Like a Motorway

I've been back at work for four days, and it’s been OK. Not going to bitch about it here anyway!

But this felt like the first “normal” week for literally months. So much has been going on (see blogs passim ad nauseam) and then when you have holiday coming up that tends to effect what you do. At present I have no more hols booked, so in theory have got the best part of four months until Christmas. Hard to put stuff off until then.

Amusing (and expensive, but also very pleasing) news this week. On Thursday I had the first sort of important meeting I've had in ages – for about six weeks. So, went to put a suit on. Not a tie – I mean, nobody died, but a suit. And none of them fit. And none of my belts fit either. I went and got measured on Friday. My 44L jacket size now needs to be a 40L. Trousers down from 36 to 32, and shirts from 16.5 to 15.5. The last time I wore a 15.5 collar shirt was when I first went to college in 1987. It was tight then...

I will admit (but don’t tell the others, they will tease me) that when the lady in M&S did these measurements, it made me feel really good. But then, when she said “and given your shape you should go for the slim fit shirts rather than the regular” she did actually bring me to tears.

So I have bought a suit, and a few other things, and will need to build up a new wardrobe as and when money permits. If anyone wants clothes in the sizes above – let me know!

Work has got in the way of me exercising this week, and I've really missed it. At least Thursday and Friday I could go to the gym after work, but I was out the other nights. At this rate I’m going to have to go first thing in the morning. There are worse things to be addicted to. Like any good addict, I managed two hits today - a decnet walk and a trip to the gym.

(Whilst typing this I am listening to Saint Etienne, and the majestic ‘Hobart Paving’ has just come on. If you don’t know it, YouTube it – a brilliant song, even if Sarah C is sometimes on the flat side.)

I went to see Avenue Q on Tuesday at Wimbledon. I’d seen it before, in the West End, but this production is just as strong. The woman playing Kate and Lucy is super-talented – actually, all of them are, but I thought her vocals were excellent. And any musical with a song called ‘Schadenfreude’ is worth checking out.

Dinner with some good friends on Wednesday and Friday made for a good week all in all. I do feel so balanced right now (I’m not sure that’s the right word – I am looking for something that says I feel on a really even keel and completely able to deal with anything the world throws at me, whether it be work crap or anything else). Doing lots, enjoying things, and feel that my confidence is higher than it has been for a while. In part this is weight/appearance-related but it’s also deeper than that. Maybe not – I might be a gibbering wreck by next weekend.

What else to say? Voxcetera start rehearsals again on Tuesday – with only a month before our concert on 4^th October. It’s a free one in North London at noon on a Saturday. Find us on the web or Facebook and come along if you like. There will be Gershwin, but no Kate Bush.

Guess Who's Back?

... back again.

You’ll have noted the three week gap, which has pretty much coincided with me being on holiday. I took the decision that, given my working life involves a lot of time looking at a computer screen, my holiday shouldn't. So I haven’t. Just checked the email each day, largely to control the inflow of stuff.

So, what to tell you?

I've had a wonderful break. I’ve caught up with a few friends, and also visited my parents. I've caught up with the kids – always it seems in ones and twos, but they are so busy doing their own stuff. And in my brief offspring-related detour, I was delighted by middle son’s frankly stellar GCSE results – he has learned a great lesson that hard work brings results. I learned that lesson at age 40.

Health? Well. I set myself what with my work head on I would call a stretch goal – if everything went well then one day I might get there. And I am now only 2.5Kg* off it. That means I have since Easter now lost 30 pounds^. Over the holiday, with the exception of two days at my parents, I have walked at least four miles every day (except today because of the rain) and gone to the gym every day except one. And I have eaten healthily. I am absolutely ecstatic with my achievement – my stretch goal looks possible for September.

Which meant I had to buy some new clothes. Not my favourite experience, but feels good to have reduced the size that much. Of course (up pops the negative part of Brain) it’s the keeping it off that is difficult. To which I say frankly “bollocks”, let’s see in six months’ time.

Music? I am loving my Ukulele playing with Balham Ukulele Society. It’s fun, and low pressure, but still something to work at. More seriously, I sang at the Proms on Monday 18^th – the Rachmaninov Choral Symphony – “The Bells”. Wow. What a choir, what an orchestra, what a conductor, what a reception. It was on Radio 3 and is still on IPlayer. The music may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was such an experience. Hard work. Really hard work, but certainly worth it.

So, that’s the catch-up download. Not a mention of Kate Bush (23 days and counting and the tickets have arrived) or Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who (though I want a coat like that). And no mention of the stuff I have read over the break – I’ll give you all that lot over the coming weeks.

It’s great to have been away, but it’s just as lovely to come back.

* I’ve decided to go metric

^ It didn’t last – I can only think in imperial measures

Don't do it

It’s been a slightly strange weekend. Gorgeous weather and a wedding on Friday meant a great start. And I think the choir did pretty well – one slightly hairy moment in ‘Oh Happy Day’, but the choral self-righting mechanism (known technically as ‘watching the conductor’ kicked in pretty quickly and all was well again. Lovely to be part of such a special occasion and I wish the happy couple well.

I did a lot of walking too. It’s ticked up to five or six miles a day in one go (that’s excluding the little trips to the shops which mount up too.) I've been finding in the last year or so that it is much harder to sleep in for the morning. I remember as I guess a teenager my parents always being up early and them saying that they just couldn't lie-in any more. And, unless I've been on a really late one the night before (which isn't then a lie-in, it’s just a time-shifted normal sleep) I tend to be awake by 7 even without an alarm. So on a non-work day I get up, have some breakfast and go out walking for an hour or so before it gets busy. There is definitely an endorphin release that comes from exercise, and this is magnified by being back home at maybe 9 / 9:30 and thinking I've done that already when a year ago I’d still be just getting up.

And I seem to have come off a plateau at the gym as well, in that I'm managing to use an exercise bike for longer and at more intensity than I had even a week ago. And I haven’t died of heart failure once. To illustrate what I mean, two weeks ago if I did 30 minutes on a bike which (according to the bike) burned about 330 calories, I was done in, and coasting for the last five minutes. I'm now doing 35 or 40 minute and pushing close to 500 calories, and maintaining the effort for the full time. And I had my first go on a cross trainer on Saturday. I don’t like it much because I have to think too much (bike just involves music on and subconscious brain takes over – not so the x-trainer (yet)).

I think this is quite easy to explain – since the end of May I've lost nearly twenty pounds in weight. I remember on various TV shows watching people who had lost weight being presented with the equivalent weight (usually in packets of lard or bags of sugar) and being told “this is what you were carrying around with you”. So that’s 9 bags of sugar or 36 packets of lard that I'm not dragging around on the bike.I may go and carry something like that around Sainsburys for ten minutes later, just to remind myself...

Other good stuff – I'm really starting to get into learning the Rachmaninov for the Prom two weeks today. It’s so fast that I still have some way to go, but I do now for the first time thing it is doable. And I'm also loving the ukulele – it got a thousand times easier when I figured I should cut my nails on my left hand. I can be really slow some times!

The weird (arguably not so good) bits? Well, this was the first weekend when I was largely left to my own devices since I moved house. And I still feel that I really need to be “doing something” all the time – that a moment spent doing nothing is a moment wasted (and I have wasted enough of my life I feel). With no planned events (rehearsals, dinners, catch-ups etc.) this got me a little edgy by Sunday night, because I’d done most of the things I needed to do, and still had some time left. This worries me because, as of Thursday I am on holiday, so if I am like that after two days, how will it be after two weeks? I hope (and suspect) this is just a short-term adjustment thing. I need to learn to relax, and to accept that an hour spent doing very little is by no means a bad thing.

I'm likely to be very busy the next three days* tying off loose ends at work, but after that I’d like to think I will be blogging quite a bit over the next fortnight – and perhaps on slightly more meaningful stuff – particularly if I don’t manage to figure out where my own personal off switch is!

* To prove that, whilst I wrote this at 7 o'clock this morning, this is the first time I've had the chance at work to take the fully 30 seconds required to upload it!

Virtual Friday

It’s the last day of July. The sun is shining and (even) Croydon looks relatively pretty today. Plus I am off work tomorrow in order to sing at a wedding, so I have a definite end of week feeling. Oh, and it seems we just won the Test match too!

The diet/exercise regime is obviously working because I have lost ten pounds in the month of July. And that’s dipped my weight down into a new number of stones which makes me happy.

Looking back at the month, what is odd is that there was a period of a week up until a week ago where I really lost very little, and I also really ate very little too. The obvious answer is that eating too little slowed my metabolism down and so I didn't lose the weight. Since then I have consciously upped the calories and the weight has started to shift again.

I think the exercise has a large part to play in this. In general I am at the gym four times a week or more, and there will be at least 30 minutes of fairly vigorous cardio involved in that. Plus I have also started to try and fit in a walk every day. It turns out it’s quite easy to fit in a walk of about 4km around Croydon over lunch, which certainly shifts some calories, and makes me feel better. And I haven’t been mugged once yet.

So, whilst I realise weight loss will slow as I move towards target, I am in sight of the goal now – the stones number is the right one. I may not make it during August, but a real prospect surely of hitting target by the end of September. And then comes the difficult part – maintaining it.

I can’t speak for women, but most men do like competition, and setting/beating targets. So I do walk more now I have a phone app that tells me how far I walked – “oh if just go that way that will get me up to…” and the little “yes” I express (perhaps out loud) when the weigh in is good. But maintaining will remove at least that second goal. “Yep – as is” is a lot less motivating. I’ll see how that goes when I get there.

In other news I've only three more days at work before I take some holiday. In part this gives rise to panic – as a just about manageable workflow looks anything but when I think I’ll have two and a bit weeks when I'm doing very little of it. But a larger part of me is looking forward to the break. I've started planning what I want to do – catch up with some family and friends, do some writing and quite a lot of music, and generally relax too. I suspect eating well will be harder – because it’s easier to be tempted by food when just at home rather than in the office. But then I have more time to spend burning calories too.

And I'm looking forward to tomorrow’s wedding – we are singing four pieces through-out the service, which will I'm sure be followed up by a catch-up in the pub. Happy days.

Depending on Your Appetite

One of the consequences of my recent move has been a need to sort out my music collection – with the aim of being able to move away from physical CDs and to an electronic solution. Not because it's better – it really isn't – but simply for convenience and to save space.

Having successfully sync’d everything I have bought from Amazon and iTunes I set myself the task of uploading 10 CDs a day until I had finished the balance, and at the weekend I completed it.

One of the joys of this of course is that you get reminded of CDs that you hadn't played for ages, which has led to me revisiting Prefab Sprout in a big way over the last week. A band I had a lot of time for in the 90’s – at least musically (I still think that the lyrics can fall just the wrong side of clever-clever). And it’s still good – they have now been uploaded to the MP3 player as well. What is interesting is that my ranking of the albums has certainly changed over the years – and that Steve McQueen is now unquestionably my favourite. Great songs but a simpler set of production values that Jordan or Langley Park – which I now see as a bit overblown. (Swoon, the first album is simpler still, but for me the songs just aren't as good.)

And so, it was with my quest for simplicity in mind that I went for the first time to Balham Ukulele Society’s fortnightly Jam session on Sunday*. I’d never played a uke before – well maybe I’d strummed one once or twice – so getting thrown straight in with no concessions to beginners was a steep learning curve. I think I did OK though – enough of the hand shapes are familiar from the guitar that I could have a decent go anyway. And thank you to Rachel who leant me a uke to practice on between now and the next time.

Of course, the different tuning makes for some oddities for anyone thinking in guitar language. Not least that the E chord seems to be incredibly difficult. But most uke songs seem to be in G, so that’s OK. Until you come to sing them. Still, it’s another thing to keep my diary ridiculously full.

Other news, my beloved 5 year old iPhone 3GS finally bit the dust. Well, got to the point that I could only get a signal standing next to a phone tower anyway, which kind of renders the phrase “mobile phone” questionable. I have a new one and am still at the stage that I am amazed that I don’t have to charge it for three days at a time.

It has a ‘walking’ app on it. I should backtrack a bit here. In order to try and lose some weight I started using a free website thing called ‘My Fitness Pal’. It’s a diary really. You plug in goals, and the exercise you do and the food you eat (it has a huge database of these which makes that quite easy). And this is quite motivational – even though no-one else can see it - the thought of typing in “three bags of crisps and 17 bourbon biscuits” in the “Dinner” field is a deterrent. And I can use it on phone and I-Pad as well as PC. Anyway – it links to all sorts of applications, so on both Saturday and Sunday I used the pedometer thing and was pleasantly surprised how easy it is to burn calories without it seeming like it, simply by walking around. So that’s added to the routine now too.

Generally my fitness regime is going pretty well. I started it, in theory, around the middle of May, though in practice didn't get going until June. But in the eight weeks since I've eaten well, and exercised at least four times a week. I've lost a bit of weight and feel a lot happier with that sort of thing as a result. Of course, the progress will slow down now – the first few pounds are the easiest. But a huge benefit of living alone is that I can avoid treats and snacks very easily – by not buying them. So I am optimistic that the five weeks from now till end August will bring further progress.

Well, that’s enough – the train is pulling in and I’ll post this later. Off to rehearse for a wedding this evening – where we are singing on Friday. I don’t think they need ukuleles but I will ask.

___

As I come to post this, I thought I would share this from John Oliver – the UK satirist/ comedian who seems to be taking America by storm. When there is so much crap going on in the world, this made me smile - #gogetthosegeckos.

* of course, this isn't the reason at all – someone invited me, but it’s a nice narrative link!

Hatfield Poly-instrumentalists

I would generally say that I am too old for music festivals. They combine crowds, camping and mud in a way that does not make them attractive to me. If they are your bag, then great, but not any more.

However, on Sunday I overcame my prejudices and went to Folk by the Oak, at Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire. I thought you might like to see my review.

I usually associate Hatfield with three things - the annoying boys-only pint-swilling college at Durham Uni,  the Poly, and ("and the North" - the band, not the road sign). I realise none of these things exist any more in that form, but I am a child of my time.

But Hatfield is also the location of the Tudor house where Elizabeth I grew up - which sits in rolling landscape about five minutes from the station. (The fact I could get back in an hour to Balham on public transport also gave this festival a big plus for me when I considered it!)

This is a 'one field' festival - very little traipsing required. A main stage and a small covered "Acorn" stage (see what they did there?), with beer, food etc all to hand. Very much a family feel - entirely safe etc.

I think they said over the PA that attendance was about 6,000, and it didn't feel overly packed out at that - plenty of room to sit watching the main stage and picnic, which is how we spend the afternoon session.

I'm not going to give you chapter and verse on all the acts, there is a list on their website above. I was going to focus on the stuff that had brought me to the venue. I would say thought that Kathryn Tickell and her new band (the Side) were excellent. Infectiously catchy and danceable as ever.

And I would also highlight from my visit to the Acorn stage (it was raining and there was cover there) that the Keston Cobblers Club is a fabulous act. Talented multi-instrumentalists, good songs, clear (well I though so) Mumfords and Bellowhead influences, and a tuba. You should see them if you can.

But the main reason for going was to see Richard Thompson performing a solo acoustic set. If you don't know Thompson's work, where have you been? Guitarist and writer in Fairport Convention, at the end of the 60's, and since then a successful act, firstly in a duo with his wife and latterly solo. He was voted one of the top 20 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone, though he is as far away from the smooth "Clapton-style" of rock guitar as it is possible to be whilst still actually being a guitarist.

And? Just wow! A string of songs well known to the crowd (I jotted down a set list on the go and have stuck it at the bottom if you care - sorry for any inaccuracies). Mostly pretty faithful to his originals. Interspersed with a pretty deadpan, self-deprecating chat which shows the benefit of years of gigging.

It is hard when you listen to Thompson on disc to believe that there is only one guitarist there. You would swear there were three of them, given his ability to play a bass/rhythm line and lead at one time. Oh, and sing as well. This is a man who you just know could pat his head and rub his stomach at the same time with ease, and before breakfast at that. Stand-out track for me is (and will always be) 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. This song combines spellbinding guitar work with a tragic love story about a bad boy and his girl, and his motor bike. "And he gave her one last kiss and died. And he gave her his Vincent to ride". But the slower numbers like Beeswing (Beeswax, as someone next to us in the crowd called it) showed a subtle beauty to match it.

Thompson isn't doing many shows in the UK this year - but does have a new acoustic album out. If you can't see him, listen to him - he will brighten any day.

And the closing act of the festival was singer/songwriter/violinist Seth Lakeman. About half our group was very keen to be up at the front for this one - they find Seth's arms very attractively muscular. (That's what you get with all that fiddling I suppose.) I know Lakeman's work quite well - and have always thought it OK, but a bit samey - a fast song and a slow song and not much other variation. Catchy, but not really for me.

But live, he is a different proposition. This is a serious band of musicians. Pretty stripped back - just Seth plus four, but real talent from everyone. His female co-vocalist (Lisbee Stainton) added real musical colour, and blended beautifully with Lakeman's voice. And the energy in the performance was astonishing, throughout the band. I will need to listen again to the records, either I have taken them too lightly and dismissed him as talentless because of his folk 'poster-boy' status, or perhaps recordings just don't capture the performance well enough - they don't get the energy.

Oh, and for myself, I didn't see what the fuss is all about concerning his arms. I suspect that's a 'girl' thing.

So - Folk by the Oak - under £40, and a very worthwhile day. Come along next year.

___________
RT setlist (E&oE) with a link to Vincent Black Lightning if you are itnerested.

When the Spell is Broken, Walking on a Wire, Valerie, Saving the Good Stuff, Johnny’s Far Away, Pharaoh, Vincent Black Lightning, Who Knows Where The Time Goes?, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, Between You and Me (a work in progress – letters during WWI), Good Things Happen to Bad People, Beeswing, Wall of Death, Down Where the Drunkards, One Door Opens, Tear-stained Letter.

You Put The Load Right On Me

Still catching up from the blogging desert of recent weeks, and as you will notice, am doing so thematically rather than in any sort of temporal way.

So today it's about all things health and wellbeing.

Earlier this year I was investigating the 5:2 diet. It seemed OK to start with but played merry hell with my energy levels. I simply couldn't exercise on 600 calories - in fact it made sleep difficult. Plus I more than compensated on the other days. Now, the diet does proclaim some benefits other than pure weight loss, in terms of levels of certain enzymes in the body etc. But as I didn't have the kit to check any of those, I can't comment. I just got to the point that it got in the way of life and made me unhappy. And so it was never going to work for me*.

But I then did find that towards Easter, my weight was creeping up again. In fact by Easter or a little after it had crept up by half a stone compared to where it had been at Christmas. This is a sort of elephant-y creep - not overly subtle. I was still going to the gym, and the cause was simple. Eating too much. Both at meals and as snacks. Mid-afternoon chocolate bars were creeping in, and late night biscuits and cheese.

In other words - all the stuff that we know is bad. I wasn't overly happy and I ate. Better than self-medicating with booze or worse, but not great.

Well, I'm pleased to say I have managed to get on top of that again. The extra weight has come off (with a bit more as well). I feel much better, and feel I have found a "diet" - way of eating is a better phrase - which works for me on an ongoing basis. Let me tell you what I've done.

• Regular readers will know I was getting uneasy about eating meat. And so I cut down. Then I stopped meat altogether, but kept in the odd bit of fish. In the last month I have been completely veggie. And I have felt much better. Less bloated, and more energy to exercise. Which has meant more exercise.
• I usually don't eat breakfast. When I do, I then start to feel really hungry again about 11am. If I don't I feel OK until about 12:30. So that is simple.
• I am eating a lot of fruit. And veg but more of that later. Certainly five a day of fruit alone. If I am hungry, I will have fruit.
• Lunch is tending to be salads or similar. If I want something else it will be a wrap, not a sandwich. In part this is because the choice of veggie sandwiches is, basically, cheese.
• Evenings. I am avoiding pre-cooked or convenience stuff. Cooking fresh (perhaps a big pot of something for three days or the freezer). Having had a house for some time with kids who disliked 'bits' in their food meant I got out of the habit of eating what are basically vegetable stews. Loads of veg, plus kidney beans, lentils etc. Or a stir fry.
• Frozen veg is cheap and convenient - you don't have to worry about stuff going off. So I will eat more of this, and less of the big carbs providers - less pasta and rice. (These were I think the things that always did for me - because I ate too much of them.)
• If hungry in the evening, toast with some nice jam, or cereal does fine.
• Oh, and no booze - not that I do anyway, but just remind you of that.

And as the weight has come off, I have both pushed up the gym exercise. More weights (I did very little before) and more cardio. To the point where I am sometimes genuinely exhausted after the gym, rather than just slightly sweaty. And as the weight comes off, the cardio gets easier. So three times a week I'm doing an hour on a bike or bike and run. Next will be some interval training I think.

In addition to this, I am trying to walk a bit more - especially in the nice weather. Just wandering around last Saturday, shopping and enjoying the sun and I walked about four miles. Pretty good, but had I not thought about it, I wouldn't have realised it. Plus walking keeps one a distance from the kitchen...

Which leads me to - measurement. It won't surprise you to know I've got a bit obsessive about this. I'm using MyFitnessPal on PC and IPad to track everything I eat, and all the exercise I do. This is really easy - pretty much everything you do it already has the values for. Plus I use my phone to record walking distances etc for input. Lets me see what has gone well, and badly. And gives me something to be vaguely proud of when I have had a good day.

The next goal is to try and embed all of this - so that it becomes a weigh (geddit?) of life and not just a novelty. If I can get to that point then I feel that I can keep doing this forever. Of course, come the winter weather it always gets harder - suspect soup will be an answer there - and my forthcoming ten days off may test me.

So, it's all good. Except for cigarettes, which I still crave. If I am around smokers, I have to really fight not to give in. The good news in this is that even if I do give in, I then have no desire to have one the next day. Whilst it would be much better to not smoke at all ever, one or two once a month probably won't kill me. Well, it might well, but you know what I mean!


* I know lots of people it has worked for - and am not criticising the diet - just saying that at that time and in that place it wasn't for me.