And then there were three

Greetings. Following some feedback from my loyal reader I've decided to split the blog in three. I will leave the previous posts here, but will copy key ones across at some point, so everything historical will still be here.

Why, you ask? Nothing sinister. I just find that I have a desire to write on three very different fronts. Some of you will want to read on each of these, but some won’t, and it might be easier if I compartmentalise them a little bit.

One is to carry on with what has been going on in my life. That will be here – though I will link to the others from here too.

I have also tended to do a bit of writing around gigs and other outings which I have tended to review. The first of those will be up shortly, particularly as I went to three gigs last week and owe you a report on each.

The third and most separate is the more political musings that I feel compelled to write. In the aftermath of Clacton, and with only seven months to the general election this is an area where I suspect more involvement coming up. Watch this space for those.

In terms of the general stuff, life is pretty good – just very busy. That explains the week’s delay since the last blog post. When I went through the ‘big changes’ in my life earlier this year I deliberately took on lots of stuff – mainly musical – to make sure I did not have too many lonely and empty evenings. It’s now got to the point where I have plenty to do, and am comfortable enough that the odd quiet evening is either fully occupied with domestic chores, or is a welcome chance to read a book or have a long and relaxing bath.

This is great news – not that I was worried about being on my own, but it is nice to know that I am coping with it just fine.

So – anyway. My music-only blog is here and the new posts will be up soon. Enjoy

Interval Training

Blog frequency has fallen to (about) alternate days. Sorry about that – I've just got quite a busy life at the moment – loads of kid related stuff to attend (one going into sixth form this year and one has GCSE options, so lots of school meetings) plus work and music.

I read something on the BBC website about High-Intensity Interval Training. Given I am time-poor and really don't enjoy exercising, I am happy to consider anything that offers better results. There is also a danger that gym routines get stale - so you either slack or "your body needs variety or the training doesn't work". And that last phrase highlights that fitness is one of the (many) areas in modern life which has rather too much mumbo jumbo surrounding it. As well as the spam for v1agra type drugs and dating agencies there isn't a day goes past when you get something offering an easy way to change your life through either health or fitness. Just what is a raspberry ketone anyway?

Last night I had my first go at HIIT. The idea is that you exercise as hard as you can for a minute, then rest a minute and repeat for the desired time (or until dead). The hardest I can exercise really isn't that hard, and after five repeats I had to drop to two minute breaks and then three. This is fine - apparently I can build up from there. The fat-burning benefits of this then continue for up to 12 hours afterwards though I do not know why.

And how did it feel? At one point I genuinely thought I might be sick if I carried on. Which is good, apparently. But other than that - pretty good. Right now I am putting that down to variety, but I shall give it another go on Wednesday and see how we get on.

That's it for today. Voxcetera tonight so likely no blog.

Benefits Street

I ran out of time to blog yesterday. Work is pretty full on at the moment (always in fact). Then, by the time I took boy 2 swimming, and went to the gym, and had a bath, the time had gone.

At least my busy evening means I don’t need an excuse for not watching Benefits Street. Not that watching a programme is a prerequisite to criticising it – remember the outrage over Brass Eye? So, either the people in this programme are scum abusing the benefits system, or people struggling to make ends meet, having been let down by education and the post-industrial UK. Apparently. I’m guessing it falls into the 99% of life that is ‘much more complicated than that’.

I am acutely aware that I had a very safe and supportive environment in which to grow up. I had parents who were generally there, fed me, provided (both buying and through the library) all the books I could want, and encouraged me to ask questions and find things out.

I went to the local comprehensive, but it wasn’t exactly St Stabby’s Academy for the Criminally Deranged. Yes, there were kids with issues but not so many as to disrupt learning (though they got close in Mrs Fisher’s English lessons). And kids who wanted to learn may have had some name-calling on (rare) occasions, but were left to get on with it.

And I was in the last year which had no university student loans at all. My education was provided free to me (grant and parental contribution). Have I paid that back in extra tax since? Definitely. Did I take it for granted at the time? Sure did. But I am now aware of what a huge privilege that was.

My (admittedly somewhat rambling) point though is that the world I grew up in gives me no valid frame of reference from which to analyse Benefits Street. And that is likely to be the same for most of us. The world of the cheat and the world of the struggler are equally far from me. And I don’t really want the television to tell me how to feel about them. (Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe got this spot on – as usual). It’s the equivalent of the Two Minutes’ Hate.

What with government spin, surveillance, prolefeed, and the Lottery, Orwell seems ever closer. Though in my darker moments I do wonder whether his should be congratulated for his prescience, or seen as the writer of the instruction manual that everyone since has copied.