I Am Not A Cyclepath

Coming off Nunsmoor Park this porning I was nearly hit by two #twikers (Tw@ Bikers) riding two abreast on the footpath despite their being a widish cycly path are on the road. I could have walked out in front of them but didn't fancy being hit myself and they road past oblivious to me.

The thing about being a cyclist is theat you should be aware of your surroundings or that that latest thing you are oblivious to may be a ten ton lorry. All cyclists I know are sensible and responsible but there are a hell of a lot who think that road based laws don't apply to them.

The humid weather is still draining on me, and I was reading an article on signs of mental exhaustion and these include getting irritated my minor things (twikers) , not sleeping (the ach in my left shoulder is keeping me awake), and a few other things.

I do feel I need some time away from everything, including work, but  the more you don't do things the more it just adds to the pile of things to be done. Rightly or wrongly there are no people who could pick up everything I can do at work, which on the one hand should make you more valuable but the reality is that people gloss over things and don't see you as part of the system, until you don't do what you do.

So the song that comes to mind is Spandau Ballet's gay anthem "Muscle Bound" which was always one of my favourites.

Three

This was going to be the third post I posted yesterday for #August50 ,which I think I've decided will probably be impossible without resorting to one line posts, which plenty of bloggers do. The other alternative is Vlogging but I doubt anyone would want to see me, and hear me talk, it's bad enough me actually rambling on in single words.

Today I don't want to walk into work, I don't want to mow my lawn, and lots of other things but they have to be done so I will attempt all of them. Obviously the black cloud is still floating aroundbut I don't have to let it cast it's shadow over everything.

I also need to change the music on my phone, although there's probably a lot more on there than most people have in their music collection because they now subscribe to Deezer or Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon Unlimited or YoutubeMusic and it plays exactly what the want to hear. Think about that for a second. Why not get a radio?

Music like BBC4 is a sort of bane of my life because you put them on and then you're happy to stay watching or listening until you are forced to switch off. 6Music has provided me with todays music, "Pool Hall Richard" by The Faces.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

#August50 #2

This is my second attempt at this and I've realised that we're six days into August an dthis is only my ninth post. I can see that I may have to do three or four posts some days as I don't want to be trying to do ten on the 31st of August. Even for that scenario to be realistic I will have had to do four posts every three days, and really I need to do five posts every three days to hit the target, so that is possible. If I actually actually do three today I will actually be on track, but I am not sure that that will happen.

One of the things is that I want tio have something to write about and some days, some weeks that just doesn't happen. There's only so many times you can write about the weather or walking or you physical wins and loses, and though I have managed to force myself to write about nothing a few times that doesn't usually work out.

I shouldn't have to delve into the minutiae of my day because I don't want to and I doubt many prople would find it interesting.

I had been looking to include "Infinity" by Guru Josh as it has a saxophone riff to rival Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" in my opinion, so why not now as it is a truly great piece of music.

Answers on a Postcard

Remember that for competitions and requests? This morning I emailed John Hilcock standing in for Chris Hawkins on 6Music and got a positive response withing five minutes. There are some ways we have progressed. John was asking about songs about Dallas and I immediately thought of  Dallas by Steely Dan, one of their finest songs, but they rated so lowly that it's never had a digital release.

The Matt Haig Book is a little weird with the main protagonist thinking about ending his life but finding a reason to continue. I saw a meme about suicide that it doesn't stop the pain it just passes it on to others, and that is something that I am sure would stop me were I ever in that black a place. The number of good things in, and peripheral to my life of worth looking forward to. Enjoyin TV and holiday s with Fiona and friends, seeing Juliet's amazing fodcreations when as a small child pizza was a base with cheese and ham, no tomato, going to gigs and meeting up with Kirsty and Juliet and Molly, Mark's music and car perfection talks and his continual excellent taste in music, phone calls to my dad who can still be a curmudgeon, and then all my friends in Newcastle and Preston.

If we sit down and started writing a list of what we have to look forward to most of us would only stop when our arm started to ache.

So it's back to work today, and I am even looking forward to that, there's a lot aI could complain about but far more positive things.

So I am  sure I was going to write about about more things and a couple of years back I started an #August50 target to hit 50 posts in a month. When I first tried I hit  30, though the most I've done in a month is 43, but I could probably hit 50 this August so I'm going to set myself that target to do it. It's still less thatn two posts a day. I once saw a blog which had hundreds of posts each day, but each post was just a link to anther site. Very strange.

It's grey out but there's lots to look forward to, including mowing the lawn one evening this week, the football season has started, Preston won their first match despite missing two key players, and  my friend Krista is back from Finland so it is going to be a great week.

Have a good one everyone.

Trop

Well I was worried about keeping up my steps for August after the op on Thursday and the recuperation over the weekend. I didn't mow the lawn but ended up walking 20K steps yesterday and 15K today putting me 5K ahead of schedule which is good. I wasn't expecting to be this far ahead at this point although I know it's a possibily.

I don't know if I've overdone it, or it's just the hot weather, but I have not been feeling good at all today. Just under a very black cloud, although I know I will come out from under it.

I have listened to some good music and saw an excellent film "Jackpot" tonight and am reading Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time" which is not the most cheerful book, although it's extremely readable.

I have made a decision to turf out all my CDs that are in boxes, music should be at your fingertips, so I will reduce my collection to my box sets and stuff that I like to play, and of course I have it all backedup digitally (although I didn't realise I hadn't ripped my Dire Straits albums until last week). The other thing is that a lot of music is available on demand but I still won't subscribe to any streaming services and they do more for the service that the musicians.

I was just thinking about Ed Sheeran's "Divide" , which I have never knowingly heard, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are people who have never heard anything but that album.

So I am still recovering, still not in the best of spirits and it's work tomorrow. I could stay off but that would give me more to catch up on, and being at work will focus my mind.

I know I've maybe overdone things so Tom Petty's "Too Much Ain't Enough" seems appropriate.

Aprés

This morning is the first time since Wednesday that I've put in contact lenses. My walking target is is actually growing by the day but actually even if I didn't do any walking til Monday I ,in theory,, could walk far enough to get me back on target.

Although still a bit sore this weekend is more about still doing nothing to ensure there's no internal bleeding which could be caused by any undue straining so it really is an excuse to do nothing, so a lot of reading (Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time") , listening to vinyl and digital,  as I write this I'm listening to Trojan X-Rated Box set Wreck A Buddy by the Soul Sisters, a totally X-Rated take on "Little Drummer Boy"  from probably the late sixties . The box set is available on Amazon for a mere £180!!

It is quite amazing how puritanical the west is at times, while at the same time using women's bodies in provocative poses to sell the most banal of things. Though having said that misogyny is still prevalent in a hell of a lot of music, not just ska and reggae.

Today is the first day of the new football season, and of course Preston North End have just lost two of their best attacking players to injury, although the squad is far stronger than last season so it isn't bothering me too much.

So this is a day of making sure I am fit to get back into normal life, ie not lying around reading and watching telly.

As the new season as started we can have"The Referees' Alphabet" by Half Man Half Biscuit. Have a great Saturday everyone.

Busy Doing Nothing

Today is my first day of home recuperation after the Liver Biopsy and it really has been a case of being busy doing nothing. For me that has been trying to find something that requires as little input from me as possible.

It hasn't stopped me walking a little, and reading a little and choosing a little music, but most of the day has been watching four Mary Beard documentaries about Rome , which are very interesting and so I've gained a little knowledge today, so that is a small win.

Thoough it's grey and cloudy it's still very hot and humid so not the most comfortable, though is an excuse not to wear too much.

I thought I may have done a lot of blogging today but, obviously I haven't.  I mean this is barely a hundred words and this has not been easy to drag out of me, so obviously I am not going to producing anything worthwhile today.

Tomorrow is going to be more of the same, unless I get some inspiration, although I have been surprised by the number of well wishers based on my last post, I wasn't really expecting that. I know that people care but sometimes that results in "Oh I must let xxx know I'm thinking of them" and I am as guilty as anyone for that, and I do know who cares about me.

Anyway what should I leave you with, just looked at my pile of CDs and there's a best of Beverley Knight so I think "Come As You Are" (hers not Nirvana's) would be a good one to leave you with.