Saturday, July 25, 2009 :
Lakes
I spent a rather wet but nevertheless enjoyable week in the Lake District the week before last. Some pictures here.
Labels: diary
Monday, July 06, 2009 :
Jimmy Buffett - SummerZcool Tour 2009
Went to see Jimmy Buffett at the Shepherds’ Bush Empire last night. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a fun night nevertheless. He performed well, with lots of energy and came across as a nice guy. Seemed genuinely happy to be there and played a good long encore to a rapturous reception. Crowd were mostly Jimmy Buffett die–hards who had been waiting 39 years for Jimmy to gig in the UK and who knew all the words to everything (my wife falling firmly into that category). But he played many of the well–known songs that even I recognised.
Songs that I recall, in no particular order (and with assistance from google) — Son of a Son of a Sailor, Pirate Looks at 40, Margaritaville, One Particular Harbour, Changes in Latitudes, Grapefruit, Mañana, 5 O’Clock Somewhere, He Went to Paris, Stars on the Water, Conky Tonkin’, Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw, Come Monday, Volcano, Cheese Burger in Paradise, Last Mango in Paradise, Fins, We Are The People Our Parents Warned Us About, plus a few covers (Yellow Submarine, Brown Eyed Girl, Werewolves of London (bit random, that one — but I assume he felt it appropriate to London and I guess it’s handy to have in the back pocket for gigs in other locations should a large werewolf contingent be spotted in the crowd)) and some songs that I think are from a latest album (SummerZcool, I Feel Like Goin’ Surfing in a Hurricane, A lot to Drink About).
One thing: there was no option for the general public to reserve seats at the venue when buying tickets. We turned up nice and early to queue to make sure that my somewhat small in stature, rather pregnant, uber–Buffett–fan wife got a good spot on the level we had been assigned (level 1). The seats we got were fine, but all of the best seats on level 1 (like, the first 6 rows or so) were reserved, presumably for VIPs. Once the gig got underway, the whole place was totally packed with every seat and all the standing room downstairs taken, save for a large number of these optimally located reserved seats, which remained unoccupied for the duration. Funny how the people who are in a position to get the best stuff are the people who don’t even want it. Jimmy ought to write a song about it. Fair play though to the venue security, who with about 45 minutes to go took the view that the VIPs definitely weren’t coming and removed the reserved signs, allowing us to score the best seats in the house at the front of the balcony for the last 5 or so songs plus the encore.
Sunday, April 26, 2009 :
London Marathon
So, did the London Marathon today in pretty warm conditions and I am disappointed to report that my attempt at sub–3 failed spectacularly. First few miles were OK, but approaching halfway across Tower Bridge, it felt like I had raced a half–marathon. I tried to hang on for a bit to see whether it was just a wave, but by half–way I knew it had gone and changed my plan to shoot for a PB at least. Quickly realised that this wasn’t on either, as people streamed past me down the Highway on the way into Docklands and wondered whether at least 3:10 was on. By 18 my body was screaming at me to stop and walk, I threw away my pace–band in frustration and the new aim was to dig deep and just get to the finish without walking. This, I managed to do, although felt pretty terrible for the last 6 miles or so and I really had to grit my teeth to keep going. Some others obviously had a bad day too, because although people continued to pass me, I caught a good number of people whom I recognised from their flying past me with a spring in their step 10 miles before on the Highway.
Cramp hit in the last mile and I had to stop 3 or 4 times to stretch out my right calf, before resuming a painful slow jog (was damned if I was going to walk, even if I was overtaken and beaten by a man dressed as a gnome in the last mile or so!). Not quite the day I had been looking for and a pretty sorry outcome given all the hard training I have done over the last 6 months and the 10K and half–marathon PBs I have bagged along the way. Have spent the afternoon feeling very nauseous — dehydration and exhaustion I guess. These are what the numbers of a bad race look like:
| Distance | Time | Secs | Ratio |
| Marathon | 3:16:21 | 11781 | |
| Mid point | 1:30:41 | 5441 | 2.17 |
| Half | 1:23:59 | 5039 | 2.34 |
Monday, January 12, 2009 :
California
Just got back from a very enjoyable break in Southern California. Revisited the scene of my wedding this time last year, spent a couple of days in L.A and spent most of the rest of the time around Santa Barbara, both on the coast and in the wine country made famous in the movie “Sideways”. Spent the wedding anniversay itself at the Fess Parker Country Inn & Spa at Los Olivos. Very nice place. Did some wine tasting over a couple of days, visting Fess Parker, Epiphany, Foxen, Rancho Sisquoc, Consilience and Tre Anelli. Another highlight was hiring a Harley Davidson, from Santa Maria HD for a day riding around the Santa Ynez valley.
Did some good walking too, including climbing Montecito Peak and doing a long day in the Los Padres National Forest around Red Rock, the Gibralter Dam and various trails.
Labels: diary
Sunday, December 07, 2008 :
Floatworks
After the race, I went to lie down in a pitch-dark sarcophagus full of warm salty water for an hour at floatworks. It was the wife’s idea. I was initially skeptical. I wasn’t sure whether an hour would be too long and I was concerned about feeling claustrophobic when the lid came down and the lights went out. In the end, no problems materialised and it was a physically and mentally relaxing experience, which I would be happy to repeat. The wife, being a more meditative type than me, raves about this place and wants a membership for Christmas. Having done it, I could see how one could get into it.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 :
Outliers
I went to see Malcom Gladwell speak last night, on some of the issues that he raises in his latest book. Interesting speaker. Looks like Sideshow Bob.
Labels: diary
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 :
Henry Rollins
Went to see Henry Rollins’ spoken word show at the IndigO2 tonight. Interesting to see him, having known about him for years and having heard some of his music. Stamina was impressive. He spoke for almost three hours without a break. The first half was good — in parts angry, funny, informative. It seemed to flag in the second half and he lost the audience a bit. Without getting into the rights and wrongs of the war in Iraq, the section about it came across as over–simplistic and over–blown. From what little I know about the Iraq situation, it is not fair to characterise it as a straightforward invasion, which all of the invaded are of course going to resist to their last breath, analogous to Belgium invading the United States.
The last hour or so was talking about a documentary that he has been travelling around the world making, the production of which has obviously been a big part of his life for the last few months. However, I thought he talked about this documentary for too long and that this section didn’t have the energy or focus of the first half. The discussion of the interviews that he did about the troubles in Northern Ireland seemed a bit pointless. He was (rightly) anxious to avoid adopting any position on the underlying issues, but as a result all we were really left with absent actually seeing the interviews was that the grey–haired former paramilitary killers to whom he spoke were “fucking hardcore”. The (lengthy) discussion in the final segment of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA and the rebuilding of New Orleans seemed a lot more in depth, but was a bit lost on the London crowd, who I also think were getting knackered and in need of a break.
The venue wasn’t bad (Rollins remarking that it was a bit sterile and new, which was a fair comment), but the crowd were pretty passive, which I got the impression wasn’t what Rollins would have preferred.
Sunday, August 10, 2008 :
Morroco
Just got back from a fortnight in Morocco. Just under a week walking in the High Atlas and the remainder of the time split between relaxing at a family–type resort with a pool and at a riad in the Medina in Marrakech. A good trip. The mountains were great and Marrakech is a lot of fun and a pretty crazy–seeming place. Some photos here.
Saturday, July 12, 2008 :
Did a day out in Kent today getting some instruction from Rapid Training, where serving traffic police motorcyclists pass on some of their knowledge. I would highly recommend it.
Labels: diary, motorcycles
Sunday, May 25, 2008 :
Went to see the Average White Band at the Jazz Cafe last night. Very entertaining gig.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 :
Went to see Tim Minchin at the Bloomsbury Theatre last night. Comedy with singing. He was good. I liked it.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 :
Le Gavroche
Went to Le Gavroche for dinner with the wife last night. Liked it. Fancied most things on the menu and particularly liked what I ended up ordering (lobster salad followed by Scotch beef — wife had octopus and soft–shell crab followed by turbot — “Aux Perdrix” 2004 Nuit Saint Georges followed by a Delamain Cognac to drink).
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 :
Paternoster Chophouse
Went to the Paternoster Chophouse for a dinner with work. Didn’t like it. Nothing I really fancied on the menu and didn’t particularly like what I ended up ordering.
Monday, February 25, 2008 :
WSPA benefit
I went to a benefit comedy gig for the WSPA last night at the Hammersmith Apollo, hosted by Robin Ince. It was a big gig with lots of good people on the bill. Some, I’d seen before (Lucy Porter, Phil Nichol, Will Smith, Bill Bailey: most of whom did similar, if not the same, material as the last time I’d seen them). Of those whom I did not recall having seen previously (a slightly equivocal statement, I appreciate: comedy club visits and booze tend to go hand in hand), I probably enjoyed Chris Addison and Tim Minchin the most. Tim Minchin in particular seems to be a very talented performer and I would be keen to see him again on a smaller bill.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 :
I’ve been away for a month getting married and going on honeymoon. Both were fantastic. Many thanks to all those who attended and helped make the wedding day so special. Thanks also to our friends at Fly By Night djs in Huntington Beach: our DJ Duane did a great job at the reception.
Sunday, November 11, 2007 :
Tallinn
Just got back from my stag weekend in Tallinn, Estonia. Nice place, full of Hanseatic history and beautiful baroque architecture. The dawn silhouette of the old town and Toompea Hill, seen from Pirita beach across Tallinn Bay, must be one of the most striking in the world.
Labels: diary
Sunday, October 28, 2007 :
Nice dinner
With two fingers up to AA Gill, I am going to write about a restaurant I went to last night. Dinner at Gordon Ramsey at Claridge’s hotel. Definitely among the swankiest restaurants I have ever been to. We had a six course tasting menu. I was impressed. The food was good and the service was spot on. My favourite course was probably the main: a meaty slab of halibut with an autumnal red wine sauce that tasted like it had been swiped from a venison recipe. The addition of bacon and mushrooms completed the hearty, keep–out–the–cold October flavour. The other half liked the scallop dish best; delicate and fresh, wrapped in pasta, with a foamy saucy and subtly spicy sauteed peppers. Good stuff. We asked the sommelier for a wine recommendation (first giving an indication of menu choices and price–bracket — the most expensive bottle on the list being ten Gs!) and he suggested that we try a 2005 Beaujolais (Jean Foillard Morgon ‘Cote du Puy’) because it would go well with the scallop and halibut dishes which comprised the two central courses. Tasty wine. Quite different from the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz that we more usually drink (the grape apparently being Gamay; the wine produced using organic methods). A pleasant buzz, indeed. I wouldn’t mind buying a few bottles, in fact.
All in all, an extremely enjoyable evening. It’s nice when you go to an expensive place and are in no way disappointed.
Sunday, October 21, 2007 :
Stan Tracey
After watching the first half of the rugby last night, I took the difficult decision to go to a gig at the Pizza Express Jazz Club on Dean Street instead of watching the second half. It was the Stan Tracey Trio (ST + Andrew Cleyndert (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums)) with Benjamin Herman (alto sax) and Guy Barker (trumpet). It was extremely good and enjoyable and I think that in the end I made the right decision. Spoke to Clark Tracey afterwards and apparently they were recording for a CD that night, so I will be looking out for that in due course for my collection.
Friday, September 28, 2007 :
Just returned from a week in the Virgin Islands with work. Pretty busy, but the view from the hotel window wasn’t bad:
Labels: diary
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 :
Sardinia
In other news, I just got back from a very enjoyable week in Alghero, Sardinia, where I enjoyed fantastic weather and did very little apart from sit around, read and relax. The only remotely active pursuits were a couple of runs and a 50 minute SCUBA dive at a place called Capo Caccia. Plenty of good food and cold beer was consumed also.
Labels: diary
Sunday, February 11, 2007 :
Faust
Went to see Faust by the Punchdrunk Theatre Company at a derelict building in Wapping last night. Interesting idea and atmospheric venue and set, but quite hard to pick up the story from what was going on. Worth seeing though.
Labels: arts, diary, london, theatre
Monday, February 05, 2007 :
Skiing
Just got back from a long weekend skiing in Chamonix with the boys from the office. First time I’ve tried skiing, rather than snowboarding. Took about a day to pick it up to the point where it started to be fun and by the end of day three I was having a great time with it, I suspect partly because snow conditions were better suited to skis. Of course there will be an element of “one day to learn, a lifetime to perfect”, but it’s nice to feel I’ve got the option in future. Hopefully, the laissez faire attitude to technique that I picked up from snowboarding will mean that I don’t have to get too tedious about proximity to texbook perfection at any given level and instead the plan is simply to continue to enjoy myself on either skis or board, depending upon conditions and/or inclination on any given day/trip.
Labels: diary, snowboarding, sport
Sunday, January 21, 2007 :
Snowboarding
Having got that out of my system, I do have some better news. I made further progress with my vertigo (or whatever it is) while on my recent ski–trip to Austria. On the first day, I rode a short, exposed open chairlift three times and a long, high covered chairlift twice. On the second day I rode a long open chairlift at a different resort six times. I had to steel myself a bit to get on the first lift on day one (and employed one round of EFT
* as taught to me by Alistair Horscroft
Labels: diary, personal, snowboarding
Friday, November 10, 2006 :
I was a guest at a boozy lunch today at which Alistair Campbell was the guest speaker.
Labels: celebrity spots, diary
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