I think I have a live album by Saxon and it’s great. OK, I’ve just checked and it wasn’t a live album it was a “best of” which is really the same thing. I have no idea if I’ve played this album. Probably at some point but I couldn’t tell you what’s on it. But that’s not to say it’s a bad album. It’s that you know what you are getting when you select Saxon to play.
The Good, The Bad and The Whoops!
Below I have arranged some screenshots from me playing X-Plane. I’m not really going to give any commentary. I should be writing a summary of this week of lockdown here but I genuinely am not sure what I can say without breaking my own website rules.
Strays – Jane’s Addiction
Jane’s Addiction was a band that I kinda missed the first time around. I was aware of the name and knew people liked them but I couldn’t tell you anything about them. Then there was a reality singer competition show on TV and Dave Navarro was one of the judges. I think I first saw this show when I was in Melbourne, Australia. EW introduced him to me as the replacement guitarist from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but I was more impressed he was in Jane’s Addiction – music from whom I still didn’t know.
I bought this album as an attempt to get into Jane’s Addiction and while the songs are OK there’s something about their style that just doesn’t do it for me. It’s a bit like Pearl Jam – some people absolutely rave and love them totally but for me I’m left a little cold. It’s not their fault, obviously, but I can’t explain it.
Exploring The Curves
I headed out in the glorious sun yesterday afternoon for a bike ride. My intention was to not climb any hills which limits the routes I can take given that the village is almost at river level – although I’m not at future risk of future flooding due to sea level rise unlike most of the new houses being built on flood plains in this country. I decided to investigate a riverside path which looked iffy. The were definitely marsh conditions but it is the other-side of the river to my normal running routes. I didn’t know how far I was going to go but I headed out to Brooklands Lake and found my way from there.
The footpath would have been better on foot. There were times when I had to get off the bike to avoid diving into the river and also a number of trees over which I had to decided either to climb over or go under. I felt like I was exploring and it was good fun. I may have ended up with bleeding legs and hands from the thorns but I didn’t care. Along the way I found three pillboxes built in the second world war much like the one along the Medway from last year.
The first pillbox was a surprise to me as I’d never been that way before and now I’m tempted to chronicle all along the lower Medway – even though that’s been done on other pages. Holborough Marshes was a surprisingly nice place with the sounds of running water and a lovely calmness. Apart from the motorbike racing up and down behind the river defences. I’m never sure what I think about bikers off roading around the villages. Part of me gets annoyed as they shouldn’t be doing it, but the other side of me thinks that as long as they are out of people’s way then it’s up to them. I guess the overarching societal decision is they are wrong and should go to specific places to enjoy their sport, there are tracks around here where they could go. It’s like those wankers who dump rubbish in places around our gorgeous countryside, they don’t think the rules apply to them or they don’t want to pay for the proper disposal.
This one at Brooklands Lake was rather a surprise and I didn’t expect to find anymore pillboxes as I travelled further up the Medway towards Allington. I apologise that the photographs aren’t that great but I have two excuses. Firstly I’m using a new camera app and getting used to how it works and secondly, I had polarising sunglasses on [which I didn’t remove] and that messes with what I can see on the screen.
This pillbox was in quite a nice position with some open ground towards the river. I remember thinking it would be a nice picnic spot. There were other spots which were quite nice but I saw the remains of around two tents and some air mattresses and the usual human detritus. This was a shame as it ruined the area. I do think sometimes that I should become a litter picker and collect this trash but time is the limiting factor there.
Overall this was a lovely cycling route, thorns excluded and somewhere I think I could run possibly one day if I can get my distances up to 18km or so. I’ve recently been running around 15km and found it quite good although my feet hurt. I’m going to try some new inserts in my trainers.
Somehow Not The Same
Until recently I owned a Bodum Cafetière and it worked fine. I mean it’s just a French Press coffee maker and there’s not a lot that it could do wrong. As an aside I just went over to the Bodum website to see if I could grab a picture of what the cafetière looked like and it turns out there are far more variations on these devices than I thought possible, what a rabbit hole! Then one day while washing the cafetière the glass cracked. I’m not sure how and I didn’t hear anything but it broke. Now, I like my morning coffee and so I wanted to get another French press as soon as I could.
Imagine me now walking down the “home stuff” aisle in Sainsbury’s and I spot a cafetière. It’s not made by Bodum and is branded as Sainsbury’s. Should be OK I tell myself, there’s not a lot you can do wrong with a device like this, and if I’m being honest they seem far more expensive than need be. So, I bought the Sainsbury’s cafetière.
That turns out to have been a mistake. Apparently not all French presses are the same. With this new one there is no way to remove the glass from the surround and so I can’t clean the outside of the glass properly. The gaps between the surround and the glass mean that stuff gets in-between and looks horrible from the inside of the cafetière. I guess that’s liveable with but then the bigger issue is that the lid design has less rim and does not align well so when pouring the coffee it regularly spills down the side of the cafetière and ends up on the kitchen counter.
When this leakage of the nectar first occurred I could hear something in the recesses of my brain from before, when I owned a not-Bodum and it just wasn’t as good. I had flashbacks to another time thinking that I should have spent the extra on the Bodum because the one I bought at half the price was shit.
So, the moral is sometimes the better brands are better.
Oh, and I ‘m still searching for a decent can opener. The latest one works, as in it opens cans, but I’ve got cuts on my fingers because it uses the outside of the rim rather than the safer inside part. Ho hum.
Somewhere Else
It’s almost a year since I went somewhere else. If I look back over my journeys since March 2020 I can recall visiting my parents twice, I think in the summer when we were allowed to visit people in gardens. I went to the white cliffs at Dover in early September I think. I had a walk along the river Medway sometime recently. And that is it. I’ve not been to anywhere vaguely military for a year. I’ve not seen friends and colleagues for about a year. I did return to work Sept through to Dec and saw those people then and it was nice. But I haven’t been somewhere else for a long time. All of a sudden I am very aware this is a modern world problem and that I am quite lucky in reality. No-one I know has died from this virus and I have a home which is somewhere palatable to be. There are plenty out there who have no idea how to feed their families or how to keep a roof over their head.
I am looking forward to being somewhere else. Just to experience other things. The mental aspects of constantly doing the same things and not being able to improve or learn new things has taken a toll. I guess I’ve been doing gaming videos in a bad way over on my YouTube channel and that was quite fun but not the same as actually being outside somewhere else. I haven’t used my camera for quite a while and I think I should. Maybe I need to start doing still life compositions? I don’t know. I guess I could do some sort of project to make sure my camera still works!
I’m not sure that the current moves by the government are the right ones. I’m not in charge and I’m sure they’ve got their reasons I just don’t think public health is at the top of their list. I also worry about the ability of these people to absorb technical and nuanced information about the ‘rona and how it affects us all. The covid recovery group are cunts. I guess we always knew there were a lot in that party but this group have clearly defined themselves as such.
I’m going somewhere else today. I’m looking forward to seeing other things. But I also know from the other times I have been to this “somewhere else” that after about thirty minutes it feels normal. I’m actually looking forward to being somewhere with jet noise and the smell of fuel. Hopefully that will happen later this year.
Strange Little Girls – Tori Amos
I think I’ve listened to this album twice and both times it made me feel unwell. I remember buying it because it seemed a really neat concept. But I can’t listen to it. It’s a bit like White Wine In The Sun by Tim Minchin – I can’t listen to that song either but for very different emotional reasons.
Still Cyco After All These Years – Suicidal Tendencies
Never listened to this.
Stiff Upper Lip – AC/DC
Yes, I own a copy of this album but I’m not convinced I’ve ever played it. I’ve got it on now as I write this and I know not of these songs. It doesn’t matter. It’s an AC/DC album and you know how they go.
State Of Euphoria – Anthrax
From the opening cello to the finale this is a great album. It was the first Anthrax album I owned and to me it is a complete summation of their style. They are the only band of the big four that I haven’t seen live and I do hope that changes one day.
Be All, End All – great riffs, fast pace, tuneful vocals and changes of pace. Such an excellent song.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind – the second song with a comma in the title and another where the opening riff changes to fast paced melodic riffage. I think Anthrax manage to make excellent pace and riff style changes really well, a great band.
Make Me Laugh – some superb reverse drumming in this and while I know what I mean I’m not sure you will. Doesn’t matter. Pretty sure this song is about evangelical christians screwing money out of people.
Antisocial – not written by Anthrax but by Trust, a French metal band whose music is pretty cool. I think the original is better but this is a great version and brings obscure French rock to the masses.
Who Cares Wins – a lovely acoustic opening heading into lovely ringing chords and finally thrash riffs.
Now It’s Dark – I love this riff. Bouncy and excellent for the pit. The vocals are really melodic and overall this is great. A little bit of swearing too which is always excellent. The change of pace half way is brilliant.
Schism – a great song.
Misery Loves Company – I’m pretty sure this is about the Stephen King book but I’m not really a lyrics man so maybe it’s about something else completely but the book hypothesis seems to work well.
13 -spooky opening, strange sounds, lovely short instrumental.
Finale – The opening sends shivers down my spine, that echoing guitar blat. Lovely. Over, finished, done, gone, out.