Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 16

On July 26, 1986 “Sledgehammer” (video up top) by English rock musician Peter Gabriel became the month’s final one-week Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”. Released on April 16, 1986 it was the lead single from Gabriel’s fifth studio album, So. I first heard of Gabriel when he was a founding member of Genesis, where he would remain until 1975 when he began his solo career. I think it’s kind of, sort of, ironic that the subject of last week’s “Weekend Diversion” post was a Genesis song.

I was aware of Gabriel’s solo work, and it was impossible to miss “Sledgehammer”—especially its music video (above). That video! It was ground-breaking at the time, and went on to become the all-rime most-played music video on MTV. In fact, the story of the video is so expansive that I can’t do it justice with a brief discussion here, so instead I’d recommend Wikipedia’s section discussion of it in its article about “Sledgehammer” (the entire article is linked above). I was fascinated by the video. It reminded me of a lot of stop-motion animation I’d seen over the years—and yet is was nothing like any of those. As I remember it, it was the video that made me like the song though, as was so often the case, I never bought the song or the album—or any others by Gabriel, for that matter. I liked the video and song, though.

“Sledgehammer” reached Number 3 in Australia, Number One in Canada, 3 in New Zealand (Platinum), 4 in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, “US Album Rock Tracks”, and on their “US Dance/Disco Club Play” charts, as well as reaching Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. I didn’t receive a certification in the USA.

The album So reached Number 5 in Australia (3x Platinum), Number One in Canada, New Zealand (5x Platinum), and the UK (3x Platinum), and Number 2 on the USA’s ”Billboard 200”. The album was certified 5x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in next week, on August 2, and it’s not a last one-week Number One song!. As I said last week, August will be less work for me.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8 – May 3, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 9 – May 10, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 10 – May 17, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 11 – June 7, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 12 – June 14, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 13 – July 5, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 14 – July 12, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 15 – July 19, 2026

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 14­

This week forty years ago saw the second July 1986 one-week Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”. On July 12, 1986 “Holding Back the Years” (video up top) by English pop and soul band Simply Red reached Number One. Released on November 4, 1985, the song was the third of five singles from the band’s debut studio album, Picture Book, which was released on October 11, 1985. The song was written by Simply Red’s lead singer, Mick Hucknall, and Neil Reid.

I remember that when “Holding Back the Years” came out I thought it was one of the most interesting songs I’d heard in ages. I can’t remember for sure, but I think I may have had the album Picture Book, but since my albums didn’t make it to New Zealand when I moved here 30+ years ago, I can’t remember for sure (as I recall, I had a couple hundred vinyl albums when I left Chicago).

However, if I liked Simply Red, it was nothing compared to Nigel, who really liked them. While I don’t remember what he had before we met, I know that we ended up with five of their CDs (including Picture Book, which we got very inexpensively at discount store The Warehouse, where Nigel and I bought a lot of inexpensive CDs and some DVDs). We also bought the band’s 1998 DVD, Simply Red Live In London. I still have all of those, and Simply Red is still among the most-represented acts in our collection. There were times during which Nigel would play little else (something he did with plenty of other artists, too, like Nina Simone, for example). All of which means that, for me, “Holding Back the Years” was one of many Simply Red songs in the soundtrack of my life with Nigel.

“Holding Back the Years” reached Number 16 in Australia, 6 in Canada, 40 in New Zealand (Platinum), 2 in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, 4 of their “US Adult Contemporary” chart, and 29 on their “US Hot Black Singles” chart. It also reached Number 4 on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart.

The album Picture Book reached Number 6 in Australia (2x Platinum), 7 in Canada, 9 in New Zealand (Platinum), 2 in the UK (5x Platinum), and Number 16 on the USA’s ”Billboard 200”. The album was certified Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in next week, on July 19, with the next Number One song from July 1986.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8 – May 3, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 9 – May 10, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 10 – May 17, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 11 – June 7, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 12 – June 14, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 13 – July 5, 2026

Successful return to the past

Yesterday morning I did something I haven’t done for nearly 60 years: I made scrambled eggs in a cast iron pan. That sentence raises so many eyebrows (even for me), that there’s only one logical solution: A blog post. And here we are.

When I was a young boy, my mother used cast iron pans—a larger-sized one, a medium one, and a small one. She also had a large deep-sided pan with a cast iron lid that she called a Dutch oven, but, to modern day me, it was like a very deep fry pan with a lid, though the use is what matters. Her pots, on the other hand, were all aluminium.

At some point around 1970, my parents got an aluminium fry pan with a Teflon coating, and that’s what I used after that—and nearly all my fry pans from that point were also aluminium with a nonstick coating right up until very recently. Some years back, I became aware of the research showing evidence of the potential toxicity of PFAS, the chemicals that are the artificial chemicals that are used in nonstick coating for cookware, but also in flame retardants, waterproofing treatments, carpets, yoga mats, wall paint, adhesives, and lots of other stuff. The stuff stay around in the environment for such an incredibly long time that they’re commonly known as “forever chemicals”. Some PFAS are carcinogens or endocrine disruptors and have been linked to all sorts of health problems. I wanted to move away from non-stick cookware to avoid PFAS.

Sometime between 15 and 20 years ago, Nigel bought us a set of stainless steel pots and pans from an online liquidation auction company, and I still have them all. He later got us a set of name-brand non-stick pots and pans that were all in a line carrying the name of a famous British chef and TV cooking show presenter (the brand and names aren’t relevant to my point). Nigel preferred the non-stick pots and pans, and for a time I was indifferent—though the nonstick frypans were undeniably easier to clean than the stainless steel one we also had.

Around 2015, give or take, I’d started becoming increasingly concerned about the proliferation of chemicals in everyday life—but I still used the non-stick cookware. That all changed after Nigel died and I moved to Hamilton: The hob (cooktop) in my new house was induction and incompatible with the non-stick cookware, apart from the two frypans, which had a steel plate in their bases for better heat capabilities (the pots’ metal were all exclusively aluminium). I gave the pots away, and kept the frypans.

The smaller of the two frypans (the oldest one, which Nigel bought separately) began to lose its non-stickiness, and I knew I needed a replacement. I decided to go back to my roots and buy a NZ-made cast iron fry pan, which I did in 2022. I didn’t mention that here at the time, but I did in 2024 when bought the same cpmany's cast iron dutch oven to replace our older one that was also incompatible with my induction hob.

Cast iron has to be “seasoned” to be used, and over time it develops a natural non-stick surface. However, I only recently started using that pan reasonably often, so I didn’t know if it was non-stick enough. But it was becoming more urgent that I use it because a similarly sized ceramic-coated pan I was using was losing its non-stickability, and I needed an alternative.

It turned out that the cast-iron pan performed very well, with only a little sticking at the edges, where the base meets the wall, which is acceptable to me. It was, in fact, better than either the failed nonstick pan or the ceramic one, and the scrambled eggs stayed together, which is what I was after that day. My next attempt will be to try making fried eggs, and if that’s acceptable I’ll no longer need either the ceramic pan or the last remaining nonstick pan I have, although that one I’ll need to replace regatless because it’s slowly losing its non-stickability, and its surface is starting to get pits in it, which means it’s time for it to go).

I’m still mastering (re-mastering?) the use of cast iron cookware, a lifetime after I last regularly used that kind, but I feel good about this change—actually, it’s not a change as much as it’s going back to my roots. Apparently, this really is a successful return to my past from decades ago, but one that’s been in the works, one way or another, for many years. It’s about time. And patience. And the right cookware.

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 13

A new month and a new song reached Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100” forty years ago today. Today’s song was the first of four one-week Number One songs in July 1985—a new Number One every week that month. On July 5, 1986 “There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” (video up top) by Trinidadian-British singer and songwriter Billy Ocean (the stage name of Leslie Sebastian Charles) reached Number One. Released on January 22, 1986, the song was the second of four singles from Ocean’s sixth studio album, Love Zone, which was released on May 6, 1986. It was written and produced by Wayne Brathwaite and Barry Eastmond, with Ocean also reciveing a co-writing credit. The song was also reportedly the 600 th song to reach Number One on the Billboard chart.

I liked “There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)”, but in researching this post I realised that I had a variety of reactions to his songs. The first of his songs that I was aware of was 1976’s "Love Really Hurts Without You”, a song that I liked because it had a classic-era Motown vibe to it. I don’t recall being aware of another of his songs until 1984’s "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)", a song I didn’t particularly like, though I also didn’t hate it. The following year, "Suddenly" was a hit, and I liked it. However, in 1986, the first single from Ocean’s album Love Zone was "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going", and I absolutely loathed that song, and I still don’t like it, even if my negative reaction has mellowed with time.

The thing is, my dislike of both "Caribbean Queen” and "When the Going Gets Tough” was at the front of my mind when I saw what this week’s Number One was. Even so, that was a memory of disliking two earlier songs, and I was aware that I liked this week’s song. I looked at his singles discography and saw that up to and including this week’s Number One, there were songs that I both liked and didn’t like, and that’s something that has happened often over the years: The fact I dislike one song by an artist doesn’t (usually) prevent me from liking a different song by that artist, or vice versa. I presume that’s true for most people, but this is the first time I ever noticed that pattern in my own pop music journey. Learning or understanding new things is one of my favourite things about these “Weekend Diversion” posts.

“There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” reached Number 10 in Australia, Number One in Canada, 8 in New Zealand, 12 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, “US Adult Contemporary”, and “US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” charts. It also reached Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart and Number 3 on their “US Black Contemporary Singles” chart. No information on certification for the single was included in the Wikipedia article liked above.

The album Love Zone reached Number 8 in Australia, 3 in Canada, 8 in New Zealand, and 2 in the UK (Gold), as well as reaching Number 6 on the USA’s ”Billboard 200” and Number One on their “US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” charts. Love Zone was certified 2x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in next week, on July 12, with a new Number One song from July 1986. It’s a similar story for each of the following two weeks, but not for August.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8 – May 3, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 9 – May 10, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 10 – May 17, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 11 – June 7, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 12 – June 14, 2026

Before the later salty tale

Sometimes stories have extra dimensions. I recently saw that reality in a story where I hadn’t seen it before—until someone else’s reaction reminded me. That’s a good thing.

Last Sunday I published “A salty story peppered with more”, which was just a simple story about salt and pepper grinders—until I was reminded it wasn’t. My pal Roger Green left a comment on that post:

I had never HEARD of a salt grinder. A pepper grinder I use regularly.

As I said in my reply, “actually, I’d never heard of one until well after I moved to New Zealand.” Naturally, there’s a story there, too.

When I first arrived in New Zealand in 1995, Nigel had the sort of salt container that was common at the time, as well as a supermarket pepper shaker. The photo above shows both, along with a salt pig (stay tuned…). Nigel and I replaced the salt container several times, but what I noticed about it was that there were two settings: Pour a lot, or, maybe, somewhat less: There was no shaker. I found it very difficult to work out how to use the thing (to “sprinkle” salt, I had to make the opening as small as possible). Eventually we switched to salt grinders, something I’ve used ever since.

The pepper shaker is many years old, and I still use it—however, I don’t use it unless I’m mixing a spice blend that requires a certain amount of ground pepper: It’s far easier to use that shaker than to grind pepper and then try to measure it. When it does run out some day, whatever will I do? Probably buy another.

Now, the salt pig: It's a wonderful thing. A salt pig (in New Zealand) is usually an earthenware pot that contains salt. There’s usually a spoon, often wood (as in the photo of mine above), to help dispense the salt. The idea is that salt is always available when cooking, which is useful plenty of times. However, I personally use mine mostly when making pasta (I salt the water once it’s boiling to help keep the pasta from sticking; contrary to popular belief, salting the water before it boils doesn’t make it boil faster—it’s the opposite, actually—but it does, apparently, help prevent the pasta from clumping and sticking together, or, it seems to do so for me).

Nigel wanted a salt pig for a long time, even though they were kind of old fashioned. When we were out and about one day, we saw and bought the one in the photo. I’m pretty sure it was at our last house together (though it could’ve been the house before that), but I have absolutely no memory of where or when we bought it. At the time, it just seemed like a perfectly ordinary thing to do, not worthy of note—so now I have no idea how or when it came into our lives. Even so, I use it all the time.

What this addendum is about, really, is that every story has annexes and anterooms, some of which lead to whatever our current story is. This is one of those times.

When I posted last Sunday, I thought it was a very specific story about very specific things. Roger reminded me that it was actually bigger than that, and, in fact, there was an origin story behind it. I think it’s good to think more broadly about our own stories, even the salty ones. This has been one of those times.

A salty story peppered with more

Not all the stories in our lives are deep and meaningful, or, often, even worth telling—unless one is a blogger (or similar…), in which case they're "content". In those cases, even small stories may take on a larger roll. Even when they’re "just" about food products.

Many—many—years ago, we bought a salt grinder and a pepper grinder at a supermarket then called Countdown (now called Woolworths New Zealand to align its imagery and marketing with its Australian owner). At the time, one of the store’s own brands was called “Signature Range,” and the salt grinder with that branding is at the right side of the photo at right. Even that has a story.

When I lived in Chicago (roughly 1983 to 1995), I did a lot of my grocery shopping at a supermarket chain called Jewel (or “da Jewels” as some native Chicagoans said it), which is now owned by big US company Albertsons. Jewel started selling a line of Canadian products called ”President’s Choice”. Fast forward some 30 years later and Countdown’s “Signature Range” immediately made me think of the old brand, probably because of the sort of signature-like logo. Countdown began phasing out “Signature Range” and other own brand product names to consolidate their own products lines between 2016 and 2018.

We used the two grinders for many years, refilling them whenever we needed to, which seemed to be fairly often because they were what we used both for cooking and at the table. Over time, we bought other, fancier grinders that would grind both salt and pepper (from different chambers), but we still had and used the Signature Range ones, too, until the pepper grinder broke.

After I moved to Hamilton, I realised that the fancy salt/pepper grinders we had weren’t working as well as they once did, though the Signature Range salt grinder was still going strong. Because I wanted a pepper grinder, I decided to see if Woolworths still sold the grinders, and they do! Well, sort of.

The current Woolworths brand salt and pepper grinders are at the left and centre of the photo above, and they’re different from the old brand: Smaller and noticeably much less well-made. I have a feeling they won’t last very long, certainly nowhere even close to the one or two decades that Signature Range salt grinder has lasted. Still they should last a while, anyway, before I need to find a more permanent solution.

Meanwhile, the veteran salt grinder is now by the hob (cooktop) because, as I recently learned when researching something only barely related to to this story, many chefs prefer courser salt (like that produced by a grinder). Those chefs say that ordinary table salt (like from a shaker) overwhelms dishes with saltiness because it’s finely ground, and so, courser salt is better (some table salt also has additives to prevent caking, among other things, which can affect flavour, too). It turns out that I think those chefs are right, though it hadn’t occurred to me before.

This story is a perfectly ordinary tale about me needing to replace a perfectly ordinary thing, and, as so often happens, that resulted in me remembering things from the past, and also learning new things related to my ordinary tale. Ordinary, yes, but so much of life is “ordinary”. I think that finding the adventure in the ordinary, and also learning new things along the way, makes every day better. That’s my ordinary belief, anyway. Season to taste.

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 11

A new month and a new song reached Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”: On June 7, 1986 “Live to Tell” (video up top) by American singer Madonna went to Number One. The song was the first single from her third studio album, True Blue, which was released on June 30, 1986. The song was a re-working of what had been an instrumental to make something suitable for the film At Close Range, which starred her then-husband Sean Penn.

I liked Madonna in this era of her career, and I liked this particular song well-enough, even though it was a bit slower than I typically liked at the time, but I didn’t necessarily like it as much as some of her other songs in that era. However, I was never a super-fan: I never saw her in concert, and I never bought one of her albums, as far as I can remember, though I think I bought a single or two. However, when I arrived in New Zealand in 1995, I found that Nigel had her 1990 compilation album, The Immaculate Collection, which isn’t really relevant to this blog post except that this week’s song is on it. Of course.

As the years when on, I continued to like some of Madonna’s songs, and others not as much. Once again, something that’s not unusual for me. However, forty years ago it was stereotypical for young gay men to be presumed to be big fans of Madonna, and, like most stereotypes, it was exaggerated. Nevertheless, I was 27 when this song and its album were released, and that made me a bit too old to be included in the stereotype, but also, as it turned out, a bit too old to understand why the stereotype existed. Maybe it was my first “kids these days” moment?

“Live to Tell” reached Number 7 in Australia, Number One and Canada, Number 6 in New Zealand, 2 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100” and on their “Adult Contemporary” charts. It was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100”. The song wasn’t certified in the USA.

The album True Blue reached Number One in Australia (4x Platinum), Canada (Diamond), New Zealand (5x Platinum), and the UK (7x Platinum), as well as reaching Number One on the USA’s ”Billboard 200” chart and on the Cash Box “Top 100 Albums” chart. It was certified 7x Platinum in the USA.

Since I mentioned it, the 1990 album The Immaculate Collection reached Number One in Australia (14x Platinum) and Canada (7x Platinum), 3 in New Zealand (7x Platinum), Number One in the UK (13x Platinum), and also reached Number 2 on the USA’s ”Billboard 200” chart. It was certified 11x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return in next week, on June 14, with the next new Number One from 1986. Unlike this week, that one wasn’t a one-week hit.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8 – May 3, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 9 – May 10, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 10 – May 17, 2026

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 9

Forty years ago this week, on May 10, 1986, “West End Girls” (video up top) by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys went to Number One. The song was originally released in April 1984, but it was re-recorded for their 1986 debut studio album, Please, which was released in March 1986. It was the first single from the album.

I was taken with the song from the beginning, and I thought the video was interesting because it was so different from other videos of the era. I htink, but I’m mot certain, that I may have bought the albumn Please, but I’m not certain about that, because if I did it was 40 years ago, and I left it behind 30 years ago, and I simply don’t remember. This is a recurring theme.

I didn’t know until I started researching this post that the lyrics were partly inspired by T. S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land (which I referred to in a blog post earlier today). I also read at the Wikipedia link about the song (above) the answer to a question I’d long wondered about, but never remembered to investigate: Who was the female back-up singer in the song? Her name is Helena Springs, and she worked extensively with Bob Dylan. Mystery (for me…) solved.

“West End Girls” (1986 version) reached Number 5 in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number One in New Zealand (Platinum), Number One in the UK (Platinum), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100” and on their “Dance Club Songs” chart. It also hit Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song wasn’t certified in the USA.

The album Please reached Number 10 in Australia, Number 3 in Canada (Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 3 in the UK (Platinum), and Number 7 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (Platinum).

This series will return next week, on May 17, with the next new Number One from 1986. It’s not a one-week hit.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8 – May 3, 2026

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 8

Back again with another Number One from 1986: Forty years ago this week, on May 3, 1986, “Addicted to Love” (video up top) by English singer and songwriter Robert Palmer went to Number One. The song, released in January 1986, was the third single from Palmer’s eighth studio album, Riptide.

I was familiar with Palmer before this song came out because of the song “Some Like it Hot” [WATCH/LISTEN], which was the debut (and probably the best known single) by the project Palmer was part of for a time, The Power Station. I’ve since acquired the song on compilation CDs, but I’m sure I once either had the 12-inch single or their debut album, The Power Station. I can’t be sure, since I have neither now, but I know I had something.

At any rate, I liked “Addicted To Love” well enough, but, um, that video? I didn’t get it. It was visually interesting and different, but the whole “models looking like bored mannequins faking playing instruments” was a bit creepy, and even in 1986 it felt kind of exploitive. It’s possible, though, that my less than positive reaction to this video is because he had the same basic thing going for three more songs, including the fifth single from Riptide, Palmer’s cover of "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On". On the other hand, having grown tired of the schtick, I was glad to see the turnabout treatment in the video for Shania Twain’s 1999 single, “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” [WATCH/LISTEN].

“Addicted To Love” reached Number 17 in Australia, 2 in Canada, 13 in New Zealand, 5 in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100” and on their “Top Rock Tracks” chart. It also hit Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song was certified Gold in the USA.

The album Riptide reached Number 11 in Canada (3x Platinum), Number 7 in New Zealand, Number 4 in the UK (Gold), and Number 3 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (2x Platinum.

This series will return next week, on May 10, with the next new Number One from 1986. It's another one-week Number One hit, and it’s a song I still like as much as I did in 1986.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6 – March 29, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 7 – April 19, 2026

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 6

 Forty years ago this week, on March 29, 1986, the new Number One song was “Rock Me Amadeus” (video up top) by Austrian musician Falco, the stage name of Johann "Hans" Hölzel. The song was the first single from Falso’s third studio album, “Falco 3”. “Rock Me Amadeus” was Falco’s only Number One hit in the USA.

I have all sorts of trivia about this song, starting with the fact that it was the first—and so far only—German-language song to reach Number One on the Billboard “Hot 100”. The previous highest-charted German-language song hit Number Two in 1983: “99 Luftballons” by the West German band Nena. It was also the only of his songs to be Number One in both the UK and the USA, which I guess is something.

I have my own personal trivia about the song, which I loved because I loved Falco’s work. I first heard of him when I saw his 1982 debut album, Einzelhaft, in a Chicago record shop that had a lot of the New Wave, dance, and “alternative” music I loved. I bought the album and listened to it often. I was drawn to it because I’d studied German (poorly…) in high school, and was instantly fascinated by the album. The second single was “Der Kommissar”, which I liked. I have to add that I was irritated when British rock band After the Fire released an English-language cover of the song, and, predictably, their version did better on the US pop charts. Ganz natürlich.

So, because of my history, both attempting to learn the language of many of my ancestors, and my earlier discovery of Falco, I loved “Rock Me Amadeus” (and the follow-up single, “Vienna Calling”. I think I bought the album Falco 3, but I'm not sure because if I did, neither it nor Einzelhaft came to New Zealand with me. I know—because I still have it—that I bought a 12-inch version version of "Vienna Calling", which included the American Edit of “Rock Me Amadeus”.

I also liked the video (which, as I’ve made clear by now, isn’t always the case, even when I like the song). I particularly liked the surreality of the visuals, especially the folks in biker gear accompanying Falco dressed as Mozart, and mouthing, “Amadeus, Amadeus!, Amadeus, Amadeus!”

All of which means that this week’s song was unusual among the songs in these series of posts: I liked the song, the artist, and the video. That was rare even then,

“Rock Me Amadeus” reached Number 15 in Australia (Gold), 2 in Canada (Platinum), Number One in New Zealand (Gold), Number One in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard Hot 100”, and was also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100” chart. The song was certified Platinum in the USA.

The album Falco 3 reached Number 9 in Canada (Platinum), Number 2 in New Zealand, Number 32 in the UK, and Number 3 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” (Gold). The album didn’t chart in Australia.

This series will return in three weeks, on April 19, with the next new Number One from 1986.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1986” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 1 – January 18, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 2 – February 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 3 – March 1, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 4 – March 15, 2026
Weekend Diversion: 1986, Part 5 – March 22, 2026

One of my origin stories

Many of us can point to a moment, person, place, or thing that shaped the course of our lives. I have something from my childhood that was one of the starting points for my cooking adventures. And I was able to recapture it.

In October 2023, I wrote about what I called Memory meals”, and in that post I said in passing that “There was also a cookbook for kids in our house”, and that cookbook, first published in 1957, was called Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls. That cookbook is seared into my mind because it was the first one I ever used, when I was around 7 or 8 at most.

Last year, I was planning on writing a blog post about memories of how I learned to cook various things, and that made me think of the long-gone cookbook I used in childhood. I Googled it thinking there might me an online version of it somewhere, only to find that I could buy an authorised “facsimile edition” that was a faithful reproduction of the original, though the original as a fully spiral bound one. Nevertheless, I ordered the reproduction (pictured up top).

I don’t think I’ve ever been happier with an impulse buy. But more about that later.

I made many things in that cookbook, but the main thing I remember about it is using its recipe to make scrambled eggs (image at right), and I’m pretty sure I made that for my mother as breakfast in bed at least once. In any event, I followed the recipe precisely, because I thought it was important. I was like that for many years after that, until I realised that cooking is about experimentation as much as—or possibly even more than—precision.

My mother was also a big influence in teaching me to cook, and I talked about one specific thing: THE Beef Stew (our family recipe), in a post in July 2023. I still make that, and scrambled eggs, but both are now without a recipe. I’m such a renegade—well, no, I’m just well-practiced—and “practice” is the important part.

The cookbook reproduction looks exactly like what I remembered, with the same charming late 1950 drawing style, a few somewhat oversaturated colour photograph pages, and what must’ve been radical for the times: It featured both boys and girls making the various recipes—well, line drawings of them, but still. I grew up seeing that, and that my dad cooked, too, but the reinforcement from those simple cartoon illustrations shows how much representation matters in pretty much everything.

However, there is a significant difference. The last page in the reproduction, right after the index, is a page entitled “Enjoy your cookbook today”, because “some ingredients are no longer available or have changed.” For example: “Please use only pasteurized eggs or pasteurized egg product…” in two recipes, one of which was eggnog—and as a kid I made that with raw eggs as the recipe called for. Quelle horreur! I survived, apparently.

There aren’t many things I can point to as a starting point in part of my life’s journey, but that cookbook was one of them. And that’s why I was so glad I followed my impulse and bought the cookbook. I’ve said a few times that I have very few “treasures” from my childhood and youth, and so, I have very few touchstones for the journey on how I came to become me. That means I treasure the few things I do have, and that includes this facsimile cookbook. As well it should.

When I mentioned the cookbook in that October 2023 post, it was in the context of a dish I made that, as I remembered it, the cookbook called “eggs in a frame”. It turns out, it really does call it that (and the recipe was on page 66, for the record). Sure, my memory was more reliable when I was decades younger than I am now, but there’s a part of me that’s especially happy to be able to verify that, in fact, my childhood memory was correct. Maybe that, too, shows what a big part of my young, impressionable life that cookbook was. I’m glad about that, too.

Flying in from the past

Tonight I saw a new Air New Zealand commercial on TV (video above). It was a new version of an ad that was running on TV when I arrived in New Zealand 30 years ago (a version is in the video at the bottom of this post). I was already in love with Nigel, of course, but that ad? It extended the love to New Zealand, too.

Both ads use the traditional song “Pōkarekare Ana”, which was composed sometime in 1914, and it’s essentially a love song. Some scenes in the new version are reminiscent of ones in the 1990s ad, with some influences form their c2000 ad (about which more in a bit).

The 1990s and current ad are both effective at creating an emotional response, particularly for New Zealanders, who are the primary target of the ads. They certainly work for me, anyway. It’s the scenery combined with the song and the arrangement of it. But I always thought that the birds coming together to form the Air New Zealand logo at the end of the 1990s ad was especially magical.

Here’s the 1990s version:



Between the two versions I liked was the circa 2000 ad (at the bottom of this post, and it’s the longest version, and so, seldom aired). That ad didn’t move me. I think the difference was that the 2000s ad was about New Zealand connecting with the world and vice versa, and so, it was less focussed on New Zealand. That’s neither good nor bad, just a difference, and, I think, the reason I didn’t like it as much as the other two. Having said that, I wasn’t a fan of the key change in the middle of the song in that version, but it may have only been in the long version—I honestly can’t remember.

The tagline is different in all three versions, too. In the 1990s, it was “Air New Zealand. The airline of the world’s greatest travellers.” In the circa 2000 ad, it was “Air New Zealand. The world’s warmest welcome.” And in the current version, the tagline is, “Of New Zealand. For New Zealand. Air New Zealand.” Given New Zealand’s bad economy of the past few years, and the fact that the United States now seems hostile to foreign tourists, maybe it;s a good idea to centre the current ad on New Zealand, and to do so while offering “all the feels”. In my opinion.

Finally, the lyrics of the part when they soar to sing were stronger than I expected: E hine e / hoki mai ra. / Ka mate ahau / I te aroha e. In English, that’s “Oh girl / return to me, / I could die / of love for you. I knew the song was a love song, likely written about soldiers heading off to fight in World War One, but it’s also a quintessentially New Zealand song, and that’s the context I first connected with it (I didn’t read the lyrics, especially the translation, until many years later).

This new ad reminded me so much of an ad I fell in love with when New Zealand was still new to me—and me to New Zealand, for that matter. That 1990s ad really was a small part of what gave me an emotional connection to the country, and the new ad reminded me of that, too. It’s nice when that happens.

Memories can trip us

Facebook “Memories” pop up every day, of course, and most I ignore. But this week has been filled with “Memories” about the trip Nigel and I took to Australia for his sister’s surprise birthday party. This particular series has aspects I didn’t mention at the time, and lessons I couldn’t comprehend back then.

The “Memory” at left mentions that norovirus “hitched a ride”. While Nigel and some other family members got quite sick, neither I nor Nigel’s mum were sick at all. That’s probably because we’d both had norovirus in December 2015 (caught at a different family gathering…), and that ordinarily gives one at least some immunity to the same strain for 6-18 months (or even for several years). However, Nigel didn’t get sick earlier, or maybe just mildly, but in Australia he was utterly miserable for the first 24 hours.

We couldn’t fly for 48 hours, but, fortunately, we had travel insurance, However, Nigel had to get a medical certificate in order to file the claim, and he managed all of that in the second 24 hours. The arranged details were arranged, the replacement flight booked, and and we flew home two days later, arriving in the evening.

Sunny and Jake (Leo wasn’t part of the family yet) were being looked after by Nigel’s cousin in Hamilton, and we could have driven down to pick them up the next day, but Nigel loved our babies, so we drove down immediately after we arrived. Nigel perked up noticeably when we did that, but we got back to our house in south Auckland pretty late that night.

That as the last big trip Nigel and I ever had together, though we did go to more family gatherings here in New Zealand. Fortunately, norovirus was not invited to any of them.

Three years later, in 2020, I went to Queenstown with some of the family, and much as I enjoyed the trip, it was challenging for me, to say the least, because it was the first time I’d travelled anywhere since Nigel died, roughly 14 months earlier, and it was also around three years after we all went to Australia. All of that was on my mind at the time.

In January 2024, a bit more than four years after the Queenstown trip, and just over six years after the Australia trip, I went with even more family on a trip to Fiji. That trip had challenging moments for me, because Nigel wasn’t there, and it was my 65th birthday. Even so, by then the bigger challenge came from discovering that, in fact, there IS such a thing as weather that’s “too hot” (and humid) for me. Nigel’s sister Carolyn was on the trip, and we lost her a bit more than a year later.

My last post in Australia in 2017.

The moral of this travelogue through space and time is really this: Everything we do, everywhere we go, we bring memories with us. Good or bad, they always come along. In 2020, as a still-new widower, I had every reason to not go on the trip to Queenstown, but I went anyway, felt what I needed to feel, and enjoyed what I wanted to enjoy. The Fiji trip was similar, though for me the challenge on that one really was more about the tropical heat—but memories of that the trip now carry some pathos of their own because of losing Carolyn a bot more than a year later.

The trick, I think, is to accept that sometimes painful memories will come forward no matter what we do, and even in the midst of good times. Because of that, I think it’s important that, if we’re able, we need to push through the pain, and not let it hold us back—and I know all too well how damn hard that can be! I also know firsthand that emotional pain can keep us from fully experiencing good times—but not necessarily keep them away entirely, maybe just dull them a little.

All of that has been on my mind this week as I saw one Facebook “Memory” after another about that trip and the trip to Queenstown, which was around the same time of year. It’ll happen again next year, but I don’t mind at all. I’d rather feel pain because I loved, than to feel nothing at all. Honestly, that’s a huge gift.

Shopping opportunities

Tomorrow is a big day for (some) folks in New Zealand: The first IKEA store is finally about to open in New Zealand. There are plenty of people who couldn’t possibly care less about that, and some who are probably even angry about it, for whatever reason, but I’m not one of them. In fact, I’ve been excited about it ever since it was announced. There are a lot of reasons for that.

I’m not sure whether I’d even heard of IKEA before I moved to New Zealand, but I know that when I arrived here Nigel had some things he bought at IKEA while he lived in Australia. In fact, I still have some of them. After Nigel died, and after I was living in Hamilton, I began watching various YouTube Channels of folks (especially in the UK) who went to or got things from IKEA, and I became more an more intrigued.

However, there was no way for me to visit one unless I boarded a flight to Australia or somewhere else that had stores, so, to this day I’ve never been in side of a store. In 2021, I ordered some Billy bookcases from an Auckland company that imported them from Australia. A December 2021 update at the end of the linked post mentioned that IKEA had announced it was coming to New Zealand for real. That first-ever store for IKEA New Zealand opens tomorrow.

I won’t be going to the store opening tomorrow. Among other things, people were warned about traffic chaos on the all the roads leading to and around IKEA. Related to that, area businesses are ”preparing for mayhem”. I can’t stand crowds, and dealing with awful traffic, but, that aside, I also have a lot on this week.

However, I’ve been getting ready for IKEA’s arrival at every opportunity. I followed the Instagram account for IKEA New Zealand as soon as I knew it was there, signed up for their email marketing (so I’d know about things like when it would open), When IKEA Family (their loyaly/rewards programme) was launched in New Zealand, I immediately signed up for it. Then, when they announced their phone App for IKEA New Zealand could be pre-ordered, I did so, and I’m pretty sure it was the first time I’ve ever done that. The App was ready for download today, and it’s now on my phone.

Much as I’m looking forward to visiting IKEA for the first time ever (after the hoopla subsides…), I’ve always assumed that I’d probably mostly order online rather than buy things in person. The App and having IKEA Family are both good for both, but very useful when ordering online.

One thing I’ve been curious about is how pricing here compares with Australia, and TVNZ’s i1News compared prices. It turns out that many of the prices are comparable, which isn’t really a surprise for them.

Through that price comparison, I discovered that IKEA NZ sells the Billy bookcases that I bought through an Auckland importer aare sold by IKEA around $25 less than what I paid, however, I don’t know how much IKEA charges for shipping for bigger/heavier things like the Billy bookcases. Actually, I also don’t if I’ll order any bigger/heavier things, so maybe those charges won’t matter?

Many people seem to intensely dislike the very idea of IKEA, for different reasons, b ut one of them is that they perceive of the famous flatpack furniture to be cheaply made. While my only experience with their flatpack furniture was the Billy book cases, and I thought their quality was exceptional—in fact, better than any similar shelves I’ve ever bought.assembled. That doesn’t mean I think everything there is as good, but their pricing on nearly everything is extremely affordable.

A more specific complaint is about how it may negatively affect New Zealand retailers, because a big international retailer entering the NZ market is always a potential risk. However, I’m not convinced it will be quite as disruptive as some people worry it will. There’s been a lot of talk about how it could negatively affect NZ-chain The Warehouse, which sells categpries of things that IKEA sells, like flatpack furniture and homewares, for examle, but they sell clothing, sports equpiment, tools, automotive and gardening supplies, etc. Their more direct competition is Australian retailer Kmart, which sells the same sorts of things.

I also think that having only one store may blunt its impact, just as having one Costco hasn’t caused disaster for the two supermarket companies in New Zealand. Costco, like IKEA, is unique in its segment of the retail market. Both are shopping destinations, and not the sort of place one pops into on the way home to pick up something. What’s different between the two is that IKEA is attractive to all sorts of people, while Costco is more suitable for large families than, say, a one-person household.

For me, both stores are a long drive: Up to a couple hours to IKEA and up another hour to get to Costco (though Costco plans a second location in South Auckland, whichh will be maybe an hour and a half drive from here, though it would still be of dubious value for my one-human household). Even so, I also plan on going to Costco some day, too, because I’m also curious about what its like.

So, I like IKEA’s product lines, I think I’ll like their store, and I’m not convinced it’ll be as disruptive as some people fear. While the store and online shopping both open tomorrow, my first-ever trip to an IKEA will probably be several weeks from now, maybe in January or February. It’s always nice to have something new to do, especially when it’s something I’ve been curious about for years.

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 23

This week's song is something different: It was Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” for MORE than one week! On November 16 1985, "We Built This City" (video up top) by American rock band Starship began a two week run at the top of the charts. The group was technically a spin-off of sorts of the legendary American rock band Jefferson Starship, which, in turn, was founded as Jefferson Airplane. The main link to the former group was singer Grace Slick, who provides female vocals. The song was Starship’s debit single, and from their debut album Knee Deep in the Hoopla, which takes its name from a lyric in this week’s song.

The song was originally about the decline of live-performance venues in 1980s Los Angeles—which led critics to point out the irony of the song being done in a polished corporate-music style. The song went on to be a hit in many countries (see below), but maybe the critique could be part of the reason so many people seem to hate the song? Whatever, I wasn’t one of them.

Throughout my life, I’ve liked songs for many reasons (or none at all) and this song was one of them. I liked the song mainly because I liked Grace Slick: I bought (and loved) her 1980 solo album, Dreams, and for me she was the main attraction for Starship. In any event, I liked the song and its arrangement, even if I thought some of the lyrics were really stupid, like “Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?”, which I particularly loathed.

I think I’ve been pretty clear that for me pop music doesn’t have to be Great Art™, I just have to have some sort of connection to it—literally ANY connection. If it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it (or, like me, mercifully choose not to dance to it…), I’ll probabably give it a good record rating. Still, it WAS popular.

"We Built This City" reached Number One in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 11 in New Zealand, Number 12 in the UK (Platinum), as well as Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and their “Mainstream Rock” Chart. The song also was Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100”. The song was certified Gold in the USA.

The Knee Deep in the Hoopla album reached Number 34 in Australia, Number 16 in Canada (Platinum), Number 43 in New Zealand, and Number 7 on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. The album was certified Platinum in the USA. (There’s no chart information for the UK, which usually means it didn’t reach the bottom rung).

This series will return in—gasp!—two weeks (November 30) with the next Number One in this series. Ironically, perhaps, that song was yet another one-week Number One.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13 – July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 14 – August 3, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 15 – August 24, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 16 – September 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 17 – September 21, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 18 – October 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 19 – October 19, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 20 – October 26, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 21 – November 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 22 – November 9, 2025

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 22

This week's song is another one from something outside pop music as such, and another theme song, but from a TV show. On November 9 1985, the theme to Miami Vice by Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer Jan Hammer reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” for one week only. The video up top is the offcial video for the piece, but some people are probably more familhttps://youtu.be/dEjXPY9jOx8?si=_s3mEABu4kZeVBOx" target="_blank">WATCH]. The song was the first single from the Miami Vice soundtrack album

Nearly all of the songs in these annual “Weekend Diversion” posts have some sort of personal connection, some stronger than others. But this One? Hooboy, do I have connections to this one!

Back in 1985, my partner and I loved Miami Vice, and part of the reason was what we’d now call, the vibe. He was so much into the show’s esthetic that he had me paint the small second bedroom in our apartment that we used as a TV room in relevant colours: A kind of teal/mint/pale green for the walls, and a kind of pale sherbet orange for the trim work. While I wouldn’t use that colour scheme now, at the time it seemed pretty awesome.I also painted the rest of the apartment months earlier, but in a mostly Art Deco colour scheme that my partner really liked. For some reason, I’ve always been in charge of painting places I lived; good thing I actually like painting.

The show itself was far from perfect, of course, but it was definitely entertaining, and part of its appeal was the background music it used, including its theme music, which was very different from other TV show theme music at the time. We bought the soundtrack album on vinyl back in the day, though it’s now long gone, and some of the songs popped up on other compilations over the years. Still, in those long-ago days, it was fun while it lasted.

The theme to Miami Vice reached Number 14 in Australia, Number 3 in Canada, Number 22 in New Zealand, Number 5 in the UK, as well as Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”, and also Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100”. The linked article doesn’t list any information on Certifications.

The Miami Vice soundtrack album reached Number 17 in Australia, Number One in Canada (3x Platinum), Number 5 in New Zealand (Platinum), Number 11 in the UK (Gold), and Number One on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. The album was certified 4x Platinum in the USA.

This series will return next week (November 16) with the next Number One in this series, the first in five weeks that wasn’t a one-week Number One hit! Although, there’s one more to come later…

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13 – July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 14 – August 3, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 15 – August 24, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 16 – September 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 17 – September 21, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 18 – October 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 19 – October 19, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 20 – October 26, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 21 – November 2, 2025

Before everything changed

There’s only one thing in the Facebook “Memory” at right that’s still the same: That barely-in-the-photo black cabinet at the top of the photo is what the TV sat on, and still does. The obvious changes are that Bella and Jake are both gone, but the footstool in front of me wore out after I moved to Kirikiriroa-Hamilton, my jeans are now cleaning rags, and whatever shoes I had on are probably long gone, too. Even the midday news I mentioned was cancelled by TVNZ in a “cost cutting” move (must’ve been more than a year ago now). And, of course, that scene happened in our last house together, nearly 8 months after we’d all shifted into it.

For me, this simple photo represents all the massive losses that began in early 2019, however, as is always true in life, it wasn’t nothing but bad news and sorrow after this photo: So MUCH good stuff happened after this photo, too!

Later that year Nigel and I went to Australia with the family to surprise his eldest sister for her birthday, and we visited Brisbane for the first time. Leo joined the family the following year, we made cool changes to the house (well, Nigel did the cool ones… I did the more ordinary-but-nice ones), Nigel had successes and recognition at work, and, as always, we had a LOT of fun times, sometimes with the wider family, sometimes with the fur babies, and even many adventures with just the two of us.

2019 was, of course, when everything started changing, and so much of what made us a happy family started to end. But even now, good things still happen, and that fact is how I managed to survive all the horrible stuff.

I still have a very long way to go, both in healing and in life in general, but the important thing is that my adventure continues. My former wonderful life travels with me everywhere and forms the foundation of the life I’m trying to build.

So, yeah, nearly everything in that photo from eight years ago has changed, including me, but my adventure continues. I hope you’ll continue to follow along to see what happens next.

I blogged about this at the time, and that post provided more background, as well as including the other photo I took, moments after the one in the FB “Memory”.

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 18

It probably had to happen at some point: This week’s song is one I don’t remember—at all. If I did hear it at some point when it was on the charts 40 years ago, it certainly didn’t make enough of an impression on me for me to remember anything about it.

Be that as it may, on October 12 1985, “Oh Sheila” (video up top) by American R&B band Ready for the World reached Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100”. It was the band’s only Number One on the “Hot 100”, though they have a later Number One R&B Hit. The song was the third single from their debut album, Ready for the World.

When I watched the video in preparation for this post, I wondered if the band was British, but they're not. According to the Wikipedia article on the song (linked above), “singer Melvin Riley Jr… said ‘I like that kind of accent, so I thought I'd use that sound’." Next, I thought it sounded an awful lot like a Prince song from that era, and that same article said that was a common “misattribution” due to similarties. In fact, it specifically reminded me of a song by Sheila E., and the article says that another reason people thought this was a Prince song was because they thought the title referred to Sheila E. I’m relieved that even after hearing this song 40 years after it was a hit, I still had the same thoughts that many people back in the day thought, too—maybe it’s true that I really didn’t miss anything?

I really have nothing more to say about this song: It’s okay, I guess, but I don’t think I would’ve liked it if I’d heard it back in 1985—though I wouldn’t have hated it, either. There are plenty of pop songs I’ve been similarly neutral about, so this isn’t an even remotely unusual thing for me. Well, finding a song I don’t remember at all hit Number One in an era where I paid very close attention to the charts IS unusual, so there’s that, I guess.

“Oh Sheila” reached Number 14 in Australia, Number One in Canada, Number 24 in New Zealand, Number 50 in the UK, as well as Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and also on their “Hot Black Singles”, and “Hot Dance/Disco Club Play” charts, and it was also Number One on Cash Box. Apparently, the song’s sales weren’t certified in any of these countries.

The album Ready for the World reached Number 17 on the USA’s “Billboard 200”, and Number 3 on their “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” chart. The album was certified Platinum in the USA. There’s no reported chart position or sales certifications for the album in any of the other countries I write about.

This series will return next week (October 19) with the next Number One in this series. That song will be the second of five one-week Number One hits from this period in 1985, and one of my personal favourites from that time.

Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:

Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13 – July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 14 – August 3, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 15 – August 24, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 16 – September 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 17 – September 21, 2025

Not just a chair

That photo at right? It’s just a chair, right? Kinda. On other hand, there aren’t many things in my life that don’t have some sort of story, often a personal one. That chair is no different.

My mother-in-law recently downsized to a much smaller place, and no longer had a use for a lot of what she had, including some furniture. Her kids (my in-laws) organised to distribute that excess stuff among her grandkids, and some of us "oldies" took things, too. I was given the side chair and cushion in the photo.

My practical use for the chair is that it’s lightweight, which makes it ideal to move when I have several people around at once, like when I have the family around for dinner. I planned to use it to replace a less comfortable chair that I planned to put elsewhere. That was the practical reason—but there was another one.

My mother-in-law bought the chair one day when her late daughter Carolyn was visiting. So, that chair makes me remember my mother-in-law’s old place and the good times there with family (including Nigel), as well as my much-missed sister-in-law. As a rule, I’m not particularly sentimental about things, however, there are exceptions, and that chair’s definitely one.

In the photo above, the chair is in the spot the to-be-replaced chair had been occupying, but the new chair blocked my line of sight from my usual chair to the stacker door Leo gets let out of, and that meant if he was asking to go outside, I wouldn’t be able to see him. I un-replaced the original chair and put it back where it had been, then put the new one in the TV area of the living space. I realise that this explanation doesn't make a lot of sense, but there will eventually be photos once I get into the decorating stage of my “Operation Re-invent My House” project.

Nearly everything I do follows a lot of thought (some might say too much thinking…), but this wasn’t one of those times. While someone else in the family would’ve taken that chair, I actually wanted it for it’s usefulness, sure, but especially for the memories around it. In other words, the chair whent to a good home.

There aren’t many things in my life that don’t have some sort of story, often a personal one. That chair is no different. Of course.

The cushion came with the chair, and in real life the reddish colour it’s more of a vibrant electric deep red/maroon sort of colour. My mother-in-law frequently changed such cushions, and I almost never do, mainly because I never know what I want. I think that, in real life, that cushion goes well with the chair.