Giants Steps, scaling Chopin to Coltrane, a MidSomer Jam. October 1, 2019 | rudebuoy You probably will rarely find the name Chopin and John Coltrane in the same sentence but in many ways, these musical giants, bookend my musical direction of travel, over a lifetime. I just got the Blues I remember my road to Damascus moment at a Gary Moore concert many years ago in Montreux Switzerland. I… Read More
El hombre de Habana -interview with Lazaro Almenares September 2, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment I met Lazaro in Eden gym four years ago. I was 90Kg very unfit, and a bit depressed having gone back to live with my mother on losing my house. I use to come into his Salsa step Sunday Class for a few minutes. After about a year I did his Zumba & Body Blitz… Read More
One million years BC: Video dun killed the radio stars! May 13, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Pre-history Like many of you out there, I have literally spent thousands of pounds (and hours) attempting to play the piano & learn music. This has been over the course of a lifetime and though I can hardly play a note, (checking out a keyboard in full view in a shop, is an experience that… Read More
Auxiliare Conversación May 1, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment It´s Easter hols, I´m stuck on a Ryanair flight trying to draw breath; surely the slaves on the ships from Africa had more room? I could go into a rant about Ryanair being a baggage company thinly disguised as airline, but why bother when they are so frequently in the local news & on telly;… Read More
Winner takes it all? April 14, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Ok it´s been a while and a few things have happened … or not like Brexit and the release of the uber noughty buoy Assange, but that will lie in a future post when the curtain goes down on Act III. I was kinda brought up on films rather than books and at one time… Read More
Marakesh II: Esauria January 18, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Having done no research, we booked two trips in Marrakesh with our agent, one to the mountains, the second to Esauria (round about 65€ each). I had asked for the blue city, which is near Casablanca but was offered a three-hour drive to Essaouiria instead (an almost blue city). The trip to the mountains was… Read More
Mah, ah kreshed I! January 5, 2019 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Salam Aleikum from a freezing Marrakech. This was supposed to be an educational blog about the vicissitudes of teaching English in the Spanish State system, but as they say, I´ll save that till later when I have more evidence-based content, however what I have gleaned so far: • Our (CEIP) students are natively bi-lingual as… Read More
The Rhythm is going to get you; sounds of Englishness September 30, 2018 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment I was in a Zumba class the other day, hopelessly mincing about at the back, as the ghetto-blaster pumped out the dirge that is mambo no 5 by a certain Lou Bega. Not only is this beat not Mambo, but also I found myself consistently always behind the instructor’s steps. I was not particularly caught… Read More
Rule Britannico ; Police & Thieves, vosotros hablais Spanglish ? May 29, 2018 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Language I’ve been trying to learn a new language, (Castillian) Spanish, & have come across some fairly interesting stuff which you probably won’t find in the text books (but is out on the internet). So this follows on from my series about Good Writing but examines at the more atomic level of language, and how… Read More
Fat chance ; Buscando Umami a primer! October 20, 2017 | rudebuoy | Leave a comment Following my mother’s heart attack I have had to take diet very seriously and indeed this piece comes after four month’s research which culminated in a Japan Foundation “ Is Japanese food healthy ?” talk by Prof.Ole Mouritsen. A few month’s ago I found out that UK Afro-Caribbeans and Sub-Continental Asians are twice as prone… Read More