Eggs and Chickens ,,, Tom Waits for Norman

Sometimes things you do have unexpected results. I've been taking part in a step challenge , the last day of which is tomorrow when I need to do fifteen thousand steps.That's around seven miles in a day, not a great deal in the great scheme of things but it does mean you have to make time to do these things. Essentially each thousand steps takes around ten minutes of brisk walking , so that means I need to spend two and a half hours walking tomorrow.

This weekend , in order to not be playing catch up , I've got up early each day to give myself a start on the steps , and it's worked OK. Today I did nineteen thousand steps (I only needed to do fourteen thousand) byt set myself a task of walking up Cow Hill and taking some pictures. Cow Hill is not difficult to climb, it's sort of a mound but you get a good view of Newcastle.

View From Cow Hill

Anyway the basic point is, that I have got up earlier, done more walking, done more writing, done more reading , done more catch up TV, done more guitar practice and recording, and more listening to music and I feel very tired, but I'm just wondering if the cause of me doing more is actually the step challenge. It could be. In order to accommodate it I've had to ensure there is enough space in the day.

This is about the fifth blog post I've done this weekend but I won't have time to do one tomorrow morning.

Hopefully after my final day tomorrow, I will still ensure that I do 10K steps a day which will clock in a 4½ miles which I will definitely maintain. Also I may try not lying in at weekends and just going out for a walk. I prefer being off road but on a path. The walk up to Cow Hill was a bit muddy today.

One of the things to maintain this is that you do need halfway decent weather but this weekend has been fairly good.

Tomorrow is going to require a very early start. I want eight thousand steps in before I get into work. That is a tall order but it will mean I've over half way there before I start work.

One of the songs I listened to was Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" which was covered by The Eagles , but I'll treat you to a live version by the great man.

Goodnight my friends.

In The Neighbo(u)rhood

Yesterday I started reading my next book, Tom Waits on Tom Waits , I opened it up and thought , whoa , I really can't do this. The writing on the introduction seemed tiny. It's a biggish book , 450 or so pages , and my eyes are not that great at reading small print, but I have managed similar books before, the most recent being "I Am Zlatan" which was hard going, only 300 pages but did manage to keep my interest and teach me a few facts , and I do like Zlatan Ibrahimovic.  The book I've just finished is "Spanking Watson" by Kinky Friedman which I bought because I like the guy, and the book was easy to read , 200 pages of readable print and a reasonable enjoyable and diverting read , manage a few minor offensive but funny scenarios and you just have to check out Kinky Friedman's song titles to see if you would be offended by him , but there is a cat in the book and Nelson Mandela loved him.

Anyway after a day I've read the intro and twenty pages of the Tom Waits book, and that is good going for me. I did once read a Dean Koontz book "Dark Rivers of the Heart" in one four hour sitting (it's 750 pages) but that was an exception, but it's amazing how the writing becomes easier to read when the book really engages you, It is going to keep me engaged for a couple of weeks, but I am a huge Tom Waits afficionado ever since I heard the song "In The Neighbourhood" from "Swordfishtrombones" which made me go out and buy the album immediately (they didn't have downloads in them days). When I looked for a video to include with this, I remembered Peter Gabriel had also covered this wonderful song , so I've included that video as well for you to enjoy, though it doesn't seem to be available, I thought it would be on "Scratch My Back"

Anyway I was out for a walk round MY NEIGHBOURHOOD this morning as part of the penultimate day of the Step Challenge and walking down Two Ball Lonnen saw a cat in a tree being tormented my two magpies. You don't see that every day but I thought it was an amusing scenario.

Last night after having my TASCAM studio for a few weeks I managed to record something onto it. It was late at night and just the equivalent of Thomas Edison's "Mary Had A Little Lamb" , but digital recording is a bit more convoluted that pressing play and record on a cassette recorder which is how I used to record stuff. Anyway I think the tiny steps are paying off and hopefully this year I can produce something on my terms.

Anyway it's a beautiful day, I may take a trip up Cow Hill and take some photographs, in order to meet today 14k step challenge... then again who knows

Sleep Is Good .. Being Awake Is Better

Although sleep is good, it enables your body and mind to recuperate and repair itself, but I do prefer being awake and able to do things. I know I should be in bed but thought I would just write a short post on this.

In John Cooper Clarke's "Beasley Street" , his very dark masterpiece , he describes sleep as "a sneak preview of death" which is a chilling assessment of what is really a natural function. Some animals sleep all winter, and I am sure some humans would like to do that as well.

Rest is good but activity is better. We do have so many sedentary pastimes such as watching TV or someone else do something. Reading at least exercises the mind as does writing. I am now sitting typing at a keyboard and a lot of my working day is taken up in a similar way. I do get up and walk around so I am not going to atrophy at my desk, but feel that is often frowned on by some people.

Tonight I've just read of Chuck Berry's passing , he was 90 and had a good life although he did some bad things and definitely in the 50s and 60s was royally screwed over by the white establishment. I saw him once at Southport Floral Hall, queued for tickets and found out everyone else in the queue was queuing for Gilbert O' Sullivan tickets. A sad loss from a true American poet, the words to his songs stand on their own.

Anyway that gives me an excuse to include a Chuck Berry song "No Money Down" for your delectation from the film "Hail Hail, Rock'n'Roll" , and now I will go to my bed and sleep. I have fourteen thousand steps to do tomorrow.

Sleep well my wonderful friends.

10,250 Steps To Go ......

Sorry to keep going on about this step challenge but it does help you notice things. It seems my average walking speed it about 3.5 miles per hour. I believe that the average walking pace is about four miles per hour. Today I need to do 13,250 steps , a mile is about 2,750 steps for me so today is about five miles, hitting six miles on Monday. It's 8:30 and I have done 3,000 steps so that's a fifth of today's distance.

I was really tired for some reason last night so was in bed at ten then up at six this morning after a night of strange dreams that you really don't want to know about (boring not interesting). That means I have got a start today so hopefully I can keep on track. There's only two days after today.

The only slight problem today is the drizzly rain, though there's no wind so a light umbrella is ok.

The weekend started yesterday after an incredibly intense week with work and exercise and stuff , though this weekend there will be no let up. And after I finish on Monday that's followed by a 7:10 doctor's appointment on Tuesday as well as having some repair work doing to my garden fence.

I have finally given in and used a complete random play on my music collection on my phone. Luckily I have good taste so I've not been hit with any duds so far, although there's been the odd revelation. The song for today was just a reminder of the band everybody hates to love (I don't , I love Carter USM) and "Bloodsport For All" came on much to my delight, so that's the one I'll share with you.

Have a brilliant Saturday all ... 10,250 steps to go .....

Getting Harder

I have another three days of the step challenge. 42,000 steps in the next three days. I know some of you do that every day, but I don't really do formal exercise.

Today I took a detour on the way to work, spent an hour getting into work and did six thousand steps and spent an hour walking in. I tend to listen to music going in, and that makes the journey less boring. I tried a gym once, and the regimented mundanity of it did nothing for me. You cannot benefit if you get bored with what you are doing, and I was really bored. I am ok with swimming where you have to keep going or you sink and drown, but cannot do gyms at all.

Anyway today's target was 12,500 and I did 14,100 , and each day since my lapse I've walked more than my next days target. Tomorrow is 13,250 so I need to be up and on the road early.

Sorry this is very mundane, but as the steps increase it eats into my time to do other things. Even though I walked extra this morning , then walked up Westgate Road to Wildflower for lunch, then an extra trip for shopping tonight, I didn't think I would make it.

It turns out I did make it, so just have another 42,000 or so steps to go. I've already done 120,000 steps in this challenge so another 42,000 should not be a problem.

Anyway I am actually tired so I shall leave you with a song and "The Distance" by Cake seems appropriate. Sleep well my friends.

More Steps

Yesterday I needed to do 8750 steps and I did over 11,000 , but it was a Sunday and I didn't have work, so today's 9,500 will possibly be more of a challenge. I could walk to work, but if I take the bus it means I get there quicker and that gives me options for a earlier finish and longer lunch. I also work better in the morning so to maximise my work return I prefer to be in the office early, and it is nice to be able to finish earlier.

Incidentally I mentioned Bob Marley's "Is This Love" in my last post and it has been played by Chris Hawkins on 6Music this morning.

The sun is shining and it is actually perfect weather for walking in, so if I finish this quickly I may walk at least part of the way. The sky is looking very blue.

The piece of music that just slipped into mind is "Walkin'" by CCS (Collective Consciousness Society), Alexis Korner's pop jazz combo , who did the original theme to Top of the Pops, a jazz cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", which I'll include as well.

I know it's monday, but put a smile on your face and have a good one.

Marching On With My Favourite Bob Marley Song

Step Challenge

I'm currently up to day 6 of a "Step Challenge" (see pic to the right). Next Monday I need to hit 15,000 steps, and that definitely is a challenge. One of the problems with things like this is ensuring that you have time to do it. I used to work in Darlington and regularly clocked up ten thousand steps a day. These days I'm in Newcastle and it's a lot closer, the bus is frequent and convenient and as such my number of steps is often under 5,000. I see lots of people who drive into work, lunch at their desks and then leave. I can't do that, I need to get out at lunchtime.

The good thing is that in Newcastle there are lots of places to go for an interesting walk, so I have no excuse not to make at least ten thousand steps a day.

Yesterday I had two trips into Newcastle and made just under nine thousand steps, today was more of a concerted effort and I have passed eleven thousand steps, tomorrow I need to hit 9,500 but I will do ten thousand. Day 9 onward will be the challenge but I will keep you posted on here.

Today I was listening to someone on 6Music and they said they never thought they would see Corinne Bailey Rae, which I found odd as she is alive and plays gigs. He then said he'd seen her three times. He then went on to play her take on Bob Marley's "Is This Love" which I always rated as one of his weaker songs (though a weak Bob Marley song is still excellent)

I then got on to thinking of some of my favourite Bob Marley songs. My first introduction was "No Woman, No Cry" Live at the Lyceum which still electrifies me, but was difficult to get when I first heard it , despite eventually becoming a massive hit. John Peel then played "Jah Live" which was even more difficult to track down, but I eventually got an import copy from John Allan's Records (he sadly is no longer with us) at Lane Ends in Preston. He thought the bands name was The Whalers!! He also sourced other hard to get records such as The Saints "I'm Stranded".

Anyway if I had to choose one Bob Marley single it would probably be "Jah Live", but if you look through the catalogue there are so many truly great songs. Another which I only heard when exploring his early stuff is "Small Axe" , I could listen to that over and over forever. So I will include "Jah Live" at the top of this post and  "Small Axe" at the bottom, both wonderful songs.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my friends.