Pre

Well I've just packed a bag with stuff to keep me occupied while not moving on the hospital bed today. Just as a precaution, no contact lenses, which is just a little annoying but means if I decide to sleep it's easier.

I finished Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" which I found a fairly hefty novel, and very readable but at times seemed to be a couple of books that had got mixed up with each other, but a good read and I did keep seeing Ian McShane as Wednesday (which only makes sense if you have read the book or seen the TV serieas on Amazon Prime if you have it).

Next up, which is in my bag, is Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time" which has a very intriguing concept, so I think I have a hell of a lot to keep me occupied today. I may Instagram and post on Facebook during  the day.

I've done various other posts about the Liver Biopsy and Cirrhosis of The Liver so if you follow the tags you can chanck out what this is all about, and why it's actually happening.

Weatherwise it looks like another hot day but I know it will be cool enough in the Freeman today.

The first song related to today was "Lady Godiva's Operation" by The Velvet Undergoundso I will leave you with that while I get ready to wander off to the Freeman.

Vietnam

Vietnam?

Every so often I get a reasonable amount of views from some places. Recently it's been Russia, Germany, Peru and Brazil an dthe latest one is Vietnam. I haven't a clue why this happens in this way, it may be that the save up the figures for a month or a quarter and send the to google causing a spike in my viewing figures.

I don't think I've been hit by any spy bots, but only Russia may have been in that area,. Maybe if I mention ISIS, Trump's assassination, Boris Johnson drowning Theresa May there may be a little interest but I doubt it.

But it is weird how these countries apart from Russia don't really seem to repeat their visits.

The USA has little interest in this blog although I do hav mant American friends who may or may not read this.



This is just a very short post (though a lot longer that some of my early posts) about this situation.

I think an appropriate sng for this will be New Order's take on Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" which appeared on the "Best of War Child"digital only album release.

Have a rather excellent Wednesday everybody.

August Like February

Well it is for me. Today I start with a trip to the Freeman to give a lot of blood, probably have an ECG to make sure I am fit for a Liver Biopsy at the same place tomorrow.  This means at least two days of rest, and a week of no strenuous stuff, which probably will affect the number of steps that I do. This means I'll probably have about 27/28 days to get my steps in (like February) instead of August's 31.

Really I should do a load today but I have to go to work, although I could walk for a couple of hours after work assuming no Biblical deluges

The NHS are brilliant at looking after you and making sure they get it right. I do find it amusing the number of people who complain about it but refuse to actually fit in with their recommendations. There are good and bad bits but the NHS is good for you.

For the first time in a long time the heating came on this morning so I don't know whether the temperatures are dropping slightly.

So we shall she if I can hit my August target, although I think I've been signed up for a couple of longish walks later in the month so really that shouldn't be a problem.

So basically I'll leave you with "The Walk" by The Cure as I run off and make my way to the Freeman, and I suppose The Cure are an appropriate band for this post.

Electronic Deluge

Yesterday started so warmI couldn't wear any jacket to go to work, resulting in me trying to fit things into not very deep pockets ad hanging thing things round my neck, and finished with an incredible deluge wich you can see a little of here, I always think I'm at the highest part of Newcastle therefore immune to any potential flooding but Lanercost is higher that my house and the West Road runs down to that, so although unlikely to be stuck in a final flood, I'm certainly in it's path.

Last night was another early night as I was absolutely shattered (again). I don't know if it's the weather, or I'm run down, or the left shoulder situation is taking it's toll, or my body is just about to give up the ghost. This Thursday I have a Liver Biopsy so that's a day in hospital courtesy of the NHS, meaning I'm going to miss meeting up with my friend Paul in Whitby / Robin Hood's Bay, and have a couple of days recuperation as the football season starts.

I think August may be difficult for walking as four out of the first five days need to be taken easily and I don't want to risk causing internal bleeding, especially with the ITP that is always lurking.

This morning we have blue skies, the grass on lawns is certainly recovering so at this moment in time things are looking good.

There's just been an Advert on 6Music for Nemone's "Electric Ladyland" supposedly drawing together every type of"electronic" music, I must check this out but expect it will just be disco or rock with synthesisers, citing Kraftwerk as the inventors of electronic music while anyone with any knowledge of music knows that the first fully electronic film soundtrack was "Forbidden Planet" by Louis and Bebe Barron, and electronic music has been produced since a very long time back.

So we'll go with my favourite Kraftwerk piece, "Ruczuk", though from this live version you can see where "Autobahn" came from.

Six Memory

Today is the 29th of July and it's the birthday of six people I know in varying degrees of importance, and until this morning I was unaware it was their birthday. These include myson-in-law Mark (important), Amanda, Ellen, Savona, Sam and Laura.

That got me thinking on how, more and more we let electronic devices do our remembering for us, and in some ways that is good because it allows the mind to focus on other, hopefully, more creative or inventive pursuits.

Someone was once shocked that Albert Einstein didn't know the speed of light. His retort "Why do I need to know that? I can look it up in a book". That's always been an inspiration to me, because my memory has always been atrocious, though I find it odd that I will know the plots of Shakespeare's plays but seldom could remember quotes. When I did the Law part of my Business Studies I knew all about cases but could never remember what the cases were, which was fine when doing course work but not in an exam situation.

Rebecca Cother's Lovely Robots

This reminded me of a TED talk by a guy, Henry Evans, struck down at the age of 40, now a quadroplegic who now lives his life aided and through his devices. We are all now reliant on so many devices, ebven though we may not think we are. Stephen Hawking used devices to share his thoughts and knowledge with our world.  These peaople show us what CAN be achieved in situations of apparently impossible adversity.

You press a light switch you expect the light to shine. Thanks to phones you now don't have to remember phone numbers, I still know about three, all my own, but I know where to find phone numbers.

I've been in IT on and off for the best part of forty years but with out reference books the best I can come up with is:

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE field_name = "What I Want"

But I know where to find out how to do what I want, I don't need to remeber how to do it.

So for a change a none music related post, it's a rainy Sunday but if you are lucky you wont be at work.

Trash

Well we got  thuder and rain last night, sort of ironic as I'd just taken delivery of a garden sprinkler, but you know that was going to happen. It's still hot and muggy and a couple of times this week I've had to change my clothes twice in a day.

I switched on 6Music and Chris Hawkins was going to play a seldom heard Roxy Music classic. I wasn't too sure what it would be, but it turned out to be "Trash" the lead single from their first comeback album "Manifesto" . The opening two songs were worth the price of the album on their own, and the single "B" side features a slow take on "Trash" ("Trash 2") but I liked the brooding"Manifesto" title track even better, and still do. Roxy could never hang on to bassists so I think that's Gary Tibbs in the video who also was in Adam and The Ants if I remember rightly (mentioned in "Ant Rap").

It's early Saturday morning and rain has stopped for now. Today I am going to hit the Library to see about downloading their eBooks and visiting the Newcastle Food Bank to see what they need for the School Holidays. I can't believe that we are one of the richest coutries in the would an government policies force people into food poverty. The thing is my disposable income is getting less as well and that sort of thing is very bad for the economy, when disposable income drops, the economy shrinks, and companies cut back on workforces further reducing economic capacity.

Anyway it's weekend, and as usual I'm up early instead of just lying in, but it is so hot that sleep is not really an option. I will spend some time noodling on keyboards and guitar in the hope of actually getting some songs down to put on Soundcloud.

Today I am determined to not buy any vinyl. My collection is complete. Really.

Though I saw this beautiful limited edition copy of "Anthem of The Sun"  by The Greatful Dead in Beyond Vinyl yesterday so just had to have it. My instagram post of it is here.

Have a great Saturday

Talk Talk

It's always good to talk and chat with peopla about non essential things. Today I was in a shop discussing the merits of Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" (wheich everyone should have and at least try to read and understand) and Simon Singh's "Fermat's Last Theorem" which while educating you about mathematics is also a brilliant cliff hanging detective novel.

Then I held the door open for a girl with amazing hair braiding / dreadlocks and mentioned a Facebook post by my friend Kaz which brought a smile to many people's faces., about her encounter with a Jamaican "bruddah", (see image).

The thing is encounters like this definitley make youy day better and it's always good to talk.

In my work environment I encourage lots of social talk and interaction, because that makes it much easier  to  then talk work when it matters. Social interactions remove inhibitions about whether you can actually speak to people.

I still see a lot of cliquery but often that's induced by familiarity and inhibitions about straying outside your box. Maybe my problem is that I often go way outside the box and end up tripping over my own feet, but more often than not it is a good end result.






Anyway today's music can only be "Talk Talk" by Talk Talk, which is a break from the recent proliferation of Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Rolling Stones.

It's Friday, it's the weekend and it's still sunny. Enjoy everyone