Oooh, my head hurts!
To London's fashionable Shoreditch last night for drinks with fri3nds (hi Paul! hi Luke!). And thence to a headache that dragged me out of bed this morning at an unfashionably early hour. You wouldn't think that i'm medically incapable of working.

He's a maniac, a maniac (EVERYBODY now!)...

Course, the reason i'm not able to sleep might be less to do with my hangover, and more something to do with this. Or this. Or even, if i'm feeling really batty, this!

Or it might be something completely unrelated to any of this. Or all of the above. Or none of it.

Off to Switzerland tomorrow for an atmosphere of neutrality and some Hans Castorp style convalesence. Which means that i'm getting better, doctor, or that i'm getting worse? You tell me, i just work here...!

A big dog ate my homework!
Good to know that the world is being run by a man who can nearly complete a whole bike ride!

Shame about the face, George!

So what's it all about then (Part II)...?
It's getting clearer and clearer to me every day. The universe looks, finally, as if it has a purpose, a sense of narrative.

I'm not mad, i'm sane. And i'm clearing out the cobwebs, clearing out my closet. I've found some things that i might be able to make into some other things, but for the moment, and if you have a moment, i can share them with you.

Peace & love. Have a great weekend.

C x

Let me take you down...
And then up, and then down again, and then back up. Clothes are not merely optional, but positively discouraged.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You cannot make this shit up!

Hefty post coming later for your Friday afternoons. You have been warned...

You can take the high road...
If you want to, that is...

Just returned from Scotland, from seeing my sister (hi Laura!), who i love more than life itself. We took a trip to the highlands, to Glencoe, with the aim of making a film about our journey.

This is not that film. This is just some pictures that i took, and a song that i like very much. Laura's making the actual film by herself. And, like everything she does, it will be touched by magic.

PS, Do you believe in magic?
'Cos i think that this might well be the closest thing to a miracle that we're likely to see in our lifetimes...

It's always better on holiday (still)...
I'm off on my travels, today, what fun!

Today begins the first part of a two week interrupted sojourn with my sisters (hi Laura! hi Susan!) who, along with the rest of my immediate family (hi Rita! hi Irvin! hi Pete!), are my very, very best fri3nds of all.

That of course goes without saying.

I'm taking my computer with me (and my notebooks, and my camera), and if i see anything worth sharing then it also goes without saying then i'll do my darndest to try and share it with you all.

Computers are great! When they work, that is. Which isn't all the time, alas. But they're easy to fix. Easier than people, anyway. But that shouldn't stop us trying to fix them both.

Whee, what a weekend i've had so far! What an interesting time it's been! Those of you i've met (hi fri3nds! you know who you are!) have an inkling of what an interesting time it's been.

But only one person (hi you!) knows quite how interesting it really has been.

See you on the other side.

Peace.

C x

God's a smoker...
... But do you really think that she is...? And if she is, what do you think it is that she smokes...?

Latest in a series of excellent, if slightly uncanny (and unnerving) contributions from Mary. Thanks Mary! I think!

Version 3.0
As if you hadn't already guessed (which you should have done, having been smart enough to find your way here, of all the other places which you might have gone to in the first place), things seem to be taking a turn for the stranger.

Busy today, meeting many fri3nds, obviously, too many to mention (but you all know who you are! hi fri3nds!).

Lest ye worry about my sanity, kiddos, fear not, for this is but art (or a nervous assay at a new version of the same). But if you want to reassure yourselves, you know how to find me...

We are not alone...!
Turns nervously and shivers at the sound of footsteps behind him... Only to find no-one there, as he expected (and mebbe, he doesn't know, also perhaps feared).

But what's this...?

Oh doctor, please help me, i'm damaged, EVERYBODY NOW (everybody joins in and links arms, high-kicking their way back to sanity in time-honoured busby b-b-b-bishop berkeley fashion...)...

Let me take you down...
Went to see some live comedy, last night. Not the usual stand-up, mind, but a concept i can rapidly see sweeping the nation: to whit, a live sketch show.

This was at the fantastic downstairs at the king's head, a venue i've enjoyed many times in the past, and will enjoy many times in the future, particularly now that my home is a mere few minutes stumble away from the pub, and they serve my very favourite kind of beer in about three different varieties on draught...!

The actual night was called Brian Luff's Sketch Show, and i laffed out loud more times than i care to mention. Treat yourself and go see if you can...

Join my club!
Sorry kids, i've changed my Blogger settings just enough so that only registered bloggers can post comments here from now on.

This is in part to avoid the possibility of flaming, though the comments I've received so far give no indication that this is a possibility, and that we're all fri3nds here. But it seems, having looked through the Blogger Comments FAQ that this is the only way you can identify yourself, and therefore avoid having to leave anonymous comments.

Being a registered Blogger is no bad thing, by the way. I've spoken to some of you about the joy it has brought me over the last couple of weeks, and setting up an account should be relatively pain-free.

Come on in - the water's lovely.

Blueyonder are great, but they're poo, too
Because my email is on, then it's off, then it's on again, and now it's off again.

And who has soooo much time that they can spend ALL their spare time on the phone to customer services people?!!!

Not even me, and I'm medically incapable of working. And I have another certificate, now, for even longer, to prove it!!!!

So I'm off to the pub! Hurrah!

No more posts today, you'll be relieved to hear!

One last post for just now, then i'll do something else for a while
My very good fri3nd Myat sent me this because she knows that i sometimes need a little bit of cheering up. Don't we all!

Thanks Myat (PS And, oh, happy birthday!).

Spot the difference
Those ever so nice people at Blogger have made their website look a bit nicer and have added some nice new things to the Blogger functionality.

As a result, you can now add comments to any of my posts. So now we all have another way to keep in touch! Hurrah!

PS, I've added a forum too, but it's hidden here until i can find the time to make it look like the rest of the site. But it works, perfectly fine, i think...

Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you...
Hi to all my fri3nds!

Technical problems at the Blueyonder end (hi Blueyonder!) mean that i'm currently unable to access any of my email addresses using any of the 3 methods i can usually use to do so.

So if you're not getting a reply to your mail, it's not cos i don't like you. I really do like you!

Just to show you how much i like you, here's a tip about how to get the most out of your day. And if you urgently need to get in touch with me, use my mobile number (sms or voice, i'm not fussy!)

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
It's a few years since i've seen The Wizard of Oz, but to my recollection one of the most uncanny moments in the movie is when Dorothy and her companions are followed by walking trees who freeze every time the travellers turn to catch them.

Such things are common in this universe (or perhaps another?). In any case, my very good fri3nd Mary said that every time she stopped to look at these trees, they stopped, too.

No more posts today. I'm tired from lack of sleep and have yet more fri3nds (hi Ronan! hi Dom!) to meet today...

Dobra!
A very, very good fri3nd of mine (hi Hopkinov!) sent me about the most interesting example of spam i've ever seen. It's copied here for your interest and amusement. If anyone has received anything like this before, or knows anything about the likely origin, please let me know, usual address!

But here...
Out with a fri3nd last night (hi fri3nd! you know who you are!), and we were discussing, as so often i do these days, the possibility of another universe than this one.

But how do you get there...?

Do not unfasten your seatbelts!
A very good fri3nd of mine (hi Gigs!) asked me a question, earlier, about why it is so necessary, while on aeroplanes, to turn off electrical appliances during take-off and landing; and why it is so important to ensure that the window-shutters are pulled down at the same times...

It doesn't appear to be anything to do with the best practice advice for airplane safety... So is it just so that we can get more practice at doing exactly what we have been told to do...?

Or is it something even more sinister than that...?

Answers on a postcard, please, if you know...

Thunder and lightning, did yuz think i was dead?
Sorry there've been no posts for a couple of days, kids: but i've been celebrating my entry to the middle part of my life.

There'll be more, later, methinks. Time to get busy. Time for the whole thing to start all over again.

Watch this space.

Hi!
Nothing much particular to say today, busy doing housework then meeting a fri3nd (hi Nic!) for drinks later.

To those of you i met up with yesterday (hi fri3nds! You know who you are!), i'd just like to say, thanks for all the kind words, about the website and about all the other stuff. I'm taking it all to heart, have no fear!

And to those of you who said that you'd like to get more involved with the site, just wait a little while. There's some more admin i have to do, which i'll try to get done over the weekend. Then the error messages which some of you are seeing will (hopefully) go away, and there'll be a few more ways for all of our fri3nds to get more involved.

Peace, enjoy the sunshine, and have a great weekend. I'm going to to the dogs! And so are some of you!

C x

Ooh, i feel all tingly...
And i woke up soooo early this morning! Not like me at all!

The only thing that upsets me about being medically incapable of working is that there are some fri3nds i used to see everyday who i don't see everyday anymore (hi James! hi Mark! hi Mary! hi Myat! hi Stuart!). One of them has just come back from Paris, and all i got was this lousy video.

Except there's nothing lousy about it at all...! I miss you, kids ;)

Peace x

We're going to need a bigger database...
On the excellent Phill Jupitus breakfast show on BBC Radio 6 yesterday i heard about this online flattery tool which supposedly compares your features to their massive database of "200 photos of Top Stars" and tells you which you most resemble. Being bored, geeky, and in need of some reassurance (see my previous post), i decided to give it a try. Only to find that the Top Stars i most resemble are David Beckham, Richard Dreyfuss and Marky Mark...

Ahem.

Give it a try if you're bored. And if you're really bored, you can see my results online for approximately 48 hours from the date and time of this post.

So. What did you do today?
All working very hard no doubt...

I'm medically incapable of "working" (and have a certificate to prove it), so i went off to the pictures and saw that movie that I posted about last week. It was very good, but a bit difficult for me to watch, and therefore to take in properly. It reminded me of something i once heard William Gibson say about Blade Runner. He said he liked it, but it was so like the inside of his head that he had to walk out of the cinema half-way through.

I stayed to the end of this movie, but i missed lots of things in it because i was thinking about some other things which weren't in it. So i'll probably need to watch it again. Just as well it was a good film, eh...?

Afterwards, i went to a pub and had a pint of white beer, which is fast becoming my favourite type of beer. While i was drinking it, i read some interesting articles in New Scientist magazine, which is fast becoming my favourite magazine. People are so clever, you know, they're figgering out more and more things every day.

Quite a nice day, all in all. And there's still some of it left to come!

Or is there?

May the fourth be with you!
Poo, no sunshine today, by the looks of things.

Never mind, here's a picture i took yesterday to cheer you all up...

I'd like to teach the world to sing...
But first will we all need to speak the same language...?

Or have we found a way round this problem...? Not quite there yet, but it'll come, it'll come...

People are strange!
Because if we can do this, why do we feel the need to do this...?

So what did you do today?
Me, i went for a walk around parliament hill. Then i went to a pub, where i met some new fri3nds (hi new fri3nds! you know who you are! and if i tried to spell your names i'd get them wrong, so email me, then i'll be able to spell them next time i have to!). Then i met up with some old fri3nds and a few more new fri3nds! (hi Adie! hi Rob! hi Kate! hi Phoebe! hi Alfie!).

Gosh, i've had a busy day for someone who's supposed to be taking it easy...! But don't you just love the sunshine!

(PS: Those of you who've contacted me because you're worried about the way i'm spelling fri3nds, please do not adjust your sets. It's supposed to be spelt that way! There is nothing wrong with your computer. Well, nothing that manifests itself in that particular way. Even some adverts do strange things with typography, and although i don't understand what this means, the thing that i'm doing has something to do with a song by The Beatles. Clue: It's Come Together!)

(Oh, and PPS. Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the earth... But if they're to do so, they'll need to be a little bit more organised than this. Sorry Adie...!)

Wake up.
Those of you who know me (and that's probably all of you, still) might know that i've been having problems sleeping. For a while.

Some recent changes in my life have meant that i am sleeping, now: but the funniest thing about it is that, guess what: i no longer dream. Not while i sleep, anyway.

I'm having some of the daftest notions, though, kids, i really am. I've spoken to some of you about them over the last couple of weeks, and we've laughed and thought our way through what some of those notions might actually mean.

What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding...?

So what is it all about, then...? Has anybody figgered it out yet...?

We all have stories (or songs, or funny little dances) inside us, you know. We all have beautiful things, just waiting to be born. Mostly we don't let them out, because we're worried that people will laff at us, or point at us, or stare and back away, waving their hands in front of them as they do.

Here's a story i wrote, a few years ago, about a fri3nd i don't see anymore. I guess it's long enough ago that it's okay to share, and no-one's going to be tewwwibly upset that i've posted it on the world-wide interweb.

If it's too soppy for you, you don't have to read it. That's the joy of the interweb. You can just click on something else, instead of having to stay with it for long enough for someone to try to tell you, or sell you, something you have no interest in.

Kids, i have a dream that we can change the world.

Who's in?

Lonely is an eyesore...
Those of you who're in your mid-thirties (and, let's face it, we all are) might remember the ethereal, other-worldy light cast on the walls of our caves of adolescence by the music of the Cocteau Twins, and the cover art of Vaughaun Oliver / 23 Envelope. Later came the angular neurosis of Throwing Muses, and the psychotic space age weirdness of Pixies. And another two hundred or so absolutely unique and insane bands, many of the members of whom shuffled onto This Mortal Coil.

Me, i always liked the Pale Saints, but i think that's a taste i never really managed to pass on to anyone else.

This trip down memory lane was occasioned by this history of 4AD, which i found out about while thumbing throught The Guardian's geek section. And blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the earth.

Enjoy the long weekend.