where art collides philosoperontap

We had a bonus lunch in Chester with Uncle Ted. He and cousin Richard were up for a spot of urban orienteering, as you do, and messaged Anne yesterday to say they were in town. By complete coincidence so were we. UT is THG’s fave uncle.

He has a number of claims to fame that include  being both a Cambridge and Harvard don and head of research at some major international pharmaceutical company. The most important of his accolades however came when he was a student and he worked at Brian Epstein’s record store NEMS. He was there one day when the Beatles came in and John or Paul asked him to stick Twist and Shout on the record player. Going back a fair bit. UT is in his eighties and still as fit as a fiddle. He ranks number three or thereabouts in his age group nationally for orienteering.

Today is all about visiting friends and relashuns. This evening we are off out to Khans near Berkined for a curry with cousin Geoff and Glenis. Got to take yer own booze. Before then it is Dave and Steph down the Dibbinsdale. We have moved our base to the Dibbinsdale Hotel (the Dibby)  for the night.

Settling in now in our room for a bit of relaxation. A snooze maybe.

We walked the walls and drank the coffee
Watched the world as it passed us by
Listen to music, squeeze out lively juices
Background noises to the written word.

Cardholders scan the library shelves looking for inspiration. In the fiction section you have to be a fan for your attention to be grabbed. Unremarkable titles that don’t draw me in.

I feel lost without my laptop here. Lone amongst buried head students of life’s rich tapestry.

Opposite me a woman eats a sandwich with her right hand whilst working her phone with her left. A face appears on her screen and noises emit. A friend arrives. They chat. Gossip not quite loud enough for me to follow 🙂.

In case any of you were wondering what is in poultry seasoning? This homemade poultry seasoning is made with a flavourful and aromatic blend of dried sage, dried thyme, dried marjoram, dried rosemary, ground nutmeg, and finely ground black pepper. 

I didn’t even know poultry seasoning was a thing. I came across it during some casual research into bbq chicken recipes during my time at Storyhouse. The actual recipe that included it has somewhat been forgotten although I might have it on the browsing history of the phone.

A few minutes of repose before dropping THG off at the gym and heading to Waitrose. Busy busy busy. Already been down to Fosters for bacon and sausages. Apart from the food shop I am more or less packed. Oh and something to wear tomorrow night. Decisions decisions.

Big news btw. THG found the spare car key. Hanging up next to the potting shed keys. Whodathunk. That’s one thing less to worry about, not that I was particularly worried. These things have a habit of turning up at some point or other. Sometimes, as was once the case with my wallet, after you’ve cancelled all the bank cards and applied for a new driving license. Hey…

The Silver Bullet is now heading west towards the setting sun. Not that the sun is setting yet, at least not in our part of the world. Hasn’t even reached its zenith. Plenty of daylight ahead of us. It should still be daylight when we arrive at our destination but three hours nearer to sunset. More after our mid journey pit stop. Driver change etc. Bit like the Le Mans 24 hr race but different.

Our journey takes us past the Lincolnshire Showground where a new McDonalds is opening on the 23rd October (you saw it here first). The site is a hive of machinery activity. I suspect there might be a service station going in there as well. Makes alorra sense. Not sure Maccy Ds fits well with the farming related brand of the Showground. Also they seem to be gradually building on bits of the, admittedly large, car park. It’s about the filthy lucre.

Near to the showground is RAF Scampton. The protesters and their paraphanalia have disappeared since the new government killed off the plans to turn the base into an immigration holding centre. Let them stay in someone else’s back yard.

The harvest has been safely gathered in from the large open fields of Lincolnshire, now full of stubble. They will soon be under the plough. Amazingly we have just passed a trattr carrying what looked like a large plough headed in the other direction.

…

On the M62 saw a lorry pulling a brand new trailer with two other identical brand new trailers stacked on top of it. Would have taken a pic were it not for the fact that I was driving.

…

Glory Glory Halelujah. 

Great words. We can thank religion for a lot of great art. You don’t need to know the tune for that one. The words on their own are just stunning.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

We sang that at both my grandmother’s and my mother’s funerals, the former in Welsh in Cefneithin and the latter in English in the Isle of Man. I now find it difficult to sing because of the memories it brings back. The hymn came out top in the Songs of Praise 2013 survey to find the nation’s 100 favourite hymns, fair play.

We were singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic in the Silver Bullet on the way over to Chester which is what made me remember to write this. That and Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch. Probs William Williams Pantycelyn’s best known hymn. We sang the words in English so that we could both sing together 🙂

We have sung songs in the car ever since I was a kid in Wales and we continued the practice with our own family. Our kids have great voices and we get some lovely harmonies. Not that we go on family trips in the car anymore. The Silver Bullet ain’t big enough.

One of my great pleasures in life is sitting in the front room listening to the kids play music together. Joe and John are particularly competent, both being jazz musicians. Hannah is a flautist and has a lovely voice.

Glory Glory Halelujah.

4 pairs of underpants and socks
Spare pair of kecks
Pyjamas
Washbag 
Jacket for Saturday night
Shirt for Saturday night
Bow tie for Saturday night
Jumper
5 or 6 tshirts
Laptop
Phone charger

Foodstuffs

Coats can just get chucked in the car.

A pleasure to be listening to Test Match Special at the mo innit. It isn’t always thus. Let’s enjoy it while we can. The chances are the game will end up as a draw but ya never know. Cricket has a way of assaulting the mind. The confidence. The England bowlers will have spent the last couple of days resting whereas the Pakistan batsmen will be knackered from fielding the whole of that time.

Not everyone reading this will be familiar with the rules of cricket. If you are one of these people then I’m sorry but I’m not going to help you. Google it 🙂.

THG is off to Sheffield today for a day out with her old university mates. Leeds Uni. Leaves me on my own to get on with a few things. Stretch and Flex class at ten thirty. Sagoodun. I am in dire need of a bit of flexibility.

Still can’t find THG’s spare car key. I don’t keep it with my house key so it must have been put down somewhere and I can’t remember where. Doh. I only have one key on the keyring and a battered old Coop membership card thingy that I rarely use but at least it makes it a little bulkier without being overly intrusive. 

I see some people with every key they own on their keyrings but that would just serve to pull my trousers down and is not for me. The shed keys are on a separate bottle opener fob together with the key to the allotment gate which is immediately behind the shed. Seems appropriate. 

The shed keys only travel between the house and the shed. They are creatures of habit, if you can say that about a key. They know their purpose in life, unlike the spare car key which at this moment serves no purpose whatsoever because as you know I can’t find it.

…

Just sorted the basket of hats and scarves as requested by THG. I was only able to choose two items for disposal. A brown scarf that wasn’t mine anyway and a thinning black fleecy beanie that cost about three quid and I never wear. I couldn’t bring myself to dispose of the by now manky TT Races hat or the Scouts World Jamboree jobbie. Didn’t even remember I had that one.

…

An afternoon at leisure in prospect. Have a little packing to do. We are off to Chester for the weekend.

…

No packing packed as yet but I have brimmed Anne’s wheels with spirit of petroleum. Go fast juice. Mind you it is somewhat of a misnomer to think that the Silver Bullet can go fast. It is all relative. There is no need to go any faster than 70mph which in the days of yore, when petrol may well have been commonly described as spirit of petroleum would have been an unattainable dream. It is good to dream. Dream big.

Talking of dreaming big when I go to Waitrose I use their self scanners and play a game. Once I’ve scanned the barcode on the app I point at a random scanner to see if it lights up. I rarely get it right but today I did, for the fourth time ever. I had intended to buy a lottery ticket seeing as I was on a roll but the woman at the desk selling them was yakking away to a couple of customers who she seemed to know. Then when I stood in line she started scanning their shopping. Lots of small items. I gave up. I never get a single number right on the lottery anyway. Only buy a ticket a couple of times a year.

Many of you will be aware that Hurricane Milton is currently ravaging Florida. Doing its dastardly worst. Seems a fairly innocuous name, Milton, for something doing so much ravaging. You would think that something like Thor or Damocles would be more appropriate. Hannibal maybs. 

Hurricane Hannibal runs off the tongue far better than Hurricane Milton. Ain’t no poetry in this Milton. I’m sure the combined brainpower of my Facebook friends list could come up with an even better name.

We have three dripping taps. Hot taps! Hmm. Is there an epidemic of dripping taps or is it just us? Even the tap in the bath, which rarely gets used, is dripping. If anyone has an olympic sized swimming pool that needs filling let me know. Won’t be warm water, fortunately. 

We don’t often bother switching the water on. Dishwasher doesn’t need it, shower doesn’t need it. In fact it isn’t cold enough to have the heating on generally. Installing double glazing a couple of years ago made a huge difference. I know most of you just yawned and said welcome to the twentieth century Tref but our house was built in 1939 when they had never heard of double glazing. It had two fireplaces.

Our previous house in Greetwell Gate had a fireplace in every bedroom as well as downstairs. You can imagine the smoke pouring out of the chimneys. I once accidentally bought a bag of coal instead of smokeless fuel. Boy is the smoke filthy. It wasn’t an accident actually it was for some reason being sold off cheaply but I won’t make that mistake again.

…

Correction. Two dripping hot taps and one cold. Important to get it right for historical accuracy. Just as big an issue is that taps these days tend to have ceramic workings and not have washers, at least in our house. I’m told that the theory is that ceramic means better long term reliability but the downside is if a tap starts dripping you have to replace the whole tap. This usually means both taps if you want them to match.

…

Now in da shed. Heating on. Just during the day while I’m here. Last night I went to a scout group committee meeting. We used the room the beavers use but on this occasion there had been a yoga class on just before us. That room was not only warm but smelled of bodies indulging in yoga. Who knew such a smell existed!

The big news is that Akela is retiring at Christmas. This is very big news. She has been a leader in the group since 1976! Wow. There will be thousands of kids, mostly now adult, from Lincoln who will have had her as cub leader. A life spent selflessly helping others. Very impressive. As chairman of the committee I am not in the same league, just turning up as I do for the occasional meeting. 

Even had I wanted to (which I didn’t) I would never have been able to devote one night a week to the scouts. My work life would take me all over the world, sometimes at the drop of a hat. I remember once flying to Los Angeles with just a day or two’s notice for a meeting with Hughes Aircraft. Thirty years ago or so.

As Silicon On Sapphire product manager I used to visit Hughes fairly regularly. Our country manager at the time @Huw Rees and I used to play golf on the Friday of the week I was there. Somehow Friday meetings always got cancelled. How would always fix it for me to stay on the “club level” of the local Hilton/Marriott/whatever it was whereas Ernie Pusey the worldwide VP Sales would get a room on the lower floor. Nobody really liked Ernie. Always sharply dressed he once went to a meeting at Apple, having been told that the dress code was very much casual, in ironed jeans, shirt and tie. The guys at Apple cut his tie off and pinned it alongside others in the meeting room. He he he.

There is the pleasant afterburn of chilli in my mouth this morning upon the conclusion of breakfast. A simple crushed avocado on wholemeal sourdough toast with a chopped chilli, walnuts and lime juice and a single slice of bacon fried in its own fat. Good honest fare.

Preparation of this meal was not without excitement as I knocked the small cafetiere from the draining board onto the floor smashing it into smithereens. This dismayed me more than the breaking of a small, cheap cafetiere should have done because it was the one THG used to make her coffee in the mornings. You always hurt the one you love the most!

I’ll get her another one, for Christmas. Christmas is sooner than her birthday 🙂.

Now in the shed psyching myself to finish the work I started yesterday. Not in a rush to get started. Made slow progress yesterday but now that I am straight in my mind how it is going to play out it won’t take too long to finish. Preparation is nine tenths of the work as they say. That will be £5 typing it in, £9,995 for knowing what to type.

I do have some jobs on the list for today. Sort out Amex, rationalise my domains and bung out a few invoices. Trefbash sponsors. Couldn’t do it without them.

Also just received an sms telling me a package will arrive from Google this lunchtime. Great. It can only be my new Google TV Streamer 4K. They said it would be sometime week of 4th November so this is a result, certainly in expectation management.

I’ve been having issues with streaming sport from Discovery + to the audio visual device in the shed, both via Chromecast and Roku. Works ok on the older telly in the TV room and I figured it was down to the peripherals in the shed not cutting it. It’s a posh telly. Will soon find out. Twould be an issue if I couldn’t watch half the sport in the shed, the natural home for such activity in our house. Obvs. It’s where the fridge is.

It gives me confidence that Google is using DPD who have said they will deliver between 12.23 and 12.23. You just know they will be there at 12.23. I was once waiting on the delivery of a phone and the DPD guy was hanging around outside. His system wouldn’t let him deliver before the stated time. Think it was DPD. Definitely wasn’t Evri, or Amazon.

…

Not done any work yet but seem to have whiled away the morning. A sausage sarnie made lunch palatable.

A bit miz out there this morning. Twas drizzly when I rose early to make the tea, an overnight continuation from yesterday evening I daresay. The kitchen is brightly lit. Ya need a brightly lit kitchen in the morning. We do have mood lighting options for other times, meals. And music.

Mornings have changed beyond recognition of late. There was a time when I would need to be out of the house early. To catch an early train or drive somewhere for a meeting, or just to get to my desk to prepare for the day. 

Nowadays I rarely accept meeting invitations that require an early start although I do sometimes find myself on the 07.30 to London. The first direct train. The 07.30 gets me in before 09.30 which often leaves me with a chunk of time to kill. The next direct train typically gets in too late. Don’t really go that often anyway. I’ll stay down if I have an earlyish start in London.

…

Brightening up as we ease into the morning. Have taken a pot of char to the shed and actually have some work to do today. Woot?! I know, I know. I like to keep my hand in. Have switched the shed heating on.

Was a good weekend, with our Joe and Lucy up for the Activators gig at the Drill. I cooked a chichen with all the trimmings yesterday and we had a fire on the go. The changing of the seasons.

I continue to tune out the news although we did watch Have I got News For You on iPlayer which is really nothing to do with the news. My news rule does constrain my sources of online entertainment. I am left with sport and the Culture and Lifestyle sections of the Guardian.

Trouble is those last two don’t really do it anymore for me either. For example: “Warming reds – how to wear burgundy” and “50 autumn wardrobe updates under £100 (some are even free)”. I didn’t click on either but I’d like to bet that none of the suggestions include freebie tshirts picked up at technical conferences.

Did glance through “Hot Dogs by Three Darlings, London: ‘Things that no one needs’ – restaurant review by Jay Rayner”. Turned out to be about a restaurant inside Harrods serving hot dogs for £22. Didn’t even register whether you got fries at that price. Doubt it. Figured it was not my kind of thang either. I quite like Jay Rayner.

Basically hardly anything I see or read online is for me. I have to rely on diy or doing it myself (dim). 

…

Had a haircut at Antonio’s on Wragby Road. Twelve quid. I was desperate. In and out in five minutes with nary a word said. Antonio seemed to be in a melancholic mood. I wanted to get it cut plenty of time in advance of trefbash as I usually have a haircut that day and this time have booked somewhere around the corner from the hotel in Soho.

It would be unfair to say that we switched off the wireless by common consent because of Bob Marley and the Wailers because it wasn’t them. It was however some operatic wailing. Turns out it was the Radio 4 Sunday Service that had sneaked on whilst I was dozing. All I can say is avoid, avoid, avoid.

In the kitchen we have the dulcet tones of Alan Shearer on Match of The Day. Far more relaxing. I’m not listening to the words themselves. That’s not what Sunday mornings are about. Relaxation is the order of the day. By order.

Relaxing breakfast over and now consuming tea at the kitchen table. Tas been thus for centuries gone although there will in the past have been a time when I had to get into my Sunday best in preparation for the penance and worship ahead.

It was a two mile walk from Talgoed farm to Capel Penybont in Pontyweli, just over the river from Llandysul. They were a devout lot, the Davieses in the late eighteenth century. People probably walked from a lot further away than two miles. Was nothing in those days. Maybe they took the horse and cart. Makesalorrasense to me.

Joe lit the fire.

The wind animates the branches hanging over the back garden of Tref and THG. One of the trees still has plenty of apples. I guess they would all have been picked in the old farming days. Stored safely away. Dried perhaps. I dunno. 

A large proportion of the plants in my flower meadow now have seed heads. I am expecting great things for next year. Blossoms abound, aplenty. Still new plants coming through. The packet guaranteed blooms until the end of October (terms and conditions apply).

During my frenzy of tidying on Friday morning I came across a packet of flower seeds I got free from a Timberland shop. Forgotten they were there. I will add them to the meadow in the spring. No idea what flavour they are. Risky ou quoi?

Sat in the kitchen pondering the day ahead. The wireless is on which is a mistake but I’d have to get up to switch it off. At least we are able to celebrate the 20th birthday of Park Run. Well done all. THG is off there shortly. Fair play.

In the meantime I have assembled some ingredients that I can use for breakfast. Usual weekend stuff. Half thinking of making a pot of coffee. Not decided yet.

It is nice to have a weekend at home. Comforting. It is a perfect autumn day out there. I have a trip to the local market in prospect to fetch some supplies. Not totes decided on what to buy/forage. Birra chichen for tomorrer maybs. If anyone is around mid morning ish could do coffee at the Waitrose caff. Lemme know. Need to be back for the early kickoff between Palace and the Peul.

Still need to get a haircut but that will probs now wait until Monday. You should see the state of it!

Our kitchen is the biggest room in the house.

…

I will attempt to cut the grass this afternoon. One assumes the lawn will have dried. Should be ok.

It is observed that today’s home game for the Imps is against the Orient. Gazing back through the mists of time I seem to recall that the Orient were one of the first teams I saw play against Cardiff City. The other was Norwich. I’m not totes sure. It was over fifty years ago. Fifty years? How can that be? Shirley not?

We will be watching Liverpool. If all goes to plan I will be cutting the grass during the imps game. Though it won’t take so long. Could do it at the half time break when everyone is getting their cup of tea and a sausage roll.

…

So I have my shopping list, compiled at my desk in the shed with contributions from THG. These are to some extent constrained to inputs such as “please check what veg we have before you go buying any more”. This is very fair. Of the two of us THG is by far the superior when it comes to common sense in food shopping.

A leaf falls onto the deck in front of the shed. Never to be repeated. Next time it will be a different leaf. We need to live (leaf) for the moment. Look at that falling leaf and savour it. A metaphor for life.

I look around at everyday objects with wonder. The washing hanging on the line, a water feature in front of the deck with a cable coming out of it but which has not been plugged in for some years now. An insect hotel hanging from a post at the corner of the “fruit bed”. The entire contents of the shed, somewhat tidier today than it was yesterday although you would probably need to be me to notice the difference. The shed does need a bit of dusting.

The washing is growing animated. As if someone has pushed the start button.

…

Disaster. Bought reduced sugar Heinz Baked Beans. Totally inedible. What’s more I bought twelve tins as they were five fifty for six or nine quid for twelve. They will have to go back. After the Liverpool game. I hardly ever buy baked beans these days as they don’t fit with a keto diet but THG is taking some to the church harvest festival and we are off for a weekend with our pals in a couple of weeks time and they always come in handy for breakfast on such occasions. Doh.

Whoever buys reduced sugar baked beans either has no taste buds or is somehow being conned. Or buys them by mistake. The biggest issue is the highly similar packaging to real baked beans to catch out the unwary. 

It’s a bit like the time I bought diet tonic water but it turned out to be diet tonic water with lemon juice. Also yukky. In that case I forced meself to drink the tonic water, with a modest splash of gin natch, as I had already opened the pack and it took a few tins before I realised the mistake. Actually I was probs on the second box of tonic before I had the gumption to look at the label.

Admin day in prospect. Also need to pack some of my Hawaiian shirts and shorts away until the spring and finally rationalise my tshirt collection. Lots of tees I never wear. Make some space in the cupboard innit. I already tried doing this once but in the end it was a lot easier to just chuck all said items of clothing back in the wardrobe 🙂 Problem is I need to find a suitable container for them all. I have a plan. Must also stop buying tee shirts.

Tis a fine autumn day in the shire. The shed heating has been booted up, so to speak. It’s very easy to keep the shed at a sensible working (administrative) temperature as it is v well insulated. Also have to write a brochure for an event next April. That’s a slightly harder one to get motivated for. 

Actually I don’t have that much admin to do. Just need to empty the intray a bit – “to do”, “filing” and “shredder”. I still haven’t filed the last lot of filing. It is mostly stored online anyway but some docs do need the hard copies kept.

…

Three hours later and I’ve done some tidying, shredding and moved some filing around. The trug full of empty cans, mostly diet coke, has been emptied into the brown recycling bin. THG disapproves of me drinking diet cokes but tbh it is better than having a trug full of empty beer cans.

It’s surprising how easy it is to decide to just chuck stuff that has been accumulating for a year pending a decision on what to do with it.

Milk has become an issue. Well its absence has. We arrived home just after nine last night and had no opportunity to resupply. Restock. Renew. Replenish. There was, fortunately, enough for a cup of tea in bed first thing but that is all.

So I have two items on my shopping list for this morning: milk and “lunch”. The latter will be determined by what is fresh in the market. Tin of soup maybe 🙂

Otherwise it is good to be back. Good to be in your own bed. Shed.

I do appear to have a meeting scheduled for ten this morning. This somewhat clashes with the stretch and flex class THG and I like to go to together but I don’t typically put that in the calendar so didn’t notice the clash when I accepted the meet. Sokay. I have released my place so that another deserving but clearly less nimble fingered soul can benefit. You have to book early for these classes as the places all go.

Watched the Liverpool game on the train last night. First half anyway. Most of the second half in the shed. Swat sheds are for innit.

…

Milk is no longer an issue. We have been resupplied, restocked, renewed and replenished. Moreover I had a 50 pence off voucher for a two pinter so got it for 75p. What’s not to like?

The only places worth visiting online nowadays are the sports pages. Even then the spirit of hope and optimism hangs only by the slenderest of threads. Take last night for example. Lincoln City kept us on tenterhooks until the fifth minute of added time before the ten man side got the equaliser (we had all been craving 🙂 ) 

Even following sport is like riding an emotional rollercoaster. It does help that we can walk away when the big dipper is at its lowest point. Shrug our shoulders and say it’s only a game. I can anyway. Comes from long experience. Necessity. If you let it get to you life would be one long dip.

The one non sporting bit of fun is the occasional glimpse of the Conservative Party conference where the leadership hopefuls spout the same crap that was the reason they were removed from power in the first place. Bless.

We are, this morning, still in Berlin although this afternoon we head to the airport and home. Sat in the hotel in Berlin and looking at all the wars going on around the world you have to believe that humanity has a self destruct button that they periodically bring out of the drawer and press repeatedly, maniacally. Eyes glazed.

The word tenterhook has an interesting origin. Tenterhooks are what herring are hung on during the kipper smoking process. I learned this during a visit to Moore’s kipper smokery in Peel in the Isle of Man. Sadly Moore’s is no more. Went out of business last year I think. Might have been this year. I’m glad I did the tour.

In its heyday Peel was a huge fishing port. You can understand how big an employer the fishing was when I tell you that there used to be sixty or so pubs in the town whereas now they are down to seven: Whitehouse, Royal, Central, Creek, Peveril, Marine and Millers. Our house was a very short walk from the Whitehouse and in reality not that far from any of the others.

Dad and I used to go for pre dinner beers in the snug of the Whitehouse. Probs the best real ale pub on the island.

Seventy one days until trefbash. The event is sold out but I keep tickets to one side for pals so let me know if you plan to come but are laggardly in your registration efforts.

The key thing to focus on now is what to wear. Remember the theme is tropical. A pith helmet would not be out of place but neither would a grass skirt. Only you can decide. Suits need not apply unless they are linen.

…

Berlin is awash with rain as we sit on the tarmac waiting to depart. THG and I are in row 3 ready for a fast getaway. I wouldn’t really have gone for row 3 as it is just behind business class and they pull the curtain across right in your face. There weren’t many free options when I remembered yesterday to look and reserve seats. Being a proud bronze member of the BA Exec Club (!) I can book seats six days befroe the flight is scheduled to depart.

The question on everybody’s lips now is whether we will get across  to Kings Cross in time to catch the 19.06. Fingers crossed eh?

Watching Band of Brothers on the in flight entertainment. Figured it would be a playful thing to do having taken off from Berlin. It isn’t really on the inflight entertainment. They don’t seem to do that sort of thing anymore. Certainly not on the Berlin flights. Short haul. Everyone brings their own. Swat I did. Downloaded all ten episodes whilst sat in the departure lounge. Airport wifi fair play. Didn’t seem to have a fair use policy. Just “don’t do illegal stuff”. I didn’t.

Now I have my laptop open, phone propped up on the screen showing BoB Episode 6, an empty plastic cup that that formerly contained diet coke. How restrained is that? I’ll wait until we are settled in to a Northbound train out of London Kings Cross before asking for a gin and tonique.

Looking down I see nothing but cloud. It would be quite nice to see how much progress we were making towards our final destination. When will we be over the channel. Away from German fighters harrying Allied Bombers on their way back from dropping their destructive load on the Axis capital.

Now watching Arethra Franklin in Amsterdam. BBC iPlayer downloads. Had it on the phone for some time. She’s got a helluva voice. Feels a bit antiquated being offline, albeit only for ninety minutes. Wtf’s all that about?

“When my soul was in the lost and found you came along to claim it.” A classic line.

That’s in the same league as “the devil will drag you under with a soul so heavy you’ll never float”. Totes different sentiment obvs.

Going to see Paul McCartney in Manchester on the Sunday after trefbash. This might well be our last opportunity to see one of the greatest musical talents that ever lived. The fact that we have been able to see him at all feels somewhat of a privilege. We didn’t get to see Mozart for example. He died young 🙂 The old waltz and quickstep lifestyle musta taken its toll. This’ll be my fourth timetoi see Macca if I remember right.

Last call for rubbish. If you didn’t understand the context that would be a bit of a strange statement. The trolley is making its way down the aisle to the rear. Just leaving town.

The only places worth visiting online nowadays are the sports pages. Even then the spirit of hope and optimism hangs only by the slenderest of threads. Take last night for example. Lincoln City kept us on tenterhooks until the fifth minute of added time before the ten man side got the equaliser (we had all been craving 🙂 ) 

Even following sport is like riding an emotional rollercoaster. It does help that we can walk away when the big dipper is at its lowest point. Shrug our shoulders and say it’s only a game. I can anyway. Comes from long experience. Necessity. If you let it get to you life would be one long dip.

The one non sporting bit of fun is the occasional glimpse of the Conservative Party conference where the leadership hopefuls spout the same crap that was the reason they were removed from power in the first place. Bless.

We are, this morning, still in Berlin although this afternoon we head to the airport and home. Sat in the hotel in Berlin and looking at all the wars going on around the world you have to believe that humanity has a self destruct button that they periodically bring out of the drawer and press repeatedly, maniacally. Eyes glazed.

The word tenterhook has an interesting origin. Tenterhooks are what herring are hung on during the kipper smoking process. I learned this during a visit to Moore’s kipper smokery in Peel in the Isle of Man. Sadly Moore’s is no more. Went out of business last year I think. Might have been this year. I’m glad I did the tour.

In its heyday Peel was a huge fishing port. You can understand how big an employer the fishing was when I tell you that there used to be sixty or so pubs in the town whereas now they are down to seven: Whitehouse, Royal, Central, Creek, Peveril, Marine and Millers. Our house was a very short walk from the Whitehouse and in reality not that far from any of the others.

Dad and I used to go for pre dinner beers in the snug of the Whitehouse. Probs the best real ale pub on the island.

Seventy one days until trefbash. The event is sold out but I keep tickets to one side for pals so let me know if you plan to come but are laggardly in your registration efforts.

The key thing to focus on now is what to wear. Remember the theme is tropical. A pith helmet would not be out of place but neither would a grass skirt. Only you can decide. Suits need not apply unless they are linen.

Fair chucking it down in Berlin. Raining Katzen und Hunde as we say here. This has prompted us to delay our departure to the Frans Hals exhibition. No harm in letting brekkie go down a bit anyway.

I’m sat in front of the rectangular fire effect feature in the lobby listening to a repeat of yesterday’s looped muzac. No rush.

The hotel does have umbrellas they lend to guests. I might nip over and bagsie one before those thieving tourists whip em all. Got one.