It’s been a busy week so I think it’s going to have to be a web diary type post from me today as lots to download from my overloaded brain.
First of all, I spent three days in the city of Leeds this last week, as it was time for BlogCon26 where six like-minded bloggers and their partners have a get-together in the “real world” as opposed to in the comments boxes of our online offerings. I mentioned it last time and despite my fears that rain would spoil proceedings we were very lucky in the end with only one downpour causing us a bit of bother.
As for Leeds, I had never been to the city before and my idea of the place must have been clouded by watching too many period dramas about cotton mills, and factory owners called Cartwright. Leeds has really reinvented itself in the 21st century and is now the largest financial centre outside London. The glass towers in the city centre make it look like Canary Wharf. Alongside all this development, the old Victorian buildings have been lovingly restored and the civic buildings and shopping arcades look beautiful. As for the bars and restaurants there were plenty to choose from and all bustling, even on a weekday night. Definitely a city on the up and one I plan to visit again.
Luckily for a bunch of music bloggers, an exhibition was taking place in the city’s museum when we were there called: Music Leeds Us: Celebrating 60 Years of Music in Leeds. It was really interesting and I discovered a lot about bands/artists I had hitherto not realised came from Leeds. I knew about the Kaiser Chiefs and Mel B of course, but didn’t know about Christie, Scritti Politti, The Wedding Present, The Sisters Of Mercy or Corrine Bailey Rae. Also, Marc Almond and Dave Ball from Soft Cell went to art school in Leeds. Here is Scritti with probably their most memorable song, from 1984, Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin).
But also this week I had a birthday, which is always a cause for celebration in our house. DD had been round when we were away and pinned up a personal birthday banner she had made herself – most impressive. As for the number this year, it should have been a significant one but in their wisdom the government decided a few years ago that the state pension age should increase, again, so it will be another few months until I get my remuneration. The weird thing is that you can’t believe you’ve got to that age, as in your head you’re still a young thing of 20-something (albeit with a lot more life experience under your belt).
Anyway I had a lovely day of opening cards and presents (a lot of them gardening related this year – an OAP activity?), and receiving messages from friends and family. We had birthday cake with DD and Mr DD, also known as The Grass Whisperer. In three weeks he has turned our patch at the front from this (left photo), to this (right photo) so well done him.
When I met up with my old schoolfriend last summer I reminded her that for my birthday in 1975 she gave me the single, Whispering Grass, by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle from the popular sitcom It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. That show hasn’t aged very well but in its heyday it attracted up to seventeen million viewers – different times. My friend denied giving me this very uncool record but I know the truth and I still have it in my collection. The song was written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The notion of “whispering grass”, which reveals a person’s secrets, apparently extends back to Greek mythology, notably the myth of Midas. Many people recorded it, notably The Ink Spots in 1940 but Windsor and Don’s version was the only one that made it to the No. 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart.
In other news, it’s only four days now until the start of the 2026 World Cup and things are really ramping up. Scotland qualified for the tournament for the first time in 28 years so there is much excitement in the country. We seem to have a fairly decent team this time around and we watched their friendly against Bolivia last night, which they won decisively (in the first half really). There are high hopes that they will be the first Scotland team to progress from the Group Stage.
As for the famous Tartan Army of Scottish Football Supporters, I fear there will be no repeat of the show they put on in Germany two years ago for the Euros. The cost of going to a tournament, in the United States especially, is beyond the realms of possibility for most supporters, and this will be the most expensive one to attend yet, by far. Money has really taken over the beautiful game, so the keenest supporters are left out of the party. The bulk of the supporters there will have to be well-heeled indeed and I’m not confident that they’ll be bringing their kilts, bagpipes, drums and “See You Jimmy” hats stateside.
On the plus side, Nick Morgan, who penned a fantastic song for the Euros has updated it for the World Cup. The lyrics don’t scan quite as well as he has had to substitute Boston for Berlin amongst other changes, but it’s a lot more palatable than the song brought out by the Irn Bru people starring Susan Boyle and John McGinn amongst others (link here).
Before I finish up, a bit of an antidote to what I was writing about last time – the ugly emergence of The Manosphere. I don’t know if you watched it, but one of our favourite programmes on telly is Race Across The World. Yes, it’s a reality show, but it’s also a travel show where you learn so much about the countries the teams pass through. The latest series took them from Palermo in Sicily to Hatgal in Mongolia. The route covered the old Silk Road, a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BC until the mid-15th century, so we got to see countries like Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It was fascinating and of course places not easy to travel to unless planned out in advance by the BBC.
One of the pairs taking part this time was made up of a couple of teenage lads from Liverpool. At first I didn’t hold out much hope for them as they had little travel experience under their belts, and of course, I’ve been brainwashed by the media’s portrayal of modern day young men. Like most of us who watched the show, by the end of it I was a little in love with Jo and Kush (in a motherly way).
I don’t think I’ll be giving out many spoilers by saying they won the race as it aired a few weeks ago now, but since then there has been an outpouring of admiration and respect for the lads, who are being seen as role models for young people. Their head teacher said he felt a gush of pride at seeing them triumph and his school assemblies are now all about the notion that these boys had courage, ambition and took risks. He described the former students as “magnificent, young gentlemen”, adding that “for both boys, behind the scenes there’s a mum who has sweated blood and given tears to make sure that they get everything they and other children in their families need. I think those mums deserve an enormous amount of credit and there’s a lot for us all to learn from that kind of family unit.”
The pair have been widely praised for their openness, including by politicians promoting healthy masculinity, with former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips telling the Guardian, “There are nasty influencers we need to worry about, but men and boys need to see this. Being kind and looking after each other – that’s real masculinity.” Amen to that.
Until next time…
No Scotland No Party Lyrics
(Song by Nick Morgan)
In the land where thistles sway, and the sound of bagpipes play in every social club and bar
From Hampden Park to towns afar
Tales of football have been told, of triumph and dismay
They talk of tournaments we’ve played and all the memories that were made, we never seem to do too well
I guess that time will tell if we will finally gonna make it through the group stage
Nobody’s saying we’re gonna win it
We know we ain’t no Argentina
But we’ve got John McGinn (John McGinn, John McGinn)
And Robbo out on the wing (On the wing, on the wing)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
And even if we don’t win (We will win, we will win)
We’ll boogie on in Boston (In Boston, in Boston)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
They talk of France in ’98 and all the years we’ve had to wait
To make another World Cup, things are finally looking up
It’s always been a dream a generation’s never seen
That’s how long it has been
But now we’ve made it and we’re here, there should be nobody that we fear
Beating the Danes along the way, it doesn’t matter who we play
‘Cause nobody else has got themselves a Dykes or McTominay
Nobody’s saying we’re gonna win it
We know we ain’t no Argentina
But we’ve got John McGinn (John McGinn, John McGinn)
And Robbo out on the wing (On the wing, on the wing)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
And even if we don’t win (We will win, we will win)
We’ll boogie on in Boston (In Boston, in Boston)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
We’re on our way to USA
Here we go, here we go
We’re on our way to USA
Here we go, we go
We’re on our way to USA (Our way to USA)
Here we go, here we go (To watch the Scotland play)
We’re on our way to USA (We’re off to USA)
Here we go, we go
And we’ve got John McGinn (John McGinn, John McGinn)
And Robbo out on the wing (On the wing, on the wing)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
And even if we don’t win (We will win, we will win)
We’ll boogie on in Boston (In Boston, in Boston)
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
No Scotland, no party
Steve Clarkes Tartan Army
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