Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence is one of those songs that has been covered so many times over the years. There's nothing wrong with a cover version, but most of them don't really stand out. There are exceptions. Disturbed's rendition of "Sound of Silence" is exceptional. The vocal range of lead singer David Draiman is truly impressive and this version of the … [Read more...] about Sound of Silence
A New Low: I’m Now Excited by Dining Room Tables
It's been a long 15 months. I have now reached the stage of my existence where I am genuinely excited by a dining room table. A table. What have I become? Admittedly it is a very nice table, but it's still a table! When I bought this house it was fully furnished. Of course the quality and style of the furniture wasn't exactly wonderful, but the dining room table was … [Read more...] about A New Low: I’m Now Excited by Dining Room Tables
Irish Accents are Insanely Diverse
Ireland is not a big country. We're a small island. But we do have a lot of very different accents. Even within a very small area accents change dramatically. The late Niall Tóibín did a very clever piece where he "toured" the country's accents starting up north. I'm not sure how well non-Irish people cope with this sort of thing, but I find it very entertaining. … [Read more...] about Irish Accents are Insanely Diverse
French Vaccination Advert
You don't need to speak French to understand the message behind this advert from the French health authorities: The key message in the French campaign is, roughly translated, that which each vaccination we're all getting back to normal life. "A chaque vaccination c'est la vie qui reprend" and the other part of it is the simple message: "Tous vaccinés, tous … [Read more...] about French Vaccination Advert
The Satisfaction of Eating Your own Fruit
For the last couple of years I've had a couple of berry bushes that produce very small amounts of fruit. Not enough to do anything with. This year, however, I've got quite a few things planted that will hopefully produce fruit and vegetables in usable quantities. The first fruit to produce a crop was one of my strawberry plants that gave me enough decent sized … [Read more...] about The Satisfaction of Eating Your own Fruit