happy days toy town

 those pesky kids eh? fancy photo-shopping my face onto the picture of that daft bloke wearing his mr's 'onesy' and joke feet slipper's, i mean, as if i would ever wear anything like that and expose it to the blogosphere, ahem, anyway, heres a quick look at my gifts received on xmas day from my family and friends, the 'loveless's bar' neon sign was a stroke of genius by mr's b, the jarno saarinen dvd brilliant, i'm a sucker for books too, [i read everything thats put in front of me, always have, always will i guess, i even read the back of the porridge box every morning whilst i'm waiting for the microwave to 'ping'] the casey stoner book, the johnny cash autobiography, dennis hopper's amazing story should prove to be an eye-popper, two northern soul books, [so many memories] and 'that near-death experience' the story of four riders competing at the world's greatest roadrace, the isle of man tourist trophy races, then there's the music, led zeppelin's classic live bbc sessions,  previously only available as poor quality bootleg's sold on at record fairs, finally given the release they deserve, a double eels live release, [saw 'e' live earlier at rock city in nottingham with jess, a great gig indeed] and some blues from old seasick steve himself, and then? well, that only leaves the dvd 'the miners campaign tapes' a 'secret' collection of video tape footage that a group of independent film makers took back in 1984 at the height of the strike, fascinating viewing to those of us who lived through those dark days and certainly not easy to watch, from the picket lines to the marches to the infamous 'battle of orgreave' to quote david peace from an article published in the 'new statesman' from 1st march, 2004, it may give you a taste of why i feel so passionate about this slice of british history........'twenty years ago, there was sacfrifice. twenty years ago there was selflessness. not in a novel. not in a film. but in great britain. in this country. in 1984...in great britain, in 1984, people might have done things differently, but the past is not a foreign country. the people who lived and died there are not strangers. they are our people, us and it is our country. then and now, right or wrong, we are shoulder to shoulder.'