mintybloggydiarythingy 2.0

Week from Monday 7th April 2025 - I think it's taking me a little longer to get back to "NORMAL" health this time, following Saturday's COVID needling. I was still feeling some of the side effects several days later, such as the LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE causing achy extremities and the persistent CHEMICAL ODOUR, which may be real or in my own head. But I take it in my stride and try to DO STUFF regardless... PROJECTS, PROJECTS, PROJECTS... It's the start of a new FINANCIAL YEAR. As a 'BURDEN ON SOCIETY' old person, I'm no longer legally required to do all that wretched SELF-ASSESSMENT malarkey, but I keep my accounts in order anyway, for my own satisfaction. On top of this week's PENSION payment, I've also had some interest accrued on one of my SAVINGS accounts (more than I'd guesstimated!) and a £50 'Thank You Bonus' appeared in my CURRENT account. Which Is Nice. On Wednesday, I hopped on the 'DEATH VALLEY 69' to Winchester...

Week from Monday 24th March 2025 - Blimey! it's FRIDAY already! This week's "COMPOSER OF THE WEEK" on Radio Three is THE greatest - GUSTAV MAHLER. But given that the 'show' goes out at a very inconvenient time these days (four in the afternoon, instead of the once traditional midday), I have chosen to bookmark all five episodes on the BBC SOUNDS app on my pad so that I can 'BINGE' listen to the entire week in one sitting. There were quite a few HISTORICAL INSIGHTS that I previously didn't know about and their choices of MUSICAL EXCERPTS were, without exception, top-notch headphone-filling delights from start to finish! In my books that's a jolly nice way to while away FIVE WHOLE HOURS on a Friday afternoon... A couple of MUSIC PROJECTS of my own this week... I finished compiling VOLUME 165(!) of my Various Artists (but mostly KCrimson-related) "HOT TICKLES" series of seedydisks... As well as the most recent half-dozen "STORMY...

Week from Monday 17th March 2025 - This week's "MUSIC PROJECT" involves my 'processing' the latest release from PAKT, recently obtained as a (slightly pricey) download from the Bandcamp concern. It's a selection of tracks from their American Tour of last year, when PERCY, ALEX, KENNY and TIM were joined on some dates by keyboard wiz ADAM HOLZMAN, him out of Miles Davis's and Steven Wilson's bands. At times, they sound even more like the BRAND X of old, in full-on "TMIU-ATGA" mode! Which is fine by me! But mostly this week, everyone is raving about STEVEN WILSON's new album "The Overview" in all its various incarnations. Indeed, it's already 'TOPPED THE HIT PARADE', as you young'ns say! I didn't pre-order it from a shed in Norwich myself, nor did I rush out and buy it from HMV, as I have established a 'policy' with new music of 'TRY BEFORE I BUY'. I'm unable to understand why some people ...

Week from Monday 10th March 2025 - On Friday I'd missed a call from the GP PRACTICE. So on Monday morning I dutifully called them back, just in case it was something important. Once I got through (you know what their phone services are like!), I learnt that the call had been from someone called a PHARMACIST TECHNICIAN, whatever that is. I then wasted most of Tuesday, waiting in silence for them to call back. The call never came, so I suspect it was just somebody doing 'BUSYBODY' stuff, rather than anything for my own benefit. At the same time, I got a TEXT 'inviting' me to book my 'Spring' COVID jab. Why does nobody at the Health Centre learn to use E-MAIL? They stubbornly insist on contacting me via SMS, so I have to convert the message to HTML or PDF, then transfer the file from the phone to the laptop, before I can click on the embedded link. You can't reply directly to the text itself and they don't take bookings over the phone. It turns out th...

Week from Monday 3rd March 2025 - HAPPY MARDI GRAS, Y'ALL! Lazy-ler-bongtong-rooly and all that! I celebrated the day by listening to plenty of ZYDECO, the REBIRTH BRASS BAND and the WILD MAGNOLIAS. I did verily eat pancakes. In search of something that I could share on my Bloosky timeline, I stumbled upon a YouTube clip of THE MUPPETS explaining Zydeco music on an old episode of "SESAME STREET". I occasionally dipped into the LIVE coverage of the Mardi Gras parade in NEW ORLEANS. There were problems, apparently. At one time when I tuned in, one of the floats had got WEDGED solid going 'round a corner, holding up the entire procession. Later, I learned that they had to re-route and cut short the parade because of the threat of high winds... I also had a glimpse at the goings on in RIO DE JANEIRO, but I didn't 'stay' for long. There is, in my opinion, no more boring activity than watching OTHER PEOPLE DANCING, glittery costumery or not. And they sure...

Week from Monday 24th February 2025 - I schlepped up to the HORSE PICKLE again on Saturday, for my regular armful of PAMIDRONATE. I got there ridiculously early, as I had to make allowances for the BUS DRIVERS currently marching to their own drum. I got dealt with fairly quickly though, so I also schlepped down to the City Centre. I found even more TANGO NUEVO CDs in the chazza shop in Arundel Street. Somebody must have cleared out all their TANGO in ONE GO - 'A Band Of Abandoned Bandoneons'!?! A couple of them turn out to be a bit old-school and corny (Strictly Edmundo Ros!), but the majority are rather classy, jazzy MODERN CHAMBER WORKS in the ASTOR PIAZZOLLA mould. Most of the 'good stuff' is purely instrumental, of course. But as any vocals are in sultry Spanish, and they tend not to be mixed 'UP FRONT & IN YER FACE', they don't demand your attention at the expense of the (sometimes quite complex) music. Some pieces are texturally similar to "...

Week from Monday 10th February 2025 Week from Monday 17th February 2025 - Whoops! I missed a week! Y'see, the trouble with all this KEEPING A DIGITAL DIARY* malarkey is... My life is split between mundane periods of having NOTHING NEW to write about, or being so otherwise busy that I DON'T HAVE TIME to write about it all! Last week was divided equally between both contingencies. (*BTW the normal repetitive routine medical stuff still gets logged in a good old-fashioned PAPER diary, using an actual 'analogue' BIRO.) "The very act of concentrating on writing makes it difficult to do so, since ideas normally arise not when one is focused, but when one is open in some way..." (Brian Eno) Earlier in the week, I had another sudden flurry of back'n'forth activity with our Edinburgh correspondent CLOUDLAND BLUE QUARTET. Mister Quartet is planning the public release (on that there Bandcamp) of the results of our recent collaborative efforts. He now suggest...