I haven't posted for a while. OK - almost a year. Then I get a slap from pissed_pacifist who said "Try posting more than once a year!" I only saw the message because it was forwarded to my BlackBerry... And I admit, reluctantly, to having migrated to Facebook. So, I am going to make the effort to manage both.
The economic downturn has hit my business. I have just spent a few days at a major trade show in Geneva and many companies are telling the same story. I plan to advertise more, not less, in these difficult times. This business has become carnivorous. We are all chasing a bigger share of a diminishing pie. So, I am focusing on niche markets within the health food sector, which is already producing some positive results.
Meantime, I can still indulge in a single malt or two...

Any takers?

We've bought some new solar lamps for the garden. Assembly took just 5 minutes, then stick 'em in the ground. Plenty of sunshine today to supply the required energy. So, when are they going to illuminate, I pondered? I sat in the garden with a tipple, as you do, and watched. According to my almanac, twilight would be 9.39pm. So when these little beauties suddenly "lit up" at precisely 9.39pm I was somewhat taken aback! Coincidence?

I will have to watch tomorrow to see if they wait another minute, until 9.40pm...

But I am rather impressed, seeing as they only cost £5.99 ($11.79) each.

Sometimes I am easily satisfied.

Very best wishes to gwenevere_69.

Lightly scrambled eggs, a good dollop of smoked Scottish salmon on toasted wholemeal (to keep the health inspectors happy) and a bottle of Bollinger with fresh orange juice. BOLLIFEROUS!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the funeral of my dear aunt, and Godmother, Betty. She was 86 years of age when she decided, enough was enough. My brother davesmusictank and his wife, Lorna, travelled with Ros and me to the funeral. We "enjoyed" a wake at which we met those members of the family that we only ever see at weddings or funerals. Another of those occasions when we all slomenly sweAR (I knew five pints of Spitfire was too much!) that we would organise a "family" get-together, so that 137 aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, second cousins, third cousins, sailors who were torpedoed in World War 2, those who didn't spill a drop of their glass of Sherry on Christmas Eve 1942 when "the bomb dropped so nearby we had to take refuge in the Anderson shelter!", would get together and talk about "The Good Times". Well, it might happen one day, probably at the next family funeral....
Auntie Betty's ashes are going to be scattered in Lynsted churchyard over the graves of her parents. A nice gesture, I guess.
I was talking to Chris,a friend of mine, about this, the other day. He said: "I should really do something about my father, listening to you".
I said: "What do you mean?" (Chris' father died 15 years ago).
"Well", he said "I've still got his remains".
I was somewhat nonplussed. "What do you mean Chris, you've still got his remains?"
"I think they are in the garage", he said.
"Chris, your Dad died 15 years ago", I replied, "I'm a bit surprised you STILL have his ashes!"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure his remains are in the garage", he said, "But I will check when I get home this evening".
I felt one of those Monty Python moments coming on.....
The following evening I was waiting in my car outside my wife's office to collect Ros, when a "beaming" Chris appeared. "I've found him!" he said. I shrank into my seat... "Oh, hi Chris, what do you mean, you've found him?", I managed.
"My Dad's remains!" he cried. "They are at the funeral parlour! Not in my garage, at all! Still at the funeral parlour!"
Good grief! 15 years on and his Dad's remains are still at the funeral parlour!
"Huh?!" I said (I think).
"Yes", said Chris, "They keep remains until they are claimed. No matter how many years that
might be!"
I felt some kind of closure beckoning. "So, you've been reunited with your Dad", I said, "After 15 years of thinking he was in your garage".
"Yes, and I am going to do what he would have wanted", said Chris. "The mind, boggles", I thought...
"I am going to take him out on 'Jolly Sailor' and scatter him a mile off Brighton Pier, a true sailor's burial".
(Chris has completely renovated his father's yacht 'Jolly Sailor' over the last five years, to a stunning 1950s wood built craft).
"Chris", I thought long and hard about how to approach this: "Your Mum died a few weeks back. I know this is nothing to do with me", I mentioned, "But how about scattering both their ashes offshore of Brighton Pier? They would then rest eternally in the same sea grave".
"No, couldn't possibly" he said.
"MUM, ALWAYS GOT SEASICK", said without a trace of humour or a twitch of facial expression.
Chris walked away. I didn't call him back....

In view of recent postings by LJ friends this is probably a complete triviality. But here goes anyway.
I was taking some time out on the iPod this evening, washing up the dinner crocs whilst my wife watched one of the soaps on TV (no we don't own a dishwasher) and I began to wonder what I would vote as my favourite album, ever. I can see my brother, Dave, davesmusictank beginning to twitch....! Our tastes don't exactly coincide.
Over the years, I have sold off my vynil collection and opted for CDs and more recently mp3s. But my tastes remain much the same. Vynil I have sold has been replaced by CD or iTunes download. I do often regret parting company with the vynil. Some of those beautiful record sleeves...
The music however remains, in whatever format. Dave will probably accuse me of having "Middle of the Road" taste. It's immaterial. You like what you like. So, what gets my vote? I considered a whole host of albums from Curiosity Killed The Cat, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Cream, Dire Straits, Odyssey, Carole King, James Taylor, CSN&Y, Bob Dylan, Tracey Thorn, Patti Smith, Depeche Mode, bla, bla, bla.
But I was listening to an album that I have been listening to for 36 years on and off (good grief!). A female vocalist with such clarity of enunciation that her album sounds as fresh today as it did in 1971. It remains a seminal work that deserves my vote. I listen to "The Last Time I Saw Richard" track as her voice drifts effortlessly through the cadency of lyric and musicality. And that sublime voice accompanied by just accoustics and piano.
Enough clues?
My favourite album vote goes to BLUE by Joni Mitchell.
How about you and your favourite album?

Our nephew, Del, appeared in the final of 'Poker Face' this evening on ITV. He was up against five other finalists. They all started with the £50,000 that they had won in the preliminary rounds, but could lose this at anytime if they made the wrong decision !
Del made it through the first round of questions on a gutsy bluff. But he made the correct decision at the end of round 2 and folded. He walked away with £55,500 !
One of his contestants, Dominic, won £1,000,000 ! The winner of this series of 'Poker Face'.
It's been one hell of an evening and I need a large Scotch.......

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I've been looking forward to reading this. It was published in the UK in December 2006. I received a copy as a Christmas present. Still haven't read it, waiting for an appropriate holiday, etc. So, I was somewhat nonplussed to see the movie version released in late January!

A film buff friend of mine saw the movie last night at the Marina cinema. His critique? "Total crap! Total, unequivocal crap!"

So now, I'm between a rock and a hard place. Do I read the book anyway and wait for the movie to be released on DVD; or do I donate the book, unread, to the local 'Help The Aged' charity and then probably wonder if I had passed over a good read, or say "Sod it", I'll see the film anyway and then gnaw my way through the book, which probably bears little resemblance to the movie anyway?

It's a pristine, hard back copy. Any offers?

No where near a computer but I need to post a few words.
I collected my brother davesmusictank from his home yesterday for the journey to mine, to scatter Tiggy's ashes in our garden. The journey consisted of small talk but our minds were elsewhere. There are no words of real comfort.....
At home, my wife Rosalind, suggested that perhaps Dave would like Tiggy's ashes placed in a garden pot, along with some soil, and we could plant some spring Daffodils in the pot. A lasting memorial. Dave agreed and asked Ros to perform this simple ceremony. As Dave and I stood side by side, we touched momentarily and both filled up. The brotherly love swept through us as we finally said Goodbye to Tiggy, who had shared Dave and his wife Lorna's lives for 16 years.
I cannot put words to how I felt for my brother at that moment.
God bless you mate, I'm thinking of you - and Lorna and Tiggy.
Mike.
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