Well not really. The new job is so close to home that I hop on the bus , off it , then into the office , it takes less than ten minutes. A side effect of this is that I don't actually hit my 10K a day designated in my Samsung S-Health application. The think is, that I keep trying to do extra walking when I can, so it's not like I have packed in trying to hit the target. Since starting the new job have become enamoured of certain Boots Sushi packs ,falling back on Nudo when Boots don't have the stuff. This stuff is really nice and does fill you and is probably good for you , certainly better than the huge sandwich packs , and bread often makes me feel bloated whereas after this I just feel satisfied , which is good.
As I've said before, my free time has increased and I do feel good because of it, which is improved by the current beautiful weather, and the upcoming glut of music festivals and concerts coming my way , the only real problem being so many clashes.
The new job is Newcastle based , and this is the hundredth time I have tagged Newcastle on this blog, and though I'm not a native (originally from Preston which I have mentioned only 15 times though I still love my home town and all my friends and family who live there) , but that's just some throwaway stats that I am wont to throw in to my perusals.
It's been another good day and this week I'm looking forward to enjoying the challenges of the new job , catching up with friends , maybe getting to a gig or two before a hospital appointment next Sunday (8:30 in the morning can you believe) , but I cannot berate the NHS because they are totally brilliant.
So this is just a short post , talking about nothing , and apologise for not putting anything of substance in here, but I'm sure you will find something brilliant to do tonight , so do it and have fun.
I included a Jordan Reyne song because I am going to see her in May and she is one of the most impressive artists I've discovered in the last twelve months.
Sorry I've not blooged for a while , no real reason apart from laziness , but it has been remarked upon , and I need need to post something given how much is happening this week. So here it is.
This week I started my new job which is basically a 9 to 5 scenario with decent flexibility and good people to work with and it's been very enjoyable so far, managing to track down a rogue tenner in half a million quid to balance a book. The thing is , this new job has given me back about ten hours a week that I wont be on a train and maybe £3K a year I don't have to spend on travel.
This has come at an opportune time because tomorrow , as well as being my great friend Craig and Sheena's birthday it's also National Record Store Day , so I will be in and around Newcastle visiting RPM , Reflex , Beatdown but may not get to the excellent Pop Recs in Sunderland although I'm sure they won't miss me there. Some great memories of previous days include getting a Facebook message from my great friend Mike asking if I could pick up a copy of the Clash's London Calling about ten to five. It was the most sought after item of that day, so had sold out when the shops opened , although one did turn up in Reflex a couple of weeks later which I snaffled immediately and dropped off.
This week , also , it's World Book Night on Shakespeare's Birthday (23rd of April). Just 18 books this time but a bit of a trek by public transport to pick them up tomorrow , mine is Roddy Doyle's "Dead Man Talking" a short , easy to read book , which I shall be distributing around Newcastle on the 23rd.
I'm writing this post partially with a prod from Paul Campbell who wanted to be on Seven Days In (as opposed to Seven Day Sin). I've actually mentioned him once before and so this is the second time his name has appeared in these pages, but you can find that and this and all future posts here. Paul also has his own blog Scriptuality where you can find out about his adventures in scriptwriting and find out when his name is going to be appearing on screen. Paul and Lesley also chivvied everyone for this get together in St Andrews , so he can get people to do things that is actually good for them, ie and meeting up with old friends and people you haven''t met , forgetting real life for a bit and actually enjoying yourself. I don't expect any events from this weekend to appear in Eastenders and there were lots of people talking , enjoying themselves, with lots of smiles and sunshine.
The South Street Kids ....25 Years On
St Andrews is a University town as well has being awash with Americans as there's some golf game coming up. One of the odd things about St Andrews , or something I noticed is the number of places we visited for food which required and Marco Polo scale trek from the street to the venue. Forgans and The Vineleaf were two such examples , however they were worth the walk , and Forgans finished the njght with a Ceilidh which is basically a formalised mosh pit which ended up with several people falling over , although alcohol may have had something to do with that.
Tonight Matthew I Will Be Val Doonican
While everyone else stayed in luxury caravans we had to make to with the MacDonald Rusacks Hotel which got me £30 back on TopCashBack and was very pleasant but did have a an Arnold Palmer montage painting in reception which looked suspiciously like Val Doonican.
But I would definitely stay there again as had great service , nice staff , good breakfast and a good nights sleep
It was a great weekend and great to meet and talk people and it's always good to take yourself out of your normal routine and do something to connect with people who matter to you , because then you feel much better in yourself.
Oh I have to mention the numerous children who came along to this one and although there was a probable ten to fifteen year age spread they were all totally excellent in behavior and engagement.
So it's now Easter Monday and the music I'm gonna put for this is Big Country's One Great Thing , for obvious reasons and because me and Scott were talking a lot about them amongst other things. No go and get them Easter Eggs.
I was going to do a post on Whitby when I got back from a good weekend on Monday but due to my extreme laziness. Whitby is brilliant , I love the place and I managed to restock my Howling Goth Chilli Sauce , visit lots of place , but got the slightly bad news the the Folk Devils shop is closing in a fortnight although they are continuing online which is very good. While I was in there they were playing some Ty Segall who I've heard great reports of , but not got round to buying , so I've now rectified that with a few other additions to the playpile.
That Building
Then yesterday and my Metro to Sunderland was redirected to South Shields requiring me to go there and take a bus to Sunderland. This meant going into places that I 'd not been for years and I noticed a Barclays Bank , which was handy as I needed to drop some stuff off so that was handy . I also noticed and incredible looking red brick building on Fawcett Street. At street level there's a CEX and some furniture shop, but above street level it is very impressive.
When I went yesterday to the bank and to photograph the build I then noticed a new record shop opposite , Pop Recs.
Outside Pop Recs
Inside Pop Recs
I went in and it's very roomy and an excellent layout with a lot of vinyl , and a few CDs , settees a stage area and a jukebox, reminding of the new Rough Trade store in New York, which hosts live music.
It's run by Frankie and The Heartsrings , and I was chatting with the guy behind the counter who was telling about how they set it up when HMV shut down, and the fact that they'd had The Cribs and The Vaccines playing for free recently. The good thing about the place its that it has the space inside to support a live band. He also told me that the Red Building across the street was owned by Nadine Shah's family and that she was a frequent visitor to the shop. Nadine is a local girl and has produced two stunning albums so that was just an amazing coincidence.
Unfortunately I was in a rush so only had a short visit and didn't buy anything this time, but seriously this one shop is a reason to actually go to Sunderland. The people are friendly and you can also get coffee and a lot more there, another positive is that they obviously care about people and music , you'll know why when you visit.
With National Record Shop Day coming around in a couple of weeks (18th April) this will be the place to be in Sunderland , you really should go.
So really it's been a great start to the month and the sun is shining , I hope your month goes as well as mine is going to do.
I tend to keep this blog positive and try not to moan about things. Although one thing I have moaned about is that positive things seem to get little or no coverage , whereas gripes, moans and complaints seem to capture most of the proletariat. Always wondered about that, I would love to get on the bus and overhear something generally nice or positive that had caught someone's fancy. Having said that , most of my friends are positive and usually have good things to say about things, or tell me about good things that have happened or are happening.
Shrink wrap on CDs, Biscuits and Weetabix. Why are they almost impossible to get into, sometimes damaging the content as you try harder and harder to remove the packaging , sometimes resorting to blades to do so , potentially cutting the CD or it's cover.
Radio and TV Adverts where someone reads the Terms and Conditions but it's speeded up, meaning you can;t really take it in anyway. This is the aural equivalent of the unreadable small print that you have with your mobile phone contract , or Apple or Android apps. I just updated my iPad and there was a 37 page Terms and Conditions document that I was supposed to agree to before I could do those essential updates.
People who refuse to watch films if the have subtitles or are in black and white
Anyway after saying that the Tyneside Bar and Cafe is showing Amelie as a freebie tonight. It's French and it is one of the greatest feel good films ever. It really is a must see. Watching films like this lifts your spirit , and does talking to great friends , laughing , smiling , enjoying yourself. There is so much good in the world take advantage of it. Have a brilliant day. I'm going to include Eddie Izzard's iTunes Terms and conditions routine and the trailer for Amelie for you to enjoy and to make you smile and laugh.
I came up with the name for this blog as a travel blog about places I'd stayed, which maybe is a bit ambitious as I don't travel very far. I detest flying , not for the actual flight , but for the endless queuing and excuses for delays, plus the fact the flight is usually a miniscule part of the journey unless , say, I were going to Australia.
Anyway the place we were it was Orton in Cumbria, just off the M6 but very quiet and very relaxing. It is also about a mile away from the Tebay / Westmorland Farm Services which are the benchmark for Motorway Service Stations. The now have one on the M5 and one on the M74 planned. While the prices are Motorway Service Station levels, the service, location and food on offer is the best you will find on a Motorway (In this case the M6).
The cottage is a converted barn and can be seen here , and has everything you need although the village is still waiting on broadband and the mobile signal is a little erratic. This meant that for the first time I ran out of data on my EE contract , and due to the stipulations and expense of buying extra data I decided I didn't need it. Of and after 2 messages with a URL to buy the extra data , their app then stops letting you see your data information so you couldn't buy any if you wanted! But it wasn't a major hassle , there are lots of places that let you hook into wifi including the aforementioned Westmorland Farm Services and the excellent Kings Head at Ravenstonedale, which sounds like somewhere from Game of Thrones.
We ate at the excellent Black Swan which is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area, this is one of the meals I had , runny scotch eggs, gammon , garlic cheese potatoes, tomatoes and green stuff. There's also images of the giant meringue on my instagram feed if you want to try and fine it.
The countryside is very relaxing and great for just walking and doing not much out of contact from mobile phones and the like, and the great thing about staying in Orton is that it has a post office that sells 99% of stuff that you actually need, then there's the George Hotel which does food and drink and the people are really pleasant in there, and then you have Kennedy's Chocolate factory where you can buy almost anything made of chocolate , including boxes of chocolates made out of chocolate.
Today the weather is a bit grey and I have time to myself for a change. So I'm going into Newcastle and maybe visiting the many great places to go such as The Discovery Museum , and maybe take a coffee and cake at The Tyneside Cafe I love being in Newcastle because almost everywhere you want to go is in walking distance. And really on this day I suppose walking is is a bit of a thread going through this post.
The other thing is that since I got my Samsung Note 4 , I've enjoyed the excellent camera, but there's an app on it called S-Health which sets you a target of 10,000 steps a day to do. I don't know whether I have OCD but I find myself aiming to hit and surpass the daily target. And because the phone seems to register steps fairly accurately I carry it with me a lot more permanently that when I used to have my previous phone which didn't seem to be as sensitive. I've also tried pedometers which just didn't seem to work, and tried a gym membership , which if you look at me , you'll realise I got bored with. But this is so easy to integrate with your everyday life.
Anyway I'm going to go into town town and leave you with one of my favourite songs about walking, Fats Domino's "I'm Walking"
