My Blog Posts

- Loving the description of Dr Kermode as "A vainglorious, tetchy, pompadoured skiffle musician" - [http://textism.com/2008/04/24/podswollop](http://textism.com/2008/04/24/podswollop) [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/797345051) Powered by Twitter Tools.

- Dodging the rain by ducking into cafes [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/795686767) - @alang I'm there. With bells on. [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/795687668) - Another skinny cappuccino? Oh alright then. [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/795687880) - Getting the barbecue ready? [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/796301232) - Preparing the barbecue to burn a load of meat and fish [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/796311445) Powered by Twitter Tools.

- Off to talk about Feature Driven Development [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/794744460) Powered by Twitter Tools.

- Making calls, writing down random thoughts [#](http://twitter.com/andy47/statuses/793995033) Powered by Twitter Tools.

As I contemplate middle age (from the comfort of my sofa with a nice cup of coffee and a biscuit) one of my wishes is to expand my music collection. Back in the mother country it is quite an easy thing to do; you listen to the radio and for any single or song that sticks in your head you go out and buy the accompanying album. In these parts of the world it is a little trickier, mainly because the radio stations are very genre specific and not at all amenable to change. For instance the station that the 70’s throwback favoured when he visited 10 years ago hasn’t changed it’s playlist since, apart from adding the occasional new Jimmy Barnes single. I yearn for a decent radio station and until I find that mythical beast in these parts I’m stuck with the bands and artists I’ve been listening to since I was a teenager.

We had a company picnic last Saturday and I took the boys along. The venue was KMYC so as well as the usual attractions - nice weather, sausage sizzle - there were a couple of boats to play on. Needless to say JFGP and MIGO were in the thick of the action and spent a fair amount of town piloting my Boss’ boat around Pittwater. A fun time had by all I think.

This last weekend was our annual escape to Jervis Bay with associated ex-school friends of SWMBO. A lovely time was had by all, with sun (and rather a lot of wind) on Friday and Saturday enabling some quality beach time and associated salt water swallowing. We appear to be setting some traditions on this trip already, and we managed a full set this time. Ben flew his kite, everyone had chinese take away on Friday night (except SWMBO and I who tucked into a Mexican), we went to the beach on Saturday and in the evening the essential meat burning skills of Mr Reeve and I brought about a fine repast. At least I think it was, because by then I had consumed a glass or two of wine.

<br style=“clear: both”;/> Photographic proof that it was cold and wet on Sunday morning at our weekend away. There are a couple of people missing, only because they refused to get out of their cars. Please enter your guesses in the comments box of who they were.

My Mum has always said that she wished she had kept the daily newspaper from the day each of her children was born. If you wait long enough the lazyweb will fulfil your most private wishes. Luckily the good people who run the global information store haven’t got round to the Daily Fascist yet so we are spared that particular publication. But a dedicated team has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

A correspondent has written to inform me that my photo a day project is falling somewhat behind. It would appear that I haven’t posted a picture since October last year. I’d like to apologise for my slackness. Perhaps I should rename the feature to ‘Somewhat occasional photos’. What do you think? To start to make amends here is MIGO in full flow during our festive season break in Port Stephens. As you can tell from the photo he had a terrible time.

I’m sitting at my desk applying after sun to my face every half hour. I went to the cricket with Mark and Ben on Friday and because we were sitting in the shade all day I didn’t wear a hat or any sun screen. Cue my worst case of sunburn for quite a number of years. What makes it bad is that because I don’t normally expose my face to the sun, unless it is under layers of factor 30+, it is the part of my body the worst affected and the most visible. They’ve started calling me the beetroot around the office.

It is now 2008 and in keeping with the tradition at this early part of the year I thought I would waste some web space with a review of the last twelve months. Here, in no particular order, are the highs (and lows) of the year; Best Album: Lloyd Cole - Live at the BBC. Not so much at the BBC, rather a recording of one of the dates his last electric tour (in 1995) at the Hammersmith Odeon. With honourable mentions to Time on Earth by Crowded House and Somewhere Else by Marillion (sorry chaps, its a step back from Marbles).

I told SWMBO that you would have to be soft in the head to go away in Australia between Christmas and New Year because it is the peak of the peak season. So we went away on Boxing Day to a little retreat some three hours north of Sydney. Can you guess what we did whilst we were there? A nice time was had by all, we are all a lot closer to the after sun bottle and a little bit tired, but the venue was nice, the pool warm and the dolphins in the bay plentiful. We even managed to watch the first season of Saxondale on my laptop on the balcony of our room in the evenings. Which was nice. If you haven’t seen it is definitely worth a view.

Merry Christmas to you one and all. Here’s hoping that your day is as festive as you could possibly want and that your present pile doesn’t contain too many socks. For the first time in many years mine today contained absolutely none, although I did receive a couple of ties and some cuff links from SWMBO.

Things that I have done recently, in no particular order; Pre-ordered the new Marillion album Acquired a Blackberry Introduced JFGP to the concept of months Started using my new laptop almost exclusively at work Bought some Christmas presents for my immediate family Addressed and sent Christmas cards to the UK - if yours hasn’t turned up I can only blame the postal services of our respective countries Given up my Blackberry Addressed and sent Christmas cards locally - if yours hasn’t turned up don’t hold your breath

The decorations have been up in the shops for weeks and the temperature is rising day by day but it hasn’t really much felt like Christmas. Until today, when I cooked up a batch of my homemade mincemeat. All I need to do now is persuade SWMBO to whip up some pastry and we will be knee deep in festive mince pies. Ding, dong the bells are ringing. P.S. We appear to have skipped November in this diary, sorry about that.

There have been a couple of good games of rugger recently. JFGP and MIGO decided that they need to show their true colours. Altogether now - “Swing low, sweet chariot”

To all of my Australian readers I would like to say this; Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Due to a few conflicts I’ve updated the schedule for our upcoming trip. You can find the details on the <a href=/whereare.html">where are we? page of this here web site. News item the first. I’ll be in Exmouth for my birthday. Anybody fancy a pub crawl for old time’s sake - I’m looking in your direction Mr 70’s throwback, no pressure. News item the second. I’ve negotiated a pass out to go drinking in London on the evening of Thursday the 18th of October. Anyone like to join me, and if you do can you suggest a decent venue? I was thinking of swigging some fruit based drinks at Cubana for old time’s sake but I am prepared to have my head turned by alternate venues. Let me know in the comments.

We’ve had some visitors to Sydney recently. Whilst I’m sure they had a lovely time it is nice to see the back of them, and their fence. I just wonder if the extraordinary police powers are going to disappear quite so quickly. In other news, I’ve lost my job. Fear not, gentle reader, for that simply means that I get to go to the UK for slightly longer next month. If you would like to catch up with us whilst we are shivering in the northern Autumn you can find our movements on this page.