Nine Feet Underground

Another hectic start, made doubly so by the need to pick up a prescription for E (and for me) as well as some replacement contact lenses before work. I'd already walked, partially in rain, before that. Got home, carers were here and got stuck in to preparing for the two presentations I'm doing this morning. After yesterday's mid-year review I find myself with a bunch of extra things to do. First presentation is over and it went well, considering I didn't know I was doing it until yesterday evening - I got several positive comments from fellow architects in my team, which was cool. Getting myself organised to submit my application for the architect certification board - applying for recognition as a level 2 architect.  Really busy day comes to an end and my plan is to sit and listen to music, however no sooner was Bicep cued and cranked up, but the phone rings and it's my big sister.  I have a lot to tell her about and she has a fair bit to tell me - she wants to kno...

Mark Hollis, of Talk Talk, has died. I didn't know him. I didn't see him or Talk Talk perform live.  In fact I know little about him other than what is there for anyone to see and hear on his albums with Talk Talk and his self-titled solo album. I love 'Spirit of Eden', from which 'I Believe In You' comes.  It is an album that rewards repeated listens. It is a gentle album bursting with ideas and with its own singular vision.  Every time you listen to it, you hear something you've not heard before. It's not a rock album or a dance album or anything else so easily boxed and filed.  It is itself and demands to be listened to on its own terms.  Above all else, though, it is beautiful.  Though he largely retired from the music business after his solo album of 1998, the music he left behind still stands tall today. For the facts and tributes take a look a what the BBC had to say . For a more impassioned view and one that tries to make sens...