Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 27 January 2013

Just For The Record

Some help needed with a question at the end of this post please. 


As he catalogued his music collection,
she wondered if she ought to mention,
that she had seen one of her own,
amongst the heap, and had he known?
A subliminal glimpse of the record label,
as he dropped it on the old turntable,
confirmed her fears, that he’d purloined it.

She listened smiling to each track, 
but vowed that she would have it back.
At coffee time she took the risk,
and carefully slid the vinyl disk,
from sleeve into her bag of shopping,
said No to coffee and wasn’t stopping,
then dashed to catch her bus.

Once home she placed it on the table,
donned spectacles and read the label.
She peered quite closely, scrutinising,
and then she felt the panic rising.
For hers lay on the living room floor
Discarded from the night before.....
and now she has a criminal record!

© Marilyn Brindley
Image courtesy of Tess Kincaid at The Mag, where Tess provided the picture prompt to get our creative juices flowing. It's Charlotte Gainsbourg by AnOther.


This is me in 1974-5 (Look at that 'lovely' wallpaper!) Now, I'm not stealing anybody's record; it's one of my own. However, I'm having trouble identifying it by its sleeve. As I no longer own any vinyl I can't go and simply have a look. Does anybody recognise it?

The mystery has been solved as of 3rd February 2013 and I can now reveal that it is the upside-down image of the reverse of Don McLean's 'American Pie'. Apparently I cared enough about it to put it in a plastic sleeve to protect it.

26 comments:

  1. Clever story, clever play on the ending! Enjoyed your spin on this tale!

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  2. Just for the record, Nell, this is way up the charts!

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  3. Hello Marilyn:
    We love this for its narrative, its sense of place and time, and for its humour.

    Such an excellent start to a Monday morning - cold, bleak and snowy here in Budapest.

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  4. Love the story, the picture and the wallpaper! LOL ♥

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  5. Love the little play on words there at the end. As for the album cover, I'd start with what bands I was listening to in 1974. Then I'd Google for names of their albums, and then for images by album name.

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  6. Now that is something very close to what I've done!

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  7. I don't think you're going to serve time for this one ... I enjoyed it!

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  8. Criminal record? Anything by Duran Duran?

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  9. Really charming...your poem...and your pic...

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  10. Excellent Marilyn. I love the criminal record. As for your mystery record - it seems vaguely familiar but that is as far as I can go.

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  11. Nice play on words! And no, I don't recognize the sleeve. I do still own some vinyl records, nothing can beat the large sleeves and the sound of real vinyl.

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  12. I've resized the photo, and flipped it, and still can't make out the album, but it's ringing a bell - not Steve Miller by any chance?

    The poem is spot on!

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  13. Hilarious Little Nell! A lot of humor around the verse. Cleverly written with the twist of 'mystery' revealed at the end.

    Hank

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  14. Haha - a fun story, and such clever wordplay!

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  15. Heh heh.....I love the humour - and the picture. The record might be Fox - the 70's band led by Noosha. For some reason that came straight to mind but guesses are rarely right with me!!!

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  16. So amusing..just love the resolution..wish I could identify that album..if I get a brainstorm, I'll let you know!

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  17. Aye aye, Babooshka , babooshka, yai yai. Thanks Nell, what a good sort you are !

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  18. Your photo of the album cover is driving me crazy!I've photoshopped/cropped/enhanced/etc etc But still no joy.That colour scheme & layout was quite popular in the 1970s .I had albums by both Tim Buckley + by Emmylou Harris that were fairly similiar in design, but I don't actually think it's either of those.No doubt it will come to me eventually.........(imagine me waking up in the middle of the night screaming "Showaddywaddy" !)

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  19. Where are you? I can see that I am not the only one missing you! Love your poem, and the picture of you. Wish that I had kept my vinyl albums.

    Kathy M.

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  20. Fabulous poem - really love it. Now going to try and work on the album cover!

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  21. Well done Marilyn for remembering. I eventually found an image of it here.

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  22. Good album I'm happy you found your answer! Your delightfully clever magpie was an excellent morning read! But best of all is the photo of you checking the floor! Ha ha! Very awesome indeed!

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  23. A clever little poem! And glad you found the ID of the mystery record!

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