Hello, I hope all is well. Pretty well here, spent the last few days re-building my small radio / recording set up. I have replaced the mic, the interface and the pre amp. And I now actually know what I'm talking about. After a little bit of tinkering and returning items to shops (one called "PMT" where the staff were not as grumpy as someone said they might be) and swapping for different hardware, I now have a very professional sounding output. It's only taken about 15 years to get sorted. 

In other news I have learnt some new vocabulary this week thanks to dinner conversations with my children:

1) Saucy - i thought this was a classic 1970s expression for things that are a little on the rude side. Apparently now my children are using it as a replacement for very good. As in "he's got some saucy moves at football", or "she's a bit saucy at Minecraft".

2) Neek. Not be confused with the man's name - as in Neek Faldo etc - no, this is the current word for daft, or stupid, or to take it to it's extreme, this is a modern replacement for "dickhead". As in "Dad, that hat makes you look like a neek". Or "stop acting like a neek again, Dad".

Maybe try these words out on your family this weekend.

The new book that I am not allowed to tell anyone about has arrived too and looks even better than we imagined or hoped. More news in a few weeks about that. I'm allowed to talk about it from mid February. 

Very sad news about Barry Cryer. I met him every time I went to the Edinburgh Fringe as he was always in the green room bars. A fascinating, hilarous and totally gifted man and never more than a few seconds away from a right laugh. And also responsible for about half the jokes I have laughed at since the 1970s. And of course he wrote masses of The Kenny Everett Show. 

Heard this 1980s Cryer gag yesterday: "Our business making microchips has been very successful indeed. So successful in fact we're moving to a smaller factory". 

OH, and three new wet parcels have been delivered in the USA. 

I'm now off to get all my work done before lunchtime because I must not be late for the "late Constable" exhibition I have a timed ticket for. And no, this is nothing to do with the fuzz. 

Thanks for listening as always

Jonny