Just listened to Donald Fagen, Nightfly, IGY

Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K.

What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free

Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there's time

Did we all stop believing in the future. 7 billion is a mighty big task!

Due to the extraordinary conditions, economic and otherwise, I am planning a SkiSuperTramp.

Travelling in my car, I plan to drive to Italy through Austria, take in the Dolomites then return through Switzerland and France. I hope to keep my costs to a minimum by using hostels, the car and anyone who is kind enough to offer a night's floorspace in return for my company on and off the slopes. This is a work-in-progress and I will document it on the web, mostly on Snowheads. I intend taking the crossing from Dover to Dunkirk and then head for Kitzbuhel. From there I will probably head for the Hofgastein. I have pimped my Vectra so that I can sleep in it as a last resort. I hope that I can find my way to a comfortable nights sleep.

Any advice, criticism or offers of companionship very welcome.

Thread before, during and after

Back when I lived with my young family in Orange County, LA, US of A in '91/92 I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Who wouldn't? I'd left the UK in the teeth of a recession that was as grim as today. This was a time before globalisation and I had landed in a world that had never felt the chill of a downturn. There was no austerity legacy here. The experience really brought to life the contrasts between the UK and America that are most notably recorded in the book 84 Charing Cross Road.

We were living out beyond the canyons, nearer to Anaheim than Santa Monica, a suburb of LaLa land.

That was my first encounter with a truly multi racial community. It was the time when Rodney King was filmed being beaten up and Clarence Thomas was in trouble about his past. The media kerfuffle about all this was totally new to me. It was very different to my experience of race relations in the UK. I felt as if I was living in the future.

The media anguish about those figures back then has at long last been vindicated. It was this mental hand-wringing that delivered the uplifting, emotional scenes and rhetoric we witnessed on November 4, 2008. I only hope the USA has found its modern apotheosis in the person of Barrack Obama.

The campaign against Ross and Brand last week inspired me to use this new age of interaction to complain about Jeremy Clarkson. His bad taste jokes about lorry drivers and hookers only served to show how little content there remains in the tired Top Gear franchise. It seemed that he was determined to cover-up for the banality of his adolescent behaviour by repeating a very adolescent gag. He has a lot of influence with the un-worldy by constantly recycling his reactionary views; it seems only fair that he should feel some of the pain he dishes out.

The Fall says it all. The Fall of laissez faire capitalism, the Fall of leaves and the Fall of snow. Any visitor to the French Alps will have seen notices warning of Chutes des Neige.
The ennui that seems to have descended on everyone is probably connected with the demise of materialistic aspirations. Albert Camus pointed out that without religion it becomes clear that life is largely meaningless and as Karl Marx pointed out, Religion was the Opium of the people. With the collapse of materialism people are seeing that they must seek meaning elsewhere. This realisation can be refreshing but is not very comfortable. Rather like when a big lump of snow falls on your head.

A fine day today allowed my friend Mark Goodall and I to do our regular bicycle circuit of the Trundle. Over the top of Goodwood horse racing course where we foundthe annual inter club hill climb on Knights Hill. A category 4 gradient was conquered in a remarkable three minutes and 12 seconds by a young lad on his lightweight bike. Meanwhile the sushi sunday event down at the motor racing circuit reflected the priorities of the generations of guys who think the world of their Japanese cars. I wandered around both events and was struck by the contrast between these modes of transport and their interdependence. Apparently, a tankful of petrol (50 litres) could meet the energy needs of the average home for over 5 years. Similarly, driving from Lands End to John O'Groats would burn more Oxygen than a person would consume in a lifetime.

Very sad to hear of  the death of Maurice Stonefrost this morning. He was the father of a close friend and was probably my most influential acquaintance.  He rose through the ranks of local authority finance from Bristol and West Sussex to command the GLC before it was annihilated by Thatcher. He was a trusted advisor to the Labour party and pension funds. He did great deals for these institutions when they were facing hard times. The archives will remember him for these achievements but I will remember him as someone who managed to rise to the top of the only game worth playing. He built a network of influence and fun that helped and benefited many that never knew his name.

Four and half years on from my last blog entry its time to start again. I've been inspired by friends who are producing great contributions in the public domain. People like Pervez  and Andrew. I hope to document my experiences as I go through the gears of life, changing from one way of living to another.