Discovering Music

Discovering Music (c)
By Michael Casey

I entered a random search on Spotify, Pio, and I'm amazed by what I'm hearing. First was The Maccabees and Marks to Prove It, now I'm listening to Interpol and Our Love to Admire, both are really excellent. I won't go down the track list grooving away as I listen to  each song. It just proves new  things can be discovered, even by random means. And why did I enter Pio? Well because I was thinking about Padre Pio, I'm in a lot of pain this morning so I thought I could emphasise with him.

There's a peaceful piano piece playing now, and it's not from my neighbour next door, nor have my daughters decided to play the piano beside me, so I've stumbled my way into something nice, and if you remembered the story yesterday, Mark Harris said I was a good stumbler. If I mention his name ever again in a story then you'll all have to buy him free Stella Artois for life, but don't forget the Walkers cheese and onion crisps, he does have standards after all, unlike me, what you see is what you get.

So why is music is so special? I am tempted to share the obvious joke about the Jewish drummer being so good at the rhythm method being made an honorary catholic. But you can ignore that sentence if you have no Jewish nor Catholic friends, or if you have 2 left feet, or are tone deaf, or just deaf, or have no sense of humour or are too PC. Or are a Politician not knowing which way to jump.

Politicians should be good with music as they try and march to the beat of history. Led Zepplin would have been great Politicians but their fans would be too drunk to do any marching or following. The Germans in the 1930s just loved a good tune and marching, and see how that turned out.Now we have the cheese eater in North Korea and his people just love to march, but they are marching to stay alive, not for fun. Back in the West we have Trump's inauguration .

Nobody wants to sing for Trump, though Putin has offered to sing for him, he'll even roll over and let Trump rub his belly, Pavlov dog if you like, but who would be the real master? The Russian State Singers and Dancers might  . Perhaps we'll have the Russian Ballet come too, or the North Korean ensemble could come too. An international peace and reconciliation  inauguration, Trump could say it was all part of his plan.

What will the music be like? Martial, Loud and Proud, a bit like a Friday night in a gay bar, but not half as much fun, no Abba, no fun. There's a thought perhaps Abba should be asked to perform, everybody loves Abba after all. Abba for Trump's inauguration, we could start a hashtag. Though somehow I think they would not turn up. So a Tribute band will have to do, these tribute bands can be really really good. I saw the conterfeit Stones once at the Alex in Birmingham, now they were excellent.

So together we have sorted out Trump's inauguration show. It will be a series of tribute bands from Vegas, the National Mall is so big that nobody will spot the difference. As for Trump he may have a stand in for himself, he's not going to stand around in the cold, he may even stay home in NY while everything else goes on in DC. Mike Pence can catch a cold, or Donald may just play video games with Barron, then just dash out for the oath. Or he may just pay Alec Baldwin to do the whole show, 1,400 dollars is cheap  price to pay then he can have some precious time with Barron.

So I hope you will all try Pio as a Spotify search,  you could read about Padre Pio too, the music is really good, and all new to me, but best of all together we have sorted out the Music for Trump's Inauguration. See I am a really good stumbler, will somebody please buy Mark Harris a pint of Stella Artois, he's singing Abba songs again, I'm off to my Waterloo.

Which Way Shall I Go?

Which Way Shall I Go? (c)

By

Michael Casey

When we drive we follow a route, to school, to work, or to the shops, its all very straightforward. Things get more complicated when we have no plan, no destination, when we are making up are mind on the hoof. We'll follow a red car, then we'll follow a blue car, then we'll follow a bus, then we are lost,

Our lives can be like that too, a kind of improv comedy gone wrong. My own life fell over and I was down in the dirt a few times. Then you get up and start over, its better than staying in the dirt after all, and yes I'm no Ali, nor any other sporting hero, though I may weigh more than Ali did, I'm 238 to 245 pounds if you are American or 17.5stones to the rest of us, or 110kilos + if you are European. Though I look a lot lot lighter, a smile makes you lighter, try smiling in the mirror right now.

With Life it helps to have a direction, I never did myself I just kind of stumbled from this to that. As Mark Harris once said I was a good stumbler, he also said I had no intellectual stamina, I told him never to call me intellectual again and I called him something in return, if you buy Mark a pint of Stella Artois he may tell you what, this was 20 years ago. What he didn't say was that I could wipe the floor with him as far as ideas were concerned. You have ideas people and you have plods, I am an ideas person, well as far as writing goes.

So in your life you have to decide shall I follow my heart or follow safety. I just took what ever came up first, as nothing else came up. So I was a stumbler, but you can have a degree from Oxford or Cambridge and still your little brother, or the runt of the family does better financially than you. And yes I'm talking about a period in time of my own family, and yes I'm a very big runt, as Mark Harris may agree. I've not seen him I maybe 15 years now, I thought I'd mention him in a story and maybe he'd get a free pint of Stella Artois out of it, see Mark, Stats people stick together, they have too or they fall over, hic.

Opportunities knock, and you have to answer that knock, I was once offered promotion but I knew I could not do the job, so I was honest and turned it down. The person who got it later on, was kind enough to call me a burnt out has been, rather like the way Russia is talking about Obama. For his sins the guy ended up as a tramp in the street, booze and arrogance and divorce led to that future.

So be careful what you say, as for me and Obama we'll meet for a few pints of Stella Artois on our join book tour, I will of course take Obama to Aldi so he can buy 150 presents for all of his security detail. He got a Jorg Grey watch from them, perhaps he'll buy a 5quid watch in return for each of them, or maybe just a few pallets of Stella Artois, as it's on offer. The Beast must be able to fit a ton of lager in the boot.

Obama may ask for my advice on which way to go next, so I'll tell him to try and get a job as General Manager in a hotel, every day is so varied, just like being President of the USA. I'm sure he could soon get the hang of it if he tried, he'll have to wear a decent suit though. I loved my 3 years in hotels, I stumbled into it and loved it, so if Obama puts his shoulder to the wheel he'll do ok, with my advice.

I have to turn into the kitchen now, the cat is calling and my own belly too, always answer your belly or you get a headache and you makes mistakes in whatever you are doing. Ditto with the toilet, always answer the call of nature, otherwise you'll have an accident, I always do, cKd insists upon it. I'm sure if Hillary ate all her food on time and did not hold in her pee so much she'd be President now. But I've got her a nice job, she's the new crossings patrol lady outside our local primary school, she loves the job to pieces, she gets free dinners with the kids and she can use the staff toilet any time she needs it. 

The Donald and Me or am I Quackers ?

The Donald and Me or am I Quackers ? ©

By Michael Casey

I’ve reached story 910 or so, and I wondered what I should turn my attention to today. I think I’ve been hacked, nothing here but I think I have a spy on my computer, the screen saver has a photo of Donald and Barron Trump playing golf, mum is sat on the golf cart knitting a baseball cap with 45 on it. The trees can be seen walking, but it must be the secret service keeping a watchful eye on everything.

So Barron you have proved your point, is it you who just sent an advert about heart attacks? I had my quadruple bypass 2 years ago, and was it you that sent the life insurance messages too. A turkey at Christmas would get better coverage. If I knew your email I’d send you the photo of me looking like a drunken fool, by the way I did win a prize as the uncoolest dad thanks to that photo, and by the way you are not missing anything if you follow dad’s advice and never drink. I saw a lifetime of alcoholic lodgers myself, not a pretty sight. I probably drink less than 20 pints in a year, and I mean lager not antifreeze, I am not Russian.

And I imagine it was not you sending me emails for pain killers, ok I’ll shut up about it, I just saw your dad saying you were a computer whiz. Now where was I, 255 words in and I haven’t got to the point, over here in UK we had a column in Private Eye about the imaginary life of Dennis Thatcher the husband of Margaret Thatcher who was our PM. So I was thinking as your dad will dominate the news for 4 years or even 8, depending on when he gets bored, what if I wrote an imaginary column about me and the Donald. I just flinched and ducked then as I imagined the secret service shooting in my direction.

It would be a bit of fun, as close to getting drunk and having the room spin around, but without having taken any alcohol. A bit like glue sniffing I suppose, but I’ve never done that either, it can kill instantly, so never even think of doing it. So what if I started a column about The Donald and Me, I’d have to number them so people can keep up, and be on the right episode.

Would men in suits arrive at my house and make me an offer I could not refuse, would my daughter’s teddy bear be kidnapped and I’d get notes on Trump hotel notepaper advising to be careful if I cared for the teddy bear. If you like the teddy would be a hostage. Its a bit of an Irish hostage situation, a teddy bear gets to live a life of luxury while we stay here in Birmingham.

Surely being a hostage isn’t meant to be on 5^th Avenue, while we stay on our road, Moonlit Graveyard Crescent number 69, Birmingham. It would make sense if we were taken away and the teddy bear stayed home, that’s why I call it Irish. My own people are from Kerry, great golfing place, your dad will know of it for sure.

So what should I do? I’ll wait for the numbers to come in on my site and see if this taster is liked, and if it is then The Donald and Me will become a feature. Though I could have my Internet removed in the interests of national security. Have you seen any photo of me, Santa is a bigger threat than my words. Though if ever the Donald does get to Kerry, can I have a lift to visit my relatives, all I need to do is borrow a SUV and one driver. I’ll feed and pay the driver the same amount your dad gets for being President, is one dollar too much? 

Snow Limits

 Snow Limits ©

By Michael Casey

I’ve just watched a cartoon on the tv about The Snowman’s parents life. We have all seen the animation The Snowman, Walking in the Air being the music that goes with it. I had not intended watching it but I was overruled by the wife, Harry Potter film was recorded and not watched. I’m glad we watched the animation about Raymond Brigg’s parents Ethel and Ernest, it was very well made and reminded me of my own parents.

My dad came to England in 1944 and spent the end of the war fire watching and working in a steel works. Having a few beers was also in order, one of his friends was placed on a bench in Victoria Park Smethwick to sober up, and it was there that dad came tumbling off his bicycle, and got shouted at in the blackout by a policeman.

So watching the Raymond Briggs animation mirrored my dad’s life and brought back many memories. We had an air raid shelter too, Anderson shelter to  give it its full name. Ours was full of rainwater and stunk. My brother tricked me into going inside via a plank, and once I was on an inside on a ledge at the back he withdrew the plank and I was forced to wade through stinking black water to make my escape. So I have stinking memories of that air raid shelter.

In the Summer the metal of the air raid shelter heated up and was a favourite place for cats to sun bathe and for my sister to sit and read, this would be back in the late 1960s. Then dad decided to dig the air raid shelter up. I remember that my brother who had trapped me inside was tasked with digging it up. This is harder than you imagined as it had concrete foundations a few inches thick, maybe 6 inches. Finally when the task was done the shelter was moved to the family garden and re-bolted back together.

All these memories came back because of the cartoon I saw a few minutes ago.We also had a garden shed made from an air raid shelter, so when we had a new big wooded garden shed the old shed was dismantled and placed in the other garden where our lodging house was.  A bit like musical Anderson Shelters, no bombs falling.

Then our lodger decided to put a central floor inside his, so it became posh. I was close to the lodger he was like an extra uncle to me, so I copied him and laid a full floor in the original dug up air raid shelter which was now at the bottom of the family garden. I started by the fence which formed a wall to the side of the shelter. And moved towards the door. By pure chance this gave a camphor to the floor, I also ended covered in filth, the blue bricks were all neatly laid as I had dug the soil up to slot them into position. I suppose those bricks may be quite expensive now as they are 100 plus years old now.

The cartoon tonight showed the old style bread bins, I have ours under our kitchen sink it must be over 60 years old now. There was also a mangle for squeezing the water out of the washing, but you have to separate the rollers when all the washing is done or they stick like glue together. Mum forgot once and when dad was finally able to force the rollers open, and dad was as strong as an Ox, there was a bite left in one of the rollers.

So as you can can imagine many many memories came flooding back tonight, even the fact that his dad was a milkman. An old school friend whom I used to play rugby with in 1970s, because we were a grammar school, his dad was a milkman, and Benny Hill had a number one hit with Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West.

It was also mentioned about how special it was to go to grammar school. I can tell you something about grammar schools and Inner Cities. In my family 4 of us went to Grammar school, then 2 of my brothers went to Oxford and Cambridge. Our neighbour 4 doors up, 2 of his went to Grammar school, and then both went to Oxford, he was a mad labour bus driver.  A third child was sent to Elocution lessons.

Further up the same road we had a PhD in mathematics. And around the corner, the son of a nurse and a crane driver was a PhD and his daughter is a medical Doctor. What did all of us have in common, we all went to Mass at Saint Patrick’s and the boys were all altar servers there. So I don’t believe your environment dictates what you are. Hard work and love dictated what you can be.

I would love for my book The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker to be cartoonised or on the radio, or to be honest just for any of you to read its 600 pages. Perhaps you have to be famous first before that happens, it does start slowly after all and Americans especially love fast things, like food, cars, bucks and women. However they did like Lord of the Rings and if any of you need reminding, I am a Birmingham writer too.  

The Late Show at the Paradise Club

The Late Show at the Paradise Club (c)

By Michael Casey

Well its 27^th Dec and another star has died, 2016 has thinned out a lot of the stars, so we’ll miss them all. There should be room for new shoots to appear now, but what happens to the stars once they are stars in paradise, assuming you believe in any afterlife.

Just queue here, can you all put your bedroom slippers on we don’t like mud all over Heaven, Saint Peter is very strict about that, Angels’ Wing carpet is very hard to clean. It takes 15 years of humility on Earth to clean the carpet. Didn’t you know the worse things are on Earth the worse things are in Heaven. We are not whiter than white, we are a kind of dull grey most of the time. It takes extraordinary things on earth to brighten up heaven. Like when the Washington 2017 accord was agreed and nuclear weapons were cut by 50% at a stroke, now we were so happy in Heaven it was as if Colgate toothpaste had been used on the floor and walls and everywhere. We just sparkled.

So what happens when you are dead and you are arrive in Heaven, well you are given somebody on earth to watch over and pray for. The prayers you say into the Future will have helped you in the Past. Its complicated but Time is one of God’s biggest jokes. So you have to pray for somebody now you are in Heaven, a kind of extra Guardian Angel if you like, though I could be wrong I’m just telling you what I dreamed the other night, but it could have been as a result of too much soda pop. Or the 17 pints of Stella Artois and a packet of cheese and onion crisps I had with my Christmas dinner.

Singers become bricklayers, and actors make ham sandwiches, though all sandwiches are made from clouds they just taste different, depending on which Faith you had when you were alive. You have to do something totally different as soon as you cross the threshold, this is to teach humility. It's the Future which is important, nobody cares if you were Sinatra , what you were does not matter, its how you are going to spend your time in Heaven that counts.

Sinatra is in actual fact a toilet cleaner in Paradise, he is very good in this role, a Natural if you like. But he does insist on cleaning toilets HIS way, but as he is so good at it none of the angles tell him off. Liberace is here too, he is an electrician all those candles on his piano made it obvious that he'd become an electrician, he has a helper to help put the sparkle back into the stars. John Wayne is his helper as he is so tall Liberace can stand on his shoulders so he can reach for the stars to add more twinkle to them.

George Michael runs the Karaoke bar, no he's not the singer there he washes the bottles, we recycle everything here after all. Winston Churchill is the actual singer, him and Les Dawson the piano player, Mozart just polishes everything, its such a relief for him, not having his brain humming all the time. Charlie Chaplin is the doorman cum bouncer, then the sandwiches are made by that lady from the telly, cheese and onion crisps flavour. Her death has not been announced yet, but Heaven has her already making the sandwiches.

Is it boring in Heaven, Lord knows its not, something happens all the time. We don't have tv or theatre we just have 7,000,000,000 souls we can watch, its riveting, remember its all Free Will, so its better than gambling at Monaco, I can reveal I used to be a gambler, now I just do show arounds of Heaven. But my main job is tuning harps for the angels, I've been doing it for 1000 years and still the angels try and get Hannibal to tune their harps instead of me.

I suppose its good for my Humility, but Hannibal he just pours vinegar on everything and holds it outsides the gates of heaven and lets Hell's fires work its magic, it just cracks everything. Then the angels play even more fervently because they can taste the smoke of Hell on their harps. I don't understand it myself, Freud was not allowed into Heaven, he tried to 2^nd guess God. So he just loiters outside pulling faces.

What more can I say, its Winter here and we are waiting for the souls just saved from Hell, we always have a party for those saved at the last minute, they are really hot souls, and for us they are likeour storage radiators and we gather around to warm our hands around the. Then there is disco dancing and for one hour only can revert to what you are best at. So Sinatra stops cleaning toilets, and George Michael will stop washing bottles and they'll duet together, Charlie Chaplin and Mozart play backing on the pianos. There is more celebration in Heaven for a repentant sinner than your goody two shoes after all. 

Trump and Putin make Peace

Trump and Putin make Peace ©

By Michael Casey

Well its Boxing Day and George Michael died yesterday, Last Christmas is playing on Spotify, my Arthur my athritis is playing up but at least I made the family gathering yesterday. I’ve got up and taken my heart pills, after being up earlier in the night due to pain. As I finished my toast we have a sunny morning in Birmingham, there is a flash and Totoro our cat is on the kitchen windowsill rubbing her bum on the window pane, she wants to come back in, she’s visited the half Japanese child and the Polish brothers now she wants to sleep the morning off.

So I wonder what shall I write about, or rather talk about today, then I thought of Peace and Goodwill to All Men, which brings me to Trump and Putin making Peace. Trump tweets Putin, he sends a Christmas email, if it was good enough for Hillary its good enough for him. There are dancing Elves in bikinis with sashes saying Trump 45 on them, plus a crying Hillary having a tantrum on the floor, its everybody’s fault but mine she screams, as cartoon FBI cuff her and drag her away. Like Simpsons but this is real, or surreal.

Putin sends a carrier pigeon in reply, Trump can eat it after it squawks the reply, Putin has a soft side to him that nobody knows, Snowden is living in Putin’s attic above the Kremlin, in the onion thing you see as a tourist. And now he sends Moscow’s answer to KFC especially to Trump.

Trump wants to meet in some place North and cold, but Putin remembers how Reagan played a blinder before so he wants some place hot, so they agree to meet in the sauna at the old post office in DC, its now a Trump hotel.

They arrive and sit naked facing each other, Trump bring out some chilled water, Trump water, they will be drinking Trump’s water, though not Trump’s water, that would be very much like Ghandi. Putin brings best Russian vodka, but Trump who does not drink himself knows that Polish vodka is better so has is substituted while Putin’s back is turned.

So sat naked opposite each other the talks begin. If you can’t stand the heat you should not be in the kitchen after all. Putin compliments Trump on the size of his hands, Trump blushed before putting, putting not Putin, a baseball cap with 45 on his head. The secret service need to be able to tell Trump and Putin apart in all the steam, and after days of negotiation the baseball cap was allowed by the KGB or is it PSB or PMT or GMT, it was some 3 letters anyways.

Putin realised his vodka had been switched and he just loved it to death, why complain when its to your advantage.Polish vodka is so good because Poland has been invaded so many times it would drive you to drink, so vodka really is a reflection of History, but ask your local drinker and he will give you a very drunken History lesson.

Trump just stares at Putin and drinks his water, he smiles his gleaming smile, the dazzling teeth are like a laser and Putin has to squint, a very drunken squint. Trump uses catchphrase after catchphrase, lock her up is replaced with we will send Sarah Palin to Moscow as our ambassador. Putin downs an entire bottle of Polish vodka, that was sneaky and underhand, he thought Trump was a fool that’s why he hit the ceiling  with the broom handle and told Snowden in the attic to screw the Democrats and help Trump.

Putin’s head swam and who let Trump’s dog, mad dog out, all it did was howl and howl. So Putin threw a bottle of vodka at it, only this mad dog just caught it and drained it before  howling the more. Putin realised Trump was no fool it was just a front, so he drained another bottle of vodka. Trump must have a Costco card, how else could he get that many pallets of Polish Vodka, and it was only a Tuesday.

This much Polish vodka on a Tuesday, he must have pull with the alcohol sales replenishment team, or he must have worked in hotels. Putin’s head throbbed, wasn’t Trump a hotelier, he seemed to remember something from his pre talk briefing, but that was 9 or 17 bottles of Polish vodka ago. Putin cursed and threw 2 more bottles of vodka at Trump’s howling mad dog, who just smiled and drained them.

Lets play hide and seek suggested Putin who ran screaming and naked from the old post office without even a stamp to hide his modesty. Trump just laughed and clicked his fingers, his red, white and blue shell suit was zipped up around him, he didn’t want to show his hands after all.

Putin ran to his sub parked in the river, and soon he was down the hatch. Mad dog laughed like Mutley, the secret service surrounded Trump, all naked with their weapons on show, and yes the  secret service have great big weapons. Trump knocked on the hatch, open up open up or I’ll huff and I’ll puff. Putin refused, Trump improvised, his mad dog peed all over the Russia nuclear submarine. Ok I’ll give you 3 hours head start and then I’m coming to get you, he’d seen the film The Hunt for Red October after all.

Mad dog had peed an awful lot on top of the USSR Stalin, it was actually a fluorescent marker which would leave a trail, dogs, mad dogs love following trails after all. Trump went and played a round of golf with Barron while Putin had his head start. The secret service did put their clothes back on, they impounded all the Polish vodka first, after switching the labels for Trump water. Their mess room in the White House could always do with a bit of extra water.

Barron beat his dad at golf, again, Trump did not mind at all, in fact it made him proud so proud. Meanwhile Putin wanted to drive the submarine only he pressed the wrong button and the submarine sunk to the bottom of the ocean floor. Mad dog had finished leaving his scent everywhere when he got the message, the USSR Stalin was stuck, tow trucks don’t do that stuck.

So Trump resisted the temptation to say leave him there, and said save the USSR Stalin, mad dog whimpered for a bit, but he liked moustaches, Stalin had one like John Bolton’s the Fox pundit who failed to make the grade for Trump 45, so like a good puppy dog he asked his friends in the Marines to save Putin.

Now this event was played as a signal of future cooperation between two great powers. While Putin was down there in the dark he had his Religious conversion, for it was not just Polish vodka he’d been consuming, Timothy Leary himself was added to the vodka, but the USA had “borrowed”an Olympic anti drugs person from the USSR. So nobody was the wiser, if you want to fool a fool then you use the fool’s own fool.

Putin realised that he didn’t have enough money for an arms race but  he could teach USA about the Ocean floor, his subs had spent decades hiding there, and they could cooperate on Space travel, and it would be so much cheaper, and he could be a hero, without taking his shirt off and riding a horse.

3 days later when Putin was saved he gave Trump his idea, in return for a train load of Polish vodka, marked as Trump water. They say that somebody is so mean they wouldn’t even give you their piss, but Donald was giving his water, which was really Polish vodka, in disguise.  

The Pope praised both, he knew all about water being turned into wine, but not about Trump water turned into Polish vodka. To celebrate Trump took Putin for a game of golf, and Putin slaughtered Trump. Trump laughed, he’d negotiated international peace and a 50% nuke cut, so losing a game of golf did not matter. Putin did reveal how his golf was so good, he had gotten Snowden who lived in his attic to hack Tiger Woods’ computer. So you see Putin had done his homework. Putin did ask when they had stopped laughing and Trump had paid  Putin 100dollars for the loss of the golf game. Where did you get your dog from, no not Barron’s dog but the little mad dog. Oh I got him from the United States Marines Corp, he was a present, replied Trump his chest swelling with pride.   

2016 Year of the Dead

2016 Year of The Dead ©

By Michael Casey

Well George Michael just died and on Christmas Day, so that’ll taint Christmas forever for his family and his fans. Its 2.30am. The pain got me up so I thought I’d write a bit while I wait for the pain to go away and when I’m so exhausted that’ll I’ll fall over then I’ll go back to bed and sleep through the pain.

The pain of a death is overwhelming, I remember when my mother died 20 years ago and when my dad died 5.5 years later, though he nearly died 8 weeks after mum. So 2016 is the year of the dead, Twitter is trending Save David Attenborough as he is a National Treasure and if anything happened to him it would be unbearable. So retweet that to all your friends. I did have a try of Twitter  but its too time consuming and addictive, like going to a speak-easy. I am not on any Social Media I attract mad people like a magnet, so I am only on email and I don’t click any links, you have to write a message or you are deleted and join the year of the dead.

Part of our lives go when a celebrity goes, we were snogging our girl or boyfriend or both to the music of our favourite musician. So when that person dies we remember whether we scored a home run or got to 2^nd base, while listening to Elvis or George Michael or even John Denver. The dead person is forever sat on the back of the settee looking down at the action or lack of it, like Beetlejuice.  

You go for a drive and you are playing your favourite songs as you drive along, you are showing off and you crash the car, even if you don’t kill your girlfriend that moment is forever frozen in time with the music that was playing as you drove dangerously. So when the singer finishes singing his songs forever  you remember back to the day that you had your crash. The night my mother died Celine Dion was singing a song on the radio so that has become our family song, you lifted me up, which was so true of our mum.

If you like the Celebrity Death magnifies our own emotions, what was happening to us is  reinforced because somebody was singing this or that. Its Music above all else which has such power to overwhelm us and to remind us of this and that, as they say Music really is the soundtrack of our lives. So when George Michael dies it can be an overwhelming situation for us, we have stolen and borrowed the Love from George’s family and used it as the glue that holds our own family together, that is why they’ll be tears in the morning when everybody gets up from their Christmas Day night slumbers.But George is too young to die we’ll all say and we’ll put Spotify on and listen to the tracks of our tears and remember our younger years, while George Michael sings.

So what more can I add now that the countdown to 2017 has begun, say your prayers  because one day you will not wake up, you will have joined a list and become just a memory. Use your time to make sure you are a happy memory one which is loved and mourned and not scorned.