Radio Age UK Concern & A Prole In A Bookshop

A man came into the Kentish Town Oxfam shop today and asked for Captain & Tennille...on tape...

I looked him over...he was around 60...one step from being a tramp and two from residing in Bedlam, I thought. Special needs? He certainly had one...

I've always liked this record, actually, and here, as a bonus, it's introduced by Vincent Price...

'Young and beautiful...someday your looks will be gone...'

Crossing the road I went in Age UK (they've changed their name from Help The Aged, which sounded too needy, to Age Concern, as if we're concerned about being aged! Now it's Age UK which, let's face it, is better, but a bit general...I mean, we're all at a certain age, aren't we?). It struck me that I must be getting old because I always enjoy the music in this charity shop. It comes from their own station, which you too can enjoy here. 'From folk to jazz, swing-time to classical, pop to rock - there's a little something for everyone.' Whilst I was in there they played this...

...and you know that there have been few greater things ever made. It compensated for me not finding one decent book.

I almost committed a crazy act whilst I was out and about...yes...I nearly bought a brand new book from a proper bookshop, thinking 'I'll be charitable', you know, as if I can afford to throw money at proper bookshops. But the thing was, I hadn't bought anything except a loaf of bread and felt I needed a cultural fix - I MUST BUY SOMETHING! Pathetic. So I went into the shop and looked around for Iain Sinclair's American Smoke but couldn't see a copy - the seller said they'd sold out - I left, consoling myself with the thought that I tried, anyway. I also thought 'Who the hell buys books from these places?' The middle-class 'intelligentsia' of Kentish Town, of course, who can easily afford to support their local bookshop.

But when's the last time I saw a prole in a bookshop? I dunno, not going into them often myself. And would I recognise one if he wasn't wearing tracksuit bottoms and trainers whilst carrying a JD Sports bag? Of course I would, I can smell 'em a mile away, my brothers and sisters...perhaps 'cousins'...long lost relatives anyway. The days us proles start reading decent books en masse is the day The Revolution dawns...of the mind, at least. That would be a start...