So I'm Having a Few Tests Done

I’ve been thinking a lot over the past twenty-four hours, thinking about how to word this, or if I should post this at all. But here goes anyway.

I’ve been feeling ill on and off for a while now. I can’t say for how long exactly because I simply can’t remember, but the story is that on some days I had a dicky tum, and on other days I didn’t and felt fine. After I felt unwell I just took an Immodium and went about my business.

Then I began to get a pain in the upper parts of my legs, and in my right hip in particular. At first I thought it might be related to the RSI-like injury I had with my neck, shoulders and arms. The pain wasn’t too bad, but then it began to spread to the point that the entire area between my upper legs and lower back began to hurt. This included a certain functional part of my body.

Alas, It's Not That Funny Anymore

Over the past few months I’ve caught a couple of old episodes of “Alas Smith and Jones”, the 80’s comedy series brought to us by those “Not the 9 O’Clock News” legends Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones.

I loved these two back in the day, and the younger me was a massive fan of this show back then, so I jumped at the chance to re-live some happy childhood memories when one episode was shown on BBC Four, and another one recently on BBC Two. Sadly, I was quite disappointed.

Don't Let Daddy Kiss Me

When you think of Motorhead and their hard-rocking, hard-living frontman Lemmy you immediately think of songs like Ace of Spades, Born to Raise Hell, Iron Fist, Overkill and the like, songs that make you want to bang your head and raise your fist in triumph. You rarely think about Lemmy and Motorhead having a social conscience and singing about sensitive subjects. That is until you hear them play “Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me.”

Catching Dreams

About twenty years ago or so my brother Michael and his then-wife Denise brought me a dream catcher for Christmas. I wasn’t really into that sort of thing and I didn’t really know what to do with it until I found out that I was meant to hang it above my bed.

It stayed there for a few years, but over time it began to show signs of wear and tear until I eventually took it down and disposed of it. There didn’t seem much point in keeping something that looked a bit tatty in my room.

The Young Women of Today and the Old Women of Tomorrow

As I stood at the bus stop the other day I couldn’t help but overhear two conversations from two different groups of women, one group of advanced years and one group more or less just starting their journey in adult life, and when I heard just how different these two conversations were it occurred to me that when the younger women reach old age they probably won’t sound anything like the older women do now.

When Prince Stole The Show

If you’ve ever browsed through Youtube looking for classic rock clips there’s a chance you may have seen a certain performance from the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. You know the one I’m talking about, the year that Prince was inducted, and the year that blew everyone else off the stage.

It was the year that they paid tribute to George Harrison. Having inducted him into the hall for his post-Beatles work, a who’s who of Harrison’s friends took to the stage to pay tribute to the great man with a rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. His Wilbury band-mates Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were there to lead things, George’s son Dhani was next to them, and behind them on keyboards was Steve Winwood. Alongside them were musicians who had worked with both Lynne and Petty, such as guitarist Marc Mann, who was scheduled to handle the mid-song guitar solo.

My Take on the Schofield/Willoughby Situation

It's been all over the news for days now, since Phillip Schofield announced his departure from "This Morning" following speculation about his failing relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby. Here's my take on the situation:

Kitten Sam

A very special, if somewhat grubby, photo, found by my brother Paul when he was sorting some books out yesterday.

My first cat Sam, taken in September 1986 on the day we adopted him. He was six or seven weeks old, and he was joined later that day by his best mate Shep. It was a new experience for everyone with Sam being our first ever moggy.

How Was I "Dealt With" Exactly?

I was going through the files on my flash drive the other day. You know how it is, you save things on there for later and then you forget it’s on there until you see it months or even years later.

The image you can see with this post comes from a Facebook post about four or five years ago. It was around the time I instigated legal proceedings against my former boss in an attempt to get back the wages and holiday pay she owed me (she never actually paid up, so that’s money I’ll never see.)

What Did Anglo-Force Look Like?

I've been playing around with one of those AI art generator things, generating images for some of the old Anglo-Force characters in a 1950's comic book style.

Immortal wizard Dr. Phineas Magus

Take a Look at My Tree

 So I've finally signed up to LinkTree and put all of my accounts into one place. It's all there, social media, MixCloud, Spotify, Youtube, etc, etc.

You can find my LinkTree account at https://linktr.ee/julianradbourne, or you can scan the QR code. Enjoy!

If I Were a Soap Opera Character

Ten things that would have happened to me if I was a soap opera character and not a real person:

The First Blog of the Year

I’m going to begin 2023 with a little confession for you. It’s something I’ve only told a couple of people, but given my history I probably should have told a few more people.

You see, I’m not really a big fan of December, particularly the first two weeks, and one day in particular. I always feel sad in the run-up to December 13^th, the anniversary of my mother’s passing. But this year for some reason it hit me really hard.

We're a Bloody Joke!

When I was growing up we Brits seemed to have a snooty kind of attitude as far as countries with weak political systems were concerned.

It's as if we constantly looked down on them. "Look at Johnny Foreigner over there!" we'd say with our noses in the air. "What a joke they are with their contstantly-changing leaderships!"

How many Prime Ministers have we had since the Brexit campaign in 2016? Now we're the bloody joke.

Rest In Peace Ma'am

I have to admit that I considered not writing this piece, because normally when a celebrity I’ve followed for years passes away I say it feels like a piece of my childhood has been taken away. It feels that way every time. But this time it feels completely different.

It’s been a week since Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the age of 96. Let’s not kid ourselves here though. We weren’t surprised, we’d been expecting it for some time, especially given her health problems over the last few months, problems that were more than evident during the recent Platinum Jubilee. But that didn’t shield us from the feelings of shock when we heard the news, and the feelings of grief we’ve felt over the past seven days.

38 Years Ago Yesterday

Yesterday marked the 38th anniversary of a great moment in my life, the beginning of my journey from boy to man when, just over two months from my 13th birthday, my Dad brought me my first pint.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Fifty-Two

Along with his newfound friend Harry Kim, Tom Paris boarded the Voyager for the first time. As is usual with the boarding of a starship for the first time they reported to Sickbay. It was there they first met Voyager’s CMO, Doctor McCarthy. Although pleased to see Kim he was not to happy at seeing Paris.

“Welcome aboard Mister Kim.” McCarthy said, shaking the young Ensign by his hand. “And you must be Tom Paris…the observer.”

Paris could tell instantly that McCarthy had taken a dislike to him. McCarthy made no attempt to hide his dislike for Paris, and Paris made this aware to McCarthy.

“As a matter of fact.” he said, “I’m observing right here, now. Have me met before Doctor?”

“Not exactly Mister Paris. I was stationed on Calder Prime about the same time as you. I treated the wounded from the Calder II incident. One of them was a friend of mine.”

Kim could see something was going on here. He tried to interject himself into the situation.

“Perhaps we should go and see the Captain.”

“You do that Mister Kim. She’s been asking about you.”

“Maybe I should go along as well.” said Paris.

The two of them then left Sickbay. McCarthy was pleased about this. He had no wish to even be in the same room with someone with Paris’ reputation.

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Fifty-One

Dockachin, yardmaster of the Qualor shipyards, watched from a stationary position as two Federation tugs attached lines to the static form of the U.S.S. Valkyrie. It had come as a great shock to him with his orderly Zakdorn mind when the entire crew of the ship before him had been arrested. It also seemed a great waste to break up such a starship. The Valkyrie had been through a lot admittedly but even so she was still in good condition.

The tractor beams suddenly took hold of the ship on her stardrive section. This was a procedure Dockachin insisted upon. He always felt safer doing it this way. After all, many of the newer ships had been designed with detachable saucer sections. You couldn’t be too careful.

The tugs gingerly moved the great gleaming ship to what would be her last position before scrapping began. The actual date for the scrapping of the Valkyrie was some time off, Dockachin had several other ships due to be cut up before her, and he had no intention of altering his schedule, even for the President herself. At last, when the ship had been positioned to his satisfaction, he returned to his office.

To his surprise, and to some extent alarm, he discovered he had a visitor waiting for him. The man was clad in an old-fashioned dark suit, wore a cape and a broad brimmed hat. As Dockachin entered he removed his hat to reveal a young face, possibly about thirty to thirty-five human years. The Zakdorn breathed a sigh of relief. For one moment he thought the renegade Magus had decided to pay him a visit.

“Good day to you Mr. Dockachin. I have come to you on behalf of a wealthy client with a proposal.”

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Fifty

Admiral Calevicchi sat in his officer at Starfleet Command making the final travel arrangements for his journey to the Kabriegny Object. After making the final checks on his computer the Admiral turned to one of the many data pads that covered his desk. Then a loud buzzing nose emanated from his console.

“What the hell…?”

Suddenly the data on the console screen vanished. Then, moments later, more words appeared on the screen.

“For the attention of Admiral Albert Calevicchi, Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth – Urgent – Must gain passage to Nimbus III – Is vital you attend talks there – is vital you tell no one of this transmission – Transmission ends.”

The message stayed on his console screen for a couple of minutes until it was replaced by the previous data. The Admiral tried to operate his console in an attempt to get the message back but he could not. He could also find no trace of any transmission that may have been made to his office. His mind began to think. Why did someone want him on Nimbus III? And would it stop him from his important rendezvous?

Renegades - Civil War Chapter Forty-Nine

Across the hills of New Zealand’s North Island Kathryn Janeway walked, towards the main correctional holding facility on the island. Her main task was to see former Starfleet office Tom Paris, but first she had other matters on her mind, someone else to see, an old and very dear friend.

Arriving at the facility she was taken to a room. Upon entering she saw the old friend, someone she had known since her days at Starfleet Academy, James Watt.

Watt immediately got to his feet, and the two of them hugged. A tear formed in the corner of Janeway’s eye. Watt wiped it away with his handkerchief.

“Oh Jim! What have they done to you?”

“Only what the Cardassians, the Minbauri, the Monstrons and the Empire couldn’t do! Come, sit down. I know we don’t have much time, and that the hospitality isn’t that good, but at least we can talk.”

They seated themselves at the table. Janeway kept a tight hold of Watt’s hand.

“Have you heard the rumour?” she asked. “They say that Jeff and his crew have gone to the Pegasus, under the banner of the Free Federation.”

“Being in this place you don’t hear many rumours.”

Janeway let go of Watt’s hand and thumped the table.

“Damn it Jim! This isn’t right! Your record is exemplary! Why is Starfleet doing this?”

“The rumour in here is that it isn’t Starfleet. Someone higher up is involved in all of this!”

“I’ll promise you this Jim, when I get back I’ll get to the bottom of this!”

“Back? From where?”

“That’s the other reason I’m here. My chief of security, Tuvok, has gone missing. He was working undercover with the Maquis when his ship went missing in the Badlands. The Cardassians claimed to have destroyed it. I’m here to recruit an observer. You might know him – Tom Paris.”

A rye smile appeared on Watt’s face.

“We met young Mister Paris as soon as we arrived. He gave Sutek and I a warning, that someone in here could be looking for a prize scalp!”

Then a knock came at the door. It was a signal for Janeway.

“I’ve got to go Jim. They only allowed me a few minutes with you. But before I go remember my promise.”

Janeway then reached to her neck and took off a small necklace with the Starfleet emblem on it. She handed it to Watt, who smiled.

“This is the necklace I have to you after we graduated. I wonder if Jeff still has his.”

“I’m sure he does. He’s probably still wearing it now, on the Pegasus.”

Janeway stood up and placed a kiss on Watt’s cheek.

“Keep it, as my promise. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Janeway then walked towards the door, and the guard let her out. For the first time in a long while Watt felt some hope.