This evening Wendy’s brother came over and we went out for dinner together in town (as I write this, we are home, it’s nearly midnight, and we’ve hit the columbian coffee… well, apart from Wendy who is drinking tea).

We went to a pub on the station road (so-called because the railway station is on it) called “The Donkey”. The pub was named after a railway engine that used to haul logs from the saw mills at Marlow to the goods yards at Bourne End and Maidenhead many moons ago.

Since moving to Marlow perhaps 6 years ago now I have been in the Donkey about 3 times. Each time was completely un-inspiring. It was always a typical town pub - almost always deserted, with a staff that gave the impression they would be anywhere else if they had a chance. Then about a month ago while cycling to work I passed the Donkey, and it was covered in scaffolding. “Ah, they must have shut it down…”

About three weeks later we were walking into town one night to have dinner with friends at a pub, and nearly didn’t recognise “The Donkey”. Smart tables and chairs bedecked a patio reaching up to the public footpath, and through the warm lighting from inside we saw groups of friends nestled around oak tables in wonderful surroundings with friendly staff and wonderful food. Have you ever been on the way somewhere and suddenly realised that you wished you had been going somewhere else? We know we did.

Tonight we finally made our way (in a somewhat circumspect manner) to The Donkey. Erase all previous experiences of the place. Erase all damning comments about the place. We now have the best pub in town on our doorstop. Wonderful atmosphere. Wonderful staff. Wonderful food. What more can you ask for… of course, the worry is now that when we both arrive home from work late we are going to take the Donkey option for dinner rather than go and buy food. We are already considering it for Christmas dinner.

Aside from the wonderful evening spent with Wendy and her brother, something quite unexpected happened late in the evening. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with two or three drinks and a third of a bottle of wine, but it happened all the same…

We were sitting (as you do) discussing life, the universe and everything, and I was actually keeping up with the conversation. This is unheard of in recent experience - I drift off very easy if my work or other things are pressing on my mind. In the middle of the conversation “Fields of Gold” by Eva Cassidy crept from the speakers around the pub.

Quite unobtrusively I dropped out of the conversation and found myself sat in our lounge several weeks ago listening to my best friend play guitar and sing a song she had written. I have a strange feeling that Wendy knew it had happened too - after a short while her toes rubbed my leg without breaking step in the conversation she was having across the table from me. (How do women do that multi-tasking thing?).

After changing subjects several times, we ended up talking about various family problems and friendship, and I had to admit that my closest friend is somebody I met on the internet. We generally “catch up” every day - and bizarrely miss each other if we miss a session. Our conversations range from the mundane to the truly bizarre, and yet they are always easy. We don’t have to try to make conversation - it just seems to find it’s own way from the recesses of our mind, with no censorship or preparation.

I guess there should be a good “thought” for the weekend to end on here somewhere. Maybe it should be to value our friends (if we have them), and to hope that others might enjoy the same quality or level of friendship that we sometimes take for granted. In my own quiet way I think the world of my friends, but I don’t always let them know that.

You know who you all are. Have a great weekend :)

I uploaded a raft of photographs to Flickr last night. This followed the purchase of a “Pro” account. I have this amazing digital camera that I rarely use, so perhaps this will nudge me into using it a little more. Expect lots of artsy shots to arrive soon.

In the meantime, here’s some of the photos I have uploaded…

Feel free to comment :)

I just played Chess on the internet for the first time in ages, and got resoundingly thrashed twice in a row. It may have had something to do with the glass of wine I just drank, but I’m not so sure.

I used to play chess a lot - I’ve read books about it, and studied the history of the game (there are some fantastic stories of people going off the rails). I’ve always been fascinated with it - maybe because it’s something I’m never going to master. I bore of things that “I can do”.

Playing chess well requires hard work, and practice - neither of which I have done for months now. Hell - I haven’t played an “over the board” game with anybody for perhaps four months. That’s unheard of.

Half the reason for playing chess this evening is a conversation I had with a friend today where I asked for suggestions for “things to do to relax”. Chess was one of the activities - as was drawing, or reading.

I’m still half-way through Anna Karenina, and enjoying it. I might go to bed early actually, and read a bit more of it. It’s about time I had an early night.

This evening finds me re-discovering free time, wine, and most importantly music. I haven’t done this in ages - there is a value to be had from relaxing in a dark room with good music. There is another value to be had from discovering new musicians.

I am nearly out of chocolate. The music has been that good.

Tonight’s musical discoveries were made while burrowing through the jumble sale that is the emusic website. Standouts have to be Dar Williams, Lisa Loeb, and Jill Sobule. I have linked their names through to the capsule biographies on emusic to avoid either me repeating everything they have said, or getting the pants sued off me for plagiarism.

Oh dear. Just ran out of wine.

Isn’t it weird how some people prefer female singers, and others prefer male. Perhaps it’s a stereotype that they prefer to listen to or watch the opposite sex. I can only speak for myself, and I typically find myself listening to female singer songwriters more than anything else.

I find myself in the privilaged position of knowing a wonderful singer-songwriter. I admire many things about her, but the thing I admire most is the talent she has - and the effect that talent can have on those around her when she chooses to show it. It reminds me of the Abba lyrics - “I have a talent, a wonderful thing - everyone listens when I start to sing”. I’ve seen it happen with the person I’m talking about…

It makes me wonder if it’s a conscious thing - if people with that talent consciously switch it on and off, or if they are completely oblivious to the effect they have on people around them. In terms of my friend I suspect she knows, but chooses not to take advantage of it. This sounds like a very noble position to take, but is probably normal for most people in one way or another - we could all be demeaning to people less fortunate than ourselves, but the idea never enters our head.

What am I saying here?

Wine, chocolate, a darkened room, and singer songwriters. That’s what I’m saying.

Over the last few weeks I have been busy re-styling the PluggedOut website, and have started writing regular posts over there on the thing that interests me most - “interesting stuff I find on the internet”.

Something has surprised me.

I have been writing regular entries on PluggedOut for perhaps the last two weeks, and as a result (as far as I can determine) the number of people tracking the feed has risen by 100%.

It’s going to be interesting over the coming weeks to see if the trend continues.

I forgot to say… while on holiday in Turkey we went out for dinner one evening in nearby Fethiye, and while eating the main course, our host for the evening (the owner of the hotel), suddenly drops this bombshell…

“I discovered your blog on the internet earlier today.”

Oh. My. God. That was a first. Somebody I don’t really know found my blog. My nerves were calmed slightly by the next words he volunteered (I may have blurted out something like “REALLY!” as the rest of the people around the table - about 10 of them - fell silent).

“It inspired me to create my own blog.”

At that point I probably calmed down a bit, and Wendy was preparing to hit me with a large heavy object for talking about anything vaguely connected with computers or the internet while on holiday (supposedly a holiday away from said subjects).

So there you are. We go on holiday to the back end of nowhere, and somebody turns round to me and tells me they found my blog that very morning… small world.

For the past couple of days I have been looking at various means of organising my life a little better. I tend to forget where I should be or what I should be doing rather too often.

This “organisation” probably requires no more than some kind of to-do list that I keep on top of, and a calendar.

I used to have a Filofax which worked well as a calendar, but it didn’t help in terms of reminding me about anything. Sat on the desk next to me is a Palm organiser. It is probably the best “magic bullet” I have that could help me, but I need to get into a routine of using it, and carrying it with me.

I have also looked at various internet solutions - including BackPack - an online organiser that has to-do lists, pages for you to write, and so on. It all looks very nice, but it costs money and I don’t know if I would use it if I paid for it (perhaps that is a motivation in itself though - if you pay for something, are you more likely to use it?).

The Palm Organiser looks like it’s going to win the battle, but it very much depends on me using it much more regularly than I do at the moment. I need to put reminders in the calendar. I need to write to-do lists and tick them off. I need to basically “act”, and not sit here writing a blog about it.

Of course, I am sitting here writing about the thought of doing something. That’s a pretty high level of procrastination, isn’t it - writing about the thought of getting off my ass.

Changing subject violently, I did achieve something yesterday that’s nearly worth noting… I sorted out my RSS feeds, and added a little doobry to my blog called “Grazr”. It lets you persuse the same things that I do. If you go to LifeAndTimes and look in the right margin, you will see a little box with folders in - that’s the RSS feeds I follow. Rather clever, no?

Anyway - it’s lunchtime and I have a date with a tub of biscuits.

Yes, I know… this post is a little “out of the ordinary” even for me. I love playing chess though, so I’m excusing myself from any finger pointing for quite the geekiest post I have probably ever written on this blog.

The second game of the Chess World Championships is under way in Elista, Russia. It’s a little strange in that this is a “Unification” match. In the early 1990s Gary Kasparov split away from FIDE, the governing body of world Chess to form the “Professional Chessplayers Association”.

The players taking part are Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. Both are perhaps surprising in that they look normal. As much as I like playing chess, I have to admit that some people who play the game… how do I put this… don’t get out much.

I once went to a Chess Club. Yes. I’ll admit it. I only went the once though. While perhaps 50% of the people there were the kind you might meet walking down the street and not take a second glance at, the rest were the kind of people you never see in daylight. Their palid skin and absence of social skills reflected that lifestyle choice too. I’m not blaming them - no doubt they would have crushed me over the chessboard, but this relates back to a conversation I had with somebody recently.

For me, chess is a game. I play it to “play the game” - not necessarily to win. I have friends who also play, and they sometimes surprise me with their drive - their determination - and the dissappointment they display if they do badly at something.

I was brought up believing that the fun is in the playing of a game - not just the winning, and that losing can teach you volumes about yourself and others if you choose to let it. There is a famous quote, isn’t there - that you cannot claim a great victory until you have experienced a great loss.

Right - back to the ongoing match (which is happening on a laptop screen via live relay from Russia on the desk to my left - isn’t the internet great).

In the first game, Topalov threw the kitchen sink at Kramnik and almost had him, but made a small mistake near the end of the game and lost. (Somewhat) interestingly, Kramnik is regarded as the more boring player of the two - he will take a draw even if the other player sneezes and it sounds like “draw” - whereas Topalov is the risk taker. That pattern is repeating in game 2, they are currently at move 20, and Topalov has thrown a figurative spanner across the chess board at Kramnik to see if he can catch it. Kramnik has had his head in his hands for 20 minutes now. The spanner must have hurt.

If anybody else is interested in watching the games on the internet - or reading about the match, there are a variety of places you can do it…

Chessbase (there is a link to the live moves)
FICS (you will need software though)
Official FIDE Site

So there you go… the World Chess Championship is under way once more. The names of the holders are all historically famous - Kasparov, Karpov, Spassky, Fischer, Steinitz, Botvinnik, Lasker. What chess really needs is another lunatic like Bobby Fischer to come along…

For the first time since last weekend I have what appears to be a Sunday to myself. I’m probably going to fill it with all manner of activities that are on the “would like to do when I have time” list - like creating a good set of bookmarks of the pages I visit regularly, or a good OPML file containing all the feeds that I regularly peruse.

I also have some tidying up to do around the house, but that’s not really going to take very long.

btw - if anybody is using Google Talk (jonathan.beckett), Yahoo Messenger (jonbeckett73), MSN Messenger (jonbeckett73), or Skype (jonbeckett73) feel free to hit me up!

Coffee… I need coffee.

Today finds me having not written anything in my blog for a week, and wondering what to write. It’s been a long time since I have written so few posts, and I have no idea why.

Perhaps it a biorhythm thing. Who knows. All I know for certain is that I could really eat a pizza, some chocolate ice cream, and whatever other crap I can lay my hands on.