atomicules

Mostly walking the dogs

No One Played Songs Here

"No one played songs here. No one listened to music or told stories. They didn't even realise not doing those things made them bad people."

— Auē by Becky Manawatu

Been on my reading list for awhile and managed to get a large print edition (the only option) out of the library. The large print, coupled with the opening chapter being from the point of view of an eight year old, made it feel like I was reading a children’s book… but it’s definitely not a kid’s book. It’s a really great, but brutal, story with two converging timelines. There’s Māori sprinkled throughout which I didn’t understand, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying nor understanding the book - I only realised as I finished that there was a glossary at the back of the book!

September Sounds

Quickly, before the month ends, here’s what I’ve actually listened to in September (even if it wasn’t released in September - although I think a lot was) as far as albums and EPs go:

  • Fatdog: Woof. Pretty anticipated by me since right at the start of the year, but on the listens I’ve had so far the preceding singles, King of the Slugs (did this get released as a single? It got a lot of airplay), All the Same, and Running are the highlights. Love a thirty minute album though.
  • DEADLETTER: Hysterical strength. Hotly anticipated by me, but why no Snitching Hour or Madge’s Declaration? It’s a balancing act I suppose - you don’t want your best tracks on the album to be singles that have been out for ages, but it’s a shame not to include at least one of them.
  • The Dare: What’s Wrong With New York? Picking up the LCD Soundsystem baton.
  • Keato: INTRO. Ok, so DEADLETTER skipped previous singles and the album felt less to me because of it, but Keato doesn’t include No Body nor Don’t Ask and still drops a strong album. CARRY YOU and YOMM are my favourites, but I love it all. It opens beautifully. Possibly my album of the year if I hadn’t of already picked.
  • Clipz: Inner Unlimited. New with Chy Cartier hooked me, but I think I actually prefer Say Less with Obi Franky; Did send me on a mission to listen to Chy Cartier though and I really like Like Magic.
  • Honeyglaze: Real Deal. It’s all about Pretty Girls which is great. If I was a teenager now I’m pretty sure this would still be stuck in my head thirty years later.
  • Raye: Live at Montreux Jazz Festival. She is, arguably, best live with an orchestra.
  • Doecchii: Alligator Bites Never Heal. I overhead Boiled Peanuts on the radio - I was cooking and it was on in the background, but I heard enough to know that it was good and worth checking out. Bullfrog, Boiled Peanuts and Denial is a River is a ridiculously strong start. Slapping your skateboard against the coping in appreciation kind of good. It lost me a bit after these (but it is supposedly a mixtape as opposed to an album and mixes rapping and singing), but then, out of nowhere, comes Beverley Hills which just blew my mind and continues to do so. I’ve listened to this song on repeat so many times.
  • Jamie XX: In Waves. Nostalgia filled, but to me personally not that exciting. Baddy on the Floor is the obvious highlight.
  • Fred Again: Ten Days. For me, similar vibes to JamieXX. Places to Be is great, but the rest hasn’t stuck.
  • Magdalena Bay: Imaginal Disk. I like the title more than the album. Probably not really quite my thing - I need to give it another listen. Death & Romance is my favourite on first pass.
  • Rab Spitz: Loose Cannon. Scotland’s Kneecap. Kind of? For Aberdeen though, wow. Overture is a great opener. After that I like Split Decision and All In. This is a hell of a lot better than the acknowledgment this is going to get.
  • Yxng STUNNA: My Turn. Another Aberdeen one. I think I’m too old really for anyone called Yxng anything. Want It is the one I like the most.
  • Becky Sikasa: The Writings and The Pictures And The Songs. Very chilled. The opener, Hard to Love, and then Wait Up are my favourites.

And some of the other albums I’ve been listening to since last time include these fine folk: Berwyn, Bashy, Vibe chemistry, Corto alto, Beth Gibbons, Lava La Rue (I love LOVEBITES), Clairo (Sexy to Someone is superb).

Note: Kaeto: Bold move releasing an album/mixtape without No Body and Don't Ask on. But still six billion out of ten.

RIP Banana Hat

When I stopped cycling I envisaged having about three years off for a decent rest, but eventually getting back into it. Of course that never happened (it’s just far too expensive compared to running to do for a hobby) so I’ve stuck with running, wearing my banana cycling cap most of the time. I did technically get to wear it once or twice cycling, but not properly.

And now I never will. Annoyingly the peak has snapped in the washing machine (it really needed a wash) and look mum no hands are sadly no more.

I will have to find a new identity.

LINK: Code The City

Despite being in Aberdeen for seventeen years this is the first I’ve heard of Code The City! I could have (in theory) done all of these although I suppose only realistically since 2022 after moving from the Shire to the City; However, my initial excitement was rapidly dampened when I remembered I still don’t have a laptop - in fact it’s been since about 2016 when I last had a (Pentium III) laptop. And there is also no way I’d actually be allowed to spend all weekend doing something like this. Still, it’s neat that this event exists at all.

Maybe one day.

Such Were The Thoughts Of The Young Mrs Touchet

"Such were the thoughts of the young Mrs Touchet. Much later, when she was older, she wished she'd voiced them. At the time, four talkative men - two of them jovial, one vampiric, and the last just incredibly loud - were altogether too much for her. They were four sides of a box through which no noise of her own could escape."

— The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I’ll try to leave it as just three quotes. I had more though. And I’d made some notes with page numbers that I forgot to finish before I returned the book to the library, so presumably that would have been even more quotes.

Anyway, there was a character that I envisaged as Matt Berry, but I can’t recall who now, perhaps William. And I found it really interesting how it blended fact and fiction and by the end I had to look up whether some bits actually happened or not.

How Much More Passion Maybe Aroused By Phantom Damage

"Not for the first time Mrs Touchet was struck by how much more passion maybe aroused by phantom damage done to female 'honour' than by anything actually done to a woman herself."

— The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I am trying to restrain myself and not blog all the quotes I saved.

Overestimated The Literary Significance Of Weather

"Even as an adolescent, William fatally overestimated the literary significance of weather"

— The Fraud by Zadie Smith

I finally got around to joining the library so more quotes I’m afraid.

Try A Strap Or Belt At Shoulder Width Around The Elbow Crease

"Try a strap or belt at shoulder width around the elbow crease. I swear it gives me magic super powers. It's so easy and comfy for me, I can stay up for a while, come up and down on my toes, walk in a bit. All good. Without a belt I got nothing and I'm just hanging out on the top of my head."

Amazing tip I found on Reddit for getting into the wheel pose in yoga. Don’t know if it’s a placebo or actual magic, but it works. Without this I’m too scared to even try.

Note: Maybe one day will figure out something more self-hosted than Strava embeds

Wanted to write a post about running the amazing Les Calanques trails in Cassis. Realised I might as well just figure out including what I already have on Strava here. I can’t say I’ll be making many of my Strava activities public, but I can’t see the harm in making ones that are no where near home public.

When it comes to holiday destinations, A is driven largely by what she sees on Instagram. It was just pure luck on my side that the pretty harbour town of Cassis happens to be next to the Calanques National Park. So my main holiday worry was whether the trails were going to be open during fire-risk season - I figured I should get at least one day out of the seven we were there. As it was I managed two trail runs. In theory I could have done more, but it meant getting up early after we’d stayed up late drinking, it’s much hotter than Scotland, and it was on holiday and so not all about me.

Some notes:

  • Some of the stone is so polished it’s slippery
  • There is also lots of loose rock and stone
  • Only time I legitimately could have done with trail shoes with a rock plate - my feet were tender the next day
  • The Port d’En Vau descent is 40% gradient. I did not run down nor up. I just tried to go quickly and carefully, with the thought that A would kill me if I broke a leg and had to be rescued.
  • I actually took a bottle of water with me and drank it
  • It’s the best trail I’ve ever run

Obviously there is much more to explore here than the relatively tiny bit I got to run, but longer distances are probably best not in August. I was happy I got to do this loop once. Absolutely stoked I got to do it twice.

The Salon Reminded Janet Of The Lunatic Asylum

"The salon reminded Janet of the lunatic asylum. People came in, looking normal and cheerful. They were ushered by white-coated, unctuous attendants into a neon-lit inner torture chamber of throbbing machines. There they say, gowned and scarlet-faced and in no time at all they had lost their identity, their features had lapsed and swollen in the intense heat, their hair bristled with small metal daggers or their scalps were packed with wiry cylinders. Glassy-eyed, they gazed into the mirrors. Hope ebbed from the day."

— O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker

Ending with a long one and a great one.

That’s not even all the quotes I wrote down, but that’ll do.

These are the ten most recent posts (not counting any note drivel), for older posts see the Archive.