thewashingmachinepost




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boyz in the hood

9/8

in the lounge of the house in which i was brought up, my parents had a glass-doored bookcase which sat adjacent to the fireplace and pretty much right next to the sofa. the top shelf was filled with little knick-nacks that my parents had acquired over the years, while the middle two shelves accommodated that for which the bookcase was designed: books, including a set of encyclopaedias and a dictionary. the lowest shelf contained mostly 45rpm vinyl records, the majority of which were of no real significance, apart from a parlaphone-labelled single inside a white sleeve with the parlophone logo on the front.

the b-side of this recording featured a composiiton entitled blue rondo a la turk, a title that had both my brother and i totally confuddled, but we did enjoy the strident piano refrain of this instrumental. the obverse played one of the jazz idiom's most popular tunes: dave brubeck's take-five. it was many a long year before we recognised that the title referred to the time signature in which saxophonist, paul desmond, had composed this iconic piece, one that particularly grabbed the attention of yours truly, due to the joe morello drum solo in the middle.

7/8

i subsequently grew up listening to jazz and to yes, genesis, emerson, lake and palmer (no relation) et al, none of whom would avoid playing in an odd time signature, if there happened to be one going spare in the studio. thus, many of my early years behind a drumset had me relatively confident in many dfferent time signatures, blissfully unaware that the predominant numbers in the world of commercial music were four, and four.

for those not of a musical persuasion, let me briefly explain. wriiten music is divided into bars of equal measure, the latter of which is always signified at the beginning of the very first bar in which that time signature rules. this is predominantly to ease the hardship of composition and subsequent reading. it is far easier for the orchestral conductor or band director to ask the musicians to commence at (say) bar 32, rather than describe an arbitrary spot on a sheet of staff inscribed paper.

5/4

if a musical piece is signified to be in 4/4, that would mean there are four equal beats in the bar, and each beat lasts one quarter-note. a bar of 7/8 would mean seven beats to the bar, each beat occupying an eighth-note. any time signature beginning with an odd number on the top, is said to be (unsurprisingly) an odd time-signature

so, while undertaking the third day of this year's festive 500 on a particularly grim thursday morning, framed by persistent rain and a galeforce and remarkably cold easterly wind, i was wont to let my mind wander to subject matter that would hopefully distract me from the inclement conditions. given that cyclists are often encouraged to 'find their own rhythm', particularly when climbing, it struck me at that point, that said rhythms perhaps ought to subject themselves to the even, or uneven time signatures that pervade the world of the inveterate percussionist. flat riding, it appears, is best carried out in 9/8 or 7/8 if pedalling along a straight stretch of single track, while the occasional wiggle in the roadway opens itself to being ridden in 5/4 (oddly, the time signature of sting's 'seven days').

no matter the length of any climb you might come across, it should be ridden in 4/4; there is no better time signature in which to get your groove on.

4/4

this was all going quite swimmingly, until a rhythm of a different order impinged itself upon my purgatorial perambulations. it is several weeks since i offered an initial review of rapha's explore hooded gore-tex pullover, at which point i had managed to get it wet, but scarcely sufficiently to adjudge the veracity of its breathable waterproofing. at that point in time, i claimed to be less than a fan of hoods, particularly, as in this case, those which proved not to be removable. however, given that it was raining when i left the croft, i bravely wore the hood over a winter cap and under my helmet. it was the wind-driven freezing rain bouncing off the hood, that provided a percussive counterpoint to my pedalling in seven.

rapha + gore=tex hooded pullover

after those four and a half hours, i can happily confirm that i appear now to be a fan of hoods, particularly the peaked gore-tex version as described. even when looking rearwards to appraise myself of any vehicles approaching from behind, visibility was excellent, and not once did i view the inside of the hood. the pullover's waterproofing actually proved to be quite effective; i wore a thermal gilet 'neath my gore-tex-ness, since the pullover bears no thermal properties whatsoever, and i cannot deny that the fabric on either side of the zip was a tad damp when the pullover was removed. i have a feeling this may have been partially encouraged by water dripping from the lower-portion of the hood below the chin, but it may also have seeped through from the quarter-zip, which is not covered by any form of storm-flap.

however, both sleeves were impressively dry, after all those hours in the rain, as was the back of the gilet and my sportwool jersey. there was a smidgeon of dampness around both the jersey and gilet collars, but again, i figure that sneaked in below the hood. i'm not sure it's possible to build a jacket of this style and expect the contents to remain 100% dessicated, but after this long in persistent, driving rain, i figure the results were rather impressive, and i'm now less than concerned about any future festive precipitation.

rapha's gore-tex explore range hooded pullover is available in dark navy, dark yellow, or plum and in sizes ranging from xs to xxl at a retail price of £250 (the plum version is currently in the sale at £175)

rapha + goretex explore hooded pullover

friday 27 december 2019

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................