Tag: Bernard Cribbins

Easter Discombobulation, Doppelgängers and “Space Oddity”

If anyone ever tells you that a cost effective way of having your floors replaced is to do them all at the same time, ignore that bit of sage advice. It might be good for the pocket, but really not good for your head, your back or your living conditions, especially if it’s happening around Eastertime.

Apologies for the rant but I had planned a nice Easter Sunday lunch for DD and her other half but that’s had to be cancelled as for a week now we’ve been living like this (see below), and another few days to go. The first two floors have now been laid after a bit of a delay because mysterious hatches / lumps & bumps appear when you lift the carpet and underlay in a 50-year-old house. Also, the best time to decorate a room is when it’s empty so in-between humping furniture around we’ve been furiously painting walls and skirting boards. I think Mr WIAA still thinks of me as a spring chicken (apt for this weekend), which is nice, but my arms and back tell a different story.


I’m going to have to write quickly this morning as the room I’m sitting in is about to be dismantled, ahead of its rejuvenation on Monday. Sadly there is nothing more likely to cause marital strife in our house than a spot of DIY, so needless to say tempers are frayed but if punctuated by frequent stops for a cuppa, it’s all bearable. Cue Bernard Cribbins and his ditty from the early ’60s, Right Said Fred.

Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbens:


In other news there is a rumour fast spreading around our town that the actress Wendy Craig has been putting in shifts at the charity shop where I volunteer. Now that we’ve moved to the centre of town, footfall is far higher and older ladies love to come in for a browse and a chat with the staff. I love these little exchanges and you soon find out never to judge a book by its cover as all sorts of stories pour out.

The actress Wendy Craig, or is it?

The nickname I got from some of the other volunteers when I started working at the shop was indeed Wendy, as they all thought I looked a lot like the famous actress from our youth. The fact that she is now aged 90 worried me a bit, but I expect they were thinking of her from her younger days. Well it seems some of our customers are now thinking the same thing, as volunteers have been stopped in the street and asked if she was helping us out. Personally I don’t know what they’re talking about!

Wendy in Butterflies at age 43 and my good self at age 43

I watched the sit-com Butterflies back in the day but here is another that Wendy starred in that I don’t remember at all. It was called Not In Front Of The Children and just as with her character in Butterflies, Wendy played a bit of a scatter-brained stay at home housewife. I’d like to think I’m not that scatter-brained but I have for a time been a stay at home mum, so maybe more similarities than I admit to. The theme tune for Not In Front Of The Children was certainly of its era – classic 1967 telly.

Not In Front Of The Children by Wendy Craig:


Amongst all the big scary news stories going around at the moment (I’ve been avoiding talking about the ones initiated by the orange man-baby) there is also a big feelgood news story. The first lunar travellers since Apollo 17 in 1972 have taken off successfully and are on their way to the “dark side” of the moon. There was such excitement back in 1969 when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon but this time it’s not such a big deal and I don’t think children will be as fully invested as we were back then. I’m not entirely sure what their motives are but it’s probably to find out what the Chinese did on the dark side of the moon when they sent robots up there in 2024. Either that or those in the know suspect our planet is on its last legs, so a permanent moon base will have to be set up to save the great and the good (but not the orange man-baby). Whatever their real motives, it will be interesting to see pictures from the side of the moon that never faces us.


Of course back in the 1960s, the music industry became totally influenced by these space missions and many songs were recorded about rockets, spacemen and even aliens. The most famous of them all was probably this one by a young David Bowie, Space Oddity. Although the song was really about a fictional astronaut named Major Tom, and its title and subject matter were inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, it was rush-released as a single to capitalise on the Apollo 11 Moon landing and was used by the BBC as background music during its coverage of the event. It initially sold poorly but soon reached the No. 5 spot in the UK Singles Chart, becoming David’s first and only chart hit for another three years. He revisited the Major Tom character in later singles, notably the sequel song Ashes to Ashes.

Space Oddity by David Bowie:


So, “What’s It All About?” – By this time next week my back will hopefully have recovered and we will have some very smart refloored and redecorated rooms. To be fair I did exaggerate, as it’s not the whole house it’s only four rooms but as one of those rooms is the hall it’s been very disruptive. As I said, don’t do it if you’re still living in the house – there may be a divorce afterwards!

As for my life as a doppelgänger, I think I might have some fun with it. I could wear my cardigan with the butterflies on it and answer only to Wendy. Our customers would probably enjoy that.

Again, by this time next week we’ll have seen pictures of the dark side of the moon. Who knows, it might even look like this.


Until next time…

Space Oddity Lyrics
(Song by David Bowie)

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

(Ten)
Ground Control
(Nine)
To Major Tom
(Eight, seven, six)
Commencing countdown
(Five)
Engines on
(Four, three, two)
Check ignition
(One)
And may God’s love
(Lift-off)
Be with you

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
She knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you he—

Here am I floating ’round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

A Week Is A Long Time In Blogging – The Eclectic Mix of Bernard Cribbins and Nancy Wilson

Just over a month ago I wrote seven posts in seven days, and it was actually remarkably easy. Now that I’m back to one post per week, it’s somehow become a bit more difficult. Partly down to the fine weather and the fact Mr WIAA is on holiday from his paid employment (as opposed to the wonderful world of self-employment which must still continue over the summer months), but mainly because there seems to be just so much going on at the moment, both in the wider world and domestically. Every time I think I have an idea for the following week’s post, and start working on it, by the time I’ve gathered my thoughts we’ve moved on to something else.

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Melania – “How did I get here?”

Since pressing the publish button last week we’ve had two high profile resignations from the cabinet, our government seems to be in total disarray with regards to what our future relationship with Europe will be and the POTUS and FLOTUS flew across for a visit. As expected the POTUS made a few monumental gaffes, whilst the ever-elegant FLOTUS just looks like a trophy wife who still can’t quite believe what has happened to her.

On a happier note we saw the miraculous rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from flooded underground caves. I am in awe of what the divers went through in order to facilitate that rescue. Sporting-wise, we’ve had the closing stages of the World Cup where England nearly made it to the final, but fell at the hands of Croatia, a country with a population of 4 million. The Men’s Wimbledon Final took place on Sunday where the Serbian with the haircut that never changes recaptured his tennis mojo, and took the big prize.

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In the more frivolous sections of the media we found out lots about the goings on in the Love Island villa (they do like to “crack on”, discuss their “connections” and parade around in barely there swimsuits). It also seems that the youngest of the Kardashian clan, aged only 20, is likely to become a billionaire in the very near future courtesy of a make-up range that the Love Island girls would no doubt approve of – Lots of products aimed at plumping the lips to cartoonish proportions.

So, that’s the wider world taken care of in three paragraphs, what’s been happening domestically? Well, DD has landed herself a new job which she is really pleased about and with Mr WIAA on holiday, we finally got the bit between our teeth and started doing all those jobs round the house that have been staring us down for months. Sadly there is nothing more likely to cause marital strife in our house than a spot of DIY, so needless to say tempers are frayed. Much moving around of furniture has had to be done, but if punctuated by frequent stops for a cuppa, it’s all bearable. Cue Bernard Cribbins and that great wee ditty from the early ’60s, Right Said Fred.

Today I finally finished “the kitchen project” which started a long, long… six months ago. The reliable, skilled tradespersons we had always hoped to commandeer never materialised, so a lesser tradesperson called Alyson did the lion’s share of the tiling, decorating and up-cycling of furniture. Back in January it only took 8 days to rip out the old kitchen and install a new one, complete with appliances, but it’s just taken me 14 days to sand down the old table and chairs, then re-varnish and paint them in another colour. Blame all the false starts for the length of time taken, but now that it’s finished, I’m really chuffed with myself.

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Finally finished!

One condition I have when decorating is that Mr WIAA does all the cleaning of brushes, especially if white spirit is involved. Such a messy business and really hard nowadays to dispose of all that cloudy solvent when you’re finished. Other than that however I am more than happy to spend my days up a stepladder, or crouched at skirting board level, transforming tired rooms into freshly painted ones. The best bit about decorating is being able to listen to the radio, totally guilt-free, for hours on end. I say guilt-free because I am incapable of doing anything that requires any modicum of concentration (computer stuff generally) and listen to the radio at the same time, so I have to limit my listening pleasure.

The kind of mainstream stations I tend to listen to don’t often play songs I’m unfamiliar with, but every now and again they surprise me, and this week I have a few new songs to add to the ever-growing database that constitutes the tracks of my years. This next song, like Right Said Fred, is from the early ’60s but a very different animal indeed. I don’t know if this is unusual for someone of my vintage but I was unaware of American artist Nancy Wilson until this week. Once I got past the idea that she sounded a little like our own Shirley Bassey I really warmed to her, and loved this little gem of a song that popped up on one of the radio playlists. Yes, it gets the prize for earworm of the week, and you don’t know, you don’t know, you don’t know, you don’t know… how glad I am, about that. 

(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am by Nancy Wilson:

(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am was a hit in the US for Nancy Wilson in the summer of 1964. It also received the Grammy Award in the R&B category the following year. Someone I had been unaware of until this week but someone I might like to investigate a little further once some semblance of a normal routine returns.

Hopefully by next week it’ll be back to business as usual but not always easy at this time of year to keep the pot boiling as my mum would say. I still have another post idea to tackle as a result of having thrown down the gauntlet a few weeks ago. Not going to be easy however, so to the person who suggested it, still on the back burner at the moment but will definitely appear in due course. In the meantime I’ll just “crack on” (as the Love Islanders would say) with all these decorating jobs and if it looks as if tempers are starting to fray, I’ll take advice from good old Bernard Cribbins and ‘ave a cuppa tea. Unlike Nancy Wilson, I don’t think my love (for Mr WIAA) at the moment has no beginning, end, front or back but fortunately it’s all just temporary!

Until next time….

(You Don’t Know) How Glad I Am Lyrics
(Song by Jimmy Williams/Larry Harrison)

My love has no beginning, my love has no end
No front or back and my love won’t bend
I’m in the middle, lost in a spin loving you
And you don’t know, you don’t know
You don’t know, you don’t know how glad I am

My love has no bottom, my love has no top
My love won’t rise and my love won’t drop
I’m in the middle and I can’t stop loving you
And you don’t know, you don’t know
You don’t know, you don’t know how glad I am

I wish I were a poet so I could express
What I’d, what I’d like to say yeah
I wish I were an artist so I could paint a picture
Of how I feel, of how I feel today

My love has no walls on either side
That makes my love wider than wide
I’m in the middle and I can’t hide loving you

And you don’t know, you don’t know
You don’t know, you don’t know how glad I am