Angry Candy.

Automat (1927) by Edward Hopper

I went to the bank on Thursday to pay some bills and found it had closed. It was the last bank in the town, so at the moment we have no bank and no post office. What sort of a town is that? What is the world coming to? Yesterday, Friday afternoon I decided to catch the bus over to Trowbridge to pay my bills. At the bus stop there was a  lady waiting, so I thought there must be a bus due. I stood against the wall and waited and waited, finally after about 20 minutes a bus arrived. “At last”, said the  lady. “Is it late?”, I asked. “No”, she replied, “I  got here too early”. It was then I noticed how nice she was. She had a lovely northern accent and a nice smile. I should have chatted to her and said something like “What’s a bonnie lass like you doing down here in the West Country?”, but I didn’t, I just got on the bus.

Later, on leaving the bank, I noticed that diagonally opposite across the road was a charity shop that I hadn’t seen before called Mercy In Action so I had to have a look in there. I didn’t find any books, but they had cd’s for £1.00 each. I bought one called Live From Glastonbury. I am listening to it now and it has some fabulous tracks on it and gives me a frisson of excitement that Glastonbury 2019 is now only 115 days away. I also bought an album by James Hunter called The Hard Way. I discovered James Hunter through his association with Van Morrison and I actually saw him on The Park Stage at Glastonbury several years ago. He and his band are brilliant live. The third one I bought was a 2cd compilation called Anthology Of English Folk which has lots of my favourites on it such as Richard Thompson, Anne Briggs, Nic Jones, Bert Lloyd and many more.

After that, there was no stopping me. I went in every charity shop in Trowbridge. Scope, British Heart Foundation, Julian House, Blue Cross and Oxfam were all slim pickings. I didn’t find anything else till I got to Dorothy House. I spotted a cd called Blues And Politics. It looked interesting and had a picture of Charles Mingus on the front, so I assumed it was by him but when I got home I realised it was by the Mingus Big Band recorded in 1999. Charles Mingus died in 1979. The Big Band is managed by his widow Sue Mingus. The album is ok but it is a bit too busy for me, I always think that less is more. That’s why I think The Way Young Lovers Do is my least favourite track on Astral Weeks because there is too much going on.

On my way to my last port of call I glanced in a café window and saw a familiar face. It was the lady from the bus stop. She smiled at me through the window. It was like a scene from an Edward Hopper painting. In the last shop CLIC I found a book called Angry Candy by Harlan Ellison, I have heard of him but never read him. The book is a USA first edition from 1988 so I hope it might be worth a few quid. After that there was nothing else to keep me in Trowbridge. I caught the bus home again and that’s what filled out my Friday afternoon. Some new music arrived in the post today, but I will tell you about that tomorrow.