It's Me ... Again

 Welcome to South Manchester on a cold and wet November morning. On days like this I think of Guns ‘n’ Roses song November Rain because that’s what it looks like outside. The rain is cold, the sky is overcast and it looks dark despite the fact that it is midday. 

We are descending inexorably towards winter like a runaway train, which means long cold nights, dull overcast days and lots of rain and stormy weather. 

I hate winter, I really do. 

Nevertheless, there are good things on the horizon. Christmas is just around the corner and I get to escape the inhospitable weather in late January because we are off to Malaysia and Hong Kong. It is all booked and paid for and we are off for jabs next week. 

Last night I was at yet another gig, this time I was with Mrs PM and we saw Heaven 17, a pop band from the early 1980’s who were big in the UK (not sure about the rest of the world). It was a real blast from the past and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Here is an example of their work. 

Let’s dive in and answer some silly questions from Sunday Stealing. 

1. Has anyone ever told you "I love you" but you didn't say it back?

I have no idea. I hear people say “that’s why we love you” sometimes, usually when we are making fun of each other and it is nothing more than platonic tomfoolery. 

It’s a rare thing to hear somebody say “I love you” while staring deeply into your eyes. On those occasions I have actually said it back because they have been romantic situations. 

2. Do you consider yourself organized?

I am fairly organised but I can be totally disorganised. I usually know where everything is even in the chaotic parts of my house. I have several storage boxes in my loft clearly labelled to state what is inside (for example “University stuff”) and I have an “in tray” of sorts on my desk that looks disorganised but really is in a sort of chaotic order. Every so often I sort through it and put things in the places they belong. I know exactly where all of my important documents are and, for example, when I am going on a trip, I usually make sure that everything I need is ready at least a couple of days before the trip. 

3. Where do you look first when you go clothes shopping?

I tend to do my cloths shopping online these days and I usually dive in every couple of months to do this with a clear list of what I need to get. There is an exception though. My eldest son is getting married in December and I bought a new three piece suit specifically for that, which meant a trip to the shops. It was relatively easy but I realised when I was trying the thing on why I hate cloths shopping so much. 

4. Do you often reflect on your past in terms of eras or milestones ("it's been 10 years since X happened")?

I do this all the time. For example, we had a university reunion in Liverpool a couple of weeks ago and all of us were saying “It’s 41 years since we left university” and “I’ve known you for 45 years – how scary is that?”

It’s been 41 years since I started work and I retired exactly 40 years later to the actual day. You can probably work out with simple maths that I have been retired a year now. 

I will probably continue remembering my past life in terms of milestones. I think it’s the way my mind works. 

5. Were you more recently ill or injured (flu vs. twisted ankle)?

I was more recently ill – but not that ill. I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, the first one of winter. It was irritating but it didn’t stop me from doing anything. I’ve noticed a couple of people coughing recently so I imagine that another will appear in the winter months. 

Exposed

 

Welcome to a sunny South Manchester where sky is blue, the clouds are white yet the Autumn temperature is a chilly 8°C (46 °F). It’s been a busy weekend for me and that will culminate with my going to a gig this evening at the Manchester AO Arena. 

The band I am going to see is The Offspring. Do you remember them? If you don’t, here they are:

Enough of that. Let’s dive into some silly questions from Sunday Stealing. 

1. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

I think that I would be some form of cat, either a domestic cat but more likely an apex predator like a lion. Either way, I think cats have a great life. In the house they are pampered by their owners (or should I say slaves) but in the wild, the rule their environment. I think life would be good in either case. 

2. Are you generous?

I am quite generous, yes. I’m not stupid about it but I like to help people in any way I can. 

3. Of the following, which consistently gives you the most pleasure: a) music, b) money, c) books, d) science, e) spirituality, f) food and wine, g) movies?

All of them give me immense pleasure apart from, perhaps, spirituality, because I am not that spiritual. I used to be, when I was a child (as a Roman Catholic), but I have a scientific and analytical mind and spirituality and religion don’t really fit into that way of thinking.   

Money allows me to enjoy all of them so really, I guess I could argue that without that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rest of them. But I am not a greedy person and while it is nice to have money, I do not actively seek to fill my coffers out of pure voracity. I just want enough to enjoy music, books, food, wine/beer and movies. 

4. Describe your dancing ability.

I was recently at a friend’s wedding and the bride came over to me during the after wedding party. She said “Why aren’t you dancing?”.

I wanted to say “Because the music is crap!” but I didn’t. I told her that I didn’t know the song, which was, strictly speaking true because it was some hip-hop R’n’B dancey tune that I couldn’t identify. 

“That doesn’t matter,” she replied grabbing my hand. 

I couldn’t refuse to dance with the bride now, could I? It was after all her big day. 

So I joined her on the dance floor and did my usual trick which to try to listen to the words and “act them out” in a silly manner. This was difficult because I didn’t really know the words. But then a new song came on that I knew. 

And I danced to it is a really silly way. 

The bride approached me and said “You have some good moves”.

I took that as a compliment but I was just joking around. 

My style of dancing has bitten me though. At a company Christmas party several years ago, I was a little merry and I found myself dancing with a group of people to “Like a Prayer” by Madonna. I started to dance out the words and one of my mates joined in the fun. 

And then the words “I’m down on my knees I want to take you there” came out, so we both plunged to our knees.

And it bloody hurt. 

I couldn’t get up for a few seconds. My mate, who is much younger and fitter than me was back up standing, laughing his head off. I managed to stand up and Mrs PM came over and told both of us off, him for laughing and me for being a bloody idiot. I limped off the dance floor like scolded puppy.

So, yes, I can dance. I dance like an idiot but in the chaos, there are some good moves (apparently).  

5. What do you think your worst enemy really thinks of you?

I have no idea who my worst enemy is. I am sure that there are people out there who don’t like me but if I sense that in people I avoid them. They probably think that I am a weird, geeky, boring idiot. And they are probably right. But I embrace that. I am not going to change for them. 

These days I don't really car what people think of me. 

6. Can you tell when someone is lying to you?

Sometimes. I have an analytical mind so I can sometimes spot contradictions and flaws when people are lying to me.

I heard recently that the best way to tell if someone is lying to you is to stay quiet and let them slowly dig themselves into a hole. I think, as a technique, it probably works. 

7. Describe how it feels to fall in love.

It feels amazing but I can’t really tell you any specifics. It kind of looms up on you and takes you by surprise. 

8. In deadly peril, what three people would you want in a foxhole with you?

I would choose survivalist specialist Bear Grylls because he would be able to keep us alive. I would choose a young Chuck Norris character because nobody messes with Chuck Norris. Finally I would choose a medical person to sort me out if I got injured. 

This gives me an excuse to dig out some Chuck Norris facts:

Chuck Norris died twenty years ago but the Grim Reaper is too scared to tell him.

Chuck Norris created a giraffe by uppercutting a horse. 

Chuck Norris drinks napalm to fight his heartburn

Chuck Norris has counted to infinity … twice

Chuck Norris is the only man who can punch you in the back of the face

9. What is your greatest weakness?

I battle constantly with procrastination, so much so that I have mentioned it a lot on this blog. 

10. If you were to live out the rest of your life as your favourite fictional character, which would you choose?

Probably somebody with super powers. I think that Harry Keogh from the Necroscope series of books by Brian Lumley. Basically, he can talk to the dead and has used that information to be able to be able to use maths and the Möbius Continuum to teleport anywhere and anywhen. Obviously I would want to be the human version before he was turned into arguably the world’s most dangerous vampire. 

See what I mean about being weird?

Madvertising

Can I just say something? No? 

Tough – I’m going to say it anyway. Here it is:

I am bloody sick of adverts.

There – I’ve said it. 

Back in the day when I was just a kid, I didn’t mind adverts too much. Some of them were funny, some of them were interesting and I regarded them as having a purpose other than just trying to sell stuff. As I grew older, I started to hate them but I know that they served a purpose for me, though this wasn’t the purpose that the marketers intended. 

Basically, when the adverts came on, I could take a break, go to the loo, make a cup of tea, etc. without missing my favourite TV programmes. With the advent of video recorders I could record TV programmes and watch them later at my own leisure and just skip the adverts. 

That made me happy. 

These days I can download TV programmes and movies to watch and I can stream them on a variety of streaming platforms. Initially I paid good money for this and as a result I got unblemished TV content that was commercial free.

That made me extremely happy.  

Recently, though, things have become really annoying. Streaming services have upped their game and started offering cheaper tariffs – but with a catch. That catch is that you are once again bombarded with commercials. In order to remove commercials I have to fork out a lot of money and this is on top of paying for my satellite/cable service and paying the mandatory TV Licence we have in the UK. 

What is the TV Licence? In the UK the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is free of commercials because we the public have to pay an annual fee to watch it. Perhaps it was the first TV service of its kind. Even though I don’t watch the BBC as much as I used to, I still have to pay it. If you don’t pay for your TV licence, the powers that be, the TV police, can came along and either fine you £1000 (at the time of writing) or be further prosecuted. We have no choice. The money goes to the BBC who spend it on content. 

Now, if I watch something on Disney+ or Netflix with the cheaper subscription rate, I have to suffer mandatory commercials. You can’t skip them at all. Effectively I am paying to watch adverts and in order to remove them I am expected to pay a fortune. Given the number of streaming platforms, that can add up to a lot of money. 

However, these days adverts aren’t restricted to television. They are everywhere.

ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE! 

And I can’t get rid of them without paying a premium. Here are some examples:

They appear in the cinema before the movie you have paid to watch. You can avoid many of these by turning up later and hopefully missing all the adverts. 

They appear on the radio. I rarely listen to radio these days but when I do I choose BBC Radio 4, which is a news channel effectively but has no adverts. The reason I don’t listen to other stations is that most radio stations have a melange of three things that make my blood boil. First, the DJ’s are usually the kind of shiny happy people that seem to think all the listeners want to listen to their inane bullshit as they talk over records. Second, the music is not my kind of music and if by a miracle it is, the songs are spoiled and interrupted by jingles and bullshit from the DJ’s. Finally, the adverts on radio are the worst and are awful.

I watch You Tube a lot for free but this means that I have to endure adverts every couple of minutes. I like progressive rock music, which typically has longer songs and if I choose to watch, say, a Dream Theater video on You Tube that lasts 10 minutes, it is interrupted at least once with adverts. One time, I tried to use a You Tube mindfulness video to relax into to go to sleep and I was just nodding off when a bloody advert tried to persuade me to buy a new smart watch thus rendering useless the previous calming five minutes of relaxing music and guaranteeing that I was now wide awake and ranting like a banshee, which resulted in waking up Mrs PM and the cats and all the chaos that ensues when I am foolhardy enough to do that.

I am using Duolingo to help me to learn French, Spanish and German. The problem is that I spend more time watching terrible adverts for Temu and other useless apps than I do learning a new language.   

I am on Spotify and have paid for the full subscription to avoid commercials while listening to music. I am afraid that having my music interrupted by commercials is something I cannot endure. 

Other apps that I use also swamp me with terrible adverts. 

This infuriates me. 

I think we are all left with a choice. We either spend a fortune to avoid adverts or we suck it up and endure them. 

At this moment in my life, when I am a happy retired gentleman I have to learn to find the power within myself to endure these dreadful commercials because there is absolutely no way I am going to give any more of my hard-earned cash to corporations who seem to love creating the worst adverts to defecate onto my TV screen or smartphone. 

I have started making a cup of tea when the adverts come on streamed TV programmes. I have started looking at Spanish, French and German books in the minutes that are wasted by Duolingo’s adverts. 

I have found soothing commercial-free music on Spotify to help me on the way to sleep should I need to. 

I will get there but in the meantime there may be some rants along the way. 

Actually, as a final word, I can cope with spoof adverts. If there were more of these it would be much better. I’ll leave you with a couple:

Scary Shadows

Welcome to South Manchester on a Friday afternoon on Hallowe’en where the weather is not to bad – a little cloudy but rain free. 

Regular readers will know that I am not a fan of the hype that is Hallowe’en. To me it is too commercialised and American and I don’t want endless kids knocking my door saying “trick or treat”. 

I don’t mind the horror aspect of it though. Last night, for example, I watched a documentary called “Uncanny” which was really creepy and talked about a man who was being haunted by the “shadow man”, a seven foot tall figure who had no features and was described as “blacker than black” with no facial features at all, a kind of powerful-looking menacing and sinister entity that kept appearing to him after his father’s death. You could have dismissed it as imagination had several of his friends and family not seen this thing as well. 

It creeped me out and I had to watch an hour or two of comedy before I went to bed so that I could sleep easier. 

Now that is what Hallowe’en is about to me - being scared and watching scary movies and shows, not kids dressing up and asking for sweets. I guess I am the Hallowe’en equivalent of The Grinch or Ebeneezer Scrooge. I don’t care. America is welcome to this weird tradition. 

So what am I doing tonight to avoid these kids?

I’m going to Manchester city centre to have a beer and then watch, arguably the world’s greatest Abba tribute act, called “Bjorn Again” with Mrs PM and some friends. They come from Australia and have been touring the world since the late 1980’s. 

I am a closet Abba fan so I think it will be very enjoyable, certainly better than constantly answering the door to kids all night. 

Let’s answer some silly questions from Sunday Stealing, shall we? 

1. What was the last thing you laughed at?

I laugh a lot actually but the last thing I remember laughing at was excerpt from a Laurel and Hardy short that I spotted on the internet this morning. The clip was from “Helpmates”. You can watch the whole thing below but the excerpt I laughed at was two minutes from the 8 minute mark:

I love Laurel and Hardy. 

2. Who among your friends/family "gets" your sense of humour?

Mrs PM and my kids get my sense of humour as do quite a few friends. Most people I know love the typical British humour that pervades a lot of our comedy shows. We have a unique sense of humour in my country that some foreigners just don’t really get at all. The only nation that comes close to our humour is Australia because as big as the friendly rivalry between our two nations, they share our sense of humour almost exactly.

 I love comedy and I can appreciate humour of other places, like the US for example, where they have some really good comedy shows. For example, Mrs PM and I are currently enjoying “Parks and Recreation” from the America, an older show that I had only discovered this year. It is funny. 

Here is some British humour for you. 

3. What jewellery are you wearing at this moment?

Unless you count a watch as jewellery, the answer is none. 

4. If you could offer one bit of etiquette that everyone should follow while dining out, what would it be?

I’ll offer several (because I am a rebel).

Do not talk while chewing. 

Chew with your mouth closed.

Do not drink the finger bowl. 

Do not flick peas at other diners. 

Do not lick the plate clean. 

5. What's the first thing a guest would notice when they walked through your front door?

The Gene Simmons Cat picture hanging on the wall:

Top Ten Queen Songs

Queen were one of those bands that I was a fan of when I was a spotty teenager and they remained so until the untimely death of their enigmatic frontman Freddy Mercury. I loved them before they became a global phenomenon. 

I would estimate that I first heard music by them way back in 1974, when their second album, the blandly named “Queen II”, was released. It was a big hit amongst my friends at school and I didn’t really take notice of them until I heard a song called “Killer Queen” from their third album, with a much more interesting name – “Sheer Heart Attack”.

From that point I was hooked. At that point they were more of a rock band and it was only after this release that their style evolved into something more, crossing several musical boundaries, ranging from pure pop to progressive rock, from art rock to electronic disco with added symphonic rock and even operatic and orchestral tendencies in places. 

Their style was kind of unique in that anything was on the table. And being a fan of progressive music, that really resonated with me. 

My love of Queen peaked when I was lucky enough to see them perform live at Knebworth in 1986, which was the year after their legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985 and, sadly, was the very last live performance of their wonderful front man, Freddy Mercury. I was honoured to be there.

Freddy was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, and kept it quiet for four years before revealing his diagnosis publicly. Tragically, he died shortly afterwards and that was then end of Queen for me. 

The band still exists in a sense because Brian May and Roger Taylor still perform as Queen but with a guest vocalist. That, to me at least, isn’t Queen and the bass player John Deacon also agrees because he retired when Freddy died. People still go to their shows but not me. It’s not the same without Freddy. 

I enjoyed the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” and can tolerate the inaccuracies that I know weren’t true, for example, Freddy being diagnosed with AIDS before Live Aid. I think Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddy was incredible and he deserved his Oscar and all of the other accolades he received. 

Such is their appeal that even Mrs PM loves them and she is not traditionally a lover of rock music. We have several of their songs on our joint playlist. 

I have decided to present to you, dear reader, my favourite ten Queen songs. Again, with such a vast catalogue, many Queen fans may disagree with my choice. To be honest, that doesn’t bother me. Such is their range that I would imagine every Queen fan will select a different top ten.

And it’s really difficult. Ask me another time and I will pick a different ten.

Here’s mine:

(10)  Somebody To Love (from A Day At The Races - 1976)

The vocals on this song are exquisite and not just the harmonies. Freddie’s voice is superb throughout. I was even impressed with the version that George Michael performed at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert – although it is quite clear, comparing the two, that Freddie was a much better vocalist.

(9) Was It All Worth It? (from The Miracle - 1989)

I remember sitting in a pizza restaurant in Birmingham when for some reason this song came on as background music. I instantly recognised Freddie Mercury’s dulcet tones and assumed that it was their new single. I hadn’t heard it before and the following week I realised that they had a new album, which I promptly bought on the strength of this song alone. 

The video shows a pocket history of the bad up to the album “The Miracle”.

(8) Radio Ga Ga (from The Works – 1984)

This is a special song because it reminds me of my third and final year at university. It is also a return to form for Queen after the disappointing "Hot Space" album. I remember when they performed this at Knebworth in 1986, Freddy Mercury had the entire crowd in the palm of his hand and we all sang the chorus with him and I had a huge smile on my face. 

(7) Play The Game (from The Game – 1980)

This may surprise people but I love the melody of this song and once more Freddy’s voice is excellent. I particularly like when it veers off-piste at about the 2 minute mark. 

(6) Princes of the Universe (from A Kind of Magic - 1986)

Air guitar time. The first Highlander film was fantastic – the rest were garbage. "Princes of the Universe" is an ideal accompaniment to the first movie. It is a great rock song with brilliant guitar and pounding drums. This is a great Queen song.

(5) Gimme The Prize  (from A Kind of Magic - 1986)

Keep out your air guitar and crank up the heaviness "Gimme the Prize" is also used in the soundtrack to Highlander and shows Queen at their heaviest, which is understandable since it is the bad guy's theme. Turn up the volume and enjoy.

(4) Now I’m Here (from Sheer Heart Attack – 1974)

I love this song and it gives a taste of what’s to come in terms of the band harmonising and playing with vocals in a similar way to Bohemian Rhapsody. You can see how the band was evolving. 

(3)  Brighton Rock (from Sheer Heart Attack – 1974)

"Brighton Rock" wasn’t a single and comes from Queen’s third album "Sheer Heart Attack". While you may not regard this as chart material, it appeals to me, firstly because it is a great slice of classic rock and secondly because it shows just what an incredible guitarist Brian May is. It’s edgy, raw and brilliant. Keep your air guitar out again, dear reader – you’re gonna need it. 

If you like the song, check out the live version – it’s even better.

(2) Bohemian Rhapsody (from A Night at the Opera - 1975)

It took a while for me to like this song and I think most of the world thought the same. It was a bizarre choice for a single and a risk because nobody had done anything like it before. After hearing it a few times, I began to appreciate what a masterpiece it really is. It was probably the first progressive rock song I heard – a mini opera complete with wonderful harmonies. 

You can’t deny it is a classic and has been used to great effect in the movie "Wayne’s World": 

And also the version by the Muppets – this is funny:

(1)  The Prophet’s Song   (from A Night at the Opera - 1975)

If you like "Bohemian Rhapsody", you will absolutely love this less commercial offering from the same album. "The Prophet’s Song" is a progressive masterpiece, coming in at a cool eight minutes with incredible vocal harmonies. Sit back and enjoy the perfect Queen song.

That’s it, dear reader. 

Feel free to let me know your favourite song by Queen. 

Finally, if you like the heavier side of Queen, have a listen to this metal masterpiece from Brian May with the magnificent and legendary drummer Cozy Powell pounding hell out of the drums. It's called "Resurrection".

 

Five

Greetings from South Manchester where the Autumn chill has been banished briefly by pleasant sunshine. It’s slightly windy but the temperature is perfect for a nice walk. It’s hard to believe that November is almost upon us, especially as the clocks go back tonight, meaning I can spend an extra hour in bed (which of course the cats will not allow). 

As predicted, the western world is preparing us for Christmas despite the fact that it is two months away. We already have Christmas movies appearing on various TV channels. 

Why? 

Christmas is okay but only in December in my opinion. 

I am not Ebenezer Scrooge by the way; I’m just saying that my birthday is nowhere near to Christmas and that’s when the tsunami of Christmas nonsense starts appearing in my life. 

I will try to answer some silly questions in order to distract myself from what could turn into a mild rant. As usual the culprit is Sunday Stealing. 

FIVE things on my To-Do list:

1. We’re off to Malaysia early next year so I have to make sure that I book an appointment to check whether Mrs PM and I need to be vaccinated. We may be okay but I like to check. Can I just add that I am glad that we don’t have a nutter like RFK Jr in charge of our health over here in the UK. What is going on in America? That’s a future blog post I think. 

2. I need to join Manchester’s library network. I read books on my Kindle but there are many other services that the library can offer to a retired person like me. 

3. My laptop is starting to show signs of age and Mrs PM has kindly told me that I can use her brand spanking new all-singing all-dancing one, which means that I have to set up a user and copy all my junk across to it. She hardly uses it but I am on a laptop frequently. 

4. I have a lot of box files full of papers, old photographs etc. that I really need to sort out. I can probably discard a lot of stuff in there but, when it comes to the photos, I should probably sort them all out, discard the rubbish ones and put the rest in a bunch of photo albums. This is definitely a winter task so I will aim to start this within the next month or so. 

5. Talking of photos, I have hundreds of them in the cloud and on my laptop so I need to do something with them too. I have considered creating a photo book from the best ones. Another winter task methinks. 

FIVE snacks I enjoy:

1. Cheese on crackers/biscuits. A nice little mid-evening snack if I’m feeling peckish. 

2. Almonds. 

3. Flame raisins.

4. Apples.

5. Dark chocolate.

FIVE places I have lived:

1. Walsall – a town about 12 miles north of Birmingham. I was born there. I lived there from 1962 to 1981. 

2. Liverpool – a famous city in the north of England, where the Beatles are from. I was a student there and I love the place. I am going back for a university reunion in two weeks’ time. I lived there from 1981 to 1984. 

3. Altrincham – a town in Greater Manchester about 10 miles south west of Manchester. I lived there from 1985 to 1998. 

4. Hong Kong – I visited there many times between 1993 and 1999 with work but in 1999 I lived there for about three months while supporting the system I had worked on. 

5. Manchester – 1984 to 1985 and 1998 to the present. I love this city and becoming an honorary, if not plastic, Mancunian. I don’t plan to leave. 

FIVE jobs I have held:

1. A newsagent’s assistant when I was at school I started off delivering newspapers, but after a year, I started doing more for the owner of the shop, including stock taking, serving in the shop etc. 

2. A postman. While I was at university I became a postman at Christmas time in Walsall to help with the massive increase in volume of post during that time. I actually really enjoyed it as a job. 

3. A software developer. This was my main job from the age of 21 until I retired. Basically I spent most of my career writing software for a variety of projects but mainly (certainly for the last 30 years) software in airports. You can probably see the fruits of my labour in several airports dotted around the planet. 

4. A development database administrator, which went hand in hand with being a software developer. I was regarded as the “database expert”, though I wasn’t a full time database administrator as such but I knew a lot about it. I wrote a lot of software around the database and generally sorted out  issues with the product database as they arose. 

5. A software trainer. I’ve travelled to a few places to train the people who use our software, including the USA, Russia, China, South Africa and a couple of places in Europe. Not my favourite part of the job by a long way and was an unfortunate necessity because of my knowledge of the system. 

 

I Am I Said

Welcome to a cloudy South Manchester on a Saturday afternoon. I just have time for a blog post before getting ready to go to the Manchester Apollo later, with Mrs PM, to see the Stranglers, a band that started off as a punk rock band back in the 1970s and are still around 50 odd years later. Although no longer a punk band, they are still producing good music. Here are a couple of songs from “then” compared to “now”. 

No More Heroes – 1977

White Stallion – 2021

I’m looking forward to reviving the inner punk from my childhood. 

In the meantime, let’s answer some silly questions from Sunday Stealing.

I AM …

I am a 63 year old retired IT consultant/software engineer who is enjoying life outside the rat race and the politics of work. I have a largely eclectic taste in music and I am a weird geek who loves weird things. I could perhaps fit into a British remake of The Big Bang Theory if I were younger. I love to travel and do so whenever I can. I am also an adopted Northerner living in Manchester coming originally from a town in “The Black Country” called Walsall where people talk like this:

I guess I am a Mancunian Yam Yam (if such a thing exists).

I LIVE …

I live in a leafy suburb about five miles south of Manchester city centre. My house was built in 1903 and I know this because when we moved in, we stripped the lounge walls down to the original plaster and found a message from one of the original builders with the date and his name (corroborated by the deeds). It has three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, a loft that is easily big enough to use as storage space, a lounge, a man cave (though Mrs PM calls it the “back room”) which can be adapted easily to be a second lounge or a dining room and a kitchen. There is a small garden and a brick outhouse where we store garden equipment and all manner of other junk. 

This is my house of course but it is owned and run by my furry overlords, Ziggy and Star(dust). 

I THINK …

I think all the time about weird and wonderful stuff. I am a bit weird, it has to be said. My mind to me is a strange place where I can retreat to and use my imagination to float mindfully (aided by music if necessary). 

I KNOW …

I know a lot of useless facts that I have picked up on my journey through time from 1962 to 2025 (and counting). A few years ago, I was asked to join a quiz team from work consisting of a couple of young lads who had only ever finished at most fourth in the pub quiz. When I became a member of their team, we won. In fact, we never finished lower than third when I was in the team. 

I WANT …

I want a peaceful and active life, which is why I am doing my best to not watch the news on TV (it drives me to rant)!

I WISH …

I wish the world wasn’t so divided. I plan to write a blog post about this because whenever I hear news about the UK, it seems that we are more divided than ever at the moment. We are following in the footsteps of the US with our own version of Donald Trump, a man-frog called Nigel Farage, who is a grifter, a chancer and a disruptor and is stirring up a pot of hatred with lies. This is why I am trying to resist the temptation to watch the news. 

I PRAY …

Actually – I don’t pray.   I was christened as a Roman Catholic and I went to church religiously (if you will pardon the pun) until the age of 16 when I decided to follow the fascinating scientific path and consider alternatives about the origins of the universe. However, I was indoctrinated with certain beliefs so although God is not part of my life, those old teachings from my past are still there and I would never call myself an atheist. I actually think religion can be a good thing and I love chatting to religious types about their beliefs. I think that religion can bring comfort to people and I welcome that – even if I don’t believe it. 

I would rather believe that the universe is a vast unknown entity with trillions of galaxies, each of which has billions of stars, each of which has several planets. My mind is boggled by the scale of this and I would love to know more.