Album of the Day: The Zutons - Who Killed the Zutons?
This did my nut in, tbh. The screeching guitars were matched by a bloody screeching voice. It picks up with a Scally twang. But I’d rather listen to The Coral.
⭐ ⭐
BLOGGED: Garden Boom: Colchester’s Growing Ambitions
“Colchester City Council is considering building two more Garden Communities – in addition to the one already planned at the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community”
Some Grumbler and Documentally email catching up first thing. Both newsletters are must reads; both need a little time to take in all the detail.
I usually blitz my inboxes each day. Read, action, move on.
Friday seems to be the day when most subscriptions are sent out. Any incoming new government might want to look at the national productivity figures on the final day of the working week.
The Grumbler has such detail to the demise of County cricket. He admits that the battle is lost. The horrid Hundred has ruined our summers. Yet still The Grumbler finds the energy to document this.
Speaking of documenting… Documentally has long been an essential weekly read for me. If I ever get my shit together to have some spare dosh, then I should fork out for a subscription.
I get so many ideas and inspiration in this weekly dispatch. One idea leads to another for me. It’s an energy inducing weekly read.
Playing in the background to all of this was the sedate sounds of Serenade Radio. The slow pace of the music with Andy Marriot helps to ease me into my morning online routine.
A lively morning of work shifts followed. I then had a substantial gap to get out and see what the bloody Estuary Wilds had to offer.
To the University! I cycled up to campus to catch the opening day of a new exhibition at Art Exchange.
Roadkill was everywhere.
A freshly flattened squirrel had to be swerved along Boundary Road. I then caught the sight of a poor dead dear in the hedgerow. Nature shit can be cruel.
Campus was full of energy and optimism. It may be the post-exam summer season, but there was still a buzz around the place.
The exhibition was titled New Brutalism at Essex. It aims to capture the beauty of the brutalism on campus. It made the decent point of how the harsh surrounds mirrors the radical roots of Essex University.
The Troubles are long behind us. A radicalised campus full of social science activists has now been replaced by data crunchers and sports science students.
A model of the original plans for campus formed the centrepiece. It showed the potential for thirty plus towers. In the end only six were built. They remain a stunning piece of beautiful brutalism on the landscape.
I cycled on from the University down to the gym. Fifteen minutes on the treadmill were testing. My calf felt like it could ping at any moment.
I moved on to the pool. The water felt cooler than the Serpentine last weekend.
I battled for forty lengths with various strands of hair falling into my face. I bloody hate this.
Strava tells me that this is my fastest time for the 800m. A fellow swimmer commented:
“You’re bloody good, aren’t you?”
I’ll take that, Madam. Ta.
I rewarded myself with half an hour of arseing around in the spa. The steam room in particular was incredibly strong. I couldn’t see beyond my own face.
To Lidl!
It would be rude not to. I had an app full of #lidllove tokens to cash in.
High up on the list was a pair of lemon trees. I’ve always wanted to try and cultivate a lemon tree, ever since being impressed with the haul that The Oval lemon tree was able to deliver.
I resisted the urge to spend £9.99 on a pair of very cheap looking Lidl branded trainers.
Some online catching up followed back at base. The Globe emailed with details of the Midnight Matinees.
No ta. I don’t fancy standing up for three hours, then leaving The Globe at 3am. I find it hard enough staying awake for an afternoon matinee.
Friday evening was spent watching Surrey hit ‘n’ giggle on one screen, and then trying not to laugh at the Sweaties in the Euros on another.