random thoughts

Random thought #1: if anyone wants to buy me a pair of jeans (don't all rush at once), then: Next, loose fit, size 34R. Anything else is too tight round the arse/thigh area. I had a nasty moment a couple of months ago when I though they'd stopped doing loose fit jeans, but they must have just sold out, as I popped into the Next at Cribbs Causeway this afternoon and they had lots, including a black pair which I bought. There was some precedent for my fear - Gap used to do a style called Original Fit which were perfect but they stopped doing them, just to annoy me I suspect. Also - I appear to be allergic to 99% of all known spray deodorants, so what happens is: I find one I'm not allergic to, everything's rosy for a few months, they change (sorry, "improve") the formula in some way, and hey presto I'm allergic to it, so I have to find another one. Past ones include Sure for Men, Arrid Extra Dry and PhysioSport. Current one is Adidas Ice Dive - if Mr. Adidas is reading, please don't monkey with the formula for a while. Fascinating fact of the day: the sportswear company Adidas was founded by a German chap named Adi Dassler (you see what he did there), and his brother Rudi Dassler founded the sportswear company Puma. FACT.
Random thought #2: If England really really want to win the Ashes this winter (and I guarantee no-one wants them to more than I do) they need some more batting experience than they've got at the moment, especially with the doubts over Marcus Trescothick. And the obvious man for the job in my book is Mark Butcher. There's been a lot of talk of him being an unfulfilled talent in the same way as his current Surrey team-mate Mark Ramprakash, but that's just nonsense. Butcher played 40-odd consecutive tests after being recalled at the start of the 2001 Ashes series and averaged over 40 - better than anyone over the same period except Trescothick, Vaughan and maybe Thorpe, I suspect. He's only 33 (I say "only", by which I mean he's younger than me) and he's been in good form this season, as well.
Random thought #3: Possibly the first in another occasional series - Albums I Listened To Today. While doing the washing up, as it happens.

Broken Boy Soldiers by The Raconteurs: the thing that rings loud and clear out of this album is Jack White's sense of liberation at throwing off the purist shackles of the White Stripes and just, well, rocking out. If I was Meg I'd be brushing up on my typing, just in case I was out of a job for a while. That said it's a very old-fashioned 33 minutes long, and the first two songs (White's Steady As She Goes and Brendan Benson's Hands) are by some distance the best things on the album, but it's still bracing stuff. They're playing here in Bristol on October 22nd, but it's been sold out for weeks. Try eBay.

No Other by Gene Clark. This is the legendary solo album by the founding member of the Byrds, released in 1974 and hailed as one of the great "lost" albums until it was re-released on CD a few years ago. It's almost impossible to categorise - "cosmic American music" is the Gram Parsons quote nicked in the sleeve notes, but a sort of unique hybrid psychedelic rock-country-gospel combo is probably not far off. And if From A Silver Phial is not my current Favourite Song Ever, then it's certainly in the top 4 or 5.