Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Dancing with Krauts


Here Brigadier Scovell fraternises with a friendly Hun during his recent eightieth birthday party.

PK4

mate in 1.

After the traffic signs I feel this blog needs to up the tempo, to raise the level of excitement nearer the feverpitch of a year or so ago and with that end in view I set out this little 10 minute game I played on Yahoo last night. I won but to tell you the truth I didnt realise the last move was mate as I played it. I only saw that it won the queen. Stanford le Hope is the name I play under as well as a place in Essex with excellent gravel pits and bearded tits.

Move History:
Allangozi StanfordleHope
1 Pe2-e4 ; Pe7-e5
2 Pd2-d3 ; Pd7-d5
3 Pe4xd5 ; Pc7-c6
4 Pd5xc6 ; b8xc6
5 Pa2-a3 ; g8-f6
6 Pf2-f3 ; Bf8-c5
7 b1-c3 ; Qd8-b6
8 c3-e2 ; Bc5-f2+
9 Ke1-d2 ; Qb6-e3+
10 Kd2-c3 ; f6-d5+
11 Kc3-b3 ; Qe3-b6+
12 Kb3-a2 ; Bc8-e6
13 Ka2-b1 ; c6-d4
14 e2xd4 ; d5-c3++

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Google Groups

Littérature et invention de Freud
Ce groupe devait en fait s'intituler "Littérature et psychanalyse", mais il ne convenait pas alors aux critères d'autorisation de Google... à cause de la présence du mot "anal" dans le mot "psychanalyse" ! Qui d(écr)it mieux !
Category: Arts and Entertainment > Literature, Language: French
Low activity, 6 members, moderated

Just so you know I was searching for a french language group.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

British Summer time

One of the dams at Rhayader this afternoon.
and watcher of the dam.
and the quieter side of the dam

Friday, July 20, 2007

Total eclipse of the brain



I ve no great interest in road signs; far too many of the ugly pc things; I try not to look. This one near me I cant avoid seeing.
It is at the junction of two major roads in the country. A thoughtless idiot from Powys planning has arranged for a large white sign to be placed in such a position that it totally eclipses fast moving traffic from the right for somebody waiting to make a turn into the road.. The accident at this junction is inevitable.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Music man

Went to a concert at Talgarth on Saturday and Llangoed on Sunday.
The theatre in Talgarth is situated above some public lavatories in the centre of this little town at the foot of the Black Mountains. The lavatories have a kind of porch which shelters the entrance to the inner sanctum. Perhaps shelter was the primitive motivation for the youth of Talgarth to gather at the khazi in time immemorial. Now it has become an all weather debating ground. Protected from the elements they discuss Philosophy , Art and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The khazi at Talgarth must be what mathematicians call a ‘strange attractor’ – but I could be wrong.
The concert itself was fine it was Peter (the Painter) Edwards and the Lifeguards. The venue and the event were so old fashioned you could have been dropped back into the 1950’s. The place was full and we were all sitting on those old wooden chairs that have stood ready in Church halls everywhere. Towards the end of the performance I noticed that although full, about 120 people, there was not one black face in the audience.
Sunday at 3pm went to another concert at Llangoed Hall. I was attracted to this because it mentioned Cole Porter , Ivor Novelo, Gershwin etc but it turned out to be a first half very heavy on Mozart arias . I think the reason I prefer Beethoven to Mozart is that he only wrote one bloody opera.. On the subject of opera we went to see D’Oyly Carte once, the Mikado. We lasted to the interval and escaped. Call me a philistine if you must but my favorite opera is 'Just one cornetto - give it to me' - curtain.
Cole Porter only put in a brief appearance in the second half. But overall it was ‘a worthwhile experience’

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

same old stuff

Driving through Surrey to Brigadier Scovells 80th birthday party I saw no housing estates or other monstrosities. The Nimbys have complete control and good luck to them but how do they manage it?
Blair a liar and a crook absolved. Why ?
Influxes of cheap foreign labour clearly undemocratic so why?
The underlying power of the establishment makes even the murder of Diana look feasible.

'Brigadier' Scovell turns 80

Georgian house Hotel Haslemere last Sunday for the Scoves 80th birthday party. He hasnt changed a bit since I knew him 35 years ago when he was chief claims broker for the Lloyds insurance broker, Bland Welch. I remember the back office manager confronting him at his desk and laying into him verbally for something that we hadnt done. The Scove sat there quietly pipe in hand as Malcolm Bunn became louder and louder and more and more agitated. Still the Scove remained impassive and serious looking. Then slowly his right arm began to rise while his eyes remained attentively fixed on Bunn. We could eventually see that it held a card which read 'I may look interested but Im just being polite'.