We have since returned from our week in Machynlleth Wales, a very pleasant break from the routine even though my last couple of days were marred by yet another bout of toothache. I did manage to see an NHS dentist in the town and with very little difficulty or ‘red tape’ formality, a free prescription was thus provided, so much more civilised than the current English system. I gather that dentists in England are opting for easy treatments (with NHS patients) following the introduction of some sort of fixed salary scheme were there is no longer a financial incentive to carry out complex restorative work and this includes fillings! The result of course, an apparent increase in extractions and denture prescriptions. I’m definitely going to have to emigrate or move west or north of the border at this rate! I did also manage to get a handful of reasonable photos with a fairly low shooting ratio including some rather nice shots of the Cambrian Cost Express hauled by British Railways standard class 4MT No 76079. A good old Manchester engine built at Horwich in 1957 and then worked out of Heaton Mersey in the 60s on freights that probably passed my grans house in Cheadle, Most of these images are now residing on flickr.
Gil Scott-Heron “Pieces of a Man” from the 1971 album of the same name provides the music of the moment, this track seems to suite my melancholic mood. It has been several years since I last heard anything about Heron, once a doyen of 70s Jazz / Soul music and black consciousness poetry. Many cite the apparent absence of Scott-Heron from the historical time-line of 60/70s Jazz as something of an indictment of his relentless politicisation and past associations with the most vocal and vociferous members of the “Last Poets”. Unlike Steve Wonder and Curtis Mayfield et-all, he never really became ‘commercial’ which can only be a good thing for the music when you think about it. I feel that his controversial thoughts on white men and Jazz still hold true today though.