When AM Radio ruled the Airwaves
As I wrote before, the soundscape of daily life has changed beyond all recognition. Jane & I walked down to the village Post Office/shop this morning: no more than three people at a time - well it is smaller than the average living room in there.
Strolling down the steepness that is Rachub High (how apt, for once!) Street, the thing that struck me most was exactly that I'd become aware of working in Llanberis yesterday: little pools of radio from partially-open windows - music and talk-radio in equal measure as if marking individual territorial spaces. Lockdown spaces. Defensible spaces. Refuges from the unseen.
It took me back to the aural landscape of the 1950's on Sundays. The Billy Cotton Bandshow, Two-Way Family Favourites - those little pools of sound which stood starkly but gently out from the general lack of the clatter that we have grown so accustomed to.
We spent the rest of the day working in the garden and by mid-afternoon, when all the strimmers and mowers were stilled in all the gardens close by, the silence was almost pre-industrial. Bearing in mind we live in what in modern terms is a pretty quiet environment. Extraordinary. If there are positives to be taken from this pandemic, this small fact alone must rank high on the list of good-things-we-have-lost in our Gadarene rush into the future.
Strolling down the steepness that is Rachub High (how apt, for once!) Street, the thing that struck me most was exactly that I'd become aware of working in Llanberis yesterday: little pools of radio from partially-open windows - music and talk-radio in equal measure as if marking individual territorial spaces. Lockdown spaces. Defensible spaces. Refuges from the unseen.
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| Jane Under the Arch(es) |
We spent the rest of the day working in the garden and by mid-afternoon, when all the strimmers and mowers were stilled in all the gardens close by, the silence was almost pre-industrial. Bearing in mind we live in what in modern terms is a pretty quiet environment. Extraordinary. If there are positives to be taken from this pandemic, this small fact alone must rank high on the list of good-things-we-have-lost in our Gadarene rush into the future.
Sunday radio was an institution, add to the mix The Clitheroe Kid and The Navy Lark. Simple times far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern life. You're right this lockdown has changed our perspective on things - we look forward to our morning walk and then settle down for an afternoon of reading, listening to music etc. No doubt though as soon as the restrictions are lifted then everything will revert to the modern normality.
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