Created Metaphors

Street Greeting

"You look tired" he said as I reached my car that morning.

"Do I?"

Shaking his head he rephrased himself, "Do you think you look tired?"

I shrugged at the stranger, and looked up at the grey morning sky.  Winter was creeping in and everywhere was damp from the recent rain.  "Everyone is tired at this time of year."

"Is this your car? I cleaned it for you."

I looked at him, this stranger who had halted me.

"The birds, you know.  I have a woollen sock.  It works well, wool.  It just wipes off, like this.  See?"

I looked at him as he wiped at my car with a white woollen sock.

"I'm going to clean my steps using it next."

I muttered my thanks and excused myself.  Interesting kindness and odd words.

New Models

Impressively still going since the early 1980's, what really astounded me seeing New Model Army play again recently was that they remain one of the best live bands I know.    Made my heart oddly happy.

---

I'll watch the sun set over every sea
From every city wall, every mountain peak
Before I get old
The Northern Lights and the Southern Cross
The harvests and the miles of dust
And the blowing wind across the world
So wrap this coat around yourself
And leave what's done behind
There's so much left for us to do
And yet there's so little time
I'm going to pull the fences to the ground
Watch the twisted towers come crumbling down
And start again
Before I get old - New Model Army

Singing Chef

"Are you to busy to organize your own dinner party?  or simply just want to relax with your friends,  while top quality internationally flavoured cuisine is prepared and served from your very own kitchen.  Imagine as those sumptuous desserts are being digested,  after dinner entertainment from a musician and performer whose songs will leave your guests spellbound."

The lovely and brilliant Matt Kemp has set up business in Brighton as The Singing Chef.

It is a phenomenal idea, and one I intend to make use of, especially as his prices are so cheap:  Only £125 for a five person dinner party with consultation, purchase of ingredients, the three course meal, complementary glass of wine, music and kitchen clean. He can cook* and he's a darned good musician. Phenomenal bargain to my mind (and I'm a student!).

Now I just need to find someone willing to let me host a dinner party at their house.

------

I can personally attest to this as he was our BPEC chef at Glastonbury this year, managing to keep 30+ bellies happy all through the festival.

25 years of BPEC

On Saturday Brighton Peace and Environment Centre celebrated its 25th anniversary. 

I'm glad that (on and off) over the last 14 years I have had the chance to participate in this achievement.  I've helped it move from the premises on Trafalgar Street (now Rainbow Books), to Gardner Street, to the Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre in Hollingdean, then on to its current home by Brighton Station.  In reverse, the old BPEC van helped me move out of home for the first time. 

Over this time it has found purpose and drive, and many lovely, lovely people have contributed their time to keeping it alive. An abbreviated history of the centre is given here.

May it still be around in another 25 years.

Figures

Day Of The Figurines is part board game, part secret society. The game is set in a fictional town that is littered, dark and underpinned with steady decay.

It lasts for 24 days beginning from Wednesday 4th April. Each day represents an hour in the life of a small English town that shifts from the mundane to the cataclysmic.

...

The centrepiece of the game is a model town housed at Lighthouse in Brighton. Each of the 1,000 players is represented by a small plastic figurine which is moved by hand every hour for the duration of the game.

To play, players are invited to create a figurine to enter the town: to name it and answer questions about its past. Thereafter participation in the game is via SMS on your mobile phone.

Day of the Figurines (via Adactio).  I know where I am going on my lunchbreak tomorrow.

Chain Pier

My father bought a picture recently, in a massively ornate gilded frame.  On taking it out to reframe it in something more sedate he found this picture underneath:

He was planning to just bin it, but I thankfully noticed and managed to claim it for my own.

Oddly, it is massively similar to the picture on My Brighton and Hove of the Chain Pier.

Good Find.

Burning Fields

Part of me occasionally remembers the burning fields of my childhood. 

After the hurricane, which created giant playgrounds for us of fallen timber in Withdean Field and Peacock Park (or Withdean Park as the sign now calls it), came the burning.

The fallen giants and surrounding scrub needed to be removed.  The flames went on for weeks.  Or so I recall.   

I remember the falling cinders melting the pink plastic on my childhood trainers as I played.

These memories had been resurfacing, but they were truly re-realised when our research group went on a scrub-bashing day burning the downs (with the friends).  Highly recommended and enjoyable even in the mud.

In Love

On Tuesday I left my local post office and saw the view across the hills, down to Patcham, over to Westdene, and over and away to the downs, all lit up by a warm spring sun.  Rather than worrying about why it was so nice for the time of year, I stopped and fell in love with my part of town all over again.  I remembered all of what Brighton is for me.

Today I just felt lucky that I live in the part which got snow.

Odd that after so many years I can still love this place with such a passion.

Dinner!

Free food, good company.  The Eagle, 16 January 2007.

Flu Excuses

My sadness that the flu prevented me from attending the Brighton and Hove Web Awards, was eased somewhat by getting to attend the DScape Designers night the night after. 

I was surprised at how quickly I still wore myself out though.

I'll blame the flu on my inability to draw a decent badge or find the remaining people with my limerick. (My partial limerick was:  "and found out that it was quite true.")

Mostly better now, so no excuses.

Lights in the Sky

Interesting year this year at Lewes, but was overwhelmed by desires to leave the crowds behind.

Managed to time it to see the Southover speech pre-march, where the emphasis was once more on issues around religious persecution.  It was only slightly marred by someone's mobile starting to ring with that ringtone. 

"I'm in a parade" I expected someone to shout.

The crowds were less this year, but the police presence was restrictive - we ended up stuck in a zone, behind crash barriers, packed in like sardines but unable to leave.

It was good to see the familiar banners; `we burn to remember' and `always rivalled seldom equalled' still having a soft spot in my heart.

It was far nicer however to leave Lewes behind and park up on the golf course with views across the valleys, Hollingbury, Patcham, Brighton, Moulescombe and Coldean, and watch all the little lights springing up across the city.   

Nominate

I did my bit today and signed up as a judge for the B&H Web Awards. 

I also thought I'd be different and nominate a site for an award.   For some reason I only got as far as nominating Tom's site before I got bored of filling out the online form.

Go on, do your bit, nominate yourselves so I don't need to!

Evil Children

I'm greatly taken with a piece of graffiti in Preston Park kids playground spotted today at Aurora's 5th birthday party.

Evil.

Judge the Burn

While doing my annual B&H Virtual Festival judging I came across this film of the Death of the West Pier.

Ah, those were the days...

(I also stumbled onto Damp Flat Books which certainly has some items worthy of further investigation when I have time to breathe again...)

The Cardinal

Although a dossier on Cardinal Newman’s beatification was first opened in 1958, no miracles had, until now, been attributed to his intercession. “I had to tell John Paul that the English are not very good at miracles,” Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said. “It’s not that we are not pious, but the English tend to think of God as a gentleman who should not be bullied.”
Yesterday, however, the cleric responsible for arguing Newman’s cause, Father Paul Chavasse, the Provost of Birmingham Oratory, which was founded by Newman in 1848, said that a deacon in the Diocese of Boston in the United States had testified that he had recovered from a spinal disease after praying to Cardinal Newman. “At last we have a miracle cure,” he said.
Cardinal Newman

It shall be interesting to see how my old school responds to this...

(Thanks to James for the link.)

Missing Meetings

With my heady new lifestyle (i.e. being back in Brighton while trying to do full-time research and work part-time for a university in a completely different county and still have fun) I have realised the need for me to keep a good track of my activities.

So I am diaried up.

So I don't plan too much or miss anything.

This is good.

As without it I wouldn't have realised I would never have enough time to make those damned pinatas myself.

I also wouldn't know I was missing the BPEC AGM right this second. (For the third year running I think. Oops.)

Conkered

Have now proved my mastery at conkers yet again.

My sheer skill has left me with the conker that beats all others.

It doesn't win purely on the basis that I cannot hit anything.

No.

It is special.

Really.

(And then I found a fiver which I didn't use to make apple pie as I could make apple crumble for free using our windfalls)

Ristorante Immortale

I went to see Ristorante Immortale as part of Aurora Nova in the South last night at the Komedia.

The script was amazing (the skill of the actors was also impressive). I particularly enjoyed the accordion playing and drumming, and was relieved that it wasn't as strongly surreal as such pieces can end up.

It also had the advantage of finishing by 9.30 so I could go and get an early night.

At the Richmond Damn'it

Went to see Republic of Heaven last night (via A History of Violence), who were playing with Autumn Red, The Race and The Recoil free at the Pressure Point.

I went on whim as it was free, I need to go see more live bands and because I'd heard the name mentioned before. Turned out I knew half the band by one degree.

It is good to be back in Brighton, with all the associated inbreeding and coincidence.

Conkering

The radio is talking about conkers.

I think it may be a sign.

It must almost be time for conkers again.

All Hot (Brighton) Air

Went to the air guitar session night last night.

I came third due to my nifty arm rotating action. Second place went to Ed. First place went to 'The Man in Black' (who had even brought his own CD).

Of course, this is because there were only the three patrons there. Everyone else was staff.

Lessons Learned

Yesterday I learned the following:

1) Combining Car Boots with an Air Show isn't a bad way to spend a morning, but getting up early for them is still no fun

2) The Spot the Shakepearean Play card by Simon Drew is not quite as hard

3) Cleaning cars isn't so bad

4) Waxing cars is knackering

5) After seaching in both directions* for a good beach to swim on, it turns out Hove Beach is the winner

6) My face still glows red from too much sun. I still should not go out without my factor 50 on

7) Pink milk is the difference between being full and being stuffed

8) The Bali Brasserie still has great food, bad decor and cutlery that *wants* to stick to your forehead (despite being clean)

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* Cuckmere Haven has too many sharp rock pools (and flying ants), and West Beach by Littlehampton is lovely and sandy but just too darned flat.

Lessons Tonight

Tonight I learned the following:

1) Table Football is not my game (unlike Kiro)

2) The Spot the Film card by Simon Drew is suprisingly hard

3) MSN can be fun even when you are right next to the people you are talking to

4) Sleep is important when about to do a car boot

5) Drink is distracting

Getting back into poverty

Registered for Sussex today.

I'll be down £1000 a term, but up a full-time PhD.

That means it's time to start rebuilding eventyr.co.uk and brushing the dust from my books.

One month to go.

Brighton Air

I admit that I could practice my Air Guitar using methods such as the Philson Easy Air Guitar:

"As any performing air guitarist will tell you, there's no such thing as becoming an "overnight sensation." It takes hours, sometimes days, of honing your chops, waiting for your break to arrive. But mastering your instrument isn't enough. You've for to have stage presence, charisma, ATTITUDE. Now some say attitude can't be taught, only acquired. Don't worry. By acquiring this Philson Stratoblaster Air Guitar, you've already proven you have what it takes to rock and roll in the big leagues. All you need is a little polish, and you can take your Philson on the road."

However, as I am now back in Brighton, I have the option to prepare for the Air Guitar Tour* arriving in town on the 25th by going to the Engine Rooms who are having a free Air Guitar Championships Warm Up Session evening (with prizes) this Wednesday.

I may go get some preparation in.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

* "This is the tongue-in-cheek competition for budding guitarists everywhere. Come down to feel the rush & the energy. Throw wild gesticulations in mid-air. Watch the wrist action as speed increases for the mind-bendingly beautiful solos. Experience the roar of pleasure & see fingers trembling as sweat runs off the brow...YES! The time has come for you to go head to head with the best of them .. ... go to www.ukairguitar.com to register & realise your dream. Or just come along on the night & be part of the action."

Pirate Anniversary

The second anniversary of the terrible three's pirate flash mob has reignited my enthusiasm for blogging again after the 'great crash'.

Let there be life to this domain.