Plastic dolls in Plymouth

I did a bit of shopping at Argos after work today. The bus stop is at the bottom of the Royal Parade in Plymouth.  As the bus pulled out. I saw two women wearing shiny clothes walk into the buffet restaurant. They were carrying a large inflatable plastic sex doll. I have not seen that many hen night outs in Plymouth. But then I don't go out late drinking that much. And if I do I got to a grand dad type pub.

The big machine

Last week I finished reading "The Big Machine" by Victor LaValle. This was a strange book about a cleaner, who was almost clean of junk, who one day got a job at a mysterious library. After some months he goes into the field, where things get weirder yet.

I can't always remember why I buy books. I look at my list of books on my kindle. The author also wrote "Black Tom", which got me back into reading fiction this year.

Post gym beer and laughter

My flu session is slowly fading away. Last night I did manage to go to the gym. I didn't do a very hard workout. Afterwards, I went to Noah pub close to the bus stop for a beer and a glass of whisky. I wish I hadn't. There were a couple of old people in he pub, who were drunk and shouting.  The guy went up to the bar for another round of drinks. The barman refused to serve him, by telling him "he had enough." The guy wondered around complaining that he had been cut off because he was underage, although he was an OAP.

I thought it might get ugly. But I almost wanted him to come over and complain to me, so I could hit them. I don't know where this rage came from. Anyway they couple left quietely in the end. I finished my drink and got the bus home.

As I walked in the door of my flat. I could hear my next door neigbour laughing hysterically. 

Dreams and fatherhood

I had a strange dream last night. I was meant to look after a 1-year-old baby. I was working with a bunch of tutors outside for some reason. The baby didn't cry. I did hold it, without dropping it for a long time. But I had to go to work in a big store like Wilco. I left the sleeping baby somewhere.

The boss of the hardware store was very charismatic. There was a staff meeting. One person had been drinking on the job. The store manager decided to electrocute him. There was almost a  fight between the guy who was going to be electrocuted and me. The guy was electrocuted. It was the end of my shift, so I picked up all my stuff and left.  I went to find the baby (I wasn't the father, I might add.)

Anyway I think it is good I never had kids.

Quantum Night

I think I am a bit of sucker for book based on quantum mechanics. So when Amazon offered to sell me "Quantum Night" by Robert J Sawyer.    The book makes many interesting points about the influence of quantum mechanics on consciousness. I am not sure how correct the science was, but he used the words in the correct way.

You can tell the author is Candian, because no American would care so  much about Canada.

Vintage Murder

I have a bad case of flu this week. I could barely concentrate earlier this week. But I did manage to read some stuff in the last couple of days,  as I begin to feel human again. Yesterday I read my first Inspector Allen Mystery. The book was called Vintage Murder. It was a classic old fashioned mystery novel, but with a policeman as the hero.

The story was set in an occult church.

Watching the Grand National

I am just getting over a bad week long session of flu. I can now bare the cold weather and don't feel like the chilly wind is God punishing me.  Last night I wa sitting in the pub, before going to my friend's house for some food. I was stood up, but the pub seemed more full than normal.

The Grand National was being shown on the TV. I wished I had put a bet on it, mostly because the winning horse had odds of 33 - 1.  It reminded me of watching the Grand National race, over 10 years ago in a pub  in London. We sat in the pub from about lunchtime until closing time without any food. At the end, I had to get some chips.

After watching the racing I went to another pub for a couple of cheap beers. I took the bus home at 8pm.

I would have bet on the last Samurai horse.

Future shock The story of 2000AD

I am uncool, I know that. I know I should have read the 2000AD comic, but apart from picking up the odd copy, I never did. I do now own some novels of Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog. Obviously I like the extreme violence.

Today I watched a film called "Future shock. The story of 2000AD". Thjs was an interesting film aout the history of 2000AD comic. It was a bit bitchy at times, but that is what creative types do, when the money is a lot shorter than the ideas.

Marauder

For some time, I have been reading Marauder by Garry  Gibson. I really enjoyed it, but my attention span is so short these days. The book had alien technology and spaceships, as well as machine enhanced humans.

The Devil's detective

I have just finished reading the devil's detective by Simon Kurt Unsworth. It was a strange book. Partly a detective story, but set in hell. There were big issues with free will and manipulation.

A drink in the Dolphin pub

Someone told me that you are not a real Plymouth person, unless you have had a beer in the Dolphin bar. I am really sick with  a fever at the moment, but last night I felt the need to visit the Dolphin bar on the waterfront in Plymouth. It was a regular's type pub in a tourist area. It was cold outside and I think I made myself more ill, by trying to find it. I had one beer before I limped through the grey evening air for a pre-bus beer.  

ill again

I had a nurse visit on Friday to talk about my breathing problem. She did a small blood test and told me that the amount of oxygen  in my blood was ok. About a day later, I got a bad case of the flu / cold.  The fever is not so bad, but I am pissed off, because I have got a lot of non-teaching things to do.

I used to just wait and let the fever burn out of me. But after a bad cold turned into a skin infection. I am more paranoid these days.

Another Saturday in the prison of my flat.

I intended to go down to the Barbican in Plymouth today for a few beers, but when it came to it, I couldn't muster the energy to leave my flat. I have too much to do for day time drinking. It was such a nice day as well, with a bright sun.

Exhaustion

I am exhausted. I occasionally find myself crying. Only for short bursts and very dry tears.  I wish the weather was better, so I could take a trip somewhere. I have not been out for a drink. I feel better than I did on Thursday.

Celebrate Easter with the Devil rides out.

I feel slightly guilty that I do nothing about Christianity this Easter. Ok, actually I don't. I have spent along time trying to forget about Christianity. I will only have the dim echo of memory from some Bob Dylan songs.  Of course if you take this route, it is easy to fall into sin. Anyway I was watching the great film: "When the Devil rides out",  an old hammer film about black magic.

At the end of the film, there is a fire in the room, where they are holding a black mass. The fire burns down all the symbols of Satan. At the back of the church is a standard cross. The perfect end to Easter Sunday!  If it was raining so hard, I would go out for beer to celebrate being saved.

Fumio Demura

Last night I watched a documentary on Netflix about the Karate master Fumio Demura. I had never heard of the guy, or so I thought. He was the expert who wrote a lot of books about karate weapons, such as the tonfa.

It was also interesting to see the way he organized demonstrations to enhance the visual aspects. Steven Segal was a big fan as well.

The demo below is fun. It is also impressive, given how old he was when he made it.

The documentary would have been better if they had shown his original training in Japan. Also he was important for the first Karate Kid film. It was a bit sad to see him so old, but his spirit seemed unbroken.


 

The ballad of black Tom

I have not read a fiction book for a long time. So it was good to get back into this reading for pleasure. So this weekend I finished reading: The Ballad of black Tom ,by Victor Lavelle. It was great short novella about black magic set in New York. It is always good to start Easter off with some black magic.

I should say that I really liked the prose style. Actually the book is also about racism, but I liked the magic elements better.

The Man with Iron fists 2

You can see how emotionally drained I have become, because I have not managed to make any blog
entries foe such a long time.

Last night I watched "The Man with Iron fists 2". I have watched the first film, which was OK, but not as good as the original films it copied.


I enjoyed this sequel a lot more. The main star is a rapper from the Wu Tang clan. He is a bit wooden. And he really needs his iron fists, because he doesn't have any good techniques. Still there was a lot of fighting, so I was happy.

Plymouth Surgery

This must have looked like a weird placeholder. I added the information to the wrong area. Still, it looks kind of cool. Of course people could use this information to hack into my medical records to see how the hole in my leg healed. 

2a Beaumont Road 
St. Judes 
Plymouth 
Devon 
PL4 9BH

Friary house surgery

The keep

While I sit at home trying to recover my long stay in hospital, I have watching the many films in my watchlist for netflix. Last night I watched a horror film called "the keep".  It was a mixture of Nazis and hidden monsters. The plot seemed a bit confusing, but it seemed to be a hard film to make.

Kung fu killer

While let me try to restart this blog. It is not as though many things have happened. I have been to Japan again. Also I have spent nearly three weeks in Hospital after a problem with my leg.

Still let us get my writing juices together, while my health improves. Last night I watched Kung fu killer starring Donnie Yen. It was an enjoyable film, based on different martial arts systems. As the reviews say, some of the plot was a bit confused.

There were some great fights though.

more dreams

My dreams last night involved a complicated crime drama with American high school students. OK, it was a little bit like ScoobyDoo, but with no dogs. Someone asked me about whether I was still going to gigs. How do my dreams follow my life?

dreams

Last night I went to the gym. After that I went to the Walkabout bar for a beer before I got the bus. I ordered a  pint of carling and a shot of absinthe. Unfortunately I didn't realise, but it was 2 for 1 on carling, so I ended up with 2 pints. I didn't wanted to stay, but since it was there. I left half of the second pint, when I went for the bus. The bus was 20 minutes late.

I didn't drink anything else when I got home. I had incredible dreams last night . There were secret societies, time travel, paranoia. I blame the absinthe.

Milk and drinking

With this week's order of shopping I bought a bottle of Tia Maria with two cartons of milk. There was Vodka in the freezer, so I thought I would try to make a White Russian cocktail. 
It tasted great, but I didn't get the separation of layers.

Below is what wikipedia claimed it should look like:

Perhaps I should try cream rather than milk?

Milky boozy Friday

I was sitting in the Nowhere pub in Plymouth on Friday after work. I had planned to go to the gym, but it was raining and my feet hurt in the new shoes I was wearing.  A guy came to the bar with a carton of milk and he ordered a drink. He hurriedly  stopped the bar maid as she tried to use the pubs own milk in his drink. I don't think he was drinking coffee or tea, so he was drinking some kind of basic cocktail. Ok, perhaps he has some milk allergy I thought, or perhaps he is trying to save some money, by using milk from the store. He paid with coins from a small plastic bag.

About 10 minutes later, he pulled out a plastic bag with a thick wad of tenners in it, which he counted
out onto the bar. At this point I had finished my pint and since the guy was freaking me out, I decided to leave.

The key issue is what he was drinking with the milk. It looks as though he was drinking a White Russian.

Black unicorn

I did recently manage to a read a book. Luckily the book was short:  Black Unicorn  by the recently deceased Tanith Lee.  This was a great book, about a young woman who can mend anything.  She mends the bones of a black unicorn and things go a bit crazy and colourful.

I don't really follow fantasy too much, so I only learned of her existence when she died.

Spring brings desire

So although it is windy in Plymouth, there is much less rain, so we can safely say that spring is here. I can also feel desire for the warm of a woman's touch growing. I was in the pub on Friday night with a beer and a chaser of whisky. The place was a lot fuller than normal. My eye was caught by a woman with a bag with "girl scientist" written on it. She was drinking a bottle of punk IPA. Notice that I am not one of those sexist Nobel prize winning scientists, because I just mention her personality rather than what she looks like. It would have been rude to try to start a conversation. Also I was wearing new trainers and my feet were on fire.

dreams

I dreamed a lot last night, mostly fueled by an alcohol free day. At one point a rat came out of his hole. I know I should be cleaning the floor more. There were some disturbing gaming/TV dreams where I was connected with a group of other people.  Perhaps even worse I was sitting in a living room with a couple and their child. They refused to accept their child was disabled. For some reason I thought the child was me.

A woman at a German hotel

Last week I was in Germany for a couple of days. Germany was the same as usual. I didn't realise how hard it was to get from Bonn from Bonn-Cologne airport by train. I should have got the bus.

When I walked into the breakfast room of my hotel. There was a woman siting with her back to me. She was eating her breakfast, staring out at the view of a Bonn road. She looked like a woman I was secretly in love with, but I have not seen for about 5 years. I could have broken the spell and waled around the room to stare at her, and say "hi, I wasn't expecting to see you here,", and we would make arrangements for drink later.

But it just seemed so unlikely that the woman was my secret desire and I had work to do, emails to write. I drank a quick coffee and shoveled some fruit salad into my screaming stomach. I left the hotel and walked to my meeting. I am too old for lust  to hold me for very long.

A burning cross scars my back, but no one cares.

I have been feeling pissed off by an  email about my teaching (or lack of). Last night I dreamed there was a burning building, perhaps a church.  I was rescuing people, although this does seem out of character. I was shouting orders. There was a huge iron cross outside the building and the heat had turned it red hot. The cross fell on me. I screamed with pain, even though it was quickly pulled off me. Somehow it fell on me again. Oh the pain.

I awoke in my bed, but in a confused state.

Streetfighter

Last night I finished watching "Streetfighter assassin's fist" . I enjoyed it, even though I don't know the game the film was based on. Two guys were training at a dojo and there was some mystical aspect to their training. The film was part in English and part in Japanese. But there was no subtitles for fairly long sections of the film.

It was a strange film, because it looked to be part of a miniseries. Now that I do a web search I see that is released as a web series first.

The martial arts was basic kick boxng with some meditation throw in.

The film streetfighter with Sonny Chiba is more interesting, because it seems based on old school Karate or Kenpo.

Friday night

Now that lectures are over, I can spend early evening on Friday at the Gym, followed by a few downtown beers. People are normally very polite in the gym, partly because when you see the amount of weight some of the people can lift and it makes you think that may be able to hit hard.
(This is probably not true, but strength is always good to have).

I drank my after gym beer and walked t the bus stop. Outside the walkabout bar, the door staff had stopped a drunk guy from going into the pub. He was trying to get the bouncer to shake his hand, the bouncer said "no mate."   The drunk guy through a very slow haymaker at the bouncer, but stopped it about 6 inches away. I walked on by. The guy was clearly all talk and most of the talk was from the ale.

Election blues

Another deeply depressing election. It is unbelievable that the conservatives are back in. So we are going to now get another New Labour leader for the Labour party. Any mild attempt at reform of the business sector is not allowed. I have just stopped listening to the news.

Still life goes on. It is very similar to 1992, when major got in.

The paper magician

The last couple of days I have been in Birmingham for a short break. While traveling I read "The Paper Magician",  by Charlie Holmberg. This was yet another fantasy novel. A youg woman is apprenticed to an expert in the magical folding of paper. The pacing of the novel seemed weird. She settled in for a couple of days,  before going on a big quest inside a dream sequence. She very quickly falls in love with her boss.

Dark city

For some time I have wanted to watch the film "Dark  City" . Trouble is I also dimly remember having watched it before. It was a great film if you are paranoid and scared of the thin veil of sleep. It was the changing of the buildings that freaked me out the most. Also the never ending night.

101000 messages from vodka

Two days OK I had a great idea for a story. A man is trapped inside his flat. His feet no longer work. He is a cripple with bloody stumps at the end of his legs. His only communication with the world, is via a vodka bottle. He keeps the vodka bottle in the icebox of the fridge. Sometimes the vodka is frozen and sometimes it is liquid. By opening the fridge every night, and checking the vodka, he sets up a binary communication system which allows him to talk to the dead. He gets angry with the solid vodka. He shakes and shakes the bottle, but nothing comes out. He puts another zero on the message pad.

Friday guilt .......

I went to the gym last night for the first time in 6 weeks. It felt good to work some weights. Afterwards I went for a beer in the Walkabout pub, followed by a beer in Noah's ark. It was kind of depressing. There were a bunch of old people staring at nothing in front of a pint. That was me of course too, but it is not much of a life.

On the other hand I have been at work all week, so a couple of pints is surely my due.

Master of Fiends

While travelling I managed to finish reading the fantasy novel "master of fiends" by Douglass Hill.
I had heard the tainted blade on the radio which is the first story featuring the characters in this book.
It was simply but cleverly written.

Bonn

I am sitting in a hotel room in Bonn Germany. I am at physics meeting. I have given my talk, so I am feeling relaxed. It has been very windy here. There was the most turbulence on the flight over from the UK, as I have experienced on a flight. I finally understood what the seat belt was for.

Germany seems the same as when I left it. They now have eye scanners to check the passport when you arrive. I didn't get arrested, because of my dispute with my ex-landlord, so perhaps I will visit again.

Political shame

I was sitting in my flat, just ideally digesting my lunch. The buzzer to the front door rang. I pressed the button and someone told me that there was a survey. I went to the front door. It turned out that the survey was for the Conservative party. I was so polite. I got confused by the paler shade of blue. He was an old guy, nice enough.

Did I really end the conversation with "Good luck" ?

Grr,  I am so weak.  What did I learn from reading all those Noam Chomsky novels?

Knight and Day

I watched the film Knight and Day this week, after having recorded it over a year ago. It was a fun light thriller with Tom Cruise as the superman CIA rogue agent.  I found Diaz's character kind of annoying.

Still a light level of violence, when you can't read, coz your brain is too fried.....

The Mexican

I was trying to think what kind of week I had. In my late night TV watching mode, I am slowly trying to watch all the films I saved on my digital recorder. I watched the Mexican, a film starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. It was a fun gangster film with a lot of twists and a bit of folk lore, but till not too intense.

There is a night club in my toilet.

I drink tea all day and finish the day with a beer or two. As a result I end up going to the toilet too much during the night, when I am trying to sleep. I have now installed a green/red light on the toilet seat, so that I don't have to switch the harsh white bathroom light on.
   I now feel I have a nightclub in my toilet.   This will freak out anyone, who is unlucky enough to stay with me. It also solves the lid up war between men and women, because if I put the lid down, the light may fall off. Sorted!

parallels

This week i watched the film parallels via netflix. It started a bit weekly, but then got going. It had a good cliff hanger at the end, but the film felt like the start of a long running series, than a stand alone film. It was also a bit strange that I couldn't find much information about the film, or any other episodes.  Anyway the above review explains a pilot got updated to a film. But will further episodes be made?

Time travel and primary school

There is a primary school on the route from my home to work. If I am such a lazy bum that I am not at my desk by 9:00 means that I walk through a crowd of parents dropping off their kids. Yesterday, I heard a little boy chant "I want a time machine/" Don't we all, I thought.

kill list

This week I watched the film "kill list".  This was a great  and very strange horror film.  The first part shows one of the guys with his family, but it was a strange familiy life. I liked the way he ate the stuff that cat brought him. He had a bad tempter, but he was a good father.

The second part was more violent, ok actually it was very violent. I am still haunted by the phrase "was that 20 minutes."

Parenting skils in the pub

I was drinking a beer in a pub close to the bus stop. A guy started to talk to his son on the phone. He was very loud. It looked as though he was divorced and he was arranging to pick his son up the next day and to take him to the park to ride his bike. But then he started telling the kid off. He asked where mummy was. The guy helpfully repeated what the kid said. His mum was in bed.

I went for a piss, but the guy followed me into the bathroom. He locked himself into a cubicle and continued the conversation.  He then asked the kid, whether he had sweets pills. He said he wasn't happy with the kids voice. He told the child to just drink water.

I then left the pub to catch my bus. I can't help feeling, that calling your son from a pub is a bit rude, when they are not old enough to have a pint as well.  I hope the kid was just on a sugar rush, rather than anything harder.

The Mystery Road

The BBC Iplayer was showing a great Australian film called "The Mystery Road". A single detective is trying to find who killed a young girl and dumped her into a pipe. The landscape of the film was amazing.

Divergent

This week I watched a film called Divergent. This was a film based on some kind of Teen novel. People are assigned into 5 different factions. A cute 16 year old joins the army/police faction. At first she is crap, but with some training , she gets better. The army/police faction like laughing and free climbing. You get into their base by falling onto a trampoline through a smashed hole in the floor.

Perhaps the science fiction aspects were a bit naive and the teen romance stuff was boring,
but I enjoyed the film.

Calvary

I watched the film Calvary from a streaming site.  What a great film! I just love the actor Brendan Glesson. Normally I am not a big fan of priests, but I liked this film. A priest is given a week, before he will be shot.

It was the same set of people who were in the Guard. This confused me, because I kept getting flashbacks to their characters in the first film.

Blue ruin

I watched the film Blue ruin on netflix last night. What a great film. The "hero" starts out as a beach bum, but ends by becoming a Joe public. There is a lot of violence in the film, but it is done in a amateur way.

I now want to be a beach bum.

Time runners

Last night I watched the film: Time runners. I had started watching it before, but I had found it confusing. However, confusing can be good. An FBI agent is searching for her missing husband,  who has gone missing after some kind of accident. She can also rewind time for  short intervals. There are two sets of agents after her, one of which come from a war ravished future.

For the first half of the film, I had no idea what was going on, but things became clearer in the second part. it looks like they wanted to make a sequel, but that didn't happen, but given that the film was cheap to make and it wasn't released until last year, then it may still happen.

Anyway an interesting plot.

El gringo

Last night I watched the film El Gringo  starring the great Scott Adkins I had seen the film advertised on Netflix, but I never fancied the plot for some reason. I read a review of the work of the action guy
Adkins and this got me interested in watching the film.

I enjoyed the film. It was no great work of art, but there were some great fight scenes mostly
using guns though. It would be better if they filmed the fight scenes a bit faster, but it was a fun film.

The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension

Last night I watched the film
The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension on netflix.

What a great film! It was totally deranged though. It reminded me a bit about the man of bronze film, except that they were a lot more serious. He had a big gang of people working for him -- all of whom are armed with handguns.

There were aliens and just plenty of weirdness.


 

Alien hunter

I recorded from late night TV a film called: Alien hunter. It was a strange film, which almost seemed to be the start of a series, rather than a film. There were alien messages and nuclear strikes and a womanising scientist.

Suicide

A long time ago I ordered the video for the film:  Harakiri. a great film. Just the look of the film was amazing. It was all in black and white, but really beautiful. The story was so sad. It also includes the most horrific Harakiri (suicide by sword) ever put to a screen.

In the remake, I was hoping that there would be no big fight at the end. In this film, there is a big fight scene at the end, but it fits in better to this version.

My favourite Japanese writer Yukio Mishima committed Harakiri, in maybe the 70s after a failed coup. He clearly should have watched this film first.

drinking

I am getting slightly more sophisticated in drinking as I get older. I now prefer to drink a single malt Whisky, than a Bells. Although If I am in a pub, I will drink Bells whisky. After much experimentation I do occasionally drink cocktails. I now know some of the classy brands of cocktails, rather than the more popular "sex on the beach".

I have given up on trying to drink wine. I just don't like it too much. I do try to always drink red wine with fish.

I was thinking that I should drink like more water or something. However, when I reading this article on strong drinks, I realized I had only tried two of them: absinthe and raki. Dear Liver, we can't quit yet, still another 8 to go. So does Tesco sell Everclear? No. What about Amazon. No again.

47 ronin

Last  night I finally watched the DVD of the film of 47 Ronin . It was an OK film. They tried to add additional elements to the story with the use of magic and shape shifting, but they never really integrated the elements back into the story. They get magical swords, which they use to fight with, but they don't use the magical parts.

Still I enjoyed watching the film, but it was not as good as an eastern film.

New years eve

It is New Years Eve. Itis 22:08 and I am in my flat and no alcohol has been consumed. I could have gone out to see some bands play at a local venue called the Junction in Plymouth, but I didn't feel like being in a full venue.

Actually I am starting to fantasize about sparkling wine and chocolate. I did try to go to the local Aldi, but they were shut two hours earlier than normal.

Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, Book 1)

I decided to take the train back to Burnley for the Christmas break. This meant I had a lot of time for reading, given the 7 hour train journey from Plymouth to Burnley. I decided to read the first Jack Reacher novel. This was an exciting novel, fairly well written. I am starting to forget the plot,  especially now that I have ordered the third book in the series. 

I like the way that Jack Reacher uses the bus and buys his clothes from the thrift store.

Stuff

I have just been too stressed to write anything in my blog. I know I watched a film last night, but  what was it. Ah yes, it was Jack Reacher.  I had watched it before, but on a small screen. I enjoyed it, but it didn't move me too much.

I just purchased the first book in the series. It will keep me entertained on the long train journey to Burnley.

beer and memories

When I waiting for the bus after training and the gym I saw that the Spar close to my bus stop was selling beer from China.  So what I could I do, but buy a bottle. It really reminded me of drinking chinese  beer in my hotel room in China.

It has a distinctive cheap taste.

Love, talking and a life without special brew

I have been very busy at work. Last week I was in Geneva, but I didn't manage to write any posts.
I am stressed at the moment, but unlike last year I have managed to stay off special brew.

Around 4 I went to a local post office to try and pick up a package. On the way back to my flat, I met a local barmaid, who works at the pub I go to on Friday after work. She is a friendly outgoing person, and for reasons not totally clear to me, she has learned my name. I really just go in there on Friday. I order a pint of real ale and a double whisky chaser. Then I go home.

Two weeks ago she told me she saw me in the street and she said hello, but I didn't recognize her. So today when I saw her in the street, I did say hello and complain that she wasn't there to serve me my beer yesterday. Saturday is my day, where I speak very little, but I managed to drag some hopefully sane  conversation out. It was true that I didn't see her on Friday, but I think  I did stare at her coat in a wistful manner. Anyway, she told me, without rolling her eyes up, that she had been ill. She was sleeping more to get better.

Although I liked the bar, called the Nowhere pub, I was actually enjoying going to the gym on Friday
after work, followed by beers in downtime Plymouth more. Perhaps, her happy smile will bind me to this pub. She might blank me in the street, if I stop going.

factories and dreams

I slept fairly well last night. I didn't wake up too many times. I had this dream, where I was building two factories near a cinema. We had all the raw materials to build one factory, but the other factory required more stuff to be delivered. I was the person, who the management thought had "a go too attitude."

I think the dream looks very close to various homework problems I have set.

Killer Joe

Last night I watched the end of Killer Joe a fairly disturbing film set in Texas. I liked the slow, polite evil of the central character. Also the rest of the family are general f*ck ups. The scene with the chicken was fairly disgusting.

Universal Soldier 4

Dear Diary,
                 I am lecturing again, so I am all tired most of the time. Even with the small teaching hours.  I have been trying to think about some news to tell you. I have been watching the film Universal Soldier 4. I am enjoying more that the first two films in the franchise. I like the plumber.

At least I don't to drink the odd can of Special Brew this year.

weapon bag and the first dawn of love

As I was walking across the University campus on my lonely way home,  I noticed an attractive young woman in front of me. But what really drew my eye was that she was carrying a weapons bag, very similar to  the one I own. This small bag is big enough for some sticks. I wonder where, she trains? Perhaps,  at the University JKD club.

She didn't carry the bag in a threatening way, so that was good. But perhaps her red bag didn't carry a blade, but just her drawings.

Eric

I was feeling a bit pissed off at the weekend, because of work problems. I decided to read "Eric" by Terry Pratchett. It is part of the long running and very funny Discworld series.. Actually I am also listening to the series on the radio. Young Eric tries to summon a demon and things go rapidly downhill from there. It cheered me up, but I am still deeply pissed off.

Chicago Confidential

Last week I visited Durham for a meeting. This involved a long train and flight on the way out and a long train journey back. I managed to read Chicago Confidential while I was travelling. This was a PI novel loosely set in the 50,60s. So Frank Sinatra pops up as a character.

I enjoyed all the atmosphere.

Too busy dreaming

I now always  use my phone as an alarm clock. I have  always wondered what happens when  the alarm goes off and  I am too lazy to switch it off (or when I leave my phone at work by accident). This morning I found out that the phone goes off after 15 minutes, because I was too busy dreaming.

My dream was about time travel and the use of clones or earlier versions as replacement body parts seemed too important to stop. However, in the light of the morning, it seems like a very average idea.

Endangered Creatures

As part of my rip to Durham I finally managed to finish reading Endangered Creatures by Stephen Dunkley. I can't remember why I downloaded the book from Amazon. I sort of enjoyed it. There is a secret zoo of mythological creatures, who are a little bit funny.

sleep

I seem to going through a time of low blog posting. Yes I am teaching again. I don't have to do the PGCAP course, until I find out what happens to me because I failed it. I am also not sleeping well. Two or three nights a week, I sleep badly. I now have a stach of natural sleeping tablets.

No weight decrease

I weighed myself yesterday. I am now 108 kgs. Boohoo. I have lost no weight over the summer.  When I started work in Plymouth,I did start eating chocolate and crisps again. Even worse I did go to the chip shop and get pie and chips once a week. I have stopped all that, but still my weight has not decreased.

What is worse, a lot of people in the group are on various diets. They seem to be losing vast amount of weight, while I just get heavier.

Pub talking

I was in a pub on Wednesday night. I was just drinking a beer after training and the gym, before the bus. The pub was essentially empty. A group of older women were talking loudly in the corner. They seemed to be playing some mind of dare game. One woman was challenged to "get off with the oldest guy in the pub." Although the pub was normally a place for old hardened drinkers, I could have been the oldest person there. It would have been that they were going to a club afterwards.

One woman went to the bar and asked for a large piece of paper. Perhaps I should have gone over and turned on my charm, but it was time for the last bus.

A coward walks to a Kung Fu class

I have been doing various deadline things recently, so no blog postings. I went to bed late with a lot of stress, so I am feeling tired today. I almost didn't go to Kung Fu, but I decided a bit of exercise would do me good. As walking to the class I saw two guys get into an argument with a group of kids on skate boards. The two guys were walking in my directinn, but they were ahead. On guy had his shirt off - a real bad ass no doubt.

I started getting nervous, but though they were walking slowly, they were still walking faster than me.

Dr Who and Peter Capaldi

I didn't watch the new episode of Dr who live, but waited until 22:30. I was a bit worried that the new guy Capaldi  would not be any good. I really enjoyed the show, but I was very sad when the dinosaur was set on fire.


Obviously Capaldi is a great actor. See the embedded video below.

Jamie Oliver killed my chillis

I live alone, so when I am cooking I usually have the TV just so I can pretend the TV is my friend. This is works on all days, except on Sunday lunch time, when all the TV shows are shit. I am reduced to viewing cookery shows.

After a while I found I was quite liking the latest Jamie Oliver show, even though he is an annoying cockney cu*t. This is the show where he tries to show people how to cook cheaply, if you have a fully stocked kitchen. OK, some of the ideas seemed reasonable.

However, at one point the evil one said, just put your chillis in the freezer. So like the gullible twat that I am, I bunged 2 bags in the freezer for a bit of heat later in the week.  But when I pulled them out a week later, they started to rot. Ok you can bung them in a hot chilli, but they are destroyed for a nice salad.

I WILL SUE YOU JAMIE.

MODERN MASTERS IN PRINT (Plymouth)

There is a museum across the road from the University. I have been in Plymouth for nearly 1 year now, but until this week, I had never been into the museum. For the last 2 months there was an exhibition of the drawings of 4 modern masters: Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol.

A week before the exhibition closed I thought I should make an effort and actually see the drawings.
One must make time for art. It was a small exhibition with the drawings into 2 rooms.

The Dali drawings were actually adverts for the French train journeys. The drawings by Warhol were a little bit political. This surprised me, because I thought he was a "money man". I didn't know much about Matisse. I now know he likes to paint nudes.


The Picasso included a picture like the famous Don Quixote sketch below.

sleep or lack of

I barely slept last night. I was exhausted last night. Rather than watch TV and drink some beer, I went to bed at 11pm. I awoke 1 hour later and could not get back to sleep. I did not have work related stress dreams, I had some minor breathing problems. I went to the gym after work, I might have stressed my body a little bi too much.

Still the morning came. I sit and type with a cup of tea. I have survived the hell of the night.

No good weight news

I weighted myself on Wednesday. I am still at 106 kg! Why does God hate me? I have been trying to eat less food, but I didn't go to the gym last week. Also dry Sunday, turned into a few late night beers Sunday last weekend.

I keep seeing these infomercials for the insanity workout. Perhaps that is what I need: 10 DVDs and a lot of sweat.  Only a 100 pounds and if I do really good, I get some T-shirt.

Given that I can barely walk at the moment. I do a slow limp into work. This is not going to get rid of
the pounds.

Utopia

I am completely obsessed with the TV series Utopia. After the first series of the show I was scared of spoons. After the second series I am now scared of rabbits. The violence is getting very disturbing in series 2. In the first series a lot of people were killed, but in series 2 murder seems more casual. My favourite character Arby describes killing like "unscrewing a bottle to get to the water”. There is no 'shouting of threats",  there is just death.

Ian's boss was standing in his office. He was ringing the police o check on an ID. The person he is talking too, just goes up to him and cuts his throat.

I am not complaining, just observing.

It is all very clever and gripping. I thought the start of the last episode was an advert for a burgers, but then the customer abuse was a bit extreme.

Jesus Mother of God

After watching the really great film called "The Guard" I have started to pretend that I am Irish. At the moment, this involves me mumbling Jesus Mother of God. I thought I was sounding pretty Irish, but after a while, even after many years of trying to forget about Christianity, I realised that the phrase didn't make a great deal of sense.

On the hand, in these kinder progressive times, perhaps the phrase "Jesus Mother of God" could be used as a basis for a strand of Christianity.

Still 106 kgs

Grr, I the scales hate me. I am still 106 kgs. I have been cutting down on food and going to gym more. i feel less bloated and I did manage to fit into some shorts with a waist measurement of 36 inches, so that was good.

The non-vanishing bride who crossed the road.

I was waiting at the bus stop after going to the gym. A woman in a white wedding dress walked by. She was carrying a Tesco supermarket bag which seemed about half full. She looked at her reflection  in  the Argos shop window and seemed satisfied. She crossed the road and vanished from my life.

bad night

I had a really bad night's sleep last night. I got terrible work worries and this stopped me sleeping. I am exhausted this morning. The dreams involved sailing and pirate ships. The pirate ships were simulations and there was some interaction between the programmers and the sailors in the simulation.

Harold and Maude

When I was living in Knutsford with my mum, I remember one year on Guy Faulkes day. An image of a huge bonfire flashes into my bind. The twinkling flames dance high above me. The bonfire is abnormally huge.

The night before I started watching a film on TV (because that is all we had in the 80s). There was a film with a young man obsessed with death. He was dating some old woman. I only partially watched the film. My friend told me the next day, that the guy's mother was trying to get him interested in normal life. She asked a pretty young woman to come round for tea. To make conversation, he pretends to hack off his arm with a meat cleaver. She flees. I had not seen this scene, so I have wanted to watch the entire film, since then.

Thanks to an article in Guardian last week. I know now that the film was: Harold and Maude.
That is a relief! I have been trying to find out the name of that film since the mid-80s.

Weight

So I am now 105 kgs. So it begins. I only 1 kg heavier than when I started dieting in Germany two years ago. I have been slowly cutting down on food. I am walking so slowly that I can' get much fitter by exercise alone. Too many chip suppers and after work beers.

If only I had not let myself go last year. But I was so exhausted by the move from Germany to Plymouth.

A lost child is quickly found

On Thursday I got on the bus to go home after Yoga. A woman with three children got on the bus and started talking to the driver. She looked too old to be mother, so was probably the Grandmother. She seemed excited. One of her children had not got off  an earlier bus and she was thus lost. Given that the child was a five year old girl, this was not good.  The bus driver rang control, who tried to call "control" to get in contact with the other bus.

The woman kept saying that each of them thought that the missing girl had got off with an another. The bus driver drove them to the bus station, which was not on his route. Five minutes later the driver got a call to say that the child had been found. So panic over.

As the two little boys got off the bus. I tapped on the window and put my fingers to eyes and pointed them at the two boys, just to let them know I knew that that they dumped their sister on the bus on purpose. God is watching you guys.

On Friday night the same woman got on the bus with children and two adults. A pretty blond girl walked to the back of the bus. Not again I thought. A woman walked to the  back of the bus and started talking to the child.

The Guard

Last night I watched the film called The Guard. This was a very funny film set in Ireland. The central character is an Irish sergeant, who both cares and doesn't care about his job as a detective.

The main character is played by Brendan Gleeson, who is very funny.

Gyms and some night time bus sexual fantasy

After work on Friday I dragged my weary body to the my Gym in the centre of the city. I wasn't really in the mood, but I wanted to get into the rhythm of going and working out. It was hot yesterday and it was hard to drag myself past the people drinking beer in the bright sunshine.

I did a light work out. I did a set on the exercise bike, followed by some light weights and kettlebell work. My legs were still tied from the yoga workout on Thursday.  There were a lot of toys in the Gym, such as medicine balls, which I need to learn how to use. There is a sauna that I am building up courage to try.

I then went for a beer in The Walkabout pub. (Well it was Friday). Then the bus. The woman I am secretly in love with sat in front of me. I now think she works at Marks and Spencers, but why does she get the 20:10 bus, when the shop closes at 18:00. I am going to have to go into the store to look for her. Is that going too far?


 

Smelling nice

As I get older I find I am spending more time on personal grooming. More is a relative word, because my starting point was doing nothing more than combing my hair. This morning, while in the shower, with water in my eyes, my fumbling hands opened a new bottle of body wash. When I smelt it I realised the lotion smelled of lemons.

I do occasionally like to eat lemons. I particularly like the sharpness, but I usually have to eat them with something milder such as a fruit salad. Hopefully my new smell will remind women of crystal blue lazy summer days on the beach in Cyprus. I think the smell of lemons is an exotic manly smell.

The Balkans

As part of my Bulgarian holiday I purchased a real physical copy of "The Balkans" by Mark Mazower. I had to buy a real book, because you are still not allowed to read a kindle when you land or take off in a plane -- but I believe that rule is slowly changing.

The book was a good short overview of the history of the Balkans. It is no longer clear why these small states started to exist. The book explains there were geographical reasons for the original countries to come into existence. At some stage many of the people of the Balkans just thought of       themselves as Greek. The idea of national states in the area is relatively new and has caused a lot of bloodshed.
  

More bad weight news

I thought I had cut down on chocolate and beer. But when I weighted my self I was now 108 kgs. Grrr. It is weird because I feel less bloated, but still numbers never lie.

Not stalking just vaguely hoping

I went to my Gym in the centre of Plymouth yesterday for the first time. After some light weight lifting, I left and drank a couple of beers, while I waited for the bus. I need to work a bit more on this fitness  thing. On the 20:10 bus I saw the woman I often see. She was so slim and carrying a bag of treats for her family. She has the focused look of a family woman. She sat in the seat in front of me, so she could smell my beery breath. It is fine line between a fantasy future and stalking.

Would I be happier person if I was abducted by aliens?

There was an article in the Guardian about the end of personal blogging.

Would I be happier if I was abducted by aliens? Below are some of the possible advantages of alien abduction:

• It would give an interesting story to talk about on Monday lunch time at work.
• The medical  experiments the aliens might make on me,  might fix my ankle, or improve my flexibility. 
• I might learn some useful physics from the aliens, which I could use to write some papers, and maybe win some prizes.
• I could convert the experience into a science fiction book.

So not all bad. Of course the abduction would totally suck if it was for an extended period of time.
So, dear young person, this is what  a blog is for. A private space to write some random thoughts.
Of course if you take the view that I am trying to basically monetize my alien abduction, then this blog post  is just entrepreneurial.

Springsteen versus metal machine music

The BBC Iplayer is down at the moment, so I have been unable to listen to radio 6 or plays on BBC 4 extra. I have been reduced to buying music or listening to books on libervox (thanks)

One album I recently got was Bruce Springsteen first: Greetings From Asbury Park Normally I hate boss.



OK, hate may be a bit strong. I was aware some of the older albums were interesting. Marc Riley played its hard to be a saint in the city from his first album. So on the strength of that I got the album. I do like it, but I can see the style that would become his standard stadium rock style. The live version I have embedded above is really great though.

So as a comprise after listening to the boss, I also finally purchased Lou Reed's, metal music machine, which I love, but I can only listen in 10 minute segments, before I go a bit insane.

Yoga

I had meaning to take some yoga classes. For years I have been feeling very stiff. I try to do some light  stretching about twice a week. If I don't do that then I walk even slower than normal.

There is a place called the yoga loft which is close to the Drake's Circus and University.
I went to the beginners class obviously. It was a strange evening weather wise. It was both hot and the air was full of thunder. I started to sweat like a pig. I had most problems, both flexibility and strength wise with the leg stretches. There were some very useful yoga bricks which helped with stability.

I am not in the photo below, but you see it is very good place to practice.

10 years of blogging

I started this blog on July 18th 2004. So whether the f*ck has the last 10 years gone. I started the blog while I was working in Liverpool, and continued it  while I worked in Glasgow, Wuppertal and finally Plymouth.

Looking at the first post,  it seems as though I was tired and exhausted.  So what has changed? I didn't post that much in my first year, but got more into rhythm. I think the earlier posts were more fun, because I was doing more fun stuff then, than now. Of course I had more time for fun, when I only had a small TV, rather than a 42 inch monster of a TV.

I was thinking of writing some flowery prose for this post with some symbolic pictures from around Plymouth. For example, there used to be a small hole in the wall to the Freedom fields park close to my flat. Now it had been bordered up. Perhaps there is a body inside. There was a pub called "Friendship" on one of the routes I can walk to work. Now it is bordered up with metal over the windows. A picture would have made an ironic photograph.

I want to try to do more writing (both physics and non-physics), but maybe this is not the place to discuss.


Perhaps this should be the new direction of this journal.



To celebrate 10 years of incoherent  blogging. I present to you 5 years by Davie Bowie, because after all:  5 = 10 /2

The Late Monsieur Gallet: Inspector Maigret

So while on holiday I read another detective book: The Late Monsieur Gallet: Inspector Maigret 
At the time I read the book, it seemed so important to finish at once, but now a  week later, it took me a while to remember what happened. Still a great book.

shopping for love in Sunny Beach Bulgaria

There were a lot of small shops close to Sunny Beach. Many sold T-shirts, towels and trinkets. I ignored most of these shops. I did finally see one which sold, knuckle dusters, batons and blades of various lengths and sizes. I did my best to resist the temptation, but finally I decided to get a pen knife.

The guy selling the weapons was tattooed (of course) and was wearing shades. I pointed to what I wanted. He picked it up, hit a switch and the blade came out with a pleasing swish. Up to this point, I thought I was being pretty cool, but I blurted out "no I don't want a flick knife, because they are illegal." What a wimp, but he showed me a lock knife. This will be useful for my new hobby whittling, I thought, so cash was exchanged.