WELCOME TO 1989 and PARIS L HOLLEY

We were Now in 1989, I was Now 30 Years Old, Susan was 29 Years Old and the Kids, Nathan and Natalie were 10 and 8 Years, and We had Now been Living in the Same House for 7 Years!

Things were Going Alright at Home and Now I had a Decent Job with a Decent Wage, things were Going Fine at Work as well.

As I Mentioned Before, I had now been in my New Job for about 6 Weeks, and things were going Great, but I has Managed to get on Top of the Job and the Situation, I mean I had Never Worked in Such a Place Before and Never Had a Woman Boss Before!

What I Mean is, I was Used to Working in a Team, but Now I was In Charge of My Kitchen and My Area, on My Own, so I soon got Control of that Situation and it became to Easy, in a Way, it was Too Easy, in Fact I was Finding I was having a lot of Time on my Hands, because of my Preparation Work etc!

I had Never had a Woman Boss Before, and that Took some Getting Used To, also after a While Working with Her, She told me,  I was the First Full Time Bloke, (apart from One Part-Time Worker) that she had been in Charge of!

Because of How I Worked, I was Finding Myself Way ahead of my Work, this Led to 2 Things, Firstly I was Collared into Helping out the Other Staff Members with their Work, when I was Finished my Work and I Took up Reading Books!

Firstly Work Wise, I was a Chef/Cook in a Old People's Day Centre, but the OAP's had Dementia, this was a Bit of a Shock to me, at that Point, I Did Not Know of Any Relative or Person who had this Disease, and I was Expected to Help Out with Staff Member's Keeping the Old Folk Happy!

This Involved, Playing their Games with them, Taking Part in their Activities and so on, this was Something I was Not Used to Doing, Not with any Old Person, Let Alone Somebody who was ill, as well.

Some of the Things I Used to do were, Playing Games with

Beanbags, Footballs etc, Bingo, Sing-A-Longs, Competitions, Drawing's etc.

I Used to go Out on Mini-Bus Trips and Rides etc and Look after the Old Folk, Like Garden Centre's Trips or Ride Outs to the Countryside!

Secondly, I Started Reading a Lot of Book's, I Used to Sit on Top of the Freezer in the Back Store Room with a Drink and Read when Ever I had the Chance, My Boss was OK with this, as she Knew I had Everything Under Control, Food and Work Wise! 

The Books I used to Read, Always Involved Mountains and Snow in Some Sort of Way, I have Always been Interested in Mountains,  the Trips and Adventures that People had to Them etc.

The Mountains I mean are The Alps and The Pyrenees in Europe, the Himalayas in Asia and the Ranges in Scotland, and North and South Americas.

I Ended Up Working at "The Garnham Day Centre" for About 5.5 Years, and in that Time I Must Have Read 100's of Books!
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Now for Some Music, Back in 1984 a Great Soul Track was Released in the U.S on the Kelli-Arts Record Label, It was called "I Choose You" and Sung by the Artist "Paris"

It wasn't Released in the U.K Until 3 Years Later in 1987, and it was on the "Bluebird Record Label"

The Song was Written by Paris (under his Full Name of Paris L Holley) and Otis Leavell and Carl Davis, the Song was also Produced by Leavell and Davis.

What a Great Soul Record this was, and Still Sounds Great Today!

                                                                                                    

NEW JOB and MASS PRODUCTION

The Time was Now Early November 1988, I Remember this Time Well, there was a Couple of Things Happening around this Period, I was Waiting to Hear whether I had got a New Job, Working for Norfolk County Council as a Cook, and also I had Sold my Van which I had, I Part-Exchanged it for a Morris Marina!

Home Life was getting back to Normal after the Bankruptcy about a Month Earlier, by this Time we had been Living in the same House for about 6 Years, and Married for 10 Years, Nathan was 10 Years Old and Natalie was 8 Years Old, but the only thing I Wanted at that Time was the Job I had Applied for a Couple of Weeks Previously!

I was Lucky back then, the First Job I went for after the Bankruptcy, I got, I had a Call from the Day Centre Manager, Telling me I had got the Job, I was to Find out Later, I Nearly Did Not get the Job, because I was a Bloke, and No Man had Ever Worked Inside the Day Centre Before, they were All Females!

So with only about 6 Weeks until Christmas, I had got Myself a New Job, it was Monthly Pay, I had Always been Paid Weekly before, but at Least I was going to get 1 Month's Pay just before Christmas!

I Remember my First Day in the New Job, Very Well, my Hours were to be 8am until 3pm, 5 Days Per Week, the Money Was Not Great, but the Hours Were and I was to get Every Bank-Holiday Off, I had Never had them Hours and Times before, Working as a Chef, although I was Now Called a Cook-In-Charge! 

The Place I worked was a Day Centre for People with Alzheimers Disease, Now I had Never Worked in a Place Like this Before, but Being the Cook, I thought, who the People were Would Not Affect me in Anyway or my Work, how Wrong I was Going to be, in the Future!

I Remember the First Day, After I Knocked Off at 3pm and I was in my House by about 3.10pm, I thought "What a Cushy Little Job, this is Going to be" and I Liked all the Staff who Worked there and the Place, But as you know, things are Always Great to Start with, its about a Week into, that you Start Realizing who the D@ckheads are!

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Now for some Music, Back in the Middle 70's and Early 80's one of the my Favorite Funk Band's was Mass Production, they had Some Great Music Released back then!

Mass Production like a Few Other Bands back then (Cameo, Earth Wind & Fire, Bar-Kays, Funkadelic etc), had Several Band Member's, Mass Production had 10!

They Released a Total of 8 Albums Over a 8 Year Period from '76 to '83, All of them on the Cottillion Record Label.

I'm Not going to Feature any of their Usual Track's but I'm Going to Feature 3 of their Instrumentals, the First one is "Shante" from the "Massterpiece" Album of 1980 and the other 2 Tracks Come from the 1983 Album "Mass Production" they are "Sundancer" and "Victory in '83"

I Don't Know which is my Favorite Track out of the 3, but I did Purchase "Shante" as a 7" Single and the Album, which it Came From!  

TRAFFIC CONES and ROBERTA FLACK

This is Actually my 400th Post today

The Date was around Spring-Time in 1988, I was still Struggling in the Takeaway, which also Meant we were Struggling in Life, as anyone knows, if your Business or Work are going Badly, so more than likely will your Home Life!

At this time we were also going to my Mothers House at Least 3/4 Times a Week, as it had been Less than a Year since my Father had Died (we had been doing this ever since his Death).

We used to Help her with Shopping etc etc and to generally keep her Company as by Now she was on her own, as my 3 Sisters had all left Home by then!

We also had our 2 Kids to see too, Nathan was 9 Years Old by then and Natalie was 8 Years Old, they Both went to the same School, which Luckily for us, was only about 2 minutes away, so apart from when they First Started School, they always took themselves to School!

The Takeaway was just about Ticking Over (Money Wise) but it Needed to Improve if I was to Keep it Going!

One thing I Remember about the Takeaway, was where it was Situated, on the Main Street Through Gorleston, but on the Way Out (or In) so there was No Parking Directly Outside the Shop, which in Hindsight was a Hinderance, but I was Told by the Previous Tenants, "that was Not a Problem"  That was Another Lie!

Also I had to Park my Van in a Side Street, only about 20 Yards Away, but I Remember there was this Woman who Lived in that Small Road, and she Thought She Owned the Road, she even had "Her Own Traffic Cones" she was such a Loud Mouthed Woman!

She used to put these Cones out, when she went out in her Car, I Remember Moving them Several Times, but in the End it Happened, she came out one Day I was Parking up the Van!

She was Shouting her Big Mouth Off about "This is where We Live, and I should Not Park there" I told her and her Husband to "P*ss Off"

Needless to Say, She Never came into the Takeaway to Buy Anything, so I had Nothing too Lose, but whenever she got the Chance to Stop me Parking there, she did!

Over 25 Years Later, that Woman Still Lives there, I have Seen her around that Area, quite often!

One Good bit of News we had around this Time was, the Pepsi Rep came back to the Takeaway and with him he Brought the 2 Michael Jackson Tickets, I had Won with Pepsi about 2 Months Previously, they were for the Date of 16th July 1988, which was on a Saturday, and the Reason I can Remember this Date is because that was the same Day that Charles and Diana went to Wembley!

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As for some Music, my Wife has been playing a Song Lately by Celine Dion, this Reminded me of the Best Version of that Song, it was Recorded by Roberta Flack back in 1972!

The Song is "The First Time I Ever saw Your Face" a Soul Classic.

That wasn't the Original Recording though, that was written in 1957 by Ewan MacColl, (Kirsy MacColl's Father) it was Originally a Folk Song!

This was Roberta Flack's 8th Single Release (including 3 Duets) and her First Big Solo Hit, getting to Number 1 in Several Countries and Number 14 in the UK.

Incidentally the Track, was on her Debut Album (First Take) 3 Years Previously in 1969, the Reason why it Was Not released until 1972, was it was featured in the Clint Eastwood Movie "Play Misty for Me" it was Number 1 in the US for a Total of 6 Weeks

 

  

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BACK HOME and JEFFREY OSBORNE

Our Move to Norwich  back in Early 1987 came to an Abrupt Ending, shortly after a the 15th June 1987!

This was the Date my Sister Telephoned me at Home in Norwich to say that "My Father had been taken ill and was Rushed to Hospital"

We came back to Yarmouth asap, we took Nathan and Natalie straight to Susan's Sister's House (so she could look after them) & we went straight to the Hospital.

My Old Boy (as I always called my Father) had been Suffering from an Heart Complaint for a Few Years Previously and had took a turn for the Worse!

This is when I found out that "The Old Boy" had been Bad for Ages, but my Mother and Sister's decided not to tell me anything about this!

What a Family (they are), Me and Susan are just the Opposite to this, if we are ill, our Kids are the First to Know! (not the last).

At this time I was 28 Years Old, Married with 2 Kids and the Eldest of 4 Sibling's, so perhaps I should have been the First to Know!

But Knowing My Mother as I Do (Back then, But Not Now), this I suppose, should have been Expected! 

Anyway after that Visit to the Hospital, we went to get Our Kids and went back to Our Home in Norwich, I am Not Sure of How it Happened or the Timing's, But We Decided to Move Back to Great Yarmouth (asap). 

As I said this is another Time in the Past I can't Remember 100%, I Don't know if we had Planned our Move Back before "The Old Boy" was ill or after, but whatever it was, we Moved back to Our Old House about 3/4 Days after "The Old Boy" was Admitted to the Hospital!

It turned out, Her who we Swapped Houses with (in the first place), Wanted to go Back to Norwich, So we just Swapped back Houses again!

So after about 12 Weeks we were back Home in Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, in the Same House we had left earlier, We were all Glad to be Left that Dump in Norwich, but now We had to Deal with "The Old Boy" who was Still in Hospital in a Bad Way!

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Now for some Music, During 1984 Jeffrey Osborne (Former Lead Singer with LTD) released His 5th Single on A&M Records, "Stay With Me Tonight" it was Taken from his Second Album (same Title for the Album), that was Released the Previous Year.

What a Great Track this was, I Purchased the 12" Single and the Album, Jeffrey Osborne has an Un-mistakable Voice.

The Track was Produced by George Duke and Reached Number 30 on the US Pop Chart and Number 4 on the US R&B Chart, it also Reached Number 18 on the UK Pop Chart.

The Album Attained Platinum Status and Number 3 on the US R&B Chart.

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THE POLICE and JIMMY RUFFIN

As I said in Previous posts, when we Lived in Norwich back in 1987, we always came back to Great Yarmouth on a Saturday, to see Family and Sell some stuff from my Mobile Shop Van.


I recall nearly straightaway after coming Home from Yarmouth on the Weekend, things started happening to Our House and Garden, when we were out in Yarmouth!

Things like, Nathan's Cars that were left out  where He used to Play, were Damaged, i.e smashed with a Hammer, I also think something was done to the Kids Bikes, damage to the Shed and Fence etc, this went on for a couple of Weeks, me and Susan never thought to much about, when the Kids Complained!


After 3/4 Weeks of things happening, and not doing anything about it, we came to Yarmouth as usual that Weekend, and when we returned everything looked normal, until Susan went to get the Washing in, thats when we saw what had been done,  there had been someone in Our back Garden, Slashing our all Washing with what must have been a Stanley Knife!

We got straight on to The Police, who came round, they were going on about Enemies in the Area, we said we didn't really know anybody in the area, as usual the Copper's were Useless & Done Nothing!  


When we were still Living in Norwich, we Never found out the Reason, why this stuff was done to us, but we found out Later!


We found out Later why this had all happened, it turned out, the Person (Moron) we Exchanged Council Houses with, still had a Sister who Lived on the Same Road, who Wanted Her back In Norwich and wanted to Scare us off, back to Yarmouth, so Her Sister could move back in!

What a Bunch of Tw*ts, Especially the Idiot who Smashed our Kids Toys Up, not too mention our Clothes etc they Ruined!


What makes me Mad about this situation is, None of Morons who caused all this Trouble were Never brought to Justice, perhaps one Day I will get the Chance to Repay them all one by one!


Incidentally the Prat we exchanged with, still Walks about our Town, and about once a Year we have the Mis-Fortune of seeing Her, and the First Thing I think is WHAT A DICKHEAD!

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Now for some Music, I had to go in to Hospital last week, and wanted something on my MP4 Player which I have not played for a Little While, that same Night I turned on a Local Radio Station and heard some Jimmy Ruffin, so I quickly got my Jimmy Ruffin CD's off the Rack and on to the MP4 player.


My Favorite Jimmy Ruffin Track was actually Released on 3 seperate Occasions, Firstly in 1967, then 1969 and Finally in 1974.

It was called "I've Passed This Way Before" it was from the Album "The Jimmy Ruffin Way" Released in 1966 on the Tamla Motown Label and featured 12 Tracks, including His Biggest Hit "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"

The Track Reached Number 17 on the US Pop Chart, Number 10 on the US R&B Chart and it also Reached Number 29 on the UK Pop Chart.

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