I was the xmas DJ for free.

I liked the landlord & landlady at the dog, it was a inn back then. Roy and Pat were their names, with a son named Lee. I was entrusted with a free room also some nights, right next to the safe room that was full of money. Of course I never helped myself to any of it, and I guess that is one of the reasons they let me stay when I had stopped til silly o'clock in the AM.

A landlord at a pub/bar down the road had been robbed at gunpoint, with a double barrel shotgun stuffed down his throat, so having some free muscle around also helped. Rupert was his name, he had a stutter for life after that!'

So I hooked up some hi-fi to the pubs internal amplifiers and speaker system, with a mic too.

This was at the time I had my own hi-fi shop, so I had plenty of equipment to choose from. I also had a lot of cd's to give away as prizes. I bought them from the police lost-found stolen auctions in Birmingham. Hardly anyone came in to buy cd's, they were more interested in players, cd, turntables, amplifiers and speakers.

The Dog pub (inn) was typical with regards to a lot of pubs you see. One side of the bar was the locals who were teachers, the other side of the bar were the local rugby players. In the middle there was what was called no mans land & the singles, and that was where you normally found me. In no mans land (the land ladies terminology not mine) Is also where the ladies gravitated towards, not just some, nearly all of them, married or not!.

I had been asked if I would DJ for drinks and free dinner, of course I said yes, they had been very kind to me in the past, I even worked behind the bar for free, after hours, when the non-locals went home.

Competition time.

When I started the giveaway of cd's in between songs, there soon turned out to be a rivalry between the rugby guys and the teachers. To start off with the teachers were the first up the front to answer the questions and win a free cd. Notably agitated the rugby players decided to muscle in and move closer to where I was set up, so they could get to me first, to answer the questions and win a cd.

It was quite amusing to watch the teachers getting angry as they could not get to the front of the queue. Eventually they gave up coming forward as they did not want to anger the big guys, the rugby crowd, and the singles in no mans land never bothered to join in.

I put over 100 cd's by the door before the end, with a sign to say help yourself for free, so nobody left a loser.

I can remember the day well, up until around 10pm when I passed my decks over to a sober friend, the rest is a blur, though I dare say it ended well.That was my xmas tale, of a xmas past, scrooge is off to feed his flock of animals called cats and dogs, the strays that decided they like to live near me. I count 6 cats now, and 4 -8 dogs. On the deer front we have 6 also that stop by, I guess hunting season has not started yet.

Seems we have thousands of little birds also, that come for a feed, some not so little, some hunters called hawks.

I wish you all the most fantastic of days, I know some do not like or want xmas, it is though here all the same.

Happy holidays to all. From Hive account@shepz1, the awards are later in the PM, I promise to stay sober till then.

Image from here.