I’m back.

Apologies for the mess. The builders have been pretty untidy, it seems. The archives look like a bomb has been let off back there. Don’t look unless you are of strong constitution.

More soon, including a proper update on what the hell has been going on around here lately.

Comments welcome on the new design, by the way. It needs some tweaking yet, but feel free to say something nice about it.

Still tweaking the layout. The archives still look ugly. The comments should now be readable (please let me know if they are not), and the front page shouldn’t need any left-right scrolling (yeh?).

This is more difficult than it looks. I should be working too.

I promised an update on what has been going on during my month-long hiatus. Contrary to rumours spread by Dead Kenny (who has done a fine job of keeping you up to date with things Brighton and Hove Albion-ish), I haven’t been exploring illegal substances or doing anything that could really be described as thoroughly outrageous. However, the following did occur (in no particular order):

• Brighton appointed a new manager in the form of Mark McGhee. I think this is a good choice for Brighton in the short term, but it is unlikely that he will stay with us much beyond the end of the season, particularly given the lack of a decent stadium facility.
• There is a "new" Weebl and Bob
• My brother Tim and his long-time girlfriend Jane surprised just about everyone by announcing their engagement at the weekend. Huge congratulations to them! I think everyone had just about given up on them ever marrying, what with their joint cat, joint mortgage and his-and-hers mobile phones – it never seemed as if they wanted the hassle of a ceremony. Still, a chance for yours truly to wear a suit and stand up in front of a crowd of people and talk for a few minutes. Potential best man speech topic ideas welcome.
• Mo restarted content creation, which is a good thing.
• I travelled to Amsterdam for a few days to attend Hortifair at the RAI, which was both hard work and tiring. I went with Mike, one of the people supporting PFE, and we had a useful and enjoyable time meeting lots of companies at the fair as well as sampling the products of the local restaurants. On the last morning, we even managed to fit in a very quick tour of the Van Gogh Museum, where we had an interesting discussion on the merits of James Cagney and Jimmy Stewart as actors, and also concluded that much of Vincent’s daubing was driven by purely commercial motivation, rather than much in the way of artistic desire. At least, that is the impression that much of the museum gives – I’m sure that there is an art historian reading this who will disagree.
• Some bright spark set fire to Woolworths in Chichester city centre, causing some considerable damage to the facade.
• The final parts of the refurbished Waitrose have opened. The coffee is pretty good.
• I moved grayblog to new hosts and installed MT. The hosts are a lot cheaper and offer better support and many more facilities. MT is very powerful, but almost has too many features for a time-poor site owner like myself.
• I’m sure that there were loads of other things, but I can’t think of them at the moment.

Some of you might be wondering why I disappeared from the scene. Well, partly it was because grayblog was drifting a little and had lost its way. I hoped that taking a break would help me to find my blogging mojo once more. It also afforded the opportunity to at least get started on some of the boring back end changes that needed to be made in the hosting and CMS arenas. As you have probably realised, there is still more to do on that score.
But one of the principal reasons was that I had found myself to be very short of time indeed. Much of that is a product of the pressures of work.

In addition to all of that, a little while before I took my blogging break, I met Hels. She’s made me promise not to write too much about her here, so I will not say much more than that for now. Suffice to say that she is beautiful and fun, we are very happy, and have all sorts of plans, including a weekend break in Copenhagen at the end of the month which I’m really looking forward to.

So, what news have you lot got?

A quick straw poll. As some of you may have noticed, I initially designed this new look on a 1280 x 800 resolution screen. The first wave of comments made clear that a lot of you do not work at that resolution. So I’ve rejigged things so that it works fine on 1024 x 768, which I believe is a much more common resolution setting. However, anyone on 800 x 600 will probably need to scroll left-right to see everything due to the width of the header graphic.

How many of you are on 800 x 600? And, if you are, is it a huge problem to scroll back and forth?

One of the things I did during the hiatus was to travel up to Twyford in Berkshire for the village fireworks. OK, the fireworks were not the main reason for me going to the scene of so many Scaryduck stories. What I was really there for was the leaving party for my friend Penn, who has given up her job and travelled half way around the globe to Nepal to work for three months or so in a children’s home in Kathmandu.
Penn is sending regular emails to friends, family and supporters back in the UK. I’m going to reproduce them here, exactly as she sends them to me. Here are the first two. I hope that they will make you think…

This is the second mail:

I’ve emailed Penn, and discussed what help we could give. She thinks that a parcel with some toys suitable for children aged 3 to 12 would be useful, as well as clothing for that age group as well. Can you help? If you can, email me and we shall see what can be done.

Sounds like there are problems viewing this site in Mozilla. I’ll try and work on it over the next few days, but I’m up to my neck in work and life at the moment, so free time is at a premium. I will crack these problems, though. I promise!

Today, I’ve been at the Southern Growers Exhibition at Sandown Park Racecourse. This is a small regional event, a tiny fraction of the scale of Hortifair that I attended last week. But it is the regional event closest to home for me, so I usually make a point of attending it, partly to see what business opportunities it might present, but also as it is usually a good chance to catch up with a few long-time horticultural friends.
In fact, this year I managed to achieve both of those objectives, making handy new contacts for PFE, refreshing a few existing contacts, and also meeting up with a few friends for a coffee and to catch up with news and gossip. So, overall, a very worthwhile outing.

In other news, I’ve received an offer of help for Penn. If you are able to help, please mail me – you won’t be alone. Aside from Hels and me, my parents and one of PFE’s backers are helping to put together a parcel. If you don’t want to send actual "things" you might like to help by sending cash that we could use to buy things to send, or to pay the costs of shipping whatever we can muster to Nepal.

I can’t make it to this as I shall be in Copenhagen, but if you live in the UK and have a blog, then I’d recommend that you go. If you’ve never been to a blogging event before, don’t worry – a more friendly, diverse and interesting group of people you could not wish to meet.

On Saturday, I’m giving a presentation to the British Clematis Society entitled "Plant Breeders’ Rights for Beginners". This will be the first time that I’ve given this talk – I’m always a bit nervous about any subject that is new, as I’m always concerned that there will either be questions that I’m not able to answer, or, worse still, someone there who genuinely knows more about the subject than I do. Whilst my skills at flanneling are world famous, even I can get a bit flustered sometimes.
I’ve just been sent the directions for the venue, and it is being held at Essex County Cricket Club‘s County Ground in Chelmsford. I wonder if I should take an autograph book?

Beer on the way home with Sarah, Pol and Jo. I now have hiccups.

If you are not already signed up for Secret Santa, then you should do so soon!

A new mail from Penn…

Hels and I are on a mission – to get as many people as possible to go to her local Indian restaurant, the Kirthon, in The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells. We’ve been there twice now, and had the best Indian food we have ever eaten – incredibly tender meat in the creamiest and most flavoursome sauces you could imagine. The sauces are laden with herbs and spices, but are not hot for heat’s sake, so you can actually taste the flavours and not run screaming for the nearest fire extinguisher.
The service is excellent, and there is a huge plasma screen at one end of the restaurant which is always showing a Bollywood film (or the S Club 7 video, depending on their mood!). Their prices are very fair too, and they also offer a takeaway service.
The only problem with the Kirthon is that it just does not seem to be busy enough to be a sustainable business. So we are on a mission to get more people to go there, as it would be almost criminal if ever it was to close for lack of trade. We’ll certainly be regular customers.

It’s taken much longer than I’d planned, but I’ve now got a detailed set of notes for tomorrow’s presentation, so I should be able to get through it without looking a complete arse. It’s also got a bit of structure now, so hopefully it will not be a case of me rambling aimlessly for an hour.
I’ve just realised that I don’t have a clean shirt for tomorrow night’s wedding reception, so you can guess what I’ll be doing when I get home. I think a readymeal is called for tonight, so I’ll have time to prepare a shirt and get to the pub.

If you were paying attention to the old design, you will remember that it featured a pull-down menu of music related website links. I plan to reinstate this feature on a separate page, as well as redesigning the other pages (like the graybiography) so that they match the front page. All in good time.
One of the ideas I have had for the site is to add a page of food (and drink) sites, as the epicurean is something of a passion for me. I’ve got some ideas for links – I’m thinking of purveyors of your finer foodstuffs more than links to Tesco and the Co-op – but if you have any suggestions, you know what to do.

Beer in the Nags and W2 with Paul F, Malcolm, Kearn, Phil, Dave, Gary, Jeremy, Tanya and Arron, with sightings of Chris and Kristian. W2 really needs a major sort-out, as the bar is not really doing anything to retain the regular customers. As has been said numerous times before, it needs a good bar manager, and quickly.

Well, the talk went better than I expected – I covered all the main points in a logical and complete fashion, and successfully fielded some difficult questions from a very switched-on audience. And I think I may have gained a new client who has a few problems with a plant that has already escaped into the marketplace, but may be salvagable from a commercial point of view. The venue was in the pavillion at Essex County Cricket Club, so there was a great view over the County Ground.
The only fly in the ointment was a lady who complained that I fidgeted about too much as I gave my presentation. I know I do tend to move a little, largely because I naturally tend to use gesticulation and body language to emphasize what I’m talking about, but she claimed that it was enough to make her giddy! I’ll try to be a bit more aware of it in future, but I naturally do that sort of thing as a subconscious action, so I’m not sure if I’d be able to control it and concentrate on what I was saying. Multitasking – not a strong point.

Dad is [many] years old today. Happy birthday! (not that he reads this, but, you know, the thought is there and all that)

An old storeroom at the nursery is being cleared out. There isn’t much of value in there, mainly musty and moldy old bits of paper that are of no value or importance any more.
In amongst the papers has been found an original product brochure for the Sinclair Spectrum in excellent condition. In it, it espouses the product benefits of the Spectrum:

• full size moving keyboard!
• massive RAM – 16K or 48K!
• full colour – 8 colours each for foreground, background and border!
• Teletext compatible!
• complete with mains adaptor!

Anyone want to give me a reasonable offer for it?

It is a little known fact that, whilst Arnold Schwarzenegger left acting to go into politics, fellow bemuscled thesp Jean-Claude Van Damme retired from Hollywood to go back to the family fruit business.

Mo says a few words on intelligence and the problem of being spoon-fed.

Recently, I’ve seen a few television programmes (I don’t have a TV at home, so generally watch it only rarely – that’s a conscious choice on my part). Last night I saw the BBC historical drama Charles II – The Power and the Passion. I found it really quite dissatisfying because it neither spoon-fed nor informed, but rather sensationalised and confused. The relationships of the principal characters were not well explained, and rather too much emphasis was put on the sex instead of the consequences of the relationships and blackmail that were associated with the sex.

Maybe this sort of approach gets more people interested in history. I’m not sure. But I think that there are some things that are better explained in documentary form. And before you suddenly start thinking that that is a terribly dry and dusty way to present something, on Saturday I listened to a radio documentary entitled "When the World Was Young", part of Radio 4′s season of programmes to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. This was fascinating and interesting, and brought the history "to life" (for want of a much better phrase) far better than a docudrama might do. Clearly it had the advantage of being able to include recordings of JFK and interviews with people who were there and knew him, but I know of similar programmes in the past when actors have been used to read the words of the people of the day, and it has been set in a framework that aids understanding. Not spoon-feeding, mind you – but a presentation of the evidence that allows the listener or viewer to draw many of his/her own conclusions and opinions.

Generally though, Charles II just reminded me of why I prefer books, radio and the web to television.

This evening, as dessert to follow on from my grilled mackerel, olive pave and salad, I’ve had my first ever kiwano. It seems the kiwano is a fruit that’s been hijacked by the New Zealanders, much like the kiwi fruit. Actinidia chinensis, the plant that gives us kiwi fruit is, as the name suggests, a native of China, not New Zealand, and was originally known as Chinese Gooseberry. I guess the name was changed as gooseberries are not a popular fruit these days, more’s the pity.

The kiwano is actually a native of central and southern Africa, where it is called the Horned Cucumber or Horned Melon. It is the fruit of Cucumis metuliferus, which indicates that it is more closely related to cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) than melons (watermelon is a member of the more distantly related genus Citrullus).

If you cut it lengthways, the centre of it looks just like an odd-shaped cucumber cut along its length. It’s quite watery and juicy, but when you stick your spoon into it you see the difference. One of the names for this fruit is Jelly Melon, but I reckon Tapioca Melon or Frogspawn Melon might be more appropriate. Each seed is in a small cell of green jellyish flesh, and spooning it into your mouth is a decidedly sensual experience.

But this is much more of a textural food than a tasty food – the flavour is very subtle, milder and more tart than a cucumber, perhaps with a hint of melon or even lime as well. I don’t think you’d want to eat this with anything else as the flavour would be completely smothered by most other foods. It might be fun to add the pulp to a fruit salad though, purely for the texture.

More fruit reviews coming soon!

I’ve amended the comments gizmo so that you can now leave comments without giving an email address, which should be a relief to those concerned about spam.
Of course, I’d still very much like you to leave your name and site address, and perhaps an email address too.

Plep in Nepal – making me feel mildly inadequate in that my Nepal-related content is being provided in a somewhat second hand manner. I can’t even promise blogging from Denmark next week, as I’m under strict (and quite reasonable) instructions to leave my laptop at home – not that I’d planned to take it with me anyway. However, we may have blogging from the East Midlands tomorrow.

On my word, begin speculation…

GO!
(more…)

I’m so unbelievably proud of my friend….

Sorry, not blogging from the East Midlands as promised, but instead from East Anglia. I’m currently sitting in the Nyton Hotel in Ely, which is notable for being very pink. I’m not sure if it is actually pink in this room, or if it is just the lighting. Either way, I’m not finding it terribly restful, so I’m going to head out and walk to the city centre and find a restaurant shortly, as the in-house facility seems a little stuffy and deserted.
Meetings today near Banbury and Diss, and about 300 miles covered. I’m fairly pooped but it has been very productive. Foolishly, I left my camera at home, so I couldn’t take pictures of the bizarre aerials I saw in Oxfordshire, though I may have been arrested if I had done so, as they were distinctly military in nature.
More miles to cover tomorrow, with meetings near Wisbech and Stafford – probably covering a similar mileage. I’m looking forward to a restful weekend in Tunbridge Wells.

I had a three course meal last night – oxtail soup for starter, Irish stew for main course and sherry trifle for dessert. It cost me £9.45. Not in the hotel restaurant, mind you, where I reckon dinner would have been at least three times that. Instead I walked into Ely city centre, passed the cathedral (with the top of the tower illuminated) and on to a pleasant local pub, passing the boy racers in their stupid cars.
What is it about Ely and boy racers? There seemed to be dozens of them, driving up and down the main roads, in circles around the city centre, often on their own. I mean, showing off is one thing, but who exactly were they showing off to? And why are there so many Ford Capris here? I don’t think I’ve seen so many Capris in one town since Dagenham in 1976.

The BBC tells us of a UN report into the impact of technology on the third world (or rather, the lack of technology). Apparently:

Now, feel free to accuse me of over-simplifying here, but surely most people would rather have good health, nutrition and literacy before worrying about the difference between 56k dial-up and 64k ISDN?

There is so much in the news that I want to comment on today: George Dubya’s visit to London, the protests that go with the visit, the bomb attacks in Istanbul and, dare I say it, Michael Jackson’s arest in connection with child abuse allegations. Lamentably, I’m much too tired, having driven 300 miles today, much of it in heavy traffic and through driving rain. I need sleep. Fortunately, I have my own warm and safe home to do that in.

Last night, as I travelled between work and Hels’ home, for part of the journey I was on possibly the oldest train in regular service on the entire UK railway network. It was a diesel unit with three carriages in old green and cream Southern Railways colours. Inside was all wood panelling, curtains and 1950s formica. I reckon it was built in the 50s, perhaps even earlier, and it certainly possessed the charm of the heyday of railway travel. And it had the deepest and most comfortable seats I’ve ever sat on on a train.

It would be really useful if the National Rail timetable lookup service included a feature that allowed you to find the station nearest to a village or town (or, perhaps, postcode). For example, I need to get to Tenterden in Kent which has no railway station other than one served by the Kent and East Sussex Railway, a steam heritage railway with no connection to mainline services. Entering Tenterden into the search function on the National Rail site produces no result, which leads to a guessing game in trying to work out what station is nearest. As it turns out, the closest station is Headcorn, a fact that I only worked out by scouring the history pages of the KESR site and discovering where the old line used to connect to the main network.

…and, indeed, hoopla. For Plants For Europe now benefits from broadband in the office. Thanks to BT for finally dragging our exchange into the present day.
Now all I need is that wi-fi card for the laptop.

Apologies for the lack of content here – I’m incredibly busy, and also being distracted by this. Plus I’m getting ready for this weekend’s Danish excursion.
Normal service will be resumed. Somewhen.

What images does this headline create in your mind?

From Penn….

Typical, isn’t it? Just as I’m about to go away for a much needed weekend break with my gorgeous girlfriend Hels, I catch a cold. Still, there is only one thing to do when you have a cold – yes, that’s right, try to infect as many people as possible, with bonus points for infecting people of other nationalities. Fortunately Hels is unlikely to catch it as she has already had it.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend. Any tips from people who know the city would be welcome. We’re planning to nip over to Malmo on Sunday too, as Copenhagen seems to shut down on the sabbath. If you’re very lucky, there may be photos. If you’re really lucky, you may even get a photo of Hels. If you’re unlucky, I’ll be in it too.

I’ve just sent the parcel off to Nepal. The lady who works behind the counter in the local post office says that she doesn’t see many parcels for Kathmandu!
It was full of toys and games donated by Hels, my parents, Julie (works for my parents) and Dave, plus a couple of things I put in too. I paid the carriage with some help from my parents – it wasn’t cheap!
If this parcel makes it ok, then I’ll consider sending a second one – but I’ll wait to hear from Penn before I do.

This is the last you’ll hear from me until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest. I’m just about to depart for Tunbridge Wells, and in the morning Hels and I will go to Gatwick for the 0940 Maersk flight to Copenhagen. For the first time in ages, I’ll be travelling sans laptop in spite of the hotel being equipped with broadband in every room.
We both need this break desperately – I’ve been looking forward to it since the moment I booked it. It’s going to be brilliant.
See you all next week!