Guitars and Life

...when I remember what is good in the world. My daughter, like thousands of other 16 year olds, got her GCSE exam results today.  2 A*s, 9As and 2Bs. :-) :-) :-) Happy and proud to be her parent day!

Some stuff in the news recently has had me thinking... where are things just difficult decisions that the people who have to make them have a very tricky course to steer and where there is no real "right" answer overall and where is there just plain hypocrisy. Today I read that Tony Nicklinson has died.  This poor man who was undoubtedly highly intelligent was left severely paralysed as the result of a stroke.  He had campaigned for the "right to die" - essentially the issue being he couldn't kill himself as physically he could not administer the lethal injection or take the pills.  Recently the High Court ruled that if he asked his family or a doctor to carry this out they could still be prosecuted for murder.  It seemed on face value an absurd ruling, this clearly intelligent man who had thought it all through and who was clearly suffering psychologically due to his physical condition simply wanted his wishes to be carried out.  If he could have killed himsel...

We've been on holiday... to the Cotswolds.  Finding little places like this. Big places like this And lots of things like this...  the girls weren't so keen on the trains for some reason! An old fashion family holiday for us, although with the additional of Girlfriend-of-son-of-Furtheron (GOSOF - that doesn't work!).   We stayed in a farm converted into holiday cottages which was lovely but in the middle of nowhere, seriously to get a phone signal required gymnastics in the rafters.  I didn't realise how quiet it was until lying in bed this morning in our little quiet suburban street I wanted to scream out the window at the cars and planes and people on the way to the shop to shut the hell up! I'd love to live in Bath I think, really lovely place.  Still back to the grindstone now...   Sorry I'll drop by blogs as I catch up with life!

Last night like many millions sat, then stood and shouted and cheered as "little Mo" ran to victory in the 5km to get the distant double gold.  A fantastic achievement by any standards.   However what makes me so proud was that Mo came to this country as a refugee and last night Britain showed our true side as a multi-cultural nation. As Mo knelt and prayed after his run and 80,000 cheered the roof off what more needed to be said.   An Islamic refugee national hero. Britain - I love you.

I turn 50 in just under 2 months.  But looking at the stats on the blog I have 50 followers, welcome to the 50th!  Also just gone through 50,000 page views. I read a couple of blog posts about loneliness today.  Interesting isn't it that we live in a world where we can all stay connect much better than we ever used to - we were trying to explain to the kids how my wife and I kept in touch when we were courting... er we met each other!  We did luckily have phones at home, we got one when I was about 16 I think - honestly up until then I'd have to use the pay phone over the road on the little green.  But it is interesting that I think loneliness is on the increase despite all this.  My daughter have 100s of "friends" on Facebook and Twitter - but truth is she doesn't know hardly any of them.  On here many people read and comment and I have a blog roll I visit, people I find interesting or we have a common bound, sometimes music, often recovery.  ...

Right - the promotional tour for The Man Inside is underway... ok ok that may be stretching a point a bit but I have got some gigs lined up! Several are open mic nights but I'm planning to get there early and get a slot and see how it goes.  Also I've been asked to play a Songwriters Showcase at Canterbury which I'm really looking forward to as it'll be my first gig as a 50 year old! All up at my music site for info.

Code to Zero by Ken Follett Super read this one. Great cold war thriller with some terrific twists in it and good characters as well. The novel starts with a man waking in a public toilet in a railway station in Washington in the late 1950's. He has lost his memory entirely. You follow him trying to figure out who he is. Once in learns that though soon he knows someone wiped his brain and is still chasing him. Soon figuring out friend from foe and why this is happening now is a complex picture.  It turns out he is a rocket scientist, one of the best and has been working on the USA programme to get its first satellite into space.  His amnesia must be something to do with this.  But what?  Is he the spy or it is the spy who has done this to him?  Throughout the plot in the present of him trying to find who he is and why this may have been done to him you are given various flash backs with the main characters allowing you to slowly piece his past together at the...

Another blogger sparked off something in me that has really got me thinking... So here I am in the "new" job...  I've put the quotes there as actually I've been here over 10 months now and rapidly it'll be a year so is it still "new"?  It feels it to me.  And there in lies a crux of issues that have been assailing me of late. Let me throw a bunch of things at you... culture, complexity, change, commitment, belonging... A little history lesson.  I worked at the same place from 1991 - 2010 until I was made redundant, something I was happy about at the time, that old place was on a downward spiral and my mojo had decidedly left me and I found myself regularly the harbinger of bad tidings "We tried that three times before and it failed due to a, b, c etc.".   I needed to get out and get a change.  After 7 months not working I got a job with a small consultancy firm - I didn't mind the work and the fact that as a consultant you go into somewh...

Ok London2012 fever is here!  My daily journey to work takes me on the train right through the park, underneath it in a tunnel apart from the station!  I sadly can't see anything but the traveling has been ok, I'm getting up earlier to get in by 8am so I can leave and get the train back before the crowds heading in for the evening events... the athletics start on Friday that may make life more difficult! Anyway the best bit for me so far was the Men's 200m  Butterfly final.  Phelps beaten at his last meeting in an event he has not been beaten in for 11 years - and in the last few cms as well.  Amazing.   Then the BBC interview live with his overcome Dad was just pure TV gold, hats off to the BBC for doing that - I doubt a non public funded broadcaster would have taken the risk. The BBC has a great story about it.  Watch the race then the interview which is on there as well...