Lofty ambitions

I have a feeling I've mentioned it before. The Loft. It lurks there, at the top of its Slingsby ladder, daring us to become too old/decrepit/stiff to visit. And Himself is trying to tame it. We have new Velux windows being fitted some time over the summer, and though it's being done from outside, it seems a plan to make just a bit of floor space. To recap, it's a lined loft, formerly used for homework, the early word processor, the successive computers, the lego train and monorail ...

And a box of LPs. These came from my parents' house, and were an important part of their early married life in the 1930s. They were played on the radiogram, with its large brown head and needles that were either metal or looked more like big thorns. (What on earth were they made of?) When I started playing, say, Beethoven's 5th Symphony in the school orchestra (it was good), out came the records for me to listen to. When I sat Higher Music in S6, I discovered Ravel and the piece my father described as being for a "defunct infanta." I couldn't play pop records - even when it was possible to buy Elvis Presley on a 78 rpm - on this machine, as the heavy stylus shredded the surface of the disc. But I can still hear in my head the faintly boxy sound of the music, allied with the sense of control brought by having music you could choose to listen to rather than wait for Radio 3* to select pieces you knew. Besides, Radio 3 only came on after 6pm ...

I find the sleeves of the records almost as interesting as their contents. This, from the sleeve of  Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata:

In our fifteen comfortable Audition Rooms will be found a Prompt, Courteous and Intelligent Service, which renders the choosing of Records a Pleasant Experience. 
N.B. - Celebrity Records are well worth attention: their Possession will give lasting joy. Ask our assistant to recommend one or two.


The record was bought in Alexander Biggar Ltd, of Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow - a shop I remember well from my days buying violin strings. And suddenly I'm feeling old ...


*Then called The Third Programme.