And when we were young (14)

Having been pointed at the ageing (unavoidable) from yesterday's Pop Up Exhibition I thought it'd be interesting to look at how I was a number of years ago and how I viewed life when I was younger (or how I think I did).


I met with some old friends last w/e and although we're all looking approximately our ages what is more interesting (to me) is how life has changed our outlooks only a little and how in many respects  our core attitudes, characteristics  and views are sustained despite what's been thrown at us.

The get-together reminds me of 7 Up TV Programme that Granada started in the 1960's

The old Wild Men (waiting for miracles)

First thing to note is that we've been meeting on and off for over 40 years and although (even more) immature when we met our core tastes and values were I guess already formed and have merely had the rough edges smoothed a bit.

We, as a group of 8 males  were studying in Wales in 1976/77 and at that time  a University flat. Between us we had/have a number of disciplines including the 5 remain-ers (who do keep in touch) we studied   Law, Business, Engineering and Science.

I unlike the others (I think) have got myself other Academic qualifications  that are slightly beyond my field but we've all drifted/moved from what were our primary  fields.

Only 2 of our group have children - which I guess is somewhat untypical - there are amongst us two who are only children (I guess this too is slightly unusual)

We are - now I think largely financially comfortable and 'liberal' in our views of the the three who are not part of the group one is still in contract with one of us (Steve) while the other two have slipped away one was a  Brazilian (Tony)  business student another who was from East Anglia (Martin) who was also studying Law - for us as a group memories of them are fading (as you'd expect).

Another thing is that we have someone who is passionately (?) environmental in outlook and another who is more than averagely (I think) interested in Politics (with a big P) - my judgement is that those with offspring, it seems to me have more day to day matters at the centre of their thoughts


One of the things about old friends I read (by chance) ahead of meeting up was from 'The Book of Life'  about the how friendship particularly with longstanding friends is life enhancing.

The idea here is that the Friendship is about who we were - I routinely (now) think back about how a younger me might evaluate where I now am - which I am largely happy with (but hopefully not too smug about).

One of our (people in general) difficulties is knowing what goes on in each other heads- are they happy- Are they showing their true feelings?

Now a big £22.89

My judgement is that if you measure against others discontent is pretty much inevitable but looking at  how close we are to meeting our own desires may leader to a greater contentment - the issues we now will face are those around  our waning powers and the greater evidence of our own mortality.

Doors 

I think my routine will reveal some stuff through  my record of doors - I might try some sort of map to show my present day Flaneur like activity - Kensington likely to feature through my Design Museum activities.

Back near the Design Museum in Kensington

This abode  has the added element of a name -although it's not really a cottage 

BBCs, Philosophers Arms and 10cc Doc along with Red 329

10 CC

Last night I watched a BBC 4 documentary about 1970s Pop group 10cc ( I'm not in Love -The 10cc story) , as I watched my thoughts went back to the times of Vinyl, I lent a copy of the Sheet music LP  to a friend who sadly left it in the summer sun in his car and it warped fairly dramatically (he kindly replaced at the time).

During the 1970's my friends at school were a 'cliquey bunch' and a group with an unabashed  pop sensibility such as 10 cc was beyond the pale for many (at this time they were more into 'Yes' and 'Deep Purple')  strangely though  in this respect I somewhat ignored the herd and bought and enjoyed the excellent Sheet Music (Old Wild Men a favourite).

10cc's Sheet Music - a nice cover too

The  documentary was a good one and I felt  a late justification for being a fan and was also reminded of seeing the band perform while I was at University (I'm not sure if I saw them in Cardiff or Bristol but it was very good concert) - I also bought Dreadlock Holiday later period 10cc a great single .

The documentary also mentioned Jonathan King who has been for some time one of many pop unmentionables but is slowly being rehabilitated (there was argument about his appearance in a Genesis documentary ).

Seems that the Art mentality of Godley and Crème meant that the classic lineup was destined to end but during their time together they demonstrated that they were far more than the sum of their individual parts  (like some other pop groups) also nice to hear people say they were lucky and well paid for doing things they enjoyed.

A great Pub

One of my favourite BBC radio 4 programmes is the Matthew Sweet fronted  The Philosopher's Arms,  what a great pub it sounds returned yesterday for a new series and the question under conversation was as usual  a thought provoking one (lying and misleading).

I had thought I understood a little about lying but of course if we take a good look at actual norms of behaviour the idea and practice is more nuanced - is avoidance of a topic or question tantamount to a lie - should you ever lie?

My only reservation is that the excellent Matthew needs to be careful to temper the levity - a few amusing lines are great too many and the conceit of the show might be damaged..

Red 329

There was a time when the only colour LEDs could do was red.

LEDs were limited for a time