Brawn, Button, Barrichello, Brisbane... Brilliant

Congratulations to Jenson Button. After what must have been the worst winter of his sporting life JB came good and demonstrated his class by winning the first Grand Prix of the year with style. As a lifelong Formula One fan it is great to see the new team getting one over on the big boys. If Brawn, Williams, Red Bull etc can keep this up we are in for a vintage championship. Here’s hoping.

http://www.jensonbutton.com

Summer Time, The Vardon Grip and Wanderlust.

Longer evenings, better weather….. great. I shouldn’t wish my life away but the change in time is like throwing off the yoke of a long cold winter. I really feel the effects of the cold and the lack of light (SAD Syndrome) and get a real surge of optimism as the evenings stretch out.

A colleague has left a golf club propped against his desk in the office and given my addiction to that sport the driving range will have to be visited tonight to start practising in earnest, for the coming season! It’s the same every year. Despite my annual new year’s resolution to practice long and hard at the floodlit range during the winter months I still arrive in April checking my stance, re-learning the Vardon grip and trying to swing through the ball instead of hitting at it.

I’m sitting here looking down Belfast lough this morning, and whilst the sun is not ‘splitting the trees’ it is glinting off the hull of the Seacat (fast ferry from Scotland) as it makes it way up the channel to its berth in Belfast docks. A very pleasant morning all things considered.

My lifelong urge to travel comes a close second to my golfing affliction in the amount of time I spend day dreaming. A much more pleasant use of my valuable time than concentrating on boring old work related subjects! The In-tray is pretty much up to date so, roll on lunch time and lets see if BA, Aer Lingus, Easyjet etc have any deals. With the credit crunch biting, actually going to all those places may have to wait, but since planning is almost as much fun as the actual travelling I think I’ll put a dollop of icing on this rather fine day and surf the travel sites for a while.

St Patrick's Day

A day off, good weather, walk the dog and play a bit of golf.... perfect.



Took the dog for a walk in the park on Tuesday and enjoyed the feeling that spring is well on it's way with trees and flowers starting to bud. The work on putting in the new pathways is coming along nicely. No wonder people in Ballymoney were found (in a survey last year) to have the longest life expectancy in NI. With the Sustrans initiative and the new paths / cycleways etc there is no excuse not to be able to get out and enjoy our environment.

What a weekend.

Thank goodness for a day off. Last weekend was spent in Belfast and didn’t quite go as planned. After a nice afternoon on Friday we went to see ‘The Troubles according to my Da’ at the Grand Opera House. This play is an absolute scream and despite being based on a difficult time in our history manages to bring out the humour as well as the lunacy of our past. All three actors were excellent with the character ‘Fireball’ being a total hoot. Anybody who has lived in Belfast has met a Fireball; someone who knows everyones business and how the system works, or at least thinks he does!
After the theatre we had a nice stroll (the weather was very mild) and dined at a local restaurant. Unfortunately the weekend went pear shaped just as we were enjoying our coffees and planning what to do and see over the weekend. The wife went a very strange shade of green and became incapacitated with agonising stomach pains. Medical consultation and a sleepless night later things were a little better, but not much. As the theatre tickets and weekend break was part of a present for my recent birthday the wife gamely tried to make Saturday happen with a short stroll along the towpath; but to no avail (we had to abandon the walk at the Lagan weir just after looking at the big fish sculpture and the flowers netxt to it). The only silver lining to the whole situation was that we had no option but to watch the Six Nations matches! Ireland got their act together in the second half and got the right result. We can only hope that next weekend in Wales the grand slam nerves don’t get the better of them. The Welsh will be hard to beat if they are allowed to get the same sort of start as the Scots were last weekend.
Luckily things were looking up on Monday so we were able to go and see Lionel Richie in concert at the Odyssey arena. Admittedly, when the tickets were bought I went along because the wife is a fan. However, the show was excellent and well worth the effort. I’m not sure what age Lionel is but he can still put on a great show.

A complimentary pint awaits ...

Having mentioned that I was going to try and put a bit more Ballymoney into the blog I received a kind comment from Silverback (ex Ballymoney man currently enjoying the warmer climes of Florida; also the producer of a very swish blog retirement-rocks complete with video etc).

He mentioned his family's preference for Olpherts Butchers and wondered if they were still in business. As a newcomer to Ballymoney I didn't know but decided to check.

Therefore on Saturday I located Olphert butchers who it turns out are still operating in Victoria Street and had a good chat with the very pleasant and helpful staff as they sorted out my meat order for the weekend. (The meat turned out to be excellent)

When I mentioned the fact that I was in their shop primarily due to a comment from Florida via the internet by the above mentioned Silverback, the owner was 'tickled pink' as they say and stated that the next time Silverback was back in Ballymoney he should pop in and they would buy him a pint!

On a related theme I also checked out the Peppercorn restaurant and whilst unable to test the quality of their soda farls took a snap to prove it exists. In contrast to the other coffee shops in the town with large windows to entice the customer in, the Peppercorn has a rather discreet doorway and stairway to a first floor restaurant.

Ballymoney's many attractions!

As a follow on from our rapid circumnavigation of Ballymoney yesterday we (being relative newcomers to the town) noticed that the main street (no longer than the length of a good shot with a three wood) is home to no less than five butchers. Add to this another couple or possibly three and we have eight butchers serving a small market town. This does not include the temple to Mammon (aka Tesco) lurking at the bottom of the town.

We in Ballymoney may not have a lot of variety but what we do have; we have a lot of them! This also appears true of coffee shops, churches etc. I cannot in all honesty say that the town is a great destination for someone looking to enjoy haute cuisine in the evening but should you fancy a decent cup of coffee on the way to the butchers, you will be spoilt for choice!

Therefore in an attempt to get blogging on something that actually reflects the title of the blog I will endeavour to bring to the world of Blog, ‘Mortimer Recommends…’, a short series on the delights of Ballymoney. I’m not sure whether to start with something frothy and do coffee shops or try for something more meaty and do an expose on butchers or aim to be a little more uplifting and show you the religious options in the borough. After traipsing around the town researching these options I suppose the best course of action will be to do a tour of the hostelries… or maybe the best place to start?

Spring has Sprung!

Finally, after interminable months of winter weather and dark miserable days, life is returning to Norn Iron. The lighter evenings are a joy to behold. As someone who suffers from SAD Syndrome, especially during the two months after Christmas, the return of light and the first hint of warmth; is sheer joy. This last weekend the sight of the narcissi coming into bloom in the front garden and the very mild weather encouraged me to get into the garden to start the early spring tidy up.

A bonus was found in the garden shed where my stack of pots filled with tulip bulbs are starting to come to life. About half of the pots have shoots appearing above the compost and even just setting them around the patio and garden was a wonderful tonic.

After the daily drag down and back up the M2 it is great to get out and breathe the spring air. Speaking of which, the wife has agreed to join a team taking part in the relay race at the Belfast marathon to raise money for cancer charities in memory of a friend who died of the disease at the end of last year. As a somewhat reluctant fitness fanatic, I (in a moment of weakness) offered to help her get up to speed (literally) in time for May. This involved the normally relaxed Sunday afternoon lap of Ballymoney assuming a whole new character. More like a forced march, than a dander, if you know what I mean. Forty minutes to the Portrush roundabout seemed good progress to me only to be followed by a burst of speed up to the old Coleraine road and then down through the town and back across the park to give the dog one last good run. I have to admit that as I sank into the armchair the sense of wellbeing almost cancelled out the sore feet!

FOLK ACT RACHEL UNTHANK & THE WINTERSET PERFORM IN BALLYMONEY

I went to see Rachel Unthank and her band in the town hall on Wednesday last. Their music is dark and moody and perhaps not to everyones taste. They are however excellent musicians and produced a wonderfully atmospheric performance; even including some Northumbrian clog dancing to finish the first half of the evening.  As the wife was unable to go due to other commitments I attended on my own; something I quite like. Musical taste is such an individual thing that it is sometimes difficult to enjoy a gig when it becomes apparent that the other half doesn’t share your opinion. As a singleton you have the luxury to enjoy or leave early as appropriate. On this occasion leaving early would have been a mistake as the second half contained some if the best music of the night. The four girls in the band, singing unaccompanied in harmony, produced some wonderful tunes. During the interval I met Robbie Burns (not the original admittedly) a photographer and new resident in Snowdonia, finding out what the band sounded like, whilst on a visit back home. A very interesting chat during the interval included such things as the benefit of living abroad. One of my ‘soapbox’ rants when provoked, involves my theory that all Northern Irish should be sent abroad at the age of 18 and not allowed back for a couple of years. It was agreed that some exposure to the wider world would enable the local population to get their issues into perspective. As someone who loves travel I am somewhat biased in this respect but will continue to bang on about until told to shut up!

A band well worth seeing and should you want to find out more try the hyperlinks below. The following is extracted from the blurb on the leaflet advertising the event. Forging links between folk worlds old, new and other, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset have blown a bracing north easterly gale through traditional English song, casting it in an endlessly inventive and playful new mould. The geordie quartet brought their unique blend of folk to North West audiences when they stopped off in Ballymoney Town Hall on Wednesday 4 February. Subverting folk music with love and authority, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset have been heralded for their unique ability to communicate traditional music to unforgiving mainstream audiences.  Singing in their own lilting Geordie accents, they have been described by poet Ian MacMillan as the "inheritors, curators and gleeful distorters" of Tyneside's traditions and since first emerging in 2004 have gained a disparate legion of fans including Robert Wyatt, Kate Rusby, Paul Morley, Tracey Thorn, Nic Jones, Phill Jupitus and Joan As Policewoman. A modern-day girl band with an antiquated twist, The Winterset is led by Rachel Unthank on vocals and cello and features her sister Becky Unthank on additional vocals, Niopha Keegan on violin, accordion and voice and Stef Conner on piano.  Using discreetly provocative arrangements this intriguing quartet’s take on folk music is peerless, fearless and wholeheartedly brave as they fuse elements of blues, jazz, burlesque cabaret, classical and leftfield contemporary styles of music together and deliver songs inspired by old, new and imaginatively borrowed tales of booze, brawls, abuse, loss, fear, infantile death, depravity and sorrow.

For full tour information and booking details, please log onto www.movingonmusic.co.uk. For further information on Rachel Unthank and the Winterset visit www.rachelunthank.com

 

Farewell John Martyn

Just noticed on the BBC website that legendary musician John Martyn passed away this morning. Discovering his seminal album 'Solid Air' was an important moment in my own musical education. The title track was dedicated to Nick Drake and is a sublime piece of music. A lifestyle that must have put great strain on his health was also attributed with helping him produce exciting innovative music. With songs such as 'May you never' and 'Sweet Little Mystery' he has left a wonderful legacy.

Check out YouTube for clips of him in action. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc

Have a look on Amazon for a copy. http://www.amazon.co.uk/

EMC 250 Motocross Memories

A new year and a bit of reminiscing with a work colleague about motorbikes led to memories of an old motocross racing bike I once owned. It was an EMC and was designed and built by a brilliant engineer call Mike Eatough. It had the longest suspension travel of any ‘twin shock’ bike of its generation. (assuming my memory is correct!) After some legal issues, subsequent bikes were produced under the Cotton EMX name.
A bit of googling produced a YouTube clip showing some examples of the bike being built. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbZiiGGTi4 Just the same as my one, well, apart from being nice and new. The earlier frame was chromed and a real work of art. Unfortunately this stiffened the frame and it tended to crack due to the forces exerted by competition. The later ones were painted and worked extremely well.
It’s nice to see engineers hand making exhausts etc, although the factory looks more ‘traditional’ than the gleaming production facilities of the big manufactures nowadays.