AndyBlog

Amarylis - Day 26 - Completion

And so, dear friends, the Amarylis project has succeeded. It has flowered before I managed to kill it - more a testimony to the greatness of the plant, than to my tending of it.

Here is the proof - properly photographed this time, to mark the event.

More Bush

So, then.

George W. Bush begins his new term round about now. I guess I am resigned to the inevitability of this now, although at one point I was very angry. His pledge to bring freedom to as much of the world as possible carries with it a chill which worries me considerably. I can't help but wonder exactly how free the terror-gripped nation of Iraq feels today.

During the run up to the war in Iraq, we were told of the convincing evidence of weapons of mass destruction. It has since transpired that there were no so called “WMD” in Iraq at that time. The nation of Iraq did not represent any kind of military threat to the west whatsoever. For his own reasons, Mr. Bush decided to attack Iraq and overthrow its tyrant leader.

Loyal Mr. Blair felt he had to offer support, or risk a major rift with Britain's traditional friend. So, we found ourselves at war - and throwing the first punch. It was never going to be pretty, and we find ourselves still facing the ugliness of conflict even now. Reports of suicide bombs and killings in Iraq are a daily fact of life for us these days.

When Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush are cornered on these issues, they say that whilst WMD were not found, they will never apologise for removing an evil tyrant from the world.

This is the truly scary part, for me.

What that amounts to, in my view, is saying that what happened may have been wrong and would normally be unjustifiable, but that the end justifies the means.

Isn't that what terrorists say?

I wonder if any of us can truly be comfortable with what has happened at the hands of our own government and in the name of democracy.

Does it bother you?

Amarylis - Flowering Achieved

100% Full Bloom

Result.

I promise, I will write about something else soon. Honest.

Amarylis - Day 23

It's Happening.

Amarylis - Day 22

Meanwhile, back at the Amarylis...

As predicted, much has taken place, but does this really count as flowering? I guess not, because the flowers still need to open up and reveal themselves in their full glory. Surely, that day cannot be far away.

Wedding, Wedding & Wedding

So, the wedding happened.

I wondered, at one point, whether it was going to happen at all. The bride was fully half an hour late, way beyond stylish, I'd say. We were to be told, subsequently, that the limo driver got lost.

Whether or not this was the case, we'll never know, but it did set the pace of things to come. A very relaxed - VERY relaxed pace. This factor was the only downside on what was otherwise a wonderful day.

Before the civil ceremony in the hotel, a lovely harpist played music to relax us. The ceremony itself was very pleasant, including some nice love poetry and the company of the assembled tragically attempting to sing “Stand By Me” and “What A Wonderful World” - to harp accompaniment.

I've never seen popular songs attempted in this way before, and I think I now know why. With vague harp music and not much of a lead, the singing was uncertain and confused, not helped by the fact that almost none of us had sung either song all the way through before.

The reception was great. The setting was suitably grand, plenty of people were there and the food was excellent. The speeches were good quality and the slide-show amusing. I actually found it hard to fault the organisation of it, it was superbly done.

I often get to play at weddings as part of Soul Doubt, and so it was different to be on the other side of the fence this time. Mark is a musician who records at my studio, and Vicki is an ex-colleague of Fiona's, so we both have individual links to the happy couple. It is nice to have the double link-up in that way.

So, anyway, I was roped in to play in the band, later that evening. Mark simply had to play at his own wedding, and so he put his student band back together, with the addition of yours truly. We murdered a few 80's hits and left the stage before people's ears began to bleed too badly. The repertoire is the most varied I have ever performed. Get this:

1) Close to you (Carpenters) - This was the first dance for the happy couple.
2) 20th Century Boy (T-Rex)
3) Smells like teen spirit (Nirvana)
4) Rio (Duran Duran)
5) Fight for your right to party (Beastie Boys)
6) Can't Take My Eyes Off You (Loads of people have done this)

The Members of Love

To wrap this extended blog up...

I enjoyed the trip up to Glasgow very much indeed. It was a splendid two days away. We spent time with some great people, did some fun things and ate some great food. I have confidence that Mark and Vicki will make it as a couple, I really do wish them well. It's easy to get wrapped up in a wedding and forget that there is a marriage.

I'm pretty shattered now, and enjoying some relaxation back at home. Having said that, those two days away rather whetted my appetite for holiday. I've missed being away, and it was good to see a new part of the world.

Now “normal” life continues. Ah well.

Robin's Doings

Andy and the Angel - “to brighten things up a bit”

“Andy should never have left the baby bio within reach when he went away for the weekend....”

Robin, I thank you. I know you have no long-term plans to career-shift to graphic design, but....well - good thinking. Thank you again.

Breakfast, and stuff...

There was a sort of crushing inevitability to today's picture and blog entry. I was going to apologise on that account, but decided that since this was a part of me and what I do, I should, instead, just get about my business and be the person who I are.

“Who are I?” I hear you reasonably ask. well, I am the person who photographs my breakfasts, and I am slowly coming to terms with it. I shall post a full rpeort, for breakfast lovers, on the breakfast blog. Suffice it to say here, that this was a pleasing brekky, and we enjoyed it.

Returning to our hotel room, it was time to take a shower and prepare for the business of the day. I did note that this hotel uses sensibly sized shampoo and shower gel bottles, so that it is possible to use a realistic amount of both substances in the important endeavour of cleaning one's body. They should be highly praised for this - as most hotels take great joy in providing the most meagre little bottles, which shoot out of one's hand at the slightest prompting.

I have done some practice, using the bass guitar - trying to make my fingers remember the time when they played little else. This is tricky for them, as such a time never existed - but a worthy goal, in my view, nonetheless.

No doubt the actual playing time tonight will go just great, and most people will be pretty drunk by then, but I find myself very nervous, and keen not to let the band down. The material is stuff that I do not normally play, so it's a double challenge for me to start with. I really do wish that bass player had been able to make the gig - it would have helped me no end.

So, we have a short break before the wedding - maybe a good time to go and scare up a cup of coffee before the festivities begin in earnest. Here's hoping that my crazy idea to take and print photos before the reception starts actually works out. It would be a nice gift to give.

Time to go and frighten some coffee.

Onion Rings

The great onion-ring battle

I never intended this to happen, but it turned out that I had onion rings twice today, at two different places. Onion ring aficionados will know that it's very easy to make poor onion rings, but that the finest onion rings are food fit for the gods.

I experienced both today. At the Lane end Inn in Carlisle, they were frozen onion rings, cooked in fat that was not quite hot enough, and so had taken in too much oil. Actually not very nice at all.

Then tonight, I ordered stir-fried onions and they brought me onion rings by mistake. However, I kept them and ordered more stir-fried onions. I like onions, borderline love them. Anyway, the point is that these, unexpected, onion rings were quite the finest I have ever tasted. They were everything the earlier ones were not.

Richmond Oriental in East Kilbride. Highly recommended.

These were the main course dishes that we chose. Shredded beef and chicken in crispy batter, and chicken lar chee. The latter is a spicy dish with peppers and fresh chilli. I felt it was lacking in body, but it was pleasant none the less. The crispy shredded beef and chicken was out of this world. Completely sublime. It's a hard dish to get right, but they really carried it off.

So, a nice drive up, a pleasant hotel and an enjoyable meal out. Friday was a success. Let's hope the wedding goes well tomorrow, and let's hope even more that the reception in the evening goes well, as that is when our make-shift band is playing. I was down to play keyboards, but then the bass player was unable to attend due to family reasons. So, I may have to do a strange hybrid role of both bass and keyboards. Might be quite a test, as I do not know the material well.

I'll let you know.

I do so wonder how the Amarylis is doing. I miss it.

My final hope for the night is that I can sleep well on this bed....

Glasgow bound

I spoke of the wedding in Glasgow, to which my good lady wife and my own dear humble self are cordially invited. I reckon it's a pretty good deal for those inviting us. Sure, we get to enjoy their happy day - and that really is wonderful. But from us they get:

1) A wedding present
2) Our company for a whole weekend
3) Us attending a rehearsal for the wedding band
4) Me playing in the wedding band
5) Me taking extra pictures on my wizzy camera*

Having said that, we get:

1) To go away for a weekend
2) Lots of nice naughty meals
3) To inflict our company on many others
4) To play in the wedding band
5) To take pictures on the wizzy camera

So, I guess it all evens up.

The clever thing we hope to do with the camera is take pictures at the wedding ceremony and afterwards. I know that does not sound too clever, on the face of it, but when I add in the crucial extra piece of information that we have brought a Canon photo printer with us, you will start to see the depths to which we have sunk. In a vain effort to appear clever and slick, we will have prints of the wedding pictures to hand round at the reception. Click One Hour service, that's us.

The pictures you see are from the Lane End Inn, at which we often stop off if passing by Carlisle for any reason. Luckily, it is not in the centre of Carlisle, or we would not have presumed to intrude. There's nothing worse than a gauper.

The pie was excellent, but not as good as the even finer pie available at the Plough Inn, near where we live. Next time you're going out for a lunch with us, request the Plough Inn by name, and we will take you there, and you, too, can enjoy the most sublime steak pie in the known world. Well, it's quite good.

I must end now. To continue would be naughty.