Wordle 1,053 3/6*

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Probably lucky to get it on the third go. Five mins.

This was my favourite part of the Tommy film, because I was a big Clapton fan as a teenager. Only the 1970s could have given birth to a film like this, and only Ken Russell could have directed it.

4. Tommy [May 1969]

I have long held this album to be a masterpiece, but I do have ambivalent feelings about it. First of all - to call it a classic would be an understatement; it's a landmark in the history of popular music. I don't think Townshend's achievement here can be overstated. He came up with a idea of huge scope and ambition, conceptually and musically, and it works. It's worth noting here that Entwistle contributes a couple of songs as well. One of the tunes is a Sonny Boy Williamson cover (The Hawker) that conveniently fits the theme perfectly. But this is Pete's brainchild.

The quasi-orchestral format, with recurring musical motifs and themes, the way it's paced, the light and shade, the tension and release - it all works really well. It's all played, arranged and produced really nicely. Townshend makes a lot of use of his own voice, which I like. He plays some fantastic acoustic guitar on this record as well.

But - I think it's overlong, and that's probably why I've only ever played it four or five times. I really appreciate it for what it is, and its place in 20th century popular culture. But it sags a bit here and there, especially during Underture and I think that's why I've only rarely had the necessary attention span for it. Also - I have to say, taken as a rock album, it doesn't have that many really powerful, memorable songs. Yes, Pinball Wizard is brilliant and timeless, so is I'm Free . The "See Me, Feel Me / Listening to You" part of We're Not Gonna Take It is positively anthemic as well but really, while the rest of it works in context, we're a bit low on powerful rock bangers.

Even so, if this album had never existed, I'm pretty sure 2112 wouldn't have either. I can hear future echoes of Rush in a lot of the material here. Before and After from the first album definitely borrows from Go to the Mirror! and I can hear Red Barchetta in one of the tunes as well.

I hadn't planned to go cycling today because the forecast for the afternoon was for rain. But when I checked again at lunchtime, the threat of precipitation had been withdrawn.

Ironically, my first thought was disappointment. Because despite all my complaining about rainy weather this last few months, I'd planned to spend an idle bank holiday indoors. But clearly, having bemoaned the absence of suitable cycling conditions so many times, the only decent thing to do was to go out and ride a bike.



I thought I'd do at least 40 miles. A light wind was coming from the east. I did the eastbound route as far as Narrow Lane, then I came back a different way through Wymeswold and Rempstone, then Diseworth. I took a bit of a detour into East Leake as well, hoping to navigate from there to Sutton Bonington, but I missed a turn and was back on the usual road back from Rempstone within a couple of miles.

I listened to LBC. Then a Donny Hathaway compilation. Then The Who's Tommy.

It was actually warm and sunny out there. I forgot to bring a bidon out of the house with me, but I bought a bottle of Lucozade at the petrol station at Burton on the Wolds.

Back on 44.10, glad to have got the May tally up to 113 already.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11346594858

The contact lens I put in my right eye on Saturday, and which subsequently hid itself behind my eyelid has just plopped out.

Wordle 1,052 X/6*

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Very unfortunate. Thought for sure I'd get it on the third word after the second came up with four greens. But in the same second I realised there were at least three viable solutions. And actually there were at least six.

All over in 90 seconds.

Lovely day yesterday, nice day again today. Plenty of rain in the forecast though. I suppose climate change has done this. More heat, more evaporation of the oceans, more rain.

Wordle 1,051 4/6*

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80 seconds (I actually timed it).

I ordered a Mica Paris CD as an upgrade to the vinyl copy I've had since 1990. Amazon sent me Beethoven's Concerto no. 5, performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

On the plus side, when I initiated the return process to get a refund, they said I could keep it.

In 2020 I rode to historic Worcestershire and back, via a route which I've come to know as the "Dad's Army route" - simply because during the ride, I kept myself entertained by listening to radio adaptations of the BBC TV sitcom of the same name.

I've been meaning to do it again for a long time. I've been part-way down there quite a few times; the deterrent to doing the whole thing really is having to do a couple of miles of the A5.

So I thought I'd do it again today. The basic idea was to do a Twycross Bypasser, with the Dad's Army route as a there-and-back extension to the south-east.

After the first 15 miles or so I began to notice that my left cleat wasn't engaging properly with the pedal. It felt sloppy. So just before the A5, I stopped to check it. One bolt was missing and the other two were loose. Exactly the same thing that had happened to the right cleat a few weeks ago. I guess I didn't tighten the bolts down hard enough, or perhaps I over-greased them. Fortunately this time I had an Allen key on me and was able to secure the cleat adequately by tightening the two remaining bolts.

Well - the A5 episode wasn't too bad. Not too busy. I was pedalling through Kingsbury another three miles later. The route looks pretty direct easy on a map so I tried to memorise it rather than uploading it to a phone or an eTrex. So I just kept going. I passed a garage called Kingsbury Service Station. Weirdly, about twelve minutes later I passed another place called Kingsbury Service Station. It looked identical to the first one. Because it was. I'd somehow managed to loop round on myself.

So I took a different turn at the next roundabout this time. By now I was pretty sure I wasn't on the route I intended, so I gave up on that and decided just to follow my nose and explore. I took a road called Coventry Road and kept going for another ten miles or so. This was quite a nice stretch of B road apart from being a bit hilly, and not having any petrol stations or shops. I'd only brought two sausage rolls with me and I'd already eaten both of them.




I stopped when I hit the outskirts of Coventry, and turned back. Two miles later I decided to take a right turn signposted to Nuneaton, rather than go back the same way. Just to do another stretch of hitherto-undiscovered road. Again this was really nice, until I hit Nuneaton. I hoped I wouldn't have to go right into the centre and I didn't, but the bit I did go through was pretty urban and partly a bit grim. I passed a few convenience shops but didn't particularly feel like leaving the bike outside any of them. I did stop and buy some food at a petrol station a bit further out. Then I followed a sign to Fenny Drayton which is at the south-west extremity of Fenn Lanes, part of my regular cycling territory. I took a left along Atterton Lane and up to Sheepy, then came back from there as if doing the second half of a Bypasser, up through Bilstone, Newton Burgoland and Swepstone.

Quite an enjoyable ride overall. Nice to do quite a bit of new territory. I don't often venture the other side of the A5. Very nice sunny weather and I had to declothe after the first few miles; more than warm enough for bare legs.

One minor irritation apart from losing a cleat bolt was that my right contact lens was a bit uncomfortable, and I managed to lose it under my eyelid while rubbing my eye, about half-way through the ride. It's still up there, it'll work itself out in a couple of days.

Listened to the last couple of hours of the Reacher novel, then footy on 5 Live. Back on 68.77 miles.

https://www.strava.com/activities/11331285002

The Premier League bottom 4. All have played 36 games now. I was looking for Forest to do better than Luton this weekend, and they've delivered.

There's also the tantalising prospect of getting a point back from the appeal against the four point deduction.

Wordle 1,050 4/6*

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Lucky on the third word, or unlucky depending how you look at it. Three mins.

Quote from: Slim on April 02, 2024, 01:53:11 PMBought tickets to see Mica Paris later in the year. Not having seen her sing for decades, I'm starting to think it might have been a mistake unfortunately.

This was last night at the Jam House in Birmingham. We'd been there once before to see Mamas Gun but it was packed out last night. Despite my expectations she was really good. Lots of geeing up the audience, she's a natural frontperson and she really belted them out.

She has a lot of original material to choose from; despite this her set was at least 50% covers. Fantastic versions of Tom Browne's Funkin' For Jamaica and Jacko's Remember The Time especially.

Her band is good, not great. Talented guitar player but more a heavy blues player than jazz or soul. A bit more restraint and subtlety would have gone a long way, probably true for Mica's vocals as well but there's no doubt it was a hugely spirited performance.

Soon you'll be  able to talk to a business DB in natural language, do searches based on content, etc. Larry Ellison, the man being interviewed here, will be 80 in August.

Wordle 1,049 3/6*

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A minute, I think.