Sunday, March 28, 2010

Pirate Radio

On the way to church this morning the presenter on BBC Essex was talking about Radio Caroline.  (Radio Caroline today)  Jo asked me if I listened to it.  I was immediately back in my garden at home.  We had a large area of grass in the garden - 80 feet long, behind a double fronted house.  I used to ride my bicycle round and round, with a small transistor radio in a leather case strapped to the handle bars.  Listening to the Beatles, the Kinks and whatever was playing.  My memories of those days are of warm sunny evenings with nothing better to do, and the joy of the sprint down to a tight turn at the bottom, keeping as near to the edge as possible, then back up to the top through the longer, greener grass on the 'wet' side of the garden.  Happy Days (but well before the program was made).  It was '64, '65 or '66.  Radio Caroline gave good reception where as Radio Luxembourg was on long wave and the reception was poor.  The radio took a square 9volt battery (no re-chargeables then)  and I was forever trying to persuade my parents to buy another.  When I crashed off my bike, as I often did, the radio would come out of it's case and go flying.  If it hit the concrete path along the back of the house the case would break and I have to get the polystyrene cement (airfix glue) out and repair it.  Somehow the radio always worked afterwards - but it soon looked like more glue than plastic case.. I can't remember the make and model - it was of no interest to me, but I remember what it looked like.  Take the metal fittings off, move the speaker to the bottom and put a plastic cover over it, then move the two controls so that the dials are just slightly proud of the sides and that's about it.  The picture is 'borrowed' from flickr. Mine also had a stand, like the Zenith further up the page, but that was soon lost.

Today at Christ Church we had a very high attendance for a Palm Sunday Service.  Warner spoke on the tag lines "As a leader today it can be hard to know if you're being followed or chased"  and "If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail". In the case of the people who set up Radio Caroline, they were followed by some and chased by others.  It is probably true for all leaders, but was definitely true for Jesus.  His careful plans for his entry to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) with his followers, made him easier for the authorities to chase.  In four days time they will have caught up with Him to put an end to his plans.  What they don't know is ... Jesus wasn't planning to fail ...

No comments:

Post a Comment