"Brian, top marks..."
Hello there.
Firstly, yet another apology for yet another lengthy absence from Blogland.
Sorry.
This time it has been more to do with technical issues than anything else.
I'm no longer in hiding.
Almost half way through and 2007 is proving to be a year of many changes & unexpected events. Bear with me while I try to bring you up to date.
As you may know; Leeds United were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their illustrious history. Well, every cloud & all that...
Jack phoned me soon after it happened to take the piss. I have never been so happy to be on the end of some ribbing. This first step was uncomfortable & edgy but it was a first step. And Jack took it. Good news, I'm sure you'll agree. An invite to a barbecue at their place was then forthcoming.
Then at the start of May I began my new job. Well, sort of.
I did a week and a half in a classroom with 13 other new starters. I very much enjoyed it, it was really nice to meet some new people & to get a feel for the work that lay ahead. During all that time though a cloud was hanging over me in the form of my Father being ill in hospital.
I went up to visit him during the first weekend of May. He wasn't doing well. Full of tubes & wires he was quite an unsettling sight. The rest of my family & I sat and chatted with him for a while until he needed to be left to rest. I kissed him on the head & joked with him that at least I'd be able to laugh at him when Leeds beat Huddersfield next season.
My sister kept me informed on his condition throughout the following week & I had arranged to go up to Wakefield again on Sunday. I had set my alarm for 8 am, planning to get up there by mid-morning. I awoke abruptly at 5.45 am to the sound of my phone ringing. It was my sister, the hospital staff had called her to suggest they came in quickly. My Dad was leaving us.
I was in the car within 5 minutes & proceeded to drive up the M1 at a steady speed of 110mph, completing the 120 mile trip in just over an hour. It wasn't fast enough. My Dad died whilst I was making my journey.
I arrived at the hospital & joined the rest of my heartbroken family. Then I went to see Dad. It was the first time I had ever been in the presence of death. I said my private goodbyes to him & wept.
Now I'm not going to share my grief with you all on here. I know that some readers have already been through this & they will know how I feel. I am still dealing with the loss but life, cliched as it may be, still goes on.
The one thing I will say is this. Though I was adopted & didn't share his blood or his DNA, he was 100% my Dad. I loved him totally & will always be humbled & grateful that he & mum rescued me as a baby & gave me a loving upbringing. I feel privileged that out of all the people out there that could have adopted me, they did.
Brian "Flash"
1936 - 2007
I stayed up in Yorkshire for the week. Lucy took the train up to join me the next day, which I really appreciated.
I managed to e-mail my friends the news from my sister's. I was overwhelmed to hear that Jack & Jill very much wanted to attend the funeral. Back in 93 Jack had lived with us at the family home for several months & very much liked my Dad. This warmed my heart more than I can express, despite the seismic shocks that had ruptured our 20 year friendship, Jack was happy to put it all to one side to pay his respects to my Father. I think that speaks volumes about the man.
The funeral took place on Thursday morning. Obviously it was very emotional. Afterwards in the crematorium's car park, I embraced my girlfriend, my sister, my cousin & of course my Mum. I shook hands with all & sundry. Then I made my way to Jack & Jill, who opened their arms to me & we shared a three way hug and I bawled my eyes out. (Since then I have been over to theirs once, which was cool but I overdid the booze & pretty much passed out. Things are moving forward though & I'm very optimistic that we may be able the heal the rift after all.)
At the "wake" afterwards, we drank & caught up a bit. It was very, very nice.
It was also nice to see some distant family members that I'd not seen in years. One of them, my Dad's cousin, had brought a collection of old family photos with her. Some of them were wonderful, photos of my Dad as a very young boy which I'd never seen before. Some of me as a small boy which showed the frightening similarities between me & my own son. It's like looking at him, but wearing dodgy 70's clothes! Then there was one of my 3 or 4 year old self with my Dad beaming & holding aloft a pint of bitter. Seeing it brought on another wave of tears, but they were happy tears. Dad's cousin has since made copies of the snaps & sent them to me, for which I can't thank her enough.
The next day we came home & carried on with the business of life.
I expect you'd like to know what it's like being a Residential Childcare worker.
Me too.
As is, quite rightly, the law in this country, one has to get clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau before working with children.
Despite being offered the job way back in March, I still haven't been cleared! I was told ages ago that there was a problem due to there being somebody out there with a very similar identity to myself. I have since sent photos of myself to them & I've even been into the police station to have my fingerprints taken. Yet, still no clearance. I am getting paid, which is all well & good, but I want to go out to work. Despite having many distractions here at home. I want a reason for getting up in the morning & I crave some order in my life. I'm most certainly not the most industrious person you'll ever meet but, bugger me, I WANT TO WORK!
I also want to get stuck in to this new & exciting career path. It's very, very frustrating & it's leading me to become something of a hermit in these walls. Thank crikey I've got the Internet back!
All that remains for now is to update you on the progress of "Backlash". Well, it really is very nearly finished. I foresee it being ready for public consumption in a couple of weeks.
I have done the vocals on a couple of tracks. One of which I have uploaded to Soundclick for your delectation. It's a fairly old song called "The clown prince of misery", which dates bate to my StrangeWorld days (Hence the co-writing credit).
I would be very pleased & honoured if you would take 5 minutes of your time to give it a listen. I'd also like some feedback on how the vocals sound. Not so much how well (or not!) I've sung but more whether it sounds right in the mix. I still have some limitations in terms of recording the vocals so I'd just like some pointers to see if I've successfully overcome them before I carry on with the rest of the vocals. The link is thus:
http://www.soundclick.com/gnucnu
Thanks in advance.
Well, that's me for now. I do, however, solemnly declare my intention to re-integrate myself back into Blogland, with regular updates, waffle & other such nonsense. I'll also be doing the rounds.
I'm back for good this time.
Promise.
Firstly, yet another apology for yet another lengthy absence from Blogland.
Sorry.
This time it has been more to do with technical issues than anything else.
I'm no longer in hiding.
Almost half way through and 2007 is proving to be a year of many changes & unexpected events. Bear with me while I try to bring you up to date.
As you may know; Leeds United were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their illustrious history. Well, every cloud & all that...
Jack phoned me soon after it happened to take the piss. I have never been so happy to be on the end of some ribbing. This first step was uncomfortable & edgy but it was a first step. And Jack took it. Good news, I'm sure you'll agree. An invite to a barbecue at their place was then forthcoming.
Then at the start of May I began my new job. Well, sort of.
I did a week and a half in a classroom with 13 other new starters. I very much enjoyed it, it was really nice to meet some new people & to get a feel for the work that lay ahead. During all that time though a cloud was hanging over me in the form of my Father being ill in hospital.
I went up to visit him during the first weekend of May. He wasn't doing well. Full of tubes & wires he was quite an unsettling sight. The rest of my family & I sat and chatted with him for a while until he needed to be left to rest. I kissed him on the head & joked with him that at least I'd be able to laugh at him when Leeds beat Huddersfield next season.
My sister kept me informed on his condition throughout the following week & I had arranged to go up to Wakefield again on Sunday. I had set my alarm for 8 am, planning to get up there by mid-morning. I awoke abruptly at 5.45 am to the sound of my phone ringing. It was my sister, the hospital staff had called her to suggest they came in quickly. My Dad was leaving us.
I was in the car within 5 minutes & proceeded to drive up the M1 at a steady speed of 110mph, completing the 120 mile trip in just over an hour. It wasn't fast enough. My Dad died whilst I was making my journey.
I arrived at the hospital & joined the rest of my heartbroken family. Then I went to see Dad. It was the first time I had ever been in the presence of death. I said my private goodbyes to him & wept.
Now I'm not going to share my grief with you all on here. I know that some readers have already been through this & they will know how I feel. I am still dealing with the loss but life, cliched as it may be, still goes on.
The one thing I will say is this. Though I was adopted & didn't share his blood or his DNA, he was 100% my Dad. I loved him totally & will always be humbled & grateful that he & mum rescued me as a baby & gave me a loving upbringing. I feel privileged that out of all the people out there that could have adopted me, they did.
Brian "Flash"1936 - 2007
I stayed up in Yorkshire for the week. Lucy took the train up to join me the next day, which I really appreciated.
I managed to e-mail my friends the news from my sister's. I was overwhelmed to hear that Jack & Jill very much wanted to attend the funeral. Back in 93 Jack had lived with us at the family home for several months & very much liked my Dad. This warmed my heart more than I can express, despite the seismic shocks that had ruptured our 20 year friendship, Jack was happy to put it all to one side to pay his respects to my Father. I think that speaks volumes about the man.
The funeral took place on Thursday morning. Obviously it was very emotional. Afterwards in the crematorium's car park, I embraced my girlfriend, my sister, my cousin & of course my Mum. I shook hands with all & sundry. Then I made my way to Jack & Jill, who opened their arms to me & we shared a three way hug and I bawled my eyes out. (Since then I have been over to theirs once, which was cool but I overdid the booze & pretty much passed out. Things are moving forward though & I'm very optimistic that we may be able the heal the rift after all.)
At the "wake" afterwards, we drank & caught up a bit. It was very, very nice.
It was also nice to see some distant family members that I'd not seen in years. One of them, my Dad's cousin, had brought a collection of old family photos with her. Some of them were wonderful, photos of my Dad as a very young boy which I'd never seen before. Some of me as a small boy which showed the frightening similarities between me & my own son. It's like looking at him, but wearing dodgy 70's clothes! Then there was one of my 3 or 4 year old self with my Dad beaming & holding aloft a pint of bitter. Seeing it brought on another wave of tears, but they were happy tears. Dad's cousin has since made copies of the snaps & sent them to me, for which I can't thank her enough.
The next day we came home & carried on with the business of life.
I expect you'd like to know what it's like being a Residential Childcare worker.
Me too.
As is, quite rightly, the law in this country, one has to get clearance from the Criminal Records Bureau before working with children.
Despite being offered the job way back in March, I still haven't been cleared! I was told ages ago that there was a problem due to there being somebody out there with a very similar identity to myself. I have since sent photos of myself to them & I've even been into the police station to have my fingerprints taken. Yet, still no clearance. I am getting paid, which is all well & good, but I want to go out to work. Despite having many distractions here at home. I want a reason for getting up in the morning & I crave some order in my life. I'm most certainly not the most industrious person you'll ever meet but, bugger me, I WANT TO WORK!
I also want to get stuck in to this new & exciting career path. It's very, very frustrating & it's leading me to become something of a hermit in these walls. Thank crikey I've got the Internet back!
All that remains for now is to update you on the progress of "Backlash". Well, it really is very nearly finished. I foresee it being ready for public consumption in a couple of weeks.
I have done the vocals on a couple of tracks. One of which I have uploaded to Soundclick for your delectation. It's a fairly old song called "The clown prince of misery", which dates bate to my StrangeWorld days (Hence the co-writing credit).
I would be very pleased & honoured if you would take 5 minutes of your time to give it a listen. I'd also like some feedback on how the vocals sound. Not so much how well (or not!) I've sung but more whether it sounds right in the mix. I still have some limitations in terms of recording the vocals so I'd just like some pointers to see if I've successfully overcome them before I carry on with the rest of the vocals. The link is thus:
http://www.soundclick.com/gnucnu
Thanks in advance.
Well, that's me for now. I do, however, solemnly declare my intention to re-integrate myself back into Blogland, with regular updates, waffle & other such nonsense. I'll also be doing the rounds.
I'm back for good this time.
Promise.
posted by Flash at 1:55 PM
15 comments
