THIS IS A JOURNEY INTO SOUND

Listening to music on the move used to be a huge part of my life until a few years ago. As a naturally quiet and shy person i rarely made smalltalk with strangers, so putting in my earphones and turning up the volume was second nature to me. I grew up in the heyday of the Walkman, so from the age of about 11 i was rarely without one, although mine were always cheaper models - the ALBA brand springs immediately to mind! - and my clumsy adolescent hands meant that they often broke, so both walkman and headphones/earphones were constantly being replaced. In addition to this i was never without a stack of blank cassettes, recording from vinyl, the radio, and occasionally from friends tapes via the "magic" of high speed dubbing. Listening to music whilst walking to school or during my paper round meant i could block out the world, and bury myself in sound. My first pre-recorded tape was Schubert Dip by EMF, who i was a huge fan of at the time, and i listened to it constantly, obse