Happy Birthday GSM

On the 7th September 1987 15 firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications.

My eldest nephew was an early adopter and the thing weighed a ton and was about 1 foot square - cannot see these catching on I thought, just goes to show that my predictive antennae were not very finely tuned.

Fast forward 20 years and there are now 2.5 billion accounts world wide and not only are they tiny but they double up as cameras, calculators, alarm clocks etc etc.

Back in the day someone talking to their self in the street would have been scooped up by the men in white coats and whisked off to the funny farm - now you feel disenfranchised if your cell does not ring while you are ambling around your supermarket/book shop/other favourite emporiums.

However, some places are sacred and all phones should be turned off on entry:

Libraries,
Bars,
Restaurants,
Insert location of your choice

Guiness Is Good For You - Now Official

I cannot believe that shortly after publishing Beer 101 that the results of this research come out.

Check it out here.

John Martyn - May You Never

First say him live back in '76 when I was at University, he had Danny Thompson backing him on stand up bass and they were superb. He has fought his demons over the years but remains a beautiful song writer and one fine guitarist. Enjoy

Beer 101 - Guiness

I can still remember my first pint of draught Guiness, served in the sculpted Guiness glass of that time, perfection: dark base and a thick creamy head and it tasted as good as it looked.

Never looked back after that and for a long time after my move from the hills to Berkshire after graduation I refused to touch the “native ales”.

Fast forward to the late nineties and myself and the nephews are planning a New Year in County Mayo so we decide to cross the channel to stock up with cheap booze. Along with the wine we find draught flow Guiness cans brewed in Dublin (at that time those in the UK were all brewed in London) for sale - so we buy 96 cans to take with us.

Talk about coals to Newcastle, our Irish friends could not believe how much we had taken with us - think that we only got through half of them as the draught served in the pubs was much tastier.

So now I am off to drain that glass.

Slàinte mhath!

Michael Jackson is Dead

No not that one, this is the one who wrote great prose on the topics of beer and malt whisky (two drinks close to my heart) and also made the TV programme The Beer Hunter.

If you need more detail check him out.

Inspirational Lady

I was saddened to hear today that Jane Tomlinson had finally lost her battle with cancer.

Her achievments have amazed and inspired people around the world.

Read her story here.

A great lady who will be missed by many.

Road Trip

Back in ‘82 I was working in Kuwait and one week in Spring my buddy A and I decide to rent a 4X4 and head on up to the marshes by the Iraq border to try and spot some migrating birds and camp out under the stars for a night.

So come Thursday morning (start day of our weekend) we head out and rent a GMC Jimmy (large vehicle for us UK dudes) which comes complete with “I love Texas” bumper sticker. We need the off road capability as there are no metaled roads where we are heading, load up with food, drinks and BBQ kit and head off into the desert like native bedouin.

Once we get off the black stuff things start to go wrong, we get lost and end up passing an Iraq border post (small hut in the middle of nowhere) heading back into Kuwait. Bored guard points us in the right direction in exchange for some smokes.

We cannot find the marshes and end up parking by a beach where the tide is out and so we trudge out for 2 miles to see the sea. On our return to the beach we encounter 2 arabic guys in a small Toyota, they demand to see some ID and ask us what we are doing and as they have 2 AK47s parked either side of the hand brake we oblige.

For some reason they thought we were Americans (remember the bumper sticker) but on discovering that we were British they instantly lose all interest in us “crazy Brits” or something very similar. So we head off to find a suitable camp site - somewhere flat not on the side of a dune - and get the BBQ on the go.

Just as we are finishing eating with the sun low on the horizon and I notice that a small yellow scorpion has come out of its hole to join us for dinner. We have probably never moved as fast in our lives and end up sitting on the bonnet watching our new “friend” investigate the changes to his/her normal environment. When it disappears down another hole we retrieve our gear and retreat to the safety of the inside - so much for sleeping under the stars.

The stars what night were awesome and after a couple of hours star gazing we crash out. Around 02:00 we are awoken by the rumble of trucks in the distance, this convoy took over an hour to pass by (war supplies heading from Saudi up to Iraq - the Iran Iraq war had been ongoing for almost two years at that time). Took ages to get back to sleep.

The next morning we waved goodbye to our new “friend” and headed off in the direction of the truck sounds from the night before and after not much more than 10 mins driving we were back on the black stuff and heading South.

Birds seen - zero marshes - likewise but we both enjoyed our mini adventure and it made a pleasant change from our normal weekend routine of drinking home made beer and wine in our “rabbit hutch” one room flats.

My Favourite Mexicans

First came across these guys at Glastonbury 3 years ago and they totally blew me away. When they are asked about their style of playing they always claim that it derives from their days of playing thrash metal! Enjoy

Writers Block

Could not think of anything to wtite on today so I thought that I would investigate emedding a YouTube link.

OK, looks pretty easy so enjoy this, some fine guitar playing from a young man in South Korea - wish my fingers could move like that.

Aromas

Why is it that of all our sense the sense of smell has the extraordinary ability to transport me through time and space. I was reminded of this the other day while walking past a newly mown hay field, the familiar smell took me from rural Berkshire to the Outer Hebrides some 40 odd years ago.

My younger brother and I used to spend 5 weeks there in the summer on our Uncles croft and the two smells that take me back there are newly mown hay and the smell of peat burning.The hay was cut with a tractor but then had to be turned to dry it and then collected using hand held tools, my memories of joining in this task always coincide with clear blue skies and of the sun glittering on the waves rolling into the bay below us.

I remember the field as being huge but that is with the eye of a young boy, the reality is that it was quite small. I also remember assisting in the collection of the peat to provide the croft with winter fuel - and then I return to the here and now.

So here in no particular order are my favourite aromas:

Wood Smoke
Peat Smoke
Freshly baked bread
Freshly ground coffee
Grated ginger
Spice markets of Dubai
Sea shore
Single Malt Whisky
Pine Trees
New Mown Hay