There was no new thread posted to the AW yesterday, which is unusual. So, what happened?
I spent an hour being driven around a driving test route by Offspring the Elder, got the stepladder out and replaced a lightbulb, and transferred the fancy soundcard from my old (2014) PC to my new (2018) PC.
2-3 massive song threads from last week which are still rolling seem to feed the need to post about music. I imagine the Wordle thread is still attracting attention from others.
I think there just are fewer active AWer posters these days, particularly as there are other places to go (Hello Bluesky!)
Apart from the usual chores I put my feet up after a very busy 2 weeks and listened to music and did some reading
Oh and replayed the highlights of a certain football match several times
That was a fantastic result @Pyramid especially in a week when Man City were allowed to buy two of the best players in the Prem when they really should be languishing in division 2.
As always with football corruption wins the day.
I was going to post but the dog ate my homework. Sorry sir.
Actually, not true – we don’t even have a dog. Woke up late with the remnants of a cold caught in Japan, did bugger all throughout the day and then went to a family dinner.
Well, now. I put the seats down in the back of my car and delivered a shelving unit to my grandson’s house (his girlfriend spotted it at my house and has plans for it). I swapped out a Quad 306 for a rebuilt Quad 303 in my office system, with a view to deciding which one to sell. Did some paperwork. Listened to some Webern and some Varèse (Cleveland/von Dohnányi, Mr P!). Conducted an initial purge through my CDs, books, LPs with a view to a proper downsizing exercise. Had a nap.
The Varèse in particular is tip top. Mind you the Webern is pretty darn good too.
Both performances are top drawer. But, for my taste in music, I prefer the Webern – he remains my favourite out of the original Second Viennese School trio.
I certainly listen to Webern far more than Varèse but this particular recording is so damn good! I’ve a few other bits and pieces of Mr Zappa’s favourite with Robert Craft and The Columbia Symphony which are interesting but not exactly a cosy, relaxing listen despite the excellence of the performances and recordings. I really dig Alban Berg from the Second Viennese School as much as I like Webern tbh.
Quad 303 vs Quad 306 is like comparing oranges and apples, surely?
I was a 405 man once. Eh?
More like comparing Cox’s Pippins with russets, I’d have thought…
I’m selling a 405, too! I seem to have accumulated more Quad power amps than is sensible…
When I worked in Wembley, 40 years ago, there was a 405 and 33 pre amp on the shelf which didn’t really get used although I did use the 405 once to drive a pair of Bose 802s. We must have run out of Yamaha amps.
I think the last time I used a 405 it was to run Bose 802s. They (802s, not 405s) were everywhere for a while, and then nowhere for decades. I saw multiple pairs of them being used for PA at a Highland Games in the Cairngorms last summer.
Lots of speakers around, not so many system controllers, they tended to get lost. A guy I know has a container of them them he uses on Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park every year, there’re pretty indestructible but butt ugly.
303 is really nice. Rebuilt using Quad’s 2.0 circuit diagram for component values, etc (so not “modified” as such) but using modern components. End plate replaced with a new one – modern mains socket, phono inputs, speaker binding posts. And it’s sweet as a nut, especially with the Croft preamp.
I was on here all day!!!
I walked the dog, twice, had a bath, washed bedding, cooked two meals & completed lots of Sudoku puzzles while watching Everton & The Night Manager.
That is some serious multi-tasking!
Don’t look at me, I’m slap-bang in the middle of a crossfire hurricane.
https://www.unionesarda.it/en/sardinia/sirocco-winds-exceeding-100-km-h-200-mm-of-rain-and-6-metre-high-waves-the-storm-arrives-shaking-sardinia-uqncygrv
Yoiks!
Yoiks indeed.
Blimey Gary! Now that is what I call an eventful day.
The extreme excitement of your day certainly compensated for the humdrum dullness that the rest of us were enjoying.
I hope you are somewhere warm and safe.
Read books, listened to a lot of music, watched Go matches on YouTube, washed some bedding, shaved my head, scribbled in a sketchbook and indulged in boring but necessary walks around and about the neighbourhood.
More or less what I do on most days.
My gaming PC, which has been off at the health farm for gentle recovery treatment, came home yesterday by courier. I then spent a grunting hour getting the damn thing back upstairs and plugged in to its various USB/Ethernet/DisplayPort life support systems. Once slid back beneath the desk and fired up, I subsequently spent an hour or so gleefully slaughtering ne’er-do-wells in The Last Of Us. Finally, after a decent stir-fry, I watched snooker for the rest of a damp and drizzly evening.
I’d like to say I spent it clearing out a cupboard, flattening boxes after unpacking some books, filling the recycling bin ready for putting out today for its collection tomorrow. Fitted an extension lead to the underside of the kitchen worktop. Crosswords; sudoko; reading; streaming.
Instead I went bungee jumping.
Like Godot “Nothing happens twice”
Planned Tuesday’s radio show. Had the neighbours over for drinks. Watered the garden.
Hectic.
Ran a half marathon with one of my brothers. Few hours of work in preparation for a business trip to Italy this week which I’m not mad keen on (no one should be scheduling these things in January), and for which I’m now airport bound.
Watched Interstellar with the kids and some of their mates. Minds absolutely blown, it was great. Watched the last 20 mins of the Everton game. Made some dinner. Packed. Episode of the West Wing with the eldest (season 4, not as bad as I remember). Read for a bit. Lights out. Good day.
Oh, and I discovered an excellent new album that only came out on Friday. Embraced for a second as we die by Amanda Bergman.Sounds like Fleetwood Mac, in a good way. Strong recommend.
Like a lot. Echoes of Avalon too. And that Fagen bloke. All good.
No issue on CD, sadly. Bad, boo hiss.
I keep hearing different influences in it. Definite yes to both of the above.👌
I subscribe to her YT channel and last Saturday they had a lovely live streamed concert from their living room, with Klara Söderberg as one of three guest/back up singers, to celebrate the new album release. It was bloody brilliant!
The stream seems to have been uploaded in pieces now, here’s the lovely The moon i e minor, with Klara:
Blimey, that really is lovely. Tickets booked!
We are both getting over the after effects of being full of cold. The weather yesterday was a combo of murky, misty, foggy and raining, as it will be today, so we lazed around doing puzzles, reading, watching tv (not all at the same time) and did a few little chores. Enjoyed my new hifi system.
More of the same today.
My weekend was somewhat full. Saturday morning I had my football manager hat on (3-3 draw. Bit disappointing). Saturday afternoon had some work and I made a lamb hotpot. Sunday morning walked the dog, had my son take me out to practise his parrallel parking before his test tomorrow (he was excellent). The afternoon was a drive to Milton Keynes for a netball match and then when I got back a bit more work. Managed to watch one episode of Cemetry Road before bed.
I was going to post something about the idiot wotsit’s tariffs, but I remembered my decision to ignore the arse.
Had a nice, pretty much whole day to myself as everyone else was out doing those “experience” type presents you get for Christmas. Had a read of the latest Mojo, (not bad at all) watched the EFL highlights over lunch, and made up some new self-stamped labels for my small vintage clothing business. It’s OK though, because I had a nice doze afterwards.
Multi-tasked on here and watching skiing on TV. Biathlon and Cross country which took up the best part of the day not to mention the build up and the analysis. As usual the women were more successful. I found a small gap in the schedule for changing the toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom. The fixings weren’t quite right for our toilet but I think it’ll be OK. No complaints so far. I rang my mother in the UK. Tales of doctor visits and an issue with the Waitrose password. Quite a day.
Procrastinated then got everything out to cut wood for a flight case tray, three cuts in and it started to rain.
Mrs BP is in one of her protracted moods, the menopause years just roll on. Once my dad’s dead and my daughter is settled, I may go and live somewhere a long way away. Panama looks nice.
After breakfast, I charged my car in preparation for the trip from Dumfries to Glasgow to attend the ‘True & Bold: A Night for Dick Gaughan’ concert in the Royal Concert Hall. At 5:15pm, I collected my friend Mick whose ticket was my Christmas gift to him. We arrived at the gig at 7pm. It started at 7:30pm and was a fabulous evening with a ‘stellar lineup’ including Lisa O’Neill, Karine Polwart, Siobhan Miller, Martin Simpson, Billy Bragg and many, many others. During the break, I had a quick chat with Mr Colin Harper. The other highlight of the evening was the appearance of DG himself who sang for us in fine voice. We left Glasgow at 10:50pm and I arrived home at 1am.
Early days yet – but I suspect you win.
Yes, indeed, it was one of my more enjoyable Sundays @fitterstoke
I have just spotted a Youtube with the aforementioned highlight of DG with Archie Fisher’s The Shipyard Apprentice. Tears filled my eyes…
Worked on a budget for work in the morning, cooked, vaccumed, discussed a bit more online a long weekend in Edinburgh planned for March: trip to Hibs, trip to S Queensferry, trip to Holyrood Distillery (worried its a bit hipster/tourist but comforted by its entry in the Whiskeypedia).
Background reading decided on (a tradition on our trips) is Kidnapped, Iain Banks’ The Bridge and Jean Brodie. No Irvine Welsh.
Watched 2022 Horror movie The Menu in the evening – Anna Taylor Joy doing her thing but the entire film is about Ralph Fiennes’ bonkers uber-chef. As with almost horror the set-up is better than the payoff, but well worth seeing.
When in South Queensferry, I recommend the services (yes, really). The panorama from the Forth bridges viewing platform is well worth the visit.
Good tip but we’re going by train
A 20-min walk from Dalmeny station. Probably longer from the quayside, as uphill.
also booked in for lunch at The Hawes Inn where Stevenson (apparently) wrote bits of Kidnapped.
It is nice in there, although they lost the note on our booking relating to my Crohn’s, so I had to eat two portions from the kids menu (which was free of both onion and garlic).
My parents moved from Sheffield to Edinburgh after I went to Uni (they did actually tell me) and settled in Colinton, which apparently was where he spent much of his childhood – certainly there were lots of references around the area.
Oh, I did enjoy some of The Horror – Fiennes chewing up the scenery and it went pure bananas at the end, but the set up was really good I thought
https://www.ciaoroma.co.uk/la-hispaniola
This is an Italian restaurant not much more than a 10 minute walk from the station. It has 2 entrances, both on different streets. The main entrance is a traditional Italian, whilst the other is a likeness of the ship, with someone in a cage up in the roof. This part was formerly Rutherford’s Bar, where Stevenson and his pals used to drink.
Took the dogs for a walk then went for a run. Did a bit of marking (I’m a sixth form teacher) then spent a couple of hours mixing on my decks (also a hobby DJ). Nice Sunday roast (prepared by Mrs H as we have her sister staying for a few day – it’s not a regular Sunday feature for us) then watched Mountainhead, the Jesse Armstrong feature-length thing that was on HBO last year. Early to bed and read a few chapters of my current read, Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929.
It looks a lovely Sunday when laid out like that!
I like seeing what you’ve all been up to – feels like I know you a little bit better as a result.
Oh, how is 1929? I have it queued up to read next
I’m really enjoying it. He writes nicely and is making a good job of bringing the characters to life before the crash happens (I’m only 150 pages in – early June). I haven’t read Too Big To Fail but now plan to do so soon. Not next though – I like to switch between fiction and non-fiction as a rule.
Didn’t get up until after 12, went for a longish walk around some Roman sites in town, used charcoal from Saturday night’s fire to have a go at making some drawings of the cat (luckily she is black), made some flatbreads to go with leftover curry, played a couple of games of Scrabble (The Light won the first, I won the second), a long episode of Stranger Things with a glass of wine, 50 or so pages of my current book then back to bed less then 12 hours after I got up. Textbook.
Never seen so much rain here in the Languedoc, poured down all day long. Second storm in two weeks so all the dried up rivers and streams are now raging, angry torrents
Consequentially, stayed inside all day. A rare Sunday lunch (Chiappa Ragu – wonderful) followed by a couple of hours watching The RIP (pretty good adventure movie which keeps you guessing), a gentle doze in front of the log fire then caught up with The Traitors (thinking probably this series should be the last but I expect there are many, many more to come), tried and failed yet again to finish the latest P Pullman (oh look, another dragon on a mountain top), watched the highlights of Norwich’s latest march to safety then fall asleep, exhausted.
Breakfast
Beach
Lunch
Beach
Dinner
Bar
I am some holidays
I watched snooker, shopped, cooked, decluttered, had a nap, played a computer game with my daughter and mostly ran 4km on icy snow covered pavements in negative temperatures (we had about a foot of snow a few days ago)
We missed our early morning walk as we overslept as a result of a late Saturday evening. Got up, pottered around, made breakfast, pottered around, made lunch. Went to cinema to watch The Housemaid – okayish.
Came home watched Antiques Roadshow and The Night manager – drifted off into the land of nod.
Went to see “Becoming Victoria Wood” yesterday at the Warwick Arts Centre – their cinema seats are something else, the most comfortable and roomy I’ve had for many years. Put Del Amitri on in the car on the way home and obvs Nothing Ever Happens came on.
For fans of this thread, there’s the What Did You Do Yesterday? Podcast with Max Rushden and David O’Doherty. Frequently enjoyable fluff.
Had a long lie in, listened to the ‘what did you do yesterday pod.’ Got up and did the laundry. Trip to Milton Keynes with the family. Mainly sat outside the various shops as I wasn’t in the market for much, although found a couple of second hand records I wanted (Introspective by the pet shop boys and Jesus of Cool by Nick Lowe, since you asked). Got home, had a walk to a local-ish pub where we enjoyed a couple of drinks. Instead of a band they had a guy singing all of your favourite reggae and ska hits to a backing track. Walked home, had some tea and watched the snooker. Went to bed a little later than I should have. Pretty good Sunday, all told.
Every other Sunday I’ll have a football/rugby match to go to… not this week.
Put posters up around the village, had lunch (fish pie and wine) out.
Spent the afternoon vaguely listening to the two football matches on the radio (I had a hunch Everton would win at Villa) and the latest episode of Brian Gulliver’s Travels, made a pasta meal, listened to Buffalo Springfield’s debut album (still ‘alright’, it’s no Jimi), caught a bit of Nick Abbot on LBC.
I did something I’ve never done before. I read a book – Murder on the Orient Express – and watched the film (1974 version) within the same 12 hours. Hugely enjoyed both. My first ever Agatha Christie, it won’t be the last.
That was inspired by watching Wake Up Dead Man the night before with my eldest. Very meh it was but put me in the mood for some more, and better, whodunnit. The film then put me in the mood for some more train-based high-jinks so rewatched Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes afterwards. Wonderful as always. My partner’s first time and she loved it, even the Charters and Caldicott cricket banter.
We also managed to leave the house at one point and had a wander round the Retiro where there was a very good open-air photography exhibition of Madrid in the 70s.
A good day. Surprising how much can fit in a day when it’s stuff you like.
Twas a day of rest, as it should be. A relatively late night shenanigan, the night before, at the launch party for Lichfield Radio meant an unusual night out with Mrs Path. Which was nice, if necessitating more schmoozing than we prefer. So, tho I rose promptly, I was back under the duvet for much the afternoon. Dogs had a walk, and we had a tofu and mushroom stir fry with edamame beans, tasting a whole lot better than it sounds, with jasmine rice. Telly was watched. In fact, we watched The Ballad of Wallis Island, which started well but petered slowly out of steam, over the thoroughly predictable story line. Nice nostalgic stuff. Can Tim Key act or is this, and Alan Partridge’s Sidekick Simon, just how he is, I wonder. Found a few more 3 – 5minute songs for my future playlists, as my first show is next week, if with a safety net of having been recorded, if only for week 1. I have been promoted to an hour, rather than the desultory 1/2 hour initially offered, but it has to be live.
Yours is only the second example I’ve heard (personally or online) of someone not liking The Ballad of Wallis Island.
The other person, a neighbour, also saw it on the small screen.
Maybe the cinema is the place to see it.
Incidentally, I’d never heard of Tim Key before, possibly an advantage.
I didn’t say I didn’t like it: “nice nostalgic stuff” Of no intellectual demand, which is fine, as I doubt it was launched to provoke neurones, more to sooth them.
I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum that after all the fanfare I was deeply disappointed with Wallis. It was ok at best. MC Escher was stronger in his criticism
One thing I didn’t do yesterday and have just failed to do again just now, was manage to open the ‘universally accepted brilliant songs’ thread. I am using the latest gen iPad and it can’t cope. I sometimes wonder if instead of posting videos people could give us the artist and song name to go and find out for ourselves. Having said that, it’s only when a thread gets fairly large.
It’s The Curse of Kaisfatdad. I’m in agreement re links only although it rarely bothers my surprisingly but pleasingly high-speed internet connection.
We’ve got fibre and connection speed is good but the iPad gets in a loop where it starts to open the thread, gets stuck and then tries to reload. Then I have to close down and reopen the site before I can access anything. Harrumph.
Yes I can’t read anything any more on that thread on my iPhone
I’ve posted on those threads, but wish I hadn’t. Those things are usually just another way to say who our favourite bands are, or aren’t. I agree that a no-videos rule would be nice, just because if you’re on Apple devices, there’s a problem between WordPress/YouTube/Apple Privacy that stops video-laden thread from loading… thus making it seem like the site is down.
If nothing else, it would mean no more Tiny Fucking Desk concerts…
If I can spare a little time, I can pm you a text-only version of the thread. It’s 45 pages on MS Word, so there’s a lot to read. Obvs the less formatting I have to do, the easier and more quickly I can send it.
I recognise the frustration with excessive clippage. In my rarely- viewed 2025 greatest non-Anglo thread, there aren’t that many posts, and i like to give links to a full album. But it’s no problem to use the old a href “” /a html to point the way without weighing down the site with excessive embedding, and I’ll try to do that from now on.
Just a shame because ťhey do bring a little colour. Maybe I can link via a Flickr image?
*ponders how to do that*
Thanks for the offer but don’t do it on my behalf. I have read it up to some point on Saturday. Forty five pages! That’s like a novella.
Like this @salwarpe ?
Sort of.
🎵
Turns out, I can’t get the image to link to the YT clip, but a word or symbol before or after it will work
Excellent Sal I’ll try and have a go.
I look forward to it. It might start a wave of non-clippage.
By the way, I forgot to thank you for the picture – I do like it, though I don’t remember open fields or a hill in the parts of Salwarpe I used to frequent.
To be honest I didn’t know there was a place called Salwarpe I knew moldiwarp was on old name for the mole (moldiwarp meaning earth thrower).
Supposedly the name Salwarpecomes from the dark silt thrown up ofter flooding.
No success for adding a link for me I’ll ask my IT manager for help when I see him.
I chose it because it’s where I spent my childhood.
I understand that a clip is useful when it’s something a bit obscure but most of us have ridiculously encyclopedic knowledge of all kinds of music so we don’t need a clip of say T.Rex – Get It On in case we don’t know how it goes. And who plays all these clips? Not me. I would say though that something like Bingo’ s recommendation needs a sample. I’ve seen Amanda Bergman three times live and she is great. She lives down the road from us and has a small holding with sheep. Worth checking out her albums solo and with Amason.
Glad to hear she’s good live – have spotted a London date in a couple of weeks and going to try to make it along.
As you may know @allium-sativum, Amanda performed a new song on the Carina Bergfeldt chat show on Friday. As excellent as ever.
She also did this Nico cover on the På Spåret quiz show recently accompanied by TERRA who made a very gig impression n me.
This song is particularly wonderful
She won’t disappoint you @bingo-little-.
I don’t know if it’s ironic, inevitable or both that on a sub thread I started about problems caused by embedded videos, Lodes calls it ‘The Curse of Kaisfatdad’ and you post three videos on it!
I’ve had a busier day today. I undertook my first bus journey since becoming a cyborg necessitated by needing to attend an appointment with my optician. It all went very well with the only fly in the ointment being the need to hand over an extortionate amount of readies for some new specs. I celebrated/consoled myself upon my return home by eating a grape. I have now dusted off my old Goban and set myself a Go problem to drive myself nuts with until Only Connect makes an appearance at 8:00 pm. I may drink some camomile tea at some point if the excitement becomes too overwhelming.
On Sunday morning, I took Tony Visconti to Heathrow in an Addison Lee SUV.
Saturday had been the Bowie In Time event at the British Library, a event I’d been working on a while as a 10th anniversary since Bowie’s death thing. A day of panels, presentations and music. It went very well. A good audience and some really nice encounters. Guy Pratt showed up and boasted about being the last bass player to have accompanied Bowie on stage (true). Donny McCaslin and Visconti came over from New York, Blixa Bargeld and Gudrun Gut came from Berlin. Then we had great musical performances from Blixa and then Jehnny Beth, who did an astonishing solo voice-piano version of “Dollar Days’ with Donny on sax. It was gorgeous.
So, yesterday morning, Visconti had to leave the hotel at 9am to get to Heathrow for his flight. His daughter Jessica had asked if I could go with him, just to keep him company and make sure all went well.
We set off and I told Visconti how much I’d enjoyed his talk on Saturday as he’d recalled quite a few anecdotes he doesn’t usually get a chance to talk about – such as working with Denny Cordell, and early Bolan. Then he suddenly realised he’d lost his passport. Panic. He was rootling around in all his bags, no sign of the thing. He wanted to try getting on his flight with an old passport he still had – I said I didn’t think this would work and after a bit of a debate, he seemed to glumly concede. Called the hotel, they began to search his freshly vacated room. We called his daughter who tried to get through to BA to cancel his flight. We turned around, just past the Westway and began to head back. Just then, he reached back into the luggage bay and pulled out a slim laptop case, while the panicking driver shouted at him to put his seatbelt on. And there was the missing passport.
Such a relief. Now all was well and he was again, excellent company, talking about some of the great London studios of the 60s and 70s as well as a bit about a new project he’s working on with Diana Krall.
So, that was a bit of a sunday. I also had my first hangover in months, which kicked in mid afternoon and ended the day glumly watching Traitors and wondering what the hell these people were doing
Amazing! Tony Visconti nearly had to sleep on your sofa!
He had four star luxury at The Standard in Kings Cross, I was in the Premier Inn two doors down, I probably would have had to sleep in the shower!
I forgot: I fed my friends’ cats, so I had a 20-minute round-trip walk to their house. Twice.
I must admit to be quite concerned that you were feeding cats to your friends and then I reread your post. Everything went a bit Stephen King for a moment or two.
Quiet day between London visit (Wes Anderson and Blitz Club exhibitions, Gosh comics) – for the lad’s birthday, and today – which is the lads actual birthday. Wrapped some presents, hung some bunting, did a bit of drawing, went for a short walk. Sausage and mash for tea.
Went to a mucker’s retirement do. A railwayman and he goes and has his leaving do on a Sunday! What was he thinking? Most of us arrived late, inevitably. All very Reggie Perrin – trespasser at Deansgate. But well worth it. The railway is the industrial community that Thatcher failed to destroy (to be fair to her, she didn’t try very hard) and social events are always a joy.
Had a lovely long weekend in Lincoln for Mrs. T’s birthday.
Re the clips performance issue: firefox has a button on the address bar to load the page as text. I’d assume the same exists somewhere on other browsers.
Thanks for that. I use duckduckgo which doesn’t seem to have that option. You can ‘print’ a page with options including to save as a file but it has to load first so doesn’t really help.
That did make me smile. KFD is a joyful law unto himself.
It’s not on a specific search engine site, it’s built in to the (firefox) browser. On my phone there’s an icon resembling a lined piece of paper on the address bar.
Emptied and cleaned every drawer and cupboard in the kitchen and pulled out and cleaned behind the dishwasher and fridge in preparation for the bug guy coming on Monday. Cockroaches are our true lords and masters in Sydney. Bug guys been, now we just need to clean up the carnage and put everything back.
Went to a cafe for late breakfast early lunch. Had a sausage sandwich. Finished off Len Deighton’s ‘Blitzkreig’ while there. Had a Lemon Muffin and a coffee as a reward.
Bought a Kate and Sidney pie for dinner on the way home. Started ‘Blood, Tears and Folly’ by Len Deighton.
Sunday morning is a bit of a haze. I retired to my bed in the very early hours, having stayed up ridiculously late. My usual breakfast of a large cup of strong coffee (with milk) followed by my usual 2 slices of buttered toast. Checked my socials and listened to One Jazz radio where I heard a track from the new Matthew Halsall EP “Bright Sparkling Light”. Listened to the full thing on Qobuz, followed by the Red Garland Quintet’s “Soul Junction” and took a deep dive into John Coltrane’s “Afro Blue Impressions”, the expanded 2-CD version.
By then it was necessary to get to the supermarket for bread, butter, tomatoes, mushrooms, kefir yogurt, sausages, milk etc. I wanted to get some peppers, but they had none of any colour in stock except expensive pointy red ones. I decided to do without for now.
Back home I decanted the remains of the previous day’s slow-cooked ham and veg stew into containers and put them in the chest freezer for later.
At 6pm I left in my car for the Elephant Inn in North Finchley for my usual fix of Sunday evening jazz. Left 15 minutes later than intended and was consequently dismayed to discover a traffic jam near Finchley Central tube station, due to an absolutely humungous crane being assembled nearby at the roadside and a set of temporary lights in operation. Surprisingly I still managed to arrive 20 minutes before the 7pm kick off and was seated with a pint of London Pride and a plate of Chicken Pad Thai at start time.
Two sets of roughly an hour from clarinettist Julian Stringle*, pianist Mike Gorman, alto/soprano saxophonist Jeremy Shoham, electric bassist Davide Mantovani and drummer Rick Finlay.
All finished by 9.15 and home by 10.30 after a chat with Rick and Jeremy (Jazz at the Elephant hosts) and the rest of the musicians. Snacked on some quiche and nodded off in my chair watching YouTube videos. Woke with a stiff shoulder and went to bed in the early hours this morning. Got up late.
*Long hair (grey) down to his shoulders and wearing flares with inserts like I used to (briefly) wear in the early ’70s. Excellent player. Unusual to hear a clarinettist play stuff other than Dixieland, NewOrleans or swing.
I woke up rather late, looked at my To Do-list and thought “Bollocks to that”.
Spent all day doing F-all.
To be fair, I did have terrible sciatica nerve pains all weekend, so painkillers and rest was all I could manage, really.
Seems to have helped, because I got through work today with a lot less pain – despite forgetting to bring my painkillers!
“A lot less pain” is always a good thing. Fingers crossed that it continues.
You have my sympathy. I had sciatica quite badly a couple of years ago due to an L4 disc problem. Regular gentle movement and nerve ‘flossing’ stretches do pay off eventually.
I have had an attack the last few days, severe at first, tolerable now. I have never heard of nerve flossing tho, what is that?
I can answer this as it’s part of my recovery from THR. Nerve flossing or nerve gliding are exercises that are helpful with a varity of nerve associated problems. If you Google it you’ll find links to exercises that will target specific nerves. They aren’t a miracle cure but they certainly help. As always with any exercise regime it’s advisable to consult with your doctor before just getting stuck in.
Thanks Pencil and hope your recovery is going well. I’ll definitely check this out – my sciatica attacks are getting more frequent now and I clearly need to address the root problems, rather than necking Panadol and moaning to everyone.
Pob lwc. My physio routine which imcludes some nerve gliding exercises certainly help. As with all exercise it’s being disciplined and sticking at it. It’s been just over four months since my THR and very, very slowly I’m getting fitter and a part of that is the nerves that were mashed during the op are quieting down.
That’s it absolutely- remembering to take it slow and build up movement over time is the only way to embed the habit and make it work. Glad recovery is progressing well.
You inspired me to get the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros btw. They sound lush.
Huzzah! Sorry if you’re wearing cans you wouldn’t hear that so…HUZZAH!
YOU WHAT?? EH? SPEAK UP YOUNG MAN
I can recommend a physio session. I used to see a woman near Cambridge rail station but she’s moved to Bath, which is no longer near either of us.
She used to pull and poke for an hour in return for 50 quid, but I’d walk out of there two inches taller* than I went in.
(*) if this doesn’t bring back Moose, nothing will.
Now if you had said two inches bigger than when you went in…
Excellent Moosebait there Fents.
The pulling and poking helped with sciatic pain?
Yes, I used to get lots due to sitting on my arse for a living.
The first time I went, I rang the doorbell, she answered, and said “You have one leg longer than the other and one shoulder blade longer than the other. Oh, and hello, by the way!”
I went every fortnight for about a year until Feb 2020. I’ve had no sciatica since. And less guts ache.
I’ve been seeing a McTimoney chiropractor for 20 years. Chiropractors get a bad press sometimes because some of them are a bit too fond of crystals etc but neither one I’ve seen has been like that. I go every 8 weeks to get straightened, mainly my hip and some vertebrae, then some massage. When I’ve skipped alignment for a while, my back is more likely to give me trouble. Works for me.
Everything the Admirable Pencilsqueezer said earlier. 😁.
As he says and I repeat, always seek proper medical advice. However sciatic pain is often caused by the long sciatica nerve in your leg being nipped or rubbed against. Often by a bulging disk in my case. Gentle regular exercise can ease the symptoms and help the bulging disk reset itself. Over what can be a long period of time depending on the scale of the bulge.
And/or it can be caused by stenosis – the narrowing of the spaces the nerves sit within the body. Largely due to age. Again, increased movement and flexibility exercises can assist symptoms of stenosis.
As well described, nerve flossing or gliding are targeted exercises to trigger movement along the length of the sciatic nerve to keep it firing and repair any possible damage suffered by nipping or stenosis.
A further note. I have seen osteopaths and chiropractors over recent years and they’ve helped. A bit.
You’ll be the one to make all the effort to recover, rather than any manipulation they can offer on a bench.
All have said the same thing though. Your body, specifically your back, wants to move. All the time. It’s made to bend and it wants to bend. It’s made to make you stand up straight and it wants to make you stand up straight.
Let it. Use it. Pain and wariness of pain will make you reluctant, tight and tense. Learn to manage that and relax as much as possible based on your symptoms.