One of those evenings where I was, rather painfully, reminded that I wear contacts for playing football for a reason! After I got the ball in the face a couple of times, I was glad I wasn’t perching a pair of glass lenses on my nose!
It’s really cold as well. (Almost completely unrelated, but it was!!!)
It does appear to be that my blog entries are mostly done at the weekends. It’s not that I don’t do much during the week, but I guess it’s probably not that interesting! (Although a blog would indicate an introvert, I’m not quite so introverted as to tell you mundane details such as what I had for dinner each night!) Needless to say, this Saturday was a usual Saturday, with a fried breakfast, a quick run around the football pitch, a trip to Feltham for their monthly bible rally and finally the chance to wind down with a relaxing dinner with Daniella.
Routine? yes – Dull? I don’t think so. 🙂
Started learning a Bagatelle by Mozart and a movement from a Sonatina by Telemann this evening. I quickly got the hang of the Mozart without too much trouble, but the Telemann could be a little trickier! It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes me to master these two pieces. (Especially as they’re both on the AB Examination Syllabus at grades 5 and 6 respectively!)
After many years of trusty service, my Sony Ericsson Z600 is starting to play up. Making calls and texting still works fine, but the external loudspeaker seems to be suffering a dry joint. This means that, sometimes, when someone phones me, or texts me, I have no audible cue – it doesn’t ring! Usually a tap in the right place reconnects the speaker, but obviously this isn’t so great. If I knew when someone was phoning me so I could tap the phone so I could hear it ring, I wouldn’t need it to ring in the first place!
So the question is – What phone should I get?
I quite like phones which cover the keypad when not in use, so I don’t accidentally phone people, so either a sliding phone or a clamshell would be good. Obviously I would want to make phone calls and text people, whilst only having to charge it once a week, anything else on top of that basic functionality is not so important in my mind.
It’s been one of those busy yet nondescript weeks. The only evening I had to myself was on Wednesday, which allowed me to relax and play the piano to my hearts content. I would play the violin more, but I can’t play it too late into the night as it doesn’t have a headphone socket and I’m sure my neighbours wouldn’t appreciate it too much.
This morning, after hanging out the washing, eating breakfast and making a packed lunch, I joined a few others for a ramble around Shamley Green. Autumn was in full swing and the display of colour in Creation was magnificent. All manner of golden shades were on show, which were brilliantly contrasted with the clear blue sky of a fresh November Saturday.
I must admit, I was ready to curl up on the sofa and relax, but I had arranged to go and see the fireworks at Battersea in the evening. I quickly unloaded the car of all my hiking gear, and sauntered down to central London. After meeting up with others from HWEC and other churches in London (and beyond), we scoffed a KFC and stood with the assembled masses in Battersea Park. As always, the display was impressive, with a particularly good piece of choreographing with “It’s Oh So Quiet”, by Björk. Afterwards, we chatted, chilled and finally trudged back home.
A good, if rather exhausting day!
After my usual Saturday start of a full English breakfast, I headed down to Lampton Park for a good run around with a football. I hadn’t quite figured I’d be running around as much as I did! Since there were only five of us, we split the teams as evenly as we could and had tiny goals. After half an hour had passed, I was being to feel like there was lead in my legs! I really should stop playing this game!
Afterwards, I had a bath and then headed down to to Feltham to meet up with Daniella and her friend at Nandos. We shared a chicken and a half between us, and I was feeling distinctly stuffed by the end of the meal! A leisurely walk along the Thames in Richmond burnt off the chicken.
A good day! 🙂
Went to the Slough Empire this evening to watch Rataouille with some of the usual suspects. Whilst Cars was a good film in its own right, I thought it wasn’t as good as what we’d come to expect from Pixar, so I had a sense of both excitement and apprehension when I wandered into the cinema.
In true Pixar tradition, there was a very amusing short film prior to the main feature. I shan’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen the film yet, but needless to say, it set the mood brilliantly.
Every time I watch a Pixar film, I’m amazed by what they’ve managed to achieve technically.This was no exception, I spent a good amount of time watching the fur on the rats, the water effects and all manner of other computer generated wonders.
The story itself is great, with plenty of twists and turns, with the characters having all manner of difficult choices to make. The characters are very much alive, with some great voices and animation. There is plenty of humour, both of the slapstick kind, and of the more subtle variety.
Even though this film has a U certificate, it has plenty to keep both adults and children entertained. Pixar have done it again and produced a film which is well worth seeing.
Saw DéjàVu this evening. I must admit, I was a little sceptical about seeing this film, as the blurb on the back cover sounded cheesey. It all looked like a serious version of Back to the Future, except I couldn’t see how that would work! Saying that, Denzel Washington doesn’t usually appear in bad films, although Val Kilmer has contributed to some shockers in the past! Denzel was the lead though, so there was hope.
It starts off with an investigation into an apparent terrorist bombing, with ATF agent Doug Carlin (played by Denzel) who is investigating. The story seems fairly predictable to start with, but takes a slight turn when Carlin is invited to use a device which can see past events. The device is used to see the steps of the bomber and others involved in order to aide evidence gathering. There isn’t any real explanation of how the device works, suffice to say, Carlin is a little suspicious.
I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the end of the film. The story had been executed skilfully, with expert direction, and good acting. Philosophical questions on the nature of time, predestination and causality were raised, with more than a passing nod to God.
For a film of this nature, the portrayal of events was balanced and necessary, instead of needless gratuitousness.
All in all, a good film.
I saw Classical Star on BBC2 and was pleasantly surprised with its execution. Instead of the in your face approach of shows like the X-Factor, this show was a little more down to earth. It started off with a handful of teenage musicians who were evidently talented, but also had worked hard to master their instruments.
The first major challenge was for the musicians was a trip to a shopping mall to busk. There was no glamour, no glitz, but the musicians selected their own repertoire, given a few tips and then left to it. This was an exercise in engaging an audience. I must admit to being slightly surprised at the outcome, with the more talented musicians not necessarily being the more talented entertainers. Just goes to show, performance is more than musical talent.
The second, and final, major task of the week was to perform before their peers. This wasn’t well-groomed, public school teenagers, but everyday common or garden teenagers. Again, the musicians chose their own repertoire, and again, I was slightly surprised at the outcome. Bearing in mind the audience, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was the more complex, both emotionally and technically, pieces which provoked the most reaction from the audience. Those musicians who had shied away from presenting ‘heavy’ classical, instead going for light classics, were respected and got a polite applause. Those who had gone for harder pieces had their efforts rewarded, with some of the audience visibly moved by the performances. (To the point of tears in some cases). Who says teenagers can’t be interested in classical music?
Finally when it came to elimination, unlike other contemporary shows, this wasn’t some form of public humiliation being passed off as entertainment. It was all fairly private, polite and low-key. I’ll try and keep a reminder in my diary to keep watching. 🙂
A nice leisurely morning, with a nice soothing bath and a good breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon and tomatoes, which I managed to grill (apart from the eggs, which were still fried) without setting off the smoke detector!
The afternoon was spent wandering round the Tate Modern with Daniella, trying to fathom out the various works of art. I must admit, I’ve never been very good with contemporary art, and this afternoon was no exception! I stared a little at the great crack in the floor of the turbine hall, puzzled about its creation, but didn’t see the point. Some of the pieces made more sense than others, but I must admit, I’d be happier with something slightly less abstract. I think the piece which I got on most with was Water-Lillies by Claude Monet. Before we headed home we had some noodles at Wagamama, although the Udon noodles weren’t quite as expected. We then embarked on a slightly unpredictable journey on the tube, with closures and delays all over the place.
A good day. 🙂
After purchasing a drill in Argos in their clearance sale (£20 off a 700W hammer drill), and purchasing some shelves and fixings from B&Q in their clearance sale (£2 a shelf, 50p a bracket – bargain!), I finally put up some shelves a few days ago! Hopefully the shelves will stay up – the drill makes a huge racket as it hammers through the masonry, so I don’t want to be doing it too often!
I have now organised all my DVDs into order and finally have an idea of what I have. The only thing is, with this new clarity, I’m sure I owned some DVDs which haven’t surfaced. I guess I must’ve loaned them to people. I can only surmise this as I also found a few DVDs which I don’t own, but seem to have borrowed from others for quite a while! I shall endeavour to return them!
A slightly earlier Saturday morning as there was a working party at the church. Plenty of people turned up, and there were plenty of jobs to do. It was good to see people of all ages working together, working on tasks as mundane as shampooing the carpets, to carrying out maintenance on the noticeboard. By the end of the morning, we’d carried out a lot of jobs, with a distinct feeling of satisfaction.
I then wandered down to Lampton Park to play football, although no one turned up. after sitting around for 30 minutes, I went home and found out why – England were playing Estonia for Euro 2008. I guess I should pay more attention.
After a quick shower, I headed down to Feltham Evangelical Church to listen at their monthly preaching meetings. Ken Morey spoke on the Holy Spirit, and how as Christians we can grieve him. It was an edifying, if somewhat sobering, message. We were reminded that, as Christians, we should remember, repent and return to our first love, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A quick burger from BK, and rest of the evening was spent chatting and relaxing at Sarah’s
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6
Today was one of those funny days. It started off well, as I used my new shower in anger for the first time, and it performed superbly. The water was nice and hot, with plenty of pressure, turning my little bathroom into a mini sauna! I felt thoroughly clean and, after getting dressed I then set off for work, and the day took a weird turn.
I shut the front door behind me, pushed the door handle up, inserted the key, deadlocked the door and pulled the handle down to confirm the deadlocking… The handle span freely about its axis… This wasn’t good. I tried unlocking the door with the key, but the handle was required to retract the deadbolts! I was effectively locked out of my house, even though I had the key in my hand! After a little messing around with Allen keys and pliers, I decided to call a locksmith.
When I first moved in, I wasn’t entirely sure I had all the keys to the front door, so I searched around for a locksmith to change the lock. I found a little company called Try Security. It looked like a one man operation, but the one man was friendly, reasonably priced, and, more importantly, highly competent. With this in mind, I contacted Try Security again and, within an hour, my front door was open. He also fixed the badly-installed door handle so that I wouldn’t have a repeat occurrence! After all those shenanigans, work was rather dull!
A number of us ventured down to Box Hill for a ramble. On reaching the car park, we were surprised to find it had been invaded by Ford enthusiasts, with Capri’s, Cortina’s, Escort’s and numerous other Ford-made vehicles squashing out the usual bikers. Anyway, we donned our boots and we were off to enjoy some slightly more natural scenery. The weather was a little cloudy at first, but brightened up after lunch, becoming quite warm and pleasant in the end. The colours of Autumn were in abundance, and the bright afternoon sun brought them out in all their magnificence. Hopefully, this’ll will become a regular occurrence again!
Afterwards, I met up with some others to celebrate Joe’s birthday at TGI Fridays, in Kingston. The food was tasty, but a little cool, but the company and service made up for it!
