Homebrewing

I've been dabbling with homebrewed beer and wine since I was 18.  Doing a bit for a while, then nothing for a while longer.  During my last serious spate of self-supporting I did loads of country wines.  At the time a friend had recommended using tea-tree oil to setrilise equipment instead of campden tablets or a sterilising solution.  Some of them turned out really very well but a lot of them were barely, if at all, palatable.

For my birthday last November I was given a book on 'Low Cost Living' which included a section on home-brewing.  The author recommended starting with kits and getting to grips with the basics before becomming more adventurous.  Well it goes against the grain a bit but given some of my less successful home-brews I thought perhaps I would follow his advice.

So this morning I started off a Youngs red wine kit.  Progress reports to follow.

After three days I topped up the demi-john.  It is fermenting well now.

2010 Reading List

1. Nation, Terry Pratchett - a Christmas present, I actually started reading it on Boxing Day I think but didn't finish it until just after the New Year so I'm counting it.  A fantastic book.  Many themes that are common to Pratchett's more Discworld novels.  There is even a kind of personification of Death, but this one speaks in italics rather than BLOCK CAPITALS and is not very pleasant.
2. Super-Cannes, J.G.Ballard - found at the Ipswich Bookcrossing meet.Journal here 
3. You'll Win Nothing with Kids: Fathers, Sons and Football, Jim White - found in a charity basket for me by Mrs Uncruliar. Journal here
4. No Time For Goodbye, Linwood Barclay - found in a charity basket for me by Mrs Uncruliar. Journal Here
5. Diamonds are Forever, Ian Fleming - picked up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
6. Yes, Minister, Jonathan Lynn and  Antony Jay - bought from library sale shelf. Journal Here
7. From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming - brought home from a monthly meet-up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
8. Sword Song (Alfred the Great 4), Bernard Cornwell - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
9. The Taking, by Dean Koontz - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
10. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
11. The Blade Itself: Book One Of The First Law, Joe Abercrombie - brought home from a monthly meet-up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
12. Northern Lights, Philip Pullman - this was chosen as the monthly title for a book group that I have just joined.  I have read the whole series before and enjoyed them but wouldn't have read this again right now were it not for the book group.  It is a good adventure and sets up some interesting philosphical questions about the nature of sin and religion if you are interested in getting into something deeper.  These questions are more fully developed in the later books, especially the last.  The book group meets again next weekend so another, separate, post might be in order then. Reading Group Post
13. Taking Charge of Anger,   - I haven't finished reading this yet but I'm working through it and it will be the subject of a separate set of posts.
14. Up and Down in the Dales, by Gervase Phinn - picked up at the Coffe Link OCBZ.  Journal Here
15. Cyber-killers, ed. Ric Alexander - picked up at the Coffe Link OCBZ. Journal Here
16. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell - book of the month at my local library Reading Group
17. Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth, Malcolm Pryce - received as an act of Random Book Crossing Kindness (RABCK) from AgnesXNitt. Journal Here
18. Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams, Fiona Harrold  - Found in a charity shop by Mrs Uncruliar
19. True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey  - picked up at the Coffee Link OBCZ.  Journal Here
20. What Was Lost, Catherine O'Flynn - book of the month at my local library Reading Group
21. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini - Can't remember now where I picked this up, must have been a bargain somewhere which I thought I would pick up to complete the trilogy.  Now that I've read it I find that the trilogy has become a quartet.  When I read Eragon I thought it was ok but extremely derivative.  To give credit where it is due Paolini does seem to have found his voice rather better over time.  I will read the next book but I am more interested to see what he does after that.  I hope he abandons Alagaesia for a setting that is more truly his own.
22. Octopussy and 007 in New York, Ian Fleming - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet. Journal Here
23. Alexandria, Lindsey Davis - book of the month at my local library Reading Group.  I usually journal these separately but in this case I won't as I have got so behind with my blogging.  I have to say that I did enjoy it although it was rather anachronistic in places.  Unfortunately I missed the discussion.
24. The Jane Austen Book Club,  Karen Joy Fowler - book of the month at my local library Reading Group.
25. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet.  Journal Here
26. Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet.  Journal Here
27. Beyond the Deepwoods, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell - Picked up for me by Mrs Uncruliar at a charity shop or car boot sale or somesuch.  This is the first book in a trilogy introducing a new major character, Twig. I have read other books in The Edge Chronicles and enjoyed them so I am sorry to say that I was rather disappointed by this.  For much of the book there didn't seem to be any real plot, simply a series of unconnected encounters between Twig and various threats.  To a certain extent the connections were made towards the end of the book but even so I was left feeling rather disappointed.  Hopefully the other two books in the trilogy are somehwat better as they are sitting on my bookshelf at the moment.
28. March, Geraldine Brooks - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
29. Adventures on the High Teas, Stuart Maconie - picked up at a monthly Bookcrossing met a while back. Journal Here
30. River God, Wilbur Smith - I was fully prepared not to like this for a variety of reasons, but I did.  In fact not only did I enjoy reading it but I was close to tears at least twice towards the end.  I will definitely look out for more Wilbur Smith books in future.
31. The Resurrectionist, James Bradley - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
32. Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics, Jonathan Wilson - The youth football team that I manage gave me some book vouchers as an end of season present and this was one of the books I treated myself to.  Quite an interesting read on a subject that I knew less about than I had thought to begin with.
33. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House, Kate Summerscale - found in a charity bin in town. Journal Here
34. Chasing Darkness, Robert Crais - came to me in a Freecycle book bag.  Journal Here
35. The Murders In The Rue Morgue, Edgar Allan Poe - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
36. Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
37. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown - came to me in a Freecycle book bag. Journal Here
38. The Various Flavours of Coffee, Anthony Capella - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
39. Greenmantle, John Buchan - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
40. The Book Thief,  Markus Zusak - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf.  Journal Here
41. Otherland: City of Golden Shadow Bk. 1,  Tad Williams Journal Here
42. Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett - a birthday present from one of the little Uncruliars, and a jolly good one at that.
43. The Palace of Strange Girls, Sallie Day - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.   Definitely not one I would have chosen for myself but I really enjoyed this.  Surprisingly I found that the story was, to me, more about the father than his wife or daughters.
44. Hero of Rome,  Douglas Jackson - lent to me by my Dad.  A good book although I couldn't decide whose side I was on.
45. The Jewel That Was Ours, Colin Dexter - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
46. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, Kazuo Ishiguro - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.  I enjoyed reading this, whizzed through it in fact.  However, as I have often felt with short stories in the past, I was left feeling that the stories were unfinished - too many questions seemed to be left unanswered for my liking.

Books - my constant companions.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the things that I've done in the past and then let go, or of the things that I kind of want to do but am not getting round to.  Thinking that way isn't healthy for me as it tends to make me feel bad about myself.  In fact it contributes to my negative self-talk.  But never mind about that.

I think my earliest memories of reading are from pre-school.  I'm sure my parents bought me Janet and John or Peter and Jane.  I don't know how I got on with them but I don't habe any negative memories from that time.  On the other hand I do have decidely negative memories of reading during my first year or two at school.  At the age of about 7 or 8 though something clicked and my reading took off.  Ever since I have constantly had a book on the go, often there has been more than one.

So I've decided that I'm going to keep a log of all the books I read this year.   I got the idea from some of my fellow Bookcrossers.

Where I've been and where am I going?

Right now isn't a good time in my life.  For the last 18 months I've been working part time and on short term contracts.  Sometimes that doesn't bother me.  No job stress is quite enjoyable even after all this time even if no money stress isn't great.  So far we've been getting by but it is a continual worry.  Before being made redundant I thought I was on the verge of becoming a headteacher which is something I've been aspriring to for a large chunk of my adult life.  But I can't pretend that my career was an uninterrupted ascent.  In fact the more I think about my life the more confused I become about what I want from it and how I got here.

Like most small boys I was going to be a footballer to start with.  At some time around the age of 9 or 10 I read a book with a central character who was a journalist.  I can't remember the first thing about the book but for a while I was going to be a journalist.  Somwehere along the line I decided I wanted to be a solicitor.  I can't remember why now.  At about 16 or 17 I spent a short time doing some work experience in a solicitors office and ended up reading Law and Politics.  I was going to be a crusading solicitor working for deserving cases on legal aid.  As it turned out I got a 2:2 and found that I didn't enjoy my legal studies as much as I had thought I would. 

After a year waiting tables I trained as a teacher.  I had done voluntary work in schools since the age of 15 and had also worked on playschemes while at university.  The PGCE was hard work but I enjoyed it and so my career as a primary school teacher began.  To be honest I found it hard to keep up with paperwork throughout my career.  The introduction of the National Literacy Strategy in 1997 and the National Numeracy Strategy a year later just made the paperwork even worse.  When Uncruliar Junior No 1 was born in 1998 I wanted to get out of teaching.  In fact I was so demoralised that I decided I wanted him to be home educated just to make sure that he didn't have to suffer a teacher as jaded as I was.  Despite all that I can remember many enjoyable moments from those years and I know that some of former pupils have fond memories of me as a teacher.  But I often felt that I was failing as a teacher.

In 2000 I had the opportunity to take up a secondment for nine months.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and could have turned my back on the classroom for good then.  The salary that was on offer follwing the secondment though was nowehere near what I could earn as a teacher and so I ended up returning to classroom teaching.  There followed three good years that ended up in my appointment as deputy headteacher in another school.  On the whole I thought I did quite well, especially when I had to act up as Headteacher, but there were still times when I felt overwhelmed.  My last year was a nightmare as a new headteacher came in who clearly didn't want me around and I went into a really negative spiral.

I've had some good moments over the last 18 months, both at work and at home - especially running a marathon for the first time.  But on the whole I feel quite negative.  Whenever things don't go as I'm hoping, and that seems a frequent ocurence, I feel a complete failure.  There are things that I think I want to do but I'm not making them happen.  There are things which I've got to do and it always seems like really hard work.  As for work I feel that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get even an interview and sometimes that is for jobs at a lower level than I've previously been applying.  Perhaps I should be looking for a career change but I've got no idea what I want to do.

I guess the first thing I need to do is to start setting myself small targets and achieving them.  Like I did with the marathon training.  And start focussing on positive thinking.

Who am I writing for?

December was a busy month.  Lots of work to start with then a busy holiday period, hence no blog posts.  I did manage a bit of running until the snow put a stop to that but I should be back on the roads again soon.  However I have been thinking about this blog a little.  I have been tempted to let people know about it as I thought that I might like some feedback - after all that is what blogging is supposed to be about.

If I tell people about the blog though it will cease to be anonymous and I think that anonymity could be useful.  I've been thinking a little about my next 'proper' post and I've got things I want to write about that I don't necessarily want my family to read.  At least I certainly don't want to make a point of saying look at this, this is what I think.  Sometimes the truth, or at least another persons honestly meant perspective, can be hurtful.

So for the time being this is more an online journal than a blog in the 'traditional' sense of the word.  (Can there be a traditional sense of a word that has only been in popular usage for about ten years?)  It is my thinking space.  If anyone has anything to say about it then they are welcome, but if not then I'm fine by myself.