Sick Leave - - #Oktoberfest #10 - Java Blues - Rick Danko

We're going no alcoholic for today's #Oktoberfest with Rick Danko showing his versatility on "Java Blues". People often say they "need a drink" which is something I have never understood and it's usually alcohol or coffee when that phrase pops up. I have always drunk for my own pleasure and never needed drink to either wake me up or calm me down. Maybe I am just lucky or don't understand my own cravings.

I managed to find a live version of this song at The Band reunion concert in 1984.

Just a thing about having time off work for not feeling well, I am sure in my first twenty years I would have no qualms about ringing in and resting to ensure that I was fit in a day or two and fully functional. There was always someone to cover for me if I wasn't there.

These days it seems that's not really an option. I do see people off for illness but unless I am hosptalised I feel that I need to go into work because maybe 80% of what I do cannot be done by anyone else. While we all need to become more productive and work smarter, it used to be you were rewarded by pay rises and bonuses, but now it's you are allowed to keep your job and if you are not happy then leave. A sad situation and I actually work in a relatively decent environment with a great team.

The thing is I felt extremely run down with a sore throat yesterday but work was the priority, not getting better. I had an early night and feel a bit better today but need to get to Leeds today.

So have a great Thursday.

I Think I'll ......

How many times do you decide to do a trivial task and it turns into a hell of a lot more than you expected. Today was bin day so I thought I'd just empty the bin in the bedroom last night, this then turned into every bin in the house before dragging out the bin to the the street for the binmen's convenience.

Then there was a couple of days washing up to deal with and one small fabric wash turned into three biggish loads which have to be hung to dy after they've finished, but to make room had to take a load of towels off the drying racks to make room.

Then dug dug out my only two unripped Cracker albums, "Kerosene Hat" and "Redux - Greatest Hits" and I use iTunes to rip CDs. Remember in the early days of Java, when every time you wanted to use a Java enabled app you had to download and install the latest 2 Mb installation and this was pre broadband, it was bloody painful. Well that's what iTunes (and probably all other Apple updates) is like today, 250 Mb to give you the same as you had before with probably more advertising.

The I start ripping "Kerosene Hat" and find it has a hundred tracks on it, most of which are blank spacers, decided it would be quickest to rip and then delete.

So taking a lot longer to do things I expected to do yesterday and today.

ALso my lurgi (I'm off to the docs tomorrow) is causing me to fall behind on my walking targets, so September maybe the first month where I fail tohit the 340K target. It's not bothering me too much as I think it's maybe taking energy that should be going towards recuperation, but we shall see.

So I'll leave you with another Cracker song "Low".

Enjoy your Wednesday

Hook-a-Gate and iPad Annoyances

Well finally got to Hook-a-Gate yesterday and although there’s little phone signal (E at best certainly no 4G) the cottage does actually have free Wi-Fi.  However as usual the iPad refuses to acknowledge that the signal exists, so I can only access the internet through the iPad by tethering to my Samsung Note 2 with the weak mobile signal although I suppose I could tether to the wifi with the phone then tether to the phone but that might just tie it in knots.

Hook-a-Gate is a small village in Shropshire with a couple of pubs, one of which, The New Inn , is incredibly busy but welcoming and does superb food. While there is obviously money in the village the prices in the pub are extremely reasonable.

The Old Coach House where we are staying comes complete with cat who has an enormous sense of entitlement and seems to think it owns the place. You can check the details here.

Oh yes and the laptop has a Java update that insists on getting you to install the Ask Toolbar and McAfee PC Slow Down Software. I recently spent an hour decluttering  someone’s PC after telling them it was OK to install the Java update forgetting to tell them to uncheck the Ask and McAfee installs. There was another piece of software on there , apparently recommended by RBS which effectively wouldn’t let you uninstall it because it was “protecting” the PC. Most of this is the equivalent of fitting four Denver boots to your car and throwing away the keys to make sure it doesn’t get stolen and you don’t have a crash.

Anyway time to have something to ea.

Oh we're also currentlly watching The Wire with it's excellent opening Tom Waits penned credits song , "Way Down In The Hole".