Camping in the New Forest

A heap of us went camping recently at Ashurst Campsite in the New Forest. Luckily, nobody tried to ride the wild horses that were amok throughout the campsite. Expeditions were made to a bog (moderately successful), an Otter and Owl sanctuary (very successful, animals relatively cute, some looked potentially delicious) and numerous pubs (extremely bloody sucessful). All was indispersed with the cooking of snags and bacon, games of cricket and "taunt Hanesy while he's out for the count". All in all a bonza weekend. Lotsa pictures right about here.

Roadtrip

Howdy. Tim and I are on the road in the land of Uncle Sam, extra cheese and SUV's. Currently ensconced at chez Julian, Heather and Lilly in the republic of Oakland. On the way, we've done Seattle, Fred Meyer Portland, Lincoln City, WEED, Okiah, lots of burgers and now the bay area of San francisco. vegas, Yosemite and perhaps mexico to come..........

Anyway, there's some pix and stuff right here

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/euroblather/album?.dir=/f1c7

Keep Politicians out of sport, ban Howard at Lord's

Keep politicians out of sport, ban Howard at Lord's

Marina Hyde on Australia's rent-a-quote PM

Monday July 18, 2005

Guardian

One of the many drawbacks to politics is that it's just not cricket. But that's hardly cricket's fault, and in this context nothing sinks the heart about the forthcoming Lord's Test quite like the news that the Australian PM John Howard will be gracing it with his presence. That Mr Howard has caused a diplomatic row (of which more later) to attend this first Ashes Test is a matter for him; what is a matter for us is that his appearance in some commentary box or other this week is now teeth-grindingly inevitable. Similarly, it is his look-out if he wants to whip up jingoistic fever in his own land to win elections but, in the name of sanity, why is he so often permitted to ruin a perfectly good day's cricket?

If ever there were a case for the separation of powers between sport and politics, Mr Howard is it. A serial infiltrator of the commentary box, he sees nothing untoward in punctuating wildly unenlightening ruminations on play with the announcement of a foreign policy initiative or a riff on the war on terror.

Not even these pages are safe - in fact, given he penned a column on the eve of the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, it may be technically accurate to describe the Aussie premier as my sometime colleague. In the course of his opus he revealed he had watched the England-Wales quarter-final in Tony Blair's Downing Street kitchen - a faintly unsettling detail at the time and even more so with hindsight when one wonders whether the two men might have forgone this pleasure and devoted the time to, say, focusing on the aftermath of that whole war thing in which they were engaged.

Heaven knows what day this creature is to pitch up at Lord's but you can bet your last brass razoo that he'll be itching to give those fabled analytical skills a run-out. Mr Howard may be a big fan and he may be under the impression that nattering about sport on the airwaves makes up for his deficiencies elsewhere, but in most instances there are blind wombats with a better feel for what's happening on the field.

In 2000 Mark Waugh was palpably in the wind-down period of his career when he hit a surprise six at the SCG. Like a moth to a flame, Howard leant in to the microphone. "I think we're starting to see the old Mark Waugh again," he noted, a comment which if nothing else rendered Waugh's being bowled next ball utterly predictable.

Why producers indulge him in this irksome habit is a mystery. It's hardly a broadcasting coup, given the needy frequency with which he feels moved to do it, and it's not as if anyone feels bound to solicit, say, Shane Warne's opinion when formulating the Australian government's response to the refugee ship that was stranded off the country's coast a few years ago. (A pity, really, as even Warne's reaction was likely to have been more emotionally sophisticated than Mr Howard's, which appeared to be "Unless any kids actually look like they're going to cark it on the deck in view of the TV helicopter news cameras, keep the buggers out.")

Grasping this concept of discrete specialist subjects was not beyond the former Australia captain Mark Taylor. "I get asked by a lot of people whether we should become a republic," he once explained, "and the answer is: I don't know." We can only dream of a world where John Howard might say "I get asked by a lot of people whether England were wise to delay this series but I don't trot out some trite reply because, frankly, no one gives a stuff what I think."

Alas, Mr Howard's pathological inability to demur is such that he has actually managed to affect what the rest of us get to watch on the pitch. Last summer Muttiah Muralitharan refused to join Sri Lanka's Australian tour because - and it's irrelevant whether or not one privately agrees - the PM had accused him of being a chucker. This week he has contrived to go one step further and cause an actual diplomatic incident: Chilean officials are furious that their president's long planned visit to Australia has been truncated to 30 hours and may be cancelled altogether.

The reason? Mr Howard has an appointment to loiter looking hopeful outside the Lord's media centre. Producers are advised to follow his own guidelines on admitting aliens and keep the bugger out.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

James Memorial Ride 2005

On Friday July 15, exactly two years since James died after being knocked off his bike by a motorist, we held the third memorial ride through the street sof North London. Sixty riders started off from Mosquito on Essex Road, from where we wound our way down through Angel, Hatton Gardens, Smithfield, St John Street, and back to the Old Queens Head for some cleansing ales. After closing, we moved on to the traditional "wind down" party at Pyrland Road. Which, inevitably some may say went on until about 10 on Saturday night! James wouldn't have wanted it any different.

There's some pix of the ride and ensuing parties here.

Jeannie & Duncan's wedding

We ventured down to Falmouth in Cornwall last weekend for Duncan & Jeannie's wedding @ Pendennis Castle. Easily the most spectacular setting I've seen for a wedding. A grand time was had by all. With a champagne bottle:guest ratio of 1:1, there wasn't much doubt that it was going to go off like a rocket. There's some photos of the whole episode right here.

Katie & I stayed at The Camelot B&B. Highly recommended.

We drove a Budget Rent a Car. A bunch of pirates. The whole company. Don't touch them with a bargepole.

July 2005

It's July 8, the day after the London bombings. Luckily, I was off work for the day, so managed to avoid central London completely. Braz and Sophie are visiting from Tasmania. Those two, myself and Katie spent yesterday at Pyrland Road, punctuated by a walk down Essex road for a couople of bevvies in Angel, followed by a BBQ back at the house. There's some photos of all that, and some other recent events right here.

You'll also find some photos of the (mis)adventures of my work softball team here.

London Swingfonia

Last Thursday saw Harry Martin and the London Swingfonia strutting their stuff at The Boston in Tufnell Park. A bit of a different pace to my usual reason for heading there, the Dirty Water Club. Anyhow, Harry, and the boys and girls swung till they couldn't swing no more. Looking forward to their next gig, at Lost Vagueness, Glastonbury.

Ivan loves Limey

Katie & Jo's Dad, Ivan hit town last week. He was worried as all his mates had told him that the English beer was "warm and shit". Obviously, as a loyal CAMRA member, I took it upon myself to disprove this theory. Combine that, of course with the history lessons that are to be gained just from sitting in old pubs, and I think Ivan has now been well and truly indoctrinated into London in the springtime. To the degree where he's now on first-name with all the staff at the Shakespeare.

Oh yeah, we looked at some historic (non-pub) stuff as well. In London, Oxford, and Greenwich. Check photos of it all right here.

Sue does London

Sue dropped by London on her way to France to meet up with her family. She's my first antipodean visitor of the summer. And hopefully not the last. Highlights were Kew Gardens on Saturday (tho' not much in the way of fresh blooms) and subsequent sausages, and Courtney Pine gig at the Jazz Cafe Sunday night. Man can blow a sax, eh?

A few more photos

Included in this instalment:

• A day trip to Richmond with Callum, Mel, Andrew & Heidi
• The debut of the purple pony
• Scott and Hanesey give the tandem a burl (with hangovers)

CLICKEZ ICI POUR LES PHOTOS

Holly's Birthday @ St John

Holly's thirtieth birthday was held in fine style at the rather carnivourous St John Restaurant in Clerkenwell. On the menu was a whole suckling pig. Celeb spot of the evening was some bloke from the Harry Potter films. I suspect some people wished he was on the menu.

There's some snaps from the evening of decadence right about here.

Probably the best pint in London

The Wenlock Arms, in the back streets behind Angel. A must!

My Birthday BBQ

The 25th of March 2005 saw my birthday and Good Friday coincide for the first time since 1932 (and it won't happen again until 2016). Of course, it was celebrated in fine style with a BBQ on the front steps of number 18. Despite my protests, people insisted on cooking red meat. Hopefully we atoned ourselves from eternal damnation by having Velvet Jesus watching above us (whilst sitting astride a bubble machine). The Brooklyn style front stoop BBQ idea I think is a winner. For complete authenticity, I think next time we will have to hire in some latin American kids to dance around underneath an open fire hydrant.

Anyhow, 'twas a great day, and there's some pictorial evidence here.

Anti War Rally and a day in Kent

On Saturday, Katie, Jo and YT wento on the first anti-war rally for 2005. So nice of the Stop the War coalition to stop protests while it was a bit chilly. Shame Bush, Blair and Howard didn't stop the mayhem in Baghdad. Still, was a nice day, reasonable crowd, and we managed a couple of pints before and after the march.

Sunday, Katie and I grabbed an AVIS car and headed off to beautiful Kent. We checked out Battle, scene of the Battle of Hastings (and home to the bloke who sells BBQ'd lamb burgers at Islington Grower's markets..saved me from many a hangover), a couple of pubs (!!), and the quaint seaside resort of HAstings. KAtie especially taken with the seaside amusement pavilions. And the real live chavs. Klart!

As usual, there's some pics right here.

Trip to Portreath

Grabbed a Ryanair luxury flight to Cornwall about three weeks ago, to see Duncan, Jeannie, Jonnie and Tanya. Much hilarity, drunkeness, beautiful coastline and clotted cream obviously ensued. Check it out.

Some general snaps

The camera's finally back. I managed to fry it in a car while I was in Queensland with Lou. Didn't tell the tretailer that of course. Fixed under warranty :)

Anyhow, haven't posted anything for a while, so there's some general stuff up in the usual place. Dammit,just realised I can upload full resolution photos to yahoo now, so expect the quality to improve from next post. Ciao 4 now.

OZTRALIA DAY IN LIMEY

Had a BBQ at home on Australia Day night. Well attended by fellow antipodeans, as well as a few of the locals. Some photos are on Simon's site, here.

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Cider weekend

The good Rev Simon and myslef took a trip recently to the Forest of Dean, where we crushed and pressed apples and drank some of last years' produce. Twas a great weekend, and there should be a cider party round ours in about October '05. Menatime, I've got some snaps sitting on this page. You can find some of Simon's here, and Calvin, another scrumpy adventurer has posted some here (beware of the long drop toilet photo on this one...he's a plumber, so has no natural sense of replulsion towards this kind of stuff).

Eyestrain

Check this page out up close (pref with a hangover)

www.soulwax.com

PS "Any minute now", (new CD) rox.