Hello...

If you look at the date stamp on the last post on this blog it’ll be transparently obvious that, seemingly, I’m not able (for the moment, anyway) to make time to write regularly. That has to be OK if there’s nothing useful to say but, given the year we’ve just been through, my last havens of refuge (not enough time in the day and/or nothing useful to say) have both been made to look inadequate as an excuse. What’s more, I’ve always been told that writing is therapeutic - so there’s a good reason (w)rite there to make the effort. And if it could just become a habit then, like all other habits, it becomes something that you just ‘do’ rather than something you feel you have to achieve every day…or week…or whatever..

Over my all too many years around and about the Internet I’ve come across various resources, tools, distractions and curiosities, so maybe if I start to share some of those along with a word or two of explanation about why they appeal to me then I think that would be worthwhile (should it ever assist someone else) and cathartic (in helping me achieve a higher strike rate for posting at, what should be, minimal effort).

We’ll start tomorrow - that is unless events intervene ofc 🙄

Today…

I suppose it’s become more of a lifestyle than a habit…which justifies the cost of the technology and has helped me lose more than 10kg of flab.. Good job Glynn - take a bow. 🍷 Here’s to the next 200.

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Tomorrow

…would seem to be something of a landmark. Keep safe; be kind to each other. Life’s too short.

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Hitch

Curtesy of O2 I am on my third extended free trial of Audible…which I will ultimately and willingly subscribe to. I just cannot begin to tell you how exquisite it is for me to hear Christopher Hitchens voice narrating ‘God Is Not Great’ and ‘Hitch 22’. god I miss him.

Leeds #1

In the early 1970s, the Leeds Uni. Ents. Committee had something of a well-deserved reputation. We had the choice of booking the best and we did - sometimes twice each week. Iconic albums were recorded there; both loud & gentle, beautiful music was made there; much Newcastle Brown was drunk and spilt there; loves were made and lost; hopes and dreams took flight to then crash and burn. Everything that could happen, did happen in the Refec.

One night The Strawbs came to town & we all sang along really loudly to this: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/lay-down/1443745454?i=1443746167

The bass was turned up so much it nearly brought the balcony down.

When Lindisfarne dropped by, we sang our hearts out and danced to this: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/run-for-home-live/323277378?i=323278205

That music. Yeah...that.

Death

I lost 2 friends today - one human, one feline. Neither were immediate family, but both will be sadly, sorely missed.

For me, the world is a little colder tonight...stay safe.

Monday…

So, this afternoon, I queue for 10 min in the sunshine and then take my turn to walk into the local pharmacy to collect a prescription. The mask is my latest fashion accessory. Extra points if you spot the Lacoste crocodile on it.

Here’s a pic of me queueing. ;) You’re welcome.

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As I walk inside and wait to be served, the pharmacist (who I've chatted to occasionally) walks forward from the dispensing area and, packet in hand, calls me by name and beckons me to collect the drugs. Unbelievable. I said 'How do you DO that?' He smiled. I said 'Bang goes my career as a bank robber then'. We smile together (although, of course, he couldn't see mine), and I walk out. Thank you kind pharmacist man - you made my day.

Elsewhere in Glynn's universe today, two very nice walks, however a chilly wind then kept interrupting my feeble attempts at sun worship, although hot coffee helped. My new April's resolution is to stop scrolling through so much devastating news. And please don't get me started on the incessant stream of updates about Boris Johnson's improving health...

Tomorrow is another day...hopefully Covid-19 free and with a less wintry chill in the air.

P.S. The early episodes of St. Elsewhere were amazing television in their time - they've aged pretty well too. Puts me in mind of our current situation in some respects. Stat!!

P.P.S. So were the 4 seasons of Thirtysomething when I was, erm, 30 something. Timely and timeless.

P.P.P.S A shout out for the best TV ever; Hill Street Blues. Oh, and the early series of The West Wing.

So much good telly to be grateful for at the right time in my life.

Be careful out there.

Ruse of Cimmaron

https://music.apple.com/gb/album/rose-of-cimmaron-live/43636366?i=43636337

Such a soaring, uplifting song...although not quite so much today maybe.

This morning, before coffee, I checked vital signs - temperature, blood pressure, Fever-Tree tonic water stocks...that sort of thing. I made a bacon sandwich. I always make a bacon sandwich on Sunday mornings for breakfast, so shoot me. I eat it watching the birds in the garden and drinking strong tea. That's the way I rock and roll.
Some music, some reading, some walking, some hunting for lost cinnamon that never was (hence the music) Not a great day - although I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

A hero from my school days, Stirling Moss...he only went and died today. Beyond inconsiderate. Whilst I'm on the enervating subject of mortality, a few years ago, Mark and I went to see Humph and the gang record a couple of episodes of ISIHAC. It was an unbelievably funny and fulfilling evening of entertainment. So, today, I find that Tim Brooke-Taylor has died from this shitty virus, and that makes me so, so sad. 'Can you hear them calling You know they have fallen'

Shitty, shitty virus.

P.S. This is such a lovely song - one that speaks for me: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/crazy-love/1452808024?i=1452808717

Is it Easter yet?

A morning spent doing Christ-knows-what but including some exam prep. (more on that tomorrow), some serious coffee drinking, some website link-fixing and a lovely walk around the woods. En route, who should I find but 3 well-mannered and socially distancing travellers, with an axe, tidying things up a little. 'Nuff said.
Amazon brought a new phone case (splurge), Yodel brought some coffee and Laithwaite's brought.... Dear god, thank christ for Laithwaites in my hour of need. Actually, it wasn't really my hour of need but it could have been. No, really, it could.
I checked my grocery spend this month and over £350 has gone on Cabalié and its brothers and sisters. Old men do strange things during pandemics. You can engrave that on the headstone if you wish. Also, in other news, I started using Premium on MyFitnessPal today, only to be confronted with the astonishing but barely concealed fact that over 70% of my carb. intake during the last 2 weeks has been either red wine or gin. Amazingly, I continue to lose around 0.5-1.0kg per month so I'm aiming for a similar balanced diet over the coming 4 weeks.
What?

The Dean & I

The Dean and I
Another slightly surreal day of sunshine but a cooler wind. Read a lot of newspaper stuff, some RSS stuff, a tiny amount of Fb stuff and zero Twitter stuff. Somewhere I picked up that David Icke had been sharing his opinions about the Covid-19-5G connection. Sometime, even at my age, I am rendered speechless with people's stupidity.

I know...I know... I remember the words of a long-ago boss of mine when he was Dean of Faculty....I paraphrase but it ran along the lines of 'never underestimate the capacity of intelligent people to be stupid'. My boss was a bit rough around the edges but he was a wise, wise man. His truism has been born out time and time again...and there have been occasions when I've been a prime, shining example myself. But not about 'the' virus and 5G though.

A walk in isolation, some photos, some gentle conversations and a chance to Zoom in to a couple of dear friends in Finland I've known for a lifetime. And finally a FoodHub takeaway from a favourite restaurant that really needs to be there for me when this shite is over. Overall, a good and, as yet, still Coronavirus-free day. Core temp. 36.0 degrees. We fight on...

P. S. Years ago, I went to listen to Jimmy Webb play a gig in a room beneath a football stadium in London ....he was absolutely brilliant.

Catch up Day

Today was such a non-lockdown kind of day for me.

Not in the news though, Johnson going into ICU seems really difficult to grasp if I stop to try to think about it and really try to get my head around the fact that Raab is apparently now coordinating things. The thought of Patel being next in line affords me the time and excuse for a real insanity check.

But in other respects - the warm sunny weather, some meditation practice, the pace of life, my recreational reading and listening to podcasts - all that just seemed to be taking place for me a non-contaminated world away. At least..in my mind. Anyway, I caught up on back copies of Private Eye that I'm late getting around to (more on that tomorrow), read New Humanist, delved into some of the shitstorm being reported by the Grauniad and the FT (both of which I subscribe to, in the thinking that what best passes for the truth these days lies somewhere within and between both), listened to conversations/talks by Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson whose thoughts and eloquence are now both indispensable to my wellbeing...and thanked no one in particular that another day in paradise has left me, as best I can tell, thus far virus-free. Well, not totally virus-free I'm sure, but with a sufficiently low load of the requisite variety to avoid Covid-19 this day.

Now I shall fry some steak, and I both thank and apologise to the cow for so doing. At least it's not a bat.

Christmas pudding

When you have a Christmas pudding left in the cupboard and you’re a week or two into a pandemic, there’s no choice but to eat it. Not out of neceessity, but just because you can.

I’ve walked more in the last 10 days than I ever have in my life. I’ve avoided people, found hidden places around the corner from where I’ve lived for the last 30 years that I never knew existed, eaten lavishly and drunk copiously - thanks Laithwaite’s.

Tomorrow is another day closer towards the one when the rate of increase flattens off. It can’t come a day too soon.

Where we’re at…

Sod it...I've never rated Fb anyway.


OK, so this really is probably the worst time ever to pick up a public blog thread. So many good people writing so many more pithy, apposite, erudite and really funny words elsewhere than I ever feel capable of matching.


I've embraced Day One Premium after so long...and find benefit in scribbling personal thoughts down on there. I should probably stick to that. Somehow, a public blog post feels like an indulgence but no matter. If the current outfit can't source enough ventilators during the next 3 weeks then it may not matter anyway. You get the drift of the dark thoughts that crowd in now and again...despite excellent Portuguese red wine to take the edge off things.


So...coming up fast from behind...the story of my blogging life.

Overloaded with shite and feeling somewhat out of control atm. I really need to simplify online things. Having dumped Swarm after a million posts over the years. Fb and IG could be next - likes and comments have less of an endorphin buzz than they used to.

Engagement and genuine connection matter more. They always have I think...it just takes something like this to concentrate the mind. Stay safe, and find your entertainment, respite and solace wherever works best for you.

Copenhagen #1

One of the things I love about Copenhagen (only one of the things mind you) is that at 00:30am on a Saturday winter’s evening at least 90% of the people out on the street or in the metro are totally normal. This is a little différent in summertime I grant you… but, overall, I’m completely at home here. Despite the fact I’m not particularly normal myself.

I'd forgotten just how good some of Steinman's songs really are...

…and this is one of the best ever.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now was described as ‘ostensibly a reflection on love, but imbued with the delicacy of aircraft carriers colliding at sea’. I think it’s still one of the best songs ever written. Celine Dion ‘s voice is a match for the lyrics and orchestration, as is Roy Bittan’s signature piano - but Meat and Raven do it in such style. He may have it wrong about climate change but he sure as hell can wrap his vocal chords around this one [ignore the miming and lip sync, just pretend, ok?]. Marion’s excellent too.

Welcome to 2020

Belatedly, a very happy Christmas and all the very best for 2020. We'll probably need all of that and then some... Another full year has ended; actually, it's a decade that's ended. To plagiarise a phrase "Woosh'. 'What was that?' That was your life mate'" .

2019 began in Cornwall watching the fireworks at St. Ives in Cornwall - a town that I love for more reasons than I can begin to explain and one that we visited once again in sunny July. 2019 ended in Cornwall too...watching the fireworks in St. Ives. Pictures to follow. In January I went to Finland to see some dear friends. Finland and January are two words that should be seldom used in the same sentence. In this case doubly so...it was -21 degrees C as I stood on the dark railway station platform waiting for the rumbling monster to come out of the dark night to take me back to Helsinki. Bracing does not do it justice. Still, it was wonderful to see some dear friends again and, as I'm clearly going senile, it will come as no surprise to hear that I am off there again in a couple of days.

Some trips to Copenhagen to see friends and listen to lots of interesting music, long weekends in London, including a visit to Remainiacs Live (all that hard work didn't turn out so well!), a delightful visit to the majestic laburnum arch at Bodmin Gardens and a job offer from China that, stupid old man that I've become, seemed oh-so-tempting. In the end, after some heart searching, it had to be a 'no thanks' to that.

As indeed it was a 'no thanks' to the EU from the fine people of the UK following the Tory victory in the GE. My dad might have been proud, I think. Although I suspect even he would have drawn the line somewhere above Johnson, Raab and Patel. Me? Still think it is the biggest national act of self harm we could have scraped out of the political barrel but then that's one reason that I'm not a politician.

I'll report on the frozen feet and frostbitten fingers next week.

Rick Wakeman

Finally got around to seeing and hearing the legend Himself at the majestic Buxton Opera House yesterday. Lovely, distinctive, relaxing style about his playing. And he’s played with everyone at sometime or another. And he’s looking pretty good, bearing in mind the mileage!

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