Obsessed? Moi?

I started walking today before 5AM, did lots of things was absolutely shattered watched the English Cup Final and glad to see Arsene Wenger get his hands on some silverware and he still has his outrageous French accent and I love it.

When he came to Arsenal from the J-League's Grampus-8 (if my memory is still functioning) he transformed "boring" Arsenal into THE team you want to watch and that has been the situation for most of the last twenty years, no mean feat and while ALex Ferguson may have been a little more successful there's no doubt that Arsene Wenger transformed modern football.

But after the football I decided to rack up another thousand steps because I wanted a drink. I could have gone to the corner shop but went to the next one along, because I knew it would be further to walk and would mean I would hit 14K for today, that's a 3K surplus.

So am I obsessed? I see it as building in contingency for the days when I can't hit 11K and that may happen this week as a drive to Coventry and back in a day beckons, I am not sure an 11K (5 miles) walk will be first on my list.

This is my third post today so my average of #ATuneaDayinMay has been maintained and then some. I will leave you with Air's "La Femme D'Argent" which was the first thing I ever heard by them and is a perfect day closer, and maintains a tenuous French Connection.

Sleep well my friends

Here Is A Thing

When you wake up at 4:30 AM , even when it's sunny, even when it's a gorgeous day, go back to bed, you need your sleep. I thought I could do all my steps , and a lot of other things then spend the afternoon doing even more.

No way.

Admittedly I got the garden stuff done, washing done, went on to check finances and possibly ended up £300 better off , saw a downpour , went out to complete my steps and now I am hot and tired and a bit headachey , although still compus mentis enough to write this.

There are still things that I want to do but my body is revolting (so I'm told) and just wants to lie down and watch TV or read.

Rest always does you good so I am going to catch up on what I missed this morning,

So I have to leave you with some music, they are reissuing Sergeant Peppers by The Beatles, though I've always rated Abbey Road and Revolver higher, but that's my preference. The other thing is that my two favourite Beatles songs are the "A" and "B" sides of the same single, "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" and apparently McCartney's bass on "Rain" was so heavy it often caused the needle to jump out of the groove on the vinyl version. Maybe I should get a vinyl copy and check this out, though I am sure I've written about this before. The "Rain" video is actually a cover, all done by the same guy (Stevie Riks) and very good it is too.

Anyway the sky has gone black so maybe we are in for more rain, I think I can hear thunder. It is raining now.

Early Saturday Morning

This morning I did something unusual for me. As Fiona is still in hospital 200 miles away I am home alone, she is being well cared for, and her Kindle is a godsend although her dislike of headphones means she can't watch any video but has a whole library and more thanks to her Amazon Prime subscription. It's 16 years since I was last in hospital for a long stay (ITP) and technology has advanced significantly since then.

Anyway I was awake and put on "A Kiss In The Dreamhouse" by Siouxsie & the Banshees which had been on when I went to sleep last night, then realised I was sort of awake and thought maybe I should get some steps in for my Million Step Challenge, yesterday I passed 300K a day ahead of schedule, it is a gorgeous morning and people at work were talking about rain so I thought why not get some in before the day really starts, so I did.

Walking up Two Ball Lonnen I noticed the lights were on in Subway, it wasn't even 5AM then I started thinking of all the people who have to get up each day virtually in the middle of the night just so that you can have a coffee or bacon sandwich before you get to work. It turns out that there was no one there yet but maybe the lights are left on all night.

Walking past Morrisons at Cowgate I saw the biggest slug I've ever seen outside of a David Attenborough program, it was big, and like the coward I am when it comes to those creatures I tepped round it, and continued. Maybe they only venture out at night normally.

Anyway I walked over Nunsmoor Park and took some video on instagram here , and when you have days like this it's great to take advantage of it.

I'm still enjoying the random play on my player and David Bowie's "Janine" was followed by Tom Waits' "Jayne's Blue Wish" , two "J" girls names (and I have Facebook friends with those names too), but then another song came on with a gorgeous fluid piano which I recognised as Mike Garson and his incredible contributions to Bowie's "Aladdin Sane". The song was "Lady Grinning Soul" and Garson's contributions were similar to Roy Bittan's contributions to Bruce Springsteen's songs, in never afils to amaze me how fluid their playing is and can hardly imagine the songs without them.

So this morning you get Bowie's "Lady Grinning Soul" and listen to that piano.

Have a good one.

Hot Stuff and No Jazz

I'm talking about the weather. This is summer. It's hot. Walking over parks and fields is great. It sets you up for the day. It lifts your spirits before you hit the often mundanity of the daily drudge of work or whatever.

It's a day for drinking cold stuff, and not really putting a lot of effort into anything but relaxing.

I'm wanting to do things, but feeling absolutely drained. I managed to watch a TED talk on feminism (here) while walking home, dangerous I know, but I didn't walk into any lamp posts or in front of any cars, and gained a few new insights into why we should all be feminists ( you don't have to be a woman).

I'm really wondering whether to take a cold shower , just to cool down before I hit bed. Maybe I will and maybe I won't. Again it's that personal laziness setting in, but who knows , I'm writing this with no shirt on and the window open to keep a little cooler.

So currently listening to Iggy Pop on 6Music who is playing a lot of Charles Mingus, but I won't treat you to any of that jazz. If you like jazz you will have some Mingus, if not you wont.

Wondering what to play and I came upon an illustrated version of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis from the album "Foxtrot" , when Peter Gabriel was upfront and Phil Collins proving what a great drummer he was , and still is. It is very English, probably influenced by Lewis Carrol among others. This clocks in at 23 minutes, and is one of the few pieces that took up virtually  a side of vinyl that I am always happy to listen to from start to finish, though possibly my favourite bit kicks in about six and a half minutes in with some wonderful keyboard and guitar sequences from Tony Banks and Steve Hackett. It is up there with "Close To The Edge" by Yes, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" by Van Der Graaf Generator and "Echoes" by Pink Floyd.

Anyway enjoy it and check out the other pieces too.

Sleep well my friends.

Forced March II (Being Boring)

I got home today and had 8.5K steps on the clock. Google Fit seems to be working OK. Fiona is in hospital in Coventry and there is no phone signal, but the good news is that she will be out soon and won't miss our holiday. Hospitals are brilliant places but you never ever want to be a patient.However thanks to our brilliant NHS they diagnosed and sorted her, which really puts your mind at rest.

Have done loads at work and started on some lyrics for song that my friend Sarah wrote, just need to kick on with the home recording. That may happen this weekend.

I had no need to walk any further but thought I could maybe do another 2.5 K, the weather was good and so I set off. I got to the top of the road realised I'd left my bus pass (in case I wanted to ride back) and wallet at home. But decided to continue and wander round taking in a few streets that I've not been down before managing to hit over 11K again.

I apologise for writing about walking, as I do like to write about interesting stuff, but I suppose I have just been very boring over the last few days, but it's got to 10:30 and I haven't even found an interesting piece of music to play, then I found this recent take of King Crimson playing "Heroes" no Bowie , but Fripp is going strong, and forty years on it sounds amazing.

"King Crimson performed Heroes at the Admiralspalast in Berlin as a celebration, a remembrancing and an homage. The concert was thirty nine years and one month after the original sessions at the Hansa Tonstudio overlooking the Berlin Wall. This is released in the Fortieth Anniversary year." - 

Robert Fripp.

Forced March

Well not exactly. Today when I got home I had done 9.7K steps. This was enough to keep me ahead of the game, I need to average just under 10.9K a day to hit the million i three months but I wanted to be far enough ahead so that if I lie in bed all day tomorrow I'll be still ahead, so I went for another walk and finished up with just over 12.5K meaning that even if I don't walk tomorrow I would still be 800 steps ahead of my target (more because I am basing it on 11K a day).

Anyway all is good. The title is stolen from an author called Sven Hassel , a schoolboy favourite because of the bloodthirsty graphic violence that the books contained apparently. I never read any but he was certainly prolific and had some great titles lifted by metal bands for song and album titles. I've just looked and  "Forced March" was by Leo Kessler who had the same modus operandi as Hassel. Kessler also wrote "March or Die" lifted by Motorhead for their 2003 album.

While I am a horror fan, I am not a fan of war or gratuitous graphic violence, hence my boyhood and adulthood avoidance of authors like Kessler and Hassel.

So what song to we go with, I think Edwin Starr's War is as good a one as any. It's time for bed now. Sleep soundly my lovelies.

On The Move

I'm Top 10

Rightly or wrongly, these days I probably listen to most of my music on the move. The is wholly due to my decision to walk 10K steps a day after Fiona had asked if I wanted to take part id a 15K step challenge. Then she told me about Diabetes.org One Million Step Challenge to raise money for Diabetes research. Amazingly when I searched on Google two of my posts in the top ten, how long they'll be there I don't know.

Anyway, as usual I digress, but when I say wrongly  it' because I love listening to music either on my player in a room at home, preferably loud. I remember the first time I played "Court of The Crimson King"  by King Crimson on my home cinema system on the remastered DVD audio, I was stunned, the sound and detail was amazing (it still is), this was a late sixties album (admittedly by some top notch musicians) but this was a revelation to me.

When I was a teenager one Christmas I got Blue Oyster Cult's "On Your Feet or On Your Knees" and put it on my record player. I was so disappointed. This was one of the top heavy metal bands and it sounded , well weak. Then I thought,  TURN IT UP. I did , and I was blown away. My parents weren't too happy, so loud stuff like this had to be heard on headphones, or just when I had the house to myself.

I also love hearing music live as well and have recently seen The Coyotemen, Simon Wood, Staggerin' Jon Lee, Go Go Midgets, Brent and The Brads and next Sunday I am going to see my friends Sophia and Sophie debut with their band The Citrines here.

Anyway I've not really kept up the #ATuneaDayinMay , but given what happened last night, I'm going to put in New Order's  "Blue Monday", Manchester will bounce back. Just feel for the families devastated by the cowardly bullying attack.

Keep positive... don't let the bullies win.