Latest reads

I’ve ploughed through quite a few books in the last couple of months, so thought I’d give a brief update. Many have been travel books, mostly because it’s my favourite genre but also partly because it counts as inspiration. I’ve really enjoyed all of them, and would recommend them as good reads.

A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks - certainly not as funny as his other books, but definitely charming and easy to read, and written in such wonderfully conversational and engaging way. I wonder what’s next for him, other than more skateboarding…

London Irish and Big Jessie by Zane Radcliffe - I first came across the Northern Irish writer when I read and loved his most recent book, The Killer’s Guide to Iceland, and his first two novels are along similar lines, with a mix of drama, murder, mystery and biting comedy.

The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society by Chris Stewart - the third book about life settling in the south of Spain by the former Genesis drummer. I’m not normally a huge fan of “Brits living abroad” books but Chris Stewart’s three books, much like A Piano in the Pyrennes, above, are exceptions. They’re easy to read, witty, and peppered with lots of interesting and amusing reflections on British and Spanish life.

Stamping Grounds by Charlie Connelly - I read this after loving Attention All Shipping. This is the his account of following Lichtenstein in their 2002 football World Cup qualification campaign. Being keen on Europe’s minnow teams myself, I found this a compelling book, mixing a fascinating travelogue of the tiny principality, informed football observation, and madcap comedy adventure. A brilliant read from the “award-winning broadcaster”.

Mustn’t Grumble by Joe Bennett - The first book of his I read was A Land of Two Halves, and I liked Mustn’t Grumble just as much. This is the adopted New Zealander’s account of a trip back to his native England eighteen years after leaving. It’s brilliantly cynical about English culture, the tourist industry, and peoples’ everyday lives, interests and concerns. Thought-provoking, funny, and a definite page-turner, and I really enjoyed it.

I’ve nothing left in my “to read” pile now other than a Faroe Islands travel guide. Any suggestions?

Musical measurements

I usually take my iPod with me if I am going anywhere. iPods are amazing things, and it’s great to have my whole CD collection (or mp3 collection, as I put all my CDs on my laptop before moving south) wherever I go.

I’ve noticed, however, that I’ve started to measure distances in terms of song duration. The walk to work, for example, isn’t really just under twenty minutes any more, it now lasts Peacock Tail, Dayvan Cowboy and Telephasic Workshop, my three favourite Boards of Canada tracks.

I also discovered a while back that the walk to work can also just about be squeezed into Shake Break Bounce, Marvo Ging and Surface to Air, the last three tracks on Push the Button by the Chemical Brothers - though I have to walk a bit faster towards the end of Surface to Air to arrive just as it finishes.

Then on Saturday past, I went to the barber to get a hair cut. It took Sigur Ros’s Takk… to get there (6 minutes 15 seconds), but only Hoppipolla (4:28), the next track, to get back home again. That’s mostly due to the fact that it’s uphill to get to the barber.

But I’m also wondering whether another explanation might have been the fact that I got a lot cut off, and so on the way home I was carrying a bit less weight and was substantially more aerodynamic.

It’s a small world

On Sunday I met up with Charlotte, my second cousin, who lives in the south of England and was up visiting some friends in Glasgow for the weekend. I’d not seen her for about fifteen years, so as you can imagine there was lots to catch up on.

When I met her she was with three of her Glasgow friends. Two of them were from Aberdeen and were family friends of a number of my old university lecturers; the third goes to the Tron and knows various Tronites such as The Shed (who incidentally did a placement in my brother’s church in Skye), Donald (who I met at The Shed’s leaving do a while back, who also comes from Skye and knows my brother, and who went to school with my friend in Inverness Angus’s sister), and Alan (who leads the Impact team at my parent’s church). Charlotte, I discovered a while back, is also good friends with Kieran Dodds, photojournalist extraordinaire, who I know from my university days and whose brother comes to St Silas.

Earlier this week my dad went to a funeral of a well-known minister, at which he met at least one Glasgow clergyman who asked “are you related to Simon Varwell, the church reviewer?” (good job I gave that church favourable reviews, then!).

Angus, meanwhile, sent me an email from Inverness yesterday saying that he had been on a course last week where he had met two joinees, one who I know well, and an old university friend of my brother’s.

It really is a small world sometimes. I’d love to say that I’m just well-connected and super-popular, but it probably really is a small world… and makes me think that the “six degrees of separation” theory must be true.

Any other interesting small world stories to share?

101 Things To Do When The Bishop Visits Church

As our minister, David, reports, this Sunday is a big day for St Silas - we will enjoy the company of not one but two bishops, for a very special service of baptisms and confirmations. David has asked us all to “behave”.

So of course the natural thing to do is think of 101 things to do when the bishop visits church. You know the routine, join in with your own suggestions!

1. Sit at the back with a sign saying “the only good bishop is a Harold Bishop”
2. Use a catapult and ammo to try to dislodge the bishop’s tall hat thing. Extra points if you can also f’ting! the communion silver.
3. Loudly and excitedly whisper “look, it’s the Pope!” at the start of the service.
4. Grill the bishop afterwards about his views on the Windsor Report: should the Royal Family really have a second home in the country?
5. Go up to the bishop afterwards and say “nice walking stick. How long will you be using it for?”
6. Encourage your friends to all come dressed as bishops, as a mark of respect and welcome.
7. Encourage your friends to all come dressed as Harold Bishop, as a mark of… well, I’m not sure what.
8. Hide. Get everyone else to hide too.
9. Make your phone go off loudly in the middle of the service. Stand up and announce that it’s the Primus on the line.
10. Compliment the bishop on his ability to walk forwards in a straight line - tell him you thought he was only capable of walking diagonally.

Boredom: the most common element

Just a quick plug for Daniel Kalder, whose excellent book Lost Cosmonaut I blogged about a while back. He’s the guest blogger this week on the website of American publisher Powell’s.

His posts have been great this week, and include a wonderful exploration of boredom. Interesting reading for me, my life having been dominated of late by the perilous consequences of being bored one day four years ago…

Can I be bothered?

You’re no doubt eagerly anticipating an update on the fiver project.  It turns out that the note my friend Chris picked up wasn’t one of mine after all - just one sporting a signature that looked vaguely like my name. Coupled with the fact that it’s a bit of a hassle photographing and uploading every fiver I get, I’m not sure I can really be bothered with all this and there’s more interesting and useful things I could be doing with my time.

I’d considered just going up to a nice round number like ten and leaving it at that, but I think I will just abandon the mission. I may hear about one of the fivers some day in the future, or who knows, even from Sheila Sergenson herself.

But I doubt it.

Back in Inverness

I’m not long back from a lovely weekend back in Inverness. It was a really nice chance to catch up with everyone there. Well, not all 65,000 of them - that would have taken a while. And I don’t know most of them.

But anyway. The weather was beautiful over the two days, with clear blue skies and barely a breeze. On a walk along the canal to Clachnaharry with Donald yesterday afternoon, I was able to get quite a few nice photos.

On our way back we stopped an old guy jumping off the Friar’s Bridge, keeping him talking while we called the Police. Not that he would have killed himself, more just got his ankles wet as the river was not really in full force.

Still, that counts as my Random Act of Kindness for the week…

Re-arranging my sets

In the last week or so I’ve uploaded loads of new pictures and re-arranged some of the sets on my Flickr page.

For instance I’ve broken down my “rest of the world” set into different places, and I’ve also created a “From the Air” set for all the pictures out of plane windows which I have really come to enjoy taking.

Euro qualifiers

On Saturday Justin and I saw Latvia beat Iceland 4-0 in a Euro 2008 qualifier. The match was at the Skonto Stadium, home of one-time UEFA Cup conquerors of Aberdeen, Skonto Riga.

Latvia played very solidly and were well-organised, no doubt encouraged by the energetic home fans packed into the relatively small stadium. Iceland, who regularly punch above their weight in international football, were very disappointing and defended appaulingly.

We discovered afterwards, by text message, that Scotland had achieved a historic result by beating France 1-0 in Glasgow, which rounded off a great evening’s football. Tonight, however, Scotland lost 2-0 in Kiev against a good Ukraine side. Ukraine probably deserved their win, despite some dodgy refereeing, but Scotland are still placed excellently in their group - joint top with France and with 3 wins out of 4 matches.

Quite a turn-around for the Scotland team in recent months - from no-hopers to serious contenders for qualification in a group containing a World Cup quarter-finalist and two finalists. Is the resurgence down to the fact that we now have a decent manager in Uncle Walt? Or is it just because the SFA have finally put Gaelic text on the shirt?

What do you think?

I’m back

So, that’s me back after four fun days away. Riga was a lovely place to visit, and Berlin - where Justin and I stopped over for a day - is definitely somewhere I’d like to go back to.

Riga was in many senses a typically Eastern European capital city - a mix of quaint, brutal and modern architecture, with stoic people, solid food and regular trams. There was lots to see in and around the gorgeous old city, which was thankfully not too over-run with English hen and stag parties, and there was a nice compact feel to the place.

There was lots of fascinating history too - the Museum of Occupation portrayed the terrible struggles the wee country has faced last century what with Fascists to the left of them and Commies to the right of them. And of course the highlight of the weekend was Latvia 4-0 Iceland at the Skonto stadium.

Sadly, though, the weather in Latvia wasn’t particularly baltic.

More about the trip in the next few days, and watch out as I upload photos.