Depression - The Ginger Quiff

Mindful March

March 4, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Let’s not sugar coat it. January was shite. If anything, February was worse…

I’m willing to bet I’m not the only person that in any “normal” year hates the early months of a new year. The promise of a buoyant New Year seen through the haze of a Hogmanay dram, usually fades to a miserable grey thought as the realisation hits. It’s January.

I mean, January and February are normally a barren wasteland of dark mornings and dark evenings. Days and nights of nothing much happening after the hustle and bustle of December. 2021 has added a whole new dimension of shite to the mix.… Read the rest

Cup & Nuzzle Productions

January 31, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

I feel it is very remiss of me not to have featured this podcast production company before now, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

Ok, so there is an element of nepotism here. Cup & Nuzzle is a production company co-founded by BBC6 Music presenter, and drummer from Menswe@r, one of my favourite bands to rise out of the awfully named Britpop “scene”, Matt Everitt and of course, and perhaps more importantly, my talented cousin, Graham Hodge.

I know of several people who have spent a large proportion of the last 12 months furloughed due to the worldwide pandemic.… Read the rest

Lockdown Ramblings

December 10, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I recently almost killed the Ginger Quiff website. I had reached a point where it wasn’t giving me any joy, it wasn’t serving the purpose I first started it for. It felt like a chore and I was putting myself under stress and pressure to get some content up. I began to see it as an unimportant “nice to have”. And in many ways, it is. Nothing I write is going to change the world or have a massive effect on anyone’s life. Well, that’s not entirely true, it has made a massive difference to my life since I started writing.… Read the rest

Bob Vylan – We Live Here – album review

June 8, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I have been angry, truly angry. But ultimately, I know my heart is full of love.

In the last week or so my mental health has taken a dip. While I thought I was dealing well with the current situation, it would appear otherwise. I can’t put my finger on one particular trigger, the low point I reached was the culmination of several factors.

Anger (is an energy?)

I was an incredibly angry version of myself last weekend. So much so that I received a very scathing and personal direct message – accusing me of having “a lot of anger” and having “no love in me”.… Read the rest

Lockdown ramblings…

May 12, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I’ve being doing a lot of internal reflection on the back of the latest seemingly ill thought out random series soundbites and subsequent bumbling backtracking and mixed messages coming from Downing Street, apparently without any real plan or substance to back them up. While I feel that many of us with some common sense have been able to live by the guidelines up until now, these new messages have just caused confusion amongst many. This isn’t really a political post though. The statement and subsequent fallout were merely a trigger.

Home Truths

It brought home a few realisations and home truths.… Read the rest

Fistymuffs – We Fight EP review

April 28, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Feisty feminist Riot Grrrl/punks Fistymuffs have recently released their second EP, We Fight. And I’m delighted to say the four tracks on offer live up to the EP title. The four songs see the trio pulling no punches as they deliver their manifesto in a powerfully incisive manner.

Hey You! is typically vociferous rallying cry. Ashley’s urgent vocal pleading with the listener, over choppy dissonant post punk guitars, to give themselves a metaphorical shake, to wake up and smell the coffee and stand up for themselves. “Listen to me” she implores with increased desperation as the song reaches its climax.

Ashley and her co-vocalist Suky are both performance poets and it is Suky who takes lead vocal on Riots Not Diets.… Read the rest

Carol Hodge – Savage Purge – Interview and Review

February 28, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

Roots

Ahead of the release of her latest work of genius, Savage Purge on the 30th of March, I had the privilege to catch up with fellow Hodge, Carol. I don’t often meet other Hodges, so I had to ask about her roots and whether she had ever investigated her family tree…

Yeah, well, funnily enough my mum did, she was into genealogy for a while, so she did our family tree. I was born in Greenock, we lived in Port Glasgow when I was a kid. All my family comes from around there.

Then going back far enough, from Ireland, it was maybe like the 1700s when the first Hodge came over.

… Read the rest

Caroline Flack – a reflection

February 16, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I don’t know much about Caroline Flack. I don’t watch Love Island and I haven’t been aware of much of the fall out of recent events. This weekend’s tragic events are no less affecting despite my lack of knowledge. I’m not going to pretend I know all the ins and outs of what led to this young woman taking her own life, but I’ve read enough to know that there were probably several contributing factors.

Kind of hypocritical as I’m sharing this via social media, but a combination of vile red tops creating exaggerated salacious press stories combined with vicious trolling via several social media outlets surely would have had an impact on her state of mind.… Read the rest

Back, like a bad penny…

December 9, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m back. Like a bad penny.

I’ve been away from the Ginger Quiff for a short while, but still probably longer than I had initially hoped or intended. Like many others, balancing work and life is sometimes a challenge. Occasionally, that constant juggling of commitments ends up in us dropping a ball.

At times though, it must be a conscious decision to juggle with less balls to make it easier on yourself.

Take a break

Initially, it wasn’t a conscious decision to step away from my blog, I just lacked the free time and head space to give it the quality time I wanted to.… Read the rest

Mental Health Awareness Day 2019

October 10, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

Once again, Mental Health Awareness Day/Week has crept up us. It is still a shame that we have a focus like this on Mental Health, that it isn’t yet something that is fully accepted into society and people can speak openly in social or work situations without others judging, outwardly or inwardly, or experiencing feelings of guilt or embarrassment. Having said that, I know there are inroads being made and the more people that do feel they can speak up, the better. More and more organisations are seeing the benefit of having policies around Mental Health and making workplaces safe spaces where people get the support they require rather than being judged or labelled as lazy, or an absence statistic that needs dealt with.… Read the rest