And the ringtone for December 2009 is...

..."Life Begins At The Hop" from the CD version of the album DRUMS AND WIRES by XTC. Mighty stuff!

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 011209

1. (-) - The Sweetest Feeling (XFM Session) - Jah Wobble
2. (-) - Fix You - Coldplay
3. (-) - Talk - Coldplay
4. (-) - Speed Of Sound - Coldplay
5. (-) - The Hardest Part - Coldplay
6. (-) - I've Waited Ages - Colin Newman
7. (-) - and Jury - Colin Newman
8. (-) - Alone - Colin Newman
9. (3) - Southern Point - Grizzly Bear
10. (4) - Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear

Regards,


djp

Insensitive?

On UK daytime TV at the moment, a fundraising campaign is being run in aid of cancer research...

...and each advertisement is closely followed by an ad for the Co-operative Society funeral service.

Does anyone check these things out before broadcast, or are we starting to see the development of a "crade-to-grave" one-stop shop for all the services one is likely to need during the course of one's life?

Regards,


djp

Seemed like a good ikea at the time (parts five and six)

More self-assembly doings. Task almost completed...

Regards,


djp

C-nuts

After spending what seems like a year trying to get Eircom to provide me with a phone service for my new house, I now discover, in the week that I was finally connected, that I can never get broadband on the line. I have now had to organise a wireless broadband connection for myself, which was something I never particularly wanted to do (stories about the dubious quality of wireless internet services in Ireland abound).

Add to that the fact that in order to get the phone service, Eircom had to arrange for a manhole to be made in the footpath outside the new house and because of recent flooding on the main road, the tarmac around the new manhole seems to have collapsed. I have no doubt that some compo-maniac is going to turn an ankle near the manhole and make a claim against me.

Grrr...


djp

Just wondering...

...how many of the people now calling for the match between Ireland and France to be replayed were vehemently against the holding of the second Lisbon referendum...?:-)

Regards,


djp

Ikea, therefore Iamea (part four)

More fun and games today, even with reading the manual. The problem is that one has to interpret the manual as well. Still, could've been a lot worse. There's always tomorrow night...;-).

Regards,


djp

The continuing story of Bungalow Bill (part three)

More Ikea madness today...


Almost trouble-free, apart from one teeny-tiny but significant rookie error...

Next time, I'll RTFM, thereby avoiding ROTFCMFEO.

Regards,


djp

Since everyone else seems to be doing it (parts one and two)...

...I thought I might as well join in with the Ikea self-assembly lark.

Simple assembly me hole? So far so good...

Regards,


djp

Rooftop airstrip

Regards,


djp

It was 29 years ago today...

Started working on this date in 1980. I suppose I should feel proud and happy to have been gainfully employed on a continuous (continual?) basis since then.

The world has changed so much in that period of time that it's frightening to contemplate. Technology, geopolitics, national and international mindsets. On balance, I think things are somewhat better than they were back then. The music's awful though, isn't it?

Thus speaks an aging geezer...:-)

Regards,


djp

I know there's a recession on...

...but things can't be this bad really, can they...?

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for November 2009 is...

..."All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late") from XTC's best album, ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.

Yowza!

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 011109

1. (-) - Fauré/Requiem, Op. 48: IV. Pie Jesu - Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields/John Birch/Neville Mariner/Sylvia McNair
2. (-) - Downside Of Love - Adrienne Pierce
3. (-) - Southern Point - Grizzly Bear
4. (-) - Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear
5. (-) - All We Ask - Grizzly Bear
6. (-) - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother - The Hollies
7. (-) - One Decree - The Skids
8. (-) - Hunting High And Low - A-ha
9. (-) - Oh My Gosh (feat. Mr. Vegas and Verb) - Aaron LaCrate
10. (-) - Tears Are Not Enough - ABC

Regards,


djp

Sciatica

Hurts like billy-oh. Not a happy camper...:-(

Regards,


djp

New Terracotta Army

Too good to be true

Got the iPod back today, but the repair wasn't carried out under warranty, so I had to pay the 89 yoyos after all.

Don't mind, really, but I had my hopes up for a while there, only to have them cruelly dashed...

...as always...

Regards,


djp

Finally some good news

Apparently my iPod is going to be repaired under warranty. Wasn't expecting that.

Oh well, go me...;-)

Regards,


djp

Long story short

My 120Gb iPod, which I bought new just slightly over a year ago, has decided that now is the time to expire. Right after the warranty has expired...

I spent most of the weekend trying to sort out its various woes. I won't go into details here, as they are far too painful and tiresome to recall right now.

I'm now iPodding on Younger Daughter's old Shuffle. How the mighty have fallen etc. etc...

Suffice it to say that the next iPod Top Ten will have absolutely no resemblance to the last one I posted.

Annoyed and tired...

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for October 2009 is...

..."Rhythm of Cruelty" from the album WHERE THE POWER IS by Magazine. Magnificent track.

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 011009

1. (4) - You Say You Don't Love Me - The Buzzcocks
2. (8) - Tiffany Queen - The Byrds
3. (5) - It Won't Be Wrong - The Byrds
4. (6) - Eight Miles High - The Byrds
5. (7) - My Back Pages - The Byrds
6. (-) - I Can't Make It Alone - Dusty Springfield
7. (-) - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield
8. (9) - Son Of A Gun - The La's
9. (10) - Mad World - Sacre
10. (-) - Red Hill Mining Town - U2

Regards,


djp

An unhelpful case of synchronicity?

I was reading an online article today relating to guidelines issued in the UK on assisted suicide when on the radio I heard the Beatles' song "Daytripper"...

...if I have to explain this to you, then there really isn't much point...

Regards,


djp

Bloody Apple...

Between problems associated with downloading iTunes 9 and the joys of learning how to deauthorise computers when you've reached the 5-computer limit, I've wasted a lot of time over the last few days, no thnaks very much...:-(

Regards,


djp

...another winner...

Went to the greyhounds in Thurles this evening. Had five winners and two seconds. At €2 e/w per bet, I won about €78. OK, I staked €40 in toto, but this was the first time I ever went to the dogs or the gee-gees and came out with a profit. OK, there was the petrol and a few rounds of drinks for Mrs. P and Younger Daughter, but still...

...I sense an order with Mr. Thomann for an EZ Drummer...

Regards,


djp

The Irish summer...

...a fine week in June and a fine week in September. And in between? Bah...:-(.

Regards,


djp

For an (almost guaranteed) good night's sleep...

...I recommend a mug of hot chocolate before retiring for the night. Works for me (almost) every time!

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for September 2009 is...

..."Kojak Dub" from Jah Wobble's fine album MU. You ought to check it out, you know...

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010909

1. (7) - Model Worker - Magazine
2. (3) - No Way Of Knowing - A. Tent
3. (4) - Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
4. (-) - You Say You Don't Love Me - The Buzzcocks
5. (-) - It Won't Be Wrong - The Byrds
6. (5) - Eight Miles High - The Byrds
7. (-) - My Back Pages - The Byrds
8. (6) - Tiffany Queen - The Byrds
9. (-) - Son Of A Guns - The La's
10. (8) - Mad World - Sacre

Regards,


djp

And speaking of the Navy Lark...

...here and here.

Regards,


djp

The Clitheroe Kid

Although I grew up in North Kerry (a part of Ireland that some people have described as being "black IRA"), my family would occasionally listen to BBC Radio on an old Philips transistor. Usually on a Sunday morning and lunchtime. So at an early age I was exposed to such delights as Family Favourites (and wondering what the hell a "BFPO" was), The Navy Lark and The Clitheroe Kid.

I'd forgotten all about Jimmy Clitheroe until I came across a few websites the other day dealing with TV and radio shows that had been erased in order to recycle the video and audio tapes. To be honest, I knew the name Jimmy Clitheroe, but I knew nothing about the man, until I did a bit of digging around here and here...

...as he might have said himself, "Oo, flippin' 'eck!"

Regards,


djp

Double take...

Review of Bell X1's album Flock - Q Magazine April 2006 - pg. 112:-

"Sometimes experimentation blows up in your face. But that wisdom has often fallen on deaf ears in the world of indie rock where craziness is seen as a badge of authenticity. Bell X1 clearly believe in the "edgier is better" mantra, with their spiky Fall-tinged rhythms, Jack White guitar and atonal Echo & The Bunnymen vocals, but this third album is a mish-mash of styles where the good lyrical ideas are buried under layers of art-rock cleverness. A classic case of innovation at the expense of tunes."

Ad for Bell X1's album Flock - Q Magazine April 2006 - pg. 117:-

"...a gorgeous album...majestic and elegant, from four men at the top of their game..." - Q Magazine

Now what we have here is a failure to communicate, don't you think...?:-)

Regards,


djp

Billy Ray Cyrus

So my ISP tells me that my e-mail account has been sending a load of spam this week and they reckon that my computer had been compromised and now contains a trojaned proxy server.

Makes you wonder how Norton 360 didn't pick that up then...:-(

Apologies to anyone who might have got spam from "me". I can honestly say I didn't mean it - this time...

Regards,


djp

Thank God for...

...Joseph O'Connor, who was featured in a segment of today's edition of RTÉ Radio 1's "Sunday Miscellany". Joseph's segment dealt with his love of the music of Scott Walker and ended with a performance of Scott's song "Boy Child", which features on his wonderful album, "Scott 4".

Marvelous stuff, and just the thing to start a Sunday morning.

Regards,


djp

Cat on a lean-to roof

Panther getting above his station as usual...

Regards,


djp

Day trip to Kilkenny City

Look at the pictures the nice man took with his camera phone...

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for August 2009 is...

..."Jason & The Argonauts" from XTC's 1982 album, ENGLISH SETTLEMENT. Rickenbacker 12-string heaven...

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010809

1. (-) - Everything Up (Zizou) (Mock 'n' Toof Remix) - Zero 7
2. (-) - Transatlantic - Quantic
3. (1) - No Way Of Knowing - A. Tent
4. (2) - Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
5. (3) - Eight Miles High - The Byrds
6. (-) - Tiffany Queen - The Byrds
7. (-) - Model Worker - Magazine
   
8. (-) - Mad World - Sacre
9. (-) - Lady With The Spinning Head (Extended Dance Mix) - U2
10. (-) - No Order - 2020Soundsystem

Regards,


djp

A load of bullocks...

Regards,


djp

The triumph of optimism over experience...

Say hello to our new arrival, Scampi... Mad as a sackful of badgers and cute as all get out. Pather and Poppy don't like her (what's new there?)

Hopefully she'll stay with us a pit longer than Korky did...

Regards,


djp

2009 - a mid-year review

Now that we've reached July, let's just see how things are going, shall we?:-

1. To get to see Arsenal play at least once this year - as predicted at the start of the year, this is not looking good
   
2. To visit a country I've never been to before - neither is this one
   
3. To start cycling again as soon as the weather improves - I've done a fair bit of cycling so far this year, but not nearly enough. Life tends to interfere with plans.
4. To generally get the oul' bod a bit more together - hmmm, well I'm walking as much as I can, but it's not enough really. I've had some interesting experiments with sobriety, though...:-)
   
5. To move house - hopefully next month!
   
6. To either change my car or keep it for longer - keeping it for another two years, hopefully
   
7. To have a better year at work than I had last year - pretty much the same as last year, unfortunately
   
8. To see friends more - done and done. More to do
   
9. Not to volunteer to do anything for anyone under any circumstance - well, I have volunteered for one or two things. One worked out fine and one should be pretty easy to accomplish. But I think I'll stop right there
   
10. To stop wrecking me own head - yeah right

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for July 2009 is...

..."Decent Days And Nights" from the Futureheads' debut album.

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010709

1. (-) - No Way Of Knowing - A.Tent
2. (-) - Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
3. (-) - Eight Miles High - The Byrds
4. (-) - There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve - A.C. Newman
5. (-) - Rock The Boat - Aaliyah
6. (-) - So You Want To Be A Rock'n'Roll Star? - The Byrds
7. (-) - My Back Pages - The Byrds
8. (-) - You Ain't Going Nowhere - The Byrds
9. (-) - Brahms/Waltz No. 15 - Dame Moura Lympany
10. (-) - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield

Regards,


djp

Beware falling bicycles

Regards,


djp

Anger and sadness...

Listen to this...

Regards,


djp

Additional critter cadaver update

Pressed hedgehog just around the corner from Richmond Cross.

If I'd gone any closer to get a better shot, I'd've risked being pavement pizza too.

Not one of Panther's victims, unless he's secretly being taking driving lessons. Mind you, he's such a clever cat, he might just have done that...:-)

Regards,


djp

Critter cadaver update

Panther's latest from a few days ago...

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for June 2009 is...

..."Senses Working Overtime" from XTC's best (but not necessarily my favourite) album, ENGLISH SETTLEMENT.

Regards,


djp

Hot day in Birr

Mrs. P and I went up to Birr Castle Desmesne today. First time we'd been there in years and a hot day (by Irish standards) it was too...

I could wax lyrical about the beauty of the place, but maybe I'll just let these pictures do the waxing (oo, er...).

As it happens, Birr is usually one of the coldest places in Ireland in Wintertime...:-)

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010609

1. (2) - '39 - Queen
2. (-) - Think - The 5 Royales
3. (5) - All My Friends Are Crazy - 500 Miles From Memphis
   
4. (4) - Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
5. (-) - Man Become Me - 31Knots
6. (-) - Sedition's Wish - 31Knots
7. (-) - Every Day - 60 Watt Kid
8. (6) - Filling In For Clowns - 7evenwords
9. (-) - Across The Fields - 10,000 Maniacs
10. (-) - Baby Cakes - 3 Of A Kind

Regards,


djp

Truly a worthy candidate for the title "Worst Album Of All Time"...

..."Children Of God" by Swans.

Hard to describe - not exactly metal, not exactly industrial, but quite possibly the worst possible combination of those two musical genres. And the singing - there have been great non-singers in popular music - Joe Strummer, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Marc Almond, John Lydon and Morrissey spring instantly to mind. None of them were technically brilliant vocalists, but they all brought something worthwhile to the table. Not so Michael Gira. Lyrics seem to be terribly clichéd.

An album to avoid, but if you take perverse pleasure in avoiding my advice (as do 99.999% of the world's population), then you can find more information on Swans here...

...although I really wouldn't bother.

Regards,


djp

I tried, I really tried...

...but I just can't climb ladders anymore. The ladder is too shaky, the ground is too uneven, the wind is too high and I am not the young turk I used to be.

Guess I'm going to have to hit the classifieds and find some guy to clean my gutters for me...

Regards,


djp

Vector mildew

Just come back from matching Munster beat Ospreys in their last match of the Magners League. Match report here.

Before the match, the Munster Supporters Choir treated us to a few wonderful numbers, including, in honour of Ospreys, "Bread of Heaven". And while they were singing it and giving it socks, I couldn't help but think of this...:-)

Regards,


djp

Critter cadaver update

Looks like a female blackbird to me.

I always feel a little sad when Panther kills birds, especially blackbirds because they have a very musical song and the males are beautiful creatures.

But hey, Panther is only following his instinct...

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for May 2009 is...

..."A to B" from the Futureheads' debut album. Nouveau post-punk at its finest...:-)

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010509

1. (4) - Brighton Rock - Queen
2. (7) - '39 - Queen
3. (-) - Stone Cold Crazy - Queen
4. (-) - Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
5. (5) - All My Friends Are Crazy - 500 Miles To Memphis
6. (6) - Filling In For Clowns - 7evenwords
7. (-) - No Way Of Knowing - A. Tent
8. (-) - Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville
9. (-) - The Racing Rats - Editors
10. (-) - I've Just Told Mama Goodbye - Hank Williams

Regards,


djp

Critter cadaver update

Panther's latest handiwork.

He's a big bugger - look at the length of his tail...

...found with eyes wide open and dew glistening on his whiskers.

Couldn't use my garden grabber to lift him - had to use a spade.

Impressive, huh?

Regards,


djp

Twenty-one years later...

Yesterday, I went for a bit of a skite up to Northern Ireland. I hadn't been there in twenty-one years...

...last time I was there was in the aftermath of a wedding in Monaghan in 1988. The sister of a friend's wife was getting married there and we were farmed out, accommodation-wise, to one of my friend's relatives over the border in Tyrone.

Although my nationality and my religion of birth should have indicated that I was perfectly safe "up there", I was never more scared of anything in my life. Everybody (almost everybody) looked normal - at the wedding, in the pub, in the homes - and yet things couldn't possibly have been normal under the circumstances. Everybody seemed to be committed to a particular cause, but I got the distinct impression that had one had the inclination to discuss beliefs with people, there would have been some people with whom you just wouldn't have dared have a frank discussion. They had a look in their eyes that indicated that they had either just come back from doing something significant or were planning something equally significant for the next day. Dark and brooding just wasn't in it...

Back in those days, a lot of alcohol would have been consumed, but some instinctive sense of self-preservation meant that I kept a very tight control over what I said and to whom. One particular evening in a pub, one of the more approachable of my friend's relatives asked me what did I "think of the session up here then". I knew exactly what he meant - politics. Luckily for me, there was some guy in the corner belting out rebel songs with a guitar. I commented that "your man had a pretty good singing voice". We both knew that I was evading the real point of the question and the matter was discreetly dropped.

Later on that evening, while taking a comfort break, one took great care not to accidentally bump into anyone on the way in or out of the jacks, for fear that that person might be inclined to take issue with my presence in his local in a manner similar to how he might have taken issue with the presence of foreign troops in his particular "green field". A total exaggeration, I know, but I was rather under the influence and incredibly self-conscious of where I was and what the consequences of talking or acting out of turn might have been.

We spent the night in another relative's house - the wife was nice - the husband had been away all evening at a "significant" funeral. My old car was parked around the back of the house just by the bedroom window. All night I heard strange and troubling noises. It might just have been the dog snuffling around the back yard. Or someone of the other persuasion planting a booby-trap bomb under my Southern-registered car.

I was never so glad to get back to the Republic, bad and all as things were down here at the time. I never told my old man about going up North - years before, he warned me that if I ever went up there, he'd disown me. So if you thought I was nervous about being up there, what must have been going through his mind?

Yesterday, twenty-one years later, I'm standing in a queue, waiting to be served at a car breaker's store. I am surrounded by locals who look just as "normal" as do the folks down my way (which probably means that there's just the same mixture of decent people and gougers as you'd find anywhere). The one thing that's freaking me out is the fact that a dozen people are talking at the same time in the same Northern accent. It reminded me of one time when I was in the departure lounge in Shannon Airport when a planeload of US troops disembarked from a transport flight from Iraq. Two or three hundred troops, males and females, of various ethnic groupings and with some variations in general physical appearance, but all shaven-headed and dressed in desert fatigues. Some are wandering around the duty-free shop, some are in the bar, some are going to the toilet, some are making phone calls. Everywhere you look, shaven-headed, fatigue-clad troops standing, sitting, walking. Like the restaurant scene in Being John Malkovich. Back in the queue in the car breaker's store, the dozen simultaneous voices sounded like the audio equivalent of that restaurant scene.

So what did I make of my brief spell in Norn Iron? Everything seemed fine apart from the brief moment driving through the outskirts of Newry when I passed the boundary of a Loyalist estate with its particular forms of street decoration. I'd only ever seen stuff like that on the telly. It sends a shiver up the spine to someone of my vintage. But things have to be different from the way they were in the last century. When you see people sharing power who were sworn enemies ten years ago, then things must have improved.

Here's hoping, eh?

Regards,


djp

Feeling a little bit tired today...

...and here's why...:-)

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for April 2009 is...

..."Robot" by The Futureheads, from their self-titled debut album. Great stuff!

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 010409

1. (3) - Float - Zomby
2. (1) - Liebesfreud - Zino Vinnikov
3. (2) - Dream Dream Dream - Zion De Gallier
4. (5) - Brighton Rock - Queen
5. (-) - All My Friends Are Crazy - 500 Miles To Memphis
6. (4) - Filling In For Clowns - 7evenwords
7. (-) - '39 - Queen
8. (-) - Man Become Me - 31 Knots
9. (-) - Sedition's Wish - 31 Knots
10. (6) - Think - The 5 Royales

Regards,


djp

Snow...

...didn't last long though.

Regards,


djp

And the ringtone for March 2009 is...

..."Helicopter" by XTC. Why this brilliant track was never released as a single, I'll never know...

Regards,


djp

On the lake beneath the shoreline...

Just had my first trip of the year to Portumna Forest Park. Spent a nice hour cycling around and taking photographs...




...et voici M. Uglimugg...



I hope to make these trips to Portumna a regular feature of the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 2009.

Hope - great word...

Regards,


djp