Day One

Welcome to Dropkick Yarbles, named after a yappy snowy terrier which died under the wheels of a Post Office van in 1970.
I was eight when it happened.
It was a hot day and I remember poking matchsticks into the melting tar of the road surface. The screech of brakes made me look up.
I can still see white fur blowing down the road, though how it became detached from its deceased host still puzzles me.
Perhaps it was a wig.
My friends and I were initially shocked at the violence of the event but it was Nick McCall who finally spoke for all of us.
"It wasn't a very nice dog anyway," he said.
We laughed and went back to poking the tar.

A bit about myself.
I'm a 46-year-old journalist, living in Birmingham.
Yesterday I was made redundant from The Birmingham Post where I had spent 13 years working on the arts pages as a sub editor and writer. You can read some of my writing here. And here
My specialism is music and popular culture with one eye always on the absurd.
On this blog you will find thoughts, pictures and links about what is currently occupying my waking hours as I ponder my next move in this great city.