The smoking ban

From today's Guardian an publican in Bransholme, Hull ( I should know this place...):

I smoke 100 to 120 cigs a day. The ban will kill us.

If the fags don't get him first

Naan

On a work evening out at EastZEast - beware this site plays music at you but they do have a button to turn it off - we have Russ and a fragment of naan bread, the person who persuaded us that we didn't need 6 naan between the 10 of us was quite correct! Lovely menu but I'm not sure that my choices were wise for getting a good sleep!

Visual DNA

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via Pam.. I found it was a bit repetitive but maybe I have no breadth!

Rainow

This weeks walk was to Rainow, I'd just started a blog when I last did this one:

almost famous for having the second largest water wheel in the country

A film and a concert

Some time since these happened, but before I forget..we went to see Black Gold while it was at the Cornerhouse in Manchester - recommended if you want to know the politics and human impact behind what you're drinking. Even the Telegraph says:

A moving but scandalous story. Black Gold has extraordinary power

. Guardin blog is here and a collection of film reviews.
Then last weekend to the Stockport Symphony for Brahms - some Hungarian Dances, Stravinsky - Firebird(1945) and Tchaikovsky 4th. Never heard any of these live before despite loving the Tchaikovsky probably more than any of the other of his Symphonies. For an amateur orchestra it was very good, the Stravinsky has some fearsome problems of ensemble and those woodwind flourishes in the Scherzo of the Tchaikovsky! Didn't book for the next season but I see they are doing the Nielsen 4...
Aug 2007 postscript
The official 2007-8 programme replaces the Nielsen 4 with the Helios overture and the Sibelius 5th (grrrr! though I do like the Sibelius).

Two Links

Dave at cartoon church has spotted

Any Anglican Episcopal church with an image of The Transfiguration is asked to send a photo (scan) ASAP to the Editor, for use in our magazine.

clearly Russell T Davies needs to work something into tonight's programme...
And then apparently we have the Guardian in a seemingly serious quote from We Love Katherine Jenkins:

It's really mean when people say that Kats isn't an opera singer, She's made lots of opera albums. I think people ought to get their facts right before making baseless allegations motivated only by jealousy.

, I didn't spot this, but Kenneth Wood did! The Guardian obviously needs Italian lessons as to the significance of the blog writer - Mrs Senzatalento. If you go to WLKJ you'll see there's a petition for a damehood for KJ - sign now before it is too late!

More waters

Where was I - oh yes Monday I met up with some web friends in London to mark the passing though of Tyler on her way to Malawi to look at issues of faith, water and politics for TEC - go and read her blogging! Reminiscent of All Saints' involvement in Tanzania and water issues a few years ago. I'd not been to London for 7 years and it was interesting to see the good changes that have come about because of the congestion charge. Walked from Victoria to Euston (as I walked from Euston to London Bridge on Saturday) and welcomed the exercise and the experience. Went in Foyles and couldn't remember what sheet music I wanted so didn't get any...
On the train on the way back sitting next to someone phoning various people announcing the illness (cancer) of a relative, train phone signal wasn't good and various times she had to restart the phonecall. Then someone - a stranger to her - gave her some money for a cancer charity and a few minutes after that I read these final lines in Catherine Feeny's A Matter of Time

And, suddenly, David knew that it was his destiny to do this forever: to check the faces of all he came across sprawled along benches, in doorways, on pavements, in gutters, just in case, just on the off-chance that one of them was Merlyn.
It was not Merlyn Orb.
But David got the money out anyway and placed it in the mittened palm, and closed the fist around it.
Because it was someone.

Heady stuff in that context.

On heresies

Kim Fabricus writes - but go and read the whole thing:

The early heretics were generally neither knaves nor fools but pious and passionate men, zealous for God, morally serious, scrupulously scriptural. They were very clever, but conventional, fetchers and carriers for the zeitgeist. Heretics like a “wrap”, and heresies are fastidiously neat and tidy, the product of minds stuck inside the box of common sense. “Consistency,” said Oscar Wilde, “is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Unsurprisingly, then, heresy is aesthetically unattractive, even ugly.

I never like my theology neat and tidy <grin>

David Hatch

..RIP...where's my I'm Sorry I'll read that Again tapes...

Many waters

Many things seem have happened since the last blog and here am I posting nothing but I suppose that's typical of me...on Saturday I went down to Sussex - by train - to visit my mother and hired a car from Gatwick - of which more later! Next day there was an unexpected opportunity to knock at the door of my parents old house - Palmers which they bought from Rodney Millington who was involved in the theatrical directory Spotlight - it is now owned by the Hales - Robert - before his current job worked up in Cheshire for Montgomery Watson - a company to which I was briefly TUPEd before escaping!
The Monday back to Gatwick via Shipley to see the John Ireland grave
.. 'many waters cannot quench love' together with 'My Song is Love Unknown' and on the other side of his writing there's the occult reach of Scarlet Ceremonies and Sarnia. Below are pictures of Shipley church and the churchyard looking towards the windmill


Back in the car to return it to Gatwick and when I arrived I discovered that the wheelarch had been scuffed - I assume when my mother and I went to lunch - wasn't a lot of room to get the wheelchair around the car and I assume it must have rubbed - that was a cool £400!! If you have a disabled space make sure there's room to get the wheelchair past rather than sharing the disabled entrance with the parking bay!

Walks update

Yesterday evening's walk was around the grounds of Peover Hall - my updated album is on the home webserver

From the train

Hasty trip up to Newcastle today and that's (the picture) all the Tyne I saw. Train was 30 mins late into York (and then didn't gain any) - I was going to our head office to sort out some computer issues. Turned off Norton (grr) which solved one problem of Vista being unable to see network drives, added 1gig of memory to another machine, fiddled with some printers and then back on the train. Spent most of the time on the train developing software whilst luxuriating in a cd of Joseph Kosma and then in part of Chabrier's L'Etoile - an opera that is not suitable for children, both those links are in French so you'll need to educate yourselves!
A day also marked by an unexpected meeting on the train from Macclesfield to Leeds with a school friend with whom I spent a memorable walking holiday in Arolla and who was a work colleague back in the 70's in my first job.

The Cheshire Plain

with mist and a shaky hand - we risked a walk after a very wet day and were rewarded with wonderful evening lights on this walk - spot Astra Zeneca... Another picture is here maybe some more to come when I chose the least worst ones. I'm putting all the Summer walks photos here on my home webserver.