John's Space

WRITTEN FRIDAY NIGHT BUT MSN WAS PLAYING UP!

 

Hi folks!  So sorry that I've not been on here for so long.  I hope that in the meantime life has been treating you all with grace and good favour.

 

The new job was particularly busy up until a few weeks ago as my colleague was away for 12 working days.  Being new to the whole system and process still it was that bit more stressful as it took more time to get things done.  It was a useful part of the learning curve though and has seen benefits since.

 

Slap bang in the middle of that was the weekend away in Suffolk.  That was a gentle time although my tiredness saw a slight Isaac Newton moment which saw what the outcome would be if gravity pulled on a lens and the camera pushed.  The lens didn't quite survive so had to work with another all day and adapt technique.  It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day as we toured the Suffolk countryside looking at places relevant to Dad's family ancestry.  A fine time to catch up with Brother in Law and Sis too.

 

Sunday saw us down on the prom at Felixstowe for a family gathering.  The weather steadily improved and it was a great time to chill and relax.  As my age fit neatly inbetween everyone else's in the family I can flit between the young and old quite easily or just slink off for some quiet time.  The fish n chips for lunch really hit the spot, followed by a long walk to the market and back in time for tea!  Brother in Law Mike and I were serving teas and coffees and/or washing up a lot of the time providing service with a smile and some good humour to boot.

 

Was going to the air tattoo at Fairford but it turned into a rain fest and was postponed.  As the replacement lens had not arrived it was almost a good job but a day out with an old buddy of mine would have done the job brilliantly.  Needed some relief as a good friend of mine had passed away suddenly with no warning.  That has taken some getting my head round, especially as his widow asked me to be her rock and accompany her to church and the crematorium.  It was an honour to be asked and was doing the right thing by two friends.  It has only been this week with learning that she will have to sell his car, a GT Beetle owned since new in 1973, that it has hit home properly that one of them is gone in terms of physical presence.  The grieving proper can now begin.

 

The new lens duly arrived and got taken for a walk on a section of the Ridgeway that has not been enjoyed for such a long time.  Just a 4 miler or so, there and back rather than a circular.  Took some nice pics which must get sorted and put up on here. Would be nice to go out somewhere again this weekend and indulge some more!

 

There has been plenty of motorsport since the last time of writing with both the F1 and MotoGP world titles being blown wide open.  With a bit of luck we'll see the names Lewis Hamilton and Casey Stoner on the relevant trophies at the end of the year.  Stoner has worked well with Ducati to sort out a writhing beast that even he had difficulties riding and taming to a writhing beast that only he can ride.  If Hamilton can keep his focus and composure then with the progress McLaren have made it could well be his title for the taking.  To come back from his pit stop last week, catch and pass Massa's Ferrari must have been a real rubbing of salt in the wound even if it was a tactical faux pas by McLaren.  It gave LH something to do, proved a lot and rubbed those red noses well and truly in the dirt.

 

A walk along the canal earlier this week found plenty of young Coots including some quite young ones still in the nest.  There were some unruly young delinquent ducks that were doing their best to trash another (empty?) Coot nest but as tough as they were trying to act they weren't achieving much!  Mr & Mrs Mute Swan still have their seven prodigy but the Bickering-Dabchicks seemed to have dropped to 3 in number, albeit that they looked in great condition.

 

Well folks, I'm plum tuckered out and need some nosh before an early night.  Going to choose some curtain material tomorrow.  Long story for another time!

 

Have great weekends one and all!

 

Best Wishes

JS 

 

PS - have booked some time away soonish!  Am going to visit some friends who moved away to France.  Not seen their new place at all and not seen them for a while so about time we caught up!  Oh and still couldn't find a date in a calendar factory!

 

Well it turned out to be a lovely weekend in Suffolk!

 

Took Dad down Friday night, stayed with my Sister and Brother in Law in the Trimleys and di some family stuff all weekend.  Of course the pace of life in Suffolk is very taxing so will have to write about it another night! lol!

 

Did catch the sun a bit (burns your hands a bit tee hee!) and got bitten by something which is making my left ankle swell up quite a lot.

 

Hope you've all had fantabulous weekends and are all very happy and contented.

 

More soon!

 

Love and light and very best wishes to one and all!

What is it with people?  Why can't they keep their thieving hands off things that don't belong to them?

 

Today whilst I was out in town some scrote has come on to my property and stolen two old cars from me.  One had a great deal of personal history attached to it and I was hoping to sell it to a fellow enthusiast.  The other would have been a good source of spares to help keep it going.  'My' car had some interesting accessories fitted to it that were prized among enthusiasts.

 

I hope that the thieving scum that stole these failry rare vehicles dies a violent death before I can get my hands on them.  Because if I do their death will be slow and painful.  I am totally fed up with people taknig liberties with my life, of thinking only of themselves and not in the slightest about others.

 

No more Mr Nice Guy!  If anyone gets in my way or messes with me from now on I shall go THROUGH them.  There is too much emphasis put on the well being of criminals and not enough on the victims of crime.  Someone has taken something from me that has a special place in my heart and life.  It was one of the few constants that I could rely on during the 3 times when I was diagnosed with cancer.  No doubt they have sold the cars for scrap and pissed the proceeds up the wall.  Well thanks for taking my memories away without my consent.  How about I take your life away because you sure don't deserve it!

Bloomin' 'eck!  Is it Sunday already?  Well, there was curry in the restaurant, then the next day fish, was out yesterday so yes, it must be Sunday!

 

Backtracking to Thursday evening, the Steve Earle gig was marvellous!  Not what was expected though.  Having seen him play twice before with the backing of a full band it was a pleasant surprise to have much more intimate, stripped down experience with just Steve, his various acoustic strings and the occasional backing of some lops and drum machine.  The tone was set by Allison Moorer (Steve's wife) playing acoustic and with no backing, highlighting her new album 'Mocking Bird' which is a collection of songs written and sung by women.  Quite a lot of thought and emotion in the content I guess, with her re-working of Joni Mithcells's 'Both sides now' (never known what it was called before or who it was by - DOH!) just bringing some moisture to the eyes.  It was the tiredness and the heat of course! LOL!  I'm sensitive and emotional, have always been, won't ever change - things get to me and it can't be a bad thing to have a heart and to feel emotion.

 

Steve played a whole string of his classics before launching into the material on his new album 'Washington Square serenade'.  That meant some duets with Allison as per the recording and their voices were a good compliment to each other.  It was a musical delight and with the almost total concentration on one performer it made for a very different atmosphere to Monday night's gig.  Steve's politics are very different to mine but somewhere between his beliefs and mine there is the social justice we both desire along with the freedoms and responsibilities that go with it.  It was not such a warm night as Monday so the roof remained closed coming home.  Perhaps this was relevant in another way as it was a such a different set of emotions that had been tweaked and jangled about.  The moon was still sat there over my right shoulder as the M4 was reached, a little more full than a few nights previously.

 

Friday was a tough one at work.  A little bit of tiredness, some sinus pressure and the general end of week atmosphere about the place contrived to make it easy to go off the boil a little and more difficult to keep a sensible pace throughout the day.  Was glad to get home, relax and go to bed.

 

Saturday saw a morning dash to get ready and get down to the local TA centre to catch a coach.  Dad had arranged to join in on a veteran's trip to the National Memorial Arboretum and it was somewhere that I had wanted to go ever since hearing about it and seeing the coverage on TV.  Wasn't quite the last one on the bus but nearly!  Settled in and had a bit of chat with Dad about our respective weeks and had a doze too on the 2 and bit hour trip.

 

The site is a big one and the the memorial to those service people who have been killed on duty since the end of WW2 takes a very prominent position on top of a man made mound.  Once there the list of names really brings home the human cost of conflict, of pride, ego, stupidity and the fraility of the human condition.  In a week where someone was beaten to death in supermarket having been mistaken for someone else who was being accused of queue jumping it makes you wonder if there is any hope.  The outer wall on one side remains unsullied by the stone masons mark, remains untouched by the names that must be remembered long after the foolishness that lead to their passing is forgotten.   Long may it remain untouched, blank, a monument instead to a sea change in humankind's thinking and an ability to resolve differences without resort to armed conflict.

 

The weather held for us and although it was a little chilly after lunch it was on the whole pretty close to ideal weather with the temperature about right.  When the trees start to mature the site will no doubt become even more tranquil, a quiet haven where remembrance and respect can be undertaken with little to disturb the mind.  It is a beautiful site that has been created, a real celebration of life and the better sides of humankind's endeavours in many ways - and yet the need for its creation is tinged with such great sorrow, sadness and loss.  We saw a fair bit of the site if not quite all.  Dad had the benefit of an electric mobility buggy to get around on otherwise he would have been highly restricted in what he saw.  Right at the end of the day one of the site stewards showed us the 8th Army memorial, this having been Dad's unit during WW2.  He served throughout, right the way through from the Western Desert, landing in Normandy on D-Day, seeing Belsen on the day it was liberated; just what memories those memorials may have triggered is difficult to say.  All that he witnessed in those days when he sacrificed his youth and innocence in the quest to keep this nation, the whole world, free from tyranny was surely too much for any one human being to have to experience?  And there were many who saw worse than he did.  As long as we do not forget the lessons that history teaches us, as long as we try at least to live in greater understanding then maybe there is hope although the fact that some very basic differences can lead one human to want to kill not just one other but hundreds, thousands, millions, even makes it likely that it will only be with the extinction of the human race that we will stop putting other human beings through such experiences.

 

And so we ended our day dozing on the coach tip home.  With Dad's legs no longer at their best I stood by the gate of the TA centre and watched as he struggled to get to his car.  There's no way he would have let me go fetch it for him and there are some things that I just have to leave him to it and hope that he will get by OK.  We are a stubborn lot, independant to a fault perhaps - it is in our genes as my sister has it and it is prominent in one of my nephews at least.  Perhaps it's best that I didn't have children!  But it has been that stubborness that has helped get him through this far so perhaps it serves a purpose after all - pain in the arse that it is when any of us attempt to do the decent thing by one another!

 

Must go get on with my day.  Will get photos up later, maybe tomorrow evening, just have to see how it goes.

 

Hmmm!  Where DO I start?  At the beginning?  At the very beginning??  Maybe not that early, eh?  Ok, here goes.

 

Well, there was I thumbing through the Colston Hall booklet a few weeks back and there were a few gigs that looked very interesting.  First there was Tinariwen, which turned out to be an extremely good judgement call and then there was Steve Earle, a firm favourite of mine.  Now, just to put my music taste into perspective I have been to see live the likes of Judie Tzuke, Iron Maiden, Peter Gabriel, 10CC (when they are actually 5CC), Scorpions, Heart, Mary Chapin Carpenter, English Acoustic Collective, so that covers a multitude of genres and shows that taste to be pretty ecelctic.  So, between the two definites was a more chancy offering in the shape of someone who I thought I'd heard  bit of but wasn't quite sure.  Dialled them up on Amazon, heard a few snippets and thought 'Yeah, sounds alright' and booked single tickets to 3 gigs.

 

It seemed like a good idea to get the latest album for a listen and when the Royal Mail and Amazon combined delivered the goods (along with 3 other CDs) yours truly was not disappointed.  So not disappointed in fact that I found some more albums from this artist in town at reduced cost and acquired them too.  So, off to the Colston Hall in anticipation of a fine gig.  Got there in good time, got a good seat and was quenching my thirst on an orange and cranberry J2O in a pint glass topped up with soda water.  The support act was not quite to my taste and was given a luke warm reception; just don't think the audience were ready for something close to avantgarde poetry sung over a dance beat.

 

The main act more than made up for the oddity of the support act and from the moment they began I was hooked, then became mesmerised and enthralled.  We are a talking Cat Power and the amazing vocals of Chan Marshall.  Quite how to describe the influences in their music I don't know.  Soul and blues are obviously present, some reviews use words like folk and jazz.  Whatever the influences and fusions the blending is superb and the baking is to perfection!  This was close to being a spiritual experience, in fact the more I think about it the more it seems like it was.  This was visceral, heart slashing, emotionally engaging, soul rebuilding, spirit enlivening stuff!  They opened with heart rending reworkings of 'Blue Moon' (I think) and 'Dark End of The Street'.  The set progresed and it both tore into me, shredding me emotionally and yet at the same time cleansing, purifying, rebuilding to better than ever condition.  When Chan Marshall got off stage to sing 'Metal Heart', standing but 10 feet away from me as she did, it was so intense and calm at the same time and quite different to looking up at someone on stage.  Bass and keyboards then did some psychadelic jamming into 'Blue', the Jonie Mitchell song.  Their amazing version of 'New York' was in there as was a mind blowing cover of 'Tracks of My Tears'.

 

This was pure music and for me even a few technicalities with the sound did not distract from the intensity, purity and spirituality of the performance.  This was like nothing experienced before - not even the Wilson sisters got me this shook up!  There was no merchandising, no playing about for encores.  It was about the music and the experience.  The band put up a cathedral, a temple of sound and Chan Marshall was a Goddess.  When people began to leave (this is when public transport shows just how inconvenient it is) Chan asked that the house lights were turned up to ease people's leaving.  All too soon and yet just at the right time it was all over.  Chan threw flowers from the stage, the set lists, anything that could be honestly given up for fans was dispensed.  She seemed genuinely reluctant to leave the stage and also genuinely appreciative of the enthusiasm of the fans.

 

Leaving the venue I was buzzing, on another planet!  This must have been how people reacted when they first heard the likes of Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell - this was like the dawning of a something new for me at least.  Hopefully everyone else had the same sensation - that the band were playing just for them, each individual experience then contributing something additional to the whole of the collective energy.  Once out of the car park the sunroof was open, the driver's window down and 'Jukebox' was playing on the stereo.  All my senses were heightened and the mild evening no doubt contributed to an immense feeling of well being.  The window stayed down most of the way to the derestricted part of the M32 and the roof was open all the way home!

 

Joining the M4 the moon was almost a crescent, to my right and behind me.  To the left the sky was still a backlit midnight blue just above the horizon and there was a faint tinge of burnt orange just licking the very edge of it.  11.30 and not fully dark and yet through the open roof a sky full of stars beamed down at me, twinking their approval and almost imperceptibly getting a little bit of a groove on, having a little shimmy in the heavens!

 

Got home and bed was the last thing on my mind!  I wanted to dance and hear more music!  I desperately wanted to share the whole experience with people, with maybe one special person - but it wasn't to be.  Eventually tiredness and common sense got me to bed not that long after getting home and sleep came sooner than expected.  The enthusiasm, the drive, the vibe was still there for my drive to Basingstoke and the day in the offices there.  The energy came with me to my Tuesday night appointment and all the way home along the railway path and the canal and back home again!

 

Not sure how or why but there were only 3 Bickering-Dabchicks spotted last night.  With it being a bit lighter than last week they were slightly easier to spot - the difficulty being about 9.6 rather than 10!  Mr & Mrs Mute-Swan still have 7 lovely cygnets and quite proud of them they are too.  There are about 5 Coot nests some clearly on their 2nd clutch of eggs with the equivalent of a small gathering of 'Kevin the Teenager' young milling around close by.  Whether B-Ds 4 and 5 are in fact still a couple and have set up a nest elsewhere was not clear so a visit in better light is called for.  Swifts wheeled about overhead, the warm evening providing an abundance of insect life to feast on.  Strangely they were silent and not indulging in their usual screeching.

 

All in all an amazing 24 hours or so and the gig may well have proved to be a life changing experience.  It has put some things into perspective and made me realise that the last strands of attachment to something and someone have gently, almost imperceptibly frayed like a strand of silk being gently and barely stroked by a very sharp blade. 

 

TTFN!