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"What's one thing a houseguest should always do?"
Do you believe in ghosts?
Yep - 'nuff said... ;-)
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I should post to this blog more often, otherwise it it only going to be my record of sad news...
Andy Hallet has succumbed to Congestive Heart Failure
Well, ok, not fame as such, but I have got my first bit of photographic online fan(ish)-world coverage, as today I am the BLAB Blog's Tuesday Tog. You can read the article here Thoughts, ideas, comments etc. there or here would be much appreciated... In other news, it will be another week before I have a real picture about what's going on with my knee / leg, as I need to see a consultant at the Royal Berkshire Hospital a week today. More news when I have it... . EOT
It's been a long while since I posted anything to Vox, and while this may sound like an excuse, the biggest reason for this is that I have been in Switzerland for 2 weeks with almost no access to the internet...
Sure we have some political opinions in common, we're both educated Liberals with a belief in personal responsibility and straight talking, and overall he seems like a decent guy, but it's more than that...
For the first time in a very long time I can point at him and say, 'That's the kind of person I want running my country.'. Why do I want someone like Barack Obama running my country? It's really very simple, he has no problem telling truth to power (whether you see that as Americans or Corporate America or Old Money America, they are all getting the same rap), he has no problem with the politics of realism, and most important of all he has no problem reminding the people that he serves that while he can inspire and set the tone and direction of his country, without the people's support and engagement in the day to day running of his country he cannot succeed. He has as much as said that he will work tirelessly to fulfill his office if everyone else will accept that in order for their great democracy to work they all need to be involved, engaged and working (for at least some small portion of their time) towards the common good.
There is no one in British politics at the moment (or at least no one making enough noise for me to have noticed) who is prepared to offer to lead on the basis of the challenge of 'get involved', no one reminding us, the electorate that politicians work for us, not for their corporate friends, or their social agenda, or their religion, or even for their own advancement; they work for you and me. Sure it is reasonable for them to expect to be well (though not over exuberantly) paid for their hard work, and for that work to lead to other pastures once they leave public life, but the first priority of any public servant should be obvious - the clue is in the name.
I am sure that President Obama is no saint, that he would love a Nobel Prize or to leave office and be an envoy for the UN in four or, fate-willing, eight years time, that he has ambition of his own, but for the first time in a long, long time I really believe that there is a person in the Oval Office who sees the truth that putting his or her ambition aside for the greater good of their constituency is the surest route to affecting change. If Obama truly embraces his duty and is the President of the People then he cannot be manipulated into inaction or pandering, as he has nothing to lose but his office, and the Office really is greater than the man.
I hope I am right about him, and I hope I am right to have faith in the American People that they will see (if I am right) that their prosperity, health and freedom is his mission day to day, week to week and judge him on that rather than anything else. If that can happen, if a good man truly can become President of the United States then maybe, just maybe a good man (or woman) really can come to the fore and lead us in Britain into an age where the good of the many and the rewards of the just and the caring is the bounty of all and far outweighs the greed for power and money of the few.
Well, good morning my Vox chums, and welcome to a new year... 2009; it has a good ring to it, I have a good feeling about this one.
This year two good friends are getting married in March (Tree and Tom, I'm looking at you), and my brother is marrying his lovely fiancée Anne-Sophie in Belgium, en Août. Not only that, but again I have started the Year with family, enjoying the hospitality at Le Champerdrix and the amazing creations of Johan's kitchen - this year we enjoyed (amongst other things) an entire Foie Gras course and Goat's Cheese Ice Cream.
In about 10 days I am heading off to Switzerland (Verbier to be precise) with 6 good friends and 3 others that I expect I will know a lot better after our two weeks in the mountains, and when I return I have work until April. It's been 5 years since I have been on skis for longer than a couple of hours and certainly it is 5 years since I have been in the mountains - I really cannot wait :-)
Not only that, but if all goes according to plan I will be spending two or three months in the US and Canada after my brother's wedding; seeing friends and really experiencing the Big Country. New York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, then Boston, New England, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and then on to Seattle and the Puget Sound, San Francisco and then maybe the Islands or LA... With any luck I will finally finish my book, meet some great people and re-acquaint myself with some other wonderful friends and then there is just the raw experience of being there for that long and really taking it in.
In 3 days I will have forgone cigarettes for 4 months, and I am starting to feel a lot healthier...
I also have a new project to work on - super secret for now, but some of you know what I am talking about - and I have made real in-roads into 'Personal Time' and I am starting to see options for the companion project to that. 365 Portraits will (probably / hopefully) make an appearance this year at The 491 Gallery in Leytonstone, and then hopefully elsewhere, and 365 Ficlets continues unbroken into the home straight - things are going as well as I could have hoped on the creative front.
2009 is going to be a good year - OR ELSE!
To all of you that are reading this, I wish you the very, very best for 2009, and I hope that this New Year will bring you all Peace, Health and Joy; à bientôt!
With apologies to KatQ, PaulS, Uncle Manamar, Jamie Amy and Mal, DT, Tansy, Louise Rob and Rhufon, Ysharros, Anne and Col M, Pete and Helen, MelB, Matt Heath, Steph, Tom and Ellie, Franny and Sanza and MANY MANY more that I am remembering every time I think about this, like Paul and Penny and Karen, Ewan and offspring, Cate and Iain... Here is my Christmas Card to all of you and one of you all at once. If you are trapped at work you can pass nearly half an hour laughing at me as I try to remember to wish every last person in my life a Merry Christmas, like a demented Generation Game contestant screaming 'Cuddly Toy!' at every opportunity (well not quite, but you get the gist) You know next year it might be easier to spend the money on cards and not worry about the environmental wastage that would be my sending out 200-300 of the things... ;-)
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Maleghast said:
Yeah, it does seem that his death is almost passing un-noticed; that was why I posted about it... I don't... read more
on Sad News... -
Alex said:
You're the only other person I've seen who's acknowledged Hallet's death in my regular online haunts. I thought it was... read more
on Sad News...
on Look what I found on my hard drive...