Category Archives: life and times

90. Iberian chains – Tierras del Cid, Spain

Posted on 20 June, 2005 by | Leave a comment

As we swoop down through a turbulent and thundery Madrid sky, the brown and dusty fields rising to meet us already tell their tale of a dry Spanish spring and the early summer heat. The weekend has just begun, and there’s no better way to leave long hours and weeks in the office behind us as we drive northwards from the city, through the busy Friday night traffic towards the looming grey shadow of the Sierra de Guadarrama.

sierra-de-los-cameros-iberian-chains.jpg
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Posted in 2005, A1 - the best of roads of stone, geology, life and times, music, Spain

89. You’ll never walk alone – Liverpool in Istanbul

Posted on 27 May, 2005 by | 4 comments

steven-gerrard-liverpool-champions-league-2005-istanbul.jpg“We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah”
– Daily Mirror, 27th May 2005

A bright spring evening in England. It’s a perfect time to be outside.

And yet, strangely – the streets are deserted. On my drive home across the Surrey Hills, the roads are as empty as I can remember.

And then I do remember – it’s the European Cup Final.
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Posted in 2005, football, life and times, music

87. One morning in May

Posted on 6 May, 2005 by | Leave a comment

Another morning in May, and another General Election. It’s over, for four more years.

bluebells-newdigate-surrey-chris-denchfield.jpgThe people have decided that Labour should live on, with a massively reduced majority and around fifty fewer seats. The Conservatives have recovered some ground in the south, but anti-immigration policies and negative campaigning proved no springboard for a return to power.

The Liberal Democrats made gains, in Scotland, northern England and London, but nowhere near enough to change the face of British politics. But ten more seats or so just aren’t enough, and as the electoral gift of Iraq recedes in future, it’s harder still to see how their real breakthrough will ever come.

The message from the Labour grandees this morning seems to be a recognition that they need to listen to the people more, and adapt. Why this simple dawn revelation required a good kicking to materialise, I’m not that sure, but perhaps that’s why I’m not a politician.
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Posted in 2005, life and times, politics

81. Helicopter Half Marathon – offshore survival

Posted on 18 March, 2005 by | 5 comments

Brace ! Brace ! Brace ! Standby for ditching…..!

north-sea-helicopter-offshore-survival-training.jpgThese are the words you never, ever want to hear, especially when you’re flying at low altitude above the North Sea. But they were real enough, and strapped firmly into my seat, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

It’d been a hell of a bad day already, to be frank. One problem after another. The whole morning spent dousing out a series of kerosene fires, and then that frightening traverse in breathing apparatus through a blackened and smoke-filled furnace to escape. Without even mentioning the exploding chip pan in the galley.

And now, after all of that, our helicopter was going down. Again.
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Posted in 2005, A1 - the best of roads of stone, geology, life and times

80. Paul Simon – lines from an English railway platform

Posted on 8 March, 2005 by | Leave a comment

homeward-bound-paul-simon-guildford-station.jpgI’m sitting on old Guildford station
Got a ticket for my destination
How I wish I was
Homeward bound

I’m on a tour by rail you see
‘Cos tonight I’m out in the great City
And the day at work’s begun for me
This rock hound with a BlackBerry
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Posted in 2005, life and times, music, poetry

79. In sickness and in health

Posted on 28 February, 2005 by | Leave a comment

One of the great benefits of taking up running is that I rarely get ill. Touch wood.

formigal-spain-and-edinburgh-scotland-winter-2005.jpgIn years of yore, winters were always long, drawn-out, snuffly affairs. I seemed to go from cold to cold. Handkerchiefs were in almost continual use, and it seemed like I was permanently tired. From October to April.

After taking up running, I still was permanently tired, of course, but at least there was good reason, and it was a different kind of tired. And most of the zillions of germs that knock around our offices and schools during the winter months decided I wasn’t worth meddling with. Not only was I fitter, and at times even perhaps slightly thinner, but I was also more resistant to the coughs and sneezes that serve as unwelcome bedfellows to many of us for throughout the darker half of the year.
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Posted in 2005, life and times, winter