Today's P&L: GBP 200.00
Today's Booze: 3 pints of Aspinall Cider
Today's Soundtrack: Fleetwood Mac
Early close today. My skin graft seems to be pleasing the doctors, still looks disgusting to me though. My leg is quite painful and I am still immobile. I have put on quite a belly since I couldn't move much - damn my aging, rotten old carcass. Getting old is a terrible thing. I have so many regrets, but if I could go back and do it all again I doubt I would have done much different. I wish I had treated myself a little better, but I would probably have missed out on some of my wilder times if I had. I do wish I had tried harder in the band as I would have made a proper celebrity, not like these chancers around today.
Obama seems to be making headway with the health program in the US, universal healthcare in the richest nation the world has ever seen - what an absurd notion! I still predict it will all come to nothing as America is a country that is dominated by the rich and there is nothing they hate more than higher taxation - still, I hope I am proven wrong. The Europeans true to my predictions have muddled through the Greece issue. Merkel seems to have gotten what she wanted, a weaker Euro, (to help Germany which is still the worlds leading exporting nation, although soon to be overtaken by the Chinese), And the IMF to actually carry the can for the kebab eaters. Make no mistake this is a bad business. The Euro zone has absolved itself from responsibility and proven itself to be nothing more than a currency of convenience. If I was a betting man, (and I am), I give the Euro in its present form no more than five years. Look forward to a Club Med Euro, (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece), to accompany the real Euro. Anyone who is trading, should look to pick up Gold futures if it goes below one thousand and fifty dollars per ounce.
The UK budget was a bit of a joke, but what do you expect so close to election time. Both parties want to increase VAT, but who is going to do that before an election? Thirteen percent on Cider - looks like me, Sir Digby Chicken Ceaser, (check you tube), and the other park dwellers will have to switch to single Malt Whiskey. Having said that, I have faith in the UK this country can survive much, (except perhaps joining the single currency), We just need some new politicians and a thorough cleansing of Whitehall.
Music today was varied but for some reason I was drawn to Fleetwood Mac. A dinosaur band, I know but I am drawn to their songs and also the dynamics of the band. Their biggest hit "Rumours", was the biggest selling record until Thriller and is basically the soundtrack of personal relationships falling apart, (I like Abbas' last record for much the same reasons). I am not interested in hearing some Pakistani kid from Bradford or some white middle class kid from Maine rapping to me about the ghetto. OK, I don't expect everyone to have seen or experienced the things I have done, but if I am going to listen to a song I would like to think that the emotion is genuine. Maybe I am a fraud as well, When I was in some of the bad places I have been, I wasn't the target, there were a few times with guns pushed against the back of your skull, when you get really scared but you kind of know that killing a white european in these circumstances may cause more problems for them. Some black kid in south side Chicago or Los Angeles doesn't have that luxury. I remember reading somewhere that the average life expectancy for a single black male in the worst parts of Los Angeles is twenty seven - that seems crazy. Anyway, according to my loyal iTunes top five Fleetwood Mac songs today were:
The Chain - "If you don't love me now, you will never love me again". A really simple song with few lyrics, but have you ever felt that your life was inextricably linked with that of someone else?
Seven Wonders - This song really appeals to me, It reminds me of some of the deepest feelings I have ever had. When I looked into a girls eyes and just knew. "So it's hard to find, someone with that kind of intensity. You touched my hand, I played it cool". "So long ago, it's a certain time, a certain place. You touched my hand and you smiled". This one also reminds me of Lucy.
Everywhere - A feel good song, One of the first songs learned to play on bass while singing at the same time - although I tried to play the bass in the style of Jaco Pastorius. "c'mon baby, we better make a start. We better make it soon, before you break my heart". These days I look at everything at such a distance, I never let anyone get too close to me. There was a time when things were different.
Mystified - just a really beautiful song.
Tango In The Night - "I keep the dream, in my pocket - never let it fade away". A one-sided song, a man remembering his one love perhaps.
Other contenders were; Go your Own Way, Caroline, Tusk, Little Lies, Big Love and When I see You Again. Better get back and see if there is any more money to be made today.
In case I don't see 'ya...good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Friday, 26 March 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Tell Her I'll Be Waiting, The Usual Place
Today's P&L: GBP40.00
Today's Booze: Nothing
Today's Soundtrack: Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry
One quick exploratory trade today, a quick buy of FTSE 100 futures, the markets are far too range bound for me to make any money trading. Unless there is some real movement I cant cover the spread which is the difference between the bid, (price to buy) and the offer, (price to sell). These markets are unsatisfactory. I need to make some money and soon. The Federal Reserve maintained base rates at 0.25%, which is great for the banks rebuilding their balance sheets, but at this stage and with unemployment so high, consumers are not responding - what more do you have to do, give away money to encourage people to buy? The continuing reliance on cheap credit is worrying to me. You know any one reading this that thinks I take the markets seriously, should know that I am aware this is all bull. Its what I do for a living because its the only thing I have ever done - I have no other skills. I understand that ordinary people have real jobs and little interest in the markets, I have parents that live in Euro land and don't really understand why their pension varies every month based on what seems to them random numbers on a screen. I am aware that the pools of capital that are magically multiplied through derivatives are the results of peoples working lives. People like my parents fail to understand that there really wasn't any expectation for them to live too long past their retirement. The pyramid scheme that is National Insurance in the UK rather hoped that people like my parents would die shortly after retirement and not be too much of a drain on the system. My father was born in one of the worst areas of Glasgow in nineteen thirty nine and whatever actuaries they used then predicted the average life expectancy of someone like him as fifty four. He has rather inconveniently lived longer than he should have.
Talking of the news, Reuters had a story that the Ukraine has announced a deal to sell 20 tanks and 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles to the Congo for eighty million dollars. I spent three days in Matadi a lifetime ago and the last thing they need is more guns.
Why the fuck am I worried about the helpless people of the Congo, when I am hanging on by the thinnest of threads? Must be my Catholic guilt. Mind you I am just like everyone else what am I going to do, join Amnesty International?
Today I was listening to Roxy Music, just the name is enough for me. Roxy Music, makes me think of Art Deco dance halls and cinemas with neon signs inviting you inside, long ago before going to the cinema meant an anonymous multiplex. Bryan Ferry is a strange frontman, so casually elegant. Apparently he was born in some poor northern family. He is sort of the musical equivalent of Cary Grant, who famously said "even I can't be Cary Grant all the time". According to the computer these are my top five Roxy/Ferry songs today:
Slave To Love - obvious choice for a closet romantic like me. The vocals are light, sometimes too distant but the passion that bubbles throughout the song comes to the surface in the guitar break. Check out the video on youtube and see how effortlessly stylish Ferry is. The lyrics "To need a woman, You've got to know, How the strong get weak,And the rich get poor", mean a lot to me but I still can't decide does it mean if you finally have to count on a woman, have you gone from strong to weak or does the woman make you weak? The other lines that matter to me are "The storm is breaking, Or so it seems.We're too young to reason,Too grown up to dream".
Same Old Scene - A song about how young love turns old or how you wish old love could be more like young love? "Nothing lasts forever, of that I'm sure". "In our lighter moments, precious few, Its all that heavy weather we're going through". Young love may be cruel but as you get older the sweet moments become rarer and rarer. The banality of life infringes on you.
Jealous Guy - One of the few songs that many people will say is better than the original, and when your talking about Lennon your on touchy ground. I just feel that the delivery Ferry gives is extraordinary. It reminds me of all the times I have deliberately hurt women because I was too scared or cowardly to face my responsibilities. This song reminds me of Lucy.
Oh Yeah - This song reminds me of the first date "How can we drive to a movie show, when the music is here in my car". My life hasn't always been so different, I did have some normality although it is hard to imagine. The Stalker once choked on her drink when she asked me how my parents taught me about sex education and I told her about having a few beers in a bar/brothel in Africa with my father when I was twelve.
Avalon - Music to sleep to. A sublime song that sums up that feeling at the end of a party, as the sun struggles to illuminate the sky. But also a song that reminds me of that point when your with a girl and you don't need to say anything. You both know what is happening between you. Her gestures signals compliance, you know you can touch her neck or caress her arm and there is no awkwardness.
Anyway as always,
In case I don't see 'ya...good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!
Today's Booze: Nothing
Today's Soundtrack: Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry
One quick exploratory trade today, a quick buy of FTSE 100 futures, the markets are far too range bound for me to make any money trading. Unless there is some real movement I cant cover the spread which is the difference between the bid, (price to buy) and the offer, (price to sell). These markets are unsatisfactory. I need to make some money and soon. The Federal Reserve maintained base rates at 0.25%, which is great for the banks rebuilding their balance sheets, but at this stage and with unemployment so high, consumers are not responding - what more do you have to do, give away money to encourage people to buy? The continuing reliance on cheap credit is worrying to me. You know any one reading this that thinks I take the markets seriously, should know that I am aware this is all bull. Its what I do for a living because its the only thing I have ever done - I have no other skills. I understand that ordinary people have real jobs and little interest in the markets, I have parents that live in Euro land and don't really understand why their pension varies every month based on what seems to them random numbers on a screen. I am aware that the pools of capital that are magically multiplied through derivatives are the results of peoples working lives. People like my parents fail to understand that there really wasn't any expectation for them to live too long past their retirement. The pyramid scheme that is National Insurance in the UK rather hoped that people like my parents would die shortly after retirement and not be too much of a drain on the system. My father was born in one of the worst areas of Glasgow in nineteen thirty nine and whatever actuaries they used then predicted the average life expectancy of someone like him as fifty four. He has rather inconveniently lived longer than he should have.
Talking of the news, Reuters had a story that the Ukraine has announced a deal to sell 20 tanks and 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles to the Congo for eighty million dollars. I spent three days in Matadi a lifetime ago and the last thing they need is more guns.
Why the fuck am I worried about the helpless people of the Congo, when I am hanging on by the thinnest of threads? Must be my Catholic guilt. Mind you I am just like everyone else what am I going to do, join Amnesty International?
Today I was listening to Roxy Music, just the name is enough for me. Roxy Music, makes me think of Art Deco dance halls and cinemas with neon signs inviting you inside, long ago before going to the cinema meant an anonymous multiplex. Bryan Ferry is a strange frontman, so casually elegant. Apparently he was born in some poor northern family. He is sort of the musical equivalent of Cary Grant, who famously said "even I can't be Cary Grant all the time". According to the computer these are my top five Roxy/Ferry songs today:
Slave To Love - obvious choice for a closet romantic like me. The vocals are light, sometimes too distant but the passion that bubbles throughout the song comes to the surface in the guitar break. Check out the video on youtube and see how effortlessly stylish Ferry is. The lyrics "To need a woman, You've got to know, How the strong get weak,And the rich get poor", mean a lot to me but I still can't decide does it mean if you finally have to count on a woman, have you gone from strong to weak or does the woman make you weak? The other lines that matter to me are "The storm is breaking, Or so it seems.We're too young to reason,Too grown up to dream".
Same Old Scene - A song about how young love turns old or how you wish old love could be more like young love? "Nothing lasts forever, of that I'm sure". "In our lighter moments, precious few, Its all that heavy weather we're going through". Young love may be cruel but as you get older the sweet moments become rarer and rarer. The banality of life infringes on you.
Jealous Guy - One of the few songs that many people will say is better than the original, and when your talking about Lennon your on touchy ground. I just feel that the delivery Ferry gives is extraordinary. It reminds me of all the times I have deliberately hurt women because I was too scared or cowardly to face my responsibilities. This song reminds me of Lucy.
Oh Yeah - This song reminds me of the first date "How can we drive to a movie show, when the music is here in my car". My life hasn't always been so different, I did have some normality although it is hard to imagine. The Stalker once choked on her drink when she asked me how my parents taught me about sex education and I told her about having a few beers in a bar/brothel in Africa with my father when I was twelve.
Avalon - Music to sleep to. A sublime song that sums up that feeling at the end of a party, as the sun struggles to illuminate the sky. But also a song that reminds me of that point when your with a girl and you don't need to say anything. You both know what is happening between you. Her gestures signals compliance, you know you can touch her neck or caress her arm and there is no awkwardness.
Anyway as always,
In case I don't see 'ya...good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Skin and Bones
Todays P&L: GBP 0.00
Todays Booze: All I need is a little water of life...
Todays soundtrack: AOR, soft rock
So finally after much delay had my skin graft yesterday evening. There were some complications as it is a big graft, (if anyone has a strong stomach, I might attach a photo of my wound), they took skin from both sides of my thigh and patched up my skinless calf. I am glad they finally got around to it as I was feeling quite naked without any skin. When the dressing was off you could literally see the muscle and the white ligaments and tendons surrounding it as there was about twelve by five inches of skin missing. I am reliably informed that I will have some rather impressive scars, so if the stalker sees sense and dumps me at least I have a conversation starter. The stalker tracked me down in the hospital and last night when it looked like they were going to bump me off the theater list, she got angry and went and told off the consultants. she came back with her bad attitude intact though and gave me a hard time, couldn't help pointing out to me that I had been in the hospital for a week and had no visitors while the other inmates all had regular visitors from family and friends.
Speaking about health care,I may be complaining about the NHS but at least they are taking care of me, although I have paid plenty of NI contributions in the past, this is just one of the many times I am glad not to be an American. As usual it seems that Obama is once again proving himself to be the most ineffectual president since Jimmy Carter and backing away from any decisive action. He is withdrawing from any plan to curb the bankers and seems unlikely to make any significant push on the healthcare issue. It is worth bearing in mind that the unfunded pension and healthcare liabilities of the US are estimated at around sixty trillion dollars. I wonder why America is so afraid of universal health care, perhaps they think it smacks of socialism, but after bailing out the banks and the auto sector and receiving funding from Asia and the Middle East, can the US really be considered a true capitalist nation? Obama is suffering the backlash of course, his approval rating is falling faster than the pound. I remember the optimism when he was elected, although it has to be said that most of the people yelping in the streets were the middle-class white types, you know lots of women in ethnic clothes and blonde dreadlocks, liberal arts students, all saying things like now America can sit proudly at the table of advanced democracies. Still the guy picked up a nobel prize and his wife, who reminds me of the predator beast in Arnies movie, got a few magazine covers out of it. Actually Obama will probably win a second term because if, as I suspect, the world is just building up to a bigger crisis than the recent one who is going to want to be President. Obama had more goodwill than any recent president and now he is fading fast. The boundless optimism of the talking heads on the business channels and the obviously self-serving bankers is merely compounding the desperation of the politicians who do not want to be the ones in power when the music stops. The trigger for the credit crisis maybe have been the American mortgage crisis, (which can be summed up easily enough. The overpaid and overeducated but woefully under experienced quants had computer models that told them that it was ok to give mortgages or even third mortgages to bell boys and strippers in Vegas because if you mix enough bad mortgages in with a sprinkle of good ones you can turn crap into gold). The reason that these dodgy mortgages were wrapped, as we like to say, into CDO's and given a lick of gold plate by the rating agencies that were paid provided they gave good ratings, (conflict of interest, what conflict), is an insatiable demand for yield by investors caused by global low interest rates. The low interest rates allowed private equity funds to amass fortunes to take over any company they say a profit in reabilitating, (cost cutting) and allowed countries like Ireland, Portugal and Spain to expand their economies based on literally free funding. Meanwhile Iceland decided it was more profitable to be a hedge fund than a country and Dubai, recognizing it had little oil left decided to turn itself into a theme park complete with palm tree shaped islands. America decided to prove its commitment to capitalism by encouraging corporates to use the low funds to improve profitability not by top line growth, (which means increasing revenue), but by increasing bottom line profits which means cutting staff and off shoring anything you can, laying the grounds for the jobless recovery. The UK of course is no stranger to this I remember doing some consultancy work for an American bank which was being acquired by a competitor. the Americans came over with their list of redundancies, starting with the European headquarters in London, the plan was then to go to the other European financial centers and lay off staff in Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and close own some offices in other countries. They didn't last long in Europe however as they quickly found out that it cost a minimum of six times as much to lay off a worker in Paris or Frankfurt as it did in London. So the smaller European offices were left alone and a new list of additional redundancies were made up for London. It seemed a little unfair, but it didn't matter to me as I was a contractor and if anything it extended the length of my contract. The point of course was that workers of any type in the UK have little or no rights and that the politicians care little about the ordinary people in this country.
Today I have been listening to album orientated rock, which if anything proves I am in the right place as I must be sick - I put it down to the painkillers I am on which are good but no match for the Czech Absinthe I used to drink. According to iTunes these are my top five:
Africa - Toto's finest moment, I suppose in the eighties this seemed impossibly exotic, Reminds me of my experiences in Africa, sharing a room in Monrovia with about five thousand spiders as big as the palm of your hand, sailing down the River Bonney to Port Harcourt as the jungle got closer and closer to the sides of the ship and probably most of all moored across from Lagos at Apapa getting drunk in the sweltering heat listening to good music.
Waiting For A Girl Like You- Anyone remember Foreigner? This was a great song with an ice cold synth line. It may be about finding the right girl but for me its about all the girls I have hurt and the chances I have blown, maybe the Stalker is onto something and there is a reason I am the only person in my ward who doesn't get any visitors.
Don't fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult, a song that seems to be about final death but is actually about eternal love, "Romeo and Juliette are together in eternity".
I Want To know What Love Is - More Foreigner, I remember this song being in the charts for what seemed like forever when I was fifteen. I think I liked the video more than the song the sort of slow-mo scenes of people struggling through ordinary lives but being happy with the simple things. In my cocky teenage years, I was sure I was never destined for an ordinary life and never could imagine being happy with the simpler things in life.
Suzanne - On the album Raised On radio by Journey, reminds me of probably my first ever serious relationship, a girl of italian extraction called Suzanne, she wasn't the first or even the tenth girl i slept with but it was a relationship and it seemed real even though we were only in high school. I remember I was still a dreamer and nothing seemed impossible to me, but she was already for the treadmill of life, getting a job, getting married, starting a family. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had married her. In the school I met her a lot of people married their girlfriends. i just can't see how it could have worked out and i shudder to think of all the adventures I would have missed out on, still she was a great girl I hope she is happy now.
So thats it, i don't know why these songs all seem to be by American bands, one things for sure if you were driving in say, Arizona and switched on an fm radio station, there is a good chance you would hear one of them or at least a song by one of the groups. I better go now still need to rest - the quacks say there is a good chance that my graft may not take and the infection could still spread.
So Good day and...
in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Todays Booze: All I need is a little water of life...
Todays soundtrack: AOR, soft rock
So finally after much delay had my skin graft yesterday evening. There were some complications as it is a big graft, (if anyone has a strong stomach, I might attach a photo of my wound), they took skin from both sides of my thigh and patched up my skinless calf. I am glad they finally got around to it as I was feeling quite naked without any skin. When the dressing was off you could literally see the muscle and the white ligaments and tendons surrounding it as there was about twelve by five inches of skin missing. I am reliably informed that I will have some rather impressive scars, so if the stalker sees sense and dumps me at least I have a conversation starter. The stalker tracked me down in the hospital and last night when it looked like they were going to bump me off the theater list, she got angry and went and told off the consultants. she came back with her bad attitude intact though and gave me a hard time, couldn't help pointing out to me that I had been in the hospital for a week and had no visitors while the other inmates all had regular visitors from family and friends.
Speaking about health care,I may be complaining about the NHS but at least they are taking care of me, although I have paid plenty of NI contributions in the past, this is just one of the many times I am glad not to be an American. As usual it seems that Obama is once again proving himself to be the most ineffectual president since Jimmy Carter and backing away from any decisive action. He is withdrawing from any plan to curb the bankers and seems unlikely to make any significant push on the healthcare issue. It is worth bearing in mind that the unfunded pension and healthcare liabilities of the US are estimated at around sixty trillion dollars. I wonder why America is so afraid of universal health care, perhaps they think it smacks of socialism, but after bailing out the banks and the auto sector and receiving funding from Asia and the Middle East, can the US really be considered a true capitalist nation? Obama is suffering the backlash of course, his approval rating is falling faster than the pound. I remember the optimism when he was elected, although it has to be said that most of the people yelping in the streets were the middle-class white types, you know lots of women in ethnic clothes and blonde dreadlocks, liberal arts students, all saying things like now America can sit proudly at the table of advanced democracies. Still the guy picked up a nobel prize and his wife, who reminds me of the predator beast in Arnies movie, got a few magazine covers out of it. Actually Obama will probably win a second term because if, as I suspect, the world is just building up to a bigger crisis than the recent one who is going to want to be President. Obama had more goodwill than any recent president and now he is fading fast. The boundless optimism of the talking heads on the business channels and the obviously self-serving bankers is merely compounding the desperation of the politicians who do not want to be the ones in power when the music stops. The trigger for the credit crisis maybe have been the American mortgage crisis, (which can be summed up easily enough. The overpaid and overeducated but woefully under experienced quants had computer models that told them that it was ok to give mortgages or even third mortgages to bell boys and strippers in Vegas because if you mix enough bad mortgages in with a sprinkle of good ones you can turn crap into gold). The reason that these dodgy mortgages were wrapped, as we like to say, into CDO's and given a lick of gold plate by the rating agencies that were paid provided they gave good ratings, (conflict of interest, what conflict), is an insatiable demand for yield by investors caused by global low interest rates. The low interest rates allowed private equity funds to amass fortunes to take over any company they say a profit in reabilitating, (cost cutting) and allowed countries like Ireland, Portugal and Spain to expand their economies based on literally free funding. Meanwhile Iceland decided it was more profitable to be a hedge fund than a country and Dubai, recognizing it had little oil left decided to turn itself into a theme park complete with palm tree shaped islands. America decided to prove its commitment to capitalism by encouraging corporates to use the low funds to improve profitability not by top line growth, (which means increasing revenue), but by increasing bottom line profits which means cutting staff and off shoring anything you can, laying the grounds for the jobless recovery. The UK of course is no stranger to this I remember doing some consultancy work for an American bank which was being acquired by a competitor. the Americans came over with their list of redundancies, starting with the European headquarters in London, the plan was then to go to the other European financial centers and lay off staff in Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and close own some offices in other countries. They didn't last long in Europe however as they quickly found out that it cost a minimum of six times as much to lay off a worker in Paris or Frankfurt as it did in London. So the smaller European offices were left alone and a new list of additional redundancies were made up for London. It seemed a little unfair, but it didn't matter to me as I was a contractor and if anything it extended the length of my contract. The point of course was that workers of any type in the UK have little or no rights and that the politicians care little about the ordinary people in this country.
Today I have been listening to album orientated rock, which if anything proves I am in the right place as I must be sick - I put it down to the painkillers I am on which are good but no match for the Czech Absinthe I used to drink. According to iTunes these are my top five:
Africa - Toto's finest moment, I suppose in the eighties this seemed impossibly exotic, Reminds me of my experiences in Africa, sharing a room in Monrovia with about five thousand spiders as big as the palm of your hand, sailing down the River Bonney to Port Harcourt as the jungle got closer and closer to the sides of the ship and probably most of all moored across from Lagos at Apapa getting drunk in the sweltering heat listening to good music.
Waiting For A Girl Like You- Anyone remember Foreigner? This was a great song with an ice cold synth line. It may be about finding the right girl but for me its about all the girls I have hurt and the chances I have blown, maybe the Stalker is onto something and there is a reason I am the only person in my ward who doesn't get any visitors.
Don't fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult, a song that seems to be about final death but is actually about eternal love, "Romeo and Juliette are together in eternity".
I Want To know What Love Is - More Foreigner, I remember this song being in the charts for what seemed like forever when I was fifteen. I think I liked the video more than the song the sort of slow-mo scenes of people struggling through ordinary lives but being happy with the simple things. In my cocky teenage years, I was sure I was never destined for an ordinary life and never could imagine being happy with the simpler things in life.
Suzanne - On the album Raised On radio by Journey, reminds me of probably my first ever serious relationship, a girl of italian extraction called Suzanne, she wasn't the first or even the tenth girl i slept with but it was a relationship and it seemed real even though we were only in high school. I remember I was still a dreamer and nothing seemed impossible to me, but she was already for the treadmill of life, getting a job, getting married, starting a family. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if I had married her. In the school I met her a lot of people married their girlfriends. i just can't see how it could have worked out and i shudder to think of all the adventures I would have missed out on, still she was a great girl I hope she is happy now.
So thats it, i don't know why these songs all seem to be by American bands, one things for sure if you were driving in say, Arizona and switched on an fm radio station, there is a good chance you would hear one of them or at least a song by one of the groups. I better go now still need to rest - the quacks say there is a good chance that my graft may not take and the infection could still spread.
So Good day and...
in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Winding Down
Today's P&L: GBP 90.00, (I just can't get into it today).
Today's Booze: 2 pints of dry cider, 1 large Talisker Scotch
Today's Soundtrack: Bob James
Somewhere in England a minister is defending actions that he clearly had little to do with to a select committee, giving the impression of justice and democracy. This is the man who asserted that Britain was prepared to use nuclear weapons on Iraq - give him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile the guardians of the Cadbury group who derided an initial offer from Kraft have decided that ten percent extra makes all the difference and capitulated. That thirty thousand jobs that will go soon. The Cadbury family were one of the first philanthropic families of the empire, they were responsible for introducing low cost housing, annuities, bank accounts and education for workers and their families. There is no place for social conscience in modern Britain.
The Euro continues to take a beating as the options for Greece look bleaker. In some respects I don't care if the Euro falls through the floor, cheaper French, Italian and Spanish wine and food, but on the other hand I do still have a small house somewhere in Spain which is valued in Euro's. I was doing some consultancy work for an American bank when the Euro was introduced in 1999, (non physical), We had a big party as we were a Euro Clearing House, even then I expressed my reservations. I just couldn't see how the diverse economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany could link up. Back then I said that the Euro would collapse shortly after the UK joined, but now I think the collapse is inevitable anyway. Greece will be bailed out at some huge cost but the end is on the cards and the longer it takes the harder the break up will be.
I am feeling rather mellow today, I haven't really been following the markets and have spent more time idly reading other peoples blogs and watching online television. I am glad to see the new series of Being Human has started on the BBC. I love that program the idea of a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire living together in a house in Bristol just appeals to me. If you haven't seen it you should check it out.
My mellow mood has been reflected in my main musical choice of the day, Bob James. I know Jazz isn't terribly popular but this is cool, easy listening Jazz. Good for listening to while you have a nice cold drink. My top five Bob James tracks:
Storm Warning - Sung by his daughter, Hilary. This track really brings a lump to my throat, the kind of broken hearted torch song that can make you feel so bad you feel good. "Storm Warning, feels like a heavy rain, Winds on the coast tonight, we might get tossed tonight".
Angela - Or as everyone calls it the music from Taxi. I always loved this, when I was a child I used to watch Taxi mainly to hear the music on the intro and outro and Marilu Henner of course.
Restless - Easy listening Jazz like Shakatak but much more accomplished.
Deja Blue - More of the same, makes me want to get a good scotch
Back To Bali - Doesn't make me think of Bali, just reminds me of stretching out in bed with a girl while this plays quietly in the background.
So Bob James, not to everyone's taste to "elevator music" for some people certainly for the hardcore jazz fans but I like him and I like his approach to music and life.
Today's Booze: 2 pints of dry cider, 1 large Talisker Scotch
Today's Soundtrack: Bob James
Somewhere in England a minister is defending actions that he clearly had little to do with to a select committee, giving the impression of justice and democracy. This is the man who asserted that Britain was prepared to use nuclear weapons on Iraq - give him the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile the guardians of the Cadbury group who derided an initial offer from Kraft have decided that ten percent extra makes all the difference and capitulated. That thirty thousand jobs that will go soon. The Cadbury family were one of the first philanthropic families of the empire, they were responsible for introducing low cost housing, annuities, bank accounts and education for workers and their families. There is no place for social conscience in modern Britain.
The Euro continues to take a beating as the options for Greece look bleaker. In some respects I don't care if the Euro falls through the floor, cheaper French, Italian and Spanish wine and food, but on the other hand I do still have a small house somewhere in Spain which is valued in Euro's. I was doing some consultancy work for an American bank when the Euro was introduced in 1999, (non physical), We had a big party as we were a Euro Clearing House, even then I expressed my reservations. I just couldn't see how the diverse economies of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany could link up. Back then I said that the Euro would collapse shortly after the UK joined, but now I think the collapse is inevitable anyway. Greece will be bailed out at some huge cost but the end is on the cards and the longer it takes the harder the break up will be.
I am feeling rather mellow today, I haven't really been following the markets and have spent more time idly reading other peoples blogs and watching online television. I am glad to see the new series of Being Human has started on the BBC. I love that program the idea of a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire living together in a house in Bristol just appeals to me. If you haven't seen it you should check it out.
My mellow mood has been reflected in my main musical choice of the day, Bob James. I know Jazz isn't terribly popular but this is cool, easy listening Jazz. Good for listening to while you have a nice cold drink. My top five Bob James tracks:
Storm Warning - Sung by his daughter, Hilary. This track really brings a lump to my throat, the kind of broken hearted torch song that can make you feel so bad you feel good. "Storm Warning, feels like a heavy rain, Winds on the coast tonight, we might get tossed tonight".
Angela - Or as everyone calls it the music from Taxi. I always loved this, when I was a child I used to watch Taxi mainly to hear the music on the intro and outro and Marilu Henner of course.
Restless - Easy listening Jazz like Shakatak but much more accomplished.
Deja Blue - More of the same, makes me want to get a good scotch
Back To Bali - Doesn't make me think of Bali, just reminds me of stretching out in bed with a girl while this plays quietly in the background.
So Bob James, not to everyone's taste to "elevator music" for some people certainly for the hardcore jazz fans but I like him and I like his approach to music and life.
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