Leshy?

I can't tell you how excited I was to be gifted Tree Hunting for my birthday: a thousand tress to find in Britain and Ireland's towns & cities. And a signed copy to boot! In Paul Wood's excellent (and hefty!) tome he, and I quote, "seeks out the best individual trees - the most charismatic, quirky or downright spectacular - that grow in our towns, cities and villages." He talks passionately about our relationship with them and how they impact on our lives. From personal experience I only have to out of my window and I'm constantly reminded of the 150 year old beech tree I documented in a short film during Lockdown. And I know when we did trees as a Photo Challenge many of you have similar relationships with our arboreal friends. I feel priveleged to have this beautiful book sitting on my bookshelf. (You won't be surprised to learn I've already started my quest.)

Laureate in waiting?

As is traditional, James compiled his Best of '25 for me just before Christmas and once again this year-end mashup is an eclectic musical smorgasbord which I'm finding most agreeable. I told James when he came up this weekend for his mum's birthday that I'm particularly taken with Antony Szmierek - so much so that I'm now also devouring his debut album Service Station at the End of the Universe which came out in February. It's an astonishing piece of work that ticks so many of my boxes, not least the artwork which depicts Forton Services in a snow globe!. I'm subsumed by his deft staccato vocal delivery - reminiscent of The Streets/Mike Skinner; imagine what Simon Armitage would sound like if only he'd got a beatbox for Christmas. 

Antony Szmierek - Service Station at the End of the Universe (2025)

 

Luthier

There's a fascinating interview with Brinsley Schwarz in the latest edition of Shindig magazine. In it he not only talks about the heady days of Kippington Lodge, the Brinsleys, Nick Lowe and, of course, Graham Parker and The Rumour (who were essentially Brinsley Schwarz without Lowe) but also what he's done since. The wilderness years? Hardly. Schwarz kept himself gainfully occupied as a go to luthier. I'll save you looking it up - a maker and repairer of stringed instruments; a guitar man, if you will. He no doubt takes a few of them out on the road when he tours with Parker and the rest of the band - still squeezing out sparks nearly fifty years on. 

Did the Brinsleys ever cover Bread's Guitar Man? Don't be silly. But they did record this classic by Jim Ford*. 

Brinsley Schwarz - Ju Ju Man (1973)

* Ford also wrote '36 Inches High' which Nick Lowe covered on Jesus of Cool, and the brilliantly titled 'I'm Ahead If I Can Quit While I'm Behind'.

Lazuline

Inspired by the amazing photographs of London tube stations by resident Tube Mapper Luke Agbaimoni (in particular his book Symmetry on the London Underground), I took this photograph yesterday as I emerged from the tram stop at Hucknall in Nottinghamshire. After a five mile walk along the site of an old disused railway railway I always do the last stretch on the tram. It's just a short hop ticket and although I could easily walk it, it's become something of a tradition to sit out the final mile before disgorging into The Station Hotel for a well earned dust-cutter. Or two.

You can also see from the pic below that despite the absence of trains, and indeed track, there's still a couple of old semaphore signals in situ at the start of the walk. I swear sometimes when I walk this path I can hear the distant echoes...

Libidinous

It was the final gig of 2025 (my 14th*) and a what a gig to end the year with: New Year's Eve with Stuart Pearce, the band, at JT Soar in town. It also doubled up as a fundraiser for striking workers. Did you know the Birmingham bin men are still out on strike? Nat Mason their head honcho (Stuart Pearce, not the striking bin men) and good friend of the Medds (he was at college with James) asked if I'd like to do a number with them - he'd got a couple of 'guest' slots he was dropping into the band's set.

So we did I Need You by The Kinks (the song was once described as libidinous by a music journalist). I think it went down well. The original clocks in at not much more than two minutes and we tracked it all the way. I think Ray would have approved.

★

* The first 13

1. Chuck Prophet - Metronome, Nottingham

2. DeWolff - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

3. Joel Sarakula - Peggy's Skylight, Nottingham

4. Haggis Horns - Peggt's Skylight, Nottingham

5. PIL/Stuart Pearce - Rock City, Nottingham

6. Richard Hawley - Tower Ballroom, Blackpool

7. Gysai - The Lexington, Islington

8. John Reis & Swami - The Boat Club, Nottingham

9. Dodgy - The Drill, Lincoln

10. XGenerationX - Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

11. XGenerationX -  Òran Mór, Glasgow

12. XGenerationX - The Cluny, Newcastle

13. House of All - Brudenell, Leeds

(I've written contemporaneously about all these shows so I haven't bothered dating or hyperlinking them; though I only need to look at the list and I know how far along the road to recovery I was at the time of each.)

★ 

 Postscript

I also pulled in a couple of comedy shows along the way - BBC Radio 4's Dead Ringers at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall and the peerless Tom Wrigglesworth at The Canal House - part of Nottingham's Comedy Festival.