Sometimes things just don’t go as you plan.

In the sunlight of the early morning we agreed to get shopping, DIY and ballet done by 12:00 and then to head off for a day at the seaside.

My side of the bargain worked well. I got a new electrical socket and pipe; fitted them; did some washing and got some shopping. I knew the other side of the bargain hadn’t gone as well as soon as I saw Martin’s face. Ballet had turned into a battle of wills and, on this occasion, Joanne had won. “I didn’t want to go”, she told me as she laid at the top of the stairs, a book in her hands.

So, the plans to go were put on hold until a day when it was more deserved. That’s how Richard and I ended up “working” in the study, me catching up on video and picture editing as he explored word processing, printing and email.

This evening K and I were due to go out for a meal but as we walked down the road the heel of K’s boot gave way and we had to abandon that idea and hobble home.

“Not out tonight?”, asked the chap at the Chinese at the top of the road as I paid for our order. “No”, I replied, “change of plan”.

Posted by Mark at 11:19 PM | Permalink

I was sitting in the front room feeling very satisfied with the fact that I had a new washing machine and a fixed cooker when I heard the sound of water rather louder than I’d expect with a new kitchen appliance.

The day had started early with some DIY to get the old machine out and to one side, then the cooker out and ready for Tony. After a day out yesterday there was the inevitable tide of email to sort and my notes from yesterday to review and make a start on.

Tony appeared, true to his word, to check the cooker, remove the element and find me a new one and then fit it. At last a whole range of meals which don’t need to be cooked in a pan, wok or grilled open up before me.

At lunchtime the new washing machine arrives and the old one leaves. The whole process is done quicker than Martin and me moving the fridge freezer into the house.

My evening calls to the States all done I remove all the packing, connect up the pipes and make a start on catching up with the washing.

It’s too late to call Martin so I settle down to watch TV and that is when I hear the water. When I walk into the kitchen I see it. The pipe which connect the new waste pipe to the drain has split. In a final act of revenge the Appliance Gods have won.

Posted by Mark at 11:53 PM | Permalink

I sit and look at the three pages of notes I’ve taken : some make sense, some don’t.

The point of the meeting was to explain this new role and ensure that it won’t just be yet another, “can you just look after this for a while” which seems to have the pattern of late. True, the general movement has been to this point but I can’t say it’s done a lot for morale to be continually starting something then stopping it.

There’s a lot of challenges here : tight timescales (aren’t they always ?), recruitment, team building and technology. The thing that’s missing from all this is what’s in it for me. Where does this take me ?

Posted by Mark at 11:49 PM | Permalink

“You want a Zanussi, all my family have them”, said the woman as I stood, looking confused, at selection of washing machines rowed up in front of me.

“Lasts forever”, she continued, “but this one must be the latest model. And what you want is soda crystals, nothing fancy to wash with”.

I have to say I’m more of a non bio boy but I did have my eye on a new Zanussi to replace the one I currently own which seems to have a desire to tie-dye anything white it washes.

So, paid for and with delivery ordered for Friday I came home to face the chore of catching up with my expenses. I made some dent on the backlog. Money in, money out.

Posted by Mark at 10:37 PM | Permalink

Maybe it was the fact that we changed back to Thai from the excess of Chinese or perhaps it was getting some achievable goals completed but today was a lot more productive and happy.

So much so that in this evenings last light I went out for a walk to spend a little time watching the sunset.

Posted by Mark at 11:39 PM | Permalink

The journey home starts in golden, grey mizzle crawling along in a slow queue of traffic. To one side the sky is pitch black, to the other pink and purple as the storm gathers.

The radio crackles and the sky lights up as the lightening forks across it. The stop start queue of traffic is tiring after a long day and I flick the radio from station to station trying to find something to take my mind from the events of the day.

One motorway bends slowly into the other and the queues drag on. Above me the sky is black and low, around me the rain is heavier. In the rear view mirror the road and sky blend into one. The darkness engulfs me.

It’s oppressive and somehow sums up the days I have now.

I drive on, automatically following the road I have driven so many times, muscle memory turning the wheel, taking the car around every bend.

Ahead of me the colour turns from black to blue and on the horizon the sunset warms the sky.

Perhaps it’s me but it seems to sum up life at the moment. Driving home, away from storm.

Posted by Mark at 10:17 PM | Permalink

Beside me, in the river, a goose glides by; “he’s lost his mates”, says K as we sit outside at the Bistro on this warm Autumn day.

Looking back along the riverfront the sun glints on the water as people stroll along leisurely and starters arrive. Pate for K and crevettes for me, a paler pink than the crayfish I’d eaten in Sweden but still wonderfully tasty and served with aioli and asparagus.

A narrow boat drifts by with a man at the helm, a glass of white wine in front of the tiller.

The main courses of steak and lamb rump take a little longer to consume and the sun appearing around the edge of the Bistro encourages to sit a little while longer but eventually we rise and walk along the riverside.

Back at home it is just warm and light enough to sit out and read The Bookseller of Kabul, watch the last of the sun light the bricks of the houses and try a first experiment in using Photoshop to reproduce Lomography.

Posted by Mark at 10:10 PM | Permalink

As I pressed the button to start the washing machine I had little idea that later things wouldn’t be whiter than white.

Up early and out with a camera, packed more in hope as I knew I wouldn’t have that much time, for a swift trip into central London for shopping. It needed to be swift as K was coming over later with a full programme of Saturday evening TV to watch.

Saturdays in London on the Tube are being more and more like a Mensa test. Lines are closed; stations are no longer stopped at; tourists wander around the ticket halls looking for someone to tell them how to get from Caledonian Road back to Kings Cross, despite the fact that “improvement works” meant they crawled through it a few minutes ago with the doors of the train staying firmly closed.

Shopping done I headed to the Photographer’s gallery to browse the gallery and look in on the bookshop. I was surprised that they stocked Lomo cameras, the small, quirky, plastic lensed cameras which, through their motto of “don’t think, just shoot”, emphasise spontaneity. I’d love to try one and I love the effect you get from the lens which is so different to the precision I get from digital cameras but film just doesn’t work for me. Especially 120 format film. I can’t scan it easily and I’m too used to going out, taking pictures and then processing them in Photoshop the same day. It’s a shame as the quirky colours really appeal.

Well quirky colours in the right place do : not when you open the door of your washing machine and find your whites an interesting shade of orange. It seems the money I saved from the Lomo needs to be put towards another new kitchen appliance …

Posted by Mark at 8:16 PM | Permalink

When I first plugged in a modem and ventured into The Well Gopher servers were the most amazing part of the Web. Later I started to produce my own websites, slowly learning HTML to produce static sites.

Within the last ten years I stumbled across a thing called a blog and that was the start of this place. Over these years I’ve laughed and at the Web. I’ve read amazing stories, been inspired to write and take pictures. To try podcasting and vlogging.

The Web has been the place to check on everything and anything : from flights to Stockholm to what’s on at the local cinema.

As it changes and evolves so does my use of it. From mail to RSS to WAP it now follows me around when I shutdown my PC.

In the next 10 years we will see the evolution of Web 2 and the drive to deliver the Web to all corners of the world via the OLPC initiative.

It has become a unique, binding force in a society which is increasingly fractured.

Here’s to One Web, now and forever.

Posted by Mark at 8:07 PM | Permalink

“So you have done all of that, that’s good”, said The Boss at my review.

“Yes I have”, I replied, wondering where this conversation was going. “Good”, came the reply.

I’m beginning to recognise this tone. It means that it’s time to move on. Saturation point has been reached and ahead lies the barren wastes of information overload and diminishing returns.

“Would you like me to update this list and mail it back to you ?”, I ask, conscious that I’m giving an “out” but also that I should be outside working on the long list of to do’s whose alarms ring merrily every time I sign into Outlook.

“Yes…” is the reply and that is that for another year. In fact for 5 years.

I wonder if it’s time to move on.

Posted by Mark at 10:11 PM | Permalink

Across the sky the clouds streaked, the sun warm and high. The tail of Hurricane George bringing, perhaps, the last warmth this year.

Watch it here.

Posted by Mark at 11:22 PM | Permalink

p a s s i o n r e a s o n: Bangkok Coup blogging

“The Thai military have taken control of the city and a state of emergency has been declared in Bangkok.”

- security bulletin received

I’m safe right now, trying to monitor the news, however, the news just got blacked out.

Let’s hope it stays quiet.

Some other people live blogging events in Thailand’s capital are :

• Bangkokpundit
• 19Sep
• Metroblogging Bangkok

Posted by Mark at 11:00 PM | Permalink

“It’s not that you have done a bad job, we like what you do and we want you to focus on this. It’s our highest priority”.

So, after a few days out I came back to the same project but a different focus. I’m beginning to loose track of the number of things I have been asked to do on this project.

I spend the day unpicking all the work I have been doing for months, writing handover emails and making phone calls.

It’s not ideal and I wonder how long this task will last before priorities, like sand, shift under our foundations and we tilt towards another “highest priority”.

Posted by Mark at 10:59 PM | Permalink

Today brought the last show of the year and with it a wonderful sunny day.

“I always feel that the whole of the year has been building to this show and the chance to show off what you grew or bred”, I said to Martin as we stood under a blue sky watching the cattle being judged.

We’d agreed last year to come here alone, the day’s too long for the kids and we needed a day for us where we could wander slowly, drink a few beers and eat too much from the stalls and that’s what we did. Sausages, Simmental beef, cider and Guinness all kept us from hunger and thirst throughout the day.

We watched the show jumping, tried out new cars and took the time to talk to anyone who wanted to sell to us. Most amazing was the man from Happy Tortoise Trading who had two new teak loungers on display for the public to comment on. Tired and jet lagged from his trip in from Bali he admitted that the selling was what he liked least about the job and judging by the finished product he was clearly very good at the design and the production. “See that piece of furniture at the back?”, he asked me. “That’s the last piece of new teak I said I would buy, all of this is made from reclaimed wood”. Talking to him I was amazed at his lifestyle. Splitting his time between Bali and France his next job would take him to Switzerland. It makes my trips to office seem very banal.

As the crowds drifted away, following the hot air balloons towards the motorway, we sat and watched the display by the Kings Troop and then the ceremony of sunset. The flags were lowered and the band marched off.

It seems the end of another year. Next there’s the moments after the harvest as the countryside seems to take a breath and then the onset of Autumn. Let’s hope that it’s a slow and gradual thing and not the cavalry charge we saw today.

Posted by Mark at 11:32 PM | Permalink

After a leisurely morning of shopping and catching up with Bev I headed out to K’s to do a little DIY, refitting window blinds and wondering how to clean out the guttering without a set of ladders.

Luckily two of the blinds weren’t too hard to put back and the third just needs a little persuasion and some No More Nails before it’s back in place in the kitchen.

With darkness drawing in outside I settled down to the luxury of being cooked for and a quiet night in with the TV and a bottle of wine.

Posted by Mark at 10:24 PM | Permalink

After the travel, excitement, food, concert and after show open bar of yesterday / today all we could do was get up late and drive slowly home.

The pub in Woburn was just what we needed. Comfort food and sun before the trip back on the M1, music still ringing in our ears.

Posted by Mark at 7:45 PM | Permalink

The word quality can be applied to many things: to some things more successfully than others it seems.

After a hectic morning searching for a smart waterproof jacket (my orange sailing one being discounted) K and I headed off to Milton Keynes in search of the Bowl and Robbie Williams.

The Quality Hotel is, supposedly, a 30 minute walk from the Bowl. That’s possibly cross country, or at least through people’s back gardens. After starting off well and safely on the path we ended up in golf club where we were told out 30 minute walk would need to cover, at least, a mile and a half most of which seemed to be along the edge of the road to ensure the shortest route.

After going around the corner to see just how far it could be we gave up and called a taxi and arrived a lot less flustered and tired than the walk would have left us. Luckily we were also on the right side of the Bowl for the Corporate Hospitality village.

Several security checks later, and with a wrist full of different colour bands we sat down to a three course meal and an open bar. I say three courses even though most people eyes were on what seemed to be the largest chocolate fountain ever made. My last experience of eating outside in a tent was the Army summer balls I used to attend many years ago. This was on a smaller scale but the food was just as good.

Outside in the Gold Circle enclosure it was clear that it wasn’t going to rain. The new jacket had worked it’s magic. Everyone I had mentioned that I was going to see this show had said, “you are in for a good show” and from the very start we were. An amazing set riddled with lights, fireworks and gas burners just took our breath away, the sight of Robbie appearing from the middle of the audience from a star trap made us gasp. Most people admitted he looked tired and towards the end he said the show had been a struggle but it was amazing and so was he.

What can I say : quality.

Posted by Mark at 11:41 PM | Permalink

One of the side effects of this project is that we all seem to be over indulging.

Either food (we seem to have lapsed back to the Chinese buffet and everyone seems to be suffering from over eating) or drinking to numb the pain we all experience in the day.

Maybe we need a team bonding session at the gym, or regular walks in the working day or just to find a way out of this mess so we can get back to normal, whatever that now is.

For me, tonight, it was dinner at Anne’s with Daisy and James. I was here to look at their router and a laptop which didn’t connect to it. Oddly it’s the same make as Karen’s, who also had problems.

I dropped James and his friend off at the town before coming back home.

It’s raining and I don’t know what to pack or wear tomorrow : tomorrow will be shopping stress.

Posted by Mark at 10:33 PM | Permalink

After a day which proved we had more severe challenges than anyone had considered I needed to prove I could still do something, anything, technical.

It’s not much but small and achievable mean that I can step back and say “I did that”. A few alterations to the template, a few additions around categories, a new Google site index and some things in background.

Not a vast amount but I can still do it, it still excites me and that’s why I came into IT.

Posted by Mark at 10:06 PM | Permalink

Sometimes it’s simple moments which can be all the more poignant.

I walk up the road this morning with the sun behind me, watching the long shadow of my body on the pavement in front of me. Above, the sky is clear and blue and it’s a wonderful warm morning.

I step into my office and notice how the sunlight makes every smudge and smut of dirt stand out on the window. It’s not the dirt that catches my eye but the light diffracted and yellow through the glass.

In a moment I’m taken back five years. Walking out of the meeting room across the office that same light caught my eye through the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the courtyard garden. I hear the door close behind me and I’m called across to the network team’s desk.

“You’d better sit down and watch this”, someone says as CNN appears through a forest of network monitoring, firewall and router windows.

Like many people on that day I didn’t believe what I was seeing but I still watched as my landline and mobile phone rang unaswered for 10 minutes.

Today, with a browser window playing streamed video from BBC News across the web I watch a close shot of a little girl as she walks to a pool holding a rose. A large hand from behind her guides her as she reaches over the lip of the pool and gently places the rose in the water. As the camera pulls back her mother stands behind her watching, her face both proud and full of grief as she witnesses this simple act.

The camera continues to pull back and slowly the ugly scar in Manhattan is revealed. Filled with people, the names of those who used to fill this space are being read aloud.

I sit and watch and my mind drifts back to Vesey Street and the clear bright days of Autumn. It’s a simple memory; how between the dark shadows of the skyscrapers, my shadow used to stretch out on the New York sidewalk.

Posted by Mark at 10:29 PM | Permalink

“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—
Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.”

No pepper or vinegar today just lemon juice and Guinness as we spent the day at Hayes Galleria for the seafood festival.

After a trip to Hamburger Union for brunch we wandered through Covent Garden then down to the South Bank.

Normally Martin and get to amble along while the kids run off to explore but today Joanne was out of sorts and spent all day holding one of our hands or the other and complaining of a tummy ache (which oddly disappeared when we stopped for an ice cream). We watched the Peregrines roosting at the Tate Modern then strolled down the riverside in search of oysters.

Richard and I waited, getting our bearings amongst all the stalls while Martin and Joanne went to the toilet. And we waited, and waited. Eventually they appeared, it turned out that Joanne was trapped inside a toilet and had to be freed by the caretaker. Clearly it wasn’t her day. But after a sit down she soon perked up and they were off exploring while Martin and I got down to the serious business of oysters.

We came here last year but too late in the day and I was anxious to take Martin to the Whitstable Oyster stall. Whilst most people were selling rock oysters this stall sold the English native Whitstable Oyster and we decided to have the larger size 1’s. The taste and texture was amazing and they are clearly superior to the rock oysters generally on sale and whilst we savoured every one they were, alas, over all too soon.

See all the pictures here …

“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You’ve had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?’
But answer came there none—
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.

Posted by Mark at 11:03 PM | Permalink

Everyone, occasionally, is allowed a little opulence.

As we wandered in Harrods, supposedly getting ideas (or ideally outfits) for next week, hunger set in and we sat down to eat. Charcutterie is not perhaps everyone’s ideal brunch but the chance to try some Spanish Iberico ham or San Danielle from Italy wasn’t one to be turned down. Especially with a glass of white wine.

Eventually it all became too much and K said she needed a drink and a sit down and so we headed to The Trafalgar. I know this ear of London very well but I’d never seen it from this height before. The roof top bar has a stunning view and this was one of the best days to admire it as we settled down with a bottle of wine to watch the people in the square below.

As the bar filled up we headed out to Liberty’s (a disappointment in K’s eyes with not enough jewellery) for a final shopping trip before wandering over to Le Palais Du Jardin for dinner. With scrambled egg with crab and pan fried fois gras to start; fish and venison as a main and the cheeseboard to finish we ate very, very well.

Sitting out in Covent Garden with a glass of wine we listened to the buskers (an odd mix of Chinese music played on the sheng and a tap dancing big band singer) before getting a taxi home.

I don’t travel very often by taxi in London but I do have a good sense of direction, something that this cabby didn’t have. £20 later we watched him drive off into the London night. True it wasn’t great value for money but every now and again opulence triumphs over practicality.

Posted by Mark at 11:31 PM | Permalink

“It will be covered in the packaging test plan”, I say, hearing the tone of my voice change as I look at the clock. I flick the mute button on my headset and sit back, exasperated, as we sink into another mire of argument.

Eventually we all give in and happily embrace the weekend. For me it hasn’t come a moment too soon. With the windows open all day and the sky high and blue we had to eat outside and Martin had called earlier to arrange a last minute barbecue.

I grab some beers and head down the hill to be met by Richard with a whole new load of school books to read and practice handwriting and maths in (using only a pencil and no biro).

The meal is an amazing feast of salad, bread, pork and beef cooked a la Thai and mackerel, fresh and hot from the coals. Pudding is prepared by Richard and Joanne: marshmallows toasted over the embers and served on bamboo skewers. A few are a little high on the carbon content and one never made it to the table, burning as it was on it’s stick and consigned to the fire below but the ones that are served make a wonderful end to the meal. Hot, melting and all the better for being outdoors.

With darkness comes the candles. Martin offers me one of the communal padded shirts which shuttle between our houses on evenings like this and we settle down to plan the weekend, watch the bats, the airplanes overhead and the stars as they slowly appear.

Posted by Mark at 11:57 PM | Permalink

I spent an hour before work this morning trying to edit this wedding video.

I have to admit it’s been a while since I did this and I’ve forgotten somethings and now realise I need to lean more.

When I got a video camera, years ago, I had great plans to take it around with me and make interesting videos. True I have some that I’m pleased about (Paris and New York) but more and more I see the world as a series of still shots.

In fact more than that I see those shots as reproduced using techniques more suited to film stock rather than digital capture. Cross processing, Cyanotype and liquid emulsions all call and intrigue me.

I need more sunny days this year to try these out, and a few more hours this morning to try to finish this video….

Posted by Mark at 8:30 AM | Permalink

Leaving can be the hardest thing to do.

Despite the careful choreography of the traditions there can, sometimes, be those awkward moments when people are unsure what to say and praise and thanks can be more forced and false than true and heartfelt. Not so, I think, today.

I’d “met” Mr S through his work in the Joomla community when I was trying to build and support websites for an online community. In a large corporation you bump into people every day. In an internationally based corporation it’s even more confusing with people appearing from all over the world and from every timezone. It’s rare, therefore, to happen across someone with whom you “click”. It can be a comment or turn of phrase but something makes you listen a little more closely and like that little bit more.

I can’t remember what that moment was with Mr S but it was there and over his two years with us the appreciation grew in good times and bad. OK, mainly bad. The long and dire days of trying to implement The Big Project; the struggles with the faceless, nonsensical guardians of Corporate Standards which drove us running and screaming to the safe haven of Opensource; the fun of watching the Wiki grow, even if it was just us that added things.

If I’m honest the resignation wasn’t a surprise but it was still a moment of sadness but you have to be happy that someone has, hopefully, found something better to move onto and get on with the last rites of leaving.

So, we met for the final time to handover the keys of the Linux kingdom and reminisce on past times.

We fought hard to create a community and share information in a place where it’s rare for people to speak in the same country, let alone worldwide. It’s still early days but it’s there, with things in it, a good foundation which needs to be built upon.

We set and promoted standards. Above all, we tried.

So much of that was down to him and his patience to explain, explain and explain again something that once, technically, I’d have picked up the first time around.

The tragedy is not that we didn’t use him but that we didn’t use him in the right way.

But today it was a chance to get together, say thanks and hope the future is more rosy, settled and happy. As a parting shot we had a fine example of customer service skills from the lady at the coffee bar; a final trip to Subway (still no brie); the presentation of the leaving presents and a rather enjoyable curry.

Over the years Mr S has become known for three things : a penchant for gadgets, wearing skirts and The Amazing Lager Shandy Trick and the Sipson Curry House was the ideal place for a final reprise of the latter.

A long, leisurely final supper of curry, football, larger and memories before that final trip to the office, a handshake and farewells.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Good luck Troozers.

Posted by Mark at 11:18 PM | Permalink

I wander along the road, the sun low and direct in my face. I’ve been here before, many years ago when I worked for the local council.

Some of the shape of the town now is due to the work I had then but much remains the same, built as it was back in the days of the industrial age of terracotta construction on a grand scale.

Today these building glow bright orange in the warmth of the sun. It feels like one of the days I would be walking down Drottninggatan in Stockholm. The last warm moments before the chill of Winter sets in for months. Part of me wishes I was there now. The coffee shops, the spiced tea, the bars and seafood.

This trip today is made up of stolen moments. I’m out of the office shopping for tomorrow, wandering shop to shop and taking time to browse books, DVDs, the odd camera store and look, indecisively, at clothes.

The sun on the buildings, the contrasts of dark and light, make me wish I’d brought a camera with me and that’s why, in part I’m looking at camera shops. Time was a few years ago when these would all be independent stores and would stock at least one of the things I’m looking for, a Lensbaby. Now they are all part of the facelessness of Jessops with the same things in very store. No chance of a tempting look at an RD-1.

I slowly collect a clutch of bags containing things I need and things I like. Wander from shop to shop, coffee in hand and relax. It’s something I’ve needed for a while now, time for me.

Posted by Mark at 10:26 PM | Permalink

In the middle of the day the clear blue sky and warm sunshine drew me out to the patio for lunch.

I sat and watched the grasses next to the pond moving slowly, lit by the sun and slowly felt the stress of the morning disappear.

Posted by Mark at 7:46 PM | Permalink

“Which one was the millionaire ?”, I ask K as we pull away from her Aunt’s house.

It’s been a long, relaxed day of good food and great company. I’m still finding my way with these people but it’s not a difficult journey.

Today the crowd was larger but no less happy and still with the feeling of good friends and family.

Sitting underneath the grapevines with the sun on our backs the time flew by.

Posted by Mark at 10:31 PM | Permalink

A year ago it was blazing sun, this year it was a steady drizzle. Despite that life and country shows goes on.

I’d planned to come along in any case. I needed some time out in the air and dragged Martin and the kids along for company. This show is a small affair with friends meeting in friendly rivalry over everything from champion Charolais in the show to best winter wheat. With the rain setting in only the hardiest of people were still wandering the cattle lines and watching what was left of the show jumping.

“Frozen yoghurt ?”, I asked Martin. Normally it’s one of our treats on day out at a show but we looked at each other and the rain dripping from us and both agreed that today we should, reluctantly, skip it this time. “Can I have a cookie ?”, asked Joanne, always one to find an alternative and to look on the optimistic side of any possible food opportunity, so we headed down the tent in search of them.

What we came to first was the stand of Michael’s of Yorkshire. A traditional butcher offering bacon and black pudding for sale, both uncooked and, more importantly, cooked as a sandwich. “How’s your belly for spots?”, he asked Richard, who looked a little surprised, before it was his turn to look shocked as Martin replied, “and your bottom for pimples” and that sealed it. Bacon and black pudding sandwiches it was.

I travel quite often in the UK and spend a fair amount of time suffering the hotel cooked breakfast with black pudding cooked to a small, hard disc. I can recommend the breakfast at the Glenander which had what I thought was the best black pudding I’d eaten but today, Michael’s surpassed even that.

From the first bite it was special. Soft, meaty and with an unusual taste it melted in the mouth. We quizzed him about the taste, how it was made and exactly what made it so special. But to no avail. He was explaining to Richard, who was more interested in Michael’s home cured bacon, that the smallest crumb of his black pudding, if eaten, would mean he would be shaving in a week.

The best thing seemed to be to head off for the cookies and a beer to wash down the black pudding because, just as the show goes on, good food and beer always go together.

Posted by Mark at 10:09 PM | Permalink

After a short, but noticeable, gap we got together tonight for Boy’s Night +1.

The kids still find the new fridge an amazing thing and the bottles of Hoegaarden are now larger (I seem to be having a battle with bottles at Sainsbury’s since they decided to stop their Caledonian sparkling water) but the format’s the same.

Beer, talk, music and the odd packet of Prawn Crackers.

With computers for Richard and Joanne it was up to Martin and me to see if we could get Fhai’s Ipod to work and to try to decide what to do with the last few days of Summer.

Posted by Mark at 11:03 PM | Permalink