Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in East & Central London and Surrey (The NEXT Chapter).

Week 172 Saturday 30^th until Friday 6^th October 2017.

BREAKING NEWS: Some of this week’s ramble is a little out of date, but I didn’t have time to write something new….. I suspect that this doesn’t matter.

  “Its something i like to do on weekend, don’t judge me”.

Since December 2016 I have regularly visited a basement in Whitechapel to lay and occasionally hang upside down in a swing made of parachute material.  At this point I should quickly say if my dear friend “Claire Hammond” is reading, this is not some dodgy fetish club but an exercise class (I know the depths of her mind).

  “Calamity, doing her thing”.

Along with my friend “Calamity” I have been taking part in Ariel yoga.  Tradition yoga never pushed my buttons, but being supported by a sling of thin material hanging from the ceiling is a totally unique experience.  Walking away from every class I had a smile on my face, every joint felt loose there really was a bounce in my step.

  “I am going to miss seeing Ganesha, oh and Richard”.

The classes were small up to 5 people; this allowed Richard the softly spoken extremely calm instructor to give individual tuition, which helped me to get the most from every class.  Sadly, all of this came to an end last weekend as Richard moved to teach Ariel yoga in India.  Even though we have known about this move for a couple of months this didn’t make that final session any easier.

  “There was Cake last week”.

Unfortunately, all the classes at other establishments appear to be large groups situated in modern mirror walled dance studios that I don’t think will have the same satisfying feeling.  Of course I wish Richard all the best, but part of me wants him to decide that he misses crowded London so much that he’ll returns.  Then I can continue to hang upside down feeling relaxed in a small group. 

  “This is either soft focused or i’m still drunk”.

And Now For Something Completely Different…… 

 “This is really all the rage on the District line it would appear”.

I’m a huge fan of Sci-fi, this is probably the reason why real world computers disappoint so much.  I know that there are devices which you can speak to that will answer your questions, open and close curtains or switch your lights on and off.  But there not “TIM” from the “Tomorrow people”, “Orac, Zen or Slave” from “Blakes Seven”, K9 or WOTON” from “Doctor Who”, Twiki from “Buck Rogers”, “Marvin or Deep Thought” from “Hitchhikers”.  And definitely not the ultimate companion and one of my first loves “R2D2”.

  “I just liked the colours and the look.  Thats the only reason I have included them”.

If I am honest, I partly blame school for not allowing me near the computer lab during the mid-80s, because I was in the thicko class.  None of us were deemed worthy of pressing buttons and watching terrible graphic on a small screen.  Around the same time my best friend “The Big Fellow” had a home computer that he had to run cassette tapes and type a lot of code very carefully in order for the machine to do what he wanted.  That possibly put me off as well.  I didn’t join the home computer generation until 2000 and started working on them daily in an office environment in 2001.

 “Not my drawing.  But always a worry when doing Yoga of any kind”.

These days I sit in front of a computer at work and am disappointed that the future which so many Sci-Fi films and tv shows I have enjoyed over the years has not come true.  Yes, I am one of those geeks who still smarts that Hoverboards ™ and entire meals in one small pill or flying cars has not been invented.  Where has technology gone wrong?

 “Don’t mess with this Hare”.

Earlier this week I walked into the office wondering how much of the next 8 hours I was going to hate.  When everything changed after a colleague said that all the computers and phones were out of action, for the next couple of hours I actually felt relaxed.  Unfortunately, all good things come to an end when someone plugged in the system and everything sprang to life.

 “Anoodle and Grandma, is it wrong she thinks this statue is of my mum”.

Sometimes I think office workers might as well be implanted with a blue pipe to supply a little moisture, a yellow pipe for nutrients and a dirty brown pipe up the arse in order for everything to be flushed away.  That way no one ever needs to leave there desk.  At this moment, I am sadly resigned to the fact this is probably my future, unless of course I can turn creative side of me around.

 “Competition time, where is this…….”.

Yes, I am very disappointed that the future depicted in Sci-fi hasn’t come true.  Sci-fi for me is more than just entertainment its hope that life might get a little better, maybe a little easier.

 “This mast was full of birds roosting, i thought it was interesting……… maybe not”.

And In Other News…… 

 “Seen in Brick Lane”.

Answered the phone said my bit (which is called a warm welcome, in the trade) all I heard was “The Beatles” with “Twist and shout”.  This made me smile for a couple of seconds, until I had to move on to the next call.

 “Even Superheros need vintage school chairs”.

Have spoken to two different women this week who said that they have found a snake in there house.  Something strange is happening in Essex, the reptiles are taking over.

Triplet boys walked past me in the street, I admit I did a double take and had to look back.

 “Writing this Shiz”.

My Mid Life Crisis Conts…… 

This week I have mainly been watching:  

“Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?”, (S1, ep 6: TX 01/10/17).  “Baby’s DayOut”, (1994).  “Black Lake”, (S1, ep 2 to ep 6).  “Click”, (TX 30/09/17).  “Have I Got News For You”, (S54, ep 1).  “Josh”, (S3, ep 1).  “NASA TV Live: Expedition 53, Spacewalk 203”, (05/10/17).  “Panarama: North Korea’s Nuclear Trump Card”, (TX 02/10/17).  “Phillip K Dicks: Electric Dreams: The Commuter”, (S1, ep 3).  “Rellik”, (S1, ep 2 & 3).  “Russia With Simon Reeves”, (S1, ep 1: TX 28/09, ep 2: TX 05/10/17).  “Star Trek Discovery”, (S1, ep 1 to ep 3).  “Strange Times Unreleased Promo (2013)”, (03/09/13).  “The Apprentice”, (S13, ep 1: TX 04/10/17).  “The Apprentice: Honest Subtitles”, (S3, ep 1: TX 04/10/17).  “The Apprentice: Your Fired”, (S12, ep 1: TX 04/10/17).  “The Crystal Maze (2017)”, (S7/S1, ep 9).  “The Golden Girls”, (S4, ep 13 to ep 16).  “The Graham Norton Show”, (S22, ep 1).  “The Great British Bake Off”, (S8/S1, ep 6: TX 03/10/17).  “The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice”, (S4/S1, ep 6: TX 05/10/17).  “The Last Leg”, (S12, ep 1).  “The Pact”, (S1, ep 1).  “W1A”, (S1, ep 3 & ep 4).  “Wogan – Radio 1 at 20 (1987)”, (TX 29/09/87).  “World Of Difference (1978) The Broadcasters”, (TX 05/01/78).        

This week I have mainly been listening to:   “Houston We Have A Podcast”, (ep 12, 28/09/17).  “Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Bonus)”, (28/09, 29/09/17).  “Iain Lee: TalkRADIO (Highlights)”, (2x 29/09).  “LBC Podcast: Nick Abbot (Whole Show)”, (30/09, 06/10/17).  “NASA Silicon Valley”, (05/09, 28/09, ep 62, 05/10/17).  “Quick Questions”, (ep 5, 14/08/17)(ep12, 01/10/17).  “Soundtracking With Edith Bowman”, (ep 58, 28/09/17).  “Strange Times”, (ep 234, 22/09/17)(ep 28, 16/09/13)(ep 34.5, 10/09/13)(ep 27, 08/09/13)(ep 26, 01/09/13)(ep 25, 27/08/13).  “The Adam Buxton Podcast”, (ep 50, 29/09/17)(ep 51, 05/10/17).  “The Angelos And Barry Podcast”, (06/10/17).  “The Nick Abbot Habit”, (ep 13, 06/10/17).  “The Rabbit Hole”, (ep 29, 05/10/17).  “These people Podcast”, (ep 36, 30/09/17).  “Morrissey”,  “Smiths”,  “Black Grape”,  “The Happy Mondays”,  “Led Zeppelin”,  ”The Strokes”,  “Feel It Safe”, “Suede”, “The Beatles”.