Category: old blogging

The GBlogs recently updated list is back up-and-running.

Not very cheery today. Serves me right for thinking that things were getting better.
But I’m being productive at least. And I know that some people are having a far worse time of things at the moment, so I really need to get a grip and put things in perspective.

Must add this site to the music resources list in the navbar. There are more music links here than you could shake a whole bunch of sticks at.

hmm. MSN Messenger is *still* not working properly. At least all the other communication channels seem to be functioning – it’s just that nobody is using them.

Spent a large chunk of this evening in Priory Park with a paperback. The evening had a slightly depressing feeling – the light, filtering through clouds that promise rain, had a definite grey quality. Even the kids playing cricket seemed a bit lacklustre, not enjoying themselves as much as you think they should. At least the limes and maples that surround the park kept the worst of the steady breeze away from my usual park bench, where I stretched myself out for more than an hour to read, people-watch and wait for my mobile to ring (it didn’t, needless to say).
However, on returning home, I got this from the BT Disembodied Voice:

Speculated causes: someone secretive, an ex-girlfriend or someone trying to sell me something. Or possibly someone that falls into all three categories.

I can’t believe that nobody has had anything to say about this post (apart from Nick).

Bit quiet today on the blogging front as I get to grips with a long-overdue redesign of the work website. It’ll not exactly be all-singing, all-dancing, but it will use a lot more CSS and some of the tricks I have learnt in keeping Grayblog going for ten months. I’ll let you know when the new version goes online.

The GBlogs recently updated list appears to be offline at the moment. An alternative list of recently updated British blogs can be found here.

They might just as well replace the words “new calls to return” with the word “friends”. And get Anne Robinson to record it.

The cathedral bells were being rung as I walked through the cathedral close on my way to work this morning. I was listening to a discussion on the radio the other day about church bells – the argument was “is this music, or just cacophany?”
I think the jury is out on that one, but it is certainly a striking sound and it does have a certain beauty. The thought that occured to me this morning was that, when the cathdral bell tower was built, the sound must have been the loudest thing (aside from the roars of thunder and wind) that the Cicestrians would ever hear in their lives. It didn’t have to compete with the background rumble of traffic, trains and industry, the blaring stereo from the passing car or even the incessant ring of mobile phones.
It is no wonder that the church had such power and influence over a poorly educated populace. It was the centre of knowledge, erected massive buildings, made enormous noise and had great power and wealth. The populace must have been cowed into submission and subservience – the church was the embodiment of the “fear” of God. Now the roles are reversed, and the church seems weak in the face of commerce, industry, education, wealth and noise of the populace.
And on the subject of musical impressiveness, I defy anything to beat a cathedral organ. When I was on holiday in Lisbon a couple of years ago, I happened to be in Se cathedral just as an organist was rehearsing for a recital – it was fantastic, the enormous (and beautiful) building almost shaking with the sound. What was even more remarkable was that the organist was a girl of no more than 14 or 15 – she was tiny in comparison to the noise that surrounded her.