221

In this blogposting…
*AGM XIX
*A Word To The Wise: Part Two
*Desert Island Discs
Now - on with the motley…

AGM XIX…
...took place as planned on Thursday 16 September. It started out in the elegant surroundings of the Cafe Teatro in the Theatre Royal but, mostly because of the clemency of the late summer weather, it quickly moved outside to the even more elegant surroundings of the same cafe’s outside tables in Grey Street.

In any case, being in a hushed and cultured environment doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the kind of raucous misbehaviour to which AGMs tend to be inclined, so we were probably better off outside anyway.

It was a modest, but hugely enjoyable, turnout. Hildie, Vivienne, Linda and me were joined by our Honorary President, the doughty Ada and together, we toasted our (by now) long absent friends. We hope you can join in again - or for the first time - soon.

It was a lovely AGM. I thoroughly enjoyed myself as usual and think that there should be another one after the usual gap for respite and recuperation. AGM XX will therefore take place sometime in mid-October. Any venue suggestions would be gratefully received, as usual.

And my thanks, once again, to the happy bunch who turned up on Thursday. And to Vivienne, whose camera took the pictures above. You can see a couple more on murphyanddorastravels>blogspot.com.

A WORD TO THE WISE: PART TWO
Following the list of common-sense axioms, aphorisms and home-truths from montaguedave in posting 219, here are some more, this time sent to me by Kev, whom the Fates preserve.

*A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.
*Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of. (I love that one.)
*Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot. (I bear that one in mind when I’m trying to understand what the devil all those French people are trying to tell me.)
*To sit alone with my conscience will be judgement enough for me. (That one almost sounds Biblical.)
*An escalator never breaks . . . it only becomes stairs
*When you get older, lack of pep is often mistaken for patience.
*The secret of success is to know something nobody else knows. (The more you think about that one, the truer it gets.)
*If you're driving no faster than the speed limit, you're in the way.
*It's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one. (That’s almost metaphysical.)
*Today is the last day of your life, so far. (Another Biblical warning.)
*No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions. (That could easily be a truckshunter motto or rallying cry.)
*People never grow up; they just learn how to act in public. (So could that.)
*One half of the world will never understand the other half and it doesn't matter which half you're in.
*The minute a man is convinced that he is interesting, he isn't.

Thanks, Kev. More contributions, please.

DESERT ISLAND DISCS
In a Comment to posting 213, montaguedave suggested that we each compile our own list of ‘desert island discs’ - the eight records we’d want with us if we were ever to be stranded on some remote, far-flung lump of rock with nothing to distract us except a gramophone.

(I’ve just realised how old that makes me sound. Discs? A ‘gramophone’? I can’t help it, though. I still call the hi-fi stereo thingy in the corner a ‘gramophone’. And after all, despite MP3s and iPods, the ‘disc’ hasn’t withered completely; ‘CD’ stands for ‘Compact Disc’ and we still talk of DJs - disc-jockeys. There now. I feel better for that bit of sophistry.

Nevertheless, I can foresee a time in the not-too-distant future, when Radio 4 may have to change the name of its long-running programme to Desert Island Downloads.

To business…)

The first truckshunter to volunteer was Linda. To recap, her choices are given here.

*Putting On The Style - Lonnie Donegan
*The Lonely Goatherd - Julie Andrews
*Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan
*Let It Be - The Beatles
*Because You're Mine - Mario Lanza
*Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac
*God Only Knows - The Beach Boys ('the greatest love song ever written' says Linda)
*Fields Of Gold - Sting

It’s a fascinating and varied list, with some surprising juxtapositions, and I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from it.

On the radio programme, each guest is asked to tell us why they’ve chosen the music on their list, and that’s what’s missing in this exercise. So...Linda...why these eight tracks in particular?

(Incidentally...although it’s not my job to be contentious, I definitely don’t agree that God Only Knows is ‘the greatest love song ever written’. What do other truckshunters think? Which song would you nominate?)

So Linda, please get in touch and tell us what it is about these songs that make them indispensable. (If you respond via email, I’ll copy your response into a blogposting.)

And that request also applies to montaguedave himself. His nominations are…

*Songbird - Eva Cassidy ('soooo beautiful')
*In My Mind I'm Going To Carolina - Alison Krauss ('tears to the eye')
*Its Magic - Doris Day
*There’s A Man Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis - Kirsty MacColl
*I Was Born To Love You - Freddie Mercury
*War - Edwin Starr
*Beat It - Michael Jackson
*Gimme Hope Jo'Anna - Eddy Grant

Reading these lists is infuriating, isn’t it? If they make you want to argue the toss about individual songs (as I just did above) or compile your own list to be thrown to the lions, please get in touch. I’d love to see what you come up with.

As for me...well, I agree with Linda. It’s maddeningly difficult to whittle down a life-time love of music to just eight items - which is where the fun of the idea lies, I guess. I’ve already drawn up four lists, without any of which I would surely wither and die on Robinson Island. If only the programme allowed you to take 500 or so.

I promise, though, that I will come up with a list of my eight records. It may just take longer than I thought, that's all!

(It might even be fun - if a little bit tricky - to compile lists of each other's choices. Now there's a challenge!)

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or email me: truckshunters@googlemail.com

2 comments:

Hildie said...

Didn't we have a luverly time .....

.... thought I ought to let you know that I heard from Hilary and Gerry, with apologies that they couldn't make it to the AGM . They had had every intention of coming along but something cropped up ... (I think Hilary said it was the builder!)

And also ... I was tickled pink and over the moon to receive an email from montaguedave !!! Now, I do believe that he too would have joined us, had it not been for the fact that he had to go to the 'Centre for Life'.

If you happen to be doing the Great North Run today ....
and why wouldn't you be ....
very best wishes from me.

Sid said...

Should we put a Truckshunters team together for next year Hildie.........




Or perhaps not!