One of Whitley Bay’s redeeming features is that it has a pretty good second-hand vinyl and book shop. This, when new albums are slightly out of my budget at the moment, is very welcome indeed. After ten minutes stripping wheat from chaff, then handing over a few quid, I can leave the place with some great records. Here’s a few I’ve bought since I moved here:

• Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Signs of Life - This album is perhaps most famous for the instantly recognisable ‘Perpetuum Mobile’, a track used on countless TV adverts, mainly by One2One (I think). Ironically, when it was made, mobile phones were of the sort you had to carry around strapped to your back. This is a wonderful album, it’s just a shame that advertisers have got their mucky hands all over it.

• Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones & Rain Dogs - The shop had both of these Tom Waits classics in stock at the same time, both for 3 quid. I grabbed ’em straight away.

• Bruce Cockburn: Eponymous - Bruce Cockburn’s first album is kind of like an upbeat Nick Drake record. This album was a bit more expensive at