A rather nice Port (actually Tesco Ruby £6.50 but nice enough for me !) some mature cheddar cheese and a little Danish blue, bread - cos silly me forgot to buy any more crackers !, Box Car Willie playing on the speakers, nothing on telly - surprise surprise it being Saturday night and a prime viewing time ...
Broadband playing up this evening and dropping out left and right. No excuse today - it is not raining. Not Windy. Not freezing. No Weather conditions to speak of unless it is that it is uncharacteristically mild today !!! No ?? Okay - the connection is just rubbish !
But as I sit here this evening I have been brought to a point of revelation - yes one worthy of a blazing light on the road to Damascus... for my daughters have identified to me the impact that I may have had on their childhood and subsequent development..
In my defence, I have always enjoyed music and done my best to promote the enjoyment of my music through my children. In my over zealous manner, during the late seventies and early eighties, at a time when there were no music videos as compilations, no DVD's - when video disks were a very expensive experiment - destined to follow the Betamax, I used to spend time gathering video of music from all its sources. This meant long periods watching the Multi-colour Swap Shop on a Saturday Morning, Top of the Pops, Ready Steady Go and any other music fest available.
The Rules.... no live performances - they were boring - but the new media of the "pop Video" was worth watching. In those days, without remote control - it was all about getting the VHS machine in the right place and putting it onto "pause" and "record".. and then waiting - lying on the floor by the machine waiting for the next "music video" to come on screen- and anxiously pressing the pause button to release and start the recording. Of course the standby would kick in every ten minutes - so, a rewind and reset would happen.... As I recall a programme like Swap shop would have two - maybe three videos in the course of a three hour programme... Kenny Everett would have an excellent new Video every week - but you could never tell when it would appear in the show !!
But over the years - I managed to compile several 3 hour tapes of non stop music that would be played in our house whenever we were in a room with a television. A visual alternative to the record player. We were never a household where there was silence. Always some form of music would play .....
So it was today that my eldest posted a video that was well represented in my compilations. I well remember the calls of " I am her !!" as Toyah wielded her whip and drove her Grey ( I am told you can't call horses white ) Horse and her chariot formed from a half toyota into the castle grounds..... It seemed innocent. Good music, lovely setting, great concept, nice photo angles... Until watched with the benefit of hind sight....
Yes - they are right. The Evil Baddie in the Music Video IS my son in law!! You cannot see if he has long hair ( as at the time of the early romance ) or follicly challenged ( as appears more recently ) as the "baddie" wears a hood which could be worn by any LARPer with pride, and could well have been sewn by my wife as part of a costume concept.. but it is still him !!!
I went back to look to see if I appear somewhere in the background - but though there are drunken bodies around the fire I cannot see any direct resemblance!!
And then I look to Toyah.... Driving the Chariot forward, Red ( almost Orange but I will be generous ) hair in an awesome bouffant - and I recall the penchant of my eldest daughter for changing her hair colour to russet, crimson , ginger, or is it to Toyah Tint!!!...
And my youngest??? perhaps she simply escaped the "Baddie" by travelling further from those LARP style firepits.. and followed the arrow messages?? Far from these lands and into her own land of warm seas, hot climate and rugged landscape.....
So, somewhere among the famous Boxes of 41 - in amongst the Videos that killed the Removal Man will be the compilation tapes of videos from our history - tapes that one day can now be transferred up onto You Tube to be once again enjoyed in the order that they appeared on those old tapes and compilations..
Meanwhile .. the Baddie is still out there!!! And the Toyah Warrior-ess... And her Sister in the Sun
And I am content .....
Listless in Llanelli - but better than any alternative I can currently think of....
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