23:29

Why 23:29? The figure just came to me. I don't know why, but I am still reading "Tom Waits on Tom Waits" so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyway on Monday I finished the Step Challenge and decided I wanted to keep up ten thousand steps a day. The weather has been against me but I have hit more than ten thousand three days running and I am sure I can do it over the next three days.

Tonight I met Kirsty and Mark and Fiona in Bohemian for Kirsty's birthday tea. We had some amazing food and enjoyed company and the excellent atmosphere. We talked TV, film and music and Sparks' "Number 1 Song In Heaven" came on, (the music in Bohemian is always excellent) and Kirsty said she had never heard of Sparks , and it was my fault , cos I am her dad, I mentioned some classic Sparks songs to no avail, but they are now another band for her to discover. I had said that in my opinion they are probably the most innovative and excellent band going, and have put out some amazing music including collaborations with Franz Ferdinand (FFS) and Faith No More.

Then I found out that The Coyotemen are active once more and playing Think Tank? tomorrow night, so that means one last gig night before the end of March.

This means I have been quite active for the last few weeks and intend to keep up the pace. I will find a reason to walk at the weekend, and I will leave you with another Sparks song , "The Rhythm Thief" from "Li'l Beethoven"

Enjoy and sleep well my friends.

It's 21:04

... And Then It Rained

I'm looking out of the window at pouring rain. It held off while I finished the Step Challenge and got my fence and decking fixed, so I am happy about that, but when you have to go to work, or even just go out, seeing the rain come down like this is not incredibly appealing. We were told that we would have snow, and given how cold it was yesterday , I was not to surprised about that, or wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.

The sky is a uniform grey and the rain is falling in a heavy drizzle, you need a decent umbrella or a waterproof hat or hood. It's not blowing too much which is a small mercy, but I was hoping to walk into work but give the state of the weather it may be a bus journey today.

I'm just listening to 6Music and they're telling me about this year's 6Music Festival  and you can watch the live stream featuring among others, Depeche Mode and Sparks (two of my favourite bands)  on your big telly if you are not actually there.

So basically that's more semi sedentary action for me this weekend , while it might not improve my health it will definitely improve my well being.

OK I shall set off to get to work by fair means or foul and leave you with some Sparks from the time they met Giorgio Moroder ... The No 1 Song In Heaven , have a good day and stay dry my friends.

Fit For Nothing

Not exactly. I have completed the step challenge and today I didn't have to do anything, apart  from an early doctor's appointment, coming home to see about repairs to my back fence and decking, then going to work and trying to sort various things, meeting a friend for lunch , losing my new headphones , finding my new headphones, and without any effort hitting ten thousand steps (about four and a half miles) that I hope to do every day.

I was expecting to do about 5K steps today , but sometimes it is easy to hit a few thousand steps, other times it seems ludicrously difficult.

I prefer walking through parks and fields to being on roads, but I do prefer a solid footpath, not mud that you sink into. One of the problem with the Town Moor is that cows graze there, and that  means that they can turn areas near gates and watering troughs into black mudbaths , with little chance of you negotiating them without some mishap.

Anyway the good thing about this walking malarkey is that it may keep me slightly fitter, and any form of exercise is better than nothing at all.

So it#s time for bed , and I only need to get up for work tomorrow. I still may walk in to work, but there is no pressure, apart from finding a more interesting way to walk into work.

Today while on the bus between Fenham and Byker I watched a talk about abandondoned Malls by Dan Bell turns out to be a good friend of my good friend Dave, the world is getting smaller every day. So I will include that below ,, and "Destination Eschaton" by The Shamen is always an inspirational way to close the day.

Goodnight my friends.

Over The Line

Today's sixteen thousand steps finished this step challenge. Overall that's about eighty miles walked in two weeks, that's here to Whitby, so I know I could walk to Whitby if I actually wanted to. It's definitely brought out a bit of my obsessive side, that is the desire to do the job , hit the goal and succeed.

I'm not in a hurry to do another, but I am minded to hit ten thousand daily, but we will see how that goes. The weekend coming up will be an opportunity to rest, or maybe do something else.

I thought I'd just do a short post, it's Monday night, and that's the first day of the week over with. Tomorrow starts with a 7:10 doctors appointment, then sorting the fence and decking repairs before another day at work, lunch with a friend, wishing my daughter happy birthday and eventually landing back home without the target of fifteen thousand steps to hit.

So I'll leave you with Neil Young singing "Walk On". My voice has been likened to Neil Young's and I love everything about the guy so for me that's a compliment, for Neil Young maybe not.

Enjoy your Monday night my friends.

Eggs and Chickens ,,, Tom Waits for Norman

Sometimes things you do have unexpected results. I've been taking part in a step challenge , the last day of which is tomorrow when I need to do fifteen thousand steps.That's around seven miles in a day, not a great deal in the great scheme of things but it does mean you have to make time to do these things. Essentially each thousand steps takes around ten minutes of brisk walking , so that means I need to spend two and a half hours walking tomorrow.

This weekend , in order to not be playing catch up , I've got up early each day to give myself a start on the steps , and it's worked OK. Today I did nineteen thousand steps (I only needed to do fourteen thousand) byt set myself a task of walking up Cow Hill and taking some pictures. Cow Hill is not difficult to climb, it's sort of a mound but you get a good view of Newcastle.

View From Cow Hill

Anyway the basic point is, that I have got up earlier, done more walking, done more writing, done more reading , done more catch up TV, done more guitar practice and recording, and more listening to music and I feel very tired, but I'm just wondering if the cause of me doing more is actually the step challenge. It could be. In order to accommodate it I've had to ensure there is enough space in the day.

This is about the fifth blog post I've done this weekend but I won't have time to do one tomorrow morning.

Hopefully after my final day tomorrow, I will still ensure that I do 10K steps a day which will clock in a 4½ miles which I will definitely maintain. Also I may try not lying in at weekends and just going out for a walk. I prefer being off road but on a path. The walk up to Cow Hill was a bit muddy today.

One of the things to maintain this is that you do need halfway decent weather but this weekend has been fairly good.

Tomorrow is going to require a very early start. I want eight thousand steps in before I get into work. That is a tall order but it will mean I've over half way there before I start work.

One of the songs I listened to was Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" which was covered by The Eagles , but I'll treat you to a live version by the great man.

Goodnight my friends.

In The Neighbo(u)rhood

Yesterday I started reading my next book, Tom Waits on Tom Waits , I opened it up and thought , whoa , I really can't do this. The writing on the introduction seemed tiny. It's a biggish book , 450 or so pages , and my eyes are not that great at reading small print, but I have managed similar books before, the most recent being "I Am Zlatan" which was hard going, only 300 pages but did manage to keep my interest and teach me a few facts , and I do like Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  The book I've just finished is "Spanking Watson" by Kinky Friedman which I bought because I like the guy, and the book was easy to read , 200 pages of readable print and a reasonable enjoyable and diverting read , manage a few minor offensive but funny scenarios and you just have to check out Kinky Friedman's song titles to see if you would be offended by him , but there is a cat in the book and Nelson Mandela loved him.

Anyway after a day I've read the intro and twenty pages of the Tom Waits book, and that is good going for me. I did once read a Dean Koontz book "Dark Rivers of the Heart" in one four hour sitting (it's 750 pages) but that was an exception, but it's amazing how the writing becomes easier to read when the book really engages you, It is going to keep me engaged for a couple of weeks, but I am a huge Tom Waits afficionado ever since I heard the song "In The Neighbourhood" from "Swordfishtrombones" which made me go out and buy the album immediately (they didn't have downloads in them days). When I looked for a video to include with this, I remembered Peter Gabriel had also covered this wonderful song , so I've included that video as well for you to enjoy, though it doesn't seem to be available, I thought it would be on "Scratch My Back"

Anyway I was out for a walk round MY NEIGHBOURHOOD this morning as part of the penultimate day of the Step Challenge and walking down Two Ball Lonnen saw a cat in a tree being tormented my two magpies. You don't see that every day but I thought it was an amusing scenario.

Last night after having my TASCAM studio for a few weeks I managed to record something onto it. It was late at night and just the equivalent of Thomas Edison's "Mary Had A Little Lamb" , but digital recording is a bit more convoluted that pressing play and record on a cassette recorder which is how I used to record stuff. Anyway I think the tiny steps are paying off and hopefully this year I can produce something on my terms.

Anyway it's a beautiful day, I may take a trip up Cow Hill and take some photographs, in order to meet today 14k step challenge... then again who knows

Sleep Is Good .. Being Awake Is Better

Although sleep is good, it enables your body and mind to recuperate and repair itself, but I do prefer being awake and able to do things. I know I should be in bed but thought I would just write a short post on this.

In John Cooper Clarke's "Beasley Street" , his very dark masterpiece , he describes sleep as "a sneak preview of death" which is a chilling assessment of what is really a natural function. Some animals sleep all winter, and I am sure some humans would like to do that as well.

Rest is good but activity is better. We do have so many sedentary pastimes such as watching TV or someone else do something. Reading at least exercises the mind as does writing. I am now sitting typing at a keyboard and a lot of my working day is taken up in a similar way. I do get up and walk around so I am not going to atrophy at my desk, but feel that is often frowned on by some people.

Tonight I've just read of Chuck Berry's passing , he was 90 and had a good life although he did some bad things and definitely in the 50s and 60s was royally screwed over by the white establishment. I saw him once at Southport Floral Hall, queued for tickets and found out everyone else in the queue was queuing for Gilbert O' Sullivan tickets. A sad loss from a true American poet, the words to his songs stand on their own.

Anyway that gives me an excuse to include a Chuck Berry song "No Money Down" for your delectation from the film "Hail Hail, Rock'n'Roll" , and now I will go to my bed and sleep. I have fourteen thousand steps to do tomorrow.

Sleep well my wonderful friends.