There's going to be a significant shift in style and focus with my blog from now on. I don't know how many people read it, but I know at least a few who do who may be disappointed to hear this. However, the old posts will always be there to take a look at and enjoy.
When I talk about this shift in style, what I mean is that instead of it being a traditional rant about some trivial crap each time, instead I'm going to write about whatever I want in whatever mood I want to write about it in. It's basically going to be a regular blog reflecting on my thoughts or siginificant moments in my life. If you're wondering why I'm easing off my idiosyncratic ranting style, it's simply because I can't sustain it for much longer. When I first started writing this, I wanted to have an angle to make myself stand out, and I did this through ranting. But it tires after a while, and in this case I'm the one that's tired perhaps before other people are. My output has been lessening over the last few months simply because I can't think of anything to rant about in such detail as before. If you want proof of my difficulty in sustaining this blog as it is, check out the atrocity that was my last entry.
I'm always going to moan about something though, and it will be a staple of my blog entries to come, just not as the sole purpose of it. If I can put in a few funny lines in each entry I'll be happy, but of course you'll be the judge of that. Hopefully people will still be interested in what I have to say, but if you only read it just to see me overreact and be an idiot in general, that's dead in the water now.
To kick start this off, I'll briefly discuss a holiday I had at the beginning of the month to the whisky paradise of Islay. Islay, for those of you who don't know, is the southernmost of the Inner Hebrides (Western Isles of Scotland). Its major claim to fame is that it has eight working distilleries on it, some of which produce what are considered the finest single malts in the world. On my short three or four days there I visited Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain were presumably closed or didn't have visitor centres, either way we didn't visit them on the tour.
Islay itself is a nice but not amazingly interesting island, bar a few celtic crosses and the seat of the Lord of the Isles at Finlaggan. However the weather was great most of the time and the distillery tours were always interesting. Lagavulin was the best though. We had a warehouse tasting session there, and I was lucky enough to try new make spirit, ten years old, fourteen years old, eighteen years old, double matured and a rare cask strength expression, all straight from the barrel. I even got to siphon the eighteen years old Laguvalin right from the barrel, to be poured for the rest of the visitors.
I'd love to say more about my Islay trip but I'm going on a bit with this entry. All I'll say is any whisky lover should book an Islay tour; you won't regret it. Next time, I'll say a few words about a sketch show I've been in involved in.
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
Chaotic place names
As you may have noticed it's been ages since I posted anything here. The reason is that I'm completely out of ideas. Ideas which are suitable for this blog as it has come to be. Unfortunately this is a young blog and a certain amount is expected from it before I can relax and write whatever I want without feeling the need to be funny all the time. That time I feel has not yet come and so I'll continue to pidgeonhole myself into being a vaguely angry person commenting on mundane issues.
And so I'll have a whinge about place names that annoy me to varying degrees. This is only because I have absolutely nothing else to say. I told people I wouldn't bother with this but I'm desperate.
The town Dumbarton in the west of Scotland was the administrative centre for the old county of Dunbartonshire, which later became East and West Dunbartonshire. What's the problem with that? Well, it seems fine until you notice that it's DuMbarton and DuNbartonshire. Why? I don't know, but in my very mild obsession for order it seems wrong that the shire is spelt with an N and the town with an M. It just seems like a mistake. I don't know why they've done this to me.
I also hate that Northampton is the centre of Northamptonshire, but Southampton isn't the centre of Southamptonshire. No, that place doesn't exist; instead it's just Hampshire. Nobody else cares about things like this but it annoys me because its uneven, or asymmetrical, or whatever the precise term for this is. They should rename Hampshire Southamptonshire. If Northamptonshire didn't exist as a county, I probably wouldn't be bothered.
Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire is a pair I hate as well. Why the hell can't it be East and West Renfrewshire. The precedent for that has been set by East and West Dunbartonshire (grr), and similarly North and South Lanarkshire, and East, Mid and West Lothian. Orderly groupings as you have seen. Renfrewshire and then East Renfrewshire just annoys me, much like Virginia and West Virginia, although they are states with an extensive history and not arbitrary local council divisions that can be changed at a whim, and thus they are forgiven. Also forgiven are the Ayrshires, which have all but a West Ayshire, since that would have to be in the Irish Sea somewhere.
Another one which I find annoying but no one else will are the northern English counties. There's Cumbria, formerly known as Cumberland, and Northumberland. The thing that winds me up is that fact that when the divisions changed they renamed Cumberland Cumbria, thus removing the order established by having two 'umberland counties. They should change it back to Cumberland, or rename Northumberland Northumbria, like the old kingdom was called.
North Africa and South Africa is a bad case of chaotic place naming. South Africa is a country, in southern Africa which is a geographic region. Thus southern Africa's counterpart should be northern Africa. Instead people refer to northern Africa usually as North Africa. It's just wrong. If anything should be North Africa it should be the name of some non-existent country in northern Africa to keep the balance right. To further complicate issues, the America's are always known as North and South, which should be wrong because of South Africa. I'd be tempted to say that the name of South Africa is causing all the problems here, but since my flatmate is South African and no doubt reading this, I'll refrain from suggesting the country come up with something more original as a name.
Half of these are fairly justified, and others are completely frivolous. To add one last one, an appallingly ridiculous one, I'll talk about East Anglia. Apart from the fact I'd like a West Anglia, I wish Suffolk would have a town called Surwich. This is because Norfolk has a town called Norwich. The north and south balance would be perfect. Instead we get crappy Ipswich.
I am truly sorry for the quality of this output and if it hasn't killed my blog forever, it will always be remembered as a dark moment born of a complete lack of inspiration.
Until next time, if there is one.
And so I'll have a whinge about place names that annoy me to varying degrees. This is only because I have absolutely nothing else to say. I told people I wouldn't bother with this but I'm desperate.
The town Dumbarton in the west of Scotland was the administrative centre for the old county of Dunbartonshire, which later became East and West Dunbartonshire. What's the problem with that? Well, it seems fine until you notice that it's DuMbarton and DuNbartonshire. Why? I don't know, but in my very mild obsession for order it seems wrong that the shire is spelt with an N and the town with an M. It just seems like a mistake. I don't know why they've done this to me.
I also hate that Northampton is the centre of Northamptonshire, but Southampton isn't the centre of Southamptonshire. No, that place doesn't exist; instead it's just Hampshire. Nobody else cares about things like this but it annoys me because its uneven, or asymmetrical, or whatever the precise term for this is. They should rename Hampshire Southamptonshire. If Northamptonshire didn't exist as a county, I probably wouldn't be bothered.
Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire is a pair I hate as well. Why the hell can't it be East and West Renfrewshire. The precedent for that has been set by East and West Dunbartonshire (grr), and similarly North and South Lanarkshire, and East, Mid and West Lothian. Orderly groupings as you have seen. Renfrewshire and then East Renfrewshire just annoys me, much like Virginia and West Virginia, although they are states with an extensive history and not arbitrary local council divisions that can be changed at a whim, and thus they are forgiven. Also forgiven are the Ayrshires, which have all but a West Ayshire, since that would have to be in the Irish Sea somewhere.
Another one which I find annoying but no one else will are the northern English counties. There's Cumbria, formerly known as Cumberland, and Northumberland. The thing that winds me up is that fact that when the divisions changed they renamed Cumberland Cumbria, thus removing the order established by having two 'umberland counties. They should change it back to Cumberland, or rename Northumberland Northumbria, like the old kingdom was called.
North Africa and South Africa is a bad case of chaotic place naming. South Africa is a country, in southern Africa which is a geographic region. Thus southern Africa's counterpart should be northern Africa. Instead people refer to northern Africa usually as North Africa. It's just wrong. If anything should be North Africa it should be the name of some non-existent country in northern Africa to keep the balance right. To further complicate issues, the America's are always known as North and South, which should be wrong because of South Africa. I'd be tempted to say that the name of South Africa is causing all the problems here, but since my flatmate is South African and no doubt reading this, I'll refrain from suggesting the country come up with something more original as a name.
Half of these are fairly justified, and others are completely frivolous. To add one last one, an appallingly ridiculous one, I'll talk about East Anglia. Apart from the fact I'd like a West Anglia, I wish Suffolk would have a town called Surwich. This is because Norfolk has a town called Norwich. The north and south balance would be perfect. Instead we get crappy Ipswich.
I am truly sorry for the quality of this output and if it hasn't killed my blog forever, it will always be remembered as a dark moment born of a complete lack of inspiration.
Until next time, if there is one.
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