April Shower

Yesterday got a phone call from my practice (Thornfield Medical Group) telling one of the drugs I am taking should stop if I get Coronavirus. Shows the excellent service I get from them and why I have been with them for twenty years. I am going to keep on taking it but know if I get hit with the Coronavirus to stop the tablet (Forxiga) .

I didn't think I would hit my monthly walking target and normally I have a few free days at the end of the month , but I need to walk 6K steps today to hit the target , so that's a target hit although May may be a different kettle of fish as it is getting a bit samey and that is something that I don't particularly like when I go on a walk.

The last few days have been decidedly dreich so April is ending with showers.

I'm into the Christopher Brookmyre book "Not The End Of The World" (an appropriate title for our current situation) put was put off because after the large print of "A Shadow on the Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe this is small and densely printed and I don't like the font so it looked challenging , but there was an interesting prologue and there is a lot happening in it. For some reason his style reminds me of John Niven , well in the same universe as hom.

I've just finished series three of "Lucifer" on Amazon Prime , although the final two episodes (which were after the series finale) were entertaining but a little disjointed, so now it's either Netflix but I have rejoined "Vikings" and have four series of that to work though.

There are two records that have could my ear while working at home, I share the second tomorrow but today the almost wrong doom laden  piano motif driven rap of "Ooh La La" by Run The Jewels, an absolutely excellent record.

When Did This Happen?

A couple of my last posts have alerted me to music because it was used in a TV series particularly "Come On Up To The House" by Tom Waits in "Orange is the New Black" and "Congregation" by Low in "Devs" . These are two recent examples but there are so many more and it seems to be that TV programs are one of the main ways of spreading music to the general public.

These days music means nothing to many people and even if they do listen it's a Spotify playlist where they skip to the next song after twenty seconds because they don't really listen. Mobile phone companies promote the speed of their network telling us you can download an album in seconds ... but it still takes forty minutes or so to listen to it.

There seems to be less music in adverts , or maybe it's me not watching live TV and therefore skipping advert sso missing the music, and when you get back to the sixties you heard music on the radio , Top of The Pops  or from friends or discos. I think there was a Cadbury's Fruit and Nut advert in the late sixties early seventies that used "Return of Django" by The Upsetters with Terry Gilliam inspired animation but I can't find the advert.

So that's where we're at and I thought I'd share before bed, and we will listen to "The Return of Django"

A Library ...

I've just finished "A Shadow On The Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe which I wrote about in my last post here and like many of his books, you are just coming down from the relief of everything being resolved ... and then in the last line of the book you realise it might not be.

So I went looking for another book to read and decided on a Daniel Easterman and then noticed "Not The End of The World" by Christopher Brookmyre , which looks interesting and one that I had got from Barter Books in the old Railway Station in Alnwick. The book looks good and I can't remember reading it, again this is possibly my magpie mentality kicking in , buy or acquire and then forget about it.

A sad incident was when my mum gave two sets of impressive Encyclopedias which our family had had for years , to my younger (disowned by me) brother , saying she didn't want any books in the house because she didn't like them. My girls would have loved and used those books, but  sometimes things don't happen as you would want them to. I used them for schoolwork and research although now we generally have the internet which is brilliant if used properly.

I was then thinking , that because of my imperfect memory, I probably don't have to buy another book ever, there are some which I had forgotten about and many that I  remember which I want to revisit, I'm thinking "The Adversary" series by F Paul Wilson , six books starting with "The Keep" and finishing with "Nightworld" , plus various William Hope Hodgson , and these are all books I have.

Although there are bookcases round the house , effectively this is a small personal library, and the do look good but book are there to be read or referred to , but I often see people's books and big libraries and think "Have these books been read, or are they just there for show?" , and I know not all of mine have been read and I have slightly shifted my perspective to discover what I already know that I have.

I think everywhere should have physical books although I now put the bigger tomes on my Kindle as it's easier to read them that way , essentially five hundred pages or less , physical book , over that Kindle. There is a complete HP Lovecraft collection on Kindle for 75p here although for some reason individual books are more expensive.

Going off on a tangent I'm going to share a live take of the beautiful "Book of Love" by Stephen Merritt , but here's the Magnetic Fields take and a Peter Gabriel take from "Scratch My Back" which is stunning.

A Shadow on the Wall .....

I reread books I like, mainly because my memory is fairly rubbish,but many years ago I picked up a book, I think from a library clearance, a large print version of "A Shadow on the Wall" by Jonathan Aycliffe (one of the pen names of Denis MacEoin, and other is Daniel Easterman) , and he is probably my favourite authors in the Goth / Supernatural genre. The think is I am reading this and it has become obvious I have never read the book, even though it's been in my possession for probably ten years.

I've just looked on Amazon and there a few more of his books that I was unaware of, so my reading is probably sorted for the rest of the year.

I still think "The Matrix" is the most frightening book of this genre I have ever read , and along with "The Vanishment" and "Naomi's Room" are brilliant reads, "The Lost" is a slightly comic take on the genre but still well worth a read.

As Daniel Easterman the novels are more political / religion based but still absorbing and worth your time.

Back to "A Shadow on the Wall" , I am past page 200 (there are 264 pages) and I still haven't a clue what is going to to happen, and the main protagonist doesn't know what he is going to do either as people disappear , fall ill, and die as he tries to keep his new family safe. It is up there with is best.

A small aside is that Denis MacEoin apparently visits the Oxfam shop in Jesmond where I briefly helped after I left EE while I was at Geek Talent and before my present employment.

This week I have been listening to my fave Goth band Dead Eyes Opened and delighted they are back from the grave with a new song "To The Devil" which is available as a free download from their Bandcamp area and the video is above. Hope to get to see them again soon.

New Old Things

I was going to write that I was slightly sad or disappointed in something that happened, but then thought , no it's just the opposite , you have found another great thing that you were unaware of. I was watching "Orange Is The New Black" "40 Oz. of Furlough" (I think) , the episode where Piper goes to her grandma's funeral and her brother hijacks  the occasion for his wedding , and song was playing which I thought sounded beautiful but also the voice was Tom Waits.

There's a great line in the song (probably a lot more than this)

"Come Down Off The Cross, We Can Use The Wood"

While I have the album "Mule Variations" the song had not stuck with me, but it is a really wonderful song with some great lyrics.

And the point is , though "Orange Is The New Black" is not exactly essential viewing for me, it throws up some brilliant moments and is absorbing and every so often there;s an absolute gem like this.

The same is true for anything that is slightly out of your normal, try it , you may not like it but you may discover (or rediscover) something totally brilliant like this. Listen to the Tom Waits song and watch the "Orange is The New Black" scene, you may discover something new too.

Conference Pears

I've generally avoided Conference Pears because their skin looked ropey and the pears generally seem hard, and I'm not a fan of teeth breaking hard fruit but I got a mixed fruit and veg box as part of a delivery from the Grainger Market Delivery Service and the huge box contained, among other things Conference Pears.. So I tried them , and , surprising they are excellent and have made a new convert.

Juicy , sweet and firm , and so good that I got more today from a local shop. Very true you can't judge a book (or a record) by it's cover although a good cover can be tempting and in the case fruit looks can be deceiving , although once you have tasted it , you are happy to go back.

I just though I'd mention this, because the Grainger Market Delivery service is supporting local businesses and providing excellent produce, it's worth visiting if you are in the Newcastle area.

So it's late on a school night, what should we go with , I was thinking something relevant and the the song from Alex Garland's "Devs" came to mind which I thought was "Conference" but is actually "Congregation" by Low. Another case of me getting things completely wrong, but the series is good and so is the song and so is the stuff from Grainger Market , so all i sgood in the end.

Killing Time

I play "Words With Friends" since EA Games destroyed Scrabble on Facebook. The main killer for these is the adverts but it does sometime come in handy when you are not reading or working or waiting for a process to finish, but a game came up and was described as a "time killer". I can't remember what the game was , but there were a load of numbers on the screen.

It seems that one game is promoting other games to take up your time. I know people who are addicted to certain games and can understand how that happens. They draw you in and then start asking for money to get you a bit further on. I suppose it's an exercise in market creation but I'll play when I can for free.

I really don't want to kill time but I do enjo games that exercise your mind.

I never wish it was Friday.

Every day I find something to be positive about, something to aim for , something to make you feel good.

Today I have done my lowest daily step total this month, but due an active couple of days I am still ahead of the pace.

I've not written a blog post since Friday and I suppose part of that is essentially being tied to the house, although we still can talk to others via many communication channels , although today I feel I have been extremely quiet.

Working at home today I listened to "Concerts" by Henry Cow and "Casablanca Moon / Desperate Straights" by Slapp Happy both are excellent and saw me through the day , with the Henry Cow being a little more challenging. The Slapp Happy album is more song based (how pretentious does that sound) although very Brechtian in it's delivery and execution.

So obviously it's got to be something from the Slapp Happy album that I will share with you,  I found a live take of  "The Drum" which is fragilely beautifully wonderful. The album is well worth investigating.