6000 – Page 762

Excuses

Posted on October 7, 2016

News from the Isle of Man of a 68-year-old Ramsey woman in court over a potential drink driving related offence. Let’s get up to speed with the preamble and then we can move onto the good bits:

Her grey Mitsubishi Colt was spotted heading along North Shore Road, Bowring Road, Station Road and on Shoprite car park at around 4.30pm. Its progress was described as ‘erratic’ and ‘all over the road’. When she tried to park, she ended up only half in a disabled space with the back end of her car sticking out. Inside the shop, she was visibly unsteady on her feet and her speech was slurred. Police found her sitting in the driver’s seat of her car.

It’s not looking good for Anna Fratanu (for it are she wot was in charge of the vehicle) thus far. But she said that she hadn’t been drinking, so what on earth could have been causing her erratic driving then?

She blamed a fault with her car’s clutch which meant stopping and starting was difficult.
She was taking medication for vertigo.
She was not wearing her glasses, and
She said her driving was no different from usual.

The coppers were having none of it though, and asked for a breath test.
But ‘soz, no can do’ says Anna, because:

She had no time to spare as she was preparing a picnic, and
She claimed the recent Botox treatment meant she could not purse her lips.

Sadly for Anna, Magistrates’ chairman Julian Ashcroft was unimpressed by her numerous sob stories. He fined her £1000 and ordered her to pay £300 costs. She was also banned from driving for five years and must pass an extended driving test at the end of the ban. She must also attend a drink drivers’ alcohol rehabilitation course before being allowed to drive again.

The difficult second album

Posted on October 6, 2016October 6, 2016

Apparently, it’s a thing. Young band bursts through, full of promise and innovation, releases a fantastic debut album to widespread acclaim and sales and then has to follow it up with something equally good to show that they are more than just a flash in the pan.

Back in late 1986, a-ha faced this hurdle – having given us a debut album which spawned 4 top 10 hits – and thirty years ago today (thirty…!) they released Scoundrel Days.

Despite enjoying what had gone before – and the eight studio albums which have followed since – Scoundrel Days remains my favourite a-ha album, and with that, my favourite album. In fact the eponymous single is my favourite a-ha track. The power of Morten’s voice in the chorus is spine-tinglingly good.

The album sold over 6 million copies worldwide (c.f. 7.8 million for Hunting High And Low) and gave us three singles: I’ve Been Losing You (in which the protagonist expresses a certain amount of regret over murdering his partner), Cry Wolf (in which the band repeatedly insist, somewhat prophetically, that the time to worry is “now”) and the ever-beautiful Manhattan Skyline (in which our star gently describes the blustery scene juxtaposed with his wiild frustration as he leaves his lover during a storm, and which features a fantastic Roland Juno-60/106 synth intro).

Oh, and there was the strange case of Magne’s Maybe, Maybe featuring lines such as:

Maybe it was over when you chucked me out the Rover at full speed.

The doubt in his statement here was probably caused by the fact that in 1986, full speed in a Rover was virtually unattainable because they were usually found broken down at the side of a road.

Maybe, Maybe was released as a single, but only in Bolivia.
It failed to chart. A lesson there for us all, I feel.

I remember reading a review of the album in Smash Hits in October 1986, and being disheartened as they predicted the end of the band, proclaiming that anyone coming up with stuff like:

One left low left two who left high: they seem so hard to find.
Three came twice took once the time to search.

was probably on their way out. And at the time, it seemed a reasonable assertion to be honest, but the album was so good, I bought the CD to go with my cassette tape version – before I even had a CD player.
This was advanced technology, hey?

And yes, I still have the CD. Finding a CD player to play it on is difficult for entirely different reasons now though.

Thirty years seems an awfully long time ago. It is an awfully long time ago, but this one has really stood the test of time and I still enjoy listening to it as much now as I did back then.

a-ha’s next 30 year albumaversary is in May 2018.

Commenters

Posted on October 5, 2016October 6, 2016

Look out. Admin post ahead.

It’s been a week since we made some big changes to the appearance of 6000 miles…
I still like it. It’s a good start.

One technical thing which changed along with the front end of the blog was the system for commenting. It’s moved over onto Disqus:

a worldwide blog comment hosting service for web sites and online communities that uses a networked platform

‘Disqus…’ = ‘Discuss…’ Because it’s a comments section. Geddit?
I’m ashamed to say that it took me a while. I was thinking about the Olympic frisbee thing.

Disqus does require you to log in to use it, but it’s a once off thing (assuming that you click the “remember me” box when you log in) and I hope it doesn’t put too many people off. Also, if you’ve already commented since the change, you may have noticed that your comment was held for moderation. I get to them as quickly as I can (time zone differences notwithstanding), and you should see your opinion on the page within minutes in most cases. Regular commenters (you know who you are) have been and/or will be added as “Trusted Users”, and won’t have to endure the ignominy of joining the back of the moderation queue.

I hope this answers questions and puts minds at rest.

Told you so

Posted on October 4, 2016October 4, 2016

Remember that ~~static fire anomaly~~ SpaceX explosion? Of course you do.

Well now, suddenly, it turns out that sabotage might be the cause of the big bang. You’ll recall that we’d already hinted that there was more to the incident than met the eye, with our in-depth investigation into errant punctuation being a possible catalyst for the unfortunate and unplanned detonation of the rocket.

Thanks, Jerm.

But we were just joking.

This might be for real. Gosh. James Bond eat your heart out (not literally).

While reviewing footage of the unexplained explosion, unnamed industry officials report that SpaceX saw an “odd shadow and then a white spot” on the roof of a nearby building just before the blast – a building that’s owned by long-standing competitor United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Just to be absolutely clear here, and to hopefully absolve 6000 miles… from any threat of legal action from the United Lunch Alliance, who are particularly litigious between about 12 and 2pm, we’re not suggesting that they might be behind the cause of the explosion, we’re merely pointing out that someone else is suggesting that there may be a suggestion that they might be behind the cause of the explosion.

One of those stories that’s definitely worth watching…