Friday, 27 April 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Kazuo
So, finished "Never Let Me Go" last night.
Could post lots about it but won't.
Because hopefully someone else is reading it as well ...
Could post lots about it but won't.
Because hopefully someone else is reading it as well ...
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Europe again
And following yesterday's semi-final, tonight's wasn't bad either. Chelsea can now look forward to a trip to Munich to play Munich.
Trivia question - have one of the teams in the final of the Champions League played the final at their home stadium before?
A quick rummage on Wikipedia suggests that the answer is no.
Good luck Chelsea - you might need it.
Trivia question - have one of the teams in the final of the Champions League played the final at their home stadium before?
A quick rummage on Wikipedia suggests that the answer is no.
Good luck Chelsea - you might need it.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Europe
Never mind tribal loyalties - we're all Chelsea fans now.
Somehow, despite being away from home, 2-0 down, one man down (thanks to a moment of madness from the captain) and facing one of the best European sides in many years, they find a goal, and are heading through to the final.
But the drama is far from over. All of that happened in the first half!
Early in the second half Barcelona get a (dubious) penalty, but Messi smashes it against the crossbar. For the next forty minutes it is one way traffic, but somehow the eleven men can't get past the ten. Chelsea keep on hoofing it clear, but there's never a white (away kit) shirt upfield to try to collect the ball, so it keeps on coming back.
Then, as we tick into injury time, one of the kick-it-anywhere clearances manages to find the substitute Torres, who has temporarily forgotten that he's supposed to be defending. Thankfully you can't be offside in your own half, which is just as well, as all bar the keeper are up for Barcelona.
Torres races forward, constantly looking over his shoulder wondering where the cavalry are, but its just him and the keeper. Time stands still, and the prayers of the fans are almost tangible - don't stuff this up Fernando.
And he doesn't. Whether surprised by the opportunity, or whether being on Spanish soil has reminded him of what he was once so good at, he knocks it round the keeper, hurdles the challenge, and slots it into the net.
Jubilation unbounded! Happy, happy days indeed!
Well done Chelsea.
Somehow, despite being away from home, 2-0 down, one man down (thanks to a moment of madness from the captain) and facing one of the best European sides in many years, they find a goal, and are heading through to the final.
But the drama is far from over. All of that happened in the first half!
Early in the second half Barcelona get a (dubious) penalty, but Messi smashes it against the crossbar. For the next forty minutes it is one way traffic, but somehow the eleven men can't get past the ten. Chelsea keep on hoofing it clear, but there's never a white (away kit) shirt upfield to try to collect the ball, so it keeps on coming back.
Then, as we tick into injury time, one of the kick-it-anywhere clearances manages to find the substitute Torres, who has temporarily forgotten that he's supposed to be defending. Thankfully you can't be offside in your own half, which is just as well, as all bar the keeper are up for Barcelona.
Torres races forward, constantly looking over his shoulder wondering where the cavalry are, but its just him and the keeper. Time stands still, and the prayers of the fans are almost tangible - don't stuff this up Fernando.
And he doesn't. Whether surprised by the opportunity, or whether being on Spanish soil has reminded him of what he was once so good at, he knocks it round the keeper, hurdles the challenge, and slots it into the net.
Jubilation unbounded! Happy, happy days indeed!
Well done Chelsea.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Anniversary
So today is a very special day, and we mark an important anniversary.
Now, if I was a better-educated and more literary type, then I could go on at length about the fact that on this day, 448 years ago, William Shakespeare was born. I could wax lyrical about his marvellous works, and scatter quotations around this post to impress.
But I'm not, so I won't.
(By the way, bit of a downer to shuffle off this mortal coil on your birthday isn't it?!)
Anyway, the anniversary I was thinking of was the fact that 30 years ago today, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched. I remember ours with great fondness, and I dread to think how many hours I spent playing on Manic Minor and other such games. I also enjoyed learning a bit of Basic as well (and to fully confirm my nerd status, I particularly remember writing a programme to create characters for Dungeons & Dragons!).
The questions that I need Dad's help in remembering are: when exactly did you manage to get our Spectrum - was it in the year that it came out? And, I know that we had a pretty good library of games, but I'm struggling to remember very many of them - the aforementioned Minor, obviously the desk-ruining Delay Thompson's Decathlon (no doubt made all the more popular by his back-flipping high jinks, which I guess must have been at the Los Angeles Olympics), and a bit of XYZZY spring to mind, but I'm sure there were lots more?
Also, the challenge for the weekend is to help me download a decent emulator - can you get one that enables you to play games and do a bit of programming?
Happy Days!
Anyway, with those pleasant thoughts in mind, I'm off to bed now - to sleep, perchance to dream!
Now, if I was a better-educated and more literary type, then I could go on at length about the fact that on this day, 448 years ago, William Shakespeare was born. I could wax lyrical about his marvellous works, and scatter quotations around this post to impress.
But I'm not, so I won't.
(By the way, bit of a downer to shuffle off this mortal coil on your birthday isn't it?!)
Anyway, the anniversary I was thinking of was the fact that 30 years ago today, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched. I remember ours with great fondness, and I dread to think how many hours I spent playing on Manic Minor and other such games. I also enjoyed learning a bit of Basic as well (and to fully confirm my nerd status, I particularly remember writing a programme to create characters for Dungeons & Dragons!).
The questions that I need Dad's help in remembering are: when exactly did you manage to get our Spectrum - was it in the year that it came out? And, I know that we had a pretty good library of games, but I'm struggling to remember very many of them - the aforementioned Minor, obviously the desk-ruining Delay Thompson's Decathlon (no doubt made all the more popular by his back-flipping high jinks, which I guess must have been at the Los Angeles Olympics), and a bit of XYZZY spring to mind, but I'm sure there were lots more?
Also, the challenge for the weekend is to help me download a decent emulator - can you get one that enables you to play games and do a bit of programming?
Happy Days!
Anyway, with those pleasant thoughts in mind, I'm off to bed now - to sleep, perchance to dream!
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Hereford
Well, it's been a long time without blogging, and I thought that I should start up again. No doubt my very small readership will have given up on me over the several weeks that I have been silent, so I don't suppose many will actually read this! (Feel free to leave me a comment to prove me wrong!)
Today I have been uploading some of the photos from our Easter holiday in the Forest of Dean. We had a great time in our Forest Lodge, and even if the weather wasn't brilliant (having been non stop sunshine and ice creams in the office the week before) that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves - one of the best bits being able to get away from it all and relax in our cabin (even if getting away from it all did mean making sure that our cabin was set up (i) with Wifi so that online scrabble could continue, and (ii) with Sky Sports so that I could watch the Masters).
One of our trips out (for me, Nicky and Margaret) was to Hereford, and as it was raining when we arrived, we stopped in at the first open building that we found on our way into the City, which turned out to be the cathedral, and made for the tea rooms for a warm drink whilst we considered our options. Having found the cathedral, I decided to stay there a bit longer whilst Nicky and Margaret went into town for some retail opportunities, and I purchased a photo permit at the cathedral shop so that I could take some pictures.
Hereford has connections with two of my favourite composers. One of them was organist at the cathedral during the first half of the nineteenth century, whilst the other lived in the city for a few years in the early part of the twentieth. The first is commemorated on a board in the cathedral listing all of the organists there over the last 800 years or so, whilst the other has a rather splendid sculpture in the cathedral grounds, leaning on his bicycle and looking up at the tower.
Once I'd finished taking pictures, I made my way into town to meet up with the others. They had failed in one of their missions from Jake (a particular computer game) but had found a consolation prize in the market, where a stall was selling imported American food and drinks, and so Jake scored a few treats normally reserved for trips to Orlando!
Anyway, here are a few more pictures from the cathedral.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Train
Today was a day for letting the train take the strain. Despite some slow traffic on the A2 I made my first of the day, the Ebbsfleet flyer, with a few minutes to spare, before shuttling across on the underground from St Pancras to Euston.
My destination for the day was Birmingham, and buying my ticket at Euston was something of a surprise - a day return came out at 254 (pounds that is - I would type the symbol, but I can't find one on my American keyboard!). I took a deep breath and paid, but was grateful for the knowledge that I wasn't actually paying. Admittedly this was a first class ticket, but hey, them's the rules, and I did do some work during the journey!
Virgin were keen to point out that it wasn't just a Virgin Train, it was a Virgin Pendolino Train (no, it didn't mean much to me either - see here for a bit more info), and they were clearly hoping to sell lots of first class tickets, as the first four or five carriages were all allocated to it. I think there were two other people in the one that I chose!
(As an aside about Euston, walking down the slope from the main concourse to the platforms reminded me of a trip taken from Euston to Manchester over twenty years ago - on my way to visit my cool sister at university. I listened to my new Pet Shops Boys album on my walkman all the way on that journey!)
As part of Virgin's price justification, food and drinks were brought round, and in fairness, the bacon and eggs, coffee and juice weren't bad, but even so, that's a really expensive breakfast.
I arrived in Birmingham in plenty of time for my meeting, and after that we went out for a retirement lunch for one of my fellow directors (who joined the firm in 1973). We went to the Marco Pierre White steakhouse on the 25th floor of a building called the Cube. The views in the spring sunshine were impressive. I would have taken a picture or two, but due to a distinct lack of local knowledge, I didn't really know what I was looking at!
I have to confess to a certain feeling of envy towards my retiring colleague insofar as he will be enjoying a life of leisure from next Monday onwards. Mind you, he has been at it for 22 years longer than me, and fingers crossed, I might be able to pack it all in in fewer years from now than that.
Less work was done on the way back to London on the train, as I divided my time between reading my book and gazing out of the window. From around Rugby to Milton Keynes, we were following the route of a canal for lots of the time, and seeing the narrow boats either going nowhere or puttering slowly along did look very appealing. The idea of taking several days to travel from London to Birmingham rather than an hour and a half sounds like progress to me. Looking forward to our summer holiday of puttering along.
Back at Euston, as the weather was still lovely, I walked the short distance back to St Pancras, and went through the courtyard of the British Library. The courtyard was full of people enjoying the warm weather, reading and chatting, and I felt particularly out of place, walking through in my suit, carrying my work bag.
Still, picture and wisdom of the day was provided by a big sign on the side of the library.
My destination for the day was Birmingham, and buying my ticket at Euston was something of a surprise - a day return came out at 254 (pounds that is - I would type the symbol, but I can't find one on my American keyboard!). I took a deep breath and paid, but was grateful for the knowledge that I wasn't actually paying. Admittedly this was a first class ticket, but hey, them's the rules, and I did do some work during the journey!
Virgin were keen to point out that it wasn't just a Virgin Train, it was a Virgin Pendolino Train (no, it didn't mean much to me either - see here for a bit more info), and they were clearly hoping to sell lots of first class tickets, as the first four or five carriages were all allocated to it. I think there were two other people in the one that I chose!
(As an aside about Euston, walking down the slope from the main concourse to the platforms reminded me of a trip taken from Euston to Manchester over twenty years ago - on my way to visit my cool sister at university. I listened to my new Pet Shops Boys album on my walkman all the way on that journey!)
As part of Virgin's price justification, food and drinks were brought round, and in fairness, the bacon and eggs, coffee and juice weren't bad, but even so, that's a really expensive breakfast.
I arrived in Birmingham in plenty of time for my meeting, and after that we went out for a retirement lunch for one of my fellow directors (who joined the firm in 1973). We went to the Marco Pierre White steakhouse on the 25th floor of a building called the Cube. The views in the spring sunshine were impressive. I would have taken a picture or two, but due to a distinct lack of local knowledge, I didn't really know what I was looking at!
I have to confess to a certain feeling of envy towards my retiring colleague insofar as he will be enjoying a life of leisure from next Monday onwards. Mind you, he has been at it for 22 years longer than me, and fingers crossed, I might be able to pack it all in in fewer years from now than that.
Less work was done on the way back to London on the train, as I divided my time between reading my book and gazing out of the window. From around Rugby to Milton Keynes, we were following the route of a canal for lots of the time, and seeing the narrow boats either going nowhere or puttering slowly along did look very appealing. The idea of taking several days to travel from London to Birmingham rather than an hour and a half sounds like progress to me. Looking forward to our summer holiday of puttering along.
Back at Euston, as the weather was still lovely, I walked the short distance back to St Pancras, and went through the courtyard of the British Library. The courtyard was full of people enjoying the warm weather, reading and chatting, and I felt particularly out of place, walking through in my suit, carrying my work bag.
Still, picture and wisdom of the day was provided by a big sign on the side of the library.
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