where art collides

miserable day out

I have the heater on in the office. It is a miserable day out. Some branches stir in the light breeze otherwise the garden is still.

Just finished a productive conference call and much of the rest of the day will be dedicated to preparation for Madrid. Partly this will involve the hunting down of some of my decent pairs of socks, all of which seem to have found their way to John’s sock drawer, wherever that is. That’s a mother favouring her youngest child:) My two best linen jackets will be getting an airing. I’m assuming that Madrid will still be warm enough.

My latest book order A History of Carmarthenshire – From Prehistoric Times to the Act of Union – Vol. I by Lloyd, John E. is out for delivery. Should be here just in time for me to take it to Madrid which is good. The vol I really want is the second which should cover the Dissenters and the industrial revolution which are all relevant to my Family Tree background research. Trouble is it is out of print and copies go for a min £125 the pair. I may buy it one day otherwise will just wait for the second volume to be reprinted as they just did for the first.

Now finished Day 8 of my coast to coast videos. Publishing them one by one here this week. A good memento of the trip.

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In fact finished all the c2c vids now. Been a veritable Universal Studios this afternoon. Will now have to wait until later tonight before uploading as the Virgin Fair Use Policy would slow the whole process. There must be 12 GB or more of footage. iMovie does tend to create big files mind you. I should try and see if there is a more efficient format I can use than .mov . At least for YouTube and Facebook.

The book arrived yay. Sumthin to reed on the trip. My new AMEX card also arrived. I have a little project to build up my BA points using the BA Amex card. Looking at a big holiday for me and Anne when the kids have all finally flown the coop. John that is. The others are largely gone.

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Marie rang me from the Donegal Registry Office btw. She’s found all the certs and is going to look to see how far she can go back with the family history before sending me them. Useful. My great grandfather signed his signature with an X and was down as a “herd” as his occupation. Farm hand?

John is off at 1am tonight/tomorrow morning. Debating whether to wait up and just go to bed afterwards. It is never a very comfortable kip when you know you have to get up in two or three hours. He should get to bed early himself as he won’t have much opportunity for sleep tomorrow until he gets to the hotel in Russia and then they will all be too excited to sleep.

Catch ya later.

Irish Foreign Birth Registration gets closer

It’s 5.25 (pm) and this is the first time I’ve sat down to do my diary today. Been that busy I have:) Got the Irish foreign birth registration / citizenship back on track with the help of cousin Fidelma and a lady called Marie, the Registrar from Donegal.  They make you jump through hoops for it but once through at least it will be easy for everyone else. I’ve now printed off the form and am just waiting for my grandfather Thomas Rourke’s birth marriage and death certificates to arrive.

There is some debate as to whether it is Rourke or O’Rourke. I think they are probably interchangeable and apparently he used both.

Did half an hour ish in the gym last night just before it shut and then came back and enjoyed Anne’s most delicious chicken and ham pie. Larvley it was fair play.  Also began to make some progress with the videos of the coast to coast walk and I’ve now published up to day 5. In the interest of speed there has been a slacking off of production values but I figured it was better to get them done.

This morning I went for a swim. A little busier than normal but that was because they had two lanes out of use for some reason. Usually it’s either staff shortage or training and there wa certainly nobody in the empty lanes being trained. Got back and spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon on a conference call with Netaxis.

Getting close now to departure for our trip to Madrid. Only two sleeps as they  say. Really looking forward to it. No idea what to wear though 🙂 Other than I will definitely be taking my linen jackets.

Tonight we are having baked potatoes. Yum. With beans. No bacon though. Vegetarian Monday!

very wet sunday morning

This morning it is wet and miserable. Easing into winter. John is playing hockey again at the Lindum at 11.15. They are playing in an U18s cup match against Cambridge who apparently have 6 internationals in the side. Ah well. I will have to get my coast to coast walking gear out I reckon.

They lost against Hull University yesterday. John Bayes was playing for Hull. The students were a lot fitter and able to stay the pace until the end. Lindum 5ths were a mix of youngsters and old hands. John played well.

I like wet weather. Reminds me of my childhood, both in Wales and the Isle of Man. Both wet places.

Last night we went out to see Julian Clary at the LPAC and before that had dinner at Chimichangas. Have to say I was unimpressed with the restaurant. I had a simple chicken and chips and both components were overcooked. The place was rammed and service was slow. We got to the LPAC as they were filing into the auditorium. JC was only mildly amusing. Some in the audience were in stitches at his lewd humour. I laughed occasionally but wouldn’t bother going again. Walked home with Katie and Nick Smith from Lee Road.

Today feels as if it will be another relaxing pottering around day. Anne is cooking a chicken and ham pie which is always a favourite. For breakfast I did John bacon, beans and toast whilst I had a toasted bacon and mushroom sarnie.

Today is also a start to pack day. Getting quite excited about our pre RIPE conference sojourn in Madrid.

Classic FM on the wireless. The inside of the kitchen is quite a relaxing contrast with the wildness of the outside. The trees are blowing around in the wind and rain hitting the window.

Began the process of registering myself as an Irish Citizen yesterday afternoon and immediately hit a roadblock. I need my grandparents details including the date of birth of my grandfather Thomas Rourke and birth surname of my grandmother Margaret’s own mother. This is a bit over the top in my mind. Initial enquiries with some of the rourke clan have drawn a blank though we might get somewhere on Monday when Fidelma gets into the office. I’m going to ring the Irish Embassy on Monday to see if I really need to have this info. Premium rate number, £1.50 a minute I think I saw! They will have been making big inroads into their national debt because of this number since the Referendum I’m sure.

It’s not a cheap process either. WIll cost over two hundred quid for the registration plus more on top of that to get the passport. I think I’m looking at three hundred or so all together, not counting what I’ve spent to get the certs. What price national loyalty eh?

In the conservatory now. Vid below is the scene this morning in the back garden. First real use of my new tripod. There should be no message from YouTube saying “your video appears to be shaky, would you like us to fix it?”. V relaxing sat here with the noise of the rain on the roof. Would be quite interesting to do a year in the back garden time lapse video. I’d need to use a separate camera from the phone. Could use the GoPro but that would tie it up for a whole year. Not that I use the GoPro much but I should.

note the absence of capitalisation in the word sunday in the subheading for this post. didnt lose any of its message. i realise I’m inconsistent with this but that’s my editorial privilege.

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Lindum U18s lost to city of Cambridge U18s 3 – 5. They played very well. The opposition looked like a pro outfit, more organised and fitter but I think Lindum can walk away with their heads held high. It was 3 – 4 right until the last minute so could have finished completely differently. Weather cleared up and it was a beautiful sunny morning for the second half of the game. Lindum had one quite gobby player who kept getting sin binned..

15th October 2016 CE

Lovely evening last night. It  was Erv’s birthday although the evening wasn’t meant to be a birthday party. I only found out because of Facebook. Recorded happy birthday for him and stuck it on You Tube. See below.

Today Anne has gone to Nottingham with Erica to a Women in the church conference or simlar. Leaves us lads to do our own stuff. Hence a fry up for breakfast. John has a hockey home game this afternoon so will be popping along to that. Then this evening we are going out to see Julian Clary at the LPAC. We last saw him in Jongleurs Comedy Club in Clapham as The Joan Collins Fan Club with Fanny the Wonderdog. Must have been thirty years ago or more!!!

Before JC we are having dinner with the gang at Chimichangas on the Brayford and before that Anne is meeting me somewhere in town for a drink. It’s all go innit.

This morning I have already completed the very simple jobslist which was buy chicken, puff pastry and something for John’s tea tonight (steak) from Tesco. I also tidied my in tray which just involved rotating some papers by 90° . Feels as if that was just on the jobslist because anne felt she should put something there:)

In other news my new book The Foundations of Modern Wales by Geraint E. Jenkins has just arrived. He has a very easy to read style. It’s second hand but was a lot cheaper than the new ones on offer and is in good enough nick. Was posted on 10th October so took 5 days to get here. I was on the verge of complaining. Didn’t have Amazon Prime available for the delivery.

Also mam’s death certificate has arrived. I now have everything I need to get my Irish citizenship documented and to get a passport. Quite excited at the prospect.

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Listen to the saxophone. Music flowing through the house.

alone in the darkness

5:15 am and I’m downstairs sitting in the darkness. I am not alone. I have my laptop open so it isn’t true darkness. There are also three lights: the TV, the extension socket below and the printer in between the two. There is also the glow from my keyboard by which I am able to write.

There was a time when I would have had to light a candle to do this. Sharpen my quill. Now, as long as I have electrical power I am fine. My battery is at 65%. I’m ok until my world wakes up around me. I’ll plug in later.

I hear the occasional car go by outside on the road. People on their way to work or in taxis on their way home from a night club maybe. That’s a different world. One in which I play no part. I am in my pyjamas and dressing gown and I have a throw over my legs. Cosy.

Upstairs Anne has stirred, momentarily. I probably woke her up coming downstairs. I’m sorry about that. She deserves a good sleep. In an hour or so I’ll take her a pot of tea. I like doing that. She does a lot for the rest of us, often without thanks. A pot of tea is the least I can do.

For now you just have me and my thoughts. We are never in total darkness nowadays. It would be good to experience that. I’d have to switch off the bedside radio. Our curtains are fairly heavy and dark so not too much light would get in.

Leave the phone switched off or downstairs. There is very rarely a night where I don’t wake up and look at my phone. Not good. Perhaps I should get into the habit of switching it off for periods of the day and certainly overnight. Why not? It’s on Do Not Disturb between 10pm and 8am as it is.

I’ve just discovered another LED. It’s the DECT phone over my left shoulder. These lights do serve a purpose but I could manage without them. There are lots of things I could manage without. It wouldn’t do me harm to try it for a while. Live life simply.

Simply doesn’t necessarily mean frugally. I’m a strong believer in having the good things in life. Good food. This could mean walking everywhere. Simply probably means no TV. I wouldn’t deny myself the internet or my laptop. Maybe the phone would be in a drawer for periods of the day.

I think a week of that beckons. When I get back from my next lot of travels. I have Madrid and Krakow upcoming in the periscope. After that nothing.

05:47 and the milkman has just been. 4 pints Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We used to have a lot more when all the kids were home. 4 or 5 pints a day. We still occasionally top up with additional milk from Tesco. Now I’m really the only milk drinker. Anne has it in teas and coffees and a minimal amount with her cereal. When I was a student I’d drink three pints of milk a day – breakfast lunch and dinner.

We have five more years of having a student in the family. Joe is at Newcastle and John is in the lower 6th. Not sure they still call it that but it matters not. I know what I’m saying. There is  a scenario where nobody else ever reads this so it really doesn’t matter. Dunno what made me come out with that student sentence. I guess it was the reference to the kids being home.

I wouldn’t want them all home now. They need to stretch their wings which they are doing in all fairness to them. It’s very exciting as a parent to see it happen. Very satisfying. They are all great kids:) John came down and sat a while with me on the settee last night.

Next week Anne and I are having a night out with Tom and Hannah in London. They’ve booked us a table at some speakeasy type place where you have to know the password to get in. The password isn’t a secret. That wouldn’t make for much of a business. Suspect we will go for a curry afterwards. I still have a 10% discount card for the Delhi Brasserie next to Ronnie Scotts. Will be my last real meal for 9 days. No offence to Spanish food of course.

We will have at least 3 of them at home for the Christmas Market and then a full set for Christmas itself. Good times.

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swim followed by Fruit & Fibre with added banana, peach and blueberries – see 2nd vid below.

passport photos

Chucking it down again this morning. At least first thing. Forgot a flu jab appointment at 8.35 so called them and rearranged it to 9.48 and was then late for that. Bad traffic and no parking spaces!! They seemed to be running late anyway so I got away with it.

Whilst I was in the waiting room Anne rang to say she’d scraped the car on the gatepost. Ah well. These things happen and visibility ain’t so good when it’s raining. Coops will sort it out.

In the news this morning is the fact that Tesco is no longer stocking Marmite because Unilever has jacked up the wholesale price. We had better get ready for some big rises in the cost of living. Price rises are happening right across the patch. We are off to Madrid next week that’s going to be a more expensive trip than it might have been. The following week it’s Krakow. Ditto.

I’m sure that most of the people voting leave in the referendum will not have understood the consequences. I’m also sure that a great many of them will be people least able to withstand price rises.

In other news I’ve just filled out the form to get Anne and I a two together railcard. Very coupley:) Only problem is we need passport photos. I’ve printed some out on glossy paper. It’s only a railcard. I’m sure it will do. Probably.