Things I discovered today:
This is veratrum virile aiton or the green false hellebore. It’s a highly toxic plant that was used by some native tribes in the area as a way of choosing their next leader. All of the candidates would eat the root and the last to vomit was the new leader. It’s growing in the woods.
It seems that this is as good a way of choosing a leader as any, as it requires you to be able to stomach the unstomachable for the longest. This seems to be a necessary attribute for the successful robber baron, president or PM.
The other thing I learned was that working from home is not as easy as I always thought it would be, add a pandemic on top and it gets harder. It’s hard work all those conference calls and video meetings. I almost wish that this had hit before 2005 and the advent of the smart phone so we could have had the excuse just to curl up and let the whole thing ride out. I also realized that I do not have a notebook here.
We seem to have hit some normalcy in all this, somehow. Or it is becoming normal to be engaged in the abnormal. I am not sure which is more concerning.
Into all this mayhem Rhyll’s finest The Alarm threw themselves at my subconscious and then my conscious mind as I fished out Electric Folklore. I could go on about the U2 like pomp and circumstance and earnestness, however Mike Peters may have one of the biggest and best smiles in all of Rock History. Big chords big singalong choruses, it’s all you really need at these times when an uplifting tune can make the day better. Also Spirit of 76 sone of the best songs about meeting your mates on Matthew Street ever written is on side 2.
Another thing I earned today, while playing with the toy animals is that we have more toy Rhinoceroses than any other plastic toy animal. This is fascinating and as I sat listening to The Alarm it occurred to me that the beautiful valleys of Wales and Rhinoceroses can only lead to one thing.
Namely, rhinos winos and lunatics by the great lost dual guitar heroes of Man. Deke is back and Micky Jones sounds happy again.
There really is nothing in this world better than the groove that Man can achieve when 
they are in the zone and much of this album is in that zone. Probably helped along by the sustenance pictured on the cover. Side 2. particularly hits a groove, electric pianos, harmonies and guitars, what more can a groover ask for.
This is the year they took off on the 1999 Party Tour with Hawkwind. As a teenager Man, Hawkwind and Gong were the holy trinity of music, this may still be true in some ways.
Thanks to Lynda who may have messed up the sleeve but she really managed to look after the vinyl itself. This is not something that is common with Man albums found in the wild as they appear to have been something of a party going record.
Lynda was also somewhat out of focus it seems, I did my best but the chemicals got the better of me. All I cans say is bless you Lynda for not letting the partygoers roll things on the actual album, only the sleeve. I almost never bought this the sleeve is so dodgy but I really like this album so it was worth the risk.
timeweleftthisworldtoday 