It’s been a few days since I last wrote in the blog. I’m not sure I really have much to share, but I’ll start writing and see what happens. How does the old saying go? “I have nothing to say, and I’m saying it”.
Mr Covid has come to visit our house once again. Our eldest was sick after we returned from holiday, and then our youngest got sick too. We thought it was just a sore throat - a cold - something like that - but then started seeing news reports about a new covid spike going on. I walked into town yesterday afternoon and bought ten testing kits. Two of my daughters have tested positive, but miraculously the rest of us are negative or without symptoms so far. I suspect my other half will start testing positive tomorrow - she’s not been well all day.
If I’m still ok in the morning, I’m going to sneak out early and finish the running escapade I’ve been taking part in throughout September. I have about two and a half kilometres to go to reach the target of 100km. I’ve raised far more money than I thought I might, and hope to raise a bit more after announcing I’ve made it to the finish.
My body isn’t very happy with me - I have aches and pains throughout my legs. After completing the challenge I might have a week off - give the muscles and joints a chance to start repairing themselves - then cut back to a couple of runs a week for a while. I’m not going to stop for too long though - there are all manner of health benefits that come with running - and I’m only too aware that I sit on my backside most of the time through work.
In other news, I got WinAmp working on the old Windows 98 computer I built recently. It’s playing internet radio right now. I have such fond memories of WinAmp - from back when I lived in my own place - before marriage, children, and so on. I remember the emergence of MP3 files, and some of the early bands that embraced them - bands like “Fisher”, who almost broke through without a big record deal and heralded the beginning of the end for the old music studio system.
I remember ripping CDs to MP3, which was ridiculous really - given that I had a “HiFi” with much better speakers than the computer. It’s funny really, isn’t it - we had far better audio equipment in the 1970s and 1980s than any generation since - the music systems we grew up with make the consumer hardware available today look pretty laughable. Vinyl is making a comeback though - and for good reason. When you bought a gatefold album it really felt like you had bought something, didn’t it. The sleeve notes, the pictures, sometimes a booklet… SO much better than the CDs that followed, and of course infinitely better than streaming a piece of music through tinny ear-buds with nothing to hold in your hand…
I’ve been looking at good vinyl record players recently. One will be making an appearance in our lounge very soon.