Sometimes You Want To Skip

When you're watching a TV series on DVD you sometimes don't want to waste time with the titles. The sries in point is The Wire. Others with great titles are The Sopranos and True Blood.

What I've found is you cant skip the titkes because often they integrate it with an essential scene. It's a minor complaint though when the progams are so excellent.

Hook-a-Gate and iPad Annoyances

Well finally got to Hook-a-Gate yesterday and although there’s little phone signal (E at best certainly no 4G) the cottage does actually have free Wi-Fi.  However as usual the iPad refuses to acknowledge that the signal exists, so I can only access the internet through the iPad by tethering to my Samsung Note 2 with the weak mobile signal although I suppose I could tether to the wifi with the phone then tether to the phone but that might just tie it in knots.

Hook-a-Gate is a small village in Shropshire with a couple of pubs, one of which, The New Inn , is incredibly busy but welcoming and does superb food. While there is obviously money in the village the prices in the pub are extremely reasonable.

The Old Coach House where we are staying comes complete with cat who has an enormous sense of entitlement and seems to think it owns the place. You can check the details here.

Oh yes and the laptop has a Java update that insists on getting you to install the Ask Toolbar and McAfee PC Slow Down Software. I recently spent an hour decluttering  someone’s PC after telling them it was OK to install the Java update forgetting to tell them to uncheck the Ask and McAfee installs. There was another piece of software on there , apparently recommended by RBS which effectively wouldn’t let you uninstall it because it was “protecting” the PC. Most of this is the equivalent of fitting four Denver boots to your car and throwing away the keys to make sure it doesn’t get stolen and you don’t have a crash.

Anyway time to have something to ea.

Oh we're also currentlly watching The Wire with it's excellent opening Tom Waits penned credits song , "Way Down In The Hole".

No Fun In Darlington

Thought I would give some books away on Darlington Station. Afraid no one was interested.  Train not much better. Hopefully Newcastle will be more receptive to my bag of books for World Book Night.

The train has speeded up so hopefully can give my books away shortly. An irate Scottish man is not too happy with the delay. I offered him a book but he declined expressing a preference for the cans of Stella from the East Coast buffet car.

Shakepeare's Birthday and World Book Night 2013

Today is World Book Night 2013 which has been set to coincide with William Shakepeare's birthday ( incidentally the day he died).  I have to thank my mate Mick for pointing this out on the bus to Central Station this morning.

Tonight I shall distribute copies of A Little History of the World by EH Gombrichon Darlington and Newcastle Railway Stations.  Will see if people are willibg to engage. I am sure they will be.

Still Fighting With My Left Hand, Record Store Day Highlights and What Is Good Music?

Well still the docs are looking for clues for why my left couple of fingers don't work properly , though it's coming back slowly I think. Today I had an MRI scan which is not very nice when you are a closet claustrophobe like me. I requested some music and got "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" by Pink Floyd that approximated the length of time of the scan punctuated by the undustrial techno soundtrack of the scanner itself. One improvement is they give you a little periscope so you can see that there are people about if you choose to look , but I can't recommend the experience. Still that one's over with so now wait for two weeks to hear what the prognosis is.

A lot of people have been saying how good the Daft Punk / Nile Rodgers collaboration "Get Lucky" is so I thought I should give it a listen. ... and it is very good , but really this what all mainstream radio should meet in terms of quality , however it didnt knock me off my feet , but is certainly a record I'd like to hear on the radio.


My biggest surprise was the Paul Weller single Flame Out! put out for National Record Shop Day. This DID knock me off my feet . Sounding like Public Image Limited with another singer , certainly not your average Paul Weller song , this is the sort of thing that we want more of . And the B Side is a fine song as well. That really did perk up my weekend.

Facebook Wants To Own The Internet

A short post this which may eventually cause be to close my Facebook account. The very fact that I'm writing this is giving more publicity to Facebook, and it's two instances of something that may eventually damage other products.

The first was Deezer. Luckily I had signed up before the current requirement that you had to sign up with your Facebook account. I dont like be told I HAVE to use Facebook.

This morning I used Babelfish because my German is a little rusty , being mostly gleaned from Amon Duul and Faust titles and lyrics, but it wouldn't translate unless I signed into to Facebook.

Again it's something I see happening more and more , you can't have access to this unless you sign up for that. It's pathetic really.  The thing is eventiually you give in , then you start getting junk email, texts and phone calls all because you couldn't speak a forign language.

I dont mind using Facebook but along with Google and lots of other things they just want complete contril you. No thanks , I'm not going to take it anymore

The Books Are Here

This is it for 2013

Just picked up my books for distribution on World Book Night 2013 next week. A slightly different documentation / tracking idea this year means I have to physically sign each one , though luckily there are only 20.

This is the first book I hadn't read before choosing it , but bought myself a copy and read it cover to cover. It's very easy to read an I learned some Chinese charaters as well as quite a bit of other  historical titbits.

It's a wonderful book for parents to read with children to pique their interest in history from the biginiing of the world to modern times.

It's generally jargon free and is very good in pointing people towards other sources for extra detail.




Anyway I need to now get my pen out and start signing the things ready for next weeks distribution.