Vinyl
The parents visited today, so we did the usual thing of visiting colleges, wandering around shops and drinking coffee. I made the mistake (from my mum’s perspective, anyway) of introducing my dad to Avid Records—a fantastic second-hand vinyl shop. They have acres of rock, pop and blues on the ground floor, but it was only recently that I discovered they also have a first floor (up the narrow stairs, taking care not to kick off the piles of records stacked there) which has thousands of folk and classical records.
As I’ve mentioned before, I—-together with my dad and brother—-am a music and hi-fi geek. But I’ve never got in to vinyl, and consequently don’t have a turntable. This might be something I have to change, if only because you can feed a music habit so much more cheaply. Most of the records in Avid (apart from the very rare pressings) are around £1.50 each. You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out how many more recordings you can get for the price of one CD. Well OK, I had to get my calculator out, but then I’m mathemophobic. The simple answer is lots. I think I’m going to have to ask my brother to make me a turntable1. My dad was like a kid in a sweet shop, and kept marvelling at the great condition of the records. He said that the next time he visits, he’ll bring a huge box to take home a stack of discs.
1 He designs and builds turntables as a hobby from time to time, and they look and sound great!
