas Touch" with their own material and side projects.

"Essential Viewing Coming Up"

Another video from "the golden era", CBBC On Sunday from December 1989
with Andi Peters and Simon Parkin given a few extra minutes allowing them to show an episode of Hanna-Barbera's "Laurel And Hardy".
It's followed by the pair saying goodbye into the end credits for the strand which is unheard of in today's television, accompanied by that fantastic theme music as composed by Norwegian dance band "2 Brave".

Around 1992 they started using an arrangement of the tune as the main theme for Children's BBC which included the one played at the end which went "Tell that aardvark it's a wrap".
This of course resulted in the introduction of Otis who made his debut way after they had dropped the 2 Brave theme in late 1994 along with the broom cupboard.

There's a seasonal example from 1992 that I've found where Andi and Edd the Duck can be seen "raving" to the rather groovy tune playing during their link which was also used in a promo showing the new shows that would be shown in the Autumn of that same year.

So overall it was the Norwegian dance act who were responsible for the irritating puppet with the long nose, although I'm pretty sure the band Matt Bianco weren't too happy as the theme sounded very similar to the band's 1988 hit "Wap Bam Boogie".
I've probably mentioned before, that the song brings back memories of the changing rooms of the local swimming pools in East London where I lived at the time.

"If You Can't Stand The Heat..."

Hardly anything has been happening although finding out today that Fiona Phillips is to leave GMTV has made things a bit brighter nearing the end of a rather depressing August. I doubt I've ever seen an presenter on television who is more patronising but then again I'm barely up around that time of day.

Mum and Dad have gone off to Paris for the weekend leaving myself, Kate and Oliver at home and having do do our own cooking. Kate had a rather disastrous attempt at re-heating last night's curry by leaving it on the hob for too long and for it to more or less burn or have the juice removed from it at least. It didn't really make me feel hungry at all although I still get cravings for fizzy orange which will probably mean I have to buy another bottle tomorrow.

The final episode of "The Kevin Bishop Show" airs tonight on Channel 4 which has been a bit hit and miss although that's the case with a lot of sketch shows currently on television.
My favourite one of the series is still the send up of "University Challenge" although his impression of Jonathan Ross also has me smiling rather naughtily.

I'm hoping I'll have more of an appetite by tomorrow although it may be a case of me being fed up with certain meals made out of cooking powders.
Overall, I'd prefer them to anything made in a wok on any day.

Still Unsettling

With more and more days turning into the same one, it's giving me an idea of how things will be after I leave University, only that they'll be a lot worse.

I was in Canterbury again earlier today and managed to see two lecturers from college Simon and Zorran, and it was good to see them again with Simon taking interest in the gigs that I plan on going to see later in the year. Normally around this time of year the Media department would be doing their visit to the Venice Film Festival but since 2006 it appears that that hasn't been the case.
A holiday there really would have been much needed this year and I'll be honest that since starting University I've missed going abroad on such visits.

I've still been watching episodes from the first series of Peep Show where I'm about halfway through with an amusing episode taking place at a ten pin bowling centre. I was quite pleased to hear the tune "B-Boy Stance" by the Freestylers being used in a scene at a party, but there was also the appearance of what would go on to be the show's theme tune from series two onwards; "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger in one of the bowling scenes.

It's fair to say that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed seeing the series first time round back in 2003 as I was finding things rather difficult around the time it was transmitted having just started the gruelling HND Media course at college.
Then again "dry humour" very rarely has me in stitches which maybe why I find Mitchell and Webb's own series funnier than their sitcom with rather amusing characters such as "The Helivets" and "Sir Digby Chicken Caesar".

I've never been able to listen to the theme to Dick Barton in the same way after seeing that sketch.

"Don't Mess With Mr. T"

I really don't know how much more dull it can get while waiting to return to London.
What makes things even worse is getting urges to go to places in Canterbury where you don't want to be seen dead in, which is a problem I've had for many years that keeps coming and going.
It's not really something I like to discuss the exact details of, but it doesn't make things any better for me when things aren't going too well.
I also ended up opening a bag of Haribos that were bought for me last week by Mum and Dad in France and I'm now at the point where I'm full up but I still feel the urge to continue eating them.
It doesn't feel good at all.

I've spent the last few days going through all the albums released by The James Taylor Quartet, one of the finest jazz/soul acts to come from the UK, Rochester to be more precise.
I never really discovered them until Autumn 2001 when I had started college and their "Hammond-ology" compilation which I heard playing in the HMV in Canterbury and thought was stunning.
I'd definitely say that compilation contains contains all their high points as most of the other tracks on the albums released up to then aren't as good and don't really grab me as much as stand-outs such as "Groovin' Home", "Shelter" and "Love The Life" which hit the Top 40 in 1993 and brings back a few memories of being ill on my birthday.

There are quite a lot of good tunes on their 1992 album "Supernatural Feeling" which was quite a dance flavoured album with Noel McKoy on vocals and I've used quite a lot of tracks on there as show openers. One of them being quite fitting for how things are now; "See A Brighter Day".

I've met Noel once or twice at a few gigs I've been to in London but have never actually seen JTQ perform live so here's hoping this year will change that.
Having said that they appear to be performing at the Jazz Cafe in late November with Yvonne Yanney on vocals so I'll make sure I'll be around for that.

"It's Not Who You Know, It's Who You Blow"

Very grey once again and barely inspiring at all. It's hardly making me feel positive about returning to University and I don't think I've ever felt so spiteful about it at all.
This is mainly due what seems to be going on at Smoke Radio, the re-organising of the University calendar which I've moaned about many a time and the general schmoozing that everyone else has been up to in the last couple of months.

The only things that seem to be making me feel better are Buttoni fusilli pasta that look like Witchetty Grub insects, which despite being expensive is a very filling and delicious pasta, although they only seem to sell it in Morrisons which will be rather tricky for me when I get back to London.
I also have a packet of "Garden Flavour" sweets which I haven't opened since we got back from Woodbridge probably because I've become more aware of not wanting to ruin my appetite.

On a slightly more positive note I've began watching episodes of "Peep Show" from the first series back in 2003 via 4OD which have been rather amusing although I'm probably one of the only people who prefers their sketch show series on BBC 2 to the successful sitcom.
I'm sure Olly's got a few more on DVD which I may have a look at sometime.

I've also found a series of podcasts from Chill including one about meditation which is really ideal listening and what I could have done with around this time last year.
Then again, at one time during my recovery it was difficult to stay still for more than 5 seconds.
There's also another really good set of podcasts on "How To Live A Chilled Life" with
Bern Leckie, the founder of Chill which overall has to be the only decent thing to come out of Bristol as far as radio is concerned.

To be honest since going up there for this year's Student Radio Conference I've developed a bit of a dislike for Bristol and the surrounding area, and I thought that Bath where the conference itself was being held was an absolute dump due to all the rebuilding that was and probably still is going on.

I doubt I'll be welcome there again although when it comes to animation they've earned their stripes with "The Trap Door" and "Wallace and Gromit" being perfect examples.
On a similar note, a video with the makers of "The Trap Door" and "Stoppit And Tidyup" making an appearance on "Rolf's Cartoon Club" back in the early 90s and explaining how they made their pieces of genius.

I still think I'm a real life equivalent of "Him Upstairs" although probably not as greedy.

The Shopping Centre Showbiz Ladder

You really wouldn't notice that today was a bank holiday as it was just as dull as any other day this holiday.
My sister Kate however got back from America today where she's spent the last two months helping out on a summer camp for a second year although she's only here for a few weeks before going back to Nottingham.

I don't even know when I'm going back to London as Halls opens on the 27th of September but apparently the first year radio students arrive a week earlier so I'm hoping that those running Smoke Radio don't plan to start broadcasting before I arrive.
I'm hoping it doesn't all go balls up to make the upcoming Freshers Week worse than last year.

Terry Wogan's new daytime quiz show "Wogan's Perfect Recall" made it's debut on Channel 4 earlier tonight which wasn't really anything special but I wasn't expecting it to stand out.
I've always preferred him on television than on radio which is probably the result of seeing him on "Wogan" very reguarly all those years ago although at the time I always used to get him confused with Ken Bruce.

Also tonight was the final episode of "Return To Lakesiders" which looked at how perfume girl turned singer Emma Boundy fared after releasing an album on the back of the series, as well as having her house featured on "Through The Keyhole" and guesting on "Ready Steady Cook" alongside a rather enthusiastic Shane Richie.
The album itself consisted entirely of covers which is probably why it barely sold any copies although there were a few interesting song choices such as "Never Knew Love Like This Before" by Stephanie Mills and Alison Limerick's "Make It On My Own".

Which leads the to the signature tune composed for the original series which was done by Simon May, a composer who I absolutley despise of not just for writing the themes to "Eastenders" and "Howard's Way" but for turning them into actual songs as well.
I'm certain we've got an LP of them somewhere in the house.

Worst of all, the name of the vocal version of the "Howard's Way" theme was called
"Always There" performed by Marti Webb which sounded nothing like the Ronnie Laws tune, and Anita Dobson's "Anyone Can Fall In Love" contained the lyrics "sun and rain, joy and pain", an obvious steal from the Frankie Beverly and Maze song popular with many an 80s soulboy.

To have been brought up on the soul music in the 80s around rather than that rubbish would have made things a lot more enjoyable growing up back then.
I don't think I had even heard of Earth Wind and Fire until around 1996 when Stretch and Vern sampled "Boogie Wonderland" on their top 10 hit "I'm Alive".

Then again it's probably good I'm discovering all these artists now as I would have probably listened to them too many times at an earlier age.

"Sole Inspired"

Tony Blackburn on his KMFM show this afternoon described the last month as "the worst August in a long while" and today saw little improvement as far as everything outside went. Not to mention the rather embarrassing records he was playing as there's only so much ABBA you can play.

I spent the afternoon watching the closing ceremony of the Bejing Olympics where
Boris Johnson waved the Olympic flag with slightly forced enthusiasm, in addition to a rather distorted peformance of "Whole Lotta Love" with Jimmy Page on guitar
and Leona Lewis on vocals.
Hopefully we'll have a slightly better line up of musical performers for the opening ceremony in London in four years time which looks set to arrive really quickly and here's hoping I'll be around there for when it all happens. Especially as I was born in the part of London where the games will be held in Stratford.

Right now I'm listening to Stephen or to give him his on-air name "Tony Ryan" present his final Soul Cellar on Slough's Time 106.6 after 8 months and it was a good experience to see it all happen when I went to visit the station in the Observatory Shopping Centre earlier in the year.
It looks as if I'm going to be the "sole" soul show around in London with the exception of those on Solar and Starpoint that will see fit in playing soulful stuff that doesn't just consist of beats and basslines, from the likes of Rhianna, Estelle, and Alicia Keys who really has gone down the plug hole since "No One" came out.

I can remember almost breaking down when I heard her live cover of Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free" back in 2002 because it was done so well and like most of her live performances could really tug at the heart, but now her material lacks the individuality and intimacy that made up "Songs In A Minor".

Thankfully there are labels around like Dome and Expansion who continue to release and re-issue the good stuff.

"Put Big Light On"

Laura, my younger cousin who is studying at Uni in Canterbury came over earlier this evening and she told us on how she's trying to search for a job around here with little success.
She'll be turning 20 in November this year not long before Kate turns 21 so I'll need to buy something special for when that comes.

One of the highlights in the Autumn TV schedules is Peter Kay's long awaited return to our screens in a series that's bound to give continuity announcers nightmares; "Britain's Got The Pop Factor And Possibly A New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly On Ice", sending up the many talent shows dominating the screens.
A more detailed description can be found in the article on the BBC News website although it appears that Peter's on his own this time with writing duties so it should be interesting to see how it all comes to place when it hits the screens later in the year.

Overall it should make my time at University during the gruelling first semester more enjoyable.

Accessible Listening

Rather cloudy once again and barely any excuse to go outside. I did go to the chemists to collect my tablets but that's about as far as I got today. I also got a letter from ASDA saying that they wouldn't be taking my application any further but it's probably safe to say that any links between me and them as far as employment goes are definitely broken.

The fourth episode of "Return To Lakesiders" aired where it showed Paul Chantler making a surprise appearance on Martin Day's breakfast show at Essex FM for a reunion along with co-presenter Su and the rest of the team. They've now moved studios from
Clifftown Road in Southend to Chelmsford, and it revealed that Paul is now a radio consultant training future presenters and programme controllers at many stations.
One of them being Smooth Radio London where quite a few people on the Westminster Radio course are working at.

If only more programme controllers and stations would see any sense in hiring people that Paul has trained, then radio could be fun again if Paul's experience as PC at Chiltern and Essex is anything to go by.

If any of those stations such as Essex FM and Vibe FM came back today as they were in the late 90s/early 00s I'm not sure if I'd still listen now as my favourite programmes on there were the disco shows such as "The Sunday Night Carwash" on Essex FM and
"Lost In Music" and Vibe FM whenever I was in the East of England.
I'd always look forward to hearing a new rare disco or soul track that I'd never heard before but now that I've probably heard all the ones they'd have played on rotation it wouldn't really be the same. Then again the rotation wasn't that repetitive but after a few months I may have got bored of it.

It may explain why I have Chill switched on whilst in bed as most I don't know most of the tunes that they play making it less distracting when trying to sleep. Especially as they've just introduced "Midnight Chill" between the hours of 12-2am where they play a really wide selection of tunes from the likes of Brian Eno, Chicane and the Cinematic Orchestra.

Thankfully there's also online stations such as Starpoint and Solar with people who went to all those nightclubs in the early 80s where they spun really good jazz-funk and disco tunes and plenty that I haven't heard before.
It's definitely giving me some ideas for what to play on my own show next year.

Mouth Splash

A rather mixed bag outside with a tiny bit of rain although it's not been too bad for most of today.

I've still been rather tired and have made very few visits outside although as I said in my previous blog post, we're pretty well stocked up. I did buy a pack of Trident Splash which I've started buying quite reguarly, which is chewing gum with a weird liquid flavour inside of it, my favourite flavour being the raspberry and peach.

With the August bank holiday weekend approaching, at least I'll be able to enjoy it
properly this year rather than not knowing exactly what was happening like last year. I doubt I'll take much interest in the Reading and Leeds festivals however although as I always tend to say, there's never any act performing who makes me think that I have to go there just for them.

Then again I'd probably enjoy the experience of camping which I haven't really done for quite a long time.

Constant Leg Stretching

Once again it's been a rather empty day with just a visit to a therapist in Canterbury to see how I'm getting on. The plan is to carry on seeing her until I go back to University and hopefully we'll be able to sort out my medication so I don't have to take any tablets.
I'm certain that the ones I'm currently taking are making me feel more tired during the day and I feel as if I've turned into a real life Orinnoco from the Wombles.

My Aunt and Uncle have arrived from Norwich to stay over for a few days and tomorrow they'll be going with Mum and Dad to spend a day in France buying plenty of drinks and in Dad's case non-alcoholic beer. I may go over to Morrisons to get a few more things although we're doing pretty well for drinks that I like and there are a few bottles of orange Breezers in the fridge.

It should be an alright day tomorrow even if I do end up sleeping again halfway through it.

Retail Therapy

The staff and shoppers of a popular shopping centre in Essex have made a return to our screens on BBC 2's "Return To Lakesiders", the latest in a series of programmes revisting those who leapt to stardom through the many docusoaps that were on our screens in the late 90s.

One of the key characters appearing in Lakesiders was Essex FM's breakfast DJ Martin Day who back in those days had rather dreadful hair that made Pat Sharp look attractive.
The main focus in the series was the rather tense relationship between him and the station's programme controller Paul Chantler who would often call Martin into his office for a number of reasons such as straying from the playlist and playing his own records.

Tonight's episode involved Martin taking a reluctant Paul for a flight in his aeroplane which almost ended in near danger due to the plane being unable to fly properly whilst in mid air. The story ended up in the major newspapers with one of them comparing Paul Chantler's physical form to Chewbacca. I always thought that Jabba the Hut was a more appropriate likeness.
Later in the series we see how Paul managed to get his own back on Martin by getting him to appear on the BBC 1 daytime show "Style Challenge" and finally get his hair cut shorter.

Overall it's good to get an insight behind the scenes of one of, if not the most influential radio stations I've listened to even if there were tensions going on behind the microphone.

One Year On - Part 2

On returning to Canterbury I was still having sleeping problems and found certain times of the day hard to cope with. Especially the early mornings.
Well, they weren't actually sleeping problems but I would end up getting tired at around 9 o'clock at night and I was trying to do anything to stay awake for longer.
I had also developed a larger appetite which resulted in me putting on weight and because of the drugs I was on, there was no sign of it stopping.

I would end up going for a walk somewhere in Canterbury at least once a day with either Mum, Dad, or one of their friends of the family including Concha who was very helpful during this rather stressfull period. The weather outside was changeable but it was nice to go to places like the orchard where I ate quite a lot of apples that were growing there.

By the end of September it was an important time for radio as both BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 were celebrating the 40th anniversaries. I made an effort to listen to what Radio 1 were doing on the day itself although to be honest I thought it was rather watered down in places compared to what I was expecting.
One of their celebratory features being a series of rather average covers of songs from the last 40 years by current artists such as Amy Winehouse covering "Cupid" by Sam Cooke, Razorlight doing a version of "Englishman In New York" by Sting and The Foo Fighters taking on "Band On The Run" by Wings.

The special schedule started off with Chris Moyles and Tony Blackburn attempting to re-create the first ever show on the station although they drifted away from that idea about half an hour into the show. The highlights can be heard here where Chris and Tony are joined by Rod McKenzie reading the news and former station controller Johnny Beerling who also produced Tony's first show on the station back on the launch day 40 years earlier.
Plus plenty of the old jingles including a Chris questioning Johnny over a few of the lyrics.

The day was streamed via webcam which was a rather enjoyable experience seeing it all happen although they switched it off near the end of the day when JK and Joel came on to do their final chart countdown.
Their final moments can be heard here although it's probably safe to say that they wouldn't actually be missed.
A couple of days later I got to meet Tony Blackburn at Bluewater where he was signing copies of his autobiography and it was quite an experience meeting him and getting my photo taken with the man himself.

However overall I wasn't getting any better at all and barely had a positive outlook on things due to my illness and medication that I really wanted to come off or at least have changed.
On my next visit to the medical consultant it was suggested that I changed drugs from Olanzapene to Risperdol which we hoped would have a better effect on my condition.

It turned out to be a lot worse as I found it impossible to stay still or lie down without finding it painful. At one point I couldn't even use my hands for the most basic of tasks such as mealtimes and washing up. This resulted in barely anyone at home being able to sleep for a whole week because I was keeping them awake by getting out of my bed and asking either Mum or Dad to stay near my bed as I was rather nervous and uncomfortable.

Around this time I made regular visits to two nurses at one of the health centres in Canterbury who encouraged me to write a diary of what activities I was doing. It was difficult to find things to keep me occupied and because of my condition I didn't go near my computer for quite a while.

I did start to watch more television, particularly the new offerings from CBBC who had introduced a new set of idents to their channel which I first saw whilst I was still recovering in hospital.
One of the programmes was "The Sarah Jane Adventures", a well written and produced spin off from Doctor Who and featured some very good storylines.

The other was a comedy series called "Chute" from the people who produced "Dick And Dom In Da Bungalow" and "The Slammer" where comedian Ross Lee went through the BBC dumps and showed a selection of amusing video clips from the archives such as Frank Spencer rollerskating and rather bizarre sport activities.
Other highlights included a few self made music videos such as The Arctic Monkeys "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" and Mika's "Grace Kelly" that were rather amusing.

Saturday mornings were and still are appalling with offerings such as "TMi" which had been cut down to half it's length after getting into trouble for rigging competitions in the last series, and the even more dreadful "Hider In The House" with JK and Joel.
It's safe to say that timeslot on television no longer has the significance it once did.

Saturday nights were enjoyable though and a time where I could be stable by watching Strictly Come Dancing and The X-Factor, the former being entertaining mainly for the embarrassing jokes that Bruce Forsyth had to offer.

I had also developed an addiction to watching Countdown and The One Show on a daily basis and it seemed that I could not go through a day without seeing them although I didn't exactly know why they were required viewing.
Dad tried to convert me into popular dramas such as "Heroes" which I found rather confusing although the only episode I saw properly was with Christopher Eccleston playing an invisble man. We also tried renting out films such as "Trainspotting", "Magicians" with Mitchell and Webb and "Starter For Ten" with little success in entertaining me.

Physically it was extremely hard to cope and we arranged a visit to the doctors around late October where we managed to change the drugs back to a smaller dosage of Olanzapene which after a couple of days resulted in me being able to sleep properly and not suffer from any pain.
I knew I was starting to get better in that sense but barely felt any enthusiasm in wanting to return to University and felt discouraged from wanting to start doing my soul show again.

Especially as when the nominations for that year's Student Radio Awards were announced my show hadn't been nominated for the specialist music category and judging the way things seemed to be going at the station, it made me feel left out and as if I wasn't wanted.
A new schedule had been introduced and it looked like my time at the station was numbered.

I made a visit back to University in early November to stay the night and it's fair to say that it wasn't very succesfull. Basically I felt as if I was forced into choosing a topic for my dissertation and make decisions about how I wanted to go about the next year.
It was all too much to take in and nothing really came out of that visit.

I had started to get my sense of humour back however after finding clips of the comedy series "Mock The Week" on Youtube from the "Scenes We'd Like To See" round including this example with "The Worst Person To Be Married To".
It definitely made up for the slightly weaker series of Buzzcocks that was currently airing and the appalling Peter Serafinowicz Show that was shown during October. One of the sketches being a rather ill thought send up of the X-Factor.

By December I decided that I would go back to University in January to do two theory modules leaving the dissertation and practical modules until the following year.
I became involved with Smoke Radio again where my show was back in the schedule but on Friday evenings.
At first I felt excited about the new timeslot but after a couple of weeks I wasn't really enjoying it at all and it the spark within the station was missing from what had been there in my first two years at Uni.
Hopefully next year will see a few changes.

Things did improve near the end of the year although there still are a few loose ends that have sprung up. And if they can't be resolved then it really isn't worth wasting time with those responsible as I need to make my final year at university worth it and a lot better than it was for most of the year before.

As for my medication I've now come off my Olanzapene which has resulted in having a very low appetite compared to how it was when I was taking the drugs.
It took a long time to come off them as I've had to see several doctors one after another due to the resident one being off sick around the time I got put onto medication.

I've also managed to make more effort in listening to a lot more music that I think would sound good on my show from the likes of Al Jarreau, George Duke, Shakatak and Jazztronik.
That's an ideal form of escapism regardless of how old some of it is although I'm careful of how often I listen to certain tracks as I don't want to ruin them.
Especially with the buzz you get with playing them on the radio.

I'm guessing the big concern is what I want to do after finishing the radio course as to be honest the majority of radio especially in London is appalling with bland, repetive and identical formats that lack the excitement that radio once had, which won't really do me any good in a vocational sense.
It would be difficult for me with my social skills to speak to the right people and get a foot in the door as I really don't know what I would like to be doing in radio.

The only things I really listen to are Ken Bruce's "Popmaster" on BBC Radio 2, the comedy on Radio 4 such as "Just A Minute" and "The Now Show", and I still have Chill on whilst in bed at night which is ideal listening. And of course there's the shows that go out on specialist soul stations such as Solar and Starpoint playing tunes that everyone else won't touch.

So overall I hope I manage to pull through the rather demanding tasks that are on my final year and I finish my time at University on a positive note. Being there for the whole year this time round will certainly be helpful and allow me to enjoy things that I didn't get to do last year.
Here's hoping.

One Year On (Or The Missing Blog Posts)

Well today is exactly one year since things started falling out of place and I began thinking things were there when they weren't as a result of me going into hypermania.
I've mentioned it in small doses before but never really managed to explain exactly what happened at the time and it's fair to say that even I didn't know what has happening some of the time.
This was all the result of what for me up to then had been an enjoyable summer, and I had a very bright outlook on what I thought was going to be my final year at University.

I had also developed a huge interest in early 90s television and popular music, especially with vintage episodes of The ITV Chart Show repeated on the Vault which I had sent to me on DVD from a viewer elsewhere in the country and would occasionally treat myself to an edition on the odd late night with classic pop videos from the early 90s interspersed with computer animated dodgems and rollercoasters.
Without them, I would have barely had a positive outlook on life during my second year at University and throughout the summer of 2007 which considering the rather dreadfull weather outside was pretty unbelievable.

By August the time was getting closer and I was getting even more enthuasistic. If you look at my blog posts written around this time it had come to a point that nothing could upset me or make me feel depressed.
Around the second week of August I decided to take my blog "on holiday" in the form of Facebook notes and it seemed there was no stopping me from writing them on many of my passionate subjects, whether it would be old television from the late 80s/early 90s, comfort foods such as pasta and salmon, or the sort of things that made me laugh.

The ability to tag Facebook Friends in my notes resulted in them posting comments which were welcoming and encouraged me to write more and more notes to the point of what seemed like one per hour. For some reason I decided to delete them after I returned to my old blog which I'm a bit gutted about but I saved some of them such as the examples that can be found below.

"Favourite Freshers" (Posted 06.08.07)

"Yummy JAM" - My Obsession With JAM Jingles (Posted 10.08.07)

I'd never be able to write like this now so it's fair to say that things were out of the ordinary.

A lot of the audio has now been deleted as well although I've kept copies of it on my hard drive and I thought I would once again share some of the offerings that I uploaded.

Here goes,

First, one of the finest jingle packages made for Radio 1 back in 1987.

And on a similar note, a selection of jingles done for Terry Wogan over 25 years

Chris Moyles back in 1998 playing a selection of old Radio 1 JAM jingles which got him into a bit
of trouble with company president Jon Wolfert. And I'm sure he knew what listeners were thinking when he was on about "the old Radio 1 news jingle". Something I still find unnerving today.

An extract from Richard Herring's "Christ On A Bike" stand up, ranting about Jesus's ancestors.

And probably my best upload which was originally sent as part of a personal note, a video blending in the 1989 generic LWT ident with the titles of The ITV Chart Show as it symbolizes a time back in September 1989 when for me it was now "safe to watch ITV" on a more regular basis.
Apparently those titles were modeled on the Corkscrew rollercoaster at Alton Towers which at the time was one of the most popular rides in the UK.

All of those uploads contained hidden meanings and connotations that I thought were linked to the year ahead. The final one suggested that by September of 2007 I would be living in a larger flat in halls with three people that I had got to know in the year below me and moving in earlier than everyone else.
However others such as the clip of Chris Moyles had negative and rather sinister connotations i.e. not the sort of thing I would like to hear in the middle of the night.

This all came to a head one night in the third week of August where I was up late one night and discovered a video on Youtube consisting of a montage of gungings from "The Noel Edmonds Saturday Roadshow" in 1990 which back then was staple viewing.
However the first minute contains a shampoo advert involving a woman being showered with water and I was convinced that having the clip precede the gungings was rather derogatory.
This resulted in me bursting into Mum and Dad's bedroom cursing and shouting loudly and convinced that something was happening to me.

The next day after waking up I unplugged my alarm clock and wouldn't switch on my laptop, television or radio as everything seemed to be reacting rather suspiciously. Even my parents were acting strange and encouraging me to do things like try the crossword in the newspaper but I was certain that the clues and solutions were written in a suspicious manner as well.
We made a visit into Morrisons where everything that we bought was something that I would like and I was convinced that we would be taking it all to London.

The next day Dad starting packing things from my room and putting them into storage boxes to place in the loft. At this time I was getting flashbacks to uncomfortable car journeys in France 15 years earlier and started writing silly things on post it notes around the house. I then started packing everything and was prepared to leave for London but Mum and Dad felt confused. I then reset the time on my mobile to midnight and kept playing it via the speaking clock repeatedly. At one point I even switched off all the electricity in the house.

Dad called 999 and I was taken into the nearby hospital where we were in a waiting room for quite a while. While I was in there I kept thinking I saw familiar faces that kept coming and going and I was certain things weren't right at all. We then went back home and later that night we had a visit from three psychiatric nurses who asked me rather difficult questions.
I really didn't know what was going on at all and ended up being taken in an ambulance to a hospital in Thanet.
I thought that we were going to London and making a stop off at a Travelodge at one point although there were even more familiar looking faces and I was trying to avoid being injected with a needle. I'm sure they did it eventually however as the last thing I can remember was being in a tiny room that didn't have anything inside it.

A couple of days later I seem to remember being in a taxi going back to Canterbury in the direction of St Martins Hospital. They had put me in there because I was diagnosed with Hypomania and was acting rather manically. At one point I tried climbing on the roof of the hospital and at other time I was rather careless towards possessions. I was also put onto medication which resulted in me being in pain making it difficult to lie down which could be a big problem at night time.

However I was given my own room where Mum and Dad brought my television with a DVD player and would bring things to me if I asked them. I was even confident enough to want to watch things with them which included a concert DVD of Incognito in Germany which at one point I felt the need to join in with.
And of course they brought me my DVDs of The ITV Chart Show and Dad remembered how I used to enjoy watching the programme during many a 90s summer following the likes of Nobby The Sheep that preceeded it on Saturday Mornings.

I had no problems at all with the other people staying in the hospital although they did have their own problems at times. However there were a few enjoyable times in there such as when we would gather to watch the X-Factor auditions which could be good fun. Some of the nurses thought that they had good voices themselves and were brave enough to demonstrate!

However I wanted to go home and eventually they let me out although I was put onto medication which included a large dosage of Olanzapene and another drug which I can't remember the name of. Combined they made me feel uncomfortable at certain times of the day and I would get depressed at times.
The worst of them being waking up at 4:30am and going into Mum and Dad's bedroom complaining that I'd woken up and couldn't get back to sleep.

Everyone back in London felt reassured that I was OK and I was looking forward to coming back to University although we weren't exactly sure when it would be.
It was arranged that until that happened we would have a visit from a nurse each day to see how I was getting on and what sort of medical state I was in.
We decided that I would go back to University halfway through Freshers Week but I was starting to feel left out of things and not being involved in Smoke Radio was going to be difficult.

When it all kicked off on the Monday it sounded very flat and lacked enthusiasm compared to the year before and it sounded as if they were picking up from where they left off the year before rather than trying to be fresh for the new academic year.
One of the more peculiar shows on offer that week was the first Shuffle show of the year which appropriately or innapropriately had the theme of "The 999 Show" with songs linked to emergencies.

I arrived in my new room in halls on the Wednesday and immediately went to the radio rooms where there was a huge trolley full of noodles that were being given away throughout the week.
There was also a school disco event being held at Area 51 which I didn't really make the effort for in terms of clothing but wanted to go anyway and went to the Undercroft that evening where Charlotte and the two Emmas had turned up in preparation. However I wasn't allowed to drink any alcohol with the medication I was on and by 9pm I wasn't really feeling it so I went back to halls and was in bed by 10.

I woke up rather early as normal feeling dreadfull and preceeded to go walking round Northwick Park Tube Station and was near to the point of jumping down the staircase in Harrow Halls. I attempted to calm myself by listening to "Chill" on my Bug Radio where they were playing "chilled tunes" such as "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John and a cover of 4hero's "Hold It Down" by the Quantic Soul Orchestra.

I even ended up locking myself out of my room becuase of my state and was brought into the recreation room to try and relax.

That morning I had to attend a meeting with the disability officer and the senior radio lecturer about my needs for the year and I found it all too much to take in, not knowing exactly what I wanted. It was clear that the following year would be pretty tough.

I made my way down to Marylebone where the Fresher's Fayre was taking place and felt a bit better although by the time I got back to Harrow I got a call on my mobile from someone who was coming over to visit from the Kenton Mental Health Hospital which was difficult to take in as it wasn't expected.

I was later asked to go to the Halls reception where upstairs were some people from the hospital who started asking me more difficult questions.
One of them being would I rather go into the hospital or go back to Canterbury?
They ended up phoning Mum and asking her to come over to Halls to collect me and take me back to Canterbury and this resulted in me running back to the main campus upset about the circumstances.
At this time Debbie the halls manager immediately asked the visitors to leave.

Becuase of the circumstances I was told that I would be able to do my full third year which I wasn't happy about, but I was even more upset that I would be able to do my radio show which was due have gone out on the Friday. This meant that I wouldn't be able to play my Incognito Mash Up that I had been longing to play all summer and now the opportunity had been ruined because I wanted to move the show to Fridays rather than staying on Wednesday.

However I've uploaded it here for all to enjoy.

Because of not being there it made me feel more spiteful towards the station and unhappy about where it was going especially after what happened in Freshers Week.

And I didn't realise that soon after things would be getting mentally and physically worse...

Surprises In Suffolk

I've returned from what will probably be the nearest I've had to a holiday this year, staying at my Gran's house in Woodbridge. We left on Friday and made a diversion via Basildon to avoid the rather heavy traffic near Chelmsford due to the V Festival and arrived in Suffolk with no major problems.

The plan was to visit a Thai restaurant that night but none of us knew that all of Mum's family were there waiting for us, and even Oliver who we thought was staying at home had turned up as he had arranged to stay in Norwich with Aunt Helen and cousins Polly and George. This had been arranged as a late celebration for Mum and Dad's 50th birthdays.
Whilst it was good to see everyone again I thought the meal itself in the restaurant wasn't very good but Granny made up for that with some lovely dishes later in the weekend including a delicious pork casserole, and a really nice roasted chicken that we had earlier today.

Myself, Mum and Dad didn't really get up to much over the weekend with a lot of it spent watching the interesting goings on at the Olympics but we did go into Woodbridge a few times for a walk near the river and went past the nearby playground which has changed quite a lot since I last made a visit almost 10 years ago.

I also managed to find a few things in the bedroom I was sleeping in including an old book that Mum, Helen and Alison used to have about "Gobbolino The Witches Cat" which was a story I used to like when I was a lot younger. I've taken the book back with me to Canterbury and it will probably be the only book I'll actually read before returning to University.

Overall it was worth the visit and really good to see how everyone has been getting on.

Travelling East

Today I'm making what will probably be my only visit over the Dartford Crossing this year until Christmas as I'm going to Woodbridge near Ipswich to stay over at my Gran's house.

I haven't been there for a very long time and I'm guessing it was 8 years since my last proper visit there where we went to a nearby boating lake which was enjoyable.
I also spent an awful lot of time having a listen to 105-108 Vibe FM when it was more than just a bog-standard dance station, with a stunning 4 hour disco show on Sunday lunchtimes called "Lost In Music".
That's now turned into Kiss 105-108 and I very much doubt I'll want to be listening to that or any of the other dreariness on offer.
I understand one of the other stations SGR-FM have the rights to broadcast coverage of Ipswich Town's games which hasn't gone down well with the club's supporters but then again I'm guessing that there isn't much actual coverage compared to when BBC Radio Suffolk looked after it.

Hopefully if the weather's still good I'll make a visit to Woodbridge and the nearby harbour where I used to go on boat rides with Grandad which was enjoyable. One particular time I stayed the night on one where the weather was pretty windy.
To be honest it's a rather quiet town but it will be good to return there after quite a while and visit places like the nearby meadows and playgrounds I used to go to.

Ideally I'd like to go to somewhere on the North Norfolk coast again as it really is stunning there and in warm weather it's ideal for escapism.

The Rainbow Of Pop

It's still pretty dull in Canterbury although unlike earlier in the week I didn't end up sleeping in the middle of the day. Goodness knows how I'm going to manage after leaving University where there will barely be any time for relaxing at all.
It's almost like the summer's came and went for this year, even if it has been brighter for part of the afternoon today compared with earlier this week.

Whilst having a search on Wikipedia it appears that most of the bands who I have a liking for fall into the category of "Sophisto-Pop" and it's fair to say a lot of those artists in that list from the mid-late 80s were responsible for the rather twisted direction I've taken in listening to music.

There are also acts on that list who I would love to see live including ABC and Matt Bianco and in the case of the latter it's very rare to see them on their home shores.
Surely that obscene phone call on Saturday Superstore wasn't responsible?

"In Colour"

Another run of the mill day although for most of the afternoon the winds have been really strong.
Luckily I didn't get caught up in it earlier today when I went to pay my credit card bill in town.

Aside that I managed to find a vintage episode of Room 101 from 1995 on Youtube with Angus Deayton attempting to dispose of items including Radio 2. This of course was back in the days when the station really was middle of the road and relied heavilly on easy listening music with the likes of Jimmy Young and Derek Jameson behind the microphone.
I'd imagine that after this episode was transmitted it encouraged the BBC to turn a few heads and slowly start to make some changes to the station resulting in it becoming the most listened to in the UK about five years later.

Angus is also seen wanting to put the then current BBC 2 idents inside which he isn't as succesfull at, comparing them to logos from the past such as Thames and Anglia. Personally I don't really think much of the BBC 2 idents used now as they lack the wit and brightness of the ones used then although at least they're still using the "2" logo which has become very iconic.

It's rather odd to think that by Autumn of this year it will be a decade since I started to get heavilly interested in television presentation realising that that there were others around who were just as enthusiastic and had websites allowing you to download idents from over the years.
One of my favourites being TV-Ark.org.uk which has possibly the biggest selection of television material from the UK from over 40 years.

I just wish that we had a video recorder a lot earlier and I would hopefully have made a habit of preserving programmes from the early 90s that meant a lot to me although they haven't really stood the test of time for many others.

The Regional Umbrella

I've managed to solve my problem with my Freesat box by unplugging it at the mains and plugging it back in again resulting in it being able to a recieve a signal. I'm not sure how that turned out to be the case but it's made me feel better about things.
Whilst rescanning it managed to realise that I actually live in the ITV1 Meridian region and not Central West although there's not really much difference in their output despite having the long established Bob Warman presenting the local news for the West Midlands.

It used to be exciting going up to other parts of the country to see how their regional news was produced when they used to have different opening sequences and signature tunes.
Quite a lot of them such as the BBC's Look East and South Today had their theme tunes composed by Guy Michelmore who was the first presenter of Newsroom South East back in the early 90s.

Nowadays everything has to be uniformed and made to look exactly the same as everyone else which is mainly why I feel that living in London isn't as exciting as it once was.

Problems Recieving

I'm at my wits end as my Freesat receiver has decided to play games with me and refuse to pick up any signals, meaning that my television isn't working properly. The one downstairs is working perfectly so I have no idea why my one is being a problem with me.
I've tried reinstalling it and unplugging everything, and my problem still hasn't been solved so I'm hoping by tomorrow it will be working properly and it's just a tiny problem with recieving overall.

Asides that it's been a rather quiet day and I ended up sleeping halfway through the day so tonight's probably going to be a struggle with my constant worries about how and why my Freesat box isn't working properly.

I hope I don't have to spend more money on another reciever if it is the problem.

Inspired By The Old Pros

I made a visit to the Fracture Clinic this morning where they had a look at my finger that was broken in an accident earlier in the year. It doesn't appear that anything more needs to be done to it although it is a tiny bit swollen, but overall it impossible to move as it was when I dislocated it.

I've also found out about the death of former BBC executive Bill Cotton which would be a good excuse to bring light to an appearance on the Christmas edition of Telly Addicts from 1988 alongside Terry Wogan, Michael Grade and Leslie Grantham. I always used to get him confused with Billy Cotton off of "The Billy Cotton Band Show" of which a clip can be seen in one of the rounds.

The Children's BBC summer morning show "Fully Booked" in the mid-90s ended up using the "Wakey Waaaaaaaaaakey!" catchphrase as as sting for one of their competitions in which celebrity guests had to deliver breakfast in bed to one of those staying in the hotel run by Morag the Cow.
I'm certain Incognito made an appearance on the show in 1995 to promote the release of "Everyday" and I'm sure a CD single ended up in the "Luxury Luggage" giveaway.

Definitely worth getting up for back in the days when there were fewer distractions.

Fewer Long Journeys

Once again a pretty uneventful day although it was less dreary outside than yesterday.
It's not exactly boiling however which is rather disapointing for August.

Mum and Dad have got back from Yorkshire where I've heard that Grandma is moving out of her house in Haworth and into an old peoples home. It may mean that my visits to Yorkshire will become lesser and lesser, although the last time I went up there was in early October 2006 and I can remember only just making it into a lecture at Uni just hours after leaving on a train to London.

I didn't realise that my visit to Grandma's house then would be the last but at least it means I won't have to sleep on the floor of a rather uncomfortable toolroom.

As for me, I've been watching a few vintage episodes of Buzzcocks on Youtube including one from April 2001 featuring Dani Filth from goth band "Cradle Of Filth".
Highlights include Jimmy Savile on Top Of The Pops after a video with Sid Vicious on a motorbike without a crash helmet, and a rather amusing moment in Part 2 at 0:55
where Mark Lamarr suggests how Cradle Of Filth should change their live performances.

I'd imagine Windsor Davies would probably respond to that in his usual loud manner.

RIP Issac Hayes: 1942-2008

The Hit Music Menagerie

There was an interesting feature in The Guide supplement of today's Guardian which was about the Now That's What I Call Music compilation albums which have been bestsellers for 25 years.
It revealed that Madonna is the only artist who refuses to allow her songs to be featured on the albums, and before Mark Goodier, the late Brian Glover used to provide the voiceover in the television adverts as an animated pig.
The same actor also happened to be the voice of Gaffer from the Tetley Teafolk which lasted throughout the 80s and 90s.

I also found a rather interesting discussion topic on Digital Spy asking which Doctor Who sign you were "born under". Translated it's asking which Doctor Who episode was transmitted nearer to your date of birth. Mine was "Revelation Of The Daleks"
with Colin Baker in the lead role and the final episode broadcast before the series went on hiatus for 18 months in March 1985.

I'd imagine that that a lot of those arriving at Westminster this year will have "Survival" as their sign which was the final episode of the original series shown in December 1989.

Channel Hopping

I managed to see the third edition of The Kevin Bishop Show on Channel 4 continuing to make fun of television and popular culture overall.
Most of the sketches were hit and miss although there was an amusing spoof of University Challenge with the Jeremy Paxman character giving a rather overdone "COOME ON!" which I found rather amusing.

Another of the sketches included a spoof of the Thames ident and another contained a suprise appearance of the jingle used for BBC Video in the mid 80s. This rather eerie jingle was apparently composed by Roger Limb who also wrote some of the incidental music used in Doctor Who around the same time.

I personally preferred the ident with the variation of the spinning world which I think I've got on my VHS copy of "1 On One: A Day In The Life Of Radio 1".
Judging by a few of the comments below however, a few others found it pretty creepy.

Colourful Competitors

It's been a rather miserable day outside with not really anything happening of great interest.
I spent the afternoon watching the opening ceremony of the Bejing Olympic Games which definitely looked as if a lot of work had gone into it with commentator Huw Edwards stating that some of the routines took a year to prepare. Even if it did include Sarah Brightman singing, the event itself was pretty watchable save for the rather enlongated arrival of all the competing nations.

Mum and Dad have gone up to Yorkshire for the weekend and they'll be going over to Woodbridge next weekend to see Jo's mum. I was going to go up to London again that weekend as the boys down there were planning "Stewart Fest" but they've pulled it now and I may want to go to Woodbridge as I haven't been there for a long while.

Tomorrow's meant to be worse than today in terms of weather although I hope to get some shopping done and buy something nice to drink as there's hardly anything fizzy around.

Another Night At The Orange

I made my final visit to this year's Summer of Jazz Festival at the Orange Street Music Club where the Frances Knight Trio were performing.
I'd seen them perform last year at Orange Street accompanying trumpeter Steve Waterman but they were just as good on their own with the addition of a rather stunning female vocalist for some of the tunes they performed.

They also included a few Brazillian numbers in their set including one composed by Joyce who was the first ever performer I saw at the Jazz Cafe all the way back in October 2005.
Overall I'd say it's the best out of all the gigs I've been to at Orange Street this year although I hope to make a return visit there soon, possibly before I go back to London.

Even if the drinks are limited, it's still quite a good place to go in Canterbury.

An Unsettled Start To The Semester

I've recieved my forms via e-mail for applying to get in room in halls this year and it appears that they open on the 27th of September which means that those studying media will barely get a Freshers Week at all this year as lectures begin immediately on the Monday.

It could also mean that Smoke Radio will barely be able to do a whole week of shows for Freshers Week to the scale that they have in the past due to the radio rooms being in use, although even if that does turn out to be the case I won't be too disapointed as ideas seem to be rather thin on the ground.
One of them I've heard is to broadcast an hour of specialist during the daytime schedule which is a crazy decision and bound to break the flow of how everything runs.
It's like taking a frog out of a pond and dropping it inside a goldfish bowl and I really don't think that the idea is going to run smoothly.

Whoever's idea it was overall to shorten the length of semesters at Westminster University has obviously never heard of the idea of changes for changes sake.

The Fastest Chart Returns!

Today saw a rather unexpected return to Chart Show TV of the show that inspired the set of satellite channels re-done for 2008 almost 10 years to the date it disapeared off terrestrial screens.
The titles have been uploaded here and the programme itself contained quite a lot of the features that made the show distinctive including updated VCR graphics!

Most of the stings used to introduce the videos were new although the for the
Video Vault they used the intro from the 1996 set of graphics which was rather unusual although it hasn't really dated a great deal.

Overall it wasn't really as exciting as watching the programme on ITV on Saturday mornings back in the 90s but then again that probably sums up the current state of music that's around.
Maybe a possible move to Saturdays would be ideal to bring back the buzz to that time of day.

I'd imagine it's the dream of anyone for the possibility to time travel and take a VCR with them and in my case a radio and a Mini Disc recorder as it was a lot more listenable and full of energy compared to what it is now.

Autumn In August

I didn't have a good night sleeping yesterday, mainly because I decided to spend part of the afternoon in bed which wasn't the best idea.
Today however has been a bit better and I managed to go into Canterbury to get a few things from Sainsbury's although I don't really seem to have much of an appetite now, which compared to last year may prove that the change of drugs I have been taking has made an improvement.

I'm still feeling a bit down although I was reassured via e-mail that all the BA Media Studies courses at University will still be running for 12 weeks so hopefully there will be no more worrying about not having enough time to get the important assignments done in the first semester.
With the live part of the advanced project I would like to get a role that won't be too demanding and nothing will be too aggrovating.

I just hope that what we do is more exciting than what those last year did.

Not The Most Welcome Return

I thought it would be a pleasant return to Canterbury until I found that I had two envelopes from Royal Mail who had sent back two of my application forms that I sent two months ago because I didn't put enough first class stamps on them.
Now that's petty enough of Royal Mail to be like that with stamps but the fact that it took them two months to return the envelopes to me is absolute nonsense and I can't understand why that was the case.
I've reluctantly sent the applications forms back to the two places I would like to work for although I'm really not sure if it will even be worth it now due to Royal Mail wasting my time which could have been spent earning extra money.

I'm also fed up with people thinking that I'm going to end up how I did last year if I don't get a job this summer which is nonsense, because I'm not exactly enthusiastic about the coming months due to circumstances which have happened in the last week or so, and there's no way that's going to spiral out of control into me thinking ridiculous things on an imaginary rollercoaster ride.

It's not like there is anything positive that will come out of things the way they've been going recently.

Naturally 90s

Once again it's been a pretty empty day with most people in the house at work and the weather still being pretty poor.

I've spent most of today watching a rundown of the "100 Forgotten Gems Of The 90s"
on The Hits presented by Neil Fox which included Incognito at 39 with "Always There" which even had an introduction from Foxy putting them above the Brand New Heavies for their contribution to the Acid Jazz genre.
Other tunes that have been played have included some brilliant tunes such as "Peace" by Sabrina Johnston, "Right Here" by SWV and "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals although it will be interesting to see who comes in at the top.

Nowadays quite a lot of today's popular music aren't really a case of being "gems" but I'm pretty sure they will be forgettable in years to come.

"I Am Not Your Slave!"

Last night was spent watching two films from the early part of the decade, them being Bridget Jones's Diary and Kevin and Perry Go Large.

It was the first time I'd actually seen the first one and I didn't think it was too bad with a few rather funny moments and a really good soundtrack complementing the scenes.
I hadn't seen the Kevin and Perry movie for a while either and it's still very funny as well with my favourite line being "You are not my mate, and you're not my fellow dee-jay".
Even if some of the scenes were graphically revolting it's still an enjoyable film.

I don't know what I've really planned for today, I'm heading back to Canterbury tomorrow and it may be a case of staying there until halls opens. Although I'm not sure when exactly that is due to the muddle ups with when the lectures start this year. Overall I'm hoping that my final year will go a lot better than the previous year has.

In Awkward Positions

Hardly anything has been happening today, the weather has been pretty changeable which has resulted in me feeling a tiny bit melancholy.

Also in addition to that there may be problems with me staying over at this house in future due to the landlord being unsure about people visiting for long periods and this is going to be a problem for me around September as I will be helping out at the school in South London with their radio station and need to see the people in Marylebone again.

This is worrying for me as during Freshers Week I'm worried that I'm going to feel left out of things with the goings on at Smoke Radio although to be fair I'm not sure if I would want to be involved due to the lack of encouragement and feedback I've got from fellow station members about my show in the last year.

Then again when I've enjoyed spending most of my nights in Canterbury listening to music from the likes of the Rippingtons, Jazztronik and Spyro Gyra allowing me to escape from the negative areas of university life that have been constantly bothering me and stopping me actually enjoying my time there.
Hopefully I'll be able to start afresh in September and manage to get to know people who will be starting on the radio course which I failed in doing last year due to certain circumstances.

An Unusually Quiet House

I decided to head out into Central tonight with Phil and Danielle where we met up in Leicester Square with Phil Landers and Ricky along with a few others who were with them.

We then headed over to a small club nearby to see a live performance by a young woman called Lucy Rose along with her rather superb backing band.
Whilst it was an enjoyable gig I thought that Lucy herself was drowned out by the drummer who was rather loud although that may have been the fault of whoever was at the mixing desk.
The plan after that was to go over to the Cafe Des Paris although quite a few people weren't sure if they would get in with what they were wearing i.e. large trainers etc, and I didn't want to be waiting for such a long time for people to decide if they were going or not so I went got the tube back to Northwick Park.

There's no one around right now as they're either at work or in London itself although I heard that Denis wanted to get his own back on his landlord taking his deposit without telling him by destroying his car. Whether that's the case I'm not too sure although I'm hoping nothing bad happens.

Celebrations In 'Ull

It's a bit brighter outside than yesterday although I hope it doesn't get too warm as the windows aren't as wide in the conservatory here as they are in my room at home.

I'm having a listen to Hull's station 99.8 KCFM as they celebrate their first birthday and the year has definitely sped by. Rather fitting considering today is Yorkshire day in the county.
They've had a very strong presenting line up although one of them will be leaving today, that being Clare Westwood who presents between 1 and 4pm weekdays and I used to enjoy listening to her when she did an earlier morning slot when the station launched.

I wouldn't mind visiting the area which has quite a good musical heritage being the hometown of the Housemartins/Beautiful South and Everything But The Girl.
Definitely one of the livelier and listenable commercial radio stations in the UK and actually having a set of proper jingles helps, from the guys at TM Studios in Dallas TX.

As I type Tony Blackburn's now on air although unlike his show on KMFM in Kent which has also been running for a year now, it's live.
I may get round to re-reading his autobiography on returning to Canterbury in which at the time of writing he was hoping he would get the breakfast slot on the "Gold" network although that turned out not to be the case. Actually that's one year old as well this week although I doubt they'll be celebrating.

Overall it proves that there is still lively local radio around and in KCFM's case fully live 24 hours as well!