w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Rain on the river, turned a torrent to a flood.
Swim or you'll never rise above.
Two lonely people can mend a broken heart.
Love and you'll never fall apart.
But can you tell me why?"

The Moody Blues: "Top Rank Suite"
From the album: "Octave"

Another emotional Sunday, seeing the neo-Hawai'ians almost four years after C's shattering news of illness. Which still hasn't completely gone away.

But here to savour her 60th birthday, with her Mum and Dad - 'survivors' of a 68- year long marriage - and several couples from her past lives, she continues to face the future with admirable equanimity. One brave lady.

And she brought us all some fresh coffe beans from their ex-farm. Magical elixir.

The foullest drive back from the New Forest against near monsoon rain and a glass of red or several to wind down with (I was the designated driver) and another weekend bites the proverbial..

Hope yours was good, too?

Labels: Reunionage

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Figure hanging on a leather band
Pa consults the watch he cups in his hand
The jewel movement measures lost and vanished time
Pray for the boy who makes his bed in cold earth and quicklime."

Elvis Costello: "Favourite hour"
From the album: "Brutal youth"

Frantic weekend, starting with a collection stint for one of my two favoured charities and some sweepy hoovy, before a barbecue cooked for Number One Daughter, who'd originally volunteered to pay for, collect and cook the damn thing. Nothing left over at the end, though, which is always a good sign of tasty grub?

Then a very emotional christening for my (first) great nephew, with a long-overdue gathering of the clans on Father's Day. Only clouded by the self-imposed exile of our own Father, due to his stubbornness - after twenty years since the divorce - to be even in the same county as our Ma? Definitely his loss, because a great time was had by all and there are the photos to prove it!

Welcome to this world, Connor. And pleased we are to hear the announcement of your parents' engagement.

Labels: Bbq News, Fathery Days

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Bring out the drip-feed, they're losing their world, they're losing their hard
boys and magazine girls, advert illegal, TV as outlaw, motive as spell.
They'll see the books burn, they'll be 451, it's people against things and
not against each other, out of the pre-pack, into the fear, into themselves.
They're the great British mistake - the genie's out the bottle, call in the
magician, they didn't mean to free him, devil behind him, devil in the
mirror, chained to the right hands. They're the great British mistake -
they'll have to come to terms now, they'll take it out somehow, they'll
blame it all on something. The Great British Mistake - when will it be over?
How can they avoid it?"

The Adverts: "The Great British Mistake"
From the album: "Crossing the Red Sea"

Walking back to London Bridge the other day, noticed a young, suited lad with both arms missing above the biceps, gamely trying to get cash out of a hole-in-the-wall by pressing the numbers with his stumps. It was one of those moments when you want to offer help - although clearly, he must have done it before? - but then you realise that would involve him giving you his pin.

Well, would you hand over card and means of withdrawal to a stranger?

Then I got to thinking about how such a disability would affect your whole life. What you ate. Ok, you could hoover solid food off of a plate with your mouth, but somehow the food would have to have been cooked and served to you and then maybe you ask the chef to leave the room while you 'enjoy' your meal?

And the more basic functions like washing. Going to the toilet. Shaving. Holding someone?

Would it have been better to have been born that way - a Thalidomide victim, perhaps - so that you knew no different. Because to have lost the functionality after familiar useage must be worse?

Doesn't bear thinking about, really..

Labels: Health

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"He binds her wounds, he gives her food and calms the crying child
She gives him absolution then, across the great divide
He picks his way back through the broken China of her life
And there at the kerb the samaritan Serb turns..
Turns and waves.. goodbye

And each small candle lights a corner of the dark."

Roger Waters: "Each small candle"
From the album: "Flickering flame"

Amid a packed weekend of hen night, housework and house-guesting, we managed to hurl some king rag into the hazy sun off Brighton's Marina wall, with Ol' Sparky (must get a new blog set up asap for him) netting a Ballan wrasse(too small and definitely too bony for the pot - they're more epicene than epicure - so 'twas returned intact into the 'oggin) in a very civilised session on the west-facing mole of the marina. Then a long evening's wait for the relative spouses to return from their Michael George concert at Wembley's new stadium.

A 1:30 a.m. collapse into the cot on a school night (but at least I didn't have to drive back for two hours!)

Cheers Buddy for a nice couple of hours - despite the fact I didn't hook an effin' fish!

Labels: Angling, gigs

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Now you've got yourself a brand new occupation
Every fleeting thought is a pearl
And beautiful people stampede to the doorway of the funniest
fucker in the world."

Elvis Costello: "How to be dumb"
From the album: "Mighty like a rose"

So I'm off on my second hen (yes, that's right) hen night tonight. Gotta love the ladies.

And on Sunday, Mrs.D is off to see someone called Michael George (or something) at some new football stadium, while Ol' Sparky and me drown some worms off Brighton beach.

Oh, and as various search engines have disappointed, who said "Mr K can do the other thing" and why?

Enjoy your weekends, y'all.

Labels: Quizzage

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"From the north to the south, Ebudae into Khartoum
From the deep sea of clouds to the island of the moon
Carry me on the waves in the lands I've never been
Carry me on the waves in the lands I've never seen."

Enya: "Orinoco flow"
From the album: "Watermark"

The good Mrs.D. helped me to precis our 34+ years together into a just-short-of-two-pages-of-A4 in order to update our return'ed friend from the past (see recent posts).

If you had to remember - above all others - the most memorable event of your life, what would it be?

Loss of virginity? (Hello, Google). You wedding? Birth of first child? 9/11? When you first drove a car alone? The day you were Best Man to a guy you barely knew, but who became your bestest mate eva?

Come on. Give it up. You know you want to?

All treated in strictest confidence, of course. What goes on in Aprosexic, stays etc.

Labels: Anecdotes

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I might spend my life upon the road
Just tryin' to add to what I know
Then someday I might settle down
And all my friends will be around."

The Eagles: "Twenty one"
From the album: "Desperado"

How to cram 30 years into an e-mail?

Labels: Reunionage

Today's lyric:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"She looked like she learned to dance from a series of still pictures
She's madly excited now, she throws her hands up like a tulip
She looks like an illustration of a cocktail party
Where cartoon bubbles burst in the air, champagne rolls off her tongue
Like a second language."

Elvis Costello (feat. Chryssie Hynde): "Satellite"
From the album: "Spike"

In the absence of the long-awaited wrecking trip, and feeling thoroughly brassed off by the day-thwarting weather, I shelled out on a new camerage as a 'reward' for the good Mrs.D. (who ended up losing over 3st on her horrendously harsh diet) and it is expected imminently.

With luck, better weather and a favourable wind, there may well be clickage this weekend?

So enjoy yours, y'all..

Labels: Clickage, Diet