Dover, Whitstable and Canterbury Visits

Apart from the occasional moments of rain it has been a generally sunny and warm day. I completed my supermarket visit in Dover and did my visit in Whitstable,so now i'm in Canterbury at the Beaney Museum and Art Gallery.

Soaking up the culture.I also purchased three books in a sale at Blackwells on the university campus. They were going for a quid each.






Phil and i had a great evening at the pub last night. We left there about 12.30  having had three pints of ale WE dicussed everything including the non contact from that erstwhile cousin. Philthinhks is a disgrace that he has not bothered to contact me. Well, as i said to him,that unspeakbale turd will not be on my Xmas list anymore.

Poems Of The Week

The Pig

Poem by Roald Dahl


In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, 'By gum, I've got the answer! '
'They want my bacon slice by slice
'To sell at a tremendous price!
'They want my tender juicy chops
'To put in all the butcher's shops!
'They want my pork to make a roast
'And that's the part'll cost the most!
'They want my sausages in strings!
'They even want my chitterlings!
'The butcher's shop! The carving knife!
'That is the reason for my life! '
Such thoughts as these are not designed
To give a pig great piece of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grisly bit
So let's not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
'I had a fairly powerful hunch
'That he might have me for his lunch.
'And so, because I feared the worst,
'I thought I'd better eat him first.'


Roald Dahl


A Dream Within A Dream


Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?


Edgar Allan Poe

Birthday Greetings

Happy birthdayosprey_archer to . May you have a great day.

Book 51 - Jan Zalasiewicz "The Planet in a Pebble"

Jan Zalasiewicz "The Planet in a Pebble : A journey into Earth's deep history" (Oxford Univ. Press)






Geologist Zalasiewicz tells the story of how a pebble is created. It could be any pebble, but for purposes of illustration, this one is from a beach in Wales. In telling that story, he tells the geology story of the entire earth. He starts with the stardust from which the planet was created and goes through to the pebble tossed along the Welsh shore, and then into the future and the eventual destruction of the planet.

What was great about this book is that it was not written in an academic tone, but instead is very readable and at times even funny. I think about what I learned from this book, I have a feeling that it is one of those books that taught me more than I could actually put into words, despite having done some geology in the science foundation course with the Open University way back in the late seventies.

Recommended for: geology geeks, and armchair geologists, and definitely recommended for anyone interested in the topic.

Loon Lake

Have not played any Hpvhaness for ages - so -


Alan Hovhaness - Sinfonia no. 63 "Loon lake"

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
conductor - Stewart Robertson

Ask The Ages - Sonny Sharrock

One of the best avant garde jazz albums of 1991 was Sonny Sharrock's "ask The Ages".
He passed away in 1994 - this was his last album.

"Sonny Sharrock - Ask The Ages 1991 (Full Album)" (Watch on YouTube)

"Promises Kept" --9:43
"Who Does She Hope to Be?" --4:41
"Little Rock" --7:12
"As We Used to Sing" --7:45
"Many Mansions" --9:31
"Once upon a Time" --6:26
(all compositions by Sonny Sharrock)