Carrying on with The Smiths. I know. Believe me, I know. But I still love The Smiths and I can’t imagine never listening to them again. I am transported to teenage emotional angst immediately on playing this album. It comforted me then, and it comforts me now. #cassunday #TheSmiths #xp

Combining #JonsCookingMusic with #CasSunday and listening to the brilliant Billy Bragg. Such an important album for me in my youth, and still sounds fantastic and relevant today. #xp

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A cassette tape titled "Brewing Up With Billy Bragg," priced at £3.99 or less, is displayed on a reflective surface with a green rim.

Starting with a cover of ‘Piggies’ that I’d never heard before by Theo Bikel. Far from being one of my favourite Beatles tracks, this version is at least as good I’d say. Might need a few goes through the cleaner - a fair amount of background hum.
#vinyl #WarnerReprise #TheoBikel #xp

First one located and purchased. Seems a lot of these are in the USA so won’t be buying those, but I’ll try and find any that come up in the UK at a good price. Cleaning now and will give this one a spin shortly.
#vinyl #WarnerReprise #xp

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A vinyl record with a colorful, psychedelic album cover featuring a figure standing with open arms amidst a crowd of dancing people.

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A vintage record collection advertisement with multiple sections highlighting albums, artists, and the Warner Bros. record label.

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A black-and-white sheet of paper with text and images about music bands and album reviews, including The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Dave Blue, and Arlo Guthrie.

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Two illustrated women holding a vinyl record with "The 1969 Warner-Reprise Record Show" text, dressed in vintage clothing, in black and white.

Finally got hold of this month’s Record Collector, and it’s right up my flag pole! #RecordCollector #vinyl #ModRevival #xp

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Record Collector magazine cover featuring The Jam, The Chords and Secret Affair with headlines about their influence on the mod revival scene.

The best time to leave the Nazi bar was when the Nazi bought the bar. The next best time is now.

#xp

Why not start a fresh conversation about why it's good to get off of X dot com now?

#xp

I get it, some people want to feel superior for realizing what the site formerly known as Twitter had become earlier than others, but shaming people and organizations about how long it's taken them to make that same realization isn't necessarily the motivation that you think it is. There is a tendency to circle the wagons when challenged.

#xp

Last one for today. These Argo releases seem to be the preferred ones from a collectors point of view, and they do sound good. Personally I prefer Seeger’s partnership with MacColl. His voice is just the perfect folk voice. #vinly #folk #xp

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Black and white illustrated record sleeve of "The Wanton Muse" featuring a woman with two fantastical creatures.

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A close-up of a record cleaner with a black vinyl record partially inside being cleaned.

Got a lot of Peggy Seeger to clean and rehouse, either on her own or mostly with Ewan McColl. If you’re in a folk mood then you can’t go far wrong with Seeger. I’d say my wife is much more into this ‘pure’ folk sound than I am, but I still enjoy it #vinyl #folk #xp

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Album cover. Penelope Isn’t Waiting Any More by Peggy Seeger. A sketch of a woman with long flowing hair standing outdoors with mountains in the background, wearing a red dress, as the sky turns orange.

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A close-up of a vintage Blackthorne vinyl record spinning on a turntable.

I was always aware of Ralph McTell, hard not to be, but only started seriously listening and collecting after seeing his great friendship with Bert Jansch. Bert’s judgement can’t be questioned, so I dived in. Not everything hits home, but what does is very good indeed. #RalphMcTell #folk #vinyl #xp

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Cover of a record by "Ralph McTell" with illustrations of a woman on a bicycle, a man, and children at a fairground.

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Cover of a record titled "Easy" by Ralph McTell, featuring a scenic view of a river with trees and grasses at sunset.

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Record cover of Streets Of London by Ralph McTell. A man with brown hair is playing guitar and singing into a microphone on stage, wearing a black shirt with white patterns.

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The cover features Ralph McTell's portrait with a list of song titles on the left, in yellow text, against a black background.

Coffee and cleaning with The Woods Band. This is the 2023 reissue of the 1971 Irish folk rock classic. #vinyl #TheWoodsBand #xp #folk #FolkRock #SteeleyeSpan

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The album cover for "The Woods Band" features a purple textured background with a beige spiral design and text in the center reading "the Woods Band."

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A close-up of a vintage turntable playing a black vinyl record with a purple label. The background includes framed posters and shelves with records.

I fibbed. One more. The debut from Sharp Class and, in my opinion, their best so far. Listening to this I feel 17 again. Hard to explain how good this is, but anybody my age who was in to the scene back then will LOVE this #vinyl #ModRevival #xp

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A black album cover with a large blue vinyl record design, labeled "Sharp Class" in the center. Text on left side: "TALES OF A TEENAGE MIND".

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A blue vinyl record labeled "SHARP CLASS" on a turntable with tonearm and stylus, spinning on a black surface.

Last one tonight. I’ll get to Bert Jansch tomorrow, but until then Pentangle will play us into dinner time. This one was in dire need of a clean, very dusty for some reason. #vinyl #Pentangle #xp

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An album cover titled "The Pentangle Basket of Light" showing a stage with musicians, illuminated arches, and reflections of illuminated tents.

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A close-up of a vintage turntable playing a vinyl record.

My favourite by some margin. This is just a terrific album and I don’t listen to it enough. #vinyl #JoniMitchell #Blue #xp

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Album cover for Joni Mitchell's "Blue" featuring a close-up, monochrome portrait of the artist with a contemplative expression.

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A close-up of a spinning vinyl record on a turntable, with a focus on the black disc and orange label in the center.

Back to it then. First cleaning session of 2026. I’m going in to the folk section (or what I call folk anyway) and starting with the sublime Joni Mitchell. #vinyl #HumminGuru #JoniMitchell #xp

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Album cover titled "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" by Joni Mitchell, featuring a city skyline, houses, and people holding a snake.

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A close-up of a spinning vinyl record on a turntable, with the tonearm and stylus engaged, playing music.

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A close-up of a vinyl record spinning in a cleaner, showing the label "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" by Joni Mitchell.

The state of gaming today means I have gone back to playing a game I last played 10 years ago. It’s still great, and I’ve forgotten most of it, so will happily take my time and play through it all. #LaraCroft #PS4 #PS5 #TombRaider #xp

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A female character stands in a lush, ancient ruins with waterfalls, vines, and sunlight shining through an opening overhead.

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A female adventurer overlooking an ancient, overgrown stone city built into a mountainside with waterfalls cascading nearby.

First foray into the #Commodore64Ultimate and the modem works perfectly. Revisiting some of my favourite BBSs this morning 😄 #retrocomputing #xp

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Old computer setup with a black screen featuring colorful ASCII art and text related to Particles, a BBS established in 1992.

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Screen displaying an unofficial login menu for the C64 Ultimate Club, with options to log in or register, and colorful text and graphics.

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Vintage computer setup with a monitor displaying colorful text and a keyboard in front.

Now on to the brilliant Sharp Class before we eat. I wrote about this band on my blog recently, a modern day mod revival band that are absolutely smashing it out of the park. #vinyl #ModRevival #xp #SharpClass

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A vibrant LP cover for the "Welcome To The Matinee Show" album by Sharp Class, featuring three people on a graffiti-covered wall with a bright orange background.

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A close-up of a vinyl record spinning on a turntable, with a colorful label at the center reading "SHARP CLASS."

Some Christmas vinyl, Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers for the evening’s cooking. First #JonsCookingMusic of 2026. #jazz #vinyl #xp

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Black and white album cover featuring a smiling man playing drums, with text mentioning jazz, art blakey, stereo, on a speaker.

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A close-up black and white photo of a spinning vinyl record on a turntable.

Quite an emotional opening. I still have two original commodore 64s, always will do, but there is just something about this version. Official product, expandable, yet retains all the charm. Not an emulator, a re-creation. #xp

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A ‘vintage’ Commodore 64 computer with accessories, including a keyboard and documentation, in packaging foam.

Ok, I’m going in. Another present I just haven’t had time to explore yet. Now things have calmed down I’ll be putting this in the office and getting stuck in to projects very soon. #C64U #C64 #commodore #xp

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Box for a Commodore 64 Ultimate expandable computer system with features listed on the box.

My daughter gave me a Sound Burger for Christmas! Only just got around to setting it up. Wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of audio quality, but pairing it with the new Beats Pill and it sounds fantastic. Very happy indeed 😄
#SoundBurger #vinyl #xp

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A ‘vintage’ wireless stereo disc player system with a vinyl record on a wooden surface.

1. Become Director of Engineering

2. Tell org and stakeholders that XP will fix longstanding problems

3. Regularly interfere with devs’ learning

4. Design projects to delay ROI

5. Find scapegoats

Maybe they’ll blame #XP.

If you do this while claiming to be an #XP expert, that’s clownshoes.

#XP #XPLives #ExtremeProgramming