Fun in the sun

Ross County 2 - Celtic 0

The wee team triumph! Fantastic.

Not only did they win the game, they were the better team. The first division minnows outplayed the Premier giants.

And... this wasn’t a midweek replay on a sodden pitch at a tiny football ground - it was a showpiece semi-final at the national stadium, in bright sunshine. Big stage, big occasion, huge performance by County.

I should note that I’m not a Ross County fan, but I do like to see the underdog come out on top - and this was an epic tale of the underdog. A cup shock that will become a legend.

So what was the difference between the two teams? For me, the key to County’s success was having fun. They seemed to enjoy the occasion, and played with a freedom that created confidence. By contrast, Celtic seemed to be playing with the fear of failure.

I also see this scenario being played out at work. Those who are afraid to make a mistake, whose goal is compliance with the rules and minimum expectations rarely (actually, never) flourish. Those who take a few risks, follow their instincts and enjoy what they’re doing seem to generate much more productivity. Aye, it also applies to me - I get much more achieved, and much more satisfaction when I have fun, use my creativity and flair, and challenge a few norms along the way; than when I fall into the despair of box ticking and paper pushing. So next time that I’m in that pit, I’ll remind myself of Ross County, and (hopefully) put a smile on my face and some freedom into my work.

(By the way, I’m looking forward to an all first division final. So tomorrow I’ll be cheering for Raith Rovers - and I don’t support them either!)

Chores and simple pleasures

They are necessary for the continuation of everyday life. Yet the very term that we use for them carries negative connotations - CHORES!

Yet some of them bring a degree of pleasure - at leas that’s how I feel. I like polishing shoes - not doing loads at once, but polishing my work shoes every evening. There’s pleasure in the rhythm of brushing, and of taking something a bit scuffed and battered with the wear and tear of the day and restoring it to a state of shininess. Similarly with ironing - I like taking a crumpled shirt and ending up with a crisp, pressed end product.

By contrast, I find no pleasure (and little purpose) in car washing, even though similar principles apply. Weird, huh?

That reminds me...

Anne over at Get Out of Jail Free posted an entry the other day that triggered two thoughts.

Firstly, it seems that the planned trip to Peru might be the start of the deep involvement that I was advocating in a recent post.

The second (more trivial) thought was about a recent conversation with some longstanding friends who go to our church.  Many years ago, I preached a sermon where I was encouraging the congregation to think about the areas that we were willing to get involved in.  (There's a bit of a recurring theme here.)  I concluded my talk with the question, 'When did you last have breakfast with a prostitute?'

Surprisingly, the sermon had stuck in the mind of their son, who was probably about 10 years old at the time.  Over lunch, he asked, 'Mum, you're a prostitute aren't you?'

When she had recovered her composure and her thought processes, the penny dropped with Mum, who replied to her son: 'I think you might mean PROTESTANT!'

Thinking about... football shirts

Last night I caught the last 20 minutes of the Everton/ Manchester City game.  I don't support either team, but I've got mixed feelings about Man City at the moment.  They used to be regarded as the team that real Mancunians supported, and were more true to their roots than their city rivals United.  Now they're owned by a billionaire who seems to be intent on spending obscene sums of money to achieve success - but I digress.

What struck me was the strip that City were wearing - it's their third kit for this season.  I really like it.

I like it for three reasons:

• the design is crisp and elegant;
• it's a throw back to an earlier era (the black and white background image), appealing to the long lost days of my youth;
• the sponsor's logo doesn't overpower the design.

Sadly, the third bullet point isn't true for their first or second kits!  Maybe more teams should adopt a similar strategy, rather than designing their gear around very large logos.

Just a thought.

Lucy's Virtual Visit Challenge

I'm happy to accept Lucy's challenge and play.  Here's my space.

The funny thing is that unlike some of those who have commented at Lucy's space, I don't feel that this is too personal to post.  In fact, one of the reasons for playing is to keep me motivated to organise and simplify this working space.

Feel free to join in the challenge.

New traditions at New Year

Since this is the second year that we've done it, I'm calling it a tradition! 

I'm talking about watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny.  I know it's pre-recorded, but there seems to be a really good atmosphere in the TV studio, and the performers all seem to enjoy themselves.  I should acknowledge that I'm a fan of Jools' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra - we saw them several years ago in Perth City Hall and they were fabulous.

So what were the stand out performances for me this year?

I enjoyed Paolo Nuttini's version of 'Lovin Machine'; and the technique and innovation from Rodrigo Y Gabriela; and I quite enjoyed Florence (without the Machine) doing 'My Baby Just Cares For Me'.

I was surprised to find myself enjoying the sartorially suave Mr Dizzee Rascal vs Nirvana.  (I wonder why Mrs Rascal named her son Dizzee?  Does he have siblings called Naughtee and Cheekee?)

But for me the stand out performance of the evening was Ruby Turner singing 'This Train' - check it out!

Do you have any new traditions that you'd like to share? Or, even, traditions that you'd like to introduce to family life?  

Christmas fun with Organic Demo

An interesting take on some old favourites.  Go on, smile!  You know you want to!

P.S. After posting this I went back to what I'd been listening to before - Franck's Panis Angelicus.  Slightly bizarre?

Mundane, whimsical anarchy

I heard the news today that Oliver Postgate died - he's the creator of Noggin the Nod, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and the Clangers. (For those who don't know, they're all children's television shows, popular in the UK before the presence of multi-channel mind-numbing inanity.)

My favourites were the Clangers - funny pink creatures that lived on the moon and spoke in whistles. Or so I thought, until I discovered that the whistles were used to represent English words. Postgate got into a bit of trouble with the (then) uptight BBC for the clip below. Now I don't usually think that swearing is big or clever, but I do like this clip for it's realism and Postgate's subversive streak in including it on a children's programme for Auntie Beeb.

They certainly don't make them like they used to!! (And yes, there is more than a little irony in Jonathan Ross' presence on that episode of QI!!)

Marigold the Snow Queen

You know there's something weird with the season when your snow-person is decorated with marigolds!

Of course, it may also say something about the creator (not me) of this al fresco art piece!

Now hear this - or read it if you prefer

I came across this article today, which is interesting in some ways. Judges (certainly in this country) seem to have a habit of offering opinions without any evidence to back it up - beyond their own opinions. A bit like bloggers really!!

I wonder if the real issue isn't the difference between listening and reading, but instead is related to our concentration spans. We have become used to sound bites and quick summaries, and perhaps have lost the capacity to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

I know that I've lost my ability to concentrate for any period of time, and now plan my work and other activities in half-hour slots to try to deal with this.

I also have a theory about the way that we should write for computer-based texts, but I'll keep that for another time.

Art or story?

Having waded through all of the photos that I took while in Boston, I've been asking myself - do they tell the story of our holiday? Is this my objective when taking photos or am I trying to create/ capture some form of art? What would I need to change to incorporate the element of narrative (I already know about the shortage of people photos!)?

And even as I ponder these questions That Hideous Man posts an entry on his blog that combines both aspects! I think his still life on a medical theme is particularly impressive, although a blood-stained action shot would have rounded off the tale.

Anticipate the consequences

As the father of a teenager, I find myself frequently advocating that Dolly D should "anticipate the consequences". This handy little catchphrase fits two scenarios - when something has gone horribly awry and when disaster looms due to lack of foresight and thinking. I probably use these words at least once a day and more frequently when we spend lots of time together – at weekends and holidays.

Well, I provided an opportunity for her to take revenge just before our trip to Boston - in fact, on the day before we flew out. For a few weeks I had been planning to harvest some of the chillis that we’ve grown in our greenhouse and preserve them. The method of preservation is to de-seed them, chop them ready for use and store each fruit in a little jar filled with olive oil. It’s a tried and tested method.

Now I know that chopping chillis can cause irritation to your hands and any part of your body that your hands come into contact with; so being smart and anticipating this consequence I used my trusty method of self-preservation. I rubbed my hands with oil before I started to chop, thus providing a barrier between the jaggy chemical stuff and my delicate hands.

I then set about chopping and storing chillis for about an hour, and a nice wee pile of jars were ready for future use. I wouldn’t usually chop chillis for this long, and there was a slight stinging effect, but nothing too serious. (Astute readers will probably be anticipating a twist in the tale coming up.)

Being in a helpful mood I cajoled Dolly D to help with some washing up – I washed, she dried. This is where things went a bit pear-shaped. By immersing my hands in hot water I removed any remaining barrier, opened the pores in my hands and let all the chilli juice in. The pain was intense, and it only got worse as I tried various remedies. I had planned an early night since we were leaving early to catch our flight. Instead I spent a sleepless night as my hands burned and stung.

Inevitably, Dolly D had some advice for the occasion – “Dad, you should’ve anticipated the consequences”. For once she was right!

Low level blogging

I haven't been blogging (or commenting) much recently - lots of excuses, no reasons. I'm reminded of a quotation from Virginia Woolf:

"I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street."

So rather than lose all of my blogging friends, I thought I'd better step off the kerb again!

I've had lots of ideas for blog entries (even put them together in a file), but zero output. That's life at the moment.

This entry simply a re-entry to blog-land. I checked out Lucy's place and came across one of those cyber-quiz thingumyjigs. I could have answered most of the questions at least twice (Does that mean that I have a split personality? If so, how many ways has it split?...). Anyway, my output is below. Play if you like - but remember there are other sources of careers advice available!!

You Are the Philosopher

You love thinking things over and developing theories. Learning is very important to you, and you pursue knowledge relentlessly. You love to talk about the things you know, often in more detail than people would like to hear. And you know a lot! You're always taking on new subjects, interests, and hobbies. You are at your best when you are left alone to ponder your newest ideas and experiments. You tend to withdraw from environments that are loud, contentious, or passionate.

What Role Do You Play?

In praise of a software upgrade.

I usually find software upgrades a pain in the behookie - unnecessary downloads and restarts for no perceptible gain in functionality.

However, to my great surprise I'm quite enjoying the latest version of iTunes (8.0.0). I'm having a bit of fun with the 'genius' button. Now I know that it's just another way to try to get me buying more music from the iStore, and in essence it's no different from marketing ploys used by other companies, like Amazon. But it has one feature that I like - it generates playlists from your music library. It's much more random than I would be if I selected the music myself. I like that!

The big question is how long will I resist buying more music - that I hadn't intended to buy - from iTunes?

The best student??

A long time ago in a far away place… well, over 20 years ago in St Andrews…

I heard a reference recently to the Tao Te Ching, which reminded me of an episode from my student days.

To give a bit of background, I was struggling with a particular subject – called Divinity, but really it was the grounding for the theological and philosophical element of my course. I was able to cope with most of the concepts and work without too much trouble, but I had a horrible relationship with one of my lecturers. At the time it felt like she had a vendetta against me; now I wonder if she just hated all men (or maybe, most people). Anyway, this arch-feminist, man-hating, post-Christian, theocentric lunatic gave me a series of marks that all but condemned me to re-sitting the course the following year. To pass I needed to get an astronomical mark in the last assignment of that academic year.

Fortunately the last topic was a comparative religion exercise – and my nemesis wasn’t teaching the course. It was taught by a lovely man called Dr Hall (I honestly thought that before the course). The prospect of studying the Tao Te Ching did not fill me with glee. But Doc Hall was a good teacher who generated some enthusiasm from me (many of my colleagues opted not to attend his classes, but they weren’t needing marks like I was!) Anyway, Doc Hall introduced us to the Tao and really communicated the spirit of it to us. He was married to a Chinese woman, which probably accounted for some of his interest in it.

When the time came for us to do the final assignment, he told us that our task was simply to capture the essence of the Tao – how we did that was entirely up to us.

Given my desperate plight, I adopted the philosophical approach of the Tao:

“Do what consists of taking no action, and order will prevail.”

I was seriously tempted to write that quotation on a piece of paper and hand it in, but I chickened out of that course of action.

Instead I sat in a big armchair at a bay window one sunny afternoon and wrote a poem (now lost). It consisted of 137 words. Given that I had virtually no chance of getting the mark that I needed, I adopted a cavalier attitude, and handed the poem in as it was. No editing, no refining, no padding it out to make it look like I’d made any significant effort.

To my astonishment I got the top mark in the class, and managed to scrape a pass in the course. Doc Hall loved the poem and he had showed it to his wife who said that it perfectly captured the spirit of Tao.

I have no real idea why I’m writing all of this now… but I’ve looked out my copy of the Tao and will treat myself to a couple of hours reading it – the next time we get a sunny afternoon when I’m not at work!

“When the best student hears about the way
He practices it assiduously.”

Friday photo: Discomfort

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

Playing on a dreich Wednesday

I've got a few days off work at the moment. The weather precluded any thoughts of gardening today, so I spent a bit of time playing this morning. I came across a definition of play recently:

"guilt-free purposeless-ness"

Well I'm pretty good at the guilt-free part, but I usually like to have some sense of purpose. This morning I was trying to learn a bit more about the software that I use to organise and edit my photos. I reckon that I knew how to use about 0.0038% of the functionality of the product. After this morning that has leapt to an impressive 0.0038127%. Awesome - or what??

Anyway, I managed to learn how to create panoramas by stitching/ blending photos together - the clever stuff is done automatically by the software. The attempt below is a view over Loch Leven (the one in Kinross-shire) from the top of Vane Hill. It was a useful reminder of a nice walk with the Fish Wife on Monday of this week - and the fact that it doesn't always rain here!

Compost Corner

I spent several hours in the garden today (and I'm feeling a few aches and pains in my ageing body!). Most of the time was spent trying to sort out Compost Corner. This is an area that we've set aside to manage our compost. Since we garden organically, the generation of our own compost is quite important to us. It helps us to recycle a lot of material and it's satisfying to see the vegetable peelings, grass, paper etc breaking down and forming nutritious, beneficial compost.

However, there is a downside - it can be hard work. We've got 4 bins for compost - the idea being that the material moves along the bins until it's ready for use. Transferring the decomposing material is labour intensive - and frequently neglected. Unsurprisingly, it's also the most prolific area of the garden for weeds!

Anyway, after today's efforts (including valuable contributions from the Fish Wife)it's looking a lot better now.

The name Compost Corner was given to it by a friend who is a professional gardener. It was years later that I made the connection with the anarchic children's television show TISWAS. The clip below gives you an idea of the insanity of it all - but be warned if you like The Who, you may not want to watch it!