Category: Blog

My general wonderings…

Unencountered – Part 1

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

After much consideration, May’s Project has finally been decided. The plan is to write a short story over the month of May. A blog post every few days should keep me occupied. But also in an attempt to make it a more interactive experience for the couple hundreds of people that read this, please feel free to comment or tweet suggestions for ideas or inclusions to add to the story. Enough said, here we go…..

Unencountered – Part 1

That’s when I saw it. The only problem was, I wasn’t entirely sure what ‘it’ was….

It had begun some time in the summer I think, not a sighting, just a feeling. The feeling of being watched, the feeling of something not quite right, a very, very strange feeling. I couldn’t even place exactly when and where it had first started. It was just there. It seemed to have been with me for months, but it was only over the space of the last couple of weeks that the feeling had become so much more intense.

Everywhere I went I felt as though I was being followed. I’d go to the shop, and there it was. I’d go to work, and there it was. I’d take the dog for a walk, and there it was. The dog could sense it too, I could tell. A look here, ears pricked there, at times he would just stare at one spot.

But the last couple of weeks had been different. The darkness was rising, I felt a definite presence, an evil presence that was beginning to rule my life. The dog’s staring was now accompanied by a deep growl. A growl so deep that at times it sounded like the voice of a demon.

Then I began to lose control. At first I didn’t even realise that I was doing it….

[To be continued]

Boat Race via Twitter

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

Due to a rather eventful race I thought a blog dedicated to the Boat Race via Twitter was in order. All posts appeared on Twitter during what was, I think, one of the most entertaining races I can remember.

My first tweet about #theboatrace sums up what I always think….

https://twitter.com/#!/phillengthorn/status/188605244148695041

But then, thanks to Trenton, Twitter really came into its own….

https://twitter.com/#!/TweeterofWit/status/188619756331479040

https://twitter.com/#!/themiltonjones/status/188634185299279872

https://twitter.com/#!/uk_teacher/status/188624223223287808

https://twitter.com/#!/Agent_Rush/status/188619240901840897

https://twitter.com/#!/MirrorFootball/status/188619844596412416

And this probably sums up what everyone was thinking….

https://twitter.com/#!/TweeterofWit/status/188622921097424896

Overall an interesting afternoon watching #theboatrace, and thanks to Twitter a very entertaining one!

 

A-Z of New Music: A Reflection

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

I’m pleased to say that I can tick off March’s Project as complete! I have managed to listen to 26 ‘new’ bands/artists over the past month, and just as impressively I have managed to blog about them each day. Due, in part, to friends suggesting new indie bands there was definitely an indie feel to the music. Although this did make me question what ‘indie’ actually is? Not mainstream? Independent? Do ‘indie’ bands need a sub-genre? Indie-pop, indie-rock, twee-indie? Even now I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that I’ve had the pleasure, and in some cases, the misfortune, to listen to a variety of music:

Only two bands got a cheer: Allo Darlin’ and Urbantramper. Both great finds, both forced me to buy albums off iTunes, and both on the list of bands to see live.

Ten bands got a thumbs up. Of these bands, Boy Mandeville and Louise and the Pins got the closest to a cheer. I’d definitely like to see Boy Mandeville live at some stage.

Six bands left me undecided. Mainly because they were a bit heavy on the rock or they were a bit the same as everything else around at the moment.

Four bands got a thumbs down for various different reasons: too boring, too much 80s funk, don’t mix jazz and hip-hop or just plain Yuck.

Only Four bands left me with head in hands. Probably due, in part, to the genre, but also the fact I may be getting old.

April’s Project requires me to build a 1:130 model of The Cutty Sark, but it least I will now have some new music to listen to whilst I’m painstakingly glueing!

March’s Project….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

A-Z of New Music

After much deliberation March’s project has finally been decided…..’Phil’s A-Z of New Music’.

“What is Phil’s A-Z of New Music?” I hear you shout. Well after various ideas from various people: painting, swimming, model making, photography, star-gazing, to name but a few, I wanted something quite relaxing to do throughout March. And thanks to @ladymarples the decision has been made.

February was an interesting month, learning to play the ukulele was not as easy as I first thought, I didn’t seem to pick up the uke as often as I should have. Suffice to say: I’m no expert. Although if Noah and the Whale’s ukulele player suddenly dropped dead, I could probably manage to accompany them on ‘5 years time’ for at least the first 10-15 secs of the track. In a nutshell: I’m no George Formby! (although @kem27 did manage to get him confused with Norman Wisdom!).

So, March’s plan, to listen to and blog about ‘New Music’. Although when I say ‘new’ music, I actually mean ‘new’ to me. I hope to cover a range of genres, so there should be something for everyone!

If you have some some ideas of artists/bands I should listen to feel free to comment….

March?

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

February’s plan to learn to play the ukulele didn’t go too well. Although I can definitely play it better than I could 4 weeks ago.

I’m still not entirely sure what March’s project is going to be….

  • One idea was to borrow Amy’s posh camera and try my hand at some fancy photography.
  • Another was to learn to swim better – but after the physical efforts of janathon that may have to wait until the summer.
  • It has been suggested to do some sort of art/painting project.

A decision will be made by the end of the weekend……

Busy Weekend

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

The end of half-term has appeared incredibly quickly this time, and coincided with a very busy weekend.

First up was a trip to London late Friday evening to stay at Mums for a family gathering on Saturday. Brother Paul is home from China for a few days and my niece is visiting.

Saturday morning I went to Norman Park in Bromley to take part in my first parkrun, a free timed 5km run. It is a great idea and the race was great fun, three laps of Norman Park – finished in a time of 20.53. After the event you even get a text with your time and details of the race:

“Bromley results for event #130 – Your time was 20.53 – Congratulations on completing your 1st parkrun and your 1st at Bromley today. You finished in 41st place and were the 37th gent out of a field of 298 parkrunners and you came 5th in your age category VM40-44.”

AND they sent me a £15 off voucher I can use for my next pair of trainers from Sweatshop. Apparently these events take place all over the country at 9am on a Saturday morning. However, it would seem that my nearest ‘home’ parkrun is about 30 miles away! If anyone fancies running a parkrun near me, feel free!

Later in the day my niece came for a visit……

Grace is doing fantastic! I hope she enjoys ‘Discovery Bunny’ that we bought her. I drove back Saturday night to be ready for this morning’s Sleaford Half-marathon.

Initially I was not going to run this event but with the cancellation of the last two races due to snow, plus all the mileage I did in janathon, I thought I should go and run it. Firstly, let me just say it was a cold and very windy morning, when I say windy, think….

The Sleaford Half is an event I’ve done a number of times. A rural course, slightly undulating, and because it begins at RAF Cranwell, very open. So the wind was a big issue especially over the first half of the course. Finished in a time of 1:42.06 – pretty happy with that.

Next event up is a club 5-miler Frostbite followed by the Grantham Half-marathon.