Head Space Daily Words...

Following 611 posts and 12,057 page views, Head Space Daily is one year old today!! (cue party horn.) It all began one cold and wintry day, exactly twelve months ago. With a desire to do something positive with my freelance 'downtime,' other than admiring Nordic knitwear on The Killing, seeing how long I could resist the cold before turning on the heating, or stressing about my lack of work, Head Space Daily was born. My mission, to supply Daily Words, Daily Image and Daily Tune. Simple. After all, I live in what I consider to be the greatest city in the world - not that I have been to many other major cities - but for diversity, culture and history, London is surely hard to beat. Then, there is life. It is hectic, both personally and out there, in the big wide yonder. There is always something to express in words and pictures. That first post, on January 17th 2013, was about imminent snowfall,(HSD Words Jan 17th 2013) the image was of a child's lost hat, hung longingly on school railings (HSD Image Jan 17th 2013) and the Daily Tune was from the hardest working man in show business - Mr. James Brown, with Get Up Offa That Thing (HSD Tune 17th Jan 2013.) After starting simply as a means to keep myself ticking over, it swiftly dawned on me that I could get my blog out there via social media, rather than leave it for my eyes only, to see if anyone would actually take the time to look in. After all, if you invest the time putting a blog post together, it is there to be seen. As I mentioned at the top of the page, at the time of writing this post, Head Space Daily had received 12,057 page views. Not only is a blogger told how many times their blog has been viewed but the number of people that have visited from a particular country. The top three viewing nations of HSD are United Kingdom with 6864, followed by United States with 3050 and third is Russia with 498. I post Head Space Daily on Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, which covers around 600 people. I don't know anyone in the States, let alone Russia. Do people stumble across the blog by accident, or do they genuinely take an interest? The one that really got me was when I received over two hundred hits in one night from Indonesia, after posting about Northern Soul. It transpires that there is a huge mod/Northern scene in Indonesia. I find it incredible that people on the other side of the world, with an entirely different culture, inhabiting what is a vast group of connected islands, can also be connected to me, here, in rainy old London Town, through music, (HSD Words Sep 27th 2013.)I don't think I have received a page view from Indonesia since that time!! My most visited HSD Words was this post about Gilles Peterson (HSD Words Nov 9th 2013), my most frequented HSD Image was this snowbound yellow mini (HSD Image Jan 23rd 2013) and I don't have a record of the most listened to HSD Tune as only the Top Ten biggest hits are recorded, so I shall include my favourite in today's Daily Tune. Well, that's it folks. I've blown my own trumpet for long enough in this post, so thanks for checking into Head Space Daily during the past twelve months, it really is nice to know that people read the blog and hopefully enjoy it. I shall endeavour to keep it running for the next twelve months. Cheers...

Head Space Daily Image...

Here is the most viewed Head Space Daily Image, a snowbound mini in Peckham Rye Park, from 23rd January 2013

Head Space Daily Tune...

Tobi Legend - Time Will Pass You By…

Here is the tune that I posted after watching a Northern Soul documentary on BBC4 which I think led to over 200 hits from Indonesia, where there is a large Northern/mod scene…

Head Space Daily Words...

My boys love to play FIFA 14 on the PS3. It is their way of relaxing after school and enjoying themselves at home. They would be on it permanently if they had their way – which they don’t. Whenever they lose or the game goes against them, they say things like “that was a massive glitch,” or “the game's really glitchy today.” These ‘glitches’ do seem to be something of a phenomenon and if you type ‘FIFA 14 glitches’ into youtube it will show you the games best ever glitches. These moments of computer freakery and technological meltdown annoy my kids and this got me thinking about how reliant we are on computers, technology and broadband to actually exist nowadays. When it goes wrong we are screwed, quite literally, life's a glitch. How were things before the Internet, computer games and Tesco deliveries? I can barely remember. What I do recall is that communication – I’m talking face to face engagement here – was a damn sight better. People actually spoke to one another and held conversations. So often, the four of us will be at home and each one of us will be looking at a screen. Me and the GLW (see Saturday’s post for definition) and our two boys all sat there in our own little worlds, computers on laps, or I-phones/I-pod touches held up to faces, looking at wherever our minds have directed us to on the Internet. The best family time is the old fashioned family meal, all of us sat around the dining table eating and chatting. Of course the ability to communicate virtually, by e mail and social media is fine, a great way to stay in touch and a very nice thing on one level but it isn’t proper communication is it? It’s not a telephone call or a physical - we are standing in front of each other - kind of meeting. I guess today, things get done at a much quicker rate and we are more efficient at what we do due to the technology. Two very good friends of mine have never held facebook or Twitter accounts. Can you believe it? They don’t appear to have been affected by this and I admire the fact they have been able to resist. Just think of all the pictures of other peoples dinner they have missed out on!! Actually, once you are in, there is no going back. Can you seriously imagine closing your Facebook account? One thing that I love the Internet for and what I guess is it’s main purpose, is to find out information. My eldest son is reading Emil And The Detectives at the moment and he asked me about the currency used in the book, which happens to be what was in circulation prior to decimilisation in 1971. Another interesting fact that I discovered when helping him find out about his query, is that if an elderly person talks about LSD, they are not referring to drugs but to pounds, shillings and pence as per the pre 1971 currency used in the UK. Don’t you feel so much better now you know that piece of information? Right, that’s enough for now, I’m going to check my Facebook account, send a few tweets and write up my blog…

Head Space Daily Image...

My computer on your computer...

Head Space Daily Tune...

Kraftwerk - Computer Love

Only one track for it when talking computers and technology…

Head Space Daily Words...

This afternoon, as I was walking down Northcross Road in East Dulwich with the GLW (good lady wife,) I became aware, out of the corner of my eye, that someone was staring at me. Not just staring but sizing me up in a thoroughly unnerving manner. Actually they were doing it with such a sense of excitement that it was like a force field emanating between us. It was bizarre. As I got nearer, I couldn’t help but smile, because I could just sense them gawping and it was a natural reaction but I didn’t look at this person. Then suddenly, a voice spoke. It was a woman who ran a market stall on the street and she said “My god, I thought you were Robbie Williams.” Ha ha, brilliant. This was particularly funny, because the GLW twenty years ago, when we first got together, had the hots for Robbie and thought that I looked like him. In fact and I kid you not, people would often comment that the Take That tearaway and myself looked alike. Think of the money I could have made as a looky likey!! Then the cheeky Potteries lad porked out and became a pub singer, whilst my metabolism hasn’t followed the same trajectory and I am still a skinny latte. If it hadn’t been for our uncanny resemblance, I probably wouldn’t be with the GLW, which would mean my kids wouldn’t have been born and I may not even live in London. This is all getting a bit Back To The Future now. I am actually picturing images of my family fading from photographs. Aaaahhh!!! Get me a Flux Capacitor, fetch me a DeLorean…

Head Space Daily Image...

Day Of The Triffids in our dining room...

Head Space Daily Tune...

The Streets - Weak Become Heroes

Whether it's because the dude from The Streets was on The Voice tonight or if I'm just in a nostalgic mood; whatever the reason, this tune came into my head and it is poetry in motion, a great snapshot of good times past...