Skip to main content

The all important first time

How do you start a weblog? What do you put in it? I am clearly not the right person to answer those questions.

It all started last Wednesday, galvanised and inspired by my starting to read the
book made from what is probably the most famous weblog in the world (even though its author would probably hate me for saying that). As the world was learning that W would be having his way with our destinies for another four years, I created my account. Let's make it clear now that, like many people around the world, I was not exactly impressed by the choice the Americans made. The only (very slight and bitter) compensation is that the people who know are predicting that the proverbial is going to hit the fan in the next four years (economically at least; something to do with the huge deficit they are building up thanks to all of Bush's tax cuts (and there are more to come apparently), and with China, Japan and a few others starting to cash in on all the dollars they are currently buying or something like that: sorry, forgot the details): W will therefore be there to clean up his own mess or at least take responsibility of it. The worrying bit (and what makes this bitter) is that if the States are in trouble economically, Europe and the rest of the world will probably suffer too. The rest of the world should have been allowed to vote to, considering how important this election is. Ok, ok, Kerry would probably not have been much different in content but at least his style would have been different and that might have done a huge different in several quarters.

Anyroads, once the account created, I pondered: Why? What have I got to say? I started a draft first posting which was not really satisfying (I might decide to include it here for posterity (!)) and then it was time to leave work to go to a dance rehearsal, thinking I would carry on in the morning.

That did not happen as, on opening my inbox, I found a message from the chairman of the marketing committee of the choir, asking for volunteers to design the programme for our Christmas gigs at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist in Pinner ( that's just outside London in zone 6; Yes, there is one!). I volunteered and that took up most of my day. I am far from finished yet but I think I have finally found inspiration for this. And what a strange thing inspiration is really: here I am on the night between Thursday and Friday (3.30 am!), suddenly waking up and thinking: I know what to write in this blog and having to switch the laptop on and write it down.

If you are still reading (if anybody is reading this at all), you must know but now that the title of this blog is no deception: I will really by ranting aimlessly on here… I hope this can be enjoyable though.
Time to try and post this (see how badly it goes with the URLs) and then back to sleep, hopefully...
Comments and suggestions most welcome...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Short History of the Elephant and Castle and Its Name

Last night I attended a lecture by local historian Stephen Humphrey who discussed the general history of the Elephant & Castle, focussing more particularly on what he called its heyday (between 1850 and 1940). This is part of a week-long art project ( The Elephant Project ) hosted in an empty unit on the first floor of the infamous shopping centre, aiming to chart some of the changes currently happening to the area. When an historian starts talking about the Elephant and Castle, there is one subject he can not possibly avoid, even if he wanted to. Indeed my unsuspecting announcement on Facebook that I was attending such talk prompted a few people to ask the dreaded question: Where does the name of the area come from, for realz? Panoramic view of the Elephant and Castle around 1960/61. Those of us less badly informed than the rest have long discarded the theory that the name comes from the linguistic deformation of "Infanta de Castille", a name which would have become at

Review: Park Avenue Cat @ Arts Theatre

As we are steadily reminded throughout the hour and half hour of Park Avenue Cat , the new play by Frank Strausser, which had its "world premiere" this week-end at the Arts Theatre, time is money. Most of the play takes place in the office of a posh LA therapist who charges $200 per hour. So, having sat through the play, I am wondering why the author spent time writing it, why a production team spent time putting it up and why I and any audience member are asked to spent time (and money) watching it. The play, said to be "a triangle with four corners" (!), brings together a therapist (Tessa Peake-Jones), who is probably not enjoying her job all that much), Lily (Josefina Gabrielle - the eponymous Parc Avenue cat) as well as Philip (Gray O'Brien - aka Tony Gordon in Coronation Street) and Dorian (Daniel Weyman), Lily's lovers. In an interview on the play's dedicated website, Strausser (who was in the audience) explains that he thinks comedy comes out of a

pink sauce | life, with a pink seasoning

As of tonight, my blog Aimless Ramblings of Zefrog , that "place where I can vent my frustration, express ideas and generally open my big gob without bothering too many people" which will be 6 in a couple of months, becomes Pink Sauce . While the URLs zefrog.blogspot.com and www.zefrog.eu are still valid to access this page, the main URL now becomes www.pinksauce.co.uk. There is a vague plan to create a proper website for www.zefrog.eu to which the blog would be linked. Why Pink Sauce , you may ask. It is both simple and complicated. For several years, I have grown out of love for the name of the blog. It felt a bit cumbersome and clumsy. That said, I never really looked into changing it, seriously. Tonight, for dinner, I had pasta with a special pink sauce of my concoction ; single cream and ketchup. I know most people while feel nauseous at the very though of the mixture but trust me, it's gorgeous. Don't knock it till you've tried it. After having had my platte