The amazing gig was Micah P. Hinson and the Opera circuit at the Tunnels in Aberdeen, a week ago. I'd already been tipped off that Micah Hinson was good live, and had coaxed Richard, Keith and Rocio along with this promise and a listen to Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress. Richard was obviously already convinced as he went out and bought two albums before the gig. For those of you who don't know Hinson's music, well it's not exactly happy, but it's certainly sincere. he has a pretty amazing life story, especially given that he's on 23 years old. You can read a bit about him on Wikipedia, an interview here and more importantly you can hear a bit of his music at his myspace site. If you ever get a chance to see him live, make sure you don't miss it. Even if the genres he gets put in (usually Americana or alt-country, or even alt country/punk) sound unappealing, I don't think there's many people who wouldn't be impressed at his live performances. He and a bass/banjo/lapsteel player and a drummer played for 2 1/2 hours, stopping only for a quick cigarette in the doorway (smoking is banned in all venues in Scotland) at one stage. And they played hard. Any of you who have spoken to me (or Keith, Richard or Rocio) have probably heard enough about this already, but wow.
Last Saturday I took part in my first running race for years. This was the 10km Balmoral run, in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. The weather was perfect (in fact I got sunburnt) and with 1500 or so people running in the main race, with still others in the 5km and kids' races and plenty of friends and family around the atmosphere was pretty cheery too. As usual, I made it to the starting line just in time and lined up next to Alan and then was off almost straight away. The first 3.5 km was flat, followed by a really pretty steep hill for 1.5km or so and then downhill and flat all the way home. I thought I was taking it pretty easy on the flat, but then did push things a bit harder (but not too hard) up the hill, which is usually my strength. I did overtake the most people while I was heading uphill, but then a lot of people really don't cope too well with hills! I passed the pipers playing on the hilltop and then found I didn't have too much left to give. I don't like running downhill, but even once I got to the flat I wasn't feeling too wonderful. The course is cunningly designed so you can see the finish line for about the last 2 km of the race. Eventually I found the energy to accelerate slightly towards the finish line, and would have gone a bit harder if I'd known that Alan's wife Ruth was only 4 place ahead of me. I was pretty pleased to finish in 47.22 - anything under 50 mins would have satisfied me, anything over 1hr would have disappointed. Except for the freakish Mark, who despite a lack of training and a heavy smoking habit finished in 11th place, I finished ahead of all my workmates, and if I was competing against anyone I guess it was them. You can check out the results here if you're interested. Here's a photo after the finish. Don't look at my skinny legs.
The final highlight I guess was finding a place to live! It's a great flat near the city and near the beach. I won't be moving in for a week or two, so after moving out from the Cunningham Building on Sunday, I'll be couch surfing for a bit. Jane arrives on the 25th, hopefully to a welcoming flat.
It's a bank holiday weekend here and I've decided at the last minute to join some friends for a trip to the Isle of Skye! Back on Monday.
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