Hi is that Rafi? This is Marcel here. Marcel Sartre from ballroom dancing. I’m just ringing to make sure that you got Dorothy’s message about ballroom dancing being cancelled. Oh you did, good. I’m going to run an additional class the week after next. Thank you. Bye.
June 10, 2009
Tip on how to keep jury service to a minimum
When I was small my dad had to do jury service in the village of Dolgellau in North Wales. The last case on the Friday was a small time poacher who everyone on the jury knew and who they all knew was almost certainly guilty.
The judge informed the jury that if he was found guilty then they would have to all return the next day, Saturday, for sentencing (we are talking 45 years ago here).
Dad was refereeing a school rugby match the next day, someone else had a hairdressers appointment etc etc.
Funnily enough the decision was “not guilty”.
If you don’t want the jury service to go on longer than necessary…
June 8, 2009
Single parent Saturday or Anne is away
8.00 take tom to kayaking 8.40 take hannah to help out with baby ballet 11.15 pick hannah up from ballet – go to newark to pick up car left after beer festival 13.00 take john to tennis lesson 14.00 pick john up from tennis 14.15 take hannah to dance class 16.00 pick tom up from kayaking 17.00 pick hannah up from dancing 18.00 take tom to party in Normanby by Spital 19.00 take hannah 2 babysit drink wine
June 7, 2009
British summer
The strong summer breeze cracks the flags on the two flagpoles above the cricket pavilion. It is cold as we wait for the others to turn up. The building is locked and there are few people around. This is real summer weather as opposed to the artist’s impression.
Later the rain comes and the wind drops. A vertical soaking in prospect. A downpour of the sort that characterises the typical British summer. It is still cold but out and about and dressed in shorts and waterproof coats we stand underneath the large umbrella being fairly relaxed. We buy two bunches of asparagus fresh cut this morning before the weather hit.
At 4pm the boys arrive and we head for the Morning Star for a luxurious late afternoon beer. The pub is surprisingly full of refugees from the rain. One rare hour of liquid hedonism.
The noise on the conservatory roof is deafening and we have abandoned our ambitions to have a barbecue. We cook on the stove in the kitchen and move into the conservatory to eat. The children are a credit and impress our visitors. We should have dinner guests more often.
Later still the cacophony of birds in the back garden is loud enough to compete with any of the noises we have heard today. Mostly blackbirds I think and I wonder if I am hearing this year’s brood.
Finally, sometime towards the end of the day, the heavy, random drips of the water from the trees onto the glass roof. I recline on the sofa pondering the days climatics.
May 31, 2009
The green wall of summer
The green wall of summer,
Birds in evening chorus in the park,
New growth ripples along the hedge,
The light remains,
Though sense says it should be dark.
Rays filter through the canopy,
A rose commends its lovely presence,
Its colour in delicate harmony,
Without the wall,
Pink beauty conferred with deep fragrance.
May 28, 2009
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Freedom is going out without
your mobile phone alone.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Only the strongest constitution
can take this liberation.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Blow a raspberry to the Blackberry,
real men don’t need email on the move.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
May 27, 2009
The Burton Road Strip Launch
This is an advance notice of a local arts project being launched on Burton Road. It is entitled “The Burton Road Strip” and is centred around a series of poems and photographs published on this website on the subject of some of the shops, eateries and pubs on Burton Road.
The work is being displayed at the Gainsborough Festival on Saturday 6th June and is being showed at local studio No10 Burton Road the following weekend on Saturday 13th June.
The Lincoln event will be announced/covered on the Rod Whiting Breakfast Show on Radio Lincolnshire on Friday 12th June.
On Saturday the Studio at No10 Burton Road will be open from 1pm showing “The Burton Road Strip” together with other work by local writer and poet Tref. At 4pm on this day we are planning some readings together with a glass of wine which you are very welcome to attend.
May 25, 2009
What to do on a bank holiday Monday
A no pressure potterday,
None of this making hay,
That’s what you have to do,
On a bank holiday.
May 23, 2009
Nothing exists outside these four walls
Nothing exists outside these four walls,
The light is reflected on the windows and
All is black beyond the glass.
My access to the external world
Is a mobile phone which is used
To send text messages,
And Facebook.
It is a virtual world.
I finish a bottle of red wine
And have nothing but my thoughts
And the tick of the clock on the kitchen wall.
The kitchen
A sirloin steak, rare, 2 minutes on the first side and 1 minute on the second, coated in crushed black pepper.
A simple salad , lettuce, vine tomatoes and spring onions with olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar dressing.
Caramelised red onions and whole button mushrooms cooked in their own juices.
Salt, pepper and Dijon mustard.
Wolf Blass, Yellow Label, South Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon 2007.
Crusty white bread with butter.
Blackness outside.
Silence.
Thoughts at sundown
Anne and Joe have gone to Grandad’s birthday dinner on the Wirral. Hannah is out babysitting. Tom has gone to a party and John is in bed early because he wants to nurture all his strength for a cricket match tomorrow. An unusual situation.
So I’m sitting here watching the silhouettes in the garden and listening to the birds call their last for the day. I have a bottle of red wine at the ready in the kitchen but it is as yet unopened. I’m waiting for the right moment. That moment when I feel ready to get the griddle out to cook the steak.
The occasional car is still heard on the road at the front of the house. I can’t understand this having spent all day ferrying children to and from their various activities. People need to chill out now and they can’t do this whilst driving.
It is still May but June is fast approaching and I do wonder what happened to spring? I’m sure I happily observed it as it was emerging but somehow the season seems to have rushed by.
Life is incredibly busy. So much so that I often have no idea what is happening the following week. I have to check the calendar on Sunday night to understand where I am going to be and what I will be doing over the subsequent few days.
Because life goes by so quickly the one thing I learnt long ago is the need to savour every minute of it. The children, Anne, friends, and to enjoy everything I do as much as I can. Including work.
Time to cook that steak…
May 19, 2009
The Northumberland, Kings Cross
GUINNESS
Robbie’s funeral
Thurs 28th May 10AM
St Pancras Cemetary
High Rd East Finchley
All welcome
RIP
DVDs 4 for £10 – from a Chinaman in the pub
Happy Hour
Mon – Fri 5pm – 8pm
£2 pint or bottle
The men sit at the bar drinking or play pool. Women and children, if there are any, sit at home watching TV.
Pool knockout – every Wed, £2 entry, winner takes all.
The workers away from home have all gone back to their digs.
A foreign couple, he with a half pint and she with some clear liquid, sit watching the adverts having finished their conversation. They occasionally talk. Then they go home.
May 17, 2009
Random Symmetry
I see a random symmetry
As the drops hit the puddle
And concentric circles grow
Until they collide and are consumed.
Cares vanish as the rings fade,
Geometric self-hypnosis,
Walking in the gentle rain.
Shell garage
Food on the go,
For people on the move.
Snap your fingers
To the rhythm of a
Pork pie and a pint of milk.
Hit on a coffee
For those wide awake moments.
Mars bars and Lucozade
For that morning after
Energy lift.
Body fuel by Shell.
photo by Andy Benn
May 16, 2009
Old Bakery Restaurant
If awards are your scene,
This is a must
For Mediterranean cuisine
If atmosphere is your thing
Come on in.
Family run fine dining
At its best
At your behest.
