Bit of a daytime drinking session on Friday so missed out on the planned 4 miles. Back on track with a 3 mile-ish run today. Two laps of Albert Park perimeter. Got a few hundred yards and then the skies opened up with a biblical scale downpour of rain and hail! Sheltered under a tree (not the safest place in a storm of course) looking like a drowned black cat in my fetching lycra 3/4 leggings and "borrowed" 100 Parkrun top. Once the sky almost immediately cleared I set off again, acutely aware of the huge puddles on the road and passing cars. I was already soaked but didn't fancy giving any drivers the satisfaction of a double drenching. Decent run and the rain certainly helped keep me cool. Managed to dry off a bit by the end too so must have been working up a bit of heat. Also managed a prolonged sprint finish down the bottom end of the park without getting too much out of breath so my general fitness (if not my liver) must be improving.
Soundtrack - Best of The Cardigans
A bit obsessed with the early-era Cardigans at the moment. Woke up with a song about Nina Persson, the be-dimpled, cherubic lead singer in my head a couple of days ago, which will surface as a Cherry Head, Cherry heart recording soon (I reckon Naomi sounds a good deal like her anyway). I used to play the first couple of albums to death back when they were released and mourned them a touch when I heard Lovefool on the First Band on The Moon Album and knew they would have to be relinquished to the general population. Their output from then on, although still great songs, did less and less for me as Nina ditched the kitsch 60s bubblegum image and started wearing leather trousers (never a good thing on anyone really. Surely incredibly sweaty?). She started looking generally more vampish and the music slowed down from the easy, up-tempo sunshine beats to a more ploddy rock pace (as was the wont of many 1990s bands post-Oasis. In the Cardigans defence though they did cover Black Sabbath songs on their early albums so had some form), albeit of a more inventive and genuinely melodic strain. Most bands that go on to the greater success their early fans wish for have that key moment when you know they've gone to a different world. Pulp had Common People, The Verve (formerly just Verve when they were really good) had Bittersweet Symphony and The Barron Knights had Taste of Aggro. Pulp clawed back some credibility with the excellently dark and fractured This is Harcore but The Verve imploded almost as soon as they broke through and the less said about The Barron Knights the better. When I get on a bit of an obsessive streak with a band I tend to buy up their entire catalogue, DVDs etc so maybe I'll warm to the later era Cardigans. Reviews of their post-Gran Turismo stuff are pretty good so who knows maybe I'll embrace them fully with my heart again. Until then the first 3 albums will do just fine.
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