Dog Alarm Failure

I have a second day in London today which is for a meeting at a different site and where we agree to lots of extra work which will extend the project to mid-2018 at least.

Without me to wake her, L oversleeps. Seems the dog alarm didn’t work either.

My colleagues and I are scheduled on a nice early 13:58 train back from London, so I’m home in plenty of time for Honeyblood.

 

Honeyblood are a band I’ve wanted to see for ages and who I finally saw last year at the Handmade Festival in Leicester. However that was a very short set cut even shorter due to the whole festival running behind schedule. I’m hopefully for more than just six songs tonight.

First though are Nottingham’s Super Furniture who openly confess that they don’t have any music to sell us but they are very keen for us to buy a t-shirt. They are also back in July. I think the lead singer mentioned that... several times.

They are a fairly bog standard indie four piece guitar band, pleasant enough but not of the required level to buy the t-shirt.

Honeyblood are still at that nice stage where they set up their own instruments while trying to pretend that they aren’t the band before sneaking off stage to make a grand entrance and everyone’s supposed to go ‘oh, you ARE the band’. Problem is that’s not working any more because they’re becoming too well know. As is shown by the fact that this gig, originally scheduled for the Bodega, got upgraded.

It is their second album ‘Babes Never Die’ that has got them the recognition and it is from that they open with acerbic ‘Justine, Misery Queen’. Understandably it is that album, slightly more polished that their first, that provides the majority of tonight’s set.

However, their first album ‘Honeyblood’ is arguably as good as shown by the more rift-ful ‘Choker’ which is up next and which sets the tone for a night of good noisy fun with the odd

reflective moment thrown in such as on the excellent ‘Cruel’.

The band of Stina Tweeddale on guitar and Cat Myers on drums are one of just many two-piece bands around at the moment. It must be quite a feat for two people to create the sound that is usually associated with a full band but these two manage it and think of the lower overheads that must bring. It makes you wonder why everyone isn't doing it.

There’s also less chance of your band members falling out but then if you do it's probably terminal or perhaps not because, although Honeyblood were formed in Glasgow back in 2012, Myers has only been on board since 2014.

The only misstep is when Stina says ‘Thank you Bristol’ after one track, oops, but after a bout of booing, mainly orchestrated by herself she is forgiven.

After three of their big numbers ‘Sea Hearts’, oldie ‘Killer Bangs’ and album title track ‘Babes Never Die’ end the set we find out that a band who, apparently, didn’t believe in encores now do.

They come back for two more, another oldie ‘Super Rat’ and one of their recent big singles ‘Ready for the Magic’.

Excellent stuff and, oh, Honeyblood have t-shirts on sale too.

(Tuesday 19^th December)

Capitulation

I jump out of bed almost as soon as the dog alarm goes. Well,  perhaps not quite that early, and head off for an early morning swim at Harvey Hadden. This is me in training for the Leeds Triathlon. Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail as they say... and/or drown.

Unfortunately this is how early you need to get up to find a 50m session. The swimming club have six of the eight lanes and us plebs the other two. It was busy with the fast lane being hellishly fast and the slow lane hellishly slow. I manage 1.2k but the race distance is 1.5k, shoot me now as some would say.

L is off work today but it appears she wasn’t allowed a lie-in. The boys hounded her until she capitulated and went on the park. Never mind, lie-ins are for sharing anyway. She then heads off to Derby to meet her folks enabling the dogs to get back to what they wouldn’t let her have, an extended nap.

After work I do 20k on the Watt Bikes at the Velodrome. I am then diverted to Beeston, where there is a damsel in distress under the weight of all the storage boxes she’s bought from Tesco. She’s sat in the Star, propositioning me with something dark and offering to come home with me. So not a bad deal. The dark is Welbeck Abbey’s Portland Black.

(Friday 20^th May)

An Interesting Development

The dog alarm oversleeps a touch and L refuses to be nudged awake in a timely fashion, so it ends up having to be a really fast bike into work this morning but I was nicely hyped up for it, so can’t complain.

L is totally re-thinking her fitness because of her ankle, which isn’t improving. She’s even considering giving up walking, which is an interesting development as I know she doesn’t mean driving everywhere. There’s always the unspoken 'B' word. 

I buy tickets for the opening night of World Athletics Championship next year in the Olympic Stadium. Any excuse for a wild weekend in The Smoke. It includes the Men’s 10k final which may or may not have Mo Farah in it as he could have moved up to marathons by then. I prefer the long stuff rather than the short and fast stuff. Although we get that as well, as the Men’s 100m qualifying is on the same session.

The ride home is a tad damp. No squash tonight. 

(Thursday 19^th May)

The Dog Alarm

There is not reaction to my injury after last night’s track session but then it’s always fine until I attempt to run.

L complains that her exercise regime is getting less and less, and serious action needs to be taken. She suggests setting our alarms fifteen minutes earlier. You know it's serious when she’s forsaking a full fifteen minutes of bed. Doggo's alarm is already set earlier than this, so it’s probably unnecessary.

All the same she runs off this morning before I can get my hands on her and heads off for an early swim, then reports that she was no earlier anyway. Should have stayed in bed.

Dogging tonight, up on the hill, and in near perfect summery weather. Which won’t last naturally. 

(Monday 9^th May)