Message for Mum

Hello Mum - I do like our occasional conversation by blog!

I'm sure that Neil Gaiman understands Terry Pratchett far better than you or me, given that he actually knows him, but I know what you mean. Terry does come across well in interviews, and whenever I hear him speak I am reminded that there is a huge body of work of his that I must get stuck into one day, having managed not to read a single book of his thus far (Dave has always been a big fan).

Mind you, should I ever have the terrible misfortune of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, I would imagine that I would go through a stage (possibly temporary, possibly longer!) of being spectacularly pissed off and angry about the situation!

As to the latest Book People catalogue, yes, definitely some good bargains as always, although some of the best bargains seem to be for things that I already have (Ian Fleming, Douglas Adams ...). Will be interested to hear what Mitch Albom is like - not actually read either!

Talk soon.

M x

Sarnie

Fringe benefit (or should that be fridge benefit) of getting in from work at 11pm = the best sausage sarnie I've had in ages waiting for me, prepared by my lovely wife before she went to bed!

Lutyens again

A quick check of the archive and it was back in March that I first went to the restaurant where I had lunch today, although that time it was a work do, and we were in a private dining room in the basement. Today we were upstairs in the main dining room, and very pleasant it was too. Quite amusing to think that C&C from all those years ago at school have done alright - we're even allowed in to eat at posh London restaurants from time to time!

Win

Great day's golf - a win for Europe by five points - 16 ½ - 11 ½. So, we even managed a narrow victory in the singles matches, and extended our overnight lead. Not that that's the most important thing - the big news is that we got more than 14 and retained, and won, the cup.

Check twitter feed for match by match summary!

Ryder

Absolutely loving the Ryder Cup so far. Glued to the TV, and tomorrow's singles are going to be fantastic. Quite how we ended up with both fourball sessions going 2 ½ - 1½ to the USA, and then Europe coming storming back on both afternoons to take the foursomes by 3 ½ - ½ each time around just defies belief. Maybe it once again goes a little bit towards the theory of the USA players not having the same team mentality as the European guys (i.e. when you have to take alternate shots with the same ball, somehow the Americans just don't cope as well?).

This morning Rose and Stenson led the way, and despite Watson and Kuchar playing some impressive golf themselves, the Europeans made something crazy like 12 birdies in 16 holes to win 3&2. But, that was the only blue on the board this morning, and our only other score was from a hard fought half from Rory and Ian ('Mr Ryder Cup') Poulter against Walker and Fowler. Poulter hadn't been living up to his nickname and looked out of sorts until he chipped in at the 15th for shot of the day, and then the familiar eyes-bulging, fist-pumping, chest-thumping Poults was back in action.

Otherwise this morning, the USA Ryder Cup rookie pairing of Reed and Spieth confirmed what everybody had suspected yesterday that Captain Tom had made a bit of a tactical blunder by leaving them out of the second session, as they chalked up another big victory.

So, the European lead had been narrowed to just one point going into the afternoon, and the quality of golf did dip a little on both sides, partly an inevitability of the move from four balls to two, and partly a reflection of a few players showing signs of some battle fatigue, especially those who were out for their fourth session (note - interesting that Mickelson - probably the senior and most decorated player on the USA team was left out of both sessions today!) . But it was the European team who held it together, and all of the partnerships performed:

- GMac looked in control, although to be honest I think he was probably playing second fiddle to the Frenchman Dubuisson who was playing some fantastic golf, especially his approach play. The European pair were 4 or 5 up by the turn and that match was only ever going one way.

- Another pairing of experience with a newcomer and Westwood and Donaldson brought home another point. Again Donaldson looked pretty relaxed out there and appeared to be loving the Ryder Cup experience, but then, two pairings with Westie and two points won, and you would, wouldn't you?!

- Garcia and McIlroy - what a pairing! After scrambling to bring in a half yesterday afternoon our boys looked strong today, and were worthy winners. Sergio was honest in saying that he was probably the junior partner out there, but then again, just having that bundle of positive energy bouncing along next to you must surely count for a few shots.

- And finally Rose and Kaymer - Justin didn't have anything like as strong an afternoon compared to the morning fourballs, but then again, as they said in commentary, the morning round was pretty close to perfection. Martin missed a few putts this afternoon, but the guys stuck to their task, kept it going, and in the end deserved the chance on the 18th green for Rose to sink a 6 foot putt to halve the match, which he did.

And so we go into Sunday at 10 - 6. The same score as last time around, but the other way around. The key question being, can the USA team produce a 'miracle' of their own?

The pundits all seem to be saying no, and whilst I hope they are right, I think it would be foolish to make too many assumptions too soon. They USA team may be down, but they aren't out just yet, and there's plenty of golf still to be played tomorrow.

Just taken a look at the lineup for the singles, and some interesting stuff in there. Firstly, Tom really has decided to have faith in his rookies by putting Spieth and Reed up in matches 1 and 2. Otherwise Garcia against Furyk will be interesting - the passionate Spaniard against the wily American; I'm sure Gallacher is relishing the chance to have a go at Mickelson in match 5; and no doubt Poulter, fired up by his strong finish this afternoon, will have been interested to see his draw against Webb Simpson in match 9 - we haven't seen Simpson out on the course since Friday morning when he was on the wrong end of a 5&4 against the Rose/Stenson partnership.

However, I expect that the largest crowd will be reserved for match number three, and that the red or blue colouring on that part of the leaderboard could well set the tone for the day. McIlroy against Fowler - what a game!

Looking forward to it ...

Photopass

Nicky ordered one of our Photopass pictures from our summer trip, and it arrived in the post this week (as well as me getting the digital copies of the ride photos from our last day - which if I haven't posted here already, and I don't think I have, I really should post sometime soon).

A particularly fine choice I think:

Wells

A little collection of random thoughts from a busy day:

1. "More Fool Me" out today, so I dashed off to the shops at lunchtime to pick up a copy. Challenge now is to be good and at least finish the book I am on at the moment before diving in!

2. Following a link on a tweet this evening took me to this article from yesterday's Guardian (Mum and Dad will be pleased!). Excellent piece, and makes me want to get properly stuck into his writing, although that could take a while!

3. Driving home from work, far too late (again), I noticed a van on the motorway with the number plate FWE 11S, and it was arranged with the gap between the first and the second letters. I strongly suspect that the owner is entirely unaware that they have the perfect plate to commemorate on of the most significant people in the history of the Walt Disney Company - in fact someone so important that they get to have a window on Main Street.

Mavericks?

Made the mistake this evening of starting to look at the possibilities when it comes to updating the operating system on my macbook.

Turns out that the latest is called Mavericks, soon to be replaced by Yosemite (looks like they might have run out of big cats?). Not entirely sure yet what it does that my Lion isn't doing, other than take up space no doubt, which is fairly precious these days on my 64GB solid state, but may have to continue investigation at later date.

Picture here

To clarify previous 'cryptic' messages referring to MWF II, our new Doug Hyde picture is now safely in the house - not yet on a wall, but here, and isn't it great !!

Quiet

Just over a year ago, I read a great book, called "Quiet", by Susan Cain, all about 'the power of introverts'.

In another of the occasional examples that my employer seems to be popping up with recently of showing some encouraging signs in their approach to training and people development (see also this post, as well as a post or two that I will eventually get around to writing as follow up to that meeting and subsequent reading), I was sent a link the other day to a talk by Susan Cain.

It is 20 mins, but it is well worth a watch. I enjoyed it greatly - but then again, I would, wouldn't I, introvert that I am!

Saturday

A Saturday with much to report:

- we've all been to a work do - and very nice it was too - Jake enjoyed playing cricket, including a caught and bowled success against my boss!

- stopped in at Bluewater on the way home and picked up MWF II - no doubt pictures to follow.

- by the time we got home the fence between main and lodge gardens had been removed and new gate and fence sections had been installed - looking excellent, and pets enjoying new freedoms.

Community

A new path

Wheelbarrows

A music lesson

Campfire cuppa

A camping story

Tears

Olivia's glade

Steam trains.

In amongst that lot there's a story somewhere - ask me to tell it to you sometime.

Yes or No

The referendum coverage seems to think that it could be quite some time until the first results start to trickle in, so I think I'll toddle off to bed. Maybe I'll flick back over to see how things are going in a few hours, but chances are I'll be safely away into the land of nod by then.

I just hope that I wake up in the same UK that I'll be going to sleep in.

Don't leave us Scotland - we'd miss you.

Just say "NO"!

Race the tube

This is fun!

Rhyme

Latest news from Lincoln, and a quick round up from the Skin Collector (note - spoiler alert! - don't read on if you ever plan on reading the novel!):

- Lon is left in hospital at the end, having been poisoned, but the smart money says he will have pulled through by the next instalment.

- Rookie is no good at undercover work, but in fairness it did turn out that he was up against the Watchmaker himself, rather than a lawyer appointed to collect his remains.

- The Watchmaker interludes turned out to be more important than they first appeared, firstly as we discovered that he'd faked his death to escape from prison, and secondly when we discover that he had masterminded the whole plan.

- Looks highly likely that the Watchmaker will be appearing again in the next book. (Note the long phone conversation between Rhyme and Logan in one of the last chapters. "Nemesis" comes up. Not sure how happy I am with this - would prefer Deaver to bring new ideas and new adversaries to the fray in each novel. In danger of getting a bit Kyle Craig-ish (i.e. Patterson at his most lazy!))

- Seth was Billy and Billy was Seth! Felt like something like that might be coming along. Seth's character was only introduced at the start of the book and was feeling fairly expendable from the outset, but nice twist with him being Billy, and the centipede being washable!

- Similarly nice twist with Pam being Lovely Girl, although as always, the clue was there, and in big bold letters with the "LIAM" and "ELA" tattoos and the reference to couples sharing inkings between each other (with Billy tattooing "WIL" and "PAM" onto Pam in a final struggle near the end).

- Sachs' relationship with Pam went through a tough time, with Sachs doing a good job of not jumping up and down and shouting "told you so" at the end.

- And Lincoln himself seemed to be on pretty good form - quite upbeat in comparison to the dark moods he's been through in previous novels, and he even occasionally admitted acting based on hunches and feelings, rather than operating entirely based on cold logic. Progress indeed.

And that's not to mention the dastardly plot to kill / maim / blow up / poison etc the inhabitants of New York!

Car wait

As expected, looks like the mean people at the car leasing firm are going to make me wait until the full three years are up on my Lexus contract (i.e. mid Jan 15) before they'll let me swap into my new car, even though the lead time is only about 6-8 weeks and the order is in already.

MWF II

Monday can be a sad day, a bit of a blue day with an unhappy face.

Wednesday is getting better, a green day, no longer sad, but not happy just yet.

Friday is a bright day, a red day with a great big smile.

As will be revealed very soon!

Birthday

To anyone who has been enjoying a milestone birthday today, a very Happy Birthday to you !!

Osteo

Osteo day today.

Back feeling good.

Still booked another session for next month.

Want it to stay that way.

Waiting list

Popped in to Crawley library yesterday to ask them about how I can get on the waiting list for books that they haven't got yet / haven't been published yet, and it turns out to be pretty straightforward - just look on the catalogue and if they have confirmed it as coming in the future, it can be reserved like any other.

So, I have reserved the new Ian McEwan (The Children Act) from Crawley, and despite the pricier Sussex reservation cost, I think this is one area in which Kent trumps Sussex, as I don't think I can actually see where I am in the queue on the Sussex website, which is a bit of a shame.

Having learned how to do it, and given that we are approaching the time of year when lots of interesting books get published, I have reserved three books from the Kent library system, and here I can track my place in the queue, which is as follows at the moment (none of the following books have been published yet):

- David Nicholls - Us - 153 out of 158
- John Grisham - Gray Mountain - 72 out of 74
- Danny Baker - Going off Alarming - 26 out of 26.

HUB5

Home Hub 5 has arrived and been plugged in.

No better than Hub 3.

So much for 2-3 times the range.

Ho hum!

More hoops

Success - basketball hoop constructed. It's huge, but very good. We've all scored a few baskets - some more than others.


Otherwise, a Sunday of lawn-mowing, roast beef-eating, and other weekend stuff!

Hoop

Building basketball hoop turns out to be a 2 day job.

To be resumed tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad

Week - end

And so we get to the end of the first week of term. Jake and I have been to KFC for tea, Nanny and Granddad have spent their first few couple of nights in their new home, and Nicky is putting the world to rights with a couple of old friends with a few glasses of wine and a chinese takeaway.

All good!

Rivers

A couple of days without blogging, so will be needing to sneak in a couple of bonus blogs somewhere along the way during the rest of this month to keep things moving along. Tuesday's excuse was a late night of Ikea furniture building (not that I did very much compared to others) and yesterday's was an even later night spent at a work wine tasting evening in London. Thankfully I managed to do a reasonable job of sipping my way through the eight different wines that we were tasting during the course of the evening (unlike some) and therefore managed to stay reasonably with it, although today has also seemed like a fairly long day!

Sad news about Joan Rivers today, and whilst this is most definitely not a blog to make a point of commenting on the passing of every celebrity (I seem to have a brother in law who takes a morbid delight in doing that on an annual basis), even if I did rather go on about Robin Williams a few weeks ago, I saw something on twitter from 'Letters of Note' written by Joan Rivers, and as the introduction said, clearly she was hoping for a more interesting death:

When my time comes, I'm going to go out in high style. I have no intention of being sick or lingering on or dragging on and on and boring everyone I know. I have no intention of coughing and wheezing for months on end. One morning you'll wake up and read a headline: Joan Rivers found dead ... on George Clooney's face. Clooney was so bereft, all he could say was, "Xjfhfyrnem."

Shame she didn't quite get her wish!

Registration

September is upon us, and I haven't spotted a '64' just yet.

To make sure that I see one sooner or later, I've ordered a new car today!