Toni’s Blog

12th October 2011

I can’t believe it’s been 6 months since I last posted on my Chit Chat page.  But those six months have not been easy, or good, ones.

My cousin’s husband, Alan, had been very ill for more than two years and we knew he wouldn’t recover.  At the end of May the doctors told Jan it was a matter of weeks and I promised to go and stay with her at the end.  

Before that happened my dear, lovely friend, Charmain, was taken very ill, how ill we didn’t realise.  On June 23rd Alan died peacefully, holding Jan’s hand.  I went to Wales the following day to be with Jan, and Charmain was taken into hospital as her condition had deteriorated.  A week later Charmain died.  

It was a heartbreaking time for everyone, and a big shock to me as I loved them both dearly.  The day after Alan’s funeral I travelled back to Yorkshire and a week later I went to my best friend’s funeral…

Since then I’ve done my best to get back into some sort of routine, but all of you who have lost someone you love will know, it’s easier said than done.  Grief is a strange thing and affects people in different ways.  I found being on my own, or with close friends, very helpful.  They didn’t expect too much from me, and understood if I wasn’t all bright and bouncy.  Now and again I find myself feeling tearful for no real reason, but I go along with it, and that makes me feel better, too.

The summer wasn’t a good time for me, and that’s why I haven’t posted anything on LOVE ZONE for 6 months.

Getting back into working on the website has been a real tonic, and I hope you like the two stories I’ve chosen.  They are so totally different, but fun to do…

In two days time I’m going on holiday. All on my own!  Some of my friends have been quite shocked by that, but I’m looking forward to it.  I’m going to New England to see those beautiful Autumn colours and the fabulous landscape.  Then into Canada and back via New York.  I’ll be in New York for 3 days, and during that time I’m going to meet one of my Facebook friends!

His name is Scott, and he works in New York City, but lives in the ‘burbs.  He’s one of Steve Jones’ regular listeners, so every Sunday morning and Wednesday night we’re both in the Rhondda Radio Chat Room, along with loads of other people!

So I think this year will finally be happier.  I do hope so.  Lots of people I know have said what a dreadful year it’s been.  We didn’t even have much of a summer! After all that snow and ice we deserved better than we got.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, and this is a warning to everyone who has a PC plugged into the mains.

There was a dreadful thunder storm one afternoon.  I was happily ironing in the kitchen and the PC was turned off.  Suddenly there was a huge crash and I thought lightening had hit the roof.  Nothing happened to the electrics, so I didn’t take much notice - until I switched the PC on!  

Nothing!  Absolutely nothing!  Not even a glimmer of life!

Then I rang a friend who told me they’d been ringing me but kept being told there was a fault on the line.

I hurtled into action mode and rang my supplier.  It appeared the lightening had hit a telegraph pole just up the road and hurtled down my phone line!  It disabled the phone, although I could still make calls out, but couldn’t received them, then it attached and fried the router, not content with that it launched itself at my motherboard and killed it stone dead!

This happened just before I went off to Wales, and the insurance claim took time.  Ultimately I got a new PC and router, but was without a computer for 6 weeks.  It’s amazing how lost you feel without that little gadget to keep you busy!

Needless to say that was another reason why the website was cruelly ignored.  But it’s all back to normal now, and life is slowly picking itself up and moving forward.

I’m going to say goodbye now, until next time.  I’ve got packing to do and a whole list of things I must remember to take with me.  Like my passport and dollars!

The flight to Boston is on my birthday, Saturday 15th October, and it’s also the second Anniversary of LOVE ZONE.  So that’s two things I’ll have to celebrate when I get to the USA!

See you when I get back, with lots of photos and memories I’ll treasure forever…

 

31st May 2011

Today is a very special day...  Today would have been Jessica’s 15th birthday.

Unfortunately, Jessica was stillborn so won’t be here to celebrate with her family and friends.  However, all her friends on Facebook have changed their profile pictures to the one on Jessica’s Story page as a mark of their love and respect for her dad, Jeff, and for Jessica herself.  If she can’t celebrate her birthday, we’ll do it for her.

If you haven’t read Jessica’s Story yet, please do.  It’s on the Guest Writers page.  Be warned though, it’s not an easy read, and I’m not ashamed to say I cried.  You should also know I haven’t changed one word of the story, but then I didn’t need to.  Jeff is a very talented musician and songwriter, and there was no one better to tell the world about Jessica.

Through this story Jeff has also highlighted a huge flaw in our NHS.  For parents who have to face the loss of a newborn baby the grief is overwhelming.  They need time to be alone, to say goodbye to their precious child in privacy, and to cry.

I can’t count how many times I’ve listened to concerned doctors and nurses pleading, on television and the radio, for a Bereavement Room where parents can find the quiet and peace they need in those last moments.  And it just hasn’t happened...

There’s never enough money, no resources, we don’t have the space, and so on and so on.  Always an excuse, never a solution.

If you’ve read Jessica’s Story you’ll know that Jeff has found a solution.  It’s taken a long time, but from one dream it has grown into something positive and wonderful.  From his dream Jeff has created an album which will last for all time.  It’s called, simply, Jessica, and every track tells its own story of a dad’s deep love for his daughter.

You’ll probably have noticed that at the end of Jessica’s Story I’ve put a link to Jeff’s page where you can buy the CD.  I ordered mine yesterday, and it’s good to know that, along with many, many, other people, I am making a small contribution to the desperately needed Bereavement Room at Southend General Hospital.  

For those of you who read my Chat Chat regularly, you know I love music, and every Tuesday night and Sunday morning I’m tuned in to Steve Jones’ shows on Rhondda Radio.  Well, tonight is going to be a very special one.  The whole of the Old Grey Beard Show is dedicated to Jessica, and Steve will be playing every track on the CD.

Rhondda Radio is the place to be at 8pm tonight.  I’ll be there, along with all those friends across the world, so why not join us.  It will be a wonderful show, and the music will be the best because it was all written by Jessica’s dad, Jeff Green.

Please, please, read Jessica’s Story, and help to build the Bereavement Room in Jessica’s memory by buying Jessica...

And now there’s really only one thing left to say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA, WITH OUR LOVE...

 

 

29 April 2011

A few moments ago I received a very stern demand from my friend Jane Wilkinson to ‘UPDATE YOUR BLOG’!  So here it is...

This past month has been hectic and nerve wracking!  The reason is the same reason every year at this time...as Parish Clerk I have to do the Annual Audit of the council books.  Now if you ask me to write 5,000 words on any subject I’ll attack it with relish and thoroughly enjoy every minute.  But if you give me a load of paperwork involving numbers, my stomach churns, I feel sick, and I can get very stroppy with anyone who dares ring me!

So last week, not being able to put it off any longer I issued my friends with instructions not to bother ringing till I’d finished.  It took a couple of days, but I did it and the books balanced!  I then remembered we have an election of councillors in May and that entails more work.  Plus, at the next council meeting we have the AGM!  Oh joy!  Two meetings on one night, plus the Audit, and I’m a wrung out dishcloth!

Our meetings are on a Tuesday night and that’s the night my friend Steve Jones has his Old Grey Beard Show on Rhondda Radio.  I’d much rather be home and listening in and posting comments on his Facebook page.  It’s a great two hours, with fabulous prog rock (Steve’s a prog rock fanatic as well as a bass player), and I love throwing in a few comments on his page.  It’s a lot of fun and I’ve made loads of new friends with the same taste in music.  Most of them, I have to say, are in bands.

Which brings me neatly onto a lovely incident which happened yesterday...

Steve also has a radio show on Sunday morning from 10 to 12.  That one’s The Golden Oldies Show, and covers stuff from the 60s to the 80s.  That’s when memories of my teenage years come winging back to me.  A few months ago I was joking with Steve that I’d send him a list of great tracks from the time and he said: “Do it!”.

I couldn’t resist it, and started a list.  It ended up with 36 songs, all my favourite tracks.  I got a message from Steve’s wife, Gill, who said I’d sent him enough for a whole 2-hour show!  I’d intended my list to be songs Steve could include in the show now and again, but he had other ideas.

Next I heard he’d put it all together as one show and to listen on Sunday. It was a great show, but then I would think that wouldn’t I.

There was, however, one track I challenged Steve to find.  It was Gypsy Beat by the Packabeats.  We’re going back to the early 60s here, way back to my disreputable youth...

Being mad about music from the time I could walk I followed the latest music religiously.  That was in the days when bands played live, and just loved what they were doing.  It was also the time I met the Packabeats and started going out with the lead guitarist.  We went out together for a couple of years, but like most teenage romances, eventually went our own ways.  Aahhh...

It had been a great time though.  They were a very popular band and I went all over the country with them.  I was lucky enough to meet quite a few people who later became big stars.  Anyway, back to the story...

My copy of Gypsy Beat disappeared a long time ago during one of my many house moves.  So I asked Steve if he could use his vast contacts and find a copy, if he could would he please add it to my list.

Unfortunately, even Steve couldn’t find it.  All I could tell him was that I’d seen it on a compilation album years ago, the title of which escaped me.

Then, last week, Steve said there was a rock and roll programme on Rhondda Radio which he thought I’d like.  So I tuned in and I loved it.  The DJ is John E Thomas (JET), and Gill sent him a message to tell him I was listening in from Yorkshire and could he play Gypsy Beat.  He read her message out on air, but didn’t have the record.  Anyway, I had a chat with John E and told him the significance of Gypsy Beat.

Yesterday, I got a frantic phone call from Gill telling me to tune in and get on Facebook, John had sent me a message asking if I was listening.  I dutifully tuned in, informed him I was listening and he said he had something special for me.  He’d actually found a copy of Gypsy Beat!  I was flabbergasted.  Then he played it, and I couldn’t stop laughing and crying at the same time.  But there was more!

When the record ended John said he’d made a copy of the track for me and was sending it - I should get it next week!

Isn’t that fantastic!  Well, I thought it was, and what a lovely thing to do just for me.

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, if you’ve nothing better to do, why not tune in to Rhondda Radio and have a listen to Steve’s Golden Oldies Show.  I’ll be listening and having a chat on his Facebook page - I wouldn’t miss it...

So, Jane.  Is this update OK for you?  You can’t say I didn’t hurry up!  I’m glad you gave me a push actually.  It proves someone’s reading my ChitChat page!

By for now...

 

2nd April 2011

I can’t believe it’s April already!

Lots of you have been listening to Centaur Parting and loving it.  Christine has promised to let me know when new videos are available so I’ll be adding them to the list.

It’s been a busy week so far.  I’ve got another story to put on the website and I’ve been looking up train times and fares.  Yesterday I showed my friend, Jean, how to book her tickets to Wales.  It’s so confusing.  Lots of different companies all offering more or less the same journey, but some give you 4 changes of train and some just 2!  And the fares vary quite considerably.  It’s a real minefield, but I must persevere because I’m going down to Kent to see my three boys in the next week or so.  Then Paul and I are going to Devon to collect the family history recording our cousin, Bill, has done.

That’s going to be exciting, listening to all his memories of our family and how they lived their lives from the 1920s on.  Life is so very different today, and I know my grandsons are amazed when I tell me my granny didn’t have an inside loo!

One thing they did appreciate was only being made to have a bath once a week!

I’m trying to find a few spare minutes to find out how to put photos on Facebook.  I’ve got some from my visit to the Rhondda Radio studios, and thought I’d share them with you.  Gill said she’d like to use a few of them on the station’s website.  Fame at last!

See you soon, folks...

 

26 March 2011

Last week my friend Tom, who does all my technical stuff, surprised me with a new feature for the Chit Chat page.  When I saw it I was thrilled to bits.  I’ve been going on about my grandson, James, for a long time now, and you all know I think he’s a very talented musician.  Anyway, Tom came up with the idea of showcasing Centaur Parting on the Chit Chat by listing quite a few of their tracks complete with videos!

I thought it was a great idea and James’ mum Christine thinks so too!  All you have to do is click on the track you’d like to hear from the playlist and the video will play automatically.

All my life I’ve been a real fan of live music, and I think it’s a real shame we don’t get the opportunity of going to a gig to hear bands playing live.  It was a mantra in our house Keep Music Live!  That’s one reason why I’m so pleased James has followed in his father’s footsteps.

I’m very proud of my talented family, and there’s one more grandson to go.  George is 13 and has shown no interest in playing an instrument yet, he’s really into rugby though and plays for his school.  He’s also a whiz at gaming.  I’ve never fingers fly so fast over the keys!  I have to admit not knowing anything about games on the PC, I’m more than happy with my DS!

The clocks go forward tonight, and I hope the sun will start shining again soon.  I’ve had a bit of a make-over in my garden and it’s beginning to look pretty nice.  I’ve still got a few bulbs to plants, but every time I want to plant something I have to ask Charmain, that’s Tom’s partner and my friend of a lot of years!  She knows about these things and I’m a useless gardener, so all her advice is essential or I’d just end up with a garden full of weeds!

Right, that’s all for now.  I’ve got to search out another story for you.  One I think you might enjoy is another emotional one, and, hopefully, that’ll be ready for you to read by the end of next week.

In the meantime I hope you’ll have a listen to Centaur Parting, and let me know what you think.  Sunday tomorrow, that’s Rhondda Radio time again.  My weekends are getting to be quite busy, and I love it...

 

12 March 2011

What a busy month this has been!  After a jokey Facebook chat with Steve Jones, my Rhondda Radio DJ friend, I created a playlist of my favourite songs from the 60s and 70s.  I sent them off to him thinking he’d put two or three into his Sunday morning Golden Oldies Show now and again if he had some spare time on the show.  The radio’s a weird thing, everything is timed to the second!  Anyway, Steve’s wife, Gill, messaged me to say I’d sent enough for a whole 2 hour programme!

I didn’t think anymore about it until I got a message from Steve to tell me he’d produced a ‘Toni’s Choices’ programme and it was being aired on Sunday morning - and to make sure I listened!  So I tuned in at 10 am and there it was, all my 36 favourite songs one after the other!

Thankfully it seemed to go down well as most of the people on Steve’s Facebook chat page said they’d enjoyed it!  But there was more to come.

Last weekend I went down to Wales to see my cousin Jan and her husband Alan.  He’s been very poorly for a long time now and I really wanted to see them both.  It was also their 40th Wedding Anniversary and I needed to be there for that.  On the Friday evening I went to see Gill and Steve for a natter and a catch-up and Steve gave me two CDs which he’d done for me of ‘Toni’s Choices’!  I was thrilled he’d taken so much trouble to do that, and I’ve been playing them ever since I got home.  Now I’ve got a fantastic memory and I can listen to it any time I like.  Thank you Steve...

It didn’t end there.  Steve invited me onto his Sunday morning show and I had a chat with all our Facebook friends on air.  I’d never done it before and it was a bit nerve racking, but I really enjoyed it.  Hopefully, next time I visit Wales he’ll let me go on the show again!

Jan and Alan had a wonderful anniversary day.  Alan had come out of hospital two days before and wasn’t feeling 100%, but the constant flow of visitors through the day bucked him up.  And the flowers!  I’ve never seen so many, except in a florists...

A huge bouquet arrived on Saturday morning from Alan’s sister and it was obvious they weren’t going to fit in one vase.  I went upstairs and got their anniversary present.  “Happy Anniversary, Jan,” I said.  “I think you might need this!”  It was a ruby crystal vase!  She loved the vase and the rest of the flowers fitted in nicely.

During the next two days another 8 bunches of flowers came!  We managed to borrow the necessary vases and the living room looked fabulous.  As I looked at Jan and Alan’s happy faces, then the mass of flowers, I could how much love there was.  It was a lovely day, and I’m glad I was there...

It seems as though music has played more of a role than writing in my life just lately.  Christine, my grandson’s mother, is frantically busy promoting the Centaur Parting Band, and keeping track of the gigs they’ve got lined up well into the summer.  They’re going to be really busy, but that’s what you get when you’ve got a great band and start becoming well-known.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to tell you at the moment.  My next job is to get a couple more stories on Love Zone.  So bye for now, and let me know what you think about Centaur Parting...

 

 

12th February 2011

I can’t believe it’s February already!  A very belated HAPPY NEW YEAR! to you all.

Now if you’ve been following my Chit Chat you’ll know I went to visit my family and see The Centaur Parting Band last year.  It was great catching up with all their news, and a real thrill to see my grandson, James, strut his stuff with the band.  He really is a very talented musician, which makes me a very proud granny!

The band are doing really well and are becoming more and more popular.  Like all bands, it took a while to get noticed and prove they could do the business, now they’ve got regular bookings for the next six months!

When I got back home I had a long talk to my cousin, who’s 90, about our family history.  He’s had a very full life and has lots of stories to tell.  From a mining family in the Rhondda he went on to perform in The Grass is Green in London’s West End with Sybil Thorndyke and Emlyn Williams.  He was 16 at the time and really wanted a career in acting.  Unfortunately, a few years later World War II happened and he joined the RAF.

After the war he went back to acting, but jobs were scarce and he had to earn a living.  So he went into teaching, learned 7 languages, and thoroughly enjoyed his life.

When I asked him to write it all down he said his hands were too shaky, but there’s nothing wrong with his memory or his sense of humour!  Determined to get his recollections of our family history on paper somehow I bought an ‘digital audio recorder’ - a small Dictaphone to you and me! - and sent it to him.  Since then he’s been having a great time recording it all.

As soon as it’s finished I’m going to Devon with my son, Paul, for a visit and to collect his life story.  All I have to do then is type it all out!  It’ll be a wonderful addition to the history I’m collecting, and also a valuable record of what life was like from the 1920's onwards.

Next Monday I’m going to a 25th celebration concert called, for some reason, That’ll Be The Day.  No famous people, but loads of famous songs from the 60s.  And next month I’m off to the dentist for a check up - you really wanted to know that didn’t you!

I’ll be glad when the gloomy weather is over and we can get on to summer and some serious sunshine.  Are you going away this year?  I don’t think I am.  Seeing how expensive holidays are this year I might just give it a miss and keep saving for next year.  I really want to go back to America.  San Francisco preferably.  It’s a lovely city and I didn’t see enough of it last time I was there.

I’ve just had a message from a friend on Facebook, and I thought I’d warn you all.  Her sister went to a club last night and someone spiked her drink!  She ended up in hospital and was very ill.  And this is someone who is very cautious about things like that.  So please take care if you’re on a night out.  You never know what evil minded, twisted people are out there.

That’s it for today, folks.  I want to upload the website, and I can’t miss Dancing on Ice tonight.  It’s amazing what good skaters they’ve all become in just a few months.  But then they work hard...

If you’re going out tonight have a good time, but don’t forget to take care.  You never know who that stranger standing next to you might do when you’re not looking!

Bye for now...

 

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Centaur Parting

Vocals:  Steve Glasscock

Lead Guitar:  James Cornford

Keyboards:  Mike Clark

Bass:  Andy Crosby

Drums:  Simon Bridgestock