Start my new job tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT!!! A rather relaxed orientation day is planned but I have to bring in my passport and copies of my degree certificates to make it easier for them to get visas for me to work overseas if needs be. Woo.

It's been a great week of not working even if I didn't do as much reading as I had planned. I did manage to see a lot of my friends and their kids, ranging from 11 days old to 4 and a half.
I like kids. And by and large they seem to like me.

Cath and I also completed our Henry IV grand slam by seeing part II the National on Thursday. I'd never read or seen either part I or II but they were cracking. And at £10 a seat it would have been churlish to complain. Michael Gambon was excellent as Falstaff - sometimes slightly unclear but an illuminating performance that brought incredible life to the part. Matthew Macfadyen (him out of Spooks) was prince Hal: I don't know if he's any good he's just dreamy :) But I was particularly taken with David Bradley as King Henry. You might remember him from such movies as Harry Potter (parts 1,2 and 3) where he plays the Hogwarts caretaker. "Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown" he declares at one point and he seemed to manifest this verbally and physically as the play wears on. He's wracked with guilt at his act of userpation but too busy putting down rebellion at home to make his penitential crusade. And then there's his ne'r-do-well son to worry about. Great stuff. And I'll never be able to look at the sea without seeing "the beachy girdle of the ocean, too wide for Neptune's hips". Nice.

I've got this week off as I finish up my holiday entitlement from PeopleCube before starting at ThoughtWorks on Monday. Mostly I've been reading up on Agile Development and Extreme Programming, visiting friends and their kids and generally taking it easy. Yesterday I went back to Oxford to see dad and get started on his tax return. But when I walked through the door I found water pouring through the kitchen ceiling and my aunt frantically deploying buckets, jars and casserole dishes!

It turns out that Bea, our fabulous carer, had been running a bath when her boyfriend called. She got distracted and the rest is soggy history! It had just started to come through the ceiling when I arrived so the problem had been spotted and the bath stopped before it became a complete disaster. We turned off the lights, punched holes in the ceiling to help drainage, ripped up the carpet in the bathroom and waited for the water to stop comming. Soon it did and by then my uncle had arrived. He had brought his tools and we levered up a floorboard in the bathroom to see what we could see. Not a lot it turned out but it was clear that what wiring we could see was away from where the water had lain so we felt confident that once the fittings had dried out (and I gave them a quick go-over with the hair dryer) everything would be fine. I unscrewed all the light fightings in the kitchen and left them to dry and sure enough by that afternoon, we turned the lights on at the mains and all the switches were fine. Normality had returned.

All in all it was quite exciting! And as I reassured Bea, it was great to get rid of the disgusting carpet in the bathroom - who has carpet in the bathroom these days. A sign from God I called it.

Did anyone catch Eddie Mair presenting Newsnight last night? What a god! I don't think I've seen him do telly before and I don't regularly catch PM but he was calmness and authority personified. And funny too. He had none of Paxman's self-satisfied crusading zeal (and I like Paxo) just a quiet intelligence and wit. More please...

Acting on a tip-off from a Mr and Mrs Pritchard of West London, Cath and I went to see the Folk Archive exhibition at the Barbican Gallery on Saturday. It was fascinating and I don't think I've ever been to an exhibition so diverse or one where I was interested in practically everything on display.

It turns out that "Folk Art" is pretty much anything people do or create without really thinking its art. Plus lots of drawings by people in prison (!). So there was a scarecrow designed to look like Michael Jackson, from a village in Leicestershire, there were customised crash helmets, trade union banners, gurning photos, anti-4x4 tickets (genius!). All manner of stuff. There were also videos of various local traditions like the Lewes Bonfire night or the Tar Barrels in Ottery St Mary or the extraordinary Burry Man from South Queensferry.

The exhibition is now closed but is going on tour and you see more pics and get dates at http://www.folkarchive.co.uk/

Well we are 1-0 down and frankly we got spanked. But I didn't get where I am today without a weapons-grade PMA*. So here goes:

• We bowled them out twice
  
• When we played well we really competed
  
• Our batting and catching were bad - but that was a blip, we are good at that stuff
  
• KP fancies it
  
• Erm... that's it
  

* Positive Mental Attitude

Well I don't think I can cope with another day like yesterday. I was bizarely emotionaly downcast by England's wilting in the face of the mighty Glen McGrath yesterday. I'm hoping KP and the Notorious H.O.G can steady the ship today but I'm trying not to invest too much into it (witness the triumph of hope over experience).

Not only that but according to my sources my road was cordoned off last night and I wouldn't have been able to get home. Thank heavens for girlfriends in far places. Cath was a domestic goddess last night producing fine salmon-based dishes for myself and her colleague Cath and her partner Martin. It was a fine night that ended up in mutual promises of outward-bound style canoeing trips!

And then we have today. My last day at DigitalPeople/Intapps/PeopleCube. I joined in the second week of the World Cup in 1998 and boy, does that seem long ago. Not sure if I can concieve of what working anywhere else is going to be like. But if I can make half as many good friends in my new job as I did here I'll be onto a winner.

==UPDATE==
Some pics from the Cabbage Patch - Twickenham's Pub of the Year 2004 and 2005!

First Australia are all out for 190. Then there's a bomb in Shepherds Bush. There's an awful lot to get my head around

So it's started...

From the Guardian

1st over: Australia 9-0 (Langer 3, Hayden 6) Great start for Harmison, who gets Langer playing and missing with his first delivery, before whacking him on the elbow with his second. The bruise has already come up and it looks nasty. After a delay in play while Langer is given the all-clear from the Aussie physio, Harmison steams in ... and lets him off the hook with one on his legs, which is steered away for three. Hayden then plays and misses, before scoring a lucky boundary off his thigh-pad. Eventually nine come off the over, which is a bit unfair considering Harmison produced three beauties.

Not a bad start. But what a morning followed!! Runs, wickets and Steve "Grievous Bodily" Harmison hitting all the Australian top order on the head! At Lunch Australia are 97 - 5 and England walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd :)

COME ON ENGLAND!

At last! The waiting is nearly over and tomorrow the Ashes finally start. I can't remember a series which has been as eagerly anticipated as this one. That's entirely because we haven't won since 1987, but at last we are in with a shout. Australia are still favourites and in my heart of hearts I think they will probably win. But we've got a young team and for once they are used to winning and we all hope it will be close. And if we won... I think the country would go nuts - more even than the Rugby world cup.

The Ashes is a 5 match series but everyone says the first match is going to be key (which is unfortunate as Australia haven't lost at Lords since 1938!). And the first day is going to be crucial. And on the first day, the first session is critical. And that very first ball is going to be absolutely critical - it could set the tone for everything that follows.

I keep going through scenarios, gloomy ones, happy ones, just killing time till it starts. I see us batting first. McGrath to Trescothick.... My happy place sees Tres smash the first ball through the covers for 4. My sad place sees him waft outside off stump and get caught in the slips. Or Australia bat first and first ball, Harmison to Hayden - he gets clean bowled! Or he dispatches a long-hop, no ball for 5 off the first ball. Aaaaaaargh.

Bring it on!

A great cartoon from Steve Bell in the Guardian.

This is a subject I really want to write reams about (Iraq and the London Bombings - not cartoons), if I ever get the chance. But it's my last week at PeopleCube and I've got plenty to do.

We never did make it to Dubrovnik, but a one hour wait for the ferry from Split allowed us a little glimpse of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian in Split. Marble magic.

Yes folks it's Croatia time. Dim the lights, close the curtains, insert the stick in your mouth and bite hard coz it's holiday slideshow time. Hilda - the lights...


OK then - here's charming downtown Bol, on the island of Brac. That's our hotel, the Kastil, behind the big tree. It was simple, clean and charming with a lovely terrace for breakfast. All this eating outside was fantastic. I think we ate every meal outdoors bar one when the wind was really blowing and that really is a treat. Those funny sunshade things are from the outdoor cocktail bar. At £3.50 for champagne cocktails even I'm going to celebrate holiday and a new job like a grown up.


Above is the mystical Zlatni Rat beach. For some crazy reason it defies the laws of physics, the sea and the local golf club and sticks out at 90 degrees to the coast. Thats the kind of performance that guarantees a beach prime postion on EVERY t-shirt, post-card, beach-towel, brochure in town. It's shingle but a nice rounded shingle so its not to brutal on my tender city feet. Round the far side there's nudey bathing - Cath was keen as mustard but I'm afraid I turned my nose up at it. I know we are all very European now but good old-fashioned English repression has got me this far. If it ain't broke....


Bol is big on it's watersports, above and below the waves. It's big on tennis too and Cath and I had a couple of games on the excellent clay courts. We were both keen to try Scuba diving and the good folks at Big Blue Sport let us try out the breathing equipment for free in a hotel pool. We both loved it and I think Cath (above) has found a real new passion. We ended up doing a 3 day course that has left us as PADI certified Scuba Divers. We now need to do another 3 dives + theory to get the full "open water" qualification. We did all our training dives in the sea rather than a swimming pool, with two other Brits, Heather and Vicky, and our redoubtable instructor Cesar. Cesar was lovely and just inspired confidence. In our dives we would kneel on the sea-floor 3 or 4 metres down and watch him as he demonstrated the key skills of clearing your mask and finding your air supply if for any reason it came out. He would remove his breathing tube (Regulator!) and nonchalantly toss it over his shoulder, exhaling gently and then calmly fish it back with his right arm and resume breathing again.

One thing I noticed is that divers seem to be generally nice people not infected with that cooler-than-thou attitude which does seem to strike surfers, snowboarders, windsurfers in particular and, OK, skiers too. I went for a windsurfing lesson and the dude at the beach just seemed to be barely there as he was telling me what to do. I think it's probably because you can't show off as a diver. The better you get at it, the safer you get, not the more gnarly. Having spent evenings in a South African surfing hostel with some mind-numbingly boring surfers I did apreciate it!


Finally here's one of us. We had a great time on our first holiday together. We didn't argue or fight so that's got to be a result, right? My only regret is that we never got the chance to Do the Dudek in a Euro-disco. We hiked up the hill to Faces Discotecque to find it resolutely closed the first time and then nearly deserted the next time we turned up. It was half past midnight but apparently it didnt get going till 2. 2! Duuuuuude. I would have been tempted to stay but the insipid RnB soundtrack was driving me nuts. And you can't have it all.

The most surprising statistic of the holiday was this:
Visibile pictures of Goran Ivanisevic: 2 (only)
- 1 billboard endorsement in Split
- 1 demo of a seaside portait painter's talent (the other on display was Harry Potter!)

The latest on the London bombings (please NOT 7/7!) is that the bombers were 4 lads from Leeds. This is apparently the nightmare scenario. The true nightmare I believe is that this is an open door to hate-mongers in the UK to whip anti-muslim, anti-asian, anti-anyone-who-doesnt-look-like-me feeling. But with this threat comes one positive opportunity I think.

I don't believe you can win a war against terrorism militarily or through intelligence or legislation. The most our government and security forces can do is thwart terrorists from executing their outrages. Of course they can also help in not doing things that will give collateral material to extremists, such as invading Iraq. However we've done that and much as I approve of how Tony Blair has responded to the bombings I WISH someone in the government had the guts to admit that, just possibly, the war in Iraq may have had something to do with it. But no - officially at least, there is no link. For shame.

Terrorism will only be "defeated" when people see a real alternative or no longer believe in its effectiveness, or indeed are no longer attracted to the cause itself. The government can't make that happen; only the Islamic community itself can do that. And that's why I see a crumb of hope in the awful news that the suicide bombers were Brits. Because it will make it starkly clear to community leaders that they must put their house in order. An ostrich-like response is no longer enough, they must take on the extremists and perverters of Islamic doctrine. And this is the glory of free speech: let the extremists talk and identify themselves and then let's take them on. Shine the light of truth on them and they will wilt.

The wider community has a part to play in this. Our part is to support and encourage, to not invade any more countries, to fight Islamaphobia and anything that will give ammunition to people who want to alienate our youth.

At work today I was wondering what I can do. Not much I thought but I wanted to reach out to the Muslim community if only in a small way. So I went up the Shepherds Bush mosque this evening because I wanted to talk to someone. Usually there are people hanging around the front but today there were none. I decided to go inside and taking off my shoes I walked in. The main room was cool and tranquil after the noise of the Uxbridge Road on a very muggy July evening. A few chaps were praying but I approached a man sitting against the back wall.

"Assalam alaikum" I greeted him
"wa alaikum assalam" he replied

He was a small man, probably about 50 years old. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to say but I asked if I could talk to him for a second. It took a while to get the message across but it was clear he was happy to talk to me. I explained that after the events of the last week I was worried about a backlash against the Islamic community and I just wanted to come and say that I was with them and offer my support. He said how awful the bombing had been and what a tragedy for all. I agreed with him on that and thanked him for his time. We shook hands and as I left he said "Thank you, thank you very much, thank you". Maybe it was just gesture politics on my part but it felt like something worth doing.

Before I get round to posting the full details of our trip to Croatia (lovely, thanks for asking) I thought I'd post two excellent reads.

Here's a really interesting post-bombing article by the always excellent John Lanchester in the Guardian.

And having finally been able to put it down (because I've finished it) I can get to the keyboard and praise The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay to the skies. A birthday present from Nick Nugent it's the best thing I've read in ages. If ever something was THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL this is it: the writting is brilliant; the story-telling is excellent; it's moving and eloquent and oh! Wonderful.

Dramatic scenes...

Change is afoot....

I have a new job!!!!

I'm so excited. After 7 years at PeopleCube its going to be a big, big change but I'm ready. I've had a great time in my last job, met some fantastic people and learned a lot. But I haven't learned much new for a long time. But my new role at Thoughtworks is going to mean a lot of learning and I can't wait. They specialise in Agile Development and eXtreme Programming (!!) and I'm really interested in this new approach: part of me thinks it's brilliant, part of me thinks it can't work....

I handed my notice in today (1 month) so I hope I can start at the start of August. Woo and indeed Hoo!!

Some other items of late news...

Went with Cath and some friends to the Twenty20 cricket at the Oval today. Went to another game at Lords last week. What I noticed at Lords was that even though it was practically sold out there was very little atmosphere, it was such an un-partisan crowd: everyone was there for the craic, for a night out at Lords. And why not, it was great fun. But the Oval today was much more lively. Might have been the rain which fell practically continuously and caused an interuption of about half an hour which allowed everyone to get more, erm, refreshed.

The highlight was a massive 6 over mid-wicket, caught in the crowd by lad a few rows in front of us. He got a massive cheer and thus emboldened he rushed forward, vaulted the barrier and dived full length over the boundary rope. The crowd went wild. And so did "Security". To a chorus of boos he was leaped upon and marched off by two guards. The heavy hand of the law.

Before that Cath and I enjoyed much drier entertainment at the Wireless festival on Wednesday in Hyde Park. It was no Glastonbury, but great weather and good music made it a great evening out. Headlining act were Keane. Hmmm. I don't mind them, they've got some great songs and they seem like nice lads but just not headline material in my books. They seemed chuffed to be there though - so fair play to 'em. Highlight for me was the showing by the Wainwright family.

First up was Rufus Wainwright on the mainstage. His rendition of the Leonard Cohen-penned and Jeff Buckley-imortalised Hallelujah was extraordinary and brought tears to my eyes.

He was joined by sister Martha for a charming duet, and then popped up again in Martha's set (He also did some backing vocals for Keane - the big tart!) Martha's own show was great. She has got such a wonderful voice, and such a sexy stage presence. She really works the hips while playing that guitar. Yowza!


What else...

Here's some pictures from Lords. Old father time. And a clock ;)