I’m beginning to be a frequent flyer at the Texaco garage.

After a stressy day I’d driven to The Ice Box, stopping on the way for a bottle of wine. I presented this in my best hunter gatherer mode to a look of disbelief. “I think this is going to be a two bottle night”, I was told and so back into the night I went.

Turning up at the same garage for another bottle of wine 10 minutes after I’d been there the first time should have been embarrassing but I was welcomed by a cry of disbelief,

“Again ?” he asked: “I’m thirsty”, I said . Something tells me we will get to know each other very well.

Posted by Mark at 11:48 PM | Permalink

After the stress of yesterday it was a return to the normal stress of any working day.

Emails to answer, phone calls and conferance calls all filled the day. I still managed to slip in a little weblog consuming and caught up with all the local news at lunchtime with Martin. He needed a fax written and sent off so I wrote it, printed it and took it around this evening.

Not having been with the kids for days now I was dragged upstairs to see the latest pictures, model railway layout and a monster truck built from Brio.

Joanne had her new nightdress on and a sparkley tiara, all ready for bed. She looked up at me and said, “I saw you wih the lady with the yellow hair” and indeed she had.

Posted by Mark at 10:59 PM | Permalink

Despite it being my holiday I seem, somehow, to have been dragged back into work.

All day I sat either at a desk or on the phone trying to piece together a meeting which was due to take place tomorrow but which seemed to have fallen apart in the last few day. Talking to the supplier they didn’t want to cancel and we had one last, long meeting with their head man doing a good Chris Tarrant impersonation and saying in response to my suggestion to cancel it, “Is that your final answer ?”

Eventually it was and I gave up, signed out of work and made a large note to myself to get today back a credit against a very large pile of unused holiday which I have sitting ready for a trip somewhere.

Perhaps it’s time to travel.

Posted by Mark at 9:20 PM | Permalink

This weekend has been one of culinary contrasts.

A few days back I was in Sainsburys buying La Truffe Graisse D’Oie (Goose Fat) in which to roast potatoes; tonight I’m in the Texaco garage down the road from L amazed at the fact that you can buy a whole, fresh chicken there. Maybe all petrol stations frequented by the rich and famous are like this ?

After a trip up the road back to The Ice Box we ended up here looking for something to cook. In an odd cross between Ready, Steady, Cook and Top Gear I wandered around picking up mince, cheese and muttering about the fact that they had no spices before we went back to see if the bolier had given up again.

At least with the cooker on (but turned down to tame it after the pizza incident) the place warmed up faster. With wine, baked potatoes and chilli topped with cheese we ate well at the end of a very relaxed weekend.

Do you think at Christmas Texaco do turkeys ?

Posted by Mark at 10:30 PM | Permalink

Before I put the fire into my front room the room was nice, but nothing special.

I spent months looking for a fire in keeping with the room and the house. The large, antique, French mirror also didn’t help. At over a metre tall it needed a sit on a fire surround which was purpose made both for it and the fire. Then I had to find someone who could put it all together. But, now that it’s done it looks really good.

On a cold dark day there’s nothing nicer than watching the fire with the Indian blanket wrapped around you to stop any stray draughts. Pampering is a great thing, we all need a little time being cared for and looked after. That’s really all today has been about. Wonderful company, great food and wine and relaxation.

Posted by Mark at 11:50 PM | Permalink

I wonder what Thomas Girdler thought when he finished this row of houses in 1897 ?

Larger than the rest, with bigger rooms and taller ceilings even today they seem well suited for family life. I love the area that I live in. A Georgian spread of terraced houses built with the strength and design to withstand and adapt to the changes people have made to them. Some alterations are in keeping, some (like the pink pebble dashing on one opposite me) aren’t.

People live in these houses, they don’t exist in them. In the summer curtains and windows are open and at Christmas trees are in windows and lights are dimmed. It seems every time I walk around this part of town you get to peek at what people’s lives are like, rather like reading a weblog.

Living here I’ve often wondered what Thomas Girdler would have thought of them now. It’s clear he put care into them with detailing and ornamentation. I like to think he wanted people to be happy here and, for a while I’ve hoped that this place would have a litle more laughter in it aside from the comfortable routine of Boy’s Night.

Today with L here that hope came true. We have a long way to go but it feels like things are fitting together well.

Posted by Mark at 11:27 PM | Permalink

“This is probably the last time we will be alone together”, Amanda said.

I’ve never really been to her house in the day but being there today it seemed worse for parking than my street at night. Driving up and down looking for the smallest available piece of kerb against which to practice my parallel parking I sailed past Damon on his way to meet Chris and doing the same as me.

For Chris and Amanda this is the final straight and with a few weeks to go the den downstairs has been invaded my a smart new, and very expensive, pram which blocks the way to the beer in the fridge; Christmas presents are wrapped and the mantlepiece is cleared ready for the congratulations cards. It’s the calm before the storm.

We were meeting for lunch and to catch up on news and have one of the intense but caring conversations which you receive from time to time if your best friend is a psychologist. With so much news on both sides the waitress gave up coming over to try to take the order as we seemed to cover every topic from stock options in the business to is this the one ?

After all these years its odd to think that, perhaps, we won’t be this alone again. Driving back to her house I suddenly had my hand grabbed and placed on a very full tummy to feel the kick from their child. A gentle reminder that even now there were three of us there.

Posted by Mark at 10:07 PM | Permalink

I’ve worn the same silver chain for most of my life.

It was a present from both of my parents when I was in my early teens and I rarely take it off. I guess like most things which are constantly around us I take it for granted. I notice it from time to time as I stand in front of the bathroom mirror or sitting out in the garden I can feel it get hot from the sun. It’s simply just there.

Today I had to go to Staples to get envelopes for some calenders. It’s a hard task selecting calenders which have pictures of this country from the ones publicising the latest boy band or Paris in the 50’s without the added complication of finding ones which have something in which to send them abroad.

Despite the amount of choice the only option seemed to be the padded envelope. Accomodating but too big and too bulky pour par avion. Scratching my head and looking around my hand strayed down to my neck. It felt odd. My fingers ran inside the collar of my tshirt. Nothing. It was gone. In a second there was a kaleidoscope of emotions. One of the last links with my parents; something which felt right and comfortable; I’d had it for years; a constant in my life. I checked again, looked at the floor. Nothing. I tried to reason with myself. Perhaps it was caught in the bathroom towel. Perhaps it had fallen off in the house. My road’s relatively quiet, it could still be there. Amongst all of this and from all those years ago I heard Yarpel’s voice. Mind of attachment won’t help.

Then I felt it. Caught at the bottom of my tshirt. It must have been pulled. The clasp was caught open. Closed and back around my neck I’d learnt two things. I should remember more of what Yarpel taught me and don’t take for granted what you become attached to. Old familiar things and new, precious things both need to be looked after.

Posted by Mark at 10:23 PM | Permalink

Sounds easy doesn’t it : a few changes to a website but an hour on I’m still no closer to sorting it.

Amanda’s gearing up for the birth in a few weeks and getting new Directors onboard to help her through maternity leave and to build the business. So, that means changes to the site and me trying to remember how and why I did things all that time ago.

There’s the comforting ding of a new message on MSN and the odd sense of hearing someone speak as you read what’s just arrived and then it’s back to the swearing as I try to push something into a place it doesn’t seem to want to go which, oddly, is what Amanda will be doing in a few weeks time….

Posted by Mark at 11:32 PM | Permalink

Routines can be odd things. They can drive us mad with the same thing every day or they can warm and comfort us. Routines can be set after years of doing the same thing at the same time or they can appear almost overnight.

Driving back after work to what increasingly feels like home I was thinking how fast some routines are appearing in my life and how comforting they are.

Tonight no one was brave enough to face the wrath of the cooker. The pizza was delivered by what sounded like a Russian, complete with the icy blast of the Russian Steppes behind him.

It didn’t matter though. Inside we were warmed by some familiar routines.

Posted by Mark at 11:55 PM | Permalink

Getting to know someone is a funny business. It’s like exploring a new city. Some avenues you want to wander down straight away, others are perhaps better left until a new day.

Today, like all the best traditional Sundays was a day of rest. Outside the weather was bright and cold but indoors the sofa, blanket and a set of DVDs to watch seemed to be the more restful option.

Things are going so well and the only issue on the horizon seems to be taming the cooker which has a habit of turning anything offered to it into a cremated lump of charcoal but I’m sure that can easily be fixed.

Besides, these are my own teeth and I’m sure they can handle it.

Posted by Mark at 10:16 PM | Permalink

After my brief scouting mission last month Christmas started in earnest today.

I don’t have many to buy for but I like to try to get the best for them and that can pose the odd challenge. Normally Amanda is the hardest to find the right thing for and that’s usually where I start.

See a little of where I went here.

Posted by Mark at 10:43 PM | Permalink

I feel really happy and settled.

Sitting in Fhai’s house today after a meal, Joanne curled up on the sofa under a blanket, sharing news and watching the new TV. Richard is just back from Marjie’s proudly showing off his new (fake) credit card (an Amex like his Uncle’s) I’m swept away with the feeling of comfort and safety. How embraced and welcomed and warmed I feel here.

After watching the trials of Richard and Joanne’s early years ( the late nights, rushes to hospital, tantrums and tempers) it feels like they have turned a corner and settled into a new, more relaxed stage.

Walking back home I wondered what Amanda’s new family will be like and I really hope that it will be as comfortable, safe and secure as this one is becoming.

Posted by Mark at 11:59 PM | Permalink

Understanding left from right can, sometimes, be almost as tricky as understanding right from wrong.

Sometimes you need to be brave and task risks to get rewards in life. We never know when we do that what will happen. We have to put ourselves on the line and trust to chance that it work out to the good or not so bad that we are irrepably scarred for life.

So, today, we took a risk, both on the same line, at the same time and, very luckily, it turned out so well. Within a few hours the hell of recent days was forgotten and I found a place that feels so comfortable and so right. All that I could want, happiness, laughter and someone I am amazed to have met.

Rewards, if you risk at the right time, can be breathtaking.

Posted by Mark at 11:42 PM | Permalink

There’s a really cool initiative going on to provide a one laptop per child at a cost of $100 for every child.

Annan presents prototype $100 laptop at World Summit on Information Society - MIT News Office

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled the first working prototype of the $100 laptop Nov. 16 at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia. Annan was joined by Nicholas Negroponte, chairman and co-founder of the Media Lab at MIT, in presenting the laptop to the gathering.

The $100 laptop, first announced by Negroponte at the World Economic Forum in January 2005, is an ultra-low-cost, full-featured computer designed to dramatically enhance children’s primary and secondary education worldwide. It is the central project of the nonprofit One Laptop per Child (OLPC) association, which aims to equip the world’s schoolchildren and their teachers with a personal, portable, connected computer.

Whilst $100 doesn’t sound much to us it will be for people in the third world but at least this provides them access to computers and the Internet and that can’t be a bad thing.

Posted by Mark at 10:34 PM | Permalink

Well much the same really.

Still trying to balace it all and juggle a whole load of conflicting priorities, deadlines and goals.

It’s been a long day.

Posted by Mark at 11:58 PM | Permalink

I’m losing it, slowly but I am.

I don’t seem to be able to manage life and work at the same time and at the moment both are suffering. It’s a little like trying to hold sand in your hands - it slips between your fingers and gets lost.

Posted by Mark at 5:46 PM | Permalink

Posted by Mark at 3:07 PM | Permalink

10 more blogging tips.

I need to spend a little more time sorting these out …

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/11/ten_blogging_ha.html

Posted by Mark at 1:58 PM | Permalink

“My career meant I was surrounded by better than average looking women and many became my girlfriends - but it was just as exciting for me as a photographer to be able to make a lasting image of them.”

Patrick Litchfield Photographer, Gentleman, Earl

Posted by Mark at 7:33 PM | Permalink

A little while ago I picked up some educational software for Richard. I had this working on a laptop with no problems. Then I had to rebuild the laptop and it no longer worked.

I wrote to the suppliers who said it didn’t work with Windows 2000 : I wrote back and said well you state it does on the box.

Next, they asked me to run DXDIAG and send them the results. I got this back from them today.

“However I suspect from various forums on the web that these may not be available as the laptop wasn't designed to run Windows 2000 and other users have reported problems with graphics and sound on this system with 2000 or XP installed.”

Don’t you just hate it when people can’t be bothered to help and take the approach of it’s not desgined for this, you need to upgrade the drivers.

It’s a poor excuse for a poor product and it’s even poorer excuse to hide behind this approach.

Posted by Mark at 7:24 PM | Permalink

I’d planned to go out tonight but I was still labouring under what is commonly known as Man Flu.

So, instead, I am sitting propped up in the front room with a warm Internet connection trying to decide what to see at the London Jazz Festival.

I used to see a lot of jazz, I even played a little but despite listening to it day in and out I’m struggling to decide who to see.

It’s going to be a long night of research….

Posted by Mark at 7:41 PM | Permalink

Sometimes you can tell more about a situation by what’s not spoken about.

Perhaps you have been in a relationship which started as open and sharing and then towards the end it becomes silent and sullen? We go on hoping it will get better but the honesty is lost and we turn a blind eye to the issues which got us into this mess: it’s easier to be quiet.

So, as President Hu Jinato arrives in Britain for a state visit here’s some of the questions we should be asking.

Why do you need to execute so many people ?

On average China executes 10,000 people per annum. According to Amnesty International in any three month period it kills more of it’s own people than the rest of the world does in three years. Executions are meted out for bribery, embezzlement and stealing petrol.

Is it right to allow torture ?

People are systematically mis-diagnosed as being “dangerously mentally ill”. These people tend to be political dissidents, religious nonconformists, complainers, petitionists and trade union members. They are “treated” at mental asylums.

Why do you need to censor your society so much ?

Every aspect of Chinese society is restricted and controlled. In the rush to get Chinese business some of our largest companies collaborate with this. Shame on you Google for censoring news and you Microsoft for censoring weblogs.

Can we trust you on bird flu ?

World Health Organisation officials critcised the secrecy and initial denials made by China over the 2003 Sars epidemic. Beijing has taken a similar approach over bird flu and there are fears that this culture of secrecy will disguise the scale of an outbreak and help the spread of a pandemic which may kill millions.

What are you doing to protect the environment ?

With a population of 1.3 billion China has now overtaken the States as the leading consumer of grain, meat, coal and steel. It’s drive for coal fueled power is vastly increasing the output of greenhouse gases and it is resisting any limits which are trying to be imposed on it.

What are you doing on the war against terrorism ?

In the mostly Muslim autonomous region of Xinjiang China is undertaking “re-education through labour”. Religious practitioners and activists are beaten, given electric shocks and kicked unconscious. The hope is that China’s support for the “war on terrorism” will gain it international support for its own crackdown.

When are you going to give back Tibet ?

President Hu Jintao ruled as Communist Party Secretary between 1988 and 1992, years when hundreds of Tibetans were killed or imprisoned. Last week he said that Tibet has been an, “inalienable part of Chinese territory” since the 13th century.

I’m a realist. I’m sure we need China and her rampant economy a lot more than she needs us. But isn’t it better to be honest and open? To have a relationship built on solid foundations rather than established in haste ?

Do me a favour and drop by Free Tibet, email your MP. Be one of those who tried to make a difference not one of those who simply wanted cheaper clothes.

“Goodness speaks in a whisper, evil shouts” - Tibetan proverb.

Posted by Mark at 7:41 PM | Permalink

Elements of Style: Rules of Usage & Composition

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

For more on writing, especially for the web, check out the Geek to Live: Write effectively for the Web article at lifehacker.com.

Posted by Mark at 7:04 PM | Permalink

With the weather dark and wet outside I decided it was best to hibernate with a warm Internet connection for today.

After a little maintenance here, catching up with weblogs and websites I never seem to get a chance to read I wandered off to get some DVDs from Blockbuster, wedge myself into the corner of the sofa and let the day drift by.

Posted by Mark at 5:15 PM | Permalink

Well not really ill : more of a cold. But I am a man and this is the first one of the year so it’s more like a bad case of flu. Alright, a sniffle.

I had today all planned with lunch out with a friend but it fell apart at the last minute so I went out with Martin and the family in the new people mover for lunch at the marina.

Ok, it’s only a cold I have but it’s nice to be pampered, driven around and fed. I’d even left the camera at home.

Sitting with Martin and Fhai this evening we were listening to the fireworks. No one really wanted to go out to the see the Mayor’s fireworks display.

This year has been a year of centenaries with 200 years since the battle of Trafalgar and 400 years since Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament. Nelson, in the manner if his death, became a national hero who enjoys glory to this day atop his column in London. Fawkes became a national villain, plotting to kill the King and re-assert Catholicism.

Bombfire night seems to be lapsing as one of the great national festivals, taken over as it has been by Halloween (it’s easier after all to sell sweets and masks in your store than fireworks or to walk door to door on a wet night than organise a group display with the bureaucracy of permits and health and safety arrangements for a display). When I was young every street seemed to have kids making Guys and cadging pennies from passers by. My Dad would be in the back graden with the small box of fireworks. The catherine wheels nailed to the fence posts or the aeroplane rocket whose one and only flight threatened to set Mr Francis house on fire next door to us. People would gather on the wasteground up the road, know as the Frying Pan, to share fireworks and watch the bonfire.

I hope we don’t loose fireworks night. We need to hang onto some traditions.

Posted by Mark at 11:16 PM | Permalink

I felt something would happen today as soon as I woke up.

Unusually for me I’d overslept and spent all morning racing the clock trying to recover the time I’d lost. The Very Important Piece of Kit has been replaced by a new one from a supplier who is actually interested in what we are doing so perhaps next week we can all get on with doing actual work rather than playing politics.

As tonight was dry and tomorrow is supposed to be wet we moved fireworks night and all huddled around the chimenea to watch a few fireworks before we all settled into the kitchen to plot and plan.

Posted by Mark at 11:14 PM | Permalink

Sometimes it only takes an unexpected word or two to change how you view the day.

After months of hitting my head against a wall at work I seem to have slowly turned a corner. Backing, money, equipment and even a little interest appear to be heading our way. There’s been a few false dawns but this time, perhaps, we are getting there.

| even received a “well done” today, a rare thing and perhaps a reminder I need to do that a little more myself.

Posted by Mark at 7:57 PM | Permalink

One of the things about the times in which we live is that horizons expand more and more rapidly.

Today we can go online and communicate faster and to a wider audience than ever before. Email, Instant Messanging and VOIP let us reach anyone we need. Websites, blogs, vlogs and podcasts let us see and experiance the world around us.

Offline we have more radio and TV channels accessible to everyone than ever before. In a few years we will all have access to digital TV and the “old” idea of BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will have gone for ever.

Years ago I got satellite, back in the days when Astra was the satellite to have. I was amazed at all the places and cultures I could now see. Similarily, when Freeview launched I got that and was stunned at the quality of some of the programmes. At last there was now a place for foreign films and for documentaries about the culture of other countries.

I even liked the old repeats of travel programmes on Sky Travel. Whicker’s World from years gone by, Palin wandering from Pole to Pole.

But the problem is with most of these things is that finances get in the way. Things have to make money and reach the widest possible audience. We move from diversity and pluralism to bland sameness.

That’s started now with Freeview. Sky Travel with it’s regular doses of World Live cameras around the world is being pushed off Freeview in favour of Sky Three. Oh joy, and I just finished 24 series 3.

Bon Voyage Sky Travel…

Posted by Mark at 8:14 PM | Permalink

It all started bady with the support act.

Firstly, the audience didn't expect him to appear and there was a frisson of concern that somehow we'd all gone through the wrong door and ended up at the wrong gig. Secondly, he was bad. People had come to be lulled by their musical idol who they had grown up with, not sung songs by what appeared to be a failed redcoat. The highlight was his "most important song" about his Nan who had died at the end of which he then introduced us to his Nan in the front row. Turned out to have been the other Nan and not a re-incarnation.

I had gone to see a singer songwriter who has been around since the 1970's. A woman who had Brit Awards and Ivor Novello Awards on her mantlepiece. Clearly someone who has learned her craft and is relaxed and at ease on stage.

Why oh why then did she appear with two other musicians. One permanently hidden behind all kinds of keyboards, effects and synths and the other playing the odd mix of drums and saxaphones.

Why go to a gig to listen to a synthetic rhythm section half the time ? And why have two accoustic guitars and one electric guitar which seems so temperamental that after every number in which it was used the roadie had to walk on, unplug it and escort it off to have it's strings tuned and it's polish buffed.

I mean this woman must have made enough on this tour to have hired a drummer and bought either a better guitar which stays in tune or another one to have two in different tunings (I did think back to the Kate Rusby gig where she managed to tune her own guitar and talk to the audience whilst she did it).

Mind you talking was another thing. Hour upon hour with no relationship to the audience (who were a bit of an odd lot if truth be told) and not a mention of the two blokes behind her until the encore.

I love live music and it's unusual for me to walk away from a gig feeling cheated but tonight I did. Ok a lot of her standards appeared and people got to sing along but for me it didn't really work. Worst of all I just checked and the one song I thought she had done and was puzzled why it didn't make an appearance tonight turns out to be by Janis Ian....

Posted by Mark at 11:16 PM | Permalink