I have to say, I never really understood this album, but I’ve always loved it. Stand out tracks for me personally are “I’ve Got a Lover (Back in Japan)” which has a beautiful contrast between the firmness of Annie’s instructions on the chorus to “Break, break, break away those ties” and the smooth styles of “When the whole world descends on me I’ll be waiting for you” which has a dreamlike essence, and “Shame” which is one of those songs that you are driven to sing along to - full-on driving wailings in a pittiful effort to match Annie’s range and always failing, but the words - oh such beautiful lyrics - and the absolute necessity to spit “You with yer brand new shoes and yer greasy hair and you with your mother’s pride and poetry”…

The most commercially succesful track of the album though (there were four singles in all, with this one peaking at Number Sixteen in the UK charts) is the very gentle synth pop track “You Have Placed a Chill In My Heart”. If ever there was a song that encapsulated the agonies of mustering the strength to walk away from a destructive relationship, then this is it. But oh so beautifully done.

For me personally, the cream of the crop is “Shame”. Beautifully smooth, totally engaging lyrics blend with the music to capture the essence of a time… that might never have actually existed beyond the mind of a poet. Certainly, this isn’t a life that I ever knew, but oh can’t you feel the shame…

It may be 21 this year, but “Savage”, despite, or perhaps because of, it’s synths and drum machines, hasn’t aged at all.

Don’t you want to feel the shame?

Eurythmics - Savage (p) and (c) 1987 RCA (UK) Limited. All titles composed by Eurythmics, Annie Lennox & David A. Stewart

Anyway, up and at it I was. Recent payment needs for the flat have highlighted the issue that I really do need a debit card. It’s twenty plus years since I opened my current account and they didn’t have debit cards back then. That aside, I have always managed in the past with a credit card or bankers draft if necessary, but the property agents insist on payment in cleared funds - even a bank draft has to be allowed time to clear they tell me - so I determined to get myself a debit card before the next payments were due. I checked online for the debit card accounts and Abbey are offering a good deal at the moment, so I got myself ready for a visit to the nearest branch.

I have to say, the help and service I received at Abbey was very good. Unfortunately, on the downside, their systems had gone down, so everything was being done manually. Fine. I filled in the paperwork (some of the questions on the application form forced me to resort to long division on the back of an envelope) but then the paperwork was done. My new account would be set up as soon as they were back on and I would have all the cards and cheque books within three days. Wednesday at the latest.

I had meant to go to the library and get out a book on renting property, but in the excitement that went out of my head and I found myself in Argos getting a new catalogue (potential furniture purchases are ahead!) and then I was back in the car and driving to see Mum and Dad.

It was at Mum and Dad’s that my phone rang. It was the agents. The references had gone through fine, they were issuing my tenancy agreement and I had to pay £810 now, with a further £540 by 26th June. OK, back to the bank to get a bankers draft for the whole amount.

This is the worst bank in the world

Abbey was still in chaos when I got there. Long queues. Lots of grumbling older people, including one old lady who staggered past me crying out “This is the worst bank in the world”. Well, I think that was a bit strong, but it is hugely frustrating for everyone, staff included, when systems fail and we just aren’t prepared for the backward step.

The young man who had helped me earlier spotted me in the queue and came over asking if everything was ok. Nice lad. Not local. Couldn’t quite place the accent. I told him I needed a bankers draft, and the amount, and asked if it was possible. “We can’t even see people’s balances,” he explained. “It won’t be possible.” I asked if he could phone Chelmsford and see if they were on. He took me out of the queue to a cubicle and rang another branch. I think it was Rayleigh he got through to. “Whole of Essex is out,” he explained. “If you can get to a branch outside of Essex then… but otherwise no.” I told him not to worry and I would get around it. Poor guy. I wished him luck and he said he was going to need it.

Fortunately, someone in the family does have a debit card and banks with an organisation other than Abbey (other High Street banks are available), so I was able to pay the sums due to the agent and now have peace of mind on that front. Suddenly I have a new home to go to. It’s all happened very fast - so fast that I haven’t really got used to the idea yet. I move in next Monday. Pictures to follow.

The flat was very much as I imagined, only slightly better in reality. It’s has just been completely redecorated and recarpeted (after the previous tenant moved out) and was look fresh and clean. Those neutrals that Anne Maurice loves were in full effect and wandering around the rooms I very quickly began to get a feel for the place. But this was only the first I had seen - crazy to dive in and take it.

However, that’s exactly what I did. I paid the holding deposit first thing this morning. This afternoon I returned all the reference forms and documentary evidence. Now I wait. I hardly dare start to think in terms of “mine” or “my flat” but it’s very difficult not to do so, just because I am so excited about the prospect of finally having my own place - even if it is rented. Of course, I have been very happy here and will be sad to go, but equally I think it is something I have to do. There was always the chance of staying on here and taking over the rental of the full house, but even in the light of a generous offer to do just that, made at lunchtime today, I am confident I have done the right thing. In six months time I may be eating my words, but at least this feels right. Today I went with my gut feeling - not something I have always done in the past and that resulted in having to face the consequences. Let’s hope that this time, I have got it right.

Comprising some thirteen tracks (the vinyl album only had eleven, with “When I needed you” and “River Deep, Mountain High” being ommitted from that format), this was pop duo Erasure’s third album and it topped the charts in the UK. Erasure really were riding high, building on the success of 1987’s “The Circus” and “The Innocents” almost provided us with three top ten hits - “Chains of Love” peaking at Number 11 in the singles chart, while “Ship of Fools” fared better, reaching Number 6 with the best-selling track off the album being “A Little Respect” which made it to Number 4.

While album and singles really tapped into the popular market at the time, how does this work sound now, twenty years later and in a different century? The simple answer is - very, very well. Vince Clarke and Andy Bell worked their magic with this album and it really encapsulates “classic” Erasure. The sound is clean and pure, as are the vocals, if not the lyrics, which present a collection of tales of the progression of life, from the lost innocence of a “Phantom Bride” through to the yearning for the “Chains of Love” to be broken, reaching the desperation and frustrations of the little wise man who carries the “Weight of the World” on his shoulders:

You keep it wrapped up inside
It’s like a leathal potion
Gonna find it soul destroying

This album is anything but soul destroying - it’s tone and content are uplifting. While the subjects of the songs have to manage and cope with a range of challenges, ultimately the message is that risking the pain (or chains) of love is indeed worth it, and even in your darkest hour there will be someone there, to pour your heart out to.

First class. Enjoy it now.

Erasure - The Innocents (p) and (c) 1988 Mute Records Limited. All titles by Clarke/Bell. Published by Sonet-Musical Moments/Sonet.

At the moment, my focus is on tonight.   We have a big function in London and I’m already feeling sick with nerves about what could possibly go wrong - although why anything should I do not know!   My big worry at the moment is the furniture.   We’re using an art gallery for our venue tonight, so we have had to hire in furniture - tables and chairs - as the evening is built around a sit-down three course meal with guest speakers between the courses.   At the moment, my big worry is that the furniture won’t be delivered or there will be some kind of problem that leaves us sans tables and/or chairs - which wouldn’t be good!  I think I will phone the hire company again this morning when I get to the office this morning.  Of course, this is all routine for them and it probably should be for me too - but I’ve not been involved with an event this complex before.

Worries aside, I’m sure it’s going to be a fantastic evening - we’ve got a great key speaker lined up to round off the evening, some very interesting and interested guests attending and the main aim of the evening is to celebrate “wilderness” - both the natural environment and our charity.  It’s a chance to look back on all our accomplishments of the last year, in the company of friends, participants and supporters.  We don’t often have the chance to celebrate our success, so tonight, despite the anxiety and worries, will be worth the effort.

See you on the other side!

Now it looks as if I will be on the move again.  I have decided to break out and get my own place.  It’s been a lot of fun living with Lois and I’m sad that this “era” is coming to an end - but we’re both moving on.   I wonder what will become of this place?  It has been a happy home.   I hope it will continue to be for someone else.

I reached this decision last Thursday evening.   Once the decision was made I began to get quite excited about the prospect of living on my own, having my own space and all my own things around me, but at the same time it is also more than a little daunting.  I have always been quite self-contained and content to live in my own “space” - I didn’t need other people around me.  I could be happy in my own company, with a book or a film of a dvd or cd and something nice to eat.   But on holiday in Norfolk back in April, by the time the Thursday of the week had arrived and I had gone a whole two days without speaking to anyone else or having any form of interaction with another person, I started to implode.   That experience now makes me wonder how I will cope with living alone.   I’m happy but I’m sad, to coin a phrase.   But you - we all - have to keep travelling down the road of life, wherever the twists and turns may take us.

Hopefully the next leg of my journey won’t take me too far from this place.

I’ve been busily working on the website since first thing. It’s amazing how things that seemed illogical or impossible (or just down right non-sensical) can suddenly become clear after just a couple of hours of sleep. I was up until nearly 2:00 a.m. trawling through other people’s WP blog sites, trying to get an idea of how they had implemented their categories and tags. Before I turned in, I had been working on implementing the Categories as part of my navigation menu, but couldn’t make any sense of it at all. I was easily able to incorporate the categories listing into the left menu column, but whatever I did, it displaced all of the content in the right sidebar. This morning, lept from bed (well not quite) with a very obvious solution in mind - don’t create another div - just add another unformated list. A couple of tweaks and moments later there was the menu, just as I had wanted it. Where there’s a will…

As soon as it stops raining (if it stops raining) I’ll run down to the shops.