Getting Better?

I think I am finally over the 'flu' , still weak , but I felt like this last Monday. The problem is I want to be back to 100%, my mind wants me to be there but my body keeps letting me down. I have been resting but also finding any excuse to do things and then after I do, I wish I hadn't. Yesterday was spent in Edinburgh with a ninety minute train journey each way and walks to and from the station to Grey's Monument.

So basically today is going to be a first try back at work this year, with all the month and quarter end stuff to catch up on, though the reality is that I have just lost two days so it's hardly amajor problem.

I'm still getting through "Special Deluxe" by Neil Young and didn't really know about the existence or benefits of biodiesel, although big fossil fuels I think have destroyed that, same as they are trying to do with all renewables. The Earth provides us with Solar Power (I know that's the sun) , Wave Power and Wind Power all of which is effectively free and will be as long as our Solar System keeps going. Fossil Fuels need to be stopped in their tracks.

So anyway I have another thirty or so pages to go on "Special Deluxe" so I will have finished it in less than a week. Also this year my steps are progressing well after missing my December 2020 target by 16K steps , which was still a creditable effort given the last week and a half that I couldn't even get out of the house.

So we'll go with "Getting Better" by Shed Seven a song we once covered with Spoon.

Now time for work.

Special Deluxe

I don't read fast .. at all ... but I am , for me, tearing through "Special Deluxe" by Neil Young. As I've said this nearly went straight to the charity shop but it is very readable. Also it has a lot of blank separator pages and pages containing one of Neil's drawings of one of his cars , so it's not really 375 pages of print to read. It does give a great insight into his musical history and his incredibly difficult family background and you do find a lot that maybe you didn't know. I have certainly learned a lot.

The really odd thing is that this book (a $30 American important seems out of print in the UK unless you want to go for the CD version at £167, though it is readily available on Amazon.com , very strange. And even stranger is that two days ago it was out of print today you can get it at a very reasonable price.

I was originally going to title this "Skinning Satsumas" which has been a big part of me try to get myself out of this 'flu' situation but obviously that is just a fleeting instance.

I also want to be a little more relaxed in my posting this year, so I don't expect anywhere near the posts I made last year. So another Neil Young song for us

Long May You Run

My intention is thot to post as frenetically this year as I did in 2019, but to still maintain my diary of observations. I am still suffering from being hit by the 'flu' making it difficult to work or concentrate or do anything, although my mind is generally fine, but body not up to doing what my mind wants to do. My mind will say  "Yeah you can walk to the supermarket" so I will do that then be so shattered I need to take the bus back, except around this time it's Saturday or Sunday service so I walk back and then think I should have just stayed in bed.

New Year's Day I finished "On Some Faraway Beach" the David Sheppard biography of Brian Eno and despite the dense and difficult to read typeface it was an absolutely excellent read, often pointing me to revisit / rediscover / visit and discover music and artists.

So what next .....

I often buy books that are on sale or cheap that have some potential interest for me, one of these was "Special Deluxe" by Neil Young. I love Neil Young's music and my voice has been compared to his, there's a couple of Youtube examples "Love Is A Rose" and "Rockin' In The Free World" if you want to check me out, but this book almost went straight to the charity shop as it is Neil Young writing about cars. Cars have little interest to me, but I needed a next book and thought give it a whirl.

Typeface was good so easy to read, and same number of pages as "On Some Faraway Beach". The concept is Neil Young's life and the cars in his life with illustrations by him (which are cute) and a chronology of his musical development as well as the cars and his growing up. He is certainly an engaging  writer and I am nearly a hundred pages in after two days and loving it.

Pre preface are the words "Long May You Run" that is a good wish to anyone and anything you likeand was a favourite of mine by the Stills Young band, so that is the song I will share with you, and the book is great by the way.

Hello 2020

It's 1:20 AM on 1st January 2020. My intention was to be asleep but a persistent tickly cough has woken me up, so it's, among other things a cup of Hot Chocolate to try and calm my throat down.

It's not painful, just keeping me awake, although I know lots of other people are awake bringing in the new year.. I do need my sleep though.

Last year I averaged more than one post a day, I doubt that will happen this year, although I am proud to have actually done it while posting 250 words or more for each post. That's close on 100K words last year, enough for a novella if there were much coherence to what I write.

I know writers will probably knock that off in a week, or a month so all of a sudden it's not that impressive.

So I am tired and I want to really go back to bed, and music wise in 1972 I saw McKendree Spring perform "God Bless The Conspiracy" on The Old Grey Whistle Test, Michael Dreyfuss on Violin and electronics is amazing, and was well impressed with it. I still still am, and so will share that with you now, absolutely amazing stuff.

Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New

This Christmas and New Year break has seen me hit by 'flu' and a cold and I am still probably only functioning at 50% but still smiling and looking forward to the new decade. We lost the wonderful Neil Innes but we have his digital, musical and comedic legacy to keep smiles on our faces. Technology has enabled some amazing situations, if we lose someone their immortality is now virtually guaranteed (as long as they leave something behind). It is one of the many reasons I post on this blog.

In previous years I have sent texts to people on my phone lists but this year I just see that as spamming them, they know I am thinking about them and I know they are thinking about me.

So this is my "Happy New Year" post taking a line from George Harrison's "Ding Dong" which sort of sums up some of my feelings:

Go Forward

Be Happy

Smile

Look Out For Others

Accept Compliments

Stay Positive

Look For New Things

Enjoy Yourself

Be With Friends

Make Me Time

Make Time To Be Social

And Have a Happy New Year

So this is my Happy New Year to you all.

Wrestle Poodles And Win

After the smiling positivity of my last two posts yesterday I saw the news that Neil Innes had unexpectedly died. I'm not sure when  I first was exposed to him via the Bonzo Dog Band, possibly on "Do Not Adjust Your Set" , the the hit single with "I'm The Urban Spaceman" and listening to "The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse" in the Sixth Form College common room  to the annoyance of the "cool heads" but there was a guy there who took no shit from them and we continually played it, and when they listened they liked some of the stuff.

Although essentially born in trad jazz the Bonzo's were the English equivalent of The Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa's lot) seemingly anarchic and chaotic but absolutely spot on musicians and composers covering all sorts of genres meaning you didn't necessarily know what to expect. They incurred the wrath of politician Quentin Hogg for crediting him with "Piggy Grunt" on "The Intro and The Outro", and the band continued to delight and surpries.

While Bonzo's songs were often credited to Innnes with front man Vivian Stanshall , they were not a two man unit, with other members contributing much of their repertoire.

But this is essential my remembrance of Neil Innes who along with the Bonzo's was the mind behind the Rutles , absolutely spot on Beatles pastiche band and many other musical and comedy collaborations including beith dubbed the seventh Monty Python member.

So although our Urban Spaceman has left the plane he will always bring a smile to my face , and he's now joined Vivian in the next phase of existence.

Stay Happy

This post is post 366 this year and while there are generally assumed to be 365 days in a year it's actually 365.25 days a year so to adjust it every four years we have a leap year , and the devil in me says , "Ah but you've not really averaged on a day, have you?" , so this post is just nails it.

As I was sharing my last post, vehicle I love "Happy" by The Carpenters , I probably love "Happy" by The Rolling Stones even more, with it's joyous hedonistic loping riff and brilliant night out lyrics so that was on my mind during the last post and will be the piece for this post. It's from "Exile On Main Street" probably my favourite Rolling Stones album.

The thing is Amazon's search algorithm seems to have gone all to pot. Search for "Rolling Stones Happy" and yu get "Exile on Main Street" then clothes and playlists and unrelated album, so the list below is my personal choices.

Sport wise this week has been awful for Preston North End and Newcastle which is a bit of a bring down, but I expect both teams to pick themselves up and kick on from here.

I also am not going to hit my step target for the month, although really the monthly target is a notional one as part of the three month Million Step Challenge so that means I haven't really missed a target there, although it feels like it, but again I need to kick on with that. Also the 'flu' I've had really stopped me from walking so I sort of have an excuse.

So without further ado it's back to work now, and remember what a smile can do for for you , smile lots today.