And Now For The Not Great News

Royal Blood On The Radio

I've just been told I have Cirrhosis of the liver. It's irreversible so it's just a question of keeping it from getting worse. Essentially it's scarring of the liver caused by alcohol abuse or being overweight or diabetic, so over the last five years it's been the last two items that are the problem. The situation is the same as with diabetes  again irreversible but , I think , manageable. But that's it for the bad stuff. I know the NHS will look after me and have my best interests at heart.






It''s now Friday evening and the weekend is here. Royal Blood are on the radio and I have forty eight hours of fun ahead.

This is the thing , even though some things are not brilliant , there are still lots of great things you can find and enjoy so you have a great weekend and if I get to see you even better.

Have Fun!!

Autumn is Here

War of the Worlds

And no I'm not going to post that god awful Justin Hayward song from Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds"  , it's just that I have to switch on lights in the morning and soon the leaves will be turning brown and we'll have all those great autumn colours in the plants and trees. We're getting rain , but most of it is at night so that just means that mother nature waters the garden for you.

I always try to keep a positive spin on things as the UK public often just loves moaning and complaining about things. There's a hell of a lot of great things to be happy about and to put a smile on your face.



Anyway today I am hopefully getting my bandages removed from my arm so I can do things with two hands once more. I've had a week of inconvenience and a little pain (I didn't get any pain killers when I left hospital because I'm hard me! ) , and it's an education when you have to live trying to do things mosly one handed while trying to keep the left hand and arm out of whatever you are doing with the right hand and arm. Throughout all this the NHS has been excellent and

Anyway I'm looking forward to being bandage free and enjoying autumn, and oh yeah it's nearly weekend which is even more brilliant. Enjoy your Friday everybody.

Still Ill

Well not ill, but my arm is hurting and there's still a week before I go back to sort the bandages. I've also been extremely busy with work, finishing at 6 tonight, and found time to squeeze in a gig and watch the return of Dr Who with Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor. There were elements of Malcom Tucker in the performance which made it even more enjoyable. I always loved the Thick of It Doctor Who Mash Ups they did.

Complete Smiths

Anyway this is just a short post, my arm is improving , life is good and there's still two days of the Bank Holiday weekend to go, with lots of options of good things to do.

The title gives me an excuse to namecheck The Smiths which
I know are not some peoples favourites, but I do like them.

Hurt So Good

Mekons - So Good It Hurts

Well hurt is not good , but thought that was a title of a Mekon's song, but there is an album called "So Good It Hurts" which is used as a refrain in this excellent song from the album.

Anyway I'm getting off the point, today I've been to work with my arm heavily bandaged and generally I coped OK, although it's amazing the number of things that you normally use two hands to do like putting contact lenses in , various ablutions like washing, shaving and showering, and I'm going to have to deal with this for a week, but still I think it will all be worth it, I think I have more control over my left hand than prior to the operation.

 One of the worst things is itching under the bandages which , really , you just have to put up with. So I'm prepared to put up with the inconvenience , discomfort , and pain when I catch myself. As I say the NHS have been excellent to me.

Hopefully I'll be able to play guitar properly and finally do something about putting a band together, nothing big, but something fun. I keep promising to write a song and I will get my writing head on soon. Anyway I have to sort my tea out, so I'll go and get that done and let you enjoy your evening as I continue my recuperation.

Deep Purple in The Operating Theatre

Arm in a Purple Sling

Well this post is being written one handed, Today I had an operation on my left arm to free a trapped nerve at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle. My experience just reinforced my views on how excellent the NHS is and mty annoyance that tories and daily mail and sun readers want it dismantled in favour of the American system. Nye Bevan's original vision is the way and sensible country should be run.

Anyway that's enough political ranting. The staff on the ward wer welcoming and very upbeat, helpful and supportive. The people on the ward were all extremely upbeat despite have worse things to contend with that I had.

The food was brilliant and there were excellent healthy options.

During the operation which had me led on a bed for an hour and a half while staff chatted to me , played decent rock music (Doors, Deep Purple and Manfred Mann were three that came to mind) and the surgeon found I had a muscle that shouldn't have been there which was putting inordinate pressure on the nerve, then he did the carpal tunnel in my left hand.

At the moment I'm waiting for the anesthetic to wear off, so do doubt I'm due some pain, but today has been as excellent as you could expect considering the carving my arm has got. Anyway have a great night , my day has been fine.

I was looking at a Deep Purple album and I  thought "Might Just Take Your Life" was a darkly humorous take on today.

Good Day

Well today could have been bad, but I've been feeling positive, not that that can cause good things to happen , but it keeps your spirits up if things don't go as expected.  I've had lots of things to do today and then had a potential over hospital stay lined up.

Be Happy

Well today has been good , every conversation has been brilliant , I've got through all my work, stuff turned up in plenty of time to get things complete then when I left for the hospital , I was running a little late while finishing packing , but luckily the bus I wanted was running a little later.

When I got into the hospital I explained to the doctor the situation, he agreed and said they'd do all the tests and if I was ok then I could go home for the night. The price of this was I have to be back at the hospital at 7.15 tomorrow morning , but it's worth it knowing that my blood is fine and I will get a decent night's sleep.

I hope your day has gone well too. There's nothing like a smile from you to put a smile on my face, and that's why I've included this excellent TED talk about a humanity test. Have a brilliant evening, I've had a brilliant day so far, full of sunshine even though it's raining.

Never Stop

Never Stop Having Fun

Well the last two weeks and the next two weeks for me have been and will be almost non stop. This is not a bad thing although time flies by and disappears as you try and fit everything in. Due to holidays at work we've only had half a team in, but everyone's working extra hard to make sure all runs smoothly and it's actually a pleasure to be in working with the girls and guys, who are absolutely excellent,  supportive with problems and helpful whenever you need them.

There's things we need to do before the bank holiday and I have a day and a half in hospital in the middle of it (tomorrow and Tuesday), I could have done without the overnight stay which they say is because of the ITP but they are just covering themselves and not too arsey so I'll go along with it. As I continually say the NHS is brilliant and hopefully I'll be able to play the guitar properly after the op, which would be amazing as I've never been able to play it before.

Also I am to blame for some of this time congestion as I've also fit in gigs by the Star Spangled Chestwigs, Penetration , Culture (tonight) and Bad Pollyanna (on Friday), so the latish nights are my own fault really, but wouldn't miss them for the world.

And this si one of the things about having fun and being positive, life is much better when you do things , and even better when you do things you enjoy , and even better when you do things you enjoy with friends and people you like like and love. Like I was out seeing friends on Friday and that was fantastic Paul , Fiona , Sarah , Colin  and Graham are fantastic company any day of the week, and that's just five people I'm lucky enough to have in my life.

Today I still have lots to do, but the sun is shining and the wind is blowing but that is fine, no rain at the moment. I know this week I will see many more friends, and have lots of fun , and have the odd moment where I think "I need to sleep" , but really I'd rather be doing something and enjoying myself.

The title is taken from and Echo and the Bunnymen track, so have a brilliant day everybody, my weekend is nowhere near finished and I hope yours isn't either , wherever in the world you are. Keep on smiling

When The Wind Blows

Rain Room at The Barbican

Last night I , and a lot of others , were kept away by the high winds. The good thing about it, is there wasn't any rain so it's had a drying affect on everything. Today it's back down the track to Darlington so I hope that the trains are not affected as tomorrow I have got to go to London, where I wish I had time to visit the "Rain Room" at the Barbican. although I have a feeling it's no longer open, like many web sites there's so relevant information but it looks like it's closed as all the articles are from a couple of years back like this BBC one.

Anyway have a great day, I'm off to work now.

Breakfast With Wernher Von Braun

WVB

 

I saw the name Wernher Von Braun this morning and it got me thinking.

The first was it reminded me of the wonderful track "Breakfast With Wernher Von Braun" from the Stackridge album Mr Mick , which I've had to do a slideshow for and hope it stays on Youtube. It is a great piece and I love Stackridge , though as yet I still have never seen them, though given the opportunity I will definitely go  to on of their gigs.


The other thing is that , as far as I know , Wernher Von Braun  is thought of quite rightly, as a leading light in space exploration and rocket technology although a lot of his most famous work (rightly or wrongly) was for the Nazi War machine in the form of the V1 and V2 rockets (David Bowie's V2 Schneider from Heroes was written in Berlin obviously inspired by Von Braun's work). So sometimes some good can come out of patently bad situations.

If there hadn't been a war would Von Braun have been able to do his initial work , and later go to America and help them in the space race and eventually put Man on the Moon. Who knows.

But really it is a lesson that we should all be aware of, that we should continually look for good and inspiration , even when things aren't going our way, and that way good things will occur. Bad things may still happen but if you can focus on something that makes you happy then that's a moment when you will feel good as opposed to feeling down.

I don't know really what I'm writing about in this post but hope it's given you a little food for thought. Have a brilliant Sunday everyone wherever you are in the world.

Blood, Flood and Trains

..Apparently. So I've mowed my lawn, and cut some bushes back and filled up the brown bin , ready for next week. The weather today has been lovely, and despite the downpours this week the lawn is in remarkably good fettle.

This weekend I was intending to do nothing but managed to be so busy today that I forgot my mid day insulin injection, and was wondering why I was feeling a bit tired , just putting it down to physical exercise when I came in a saw four untaken tablets and then it clicked I'd missed my middle of the day injection, checked the blood sugar and it was a bit high but it's back to normal now.

Darlington Brick Train

Anyway looking out the window the sky is still blue ,  there's only a little cloud cover so not sure if we are going to get the downpour, but at least I'm prepared for it.

This week has been good for music and seeing friends so tomorrow I really will try to have a quiet day. Oh and earlier this week I went to see the Brick Train in Darlington which is about ten minutes from where I currently work. Because of this I chose a cover of the Kinks "Last of The Steam Powered Trains" and this version brings out the riff that reminds me of Howling Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning" which incidentally is also about steam trains,
 namely the sparks the could be seen from the funnels when you saw
the trains at night.

About The Brick Train

 Hope you are all having a great weekend, and have a fantastic Sunday everybody. There are lots of great things happening  so enjoy everything.

Say hello to your neighbour or phone a friend , do something to put a smile on your face and you will make the world a friendlier place.

A Lot of Music , Hospitals and Liverpool

This week I've been to two gigs , seen some old friends, met some new ones,  seen four bands , The Star Spangled Chestwigs, Toxic , Go Go Midgets and Penetration and had a check up at the hospital before my operation, and annoying they want me to go in the day before my op and stay overnight to check my platelet levels.

Anyway on the player is Go Go Midgets "Beneath The Valley of the UltraMidgets"  which they gave away last night free at The Three Tuns, and very good it is too.. If you check out their Facebook Page there's a lot of free downloads to enjoy.

Was discussing the best songs about Liverpool last night, so I've included mine and John Peel's favourite, the magnificent "Heart As Big As Liverpool" composed by Pete Wylie and performed by Ian Prowse who composed the second best song about Liverpool ever "Does This Train Stop On Merseyside" , another opinion shared by me and John Peel. The documentary is at the bottom of the post, very interesting and entertaining.

Liver Biopsy - Not My Body (I think You Knew That)

The reason being that I've been hit by ITP twice in my life (the last time fifteen years back after  spending a night outdoors in sub zero temperatures - so I know what the homeless have to endure on nights like that) . I pointed out I'd recently had some fairly invasive stuff for my Liver Biopsy which was done in a day , but to no avail. I do feel over caution has won out in this case as I would know if the ITP had hit as I check every day for the signs.


Anyway so I'm in hospital 18th August til the 19th of August for the op so no playing out that night (not that I ever play out of course.

Outside it's pouring down so plans to mow the lawn with take a hike tonight, which means I can watch some films. Currently watching the wonderful Hugo which is Martin Scorsese's first family film, so will finish that off tonight.

So though it's raining there's lot's of great stuff going on and the weekend is here so enjoy yourselves everyone.

I Just Can't Be Happy Today... Well Actually I Can, We All Can

Well actually I can, everybody can , there's always something to enjoy or feel good about. I was at a great gig last night by the Star Spangled Chestwigs and had a great crack on with several friends. When I left got an "affectionate" goodby from Shev and the crowd, got to the Metro station , train pulled up , which got me into Newcastle Monument where I walked to my bus stop two minutes before the last bus turned up. That wasn't planning, it was luck, but just made me feel better.

I took the title from the excellent Damned song.

Don't Worry Be Happy

Earlier in the day I'd had lunch at Cafe Rouge with my daughter Juliet, which was excellent, great service , and there were a couple of parties in , one of which had a few young mothers among their number. As I was leaving I noticed that one mother was breast feeding her baby, the atmosphere was so relaxed that she could do that as it should be , completely naturally . Kudos to Cafe Rouge for providing that environment, they have gone up in my estimation.

The thing is being happy is a positive trait that should be practiced and encouraged in everyone. Bad things happen but to work towards coping with them, and find something that will put a smile on your face.

A lot of people seem to spend more energy being miserable and they must have a sad life. The right wing push hate slogans, and people who are good friends of mine often spread these probably without thinking. On Facebook groups like Britain First and Right Wing News are particularly spiteful and nasty. Anyone on benefits spends all of that hard earned tax payers money on cigarettes, tattoos, alcohol and cable TV and immigrants just walk in here and get mansions and new cars, although it's seldom you can find hard examples of this. They seem to forget that their taxes are also paying for the tax "avoidance" / "evasion" of large corporations , but that is apparently ok. But what they don't think is that the avoided tax will end up bled out of the economy and in a Cayman Islands Hedge Fund, while cash paid out in benefits will stay within the economy. If we stopped ev
asion with the money returned to the economy we could employ people under the direct control of government to properly administer tax and benefits.

Another of the hate posts I've seen recently are targeting diabetics. "Don't they understand if they stop stuffing their faces with cake and chocolate they'd be ok". These have been posted by people I consider my friends. Well yeah I'm overweight but don not over indulge. Also  what about Sir Steven Redgrave, hardly a lard arse, and a good friend of mine has far worse diabetes that me , which she is coping with but is a mere slip of a girl.

Really I feel sad for the people who write and spread these things while happily they are taken advantage of by big business and right wing governments and organisations.

So basically , the sun is shining , there are lots of things to do, pick up a phone and talk to a friend, meet them in a park or art gallery, go and see a film, listen to some music, read a book, go for  a walk (I found an excuse to make myself go for a long walk earlier and feel better for it), there are lots of things you can do to make you feel good. Try to see the good in others but don't be taken advantage of. If someone is having a hard time , offer a helping hand, be there for your friends, I know all my friends are.

Anyway there's been some diatribes here , but I am happy , I am good , and I am having a great weekend.. You do the same.

August Is Here

Augustus

It's month eight although it used to be the sixth month before they rearranged the calendar, named after some Roman Emperor called Augustus. We still have excellent weather, with rain during the night and sun during the day.

Again nothing major to write about although I am slightly exasperated on a number of fronts with IT people refusing to take responsibility for systems they are paid for looking after and saying it's not their responsibility. I and others diagnose the problem and then nothing gets done apart from those idiots suggesting it may be the users fault.

This has happened three times this week already , once in work twice outside of work, but I'm not too bothered and it's not worth  getting het up about.

I'm just looking forward to a really nice weekend looking forward to lunch with my daughters and seeing the Star Spangled Chestwigs on Saturday at The Doll at The Black Bull in Gateshead. Sensible people  deal with the drudgery and take delight in the good things and that's what I intend to stay doing. Have a great day and a better weekend

Coincidentally ....Two Johns

Am I Going To Hell?

Today has been a day of coincidences. I always have a chuckle when people say "things happen for a reason" yet can't give an actual reason for what happened. That's just coincidence, and often you can use it to link together totally disparate places people and events, so I'll tell you about today, although part of these linked coincidences started nearly forty years ago in 1977. But there's a lot of disparate threads that really have no connection but just happened to coincide.

Punk 45

Anyway yesterday I bought an excellent book of punk single covers called Punk 45. It's enlightening to see how many of the artists looked on the sleeve of the early singles, Sting, Iggy Pop and Gary Numan look recognisable but young. It's also a fairly hefty tome but great to browse through and big enough to read without the aid of a magnifying glass.Today I needed to go into town to pick up some train tickets and some bits to update my sound system.






When I got to the bus stop it was sunny and there was a young lady there sort of singing , I assume to what was on her phone. She turned round and said what a nice day it was and then saw the caption on my T-Shirt and seemed to take it quite seriously, telling me that god had a place for me in heaven and hell was for the evil angels. We chatted on and she was happy and pleasant but a bit forceful, and then the bus didn't turn up, so I spent nearly thirty minutes in some verbal jousting. I didn't want to upset as she was going to a christening, but just said everyone should live morally and look out for others and stay happy, so we left on good terms. The christening was in Byker, home of part of the next thread of coincidence.

Suspended Sentence - Check The Line Up - John Scott!

A couple of years ago I went to see John Cooper Clarke at the O2 Academy in Newcastle and was very impressed by the MC on the night , Mr John Scott. I was so impresses with Mr Scott that he was the second best thing I saw that night,  but then sought out further gigs, and am really pleased he's on regularly at venues such as The Stand.

John is from Byker, so that's the thread I mentioned before, but was looking at the line up for John Cooper Clarke's first single.....

......and the guitaris is John Scott. Now the John Scott I know would have been about 10 at the time so was either a child prodigy on the Manc scene or it's a different guy.







Now certainly people could tie all these facts together to mean something , but I know it's all coincidence.


So basically I've had a great weekend and I hope you have too. If you can get a copy of the book do so. I've included so youtube footage of the two Johns for you to enjoy.

The Heat Is On

Well it's Saturday Night and still very warm, hot even. Hope I haven't got sunburned today , though I bet a lot of people have. Just been having a relaxing day , though dewired some clutter in the front room and had a wander round town and bough a book and some fruit.

This post is totally random, because as is quite often the case, I don't really have anything to write about, but it is nice to just let the words flow and and fill the page, although I don't think there will be much page filling tonight. I just keep trying to thing of ways to cool down, after today clothes need to go in the wash. Luckily have cool drinks and will be sleeping on top of the bed with maybe a light sheet , just need some sort of cover on, for obvious reasons.

The days are getting shorter, the nights drawing in , although it is most definitely summertime.

Just as I was writing this my computer desktop disappeared, very weird, so had to restart. Given it's so hot have gone for The Who's take on Martha Reeve's Heatwave.

Anyway I hope everyone is having a great weekend, enjoy the sun , and keep positive, there is lots to be positive about.

Hot Cross and Bare on Byker Hill

Well you know I don't do cross or anger , and thought it's time for another post. At the moment it's still very hot and stuffy so really you don't want to see me at the moment as I'm taking the practical way out to keep cool. I know 26 degrees Centigrade is cold for some folk but it isn't for me. I don't think I'd do too well in equatorial conditions.

Martin Carthy

Anyway I do appreciate the good weather, but think a cold bath may be in order to keep cool, but maybe that's just going a bit over the top. Today I got ticket's for Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, absolute folk legends who are playing the Tyneside Irish Centre. I know Midge Ure played there once, but I've played there several times. Then again the last time I saw Martin Carthy was at The Sage, and I've been on the same stage as part of the choir backing the late great Solomon Burke , so we have some experiences in common.

The cover of the album to the right is just one of those images that always suck with me. It made me notice him before I'd ever heard of him> If you haven't heard him then rectify that immediately.

The album contains his arrangement of Scarborough Fair that Paul Simon acknowledgingly lifted for Simon and Garfunkel's version which is more widely played.

I hope they play Byker Hill when they're on Tyneside, I'm sure they will.

So really , it's end of the week, the weather is great, and I have another great night to look forward to , so all in all things are very good. I really hope they are for you and you have an absolutely fabulous weekend.

This is them from a few years back

A Post About Time (with a tenuous nod to Bowie)

Recently I've had an abundance orf music and great weather, found a watch I've been looking for for more than ten years and been enjoying some great weather. My temperature reading alarm clock says it's 25 degrees in the house and it feels very humid.

i-tol left - Beuchat right

The watch is a Beuchat and using a clever analog design of two gradiated (is that a word?) discs to tell the time. I got it from this lot off Ebay. I loved the i-toc which is a clever analog design but always thought the Beuchat was way cooler and cleverer, but both are very cool as you can see.

Though I can't find my watch on their site, I sourced mine from Italy via Ebay.

I suppose it's appropriate I use David Bowie's "Time" (a live version to soundtrack this.



So basically all is good, though I really need some sleep and this heat is not really conducive to sleeping well, but I will see how I go.

I hope you are all having the greatest of times so I will leave you now and let you get back to enjoying yourself.

Rip It Up And Start Again

This post is almost a throwaway , as I need to do a post about the festivals that I've attended this weekend , but they will appear on Spoongig sometime this week.

The title of the post is taken from the Orange Juice song of the same name, which is a fine song but doesn't really live up to the violence and clean slate manifesto of the title. The song should be load , fast and take no prisoners, instead it goes along at it's own laid back pace , conveying a great sentiment very gently.

I got to thinking about this because my power monitor had sort of stopped working. I wasn't sure what was wrong , but knew I recently replaced the batteries in the transmitter. Like a typical man I thought I was going to have to reset everything , replace the batteries and reprogram the device, which I wasn't looking forward to, Then unlike a man I quickly scanned the manual and noticed it wasn't receiving a signal (a little indicator wasn't showing as was illustrated in the manual). I then checked the transmitter and saw that it was transmitting (it has a red signal light). Then I thought I'll switch it off and switch it on. And that did the trick.

So often you don't have to start again , with a litlle thought you can find a simple solution to your problem.

This isn't always true, but I do love simple solutions.

And then a little icing on the cake...

It's always nice to be pointed in the directions of good things and this folk blog was a particular gem. Well worth a visit , though I think I will add to my blog lists. Mojowire is here . Some great stuff about English Folk Music

What Should I Say? - The Red Book!

There weather's nice and there is nothing much happening , so whatever occurs in thi spost is just going to be a stream of consciousness outpouring inspired by "The Red Book" by The Penguin Cafe now being steered by Arthur Jeffes son of the sadly missed Simon Jeffes. The music is unmistakably Penguin Cafe and is absolutely joyful and awesome at the same time.

Always loved this music somewhere is an alternate universe between instrumental folk , classical and somewhere else , recalling Terry Riley and Michael Nyman in it's use of simple repeated motifs to build a complex and beautiful tune. How pretentious does that sound , but it is very good and would an enhancement to anybody's music collection.

So I did't know what i was going to write about and end up writing about the CD that I'm listening to to give me some inspiration so that I can actually write a blog post. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing but I've done it now and I am thoroughly enjoying the album.

Here's a description of the album from Amazon:

Product Description:

The Red Book

The catalyst for the new recording came about when Arthur Jeffes worked on a project with the International Space Orchestra and NASA Ames in 2012, out of which came the pieces Aurora and 1420, which have since been beamed into space as part of NASA's Kepler project. These touchstones marked a 'satellitic' beginning for a new album, a collection of songs that would then return to earth to undertake a rich, cross-continental, musical journey.




Arthur Jeffes explains:

 "The intention was really to create musical pictures and colourful soundscapes, channelling music and traditions from around the globe, but then possibly set through a more English filter. The first album, I think, was about establishing our own sound and identity, dusting out and re-opening the Cafe so to speak, but with The Red Book I think this is a grand new departure and ambition to sonically chart an imagined journey through the world and across the globe. I guess this would be the map of that idea."

Do you know why albums are called albums, it's because when sheet music was sold , collections of tune were sold collectively in physical albums and the name stuck.

Anyway hope you are loving the brilliant weather and enjoying the opportunity to relax, we are half way through the working week now, unless you are a teacher and we know for them the work never stops, you should a

777

This is my 777th post. I'm not sure where I expected to get to when I started, but obviously 1000 is in my sights. I actually started seven years ago, in 2007 and I did six posts i that year so the seventh actually occurred in 2008. The first post is here and the second was a piece I wrote on Krautrock which I pillaged so to blog would look a little more substantial.

777 7 7

Anyway the number seven seems to be cropping up quite a lot in this post , but Im not going to count words or letters.It's probably a number that some ancient Chinese Astrological Horoscopic Wisdom will tell me will define my life , or something. Oh and tomorrow is the 7th Day of the seventh month and if you ad the digits up that make up this year 2 + 0 + 1 + 4 , guess what ..... they make SEVEN.

It's quite fun the connections and coincidences you can find with relatively little effort.

Well no doubt some people will be in seventh heaven.

So there are lots of songs that have Seven in the titles and I was going to go for  "Seven By Seven" by Hawkwind , but then thought I'd plump for "Seven Stars" by Uriah Heep , the first band I ever saw live. Sleep well my friends and have a brilliant week.

Saturday Morning - Tour De France - Yello Jersey Time

TDF Helmsley

It's raining, but the sun is now out. Didn't get to see the Deputies last because I was too  shattered and it was pouring down, so being a bit soft I decided to stay in. I slept ok but had a dream with included aggressive carnivorous zombies , story telling sessions , people outside the window in ambiguous black uniforms and Robert Redford being very ill in bed, analyze that ! I've forgotten most of it but some interesting images in there.





Anyway, again I feel good although the wound site is looking very bruised, but I've taken the plaster off. I could post a picture but I doubt anyone want's to see my exposed flesh.

TDF Wass

There seems to be a lot about the Tour De France starting in Yorkshire, which is great for the area but it does make the Tour of Yorkshire and France and they have the English Channel in between. The benefits are that people can see how lovely Yorkshire is, I'll be holidaying there again in October in Ampleforth, and noticed a few Tour De France displays while I was there a month or so back.



So I hope you all have good things happening this weekend , I hope the weathers good, and lots of fun and good stuff comes your way.

I had to include Kraftwerk's "Tour De France" , but always thought Yello's "The Race" was better and this is a brilliant video.

Today IS Independence Day (In The USA)

The alarm went off, I'm showered , the sun is shining , it's my friend Alison's birthday (on of the birthdays I can remember even though it's over 40 years since I first met her!), and tonight I hope I feel as good as I do now so I can go and see my mate Jim's band The Deputies, which I keep meaning to go and see and then act like an auld git and don't get down there. Live music is brilliant and every band who plays a live set should be congratulated.

Found some footage of them playing the Queen Day last year so you know who I am going to see.  Jim by the way is a huge Queen fan , so much so  he got a credit on the first Queen Video compilation DVD.

Independence Day USA

So I've written nothing about Independence Day, and used Bruce Springsteen's song in my last post, but I supposed that just shows how easily I get distracted, although I though the film of the same name was rubbish.

Hope everyone has a great time , all over the world,  it's a great day , and fantastic precursor to the weekend, and I am looking forward to it.

Still Tired

Well the biopsy has really taken it out of me, along with a lot of blood. I'm still feeling run down, want to just get into bed and sleep for about sixteen hours. Unfortunately there's work needs doing and the next two weekends are going to be rammed as well so it's unlikely I'll get any respite.

I feel I am improving , but not as fast as I would like.

The staff at the Freeman have been brilliant, and I know I can drop by any time I want. Work have been extremely supportive, so I'm not under any unnecessary pressure.

Anyway that's the boring stuff out the way. The weather is still excellent although it's been a bit gray today. I do have a lot of great stuff coming up , just need to rest when I can so I can be 100% when I need to be. I have recieved encouragement from around the world , and that's one of the great things about the internet, a few words from someone can really lift your spirits, and ever you can say and share something nice you should do, because it lifts both of you.

I do like positive stuff, and positive attitudes, that show that people care for each other , and sometimes that can be as little as saying hello.

The River

Anyway tomorrow is the 4th of July, American Independence Day , and that means I have a song for this post from one the many Bruce Springsteen albums I love , The River.

I really didn't know what I was going to put in this post, and thought I might get ten words out, but was also thinking that I hadn't done a post this month. Well now I have, and I'm feeling good , but I will be in bed soon. Hope you have all had a great day and are looking forward to an even better weekend.

Hospital Time

Well went in today, had two ECGs , heart rate was slow in the afternoon , but given that I had been lying still for a long time after the biopsy I didn't think that was too surprising, and neither did the doc though he did and extra ECG to make sure all was ok.

The worst part was having to spend nearly six hours on a bed not moving for ANY reason, even when they kept giving me cups of tea, by the way wee is quite heavy in those cardboard containers ....

Still caught up on TV and couple of TED talks and got in some reading.

Apart from the lump of liver they also took a hell of a lot of blood so could explain why I'm feeling a little tired.

All's I can say is that everyone today has been brilliant, there was no pain, little discomfort, and only a bit of blood was spilled. I am now going to go to sleep and will be working from home tomorrow while I get my strength back.

The NHS is totally brilliant, a shining beacon that shows how a country should look after it's population. Thought I'd include a little of the excellent Midnight Oil, just because they're Australian, brilliant, and I can.

Grapefruit

Grainger Market, Newcastle

Yesterday I was in the Grainger Market getting fruit and stuff for the week, and for some reason picked up a couple of grapefruit (or should that be grapefruits?). My mum reckoned that Grapefruit "burned fat" but that was the 1960s , I think that was because they don't taste sweet.

Anyway put 'em in the fridge and had one this morning , had forgotten just how gorgeous and refreshing they are. I will be buying more I think on my future visits. Apparently Michael Eavis (Glastonbury head guy) eats a whole one every day according to Elbow's Guy Garvey, and he certainly looks extremely well on it.

Well I may try and mow the lawn in cage a deluge appears , and need to do it today as I won't be up to it after the liver biopsy (lifting the lawmower up and down steps not a great idea after the op), and hopefully have a relaxing afternoon . Hope all my friends who are moving or have moved have settled in and are having a brilliant weekend , same goes for all my friends.

Jack The Barber

Jacks Frontage

Needed a haircut today, and my favourite barbers is Newcastle is Jack's near Central Station. The last couple of times they've been packed , but I got in today.

Vintage Hairdryer

The decor is great and the crack is good , always great fun whoever is in . Claire sorted me out today, but Lloyd the owner was also dealing with a Canadian guy and everyone was engaged in conversation and laughs including why German soldiers are en masse requiring breast reduction operations. Very amusing and also it's a great laugh.

Blood Letting Dish

They have some great stuff in there and it's a nice place to be while you are waiting for your trim.

Anyway an excellent day, but I told Claire I would blog about how good the shop is so here it is.

Jack's Fan

Jack's Gargoyle

Jack's Library

Maybe the first song that comes to mind is monster riff from Beck that he lifted from the Troggs. Both songs on hear so you can listen to both. Beck did credit the Troggs on his record.

The Weekend Is Here Again ... And The Festivals Are Here

Glastonbury Tor

I watched some of Glastonbury last night and was impressed with Blondie and Elbow, but it really is just a huge corporate splurge. The music is an irrelevance and I bet very few of the goers even thing of visiting the town or know of the Tor. If you go you should visit the Tor a pyramidal hill on a flat plain with amazing views.

Tor Tower

Tor Tower

Glastonbury Revisited by The Cosmic Rough Riders is my favourite song that mentions Glastonbury, a perfect Festival song.

When we went we got to the top then noticed a local running up, when he reached the top he stood on his head for a couple of minutes and the ran away. When we descended we found signs barring people from entering the field due to the Foot and Mouth epidemic at the time.

View from the Tor

  Well two of my festivals will be Mouth of Tyne and Corbridge , but this weekend in Newcastle there's the Tea and Cake Planet event , which could be worth a visit.

View From The Tor

View from the Tor

Yesterday I had some great chats with people about the horrors of giving presentations to unreceptive audiences and the joys of finding and talking about antique furniture. It's amazing that if you talk to the right person to can talk with them for ages and it seems like two minutes have gone and you have learned lots and had your interest stimulated greatly.





Anyway that's it for today, I'm gonna have to get off in to the wide blue yonder , in a great mood ....

The Day After The Longest Day

This is where the pessimists start saying it's all downhill from here , the days are getting shorter , it'll soon be winter and we haven't had a summer. Well in my opinion we have had great weather just like 2013 , I'm enjoying this great weather , we are having a great summer , and there is lot's of good stuff happening.

Big Country

I'm particularly looking forward to the Corbridge Festival which features Big Country , Bessie and the Zinc Buckets and the Ska-Toons among others , that's on the 12th of July, and the same weekend features the Mouth Of Tyne festival, admittedly I'm not too enamoured with the Brand New Heavies and Toploader but we do have the Neville Staple Band. Then we have Summertyne the following week with lot's of Americana going on.

SO we have all this music , and this without even touching on the main music venues in the area which I have eulogised in previous posts.

So really there is loads to do and enjoy and lots of it is free , you just have to make the effore to get there, and luckily Tyneside has a brilliant public transport system.

S0 enjoy the summer , it's going to be totally great!