I walked into town today to try and do some xmas shopping. Failed miserably of course. As soon as I go into a shop I am paralysed by uncertainty, like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights. Not all shops. I am fine in a bookshop, or a record shop, or somewhere selling computers or hi-fi. Motorcycle accessory shops are OK too. Obviously I am OK food shopping as well. Anywhere else I am a complete fish out of water, and for present shopping I don’t even know what shop to go into, let alone what to look for in there.

Currently kicking myself, because I know I should have gone down to Brighton, where all the strange independent shops would have given me ideas. Crawley town centre has very little that you can’t find in any other town centre in England. The problem with Brighton, apart from the hassle and expense of going there, is all the temptation. I would likely come back with no presents for anybody but an armful of second-hand vinyl and a new tattoo.

On the subject of fish out of water, while I was in town I did look through the charity shops out of habit. I don’t seriously expect to find any hidden gems in the vinyl stock, but you never know. As usual I would have been fine if I really wanted Ray Conniff, old Spanish language LPs or really tatty copies of Showaddywaddy albums, and wanted to pay over the odds for them. There was a copy of the Two Tribes 12″ single but that was £12 or £8 or something like that.

An then suddenly I saw Chris Squire’s 1975 solo album Fish Out of Water. Not only that but the cover looked absolutely pristine and it was only £2. This is exactly the sort of thing I am always hoping to find in the charity shops. Unfortunately I only bought a copy of it last month at the Horsham record fair – for £4 or £5 probably, plays perfectly well but the sleeve is a bit shabby. What are the odds that when I do finally find a slightly obscure 70s prog album in good nick at a low price, it is one of the handful of LPs I already have?

Nice to know they exist though, so I’ll have to keep looking in case any Gentle Giant, Caravan, Tangerine Dream, Can or Van der Graaf Generator LPs turn up.