Week 5 – 29th to 4th February 2023
It’s been a long week!
Well, this week has certainly flown by, hasn’t it. Typical of how most of us live our lives, it has been a cycle of work, supermarket, sleep, repeat. It’s easy to find a routine and then life becomes a version of Groundhog Day, just less productive. There are exceptions, obviously. People who do stuff, whether it is socialising with friends or exercising or open water swimming. That’s not an exhaustive list, there are plenty of other activities that we could be doing in our spare time. And by ‘we’, I mean me.
My house is full of barely used items that I’ve bought over the years, thinking that a new hobby may fill my time. A digital SLR camera, oil and acrylic paints, an acoustic guitar, a Yamaha keyboard, an exercise bike and a treadmill. I’d like to say that I’ve given all of them a chance, but I lose interest so easily. The thing I do most consistently is read and write.
I’m reading David Jason’s 12 Dels of Christmas right now, just to keep the Christmas theme going. And, of course, David Jason is a legend. Who doesn’t love Only Fools and Horses? Even if it is a little bit dated, you can’t help but laugh at Uncle Albert, Trigger and Boycie…et al. I’ve read a few other autobiographies lately too. Jimmy Carr, Josh Widdicombe, Romesh Ranganathan and most recently, Richard Herring. Quite comedy-centric.
I’ve always been more of a comedy fan than a music fan, although I do like music too. I’m not what you would call an aficionado of either, to be honest. I watch a lot of stand-up comedy on the television, or streaming on Netflix, but don’t often get the chance to watch it live. We’ve been to a few shows locally when comedians venture this far down the country but haven’t been to any clubs or comedy nights locally. I’m not a student of comedy like some, but I do listen to Stuart Goldsmith’s Comedian’s Comedian Podcast, which is like a behind-the-scenes look at comedy. There are loads of podcasts that are ideal for the comedy fan, hundreds of them. A few notable mentions are listed below.
RHLSTP – Richard Herring
The Comedian’s Comedian Podcast – Stuart Goldsmith
Films To Be Buried With – Brett Goldstein
Off Menu – Ed Gamble and James Acaster
The Adam Buxton Podcast – Adam Buxton
My musical tastes are mixed but have their roots in good old fashioned 90’s indie music. You can’t go wrong with a little bit of Blur or Oasis. Not to mention the other guitar-based bands of the era. James, The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Supergrass, Sleeper, Suede, Happy Mondays…the list could go on. When I think about this golden age of music it feels like it was only yesterday, but then Facebook posts an article about some of the songs by these bands being 30 years old and I feel incredibly old.
My most recent musical finds have been from bands that I’ve seen at Tunes in the Dunes, our local festival on the beach in Perranporth. People like Jeremy Loops, Martin Harley, Wille and the Bandits. But we’ve also seen such legends as The Hoosiers, Madness, Paul Weller and Billy Ocean. And I’m more than happy to mention Blue Nation too. A fine Brummie band that not only produce fine music, but are lovely people too.
The only other thing that I throw myself into is football on TV, which manages to fill quite a bit of time over the week. Premier League, Championship, League and FA Cup. Even our local club, Hayle FC. If it’s football, it’s okay by me. In fact, my main source of fresh air is following Hayle FC on a Saturday afternoon, either at home at Trevassack Park or at the various parks, pitches and grounds of the clubs that we face in the league and cup. The standard of football on show isn’t always the best but it scratches an itch, so to speak.
There are lots of things that I had wanted to do in January to get the ball rolling for 2023’s fundraising, but due to the flu and the general malaise that goes along with the January blues, I haven’t done very much. I’ve sent a few emails, spoken to a few people and hopefully will have some things going on as the year goes by. I’d love 2023 to be a big year!