Curry, wine: Edinburgh

WHAT a weekend. After a fairly legendary lunch with my boss on Friday afternoon (finalising the deliverables for the coming four weeks or so...), I kicked off the weekend by watching the brilliant Spaceballs with the Kiwi. I'd forgotten how shamelessly puerile that film is, possibly one of the last spoof films whose tone is 'gently mocking', rather than simply vicious or way over the top.

Saturday morning involved a train to Edinburgh, all six hours of it, and that evening we caught up for a curry with my brother and his wife. Both were on sterling form and blessed with a superb local Bangladeshi restaurant. One of the things that's been bothering me 'n' the Kiwi lately is that it seems to be impossible to get a decent Indian or Chinese meal in London unless you're in the market for a £60+ a head dinner. It's a real treat to be able to get back to good, local food again.

Excellent to see them both too - it's been years since I saw either of them, and it's the first time they've met the Kiwi. Good to knock back a few whiskies with my brother too, for the first time in waaaay too long.

The Oddbins wine fair on the Sunday was a whole lot of fun as always, smaller than in previous years (or perhaps I've just got bigger), but the old crew were still there as always. The range is looking a fair bit better than it did in April (at the London version), with some astounding French wines on the way for once, and the German range finally worth a look. It's fair to say though, that these last two are more indicative of trends within the countries in question, but Oddbins has been notably light in these areas for the past few years, so it's refreshing to see something interesting there.

We ended up buying a mixed case. Quite what's in it I've very little idea.

Testing New Toy

As I'm sure you've noticed, I tend to use this blog rather a lot as a testing ground for new things, some of which I go on to use regularly, some I don't. I'm posting this post from Ping.FM, at this point through a browser, but possibly in the future from some other device. It collates lots of things into one interface; Facebook, Twitter and lots of others, so I might be using it a bit in future. We'll see...

Elbow, Roundhouse, 11.10.08

I'm obviously a bit preoccupied at the moment - with all the stuff that's going on at the moment I'd totally forgotten to tell you about the brilliant Elbow gig on Saturday night. What a perfect (almost) evening.

I'm fast becoming a fan of the Roundhouse, generally the sound's great and it rarely feels that full, either through great capacity management or tardis-like architecture, I'm not sure. Weirdly, their normally dull beer selection was complemented by the addition of Sagres, which we'd just been drinking in Nandos down the road. Little things like this help, I find.

They were supported on the night by Jesca Hoop, who I suspect is really quite good, and judging by some of the streaming tracks on Last.FM, I think she probably is. Unfortunately her delicate voice combined with the relative lack of interest from the crowd meant she was more or less inaudible, and as she only played a handful of tracks (including a duet with Guy Garvey) I'm not sure she didn't wander off out of sheer annoyance. Poor lass, I thought she could've been great in the right circumstances.

The main event then. The Kiwi made a great point at the beginning about how good the sloping floor in Brixton Academy is, in that you're more likely to be able to see (especially for her, she's ickle), and this was one of my two criticisms of the venue. The opening track was spoilt slightly by us shuffling around trying to get somewhere we could stand next to each other and still see, which depended largely on a very specific configuration of people of certain heights going all the way forwards to the stage, so it's safe to say it didn't really happen.

The band, without exception, were tremendous. Opening with 'Starlings', complete with a trumpet wielded by each band member (whether mimed or not, I don't care), they had the audience grabbed from the word go (or in this case 'How'). By the second track, the bloke next to me singing at the top of a voice so flat it had canals was getting to be too much, so we moved to the middle back, and better sound.

On that note, what amazed me throughout was the quality of the sound, and the preciseness that they got in playing almost note-for-note versions of the tracks we were all so familiar. There's a time and a place for innovation and so on, but a band at Elbow's stage in their career and with their sort of fanbase, should know that they're not going to get away with Jazz Odyssey: we want to hear what we've got on our stereos, just louder and in real life.

And that they delivered. Unusually, one of my favourite tracks of the night was one which didn't really grab me on the record; "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver", which Guy really seemed to enjoy and absolutely took it by the scruff of its neck. It's great to hear a proper Manchester accent in song - a friend of mine once mentioned how much she loves hearing regional accents on singers, and I have to agree. Not only is it so... honest, but it gives the work a sense of place, and much like terroir in wine terms, embraces its origins. One other track stood out, but you'll have to come to our wedding to hear more about that one.

On a final note, whilst writing this, my iTouch has been in an unusually capricious mood. I've had it on a Genius playlist it's built around Elliott Smith's perkily scornful 'Somebody That I Used To Know', and it thought to include Ben Folds' slightly mawkish but still touching 'Late', his posthumous tribute to Smith. It's a bit like a Spielberg film, in that it's a bit cheesy and predictable, but in such a way that you can't fail to be moved by it. The 25th and last track is Fleet Foxes' gorgeous 'Ragged Wood', which reminds me that we're going to see them in November and it promises to be an amazing night.

Stress notches up, application submitted...

This morning I took a big file full of carefully collated stuff to the New Zealand embassy in London, and submitted my application for a permanent resident's visa, on the basis of my relationship with the Kiwi. £460 lighter, and the wheels are in motion.

The process is unfortunately extremely lengthy. It'll take them two to three weeks to get a case officer assigned to my application. They'll then look over all the documentation and assess whether I look healthy, intelligent, crime-free and sufficiently enamoured of my Kiwi to be allowed in. They'll get in touch with me, and will let me know how long and arduous the process is likely to be. Timescales from this point in are, at the moment, about three months, but it's fairly open-ended in reality.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that that takes us beyond our departure date, but apparently that's ok. I can get into New Zealand on a tourist visa, as long as I have a valid ticket out of there, but I won't be able to start work until it's processed. Provided everything goes smoothly, this will be ok. If things don't go smoothly, this will most definitely not be ok.

So, not ideal, but ok. Worryingly, the lady who took my application mentioned that some of my blood results were marginally outside the normal range, and that they've been very strict on that lately. I may be asked to undergo (and pay for, presumably) another medical, but right now I'm focusing on that not being necessary. I am a big pile of stress and nerves and freak-out at the moment and I really just want this all to be over. More on this as I get it...

Two sorts of limbo, 80s soundtrack

So it's a Friday afternoon, about four pm, and I'm officially clockwatching. I've got myself into a bit of an odd situation at work where I'm sort of on standby for two reasonably big things, putting finishing touches to big-ish presentations for both but not... actually... presenting them. Once the clients are ready I'll spring into action, but until then I'm a bit devoid of busyness to be honest.

With this in mind, I'm here waiting for five pm and pub time, experimenting with iTunes 8's 'Genius' tool and actually finding it rather helpful. I'm normally a curmudgeonly old soul when it comes to software having the audacity to second-guess my musical taste. Although I'm always going on about Last FM, all I really use it for is for the glorious statistical wonder that is my listening habits - geeky I know but something I find genuinely fascinating.

In terms of Genius, I'm actually rather enjoying it. Whilst I don't actually take any of its' recommendations on what I should actually buy, I do make use of the playlist generator a fair bit. For example, being in a bit of an 80s mood this afternoon, I stuck on Scritti Politti's 'Word Girl', feeling the need for a bit of that sleepily precise bass and all. The playlist Genius made out of it looks pretty good so far, with a bit of Elvis Costello (I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down), The Specials (Do Nothing), Depeche Mode (See You), The Smiths (Girlfriend in a Coma) and plenty more besides. Weirdly including the Keane single 'Spiralling' which I actually rather like. Am I a Bad Person?

So ok, it's not technically recommending me anything, as everything that's in my iTunes library is there cos I put it there, but it's doing a good job of getting my mood I reckon.

This weekend will hopefully see the arrival of my completed visa medical, which will be dropped into the NZ embassy on Monday morning along with the numerous other bits of paper and things that they require. Apparently it can take about three to four months from now, so I'm rather hoping it'll be a bit quicker. The timescales don't bother me, as I don't see myself needing to start work til the beginning of Feb, but what is a bit of a concern is the lack of a postal address or regular email access between Dec 1 and Jan 5.

Hmmm. Let's focus on this working out ok, shall we? Fingers crossed, everyone...

Half marathon done, legs falling off

Well, there we have it. My first half marathon completed in the pouring rain, wind, cold etc, in what the Kiwi and I think was about 1hr 52mins or thereabouts. I can't verify this yet as the organisers continue to compound what was a pretty poor event by not telling anyone their times. Judging by the forum posts on the website, it's unlikely we'll get them at all, as some people have had texts, some people haven't, and most people seem to have been sent the wrong times. If the data's that messed up, it won't get unmessed any time soon.*

Still, I know I beat 2hrs, which was my goal all along, so I'm relatively happy. The pain in my legs, hips, knees, shoulders and feet all feels sort of worth it, especially as the non-localised muscle pain suggests that I've not damaged anything significant. That said, I've never experienced pain quite like the final four miles or so. It felt almost solid, like something I could hold onto or bite down on, quite a new feeling for me. The weirdest moment was right at the end, coming across the line and slowing down, and feeling the endorphins wearing off as the pain notched up every few minutes. Amazing things, bodies, eh?

As I mentioned though, the event management was a bit of a shocker. Looking through the website this morning has reminded me of a few things. Firstly, that the distance most runners with GPS's ran was actually about half a mile longer than stated, so it's not actually a true half marathon, and the mile markers were all wrongly places, so we couldn't pace properly. Secondly, that no one had the faintest idea where to start - I stood in the rain for about 40 minutes and ended up near the start - other runners had to jog/walk for about half an hour before they got anywhere near the start line. Thirdly, that the course is listed as 'mainly flat' when in reality it had some pretty mean hills in it. It was compounded by the weather (drizzle turning into torrential downpour) and the transport issues (the whole tube network being snarled up, pretty much), but even without these things it was pretty poorly handled.

In fact, some kind soul has detailed the route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2248895, showing not only a half-mile extra, but also the distinctly not 'mainly flat' elevation.

Anyway, I'm happy with my time, as I said. I reckon I need to do another one before too long though, and to prepare for the next one properly. I can honestly say I did no training for this one at all, and I reckon I could aim for 1hr 40min without too much trouble. The Kiwi was absolutely brilliant throughout, waiting in the rain for me to start, hurrying to meet me at just past the halfway mark, and hurrying back to catch me at the finish, all on her own in the rain (everyone else, supporters and runners alike, had dropped out due to illness, transport issues or general can't-be-arsed-ness). I can't tell you how good it was to see her bouncing up and down and yelling encouraging things half way through.

So that's the last event for this year. The next scheduled bit of physical exercise will be snowboarding in December... then I think I'll have to look for another half marathon to run in Auckland!

 

 

*edit: the provisional results came out at 1630 on the 6th Oct, and show my full time as 01:54:35. Still happy with it, puts me in the top 25% anyway. Looks like I need to work on my tactics though, as I passed the halfway mark at position 1413, and the finish line at 1795.

Keep calm and carry on...

Saw this in a shop window in Cambridge today, somehow felt like someone trying to get a message to me:

 

It helped :)