Happy Birthday.

Yesterday was this blog's first birthday and although I fully intended to post something, I never felt quite in the right mood. I exceeded my initial target of posting, on average, at least once a week. As for the direction of the blog, that's something which has evolved during the year, and I'm still not entirely sure what sort of blog this is. In some ways, it's a personal blog with most of the personal stuff taken out. It's also a nature blog, a blog about graffiti, a blog about comics, a blog about the twin cities. I suppose it's a blog about living and working in the north west and sharing the stuff that I enjoy, whether it be kingfishers on The Irwell or obscene graffiti in Salford.

There's more to come, I have three posts currently in draft format, one of which is about European Football Hooligans stickers, and has been in draft for about six months now. I guess I need to kick on and finish it. More recently parked posts cover the non-avian, non-insectoid fauna of Manchester and Salford and the cartoonist Ben Katchor (the first of a series of posts about some of my favourite cartoonists providing I can find appropriate video footage). These will probably show up sooner than you think.

The only constant ingredient for these posts is that the title is the name of a song, something which some correspondents have spotted, so here is the annual round up. From the top:

• 14 Iced Bears - Jumped In A Puddle
• James - What The World Is Waiting For
• The World Of Twist - She's A Rainbow (I know, but that's the version I was thinking of)
• The Bee Gees - Tragedy
• New Order - Round and Round
• Four Below Zero - My Baby's Got ESP
• The Status Quo - Pictures of Match Stick Men
• Run DMC ft. Aerosmith - Walk This Way
• The Hollies - Bus Stop
• Dion - The Wanderer
• The Police - Visions of the Night
• The Tom Robinson Band - Up Against The Wall
• Roy Orbison - It's Over
• The Go-Betweens - The Streets Of Your Town
• The Drifters - Under The Boardwalk
• Josef K - The Only Fun In Town
• Slaughter and The Dogs - Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone?
• Pink Floyd - Careful With That Axe Eugene
• Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Castles Made of Sand
• MUFCUM Fans - From The Banks of The River Irwell
• Jonathan Richman - Chewing Gum Wrapper
• The Ray Bryant Combo - Madison Time
• Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
• The Pixies - In Heaven (The Lady In The Radiator Song) (Again, I know, but this is the version I was thinking of)
• The Pooh Sticks - It's A Good Day For A Parade (Again, I know, but this is the version I was listening to at the time)
• The Mekons - Never Been In A Riot
• Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
• The Jam - News of The World
• Fear - I Love Living In The City
• Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
• Husker Du - Something I Learned Today
• The Stone Roses - Sally Cinnamon
• They Might Be Giants - Snail Shell
• Big Flame - These Boots Are Made For Walking (Nancy's version is pretty sound, as well)
• John Otway - Cor Baby (That's Really Free)
• Doris Day - Que Sera Sera
• Talking Heads - Little Creatures (Okay, I cheated here, it's the title of an LP, but you'll forgive me this one discretion, won't you?)
• Buzzcocks - Nostalgia
• The Go-Betweens - Right Here

Even though I don't like every track on there it would have made a pretty good soundtrack to the birthday party which never happened. Next year, I'll have a full-on party with jelly and ice cream, and a bouncy. (Or is that when Glazer dies?)