Nine Feet Underground

The last day of June!  Where has it gone?  I'm not sure, but it's been fun, mostly, apart from E spending so much time in hospital. A normal Thursday this week, with our cleaner arriving at the same time as the first carer of the day.  A chat with Q before I eat breakfast and start work, and after that work takes over. Not much to remark upon, apart from the fact that at 6 p.m. it'll be the last Idler drinks before the festival a week today. Can't wait!  Tonight's talk is about Blake (William, not Sexton, for the avoidance of doubt!) Before the Idler I had a chat with Q, who's not feeling so good.  I hope it's not Covid, as she's spent a lot of time on trains etc. I'm crossing everything I can cross and sending positive vibes across the ether.  Mark Vernon talking about William Blake was interesting and there are aspects of Blake that I find fascinating, but you do have to be in the right frame of mind, 'cos he can be both heavy and impenetrable....

Started the day in the usual way talking with someone special relatively far away (there are no long distances in the UK!) Before starting work my senses were assaulted by Liz Truss's latest outpourings. It makes me wonder: does she have a problem whereby her mouth utters things before her brain has time to consider the subject, or, alternatively, is she just rather dense? Work will consume most of the day as I am very busy for the foreseeable future.  Mind you, what is foreseeable? In truth, only the moment that is now.  You can plan for the future. We all do.  Whether any of it comes to pass and whether you see the next day dawn is entirely out of your control. Control is an illusion. It's all about probability and taking the steps that make the desired future more likely.  I have noticed that I've been putting on weight for the past 6 months or so, and there are probably several reasons for this. This subject was brought sharply into focus today when one of the ca...

A full four days of work this week. Boy, I can't wait to start! Enough of that (...and statistics) Started my day by spitting repeatedly into a tube (not a tuba, just to be clear. I'm not that kind of guy). This is not some new TikTok craze (as if I would know!) but to capture my DNA to find out where I come from (stork, test-tube, Neanderthal etc).  This was one of my birthday presents from Q and I'm looking forward to finding out where my forbears (or was it three bears? Guess it only takes two!) came from. One of the carers thinks I'll find out I have some Jamaican in me, though for the life of me, I can't imagine why. (No, she went of her own accord) After spitting and then showering, I chatted with Q to see what her day has in store for her.  Sounds good. Hope she enjoys it and finds out what she needs to. Before starting work I walked to a local post box to post my spit (the dog (look it up!), then returned to make breakfast and start work. At some point today...

An early start before heading north on a day when Q will also be heading north later, though much further north than I'll be travelling. First, though, packing and breakfast (for both of us).  Before I leave a plumber arrives to fix the downstairs loo.  It rapidly becomes clear this is a bigger job than anticipated, though at least he can fix it this morning.  Not long after I depart I'm engulfed by a downpour of almost biblical proportions (no locusts or boils, thankfully) and the rain continues until my journey comes to an unexpected halt about 12 miles from home. There's been an accident requiring three fire engines and at least one ambulance, and I'm left sitting listening to music for at least an hour. We are going nowhere! Eventually, I get home and begin clearing up a little bit of mess left by sons 2 and 3 (mostly) and surprisingly, son #3 has not left yet (he's travelling even further north than both of us) which at least means I can say goodbye properly.  ...

I've been thinking of writing something about Microdisney and especially the combination of their tunes and lyrics, once described by the late, but inestimably great, John Peel, as 'an Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove'.  Sadly, on the 18th of May, Cathal Coughlan died, before I got to write anything. Instead, then, this post will be a tribute to the great man. Where to begin? Well, I first heard Cathal (as part of  Microdisney) on the John Peel wingding back in the early 1980s.  Guess it may have been 'Pink Skinned Man' that I heard first, but whatever it was I know I was struck by Cathal's lyrics and voice. After that, I was hooked.  I listened to every session and early plays of new songs that Peelie got hold of and went out and bought the albums and singles as they were released. I became a huge advocate for the band, though few other people I knew got it. Their first album, 'Everybody Is Fantastic' (a sarcastic title if ever there was one), came out in 19...

A later start ahead of a slightly more chilled day.  We have an appointment with the Red Arrows at the seafront between 12:30 and 1:10-ish and also have to do some food shopping. A cunning plan allows us to combine food shopping and Red Arrows, made even easier by the supermarket car park being unexpectedly open due to a barrier failure.  The Red Arrows were displaying at Goodwood, arriving via the Isle of Wight and returning over Gosport / Portsmouth. For some reason, I hadn't brought either camera with me but did at least have my radio. Their arrival at Goodwood via the IOW was too far south for us to see them, but we heard them arrive and their display on the radio.  On their way to Bournemouth airport after their display, they did indeed fly in front of us, in two sections (7 + 2) and accompanied by a Spitfire.  They were higher than I'd hoped and flew closer to the IOW, but it was good to see and hear them. Mission accomplished. Afterwards, we walked back to the...

Another day begins early-ish on the south coast, though today we're heading to St. Albans for lunch in an Italian restaurant.  Are there no decent Italian restaurants nearby, I hear you cry? Well, there's more to this than meets the eye. It's not just about Italian food.  Suffice it to say we'll be joined for lunch by someone special. I haven't been to St. Albans for quite a few years, though I do have several connections with the city and I'd forgotten how old parts of it are. After a tediously slow trip around the M25, parking was unexpectedly easy and fortuitous and the restaurant was also very close by and even closer to the cathedral. We had a very enjoyable lunch with sparkling and amusing conversation before parting company and heading home. The M25 was a bit kinder on the return journey via a retail park for some important shop visits. Dinner, 'Sherwood', sleep. Repeat. Yeah Yeah Yeahs / 'Spitting Off The Edge Of The World' / 'Cool It...

Working from 'home' on the south coast today, despite which I'll not have a huge amount to say until the evening, if at all. Busy with work all day with a break for lunch during which I meditated. Q went into her office for a few hours in the morning whilst I beavered away. (N.B. No dams were created during this period of intense activity) I finished work promptly today as we're driving to New Milton to see Shaparak (the comedian formerly known as Shappi) Khorsandi on her 'It Was The 90s' tour. Q rustled up some dinner for us before we left as there would be no time to eat before the gig and too late after.  That was a double shame as I also have some Idler friends who live not far from New Milton, though they may have been busy and time was short, especially as we have plans for Saturday which mean we can't get up late. We were sat right at the back in what appeared to be a modernised nissan hut, though my entrance (or rather the Miss Stacia / Hawkwind t-s...

Another working day, but with a difference...more on that later, though not much later given my opening point. Work had its usual interruptions with carer visits and the longer lunch call because it's one of the (two) days each week when E is hoisted out of bed into her tilt-in-space chair.  Not sure if she likes it, but at least she spends 10 to 15 minutes out of bed and is not (sort of) horizontal. Good for avoiding pressure sores, something she's managed to avoid in 6 years, which is close to miraculous. Some good news; our GP has arranged to visit next week to discuss palliative care and efforts to keep E out of hospital, as mentioned a while ago. As a background activity during the day, I've been finishing packing to go to the south coast after the final carer call of the day, which is why this is a working day with a difference. This does mean I'll miss tonight's Idler drinks which is with Oliver Bullough discussing oligarchs in Britain, which sounded both rel...

Sooner or later it had to happen. All good things and all that. I'm back to work today and so, in the usual way, I'll not have much to say as I won't have time to play.  What's special about today, apart from returning to work after four working days away? Well, for starters our cleaner is here today instead of tomorrow, though that's pretty dull. No, correction, that's exceptionally dull. Today is Todd Rundgren's birthday and given he's a musical genius and hero, the music choice today will reflect that.  (Anyone who is deeply familiar with Todd's output will know that he does have occasional lapses and writes some awful songs - witness 'Bang The Drum All Day' as just one example - but one thing's guaranteed he has always followed his own path, not least because he's made his money from his production duties, especially an album called 'Bat Out Of Hell' (I'm not familiar with that album, but hey ho!), and thus has pretty ...