If you love music, then you’ll know that American Little Richard is one of the greatest pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll music. On this day, way back in 1955, he recorded his first big hit, Tutti Frutti, at J & M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the iconic opening line: “A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom”.
Born Richard Wayne Penniman on 5 December 1932, he went on to have further hits with Long Tall Sally, Rip it Up, Lucille and Good Golly Miss Molly. Little Richard was a huge influence on the likes of The Beatles, Elvis and James Brown, amongst others.
Little Richard himself was influenced by gospel and blues music, but left music behind in 1957 to become and evangelist, before returning in 1962, performing a headline tour with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as the supporting artists.
In 1986 he was inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame and died aged 87 in May 2020.
I am writing this post in advance because on the 12th September, I’ll be enjoying the penultimate day of my Norwegian Fjords cruise. I know for a fact I will be taking some writing/research with me because that’s what I’ve done for many years and old habits die hard.
If I don’t take anything, I’ll feel guilty, because writing is such a huge part of my everyday life and anyway, I’ll miss it. The way I look at it is this: there’s always time to snatch a quick ten minutes, even between breakfast, lunch, dinner, quizzes, shows, snacks, more quizzes, trying out new crafts, shopping, visiting places in port and sleeping of course! So my writing will definitely be coming on the cruise with me. I’ll let you know how much writing I actually get done.
Do you take your writing on holiday? Or do you prefer a complete break? Maybe you just take a notebook and pen and if the creative juices are flowing you just go with it. I’d love to know your thoughts on this subject.
Something a little different this week. When this is posted, I’ll be on a cruise. It was on a cruise last year that I tried watercolour painting at a craft session. This is one of my very first attempts at painting ‘freehand’.
As you read this, I will be in the middle of the North Sea, en-route to the Norwegian Fjords, on our latest adventure. I’ve often been asked to write about the cruises I have been on, so here is the first in an occasional series, highlighting some places I have visited with my partner, on our cruise travels.
La Coruna was the final stop on our last cruise. It is in the northwest region of Galicia, Spain, with a population of around 250,000 people. The city centre is a short 15-minute walk from the cruise port. It is known for its delicious seafood, but we didn’t get to sample it because we only had a couple of hours to explore and take in the sights along the promenade.
We particularly wanted to see the medieval old town and weren’t disappointed. After a short walk, we found the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria del Campo, a Roman Catholic church, which was built in 1441 by the archbishop of Santiago. From there we made our way to the central square, which houses the City Hall on one side. The other three sides are arcaded buildings whose arches house various cafés and restaurants underneath. We visited in October and it wasn’t too busy, but I can imagine this place is a hive of activity during the peak Summer months, with tourists enjoying lunch or dinner and sampling that seafood.
On our stroll back to the ship, we passed quite a few shops, mainly gift shops, but this little town has a lovely vibe about it, and we found the locals to be really friendly. Naturally, I took photos of our visit. The photo of the church doesn’t do it justice, it’s a beautiful structure, but unfortunately it was closed, so we didn’t to see the inside. If you ever get the chance to visit La Coruna, please do, because I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
As writers, we generally need to spend a lot of time researching for various projects we’re working on at any given time. I actually like researching and this week I’ve been looking at different topics for this blog. I very much like history and I’ve been looking at ‘on this day…’ websites for notable events in history, so I can write about it for the blog.
Please share what you’ve been researching this week.
Hello everyone, I hope you’re all having a great week so far. Following on from today’s Photo of the Week, I thought I would share a few pics that I took on a stroll around the castle grounds a couple of days ago. They currently have a sculpture trail, as they do every year, and some of the sculptures are amazing.
I left School on 11th April 1979, aged sixteen. I was so happy to leave and get out into the big wide world of employment.
A few weeks later, I started a full time job at WH Smith, at the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre in London (sadly recently demolished).
My position was on the stationery counter – there’s a surprise – and I absolutely loved it. I worked full time, including every other Saturday. My uniform was a blue and green overall with cream buttons, and every Sunday I would put it in the wash so it was all clean and ready for the following week.
In those days, everybody had an ‘Access’ card – your flexible friend – or a Visa card. We wrote the transaction details onto a carbonated slip and then used a machine that imprinted the card details onto the slip; the customer had a copy and the other one went in the till.
My first weeks’ pay was £30.00 net. I thought I was rich! My dad took me to Midland Bank to open an account and when I received the cheque book I was over the moon. It came in a black plastic cover with the bank logo on it. But out of that first pay, I paid housekeeping to my mum and continued to do so until I left home many years later.
I think I worked there for about a year, but I did learn important life skills – hard work, punctuality and paying your way.
That’s a very interesting question isn’t it? asked by Susan Batten. I am a planner and couldn’t bear to leave things to the last minute, be it a competition entry, an assignment, or anything outside of writing.
I have a fear of being late – for anything. I’d much rather be thirty minutes early than five minutes late and that’s the way I’ve always been throughout my adult life. If I have a deadline for a writing project I make sure I complete it well within the time.
When I go to work now, I’m always the first one in. I despair when I see the stragglers arriving with minutes to spare or a few minutes late. My parents instilled the good timekeeping into me and I thank them for that. It always seems to be the older generation that worry about these things – or maybe that’s just me? Please share your views on good timekeeping.
