A Bunch of Amateurs

If you would like to see a nice bit of light comedy you should go and see this. A Bunch of Amatuers is delightful, well acted and beautifully set comedy. There were about 25 minutes of adverts to sit through before the fim started but it was good enough to be worth it.

Favourite Words

When reading a blog earlier this evening I got to thinking, what are my favourite words? I had noticed when reading a section on geology in Terry Pratchet's book 'Darwin's Watch' that I appreciate the feeling I get when reading the word 'rock.' Rock. It is not much of a word but for some reason I like it. Today when reading a blog by a lady who loves cupcakes, I found I like the feeling of "cupcake" too. It's not a word I would use as it seems to be American, but I do like to read it. The link between the two words appears to be "ck." There is another word along the same lines, but I cannot currently think what it is... Perhaps in the morning.

Locomotion at Shildon

Some little while ago now I spent the afternoon at Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham where I took a great number of photos. Some of these can be seen on my flickr page. Shildon is a pleasant railway museum with all manner of nice engines, trucks, tankers and other railway bits and as a result plays host to any number of school parties. These parties sometimes leave things behind for future vistors to see and read, in this case a story where a family from nearby Trimdon, consisting of the then Prime Minster, wife and children, unwisely visitied Locomotion at night and found themselves taking a ghost-guided journey around the county in a haunted train. I can't help but think things may have turned out better with this government were it true.

Whilst there I managed to walk directly into a shot of Peter Snow standing on and talking about the tilting train housed in the museum. Upon seeing the camera I paused and walked backwards, hiding behind a train carriage while they stopped and did the take again, so I'll not be famous just yet.

Unexpected things on flickr

This morning I was going through my contact's photos in flickr when amoung the usual macros of flowers, the landscapes and the signs therewas a picture of a topless woman in a thong and my mam was walking into the room. I hadn't expected it to be there with my regular selection of photos else I'd not have the slideshow on in the kitchen, but it changed onto the next picture before anyone had cause to be embarrassed. Fickr users be warned: be careful who is around when you're reviewing photos, you never really know what's going to be there.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

For some years now I have entertained a notion of writing a thesis around some aspect of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work: this would probably relate to is depiction of dangers to normal order of things but I could never settle on exactly what it would be. This is largely my own fault, my membership of Newcastle's Literary and Philosophical Society has been unused for some time, my own reading has been erattic and recently avoided academic discourses altogether, my writing has suffered terribly at the hands of my by its encouragement of narrow-reading and airline speak and I've fallen away from spending time just thinking, making connections.

This afternoon I picked up my PhD note book, a blue A4 hardback from Staples that when I bought it in 2006 I thought I'd fill it within a few months. It has been untouched since May 2006: two years of relative inactivity while this aim has remained upon my mind. Otherthings were written, read, edited and organised but this central item has been ignored for too long. I have permitted myself every distraction, photography, cooking, TV included but most terrible of all is the nothing, the time spent without meaning or benefit, time wasted: had I used this time as I originally intended I could and should have had my thesis written by now and with luck be using it. 2008 comes around and I have little more than a couple of largely empty notebooks, a fragment of a database and notes scattered around my small library of books.

I need to start somewhere, I'm tempted to write start again, but as I've yet to start properly this seems inappropriate. A nicely acheiveable target such as 30 mins a day 5 days a week or 2500 words a week would be sensible but what is the right amount to start with and more importantly how to ensure I stick to it.

I have wanted to do this since I started in higher education: I now hold my BA and my MA but still want to add PhD and become Dr. The lack of money (or rather the glut of other things to spend it on) has been what has stopped my registering with a university but even without that I should have done more to get myself ready to start and not have this long pause. Today I am restarting my work properly: a little light academic reading, the re-awakening of my notebook and this blog entry. This is afterall what I intended the blog to be for.

The BNP were here

Last night the family and I went to polling station where we were surprised to discover a BNP candiate on the ballot paper and then it turns out I knew a relative of the candidate. I don't recall seeing any leaflets through the letter box or posters up in the villages hereabouts so had no advance warning there would be more than the usual three main parties to select from. I wonder if it is due to the recent (slight) increase in immigrants round here or simply part of a national trend. While it's nice to see choice and variety in democracy it's unsettling to see the BNP here, even if they don't succed in getting a seat on the council. There's no other party I'd especially like to see on the ballot but more choice is more than welcome.

United Front

Despite not having any liking for the Labour government, I do like the unions and have been a member of the T&GW (now part of Unite - the union on strike at Grangemouth) for around three years. I don't generally agree with striking as it tends to hurt the wrong people such as customers and fellow staff. In this case I make an exception and wholehartedly support Unite in their efforts to protect their worker's pensions from greedy bosses who want too large a slice of the profits.

www.amicustheunion.org

Enough of the politics and supporting my union: what really interests, or perhaps confuses, me about circumstances like this is the question of how someone in a position of responsibility can do down the people they work with. I make no claims for my own saintly behaviour but cannot envisage undertaking to harm the interests of my colleages, or anyone, simply to earn a few more pounds. Especially if I already had as many pounds as the owners of the Grangemouth refinery apparently do.

There is a moral problem with profiteering while taking away the security of a final-salary pension from your workers, especially if you are keeping a defined benefit pension yourself. Admittedly my employer closed its own final salary scheme a few years ago (and left people like me out of it) but as it was in a dire financial situation at the time I can just about understand the Chief Executive even though he did then run off with his pension secure. Hypocrisy appears to be as common a failing among bosses as is their penchant for pulling the ladder up.

I wonder if I were in the same position of authority would I disregard the needs of people like these profit-focussed types do? As someone who shops and banks with the Co-op, gives 10% of income to charity and tries to share with those around me I'd like to think I wouldn't, but who am I to say? Perhaps when any of us get to that financial level greed takes over, or maybe only the terminally selfish get to those top positions? I'd like to be rich, but maybe it's not possible to be decent at the same time.

The blog that got me started

Just been listening to the blog that finally got me started here; it's not that it gave me any specific encouragement or is in anyway related to what I want to write about here it is just that after reading this blog and some of those linked from it I just wanted to write. I don't know what it was about the blog that encouraged me: maybe the thought that if they can do it, so can I or perhaps enjoying reading made me think of the enjoyment in writing. Whatever it may have been I'm glad I've finally made a start on something I want to keep up for a long time to come.

My New Year's resoloution in 2006 was to communicate more: it seems I'm finally getting around to it. Two years late. Ho Hum.

New images on flickr

I've just made my first uploads to flickr in 10 days! Whenever I get a lot of photos to sort though and upload I end up waiting ages before I start putting them in order and sending them to flickr; I now have several batches ready to send off and have taken more today so that should keep me going for the next week or so!

Get Carter Car Park/Trinity Square

Today Dad and me went to the open day at the old multi-storey carpark in Gateshead; little known by it's real name 'Trinity Square' since it was used in 'Get Carter' many years ago it's due to come down soon so the top deck has been reopened this weekend. Until recently when the Baltic was converted, the Angel put up and the Millennium Eye bridge built it was one of the few buildings known for being in Gateshead. While it's truely hideous it'll be a shame when it's finally demolished sometime this year: it's been there, looking awful, for decades and it's difficult to see what the town will look like without it.

For this reason I spent a few hours this-morning wanding around decks 5 to 7 (the queue to get onto the top deck was huge and not moving) taking photos which I hope to soon put up on my flickr pages. Then we went to the Sage Gateshead and took some more photos of the car park and, as we were there, the bridges, Baltic and Sage itself. Not a bad way to spend a day all in all, especially seeing the inside of the Sage again. If you're in the area, go and see it!