I reached for my bass guitar first thing on Saturday morning. It use to be that the MacBook Air was the first point of contact to kick start the day.
Progress is being made. I wouldn’t call it songwriting, but I’m coming up with a few tidy bass riffs. The problem is trying to remember them the next day.
I put in place a crude recording workflow, position my iPhone next to the amp and using Voice Record Pro. The outcome is a poor man’s The Jesus and Mary Chain.
A brief online search and it seems that a connector is available to make the bridge between bass and iPhone. It’s being delivered on Monday morning.
How exciting.
I’m running before I can walk, writing musical masterpieces before I can even play the bloody bass. But I love the creativity it’s giving me. I’m excited about hooking the bass into GarageBand and then putting some beats behind my efforts.
“LibDem Councillors Donna Harris and Matthew Bryant have teamed up with eco-leaders from Telferscot Primary School in Streatham to demand a zebra crossing near the school.”
The Postman Delivers: Credence, Bobby and Julie London. It’s a selection that’s not going to trouble the streaming playlists put together by industry bods. But it was my kinda Saturday morning music.
The Postman also delivers another ONS Covid shit test. I’m going to tickle the tonsils with extra vigour this time after offering up a run of test failures in recent months.
I attempted my first run in a fortnight since my calf pinged around the Clapham Common circuit. I felt strong seven days ago and was tempted to give it a go again. Age has led me to be more cautious; let’s leave it for another seven days, I thought.
This was the first outing of the new running shoes. I wore down the previous ones in under a year. The new Adidas trainers pinched as little around my toes. I had to loosen the laces before pounding the mean streets of CO7.
I took it easy. I was fine leaving Weird Wiv. I ran into a freakish sleet storm around the University. I struggled.
And then: PING!
Oh ffs. The same calf went again.
I’m such a Strava snob that I insisted on finishing the run. My OCD told me that I needed a natural loop, rather than a hard stop on the map.
TWAT.
The daffs were out in full force for the return leg of the University loop. I tried to focus on anything that might take my mind off my middle age running injury.
I had plans for a lunchtime swim. These were put on hold when I realised that limping around the house wasn’t go to get any better if I headed out on the bicycle.
To the University! …mid-afternoon. The Rebels women had another home court tip off against Newcastle once again. The Geordie girls came away from the Sports Arena last Saturday with a cheeky final 30 seconds win in a Cup match. Revenge was needed by the Rebels today in the league.
The Arena had switched the spectating area to the opposite side of the usual arrangements. It was a little flat with the DJ and MC remaining in place across court.
I didn’t pay too much attention during the first two quarters. I had Forest commentary from the London Stadium in my AirPods.
Christ, that was bloody abysmal.
There was a great HT game for a couple of young kids on court. They had to work their way through a series of hoops on the floor, progressing closer to the basket each time they answered a question about the Rebels correctly. Yes, it was probably rigged. But the brother and sister on court clearly loved it.
It was a nervy third and fourth quarter. This was the final game for Rebels Coach Tom Sadler before his family starts a new adventure over in the States. After the collapse against the same team last Saturday, you got the sense that the girls were determined to win it for Tom.
The final score of Rebels 74, Newcastle 64 gave Coach Sadler the send off he deserved. There was a lovely presentation after the final buzzer. The whole club came together to show their support. The Rebels are becoming a very classy organisation.
Back at base I boycotted the Premier League in protest of Forest being so shit today.
There. That showed them.
Instead of Bournemouth Vs Man City I turned to the mighty Notts County Vs Dagenham & Redbridge. It may not have been the result I wanted, but that was one of the best games of football I have seen in years.
Links for Saturday 25th February, 2023
“Everything we did back then was organic. Today paid advertising rules and organic content struggles for visibility”
Documentally on the origins of social
