Train games on the Loop

So I played a little game this morning on the train, admittedly with a little help from Spotify.

It’s a game I’ve made up and decided to call Supergroup Loop.

There’s rules and everything!

Game rules (please play responsibly).

Link the first or last word in the song title to the artist that immediately follows, eventually linking back to the very first artist. However, the last song must be a cover version of the penultimate song title. Got it?

H§ere’s my first Loop. Happy listening.

Supergroup Loop #1 - Pet Shop Boys

1. Pet Shop Boys Go west

2. Go West SOS

3. The SOS Band Weekend girl

4. The Weeknd The hills

5. Sugar Hill Gang 8th wonder

6. Stevie Wonder Golden lady

7. Lady Gaga Poker face

8. The Faces Miss judges farm

9. The Farm Groovy train

10. Train Hey soul sister

11. Sister Sledge All American girls

12. Girls Aloud Machine

13. Rage Against the Machine Guerilla radio

14. Gorillaz Busted and blue

15. Deacon Blue Real gone kid

16. Kid Rock Born free

17. Free Mr big

18. Mister Mister Broken wings

19. Wings Jet

20. Jet Are you gonna be my girl

21. Scouting for Girls Elvis isn’t dead

22. Elvis Always on my mind

23. Pet Shop Boys Always on my mind

For the love of logos

Loving this logomark for the development site of London Stone at 111 Cannon Street, London.

The mysterious Stone has been re-located to The Museum of London whilst 111 is being modernised. It's due for completion later this year.

Nike - Nothing Beats a Londoner. A big tick from me

This caught my undivided attention last week whilst I sat down to watch a little prime time TV. Inspiring work by Wieden & Kennedy.

Just go and watch it here.

One sweet, one sour

Always been fond of this logotype from British cider company Bulmers. The packaging design works nicely side by side too.

On a bad note, here's a link to a recent article which explains how brand giants can somewhat controversially help muscle into new markets.

Britain's going nuts for it, just like me

I was glad to hear in the news section of the current Waitrose Weekend paper that peanut butter is fast becoming Britiain’s breakfast spread of choice with sales of over £93m last year. It has long been my favourite thing ever and I highly recommend everyone eats at least half a jar a day, of the Peter Pan variety of course.

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

© classic_film on Visualhunt.com /CC BY-NC

Christmas truffles

A client came into the office this week to deliver some chocolates to say thanks. My god these things are good! I especially enjoyed the Around Midnight Espresso flavour. 

http://www.boojabooja.com/

22 mile swim challenge

So today I completed my final leg of the Aspire Channel Swim that I signed up for some 12 weeks ago. The reason:  help raise money for people with spinal cord injuries.

It's basically a case of swimming 22 miles (the length of the channel) in 12 weeks - an average of 1.83 miles per week.

With a new born child on my hands I was able to get in 2 swims per week on average. When other commitments got in the way I had to make up some time.

I did get a little behind the weekly average but luckily  a big session on Wednesday helped ease the load on my final swim today to reach Calais.

I've got to say I enjoyed every moment and it got me back into swimming and has helped me to improve my technique but most importantly raise a small amount for charity.

View fullsize

My longest swim session

New bookie wookie

So I purchased a new book today from the sale we have at work. It's called Around the World in Cut-outs by @paperboyo

Paperboyo, (real name Rich McCor) talks about his daily commute and mundane happenings of both living and working in London and ultimately losing sense of what's around him.

Not happy, he decides to take a fresh approach to the City he takes for granted, and photographs it in fun and interesting ways by adding his own paper cut out to the photos.

In his own words, he became 'a tourist in his own city'. A fascination of Instagram followed and things went from there.

He's since been around the world photographing all sorts of landmarks with his paper crafts and then came this fun little book.

Here are a couple of my favourites.

My bright new kicks

So I took delivery of these beauties today. Not my first pair of Nike's (obviously! that would be stupid) but they are my first pair of flyknits and I've got to say I love 'em. I was a little hesitant to part with the extra cash at first but I love everything about them and my feet do too.

Nike are a superbrand for good reason. An amazing amount of R&D goes into trainers like these and their marketing is something else. It's no surprise they make up about half the entries in this nice little book I have - expect more chat about that later, but for now, let's just stare in admiration at these bad boys.

Original 1992 Nike Air Huarache advert

Life cycle

My Instagram post when I realised I'd been successful in applying through the RideLondon ballot

Ssssh! It's not a race… Well that's what Prudential RideLondon emails and paraphernalia kept telling us riders from day one, but on Sunday 30th July, I was sure mine and many other's competitive spirits will come out and we'd all be hell for rubber gunning it across the streets of London, hoping to become the first novice over the line.

Yeah right. For me there was a bigger picture here.

RideLondon 2017

2:19 mins

Back in 2013 I'd decided to compile a small but significant list of things i would like to achieve in the next 5 years. I kept this to myself for a few years and slowly realised that I was chipping away at the list. It started with an amazing engagement proposal to my wife in Central Park and so naturally we married a year later.

Today I'm a father to a wonderful 4 month old girl, Connie, but prior to that, I'd applied for the RideLondon event in the likelihood I could tick off another of my goals. Sure enough I got a place and as long as I stayed fit, my 5 year life plan was edging towards completion.

 

Non-race day

From the start at Olympic park in Stratford to the finish line along the famous pink tarmac of the mall in west London, crowds were out in their numbers. Everyone seemed to be having so much fun, apart from the poor sod who stacked it on the first bend out of the Park.

That aside, the organisers carried out an amazing job all round and the decision to close the roads really did make it a rather quick 46 mile route - helped by the good weather that the later starters certainly benefited from.

I'm embarrassed to say I only managed one 30 miler in training and a couple of short last minute workouts on the watt bike in the gym so my expectations of a top time were low.  Still, I had become a dad recently so my priorties lie somewhat elsewhere.

However I was more than happy with my unofficial time of 2hrs 19 secs which I believe was largely down to smart food/drink intake, which if anything, made me stronger over the final 6 miles of the course. Sadly, not everybody finishes the ride. I'd like to send my condolences to the family of Maris Ozol, of whom sadly lost his life during the event. My donation is the very least I could do.

I'll definitely be applying again next year when the ballot opens on 7th august but for now my attention turns to running, with my sights on the final topic on my list, a 3rd Marathon.

I'll probably apply for London again but after completing the Berlin and Barcelona courses, I may have to travel beyond London to guarantee a place before my 5 year plan expires.

Baby B is growing up fast

So just the pink polka dot curtains to get then, and the nursery is complete. Very happy with the decal too. Let's hope little Connie May sleeps as peacefully here as she has done in her crib.