The radio makes all the difference in the morning. Once I’m up and dressed, I head to the kitchen and turn on the music. As the cottage is all on one level, the upbeat songs drift down the hallway to The Girls and bring them into the kitchen to get dressed. It’s an early start for us, and in the winter when we leave the house in the dark it’s particularly hard so happy music is our soundtrack.
They love turning the sound up loud, of course, and we dance like loonsbarefoot on the wooden kitchen floors. There’s a scene I always think of in the movie Step Mom, where a dying Susan Sarandon is dancing round the house with her children to a classic Motown track “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. I like to think the memory of us throwing shapes around the kitchen table will stay with them both long after I have gone.
Music is important to us. We sing and we dance together. We play tracks over and over until they have learned the words or the tune or the harmony. At the beginning of the day music helps us connect with each other, gives us a positive feeling to take with us. It fills quiet moments, brightens sad moments and quells nerves. It is panacea.
The people at Goodman’s recently brought stylish panacea to our lives when they sent us the Oxford DAB Digital Radio: it has the design and feel of the 1960’s with the practicality of a modern radio. I actually stroked it when it emerged from the box, to see if it felt vintage too.
It has a beautifully turned leather handle which has function as well, since it makes the radio (which has the option of using with battery pack) fully portable. The chrome front plate and top panel are crisp and the finish on the sides actually look like it’s been made from porcelain, though obviously it’s a touch more robust.
On the top panel, there is a clear LCD scrolling display so it’s easy to navigate, along with a couple of dials for power/volume and tuning. Best of all there are preset buttons allowing easy movement between your favourite channels without having to re-tune your radio. The sound is clear and loud enough to wake my children and bring them to the dance floor. Yet the look of the radio is sympathetic enough to fit into a large cottage kitchen.
The Oxford DAB Digital Radio from Goodmans comes in four 1960’s palette colours- cream, blue, slate and green- and retails at £59.99.
*Disclosure: we were sent the radio from Goodmans for the purpose of writing this review. All opinions and images are our own.
Gorgeous! The strap makes it for me – toe-tapping design before you’ve even switched it on. Reasonably priced, too.