Space Jaguar is a British French supersonic het fighter aircraft. Alternatively its a band formed by London based musician Mark Grassick who released a couple of records of good nature guitar strumming of the sort that might have been released forty or sixty years ago . It ain't broke don't fix it.
I'm listening to Every Room is an Escape Room which improves as it spins, It feels like Paisley Underground. It's open and genial. It sets out on the open road as It Starts With a Birthstone heads out into the open sea. A good start to 2026.
Forty years ago I woke in a large three story terraced house just off the slopes in Brighton. There were many people in the house in different rooms. All if them nursing hangovers or finding themselves with unexpected bedfellows, The house had a telephone, a letter box, a television and that felt like enough. We looked to explore . The world felt like an exciting and fantastic place to discover. The Internet had not yet arrived to drive us inwards. To confuse us with too much information. Chaos
I woke on New Years Day in 1986 on a double bed on the second floor in the arms of a girl girl called Clare I'd got a bit tired and emotional with the previous evening and probably taken advantage of her feelings for me which were probably stronger than my feelings for her. It's often the way.. I'd known for a while that she liked me and I was a boy so naturally confused and opportunist. So I'd taken advantage of the opportunity as the party had gathered pace and we'd got drunker.
We'd left the student party we were at and wandered into the Brighton night, Then returned to the house and we'd gone upstairs, stumbled towards a bedroom and tumbled into bed together as you do at that age given the opportunity. I'd been to the Soviet Union on a college politics trip with Clare a bit over a year earlier. I'd fancied her friend Barbara, but knew Clare had fancied me. It probably wasn't the best idea but life moves fast when you're unsure of yourself and other people. Everything lies before you but you don't really realise it. You don't know you're young, You don't know you're foolish
Now on January 1st 2026 I'm waking up in Canterbury. The pilgrimage has clearly gained momentum. R,E.M. cone later on this countdown. Towards the top i suspect. They're the constant on this blog. The point it started from and I keep returning to forty years and more onwards, . I'm looking backwards rather than forward her. 1986 was an eventful year for me. From Brighton to Trostkyism, to love to Interrail to the cusp of genuine and lasting trauma . I'll tell parts of that story here. And spin the tines of 1986.
First The Lucy Show. A British band named after an American TV programme that sounded like an American group. I'd seen them supporting R.E.M. at The Lyceum with my sister in 1984. In 1986 they put out Mania. An album of twisted and literate narratives which gained some traction on American College Radio. They didn't last long but there's bravery and depth here. Mania still sounds great.. Life is the great adventure
