As many already know -SOUNDCLEAD is really rather good.

One discovery has been this gem - one for all those who have disgraced themselves.

I was so not looking forward to my ride home after work last night. It looked wet, windy and cold. Completely unappealing. With little choice i donned my jacket and braced myself. Do you know what - it was not that bad. MY coat is pretty good (thanks Garth) and thankfully it had stopped pouring down.

The wind seems perpetually in my face. On this ride for once it was at my back and made such a change. There is one big hill which at times i have to push to cycle down as it seems to really catch the wind - not this night. The wind was coming from an unusual westerly pitch. Home arrived before i knew it and my only concern was the brown skunk mark up my arse.

It was only later that i discovered my ride could have been much worse. I caught up with a friend who had written his bike of, cycling into the back of a parked car. He escaped uninjured but his frame (i’ve now seen it) is bent. Miraculously his forks and front wheel have surbived? He is gutted. Life can always turn out worst than you expected… then again it can also shine unexpectedly.

Once again Big DADA have struck gold. DELS is one class act. His new single SHapeshift cries out quality - even the video has been created by the man. Much merryment and health to you sir.

I had read about the new fat mini (countryman) but it was not until i saw one for the first time the other day that I realised how fat and utterly hideous it looked. I wonder whether the countryman is designed for the American market but aparantly its a family SUV they are after. The independent describe it as 1.4 ton cartoon giant.

The car has had quite good reviews though it seems. Theres no accounting for taste i guess.

I quite enjoy reading old newspapers - not really old, just a few days or weeks. You have already heard the headline news and cansift out some of the finer details and stories which would not feature in the national or local news. I have also come to realise the reason the red tops are so widely read. Of course they feature all the crap celebrity sport shit the masses ‘need’ to know about. Most importantly they can be read in a few minutes. I found a copy of the Mirror and the SUN on a train the other day and i had read them in a few minutes. The Metro features more in depth stories.

Another realisation struck me. You often hear stories of old folk being found dead in houses cluttered with stacks of newspapers and other detritus.  Its not too suprising. Even if your retired and have little else to do with your day reading a broad sheet every day is no easy feat. The piles of unread papers and articles to keep for later quickly amass.

I stopped in my tracks today when i caught a glimpse of the longest cat in the world. Stewie as his friends call him measures 48.5 inches. Check the photos. Thats one long mog.

I also caught a story of true ineptitude today. A drunken Russian policeman has mowed down 3 girls as they were walking down a street in the Serbian town of kargosok. This would be bad enough. One of the girls was then run over and killed by the ambulance which was sent to treat them. Is skittles really that popular in that part of the world?

The second best (after BATHS) band of the moment must be awarded to SHOTHORSE. I love their rendition of ‘dont smell too good, but it keeps me from burning’. Not only do they have the best titled albumbeing released - horses shit dont they. They also make a great noise. It just works. Another nugget is that their album is currently only available to purchase on casstte. my $11 is on its way.

Best video for a time may pass to the brakes - check it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8i5i_aLes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVpxtxVjvzI

More quality - best tune of the day from HANK IV

I have read today a story which will reaffirm all the backward stereotype views of Devonshire folk. The tennis player Anne Keothavong has been in Barnstaple attending the AEGON pro series open tennis tournament. On arriving at her hotel she was alledgedly subjected to a barrage of racial abuse before she had left the car park. Her very own ‘welcome to Devon’ supplied by three gormless divs. They probably hadn’t seen her around their gateway these past year, thought her from o’er hill. Did they think she was black? Asian? A different sex, but got a little mixed up?

Fair play to her. She apparantly reported it to the police and 3 arrests followed. I wonder though if it had been my wife would the police have been as keen to act? Not that i think the police have anything against my wife or I, mind

Riding single track regularly puts you in touch with nature and its changes, quite literally. I reported earlier in the year of the pleasures of bramble rash. The brambles are still at i, they are just hanging much lower, with the result that instead of forearms it is shins and knees which bear the brunt of any contact. People do look sometime and you can see them thinking, whats he been doing.

Injuring yourself can be quite cathartic, humbling. I tore open my finger tip on a nail today and after stemming the flow of bloodit does make you think, wow i am quite soft really. Soft, squidgy and suprisingly quite good at healing. I cut the end of my thumb last week with a saw. The nail took the brunt of the action, but some of the edge of the thumb disappeared. Its all healed quite nidely, only with the result that my thumb is a weird shape.