Nine Feet Underground

Back to work this morning, so no promises on what I'll write or how much. I'm liking the new title and thinking about maybe having a new logo or background or something, but that'll take time I don't currently have so it's probably a pipe dream. My plan to start the day with an early walk was thwarted by the first carer being quite late and, as I needed to make an emergency food shopping trip before work, I decided I'd walk later. Not ideal, but the best laid plans and all that. Quick trip to the shops to pick up chorizo sausages and a few other items, then back to work by 8:30 a.m. As usual work dominates the day... Plans to go for a walk after work are dropped due to rain and my motivation is low, plus the England v Germany match starts at 5 p.m. and I've decided to watch that with my sons - England are in with a shout. Whilst watching the match I discover that I've probably gone and put my foot in it again.  I have an amazing talent for misreading how...

Back to work and the first day of a course spread over the next six weeks. Other than that, the same old same old. At some point in the day I published my review of 'The Alchemist' on my good reads page, further stoking the fires of controversy. Apart from the training course I also attended an hour long session titled 'The Art of Being Brilliant', the first in a series of talks about making the most of yourself / your life.  The speaker was Jonathan Peach who had some very interesting and enjoyable things to say, though most notably for me right now and as he pointed out, you do need to be starting from a good state of mental health.  It was thought-provoking and fun, but I think I need to get the Talking Therapies stuff under way / over, before I can really take advantage of it. During the evening I got a message from a friend I've not spoken to for a few months.  Last time I heard from her she was in the Maldives with her new  fiancé. She is planning a visit over...

Quiet start to what looks like being a quiet Sunday. Weather is as lovely as it's been all week, i.e. not. There's washing to do - when isn't there? Other chores too, plus the papers to read - never read any yesterday though a combination of lack of time and lack of motivation. Over lunch I watched some of the excellent BBC4 Arena documentary about Delia Derbyshire titled, 'Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes'.  She was an extraordinary women and pioneer of electronic music both while working through the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, where she most famously created the Doctor Who theme tune, and also through commercial recordings most notably the seminal album 'An Electric Storm' by White Noise. This was a great docu-drama featuring music created and manipulated from the lost tapes by Cosey Fanni Tutti, featuring interviews with some of the key figures involved.  Well worth watching! Late afternoon I had a phone call with my younger sister during whi...

Today has been a working day, so I've not had much time to write anything or think about anything much other than work. Added to which I had to take my car in for a service - its first service - which has squeezed what little spare time I had available, at least until the evening. I've arranged a call my mate in Berlin for later in the week, via a quick email exchange, other than that I've been working on my two main tasks.  I have the rest of the week off before I start on a new assignment next week.   Once was work was over and all the admin completed, I grabbed some time to listen to music and tonight's fare was: Dennis Wilson; Red House Painters; and David Sylvian.  I really need about three solid days to listen to music (not that I could actually do that) as I have quite a backlog: 18 new / unheard albums (7 of which were released in 2020) alongside eight others from my collection that I have an urge to listen to.  (Damn! Figures are wrong, there are severa...