RIP David Bowie

Blog cancelled today, drinking vodka and listening to David Bowie.

RIP

Senior Moment

At the in between sort of age of 48 I still feel pretty young, except when I've just been for a run when I feel nearly dead. I guess my life has slowed down compared to what I was like in my 20's (playing chess on average 3 times a week is too much for me nowadays!) but I'm still pretty active and positive in my thoughts.

Just before Christmas I was sat in a cafe having my favourite long black and croissant with the radio playing in the background engrossed in a novel. Well, engrossed is a bit strong as the book wasn't particularly good. Let's say I was getting through the book as best I could with a dogged determination to finish it no matter what, typical of the British 'stiff upper lip spirit'. (Since then I've finished the book and I now wish that I'd listened to my reason and stopped reading early on. I'll admit "The Miniaturist' had its moments, but I really didn't enjoy it and essentially that is why I read novels!) Anyway, I had zoned out of the novel for a moment when I thought I heard the words "Bobby Fischer" from somewhere.

My first reaction was to think I was going a bit bonkers and secondly I sniffed my coffee just to make sure there was nothing funny in it. Surprisingly, "The House of Bread and Pastries" on Martin Street in Gardenvale do a very respectable coffee for what is essentially a bakery. I've certainly been to cafes which have served worse coffee. The coffee is smooth with a rich texture and a slightly roasted flavour. It isn't brilliant, but if it was the worse coffee I ever had I would die a happy man. At least in terms of coffee.

Ok, back to my senior moment. Hearing the name of a chess player for no apparent reason was a bit worrying, but then I heard it again, unmistakably on the radio. So I strained my failing hearing and there it was.

I think like Bobby Fischer.

I was so happy that I wasn't going a bit loopy, and that I wasn't going to have to call in work claiming I needed a mental health day off, that it didn't even register how crap the song was. At first. I had no idea who it was or even how to find out, but my smart phone and google were my friends and I now know that the song was "Cosby Sweater" by the Hilltop Hoods. See what you think. Am I getting old?

Classic Album of the Moment

Are you of a generation that can remember buying vinyl records? Or even cassettes? If you are, then you probably can recall getting home with your new record or tape and playing it to death again and again until every word, melody, riff have permeated your mind. You will have sung along to the singles, but more deeply appreciated the album tracks, and if it was one of those albums that had no singles, then you could lose yourself in discovering the new music. I'm sure this is still possible in the post CD era of i-tunes and MP3 players (and probably gadgets that I don't even know about...God I'm getting old) but with so much music free (or cheap) to stream on apps like Spotify and youtube the mystique of buying an album seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, true to my younger self, I'm going to indulge in discovering some albums that I wished I'd have bought when I was younger but never did. Yes, they will be on CD, but I will listen to them again and again until I have immersed myself in every thing they have to offer. There'll be no Greatest Hits Albums here, though I have nothing against them. I want to hear some album tracks, some tracks that are new to me.

My favourite Beatles album (from beatlesbible)

So where to start? I've got about 50 years worth of popular music to choose from and some of the albums I may have heard before, but not for a long time. I recently lost myself in Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. I must have listened to it 100 times this year, with Tangled Up in Blue possibly my favourite Dylan song. Time to move on. I've played the Beatles Revolver a few times recently. It really is a fantastic album with some beautiful songs, and was an early popular psychedelic creation. It's easy for us in 2013 to forget how innovative and trend setting the Beatles were. However, Revolver was released before I was born (only just!) and I was thinking more of my own recollections from when I was starting to buy records, or at least ask for them as presents.

The Jam's 1978 Album

I started secondary school in 1978, which was a pretty exciting time for music. Besides the fact that rock music was becoming more accomplished (Pink Floyds's 'The Wall' was released the year after) punk and new wave were taking over. An album that I wish that I owned but never did was The Jam's All Mod Cons. (Coincidentally, the Jam used The Beatles 'Taxman' guitar riff for their number 1 hit 'Start', Taxman being the opening song on Revolver).

The album was apparently influenced by British 60's invasion music which is most notably seen in their cover of the Kinks track, David Watts. As I could also listen to the Kinks and that brand of 60's music, this is the perfect album for me to start reminiscing about. According to Q Music, All Mod Cons is the 50th greatest British album of all time. The list is headed by Revolver!

Running diary 23/11/2011

Running every second day is working out great for me at the moment. I can put a lot into each run, and recover fully before the next one. I am sometimes a little stiff, or heavy legged, but that usually disappears once the run starts. I try to make sure I don't run 2 long runs (for me) back to back. Tonight I got home from work, changed into my running gear and just went straight out after a stretch. The last run I did was about 8km at a pretty slow pace, and before that I did 10km at an even pace. So I decided to try for 8km at a fairly decent pace. I am lucky with where I live as it is only 2.5km to the bay in Melbourne, so I am able to run along the sea for a part of the time. It's really pleasant to run in a beautiful environment, and sometimes, I just stop and admire the view around the bay. Today my run was broken up after 5km, when I stopped for about a minute to just look at the bay. The Spirit of Tasmania was turning around, presumably on it's way out of Port Melbourne, and I even saw a Rakali (water rat) scuttling about around some rocks and scrub near the waterfront.

The Rakali, a native of Melbourne

More rakali info can be found out at this website.

So I have been looking at running about 6 minutes per kilometre as a basic benchmark. Sometimes I might try to go quicker, and if I'm running a longer distance, I might try to hold back a bit. Today, like most of the time, I went with what felt comfortable and that was a bit under 6 minutes per kilometre. In fact, when I stopped at the 5km mark, I'd been running for just under 29 minutes. The last 3 kilometre's were run at a decent pace as well, and my 8km took about 46 minutes to run, compared with the 48 minutes which would have been even 6 minute kilometre's. You can check out my run for yourself, including a map of the route I took.

I know lots of runners listen to music while they run, and I would love to know what they are listening to. I am currently listening to some old punk stuff that I used to listen to when I was a bit younger. I have just over an hour's worth on my playlist, good enough for my 10km run. See if you know any of these old classics:

Oliver's Army, Elvis Costello

(Get A) Grip (On Yourself), The Stranglers
Here Comes The Summer, The Undertones
Hanging Around, The Stranglers
Promises, The Buzzcocks
Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)?, The Buzzcocks
I Wanna Be Your Dog, The Stooges
My Perfect Cousin, The Undertones
No More Heroes, The Stranglers
Lust for Life, Iggy Pop
London Calling, The Clash
I Don't Mind, The Buzzcocks
What Do I Get, The Buzzcocks
Wednesday Week, The Undertones
Peaches, The Stranglers
Teenage Kicks, The Undertones

I must admit, there are times I feel like singing along, but then remember I'm running, and other times I just feel like sprinting when certain tracks come on. It's difficult to hold on to a pace when Iggy Pop is belting out Lust For Life!