The 42nd Post.

Well it's been a very strange and very difficult year.
I've been going through a personal situation that has had an impact on those around me and am coming out the other side having to make changes.
I have had lots of help and support on the way, and thank those that have been there for me.
2017 will start a new chapter for me. I won't write my usual list of things I hope to achieve or look back at the things I failed to get done last year. I'll be kind to myself and look to next year as being one of sorting myself out.
Anything else that happens will be a bonus.
See you in 2017.

It's good to take off your helm, put down you staff
and just sit back and enjoy a bottle of pop.
Even if you're the Norse God of Mischief. 

Last Collage Postcard of the year to Jemma.

I quite like this one.
I love the retro feel of the spaceman, trapped in time.

I've no idea where I cut him from, some old annual or other.
I was really pleased that the whole things survived the postal service as the TICK and TOCK are bit of car that are not flush with the postcard itself and therefore I thought they might get knocked off.
They didn't.

Photos from the year.

As is typical, I took quite a few photos over the year, it's so much easier with the phones we have these days.

and just as typically I ended up deleting a lot of them in order to make space on the iPhone for useful (and some not so useful) applications.

These few survived though and I guess it's a good indication that I like them in that I deleted quite a lot but always kept these safe. I guess it's my way of editing.

Listen Without Prejudice...

Sometime late in the 20th Century I was at a loss as to what to buy in the local HMV and came across this.
I wasn't a big fan of George Michael.
I wasn't a big fan of the sort of music that you're expected to jump up and dance to.
I remember a sales assistant wandering past as I was about to put it back and saying, 'That's a great album ... nothing like his other stuff ... but still great'.
I was intrigued.
I looked at the title and decided to follow its request... or demand.
It's one of my favourite CDs.
Very moody ... mostly acoustic (I think) ... well written ... thought provoking.
I often wonder why George didn't continue in the vein. He obviously had a great talent.
Maybe the expectations of the masses (I don't think this was as commercially successful as the more 'dance' oriented CDs were) drove him in a different direction.
He's gone now.
No chance of a Listen Without Prejudice Vol 2.
I'll just have to be content that he gave us Vol 1.

If it be your will, that he speaks no more...

There have been a lot of celebrity deaths this year but the one that effected me the most happened a month or so ago.

I think Leonard Cohen was the first artist I followed for their lyrics.
Growing up I'd always listened to the words being sung as much as the voice and music bringing them to life and tended to like the more thoughtful songs, The Trees by Rush ... Mutually Assured Destruction by the Ian Gillen Band and pretty much the entire Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd but with Leonard the words were just so earthy. They had a beauty to them that was always at odds with what they were saying.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed,
Everybody knows that the war is over,
Everybody knows that the good guys lost.

Sure his voice wasn't perfect, although I'd argue that it probably was for his songs, but his songs were. I think he must be one of the most 'covered' artists out there, which talks to the respect held for him by other artists.

I always welcomed a new album as there were always a couple of gems in there, and such is the case with the album released shortly before his death.

I never got to see him perform live but his CDs are never far from my CD player.

His songs will last forever I think ... not a bad legacy.

Invisible Card...err Man Card.

Another collage post card for my daughter.
This one on the great H.G. Wells book The Invisible Man.

First step was finding an appropriate image, cutting out one of the characters and sticking the result on the original Penguin cover post card.
Then cut out the title from letters in the same source book.
Before...

cutting out the card behind the Invisible Man ... so you can see through him in the real world.
And then simply put some dialogue on it.

Just add a message to Jemma on the back, her address and a stamp (which I did forget with one card) and send it on its way.
I did wonder about how this one would travel,
Whether it would survive.
Seems it was received in good condition.

Was it really 2 years ago ?

Well the CD is great of course but, as I knew would be the case, it really doesn't go anywhere near capturing the event.
As I listen to the tracks I can still remember the night itself, marvelling at how things played out in front of me.
I do wonder how people will respond to the CDs without that reference.
And am glad that I was there.