Found this 60s gem today in my record collection... yes, that's right, my record collection! I don't have that many long-players but they have a fond place in my heart for always...

My first job was in a second-hand record store on a Saturday in Liverpool, heard all sorts of stuff they didn't play on the radio, what a great foundation for any 17yr old! Then while at college I got a Saturday job at the more mainstream HMV (Basingstoke branch, I'd left Liverpool by then due to lack of opportunity for ambitious young women like me haha). There I met my first love (apparently lots of HMV romances occur) and extended my CD collection hugely thanks to the generous staff discount...

So a few months ago I went to a record fair on Lark Lane* with my record-enthusiast friend and found an album called Love Loves To Love/ Lulu and since I knew LL2L was a gem I'd come across while working at Smooth Radio WM I purchased for a few quid, played and then forgot about... until today when I dusted it off for a little Sunday eve playtime and wow! I did not recall this one ^_^ #happydays

It occurred to me today that a motivational poster I saw on Friday which asked: What would you do if you knew you could not fail??? Oooh! Well I think a second-hand record store would be just the ticket! What's not to love? If paying the rent wasn't an option, I was some sort of millionaire by accident (cos I really can't see it happening to me any other way haha) what is not to love about getting out of bed for 10am to play great tunes all day?! And a great service to society too, every good town needs a place for new and pre-loved records! And let me tell you my record store would be a cafe too and a place for acoustic live spots... ah it would be QUITE the local record store...

Another fantastic idea to chalk up on the wishlist then comrades...




*quite the bohemian district in Liverpuddle I tells ya ;)

Bathtub Confessions...

On the evenings when I just NEED a hot bubble bath (and tonight was such a night) 2 friends come to mind... no, nothing like that, just two reminders from days gone by and I always think it funny how the memory works that way so I thought I would share my two bathtime stories with you...

I would say prior to the last 3 years I was never much of a 'bath person', I was far too easily-bored- what, wait while it pours??? nah what, just sit there til ya go all wrinkly??? why??? gots places to be (etc etc) haha but then I was having a hard time at the office and I guess a soak became part of my self-medication... I reflected on this with my friend James at the time and he announced that one should always have a nice hot bath when you needed to think about things... and so thereafter every time I was having a bathtime pondering session I always think of James and him approving greatly of my bubble-therapy!

The other reminder I get is from many years ago when I lived in Brighton with my friend Vicky. She worked long hard days in a cafe and would often go for a hot soak when she got home, but HELLO! she had the water sooooo hot she would often make a startled noises while getting into, and come out pink as a raspberry afterwards! I would ask her incredulously, remember not at all a bath person back then, why on earth she took such hot baths and she would mutter something about liking it! Now when I get into an extremely hot bath (well hot by my standards, I've not had Vicky over to tell me if they are up to standard haha) I think of her and her post-bath pink! Another bathroom tale about Vicky - I do hope she doesn't mind me sharing haha - is because she was very strong from lifting up cafe chairs on to tables at the end of her everyday she would turn the taps closed so hard I couldn't open them again! haha but then I am quite a weak-wristed individual in general... but if I find a tight tap, I think of her...

Life is full of these silly little encounters, the memory so packed and yet recalls these unimportant events for me when the relevant trigger is pulled...

Post-bath now I can tell you I'm a total convert and I eye up my mother's HUGE bathtub with the envy it deserves haha but I am very grateful for the tub I have and the hot water with which to fill it...
simple pleasures my friends, are what make my world go round #fact ;)