In Sapa, Vietnam

In Sapa, Vietnam

About Me

My photo
Sharing time between Southampton and Noyal-Muzillac in southern Brittany. Sports coach, gardener, hockey player, cyclist and traveller. I studied an MA in Management and Organisational Dynamics at Essex University in 2016-17. Formerly an Operations Manager with NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd.

Sunday 28 February 2016

In a New York State of Mind







I'm not really one for in-flight films, the poor sound quality, small screen and uncomfortable environment don't add to the enjoyment for me. I do like to read the paper, preferably it's a weekend flight as the volume of readable print is much bigger. The Saturday Daily Telegraph used to be good for about 6 hours on the flight to Tokyo (now with it's advertising pull-outs and shrinking news content I doubt it would get past a trip to Athens .....).

So newspapers and music work best for me.

On a recent trip to New York - on a Sunday - I thought it would be a good idea to put together a New York playlist of songs and so as the BA 747-400 rolled down the runway on takeoff I had the opening jazz chords of Billy Joel's New York State of Mind for company.



Other songs on the playlist included:

An Englishman in New York - Sting
First we take Manhattan - Leonard Cohen
Bleeker Street - Simon and Garfunkel
New York, New York - Gerard Kenney
Fairytale of New York - Pogues/ Kirsty McColl
Downtown - Petula Clark
Ellis Island - Mary Black
Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones
Leaving New York -REM


Now, here's the strange thing. During the week I repeatedly found myself somewhere in a song title or lyric from my youth. Plenty of Simon and Garfunkel of course (they came from Queens - just over the Brooklyn River) but other stuff as well. In no particular order:

Bleecker Street (Passing through Bleecker Street on the subway)
59th Street Bridge Song (walking along 59th Street at the bottom of Central Park)
At the Zoo (taking the subway to the Zoo in Central Park)
The Boxer (walking up 7th Avenue - listen to the Lyrics)

Image result for simon and garfunkel


It was also a pleasure to mentally re-acquaint myself with the music of Steve Forbert whilst standing in the amazing architectural space of Grand Central Station: Steve Forbert - "Grand Central Station, March 18, 1977


Image result for steve forbert grand central station


I could go on and on; during the week songs from Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Bernstein, The Ramones, Suzanne Vega, Lou Reid, George Gershwin all crossed my path.

Remarkable how one city has inspired so much creative energy.

Saturday 6 February 2016

Linguistic Labours

I'm not sure that some of the guys at the hockey club would agree but my French language has improved in the six years we've been here. I'm past the "what did they say in French; what's that in English; what do I want to say in reply; what's that in French; how do I say that without using the word in French I can't remember?"

One thing that wasn't taught on my language course was how to argue in French. I'm not proficient yet but sometimes I get a good run-up at a row.

After the voltage surge damage we had a company out to assess if the expensive items were repairable. Things didn't look good when it took the repairman 20 minutes to work out how to get into the fridge electronics. He then disappeared with a scrap of paper with part and serial numbers written down. And then nothing .....

So I called his boss who told me he couldn't get the part because the fridge had been bought in the UK: 

"Have you tried Electrolux France, they have the same product with a different part number?"
"I don't get my parts from Electrolux"
"Perhaps that's why you can't find the part then. Britain is in Europe you know, it's not Australia"

I did of course find the part from Electrolux and fitted it myself, the fridge works fine now.

And, of course, Britain is still in Europe as I write this ......

Wednesday 3 February 2016

In between the rain .....

January has been pretty horrible here, dark cloudy skies and several rain days have battered the garden. Blessed with our really free draining soil means that we can get onto the soil pretty quickly after the rain stops.

And in between the rain the daffodils have burst into flower: