Locked down with my Ukulele 32

These are strange times and it’s cold, wet and damp.

I hate the cold. I went on holiday to Spain and It was above 32°C all the time I was there. I did LOVE it. Although I was able to dress for it, shorts and flip flops. I apologise now to all the other Brit’s that had to endure my legs and feet. Although I don’t think my feet are too bad. I don’t think feet are particularly attractive parts of the body at the best of times but I have seen some pretty ugly feet. Dancers seem to have pretty beat up feet. Footballers do have pretty horrific big toes. So it would seem that using your feet mashes them up. Which does look like it puts me in a fairly bad light. I’ve not used my feet. Although, I used to be a swimmer. So I could argue that you don’t use your feet in the same way. Swimming is gentle on the body.

I went out with a girl who loved dancing. She had really ugly feet! But, she was a lovely person. I meet her again after the passing of decades. A lot of water had passed under the bridge but she is still a lovely soul. Still got ugly feet. That said I’m no Banksy either.

The nights seem to be so dark now. Last night was an exception. I decided to take an early night. I fell asleep quite quickly but was awoken at two in the morning by a “beep, beep, beep, beep, beep! The batteries in the smoke detectors had decided to give up. Why do they never go at midday on a Saturday! Why do you always brake down in the rain when your wearing a suit? That’s another blog.

Anyway. I finally worked out what was bleeping. I was left minus one carbon monoxide detector. Minus one battery powered smoke detector. I nearly lost a wireless mouse, and the battery in the wired smoke.

It was two in the morning. It wasn’t a full-blown fire alarm. Just that annoying bleep that you can not ignore.

Bagged up and ready to dispose of in the bin I staggered into the night to drop in the wheeley bin. If there was any more beeping I wouldn’t hear it. At that time of night I didn’t think about what would happen if it did start again. I don’t expect the neighbours would have been too happy.

The sky was alight with stars. Orion’s belt was clearly visible. I stood staring at the nights sky and then realised I was shivering. I remember I used to travel home, from seeing the girl with the ugly feet, get home at night and sit on the bonnet of the car and marvel at the nights sky until I got cold. It took less time to get cold last night.

The dark seems darker and the cold seems colder these days. But, those stars seemed brighter. The blackness of the night sky was speckled with bright pinpoints of bright light. There seemed to be more lights in the sky than before. It never ceases to amaze me that you can stare at the black bits of the sky and gradually see more stars.

I didn’t feel compelled to sit on the bonnet again. The cars not built like they used to be and I’m not at my Twenty year olds weight anymore.

Tiger Feet, Mud 1974

Written by Mike Chatman and Nicky Chinn released in January 1974 by the glam rock band Mud.

This tune sticks in my head as a wedding song and I remember my cousin teaching us the hip swing. We never had outrageous weddings but we were a sizable family and the dance floor soon filled with cousins and aunties.

I watched a clip of Mud performing this on Top of The Pops in tiger striped slippers. It was quite an energetic performance.

Stay safe

P.S This has gone in a completely different direction than I expected.