I hate this kind of stuff. A nurse has been arrested in connection with five deaths at a hospital in Stockport, near Manchester. Apparently some saline solution (used for intravenous drips) had been tampered with, by someone injecting insulin into it. Consequently when given intravenously to a patient this could cause hypoglycaemia, coma and death. This story is currently all over the news.
However, the police have not charged the nurse, nor have they released any details (was she working with the five patients who died? did she have access to insulin and saline? did she have a motivation?). In fact, it has not been confirmed that the patients died due to hypoglycaemia or insulin injection.
In which case, is it right for the BBC and the Guardian to show a picture of the nurse on their websites? The same goes for all the other news outlets. Even better, the story on the Guardian website today pretty much tells you where she lives.
I think it is highly unfair, in fact it should be illegal, to show pictures and give away addresses of people that may be innocent before any trial has taken place.
Friday 22 July 2011
Friday 15 July 2011
Sequences
Last week I went along to some "intensive" Mysore-style yoga classes, which were run 6-8 AM by Matt Ryan, whose classes I used to attend when I lived in Didsbury. After the first day, it was no problem getting up at 5 AM to walk down Brinny hill and catch the 192 bus to Heaton Chapel.
We started with pranayama, which are breathing exercises involving deep breathing and holding the breath either on the inhale or exhale (which is harder - after doing that a couple of times for 8 seconds a go I was struggling a bit). After that we did our normal self-practice, which is the Mysore thing, while the teacher wanders around correcting people as he sees fit. He got me started on the second series, which was cool, I hoped for that but from my previous experience with him I thought he might not let me progress so fast. However, he seems to have chilled out a bit in the two years since I last saw him, and I was on to the leg-behind-the-head move by the end of the week. (He corrected me for calling it the secondary series - as in not as important, but then isn't it primary, secondary, tertiary education, and that has a definite progress to it?)
Anyway, the point of this blog wasn't to tell everyone about my week, instead I've been meditating on the idea of a sequence in yoga. Ashtanga has quite a strict sequence of postures, linked by the vinyasa (jumping back, upward/downward dog).
Having a rigidly defined sequence has the potential to become very regimented and boring, and make the yogi reluctant to practice. Also, as the harder moves come later in the sequence, it can instill the tendency to want to push on, to get to the next move, rather than being "in the moment", and also give rise to big egos as you see you are more "advanced" than the people around you (this can happen anyway if you happen to be better than most in certain postures).
Some people complain that there are easier moves towards the end of the first series (e.g. bandha konasana, the butterfly stretch, and salabahasana in the second series) which are beneficial to beginners, and that in the traditional Ashtanga method they wouldn't be able to do these moves until they'd mastered the likes of Marichyasana D (twist and bind with one leg in half lotus - hard enough but dangerous or impossible if you are carrying knee injuries).
On the other hand, one of the things that attracted me to Ashtanga was the sequence. The progressive nature of it gives you something to aim for, and more importantly you can then practice on your own, without feeling like you're freestyling (i.e. making it up). Some of the frustrations that come out of the practice (I was more bendy than this yesterday!) are actually useful - dealing with them in a meditative way might help to improve how you deal with frustrations and set-backs elsewhere in life.
Also, the sequences in Ashtanga have been designed in a certain way, with a gradual build up of difficulty and heat (and sweat) up to a certain point, with a couple of easier ones on the end. So its fine to practice the later postures even if the previous ones are to difficult, but that way misses out some of the benefits of the Ashtanga system. Another point that ties in with the paragraph above is that if you start missing out moves, or doing whatever you want, you will naturally avoid the harder moves and not improve in the ways that you might need to (in other words, spend more time in the positions you find the most uncomfortable/difficult).
I think it is quite normal for the human mind to seek out sequences and patterns. Any yoga class, or exercise class for that matter, will use some kind of sequence for the various exercises (maybe this is the difference between "exercise" and "sport"). Some people respect the purity of a system, and will not tolerate any change or innovation. The history of evolution tells us though that those that don't adapt almost invariably will die. Unless you're a crocodile or something.
We started with pranayama, which are breathing exercises involving deep breathing and holding the breath either on the inhale or exhale (which is harder - after doing that a couple of times for 8 seconds a go I was struggling a bit). After that we did our normal self-practice, which is the Mysore thing, while the teacher wanders around correcting people as he sees fit. He got me started on the second series, which was cool, I hoped for that but from my previous experience with him I thought he might not let me progress so fast. However, he seems to have chilled out a bit in the two years since I last saw him, and I was on to the leg-behind-the-head move by the end of the week. (He corrected me for calling it the secondary series - as in not as important, but then isn't it primary, secondary, tertiary education, and that has a definite progress to it?)
Anyway, the point of this blog wasn't to tell everyone about my week, instead I've been meditating on the idea of a sequence in yoga. Ashtanga has quite a strict sequence of postures, linked by the vinyasa (jumping back, upward/downward dog).
Having a rigidly defined sequence has the potential to become very regimented and boring, and make the yogi reluctant to practice. Also, as the harder moves come later in the sequence, it can instill the tendency to want to push on, to get to the next move, rather than being "in the moment", and also give rise to big egos as you see you are more "advanced" than the people around you (this can happen anyway if you happen to be better than most in certain postures).
Some people complain that there are easier moves towards the end of the first series (e.g. bandha konasana, the butterfly stretch, and salabahasana in the second series) which are beneficial to beginners, and that in the traditional Ashtanga method they wouldn't be able to do these moves until they'd mastered the likes of Marichyasana D (twist and bind with one leg in half lotus - hard enough but dangerous or impossible if you are carrying knee injuries).
On the other hand, one of the things that attracted me to Ashtanga was the sequence. The progressive nature of it gives you something to aim for, and more importantly you can then practice on your own, without feeling like you're freestyling (i.e. making it up). Some of the frustrations that come out of the practice (I was more bendy than this yesterday!) are actually useful - dealing with them in a meditative way might help to improve how you deal with frustrations and set-backs elsewhere in life.
Also, the sequences in Ashtanga have been designed in a certain way, with a gradual build up of difficulty and heat (and sweat) up to a certain point, with a couple of easier ones on the end. So its fine to practice the later postures even if the previous ones are to difficult, but that way misses out some of the benefits of the Ashtanga system. Another point that ties in with the paragraph above is that if you start missing out moves, or doing whatever you want, you will naturally avoid the harder moves and not improve in the ways that you might need to (in other words, spend more time in the positions you find the most uncomfortable/difficult).
I think it is quite normal for the human mind to seek out sequences and patterns. Any yoga class, or exercise class for that matter, will use some kind of sequence for the various exercises (maybe this is the difference between "exercise" and "sport"). Some people respect the purity of a system, and will not tolerate any change or innovation. The history of evolution tells us though that those that don't adapt almost invariably will die. Unless you're a crocodile or something.
Tuesday 14 June 2011
Extreme weather
Its June, the start of Summer, supposedly. And surprisingly, its sunny today (Tuesday). On Sunday I had three layers on when I went out for a walk, through the woods near to my house which had quite an autumnal feel (i.e. much rain and wind). Later my girlfriend and I were wrapped in blankets while watching a film. This is after an exceptionally hot and dry April, the time of year you'd usually expect to get soaked, when I was sitting out in the garden in shorts and t-shirt. And to look around the world, you can see how messed up the weather is globally. Yes, Gaia is very angry with us. The question is, is all this weather weirdness caused by man-made climate change?
I have tried to come up with a logic for dealing with the following dilemma: The weather conditions we see are either caused by man-made events (greenhouse gases) or are part of a natural cycle. But seeing as we can't actually prove either way, how do you persuade you average climate sceptic that we should reduce our emissions? Well, if what we are seeing is due to natural change, then whether we reduce our emissions or not won't make any difference, and the weather conditions may get worse, stay the same or get better accordingly. On the other hand, if what we are seeing is due to man-made events, then reducing emissions should stop the climate change, and eventually reverse it, while not reducing the emissions will make things worse. So it seems that even if we are not sure about the causes of climate change (and surely people cannot argue that the climate is changing at present - check out the link above, or look up changes in global temperature and CO2 levels since the start of the industrial revolution), then it seems better to do something about it, because if we are wrong we will certainly face extinction as a race, while the worst case scenario, we are wrong, reduce emissions but the weather gets worse anyway, was always unavoidable. Basically, by being pro-active we are cutting down on risk.
Of course, there is another possibility, that there are both natural and man-made components to climate change. Even so, changing our ways will surely help to improve matters. Not to mention that reducing consumption of resources can only surely be a good thing in the long run. Our economies our mostly fucked as it is - we might as well adapt now while there's still enough food and water to go round.
I have tried to come up with a logic for dealing with the following dilemma: The weather conditions we see are either caused by man-made events (greenhouse gases) or are part of a natural cycle. But seeing as we can't actually prove either way, how do you persuade you average climate sceptic that we should reduce our emissions? Well, if what we are seeing is due to natural change, then whether we reduce our emissions or not won't make any difference, and the weather conditions may get worse, stay the same or get better accordingly. On the other hand, if what we are seeing is due to man-made events, then reducing emissions should stop the climate change, and eventually reverse it, while not reducing the emissions will make things worse. So it seems that even if we are not sure about the causes of climate change (and surely people cannot argue that the climate is changing at present - check out the link above, or look up changes in global temperature and CO2 levels since the start of the industrial revolution), then it seems better to do something about it, because if we are wrong we will certainly face extinction as a race, while the worst case scenario, we are wrong, reduce emissions but the weather gets worse anyway, was always unavoidable. Basically, by being pro-active we are cutting down on risk.
Of course, there is another possibility, that there are both natural and man-made components to climate change. Even so, changing our ways will surely help to improve matters. Not to mention that reducing consumption of resources can only surely be a good thing in the long run. Our economies our mostly fucked as it is - we might as well adapt now while there's still enough food and water to go round.
Monday 9 May 2011
The hamster wheel called science
An interview was recently published in Lab Times with Peter Lawrence, who discusses what is wrong with science research - a subject that I've been talking about a fair bit at work, where the majority of other writers have done the PhD/postdoc thing then had nowhere else to go. Its quite an amusing article if you've been in the science game, with observations such as that papers in Nature, the most esteemed journal which everyone wants to get into, are so dense as to be actually unreadable. And that scientists have become little more than paper-spewing machines, where the publication becomes the end in itself rather than any idea of a pursuit of knowledge.
The basic challenge is this - get at least one first author paper out in the 2 (3 if you're lucky) years of your postdoc or thats it, you're out of science. And if you do get it, you get another 2 years (well, more like 18 months if you're going to start work on the next grant). And so on. The ultimate aim is to get your own lab group to manage, at which point you will never see the lab again and instead become buried under paperwork, meetings and bureacracy.
No wonder I, and the majority of people I did my PhD and postdoc with, have come out of science.
The other side of the problem as far as I can see it, is that there are far too many people now in science, in particular biology (especially molecular biology - my ex-field). More PhD's than there are interesting things to study, or at least when they have graduated.
Of course, I was a bit foolish in concentrating almost solely on my studies, and later my research, without really thinking where I was going, what the job scene was likely to be, and whether I was picking up enough competitive skills. Fortunately I wrote a couple of reviews during my postdoc, which must have at least helped my current job as a medical writer; my ability to do PCR and subcloning blindfolded and plate out thousands of yeast transformations couldn't even get me a maternity-leave technician job in a hospital genetics department, never mind another research post.
I don't blame anyone though, I was too focused on small things without seeing a bigger picture. Actually, I would criticise the sciences for that - I might have had much more interesting ideas for my PhD if I'd had more contact with the physics/technology/mathematics department for instance and we'd come up with a design for an artifical pancreas. It would be nice to have a bit more confidence to go an make contacts like that, but unfortunately most researchers are so absorbed into their own fields that such cross-discipline collaboration (or even awareness, at all, at what is going on - the splintering of science into ever-more ridiculously obscure fields - compare to the polymaths of old who knew a bit about everything).
The basic challenge is this - get at least one first author paper out in the 2 (3 if you're lucky) years of your postdoc or thats it, you're out of science. And if you do get it, you get another 2 years (well, more like 18 months if you're going to start work on the next grant). And so on. The ultimate aim is to get your own lab group to manage, at which point you will never see the lab again and instead become buried under paperwork, meetings and bureacracy.
No wonder I, and the majority of people I did my PhD and postdoc with, have come out of science.
The other side of the problem as far as I can see it, is that there are far too many people now in science, in particular biology (especially molecular biology - my ex-field). More PhD's than there are interesting things to study, or at least when they have graduated.
Of course, I was a bit foolish in concentrating almost solely on my studies, and later my research, without really thinking where I was going, what the job scene was likely to be, and whether I was picking up enough competitive skills. Fortunately I wrote a couple of reviews during my postdoc, which must have at least helped my current job as a medical writer; my ability to do PCR and subcloning blindfolded and plate out thousands of yeast transformations couldn't even get me a maternity-leave technician job in a hospital genetics department, never mind another research post.
I don't blame anyone though, I was too focused on small things without seeing a bigger picture. Actually, I would criticise the sciences for that - I might have had much more interesting ideas for my PhD if I'd had more contact with the physics/technology/mathematics department for instance and we'd come up with a design for an artifical pancreas. It would be nice to have a bit more confidence to go an make contacts like that, but unfortunately most researchers are so absorbed into their own fields that such cross-discipline collaboration (or even awareness, at all, at what is going on - the splintering of science into ever-more ridiculously obscure fields - compare to the polymaths of old who knew a bit about everything).
Monday 2 May 2011
First month as a medical writer
It's been a ridiculously long time since I wrote anything here. My new job is going ok so far. I seem to be fitting in well with the other people, which I suppose is the most important thing. There are quite a few fairly new people, mostly from backgrounds such as my own: did a science degree, PhD, postdoc then decided to go into medical writing.
For the first couple of weeks I was mostly doing admin stuff, like updating databases with information on conferences and journals, as organising events is one of the jobs that the company I work for does. Hopefully I'll get to go to some conferences soon, it's always nice, and something I never got to do during my postdoc at Manchester (well, apart from the Yeast conference, which was in Manchester).
I've now been given my first couple of writing jobs, working on producing a from a clinical for a new Type 2 diabetes drug. Firstly I sat in a teleconference meeting with a couple of members of the editorial team, and listened to our clients (a representative from the drug company and some of the doctors who had worked on the trial as they discussed what the overall aims and direction of the paper should be, what kind of stuff to put in the figures and so on. Then I was sent off to produce an outline which has turned out to be quite detailed. A lot of the time was spent organising the data from the trial into something presentable, and finding references for the introduction. They had some quite good results, so it will be interesting to see how far this new drug goes.
Not much else to say on the job really. Apart from that, I've been getting in some yoga every morning, only doing an hour or so now as I have to leave for the train at about 7.30. The weather has been so nice lately that getting up about 5.30-5.45 hasn't been a problem. I'm not sticking so much to the traditional ashtanga series now, which can take up to 2 hours to complete, I've been mixing the positions around a bit to try and get some practice with the full range of stretches etc. I think you can skip quite a few of the similar moves e.g. the forward bends in the primary series and spend more time on the harder ones.
I went to a barbeque the weekend before last and played some guitar music with some other people there, it was great fun and something I hadn't done for ages. There was four people on guitars at one point, mostly playing blues and Elvis tunes as they make a straightforward common ground. I could do with learning some more tunes though as my girlfriend has been complaining that I've been playing the same things all the time! So any suggestions would be appreciated.
For the first couple of weeks I was mostly doing admin stuff, like updating databases with information on conferences and journals, as organising events is one of the jobs that the company I work for does. Hopefully I'll get to go to some conferences soon, it's always nice, and something I never got to do during my postdoc at Manchester (well, apart from the Yeast conference, which was in Manchester).
I've now been given my first couple of writing jobs, working on producing a from a clinical for a new Type 2 diabetes drug. Firstly I sat in a teleconference meeting with a couple of members of the editorial team, and listened to our clients (a representative from the drug company and some of the doctors who had worked on the trial as they discussed what the overall aims and direction of the paper should be, what kind of stuff to put in the figures and so on. Then I was sent off to produce an outline which has turned out to be quite detailed. A lot of the time was spent organising the data from the trial into something presentable, and finding references for the introduction. They had some quite good results, so it will be interesting to see how far this new drug goes.
Not much else to say on the job really. Apart from that, I've been getting in some yoga every morning, only doing an hour or so now as I have to leave for the train at about 7.30. The weather has been so nice lately that getting up about 5.30-5.45 hasn't been a problem. I'm not sticking so much to the traditional ashtanga series now, which can take up to 2 hours to complete, I've been mixing the positions around a bit to try and get some practice with the full range of stretches etc. I think you can skip quite a few of the similar moves e.g. the forward bends in the primary series and spend more time on the harder ones.
I went to a barbeque the weekend before last and played some guitar music with some other people there, it was great fun and something I hadn't done for ages. There was four people on guitars at one point, mostly playing blues and Elvis tunes as they make a straightforward common ground. I could do with learning some more tunes though as my girlfriend has been complaining that I've been playing the same things all the time! So any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Demolition man
Over the last few weeks I've done a fair amount of gardening work. After taking the tree down which I wrote about last time, I cleared a load of brambles and other spikey things from the back, went down to one mates allotment and helped her weed out the vegetable patches and wheelbarrow a load of compost, and on saturday last I went down to another mates allotment, very near to Old Trafford (hawk, spit!) to help him destroy the dodgy looking ramshackle glasshouse there. It was a cool bit of demolition work, we had a crowbar each and managed to take down the double-glazed windows that had been used for a roof on the glasshouse. I only banged my head once, and my friend, lets call him Dr Leverenti, escaped with just a nail gash on the top of his head.
But mostly I'm afraid I've been lost in the world of Assassin's Guild Brotherhood on the Xbox. At first I thought it was just a Tomb Raider clone with the fancy dressing of being set in Medieval Rome, but I've found it highly compulsive. Its very violent, and graphically so. When I was a fair bit younger I played an awful lot of computer games, in many ways they are a waste of time but I do find playing them quite relaxing. Even when you're running and jumping over the tops of buildings and assassinating people by sneeking up behind them and breaking their necks.
And I can do it guilt-free because I've finally got a job sorted out. I start next week so this is my last week of freedom. I'll be working for a medical communications company in Knutsford, mostly writing up clinical trials reports for drugs companies. It seems to be a thing that a lot of ex-science researchers get into. When you realise that you're not going to be a PI (Principle Investigator i.e., the head of a lab), the only way is out of academia really. With the new job I'll still be able to use a lot of my science knowledge and be able to focus just on writing. I was never the most practical person in the lab anyway.
So I'm looking forward to being out of the house, earning some money and basically being useful again. I don't know how I'm going to fit the yoga into it all, as I'll have to leave the house about 6.30 in the morning to get down to Stockport to catch the train, and probably won't get in until about 7 at night. So unless I get up at 4am or something I'm just going to have to go to a class.
The next couple of blogs should be awesome tales of office life, I bet you can't wait!
But mostly I'm afraid I've been lost in the world of Assassin's Guild Brotherhood on the Xbox. At first I thought it was just a Tomb Raider clone with the fancy dressing of being set in Medieval Rome, but I've found it highly compulsive. Its very violent, and graphically so. When I was a fair bit younger I played an awful lot of computer games, in many ways they are a waste of time but I do find playing them quite relaxing. Even when you're running and jumping over the tops of buildings and assassinating people by sneeking up behind them and breaking their necks.
And I can do it guilt-free because I've finally got a job sorted out. I start next week so this is my last week of freedom. I'll be working for a medical communications company in Knutsford, mostly writing up clinical trials reports for drugs companies. It seems to be a thing that a lot of ex-science researchers get into. When you realise that you're not going to be a PI (Principle Investigator i.e., the head of a lab), the only way is out of academia really. With the new job I'll still be able to use a lot of my science knowledge and be able to focus just on writing. I was never the most practical person in the lab anyway.
So I'm looking forward to being out of the house, earning some money and basically being useful again. I don't know how I'm going to fit the yoga into it all, as I'll have to leave the house about 6.30 in the morning to get down to Stockport to catch the train, and probably won't get in until about 7 at night. So unless I get up at 4am or something I'm just going to have to go to a class.
The next couple of blogs should be awesome tales of office life, I bet you can't wait!
Tuesday 8 March 2011
I'm a lumberjack
Today I made a new personal achievement to add to my cv - tree felling! At the bottom of our garden were two spindly coniferous trees (sorry I'm not an expert so I can't be more specific), one of which was already blocking out most of the sunlight and threatened to further loom in immensity if left unchecked. It turned out that most of the branches were half rotten and could just be pulled off. The tallest tree was about 12 ft and I took it down with the classic technique of cutting a wedge in the same side as I wanted it to fall, cut a slit in the other side then basically pulled it down. The root took ages to get out, but it was very satisfying. I'm revelling in my arm-scratches right now. I worked as a gardner when I first left school, it can be quite nice work but it is very tiring, I fell asleep after my efforts today.
My sleep was aided by watching the "Wonders of the Universe" on BBC i-player, a documentary with Brian Cox warbling on about the arrow of time, while mooching about various moody locations. There were some turtles in it, I'm not sure if it had a major revlatory point to make as I fell asleep about half way through it (the Star Trek effect). There have been quite a few interesting documentaries on BBC lately, Horizon last week had a look at whether humans are still evolving, although it mostly showed the presenter in various moody locations. It touched upon variations in human populations over the world - Sherpas in Nepal having a greater network of blood vessels to aid survival at higher altitudes (although I'm not nc that this was just a physiological rather than genetic adaptation) and the prevalence of the lactase gene for digesting milk, very common in north european populations and very rare in south east asia. Explains why I didn't see many milkman doing the rounds in Cambodia.
My sleep was aided by watching the "Wonders of the Universe" on BBC i-player, a documentary with Brian Cox warbling on about the arrow of time, while mooching about various moody locations. There were some turtles in it, I'm not sure if it had a major revlatory point to make as I fell asleep about half way through it (the Star Trek effect). There have been quite a few interesting documentaries on BBC lately, Horizon last week had a look at whether humans are still evolving, although it mostly showed the presenter in various moody locations. It touched upon variations in human populations over the world - Sherpas in Nepal having a greater network of blood vessels to aid survival at higher altitudes (although I'm not nc that this was just a physiological rather than genetic adaptation) and the prevalence of the lactase gene for digesting milk, very common in north european populations and very rare in south east asia. Explains why I didn't see many milkman doing the rounds in Cambodia.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
An aimless wander to Royston Vasey
Last week I was up in Haltwhistle with Linda, checking out Hadrians wall and Vindolanda, the remains of a Roman settlement. There's not much left of either, just the foundations really, although the supports for the underfloor heating were visible in one of the houses' remains, they looked like weird little tombstones.
The weather was getting nasty and we were feeling over-exposed, luckily Haltwhistle has a great pub in the form of the Black Bull. After three days we were well-established with the locals. They speak with an uncannily Geordie-like accent there, although they are adamant that their accent is different. I had a shock when I walked past a newsagent to read "North East man feared dead in Christchurch earthquake", as I have two good mates from Newcastle who lives there (I stayed with them last year), fortunately they were ok. Such an idyllic place, but with a terrible reality lying in wait underneath (New Zealand that is, not Newcastle. Although...)
I was feeling a bit restless on monday morning so I decided to walk part of the Transpennine trail which runs quite close to where I live in Stockport. Probably the most interesting thing I came across was the ruins of some old mills near Broadbottom, so named I think because the nearby hills look like two giant curvaceous butt-cheeks. I walked for about 5 hours in total, to reach Hadfield, I was feeling a bit fed up by then due to a very painful blister on my right heel (actually caused by my wearing "proper shoes" to an interview over a week ago) so I didn't stop to invetigate the town and just headed for the train station. Only when I read a tourist information board while waiting for the train did I realise that Hadfield was the set for Royston Vasey in the TV programme "The League of Gentlemen". So I missed the opportunity to go into a shop and be asked "Are you local?" before being subjected to some form of surreal torture.
I'll leave you with a weird scarecrow I saw in an allotment as I was coming into Hadfield:
The weather was getting nasty and we were feeling over-exposed, luckily Haltwhistle has a great pub in the form of the Black Bull. After three days we were well-established with the locals. They speak with an uncannily Geordie-like accent there, although they are adamant that their accent is different. I had a shock when I walked past a newsagent to read "North East man feared dead in Christchurch earthquake", as I have two good mates from Newcastle who lives there (I stayed with them last year), fortunately they were ok. Such an idyllic place, but with a terrible reality lying in wait underneath (New Zealand that is, not Newcastle. Although...)
I was feeling a bit restless on monday morning so I decided to walk part of the Transpennine trail which runs quite close to where I live in Stockport. Probably the most interesting thing I came across was the ruins of some old mills near Broadbottom, so named I think because the nearby hills look like two giant curvaceous butt-cheeks. I walked for about 5 hours in total, to reach Hadfield, I was feeling a bit fed up by then due to a very painful blister on my right heel (actually caused by my wearing "proper shoes" to an interview over a week ago) so I didn't stop to invetigate the town and just headed for the train station. Only when I read a tourist information board while waiting for the train did I realise that Hadfield was the set for Royston Vasey in the TV programme "The League of Gentlemen". So I missed the opportunity to go into a shop and be asked "Are you local?" before being subjected to some form of surreal torture.
I'll leave you with a weird scarecrow I saw in an allotment as I was coming into Hadfield:
Monday 21 February 2011
Album review: King of Limbs
It shows how much I am out of touch when the first thing I knew about the new Radiohead album, King of Limbs, was when I received an email from their website. It is available now as a download for £6, which is a bit steep compared to their last album (In Rainbows, which was free to download at first), but I forked out anyway. The album is little over 30 minutes, and contains 8 tracks (like the limbs of an octopus?), mostly involving complex drum loops, floaty sound fragments and dubby echo effects, modulated vocals and very little guitar.
At first I was distinctly underwhelmed and felt like it all sounded like background music, but after a third listen it is definitely growing on me. The music sounds mostly computer generated, with nods to the likes of Lamb, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin and UNKLE, and is a progression of the techno-fiddiling that began on Kid A. 'Bloom' has a laid back jazzy feel while second track 'Good Morning Mr Magpie', which first appeared on the Radiohead TV DVD as a solo acoustic performance from Thom Yorke, bounces along to an insistently funky riff. Track 3 'Little by little' has the first recognisable guitar and recalls the minor key progression of '2+2=5' from previous Radiohead album 'Hail to the Thief'. The songs in the second half of the album put more emphasis on the vocals, 'Codex' has some nice big shimmering keyboard and last track 'Separator' has an uplifting melody with some spacey chords to finish on.
It feels a bit lightweight for a Radiohead album, but its so short you can happily play it again straight away when its over. It's different enough from their previous output, while still remaining recognisably Radiohead and shows how the band are not scared to continuously change their style. Deep down I would like them to come out with a White Album-style stripped down acoustic album next, but they'll probably continue their metamorphosis into a cybertrance outfit. Which wouldn't be so unwelcome.
At first I was distinctly underwhelmed and felt like it all sounded like background music, but after a third listen it is definitely growing on me. The music sounds mostly computer generated, with nods to the likes of Lamb, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin and UNKLE, and is a progression of the techno-fiddiling that began on Kid A. 'Bloom' has a laid back jazzy feel while second track 'Good Morning Mr Magpie', which first appeared on the Radiohead TV DVD as a solo acoustic performance from Thom Yorke, bounces along to an insistently funky riff. Track 3 'Little by little' has the first recognisable guitar and recalls the minor key progression of '2+2=5' from previous Radiohead album 'Hail to the Thief'. The songs in the second half of the album put more emphasis on the vocals, 'Codex' has some nice big shimmering keyboard and last track 'Separator' has an uplifting melody with some spacey chords to finish on.
It feels a bit lightweight for a Radiohead album, but its so short you can happily play it again straight away when its over. It's different enough from their previous output, while still remaining recognisably Radiohead and shows how the band are not scared to continuously change their style. Deep down I would like them to come out with a White Album-style stripped down acoustic album next, but they'll probably continue their metamorphosis into a cybertrance outfit. Which wouldn't be so unwelcome.
Thursday 10 February 2011
British heritage
On the breakfast news today there was a feature on vandalism and theft of heritage sites. They showed an old farm that had been set ablaze, some 200 year old paving stones that had been nicked ("to break up for a rockery") and a large fortification from one of the World Wars that had been graffiti'd inside. The worst was a Roman settlement that had been ruined by people driving through it in their 4x4s. Probably on the way to picking their kids up from school.
Its a heartbreaking state of affairs, but it occured to me that maybe a lot of people just don't feel a connection with the past, or value it in anyway. After all, todays society is all about now, now, now, and faster, faster, FASTER! There is so much history in this country that it is almost overwhelming, and what do you see when you look to the future? The country being a shadow of its former self, slowly sinking down into obscurity. No jobs, no joy, living in a police state, being fed by nanny robots. The country is cluttered up by relics, reminders of halcyon days.
The main headline on the local news, which is basically a series of comedic interludes, was that the oldest police horse in Manchester has retired. That's the major news for the whole of the north-west of England. No wonder Londoners think everyone else is provincial. Nothing to worry about for us northies though, apart from where the next cheese is coming from.
Its a heartbreaking state of affairs, but it occured to me that maybe a lot of people just don't feel a connection with the past, or value it in anyway. After all, todays society is all about now, now, now, and faster, faster, FASTER! There is so much history in this country that it is almost overwhelming, and what do you see when you look to the future? The country being a shadow of its former self, slowly sinking down into obscurity. No jobs, no joy, living in a police state, being fed by nanny robots. The country is cluttered up by relics, reminders of halcyon days.
The main headline on the local news, which is basically a series of comedic interludes, was that the oldest police horse in Manchester has retired. That's the major news for the whole of the north-west of England. No wonder Londoners think everyone else is provincial. Nothing to worry about for us northies though, apart from where the next cheese is coming from.
Monday 31 January 2011
New Mills, home of some mills
I've travelled from Manchester to Edale quite a few times on the train, and was always intrigued by one station on the line, New Mills, as the board displaying the station name proclaimed that one could alight there for the Millenium Walkway, which sounded quite exciting. Seeing as I'm now living right next to Brinnington station which is only three stops down the line I decided to spend the afternoon finding out what New Mills had to offer.
Well I found the Millenium Walkway easily enough thanks to several helpful signs which led me down from the station to the Torr valley below, where the river Goyt flows through an impressive gorge cut out of sandstone. Immediately opposite me on the other side of the river was a fine looking and only slightly decrepit Torr Vale Mill building, which apparently stopped working only in 2000 (just in time for the Millenium Walkway to open), I could see a strip light on in one of the upper floor rooms and a man in a fluorescent jacket was doing something maintainy on the outside. I don't know what I was expecting from the Walkway, it was pleasant enough, basically taking you over the river past the above mentioned mill, but was over unfortunately too quickly. A plaque at the other end of the Walkway told me that the designer of the bridge had died during the 2005 London bombings, which made me appreicate his lifetime achievement a little more.
The majesty of the Millenium Walkway
I wandered around the river area for a bit, coming almost to the start of the Sett valley trail which apparently runs to Hayfield and which I will try another day, when I've gotten an earlier start than midday and maybe when its not so cold. By a large weir there was asmall hydro-electric power plant, featuring a reverse archimedean screw, although it was generating 0 volts when I was there. Then I backtracked and found a path leading past a farm with some Alpacas, a pleasant change from sheep or cows, and on to the Peak Forest canal. I walked for about half an hour before I turned back. There were lots of nice canal boats moored at the Furness Dale Marina, and a few in action sailing past. One unfortunate boat was tilted to the side, and on closer inspection was flooded, such a shame. There were quite a few people walking dogs, and one man with a backpack and wearing shorts, despite the ice sheets floating down the canal that you would think would indicate sub-zero, non-short wearing conditions. This evening I finished Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, I laughed at the part where he describes short-wearing in British walkers as a sign of dementia.
If I'd had a map, I would have realised that I could walk down the canal back nearly to my home, in fact it passes through all the same places that the train did, besides Brinnington. Instead I went back the station for 3, as unless I wanted to hang around New Mills until 7, I would have to get off at Bredbury and walk. I'm sure it is nice, but Bredbury looked like a large industrial estate to me from the vantage of the train, and I didn't fancy getting lost there. I never even saw the town centre of New Mills with its promised heritage centre, but I doubt that I'd come back just for that, unless I do happen to walk it next time.
Well I found the Millenium Walkway easily enough thanks to several helpful signs which led me down from the station to the Torr valley below, where the river Goyt flows through an impressive gorge cut out of sandstone. Immediately opposite me on the other side of the river was a fine looking and only slightly decrepit Torr Vale Mill building, which apparently stopped working only in 2000 (just in time for the Millenium Walkway to open), I could see a strip light on in one of the upper floor rooms and a man in a fluorescent jacket was doing something maintainy on the outside. I don't know what I was expecting from the Walkway, it was pleasant enough, basically taking you over the river past the above mentioned mill, but was over unfortunately too quickly. A plaque at the other end of the Walkway told me that the designer of the bridge had died during the 2005 London bombings, which made me appreicate his lifetime achievement a little more.
The majesty of the Millenium WalkwayI wandered around the river area for a bit, coming almost to the start of the Sett valley trail which apparently runs to Hayfield and which I will try another day, when I've gotten an earlier start than midday and maybe when its not so cold. By a large weir there was asmall hydro-electric power plant, featuring a reverse archimedean screw, although it was generating 0 volts when I was there. Then I backtracked and found a path leading past a farm with some Alpacas, a pleasant change from sheep or cows, and on to the Peak Forest canal. I walked for about half an hour before I turned back. There were lots of nice canal boats moored at the Furness Dale Marina, and a few in action sailing past. One unfortunate boat was tilted to the side, and on closer inspection was flooded, such a shame. There were quite a few people walking dogs, and one man with a backpack and wearing shorts, despite the ice sheets floating down the canal that you would think would indicate sub-zero, non-short wearing conditions. This evening I finished Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, I laughed at the part where he describes short-wearing in British walkers as a sign of dementia.
If I'd had a map, I would have realised that I could walk down the canal back nearly to my home, in fact it passes through all the same places that the train did, besides Brinnington. Instead I went back the station for 3, as unless I wanted to hang around New Mills until 7, I would have to get off at Bredbury and walk. I'm sure it is nice, but Bredbury looked like a large industrial estate to me from the vantage of the train, and I didn't fancy getting lost there. I never even saw the town centre of New Mills with its promised heritage centre, but I doubt that I'd come back just for that, unless I do happen to walk it next time.
Thursday 27 January 2011
There is no escape
This week I have translocated to my parents house on the wonderful Wirral peninsula, as my father is going for quite a serious operation. Still doing the same shit, just on a different computer. I met up with my brother last night to watch a Liverpool game in the local pub (we won, two games in a row now, what a roll). It was a dangerous decision and following what turned into an all-night drinking sesh I am currently swimming in my first hangover for over 3 months. Didn't even do any yoga today. And I've been feeling very hungry. On tuesday night I had a dream about eating prawns, so I cooked a prawn stir-fry last night and polished off the crustaceans today. I don't know if the dream was a direct communication from my body i.e. that I'm missing something in my veggie diet , or whether there is a deeper meaning. What could prawns mean? According to http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary, to eat prawns in your dream suggests that you are feeling overpowered and insignificant. You feel like you want to hide from the world and be left alone for awhile.
Hmm, very deep.
Well, here's a picture of my mums dog, Tinker, playing with a burst football on New Brighton beach. It was bloody freezing, and we were out for two hours, the only way I could take my mind off my painfully cold hands was to take pictures. I must have taken about twenty of just sand.
Hmm, very deep.
Well, here's a picture of my mums dog, Tinker, playing with a burst football on New Brighton beach. It was bloody freezing, and we were out for two hours, the only way I could take my mind off my painfully cold hands was to take pictures. I must have taken about twenty of just sand.
Thursday 20 January 2011
Uni dream and twisting trouble
I haven't done much external travel recently, so I thought I'd write something about the internal.
I'm still searching for a job, and I've been thinking about going back to school to retrain (don't know what yet). Last night I dreamt that I was wandering around a university building, lost, being ignored by all the chatting young students while I bumbled in and out of darkened rooms. One room had various people standing as if at stations during an exam or workshop, some were in business suits, others looked like drug addicts, in scruffy clothes, shaking. Another room had a bar, where I didn't get a drink but left after a naked old man started dancing next to me. After this the dream changed, and I'm flying around this tower thing which has a platforms seemingly representing musical notes, a geometric guitar tune was playing.
This morning I did some yoga, ashtanga primary series, I went quite fast and felt energetic on the arm-working poses, but the twists (Marichyasana C+D) were bad, I could hardly turn around on the left side. About a month ago I was grabbing my wrist behind my back, interesting how that twist comes and goes even though I'm practicing quite consistently. Maybe I've put on some weight now I have access to food all day. The phrase, "you've got to get out more" is very applicable here.
I'm still searching for a job, and I've been thinking about going back to school to retrain (don't know what yet). Last night I dreamt that I was wandering around a university building, lost, being ignored by all the chatting young students while I bumbled in and out of darkened rooms. One room had various people standing as if at stations during an exam or workshop, some were in business suits, others looked like drug addicts, in scruffy clothes, shaking. Another room had a bar, where I didn't get a drink but left after a naked old man started dancing next to me. After this the dream changed, and I'm flying around this tower thing which has a platforms seemingly representing musical notes, a geometric guitar tune was playing.
This morning I did some yoga, ashtanga primary series, I went quite fast and felt energetic on the arm-working poses, but the twists (Marichyasana C+D) were bad, I could hardly turn around on the left side. About a month ago I was grabbing my wrist behind my back, interesting how that twist comes and goes even though I'm practicing quite consistently. Maybe I've put on some weight now I have access to food all day. The phrase, "you've got to get out more" is very applicable here.
Thursday 13 January 2011
Klein vs Hayek
Firstly, I'd like to say that I don't know a darn thing about economics. I'm sharing a house with someone who owns a lot of books, and I happened to pick up one on the way to the toilet: "Road to Serfdom", by F.A. Hayek. The premise of the book, written during WWII, is that socialism and socialist policies must inevitably lead to totalitarianism. He does briefly mention that a society with a free economy must have some controls e.g. to prevent monopoly, to ensure some sort of welfare exists for periods of unemployment. It was an interesting book, I'd never really seen the link between socialism, a planned economy, and totalitarianism before. In my student days I lived with a person, lets call him Jim Carm, who wanted to be a civil servant, supported the idea of the EU having more power over the UK, and whose favourite past-time was writing the housework rota. So it all makes sense now, I knew he was a fascist... he also joked that he had the same intitials as Jesus Christ, so watch out, this guy could be the next Adolf.
After I finished Hayek, I picked up Naomi Kleins' book, "The Shock Doctrine". I haven't made much progress yet, but the central theory is that the modern capitalist model is to wait for a disaster, or even engineer a war of some sort, in order to impose free-market policies on the "stunned" civilians, such as privately-run schools in New Orleans, and forcing Latin American countries to take loans from Western countries. Or in the UK, when Thatcher used the Falklands war as a distraction to destroy the trade unions and sell off the public services. The upshot of it all is that a totally free economy requires a totalitarian government to impose it, in the same way as a pure socialist one. At the very least, it is interesting to read two books written 70 years or so apart, with related subjects and such contrasting angles.
So my question is, where are we headed in the UK? I could quite easily imagine the country now with the government simply providing the army and police, with everything else being left to private enterprise. Actually, maybe even the military and police are not safe - as in the film Robocop. I suppose its all about the balance, an oscillation in the tendencies of government between socialist and capitalist policies; a socialist government sets up a welfare system and a national health service, makes the people happy for a while until the govenment spending gets out of hand, and is then replaced by a neo-conservative government which sets out to privatise everything, looking out for the rich, and is eventually outed by the proles. And so on, each set of people mutating from pigs into humans.
On a lighter note, I saw a rather cheap-looking TV advert last night for an online money comparing company. It featured John Prescot, ex-deputy prime minister of the UK and famous for punching out a protester who threw an egg at him, in a garage practicing on a punchbag. A man in a suit enters and berates Prescot over his ownership of two cars. While this was amusing enough (can you imagine Colin Powell in the same situation?), my girlfriend asked me "What is that guy off Coronation Street doing on this advert?". It was up there with Iggy Pop selling car insurance and Johnny Rotten selling butter. I'm just waiting for a CGI Kurt Cobain advertising mens skin rehydration products.
In other news, I've had several dreams related to Buddhism over the last few nights: The Dalai Lama, Buddhist monks, people saying hello in Tibetan to me. Weirdly enough, a man with a totally bald head and wearing robes which looked rather like those of a Tibetan monk walked past me outside the Asda in Stockport town centre, not something I would usually see (or perhaps, notice) in the north of England. It feels like my mind is trying to remind me of something. Maybe there is a third way of government in there somewhere.
Thursday 6 January 2011
The joys of job hunting
Third week back in the UK. Now the festive (fetid?) madness has dissolved I have no excuse in not looking for work. At the moment life is ok. I am staying at a friends house, a bit overcrowded but otherwise everything is fine. Living in Stockport now, a new area to support. Still travelling! I have now managed to live at just about every possible point along the river Mersey - from Wallasey and Liverpool, Runcorn, Widnes, Warrington, Didsbury and now at the source.
Daily routine consists of getting up when my girlfriend goes to work (about 6.30AM), doing some meditation and then yoga. Breakfast while checking emails and then job searching, CV and application writing all morning. In the afternoon I've been doing pilates and trying to learn Italian (for my next trip - heheh) and then cooking up something for when my other half gets home. Ah, domestic bliss.
Today I have the joys of the jobcentre - I've had one paranoid call of them already this morning. Apparently I was supposed to put down on their form that I had spent a year abroad - although I considered it a holiday, they don't. Also they seem suspicious that I am staying with friends, as if we are all married or something. (Is marriage just a way for the state to package people off into units of dependency?)
So to summarise: Gissa job!
Daily routine consists of getting up when my girlfriend goes to work (about 6.30AM), doing some meditation and then yoga. Breakfast while checking emails and then job searching, CV and application writing all morning. In the afternoon I've been doing pilates and trying to learn Italian (for my next trip - heheh) and then cooking up something for when my other half gets home. Ah, domestic bliss.
Today I have the joys of the jobcentre - I've had one paranoid call of them already this morning. Apparently I was supposed to put down on their form that I had spent a year abroad - although I considered it a holiday, they don't. Also they seem suspicious that I am staying with friends, as if we are all married or something. (Is marriage just a way for the state to package people off into units of dependency?)
So to summarise: Gissa job!
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