Little Things

Yesterdays P&L: GBP -410.00

Yesterdays Booze: 3 pints of dry cider, 1 large Remy Martin XO

Yesterdays Soundtrack: Elvis


A rough day on the markets. Just a few spread trades on the DAX 30 and the FTSE 100. Every time I went long, I got squeezed and closed out the trade for a small loss, they all add up. It's not a lot of money but I can ill afford any losses right now. I had hoped that the markets would return to normal after the Christmas break but liquidity remains tight.

The predominant sound of my day was Elvis. I am an eighties boy but I love the sound of black velvet. When I was in a band I made a lot of use of reverbs, harmonisers and compressors. Elvis used a microphone, my favourite five Elvis tracks:

In The Ghetto - An easy choice and in line with a recent post from the delectable Kitty on her blog, who can hear the lyrics "And his mama cries" without feeling some sadness?

Heartbreak Hotel - The original and best. Elvis as a young man but already singing about the loneliness and isolation that was his inevitable future. "Although its always crowded, You can still find some room, Where broken hearted lovers do cry away their gloom".

Suspicious Minds - Isn't it funny how sometimes the more you care about someone, the more doubts you have.

Viva Las Vegas - Party song for a party town. But if you strip the glitz away there is a very dark side. The acoustic cover by Phil Cody reeks of desperation. If I opened a school the motto would definitely be "All you need's a strong heart and nerves of steel".

Always On My Mind - Sometimes you don't know what you have until you lose it.


I should make a comment about the tragic earthquake in Haiti. I can't stand this kind of thing and I can see why so many people question the existence of God when something like this happens. It all seems so random and pointless. I felt exactly the same after the Tsunami, I used to live in North Sumatra so that had more of an impact on me but tragedy is tragedy, some just seem more personal than others. At least the governments of the world are making the right noises about mobilizing aid for one of the poorest and unluckiest countries in the World. If America can spend so much money sending military half way across the world then even in these recessionary times they should pull out the stops for a country practically on their doorstop. Even if it doesn't have any oil.

Seeing how ill equipped the UK is to deal with snow in Winter, we can only be glad we are not on a major fault line.