where art collides

Admin day in prospect. Also need to pack some of my Hawaiian shirts and shorts away until the spring and finally rationalise my tshirt collection. Lots of tees I never wear. Make some space in the cupboard innit. I already tried doing this once but in the end it was a lot easier to just chuck all said items of clothing back in the wardrobe 🙂 Problem is I need to find a suitable container for them all. I have a plan. Must also stop buying tee shirts.

Tis a fine autumn day in the shire. The shed heating has been booted up, so to speak. It’s very easy to keep the shed at a sensible working (administrative) temperature as it is v well insulated. Also have to write a brochure for an event next April. That’s a slightly harder one to get motivated for. 

Actually I don’t have that much admin to do. Just need to empty the intray a bit – “to do”, “filing” and “shredder”. I still haven’t filed the last lot of filing. It is mostly stored online anyway but some docs do need the hard copies kept.

…

Three hours later and I’ve done some tidying, shredding and moved some filing around. The trug full of empty cans, mostly diet coke, has been emptied into the brown recycling bin. THG disapproves of me drinking diet cokes but tbh it is better than having a trug full of empty beer cans.

It’s surprising how easy it is to decide to just chuck stuff that has been accumulating for a year pending a decision on what to do with it.

Milk has become an issue. Well its absence has. We arrived home just after nine last night and had no opportunity to resupply. Restock. Renew. Replenish. There was, fortunately, enough for a cup of tea in bed first thing but that is all.

So I have two items on my shopping list for this morning: milk and “lunch”. The latter will be determined by what is fresh in the market. Tin of soup maybe 🙂

Otherwise it is good to be back. Good to be in your own bed. Shed.

I do appear to have a meeting scheduled for ten this morning. This somewhat clashes with the stretch and flex class THG and I like to go to together but I don’t typically put that in the calendar so didn’t notice the clash when I accepted the meet. Sokay. I have released my place so that another deserving but clearly less nimble fingered soul can benefit. You have to book early for these classes as the places all go.

Watched the Liverpool game on the train last night. First half anyway. Most of the second half in the shed. Swat sheds are for innit.

…

Milk is no longer an issue. We have been resupplied, restocked, renewed and replenished. Moreover I had a 50 pence off voucher for a two pinter so got it for 75p. What’s not to like?

The only places worth visiting online nowadays are the sports pages. Even then the spirit of hope and optimism hangs only by the slenderest of threads. Take last night for example. Lincoln City kept us on tenterhooks until the fifth minute of added time before the ten man side got the equaliser (we had all been craving 🙂 ) 

Even following sport is like riding an emotional rollercoaster. It does help that we can walk away when the big dipper is at its lowest point. Shrug our shoulders and say it’s only a game. I can anyway. Comes from long experience. Necessity. If you let it get to you life would be one long dip.

The one non sporting bit of fun is the occasional glimpse of the Conservative Party conference where the leadership hopefuls spout the same crap that was the reason they were removed from power in the first place. Bless.

We are, this morning, still in Berlin although this afternoon we head to the airport and home. Sat in the hotel in Berlin and looking at all the wars going on around the world you have to believe that humanity has a self destruct button that they periodically bring out of the drawer and press repeatedly, maniacally. Eyes glazed.

The word tenterhook has an interesting origin. Tenterhooks are what herring are hung on during the kipper smoking process. I learned this during a visit to Moore’s kipper smokery in Peel in the Isle of Man. Sadly Moore’s is no more. Went out of business last year I think. Might have been this year. I’m glad I did the tour.

In its heyday Peel was a huge fishing port. You can understand how big an employer the fishing was when I tell you that there used to be sixty or so pubs in the town whereas now they are down to seven: Whitehouse, Royal, Central, Creek, Peveril, Marine and Millers. Our house was a very short walk from the Whitehouse and in reality not that far from any of the others.

Dad and I used to go for pre dinner beers in the snug of the Whitehouse. Probs the best real ale pub on the island.

Seventy one days until trefbash. The event is sold out but I keep tickets to one side for pals so let me know if you plan to come but are laggardly in your registration efforts.

The key thing to focus on now is what to wear. Remember the theme is tropical. A pith helmet would not be out of place but neither would a grass skirt. Only you can decide. Suits need not apply unless they are linen.

…

Berlin is awash with rain as we sit on the tarmac waiting to depart. THG and I are in row 3 ready for a fast getaway. I wouldn’t really have gone for row 3 as it is just behind business class and they pull the curtain across right in your face. There weren’t many free options when I remembered yesterday to look and reserve seats. Being a proud bronze member of the BA Exec Club (!) I can book seats six days befroe the flight is scheduled to depart.

The question on everybody’s lips now is whether we will get across  to Kings Cross in time to catch the 19.06. Fingers crossed eh?

Watching Band of Brothers on the in flight entertainment. Figured it would be a playful thing to do having taken off from Berlin. It isn’t really on the inflight entertainment. They don’t seem to do that sort of thing anymore. Certainly not on the Berlin flights. Short haul. Everyone brings their own. Swat I did. Downloaded all ten episodes whilst sat in the departure lounge. Airport wifi fair play. Didn’t seem to have a fair use policy. Just “don’t do illegal stuff”. I didn’t.

Now I have my laptop open, phone propped up on the screen showing BoB Episode 6, an empty plastic cup that that formerly contained diet coke. How restrained is that? I’ll wait until we are settled in to a Northbound train out of London Kings Cross before asking for a gin and tonique.

Looking down I see nothing but cloud. It would be quite nice to see how much progress we were making towards our final destination. When will we be over the channel. Away from German fighters harrying Allied Bombers on their way back from dropping their destructive load on the Axis capital.

Now watching Arethra Franklin in Amsterdam. BBC iPlayer downloads. Had it on the phone for some time. She’s got a helluva voice. Feels a bit antiquated being offline, albeit only for ninety minutes. Wtf’s all that about?

“When my soul was in the lost and found you came along to claim it.” A classic line.

That’s in the same league as “the devil will drag you under with a soul so heavy you’ll never float”. Totes different sentiment obvs.

Going to see Paul McCartney in Manchester on the Sunday after trefbash. This might well be our last opportunity to see one of the greatest musical talents that ever lived. The fact that we have been able to see him at all feels somewhat of a privilege. We didn’t get to see Mozart for example. He died young 🙂 The old waltz and quickstep lifestyle musta taken its toll. This’ll be my fourth timetoi see Macca if I remember right.

Last call for rubbish. If you didn’t understand the context that would be a bit of a strange statement. The trolley is making its way down the aisle to the rear. Just leaving town.

The only places worth visiting online nowadays are the sports pages. Even then the spirit of hope and optimism hangs only by the slenderest of threads. Take last night for example. Lincoln City kept us on tenterhooks until the fifth minute of added time before the ten man side got the equaliser (we had all been craving 🙂 ) 

Even following sport is like riding an emotional rollercoaster. It does help that we can walk away when the big dipper is at its lowest point. Shrug our shoulders and say it’s only a game. I can anyway. Comes from long experience. Necessity. If you let it get to you life would be one long dip.

The one non sporting bit of fun is the occasional glimpse of the Conservative Party conference where the leadership hopefuls spout the same crap that was the reason they were removed from power in the first place. Bless.

We are, this morning, still in Berlin although this afternoon we head to the airport and home. Sat in the hotel in Berlin and looking at all the wars going on around the world you have to believe that humanity has a self destruct button that they periodically bring out of the drawer and press repeatedly, maniacally. Eyes glazed.

The word tenterhook has an interesting origin. Tenterhooks are what herring are hung on during the kipper smoking process. I learned this during a visit to Moore’s kipper smokery in Peel in the Isle of Man. Sadly Moore’s is no more. Went out of business last year I think. Might have been this year. I’m glad I did the tour.

In its heyday Peel was a huge fishing port. You can understand how big an employer the fishing was when I tell you that there used to be sixty or so pubs in the town whereas now they are down to seven: Whitehouse, Royal, Central, Creek, Peveril, Marine and Millers. Our house was a very short walk from the Whitehouse and in reality not that far from any of the others.

Dad and I used to go for pre dinner beers in the snug of the Whitehouse. Probs the best real ale pub on the island.

Seventy one days until trefbash. The event is sold out but I keep tickets to one side for pals so let me know if you plan to come but are laggardly in your registration efforts.

The key thing to focus on now is what to wear. Remember the theme is tropical. A pith helmet would not be out of place but neither would a grass skirt. Only you can decide. Suits need not apply unless they are linen.

Fair chucking it down in Berlin. Raining Katzen und Hunde as we say here. This has prompted us to delay our departure to the Frans Hals exhibition. No harm in letting brekkie go down a bit anyway.

I’m sat in front of the rectangular fire effect feature in the lobby listening to a repeat of yesterday’s looped muzac. No rush.

The hotel does have umbrellas they lend to guests. I might nip over and bagsie one before those thieving tourists whip em all. Got one.

Up at the crack of Sperlingsfurz in Berlin. The email told us removals van would arrive at eight. Previous schedules have said between eight and noon. I guess we have to assume eight. 

We need to be there to watch over the load whilst the driver and John and his mate unload and carry the gear to the flat. I’m there to do the watching. THG is on duty as our resident German speaker to ward off any Berlin traffic wardens who might take umbrage to the van being parked in a restricted spot.

Sometime later we are hanging around the flat. The latest eta is ten past nine.

…

Called the removals firm a number of times to be told the driver had been parked up outside the appointed location for fifteen minutes. An area search ensued and eventually our John bumped into the driver who had taken the initiative to come and find us. Turned out that the address given was a building accessible from more than one direction. What we had considered to be the obvious place to wait was not necessarily the interpretation of the driver. Hey…

Stress levels subsided and all hands set to unloading what was really a relatively small amount of stuff compared to the size of the Luton van.

We are now back in da hotel for some relaxation and recovery time. Tis a beautiful yet cold day out.

Couple of observations about Berlin. This is a very new city for obvious reasons. Feels a little strange being at one of the world’s most famous capital cities but for all the architecture to be post WW2. Even in the young country known to the world as the US of A they have older buildings.

Observation number two is in regards of the fact that everyone is speaking English in the hotel. This is an American chain therefore attracting clientele from that part of the world but it nevertheless feels odd.

Nice and warm sitting in the hotel lobby. A long rectangular fireplace feature provides some relaxing distraction and the muzac is not intrusive. I imagine it could drive the staff crazy having to listen to inane tunes day in day out.

Lots of people hanging around with luggage. Either they have not yet been able to check in or have checked out and killing time before going to the airport. Our flight back on Wednesday is at 16.50 so I guess we will have to hang around a bit ourselves. We will need to leave here at around 2 – 2.30.

Sat in the window of our room at Dukes Hotel in St James. Not a particularly good view and having opened the window there is a lot of noise from a cluster of aircon fans a couple of floors down. The service levels are quite high here but not sure I’d be particularly happy to have paid six hundred and fifty quid which would have been the alternative to points. Having paid nothing I guess we got what we got. 

The room itself was good. Everything worked. Even had lights in the ceiling. One of the worst sides of hotel rooms is that for some reason they choose not to have enough lights. The breakfast was top notch as were the martinis last night. The bar was rammed all night. Amazing how many people were keen to part with twenty five quid for a drink.

In half an hour or so we are off on the next bit of our journey – LCY to BER. Our John, being a musician and creative is moving there. Berlin, apaz, is the centre of the house and techno scene. Stuff like that. If yer going to do these things do them while you are young. John is twenty four years old and has the world at his feet. Good luck to the lad.

Nice meal at Dishoom Carnaby last night. THG and I shared a starter and a main. Otherwise would have been too much. An age thing probs 🙂 I had the foresight to book a table. When we arrived there was a huge queue outside and the wait even once you made it inside the building was quite long. Like thirty mins to an hour. I overheard one queuer asking a member of staff how much time she had left to queue and got the answer “thirty five minutes or so”. 

After we finished and left the restaurant the queue outside was even longer. We had a nice time but the food wasn’t that amazing that I’d queue a long time for it.

…

Sat in seat 10C on the 13.25 from LCY to Berlin. I’d forgotten how stressful I find airline travel considering how much I’ve flown. There are two ways of doing it. 

First class, or business as a minimum, comfortable lounge with a stiffish gin and tonic or a cocktail or two and some light nibbles. Large plane with comfortable accommodation and plenty of overhead locker space. Champagne when you get on then ease into the afternoon ahead.

The other way is a full short haul flight to Berlin where they are constantly looking for cabin bags to put in the hold. I’m only in Group 3 for boarding having recently been dropped to Bronze status with the BA Exec Club so overhead locker space certainty ain’t a certainty. I’ve never been really comfortable flying until settled in my seat.

Anyway I’m ere now and working on the trefbash playlist. I can afford to be brutal. Got far too much run time. Will also have a secondary playlist to run from around twelve thirty. Bit of Frank, Sade, stuff like that.

Occurs to me this is only my second trip this year that involves getting on a plane, the last being South Africa in February. I’m seeing planes fade out of the Davies canon. Nowt planned as yet for next year other than the notion of going interrailing in September. Mind you with our John living in Berlin I daresay there could be a few hops over to see him.

With forty five minutes to go I sense the skipper has nudged the joystick ever so slightly to bring us into a very gentle slide down to Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Sbeen a while since we’ve been to the city. Would have been a Euro-IX conference. A world that casually slid into my past, masked by covid lockdown induced inactivity on the conference front.

On reflection I don’t mind not going to conferences. At least the conferency bit. I’m ok with going to the socials.

…

STOP PRESS First release of tropical trefbash tix sold out sometime this afternoon. We were in the air. The last of the “I Like Pina Coladas” tickets went at the same time and there will be no more of those. I am able to release a second batch of tickets thanks to the huge generosity of the sponsors and because eleven people have donated hard cash for their tickets and the cause. Thanks guys and gals.

I do like a pina colada.

Sat in the darkness of the hotel room at six thirty ey em. It’s the earliest I figured I could get up as the act would inevitably wake THG. At home I’d have got up ages ago and gone downstairs out of the way.

We are moving on this morning. Really I only stayed down last night because we happened to be back in London today, Saturday, and it didn’t make sense to head nowf on Friday only to get back on the train the next day. Quiet night in last night.

We stayed in the hotel exec lounge as one of the partnership likes to dig in to the freebie hors d’oeuvres. I didn’t want any food although I did ponder getting Deliveroo to bring me a lamb doner (with hot chilli sauce). 

The one thing I did ask for was a gin and tonic. The attendant said she would pop to the bar as whilst they were free, they didn’t leave the bottles out because the greedy low life they have patronising this hotel would just swig the lot down. Well she didn’t actually say that but that was my interpretation 🙂Me being one of the low lifes an all.

So I asked for a double and the THG a single. She brought four doubles. Fair play. I complimented her saying the staff in this lounge were great, she being the only staff there. Before I knew it more gin arrived. We (I) managed to get through six or seven doubles – a single gin keeps THG going for the evening. A short time later a bowl of french fries and more snacks arrived. All because I was nice to her. It pays to be nice. The alternative is not nice 🙂

After that I abandoned the idea of a kebab and went to the room to watch England slaughter the Aussies. Enjoy it while you can.

…

So now we are more or less packed and THG is setting off to study local emporia leaving me to study humanity in the hotel reception area.

Our next port of call is twenty one minutes away by horseless carriage, in a westerly direction. At least it was during breakfast. There may well be a build up of traffic between then and when we hail said carriage. Mostly tourists I’d imagine. Had an American family sat at the next table at breakfast. The father was teaching his very young, and I’m thinking five years old, daughter the names of the US Airborne Divisions that landed in Normandy on DDay. V strange I thought.

I note that if we decided to walk to the next hotel it would take an hour. Presumably this is without luggage. Plus they haven’t taken into consideration my dodgy hip. I used to do a lot of walking in central London, assuming that I had the time available. You get to see a lot more than when in a taxi or on a bus and certainly more than when on the tube. I try not to use the tube but sometimes it’s the only mode of transport that makes sense.

…

The horseless carriage btw took an additional twenty minutes due to the horrendous traffic near Piccadilly. Bloody roadworks everywhere. Birrovatip though. Had pondered booking an Uber Exec but went for a comfort for ten quid less. The Merc that turned up normally did execs but it was a bit quiet on that front on a Saturday morning so he downgraded to pick up more fares. I knew what I was doing 🙂

Took a stroll through St James’ Park as the room was not ready. In all fairness it was only eleven thirty. I’m very fair. Sat outside the caff next to the lake. Only greenery to be seen. You wouldn’t have known we were slap bang in the middle of a large city. Once the centre of Empire. Well other than all the tourists. Yev never seen so many guided tours in your life.

I parked THG at a table on the outside deck and went in search of tea. There seemed to be a great mass of punters hanging around the drinks area. It was v difficult to see whether there was a queue or whether they were just waiting for their lahtays to arrive. 

As I got to what might be the front of the queue, not having queued, a yoof shouted “next”. A quick scan determined that there was no response to his call to action so I strode up to him and ordered a pot of tea for two. A dialogue ensued: 

“Do you want two pots of tea or one pot for two people?” 

“I want one pot big enough for two people”

He held up a small one cup, ish, pot.

“I’ll have two of them please” Sigh. Perhaps I am getting less tolerant in my old age. I didn’t say anything.

Then he asked if I wanted English Breakfast Tea. This guy was a local but I guess did not drink tea. Reminds me of the time when I asked a barman what sort of red wines they had only to get the reply “which ones are red?”

Anyway we got there in the end and no sooner had I sat down and poured when Jose from the hotel front desk called to say our room was ready. Jose is good at his job.

We are now in our room at Dukes Hotel chillin, recharging, whatever one does in a hotel room in town. It is in a great spot.

Switched on BBC Sounds when I woke up and thrillingly landed in the middle of the Shipping Forecast. Missed the start but it didn’t matter. In fact I couldn’t tell you anything about this morning’s forecast. It’s all about the comforting tones rather than content. This only happens to me maybe once a year. I should tune in to it more often.

Bit of a relaxing “me” day ahead. THG gets to town at around three thirty so will be at the hotel before four. I have a trefbash meeting at the Phoenix Arts Club at two but otherwise no firm plans. 

Had considered a trip to the Tate Modern but they still have the same exhibits up from the last time we were there. Tickets are available for today’s one dayer v the Aussies at Lords but only with corporate hospitality and that outside the ground. Not going to splash out a grand on that just to go on my own and anyway it clashes with my meeting.

Another option is a haircut. The guy I usually use at Raven Barbers, Giorgio, has a free slot at ten to which I am giving some thought. It leaves too much of a gap between haircut and the Phoenix meetup but might still go. Giorgio is v good. Never thought I’d ever talk about having a fave barber!

Still a bit miz out and not yet had breakfast. Just saw a woman walking by holding an umbrella. Gonna rain until mid morning so maybs that knocks the barbers on the head, so to speak

Down in the breakfast room I have a window seat with a good view of the umbrellas walking by. It isn’t just wet. It is v wet. Traffic on the Pentonville Road splashes by with headlamps lit and steamy buses take their passengers to work. Very relaxing. A young man sat to my left is eating a slice of watermelon whilst staring into his phone and listening to something on his Bose phones. I am happier taking in the atmosphere rather than cocooning myself away. Lots of people talking “to themselves” over breakfast. Phones and earpieces.

Across the road an ambulance has pulled up, blue lights flashing brightly through the gloom. Never a good sign. Someone in trouble.

The Bose bloke has been replaced by a Chinese lad. That was quick. Hurrying through life.

My tea is not very satisfactory. The water is never hot enough. They pour it from flasks rather than from a boiled kettle. I have a kettle in the room for later.

In the meantime people with no headcovering scurry to the smokers shelter outside. Bit of a jam as an electric DPD van tries to get through the hotel driveway.

Retrieved a couple of printouts the hotel receptionist had sorted for me, signed, scanned, and sent off and retreated to the room to brush my teeth. I had thought about chillin in the reception area for a bit but the inane chatter of two large american women whose every other word was “like” drove me away.

…

After years of unforgettable music and incredible shows, Sundara Karma are saying goodbye. Funny how the first time you’ve heard of a band is when they announce their farewell tour.

There is a bustle to Chapel Market in the morning as stallholders arrive to put up their shops. They were still doing this at ten o’clock which seemed a bit late to me but some of them were already doing a good trade. The fruit and vegetable stall seemed to have some great deals. A punnet full of root ginger for a pound for example. Would have been a quid for each piece in the supermarket. A chap walked past me carrying a bulk pack of blue paper rolls. Shopholders spoke to each other and tidied up their storefronts.

I am not due anywhere until twelve and pondered getting my hair cut but figured I’d leave that until tomorrow when I have most of the day free.

Back at the hotel I whipped a large bottle of sparkling mineral water from the exec lounge and sat in the lobby for a while drinking it. Looking around there were a mixed bag of people but mainly blokes with open laptops catching up, presumably, on their emails.

Accidentally clicked on an icon called “Resume” when opening this doc. Hmm I thought, as it was opening, what am I resuming? Turned out to be a Curriculum Vitae template doh. Of course in some parts of the world they call them resumes.

Start again. Up not particularly early d’aujourd hui. Got some packing to do for a week away. Laandan then Berlin. CCUK Awards in town tomorrow which I like going to but have missed the last two years due to being away somewhere exotic. Thissun is at the IET. I am a member of the IET but am going to cancel after this year because I never use it and it costs knocking on two hundred quid. Ditto the Tate membership. If I lived in London it might be different. Probs going to the Tate Modern on Friday if anyone wants to come. I have a free day. 

I’m going down today because I thought we had a CCUK board meeting tomorrow morning but we had it last week so now I have a free evening in town and an extra hotel night which I can’t cancel. Oh dear.

Regarding Berlin we are flying there with our John who is moving his base from London. He has a record label and a recording studio there with a pal. All the gear from their London recording studio is being shipped out. John has an Irish passport thanks to me and my mam (well couldn’t have done it without mam) so it is an easy enough move for him. 

Meeting @Stefan and Katya Sunday night which should be great.

The road out front is quiet. Kids are all penned up in their classrooms larnin stuff which little do they realise could prove useful to them in their life ahead. Mummies and daddies all now at work or back home doing their chores, or shopping as is the case in our house.

One of the nice side effects of lockdown was the total absence of traffic on the road. Long since back to normal.

Cooler this morning and I happen to be wearing shorts! Ok I could change to jeans but I’m in shorts now and will have to live with it. The clocks haven’t changed yet anyway which is my trigger to move from shorts to longs. Life is shorts, as they say.

I can hear activity in the hallway. THG looking for a particular pair of shoes I daresay. These things are important. Gotta wear the right shoes. I do 🙂

Woke up in the night with stomach cramps. THG thinks it might have been the mushroom curry. Now I’m on fluids to try and flush it out. It’s a bit like the time when I woke up with a very random sore thumb. My sister Ann who is a GP said I have dad to thank for that. Arthritis in the thumb. It disappeared quite quickly but does make you wonder what else you have in the pipeline.

Just opened this doc in the shed. I started it in the house but as is my custom and practise have moved location. The interesting thing is that despite there being less than five minutes between me shutting down the laptop and arriving at the shed this doc is no longer at the top of the list and hence the most recently edited. Tref’s jobslist has taken its place. This means THG added to the doc whilst I was en route to the shed. Eat yer heart out Sherlock Holmes.

I have nothing in the diary today until four thirty when I need to be in Market Rasen. Doesn’t mean I have nothing to do. There’s the jobslist, obvs. There is also finishing off the trefbash eventbrite page in preparation for tonight’s launch. Press conference is at seven. Will be live on all mainstream media channels. Maybs.

…

Tired tonight. I managed a toasted muffin with cheese. Was getting v hungry but still had the cramps. Hopefully an early night and a good kip will sort it. Am off to da smoke tomorrow.

Tropical trefbash is now live for registration. It sells out every year and will do so again this year though if I get enough sponsorship/ticket sales I might be able to squeeze a few more in.

Not much else to say other than get registering. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tropical-trefbash-tickets-1013612400977

A wet morning in prospect. This is fine, so to speak. Living as we do in a greenish and by and large pleasant land, rain comes with the territory. This morning I propose to stroll to a nearby market in search of a packet of mixed mushrooms needed to cook the curry for tonight’s tea. I don’t think they come in packets as such. It’ll be one of those small plastic trays with a protective film over it. You know the sort. Maybe that is a packet.

In an ideal world I’d have simply had to go to the bottom of the garden and pick some fresh grown fungi but we haven’t got any. So I won’t. Can’t. Wouldave shouldave. The main problem is that the shops tend not to stock much of a variety which is what is really needed to make my mushroom curry a success tonight. Apaz. See how it goze. I will report back.

In other news the snooker season is underway. This has brought great joy to THG although we didn’t stay up late to see who won the match last night. Talking of winter sport it doesn’t look as if the one day cricket final will go ahead. It was rained off yesterday and the weather looks similar today. This was to be the culmination of the summer of sport. Never mind. Another summer will inevitably wend itself this way. As sure as eggs is eggs, as ‘they’ say 🙂

Meanwhile there is some packing to be done. London and Berlin. Everybody talk about, pop muzik. Feels a little early in the season to be going to Berlin. Or late in the year. Call it what you like. I identify Berlin with freezing weather, snow covered streets, walls and military checkpoints. That’s what it looked like in the movies of my youth. I guess things have moved on since then. I know they have. The snow geese have arrived early this winter.

The pairing of London and Berlin does evoke memories of the cold war. I only found out in recent years that the “circus” of Smiley fame was Cambridge Circus which is very near to where trefbash is held. Something appropriate about a hedonistic party being held just down the road to where spies met and plotted. Were trefbash to have been held in the sixties I might have had the occasional spy drop in. Michael Caine at least if not Smiley himself. How cool would that have been 🙂Maybs.

We should have had a spy themed bash one year but probs not colourful enough. Everyone would have turned up in trenchcoats wearing a trilby. This year’s bash is going to be launched this week so keep your eyes out. Maybe even tomorrow evening. I’ll let you have a bit of notice. In fact this could be it!

So after my swim this afternoon I popped over the road to the Coop for a few bits. Walking past the reduced section I noticed some bloke furtively stacking lots of items into his pull along basket. Didn’t really think much of it. Why he needed to look furtive I couldn’t figure out. He proceeded around the aisles, filling his basket to the top.

As I left the shop I saw him running away towing the basket behind being chased by a member of staff. Real life crime in action. The staff member didn’t catch him. The thought that went through my head on the way home was why did he bother emptying the reduced section if he was going to nick the stuff anyway. I guess lack of intelligence was one of his hallmarks.

Last week we visited St Denys, the Parish Church of Sleaford. Yesterday we dropped into St Peter’s, the erstwhile parish church of Aubourn. Much of St Peter’s is no more with the present building confined to what was the chancel. It was never as big as St Denys, Aubourn being a tiny village. For reference in 1921 the parish had a population of 212. 

A few observations. Thirty eight blokes in total held down the job of Vicar over the recorded period of eight hundred and fifty six years at an average of twenty two and a half years each. The early history is a little unclear as there is no way Geoffrey would have been in the job a hundred and forty three years. The parish website today suggests that the current building was there from around 1200AD which is consistent with when Rog started in the job.

In my mind Geoff was an appointee of someone who came over with the conquering Norman hordes and his church was quite possibly built of wood. Although significant in our history as the first recorded vicar he is to a certain extent an outlier. He was probably a monk.

In any case I’m not interested in producing an academic work of detailed historical accuracy. It’s the trivia that are of more interest. Sixteen of them died on the job, so to speak. A few lasted quite a long time, the longest being James Pilkington whose sixty years spanning a big chunk of the seventeenth century has to be considered good going.

Nine resignations in there. Some went after a relatively short space of time and you wonder what was going on? Maybe some of the short lived ones didn’t cut the mustard. Maybe they didn’t get on with the flock or got a better offer.

There were a couple of “exchanges”. Were church swaps a thing? In seventeen seventeen the position became “lawfully vacant” which does arouse some curiosity. The Patronage at that time appeared to have lapsed to the Monarch. I dunno.

One thing that does jump out of the page is the ending of the patronage of the Prior and Convent of Belvoir which appears to coincide with the English Reformation. Inneresting. Mildly. Patronage fell to the reigning monarch for over a hundred years. Power.

Another observation is the possession of university degrees from the seventeenth century on. This was the law and the only two places you could pick up said degrees were Oxford and Cambridge. It was a way of controlling who got into the church and therefore into positions of being able to influence the populace. 

On 1 April 1931 the parish was abolished to form “Aubourn, Haddington and South Hykeham” which will account for why John Alderson Seaton, A.K.С. Was in 1931 the last recorded Vicar. Did he get the bigger job one wonders? Also what’s the A.K.C. all about?

Size and current usage apart there is one other major difference between St Denys and St Peter’s and that is the fact that the latter had no hymns up on the board. Either they rarely use the church these days, which is probs the case, or someone is very efficient in putting up and taking down the numbers. I quite like the idea of the last hymns sung being left up there. Hey, who am I to say?

Because I know you want to see it, the list of vicars is presented below.