Early Morning Observations

And there isn't really that much to observe as it's pitch black outside, but it seems calm , with a little wind. The good thing about getting up at 5am and getting probably a 6.45 train to work is that you get get to see the sunrise on the east coast. There are likely to be some glorious pictures, but most are unphotographable from a train because of the reflections caused by the window. But at least I will get to see them. and they do help set you up for the day.

Well lat night I was messing with the iPad / Garageband / Alesis dock set up before eventually getting it to work and got down a few ideas for a piano piece which I may continue with tonight.

Have a Nice Day

So this is just a short post, have a wonderful day everyone, and always keep focussing on the positives, there are a lot of them out there.

Mandolins and Six

Just been amazed by the amount of rain today, so no need to water the garden then. Also had the lights replaced in the kitchen though the unit uses halogen and need to replace the with LEDs. Worked at hope and got through a lot more than I expected despite fighting with a network on a selective go slow. Anyway the weekend is here and hopefully I can relax a little.

John Peel playing Mandolin

I'm another year older in numbers but I'm still 15 in my head, looking for fun things to do and ways to enjoy myself. I need to learn more things to play , try a bit of composition on the old iPad maybe using the wonderful Garageband . Was messing about on the mandolin while waiting for files to load today , and just love how the mandolin sounds. I reckon I could compose a song with just two chords on the mandolin, just love how it sounds. Never forget John Peel miming with one with Rod Stewart doing Maggie May on Top of the Pops. Probably made that connection cos I'm listening to his son Tom Ravenscroft on the radio at the moment.

Anyway I feel remarkably relaxed, and ready for the weekend. Looking forward to lots of good things , having lots of fun , and having a great time . Hope you all have a great time too.

There's Always Something New - Like IOS7

Just had a phone call asking me to be part of a Patients Focus Group for my doctor's surgery, I've agreed to it but going to have to fit the first meeting in between work and a concert.

I got my IOS7 this morning and not impressed so far. Icons look rubbish and first TED talk failed. Download worked OK , but hate new pin lock on it. Still I will get used to it, whether it's Apple , Android or Windows you are locked into their system.

But this, in theory gives us new places to explore and visit , and maybe there will be new frustrations but there will be great things to discover. Though still think the new Icons look horrible.

On the plus side the sun is shining again, and I'm still buzzing after last night's Wire gig , plus there's another gig on Monday. Chapter one of my book is coming along .

So I have my suit out , shirt ironed , tie put aside for tomorrow's interview. I sure tomorrow will be an eventful and successful day for me , and looking forward to it.

Rain Is Good

It's raining again, but only to be expected at this time of year. Maybe I should have mowed the lawn yesterday , but not to worry.

I'm almost shocked at the amount of good music around , if you want new stuff there's the excellent band from Northern Ireland The Strypes who are still under 17 , while at the other end of the age spectrum Yoko Ono has a brilliant new album out . Add to that new offerings from Franz Ferdinand, Janelle Monae,  Manic Street Preachers , Bill Callahan , Elvis Costello and The Roots, and many many more the music scene seems to be thriving. And next week I am going to see Wire for the first time in my life. You can find all of these on Youtube and Amazon or just go and see them if you get a chance.

Another success is that I finally manage to export a piece I'd put together in Garageband that I'd originally meant as an accompaniment for a World Book Night montage , but forgot about it and used some random Anthony Gormley images as well as the odd skyline. But it's nothing special , it just means now I can actually use Garageband as a studio now about 15 moths after gettin all the relevant bits and pieces.

So enjoy the rain , enjoy your day and enjoy your music.

Fighting With My Left Hand:It's Alright Ma ... It's Only Severe Nerve Damage

...which may sound negative , but on fact it's actually very positive. The human body has a remarkable ability to just mend itself, in fact your body is continually repairing itself and you don't actually realise it. I learned that from my first brush with ITP when Juliet and Kirsty were around 4 and 2 and I was really frightened that I wouldn't see the grow up. When I was shaving and cut myself , the bleeding didn't stop , so I had to let a beard grow! Don't think the girls remember , but they were amused by it , that was around 1986.

Well I recorded me messing about on the bass, and I am trying to play some proper chords on the acoustic guitar. Electric is not an option to youtube unless I think of an instrumental to do. The thinkg is I still can't get Garageband to export a composition to iTunes, but I can record video as you can see above. The song is an extremely simple Neil Young composition "Love Is A Rose". Now this isn't about showing off or anything , it's just that a couple of months ago I couldn't hold a plate or turn a key with my left hand, now , with difficulty I can master a basic "G" chord. I've just used G,A and D and missed out the fancy bits , but I my hand is very slowly getting better.

So all in all things are improving , and the future is looking bright 

Happy Days

Another gorgeous red sky this morning after the ones last night . Is that a good or a bad thing. I can't say I really care because it's going to be a good day.  If it rains you don't have to water your garden , if the sun shines you just feel better anyway.

Me Then

Me Now

This morning my arms aren't aching as much despite another session on the Wii last night and I'm am feeling a lot better in myself , especially as I can now fit into a T-Shirt my daughter Kirsty bought me many years back , but was unable to wear without looking like Matt Lucas' Last Gay in the Village!






Anyway have a job application to complete , work to do , and need to get myself out the house. I've wasted loads of time this morning because I made the mistake of thinking that transferring photographs from my iPad to my PC via the iCloud Photostream wuld be simple. Yes I could see the photos , I could delete them , I could share them with people , I could make them public but I couldnt actually open them or copy them !! Thank you intuitive Apple . You know on Windows we have this thing called drag and drop. It is simple , intuitive and works.

That's my Apple rant over and for some reason the wonderful Television song Days came into my head!!

Early Morning Rain

Well a trip to Penrith today , and hope the weather turns out better that it is looking now. Yesterday was like that a deluge during the night followed by early morning rain and then by home time blue skies. Check out my Instagram feed here . Hope the light will be good enough to take some photographs and I'm takeing both my cameras and my iPad just in case I get the opportunity for some good shots.

I will be traveling along the route of the River Tyne from Newcastle parallel to Hadrians Wall , which I helped light up in 2010. Check the link above and you will find some video . One thing about taking photographs and videos is that you never actually appear in them , although then again I could not afford to keep replacing the broken lenses, I think I've only seen a handful of acceptable photographs of me and the current profile pic is over five years old , so need to replace that soon .

Anyway , I know today will brighten up , there are lots of good things happening , and I will see some wonderful scenery, but will leave you with the excellent Gordon Lightfoot song eponymous with this post:

Three fingers , Left Hand and a real Bass Guitarist

The little finger is slowly improving , I think , but still waiting to see a neurologist. The muscle wastage is visible , and not sure what that will mean in the future, I've been playing about with Garageband on the iPad and still trying to extricate my first (very basic) composition out of it. Each time it just stops working but it's great to play with . Anyway, I'm still having difficulty with guitar , though I've taught myself a rudimentary "Smokestack Lightnin'" m but still trying .

So I thought I'd maybe try the Tanglewood . I still can only use three fingers, but thought I'd try a bit of bass improvisation . Just recorded this too iPad so not trying to impress anybody , but it's ages since I even held a bass and so just did a little two minute improvisation , on quiet so not to annoy the neighbours too much. Stanley Clarke it is not!

I'm happy with the first try as nothing was planned and only just decided to do it now. So it's just a progress report and the hand is doing OK!!

Here's some real bass playing !!

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".

Positively Now Street

Not sure what to say this post is about. There's a lot of bad things happening , mostly to people fairly far removed from me. It's therefore easy to write about stuff complaining about the bad , and lets face it it's always easy to find something wrong or to complain about stuff , without having an idea how to fix it. Anyway I always lokk for good stuff , positives , things to make me smile. I love seeing pics of my daughter Juliet and her fiance Paul's cat and the fantastic meals they make  and my daughter Kirsty's music and gaming posts  and her and Mark's dogs' Moll's pictures and videos. There is a lot in life to enjoy.

My Music Boxes - Abba , Roxy , Little Feat etc

Anyway a couple of things I was looking at a small part of my record collection , particularly the Original Album series and other boxes and  realised than the starting with Madness - The Lot and finishing with Little Feat's Original Album series contains around 100 CDs which is approximately 100 hours or four continuous days of (though I say it myself) excellent music. And that's just a single row on a rack. I'm still ripping this lot to hard disc so I can listen through my home network.

This week I was introduced to the attrociously named Deezer , which has an equally attrocious sign up process expecting a Facebook account these days , but once you're on it is effectively a music library service. You never own the music but for a fiver a month you can listen to anything they have , although the excellent Tempest by Bob Dylan is missing from their base , but I have been listening to the new British Sea Power album courtesy of Deezer.

My home studio - now operational

The other thing is that I finally have my home studio working consisting of an iPad with Garageband and a couple of other music software things, plus an Alesis I/O Dock and Q49 Keyboard , all now working after months of trauma getting things to talk to each other.

The I/O Dock lets you plug things into it like guitars and microphones so expect to have something online this week , just a bit of ambient improvisation , but that has made me really happy as well. Just hope the noise that comes out thats good.

I finished EH Gombrich's A Little History Of The World , the book I'll be distributiong for World Book Night 2013 and think I write a piece and put together a video montage of this years books. But we shall see. Any the book is excellent and fantastic for any parents with children under twelve who are open to learning about history. Well written and jargon free. Recommended for anyone.

Finally next week have tickets to see Omid Djalili at The Stand in Newcastle so things are generally good.

Not Maintaining Standards

Despite the fact I'm impressed with my iPad, Apple continue to flabbergast me with their continual ignorance of standards . Was recently at my mate Mark Tovey's had he showed an excellent Android Media player that I could install on my Samsung Note called BS Player. This works like a dream allowing you to play media from you network drives after connecting to wifi. Would love if it would connect over 4G , but lets not complain. It allows to set a home directory and then has fast negotiation of you network drive to play whatever media you want , video or music.

I thought the iPad is wifi based , but I can only do the sameby installing an Air Play server on my PC and have another Apply lump of bloatware slowing my system down. My big gripe with Apple is that device are not self contained. You need iTunes on your PC that you have to sync with your iPhone or iPad or both often ending up in horrendous autorisation knots. The softare on the device should do the job independently . Yes you can sync between machines but that should not be mandatory.

Oh yes and the iPhone 5 has a different connector to prior iPhones , when other manufacturers are moving towards a standard USB connector. So god forbid that you leave your charger at hone.

So I wont be using my iPad as a streaming player anytime soon , like I can do with my phone.

Four And A Half Books

I'm not a fast reader , but am a great advocate of books and reading . As well as paper we also have the option of ereaders such as Kindles and iPads and other tablets. For some reason I've been reading a lot of music related books. One was Bass Culture (When Reggae Was Great) by Lloyd Bradley which was heavy going because of the small type, but nevertheless a great read but an obvious candidate to read on a Kindle.

Next up was Shaun Ryder's "Twistin' My Melon" autobiography , which was much as you myight expect veering between entertaining and annoying. I never regarded him as a style icon so his continual harping on over his designer label clothes became very wearing , but I did eventually hit the final page . The fact that I completed it must mean it's not that bad a book.

Next up was Keith Richard's Life. I think it's remarkable , I was expecting it to be on a par with the Shawn Ryder book , but , it is is coherent , unrepetitive , informative , and has a lot of humour and honesty in there as well as loads of practical tips for guitarists and songwriters , as well a bits by friends and acquaitances of "Keef" . Als the truths behind many of his escapades that found their way into Rolling Stones urban legend , such as Mick , Marianne and the Mars Bar and the fall from the coconut tree. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

Currenty I'm reading Tony Benn: A Biography by Jad Adams . Tony Benn is one of the handful of politicians that I have ever had any respect for , and the book is so well written that it makes politics seem almost interesting , with goodies and baddies and comedic episodes. It's another 500 pages but a great read , and surprising because it is not something I would normally have picked up , but was given it in a Facebook promotion. A brilliant read which I hope to finish this week.

Finally I have to read A Little History Of The World by  , which is my chosen book for World Book Night 2013. This is the first one where I haven't actually read the book , but I intend to have in completed within the next three weeks. It seems similar in scope to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything"  which is what attracted to the book. No doubt when I am finished I will post back here.

Another Saturday

Well this is another post today. Interesting writing a blog post with no internet access but I'm using my iPad with my rickety case cum keyboard. Minor Injuries is quiet today at the RVI but foot is painful so hopefully can get something sorted today. But there are other things to distract my attention today.

 They have WiFi in here that will cost you a pound an hour. It's amazing that they can charge that when you can get superfast broadband for around twenty pounds a month. It's also amazing the number of people who walk in here expecting to be treated immediately. These are probably the same people who thing the NHS should be privatised to save the 5p in the pound of their taxable income.

Anyway today Newcastle United's Gallic army go to London to take on Tottenham Hotspur. Last year it was a five goal defeat courtesy of Harry Redknapp's team. They got rid of Harry and now have Andre Villas Boas , so it will be interesting to see the outcome, although it isnt likely I'll see the match and by the time I post this I will know the result. As a back for entertainment I have a copy of Stuart Maconie's Hope and Glory, which is entertaining but not as entertaining as the people watching I'm doing. An elderly couple complaining there are no shops, a group of girls , one in a wheely chair after a good night out.

The staff are al good natured and at times places like this must be dreadful. Have you ever noticed you can never easily pass an old person on a footpath. This confused me for years until it dawned on me what was happening. Normal people normally move slightly to make room so you can pass. Old people don't. It happened this morning, an old guy in front of me just stopped. He managed to take up the whole width of the footpath with his shopping bag so to get past I had to walk in the road I got to the bus stop and when he arrived he just parked himself at the front of the queue.

 Just heard the receptionist say that her husband has deleted her as a friend on Facebook. Quite funny. Apparently she now has a license to have a good time. The old couple nearby are getting on my nerves with their moaning. Well it's the wife actually. The husband is trying to make things easier and she's having none of it. Some folk are only happy when they are miserable.

 Now a charver family has appeared , screeching child in a push chair , moaning mutha and I think it's a daughter who has come for treatment. The Newcastle match is about to kick off so I am going to give this a rest.

Oh Tottenham beat Newcastle 2-1 with two excellent Gareth Bale goals

Casualty Blues

I'm writing this in the Casualty Department in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Hospital. I'm using a document producing office suite on my iPad , and like anything new still a bit unsure of how to use it. Text is coming out at a reasonable speed using my blu tooth keyboard and the spell checker is good but unobtrusive.

Anyway last time I was here there seemed a lot less people, but this time I've just turned up because of a possible bone fracture in my left foot. After this I have to go up a ladder to fix a gutter and that has to happen. The two situations however are mutually incompatible. I always criticise people for not following doctor's orders but I have a feeling that today I will be one of those. I've noticed the announcement system is not very in your face so I am slightly worried I may miss my appointment.

I've just had a thought I hope this office suite can do a full cut and paste or I will be more than a bit miffed.

There's no mobile signal in here so I cant even look for outside entertainment though there are plenty of people franticly messing with their phones in the forlorn hope of finding a signal. You shouldn't use your phone in a hospital for similar reasons why you shouldn't use one on an airplane. It could interfere with sensitive equipment. As I say almost everyone here is messing with at least one phone.

It is quiet and I will soon save this and go back to reading Stuart Maconie's Hope and Glory, which is proving more laborious that expected as I zipped through his previous books Cider With Roadies and Pies and Prejudice , but it may be just my current state of mind (exhaustion). I've just read Shaun Ryder's Twisting My Melon and that was a fairly easy if unexpectedly hefty read.

Anyway when I realised I would have another two hours to wait decided to make an appointment with my GP and get myself sorted that way.

Surfin' Safari

   

I'm writing this on the iPad from Dillons in Whitby , a truly excellent place to stay. I was just thinking how web browsers are supposed to act in the same way but  that only seems to be in the HTML commands that they accept . Often Java , Javascript , Flash , Shockwave etc act differently indifferent browsers when you shouldn't have to consider things like that.

Also why is javascript called javascript when its nothing to do with java? Though it often makes people think if you know javascript then you must know java. It should be called browserscript! Though thats just a bit sensible.

Anyway thought I'd just share that with you as I'm using iPad Notes to write this as I cant get a connection and will post when I get connected.

Funny How

Funny how it's easier to moan , complain and find fault than be positive. I'm suffering from a very painful right arm , trapped nerve or pulled muscle or something and then I find my iPad is almost full!! 16 Gb taken up by games , copies of the Times and iBooks. Garageband takes up a fair chunk as well , but I still like the damned think , especially as I think I have finally got my Alesis IO Dock work. The sound of crunching metal guitars in Garagemand was music to my ears so now I can start using the iPad for the reason that I bought the damned thing , the create sounds!!

It's also a good ereader as well though I have installed The Kindle app on the iPad and on my Samsung Note 2 phone so I could purchase  "Life of Pi" and "1227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off" for 20p each , a bargain even if they are e-books.

But there I go again finding positives in almost all life around me, which I suppose is the optimist in me . They say a pessimist is never disappointed , and have known loats of people who are only happy when they are miserable but I am definitely not in that group. I always believ that you can find good in all situations and take positives even if it is just to learn a lesson from something.

I watched "The Road" recently , and yes it's depressing and you can see all the bad things coming , but it has a remarkably upbeat ending and I would recommend it to anyone , and last night I watch a remarkbly enjoyable Iranian Football film called "Offside" which again I would definitely recommend.

So Funny How this post turned out , I started off feeling a bit under teh weather and now I feel musch better. Shoulder still hurts , but c'est la vie !!

The First Post

...of 2013 and hoping it will be as enjoyable a year as 2012. Seen some great gigs , including several nights at The Stand in Newcastle , as well as Lord Rochester's inaugural gig at The Schooner in Gateshead , that rarity , a Half Man Half Biscuit gig in Newcastle.

I finally got an iPad and have generally been impressed with it , though the app that sold it me was Garageband. I've also got a 4G Samsung Note 2 courtesy of EE and am impressed with that as well having watched the excellent Cockneys vs Zombies on it as well as a few episodes of Hebburn and getting my first taste of In-Betweeners via 4OD. Incidentally Hebburn features Steffen Peddie as Big Keith , and I met him at The Stand where he had the crowd in stitches laughing , he halso has a Monday night residency so is well worth checking out.

Was also impressed with Sky's "Young Doctors Notebook"  featuring John Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe . Black comedy of the highest order featuring sex and drugs and blood and tabs , if you missed it get hold of a copy one way or another. Harry Potter it is not.

As I say hope 2013 has as much to offer as 2012

4G No Ubiquity ... Yet

Just a short post on EE 4G. It is excellent to be able to stream TV on applications such as iPlayer , but you do need to have a constant signal. Cable provides and uninterupted flow , and did anaolgue TV and now Freeview through the airwaves.

BBCs iPlayer on the iPad allows you to downlaod episodes to watch when you are not connected , but the Android version I have on my Samsung Note 2 doesnt sem to have that option. This means that when you leave the 4G area in Newcastle on the way south your program stops , not a great customer experience caused by the face that you cant download when in the 4G signal range.

When 4G is ubiquitous streaming will be find , but even free media apps should provide the option of downloading when in a good signal area.

4G or Not 4G?

Well I eventually went for it. Basically 4G provides with faster downloads and uploads and will cause you to use a lot more data than you did under 3G. When you are in a 4G area you soon become used to fast response times which under 3G could take an age especially media rich web pages.


Youtube under 3G was always good , so I dont notice musch difference under 4G , but BBC iPlayer was virtually unusable on 3G , but on 4G becomes a very good media delivery channel.

I was going to do a series of posts of my experience with 4G  and this is the first . EE have given (well sold) me a a LTE enabled Samsung Note 2 , and it's an impressive device. I used my original Note to watch Cockneys vs Zombies , I see the new device with 4G being used to watch a lot more.

Today I am going down to London so I will see how it fares , when I get down there I am going to tether it with my iPad to see if that's a viable opyion. I have a monthly data allowance of 10 Gb , I have a feeling i this brave new data world that may not be enough.

To paraphrase Robert Shaw in Spielberg's Jaws :

    "We're gonna need a bigger data allowance"

Brennan Again and Again

Brennan JB7

I was flicking through Mojo magazine and saw two adverts for CD ripping players. One is Martin Brennan's retro box, the JB7 , which is now advertising that it can replace your iPod in the house and the other a very classy looking NAIM Unitilite which rips CDs , stores them has a DAB radio, and streams MP3s and internet radio from you web connected router and costs five times as much as the Brennan.

NAIM Unitilite

The problem with the Brennan is that it's an adequate all in one unit, but be honest an iPod or iPad looks classer and can wirelessly connect to a disc server so has effectively unlimited storage space and costs less than the Brennan and can do so much more. The NAIM is an expesive but classy item that does all you want.

Brennan are now advertising Richer Sounds as their sole high street  outlet. Remember Richer Sounds made their name selling last years model very cheaply , not the place you would expect to be looking for cuttting edge technology. By the way most of my sound system is from Richer Sounds and I would reccommend them to anyone , they have an excellent business model and a service second to none.

As I say I have no gripe against Martin Brennan , but his box would have been state of the art twenty years back, but not now.