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Hi Stu

 

Welcome back. Do you mind if I use your new photo for a Halloween poster?

 Don't start me off about the Pav' and the Reg'. What happy happy days. Just one for now, in the Reg' they would only serve half pints. I think then the powers that be thought we would not get drunk if we only had half pints - mistake!. We used to approach the bar and ask for a drink and were asked how many. Answer was "as many as you can get on a tray"!!!

 

Will add some more memories later.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Steve, if you want to really frighten the local kids away at Halloween, by all means use my pic, it scares me, hahaha!!

 

Stu

Sorry Steve it had to go...........

Hi all.

An improvement Stu, but not as good as the one before the scarey one.....

Just for Bill. I was at Maplins at Cheltenham today and noticed a hand held oscilloscope for just eighty quid.

Must admit I was tempted, but can't convince myself that they are any good at that price.

Do you know of anyone that has one or do I have to be the guinea pig/test pilot?

Got to go.

Have fun.

Sticky.

Good morning all from an unusually cloudy Spain. Cannot complain as the months of September and October have been wonderful. Still in shorts and no socks yet!!! The forecast for next week is to continue in the same vein with plenty of sunshine. We have started painting some of the outside that needs freshening up.

 

Are you guys in the UK fed up yet hearing 'Jingle Bells' everytime you go in a shop? Must say it is another thing I don't miss as Christmas is pretty low key here in Spain with Easter (Santa Semana) being the big festival. We are returning to UK on Christmas Eve courtesy of EasyJet, French traffic controllers and terrorists! Will have a few days seeing family and get back to Spain as soon as we can!

 

Can you expalin new photo Stu? Can I enlarge it so I can see it better!? Looks like a photo of a sixties rock group album cover.

 

 

I think we are covering spreviously visited threads but Monday nights at the Pavillion and Friday nights at the Regency were very much part of my life and I would not have missed it for the world. Gigs that stay firmly in the memory are Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sonny Boy Williamson (Wednesday night Ricky-Tick promotions special!), Animals, Screamin' Lord Sutch, Downliners Sect and so many more. I know it was a barn Stu but some nights the atmosphere was electric and I left many times exhausted and temporarily deaf! Also, as you say it was the venue for attracting all the young ladies and we would try and drag one away from the circle dancing around the handbag. The only drawback was there was no bar. I too remember the promoter Trevor Bannister asking us who we would like to see and within a couple of weeks he would have them on the bill! Were you there the night the Animals were on stage and Bannister walked out on stage to announce he had just received a telegram (from NME?) to say that 'House of the Rising Sun' was No. 1. The place erupted!! Magic times and I am sure the young folk today are denied that buzz we had of being able to see all the top artists of the day for 4/6!  I could go on and on as a memory pops back, remember the bouncers all in black with the Big T boots on? The Pav also gave an oppurtunity for the local band to perform to a fairly large gathering as they would usually support the main act.

 

I have no doubt the memories of Bill and Stu will prompt some more and I look forward to hearing them.

 

Must go now, off th the market for fruit and veg and then the bodega to get the vino. Hard life but somebody has to do it!

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Boys, excuse any spellihg mistakes before I start, it's saturday night and the vino's flowing.

 

The weather today not been quite as good as Spain, although I belive it's been cats 'n dogs in Portugal, spent the day building a cold frame from recycled materials, aren't I good, to be honest her indoors did most of the scavenging, you won't catch me rooting about in skips !! I should cocoa !!

 

The photo, Steve, I'll post in on my photo album, yep you're dead right 60's band cover, Stu and the Turks, haha!! As sometimes happens when you're on hols, we found a restaurant which we went back to regularly, good foor, good service, and good company. Kemal, the owner, picked us up from our hotel one evening, quite by accident, his cousin owned the hotel. and gave us a lift, took us to his home and showed us round in the process. Yacob, the barman, was living in our hotel for the season, Kamil, whose wife's Irish, kept the shop next door and was an all round laugh, and Antonio, the waiter, is an all round good guy who doesn't speak a word of English but was quarenteed to plonk two cold beers in chilled glasses in front of us when we arrived, even if we only wanted a soft drink, definately a boy who will go far.

 

The Pav, well, The Animals I remember vividly, light grey suits, lemon yellow shirts and black ties, half way through the set Eric Burden was sweating so profusely his shirt was soaking. Manfred Mann, The Who, The Byrds in 65, Dave Dee etc, who were a lot better than you might imagine, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, It's a Beautiful Day, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, and fourty years after I'd have liked to have seen him Arthur Lee with Love, this in addition to all the great bands you mentioned Steve, and many more who I've forgotten, Oh! Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come, King Crimson, The Nice, see the list is almost endless.

 

Must go, glass needs replenishing.    Stu

 

PS. Glad you had a good time in Crete Graham, Knossos is amazing isn't it, and the back streets of Rethymnon hold many good memories, did a painting in them once and sold it ! I'm still amazed by that, although I think the buyer only wanted the frame ! Must say as well as using the buses we hired a car, (and a bike), but then my drivings as bad as the locals so it was no problem. Did you get to the south coast to the ruins at Gortys, where the linear B, Linear A, Greek inscriptions originated, which allowed minoan to be translated via the greek ? Or do the Samaria Gorge, which is one of our favorite places, a twelve mile hike through some amazing scenery with a cold beer and the Lybian sea at the end of it ?

 

Gone again Stu

 

PPS Steve, been rereading your Indian Odyssey, we're planning on going next year (2011), any tips ?

Hi All,

All this talk of the Pavilion makes me wonder how many of us were there at the same time and didn't know it !! Stu, I saw most of the bands you mentioned and agree Dave Dee etc were indeed excellant. They started with Hideaway and before  Mr Dee sang a word he was pulled off the stage and his shirt ripped to shreds. I remember Manfred Mann when Jack Bruce was on Bass !!  Nice and Fleetwood Mac were always good and the Who were in a class of there own !! Of course there was also Goldie and the Gingerbreads and Cilla Black backed by Sounds Incorporated which was solely for the short skirts !!!!

 

Rich.

 

PS The Move were also a good act and were louder than the Who !!!

I'd forgotten The Move, and Dave dee getting his kit ripped off, mind you he did invite it, reaching out to touch the outstretched hands guaranteed to get grabbed.

Evenin' all.

First of all I must comment upon your photos of India Steve, such superb photos, gave me great pleasure looking at them and dreaming. I was particularly taken by the state of the electrical wiring in some of the street scenes. Still trying to work out what some of the statues were all about!!!!! Thought your photos of the Taj Mahal were outstanding. Perhaps when you have a few hours to spare you could add some comments on some of the less well known subjects for the benefit of us poor country lads that have never experienced such exotic places.

I also enjoyed your photos of the vintage electronic gear and books, Bill. I was particularly interested in the Heathkit valve voltmeter as it was produced by Daystrom of Gloucester of course. A very good friend of mine, with whom I worked in latter years, actually worked for them at about the time that this item was produced. He was involved in the development of several products but I don't know if the voltmeter was one of them. Unfortunately the poor chap is registered disabled now, but still keeps his hand in building O gauge model locos the latest to be outshopped is an unrebuilt Southern Railway West Country class. Also interested in the digital clock as I designed and built one in the early eighties, very similar to yours but using CMOS instead of TTL. Incidentally mine still works also but it's in the workshop at work. Never was into TTL much, couldn't get the hang of all that 5V stuff!!!!!!

Incidentally loved the old radios and speakers, takes me back a bit........

Have fun all.

Sticky.