Dancing in the dark

In it not always advisable to go dancing in the dark, especially when you are in a field walking the dog by torchlight.

Picture the scene, I am wandering round plugged into a world of my own listening to my new MP3 player. For some strange reason I wandered a different way over the field, it was very dark and without the torch (seeing as there was no moonlight) I couldn’t see where I was going. Of course this darkness doesn’t seem to bother the dog who is haring around like a frenzied monster. Because it is cold, I have on my big ski coat complete with fleece a hat and gloves, so I am nicely insulated against the wind and the wetness.

In an effort to keep in touch with the music of today I downloaded the top 100 Indie play list and was happily listening away when on came an unknown song that I really liked. So I did what I’m sure any person would do, I had a little dance and strutted my stuff as I walked along.

I then promptly fell into what I can only describe as a furrow. At the time it felt like a ditch, but on reflection it was more like a furrow. Anyway one moment I was ’strutting my stuff’ the next I was face down in a muddy field. Several thoughts ran through my mind, firstly along the lines as to what had just happened, secondly along the lines of the pain now shooting through my knee and my back and then thirdly a sense of panic as it was dark and I was lying in a big patch of mud.

The panic over the darkness was subsided when I realised that the beam of light I could see was my torch. I then slowly got up, established that nothing was broken and that I was simply covered in mud. Aside from a twinge in my knee and my back throbbing I seemed okay and slowly hobbled on my way to firmer ground.

During this entire debacle, the dog was stood there looking at me inquisitively with her head cocked to one side trying to work out what was going on. We eventually made our way onwards and an hour or so got home. I’m sure I’ll be aching a little tomorrow.

Next time I’m walking through that field, I won’t vary quite so far off the beaten track, I give no guarantees that I’ll stop the dancing though.

The evolution of the walkman and the return of the BGW

Many many years ago I fondly remember receiving my first cassette walkman. I must only have been eight or nine and I marvelled in my new found world of musical entertainment. It wasn’t really a walkman, rather a version made by Boots. I clearly remember that it was quite bulky, had buttons for play, fast forward and stop. Once you’d listened to one side of your cassette you had to take it out and turn it round. It also had headphones with orange foam on them.

Over time I progressed to a much smaller cassette walkman, then one that you didn’t need to take the cassette out when the side you were listening to was finished as well as having a reverse button!

I marvelled at my first CD walkman, yet now laugh at the sheer bulk of it along with the huge quantity of batteries that it consumed.

It might therefore come as a bit of a surprise to hear that the first MP3 player I got was a hand me down, from of all people - my father, about 8 months ago. He had bought an iPod and therefore his Creative Micro was no longer needed. The one time an MP3 player came in handy was when out walking the dog, without some music my head just churns and my mind goes off on incredible tangents. I also used the albums that I listened to as a guide for the distance I was walking. For example, Ryan Adams - Gold, is a 2 1/2 mile walk. A few weeks ago the inherited MP3 player lost its ability to hold a battery charge, which rendered it pretty much unusable. However I had a fair chunk of Amazon vouchers and found that they had some great deals on MP3 players.

On Monday I pressed the button and ordered this. An 8GB player is more than enough for me and it will force me to change my music around every couple of weeks. Ironically, it was cheaper to get it on next day delivery rather than normal first class post. I also bought a batch of CD’s to rip for use on the new player at the same time. After a quick charge and some time spent loading songs on during the day, it was suddenly walk time on Tuesday evening.

We walked and walked, then walked some more and then walked a little more. After about 6 miles the dog stopped and looked at me with a look that told me she’d really had enough, so we headed back home. She promptly flomped down on the sofa and fell asleep, snoring loudly for several hours.

The big giant walk (BGW) is back. The dog is now dead tired at night and I’m enjoying being out for long music filled walks once more. Every time I change the music I’m going to pick an obscure album that I haven’t listened to in a long time and listen to it, I have some CD’s that I haven’t listened to for ten years I’d say.