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The Words or the Voice

I finally managed to track down via the internet a cassette of the Love Poems of John Donne read by Richard Burton, it arrived this week and I couldn't wait for a quiet moment to immerse myself in the wonderful words of Donne and the silky smooth delivery of Burton. Both wash over me like the tide coming in from a warm salty sea. My favourite Donne poem 'The Triple Fool' is there, (http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/triplefool.htm) I've always liked Donne's poetry, ever since I was young, I used to read it every chance I got, it wasn't till I was 20 something that I first heard Burton reading it though, he brought it off the page and implanted it firmly in my head. I love having headphones on and just having Burton's voice and the words of Donne inside my head.

Last night, a mate called round and we had a Jenever sitting in the garden, we then decided to walk down to the Pant yr Ochain (http://www.pantyrochain-gresford.co.uk/) our favourite country(ish) pub, it was a busy evening, we sat outside for the first time this year, they always have a great selection of beer there, this time we were drinking 'Glaslyn Ale' from the Purple Moose Brewery: (http://www.purplemoose.co.uk/pmb_home.htm) it's a lovely brew, it leaves you wanting more!

This morning the head is a bit fuzzy, a consequence of beer and tablets for a duff shoulder methinks, so a quiet day for me...I got out into the garden and made some more photos of the Tulips before they disappear, the heavy rain and wind of this morning speeding along their demise.

Which brings me nicely back to Donne, tales of Love, death and sexuality. A great weekend...beer, camera and Tulips, accompanied by a liberal infuson of John Donne.

An almost peaceful day today began with a couple of hours in the garden this morning, not weeding but breakfasting, coffee, toast and the odd dead fly really put me in a chilled out mood. I made my way into work for the afternoon shift and the usual motley crew were there, the punter's were happy too, it must be the sun...there is a man who keeps comming in and stands amongst the shelves and picks a book up seemingly at random and starts to read, he reads a few pages and then puts it back and moves somewhere else picks up another book and squats on his haunches and reads some more...we speculate widely that he might be trying to crack some code, more like he's just a bit odd. Libraries do seem to attract them I must say, and that's just the staff...I was walking passed an office and saw this just sitting on top of a filing cabinet:

Two of my friends have recently been in hospital, and I received messages from them both to say that there ailments have been operated on and they were on the mend, now one speaks with a lisp and the other has a stomach that has turned yellow, I did try and get them to make some photos but they politely declined, I can't understand why!

Next week it's Europe Day, the 9th May has been designated Europe Day, in Wrexham we are having a European quiz night, in honour of which the following photo is but a prelude of the delectations that will be available
Yes, it's a clock in the colours and design of the European flag, but wait at least you get a battery with it, now if only it played the European anthem 'ode to joy'...wonder how much they are on ebay?

The last photo was made on my way home, I was thinking of the job I had to do when I got home, my neighbour, he of the book, has just changed to broadband and he wanted me to connect him up, and I was thinking of the usual jumble of cables that always seem to accompany anything to do with modems, hubs and computers...I glanced up and saw this, in a wireless, bluetooth infra red world we still need wires

Why do I do it?

A while ago a neighbour asked me to proofread a book he has written. It's the story of his life! Now, I don't know about you, but usually, I think that other peoples lives, like other peoples family trees are only interesting to them...but I said yes and 1 yr later we are on page 300(25 chapters) and the final 'proof' is sitting here on my table

It's a Bank Holiday weekend and I know what I'm going to be doing! He's done a lot of things, a lot involving cycling and golf!! Not my two favourite things but, well, I suppose each to their own...

Today, whilst waiting for the bus there was a young girl in the bus station with 2 kids, one of who was screaming and throwing a tantrum because he wasn't allowed out of the pushchair, now the bus station here is like an echo chamber and the noise was incredible, what is it about the pitch of some kids cries that goes straight through me? Yesterday at work was the weekly toddler storytime, usually a good laugh, yesterday however,after the story a cd was put on for a singalong, now the songs were good, don't know if you remember those 70's kids progs with the happy clappy sort of singalong a la Floella Benjamin and Brian Cant, well that was OK, but the intro to the cd was a sort of pipe thing which went right through me!!! Perhaps I'm getting old...

one of the guy's at work is trying to get me to ask him 'What time do you finish work tonight'?, so that he can say to the German girl we have working at the Library 'Nein' sic...

I want to go to Damascus, it is apparently the oldest constantly inhabited city in the world. It looks stunning with lots of good looking markets (souks) and lots of cafés with water pipes and Backgammon being played...my kind of place. This year it is the Arab capital of culture, I wonder if it's anything like Liverpool the European capital of culture for 2008. Ah well, back to the book.

Peaceful Sundays

I spent this morning doing those domestic things that just have to be done (eventually), washing, cleaning and the like, sometimes I wish I'd just got 'someone in' to do them, but with Classic FM the 'chores' today seemed less of a hassle. So, after a couple of loads of washing and some ironing it was time to make some photos of 'my' Tulips. It's been raining this morning, but now the sun has broken through and the tulips are responding to the warmth. These tulips are great they have wonderful colours and have done really well in the tubs outside my back door.

I'm crap at keeping in touch with people, time seems to fly by and I never seem to get the chance to sit and spend time with friends, everyone has a busy life these days, my communication with friends consists mainly to be via text, email or some other electronic medium. I miss a simple chat over a coffee or two and some cake (of course). don't get me wrong, all forms of communication can be a lifesaver, I remember once being in my little flat in Bristol and not speaking to anyone for 6 weeks, I must've been having a Garbo moment, when I did come to speak I'd almost lost my voice through inactivity, some may say that would be a good thing!! So, for all of you, you know who you are have these tulips as a virtual thank you for being there.

Spring sprang at least for a day or two

Those that know me will know that I'm not a gardener, I like flowers and the idea of gardening but my excuse is I'm too lazy. There is one thing though that needs no work at all, and I love them, Tulips. Last year I bought some bulbs back from Amsterdam from one of my many trips and planted them, I'd forgotten what they were, I love the mystery of planting Tulip bulbs and then throwing the picture away and waiting for the results, here are a couple of images.

I love photographing Tulips, I feel something approaching peace and calmness. I get the same feeling everytime I get to Amsterdam, as soon as I set foot on Dutch soil I feel a weight lift from my shoulder, no matter what is going on in my life I feel utter calm. Some have asked why don't I move there, the truth is i'm scared that feeling will go away if I live there. I think everyone should have somewhere they can go that induces the same feeling in them as I get in Amsterdam. Where do you go? Speaking of going...the first of my planned rangefinder camera's arrived this week, bought for £5 on ebay this little camera aptly named an Olympus Trip will be off on a tour of the UK, Europe and eventually Australia. The idea is to send it to friends, they keep it for a week or two, put their favourite film through it and post the results or send them to me to post...I'm going to have 3 of these doing the rounds 'a triplet of trips on a world trip'! not easy to say sober let alone after a few!!

If the 'Plums' Mr,Mrs and R, want to take part

let me know!

Quizzes,Games and life

Last night, we again won the Pub quiz, this week we won one of the rounds and the overall thing, the prizes, well 2 free drinks each and a game called 'Who is it'! There is still no sign of the Wii, but never mind one day it might appear, that is if we don't get banned for winning every week...I've noticed that there are quizzes and games everywhere, from old standards like Bingo, Crosswords and now Sudoku. My mum used to have at least one puzzle book on the go all the time, I keep finding them as I'm clearing out her stuff, my dad, well he had them too, but he also had computers everywhere,bits of computers a keyboard here a keyboard there, sinclair spectrums, zx80's, lot's of stuff...I suppose I should see if they are worth anything on the net, can I really be bothered though? It's been 2 years since they died and I'm still trying to sort out the house, let's not talk about the garage and the 'sheds'. I keep getting distracted. After my mum died, my dad 'gave up' and lasted 34 days, I utterly admire and am in constant awe at anyone who can love someone else so much that they cannot go on without each other. You hear about it a lot, but to see it is something else. I'm not sure I'll ever be like that, I've been told that I'm selfish, probably as a result of being an only child who knows, at the moment I am living on my own and missing a hug.


On a different tack, I spotted this a while ago in Amsterdam, why don't we have interesting things like this here, what a great tonic after a busy day, let's get together and have a phone throwing championships, nah we can't live without them can we?

In May we are having a quiz at the Library to 'celebrate' Europe day, I've been co-opted onto the 'boys' team, not fair, I want to be with the girls...anyway I spotted this the other day and just had to make a photo...

No, I didn't look at the answers or the questions...honest!!!!!!!!! Karen, Stef (aka Dave) and Nicole would kill me very painfully. Can you be killed without pain hmmm another time maybe.