Updates, games, motorbikes etc.
It occurs to me that it's been quite a while since I actually posted anything and that I should probably confirm that I aten't dead yet.
So, in no particular order:
We're all well, Oli doing fine in Brizzle, starting a new business (!) which I will bring to everyone's attention as soon as it's further along. Madame in good form, albeit a touch crunchy and my health is fine, slight frozen shoulder still, but everything else 100% - much to the annoyance of the chancre mechanics.
Our relentless pursuit of the estimable Bellowhead folk-orchestra collective continues; in the last six weeks we have seen Bellowhead themselves last night in Leamington Spa, Spiers & Boden in Wiltshire and Faustus in Fareham. If anyone here thinks they might enjoy English traditional dance music interpreted by an 11-piece orchestra with a sinister edge, I'd urge them to have a look at Bellowhead.
Had a test ride on a Victory Vegas 8-ball the other day, having casually dropped in to the showroom with Madame and been impressed with build quality and style - it's black, right? - and sort-of-wondered whether this might be something for relaxed fun times on the road. I desperately wanted to like it when I rode it, but didn't. The front end felt 2 miles away and I wasn't at all keen on the need to give a week's notice in writing of an intent to change direction. Am now considering a Bonneville, especially if it can be put into flat-track mode - you know, skinny seat, wide bars, perhaps a low tunnel Sportster tank, Bates headlight etc and a liberating exhaust. That might be fun.
My professional existence continues to develop - after a few months of contract consultancy work here and there in my specialist field, I start as a salaried partner with a consulting firm in November. Exciting times.
I also want to bring to everyone's attention an addictive MMO game - Star Pirates. While it's simple, graphically and has no explosions or glitzy animations (making it an ideal lightweight punisher of one's Internet connection), it is a very rich, multi-textured game, with extensive interaction between game designers and maintainers and the player community. It has in-game politics, factioning, a relatively sensible economic model and, of course, it's about Pirates. In Space. What's not to like? If this sounds like it might be interesting, cast a look at http://www.starpirates.net/register.php?referer=36745 - note here that I will get a little something from the game if you do decide to throw yourself into the post-Starcrash universe.
In re the ongoing BNP nonsense, my feeling is that we're a democracy and we should have our political conversations in the open and that the way to vanquish seriously shitty ideas is to take them on. Pushing conversations on things like immigration, religion, ethnicity and Britishness into a sort of "quarantine zone" because the mainstream political establishment and the media between them share a perception that this is much too dangerous territory to inhabit doesn't stop the conversation, it only ensures that those involved never hear the sensible side.
For what it's worth, as a 1st generation immigrant myself, I'm quite clear that my family moved to the UK in 1963 in order to become English. Granted, we had certain ethnic and religious advantages over, say, my mate Muhammed from Peshawar or Isaac from Abuja, but the principle is clear - to my mind, if you want to live permanently in the UK and be a British citizen or resident, there are certain things with which you must be able to live: representative democracy, free speech (however offensive) and the rule of law. That's pretty much it, it's none of my or anyone else's business what religion or colour anyone is, but it becomes my business when things like "honour killings" (or, as we prefer to call them, murders), female circumcision, "Paki-bashing" or "Queer-hunting" (to choose just a few examples) take place. They're all violations of the law and should be dealt with as such, evenhandedly and according to common criteria - the law of the land.