Extended time off part one

 

Monday 23 June 2025 - 

I left work at about ten to six, stopping off at Tesco for a breather, and to fuel up. I forgot to fuel up, but must have been ages, because it was around ten past seven when I got home. 

Louise suggested breakfast, which by my own fault led to me falling asleep at around half past nine, and then waking up and falling asleep all day. 

Some editing was done on Toppermost episodes, and I have a book to read about the Paul McCartney album Press To Play, as Ed and myself will be chatting with the author Luca Perasi on Wednesday for When They Was Fab. 

We watched the film Firebrand, which starred Alicia Vikander and Jude Law. I gave the film three and a half stars on Letterboxd for a large number of historical inaccuracies that I will not mention, as they are spoilers for the most part. 

It was sometime after 1 when I fell asleep, and I woke up without an alarm at around 5:30am Tuesday morning…

Tuesday 24 June 2025 - 

I caught up on some blog writing during the day and evening, as well as doing some research for recording Toppermost of the Poppermost that night with Ed and Kit. 

There were some great (and not so good) songs to listen to for the recording that coming night. 

Our viewing included watching the superb film Se7en, not for the first time. It of course stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and others. It’s been out for years now, so it won’t be a spoiler - I think that given the recent history with actor Kevin Spacey, he’s even more suiting to the role of the killer in the film. 

Our recording for Toppermost of the Poppermost that evening/night saw us recording the entirety of the U.K. charts for July of 1965, and the first week of the US charts for that same timeframe. 

Wednesday 25 June 2025 - 

Not much sleep overnight, as I got into bed at about twenty past two in the morning. I woke up because of neighbourhood dogs yapping at around 5:30 and 6:30, eventually waking up properly at about half past eight. 

I had a fun chat with Martin Franklin about his show Cassette Culture, which brought back memories of my own history in the music scene, and how I still experiment with music using a portable four track tape recorder from time to time. 

Our pre-arranged hour long chat turned into around two hours. I think that we were both in the zone with the conversation, and there were so many things that came to mind from our own experiences of the pre-internet age of independent music. 

After this I worked on show notes for a chat that myself and Ed will be having with author Luca Perasi, about his book on the Paul McCartney album Press To Play. The notes were shared with Ed in a Google Doc. 

Among other things, we watched Not Going Out season 14 episode 5 (Dragon Castle), and the great new film Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. 

After this myself and Ed recorded what I think was a great chat with Luca about his book, and the Press To Play album in general. It went longer than I thought it would, but it seemed to have caught my experimental music love so well. 

I had already recorded the chat for Pods Like Us with Martin Franklin, which also did the same, and so this followed later in the day. 

I’m so glad that Louise lets me do this at the moment, because the time off should really be time together. 

I’m building up the courage to book an appointment with the doctor, to check some things out. I won’t say any more.