Writing about everything and a few lists

I miss blogging

2011-10-07T05:27:00.001-07:00

I think I will have to start again.

Royal wedding day

2011-05-18T15:15:00.001-07:00

This is what my street looked like on Royal wedding day.

- Posted using Blogpress

Injunctions

2011-05-16T23:37:00.001-07:00

I have recently taken out a super injunction on myself. These are the areas it covered:

1) - stop going through life on a Wing and a prayer
2) - stop ignoring your wider family
3) stop thinking you can do everything and please everyone.
4) stop getting fat!!
5) stop being so negative all the time.

the end the Sequel

2011-01-21T16:18:00.001-08:00

My New Blog !!!

http://apassionforclassicalmusic.blogspot.com/

enjoy

The End

2010-11-17T10:52:00.001-08:00

All,

I have decided after a long break to stop this blog and move on to something else

I am working something which I hope you will enjoy as much as this.

Thank you all for your support over the last few years, I have appreciated all your support, kindness and goodwill.

I wish you all the best in everything that you do.

A meeoooow addition

2010-10-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

See below a new addition to my family. She is only 8 weeks old, and does not have a name yet!!!

Any suggestions ??

Train updates

2010-10-05T00:20:00.001-07:00

Morning every one, today's post is a brief outline of someone I saw on the train today.

A Spanish looking, 30 year old woman. She is very elegantly dressed, grey trousers white blouse and a scarf. Her face shows no emotion, gives nothing away. Then one accidental touch from the lady opposite and the eyes change to one of anger. The best dirty look, I remember seeing in a long time. Then it's back to her passive and quiet persona. Very expressive and beautiful brown eyes when she allows them to show her true feelings.

I wonder if she is looking out of the window at the damp grey skies, pining for the warmth of Madrid or Barcelona. Thinking of the events that brought her to England. Does she regret falling in love with that English exchange Student only for him to sleep with someone else and leave her. She wants to go home to Spain but can't face her parents, who begged her not to leave. It would be admitting defeat for her to go back now.

Your To Do list

2010-10-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

I have some tasks for you to complete by Monday am. I will be very disappointed in you all if you fail. Please try your very best, here goes:

1) listen to one of Beethoven's piano sonata's, if you want you could listen to all 32 but that would take about 10 hours. Extra credits will be given for more than 1.

2) sleep until your body is ready to wake up. Turn off all alarms.

3) take 10 minutes to sit and watch people, talking, walking and just being together.

4) walk somewhere rather than drive at least once.

5) listen more than you talk.

6) cook some one a meal, even if it's just yourself. ( sorry kk)

7) finally do the one thing that you consider to be pampering.

Enjoy your weekend guys and let me know how you get on!!!

Chicken casserole

2010-09-29T12:45:00.001-07:00

I was asked recently to add my recipe for the Chicken casserole I cooked last week, so here goes.

1) Use thighs and breast meat.
2) Brown them off in your pan in Olive oil a nice glug should do. It should take about About 5 to 10 minutes
3) Add 2 sliced onions and 2 cloves of garlic that you crushed.
4) when softened add mushrooms, diced carrots and diced butternut squash.
5) a big slug of White wine and add some dried herbs, tarragon or thyme.
6) cover it all with chicken Stock.

Simmer on the hob for about 1.5 hours

Annoyance

2010-09-28T10:45:00.001-07:00

I have tried to be positive recently in an effort to remove stress from my life.

I am hoping that by listing the things that have annoyed me recently that there effect will be dissipated and my life can continue with rose tints, with the smell of sweet flowers and the joys of a happy and contented life.

1) my car has been written off and I need to find and pay for a new one.

2) my train home today is late.

3) I had to sit through a very dull presentation by a head teacher who was trying to persuade me to send my daughter to his school.

4) I have been procrastinating outrageously on 2 projects I need to do for the school I am a governor at.

5) I left my coat at the office today, let's hope it isn't raining in the morning.

6) my sky plus box is full of my childrens movies.

7) I really wish I had replaced my kitchen floor before installing a new kitchen rather than thinking of doing it around the lovely new units.

8) my boss is coming back from maternity leave on Thursday.

I think that is it!!!

Autumn is here!!!

2010-09-26T06:41:00.001-07:00

I have just cleaned my fireplace out and will be lighting some logs later. I just love a real fire!!!

I have decided to have chicken casserole for dinner today. I will
also be cooking Salmon en croute and maybe a dessert as well. I am really in the mood to stand in my nice warm kitchen. Do you think I could get way with taking some of next doors apples to make pie?

Even the thought of ironing while watching tv is appealing today.

I think I must be hankering after a lovely cosy house.

What are you desperate for today!!!

Update on eldest daughter

2010-09-25T01:33:00.001-07:00

She got back safely yesterday. Very tired and very grouchy though appears to have had a fantastic time.

She seems taller, and grown up.

I think I have lost my baby girl forever!!!

Agent Rose

2010-09-24T05:56:00.001-07:00

Miss Eileen Nearne aged 89 died recently in a sleepy Devon resort. She lived alone and died of a heart attack. She was a quiet and modest person, who kept herself to herself. She was earmarked to have a council paid funeral, with no pomp and no mourners. A sad end but not an unusual ending for single elderly ladies with apparently no family.

She had a much more interesting past and her life should be celebrated and remembered for her huge contribution to the country through her bravery and courage.

During the 2nd world war she worked SOE and was sent to occupied France to help the resistance and to spy on the Germans. She landed in Feb 1944 and transmitted information between the French resistance and planners in London, She was captured 3 times and on each occasion she managed to endure torture and convince her captors that she was just a French shop girl, which was her cover. They sent her to Ravensbruck concentration camp anyway, from where she promptly escaped. After the war she lived a normal quiet life!!!

Luckily council officials found the treasure trove of records, memorabilia and medals which pointed to her being “Agent Rose”. Her work was vital during the D day landings of June 1944 and she was eventually captured in July 1944. An unusual but true British Heroine, her funeral was held this week and rightly she was treated with the respect that she so pointedly deserved.

A big Thank you from me too !!!!

Update on affairs

2010-09-22T16:03:00.001-07:00

A quick update for you.

Divorce proceedings are in progress

The husband was not very good in the rumpy pumpy department.

Lindsey from tennis does exist but is a nice older lady, who has no sexual desires on the husband.

Choices this week

2010-09-22T09:53:00.001-07:00

My recommendations this week are as follows:

Music: Rachmaninov vespers op37 sang by the Corydon Singers conducted by Matthew Best.

Podcasts: the History of Rome by Mike Duncan on ITunes. I am
slowly catching up, I have listened to 96 episodes so far, another 20 or so to go. He brings period to life. A must get listen.

Lunch: stuck in London with just a fiver, you should head to PoD. A huge host of hungry office workers queue for the health hot food that they serve every day. Their menu is gluten, dairy and wheat free but is packed full of flavour. Yesterday I had a Thai green curry with brown and wold rice, it was fantastic.

Children's bedrooms

2010-09-20T23:55:00.001-07:00

This weekend while eldest daughter is away on her school trip, I decided to tidy her bedroom.

I thought I would share with you some of the more unusual things that I found.

1) a rubber glove

2) a piece of fools gold.

3) a hammer

4) a tube of mascara

5) a dried flower

Does anyone know why?

Sunday

2010-09-19T11:28:00.001-07:00

Today is a first for me.

I am going to post on a Sunday night for the first time in over 300 entries.

So here goes.

This weekend my eldest daughter, my first born has gone on a week long trip with school. She is 10!! I am going to miss her kindness, her wit and her smile.

She is going to the Lake District, The wildest part of England. She will be trying things like climbing, canoeing and abseiling. All kinds of dangerous stuff.

I can't wait until Friday when she returns, I do hope she has a good time.

leg over videos

2010-09-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

These are videos from youtube of the leg over music i posted about earlier in the week.

Elgar cello concerto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsekb1qwZs0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Mozart clarinet quintet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq2ADjjT24k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Schubert quintet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbOKlBFVHNM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Affairs of the heart

2010-09-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

I was having lunch with a colleague earlier this week, i was just expecting the usual small talk. What i did nt expect was her desire to rant about her marriage and the fact that she was going to file for divorce.

I have noticed recently that some people, not everyone, tell me their most initimate secrets. i dont know what I have done to deserve this, is it a good thing.

Her story is this:

They have been married for 12 years, its her second marriage, they have one child who is now 10. She works and he looks after the house. The sexual abuse she suffered as a child has always affected their phyical relationship but this grown into complete abstinence through his lack of affection or attention. The spark has definitely disappeared.

She found the love, or was it just excitement, in the arms of another man. She wanted to leave to be with this man, but her hubby begged her to stay, though her lover would not leave his wife. The affair ended 2 years ago.

Since then they have been in limbo trying to patch things up, she still searching for the love and affection she needs, him happy to vegetate at home and play tennis. Counselling didnt work they bicker and argue, he is unhappy, she is unhappy.

He plays tennis 4 times a week, with a girl called Lindsey, until 1am most weeks. She rides her horse and plays with her daughter

interesting or what?

This week part 2

2010-09-15T09:48:00.001-07:00

Music choices for a romantic evening.

1) Elgar cello concerto

2) Mozart clarinet quintet

3) Schubert string quintet

You will be guaranteed to get your leg over if you play these while eating a romantic meal for 2.

Test it out and let me know if it works.

This week

2010-09-15T01:16:00.001-07:00

Highlights this week are:
1) the 9/11 memorial, I continue to admire and be amazed by the dignity and poise of the relatives of those killed. A

2) the last night of the proms, one of the signs that summer is over. I really enjoyed some of the concerts this year.

3) my County of Yorkshire are currently playing the last game of the 2010 cricket season. They are in with a chance of winning the title. Go Tykes!!!!

4) Barbican is near my office in London, it is a major arts centre, with theatres and concert halls. There is also a music library, with CDs, scores and reference books. It is a wonderful resource and I love spending time their.

5) the Aviva premiership. Is the English Rugby championship, while I don't support a particular team. I love watching as many games as possible. A winter of great entertainment awaits.

eBay

2010-09-13T09:31:00.001-07:00

I am trying to sell lots of my stuff on eBay with inconsistent results.

What tips have you got to aid me in my quest to sell and make some money!!!

Blogging holiday is over

2010-09-10T09:35:00.001-07:00

Guys,

I have decided that my blogging holiday is now officially and definitely over.

It seems like yonks since I posted anything. I thinks it time I woke up from my virtual hibernation and started to satisfy my readership again. I am guessing that you have all missed my charm, wit and sparkling sense of humour.

Therefore I cannot keep you on the edges of your seats for much longer.

This was one of the residents of the field where I stayed on holiday this year, Vegas had nothing on this place I can tell you.

This was the only bit of sun I saw for a whole week. Amazing how many fossils you can find on a beach in Devon.

It's getting cold now!!

My view

2010-08-21T23:56:00.000-07:00

Woke up to this view this morning

Mistresses

2010-08-19T04:39:00.000-07:00

Is the best programme on telly at the moment.

The star of the show is Orla Brady!! She is :

Amazing !!!!!

Fab

2010-08-18T01:40:00.000-07:00

I was on the train this morning on my way to work. As you know I fill the vacuum of tediousness with people watching and listening to music on my IPhone.

There were two highlights today:

1) Mozart Piano Sonata 12 k332 played by Mitsuko Uchida. The first movement is amazing, please listen to this !!!!

2) there was a very respectable looking lady, dressed like an executive, smart suit, smart hair, and brand bag. She obviously took her appearance very seriously, she was in her mid forties. Attractive was an under statement, she had the clearest green eyes and a gentle smile. Sitting on a bank of three seats on the train, she was opposite three equally suited and booted men. Who were sitting,
as men do, legs open, showing their wares. This lady looked like she was in heaven, and could not stop her self from crotch watching. Her eyes were like the crowd at a tennis match, as they moved from one crotch to another. I was wondering what was going through her mind!!!

I have 2 days left working, must crack on!!!

300

2010-08-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot recently about this blog and what it's purpose is. I have no clue!!!

In the meantime a little milestone has snuck up on me. This will be my 300th post.

So I was thinking about how I should celebrate, one reason why this post has taken so long to follow the last one, however this post will just summarise what i have found amusing recently, what I will be doing next and what is making me happy.

1) the burglar whose bum was too big to fit through a window and had to be rescued by the fire service.

2) Barak Obama's imitation of the former English farming minister John Selwyn Gummer, who apart from being the ugliest man ever to serve in government, famously fed his 5 year old daughter a dodgy beef burger as a way of calming the fears of the British Public about Mad Cow disease. Obama did the same by swimming with his daughter in the Gulf of Mexico.

3) I am going away for a week with the family to Devon, one of the loveliest places in the world. Hope to dig up some fossils on the Jurassic coast.

4) I will be getting a new iPhone tomorrow.

5) I have made a fabulous friendship, they make me giggle, smile and laugh. A wonderful addition to my life.

6) I need to take my time and not rush, things will still get done, just better and with less stress.

7) working in the Rat race is horrid and i am fed up and wish I could do something better.

8) my daughter will be 10 next week how did that happen.

9) a rather attractive lady smiled at me on the train today.

300

2010-08-17T11:10:00.001-07:00

You tube links

2010-08-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

Guys, I know I keep going on about Paul Lewis and his Beethoven concerto's

Watch this !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkfAVoAwhh0&feature=youtube_gdata

And this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pnABwVlSnc&feature=youtube_gdata

You should know now what i am on about.

I loved this article written in the Daily Telegraph

2010-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

By Simon Heffer.

It is titled "how Vaughan Williams capture England with Strings"

In 1906, a clergyman called the Rev Percy Dearmer – his name will be familiar to many of you who have, in moments of boredom in church, read the small print of your hymn book – turned up at the Chelsea house of Ralph Vaughan Williams. “I had heard of him as a parson who invited tramps to sleep in his drawing room,” the composer recalled many years later, “and I feared he was going to ask me to do the same”. In fact, Dearmer had come to ask Vaughan Williams, then in his mid-thirties and still starting out as a composer, to help him with the musical side of The English Hymnal, a book that was to become the staple of Anglican congregations throughout the country, and is still used by some today.
The composer did write quite a few of his own tunes, which are among the best in the book – such as for the hymns “For all the saints” and “Come down, O love divine”. However, he also pillaged many others from the stable of English folk song, such as a tune from Sussex that became “O little town of Bethlehem”. Nor did he hesitate to borrow from the Renaissance masters of English music, which is where he found a tune that would have an even further-reaching resonance in his work, and in classical music.

He found the Third Psalter Tune of Thomas Tallis, written in 1567, and used it for hymn number 92 in the Hymnal, “When, rising from the bed of death”. But he sensed, having done that, that he had unfinished business with the tune, and embarked on an exploration of Tudor music and its sonorities that culminated in the composition of one of his most famous and beautiful works, the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Tallis was one of the world’s leading composers of sacred choral music of his era; the challenge Vaughan Williams set himself was to translate the sounds of choral music into a string orchestra.
Since the early years of the 20th century, Vaughan Williams had been collecting English folk-tunes, of the sort that were to prove of such use to him in writing the music for so many hymns. He was formulating an idea of “national music” that was to inform much of his own writing, and whose nature and ethos he would express in a famous essay of that name in the 1930s. Resurrecting a beautiful tune from a much earlier era of English music also fitted in with the composer’s ideology about his craft: it enabled him to link his own creativity with that of a composer from 350 years earlier, in what would seem an unbroken strand of musical, and cultural, continuity.
In 1908, between discovering the Tallis tune and writing the Fantasia, Vaughan Williams went to Paris to study with Ravel, the greatest orchestrator of his era. He made his English pupil think more carefully about the sounds an ensemble of instruments would make, and also about how to make certain sounds using an orchestra. Ravel’s own gift, obvious to anyone who listens to any of his orchestral music for even a few minutes, is how much of an effect he makes with relatively small forces.
Before his lessons – which he called his “French polish” – Vaughan Williams’s orchestral works had a thickness of texture that seemed a little primitive. He would never entirely throw off that aspect of his writing – it is something that handicaps him in some of his later works – but he did return from Paris with a new lightness of touch, and an improved thoughtfulness about his composition. The former quality is plainly visible in his Wasps overture of 1909; the latter in the technical skill that went into turning Tallis’s tune and Vaughan Williams’s development of it into a work for string orchestra.
Fundamental to the effect of this work is that the composer splits the string orchestra into three parts of three different sizes. There is a large orchestra; there is a smaller one of nine players; and there is a string quartet. It is this structure, rather than any obvious compositional effects that might be considered the clichés of writing for strings, that provides the contrasts within the work. The second orchestra is used almost as an echo of the first, providing in some respects what certain critics have called a “halo” of sound. The appeal of the work rests not simply on its beauty, but on the ghostly, mystical sound effects that constitute that sense of beauty in the writing.
The work was first performed in Gloucester Cathedral at the Three Choirs Festival 100 years ago. A special centenary performance takes place there on Tuesday. The audience at the premiere included the young Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney, both of whom were overcome by what they heard. Howells especially was impregnated with an influence that shaped much of his own writing over the following 70 years.
Vaughan Williams obtained his effects then – as many other performers of the work have since – by having the three groups of strings apart from each other in the cathedral, reinforcing the effect of an echo. It is certainly a work one hears best in a large church or cathedral, not so much for any religious undertones (which, given that the work was written by an agnostic, must be imagined rather than real) as for the effect of the acoustics of such buildings, with their high vaulted ceilings, on the music.
The work has been recorded many times, but there is one account of it so far superior to all others that one has little need to listen to anything apart from it. It was made by John Barbirolli with the Sinfonia of London in 1962 for EMI, and is still available. The Fantasia was recorded in the Temple church in London, to capture the right sort of acoustic, and in the middle of the night, to ensure that extraneous noise was at a minimum. Sometimes, the strings sound almost like an organ, but then reveal themselves again for what they are.
It is a recording in which not just all the beauty of the work, but all its tensions – it is far more than simply the reworking of a hymn-tune – are given their utmost expression. There is what Michael Kennedy, Vaughan Williams’s friend and biographer, has called a “grave beauty” about the work: it is those depths of feeling, and of Englishness, that bring people back to it again and again.

Follow on

2010-08-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to send you an update on one of my previous posts.

The BBC proms is now well underway, and the highlight for me, has been Paul Lewis playing the Beethoven Piano Concertos.

He has now performed the 1st four, all to massive critical acclaim. On Monday 6th september, he will play the final concerto, the "Emperor" I cannot wait.

I hope you have managed to catch him playing.

I have also been hugely impressed with his pre concert talks. He is very down to earth, in fact he is from a working class background and was born in Liverpool.

I am currently saving up to buy his CD collection of all 5 concertos playing with BBC symphony orchestra.

Have you managed to see any? What did you think?

What do you see

2010-08-09T04:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for being lude but what do you see !!! I borrowed this off the Internet somewhere sorry!!

Honestly I saw a lamp!!

Requiem Lyrics

2010-08-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

I have some Latin text for you today, I am no scholar, but was curious as to the lyrics of one my Favourite pieces of music. The Lacrimosa from Mozarts Requiem!! There are many versions on YouTube, if you want to listen, just enter Lacrimosa in the search box.

These are the lyrics :

Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem. Amen

The English translation isn't half as poetic or atmospheric. If you say the words in Latin you get a sense of rhyme and rhythm, very beautiful!! The translation is:

Tearful will be that day
on which from the ashes will rise
the guilty man for judgment.
So have mercy, O Lord, on this man.
Compassionate Lord Jesus,
grant them rest. Amen.

Let's compare to a set of modern lyrics, these are from one of my favourite songs: Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis, ( Did you know that this is set to the tune of Pachabel's Canon) you can find this on youtube too!! This is the opening verse.

Slip inside the eye of your mind
Don't you know you might find
A better place to play
You said that you've never been
But all the things that you've seen
They slowly fade away

I was amazed at how similar they were!! The rhythm and rhyme while subtly different follow the same rules. I am sure somebody somewhere has written a academic study on this subject and I am not the first to spot it but it was a revelation to me. This just backed up my view that songs are songs and have been for a very long time, a process of setting words to music, nothing more nothing less, which are ultimately designed to enhance our lives.

How awful!!!

2010-08-03T09:41:00.001-07:00

There was a news story covered in the UK over the last few days which has touched a subject I am passionate about.

In the sleepy Dorset town of Poole, a young couple (Jenny Paton, her partner Tim Joyce) applied to get their child into a local school. Nothing unusual in that, you say!!!

Well the local council in their wisdom decided that this couple were lying about their address and decided to have them followed to prove it. They used legislation which allows for surveillance of major criminals or terrorists as a justification for their action.

The couple weren't lying!!!

Some how they found out about it, the council have no obligation to disclose what they have done to the couple in question.

They sued and the court decided that the council's action was illegal, the couple are not entitled to compensation but they sued anyway because of the principle and won!!

They are my heroes of the week.

For the reason that they could be bothered to stand up for all of our civil liberties and privacy, they are to be applauded.

Thank you

Blank piece of paper

2010-07-30T08:03:00.001-07:00

Should I worry, I hope not, all I could think to write this afternoon is

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!!

Have a fab weekend !!!!

Likes and Dislikes

2010-07-29T04:37:00.000-07:00

With thanks to the Daily Telegraph, I had to share this with you guys.

This is a list of the Dislikes of the President of Iran.

Knowing that I would not have voted for him!!!

1)!Paul the Octopus: During a speech at the weekend Mr Ahmadinejad said the sea creature, which correctly predicted the outcome of World Cup games, was a symbol of all that is wrong with the western world.

2) Ties: Earlier this month, the president, who never wears a tie in public, went on record as saying that no religious leader has banned the tie, which since the 1979 Islamic revolution has been regarded as a symbol of Western culture.

3) Bad hair: In an attempt to rid the country of "decadent Western cuts", Iran's culture ministry this month produced a catalogue of haircuts that meet government approval with ponytails out but side-partings and Elvis quiffs acceptable

'4) Badly veiled' women: Last month Iranian police issued warnings to 62,000 women who were "badly veiled" in the Shiite holy province of Qom as part of a crackdown on dress and behaviour.

5) 'Overpaid' actors: Last November Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry threatened a tax crackdown on actors, after it was found that Mohammad Reza Golzar, one of the country's most revered stars, was paid £55,000 for three days work for playing an angel in the film Democracy in Bright Daylight.

6) The internet: In November 2008 Iran blocked access to more than five million internet sites, whose content was mostly perceived by Abdolsamad Khoram Abadi, an adviser to Iran's prosecutor general, as immoral and anti-social.

7) Twitter: Last year the Revolutionary Guard, an elite Iranian military force, ordered people to remove all material that could "create tension" from Twitter or face legal action.

8) Facebook: Last May Iran blocked the use of the popular social networking site in a move critics claimed was an attempt to muzzle the opposition ahead of the June election. It later lifted the ban.

9) 'Immoral' writers: Mohammad Hossein Safar Harandi, Iran's culture minister, warned writers against publishing graphic descriptions of relationships or sex, citing the system's "religious, moral and national" sensitivities. All publications in Iran must be approved by the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance. Publishers have complained of tighter censorship under Mr Ahmadinejad's regime.

Would he get your vote !!!

2 years this week

2010-07-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

The build up has begun and so I am hoping that in 2 years time, all of my most excellent readers will be visiting these shores. It will be the 2012 Olympics to be hosted in London. It is going to be the most exciting and wonderful event to happen in this country, probably since the football world cup in 1966.

I hope to see you all here, cheering on your champions.

You will have a fantastic time. London is ready for you, the city will be spectacular, the country will be welcoming and the people will be friendly.

If not before I will see you all then.

Congratulations

2010-07-27T10:17:00.001-07:00

Well, today I would like to offer my heart felt Congratulations to the Winner and Runner up of the Friday Frolic.

The Winner is Jennyfreckles, she is rewarded with my warmest regards and affection.

The runner up is KampKk, whose prize is a packet of Polo's, please contact me separately with details and I will put your prize in the post.

Further Congratulations are offered to the man on Dragons Den last night who wanted an investment of £100k in his company whose product was to hire fourposter bed kits at £160 for 3 days. Supposedly aimed at romantic husbands wanting to treat their wives to the country house hotel experience at home. Shame it was more expensive than actually staying in a country house hotel and looked like a dogs dinner!!

Work !!!

2010-07-26T10:34:00.001-07:00

I am typing this while sat in my office between meetings. I was thinking about what I would much rather be doing. Here is that list:

1) Holding the woman I love!!

2) reading one of the pile of books I have waiting for me.

3) baking some bread.

4) having a shower, I feel stinky today due to aircon failure.

5) playing frisbee or soccer with the kids

6) sitting outside a coffee shop watching the world and people go by.

7) thinking of more good stuff to write.

As you read this, tell me, What would you rather be doing?

This weekend

2010-07-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday,
What a great movie!!!

I had dinner at Jamie's Italian, this is Jamie Oliver's chain restaurant. I thought the food was poor and over charged.

I am looking after a sick boy, he has an upset stomach.

I want to be good and do all the chores I need to do but my favourite chair seems extra comfy today!!!

Might do some cooking later, I am right in the mood.

Friday Frolic

2010-07-23T09:24:00.001-07:00

It's time for an exciting new game. Its where was I ?

Below are three pics of a famous location. Your job is to tell me where it is and what points of interest there are, close by.

The winner to be announced when I can be bothered, will have my undying love and affection.

2nd prize is a packet of Polo's

So here goes:

How easy was that?

Good luck!!!!

Review

2010-07-22T07:11:00.001-07:00

Guys

This was the review of the concert I blogged about earlier.

He agreed with me!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/proms/7904095/Proms-2010-Prom-6-BBC-Symphony-Orchestra-Lewis-review.html

UK Summers

2010-07-22T02:04:00.001-07:00

There is an event in the UK which happens every summer. The BBC proms, the worlds biggest classical music festival. I had a very pleasurable evening last night listening to one of the concerts.

I got home from work, made my dinner, poured some wine and decided to sit in the garden to finish some work I needed to do.

Luckily I remembered the concert I wanted to listen to. Technology is a wonderful thing and because of BBC IPlayer I could do that on my laptop.

It was an all Beethoven concert, Paul Lewis playing Piano Concerto's 1 and 4.

As you may remember I have raved about this guy before, I have 3 of 4 box sets of him playing the Beethoven Piano Sonata's

It was a fantastic concert, quite magical in it's musicality. So good I am listening to it again this morning,

Please please please listen to it too. It will make your day, just as it did mine.

Ps I think it is on the telly on Friday. With the amazingly gorgeous Katie Derham

Happiness

2010-07-20T23:42:00.001-07:00

I deleted off a post I wrote yesterday, it went a little further than i wanted. Though it did get an immediate response from one of my fantastic followers, whose gave me some great advise. I will be following that advise and I wanted to say thank you to that person.

All I am going to say today is that happiness has to be worked at. You have to look after your brain as well as your body. I have a very negative inner voice and I find it very difficult to ignore it. I think a list of what I am grateful for, is a great way to override that negative voice.

I am grateful for the following:

1) my fantastic family, there are so many of them, but they are all super.
2) music, I love getting lost in a symphony, relaxing to string quartet and crying at the end of an opera
3) beauty, there are so many that gladden my heart,

I hope to blog a little bit more. I might freak out, but I hope it will be fairly normal, funny and inciteful.

Thanks

Nice

2010-07-02T10:26:00.001-07:00

Let me tell you, that I love summer!!!

Normally I would like the thought of having lots of half naked, hot sweaty people in a confined space very interesting.

Today on my train I can think of no positives what so ever.

My throat is sore, I need a drink, water would be nice, White wine better, but a very cold beer would be amazing.

Have a great weekend!

If

2010-07-01T05:25:00.001-07:00

You don't do something in a while does it make you feel grouchy, grumpy, and achy.

I am getting those feelings.

How

2010-06-30T09:22:00.001-07:00

Can you help children, go to sleep in hot weather, in a bedroom without aircon?

Any secrets?

This week.

2010-06-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

The spell of fine weather in the UK ended this morning, with a torrential downpour.

You could hear the grass and flowers give a huge sigh of relief.

Following our dire exit from the world cup at the weekend, the expectation of the country is now passed onto Andy Murray.

We expect our disappointment to be fulfilled very soon.

I am going to spend this week listening to Beethoven Piano Sonata's, arguing with project managers, commuting and thinking about love.

Jobs worth

2010-06-26T01:22:00.001-07:00

Wokingham council did not take my green recycling because I placed it in a normal recycling box rather than the green bag that they prefer.

How annoying is that?

How to get out of a bad mood at work

2010-06-25T05:58:00.001-07:00

1) listen to IPod
2) go for coffee and flirt outrageously with the person next to you in the queue
3) giggle at the geek in the office with the awful tie.
4) Internet shop
5) write blogs

Ascot

2010-06-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

Looking good, dressed up for Royal Ascot.

The Blue blob in the middle is Her Majesty The Queen

Champagne breakfast

Beards

2010-06-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't shaved now for a week. I was thinking of leaving it like that until England win the football world cup.

I am now getting complaints but should I resist.

Please your advise is vital !!!

The quest continues

2010-06-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's such a beautiful country, I have been in about 30 years. I had to share more with you.

Malham 2

2010-05-31T23:40:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures from my quest at the weekend, for the magical blue lake.

Malham

2010-05-31T12:51:00.001-07:00

Some pictures from my weekend away!!

Malham in the Yorkshire Dales

Cool

2010-05-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Tapas and beer, does life get any better!!!!

NO

Today

2010-05-27T00:03:00.001-07:00

I am really tired today, went to be bed on an argument about how hard I am working. Left the house before anyone else had stirred.

I do not feel great !!!!!!

I have meetings from 10:00 am until 5pm, will have to rush home to get back for 6:30. Will have to put children to bed and them do some more work.

It's going to be a long day!!!!!

Thankfully I have music to easer through the train journey this morning. Vaughan Williams - Lark Ascending this morning, hugely appropriate for a summers morning.

Yesterday I listened to Roy Harris - symphony number 3. You may know but Roy was one of America's greatest composers, I was recently introduced to his music, and have a goal to work through his numerous works. He deserves to be regarded in the same vein as Copeland, Gershwin and Bernstein.

Queens speech

2010-05-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw one of the great traditional events that we have in the UK.

It was the State Opening of Parliament, where the Queen reads a speech highlighting what her Government hope to acheive in the coming session.

As you may know we have a new coalition government, formed by the Tory and Liberal parties.

They are taking some tough measures, one of which seems a little harsh. They are reintroducing the Tudor punishment of public beheadings on Tower Green for treason to the Crown and crimes against humanity.

They detailed a list of the first to go to the block. They are :

1) Sarah Ferguson - ex Duchess of York for selling access to her husband for £500k, unforgiveable.

2) Fred Goodwin - ex boss of RBS, for nearly bankrupting the country, when his bank went bust.

3) Ashley Cole - for all his antics in making the beautiful and fragrant Cheryl want to Divorce him! She is a national treasure. His sentence maybe commuted to castration if he helps England win the Football World Cup!!!

4) the writers of the following Songs: Agadoo, Jive Bunny, Merry Christmas Everybody and the Frog Chorus.

Further additions to the list will be decided by the Editor of the Daily Mail newspaper, as he is seen as a beacon of fairness in an otherwise bleak world, the list will then be submitted to a telephone vote on an X factor Pop idol type
Prime time TV programme, the winner will then be ceremoniously rowed down the Thames to the Tower of London, they will be allowed a last meal, cooked by Gordon Ramsey obviously. Their
final humiliation will be to complete a Total Wipeout style obstacle course on the way to the scaffold.

I am so glad My vote was not wasted.

Highs

2010-05-25T11:46:00.001-07:00

I went to a concert on Friday with my daughter. It was fantastic!!!

The Royal Philharmonic played Beethoven.

The Egmont overture

The Emperor concerto

The Fifth symphony

I have never heard these live before and they are so much better than live than on recording.

The concerto was played brillantly and the slow movement brought a tear to my eye it was so beautiful.

I knew from the first Da Da Da Der that I was in for a treat. It was wonderful to hear the stirring wall of sound. It has been in my head ever since. I have been annoying everyone by suddenly shouting out the finale, especially the rather loud trombones.

It has made me look like a nutter!!

Thanks Ludwig for a fantastic evening.

My daughter loved it too and it has inspired her to do a piano exam.
Yeeee haaaaaa !!!

Where have I been

2010-05-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

I think I have lost the will to blog!!

This last week has been a nightmare of early mornings, late nights, rushin around, checking documents, arguing, reviewing, meeting, flirting, exercising, agreeing, smiling, cuddling, cajoloing, coaching, encouraging, loving, tackling and walking.

I haven't read, listened, cooked, slept very much at all.

Forgive my absense!!!

Questions for any Americans

2010-05-08T06:15:00.001-07:00

There is a saying that the USA and the UK are divided by a common language. There has been a bond between the two countries for a while now. However in the interests of furthering relations could someone please answer me a few questions.

1) what or where is the Tri-state area.

2) do school children really have 104 days of summer vacation.

3) how much tea was drunk at the Boston Tea Party.

4) why is the Capital called Washington DC when his name was George.

5) is there a Starbucks on every street corner like there is in London.

6) do you guys actually watch the "Suite life of Zack and Cody" or do you just sell it to us to annoy?

7) how do you get time to do anything but watch sports, your teams seem to play everyday.

8) do American girls really think the English Accent is cool.

9) why do people live outside of California or Florida, where it is warm all year round?

10) why when you have so much space do you build the tallest skyscrapers?

Thanks

Election Day

2010-05-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the General Election in the UK. I will vote, I beleive everyone should vote. Our freedoms have been won by the Blood, Sweat and Tears of our fathers and theirs.

I am grateful to:

The Barons who stood up to King John and drafted the Magna Carta.

Oliver Cromwell for showing world you don't need to be a king to rule.

The Suffragettes for fighting for the belief that all should have the right to vote. Not just rich men!!!

The generation who fought against Nazism and Stalinism. Without them there would no choice in whom we vote.

There are so many to be grateful too. Don't waste your vote, you are lucky to have one. So don't take this basic human right for granted and get involved.

My favourite apps

2010-05-02T03:19:00.000-07:00

As you may know I have an iPhone, I love it!!!

These are my Favourite Apps for it.

Evernote - stores pictures, notes, web sites etc, very very useful

Around me: when travelling this is a great way to find what you need.

Tioti - allows me to tell my sky+ box to record my favourite shows, when I am out.

Jotnot: will turn a picture of a document into a PDF. An incredibly useful app, if you hate having paper files.

Blogpress: allows me to write and edit my blog posts on my iPhone. I hardly ever user a PC to blog. That maybe why there is dodgy spelling and typing!!!!

Have a fabulous day avoiding all the April Showers, which seem to have waited until now to appear.

Friday feelings

2010-04-30T10:04:00.001-07:00

Well this week has been tough, I have worked late 3 nights this week, I still have 3 reports to write for Monday, plans fell apart on some other projects I was working on, an internal audit team is comin to look at my work in 2 weeks and finally I had to cover for a colleagues sickness, but do you know what?

I am feeling pretty good, I have put the hassle behind me now. It's a long weekend, I have some enjoyable stuff to do, things which make that crappy stuff worthwhile.

Other highlights:
I watched Avatar this week for the first time, what a fantastic movie.

A Forgotten microphone caused Gordon Brown some heartache, I wonder what he says about old ladies that don't support him.

I had the best home cooked meal I have had in ages on Monday. To celebrate my wedding anniversary I had seared scallops, rib eye steak and chocolate fondants.

My Daughter has been put forward for her first piano exam.

My son had a good week and seems to have his enthusiasm back.

Things to look forward to:
A lie in on Sunday.
Getting Into the book I am Reading a bit more
Writing another page of my story.
Finding an activity to do on Sunday for all of us.
Getting the house back in order.

Well done

2010-04-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

I have just written the first page of my book. I was going to call it a novel, but that sounded a bit pretentious, for some one like me.

I am quite pleased with it.

How many more to go, I have nt a clue, will have to put a plan together.

This is quite exciting!!!

Music I have listened to today

2010-04-27T23:49:00.001-07:00

Here is the list of music I have listened to today on my Long Commute into London.

My iPhone is on song shuffle today.

1) Beethoven's Emperor Concerto

2) Mozart Piano Sonata 17

3) Mozart String Quartet 19

4) Dido's Lament by Henry Purcell.

5) Vaughan Williams symphony 5

Not a bad way to start the day.

There is something wrong

2010-04-27T08:30:00.001-07:00

When:

1) someone has wiped a bogey on the wall, right in front of your nose as you use the urinal

2) the cafe you are having breakfast in has run out of HP sauce.

3) your favourite tune falls off your iTunes account.

4) you notice for the first time that most of your eyebrows are now grey.

5) you are 10 minutes late for every appointment in your diary.

6) the cute little girl who was a bridesmaid at your wedding, just got their first tattoo.

7) you dont know who to vote for because everybody is crap.

8) you stop at 8 in your latest top 10.

This week

2010-04-24T12:41:00.001-07:00

I have been mainly

1) tired

2) coughing and having a very snotty nose.

3) happy to have made some new friends.

4) eating soup!

5) behind on writing and Reading blogs. Sorry

6) working too hard, 2 people I supervise have been off sick, a couple of projects have been brought forward and I am preparing for an internal audit.

7) worried about my boy.

8) disappointed that I could not enjoy the sun more.

9) finding an enthusiasm for Twitter.

10) reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

11) covered in Farrow & Ball House White paint.

12) Wishing an old friend a happy birthday, another old friend a safe trip and happy return

13) ignoring someone who I thought could be a friend but isn't

14) thinking of exercising but not really doing any!!!

15) deciding to write the story idea I have put together.

16) being more productive, more receptive and open.

Thanks for Reading!!!!

Just watched

2010-04-22T14:54:00.001-07:00

The leaders debate on the telly here in the UK.

What makes a winner, is it style, substance, wit or charm.

Is it the ability to shave properly? Which apparently let Richard Nixon down once!!!

When you see politicians what impresses you, what makes you vote?

How Rude !!!

2010-04-21T00:29:00.001-07:00

Don't worry I haven't fallen into a pit of depravity, I thought I would share with you the title of an email I received this morning.

I would like to publicly thank the sender of said email for the attention he has shown me and my blog. I won't pass on his details as I would not like to embarrass him.

I would like to add, that, while I love my own penis, it has given me much pleasure over the years, I have no desire to see, touch or do some of the other things you mention in your note. Therefore you can be assured that I have deleted the photo you sent me.

New apps

2010-04-20T10:59:00.001-07:00

I got a new App for my iPhone today, it tells me who was born and who died on a specfic day.

Today's birthdays in order of horribleness:

Adolf Hitler
Papa Doc Duvalier
Napolean the third
Ryan o'neal
George Takei
John Elliot Gardiner

Deaths were
Bram Stoker
Christopher Robin
Gioseppe Sinopoli

No one horrid died today!!

Important events
Oliver Cromwell dissolved the rump parliament in 1653

The siege of Boston started in 1775

Robert E Lee resigned from the union army to take command of the Army of Virginia in 1861

Diggestive decorated his bedroom in 2010.

Weekend of Tweets

2010-04-19T03:37:00.001-07:00

This weekend I tweeted on the following subjects:

1) the gym, I had a great work out Friday but I think it has made me ill.

2) a lovely bottle of wine, which I opened on Friday.

3) the ash

4) Go Redsox, my adopted baseball team, though I hear they keep losing.

5) AA Gill's review of Petrus, the Gordon Ramsey restaurant in London, he gave it one star and was very harsh. Is Gordon losing his touch.

6) I listened to the Early Music show on Radio 3, all about Opera in 16th Century Venice Extraordinary music!!! I love that show.

7) I have had the lurgy even though I protested I was much better!!!

Thursday 's people

2010-04-15T00:08:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share with you, my Thursday morning people watching. The 06:56 to London Waterloo included the following whom I consider the highlights:

1) Bad hair tech guy, this chap had more gadgets than an Apple store. In his late thirties, he wears a badly fitting suit and an unironed shirt, which is a bit frayed at the cuffs. The lack of a wedding ring, and his weird hair cut tells me that he is more interested in the details of the technology he uses than his appearance. This guy I his own stereotype.

2) the ageing beauty, she has just turned 40, and is a vision of elegance and grace. Her clothes are stylish, her accessories are brands which are understated but still tell a story of success. She works hard, in her job, she works hard on looking after her skin and finally works hard at the gym. She is just on the line of unnaturally skinny because as she gets older she finds it more and more difficult to protect her beauty. She is beautiful but there is a problem, she has forgotten how to smile. Her flashing smile is now a permanent frown, her brow downtrodden by constant worrying about the deal, contract or board meeting agenda. She is loved but there is something missing a deep seated unhappiness which is not going away anytime soon. Is it the lack of children or the betrayal of a partner?

Music choice and News

2010-04-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Music matching my various moods this week:

1) Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky Korsikov.
2) the Swan from the Carnival of th Animals.
3) Gotterdammerung by Richard Wagner.

Funniest story:
Is the householder who could not afford pest control and instead asked an animal welfare charity to remove the 3000 mice that had infected his house.

Worrying News: so far looking at the announcements from the various parties standing in the UK general election, I will be worse off whoever wins.

Sports News: I picked the winner of the Grand National but only had a pound each way. Well done to Tony McCoy the greatest jump jockey for his first win in 15 attempts.

Something exciting:
Subject to vetting I shall be attending Royal Ascot this year in the Royal Enclosure, yippeeee. I will be dressed up to the nines.

I love London

2010-04-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

2 fantastic pictures taken on my iPhone today.

A quiet scene from outside my office building.

How nice is that???

My favourite childhood memory

2010-04-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Steph in the city
http://stephie5741.blogspot.com

She came up with this question for me. Don't tell her but hers was the first blog I followed and inspired me to start mine.

My Favourite Childhood Memory is :

I was 11 years old and in my second year at Priestman Middle school. Through years of practising in the back streets behind Thornton Lane, with my brothers and friends. I was a good batsmen, the best in school.

I tried out for the school team and was made Captain. We played our first matches and the team won easily, I helped of course.

I remember being told that I had been picked to play for Bradford schools, they were playing against Nottingham. That was great enough but then I was told that the game was to be played at Trent Bridge. This is the Test Match ground in Nottingham, where all my cricketing heroes had played, had trodden on the same pitch. I was in the same dressing room, I nervously put on my pads and gloves just as Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Botham and Don Bradman had done before me. I was the No: 5 batsmen and so has to wait my turn. It came and i strode down the steps of the old pavillion and out on to the ground. I was so proud.

I scored 35 not out, so did pretty well. Unfortunately we lost! This is a picture of Trent Bridge today.

It was a fantastic memory.

What about you guys?

My Sunday to do list

2010-04-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

1) Be Lazy - done

2) lie in until 10:30 - done

3) have afternoon nap while cuddling offspring - done

4) cook curry - 50% complete

5) watch trashy telly and then fall asleep on the sofa. - not started yet.

A very successful day I think!!!!

Such a beautiful day

2010-04-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

There is a saying that you should go to Paris in the Spring. NO!!!!! you should come to England!!

We are having amazing weather.

The land is green again, the daffodils are blooming and the tree blossom is finally sprouting.

It's all a bit like my mood "Fragrant"

I saw a Crow attacking a Red Kite today, it was like they were dancing in the sky.

The sky was the brightest blue, the clouds were sheep like. It was and still is idyllic.

Long may it continue.

This week

2010-04-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

The highs are:

1) some old friends got in touch
2) listened to a fantastic Podcast from BBC Radio 3 on the life of William Byrd check it out. Some fantastic music.
3) the new series of "Outnumbered" started yesterday. This is the best comedy on tv at the moment.
4) got to 50 followers on my Blog.
5) it's the Grand National tomorrow, I love the traditions and stories behind this horse race. A great spectacle!!!!

The Lows:
1) I have slept really badly, I am now knackered.
2) got four weeks of general election coverage
3) have got diy to do

The weirdest thing I've ever eaten.....

2010-04-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks to KampKK at http://www.kampkk.com for this fantastic idea.

She has an absolutely amazing blog and I would recommend it to all.

In answer to this, question I have never been hugely adventurous when it comes to food but I do like to try things. Here is the list:

In France I had frogs legs and snails fairly standard

In Singapore I had chickens feet, horrible

In Sicily I had bacon fat with pepper.

But the worst and the weirdest was in my home City of Bradford. During school holidays I used to stay at my aunt and uncle's house. My uncle loved Tripe, which is boiled Cow stomach. I had try it because it was so gross.

My Dad worked next to a tripe factory and it was the most foul smelling place you could ever imagine. It was disgusting, worse than a sess pool on a warm summers day. The smell lingered on you for days, no matter how many times you showered. It was that bad!!!!

The tripe however is just a white slab of rubbery flesh, on which you pour vinegar. I tasted of basically nothing, which was a huge disappointment, except the vinegar. All I could link of was why bother. The factory obviously boiled all the flavour of there is any, out as well as all the yucky stuff that made the stink.

Thanks again for listening and thank you to my 50th follower who joined this week.

This person made such a difference in my life

2010-04-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

http://cambridgelady789.blogspot.com/

Many Thanks for to Cambridgelady for coming up with this title please go read her fantastic blog.

A number of people have had a significant impact on my life, as would be normal for a man of my advancing years. Some people have been involved longer than others, some have disappointed me, so have been a beacon of excellence that i could only look up to. Only a few have made a true difference, to them I am eternally grateful.

My role today is to tell you about one of those.

My Dad died last year, he was 87 years old. He lived all his life in Bradford, West Yorkshire. This is a very very tough Northern city, it what was at the heart of the Industrial revolution in England, Famous for its woollen mills. For ordinary people it was a hell hole, the squalor and pollution was extraordinary. In 1942 he joined the Royal Navy and travelled the world in the service of his King and Country. He was an electrician who made battleships work, he was not decorated but he did his job and he did it very well. He worked for the same company for 40 years until he retired in 1986. He married my mother in 1943 and had 5 children I was the last born in 1967. His life was full of pain, a daughter was born with downs syndrome in the 1950's and died in infancy, his wife of 26 years died of kidney failure. I was two!!! He brought me up alone, i wanted for nothing. I treasure the memories of family holidays, in the summer when he had his two weeks off a year. We would camp in cold caravans in wet windy Wales but we had fun and were a family. I did well at school and then he supported my through University. He was a life long church goer and passed on his values and beliefs to me. He was a private man but he was a great friend to so many that the church was packed on the day of his funeral. He did his best in everything he did, he was kind, considerate and he loved me unconditionally.

thank you !!!!

Any ideas any questions

2010-04-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

I want to try something new today to see if it works. Maybe it's because I am content and all is well in the world. Maybe I am being lazy, can't decide which?

I am going to outsource the titles of my blog posts to my fantastic followers. This would be in the form of a question, a subject, a person or just an idea. I really don't mind. My task is to come up with an appropriate post based on the suggestion.

So all of you fabulous folk, either email if you want to remain anonymous or comment here. I will link my response back to your site if appropriate.

Cheers on tuesday?

What I have learned

2010-04-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

This Easter I have learned the following:

1) My children know the true meaning of Easter, though you have to dig deep to find it.

2) Carluccio's is a great place to host a childrens party. Do Build a bear workshop first and then go eat at Carluccio's. The children choice is fantastic but I ate Penne with a spicey sausage tomato sauce. One of the beat bowls of pasta I have had in a long time.

3) as you get older the desire and need for chocolate eggs diminishes.

4) invest in the important people in your life and you will be rewarded.

5) I can't negotiate in my normal life. Even though I am pretty good at it.

What did you learn this weekend ?

I love the park

2010-04-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Loved this dramatic sky!!!

I had to laugh

2010-04-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

I take my daughter to swimming lessons every saturday morning at the gym I go to.

I was in the family changing area, waiting for my daughter to get dried off in a cubicle and this guy came up to me and said

"are you looking for regular boys?"

I had to laugh because this was the strangest place I had ever been propositioned. He looked a little weird but not like your usual sex fiend. I am proud that I look respectable and fairly straight laced, so this was a bit of shock.

Luckily he just walked off after my laugh.

What's the weirdest place you have been propositioned?

Freedom of expression

2010-04-02T04:48:00.000-07:00

I am.... Sitting down watching a movie with my babies !!!

I think....it is all getting a bit too much like hard work

I should... Try and have a bit more fun and laughter in my life

I dream.... Of Music, rolling hills and wild windy beaches

I want.... To do better, be better.

I know.... I have a lot to learn

I don't like.... Feeling that I let people down or am not as good a friend as I could be.

I smell... Fresh bread and fresh coffee

I hear.... Giggles, screams and shouts.

I fear.... Being alone

I usually.... Get up early and get moving

I search.... For happiness and fulfilment

I miss.... A certain feeling

I always.... Have to remind myself to relax and take it easy.

I regret.... Nothing

I wonder.... At the beauty in so many things.

I crave.... Affection

I remember.... So many fantastic memories, so many fantastic people

I need.... To grow

I forget.... Silly things

I feel.... Gorgeous in my new glasses

I can.... Cook

I can't.... Do DIY

I am happy.... That I have met through my blog, so many fab and interesting people.

I lose.... My work pass all the time it is really annoying

I sing.... And whistle constantly, it makes me happy

I listen.... People should do more of this, they would learn more about life, their friends and the world

I shop.... Very rarely

I eat.... Anything and Everything, though current favourite is Thai Green Curry.

I love.... It!!!

I thank..... the person who came up with this format

Happy Easter everyone!!

The correct way to do it

2010-04-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

I loved this story

"Using mephedrone can cause impotence, a leading scientist warned."

This was the headline in the Daily Telegraph today. If you live in the UK you will have read the huha about Meow Meow the so called legal high, it's real name is mephedrone.

There have been huge clamour to ban it, as a number of deaths have been linked to it's use.

To me this story seems to imply that scientists and the government have finally sussed out how to stop teenagers taking drugs.

mephedrone makes you impotent should be followed by

Cocaine makes your bottom bigger. Or your penis shrink.
Weed makes you wet / pooh yourself
Heroin makes you listen to folk music or wear sandals and socks at the same time!!
Ecstacy makes you cry like a girl
Tobacco makes you snog ugly men.

I think I am on to a winner here, can you think of a few more.

May the force be with you

2010-03-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people just don't do what you want. Or act how you expect. Why won't they cooperate? Even if you are at your most persuasive and eloquent, they just don't want to listen. There is no logic to their position, they are immune to your emotional blackmail. Their ears are blocked to your genius oratory.

How annoying and frustrating that they could be so stupid.

People watching

2010-03-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

I have a long commute by train to my office in London of about 2 hours. I do this 3 days a week and work from home the others.

It can be very tedious, so I try to do the following:

1) catch up on outstanding admin and email.
2) listen to music, today Sibelius 2nd symphony.
3) listen to Podcasts, my fave at the moment is Mike Duncan's History of Rome.
4) People watching, today's highlights were:
i) the guy in his twenties, so excited by and engrossed in his book that he missed his stop. As it was a book on Vietnam, I am guessing he doesn't really want to work and is looking forward to his flight to Saigon.
ii) the attractive blond lady in her late thirties, who smiled and adjusted her hair everytime she received a text on her blackberry. Was it her new lover expressing his desire for her. She certainly tried to hide her responses so may be she was a little risqué in her responses.

April showers have come a little early to London this week, so its all a bit damp and dreary. All I can say is I am Not!!!

Monday blues

2010-03-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

No this is not a "i am depressed" post.

These are some of my favourite Blues!!

1) The gorgeous blue sky this morning.

2) Blue Monday by New Order, how many times did I strut my stuff to this in my youth.

3) A pair of beautiful blue eyes!!! I am a sucker for these

4) Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin - I love the one with Leonard Bernstein conducting

5) Blueberrys yum

Spring is here

2010-03-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

And I have been cleaning.

Luckily it was only for the morning and early afternoon.

Since then I have sat on the sofa watching movies, well Underdog and Robots. With a lovely glass of chilean merlot, while having cuddles from my son.

Does life get any better than this????

What is it all about

2010-03-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am quite a shy person in real life I don't show my feelings and I am not the life and soul of the party. I say things in my blog that I probably would not say in real life. The act of writing allows me to think through what I want to say, when in real life the moment may have passed.

I am finding the ability to off load and to express my feelings very therapeutic. I think I am very honest with myself probably more so than in my real life.

Is this the same for you guys?

Have any of you got a question you would like to ask? If so please do so, I will answer honestly.

Ps : excepting those that ask for my bank account number

An important day

2010-03-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Today is a very important day in two peoples lives.

My amazingly fantastic daughter is 6 today. She was born at 3:56pm on Friday 26th March 2004. One of the happiest days of my life.

The grumpiest composer ever died on this day in Vienna in the year 1827. Thank you for cheering me up!!!!

Great Expectations

2010-03-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Over the Easter weekend the new series of Doctor Who begins. This has been the best programme on UK TV for a number of years now and has set the bar so high that its like the whole country will be watching.

But can the new writers and actors deliver against such expectations. Those are pretty big shoes to fill. David Tennant is amazing in it.

I do hope they can because we need something good, we need to have something to get rid of the winter and Gordon induced blues. We want something to talk about other than Ashley Cole's Sexting, politicians on the make and the weather.

This will be the top of my Sky plus list, and I can't wait.

Check it out.

Ps I understand it will soon be on BBC America.

Can you feel the pain

2010-03-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

These are the pictures I took at the weekend of the Battlefield of Hastings, known as Cenlac Hill.

The landscape really helped me understand the history of what happened there nearly a thousand years ago.

1) This is the bottom of the Hill, where the initial Norman lines were.

2) this is the top of hill, where the Saxons and their shield wall, held so firmly.

It is also where the ruin of Battle Abbey now stands, built by William as a penance for the suffering and death he caused during the battle.

3) Here you can see the steep slope the Normans had to climb, thus negating their powerful cavalry and archers. The Abbey is on the right at the top.

Meaning that William had to use tricks to get the Saxons off the Hill. By pretending to flee the Normans got the Saxons to chase after them down the Hill. Once that was done, they quickly turned and slaughtered the would be chasers. This severely weakened the Saxon lines, until the Normans broke through and began the slaughter.

4) a picture taken looking down the hill. At the point where King Harold was reputedly killed by an arrow in his eye.

The alta of the abbey church was placed at exactly the same spot.

About 7000 men were killed that day, that was about 1 percent, of the male population of England at the time. It was an incredibly brutal battle that changed England forever.

5) Finally this is the imposing gatehouse of the abbey built in 1385, when the original abbey buildings were rebuilt.

The abbey was a victim of the dissolution of the monastaries, as imposed by King Henry VIII. But the abbots quarters and this gate house survived. Since then it has been a private house and is now a school. The Battle field and the Abbey ruins were donated to the crown in the early 20th Century and are now kept by English Heritage.

Check out their website for details.

PS: please check out Mendelsohn's Hebrides overture. It perfectly illustrates the weather that I experienced over the weekend.

The sea was a bit wild

2010-03-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

But it was fantastic

Bodiam Castle pics

2010-03-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

The most perfect castle (alledgedly) in England.

The walk to the gate.

Imposing.

Ah that's how you get in!!!!

It's not so fine from the inside.

From here I can defend this castle for a very very long time.

Built in 1385, It was incredibly atmospheric, and a great day out. For details go to the National Trust Website!!!!

Sport Relief mile

2010-03-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

Good luck to all those who are running the Sport Relief mile tomorrow. Especially to CambridgeLady, one of my lovely followers.

Check out the fantastic work they do at BBC.co.uk/sportrelief

I am going to one of the most perfect castles in England today.

Pictures will follow.

Enjoy your passions this weekend and support this great cause.

Recreating

2010-03-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

In October 1066 the course of english history was changed forever by the Battle of Hastings. In which William Duke of Normandy defeated the Kong Harold and became King.
Thus ending the Anglo Saxon Dynasty.

Tomorrow I hope will not be as dramatic, as myself and my family will be descending on Hastings for a weekend of fun and frolics.

The first getaway of the year. It's going to be cold and wet but it's going to fun, relaxing and Chav- tastic

Have good one my beautiful readers.

I owe you all some awards so will sort that soon.
Take care xxx

Recommendation

2010-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

William Mundy: vox patris caelestis, it is track two on this fantastic cd which you can buy on Amazon.

William Mundy composed this during the brief English Counter-Reformation under the reign of Mary Tudor (1553–8). Vox patris refers to a specific liturgical and theological event, on this case the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

William Mundy (c. 1529 – 1591) was an English composer of sacred music. Little is known about his life, except that he was appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1562–3, and was replaced in 1591, presumably following his death.

So if you listen to this you are in the same club as Mary Tudor. She was famous of course for burning heretics, which was why she has the nickname of Bloody Mary. Thankfully that is now all passed and we can just enjoy this amazing choral music.