C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:08:46 GMT

I was working in London for just over three years to the end of June this year, but I am now working in Edinburgh. This means that I am safe and unaffected so far by the recent riots.
I will be visiting some friends in London briefly tomorrow evening, however. This trip should have been to watch England play Holland at Wembley. The game was called off this morning but I still propose to make the trip, as I have non-refundable fares and no other accommodation in Edinburgh for tomorrow night.

Signal Boost: Return of the DDoS

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:21:38 GMT

Originally posted by frelling_tralk at Signal Boost: Return of the DDoS

Originally posted by deathpixie at Signal Boost: Return of the DDoS

For those wanting to know more about the recent DDoS attacks, yes, it looks like it was the Russian government trying to shut down the dissidents again.

As I said last time, while it's frustrating not to have access, LJ is a lot more than a social network platform. From the article:

"LiveJournal isn’t just a social network. It’s also a platform for organizing civic action. Dozens of network projects and groups mobilize people to solve specific problems — from defending the rights of political prisoners to saving endangered historic architecture in Moscow."

So while I know many are considering the move over to Dreamwidth and other such sites, supporting LJ is a way we can help support those who use it for more than a writing/roleplaying/social venue.

Also, as a FYI, LJ is giving paid users effected by the outage two weeks of paid time as compensation.

Ian's party, just in case anyone is still reading...

Sun, 15 May 2011 21:04:33 GMT

ringbark is having a party and you're invited. Two parties, actually, one in London on 30 June and one in Wirral on 2 July.
For details, please visit http://halliday.co.nz/50.html which also has links to the FB pages concerned.
Purpose of party: to celebrate being

50 post

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:03:21 GMT

Originally posted by clari_clyde at post

I’ve been wondering what’s up with all the DDoS attacks LJ has been receiving lately. Signal boosting ingridmatthews:

Just in case anyone thinks LJ's downtime is just TPTB being incompetent, read this:

LiveJournal, Russia's blogging platform of choice, is sustaining biggest cyberattack attack in its history. Bloggers say the Kremlin wants to crack down on political discussion.

"LiveJournal, Russia’s most popular blogging platform, has been under a massive DDoS attack for the past few days. The attack has effectively wiped out Russia’s main refuge for unbridled political discussion, a hugely lively and extensive domain frequented by politicians, opposition activists and social commentators alike...

“The reason for attack is more than clear in this case — someone wants LiveJournal to disappear as a platform,” Ilya Dronov, development director at SUP, wrote in a post on his LiveJournal blog earlier this week. He said the hackers were hoping to push bloggers from LJ to social networks where “it's easier to fight individual users.”"

http://globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/bric-yard/russian-blog-site-under-attack

http://putinwatcher.blogspot.com/2011/04/cyber-war-on-russian-activist-bloggers.html

Pray for Japan?

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 21:34:12 GMT

A friend of a friend on Twitter retweeted a comment that we should not pray for Japan:

RT @lowercaserho Don't #prayforjapan. Prayer is the ultimate in slacktivism. If you want to help and are able to, then giving your time or money is better.

I responded with

@lowercaserho I respectfully disagree. Prayer is the most important thing, but while you pray you should also be asking what else can I do?

She replied

@ringbark I am genuinely curious to understand your perspective. Can you explain to me why you believe prayer is so important?

I said:

@lowercaserho It is the means by which we can make requests to the maker all that is, a great privilege. Of course, it can be seen as...
@lowercaserho just slactivism and I would have to say that we cannot *ever* prove that what has happened would not happen if we didn't pray.
@lowercaserho I believe that we have common ground in saying "pray for X" without any concrete attempt to do something else is pretty weak.

Later, she said

@ringbark I find it hard to get my head around any system of thought in which an omnipotent being would act based on human prayer or lack.

I replied with

@lowercaserho I don't doubt you for a moment. I am not claiming that it is easily comprehensible, even for me. I will post more on this soon.

And later on, she said:

Today's lesson of the day: discussion of theology in 140 character snippets is difficult.

And I wholeheartedly agree with that!

So that's what this post is for – a few theological points in rather more than 140 characters.

First of all, I don't know what the theological point of view of my correspondent is. I assume that it is rather different to my own.

Back in the 1980s, before I was married, I was already a Christian and had already been attending an evangelical Anglican church regularly. One weekend, I went to the Leeds Conference ("speakers of excellence for the North") where the speaker was +Graham Leonard, Bishop of London at that time. Although the Leeds Conference was evangelical in its outlook while +Graham was catholic in his, he was nevertheless welcomed to speak on the topic "A Supernatural Gospel in a Secular World". I am sorry to say that I no longer have a copy of this striking talk. If it happens that anybody reading this still does, please get in touch!
One of the most striking points that +Graham made was that we are living in times where the secular influence is strong and said that a common response to a problem is "there's nothing I can do for you but still I'll pray" and he asserted that this is a deeply secular approach.

Far better, he said, and I agree is "I will pray for you, which is the most important thing. Now, what else can I do?" The answer may in fact be nothing, but it may be something.

@lowercaserho suggested that in the case of Japan, a gift to an appropriate charity might be appropriate. I agree.

But prayer is the opportunity for those who love God and have entered into a new and eternal life with him through his son Jesus to enter into the very presence of the God who made everything, seen and unseen, and ask him whatever we want in the same way that a son or daughter might ask his or her own father for something. And in the same way, our father in heaven will answer our request: the answer might indeed be a yes, or a no, or an instruction to wait. Or the answer might be complete, but in a way quite different to what we expected.

I believe that specific prayers get specific answers and vague prayers get vague answers. "Dear Lord, please bless the world. Amen." is the sort of prayer that is an example of the worst sort of slacking that I think both of us object to. Similarly "pray for Japan" is too general to be useful. But we can pray for specific things that we have heard or that we know.

The other point that my correspondent is railing against is the growing trend of slacktivism. This is the idea that doing something without any real effort will make a difference to anything. This is the world of clicking a button on a website or forwarding an online petition to fifty friends or joining a Facebook group. Bill Gates doesn't care how many people have joined a pro or anti group and neither do most of the other people who you might want to be influenced by this sort of thing. In Britain, for a petition to have any chance of being taken seriously, it needs an enormous number of verifiable names on it. Just a pile of email addresses isn't enough. I'm well aware that I am with you on this point, but I will continue. Facebook and Twitter by themselves did not make any change in the Middle East but they helped to provide some of the opportunity for the people to mobilise in real life.

In years gone by, there were great demonstrations against a great many things in Britain, but they have largely died out recently. The most recent protests have been the G20 protest and the student fees protest and I find them encouraging, because it shows that people will still turn out for a cause. Whether or not I agree with the cause is neither here nor there, but the fact that the people still protest in real life gives me hope.

In a recent example from my own circle, and one that did not quite reach the mainstream, let me tell you about Sherif Hassan. He is an Egyptian who converted to Christianity and married an English lady. I am a friend of the English lady and her family, which is how I come to be involved at all. On a recent visit to Egypt, he was arrested on arrival in Cairo and his wife was returned to England on the next plane. Soon after this, their friends set up a website, still visible at http://releasesherif.com which you will surely admit is not the most professional looking site you saw, along with a Facebook group and a Twitter campaign.

Alongside that, there was much prayer for Sherif as well as a letter writing campaign. That means getting out your pen and paper (or at least your computer printer) and printing letters for sending to MPs, MEPs, the Foreign Secretary, the Egyptian Ambassador and similar.

Sherif was released shortly after the campaign started. Why? I cannot say for sure whether the prayers of the people by themselves made any difference. Nor can I say whether the letters by themselves made any difference. What I can say is that the combination of prayer and action made a difference. It's down to each one of us to decide how to split this. No doubt everyone will split it differently, with some giving 100% of the credit to one side or the other.

Finally, to return briefly to the question of earthquakes, what is the theological justification for them? I am well aware of their geological cause, but I am not an expert in seismology. The issues relate to the fallen world: after sin entered the world, it didn't just have an effect on humanity but on everything. I hesitate to say that "God caused the Japanese earthquake and tsunami" in just the same way that I hesitate to say "God gave my son leukaemia" but when it comes to it, that is the conclusion that must be drawn.

Jesus warns of this in the gospels. In Mark 13:8, we have "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines." There are other striking descriptions in that chapter as well as in the parallel chapters of Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Similarly, there are descriptions of earthquakes in the last days of earth, most notably in Revelation 11.

I hope this gives some insight into my thoughts about prayer and why it is important and also why I agree with you that slacktivism is a scourge of our time. I am sure that I could speak at much more length about this.

Happy to correspond by Twitter, Facebook or LJ comments or in person in London to anyone who would like to explore this further.

I'm on the train

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:39:54 GMT

Good morning from Chester station.
A fairly quiet weekend. On Saturday, I bought some new shoes. This was
long overdue as there was pretty much no grip left on the old ones.
Yesterday was quiet too. After the morning service, lunch at home, a
turkey roast, and to watch the game. It's hard when the referee seems
to be playing for the home team.
Also, apparently Dalglish spoke out against this in no uncertain
terms. I expect he'll be fined for it.
By far the most exciting game was Stevenage 3 Newcastle United 1. This
was a fascinating game and an amazing result, especially a goal at
each end in the dying minutes.
But now it's up early, back on the train and the regular cycle of bank
regulatory reporting again.
The other thing to note is that I really should finish reading To Kill
a Mockingbird this week.

Festival of the Epiphany

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 07:12:40 GMT

20 + C + M + B + 11
Christus Mansionem Benedicat

See http://www.liturgy.co.nz/blog/epiphany-chalk-house-blessing-2/4942 for more details of the blessing of your house at Epiphany.

Also: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/neilmccormick/100050328/why-gerry-raffertys-baker-street-is-the-perfect-pop-song/

Also: UK readers who used a debit/credit card on New Year's Eve should check statements carefully that they were not double charged. A processing error suggests that you may have been. If so, talk to your bank, not to me.

As for me, it's cold and dark and I don't feel very festive yet.

Decorations and the Christmas Season

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 08:44:44 GMT

It's a while since I posted a message by email so if something goes
wrong, I'll post it properly later.
More and more, people are announcing that they have taken down their
Christmas decorations. Why? Now, I am the first to admit that there is
no Biblical justification for having them in the first place, and the
early church didn't have them, possibly also in part for the same
reasons as Iraqi Christians today choose not to.
But the timing is wrong. Christmas isn't over till after the Festival
of the Epiphany, Twelfth Night, the visit of the Wise Guys, which we
celebrate on January 6th.
Christmas isn't over after 25th - that's when it begins. Up to that
point, it's Advent, a time of penitence and reflection as we look
forward to remembering Christ's first coming as a baby and also look
forward to his second coming in glory as King. The season changes at
Christmas, as does the mood, from one of expectation to one of
celebration.
That is why we should not stop our celebration before Epiphany. It
also suggests that maybe we shouldn't be too hasty to put the
decorations up early either. We don't put our decorations up more than
a couple of days before Christmas, but that is for practical reasons,
rather than theological ones.

Monday musings

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:21:19 GMT

Today there has been almost nothing going on. We've seen episodes of Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother and Friends, and I've been catching up a little with The Archers and the goings-on in Ambridge. There has been a shock there, but I'm not game to spoil it here.
As I said, very quiet. Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, pizza in the evening. Good, healthy fare.
It's another bank holiday today, so my motivation to pay in a couple of cheques at a local ATM has been minimal. Probably will do it in London tomorrow.
It will be quite a shock to return to the tough and rumble of investment banking again tomorrow after a couple of weeks away. It will also be a shock to be up before half past five.

Sunday

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:01:29 GMT

The first services of the year: I was leading the 9:30 service, which is the more traditional service. It was hard to get started, as there were so many notices related to the recent deaths in our congregation. I read out a letter from Lawrence, thanking us as a congregation for the support in recent weeks and on Friday at Kathryn's funeral. I also had to tell the congregation of Colin J's death.
The service continued with "Lord for the years your love has kept and guided", which is always a song for the New Year. Dave L spoke to us using words from the prophet Isaiah.
The eleven o'clock family service was a less formal service, and after that we gathered as a family and again went for lunch at the Chronicle, a local establishment that serves steaks and pizzas and stuff.
We're now home and it's only a short couple of hours till we're out again for the evening service. Three services in a day is unusual, but not unknown...

Happy New Year

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 16:51:21 GMT

Did you miss me? I'm still on Facebook and you can find me on Twitter as @ringbark - I have been reading LJ almost every day.
I'm still married with three sons and I'm still commuting week by week between Wirral and London.
You can catch up a bit at http://halliday.co.nz/x2010.pdf
I hope to post more in 2011, at least for my own benefit.

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:32:14 GMT

Liverpool managed to throw away the lead with a penalty just before time, and managed to lose to Reading, near the bottom of the Championship, in extra time.
Then at the weekend, Stoke City managed to grab a draw in the last minute or two.
This brings me to introduce a new game to you all. It is basically the same game as association football, with 45 minutes in the first half. The only difference is that the second half runs for just 43 minutes. I’m confident that Benitez would give whole hearted support to such a game. The only problem would be getting any support from the rest of the Premiership managers.
Anyway, back to me. On Thursday, Viv was in London for a meeting and so able to catch up with me before going back to the Frozen North. So just before six, we caught up and went off to Nando’s just by Euston Station. For those who are unfamiliar, it’s a South African chain of restaurants serving mainly chicken in a Portuguese style. Viv and I reckoned that it sits in broadly the same sector of the market as Pizza Hut. After a meal there, it was time to catch up with the vagaries of the trains north. Eventually, a suitable train was found and Viv set off for home.
The rest of my evening is described elsewhere. I went back to Wembley and Friday morning saw me go back from Wembley to London Bridge for a full day of work to meet a deadline. A break at lunchtime to get to the City Partnership, followed by a return to work and a late night before returning home. The trains were still subject to delays, but I got one to Liverpool successfully. I just missed a local train home, the next was cancelled and the one after that was late, so I was very late home on Friday night.

The location finder seems to think I'm in Bonn, Germany, while the BlackBerry keeps suggesting places I've never heard of. Not far from Nuneaton is probably about right.
Saturday was a quiet day again, too quiet. I did some of the things I should have done, but spent too long at http://www.freemahjong.org/ by any measure.
Sunday morning, another service. A local lad made good, Simon Chesters, told us about the work of CPAS: growing leaders, growing churches - http://www.cpas.org.uk/ - before Viv and I went home for suitcase sorting and salmon. In the afternoon, Viv, Christopher and I spent (or wasted) time playing on the Wii. I am no good at all.
In the evening, it was back to church, this time to hear Dave’s thoughts on methods for mission.
And now, it’s back to Monday morning again. Christopher is off to school for a GCSE module in Chemistry, with Physics to look forward to later in the week, followed by a visit to the hospital on Thursday for blood tests, a possible change to the daily amount of his mercaptopurine, a new course of steroids and an intravenous vincristine. A week or so ago he had a haircut, something he hasn’t needed for a long time, so a significant thing.
Viv will be doing most of the things she does in an ordinary week, but you’ll need to ask her if you want details. As for me, an hour or so from now, I’ll be in Euston, just after 10 I’ll be at London Bridge. At the moment, I’m expecting to catch up with a colleague for lunch and with another colleague and an ex-colleague after work. These people tend not to have published names in blogs.

Liverpool 1 Reading 0

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:36:43 GMT

Well, I'd only just clicked "post" when they scored, right before the break.

Here's something I saw in the press yesterday...

A study says textspeak is stunting teenagers' vocabularies. This may be so, but failing to understand textspeak can be equally problematic. Many older people assume "LOL" stands for "Lots of Love"; in fact it's "[I'm] Laughing Out Loud". This can lead to social calamity if, like a middle-aged woman I heard about, you innocently misuse the acronym when texting the bereaved.

"Sorry to hear about your loss," this woman texted a female acquaintance. "LOL."

Quick catchup

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:31:55 GMT

I shall continue from where I left off. Friday was a busy day at work, with only a few hours at Bankside before an afternoon back at Bishopsgate. As I walked along Bishopsgate at lunchtime, it started to snow again.
I was fortunate to leave at a decently early time and got back to Wirral after an uneventful journey home. It was good to be home, especially with the whole of the countryside white: there was a possibility that I might not have got there at all. In fact I did get home, but I am afraid that the weekend was not an industrious one. I did a few things over the weekend, but very few, and I apologise to Viv for this: the cold weather and having to start a new year of work, along with everything else, meant that I was not at my best.
On Friday evening, I missed Matthew leaving for the new term: he didn’t have the best journey back to Lancaster, but I suppose when he was waiting over 40 minutes at Preston he would at least have been on a train.
It was cold at church on Sunday morning and cold again in the evening. Fine food over the weekend, better than I deserved.
More snow had fallen overnight to Monday morning, so I crunched through some new snow on my way to the station for another uneventful journey. (Uneventful is good!) Back into it on Monday. More of the same on Tuesday, with the added excitement of a Toastmasters meeting in the evening. With a lower than usual attendance, I was blessed with the joint roles of Grammarian and Table Topics evaluator. This was fairly short notice, but I didn’t need to find a word for the day: “Novel” had already been chosen for me. Three speeches, eleven topics, not a bad meeting. Then back to Wembley. It looked like it was the end of the snow, but we were surprised by even *more* snow in Wembley, Marylebone and Borough this morning. Most of the stuff at work went very smoothly today, so I was back at Wembley again not so long after seven.
The biggest news in the world is the shock of the earthquake in Haiti, which follows years of political turmoil under Baby Doc and his successors and a cyclone in 2008. I shall not attempt to make comment on this.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Mike Echo Mike Echo

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:06:10 GMT

India Foxtrot Yankee Oscar Uniform Charlie Alpha November Uniform November Delta Echo Romeo Sierra Tango Alpha November Delta Tango Hotel India Sierra, Charlie Oscar Papa Yankee Alpha November Delta Papa Alpha Sierra Tango Echo India Tango Tango Oscar Yankee Oscar Uniform Romeo Lima India Victor Echo Juliet Oscar Uniform Romeo November Alpha Lima.

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:38:07 GMT

Pretty snowy on Wednesday morning. A full turnout of boys at breakfast. It's possible that Matthew will have gone back to Lancaster before I get home tomorrow, but he's just as likely to stay till Saturday, especially with the dodgy weather at the moment.
I had a usual sort of Wednesday, though filled up with some banking stuff I can't talk about here. They said we could go home by 4, but that didn't help those who were working on timebound stuff. The trip back to Wembley wasn't bad - less than a ten minute delay - and there was lots of fluffy snow on the ground there. The other four got home in a reasonable amount of time too.
No new snow overnight and nothing to talk about during the day either. It looks like it will be astoundingly cold tonight.

Cold in London

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:38:57 GMT

Back to work on Monday morning. Viv joined me at breakfast, which wasn't a surprise, and the boys also joined me, which was. After that, Viv walked to the station with me and then I went off to the Bank.
It was a busy first day back, but thankfully there weren't too many surprises. I knew what I was expected to do, and I did it. As usual, no details at LJ!
After work, we all went off to Covent Garden. We walked around the West End for a little while before having a bite to eat before going to see "Chicago". It's a pretty good show, with a simple but dramatic/melodramatic story: a fine night out.
In the bar at the interval, I just happened to look up and saw...Peter Barlow, who was with me in Toastmasters in Wellington and who I hadn't seen since. I knew he'd come to London, but I didn't know he was still here. And then back to Wembley.
This morning, only David joined us for breakfast. A rather more exciting day at work...later on, we went to see a movie at Leicester Square. In fact, we went to see "Planet 51", in a very small cinema - three rows, twenty seats...
On our return to Wembley, it had just started snowing here. We hear that it's much worse back up on Merseyside, and we also hear that it will be the worst snow in London for 30 years, or 50 years, or ever depending on who you listen to.
Let's wait and see, shall we?

Back to Wembley

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:09:07 GMT

I led the service at 9:30 thismorning. Dave preached from Luke 11 about prayer. Then home for alittle while, as the boys and I got ready for the trip south. Half past twelve and we were on our way to Bromborough Station on the way to Chester, Euston, Marylebone and Wembley for an uneventful trip. Once we had dropped our stuff off, it was back into town, where we had a meal at The Living Room. And very good it was too. I had venison wellington. Viv had a lasagne. David had pork in parma ham and the other two had steaks.
Then back to Wembley, with the cold walk from Wembley Park to the hotel. But now, back here where it's a good deal warmer.
Best news of the day - Man U 0 Leeds U 1.

Christmas is coming...

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:45:31 GMT

Here at last is the Christmas newsletter online.

http://halliday.co.nz/x2009.pdf

Better copy of the photo montage (3MB) is at http://halliday.co.nz/x2009.jpg

Enjoy!

Another quiet day

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:28:50 GMT

A non-too-early start. I placed an order at Asda, the supermarket. We had some stuff to eat. Christopher went out to buy some of the things we were short of. We packed for the trip tomorrow. We watched the disappointing game where Liverpool drew with Reading. As I think about it, it really *was* a quiet day. I think we're going off to have a board game now.

2010 - let's see how I go

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:02:32 GMT

Welcome back.
Last night, we went to sheaj34's place for a few snacks and drinks before the New Year. Before that, we watched "District 9", which I had bought earlier on. It's something of a return to Peter Jackson's earlier splatter movies, but is surprisingly watchable.
At Angela's, we went out into the street at midnight and saw a load of fireworks. It was very cold and frosty, far more than the year before when it had started snowing just before the New Year. Then we went back, drank some more and sang along to a few songs on "Guitar Hero".
Today, a very quiet day, sorry. Betty came to visit after lunch. We had a go at the 2010 quiz in The Times and didn't do very well. See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6973106.ece - it's not easy.
Doctor Who in the early evening, of course. Followed by the DVD of Slumdog Millionaire. I hadn't seen that one either.
So now it's coffee and Christmas cake while another episode of CSI plays.

The songs of Jacques Brel

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:27:32 GMT

Just got back from a magnificent show at the Barbican. Carousel: The Songs of Jacques Brel. I only found out it was on after it had sold out, which could have been a problem. Returns only, but a lady fortunately had a spare. I paid her, she got her money back, I saw the show, everyone wins!

Each of six performers got to sing three of Jacques Brel's wonderful songs.

First up was Momus. Surprisingly, the show opened with "Ne me quitte pas" (Don't leave me), which is probably his best known song. Momus sang in English, vulnerable and pleading: don't leave me, don't leave me. The pleading becomes more and more pitiful as the song reaches to
a tragic end, but was a wonderful triumph for the perfomer. Brave or foolish to open with the best song? Certainly a remarkable performance. Next, "La ville s'endormait", which had more life, forming a bridge between "Ne me quitte pas" and "Les Bourgeois", clearly a song by someone who has drunk too much, and a translation which referred in the same breath to dancing like Richard Dawkins and like Robbie Williams. I've never heard the like of it before and I
probably never will again. A magnificent opening to the show.

Arthur H came on next, singing in French. His concern was that women kept on quitting Brel, as he explained in the introduction "Madeleine". Madeleine isn't coming tonight, or next week, or ever.

Then it was the pianist Diamanda Galas. Oh dear. She beat hell out of the bottom end of the piano for "La Chanson Des Vieux Amants" and out out of the top end for "Amsterdam". If I wanted to cast a witch in a pantomime, her voice would be ideal and I would add her to my cast in a moment, but as a singer of Brel chansons, she fell woefully short, an opinion shared by many in the audience. The interval provided a chance for ears to recover.

If starting with "Ne me quitte pas" was brave, so was Camille O'Sullivan's opener, "Marieke", which she chose to sing a cappella, in English, French and Flemish. Then she sang a reflective version of "Les Vieux", describing the sorrow of growing old and the death of the partner. Then she removed some garments before singing "Au suivant" (Next), a raunchy little song about someone who makes her living in that manner.

Next up, Arno. What to say about him. Either he's a rotten drunk or he's asober and a brilliant actor singing in the persona of a rotten drunk. It was a remarkable show, though I was not familiar with any of the songs he sang.

The "star" of the show, Marc Almond, was next, with "Le Diable Ca Va", "J'arrive" (I'm coming) and "La Valse a Mille Temps" (Carousel). I was disappointed by "Carousel" as I would have rather had a more faithful translation of "La Valse a Mille Temps". Nevertheless, Marc was a showman, as had been most of those before him tonight.

The fianle was shared by the best of the performers, an arrangement of "La Chanson de Jacky". And then what happened? No encore at all, sadly.

I made my way to Moorgate, thinking about what might have been an encore. "Les Flamandes", "Le Moribond", a proper version of "Amsterdam"... the possibilities endless. But I will look out for music by Momus and look for Marc Almond's "Jacques" album.

The cheese bell rides again

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:31:51 GMT

Well, tonight was the club's humorous speech contest, along with the Table Topics contest.
Table Topics are short, impromptu speeches. Tonight's topic was "Creative ways to end a relationship" but as I haven't done such a thing since 1984 and that wasn't very creative anyway, I didnb't win that one.
The humorous speech was the one I was keen to win, though with the busy life and the cough/cold recently, I haven't had so much time to prepare as I would have liked. In fact, I have had bearely any time to prepare it.
So, winning the club contest comes with mixed emotions. Obviously I'm pleased to have won, but it will result in a lot of work as I take what is frankly an underdeveloped and woefully underprepared speech and try to knock it into the shape of something that might stand a chance of winning an Area Contest.
And all this before October 5th. Of course, it's not that I have nothing else to do with my time. But for now, pleased to have won and getting ready for another night of sleep.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:02:08 GMT

18:19 Once more, the 18:33 to Liverpool Lime Street. #
20:51 It still seems a pity that the train spends so long waiting in the tunnel outside LimeSt after positively sprinting from Crewe to Liverpool. #

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Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:05:35 GMT

08:50 Ideal weather today, just like when I describe stormy weather: light breeze, warm, blue skies with just a touch of white, fluffy stuff. #
11:18 Congratulations to Matthew on his A A B C and a warning to the good people of Lancaster to lock up their daughters. #

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