mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 23rd September 2024 - Last week was another fairly empty one, followed by a concentrated burst of activity at the weekend (mental rather than physical)... I had acquired a naughty audience recording of a SOFT MACHINE gig from a couple of weeks ago. They played a 'one-off' at the Pizza Express oop dzat Londin, no doubt as a warm-up for their currently ongoing American tour. It's quite an exciting listen if you can hear past the audio quality ('MY LIFE IN B***LEGS'). It's nice and clear, but Asif's drums are painfully loud in the mix at times. But a bit of tender-loving Audacity can fix that! I've learnt by now to expect a lot of patter and 'dead air' at a Softies gig. A set that appears to last about an hour-and-three-quarters, can usually be trimmed to the length of a single listenable CD, if I have the patience to do so - I can lose all the vociferousness and the 'Chew Ning', cut the DRUM SOLO down to an acceptable leng...

Week from Monday 2nd September 2024 - Into the final week of the VUELTA... and everything changes as WOUT VAN AERT has crashed out, shaking up both the GREEN JERSEY and POLKA-DOT rankings. Once again, fractions of a second separate the GENERAL CLASSIFICATION, so anything could happen... I shall habitually click over to ITV4 for the TOUR OF BRITAIN coverage. That should also be watchable, if only for the presence of 'big names' REMCO EVENEPOEL and JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE (and a decent professional commentary!). LiDL TREK have entered their 'FUTURE RACING' development team for this one, so no 'big names' but still plenty of those distinctive uniforms to cheer on ("Chapeaux!" as they say, to LIAM O'BRIEN and COLE KESSLER). I had my person-to-person chat with the Doc, up at that there WHORE'S SPITTLE, whereby we updated each other on what's bin gwine on. The good news is that the MYELOMA hasn't returned (yet?), so any side-effects I am current...

Week from Monday 19th August 2024 - I had my telephone chat with a GP... She agrees that my BLOOD PRESSURE has gone from one extreme to the other and has suggested that I (further) halve the dose of CANDESARTAN that I'm taking. She's also prescribed a CODEINE-based painkiller for the HURTY FEET. I am due another BLOOD TEST, as one of my 'ORIGINAL SYMPTOMS' that may have returned (on top of the BREATHLESSNESS and low BP) is a goodly dose of ANAEMIA... ho hum! I might have to cut back on my morning BANANAS, as experience tells me that my levels of POTASSIUM might also be elevated. At least having gone through all this once before, I know what to look out for this time around! It's time for that Spanish VUELTA-type bike-race... usually my favourite of the big three GRAND TOURS, in terms of the actual competition. But often painful to listen to, on account of the terrible commentators one has to endure if one has to watch the Eurosport 'highlights' shows that ...

WHAT'S ON THE JUKEBOX? (AUGUST 2024) - "A playlist of top stuff that's currently setting the toes a-tappin', the fingers a-snappin' and the ears a-wormin' and generally shakin' my grooved thang to thrillin' effect." (Click on the wee lozenges to link to related YouTube clips, if you're curious.) Can "Live in Aston 1977" ◊ Man "The Welsh Connection" ◊ Anchor and Burden "Extinction Level" ◊ Ojos de Brujo "Bari : Remezcias" ◊ Portishead "Dummy" a.o. ◊ Fergus McCreadie "Stream" a.o. ◊

Week from Monday 5th August 2024 - The telly coverage of the cycling WOMEN'S ROAD RACE at the Olympics was not treated with any respect. Not only with the Beeb's habit of cutting away midflow to show the 'more important' gymnastics or golf instead, but with the directors' tendency to show nice scenic views of Paris and its environs, or arty slow-motion shots of the crowds, rather than close-ups of any actual racing that might be going on. There had been a few notable incidents early in the course, but I only knew about them because I was following the live updates on Twitter - they weren't on the telly! It was only in the final circuits on the Parisian streets that we actually got to SEE some action (and there was, admittedly, plenty of that!) AN ONGOING PROJECT... Some time ago I'd set up a WINDOWS (7) partition on m'laptop so that I could sort of recreate a twenty-year old 'GRAPHICS WORKSTATION' and still run my ancient version of CORELDRAW....

Week from Monday 29th July 2024 - I'm not giving the PARIS OLYMPICS the time of day, apart from the Road Cycling events, which fall conveniently at the weekends. After all, "THERE IS ONLY ONE SPORT" worth bothering with. Even the INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIALS (usually the most boring part of a Grand Tour) had my attention this time around! Saturday brings the MEN'S ROAD RACE. Most are expecting the Belgians to dominate and they weren't far wrong... We've had a run of incredibly HOT & SWEATY days (the hottest "of all time", say some), so I've suffered from a lot of hot/sore/itchy/prickly/stiff, unsettled and generally UNCOMFORTABLE nights, what with my post-chemo CONDITION and all. Much napping has been taken during the day when I can get it, but the humidity is pouring off of me! But all this "STAYING IN" is getting to me, so I went out on Friday (slightly cooler) for a bimble around Southampton. I've just been listening to what pas...

Week from Monday 15th July 2024 - The BBC PROMS season has kicked off... I'm preferring NOT to plan ahead this year and taking each evening as it comes - maybe giving it an element of surprise and a chance to listen to it all without prejudice! But the first night had very little to offer. Saturday was one of those (often naff) BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA theme nights, a tribute to DISCO! Now I have to confess, I quite like a lot of the original music. In the late seventies, I didn't count myself among the rockists who declared that "DISCO SUCKS!" (although, admittedly, some of it did!). Tonight's 'cover versions' were impressive. But whatever time, money and effort went into it, a 'covers' show like this only makes for a KARAOKE-LIKE experience for this radio listener ("Karaoke" DOES translate as "empty orchestra", I suppose). It certainly sounded like those assembled at the Albert'All were having a great time. I personally dr...