Happy Winterval

A couple of years ago Birmingham tried to Be overly politically correct and re-named the holiday period 'WINTERVAL' - they're still living down the embarrassment, but I rather liked it.

HAPPY WINTERVAL TO YOU ALL!

Toptable, again

I note that Toptable continues not to publish anything but complimentary reviews. Of course, this means that its statistics are skewed too.

Computers (again)

I said in an earlier post that I'd changed my Internet provider. I AM finally getting decent download speeds, but I'll have to replace the nasty, cheap wireless router they provided for something that works more consistently.

However, part of today has been concerned with trying to get my website up and running on the new ISP - complicated by the fact that I've updated the software I was using and had (surprise, surprise) forgotten how to write websites anyway. Still, most of that has been overcome so WHY has it taken 2 hours for the ISP to update?

If you want a laugh, go here!

Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton in concert at Birmingham Town Hall - just fantastic!

I know he's been singing since I was in junior school, but he's still got it. A great night (Robin Bullock was - as ever - a fantastic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki (?) accompanist) but the highlight for me was the final song: a genuinely acoustic rendering of The Parting Glass (not bad in an auditorium that seats 1086!).

I continue to be impressed by the songs, the performance, the talent  - AND I'm on his last DVD!

Computers ...

I work at home quite a lot in the room I call my 'study' (actually the smallest bedroom in the house). I have a wifi/wired network with NAS, network printer, etc., etc. Just moved to fibre-optic broadband (so far from the telephone exchange that copper can't give me any real speed) and now have most of those transition issues beaten.

So (glutton for punishment), I've moved to my 'new' PC - really a refurbished Dell that I've been running in parallel with the old Acer desktop. It's only when you finally do this that you realise what still needs to be done ...

What fun!

Don't use Toptable.com

Toptable.com are an on-line restaurant booking system. Restaurants subscribe and pay a fee for successful bookings. (The service is 'free' to diners). There is also an opportunity for diners to comment on the restaurant and food with these comments published on the website.

In my experience:

1. They don't publish bad reviews (I posted a review of a restaurant in Nice that was far from complimentary: it was never posted. Toptable told me that they discussed negative reviews with the restaurant)
   .
2. This week I booked a restaurant for Saturday night. It was confirmed on-line and by email from Toptable who later rang to tell me that the restaurant was fully booked. I wouldn't have minded, but we'd already made some arrangements. What's the point of a system that doesn't work?

I won't use them again. Tell your friends.

A couple of weeks in

The new academic year's going OK. Busy, busy ...

NEW TERM TOMORROW ...

Just spent a week in (sunny) Bordeaux. Lots of good food and even more good wine.

Tomorrow marks the start of the new academic year -- always a joy with those keen new students setting out to change their lives.

Bordeaux photos to follow ...

Thai Edge

Went to the Thai Edge Restaurant in Birmingham's Brindley Place yesterday...

Food wasn't great: restaurant was very noisy: service was on the slow end of 'ordinary'.

The main problem with the food was that it was hotter than advertised. A green chicken curry had 3 chillies (the hottest description) and was OK. Some beef (2 chillies) was too hot to eat [and we have some experience of this sort of food].

We won't bother again.

More Vancouver

I'm way behind in my postings, partly because of a new computer that's stolen several days of my life by being faulty! (Then there's printers -- but that's another story).

Anyway, one of the little trips we did was to Capilano Suspension Bridge. It's really quite dramatic (and not very scary) ...

If you're a good customer, you can stamp your entry ticket at all the places where you can spend money (OK, some of them are just places where you can look at the scenery) and then you get a certificate!

We shared our trip with a lot of older US citizens who'd been on a cruise (I've never met more selfish people) - they loved these certificates!

Vancouver

Is awesome!

Visas

Travel to China from the UK requires a visa (unless it's to Hong Kong). I spent some time getting the correct information together (it wasn't always available, but everyone pulled together and it all arrived). In England there are 2 places to get a China Visa: London and Manchester. In terms of time, they're pretty-much equidistant from Birmingham. However, peak-hours travel to London is £140 (+ tube travel) and you're only allowed on certain trains. To Manchester (by the most expensive route with no restrictions) it's £61 (and the visa office is a 5-minute walk from the station). Guess where I went?
Because I had to wait for the office to process the paperwork, I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Science and industry. It isn't as good as Birmingham's was (before they ruined it) but it's sited in the oldest surviving railway station in the world and is a great place to visit. Particularly liked 'Underground Manchester' which is, largely, about sewers - still wondering how they got the smell ...

China

Somewhat to my surprise, I've got a scholarship to spend 3 weeks on a cultural/language exchange in Wuhan, PR China. Delightfully (!) I get to fly Aeroflot via Moscow [some of you may remember my last rip via Moscow -- I really hope that this isn't a repeat).

Temperatures in Wuhan may be 45C, which will be interesting.

All have to do now is get a visa!

UpDate

Got a LOT of the digging done -- moved many barrows of hardcore and soil (lucky the garden's big enough to hide it away). Still some work tod do before we start paving -- maybe next weekend...

Dinner was GOOD - the asparagus is truly excellent at the moment (with a little melted butter and salt from the Camargue) - the duck (with garlic mash, peas and rhubarb & wine sauce) was pretty damn good, a little Cheshire cheese and then an orange & lemon soufflé--- YUM!

Bank Holiday Weekend

Off to a traditional start - rained all day yesterday!

Plans for today include continuing to demolish the steps from the patio to the lawn (they cover a huge area of, potentially, useful patio). This is a biggish task that will involve moving a few tons of earth and concrete.

Oh, my aching back (and that's just thinking about it!).

Dinner plans: well, there's lots of home-grown asparagus (for US readers, English asparagus has more flavour than any from the New World, because of its slow growth) so I'll probably serve that with a poached egg yolk. Then there's some duck in the fridge, so I'll roast that with peas and a red wine sauce + (maybe) some rhubarb, then Ali's going to do a soufflé!

PIXEL

We got Pixel from a cat rescue centre 19 years ago (we got her sister Killie [Killashandra Re, really] at the same time, but she died a few years ago).

Apparently, Pix spent the first 7 months of her life locked in a shed. When she came to us she had clearly been abused and didn't like people too much.BUT she had a wonderful purr - that was the reason we took her really.

She was a very loving cat, except she wouldn't let you pick her up (well you could, but you had to have a good reason). She was always gentle (apart from beating-up a dalmatian many years ago).

Anyway, Pix had to be put to sleep last friday: she'd stopped eating and really wasn't happy. I don't think I subscribe to the idea of animal souls (nor human either), but she was a wonderful pet and we're going to miss her.

The Great Leveller

If I should die before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor, when I'm gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must
Parting is hell.
But life goes on.
So sing as well.

Instead of a holiday

Have been decorating the lounge - it's gone from grey to a sort of light terracotta - curtains will be black!

This represents nearly 3 days work, but it does look nice! Need to change the centre light, but can't find one I like. Have decided to swap with the one in the dining room.

However, I'd rather be in Lyon!

The Good News

It looks as though I'll get the cost of the holiday refunded! Hooray!

Home and away ...

We couldn't fly on Friday, of course (and the skies are still closed). Went to Bristol for a long weekend instead. Nice hotel - except for the noise of the band! So moved rooms at 11:30 pm. Moved again the next day for a better room (at least got a free breakfast out of it).

Generally, I like Bristol: full of life and some nice (and not-so-nice) restaurants.

Ate at Riverstation on Friday: good food (quite posh and niceley presented) with some decent ingredients and a good - not expensive - wine list. Pretty much the same story for Saturday at the Glass Boat (well, more Italian, really). However, Sunday was a different story. Went to the Severn Shed (VERY popular) -- terrible sloppy service and I thought the food was poor. Has a semi-open kitchen -- it was interesting tio watch the 'chef' drinking several pints of beer (I think) while preparing food --- not a great advert and my advice is stay away!

Volcanoes?

Due to fly from BHX to LYS tomorrow. So far, Birmingham airport has been closed since about 07:00 today. Current reports are that it may reopen at 07:00 tomorrow. Flight's at 11:30 -- what chance do you think?

I'm probably among the fortunate ones really, chances are that I'll get my money back (booked the flight and hotel together, so it constitutes a 'package holiday') --- however, that won't get me to Lyon.

I thought about a lot of things that could happen to prevent me going (traffic, breakdowns, punctures, terrorists) the idea of a volcanic ash cloud just didn't occur to me!

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

When I was a young man I carried a pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop roving, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As our ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was waiting, he'd primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in tenminutes flat, he blew us half to hell
Nearly blew us back to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

And those that were left well we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying

For I'll go no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the wild bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

Then they gathered  the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they sent us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and insane
Those brave wounded heroes of Suvla
And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams of past glory
The old men march slowly old bones stiff and sore
Tired old men from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? 

(C) Eric Bogle

(I've heard Bolgle sing this song many times and I have several different versions on record and CD - this is the way I sing it)

Tonight's dinner

It's been a nice day: the weather was sunny (so work in the garden, clearing paths of moss -- we have LOTS of paths), food shopping, sorting out the apartment we're renting and cooking...

I butchered a duck that's been in the freezer for a while: so we had the breasts tonight and the legs will be confit a bit later. Actually, the meal started with scallops in a pea puree ( with some lardons) the duck was served with a cabbagy-thing (thanks to Mr Ramsay) and dessert was brioche & butter pudding. Nice wine and some calvados too!

The smallest things ....

I was reading Captain Dave's aviation blog as I often do and realised (again) how the smallest things can change people's lives. Yet again, I remind myself that many of my students take my words as if they are an immutable truth when, in fact, they may be the product of my use of sarcasm as a teaching aid. Oh Positional power - Stephen Lukes would be proud

Guitars

My guitar collection which was recently reduced by the sale of the Ovation twin-neck will shortly be restored. I await the arrival of a Sheridan classical guitar. Bizarrely, I've never owned a classical (though I've been playing now for more than 40 years - and I hope to get good at it eventually), so this will be an interesting departure ...

ANZACs

25th April marks ANZAC day (the Australian & New Zealand equivalent of Armistice Day) - and I find myself moved again, not just by the bravery of men who fought in terrible conditions and were deliberately sacrificed by British generals, but by the fact that - for some of those who survived, at least - friendships were forged that endured for 60, 70, 80 years.

No-one is still alive who fought at Gallipoli, or the Somne or any of the other terrible battles of WW1, but we do remember them in the (forlorn) hope that it won't happen again ...

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Weep no more ...

And it goes on ...

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, 
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs 
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. 
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots 
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; 
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots 
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! –  An ecstasy of fumbling, 
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; 
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, 
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . . 
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, 
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace 
Behind the wagon that we flung him in, 
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, 
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; 
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood 
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, 
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, 
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest 
To children ardent for some desperate glory, 
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est 
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen 8 October 1917 - March, 1918

CURTAINS!

My mother (who's 87) asked us to help her with new curtains in the kitchen and bedroom - this means new curtain tracks/poles as well.

We did it! Replacing the plastic curtain track in the kitchen with a nice white wooden pole & new curtains (even though they had to be shortened) took about an hour. Replacing the curtain track in the bedroom (bay window) took 5 hours and nearly killed us! Still, it all got done.

Happy Easter.

Just another Tuesday ...

Another fun day. Marking, emailing, phoning, talking ...

Negotiating with the publishers to 'pay' our student participants (in kind, of course) and realising that the bad audio on our interview videos could (maybe) be fixed by using the quite good digital audio from the separate voice recordings - we'll see.

Term's Over!

Spring term seems to have been really hard work this year - there's a number of reasons for thiswhich include some issues at work: highlighted in a recent Union Newsletter which, at least, proves that we are not alone!

So now I have to start marking undergraduate dissertations - sometimes a joy, sometimes less so. Looking forward to Lyon in a couple of weeks...

Life isn't always fun ...

In the last few weeks I've lost a dear friend, sold a guitar and realised that I'm being bullied at work.
Ain't life grand?

Food

A few weeks ago my favourite restaurant rang to say they'd got me a hare. I butchered it and we had the hind legs that weekend, Tonight we had:
Scallops with black pudding and pea purée (Truly fabulous),
Hare & Venison casserole with celeriac & potato mash,
cheese
orange & lemon curd pudding.

Suitable booze accompanied this!

More snow ...

I've really had enough of it!

The Proofs are Here!

Some of you will know that I've written a research methods book with my colleague, Liz Ross. well, the proofs arrived yesterday!
Now all we have to do is read and correct them! What fun!
There are some interesting things about this process though. We hadn't actually seen the layout before (the publishers kept it sort-of secret) and we didn't know what size the pages were (285 x 215 mm), and we didn't really know how big the book was (485 pages), so it's been a voyage of discovery (Also discovering the bits that got left out!).
Well, that's what I'm doing for the next few days...

Tony Buckland

It was Tony's funeral today at Cheltenham. About 60 people, maybe 12 from the folk club. A Quaker-style event, so no service but some individual eulogies. Some songs too, 'The Ballad of George Fox' (led by Gordon, but lots joining in) then 'Poor Old Horse' sung by Mick Ryan on CD, 'The Joy of Living' by MacColl on CD. Then the CD player refused to recognise the disk with 'The Good Old Way' on it, so we (the Folk Club) sang it. It's hard to find joy in a funeral, but this came close.

Tony, my friend: requiescat in pace.

Here's another fine mess ...

Education, education, education!

Yeah, right: The future for UK universities?

A sh*tty day ...,

So, I'm at my mother-in-law's for a duty visit and become aware that the sewer manhole on the grass verge (part of the public highway) is leaking gallons of sewage onto her land (actually, into the tunnel that runs under the house).

She phones Severn Trent who, basically, deny that A) there's a manhole there and B) if there is that there could be a problem because C) the local pumping station is fine ... [we point out that it is impossible for 1 house to produce this volume of sewage and that (at 84) mother-in-law has little use for sanitary products, but they don't listen].

Eventually, I play the 'doctor card' and say that it's a health hazard: whereupon they decide they'll deal with it. The guy who arrives isn't surprised that there's a problem since the local pumping station isn't working properly...

Then the journey home (usually 90 minutes) takes 4 hours ...

Loves Restaurant

Relatively new in Birmingham and just a little isolated from Brindley place.

Very good food and service in pleasant surroundings (to be hypercritical: the tables are too small for the cutlery and plates, and there's not a lot of space between them).

Highlight: The coddled egg starter (with braised lamb shoulder, butternut squash and wild mushrooms).

Lowlight: I wasn't that happy with the glass of Tour de Biot 2004 I had (a wine that usually gets good reviews but, after all is only Bordeaux AOC): strident and unripe, I thought. My next choice (a Fitou) was not available.

Better than the current incarnation of Edmund's, though: we'll be going again.

Tony Buckland

My friend Tony died on Tuesday 25th January 2010. He was 80 years old and one of the most decent human beings I have ever met. Tony saw only good in everyone. He was a Quaker.

He worked hard all his life in a variety of jobs ranging from plastering to social care and (latterly) collecting supermarket trolleys (though he stopped that a couple of years ago).

Tony knew some wonderful songs and I had the pleasure of accompanying him on guitar a few times.

I'll miss you Tony, lots of people will.

Tom Paxton

I was really looking forward to the Paxton concert in Birmingham tomorrow -- it's been cancelled because Tom's wife is, apparently, seriously ill.

I'm disappointed with missing the concert, but (of course) that's not really important in the real scheme. Best wishes for a quick recovery, Midge.

'Tis the season for game

I acquired a hare this week. You don't see many these days. Tonight we had the back legs braised in red wine with some ceps and dauphinoise potatoes.

Not bad!

A Note to Elizabeth ...

Who commented on my life at University.

There is no God!

Funny Blogs

I read quite a few blogs - they're often from the US or Canada and they're usually quite cynical. Frequently, they tell stories of their day-to-day life: sometimes this is funny, sometimes sad, sometimes pathetic (or even bathetic).

I was trying to decide whether it was ethical for me to write about the issues my students bring to me ...

(Maybe it is, maybe it isn't)

I think I'm probably quite approachable as academics go -- I LIKE students and I'm (almost always) willing to give them my time [actually, this is selfish -- the best feeling in the world is seeing someone suddenly understand something: watching that metaphorical light-bulb come on over their head].

So, without going into any personal details, these are some of the issues that my students brought to me in 2009:

• I'm pregnant - what should I do?
• I'm going to leave my husband ...
• I'm gay - I haven't told anyone else.
• I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
• I can't pay my credit card bill.
• My husband's left me.
• My daughter has anorexia.
• My house has been burgled: I've lost everything.
• I've got cancer.

You know what's missing? Anything happy.
You know how much training I got to deal with this? None.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year

It really feels like 2010 now, since work has started again!

Over the Xmas break I moved my 'study' from the big spare bedroom to the small one at the front of the house (partly to get away from the noise of my neighbour's lawn-mowing - from March to October he mows every day that he can and NOW he's got a ride-on mower!). During the move I came across these scary pics:


This first one dates from 1989 and is of me singing at a folk concert in Redditch - the same bill as Carthy and Swarbrick, no less!


This (more bizarre, I think) picture is taken on my fortieth birthday on the narrowboat that we then owned (the toque was my present). I remember this day really well. I still worked for the local electricity supply company and we'd just spent the afternoon cruising through a thunderstorm, watching the lightning destroying the power lines - and there were no mobile phones, so they couldn't get in touch with me!