2012 books

2012 books, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Yup, it's that time of year again, a list of all the books I read last year. WIth a fancy word cloud from Tagxedo.  Audio books marked with *, but I've not gone so far as to distinguish between paper and Kindle books!

John Farndon - Do You Think You're Clever?
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Bill Bryson - At Home
Alistair Maclean - The Dark Crusader *
Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo - Asterix At The Olympic Games
Henning Mankell - The Dogs Of Riga
Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full Of Sky *
Ken Livingstone - You Can't Say That
Jules Verne - From The Earth To The Moon/Round The Moon
Michael Palin - Around The World In Eighty Days *
Hardeep Singh Kohli - Indian Takeaway
Arthur Ransome - Secret Water
Alan Moore & David Lloyd - V For Vendetta
Dan Brown - Angels And Demons *
Manjit Kumar - Quantum: Einstein, Bohr And The Great Debate About The Nature Of Reality
Paul Brickhill - The Great Escape *
Naomi Novik - Temeraire
Nicholas Crane - Great British Journeys
Peter Ackroyd - London Under
Mike Gayle - Mr Commitment
Terry Pratchett - Going Postal *
Brian Switek - Written In Stone
Daniel Defoe - The Fortunes And Misfortunes Of The Famous Moll Flanders
Diana Preston - Before The Fall-Out *
Mark Mason - Walk The Lines
Arthur Ransome - The Big Six
Carl Sagan - Life In The Universe *
Bill Bryson - I'm A Stranger Here Myself (Notes From A Big Country) *
Andrew Marr - The Diamond Queen
Michael Palin - Pole To Pole *
Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo - Asterix And The Cauldron
Joe Casey, Chris Burnham, Marc Letzmann & Rus Wooton - Officer Downe: Tough Shit
Tim Powers - On Stranger Tides
Julian May, Marion Bradley & Andre Norton - Black Trillium *
Dava Sobel - The Planets *
Simon Singh - The Code Book
Terry Pratchett - Thud! *
Henning Mankell - The White Lioness
Dave Mustaine with Joe Layden - A Life In Metal
Bill Bryson - A Walk In The Woods *
Arthur Ransome - Missee Lee
Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code *
Simon Loxley - Type
Carl Sagan - Pale Blue Dot *
Jules Verne - Around The World In Eighty Days
Stephanie Pain (Ed) - Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers : And other odd events on the way to scientific discovery
Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo - Asterix In Spain
Julian May - Blood Trillium *
Arthur Ransome - The Picts And The Martyrs *
William Gibson - Spook Country
Emma Kennedy - How To Bring Up Your Parents
Naomi Novik - Throne Of Jade
Craig Taylor - Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now - As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It
Mike Gayle - Dinner For Two
James Hamilton-Patterson - Empire Of The Clouds
Michael Palin - Full Circle *
Rene Goscinny & Albert Uderzo - Asterix And The Roman Agent
Julian May - Sky Trillium *
James May with Ian Harrison - James May's Toy Stories
Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
Bill Bryson - Down Under *
Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol *
Nicholas Rankin - Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945
Arthur Ransome - Great Northern?
Gerry Davis - Doctor Who And The Cybermen *
Simon Pegg - Nerd Do Well
Michael Palin - Hemmingway's Chair (Abridged) *
Terry Pratchett - Wintersmith *
Sissel-Jo Gazan - The Dinosaur Feather
Ian Marchant - The Longest Crawl *
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson - 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off
Helen Dyrbye, Steve Harris & Thomas Golzen - The Xenophobe's Guide To The Danes
Jon Savage - England's Dreaming
James Robinson et al - Batman: Collected Legends Of The Dark Knight
Jen Campbell - Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops

Oh, and yes I am doing it again this year. And because I am a total loon I am tracking all the music I listen to as well and doing a picture a day project on flickr...

Dear Santa

I have tried my best to be really good this year so do you think, possibly, Santa old bean, that I could have a faster database for Christmas?  I've got a house full of consumer goods and don't need any more clothes or gizmos, so just something that will make my working life better and stop me swearing so much would be fab.

Thanks awfully,

Simon

The sound of the crowd

ginger 555% cd set., a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Busy, lazy, uninspired, forgetful, enjoying other stuff... Take your pick from any of these excuses for the continued paucity of posts. A bit early for thinking about New Year's Resolutions but I guess being better at this in 2013 will be an ambition.

Anyhoo, I've been wanting to waffle on about crowdfunding for a while now and today seems to be the moment. Partly becuase Ginger's 555% (as pictured above) won "Event of the year" at the Classic Rock awards last night. That was my first toe-dip into the murky waters of paying up front for something to be created without support or backing from the traditional music biz (as opposed to paying up front for something that already exists, which is what most normal shopping is after all, not often you get to try before you buy).

I can't remember when I first encountered the concept, but do recall reading something about Marillion raising money through their web site to fund a new album many years ago. It only properly registered with me when I first joined Twitter though, and people I was following started plugging projects on Kickstarter or Pledge Music. First ones they were aware of and supporting themselves, but then their own. And Ginger was the first that intrigued me enough to part with some cash. Of course I now wish I had taken the plunge earlier, but there you go.

The whole recording process was laid open to backers, with regular updates and sneak previews etc which, to my mind, brought the project alive. Watching a couple of minutes of video now and then in the run-up to release just made the sense of anticipation all the greater. Lots of artists are opening up the recording process these days through web exclusives and tweets and the like but most of my finding out about new albums still comes from seeing a review or even just spotting it in HMV. While such surprises are nice, I do enjoy a good build-up. And in this case the end product didn't disappoint - a triple CD set (distilled to a single disc selection by fan vote for retail release) featuring 30 tracks that have had more than a few listens since arrival.

Since then I have also backed (and received) the new albums from Amanda Palmer (there is going to have to be something pretty spectacular arrive in the next couple of weeks for Theatre Is Evil not to be my album of the year) and Ben Folds Five. Paul Miro, former singer with Derby band Apes, Pigs & Spacemen has done a pledge release through his own site, rather than one of the main players in the field, and already delivered in mp3 form with the physical disc to follow. That one I learned about through a comment on one of Ginger's posts, which made me doubly glad I'd backed that project as I would probably not relaised Miro was still going otherwise. Due in the New Year is an album of space songs from Kim Boekbinder, who I found out about through Amanda Palmer so it is all a bit circular in the crowd-funding world. I do take the occasional look through the Kickstarter and Pledge Music sites for other things that might be worth the risk, but nothing has sparked my interest as yet.

And then there is Ginger again. Not content with a triple album he also has another three on the go for this year. Two extreme noise and weirdness collaborations under the name Mutation and a power-pop thing called Hey, Hello. The bits of both that have been dribbled out so far have again whetted my appetite to fever pitch.

Anybody got any recommendations for other projects worthy of my cash?

Caution: Contents may be cold

Mapmug2, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

In what an only be described as a Water Cooler Conversation (because it actually took place while I was getting some cold water) one of my Managers revealed yesterday that she is unable to drink cold liquids from a mug. For her mugs can only be for hot drinks, and anything cold must be from a glass. Although she is fine with a Latte or posh hot chocolate in a glass "with a handle". This was not something I have ever considered might be a problem before. If I am thirsty, I'll happily drink from whatever container is to hand. As it happens, I tend to use mugs for cold drinks at work because (a) I normally bring my own mug in with me, use it throughout the day and take it home again for washing up I trust. I will admit to a slight issue with the communal cups and glasses here even though I know they are properly dealt with in a dishwasher rather than just being indifferently rinsed and put away as I have seen elsewhere. And (b) I don't consume tea or coffee anyway but we have a stack of mugs at home that would never otherwise get used if I didn;t cart them back and forth to the office.

Since then I have been trying to think of any other utensil "phobias" I might have, and just can't identify any. I'll slurp soup from a desert spoon if that's all there is, drink straight from a can/bottle or use a straw, happily use a wooden or plastic disposable chip fork or use my fingers when sitting on the sea front with a portion and don't insist on pre-packed sandwiches being decanted onto a plate before consumption. Anybody out there got any food consumption problems they'd like to share?

Canterbury Tales

7 image Cathedral stitch, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

They say time flies when you're having fun, which I guess is how I come to be writing about my holidays on the fifth day back at work after them... Mind you, "they" also say that cats would by Whiskas so I'm not sure "they" are the most reliable of sources. We were only actually away for three nights in the first week of a fortnight's break, which added to the two nights we spent in Northampton earlier in the summer for a wedding gives me the huge total of five away from home since we got back from Canada in Jan 2010 but they sure were what we both needed.

So after much decision making and thinking of thoughts we plumped for Canterbury as a nice place to visit. Joan had never been before and I'd managed one afternoon about 20 years ago when my Brother was there at university. Funny that I never went down to visit him now I look back on things, but there you have it. It is a beautiful little city with the reconstruction following the World War 2 bombing not too jarring alongside the survivors. My particular highlights:

The Cathedral. Natch. I'm no believer but I can sure appreciate the architecture, artwork and sheer history of the place. And even more than that, I appreciate them allowing photography inside. So many "historic" buildings of whatever stripe are so dead set against it that the exceptions are always a joy to explore through the lens. Click through the shot above to get to flickr if you feel that way inclined.

The Heritage Museum. If only because it houses the original Bagpuss and friemds, as well as some Clangers, Pogles and Ivor The Engine/Noggin The Nog art. Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms productions are the childhood tv memories I treasure most and being in the same space as these was a moment of pure magic for me. The rest of the museum is also pretty interesting as it goes, and is worth getting the combined ticket for the Roman museum too. That one is not worth the single entry fee, but as an add-on is not to be sneezed at.

The big theatrical mask sculpture outside the Marlowe theatre.

The buskers.

And, the Beaney house of knowledge and art. Which has just been refurbished and houses the Library, Tourist Information Centre and a great collection of local and internationally significant art. Without realising it we were there on the second day of the relaunch so got up close and personal with some excellent Henry Moore sculpture as well as, well, loads of other great stuff. And it is free entry too. Worth paying a visit to Canterbury for.


We also paid a visit to the old Dockyards at Chatham and took the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch railway to Dungeness. Both fascinating places in their own ways and all contributing to a really great break. Roll on the next holiday.

computerised archaeology

computerised, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

OK, so I'm prepared to share that picture purely because rooting around in an old and presumed lost links folder I found this:

Way Of The Rodent Linky

Which is where you will find a bunch of old articles I wrote for an online computer magazine and may provide those of you desperate for more of my words with some form of consolation while I try and think of something new to say...

Pakenham sails

Pakenham sails, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Things I like in Suffolk 3

We have quite a few windmills left in Suffolk, some still in full working order, others reduced to a stump of a few courses of brick and the rest somewhere in between the two extremes. This one at Pakenham is joined in the village by a working water mill too.

More pics on Flickr (as always - I even have an "All Mills, no Boon" set there) by clicking through.

Proper entries to resume soon, I hope.

Torchy (not the battery boy)

Adrian Moorhouse moves off, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

And so Felixstowe got to share in the Olympic Dream(tm) last night when the Torch Relay(tm) passed through. Being a keen documenter of such things, I wasn't going to let the photo-opportunity go by, but somewhat to my surprise I found the whole event extremely good fun. Having seen the crowds that turned out elsewhere in the country it was no shock to see people setting their chairs up at the start of the Felixstowe section when I got home, having left work early on purpose. But I will admit to be impressed by the final turnout. From what we saw in the flesh and the photos of others it seems this was probably the best-attended event in town for a number of years. The superb weather was no doubt a contributing factor, stirring people from outside town to make the trip in (especially as the more touristy bits of east Suffolk like Southwold and Aldeburgh had been rain-struck earlier in the day) but there was a genuine buzz of interest from the crowd in the event itself rather than just a rent-a-mob feel from people who will watch anything if it goes past their house.

We had bands playing and church bells ringing along with all the offical hooplah (juggling acrobats and that sort of thing) before the Convoy(tm) arrived. I'd say that BMW(tm) have done very well out of the deal - supplying all the cars and Police bikes - but although the whole thing was heavily sponsored it didn't feel like overkill. Yes we got Samsung(tm), Coke(tm) and Lloyds-TSB(tm) trucks and buses coming through first giving out freebies, but they weren't as blatant about it as I was expecting. Pity only Coke were giving out product samples though - just imagine if Samsung handed out electrical goods or Lloyds-TSB offered pre-filled savings accounts or cheap mortgage deals to people in the crowd rather than just balloons and banners...

Having picked a town-centre spot with no shadows to spoil my pictures, by pure chance we ended up slap bang next to a flame exchange (or "kiss"(tm no doubt) as they are calling it) location. We also ended up with our designated "celebrity" for the day as the reciever at this point - 1988 gold medallist swimmer Adrian Moorhouse. Which was nice, and if you click through to Flickr on the picture above you can see much more of the whole shebang.

OK, after 45 days or so on the road you would expect them to have it all down pat by now, but it was indeed a very slick operation. But what impressd me most was that all the participants seemed to still be enjoying it. After a month and a half you could expect the Police to be a bit fed up of moving people out of the way, or the drivers to have had enough of crawling through town centres but everyone was sporting genuine unforced smiles, waving like loons and generally being caught up in the moment just as much as the crowd who were experiencing this for mostly the first and only time.

Has it stoked me up for the Games(tm) themselves? Not really, I was already planning to watch bits when I get the chance, and I'm not now scouring the interwebs for tickets as the whole getting there, security, etc seems like too much hassle for me. Especially with our weather prospects. But I am looking forward to them just as much as I was before, so at least I've not been disillusioned by the corporate sponsors.

The House In The Clouds

The House In The Clouds, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Things I like in Suffolk 2

Originally built as a Water Tower - the land owner chose this design as he didn't want an ugly edifice on his seaside estate - this is now holiday accommodation and by all accounts comes highly recommended. Thorpeness is a lovely little seaside village anyway, with the Meare to offer calmer waters for boating and one or two delightful little shops, but this place just makes it even more delightful. You can see it from miles around when approaching the village, but it is nicely tucked away in the trees away from the main drag for that added touch of seclusion. Plus there is also a well-restored windmill just across the path which was originally there to pump the water up in the first place.

I'm not sure I'd want to live there all the time, but should several gazillion pounds fall into my lap and enable a Grand Design type dream house, it would definitely have to have a tower or turret of some description. An elevated Library to look out on the world from, enabling flights of fancy or warm seclusion whatever the weather.

Things I Like In Suffolk

Eye Bus Shelter, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Er hello, yes, I'm still alive and just about kicking, only I've not had much to say of late. So, in an attempt to kickstart me again here's the first in what will hopefully be a series of entries on stuff I like in Suffolk. No rhyme or reason for what I've chosen, although it is likely that a few themes will become obvious when several entries are up.

1: Eye Bus Shelter

Eye is one of the pretty little market towns that we have a smattering of here in the east, featuring a massive church, ruined castle (technically a Victorian folly on a Norman mound, but we'll maybe get to that another time), nice pub, Ley Line and more. It also has the bus shelter pictured here.

Unique in design for Suffolk, it looks a lot better since a recent re-paint and suffers only from being in the wrong place. Buses travel along the road to the right of the white dashes at the edge of the picture, so have to swing across the junction to get to the stop. There are other shelters which time and the whims of bus companies have cut off from the nearest route, but nowhere do they come quite so close as this.

Pointless Post

When I was a wee nipper, I could never get my head around the adult addiction to things like The Magic Roundabout.  Not for the seemingly obvious reason that it was a "children's show" but because of the time it was shown.  I remember hearing about it being a success because it was on before the news, meaning all the adults got to watch it.  But the news was on at 5.45 (only later moving to 6) and surely no grown-up was home from work by then?  Certainly my Dad never was, and what other standard did I have to judge by?

After I left college and found myself in the world of work, the same pattern repeated.  Having ended up in retail I was rarely out of the shop before 6 and always then had a significant journey home to face.  In fact I'm not sure now how I managed the two years I spent working in Newmarket - a 110 mile round trip every day from Felixstowe, having to be there for 8 and not getting home until at least 7 most nights.  Even when I moved to the Council and got into flexi-time I was still rarely home before 6 - often due to picking MrsB up from work (she is still in the business of selling things) but more likely just because of getting the required number of hours in per day after starting at around 9.

Since our recent office move, however, things have changed.  Because parking up here is a bit limited, I have to get in fairly early to make sure I get a space.  That naturally means I have reached my hours total earlier too so can head home.  And even though the new site is further from our house, I now drive straight here rather than messing about with Park & Ride buses so each trip is 15-20 minutes shorter too.  Plus MrsB has had her hours changed and now finishes at 4 so we are both early birds.

All of which is a long-winded excuse for the fact that we seem to have become hooked on Pointless.  The BBC1 quiz shown before the news with Alexander Armstrong.  Admittedly half the fun is wondering where on earth they get some of the contestants from, but still...  I always have been a sucker for a good quiz show, loving to shout the answers at the telly before the teams manage it but this one is a bit of a barrel scraper.

Is there a cure other than working more?

All The Books Of 2011

All The Books Of 2011, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

As in previous years, let us kick off 2012 with all my reading matter from 2011. This includes audio books (in italics) and graphic novels (including those serialised in Clint Magazine).

Santa was kind enough to bring me a Kindle, and the SFX Star Wars guide right near the bottom is the first thing I have read on it. Not sure what it will do to my reading habits as yet, but I am enjoying the use of it.

As may be obvious from the list, I have still been listening to the works of Terry Pratchett a lot, but have thrown in Alistair Maclean to spread them out a bit now...

Mike Gayle Wish You Were Here
Terry Pratchett Hogfather
Bob Fischer Wiffle Lever To Full!
Richard Hammond and Andy Wilman What Not To Drive
Neil Gaiman et al 1602
Alistair Maclean HMS Ulysses
Stephen Fry The Fry Chonicles
Terry Pratchett Carpe Jugulum
Paul Magrs Doctor Who: Sick Building
Roland Chambers The Last Englishman: The Double Life Of Arthur Ransome
Neil Gaiman American Gods
Arthur Ransome Old Peter's Russian Tales
Alain De Botton A Week At The Airport
Grant Morrison and Klaus Janson Batman: Gothic
Terry Pratchett The Fifth Elephant
Bill Bryson Shakespeare
Terry Pratchett I Shall Wear Midnight
Alistair Maclean The Guns Of Navarone
Mark Millar, Steve McNiven etc Nemesis
Terry Pratchett The Truth
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix The Gaul
Stephen Smith Underground England
Magnus Mills The Maintenance Of Headway
Peter Benchley Jaws
Simon Garfield Just My Type
Mike Gayle Men At Work
Dean Regan Windmills Of Suffolk
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Golden Sickle
Martin Watts Windmills
Jason Barlow (Ed) Top Gear: 100 Sexiest Supercars Of All Time
Neil Gaiman et al Eternals
Terry Pratchett Thief Of Time
Jean M. Auel The Land Of Painted Caves
Alistair Maclean South By Java Head
Terry Pratchett The Last Hero
Greg Gutfeld Lessons From The Land Of Pork Scratchings
George Orwell 1984
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Goths
Peter Anghelides Doctor Who: Pest Control
Henning Mankell The Pyramid
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix The Gladiator
Roger Wardale Arthur Ransome Master Storyteller
Doug Moench, Paul Glacy and Terry Austin Batman: Prey
Terry Pratchett The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Banquet
Mike Gayle My Legendary Girlfriend
Emma Kennedy I Left My Tent In San Francisco
Ian Harrison The Thames: From Source To Sea
Alistair Maclean The Last Frontier
Mark Millar et al American Jesus, Volume 1
Simon Schama The American Future - A History
Mark Gatiss The Devil In Amber
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And Cleopatra
James May Notes From The Hard Shoulder
Denny O'Neil et al Batman: Vow From The Grave
Terry Pratchett Night Watch
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Big Fight
Arthur Ransome Swallowdale
Richard Hammond A Short History Of Caravans In The UK
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix In Britain
Herman Melville Moby Dick
Paul Brickhill Reach For The Sky: The Biography Of Douglas Bader
Colin Barker Ipswich Tramways
Tom Baker Who On Earth Is Tom Baker (Abridged)
Dan Brown Digital Fortress
Garth Ennis, Amanda Conner et al The Pro
Bill Bryson Mother Tongue
Arthur Ransome Racundra's First Cruise
Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano Sandman: The Dream Hunters
Terry Pratchett The Wee Free Men
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Normans
Rachel Hewitt Map Of A Nation
Arthur Ransome Peter Duck
Henning Mankell Faceless Killers
Alistair Maclean Night Without End
Denny O'Neil et al Batman: Challenge Of The Man-Bat
Chris Jones Too Far From Home
Mark Gatiss Black Butterfly
Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix The Legionary
David and Leigh Eddings The Redemption Of Althalus
Stewart Copeland Strange Things Happen
Mike Gayle Turning Thirty
Simon Singh Fermat's Last Theorem
Bill Bryson The Lost Continent
Stieg Larsson The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Arthur Ransome Winter Holiday
John Lloyd and John Mitchinson The QI Book Of The Dead
Jonathan Ross, Tommy Lee Edwards and John Workman Turf
Arthur Ransome Coot Club
Alistair Maclean Fear Is The Key
ReneGoscinny and Albert Uderzo Asterix And The Chieftain's Shield
Tim Severin In Search Of Moby Dick
Terry Pratchett Monstrous Regiment
Stieg Larsson The Girl Who Played With Fire
Richard Hammond Or Is That Just Me?
Arthur Ransome Pigeon Post
Paul Brickhill The Dambusters
Simon Garfield Mini
Bill Bryson Notes From A Small Island
Stieg Larsson The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest
Neil Gaiman Fragile Things
Joe Moran On Roads
SFX SFX's Unnoficial Star Wars DVD Viewer's Guide
Arthur Ransome We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea
Terry Pratchett Snuff

What books wil 2012 hold?

Happy New Year

Illuminati, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

Er, hello!

Been a busy few weeks what with Christmas and having to put a new floor down in our dining room (curses on the previous occupants, praises to Our Lords of Black and Decker for their marvellous power tools and workmate) as well as moving office at the start of the month and just life in general getting in the way.

Anyway, hope everyone had a happy holiday and here's to 2012. When I hope to be a bit f a better blogger...

Empty Rooms

Our office is a bit like the Marie Celeste these days.  Half of those who used to work here have been shipped out to new locations, and about a quarter of the others took the money and ran so those of us who remain are rattling round somewhat.  At the time of writing, there are only three of us making use of the 20 desks I can see from my perch.  Still, we are being shipped out to a different office ourselves soon where it will all be noise and crowds again.  In fact so crowded that the 30 in our team are only being allocated 23 desks, so we will have to rely on holidays, sickness, study and site visits to ensure that we never all need to be in at once.  Worse still, it is out on the edge of town rather than in the centre, so my lunchtime wanderings are not going to be as interesting - although presumably not so expensive either.  Although we will be right next door to ASDA.

As such we are going through another orgy of archiving or chucking stuff out.  It always amazes me how much junk manages to accumulate over a short space of time.  Partly through the previous unreliability of our networks driving people to print and file every email they receive.  Folders and folders of them litter the desks, shelves and cupboards and never actually get referred to again.  Maybe one day the paperless office will become a reality, but I can't see it for a few years yet.


Anyway, that's all I've really got to say today.  Just want to add that if you've ever (a) read a book or (b) bought a book you'll probably enjoy Jen Campbell's blog, and if you do then she's doing a great poetry project to raise some money for a worthwhile charity here.

Communal Comedy

Got a bit of an insight into two different aspects of life last night - communal living and political activism.  Josie Long's Alternative Reality Tour came to the Old Hall commune in East Bergholt and we went along to be entertained and educated.  The tour is visiting places that don't normally get on the normal touring map, and is being organised largely through word of mouth and twittering.  A bit more organised than Amanda Palmer's "Ninja gigs" but along the same line.

I had completely forgotten there was an active commune in the birthplace of Constable (and Tory safe seat!) but they have been living in Old Hall since the 70s and all seem to be doing well on it.  I think most of the residents were there for the show along with as handful of us outsiders - we were made welcome and didn't feel like we were intruding on their home.  The idea of communal living has never really appealed to me.  Being thrown in with strangers at college was strange enough so I'm not sure I could handle life with more than just the immediate family (i.e. Mrs B) around.  Heck, some days I get annoyed by the next door  neighbour popping in (or indeed, just being on the other side of the fence when we are in the garden).

Still, the concepts of living as susatinably as possible, raising your own food, helping each other out and generally being nice to one another are all ones I fully endorse.  Good luck to one and all - not that they seem to need it.

The show itself was superb.  I've been a fan of Josie for a while through the Utter Shambles podcasts she does with Robin Ince, Twitter and other places - although not actually seen her perform before.  That's something I still haven't quite got used to in this interconnected modern world - being able to know a lot about someone, appreciate their humour/message/whatever without ever having actually experienced what they do most of the time.  In this sort of field it goes far beyond, say, liking a band's music but not owning any of their records or having been to see them live.

Part of the ethos for this tour is "anti-cuts" and trying to get people inspired to find alternatives to the budget slashing going on around us right now and take action against it.  With both of us working in the public sector and being under constant threat of being the victim of the cuts I'm right behind this.  And if you can make people laugh at the same time then so much the better in my book.  The venue was just right for the message (in fact we were in the old chapel (now de-consecrated) rather than just loose in the hall) with a teeny stage and a few standard lamps, leaving us free to concentrate on the matter in hand.  I had thought about taking a camera to capture the moment but decided against it in the end as I know I would have ended up more bothered by angles and framing rather than being part of the audience.

As with the communists (!) I'm not sure I could ever get as directly involved in taking action - always a bit paranoid about unforeseen consequences - but fully support those who do.  I have the convictions but not the courage I guess.  Having followed the student protests, UKuncut occupations etc it was fascinating to hear more from someone who'd been on the inside.

We also had sublime music from Aisha and Grace Petrie and a bit more comedy from Tom.

All told, a great way to spend an evening at a remarkably reasonable cost (i.e. free!).  If you get the chance, catch one of the rest of the tour dates.

What we did on our holidays

Canary Wharf Complex, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

OK, so it is nearly two weeks back at work now, but it was very nice to have a couple of weeks off at the start of the month.

As may be reasonably obvious from this picture, we did have a day in London amongst the excursions. This time we did two thirds of the National Maritime Museum (i.e. the museum itself and the Queen's House). Both of those were excellent and I can highly recommend the 16" West bistro at the museum too. We ran out of energy at that point though so the Observatory is left on the list for another visit. Hopefully one with better weather as, to be frank, it chucked it down for a lot of the day. Which made the river bus back to Westminster a rather damp experience. Great views though and a surprisingly fast cruise.

Other days out included plane and tram museums, assorted buildings in the heritage open days scheme, local delights of Aldeburgh and Bury St Edmunds and a couple of walks on the beach.

We also used a few days clearing and rebuilding our bedroom, with a new carpet thrown in during the process. All fun and games.

Pictures of all of that can be found in the usual place (click on Canary Wharf then have a rummage around!).

What surprised me most though was how much I have struggled to get back into things on returning to work. After a couple of days catching up on emails it was theoretically into the new job, but in actual fact things are much as before. We hardly see our new boss, have been given no clues as to whether we should still be doing the same stuff and are generally floundering around looking for jobs to tide us over. Assuming there will be a big change coming of course.

There are increasing rumours that we will be moving office, and went up to see the new place the other day. Not that impressed with the building (small and already crowded, with no room for more people I could see and no space for more cars to park either) or it being out of town, so no decent lunchtime wandering to be had.

All of which leaves me feeling just as unsettled as I was before knowing I still had a job and what it was.

And lo September arrived and a new era dawned. Or, yesterday I couldn't even spell Engynear and now I are one!

After 5 months or so of consultation, discussion, uncertainty, drip-feed of information, interviews and worry we find ourselves in a new working structure today. All intended to make us a leaner and meaner organisation realising large savings and get us into shape for another restructuring, joint working company or straightforward sell-off to the private sector in 2013. In theory I now have new managers at the two levels above my direct supervisor (who hasn't changed) and a whole bunch of new colleagues shuffled around from different teams in the old way of thinking.

In practice I am sat on my own at my usual desk with emptiness all around due to most of the rest of the new team being on holiday and a large chunk of the old having moved out to new locations. And I have a new job title to put in my email signature or on letters should I get any that need answering today. Yesterday I was a Senior Passenger Transport Infrastructure Officer while now I am a Project Development Engineer. But I'm still doing the same work as far as I can tell.

I'm sure it will all work out soon enough, but right now I feel at a bit of a loose end with nothing concrete to be getting on with and a feeling that I ought to be getting some Engineering skills training. Not that I might ever use it, but now I've got the job title I feel I ought to get the knowledge.

Still, only got today and tomorrow to fumble through then I'm off for two weeks much needed break myself. No doubt everything will become clearer when I get back. And MrsB is in town today so I'll be meeting her for lunch.

Into the Groove

Into the Groove, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

I know I've been lax with this recently. Still can't think of anything earth-shattering to write, so here's part one of somehting I satrted a couple of years ago and really ought to get on with. Maybe publishing this bit will spur me on.

Music has provided the background to my life for as long as I can remember as well as being the focus for a number of key moments. If I’m not deliberately listening to something then I still have music running through my head (sometimes even when I am listening to something I’ll get another song intrude). I can’t shut it off. Sometimes it gets distracting when I want to concentrate but I’d rather have it there than not.

There was always music in our house, usually Dad’s choice of whatever he fancied (often classical but also lots of stuff from the 60s) and this wasn’t confined to the living room. I know my brother and I both had large valve radios we used to listen to, complete with little diamond shape stickers plastered over the front to indicate where each station could be found – no presets back then! Mine was attached to the underside of an old breakfast bar installed in my room as a large desk. Known as “the bar” until we moved out of the house it served as base for a thousand lego creations, half-written stories, airfix kits and was somewhere for homework to be tackled. But most importantly it was big enough to put a pair of speakers on and still leave room to use the rest. Sometime after the original transplant from the kitchen the bar gained an annex. A white conti-board construction, featuring one shelf just underneath the level of the bar and three open sections underneath used for storage. Two of them got filled with comics and magazines but what went on the shelf meant the third section got reserved.

My own record player. A Garrard 401 or 404 if memory serves. And with it a Pye integrated radio/amp/cassette player and all linked up to the speakers on the bar. The tape player in the Pye was later condemned to idleness by the arrival of a Panasonic tape deck with proper recording level controls and everything.

I’m not sure how Ma & Pa managed it as I remember getting the kit as a birthday present very clearly. As was traditional at the time presents were given out downstairs straight after breakfast and among other stuff that time has erased I unwrapped three LPs: K-Tel compilation “Music Explosion” (Seasons In The Sun, Kung-Fu Fighting and 20 others), David Essex – Rock On and the inevitable classical selection “Rock Gently with Beethoven, Bach and Brahms”. Anyway, on going back upstairs I found the kit to play them on all nicely set up and ready to rock – Dad must have done it while I was having breakfast or something.

The interwebs tell me that Music Explosion was a 1974 release with the other two from 1973. So I would imagine this birthday was therefore either 1976 or 1977. I can’t imagine getting all that kit at age 4 in 1975 but at the same time can’t remember not having my own reproduction equipment so am not going to sweat on the details. I do remember the lectures on how to look after everything, cleaning the records before use (hello the EMItex cloth and Dust Bug), only holding them by their edges and so forth. That certainly left an impression as I have vivid memories of being a little know-it-all explaining to friends that their Dad’s records skipped because of all the finger prints be-smearing the surfaces. And at primary school we always went in to assembly to a record being played by a carefully selected duo of kids from the oldest class. When it finally got to be my turn I brought the EMItex in and cleaned all the records for the first time in years.

As well as the instructions to look after them, something else about the way Dad kept his records must have rubbed off as well. Until the mid 80s the albums were stored in the “bar annex” in the order I got them. Complete with a little red sticker in the top left corner with the number of acquisition on (these came from a Sasco year-planner which arrived one Christmas and was never used other than as a source of stickers, I later upgraded to letraset directly applied to the sleeve for anything with a light enough background). Unfortunately at some point this chronological system was replaced with a shift to storing alphabetically by artist and then within each artist in order of release; the stickers were removed and the letraset scratched off and all I have now is a bunch of scarred sleeves to testify to the old ways. They were all catalogued in a notebook as well, complete with track listings and carefully copied band and record label logos, which I wish I still had but has also been lost along the way. Probably when it got replaced by a database on the ZX Spectrum which has been continually updated and replaced via Atari ST and has now moved on to the PC.

That means that although I can make some good guesses I can’t be sure exactly of what albums followed the initial three. By the time I moved up to secondary school in September 1982 there were three sets from Geoff Love and his orchestra adapting themes from tv and film sci-fi into a disco style, a rip-off of the Star Wars soundtrack by an outfit known as The Sonic All-Stars (this is the first album I can remember buying with my own money), the real soundtrack to Return Of The Jedi, a Monkees collection on Music For Pleasure (I’ve just looked and it carried no release date), some Abba, some Madness and Dare from the Human League. But what order they arrived in can only be guessed at by the dates they hit the shops. Scattered in amongst this lot, and with the first two albums definitely being acquired the wrong way round (probably a Christmas present for the second followed by the first two months later as a birthday present), were the four albums released up to that point by the band I could not get enough of.

Too much information?

Ransome Boats, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

So when, exactly, does an interest tip over to become an obsession?

I am currently reading Arthur Ransome's "Racundra's First Cruise", a tale of sailing on the Baltic just after the First World War. It is a book I've been wanting to read for some 30+ years since I first noticed it listed in the front of one of the Swallows and Amazons series. Not continually I should add, interest has waxed and waned over that time, and even now it has sat on the shelf for over four months before I could bring myself to make a start. Anticipation being part of the pleasure of any book for me. But, a quick count up reveals I now have 24 books by or about Ransome with a couple more sat on my Amazon wish list... (Oh, and the Swallows and Amazons film on DVD plus audio versions of 8 books, a radio play and a documentary and have also been aboard three of his yachts - as pictured above).

That's not the highest tally for any one author (f'rinstance Terry Pratchett has reached number 38 in the Discworld series plus there are all the other non-Discworld books, spin-offs, graphic novel versions etc) but I'm not sure that counts as obsessive. Just following the works of a good author. I'm thinking more about what level of interest goes beyond this.

I used to think I was well up on Human Origins, with 8 or 9 books on the subject (and one or two more I'd borrowed from the library) but that's really nothing to the Space Programme (15) or Maps (20+) or Transport in general (over 50 - heck I seem to have accumulated at least 20 books by Top Gear presenters or spun-off from the magazine). But is this normal behaviour?

OK, I know that compared to much of the population even owning one book doesn't count as normal, but among those who do have a shelf or two?

Whatver the answer, I'm not going to stop now, even if I do need to get some books on carpentry and work out the best way to knock up some more shelves...

On the Telly

Beach from the pier, a photo by The original SimonB on Flickr.

OK, I know I've talked about the thrill of seeing somewhere familiar in the tellybox before, but ITV have taken it to a new level this week with Injustice, a "psychological thriller" stripped across all five days and largely shot in and around, well, here. Written by Suffolk local Anthony Horowitz, we have a lawyer and his family enjoying life by the sea in our delightful County. Except they are not explicit about much of this in the script, and certainly take a few liberties with reality. So I'm having fun spotting what is masquerading as where and trying to work out the bits I don't recognise at all. And of course while I know that this sort of thing goes on all the time (e.g. Cardiff being the entire universe in Doctor Who) it does reinforce the message that you can't use tv drama as a tourist guide when planning a holiday. The only other major show we have had up here of late was the dramatisation of the Ipswich Murders (Five Daughters) which was shot in Bristol to avoid upsetting the residents too much, but did feature some beautiful establishing and wide shots of the town as well as actual news footage from the time. This time we have also been mercifully free from bad attempts at Suffolk accents, unlike when Inspector Linley had a mystery to solve in "Suffolk" once (but with no recognisable geography).

Anyway, for those thinking about coming up to Suffolk on the strength of the locations, here's my reasonably spoiler-free rough guide to what is where (or where it definitely isn't):

Let us start with the house of Dervla Kirwan and James Purefoy. The town they live in is not specified other than it being coastal and with Ipswich being their mainline station/local court for him to work at. However, it is definitely Southwold as the pier and beach feature prominently, along with a few shots of beach huts.

Here in Felixstowe we had bad guys living on one of the static caravan parks down by the docks, and a long sequence showing our sea front in all its faded glory. They managed to make it very confusing by digitally dropping in some tower blocks (which play a key part in the plot). As you can see from the picture above, they really aren't there...

Staying in Felixstowe we have the station building here pretending to be the outside of Ipswich Station (with big Welcome to Ipswich signs just to prove the point). Of course they couldn't use the bit of our station where trains actually stop as we only have one small platform now, cut off from the still-impressive building as seen on TV by the car park. In real life, our station building now houses a few small shops, a community radio station, a pub, a cafe and the entrance to a supermarket. Still, they did use the car park as a car park, so that bit was real! No idea where the platforms they filmed at were though, didn't look like any I am familiar with and the few glimpses of trains seen were not ones that run around here either.

The bus we saw leaving from "Ipswich" station in episode 1 was indeed a genuine Ipswich Buses vehicle, even if they don't actually run to Framlingham (in fact there isn't a direct service from the station either). Mind you, the bus stop in the middle of nowhere certainly wasn't one of mine (I'd have made them one special and everything if they'd asked) and the flag was poorly positioned on the pole, probably breaking traffic signs regulations.



Bits I haven't identified include: The court building (definitely not Ipswich Crown Court, and not another building around town I recognise), the police station (again, not Ipswich or the force HQ at Martlesham) and the young offenders institute (although that is no doubt meant to represent Warren Hill at Hollesley Bay). Fields driven through in the middle of nowhere could well be local, although some of them seemed a bit too hilly to me... And of course while lots of the London locations were very recognisable there was also much that I probably wouldn't recognise if you dropped me there.


Mrs B, however, is just upset that Dervla was in town and she didn't get to see her... And you can see it all on the ITV plyer for next few weeks.