Well here we are, the end of another year. This one has been mixed in fortune with good and bad which I guess like many years. It certainly didn't end the way I expected it to and for that I'm really sorry.

I'd like to spend a little time looking back over every month remembering the highlights but that just hasn't been possible this year. It's been a mix of moving and fluxing friendships, of loosing people and finding people and change, some of it good, some not so good. I met someone I should have met an age ago and found some happiness, then lost it in almost the same moment, but came out a little wiser and a lot richer for it. I met up with old friends and renewed some friendships.

So, here's the end of this year. Next year, new and stretched out before us all, will be different. With more challenges, willingly taken and forced upon us all. A year to grow, develop and learn, to travel and to meet people. Above all, to be relaxed and happy.

We all have more opportunites than most this year, more than the countless people who died in the Tsunamis. We all need to remember that and make the most of this New Year.

Posted by Mark at 7:32 PM | Permalink

Isn’t it funny how your life can change in a moment ? From a conversation over a meal, to wandering out into the road in front of an unseen car, to an idylic holiday in Asia in the path of the devasting Tsunamis.

Each brings its own loss, of hopes, loves and, worst of all, life.

It wasn’t how I planned it, it wasn’t what I hoped for. I really tried my best…..

Posted by Mark at 2:21 PM | Permalink

Well by the time you read this I will be up in the air chasing the last of Santa’s con-trails as I fly east for Christmas.

I hope that where ever you are in the world you have a wonderful time and that the New Year brings you peace and happiness.

Posted by Mark at 10:43 AM | Permalink

I’m done - all the work I need to do is complete, databases updated and the email out of office is on. The laptops backing up across the VPN to some server somewhere on the corporate LAN, my desktops on the final pass of one of the Thai videos rendering it so I can burn it off to DVD later this evening and the last of the washing is in the machine.

The house is clean, new linen on the bed and presents all sorted. I’m off to buy some batteries to power all the noisy toys I got for the kids - catch you later…

Posted by Mark at 5:23 PM | Permalink

4:30, dark outside and the lamp on over the desk. I have Christmas.Crooze on playing a good to average selection of Christmas jazz. I’m typing up some minutes from a meeting yesterday with a mug of spiced tea and a notepad full of a spider’s crawl of facts and figures to pass around the team. I’m slowly sorting the house and have beaten back the large pile of papers I had to read. The place needs a clean and I need to sort out things to wash and iron, to take, to pack and read but on the whole I’m on top of things. Just as well as I’m taking Karen out for a meal tonight. Maybe I’ll catch you later….

Posted by Mark at 4:30 PM | Permalink

I've almost finished wrapping, the lights and fire are on and it looks more and more like Christmas. I went to get something to thank Ann and Paul for all the times I have appeared un-announced or enthusiastically welcomed for meals or an evening (or a long night) in their garden listening to Jazz and enjoying their fine wines. I was in Carluccio's and found myself staring at the man himself. He looked back with a "You could have got a lot more" expression on his face but I'm happy with what I have for them and also for a small Christmas Eve party here.

The sun was really low on the front of St Martin's today making the stone warm and the shadows of the railings appear like a line of soldiers. The shoppers shadows were long as people wandered around well away from the shops.

Later you can watch me wrestle with the soft toys that need wrapping...

Posted by Mark at 7:38 PM | Permalink

I've added a few more things here today but more for my benefit than yours. I now have future posting setup so I can write items and allow them to automatically appear here at a set date and time. To assist with this and to get around and issue I have with the category archives I've setup scheduled rebuilds of all the files as well.

Posted by Mark at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Of course things are soon forgotten when you are young and you can forgive the odd upset, after all it's part of growing up. I guess on balance it's better to have them, even though it may be painful for all to experiance, and for you all to come out a little changed a lot more learned. You can sympathise in a way with the Fathers for Justice demo in London today and this must be a bitter time of year for them. They are missing out on the small fights and tantrums which shape us and make us learn and experiance the world we live in. For them it's a big issues and Picadilly was full of them making that point. There were loads of professional photographers and I felt a little silly just with the G2 trying to get a shot that summed it all up. Several video camera crews were also there looking for a shot and a soundbite and around us all was a whole load of police. It was a little shocking to see amongst the police, the police camera crews (like the press both in still and video flavours) and the police medics a couple of offices with small fire extinguishers strapped to their backs. It shows just how well prepared they have to be to any issue that may arise...

Posted by Mark at 7:04 PM | Permalink

It was kind of doomed to failure, as I said traditions are important and a night out with Dad and the Uncle from up the road helps to prove you are a man. Your kid sister tagging along crowds the scene and eventually the strop appears and that, in the end, is what happened.

It was all going so well, the DVDs of Thailand, a beer or two and a human climbing frame act. Then it appeared, the cloud of envy and it was off home, early, with no laptop and a very glum face. Maybe next week will be more fun.

Posted by Mark at 10:48 PM | Permalink

At least I have some sun through the window to warm me today. I have a cold, along with it seems. most people on the Net. Of course mines a lot worse. I hate colds at Christmas, you are supposed to be happy and there’s so much to do you just don’t have the time. I have a pile of presents waiting to be wrapped, I need to get another phone for my recently installed business line and I’m still wading through the video tapes. At least now there is an impressive pile of them next to the front door waiting for Martin to appear, probably on a Friday, to pass them onto.

I downloaded a copy of Ubuntu live to try playing with Unix in small way. It’s on the growing Mind Map of things to do next year. It’s this time of year that seems to inspire sorting, throwing and generally getting ready for Christmas and then a New Year. I hope in the New Year I can not only be a little more active but also get on with things so this time next year we can list all the achievements. Until then I hear the lemsip and bed calling me…..

Posted by Mark at 9:17 PM | Permalink

At long last I’ve got around to working on the video tapes from Martin. So far we’ve had a mix of Thailand and two years of Christmas’s, which gives you some idea of how far behind I am. The good news is since the upgrades to Pinacle Studio and Nero the whole thing seems faster and less prone to crashing half way through.

It’s nice to see the places I went to in Thailand, Doi Suthept, the rivers and the Antiques House restaurant.

As I write this the Roundtable have just gone up the road with their annual Father Christmas collection. Christmas is getting closer…

Posted by Mark at 7:38 PM | Permalink

I headed west today which is an unsual direction for me. I had a trip to get some more presents and drove along roads I used to travel years ago at Christmas with the radio on listening to Scarlatti and waving at the old couple driving the horse and gig over the bridge in the late morning gloom.

It was a long drive but worth it - I picked up a few more things to add to the pile of presents. Now I just need to wrap them….

Posted by Mark at 7:05 PM | Permalink

It was still foggy this morning for my drive into London. I had a few things to purchase along with some food but unlike last week I managed to get into the City early. Hamleys was slowly filling up and there was still space to wander and browse but as time moved on it got fuller and fuller. Lunch was the Tokyo Diner which since the demise of the Mandeer¹, a vegetarian and Ayurvedic Indian restaurant, has taken over as my favorite everyday place to eat in London. Despite it being 1pm there were places to sit and the table full of Italian girls looked confused with what to order until one of them asked me what I was having. “Chicken Katsu Don” I said and they liked the sound of that so much the whole table ordered the same. I should be on commission.

Fortnum and Masons food hall was packed and there were rugby scrums to get to the Christmas Puddings so I gave up with the idea of the trip to Knightsbridge and came home early at 4pm which was just as well as the fog was starting to gather. Missing out on the drinks with Martin and Richard last night means I’m due a trip to them today to discuss present lists, when James’s band have their gig and inspect the Christmas tree which I spied when I parked the car.

It suddenly feels like Christmas is coming…..

¹ You can experiance a little of what the Mandeer was like by purchasing the cookbook written by it’s owner of 30 years, Ramesh Patel.

Posted by Mark at 6:50 PM | Permalink

I struggled today. To get motivated, to care and to do what I should do. Partly that's tiredness and partly slacking back to how I was before. So I need to rest tonight and concentrate tomorrow. One easy, the other more of a trial....

At last the trips to the dentist are done and the tooth I broke on some local sweet in Thailand is fixed again. The new approach of no anesthetic works well and I don't end up admiring how well the dentist's floor has been cleaned.

On my walk back home I passed someone who I hadn't seen for years and years. Clive was an old friend of my father's, they worked together in the same factory. When he and his wife lost their son they so long wanted just before Christmas I was taken over as an adopted replacement. I still remember their kindness every Christmas with presents, how they would take me out in their car and how my father would joke with Clive over his Welshness. "Taffy Bach" is what my father called him and I can still see Clive bring grass cuttings to put on the compost heap from their neatly kept front garden. He has a firm handshake and we laughed away the embarassement of a meeting after so many years. It was good to meet and I was glad I went back and said hello. I'm sure it's what my father would have wanted me to do.

Posted by Mark at 6:51 PM | Permalink

Everyone has a story and you can peek at some of them over at The Snowsuit Effort

Posted by Mark at 8:58 AM | Permalink

I'm off today to do something I haven't done for an age on a Monday night. I told you about it back in June and time and people have moved on since then so it's with a little caution I'm going to venture out. The band doesn't start until 8:15 and it feels all wrong as by now I'd be getting ready to go out, meet at the house, talk about the evening before wandering around the corner to the familiar bar and the same friendly faces. Tonight it's a new venue, new people and new times. I wonder what it will be like.....

Posted by Mark at 6:53 PM | Permalink

I’m sorted, the tickets are booked and I’m already thinking about some traditional English Christmas food to take and share. I’m really happy and so looking forward to this Christmas.

Posted by Mark at 6:34 PM | Permalink

Taking of young men who I’m proud of I had a phone call from Richard this morning inviting me for a walk by the canal. It’s been wet here so we all had a good collection of stout footwear for a walk along the canal side, watching swans and running around the old castle on the way. We didn’t see any sign of knights of the Round Table but we all came home hungry for bacon sandwiches.

Talking of castles part of one of the original Camelots is up for sale in the States. Sothebys is holding a sale of the clutter of the Kennedy family homes. The last time this happened, after the death of Jackie, the auction sold out with 300, 000 people in the salesroom pushing the proceeds up fro $5 million to $34.5 million. Most interesting seem to be the personal items from Hyannisport, the Summer White House, where you can own an original “Kennedy Rocker” for $4,000 to $6,000. Even a rusty pitchfork comes in at a respectable $200.

The 1st December saw the death of Christian Engeldrum. A NYC fireman of Ladder Company 61 in Co-op City in the Bronx and veteran of 9/11 he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded wounding another NYC fireman Daniel Swift, of Ladder Company 43 in Manhattan. Engeldrum was one of the firemen to raise the Stars and Stripes over Ground Zero after the attack. Firefighter Engeldrum had completed his service with the National Guard, but re-enlisted. He did so, his colleagues said, in outrage at the Sept. 11 attack. “It had an effect on him,” said Lt. Brian Horton of Ladder Company 61. “His country was attacked, he was a soldier, and he wanted to defend it.”

See, there are still Knights left in the world who believe in what’s right and try their hardest to do it.

Posted by Mark at 8:40 PM | Permalink

I bet you didn’t even know I had a son …

Well I’m not sure if was the beer or the limoncello or a combination of both after a week of no alcohol but I felt rough so my trip into London for more shopping didn’t get started as early as I had planned. When I was there I ended up in Portobello Road eating a bratwurst and onion in an attempt to wake myself up and shake the muzzy feeling in my head.

The whole of the market was full of tourists making shopping real plain but I managed to get everything I wanted to there before heading into central London to finish off the days shopping there. More and more people are about and the panic of Christmas shopping is setting in. Maybe my next load needs to be via the Internet.

Oh, my son ? Well i received my first Christmas card today from India handwritten by Ngawang, one of my Tibetan sponsors. It’s a fine card with a well drawn Tom and Jerry and a boy skating by a goat with a danger sign. He’s doing really well and came first in the second unit test. He’s started the third term and will soon be off for the short Winter holiday. His writing and English are coming on really well and he has a good way of ending the card with the salutation “Your handsome son”, and he is, a fine young man of whom I’m very proud. It’s amazing how such a small amount of money can make such a great difference to someone’s life. Put some money aside next year and sponsor a child…..

Posted by Mark at 7:07 PM | Permalink

I’ve added in a new plugin to the site to let me format text a little better.

Hopefully with this I can add some NEW ways to format text.¹

At least I can make things bigger

• lists are also easier
• so I can do my Xmas list
• or any other list

¹ I just need to learn the markup language for it

Posted by Mark at 8:32 AM | Permalink

Traditions are things which bind us together, support and encourage us. They are important and necessary. I'm glad to say that one is developing on a Friday and it's a fine way to round off the week. Today had a cold, foggy start, a nice sunset in the middle and a long evening with the heating turned up high against the cold of the night to finish with. Alongside the Hoegaarden we added a little limoncello and rummaged in the boxes of CDs in the front room for Plainchant, Jazz and other musical oddities. If you can find the album I bought from New York of the street jazz band that would help....

Posted by Mark at 11:15 PM | Permalink

Well tonight has been fun, what with a load of spam postings and a few key files deleted. In the end I got it back but it's not how I planned to spend time tonight. Perhaps I need to turn off commenting and also slap a little more security around the place. It's sad as this is just a personal blog btu it seems there's some people out there who want to drag stuff down into the gutter and ruin a little innocent fun.

We'll see how it goes for now.

Posted by Mark at 10:50 PM | Permalink