Black Sedan

Long gone record shop the Black Sedan, Oxford Road, Manchester c 1977.
Johnny Roadhouse bottom left was another famous shop full of second hand musical instruments.

Yesterday I was building flatpack furniture those Square Cubes that can build up in 4 or 6 or 8 to the sky to tidy up ‘The Music Room’. At the moment the room is in chaos as I have a very large number of Records on the floor.

Many of the records were purchased second hand (previously owned) at The Black Sedan on the 1st floor about the Newsagent in a period of 1971 through to 1977 when this photo was taken. I was a very poor student is every sense I was poor at studying, good at what I found easy skipping over what I didn’t understand on a first reading. My Grades were A or F baffling to Tutors.

I was also poor in having very little money, I had a Student Grant of £10 for the year (YES, TEN POUNDS for the year) when others around me had substantial amounts from Government grants each term. This was because it was assessed on my family income and my Dad had a very well paid job in the period they examined. Before I started my course my Dad lost his job (made redundant by an American parent company) so had very little money to help me through what he did give me I spent on Toast, Crisps and Mars Bars and of course 2nd Hand Records.

P.S.
Thinking about Dad losing his job is a reminder of the possible turning points in life. He had the opportunity to take a job in the USA the company still wanted him they just didn’t want to be spending money in the UK. Mum didn’t want to go and two teenage children were barely consulted on the matter. Life was very different because of that decision. I could have been living in Pennsylvania!

Follow my progress from chaos to order today (posted on Twitter)
twitter.com/vitalsparks/status/1337701259709730816
And help me decide how to organise all those records.