the basement of my brain

Spot the difference (ooh-ah ooh-ah, me hearties)

2006-06-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not there are TEN differences between these two pictures. See if you can find them all.

Down, down in the basement/ We hear the sound of machines

2006-06-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Time for my quarterly post.

I looked in my diary today and to my surprise saw that next Friday bears the inscription "4pm Quatermass". I puzzled over this for a moment or two having no recollection of planning to watch Quatermass before suddenly realising that I'd actually written "4pm Quarter Final 1". My handwriting is obviously getting worse.

Otherwise however, things are good. To sum up...

i) I have become a bit of fan of David Lynch, having watched the entirety of Twin Peaks (and Fire Walk With Me). I am now trying to watch many of the films

ii) This has been halted somewhat by the football

iii) My favourite bit of punditry so far preceded the Angola/Mexico game, when the cigarette-smoking Mexican coach was being discussed. The commentator said; "Ricardo Lavolpe will of course be remembered long after the World Cup is over as he looks, and talks, and sounds .... like a pirate"

iv) I have been listening to Talking Heads a lot - I find it excellent car music

v) Despite continued funding, I am moving back from NI in mid August and will probably be moving to Lincolnshire or somewhere nearby. No job yet, but I am working on it...

Pip-pip.

Lest I be lost

2006-04-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Arrgh! I've heard rumours of a "crackdown" Don't pull the plug on me O Rambling one - I'm still alive. I'M STILL ALIVE! I missed the Sign Zone repeat of the final episonde of Life on Mars (thinking unthinkingly that Tuesday am happens after Tuesday night) - so I am stuck in limbo, still not allowed closure to the tale. It haunts my every waking moment and has prevented me from dedicating my time to my blog. Honest guv.

Anyway, saw a feature on explorers in the Independent on Sunday and was surprised by a picture of Nansen which reminded me of me (or Simon Pegg)

Whaddyareckon?
A friend claims I resemble "well-known Polish strategist Zabrowski"

But maybe I'd rather just think I look like this - go Nansen! Go! ...

...

2006-03-22T14:28:00.000-08:00

Oh, and in other news, Grace is coming to stay to work for a couple of months - hooray! So you can't expect me to be updating every day...

Spring(steen) is sprung/ Frogspawn in the USA

2006-03-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

Wintertime has gone and the summer won't be long,
the birds are singin in the trees...

Yes, those pretty daffodils are assuredly awakening, raising their tiny heads to the smiling sun - in fact, there's a hot sun beatin' on the black top and it's Springsteen time again! This morning I found my heart somewhat lifted - gone, my autumnal and wintry (some night say taseful) tastes, now my heart yearns for nothing more than loud, wedding-band rock.

Let's go!

CHORUS
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart

My 23rd post... hmmm

2006-03-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hard to explain quite why I've been silent since Christmas time - probably just laziness (although I've just noticed this is my 23rd post - coincidence?).

Anyway, I have just (nearly) finished a week in which I was inspected at work but the week before that I was on half term in Tallinn which, as you Eurovision buffs will know, is the capital of Estonia. Fantastic place - stayed in the well-preserved, medieval olde towne (which was built in ancient times). It reminded me of those great towns in Final Fantasy IV (I'm sure at least one of you knows what I mean...) but I didn't find any treasure, eating and drinking were more interesting and I didn't once have to dress up as a guard or merchant.

On the last night I did some karaoke in a tiny bar. As it was the eve of a national holiday celebrating (the first) Estonian indepedence the owner brought out a bottle of local vodka which was passed round. Shortly after I fulfilled my dream and sang Like a Rolling Stone (the song, not in a manner similar to Keith Richards), the whole long snarling lot. To my surprise it went down well and I was encouraged to do another. After much thought I somewhat randomly chose CCR's classic Bad Moon Rising - as I was singing it I became very embarrased that its apocalyptic lyrics were not entirely appropriate to the local feelings of optimism and celebration. Still, I was not chased out of the bar.

Has anyone else been watching Life on Mars? I watched each episode except the penultimate one and then somehow missed the last 15 mins of the final episode - very irritating as I was quite hooked by it and now have to wait til April whien it is repeated in the Sign Zone in the middle of the night. Don't tell me how it ended - although I see there is to be a second series with the same characters so that tells you something...

Babble babble babble...

The season of good jeer

2005-12-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

All is quiet out here in Blogland. I thought I'd break the silence and holler out my news.

My term has finished - last night was the office party - and I am returning back to Wiltshire tonight. I have been valiantly fighting a horrible cold for the last week so am looking forward to being able to sleep in, laze about, see my parents and have meals cooked for me!

I am mostly listening to Veneer by Jose Gonzalez - have you heard his stuff? I know every up-and-coming introspective guitarist is inaccurately hailed as 'The New Nick Drake', but for once such claims would seem slightly more justifiable - well, no that's rubbish he's not The New Drake but he is a damnably fine guitarist and songwriter. Listen...
i) Heartbeats
ii) Stay in the Shade
iii) Hints

Buy it here - go on, it's cheap and jolly good.

In other news, as it is the season of good jeer, I am, perhaps foolishly, growing a Goatee. It is looking slightly less rubbish than it did yesterday...

Ever a man of my word...

2005-12-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Having promised Tom a recording of these for some time (some stuff we did when he came to visit (about 3 months now :-S)), I finally got my arse into gear and worked out a way to send them (which doesn't even involve going outside to post them!)...

The quality isn't great - think I need new cables - but you get the idea.

The Maiden's classic Alexander The Great

A bit of Springsteen; Atlantic City (inspired by The Band)

and finally, a good old Irish folk tune which I heard a bloke singing in Dingle - The Rare Old Times.

All (c) Copyright 2005, Perrin/Whiting (oh and Harris, Springsteen & trad...)

Iron & Wine

2005-12-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Iron & Wine and Calexico are well worth listening to. I would encourage you all to buy their excellent albums (such as 'Our Endless Numbered Days' or 'Feast of Wire'). They have recently combined forces and a live set of their excellent album 'In the Reins' can be found here...

I dreamt of The Darkness

2005-12-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased The Darkness's new album "One Way Ticket To Hell ... And Back". It has a very dodgy Meat Loaf-esque cover...

Anyway, I've listened to it quite a lot over the past 5 days, mainly in the car. Just this evening, however, I was listening to it while cooking and was surprised to suddenly recall that I the last time I'd heard the sublimely ridiculous 'Hazel Eyes' was last night in a dream (I think I was raving about it to my dad). This song, in case you have not yet had the pleasure, starts with the great line; 'I hail from the flat lands of East Anglia' and has obviously sunk deep into my psyche...

And the rest of the album? Well, it rocks but will probably not win over any new fans. It's not all hilarious and there are perhaps fewer firm classics than on Permission to Land. However, certain aspects delighted and continue to delight me -
i) the use of electric-sitar simulator for solo on One way Ticket
ii) the frankly epic Springsteen/Polecats/Zevon-esque 'Hunh!'which precedes a huge guitar solo on 'Dinner Lady Arms'
iii) the fact that, like the Trews, they have obviously learnt the lessons of these veritable Rock Giants
iv) oh and all the songs and solos and stupidity - great stuff

I was going to trawl their website for a sample but it seems to be down at the moment...

In other news:

- I now have new glasses which I see are called Maverick
- I have had people cussing me since I started wearing the glasses, saying I'm just so damn unpredictable. The old glasses, you see, made me look decidedly German - almost like an Ice Man.
- I've just decided to update more briefly and more often
- Yay, and it shall be done

They call him Flipper...

2005-10-31T03:48:00.000-08:00

Well, they actually call him Adam. His entertaining anecdotes can be found here -

http://ealingtragedy.blogspot.com/

(I'll put a proper link up when I've got time to work out how to do so again).
I was, incidentally, delighted to hear about Cley-next-to-the-sea, which will always hold a special place in my basement.

As some of you know, I am currently in England on a half term break for Halloween. This meant that I was able to meet people in London over the weekend - which was great. Jolly jolly to see you all. However, I am now feeling slightly under the weather - and, let's face it, there's a lot of weather at this time of year, especially in Cambridge. Actually this can probably be traced to Ayingerbrau beer.

Talking of Ayingerbrau, I was dismayed to find that the 'man in a box' whose jolly features cheered up many a visit to the bar is under threat. Sam Smiths are phasing him out. Don't stand by idly and let this happen. Visit http://www.ayingerbrau.co.uk/mitb.asp for more details and to sign the petition!

Must fly.

Like a phoenix rising up from the ashes...

2005-10-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Gadzooks - didya think I was dead?

Damn you, you people who spam comment - and thank you anonymous for your message about music therapists' holidays - I have in fact been back for some time but have been so staggeringly, jaw-droppingly busy that I have simply not had time to write a single word here. (Believe that if you want) Anyway, anon, you have prompted me to write again...

So - what've I been up to?
I think I'll ignore the last couple of months and just write about the present...

Had a deeply scatty day today. I realised at lunchtime that I had forgotten my lunch which I had lovingly and carefully cooked the night before and (nearly, oh-so-nearly) packed. Then, walking across to my car I realised that I was not wearing my smart work shoes but my slightly shabby trainers. I think I got away with it...

On my way home saw buses passing with the usual signs - Aghadalgon, Moira, Legaterriff and then - to my surprise and curious delight - Megaberry!

I've been mostly listening to Sufjan Stevens' Illinois. Superb album - I just hope he goes ahead with his plan to write an album for each of the american states (he's done two so far and Illinois allegedly took him 3 years to research...). We can but wait. Perhaps that should be my motto for this blog.

Brinkmanship

2005-08-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

... I am off on holiday again today, flying to Bucharest via Manchester and Milan. True to form I left the packing to the last moment and am just finishing it now (just finishing washing clothes for it in fact), hoping to go to bed before my taxi arrives at 5.40 (am). I love an all-nighter. Perhaps I should just give up all thoughts of bed and embrace the situation with double-heaped coffee, champagne and candy-floss.

On second thoughts, perhaps not.

I will be unlikely to write here again until August 15th. Best wishes to all and Happy Birthday to Adam!

Git

2005-07-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Grrrr. Just watching TOTP and have found that that damn song ('Beautiful') by James Blunt is number 1. I heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago and it irritated me almost beyond belief - I only find it more irritating now. If anybody hasn't yet had the joy of hearing it, the plot of the song (which, incidentally, sounds a bit like David Gray-style Ryan Adams) is as follows - guy has perfect life and pure love. One day he goes on train, sees girl (sorry, sees 'angel') on tube with another man, presumed boyfriend. Protagonist says says not bothered by this as has 'plan'... Sings that this angel is beautiful a lot. Song ends sadly as 'it's time to face the truth' and man realises he'll never be with girl. No plan materialises.

I think this bloke is the new de Burgh.

2005-07-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

As often, as my more sharp-sighted and quick-witted readers will have noticed, a great silence recently fell upon this little blogspot. This is because I have been on holiday, far from my computer and enjoying myself in the sunshine paradise of Eire.

I left Belfast last Friday and drove down to Dublin. This journey should only have taken a couple of hours but a slight miscalculation left me beside a tiny fishing port just over the border 3 hours after leaving Belfast. I kept driving, optimistically supposing that the city was almost in sight, until the road ran out.

Dublin itself, when I eventually arrived, was enjoyable. Spent the night in a scruffy B&B near the centre and enjoyed seeing the world of Ulysses through Guinness-tinted spectacles. Was expecting a few more reminders of it; you know, perhaps a big frozen horse, or a statue of Homer or something, but there you go...

After Dublin I drove down to Limerick and then on down to the Southwest. This took a while, understandably, but was well worth the effort. Found myself in a little town just south of the stunning Killarney National Park - all lush yet mountainous with crystalline lakes all framed, as luck would have it, under a big blue sky.

---- (2 days after draft saved) Have to cut this short - as you English say, 'I must fly', this time to France to see my parents for an extended weekend... Hmmmm. Anyway, briefly, main highlights of rest of trip were: lots of Guinness; lots and lots of excellent music (of the trad Irish variety - yes, ok, folk); Galway in general; swimming and jellyfish dodging in the icey Atlantic and so on. Plus I saw Josh Rouse playing on Friday. Hope all are well.

Just looked in my 'Things to do' notebook...

2005-06-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

and found the following (originally spotted on a Burger King paper bag last Friday night (see how I live it up!)) -

You have the right to have this sandwich

just the way you want it, exactly when

you want it. Because on the menu of life,

you are 'Today's Special'. And Tomorrow's.

And the day after that. And, well, you get

the drift. Yes, that's right. We may be the

King, but you my friend, are the almighty ruler.

I felt astonished, amused and vaguely nauseated by this (or could it have been that Whopper?) .

Several points sprung to mind -

i) I had had to queue for an extremely long time

ii) I don't like the idea of being eaten

iii) I certainly don't like the idea of being eaten eternally

iv) Has the Vatican been informed of my new [ahem] role?

v) What has being eaten eternally got to do with being the Almighty Ruler? (capitalisation mine) - ah...

vi) It was a very good meal and I had a plane to catch

and the winner is ...

2005-06-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

... [drumroll] Mr Chris Ketch - Bravo Chris!

And here are the pictures - easily confused either here or, indeed, in the Home Counties -

Well, it's almost over... (as Tom and Jesus almost said (on separate occasions))

2005-06-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

The term is nearly done - just a few sessions left and then it's sitting in an office for me, thinking, writing, chatting and sipping coffee for a while. Enjoyable though my normal work is, it'll be quite a relief to have some breathing (and thinking) space. I've no particularly exciting news to relate - the reason I've been such a recluse (online and off) is because I have had 40-50 reports to do over the last week or so AND - thankfully - they are (almost) completely done. Hoozah!

Otherwise I'm thinking about holidays. I'm having a week off to explore Eire ('down South' as it's known) and about 10 days off in early August, Vampire hunting in Romania. Flicking through the guidebooks and trying to pronounce new words is fun.

Yay - listening to Dry the Rain for first time in an age and - it's - just - about to - - - kick in!
('there's something inside that you always say/say it alright iwill ok...' - 'yes-yes-yes' as Drew Moriarty once* said).

Ah, yes, I've also been playing my guitar and have come up with some new tunes which I'm fairly happy with - 4track experimental fun. One day my album will be ready..... One day... (Damn, media player's just swapped to Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' - lyrics here http://www.lyrics007.com/Johnny%20Cash%20Lyrics/Hurt%20Lyrics.html ) ...

*Ok, more than once.

He loves your quest for junk food

2005-06-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Classy chap that I am, I just switched on the tv to accompany my (rather delicious) pizza and happened upon the opening to New Tricks*. To my surprise the cheery title music sounded very similar to The Travelling Wilburys 'End of the Line' (I think it actually ended with the words 'everything'll be fine', or something similar, to the melody of 'we're going to the end of the line' from the Wilburys' song). Of course I googled, and soon discovered that Dennis Waterman (who stars in the show) also sang the tune. Suddenly thought of the Little Britain sketch... Am I being slow? I feel like I half-remember somebody telling me about the similarity between the songs before...

*Clearly an ironic title

We're all going to Strawberry Fair (maybe)

2005-06-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone's wondering what has happened to me (or why I don't seem to be updating this very often) I have been very busy.

My parent's were over visting this week and I am actually about to catch a flight to Stansted, spending the weekend in Cambridge. I am reliably informed that it is Strawberry Fair and, whilst this is not the purpose of my visit, I feel that convening with some aged hippies will help me gain more credibility as a music therapist - and perhaps it's time to get that hemp rug and those tie-dye slippers... Or perhaps just going to Grantchester would be better. We shall see.

Otherwise all is going fine. I expect to write more on Sunday. Toodle-pip.

I too am hooked on Lemsip...

2005-05-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Now I've got to wait nearly four hours for another fix. I'm sure I'll pull through - sleep in a moment, if I can gather the essential energy to move from sofa to bed.

I hear that today is the first evening of the Cambridge Beer Festival and think back to last year and a wondrous Skullsplitter or two. Still, it ain't got nothing on Lemsip. I am rock and roll.

No news (good news?)

2005-05-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for over a week now. What's going on you may wonder? So, as it happens, do I. "Billions of blistering blue barnacles", you may cry (if you are Captain Haddock), "has the prolific Merlangus lost his [errm] ... prolif?" Perhaps so, although who else could write such a ponderous entry about it? No, I have not been on a 168 hour drinking binge. Nor have I been sucked into the void, captured by aliens, forced to chew through the Guinness Book of Records, or had my arms cut off. Sadly, after my initial blogsplosion, nothing much of note seems to have happened...

This, however, despite the fact that I saw the Giant's Causeway at the weekend. I found it all slightly disappointing... Covered in people and the steps themselves, despite being geologically impressive and aesthetically satisfying a) don't go all the way to Scotland and b) could not have been big enough for a giant (no matter how long ago this was and how much smaller people were then) ... All in all, I find this Finn McCool story very unlikely (despite the excellent name).

Anyway, it is late now. I am tired and sleepy. Slightly under the weather I fear.

Highly recommended for Wednesdays.

2005-05-10T23:23:00.000-07:00

Something strange about working life is the routine. Others may be utterly used to routine but it is something I seem to have skillfully and perhaps fearfully resisted for much of my life. As such, it still has a sort of novelty value for me. To my surprise, I find there is something not only reasurring but exhilirating about certain points in the week recurring. One of these points occurred today when (to my surprise) I realised that it was Springsteen Day. This means that for the particular journey, work I am due to do and my general outlook on a Tuesday, the Boss's 1980 classic The River fits perfectly. This has happened now for the last few weeks and I see no reason why it should change soon. No Steely Dan, no Dylan, no Uncut Album of the month, no Fairport Convention; Springsteen's direct lyrics and wedding band sound suit my Tuesday mood perfectly, whereas a more subtle album would not.

Creature of habit that I am now becoming, I suspect tomorrow will follow in other Wednesdays' tracks and will involve The British Sea Power's Decline of B.S.P. - quirky, intense, funny, poignant, literate, (consider the following);

Where the ancient oak leaf clusters grew
The Deathshead Hawkmoth flew
And something wicked this way comes,
Something wicked this way comes

Or in the chorus of 'Remember Me' when the lead singer (whose name I can't currently be bothered to look up) who sounds a bit like Morrisey (only with a few more melodies) menacingly intones 'increment by increment, increment by increment'. Highly recommended for most Wednesdays.

Oh! why can't I write short blog entries like anyone else?...

2005-05-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

"Nothing beats a lonely Friday night..."

2005-05-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

Actually it’s Saturday, but Rundgren’s sentiment, in other respects, holds true (for me anyway, at this particular moment in time)…

Today, to my great excitement, I got an album through the post. It’s ‘Heart Food’ by Judee Sill. Hers is a name I’ve been aching to mention (to someone, anyone!) since I first heard her superb music (about a week ago). However, I thought I’d wait ‘til I’d heard the actual albums before I did so, having only heard occasional tracks from Gnutella and a few live recordings until today.

I read about Sill in Uncut (that glorious bastion of good taste) a month ago… If you haven’t heard of her do not be surprised. She only released two albums (Judee Sill (Asylum,1971) and Heart Food (also Asylum,1973)) which somehow never captured the public’s imagination despite excellent reviews. She planned and recorded much of a third album, but bad decisions, bad luck and bad driving saw her drifting into obscurity before dying of a heroin overdose in 1979 (not that this became generally known until some years later (although none other than Graham Nash claimed that he knew of her death as early as 1974!)).

Now partially rediscovered, Sill is, perhaps inevitably, compared to Nick Drake. However, according to her own confession, her main influences were Bach, Pythagorus and Ray Charles. Her music is quite unique* – brilliant and beautiful, featuring herself on 12 string guitar or piano, double-tracked vocals and wonderful arrangements (some string parts admittedly reminiscent of Way To Blue). Something about the production means that her songs have that typical, warm, West Coast, early 70s sound (like The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, in fact).

Anyway, the most exciting thing is that (having been almost untrackable for 30 years (although there some rather poor quality Japanese versions which would fetch £40-£50 on ebay)) these albums were released on cd by Rhino Handmade 18 months ago. Only 5000 copies have been made of each and they have bonus demos and outtakes. Today mine arrived (no. 4039) and damn fine it is too… Can’t wait until the other album arrives.

In a fit of over-excitement I also ordered ‘Dreams Come True’ – a double cd set which was released a month ago, featuring Sill’s sessions for her 3rd album, archived and retrieved demos and some footage of Sill performing, all touched-up by none other than the ever-excellent Jim O’Rourke!

Incidentally, for anyone still reading and interested, you might want to check out the following links -

On allmusic's site there is a wealth of information if you search for Judee Sill (you can hear snippits from the albums if you sign up - it's free and well worth it in general) - http://www.allmusic.com/

An informative page here - http://www.kneeling.co.uk/pages/jsill/default.asp

Last, but by no means least, a great page with some live recordings -http://www.webnoir.com/bob/music/

*In some respects it is, perhaps, almost, soft folk – that really doesn’t do it any justice though...

Billy Joel (of 'Bachman Pretzels' fame)

2005-05-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

Damn, I feel cheated ... I had just finished writing the post below when I clicked on the link to the page about Attila and their rather (ahem) 'special' album and it makes the Spinal Tap parallels blindingly obvious. Nevertheless.... (do click on the Attila link; 'There have been many bad ideas in rock, but none match the colossal stupidity of Attila.' I must get hold of this album!)

I feel awful for finding this funny, but it starts off Spinal Tap-ish and ends up terribly Partridgesque... I never knew Billy Joel had such a chequered past...

"In 1969, the Hassles broke up. Joel and the band's drummer, Jon Small, formed an organ and drums duo called Attila. In Attila, Joel played his organ through a variety of effects pedals, creating a heavy psychedelic hard rock album completely without guitars. On the cover of the band's eponymous album, both Joel and Small were dressed as barbarians; in an interview on the back of the album, Joel claimed to forget the name of his previous band and stated that he only "sweated" two things — perfecting his sound and the war in Southeast Asia. Epic released Attila early in 1970 and it was an immediate bomb and the duo broke up. [...]

After Attila's embarrassing failure, Joel wrote rock criticism for a magazine called Changes and played on commercial jingles, including a Chubby Checker spot for Bachman Pretzels. However, Joel entered a severe bout of depression, culminating with him drinking a bottle of furniture polish in an attempt to end his life." Source, allmusic.com.

Now I've really got to go (and temporarily foresake my unhealthy fascination with 70s rock) - apparently there's some sort of election going on.

"I look pretty young but I'm just back-dated, yeah..."

2005-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

Imagine my excitement on discovering a new way of listening to music on the move... I'm not talking about any of your swanky iMen or walkPods or any other portable beat boxes, no, I'm talking about the glory that is a car stereo.

Obviously I am no stranger to car stereos, I've used 'em before. Lots. In fact as you may know, I wore out first my Peugeot tape player and then two sets of tape-cd connecting wires... Recently, once the second of these overpriced gadgets had crackled its last, I decided that my car was of no further use to me and bought myself a Skoda Fabia.

Now, said Fabia is escorting me across the land in perfect stereo sound - and all my cds work - and - and - (cue drumroll for climax to this undeniably exhilirating account) if you press the 'GEO' button and twiddle the knob gently, you can turn up the left-hand speaker so that the lone driver can appreciate his or her chosen music all the better. In my case the Who's Substitute was suddenly enlivened and I put my foot down.

I am shocked and appalled to realise that I've just written so much about this - admittedly it excited me for a moment or two and did liven up my journey to work this morning - but ...
As the comment on my last post suggested, perhaps I'm not really getting out enough.

I'm back.

2005-05-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog. The title is inspired in part by a line in 'Alligator', an excellent new album by The National. I (briefly) considered calling it 'the loft of my brain' having grown up in a house with a loft (and no basement) but I thought the phrase would be less effective if not downright silly. It might also suggest loftiness; this is considerably more likely to be lowly or base.

Anyway for those faithful few who are still reading, be assured I will be dilligent in my updates this time. This little corner of the web will reflect the world in all its roaring glory*. It will make no claims to do this accurately, everything will be filtered several times before it finds its way here. Actually, not just 'filtered', but also perhaps 'warped'... (if an alien race were looking down on Earth trying to find out exactly what life on this dear planet of ours is like, they would not necessarily be best advised to start their research here - sorry lads...)

'These words said welcome. Fare
Them well from what they are.' (W.S. Graham, Letter 1) - Lofty!

*This rather grandiose claim will surely be questioned by any, when, for the third update in a row, I consider the virtues of soft rock, or folk. Actually... there's an idea, 'soft folk'...