Greets peeps. Well, just when you thought Spring was around the corner, more white stuff falls from the sky and puts everything back a few weeks. On top of this I've been beleagured by tech-problems of one kind or another recently. The battery that powers the Sonic Chariot's engine decided to give up the ghost a few nights back. The freezing fog that had settled around Chéz Sonique probably didn't help matters but it was particularly annoying because the component in question was less than a year old, and I don't like having to walk anywhere if it can be avoided.
I also have an ongoing problem with AOL, my ISP. I cannot get online from my main computer despite the little flashing green light on my wireless router telling me that I actually am. A forty minute pep-talk, paid for by me, with an otherwise very personable AOL tech-chap in India also proved to be a complete waste of time. A new ISP may be on the cards very soon I think. If anyone out there has any recommendations in this area, please let me know.
Aside from these petty annoyances, I'm looking forward to the Spring now. I've had enough of damp and darkness; soon I shall bestride the Earth in sonic shorts, boys and girls.

G'day boys and girls. Moving very slowly into January and 2010 over here. Like most other burrowing marsupials, I'm in semi-hibernation mode at this bleak juncture in the calendar, so I'm hardly at my most alert or motivated. Slowly but surely though, this will change.
Sub-zero temperatures haven't helped of course. It's as cold right now as I can ever recall it being, but as y'all know, it's Forever Summer in my mind. This is no easy task I can tell you. I mean, just take a look at that pic up there. A time-worn snapshot of post WW1-era smalltown, hard-times Britain. Nah, a pic taken from the doorway of my local Sainsbury's earlier today.
That's the state of play in Cruel Britannia as I type, pop-kids. As Daphne Du Maurier once wrote, it's grim Up North. However, years of yogic discipline and self-deprivation have given yours truly the ability to completely blank out my immediate surroundings at will and mentally repair to my favourite sun-lounger on Sonic Beach, far away in time. This is why I'm such a sunny, warm, agreeable person, pretty much all the time. Seriously, anyone who knows me would tell you the same.
Peace, out.

And lo, Cruel Britannia did completely close down and grind to a halt. Because of snow and ice. In January. Who could've seen that coming? Schools closed, cars abandoned, airports shut down. All for the lack of some grit being thrown on the roads, from what I can see.
And with that opening observation, bang goes one of my Nu-Year's resolutions - ie, not moaning about the weather. The sad truth is, I enjoy it too much. It's one of life's pleasures for us hard done-to Brits. So as long as cold weather in winter continues to be headline news over here, I'll feel justified in moaning about it.
In other news I'm currently in the process of assembling another mix for your Nu-Year's delectation, which I'll be posting as soon as it's finished. Ok, Forward my little friends...

Some things continue to amaze, year in, year out. Like the apparent surprise expressed by councils the length and breadth of Cruel Britannia that snow and ice might actually be a reality in December. Like the scenes of near-riot in any given supermarket or department store on any given day in the lead-up to Christmas. It seems to begin slightly earlier every year.
Anyhoo, my up-at-the-crack-of-dawn-to-shop approach (see previous post) worked in the end, and I pretty much have everything done that needs to be done. Plus I managed to traverse Satan's Slip-Road (Southern readers: the M62) without too much grief earlier today. Never a relaxing trip at the best of times.
Of course, in accordance with government guidelines, I'd packed a thermos of coffee, some blankets, stout walking-boots, some flares (no, not the trousers) and a supply of glucose tablets, just in case of climatic Armageddon. Over here, you just never know.
Ok, onward into the Season of Goodwill we go.

The scene at 7.30am this morning, as I trudged my way through the local streets to go swimming with the dolphins. Yes, you read it correctly dear reader. Swimming. I even opted to travel on foot, as the Sonic Chariot was sufficiently buried in ice that I decided to let the sun do all the hard work later in the day.
Let's face it, I'm about to spend the next week laying on a settee in the land of my forefathers, with a TV-remote in one hand, a flagon of wine in the other and a vast tin-box full of Cadbury's Roses on my chest. Just like it says we must in The Bible. So in preparation for this joyous celebration, I figure it's probably best to snatch a few minutes of rogue exercise while I can...catch my body all unawares, like.
I also have some last-minute-but-crucial Yuletide shopping to do, which will see me in the local town centre tomorrow before sun-up.
I actually tried this earlier today. Drove 5 miles, parked the SC near as possible to town, walked for 20 minutes and, upon arriving in Leeds, was presented with what looked like a series of out-takes from a George Romero flick. Queues everywhere. Queues to join queues. I turned on my heels and headed back the way I'd come, without so much as a greetings card to show for it.
Tomorrow I shall repeat the exercise but at a ridiculously early hour, before the Army of the Undead have risen, and begin their day's shopping. I shall report back.

Ok mon petit blogettes, as mentioned in the previous post, I've been putting together a Yuletide music mix, and there it is, over there on the right. Click on the green arrow to listen, click on the link below to see track-listing and download. I tells ya pop-kids, some of those selections are not easy to find these days. The Bebop Santa Claus has long been a Festive favourite of mine, and I never get tired of listening to Porky Pig's reading of Blue Christmas. Lou Rawls, The Ronettes, White Stripes, Little Cindy, the Brady Bunch and more. All the greats in one 26-track long Festive procession of Yuletide jollity.
I actually compiled this because I can never find a Christmas selection that I like enough to buy, so here's the answer. Lovingly crafted by my own fair hands, and free for y'all to download - until Twelfth Night that is, as tradition decrees. Enjoy.