what the frick is ...........

..... black friday ??? who writes this crap....


we had super tuesday......super saturday......the first 100 days in office.....

and now they peddle black friday ..... its not black friday !

It's Friday 23rd November 2012.

so to all those writers in the press and on line and the traders who talk about black Friday.......well guess what, its not 

BLACK !

Cue DB's SoD............. take it away Davey

Word of today is.......

...... ephemeral......

for which I offer my thanks to Mr David Byrne......

a fitting word for blogging me thinks..... 

so in honour of DB here is the SoD to go with it....... 

[this song could never be called ephemeral]

And when you see and listen to that song 

which is almost 32 years old 

you soon begin to realise the talent that is 

Mr David Byrne

Like a fine wine he gets better with age. Seeing him live 3 years ago was something else. 

When he was this good 32 years ago, then you realise the genius of the man now. 

Still doubt me ?......well this bonus SoD track is proof were it ever needed 

that this man is a higher being than most........ 

It will of course mean that for the next 5mins and 18 secs 

you should do nothing but look and listen. 

Extend the play to full screen and crank up the volume, 

and for sure you will not have wasted 5mins 18secs of your life, 

but before the song ends I guarantee 

you will be nodding your head and taping your toes.

So waddya waiting for, hit the play button & take it away Davey Boy

........and let's get noddin and a tappin.......

Fighting with wolves.....

.......I had planned today to do a short post about seeing Ben Howard live* at the Cambridge Corn Exchange and the SoD would of course been the highlight of the night........ The wolves from his debut album ....Every Kingdom..... [every candle lit dinner should be enveloped by the sound of this album playing in the back ground]....... but as it is/was, last night I sat there watching the 10 o'clock news supping me horlicks** whilst finally winding down the end of another day.....and so it was the news announcer said.....and we now go over to Gaza but I must warn you some of these images might be distressing.......

So before you lower your head down the page, I must warn you she was right, the next image is for sure distressing......

How in gods name [or allah you choose] did we end up here ?

I am not naive, I am not a fool, atrocities occur during conflict and wars I know that, but in this picture it is said that man shown dead was an Israeli spy in Gaza [1 of 6 so called spies treated in this way],  and those who are alive in this picture were extracting revenge on the man who was once alive but is now dead. I make no judgement on the individual persons shown either alive or dead, I cannot say whether the dead man was an Israeli spy or not, but as I saw this image last night I was minded of something else I saw on TV a week or two back......

It was about conservationists trying to save from extinction what essentially is nothing more than a mouse......

This link gives you a feel for it.....

Time to save the mouse lemur

There are people out there, as I type putting in their heart and soul in to saving this creature from extinction..........and I make no judgement on these people either......

But last night as I sat proudly in my ivory tower, the juxtaposition of these two images, given to me via the magic of TV, made me wonder...........

Just how the hell did man evolve to such, that on one side of Africa he is doing his damnedest to save a mouse and yet at the same time further north up the coast he is dragging a human corpse behind a bluddy motorcycle whilst he offers up his salute ?

I shake my head in utter disbelief......

So for my SoD, I turn once more to the mind offerings of the great Paul Buchanan.... take it away Paul......... whilst I lie down in a darkened room......

*[ on a slightly lighter note returning to Ben, should you ever find yourself at a Ben Howard concert  in a student place like Cambridge and are the age that I am, you do at times ask yourself....am I at a Ben Howard concert or a Jack Wills annual convention !]

**[I actually dislike horlicks {I nearly wrote hate....but today there is too much hate in the world} so it was in fact hot chocolate I drank but I wrote horlicks for poetic licence.....god {allah} knows why......and on reflection the more you say the word horlicks in your head...if you keep repeating the word....it sounds more and more like something you have to pay for .......thats a man thought by the way]

...and for those of you....

.... still looking for the lemon counter in tescos, here is a bonus SoD* offering for today

Listen & Love

*[I know its a repeat offering, but it is just so beautiful it deserves to be listened to more than once]

Have you tried sucking a lemon ?.....

I didn't really want to write a blog........ about me or my ordinary life......... because quite frankly there are enough blogs written by people and their lives already and anyway who wants to read about my life, when its hard enough living your own life as it is....but I will say this to anyone who is interested in reading..... no matter how dark your days get...... there are sunny days to come..... they are there but be patient...........

Its been a funny week, full of sad memories about my dad, and then the memories of cancer and what it does. During the early days of my wife being told she is/was ill, naturally I sought out what I could. I read about blogs by people who are fighting Cancer, I read blogs by people who are living with Cancer sufferers,  I read blogs by people who refuse to give in to Cancer..... [thats how I found Ryan] .....

There was one blog my wife pointed me to...... I was overseas on business and she sent me a link........she'd headed it up .....only a bloke could write this !!

Well I read it....written by a bloke in his forties, living in Suffolk, with two daughters and then it was that his standard template life was interrupted by a diagnosis of cancer for his wife... So he chose to write about his journey with his wife into the unknown..... at first it was interesting.... but then it suddenly hit me..... this could be me writing this...THIS IS MY LIFE.....I didn't read any more.

Living it for reality was/is enough for me I didn't need the vicarious pain of others, to know what my new life in the cancer husband club is like.

I have read other blogs of soldiers from all walks of life fighting the war on cancer, but oh so many times how painful it is to read their words written of confidence, only then to read on and find that they lost their battle....... it is surprising how many times people write with such stoicism in their battle, only then to loose their fight within weeks of writing such words..... So I've stopped reading about people writing about how they are beating it, because quite frankly its too painful. Even seeing Ryan Woods loose his battle [even though he knew he would] is hard to read about it, because everyday I know that my wife faces that same fight*.

But today is different, because she is winning that fight, she is a fighter.

So how do we go from sucking a lemon to sunny days ?

It was probably the darkest moment in my life and I never want to go there again, but I shall be haunted by that moment and the image of how tough an opponent cancer is. My wife was gravely ill in hospital and I sat there useless, an incompetent husband, but I was there and as yet another doctor came along and pronounced my wife was gravely ill, I pointed out to the latest doctor to see her, that I didn't have a medical degree and yet I could see she was gravely ill.......

have you tried sucking lemons ?....... he asked 

......5 years at medical school, at least another 5 years getting proper doctors certification and his treatment advice was to suck a lemon......now of course it is only after the event that I think maybe he was suggesting it for me and not my wife !!

But at that moment I would have done anything, so there I was at midnight, driving around Chelmsford looking for a Tesco to buy lemons/oranges/limes.......

My wife had not eaten a thing for a week, having spent most of that week on an operating table....but armed with my lemons and other well known fruits I returned, and so it was she sucked on a lemon.

That was the turning point and from thereon she started her recovery........ and so some 7 months later, and we had the family all round the dinning table, enjoying a traditional sunday roast, wine flowing, me sporting a black eye from whacking my self in the face with a plank loaded with nails, our daughters laughing and joking, my new handy man** laughing with us, and to think all of this joy down to one thing.......sucking a lemon........

Normality was restored.

So if things get tough, if your world gets dark, try sucking a lemon...... it may not be a cure for cancer, but it will make you laugh 7 months later, when you are sat around the dinning table...... if nothing else, me with a black eye and how I got it, probably helped the laughter flow as well.......but whacking ya sen in the face with a plank is not recommended !

So my SoD is this one

 simply because it's such a fun jingly jangly 
monday morning song on a sunny day

* [ Another thing about cancer is people often ask.... so have you/they been given the all clear ?.....you often hear people say they are in remission........but the reality is you can never say you have beaten cancer until you die of something else...........what a cruel irony.............you never truely get to tell people........ I beat cancer !...... thats how tough an opponent cancer really is....cancer gets the last laugh !

**[my new handyman is actually eldest daughters boyfriend.....he now dreads the words...hey Matt are you coming round to ours next weekend.......] 

The perfect note......

.... this is my song of the day*...... 

Ryan this one is for you 

God bless ya fella

*[All musical credits go to Sunny Promyotin who wrote this wonderful tune]

where did that......

....year go ?

There I was November 2011 going about my life and then suddenly things changed. The comfort of living with both my parents still alive changed with one phone call, that fateful call to say the big man had gone, he was at peace. Broke me bloody heart it did, still does....but it was not the only thing that got broke....

I came home from Australia after 3 weeks of sadness and what did I do ?.....gue on guess, .....you'll never guess...... gue on guess....

See, I knew you'd never guess, I broke my wrist falling down the stairs carrying a bed*. This was the first time I'd broke a bone properly as I don't count breaking the end of my finger bone when I nearly chopped my finger off, as counting as a proper bone break.

*[I realise that beds are meant to stay in bedrooms and not be on the stairs otherwise when you got in to bed to go to sleep, all the sheets would fall down to the bottom of the bed each time { and of course the clue is in the name of bedroom as opposed to bedstairs} but I thought moving a bed from upstairs, down the stairs would be easy...how wrong was I....... last time I had an accident on the stairs, I ended up in A&E with a Dyson embedded in my skull.....note to self -stay away from stairs]

So there I was hoping that the end of one year and the start of a new one was just a blip in things happening......

But how I look back at that/this year that has nearly gone and yet so much more did happen.

We had a house with a swimming pool and yet it got knocked down.........we had money in the bank, that was until our builder decided to help himself to almost all of it, when he was only supposed to have half of it.

And then came the big one.........

My wife got cancer, ....... now I can tell you, I didn't see that one coming.... to be fair nor did she... but I will tell you this, once you get your membership card to the Cancer Husband Club don't ever worry about forgetting to renew your membership, because you don't have to ....... it's a life time membership.

Cancer is shit..... wanna know why......well I will tell you....... its shit for the cancer patient and it's shit for all those around..... the spouse, the kids, the parents, the work colleagues  the friends who you bump into in the street, who don't want to share your shit, but they are your friends thats why we call them friends and they listen patiently and intently as you off load on them and your eyes are welling up and still they listen intently and offer words of support, and thats why we have friends.....but should they have to share it ?

And then theres your wife..... the treatment is worse than the illness.... trust me it is....cancer must be one of the few illness that you go into hospital feeling fit and healthy and yet come out of hospital feeling shit.

Of course it's not the NHS fault, they think they are saving your life....its no ones fault really........ but how do you tell your wife she looks great, and some 6 months after seeing her so frail in hospital, she does look great . She looks well, healthy and alive.....and yet your words sound so facile.

All she sees are the scars that she will always carry, scars that say look..... you're a member of the cancer club. You know how on a passport application form it says any distinguishing marks ?..... well with cancer me thinks you're gunna need a bigger form !!

But as bad as it was/is, it wasn't all bad [although I would add cancer is not worth experiencing just to have the good things] but in all that pain and angst, humans are incredibly resilient**

........and so knee deep in this shit, [did I mention that cancer is shit ?....shit, shit, shit, shitty shit....it's shit I tell ya, shit it is.......] anyway as I was saying, our eldest daughter had her dissertation to complete, and complete it she did, but not just complete it, she came out with a 1st class Honors degree, and she is now completing her MA, having been awarded a scholarship to do so.

As for our youngest, well whilst knee deep in this shit with her mum, [see I told you it was shit],  she had her A level exams to complete, and complete them she did, but not just complete them, she passed them and is now at University studying for a degree in Bio-medical science [which of all things covers cancer research ~ ironic really].

So there they were, these two young ladies, watching the pain and suffering of their mum, my beautiful daughters, at an age when they should not have been at risk of loosing their mum. They should have been out shopping, dining, and having fun with their mum, but instead were stood by a hospital bed wondering whether this would be another sad ending.

But it wasn't, it isn't........

......... and this weekend we are all back at home together to see Ben Howard in concert in Cambridge.....

so my song of today must surely be this song....

I love this song.....

**[ to see just how humans are resilient in the face of cancer, then check out Ryan at his blog here....

Ryan shows a face of humanity we rarely see in our everyday life 

.......but Ryan got a one way ticket with his membership card..... of course in any life we all have a one way ticket, but Ryan shouldn't really be getting off this early should he ? .......... I hope Ryan is one of my 5 people I meet in heaven]

and this is the reason why.....

Ryan Woods died on 7th November 2012

God bless ya Ryan

On this day.....

...... Last year, my dad died.


And here I am one year later and the pain of losing him feels no less. He lived one side of the world and I live the other, but that distance never changed the bond I felt with him. ....Ya awrite lad.....he'd say....

My dad was not an ambitious man driven by greed but he was a good honest man. He was a gentleman.

He did not force his opinions on you or try and force you to see things his way

That’s because he didn’t need to, he was a man who had his own way of charming you. Everyone who came into contact with him liked him

As a dad he never tried to interfere or rule our lives from growing up through to us being adults. But he was always there for you, he knew how to say the right thing at the right time. He taught us all how to believe in the good in ourselves.

Sometimes just sitting with him, not saying a word between you was as rewarding as any spoken word could be.

But the funny thing is, I love music, it plays an important part of my thinking, but for the 49 years that I knew my dad, I cannot tell you what was his favourite song. So I can't even post his favourite even if I wanted to.

But I will post this one. Every time I hear this tune, I think of my dad.

Where ever you are dad, I will always love you x

it must be the dyslexic in me.....

.....but I suddenly find my self praying to dog ! 

*[courtesy of the Dr phil hammond web page]

So it was going to give me a great excuse to trot out another PB for my SoD 

but alas for some reason there is not a single web vid out there......

Anyway the track can be heard here:

god is laughing

when you see the pyramids across the nile.....

...... and so it seems the world continues to tilt on it's axis......

Lance Armstrong a drugs cheat.... thfra who'd had thought it....

Jimmy Savile a paedophile....thfra who'd had thought it.......

Rio Ferdinand refusing to wear a tee-shirt against racism ....thfra who'd had thought it.....

Yorkshire policemen saying they were coached about to what to put in their statements for the miners strikes 30 years ago.....thfra who'd have thought it

And now the youth of Egypt openly criticising the current ruling regime....thfra who'd have thought it.....


So thank the lord for the return of james bond.... go get em craig..... and of course not forgetting music.... when the world is turning on it's axis.... there is music....


There you are driving in your car, propelled by it's internal combustion engine [which has been more or less in the same format for around more than 100 years] listening to the analog radio [which has been more or less in the same format for around more than 100 years] and on comes a song.... and you get that familiar......what is this song, I must listen again syndrome.... and then Sarah Cox announces it's Jake Bugg ~ Two fingers..... and so when you get home you google Jake Bugg and lordy lordy lordy the old world order is restored and sanity is restored.....

17 years old and he belts out these tunes and you are hooked....you youtube him...... you wikkipedia him........and the ultimate step you don't illegally rip his music [even though it is easy to do, the unlawful nature of such, being a legal technicality], oh no.....instead you order his album with real money, and you know this guy is destined for great things.... don't believe me ?

Listen to this one track [which is not on his debut album]

and if you listened and liked, then check out his web site and check all the informed commentary on this guy....

Jake Bugg....the new Jake Bugg

we sit sometimes bereft.....

we live in a world of such hurt and anguish and yet seemingly powerless to change......

Missing 5year Old April Jones

but is face book really the answer though ?

http://www.facebook.com/HelpFindMissing5yearOldAprilJones

Sure, I realise they mean well, and it is with the best intentions that the authors post their mind ramblings..... but will it change the outcome ?..... will it truely ?

So we see these evils things and yet before our eyes we are also crossed with the beauty of nature....

Man claims it's own omnipotence, believing we change things, like for example......the climate [for the good, so man claims] and yet we cannot change the behaviour of those who pass amongst us in our daily life....where as nature offers such greater things..... how can man claim to be the conquerer of all things wonderful ?...we can't even conquerer those evil creatures in our midst........

So my photo of the day is attributed to the National Geographic....

which tree are you ?

Accompanied by my SoD

Its friday and ..........

..... nothing to say....... but it seems we live in a mixed up world it seems.....

...one minute we read about police women effectively lured to their deaths, and then we turn on the tv and there are prime time adverts for shoot em up , fire em up, kill em up so called entertainment games.......

We then turn to the written news to see journalists writing about the death of a thug ........ with the headline grabbing title

Gangland's torturer in chief: The Kray twins have the more enduring legend. But for sheer brutality, their bitter enemy Charlie Richardson, who died this week had no equal

Had no equal ! had no equal !....jesus christ he was a evil barsteward, of course he had no equal, although to be fair (there are plenty of evil people who do still exist and there seems to be plenty of them so I suspect that not only are there one or two equals but there are some who are even worse) but when the lazy Journo writes his article to glorify it in this way, you do wonder ! and no Mr Pendlebury you do not get off the hook by quoting the judge for the opening line of your article. That's a cheap trick to make out that it reflects your views and then gives you carte blanche to write longingly about how in the 60's our hoodlums were honest hoodlums...... honestly !

And then as we pack off our (soon to be adult) children to university we have the deputy PM apologising for making promises he could not keep......oh well there's a major surprise..... piece of advice Mr Clugg....get it right first time and then you don't have to look a t1t by apologising

So with seemingly nothing to say on a friday, my SoD for today is....... erm..... err..... erm.... oh my gosh this one..... this is a friday with nothing to say song.....

I love this one....he's my elvis..... come on....clap like they do in pakistan....

Its funny how an email of......

....dubious origins, sets you clicking on the net, and you end up somewhere where you didn't quite expect.....

Well I ended up here..... with Lisa Hannigan...... and it seems like as good a place as any to park a Monday Mornings SoD.... and because she is a fab Monday morning stopping off place...there are a couple of bonus tracks.....

and last not least but very good nevertheless we have this.....

The gospel according to ......

....... the Reverend Glen Hansard ......

Union Chapel - Highbury - 4th Sept 2012

The trouble with live footage on Youtube is the filming is wonky and the sound is pants. This offering doesn't even remotely offer up evidence of just how good his preachings were/are. [So why do people bother I ask myself....]

so I will revert to better sermons from Rev Hansard which better reflect his offerings last night:

Chapter 1 verse 1:

Chapter 1 verse 2:

[I know this is a repeat posting but last night it was just fab]

chapter 2 verse 1:

and to close his address I choose:

God bless you my son

I wanna tell ya a story...

..and so it is another drops off the screen.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19451389


You can have all the cutting edge comedy, the lets shock and shame humour [and sure sometimes it can be funny], but there are some people who were cut out to be entertainers..... Got me thinking with this guy. He was always around on the telly as I was growing up, and those formative years have an impact on you in later life...... but as it is this guy had been around 40 years before I was born...... so it shows just how there are those who have it no matter how old they are......


I suppose for song of the day I should choose a Max song...... but I am gunna cheat and fall back on the great PB instead.....sorry Max, but I think you'll like this one nevertheless.