Falling apart at the seams?

The week at least weather wise appears to be recovering more to where it normally would be for this time of the year here

We're having major grump worthy problems here like next to no newspapers save a handful of copies of the Daily Mail and nothing else at the local store that supplies the satellite of GHS with our needs.

I can't recall that even in the height of strikemania in '78/9 where it appeared the nation was having a nervous breakdown following all the business a few years before with coal strikes, the "Three Day week" and having to plan watching tv and cooking around a list of what areas could have electricity when.

My suspicion is some issue between his suppliers either Menzies or W H Smiths  and him following a take over (or "running it for Mr.x" in which instance legally the contracts don't change as Mr. x still is the owner) is behind it.

It may be him not realizing he'd need to remake them if it was a take over with a new contract which would have the order and billing arrangements so the previous arrangement terminates after so many weeks or possibly an unpaid bill.

It's just as well things like my Beano Christmas special and regular comics all come through the post from the publishers otherwise even I would have nothing to read this week but this doesn't bold well for the corner shop which prior to this had done very well on the back of Covid travel restrictions and the tendency for more people to work from home and so buy stuff from him during breaks.

Twelve months on That Boarding School Girl

Hello there.

It is the new year so I think we might as well start by saying Happy New Year folks as this blog continues entering its first edition in a new year in a new decade which does take me back to both 2010 and the year 2000 itself with its predictions of computerized system meltdowns.

Last year was a chaotic beeping mess politically which we did keep some track of here as much as that stuff messes my head up because of how a career in politics lead to a nervous breakdown of which the main issue last year was and to a point remains a single six letter word - BREXIT - and the schism that exists between not just people say in families but between areas of country that favoured it such as here in North Staffordshire where almost to a man and woman we favour it being the "Brexit Capital" of the UK and London plus Scotland who very much don't.

The good news of sorts is whatever your personal politics is, we have a Government with a 80 member majority that has passed the withdraw bill so actually after what seemed like an eternal merry-go-round we are leaving with some measures in place until years end while the second piece of leaving - the trade relations with the EU and the means of getting new deals done is resolved which may take a bit longer than a year.
You may not agree it but at least we're going in a direction now.

Many things contributed to the  political revolution here where there in the whole of Staffordshire with the Black Country, there only three Labour MP's now:
The feeling Labour had done nothing to tackle our problems nationally for decades in exchange for votes while Independant-Conservative coalition local authorities were doing more plus the wish list of freebies including free internet for all that had us puzzling over how we the people were going to pay for it.
Then there was the character and connections of one Jeremy Corbyn, Labour's leader that couldn't hear the noise and sense the anger of its position on Brexit on our streets but was more focused on radicals who took to social media than everyday Labour supporters plus antisemitism issues in and out the party being main ones.
Politics in the Midlands is always a two horse race. 

I did get away for assorted littles events doing some photography which in view of all the above was probably  very good thing really as it  was driving me  mad.

The high street remains a concern where we lost the travel concern Thomas Cook although some shops and staff were transformed to Hays Travel, Poundland shut up shop and HMV almost went but was rescued by Canada's Sunrise Records who want to bring in more Vinyl and a shopping as an experience feel.

If that was the backdrop of the year covered only when I felt up to it, one thing this blog did go on for was reviewing cds specifically Super Audio cds of albums and artists I like aided by cheap and often two album on one cd  inexpensive discs that offered better sound quality and often vintage Quadraphonic surround sound mixes that had been out of print for over a quarter century now newly restored by the likes of the Guess Who and Pink Floyd.

I also restored a few choice lps by artists that I regarded as Iconic which in the late 80's and early 90's had been replaced thing lp would just fade away from the collection rather than coming back with new younger fans buying titles rather than downloading them which at one time seemed to be fate of all current popular music.
Despite some issues with artwork quality, the two lp Rhythm Nation 1814 album by Janet Jackson proved to be better than the cheapened "better put it out briefly" original single lp doing justice to her vision.

I did talk a little more on here about the littles community and life although this isn't a littles blog as such because in such a turbulent year  with three elections, Age Regression proved to be very needed  and its associated activities like colouring and playing with plushies really helped with emotional mess.

Nipper has lost his bark redux!

It may be the new year but there's a distinct feeling of deja vu in the air given I've had to go go into the district centre quicker than I'd of planned this Monday

 On January 13th 2013 on this blog I wrote about the going into administration of HMV, the large british music and video retailer on the back of the collapse of Jessop's photography stores.
Well on Friday December 28 2018 around 10 am as I was out on a long walk, it was announced Hilco who owned HMV since that year had filed for administration citing poor christmas sales, a big collapse in dvd/blu ray sales, very high rents and the moved toward streaming.
Oh brother thought I as I looked at my telephone answering  device as I saw my brother had left a message for me because as it happened he'd given me a gift voucher bought mid December for Christmas.
With charismatic fairness he'd said if they weren't going to honour gift vouchers -and under UK law they need not when in administration-  he'd give me a cash replacement.

A vinyl rack in store where you may discern vinyl prices are high than corresponding cd issues although there's always been something in holding a lp record in your hand compared to a cd never mind a download.

 A cd rack where many titles are discounted meaning in real terms they sell for less than did in the early 1990's including even Chart Titles not just back catalogues that stores such as HMV stocked in the past.

That news was why I had get get my voucher redeemed asap before any store closures and major stock depictions take place.

As most of cd and sacd discs I buy tend to be limited edition titles with world wide runs of 5,000 or less stores tend not to stock them in the way during the nineties they did.
Instead I picked up some dvd and blu ray titles such as the Beatles documentary movie Eight Day's a Week - the touring years from 2016 I had been putting off for a bit but were likely to get fairly soon anyway.
That took care of ensuring my Christmas voucher money wasn't lost.

Legends (Get it on)

Sat here, melting, drinking glass after glass of treated tap water in this weeks summer sun, thoughts roll back to hits from the past and that's what this short  entry is all about.

Its existence was met with some mirth at a certain music site where some patrons are incredibly elitist (you can only  like studio albums according to some and don't mention iTunes!) but it's a compilation with a difference for based upon a Time Life one, it makes a point of using the very best available sources so not only can I enjoy Schools Out that was (appropriately) a big hit during the summer vacation of '72 it also sounds terrific into the bargain. 

Ditto Manfred Mann Band's spirited version of the Springsteen song Blinded by the Light so by the time I'd past Freebird, not only was I hearing many of my favourite hits I was thinking back to those times.

I'm a sucker for a compilation well done just for that feeling - maybe you are too - and this is one I can recommend for the sound.

Nipper has lost his bark!

After last week, she said trying desperately not to come over all smug, it's finally happened, music retailing has moved from the high street.  Poor ol' Nipper.

Well okay, I know that's Birmingham Bull Ring, not Broad Street, but you know what I mean -our town and city centres - with the shock announcement late last night the national music and video retailer HMV was planning on going into administration following poor Christmas sales.
Sounds familiar,eh? And rather like with Jessops they also were being bankrolled by the suppliers who provided much of the January 25% off "Blue Cross" sales stock as did two state owned banks who to put things with my usually matter of factness, want their money back.
Some other similarities include high rents, failure to capitalize on online sales, poor in store stocks (I mean just seven studio albums by the Stones in the branch in a large city branch near me???), uncompetitive online store pricing (Amazon often cheaper).
HMV potentially could of gotten into downloading but after a brief messy store attempt, partnered up with 7Digital who run that for them which would be fine except 7Digital are a big brand in their own right so most would of gone straight to them.
As much as I feel for for all the staff I'm expecting nearly all the branches to go simply because it seems to me you can't run a big chain anymore because of the overheads and also your immediate best sellers, new albums, are stocked by both supermarkets such as ASDA and Tesco cheaply and the likes of Amazon for those who want cds but many more  prefer to download and these can obtained cheaply from the big three Amazon, iTunes and 7Digital.
You can do niche cd selling from a small side street location with an internet presence backed by a warehouse.
Hmv failed also to capitalize on the "Vinyl revival" by stocking few new and re-issue titles that many who like a physical album buy which was the tipping point for me becoming fed  up of having to order run of the mill cd titles only to return later at my expense to collect, getting an account at Amazon  ordering from them. I guess I wasn't alone in that!
I get the nostalgia many are feeling, remembering the first time I visited HMV Oxford Street London and the Manchester store still having those records and the many BritPop vinyl  titles on 7" and 12" lp I bought new that are most collectible.
I just feel by years end the high street will be that much the poorer.

The end of high street photo retail

I guess it had to happen really and was more question of when rather than if but the UK photography chain Jessops went into receivership as of today brought about by an inability in the part of directors, creditors and suppliers to extend credit to this long established but ailing concern that goes back many decades.
It's my understanding some suppliers had during last year offered credit to them to enable their products to be sold as it was the #1 high street outlet for their goods.
Jessops was the first chain in the UK I established a relationship with as a consumer, a place where at the time you could get all manner of advice connected with photography, the virtues of different lenses, filters, film ect over the sales counter. My local branch would root out stuff for me to try instore without obligation. They also run a photography residential school with industry experts providing tuition.
Two things probably did for this type of retailing, the first being digital photography has  less repeat custom after buying a camera and maybe a spare memory card and for Dslr users an additional lens or two. You sure wouldn't be buying a new memory card each week in the way you bought film and although they'd invested in instore printing, a lot of casual users either print at home or don't even print their images so you wouldn't be getting much of an income stream from that!
As a traditional film slr user I saw reductions traditional products in stock to the point while on vacation I couldn't get medium speed print film and ended up visiting a well known drugstore that had better stocks off the shelf!
Also many users use smartphones as cameras leading to a drop in demand for digital compacts that come on contracts while professionals users would use online stores that held larger 'to go' supplies with rapid delivery