OK, really long time since the last blog.
Well, the bright side of that is that the book's nearly finished - well the draft zero version at any rate. One more effort and I've got enough that I'm about ready to go and try find a buyer. So that's going to be very interesting. Of course, when I put my mind to something, it usually works out, so although I don't expect it to lead exactly where I want it to, nonetheless, where it does lead is bound to pique my curiosity...
Summer started a few weeks ago, a couple of days afetr Koninginnedag. And whilst it's not been spectacularly hot, it's been pretty warm fairly consistently (although it did get near freezing for a day last week!). So I'e got a summer feeling that I don't remember since 1989, and I'm listening now to a few songs from that fantastic summer. Highlight being Glastonbury - Fela, Youssou n'dour, and lots of others that I was too trashed to remember! Rory Mcleod was a good one for moving from hangover to party on the Saturday night. Don't actually remember much more of that Saturday night. I think I ended up with Greg in my tent, but the memory's pretty hazy.
Hopefully next year I'll take the girls over there. (Or is it taking a year sabbatical again next year? If so, then make it the Beautiful Days festy....) Anyway, a real Brit festy should be fun for them all.
Lots of things going on in the world that I haven't blogged on. Most critical, and most underexplained in the media world are two unpleasant harbingers. Oil price keeps on going north - $135 a barrel at the moment and expected to hit $200 within a year at max. So the oil companies know, even if they don't want to explain it to the public, that we've hit Hubbert's Peak. So now's the time to starting deciding on the mould for the shape of brick you're gonna be shitting...
On top of that, there's been riots worldwide over the price of food. As if we don't need enough "end of days" warnings. The price of grain has doubled. India has stopped exporting rice. As has Thailand. These are the sort of sentences you'll read in the history books in times to come and wonder whether the people living then knew the context they were living in.
A couple of kicks of the Earth - an unusual hurricane swinging into the Irrawaddy Delta of Burma, a freak event, has killed over 100,000. A Sichuan quake has killed nearly as many, just over a week later. Bloody horrible; and then again, there's going to be a lot worse to come if oil & food continue this trend.
Barack Obama's effectively the Democratic candidate for President. If he doesn't get killed (as the Vulture in Pantsuits is hoping); then it's a complete cockup if he doesn't win against McCain who is Bushed, nepotistic, uncharismatic, old and fake. Of course, never underestimate the Democrats ability to arse it up.
Bush did declare the Polar Bear endangered, after much pressure, but still lets the oil companies drill in its land. England are once again remarkably mediocre at cricket. Seems there may be the first named storm of the new season next week already. Geert Wilders surprisingly failed in his attempts to cause havoc and has already faded into irrelevance, which is a joy.
And the sun is shining and I have three wonderful daughters and today is the 10th anniversary of the day me & Es got together. Naturally, being gloriously unromantic, she's gone to bed at 10:30 and I'm left to mark the day with nothing more memorable than a blog entry. Ah, practical Calvinist culture is a strange and unusual thing...
We're away to La Gomera again, finally, in a few weeks. Es is almost ready to start freelance work, I'm finishing up the book, and my paid repertoire is now pretty impressive I guess, so we need now to look if this is what and where we really want.
Oh, and get to chill a bit as well...
