I was out walking tonight , it was -2°C (this morning was -7°C) and thought this is just perfect. The snow crunched underfoot and there is no slush or skating rink footpath sections just beautiful white snow, and I am loving it while it's like this. There is no wind, rain or driving snow like last week and it is just perfect to walk in.
This week has been listening to lots of #MusicWhileYouWork and today I found a very unusual CD called Hindi Horrorcore by Andy Votel who does a lot of remixing and you can see examples below, it's just not an expected genre of anything , but I have the CD in my collection and it is definitely listenable, so I've included it here using the paste video option so we'll see how it goes.
It's close to midnight so I best sign off now. The temperature now is -8°C
Having had a reasonably restful week I thought I would get up in the middle of the night and write this post just to prove that I can. I went to bed at 11 o'clock and woke up at 8 o'clock , so the fact is I got a very good night's sleep, nine hours. I may try again tonight.
So I've gone through the day , and the weather is still so dreich and I do not think I will wake up to write another post. I've not done much today but my weekends are for resting and recuperation.
I have not even listened to any music today , but done some reading and managed to keep warm and dry.
I didn't do much walking either so in terms of doing things this has been an unsuccessful day, I am even tempted to not share this as this post is as uninspiring and uneventful as the weather at the moment.
So for a weather related song we shall go with "Like The Weather" by 10,000 Maniacs. No I shall go to bed.
Yesterday was a non work day for me , so I went out walking and managed to meet and chat to two of my neighbours , Emma and Manjit , twice. Now in this lockdown it's unusual to see people to speak to in person, we can , phone and videocall but two even meet two people is unusual , and to meet them twice in one day is definitely out of the ordinary.
There's been a cold North Wind today and the weather is dreich , cold and grey still , absolutely uninspiring, and though I walked different paths today it was more like a chore than an achievement.
My reading is still between the excellent in a car crash kind of way "Left Out" and the excellent in an excellent type of way "Imajica". The thing is although reading "Imajica" on the Kindle is very slow , it just means I will spend so much longer in that magical universe,
TV is continuing with "The Daily Show" , "Shrill" , "Cobra Kai" and a new one "Resident Alien" and today the Queen Platinum Collection has provided all my #MusicWhileYouWork and there is a lot of good music in there. Although that is only three hours I did have a lot of meetings.
The reason I was listening to Queen is because my mate Jim had posted on Facebook about "Innuendo" containing his favourite Queen song ever, which is a high recommendation given that Jim must be close the the world's number one Queen fan to the point that his scrap books were used on official Queen releases. However he didn't mention the song , and I don't have the album, but knew the ludicrously amazing title track graces Volume II of the collection , but I'm going with another favourite of mine "Las Palabras de Amor" featuring Mr Bulsara in a very smart suit.
It's a long while since I posted three times in a day , but I am doing it just because I can. It's quarter to ten at night and I know tomorrow I can have a lie in.
As I have said before , I do like a good night's sleep. but even ten years ago on a work night I could be up a three o'clock and then back to bed before properly getting up at six o'clock or whatever.
I hit the last episode of "Silicon Valley" not realising it was the finale, but there are plenty more series to pick up on that have not even started, and as well as that there are books and music to continue on with.
"Imajica" is being quite slow on the Kindle but it's why I love it so much, it is so broad in scope and really does drag you right into it (well it does for me), and "Left Out" is a good dissecting of the effective shambles of the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn , who started out well but was never suited to be the leader of the party. I still respect him, but do wish the Labour Party could actually stop the infighting between themselves and direct their energy against the current government who are destroying this country with their self serving incompetence.
I would like to see a similar book about the Conservative Party but because they won the election they are seen as a success, but it wasn't really a case of them winning , it was more Labour didn't even try to win.
So that's just a little of where I am tonight, and I know I can lie in tomorrow so I will share "A Humorous and Interesting dialogue" by Edward II, taken from a 19th century Manchester broadside ballad (from their excellent and beautifully presented album "Manchester's Improving Daily"). It's a dialogue between a master and his workmen, illustrating the never-ending struggle for fair pay and decent working conditions, but used to illustrate how NHS staff are treated by our government.
The weather doesn't really seem to be improving, still cold , wet , dreich. This is my thirteenth post this year , though the second today. so overall I am still scaling down the number of posts though lockdown is affecting me getting out any distance to find things to write about, although artists are still managing to produce output while staying in.
Today has had me listening to a couple of David Bowie CD boxes , the first "The Next Day" and "Station To Station" is playing now. Both are examples of how a really great presentation can be made from the artist to the fans, both boxes are on the list below.
Hopefully the weather will improve and tomorrow on another day off I will get to see my granddaughter Alexis , but me and her mother agreed it's not great to meet in weather like this.
The skies are getting greyer and darker and I still need to gout for a third walk today to try and get my steps up. February is an annoying month , twenty eight days meaning that it reality I need to average 12,200 steps a day and so far this month I have not done anything like that , and in this weather I don't really feel like doing it, but I know that I will, the only thing that normally puts a spoke in my works is illness.
So I know there really isn't much in this post but will share the title track of the album that I am listening to at the moment , it is a definite favourite of mine.
Heaven Knows ......I'm miserable now. Well not really , yesterday started with more snow , and though it's cold it looks nice , relaxing and almost Christmassy in our current lockdown situation, however this has transmogrified into could continuous rain that is extremely uninspiring and hence the feeling of misery.
I saw a meme yesterday that described a collection of Goths as "A Misery of Goths" which I have now decided to use as a title for this first post of a mostly miserable so far February. I couldn't find a really suitable picture but the one on the right sums up my feelings on my walks so far this month.
I hope that things will improve soon , but probably not before the weekend.
I do like that picture and you can click through to see more of their pictures, so ironic that something that is miserable results in a positive find.
I got a text this morning for a Diabetic catch up which these days is by phone and them trusting me to tell the truth, which I do. If I have problems I also get onto my doctor or the hospital , but generally I look after myself and follow guidelines, the only thing that bothers me is that generally I seem to need more sleep, that is I can't do things during the night even once a week, and often think it's great if I'm in bed at nine o' clock
Today or tomorrow I will be seeing my granddaughter Alexis and her mum , my daughter Kirsty , weather permitting , so that is a big plus.
I have also started following an author on Facebook called Lynn Miclea and she shares some very funny memes and will have to get some of her books , she's on Amazon here
I am now a permanent home worker and this gives me time to listen to a lot of music, currently listening to "The Next Day" by David Bowie and am also listening to the pile of CDs I have put up for sale on Discogs. As I've said before I often buy the CDs to support the artist or because I feel that I should have their music rather than any need for it. It's the same with films on DVDs which I am often too lazy to put in the DVD player , and when you do you get all the anti piracy videos which are pointless because you have PAID for it.
So before venturing out I will share the song that sort of originally inspired this post "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths which really should be a Goth anthem shouldn't it? Although The Smiths are hardly your archetypal Goth band.
It's that last day of January 2021 , and this will probably be my last post of January 2021. It is sort of strange to think that this will never happen again , not even in clocks and calendars are reset and we start again. It reminds me of seeing cloud formations or impressive skies knowing that if I don't capture them now with a camera then that will be them gone forever.
I've been wanting to write a book for decades and certainly have the tools to do it, and thanks to ebooks self publishing is now extremely easy via Amazon and others but every time I start , I hit a brick wall. This blog contains one short story contained in posts , but as yet this blog is my only publication. Hopefully I will do more. I have also included a few non-poems. These you can see by following the links
The title came to me as an idea for a story or book but not sure what it means or which way it goes , although I have a few ideas. The main concepts that come to mind are Philip Pullman's "The Subtle Knife" or the wielder of said instrument or films like Christopher Nolan's "Inception" or Duncan Jones' "Source Code". Duncan Jones remember came into this world as Zowie Bowie and is responsible for at least two must see films, the aforementioned one and the brilliant "Moon". The concept of the upside-down in "Stranger Things" also has flowed into my thoughts on this.
I thought I would do a google search on "The Reality Cutter" and you can see the results here , so it seems it's a reasonably original concept and maybe worth pursuing , although by posting this "The Reality Cutter" will drop into the Google search universe.
So what music do I share with you to illustrate this concept? The opening titles of "His Dark Materials:The Subtle Knife" I think fit the idea perfectly. If you haven't read the books and watched the film "The Golden Compass" which excellent , but the TV series does it better , you should really visit all these.
Enjoy your last day of January 2021 (oo that sounds ominous doesn't it)
