Short but sweet

 Rayburn is flying in from Florida on 15 November. I do hop he can come to Cork with us, the following weekend.

Times change, people change, but some things will always stay the same.

Ben and Jane are flying to Florida today to visit Rayburn and his family. They came round with Simona last night and we went to Venus, as it is a bit quieter than the Standard or the Charles Holden. It was Simona's birthday on Saturday, and she had to finish her evening shift before she could get out, with Ben and their friends, celebrating that.

All of which makes it pretty unlikely she will be able to make the Camden Jazz Café with us at the end of the month (passim). I think I will offer her place, if that comes to pass, to old muso-chum Andy M. The universe sent me the message. I had mentioned to Ben in the Holden on Thursday, that Jane, I Andy and his Sarah went to the Jazz Café together years ago to see Boz Scaggs. When Ben went off to the gents I took a look at my phone and there was a WhatsApp on it from Mr Mulford recommending a drummer called Yusef Dayes. Some things never change.

Would love to get Thump The Clouds back in the studio one more time.

bad father all the way to the max

Rayburn, with whom I am in regular contact via WhatsApp even though he lives in Florida now, sent me a YouTube Shorts version of the video above yesterday. Synapses fired and neurons were linked.

When Ben was little I passed on what my father had told me about punching to help in his fights with Ray. When I told John my brother that, he told me that he had given the same boxing lessons to his daughters. It made me chuckle and I have since quietly confirmed with one of the girls that it is true. The anecdote, and particularly laughing about Jazz needing punch up lessons , is now and forever associated with this Rick and Morty scene in my head.

Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World

 I saw the son and heir for a beer and a curry last night and noticed he had two fingers strapped together.

"What happened?"

"I had to punch someone outside a night club."

"Ah, that would explain it then." I suppose he must have won as he didn't seem to be marked anywhere else.

He also told me that he is going to come back to yoga when he returns from visiting Rayburn (and new baby son) in Florida. Also, inspired by West Dean, he is going to start "working with wood," in addition to his drawing and sketching. I have always thought it healthy to have other interests outside, and in addition to, violence.

When I got in I put my feet up and turned on the TV. Nothing live being of much interest, I fired up YouTube and found a video Putin's Religious Mission, Gary Lachman had been recommended for me.

What are the deeper religious and philosophical currents informing Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? 

Gary Lachman is the author of the recent book 'The Return of Holy Russia: Apocalyptic History, Mystical Awakening, and the Struggle for the Soul of the World'.

In this conversation he argues that we have to understand the deep well of Russian philosophy and understand how Putin sees himself and Russia's historic mission.

How does YouTube know so much about me? Surely this tip must be related to me reading and writing about Vladimir Putin's ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“ and having Lachman's The Quest For Hermes Trismegistus: From Ancient Egypt to the Modern World in my Kindle library, but I am not sure that I am entirely comfortable with Google going through my garbage, as if I was Bob Dylan, just to bring it to my attention.

Interesting fella Gary L: In a previous career, he was a founding member of Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was intrigued by what he had to say though as I thought it threw a lot of light on Putin's confusing religious and philosophical musings. He also confirmed a lot of what I remember about internal Russian conflict between its Slavic and Western leanings. An idea I first encountered in Franco Venturi's "Roots of Revolution" all those years ago. (I wonder where my copy went?)

Holy Russia is on Audible. Maybe I will get it with this month's credit.

A Life in the Day

 I aw the Bomber yesterday. He is due to be back in the office in Clapham on 26 April as COVID - touch wood - recedes.

We ate feijoada, farofa, rice and greens. It must have been good because he photographed and sent the picture to Halex, his old school friend, and took the leftovers back with him.

We watched a couple of episodes of The Lost Pirate Kingdom on Netflix last night, and kept thinking of Rayburn because Florida kept coming up in the stories. I had no idea it used to be Spanish.

Beer Pong

The Hendries have an all-weather table tennis set up in the garden and Ben introduced us all to beer pong (a game Rayburn taught him in the States) over the weekend.

Beer pong, also known as Beirut, is a drinking game in which players throw a ping pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end. The game typically consists of opposing teams of two or more players per side with 6 or 10 cups set up in a triangle formation on each side.[1] Each team then takes turns attempting to throw ping pong balls into the opponent's cups. If a ball lands in a cup (known as a 'make'), the contents of that cup are consumed by the other team and the cup is removed from the table. The first team to eliminate all of the opponent's cups is the winner.

At last, the sport I was born to play.

Florida: Marion County

Rayburn and his family live in Florida; Marion county to be a little more precise. Corona-virus infections seem to be surging there, and the governor, Ron DeSantis, seems to be a loon.

Rebekah Jones, who says she was fired from her job in charge of the state’s official Covid-19 database in May for refusing to manipulate its figures is running her own privately funded version now at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/7572b118dc3c48d885d1c643c195314e/

That is where I will be checking regularly for the time being.

Rayburn and Kevin, yes. The media, no.

S. I. Hayakawa

The original version of this book, Language in Action, published in 1941, was in many respects a response to the dangers of propaganda, especially as exemplified in Adolf Hitler's success in persuading millions to share his maniacal and destructive views. It was the writer's conviction then, as it remains now, that everyone needs to have a habitually critical attitude towards language—his own as well as that of others—both for the sake of his personal well being and for his adequate functioning as a citizen. Hitler is gone, but if the majority of our fellow citizens are more susceptible to the slogans of fear and race hatred than to those of peaceful accommodation and mutual respect among human beings, our political liberties remain at the mercy of any eloquent and unscrupulous demagogue.

Those are wise words above. Once more with feeling, " if the majority of our fellow citizens are more susceptible to the slogans of fear and race hatred than to those of peaceful accommodation and mutual respect among human beings, our political liberties remain at the mercy of any eloquent and unscrupulous demagogue." I had never even heard of Hayakawa until Rayburn, who lives in Florida now with his partner and daughter, introduced me to his though with the wonderfully understated "I try my best to try and understand what's going on in the world."

Also, last night Kevin told me a story about Test and Trace's Dido Harding and a misplaced decimal point that I won't repeat but also won't forget.

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the US, is now free to stream on Audible. It’s the version narrated by Stephen Fry, and part of a series of initiatives launched by JK Rowling and friends to keep everyone entertained while they’re cooped up at home.

You can get it at https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B017V54W6O.

I remember buying the Fry audiobook on CD as it was unabridged and would last long enough to keep Rayburn amused on a trip driving to West Wales (a mission in which it succeeded) to see Vince and Michele.

The CD version came out in 1999. I am pretty sure neither Ben nor Isaac were born at the time of the trip, and they came into the world in 2000, so it could be coming up for 21 years ago.

Ben in the U.S.A (I'm a cool rockin' Daddy in the U.S.A. now)

Iguanas are falling from trees in south Florida as unusually low temperatures sweep through the region. The invasive species can become sluggish when temperatures drop below 50F (10C) and are susceptible to freezing once temperatures drop to around 40F (4.5C) and once frozen, these cold-blooded creatures lose their grip on the trees they call home. Residents have expressed shock at the sight of rigid reptiles lying motionless in the middle of sidewalks and backyards. But while they appear lifeless, they are simple too cold to move.

As if I didn't have enough on my plate, now I have to worry about Ben being poleaxed by a frozen iguana falling out if a tree while he is visiting Rayburn in Florida. (Why an iguana is visiting Rayburn in Florida, I couldn't possibly say.)

Cwm On Down

Ben is flying off to Florida today visit his brother Rayburn and family for a fortnight.

When we met for lunch this week, he mentioned a mountain biking trail near London where he goes with mates. This reminded me that there are a lot of MTB facilities in South Wales, and to speculate that perhaps he could get a morning or afternoon in the next time we go down to Cardiff to see his grandparents.

There's a Mountain Bike Wales websitest http://www.mbwales.com. That suggests to me that the Cwmcarn centre will be our best bet. 10 minutes from the M4 and only 15 miles from mum and dad's house.

Facilities

For Cwmcarn Visitor Centre opening times please visit our website.

http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/cwmcarnforest/visitor-information/visitor-information

To book the uplift service visit Cwmdown www.cwmdown.co.uk. Private Uplifts are not permitted on either of the trails.

Shop and bike hire are available from PS Cycles – www.pscycles.co.uk

There is a shop, café and bike wash, plus pay and display car parking facilities.

I want you to play a game with me, Ray.

Ben and I went to see the latest Guy Ritchie at the Wimbledon Odeon. I thoroughly enjoyed though I can imagine how someone who didn't relish its winking through the fourth wall might find it something of a trial.

We went to Wahaca after; a tradition that is now over four years old. We must try and fit another one in before he flies off to Florida to see Rayburn.

Gary Rhodes

So sad to hear about the death of Gary Rhodes. In 2008 on my gap year I worked at his restaurant in Marble Arch to save for drama school. Gary was always so lovely. When I left to go to drama school he gave me one is his signed cookbooks, I opened it and there was £200 inside.

— Kadiff Kirwan (@kadiffkirwan) November 27, 2019

I am not sure why this tweet was in my feed today. Perhaps because the guy is an actor and I follow some of his peers?

Anyway, it reminded me that years ago we were at some event where Gary Rhodes was promoting a book and people were queuing up at a table where he was signing copies. Rayburn joined the line without buying the book and when he got to the front told the chef that he was thinking of going to catering college. Gary Rhodes didn't blink an eyebrow about the missing harback and the fact there was nothing for him in the exchange, but had a proper encouraging chat with Raybs and then shook his hand.

Ever since I have been a member of the Gary Rhodes fan club. Top geezer.

Ras Kitchen

I had thought that the soothing slow television that is Ras Kitchen might be something of an acquired taste; a private matter between me, YouTube and my chill out zone.

Not a bit of it. I mentioned the show in passing to Ben on Friday. He watches it as well, as does Rayburn's old mate Alex Devereux etc. etc.

Faith in human nature restored.

Let no man ignorant of geometry enter here.

Ben is in Florida with Jane visiting Rayburn and his family over Easter as usual at the moment.

We met in the Merton Apprentice last Thursday evening after work, before I drove to Wales on Friday and he flew out on Saturday.

He was talking about the number - or constant - Φ (phi) and how it appears in the proportions of, among many things, the human body? I said I hadn't heard of it and asked him if it was related to the golden ratio that the ancient Greeks knew about. He hadn't heard of that.

It turns out that Phi and the Golden Ratio are the same thing! Early in the last century a mathematician Mark Barr proposed using the first letter in the name of Greek sculptor Phidias, phi, to symbolize the golden ratio. Amazing eh? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio#History

When he is back, perhaps we can get together again, blow the froth off a couple of cold ones, and really start digging into the Fibonacci sequence?

I didn't see this one coming.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

Ben and his mum flew out to Orlando yesterday to spend Christmas with Rayburn in Florida. They were due to depart from Gatwick with Virgin Atlantic at one in the afternoon, so I feared the worst after the multiple drone sightings that had brought the airport to a standstill.

In the end their flight was transferred to another operator and they ftook off from Heathrow at about quarter past three. I was amazed they got out of London at all.

When you think about the airport chaos and the recent O2 outage (Icons passim) it shows how vulnerable we are to failures in new technology.

Don't even get me started on the Spengler's-Decline-of-the-West disaster of my mobile phone giving up the ghost today. All I will have to do is buy a new one and transfer the SIM card but I feel that the bottom has dropped out of my world.

as we that are left grow old

Rayburn is 29 today. To put this in perspective he is just slightly older than Paapa who got a Bafta Breaktrhough Brits Award the day before yesterday.

I went to see the NT Live show of Allelujah! last night. Having spent so many weekends visiting my mum's broken hip and my dad's dementia recently and - for what it is worth - having sung with Bryn last weekend, I found it very moving. It proved you can wear your heart on your sleeve without being overly didactic or hectoring.

Happy Birthday

November the second 2017 is Rayburn's 28th birthday!

See Icons Passim from 2005.

It's 3:30 in the morning of November 3 here, but still the second in Florida.

So the greeting still counts.

Robbers

Ben is going to the USA with Jane tomorrow to see Rayburn and family.

The roaming charges on his phone deal are here, I just checked.

When he was skiing in Italy data cost 3.9p per MB. In the USA it is £3.

On my phone, Google Maps has cached 198MB of data offline containing maps of the area around my home. That just shy of £600 worth at Three's USA rate.

The original plan was to use the Sat Nav on his phone to get to their apartment from Orlando. I will have to put the kibosh on that or I will be bankrupted.

It would be  cheaper to buy a brand new USA Garmin and bin it after a fortnight.

Fast flies meanwhile the irreparable hour

Ben is sixteen today, and Rayburn's little girl was born last night.

Gosh.