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Els Segadors
This is a great day in the lives of my Catalan friends. Today they vote, to express their wishes for the future of their nation. Thanks to the obduracy of the right wing government in Madrid they can’t call it a referendum, but that is what it is.
Three results are possible, the status quo, a federal solution, or independence. They face the same pressures as we Scots did, but I anticipate a different outcome. No, the result won’t be binding, but if Catalunya votes decisively for change nothing will ever be the same again.
Music while I work
An evening with – Brad Paisley. Not a CD, but a playback version of last night’s live gig on Radio 2.
Atlantic crossing
Thanks to the miracle of Catch-up TV I am now Catching-up with the HBO series, Newsroom. So far I’m pretty impressed. I have never seen Dumb and Dumber, but I will avoid it, for after this I could not imagine Jeff Daniels trying to play an idiot. It’s a classic piece of Aaron Sorkin, with all the virtues and vices of West Wing, the rapid fire dialogue, the politics and the will-they/won’t they sexual chemistry, with a triangle thrown in. If the fictional ACN’s News Night was a real programme, I’d watch it, for sure, ahead of the BBC version.
Leap of faith
Quote of the day by Labour grandee David Blunkett, commenting on the internecine plotting within his party:
“When you are standing on the edge of a cliff it is unwise to believe that by jumping you will suddenly learn to fly.”
Music while I work
Arrogance ignorance and Greed – Show of Hands. Thanks to my friend Mike for the tip.
Skippy
If I was Rio Ferdinand, I think I’d be suing the FA for restraint of trade. That body seems to think it’s all powerful; it isn’t, and it’s time that was made clear by the courts.
Jolly
Am I wrong or is Bryan Ferry looking more and more like Rikki Fulton, the older he gets?
I wonder
I learned long ago to avoid commenting on US politics on this blog. However I would like to know my good friend Pat Wright’s view on the new situation and on the fact that regardless of that outcome, every on-line bookmaker listed on Oddschecker still had Hillary Clinton as a very short-priced favourite to win the next Presidential election.
I’m interested, Pat, that’s all.
Mud on the tyres
I have just driven to Haddington and back, and arrived home wearing my Mr Grumpy hat. Isn’t it time that farmers were obliged to clear up, on pain of a financial penalty, the crap, mud, etc that their vehicles leave on the public highway?
Music while I work
In Time – REM. To get me in the mood for going to the dentist, and also because it contains a wonderful version of ‘Star Me Kitten’, with vocals by W S Burroughs.
Open wide
Lowlight of my day: I’m going to the dentist in an hour.
Stranger sets sail
And so farewell Mr Acker Bilk. I go back to the Trad Jazz days of the Sixties, when all the top bands played the old St Andrews Halls in Glasgow. Acker was the only one I didn’t see live, but there were plenty of tales of him in the surrounding pubs. As a young man I once tried to match the scrumpy record that he set in a pub called the Avalon. Big, big mistake.
Too bad
For a few weeks I’ve been avoiding Scottish football results. As a Motherwell fan the last decade has been unsettling; the club has been well run on a shoestring, having learned the lesson of the administration experience, and we’ve had a succession of excellent managers. On a couple of occasions we’ve even been the best of the rest, winners of the unofficial championship that ignores the Old Firm teams. That’s not what we’re used to, not we supporters who begin every season with a prayer for survival.
Nothing lasts for ever; there was always going to be a blip. The last couple of months have been luckless, and the club is back in what used to be its customary position, holding up the league. However I doubt that there were many fans who didn’t have faith in Stuart McCall to turn things around.
Sadly Stuart didn’t share that faith for he resigned over the weekend. He’ll be missed, and he’ll be a hard act for any successor to follow. Who will that successor be? Time will tell, but whoever takes the job won’t be in it for the money. David Moyes? Maybe not.
Music while I work
Stacey Kent – Close your Eyes. In preparation for hearing her sing live, next Sunday in the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh.
Thanks
To everyone I met on my signing tour yesterday, thank you for being there. And many thanks also to GM for arranging everything, for the constant tweeting and doing the driving.
PS Good luck to Robert Topping, a true bookseller, and to his family. I look forward to meeting up again, next time I’m in St Andrews.
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