Actually John I too hate to see snow retreat like a defeated army. It must be something to do with our age group both being born 51/52. I do realise that at that point Will will be eager to dismiss intensely any other similarities.

There seem to have been a lot of USWers born at that time, in my case 1951.

WE were, of course, lucky enough to age during a musical revolution, and at a time when top bands would play outside the major cities.

Genesis, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull (a personal favourite and possibly still the loudest band I've ever seen) Fairport Convention (before Sandy Denny died) Queen (twice!) Elvis Costello, The Ramones all played the "Wints" in Penzance. The place is now a restaurant, now doubt run by a celebrity chef.

The 1st time Queen came they charged £25! - to quote
"Caravan were always a popular draw locally and visited the venue on several occasions. On one occasion John was offered a support band for the sum of £25. As he was told the drummer came from 'down your way' he decided to take a chance. The support band were of course Queen and six months later they were well on their way to becoming a household name. Queen would return the favour in 1974 by playing at the Gardens when they were topping the charts."

Those were the days my friend, and as for CD replacing vinyl! It was important always to have the coolest album on show as you walked around, and the artwork, well. I now nostalgically browse through the Vinyl in retro shops.

As an excuse for all this I should point out that the 2 bottles of champagne (well strictly speaking sparkling wine) went down well.

Oh, the weather's been OK as well.

Graham
Penzance