London Eye defeats vertigo

Yesterday we were in London, so we went on the London Eye. The queue was crazy – especially when you consider that this attraction has been around since the Millennium. Now, I am not particularly keen on heights. In fact I get spooked really easily. But there was something about the design of the pods and slow speed with which you work your way up into the clouds, that made the whole thing a pleasant experience.

The views over London were spectacular. There are some stunning buildings in the city. I suppose the one negative side to the experience was the confirmation that London lacks the planning on a grand scale of Paris. If you look at Paris from the Eiffel Tower you can see the thought that has gone into the big picture of the city as a whole. That is not apparent in London, which just looks like an untidy and chaotic series of developments. At least, to these eyes it does!

Today I’m listening to Salif Keita’s album “Soro” which is a wonderful album of music from Mali. I can see where Youssou N’Dour’s sound originates from. This is clearly one that will improve with repeated listening.

A pile of CDs are all benefiting from repeat listening at the moment:

Lloyd Cole – Music in a Foreign Language
Robert Plant – Dreamland
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – The Last DJ
Kraftwerk – Tour de France: Soundtracks
Robert Wyatt – cuckooland

Keeping very busy…

Waiting to fly

Not sure why I’m finding it difficult to focus – I have managed to find ways of being productive. But as ever, there are more things to do with average day than an average fortnight would require.

A two week break for Christmas is a short breath away – so it will just be a matter of rushing for the finishing line!

New listening - Country Joe and the Fish – never heard anything by them before. Pleasantly surprised – like a cross between Captain Beefheart and Spirit without the completely daft bits, just a bit weird. Very 1967!

The other album I’m listening to a lot this week is a short CD available for download free from Stasisfield (www.stasisfield.com) . It’s a live album of improvisation with guitar and laptop from Neil Jendon called ‘Live at Buddy in Chicago’. It starts very very quiet and builds up to an increasing level of intensity across three tracks – through gently humming, intrusive ambient and on to noise. It’s a great listen. Try it.

Where has he gone?

Things are picking up in work now. And the poetry reading last week is causing a flurry of brain activity in that arena too.

Keeping a log is challenging at times like these.

I’m also being software challenged with the job of updating and redesigning the website (www.geocities.com/stuarteglin) which really needs an overhaul. I’m planning to do it with Frontpage, but have never used that programme so am starting from scratch. Hopefully it will be beautifully intuitive and I’ll be able to reproduce the pages from the old site together with a new front-end and new sections to build up the site. We shall see – ongoing reports to be seen here first.

Music at the moment – everything Robert Wyatt. I saw the documentary on BBC4 here in the UK which was wonderful. I am now listening to all the Wyatt albums I own. Favourites are ‘Solar flares burn for you’ and ‘Cuckooland’ – the two new ones.

I’m also listening to the latest album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ‘The Last DJ’ which is a great mainstream album.

Enough for now – I’ll keep you posted…