rakish richard's rants...

Come And Keep Your Comrade Warm...

Welcome back to the way of Arch...

Greetings, salutations and heartfelt (but likely scorned) expressions of longing and apologies,

I come back to you now at the turn of the tide... To try to play catch up on the ten weeks since I last wrote anything resembling a proper post would be futile, not to mention that the few of you still reading will have had your respective ears chewed off by me over that time anyway. Suffice to say, I have been to the bottom and back, stopping in Finland on the way, and have grown 4 feet in the process.

Jimmeny, where to begin eh?

Hello to the folks in Minnesota, who have allegedly been tuning in to suffer the disappointment of non-posting; here's the promised post - with lots of photos! Once again, thanks to 'Anonymous' for dropping by and making even more pattern baldness jokes, you might be surprised to hear that tears are a good hair tonic, and I've shed many thanks to your scathing remarks, shame on you...

It seems that I've got my London on at last, after quite the battle finding somewhere to live. I will live to rue that day I said, "well, compared to finding a job, I'm sure getting a flat will be a complete doddle..." All's well and good now however, and I can report that I live with 6 others, in a delightful house about one minute from Queen's Park station. Here's my little home, when there were still a few blossoms around...



We share two bathrooms, one professionally planted back yard, and a mutual like of small helpings. I have instituted regular weekend breakfasts out the back (we open at 9, today's special was crepes with stewed fruit and yoghurt), and am the proud father of 6 sunflowers, 8 basil plants (and counting), 4 morning glory seedlings, and an array of ragged roses. My room is yellow, fabric draped, and filling with photos and laundry. As part of ending world poverty I have offically boycotted the dishwasher; infernal water-wasting dirt-distributing monstrosity that it is.

I've been lucky enough to host a few visitors in the last wee while, one of the more notable was the lovely (and newly engaged, woooOOO HOOOOO!!!!) Heddi, who flew through for just a few days. Here we are in Trafalgar Square, where I'm trying to be subtle about the fact that there's a real life Spitfire just parked behind us...



Another of the people I'm once again lucky enough to see more often than I have in years is my (also newly engaged) cousin Libby. She lives in one of the best named places in England, I think;



It's a funny old place, London Towne. Seeing as I've just worked out how to post multiple images - and I've had a special request for some piccies - I'm going to go on quite a rant, in the Chiang Mai stylee, and post a few for you to peek at. I've seen some really old stuff here, notably the Abbey out at Reading with Mike and Kate. This was tucked away in a little corner;



Old eh? Resting in fairly well established peace too, I'd hope.

And, speaking of Mike, here we are out in a field of flowers near the house and home he's made with the lovely (and recently exam-passing) Bec in Maidenhead - doing some nostril stretching and enjoying the change of weather;



The British do museums so damn well it's just mind-boggling, and I've been trying to get to as much as I possibly can. Some of you might know of my slightly scary fascination with the history of the second World War, perhaps hinted at in my photo with Heddi, but if you want to see the real deal, the Imperial War Museum beats the lot. Along with seeing the actual plane that Rudolph Hess flew here in his failed attempt at peace negotiations, one of the famed Enigma machines captured by those tweed-clad boffins at Betchley Park, and a fully sectioned V2 rocket, I spent quite a while wiping my drool off this piece;



(it's an Avro Lancaster, you heathens...)

The Victoria and Albert museum has been a favourite too, going this weekend to see the Arts and Crafts exhibit with Bec and Mike. Highlights included a Frank Lloyd Wright room, and more finely crafted chairs than you could shake a sander at. Of course, the only photo I've selected here shows war damage at the entry...



So, I'm getting into my history - perhaps a little too much. Still, it's really great to be in these places, and I know Mum's getting a great kick out of being able to relate a little more to my stories than those about eating live octopus in Japan.

I do try to pay attention to other things. But only if they still somehow involve planes.

They get great skies here, and you can guarantee that if you look up, there'll be at least 4 planes in view at any given moment - see;



Work is, um, 'demanding'. I'm getting great work here, masterplanning huge swathes of London. I apparently have some 'staff', who I am struggling to learn how to work with. Delegation isn't a strong card in my hand, and the projects are still slowed down by my instinctive urge to check and recheck the work of others I've requested to help me. I'll be adding 'Management for Dummies' to my Amazon wishlist shortly, but I'm trying hard, honest...

My trusty volleyball (...longing sigh...) is holed up in Minnesota, after a week here on her way back from India. There was a long overdue catch up, much talking and drinking of tea, and even time for a few rounds of frisbee. We talk as often as we can, and I'm looking forward to the next time I see her.

...ahem, awkward silence...

So, that's really about it, I don't want to strain my Bloggus Maximus by overdoing it after so long without writing, so rest assured that I'm already thinking of my next post, and I'll try to write more regularly. Of course, keep up the abusive comments, should I fall behind.

I've updated the links at the side, with a few more choice blogs for you to peruse, and have thrown in a link to the over-talked about site where the Cosmic Wheels can be downloaded for free - do your bit to propel our little bits of data up a virtual chart... We're currently embroiled in a battle with another band, also called the Cosmic Wheels (and from Ohio - their entire website is tye-died) who found us on download.com, and promptly made their own page, not before posting an exceptional review of our work. Isuggest you check us both out - we're each tragic for our own reasons.

Till the next time,

Your man not working this weekend,

Arch :)

posted by Arch @ 8:33 AM