… my musings on, er, "stuff"
Track of the week 24/9/17
A band that went out to produce both the Beautiful South and Norman Cook. Still can’t quite believe that the ultra-cool Cook was part of this nerdy combo, but he was – interestingly, in this video he’s the only one with a half decent hair cut.
Anyway a good stand up (no pun intended) and sing, song. One to enjoy.
Pic of the week 24/9/17
Marathon runners talk of hitting the wall. As a teacher, I think I “hit the wall” this week – week 3.
Its always a tough time. The holidays suddenly seem a long time ago and the adrenaline fueled excitement of the first couple of weeks has past, leaving only tiredness, dampness and darkening evenings.
Wednesday I woke up whacked, it was a tough day – my wall. But you plough on through, and that evening I had my epiphany on a yoga mat and since then everything’s been good. In fact, I’d say better than good.
We now begin to enjoy the rhythm of routine as life settles down for the long march until half-term. There is certainly something comforting from order and repetition as the days shorten, a sense of starting to hunker down for the dark, cold months to come. I came home from spinning on friday to find the sliding door firmly slid shut, surely an important landmark in the changing of the seasons.
Track of the week 17/9/17
The only surprise is how this hasn’t made it as TotW before. A top, top, tune.
And not only that, lyrically superb, too.
And he packs his lunch in a sunblest bag
Kids of today would have no idea what that means. One of the best lines ever written, so evocative, painting a masterpiece of a picture in 9 simple words.
I defy you to listen to this track and not break out into song.
And I’m thinking about home
And I’m thinking about faith
And I’m thinking about work
And I’m thinking how good it would be
To be here some dayOn a ship called dignity
A ship called dignity
Pic of the week 17/9/17
The battle is lost. It was inevitable, the only question was how long I would hold out before capitulation. And capitulation came today. I turned the heating on.
Weather wise, its not been a good summer, and any hint of an Indian summer was swiftly washed away by one of the many, many rain showers we’ve endured since the start of September. The evenings have begun to become a little chilly, so this afternoon the heating was clicked to “on.” Next summer’s warmth seems a long way away.
(Still wearing my shorts, though!)
Track of the week 10/9/17
Another great big hunk of cheese.
I wasn’t supposed to like this track – being a relatively cool kid into The Jam, The Smiths, Simple Minds etc., but I’ve always loved it. Didn’t tell anyone, though.
I’ve always been a Soul Boy at heart and not only is this a sweet, sweet soul track, it is a celebration of two great soul legends – Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye. And they’re both pretty cool, so anyone singing about them has to be doing something right.
Maybe next week’s TotW will be ABC’s “When Smokey Sings” – watch this space.
Gonna miss your sweet voice
That soulful voice
On the nightshift
We all remember you
Ooh the songs are coming through
At the end of a long day
It’s gonna be okay
On the nightshift
You found another home
I know you’re not alone
On the nightshift
Two major milestones met this week:
So, as of today, this year I have run 304 Km in 24 hours 41 mins, which equates to an average speed of 4 min 52 secs per Km.
Other stats of note – I hit a whole day (24 hours) of spinning on 14th July.
My swimming has been put on the back burner a bit – I haven’t swum since 22nd July (have spun twice a week, ref-ed twice a week and run either once or twice a week since then.) Swimming stats are currently: 1656 lengths, or 55.2 Km, in 20 hours 44 mins.
Some interesting metrics – will be interesting to see when I hit these milestones next year, and to also compare my stats at the end of the Summer hols.
Track of the week 27/8/17
A track with a hook.
Heard this on a TV programme the other week and it brought a smile to my face. And that’s enough to make it this week’s TotW.
Pick of the week 27/8/17
And so, just as the hols draw to a close, the sun begins to shine. Today (Sunday) has been a glorious, sunny, hot day, and tomorrow promises the same. At last. Weather wise, its been a pretty poor summer holiday.
Pictured above are some shots of the bounty of the garden. Finally starting to get a good crop of runner beans (I don’t think we had enough insect pollinators in the early days) and only two courgettes. We’ve had plenty of diddy courgettes, but there have been very few male flowers, meaning the fruits have been fertilised and swollen into proper courgettes.
In other news, was GCSE results on Thursday. My two classes did well.
Track of the week 20/8/17
Another spinning track. Heard it last week, remembered it, loved it, but by the end of the session couldn’t recall it at all. All I could remember was that there had been a track I hadn’t heard for ages, but I couldn’t conjure up anything about the track.
Fast forward to this week. Second or third track into the class, it comes on again. “Must remember it this time” I tell myself, so really focus on the song. Begin to think it may have been The Wonder Stuff …?
Anyway – twenty minutes, and two aching legs, on and I realise I can’t bring the song back to mind again. Bugger.
Showered, toasted and sitting on the sofa I still can’t “hear” the song – but I do remember a possible tenuous link to The Wonder Stuff.
Pic of the week 20/8/17
For some time I’ve fancied going up the Poldens – the ridgeway that runs to the south of Street, seperating us from Somerton and the South. I first became aware of the area when travelling on the coach to Kingweston (take a different route when going by car). So I researched a little and it seems the Poldens, and a public right of way, runs from Walton along the ridgeway, ending near Kingweston.
So on Monday, with the weather set fair, Becky, Sam and I headed for the hills (Sophie was at work.) We had a really pleasant afternoon, ambling along the pathway, stopping to examine Admiral Hood’s monument, pick a few blackberries and explore the woods. If we’d kept going a bit further we’d have have emerged at Gilling Down – the big stone outcrop I’ve often noticed when driving back from Somerton way. A shame we didn’t quite make it that far as it would have opened up a quite spectacular vista across the levels. Anyway, must go back there in half term – if not before – to see it in its autumnal splendour.
In other news, Thursday was a bit of stressful day. Awoken unnecessarily early at 6 am for Sophie’s AS level results, they finally pinged through at circa 7am – BBCC. She was a little disappointed – got a C in Geog but was only one mark of a B and Maths. My classes had done alright in their AS & A Level results. Took the car (Mini) in for its MOT – fortunately it came through, with a bill, including service of sub £200. And just to add to the stress, we took same shopping for his school shoes. Glad we won’t have to do that again (as long as he gets away with what we have bought, which look suspiciously like black trainers to me …)