Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The Secret Kind of Blue (BBC Radio 2)

Originally broadcast back in August to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Miles' Kind of Blue album,  I finally got round to listening to this today (whilst cleaning the kitchen). It's a good one hour doc presented by Brit trumpeter Guy Barker with plenty of clips of the record, interesting comments and historical interviews. I have a copy in mp3 if anyone's interested.

BBC - BBC Radio 2 Programmes - The Secret Kind of Blue.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Article - IT snake oil

I've been involved or around all of these over the years.. AI and CASE at BP's IT Research Unit in the late 80's. Thin Clients (yeah!), ERP, B-to-b marketplaces while at Oracle and more recently Enterprise social media.

IT snake oil: Six tech cure-alls that went bunk.

In most cases I think the approach, ideas and technology/applications are (still) valid - it is the expectations which were incorrect:

  • HYPE & timing:

    • over-estimating the short-term impact; under-estimating the long-term impact

    • technology is not quite ready/mature enough - yet the trend is towards what's required

    • Vendors always over-HYPE the potential of the tech and it's impact



  • resistance to change:

    • most people and organisations resist change and most managements can't/don't/won't lead their employees properly

    • as the article points out -people like the way they do business already




B-to-b marketplaces

Monday, September 28, 2009

Bryan Ferry Sings "She" at Cannes (May 2009)

I just bumped into this oddity (via Bryan Ferry - The Official Site.)

Be sure to catch the duet with Aznavour in the audience.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

An abundance of onions

For the first time, we have enough produce to make it worth preserving some for use into winter 
Only a couple of things and not even much of them, but our first ‘surplus’ so quite exciting !
Today I read about how to ‘string’ onions and we now have a couple of amateurish-looking strings hanging in the shed to see what happens. Hopefully, they will dry out a little and keep for a few months and not just fall off the strings or rot where they hang. If they look to be working I may do some more as I have left quite a few of the smaller onions in the bed.
We also have a freezer shelf of runner beans. I decided not to blanch them, just washed and dried them, sliced them up, then a loose freeze ready to bag into portions. We have lots more runners on the way so we will keep eating fresh and freezing spares for the next few weeks I think.
Charlie is getting mini-cukes every few days and we are still enjoying multi-coloured carrots, potatoes, salad and raspberries, even Steve and I managed to snaffle a few rasps yesterday when Charlie was out playing.
I cleared the asparagus beds of weeds yesterday and found 3 separate families of toads ! Lovely little things, very welcome so I tucked them back in and hopefully they will stay and get fat on slugs.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Facebook Quizes/Games & Privacy - Comments Requested.

PLEASE TAKE THIS QUIZ: What Do Quizzes Really Know About You? on Facebook.

I don't use many applications on Facebook - and certainly don't join in the fun and quiz apps - due to concerns about privacy and data-mining.

I'm not sure how well understood these issues are by most FB users - and it takes some work to read up and understand it all.

This quiz put together by the ACLU really helps you understand just WHAT information you agree to expose (your own AND your FB friends) when you give access to an FB application.

I understand the trade-off between a content/amusement provider (their app) and me (my time, attention, information) - and the concepts behind the data-mining and customer profiling to enable highly targeted advertising -but given that we mostly have no idea who these app providers are - how do we make an informed choice of whether to expose our (and our friends') data to them?

Bottom line:

  • Make sure you understand and carefully set the privacy options in your FB Profile - ref: 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know (note that this is from early in 2009 and there have been changes to the FB privacy options since the - but it's still a good guide).

  • Don't put sensitive information into your profile: e.g. remove the year from your birthday - better still don't display it at all and better still don't fill it in correctly

  • Assume that FB apps suppliers are in general sleazy marketeers who want to harvest all your and your friends' data and don't trust them unless/until you know for sure they are sound and trustworthy (in most cases it's not possible to verify this)


Further Thoughts:

Perhaps I am overly sensitive (paranoid!) about this issue (I also reject store "loyalty cards" for similar reasons) - but I get the impression that most FB users have no idea how exposed their own (and their friends') data/info is on Facebook.

Note: I have quite a lot of personal information (blog entries, tweets, photos, contact details) available on the public Internet. This data/info is available to anyone who cares to look at it - and should someone wish to stalk me they could access it all. I don't perceive this as a (significant) threat because I don't think there's value in doing the work to gather that data. Paradoxically, whilst Facebook "protects" one's information and only allows access to "your friends" (and itself of course!)  - by exposing this info to "3rd party application developers" companies are able to hoover up and aggregate lots of information about you (and your friends!) and use it to profile and target you.

I'm very interested in others' comments on this.

Let me know what you think.

**Note: I disabled comments on here (Wrodpress Blog) due to all the comment-spam - comment via Twitter or FB please :-)

Trying out TweetDeck

I have just installed and am experimenting with TweetDeck. tweetdeck_logo

It seems very impressive - handling multiple accounts and most usefully (for me) allowing the creation of groups to allow you to follow multiple users grouped into categories. It also (apparently) allows access to Facebook accounts too - however the account setup just hangs for me.

It runs on Linux via Adobe Air - which is a bit scary closed/proprietary but probably becoming a "necessary evil" (like Flash)... sigh.

Let's se if it changes/improves my use of Twitter.

Monday, September 07, 2009

Recent Photos: Back to School and Summer 2009

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Charlie back to school September 7th 2009"]Charlie back to school September 7th 2009[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Photos from Summer 2009"]Photos from Summer 2009[/caption]



[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Photos from Summer 2009"]<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/distractedbyathing/sets/72157622156735423/"><img title="Photos from Summer 2009" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3480/3896004444_e879d080d7_m.jpg" alt="Photos from Summer 2009" width="240" height="180" /></a>[/caption]

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

September's here again

It's become a bit of a annual ritual each September the 1st to play this still exquisite poem/song from David Sylvian's 1987 album Secrets Of The Beehive.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="291" caption="Sylvian ~ September"]Syvian ~ September[/caption]
The sun shines high above
The sounds of laughter
The birds swoop down upon
The crosses of old grey churches
We say that we're in love
While secretly wishing for rain
Sipping coke and playing games


September's here again
September's here again

You can listen to it here at youtube (1min 14sec)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

harvest festival !

Currently harvesting:

- carrots of various shapes and colours - kids like the 'golfballs' best, I like the purple ones with orange middles.

- parsnips, which we have had roasted and in stews and are very nice

- mini-cukes which The Boy eats whole as a snack

- rasps, a mix of summer (Glen Prosen) and autumn (Polka), both in their first year so just a handful of each a day, I have had maybe 3 in total so far as Charlie loves them

- alpine strawbs, still lots of these. So tiny, but what an intense flavour.

- red and white onions, mostly going in salads or onion marmalade

- salad leaves, half a dozen types of lettuce and rainbow chard

- runner beans and yellow waxy french beans - just ready, havent tried either yet, maybe Sunday lunch.

- potatoes, the Anya are finished but still a few Charlottes and Juliettes left

- one or two peppers, they didnt do very well outside this year, need to be under glass

- plums are just starting and our one surviving apple looks about ready for granny Pam to pick it

Only put in a couple of dwarf peas, in the childrens patch, they picked a few pods today and the peas taste really sweet and nutty, totally different flavour and texture from a shop or frozen pea

- herbs: mint is looking a bit rusty, rosemary is okay, coriander is now going to seed, lots of oregano and thyme, basil still hanging in there, made pesto with most of it for Charlies pasta tonight.

Its the first time we have had enough things ready together for a whole meal and its brilliant !

Thursday, August 20, 2009

CD Case as Circuit Board Noisemaker

As discovered by Booyaa:
tres tres coolifique! - Alternative Music Distribution: Moldover’s CD Case as Circuit Board Noisemaker http://bit.ly/UHN1j

Fun, Funny, Geeky and Innovative... http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/08/19/alternative-music-distribution-moldovers-cd-case-as-circuit-board-noisemaker/

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Recent Online Music Distribution Musings #2 - Frisell

One of my favourite musicians has a  new cd/album out.



[caption id="" align="alignright" width="133" caption="Disfarmer"]Disfarmer[/caption]

Bill Frisell has a very well received CD named "Disfarmer" - see info & reviews via http://www.billfrisell.com/news/main.html#disfarmer
"Disfarmer was an outsider artist who became famous for his Depression-era photographs of families, farmers, and individuals around his hometown of Heber Springs, AK"

I've listened to samples (npr.org had the whole thing up to sample a week or two ago - not there anymore) but have yet to buy it... Interestingly the mp3s cost very nearly the same as the CD... and i have this whole shelf of Frisell CDs... and I kind of want the physical thing...

After a long period of buying CDs and ripping them to an electronic format - these days I tend to buy albums as high(ish) quality mp3 (or (FLAC) as/when available  and rarely miss the "packaging/physical object".

I tend to buy from play.com as they offer (generally) competitively priced, higher-quality mp3s, always sold without (stupid, stupid!) DRM, don't require I use any "special download tool/program" (you get a .zip file and can download straight from the browser and more than once if necessary) and were one of the first in the UK to adopt this model. The catalogue is now very good with much/most things available.

I absolutely avoid  iTunes (and similar) as they are relatively expensive, restrictive and require me to use their own software to access their store. Software which I can't run on my preferred Linux systems (as they don't suport it).

Fortunately some of my favourite artists really  "get it" and have taken control of their own output. They have their own websites and stores (often using a partner site/service) and  make good quality audio files avaialble at a fair price (sometimes with choices on quality & extras) and often with accompanying electronic artwork and information/notes (e.g. Byrne/Eno, Sylvian).

They sell direct to me and can keep all of the revenue themselves (passing on an agreed percentage to any 3rd party who helped them - e.g. an online store provider).

Consequently they own the relationship with me and they have the opportunity to offer me other things/merchandise (Tshirts, special extras, concert tickets) and keep me informed about their activities.

What about you?

- do you still buy CDs?

- do you pay the Apple tax for iTunes? (if so what give the value here, the convenience)

- do you have music that you are now locked out of as is encumbered by DRM?

- do you download free/pirated/shared music

- has spotify become your library?

Recent Online Music Distribution Musings #3 - Sylvian



[caption id="" align="alignright" width="330" caption="Manafon"]Manafon[/caption]

David Sylvian is about to release (mid September) a new album called Manafon (lot of info here) which follow up on a previous wonderful experimental album Blemish - utilising a recordings from free jazz/improvising musicians to create a soundscape for improvised songs.  Sounds wonderful and the samples I've heard make me a sad old over-excited  fan! There's also an accompanying documentary (Amplified Gesture) about the musicians involved and the recording process - to be premiered at the ICA (gasp!).

Lots more info at:

http://manafon.com/ (official site - samples, interview and more)



http://www.davidsylvian.net/the-news.html (fan site)

Recent Online Music Distribution Musings #1

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Hamada"]Hamada[/caption]

I was playing some old Nils Petter Molvaer (lastfm, wikipedia, fan-site, official) this morning (can it really be 12 years since Khmer came out?!?!?) and wondered what he had been up to recently.

Turns out he released a new album/cd in April this year - Hamada (review at AllAboutJazz) - though it has had hardly any coverage/press. Based on the review, love for his previous music and a feeling that I ought to buy a copy and support the artist (he's gone "own label")  I checked out Amazon.co.uk and Play.com - neither of which stock it (CD or download).

Oh! how odd.

So I double checked his own site (and the horrible/unusable MySpace page - I won't link to it) and he neither offers CDs or downloads for sale directly - nor links to suggested stores/merchants. Digging further I could probably get an (expensive) CD import - or possibly sign up to a German online store and download mp3s (means creating a new account, possible restrictions on my right to buy via a UK IP address).

Interestingly... this fan site forum page gave links to a fileshare site where (it appears) the whole album is available for free.

What would you do?

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Family Picnic 2009

A few pictures from our recent family picnic in Surrey.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="180" caption="Family Picnic 2009"]Family Picnic 2009[/caption]

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Radiohead: Harry Patch In memory of




Did you catch this on BBCR4 Today this morning...? I thought it was very moving... lyrics inspiredby Harry Patch's own words from an interview in 2005.



You can hear the original interview and the full song at the Today Page here and you can pay a pound to download an mp3 from Radiohead's store site (Proceeds to the Royal British Legion) and Thom Yorke blogged about it here.





BBC - Today - Radiohead: Harry Patch In memory of.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

August Update

The recent combination of hot sun and steady rain has had everything growing like mad - especially the weeds :-(
We have a roll of weed mat fabric for the footpaths and need to get that down asap - Steve is doing the hard work clearing the surfaces, should make some progress this week.
We are eating our produce quite often now - potatoes (Anyas are The Best), salad, rasps, red onions, multi-coloured carrots. Not much of anything, but still lovely.
The parsnips are about there, Id like to leave some for Xmas if they will keep okay in the ground.
The shallots which went in very late (gift from a neighbour) are doing fine, will leave them as long as possible before pulling.
The salad onions and chard are up, not ready yet but might try the chard leaves next week in a salad.
Another neighbour donated a few spare leeks yesterday, they are already in a gap in the onion bed.
Cucumber plants have their first teensy cucumbers on, about 1" long. They only get to 5-6" anyway, but still a long way to go. Some of the leaves dont look good - they have gone lacey and holey in the middle - not from being eaten, maybe sun scorch damage ?
The asparagus is going great guns. No sign of anything dying back yet, fat spears still coming up on the Backlim and Anjlim, the purple one is still tiny and skinny but a little better than earlier in the year. Quite excited about prospects for next year when we can pick just one spear per crown.
Rhubarb is troubling me a bit. A few of the newer leaves have gone a dark red/brown and are quite crunchy. Also poss caused by sun on wet leaves but not sure what to do - probably pull the damaged stems off. The volunteer rhubarb is thriving and the first one that seemed to be failing (too close to the hedge ?) has recovered a bit. I will move them both in the autumn.
Oh, we have had a blueberry ! Just the one that the birds left us :-) A couple more berries on the way - the plant needs to go back into a pot, it doesnt like being in the ground. I think I might put a red goosegog ('Pax') in the gap.
Runner beans are flowering well, no sign of any pods yet.
Squashes (Butternut, table Queen) are both stopped at about 6". Not sure why, maybe putting down roots before they take off ? If nothing happens soon they may be too late...
Flower beds are pretty raggedy looking. The Hollyhocks are just flowering but have quite bad rust on their lower halves. Need to pick the lupin pods to dry and plant the seeds - not sure how that works, will have to read up. Otherwise, grass is encroaching and needs riping out/edging and lots of dead-heading to do.
The large pepper in a pot still has lots of fruit, but they are going from green to brown without the red in between ! Not sure what is going wrong, but not a success.
Last thing for now - looking forward to making curry with home grown coriander leaves ! Lots of it coming up now, just a tiny bit longer to wait....

Friday, July 17, 2009

Charlie's Card for his teacher (photos)

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="168" caption="Example Match Attax Card"]Example Match Attax Card[/caption]

In these modern and enlightened times of kids and their teachers being.. erm.. friends - it is a new tradition for the kids  to give their teachers a card (and sometimes a present!) at the end of the school year.

Charlie and his friends have gone crazy on the Match Attax footy trading cards (whither Panini stickers... sigh) - and recently have taken to making/drawing their own for their favourite players and themselves.

So I helped him design and make some cards for his lovely teacher (Miss Taylor) and TA (Mrs Illingworth).

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Petrols in Newcastle (Fri 10th July)

I had a fantastic afternoon and evening with the Petrols in Newcaste yesterday.

It was really great to catch up with Ciaran and Ray - and to meet the other band members too. I was fortunate enough to watch the sound check and have pre-gig- dinner with soem of the guys and their tour manager/sound-man Dino (good Persian food).

The band played the O2 Academy Newcastle - though the smaller upstairs room not the larger main stage.

O2 A

I’m going to see the That Petrol Emotion tonight in Newcastle. I shall be a proper hanger-on and get along to the soundcheck and hang-out with the band :-).

Village Gala Day (Sunday)

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="358" caption="Gala Day Poster"]Gala Day Poster[/caption]

It's our village's annual Gala Day tomorrow. It's an important fund raiser for our village Sports Association which controls the playing fields and pavilion - providing sports facilities to local kids and adults - primarily football, cricket and bowls. After some problems and disappointing Galas in recent years this year's event should be back to full strength (info here)

Ali & I are helping by running a mini-soccer tournament for local U8 & U10 teams in the morning.

I've also been involved in some of the organisation - there's some very talented and comitted people working together to get this done - and I've been helping with some promotion.

We made a formal press release and were helped by Richmondhsire Council distributing it to local media - it's delivered us articles in local/regional press (see here - although they did manage to print the wrong day!) and promotion on local radio - with one station recording an interview with the Sports Club chairman (BobT) for broadcast on Sunday morning.

Here's hoping for decent weather tomorrow.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Off to see the Petrols this evening...




[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="Petrols in Nottingham - July 09 - Credit: HughieD from TPE forums."]Petrols in Nottingham - July 09 - Credit: HughieD from TPE forums.[/caption]

I'm going to see the That Petrol Emotion tonight in Newcastle. I shall be a proper hanger-on and get along to the soundcheck and hang-out with the band :-).

Whilst the tour hasn't had any/much press coverage - the response on the band's website forum has been enthusiastic and the general feeling is that they sound better than ever. I think is what comes from getting older and becoming better musicians - a bit like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

TPE Forum

Forum post with recent pictures

I'll post a review later.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Harvest !

First of the potatoes this week - Charlottes. Charlie had some for dinner yesterday and declared them delicious, we will probably have them today. Mixed sizes from larger than expected to positively teensy, enough for a couple of family meals. Others are about ready too, foliage is dying off on first tub of each type so Anya and Juliette to try in next week or so. Should harvest a sack a week for next couple of months now :-)
*Make note for next year to grow lots more !
Still almost no strawbs making it into the house - Charlie is stripping them bare each day which is great to see. No rasps yet, still small and green but on their way.
Radishes appeared almost overnight, lettuces close behind, but a while before any for picking.
Cucumbers both doing well, as are the peas and beans, none lost, but none close to flowering yet.
Rhubarb doing well - no flowers, so just leave it to die off.
Asparagus still putting up new spears, all of which look healthier than the first skinny ones did.
Butternut has germinated about 2-3" tall, no true leaves yet. No sign of the Table Queen or the coriander.
Plum tree did the June Drop thing, still a good few tiny fruits there. Apple has 2 fruits, propped up one of the branches which was getting a bit heavy as the apple is right at the end.

Sowings this week: white lisbon salad onions, chard bright lights, more carrots (red, purple and rainbow - no boring orange !).

Jobs to do:
lime brassica beds ready to sow cabbages and swedes. Maybe brocolli and cauliflower too ?
weeding between beds
clear the empty bed where the volunteer potatoes have appeared, for summer/autumn planting.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Good Luck to the Petrols!




[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="TPE"]TPE[/caption]

My good friends Ciaran and Ray embark tonight on their first major tour for 15 years with That Petrol Emotion. They play the Birmingham Academy 2 tonight and then on for a total of 10 gigs (see list of gigs here). I will see them in Newcastle a week on Friday... can't wait!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Busy Day

Sunday 28th - my reminder of whats done, whats planted and where.

1. Cucumber greenfingers x 2 moved into growbag with growpots and a mini pergola to climb up.
2. More parsnips seedlings moved from cold frame into the parsnip bed. Will put some more to germinate indoors, last set probably.
3. Topped up the paris market carrots row - there were a few gaps - only ones with poor germination.
4. Put coriander in 2 corners of the onion bed where the onions didnt take. Might be too dry - soil is very free draining there.
5. Winter squash - put butternut at one end of the onion bed, Table Queen at the other, both under bottle cloches and both x 2 per station, thin to 1 later if they both germinate. Hopefully, onion swill be out before squash becomes too big for them to share.
6. Salad bed. This had been dug up by some animal visitor, so back to square 1: sowed lambs lettuce, radishes, 3 types of lettuce to heart in the middle of the bed and 1 row of salad bowl for CCA. Still space for 1 or 2 more row of CCAs. Put a net over it !
7. On the maypole there are now 5 x runner beans, 1 x purple french beans. Sowed 2 more purple french under bottle cloches this time after 2 were dug up. 3 x waxy yellow dwarf beans in the gaps, one germinated indoors, other 2 direct.
8. Kids square - replaced some paris market carrots - theirs were patchy germination too. Added a few more dwarf/bush peas.
9. Weeded everything.
10. Summer rasps not all looking happy, some have died off after the leaves started to brown from the outside edge, drying out and leaving a dead stick. Adjacent canes thriving, no sign of aphids/beetles and no idea yet of cause.
11. Our postcode area is in a full Smith Period now, so need to watch potatoes for blight. At least early blight gives some warning and you can still get a crop.
12. Stevie dug a path the whole way along, beside the rasps. This needs to be levelled a bit more then covered with weed fabric and a mulch, poss large gravel, need to check prices at local quarry.

About a dozen baby frogs and toads were out in the garden today - they came out after the heavy rain and were extremely cute.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

We Can Haz Strawberries !

Our first few strawbs are fat and red and certainly look delicious. Sadly, I will never get to taste them as they are in the 'kids corner'. This is the raised bed donated to a few of Charlies friends who have helped in the garden. They have a 1m square bed with strawberries, multi-coloured carrots and a couple of dwarf peas, just for themselves. They chose the seeds, sowed them and come and weed/water it a bit, I keep an eye on it for them.
So, they need to visit after school asap and pick these strawbs before the slugs do.

Our main strawberry bed is a little way behind but will get there soon and a few rasps are just starting to take shape now too for late summer.

Today should be sowing salad leaves and more carrots but there are thick black clouds and I can feel the pressure dropping - rain is gonna come. Soon.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

No Surprises (na na na na...)

The pea/bean things are runner beans ! I was confused yesterday as when I sorted through my boxes of seed packets none of them prompted a reminder. Until today - as soon as I saw the runner beans packet (not put back into the box) I remembered sowing them. Good, now we know..
Sowed some more today - dwarf french beans (waxy yellow ones) and climbing french, purple/green. Both sets in a propagator for a few days to germinate then out they will go in their little loo roll towers.

Some of the latest parsnips have now germinated, a bit scrawny to go out yet, need another week or maybe two indoors but not covered or they will be too leggy. I will also put them in the cold frame for a week before planting out fully.

Both greenfinger cucumbers are on 2 leaves each, they will go into a grow bag I think, next to the spuds, after a spell in the cold frame to harden off.

the weather forecast is for some unpleasant combination of heavy rain, thunder, hail, flash floods in the next 48 hours. Fingers crossed it doesnt destroy anything - except the rabbit warren, I am hoping that floods and forces them further away from our carrots !

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Garden Surprises

I have done a daft thing (what, just the one, dear ?) I planted some seeds in paper pots in the propagator and now I cant remember quite what they are ! A type of pea or bean certainly - but they could be any of half a dozen varieties, colours, tall or bush type. I have put them outside with a 'maypole' to grow up, so we shall have to wait and see what surprises us in a few weeks time.

Something, an animal, has been making mischief this week. The newly sown salad seeds, carefully marked with little wooden pegs have been scratched about and the marker pegs were found about 4 feet away from the bed. It must be pidgeons or a cat, cant think of anything else that would/could do this but not do anything else. There were a couple of shallots pulled up, one of them is over the fence and in the field... Please not the rabbits - dont let them find us !

Today, Stevie dug and I weeded, put out the pea/bean things, put straw under the strawbs, weeded again, made a frame to net the salad.

Tomorrow (Sun) will be put the nets/mesh over strawbs, salad and carrots, direct sow yellow beans at the maypole, redo the salad leaves, tidy the flower borders, water everything.

Weather permitting (wind speed) we will also spray nasty stuff on the jungle of weeds in preparation for putting down grass seed to get it under control for the summer. Might put our tent up there for some family friends to visit if its a bit easier and safer to walk on than it is now !

CVJFC Presentation Night

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="500" caption="SMSC 2009"]SMSC 2009[/caption]

We had our footy club annual presentation night yesterday evening. All our U8's Saturday morning Soccer Club go medals and took part in a penalty competition.

CVJFC Website News Item

Photos on Flickr

Friday, June 12, 2009

Psychopathic Personalities...

I listened to this morning's Desert Island Discs with the loathsome Piers Morgan. He comes across as a bright and determined person - clearly his career and successes reflect this. His access to rich and powerful people has enabled him to collect (and polish?)  a number of interesting and genuinely amusing anecdotes (e.g. his interview on the beach with a barefooted Rupert Murdoch prior to being made editor of the News of the World at 28 years old) - his choice of songs was quite interesting and varied - as a PR exercise he did very well.

However - listening to him attempt to justify his role and participation in the stupidest and nastiest parts of the media and his double standards on "privacy" (his is important - other people's isn't) -  put me in mind of this from the much missed Kurt Vonnegut back in 2003 - read it all...:
"I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka “Christians,” and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or “PPs.”

To say somebody is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable medical diagnosis, like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete’s foot. The classic medical text on PPs is The Mask of Sanity by Dr. Hervey Cleckley. Read it! PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. They cannot care because they are nuts. They have a screw loose!

And what syndrome better describes so many executives at Enron and WorldCom and on and on, who have enriched themselves while ruining their employees and investors and country, and who still feel as pure as the driven snow, no matter what anybody may say to or about them? And so many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick.

What has allowed so many PPs to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can’t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody’s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!"

via Kurt Vonnegut vs. the &#@ -- In These Times.

Most of us are in no position to make real diagnoses of PP in an individual, especially somebody we only know of via the media. Yet so many of the most successful leaders in government and business appear (to me) to conform to the stereotype.

I think the PP lens is an effective tool for comprehension of incomprehensible times .

The question remains - why do we let these people assume power over us?

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Doubley Toothless Charlie!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Double Toothless Charlie"]Double Toothless Charlie[/caption]

The Tooth Fairy is being kept busy by Charlie... as his second top-front tooth came out this evening at the FA skills football session in a freak "running/drink-bottle" incident.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

THAT PETROL EMOTION - Great Photos

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Used without permission - originals at Dave Walsh's site."]Used without permission - originals at Dave Walshs site.[/caption]

The TPE guys linked to some great photos from last year's Electric picnic gig - as they gear up for their series of gigs in July.

via Time to get excited. | THAT PETROL EMOTION.

Best pictures of the football season

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="364" caption="Tom Jenkins's best pictures of the football season"]Tom Jenkinss best pictures of the football season[/caption]

I enjoyed this selection of the best pictures of the football season by the Guardian's photographer Tom Jenkins.

I particularly love this one of Messi with his European Cup winners meddle. I was thinking how childlike he looks - just like a 12 year old kid - Jenkins' own comments reflect this too:
"At this moment as he wraps his winners medal round his head, the best footballer in the world looks like a proud, little boy showing off his prize from the school sports day."

Link to Tom Jenkins's best pictures of the football season

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Early June in the garden

Most of the asparagus is progressing well – Backlim is shoulder height, just starting to fern, Ariane (early variety) made it to above knee height and is quite ferny with berries, but the Purple Stewart isn’t happy – lost 2 crowns entirely, the rest has a bit of fern, but is skinny, shriveled, you wouldn’t want to eat it. Main concern now is keeping the stems upright in the strong winds. Have put a Heath-Robinson frame up but it needs to be more substantial and able to be dropped into place each year. Will blunder along this season hoping nothing snaps off and get something organised for next spring.

Onion sets all seem to be okay, we have lost a couple at most. Main job is to keep the bed weeded and to deter the soddin cat that confuses a raised bed with a litter tray. I think I will try 2 things, bits of spiky twig laid around on the soil – lots of that available in the hawthorn hedge and perhaps a net surround – cats don’t like to jump over things apparently, just onto things, so that might help. Also thinking of some evil solutions if the humane ones don’t work, as I am not prepared to sacrifice our food just to be kind to someone elses cat.

Strawberries have coped well with being moved from a planter to a permanent bed. No idea which variety is which any more, but some are clearly going to fruit sooner than others, so that might help me work it out. Added half a dozen alpine/woodland plants which may not fruit this year but will be delicious when they do.

Potatoes are looking good, first tubs should be ready from the end of this month then at 4-6 week intervals. We have only done Anya, Charlotte and Juliet this year.

Carrots are okay but no roots yet, just early foliage.

Parsnips I am a bit worried about. They are supposedly quite difficult to germinate so I was pleased when my first attempt was successful, but the rain and quite cool temps of the past 24 hours seems to have traumatized them a bit. One has disappeared completely, a few are wilting, only half the row looks robust enough to make it. Might put a cloche over some of them for the rest of the weekend. My second sowing of parsnips seems to have failed totally as the soil dried out, so we could end up with none ! I will put some more into pots and others direct sown to see if we can manage some for Christmas day lunch.

Rasps are coming along nicely. Autumn ones are ready to flower, summer canes have finally started sending up shoots that will fruit next year.

The rhubarb, or rather one of them, is looking lovely but we can’t eat that this year, needs to establish. The other has failed, probably the soil is too poor there so I will move it for next year. The soft fruit bushes are not doing much, a few berries/currants but should now be setup for next year.

Lots of work to do clearing space for more beds ready for summer and autumn planting and it will soon be time to put the brassicas and winter roots into their beds. Salad crops should be in but aren't, so next fine day that has to be done or we'll miss out on summer salads.

Some of what I had hoped to do will have to wait a year, it's taking a lot of time and effort to get control of what is essentially a pile of weed strewn rubble.

I forgot about the trees ! No flowers on the cherry this year, that can take a couple of years to start fruiting, loads of tiny plums - will lose most over next couple of weeks as the tree sorts out what it can sustain, a few applets (is that a word outside of IT ?) which have to go, to let the apple trees build up for next year.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Toothless Charlie!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Toothless Charlie!"]Toothless Charlie![/caption]

Charlie's first top front tooth has come out!

he is wavering on belief in the Tooth Fairy - seems to be happy to accept it for tonight.

Also check today's latest spiky haircut.

2009 election results - useful resources online

Some useful links to cover the election results as the counts are declared.

BBC Live election results map (UK wide - pick your region)


North Yorkshire County Council : 2009 election results live. (my area)

No European results until Sunday apparently - to allow all of Europe to vote.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Larry Ellison relives reveals network computer netbook dream • The Register

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="216" caption="Acorn N|C"]Acorn N|C[/caption]

Was it really so long ago...

Back in the mid-nineties I worked with for Giles and with Mark (or Grooty as I know he loves to be known). I used to travel around Europe (or was that EMEA) with a two of these devices and a server (Tadpole Sparcbook) and network rig. When we had the original and ONLY 2 N|C devices in the whole of EMEA we named them "Sandra" and "Magaret" - after two of the women who worked in our group.

It was a fun and rewarding time - and whilst the technology was somewhat flakey the principals were fine - actually even then "back to the future" as the approach was essentially the same as the well established "Sun Discless Client" workstation method (netboot via DHCP, OS and useer files on a "file server").

The devices became affectionately known as "NOTwork computers" - and over time came in various flavours (Java Stations) and from various vendors. We should remember though that back then a PC cost around a thousand dollars (without a monitor) - and often around a thousand UK pounds. Larry's vision was to forsee a tiome when devices to attach to a network (the Internet) could be simpler and significantly CHEAPER.

Larry Ellison relives reveals network computer netbook dream • The Register.

Medieval Day!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Medieval Charlie"]Medieval Charlie[/caption]

Today is Medieval Day for KS1 at Charlie's school.
All the kids go in fancy dress and will have a packed lunch/picnic on the field.
Charlie's costume is homemade by his Mum with support from his Dad.

Click the photo or here for more photos.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Bowie vs Elvis (.. Superman, 2001, Roswell)

Wonderful insane writing linking Bowie/Elvis/Roswell/2001 A Space Odyssey/Superman:
"The alien that crashes to Earth during the supposed Roswell crash in Bowie birth year is also the starchild that evolves at the end of 2001 . Astronaut Bowman is in cryogenic suspension for 18 months and then evolves into .... something else. It is curious to note that Bowie was Ziggy Stardust for 18 months and then became .... something else. Elvis recorded at Sun Studio and was under the guidance of Sam Phillips for 18 months and then became ... something else."

link:   Bowie vs Elvis.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Paolo Maldini - Superman Retires!

Great article by Amy Lawrence on the impending retirement of Paulo Maldini.

The paragraph below really does put it in perspective.
Maldini the one and only bows out

A quarter of a century in the first team of any club is a staggering enough feat. To do it at one of the world's elite teams, sweeping up five European Cup medals and seven Serie A titles along the way, sets a benchmark that looks unmatchable. To put it into perspective, 35-year-old Ryan Giggs would have to play on for Manchester United for another seven years to equal Maldini's length of service. Real Madrid's Raúl, who turns 32 in the summer, will need to continue for another 10 years. This is a man who has won the European Cup in three different decades.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

CVJFC Tournament2009 photos

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="CVJFC U8s"]CVJFC U8s[/caption]

Photos from the recent tournament we hosted here in Catterick Village. Photos taken by Sandy Norrie of our U8s team - including Charlie.

CVJFC Tournament2009 - a set on Flickr.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Robert Fripp is 63 - nice collection of online videos

I noticed this nice colection of Fripp Videos on allaboutjazz.com to celebrate his 63rd birthday.

(Confession: I skipped through these videos - it's a lot of time if you play them all fully)

I first listened to Fripp on his contributions to Bowie's 'Heroes' - and on from there to his ongoing work with Eno and Talking Heads. He then contributed to some of David Sylvian's early solo work before they recorded and toured together. In fact, Sylvian & Fripp at the Royal Albert Hall in 1993 was the first gig Alison and I went to together (although as it was a "sitting down gig" I'm not sure if she would say it really counts).

Fripp has contributed to much of my very favourite rock/pop music and also led me to many other artists along the way.

Link: Jazz News: Sat Eye Candy: Robert Fripp.
"Guitarist extraordinaire and musical theoretician of the highest order, Robert Fripp has dipped his talented fingers into a lot of pies over the years. Besides the many and still-mutating configurations of King Crimson, he's worked with Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Steve Vai, David Bowie and numerous others, often steering his compatriots into cerebral spaces that stretch all involved. He is ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone's list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." JamBase wishes a very happy birthday to one of the thinking man's greats."

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Recently Added Photo Sets





[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Pam and Arthur - April/May…"]Pam and Arthur - April/May…[/caption]





[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Charlie C's Birthday - 2009"]Charlie Cs Birthday - 2009[/caption]




[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75" caption="Charlie C's Birthday - 2009"]CVSA Fun Run 2009[/caption]

Monday, May 04, 2009

Chores

A list of garden jobs done/to do this weekend:

1. Moved some 'rosebud' primulas from the nursery bed to the raised bed in the back garden. Rest next week, a few are for mum - they are sooo small and pretty.
2. I put the largest Dicentra Spectablis into the front border and have another 3 on the way. 1 is for mum, 2 going spare - hadnt expected any of them to germinate after forgetting about them since last year, but they all did !
3. Removed loads of Herb Robert (aka 'Stinky Bob' !) which I hate, from the front beds. It looks pretty enough, but yerch the smell is disgusterous !
4. First sowing of parsnips are still hardening off, they will go in next weekend and then I will sow some more.
5. Last of the potatoes ready to be 'sacked up', so thats about 6 weeks between first and last, should give us a few meals worth. I might have done lots more, but blight was so bad last year I was relucatant to risk it this year. First sets are already showing good foliage so will be earthed up in their bags, at the weekend.
6. Steve is going to prepare the next 2 raised beds this week, so then I will be ready to sow lots of carrot varieties when I get back.
7. Havent done onion sets, but should have as we eat lots. If its not too late, will get some brown and red in for the weekend...
8. Must check regional sowing/frost dates again - its so much later here than London and most planting guidance doesnt allow for that. Not time here yet for the brassicas, so their beds are waiting.
9. Autumn rasps doing well, might have lost 1 of the 10, not bad. Summer rasps are still dead sticks in the ground - hoping to see some growth this month or I will worry that I have lost all of them !
10. Asparagus - green varieties are doing well, Purple Stewart not so happy - thin, small, some a bit brown at the tip. Must investigate incase soil isnt right.
11. Top/back garden has been rather neglected while we try to get control of the veg garden, so did a bit of emergency weeding. Attacked the thistles and a mustard thing that frankly grows like a weed !

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Charlie in his England Kit

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="108" caption="Charlie for England!"]Charlie for England![/caption]

Charlie chose to buy the new England Football kit with some of the money he received for his 7th Birthday.

Click on the photo or follow this link to see more photos.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Misc. Planting

We have received the 20 rosebud primulas  and 10 Ariane asparagus crowns, both will go in today, as will the sweet peas from Auntie Sue which have been neglected in their pot until now.

A couple more raised bed frames need making up, so Steve can dig/build/fill them this week, for next weekend when I  will start planting seeds.

First 3 potato sacks are done - with 4 tubers in each of Charlotte, Juliette and Anya. Next round of those in another weeks time.

Putting a small wooden border around the raspsberries, to protect them from the wind and to retain a bark mulch I plan to put down.

Thats going to take more time than I have so Id best get started.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Strawberries and woodlice

Last year we planted a few varieties of strawberry in a large planter, as we didnt have space anywhere to plant them out. This year, we have plenty of room, so I have transplanted them all into a 2x1m bed.

Biggest challenge now is woodlice - how to keep the little blighters out of the fruit. I dont normally bother about them, they are fairly benign, but they do like strawberries so they have to go ! I would normally use straw to mulch, but as that is a perfect home for woodlice Id rather not, but I dont know what else would work instead. Need to find something in the next few weeks, maybe something artificial that is less welcoming to wildlife ?

Asparagus

Our order was for 10 crowns each of Backlim and Ariane , plus 12 of Stewarts Purple.

So far the Backlim and Purple have arrived and are in two beds. 7 Backlim and 4 Purple in one, 4 Purple in the other waiting for 7 of the Ariane. The rest will go to Loulou and Booya for their lottie.

Beds are fab - Stevie dug them out, we put compost and cardboard in the bottom, premium topsoil above, with a few handfuls of FBB mixed in.

As much as one can do really to give them a good start. They were a little bit dry - left in the bag in the box for a couple of days while I was away, but not too bad.

Now though, we have an unanticipated problem. One of our blackbirds likes asparagus ! Maybe he thinks they are worms/caterpillars, but he is having a real go at them and has damaged 2 so far. I will have  to net the rest asap until they are strong enough to withstand his attention.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

I got a name check on El Reg!

I tipped off The Register (Top IT News site) about some preposterous "strategy boutique" tosh for the naming of the new Palm device (Palm  PrÄ“) and they ran a story and credited me for the tip. Shucks..!

Naming the Palm PrÄ“: Strategy Boutique OD's on joss-sticks • The Register.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Scarborough - Charlie visits with Pam & Arthur

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="167" caption="The Windmill"]The Windmill[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Tardis!"]Tardis![/caption]

Pam and Arthur took Charlie to Scarborough and stayed overnight at the fantastic Windmill Hotel.  Beyond the fantastic Windmill itself it also houses a vast collection of Toys from the 1960's and on. I recognised some of my faves (Thunderbirds, Batman) along with tons of other cult classics (Super heroes, Star Wars).

I joined them for the first day and then brought Tinker home.

Click on the TARDIS photo or this  link to see the photo set.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Kudos to Liam and a great post on music, coolness and parents.

I bumped into Liam's nice music blog and really enjoyed this post: Fuzz Box: Help! My Parents are Cooler than Me!

It helps that I know the people involved - but it's great (and a bit strange feeling) when someone you've known since they were (what?) about 8 yrs old turns into a grown-up - and not only that but a wise and thoughtful one.

Nice post - great writing.

David Byrne @ The Sage - 1st April 2009

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="David Byrne - not my own photo - click to see a nice set at Flickr by user pebblesfromheaven"]David Byrne - not my own photo - click to see a nice set at Flickr.[/caption]

Alison and I saw David Byrne's concert at the Sage (Newcastle) last night (Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour tour).

It was absolutely amazing - brilliant, funny, heartwarming, touching.... and funky... great musicians, 3 dancers, that amazing voice, that back-catalog of songs in collaboration with Eno (Talking Heads & Solo) mixed with the new (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today) album.

It's hard to pick a highlight - there were so many...:

  • The long funky grooves of the Remain In Light era

  • The simple beauty of "Heaven" ("is a place... a place where nothing... nothing ever happens")

  • The art-pop classic "Once in a lifetime" - one of Byrne's/TH's best known - still fresh and intriguing ("...and you may ask yourself.. how did I get here... where does that highway go to")

  • The dancers (simultaneously all NY artsy pretentious and yet funny/quirky) - added to the spectacle and showed DB's love for presenting a "show" whilst avoiding "rock clichés".  Praise to him to take 3 dancers on a world tour... I'm sure it would be more profitable to tour without dancers.. but he chose to bring them along.

  • The country gospel tinged new stuff... and the amazing "Take me to the River"...

  • DB "being the sampler" and vocalising the sampled sermon from "Help Me Somebody"...

    • "There`s no escape from Him. He`s so high you can`t get over Him. He`s so low you can`t get under Him. He`s so wide you can`t get around Him. If you make your bed in Heaven He`s there. If you make your bed in Hell He`s there. He`s everywhere."



  • All those great lyrics:

    • this aint no party.. this aint no disco....

    • I'M AN OR-DI-NARY GUY!

    • I'm changing my shape-I feel like an accident

    • Same as it ever was...same as it ever was...same as it ever was...




Wonderful evening - a priviledge to be there.

UPDATE: These 2 reviews (of other concerts on the tour) are fair and good:

David Byrne @ The Sage - 1st April 2009

Alison and I saw David Byrne's concert at the Sage (Newcastle) last night (Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour tour).

It was absolutely amazing - brilliant, funny, heartwarming, touching.... and funky... great musicians, that amazing voice, that back-catalog of songs in collaboration with Eno (Talking Heads & Solo) mixed with the new (Everything That Happens Will Happen Today) album.

I have loved this music since I first listened to Talking Heads back around 1980/81 - I was lead there via Bowie/Eno collaborations and the Talking heads albums were a continuation and extension of the Eno produced experimental art pop/rock... leading then to the wonderful My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and The Catherine Wheel. Up until recently most this stuff had become "orphaned vinyl" - lost in the loft and un-played. Fortunately Alison bought me the complete set of Talking Heads CDs (remastered, re-released with extras etc.) for my birthday a few years ago and I went through phase of listening to them all again... like old soul-mates reunited.

Last night's concert featured a fine mix of the older stuff and the new...

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="240" caption="Photo on Flickr (not my own)"]Photo on Flickr (not my own)[/caption]

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Treee !

Ages ago, we said we would plant an apple tree in our garden, for Granny Pam.  Pending the new veg garden, we weren't sure where it would go but now that is all sorted, it was time to get it done.

So, here is the evidence - Granny Pam, ably assisted by Charlie, planting her tree. But not any old tree, it is a 3-apple tree. There are Gala and Sunset dessert apples AND Bountiful cooking apples all grafted onto one dwarf tree. Not sure how long before any of it will bear fruit, but we shall offer the first harvest to GP to make pie !

At the same time, we planted a dwarf dessert cherry nearby.

planting-apples-tree

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Germinating Parnsips

First parsnip seeds have been set to germinate, using the widely recommended kitchen-roll method. Basically, the seeds are put on damp kitchen roll, kept warm until they germinate and then moved out into a prepared drill by which time the soil has warmed up a bit more. The bed isn’t even dug yet so we need to get cracking on that asap.



If this works, I will start another batch off in a couple of weeks time for succession planting.



The wireworm risk is high for parsnips (and all roots), given that we are planting on land that last year had sheep and cows grazing on it, so I am a little nervous about how well they will perform, but we have to give it a go.



The parsnips (Picador) will share a 3m x 1m bed with a few different types of carrot – round ones - cant recall the name, came free on a magazine, as well as Purple Haze, a rainbow mix and Samurai (red). Some of the local kids want to grow the coloured and round carrots too, so in return for their help moving stones, I have set aside a 1m square bed for them to share and they can choose any of my seeds that they like. So far, all have gone for the ‘funny carrots’, with one considering a side order of yellow cherry tomatoes. I think a few pumpkins will be fun too, if only for making lanterns.



Asparagus beds - almost done

Having read in various gardening forums that 2009 asparagus deliveries are already underway, it was time to get the beds to their next stage of readiness.

Steve has moved a whole load of the topsoil from front garden to back – an ingenious ramp system on the wooden steps made it possible to get the whole way with the barrow without having to unload/reload it or use buckets, phew.


We now have both beds filled to ground level. We are allowing them a day or two to settle during which my job is to get the edges weeded and straightened up, line up the raised bed surrounds nice and straight, then fix them into position for Steve to top them up with more soil. We will fill them almost full, as they will sink down as the compost composts and we can top up as required from there. I will also add some fertilizer to the topsoil layer – probably bonemeal.



Planting will be in blocks, 11 plants to each 2m x 1m bed which is perhaps too many but I am hoping it will be okay:



X X X X



X X X



X X X X



I will use 7 of each green variety and an extra purple one. The rest of the order will go to BooLou for their lottie:



Stewarts Purple x 12 early, sweet, purple


Ariane x 10 (organic) early season


Backlim x 10 (organic) mid to late, can be grown as white asparagus after a few years


Friday, March 27, 2009

Bah Bah Bah... Ba-ba-ba Bah Bah....

Just watched West Ham 5 vs 0 Newcastle (Div 2 - 1979) with Charlie....

Yes we should have been doing spelling or reading I suppose... but.. it's Friday.. and... er...

Brooking, Devonshire, Bonds, Lampard.... Pop Robson.... standing on the terraces... jumpers for goal posts... Brian Moore... marvelous.

Even the Cardif City fans singing "We'll see you all outside" during their game with Stoke City had a bit of a nostalgic ring to it. A young Garth Crooks poaches a goal.

Interactive/User-generated content in 1979...?

Brian Moore holding the original letters sent in by viewers asking "just what was Alan Ball doing at the end of last week's League Cup final" (Answer - nicking a piece of turf as a souvenir)

The Big Match Revisited (The Big Match - Wikipedia)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Great Nostalgic 80's football video

The Guardian's online sports pages have a weekly selection of sports video clips (plenty of football) with a mix of nostalgia and current weirdness/sensational stuff - usually decent picks and worth a look.

This week's:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/mar/26/youtube-bbc-liverpool-lewis-hamilton

is a corker...:
"Featuring a Brian Clough left hook, Manny Ramirez swapping baseball for cricket and a belting simultaneous double KO"
And the very nostalgic: "...1987-88, the BBC did a Goal of the Season competition just for Liverpool."

Test Entry

This is a test to see if it propogates via FriendFeed... to Twitter.... then on to Facebook...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Garden Diary #8

We received our topsoil order today.

I also continued work on our raised beds - adding compost then covering over with old newspaper and cardboard (as per instructions from wifey).



The topsoil was delivered by a local company (Farnaby) who deliver via a huge artic. lorry (er... wagon in Yorkshire) with a 3-wheeled fork lift on the back to lift the large bags of soil off the wagon and deliver to the customer site.

Made me think... I wonder how much energy (joules, KW, calories - whatever) will have been used in "producing" then delivering the soil we received... and how much food will we need to produce to generate the equivelent amount of energy. Also... can you imagine the idea of shipping topsoil around the country - even relatively locally - without the aid of fossil fuel based transport and "mechanical muscles"? I guess I'll find out what it's like to shift 2 tons of soil about 30 meters at least... by wheelbarrow!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Garden Diary #7

The topsoil arrives Tuesday pm. I imagine Steves biceps are protesting already at the prospect of barrowing that lot down the garden path !
I am doing remote support by reading the latest 'Garden Answers' mag - free asparagus ! I wish Id known about that a month ago.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Garden Diary #6

Mothers Day :-)
Ordered 2 tons of topsoil from Farnabys, just down the road near Scotch.

This will come next week sometime, mainly to start building up the asaparagus beds once Steve has put in layers of compost, cardboard and any other organic stuff we can get hold off. I am now officially talking horsesh*t !

Recent Photos

Some recent photos sets [see ALL OUR PHOTOS AT FLICKR]

CVJFC Matches




Charlie as Four Arms (Ben 10)

Charlie as Four Arms




Christmas at the Mees

Christmas at the Mee’s




In the Snow - Dec 2008

In the Snow - Dec 2008




 London - October 2008

London - October 2008



Saturday, March 21, 2009

Garden Diary #5

TO DO #1 – dismantle the old raised beds, rebuild as 2 x 2m instead of 3 x 1m squares. Use the old site near the lawn to prepare for the two trees. New beds will be for root veg and/or salad, not sure which to do first, must check planting plan.
TO DO #2 – order topsoil for next weekend.
TO DO #3 – make a list of what to sow/plant and when, by month.
Ordered a starter pack of Gripples, mainly for the raspberries.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Garden Diary #4

Ordered some fruit from Blackmoor Nurseries: A ‘Family’ apple tree, this is a dwarf tree with 3 varieties of apple grafted onto it, courtesy of Dr Frankenstein. It grows to 8-9’. Bountiful is a cooker as we don’t have space for a Bramley. Raspberries: 10 canes of Prosen & 10 canes of Polka for extended season and finally a Cherry Maynard - 2 Year old tree on a dwarf rootstock, about 6’ max. That’s the 'orchard' sorted.
Picked up a bunch of free pallets from the local garden centre, to stand the potato sacks on – keeps them a bit further away from the slugs ! Also, will help keep weed fabric in place over the wild patch at the southern end of the lawn.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Garden Diary #3

I planted the gooseberry bush and blueberry bush which were previously in pots, at the south end of the plot, next to the shed and next to one of the rhubarb crowns, all in an east-west row. They will get lots of sun there, from mid-late morning for the rest of the day. These are all straight into the soil, not in beds but with good soil and compost added to the stoney mess of the original ground.
Blueberry is not looking very happy – it needs ericaceous fertilizer asap.
Rhubarb already has shoots appearing ! Must resist urge for rhubarb crumble – they need to be left alone this year to help the new crown establish.

Garden Diary #2

Steve and I made up the 2 new linkabord raised beds, 2m x 1m each.
Steve dug pits 6-8” deep, so we can put sharp sand and compost into the bottom, before adding the raised bed sides and filling with topsoil. End result will be about 12” deep beds of which 6” will be raised. These run north-south along the western edge of the plot. Lots of sun but also lots of wind so we plan to put a windbreak screen up along the wire fence.
These beds are for the 3 varieties of asparagus crowns which arrive end March/April. Asparagus fern gets to about 5’ tall !

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Garden Diary #1

Received a large rhubarb crown from Uncle Tommy, variety unknown. Divided it into 3 parts, rather unscientifically with a spade, but making sure each segment had some shoots. Planted one in each southern corner of plot, 3rd one is for mum. Put lots of home-made compost into the hole first and backfilled with growbag soil from last years tomatoes.
They need a FYM mulch when the leaves die back later in the year and poss some nitrogen before then.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Garden Diary

I am going to document our work to transform a patch of former agricultural land into a working fruit and vegetable garden, providing the majority of our produce, hopefully within about 12 months.

When we took ownership, the good thing was that it had been grazed by both cows and sheep so was well manured and not too out of control. The bad bit was the soil level varied by about 6 feet with a big 'basin' in the centre of it, and the only thing slowing down the couch grass was the rocks.

The basin has now been levelled but with fairly low grade filler - lots more rocks, just a bit of soil, not good enough to grow anything except more couch grass.

The fence is up, so we are now taking control and starting to lay out the raised bed areas. A little bit later than I would have liked for this season, but we should have time to get a good range of crops in, even if its not everything - like we probably wont have a greenhouse until next year.