Arcs and Arrows: Finding the Line of Flight

December 2012

• love knee, hate bad…

  My lovely Aero is having the pain removed from a knee as I type (well, tap on the blackberry). The exciting part is she tells me for recovery Derrik may be the key! Woo Hoo!

  Permanent link to “love knee, hate bad gristle!”

• Goodbye Galina…

  I was really touched yesterday to learn more about the life of [[Galina Vishnevskaya]] with the sad news of her passing. Larger than life as all opera divas ought to be she had a special relationship with Britten's war requiem - he had composed the piece with her voice in mind, effectively writing what was to be a haunting and ground breaking work dedicated to her. …more

  Permanent link to “Goodbye Galina hello birthday”
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  Permanent link to “Bears at my table? OK so this was weird.... I began with a search for…”

• Marriages and…

  A thrilling weekend for many reasons. Most noteworthy giving notice of my marriage next May to the wonderful, inimitable Aero! …more

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November 2012

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  Permanent link to “I have had Anne analyst and here is her present. I tried to present myself…”

• If death disturbs…

  Believe it or not thinking of Jimmy Saville and the fact of his death and influences spreading there from startled me from my bed. I lie - it was thinking of my childhood and my father that had me in the sweats tonight. But I do not find the comparison so odious nor so hard to make (of course this would disgust my father and indeed my family, but what of that?). …more

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  Permanent link to “Sunday ride last week... So, I had a great ride out to the &quot…”

October 2012

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  Permanent link to “A Good Start in the kitchen There cannot be much more evocative than…”

• Nice sweet starter

  "Whole Buttered" Onion Soup Here's a radical new way to make onion soup. There's no slicing, dicing, or stirring. Instead, whole buttered onion bake for 4 hours, oozing luscious juices that caramelize like toffee. …more

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  Permanent link to “Hitting the wall? Recently I've found myself first approaching a fifteen…”
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  Permanent link to “Chains and teething pains Had a rather wonderful weekend, and much of it…”

• Feel what I feel

  I cannot help thinking it is a fundamental striving of humankind to try and communicate to another how one feels. And to be told and to acknowledge the impossibility of this - therein lies suffering - this is where Sartre was when he said "Hell is other people" surely? Perhaps I make too much of it, but I'm not sure. I want to think about this more....

  Permanent link to “Feel what I feel”

September 2012

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  Permanent link to “Last night I took advantage of the last night of the year when I could…”

• Didactic is dying…

  see the link , Now I really have no excuse for not being more diligent in my reviewing of my reading and so forth - who knows, perhaps there may even be a revival in the commenting, and accessibility of my writing blog? It is a work in progress, but that is my aim.

  Permanent link to “Didactic is dying, long live Reading!”
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  Permanent link to “isn't she lovely?”
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  Permanent link to “will you look at the back tyre on that!”

• Step Zero

  Hello, my name is Paul And my father is an alcoholic (hit the wall) I dream of my father's death and it is still his problem (take a breath) Hello my name is Paul And my mother is dead (hit the nail on the head) …more

  Permanent link to “Step Zero”

August 2012

• The Death of…

  I am not going to renew the didactic.me domain.... the new domain (already purchased) is readingfor.eu or reading4.eu …more

  Permanent link to “The Death of Didactic”

• pyjamas hurts and…

  SO I was happy to discover that at the end of "The Boy in Striped Pyjamas" the boy dies! Yeah go make the bad guy Nazi pay - and what a stereotype that the women are good in the movie of the book - there is something sick in that... I was very disappointed in the way that Gretchen did not counterbalance - at least in the movie... …more

  Permanent link to “pyjamas hurts and life”

June 2012

• Liberia - no place…

  the title says it all - I heard about the situation there from a "Save the Children" spokesperson on Radio Four this morning - and the images haunt me still... …more

  Permanent link to “Liberia - no place to be young and female”

• A salutary tale

  I have developed a coping strategy for my cycling... well for the times when I feel danger has been inflicted upon me, for want of a better expression. My normal experiences of this are depressingly abusive towards myself - for example recently I was cut up by a driver, quite badly as she turned left despite my loud proclamation, "Please do not cut me up!" an don drawing level with her at the traffic lights she discarded a fag butt in my general direction and told me to "F**K Off" before I could even ask if she knew she had cut me up (obviously it was intentional). I was left feeling shitty despite my best efforts to drop her aura of shittiness all over me..... But then a couple of days ago things turned out with a most expected outcome... …more

  Permanent link to “A salutary tale”

May 2012

• Bamboo Bike ahoy!

  Tomorrow - eleven AM - I am booked in for a ride on the FIRST BAMBOO BIKE in London! More to follow soon , but I am extremely and unreasonably excited.... See here for pics etc! WOW! More details to come soon - but it was something else - a real blast! If I had unlimited money and enough space in my house/life for another bike this could very well be one I would choose!

  Permanent link to “Bamboo Bike ahoy!”
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  Permanent link to “Chirpy chirpy cheese platter?”

• Beaks, tails, and…

  It has been a very Spring-like time of late.... rejuvenation of bicycles under varying conditions and the thrill of a third (drum brake on Derek). Also out diary has been very full, happily with some entertaining into the mix. Pictures are to follow above this post which will shed some light on the subject line! …more

  Permanent link to “Beaks, tails, and tubes”
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  Permanent link to “Voyager can has tail light!”

April 2012

• Little Big ride

  This weekend will see "The Big Ride" in London, organised by the London Cycling Campaign with closed roads between Park Lane and Embankment and plenty of satellite rides feeding in from Boroughs and towns all around. And I am respecting my daughters stated wish to join the ride without recourse to motorised transport - this indeed will make it a Big Little Ride! …more

  Permanent link to “Little Big ride”

• Arvo Pært's Pasio

  Yesterday I discovered this was to be performed at Westminster Abbey tonight. There were still tickets in the North Nave, just a few so I took a couple. Glad I did as I see it is now sold out …more

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March 2012

• Voyage to my Mother

  Grid reference 116586, remember that.... there are a wild cherry and an oak, remember row L/25/73 and L/C/56 (row C is directly above row 1).... These facts should lead me to the place where I once arranged for trees to be planted at Tredethick Farm …more

  Permanent link to “Voyage to my Mother”

• Cycling Society

  Perhaps it is the weather, with a surge of sunshine unexpectedly and a warmer day not so long ago, but my mind is turning to cycling and I cannot seem to find any way to concentrate on work. …more

  Permanent link to “Cycling Society”

February 2012

• sickness

  I read things I have written here and I feel pretty much sick and sad. …more

  Permanent link to “sickness”

• manners and misogyny

  I have a strange feeling that the exhibition of unwarranted courtly manners can be a "tell" for a misogynistic nature. I have desisted from waiting for my therapist to sit before I do myself. I derive a weird pleasure from knowing that my partner is unlikely to ever read these words far less to comment on them/ …more

  Permanent link to “manners and misogyny”

• sad and tragic

  Sad was when I got excited to see a comment on Ghost Bikes and think it might have been from my partner.... Only to discover it was my own comment to myself.... Tragic was the revelation as to exactly how much I hate my father …more

  Permanent link to “sad and tragic”

• Ghost Bikes

  I suspect people have observed so called "Ghost Bikes" and here is an interesting column on the subject which makes me realise that this phenomenon is perhaps not "something for me" in quite the way I had imagined it could be and leads me to realise how useful I see these "momento mori" of the highways …more

  Permanent link to “Ghost Bikes”

• A wrong turned…

  Behold! The fabulous Aero wins out and proves her point! Self-belief and persistence are rewarded with the refund of a parking fine and a token of restitution! Thank heavens for the existence of an [[ombudsman]] and an example to all! …more

  Permanent link to “A wrong turned right!”

• Terms of engagement

  It seems a date has been set. Marriage may or may not suit me, it is fairly certain engagement has not made a gentleman of me, and therapy is unlikely to achieve that within a lifetime (given that I started after the half way point and, unlike Aero, do not believe in miracles), so I am pessimistic …more

  Permanent link to “Terms of engagement”

• Let it snow!

  I had so much to say, but just want to record that the plan is to get away to the New Forest for a break. This is a great treat from the marvelous Aero, but regrettably we cannot invite Derek, due to the inclement weather. However I am hopeful of stretching the legs of the inestimable Quaker and the beloved Aero in at least one ambulatory excursion, which may even extend to cycling proportions, retracing our first ever ride on a hired bicycle. What a pompous paragraph the above is! Just wanted to make it plain I was self aware, may come back and edit this with some poesy, but have other things to busy myself with right now....

  Permanent link to “Let it snow!”