News Archives: July 2005

Thursday, July 28, 2005

5 Year Anniversary

On Friday, 5th August, Claire and I will have been married for five years. To celebrate this we're having a buffet party at our house, to which everyone we know is invited. We'll be starting around 7-ish. Lifts from Linlithgow station and directions for drivers will be available on request. We'll be providing food and some booze, but more of either is always welcome if you're feeling generous. In order to make sure we've got enough food, some idea of numbers would be helpful. So, if you're likely to come along, please let me know.

Posted by graham @ 06:52 pm

Thursday, July 7, 2005

More London

Most people I know have now been in touch, either directly or via mutual friends. No-one's been injured, and no-one seems to know anyone who has. Phew.

Posted by graham @ 03:01 pm

London

I've got a number of friends who live and/or work in London. I've no idea how many of them would be passing through the areas where the explosions have been going off - most of the routes I know people travel are thankfully not effected. So far, I haven't managed to get in touch with many of them. I'm not trying too hard - the phone networks, etc. are going to be busy enough as it is.

All very worrying.

I've had to put the news off. The constant, pointless speculation, and long, lingering shots of people near death are too much for me to take. We'll know the broad outline of what happened in a few days, and the detail probably never. Speculating seems to me to just be turning an attrocity a little to close to home into a kind of voyeuristic whodunnit.

Posted by graham @ 12:37 pm

Wednesday, July 6, 2005

After Live 8, How Can I Help?

Please pass this on, using your own words if you prefer.

I'm sure most of you watched the Live 8 concerts, and heard figures like "50,000 die every day from poverty". If you're like me, saying "Isn't it terrible" is not enough, and you want to do something. I'm not pretending this is anything new, but here's one thing I'm going to do.

Buy Fair Trade coffee(*). That way the people who grow the coffee beans get a fair price they can live on. Buying Fair Trade directly helps the poor, without in any way being charity. And I don't have to wait for politicians before doing a little good.

One person isn't going to make much difference, but if everyone who watched Live 8 does the same, the coffee market will change enormously for the better. Doing this will also send a message to companies and politicians that we care about the world's poor every day, not just when watching rock concerts.

So, please join me. Don't buy normal coffee, buy the jar marked Fair Trade instead. Encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

(*) - Or, if you prefer, Fair Trade tea, chocolate, wine...

Posted by graham @ 07:03 pm

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Recent Events

It's been a while since I've done a "what I've been up to" type post. Claire is still doing so much better than I can manage.

Friday was spent moving a friend to a new flat - the curse of the renter. Then with him and new flatmates to the Auldhoose, where I was really a bit tired and sober to sparkle. Did get to see some of the tennis though, including the Federer semi that I blinked and largely missed live.

On Saturday we avoided the protests, instead going to the zoo which was pleasantly quiet. No sign of Aye-Ayes this time, but we did get to see the new civet, several dwarf mongooses, and the first ever appearance of the Pallas' Cat. This rather upset looking silver moggie has been out of sight everytime we've visited since it arrived last summer. On this occasion it wasn't shy at all, albeit more interested in birds in the trees behind us than in us. I took a few photos, which I'll post if any of them prove any good.

After that, home for the tennis. "Maybe there's been rain, and the women's final is still on. I'll stick on the telly and see." "The new Wimbledon champion is..." "Guess it's finished then." Instead, we watched stuff on video, occasionally checking in at Live 8 to see if there was anything interesting on. Saw a lot of crap (Scissor Sisters and many bands I didn't watch long enough to identify), some inadvertantly funny (Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams) and the odd bit actually worth watching (Velvet Revolver, The Who, Pink Floyd). While it would be nice to think that it'll do some good, somehow I doubt it. We're talking about politicians that can happily ignore multiple million+ protests about Iraq. I don't see why they're supposed to be persuaded by a rock concert, especially given many of the performers and watchers didn't seem that bothered by the politics anyway.

Sunday was largely a day for gardening, and a very disappointing men's final. Roddick did play very well, but was still totally outclassed. Shame.

James and his parents are in Edinburgh at the moment, preparing his flat for sale, as he prepares to abandon us for lucrative opportunities further south. They joined us last night for dinner, chat, and a brief wander round the arches. The Bo'ness Children's Fair evolved as a more peaceful alternative to the miner's fair. The local primary schools choose a queen, her champion, flower girls, presentees, fairies, etc. etc. and then put on short dance routines and parade round the town. As part of all this, each child involved is supposed to leave their house under a colourful arch. This has got, shall we say, competitive. In many cases you can't see the house. The Queen this year had a forty foot high, fifty wide recreation of Cinderella's castle. An awful lot of work, but very, very impressive.

Today I've managed to do some role-playing. Duncan's running a superheroes game, in which I'm playing The Minotaur, a typical ugly, thick strong-man. We're only one session in, but we've got the four-colour banter and bickering going well, and we're set up for a cool fight scene with killer robots and innocents to protect. Good fun.

And I'm up to date. Phew!

Posted by graham @ 09:52 pm

Friday, July 1, 2005

The Most Boring Tennis Match in History

It's raining at Wimbledon, so the BBC is currently showing Borg vs. MacEnroe - the one Borg won. Again. They show it every sodding year when it rains. Okay, it was a good match. But can't we see something new? The BBC must have thousands of hours of tennis, much of which I haven't seen. Maybe we could even see some men's doubles from this year - so far I've seen one tiebreak. Please?

Any minute now they'll start on the match where Borg lost.

Posted by graham @ 04:48 pm

[Archive Index]