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6th October 2023
Posted by Neil Matthew
Now and again, certain places that I’ve never been to keep cropping up on my radar and not because there is a must-see historical landmark to photograph there or more importantly a fabulous football ground to visit & add to my collection, but simply because friends of friends will mention them in passing or they keep popping up on Facebook (unless it’s changed it’s name to ” ^ ” …) – I’m not good at keeping up with the times and a lot of so-called ‘household names’ go right over my head !
One such place is “Bicester Village” which I’ve just looked up and found out is the “second most visited location in the United Kingdom by Chinese tourists, after Buckingham Palace” – fascinating ! I suspect that the main reason it has never made it on to my list of “great new places to go to” is that involves endless shops and other retail outlets selling fashionable clothes, shoes, jewellery and all manner of fancy accessories to make your home look cool & trendy as seen on TV. Not interested ! And yet last Saturday I found myself there and was delighted to be so …
I was having one of my ‘real pigs’ of a trip, trying to get to Stourbridge in the West Midlands, and despite leaving ultra-early to avoid the worst of the weekend traffic on the M25, still managed to catch a nasty accident near Watford which closed the road for over an hour. Eventually, I squeezed off onto the A41 and tried to pick my way across Aylesbury towards the M40 at Banbury, which of course took longer than the planned route and soon I was desperate for a “service stop”. It got so bad that I stopped looking for the blue signs for the motorway and had my eyes peeled for any colour supermarket logo or the famous ‘Golden Arch’ instead so I could park up and use the facilities …
So it was that Tesco came to the rescue, a huge store right on a big roundabout, and though the gents there were closed for maintenance and I had to queue (aaaargh !!) behind four other equally bladder-full fellas to use the disabled toilet, I came out of there all happy & smiley again, ready to continue my never-ending divertion. Walking across the car park back to the “Neil-Mobile” it was then that I saw a massive sign across the road – “Bicester Village” which turned out to be just over a mile from the junction with the M40 that I needed to find. Shame that within 10 minutes of joining it that too was closed for another hour !!!
Thank heavens for super soul music, I never leave home without plenty of it on MP3 or CD. If you need your fix this weekend, check out the ‘Repeat Play’ of my show at 5pm today or search out ‘Cool Soul’ at our ‘Listen Again’ page to re-enjoy any previous shows from the last 28 days. Here is my latest playlist, an absolute belter this week if I say so myself …
The Tunes – Monday 2nd October 2023
Billy Paul – Bring The Family Back
Billy Ocean – Love Really Hurts Without You
Rose Spearman/Soul City Connection – I Found Love (Remix)
Lou Rawls – Stop Me From Starting This Feeling
Lou Rawls – She’s Gone
Stevie Wonder – Living For The City
Courtney Pine & Susaye Greene – Children Of The Ghetto
Marqueal Jordan – Dot Dot Dot (The Sequel)
Barbara Mason – Don’t I Ever Cross Your Mind Sometime
Heatwave – Too Hot To Handle
Whatnauts – Help Is On The Way
Shakatak – Covina
Van Morrison – Moondance
Grover Washington Jr – Just The Two Of Us
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes – The Love I Lost
Quincy Jones – Razzamatazz
Vince Broomfield – Your Time Is Up
Dwayne Scivally – So Good
Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing
Dionne – Come Get My Lovin’
Karyn White – Secret Rendez Vous
Gap Band – Early In The Morning
Brian Simpson – Closer Still
Feel free to get in touch with your soulful request or just for a mention on the show – put a post on “The Old Gits Soul Show” page on Facebook, text (01268)833978 or message me via e-mail : [email protected].
The Old Gits Soul Show is broadcast LIVE from 7pm–9pm every Monday, repeated on Saturday evening from 5pm–7pm, on Gateway 97.8FM in Basildon & East Thurrock and available nationally via the Radio Player at Sky TV as well as online via www.gateway978.com You can listen on your smart speaker or your phone too … plus you can hear it again anytime you like via the “Listen Again” button on the Gateway website – just search “Cool Soul” !