Not so much a train of thought, more a replacement bus service of godless waffle, jokes and memes with a snifter of wine and craft-beer related stuff on the side..
We watched the opening ceremony of the Paris games last Friday but to be honest no one could really get into it. The rain didn't help but generally the whole thing seemed pretty random to us, unlike London in 2012 which had a time-line and story to it. I suppose the Paris show had some nice moments and certainly wasn't the worst I've seen, it seems that Olympic opening ceremonies are a little Marmite'esc in nature..
Taken in New York in 1929 this photo shows some rather well healed (i.e. rich) people in an opium den, something that was relatively common at the time in many developed countries and in China itself throughout the 19th century where it was mainly the poor who suffered.
I'm often amused when I hear the current crop of right wing talking heads in the USA banging on about how great America used to be (MAGA), rather similar to the idiot Brexit gammons in this country, both sets of which have a rose tinted view of our past that seems to be fixated on some idealised 1950s landscape when the trains ran on time, there was no crime and everyone had white faces! Of course such an idyllic era never existed, certainly not for the man in the street, there was always drug addiction (see above), religious/cultural conflict, a percentage of psychopaths, random violence and perhaps most fractious of all the gap between rich and poor has always generated greed and unfairness. In fact when you look at things in the round the current period is probably the most stable and peaceful that's ever been, barring a few blips in the last couple of years.
We're witnessing the effect of this delusional viewpoint right now, the storm that's been generated over the stabbings in Southport this week and the hysteria over Muslims and immigrants is a direct result of the fear generated in many communities by both a lack of any explanation for the events but also, critically, a crisis of confidence in our future. We shouldn't be surprised, it's just a Human reaction, in fact the riots should have been predicted and ideally headed off at the pass! Easier to say than to do I'm sure but never the less we can probably confidently predict that we've not seen the last of such violence.
Perception is reality as they say so I think we need to get a better grip of a few things so that this perceived fear of the future is reduced. Firstly illegal immigration is out of control by anyone's lights, secondly we need to tackle the small number of people who live here parasitically and fight against our culture and our country, for example, the political Islamists. Lastly, our public services are, largely, on their knees at the moment. All these things should be able to be improved, even if it takes a while, what I believe people are looking for right now is demonstrable progress however I'm not yet convinced that our new Government has a good handle on any of these things? It's early days I suppose so, let's give them their 100 days and see where we stand after that if there's no progress on these things then I think we're in for a rough ride.
This illustration is from the 1920s and depicts how the illustrators thought that people might communicate in the future. It's not bad, they got most things right apart from the headphones, we all know that people who take calls in restaurants have a tendency to just talk loudly with no consideration for their fellow diners, unfortunately good manners haven't made it into the future.
The same building separated by 60 years. I vaguely remember the seedy version of Soho back in the 70's but alas was far too young to avail myself of it's services. I do remember walking with much embarrassment through the alleys and walkways around Brewer Street and Gt Windmill Street, especially when accompanied by parents etc. a young lad didn't know where to look! I remember my own Son experiencing a similar feeling as we walked together around Amsterdam and past some windows with scantily clad ladies in them, amusing at the time but such is the nature of growing up I suppose. With the advent of video and latterly the internet, depictions of nudity and sex have moved from physical sites like the one on the left to less obvious places, I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing for hormone filled youngsters though.
Went for a stroll along the river today, Sonning lock was looking particularly fetching with new fences and the lock keepers cottage garden full of flowers, amazing what a bit of sunshine can do..
Something you don't see everyday, an escaped tortoise that had managed to find himself on train tracks near Ascot, apparently "scurrying at pace" towards Bagshot. Fortunately the good folks from Network Rail managed to rescue him before anything bad could happen although he did disrupt services on the branch line for a while! Here he is being transported back to Ascot station where his owner was waiting, apparently he refused to shell out for a ticket though... (boom, boom)..
Winter 1963 and people cycling on a frozen Thames river. I was born in October 1962 and my parents tell me stories about how harsh the Winter was that year and how I was taken ill and rushed to hospital in an ambulance that had to fight its way through 6 foot snow drifts, apparently the snow on the ground lasted until March! Luckily we don't see Winters like this anymore, on the one hand that's a good thing for people that hate the cold, but on the other, the warm and very wet Winters we get now present their own issues of flooding and native species decline, out of the frying pan etc..
Every year my local craft brewery (Siren) creates four new beers that feature a coffee twist, they also have a little mini-festival to go with the launch but unfortunately I couldn't make it this year so I popped over to the tap yard last week to pick up the four beers in cans. So from left to right we have (verbiage copied from their advertising blurb),
Stompin Grounds - A Red IPA that melds hearty malt sweetness amidst pithy hops, elevated by a stunning coffee with tangerine and sherry notes.
Mucha Mora Mocha - Building on Mucha Mocha (no mean feat), this imperial stout is injected with coffee at every possible step of the process, swirling through rich, smooth cocoa.
Dry Bones - This IPA is bone dry, made with citrus-forward coffee, fresh orange, floral honey and the tannins of oak spirals.
Viva Patron - The Dark Ale incorporates tequila-soaked oak, agave syrup, intense espresso and Muscovado sugar for a coffee liqueur experience in a beer.
I will have to give these beers a taste over the weekend, tasting notes to follow..
Jesus and Mo. discussing discussing how people love to correlate things together that are utterly unconnected in order to gain authority for themselves or their views. I feel sorry for majority of people in the USA who fall for it but then again I've read more than one book..
I don't much care for the position that Kamala Harris takes on a number of topics, for example immigration and affirmative action but at least, unlike Trump, she's not a climate change denier! Climate change perhaps one the most critical of the big issues that face humanity at the moment, if it continues at the same pace as it is currently then I fear that we're going to see suffering on a Biblical scale in a decade or two. What evidence do we have for this? Well, (for example) I see that the global temperature average record was broken twice in one week recently, on Monday the global average temperature reached 17.15C, which is 0.06C above the previous record, which was set on Sunday. Previously July 2023 contained the warmest day on the planet, "shit is getting real" as they say..
So, sleepy Joe Biden is no longer in the running to become President again. Many in the media are claiming that the whole thing (including the fateful TV debate) was an inside job, set up by top Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, who could see that the writing was on the wall for doddery old Joe. I'm not sure I completely believe this but TBH with American politics these days it's hard to tell reality from scary levels of incompetence or even perhaps conspiracy. I'm not sure that the vice president is the best replacement candidate for Biden, she seems a little dim-witted to me but then again it's hard to tell. Trump is conspicuously quiet at the moment, no doubt the rhetoric (and personal attacks) will ramp up over the coming weeks, I think it'll be a tough one to call the choice is Hobson's.
I was recalling earlier in the Summer when we went up to Scotland for my Son's Graduation ceremony at St. Andrews, it was a great long weekend of celebration, seems like ages ago now. The evening of the graduation party was one of those typical sunny/cloudy British summer evenings, one moment bright sunshine and the next pouring rain! I managed to snap this picture of the famous St. Salvator's Chapel (1450) in the middle of St. Andrews with the sunlight reflecting against the sandstone giving the building a satisfying golden hue, nice memories.
Just spent a lovely weekend in the New Forest staying at the home of some mates in Woodgreen. On Friday afternoon we all met up in Old Sarum just outside Salisbury at the taproom of craft brewer "Dark Revolution", it was glorious, really hot and sunny as we sat outside and sampled some of the brews on offer. Pictured above is a beer called "So L.A." a tropical pale ale that completely hit the spot after driving down in the sunshine. We had a couple of different beers at the taproom, and then poodled on down to their gaff for some supper and a a chinwag, a great little venue (next to an airfield) worthy of a re-visit should we get down this way again!
I see that comedy legend Bob Newhart has died. I remember BN from my days as a student when we acquired a 33rpm album of his stand-up routines and laughed our faces off to his rendition of the story of how tobacco was introduced to the regal courts of Europe (you have to hear it to understand) We loved it, totally hilarious and hugely influential in our comedic evolutionary story.
Born in 1929 Newhart has been a central pillar of US comedy, many only know him from his token appearance in "Elf" a movie which (although good) doesn't really do justice to his body of work. Take a step back, listen to his older stand-up stuff and revel in his dissection of current sacred cows, a comic whose words are spookily prescient...
I was thinking about Vietnam and our recent trip there back in March and recalling, with much fondness, the delicious beers from the Heart of Darkness brewery in Saigon. Obviously when it's pushing 40 degrees in the shade any cold drink is going to be welcome but their range of core beers was exceptional, world class, you could say. I'm put in mind of that famous bar scene from the 1958 film "Ice Cold in Alex" that's just what it was like! What with our miserable Summers here in the UK, I've come to the conclusion that I really must travel more!
Many people seem to be having computer problems today, millions of Windows machines are experiencing the BSoD (Blue Screen of Death)! Apparently there's a problem with some security software (Crowdstrike) that (probably) installed a bad update overnight. At time of writing there are outages at banks, stock-exchanges, railways, airports, the NHS and a multitude of other businesses that rely on this OS for their critical systems. There'll be a bunch of people running around like headless chickens right now trying to figure out a) what the issue is and b) how to fix it or roll it back, I don't envy them! There are so many layers of different vendors code in today's application stacks that diagnosing complex faults gets more and more tricky as the years pass.
My advice...
The world should be switched off, and back on again, it could do with a hard reset anyway..
Jesus and Mo commentary on the standard of driving in certain countries, I can't argue, I've driven in several Middle Eastern countries and I can't say that I felt particularly safe or fully in control in any of them. This especially applies to some of the larger cities in that region, for example Cairo, Amman and Alex, all a little buttock clenching at busier times. In Amman I once drove from the airport into the city only to find myself at one point surrounded several by pick-up trucks full of men perched in the back celebrating a wedding by firing AK47's into the air, not your everyday commute!
While walking back to the car from our little excursion last Sunday we stopped at the Fox for some liquid refreshment, I chose a pint of Penpol which is a cask ale from master Cornish brewers Verdant, it's delicious, you can take all your Doom Bar and throw it in the sea, this is the real deal.
I see that Trump's pick for vice president is a complete clown (i.e stupid and two-faced). JD Vance seems to think that the UK is a "truly Islamist country", so much for the "special" relationship. Why is it that politicians in the USA these days are so ignorant and such apparent bell-ends? (to use a properly Anglo-Saxon term)..
Noticed a little picture board in town today with a selection of old photographs of the town on display. This one is interesting, for reference everything above the railway line including Reeves and the gas holder is now a Tesco superstore, such is the nature of progress.
We went for a walk yesterday (Sunday) afternoon along the Thames from Caversham, downstream towards Henley and came across a little island called "View Island" which provides a walkway across the river over the top of a weir and a lock. I'd never traversed the river here before so we did it for fun, I also hadn't realised that there's a power generation plant at that spot too so I snapped a little video of the water rushing down over the rotating blades, amazing what you come across while out for a stroll!
I had a bit of a wait for a train home yesterday so I decamped to the Greyfriar pub next to Reading station. It's a scruffy place and usually not that busy during the week, but the selection of brews is typically pretty good, a mix of cask and keg from local and UK based craft brewers and I can usually find something of interest. Being Friday, I felt in a carefree mood so plumped for something I wouldn't normally go for, a wheat beer from local firm Double Barrelled, it hadn't travelled far (about a mile I reckon) and was as fresh as a daisy, a nice spicy cream soda of a pint. It made a nice change from the usual selection of pales and IPA's, a great way to start the weekend!
Jesus and Mo pointing out that most religions follow a similar pattern. Sex and the control of it seems to be a central theme for many of the so called Abrahamic traditions, an obsession with virginity and access to sex, it's probably just what you'd expect of rules and codes invented by men for men in regions of the world where travel options are limited and access to resources was particularly key to survival (i.e. desert lands) It's funny how the values and dogmas of many religions mirror the parochial interests of the people who first adopted/invented them, most of them are so obviously man-made that to say otherwise would seem an insult to intelligent thought.
I was waiting in town for my Wife to return from London on the train earlier in the week and decided to de-camp to a little brewery/bar in town called "The Outhouse Brewery". I've talked about this place before and have probably only visited it a couple of times in the three years or so that it's been open. Anyway, it was a fairly muggy evening and I needed something refreshing so I opted for a Pilsner from a local brewery called "Stardust" based in White Waltham, Berks. Pictured above it was a really good lager, on point, and really faithful to the style, a spicy dry and crisp beer that was easy to sup and perfect for the situation. I really must try more lager styles!
Well, not the first place you'd think to find a cash machine (Sonning Bridge), I guess it enables passing boaters to splash the cash! (placed here by a local Banksy wanna-be called "Impro", in the past we've seen post boxes, telephones and a door)
Went out for some drinks with friends last night (Friday) and we just walked to a local bar, one that we frequently go to, it was a pleasant evening which we all enjoyed, however...
I noticed that the prices of some of the beers on sale have reached silly proportions! There's a beer called "Soup" from a brewery in Barcelona, Spain (Garage) it's a nice hazy IPA which I've had several times before, it's not hard to get hold of here in the UK. Anyway, as you can see from the picture above the beer was being pushed out at £13.50 per pint, yes, you read that correctly. This is a ridiculous price, sure, the beer is from Spain (like many lagers these days) but if I go to one of the large online retailers (like Beermerchants.com) I can obtain the same beer for £6 for a 440ml can, or indeed I can get a local UK based equivalent for £4.50. While I fully understand that there's an overhead in sourcing foreign products and also for serving beer in a pub/bar setting, a mark-up of 200% seems overkill, in fact I'd go so far as to say "taking the piss", this isn't far off the price of a low-end bottle of wine in many places!
It's a shame but we're seriously re-considering our patronage of this particular establishment!
What the hell happened to the weather? Five minutes ago it was sunny and warm now it's persistent rain and a chill wind. I overheard someone in town yesterday talking about it (as we English constantly do!) and referring to the current invisibility of any kind of Summer as "Torrential drizzle", accurate and a nice turn of phrase I thought..
Roger Waters (ex Pink Floyd) definitely has some strong views on stuff, no problem with that and clearly a lot of the issues around Israel/Gazza and also Russia/Ukraine have many facets and can be argued many ways depending on your perspective. But, I really have a problem with his denial of rape and murder on the 7th October by Hamas and also the history denial i.e. that the relevant history of the region only began in 1948 (which it clearly didn't) It's almost like he never bothered to watch the Hamas go-pro video streams from that day, something I would have thought anyone who intended on going public with his views on the subject would do first?
I'm inclined to suspect that supporters of (legitimate or otherwise) Palestinian violence against Israel like him have a problem at the core of their position, they seem to want to avoid the key question of culpability of Palestinians in acts of violence and genocide against Jews. They only see things from the perspective of "oppressors and oppressed" (clearly he believes that Israel is the oppressor) this is a very binary way of looking at things, I believe it's more complicated than that. In my experience people with such views want (understandably) to blur the line between terrorist and "Palestinian freedom fighter", often by cherry picking the facts, and the history, is this the trap he's falling into?
I think many people avoid this culpability question because they're worried about the conclusion it might yield. What they'd be forced to confront is the eternal dilemma of history, i.e. "are we the good guys?", the risk that they may not reach the conclusion they desire is avoided by simply ignoring it. It seems obvious to me that viewed from the arc of the entirety of the history of Human civilisation that this is yet another war over yet another set of finite resources by peoples of different faith positions (which never helps), it's not unique, it's not even unusual, it's mind crushingly predictable and ultimately very sad for everyone.
Waters has said that he favours a one-state solution, he seems to suggest that the Jews should "go back to where they came from" (i.e. USA, Eastern Europe etc.) I hope that this is an emotional response, I can't believe that someone with such an obviously keen intellect as him can't see the many problems that this would cause, if we started to re-shuffle the millions of movements of humans over history where would it end? Make Spain Islamic again, move everyone of European descent in the USA back to Europe, perhaps bring the Romans back to London? (then again, what did they ever do for us)
The Marble Arch pub in Manchester, I was here a couple of weeks ago enjoying their marvellous range of ales, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in good beer. What with all the election stuff yesterday and today I really wish the ballot paper I filled in looked like this...
Two years ago today (2022) I was standing in front of the Old Boston State House listening to the reading of the Declaration of Independence, a tradition which was started with the first reading of this same document 248 years ago from this same balcony, the power of words!
Here's a map of the seven "gates" of London. The gates originated in Roman times and lasted through the medieval era until around 1760 when most of them were destroyed to make way for wider roads, none remain today although there are plaques situated at the original locations.
Aldgate - On the old Roman road to Colchester, now in modern Essex
Bishopsgate - On the road out to Shoreditch and on to Cambridge along Roman Ermine Street
Moorgate - Not Roman but enhanced in 1415
Cripplegate - Leading out toward Islington
Aldersgate - Lead out to St Bartholomew's Abbey and London Charterhouse
Newgate - The road to Oxford and the West
Ludgate - The road towards the Roman town of Bath and the South West
Thinking about our trip to Prague earlier in the year, such an interesting, multi-layered and enjoyable place to visit and, I felt, meshed with my personality really well. I often find that certain cultures I get on with and others I don't, clearly it's not completely binary but I tend to go for places that have more of a skeptical and rational flavour to them although this sometimes applies to a city rather than a whole country. The Czech Republic seems to be one of those kinds of places, although I need to sample more of it to be sure, most of the people you interact with seem to be quite direct, to the point, no BS, I like that. I found this to be the case in Norway last year as well, similar kind of clinical efficiency although that doesn't mean stuff isn't sometimes daft. Many of the pubs in Prague have a really social vibe to them as well, more similar to the UK than say France or the USA, many have silly (but Human) artwork on the walls too, see below..
With only two sleeps to go before we all vote I see that the Tories have reverted to personal attacks (although clearly the advert above is satire!). I suppose this is natural when you simply run out of actual arguments, man I'm going to enjoy watching this lot get canned! In my own constituency our long standing (since 1987!) MP John Redwood is standing down (rats - sinking ships?) which means it's probably the best chance ever to effect a real change, let's hope it happens.
I had this beer back in April and loved it, called "Leapling" it's a collaboration between Verdant and Siren (a match made in heaven) and has long since disappeared from retail outlets. However, I was in the Siren tap-yard last week picking up a few cans for the weekend and I saw some of these in the fridge, I asked the man serving if they'd re-brewed the beer but alas not, he explained that one of the warehouse chaps had moved some boxes and found a case of this beer lurking in the cold room. What luck, a case of lost and found.
Since my (football fan) Son is home from university now, we felt inclined to watch the England vs Slovakia match yesterday evening. It was torture, Slovakia snatched an early goal and our team played terribly for 90 minutes, they were totally pedestrian! So, for most of the game we looked like we were exiting the tournament and deservedly so. Only via a last gasp effort in the dying embers of the game did we pull a goal back to force extra time. Then, in the first moments of extra time we scored again to end up 2-1 in front. It was interesting how the mood changed, the commentators and the fans seemed to go from utter disillusionment to elation in the space of about 2 minutes. I pity those fans who left the stadium early in disgust, they missed all the action, it's a funny old game.
