Independance

Horns sounding. Cars adorned with flags. Music blaring. The quiet of a Swiss afternoon pleasantly shattered by the joys of a people celebrating the birth of their nation.

And for a moment. I close my eyes. Listen. Imagine. And am transported far away.

Still talking, not walking

Like a broken record the thoughts replay seemingly endlessly. And as the sun shines over me I wonder...

A family question

Why is it that one member of my family can drive me crazy? I mean really crazy. He only has to walk through the door and I’m mad with him. So much so that I want to hit him. With a big inflatable stick. Or shoot him. With a water pistol. Or maybe make him really crazy in turn by saying that despite the fact he makes me crazy, I still love him to bits. After all. He's family.

Abandon hope all seafood lovers...

Your defenders are quite frankly not fit for purpose. The words, a bunch of spinless weasels just doesn't do them justice....

Recurring dream

I'm told by letter. Or maybe telephone. Or email. Or some other way. Hell, I'm just told. I haven't finished my degree and I urgently need to do so. But didn't I graduate over 7 years ago? I remember that. Or maybe that was a dream and this is reality. Or maybe my sub-conscious is trying to ram a point home. Again and again.

Monday

He tries to write something with a hint of rhyme but as the day normally predicts such creativity is not possible. Indeed it is frowned upon. Triviality. On a Monday. Is he mad? Instead the mind over burdens itself with the reality that there are four more days like this to get through. Before the inevitably too short time out and then the preparation for the cycle to repeat again. And again. Until either the record eventually breaks or someone decides to chuck it out of the window.

A quote for today

The openness of the world, so unachievable in the realm of everyday reality, lives in our minds, in the superimposed layers of tangled and confused memories.
Ryszard Kapuscinski

New beginnings?

After the talks. The realization. The expressed hopes. And fears. Comes the question.
Can I really make it happen? Watch this space.

Things learnt in the last 7 days

The history behind Hanukkah. That really embarrassing things can actually be quite funny. If you don't take them to seriously. That Ronnie James Dio's first post Black Sabbath album isn't that bad. And that I'm no longer afraid to admit it. That my obsession with isn't probably healthy. So can join the list of all the other unhealthy things. That 2008 needs to be different. But in what way I'm not quite sure. But different none the less.

RIP

What was once new, grew old and not so graceful. And now it is gone. I do not morn, nor cry or shed tears at its passing. After all it was only a website! It's days were numbered. And it knew it.

So life goes on and another load of text, images heads into the great website graveyard in the sky. Long live change!

Broken

It seems blogs are not immune from life either.

Hanukkah

Candles, oil and something new learned.

The awful truth

Tea can be bad for you. Smoking, alcohol, dope, speed, acid, coke even coffee, well ok. But tea?? My happiness in life is shattered. The horror, the horror.

Season change

Snow falls, wind blows, temperature plummets and all I can think off is curling up in front of an open fire with a nice brew and a good old book.

Hard questions

Sometimes you need to ask them. The problem is when you don't have the answers.

Now, who are you again?

There is that moment when you bump into someone in the street, at a party or wherever, and you have no idea on earth who they are. But then to compound matters they seem adamant that they know you. So there you are, racking your brains, thinking who the hell is this, whilst trying (but mostly failing) not to look like a complete idiot.

Take it into cyberspace and you're playing scrabble with an apparent stranger for several weeks until one evening the penny drops and you realize they are not such a stranger after all. Ahhhhhhhh......

Ups and downs, bumps and bounces

Sometimes things seem to just go ok. You don't do anything in particular, you just plod along, keep at it and it all somehow comes together in the end. Then there are other times when, despite all your work, creativity and planning, the whole things goes splat. And then you have a room full of people staring at you, all of them thinking "I don't get it". Bugger.

It lives!

Well its a start at least but mother would be proud. Now where is my apron.....

A question of words

Is it good or bad when you need a dictionary to understand a book written in your own language? Does it mean you are extending your vocabulary at the same time as having a good read, that the writer likes to use words that the average person wouldn't understand in an attempt to sound more intelligent, or that you should have paid more attention to teachers who told you that your command of the English language needed some improvement?

Reflections on the week that was

Positives

Fruit picking and learning how to make sloe gin, getting into reading books again, spending time with my family, cutting down on drinking (despite the sloe gin - it takes months before it is ready I promise), cooking, ok starting to think about cooking.


Negatives

Not applying for a job that I really should have gone for, something thankfully forgotten making an unwelcome reappearance, getting lost in a city I've been living in for other 2 years.

And...
Listining to Dire Straits and quite enjoying it (not sure where that fits in the above).