The other day, on my daily walk (weather permitting), I met a bee. A big, fat bumble bee. The first of the year. And, when I got home, an email informed me that our Little Big Band will be starting rehearsals again soon, now that the Covid-19 restrictions are easing. Better start practicing again, I…Read more A Taste of Honey
1960s
Time of the Season
Time takes its toll on all mechanical things. Sooner or later the cog wheels become clogged with a sticky gunge, the hands on the clock face slow to a crawl and the pendulum shudders to a halt. And what applies to the steady tick-tock of a grandfather clock also applies to the fast spinning disks…Read more Time of the Season
Fire
The end of the year is a time for looking back. Today I'm going back 50 years, almost to the dawn of the Crotchety Man era. It's 1968, a time when experimentation in pop music was the order of the day and a slew of highly original acts flourished. One of the most flamboyant of…Read more Fire
Lily the Pink
Important Announcement: There will be no Track of the Week this week as Crotchety Man is indisposed. He is suffering from a bad case of this year's seasonal ailment and has completely run out of medicinal compounds. In the meantime, here is a very silly piece of sixties nostalgia, curtesy of The Scaffold, the comedy,…Read more Lily the Pink
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Sometimes it's easy to choose a track of the week. More often it's hard. This morning was shaping up to be one of those difficult days. The Crotchety Couple have had a few days in which nothing quite goes according to plan. On Monday we went to a Christmas Carnival. Going via my dad's it…Read more Theme for an Imaginary Western
Pentecost Hotel
It's been a busy week here at Crotchety Mansions and the old blogger is rather tired today. So for this Track of the Week I'm going back to a familiar song from 1967, one that I don't have to think too hard about. Pin back your lugholes, listeners, as we visit the Pentecost Hotel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEz9kMSczg…Read more Pentecost Hotel
Proud Mary
Yesterday the sun was out, the sky was clear and the birds were singing. Today, the forecasters assure us, will be just as nice. And tomorrow is likely to be the warmest Spring Bank Holiday there has ever been. Feeling unusually full of life the Crotchety Couple set about weeding the garden and cleaning the…Read more Proud Mary
Days of Pearly Spencer
Sometimes I feel I'm losing the will to live. It's usually when I'm ironing - shirts are so darn fiddly, aren't they? So I do my ironing weekday afternoons between 1 and 4 pm so that I can listen to the Radcliffe and Maconie show on the radio. They play some good music and…Read more Days of Pearly Spencer
River Man
I don't have much to say about this Track of the Week. So, instead, here's a silly little ditty about the Chinese fisherman's friend, the cormorant. The common cormorant, or shag, Lays eggs inside a paper bag. The reason you will see, no doubt, Is to keep the lightning out. But what these unobservant birds…Read more River Man
Mr. Tambourine Man
When he was about seven Little Boy Crotchety had a part in the school play. Sitting cross-legged on the floor he used an enormous silver cardboard needle to stitch some invisible cloth, while the narrator introduced him as the tailor. I don't remember what the plot was or even why it required a tailor. I…Read more Mr. Tambourine Man
