For shifting lard I tend to a) overeat less b) yomp more. Fascinating, eh? Well, it’s working, and more importantly I am getting to see some wildlife and listen to some podcasts.
In theory I am going to blog each yomp. In reality I won’t. But anyhoos, the times I do will include
a) links to videos of photographed birdies
b) commentary on whatever podcasts I’ve been listening to.
(Frustratingly the podcasts I listened to on Sunday are all autodeleted from my steam-powered iPhone. One of them was quite good – The Craft of Campaigns | Disrupting the Movement Ecosystem, which was about the activism to repeal the US military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Another was vacuous tripe, but let’s keep it positive, I guess.
So, to set the picture: I strap on my weighted jacket (11 kgs or so of 1, 2, 5 and 10 pence coins) and a daypack that now has two bricks in it. I set my alarm on my phone to half the time I want to yomp (If I’m not doing a distanced-based effort), and off I set, with enough podcasts (usually played at 1.25 speed) to keep me from having to think. I should probably take a pen and some paper to jot down useful stuff too…
The plan is to shift lard, get fit and expose myself to some new ideas. Over the last few weeks the major useful one has been some stuff on Wilfred Bion (post-war psychoanalysis). Most of the climate/energy related podcasts I’ve tried have been mildly to extremely meh, with the exception of The Energy Transition Show.
Anyhoos. Today. 140 minutes to bridge 87 and back. Saw cygnets, goslings, moorhens and ducks. And a dirty great heron (#highlight). Videos of the cygnets and herons at the bottom of this post.
Podcasts there were but three – Two of David Runciman and his Past Present Future thing – one talking about existentialism and psychoanalysis, another on anti-Suffrage (with Helen Lewis) and another about James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son. I generally like Runciman, but he’s dumbing it down a bit, and repeating himself a lot (I think the medium demands it?) There was also – separate podcast – a fun thing about Neanderthals, though the interviewed author was irritatingly pollyannish about our species’ prospects.
So, if you have podcast recommendations, please let me know. And now, those vids.
marchudson.net 
Marc, you are not alone, mentally I am walking with you.