Yes Yes Yes. Its here, May my favourite month of the year.

May is a great month for so many reasons. The blossom is on the trees, the sun is out and sometimes its warm enough to leave your jacket at home for the whole day. School/Uni/College’s are winding down to the end of academic year. On a warm May day you can smell the potential of Summer in the air. The build up to the Hawick Common Riding Festival begins in early May, for more info on this go here Depending on how my teams have faired (Celtic, Newcastle United and Hawick RFC) the Football and Rugby seasons draw to an exciting close in May. Even if neither of my beloved teams win anything its still great to watch the drama of the various cup finals, play-offs and final crunch matches happening across May. Last May my darling girlfriend and I got together, we’ll be celebrating our 1st anniversary at the end of the month (everybody say “AWWW Bless”)

In May 1996 I purchased my first album Ash “1977” from Our Price in Glasgow Airport. I wasn’t going any where exciting, my Dad and I were dropping off my Grandpa who was going on his holidays to Canada. We had time to kill before “The Don” headed in to the mystical land of the Departure Lounge. The old guy gave me £5 to “get some sweets” but I decided to take up Ash on their kind first-week-of-release-offer of £5 for the cassette copy of their début album. The album was never far from my walkman or stereo for the rest of that summer, it blew my little pubescent mind. Music by teenagers for teenagers, songs about love, lust, angst, escapism, nihilism, Star Wars, Kung-Fu and Sci-fi. The album opens with the roar of a TIE Fighter (from Star Wars) before the onslaught of “Loose Control” kicks in, the pace of the album is kept up by the lack of gaps between tracks, perfect if you are a hyper teen (like I was, and still sometimes am). Even now when I listen to it (I now have it on vinyl, cassette and CD) it still evokes the excitement of being alive in the month of May.