Looks as though we may be off to Cornwall on a free holiday for 4 nights at the start of August. Sometime ago we sat through a timeshare presentation in an effort to obtain some free flights to Australia! We are still waiting for news on that but included in the offer was a mini break in the UK. It will be quite a change for us to go on holiday in a place which is not a large city and we are both quite excited about the idea of 4 days with nothing to do. Lets hope that it happens.

We are going to see the quietest band in the world "Lambchop" on Friday. This gig was meant to take place the fairly large surroundings of the Colston Hall, however when they played there last time many people that we spoke to after the gig complained that they could not really hear the band. Considering that there where about 12 people on stage, it is quite an achievement to be that quiet. However it looks as though many people were put off by the lack noise and ticket sales have been very poor. There was talk of the gig being cancelled, luckily that is not the case, it has just been moved to the Fleece. A smaller stand-up venue, which should suit the band quite well.

I've resisted this long but here are my thoughts on the world cup:
Well, as usual the English dream did not come true. How strange though to go out with such a whimper. The normal anguish of the last few minutes of the last game or worse still a penalty shoot out was replaced by the dawning realisation over about the last 40 minutes against Brazil that we weren't able to trouble a Brazil side which played with more tactical nouse and defensive organisation that we gave them credit for. No-one here got angry or upset, for once we all knew that we just weren't good enough.

Although the quarter final games were poor I have to say that I have really enjoyed the competition. The spirited performances of South Korea (or is that Corea now?) Japan, Turkey, Ireland, USA and Senegal at different times were a joy to behold. I must say that I loved Seeing the over pampered poodles of Argentina, France, Portugal and Italy sent packing. I know that Italy had some grounds for complaint but sometimes that happens. You lose games that you should have won, that is what makes football the head spinning crazy, addictive game that it is.

Brazil must beat Germay or do we have one more shock left in this crazy competition!

Where does the time go? Nearly a week since I managed to update this site! I guess it is a hangover from the world cup, must admit that the constant run of early mornings was really taking it’s toll at the end of last week. Anyway away from the world cup, I enjoyed The Bees gig in Cardiff last week. They were by some distance the scruffiest looking band I have seen for some time, but they do make some wonderful music. The later stages of the gig did turn into a bit of a scratchy guitar funk workout, but enough killer blows had been landed in the early stages to make it a worthwhile trip. The next night we went to The Fleece to see McDowell and they were great. It was the first time that we have seen them playing with the whole band and what a splendid treat it was. Nicely understated vocals and acoustic guitar from Mark Hymas matched with some beautiful, melodic guitar lines from the rather fearsome looking lead guitarist. They have an album out called Rooks Wedding, I don’t think that it really reflects the band as they are now but it is still a nice piece of music.

In between world cup games on Saturday we nipped out to Bedminster Library. The Library was holding a CD sale to get rid of excess stock amazingly all CD’s were only £1.50! We ended up buying 15CD’S!!! Lot’s of great old soul from the like of Aretha Franklin, Staples Singers and a couple by the Isley Brothers, plus assorted Jazz and indie selections. Then we have been lucky enough to be given from different sources new CD’s by The Reindeer Section, Tom Waites and Baxter Dury. We also recorded a 4 hour Northern Soul special from the radio on Saturday evening. You could say that we have a bit of listening to catch up on! Luckily for us, the weather on Sunday was gorgeous so we managed to spend and hour or so in the garden reading and playing tunes. The perfect Sunday afternoon.

No football for a couple of days, so a chance to draw breath and look
forward to the remaining game of this extraordinary competition. On my way
to watch the South Korea - Italy match yesterday I noticed that a house just
around the corner from us had a small hand made Korean flag on display in
their front garden. I think the family have only recently moved to England,
so it must be amazing for them to watching the scenes coming from their home
land. After the amazing victory against Italy, I felt that I had to drop a
small card into them to congratulate them the efforts of the team and indeed
the fantastic supporters. Can they beat Spain in the next round? I think so.


Yesterday Orynthia bought one of the new digital TV converter box's. This means that
we now have digital viewing and can watch the free digital services, such
BBC4, BBC choice and about 7 others. It also gives us access to the BBC
interactive services. So now we will be able to find out what is going on
when they "viewers with digital services, press the red button now". At the
moment it just appears to be showing lots of World Cup related stuff, in
fact when I left for work this morning it was showing the full Korea - Italy
match again.

Tonight we are off to Cardiff to see The Bees, I am really enjoying their
splendid CD, although I did read a rather uncomplimentary live review in The
Guardian for them today.

I have to say that the 7:30 AM starts for watching world cup games, is starting to make me quite tired. The main problem is the lack of catch up sleep on a weekend. Still it has been a fantastic competition so far and we only have to wait until 19/6 for the treat of an extra hour or so in bed.

Still managed to keep some vestige of a normal social life going. We went to see the film "About A Boy" last night. I must admit that when I read the book, it was one of those "OK" reads, I think that on this occasion the film is actually better than the book. It has to be said that the young male lead, had the most bizarre eyebrows I have seen for some time. The poor chap looked as though he must have a relative of good old Dr Spock from Star Trek. I hope for his sake that it was part of the make-up teams attempt make him look kookier, rather than a lifetime affliction.

Tonight we are meeting up with a few friends for a meal. At the start of the tournament I weighed myself to see how much the snacking whilst watching games would affect me. Strangely after the 1st week I actually managed to lose weight, so tonight is a chance to put a few pounds back on.

Well, as mentioned previously, I won’t go on about the world cup on this site. Will just say that this afternoon, I was a very happy man.

Went to one of the smallest pubs in Bristol last night, The King Charles to see our friends Ian Green and Steve Dew playing a short improvised set as part of a trio with a guy called Bill. They had never played or even practised together before as a trio, so everyone was unsure about the outcome. I really enjoyed the short set that they played and as someone who has never played anything, I just get more and more impressed at the creative abilities of our friends. I am also delighted to live in a city where people try to do interesting and unusual things.

I nipped into town after the football to pick up some CD’s. So we now have a proper copy of the lovely new Belle & Sebastian soundtrack CD. Also got the new Edwyn Collins CD as well as an album by a group called The Bee’s called Sunshine Hit Me. Heard this whilst at Mark and Bab’s over the weekend. It reminds me of a more structured version of The Beta Band deceptively simple on first hearing, it is a real grower.

Should be catching up with old friends Kevin and Julie over the weekend, along with yet more football.

Not too much point in me writing about the world cup here. Those of you that like it, will be watching it, those of you that don’t won’t be interested anyway. We had a lovely extended weekend break with Mark and Babs, managed to watch all the matches and had great fun doing it. The good thing was the matches are all over by early afternoon, so it leaves plenty of time for other stuff. On Tuesday afternoon we walked through the village for to Banwell castle for a cream tea. It is an amazing 18th century folly with a wonderfully low-key feel about it. A great relaxed way to end our little holiday. Also managed to catch up with lots of music thanks to Mark’s enormous record collection. Filled a few gaps in our knowledge.

Whilst reading the New Yorker I was amazed to find a review of Maroons a restaurant that we ate in on our last night in New York at Christmas. They liked it, and so did we. Even our friend Kelvin (on the left in this picture), who has an appetite that is best, described as gargantuan struggled with the enormous portions. We were ready to pop.

Back to work today, but only for a two day week, as I have Friday off due to World Cup commitments.

We went to see the Experimental Pop Band on Wednesday after having another nice meal at Tico Express. The gig was good if not a little dangerous. Orynthia and I were standing behind the world’s most enthusiastic dancer. That’s enthusiastic but not gifted, allied to the fact that his build was somewhat on the heavy side and that his arms were moving like a threshing machine a full tilt, it meant that we had to keep our wits about us in order to stay in one piece.

World cup started today in the best of ways. A great victory for the huge underdogs Senegal in their match against France. Tomorrow morning will be my first early start as we have 3 games to watch, starting at 7:30am. Then we are off to spend the weekend with our friends Mark and Bab’s for a long weekend of football and to avoid the Jubilee street party that will be taking place outside our house.

I finished reading the wonderful Number 9 Dream a couple of days ago. As I mentioned previously, I feel that David Mitchell’s writing really does echo that of Murakami. Obviously a straight copy of another writers style could leave you with that nasty hollow feeling, that all those note perfect "tribute" bands induce. I do think that Mitchell injects enough of his own style into the ever more complex plot, to lift it above mere pastiche.

As ever, I have moved onto the next book and this is a considerable change of style.Human Punk by John King is a rough and ready tale which starts with a young mans introduction to adulthood as the onrushing tidal wave of Punk sweeps out of London to challenge the traditional norms of society. The main protagonist in the story is the same age as I was at the time, which makes it very easy to make comparisons. It is fair to say that in the summer of 1977 I was still held under the spell of the likes of Genesis, ELP and the rest of the prog rock massive and it was not until the end of 1978 that the penny finally dropped. Obviously, I wish that I had wised up earlier but hey, I was young! The main thing that does strike about the book, is just how lucky I was, to avoid the casual violence that appeared to be part of the average teenage boys life according to most writers that document this period. I was doing all the right things, going to football matches and gigs and I was aware of unpleasant things that happened, yet they never seemed to happen to me. I suppose this is due to the rather obvious fact that I always preferred to hang about with people I liked rather than mindless psychopaths. I guess my dad was always going to lead me away from the onrushing Chelsea or Arsenal hooligans rather than starting a ruck. Likewise the people that I went to gigs with always went for the music rather than the chance to punch someone. Certainly fights at gigs were just part of a night out at the time of Punk and the early Two Tone gigs. Pleased to say that it just went on around me, rather than in my face.

On the current music front I have recently picked up the Alice CD by Tom Waits. One of two new recordings that he has put out. As with most of his stuff it is still growing on me but worth buying for the title track alone. In a different style altogether, I have really been enjoying Blazing Arrow the new CD by Blackalicious, a really funky hip-hop CD, which I just can’t stop playing. Talking about not been able to stop playing things, the current listening on tape is the new Bell & Sebastian CD. It is the soundtrack to the film Storytelling. It does seem to be a proper soundtrack, lots of instrumentals, some snatches of dialogue most of all some really beautiful melodies. The album comes out in a week or two but we managed to borrow an advance copy from a friend of ours and tape overnight before returning it. It is a real Joy.

Hey that was 541 words without mentioning the World Cup. Only 3 days to go!!!! I’ve got most of my leave sorted out and feel ready for those early morning starts. Bring it on.

We went to see "Bend it like Beckham" last night and really enjoyed it. Some top footie skills on display from Parminder Nagra as Jess Bhamra. I read somewhere that she went to a Brazilian soccer school, where they were taught dribbling skills and tricks in the same way people are taught dance steps. It must be quite strange to see people lined up going through their step overs and drag backs as though they were in a line dancing class. Maybe some of the Bristol City lads could attend before the start of next season, then again I suspect that most of our players already spend as much time in the clubs as they do on the training ground.

I spent Wednesday in London for annual BT Sector conference. We had to sit through hours of toe curling bad sketches hammering home the various messages that management want us to take forward over the next year. One of the problems was that all the "actors" were BT people. It really made you realise why real actors get paid to read words aloud. Don’t get me started on the scripts!
The afternoon team building fun events were mercifully brief and painless. My main cause for concern was that went I got back to my fantastic hotel room, I was more than a bit worried that my luggage had not turned up. As we were having a black tie evening meal, this was a little disconcerting. The bag eventually turned up and the night passed without any further drama’s I finally wondered off to bed at about 3am and managed to wake up in time for breakfast at 8am without any real discomfort.

This time next week the world cup will have started. Can’t wait for it to begin. Most of us are still unsure of our viewing habits. The only thing we know is that for the next month the days of the laying around in bed will disappear, as we struggle out of bed for those early morning kick off’s.

Went to see the Bosnian film No Man’s Land at the Watershed last night. A very touching film set in the main, in the trenches between rival sides during the civil war between Bosnia and Herzegovina. 3 men are trapped in the trench, we watch with equal measures of amusement and despair as they and the UN peacekeeping forces try to get them out alive. Tonight I’m off to see DJ Shadow. Not to sure how he will play it, will it just be one man on a stage playing records?
At long last we have used the bread maker that we were given for Christmas and guess what it makes stuff that tastes like …..Bread. We have done a bit of sorting out of Christmas related stuff. Finally got round to buying some picture frames on Friday night. This meant that as well framing Anna’s recent gift, we could also frame up some great Russian photomontage prints that we picked up in New York at Christmas. This was a strange shopping experience as we bought them in a huge shop called Canal jeans, on Broadway that sold, ah you guessed already! Well hidden away at the back of the shop they had loads of great prints $20 for 2, it took us about 10 minutes to work which 2 we were going to buy. Anyway they are up on the wall now and they look mighty fine.

Well we watched Ring 2 and shock horror, as expected it was nowhere near as good as the original film.

We are having a bit of a stay at home take it easy type weekend, although Orynthia got very excited when she found out that The June Brides were playing in London tonight. For those of you that may not know, The Junes Brides were one of those classic early 80’s indie bands – Jangly guitars, Baa Baa Baa chorus lines, wobbly weedy vocals and the obligatory trumpet player. This was back in the days when indie bands sold 1000 copies of a single, never appeared on TV and either wore second hand suits or black 501’s with two roll turn up’s. They made a couple of great pop singles and a nice LP before being lost to the world of proper jobs as indie somehow became Oasis, Blur and any guitar band in the country, no matter which multi-national label they signed to. I never got to see them play live, although they did play once with local indie kings The Brilliant Corners. The gig was in The Hope centre, a converted church in the middle of densely packed flats, because of the location, the venue had very tight noise restrictions placed upon it. This meant that all gigs had to be over very early, consequently my friends and I were drinking in The Adam & Eve next door as The June Brides played. Shame. Anyway we shan’t be driving to London tonight, maybe they will play a bit nearer to home and we will get the chance to pretend to be 20 again.

Did not make it to the cricket yesterday afterall. Gloucestershire managed to play rather too well. By the time we would have got to the ground, the game would have only had about an hour left to play. We did not fancy paying £9 for that.

Still have not got round to putting any of the digital photo's on this site or on another webpage. Just down to time really, we have taken lots of snaps and had some great fun playing around with the images on photoshop. It the past week we have been to the theatre a couple of times. Saw A chorus of Disapproval by Alan Ayckbourn and Endgame by Samual Beckett. Contrasting approaches to the our frail concept of control over our destiny.

If the weather holds, I'm off to the cricket this afternoon. Gloucestershire Versus Nottinghamshire at the County Ground in Bristol. it is the 3rd day of a 4 day match, Gloucestershire are in an excellent position to win the game. What could be better than an afternoon in the company of OAP's and skivers?

Last night we had a bit of a test run for the impending World Cup. 10 of us watched the European cup final in our house. As the competing teams came from Spain and Germany, we tried to link most of the food and drink with those two countries. This is something that we have done for past couple of major football tournaments, you find yourself eating and drinking some very odd combinations at it can become a real test of the Bristol gastronomic shopping scene. Last night was fairly straightforward. Wine, cheese and beer coming from both countries along with olives, salami and bread covered the basics. Steve cooked a fine Tortilla to round things off. The multi-national crowd were well behaved and a fine night was had by all. We could be having some very odd breakfast meals over the next month.

Found a nice piece on the writer Murakami today.
It echoes many of the things that attract me to his books. I love the detached way he deals with often fantastical situations. I find myself leaping on every new release from him. My introduction to him was through "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" in many way the toughest of his books, however I was hooked. All the books have merits, although on occasions the endings can drift away. My current reading matter, Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell, does have strong echoes of Murakami’s work. It features a split narrative, with the story switching between a 20 year olds search for his estranged father and a period in early childhood. To make matters slightly confusing the 20 year old undertakes regular Walter Mitty like flights of fantasy. I’m about 1/4 of the way through the book and it is starting to really grip.

On Monday evening we watched one of the most frightening film that I have seen in a long time. It was a Japanese film called "Ring", a very understated chiller that gradually built the tension. No gory special effects or over the top "here comes a scary moment" music. It was great very uncomfortable viewing. The follow-up "Ring 2" is being shown on TV next Monday. Can it be as good?

I still seam to be obsessed with all things Japanese. I could go on about the music of Cornelius as well but I better leave it for now.

Another exhausting but enjoyable weekend. The Spike Island show was a great start to the weekend. A real mixture of work, from the Human scale Hamster wheel to flowers that had been planted in shoes. Anna gave Orynthia a print, which was related to a tale of us getting lost in Australia. Then Saturday and Monday afternoons / evenings were spent at the Essential Festival, where we saw James Brown, Culture, and some of the Full Cycle crew plus others. The real standout part though, was the walk back across the suspension bridge towards Clifton late on Monday evening. The sheer number of people walking over the bridge, set off an unsettling swaying motion, that made us all very relieved to reach the other side. Then again the bridge has been standing for 150 years, so I guess we weren’t in too much danger.

I finished reading The Unexpected Salami a couple of days ago. It is good fun, a splendidly improbable plot is just about kept under control, as the ever more convoluted story charges along.. Although it is a funny book, very funny on occasions. I liked the way that the parents proved to be real stars and proved that often the people who you think will be most critical of your actions, can also be the most supportive. I have now started to read Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell, mainly because it is set in Tokyo and has been compared to the work of my current “must read” author Haruki Murakami. Most of the fiction that I have read over the past year or so, has been set in either New York or Tokyo. I like the little buzz of recognition that I get when an author talks about a certain building or part of town, it starts to trigger memories of time spent in those amazing places. At the moment Bristol does not feature extensively in the world of fiction, unlike TV, where Orynthia spend an increasing amount of time playing the “who can recognise that part of town first” game. Anyway, whilst reading this lunchtime, lots of memories of February 1999 came back to me. We stayed in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, where some of the opening sequences of Number 9 Dream are set. Strangely the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that all the opticians had little stands set up outside their shops, with solutions and cloths so that you could clean your glasses! I also think of the amazing record shops, it really appeared that you could buy any record that had ever been released no matter how obscure. The fantastic noodle soups that we ate for breakfast whilst standing on a very chilly pavement at about 7 am in the morning after visiting the amazing Tsukiji fish market and then realising that nowhere else was open at that time of the morning, so we had to spend about an hour over a cup of coffee in McDonalds.

Talking of local sights being on TV, this week I bought the DVD of Portishead playing at Roseland, New York. One of the extra features is a copy of the film that used to be shown at the start of Portishead gigs. It is a video of the journey from Redland in Bristol to the town of Portishead. The start of the journey features Chandos Road, in Redland, at the time the film was made we were living on Chandos Road, it brings back lots of good memories, although it is very strange to see the big red van that belonged to John our former Greengrocer featured in a screen filling close up. I’m sure he would be thrilled – if he had any idea who Portishead were. By the way if anyone reads this who is not based in Bristol, you may be interested to know that Portishead are recording again. No idea when the next record will come out, but I’m delighted to know that we have another one to look forward to.

This evening we are off to the opening night of the Spike Island show. Spike Island is a centre for 100 local artists, and this weekend we get the chance to take a look at the work they have been doing. As you can imagine with so many people involved, the material on show covers all the options. It promises to be a fascinating, amusing and curious evening.

Sore feet and tired legs are the order of the day, after 2 nights of dancing. Friday night was Four Corners night at The Croft. Biggest crowd so far, and some of the strangest dancing yet seen, thanks to a strange Mr Been meets Max Wall chap, who had Orynthia and I chuckling, when we weren’t swiftly moving our toes out the firing line. Then last night it was off to Blowpop, to see Scott Hendy and Andy Smith in action, along with the Blowpop regulars. It was a treat to see Pete Smithson, briefly recreating the glory of his nights on the dance floor.

Prior to Blowpop, we joined Crescentia and some of her friends for a birthday meal at La Quentos. Strangely the conditions in the restaurant matched the rain swept streets outside, as an air conditioning unit leaked water on Orynthia for most of the evening. I suppose it helped to give us the authentic high humidity experience of a Mexican night out. The staff were mortified and the delicious complementary cocktail that came Orynthia’s way made up for the strange experience of eating in the middle of fine drizzle.

On the subject of food Teresa has pointed out that I forgot to mention the lovely brunch that we enjoyed last Sunday with her and Steve Dew. We went to Café Maitreya on St Marks road. It is a fairly new vegetarian place, where Teresa appears to eat at least twice a week. Really nice food, fantastic Cheesecake although as we were one of the last groups of people eating they did not have enough for all of us to have a portion. Run by really nice people, I expect that we shall be returning, although it may not be easy, as it’s reputation is spreading quickly leading to problems in getting a table.

Yesterday. We bought one of the super small digital camera’s for £40. It is an amazing thing. The qualty of the pictures is not fantastic, but for quick, fun photo’s it great. Took a few shots round town today after we failed to get into the animation festival at The Watershed. Hope to put some of these on the site. Also went to a new outdoor market in St Pauls. Of course it rained and blew a gale! Needs to have a few more stalls but could be an interesting addition to Sundays in Bristol.

Orynthia has started a new job in the last week or so. She is now back in the world of the web, which is really good news and better still her new office is across the road from mine, which means that we can meet up for lunch or after work. So as well as an interesting job, she gets the chance to travel in wonderful old fashioned style of the train journey from Redland to Temple Meads.

The train journey is a really nice way to start and end the day. Redland station is 15 minute walk from our house, a lovely walk it is too. Through Redland Green, watching the Squirrels rushing around whilst the birds swish noisily too and fro, It is my idea of perfect countryside – because it is in the middle of the town!

Been buying a few CD’s of late. Picked up new releases by Elvis Costello and Craig Armstrong yesterday as well as an EP by the raucous Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Then last night we caught up with our good friend Steve Vowles, who has been working in Madrid for the last 6 months. As a thank you for looking after his city ticket whilst he was away, Steve gave us a lovely CD by a Spanish group called La Buena Viola, although it is sung in Spanish and I don’t understand a word of it, I love it. It matches the mood of the glorious sunny weather that we are experiencing at present, subtle melodies, understated vocals with occasional lush but not overbearing string arrangements. It is a fine piece of work. Imagine that Belle and Sebastian had grown in San Sebastian rather than Glasgow and you won’t be far wrong.

Just started reading another book that has been recommended by our friend Bill from New York. It’s called The unexpected Salami and was written by Laurie Gwen Shapiro. It gets a mention in the Australian section of the epic travelogue that is on the website that Bill and Doreen put together after their world trip. The site is really interesting with some great photos and I’m not even a twitcher so I’m sure that a lot of the really exciting stuff goes over my head. I’ll let you know what I think of the book.

Today was the last day of Bristol City’s season. We drew 1-1 at home to Stoke City. We finish in 7 position in the league, 2 places better than last season but not good enough for the promotion playoffs. I’m not upset about the prospect of another year in division 2. As I get older, I start to value the social side of going to the match almost as much as the quality of football itself. I’ve been going o a regular basis since 1970 and have accepted the fact that City will never become a Manchester United or even a Southampton. We have bad games and good games. Obviously I love the really great performances by the team or indeed the really exciting games such as the recent game with Reading. However on many occasions I have the most fun on days when the football is not too good. I have been lucky enough to watch the matches with the same group of people for the last 6 or 7 years (indeed in some cases for nearer 20 years!), I also meet up with lots of people in the Nova Scotia pub for a quick drink before the game. Some of the people are amongst my closet friends, many more of them are only linked to me through football. Now the popular conception of the English football fan is of a racist, beer monster storming around the country abusing anyone who is not one of them. This people do exist, however my experience of going to football is an ever expanding collection of interesting, funny, loyal people. It is great to spend time with people that have searched out life in so many different places all over the world. It is also great to be in a place where no class system exists. The view of the 17 year old person with an underpaid agency job is just as valid as the millionaire popstar, the accountant or the unemployed 55 year old. We all moan and groan as the season progresses but it is lovely thing to say to so many people today, "Have a good summer, see you next August" and know that you will be able to pick just were we left off this afternoon.

Orynthia and I went to 24 hour party people earlier this week. It is the film that tell the tale of the rise and fall of Factory Records. Steve Coogan who plays Tony Wilson the figurehead for the company narrates it. The film concentrates on Joy Division, The Hacienda, and Happy Mondays. I was one of gloomy young men that took Joy Division to their hearts, and remember being devastated when John Peel announced that Ian Curtis was dead. I saw them play once at Trinity Hall, and they were fantastic. Watching them in a semi-derelict church, seemed like the perfect way experience them. I went to Hacienda, I think only once (maybe twice) and it was an eye opening evening for me. In Bristol at the time, clubs small, dark, edgy places. So to step into this warehouse of a building was quite a culture shock. As was the music. At the time dancing was not something that any one liked to admit to doing. The culture in Manchester was very different, not yet in its full ecstasy driven madness, it was still a sight to behold. The film caught the wonderful contradictions of the period really well.

Orynthia has had an amazing week of job related issues. Nothing is fully resolved yet so I won't go into any more detail. Fingers crossed it should all be resolved in the next week.