This Ordinary Life

Well, it's been a while since my last entry. This is a busy time of year between work and play and as to be expected some things fall to the wayside. However, I have been riding the tube quite frequently these days and although I hate the tube, it has given me some time to write some poetry. The following are few of my favourites (well, actually, they are the first I have written). Enjoy!

These are the first in a series entitled "What to do with the time we're given?"

Posted by this ordinary life at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I mentioned in my last entry that I attended my first proper English wedding last weekend near Bicester. As usual there is a story to tell...

A ex-colleague of mine with whom I was good friends with at the time, who then became a recruiter and found me my current job and with whom I have kept in touch got married last weekend. I received the invitation a couple months ago to attend both the ceremony and the evening reception as well as the Stag Doo, which was to be held in Edinburgh.

Well, for reasons that I'd rather not get into I decided to skip the ceremony and only go to the evening reception as that's when you have the dinner, speaches and dancing. Or so I thought...

As I am training for next year's Etape, the Tour de France stage that gets opening to the public, I decided that it would be good training to cycle up to my home for the night, the Biscester Cherwell Valley Travel Lodge just off the M40. Of course, because I was on my bicycle I wouldn't be able to cycle the M40 and instead cycled up the A41.

Before I set off I carefully packed everything into my rucksack. Suit (folded carefully), tie (folded carefully), shirt (folded carefully) and underwear (folded haphazardly) all went into a spacebag and then joined my toilettries, shoes, socks and cycling spares. Three and a half hours later (average speed of 30kph!) and I arrived at my destination.

I purposely didn't eat anything when I arrived because I didn't want to spoil my appetite. My invite said that the reception started at 7pm and as it was only 5pm, I killed some time by slowly getting showered, ironing my shirt and watching some television. Some other friends of mine who were also just attending the reception picked me up at 6:30pm and we made it to the venue at shortly after 7.

Now this is where a cultural paradigm came into effect. The bride and groom were both there looking stunning and working the room. There was an open bar and people were milling about in a pre-dinner manner. However, many of the people there weren't really dressed the way I would expect when attending a wedding dinner. Some even were wearing jean! This is when I realised that something had gone terribly wrong...

Turns out that in the UK, it's the ceremony invite that includes the dinner and not the reception. The reception is for the second class citizens that you didn't want to spend money on for dinner, but still want to get gifts off of. As to food, there were a few scraps to be had. I gorged myself on three plates of cheese, crackers, celery sticks and pate... shame I'd missed out on my seat at the dinner table that I would easily have been able to attend timewise.

With my metabolism racing, before I knew it I had consumed 10 pints which had no real effect other than to make me want to dance. Together with my mate's Northern Irish wife, I ended up tearing up the dancefloor and sweating up a storm for the next 3 hours. Very classy indeed!

So, the lesson of the day is that the English generally do things differently than the rest of the world, so if you are doing something for the first time in England, it is well worth getting details of exactly what will happen and is expected of you. Otherwise, you might cycle 100kms, miss dinner and then have the groom ask you why you're so dressed up. Embarassing, disappointing and hilarious all at the same time.

Posted by this ordinary life at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I don't think that the sensation of true fulfillment has ever been more appropriately embodies. For those of you not familiar with this line, it is from one of Australia’s greatest exports, The Castle.

In Central London there really aren’t too many obvious places to find “serenity”. However, I recently discovered that within Regents Park there are some banks on the lakeshore upon which I think such serenity could be found. A blanket, bottle of read and a good book might even enable you to find a few hours of the stuff.

So the next time you are near Regents Park, check out the banks of the lake and see if you can find some serenity of your own.

Posted by this ordinary life at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I managed to catch most of this movie on television tonight. It really is a gripping tale of two people discovery of the "real" South America. It reminded me a bit of my time in South America when I worked on a charity project in Argentina; however, their experiences in the mid-50's dwarf my own many-fold.

If you would like to learn a bit more about South America, but without having to experience it first hand, I highly recommend the Motocycle diaries. The scenery is close to how I remember it and the emotional rollercoaster the two main caracters go through really does invoke some of the same feelings I had when travelling around the hardship and poverty.

Particularly moving and effective are the black and white scenes of everyday life that appear like photos.

I give this one two thumbs up, but a word of warning.... this move is not an escape from reality, rather a tour of a continent that has had a reach history marred with struggle.

For more info, please check out the films details on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/

Posted by this ordinary life at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, well, well... where to begin.

This film really takes you on a ride or better said a train wreck. Opening with elation, it quickly decends into the depths of a depressive existence. Dick is a communications executive for a global IT company. After a long expected promotion which causes him to convince his wife, Jane, to quit her job, he becomes the fall guy for an Enron-style corporate collapse.

Thus begins their slide. No one wants to hire either of them and after innumerous failures, it is the night before eviction. As they are on the verge of destitution, they decide to embark on crime spree which involves robbing everyone as far as the eye can see.

Then when things can't get any worse, Dick finds out that he might be indicted... What could possibly happen next?

Well, it turns out the CEO of that now defunct global corporation actually siphoned off $400 million from the company before its collapse and is now on his way to a bank to deposit them in his Cayman Island bank account. What could possibly happen next?

I would put you out of your misery, but I hate ruining the outcomes of films out of principle. This is definitely not one of Jim Carey and Marissa Tome's better films. However, if you are set on seeing a Jim Carey film, I would suggest you go see Me, Myself and Irene or Liar, Liar. Either is miles better and funnier.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com), the source of all basic movie, director and actor information gave this one a 5.8 out of 10. I think they got it about right...

Posted by this ordinary life at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)