Players

IT'S OUT OF SOME perversity that our clapped-out old radio/CD player suddenly comes back to life - after having died on us, mid-disc.

Actually, the machine has been playing up for some time; the tape deck is unusable because of it's slow speed, it makes our collection of tapes sound as if they're being tortured.

One of the CD channels too, has virtually disappeared - it comes across as a whisper and the other day even the radio gave up the uneven battle against the aging electrics.

So, finally, we decide to splash out on a new hi-fi - all gleaming and grand and full of mysterious knobs and buttons, many of which I'll probably never use, but which impress me inordinately.

And as if sensing its imminent demise, the old player makes one last heroic effort to come to life and to prove its worth.

And while it's still going I'll leave the new upstart in its box, at least until the weekend when I'll have the time to assemble the thing.

Oh yes, it's all change in the Foxes' den!