Predicaments
Week from Monday 15th September 2025 - I went up to the hozzy for yet another BLOOD TEST ahead of this week's telephone consultation with the DOCs... But due to ROAD WORKS, the bus didn't stop directly outside of the hospital, as is its wont. Instead, one had to debus at the other side of the roundabout and walk up the hill! I just about managed it (breathlessly), but anybody who is actually handicapped or infirmed would have been totally buggered! Most inconsiderate, they really didn't think it through...
"CELEBRA CADA SEGUNDO"? The final week of LA VUELTA fizzled out in an even more anti-climactic style than ever! All of those stages that were truncated due to PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTERS make an absolute mockery of any time-based rankings. In the event of such occurrences, everybody is given the same time at wherever they decide to end it. How can you say that someone 'won' a race that didn't actually FINISH?
The last day's processional ride into Madrid was no exception. Due to the uproar, there was no actual race around the city circuit, thus no final sprint. They just enjoyed their photo opportunities and champagne, then pulled over to the side of the road, on a roundabout just outside of Madrid... Packed up, went home and didn't even have any official PODIUM PRESENTATIONS.
Ah well! that's me done for another year - Once I've watched a couple more 'HIGHLIGHTS' videos, I can uninstall the OFFICIAL APP from my trusty tablet.
Of course, JONAS VINNEGAARD won the outright GC title, as everyone knew he would from the start... but the most important takeaway is that MADS PEDERSEN sealed the deal in the GREEN JERSEY, meaning that LiDL-TREK have won the (quantifiable!) POINTS competitions in all three of this year's 'GRAND TOURS'!
I had my (by now, routine) TELEPHONE CONSULTATION with the HAEMO/ONCO docs, to see what condition my condition was in. There were no changes to report, so I'm still alive, apparently...
I hopped on a bus down to GOSPORT, primarily to visit the print shop... to run off the covers for my latest batch of BANDCAMP downloads-cum-seedies (some SOFT MACHINE and HENRY COW-related reissues, plus my own select version of the "WOMAD 1982" various artists doodah). Some yompage was involved in the subsequent shopping excursion, so fairly hurty feet afterwards.
Week from Monday 22nd September 2025 - The ever prolific drummer ASAF SIRKIS has a new (digital release only) album on that there BANDCAMP. By my reckoning, he's played on at least four albums by four different bands this year alone! "THE JOURNEY IS YOU" is a nifty little piece of Canterburyish jazz-fusion which would probably appeal to anyone who likes Hatfield And The North. The wordless vocal contributions (which I didn't think I would enjoy at first) are by his long-time musical partner SYLWIA BIALAS. She certainly brings to mind 'The Northettes' or maybe Norma Winstone's work on some of the more etherial ECM albums. The guitar work by DAVID PRESTON has a certain Phil Miller vibe about it. It's a most delightful listen, which hasn't strayed too far from my 'jukebox' all week, and which is already in line for "PICK O' THE YEAR" status...
On Sunday, I was able to watch Pogacar 'doing a Pogacar' at the UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Men's Road Race in Kigali. There were no medals for those representing their countries while riding TREK bicycles, but fourth, fifth and sixth is something, innit? (Skjelly, Toms and Cicco, in that order).
Week from Monday 29th September 2025 - I've been trying to get myself excused from JURY SERVICE because of my obvious health commitments. Of course, civil servants being what they are, it takes an age for them to respond to EMAILS, and they persist in sending me standardised LETTERS to remind me of my obligations. But at least I was able to talk to an actual PERSON yesterday, albeit on the phone. I believe it's now in the hands of the LOCAL Court Officials... so now I'm waiting for THEM to get in touch!
I set out on Wednesday morning to visit the hospital for some routine BLOOD TESTS. But I didn't get there. The BUS that I wanted to catch didn't arrive at all. I waited and waited, along with several old ladies. The bus that should have followed it, due a half-hour after, arrived fifteen minutes EVEN LATER and it was standing room only (a single-decker bus, packed with the equivalent of TWO busloads of passengers). The driver wouldn't let any more of us aboard. If I was to wait YET ANOTHER forty minutes for the NEXT scheduled omnibus, then I wouldn't have got to the hozzy in time. Good job I'm not 'on the clock'! TRY AGAIN TOMORROW...
So as I now find myself with an unexpected 'DAY OFF', I thought I'd spend some of it watching the BEAT concert on that newfangled Blu-Ray. An all-star band of ADRIAN BELEW, TONY LEVIN, STEVE VAI and DANNY CAREY doing 1980s-vintage KING CRIMSON repertoire. As I've almost certainly said before, I don't personally have any nostalgic attachment to that era ("Not My Crim!"), but I can understand those across the pond who do. I find this music INTERESTING to see and hear rather than in any way EXCITING. I no longer derive much pleasure from hearing dozens of near-identical versions of "Frame By Frame" or "Three Of A Perfect Pair". It's all a bit too TIGHTLY ARRANGED for my tastes, with hardly any flexibility for IMPROVISATION, which is what I prefer to hear from a KCrim. But if the 'Belew Years' are your thing, you'll not be disappointed, 'cos they do it bloody well, in most cases NOTE-FOR-NOTE. (I still think of the eighties lineup as 'THE AMERICAN CRIMSON', because I feel that's where they fit in the overall scheme of things, in terms of presentation and musical vocabulary.)
On Thursday, I finally made it to the hozzy for my LEECHING, but the bus journey was still not without its incidents. In one particularly logjammed one-way street, the bus swerved to avoid a misbehaving taxicab, slammed on the brakes and clipped the wing mirror of a parked car. After my bloodletting, I hopped on another bus down to the city centre, to have a shufti around a couple of CHAZZAS. One of them seemed to be offering the complete back-catalogue of "the guy in the brocade coat" DONOVAN, as well a fair selection of DR JOHN albums. But I wasn't really interested in any of those. Don't like the former and already have quite a few of the latter! I found a couple of BRAZILIAN MUSIC compilations, but it turned out that I had one of them already. I also got a 2CD 'WORLD MUSIC' sampler compiled by the late great CHARLIE GILLETT. That turned out to be a fabulous quidsworth, as there's not a duff track on the whole thing. Admittedly, given the subsequent passage of time, I do already have a few of the tunes on other albums. But the early noughties were a GOLDEN AGE for the music we call "World", so it's a bangin' listen in its own right.
"CELEBRA CADA SEGUNDO"? The final week of LA VUELTA fizzled out in an even more anti-climactic style than ever! All of those stages that were truncated due to PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTERS make an absolute mockery of any time-based rankings. In the event of such occurrences, everybody is given the same time at wherever they decide to end it. How can you say that someone 'won' a race that didn't actually FINISH?
The last day's processional ride into Madrid was no exception. Due to the uproar, there was no actual race around the city circuit, thus no final sprint. They just enjoyed their photo opportunities and champagne, then pulled over to the side of the road, on a roundabout just outside of Madrid... Packed up, went home and didn't even have any official PODIUM PRESENTATIONS.
Ah well! that's me done for another year - Once I've watched a couple more 'HIGHLIGHTS' videos, I can uninstall the OFFICIAL APP from my trusty tablet.
Of course, JONAS VINNEGAARD won the outright GC title, as everyone knew he would from the start... but the most important takeaway is that MADS PEDERSEN sealed the deal in the GREEN JERSEY, meaning that LiDL-TREK have won the (quantifiable!) POINTS competitions in all three of this year's 'GRAND TOURS'!
I had my (by now, routine) TELEPHONE CONSULTATION with the HAEMO/ONCO docs, to see what condition my condition was in. There were no changes to report, so I'm still alive, apparently...
I hopped on a bus down to GOSPORT, primarily to visit the print shop... to run off the covers for my latest batch of BANDCAMP downloads-cum-seedies (some SOFT MACHINE and HENRY COW-related reissues, plus my own select version of the "WOMAD 1982" various artists doodah). Some yompage was involved in the subsequent shopping excursion, so fairly hurty feet afterwards.
Week from Monday 22nd September 2025 - The ever prolific drummer ASAF SIRKIS has a new (digital release only) album on that there BANDCAMP. By my reckoning, he's played on at least four albums by four different bands this year alone! "THE JOURNEY IS YOU" is a nifty little piece of Canterburyish jazz-fusion which would probably appeal to anyone who likes Hatfield And The North. The wordless vocal contributions (which I didn't think I would enjoy at first) are by his long-time musical partner SYLWIA BIALAS. She certainly brings to mind 'The Northettes' or maybe Norma Winstone's work on some of the more etherial ECM albums. The guitar work by DAVID PRESTON has a certain Phil Miller vibe about it. It's a most delightful listen, which hasn't strayed too far from my 'jukebox' all week, and which is already in line for "PICK O' THE YEAR" status...
On Sunday, I was able to watch Pogacar 'doing a Pogacar' at the UCI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Men's Road Race in Kigali. There were no medals for those representing their countries while riding TREK bicycles, but fourth, fifth and sixth is something, innit? (Skjelly, Toms and Cicco, in that order).
Week from Monday 29th September 2025 - I've been trying to get myself excused from JURY SERVICE because of my obvious health commitments. Of course, civil servants being what they are, it takes an age for them to respond to EMAILS, and they persist in sending me standardised LETTERS to remind me of my obligations. But at least I was able to talk to an actual PERSON yesterday, albeit on the phone. I believe it's now in the hands of the LOCAL Court Officials... so now I'm waiting for THEM to get in touch!
I set out on Wednesday morning to visit the hospital for some routine BLOOD TESTS. But I didn't get there. The BUS that I wanted to catch didn't arrive at all. I waited and waited, along with several old ladies. The bus that should have followed it, due a half-hour after, arrived fifteen minutes EVEN LATER and it was standing room only (a single-decker bus, packed with the equivalent of TWO busloads of passengers). The driver wouldn't let any more of us aboard. If I was to wait YET ANOTHER forty minutes for the NEXT scheduled omnibus, then I wouldn't have got to the hozzy in time. Good job I'm not 'on the clock'! TRY AGAIN TOMORROW...
So as I now find myself with an unexpected 'DAY OFF', I thought I'd spend some of it watching the BEAT concert on that newfangled Blu-Ray. An all-star band of ADRIAN BELEW, TONY LEVIN, STEVE VAI and DANNY CAREY doing 1980s-vintage KING CRIMSON repertoire. As I've almost certainly said before, I don't personally have any nostalgic attachment to that era ("Not My Crim!"), but I can understand those across the pond who do. I find this music INTERESTING to see and hear rather than in any way EXCITING. I no longer derive much pleasure from hearing dozens of near-identical versions of "Frame By Frame" or "Three Of A Perfect Pair". It's all a bit too TIGHTLY ARRANGED for my tastes, with hardly any flexibility for IMPROVISATION, which is what I prefer to hear from a KCrim. But if the 'Belew Years' are your thing, you'll not be disappointed, 'cos they do it bloody well, in most cases NOTE-FOR-NOTE. (I still think of the eighties lineup as 'THE AMERICAN CRIMSON', because I feel that's where they fit in the overall scheme of things, in terms of presentation and musical vocabulary.)
On Thursday, I finally made it to the hozzy for my LEECHING, but the bus journey was still not without its incidents. In one particularly logjammed one-way street, the bus swerved to avoid a misbehaving taxicab, slammed on the brakes and clipped the wing mirror of a parked car. After my bloodletting, I hopped on another bus down to the city centre, to have a shufti around a couple of CHAZZAS. One of them seemed to be offering the complete back-catalogue of "the guy in the brocade coat" DONOVAN, as well a fair selection of DR JOHN albums. But I wasn't really interested in any of those. Don't like the former and already have quite a few of the latter! I found a couple of BRAZILIAN MUSIC compilations, but it turned out that I had one of them already. I also got a 2CD 'WORLD MUSIC' sampler compiled by the late great CHARLIE GILLETT. That turned out to be a fabulous quidsworth, as there's not a duff track on the whole thing. Admittedly, given the subsequent passage of time, I do already have a few of the tunes on other albums. But the early noughties were a GOLDEN AGE for the music we call "World", so it's a bangin' listen in its own right.
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