An earlier piece on this Blog (“Double A Sides at #1”) reflected on changes in how the UK charts are compiled. The Double A Sided single played a big part in chart history. In recent years, with the figures based mainly on digital downloads and streaming, Double A Sides have rarely featured in the Top… Continue reading 15 questions about Double A Sided #1s
To some extent this Blog acts like a diary. It’s not a diary that’s updated every day, but the date of each post is relevant. Sometimes I “back-fill” pieces days, or even months, after the event. I am doing it now, posting this piece for Christmas Day 2022 several weeks into 2023. I do the… Continue reading Here we go again (Covid Round 2), and diaries
Sawdust and black pudding. No, not a new dietary regime, but the subjects of a couple of stories that my father told me. There are stories that we heard and repeated often as a family. Not just things that happened to us, which we had our own memories of, but things we had been told… Continue reading Sawdust and Black Pudding
I offer a simple piece of dietary advice to anyone whose circumstances allow them to follow it: mix your grains. Or, more accurately, mix the carbohydrates in your diet so that you are not eating the same grain or starchy vegetable more than two meals running. If you have no choice regarding grains and starchy… Continue reading A Farewell to Oatiflakes
My daughter is taking her Mock GCSE exams this month. When she started senior school she did well enough in her initial assessments to be selected for Mandarin classes. She was in the “MEP” (Mandarin Excellence Programme), a pathway that offered extra tuition in the language and the prospect of an extended trip to China… Continue reading Word of the week: Milord
When I was growing up it was easy to understand how the UK singles chart was compiled. It was based on the sale of vinyl records. There were stories about how the charts could be manipulated because sales figures came from a sample of record shops and these shops could be targeted by pluggers or… Continue reading Double A Sides at #1
Almost exactly a year ago, in this piece, I wrote about playing football with people my own age again for the first time in over a decade. I am happy to report that this is still a regular part of my week. I have played something close to 5-a-side football at least once every month… Continue reading A year’s worth of 5-a-side
The Compartments 