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Ian May

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Rockferry

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In my spare time, when I’m away from the computer, I like to relax with either a good book, or some good music.

Of course, one’s tastes in either are very subjective; I tend to prefer non-fiction, and science, history, and geography when reading; and my tastes in music are fairly wide, covering classical, country, folk, rock, soul, and jazz.

It’s difficult to give any one specific genre, and I can’t ever truly name favorites – it really depends what mood I’m in at the time, when it comes to my choice of listening.

This afternoon, while doing some work, I was listening to Paul Gambacinni on BBC Radio Two. I wasn’t listening all the time, as I was talking as well, and concentrating too. One track caught my ear enough to listen intently afterwards to catch the name of it.

It’s called Warwick Avenue, and it’s off the debut album from Duffy entitled Rockferry

Duffy [born Aimee Anne Duffy on June 1st 1984 in Nefyn, Gwynedd, Wales], is a Welsh female soul singer-songwriter. She signed with A&M Records in 2007

During late November 2007, she performed on the excellent BBC2 television show “Later with Jools Holland”, which resulted in a second appearance on his show, well his Hootenanny, which has seen the New Year in great musical style for the past few years.

On the show she performed with soul legend Eddie Floyd. She came back a third time in February this year, and performed three tracks from the album, which was released in March 2008. Duffy is the first Welsh female to achieve a number one pop single in the past 25 years.

As befits an album that begins with ‘Rockferry’, a mournful, slightly unsettling tale of moving on, and ends which ‘Distant Dreamer’, a soaring epic that finds Duffy contemplating “all the things I’d like to do with my life”, Rockferry is a musical journey that’s both sad and stirring, and is in a largely retro-soul style.

I thoroughly recommend it.

A Nice Bit Of Crumpet

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Crumpet Crumpets were an Anglo-Saxon invention. In early times, they were hard pancakes cooked on a griddle, rather than the soft and spongy crumpets of the Victorian era which were made with yeast. The crumpet-makers of the Midlands and London developed the characteristic holes, by adding extra baking powder to the yeast dough. The term itself may refer to a crumpled or curled-up cake, or have Celtic origins relating to the Breton krampoez meaning a “thin, flat cake” and the Welsh crempog, a type of pancake. Since many English words have Germanic roots, another possible root is the similar German word krumm (from Middle High German krump, krum) which means “bent”.[1] Another viable origin of the word may derive from the Welsh term crempot, translating as “pancake”. (from Wikipedia)

They are usually circular, but there are other shapes sometimes seen.

They’re similar to a muffin, but lighter (with those holes), and less savory perhaps.

They are simple to cook, as they fit in a regular toaster.  They can be eaten with a variety of toppings, such as jam or jelly, marmalade, honey, or a savory spread, such as cheese or marmite (a yeast extract spread similar to vegemite).

They’re mostly found in the United Kingdom, and the former Commonwealth countries, but are also available in other parts of the world. The crumpet in the accompanying photograph came from Publix, a Florida based, south-eastern US supermarket chain.