Chat GPT has many innovative uses. I didn’t think I would be using it at 7am on Friday morning to write silly golf competition match reports for the local newspaper. Sometimes AI is best left to the bots.
BLOGGED: Alderman Up in Arms Over Attempts to Open Up Status
“Ex-Tory Leader Paul Dundas probably wasn’t expecting the Alderman fur coat treatment after he lost his seat back in the May 2022 local elections”
The morning listening went from Serenade Radio to Sleaford fucking Mods – quite a transition there, Jase. Nottingham’s finest dropped their new album this morning. Prolific or what?
You need to balance the quality Vs quantity argument. But Sleaford always deliver for me. Grim UK is an album for the times. Those times will probably last for a few months until the Tory shit show agenda continues to implode.
But until Easter at least, Grim UK will be my soundtrack for discontent.
“Cressingham Gardens residents might raise an eyebrow over the £1,256,000 rabbit out of a hat investment on their estate. Lambeth is set to spend over £1m+ on replacing mains wiring and communal lighting.
This strongly suggests that demolition is off the agenda at Cressingham. You wouldn’t spend £1m+ on an infrastructure contract if you were then going to bulldoze the estate.
Unless you are really, really incompetent.”
BLOGGED: Cyber Attack Risk “Very High” at Colchester City Council
“Colchester City Council is facing a “very high” risk of a cyber attack according to a progress report to be presented at the Governance and Audit Committee meeting on March 13th”
Album of the Day: Television – Marquee Moon
A very jagged and angular listen. You can almost feel the elbows digging into your sides as the guitars move up and down the frets. That’s the muso wank verdict. And I’ not even a muso. But hey! Marquee Moon doesn’t require a PhD in the Inky Press to appreciate it. It still sounds like no other album, apart from the endless post-punk copyists that followed… Stick with the best, stick with the original. Superb.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Friday return of Robert Elms was decent. Cover to Cover was You’ve Got a Friend, Carole K Vs James T. The suggestion was made that they were once more than just good friends.
James Taylor came out tops with THAT voice. It was sufficient for me to snaffle a cheapo copy of the Mud Slide Slim CD.
Jarrod Lawson was a guest in the studio. He played the most amazing cover of Prince’s I Would Die 4 U. It’s the most unlikely song for anyone to attempt a cover version of.
Don Letts also surfaced, talking with great enthusiasm ahead of the release of what is actually his debut solo album. Holly Cook provides vocals on some of the tracks. It’s come full circle…
My lunchtime swim was a weird one. I’m done with the Rec, for now. I still haven’t got the stench of piss out of my system after the changing room incident on Wednesday.
I thought I would try Vauxhall instead. It’s actually closer to me than Brixton. I’ve been put off before purely for the snob factor. It’s a leisure centre that was built by the developer, which Lambeth then badged up as one of their own. It’s nothing of the sort.
Vauxhall is very popular though. I fired up the app at midday. The next available lane slot was 8:40pm.
Blimey.
That’s not something you experience at the Rec.
And so To Clapham!
I cycled down to Wankerville. I had a little time to spare ahead of my booking. I wandered into the Save the Children shop. Even this has now been wankerfied. The cheap and cheerful charity shop has been rebranded as a ‘pre-loved emporium.’ That adds at least 40% to the prices, natch.
My only one experience of the Nu Clapham pool was shortly after it opened. The old Clapham Manor was my pool of choice for around four years. It’s where I first met some of the old Icicle crowd before we all went bonkers and swam outdoors all winter.
I really miss that old place.
Last time I found the Nu Clapham too stuffy. I hated the villaaage changing rooms and shared showers. I wanted to drop my trunks and have a proper manly wash. But that would have led to a lifetime ban.
These days my body craves heat. Brixton Rec can’t provide that. The Nu Clapham was actually half decent. The lanes are narrow, but we managed to squeeze four of us in to the fast lane for around twenty minutes.
I stopped after forty lengths. I thought my Garmin said that I’d only clocked up 650m, whereas I was aiming for the 1km.
Arse.
I pressed on for another ten lengths, not knowing what was going off. My Garmin then said I’d swum 1,250m – fifty lengths of the twenty five length pool. I was right all along.
The pace was decent as well – 1’57” per 100m.
An afternoon of local art was planned. I cycled through the backstreets of Larkhall Park and on to The Oval. I paused briefly outside the famous old ground. The outdoor marquee was set up with players practising on the square ahead of the first pre-season in three weeks.
Brrrrr.
The old Oval House Theatre bought by Surrey is now a massive building site. The Surrey owned Hotel is coming along nicely.
I passed the old Cricketers. What a bloody mess. This use to be an ACE live venue as part of the toilet circuit. It’s now squatted with some interesting art work on display.
There was a rumour that some Aussie skate kids had converted the inside into a mini skateboard park. I couldn’t see any evidence of this.
More welcoming was the nearby Gasworks Gallery. I bloody love that place. There’s always something interesting, always something most odd.
The current exhibition is about birds. You’re first confronted with a large video screen showing what looks like a camera POV from a baby bird in a nest. Walk through the small gallery space and there’s some random bird themed installations.
Then you come to the second video. It shows someone in a bird costume being fed grapes and apples.
I have absolutely no bloody idea.
There was a large bird costume in the reception. The charming staff asked if I wanted to wear it as I entered the gallery.
Bird brain, etc.
Dotty would have bloody loved it. She would have tried to rip my head off.
I made the short bicycle journey back to the top end of South Lambeth Road and the Sunday Painter gallery. Having an art gallery along our street would have been laughed at ten years ago. I’m pleased that TSP is still going strong and able to remain open.
The current exhibition was bright and breezy. The sun catches this side of S Lambeth Road late in the day. It was light and warm within.
I was half tempted to pick up my own paint brush and pick up where I left off with my CSE Grade 3 in art some 37 years ago.
Still got it Comrades. Still got it.
I listened to the BBC Nottingham Forest preview ahead of #lolspurs tomorrow. And then some BBL action with London Lions away at Manchester on the telly.
I’ve managed to book a Vauxhall swim for the morning.
Links for Friday 10th March, 2023
‘No bigger than Songs of Praise’: the early days of live league football on TV
“It leaves me thinking about what media we *could* be making about what’s really going on, so I guess that’s why I seem to be blogging again.”
Tell It Like It Is with Lloyd Davis
“A backward move” – Government slashes active travel budget for England | road.cc