January 28
Bach Mass
07:08 AM
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Tags: LCS
December 12
A poem from my wife!
This was inspired by my beautiful guide dog Lenny who has been so happy lately in the autumn gales. They blow the leaves around in the park and Lenny thinks it is all for him. He runs around in all directions chasing first one then another, leaping upon them and pinning them to the ground. Such absolute joy! “Twas brillig, and the crispy leaves Did gyre and gimble in the wind: All naked were the chestnut trees, And the oak leaves were unpinned. "Beware theLenny dog ,O leafsies! The jaws that grin , the claws that scratch! Beware theGuideing hound , which seizes, All the skittery leaves to catch.” Long time the foliar foe he sought, Upon his paws he did abound: Muchly leaping, snuffle and snort, by the tum tum tree He chased them down. And as in canine thought he stood, On a roar of wind the leafsies came, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled out his puppy name! Prantish and twisty! Skirmish and bounce. The Lennydog raised his hackles, And with one final vanquishing pounce Secured the leafy battle. "And has thou slain the leafy hordes? Come to my side , my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' Such wondroustimes , such blissful joy!” `Twas brillig, and the crispy leaves Did gyre and gimble in the wind: All naked were the chestnut trees, And the oak leaves were unpinned. With abdject apologies to Lewis Carroll and all who love the Jabberwocky. 05:41 PM | 0 CommentsDecember 10
04:36 PM
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Tags: LCS
October 31
10:11 AM
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Tags: LCS
April 11
Summer Concert
11:24 AM
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Tags: LCS
January 21
Our next concert
11:23 AM
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Tags: LCS
November 30
12:30 PM
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Tags: LCS
October 02
03:29 PM
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Tags: LCS
November 30
05:53 PM
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Tags: LCS
November 11
An open letter
Dear Mr [removed] Many thanks for your cheque which I received on Friday. I am even more grateful that you were considerate enough to enclose a return address for me to reply to. I expect you remember that at the scene when you asked what you could do my first request was that you take all possible precautions to prevent any recurrence of such an accident. I was very appreciative that you took the time to pull over and paid attention to what I had to say. Having both had time to recover from an accident that likely left you and I both slightly shaken up I guess we can look back at it to try and analyse what might have happened. I am not sure off you recollect my being ahead of you at the traffic lights? Trust me that this is the case, and that I make a point of taking a position towards the centre of the road at those lights to hold the road in order to proceed directly ahead towards the Mercedes Garage. Given that the point of impact was to the nearside of your vehicle and you were turning left (were you not?) is there any possibility I accelerated and collided kamikaze style with your car, perhaps while I checked behind? I think not. I did not check behind at that point, I was concentrating on getting a good acceleration to the road ahead so as not to hold up any cars turning left like yourself. I do know that the first point of impact was between my right shoulder and our nearside doorpost, which would match with the drivers blind spot if using solely mirrors for observation. What troubles me most is that to get into a position to put me in your blind spot the only possible route was that you began overtaking me prior to turning left, which implies either a complete disregard for a cyclist on the road, or more probably a blind spot in your vision to the front and let. I am hopeful that you might see it is in your own best interests at this time to take some simple precautions. At the very least an urgent trip to the optometrist before you continue with any driving. If the outcome of these precautionary steps are all positive then maybe we can agree the accident was the result of a momentary lapse of concentration and you can make efforts to prevent any recurrence. In the unfortunate case that either of these tests reveals problems though I hope you will agree the only responsible action is to forgo driving, lest there be any more accidents. As a driver myself, and with a wife who used to drive but had to stop when her sight deteriorated and also a father (now deceased) who continued to drive beyond when he probably should have stopped, I hope I have some insight around this. I hope my letter has not annoyed or irritated. I am not seeking any admission of guilt from you and have no further objectives beyond preventing any further recurrence. Whether you reply to me is entirely up to you, but I do hope you are able to see that my requested precautionary steps are in your own best interests. In closing and to reinforce what I had to say, just take a moment to contemplate if you found yourself at the scene of a similar accident and lying in the road behind your car there were an elderly lady, or a bicycle with a child carrier attached. Imagine if they were not moving..... I don't think I need say any more. You have shown yourself to be a gentleman of integrity to me. I shall trust you to show it to yourself in your future actions around driving Very best regards [Captain Marvelous] 04:34 AM | 0 CommentsNovember 07
Got knocked off
... my touring bike yesterday. Coming away from some lights on the Bromley Road it was what I believe is referred to as a "left hook" where the driver just turned across me as though I was not there taking me out from the offside. I am careful with my road position so it felt as though he must have made some effort to hit me almost! Ironically this was after I had equipped Voyager with a new set of bright lights and made a policy decision to ride with lights on at all times! No witnesses to be had though... possibly due too slight state of shock I agreed he could make good for my ripped trousers, jacket and handlebar tape by posting me a cheque for eighty five quid to make good damages. I tried to impress upon him that above and beyond making good for for my damages I wanted him to ensure he never took down another cyclist and pointed out had it been a frailer person or child things could have turned out a lot worse. Only then did I think to ask him to read the writing on a van across the road... to which he replied he would need his glasses (the ones he was not wearing at the time!) .... and then he mentioned something about cataract operation pending (and he said he had only had one accident in seventy years making him likely late eighties in age). Too late I saw the error of my ways and realised this driver needs assessment and likely should not be driving. But, as Aero said, hopefully this has shaken him up a little and given him pause for thought regarding his driving any longer. For my part perhaps I'll invest in a helmet cam and in future have a definite policy of action for any "SMIDSY" drivers that take me down. I think maybe I should take some sturdy card and write out the steps to take and the things to avoid. I am just left with a huge sense of guilt - what if next time it is a child or an old lady and they are perhaps pulled under or take a more severe hit - I feel I had a responsibility to them to prevent this and I failed in that duty. 06:39 AM | 0 CommentsJune 23
Matching, despatching - where's the hatching?
Father passed on up down sideways on Tuesday, 18th June just five days after we returned from our honeymoon. The funeral was on Friday and was a fine send off agreed by all. He had almost 79 very full years life and suffered barely at all.... I feel jealous of his death which is a weird thing to say. Have used up all compassionate leave it feels like so no one else better die this year! 04:06 AM | 0 CommentsMay 30
on our wedding day
07:52 AM
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I found my key to happiness!
04:04 AM
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Tags: Annie
May 14
Father is dying
not sure what I actually want to say about that. It is fairly imminent since lung cancer and a prognosis of two or three months are mentioned. [Here is a link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlcAZ_ZW_Y "you tube speech link") to a speech he made shortly after it was announced. If ever there was a blog post I made where I might expect a comment and be sightly put out by the deafening silence around my blog then I guess this would be it. 07:48 PM | 0 CommentsApril 15
Giving up
it took a while, but I think I have lost any impulse at all to keep adding to this blog, there may be more to say but I am just tired of saying it to myself and although it has had it's uses to be able to refer back to stuff much as one might look over a diary it is ultimately pretty pointless and the rewards seem somewhat slim or lacking. So rather than let it just tail off I thought I should say as much.... I am far more likely to retain the one domain with my name on it than this one - it may disappear in the end but I think I renewed for two or three years so this will be out there a while yet 05:31 AM | 0 CommentsMarch 24
for it was written
and the word was dipiditofgivkrieg and it was a homoeopathic cure for my ills, which were a lack of things beginning with K remarkable in a dream since one is not meant to be able to read and I read this quite clearly Unfortunately I was also very gay and very anxious, but one can't have everything in a dream! 02:48 AM | 0 CommentsFebruary 10
Death impacts
Death does tend to dent one when it touches those around one. Aero and I just in the process of taking a battering since the death of her sister last week. Meanwhile I am facing up to life after analysis, though no doubt I will need therapy to deal with that (!) DG's makeover is almost complete with the addition of blue pedals.... whenever I manage to wear out the original tyres and fit the blue striped ones I shall have to make "before and after" pictures post. I recently realised that my ingrained misogyny issues are really (going to?) impact me when my daughter grows up - at least I can try to be mindful while she grows and hopefully through this mitigate impacts on her. More geeky news is the thrilling prospect of "coding Wednesdays" to get the recycling app online after a year or two languishing And I am at least for the time being desisting abilify (aripiprezole) after finding the side effects (particularly weight gain) intolerable..... 06:07 AM | 0 CommentsJanuary 18
bye bye analyst hello dreams
seems that as I roll closer to t he end of January and my conclusion with the analyst I have been seeing for one and a half years my dreams also have revved up over the past week or so. Culminating last night in a dream ripe for analysis, as I felt frustration and anxiety by turns trying to read my poems to a group of women and joining in with some sort of society where we had to ramble out and a false leader led us all astray on account of being driven by a need for money and security.... Hard to describe, but on waking I had a profound sense of insight into the issues I am struggling with in a deepish depression and much malaise about my work. Combined with the culmination of putting on around twenty pounds, enough to make me ashamed to ride DG at all. What's worse I am not even getting out on Voyager, and although weather, child care, and work are all "reasons" it is not like e to avoid riding and allow the excuses to lead me back to the car. Maybe I should cut myself some slack - but the weight gain is especially disturbing, since some small measures had been taken since January to at least halt the slide, and apparently these have been ineffective and my weight continues to climb in the face of depression and the new meds, perhaps =- one of the side effects I am NOT PREPARED TO SUFFER. So frustrating that the only way to verify things like this are so long term... Also frustrating that I amusing a tiny Bluetooth keyboard in the kitchen and results are many many typos.... Still a useful device but cannot afford to work with it in the kitchen other than as a shorthand device for emergency mutimedia navigation 06:58 AM | 0 CommentsDecember 22
