and back to the recap…

And since the blog is finally not broken, a bit of a rest from screens is on the cards for a few days! After I get this done, obviously; bloody August starts on Friday and I don’t know where the time goes.

The hottest weeks of the year so far have been and gone for now at least; after the first 30°+ weekend it all got a bit too much even for me, a devoted city dweller rendered sick with panicky, nauseated dread at even the thought of being in places with no wifi or Deliveroo. With the second one fast approaching and on the basis of a brief article I had seen a few days before (there was a photo of the sea and a pier, which was plenty), I packed my bags, headed for Waterloo and repaired to Bournemouth a couple of hours away – yay! Well I’m not middle class enough to go to Glastonbury, after all.

Thirty hours or so later of palm trees, beautiful beach, a lot of factor 50 and the second latest Irvine Welsh (the latest was out this week, for those who like a hardback), I was on my way back with nary a scorch mark, and I can confidently say it was worth every single penny. I will definitely go again and for longer than one night, although I swear the bath still has sand in it.

The weekend after I took myself over to Ealing Broadway for a – roughly seventy minute – ride on a restored 1938 Piccadilly Line tube train to Cockfosters, complete with polished wooden floors, vintage posters and (praise be) opening windows; right above my seat I had an old Northern Line map from when Charing Cross was Strand, Embankment was Charing Cross, and Battersea Power Station Station wasn’t anything. Recognising the ads for British Telecom and Busby in particular definitely shows my age too, I suspect – followed with a couple of hours by the Barbican lake, all the distractions more than made up for the overheating, and even a walk round Soho later in the week on my way to the second meeting of the Music Video Preservation Society at the PCC was a breeze, if a slightly rank one. They’ll never get those drains sorted.

This week starts on Tuesday, with some extra availability on Tuesday evening since I’m (unusually) not otherwise engaged. I’m also here on Saturday although plans are in the pipeline; plenty of warning will be needed as a trek out to Stratford to look at the new V&A may be on the cards – all about that in the event I actually get to go! I may look in at Bring her Back in the Westfield Vue since I’m there, but we’re squarely in the middle of that annual stretch where there’s nothing much on I want to see. I can live with it, especially as Weapons is out on the 8th, then Together on the 15th – both look promising.

Back to the present, and it was with real sadness that the news of Ozzy Osbourne’s departure emerged, but I doubt I’ll be the only one to be glad he got his last hurrah over in Birmingham the other week. Song of the Week has been on my main playlist for longer than I can remember, and there it will be staying.

May he rest in peace, although now he’s with Lemmy and the rest I have my doubts.

More soon…