Impressionistic windows for the cafe.

Those spaces either side of the door to the cafe need some kind of filling to suggest that there is a cafe inside.

I want to suggest the interior lighting effect you find in some van Gogh paintings eg

But the key word is "suggest".

So I cut some rectangles from a shiny black plastic bag, stuck them on card, and using acrylic yellow paint quickly painted on them the "suggestion" of lights and a quarter curtain running across a window.

Might look OK once the tables and chairs are crowded in front of them!

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Tonight's alcohol-free dinner:

Stovies, gherkin, tomato and Chris Mullin's Diaries

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3/2 Clave:

A key part of all this Samba/Bossa Nova music that I have been imbibing is a pattern called the 3/2 Clave or Son Clave.

Basically it is 3 beats followed by 2 beats, rather like saying Sat-ur-day, Sun-day.

Found a very short but effective video on youTube which shows one how to play this pattern IN TIME.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM82tA6lTFo

By coincidence it's by a French chap so he counts un, deux, trois, quatre and even I know what that means.

Here's the notation:

The clave can be played on anything:

Literally anything:

SNCF Society

The latest edition of the magazine for the SNCF Society arrived yesterday.

An interesting feature within about trains in the 1970s going between Paris and Dieppe.

I recommend membership of this society to anyone who has a love of France and French railways. Subscriptions approx £16 per year.

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Currently listening to:

Golden Teacher are appearing in Sheffield next week.

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Miscellany:

Walked around the West End of Glasgow today with a friend.

First port of call: Kelvingrove Art Galleries for organ recital

The organist wore red socks

Later, spotted this spanking new roof extension to a large villa in Hyndland - must have cost a fortune.

Godfather II

Went to see Godfather II at the cinema this afternoon. It was so long that there was an intermission.

Most of it is still fantastic. Diane Keaton and Al Pacino are electrifying, as are most of the performers. But, I find  Robert de Niro embarrassing to watch - really corny.

Canopy of street cafe - finished

After a lot of mucking about with card, glue, scissors and a couple of sugar-cube sized morsels of timber, the canopy for the street cafe and its four 12 volt pendant lights is finished.

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Currently reading:

And, anything on the topic of "multiple realizability".

eg Ned Block's paper "Anti-reductionism slaps back" 

Ned Block

Here's the opening paragraph:

"For nearly thirty years, there has been a consensus (at least in English speaking
countries) that reductionism is a mistake and that there are autonomous
special sciences. This consensus has been based on an argument from multiple
realizability. But Jaegwon Kim has argued persuasively that the multiple realizability
argument is flawed. I will sketch the recent history of the debate, arguing
that much—but not all—of the anti-reductionist consensus survives Kim’s critique.
This paper was originally titled “Anti-Reductionism Strikes Back”, but in
the course of writing the paper, I came to think that the concepts used in the

debate would not serve either position very well."

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Currently listening to:

Michele Minnini

Lent begins tomorrow.

I used to keep Lent abstinences religiously (pun). But for the last 5 or 6 years I haven't felt up to it. However, this year I very much want to make the effort so as from tomorrow there will be no alcohol consumption for 6 weeks.

Here are photos of some of our evening meals over the last fortnight. That sort of indulgence will also be coming to a halt for the next 6 weeks.

Remarkably easy to dissect.

A Haggis from Largs

Pot roast sirloin done the Clement Freud way with no oil and a very high heat

Mussels in tomato sauce

My new tipple - frozen pre-cooked and shelled mussels - cheap and you just warm them up.

Fish stew and Chris Mullin's excellent diaries

Coq au Vin from the frozen food specialist, "Cook", who have a new branch in Glasgow.

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Golden Teacher at Oran Mor:

Last week went to see my favourite band, Golden Teacher, perform at Oran Mor in Glasgow. Brilliant.

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Bongo update:

Plodding away at the bongos and at the Samba drumming classes. But for the last few weeks I feel that I have made little progress: mainly because I don't feel the rhythms.

I'm not sure what the connection is between "natural talent" and "feel" and whether the one can compensate for the other but I value "feel" and simply have not had a sensation of "unity" with the bongos which I suspect is a prerequisite for (if not the same thing as) "feel".

But how do you acquire "feel". The route I've been taking is to listen to loads of Samba/Bossa Nova music and practise, practise, practise. But to no obvious avail.

However, a bit of a Eureka moment today. I had taken the bongos off their stand and held them on my lap so as to tune them ie tightening the skins by using a spanner to turn some bolts on the side of the drums.

The stand bereft of bongos.

Out of curiosity I then placed the bongos between my knees and played a few patterns - what a difference. It was a completely different playing experience. For the first time I really felt that the bongos were part of me.

For the next 35 minutes I practised and felt completely energised. The reason that I'd never tried this before was that it looked horribly uncomfortable and so I invested in a stand. In fact it wasn't uncomfortable. A mystery!

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John Peel Substitute:

Like lots of people of my generation (mostly men), I still miss the John Peel radio show. He died in 2004. Well at last I have found a completely adequate substitute:

Optimo on Rinse FM:

It's only on once a month and is 2 hours of ultra modern electronic music mixed up with really obscure records from the most unlikely corners of the world plus blasts from the past and some odds and ends thrown in for good measure. The programmes can be downloaded for free and played again and again.

The two DJs who make up Optimo

Can hardly wait for next month's show.

Here's one of the great discoveries they dug up from Thailand.

Paradise Bangkok Collective