An early morning game of table tennis to kick start the weekend. There was bright blue sky, a light breeze and an empty public park at 8am. Which all adds up to the best way to start the day.
Oh hang on - I think I’ve forgotten the bloody ball.
Arse.
A few rummages around later in the deeper recesses of my cycling top, and job’s a good ‘un. We pressed on. Predictably I lost 3-2.
When Will the Guardian Admit Its Part in the Labour Together Scandal?
via Novara
“Reminder to self: you are just a relic of a bye-gone age. Don’t worry about these things!”
via micro-groove
Another day, another bicycle ride along a beautiful blossomed Trail. I took it at a steady pace. I spent an hour beforehand fitting a new cheapo Lidl bicycle seat to the summer MTB. It should have been a five minute job. The Laws of Bicycle Mechanics means that I need to multiply this by at least ten. I wasn’t entirely convinced that the seat pole may lose contact with the seat as I rolled along.
The Trail was busy with Bank Holiday walkers - another reason not to put my foot down on the pedals. I was layered up, passing walkers who were down to their T-shirts. I feel the Estuary Wilds winds these days like an 80 year-old. The blossom will soon be blown away. I fear that the same might happen to my cheapo Lidl bicycle seat.
We watched the Paul McCartney Man on the Run documentary last night. It seems that The Beatles - and post-Beatles - industry has changed from offering up something new each year, to almost every three or four months now. But it’s a decent watch.
Man on the Run zooms in on the Wings period, and in particular, the early days of the band since The Beatles split. Everything in the Beatles Industry needs to have a strong Fab Four anchor in there.
Home movies are relied upon for much of the storytelling. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the family life of the McCartney’s at the start of the 1970’s. You sense that there’s an awful lot more footage that was left out, in order to tell the narrative than Man on the Run then follows.
It’s fascinating to hear how McCartney genuinely thought that he would fail with his music after The Beatles split. He kinda did with Wings, with a shaky start and a rather lacklustre drifting of the band as the 1980’s approached. But the middle period is packed with some absolute bangers. He never lost the touch to write a half decent melody.
It’s still there to be heard in his latest release, Days We Left Behind. The voice is struggling. There’s not too many Beatles' Ooooh! in there. But I think that we can forgive that from a man now in his ninth decade.
Man on the Run is very watchable. The Beatles industry shows no sign of slowing down.
This was a new one for me. It’s a haunting album, with mantras, rather than traditional lyrics. It builds up a decent atmosphere as the tracks progress. I fell into an accidental trance whilst this drifted over me. I wish I had a bath in which to soak up and enjoy this.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
A return to the Trail for the first time in months on Thursday afternoon. The bloody Estuary Wilds rain has kept me and my MTB away from all the mud and general unpleasantness.
The stretch from Weird Wiv down to the Hythe is now bone dry. Blossom corridors line one particular stretch. It’s stunning, giving off the sense that you are cycling down a perfume tunnel - if such a thing actually exists. At least it makes a change from the stench of shit.
This was the first outing of the summer MTB. I carried out a few repairs on it back in September, before putting it away to hibernate for another winter. New spokes were added, along with some gear shifter cables. It held up to the test.
Chapeau!
“As cliche as it sounds, to us, punk is very much an attitude rather than an outfit or a sound. It’s about going against the mainstream, doing things for yourself, being respectful of other people, and making different types of people feel welcome and included.”
via Morning Star
The Daily Mail Backed the Blackshirts. It Can Shut up About Antisemitism
via Novara
A thoughtful album, and perfect morning music as I got to grips with the world. I made a mental note to buy a cheapo copy online after the first three tracks. Half a dozen more tracks in and I decided to ditch the idea. It’s not a bad album - in fact it’s really quite enjoyable. But it’s also a little bland, all a little more of the same. I felt like I had binged on some bland cheddar, rather than a few slices of Stilton.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
A return to the outdoor Table of Dreams, early evening on Wednesday. It’s been a while. We’ve been spoilt with the Five Star facilities of, erm, the Sailing Club, and the indoor table. The lure of the mild weather, little wind and general cabin sickness got us both outdoors.
We weren’t alone. The Easter Holidays meant that the field was full of young kids and teens, all doing the young kids and teens thing. I don’t miss the audio assault on your eardrums after running my arse around a S Ldn school all day long.
The seasonal weather also meant that the first cutting of the grass had taken place around the Table. It was only a few weeks ago that wellies were needed as we pinged and ponged back and forth like pigs in shit. The smell of the freshly cut grass was arousing. The local yoof meanwhile were enjoying their grass fights.
We pressed on with the game. I managed to find my length outdoors a little sooner than my opponent. Oh hang on - I’m bloody winning here. Time was a little tight - which was no bad thing as it meant I couldn’t enter my usual mid-game boredom phase.
A 3-2 victory was mine for the taking.
GEDDIN.
“I’ve been doing social media for nearly 20 years and I was brilliant at it, but today’s social media, all about reels and fancy videos targeted at the increasingly shorter attention spans of today’s generation mean this is a very different social media, far less fun.”
via the Coffee Ponce of SW8
“I remember the sort of grittiness. It was a mixture of the wonderful smells of the city mingled with the diesel from the buses and the coal dust in the air. The smell of the urban environment struck me as something I will always remember.”
via Left Lion
