Recently in Personal Category

I'm currently reading some Nabokov, in translation of course, this one is 'The Luzhin Defense'. (Interestingly the spell checker I'm using recommends that I change Luzhin to Zucchini!) It's a moody book so far, I'm only 4 chapters in, but I'll be interested to see how much more different the book will seem to the film by the end. It's about chess... (Deliberate homage to Woody Allen's speed reading joke about 'War and Peace'. Actually I just mistyped that as War and Piece, which would have been quite a good title for the Luzhin novel!)

Another month, another funeral. I realise we're all going to die at some point, but it seems I am going to more than my fair share of funerals. The second this year, and seven friends who have been seen off (mostly with cancer) before their time in the last few years.

This is pretty distressing.

Through the office grapevine, I've discovered that a reasonable number of my colleagues have "blogs" and "personal websites" including a number of management staff. Their personal websites make them come across as intelligent, well balanced, witty, individuals. If only...

We in Cambridge are in the rather ignominious position of having risen to fame in recent hours thanks to the arrest of a local man suspected of carrying out the recent letter bombing campaign that has been cleverly down-played by the media. In this time where environmental impact is being discussed so relentlessly why is this dichotomy of freedom versus the environment coming to a head only now?

The botanic gardens in Cambridge hosted an "Apple Festival" on Sunday. The poet and I popped by, requiring the payment of 5 pounds each in order to gain entry! They must have been raking it in too as the place was packed out. Lots of people in the marquees; and a 100 metre queue to get into the free apple tasting tent!

As it happened I had an apple with which to challenge the experts at the "identify your apple" area. One from a very old tree that I know well. The man needed to resort to the classification guide book, and even then it took a full 5 minutes for him to figure out an answer, so I presume that the variety in question is not all that common.

Apparently what we have here is a "Lane's, Prince Albert", developed in the Victorian era. Interestingly it starts off seemingly like a typical cooking apple, but if left long enough will ripen to be edible. I've been using them for a few years now as cookers, which they are excellent as; breaking down slowly to provide a tasty pie! Yum!

The artist remarked to me today at our usual lunchtime massage that he'd bumped into a former acquaintance last week, who I gather showed a mixture of surprise and contempt that I was still around, given that I hadn't changed since school.

This remark has been mulling around in my head for the rest of the day, as I got to wondering how much do any of us change? So putting aside physical traits - for whilst loosing one's hair is one mark on the "I've changed score", it is not something many of us wish to dwell upon - what are well left with?

It seems to me that many of our traits stay with us as we get older, perhaps the only thing that changes to any significant degree for the better is that of wisdom, until of course we reach that age where senility sets in. Other areas, such as culture, sense of humour and ambition, will wax and wane, certain things coming to the fore at certain points in our life, helping to guide us to a fulfilling and rich old age.

Of course, none of this is anything compared to the thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head since lunchtime - I would never get so drunk as to let grown men fondle my genitals when i was a teenager, and that has not changed to this day, however much of a hangover cure it is purported to be.

One of the things that causes no end of amusement to the nofear 'massive', is to point out those in the vicinity that bear a passing resemblance to us. Along the lines of "That's your father over there", or "there is your brother". With the addition of fiancee's to the group, we are now able to include members of the female sex in our game.

What is so suprising is that there are just so many people out there that look eerily similar, the result of a small initial gene pool perhaps?

Anyway, this morning I realised that not only did the conductor on the train this morning look uncannily like Joe Pasquale (the well known high pitched comic), I was unnerved to realise that he had several physical attributes that I recognised in myself. It was in fact a rich day for doppelgangers, for we also had on the train a Norfolk version of Larry Ellison, and someone I could have sworn was Ben Affleck (who embarrassed himself by leaping up 10 minutes before the the train arrived at the station, and then sheepishly made his way back to his seat after realising he looked rather stupid standing all on his own by the door).

It has been some time since a once regular passenger, the man whose weekly shopping appeared to consist solely of a loaf of bread and two bottles of scotch, has been seen on the train. Here's hoping he is still around somewhere, and which brings me back to the original point, he does look so very much like someone's father...

It was time for the annual nofear pancake staff party last night, and I'm afraid to report that the artist was rather the worse the wear by the end of the evening.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so very true. Well, we won't be going back to Varsity any time soon.

Admittedly this chap was travelling on the London Underground at a non rush-hour time, but considering it was only about 11.30am on a Saturday I thought it slightly selfish. I think his cunning arrangement of arms and baggage wouldn't last more than a few seconds in a fully laden tube train. So I took a photo just to capture the moment.

"Life is too brief. I had a friend whom I intended to know better. Yesterday he died."

A great friend of the staff here at nofear.org passed away this weekend. It'll be a while before we come across a kinder, more modest, funny and gentle man. We'll miss you Robert.