a spray of water gently fell

12:51 pm - this blog has moved

i've toyed with the idea for a while and after reading this decided to do something about it
SO THIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO
http://www.yakiba.co.uk

livejournal "allows" you to save and export all journal entries GOOD
but not comments BAD me thinks this sucks bigtime

12:59 am

just finished watching Crash (2004)
excellent movie

12:55 pm - Memoirs of a Geisha * * * *

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (audio)

wonderful
because the film is such a feast for the eyes I was a little nervous that the book might be disappointing but I loved it

( spoiler )

12:19 pm

For the 4th year on the trot i went to the Peaks Booze and Blues Festival and the festival itself, unlike previous years was a complete disappointment. Last year there was 200 beers on offer and this year although I was told there was 140 beers they didn't seem to crack most of them open and maybe 50 were on offer. The festival was very poorly attended and there was no atmosphere. They're moving to a new location next year and I think maybe the pub is under new management and certainly the guy on the door said the festival nearly didn't happen at all and went ahead despite strong local opposition. There were still some great brews on offer, particularly Bumblehole - which inevitably was refered to as bumhole all weekend.

28 of us went away together for the bank holiday weekend but we only went over to the festival site on the Saturday due to the weather. I understand Leicester had torrential rain, happily we didn't but it did rain on and off all weekend particularly on Sunday and a few people gave up and went home. However most stayed and on Sunday Sam, Rob and I went to pick up some beer from the festival to take back to the campsite and spent the afternoon and evening ( I went early evening for a pub meal at the Coach and Horses because I couldn't be arsed to cook ) and there were 18 of us and 2 dogs in Rob and Sarah's tent.

Sitting in that tent; with the rain drizzling down outside, wrapped up in a billion layers to keep warm, surrounded by my friends, the kids giggling, with a beer in my hand, I had a moment when I knew that I was content and happy.


a few of us on the walk to the pub



Philippa pulling a face



Phil's cheeky grin



Rob making faces at his baby daughter Holly



Richard on the way back from the festival decided we needed firewood



Plus I finally bought a new tent which made a huge difference to the whole experience. I can stand up and cook in it and for a few hours on Sunday I sat contentedly in it listening to Memoirs of a Geisha on my iPod.

04:57 pm

rain, drink, mud and friends = happiness

10:55 am - Venus in Furs * * * *

Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
not porn and rather literary
I enjoyed it
quite well written although rather pretenious at first and surprisingly feminist

'The moral is that woman, as Nature has created her and as she is currently reared by man, is his enemy and can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. She will be able to become his companion only when she has the same rights as he, when she is his equal in education and work.'

01:58 am

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

07:14 pm - The Prefect * * *

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds
a little weak
( spoiler )

02:41 am

01:42 am

tired, drunk and depressed
the women i like never like me
i'm a fucking nice guy and women never seem to see it
pissed off

04:40 pm

messing with linux and forgot to back up private pgp key
ooops gone
new pgp key
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)



mQGiBEZHH4sRBACy4laqYl6WXxLyApOLmRWB7sAi682HqT9dl1n70FpmtDTXtLEn

4XyLyqLjJtqkKsa7XEx3m/KEploYAMLLPkoJsHpuPInj/p5S64SIeU6BHnFzfrIY

2c/INVGH7bMtSjwf+lFG8MvI3XgwROPrSxy7UIXsG+w2U6tncctZyOGTPwCgtJHL

b19f01cCSO/PnqURpI/RVJMD/19U9u5PJtek8ayTwR4VbWzAkuWdHku9R/xgKr5+

HdVIWNY9kL+Z4JbjoGAJqHyZYt2EBomXvYpUQh6bQ3e3iqDMGEbw8w9CCzDsbrpk

ews46CyRkrNJWAaNkYIautpgrgV+qw9WJsGJg1KL/p1xV0joFUfb5tRX0xzv0w/S

adB7A/9xiX0P8E+2foQ+h6jQuBG9LM8+EsRoVMRGcrdbPD2jAYJikgl0SS+Do55U

w0yov7m346xW9M6It1i/2Rb9Ro26u1+8k/NAmF+7oX2II4vKftNF0t1isSepwnRQ

WVEaUOa1Fm+3Rwyin+FenBBCo/K1sT7skEsgzwfejKvEzfsaFbQfQWRhbSBTdG9y

ZXkgPGFkYW1AdWJlcm5vaXIuY29tPohgBBMRAgAgBQJGRx+LAhsDBgsJCAcDAgQV

AggDBBYCAwECHgECF4AACgkQTbC8B5szf82r0gCdFd7Ysdk9dySWdhqF+iqBBLZw

gmAAn3vNebwFV4Eq81L3wFLj7FPDEwBVuQINBEZHH4sQCACYcawxS4ZmE+5qHP4M

Z6Yy4lkY0SSMvZRPHWUMH/5qUrx8QB/2eat2hE6eKyevgjtjlpxxxG93swv1OFy/

QQ8g0o4T34gwpxez1EmAsZAAtV9VbUJldWTXnCCaNL6f802flCwgYjHaLzvCfcH6

tgeT00wXpRZZ22j8YkmIeObFROQaSY7UDFf4iPZe3ksV4XZ8QmrfgIS7QE4OjAT+

PYmlwG6nWDbANsI1GLuCnxqR0fm8HnoltOdJzmkKaMsYd+BWbObR6/kofvcqH/88

hJNdHecm+Jqh+lBQO+zEuzUii38Lx+tXIeRG2LmZUI2kZErhswMAdkRoOYC8wzh4

NdyXAAMFB/4k7MKfa4xARej5z2ppawIoB/BvnXYUpqaG7nS8fZyhLOVqeE2LWLbc

2oNUMGmsh3Ix7urGUpN6ulujvUKalKQge0nWCSwD3Ct0fadfuy10oE5M4foByOEp

Ss/o5P9qDhlaUzTUNEvEGqVzpvunGtULqqmAr0TPeqiRt6Ar2c2ULEocvcMXm+rB

obp4hartMdnATWZgtIGwvpVchU11TfGSeNgktC7E0ktfiLYnS6fDyzYb4ys1U+yY

Ye+jHP77mbAekcyUS1maHdUmkKj64c2YCw3SsGm5jNrgqHK3b0shoolQfGwnj4QA

Y0k8iG2EFGc1aWDKsEgz/SAgB3d8tQQ1iEkEGBECAAkFAkZHH4sCGwwACgkQTbC8

B5szf83RdQCeOjnt4mkZJMKfydS2Xe8lEHotXesAnRTsUXluP5neCQyZ+k2fllh1

faPA

=mWX7

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

11:21 pm

a couple of John's pictures from today

06:40 pm

went to dovedale with John, his kids and Jenny and had a lovely time

saw the place i camped years ago when i went with Andy and Joe (ooooh look at all the stars -- shut up you stoned hippy + turn that bloody stream down)

went for a walk
had ice cream
had a pub lunch at the Bentley Brook Inn, where i'll be back in a few weeks for the beer festival during Whit

06:11 pm - retourne du temps perdu

i've been going through stuff

my mother looking happy and jolly before the multi infarct dementia took hold

RIP Mum




my dad looking young
i don't know when this was taking but by the look of the car and of the way he's dressed I now might be older now than he was when it was taken -- he looks young

RIP Dad





me aged about 16 -- before i only wore black -- but looking serious -- my grandparents had died in the previous 2 years and i had an unknown number of suicide attempts under my belt yet I was at Sixth Form and life had started again





my passport photo -- issued Oct 1982 -- so I'm 13




perdu but i'm still wandering on

10:39 pm

In the shower cubicle after swimming tonight it looked as through someone had brutally murdered a raspberry. There was raspberry arterial spray all over the walls; the colour of the raspberry syrup you put on ice-creams. That is the image that popped into my head partly as a result of the crime fiction i've been reading recently but other than that i'm not sure what the image says about my head!

11:55 am

John cleared out the front room of my accumlated server stuff, chitting seed potatoes, motorbike stuff and camping gear -- somehow all of it got stashed away -- we went to IKEA and now we have a dinning room plus another bookshelf, more pictures and plants

11:10 pm - The Sinner * * *

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen
so so as a thriller but
( spoiler )

04:54 pm

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
i've emailed the council and they replied informing me that i haven't even been shortlisted for the library assistant job that i would have been perfect for

since if anything i'm over qualified i want to know why

12:26 pm

10:50 pm

lost in transition