I'm finding it hard

to separate anything I did last week into a meaningful, discrete activity. Whenever I try to isolate a given incident, my brain does something like the following: <mental deep breath>​work-​french-​work-​bandpractise-​work-​running-​work-​badminton-​work-​boozing-​running-​bluesgig-​running-​visithome​<and relax>

It is doubly concerning to me that for at least half of the spare time I had, I voluntarily chose to do something either physically or mentally edifying and forewent the option of getting plastered.

About the only point at which I just sat back and joyfully did nothing was for a few minutes on Friday evening after work. I sat on the quayside at the shore in Leith, waiting for my next pint to be ferried back from the bar, listening to Grandaddy on the iPod - a track called The Warming Sun, coincidentally enough - and watched the sun set.

After the genius of Buddy Guy last weekend, I jumped at the chance to go to another free blues gig with Kate on Saturday night. It was Jason's birthday that day as well, so I dutifully knocked a couple back with him and then headed over to the Caley Brewery about 9.30 or so. The gig was never, I think, going to be as good as last Sunday's, but even then it was a little disappointing. The Caley's hall becomes sauna-like maybe half an hour into any given event there, and the sweat was dripping from the ceiling joists by the time we arrived. The audience had the look of hardened blues aficionadoes, displaying just that level of disregard for personal appearance that marks the true musical enthusiast. (The Buddy Guy crowd seemed more normal to an extent. Given that the tickets were £32 for the non-freeloaders, perhaps they were rich blues aficionadoes, dressed by personal shoppers.)

The band sounded just a fraction perfunctory, like they were going through the motions without ever really approaching genuine enthusiasm. We bought some drinks, headed to a table outside and soaked up A) the festival atmosphere and B) the haar.

Sunday has been a bit of a drag, to be perfectly honest. I went for another run, feeling fairly confident after a couple of 7K+ runs on Wednesday and Saturday, but my cardiovascular system wasn't really in it. I called it a day after 4K or so and headed back to the flat to stew in the muggy air for an hour or so. I got the train back home to visit my gran in hospital, had some dinner with my parents and then got back on a train bound for Edinburgh.

So after a good, if busy week, I'm left feeling a bit pensive and disconcerted.