Update from your old VJ

A couple of things to share with you - well three actually! We were walking our Harry dog across the fields yesterday morning, what a beautiful day, I just happened to glance down and I saw something shiny and guess what - a bright shiny 5p piece!! (Adjust my voice patterns to my Harry Hill approach) - "What are the chances of that happening, eh?" I thought: hey up, this could signify a big lottery win!!! Well there was nothing last night - but it's imminent, I feel it in my water!

So, we walked a bit further, into the next field. I then heard a sound I haven't heard for a couple of years at least - the beautiful melodic tones (two) of a cuckoo, coming from a tree a couple of hundred yards away. We just stood and listened enraptured as it is the sound of early summer and you don't hear it very often now. She or he was obviously aware of us as the cuckooing was quite intense but after a while it stopped and we saw a bird fly out of the tree and away.

And now for something slightly more radio related: you may or may not be aware of the fact that we play proper records on OKay fm and unlike seedys, playing records means not only more work, pleasurable though it is, but the gramophone needles (stylii we call them in Staffordshire) don't last for ever, they need replacing after about 500 hours and there is always the danger of damage too. So we need to have a stock of spares. Unfortunately, nothing lasts for ever and the ones that we like and use are not made any more. It is possible to buy generic or after market stylii, but they are not the same. So I thought - let's have a little look on the old eBay and yes; a dealer offering exactly the make and model that we need, brand new in a sealed box - I won the item for a very good price and the dealer immediately put another one on, I won that too and one after that! I don't know how many he's got but I'm going to keep bidding until I've got a good stock in. Well, some blokes spend loadsa money on fishing and golf and stuff so I reckon I'm allowed to spend a few quid on stylii - until the petticoat government notices anyway!