Update 14

Howdy all - Thanks for all of the responses re your Dumbo movies - I had a
great week renting a lot of them and sussing them out. I can't believe I'd
never seen Love Actually before (the Dumbo movie on a few lists). Samantha
tried to get me to watch this a while ago but I thought it was a soppy
kind of love story. It was great!! The pile of movies also came in handy
cos I had a head-cold and a few days off school as a result so I kept warm
and watched things like Notting Hill, The History Boys, Love Actually,
Friends with Money and so on.

Boys soccer team won 8-1 on the previous Saturday (5 goals to Tim
Stanners!) but we lost 4 0 this week. Euro 08 has started and now we have
Sky my sleep patterns are taking a pounding. Two games a day is absolute
heaven but the times for us in the lower bit of the world are a killer -
3.55 am and 6.35 am kick offs mean I'm cream crackered for the day. It's
worth it though. Teams to watch so far are Portugal/Germany (as always)
and this morning the dutch were very impressive.

Nature watch: dry, cold and greyish for the last week really. Today was a
kracker though - blue skies/frost and sun. All the leaves have pretty much
gone now though and the animals are eating hay cos the grass is not
growing. An interesting thing I heard was that May was our coldest for 15
years and in the UK it was the hottest on record. Weird huh.

I was going to mention my Dumbo books this update - These are more clear
cut than movies or CDs. I usually only read a book once and shelve it so
I'm pretty sure these are about the only books (apart from Beatle books)
that I've read more than once and the number one Dumbo I've read four
times. In ascending order then - Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen;
Lost in Music by Giles Smith; Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby; All I really
need to know I learned in kindergarten - Robert Fulghum and at number one
and by some distance: Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - Robert
Pirsig (the best book about the combination of father/son relationships,
English teaching, zen, and motorcycle maintenance ever written!!). The
blurb on the back of the addition I bought in 1977 said 'this book will
change your life' and it did/has. When I look at the list everything I
love is in there (except for Jacky) - music, Arsenal, a way of living,
children parent relationships, teaching...all there. A great book. Feel
free to share yours if you wish.

Currently grooving to + special guest (Country boy a fav), Rammstein
(after waching the Germans dismantle Poland), and The Kooks first album
(Samantha hates them but I'm a fan).

All for now - love and peace - W