A couple of songs by Faerground Accidents

Un altra troballa gràcies als misteris de Twitter. Suposo que hi ha milers de grups nous sortint a Anglaterra, però per casualitats que no acabes d'entendre - perquè tu has seguit tal, o has parlat de tal - de sobte un dia et trobes amb un grup de Sheffield per Twitter i escoltes les seves cançons i penses, wow! Vivim en un món on la sort té molt a veure, si el grup x cau al twitter del nou George Martin en comptes de Brian Cutts, ves a saber com acabaria ... mentre esperen aquest cop de sort, només els queda l'opció de continuar fent allò que els agrada i juga a totes les opcions de publicitat que poden trobar.... 

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Another pretty amazing group I've found thanks to the whims and quirks of Twitter. There are probably thousands of new groups out there just waiting to be discovered but by chance this is one of the few to fall into my lap. Maybe I followed someone who follows them, or entered a key word related to this group, or whatever... but somehow I ended up finding this twitter account and listening to their music. A crazy mix of great music and black humour lyrics, just up my street. I think only a northern-England group could pull this off! Who knows where destiny takes us - if the same tweets sent out into the dark reach the twitter-feed of the new George Martin, the sky's the limit. If they reach mine, well, I just hope my followers enjoy them as much as I do - and I'd encourage the band to stick at it, doing what they enjoy and playing the social network publicity show for all it's worth. 

Ups and downs of Sheffield life - Live for the moment #TheSherlocks

No sóc d'aquells anglesos que marxen del país però al lloc on aterran volen veure la televisió anglesa, comprar productes anglesos, tenir més interes en les eleccions angleosos que els d'aqui etc. Si estic en un lloc (com a Catalunya), prefereixo pensar en la vida aquí. Per això, durant anys i panys he evitat, o simplement no-buscat, estar gaire informat del que passa al Regne Unit, però ultimament gràcies a les xarxes socials, m'hi he posat una mica més al dia. Principalment sobre noticies locals dels llocs on vaig cada estiu per visitar familia etc. No m'importa gaire si les anglesos volen a Cameron o Miliband, però si que m'importen noticies com aquesta que he trobat gràcies a Twitter....

... a la ciutat de Sheffield, s'ha fet en els ultims anys, i decàdes, molts canvis sobretot en la part comercial. Com a gairebé tot arreu, el centre de la ciutat perd el seu interes mentre la gent prefereix anar a comprar als nous centres comercials a les afores on pots menjar McDonalds, comprar als Marks & Spencer's o anar al cine (com a tots els centres comercials del món, vaja). No obstant aixo, hi ha rincons de Sheffield on petites botigues independents i originals s'han aguantat i encara funcionen. Són unes petits joies per a la gent que les usa, on pots comprar i xerrar una estona, i encara gaudir de ser una mena de "common person" com diria Jarvis Cocker. Concretament hi ha una que ens encanta, una botiga super-petita, un laberint eclectic ple de petites sales amb llibres, revistes, i discos de música que no trobaries a cap lloc més de la ciutat. Es diu Rare & Racy. Pos, resulta que l'ajuntament de Sheffield ha donat el OK als propietaris dels edificis on es troba aquesta botiga i algunes més del mateix estil, per a tumbar-les :( Aqui teniu un bon article al The Guardian, i es pot seguir la campanya per a salvar-les al Twitter de @SaveDevStreet

Bé, no tot son noticies dolentes. Gràcies als misteris de Twitter, no sé com, vaig trobar aquest nou grup de Sheffield dels que estic segur que en sentirem parlar...

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I'm not the typical English person who goes to live abroad and spends his days watching the BBC, reading the Daily Mail, buying English products or showing more interest in the UK general elections than the local news of his place of residence. If I'm here, I'm here and this is my life. I wouldn't say I've made an attempt to avoid English news and contacts over the years, but I have definitely not sought them out... however, thanks to the ease of social networks, over the last few years I have begun to show an interest in local affairs of my birthplace, especially as there are places we go back to every year. I do find it useful to know what's going on in Whitby, to encourage Barnsley record shops to stay open, or to follow Sheffield artists etc.... 

so I was shocked to read this news the other day. Sheffield city centre, like most English cities, is struggling to stay alive when everybody prefers to go to out-of-town commercial centres where you have all the big name shops and entertainment you can find in any other centre. The only way the city centres can stay alive is by offering something different, original independent one-off shops and cafes for the few of us who don't want to spend every day in McDonalds or HMV. The area of Sheffield around Devonshire Street is one such place- an oasis of eclectic offerings to make anyone's day. However, a couple of weeks ago I heard that Rare & Racy, the most amazing record (and more) shop, was going to be knocked down with the OK of the Sheffield City Hall - as well as some other cool shops. The full news story is here in The Guardian.

I just hope they see sense and reverse this decision. If not, I expect to see Sir Yorkshire Pudding throwing his full weight behind the campaign to save these shops - a campaign you can follow, for example, on Twitter at @SaveDevStreet

To finish on a brighter note, also thanks to Twitter I have discovered this new group who are surely going to be BIG one day soon...