Wednesday 12 October 2016

Red Gold & Green #9 - Karl Bryan & The Afrokats


We received our house insurance policy renewal details last week and had a pleasant surprise. This week marks the end of our 5th year in (what I still think of as) our new gaff and as we're right on the edge of an ancient floodplain, the premiums have always been pretty high. I assumed it would remain forever thus, but much to our delight, this year's premium has plummeted by £300! I still had a spring in my step from our good news when I dropped the car off for its MOT on Monday. It cost a small fortune to get it through last year, but since then it's run like a dream and given us no trouble, so I was optimistic of a cheaper result this time around. The small family run garage I use often takes 48 hours to do the MOT and carry out any bits and bobs of repair or renewal required, so I was somewhat taken aback when they called me at home just 40 minutes later. The news wasn't good. Not only was the car going to fail the MOT, chassis corrosion was so severe that it would have to be scrapped completely. Ouch.

Luckily we hadn't already made any plans for our unexpectedly spare £300. For a start, there's an original 1972 Jamaican pressing of Burning Spear's  'New Civilisation' 7" available online right now, which would set us back £260 if we were so inclined! (£260!!!) The flipside of the single, by Karl Bryan & the Afrokats, is far more appropriate to our particular circumstances at the moment though. A 'Money Generator' would certainly come in handy.

Karl Bryan & The Afrokats - Money Generator

9 comments:

TheRobster said...

First it giveth, then it taketh away...

buy the record... you know you want it... buy the record...

The Swede said...

Haha - not a chance Robster! I just looked it up out of interest. I enjoy collecting records, but not to that extent, or expense.

Swiss Adam said...

My car reached the end of the road recently too so I sympathise. And £260 is heck of a lot for a record.

The Swede said...

I wish I had that kind of disposable income Adam, I'd probably get quite silly. As it is, I don't think I've never spent more than £25 on a record.

Brian said...

That's the way it always goes, pal. I once won $400 in an office basketball pool only to have our fridge die the next day. You can guess how much a new one cost. I have never spent anything approaching that on a record, but I have exceeded your 25 pounds a few times. I would never do it, but I find myself checking out the $900 Falling and Laughing 7" on eBay every couple of days just to see if someone pulled the trigger.

C said...

Aargh, so sorry about the car. As Brian says, that's the way it always goes, isn't it, and you just have to think how gutted you'd be if your house insurance had gone up as well!
Mr SDS and I have spent stupid amounts on records in the past, not as far as 3 figures but still the equivalent to a week's wages back in the olden days. One time we bought a rare psych single from a record fair, bringing it safely all the way back on the train to home whereupon Mr SDS accidentally dropped it. It broke right in two.

Good luck with getting a new car!

Anonymous said...

Aw, what happened to the ever-reliable box links, Mr. S? I hope today's song is posted on youtube so that I can have a listen. Zippyshare (at least on my browsers) is constantly generating malware warnings so I avoid it now.

Sorry to hear that you were given with one hand and robbed with the other. Strange how often that happens!

Rol said...

Yeah, my sympathies too. I keep coming back to the idea that if only someone would pay us all a small fortune for writing this blog-drivel, life would be so much easier.

Except we'd probably spend it all on records.

The Swede said...

Brian. If I ever come across a copy of 'Falling and Laughing' at a car-boot sale, you'll be the first person I call!

C. I think that you've shared that terrible story before, but it didn't prevent me from experiencing that horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach all over again!

Sorry Marie. I'm spreading the load across Box and Zippy, I had no idea that you encountered problems with the latter. Is anyone else having issues?
(BTW Marie, I haven't been able to get into your blog for the past couple of days, in spite of seeing a couple of new entries pop up on my sidebar. Have you gone private again?)

Rol. So true!

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