William Goggins Remembered

Touching obituary on Bill Goggins, Deputy Editor, Wired Magazine. One of the most intelligent magazines on view, Wired has always been a must read for me - although, bizarrely, they don't have a UK subscription, so I have to buy the copies from the stores. That hurts when you see offers in every issue for a subscription offer which gives you 12 copies for some $10 and I get them at about 3 pounds per copy.

Also in the same issue - catching paedophiles and sex offenders on Myspace - a geeky but interesting article.

Yesterday another sumptuous meal was devoured at Abyssinia - a little known and unsung Ethiopean restaurant which I swear by. Waddling out of there has become a bit of a habit.

Have you noticed how when something that you have never heard of, enters your conciousness, suddenly it appears in so many places, it's spooky. This has happened to me on a few occasions. The first was when I was about 8, and I visited a cousin who spent the evening singing a song I'd never heard before "Sing Mohammed... Mohaaammed Ali, he calls to the other guy I'm Aa... aa... li... Catch Me If You Can... " and the next evening, at my annual school concert, I head a guy called Eugene Paul sing the song. For this reason, I've not forgot Eugene Paul either. And just the other day, after listening to a catchy song on Radio, I discovered it was Keith Urban's voice - I've never heard of him before, but there he is today in MyYahoo again, married to Nicole Kidman and checking into rehab.

It's Diwali today, and undoubtedly, in the heartland of Diwali celebrations in the Western Hemisphere - Birmingham - the evening will be a merry one. We're up there on our annual pilgrimmage with K's family. Happy Diwali all and may the best reds win tomorrow.

October 18th - Home and Away - Worlds and Worlds apart

Today it was cloudy and when the first - and only - drop of rain hit my face, I swear that i felt a whiff of the smell of mangoes and wished for just a moment, but with an intense urgency, that I was in Kolkata, soaking in the monsoon and devouring the sour-sweet mangoes that leave an orange trail on your chin.

Then I walked on and lost myself in thoughts of work.

Later I read this superb interview of Gael Garcia Bernal - a man who exhudes belonging and an amazing sense of proximity to his roots. I love his description of Spain the the difference between rich and poor countries.