harryc

ROOT MAINTENANCE

Every year I go back to Ireland to see my two brothers and to tie up again with some old friends. I spent the last 10 days in June there.

I indulge my favourite pastime - walking on the beach at Redbarn Strand. The weather doesn't matter - in fact I prefer it when the wind blows and there's a bit of a storm.

But that's not all , although I'm not what you would call a drinker, my brothers and I embarked on a few gentle bar crawls - it's a sure way to meet old friends. We visited such establishments as ' The Invisible Bar' (also known as Deaf Eddie's) , 'The Cabin', 'The Nook', 'Mackeys', 'JDs' and usually finished up at 'Moby Dick's'. Moby's was so called because it became the headquarters of the film crew who came to YOUGHAL to shoot scenes for the film 'Moby Dick' in 1954. It was directed by John Huston and starred Gregory Peck and Leo Genn. The whole business caused great excitement in the town and hundreds of locals were employed as extras. The film has been repeated many times on TV and I recognise most of the extras in the crowd scenes.

But one of the highlights this year was getting to play with this big band in Clonmel.

Danny. the Musical Director is an old friend who played lead trumpet in our band in 1956. He was rehearsing the band for a concert the following week. I stayed with him for the weekend and he invited me to sit in at the rehearsal - pure heaven !!( I'm the old guy in the blue shirt in the middle)

All the members are professional level musicians and are a lovely friendly bunch of people.

Including me there were seven saxes and -

  Five trumpets, three trombones, keyboards, bass and drums .

Boy what a sound !!!!

We played some wonderful big band music for two hours during which we accompanied the vocalists    -  the stuff of my musical dreams .

I struggled some of the time on very difficult passages, hit the odd bum note, but I hung in there. The experience gave me a huge boost to become a better sax player.

The practise and the work goes on.

Then it was back to Youghal, a sleepy old seaside town at the mouth of the Blackwater river -

                                          

- and a little more beach walking, a few drinks and a bit more socialising.

The weather wasn't great (a bit 'soft' as the locals say) but that annual trip back to my roots is always special to me.

TECHNOLOGY BUG

This is it - 'Mission Control' - the nerve centre of my IT activities.

To the 'techies' I know it will look a bit dated - no super-slim flat screen or the smooth good looks of an 'Apple' .

But it does for me - and as they say "if it ain't broke............!

Before this I had a very old Toshiba portable with a dial-up Internet connection courtesy of Freeserve. Everything was painfully slow but I loved the challenge. The family took pity and gave me my current set-up one Christmas about seven years ago. Then I got broadband and .... absolute bliss !!

Freeserve morphed into Wanadoo who then became Orange who I'm afraid have not performed too well.

I think that computers and technology generally hold a fascination for "silver surfers" like myself. In the course of my liftime there has been a blizzard of invention and development the pace of which has been staggering. I remember Slide Rules, Sumlock Comtometers, Hollerith Punch Card Machines and this little baby - which was the forerunner to the Electronic Calculator :

It is an Odhner mechanical calculator and was heavy, cumbersome and noisy. I used it extensively to prepare company budgets - it managed the calculations, but documents still had to be handwritten. You also had to have a 'feel' for where the decimal point should be !! At one point a Chinese civil engineer I shared a flat with taught me how to use an abacus.

The speed of change has meant, I suppose, that we never quite catch up with the market. There is always something faster and better.

But my old PC gives me everything I need - I'm happy - but I'll keep an eye on the market.

GARDEN INVADERS

Squirrels and I have never got along. There are far too many of them. They are aggressive and greedy !

We have a biggish garden and it backs onto private woods. My wife has a mission in life to feed every bird in existence and so we have numerous bird-feeders and trays dotted around the place.

It is a delight to watch the birds go through their feeding routines - robin,tits ,finches,thrushes,starlings,blackbirds and occasionally some lovely woodpeckers who live in the woods at the back. There is also a sizable colony of pigeons and doves and the occasional visit from some pheasants (escapees from a breeding farm for shoots up the road)

All these birds share the food and seem to mix happily together.

ENTER THE SQUIRRELS !!!!!!!!!

Word has obviously got round that there is an abundance of food at our place and the squirrels seem intent on having the lot. We tried initially to have a feeder near the house exclusively for the birds, but this is what happened :

They would shimmy up the steel pole, hang on the feeder and gorge themselves.

We then started to grease the pole every day and watched them try to climb and slide back down again.But after the first few volunteers most of the grease would be absorbed on their fur and they could make it to the top again.

Eventually my wife found a device that seems thwart their best efforts to get to the top.

It's a plastic dome and, although some of them come every day to inspect the device, they have failed to crack it so far.

But I know how cunning they are and they'll keep working on a solution.

Although I despise the little culprits I do admire their persistence !!!!                              

                  

BALL GAMES

I was rummaging in the garage today, trying to work up the enthusiasm to start the long overdue clearance project, when I came across this :

It's a hurling ball ! Hurling is a national sport in Ireland.

The ball is called a " Slioter" ( pronounced Slitter). The game is played by striking the ball with a hurley which is a stick made from ash and looks like this :

My brothers and I played hurling from a very young age. We played it through our school years and for many years after we left school. It is a very fast skillful game and demands high fitness levels. It was also a dangerous game in which we saw some serious injuries - in our case we escaped with minor bruises and permanently skinned knuckles.

The game is played on a pitch which is slightly longer than a soccer pitch. A team numbers 15 players , including a goalkeeper, and the line-up is as shown in the diagram on the left. You can imagine how crowded the pitch becomes with 30 players, all swinging hurleys with an action similar to a golf swing.  So I'm not kidding when I say it is a dangerous game and not for the faint hearted ! 

The game still has a huge national following with county and provincial championships leading on a knockout basis to the All - Ireland Fnal at Croke Park in Dublin. The occasion has the same aura as the Cup Final at Wembley and attracts crowds of 80,000 +.

As a very young boy (10/11) I would travel off with friends to support our local or our county (Cork) side sporting the Red and White colours of Cork.

It's amazing how when you come to consider clearing the garage or the loft, and you begin to sift through the stuff, you find these objects that can set you off on flights of nostalgia.

Suddenly it's time to eat and you think ........... I'll try again tomorrow !!!

MOUNTAIN RESCUE

The Dead Artist (it's Marcus, but keep it quiet !!) has put a lot of time and effort into a scheme to sell one of his rare paintings (shown below) for charity. All the proceeds will go to the Glencoe Mountain Recue Service. You can read all about it here :http://thedeadartist.blogspot.com/

Apparently , the final value will be enhanced by the number of bloggers who link to the above site. So please get busy bloggers in support of such a worthy cause.

Thank you Marcus for the considerable work you put into this project . It is very much appreciated by me and the family.

Precious Old Thing..........

In 1962 I was working and studying at night in London when this lovely old guitar came into my life -

It is an arch-bodied blonde Hofner Senator (1958) - Acoustic/electric with steel strings.

I had gone to live in a bed-sit in Croydon in a big house where many other young bachelors, who were trying to make their way in the 'Big Smoke' , lived. One of them, John, had acquired this guitar - he also played the violin. I decided that in my spare time I would teach myself to play the guitar so I borrowed it regularly. Sometime later when John was promoted at work and was moving up North he very kindly gave me the guitar when he left saying " you play this far more than I do so have it as a present"

It has given me so much pleasure over those 45 years.

Progress was painfully slow for, literally, the first 34 years.  I was 'stuck' in the key of  C for quite a while and it was only by using a capo that I ventured away from C during that time. On the way I taught myself my own peculiar finger picking style and various strumming techniques, including the 'Calypso Slap' !!

I had no ambition to be an 'out front' soloist - I just wanted to quietly strum chords and pick little riffs while other people sang. However my knowledge of music theory was woeful which limited my progress severely.

When I married 'Joanski ' and before we had the children we used to spend our holidays in Ireland - and the guitar would come too !

At that time (late 60s,early 70s) there was a huge Irish Folk revival driven by the success of groups like the Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners and others - every pub had live music over the whole weekend. I knew many of the people in the groups. I would sit in with them regularly for practise and learnt a lot by observing and listening.

There was no shortage of singers - who would sometimes sing in the most obscure keys - and sometimes in the cracks in between !! . But there were some very good singers too and the rafters would ring with the popular balads of the time right up to closing time - and often beyond !!!

Afterwards we would often retire to a friends house and chat and sing until the early hours - happy days.

Later when the children came along we'd all load into the car and head for Ireland via Fishguard. There were times when I had difficulty finding room for the guitar and I would begin to wonder which of the children I could leave behind !!! (just joking..)

After that as the children grew up and I got busier at work there were long periods when I didn't play at all.

When I eventually retired I decided I would do something about improving my knowledge of music theory and for a few years attended a group lesson every week from a professional rock guitarist. He taught us so much about alternative chord positions, playing in the box and to be comfortable with bar chords I learnt for the first time about pentatonic scales. I still can't play very well but I understand how the system works - and that's half the battle. He loved the old Hofner and loved to play it at those lessons.

Although I've started to play the saxophone seriously again I love that old Hofner. It is now quite a rare old thing, and I pick it up, however briefly, most days and have a quiet strum.

It's the very least I can do -  we go back a long way..............................

RADIO DAYS !!

                         

                                     

I love to read Beeker's blog and recently she did a piece on Radio as a medium - you will find it here :- http://beeker.typepad.com/beeker_ideas/2007/01/theres_lots_of_.html

In it she says " there's something about it (Radio) that means tradition and nostalgia in a good way"..................

Radio for me conjures up all sorts of memories of life in the late 40s and 50s growing up in Ireland.

My father, who was in the British Merchant Navy brought home our very first radio in 1947. It was an American 'Philco' and was, of course electric.But we didn't have electricity in those days (we used gas supplied by the local gasworks) - so we sat and admired the radio for a few days. Then amid great excitement my Uncle Mike changed the transformer and rigged up a collection of wet and dry batteries, switched on, and we were in business !!

Me and my brothers loved that old radio - it opened up a whole new world of entertainment to us. We got the Radio Times every week and there was sport,music,plays and radio serials like ' Dick Barton - Special Agent'. I remember listening to a crackly broadcast from America of the world heavyweight title fight between the legendary Joe Louis and Jersey Joe Walcott in 1947.

By today's standards reception was not great. Unfortunately, the batteries ran down regularly and usually when there was something special to listen to.

When "Rural Electrification" came to town and the old Philco with its batteries bit the dust and we acquired our first electric "Pye" radio.Thereafter radio became an integral part of our lives.

Sunday mornings when my mother would be preparing lunch or baking a cake she would always listen to Family Favourites on the BBC (this was a request program for soldiers serving in Germany). This was followed by the Billy Cotton Band Show. In the Summer days in June at teatime we would listen to the broadcasts from Wimbledon with players such as Jaroslav Drobney,Pancho Gonzales,Hoad and Rosewall - long before Bjorn, Connors or McEnroe came along.

There were some revolutionary comedy programs like 'Round the Horne' ,Hancock's Half Hour and the Goon Show. Later Radio Luxembourg arrived with the Top Twenty and then came Pirate Radio operating from various ships off-shore. I heard Elvis, Johnny Cash, Bill Haley and the Comets and the Beatles for the first time on radio.

Apart from all the nostalgic memories I still love radio and I was delighted when my wife gave me a DAB radio at Christmas last year - perfect reception and no batteries...!!!!

SURPRISE , SURPRISE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was going to be one of those quiet weekends - apart from John and

Cathy's party on Saturday night I would have plenty of time to work on my next post.

I had spent the previous weekend celebrating my birthday - out to lunch with the family and then a lovely relaxed afternoon in the garden with them.

I should have seen it coming though!!

Over the past few weeks the signs were there along the way - the phone calls when the caller hung up as soon as I answered - the old friends who would normally linger for a chat, were suddenly having to dash off. OK I thought, maybe I am just getting old and paranoid - not to worry I'll just get on with what I do.

So on Saturday evening I got into my version of glad rags and set off with " Joanski" (my wife) for John and Cathy's party at the golf club.

When we walked in through the curtains an enormous cheer went up -  and I still thought they were mistaking us for someone else - and then they sang a rousing version of " Happy Birthday Dear Harry " ................ and then the penny dropped !!!!!!

It was a wonderful evening - and I was so touched that so many people travelled long distances to come and celebrate with me. Debbie our eldest daughter came all the way from Bermuda with the family and hid out in an hotel for a couple of days trying to avoid my usual haunts. There was a large contingent from Ireland including my brother and his wife,nephews and nieces and some other old and valued friends. There were all our close friends and many of my golfing mates.

Many stayed over for the weekend so the socialising continued into Tuesday.

I never got my post written  - but I had the time of my life !!!! .

I marvel now at Joanski's organisational skills ably assisted by our family. So many people were in on it that it was a miracle nobody dropped a clue .

Or maybe I'm just getting slow ...................................

Clarinet Hero

YouTube is a treasure trove of musical videos and I'm enjoying the search for some of my favourite musicians. Here is one of my real clarinet heros. He has his own style, wonderful technique and a tone to die for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61WTC4vTot0

I had hoped to embed the video - without success so far - but I hope the link works.

THE RUMOUR IS TRUE ..........!!!!!!

Yep, the rumour is true - I've got a blog. Paul gave it to me as a present for my birthday last Sunday.

I have no idea yet what I'm going to write about. I love the challenge of it but I must admit to strong feelings of apprehension at this stage. I suppose the worst that can happen is that nobody reads it, although I can pretty well rely on the family !

A few facts at the outset :

I've just turned 70 and whereas I have no intention of winding down, there will be times when I may not know what I'm talking about. As Groucho said ' if I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself' !!

I have failed dismally so far to embed a video despite Paul's list of instructions - I need serious help....................!

and finally I work on a PC , not your white hot Mac - but I'll press on, there's much to be done.

See you around !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!