Warrell's World

2011-10-27T14:11:00.002Z

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!

2009-01-09T20:18:00.006Z

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

2008-11-05T21:08:00.012Z

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.

2008-11-05T00:27:00.003Z

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.

2008-11-03T18:28:00.009Z

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.

2008-11-02T20:46:00.008Z

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.

2008-10-26T14:11:00.004Z

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.

2008-10-19T18:23:00.004Z

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.

2004-02-19T21:12:00.003Z

Jenny, Sophie and I have had a great week in Chamonix. Perhaps because we changed plans at the last minute everything turned out great. We have rented a bijou apartment overlooking the Aiguille du Midi lift, and three days of sun followed by some fresh snow. The girls are even agreeable to doing some off-piste work if the weather is nice. Sophie and I went up the highest cable car in the World and we both enjoyed it. I had been up in '98 but that was to do the Vallee Blanche and I had more pressing concerns. The last bit where the car is hoisted in is quite terrifying. We have skiied hard evry day and with the journey we are exhausted. I've suffered with credit card fraud (again) but hope that it will all be sorted when I get home.

I read the Mark Hanson book, 'The strange case of the Dog in the nighttime', and thought it quite superb. His previous, 'A spot of Bother' is very entertaining too.

Anyway we had nice meal at a creperie overlooking the river.

2004-01-30T15:49:00.003Z

From a relative low-point of the previous entry things took a meteoric rise. I went skiing with the ski club and took lunch in the company of an esteemed Australian businessman and family. We had a lot of fun together and it looks like a long term association might grow out of it.

Having enjoyed the best powder conditions in years I was exhausted after 11 days solid skiing. I left tired but happy only to have my Zurich flight cancelled. By the time the dust had settled there was little choice but to spend the night in the airport. My niche was already occupied by an unemployed Brit who had missed his flight to Malaga. There was so much that didn't make sense about his predicament that I couldn't drag myself away. Charlie was a lovely guy, over-fond of his booze and dope but engaging nonetheless. He was delighted to be speaking English again and this was un-fathomable to me. What was a Belfast-born Mancunian accented Bricklayer doing living on the dole in Basle for the last year and a half? And how come he spoke such good German? Once we had transferred to the airport chapel and smoked a bit more he confessed that he hadn't worked since being released from Stellenbosch maximum security prison having served 7 years for armed robbery. It's a bit of a conversation killer that. There are some people who will do anything for you including turning over a few German Post Offices armed with Northern Irelands finest weapons of self-destruction. Apparently some old school mates had visited and came up with the idea.

Pathos by the bucketload. Ironically one of the other guys in the Chapel lived in Folkestone and remembered Pete and knew of the Maasbach.

And then I met someone whow knew someone who lived on the Oxford Canal and knew about the story that Geoff told me - no, not the 15 tabs and talking to a tree all day but the tragedy in which a mother and her kids died when their boat caught fire.

How many possible stories are there; is there a meta-structure for a story?

And how about encountering Ken Hendrickson in verbier whose Father's major academic work is pothumously published here.

Time to stop and do some work.

2004-01-19T21:54:00.002Z

Wow, it's been too long away. There is so much to tell :-

Jenny starting at Christs Hospital
The Ventoux trip
The Val Thorens trip
The Engadin trip
Christmas, the new car and Martin and Jana's visit

but for now I will describe my trip in Verbier. I'm in the Kings Hotel Bar using their facilities having forked out for a glass of the local red. It has been the best day of the season with the opening of the Tortin itinerary. The media furore over the avalanche death gave me the chance to rubberneck a local TV interview.

More snow in prospect and I'm making the most of my time here. Knowledge is powder and something to pursue in the evening.

I'm trying to find work for a ski instructor in the chalet, selling his services direct but it's not easy to make any sort of living here. I behave as an uber ski bum and I'm on vacation while those here act like they are on holiday and they are supposed to be working.

It can be lonely and very territorial though. I'm not sure I would come back to stay in the CheeseCave.

2003-07-28T10:25:00.000Z

Just returned from an action packed and fun-filled trip to see the finish of the Tour de France in Paris. Tim Howells, Mark Goodall and I (along with a local cycling club) took the Sat overnight boat to Le Havre; first Paris train arriving at 10am Sunday. A coffee stop on the Place de la Madeleine was followed by a promenade to the Left Bank for an early neighbourhood brasserie lunch with our new found friends Jon and Graham. Suitably fuelled for the long wait we circled around and ended up on the east side of the underpass. A perfect spot to see the real hard men of the cycling elite. We finished the day in another, more touristy brasserie in St Lazare. Then the long haul back began at 8pm. In the age of everyday jet travel it is great to get back to the boat/train combi.

Thanks everyone - I feel like I have just had a week abroad.

2003-07-17T08:51:00.001Z

It's been a while and plenty has happened. The increasing hype around blogging and RSS has spurred this little effort. Jen has finished her exams and spent 10 days at Christs Hospital school for waifs and strays. An extremely stimulating experience which I did not show enough interest in, apparently. Jane, Jenny and Sophie have all had their birthdays and holidays; I met up with Alison, Denise and Lesley to keep the reunion vibe thang going. In pursuit of the public works eGov dev thang' I've started working with my doppleganger - tweedledum to my tweedledee. This has led to some return of sanity as he sees the world through a similarly evolved scanner. If you understand the literary references there good on you!

2003-06-03T11:30:00.001Z

Just received from my eldest daughter Jen in reply to a courtesy email thanking her and friend Phil for posting on the guestbook on the main site.

Dear Warrell and the people in his head,

Word to the wise - 'Yowza' is not, will not, and never has been a) a word
and b) cool. So don't say it, for fear of being arrested for indecent word
use. And you may have mentioned the war, but I don't think you got away with it,
and I wasn't even there! The chances of you getting asked back are slimmer
than the fatboy, honey. I also think the chances of a possible screen play, were they to turn
sideways, would dissapear. And I don't think novel is the word. There is a word, but it can't be said before the nine o'clock watershed. Having said that, keep posting your stuff on the site though. It keeps me avery amused, and you could start yourself a nice fanbase. And maybe with
practice, your intense over use of adjectives and words with more than eight letters could be curbed. It does make you sound intelligent, which I imagine was the objective, but it makes it very very difficult to read. You have to wade through these words to get to the real meaning of what you're saying. People other than your daughter won't bother, and sometimes less is more.
Keep writing, but at the moment it's a bit reminisant of Jon from Big Brother, although I doubt he is so interested in the Czec republic. Have fun in the Greek skatepark though, I am sure you will be bustin' moves all over the, umm, shop. Yes. I will have to introduce you to Phil, he has heard a lot about you/from you in your cough riveting cough blogs, and he'd like to meet the infamous Warrell Harries.
Happy working
Love you like a fat kid loves cake
Jen*
xxxx
xxxx

2003-06-03T07:51:00.000Z

Just about recovered from a weekend that began in Grand Style on Friday lunchtime. It was the much anticipated wedding of Chichester Grandee Barry Sampson and Peta Brown. A few members of the Sunday Times Rich List, Antonio Carluccio and his wife Priscella Conran were there together with many other luminaries of the sailing and business world. Ok, about 40 odd souls who formed a Kurt Vonnegut Karass for the afternoon. And what an afternoon. A lovely ceremony at Chi registrar office followed by a perfectly stated lunch at the White Horse in Chilgrove. It doesn't get much better than that, especially for a boy from the Oil Refinery on the wrong side of Southampton estuary. I won't go into detail but I mentioned the war and just about got away with it.

I wonder if I'll get invited back????

2003-05-29T14:07:00.001Z

I had my first go on a skatepark this morning at 6.00am. The dew on the metal ramps made it pretty dangerous but after half an hour I was converted. I took some air off the half-pipe and crashed and burned on the tarmac.

Cuts, abrasions and bruises. Hey, why should kids have all the fun!

2003-05-29T14:05:00.001Z

Got this read out by Jazzy M on the O-Zone show this afternoon!!!!!!

He asked for peoples opinions about the Matrix Reloaded film.

Fame at last (not)

but better than nothing.

To: jazzym@ministryofsound.com
cc:
Subject: Matrix ReLoaded

Dear M,

Pastiche and half truths from all the world religions. I reluctantly went along expecting twaddle and getting drivel. Was it a spoof of Star Wars, Independence Day, Lord of the Rings and some kinda trance movie? Made by the deeply cynical for the feeble-minded. Oh dear, what wonderful marketing these people have to create the mass hysteria that herds gluttons into a place that smells of old farts to waste three hours. How has it come to this?

2003-05-19T20:42:00.000Z

Scroll down this page to see some of the reunion photos that have been bumped from the main ReUnion site.

I'm off to the Club Med ATHENIA complex on 6th June. Has anyone been there or is going? I'm keen to know someone in advance although I'm hoping my ebullient, affable nature will shine out and it won't take long to make friends. Naturally there may be a language barrier but nothing my Del'boy French conversation can't surmount.

I've just given blood after a break of a few years. It always makes me feel self righteous...

2003-05-19T15:26:00.000Z

We have just held the most wonderful school reunion. Please see http://www.warrell.co.uk/reunion for the details. There are many more testimonials to post but in short there were nearly 200 people who enjoyed themselves enormously. It went so well because a group of us got together and meticulously planned the whole thing. As a web developer and software engineer I made sure that I built the tools to do the job properly. We would like to use this experience to benefit others. The idea is that we act as a broker, party planner, techie web 'anorak' and all round facilitators for any big fat school reunion. Anyone interested, no matter where they live now, can get in touch through Friends Reunited and we can begin the process. We can help tem decide on a date and venue for the reunion.

We can build a website where people can reserve their place, pay for tickets, read the names of the people coming, print off a poster and press-release. We will help promote the party in whatever ways possible and approved by Friends Reunited. We will remit to the Reunion principal 50% of the value of ticket sales made through the site and allow them to manage the content about the forthcoming reunion. As the big night approaches we will send further emails, once a month, to all those who have expressed an interest and have not declined the invitation.

These will help build the anticipation, inform people about the web-site and expand the scope of the event. Because we will be managing the process there will be a table of those who have paid which can be printed off directly onto name badge labels for the night. The 50% of the ticket receipts would more than cover the expenses for the venue and any entertainment and sundries. We are happy to provide email and phone support during the lead in period and even help out on the night. There would be no embarrassment for me when asking who people were!We hope you will consider this a valuable service that would make the reunion much, much easier to put together. It has the overwhelming advantage of being cost free too!