All about timing

Another four year wait then...

;o)

You know you're old (part 94)

I realised that every item of clothing I had on - with the sole exception of my cufflinks - is from Marks and Spencer...

You can almost hear the male menopause - along with the inapproriate purchase of leather trousers to regain lost youth - approaching...

Website of the week

Do you ever wonder where you could find someone who looked like Kenny Rogers?

Thankfully there are professionals.

Doing what you can

Well last night wasn't my normal Friday night - I was sat in a church listening to a black former Zimbabwean international cricketer sign Nessum Dorma. I've just thoroughly enjoyed An Evening with Henry Olonga.

I saw Henry Olonga play in the 1999 Cricket World Cup - always an erratic bowler his first spell had been pretty poor. He then came on, took 3 wickets in an over, bowling India out and handing Zim the victory. At the 2003 World Cup he and Andy Flower wore black armbands to highlight the situation in Zim - at great personal cost to them both.

Now based in the UK I'd heard Henry speak and sing a few years ago. Funny, articulate and passionate I was impressed with how he came across - and even more surprised with the beauty of his singing voice. Now pursing a musical career, he continues to raise awareness about the situation in Zim.

Last evening - organised by the charity Tearfund who are doing a lot of work in the country - beautifully mixed song, humour and cricket as well as continuing to highlight the problems in Zim. With several ex-pats in the audience (there is a large SA & Zim community in SW London) some moments were very poignant - during one song the woman next to me was weeping - but there was also humour. At one point Henry's comment to the Zims in the audience "do you remember growing up when we used to laugh at Zambia" brought some chuckles (trust me, if you're African it is one of those funny truisms) as did the joke about the name of Idi Amin's boat? Idi-yacht.

As Henry said, he didn't feel he could contribute much to solving the situation in Zim back in 2003 when he and Andy Flower made their stance - but he did what he could. A thought for us all.

Old Mother Hubbard?

This is the current state of my fridge.

I need to get to out more...

...if nothing else...

...to buy some groceries.

Website of the week

I've been a bit lax with these of late. Anyway...

...if we campaign enough perhaps this could be in the 2012 Olympics.

Elgar and the the Apostles

Last night spent a lovely evening in the wonderful surroundings of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Albans listening to the Hertfordshire Chorus perform The Apostles by Elgar.

It's a work that I don't think is performed too often - the need for 6 soloists, a full choir and orchestra suggest it's quite a project for a choral group to tackle.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening - good company and an interesting piece beautifully performed in a very appropriate location.

Bah, humbug...

;o)

Enjoy the video below - from the ever reliable and thought provoking people at PostSecret.

You know you're geting old when...

Got the following text yesterday - this is exactly what it said, punctuation, spaces and all.

That gr8 news!luk4wad2it!v.xtid!hopeurok:-)

It took me about 5 minutes to work it out...

Surf's up?

The weather is still glorious as I have a wander around the seaside town of Bournemouth. First stop is the slightly strange Russell-Cotes Museum.

It's the sort of museum that Britain does well - small and basically a collection of eclectic stuff that a couple of perhaps slightly eccentric Victorians gathered on their travels. With lots of paintings, pottery and knick-knacks it is a lovely little place to waddle around. That it "is a combination of Italianate villa and Scottish Baronial set in grounds incorporating a Japanese garden" adds to its charm. I head down into the town and then take a stroll along the pier and the sea front - on a cool, crisp, sunny winter's morning its a lovely place to be.

For the past couple of days I'd been staying at the Urban Beach Hotel - an achingly trendy 'boutique hotel' which has had great things written about it in the Times, Guardian, and Elle. It's lovely - the rooms are the nicest I've stayed in for a while - but I'm not sure, and I don't think it is either, whether it's a small hotel with a great bar, or a great bistro bar with rooms attached. It's in Boscombe rather than Bournemouth proper, and has a laid back surf theme. The fact that the surf is minimal on this part of the south coast doesn't actually matter - currently there are plans to build an artificial reef in the sea which will create more surf. Even without that I did manage to spot some hardy surfers in the morning. If you're looking for somewhere different to stay on the south coast, you could do a lot worse.

Refreshed after a brief break, I head back to west London.

A place by the sea

A stunning crisp and sunny day greets me as I head out along parts of the South Coast I probably haven't seen since I was a small boy, if indeed at all. First up is Poole.

Driving around Sandbanks - the really posh bit of the south coast and apparently some of the most expensive real estate on the planet - I can see why Harry Redknapp didn't take the Newcastle job. The north east is lovely, but on a beautiful sunny day the views across Poole Harbour are difficult to beat. Bizarrely, whilst driving around Poole Bay on such a crispy, clear and sunny winter's morning I'm somewhat reminded of Vancouver...

After a pootle around Poole - really strangely Poole High Street has a level crossing slap in the middle of it - and coffee and cake at the lovely LopLop Gallery Cafe, I head further around the coast. Unfortunately I can't go to the ghost village of Tyneham - well it is in the middle of a military firing range - but end up in Swanage.

There is something bittersweet about visiting coastal towns out of season. The delight of having the place almost to yourself on such a beautiful day is tempered by the thought that the place has seen better times. Swanage is a beautiful location and must have been amazing to have seen in its heyday when the train unloaded all the holidaymakers. It still retains a charm, but given you can fly across Europe for cheaper than a return train fare from London to Gatwick, it's fair to say that it's unlikely Swanage - like many once great seaside resorts - will see the glory days again.

Howard's Way?

Decide to head out of the city for a couple of days and down to a part of the country I've never been to before, the New Forest and East Dorset.

Potter around Lymington for a while and take in the delightful St Barbe Museum. It's the sort of wonderful local museum that small towns throughout the UK do so well - often supported by groups of hearty volunteers.

It's never going to be a glamorous uber-museum but it's a lovely, well kept small museum full of local history and I warmly recommend it should you ever find yourself in the area. There are also numerous coffee shops in which to refresh afterwards - one of the observations the museum makes is that there are now more coffee shops on Lymington High Street than pubs, a major social change of the past 10 years!

The area is obviously where significant parts of the UK yachting set head to - not a social strata I'm exactly familiar with. Hey I was brought up in Birmingham, not exactly a coastal area!

Head a bit further down the coast. A bracing stroll gives lovely views across to foreign parts - well, the Isle of Wight - and the Needles are clearly visible on the horizon. Continue down the coast and head to where I've booked to stay.

The Secret of Life...

... is a good cup of coffee.

Slightly unexpectedly I head off to The Borderline to see Gretchen Peters live. Doubt you will have heard of her - so the obtuse reference above to one of her songs is doubly pointless - but she is a Nashville singer songwriter and you may have heard one of her songs at some point.

The support act is Edwina Hayes an acoustic/folk singer songwriter from Yorkshire. She has a wonderful voice and a lovely sense of humour. "Most of my songs are pretty depressing. They're all about either unrequited love, falling for someone whose not interested or having a crush on someone", she says with a wonderful laugh.

Gretchen claims she is under the weather but she - along with her excellent keyboard player - deliver a wonderful set. Again there is a good use of humour between the songs. Overall a lovely concert highlighting the delightful talents of two excellent female singer songwriters.

End the night with friends watching a gripping Superbowl match. The Patriots - so near to the perfect season...

Eventually a long Sunday ends...

Mind the gap

Been a busy and full week. Various things happening at work which are requiring a bit of thought and judgement - always a challenge.

Have a visitor for a couple of nights so tried a bit of London culture on them. Heading over the Thames to the South Bank we get to see the wonderful view that London has to offer from one of several bridges - I've been in London for a number of years but seeing the view always still impresses.

We head to Tate Modern and admire the crack in the floor- Shibboleth. Is it art? Well if it is, then the UK motorway network must be the biggest piece of art installation in the world. The visitor seems intrigued by the crack - we head upstairs and see Henri Matisse's Snail but my visitor is less impressed.

I like it - it's one of my favourite pieces in the Tate. Guess it's just me and my 'fancy London ways'....