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Where is everyone?

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Some fine parkrun tourism. 06/09/25 : Cassiobury  This was my first proper parkrun tourism - heading away from St Albans to see what their event offers. My eldest was, of course, responsible - we were off to see Tia, one of her friends from uni and we'd carefully arranged to meet her at the café beforehand, so time was allowed for chatting. The event is 19km away in Watford and I know the traffic can be terrible on a Saturday morning, so I allowed some time for that. It's also in a very big park and I had no idea how close the parking was to the start, so I allowed some more time for that... ...and so, to no-one's surprise in the family, we were there very early. We were also very much on our own - not only were there was no sign of a friend, there was no sign of any runners at all. Hmmm. Ah, hold on, there are TWO cafés - time for a speedy warm-up walk! By the time we got to the start line, there was no time to experience the other café (there was always afterwards) but th...
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We lay on towers, on rented time - I'm yours for hours, you're always mine

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 30/10/26 : Visitor - Sienna Spiro Well, this is a bit of a surprise. We met this album in passing as a new entry back in mid July and I liked it with her pushing Madonna close for the coveted album of the week award. However, I never imagined that we'd get to meet it properly seventeen weeks later with it not having left the top ten at all in that time - the lass has got to be pleased with that, hasn't she? Interestingly, the Olivias ( Rodrigo  and  Dean ) and the Michael Jackson best-of have also been ever present in the top ten during that period and the Fleetwood Mac best-of runs them close, but spent a couple of weeks at #11. But this week is all about Sienna... Last time I said that it gave strong Amy Winehouse or Raye vibes and she's only 20 but it's got a much more mature sound than that would suggest - but you're obviously looking for a much more in-depth analysis than that, so here goes. Well, err...
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Wearing stripes, arms up high, as tall as can be

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 09/08/81 : KooKoo - Debbie Harry I remember this album cover but I didn't remember it was Debbie - I find Blondie's output to be somewhat variable, so I'm not sure what to expect from this. Hmmm - it's an odd one. The backing tracks are generally fine, if somewhat generic, funk-pop and Debbie does her Blondiesque thing, which is generally fine, if not always quite in tune. However, the vocal and the backing track don't always seem to quite match up - it just feels like they were done separately and paired randomly,  which makes some of the songs rather puzzling . I did quite like "Chrome" though - they got it right on that one. I didn't love it overall but I wouldn't say it's a dreadful album - it just feels a bit odd for most of the time. We're at #6 in the charts this week on her second week of a seven week run, with this being as high as it got. The top five this week were the Royal ...
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My local!

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A milestone! 31/10/26 : Jersey Farm  This is my closest event but wasn't the first one I did - for various reasons I went to the main St Albans one first, but couldn't be bothered going quite so far when I went back for my second week. So, on 18th May '24, I took the ten minute walk from my house to the Jersey Farm Country Park - and I remember absolutely nothing about that run except that I hated the hills (and they involved a lot of stopping and walking). But I've been back a few times since and so, this weekend, I celebrated my 100th event there (out of 119 parkruns in total) - but I also celebrated a second consecutive family-based first. Last week was the first time that our youngest did it and so we had three Reeds doing the same event (Elaine was volunteering for the Poppy Appeal otherwise I'm sure she'd have been there) but this week the eldest was off in Burton doing a spot of parkrun tourism on her own, so it was the first time it was just me and the ...
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When I said that I love you, I meant that I love you forever

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 16/08/81 : Hi Infidelity - REO Speedwagon My initial thought on seeing this week's offering was "I didn't expect to see them in the 80s" - but then it occurred to me I had no idea when we might be seeing them. Wikipedia tells me that they were active from '67-'24 but this is likely to be the only time we meet them - it's also only their second ever mention, after noting they chose not to record "Danger Zone" for the Top Gun soundtrack. Well, it's not dreadful in terms of musical skill but whilst it may be 1981, for me this belongs squarely in the mid 70s - they do know how to put a decent melody together but it's all super cheesy with an awful lot amount of repetition (they're really not scared to reuse any ideas they have). However, I do have give them credit for  "Keep On Loving You" which just has such a rousing chorus that I can forgive it any sins (and it actually ...
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Six shot morning, it's a beautiful world

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Continuing my trip forward in time through the album charts 23/10/26 : Dopamine Chamber - Fontaines D.C. Running a bit late because of a lovely break in Madris, this is our fourth visit with FDC and I've generally quite liked their stuff, so I'm interested enough to listen to this. Yeah, this is a pretty strong effort. It's interesting that I'm currently listening to albums from '81 because there are strong 80s vibes on this - the first couple of tracks are very OMD-ish and after that it goes a bit darker a la Cure. It feels to be an album with depths so it's hard to know quite what to say about it after just the one listen, but it certainly feels like it would benefit from further visits. It was also interesting to see Rosalia pop up on "Where Is Gone?" with her and Grian's voices working well together - for some weird reason I got Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue vibes (this is not a bad thing btw). It's also got quite the album cover! We are, of ...
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When somebody reaches for your heart - open up and let them through

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Continuing my trip back through the 1981 album charts. 23/08/81 : Secret Combination - Randy Crawford Only our third ever mention for Randy (with the previous one being her appearance in the top five last week). I know I know some of her tracks, but couldn't tell you what they are - I'm expecting to like it enough though. Ah yes, I obviously recognised "You Might Need Somebody" which is a great track - originally by Turley Richards (who I've never heard of) but I actually prefer Shola Ama's version. I was also vaguely aware of "Rainy Night In Georgia" - originally by Tony Joe White, but popularised by Brook Benton (and I've never heard of either of them). The rest of the album is in a very similar vein - it's all very Gladys Knight-ish so I imagine the lovely Mrs Reed is a fan. I can't say I go quite that far but she's got a nice voice, it's all well done and it's nice to see another lady this year (they've been a bit lack...
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