I see Anthony "ATM" Kendall was at it again yesterday 

Which just leaves my personal Glasto '25 highlight, a cameo appearance by Robert Smith. For oldies like Tom, he's The Cure frontman.

Rather oddly, he did two duets with some unknown bimbo - Oliver Rodrigo or somesuch? He has that lovely familiar voice, & she had a squeaky pre-pubescent girl's voice, never heard a worse harmonic blending & her screechings ruined it. I have no idea what she is famous for, but with the sole exception of her tits she hid her talents well.

The Cure topped the bill last year if memory serves which is not always the case..

Well I did a list of prompts, a sort of note to self, on June 30th, but I've not made much progress, have I?


Retirement, & what it means. It's HUGE to me, a 100% lifestyle change, as I'll try to explain.

Vegas 2025 summary.

Service Levels

Paris

The Hermes shock experience.

Golf.

The elephant in the room.


Ooh, forgot a very important one.

EDIT - Addictions. Very very big one that. For almost everyone that reads this, as well as me.  

EDIT - forgot another one. BOOKS.


Think I covered Vegas summary & Retirement in general, & that's about it so far. I blame the elephant in the room which temporarily interrupted my new golf, poker, travel & IDGAF lifestyle.  

On we go.

Don't forget Glasto while you're in the mood..

And thank you for the extremely flattering compliments about my fairly crappy golf

Ralph (karabiner) sent me some lovely photos from Wollaton Park Golf Club where's he's been a member for a very long time I believe.

The Course sits is overlooked by the beautiful Wollaton Hall & is famous for the herds of Deer that roam around freely. 

Has there always been a golf course there?

I took these about 10 years ago

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Did I just not notice a massive golf course next to it?

The golf club about to celebrate it's centenary, but it is a big park.

Look who I bumped into on the 14th tee at Wollaton today.

Blonde wouldn't let me upload the pics but hopefully his teekness will oblige later..

Always good to read your ramblings, Teeks. They might have improved with age, but they have always been good.

Similarly, your dress sense might have got worse, but it has always been, er, individualistic.

Delighted your trip was everything you hoped it would be. Other people might add a really deep run. But that would not be as high a priority for you.

Turning briefly to Glastonbury, I cannot understand the fuss about things. From elderly people who cannot understand or make adjustments when their voice is not what it was (Fogherty, Young) to all the fuss about Bob Vylan.

Why is it that the people who bang on about the right to free speech when it suits them are the self-same people who want to censor debate when it does not?

I'm an adult. I can listen to things I do not agree with. And learn.

Fair comment as to Glasto Phil, but the fact remains, it was sad to see Rod - I'm a huge fan - trying to recapture past glories when his voice has long gone. Ditto Lulu. And as for Ronnie, he's a complete fraud these days, & only uses slide to (try to) cover up his deficiencies. (Nice missus though).

I chanced across a recent performance by No Doubt recently, & the same applies, Gwen's voice has totally gone, all we have left is acres of midriff.

And before Mitherer-in-chief MANTIS chimes in, yes, it applies to me too. But I never show midriff these days.  

Not all the octogenarians struggled at Glastonbury. Fogerty rocked the Pyramid Stage, and The Searchers’ last ever gig had all the energy and fun that Rod lacked. There may not have been a couple of thousand of us there for Sweets for my Sweet etc,  but I’d bet that’s the biggest crowd they’d played to in decades and they gave it their all.

I thought Neil Young's set was fantastic and it was certainly the one I enjoyed the most over the weekend.

He's always had a reedy high-pitched voice and I don't think it's gone - I do think the sound was a little bit shaky when he was on accoustic and singing solo with the harmonica around his neck which did seem to muffle his vocals somewhat, but overall I found his set really uplifting.

Good luck Rob

Hi Glen

Glad to hear that mateyboy is alive and well

All the ancient churches have ancient bell towers with ancient clocks that can't possibly work... But they do. What's more they keep perfect time and chime once on the half hour and a full chime on the hour... Every hour, day and night.

What's more, when say, its chimed 10 times for 10 O'clock, it chimes 10 times again at five past ten. I looked the reason up and its because these clocks were in service when virtually no one had a watch or a clock so they relied on the church clock. Now they might not be ready to count the chimes right off the bat at 10 O'clock when it first chimes, but at 5 past they would be expecting it and paying attention.

So, that's 12 chimes twice at midnight. We decided to find it quaint and charming.

Click to see full-size image.

No wonder that courtyard isn't choc-a-bloc with campers.

I bet the local fruit and veg are amazing at this time of year especially those big tomatoes 

Well done again Tony - you're becoming a veritable ATM this trip

Well done on making day three Stu.

I've really enjoyed the updates, especially this morning when I saw there were three pages of them!

Great pics Tom.

More seriously, the pace of exits was astounding. We lost ~1,300 entries in the day in what was a decent structure.

Dangerous game, Big O, & for me, being patient is the only way I can play it, I just don't have the sexy moves.

No choice Tony you'll have to get ripping early.

Ship the $3,027

 

Strange fact about the Pointer Sisters.

Their best-known song, "Fire" was written by Bruce Springsteen. Early in his career, he was better known as a songwriter. "Blinded by the Light (Manfred Mann) and "Because the Night" (Patti Smith) are also his originally.

If there is an afterlife, I so hope the Donald is married to Elon. They deserve each other

Crikey, I well remember Manfred Mann, & once saw them at The Ealing Club, in a basement right opposite Ealing Broadway Station.

Paul Jones was their lead singer at the time though he later moved on. No idea what became of him but he was a very special talent imo.

He starred in Jesus Christ Superstar after leaving The Manfreds

After belatedly Googling I may have got that wrong

I my defence the lead singer of Manfred Mann did leave to star in JCSS but it was the guy who replaced Paul Jones - Mike d'Abo