Nine Feet Underground

When I decided to change the self-imposed rules for this blog, specifically with regard to its publication frequency, I had a vague idea it would be less infrequent. Life, however, plays by its own rules. There seems to be an unprecedented amount of chaos surrounding me and those I love. In my mind's eye I have an image of a painting that encapsulates this high level of entropy.  I can't fins what I'm imagining (so far), so the image below is one of several I considered as alternatives. (Copyright Tomika Takeda, "Hope Amidst Chaos") So, why today?  Probably it's a breathing space before re-entering the fray.  I had an idea about a particular writing experiment that I want to attempt, one which combines my love of music and writing, but I haven't time to fully think it through. It's in embryonic form and further gestation is required. What's been going down, maaaan? Since last I put finger to keyboard, which in turn sent electrons in an ordered patt

Like fruit, time flies. I had more to say about Barcelona, but that's been superseded by events in the meantime.  All I can say is security tags! On the Saturday immediately following our return from Barca, I was Q's plus one when we attended the inauguration of the Strawberry Field bandstand in Liverpool.  It was a very special occasion and I was glad I attended. The bandstand is in the shape of the bass drum on the cover of The Beatles album 'Sergeant Pepper...' and features relevant images and a great mural as a backdrop. A great afternoon in the sun.  Not only that, but I was introduced to Ken Dodd's widow and other's besides. No diddy men were present (guess they were in Knotty Ash?) but there is an exhibition opening in the Liverpool museum honouring Ken Dodd. Currently the balls I am juggling are numerous and staying upin the air, yet to fall under gravity's influence. In fact there is so much in play that I'm having to write it all down, lest I s

My intention had been to write regular posts from Barcelona - I even bought a tiny Bluetooth keypad so I could type with my Kindle - but we were so busy there really wasn't time. I have been to Barcelona before, almost 10 years ago, with E and sons 1, 2 and 3. I really loved the place and we visited some interesting places, but E was already suffering really badly from MS-induced fatigue and still in denial. (No Spain, not Egypt)  This meant we couldn't do as much as we would have liked and that the effects of fatigue affected many of our outings. After a very early start at around 2:30 in the morning I found myself seated on a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 with Q and Φ ready to fly from Liverpool to Barcelona.  Later that same day we were due to be joined by Q's brother and his wife who were flying in from Finland.  After we checked into our apartment and had a brief rest, we headed into town to the Museum of modern art ( MOCO ).  This was a fun start to our stay and, after soaki