Do you need a break? From what?
I genuinely can’t remember any time in my life when the news has been so relentlessly depressing. You have, perhaps, the worst leader of any major country in my lifetime. I mean, there have been some bad ones and some awful ones, but he breaks new ground every day. He’s actually turned me away from the entire population of his country, because they either voted for him or didn’t try hard enough to stop him.
You see, this is the issue. I go into ‘rant mode’ when I watch the news. If it isn’t the Mango Moron, it’s the fact that there is barely a decent human being with money or power on the planet. It’s a planet that’s dying because the leaders of so many countries and the people within those countries want it to. They don’t care about catastrophic climate change as long as they can sit in front of their TV and get everything delivered. Yes, I am ranting again!
Looking at the world as a whole I have never been so negative about it’s present or future and that is saying something. I would love for the news to be banned for a month and for those people who populate and poison my screen to be denied the oxygen of publicity. If anyone remembers the derivation of that phrase you will get an idea of who I equate pretty much every modern politician to. If not, pop the phrase into the search bar.
So, there you have it. I need a break from the news, and while I have you here I will tell you my own theory about the news. When we went from 3 news bulletins a day to 24 hour news was when everything in the world started to get worse because the nature of 24 hour news requires it. Instead of real news we got speculation, talking heads and barely disguised hatred for anything and everything filling up the day. If anyone had an extreme view they were rushed onto screen at the expense of people who were thoughtful, intelligent and moderate. Once that happened the extremists gathered pace and the rest is history.
When I restarted this blog, just under 4 years ago, my first post was The Sound of Silence which recounted my experience of dealing with deafness. It was about 6 months that time for reasons that I went into in the article. This time round will be a short visit of about a week or so, with a syringing at the GPs surgery booked for next Wednesday. This is particularly fortunate as I have a play to go to with my daughter on Wednesday evening and an interview booked on Thursday morning!
When it happened first time, I was completely disorientated as I had never experienced anything like it before, and I was worried about how I would cope with my teaching. Now, I was lucky because my teaching was fully online and I could hear and communicate through my headset when on the computer and by the time I went back face to face the situation had been sorted out. This time, I have no teaching which is lucky because if I was face to face in a classroom I simply would not have been able to do my job. I would have had to go off sick and my colleagues would have borne the brunt. With no one relying on me at work, and the household not relying on my earnings, I have been more relaxed and more able to put things into perspective. So, what are my reflections this time with the benefit of experience?
I suppose the first thing is that I realise I can cope as I have done so before. The TV has subtitles, which I tend to use anyway, but which are an absolute boon for anyone who is hard of hearing. Actually, watching sport has become more pleasurable as I don’t have to put up with the awful commentators these days! Honestly, there isn’t a single one anywhere near the standard of those I grew up with in the 70s and 80s. Either they never shut up or they make comments that are so simplistic they are an insult to your intelligence. Obviously, music is out, but as it’s for a short time I can deal with it. WhatsApp allows my wife and daughter to send me messages to circumvent the process of repeating themselves or using semaphore! I can use the phone on loudspeaker in my house, though not outside because I detest everyone who does that whether on public transport or in the street! It really is the height of rudeness. We don’t want to listen to your music, TV show, film, game or conversation so show some consideration! Where was I before I so rudely interrupted myself?! I do use the self checkout at my local Tesco from time to time, but today it was a real benefit and it made me think of people who, for whatever reason, would find it stressful to go through a regular checkout. It’s not an innovation without its drawbacks, but it really can reduce your dependence on others. I am finding Duolingo more difficult particularly when you have to identify the sound or word spoken! To be honest, it’s a guess half the time, and I’m about 50/50 these days. Calm is fine because it isn’t always a necessity to follow every word. It’s more about the feeling of relaxing and working with your breath.
One thing I have noticed is that I am much more likely to sleep through the night because, of course, nothing disturbs me. Oddly, I think that Albus has realised that I can’t hear, because the last couple of nights he has jumped up on me in bed because I can’t hear him scratching the runner in the hallway which usually works very well! I am sleeping more soundly anyway because my new exercise routine of two days dumbbell exercises followed by a day of Yoga to help with my currently appalling balance, is definitely making me more tired as I get used to it. (More details on that when I do my look back at February.) I am also reading at different times of the day once I get bored of silent television, which is good for me in terms of less screen time and more relaxation.
Looking back at what I’ve just written, I realise I am making it sound like a bit of a breeze. It definitely isn’t. It’s frustrating, isolating to an extent and a real nuisance in terms of keeping up with what’s going on around me. I am doing things that don’t require spoken communication, and when you lose the ability to interact that way, you really notice it. If I was facing six months of this like last time I would no doubt be much less sanguine. Once again, it makes me realise what a gift the sense of hearing is. Without it, we live quiet isolated and sadder lives.
The most important invention in your lifetime is…
The invention that has completely changed the world and our behaviour is the mobile phone. It is a combination of old and new ideas and technology, with telephone communications being very well established for over a century before being combined with the increasingly rapid development of microchips.
When I look back at my teens and twenties my life was completely different to my own children’s lives. I would be out of contact with my parents for hours on end and they wouldn’t be even slightly concerned, because it was completely normal. In my late teens I would often be out of the house pretty much all weekend and my parents would assume that I was with one of my friends. If they got worried they could always ring up on the home phone and check, but to be honest after I got to 18 they weren’t in the slightest bit concerned.
When I was at Staffordshire Polytechnic I was totally reliant on phone boxes as I didn’t have a phone at home. If there was someone in the nearest phone box you either queued up or you went to find another one as they were quite common throughout the country. Things improved when we got a home phone but even then, costs were really high at certain times of the day and week so if you were on a tight budget you were really restricted to phoning people at the weekend. Any other time would count as urgent or even an emergency.
Looking back, it was in Japan that I think life and my contacts with people would have been so different. A phone call in Japan that came from overseas would be an emergency option only. Making a call back to the UK was a similar emergency option and whoever was calling would be spending a huge amount of money per minute so conversation was purposeful, quick and specific. The only other option was a letter so if you were no good at writing those contact withered. Now, there was a clear element of out of sight, out of mind as well because you were in a country your friends could barely picture living a life completely different from them. However, a mobile phone and a WhatsApp group would almost certainly have ensured that a number of my former friends would have stayed in touch.
We often talk about the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phone technology but it is to my mind the single most important development of my lifetime. In pure impact nothing has come close, not even the home computer. I think, on balance, I would say it has been a positive development but you have to use it really carefully or it will use you!
Just a final thought. I have two blocked ears, which I will get sorted out next Wednesday, but the mobile phone is a real lifeline for me. My family can WhatsApp me and it saves the shouting or sign language! Without the phone things would currently be far more difficult.
The Book
The subtitle of this book is Inventing Electronic Pop 1978 – 1983, and if that was all that Richard Evans did, the book would be excellent, but he covers so much more ground, putting the music in it’s correct musical, cultural and historical context, that the book is absolutely indispensable for any serious music lover.
Evans begins with David Bowie who was clearly a massive influence on the generation of musicians that came of age in the late 70s and early 80s. The ‘Starman’ performance on Top of the Pops was seminal for so many reasons and Gary Numan, Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and Marc Almond of Soft Cell were all enthralled by Bowie’s stage craft and sound. All four, of course, became major contributors to the electronic music boom of the late 70s and early 80s. It is early on that the real strength of the book becomes clear. There are very few new recollections, and the primary sources include music magazines whose contemporary interviews and record reviews give a fascinating insight into how the developing genre was regarded at the time. Numan himself got a thorough critical mauling pretty much from day 1 as most of the critics fell over themselves to make snide jokes and to dismiss him as lucky or fraudulent. He wouldn’t be the last to be completely misrepresented by Melody Maker and NME in particular. The great thing to reflect on is that reviewers like Sunie, Pete Silverton and Tony Rayns, to take random examples from the many quoted in the book, have disappeared into well merited obscurity whilst the acts they pilloried week after week have delighted millions across the globe. This reliance on primary sources is what makes this book so good. This is not opinion dressed up as fact, nor is it reliant on unreliable memories of 40 or 50 years ago, it is historically and culturally accurate and takes the reader back to the original events and reactions as they happened.
As you read through the book, old memories are rekindled of course, but much more often I found myself saying, ‘I didn’t know that’ or ‘I don’t remember that track’ or ‘I don’t remember that band at all’! It was a delight for me as a massive electronic music fan to find out how much I had no idea of. It makes this an absolute delight of a read for even an armchair ‘expert’ which you quickly realise you definitely are not! The writing is accessible, enjoyable, surprising, amusing and takes what could be a very dry reeling off of facts and figures and gives us more twists and turns than many fiction books. Even if you are not a reader of music books, because you prefer to listen to it rather than understand the context, and I know plenty of music lovers who are not interested in anything from this genre, please give ‘Listening To The Music The Machines Make’ a go. I can’t guarantee Richard Evans will change your mind, but he will give it more of a go than pretty much any music writer I have ever read.
The Playlist
I was at the end of the first couple of chapters when I thought that I could have a go at making a playlist for the book. It’s something I enjoy doing in a variety of situations, but this is definitely a first for a book. Originally, I was just thinking of picking out songs I enjoyed, but then I realised that the whole book was a voyage of discovery so the playlist must be as well. Accordingly, I chose no less than 80 tracks, 16 of which (20%) were songs I had never listened to. When I listen to these songs for the first time I will be broadening my horizons musically in a way I never anticipated. The playlist is just under 6 hours long and follows the book, very largely, on its journey, only choosing the tracks specifically mentioned in the text and with only a couple of exceptions mirror their order in the text. The playlist covers exactly 60 years with the earliest track being Telstar by The Tornados from 1962, and the latest being The Purple Zone by Soft Cell and Pet Shop Boys from 2022! The Spotify link is below, so please feel free to save it, like it and share it, but most of all enjoy it.
Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.
One of my biggest problems has always been an inability to be satisfied with days that other people might consider ideal. I can see things that could have been even better and I have tended to focus on little irritations or problems that have robbed me of the feeling of an ideal day. A transport issue, a small disagreement or a perception of things being too expensive have always derailed me.
However, in the past year or so I have been making a real effort to appreciate what is happening in the moment. Two days recently come to mind as being close to ideal.
First there was the trip to Stonehenge to walk inside the Stone Circle. It was a morning of magic, peace and happiness, a feeling of coming face to face with an incredible construction whose magic reaches across the millenia. Having the opportunity to explore this incredible monument was an absolute privilege.
Second was our trip to the Salzburg Christmas Market which took place on a day which started with some flakes of snow to add a little touch of festive magic in November. The market was another piece of magic with an atmosphere of friendliness and happiness from everyone around. It was the most relaxed crowd I have ever been in and I loved every minute of it.
Perfect is the enemy of good and I was guilty of expecting perfection for so long. That’s not to say that I never enjoyed days for what they gave me, but I had that tendency to find fault where very little existed. My attitude has changed now and I am finding I am taking far more enjoyment from my experiences. Perhaps the most interesting element of this change is that I am looking back and realising, at last, that I did have more than my share of ideal days which I loved at the time but had recast in my mind as less enjoyable than they actually were. I am happier and now much more likely to have ideal days in many different forms.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 