I feel like I’ve been ridiculously busy of late. I’m regularly doing something after work on four out of five nights. I’m really going to have to give up on the “I’m not all that sociable” idea. Weekends aren’t exempt either and this has led to a couple of evening and afternoons where I can do little but snooze on the sofa.

So, what’s been filling my time? A couple of weeks ago I met up with Alex and took in the Meursault gig at Sneaky Pete’s. It was a good night with good music, good craic and a few too many beers on my part. I remain somewhat unconvinced with the new Meursault album. While I like the songs and the sounds, I think the mix is a bit flat. It comes more alive using headphones in the ipod than on my hi-fi which is disappointing.

The following day was a glorious one and the call of the wild was in my ears. By which I mean I went to the zoo with Scott, James and Julia. A cracking day which culminated in a barbecue on the Links and having golf balls fired at us as we left. Good times. Sunday was as hot as Saturday and since the walk to Asda at half eight made my skin tingle I decided that seeking a day in the shade was in order and got stuck into the stack of unread progs.

And now another week has passed and it’s a bank holiday weekend. Saturday passed had my cycling into Edinburgh for a meal out. Again, good craic and good food though not enough spice. On Sunday I’d planned to wave off Ben Thomas and friend on their cycle from Edinburgh to Le Mans. Sadly, I was in the wrong place at the right time and missed them. Ah well.

The afternoon was a trip to see Rec 2 (not as good as the first one, but still fun), an aborted attempt at a barbecue and a successful game of Tapeball in the flat. Everyone seemed to be flagging in the evening so I hopped on my bike and returned home.

Today I’ve made bugger all use of my day off, preferring to catch up on some sleep, read some more progs, clean the bike and watch some extras on Doctor Who DVDs. Yet another fine day in a string of them.

I think this latest trip up to Aviemore was the most successful yet. I didn’t hit the bonk and my bike was already broken before I got there so I can’t blame the trip for that. Saturday involved a relatively easy ride around and about Loch Morlich, including a fantastic bit of downhill courtesy of the path to the Lairig Ghru (sorry, walkers!). The day started off a bit miserable but the weather stayed relatively dry, if still cold.

On the Sunday we came home via the Laggan Wolf Trax which was incredibly good fun! The downside of those tracks is that were Glentress uses wood, they use stone. When you’ve only got an inch of travel in your front forks that makes for a wrist shattering time of it. However, it still counts as one of my favourite downhills and I suspect I may call in from time to time when traveling up to Inverness.

So that was the good weekend.

This (long) weekend; not so much. More water through the roof during a brief rainstorm meant that I was going to be calling the roofer and the car was due its MOT on Monday. Turns out that the car needed a fair bit of work and the same could be said for the roof. Both are now fixed and my wallet is considerably lighter.

Ho hum, I’d rather not write such short and pointless posts but I’ve been slacking off due to lack of free time and want to try and get the ball rolling again.

Okay, so yesterday wasn’t exactly an energetic day; I went into Edinburgh to watch Four Lions, met up with Scott and people afterwards (though my conversation reserves were running low and I resorted to making stupid jokes) and then an evening watching Body of Lies.

However, I got up this morning and decided that I wanted to go for a run. Which is fine, it means that I’d surely be staving off the in-the-flat-Sunday depression/funk but letting off a bit of steam and burning a few calories. Except that six hours later I felt the urge to get out again before I imploded and grabbed the bike for an hour of frustration venting.

It was probably my own fault today as I attempted to go shopping for clothes. I lasted less than two minutes before turning tail and heading to the coffee shop with a book instead. It appears that my pathological hatred of clothes shopping is showing no signs of abating. I’m sure my current tatty jeans will do for another year or so.

I tried fiddling about with different audio recording setups before this week’s podcast recording but, sadly, audio in Linux remains in its infancy it seems. Or maybe it’s just that way when Skype’s involved. Closed source software causing issues on an open source system. le sigh.

I’m expecting a rude text or email from Scott at some point. He’s signed up for Facebook so if he takes a look in my info he might well find this place. I’ve never denied the blog, I simply don’t talk about it.

/me waves

Sad to say but I reckon I’m going to have to join a gym if I want to keep my hand in with some reasonably enjoyable exercising over the winter. This is normally when I slack off but if I want to be in a reasonable shape to tackle the Heb next year then keeping up a regimen is important. If I joined one of the gyms in Dunfermline I’d probably never go, but one has opened up outside the back steps of Waverley station which I would have to walk past twice a day. Nice and handy for either morning or evening sessions.

New light! After failing to be able to distinguish between path and ditch while in the Pentlands the other week, I decided to get something with a few more lumens to its name. Behold my new Exposure Joystick. Even if I don’t get into the hills for a little while I intend to take it out onto the b-roads of Fife and Perthshire to give it a trial in the next few days.

Thursday brought little of note. I went to my local bike shop (I’m ashamed of how little I’ve used that place given that it’s 200m from my front door) and picked up two semi-slick tyres for the bike. Not being hugely adept at changing tyres it took me ninety minutes to get them on though this did include noticing they were the wrong way around and having to reverse them (more on that later). I also managed to puncture both the front and rear tubes but hey, it’s a learning experience. Went to see Harry Brown in the evening so that I had a film to talk about in the next Sonic’s Ring.

Friday brought the Ikea joy. Unfortunately, Ikea joy was delayed by an hour due to a wreck on the highway so I was even more ratty than I would normally be in that place. However, we made it out alive so Dad and I started work on constructing my new wardrobe. Only been three years in this flat, it’s not like that’s a long time to be without basic furniture.

November’s music going continued in the evening with Colin Hay in Edinburgh. It was at The Caves which is a hell of an echoey venue. I can’t imagine it being any good for full band gigs. Sadly, the gig was populated with many many twats who thought that talking was part of a good gig atmosphere. There was a couple two rows in front of me, the girl seemed unable to pass thirty seconds without talking to her other half despite numerous “ssshhhh“s from the crowd. Despite that, it was a great gig from a man who appears completely comfortable being in a dialogue with the crowd.

On Saturday, I got soaked. Went out to try the new tyres properly (and realised they had been round the right way the first time so were now round the wrong way) and at the furthest point from home the heavens opened. Made it back home looking like a drowned rat and unable to feel my toes. Dried off, warmed up and recorded a new podcast. Just Dave & I since Iain’s mic was on the fritz.

Sunday; cyclocross. Got up, changed the tyres round and headed to Inverkeithing for a cyclocross event. Apparently, cyclocross means trying to pedal through mud for an hour. Talking to other people there other events aren’t as muddy as that. Certainly, it felt like an act of attrition trying to complete the circuit. It also meant that I struggled to get the bike clean when I got home. Then the sick set in. I washed the bike, ate and then woke up on the sofa having wrapped myself in a towel for a blanket. This was rather confusing given I had no memory of lying down.

A quick check of my general faculties revealed I had no energy whatsoever to make it to the Tegan & Sara gig that night so I was glad I hadn’t picked up a ticket yet. Climbed into bed at nine which meant I’d been upright for only about ten hours on Sunday.

Woke this morning to stomach cramps and aching muscles all over. Tried to force down breakfast anyway and was heading out the door when I caught a look at myself in the mirror. At that point it made a lot more sense to head back to bed than inflict the grimacing hunchback on my workmates.

At least it wasn’t during my holidays.

I went down to Nottingham to help out with the Survival of the Fittest race. It was a cracking good day’s work during which I sent a few thousand people through a very mucky drainage pipe. It was a bit of an epic getting home. Left N’ham at three and made it home not long before midnight. Luckily I had plenty of Answer Me This to listen to.

The following week Pyro & I ran the same race in Edinburgh. It was fun. Running after a night of curry and beer isn’t such a great idea though. I’ve written a race report for Sleepmonsters but it hasn’t appeared yet.

A couple of weeks ago I went to see Frank Turner in concert and it was amazing. An awesome ninety minute sing-along of show and supported by Fake Problems! Double result. I only saw about half of Fake Problems’ set, but I did pick up their last two albums on vinyl afterwards along with a couple of 7s. How Far Our Bodies Go is currently spinning on the rather lovely Systemdek iix I’ve taken delivery of from Dave at work.

We had a Zombie Club pow-wow and a couple of the others are up for trying a podcast. Should be a good laugh. Lots of plans for EZC and the new year.

Saw Dawn… and Day of the Dead at the Cameo last night. Two wonderful presentations with some interesting Q&As as well. Meant I was fucking knackered when I got up today though and so didn’t take the car to work to pick up the turntable. Really wish I had cos lugging ten kilos of large, cumbersome hifi equipment home on public transport was painful. I reckon it’ll be a day or so before my arms move back into their sockets. It does, however, sound awesome. Needs some alterations but nothing major. Better shielded cables as the media centre plays havoc with it.

My piece of paper tells me there are six movies I haven’t noted down yet. I’ll probably do a post of everything and limit myself to a hundred words per film.

After that, I joined up with Rae and her pal Scott to go and see Marcus Brigstocke for my last show of the Fringe. I laughed a lot, which isn’t surprising, as he laid into various religions, atheism, agnosticism, iPhone users and Richard Dawkins.

And just to fuck up the timeline of this place even more; today (Monday), I’ve caught up with Defying Gravity (here’s hoping they reveal the big secret next week), finished the job of waxing lounge door number one which I started six months ago and removed the old/applied a new seal around the bath. Because of all this the house stinks to high heaven of various fumes. I was going to stick a new air freshener in the bathroom in an attempt to combat the heady aroma of silicone (strikingly similar to that salt and vinegar smell you get under a watch strap) but I think the combination might prove lethal.

It seemed a sobering thought until quite by chance I walked past a bloke I knew from university. If he recognised me he didn’t show it but that’s fine, the beard is a fine disguise. What struck me though was his get-up. The very essence of a professional man; long, expensive looking overcoat, large knotted tie, crisp shirt, immaculate hair and the type of long, smart shoes that those who wear seem incapable of walking in without scuffing as if trying to draw attention to their footwear.

After passing him I looked down at myself in a jumper, t-shirt, black jeans, trainers and the same North Face rucksack I’ve carried around since school. Part of Plan A is still very much in operation.