Month: March 1988

Hinge – 29th March 1988

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I heard you whinge, whinge, whinge
You look like you’re on the fringe
You’re just about to unhinge
See you in the surfy water
Every day another daughter
Take them to a bloody slaughter

12th Dec 2021 – I’m sure I wasn’t the first but I’m happy to say I rhymed daughter and slaughter before Iron Maiden.

In 1995, after moving to the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia I got involved with PCR-FM and did a radio show there which I called Unhinged and my name was The Hinge. Most times I played music I was into, other times I did noise sets (sometimes with collaborators), utilising the vacuum cleaner stored at the station.

It’s kinda odd to think about how quickly I made things happen in Australia. Australia was very lethargic in comparison with England so it was to my advantage in some ways. I took every opportunity to get on and do things and get involved. It took me many years to slow down a little.

On Form – 24th March 1988

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Like some old dog running down the track
Waiting for someone to pat you on the back
Your fits ain’t laughter, you just want to die
Your form book says twenty to one but no one asks why

24th Mar 2023 – I’m trying to reimagine and identify the protagonist here. Probably not a person in particular but a stereotype. Someone doing what is expected of them, playing the game, running the race but secretly hating themselves. That was something I didn’t aspire to.
I could hate myself as much as anyone but I would hate to have been seen as boring. Perhaps it was also my own way to boost my ego, to feel superior, misguidedly or not.

Any Change? (No) – 22nd March 1988

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

Watch out for them on the corner of the street
Pissed out of their heads, knocked off their feet
‘Fuck Authority’ badges and ‘I Hate You’ shirts
Laughing at the people coming home from work

There’s a song they sing, a favourite phrase
They sing it every day like a brand new craze

‘Here mate, have you got any change?’
You look at me like that, I’m not so fuckin’ strange
‘Well fuck off then you tight old wank,
I know you’ve got some money, I saw you in the bank’

Don’t come up to me with your poor excuses
What you give is what you get so no one loses
You’re always telling me about scrounging off the state
All you end up doing is reaffirming all the hate

This song that you sing, I forgot the words
Why don’t you go away, you’re not being heard

You’d like to get pissed, it makes you feel good
You ‘don’t want their fuckin’ law’, but maybe you should
You’ll piss and moan when someone steals your money
The cops are gonna look at you and find it fuckin’ funny

Get off your arse and start acting what you preach
You know you’ve got a goal, that’s something you can teach
You sit back and laugh at others in their plight
Why don’t you help out and get something right

23 Nov 2025 – A bit of a confusing diatribe about the ‘chaos’ punks in the UK at the time

Sweets – 20th March 1988

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I will eat just any sweets
Bounty’s, Mars and Treats
But there is one that drives me loopy
You just can’t beat those Tootie Fruities

20th March 2023 – Trying to remember what Treats were it appears that they were actually called Treets and seem to be a superior version of Peanut M&Ms. I actually never really liked Mars bars, preferring Marathons (as Snickers were called then). As for Bounties I really loved the Dark Chocolate one but for some reason, they were really hard to find.
Looking up a picture of Tootie Fruities I see that they have now been discontinued in 2019! Sometimes I would just pour the whole pack into my mouth, sometimes with a few sips of black tea to soften them up, then enjoy the mixing of the mad flavours as they galvanised into a huge chewy clump. Other times I would tip them out and eat them in ascending order of favourite flavours. This is something I didn’t really consider about other people who had siblings and would have to eat them in descending flavour order. Has this affected my personality? I think so! I can easily defer satisfaction and enjoy the anticipation.
After moving to Australia in 1994 I really missed British candies. Australia has less variety and is more Americanised. Eventually, one or two stores did specialise in sweets from the UK and I would enjoy a nostalgic 50 grams of mint imperials or midget gems, often spending way too much on a haul.
My absolute favourite sweets were from the local shop in Horton, Dorset and were only available for a short while when one shopkeeper was running things there. I guessed they were some kind of local mix but they were the best ever though I’d be hard-pushed to tell you exactly what they contained, except there being things of a green apple flavour, which whilst more common now was very unusual then.
Getting distracted with looking on Google Maps, it seems that the Horton shop is no longer there, Holt shop too – just as the Gaunts shop had closed when I was still living there. I wonder if, but doubt that, they still make the magazine Country Life which my grandparents often had around the house. Is it this feeling of simpler times that has led me to country life in Chiang Rai?
I still visit the lolly shops whenever I’m back in the UK and there’s no chance of finding anything like that here in North Thailand.