Currently reading: Sound Within Sound by Kate Molleson 📚🎵

I haven’t been able to concentrate on any reading over the last few weeks due to the major stuff going on in my life but I seem to be settling down a bit now. I have a pile of music-related books to get through.

Finished reading: The Sound of Being Human by Jude Rogers 📚

Trying to make the best of the first decent summer day here. A heatwave is heading for the UK according to the forecasts but, as the old joke goes, “that’s except for viewers of BBC Scotland”.

Tough week. It was my dad’s funeral on Monday. I find myself almost getting back into a “normal” routine and then I remember something and everything comes flooding back. I suppose this is the new “normal” for me now.

Another uninvited guest.

Nice clue in today’s Guardian cryptic crossword. Solving it will require knowing a bit of British slang.

“Initially looked in toilet for online journal (4)”.

I started watching Better Call Saul but then my brother said I’d need to finish Breaking Bad for it all to make any sense. So I’m back watching Breaking Bad and thinking that watching TV can be hard work these days.

I had to pay for a digital copy of the WFMU documentary but it was worth the money. It made me feel even better about my recent decision to become a “swag for life” supporter. You need to do what you can to support the art and music you love.

Film log - watched Nobody, 2021 - ***½ 🎥

Dropping everything to read : The Sound of Being Human by Jude Rogers. I’ve had this on order for a while. 📚

Medicine by Momma. I love this. If you like 90s alternative stuff you probably will too. 🎵

My decision to go default with the DuckDuckGo browser was a little bit rash. Too many little annoyances are popping up already. I imported a large number of Firefox bookmarks and the new tab page became unuseable. This is still very much a beta.

I got my beta invite for the DuckDuckGo mac browser. Initial impression: it’s very fast but there are no extensions installed yet so that might change. I’m going to make it my default for a couple of days for a proper test.

I set up a new domain and theme for micro.blog this week. Wordpress is like a big machine with multiple parts that need oiling, and maintenance, for it to function properly and I’m not sure I want to keep doing that. I feel more at ease just posting a line, or two, to micro.blog.

Marillion have released a special edit, and video, of the song Reprogram The Gene for Earth Day - A Friend Of The Earth (Youtube). Have a listen.

“Listen to Greta T…” 🎵

New pen. It’s the Yookers Gaia fibre-tipped pen that takes fountain pen ink cartridges. I don’t know what fountain pen purists think but I already love the feel and writing flow of this pen. The retro styling looks great too. 🖋

I’ve become a big fan of WFMU over the last few months and having unlimited fast broadband means I can listen in for hours everyday. Knowing that the station has a listeners birding group makes me love it even more. 🎵

Currently reading: The Horse’s Mouth by Joyce Cary 📚

The final season of Brooklyn 99 comes to the UK tonight. I’ve managed to avoid any talk about the episodes so I’m looking forward to it. I just hope all of my favourite supporting “bit characters” get their final appearances too. 📺

Read: ‘They didn’t go round the corner for beer’: Lou Reed and John Cale’s Songs for Drella (The Guardian) 🎵

Finished reading: The Looking Glass War by John Le Carré. It took two attempts to read this gloomy installment of John Le Carré’s espionage series but the ending was quietly devastating.

Preparing for Storm Dudley to hit later on. Storm Eunice is due tomorrow. I think British storm names are being picked to cause the least amount of anxiety.