Cando/Witherslack

I went over to Ulverston for lunch, today. I'd been invited by one of the guys at Cando FM, Jonny, who used to run the station, I think.

It was a bit odd, actually. I don't really have much to do with the station or the people who run it. I just email the Dropbox links for the show each week  and sometimes they're acknowledged and sometimes not. 

Three weeks ago I did get an email out of the blue saying that my show, Electronic Ears, was being moved from its comfortable slot, tucked away on a Sunday evening, into the alarming glare of Monday's 'drive time'. 

For the last two weeks, then, it's gone out at 3pm, which has felt a bit weird, recording it and thinking of people on the school run listening to Alien Stadium's 'The Visitation' (excellent) or The Fall's 'Hey! Luciani' (my favourite track of theirs). And sort of hoping that maybe their children would like it even if they didn't.

Anyway, I arrived at The Mad Hatter (would recommend, btw) on time, entering as Gary Numan's 'Cars' was playing, appropriately enough, and Jonny was their waiting for me. To be honest, I don't know that I've ever spoken to him for more than two minutes before so I was mildly apprehensive at the prospect of making conversation for the time it took to eat a sandwich without looking desperate to get away. (I was also half convinced that the move to the drive time slot was a clever bit of constructive dismissal: maybe I was here to be gently presented with my marching orders.)

However, as it turned out, we got along famously and lunch lasted for an hour and a half. We chatted about all sorts: it turns out he used to be a producer and remixed some tracks by Girls Aloud (I think it was. Someone like that), plus we both have an interest in education. He has taken back control of the station, now, and apologised for my show being moved, appearing to be genuinely surprised that I wasn't angry about it (it's being moved back to Sunday evening from this week and also being repeated!).

So, in the end, it was a really enjoyable and interesting lunch but it did rather scupper my plan to have a wander 'round Ulverston to take a photo before heading back to the office for a conference call I was scheduled to be on. On the way across, though, I did find time to turn off at Witherslack, to take advantage of the sunshine and grab this shot from an old bench looking down a shallow valley. 

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Reading: 'Manchester Stories'