Icarus @ 59 # 115 The Brighton Marathon Edition

When Abbi offered to run with her mum as she trained for the  marathon on holiday last year, she didn't expect to get whopped. But even with all the training and the best will in the world, Diane has been ill for the last ten days and spent most of last weekend in bed, it was a small miracle that she got round the course. But it was perfect weather, dull, cloudy and cool, just right so that helped, so too the water carriers. Twenty-six point two miles ran and nearly £700 raised for a good charitable cause: we are all very proud of her.

Icarus @59 # 115

And there we were, just strolling into town when we spotted a brand new Banksy on an old theme - yay! The kissing cops are back and gay pride is still a long way off. This famous iconic figure was originally about two feet tall and sits outside a pub just down from the station. The new one is twenty feet up and a good twenty feet tall, cracking! Me and Dan spotted it at the same time and we knew instantly it was new because we walk down there all the time. The building is the old Gloucester nite club, which hasn't managed to stay open for years - it was a big student venue once. But look to the right and you can see Brighton architecture juxtaposed at its best, the old and the new. One of these days I will get a better picture (Brighton was heaving with cars). And today, as the runners run the Brighton marathon, the kissing men will let them pass on by, without a judgemental eye, and the passers by will only cast them a glance, followed by a smile as wry as the weather. Happy Sunday - I love this tune:

Icarus @ 59 # 114

One of the things Dan told me about visiting the orphanage in Tanzania was the fun they had with his camera when he turned the viewfinder so the kids could see themselves in it. Its a new take on a selfie and I love the top picture because he is having such a laugh. But look what happens when you give a little kid the camera to play with. Suddenly they are taking pictures of you, isn't it great to see? And a great memory for Dan to have. But I am mostly mentioning this today because its his birthday. Happy Nineteenth Birthday Dan, already a man with left leaning opinions and attitude to life. He loaded these two pictures onto a FB page, all 100 of them and he is editing a film too. On Tuesday we all fly to San Francisco together and we will link up with Abbi - yay! The Tanzania trip he did on his own and is full of memories that slowly filter out as stories. I am looking forward to hearing more on the plane. This is Dan's favourite band, its a green day, happy birthday Dan:

Icarus @ 59 # 113

I have posted this picture before and indeed I enclosed it in one of my books but it still tickles me. What would you choose, inner or outer hope, I remember my response was the Hope and Anchor which is also a choice but I guess that makes me a little shallow. I try not to worry about it. My Dad was a coal miner and the most sensible advice he gave me was, 'Andy, always work on the surface...' I have been doing that all my academic life. Soon enough people will come to discover I really am that shallow - huh, fat chance, or is that slim chance? I guess if I keep asking questions I will be able to survive long enough until the answers have exhausted everyone. One of my Dad's favourite questions was, If it takes a man a week to walk a fortnight, how long does it take him to scratch his wooden leg until it bleeds? I never did find the answer to that one. But I live in - hmm - hope! And as I recall he never missed a 'huntegowk' opportunity either. When I was a child we had a kaleidoscope in the house. It could have belonged to anyone of us but I loved it. This clip starts with a kaleidoscope and music to support it from My Friend the Chocolate Cake which is just about the best name for a band; a kaleidoscope, chocolate cake, this Cello Song for Charlie, oh and a naked woman in the bushes (well) comfort food for the senses:

Icarus @ 59 # 112

Working in a University can be the strangest experience. Most of the time the picture on the left is the norm for me. Even on holiday I get up and read, research and write, working on my own a great deal of the time when I am not teaching - which I only do 24 weeks out of any year. The picture on the left is me on holiday working before the rest of the house wakens. Its a heady life, I guess, beavering away, followed by a swim and a breakfast on the verandah. Hard to complain about it. And the picture on the right is the pomp and ceremony, the graduation ceremony and the best bit about the job. But often these pictures hide the fact that there is an entire micro-living going on in Universities all the time. I am ever astonished by the way we can move from a gritty debate on Dante, to a (not always complimentary) discussion about latest management initiatives and then to be with the same colleagues as they deal with pastoral issues with such a delicate and dedicated nature. The job is a strange one, you are involved in people's lives all the time and an intellectual rationale can be followed by an arm on someone's shoulder - and it is just as likely to be a nineteen-year-old undergraduate as a Deputy Vice Chancellor. Sure we hear grumbles about long teaching semesters and marking and suchlike but I like working at the University of Winchester and I like my colleagues and students very much, all of it, the whole day-to-day, year-on-year challenge. Every day is a reminder about how good life and people can be. There is only one song - bring it on Joe Walsh, life's been good to me so far:

Icarus @ 59 # 111

Ooh, yesterday was one of those days when everything goes to plan. All the funding bids submitted, marking on track, stuff done on time and I even had time for a walk in the sun and then a strum on this guitar as I cooked food for the evening (and for tonight - division of my own labour, two meals out of one set of ingredients). It was a making hay day, and its great when it comes off. But then again, time management is another lesson we all need to learn. I mean yesterday I shopped, wrote, relaxed, wrote, read (lots), walked, strolled, cooked, read and read and read and still had time to play this guitar. Indeed today I played something I never have before, because thats what improvising does and I have always improvised in thinking through tunes. But oh, and oh again, this wee guitar is a star and a treat to fiddle around with. this was one of the first songs I ever learned to play... goodness, I was 13, yikes, 46 years ago... but look at this film, one guy and a guitar at Woodstock... all those people... if i were a carpenter, would you marry me anyway, would you have my baby...