LONG SERVICE
I feel charmed by the subjects of photographer Peter Jackson’s latest personal project, Long Service: London'
Jackson heard about a restaurant in Paris with an employee of more than 40 years standing, and thought there must be similar examples in the UK capital. Last summer, he started calling and emailing London restaurants: “If I walked past a place that looked quite old, I’d pop in.”
When he finds a willing subject – as long as they’ve worked at least 18 years in the same job – he photographs them in their place of work. So far, the project is limited to London and places that serve hot food, but Jackson may expand his brief as people keep bringing him tips. “I’ve heard some great stories about the Goring’s doorman, who has been there for more than 50 years.” www.theguardian.com/food/2019/mar/17/restaurants-long-service-staff-decades-in-the-same-job
In a world much different from the one in which I was raised, for me there is something very big to be said for longevity - as in to remain in the service of one vocation. Even more so if that role, trade, profession, is regarded both as worthy and one requiring full and continual dedication.
Charlie Burchill does not serve up hot food. But he works on his trade almost every single day and has done so throughout the time I have known him - and I have known him since he was not much more than 8 years old.
So what if Charlie had decided to work in a restaurant as opposed to touring the world as a performing musician? Serving up hot dishes, instead of searingly hot guitar solo's?
In my opinion he would have been just as dedicated, and therefore as popular with people, no matter what he had chosen to do.
Fact is, people like Charlie, just for being Charlie.
And everyone I know, likes being around him.
He's so sweet when I met him on my birthday he asked if I was 17 Charming Charlie
Well this brightened up my lunch time.. 😊
One of my favorite things about Charlie is, while he's playing guitar, and he's in the moment, he cracks a slight smile. You can especially see it in SM videos. I think it's so cool when he sings some parts of songs, along with you.
Charlie always has a smile on his face and smiles are infectious, they make others smile even if they may not feel like it. Carry on smiling (and playing guitar!) Charlie! As for longevity, I spent over 30 years in my last employment (being tupe’d a few times) before being made redundant. Also very proud to have been a SM follower for over 36 years, I’ll be with you till the end, you make me smile! X🎶❤️🎶😃
I'd be Charlie's Carer and make him hot food 😁😁😁 although Charlie needing a Carer is long way away!😁😁😁😒
If Charlie put down the guitar and donned a chefs apron we could have had Buns and Fascination or Pork Between Worlds...😂
A complete master at his art! No other like Charlie, his guitar playing makes my soul sing always has and always will. ⭐️❤️⭐️
you nailed it. Charlie does Charlie best <3
Love this photo and Charlie’s dedication to Simple Minds, equalled only by your own
Was lucky to meet Charlie once and yes he seemed a genuinely nice fella as we discussed Luis Suarez biting footballers with your good self . * not you biting footballers by the way. You were with Charlie
Charlie working in a restaurant? Hell no! Man has to do what he does best, at least here in Australia soonest after missing out on the WBW tour. Nothing like a nice serving of guitar brilliance
"Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might" Eccles 9:10
If Charlie served hot dishes as his guitar solos, I'd sure be eating at that restaurant very often ! 😂 From the couple of times I met Charlie and from what he emanates, I couldn't agree more with what you're saying Jim !! How can anyone not like Charlie ? I mean the guy's a complete Gem ! he's a dote (in the Irish sense), he's sweet, nice, he's completely adorable !!! :) He's genuinely friendly, helpful, simple (in the good sense of the word), clever, funny (even if it's a real exercise for me to understand his accent 😂), he's calm, attentive, caring, helpful, utterly utterly gifted (on top of being utterly good looking, that's not to deny), he's Charlie and we totally completely Love him ! Charlie is one of these human beings who restore faith in humanity ! Charlie you're a star in every sense of the word ! 😘 :) 🎸😎🤩 <3 PS : about the photos of restaurants long service staff, I absolutely love the idea !! 😎 what a way to recognize these people's greatness ! for indeed to be a long service restaurant staff, you must have some stamina and many qualities, they're definitely stars these people ! so kudos to Jackson for his project ! 😎👍
Charlie's just hot , whatever he does 😉
And the world needs that beaming smile of his (among the other things he brings to the table) more than ever. But...when will we be seeing him on the stage again, Jim? End of July...maybe?! Please say it will be! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Let’s just get the new album going. At least a single for the moment.
When does Charlie get to sing a song?
What an interesting project. There are these places where certain of the staff "have become part of the furniture" as we say in Dutch (meant in the most positive of ways) and there's nothing like that welcoming feeling when you visit a favourite haunt after a long day and see a familiar face (who knows exactly how you take your drink or makes an effort to fish out as many wasabi nuts as possible from the bowl of mixed nuts). It must be brutal to get by in the service industry these days, when hard work and low wages aside, people scrutinise your every move and comment about it online. Much kudos to them.
I'll have the "Carbonara" please...🤣
What a beautiful dedication to Charlie. It's not so usual finding such a friendship between members of a music band. This is great and this makes you very special!
He does look like chef James Martin 😂🤳🏻
And you Jim. We wouldn’t be reading this without your lifetime of dedication to Simple Minds and the entertaining of countless numbers around the world 👍👍
C"mon Jim, tell us about those new gigs dates, we need it :-) and Charlie also.
Surely Maitre D'? With that warm smile he greets everybody with!
What a cracking pic of Charlie. One day i might be lucky enough to grab a pic with him and thank him for all of his amazing efforts and his beautiful smiling face. He always looks like he is loving life.
THE ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN.
I like that quote from Saint Augustine. Even if I wonder what he would make of the travel experiences these days? Sitting on a cramped Ryan Air? Standing for hours on one of the UK's packed trains? Going nowhere fast on the jammed M8?
I'm a traveller, I've been so since I left school. Although I've now been around the world countless times, I'm still mostly restless.
I've travelled through a continent by standing at the roadside and sticking out my thumb. The kindness of strangers came calling back then, and I travelled endless miles with them - in their cars. Some even feeding me.
Alternately, I've travelled in a manner most others would call the height of luxury. Doing so, I find myself recalling the excitement of traveling as a hitch - hiker. Honestly? Hitch-hiking through the Swiss alps at the age of 16, was much more exciting for me than travelling by Concorde years later. Even if that was pretty exciting also.
I was born in an area that is often referred to as a slum. Although let's be clear here - I've never seen it that way, or referred to it in that manner. Even if looking at pics from the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1959, makes clear that my family came from what was the most dilapidated part of the city.
Nevertheless, at some point I became convinced that I was going to end up living amongst great beauty. So far, that conviction has panned out pretty well. Inevitably luck has played a colossal part in that result, but luck can easily run out any day.
No doubt, t has been quite a journey and I hope to continue on it for some time yet. As with all of us, there is no saying how things will end up. And in any case, its all about the journey - and less so the final destination.
The worse journey I ever made? Has to be the daily journey, on damp, winter mornings from Glasgow to Weymss Bay. Leaving home before 6 AM, I spent two years working as an apprentice on a mud-filled, construction site on the dank, west coast of Scotland. I hated my existence back then, but at least the money I made from that experience partly helped finance my share of our first endeavours in music.
Best journey? Sitting in the back seat of the family car while making the annual holiday trip to Blackpool. The thrill of seeing that famous seaside tower on the horizon, seemingly greeting us, has never left me.
And the sadness of it all being over, as we then set off back home two weeks later. Well, it lingers likewise.
And although we already knew that we would be returning again the very next year.
An entire year seemed like forever back then.
Even before I left school, I was travelling exhaustively - inside my head at least. Already on the move within my imagination, envisioning a kind of life that might lie ahead? That included making mental lists of those places within this world that I would want to go to.
At the age of eight I imagined going on a desert walk with my best friends. I made sure that I did just that as an adult - alongside my school friend.
Feeding my imagination were those stories contained within my favourite travel books. Beginning in those younger years and continuing to this day, would be 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain - set among people and places along the Mississippi River.
The Adventures Of Tintin by Hergé.
'The Little Prince' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
'Stamboul Train' - Graham Greene.
'Songlines' by Bruce Chatwin - set within the almost uninhabitable regions of Central Australia.
'Scottish Samurai' : Life of Thomas Blake Glover' by Alexander McKay. How a Scot pretty much invented modern day Japan. (It's true, you better believe it.)
And best of all, Herman's Hesse's, 'Siddhartha' the ultimate novel of self-discovery.
Songs that deal with travel, including the names of cities and places both imaginary and real, feature heavily among my faves. Among them would be Witchita Lineman,
Wayfaring Stranger, Jerusalem, Skye Boat Song, Cumberland Gap, Village Ghetto Land, Graceland, Sweet Home Alabama, Atlantic City, California Dreaming. And of course -The Werewolves of London.
But best of all, and seeing as it is Paddy's Day, my choice for today in particular, would have to be The Rocky Road To Dublin.
I will also never forget coming in on the overnight boat from Glasgow to Dun Laoghaire, not yet a 5 year old. There is a family photo of me, in some dusty attic, and I'm standing on the portside of the docks In Ireland, my tiny hand is grasping on to a suitcase that is much bigger than me - already I'm a little traveller.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6m_xQp5m5U
What would be your fave travel novel/song?
El verdadero viaje es interior. Ahora resulta que san agustín era backpacker...jajajaja. todo un Loquillo.
Hi Jim. When are you going to compile all of those wonderful stories into a book? We're all waiting!!! 🎸🎸🎸
I totally understand. I was brought up in Coatbridge, not far from you. I always dreamed about travelling around the world from a young age. I left Scotland in 1989 and worked in the travel industry for 15 years. I made Italy my home. (I've lived in the Bay of Naples since 94.) Travelling is still a big part of my life. I believe that if everyone could open up to new cultures and ideas, we could eliminate our world problems. Travel gives you an education that you can never learn at school.
I travel too to see my band always! I feel so blessed as a Simple Minds fan that after all the years my band still travel to perform for us fans Thankyou so much Jim ⭐️❤️⭐️
Happy saint Patrick day, on this day 24 years ago simple minds played in the piont depot in Dublin, still one of the best concerts ever, my friend and myself were in temple bar after and just happened to meet Jim on his way to a party but he took time to come over to us for a wee chat... ☘💚 great memories
Isnt that backwards....because when I read...It takes me all over the world without leaving my chair.
wow .. i missed your tales Jim ... at certain times your feelings are also mine if I can say "Best journey? Sitting in the back of the family car, making the annual holiday trip to Blackpool ..... .. And even if we knew that we would be returning again the next year. A year seemed like forever back then ... "same here when I think about a little me when we went to the Veneto seas into that little 500 FIAT ^_^ full of buckets and spades! Until I had a stable job I didn't travel much. At 30 I saw London and Paris and other 2 beautiful spanish cities but none of these trips was as much exciting as my first trip alone abroad. It was for a concert by a certain band of simple minded guys by a cramped Ryan air, who would have played into the forest of Robin Hood at Sherwood OMG what a magical place...and friends that i found! I was SOO proud to have come up there by myself and without an obnoxious ex who did not believe that I would be able to do anythinG WITHOUT HIM! AH! And the song that was playing in the car of this lovely people (you know who you are) who was taking me to the forest was Waterfront !!!! but what do they know? ;-) Well the worst trip Jim was coming to you to Lisbon, go and back I prayed God to touch the ground ! And almost determined not to fly anymore. But how could I ...? Jim any good news for a "girl" 😆who will turn half a century in summer? Awaiting for your early reply I remain at your disposal ...confident! ahah! ciao ciao dear....take care and thanks for your sharing some #magic lovely thoughts with us. Adri
Route 66/Behind the Wheel - Depeche Mode. Best travel books are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Grapes Of Wrath, and of course travel guides for wherever we are going next.
Travel book has to be Married To Bhutan by Linda Leaming. It’s just beautiful. Well it was to me. Ultimate bucket list stuff, being able to go to Bhutan. I follow her on Instagram, and she shares daily scenes from Thimphu. I am enthralled by them constantly. Song? The one that always had me dreaming of escape as a teen, from probably just about my fave Oz band... (P.S. Dublin was SUCH a bucket list dream realised in 2017. Thank you for giving me the ultimate excuse to go. Two acoustic gigs were the icing on the cake!) https://youtu.be/2nrnt9riF6I
I used to suffer from travel sickness as a child and had to eat tablets called 'Kwells'. Didn't know it at the time, but it was because I couldn't travel on an empty stomach. When a child in those days, you were invariably stuck in the back seat of a car, low down, so you couldn't even see out of the windows properly! My first two long journeys at the tender ages of six and seven (six hours, no motorways) were to St Ives. Down there, they sold little travel booklets with photos in of places around the UK. The photo of Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire used to fascinate me, but I've still yet to visit there. You won't step too far through my front door, Jim, before you come across something to remind me of the joy and experience that travel brings.Favourite travel songs: 'Theme for Great Cities', of course, and 'San Francisco' by Scott McKenzie. :-D
Wishful Thinking, China Crisis, always takes me back to my teen years as a traveller (around the UK) My track of today has to be Stay Visible, a song that generates positivity into the blood stream on days that sometimes look bleak. As it plays in our hotel room here in Birmingham, I find myself getting energised as the celebrations await us back in Leeds for St Patricks Day☘️Have a good one too JK☘️ 👉💛👈
I Left My Heart In San Francisco. I dreamt of visiting this great city in the late 70’s from behind my travel agency desk in Rutherglen. I wasn’t disappointed when I got there with the sublime Tony Bennett’s voice in my head.
Happy Paddy’s Day from Dun Laoighre
Cloudy - Simon&Garfunkel
Is that where I Travel came from Jim?
Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Never has a book made me laugh more consistently, even on a re-read. 🤖
My favourite song is genuinely I Travel, I picked it as top on a poll recently. It fits me well, as apart from music, travel is my favourite thing and through previous work I have been lucky to see many different parts of the world. My first memories are also of travelling to Blackpool with my family, many lived in Leeds so we would make a yearly visit to the illuminations, or it would be a trip to Scarborough and when they came to visit us we would be taken to places such as Braemar, Glenshee and Pitlochry. Staples when I've been on long flights tend to be Dare by The Human League or Joy Division. Currently reading The Glamour Chase, The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie.
ciao Jim bentornato ^_^ happy St Patrick day to everyone and to your family, I'm gonna read your post carefully but i take advantage to salute you I hope you're fine mmmmwuahg!
Another great reflection. I enjoy these glimpses into your travels. I can only imagine the things you must have seen over the years. I also think a book of your travels and experiences would be interesting. My song would be John Mellancamp’s Minutes To Memories. The old man reminds me of the hard work my father did. And I am constantly thinking of the line “an honest man’s pillow is his piece of mind”
Walk on the wildside by Lou Reed inspired by a novel of risky characters.
Yep, travel is both amazing and tedious but even the Saints get it wrong. I think, “Life is the book and travel, only a page.” Even so Augustine would have to agree, the New Testiment would make the top 10 travel books
I adore travelling, in fact most of the travelling I’ve done in recent years has been to see you sing! Like when hubby and I flew to Toulouse, spent one night there for a gig, took the train to Barcelona the next morning to see you perform again! ‘‘Twas magical!
Happy St Patrick's Day 🍀❤ love you all lots
Beautiful words Jim.I am sending you kisses and hugs from Belgrade ❤😊
It's amazing how far we are, from different cultures, but the feeling of sitting back in the small car going on holidays once a year is the same!!! My parents and my brother and sister used to go to the beach, on a sweet 69 Fusca (Beetle, if you prefer hahaha). No songs on the radio then. With my children we do the same, but with a pendrive full of stuff. When they were younger, "nursery" songs. But this last time we listened to BTS, Coldplay, Kate Perry, lots of Transformers soundtrack and there you were!!!! But there are some other songs of yours on our playlist. We love them! And the children love them too! And talking about places... Scotland is definetely on my bucket list!!!!! By the way, Jim, are you coming to South America soon??? I was wondering about Rock in Rio, but haven't seen the band on the news yet... 😞
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