Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Rob's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, January 10th, 2010
9:02 pm	Baby talk I've put a few more pictures of the twins up at the same address. They are quickly growing more in the way of personality, they are both more wakeful and engaged and Thomas is less of a teddy bear, while Daisy continues feisty. They can also growing physically, Thomas in particular has jumped from the 50th centile to nearer the 75th while Daisy has moved well above the 25th. They hold their heads up nearly now and are showing evidence of trying to turn over. We have had a number of lovely visitors over the last few weeks some trapped by the snow, some here of their own free will. I am starting to transition back to work from next week (maybe only a half day on Tuesday but a symbolic step). We are also registering their births Tuesday morning. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
11:15 am	Babies, Top 1000 Tunes, Games Happy new Year! Just setting down some musings. I have filled the time between Xmas and new year playing with babies, listening to Xfm while doing housework and playing computer games. ( Babies ) ( Xfm lists ) ( Games ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
11:02 pm	Doin' the Meme thing ( 2009 Meme ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
12:03 am	Waiting Today's update will be shorter.  Thanks for all the general kind words. The babies are still doing fine. Tom is still sleeping for England, and Daisy is more active. My parents visited today (and are worried about the risk of being snowed in). We are hopeful, but no more, that everyone will be home tomorrow. Minor excitements today include nearly missing the dust men, a burst drain, Blaise refusing to wear his mittens, and Blaise 'n me going for a drive in the new car. Our lives are not as exciting as the premier league! There are some new pictures on the site: http://twins.didyoureallymeantodothat.com.  (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 18th, 2009
11:49 pm	Twins ( Another twins update. ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
11:42 pm	Sea the Stars So probably people know that I quite like sports on average. The watching, not the playing. I love cricket, and football, and rugby (union only for preference). It would be fair to say I don't really like snooker so much, golf, motor racing, boxing or usually horse racing. For various reasons - boring players; boring borgeois players; tedious tedious long races; violent and mawkish; boring short riders and posh fans; respectively. And darts - don't get me started on darts. So now I'm going to talk about something I have just claimed I don't like so much - please let me off if it turns out I'm talking nonsense. Anyway, rather randomly, I happened to notice horse racing, or rather the particular horse: "Sea the Stars", which it turns out is rather a good horse when it comes to racing. Some people seem to suggest he (for he is what is known in the trade as a stallion) is possibly the best horse ever for flat racing. Now this is rather a bold statement it transpires. I have noticed for example that Americans do like to say "possibly the best *European* horse ever", and others say things like "the best horse since Timeform ratings began" (basically after the war). This started to interest me - things that wind people up I find interesting. So what makes this horse good. So he has won all the (class 1) races he has run in this year. Just the one year as a three year old (I understand known as a colt). He is quite elegant in a rather speedy way. He is the first horse ever to win a combination of races: the 2000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (also winning the Irish Champion Stakes). In the course of this unique run he raced every month and won every time this year. So there is a bit of tension between his rating (very high - but not exceptional to the same level as his reputation) and the fans who rather rate him because he is so visible and has run more often than other such good horses. Why is he maybe not? In common with a number of other sporting situations, it is hard for Americans to accept that a European (Irish) horse that has raced solely in Europe might actually be as good as American horses that have raced solely in America. It certainly is hard to compare that takes us to my final point. There is some other discussion about whether he is as good as horses before Timeform, or the other stars of the ratings (currently he sits on 140 - "Outstanding horse", level with Dancing Brave and Shergar, behind Mill Reef (141) and Brigadier Gerard (144)). But Timeform say he doesn't seem to have done his best work yet, and may go higher - if he gets the chance. So my point (finally) is the question which apparently is informing the world of racing fans- should Sea the stars run in the Breeders Cup in Santa Anita in the US on November 7th?  Essentially there is this whole thing (I've not mentioned till now) apparently with race horses about money. In case people hadn't noticed. Now the current view is after winning the Prix de l'arc that Sea the Stars is worth more than $50m possibly as much as $100m to a stud farm. So the chances are he is about to retire (although he could race at the top level for another couple of years). Why would you not just cash this in? Well oddly there is a certain sense that maybe he should be allowed to go to america and stick it to them, and that the Irish fans would love to watch this, there is the call of history - if he were to rate as high even as Mill Reef this would be an amazing thing. Then there is the money side again - were he to win in the Breeders cup he might literally blow all records. There is something incredibly weird about these bloodlines, the obsession with owning the prize stud stallions being fought out between the Coolmore Stud and the Darely Stud, are about not just making money now but about owning the future of flat racing. Sea The Stars owner though is independent and might easily make more money charging for the horse on a one shot basis (if you'll excuse the coarse language), depending on the success of his offspring and *especially if he wins the Breeders cup*. Of course if he lost, he might not be worth quite so much...The trainer (John Oxx) has hinted that Sea the Stars will not run the Breeders, but he also said last month he probably wouldn't run the Prix de l'arc. Who knows - whether the money or the place in history, or the fear that a beautiful horse will fall in the red dust in America and lose his aura is the most important thing.  Finally why am I interested. It is still not a sport I love, but I have become a tiny bit obsessed. Largely because I haven't seen much sporting  greatness. In the sense of literally the best of all time. I'd love it if we were living in a time of the best horse. There is no Pele in football, no Bradman in cricket. Some great players, and I have seen Shane Warne live (who is the best slow bowler ever - so far), but he is Australian. The greatest ever in his sport who is a European who can beat the Americans, that is a dream I can care about even if he is a horse. And if you really want to see check out the Prix de L'arc. It is a bit hard to follow first time through, but if you watch the highlights they circle him you can see him suddenly about three quarters of the way round he suddenly jumps into the lead and stays there. The speed of the move is incredible and he doesn't look like he's trying very hard - that's pretty good. Also worth checking out the comments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLQ60F_DzeE (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
8:09 pm	Just thought I'd relate a little conversation between Steph and Blaise that I overheard: Blaise: Blaise shoes Steph: No Blaise you're going in your cot, you don't need shoes Blaise: Alright Boots! Just goes to show things aren't so easy any more. Posted via LiveJournal.app. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 1st, 2009
11:12 pm	The Clash So I made a slightly odd mistake with a Clash record that I thought I'd tell you about. A couple of weeks ago, I bought myself a Clash compilation. Nothing strange about this really, the Clash are a favourite of mine and sadly one of the few groups who I bought on minidisc and anyway I got to the point when I just needed to get some in a format that I could actually still listen to. So I bought a compilation. From iTunes. At midnight. . When I'd had a few drinks. Anyway I put the record on my iPod and have been listening to it on and off over the last three weeks. So I began to realise after a period of time that this wasn't a very good Clash compilation, it didn't have a number of songs which I would have expected. Anyway I put this down to being slightly less than my best when I downloaded it and having chosen the record based on the fact it had certain very specific songs viz White Riot and Radio Clash, both of which it boasted, I must have just chosen a bit of an odd completists compilation. About three days ago I sort of sat down after having listened once more to my record and I thought to myself: "hold on one second, just precisely how drunk would I have to have been to have bought a Clash compilation that didn't have: London's Calling, Hammersmith Palais, Should I stay or Should I go, Rock the Casbah, Straight to Hell, Gun's of Brixton, I fought the law, London's Burning or Spanish Bombs on it. I don't think I've been that drunk lately, and secondly - who makes a Clash compilation with not one of those songs on it". So I checked and there were more songs (like 30 more songs) that for some reason hadn't translated themselves onto my iPod. So what of it. I am just a bit worried that it took me three weeks to realise that however over the limit I might have been, it was a highly unlikely scenario that I had deliberately bought such a record. This post is nowhere near as interesting as I thought, but it has been on my mind lately. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
11:30 pm	Crackle Crackle. No way I can think to start. I made a poem you won't like. There's something in that which we all say. Where can you get all that? What klnd of a thing, I need a clear definition, I saw  the wave lately and since then I can't sleep. I've been waiting to write again until I have something to say.  There is nothing more frustrating than losing connection Most of it is lines off the television, I've altered the grammar and put other stuff. It's sort of how I'm feeling now. I am worried about evolution and common sense science. Not worried about it so much as worried it can't look after itself in the way I assumed it could.   (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
10:41 pm	Second five from Alan Punctuation ...? Team Sports I like to see my time winning. There is no real point to team sports unless one team is your team. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy quality of play from the opposition, but when I find myself watching a game as a "neutral", I inevitably choose a side to back usually based on, locality, style of play, or underdog status. I feel one should be loyal to teams, but I have not always been as good as my word. I like to think of these as juvenile slips but they are largely indefensible. Teams I go out of my way to watch are England in most everything especially cricket, football & rugby; Chelsea in football, Surrey in cricket but generally I can find someone to follow in other sports. The Next Big Thing I have never been right on this but at the moment I like "Too Fake" by Hockey. Desserts There is nothing more horrible than the great sandy dessert. I enjoy cooking desserts more than eating them, but my preferences are for minimal sweetness, sourness, chocolate and alcohol. I make a fair whisky cake and Sachertorte, rhubarb crumble or gooseberry pie. Hammer Horror I don't really know much here again. I did enjoy Hound of the Baskervilles from Hammer, with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (and what is that like for a cast!). Also they used to do Hammer House of Horror's late nights with clips and stuff. That was cool if you got to stay up for that. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, February 27th, 2009
8:45 pm	Five from Alan Fatherhood A fatherhood is a type of hoodie worn by fathers. Mine is in dark beige and is insufferably scratchy. Oh - you meant that. Fatherhood to me means that things I used to love, I am no longer allowed to do. Like sleeping in the mornings or lying on the beach reading books. I don't complain about this because odd brilliant things happen like occasionally my son looks at me and smiles and says "Daaadiii" then tries to push me over. What does folk music actually mean? An easy one. As we know there is nowt so queer as folk so really this is just music made by that which there is nowt so queer as - which as we know is often amongst the best music. So folk music is often amongst the best music. Never thought I'd say that. Socks Socks being the name of Bill Clinton's cat while in office later adopted by his secretary. Sadly Socks died last week at the age of 19. See wikipedia for detailed biography, public appearances, questions in the US senate, relationship with White House dog Buddy etc. etc. The BBC The BBC is an odd place to work. I would note that I work for the commercial arm BBC Worldwide rather than the public service broadcaster. This may not seem like an important distinction, but it certainly feels different. Compared to other place I have worked (a number), the people are on average more committed, more stubborn and more intelligent than anywhere else. Occasionally the BBC make mistakes and it is big news because so many people care about what we do - it is a responsibility. I love it. Vampires There is little I can add to the collected knowledge on this subject. Vampires are an unnatural force symbolically linked with death, darkness and blood. They exude menace and sexual complicity. I've never knowingly seen one though I have dreamed of them on occasion. I will continue to spread the meme so please ask if you want. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
5:52 pm	5 things posting Booklectic gave me 5 things to post about so here we go: Curvy Women Gotta love 'em. And angular women; gotta love them too. And in between women naturally. I wouldn't normally on a post be commenting on the mere bodily aspect of women in this way and it seems a bit immoral at some level especially given that the women I know are mostly wise, generous and noble as well as extremely beautiful. The trouble is that since they are all so good looking it becomes less of a compliment. Everyone wants singling out somehow. Wittgenstein Wittgenstein is famous for a number of things, not least attacking another leading philosopher Karl Popper with a poker. He is also known for coming up with two distinct philosophies in his lifetime, the earlier one elaborated in his book "The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" the central thesis of which is neatly expressed in the line "What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence". Wittgenstein envisages this to be a positive statement about the boundaries of philosophical enquiry. After the publication of the Tractatus, Wittgenstein retired from active philosophising convinced he had solved all the problems of philosophy. Later in his life however a number of problems about language and the mind led him back to Cambridge. There he submitted the already famous Tractatus as his doctoral thesis explaining to the examiners "don't worry, I know you'll never understand it". G.E. Moore one of the examiners wrote of the submission "In my opinion this is a work of genius; it is, in any case, up to the standards of a degree from Cambridge.". Wittgenstein's later philosophy (most clearly outlined in the Philosophical Investigations) is a radical departure from the solidity and certainty of his early work where he explores the relationship between mind and language. The book comprises a collection of ordered thoughts. Perhaps the most famous sections of which comprise the private language argument where Wittgenstein argues convincingly of the impossibility of a "private language" this builds upon another striking argument about the problems of rule following. In my opinion in his later philosophy Wittgenstein produced some profound insights into the way language and the linguistic community interact and define the scope of the mind. The existence of evil Oh it's out there - and it's listening. Superheroes I have never shared the popular fascination with caped crusaders, but am pleased there are superheroes out there to combat all the evil. My favourite superhero is Gianfranco Zola. The Concept of Mr/Ms Right The concept of Mr/Ms Right in it's strong form i.e. that there is one and only one person who can be right and anyone else is, er, suboptimal seems clearly wrong to me. As Arthur Lee says in "Alone Again, Or"; "You can be in love with almost everyone" - that may be a bit strong but my view is that there may be many people with whom I would be happy. Love at first sight is a related concept and one to which I am highly subsceptible, but when I fall in love like that it has almost invariably proceeded well for me which again suggests that there can be more than one. In its weaker form that there are a number of people who would be more right than others I have to agree as I have been happily married for over ten years (with a woman who I fell in love with at first sight and had a whirlwind romance with). So I think I've found mine thanks very much. Although that doesn't mean there aren't others... Of course anyone wanting 5 things of their very own from my random stock let me know. Current Mood: drained (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 9th, 2003
4:06 pm	Ages since I wrote anything and nobody checked to see if I'm okay. I have no excuse. It isn't as if life has been hectic or anything. I have been chilling out, which may seem weird in the heat (apologies for those who aren't in Europe at the moment not that I flatter myself that anyone exotic reads my journal) but it is hot. Very hot. I just checked and it is hotter here in London than it is in Honolulu, Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, New York City and Mombasa (and these are the daily maximums all you people with your time difference calculators). It is about the same as it is in Madrid and Bangkok. The only places I can find it hotter are Dubai and Paris (I think this means France not Texas). So anyway, what I wanted to discuss was football chants. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: blah Current Music: Go Lancky Lancky (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, May 2nd, 2003
4:10 pm	Friday afternoon and LJ at work again. Hmmm - this is becoming less of a bad idea and more of a bad tradition. Does anyone else ever have the feeling that they shouldn't really be at work and, in fact, should really still be at school. This is becoming quite strong in me recently. Maybe it is a sign I should go and do an MBA or something except that would cost loads of money. Anyway exciting work here. We have a sort of KFC situation on my new project: "We call it fuel oil, you call it fuel oil; let's all just pretend it's fuel oil". (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 26th, 2003
12:17 pm	Okay increasingly less live journal now as I relate things that happened a full week ago. Anyway we travelled on the train from Paris to Dijon last Saturday, I slept much of the way. The country is flat agricultural land to the north and low hills nearer Dijon. Dijon is at the northern end of the Burgundy wine growing regions north of the Cote D'Or and Cote De Nuit. It is a short trip to Nuits St George, Mersault or Montrachet. The red wine around there is mainly Pinot Noir and the white is Chardonnay although they are often mixed with other grape varieties. Dijon is a lovely town. We wandered around without really going anywhere specific - the palace of the Ducs of Burgundy is an impressive builiding from the outside although a bit strange within. Much of it is used as the town hall and some of the rest is a museum. We went ot the stangest little cafe which advertised all sorts of wines outside but when we went in turned out to be a tea shop and refused to serve alcohol. I increasingly go the impression we were sitting in someones living room. We hurried on to a row of restaurants by a covered marked. We went to a great place called Panagruelisme themed on Rabelais. There was lots of food with mustard involved and Burgundy country wine. We tried not to eat too much as we always plan to go to an amazing restaurant called Au Rocher de Cancale in Macon and we were headed there that evening. Current Mood: energetic Current Music: Love - Forever Changes (Album) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 24th, 2003
10:52 pm	We've been back since Monday and I haven't told anybody anything about our trip to france so here it is in tedious detail for anyone who is interested. I meant to post earlier but have been too lazy to take pictures off my digital camera until now, also I am cooking so we'll see how far I get. We set out on Friday afternoon from Ravenscourt Park in high spirits. The weather was fine and the trees laden with blossom, and this was just West London so we knew we were in for something of a treat. After only a minor 45 minute delay on the tube we just checked in(though a big thumbs up to all the people at british midland - there may not be nearly enough check in desks such that you have to queue thrice round the terminal, but the actual guys on the ground managed to get everyone ushered through and were polite and even quite funny about it) so we had no time to get drunk before the flight. Anyway, we arrived in Paris and immediately hit a traffic nightmare, and it took nearly another hour to negotiate a path from the airport to our hotel. At this stage we were somewhat subdued and the sense that passers-by were watching us was beginning to build. "I hate everybody" I said jokingly, but Steph was in no mood for kidding and simply swore. We clambered up the 6 flights of stairs to our room and from then on everything was brilliant. Our room was not large, but it was five or six times the size of other hotel rooms we have had in Paris in that there was room to swing a cat or at least sit down in the bathroom, there were no rats. We wandered in a westerly direction, Paris is like London; the further west & the further north you go the more expensive it gets (this rule only applies to the centers of our two cities except the actual city which doesn't count as it is always closed at weekends - you get the picture), our hotel was in the southeast corner, you walk east you're in Brussels. Anyway, I digress, we walked west until we came to a bar near a wide boulevard which I had mistaken for a canal on our map; just north of place de la bastille. It is a bit of a trendy area, used to be rubbishy but is now kind of cool in a rundown way. P dl Bastille itself is a bit dull as they pulled down the only reason for its existence in 1789 and the only replacement is a horrible looking opera house. Anyway we went to Rue de Lappe and had fantastic food. I was too scared to really appreciate it as my chair was inches from a 40 foot drop but the food was nice. The next day we went early to Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetry, home to such corpses as Colette, Balzaac and Jim Morrison. It was a lovely morning and for some reason we had woken early. It is a fantastic feeling knowing that the holiday is to come and that you can leave the cemetry at any time. We did and wondered through central Paris (from Les Halles to the river), and went a had lunch in a restaurant on Rue St.Germain. We also found the Cordeliers Convent where the Cordelier Club (less formal Jacobins) met during the French Revolution - something which I have wanted to do for some time. We also went to the Musee D'Orsay and Steph was very impressed with the amazing amount of pictures. I found myself a bit numbed by them all - I prefer the Tate. Anyway - that was Paris, I need to sleep now so Burgundy will have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully the picture with this is one of me in a cafe in paris. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Rite of Spring - Stravinsky (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 17th, 2003
1:02 pm	Just off to France on Holiday for a couple of days. I really need more time off work I think. If you are on uon's friends list check out his recent post about viscous fingering. It has a cool physics as art mpeg in it, but really I just giggle when I hear the words viscous fingering. Looks suspiciously like I am going to be extending my current contract which is something I said I wouldn't do. Oh well... Current Mood: mellow Current Music: Barry Adamson - King of Notting Hill (Album) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 12th, 2003
11:13 pm	Steph is running the London marathon tomorrow, is extremely nervous, and has gone to bed early so now she can't sleep. An atypical Saturday, I sit here totally sober. Earlier I watched Chelsea beat Bolton. It wasn't the most inspiring of games sadly although we won. Hasselbaink had a terrible game and wasted tons of good chances but he'd clearly been promised 90 minutes as Ranieri kept taking better players off. Cole had a good game though. Current Mood: calm Current Music: White Stripes - There's no home for you here (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 8th, 2003
1:16 pm	Falling cats Camille went and fell down the gap between out house and next door again yesterday. This is a rewarding experience for all concerned, as that cat sits in the dark howling for all she is worth as we try to find some way to get her back. Thankfully yesterday our downstairs neighbour who has an appropriate door was in and not too asleep. In the past we have tried lowering a bucket. That really didn't work too well. The miaows of the wretched cat also bring out the Dunkerque spirit in ought neighbours who let us cart ladders through their houses and lend us torches. In other news the woman who sits next to me at work, being bored and fed up looking after her two children decided to stick £50 on a horse in the national. Guess which one. She won't even take us all out to lunch. Current Mood: hopeful (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 1st, 2003
10:09 pm	And once more I don't get to go to Glastonbury. Otherwise quite an entertaining day, I may even have a new work contract which will keep me in cider and holidays for another six months. Also bought the White Stripes album which I haven't listened to enough to rave about yet. No cat art or randomness this evening. Current Mood: excited Current Music: Elephant (album) - White Stripes (1 Comment |Comment on this)