Roy Stannard's Blog

When you think you know it all, ask the next question

  • Indie Love Songs that defined an era 1984-5

    How a song by Ricky Gervais (Seona Dancing – More to Lose) helped me fall in love in 1984 – and sixteen other great love songs compiled here – http://wp.me/pCEKG-7t Read more

  • A letter to the six year old me

    I was a cute kid, light brown hair with bright, wide open eyes, curious about everything, trusting about a lot more. I was a first born so for the first four years of my life I was a prince, the centre of attention and the focus of everything – except that for the first five… Read more

  • England’s Dreaming

    I was working in London. I dismissed the delegates early so that they could repair to the hotel bar in order to watch the game. The feeling of anticipation mixed with a layer of fear (Germany..penalties..average age of their team 4 years younger than ours) was palpable. Read more

  • The Greatest Indie Love Songs of all Time (Vol 4)

    ‘You and me gonna be fine’. Exit hand in hand walking into the sunset. In love? This is your soundtrack. Vol 4 of the Greatest Indie Love Songs of all time. Read more

  • Extinguishing the desire to smoke

    You are not a ‘smoker’, you are someone who smokes. After four hours of coaching Miss Y was set to go, but something seemed not to be right. It was clear that she still harboured a desire to have a cigarette and that this was troubling her. The smoking habit had become a barrier to… Read more

  • The Art of Self-Presentation

    Ok, you have been asked to present a training seminar. Or make a speech. You. The You that normally chokes when asked for the time. Lost for words? More like abandoned in a huge wide open space called low self esteem. We’ll deal with the self-worth issue elsewhere – but let’s get you through that… Read more

  • Off the map?

    How often have you heard the expression ‘it’s off the map’, or ‘I haven’t planned for this’, or ‘there is no routemap for what I am going through?’ The language of life often delineates where we go and what we are prepared to try. ‘That’s off limits’, or ‘don’t go there’ have far more impact… Read more

  • Loose tongues – can you trust what your voice is saying about you?

    What do people hear – you or your voice? Is your voice saying things about you without you knowing? As someone who didn’t speak until I was five years old and who has intermittently lost my voice at times of stress in my life, I am interested in matters of the voice. What does your… Read more

  • Sea Whispers

      Sea Whispers   On the less travelled side of the horizon Two gypsy birds slide along the Channel trades The sun inlaying their jewel antics. When we were young our bodies wrote love in the sand We burned without fear of carcinoma And every star was a supernova Pieces that couldn’t help fitting together… Read more

  • The Greatest Indie Love Songs of all Time (Vol 1)

    You’ll have yours. I’ve got mine. Sixteen British Indie pop songs and one Swedish classic that changed the world. Inside my head at least. Some are deleted and impossible to find, one or two are recent and surprisingly capable of making a veteran Indie roller catch a little tear somewhere back in the throat. Geneva,… Read more