Write out 100 times, I shall not moan

Yesterday was a challenging day, in many ways. Work was a pain, and some interesting things happened on a not-work front too, though those seem to be sorting themselves out. With the swollen ankle at its worst, (it feels much much better this morning) I was in a pretty foul mood when I arrived home last night.

Then my neighbour appeared with his son. His son is 6 weeks old, as anyone who was in my flat about five-and-a-half weeks ago will be able to tell you. He's lovely.

So I chatted briefly to my neighbour, who was beaming throughout, with almost sickening paternal pride. Then I thought, why sickening? The man has every reason to be proud. I mean, fair enough, we know how it works, and from the man's point of view at least, it's not difficult. But he and his wife (I assume wife, they seem pretty straight-laced) have probably gone almost without sleep for a month and a half, the three of them live in a space similar to one that I find cramped on my own, and he can still smile at someone who is all but a perfect stranger.

All in all, I have little to moan about.

Boat party

On Saturday, I spent the evening with a few friends on a boat on the Thames. We made our way up to Putney Bridge, then down to the Thames Barrier and back to Embankment Pier, where we had started out. Highlights of the evening include attempting to convince a friend that we were in trouble with the military, as we passed HMS Belfast, and hearing Jim squeeze 'Back in Black' seamlessly into his set. Lowlights include a lost laptop and a digital camera, and the headache I had the following afternoon...

We spent some time discussing what Battersea Power Station is to be used for. Does anyone know?

A quick glance at Google found a Guardian article that claims "luxury flats, two hotels, a massive theatre and a new railway station" were planned for the site by 2003, but nothing seems to have happened, and the rail station has definitely been ruled out. The companies involved in the original proposal are now no longer involved in any of it, and the council has extended the planning permission until 2006. It looks like inflatable things promoting rock concerts may be the best use the site gets for the next 10 years.

Mountainboarding and personal risk

Yesterday I went to Hampstead Heath, to go mountainboarding on the highest point in London, Parliament Hill. After a couple of warm-up runs, we found the hill and I jumped on the board, and in the process of making my way down the hill, I managed to run the blunt front end of the board into my leg. I've been limping ever since, but I can tell that I'm going to enjoy that hill the next time there's a little more room on it (there were a lot of people enjoying the weather) and of course, once my ankle is healed.

Webmasta! Masta!

hi matthew, webmaster of puppets here. thanks for being yet another UK beatallibanger!

we hope to hit the UK next year. our european agent is high on that idea as we have a pretty strong buzz over there. we're gonna see how the mainland shows go and take life from there.

let me know if you want to be on the private email list for news on things like that. i can certainly add you. until then, take care. and thanks so much just for asking!

webmaster
beatallica
http://www.beatallica.org/

Mister, can I 'ave a go?

So, rushing home from work yesterday, very aware of the steady breeze in the air, I ran into the flat, grabbed my kite and board, and got back in the car and drove to Tooting Common. After some difficulty, I managed to get the kite consistently airborne, and actually get some motion on the board. At one stage I may have even exceeded walking speed, for at least 3 metres... well, it's a start.

While I was working on getting the kite into the air, a small child asked 'Can I have a go?'. He claimed to be 9 stone, but he wasn't an ounce over 7. I explained to him that the kite had every chance of picking him off the ground, and then his friend arrived. His friend said 'Can I 'ave a go?'.

All in all, there were four of them. By the time I'd got them to go away (for their own safety - they were dangerounsly close to the lines on at least one occasion) the best of the wind had gone for the night. The pitfalls of flying in public. Eventually, when I own a big estate in the country, then these problems will be replaced by a butler, who will occasionally drift by and offer me port.

A geeky joke

There are only 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.

Hurricanes and Landboarding

I was outside just now, and being blown to pieces. All of a sudden the weekend looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. A lot of fun indeed.

So, yeah, this was me on Sunday afternoon:



I mean, that's not actually me, but in principle. There was almost no wind, so just keeping the kite in the air proved impossible. For a brief moment, though, the wind blew, and I jumped on the board, and all in all, it felt good. I think it will feel better with a proper breeze.

We also used the mountainboard on its own. The hill at the back of Streatham Common is now the training slope, and we hope to find something a bit more interesting as a beginner's slope, on Bank Holiday Monday, and hopefully a bit of a breeze. And I'll take some real photos, so you can all have a giggle at the slightly podgy, slightly too old guy on the overgrown skateboard.

Diverting anecdote

I was at work yesterday in Andover, and our milk delivery arrived. The man left the van and went into the warehouse, and I noticed the van was rolling backwards. As no one else seemed to be doing anything, I jumped from my seat, ran down the stairs, across the yard and dived into the vehicle through the passenger door. I pulled the handbrake and found nothing was happening, so I pushed the footbrake with my hand, turned off the engine and stuck it in gear, all the while my legs dangling from the door. I even lost a shoe.


What could have happened...

Later I took a ride with the intersite transport, back to my usual office in Brixton. I've never been in a moving 'Artic' before - my Dad used to drive them, but I only ever saw them when he'd finished driving them. And then I bumped into someone I hadn't seen in almost a year, in the company toilets. Apart fromt he fact that the whole morning was wasted due to a courier error, I had a pretty entertaining day.

Lots of very frustrating things

I'm in a dilemma. Two dilemmas. Possibly three.

Firstly, last night Rob and Chris both said they'd be very keen to move to a three-bed place with me, if we can organise it. This is something I'd be very keen to do too, but I couldn't go back to the one hour plus commute that living in Dalston would entail.

However, my workplace is moving. But as yet, we don't know where we're moving to. Who knows, it could be within easy reach of Dalston.

On top of this, I am seeing someone who I love, who lives in America, and it's very tempting to move out there. But the visa system is very tricky, and I'd need a job and so would be held to one place. The person in question is currently studying in a place where she has no intention of staying, so if I did find work out there, I would be there for a maximum of one year, and then would have to find other work elsewhere.

She, in turn,is looking to move to East London on an exchange. This is something that may or may not happen, and it's dependent on someone wanting to leave London and go to Rochester, NY for a year. This is something that we would be unwise to pin hopes upon, but the school in Rochester is an excellent one, and has an international reputation, so it's not out of the question.

Ideally, work would move closer to Greenwich, and Rob, Chris and I would move there too, and the exchange would work out fine. A worst case scenario is that I find a job in Rochester, hand in my notice, and the next day, the exchange would come through, and Braunwin and I would swap sides of the Atlantic. And Rob and Chris would remain in Dalston, and I in Streatham until I leave for Rochester.

To take stock:
Dilemma 1: Live near work or live with interesting people?
Dilemma 2: Long term job I like, or a year with someone I love?
Dilemma 3: Drag someone across the Atlantic selfishly, or find work in America?

All of these things depend on where work moves to, so I can't really do anytihng about them until I find out where I'll be working in January. However, there's still the Transatlantic thing to consider, and if work moves somewhere really awful, then, that's going to be even more tempting.

Really, I need advice from complete strangers. What would you do?

New hobby?

I want to do this.



However i suspect I won't be doing it to quite this level for a while. And I can't find anywhere in London that would be suitable to do it (apparently it's banned in Richmond Park).

Getting regular exercise

Yesterday I walked home from work. I figured it couldn't take much more than an hour, and it didn't. The view from the top of the hill in Brockwell Park was fantastic, and the feeling of complete calm and serenity I had when I got home was worth spending an hour a day on. Knowing my usual attitude to exercise, this may not happen again in the near future, but who knows? It could be a regular thing.

Alton Towers

We also went to Alton Towers. We had hoped to get there before the school holidays, but on arrival it quickly became evident that we were too late. We still managed to ride Air (a coaster that suspends you face down, as if you're flying), Nemesis (an 'inverted' roller coaster, where your legs dangle), the Corkscrew (probably the oldest ride in the park), Hex (which is hilarious, but I'd ruin it if I said any more), Oblivion (a vertical drop roller coaster that, sadly, consists of a vertical drop and a ride back to the station), the Rapids (rapids), Duel (a haunted house where you get to shoot things) and Rita - Queen of Speed (Britain's first openly gay rollercoaster). The days was slightly marred by the foul-mouthed, loud oiks we had to share the place with, but I guess that's true of theme parks everywhere.

Having left home at 7.30am and got back to London at about 10pm, we were pretty tired by the end of the day, and waking up to discover someone had tried to break into my brother's car was also a disappointment. All in all, though, it comes highly recommended, and they do serve excellent coffee.

If at first you don't succeed, try Thai again

So we resolved to go to a Thai restaurant, Braunwin and I, and wandered around Soho, expecting one on every corner. And there was one on every corner but it was Sunday and some of them were shut. We ended up in a vegetarian buffet just off Oxford St, which was pleasant enough, but not really what we were looking for. Having spotted somewhere on Streatham High Road we thought we'd try that.

We went in, and had some fabulous starters and a very tasty main course, all served in a friendly and attentive manner. Then we waited to order coffee. And we waited. And we waited. Twenty minutes later we had stacked our plates for the waiter, and we'd decided we didn't want coffee any more, so we asked for the bill. And we waited.

A full 35 minutes after we had finished eating, we left the restaurant.Being the honest people we are, we left the money on the table, as close to accurate as we could, but they thanked us either way, and part of me would still like to have walked out with a few extra notes in my pocket. I guess if I had been less English, I might have made a fuss. As it was we left quietly, and then discussed how useless they had been all the way home.

Excellent food though. If you're taking away, I can't recommend it highly enough.

Ealing Jazz Festival 2005

Aside from the lovely Braunwin visiting me for the last few weeks, one of July's highlights for me was the Ealing Jazz Festival. It all kicked off with a day by the F-ire Collective, including the obviously-talented-but-not-my-style Norma Winstone, a quartet with a french guitarist who were very impressive and Polar Bear, who I am very keen to see again. They were slightly quirky modern jazz with funny computer noises over the top, though I'm sure afficionados have a better description. Synergy topped the day off, with a brief appearance by Rhythms of the City, a samba band. By this time, I had sadly descended into gin, so I don't recall much of it.

Tuesday saw a nice septet play some excellent tunes, followed by Ray Gelato, who was as crowd pleasing as ever.

Thursday also saw a smaller ensemble playing a few tunes, and then a Jazz Orchestra playing some specially commissioned tunes. It made me realise just how far from the mark we were at UCL when the big band played. (Not to say we weren't any good, we were, we just weren't professionals...)

Sadly, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday were missed, but all looked like they had excellent lineups and would have been worth a journey. Saturday was a great finish to my week, anyway, with Butchers Brew, Tenor Each Way and the Alan Elsdon All Stars (sadly minus Alan Elsdon himself) giving an excellent demonstration of why Ealing is fast becoming my favourite festival (yes, I know, and I mean it too. You don't have to pay £125 to get in and you don't have to worry about the weather!)

It was a bit of a shame that more of you couldn't make it. Thanks to those who came, I hope you all found it worth your while. Everyone else, please don't miss the opportunity next year, you just won't see jazz like this for free anywhere else, and even when you've given your £20 to Ronnie Scott's estate, the atmosphere in Ealing is so much more laid back - it's got to be worth one ticket to Zone 3, just to see. And worth one slightly moderate Friday/Saturday evening so you can get out of bed in time to get there...