I have often cursed buses. Sometimes I am stood at a bus stop and have to wait half an hour longer than I should have to, because buses seem to evaporate into thin air. You have to stand in the cold, with no idea when they will come, only to find the bus crowded and the driver grumpy on arrival.
But sometimes buses can be wonderful. If you're not in a rush, a bus will probably be on time. And there is nothing like a bus for watching the world go by. In a car, traffic is the main concern. In a train, grassy banks or trees often line the route. But in a bus you are constantly entertained. Many times I have sat in a bus watching the sun set with a splendid multicoloured sky. Then I continue to watch as the sky gradually darkens and the lights gradually appear in houses and offices.
Buses have a magical knack of making things happen around them. When you go down a street, there is inevitably some drama going on. Perhaps it is a dog attacking the other people on the street when it is on its walk. Perhaps it is a tearful goodbye between lovers. Maybe it is someone on the street finding five bucks and looking around to see who may have dropped it. The last time I went on a bus trip it was a rail replacement bus. As always, the bus's aura spread before it. On the way I spotted a lorry in some roadworks that had a fire blazing on the back of it, and the driver (working a couple of metres from it) didn't seem to have noticed. I wanted to bang on the window and yell to let him know, but we whizzed past at 40mph and the moment went before I could do anything. I hope the fire was meant to be there, but I can't think why it should have been. On the way back we ended up in a tiny country road at night, and there was a bend so sharp that it took three attempts for the bus to get past. I thought we were going to be walking or turning back and finding a different route. But our fantastic driver (and bus drivers are extraordinarily talented people - mainly) got us through so we got home safely
I used to get stressed at buses because they are so inefficient and slow, but if you pick your moments to travel by bus, they are The Place To Be
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Sunday, 9 November 2008
"Diary entry" OR "Setting for the next scene"
So my grown-up life has started up north. This is definitely the biggest change for me since going to university. Life here was unlikely to be as fun as university. After all, I don't know as many people, I have to work full time and it's a pretty industrial area instead of being rural and picturesque. On top of that, everyone speaks with those "up-north" accents and it feels funny to be posh and southern!
It's fun though. It's exciting to go somewhere else, meet new people and do new things. I have new housemates in a new house at number 4, although getting a new house took a little longer than expected so I was forced to sleep on someone's sofa for a while. But now I have wonderful things like a bed and a room and storage space and things like that!
My housemates are great too. There's martin and there's paul. Martin likes motorbikes, his girlfriend kelly, KFC and his guitar. Paul likes cars, gadgets and films. Those are in no particular order (before you start drawing conclusions about martin and his motorbike). They also like tea and don't really drink coffee. Unfortunately I know very little about motorbikes, kelly, KFC, guitars, cars, gadgets or films. Especially films. But they are all laid back and it's now an opportunity to find out things about all of the above things. And we have football and being men in common. And for men, that is often enough.
So, while I miss living with girls very much, living with blokes will be good too
It's fun though. It's exciting to go somewhere else, meet new people and do new things. I have new housemates in a new house at number 4, although getting a new house took a little longer than expected so I was forced to sleep on someone's sofa for a while. But now I have wonderful things like a bed and a room and storage space and things like that!
My housemates are great too. There's martin and there's paul. Martin likes motorbikes, his girlfriend kelly, KFC and his guitar. Paul likes cars, gadgets and films. Those are in no particular order (before you start drawing conclusions about martin and his motorbike). They also like tea and don't really drink coffee. Unfortunately I know very little about motorbikes, kelly, KFC, guitars, cars, gadgets or films. Especially films. But they are all laid back and it's now an opportunity to find out things about all of the above things. And we have football and being men in common. And for men, that is often enough.
So, while I miss living with girls very much, living with blokes will be good too
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Make a better cup of tea
If you are doing any of these things, you could improve. Remember, making a good cup of tea could be the key to making friends, finding a lifelong partner, or getting a promotion by impressing your boss. Well, it would at least impress me. A bad cup of tea is a terrible thing.
Firstly, don't use Lipton. Lipton is BAD. No, that's wrong, Lipton is REALLY BAD. In general, Unilever makes good things like Lynx (also called Axe) deodorant, Flora margarine and Domestos bleach, but Lipton is an exception. It is NASTY. If you are ever given Lipton tea, get some food to take away the taste. It doesn't taste of much, but what little there is, is the bitter horrible part of normal tea and should never ever be given under the pretence of serving tea.
Secondly, use the correct temperature water. Normally this means boiling. For God's sake, don't pour some 80 degree water into a cup, wait a bit, add the teabag, wait a bit more, and take out the bag. You have to give it some kind of chance to infuse a bit. Black tea infuses best at boiling temperature, and unless you want to spend the next few minutes stirring, you need to put the teabag in before the water.
Green tea is a different story. Add 75 degree water and infuse it for 3 minutes. Many people say they find green tea very bitter, but it is only bitter if it's stewed for much longer than it should be or if boiling water is found.
Keep an eye on your tea. Tea brewed for 2 minutes tastes very different to that brewed for 5. So don't just forget it. For the few minutes that you are making tea, the tea should be your main concern, because people really notice when you make a really good cup of tea. Even people who don't drink tea that often can tell if the tea you are making has been cared for.
To make it really good, use a pot and loose leaf tea. It tastes better to anyone and everyone who has ever had tea before. So do these things if you really want to impress someone. Oh, and one last thing... NEVER EVER SERVE A CUP OF LIPTON TEA TO ANYONE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS IT IS AN ABSOLUTE TEA-MERGENCY
Firstly, don't use Lipton. Lipton is BAD. No, that's wrong, Lipton is REALLY BAD. In general, Unilever makes good things like Lynx (also called Axe) deodorant, Flora margarine and Domestos bleach, but Lipton is an exception. It is NASTY. If you are ever given Lipton tea, get some food to take away the taste. It doesn't taste of much, but what little there is, is the bitter horrible part of normal tea and should never ever be given under the pretence of serving tea.
Secondly, use the correct temperature water. Normally this means boiling. For God's sake, don't pour some 80 degree water into a cup, wait a bit, add the teabag, wait a bit more, and take out the bag. You have to give it some kind of chance to infuse a bit. Black tea infuses best at boiling temperature, and unless you want to spend the next few minutes stirring, you need to put the teabag in before the water.
Green tea is a different story. Add 75 degree water and infuse it for 3 minutes. Many people say they find green tea very bitter, but it is only bitter if it's stewed for much longer than it should be or if boiling water is found.
Keep an eye on your tea. Tea brewed for 2 minutes tastes very different to that brewed for 5. So don't just forget it. For the few minutes that you are making tea, the tea should be your main concern, because people really notice when you make a really good cup of tea. Even people who don't drink tea that often can tell if the tea you are making has been cared for.
To make it really good, use a pot and loose leaf tea. It tastes better to anyone and everyone who has ever had tea before. So do these things if you really want to impress someone. Oh, and one last thing... NEVER EVER SERVE A CUP OF LIPTON TEA TO ANYONE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES UNLESS IT IS AN ABSOLUTE TEA-MERGENCY
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Sorry, dear readers
I'll explain sometime while I haven't written on here in ages. Maybe you already know. However, I apologise for the lack of attention I have been giving to this site. I hope to be able to pick up where I left off in a week or so, when this site will once again be filled with my insight, emotion and bullshit as it usually is
Monday, 15 September 2008
How to eat responsibly
I have wondered and wondered how best to eat in an environmentally responsible way. I have asked environmentalists, vegetarians, vegans and scientists, and nobody has an answer on which foods are better than others, or how you should choose which food has the smallest carbon footprint. Now the New Scientist has the answer!
I advise you all to get the New Scientist dated 13th September 2008 and read the cover story.
This is a wonderful article. It's full of debate about what we know and what we don't know about carbon footprints. It's full of warnings that you cannot take the carbon footprint of chicken A and then assume it will have the same footprint as chicken B who lives on a different farm. But it also gives some guidelines about food.
Is it better to be a vegetarian?
Is it much much better to be a vegan?
How about buying things from the other side of the world?
Or organic food?
Now we have a few answers, although the scientific knowledge is not yet complete. Red meat and dairy products are the worst. Then chicken, eggs and fish. And fruit and vegetables are the best.
In the US, 11% of the carbon equivalent emitted is for transport.
A quarter of greenhouse gas emissions are actually nitrous oxide, from fertilisers.
In America, emissions from driving are only half of those from food production.
The emissions from fish depends hugely on how they are caught or farmed, and on whether they are carnivorous or herbivorous.
Anyway, don't trust me on all this. The discussion is much more complete in the New Scientist itself. This is something we all need to know. Giving up on plastic bags is NOTHING compared to knowing about stuff like this.
Aside:
Of course, carbon footprint is only a small amount of what constitutes sustainability, as a wonderful university lecturer called Big Rob told us. If we eat all the herbivorous fish, that's not sustainable and if we don't trade fairly with the third world, that's not sustainable either. But global warming is important and this is information that I have found very hard to uncover until now
I advise you all to get the New Scientist dated 13th September 2008 and read the cover story.
This is a wonderful article. It's full of debate about what we know and what we don't know about carbon footprints. It's full of warnings that you cannot take the carbon footprint of chicken A and then assume it will have the same footprint as chicken B who lives on a different farm. But it also gives some guidelines about food.
Is it better to be a vegetarian?
Is it much much better to be a vegan?
How about buying things from the other side of the world?
Or organic food?
Now we have a few answers, although the scientific knowledge is not yet complete. Red meat and dairy products are the worst. Then chicken, eggs and fish. And fruit and vegetables are the best.
In the US, 11% of the carbon equivalent emitted is for transport.
A quarter of greenhouse gas emissions are actually nitrous oxide, from fertilisers.
In America, emissions from driving are only half of those from food production.
The emissions from fish depends hugely on how they are caught or farmed, and on whether they are carnivorous or herbivorous.
Anyway, don't trust me on all this. The discussion is much more complete in the New Scientist itself. This is something we all need to know. Giving up on plastic bags is NOTHING compared to knowing about stuff like this.
Aside:
Of course, carbon footprint is only a small amount of what constitutes sustainability, as a wonderful university lecturer called Big Rob told us. If we eat all the herbivorous fish, that's not sustainable and if we don't trade fairly with the third world, that's not sustainable either. But global warming is important and this is information that I have found very hard to uncover until now
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Meming
It seems I have been “tagged” in a “meme”. Mème means “the same” in french, and it might mean something in English, but I don’t really know, it’s not a word I use. In this case, a meme (said “meem”) means a kind of chain letter in which you follow some instructions. This usually involves writing something down and then asking some of your friends to do it as well. This process of asking is called tagging. There’s so much pointless jargon in the computer world. And it’s not just from computer geeks, facebook alone has a vast number of words that have been invented around it. I hate it, but I use it myself, it’s hard to avoid.
Since I have been blogging about 18 months ago, I have been tagged a couple of times on memes and never done them. But now is the moment to bow to Rachel’s peer pressure.
August 2008
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your [summer]. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.
This is difficult. I’ve been listening to Radio 1 all summer, and it’s hard to get into radio 1 music that much. After all, even the best songs can be over-played if you listen to them too much.
1) Lies by Fleetwood Mac
My cousin bought a Fleetwood Mac album recently and I discovered loads of songs that are by them and I never realised. This is a classic song that I had forgotten about. Love it
2) Mercury's in Retrograde by Bloc Party
I wrote about it here and it’s just quite good
3) Otherwise by Morcheeba
I keep hearing more and more by Morcheeba. It’s very sexy music, chilled and smooth. Housemate Maria likes them because they’re Swedish (and good). I might have heard this song through Maria, but I paid attention when I got it on a compilation I bought in a car boot sale
4) Letter from God to man by Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Guilty pleasure. I like the concept of the song and I think it's done quite well. Yes, it’s not very original. But most people think about these things sometimes and it’s nice to have someone doing it in a light-hearted way on a pop record
5) For What It’s Worth by the Cardigans
I’ve probably mentioned this song before, but it’s been one of my favourite songs for a little while now. It’s about a one-sided relationship in which one person is in love with the other, but it’s not reciprocated and the mere mention of love scares them away. The tune is beautiful and the words so powerful and painful. That’s why the Cardigans are the best band ever
6) Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale
Roz hasn’t heard this so she’s silly. I told you, I’ve been listening to the radio and this is what was on the radio. It’s cheerful, hardly a classic that will be remembered in, say, five years time, but it’s bouncy enough
7) Perfect 10 by Beautiful South
This isn’t really in my top 7 songs, but I always listened to this in Welsh Andrew’s room at university. Having left university and faced with the possibility that I will never listen to it in Welsh Andrew’s room again, I bought the Beautiful South album at the car boot sale mentioned above
March 2007
Post five things about yourself that (almost!) no one else knows
I’m a boring person. 18 months of thinking time has not given me any more ideas of what to write here. It’s so tempting to kop out (sp?) and write something that’s meant to be ironic and vaguely funny. But I just committed to doing this shit (as they say), so here goes
1) I breathe really slowly, slower than most people to whom I have paid attention. And yes, I do know that sounds weird
2) I would like to be more superstitious and try to remember to say hello to magpies. I genuinely feel bad (in a superstitious way) about killing spiders
3) I’m on bebo. Don’t feel left out if you don’t know that. I don’t remember the information I need to log on
4) If I could have a superpower, I’d probably fly, as long as it would be like superman and not like an angel with those crappy wings
5) Being given tasks like this makes me stay up very late on a work night, becoming more and more introspective and yet without ever coming up with anything original or interesting to say (that I haven’t told people before). After all, if it was that interesting, wouldn’t I have said it already?
Sorry, the last one was a kop out. But it is half past one, so please forgive me.
Oh, and tagging. I’m not doing that because I don’t know 7 people with blogs, let alone 7 people who would want to be tagged. But I would tag if I could, for sure
Since I have been blogging about 18 months ago, I have been tagged a couple of times on memes and never done them. But now is the moment to bow to Rachel’s peer pressure.
August 2008
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your [summer]. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.
This is difficult. I’ve been listening to Radio 1 all summer, and it’s hard to get into radio 1 music that much. After all, even the best songs can be over-played if you listen to them too much.
1) Lies by Fleetwood Mac
My cousin bought a Fleetwood Mac album recently and I discovered loads of songs that are by them and I never realised. This is a classic song that I had forgotten about. Love it
2) Mercury's in Retrograde by Bloc Party
I wrote about it here and it’s just quite good
3) Otherwise by Morcheeba
I keep hearing more and more by Morcheeba. It’s very sexy music, chilled and smooth. Housemate Maria likes them because they’re Swedish (and good). I might have heard this song through Maria, but I paid attention when I got it on a compilation I bought in a car boot sale
4) Letter from God to man by Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip
Guilty pleasure. I like the concept of the song and I think it's done quite well. Yes, it’s not very original. But most people think about these things sometimes and it’s nice to have someone doing it in a light-hearted way on a pop record
5) For What It’s Worth by the Cardigans
I’ve probably mentioned this song before, but it’s been one of my favourite songs for a little while now. It’s about a one-sided relationship in which one person is in love with the other, but it’s not reciprocated and the mere mention of love scares them away. The tune is beautiful and the words so powerful and painful. That’s why the Cardigans are the best band ever
6) Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale
Roz hasn’t heard this so she’s silly. I told you, I’ve been listening to the radio and this is what was on the radio. It’s cheerful, hardly a classic that will be remembered in, say, five years time, but it’s bouncy enough
7) Perfect 10 by Beautiful South
This isn’t really in my top 7 songs, but I always listened to this in Welsh Andrew’s room at university. Having left university and faced with the possibility that I will never listen to it in Welsh Andrew’s room again, I bought the Beautiful South album at the car boot sale mentioned above
March 2007
Post five things about yourself that (almost!) no one else knows
I’m a boring person. 18 months of thinking time has not given me any more ideas of what to write here. It’s so tempting to kop out (sp?) and write something that’s meant to be ironic and vaguely funny. But I just committed to doing this shit (as they say), so here goes
1) I breathe really slowly, slower than most people to whom I have paid attention. And yes, I do know that sounds weird
2) I would like to be more superstitious and try to remember to say hello to magpies. I genuinely feel bad (in a superstitious way) about killing spiders
3) I’m on bebo. Don’t feel left out if you don’t know that. I don’t remember the information I need to log on
4) If I could have a superpower, I’d probably fly, as long as it would be like superman and not like an angel with those crappy wings
5) Being given tasks like this makes me stay up very late on a work night, becoming more and more introspective and yet without ever coming up with anything original or interesting to say (that I haven’t told people before). After all, if it was that interesting, wouldn’t I have said it already?
Sorry, the last one was a kop out. But it is half past one, so please forgive me.
Oh, and tagging. I’m not doing that because I don’t know 7 people with blogs, let alone 7 people who would want to be tagged. But I would tag if I could, for sure
Friday, 5 September 2008
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Not such negative thoughts
Much has been made of the loss of confidence and pessimism that is sweeping the world. We are apparently heading towards a recession to the extent that it is very unlikely that we will avoid it now. I haven't heard the speech but apparently Alistair Darling (the chancellor) has now come out and explained that he is extremely worried about it. But while people feel out of control and pessimistic about the world's financial situation, a more positive attitude is sweeping the country. People are starting to believe that they can make the world a better place. And they are believing it more than they have in the last twenty years.
The nineties was an apathetic decade. It was comfortable, and people felt that things could continue how they were. It's only been in the last few years that people have discussed global warming, poverty and the environment as anything more than abstract ideas. After years of campaigning, plastic bags are actually being phased out. This is not happening from government pressure, but through normal people using cloth bags for their shopping instead of getting plastic ones. Almost all councils in England now collect recyclable waste separately from other waste, whereas almost none did until very recently. Make poverty history was a campaign that encouraged people to consider the possibility that poverty may not exist at some time in the future. That's an extremely idealistic proposition, but millions of people bought into the idea with things like their branded wristbands. Bill Bryson even managed to get a prime-time TV slot in which he moaned about litter for an entire episode of panorama. It didn't make great TV but it was a sign that people really think things like this are important.
I listened to a talk the other day, given by Eugenie Harvey. She is the force behind the company which produced "Change the World For a Fiver", which is called We Are What We Do. Her idea is that small actions carried out by many people can have a big effect and actually change the world. Her ideas include unplugging mobile chargers and remembering people's names to make them feel more important. Her ideas are fantastic, but even more impressive is that she began the company and created a stir from absolutely nothing. More and more people are thinking like her. They don't simply believe that change can happen, they believe that they can help to produce the change.
The nineties was an apathetic decade. It was comfortable, and people felt that things could continue how they were. It's only been in the last few years that people have discussed global warming, poverty and the environment as anything more than abstract ideas. After years of campaigning, plastic bags are actually being phased out. This is not happening from government pressure, but through normal people using cloth bags for their shopping instead of getting plastic ones. Almost all councils in England now collect recyclable waste separately from other waste, whereas almost none did until very recently. Make poverty history was a campaign that encouraged people to consider the possibility that poverty may not exist at some time in the future. That's an extremely idealistic proposition, but millions of people bought into the idea with things like their branded wristbands. Bill Bryson even managed to get a prime-time TV slot in which he moaned about litter for an entire episode of panorama. It didn't make great TV but it was a sign that people really think things like this are important.
I listened to a talk the other day, given by Eugenie Harvey. She is the force behind the company which produced "Change the World For a Fiver", which is called We Are What We Do. Her idea is that small actions carried out by many people can have a big effect and actually change the world. Her ideas include unplugging mobile chargers and remembering people's names to make them feel more important. Her ideas are fantastic, but even more impressive is that she began the company and created a stir from absolutely nothing. More and more people are thinking like her. They don't simply believe that change can happen, they believe that they can help to produce the change.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Ear update
With a title like that I'm sure you'll be itching to read this.
But it's actually a cunning plan that only people who really like this blog will find out that I have a new job! I'm very excited, I'm going to start a proper career doing nice metallurgical things up north. It starts very very soon and I can't wait to meet some people, have a permanent place to live and a permanent job. It's the feeling of permanent that is so good I think. I am fed up of moving around and knowing things will not last forever. Even university was only going to last four years and I had decided that was all very early on. And jobs were terrible, filling summer holidays for only a few weeks at a time. Now I can get my teeth into something without worrying that my efforts will be forgotten in the blink of an eye. I think it's a career I want to get my teeth into as well, but only time will tell.
Anyway, you might have started reading this hoping for an update on my ears, following from this and this. I went to my medical for the job today and was told that the hearing in my right ear is worse than in my left. So my experiment has yielded a clear outcome... follow your doctor's advice
But it's actually a cunning plan that only people who really like this blog will find out that I have a new job! I'm very excited, I'm going to start a proper career doing nice metallurgical things up north. It starts very very soon and I can't wait to meet some people, have a permanent place to live and a permanent job. It's the feeling of permanent that is so good I think. I am fed up of moving around and knowing things will not last forever. Even university was only going to last four years and I had decided that was all very early on. And jobs were terrible, filling summer holidays for only a few weeks at a time. Now I can get my teeth into something without worrying that my efforts will be forgotten in the blink of an eye. I think it's a career I want to get my teeth into as well, but only time will tell.
Anyway, you might have started reading this hoping for an update on my ears, following from this and this. I went to my medical for the job today and was told that the hearing in my right ear is worse than in my left. So my experiment has yielded a clear outcome... follow your doctor's advice
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Events in Rural Home-place
Went to church this evening, to find that there were two clergy and only three congregation. Well, once we turned up there were eight, but it was still a pitifully small service. It's so small that the organist doesn't turn up any more so we just read through the book of common prayer, take communion and leave. This is possibly the most interesting style of service ever devised. Actually, I am being mean. There was a sermon in which the vicar tried to go along the tightrope of whether to expect prayers to be answered or not. That was certainly worth seeing for the care with which he chose his words, even if not for his originality.
On the way out of church, we found a gathering of people chatting in an animated fashion. A large calf ran past. One man tried to stop it and the calf just ran past him too. The man looked slightly flummoxed by that. A second man came and waved a stick manacingly and the calf stopped. A minute later, it decided to go past the man with the stick. The man with the stick looked slightly flummoxed too. It headed along the road (speed limit 30mph, average speed 45mph) to the crossroads and went straight across and into a garden. Apparently the owner of the garden is very proud of his lawn thank you very much and could we please disturb it as little as possible. The chase went on regardless, into the next field. By this stage I had left the chase and taken up a spot near its home, hoping to guide it in when it returned (instead of it going straight past again). Ten minutes and a discussion of how best to cook beef later, my uncle appeared at the end of the road. He was waving the aforementioned stick and prodding the exhausted animal back to its field. It seemed to have enjoyed its run but decided it had had enough. It finally went back into its field, wagging its tail and looking pleased with itself with very little effort on my part. Then we left the farmer to check that he now had all his cows in the field.
We went home for a nice meal of roast beef, which had been delayed considerably by this. It was yummy.
On the way out of church, we found a gathering of people chatting in an animated fashion. A large calf ran past. One man tried to stop it and the calf just ran past him too. The man looked slightly flummoxed by that. A second man came and waved a stick manacingly and the calf stopped. A minute later, it decided to go past the man with the stick. The man with the stick looked slightly flummoxed too. It headed along the road (speed limit 30mph, average speed 45mph) to the crossroads and went straight across and into a garden. Apparently the owner of the garden is very proud of his lawn thank you very much and could we please disturb it as little as possible. The chase went on regardless, into the next field. By this stage I had left the chase and taken up a spot near its home, hoping to guide it in when it returned (instead of it going straight past again). Ten minutes and a discussion of how best to cook beef later, my uncle appeared at the end of the road. He was waving the aforementioned stick and prodding the exhausted animal back to its field. It seemed to have enjoyed its run but decided it had had enough. It finally went back into its field, wagging its tail and looking pleased with itself with very little effort on my part. Then we left the farmer to check that he now had all his cows in the field.
We went home for a nice meal of roast beef, which had been delayed considerably by this. It was yummy.
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