The Vivian Girls are visited in the night by Saint Dargarius and his Squadron of Benevolent Butterflies

It took me to the early part of the 21st century to get a mobile phone but since then  I've embraced 21st century thinking and I'm not really a technophobe.  I love ipods. However I can't quite get into downloading new music. I have to buy it on CD. The other week I logged onto itunes to buy the Vivian Girls album and almost convinced myself, before retreating to HMV to buy the CD. I never even listen to the CDs, I download them straight onto my Mac and listen to them through my ipod. I like being able to touch my music. 

But CDs are on their way out and I guess on the day I turn up to HMV to see the floors are empty, the CDs gone, the CD racks dismantled to make way for a roller disco, then I'll simply turn around, go home and download them. The thing is I don't think I'll even miss CDs that much.

 I liked them when they first appeared though, I liked the fact you could get a miniature version of an album. It reminded me of this alphabet chart we had at primary school and we had our own individual ones, which were miniature versions of the one the teacher used to teach us the alphabet. I remember they were orange and black. Once you'd learnt the alphabet they took your chart away. So when I had learnt the alphabet I was disappointed, because I was going to lose my miniature alphabet chart. 

When I lived in Liverpool I took my newly bought Sufjan Stevens album in and John Harrison read the track about the Vivian Girls out in gleeful disbelief. John's from Wigan and used to sit on the bank of desks behind us looking up the Wigan Athletic website, while Andy and Paul discussed their plans to move to New Zealand. Since I left I heard that John's wife was offered a teaching post in New Zealand, so John and his family upped sticks and moved to the other side of the world. Andy and Paul are still discussing it.