Passing through London

I had to pass through London last Thursday. Paddington is the train station which is the entry to London for trains from Plymouth. I have never used Paddington too much.

I have not walked around Paddington station before. I didn't realize there was a canal behind the station. There are some up market bars close to the station. I had about three hours to kill. Unfortunately, it was also rush hour and it was a nightmare to travel around on the tube.

London always seem so dirty, even when it is clean. There are people are rushing around. I went to a pub, ordered a pint and a double Bourbon. I nearly dropped dead when I was charged 12 pounds.

I was waiting for the 19:05 train back to Plymouth. When the platform was announced for the train, I saw a lot of people running for the train. The train was totally full with people in the aisles.  I had to stand for two hours, until the train was way past Exeter St Davids. The train was also very late because of slower stopping train in front of it.  When I was living in London, the evening train from Euston to Manchester on Friday used to be a nightmare, with full trains. But really was it true that the first evening Thursday train to Plymouth is so popular

Sunny Beach (1 week of waiting)

I NEED A HOLIDAY. I have booked a holiday, so that's alright then. I still have to wait a week before I can go. I am so stressed and wired out.

I have booked a week's holiday in Sunny Beach in Bulgaria.
I was hoping that it would not have been full of UK tourists, but see the video below. The comment section of the video is interesting.

Friday night TV: Glastonbury 2014

Now that I am living in the UK again, I start to do the normal British things again, such as watching the Glastonbury festival on TV. There is no nasty mud in my flat. I just watched the set of Arcade fire. I liked the sound a little, but it is a bit too main stream for me. I got more into after a drank a Mojito cocktail.

I thought I was over with the festival, but I am getting excited by Metallica headling tonight.

John dies at the end

Netflix tempted me into watching a film called: John Dies at the end. This was a crazy film, which at some level made no sense. It reminded me of Naked Lunch, with the drugs and messed up spiders.

When I did some research (via google) I found that the same director had made Bubba Ho Tep
-- a great film about Elvis fighting a mummy.

Linear narrative -- who needs it.

Jack Glass

Last year I downloaded the book Jack Glass from Kindle. I decided to start reading it during my travels in the last couple of days. I really really enjoyed the first part of the novel. It was set in an asteroid full of a few prisoners. The next section was good, but as it was focused on two rich kids, it was less interesting. I was disappointed in the final section.

It could be that I am not interested in character development. I want the psychopath in the first chapter to keep on killing until the dying pages of the novel.

Adam Roberts works at a University and has the time to write novels.

Refuge of the fallen at the White Rabbit in Plymouth.

Last Saturday I was meant to meet up with friends from work to take a sea taxi to some Island close to Plymouth. I missed the water taxi, mostly because the bridge hear the Aquarium was closed and so I had to walk around Plymouth Barbican. Grr.

Plan B was to go and see a local hard core band called Refuge of the fallen.  play at the White Rabbit. I didn't see any of the support acts -- mostly because of problems with water Taxis and Islands. There was a lot of good natured slam dancing at the front of the stage. Personally I stood at the back , well someone has too. The band sang with a lot of energy, so I enjoyed their set.

Noise

I am totally exhausted at every level. I used to be able to get into work before 9:00. Now I am lucky if I am at my desk by 10:00.  Yesterday I was in the city for a while, but I thought I made it into bed by 12:00. This morning I awoke and felt awful, The sun was shining brightly through the sky window and it was not dark.

Suddenly I hear a bunch of shouting as some neighbours came in. They were in good spirits, but just loud. Given that it was about 7:00 in the morning. It sounded as though they were just coming in after being out all night. I would have got up and knocked on their door and shout "stop being so fucking happy and be quiet." But I was too tired.

I did dream that I had gone around to complain. They opened the door and said "we were looking for something four you Craig. We were just discussing it now before we woke you and told you." I felt so ashamed and freaked out that people who have never spoken too, knew my plight.

Incantation at White rabbit in Plymouth

I felt the need for live music on Tuesday night. I was that the White Rabbit venue in Plymouth was hosting an American death metal band called Incantation. everyone needs a bit of death metal in their lives.

I went to the venue after work. The doors opened at 19:30 and I got there just after 20:00. The place was dark and gloomy. I couldn't see a thing as I walked into the venue. The smoke machine was puffing smoke out and everyone was dressed in black. There was a grinding sound from the sage. The first band: Carcinoma were playing. I started having a panic attack, so I went to the bar for a beer to help me calm down. I liked the sound, hopefully the video below is of the correct band.
The next band up were Warcrab. They wanted more energy from the audience. But it was an older crowd and their energy level was low. By the magic of the internet I see that Warcrab are baed in Plymouth. Next up were the band called Supreme lord. My eyes were used to the gloom.

Finally Incantation started their set. I liked their sound, but I only managed to listen to 4 songs, because my legs were getting tired from standing up.

Taking the bus home

I occasionally for a couple of beers after work. I can get the 23 or 24 bus back to a street close to my flat. The bus leaves every 30 minutes from the Royal Parade in Plymouth. I don't regularly go on the bus, so I don't recognize the passengers -- apart from one woman.

She has short black hair and is very slim. Today she had a bag of goods, no doubt for her family. In the past she has worn high heels with considerable skill and style. I would guess her age as just above 30. Perhaps I should try talking to her, but she doesn't look like a woman who would be impressed by a broken man stinking of whisky and beer.  Even worse, if I had managed to seduce with beer and liqueurs, there would be two people full of beer on the bus. Her children would be waiting for the treats in her plastic bag, but I would have someone to hold hands with.

Pietr the Latvian:

I am going through a phase of reading and hearing on the radio stories about Inspector Maigret. I liked the shows on the radio, so much that I tried reading one of the books. The character was written by Georges Simenon. Inspector Maigret works in the French flying squad in Paris. I have only listened to maybe 6 plays on the radio and read two novels. There was a series on radio 4 about detectives in Europe. A lot of the writers mentioned the work of Simenon as an influence. Although I enjoyed what I had read, I didn't see why it was so highly rated. Simenon did write a lot of books Pietr the Latvian: was the first book in the series. I just finished reading it today, rather than watching the England game I am ashamed to say.  It is a really great book. I liked the play off of the solid character of Maigret and the strange Pietr. Perhaps I just liked the excessive drinking.

Dreams and nakedness

I had some vivid dreams last night night. I was searching for a person at various computer centres in the country. I was in the scene or watching it. At both centres I ended up naked and ended up walking by a big crowd of people as I walked to the lift to go to my private apartment (or just to find my clothes).

I was using fake ID to enter the computer centres.

The dream was a lot more fun when I was having it.

Too extreme for the freakzone

I was listening to the Freazkier zone this morning, where I heard that Stuart Maconie claimed that the track: Patty Waters - Black Is The Colour Of My True Loves Hair was too extreme for the freakzone radio show. Is that possible, given that the freakzone plays some fairly weird stuff? I think that Mr Maconie's brain has been addled by listening too to much prog music.

I did find on Amazon the album by Patty Waters, but you can't download the track in question. You have to buy the physical CD. It was starting to look like a conspiracy! Luckily, the people at google
have not deleted the uploaded track from youtube (not yet anyway).

On listening to "Black is the color of my true love",  I can sort of see Stuart's point.





One of my ambitions was to get a requested song banned by the DJ on the freakzone. The only thing I could thing of was:
David Koresh__ Mad Man In Waco. I own a CD with this on, but I am never sure whether it is a real or not.

A touch of zen

Last night I finished off watching a "touch of zen". This was a really great martial arts film from the early 70s.

Being a slob, I kept waiting for the fighting to start at the beginning, but once the action starts it is great!
I liked the spider webs and atmosphere at the start.

There is one scene with a lot of laughing, which totally freaked me out.



I now totally get why they use flexible swords -- they are the ultimate in concealed weapons. As I get older my toleration for Eastern mysticism gets lower, but I really loved the way zen was used in this film. I always found what Bruce Lee was saying to be naive (outside how to beat someone up.)

I was watching while drinking sake and beer, but I think I would have enjoyed the film more, if I had been sober. The plot of the film was a bit of a complicated.

It is good to see a woman who knows how to use a blade.

bloodfight

This week I watched the film Bloodfight via Netflix. This was the kind of martial film, I used to watch in the 90s. By any standard it was pretty dumb, with a tournament and a student getting killed. In the twenty first century there are films such as the Raid II.

There was even a strange part of the film which had "drunken Kung Fu" in it.

Friday night in Plymouth

I went out for a couple of beers on Friday night. When I went shopping on Wednesday night I found a couple of new pubs. So I had saved Friday night to visit these new places. Unfortunately I didn't write down the name of the first pub. It was a standard pub.

The second pub was called the New Market Pub . The pub was fairly empty, but I got my lager with a smile. Some of my relatives used to live in New Market, and although I liked the relative who lived there, I don't have great memories of New Market (and even feel repulsed.)

After three beers I got the bus home. I was ready to go for more beer at a place in Mutley, but then I calmed down a bit after a cup of tea. I ended the evening watching A touch of Zen while drinking Sake.

I am going to have to go out again to find the name of the first pub.

Friday night excitement

You will not be surprised to find out that I went for a couple of beers after work on Friday. The most exciting thing that happened was that I found a place where I could buy Duvel beer,. This was at a Tesco in the city centre. I like Belgium beer, but even I know that one or two per night is enough.

I know need to get a proper Duvel glass, but 16 pounds seems a bit expensive for what you get.

Look at my classy world cooking ingredients.

A Crime in Holland: Inspector Maigret #7

While I travelled to Liverpool and Burnley I read "A crime in Holland" , an Inspector Maigret novel. I love the character of Maigret, his essential slowness. I don't remember watching any of the TV program adaptions when I was growing up. The books used to be out of print, but by the magic of kindle, the books are now available again.

Odd Thomas

Netflix persuaded me to watch a film called "Odd Thomas". The story was based on a chef who could see dead people. I found the film slightly annoying, with all the small town vibes. The monologue of the main character was a bit annoying, but still I enjoyed the film.

Now that I look at Amazon I see that the film was based on a book by Dean Koontz. Perhaps I will try reading volume 2 of the series.

Hardwired

Am I wasting my life? Last night I finished off watching the film Hardwired. Some guy gets knocked over and gets an implant. This implant then shows adverts directly into his mind. He then finds some guys who can hack into his implant. He is being chased, by the people who inserted the implant.

It was a straight to DVD release. I can see that they wanted to make a sequel, but the film was not strong enough to merit another film.

The tower of glass

During the last week I managed to read "The tower of glass" by Robert Silverberg. What a great book! An industrialist is building a big tower to communicate to maybe aliens . He is using androids to build the tower, little knowing that they worship him as a god. There is plenty of sex with androids, but no aliens come to the party.