For Pete's Sake

Music Anyone?

To start this post off I’ve got to given credit for the inspiration to Drowned in Sound who produce a Spotify playlist every Friday. I doubt I’d follow the same schedule but it’s inspired me to share my musical favourites in a less than regular feature. Now I appreciate not everyone can get a hold of this playlist as Spotify isn’t available everywhere so I’ve created a mirror on last.fm. So without further ado I present to you, playlist #1:

#1 The Chemical Brothers – Where Do I Begin

If there’s one thing I’m a fan of when it comes to this genre of music is a tune where I can just sit back and just chill out. This is one of my favourite such tracks. It’s not completely mellow and it’s mostly down to the intro but despite the big beats that come into the track I really relax when listening to it.

#2 Orbital – Halcyon And On And On

Carrying on the chill out theme this is, in my opinion, one of the best tunes ever. I first heard it while watching the title sequence of Hackers which featured music of the time and once the movie was over watched all the credits to find the name. The intro is epic and it just gets better and better.

#3 Röyksopp – So Easy

One of the many songs I’ve discovered by Googling TV advert music this one was used for T-Mobile here in the UK. It’s a very recognizable tune now and it’s easy to listen to.

#4 Super Furry Animals – Ice Hockey Hair

Apparently ice hockey hair is another name for a mullet hairstyle but in this instance it’s the name of a song with a beautiful guitar intro.

#5 Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Running for Cover

The Fun Lovin’ Criminals are the unfortunate victims of their own success. After the release of the iconic song Scooby Snacks and début album the FLC suffered a perpetual 2nd album syndrome. I don’t buy into this and would say Welcome to Poppy’s is up there with Come Find Yourself

#6 Jack Johnson – Breakdown

Has to be my favourite track from his excellent Inbetween Dreams album.

#7 Chemical Brothers – The Private Psychedelic Reel

Another track from the Chemical Brothers album Dig Your Own Hole which made an appearance on Sony’s Gran Turismo.

#8 Feist – 1234

Another advert song but this time for Apple and their iPod but don’t let that detract you from a wonderfully simple song and an impressive album The Reminder.

#9 Nils Frahm – Ambre

Well as I mentioned above this playlist thing was inspired by Drowned in Sound and one playlist had this beautiful piano piece by Nils Frahm. Rest assured I’ll be listening to more of his music if this is anything to go by.

#10 Crowded House – Distant Sun

While I’m not a massive fan of Crowded House I do like this track a lot and would probably say it’s my favourite Crowded House track.

#11 Bob Marley – Three Little Birds

For the longest time I believed this track was title Don’t Worry, anyway, it’s a cheer up tune that I never tire of listening to.

#12 Feist – My Moon My Man

Feist’s second appearance and mostly because this track is one that just stays in your head a while once you’ve listened to it because it’s that catchy. Again it’s a simple tune with nothing overly complicated; probably why I like it so much.

#13 Counting Crows – Colorblind

Another song I first heard on a movie (Cruel Intentions) and got a hold of it as soon as I knew what it was. Simple lyrics that to me convey rather vivid scenes.

#14 Seasick Steve – Fallen Off a Rock

I first saw Seasick Steve perform on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny and instantly bought his album Dog House Music the next day. He’s one of the best guitarists I’ve heard and just love a bit of blues.

I just can't wait!

This Christmas gone I got a most wonderful present from my wife; a tour of the Auchentoshan distillery and tasting. I didn’t blog at the time as my Christmas post was post-dated but also felt it would be nice to blog about it nearer the time. I’m due to leave for Edinburgh later today and travel across to Glasgow with my brother for the tour tomorrow.

It has been a desire of mine for some time to visit a distillery in Scotland and Auchentoshan was one of them for it’s convenient location but also one of only a handful of Lowland distilleries. There are others I’d like to visit such as Laphroig, Glenfiddich and Tomintoul to name a few but that’ll be for a whisky tour I plan to do this or next year money depending. I can tell you though that it was a wonderful surprise Christmas morn to receive that as a present!

The only downside is that this Wednesday gone I had two teeth out at the dentist. I’m still suffering some pain and the dentist advised against drinking as early as Saturday. I’m going to ignore that advice for two reason the first being is that the only problem it’ll cause me is that it might promote some bleeding but more importantly I don’t want to miss out. I’ve been looking forward to this since I opened the card that the gift was in and I won’t let it get in the way and besides, alcohol sterilises things anyway so no harm no foul eh!

It's like Hoth out there!

Along with most of the UK I woke up to a very snowy scene this morning. One thing I love about snow is that it brings out the kid in most people. Unfortunately for me I had to go to work but on the upside it was decided we could leave at 3pm which was nice. What I find funny is how we as a nation grind to a halt when weather hits the extreme and ‘big freeze’, as this is being called, seems to cause more havoc than most weathers.

I understand why this happens as aside from perhaps northern Scotland most of England and Wales rarely see continuous snowfall. What’s disappointing however is that we never seem properly prepared. Many councils and local authorities are reporting grit shortages or in some cases that they’ve completely ran out. Before Christmas there was plenty of drama on the Eurostar caused by the weather which was fortunately resolved before we departed. The main issue for the roads is that the grit we use is no longer stock piled but also that the gritting lorries are rarely on standby as we choose to trust forecasting which while helps isn’t 100%. Bristol for example was caught out just before Christmas because as far as the forecast said, we were’nt due any snow.

I know that it’s expensive to keep lorries on standby and drivers out at the wee small hours but then again they get paid more as, like refuse workers, it’s not exactly a desirable job to some people. However with clear roads people can get to work, lorries can reach their destinations and the industries that drive Britain’s economy can keep ploughing on despite the weather. Now I appreciate that even with all the preparation it can still be dangerous and we can’t make every road clear but reading about people trapped/stranded on various roads is a sad thing to read. I feel lucky that I work so close to home that, even if I did have to abandon the car, I can still make it home within the hour. Schools also suffer when snowy weather comes around. When I was at school in North Yorkshire I can remember having several snow days as many of the schools’ pupils lived in the Moors and were completely cut off. Still as a kid having a day of to play in the snow is no bad thing!

I think we’re lucky to have snow as some people elsewhere in the world have never seen snow let alone mess around making snowmen or having snowball fights. I guess it’s just a shame that it causes so much havoc when it occurs and like many things we’re unlikely to learn from it. We’re not going to produce/import more salt or allow local authorities to stock pile it nor are we likely to stick drivers on standby 24/7 through a forecasted cold snap. We’ll cast it aside and think it won’t happen again but it will and we’ll be as unprepared as ever; oh well.

If Carlsberg took photographs..

As mentioned in my last post Cati and I travelled to Paris on New Year’s day for a 4 day holiday. It’s been several years since I’ve last visited, less for Cati, and to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what we’d do. When Cati lived here we did the major touristy things like going up the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and so on but very little after that. To be honest the main detractor from doing much was that her flat was up seven flights of stairs. At the time I was less fit than I am now and it was quite an effort so we mostly stayed in her little flat; sad I know.

Anyway the trip this time has been a little different. First of all our accommodation isn’t up lots of stairs, this time round we’re staying with a friend of Cati’s from her time here at Uni. It’s outside Paris in what is effectively the suburbs. It’s a lovely place to be and it’s kinda nice to be out of the craziness that is central Paris. This has helped a wee bit as when we went in to Paris yesterday it felt more like a day trip that just wandering around your own back yard. I get the same feeling with Bristol now that we live in the suburbs. It’s made the trip feel that little bit more special and, as I’m more active these days, we got up to a lot of things in just one day. I shan’t go in to the particulars of what we did as that will appear on our holiday website and I don’t want to steal its thunder but less to say we’ve had a lot of fun.

We’re going home tomorrow and I am looking forward to being back at home. I always do miss home when I’m away but I’ve enjoyed Paris much more than I did than when Cati lived here which is also a sad thing. There are so many things to do in Paris that if I’d have been more energetic when Cati was living here I think I’d have had a greater appreciation for the city than I did till now. Whether we’ll make many more trips is another thing in light of our future plans but I think that I have a greater respect for Paris now than I did purely by getting out there and actually seeing Paris.

Big Bang Theory

Well thanks to the glory of post-dating blog updates this should appear not long after we in the UK pass in to 2010. I will safely assume that it goes without a hitch and nothing major happened. I will at this point be in London with a view to getting the Eurostar to Paris come New Years’ Day.

It’s been a fun holiday period. I’ve been home to spend Christmas with family, then North to Peebles to spend some time with my Mum & Dad but to also see my brother and sister-in-law and finally a quick stop off in Yorkshire to see Andy. I’m looking forward to Paris too. It’s been a while since I’ve been back there as I visited quite a few times when Catrin was living there. While not my most favourite city it’s a beautiful place to visit. Not quite sure what we’ll get up to but I’m sure that either way we’ll have a good time.

With that I’d like to wish you all a happy New Year.