SCAVENGERS ARE AN IDLE RACE

Between the numerous giant opaque clouds I caught a glimmer of light and, dodging raindrops, dived into a charity shop or nine. The paucity of vinyl in Cancer Research and the Shooting Star Hospice encourages one to speculate on a vinyl revival. Every couple of years the press hark on about the revivification of vinyl and plodding through puddles from one CD-saturated charity shop to the next I felt it likely such a piece would surface in the Guardian or Times in the coming weeks. Along with the copious CD's a worrying abundance of ignominious dance 12"'s are now the inevitable unwanted guests; they are the 21st century equivalent of all those queasy listening LP's by that bearded party-lover James Last that choked charity shop doorways back in the nineties. I have often wondered what kind of people would zombify their guests with Last's listless renditions of pop standards; surely the sort of parties that only exist in Two Ronnies sketches in which one of the Ronnies casts impure glances at some airbrushed blonde the BBC has plucked from a Top Of The Pops LP sleeve.

But I digress and I can almost hear your gruff impatient voices yelling at me, demanding an explanation for all this inane chittering. This prevarication is pure indulgence, me savouring a moment, extending my pleasure as far as I feel I can keep your attention but now I cease my teasing. I found a Fantastic Something LP for a £1. No that's not it, though it is true. However, more amazingly, I found an Idle Race LP called Time Is for £1, listed at £130 in the RRPG. And it doesn't stop there, I also scooped up a single by a band called Track 4 of whom I know nothing, but it's also listed in the RRPG at a staggering £100.