Old Posts

Well this week has been a little successful at work and managing not to do that much walking then I realised that it's only Tuesday. I was looking through past posts and found that I had recorded the fact that Anthony Newley co wrote "Feelin' Good" and recorded a decent version of it himself which you can listen to here

This is one of the reasons that I keep blogging, reading that post makes me think I can write something that is useful, perhaps not tonight, but every now and then I can, and that thought will keep me writing.

Although I am almost embarrassed by the brevity of some of my old posts, although if it's just a diary entry then you may not have to write all that much, just that something happened or caught your eye or ear, and maybe post a picture or some video.

I wasn't actually going to write anything tonight, but it is quite early, so I though maybe just share a few lines with you.

I am still enjoying "The Fourteenth Letter" but am now on the home straight and it has been far more enjoyable than I expected, but I am quite a slow reader, but am now eyeing up my text book to read.

So as I am going back I'll share my slideshow from when I took part in lighting Hadrian's Wall soundtracked by Ash's "Shining Light".

Moonfall

I was watching an episode of Stan Lee's "Lucky Man" and saw a speeded up timelapse sequenceeof the moon falling towards a river, and thought "Moonfall" sounds quite lovely.

It is Friday and it has been an interesting day, and despite feeling tired and getting some aches in my right side I've still nearly clocked up 20K steps and expect to do something similar next weekend too, with a walk to Wylam with Fiona, Mark, Molly and Kirsty, and an opportunity to give Juliet her blue vinyl copy of "A Life Less Ordinary" by Ash.

I am quite tired, but thought Iwould leave a note  to potentially get a little nearer #August50. This means I am averaging 2 a day so far in August, and incidentally the last post was post number 1666 in a pointer towards the Great Fire of London. It was just a small coincidence that I thought I would mention which makes this post 1667.

So we are now in 2018 steaming towards 2019 and it's 22:28 and maybe it is time for my bed.

I just been flicking through a pile of CDs and there is stuff in there I didn't know i had, I mean my taste is impeccable, but it's a bit worrying when you have stuff you didn't know you had. I am slowly putting things for sale on Discogs but that's the merest scratch on the surface.

Still I will leave you with something that I know I have before I go to bed, the wonderful "Pleasure" by Baxter Dury.

Ooops

After doing the 15000 Step Challenge that finished on 20th of March I said that I wanted to maintain ten thousand steps a day. On Sunday I decided to visit some Roman Ruins in Benwell a little video here and a photo montage here) .

Despite living here for fifteen years, I had never been despite knowing about it and being so close to the line of Hadrian's Wall (which I helped light up in 2010 - so I've included the video of that and there's a lot of articles on it such as this on the BBC).

Anyway I've managed to go off on a complete tangent.

After the Roman Ruins, I needed to do more steps, but suddenly felt like I was walking through treacle, walking became very difficult, and I was on Nunsmoor and nowhere near a bench or housing. I had completed my steps but was feeling close to collapse, feeling like I'd been kicked and battered, aching limbs like when you get 'flu', and feeling queasy and worried I was going to throw up. I was not feeling good.

I eventually got to a bus stop where Fiona met me, where eventually a bus turned up and then I got home and went straight to bed. I slept and drank a litre of fizzy orange and then I was OK to watch some TV and have some soup.

The following I thought I maybe have to give it a rest, but it was foggy and I thought I may get some good pictures, so thought I would walk over Nunsmoor and took this video here. That meant that I still hit 11K steps yesterday so my idea of giving myself a rest didn't happen. The thing is, I do need to exercise and lose about 30Kg (I weigh 106Kg) , and am thinking maybe on Sunday I became dehydrated.

So today I will walk in again, well part of the way, and hopefully hit my 10K steps which is about 5 miles.

The music in the video is "Shining Light" by Ash , which is my daughter Juliet's favourite band.

Have a great Tuesday everyone

The Dangers of Letting Me Make Porridge

I am diabetic , you all know that. I treat it very casually , you all know that. I do what I'm supposed to do you all know that, and the fact I am still here is testament to my general life regime. The NHS has been brilliant in their support of me, with some superb support from across the spectrum , especially my brilliant surgery , Thornfield Medical Group, who I would recommend unreservedly to anybody and NUTH Hospitals who I have both worked for and been treated by over the last few years.

You get the odd well meaning pedant , like the nurse who told me I had to live off carrots and celery, and the nurses and doctors who keep banging about me getting out of a car and sitting in the passenger if I have a hypo while driving. As I diabetic I have to check my blood sugar levels at least every two hours when driving , and I always do this before getting behind the wheel. If the blood sugar was low I would not get in that car, and the day I have a hypo while driving is the day I give up driving. But as I bang on about the odd pedant I have to tell you about the nurse who brilliantly analogised the benefits of Omega 3 Oil as a brillo pad for your veins and arteries (everyone and I mean EVERYONE) should take Omega 3, the brilliant consultant who , although trialling me on a liver drug which resulted in identifying my cirrhosis (which means I can take extra care of myself  in that area) , who also noticed muscle wastage in my left hand which I had lost the horizontal use of, eventually kicking of some tests that discovered a weird trap nerve carpal tunnel syndrome combination that has resulted in a 90% restoration of the functionality of my left hand, we original thought it may have been a TIA or a stroke (which I may have had around the turn of the century when I got hit by ITP).

But as usual I've gone sort of off subject before I've started, but it's really that porridge is the best breakfast anyone can have and it's particularly good for diabetics. It is one of the few foods you can buy that does have sugar as one of it's ingredients (most other cereals have loads) , although the sachets and quick porridge brands have loads of added sugar., just go with a box of Quaker Oats and you can't go wrong (though I'm on Aldi's stuff at the moment). Anyway the way I make porridge is half a cup of  dry porridge oats , a cup of skimmed milk , then put in a pan and stir together and but on the hob on the lowest heat and come back when you are ready to eat (at least 30 minutes) , add some fruit for taste , chopped apple , banana, raisins or sultanas , and you have a perfect start to the day. After that you DO NOT feel like snacking at all , it's very slow release, Perfect.

Porridge has many forms

And now the dangers..... I was once working from home , put the porridge on about 7am and the started work. I was so engrossed in my work that I forgot about the porridge until a cooking smell wafted upstairs that I noticed about 11:30 am. Amazingly because of the low heat, adding another cup of skimmed milk and stirring it it resulted in a great breakfast ... at dinnertime.

Then yesterday ,I had porridge for breakfast , but came home to find I had forgotten to switch off the hob , so it had been on all day, but luckily only on the low heat which means you don't see a red glow  when you take the pan off, so that didn't do my energy conservation much good.



Anyway today I'm going to see Ash with I used to soundtrack my YouTube video that I did when I took part in Lighting Hadrian's Wall which I've include with this even though the only connection is me. Have a great day, I'm going to the Chase Park Festival with my girls , and friends and their families (who are all girls!)  so you enjoy yourself , I'm gonna enjoy mine

Sometimes....

I feel the urge to write about something but I've really nothing to write about that is interesting or has caught my imagination.

Last weekend I managed to completely miss the Mouth of Tyne and Corbridge Festivals which I attended last year, that almost shocked me. One of the problems may be that there is just so much going on that it did manage to pass me by.

Next weekend I'm going to see Big Country in Scotland and then just after that Ash play Chase Park in Whickham , not forgetting Summertyne that is going on this weekend.

I've written about all these in previous years mainly on the Spoongig site so will probably update if I get time after those festival.

Oh and tomorrow we have a Pride March in Newcastle. I like diversity and love to acknowledge and be part of it. Sometime people forget what GAY means (acronym for Good As You) , which we should all feel we are.

Also now I'm going off on a language tangent about the word "Homosexual".

"Homo" can mean man as in "Homo Sapiens" , or the same as in say "Homogenous"

I'm doing all the reasoning without referring to anything so my reasoning can probably be blown out of the water.

But "Homosexual" uses the meaning of the same , but I suppose in male / male relationships could be misconstrued as man.

Anyway , although I'm  "straight" all my friends delight me , whatever their orientation , and they are part of a rich and diverse tapestry that I am so lucky to be enmeshed in.

All You Need To Know

So I'm gonna choose Tom Robinson's "Glad To Be Gay" , a great singalong song which me and my mates had great fun with putting on the jukeboxes in severely homophobic pubs in the late seventies. It was fun because we were well able to take care of ourselves . Also reminds of the time me and three mates went to see a Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"  lecture in Newcastle's Centre For Life . We are not the smallest of frames and we were sat at a table in the what I believe is a gay pub called "Barons" , when a girl came up to us and asked "Are You Gay?" in hushed tones , to which my mate Chris replied "But Of Course We Are!" somewhat louder.

Anyway , It's time for bed and I have managed to ramble on for quite a bit about nothing. Sleep well my friends

Summer Solstice

Well the longest day is here and light is fading , celebrations are taking place and I was struck by a pause for thought I heard today on BBC Radio 2. The guy said that rather than celebrating the longest day and  midsummer and the light , lots of people see it as the return of darkness and it's all downhill from here.

There are many ways to view things and when the weather is good certain people seem to focus on the fact it will soon be raining. Celebrate the moment , and remember when it rains you don't have to water your gardens. Usually the positives to take from every situation but it's not always clear what the positives are. Anyway the guy talked about shining the light and I'm going to choose this video I did of "Illuminating Hadrian's Wall" soundtracked by my daughter Juliet's favourite band Ash playing "Shining Light":