It's the little things...

Playlist
Tangerine Dream The Virgin Years: 1977-1983
Chicago Chicago IV : At Carnegie Hall

This leaf has now been on the back path for at least 21 days...

I like it...

And I like doing this with early morning skies...

...as I make my way into town...

A walk to the East End at lunchtime and a tasty prawn salad from M&S...

Passed Charlotte Square on the way back...

On the bus home, I told the belligerent guy next to me to get his muddy boots off the seats...

After protesting that the sign on the window, designed to discourage passengers from such behaviour, as "stupid" and making the excuse that he needed his feet up on the seats "to hold his newspaper flat" he acceded to my request and removed the offensive items from the seats...

The remainder of the journey was frosty but, for me, triumphant...

It's the little things...

The leaf was still there when I got home...

...as was Anne's very tasty spicy lamb casserole (including spice from London's Borough Market)...

...and as was this, from behind the door...

...still the top selling 4LP box set ever...

Very much enjoyed this tonight, along with some comedic telly - "Two Broke Girls", "Brooklyn Nine Nine", the not quite as good as those "Marry Me" and "Charlie Booker's TV Wipe" - all of which reminds me that, recently, I have forgotten to mention the very funny "Catastrophe"...

Ended Thursday with the usual helping of "This Week", having avoided "Question Time" by listening to more Chicago...

I've gone a bit frenzied for their 70's output it seems...

Not to worry, it's better than putting your feet on the seats on a bus...

Highlight of the Day : Live Chicago, and Anne's spicy lamb casserole...

Children's drawings are usually not very good...

Playlist
Kiss - Alive II
Kiss - Love Gun
Elbow - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
Chicago - The Best Of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition
Santana - The Ultimate Collection
The Decemberists - Castaways And Cutouts
Far East Family Band - Parallel World
Garbage - Absolute Garbage
Fine Young Cannibals - The Finest
B Fleischmann - I'm Not Ready For the Grave Yet
Grand Theft Bus - Made Upwards
Latitudes - Individuation
Bi Kyo Ran - Live Vol. 4 - Crimson Covers
The Most Serene Republic - Population
The Mountain Movers - We've Walked In Hell And There Is Life After Death
Murcof - The Versailles Sessions
Pilgrimage - 9 Songs Of Ecstasy
Polytechnic - Down Til Dawn
Portico - First Neighbours
Stars - Set Yourself On Fire
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
Bruce Cockburn - Dart To The Heart
Bruce Cockburn - The Charity of Night
Egg - The Civil Surface
Faultline - Closer Colder

Frosty this morning, Alice Cooper's 67th birthday...

The walking continued...

Other than that, not much to report...

"Wolf Hall" continued to entertain and piqued my interest in the reign of Henry VIII...

One of my earliest "artistic" memories is drawing a picture of him - or rather copying a picture of him from a book of British Kings and Queens...

I was probably around seven or eight years old and seem to recall it being rather good...

It was probably shit though...

There you go...

Also spent some time this evening listening again to the recently compiled pile of CDs taken from the pile of to be rejected CDs, giving them a second chance as it were...

Highlight of the Day : Wolf Hall...

After all, humans are animals too...

Playlist
Tangerine Dream - Poland
Creek - Creek 2015
Ter Veldhuis - Complete Solo Piano Music
Kiss - Revenge
Jeroen Van Veen - Ten Holt: Minimal Piano Collection Vol X
Jeroen Van Veen - Meijering: Minimal Piano Collection Vol XV
Kiss - Love Gun
Kiss - Kiss Gold
Elbow - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything

Walking again this morning...

...under even better skies than yesterday...

At lunchtime, along Dalry, looking for leads required for work on the new Creek music but to no avail...

...although two discs were found at the British Heart Foundation for just two hundred and ninety nine of your English pence each...

With those in my pocket I made my way home in the dark...

The beast was about its business...

...and these were enjoyed...

Kiss's "Love Gun", definitely a "play loud" LP but still sounds tame versus "Alive II"...

..and Elbow's from last year - don't know why i didn't buy it then - it's very good indeed...

Telly enjoyed, the second of the last "Silent Witness" and Tivo'd "Death in Paradise" and a lovely documentary asking if animals fall in love...

Well of course they do...

After all, humans are animals too...

All that and the return of Thai Chicken Curry - small portions of course - but, get this, the green variety - yum...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : The sky in the morning...

Back in the zone...

Playlist
Klaus Schulze - X
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Betonmusik 2015
Chicago - Chicago VIII
GoGo Penguin - V 2.0
Chicago - Chicago II
Tangerine Dream - Poland
Tangerine Dream - Electronic Meditation
Tangerine Dream - Alpha Centauri
Tangerine Dream - Atem
Tangerine Dream - Zeit
Chicago - Chicago IX : Greatest Hits 69-74
Tangerine Dream - The Seven Letters From Tibet
Mozart - Aldo Ciccolini : The Best Piano Sonatas

A Monday morning and I have been lax now since the lows of the end of November...

December was a bad month and January was a plateau...

Time to get back down...

Accordingly, a nice walk this morning....

And at lunchtime too - along to Fopp (no purchases) and a wee salad at M&S...

Home in the blurry dark...

...to find the gap filling "Poland" behind the door while Anne zumba'd...

"Electronic Meditation" is on order for a, likewise, couple of quid...

I have a rip of "EM" and had a download of "P" but these official discs will give me the full Tower of the Tangs from 1970 through to 1988...

Late on, news that pianist Aldo Ciccolini had passed away in his 90th year - a good innings as they say...

It was his interpretations of Erik Satie which first drew me to the Frenchman's oeuvre...

I found this in the collection though...

...and gave it a spin in memory of the old guy...

And so it goes...

Highlight of the Day : Getting back in the zone...

Attempted jettison commencement...

Playlist
Golden Earring - Moontan (European Version)
Various - January Hit Singles 1961-2015
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Atomic Rooster - Atomic Roooster
Van Der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Betonmusik 2015
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightlive
GoGo Penguin - V 2.0
The Jazz Crusaders - The Young Rabbits (LP)
Paul Chambers/John Coltrane - High Step (LP)
Wayne Shorter - Introducing Wayne Shorter
Valgeir Sigurðsson - Architecture Of Loss
David Ackles - American Gothic
Tori Amos - Gold Dust
Aqualung - Memory Man
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Audience - Friends, Friends, Friend
Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Second Wind
The Black Keys - Attack & Release
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People

Good moon today...

These have been treated...

...to bring out the markings...

Pretty hung over this morning after a very late rise...

Listening to the recordings of my last two CBQ live sets from, now, almost three years ago, made me think about perhaps playing again...

Along with that, Creek is back it seems, Capital Models may rise again and there is even some movement on Crazy Wisdom - strange times indeed...

Watched the the League Cup semi-final, the first ever meeting of Glasgow Celtic and The Rangers...

Many fans of The Rangers seemed to believe they stood a chance...

However, given Celtic have thrashed Hearts this season, it seemed mad for them to do so? Did they think St Mirren would have beaten Celtic?

The Rangers had no chance unless Celtic somehow imploded...

They didn't have a single shot on goal throughout the 90 minutes and Celtic won 2-0 but could've easily been 5-0 up by half time (headed miss, through on goalie miss, strange ref decision re Griffiths clean through)...

All the analysis in the world can't disguise the fact that, right now, The Rangers are a second division team just like Hearts, Hibs, QoS and Falkirk - none of whom would beat the 'tic without a huge helping of luck...

The Light Blues still got a long way to go but they're at a disadvantage because, for some strange reason, it seems to take millions of pounds for The Rangers to be on a par with clubs like Hibs, QoS or Falkirk (not to mention a country mile behind Hearts)...

While enjoying a couple of jazz LPs, some work on collating CDs which may be jettisoned in one way or another...

To Anne's mum's for tea - no visit to mine as she had called first thing to advise under the influence of the lurgi and does not wish to pass on - very considerate...

Rafa the Dog was present this evening... 

..for the Exec Producer's birthday tea...

...of steak pie and cake...

 ...not concurrently...

Kitty was back too...

...and interest was shown in the calendar containing various family portraits, which Anne and I gave her mum at Xmas...

Back home for the last "Last Tango in Paris", the footie highlights and some late on listening to some CDs from the pile of rejects which may deserve a second chance...

Highlight of the Day : CD sorting...