1500

It's not yet eight o' clock , it's still dark (or was when I started writing this), there's snow still on the ground and the cars are white with frost and the footpaths dangerously slippy, and this is my 1500th post hennce the laconic numeric title. It's just over two years (November 2015) since my thousandth post here and when I started I wasn't sure how far this would go. Lot's of friends have started blogs and then left them and I have a few friends who still have current blogs such as the BBC writer Paul Campbell's cleverly titled Scriptuality and a few others.

On the positive side it's Saturday morning so I don't have to go to work and it has been a very intense but satisfying week, managing to get the impossible tasks and donkey work done and not having to worry about the coming week.

I need to shower, take drugs, get dressed then go out to shop for essentials after I've posted this, and start towards my 2,000th post my going on about nothing in particular.

This morning I'm attempting to record stuff to the PC, and while the guitar sound is great the original device I was using created a half second lag on the sound from hitting the string to hearing it, and lets face it Alvin Lee could have played a hundred notes in that time (see Ten Years After playng "I'm Going Home" at Woodstock to see what I mean. Techically it's just very fast and in tune , the song is just basic rock and roll and blues time. My daughter Kirsty was well impressed when I played her this.

I do find it amazing that I metion things on this blog to find I've never mentioned them before in the eleven years I've been writing this. Here's my first post and in the first couple of years the posts were barely notes and now you get a couple of hunderd words. I think possibly the longest post is about two thousand words when I sat down one day in Craster just to see if I could actually do it and it's here.

Anyway I need to kick start the day and I will leave you with Alvin Lee and Ten Years After at Woodstock.

Brighton Rocks

Blue Skies over The Grand

Grey Skies Over The Pier

Well actually it's fairly stable , but this week has been manic, and I'd never actually been there before. It's easy to get round and has some amazing architecture , pubs , music and being on thebeach early Thursday morning was really calming and relaxing with the odd situation of having blue skies to the west and grey skies to the east.

Part of it of course  is that I like the sea, although I wouldn't , out of choice, go to Blackpool or Whitley Bay or Skegness.

Looking West is Good

Brighton , Whitby and Craster are the three seaside locations for me, and I would really recommend these three places to anybody.

Each one has it's own character, and I could almost live in each of the places. Brighton has made me feel good despite rolling into the house after half past ten last night.

A definite highlight of my week with some great friends, I would definitely do it again.

If you haven't been you have to go.

And what else could I have playing ..........

Heat and Silence

This is going to be a very short post, but it's August now and trying to think of something to say. The weather is still hot , and there was a bit of rain today. That's about it. Somewhere down this blog there is an exercise that I carried out in Craster to write two thousand words with no planning whatsoever and it turned into an essay on the difficulties of trying to write two thousand words.

Anyway was talking with someone yesterday about how you can integrate silence into talking to enable things to sink in to a potential audience. almost all of us have filler words because we are uncomfortable with silence. Once these are pointed out you can eradicate them , because we tend to take our own behavior as the norm. So when we repetitively reuse a phrase it dilutes the meaning.

So that's

The Odious Idiocy That Calls Itself Creationism

Another this that reading Randy Pausch has sparkedoff in my memory is The Creationist Roadshow that I saw on BBC3 in the first week in October,  the Conspiracy Road Trip hosted by Andrew Maxwell. You may be able to catch it here.

Creatists general see obnoxious idiots who are so blinkered in their outlook it defies belief. The believe the world is six thousand years old based on adding up the asges of everyone named in the Bible . Excuse me . The Argos catalogue would be a good start for most people .

As soon as someone shoots a hole in their logic (Carbon dating , Evolution etc)  , they say "it's a test from God" . It the program the most obnoxious Creationist maintained that the Grand Canyon was caused by Noah's Flood. When the non Creationist (but Gof Fearingly religious) scientist pointed out that flood water moved in straight lines while the Grand Canyon contained Horse Shoe Curves it was dismissed as  a test from God.

All Maxwell's scientists were religious believers in God . Science and Religion is not mutually exclusive. However the Creationists said the arguments werent fair because there were no Creationist Scientists (isnt that Oxymoron?).

I was brought up and educated by Jesuit Priests who believed in science and reasoned arguments. When questioned about how God created The Earth in seven days they countered with "How Llong is a day?" On Pluto it's about 300 of our years (that is a very rough guess cos I'm too lazy to look it up). Basically saying the Bible was a guide and an analogy NOT to be taken literally.

I think part of the Creationist Agenda is to create an idiot underclass to swell the Republican vote for dagerous idiots like Mitt Romney.

I am in a bit of a bad temper because I have a sore shoulder , but there is no excuse for Creationist stupidity. How can you follow something so blindly and expect others to support you? Bill Hicks on Them Thar Creatists:

The Last Lecture and Domino Effect

This is likely to be a rambling incoherent post , mainly because it's one of those things where a seemingly singular event cant then set off so many other things. Someone mentions one thing and then that sets off another . I don't know if I'm going to finish and then think "I forgot tto include such and such" , but we shall see how this goes....

I suppose it starts with the purchase of of a couple of seemingly slim James Thurber volumes that , while they were quite enjoyable to read , I was still only on page 50 of the first volume . About a month ago, for my 55th birthday,  my very good Australian friend Carol sent me a copy of Randy Pausch's book "The Last Lecture" , based on his final lecture . Randy Pausch was a young man (mid 40's) who had been hit with a virulent Pancreatic Cancer. A horrible situation for a man with a wife and young family who he would never see grow up. One of my heroes , the comedian Bill Hicks , was taken from us in the same way. In 1986 I got hit with ITP which meant that may bllod wasnt clotting resulting in heavy internal bleeding. At the time I was scared that I' wouldn't see my daughters (3 and 5 at the time) grow up , 3 years earlier my eldest daughter had been on the terminal ward (briefly) at The Children's Hospital at Pendleton Manchester - needless to see we're both here and doing well.

Anyway back to Randy Pausch . He was the inventor of ALICE a software development environment that enables people to easily learn programming . I've never seen it but my friend Carol uses it in her class on a daily basis. He knew his time was limited so he created and filmed his last last lecture and created the book with I got through in two days after giving up on James Thurber . In it he set down thoughts , aspiriations , regrets and advice in a remarkably easy read . He does come up with some expanded bullet points on how to live life with vaguely remind me of Sun Tzu's surprisingly readable and concise "The Art Of War" . Any I recommend you get a copy of the book and check out The Last Lecture website here. The lecture is youtubed below:

Randy Pausch is and example of Richard Dawkins' idea of immortality . Pausch is still with us in so many forms and will be while humankind exists in it's current forms. Dawkins is our premier voice of reason against the right wing Christian idiocy that is Creationsism though I do feel he gets a little evangelical at times about the non existence of (G)od .

One ogf the other things I wanted to put in this is that whenever any dies or is close to it I feel I must appear incredibly callous and cold hearted because usually it doesn't  really sadden me at all , and this is the reason:

As a kid I had bad dreams, I'd be in a field crying my eyes out because my dad was dead . I don't know how it happened but would wake up in tears and my dad was always there , working in the yard or wherever . He is still with us at 798 going strong , driving his Mercedes with his Post Office Post Box maintenance contract. Anyway soon after that my uncle Trevor took an assisted passage to Australia , the other side of the world . Letters came and once a year we had a short , very expensive (£10 a minute I think) phone call , I realised I wouldn't see him again . I knew he was there , but I just had no real contact . And that is what I feel happens when someone dies , we lose contact .. for now. If evolution has taught us anything it's that we grow and save the best bits and I think our "being" continues elsewhere. Aad that's why I seem so callous in the face of death.

This is a bit like opne of those Billy Connolly stories that wanders all over the place except I'm not reallly sure where I started and where I'm coming back to.

We live in wondrous times and if people concetrated more on the good , the world would be a much better place . If you have a problem fix it or deal with it , there is usually help around. Anyway maybe I've gone on about this a bit too long but c'est la vie

Without A Net

An interesting thing happened last week. It was my daughter Juliet's Birthday. I'd spoken with her about presents when we last ate out at The Stand in Newcastle and she told me she had an Amazon Wish List!!

I knew it was her birthday on Friday , however because I had to sort out petrol , a broken cooking bowl and various other things it completely slipped my mind that it was her birthday as well !!

Still no damage done and I phoned her , and sorted a card and present , but I was thinking that I do rely on internet and phone access without really thinking about it. I just assume I can log on and send something , and when you remove yourself from that ballpark , you are back in the world of postcards , royal mail and physical shopping, which while being very relaxing , I'm not sure that I like the internet . phone calendar being my Jiminey Cricket conscience !!

Craster 2012

Back in Craster again and the digital TV signal seems to have improved . DAB radio is OK too so I can listen to Radio 6. It's close to civilisation, but has the benefit of being on the seafront resulting in an incredibly relaxing atmosphere.

The lack of mobile phone signal means that I cant post direct to my blog , so I'm using the iPad to write this. Combined with the blu tooth keyboard the iPad is a decent doing tool!

Alnwick, Bamburgh, Lindisfarne  and Alnwick are all with easy driving distance. 

Craster is around 60% holiday residences , which at first seems a bit sad , but probably means that the village can survive because of the extra revenue that this brings in.

Robson's kipper smoking factory and restaurant and The Jolly Fisherman are still going very strong in this superbly located village.

Two days ino the holiday and I am already feeling the benefits of communication cut off. The internet  and mobile phone networks connect us up 24/7 and that is probably not a good thing because you are always looking to do just a little bit more, though ironically I am cut off but I am still blogging!!

Hopefully I will find some free wifi or a mobile wifi signal and can unload my posts.

Craster – Cul-de-Sac-Deluxe

Craster Harbour

As you drive into Craster you are greeted with a cul-de-sac sign. The only way out is back the way you came or via the sea. I tell a lie, you can walk along the coastal path to the magnificent ruin of Dunstanburgh castle or head due south and eventually land up in Blyth or Whitley Bay!!

This is no bad thing though, it means no through traffic and therefore it’s very quiet and peaceful.

Apparently sixty per cent of the housing here is holiday cottages. Unsure if this is a good or bad thing, if they are used the year round, it will obviously boost the local economy, which is a good thing. Problems occur when people buy holiday cottages that lie empty for most of the year.

Having said that the Shoreline Café was open and occupied at 5pm on Sunday, which implies that the trade is there for them.

Kipper Smokers

L Robson the local fish smokers provide kippers country wide and are sensible enough to maintain a web presence and the superbly appointed http://www.kipper.co.uk/ .

As well as this there’s an art gallery, run by local seascape artist Mick Oxley which was opened by David Miliband MP (the one who didn’t become Labour Leader). His paintings are well worth seeing and his web site is http://www.mickoxley.co.uk/ .

Craster is amazing. One phone box, a kipper smoking factory (well shed) , with adjacent shop and restaurant that opens for three and a half hours a day , is closed Sundays and doesn’t take cards. Opposite this you have The Jolly Sailor a wonderful pub with free internet access, and a sign board featuring a jolly sailor straight out of HP Lovecraft!!

There’s no mobile phone signal, no analogue TV, and digital TV is almost non-existent barring BBC1 and BBC2. The nearest attraction is Dunstanburgh Castle, a sprawling ruin maintained by English Heritage that you have to walk through 1.25 miles of livestock occupied cliff top pasture to get to.

Craster is essentially a cul-de-sac, but this is no bad thing if you want to get away from things but still have some semblance of comfort such as a decent local restaurant, food store and pub.

Dunstanburgh Castle

The walk to Dunstanburgh is visually stunning, and, amazingly, at points gives you mobile phone reception!

Today is the last day in Craster, will definitely come back.  Last night there were two lights, possibly torches on the breakwater just outside the harbour until about three in the morning. Though it was stormy they definitely were not distress signals, so I assume researchers or mad divers, although it would have been a great start to a Lovecraftian horror movie in keeping with the pub sign at The Jolly Sailor!.

This morning I went down to the rocks outside the harbour, even though they were chained off. Got some interesting views of the rocks beyond the harbour, no sign of any corpses rising from the depths or mermen!

One thing this week has done is allow me to put down a couple of words for the blog. Two thousand of those were for yesterday’s novel experiment, but that is still quite a few words for y diaristic observations. All this is maybe forty minutes from Newcastle, which is an absolute find.

Sunrise in Craster

Another thought is that in a week’s holiday on the North East coast of England there has been virtually no rain at all. The weather has been superb, allowing walks along the coast and inland without the need for big coats and umbrellas!

Anyway I’ll wrap this up now, until my next visit.