lucky

every now and again I find myself getting stressed with stuff (especially, but not solely with work) and have to make a concerted effort to get down to the beach. so on saturday after a good day, even considering I had just watched my favourite professional rugby team loose. I remembered that I hadn't see the sea for a while even though I live less than a mile from the ocean and that I had been running around after myself for a few days being very unproductive. 

so I just took a tiny detour on the drive home to spend some time at the beach at sunset. It doesn't take much to make me realise just how lucky I am to live where I do.

weekend of rain & stuff, extreme weather >>

bath at the weekend was a good trip even though the weather was a wet, windy and cold it was good to see some quality rugby. have to say that the bath rugby ground has to be one of the best situated grounds in the country. even though the weather was a bit rough being in an area that I regard as so good looking was a bonus.. (& bath won).

today down here in cornwall we are in the mist of some pretty extreme weather, huge waves & very strong winds. the air pressure locally was down to about 950 today (monday). I can't remember it being as low in recent years.

going to be an early start >>

an early start tomorrow, saturday.
I am going to bath with ben (my 9 year old son) & and his rugby club liskeard-looe, to watch bath play newcastle. we are going by coach so a chance for me to enjoy the view (I am usually driving when we go anywhere). I am looking forward to it as I really like bath the city, though I haven't been for a while. I have spend plenty of time there over the years. I like travelling & I like rugby so hopefully it will be a good day.

rugby world cup >> france

the rugby world cup starts tonight so I had to mention it. I have always liked rugby, my 9 year old plays for the local team down here, (properly because I am to old, too slow, too fat, and too injured to play any more) but he seems to like it, so I will continue to encourage him as long as he enjoys it.
with so many global events having a marketing and promotion strategy that leaves some of my students asking me why is so bad (london 2012 & the osaka world athletics, for example). at least I can say that I really genuinely like the logo.
shame I cant say the same about the england shirt it reminds me of the crystal place football shirt from the early 70's. but on current form and I hope I am wrong we won't be seeing england progressing to far.the organising committee logo is another good one, I even like the style of the map of all the stadiums being used. taken from the official web site. there must be something wrong I am normally more grumpy than this!

I will be watching the opening tonight in the hope that argentina do well against france, (though I secretly would like france to win the whole thing!)

rugby >> owens party >> sky

on a day when the rain came down so hard they had to get all the competitors (10 tors competion) off dartmoor because of the flood danger, after the most unbelievable amount of rain falling in a short time down here in the west country.
it was time to get to the rugby club for owen's birthday, great fun and some great rugby lessons learnt from the big guys it was sunny for all, well almost all of the time.
I could have stuck some pictures of the rugby or the ground or hot faces after playing hard but as the party finished one of the little sisters of the rugby guys let go of her balloon I thought it would be good to have a picture of that, so I took some this is one.

two things >> one very achey man

I did two things today

1, I played in a game of rugby parents (I was one) versus the team (children, ben was one) I hurt a lot now but I am very glad that I played I even scored a try, and protected my shoulder with my face! after the game the royal navy air sea rescue helicopter visited publicity / recruitment that sort of thing.














2, I went to the 'favourite beach' where I realised that the grasses I love and grow in my garden are the same grasses that grow on that beach. I had never noticed it before and I have been to that particular place / beach probably many hundreds of time since I was a small child.

lazy day >> but still posted this

I have been so lazy today all I did was played a bit of very light rugby outside in the sunshine for a while with the my boys. then searched to see if there was any beach to go for a surf. we didn't go any where looked a bit crowded and small.

I know it maybe strange for someone who runs and updates a surf website every day (me) surf98. I live on one side of cornwall and rely on not just computers and forecasts but real people to check that my reports are correct for the other side if I am not going. no-one was around today don't blame them lovely day and beaches to sit on, etc.

I found this link that's really cool not only can you look at the surf on a north coast beach but you can control the web cam as well just when its busy you have to wait your turn is good fun click this

I know Mr Nielsen doesn't like a link to use the 'click this' but still.

saturday people >> we won

me and my family (except luca back in brighton hopefully revising for his exams) went to the rugby in really warm sunny saturday weather. to watch an always well contested local derby and the biggest crowd of the season also, so a few thousand other people had the same idea. our team won, though it was much closer and more exciting than the score of 19-9 suggests. there was no trouble on the terraces, no hassle parking and walking around the ground was fun. I thought I would take some pictures, during half time to document what it was/is like amongst the crowd. all people there were there to support their teams avidly. there was no segregation of fans but cheering, shouting and even heckling, with opposing fans standing next to each other with only friendly light teasing.
as our team won my lot where very happy as of course I was.
I like these pictures as they are just people, people who I don't know, people who tonight having shared the same experience of watching their team win or lose. they could be happy or sad. they could have been dragged there by someone else and couldn't care less.
I am not someone who looks for crowds or likes crowded places. I prefer space but I like rugby and I like watching good rugby and I did today.

one of those days >> thinking too much?

I have been so unproductive today, I can't think it was just because the clocks moved forward or we had to get to falmouth for ben's rugby match (his team won again). we were a bit late as well as had to relying on the sat-nav to get us there which in its self quite interesting.

all the time I was involved and watching the game but thinking about the ideas I have for the hub again as well as trying to work out why the mp3 recordings I have been gathering for the podcast dgthekneelo.podbean aren't working properly. since I have been not getting round to doing stuff by finding other things to do that don't really need to be done, so as you can imagine I haven't got anywhere. in a way it has been an OK day though, I can't expect every day to be the way I want it to be.

I have had one of the least creative days for ages. I did manage to achieve something I found a nice place for coffee in truro. I also bought a nice new cup to drink it from when I got home.
oh yes I bought some good coffee as well.

sunday >> thought & consideration is not a weakness

strange really that I should feel guilty about not writing the blog I had planned for first yesterday and then today, I am afraid that one will have to wait for another time probably when have just returned from a heavy teaching day and feel fresh from presenting (good or bad).

I must just thank micky from france for the love of the sponge bob character. micky has been chasing me around the internet today, through my flickr, this blog and my surf web site never quite meeting me. but we will sort it.

any way to todays post, sunday and mothers day so a called to my mother in sussex (luckly the cornish flowers had arrived), after ben had presented his card to carol and some freshly picked flowers from the garden we (ben & me) had made a special vase from a powerade bottle!
then as usual I was off to rugby with ben he (I hope) loves it, I am still terrified that I am one of those pushy parents who because I liked something expect my children to like it as well.

I wanted to document the weather we had in pictures but to be honest I found it difficult to get it the wind was so strong as was the sun and then the hail I hid in the car when that came down.
I just really appreciated today what a fantastic place I live in when I can see all these things in one day never mind four seasons in one day it was more like a weather show with a rugby training match going on a bit of reading the sunday paper nice cd today (love the thom yorke songs) and trying to get my shoulder less painful (another story, seeing hospital consultant tomorrow). so apart from the last bit a really good start to the day.
even at the end when ben got the ball full in the face he was still happy, though a little disappointed that he wasn't going to have a back eye!



ok matey! what is this ramble all about well I was ready to be all academic and try to explain how through two days of concentrated teaching the way of education in this country should and will change. I am still firmly committed to this. but I had forgot that we have to have time to think, go outside feel the hail! the cold of a NW wind and enjoy the big sky, in order to except differing opinion and actually think.

that said it made me realise I am coming from a position of enormous privilege so before putting my thoughts to the blog I should for once make a fundamental change in me and consider much like I should do all the time with ben (not just in rugby), so that he is not in the position of having a ongoing problem with his shoulder also.

sunday rugby >> mods & rockers

I had no idea that when I went over to newquay, (surfcity uk), cornwall to take ben to play rugby today. that I would be writing about mods & rockers when I got home. it was in the car park as we work leaving that I caught site of this scooter (left), the owner was very busy on the phone so I didn't talk to him but the machine was original and had been painstakingly restored I had to get a picture.

I grew up near brighton (actually born in brighton) on the sussex coast of the uk but I am just a bit too young to have been involved in the mods versus rockers battles during the mid 60's. I remember we always had to park the car (my dad had a grey vw beetle 1200) away from the seafront when we went to the beach on holiday weekends, as cars parked on right next to the sea often got sometimes got damaged. I remember very clearly noticing a real difference in the way people dressed, and just how incredibly import it was we used to talk about it at school one thing we did do was wear our caps in different ways to show which we were, I will leave you to decide which I thought were cooler, have to say it has changed over the years.

I also remember my mother speaking of her surprise that those nice, clean, modern dressers (mods) would want to get involved in fights!
I am sure some of you will be too young to remember or for that matter understand the difference between a mod or a rocker, nor will you care whether the scooter in the picture was a vespa or a lambretta. even that the size of the turn-up on your (italian) suit trousers had to be a certain size (mods), or how long you had worn your 'oily jeans' (rockers).
I love the fact that one person on a scooter can bring back such clear visual memories of my childhood days in brighton.
See film clips

cold >> sunday >> board games

I didn't fancy the usual Sunday trip to rugby today the wind had gone to the NW making it cold where the rugby training ground is. I took ben and he loved even had a special trip to the supermarket afterwards.
design theme now, I have enormous respect for anyone who has the patience to play a 'new style' board game never mind design one. I really dislike playing them which is not much fun for my family, and some friends as I don't 'join in' but still. I watched ben and carol struggle with the batman game shown sometimes they even seemed to be having fun. we where only inside because it was so cold!
I apologise (well not that much) if I am offending any (bored) board gamers! I checked a few sites to do with their particular fancy and was even more scared have a look at these?! board game designers forum and prepare yourself to check this one boardgamedesign. I am sure that there are some fantastic designers working in this field and their work is not fairly represented here. if it had not been for the weather I would not have mentioned them at all.

lazy day >> papers and non-achievement

hardly done anything today, a long (well sort of long) look / read of the newspaper this morning and watched the rugby this afternoon.
so many ideas that I have been thinking of don't as far as design stuff and software stuff have been moved aside by other stuff but they are still in there.
had a nice chat with gabriel today "go with what you will be interested in for two years and remember there will be many boring bits!"

I will have to make some time to get the work stuff done tomorrow.

I have played around with the Firefox browser a bit downloaded/updated some of the new add ons. I like it, really useful stuff (it's cross platform so works as well on Linux, Mac and Windows) oh dear! I am even beginning to a bit too geeky even for me. must remember that it is the design and usability that is important. I will just have to think 'cow gum', to make me get things back it to perspective!

sunny sunday

doesn't it make a difference when the sun shines. early start and off to Penryn 3 games of rugby to see. ben played in the first 2. they won both. it got a bit hectic, but they will have to get used to powerful teams.

picture (dg 2007)