Once upon a time about 50 years ago and then again about 40 years ago in a land not so very far away from here called Wales, there lived a little green steam engine called Ivor. Ivor the Engine worked out of Llaniog railway station. Ivor could sometimes be a naughty little engine because he had a mind of his own. His favourite hobbies are singing with the local choir, making tea and visiting the seaside. Ivor has lots of friends where he lives, including Dai the Station master, Owen the signal man, Evan Evans the Choir master, Mrs Porty, a rather eccentric lady who loves buying new hats, Mr Dinwiddy, who describes himself as an amateur scientist, lives in the hills where he digs for gold and is always losing his boots but Ivor's bestest friend in the whole wide world is Edwin Jones, Ivor's driver. Ivor also loves animals and has ...
Advantages: Always entertaining, sometimes hilarious Disadvantages: No real disadvantages
IvorCutler's third album for Virgin, originally released on vinyl in 1976, continues his highly idiosyncratic trawl through life with the usual mixture of tall tales, some presented as unaccompanied prose speech, others sung (although the word is used advisedly) with piano or harmonium.
It's a long way from the hippie Virgin fare of that era - only his labelmate Robert Wyatt (with whom Cutler collaborated on "Rock Bottom") comes remotely close. Humorists like Spike Milligan and Vivian Stanshall are far more accurate reference points.
Ever the miniaturist, Cutler crams over thirty vignettes into the album. The perpetual "Life in a Scotch Sitting Room" has two more extracts included here, both of which are wonderfully bizarre evocations of a childhood of porridge, country walks and learning about the development of Glasgow ...
Advantages: Price Disadvantages: Poor service generally; pedantic; lack of response to complaints; ridiculous hold times
I had always driven Company Cars until last November when I was made redundant and purchased my own car and insurance for the first time. Privilege were the cheapest quote I found.
I set up the policy on line and was advised that I could have a no claims discount if I provided proof from my previous employer's insurer that I had made no claims. I requested this via my employer but it was not forthcoming and I contacted Privilege in Jan 09 to advise them that I had not deliberately 'overlooked' this but was having difficulty due to the redundancy circumstances. They then cancelled my policy in February. At this point I was fairly sanguine as I had not provided the proof. I reinstated the policy with zero no claims on the understanding that when I managed to obtain proof of no claims I would receive a backdated refund of the difference ...
