On The Airwaves

Over the years I can't estimate the freight of pleasure that has tunnelled through my mind thanks to radio plays and documentaries. Someone on Desert Island Disks chose a snooker table with Radio 4 blaring out of every pocket as their one and only luxury object. I wouldn't mind one, too. Almost equally as rewarding are Radio 3 and Radio 4 Extra. Stuff coming in on the airwaves has been a consistent companion since I was about 13 years old. Even though I've built up a massive library of stuff that will buoy me up for the rest of my life I continue to record more stuff. I won't have enough life left to listen to everything but it's comforting knowing it's there on my hard disk. Some days I can't listen to music and only the spoken word will do. Some days I prefer dramas only and on other days only documentaries will do. I switch on repeat and there's some comfort knowing a comedy will start again. Radio 4 is as good as television.

I wonder where these air waves come into the house. Sometimes when I'm enraptured by something on the radio I whizz round on my revolving chair and tried to catch sights of the airwaves. I haven't seen any yet. Anyway this abstract painting represents those waves coming into the county and then the garden and then house and then my ear. This small canvas (bought from Poundland) was smeared with acrylic paints using a knife in twenty minutes. Every smear and smudge and bump and lump represents words that have come in on the airwaves and illuminated my brain with pleasure and knowledge.

Sometimes I listen to Thomas Dolby's song Airwaves and think of the plethora of programmes that have afforded me boundless pleasure. The link to it is here:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP1RTAft_B8