Tag Archives: inspiration

In and Out – and Again – –

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Jack’s Wednesday guest post – –

I’ve been pondering about the ways we are being affected by the lock-down.

With time on my hands I’ve been posting more on Facebook and noticed that, even with non-political posts, it’s very easy to get sucked into being far too sensitive. For instance I’ve been taking part in the ten favorite albums challenge and got involved in a small dispute about the provenance of one. There was a bit of to and fro but it was all sorted by everyone putting smiley emogees beside their posts. I was impressed by how everyone drew back and sorted it out.

Just before I started to write this I saw a post from a friend that simply gave some information about the plan in place here in Virginia to confront the virus. The first response was from someone who was obviously a friend of hers describing Governor Northam as “Hitler”. I was very impressed when she completely ignored the comment but instead reached out with an offer to connect him with a photo competition. So another way to avoid easy confrontation (that one would have been very hard for me!).

Wendy is in a different situation though. She is emailing and phoning all over the place and sitting in the middle of a web of suppliers and recipients of hand sanitizer, masks, gloves and all manner of PPE. These folk and she are all under tremendous pressure and that, of course, is when misunderstandings arise and patience can be tested. But again, sitting back and breathing slowly has proven effective for everyone involved.

So, if there’s a message from these observations, it’s probably that counting to ten, and not going with your first instinct is probably your best response!

I hope that will continue to be the case when this eventually passes – – –

Revolutionary Thoughts – – –

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Jack easily makes it in time again – –

I really don’t want to write anything about Covid 19 so last week I wrote about my wee parlor guitar. This week it’s about a different and equally beloved piece of musical equipment –

phono

Many years ago I had a hankering for a wind-up gramophone (phonograph over here). So Wendy announced before one Christmas that we were going on a trip. She had done some research and found a gentleman who collected and sold ‘old technology’. He lived in a big old mansion house south of Edinburgh and he welcomed us graciously when we arrived.

The basement area was a warren of passages and side rooms that were probably originally cold storage for food etc. Each room had a different kind of ‘stuff’ – radios, TVs (including mechanical Baird Televisors), Medical equipment, telephones, scientific instruments – and on and on!

Eventually we reached the room with gramophones. Everything from old cylinder machines to 1960s Dancettes.

I had already gathered a fair collection of old 78 rpm records, everything from old Scottish traditional performers to Glenn Miller. But I wanted the kind of machine they were intended to be played on.

We chose a lovely old HMV machine and agreed a price. The gentleman then insisted on giving us a free box of needles too (I still have most of them).

For any readers not familiar with these machines – the turntable is driven by a powerful spring which is wound tight by the handle on the side. The needle picks up the sound vibrations and a diaphragm makes them audible, then feeds the sound to a horn. In my gramophone the horn is built in and opens behind two doors on the front. The doors are, effectively, the volume control. There are two levers beside the turntable, one controls the speed of rotation and the other is a brake which turns the rotation off or on. There’s no electricity involved at all.

The great thing is that my old 78s sound exactly as they should.

I often wonder about the previous owners, what they played on it and whether it had pride of place in their houses – I like to think it did, just like here!