Posted 4:59 PM by Adam
An English translation of the Turkish national anthem.

Fear not and be not dismayed, this crimson flag will never fade.
It is the last hearth that is burning for my nation,
And we know for sure that it will never fail.
It is my nation's star, shining forever,
It is my nation's star and it is mine.

Frown not, fair crescent, for I am ready to die for you.
Smile now upon my heroic nation, leave this anger,
Lest the blood shed for thee be unblessed.
Freedom is my nation's right,
Freedom for us who worship God and seek what is right.

Posted 1:28 PM by Adam
I just got a phone call from this character in Sydney who said he'd be in Rome in ten days. I said I'd meet him there.



Looking at him now though, maybe it's not such a wise idea.

Posted 10:31 AM by Adam
Much excitement in the office as we've just received this. I've had a quick look and everything seems to be where it should be.

Posted 9:35 AM by Adam
Celebdaq update! There's been a set back. I now own only £39,825.90 worth of Prince Charles. Oh dear.

Posted 4:55 PM by Adam
I was planning to write something very witty, funny and entertaining but I need to be in the pub in eighteen minutes to make sure a friend of mine goes to Argentina (it's complicated). Of course, I've never written anything witty, funny or entertaining before so I suppose there's no real need to start now.

So, if it's okay with you, I might just shoot off now and leave you to your own devices. Talk amongst yourselves. Or, if you like, you could come down the pub and join me. I'll be at the Lamb and Flag from 5:15pm. See you in a bit then.

Posted 10:31 AM by Adam
There's a monk wandering around our backyard without even the pretext of missing sports equipment.

Forgive us our trespasses indeed.

Posted 9:29 AM by Adam
Wednesday night football report.

Didn't play. Had very nice dinner instead. Here's an England football report instead.

Number of premiership players arrested on sexual assualt charges: 1
Number of premiership players being investigated for alleged sexual assault: 8
Number of premiership players who failed to take a drugs test: 1
Number of premiership players dropped from the England team for failing to take drugs test: 1
Number of England players who threatened to not got to Turkey over dropped player: unanimous
Number of England players who are not going to Turkey over dropped player: 0
Number of England supporters the FA would like to go to Turkey: 0
Number of England supporters no doubt going to Turkey: lots
Number of tickets for Turkey v. England game: 50,000
Number of Turkish riot police for Turkey v. England game: 5,000

Posted 5:45 PM by Adam
I'm going to a dinner at a French restaurant in fifteen minutes. It's not far away.

Posted 12:08 PM by Adam
Great cuts in history.

Execution of Charles I 1649
Execution of Louis XVI 1792
Suez Canal 1869
Hull of the Titanic 1912
Partition of Korea 1945
Berlin Wall 1961
Beatles mop tops 1964
First heart transplant 1967
Reagan income tax cuts 1981
Adam shaving incident 2003

Posted 11:28 AM by Adam
I suffered a serious injury this morning and was lucky to survive. I cut myself shaving. I was bleeding for over half an hour, needed three tissues and had to catch a later bus to work. Worse than that, I now have a seemingly huge gash below my bottom lip. I look like I've been in a fight and I feel like an idiot. There is something inherently dangerous about using sharp implements on your face when half asleep.

Posted 5:16 PM by Adam
Capital cities that do not start with the letter B.

Amman
Amsterdam
Ankara
Athens
Addis Ababa
Canberra
Cairo
Copenhagen
Colombo
Caracas

Posted 4:16 PM by Adam
I've been unreasonably preoccupied perusing urinals.net

I've visited 37 of the destinations in the International section.

Posted 12:47 PM by Adam
My weekend was much better than this.

Posted 11:18 AM by Adam
Capital cities that start with B.

Belfast
Brussels
Buenos Aires
Beijing
Berlin
Budapest
Bangkok
Bratislava
Baghdad
Brasilia

Posted 10:06 AM by Adam
Standing at the bus stop last night with my guitar another guy with a guitar walks up to me.

Him: Excuse me mate, can I buy an e?
Me:
Him: I'll give you a quid for an e. If you got one spare.
Me: I'm sorry, but I didn't bring any spare strings.

Posted 4:32 PM by Adam
Good things.

1. Happy birthday to Russell.
2. I saw Football Jane for lunch today.
3. China is going to the moon. Well, a few of them, not all of them.
4. Downstairs Sally is back from Italy.
5. I'm recording on my friend's multitrack this evening. I've three sure fire hit singles and lots of album filler.

Posted 3:00 PM by Adam
Okay. Trout Mask Replica review for Brian and Chip.

I listened to it twice on the weekend. On Saturday I was confused, intrigued and slightly overwhelmed. On Sunday I listened to it more closely and was even more confused, intrigued and overwhelmed. There seems to be so much going on, although sometimes there's little more than voice and guitar, and with twenty odd tracks it's all a bit much. I haven't looked at the lyric sheet (always unwise for songs you don't know yet) but it is lyrically impressive. They make very little sense to me so far, and that may be unlikely to improve, but I do like the alliteration, ambiguity and deliberate randomness. There's something going on there, but I don't know what. I did notice that he seems to have a thing about gingham, but then deep down we all do.

So, as a summary, I can't yet say I really enjoyed it. I can't say I fully understand it. But I can say I need to, and will, listen to it a number of more times before I come to my own terms with it.

Posted 1:48 PM by Adam
Big meeting today and I was The Chair. Not a chair, but The Chair. It's a rotating chair which is more like the presidency of the EU rather than a chair that rotates. Unlike being president of the EU I didn't get to insult Germans or invite everyone to Rome. I didn't even have a chair that rotates. However, I did have my own agenda.

Posted 9:40 AM by Adam
It's difficult when you're trying to get an essential Monday morning cup of coffee while the kitchen is full of obstructive people gossiping about their weekends. How am I supposed to work in these conditions?