Sometimes I get the urge to take a sideways glance at the world and just go "aaaahhh". I am not a close the curtains and roll back into bed sort of chap but I look around and see the world spinning as normal. I am resigned to my fate, glorious and crazy as it may be. The RNC is in town, "aaaahhh". The Olympics are over, "aaaahhh". There seems to be some tennis happening in Queens, "aaaahhh". We have no netflix movies in the house, the next are due on Wednesday, "aaaahhh".
But there are positive notes. Mrs Bowles and I are embarking upon our annual 'New England, meet the family roadtrip' this Thursday.
I love roadtrips! Part of the great American dream. Load the car up with CDs, bad food and random reading material. Point the thing north and in about five hours we are in Boston and a few days later we drift down to Rhode Island and then home. In the meantime lots of eating, drinking and bonding.
On a slightly gloomier note, the long hot summer of lazy teacher fun is about to draw to a close. My brother refers to this as the "long dark weekend of the soul". Back to school.
But Hey! Britain got a bunch of medals in Athens, after a slow start we got home with something like 59 medals. Best haul since 1954.
OK, if you need more Bowles why not check out my slot on NYcanaries.com. It's a straight talking,man of the people sort of column all about soccer.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Thoughts upon a convention.
Oh my word i'm confused.
On the one hand I'm a political junkie of 25 years standing (I remember the disapointment my parents felt upon the elction of Mrs Thatcher in 1979) and I am fascinated by the prospect of a massive political event happening on my doorstep.
On the other hand I am scared by republicans. I know two who are really nice people but the others are a**holes. I resent their presence in my city almost as much as I resent their presence in your country.
The botttom line has to be this, I cannot comprehend a political system where everybody thinks,acts and votes in the same way. I admire opposition and discussion in all forms and am never happier* than when discussing questions with open minded, civil people.
I just don't see many civil, open minded republicans out there.
(You know who you are and I'm not just being polite, respect is due.)
*Actually, lots of things make me happier than hanging out with conservatives! Who am i trying to kid? Having said that I stand by my comment about there being two good republicans out there, i'll not name them, this is a liberal site after all.
More thoughts to follow.
On the one hand I'm a political junkie of 25 years standing (I remember the disapointment my parents felt upon the elction of Mrs Thatcher in 1979) and I am fascinated by the prospect of a massive political event happening on my doorstep.
On the other hand I am scared by republicans. I know two who are really nice people but the others are a**holes. I resent their presence in my city almost as much as I resent their presence in your country.
The botttom line has to be this, I cannot comprehend a political system where everybody thinks,acts and votes in the same way. I admire opposition and discussion in all forms and am never happier* than when discussing questions with open minded, civil people.
I just don't see many civil, open minded republicans out there.
(You know who you are and I'm not just being polite, respect is due.)
*Actually, lots of things make me happier than hanging out with conservatives! Who am i trying to kid? Having said that I stand by my comment about there being two good republicans out there, i'll not name them, this is a liberal site after all.
More thoughts to follow.
Friday, August 27, 2004
A most unsettling situation.
I have an apology to make. There was a spelling mistake in my last entry and I have been humbled and humiliated by it's glaring presence. have i bothered to delve into my archive and rectify the situation? Nah, course not, but then, what are you gonna do?
Another matter which has come to my attention is that there are some noble bloggers out there who have included links to this site on their sites. I've tried to fill out the little links bit which sometimes appears on the right hand side of the page but I love this format so much and there's really no room for links. Accordingly, I shall tell you now who three of my favourite linksters are and how you can reach them. One has to assume that folk other than the two dans and jamies actually read this page. here goes,
http://listmaker.blogspot.com/
http://balgavy.com/apes/
http://wisdomweasel.blogspot.com/
There, I won't say any more than that, just enjoy the blogs that you, my readers write.
Another matter which has come to my attention is that there are some noble bloggers out there who have included links to this site on their sites. I've tried to fill out the little links bit which sometimes appears on the right hand side of the page but I love this format so much and there's really no room for links. Accordingly, I shall tell you now who three of my favourite linksters are and how you can reach them. One has to assume that folk other than the two dans and jamies actually read this page. here goes,
http://listmaker.blogspot.com/
http://balgavy.com/apes/
http://wisdomweasel.blogspot.com/
There, I won't say any more than that, just enjoy the blogs that you, my readers write.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
The Olympics.
I'm not overly concerned about the olympics. As any semi interested aprty(LOOK! GLARING AND RIDICULOUS SPELLING MISTAKE, oh the shame. See next entry for full apology.) will be aware. I'm more of a football, cricket, baseball sort of fella. I do love sailing and know an insane ammount about it but it's never really the type of sport you can watch on TV or chat about to friends, "Hey guys! Did you see Ben Ainslie crap on that Finnish laser last night?" No, it doesn't really work.
Having said all that I do enjoy the big shows such as the track events or anything where the British have even the slight chance of success. We used to win a few medals when I was a kid.
The reason for our decline? It's not about underinvestment in the nation's youth or the rise of the 11 year old couch potato. It's all to do with the cold war. Look at some of the great British Olympic heroes of the past thirty years, they all succeeded when the games were 'blighted' by some form of international boycotts. In 1980 (No USA) we won a clutch of golds. In 1984 (No USSR) we also did pretty well. Since the world has grown up and decided to get along we've been shit. Oh well, here's to curling and synchronised diving.
Having said all that I do enjoy the big shows such as the track events or anything where the British have even the slight chance of success. We used to win a few medals when I was a kid.
The reason for our decline? It's not about underinvestment in the nation's youth or the rise of the 11 year old couch potato. It's all to do with the cold war. Look at some of the great British Olympic heroes of the past thirty years, they all succeeded when the games were 'blighted' by some form of international boycotts. In 1980 (No USA) we won a clutch of golds. In 1984 (No USSR) we also did pretty well. Since the world has grown up and decided to get along we've been shit. Oh well, here's to curling and synchronised diving.
Friday, August 06, 2004
I'm back.
After three glorious weeks in the UK I'm back.
Jetlagged, tired but happy.
I'm going to try and get something up and running in the next couple of days but first i think that you should get those long awaited quiz answers.
Thanks to the two Dans and Jamie who, as far as I know are the only people who attempted the challenge.
Here goes.
1. Sunderland won the FA cup in 1973 beating Leeds Utd 1-0. (One of the biggest giant killing upsets in cup final history!)
2. Clark Clifford replaced Bob Mcnamara as defence sec.
3. Newcastle utd are known as "the Magpies". (Why the obsession with the Northeast?)
4. Winston Churchill's last words. (By all accounts he was bloody useless in his second term as Prime Minister.)
5. Spiro "ethnic slur" Agnew was Governor of Maryland. (Well done Baltimore Dan.)
6. Lambeth Bridge. (Nearest tube station is Pimlico on the Victoria line.)
7. U.S.Grant. (He didn't want to be President, described the White House as a jail.)
8. 14 November 1948, Charles Windsor's birthdate.
9. 9. (If you got this wrong you want bloody shootin.)
10. Freya was the Norse god of passion and beauty.
11. The 'A' train runs from the Rockaways to Inwood 207st. ( Note to Maine Dan,"Somewhere shit to somewhere overrated" is a terribly Boston RedSox sort of answer but it made me laugh.)
12. Richard Nixon's middle name was 'Milhous'.
13. President Johnson called his dog 'Little Beagle Johnson'. (Don't, I could go on all day.)
14. Ahh, my favourite hymn. This one also contains a reference to seventies funksters 'Earth , Wind and fire'. The hymn runs..."Oh Lord and master of mankind, forgive our foolish ways".
15. A great big bar of chocolate is wending it's way to Maine Dan for getting this one correct.
Lucy's nickname is 'Kitten'.
16. A growler is the name given to the smallest form of iceberg. (who would have known?)
17. A Macdonald's big mac contains 27.6 grams of protein. (I'm not making this up.)
18. Tennesse went Republican in 2000. ('nuff said.)
19. The IVY league universities are, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale..
20. Describe a recent sensation of ennui? I should imagine that taking part in quizzes in blogland should hit the spot.
Thanks to those of you who took the time and effort to have a go. I'm sorry that i was a little late in terms of answering. I shall be blogging more soon and you never know, there may even be another quiz in a month or two.
Jetlagged, tired but happy.
I'm going to try and get something up and running in the next couple of days but first i think that you should get those long awaited quiz answers.
Thanks to the two Dans and Jamie who, as far as I know are the only people who attempted the challenge.
Here goes.
1. Sunderland won the FA cup in 1973 beating Leeds Utd 1-0. (One of the biggest giant killing upsets in cup final history!)
2. Clark Clifford replaced Bob Mcnamara as defence sec.
3. Newcastle utd are known as "the Magpies". (Why the obsession with the Northeast?)
4. Winston Churchill's last words. (By all accounts he was bloody useless in his second term as Prime Minister.)
5. Spiro "ethnic slur" Agnew was Governor of Maryland. (Well done Baltimore Dan.)
6. Lambeth Bridge. (Nearest tube station is Pimlico on the Victoria line.)
7. U.S.Grant. (He didn't want to be President, described the White House as a jail.)
8. 14 November 1948, Charles Windsor's birthdate.
9. 9. (If you got this wrong you want bloody shootin.)
10. Freya was the Norse god of passion and beauty.
11. The 'A' train runs from the Rockaways to Inwood 207st. ( Note to Maine Dan,"Somewhere shit to somewhere overrated" is a terribly Boston RedSox sort of answer but it made me laugh.)
12. Richard Nixon's middle name was 'Milhous'.
13. President Johnson called his dog 'Little Beagle Johnson'. (Don't, I could go on all day.)
14. Ahh, my favourite hymn. This one also contains a reference to seventies funksters 'Earth , Wind and fire'. The hymn runs..."Oh Lord and master of mankind, forgive our foolish ways".
15. A great big bar of chocolate is wending it's way to Maine Dan for getting this one correct.
Lucy's nickname is 'Kitten'.
16. A growler is the name given to the smallest form of iceberg. (who would have known?)
17. A Macdonald's big mac contains 27.6 grams of protein. (I'm not making this up.)
18. Tennesse went Republican in 2000. ('nuff said.)
19. The IVY league universities are, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale..
20. Describe a recent sensation of ennui? I should imagine that taking part in quizzes in blogland should hit the spot.
Thanks to those of you who took the time and effort to have a go. I'm sorry that i was a little late in terms of answering. I shall be blogging more soon and you never know, there may even be another quiz in a month or two.
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