We were running a bit low on atoms in the house, so I thought I'd order some more.

Just been to see “Urchin”. Unreservedly recommended. Film grips us harder when it reveals something about our own nature or situation. This did. There but for home and heart go I. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urchin_...

"You've seen them, haven't you? The rap singers. In the courtroom artist's sketches. The rap singers. You've seen them."

If anyone should be in an Iron Maiden biopic, it’s this guy. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_... @impq.bsky.social

I decide which twentieth century Doctor Who story to watch according to whether there's a Blu Ray I haven't watched, a novelisation audiobook I haven't heard and a Happy Times and Places podcast I've haven't listened to. This has brought me to "The Invisible Enemy". Part One has been a delight.

On bus. Older man conducting vigorous mobile conversation sitting bolt upright and holding phone directly in front of his face, centre, obscuring his features. If it’s a video call he must be able to focus on a screen 2cm from his eyes. I am DESPERATE to ask him why he’s holding it like that.

Exactly half way through my nine week training block. I’m unsure whether my running speed or endurance is significantly improving but the welcome surprise is that I’m recovering more quickly than ever before. Last night, sore, stiff, limping, grouchy; today, fresh, pain free, ready to go again.

Tonight's accompaniment to my 60-minute elliptical machine sweat session. PF: Sheep, One of These Days, Run Like Hell. LZ: Achilles Last Stand, Immigrant Song, Night Flight, Kashmir, Trampled Under Foot, Sick Again. A stark contrast to sitting raptly to Peter Hammill last night.

She being an adult woman and he being a country musician, Kidman and Urban were the least nominatively determined show business couple ever.

I went to see Peter Hammill tonight, and was utterly entranced. I’ve barely sampled his solo catalogue, but it really didn’t matter as he reeled in a completely attentive room. He sang, accompanying himself on piano and guitar for over 90 minutes. I was in the moment throughout. The perfect gig.

I'd lapsed in my meditation with all the busyness of the summer months, but recently followed the "back to school" cues of Autumn to diligently resume. It's started "working" again very quickly. I was staring with utter delight at clouds for minutes on end yesterday.

Just watched a runner on YT describe how he reached my goal (5km under 20mins) using a training plan devised by ChatGPT. The plan directed him, in training, to run 5km at faster than goal pace. He ignored that bit, obviously. I'd have given up on ChatGPT completely at that point.

This weekend, I volunteered at Oriam Parkrun for the 69th time. It's a tonic to see all the runners, walkers and other volunteers most Saturdays. Other than actually running, it's the best medicine.

I've finally finished "The Savages"; animation, reconstruction, narration, and novelisation. I saved the best till last, the eclectic documentary "Remembering Forgetting The Savages", and was deeply moved to glimpse the marriage of Patrick Godfrey and Amanda Walker, Doctor Who alumni 58 years apart.

I've completed cycle 3 of 7 in my 5K PB training block. Nine days, six runs, two elliptical sessions. 39 miles run in 6 hours, including a session running up and down the same section of hill ten times. I'm getting better at not doing too much in one day. A good night's sleep helps massively.

L-R, Martin Bramagh, Una Baines, Mark E. Smith, pictured shortly after the release of "Live At The Witch Trials".

It is now almost impossible for me to input text on my phone. The seven year old hardware creaks under the overhead of the guessing, anticipating and looking up it does to replace my keystrokes with gibberish. Yet, speech to text is better than ever. I can dictate effortlessly, and it gets it right.

I am @herring1967.bsky.social's Jed Maxwell and have a whole wall of signed Richard Herring ephemera on the wall opposite my desk. I blur my background so that other members of @edinburghgreens.bsky.social don't become worried about their election agent.

I'm going to a standing gig tonight (Pye Corner Audio at Sneaky Pete's) and it really has to be a very special artist whose music I love for me to go through that much sensory overload voluntarily. This is absolutely why I used to drink. I might try dancing instead. Oh no, there won't be room.

Nineteen-eighties Tory ministers wheeling their families out as props reads like aliens pretending to be human now. Gummer's daughter and the burger. Mellor singing with his son. That one was incomprehensible at the time. Was it part of a charity telethon?

I think Stephen Baxter’s about to be removed from libraries in the US.

Fucking tell me about it, mate…

Genesis in the eighties. Michael Portillo’s Great British Rail Journeys. Morningside.

Instead, today, I listened to this hour of perfect imperial phase Rush. This is all quick-fix indulgent material for me, but I really noticed them kick it up a notch with "Tom Sawyer". So, I got some Sawyer in the end, as I suspect did Kate and Juliet. Ha ha. I am funny.

I've abandoned my plan to accompany my elliptical trainer sessions with the remainder of season six of LOST because doing two punishing things at the same time makes it very hard to find pleasure in either.

Yes, these instructions do describe how to hand wash. Are there any further questions?

If “Dragonfire” had been a 1973 Pertwee story, this is how Kane would have looked.

We’ve just watched “Ice Road: Vengeance”. It’s a unique experience. “Brilliant” isn’t the word. Say what you like about Liam Neeson, he doesn’t choose projects in order to look pretentious or sophisticated.

This week I completed cycle 2 of 7 in my 5K PB training block. Nine days, six runs, two elliptical sessions. 36 miles run in 5 hours, enlivened by a track session and a fall. I'm also lifting weights to strengthen glutes and calves. The skill I intend to pursue is not doing too much in one day.

Parkrun appears to have gone a bit MAGA this week.

Doctor Who : "The Savages" + "Non-Stop" by Brian Aldiss = Space 1999 : "Mission of the Darians".

youtu.be/sjS0USfS5OA?... About ten and a half minutes into this, the sound of me prompting Tim Key from the audience ("REGENERATION!") has been very skilfully de-emphasised.

“Not again”, thought the whale.

"Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told analysts that people without smart glasses may one day be at a "significant cognitive disadvantage" compared to those who do use the tech"

I'll have to read this polyrhythmic exercise and clap it in my exam. My misspent youth may be able to help me here, because I can almost believe this is part of Neil Peart's solo on "Exit... Stage Left".

Alt text recommended.

I have only realised after 22 years of cohabitation that when spouse says "Could you open a window and let some fresh air in please?" she really means "I admire your commitment to exercise, but this room stinks of you and all you exude and I am about to pass out, so fucking do something about it."

Musk hasn't quite nailed his Nyder look yet, but he's getting there.

"Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world" by Mark Williams and Danny Penman remains the most important book I have ever read. It is an absolute bargain on Kindle at the moment, and includes the audio for the meditation practices.

Ruin a song by keeping it in your live set tour after tour at the insistence of promoters even when your faithful audience are almost as sick of it as you are and would far rather hear something more obscure and nourishing.

I’ve just watched the entire first series of “Twin Peaks” in one screening at the Cameo cinema. It was well-attended, by people far younger than me. I last watched it thirty years ago, before most of them were born. I may be a late convert to binge-watching.

Just seen Tap 2. It has its comedy moments, but really came through for me near the end, when I realised that the turbulent relationship of David and Nigel was affecting me powerfully. If you love the original, this one will work on you.

Is it just me that immediately sees the TARDIS and the 1975 opening titles in this?

I’d never heard of him. Honestly, this was where my brain took me straight to.

I usually dislike the autism innuendo "on the spectrum". However, as a neurodivergent Doctor Who fan, I'd be quite happy to be described as "somewhere on the space-time continuum."

"Murder victims' bodies make dissolve will I" - Caustic Yoda

Retirement has brought many opportunities, but perhaps the best so far are that this week I will see Spinal Tap II in the morning of it's opening day and then on Saturday I'll get to watch season one of Twin Peaks all in one go on the big screen.

5K Record Attempt training cycle 1 (of 7) complete. 8 days training. 6 runs. 28 miles. 4 hrs, 28 mins running. Lots of gym work. I believe I can do the training, but I don't yet believe it will give me a sub-20 minute 5K. I need to see some measurable improvement.

Two massive arseholes.

To protect myself against running injuries I've been following advice to lift heavier at the gym. While my glutes and quads are now gratifyingly stronger, I have also caused a subconjunctival hemorrhage, causing passers by to stare in curiosity, and then look away in horror, at my deep red eye.