Meanderings of a Monkey Juggler - books

3 for £18

noreply@blogspirit.com (Alby) — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:05:00 +0100

I had occasion to buy some books whilst waiting at Gatwick en-route to Bg (as usual). I managed to read one and most of another. I'm looking forward to the third too.

First was "Margrave of the Marshes", John Peel's autobiography which was finished by his wife and children. I'm a great fan of his as you well know and the book didn't disappoint me at all. His writing is of the same standard as his broadcasting although at no point did he write any pages at the wrong speed. His wife (all the extra stuff is written as if she's writing it, although we know that the whole family had a hand in it) manages to carry on the style perfectly well. The stories are funny and moving but you're never feeling sorry for him because he never feels sorry for himself. Well worth a read (especially as Amazon have got it so cheap at the mo).

I'm 2/3rds of the way through "James Cook: The Journals" from Penguin Classics. This is a stunning work where Captain Cook's journals (from his 3 voyages in the 1700's) have been condensed and annotated for the modern reader. Most of what's excised is tedious navigational detail so it leaves his observations about the discoveries he and his ships come across. It reads better than many a yarn and it's all about real events. Wow! He comes across as a thoroughly decent chap too and he seems to want to introduce natives to trade and civilisation rather than conquering them. We know this wasn't really the plan of his superiors though. In one memorable entry he discusses the aboriginals of Australia. He starts by describing them as the "most wretched creatures" he's ever come across. But follows this by writing that they are probably the happiest people he's ever met because they "want for nothing" and have everything they need to live in peace and to the level of comfort that they want. He has a level of insight that you might not expect in a empire builder. A wonderful book if you like historical tracts. I want more like this. How about some documents about or by Wellington and others?

I haven't started the 3rd book yet but it's "The Voyage of the Beagle" by Charles Darwin. I'm intrigued by Darwin and this should be a good one. It's a shame "On the Origin of the Species" wasn't in the shop at the time though, I'd of preferred that,

Have fun.

Excellent website

noreply@blogspirit.com (Alby) — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:27:41 +0000

Not a silly post but a plug for this website here. It's a home page for a muslim woman writer and her beliefs. Very enlightening and it cheered me up immensely compared with "Ummah.com" which seems stuffed full of Kevin the Terrorists ("you're all infidels and I hate you!") and their appallingly childish arguments and wet-dreams of killing people (religion of peace you say?).

Anyways I thought I'd share that.

Have fun.

Bulgaria again

noreply@blogspirit.com (Alby) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 18:10:57 +0100

So back to Bg.

It was a long trip there and back although Ronald helped smooth things on the way. I've decided that I really don't like budget airlines' methods. Particularly the "no allocated seat" cack. It ought to be good but people have no manners so it always ends up a pushing match. It would cost the company damn all to implement a set seat system so they should or get used to seriously annoyed people. They could put it on-line so when you buy your seat you reserve a place - no problem.

In Bg we had plenty of jobs to do so there was little free time. Sorting out the house was the biggie and lots was done but there's stacks of "making good" to do. K is now the official owner and more photos taken of the inside to show but they aren't developed yet.

Her mum's place has been slightly spruced up recently but there's still more to go and that'll be done in the next 3 months (I'm looking forward to an inside loo and shower). The man's done a decent job too.

The village is a strange place. Small Place Syndrome is apparent and everyone knows (or thinks they know) everyone else's business. K was asked on more than one occasion if it was true that she'd bought this house. She kept saying "no" despite it being damn obvious to anyone with eyes.

Loads of houses are being sold to Brits around the whole area. People think they will get fortunes for any old rubbish tho' so there'll be disappointments. One house we saw had definitely been bought by Brits and what we saw and heard made me so angry with them.

Imagine the scene: a beautiful old village full of old houses done in the classic style. In the middle is one place that's dropping to bits and the new owners have spoiled any charm completely by fitting PVC windows in bright white. It looks totally out of place. On mentioning this to the neighbour he invited us in for coffee and chatted about the newbies. Apparently they have refused on any number of occasions to take up offers of a meal or a friendly drink and show every indication of shutting themselves away from the local society. Idiots! We have the perfect opportunity to get out of the ridiculous insularity that besets the British and they're perpetuating it out of choice. I know I've just slagged off small place syndrome but rather that than avoidance of interaction.

One nearby village has 7 British houses. They'll be empty for ages then and probably have lots of stuff nicked whilst empty. I'm expecting the locals to start acting like the Welsh anytime soon.

In quiet times I played an awful lot of Advance Wars 2 and it really is excellent. Anyone getting me the first one is likely to be well rewarded. I'll have to get it on the DS as well (after Christmas of course).

Read a book and a half:

Brick Lane by Monica Ali - I'd wanted to read this for a while as Brick Lane is one of my fave places on the planet. It follows a Bangla girl from her village to an ok marriage in London to a man 20 years her senior. It charts nicely her journey from subservience to realising she has a voice. Nicely told and humourous when it needed to be but hardly for everyone's tastes. One part had me really happy. Her husband was one of the "eager to please" types and kept inviting the local GP for meals to try and raise his importance locally via association with this doctor. Throughout the book you think the doctor is taking him for a ride and humouring him. At the end the GP lends him money and the wife asks the doctor why. "Because he is my friend. My very good friend." is the reply in a tone of surprise. I think that's such a lovely turn-round.

I've also started Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre (Author of A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away). He's a boy's author and has plots involving intrigue, plots and violence in certain measures. This one seems to be awfully derivative so far. It's about Scottish politics and spin doctors and PR types causing things to happen. The sole big event has been someone infecting rival's pcs with lurid nudie pics of kiddies in an effort to get them in trouble with the law and to wreck their public profiles. Exactly the same plot device was used (better) by Stephen Fry in The Stars Tennis Balls. So it's ok but no classic (so far).

And I've found the thing I like and hate most about Bg. It's the avoidance of rules if they get in the way.

Situatiion: You go to a cafe bar for a meal and a drink. It's a nice new place and follows the rules that you must have a non-smoking area. We sit in the non-smoking area. There are only 3 tables there and 2 have 2 people each on them. At any one time 3 of these 4 people were smoking. But not only that the waitress came over and changed ashtrays for them! Twice!

So it's nice in a "cavalier - not giving a monkeys" way but in this case it didn't impress me.

But I've found a race more inclined to break the rules and be hanged with the consequences - the Hungarians.

At Bud airport on the way back we were queueing to check-in and there were 3 queues. Just next to us a woman sidled into the queue in front of me - now I don't mind the odd one so I let it pass. As we neared the front some of her friends came to join her and she even had one of them hunting around trying to find more people to join her. So at the front whe about 8 people tried to get in I went ballistic and 'twas a sight to behold. I effed and blinded and insulted their race, country and level of intelligence. "But we're in a group"; yes and you're all over 20 so can be trusted to stand seperately instead of having to hold each other's hands! Thankfully the long line of people behind me also had a go. The poor buggers will have a torrid time in the UK if that's how they treat queues. The check-in lady was completely unfazed and waved them through happily though. Cow. I very nearly had a go at her too but I wanted to get on the plane without further hindrance. I realised just how British I am too, I was absolutely livid and my body, already tired, was shaking with anger, literally shaking. Sigh.

Have fun.

Recent entertainment

noreply@blogspirit.com (Alby) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:10:00 +0100

I haven't been to the cinema for ages. The last film I saw was Team America which was nice enough but hardly classic cinema. I've missed both Hitchhikers and the last Star Wars as well which is frankly poor for a closet sci-fi nerd like me.

So what have I been doing?

Well Animal Crossing has been played a bit. I've read a couple of books too.

I finished "Watching the English" in Bulgaria which was worth a read although it was one of those books that sort of ran out of steam after the first few chapters. It was all about a study of English behaviour as seen by an anthropologist. The best bit was her descriptions of trying to break British social taboos and test stereotypes. Most notably this included her agonising about having to do some queue-jumping just to see how the Brits would respond and another incident where she had to "accidentally" bump into people to see if THEY would say sorry. Incidentally the latter threw up the marvellous factoid that the Japanese seem to the best at avoiding this kind of accidental contact. Interesting but a little tedious and definitely too repetitious towards the end.

My mother bought me a book called "Do Not Pass Go" which was a brief history of Monopoly followed by a tour of the streets and services on the standard British game board. There was some fascinating stuff there but the author's not a patch on Bill Bryson or even Dave Gorman. Interesting but not the best written. The most noticeable criticism is that I am trying to remember details but they didn't stick as well as some for the first book did; perhaps a reflection on the amount I was hooked or not.

TV: I really enjoyed the first 2 episodes of "House". It's been described as a medical version of CSI (K's addicted but I've never taken the time to watch) and stars Hugh Laurie (bizarrely) as an American doctor. I really do wonder how many Americans know that this guy used to be the comedy partner of Stephen Fry. It's rather like wondering whether kids today know Ringo Starr as anything other than the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, or even people I know had no idea that Robbie Coltrane used to be a comedy performer with Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson and not just that guy in Cracker.
Anyway the show is pretty good and the performances are spot on although the characters are a little one dimensional (I'm told this gets better as the series develops).

If you've any recommendations please recommend.

Have fun.