| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9206 Registered: 05-2005 |
As well as listening to singles and albums I haven’t played for a very long time (eg, Charlton Heston by Stump and Single Gun Theory’s debut album Exorcise This Wasteland), I’m also watching two very good Irish crime series, Dublin Murders and Blood, and the new season of Better Call Saul. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4346 Registered: 03-2005 |
Reading books and listening to music, Pádraig. Plus mucking in my front yard. I have a lot of different things to keep me occupied. When somebody makes the mistake of contacting me by email I send back an incredibly lengthy response. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1700 Registered: 10-2006 |
My beagle has got used to business on the terrace, so not pining for the park too much. I have worked out a sort of workout there too, for the neighbours' amusement. My wife has learnt to bake bread, some less chewy than the rest. I have tuned into BBC Radio 3 for the duration, since she enjoys classical too and we don’t argue so much about what’s on. Regional accents are allowed, now, I see, but voices in the main still gentle and soothing and civilised. There was a modern symphonic piece yesterday, huge and thundery and thrilling, turned out to be a composer my age, which is pretty rare, so I banged him off an e-mail of congratulations. He replied, which was nice. Occasionally I will close the studio door for a blast of pop rock. Wine stock is severely depleted, we sit at 8pm waiting for the day’s death toll and chugging it back. I’m hoping for a downturn over 2 days but it hasn’t happened yet. Then maybe we’ll break out the prosecco. “Only 400!! Yaay!!” What times. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1984 Registered: 08-2006 |
My dance card is pretty full. My agency, no surprise, has been WFH for the foreseeable future and the workload is insane. Thanks gods for video conferencing. We set up a Zoom system a couple months back and it's paying off big time. I haven't played much music, only because NPR has been a lifeline to the outside world. I did start re-reading Camus' "The Plague," not because I feel doomy but because it seemed like a tome worth revisiting right now. Apparently, I'm not alone: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/opini on/coronavirus-camus-plague.html?action= click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 619 Registered: 08-2005 |
Still working at the moment - from home, of course. I work on a monthly cycling magazine, testing bikes and cycling kit etc. The concern that we have is that this requires large numbers of bikes to be shipped to a workshop in Bristol (24km from me), which is staying open with one staff member, while the main office has a skeleton crew only and we don't know how long that'll last. We've got the next issue largely sorted, with some swapping here and there, but after that it's going to get harder. A lot of bikes we test come from Italy and this spring's bike launches in Europe, Asia and the US have been cancelled en masse (that's a relief to me but my boss loves the travel!). I have my first-ever Skype meeting tomorrow, sent my first-ever WhatsApp message today, the magazine team is linked by Slack, so I'm joining the 21st century if nothing else! I've also mentioned to my boss that if the company is looking for volunteers to take a temporary unpaid break/sabbatical I'd be happy to do so. We're not rich but we've got no children and no mortgage so I'd be okay for a few months – unlike a lot of my colleagues. We're not big consumers and I could get fit, listen to music, read even more etc etc - a sort of proto-retirement. Stay healthy, people! | ||
| Fred Tadrowski Member Username: Ftadrowski Post Number: 113 Registered: 03-2015 |
I am still going right now to the office I share with only my brother but that might change. I am on a volunteer furlough at my part-time job working at a bookstore on the University of Chicago campus, which is physically closed. In these difficult times, please support your independent record and book stores. Most are still open for online orders. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1337 Registered: 04-2005 |
Basically working as normal. Unfortunately ! I'm back in rural France, after escaping the big city. We have had lovely weather this week, warm and sunny. Our internet connection is good, my company's VPN is stable so working is OK. But it is a very strange atomsphere and most people think that the existing period of 14 days lockdown will certainly be extended. Must admit that I feel a little unmotivated...suddenly my work doesn't seem terribly important in the great scheme of things. I've colleagues with young children at the house and I imagine that their situation is a lot harder and stressful than ours. Apparently our village market is still happening tomorrow, so will be interesting to see how that all works out. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9208 Registered: 05-2005 |
I went to a popular coffee shop down the street his morning. It’s still popular. We got takeaway coffees from staff who were all wearing plastic gloves. I later bought a dozen takeaway coffee cups. I’ll be making my own lattes for the foreseeable future - the takeaway cups are for the very rare occasions I’ll be meeting someone at a 1.5 metre distance. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9214 Registered: 05-2005 |
A friend in Ireland texted to say he was listening to Cowboy Junkies and to thank me for introducing him to them 31 years ago, so I listened to that introductory album, The Trinity Session. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9218 Registered: 05-2005 |
CORONAVIRUS INTERNET SCAM WARNING There's a link going round for a stream of Chris Martin from Coldplay doing a gig live from his home. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK It will take you to a stream of Chris Martin from Coldplay doing a gig live from his home. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9220 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just watched the new episode of Better Call Saul, which includes a lot of handshaking and touching. It all felt so wrong. My God, how quickly I've adapted to the coronavirus world. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1296 Registered: 08-2004 |
Business as usual here, Went into lock down Tuesday. I work in the food industry and for the first time in my life am considered important. It's also my favourite season. So gardening and outdoor shenanigans are top priority. Looking forward to being shaken down by 'the man' in BoJo's police state. So I listened to the 'Street Hassle' LP by Lou Reed. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9222 Registered: 05-2005 |
M. Ward's beautiful take on Bowie's Let's Dance is taking on a strange new resonance for me. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9225 Registered: 05-2005 |
This is an excellent article on the future of sport (in Australia, but applicable across the world) https://www.smh.com.au/sport/sport-can-b e-truly-enriching-and-rewarding-again-ju st-not-with-money-20200326-p54ect.html Even if you have little or no interest in sport, it's worth reading. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1709 Registered: 10-2006 |
Watching old Frasier DVDs, a good pick-me up indeed, as recommended by my Inverness mate. At least there seems to be the possibility that things may not explode in Scotland as they have in the north here, unless Prince f***in Charles manages to infect the Highlands single-handed. The wife and I both had a bit of a panic attack yesterday evening, probably because I'd been out a couple of times during the day and you always feel vulnerable when you're out. My mask just fogs up my glasses, can't see a thing, take them off (with latex gloves), Nooooooo, I touched my glasses! Take my glasses off when I get back home, noooooo I touched my glasses with my hands.... what a circle. A woman scuttled up behind me at the bins, I whipped round, pushed my hand out like a traffic cop and snapped, "Will you please keep your distance, Madam?" She looked terribly hurt. Anyway, sun today so I can get up on the terrace and scoot around a bit. My mutt has got used to clunking up the spiral staircase to do her business, although she does cast a nostalgic eye at the front door after dinner. But now the park's closed too, there's nowhere for her to go anyway. I am also binge watching the 100, a sillyish sci-fi thing with a lot of hot teens trapped in a post-apocalyptic world - actually better than I expected, quite dark and gritty and not afraid to kill off characters you expected to run the course. It is good to know that all women in a post-apocalyptic future will be universally gorgeous. My sister tells me it goes downhill as it goes along, we shall see. Under stress, meanwhile, it appears that Italian women go into baking frenzy, so while other countries are short on bog rolls and bleach, here you can't find yeast. The wife has already produced several kinds of bread, biscuits and a very tart tart. Lots of soothing music on Radio 3. We watch the 8pm news with heavy hearts and the wine open. Who will dare cut the Health Services of Europe in the future?? No-one, I imagine. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1985 Registered: 08-2006 |
Stuart, no one talks about it, at least not in the non-medical circles I run in, but those masks are hell for people with people with glasses. My dad was in the hospital several months back (pre-corona) and, I can't remember why, they were testing him for pneumonia. When I went to visit him and they made me wear one of the damn things. Suddenly, I couldn't see. And without my glasses, I couldn't see, either, and my dad needed me to read the instructions for some bit of technology I'd brought him. So I removed the mask off for a minute, which of course was when the nurse walked in and, boy, did see give me a tongue-lashing. If those masks become essential for civilians at some point, I may need to learn braille. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4355 Registered: 03-2005 |
Rob, your eyes haven't started going far-sighted yet? It's one of the relative few benefits of aging. I changed my glasses prescription a couple years ago but was annoyed by the impractical sunglass clip-ons for the new frame so I reverted to using my previous glasses for driving. I got a shock when I scratched my nose--not a problem back then!!--and briefly bumped up my glasses only to discover that the view was MUCH clearer! I took them off and drove the rest of the day without any glasses. I then had the new prescription put into the old frames which have a much better sunglass clip-on. I haven't tried a mask yet. Nice to know it's going to be a hassle. I sure have been spending a lot of time sending or answering emails! And I'm on the first 100 pages of a 700 page tome by Lord Kinross on the Ottoman Empire. The bread and those tarts sound really good right now. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1986 Registered: 08-2006 |
I always have a hard time with this: I can see fine at distances but to read I need glasses. That makes my farsighted, right? If so, yeah, I'm definitely farsighted. I started losing my short-distance vision when I turned 45. I blamed my young co-workers, who were giving me copy to look over in, like, 8 pt. type. Turned out it was age. I have progressive lenses now, which I'm quite fond of. I don't blame my co-workers now. And now that we're working remotely, it's harder to blame them for anything. As far as the bread and tarts thing, I was mystified early in this panic why flour was missing at my local market. I'm a very passionate home cook, and I make pizza dough, but flour is pretty low on my list of must-haves. I guess bakers are very committed. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9231 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, two words: prescription sunglasses. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1710 Registered: 10-2006 |
My wife had her first ever go at pizza this weekend, obviously an important moment in any Italian woman's life. It was pretty tasty, but weirdly irregular in terms of crust thickness, which I cheerfully pointed out. "The oven tray is wonky," I was told, in rather chilly tones. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9232 Registered: 05-2005 |
You old smoothy, Stuart. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1987 Registered: 08-2006 |
Making pizza is tough. I've probably made over 100 in the last few years, and I've read three books on the subject. But I still mess it up, in some way, every time. I've made maybe three or four pizzas I considered "perfect" and it was always when no one else was around. Once I made a pizza I was so proud of I took it the whole thing and gave it to folks at the bar across the street from my house. The one style I can't master - and don't even try - is Neapolitan (which some pizza snobs claim is the ONLY kind). You need a really good heat source, which my apartment oven does not provide. For anyone who likes tinkering in the kitchen, pizza-making is a fun, communal cooking experience. Practice now and you'll be all set when we socially undistance. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1988 Registered: 08-2006 |
This put my in mind of one of my favorite get-togethers from a few years back. A young co-worker told me she had never seen "The Godfather." So she, her husband and another couple came over for a viewing party. I made a Bolognese sauce and enough pizza dough for four medium pizzas the day before. Day of, I taught them how to make homemade pasta, we rolled and topped the pizzas, then watched "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II" back-to-back. The party started at noon and went 'til midnight. My kitchen was covered in flour but it was worth it. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1711 Registered: 10-2006 |
Sounds great, Rob! My mother-in-law made fantastic pizza in our old oven, crisp and gorgeous. Her daughters have never been able to match her. She always knew that nothing made me happier than her saying, "Hey, Stoo-art, what you say I make some pizza tonight?" I was a taut, skinny thing when I first arrived here ("But, is he ill or something?") and she happily fattened me up like the farm pig over the years. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1989 Registered: 08-2006 |
Haha. I LOVE that. You're a lucky man. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1712 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, that was kind of a key bit of dialogue in my courtship of her middle daughter: "So, what did your mum do before she retired?" "Oh, she and dad had a trattoria, she did all the cooking." "Oh darling..." | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9233 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, your Italian family got your sterling sense of humour in return; a fair swap, I’d say. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1713 Registered: 10-2006 |
Very kind of you to say so, Pádraig. But they also got my terrible hypochondria, so, you know, swings and roundabouts. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9242 Registered: 05-2005 |
The situation around the world is getting bleaker by the day. How so many leaders around the world still fail to take it seriously bewilders, but doesn’t surprise me. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4360 Registered: 03-2005 |
I just saw the news that BoJo is in ICU now. Unlike someone else we all can guess, I got the sense that the British PM had sobered up quite a lot on the subject. I have a very long time friend who is not a Trumpista at all but he remains stubbornly skeptical of the necessity for the serious response to Covid 19. I can't seem to durably shake him from the notion that this is just a nasty flu. I'm sure part of it is that he's a small business owner and his business is taking and will continue to take a bad hit. But he's also HIV positive and my age (63) and I can tell you right now that if he were infected that would be the end of him, full stop. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 624 Registered: 08-2005 |
I'm working from home, though as a lot of my job is testing bikes and the like - which our company isn't letting us do - my job will become progressively more difficult. At the moment in the magazine we're replacing tests with features and best-of tests, but there's a limit to this! As for me, I'm just about to go out for my daily bike ride for my health and fitness, which we are allowed to do. And, frankly, it's lovely. There's very, very little traffic, the air is noticeably cleaner, I'm accompanied by birdsong the whole time, people are friendlier. Randy, re BoJo. The UK response to begin with reflected pretty badly on our government, compounded with obfuscation from them and poor questions being asked of our leaders. It has improved and from my observations in my small city is that the lockdown/social distancing is being adhered to pretty well. I go out for exercise and shopping - and that's it. I see my sick and elderly parents when I drop their shopping off. Bizarrely, seeing less of my father has helped to improve my mental health, which is interesting... All the best out there, people. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1719 Registered: 10-2006 |
And what, meanwhile, is Robert F doing, I wonder? http://www.brooklynvegan.com/robert-fors ter-go-betweens-tells-us-what-hes-listen ing-to-watching-reading-while-stuck-at-h ome/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9243 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great find, Stuart. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 625 Registered: 08-2005 |
As of this morning I've been furloughed until the end of May on 80% salary. It was a bit of a surprise but as I suggested I was prepared to take unpaid leave a while back, I'm seeing this as a chance to get fit, work on my mental health and – this is my wife's suggestion – do all those things around the house that you don't have a chance to do when you're working full time. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1720 Registered: 10-2006 |
Well, Pádraig, it's just my Google feed. By now it knows me eerily well. Some mornings I half expect to wander into the kitchen and find breakfast all ready and Katja Herbers with a saucy smile on her face. That's a good boss you have, Simon. Enjoy your captivity! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4361 Registered: 03-2005 |
Thanks for that link Stuart! Tommy James being a minor figure in my personal musical universe, I never heard "Draggin' the Line." It's a nice reminder of one of the priceless attributes of the Go-Betweens: their sincere appreciation for pop at a time when it was emphatically NOT the done thing. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1344 Registered: 04-2005 |
Cheers for the link too Stuart ! Glad to see that RF is digging Big Thief ! | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1298 Registered: 08-2004 |
Fenced the front garden yesterday to keep all the Tory zombies off my land. While listening to the expanded version of P.I.L.'s Metal Box. Spacey dub for a better future. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9254 Registered: 05-2005 |
Watching Taken Down, a very hard-boiled Irish crime series. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 626 Registered: 08-2005 |
I'm planning on riding 1000 miles/1600km during my seven-week furlough. I've managed 122 miles/196km in my first seven days with no ride longer than 26 miles/42km and never getting further than eight or so miles from home. Even though it's April my cycling tanlines - about my only form of vanity! - are developing nicely. The only other time I go out is shopping for my wife and I and for my parents. We're quite self-contained and this social isolation has actually been very beneficial to my mental health. I realise this probably makes me an exception, and if my elderly, infirm parents were to catch C-19 (or my wife or I) I'm pretty sure I'll be less sanguine. At the moment the south-west of England has one of the lowest rates in the UK, so I remain hopeful. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9260 Registered: 05-2005 |
Good on you, Simon. So long as there isn’t a series of hail storms, I’m sure you’ll make your 1600km goal. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9266 Registered: 05-2005 |
The most uplifting piece of Covid art I've yet seen or heard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4-b6Zgf OqE | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1299 Registered: 08-2004 |
That's nice, Padraig. Must admit I knew nowt about this. Been mainly doing those DIY tasks and gardenning jobs that normally take a back seat. Planted a hedge a bit late in the season but hey ho. I've got a door frame to fit and hang the door within so it's all go. It will be soundtracked by the superb HMHB'S 'Cammell Laird Social Club'. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 9278 Registered: 05-2005 |
Watching The Katering Show, a brilliant Australian spoof of cooking shows. This one is perfect for our times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYqphYFF C8M |