Saturday, June 28, 2003
Will they make fun of me?
Ah, this is so sad. The conforming thing was always part of adolescent peer groups, but it is going beyond tolerable levels.
Eyes down..
My copy of The Order of the Phoenix arrived today, I took it back to bed with coffee at 9.10 am and was still engrossed (and unwashed) at 11.30 when my neighbour rang the doorbell. I hid and read another chapter. Ain't retirement wonderful.
Ah, this is so sad. The conforming thing was always part of adolescent peer groups, but it is going beyond tolerable levels.
Eyes down..
My copy of The Order of the Phoenix arrived today, I took it back to bed with coffee at 9.10 am and was still engrossed (and unwashed) at 11.30 when my neighbour rang the doorbell. I hid and read another chapter. Ain't retirement wonderful.
| Permanent link
Tennis and bacon butties
We watched the terrific Roddick/Robredo match at Wimbledon at lunchtime, munching on new crusty bread, bacon and HP sauce and swigging big mugs of tea. Navvies' grub, post grass cutting. I must say it was a treat to watch Tommy the Spanish guy who resembles a young Richard Gere with a hint of James Dean. He plays a powerful, strategic game - and having a little beauty on court is very acceptable. The final score belied the quality of play - he gave Roddick quite a workout.
1 Thessalonians
I was stopped in my tracks tonight by hearing a setting of these words - I think the music was by Rutter. Here is simple and succinct instruction for repairing an uncaring world.
Go forth into the world in peace,
be of good courage,
hold fast that which is good,
render to no-one evil for evil,
strengthen the faint-hearted,
support the weak,
help the afflicted,
honour all people.
We watched the terrific Roddick/Robredo match at Wimbledon at lunchtime, munching on new crusty bread, bacon and HP sauce and swigging big mugs of tea. Navvies' grub, post grass cutting. I must say it was a treat to watch Tommy the Spanish guy who resembles a young Richard Gere with a hint of James Dean. He plays a powerful, strategic game - and having a little beauty on court is very acceptable. The final score belied the quality of play - he gave Roddick quite a workout.
1 Thessalonians
I was stopped in my tracks tonight by hearing a setting of these words - I think the music was by Rutter. Here is simple and succinct instruction for repairing an uncaring world.
Go forth into the world in peace,
be of good courage,
hold fast that which is good,
render to no-one evil for evil,
strengthen the faint-hearted,
support the weak,
help the afflicted,
honour all people.
| Permanent link
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Dodgy Dossier
Of the myriad inefficiencies produced by government departments recently, the most shaming was the February Dossier; it used, as evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons store, an outdated and totally unattributed graduate thesis lifted from the Internet. The dossier was presented to the United Nations and the world press as an important document based on UK military and covert research. When the gaffe was blown and the use of the thesis exposed, we were made to look total arses - unprofessional, cavalier and downright dishonest.
Unforgivable; my information training compels me to check provenance and give full citations for sources quoted in any document. I would have blasted any member of my team right out of the water if I had caught them doing such a shoddy thing.
So, how sickening to read Alastair Campbell's dismissive comments about it to the Foreign Affairs Committee - "just a briefing paper for the press" indeed. Read the riveting full text of that examination published here. I wish the magnificent Gwyneth Dunwoody had been on the committee, she would have stuck it to him.
The Coast: Norfolk
As on the highway?s quiet edge
He mows the grass beside the hedge,
The old man has for company
The distant, grey, salt smelling sea.
A poppied field, a cow and calf,
The finches on the telegraph
Across his faded back a hone,
He slowly, slowly scythes alone
In silence of the wind-soft air,
With ladies? bedstraw everywhere,
With whitened corn and tarry poles
And far off gulls like risen souls.
Francis Cornford
Even were it not about a place I like so well this would be special. It brings peace. There's a copy in the thumbed bundle of poems on my bedside table.
The Ladies? bedstraw is not out yet ? but soon.
B Creative
Dream up a film title.
Of the myriad inefficiencies produced by government departments recently, the most shaming was the February Dossier; it used, as evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons store, an outdated and totally unattributed graduate thesis lifted from the Internet. The dossier was presented to the United Nations and the world press as an important document based on UK military and covert research. When the gaffe was blown and the use of the thesis exposed, we were made to look total arses - unprofessional, cavalier and downright dishonest.
Unforgivable; my information training compels me to check provenance and give full citations for sources quoted in any document. I would have blasted any member of my team right out of the water if I had caught them doing such a shoddy thing.
So, how sickening to read Alastair Campbell's dismissive comments about it to the Foreign Affairs Committee - "just a briefing paper for the press" indeed. Read the riveting full text of that examination published here. I wish the magnificent Gwyneth Dunwoody had been on the committee, she would have stuck it to him.
The Coast: Norfolk
As on the highway?s quiet edge
He mows the grass beside the hedge,
The old man has for company
The distant, grey, salt smelling sea.
A poppied field, a cow and calf,
The finches on the telegraph
Across his faded back a hone,
He slowly, slowly scythes alone
In silence of the wind-soft air,
With ladies? bedstraw everywhere,
With whitened corn and tarry poles
And far off gulls like risen souls.
Francis Cornford
Even were it not about a place I like so well this would be special. It brings peace. There's a copy in the thumbed bundle of poems on my bedside table.
The Ladies? bedstraw is not out yet ? but soon.
B Creative
Dream up a film title.
| Permanent link
Friday, June 20, 2003
Interview with JKR
Jeremy Paxman was a pussy cat purring with J.K. Rowling, and who could blame him? She is so attractive and articulate that his interview had to go swimmingly. There was lot of really interesting chat about her writing methods and the future and final shape of the Potter saga. As to the horrible death of a significant figure in Book 5 which made her cry - my money is on Dumbledore, or just maybe, Hagrid?
Jeremy Paxman was a pussy cat purring with J.K. Rowling, and who could blame him? She is so attractive and articulate that his interview had to go swimmingly. There was lot of really interesting chat about her writing methods and the future and final shape of the Potter saga. As to the horrible death of a significant figure in Book 5 which made her cry - my money is on Dumbledore, or just maybe, Hagrid?
| Permanent link
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
| Permanent link
Monday, June 16, 2003
The leg division
Here's a Short Answer, Skinny.
Planning
We are just working out an itinerary for a trip to the East coast of the USA in October and want to spend a couple of nights in New York. Looking for accommodation I came across the Library Hotel - too pricey, but very, very tempting indeed.
Humph's definition...
Cluedo - the game that offers you the lighter side of psychopathic serial killing. (I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue. Radio 4)
Norfolk Translations - For Non Locals
Narridge Yoonyun = major Norfolk employer
how're yer gettin arn? = Norfolk greeting
hair = here
bare = sold by the pint
is that rioght? = comment to show attention being paid to speaker
ass a jouk = I'm just kidding
Windam = small town south of Norwich. (sensible abbreviation of it's proper name = Wymundimundimundum)
card = traditionally eaten with chips
Hum Base = DIY shop
fooze = electrical component on sale at Hum Base
fool = petrol or diesel
loos-tarfed = east coast fishing port
gatoo = sticky chocolate cake
foo too = get these developed at Boots
boost = to brag
jargon = like running, but slower
ruf = roof
stun = things you throw on the ruf
Here's a Short Answer, Skinny.
Planning
We are just working out an itinerary for a trip to the East coast of the USA in October and want to spend a couple of nights in New York. Looking for accommodation I came across the Library Hotel - too pricey, but very, very tempting indeed.
Humph's definition...
Cluedo - the game that offers you the lighter side of psychopathic serial killing. (I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue. Radio 4)
Norfolk Translations - For Non Locals
Narridge Yoonyun = major Norfolk employer
how're yer gettin arn? = Norfolk greeting
hair = here
bare = sold by the pint
is that rioght? = comment to show attention being paid to speaker
ass a jouk = I'm just kidding
Windam = small town south of Norwich. (sensible abbreviation of it's proper name = Wymundimundimundum)
card = traditionally eaten with chips
Hum Base = DIY shop
fooze = electrical component on sale at Hum Base
fool = petrol or diesel
loos-tarfed = east coast fishing port
gatoo = sticky chocolate cake
foo too = get these developed at Boots
boost = to brag
jargon = like running, but slower
ruf = roof
stun = things you throw on the ruf
| Permanent link
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Atomic Shakespeare
watery
sea marge
wanton
green
ebbing
Neptune
set
roaring
This is my first attempt at rewriting WS. What is so marvellous about it is the immediate interest it provokes - I have already started looking at my "Collected Works" after a long gap. If you have a go it is useful to adjust your view to 'full screen'.
If you don't know your history, you are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.
Zipper knows, for sure.
Styrogami
'......... is sculpture evolved from mentally extrapolating the trash and waste proliferation and combining the exponential growth of world population while factoring in rain forest depletion rates with due consideration given to the half-life of stored nuclear waste and the destruction potential inherent in modern day weaponry.'
Well, how about that!
watery
sea marge
wanton
green
ebbing
Neptune
set
roaring
This is my first attempt at rewriting WS. What is so marvellous about it is the immediate interest it provokes - I have already started looking at my "Collected Works" after a long gap. If you have a go it is useful to adjust your view to 'full screen'.
If you don't know your history, you are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.
Zipper knows, for sure.
Styrogami
'......... is sculpture evolved from mentally extrapolating the trash and waste proliferation and combining the exponential growth of world population while factoring in rain forest depletion rates with due consideration given to the half-life of stored nuclear waste and the destruction potential inherent in modern day weaponry.'
Well, how about that!
| Permanent link
Sunday, June 08, 2003
Village snips
- No electricity from 2am until 1pm today. A car came off the road in the rainy dark, hit a cable junction post and burst into flames, the driver died. The foliage all around is blackened. We cursed the lack of coffee this morning all unknowing of that terrible end..
- A thriving garage at the crossroads closed several months ago after an obviously strategic takeover. Now there's planning permission for twelve houses and the price of a plot is rumoured to be £250,000. Some profit.
- There is a new small estate on the edge of the village called Wild Orchid Meadow - built right over the land on which the beautiful things bloomed. It reminds me of the laughing china pig in the butcher?s window, a symbol adopted with no apparent sense of irony!
Brel
Jonathon Meades' article about one of my musical gods is passionate. The central theme, though, is less Brel than Belgium bashing.
'The French seem to consider Brel as a man who came over to their side, an artist who ridiculed his own country. I?m not so sure. When I was young and very francophile I wanted him to be a satirist, indeed, convinced myself that he was. That?s what I made myself see in him. Nowadays I find him poignant, melancholy, regretful, and peculiarly celebratory of the flat land and the bourgeoisie. He?s still not going to put British bums on Belgian seats, though.'
- No electricity from 2am until 1pm today. A car came off the road in the rainy dark, hit a cable junction post and burst into flames, the driver died. The foliage all around is blackened. We cursed the lack of coffee this morning all unknowing of that terrible end..
- A thriving garage at the crossroads closed several months ago after an obviously strategic takeover. Now there's planning permission for twelve houses and the price of a plot is rumoured to be £250,000. Some profit.
- There is a new small estate on the edge of the village called Wild Orchid Meadow - built right over the land on which the beautiful things bloomed. It reminds me of the laughing china pig in the butcher?s window, a symbol adopted with no apparent sense of irony!
Brel
Jonathon Meades' article about one of my musical gods is passionate. The central theme, though, is less Brel than Belgium bashing.
'The French seem to consider Brel as a man who came over to their side, an artist who ridiculed his own country. I?m not so sure. When I was young and very francophile I wanted him to be a satirist, indeed, convinced myself that he was. That?s what I made myself see in him. Nowadays I find him poignant, melancholy, regretful, and peculiarly celebratory of the flat land and the bourgeoisie. He?s still not going to put British bums on Belgian seats, though.'
| Permanent link
Friday, June 06, 2003
Birthday
Dear Clara Eliza and Winifred Mary,
Hope you like your red carnations among the daisies and speedwells.
Treezer raked flat the molehills, remembering and smiling.
Your Mass is said this morning behind bars that could never confine you.
You walk through every day of my life, especially this special day.
Anna.
Dear Clara Eliza and Winifred Mary,
Hope you like your red carnations among the daisies and speedwells.
Treezer raked flat the molehills, remembering and smiling.
Your Mass is said this morning behind bars that could never confine you.
You walk through every day of my life, especially this special day.
Anna.
| Permanent link
Thursday, June 05, 2003
Progress
Hell, I have been so frustrated and it's all so boring for anyone else. How can one possibly moan when there are no basic amenities in, say, the burning wastes of Niger. I have access to food, water and power. But... we are now in final stages of kitchen building after endless delays. We have had no mains drinking water, washing machine or cooker since 27th February. My builder had a heart attack (he is making good progress). The cabinet doors didn't arive from Italy, or Swindon, or somewhere. The tiles didn't match, the plumber was in Cyprus, the carpenter was building an effing mansion somewhere. It went on and on. Praise heaven, today we have a sink, a work surface, wall tiles, water. It looks beautiful, birch and slate. Nearly there. Who is the patron saint of kitchens? I am on my knees.
Hell, I have been so frustrated and it's all so boring for anyone else. How can one possibly moan when there are no basic amenities in, say, the burning wastes of Niger. I have access to food, water and power. But... we are now in final stages of kitchen building after endless delays. We have had no mains drinking water, washing machine or cooker since 27th February. My builder had a heart attack (he is making good progress). The cabinet doors didn't arive from Italy, or Swindon, or somewhere. The tiles didn't match, the plumber was in Cyprus, the carpenter was building an effing mansion somewhere. It went on and on. Praise heaven, today we have a sink, a work surface, wall tiles, water. It looks beautiful, birch and slate. Nearly there. Who is the patron saint of kitchens? I am on my knees.
| Permanent link
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
A good mate
To have friend who feeds you fine cooking once a week for three months while you are kitchenless is fortunate. That the friend is also able to share with you the extreme beauty of her garden and its great drifts of misty colour is an even greater piece of good fortune.
To have friend who feeds you fine cooking once a week for three months while you are kitchenless is fortunate. That the friend is also able to share with you the extreme beauty of her garden and its great drifts of misty colour is an even greater piece of good fortune.
| Permanent link
Sunday, June 01, 2003
Fine words butter no parsnips
Phone call tonight from my friend Pat, the nursery owner. Her husband took a vanload of her fantastic plants to a big sale at Pensthorpe this week-end. Debriefing at home this evening he reported a very complimentary comment received from an enthusiastic guy.
"These are wonderful - such healthy, honest plants and so well-priced. Every year I think that your nusery produces the best display in this event. Well done!"
"Well, that's great", said Pat "What did he buy?"
"Bugger all, as usual", said Dennis.
Currently...
□ Savouring Douglas Adams reading himself.
□ Trying to establish when this elusive debut album will appear - intriguing Camille O'Sullivan sings Brel. The Nick Cave track is haunting.
□ Listening for a little while to Coltrane.
Phone call tonight from my friend Pat, the nursery owner. Her husband took a vanload of her fantastic plants to a big sale at Pensthorpe this week-end. Debriefing at home this evening he reported a very complimentary comment received from an enthusiastic guy.
"These are wonderful - such healthy, honest plants and so well-priced. Every year I think that your nusery produces the best display in this event. Well done!"
"Well, that's great", said Pat "What did he buy?"
"Bugger all, as usual", said Dennis.
Currently...
□ Savouring Douglas Adams reading himself.
□ Trying to establish when this elusive debut album will appear - intriguing Camille O'Sullivan sings Brel. The Nick Cave track is haunting.
□ Listening for a little while to Coltrane.