Nothing To Say - #Oktoberfest #25 - Whiskey In The Jar - The Dubliners

I keep toying with the idea of doing a one or two word blog post just to see if anyone notices or not as they are all robots (I know they are not because although I am virtually unfollowed, and I'm not sure what benefit following gives the follower in the case of this blog, friends leave comments about posts on Facebook) but in 2010 I was on holiday in Oswaldkirk and posted this. It had a link to a to photos from the holiday but , really, thirty words, but the cat picture is good and the photograph link has some decent stuff on there from my point of view.

So anyway it's Monday morning and I don't have much to say after a weekend of Football disappointment in which Preston North End lost to a goal in the 98th minute (though Reading are a real bogey team for us) , Newcastle lost to Chelsea (that was not unexpected, the fact it was only 1-0 was), Liverpool's juggernaut was finally unexpectedly stopped by a misfiring Manchester United but the were not beaten (and I love Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jurgen Klopp) and Ayr (Fiona's team)  were unexpectedly beaten by Dunfermline (who are my friend Scott's team so that was good for him).

Anyway, as I said, I have nothing to say this morning, so without further ado we will continue #Oktoberfest with "Whiskey in The Jar" by The Dubliners. That's the third time this song has appeared on this sequence but it's a great song and all the versions I have shared are excellent and worth your listening time, and The Dubliners live take here is certainly livelier than the Thin Lizzy / The King takes

Dawn is breaking now so I may get a photo or two on my walk to work this morning.

By the way the blog visits has now passed 320K and although this most was meant to be short , it's more than 300 words (I think my average is about 250 words), so so much for nothing to say , whether it's worth reading is a different matter entirely.

Optical Delusion - #Oktoberfest #24 - Whiskey In The Jar - Thin Lizzy

After "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros in #Oktoberfest that prompted me to remember "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass which in my thoughts is a goddamned awful record though listening back the lyrics and sentiment are cheesily depressing and the melody is half OK but it ain't getting on this blog but you can listen by clicking through on the link.

Today I went out to hunt down some Quorn for a Vegan Cottage Pie and was unsuccessful, ironically the Co-Op had pre packed Quorn Cottage Pies and that was the sum total of their Quorn. Anyway I thought I saw this sizable worm thing wriggling on the pavement but it turned out to an unmoviving piece of stripy cable. I do find it amazing the number of people who swear they have seen something when there is a logical explanation if they actually think about it , but often people like to be happy in their delusions and nothing will move them from their belief in what they have seen

I remember a case of a scientist / ghost hunter who actually saw something but realised it was caused by an instrument running at a frequency that caused his eyes to see something that wasn't actually in front of him. It is always good to check things out.

I do see and hear loads of weird stuff but when I look at the whole picture I see the explanation for what I thought I saw.

So on the #Oktoberfest and we have to have , what in my opinion is the definitive version, of "Whiskey In The Jar" by Thin Lizzy. Just thinking on this , at a push maybe we could have "Randolph's Tango" as well, cos Tango is a drink isn't it? We will also have The Dubliners' take on "Whiskey In The Jar" before the sequence ends.

I wasn't sure that I could actually keep this up but with eleven more days to go I can see me seeing it out.

Hope you are having a fun Sunday.

Day of Rain - #Oktoberfest #23 - Apricot Brandy - Rhinoceros

Today is grey and rainy. It's strange you can spell grey as gray which as far as I know means exactly the same thing, so why have two separate spellings . It's the same with "despatch" and "dispatch"  although apparently the British prefer the prior version. The English language can be interesting and strange at times.

The song "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615  (theme from The Old Grey Whistle Test) was playing somewhere today and I thought ah that's "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros and would be great for the #Oktoberfest sequence. I was obviously wrong and can't think of any reason why I even know of "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros but obviously I do. It was a one hit wonder so it's unlikely that I got into it from anything or through any friends but the title has stuck with me and it is a half decent riff.

So back to this rainy Sunday.

Philosophy - #Oktoberfest #22 - The Philosophers Song - Monty Python

What is philosophy? I've never really thought apart from that fact that it's something that clever and intelligent people do so not for me. Definitions of it include:

• The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. 
• A theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour.
• "don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed, that's my philosophy"

So out of my league for consideration, my attention span is probably inadequate for pursuit of such thoughts and subjects.

I saw an advert relating to a Dementia Charity (follow the link to donate) and thought if that should happen to me , this blog is a diary that I can use to keep track about what has happened in my life. Last week I was at a work away day and forgot the names of three people I work with, I associated wrongs names with right initials with them and spoke to my doctor about it , but it seems Alzheimer's is much more fundamental than that, but something that steals your memories while leaving a functioning body and fairly worrying. My incident was just due to natural forgetfulness, so nothing major.

That is definite food to philosophize over, one would think, were I intelligent enough.

Ironically one of my favourite places in Newcastle is the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society which is housed in an amazing building and it's president is Alexander Armstrong and I am forever berating native Novocastrians who have never visited the place. It is both important historically and an amazing building and library and meeting place.

So this post really came about because of the #Oktoberfest sequence and although drink is not mentioned in the title, the incredibly clever "Philosopher's Song" sung by Australian Academics in the Monty Python sketch is based completed on the alcoholic consumption of historically notable philosophers so fits in well with the sequence. Listen, Learn and Enjoy.

Feeling Good - #Oktoberfest #21 - Seven Drunken Nights - The Dubliners

I'm not exactly sure why but yesterday I made two walks without thinking and without noticing that I had made them physically. One I do most Friday's but the other I sometimes take the bus for, instead this time walking from Citygate through St James' Park then Leazes Park and , yes , it took longer than the bus , but it was just incredibly natural. Both walks are up a hill, probably a couple of hundred feet rise and usually, while it doesn't bother me, I am aware of it, but yesterday I just wasn't, and I am not sure why but long may it continue.

The only very slight change is I have run out of Omega 3 capsules and been eating Minneolas , Oranges and Apples and yesterday had a Mumbai Sandwich from Snackwallah for lunch. I will see how this continues but feeling physically good is excellent, most of the time I feel OK, sort of adequate, but I do want to feel better. I am writing this at 6 am because, although it is Saturday morning I am mentally compos mentis enough to put fingers to keys and tap this out without any effort and that's good.

To day I need to get some website updates done for my artist friend Bob Armstrong (check out his amazing work by clicking here or on his name) , he does some amazing work. His wife Ann runch a plant nursery Woodland Plants and the Codonopsis Plant Information site both of which I also maintain. I'm not a fine of Web work but Bob and Ann are really lovely to deal with and lovely people.

So I've finally got round to including The Dubliners in the #Oktoberfest sequence but their first entry is going to be "Seven Drunken Nights" a song I've always found funny, and while I don't remember my parents having any Dubliners records they definitely always turned the radio up when this came on. It is Saturday morning , still dark and I have to have a shower , but this is a good start to what will be an excellent day. I challenge you to listen to this and not be taken in and sing along.

Murder - #Oktoberfest #20 - A Pub With No Beer - Slim Dusty

Well I've finished chapter one of "The Secret Commonwealth" and there's already been a murder, and I doubt that will be the end of it. It is a fairly hefty tome but unlike "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" I am looking forward to this as I do with all Philip Pullman's work.

Today I was at Snackwallah and Rachel told me they had been drafted into going to a Bavarian Oktoberfest in Manchester despite being vegan and non drinking and we got chatting about my #Oktoberfest sequence and saying the "Whiskey In The Jar" was absolutely essential to it. I have already featured a version by Irish Elvis impersonator The King but definitely need to shoehorn in The Dubliners and the The Thin Lizzy version which came on the radio when she was discussing a deal with a guy called Gary Moore...... pure synchronicity.

However "A Pub With No Beer" by Slim Dusty and Australian country and western singer came to mind, and it was a record that my mum and dad used to play a lot, and was released around the time I was born. It is one of those records that just pops into your mind with out being particularly groundbreaking. Have a listen you may find it entertaining.

A Day Not Reading - #Oktoberfest #19 - Starbucks - A

Yesterday I sort of didn't read, I had finished the 400 page "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins which I have passed on to a friend and this morning I have started Philip Pullman's "The Secret Commonwealth" clocking in at close on 700 pages. After "The Illuminatus Trilogy" (800 pages) it seems I have been taking fairly hefty tomes to read.

The odd thing about "The Secret Commonwealth" is that it is the second in "The Book of Dust" Trilogy , the follow up to "His Dark Materials" but "His Dark Materials" is bookended by "La Belle Sauvage" and "The Secret Commonwealth" , this is not a problem , just unexpected.

I'm actually telling a fib because yesterday, as a respite from big books, I dipped into "Ten Years In An Open Necked Shirt", poetry by The Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke which is always entertaining.

#Oktoberfest continues with a brand name that is generally associated with coffee, but sell anything they can these days, that is Starbucks. The song is "Starbucks" by the band "A" from the album "Hi-Fi Serious" who with a name like that are impossible to search for on Google (a bit like "!!!") . The song is more about the company's dodgy employment practices rather than the product but the product association will do for my #Oktoberfest sequence.