Schemers and the Examplar Peace,

Everything is chemical, including the faces we pull and the blows we bear. The best way to escape is go where the air is thin.

This year of uncertainty goes on. My wondering may be perceived as worrying, I just consider all the permutations. I’m not in the mood for people. They make judgements, they forget and they don’t listen. I’m all too conscious of it.

Sometimes they create situations in which they can force the judgement they want to make. For example, at football, I played a good pass to someone, they didn’t react. They then dived into a desperate challenge in an attempt to retain possession. He screamed and limped off, claiming his ankle was wrecked forever. Five minutes later, he returned and played with a higher intensity than he had before. The whole episode was an act of theatre to cast dispersion on the pass and its giver.

Then there’s giving and receiving: I give comedy and professionalism.

A trek up the Lomond Hills provided minute relief. In truth, it was torture, medically and mentally. At the summit of East Lomond, when the gusts died down, the world was okay. The silence was awesome. I could have stayed there for ages but I was dragged off. I did not care for West Lomond, I went because the alternative was walking home and a black eye. Again, I wasn’t allowed to soak up the atmosphere at that summit and I still wonder why not.

Then there’s giving and receiving: the hills gave a black grouse.

They say charity begins at home. For some, charity stays at home. Others call charity up. If I have a worthy cause and I ask someone to donate to it, at some point in the future, I would have no qualms about donating to the cause they would like to support. In the end, if everyone donated to their own pursuit, the yield might be the same, but I disagree. Charity is about more than money, it’s an opportunity to raise awareness and generate interest. The chance that someone might display extraordinary generosity makes the time worthwhile.

Then there’s giving and receiving: I gave cakes.

Words can be twisted and it’s better not to say anything at all. In an earlier episode, I suggested that I felt my departure from yooni was natural. A week after I told someone that I don’t miss the yooni life, the cool kids are grumpy. The issue remains the same; nothing ever happens. The only thing they have to discuss is what happened. I think back to Del Amitri and it reminds me of my time in the cornershop, it was one customer’s favourite song and it is a regular of Scottish commercial radio. It’s not actually so bad, its lyrics are rather good. ‘Is it Del out of Del Amitri?’, he asks.

Now the traffic lights change to stop, when there's nothing to go
And by five o'clock everything's dead
And every third car is a cab
And ignorant people sleep in their beds
Like the doped white mice in the college lab
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all
The needle returns to the start of the song
And we all sing along like before

Then there’s giving and receiving: I received my protégé. I gave leadership. I gave more compromise than I should have.

Back then, the world was bigger. Now, it is much smaller but harder to understand. Trusting everyone and no one is the only way. And Hawkeye Pierce said to Winchester, ‘Time wounds all heels.’

Then there’s giving and receiving: I gave crankiness.

Rounded Religious Retirees,

Cycling evokes memories of my youth. Right up until I learned to drive a car and had to travel longer distances for work or study, I was always on my bike. I reverted to times of old this week and dug my faithful bike out of the shed. I’m keen on bogtrotting as The Bellyaches Massive will know but my new post is too far away for walking and definitely too close to drive to. The compromise is the bike.

I’m not a conventional cyclist. Peddling on the road is too scary and I’m not as brave as those guys. In the cycle trips of old, there was a lot of lifting: fences, walls, rivers etc. The classic example was an attempted journey to Shell Bay along the Fife Coastal Path/old railway line. There are many gates along the route – I assume to prevent motorcycle nuisance. After negotiating many stiles and gates, we entered a field. Still following the railway, there was a clear line of good, solid terrain to be riding along, until we reached some cows. The cows wouldn’t move and seemed rather aggressive. We detoured towards the shore and, inevitably, sand and, eventually, the need to traverse a wide river delta. Moisture followed. This was somewhat typical of these escapades.

Back on the bike this week, I still employ the same strategy. Lifting the bike of over this, squeezing through that, I make better time than in the car. I was thinking about bicycles in song. Quickly, I can think of three videos featuring bicycles: There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths, Motorcycle by The Rumble Strips and LDN by Lily Allen. As for lyrics, I arrive at Fox in the Snow by Belle & Sebastian.

I'm riding the novelty at the moment, things will change but for now, I'll make the most of the energy. I decided to tidy the garden around the bike shed to make the process easier. Of course, I went too far. We've been feeding the birds seed on top of the shed. These seeds have sprouted and I decided that I would remove a giant weed from the roof. I should have left it, but it ripped out the weed along with the roofing felt. I should have know better, but this weed was irresistible

I don't mind long journeys in the car; I amuse myself with albums. I've always hated short journeys; over the past week, I simply skipped to my favourite song on the album in the CD player everyday. Everyday, I listened to Song for Dan Treacy by MGMT and then I was virtually home. It's a great song but on a long journey, I'd listen to the whole album, Congratulations. MGMT seem to be combining aspects of 1980s indiepop, which I love, with prog rock and this album sounds much better than their debut, which I feel only offers up one or two singles.

A few other great sounds that I am drawn to at the minute are William Henry Miller Pt 1 by Meursault, Spin That Girl Around by Euros Childs, The Settler by The European, The Governor of Giving Up by Doyle & The Fourfathers and Natural Selection by UNKLE. I am intrigued by The Chemical Song by Citadels and can be imagined gazing into the middle distance to the Midnight Cowboy theme pondering the issue.

Moilers and the Privities of Equilibrium,

I’ll just wait here, at the junction, for this car to pass. It’s gone. There’s another one, I’ll just wait for it to pass. It’s gone. There’s another, I’m in no rush, I’ll wait. Quite happily, I wait, then I become aware of time and I think I must have been there for ages, but all the while, I was content.

I’ve started a job. For me, 8 hours is just that. As a stewdent, I was used to working close to 0800 hrs to 2000 hrs then retiring to do more work at home. I once put in an 18 hour shift. The novelty of working these ‘short’ shifts may wear off and I will become as bitter as the rest of the world’s workforce. I am never quite sure of how things are going. We were told that our training schedule would be taken slowly. Sometimes I have nothing to do, at this point, I worry that I look lazy. I like to be kept busy and I like to help. They were cleaning and I offered to clean but I was told it wasn’t my mess and I was given another job to do. In doing this other job, I felt in the way of their mass clean-up.

The look on my face hardly ever says what I am thinking. People can only judge a face and I can only change that assessment by actions and words. Then there’s my humour, which should probably be kept in reserve.

Routine is a major part of being able to cope with work. Whilst I have everything prepared and am sitting watching the news with a cup of tea, others are thrashing about. Once, there were no apples left, so I substituted a toffee crisp into my lunchbox.

I saw the mobile library drive past. On the dashboard was a copy of The Sun. I’m quite certain this is an offence and the driver should be dismissed.

Friday was a warm day and this appeared to generate some fabulous storm clouds ahead of a front moving in through the evening. I captured some low-quality shots.