Monday, February 25, 2002

Oh I forgot to say - Lamchop, that new CD is just fantastic!!!!
Well the weekend rushed past, mainly because we drove for 90 mins to sit in a room for 3 hours, whilst people attempted to sell us a Timeshare deal. We managed to resist, it was not hard really. Our prize for doing this is a free trip to Australia!!!! Not yet sure when this will take place, as we still have a few hurdles to overcome.

Spent Saturday night at my Dad's new(ish) place in Dunkerswell, Devon, before heading home on Sunday morning.
City drew 0-0 away at Colchester, so we slip to 4th. Home to Peterborough tomorrow night. Then we head off to Madrid on Wednesday.

That's about it for now.

Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Well it had to happen, City manage to lose 2-0 at home to Cambridge last night. No LDV glory for us this season. Strange game really, City did not play well for most of the game, but still had 7 or 8 great chances to score. A mixture of fine goal keeping and poor finishing meant that it counted for nothing. I could go on about the fact the 1st Cambridge goal was yards offside but hey.....lets concentrate on the league!

Music - Rushed into town on Monday to pick up new CD'S by Lamchop and Boards of Canada plus singles by Cornelius and Freeheat.

I must say the Lamchop disc is swoonsome in the extreme. I enjoyed "Nixon" but it sometimes sounded a little forced, "Is a woman" just sounds like a group of people working their way through thoughts and emotions at the end of a tough 6 months or so. I really think that Kurt Wagner's voice is at it's best here. Some wonderful melodies, helped I think by the increased use of piano of some tracks. We been lucky enough to see Kurt play twice in the past year, Once on his own and then with quietest large band in the world. I love the way he reaches deep into his soul to force the words out. Often, when they emerge they are barely audible but the meaning and feeling is always clear. A lovely man - This is a fine CD for quiet nights around the fire.

Only managed one play so far of "Geogaddi" by Boards of Canada. As expected on first hearing it just a collection of fairly ambient sounds. Both the "Music has the right to children" CD and the "In a beautiful place in the country" EP washed over me for the first couple of plays before becoming perfect mooching around on the sofa listening.

Sunday, February 17, 2002

A quiet weekend this time, which I guess we need as we will be away for the next two weekends. Enjoyable game on Saturday, a 3-0 win over Oldham taking City back up to 3rd in the league. Then in the evening we went over to have a meal with Bob and Karen Jones. Amused to hear that Bob is now doing some DJ work, under the fine name of DJ BJ. Even more amused to hear that he is mainly playing Karens old records rather than his. So no place for Eric Dolphy or Roland Kirk at the moment! It does reinforce the comment that Felipe made to us whilst he was in Bristol "Everyone in Bristol is a DJ" I'm starting to think that this is true. Orynthia and I are almost the only people we know that don't spend the weekends working expectant crowds into a frenzy. Or in DJ BJ's case 2 or 3 people into a state of mild interest!

Also spent some time (and it takes a lot of time to read the whole thing) reading the website that Bill and Doreen posted for the bird watching trip around the world. It's very interesting and funny, well worth checking out.

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Well its official, everything in Afghanistan is now ok! Yesterday the peace keeping forces managed to arrange a football match in the national stadium in Kabul. 35,000 people managed to get in to see the match between a team made up of locals aginst a team made up of mainly British soldiers. Of cousre football being the game it is, shots had to be fired in the air, to scare away the multitudes without tickets that were storming the stadium. Pleased to see that nobody was injured but if this had happened in England football would have been castigated as the source of all the evil in the world. The local team were managed by former England number two Lawrie McMenemy, whilst the forces team were lead by our local boy made good Gary Mabbutt. One day I will bore you all with the story of the day I played against Mr Mabbutt and in my opinion played him off the pitch. Gary went onto captin Spurs and play for England, whilst I ended up with the mighty Fishponds Albion!!

Orynthia is excited at the moment having just spotted a female Blackcap in our back garden. We are very lucky, to have some interesting birds visiting us. The Blackcap was enjoying a splendid breakfast of Holly berries on this dry but nippy morning.

Things have been a bit techy on the computer front this week. Thanks to skills of Jon Collins our IMAC is now working on OS X. It looks great but we do have to learn a new way of using the computer, which for someone like me is not easy.!

Off to Ashton Gate now to see City v. Oldham. Can't imagine that the atmosphere will quite the same as the game in Kabul yesterday. Maybe it's will be time to reflect on our good fortune in being able to enjoy the simple pleasures that a game of football can bring to people.

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Old age, now I know I'm 40! Settled down last night to watch Rushmore on DVD. Heard lots of good things about it from Bill and Doreen in New York and Alex in work. Alex was kind enough to lend me the DVD and I was really looking forward to watching it.

We had a glass of wine with our meal, before heading upstairs to watch the film. We have to watch DVD's on our IMAC and altough the screen is small the excitment of new technology is still with us. Settled back with another glass of wine and off we go. Enjoyed the film and then started playing around the additinal features that you get on the DVD. Had a listen to the film in Czech, which was kind of cool for about 40 seconds. Loved those Croatian subtitles!! Then thought I would have a look at the scene access bit. Whilst flicking through the chapters I noticed some stills that I did not remember. On closer inspection it looks as though I missed about 10 minutes of the film. Now this could be down to the wine or a hard day at the office (fat chance!) or just simple old age. The question now is, how often has this happend before. Was I asleep when I was offered that dream job in Tokyo, maybe I was snoozing when Tony Benn overthrew Tony Blair to take control of The Labour Party ( sorry, I can't say "New" Labour without flinching). How many times have I left Ashton Gate thinking City have lost games, when it fact a glorious victory was ours?

Since coming home from Xmas in New York , I have been reading a book called Wonderful Town its a collection of short stories taken from The New Yorker magazine, which have New York as their setting. It features many names that I know and love - Salinger, Woody Allen, Dorothy Parker, John Updike, James Thurber and like. plus many names who's work is new to me. Ashamed to say that its my first contact with John Cheever, Deborah Eisenberg,Daniel Fuchs and Jeffrey Eugenides amongst others. Many fine things although I was a bit disappointed with the William Maxwell tale.

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Plant the Rice, the paddy field is ready!! Another day of spectacular rainfall Redland Green has turned into a maze of swamps and streams. Its starting to take on a bit of an end of the world feel. Rather fine it is too.

Made my first music purchases for a while today, and its back in time I go. Picked up a double CD of all John Cales work on Island from the mid 70's and Blue by Joni Mitchell. I guess the John Cale is partially because of the Warhol TV stuff. It reminded me of the fantastic "Songs for Drella" record that John Cale and Lou Reed stuck out as tribute to Warhol after his death. It is one of my all time fav records. As much for Cales contribution and Reeds.Poor old John has always been overlooked but I love his slightly skewed melodies and cutting lyrics.

Went to see Gosford Park and enjoyed it. However I did come away thinking that I had been watching a BBC2 Sunday evening drama, rather than an Altman film. Have to say that Maggie Smith was, as ever fantastic. The epitome of the irrasciable old lady.

Sunday, February 10, 2002

Well, what a busy week!! Wednesday had the sort of work day that everyone should have. At 12 noon we all went out for lunch. Had a great time with the fine people at Sergios. Then stayed out for drinks and chat for the rest of the afternoon. Ended up playing pool - something I NEVER do. Even managed to win a few games, although I think this was down to my doubles partner Paul Harding , rather than any latent talent that I may have stumbled upon.
Thursday was the Union AGM. More drinking and I now find myself as part of an 18 strong committie for the South West Branch of the CWU. Not quite sure what this will entail. Should be fun finding out.
Friday went out for a drink with Jane, John and Baxter. Had a good evening, spent a lot of it talking about old clubs in Bristol, The Western Star, Top Cat, Bastille and more. By the way John has just put ot a great comp cd called "Make Music" on Harmless. It is getting great reviews all over the place, as it should because it is a fine CD.
Yesterday we sorted out our hotel in Madrid. Had a chat with Steve Vowles in the morning, we are still not sure of the final travel plans but I'm sure that we will have a splendid time. Bought a new suit for the wedding that afternoon. Well overdue as I was in danger of becoming the office tramp. Of course as soon as the purchase was made I worked out that with a bit of work 2 old suits could be knocked into shape, so now I have enough suits to take care of the wardrobe demands on the next Guy Ritchie mobster Britflick!! City managed to lose at Wycombe, so we are back to 4th place.
Jon Collins came round in an effort to fix a problem on our Mac, came back again today and although progress has been made further work is required. it's nice to have friends who's brains work the right way to these sort of things.
Just watched the last of the Warhol progs on channel 4. I must admit that the actual work which he produced does very little for me. However I do find him fascinating. England has gone Warhol mad, then again Steve said there is an exhibtion in Madrid as well. Maybe it is a world wide situation.

Tuesday, February 05, 2002

Hey, new web page template, new Bristol City. We are back up to 3rd in the league after a 2-0 win over QPR. Best home performance in the league for months. Credit to the mighty Tommy Doherty, for inspiring the team to play at a high tempo. Also Matt Hill, he just gets better and better.
Had a good chat with Chris Rose in the Nova Scotia before the game. He was excited about the upcoming vist a band called Faint, from Omaha who are in Bristol soon. They also get a mention in the New Yorker but I was worried to see that amongst the 5 piece, they not only have a moustache but also a full beard!!
I managed to grab a pre release tape of the new CD by Cornelius a couple of weeks ago, it is quite a change from the fantastic Fantasma. Has a few tracks which remind of 70's Jazz/Rock workouts, also has some sublime moments. I just hope we get the chance to see him perform again in Bristol.
As I was saying, had a great time in London on Sunday. We saw lots of swollen rivers and floooding whilst we trevelled up on the train. Once in london we changed our mind and went to Paris show at the RA first. Good call. It was fantastic. we were in there for several hours, loads to see and learn. Having done that we ran out of time to see the Paul Klee show, maybe someother time. We also went to see the Indian film Monsoon Wedding, which turned out to be very moving.
Talking of weddings 15 years ago yesterday, orynthia and I walked the walk. After the hectic weekend, we celebrated with some good food and Champagne and a quiet night at home.
Just found out that Belle & Sebastian are playing in London on April 3rd, the day before Orynthia's birthday. So its back to London again, which is where this entry started.
Blogger just lost the entry I had typed for today! its now 11:45 and I think I'll go to bed. Will try again tomorrow.

Saturday, February 02, 2002

Not the greatest game of football the world has ever seen! Finished 1-1, with Huddersfield getting a goal in the 90th minute, to send us on way through the wind and rain in a grumpy frame of mind. No matter we will all be back for more on Tuesday, for the visit of QPR, and the return to Bristol of a certain Mr Hollaway. I don't think that he will get the same sort of reception the Joe Jordan did today!

Anyway whilst I was watching men huff and puff to no great effect, Orynthia spent her time doing rather more creative things. We have some pictures of the New York trip that can be viewed by going to http://website.lineone.net/~tomory/newyork
more will follow when we are able to spend some time at home. Going out for a meal with Richard and Alison tonight. Tomorrow we are off to London for the day. Aiming to go to the Paul Klee exhibition and if we have enough time, will go to the R.A. to see the "Paris" exhibition.
As I write this, the wind is howling around the back of the house. Garden chairs are resting in the flower beds but somehow our shakey old fence is still standing! The weather conditions should make for an interesting match this afternon, off to see City play Huddersfield. Was looking forward to catching up with Rich Ainsworth - Huddersfield's number 1 fan (even though he lives in London), but he is unable to make the trip.
Finally have all our New York pictures back. We are going to try put on this site via a link, so that our friends in far flung places can see what we got up to.

Friday, February 01, 2002

Well, after some confusion last night I have managed to change the template this morning.I quite like the cubes heading down the page.
Another wet and windy day in Bristol. Out on the town tonight for a combination of leaving parties and birthdays. I just hope the weather calms down.
Just booked our flights to go to Madrid for a few days at the end of the month. We are off to the wedding of Felipe and Mercedes. At the moment we are not quite sure how we are going to get from Madrid to the wedding but I'm sure it will be fun.
Better get on with some work now.