Track of the week 29/4/18
I think I first encountered this track one Friday evening on “The Tube” (I could be completely wrong) and I have always been drawn to it, and the video.
Where did that go?
Pic of the week 29/4/18
Well, where did that week go?
It seems like only moments that I was sat here writing last week’s blog post.
So this week, I have gone back to school, the weather has gone from hot, hot, hot to chuffing cold, my knee has made a slow improvement – still not full working order yet, but now walking with a “just” a limp and not the full Herr Flick (as I was described by a colleague on Monday.) Went spinning on Friday and today – great to do some exercise and also felt good for the knee , “loosening” it up. It also felt a lot better after yoga on Wednesday. Have a physio appointment on Tuesday.
Boiler gave up the ghost on Friday evening, now producing no hot water, no matter what you do. Have a man coming on Tuesday to install and fit a new boiler.
In fact, now I think of it, Tuesday should be an important day, the start of a new era: new boiler, new mortgage (Yorkshire bank offset) and new me (I hope!) after the physio sorts out my knee.
Theme from MASH – Manic Street Preachers
Track of the week 22/4/18
Need to go and pack my bag for tomorrow – typical mad dash at the end of the hols, so no time for words, just enjoy this cover of a classic.
Maximum Jeff
Pic of the week 22/4/18
I had plenty to write about today, but (probably I’ve got plenty to write about because I’ve been busy) today’s post will be reduced to a series of bullet points for brevity.
- What a difference a
dayfive years makes! Same T-shirt, two different me’s. The first picture was taken in the summer of 2013, the right hand shot yesterday. Becky & I went to see “The Band” at the Bristol Hippodrome and the pic was taken after lunch, en-route to the show, which included my favourite line: - “You are looking at maximum Jeff.” Show was great, but it did continue the tendency to stereotype “Jeff’s” as middle aged, boring, old men. Couldn’t be further from the truth!
- As this post is, in part, dedicated to my vanity, it is only appropriate that I record my first “waxing” – on Thursday I had my back done, not as painful as I feared!
- The weather has, at last, been fantastic. From Tuesday we’ve had wall to wall sunshine and, apparently, the hottest April day since the ’70s. After the cold wet Spring we’ve had, the good weather was long overdue.
- Garden notes: planted up some lobelia, geraniums, hostas. Gave everywhere a good tidy. Over seeded the (barren looking) lawn.
- Boiler – on Friday the boiler annoyingly started playing up, only giving hot water intermittently. Can trick it into action (turn hot tap on, turn boiler off and then on) and it will (usually) stabilise and maintain hot water. But a pain. My money is on the PCB …
- My knee continues to improve, but still not able to walk normally. A lot less painful than it was and I have been able to swim on Friday and today. Not sure if I’ve just forgotten how to walk!
- Back to school tomorrow, holidays are over. Still, the summer term is always the best (and the shortest. Are the two related, I wonder?)
Retro Fun Planet – Soundroll
My wife just doesn’t understand.
A common enough complaint from the downtrodden male, but I think perhaps it is only in this area Becky & I diverge.
She will describe this as “elevator music” failing to see (or, more accurately, hear) it for what it is: funky, groovy, acidy, poppy jazz.
I discovered “Soundroll” via Spotify (there we go again – somehow magically knowing what I will like) and have fallen in love with it.
Broken
Pic of the week 15/4/18
I’m in pain. Again. Not the tooth this time, but my knee, my right knee which I thought had pretty much got better took a big hit on Friday.
I did a tournament at Kingweston on Friday – good standard, a mix of U15 academy & district FA sides – I ref-ed four 35 min games and lined another. By the end of it my knee was hurting. So much so that I cancelled that night’s spinning.
It’s now Sunday afternoon, and it still hurts. Cancelled yesterday & today’s games (middles) and tomorrows line at Glastonbury U18. My season is over.
The last month has been a painful one – first my tooth, and then my knee. I need to remember that I am only just shy of fifty years and my body can’t take the hammering it once used to. This weekend I’ve realised that, and come to some conclusions. I can’t do everything. I’ve really enjoyed referee-ing this last week, but I’m really not enjoying the pain and enforced idleness that is the result.
Straight lines – I need to stick to straight lines. That means running, swimming and spinning. My body can cope with that, its the twisting and turning (football, referee-ing) that imparts those loads. Not sure when I shall start to run again. Hope to be able to spin on Tuesday, but will cancel if the knee doesn’t feel right, and swim this week. Running the Glastonbury 10K may now be in doubt.
In other news, weather has been rubbish, but yesterday the sun came out & I found my spot at the bottom of the garden. More rain today, but it is forecast to heat up next week. Here’s hoping …
Tooth Part III
I’m still not sure if it was a cunning ploy, or she was just being open and honest with me, but my dentist scared the bejesus out of me today.
When I first went to the dentist three weeks ago, I was in so much pain (abscess) that she could have done anything and it would have been an improvement (and she did – sorting the problem with one big injection of anesthetic, much prodding & poking , draining the abscess and prescribing antibiotics).
Today I was back for the permanent solution. I was pain free as I trudged through the drizzle to the surgery with much more reluctance than before. Then, I was hopefully going from big pain to much less pain, today I knew I’d be leaving in more pain than I arrived.
I’d been offered the choice of root canal surgery, which she had explained only had a 50/50 chance of success, or having the tooth out. I had opted for the latter.
As my dentist invited me to take to the chair, she began filling my head with a tail of woe: “I’ve seen the x-ray, its not going to be an easy extraction. The roots are long, some root may get left in, might have to have some bone removed.” This was not what I wanted to hear. “If it goes wrong, I can refer you to hospital. We’ll need a lot of anesthetic”
She gave me a big injection of pain killer. Then she gave me some more.
As my mouth began to freeze, and before I turned into a complete dribbling wreck, I instructed her to do what she had to do. I remembered the pain of a few weeks back, and anything would be better than that.
She set to work. Pushing, prodding, pulling. Five minutes (probably more like two) she stood back and said “that’s it.”
Initially, I wasn’t sure if she meant it, but she did. I couldn’t adequately express my gratitude – a combination of a numb face and a mouth full of gauze to stem the blood rendered speech pretty much impossible, so I put my thumbs up, tried to smile but couldn’t (that frozen face again) and shuffled out of her surgery – despite her now being one of my favourite ever people (I was in so much pain a few weeks ago) I hope to not darken her door again for some time.
A few hours later, the anesthetic has worn off, I describe myself as “in discomfort” rather than in pain, a bloody, tangy taste in my mouth, but hopefully on the mend to full dental health.
Almost Prayed – The Weather Prophets
Track of the week 8/4/18
If you thought about it too much, it could get quite frightening to think about how well Spotify knows you. Within a week or two of being on the service, it served up this gem for my enjoyment, a track that I haven’t listened to for years, and years and years.
And yet was more than happy to hear again.
So perhaps Spotify does have the power to discern my musical tastes, but if it does, sobeit – its doing a pretty good job of letting me listen to what I like. All power to its elbow.
Stuff
Pic of the week 8/4/18
Not too much to report this week – weather has not been brill for the Easter holidays , and have spent much of the time pottering around. A few points of note:
- Swum or spun everyday until yesterday (when I ref-ed)
- Arranged my new (re)mortgage. Going for a 5 year fixed rate offset deal.
- Mowed the lawn on Thursday (5th April) for first time this year. It looks pretty rubbish – largely just moss and barren patches. Hope it improves as spring arrives and blossoms into summer (when will that happen?)
- Refereed yesterday – cup game: Bruton Res v Milborne Port A, went extra time – and today: Wessex U16 v Perry Street. Thoroughly enjoyed both games.
- Right knee had been getting progressively better all week, but was a little stiff after yesterdays game, worse now after today’s. However, few exercise free days coming up for it to get better.
- Binge watched “Manhunt: The Unabomb story” on Netflix. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
… and tooth out tomorrow. Has been on the distant horizon for a while, is now hoving into clear view. Want the tooth out, and all sorted, but not looking forward to it.
100 years
Yesterday, 1st April 2018, marked the 100th Anniversary of the formation of the RAF
A life time ago, I did my bit for Queen and Country and, whilst I faced nothing more threatening than a dodgy kebab in downtown Adana, Turkey, I’m proud to have been one of the boys in blue.
Little photographic evidence still exists of my service, but Carl Smeaton – a former brother in arms – posted the one of us emerging from the CS gas chamber. Somehow, he is smiling as if he enjoyed the experience, I’m the one in the background, suffering. I never did like it when we played soldiers. This would have been taken whilst we were on 137 IOT (Initial Officer Training) We were part of (the notoriously tough) D Squadron.
The next photo was taken at Incirlik Air Force Base, Turkey, where I, a fresh faced Flight Lieutenant, can be seen briefing the top brass (whilst wearing a natty pair of shorts.) I used to go to Incirlik for 3 weeks at a time every few months, whilst JEngO on 101 Squadron, as part of Op. Warden – a joint US, UK, French & Turkish mission to enforce the no fly zone over Northern Iraq following the first gulf war. 101 Sqn had x2 VC10 tankers permanently stationed in Turkey.
And the last photo shows me playing football for RAF College Cranwell against the German Air Force. Can’t remember the score.