Rattlesnakes

"All you need is love, love is all you need"

Today's Hero - Igor Stimac

I'm bored with writing I went to the gym and had curry for my tea, then had a few drinks and I didn't start my blog to discuss work, so I've decided to introduce a new (possibly ongoing) feature to my blog: 'Today's Hero'!

Derby County are playing Nottingham Forest today (the score was one a piece last time I checked, amazingly Bangladesh TV isn't covering the match live), so it seemed appropriate to start with former Rams' Croat libero and captain, Igor Stimac

Igor wasn't my favourite 90s Derby player (that was Tommy Johnson) but he was by far the most important. Handsome (the photo doesn't do him justice), and build like a cruiserweight boxer, he was an awesome sight when in action and I can still hear the spontaneous cry of 'Igor, Igor, Igor', that rang round the Baseball Ground on the afternoon he was first introduced to the fans

An older friend said there was an air of Dave Mckay about the way he read the game and his physical presence; a real compliment. A worthy start to Today's Hero I think

Edit: 2-1 to the Rams. Igor you're a hero alright, ftw

Where's me Jumper?

I ordered a mushroom and garlic pizza this evening for dinner and when it arrived it took me straight back in time to the early 90s. A friend of mine packed in his job as an engineer at Rolls Royce in Derby around 1992 and enrolled at Hull University. I've no idea what he 'read' but it seemed to involve a lot of all-day drinking

A group of us used to jump in the car at the weekend and spend Saturday night as honorary students drinking and dancing in the University's Chico Mendes bar and a club in the city, the name of which I cannot for a second recall. I'd forgotten the name of the band too but a quick Google of 'Dancing in the disco...' soon sorted that out

Two songs remind me of this time. One is Jealous Guy by John Lennon (I won't be blogging about that), and the other is this, which now sounds like Pete Shelley fronting up the Fall. It's actually far better than I remembered but then I haven't been drinking lager snakebite since lunchtime!

The reason the pizza reminded me of those days was a 'mushroom pizza with a garlic smell' was our preferred after-hours takeaway at that time

Charles Bradley

I've got to admit I'd never heard of Charles Bradley until I saw a post on the excellent Aquarium Drunkard blog yesterday. I've been missing out!

Another week

I should have been on my way to the airport in Dhaka just about now but after a series of phone-calls and some frantic Skypeing yesterday evening I've arranged to stay here until next Thursday to test the samples which have now arrived from Dubai. I've informed the hotel I'll be needing the room for another week and there are three pairs of boxer shorts hanging in my bathroom after hand-washing in the sink last night with shower gel (I've spent too long in Yorkshire to pay the hotel three dollars a pair to wash my pants!). I'll need to get some shirts and a pair of jeans laundered but apart from the fact I haven't really got much reading material I should be okay

Today is a holiday here so I've got the day off. I'll go to the gym later and if the weather is alright (it's been quite mixed the last few days, with rain in the late afternoon) I'll go up on the hotel roof for a bit of sun-bathing. I'm told there's a park very close to the hotel and I fancy trying to find that. It's usually too frantic and just too much hassle to bother going out of the hotel in many South Asian cities but I think I'll get cabin fever if I stay in my room much more

I've been to the gym six times since I left home and ran three miles on the treadmill last night. Some relatively fast running will do me good and I might go home fitter than I came if I can lay off the pizza, chicken curry and local whisky just a bit

Beach Boys

Diamond Lake restaurant

This is a photo I took yesterday (you can just about make out my reflection if you squint hard) outside what translates as the Diamond Lake Restaurant in central Dhaka. We had lunch, which was chicken curry, boiled rice, mix veg curry ('dry') plus daal. It was the second time I've been there and the food is excellent. The restaurant itself is very basic but it is absolutely heaving at lunchtime. In addition to the rotisserie in the photo chicken is also cooked over charcoal and roti are prepared in an open area by the entrance. The smell of the meat cooking over the charcoal is mouthwatering!

23 Skidoo

More 'found sounds' and tape manipulation. I've got several 23 Skidoo records on vinyl somewhere at home. One of my favourite bands from the early 80s

Jezebel Spirit

I was pondering making an ambient recording with 'found' moorland and woodland sounds plus waterfowl and wading birds calls to load onto my iPod for use in the gym (pretentious, moi? I've no idea how I would do it!) and then I set to thinking about Brian Eno and David Byrne. I haven't got the My Life in the Bush of Ghosts album but will buy a copy when I get home. This track sounds as terrifying and fresh as it did when I first heard it

Out and about

My samples are finally on their way out of Dubai and I got out of the hotel to see a couple of customers yesterday. The samples will not clear customs before I return home on Friday morning but we can test them next time I'm here, probably in late-October or early November

Last night I had a pizza in the Italian restaurant in the hotel. It wasn't too bad, although it was suspiciously round in shape (I suspect imported, maybe frozen, bases are topped with local fresh ingredients). I also tried some more of the local Carews Whisky. Carews distill spirits here in Bangladesh. The rum was my staple last time I came but they don't have it in this hotel sadly. Alarmingly, the gin smells of Germolene although that might have been the Singaporean tonic I had with it the other night! The whisky doesn't make a bad drink with Coke and plenty of fresh lime and ice