What I do all day...

D.        If you pick up pizzas we can give you some money when we get there. If only there was some sort of brewed beverage in a handy container I could pick up that would go well with Pizza... If I think of one I could try and see if they've heard of it in South Ken...

W.      Okey cokey

D.       I'm not getting us coke... we're not that sort of band!!

W.      I think we should be that sort of band. The only reason we weren't that sort of band in the first place was because we had to ride our bikes the morning after a gig. I propose full-on heroin chic and model girlfriends (we don't need to tell the ones we've already got; it can be a Tuesday night thing).

D.      I'm not sure I could cope with a second girlfriend... could I stick with meaningless groupie action as I feel this would be less of a drain emotionally... all the agreeing to a second yet unrelated set of cushion based reasoning may be the end of me. I think the lack of heroin on the lejog ride was a serious oversight for the following reasons...

• Neil's guitar solos would have made more sense;
• Carlisle... ;
• Less achiness
• easier to sleep through snoring in dorm rooms;
• Lower food bills/better weight loss.

I'd like to look at the pros and cons of other narcotics too... although there may be some crossover with other lists.


LSD

• Neil's guitar solos would have made more sense;
• Carlisle... ;
• scotland may have made more sense (see also Devon, Cornwall The North)

PCP:

• Neil's guitar solos would have made more sense;
• Carlisle... ;
• Hills much easier
• Less afraid of fighting

Coke:

• Neil's guitar solos would have made more sense;
• Carlisle... ;
• Hills much easier
• Less afraid of fighting

 And so on ad nauseum...

My anti corporate morning rant...

I work in an unspecified area of South-East London. It's only un-specified in the sense that I have no real wish to disclose it here. It is quite specific in my minds-eye, which I find helps with locating my place of work enormously come monday morning.

This, slightly drab and underwelming locale, has until very recently managed to avoid becoming home to the homogeonous high street brands present in almost every high street from Norwich to Nottingham.Instead plucky local business people have been allowed to operate the generally sub-standard, health and safety ignorant, British businesses favoured in the days of yore*

I'd like to forward this as my initial reasoning as to why market forces are not just ridiculous but in fact a complete arse. If I'm fair to the "market" it also proves that human beings are, by and large, complete idiots. But I am not in the mood to be fair to the market, and in a weakened post breakfast state, quite prepared to cut the human race some slack for once.**

In the last few months the general ambience of the locale has been disturbed by a Subway and a Costa Coffee. Prior to this we had budget sandwich and coffee shops, that somehow managed to thrive, selling wishy washy beverages and limp sandwiches at a price beffitting the said fayre and manageable to the local population. Everytime a more interesting (edible) eaterie opened, it would close within a few months*** to be replaced by a chicken shop or a minicab office.

This market ignores the health and wellbeing of the populus and reaches an state of equilibrium based solely on price. However these businesses are now being threatened by chains selling similar fayre for nearly three times the price. We are told time and time again that competition in the private sector will raise quality and lower price. Rather than variety and price driving the market, it is shiny cups and familiar logos. In six months these businesses will fold, as residents of this localle cannot sustain £3.99 coffees and £5.99 sandwiches, which will in turn lead to a beverage vacuum. Maybe the proliferation of public sector employment will sustain these businesses... If so, where will the locals eat.

Anyway. My point was that choice doesn't drive prices down and competition up. Itdrives prices up and competiton down. Mostly because people are idiots, or at the very least foolish brand magpies.

*The exact dates of this period are not nown but we're generally looing at post-industrial revolution and pre-McDonalds.
** Upon re-reading the first couple of paragraphs I noticed the complete omission of the letter "K". My keyboard had broken and the subsequent liocation of a (sub-standard) spare led me to take pity on humanity
*** With the exception of a rather pleasant Japanese restaurant

Sunday folk music

Miss S and I have just been off to see the other Sophie play a gig at the crypt in St. Peter's. As is her want the songs covered a variety of topics not often utilised in the folk format.
-Alternatives to GDP as an indicator for economic health
-What happens if you chop a forest down to make violins (I've over simplified this one)
-The joys of bicycle ownership as opposed to ownership of other stuff.

As an introduction Sophie said it's easy to see why academic papers are the norm for economic theories but there you go.

The venue also served tea. As in the beverage.

Miss S and I stopped off at a lovely French cafe for a custardy quiche and salad before buying up some Mertyle and rhubarb jam. Mmmm

How I learned to love the guitar again

I got a message last night. I say a message but effectively it was a comment on a photo I had posted online. I was playing a mandolin, and my friend had posted "Still playing that kids guitar then Dom?" I've had similar comments about the ukulele and banjolele over the past couple of years too. Whilst this particular comment was in jest there is the persistent idea that small means unimportant.

Several friends have remarked that they are not sure why everyone is playing the ukulele. Or rather why every band seems to need a ukulele or other comedy instrument. If you've ever carried a solid bodied electric guitar, in a hard case, with an amp and a bag of cables and effects to a gig by public transport you'd know the appeal of the tiny acoustic instrument. I recently started playing a smaller guitar to make things easier on myself and am still considering a Martin Backpacker so I can ride to rehearsals on my bike.

The beauty and simplicity of the uke or mandolin is the short scale and small number of strings. I have written before about becoming disillusioned, by age and lack of activity/success, with the guitar. I called into question why I even bothered playing it. I started playing the uke in 2009 after hearing about a uke band playing at an awards ceremony. I googled ukulele orchestra and saw the ukulele orchestra of great britain on youtube. I bought myself one for christmas just as I was going through a painful breakup.

I went along to a ukulele group at work, and another above a pub in Stoke Newington. It was fun. I wanted to play with other people too. In late 2010 I met (through a ukulele mailing list) Warren and the Buskers on Bikes. We rehearsed. We trained. We cycled Land's end to John O'Groats together playing gigs. An old school friend asked me to play a one-off gig with him. I started learning the mandolin. BOB played a few more gigs. I auditioned for the London Gypsy Orchestra on the guitar.

So there it is. Back to the guitar. I'm now playing with three groups of people and enjoying music more than I have done since my early 20's. I understand theory better now that I play 3 instruments tuned differently. As a guitarist I learn't chords and scales but could only relate them to the guitar. Learnign the uke and mandolin I needed to know why  the chord I was playing was a Insert chord name.

In short the ukulele reawakened my enjoyment of playing.The banjolele helped me to find my place in a band for the first time in years. The mandolin made me realise how music is constructed (and how loud a small instrument can be). The guitar became the instrument I continue to love most.

Plans for 2013

It looks very much like we're going to be doing bike to bestival again this year. The twist this year is that we are now going to also be doing a ride to camp bestival. Busy, busy, busy! It's really good fun, but needs a lot more work than you'd imagine. Partly because, by their very nature, festivals have to be in the middle of nowhere. This isolation makes it difficult to get people to and from their final destination. In fact it makes it much easier to get there by car. This is partly because from the 1960's onwards, successive British Governments have favoured the car. Even to the extent of taking out railways and building major road networks as the popularity of the car spread out through the social classes.

This wouldn't matter if we were organising a "Drive to Bestival" but we're not.

The destinations we are aiming for cannot be reached without using A-roads. It is impossible to cover vast swathes of the U.K. Without sharing a dual carriageway with lorries blasting their way across Europe delivering (as it turns out) vast quantities of horse meat by road. In Scotland there are motorways built right next to dual carriageways as roads were upgraded. You get to cycle along a badly repaired dual carriageway, whilst traffic hurtles by merely feet away on a shiny new motorway.

The most terrified I have ever been (scared for my life) was during the descent into Glen Coe. Rain so dense that visibility was down to a few feet. Inches of water on the road. No brakes. Mountain roads. Heavy traffic. Really heavy traffic. All whilst trying to find a right hand turn across the oncoming traffic, and onto a flooded road for several miles to dry off in a youth hostel.

I also wished the rain back almost immediately upon it stopping as clouds of midges swarmed towards us as soon as the rain started to let up.

Physio

So I have just got back from the physio. It turns out that one of the ligaments in my left ankle is no longer working. Or it might not be there. Or I might have damaged it. They aren't sure. However, apparently standing on one leg is the way forward. So I'll be doing a lot more of that over the coming weeks.

One thing that has come out of all this is that I've been told to avoid the exact movement that releases my left foot from my clipless pedal. They won't say that it was the pedal that did it , but I might "wish to consider other types of foot retention"

I should apparently not be running still. Or rather I should not be running. At all.

I'm currently researching platform pedals and straps. I never really got on with clips and straps.

Childhood memories

Last night Miss S and I went to a gig at Cafe Oto in Dalston. We went to see Damon and Naomi (formerly of Galaxie 500) play a gig in support of Richard Youngs...

It was billed thus...
http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/richard-youngs-damon-and-naomi-seaming.shtm

Unfortunately one of the acts (Seaming) pulled out. The video work never materialised. What we had was a lovely but short set from Damon and Naomi, followed by the most self indulgent cross between jazz and performance art imaginable.

Richard Youngs set was only bearable due to Damon's inventive drumming.

One song entirely comprised of Mr Youngs shouting "another sleepless night." While jazz drumming filled the room. With a little less shouting and drumming going on I began to feel he might have the insomnia licked. To be fair he did go on to say that it was unusual not to clear the room with 15 minute versions of their opening song "19 postage stamps"

Disappointing. Challenging. Different.

iPhone

I went to the London bike show on Saturday as part of my birthday weekend. I expected to come back with base layers and a new helmet to be honest. But I didn't.

What I came back with was a lifeproof case for my soon to be out of contract iPhone 4. Not even 4s. 4.

I had expected I'd upgrade at the end of my 2 year contract to whatever apple had released at that point, but the cost of 4G contracts has put me off. I have a working phone which has apps to blog, socialise, navigate, communicate and track my training. I don't need a camera upgrade. What I need is to be able to strap this to my bike as a GPS. I don't need a lighter phone, it needs to be shockproof and waterproof. Like swimming waterproof.

So I bought a weather and shockproof case and a bike mount.

I also wasn't overawed by the super light racing bikes. Ok so the SPIN titanium bikes are pretty special. I came back resolved to get a brompton and go back to transportation cycling as my method of choice.

So I went to a market place for the new and ended up resolving to be more like my old self. Admittedly still needing to buy new stuff though. :)

Half way there

On Friday I turned 40. There's no way to really sugar coat it. I am now in my fifth decade. This is very fucking old. When I was a child there was no such thing as the Internet, or mobile telecommunications.

Anyway. This means I feel the need to have achieved something in my life. I'm not saying I haven't achieved anything, but I really haven't achieved that much.

Nearly two years ago I cycled the length of the country. This is the kind of thing I should be doing. Exploring, or testing myself. I spent almost all of yesterday with a hangover reformatting this iPad. That is not cool. That is a very middle aged thing to be doing with my weekend.

I had a lovely birthday meal with the lovely Miss S and then she had organised a party and a day out at the London bike show. I got drunk. Very drunk. It was epic...

Thanks a bunch to all my lovely friends. I love you all and here's to many more years of silliness and achieving things that don't really matter.

Shoe twins

These two guys sat together on the tube. Strangers. Not talking.