It's a Velky World

Move Along, Move Along

2011-09-22T13:02:00.000-04:00

I am 35 years old. In those 35 years I have lived in 3 of the constituent nations of the United Kingdom as well as Germany, the Czech Republic, the United States and, briefly, Belarus. In my 10 years living in the Czech Republic, I lived in a small town called Mlada Boleslav as well as Prague, in total though I lived at 8 addresses in 10 years. I have spent my life moving around, and can happily say that I enjoy it. My little brother, only 1 year my junior, took a different path to adult life, settling down in the Highlands and pretty much staying put, though even he has moved house within the same town a few times.

I often think that Mrs Velkyal has had a calming influence on me, I can watch football without apoplexy these days for a start. In the 6 years we have been together I have only lived at 3 addresses, and 2 of those cover 5.5 years. Even so, I find it nearly impossible to not think about the other places in the world which pique my interest. Perhaps growing up in the British Army gives you a taste for going somewhere new, a taste for always being an expat. I get the sense at times that if we were to move to the UK, I would probably feel like an expat even there, after all I left just after I graduated and haven't spent an extended period of time in my own country since.

I keep a mental list of places that I would love to live in, just in case my numbers come up on the lottery and I am suddenly flush with cash. Near the top of that list would be a return to Germany, mainly to put my Germanophilia into full swing, I love the German language (no I don't think it is "too brutal for singing"), German efficiency, German food and German beer, I like Germans and find their sense of humour funny, yes they have one. If we were to move to Germany there are a couple of places I would most like to live in, Berlin and Celle.

Mrs V and I went to Berlin a couple of years back and absolutely loved it, had Obama failed to win the election in 2008 there was a very good chance that we would have moved there rather than here. Celle is a smallish town near Hannover, and the place we lived in as children, it is also etched in my memory as one of the most beautiful towns in Europe. My attraction there is simple, I would love to experience the town as an adult, it is also entirely possible from research my great uncle Bill did, that my father's family originally came from that neck of the woods.

One thing is for certain, I don't feel as though I am done with travelling and seeing places new and intriguing.

Recovered Memories

2011-09-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

I enjoy taking photos, indeed at my parents' place in France there are boxes of photos I took in the dim and distant past before I got a digital camera. It is only in the last few months that I have been able to retrieve a lot of my photos because they were on the hard drive of my old laptop that died.

Normally this wouldn't have been a major issue, but the laptop in question had Windows XP in Czech rather than English. While my Czech is OK, dealing with technical language is a completely different ball game. So once I had my wireless router set up I set about re-installing Windows and getting all the files on to an external hard drive. With that process done, I have slowly been sorting and organising all the various bits and pieces that I managed to recover. So I thought I would post a few of my favourite pictures which have never before seen the light of this blog.

When we lived in Prague, I would walk home from work quite often and crossing the Nusle bridge was part of the walk. The bridge has high sided fences as it is a popular place to commit suicide. There is no river under the bridge, just a cobbled street and houses, I can't imagine how it must feel to live there and have people leaping to their deaths on the street outside.

Just round the corner from our flat was this tower and church, and we would walk by them several times a day.

I have always loved railway stations, the potential of all those places to visit. This one is the oldest railway station in Prague, Masarykovo nádraží and was literally opposite the building we lived in.

The other station we lived close to was Prague's main station, Hlavní Nádraží, from where we would get the train to České Budějovice and then on to our favourite getaway town for a weekend, Český Krumlov. This picture was taken from the window of the penzion we always stayed in.

In the final months we lived in Prague, Mrs Velkyal and I made a point of going to the various places in the city we had either loved or neglected to go to. One such place was the Estates Theatre, where Mozart received great acclaim for Don Giovanni, and I took this picture of the seats.

30 Day Song Challenge - Days 28, 29 and 30

2011-05-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

Having skipped several days, I have decided to merge the last three themes into a single post and only have a single track for each theme.

Day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty

"Summertime" by Billie Holiday

I can honestly say that there is nothing that I feel guilty about, and certainly no song that makes me feel guilty for anything I have done. The track above though makes me feel guilty for liking it, because I can think of no good reason to like it beyond the fact that I just enjoy listening to it - pure hedonism.

Day 29 - a song from your childhood

"Shoplifters of the World Unite" by The Smiths

This song always reminds me of two people, my eldest brother, and my best friend from primary school, who I haven't see since I was about 13. The Smiths were one of the first bands I liked, and still like to this day.

Day 30 - you favourite song this time last year

"Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit

Something of an unusual choice for me I am sure, but this time last year, having had my driving license for but a few months, I would drive around town listening to this song and generally being happy with life.

So there we go. All done.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 27

2011-05-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

Given that I can't play any musical instrument, today's theme of "a song you wish you could play" is pretty pointless. However, I wish I could play some form of bagpipe, so these tracks showcase a form of pipe.

Track 1 - "The Dreaming of the Bones" by Davy Spillane, featuring Sinead O'Connor

Davy Spillane is one of the world's leading uillean pipe players, a master of the ethereal wail which is so haunting.

Track 2 - "Gabriel's Oboe" performed by Carlos Nunez

Originally composed by Ennio Morricone for the film The Mission, this version is played on the gaita - a form of bagpipe from Galicia in Spain.

Track 3 - "The Three Pipers" by Carlos Nunez

Another Carlos Nunez track, in which he blends the sounds of the Breton pipes, Great Pipes from Scotland and the Uillean pipe.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 26

2011-05-08T15:25:00.000-04:00

Sorry, sorry, I was working in a brewery yesterday and was wiped out before watching Doctor Who. Today's theme is exceedingly easy, "songs I can play on an instrument". The reason it is so easy for me is that I don't play any musical instrument, unless you include strumming mindless chords on a guitar.

So, I can't give you any songs for today's theme, so I'll just put three clips from an artist song I have been listening to a lot lately - Cecile Corbel

Track 1 - "La Fille Damnee"

Track 2 - "Je Vous Pleure

Track 3 - "Corpus Christi Carol"

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 25

2011-05-06T13:53:00.000-04:00

Our theme for today is songs that make me laugh. Again I skipped a day, but as I was brewing with my favourite brewpub, I think I have a valid excuse.

Track 1 - "Nightboat to Cairo" by Madness

If you've been following this challenge, you'll know that I like Madness a lot, and most of their songs are kind of the funny. "Nightboat to Cairo" is very in the usual Madness vein, quirky lyrics, daft video and just fun to listen to.

Track 2 - "Lucille" by The Corries

A parody on country music by the legendary Corries which never fails to make me laugh, and I am sure many of us have told tales of broken hearts over pints in the pub.

Track 3 - "Rabbit" by Chas and Dave

Perhaps it is just me, but music these days seems so tiresomely earnest and meaningful. Thank god then for Chas and Dave.

I think Chas and Dave take the accolades today, fun music that brings back lots of memories of childhood.

Track 3 - "

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 24

2011-05-04T21:55:00.000-04:00

Songs I want played at my funeral is the theme for today. I really don't go for the whole "celebrate my life" thing any more than I want people to wail and gnash their teeth. What is a funeral at the end of the day? Saying goodbye and going to the pub for a booze up? With that in mind, let's go.

Track 1 - "The Parting Glass" as performed by Sinead O'Connor

What better way to say goodbye than to recall the many fine people and great experiences I have had?

Track 2 - "Asleep" by The Smiths

There are times when I think this song is the apogee of the Morrissey and Marr partnership, and when I am gone, "don't feel bad for me".

Track 3 - "Sae Will We Yet" as performed by The Corries

If there is an afterlife, I hope it is like Valhalla from Norse mythology, laden with drinking and generally living it up.

All great tracks, so I'll have them all thanks.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 23

2011-05-03T17:52:00.000-04:00

The theme for today's collection of ditties is "a song you want at your wedding". As I am already married to the immeasurably lovely Mrs Velkyal, I guess I should choose some of the musical highlights from our reception - which was held in the downstairs bar at our local pub in Prague. Mrs V and I have some disparate tastes in music, and so we just put all our favourite tracks onto my laptop and turned them into a playlist.

Track 1 - "El Palo Pinto" by Cahornega

This track was actually part of the pre-reception selection, while Mrs V and I were having our pictures taken by the insanely talented Mark Stewart of Black Gecko Photography. Cahornega are one of those bands that I found through Myspace.

Track 2 - "You Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer

What can I say beyond, it was Mrs V's fault! But I guess it was her wedding as well (and I am really rather fond of her!).

Track 3 - "Svítá" by Jaroslav Ježek

Taken from the soundtrack of one of my favourite Czech films, Tmavomodrý Svět (Dark Blue World for those unversed in Czech). This song was one of the few that Mrs V and I danced to during the reception - dancing not being something I enjoy, however both of us love this kind of big band and swing thing.

Taking the choice by a short nose is Svítá, so mellow and beautiful.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 22

2011-05-02T19:35:00.001-04:00

Day 22, songs that I listen to when I am sad. I really don't like dwelling on sadness, so I listen to music that will either cheer me up or take my mind off things.

Track 1 - "Thunderchild" by Jeff Wayne

I love Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, and this is one of the most uplifting songs on the album.

Track 2 - "Here I Stand" by Iona

Usually sadness for me is when I feel homesick, which may be slightly nuts for a guy who hasn't lived within 200 miles of the place he calls home for more than 15 years. When I listen to this track, and the instrumental piece that immediately follows it on the album, I can close my eyes and am back in the Hebrides.

Track 3 - "Song for Whoever" by The Beautiful South

One of the best songs by one of my favourite bands, "Song for Whoever" - a sweetly melancholic song, just love it.

Of the three, it is Here I Stand that I listen to most when I am sad, mainly because sadness of longing for the islands on the edge of the world go hand in hand in my life.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 21

2011-05-01T19:33:00.001-04:00

I took a day off yesterday, preferring to sit in the pub and drink several pints of a dark lager that I helped brew at my favourite brewpub. Suitably hungover, erm refreshed, let's kick on with today's theme - songs that you listen to when you are happy.

Track 1 - "Chinese" by Lily Allen

There is something about the every day in this song which is so charming and laden with whimsy.

Track 2 - "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday

Happiness for me is usually a very mellow state of being, and Billie Holiday as long been the soundtrack to mellowocity.

Track 3 - "Caravan of Love" by The Housemartins

More mellowocity, more happiness.

Of the three, I think my favourite is Lily Allen, love listening to that in the car.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 20

2011-04-29T18:49:00.000-04:00

Theme de jour is songs you listen to when you are angry, this is quite easy really as I have a go to band when I need to let off a little steam - Rammstein.

Track 1 - "Ich Will"

Track 2 - "Amerika"

Track 3 - "Sonne"

Ah, I feel better already.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 19

2011-04-28T21:15:00.000-04:00

A song from my favourite album is the theme for today, and I guess most people will be thinking that my favourite album is by my favourite band, but not so. Just a quick aside, in these days of iTunes and downloads not many artists make albums anymore. Sure they might put 10 or 22 songs together on a single disc, but few actually create a thematic or artistic whole. Any way, my favourite album is "Dog, Man, Star" by Suede, and here are my 3 favourite tracks, in order of third to first, with no commentary necessary.

Track 1 - "Still Life"

Track 2 - "The 2 of Us"

Track 3 - "The Asphalt World"

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 18

2011-04-27T18:18:00.000-04:00

Part two the most difficult themes for this 30 Day Song Challenge, songs I wish I heard on the radio. Actually this isn't as difficult as yesterday's theme because when I do listen to the radio I often find myself muttering about the parochial nature of the music choices, or the obviousness of the music when there is a show that I listen to vaguely regularly. Our local NPR station, which I mentioned yesterday, has a weekly show called Thistle and Shamrock that I try to listen to most weeks, so here are some tunes I would like to hear on that particular show.

Track 1 - "Brave Foot Soldiers" by Wolfstone

A song about a march organised by the Scottish Trade Unions Congress in 1993 in support of that most "basic human right: the right to work".

Track 2 - "Black is the Colour" by Cara Dillon

I first heard Cara Dillon when I found her profile on Myspace, and just fell in love with her beautiful voice, and this song in particular was a favourite. It still sends tingles up my spine.

Track 3 - "Bean Pháidín" by Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola

Another case of hearing her stuff on Myspace, but in this case I went and bought her album into the bargain.

Of the three, the one that would most impress me being played on the radio is Bean Pháidín.

30 day Song Challenge - Day 17

2011-04-26T19:28:00.000-04:00

I think today, and possibly tomorrow, poses the most difficult selection when it comes to this 30 Day Song Challenge malarky. The theme is a songs that "you hear on the radio often". Hmmm, I don't listen to the radio much, unless it is the BBC World Service, and when I lived in the UK over a decade ago, I was a convinced Radio 5 listener, with the occasional dash of Radio 4 thrown in for good measure. As you can imagine, I am very much out of touch with modern chart music.

Given that I listen to our local NPR station here in Virginia, WVTF, I do get to hear quite a bit of classical music, so here are some of the highlights of recent listening.

Track 1 - "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka by Dvořák, sung by Gabriela Beňačková

Not only does Beňačková have a beautiful voice, but this aria from Rusalka is simply haunting.

Track 2 - "Papageno" from The Magic Flute by Mozart

The Magic Flute is my favourite opera, and I have no qualms in admitting that I love to sit and listen to whole thing at work, and have been known to sing along to myself - where I know the words.

Track 3 - "Land of Hope and Glory" by Edward Elgar and A.C. Benson, from the 2009 Proms

A wonderfully stirring ditty and lyrics that make my want to sing loud and proud, in as thoroughly an unBritish manner as possible of course.

Oh what the heck, I have to choice the Elgar/Benson stuff, even listening to it now has me thinking about cricket on the village green, maiden aunts cycling to church, oh god, I think I'm going to puke.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 16

2011-04-25T18:21:00.000-04:00

Day 16 sees the theme of songs I loved by now hate, so join me on this walk of shame...

Track 1 - "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer

I wish I could give you a reasonable excuse for my hating of this song, especially as for a few summers in the early Noughties I loved it! Perhaps it is a vomit inducing lyrics? The bubble gum sweet upbeatness? Whatever it is, this song just makes me want to puke.

Track 2 - "Lovefool" by The Cardigans

To think I went and bought an entire album on the basis of this song! What was I thinking - actually it was probably because the lead singer is hot. Still, that is no basis for a long time musical relationship, and I soon fell out of love with this tripe.

Track 3 - "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve

Ok the song a decent piece of music, but it went through a phase of being played and played until the lasers had worn a groove into the CD. If absence makes the heart grow fonder then this is definitely a case of familiarity breeding contempt.

The worst of the 3 there is Kiss Me, what dire, washed out crap that was.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 15

2011-04-24T09:50:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the half way point, and today's theme is "songs that describe you". This should be weird, so let's dive on in....

Track 1 - "Driving In my Car" by Madness

I only got my driving license in 2009, mainly because Prague has an incredible public transport system and so having a car was completely pointless. However, moving to the States made it a priority to learn to drive, and so at the age of 33 I finally took the plunge and did so. The exam itself was a bit of a joke really, a ten minute spin round the block and hey presto! Admittedly I failed the written exam first time round, mainly due to getting confused between metres and feet - the sooner the world goes metric, the better.

Track 2 - "Fields of Anfield Road" by The Kop

I love the original song, The Fields of Athenry, but being a Liverpool fan, I prefer this version.

Track 3 - "Wild Rover" by The Corries

Since I left home at 19, I have lived in England, the Czech Republic, Belarus and the US. As a kid I lived in England, Scotland, Wales and Germany. Even now, I am sure there will be other places to live and experience before I finally find a place to stop and put down some roots.

Of the three, it is Wild Rover that I think best describes me and my life.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 14

2011-04-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

I have fairly strong opinions about most things, well you need to be opinionated to write a blog, let alone three. Our theme today is songs that no-one would expect me to like. In the interests of objectivity (if it exists of course), I asked Mrs Velkyal for some songs that she never expected me to like.

Track 1 - "Young Hearts Run Free" by Kym Mazelle

I think Baz Luhrman's interpretation of Romeo and Juliet was excellent, and snooty pillocks who complain that "it just isn't Shakespeare" clearly have no idea about reader response theory. A curse on their houses!

Track 2 - "Holding out for a hero" by Bonny Tyler

Mrs V is sitting aghast as I play this track whilst writing the post. Honestly, you have never see such a look of incredulity.

Track 3 - "Deeper River" by Dusted

Again a track from one of my favourite movies, A Life Less Ordinary.

Well that was fun, unless you are Mrs Velkyal! If I were to choose just one, it would be Deeper River, especially this remix.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 13

2011-04-22T18:53:00.000-04:00

Day 13 is a Friday! Is it unlucky? Is it bollocks! Anyway, the theme today is songs that are a guilty pleasure, which is a slightly weird concept because one thing you learn in permissive Prague is that not to feel guilt for your pleasures. To the songs though....

Track 1 - "Can't Get You Out of my Head" by Kylie Minogue

Always reminds me of the old joke "what is the difference between driving a Skoda and putting your hand in Kylie's top? You feel a bigger tit in a Skoda!". This song though is fantastic!

Track 2 - "The Final Countdown" by Europe

Hair band, 1980s, what's not to hate? The fact that Europe were playing when I first kissed my wife? I guess it helps to know what a Friday night in Lucerna means!!

Track 3 - "Oh Diane" by Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks is apparently something of a distant cousin, but driving the country roads around Charlottesville listening to Fleetwood Mac at full volume is such a great way to feel happy, and this song just tops the drive off to a tee.

If I can only pick 1 of the three, the Europe have to take the biscuit. So much wrong with it, but I love that song.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 12

2011-04-21T20:29:00.000-04:00

Doing an about face from yesterday, the theme for day 12 is a "song by a band you hate". As you can imagine for an opinionated git like me, there is an extensive list of musical crap out there. Here are three, each from a band I hate. No words are necessary, the horror of the music speaks for itself.

Track 1 - "Blue Monday" by New Order

Track 2 - "Fields of Gold" by Sting

Track 3 - "eSeMeS" by Lucie Bílá

Goodness me, I feel physically sick right now.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 11

2011-04-20T18:48:00.000-04:00

Day 11 sees the theme "a song from your favourite band", finally a reasonably simple theme. I have many bands that I like, but when push comes to shove, there is one band that simply stands head and shoulders above all the others. The Smiths. The three tracks I present here are in order of preference, from 3rd to 1st.

Track 1 - "Hand in Glove"

Track 2 - "Girlfriend in a Coma"

Track 3 - "This Charming Man - New York Vocal"

There we go, that was easy.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 10

2011-04-19T19:45:00.000-04:00

A third of the way in and time for a rest, or at least some songs that make me fall asleep. When I was a kid I had a German made wall radio which I kept next to my head when I went to bed, and so I would fall asleep listening to something or other. It was a habit that continued pretty much up to the time Mrs Velkyal moved in with me. A lot of my favourite music comes from Ireland and Scotland, I love folk music, Celtic music, whatever you want to call it, so naturally these dominate this category.

Track 1 - "Beyond These Shores" by Iona

Iona have long been one of my favourite bands, ever since I picked up a copy of Book of Kells on cassette and would listen to it on my walkman whilst going to sleep, despite the opinions of some people I knew then who regarded it as New Age music as thus intrinsically evil - one of the best things I ever did in life was reject that way of thinking. This track comes from the album of the same name and is inspired both by a Psalm and the Journey of Saint Brendan, one of the most fascinating stories from medieval literature.

Track 2 - "Winter, Fire and Snow" by Anuna

I really like listening to choirs, the human voice is so majestic and awe inspiring. Anuna are an Irish choir that I think make some of the most achingly beautiful music possible, this song is simply heart wrenching.

Track 3 - "Maria Solina" by Carlos Nunez

When you think of Celtic music you think of Spain don't you? Well, if the answer to that question was "no", then I seriously recommend you start looking into the music of Galicia, and in particular Carlos Nunez. I can't remember the name of the woman singing this song, but I think she has a beautiful voice and has sung me to sleep on many a night.

Of the three tracks above, "Beyond These Shores" holds a special place in my world. Whenever I hear this song I am reminded of the Atlantic ocean, which was just a mile or so from the house I grew up in on the Isle of Benbecula. Home, a place of peace, a place of rest.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 9

2011-04-18T18:57:00.000-04:00

As I surveyed the list of topics for the 30 Day Song Challenge, I immediately knew that day 9 would be one of the most difficult. Not for reasons of too many choices, but rather because I really do not like dancing. When I do out to a club or a disco it is usually a case of going out with mates and enjoying the music and being the keeper of the table/space at the bar and drinking whilst watching everyone else dance. I can count on three fingers the number of times I have danced in the near 6 years I have been in a relationship with Mrs Velkyal; the night we met, a friend's birthday a few weeks later; the wedding. It is then with trepidation and wishing foot shuffling was regarded as dancing, that I offer these tracks.

Track 1 - "Beyond the Sea" by Bobby Darin

It may come as something of a surprise to some that I like the occasional bit of Big Band and Swing. I first heard this song when I was at college, when I went to see the film "A Life Less Ordinary" - still one of my favourites! I have actually been known to "dance" (if you can call my uncoordinated attempts at movement thus) to this track with as much abandon as can be mustered. In the privacy of my own room of course.

Track 2 - "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega (DNA 12" Remix)

Mrs Velkyal reliably informed me that this is one of the songs we danced to at my friend's birthday party in 2005 - if I remember rightly it was her 25th. Naturally I defer to the wife's greater knowledge of my dancing inability.

Track 3 - "Baggy Trousers" by Madness

Back in the days of my uninhibited childhood, before I discovered the immense power that the opposite sex can have on your self-esteem and confidence, I liked to bounce around the living room while watching Top of the Pops, and this is one of the songs I most remember dancing round to, while pretending to play the saxophone.

For pure nostalgia reasons, Baggy Trousers has to be my track for today.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 8

2011-04-17T08:28:00.001-04:00

I sing in the car quite often, usually when Mrs Velkyal isn't there and I can put the volume up to an indecent level and just kind of let loose. Today's theme is songs that I know all the words to, given my singing habit, I know the words to an awful lot of songs, so I will give you just three favourites and leave it at that for today.

Track 1 - "Embarrassment" by Madness

Track 2 - "Black Velvet Band" by The Dubliners

Track 3 - "You'll Never Walk Alone" best sung by the Kop

If I had to choose one song of the three it would be You'll Never Walk Alone, for obvious reasons to those that know me.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 7

2011-04-16T07:50:00.001-04:00

We've had songs that remind me of someone, songs for somewhere and today's theme is songs that remind you of somewhen, although the actual term is "a certain event". I want to avoid going for obvious events, weddings and the like, so let's go.

Track 1 - "I of the Mourning" by Smashing Pumpkins

OK not exactly a specific event but rather a ten day marathon of losing myself in someone else's mind, missing many a stop on the metro in Prague and hoping my students would cancel late so I would get paid anyway and not have to stop reading. I was bored one Friday afternoon. Waiting for a friend to finish teaching his lessons before we went to the pub, I picked up an old battered copy of The Lord of the Rings and started to read. I had intended just to fill some time, and ended up absorbed by the story. I would read on the metro, on trams, on buses, in cafes between lessons, and while reading I would listen to my walkman, and for the entire time it took to read the book, I was listening to Machina/The Machines of God by Smashing Pumpkins. This track always reminds me of the charge of the Riders of Rohan.

Track 2 - "Ruby over Diamonds" by Kashmir

If you are of a certain vintage, the term "walkman" is more than just a brand of MP3 player from Sony, it is the beginning of your journey with portable music. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player, which morphed into the Discman portable CD player and then back to Walkman for MP3. I got my first walkman as a kid, living in Germany, and had one well into the 21st century. I also had a discman, but I had a bigger collection of cassettes than CDs until about 2005. Overtime I have traded up from cassettes to CDs - I am not the kind of person to go crazy for the latest whizz bang gizmo and spend buckets of cash on getting my favourite music in the right format. Yes, I have a good laugh at all the people that went nuts over minidisc when it was locked in a battle for the future of music with MP3. Anyway, in 2007 I finally laid my Walkman cassette player to rest, and bought a Walkman MP3 player and the first album to go said player was Zitilites by Danish band Kashmir (thanks to my friend in Astrid for introducing me to them, and Mew). Ruby over Diamonds is my favourite song from that album.

Track 3 - "Uprising" by Muse

In July 2009 Mrs Velkyal and I left Prague and moved to the US, spending a month in South Carolina before coming up the road to Charlottesville, Virginia. A couple of months after we arrived, we got tickets to see U2 in concert at the University of Virginia's Scott Stadium, which I wrote about on one of my other blogs. Supporting U2 that night were Muse, who were a new band to Mrs V and I, and we thought their set was the highlight of the night, as excellent as U2 were as well. I think that concert was our first taste of culture shock. Going to a gig, I assumed there would be a bar in the venue and that it would be an adult event. How naive of me, no bar, kids wandering around and an all round family friendly atmosphere, I gringed more than once that night, it was as if rock music had got all comfortable with Walt Disney.

Of the three track there, I think my favourite is the Smashing Pumpkins, I still see Theoden leading the charge of Rohirrim against the walls of Minas Tirith every time I listen to that track.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 6

2011-04-15T11:47:00.000-04:00

I have lived in many places, both as a kid wherever the British Army decided to post my father, and then as an adult, as I discovered the joys of being abroad in the world. The theme for day 6 of the 30 Day Song Challenge is being reminded of somewhere, this may is tricky with so many places and so much music.

Track 1 - "I Like It" by Gerry and the Pacemakers

One of the places we were sent with the Army, several times in fact, was a town called Celle, in the north of Germany. When my elder brothers would come home from boarding school for the summer, we would go to amusement parks and zoos. One such amusement park was Heide-Park near Soltau. During one such trip there was a thunderstorm and rained lashed down while we sat in the car dejected. Being the driver, my dad was king of the cassette player, and this song came on, and my elder brother Scott muttered "well, I don't" at the end of the one chorus of "I like it".

Track 2 - "Going Home" by Runrig

Home is a troubling concept for Army brats. Is it the place you were born in, spent a few months in and then moved on to the next posting? Is it where your parents come from, and then what if they come from opposite ends of the country? Is it where you spent your childhood before secondary school, and what if you went to 4 primary schools in 4 countries? For me, home is where I spent more time than anywhere else before becoming an adult. That place is the Outer Hebrides, in particular the island of Benbecula. Sure, my brothers are scattered around the UK, and soon to be the world, my parents are in a tiny French hamlet, but home is still a windswept island on the very edge of Europe.

Track 3 - "Come Back to Camden" by Morrissey

As I said about the previous track, my parents come from opposite ends of Great Britain, mum is from Fraserburgh in Scotland, dad is a Londoner. Inevitably we spent time in London as kids, dad's mum was the only grandparent I ever actually knew. There is line in this song about drinking "tea with the taste of the Thames" which makes me think of sitting in her old council flat drinking tea that had the classic hard water scum floating on the top. We would go and try to feed the ducks in Gunnersbury Park, and instead watch the carp rise to take the bread. Nan would make cheese and onion sandwiches, sometimes I think she survived on cheese and onion sandwiches and a nice cup of tea. I love going to London whenever I have the opportunity.

This one is actually quite simple because for all my liking for London and being a Germanophile, it is always Uist that I think of most, and if I do ever tire of travelling around, hopefully it will at least be the West of Scotland that I go home to.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 5

2011-04-14T10:59:00.000-04:00

Songs that remind you of someone. Hmmm, how easy would it be to get all maudlin and look back to painful break ups and shitty situations? But, you know, I love my life as it is now - I wouldn't change my wife for any other woman on the planet. So I think I will take the route of songs that remind me of people that mean a lot to me.

Track 1 - "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia

When I was a student in Birmingham, my best mate Cristi and I were responsible for clearing up after the live in students had breakfast. While cleaning various pots and pans, we would listen to Chris Evans on Radio 1. Chris Evans made a point of playing Natalie Imbruglia's cover version of "Torn" until it got to number 1 in the charts, and he played it every morning while we were working in the kitchen and we both loved the song. Even though I haven't seen Cristi in well over a decade now, I still regard him as one of my best friends and one of the most genuinely wonderful human beings I know.

Track 2 - "Shoals O'Herring" by The Corries

Yes another song by The Corries, but this song always makes me think of someone I have never met, and never will, my grandfather. My mother's family come from Fraserburgh in the north east of Scotland, a town more famous these days for the BrewDog brewery. Mum's family were fishermen, working up and down the east coast of Great Britain, following the herring. In my grandfather's eventful and thoroughly unorthodox life, one of his jobs was as the Managing Director for a fish canning company in Lowestoft, before emigrating out to Adelaide in Australia.

Track 3 - "Start!" by The Jam

I have three brothers, two older and one younger. When my little brother and I were kids, my eldest brother Mark came to live at home for a while. Every Saturday we would get the newspaper, decide what we thought the football scores would be that day, pick a horse from the day's races and he would put a £1 bet on for us, a fiver on the Grand National. Mark was a fan of The Jam (actually a fair bit of my musical taste is entirely his fault), and he had this song as a 7" single. We listened to this song a lot.

I am not going to decide on a single track from these three. They are all excellent tracks and the people they bring to mind are, or were, all excellent people as well.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 4

2011-04-13T15:51:00.000-04:00

Today's little jaunt through my musical tastes is around the theme of songs that make me sad. Usually songs that make me sad are songs that actually make me feel either melancholy or nostalgic rather that actually upset. So, to today's videos...

Track 1 - "Loch Tay Song" by The Corries

This traditional Scottish song is so full of pathos and pain that there are times when I physicaly cry when I listen to it. I can't help but think of home whenever I listen to The Corries, even though the concept of "home" is a tricky one for an Army brat.

Track 2 - "The Green Fields of France" by The Fureys

Originally written by Eric Bogle, this song captures the futility of war so perfectly, and especially the waste of a generation that was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Although it has been recorded by many acts, The Fureys do it best for me.

Track 3 - "Miserere Mei Deus" by Allegri, performed by Kings College Chapel Choir

Well, nobody said it had to be modern. Quite often I listen to this when I am feeling down and I find comfort in the beauty of human genius. That perfect harmony of voices is simply beautiful.

Three quite different tracks there, but the song that makes me feel the saddest is "The Green Fields of France" because it seems we never learn that war solves nothing, and simply shares the pain of humanity to the widest audience available.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 3

2011-04-12T08:54:00.001-04:00

Day 3's theme is songs that make you happy. Bit of a strange topic for me in some ways, do they means songs I listen to when I am feeling down so that I feel better, or songs I listen to when I am happy? I am going to assume that both are acceptable, and that may make my 3 selections somewhat weird.....

Track 1 - "Today" - Smashing Pumpkins

The first time I listened to Billy Corgan and co was back in Uist when a friend lent me "Siamese Dream", and it simply blew me away. "Today" was the highlight of the album, quickly followed by "Disarm". That riff, the juxtaposition of the distorted guitars and soaring chorus never fail to make me smile.

Track 2 - "Come on Eileen" - Dexys Midnight Runners

If you can listen to this song and not tap your foot and smile, then you must be dead.

Track 3 - "Live It Up" - Mental As Anything

Just a great feel good tune, catchy chorus (which make the wife roll her eyes as I sing it in the car!).

Of the three track there, I think the one that makes me happiest when I listen to it has to be the one from Down Under - Live It Up it is!

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 2

2011-04-11T18:17:00.001-04:00

So the theme for today's song is "your least favourite song", which I assume is just a nice way of saying, the song you hate most.

Here are the contenders:

Track 1 - "How Soon is Now" - T.a.T.u.

First a couple of qualifying statements, I love The Smiths, I love this song, I quite T.a.T.u. but this must be the most perfect storm of shit in the history of humanity. They simply do not have the charisma, vocal range or anything else involving talent to pull this song off. Shite, utter shite. So bad, I can't even listen to the end of it.

Track 2 - "The One and Only" - Chesney Hawkes

Utter crap. End. Of. Story.

Track 3 - "Especially For You" - Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue

See above. Their acting in Neighbours was piss poor, and this was no improvement. Gut wretchingly awful.

How quite one chooses from this collection of dross is beyond me, but for pure crime against a great song, by a great band, T.a.T.u. must take the award for my least favourite song, and no amount of faux lesbian action on stage can redeem them.

30 Day Song Challenge - Day 1

2011-04-10T10:02:00.000-04:00

I have noticed lately that several of my friends on Facebook have been taking part in something called the 30 Day Song Challenge. Intrigued, I did a quick search on Google and found the website that seems to have started the whole thing. To cut a short story even shorter, I decided to take on the challenge, but to do it through this blog rather than Facebook, and to add a bit of a twist, to post three tracks for each day and choose the winner from those.

Day one of the project is dedicated to "Your Favourite Song". Favourite song is such a broad topic, so I narrowed it down by defining "favourite" as a song that I have no problem whatsoever clicking repeat to, and listening to it more than twice in a row. So, here goes.......

Track 1 - "Sen" by Lucie

It is rather inevitable I guess that after 10 years in Prague, there would be a Czech song or two floating around as my favourites. I went to see Lucie in concert at the old Slavia Prague football stadium, in 2001 I think. The title of the song in English is "Dream".

Track 2 - "Stay Together" by Suede

I have been a fan of Suede for years, I loved the Dog, Man, Star album, and several of its tracks could have made it into this list. I first heard "Stay Together" on the radio and it was love at first listen.

Track 3 - "While You Sleep" by The Mutton Birds

Walking into the centre of Birmingham one Saturday morning, when I was a student, I saw the album cover for "Envy of Angels" by The Mutton Birds. I loved the picture on the cover and so splashed the cash to buy the CD - a bad habit of mine is buying albums because of the cover art, which may explain somewhat why I buy albums rather than downloading them, I love reading the booklets. Anyway, when I got back to my dorm I chucked the disc in and found that I liked the music, and this song was the highlight. I love the sheer happiness that the songs gives me every time I listen to it. When The Mutton Birds came to Brum on tour in 1998, my mate Cristi and I went along to the gig and had a great night out.

Choosing a favourite song from those three is, naturally, very difficult. However, purely the fact that I love to put this song on in the car and sing loudly while driving, my favourite song has to be "While You Sleep" by The Mutton Birds.

Westminster Must Learn from Holyrood

2010-05-07T09:13:00.001-04:00

It is clear that the "first past the post" electoral system used in the UK is unrepresentative in an age of party politics. No-one in their right mind can claim that it is a fair result when the Liberal Democrats win a 23% share of the vote and get about 50 parliamentary seats, whereas the Labour Party get a mere 6% more of the popular vote but 200 more seats than the Lib Dems.

Some would claim then that the answer to this gross disparity between popular vote and seats in Parliament is to introduce Proportional Representation, something I have posted about before. I am simply not convinced that simple PR is the way to go, for example, what threshold do set you set for parties to gain seats in Parliament? In the Czech Republic, if I remember rightly, a party needs 5% of the popular vote to get seats, if such a system were implemented in a British context then we would have only three parties in the House of Commons, representing 89% of the electorate based on the results of Thursday's election, and the nationalists of Wales and Scotland, as well as the Northern Irish would simply have no voice in Parliament.

Perhaps I greatest concern when it comes to PR is who chooses the MPs? Do we go to a system of party lists, where the same old faces keep cropping up no matter how unpopular a politician is? Such an approach surely centralises political influence within the national party and takes power away from local parties. Simple PR also changes the nature of the British MP, no longer is he the chosen representative of his constituency, but rather he is the lackey of the central party, taking democracy away from the local level and alienating the people yet further from the system.

What then is needed, in my thoroughly un-humble opinion, is a hybrid system where the House of Commons consists of MPs elected by constituency based, simple majority voting, and 100 MPs elected on the basis of a proportion of the electoral vote, without including those seats where a given party won. So, for example, in a given constituency the winner of the simple vote becomes the MP for that area, the number of votes for each of the other parties contesting that election are tallied with the number of other non-winning votes for each party around the country, and the extra 100 seats are divided according to the percentage of the non-winning share. This is of course similar to the Additional Member System as used in the Scottish Parliament, but without the option for each voter to choose a person and a party separately. Obviously the 100 MPs taking their seats as a result of this system would have to be chosen from a party list, which isn't ideal in my world, but I can't for the life of me think of a democratic alternative to party lists.

As I said to begin with, it is clear that the British electoral system is no longer representative of the British people and as such must be changed. What is not clear, is the fairest, most democratic way to ensure that the voice of every voter is heard, and that the electorate are engaged in the political process.

The Need for Continued Reform

2010-03-29T09:16:00.002-04:00

It was 1517 when Martin Luther caused a rumpus that would lead to the end of the Holy Roman Empire, that saw the end of the Inquisition in northern Europe, that gave birth in many ways to the modern nation state, with the consciousness that shared language and traditions bring to a people, especially a people who can express their religious beliefs in their own language rather than in a long dead tongue. The Reformation can been seen as both a religious struggle but also a political one, one where the forces of progress prevailed over the forces of reactionary conservatism. One of the mottos, or slogans if you like, of the Reformation was that the church should always be reforming itself, or to use the Latin, ecclesia semper reformanda. Now, don't worry, this post isn't about religion, it is about politics and the failure of the right, across the globe, to continue the process of reformation, prefering instead to lament a mythical golden age and misunderstand that conservatism is not about keeping things as they have always been, but rather about holding on to what works in a society and reforming what does not.

In a way, the political world should take to heart the idea of ecclesia semper reformanda, simply because human beings are flawed and society needs to be in a constant process of improvement and development in order to create a world where, to Anglicise the French, equality, liberty and fraternity flourish. The problem for many on the reactionary right is that they are adverse to paying the costs of equality, liberty and fraternity, whether financial or otherwise, and of course they often seek to deny equality, liberty and fraternity to those whose opinions they disagree with. It is a continual shame to modern society that hypocrisy is the modus operandi of many in the political sphere. Too many ignore Voltaire, allegedly, when he said that "I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it".

One thing I would reform in every nation state across the globe is to bring an end to political careerism and a return to the idea that representing your peers in parliament is an act of service rather than an act of enrichment. At present, Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom earn a basic salary of £64,766 (approx. $93,000) per annum, rising to £197,689 (approx $300,000) for the Prime Minister, while the average salary of the Britons they represent is £22,202 (approx $33,000). In the US context, a Senator earns $174,000 per annum, and the President earns $193,400, and the people they represent earn a median of $27590 a year. It certainly makes you wonder who these politicians are representing when their incomes to so astronomically beyond the imagination of the average person. Of course, there used to be politicians who refused to take more than the average workers salary, but sadly they are in a minority these days, and thus we end up with a political class living in ivory towers, far removed from the concerns of the people they represent.

This brings me to my second reform for the political world, an end to having a "lifetime of service" by limiting the number of terms a person can serve in a given political office, one way of achieving this could be done by enforcing political retirement at 65, which would also have the added benefit of the political system becoming less dominated by old men, which is never a bad thing really.

Hmmm, this post has kind of wandered off track, so I will stop and smell the roses for a while.....

I Guess I Just Ain't Good Enough

2010-02-22T16:45:00.002-05:00

Reading around this week, I came across a thing called the 9/12 Project, the brainchild of Fox News' Glenn Beck. Not being the kind of person to see something by a person whose politics I find abhorrent in the extreme and not want to interact at some level, I decided to look a little deeper at the 9 Principles and 12 Values that give the organisation its name. According to the project web site, if you agree with 7 of the principles then you have something in common with Beck and his ilk. Let's address these one by one.

America is Good

Being something of a nit picker, my first thought is "good for who?", is America good for the Palestinians living in camps being radicalised by an American backed Israel? Is America good for the poor of its own nation who can't afford health insurance, while health insurance companies lobby openly to have its own customer base dwindled to only those with enough money to pay ridiculous premiums? Is America good for the manufacturing jobs that have been shipped overseas in order to maximise shareholder dividends? Countries are of course value neutral, there is no such thing as a bad country or a good country - unless of course racism is your thing and anyone brown and wearing a turban is bad by default. America is just a country, no more special and no more chosen than any other country. I guess then I fail to have something in common with Glenn Beck, because America is just America and not a moral proposition.

I believe in God and He is the center of my life

Admittedly this is, already, starting to feel like an AA meeting, but we'll continue. Again I have to ask a question of this statement, whose God is Beck talking about? Is he talking about the Christian God, or the Mormon God? And let's face it, only the theologically illiterate would consider Mormonism's deity to be anything like the traditional monotheistic faiths, the differences have been shown quite clearly elsewhere. Until someone can tell me which God, unless of course this is a nebulous concept like in Freemasonary, then I guess I can't approve of this statement - not looking good is it?

I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday

Sure, not a problem, striving to be a better person is something I agree with whole-heartedly.

The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not government

Not sure quiet how this one works, given that God is the center of life for people who can sign up to this project. How can human beings be the ultimate authority when God is the center of life? That simply doesn't work.

If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

Absolutely agree, without justice society falls apart. But who enforces that justice? If it is the populace then mob rule becomes the norm, I guess when it comes to law and order, the government is the ultimate authority rather than myself and Mrs Velky Al?

I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

Yes of course, with the caveat that the right to life brings with it the responsibility to live well, to liberty the responsibility to champion freedom for others, to happiness the responsibility of gratitude for all that you have.

I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

Yes in theory, but I have no problems paying tax to help create a society where everyone has the same opportunity to better their lives. Taxation is not charity, it is social responsibility.

It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

I agree entirely, but the converse must also be true. It is un-American to force your opinion on other people, and to use your authority to ensure conformity with your opinion.

The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

Yes OK that sounds very nice, but if they work for me and I begrudge them pay, then the public is a very crappy employer.

The 12 values are listed as follows:

Honesty
Reverence
Hope
Thrift
Humility
Charity
Sincerity
Moderation
Hard Work
Courage
Personal Responsibility
Gratitude

I agree with every single one of them, because they are human values, sought in every culture around the world. There is nothing uniquely American, European, Christian, Muslim, atheist, socialist or conservative about such values, they are simply human values.

So I guess I am not eligible to join Beck's project, not that I am surprised.

It Takes Two To More than Tango

2010-02-18T08:43:00.000-05:00

I am not a fan of tabloid newspapers, having read The Guardian and The Independent for much of the last decade. Whenever I would head back to the UK for my little visits I looked forward to getting the Saturday edition of the Guardian, and the Observer on Sunday, to then spend a week reading through them in preparation for the following Saturday and Sunday. Neither am I am fan of tabloid level news programmes on the television, the kind of thing which digs and delves into the private lives of the famous because it is apparently in the "public interest".

The cause of my ire this morning was watching Good Morning America, during which they started talking about Tiger Woods' press conference tomorrow and its implications for his career. If the rumours are true and Tiger has been in "sex therapy" then I am very, very confused. Is sex now something which is not a normal part of life? Is it something that you need therapy for when you see an opportunity for a little bit extra and you go for it? Is being unfaithful to your wife something that you need to see a counsellor about? Is there a self-help group called Adulterers Anonymous?

The media here seem to love banging on, pun not necessarily intended, about the affect Tiger's indiscretions have no doubt on his wife, and how could a married man be so bad, blah, blah, blah. This got me thinking about the women that Tiger is alleged to have bedded, and how the media is a scrum of hypocritical parasites. Did these women not know that Tiger Woods had a Mrs Tiger Woods and little cubs at home? Why is the media not going after these women and asking why they knowingly slept with a married man? Why are these women not being reviled as home wreckers?

Oh, I get it, these women are not rich, famous and influential, so I guess you can't expect anything better from them. So adultery is bad for the monied peoples of this world, the "role models" if you will, but not for the regular people who jump into the sack with the wealthy? A bit of balance is required, a little less moralising about Tiger Woods doing what many men would given the chance, and a little more about the women who had an affair with him whilst knowing he had a wife and kids at home.

There are two sides to every story, here it is simply a man who wanted some fun on the side and women who lacked the integrity to say no. A sad reflection on the state of society indeed.

Chrimble Songs

2009-12-21T12:40:00.000-05:00

Christmas is one of the those times of the year when one's thoughts naturally head backwards. Back over the year just gone, and it has been a rather a good one to be honest. Back to the friends left behind as Mrs Velkyal and I moved to the US but also back to this time last year. Christmas 2008 will always be special because it was the first time that the entire clan had managed to get together for Christmas Day in something ridiculous like 20 years. This Christmas will be my first with Mrs Velkyal's family, and I will actually get to meet the last of the uncle's that I am yet to meet.

Christmas though always brings to mind the classic Christmas songs that I have always loved, and so here are a couple of them for you...

(Yes, I know that it is awfully cliched and cheesy - just my cup of tea!)

Care about Health?

2009-11-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

I will be bluntly honest, health care in the US sometimes seems like the ultimate oxymoron - few people seem to actually care about the health of the nation, preferring to find as many ways to empty people's wallets as is humanly possible - and here I am not talking about tax increases but rather the voracious appetite of the market.

When it comes to health insurance I am as dyed in red wool as it is humanly possible to be, I believe that health care should be provided by the State and that it must be paid for from tax contributions. I have no problem whatsoever with a percentage of my salary being taken out at source to fund a health care system, unlike many it seems. I also prefer paying my insurance premium to the State rather than a corporation who primary concern is not my health but the health of their shareholders wealth.

What would I do to solve the problem of un-insured people in the US? Expand Medicaid, make the tax contribution 6% of each and every employed person's salary and open access to Medicaid to everybody living and working in the US. With an expanded Medicaid program, I would make it illegal for hospitals and other health care providers to refuse to accept this insurance. Sure, people can still have their private insurance, it is their perogative, but they can't opt out of paying their tax contributions.

Let me give you an example:

Mrs Velkyal had a thyroidectomy last year, which required 4 days in hospital. Having worked in the Czech Republic and paid her taxes the sum cost extra was the cost of board and lodging in the hospital - a grand total of 240CZK, at the time something like $15. The care was good, the staff were excellent. Sure the hospital is a bit old, but if you are worried about having a tv and a pretty building then I guess you just aren't sick enough.

This year, Mrs Velkyal broke her foot. She has health insurance with the school she works for. Total cost for a trip to ER, with x-ray, crutches and some strappy boot thing - $200. Seeing a podiatrist, $40 a time - 3 of those so far, and this is all on top of the ridiculous premium she pays.

Having seen health care provision from both sides of the Pond now, I can honestly say that America could learn an awful lot about health care provision from the Europeans - of course taking on board the idea that someone does something better than you is the difficult part. But tables don't lie and of the 36 countries with better health care than the USA, 17 of them are in the EU, 10 of which are in the top 20.

Songs from Central Europe

2009-10-30T15:59:00.001-04:00

Leaving a city you have lived in for 10 years is more difficult than it appears at times. Despite the fact that I knew it was time to leave Prague and start anew somewhere else, Mrs Velkyal and I made that decision almost 2 years ago now, so much of my adult life was spent in the Czech Republic that I almost think of it as home - certainly a place filled with lots of memories.

Unlike a lot of expats I came across in the city, I always made a conscious decision to learn the language, have Czech friends and live like a native - although I never wore socks with my sandals, had a mullet or went out without showering.

As a homage to my ten years in Prague, here are some of my favourite songs by Czech and Slovak bands and singers - the videos aren't necessarily official or original, but the songs are grand.

Spare An Acre?

2009-10-16T14:22:00.001-04:00

Mrs Velkyal and I have a dream. That dream involves a plot of land somewhere, preferably of about 5 acres, where we could rear a few animals, grow fruit and vegetables and generally be as self-sufficient as possible. I am sure that there are many people my age who grew up watching re-runs of Felicity Kendall's bottom in The Good Life who have a similar dream. I am sure that they would also have sat and watched River Cottage and yearned to be able to leave the city and throw away all the junk that passes for civilisation these days.

I have been watching Beyond River Cottage lately, the one where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall gets a 40 acre farm and sets up his catering business in some reclaimed cow sheds, and even more so would I love to ditch the world and wander off to Dorset, or France, or whether the equivalent American place would be, and settle into a interminably quieter life. The shift from Prague to Charlottesville has been dramatic in that sense, going from a 1 million inhabitant capital city, to a college town with about 50,000 people. Still far more than I grew up around in the Outer Hebrides, but certainly a welcome change from the bustle of the city.

Therefore I have made it my aim to see if I can find a landowner in these here parts with a couple of acres to spare and the willingness to rent them to me in order to plant veggies, perhaps an orchard, a clutch of chickens and maybe a sheep or pig or two.

To paraphrase Monty Python's Life of Brian:

"Spare an acre for a jaded urbanite?"

Afghanistan - Learn the Lessons of History

2009-09-30T10:09:00.000-04:00

Today President Obama is to meet with all his head honchos and top generals to discuss the way forward in the seemingly endless campaign in Afghanistan. Being suggested is an Iraq style "surge" in the number of troops, in order to crack down on the "insurgency" once and for all. However, I would suggest that there are lessons from Afghan history which do not bode well for the NATO mission.

Simply put, Afghanistan has a track record for defeating world powers.

Three times in the 19th century, Britain attempted the conquest of this mountainous country, which borders what was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, pre-partition India. Three times the Afghans repulsed the world's major super power of the time.

Coming closer to our own time, 1979 saw the Soviet invasion of the country, which then led to 10 years of war and destruction. Afghanistan had long been a target for Russian expansionism, both under the tsars and commissars, so it was expected that they would eventually make a move to bring the country under Soviet control. Ten years later the Soviets were driven out by the Mujahideen, bringing to an end a conflict which has been described as the Soviet Vietnam.

Now just 20 years later the American led NATO forces are bogged down in a conflict which shows no signs of ending any time soon.

The lesson of history would seem to be, invade Afghanistan at your peril, and expect to be stuck in a cycle of guerrilla warfare for years to come. How can the West break this cycle? I for one don't have any simple answers, but to defeat terrorism it is not enough to send young men and women to kill and be killed, it is necessary to address the grievances that terrorists claim as justification for their acts. If however the West continues in its belief that the "cold, hard steel of the bayonet" is the way to deal with violence, then violence will simply beget more violence and perhaps the entire region will be dragged into a spiral of war which will take generations to come to an end.

Insane silliness

2009-04-10T08:02:00.004-04:00

Rob posted this little fun thing to do on a boring Friday afternoon on his blog, and I thought I would use a piece of text from Fuggled to demonstrate how computer translation software is usually useless.

1. Go to Babelfish.
2. Enter text up to 150 words.
3. Translate from English to Chinese (trad).
4. Copy and paste the resulting text, then translate back into English.

I decided to take this one step further and take the resulting text and "translate" it into Russian and back, then German and back and finally Greek and back, here are the results:

Original text:

Simple really, a pub where I like the surroundings, and they serve beers from one of my favourite brewers in the Czech Republic - and they even have the right shaped glasses for serving British style ales in! Importantly they seem to have worked out how to pour an ale so it doesn't take 10 minutes, and you don't have to order your second when you are a third of the way down your first, although out of habit I generally do so anyway.

From Chinese and back:

, I like truly periphery simply the inn and they for the food from beer my Czechoslovakia's affection brewer -, and they even have serve the British style ale the correct shape glass! How have they as if formulated importantly but actually the ale, therefore does not need ten minutes, and you cannot order your second, when you are when you first way 1/3, although stemming from habit I that in any event usual

From Russian and back:

, I love truly the periphery simply hotel and they for the food from the beer my Czechoslovakia' the viniculturist of attachment s -, and they even have a supply British ale of the type of correctly glass- form! As have them if formulated importantly but actually ale; therefore are not necessary 10 minutes, and you cannot order your second, when you when you are first way of 1/3, although from the habit i which in any event usual.

From German and back:

, Love I really the hotel and it the periphery simply for the food of the beer my Czechoslovakia' viniculturist from accessories s - and they have you even a British Ale of the supply material of the kind that correctly glass form! Like it, if it is formulated importantly however real, Ale has; therefore are not necessary 10 minutes, and you cannot order your second, if them, if you are first way of 1/3, although of the habit I those in any case usually.

And finally from Greek and back:

Love I really the hotel and region simply for the foods of beer Czechoslovakia'? my viniculturist from the elements s - and you they have even a British English beer of material supply of type that correct form of glass! As, if he is formulated considerably nevertheless real, the English beer has consequently is not essentially 10 thinly, and you cannot order your second, if these, if you are first way the 1/3, even if habit I those in any event usually.

I am starting to see how some technical writers put together their user guides!

First Ince, Now Adams

2009-02-09T03:06:00.002-05:00

Robbie Keane was signed by Liverpool, to great fanfare - the ideal partner for Fernando Torres they said (whilst ignoring the fact that Rafa only plays 1 up front). 28 games and 7 goals later he rejoins former club Tottenham Hotspur. The press bleat on about how he wasn't given a fair crack of the whip, the player claims he could have been a success "with a different manager", and this got me thinking about Tony Adams.

Tony Adams was, until this morning, manager of Portsmouth, having previously been assistant manager to Harry Redknapp. That was before Redknapp left a promising project in progress to become the manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

Tony Adams managed the club for 16 games, of which he won only 2, and had to deal with losing Diarra and Defoe to Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

Why aren't the press up in arms about him not being given a fair crack of the whip? Perhaps he could have succeeded with different players, or a different chairman, but still the fact remains that he hasn't been given the opportunity to stamp his mark on the club and the team, much as Paul Ince wasn't given that opportunity at Blackburn Rovers.

The management merry-go-round spins on merrily, and when Fabio Cappello leaves the job of England manager there will no doubt be a hue and cry about the lack of top level English managers. Blame the Premiership chairmen for that, because they aren't giving managers a chance.

A Difficult Choice

2009-01-14T03:46:00.002-05:00

At the tender age of 26, the Brazilian football superstar Kaka is the subject of an approach by Manchester City.

Kaka currently plays for AC Milan, one of the most illustrious footballing names on the planet. Milan sit third in Serie A, with Champions League qualification a likelihood again next season. Among Kaka's team mates are Ronaldinho, Alexandre Pato, David Beckham and other assorted greats of football, many of whom won the Champions League in 2007.

Manchester City, the world's richest club, have apparently offered €100 million to AC Milan to buy his registration, and a salary of about €500,000 per week to get their man.

At Manchester City, Kaka would find himself 15th in the Premiership, unlikely to be in Europe at all next season and playing with the likes of Robinho, Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards. The last thing Manchester City won? Champions of the second level of English football, currently known as the Championship.

For a player about to enter his prime, what possible attraction could there be for trading AC Milan for Manchester City? Dare I be cynical, but I am not sure I could refuse €500,000 a week.

Pity for Paul Ince

2008-12-17T01:47:00.002-05:00

Football is going crazy. Take the case of Paul Ince, sacked yesterday by Blackburn Rovers for having the temerity to be near the foot of the table after slightly less than half the season, and having won only 3 league games of the 17 he managed.

Paul Ince, if we forgive his abberation whilst playing for "Manchester" United (look at the maps people) was a great footballer and his work with Macclesfield Town and MK Dons seemed to point to a decent manager in the making. Then one of the Premier League big boys came knocking.

Blackburn Rovers sought, and got, special dispensation from the Premier League for Paul Ince to manage them because he didn't have all the necessary qualifications to manage in the top flight. Is it then any surprise that he has struggled in what is regarded as one of the toughest leagues in the world? Having sought, and got, said dispensation, Blackburn Rovers should have given him more time to turn things around. Put together a decent run, just four or five matches and suddenly things are looking up.

However, what is the point in having minimum qualifications for Premier League managers and then handing out special dispensation to various managers? Avram Grant at Chelsea also lacked the necessary badges.

For Paul Ince though, I hope that he finds a job soon back down in the lower leagues and that he can kick start afresh his once promising career as a football manager.

Union Stupidity

2008-12-12T02:52:00.002-05:00

Generally speaking I am a fan of trade unions, and believe that they have performed a valuable service to the working classes in raising living standards and protecting the rights of workers.

However, with the news that the Auto Workers Union have basically scuppered the bail out plan for the big three American car manufacturers, the question needs to be asked - whose backs are you protecting?

Refusing to accept pay cuts in order to guarantee the continued viability of the car manufacturers is simple short-sightedness. The union leaders, those tasked by their members to look after their best interests, have in effect stabbed their members in the back.

Given the choice between a pay cut and no job, I am fairly sure that in the current financial climate the members of the AWU when balloted would vote for the former.

European Union Anti-Democratic?

2008-12-09T03:00:00.002-05:00

Euroscepticism is on the rise, and is really any surprise when the EU insist that Ireland re-run a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty?

Of course the Irish government claim that in no way have they been bullied by the bigger countries that treat the EU as their own little cabal, in particular France and Germany.

According to current EU rules all 27 member states must ratify the Lisbon Treaty in order for it to become a reality, therefore according to EU rules, the Lisbon Treaty is dead, as was the constitution before it.

For the Irish government to run a second referendum, when the Irish electorate have already given their verdict on the question placed before them is arrogant in the extreme.

If this goes ahead, and the EU disregards its own procedures and rules, then one can only hope that the Irish again vote down the Lisbon Treaty - and that the leaders of the various nations in the EU learn to listen to the people. It is called democracy.

Take a moment please

2008-11-11T05:14:00.002-05:00

I think I have mentioned before that I am an Army brat - meaning that my father was a soldier in the British Army and I grew up moving from pillar to post every couple of years. In my family the military connection goes beyond my father who was in REME for more than 20 years; my elder brother was a commando who saw service in the Gulf War; my great-uncle was also in REME; my great-grandfather was an Old Contemptible who survived the First World War as well as the Second; the military connection goes back as far as the 18th Century and the first member of my father's family to live in the UK, who was a member of the King's German Legion. Even I joined up when I was 17, but was medically discharged because I am asthmatic - despite the fact I had told the doctor in the recruitment process, but my military record is 60 days glorious service!

Today though is Armistice Day, the day when the guns fell silent over France and Belgium at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. While in Britain it was Remembrance Day on Sunday, there is something special about marking that moment when the world woke up from its collective insanity to try and bring peace again to Europe. Unfortunately the old wounds and scores to be settled ensured that Ferdinand Foch was right to decry Versailles as a "20 year armistice".

So today, take a couple of minutes to remember the fallen.

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Technical Writing done proper

2008-11-04T08:18:00.007-05:00

Simple, concise and does the job.

The company I work for would no doubt have wanted a product description telling you exactly what type of cement was used to make the block, how to configure the break up of the block and technical details on standardised throwing methods.

The Velky World Guide to Economics

2008-10-08T08:25:00.003-04:00

Don't spend what you haven't got.
Don't borrow what you can't pay back.
Don't gamble with tomorrow for the sake of today.
Don't trust marketing or advertising.
If unsure, see 1.

And who said economics was difficult?

Soul-less soccer

2008-09-02T08:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was the final day of the summer football transfer window - the month long period that clubs have to buy and sell their players. Liverpool bought in three players, one of whom had been on loan last season and has now signed a permanent deal. Probably the biggest sotry of the day though was Manchester City being bought by the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi royal family. As if that wasn't enough, Manchester City go out and immediately splash over $60 million on the Real Madrid forward Robinho. Robinho had been courted by Chelsea for much of the summer, and had even told journalists that he wanted to leave Madrid for the London club as late as Saturday.

This summer has seen once again football transfer fees spiralling out of control, with utterly obscene figures being quoted for various players. apparently Kaka of AC Milan was wanted by Chelsea, who were willing to pay in excess of $150 million, even Liverpool splashed $40 million on Robbie Keane. In order to pay for these exorbitant fees and the salaries which players receive, ticket prices continue to rise, the cost of a replica shirt goes up and more and more ordinary working fans are being squeezed out of the game.

It is getting to the point where you juts have to accept that football has lost its soul, gone are the days when a club like Celtic could win the European Cup with the majority of players coming from with 5 miles of Parkhead. Clubs as famous as Nottingham Forest, who themselves has won the European Cup, have faced bankruptcy in the face and plummeted through the divisions. Today there are teams such as Oxford United who I remember watching on TV as a top flight club playing in the Conference.

It is getting to the point where I often wonder why I bother going along to the pub twice a week to watch a game to watch a group of millionaires flounce around the pitch. Perhaps I am getting to the point where football has outlived its usefulness, no longer is it a conduit for my bad days, no longer doesn't Liverpool beating Manchester United leave me buzzing for days.

But then at the same time the romantic in me can still enjoy the wonders of football. I must admit to having something of an affair with another club, Charleston Battery. Mrs Velkyal and I went to see a match when we were in South Carolina last year, the Battery versus Houston Dynamo. Since then I have kept an eye out for their results, doing very nicely in the USL1 - the American equivalent of the Championship - and tomorrow they will play in the Lamar Open Cup Final against D.C. United of the MSL. This is the American equivalent of the F.A. Cup and I am hoping that Battery will take another scalp and be the first USL side to win the Cup in many a year.

The death of shame

2008-08-28T01:47:00.004-04:00

In several recent posts on here I have mentioned the fact that the doorway to our building is being used by drug addicts as a nice place to shoot up the crap that they seem intent to destroy their lives with. Mrs Velkyal and I went to watch the football last night, and en route from our traditional pre-match drinks in Jama to the pub we watch the games in, Zlata Hvezda, we noticed the same vials and syringes in a passage through a building as we see most mornings when we go to work.

Mrs Velkyal remarked that perhaps it is not an increase in drug abuse in the city, but rather the fact that we are more aware of it - in the same way that when a woman is pregnant, all her acquiantances seem to get knocked up as well. While I can see the validity of her argument, hoping of course it is not some rather unsubtle hint that she wants to start a family already, I am not convinced.

When I arrived in the Czech Republic in 1999 it was still ok to smoke pot in public, indeed many pubs and clubs had an almost permanent funk in the air which has thankfully gone in these less permissive days. But it is only recently that I have seen people shooting up with any regularity, in broad daylight and with no sense of shame. Even this morning on my way to the metro station to come to work there were a couple of girls sitting on a bench in the park around the railway station quite openly prepared to take a hit.

I think what shocks me most about the junkies in our area is not the fact that they leave their rubbish lying around in the street, but rather that they have no sense of shame - indeed they almost flaunt their anti-social behaviour in the full knowledge that few people will comment or do anything. It was Dietrich Bonhoffer I believe who commented that the reason bad people win is because good people do nothing, and still that rings true today. While I wouldn't want to label the junkies as "bad" people per se, I do feel that in rejecting the norms of society they have forfeited their right to the protection and benefits of the state.

Our society has become so "rights" obsessed that we have forgotten the responsibilities inherent in the nature of society. In our well meaning attempts to create a safety net for the disfortunate in the welfare state, we have created a hammock for the lazy, the unscrupulous and the downright corrupt. Our culture is now one of abrogated responsibility and the enfeeblement of civil society, where good, ordinary people look the other way and expect the powers that be to solve their problems for them.

Marketing mesmerics

2008-08-26T08:12:00.002-04:00

This is somewhat related to my previous post about how the human race is becoming less and less connected as a result of technology, in particular mobile phones and other "communication" devices. On Friday last week the Czech Republic saw the official launch of the iPhone onto its market; on Thursday night, Wenceslas Square was graced by a queue of some 400 people waiting to get their hands on the latest in mobile phone wizardry.

I have to admit that I am always staggered at the stupidity of people who want to stand in the cold just so they can boast of being one of the first owners of some plastic and metal which lets them talk to a random "friend" in Australia who they "met" online. Even more staggering to me is that people seem to think that a phone will somehow revolutionise their lives, someone even suggested to me that it was great to be able to watch videos on it. Maybe I am a total luddite, but isn't the cinema a great way to see films, especially if you go with your friends, have a couple of beers before hand and maybe a curry on the way home? Or even renting a DVD, getting a crate of ale and inviting some people round?

Within a purely Czech context, I read today that the iPhone which has been released here doesn't support the Czech language, as such all the menus and features are in English. Also if a Czech speaker wants to write an SMS to a friend, it is impossible to turn off the predictive software, so you end up with English words. So you have to tip your hats to Apple for failing to provide a key service to the Czech market for this product, especially relevant when you realise that 10% of all SMSes globally originate from Czech mobile users.

And the price for the basic 8Gb piece of gizmo lunacy? Without a subsidised contract, 12,000CZK which at the current exchange rate is $750, current price for the same iPhone on Amazon? $284. Could someone explain to me how it is possible to justify the iPhone at almost 3 times the cost on the Czech market than the American? Are not the production costs the same? Sure it costs a bit to transport products, but buying the 16Gb version from Amazon.de is the same price as the 8Gb version in the Czech Republic and unless I missing something, salaries are much better in Germany and the USA than here in Prague.

To add a little perspective, 12,000CZK is half the average net monthly salary in Prague, outside of the city it is closer to two-thirds the average salary. I assume there are very few people in the US earning just $568 a month - under $7000 for full time work, or that many Germans have salaries comparable to the average Czech salary. So how do you justify the price tag?

Because idiots will believe the hype and splash the cash. Sometimes I despair.

Making a fuss gets things done

2008-08-26T01:52:00.001-04:00

I noted on a previous post that in recent months we have been finding syringes and other drug taking paraphenalia in the doorway of the building we leave in. In the last few weeks this has got worse as several times Mrs Velkyal and myself have come home and the junkies have been in the doorway quite openly and casually shooting up. Yesterday I came home at 17.30 and there they were, quite openly filling their veins with crap. So as usual I rang the police, they came, moved them on and when an hour later I went to meet Mrs Velkyal, there they were loitering on the street. Just after I called the police, I sent our landlord a message to let him know.

A major part of the problem has been the herna bar on the ground floor of the building - a herna bar is basically a pub with slot machines which is usually open 24/7. Just yesterday I was discussing with Mrs Velkyal and a couple of other residents that we could get a petition raised of residents to have the bar shut down, or look into getting their licence revoked on public safety grounds.

Three or four hours later I received a message from the landlord to say, thank you for calling the police, that he knew the situation was bad and that he had cancelled the herna bar's rental contract. So hopefully in a month or two the place will be closed down and the problem solved.

The closing of the herna bar is also an opportunity, unfortunately not one I can take because of our plans to cross the Atlantic. We live in an area which is enjoying a lot of inward investment, with the main railway station being renovated, new businesses moving into the area and of course the large number of tourists in the area. Thus for someone with a little nouse and the intention to set up a higher quality establishment, this soon to be vacant bar space would be an excellent investment.

But today I am just enjoying the fact that making a fuss gets things done, rather than meakly sitting in the corner saying "but what can I do"? I am also enjoying the fact that we have a really fantastic landlord who takes on board the concerns of his tenants.

Disconnecting People

2008-08-21T01:29:00.001-04:00

On the bus into work this morning I had a thought, yes it happens occassionally and yes it hurts. I thought to myself that in this age of technological advance the human race is becoming more and more isolated, despite the protestations of the likes of Nokia that they are "connecting people". Not only are we becoming isolated from people around us by living in our technological bubble where we communicate only by SMS, Skype or email, but technology is also impoverishing our ability to live with people different from ourselves.

In particular I was thinking about internet dating sites, and the kind of adverts you get on them - you know the thing, "blonde 45 years young mother of 2 seeks soul mate, must be......". Has our world in its headlong rush to be "modern" forgotten the simple pleasures of going to the pub and meeting random strangers? I have a softspot for the "going to the pub" approach as that is how I met my wife, who is in many ways my polar opposite. Would she have replied to a classified saying "nearly 30 football fan seeks woman, must like beer, football, loud music and in-depth philosophical/religious/political discussions"? I am not so sure. My wife asked me in return if I would have answered an ad for "27 yr old wannabe homemaker searching for a hard working male with good sperm and sexual ability, must be clean cut, willing to listen to hours of drivel and likes the paranormal". Hmmm, quite. Yet here we are, and as I just said to her, thank god for pubs and being forced to talk to people.

Technology is making us a less human, less forgiving society where a person can be rejected simply because he or she doesn't share our values and interests. For our world to truly progress we need to rediscover the people around us, the community that we would in any other age be part of. For us to build "tolerant" societies we need to be actively engaged with the people around us, to realise that just because the neighbour likes jazz rather than rock doesn't make them any less worthwhile; just because someone didn't go to university doesn't negate their intelligence; just because someone likes the same sports isn't a basis for a relationship.

I was encouraged this week to read that only 5% of British people don't know their next door neighbours by name, I imagine in Prague that would be the exact opposite.

Freedom for all Ossetians

2008-08-14T01:31:00.000-04:00

With the crisis in South Ossetia, I find it interesting that so few people are asking a fairly obvious question - what about North Ossetia? North Ossetia is in the Russian Federation, on the other side of the Caucus mountains which divide Russia from Georgia. Ossetians are neither Georgian nor Russian, as such a nation state for the Ossetian people must surely be considered as a solution to this problem.

End of a hectic summer

2008-08-11T01:12:00.000-04:00

This summer has been somewhat hectic, but this week my wife starts her final year at the school she works in (how strange is that, saying “my wife”?) and so I guess the summer is coming to an end. Naturally it has been a momentous summer, we got married, jetted off to Tunisia for our honeymoon and one week after we came back my wife went into hospital for a scheduled operation to remove a lobe of her thyroid, on which there was a rather large tumour – thankfully benign.

I must admit that my wife being in hospital just a few weeks after the wedding wasn’t one I particularly relished. I am not very good with medical things at the best of times, unless of course it is medicinal whisky. The day of the operation was quite possibly the longest I can remember – the wedding day went by in such a flash. I was practically on a knife-edge waiting for news that everything had gone ok. Everything went very well, and although for a couple of days she looked like the bride of Frankenstein, she was soon up and about. Even just a few hours after the operation, in between vomiting, she was bright enough to crack a few jokes.

As for the wedding itself, as I already said, everything went by in such a blur – but it was the happiest and best day of my life – yes even better than May 25th 2005 (for those not sure, I will give you a hint, Istanbul). But everything went so well. The ceremony was wonderful – although when the official declared that we had considered our “property rights”, we both almost giggled. Everyone seemed to get one famously, the reception was a blast and Chris made it from the wastes of Kazakhstan, happy days.

Our honeymoon was spent in Tunisia, one of the most liberal of Muslim countries on earth and officially one of my favourite places. Any country that can effortlessly mix North African cuisine with a French attitude to life has to be a good place. Part of me was a little nervous, the wife being American and there having been some Islamic fundamentalist activity in the country. But everyone we met was awesome and genuinely seemed happy to meet an American – usually followed by the question, “but why you come to Tunisia”? I sometimes wonder if politicians and idealists cause more problems in the world than they solve.

This week is also the beginning of the official end of summer, or as I prefer to call it, the first day of the football season. I am not a big fan of the summer, mainly because of the absence of competitive football – and before anyone says, “well what about the Euros?”, Scotland weren’t there so they don’t count. The first day of the season also has a greater meaning for me this year, it marks the beginning of my final football season in Prague. Hopefully by the end of it Liverpool will be celebrating number 19, an FA Cup and a Champions League. We can dream.

Finally married.

2008-07-08T01:29:00.000-04:00

I am sure you can all appreciate that the last three weeks of my life have been the most tiring I can remember. But everything came together on Friday and the Lady formerly known as the Future-Mrs-Velkyal finally became Mrs Velkyal. As I type this, my in-laws will be heading to the airport for the long flight from Prague to Atlanta, and once they are gone my wife and I will be back to just the two of us. My family all arrived on Thursday and left on Saturday and Sunday - the first time all of us had been together in over a decade.

Now I have another couple of days at work before flying out to Tunisia on holiday - 12 days of lounging around in the sun and recharging batteries. Hoepfully I can keep my eyes open at work until then.

Is Britain compatible with Europe?

2008-06-17T08:51:00.000-04:00

The Irish electorate's decision to reject the Lisbon Treaty could possibly be one of the defining moments in the development of the European Union - if the EU were to play by its own rules, the treaty is dead in the water. I fear though that the Irish will be asked to vote again and again until they come to the "right" choice.

It is becoming increasingly clear that across Europe there is a backlash against the "ever-closer union" so beloved of the Eurocrats. The people of Europe are stuck between a rock and a hard place, the EU allows us to freely move and live throughout the Union, though the number of people who do so is inevitably minute. Yet the EU wants more power - the power of a nation-state to rule over the daily lives of the people living in the state.

And here is the problem, especially for Britain. The British people are a head strong, stubborn bunch - look at the nations where British people have settled and they are certainly not known for backing down in the face of threats to their national integrity. Yet here are our leaders, elected by the people, walking the nation into the European super-state which no-one in Britain wants.

Putting the needs of Britain before the needs of the EU is often shown to be somehow racist, yet the needs of Britain are pressing ever harder; the need for investment in education; the need to protect British industries; the need for British people to live without constant interference from the State.

I have come to the belief that Britain has more to re-gain from leaving the European Union than it has to lose. Britain has no need of the EU, we have the Commonwealth and our special relationship with the USA. British and Irish people are simply not Europeans, we are simply too stubborn and proud to let the bureaucrats rule. Thank you Ireland for making your voice heard, the challenge is laid squarely at the feet of the Eurocrats - listen to the people.

Time for change

2008-06-06T02:15:00.000-04:00

One morning last July, when sitting in the living room of my future in-laws I watched one of the few political speeches which engaged me without making the cynical dark side rear its ugly head. The person making the speech was Barack Obama. He spoke about returning hope to the American people, about re-discovering the ideals of the American Dream - which are essentially the ideals of almost every tribe and tongue on Earth, about re-engaging America with the world. He made a lot of sense. I even dragged my fiancee onto the couch to watch it with me - my fiancee having never shown any interest in politics at all.

Watching that speech made me realise that this man is the best hope for America at this key turning point in history. The very things that his opponents pick up as weaknesses are in fact strengths, and harnessed properly give him the opportunity to radically re-shape America, to create a "more perfect union". Barack Obama is the walking talking melting pot. Half Kenyan and half White American he is in many ways a post-race politician, and while his detractors raise the race issue, they simply show themselves to be racist.

Here is a man so skilled in soaring rhetoric that he has engaged the hearts and minds of countless young people across the US and brought them into a system which many saw as failing and irrelevant. That in itself is a change worth celebrating - when citizens lose contact with the political system that governs society, they slowly lose their voices - society is like a choir, if you don't sing then why are you there?

As you can probably guess I am something of a fan of the senator from Illinois. As a Brit, I can't vote, but as a Brit moving to the US next year, I dearly hope that the president will be Barack Obama, I dearly hope that America can look beyond the shade of a man's skin and re-discover the values that made their nation great. The world looks to America for leadership, America it seems after 8 years of George Bush is looking for a true leader.

Berlin

2008-05-12T04:02:00.000-04:00

As I have mentioned before, I spent the past weekend in Berlin. I had a wonderful time. I can’t remember a European city I have been more instantly enamored with. On the train back to Prague I admitted to my fiancée that if we weren’t planning to move to the United States next summer then I would most likely be agitating for a move to Berlin. As a first impression of a city, the Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) takes some beating – a palace of glass and metal, with a shopping mall that would put most shopping centres in Prague to shame. For the first hour or so of being in Berlin, I felt like the village idiot who had come to visit his big city cousins.

The city’s public transport is everything that it should be, clean, efficient and regular – although the ticketing system is something that a Ph.D in astrophysics would be useful in understanding. For example, you can buy a ticket for 2 euros allowing you two hours worth of travel, with unlimited changes as long as you go in a single direction. We couldn’t work out if the day ticket was for a period of 24 hours after validation or just until the end of the day on which it was validated.

Prague and Berlin are very different cities. Whereas Prague has an unmistakable energy to it – it is a city where everyone it seems is trying to be the trendiest person on earth. If the trash magazines were to say that this month’s ideal look is an orangutan costume with bright green stilettos then that is all you will see on the street until the magazines say otherwise. Berlin however is exceptionally laid back, and while there is a sizeable artistic community in the city, it doesn’t translate into being fashionable for fashion’s sake.

Berlin is also a very open city, not just in terms of the people being very helpful and friendly. The city seems to have given over more space to pavements and cycle paths, as such people spend more time on the street. Almost every restaurant had a large number of table and chairs on the pavement, and they seemed to be doing a booming trade. Admittedly we were staying with friends in the most popular part of Berlin for sitting around in a café or bar. Within minutes of the apartment were several Indian restaurants, a Turkish kebab café or two, Arabian restaurants, various Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese establishments as well. On the last night of our stay we stumbled upon a superb Arabian restaurant with wonderful service, excellent Lebanese wine and lamb which just fell apart in your mouth – in short the best restaurant meal we have had in a long time.

Architecturally the centre of Berlin couldn’t be more different than Prague. While the former is awash with Baroque and Gothic palaces, the centre of Berlin is home to some of the most modern architecture in the western world – and yet it doesn’t seem out of place next to the magnificent cathedral or the fascinating Reischstag. One of my favourite sights was the World Clock on Alexanderplatz – largely because of a little historical anomaly, one of the towns mentioned on the clock is Pressburg. Pressburg is a town which no longer exists, though it has not been destroyed, rather it was renamed Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

So overall we had a great time in Berlin, and we are already planning another visit – so much more to see and just to be back in a city which is relaxed yet lively, cosmopolitan yet intimate, in short, a model modern multi-cultural metropolis.

Another long weekend

2008-05-07T09:13:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was 4 days long - May 1st being a public holiday and the company giving us Friday off as well. This Thursday is also a public holiday, and the company have given us Friday off as well. As you can imagine, this is great! So this weekend will be spent in Berlin.

The reason for the holiday tomorrow is that it is Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), the day when the Second World War came to an end. I like the fact of all the participants in the war, the Czech Republic is one of the few countries still to mark one of the most important dates in world history. This is after all the day when unimaginable slaughter in Europe finished. So many men far younger than I am know died so that we can enjoy the freedoms which we so often take for granted. It is good to remember their sacrifice.

A nasty shock

2008-05-05T08:13:00.000-04:00

I live right in the centre of Prague - a few hundred metres from Vaclavske Namesti. On my way home from work everyday I walk through a small park in front of the main railway station - the park is known locally as Sherwood and is generally populated by bums and petty thieves. Recently the local council built a fenced in playground for kids, and two mornings out of the last four there have been used syringes in the doorway of my apartment building. Prague has lost another element of the lustre it once had.

Role models?

2008-04-30T05:44:00.000-04:00

So Miley Cyrus has had pictures taken for Vanity Fair which some claim to be shocking and sexualising the teen star. Time and again commentators berate the girl for being a "poor role model", seeming to think that this picture is going to cause a global wave of evil, with young girls wanting to put on make-up and wear bedsheets. One blogger has been described the picture as looking like a "freshly f*cked slut". Apart from the obvious question about how this seemingly moral blogger knows what a "freshly f*cked slut" looks like, the whole furore shows how modern society is increasingly unhinged, and that looking to celebrities to act as role models for one's kids is an act of parental irresponsibility.

When I was in the States last summer I saw the Hannah Montana show on TV a couple of times, and frankly speaking I would find the image of the teen schoolgirl's pop star alter ego more disturbing than the pictures by Annie Leibovitz. Disney protrays itself as the guardian of family values in the US, and yet here is a clearly pre-pubescent girl prancing around a stage in a tiny skirt, pop socks and belly revealing top - if that isn't sexualising the teen star then I really don't what is. Or is it a case that people like their role models as "innocent" fantasies rather than womanly fantasties?

If something offends, don't bang on about it relentlessly, turn off the TV and provide your kids with a different role model - you could even try being one yourself.

Yes the media is pervasive, yes celebrities are everywhere, yes the TV has an off switch.

Graffiti

2008-04-25T05:29:00.000-04:00

On the building next to where I live, someone has sprayed "Art or crime?" on the wall.

In a city as graffiti strewn as Prague, this question is particularly poignant - can graffiti ever be considered art? I guess that depends on your concept of art, as well as your concept of graffiti - personally I find the mindless tagging of buildings with a signature to be as far from art as it is possible to get, however I am prepared to allow that there are talented artists out there creating street art with the very same tools as the mindless taggers.

So when done properly, graffiti can be art, but mostly it is a crime.

2008-04-23T05:10:00.000-04:00

Riise's goal last night did somewhat take the wind from my sails - but the more I think about it the more I am convinced that Liverpool have the firepower to get a goal at Stamford Bridge, which would turn the game into winner takes all.

Fernando Torres has had a phenomenal first season at Anfield, and hopefully that will continue next Wednesday, but first up is Birmingham City - and I for one would give a few reserves a run out. In light of the injury to Fabio Aurelio (how unfortunate can that guy get?), I think it would be time to give Insua a run in the team until the end of the season. I would also love to see Nemeth get a couple of turns on the bench. Resting the big players is an option for this weekend's game, so I would expect a recurrence of Gerrard's neck injury, and maybe even a hangnail for Mascherano, allowing Plessis another opportunity to impress.

Despite the gloom of an away goal at Anfield, and the constant bickering of the owners, and DIC waiting in the wings let the hangman, the future is still bright for Liverpool, as long as Rafa stays of course.

Solutions, solutions

2008-04-21T09:46:00.000-04:00

Everywhere in the business world there are solutions, every company is pushing their latest product not as something to buy but as something which provides a "solution".

Businesses no longer provide machinery or equipment, they provide "total solutions", or a favourite of mine "complex solutions" - cleaning companies in particular love to provide "complex cleaning solutions". How complex can soap and water be?

Products are no longer things to make life easier, more enjoyable or even more bearable, products are today part of your lifestyle choice, they give you an "experience". Why marketing people think this kind of language is impressed consumers is beyond me.

What I find most interesting though is the fact that nobody is stating the problem which these solutions purport to solve.

Champions League again

2008-04-21T03:32:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow is another Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, and already I am nervous and a little distracted by it all.

Two more tight and nervy games, a hoarse throat on Wednesday for sure and hopefully at the end of it a final in Moscow against Barcelona.

National NIMBYism

2008-04-18T03:59:00.000-04:00

I was watching the news the other day in Marks and Spencer - they have a little seating section with a tv, I guess designed for men waiting for their lady folk to emerge from the changing rooms. On the box was a political discussion programme talking about the US missile defence system, the radar for which is planned to be in the Czech Republic.

During an interview with a Green Party MP a comment was made that it was wrong to have foreign soldiers based on Czech soil . This got me thinking:

The Czech Republic is part of NATO and as such has responsibilities toward the organisation and the allies that form that organisation. In return the Czech Republic has the might of the USA and other allies in the event of an attack - however, seemingly unlikely. The missile defence scheme is not just about protecting the USA from attack, but also provides coverage for the majority of NATO members.

Inevitably the installation of an American military base will bring benefits to wherever it is located. I don't mean in terms of money spent by the military in local shops, unfortunately it would seem that many US service people don't interact much with local communities when stationed there. However it will provide jobs and a boost to the economy. Let's not forget that outside of Prague there are plenty of areas with high unemployment. Such a base would inevitably help the local economy:

People with jobs have more money
People with more money, spend money
People with money to spend need places to spend
The places where people with money spend money become more profitable
Profitable companies can expand and create more jobs.

And so the cycle goes on.

Going to Berlin

2008-04-17T07:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we bought tickets for the train from Prague to Berlin. Ash has a friend who has moved there and we are going up for a long weekend in May. May 8th is a holiday in the Czech Republic, VE Day (thank goodness some people still remember that), and this year it is a Thursday. The company I work for decided that instead of a measly 20 days holiday a year we should have 25, however there was a condition - we had to use these days on the 2nd May (1st is a holiday here - two 3 day weeks!), 9th May and December 29/30/31.

I have never been to Berlin before, especially as when we lived in West Germany it was firmly ensconced in the old Democratic Republic of Germany. So I am very excited about going up there. Hopefully we will be going to a Bundesliga match while we are there, Hertha Berlin are playing F.C. Nurnberg and tickets are insanely cheap by British standards (even by Czech standards they are reasonable). About 12 GBP to sit behind the goal at the Olympic Stadium!

Also on the list of things to see and do are of course the Brandenburg Gate and the remaining parts of the Berlin Wall. Of course this wouldn't be an Al trip if there wasn't planned some beer drinking and I have found a few micro-brewery type places to visit.

Italian political circus

2008-04-16T01:28:00.000-04:00

So once again Italy has a new goverment - which makes it more than 60 governments since the Second World War. Once again proving the Proportional Representation is a flawed political system which creates instability and stasis. A political system which does not provide stability and leadership does not allow a government to implement its plans and improve the lives of citizens.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office dealings

2008-04-14T11:26:00.000-04:00

Today I went to the British Embassy here in Prague and I think they achieved the quite remarkable feat of infuriating every single person they dealt with.

I have come not to expect great things from the Prague embassy - this is after all the people who employed a former StB (Czechoslovak version of the KGB) agent just after the Velvet Revolution - hurray for the vetting process.

All I needed to do was post a Notice of Marriage and get an apostille for my birth certificate. The Notice of Marriage was simplicity in itself, but the apostille turned out to be something of a nightmare. By getting the Embassy to organise it it was going to cost 3000 CZK (approximately 100 GBP), of which 30 GBP was the actual fee and the rest to get it sent by diplomatic post. They told me at the embassy that this process would take 7 weeks! But if I posted it myself, along with payment details and so on, it would take 4 weeks and I save myself 70 GBP. So I rang the FCO in London to make sure that everything was correct - having been recommended by the embassy to "check with them because they know better" - and low and behold I get an automated phone system.

Is it any wonder that people feel disconnected from politics and dealing with governments when those very same bodies have disconnected themselves from us by hiding behind automated phone services? I just want to spend two minutes on the phone clarifying a couple of things, but for my "convenience" I have to listen to a useless recorded message, and when finally forwarded to an operator, I get an answering machine which just hangs up.

So my total paperwork costs for the wedding are around 150 GBP, compared to my fiancee paying about 60 GBP for the very same documents - she is American, America looks after its people, while it seems Britain hoses its for money.

Surely in this day and age with technology as it is, it is hardly rocket science for an embassy to do apostilles in situ - or is it just Britain that likes to makes life difficult for its people?

First posts on new blogs

2008-04-10T01:59:00.001-04:00

So the new blogs are up:

Diamonds and Rust
Fuggled

A third blog

2008-04-09T05:24:00.000-04:00

Yes I have decided to create yet another blog, and I intend to be very strict with myself about writing on them.

I have allocated an hour every day after work to draft articles for each of my two other blogs:

Diamonds and Rust - dealing with my spiritual and religious conflicts
Fuggled - dedicated to my love of beer and my impending journey in homebrew.

This blog will be a general waffling stop, and will no doubt focus on the upcoming changes in my life, namely getting married and moving the South Carolina in 2009.

Weddings and things

2008-04-08T09:20:00.000-04:00

Well yes I am getting married.

Most people that I know will already know that, but just in case there are some lovely ladies with forlorn hopes, then I am afraid I must dash them.

July 4th is possibly the most ironic date for a Brit to marry a Yank, but to be honest I can't wait. In fact I would rather just elope and get it done with.

I have decided as well to start a new blog dealing with religious and spiritual stuff that fills my head to a worrying degree at times. I haven't decided on a name for it yet but I will post it here when I have it up and running.

Poland? No thanks.

2006-11-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

I know I came close to moving there, and even marrying a Pole, but the more I see of their current government the more I am grateful that I am not there.

The current government is crazy to say the least, with it's attempt at a moral revival in Polish life.

Simply put, it is naive for a government to think that it can legislate for public morality.

Why PR is a waste of time.

2006-10-10T07:41:00.000-04:00

Last week the Czech parliament passed a vote of no confidence in the minority government led by the ODS party ( sort of like the Tories). So for the second time this year the country is facing elections which once again will probably lead to more stalemate.

In the last election the 200 seat parliament was evenly split down the middle, the right wing parties, ODS, KDU-CSL (the "christian" democrats) and the Greens won precisely 100 seats, whilst CSSD (the social-democrats) and KSCM (the commies) also had 100 seats between them on the left. It is a given in Czech politics that nobody will enter into government with the Communists, and so about 20% of the electorate vote consistently for a party that no-one wants to deal with, well apart from Vaclav Klaus the president of the country who needed their votes to get his job.

What did all this prove? That proportional respresentation, whilst sounding noble in theory leads inevitably to stasis and weak government. Just ask the Italians about governmental chaos. The constant need for coalition government leads not to consensus politics but to everyone looking out for their own needs and making sure that they are high enough in the party lists to be guaranteed a job regardless of their public image.

Unless the relevant parties can form some kind of grand coalition of CSSD and ODS, which has been done before and eventually led to demonstrations on the streets of Prague, and which has been ruled out by CSSD anyway, the only solution is fresh elections.

Whilst accepting that the British electoral system is far from perfect, there is alot to be said for local areas to elect a representative who is directly responsible to his or her electorate. Surely it is far preferable for a member of parliament to represent an entire constituency and work for the betterment of life in that area than to be simply spouting forth party ideology?

Hopefully if we have new elections here we will get an definite and workable government, but under PR this stalemate will become the norm I fear.

Cup Final to look forward to

2006-04-24T04:34:00.000-04:00

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1 - a scoreline that I honestly didn't expect but one which had me me bouncing up a down like a maniac, not a pretty sight let me assure you.

The only thing that put a dampener on the victory is the graceless and to be blunt unsportsman like comments of Jose Mouriniho. This guy really needs to learn to loose graciously and accept that he got his tactics wrong, and that his team were dominated and ripped to pieces by a better team.

Oh well, who really cares what Abrahamovic's lackey says and does, Liverpool are in the FA Cup final, Stevie G is PFA player of the year and in Rafa Benitez we have the finest manager in the Premiership. Not just in terms of tactical nous and footballing knowledge, but also as a gentleman.

Getting started

2006-04-06T08:36:00.000-04:00

Velky Al, that's me.

For those who don't speak a Slavonic language, velky means big.

Like most people this will be an insight into my world, my life and so on and so forth. I will cover a range of different stuff as it trundles through my brain.

Some background will help no doubt. Well, I am British (half Scottish and half English, but feel more for Scotland) and I live in Prague where at the moment I work for a stag party company. I studied theology in Birmingham, and am planning on doing a masters when money allows.

Any how, for those reading, thanks.