Music is an outburst of the soul.

Delius said this. He of 'On hearing the first cuckoo in spring' and 'The Walk to the Paradise Garden' fame. If that IS fame. Not if you've never heard of it, it isn't.

Don't call me highbrow. My mind is on much less ethereal music. I turned the radio on this morning, in the car on the way to the yard - Heart FM, if you must know - and there was the Electric Light Orchestra with Mr. Blue Sky.

Immediate smile, lusty singing and a flood of happy memories.

Mr. Blue Sky was released in 1977.

In that year, I was in Liverpool, I graduated from university and I got married.

My life was indeed one of endless blue skies and sunshine.

It's lovely to be taken back there in an instant.