Don't Walk, Boogie - #AnimalAugust #11

I had gone to bed , my body is tired but my mind is not , so I 've got up and decided just to post something on the blog , in the hope that my mind will decide that sleep is a good idea as well as my body. When I got up I could hear running water, always a worry , but a tap had not been switched off in the shower room, so that was OK.

For the last two days I haven't felt like walking anywhere, but still done 6K steps a day and for the month I am still ahead of the mark, but I have just not felt like walking. Maybe I am just too used to walking round my area and want somewhere different. On Saturday I did go down Denton Burn  and got some good photographs and am toying with walking down to the Tyne , although it's then a long uphill walk back, but it would do me good , and if the weater is OK I may get some good photographs.

I also may track down some more interesting old buildings to visit, we are virtually sited on Hadrian's Wall and I have still never been to Segedunum which may be a trek worth doing one weekend. Vindolanda is a bit further west and definitely not walking distance but here's a video I did soundtracked buy Alex Harvey's take on WH Auden's "Roman Wall Blues"

The "Don't Walk, Boogie" title is nicked from a k-Tel disco pop album from te seventies or eighties. The albums were groove crammed so sound quality was not too impressive.

For the #AnimalAugust  sequence , given the Romanesque bits of this post I thought I would go for an Eagle song and that could have been something by The Eagles, "Fly Like An Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band , but thought I would go the "Day of the Eagle" by Robin Trower , ex Procol Harum , but a very impressive metal guitarist fronting his own band after he left. I do have a 4CD set of his stuff and think it may be due another run out.

Right that's probably enough so I will try and hit the sack once more tonight.

Timefolder - #AnimalAugust #10

I've had an idea for a short story or even a book called "Timefolder" , obviously I can't say any more as the concept is fairly nebulous and cloudy and I do need some time to flesh it out. Whether this will happen or it will just be forgotten about , I don't know , and given my  previous track record it will probably just be left.

We are well into August and today's weather is as grey as ever. I have been trying to set up a subdomain to no effect (ie using the proper channels nothing actually works).

This is a very short insubstantial post and had a few things I wanted to say but like many times before everything has trained from my mind, leaving me with very little to share with you.

The thing is I think my posts average about 250 words and even though I feel there is absolutely nothing in this post this has hit that word count so it's not like my early posts which were about a sentence long, but also I suppose there is a lot of word fluff in this that is waffle to expand the post.

I have finished "The End of The F**king World" this week , which I found rather good if challenging and you do laugh but sometimes feel you shouldn't because of what has happened. You can watch for free on All 4 . I keep getting adverts to subscribe and go advert free , but I am fine if adverts are the price I pay to watch the series.

I actually pay Virgin to watch Sky and Sky carry adverts even though I am paying to watch them anyway.


For #AnimalAugust I've gone for a Christmas record from Alan White and Chris Squire when they were with Yes , "Run With The Fox" , possibly a bit trte but I've always liked it . I'm surprised it doesn't seem to be available for digital download but is on the Yesyears boxed set which is available art a reasonable price through Amazon.

With The Possible Exception of Being Garth Crooks - #AnimalAugust #9

Every time I wash a sieve the Half Man Half Biscuit song "Lock Up Your Mountain Bikes"  from "Look Dad, No Tunes" comes to mind:

"There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves

There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves

With the possible exception

Of being Garth Crooks

There is surely nothing worse than washing sieves"

Possibly very true but what Garth Crooks has done to incur Nigel Blackwell's ire , I haven't a clue.

Today is very hot and clammy but foggy. I went to Morrison's but wearing the mask can feel a bit claustrophobic , but we are in a different world now until a vaccine is found for COVID-19 . The mask is annoying the alternative is frightening.

Talking of claustrophobia , which I suffer from slightly, that is the feeling that I am getting in "The Lost" by Jonathan Aycliffe , being trapped but frightened of what might happen, ironically I'm enjoying it , and saw parallels in "The Revenant" in the cold, snow , and forest settings , although one is in North America and the other is in Romania. Leonardo Dicaprio's fight with the cear is stunning, and Tom Hardy play s a great villain.

Keeping with Half Man Half Biscuit for #AnimalAugust we will go with "King of Rome" which is about a pigeon , and one of their covers but not officially available digitally. Here is a list of their covers. Luckily for everyone it is on Youtube and you can listen to it on this post.

Be Prepared - #AnimalAugust #8

This weekend has been mostly vegetarian / vegan and I do find that good vegan food is generally more palatable that most animal carcass based food. But I am not a vegan , not even a vegetarian, but do enjoy fish and sometimes chicken. The vegan stuff is generally a lot lighter on the stomach and always goes down well, and you never have to wonder what's actually in a vegan meal.

Sometimes some stuff can seem a bit bland but that's why vegan cooks are more inventive in their meal preparation, so vegan meals tend to bevery morish.

Just thinking of the next post number that I will mark and it will be 2345 , which will probably happen in September at the current rate of writing .

This morning I have started my #MusicWhileYouWork with a Go Go Midgets EP and "The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads" by Lift To Experience , which twenty years on is still an awesome experience to listen to, and that is their only release that I am aware of although Josh T Pearson released a solo album and several EPs.

I am currently working through "From The Beginning" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer which , like the curate's egg, is good in parts , th einterview wit Aaron Copeland over their take on "Fanfare For The Common Man" is illuminating , as their version is a six minute jam bookended by the actual "Fanfare For The Common Man".

The Jonathan Aycliffe novel "The Lost" which I had regarded as almost comic has taken a much darker turn in the second half, with and ever increasing body count, which although I have read it before I had forgotten about. The book is excellent and half way through I am looking forward to find out what lies in store in the Carpathian monthains.

For #AnimalAugust we shall go with a live take of "The Dog, The Dog , He's At It Again" although it's not really about a dog , but it's an excellent song by Caravan.

Bingeing - #AnimalAugust #7

I never thought I could say I binge watched anything , but recently I have polished off "The IT Crowd" and am nearly though "The End of the F**king World" , also finishing "What We Di In The Shadows" as well. If the episodes are under thirty minutes then it is quite easy to watch a few episodes at a time. Oh I forgot "30 Rock" and "Parks and Recreation" as well thanks to the Sky Comedy Channel and I am  working my way through "Veep" and "Silicon Valley".

I've also completed "Brassic" , "Tales From The Loop", "Vikings" and the first series of "Miracle Workers" , so this would all imply I've been binge watching.

I am also working my way though my CD collection (mainly the box sets) while I am working from home, and while most of this is revisiting, it does allow me to choose my listening. I do pepper it with a little 6Music as it's always good to hear new stuff.

Also this is the seventh post this month so I'm almost binge writing , although I have had some months where I have averaged almost two posts a day. I hadn't intended to write this as I want to go to bed, but it's hot and I've now written this, so happy to share.

For #AnimalAugust I am going to share "Caterpillar" by The Cure.

Sleep well. Work tomorrow.

Dreamworks - #AnimalAugust #6

Would this morning from a weird dream sequence. I was in an open plan office with my boss and team and someone started playing loud music but I was on a call . My boss suggested we move to an office (my normal response would be to tell whoever was making the noise to quieten down) , then I wanted a shower but couldn't because there was some guy in the shower bed (that is a bed that you had to sleep in before having a shower) so I couldn't and thought I will have to go home. The dream made no sense at all, although probably influenced by the fact that I listen to a lot of music while I am working from home. One of the things about the dream was to keep on going to get things done which I do normally anyway , but really it's Sunday afternoon , and the dream is almost completely gone from my memory.

This morning I tried to share an article on Facebook , but know I would probably be banned because it would not share the link without the Guardian image. The article is here and the image is not pornographic or offensive but Facebook's algorithms are dodgy to say the least. Her Instagram posts are here. The article's headline is :

"Instagram ‘censorship’ of black model's photo reignites claims of race bias #IwanttoseeNyome outcry after social media platform repeatedly removes pictures of Nyome Nicholas-Williams"

Now if this were a topless white man , nothing would be said.

TV is still providing a lot to watch though I have just finished "The IT Crowd" on All 4 and thought it was great , love the room with all the seventies technology like the 8-Track Sphere and the Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore Pet and the Altair 8000 (wasn't that a planet in "Forbidden Planet" ?

So to keep #AnimalAugust, on track I'm going with  "I Love My Dog" by Yusuf Islam as part of a live "greatest hits medley"  ,  when he originally released it he was Cat Stevens , and his is one of the box sets on my #MusicWhileYouWork list ("On The Road To Find Out") while I am working from home.

Homework - #AnimalAugust #5

This week has been another working from home. Using Microsoft Teams means that you can contact people when they are at work so it's not a problem and you don't feel isolated.

This week has also allowed me to listen to a lot of CDs including some that are for sale on Discogs because I don't really play them all that much , although ironically my sale pile is the closest CD group to my CD player. The reason for this is that generally  I am finding 6Music a bit samey , although the DJ banter makes you feel you are with somebody and you do hear new music which is a great reason for listening to the radio.

The Cds I went through include "The Raven" by Lou Reed and the first Stone Roses album, plus a Fotheringay box set  (I am fairly eclectic which you know if you follow this blog, but that's only half a dozen people). Also for the #AnimalAugust we will go for a live take of "The Raven" by Lou Reed based on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe.

On the book front I have finished "Everville" and while it is an excellent book it left a lot of unanswered threads, possibly ripe for a third book of the series. I am now rereading "The Lost" by Jonathan Aycliffe which is a bit lighter than his normal stuff with some wry black humour similar to the recent BBC take on "Dracula".

The weather is good so enjoy your Saturday.