Anyway, I started briefly glancing at it that evening and before I knew where I was, I was into the book. Dewey was adopted by the library staff after he was dropped in the book return one cold January night. It is a great book, with many funny antics and also a bit of an emotional roller coaster. The town was suffering during the downturn of the 1980’s and the arrival of Dewey proved to be a turning point for the library and the town. The writing is easy and very descriptive; you are just there in the story.

A book that I would most definately recommend. It took me a week, because I was busy and couldn’t get back to it, but I could easily have sat and read it all day.

What, you’re still reading. I am surprised!

OK, here is some background. HP Web JetAdmin is software that monitors network attached printers and provides alerts when certain conditions are met. For example, if the toner is low or there is a paper jam, it can alert you, allowing you to be proactive with support. It means that you can purchase toners when alerted rather than holding a large stock or being caught on the hop when all the colour printers are out and no-one has mentioned it until 5 minutes before a critical print job.

Anyway, we had been using this software for some years at work without any problems. You would just get the alert email with a summary of the issue and a link allowing you to open the admin interface in a web browser. Recently, we had some major network changes which resulted in the IP addresses being changed for all our network devices (including computers and printers). After the changes, and rediscovering the new printers (some of their details changed as well), the Web JetAdmin software continued to work as before. Unfortunately, this also included the link to open the admin interface. It was still using the old IP address which was no longer valid.

After ‘googling’ for the solution without luck, I tried several approaches, some of which got me into a bit of a mess with the database. In the end I got the software re-installed, only to find it was still hooked into the old database and the old information.

To cut to the chase, the solution is really simple. In the c:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Web Jetadmin 10\WJABackupRestore folder run the backup script to produce a backup set. I had to modify the location of ’set OSQL’ in the script due to a non-standard installation.

Once you have the backup, open the file ‘HP.Imaging.Wjp.Core.WebServer.config.xml‘ in the Settings\WjaService\config folder and modify the IP address to the new address.

e.g.
<property name=”HostIPv4Address”>
<type>HP.Imaging.Wjp.Sdk.Core.Framework.ConfigurationItemString</type>
<value>192.168.50.125</value>
</property>

Run the restore script and allow it to overwrite the existing database. I also had to modify the location of ’set OSQL’ in this script due to my non-standard installation.

Your emails will now contain the correct link to launch the admin interface.

Hopefully this will save someone a lot of time.

Then you have the classic Babylon 5 from the 1990’s. This ran for 5 seasons and spawned several films. I still love watching episodes of this when I get the chance. One of the things I liked about it was the long story arcs, sometimes across all seasons. Although they were individual episodes, they all fitted into the overall story. The characters were believable and watch able. I’ll mention the less than successful spin-off series Crusade. This failed due to studio interference and was cancelled before it even aired. Only 13 episodes were made.

Thanks Wikipedia, otherwise I would have struggled to remember some of these:

Slightly earlier than this was Alien Nation. It only ran for one season before being cancelled by Fox who were having financial difficulties. It was about a LA cop working with a ‘Newcomer’ alien, and covered aspects of racisim from a different perspective. It was ok, but not one that I have to watch again.

Andromeda was a series based on material by Gene Roddenberry. It ran for 5 series. The first two series were good and then it seemed to take of in random directions. By the end I had stopped watching. Enough said.

Another Gene Roddenberry inspired series was Earth:Final Conflict. It also ran for 5 series. It is about a race of aliens called the Taelons who take refuge on Earth in return for sharing their advanced technology. Again the first two seasons were good and offered something different, then it all changed and just kept changing direction and getting more and more complex. By about season four I don’t think anyone knew where it was going; I didn’t make it to the end of the season. It also had a high turnover of main characters.

Another series that stands out as exceptional was Battlestar Galactica. It ran for 4 seasons, finishing only a couple of months ago in the UK. It was gritty and at times violent, but I enjoyed it. I think it was more about the journey than the destination and as such I’m not sure I’d watch it again. The series finale was excellent providing some twists that I hadn’t seen coming.

From the mid 90’s we had Earth 2. It only ran for one series of 22 episodes. Strange how your memory plays tricks, I thought it had run for two seasons, maybe it was shown in two runs. I remember enjoying it at the time and thinking it was just established and ready to move forward when it stopped.

Farscape ran for 4 seasons, despite been under contract for 5. It was cancelled after production had finished on the fourth season leaving it on a cliff-hanger. Brian Hanson secured the rights, which lead to the 4 hour mini-series Farscape:The Peacekeeper Wars.

Mutant X. This ran for 3 series and was due to do a fourth when the production company was dismantled. Again I remember watching and enjoying this, but not enough to get it on DVD.

Odyssey 5 was a series that only ran for one season. A group of astronauts on a routine spaceflight witness the Earth explode. Before they die, their conciousness is sent back 5 years by an alien being to discover what discover and prevent what caused it. I had forgotton about this one. It was really good and worth another watch.

Quantum Leap. The story of Dr Sam Beckett, trapped in time after a failed experiment. He changed places with different people each episode fixing whatever went wrong the first time round before ‘leaping’ to the next person. Still watchable even after seeing an episode many times.

Space:Above and Beyond only ran for one series of 22 episodes in the mid 90’s. It was the story of a groups of space marines who are just finishing their training when an unknown alien species attacks and destroys Earth’s first extra-solar colony. I wouldn’t mind seeing this again.

I’ll skip all the varients of Star Trek and Stargate, all were great and I have watched them many times.

VR.5 It also only ran for one series. I remember the VR5 stood for Virtual Reality 5, but I can’t really remember many details.

Anyway, there’s a quick run down of what has been and gone. Some sadly missed and some not so

We bought a copy of the new DVD (Live at Gloucester Cathedral) that has just been released when we got there; I figured it would be quieter early on. It was a lot busier last night than when we were first here, but we still had good seats, the first 2 on the second row. While we were waiting for them to come on, we were looking at the selection of instruments on stage. On the microphone stands were their recorders. We tried to work out what was there. The closest to us, on the left end of the stage had a descant and what looked like a treble, further round there were what looked like other trebles and finally at the right side, where Katharine usually is, there was a descant, treble and what looked small enough to be a garkleine. As we have seen her play that before, it was a certainty that Katharine would be stood there. In front of the closest microphone was a drum and a violin. At the back of the stage from left to right there was a drum kit with a pair of large drums one on top of the other in front. Then there were a couple of stringed instruments, I’ll admit I don’t know what they were, maybe a mandola? Next to this I could see a bass recorder and something else a bit shorter, maybe a tenor recorder, it was difficult to see, and finally a guitar on the right.

The baebes came on dressed in long white flowing dresses, even Katharine. The last time we same her at the Joust, in 2006, she was pregnant, but this time it was a case of only days to go. I’m not sure she looked too comfortable in the fairly tight dress. There are currently six baebes; from left to right we had Emily Ovenden, Bev Lee Harling, Claire Rabbitt, Esther Dee, Melpomeni Kermanidou and Katharine Blake. This is a change from my last post with the line-up. In September 2007, Sofia Escobar left the baebes to join the West End production of the Phantom of the Opera and Esther Dee joined. In December 2007, Maxine Fone left to pursue other career opportunities. Anyway back to the concert. I can’t honestly remember which songs were sung in which order; I went to enjoy myself not provide a concert writeup. There was a good selection of earlier material, all beautifully sung. When Claire introduced Undrentide she talked about them all dressed in white pretending to be virgins, that brought a laugh from the audience, even more so when Katharine, remember nearly 9 months pregnant, said ‘Rabbitt, why are they laughing at me’.

Katharine was on the right side of the stage and whenever she was playing recorder she faced our way, more or less looking straight at us. It was great to watch the recorder playing as well as listen to the singing. I think their recorder playing is partly what inspired me to start again. After the break, they came back on in red flowing dresses and part of the way through, while the excellent instrumental section was provided, they changed into very dark green. The last dress looked most comfortable for Katharine.

As I mentioned there was a selection of earlier material including Salva Nos, Foweles in the Frith, Kinderly, How Death Comes, The Snake, The Rose, The Sour Grove, Musa Venit Carmine and Return of the Birds. From the new album we had Desert Rose, The Blacksmiths, I Sing of a Maiden, The Undivided, My Lady Sleeps, Yonder Lee, Sunrise and Myrie Songen. I might have missed one or two others. Yonder Lee makes a great alternative to Dringo Bell, it’s that same sort of lively beat. We had audience participation in Sunrise, joining in with ‘Sunrise’ in time to Claire Rabbitt’s cues. I was really glad that when they came back on for the encore they sang my current favourite, The Undivided. I don’t know what it is about it, I just love it.

I must at this point compliment the musicians who provided the accompaniment to the baebes. Ben Woollacott on drums, Frank Moon on the fretted instruments (still don’t know what – Cittern, and Oud from the album credits), Rebecca Dutton on recorders, mediaeval fiddle and psaltery and Kavus Torabi on guitar. They were excellent. I’ll admit that I didn’t watch them much, too busy watching and listening to the baebes, but I did watch Rebecca accompanying on recorder a few times.

After the encore, we left our seats quickly to get back out to the reception area. I bought a copy of Celtic Legend’s album Lyonesse and just as I was finishing paying for it the baebes came out to sign cds and as they put it ‘anything else within reason’. I was quick off the mark and was second or third in the queue, so I got the cover of the DVD signed (I already had a signed album) and I got Emily to sign the copy of Lyonesse. I did ask when we would see another song book and Katharine answered me. She is working on a songbook of her a cappella works and it will include some of the baebes material. She estimated it would be about 3 months time – she’ll be a bit busy before then. That’s understandable! It’s a shame that there isn’t a book of the recorder parts for the songs, they would be great to learn. I guess I’ll have to listen harder to the tracks and try to work them out. About 5 minutes later when we finally left, the queue for signing was about 15-20 minutes long I guess. I’m glad I got there when I did.

We put the Lyonesse CD on for the drive home and enjoyed what we heard of it. A brilliant night out. We’ll have to keep an eye out for anything that they will be at during the daytime, so that we can take the kids. They really enjoy the music and have missed seeing them at the Joust.

For the first time I had contacted my MP Andrew Selous, via www.theyworkforyou.com, at the end of April and asked if he could support the vote in Parliament calling for a fair deal for Gurkhas and had an email back that evening to say that he would be voting in support of the Gurkhas. Following the government’s defeat in the Commons over the issue, it was only a matter of time before they had to bow to public opinion.

From the website: ‘The script is adapted from elements of the appendices of The Lord of the Rings. The story follows the Heir of Isildur; the “greatest huntsman and traveller in Middle Earth” as he sets out to find the creature Gollum. The creature must be found to discover the truth about the Ring, and to protect the future Ringbearer.’

It was made for about £3000, which is a long way from the $270 million budget that Peter Jackson had for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Considering this, it is brilliant. It doesn’t feel like it was made for next to nothing. It fits well into J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth that Peter Jackson brought to life and at times you forget that you are watching something else. The funding was raised by donations from fans.

The music was composed specially for the film and has the same feeling as Howard Shore’s original scores, which just adds to the total package.

If you enjoyed Lord of the Rings pop over to The Hunt For Gollum movie website (http://www.thehuntforgollum.com) and have a watch.

There is another Lord of the Rings fan film currently being made, Born of Hope. This hour long original drama is set in the time before the War of the Ring and tells the story of the Dúnedain, the Rangers of the North, before the return of the King. Inspired by only a couple of paragraphs written by Tolkien in the appendices of the Lord of the Rings it follows Arathorn and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn, from their first meeting through a turbulent time in their people’s history.

This is currently scheduled for Autumn online release, so I shall be looking forward to that. This is on a slightly larger budget of £25,000 which although small as films go, is still being raised. The trailer uploaded at the beginning of May looks good.

Anyway, this year, there was a carnival procession again. Last year the procession had to be cancelled as there were too few entrants. It was going to be leaving the council offices at 12:00 noon on the route through the town to the Bennett Memorial Recreation Ground. We walked up to the end of the road with some of our neighbours just before 12 and other than a policewoman, were the only ones there. As the rain was coming towards us, I took my camera to the other side of the road so it was coming from behind me. The road filled up quite a lot before the procession came by.

The parade was led by Harpenden Pipe Band, who led the 2007 Dunstable Carnival procession. They had dressed for the British weather! I got several photos of them, a couple of which I have put on in a gallery of Dunstable Carnival 2009 photos. I have tried to include photos of all of the entrants in the procession in my gallery, although, I seemed to have missed the mayor!

The one that made me smile the most was the clown at the end, she seemed in a world of her own walking in the rain, and then she realised she was quite a way back from the others and had to catch up. All in all it was all over in about 20-25 minutes, but worth watching.

It’s just a shame after the effort people put into the procession that the weather couldn’t have been better. I was very pleased with the clarity of the images I got considering the poor light. Not all the photos were good photos, more a record of being there.

The government had originally denied the automatic right to settle here to any Gurkha who had retired before 1997, but this was overturned in the High Court last year. The judge, Mr Justice Blake, said the Gurkhas’ long service, conspicuous acts of bravery and loyalty to the Crown all pointed to a “moral debt of honour” and gratitude felt by British people. He ruled that instructions given by the Home Office to immigration officials were unlawful and needed urgent revision.

The Gurkhas have served all across the world in the defence of our Country for nearly 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars as part of the British Army. They are still fighting in the British Army today.

The governments new rules mean that permission to settle in the United Kingdom for those who retired before 1997 may be granted if they meet one of the following:

• Have spent at least three years continuous lawful residence in the United Kingdom during or after service;
• Have close family settled in the United Kingdom with whom you enjoy family life within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR);
• Received a Level 1-3 Award for gallantry, leadership or bravery for service in the Brigade; (Level 1: Victoria Cross; Level 2: DSO/DCM, DSO/DCM Bar, IDSM (India Distinguished Service Medal); Level 3: Military Cross, Military Cross Bar Military Medal, Military Medal Bar, Jangi Inam)
• Completed 20 or more years’ service in the Brigade;
• Have a chronic/long term medical condition which is attributable to, or was aggravated by, service in the Brigade.

If they do not qualify under any of the above, permission to settle in the United Kingdom may also be granted if they meet any two of the following:

• Were previously awarded a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence disability pension, but no longer have a chronic/long term medical condition attributable to, or aggravated by, service in the Brigade;
• Received a Mention in Dispatches (Level 4 Award) for service in the Brigade;
• Completed 10 years service in the Brigade or served less than 10 years but received a campaign medal for active service in the Brigade.

Now, I don’t quite know to express my anger over this. When these Gurkhas were recruited, they didn’t have to jump through hoops to prove their loyalty to this country in order to serve. No, that’s not correct, they do have to jump through hoops, the small number of places each year are hotly contested, so they have to go through a recruitment contest to get the right to join up. The vast majority will have signed up for the standard army term of 15 years, so that discounts one of the new criteria. This just doesn’t seem right for people who have loyally fought for this country.

Looking at some questions asked of the Secretary of State for Defence in 2002, the average length of service makes interesting reading:

In 2002, for British nationals, an army officer served 11.36 years and a Gurkha officer served for 22.40 years. For a British national soldier the average length of service is 8.26 years and a Gurkha is 9.10 years. So, by setting 20 years as a criteria, it looks like the Gurkhas are being held to a higher level of ‘loyalty’ than British nationals even achieve.

We have set numbers of immigrants that are allowed into the country from other parts of Europe and outside of Europe. These people haven’t already served this country before they come here and they may never do.

I have visited the Gurkha Justice Campaign website http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk and signed their petition. If you are a UK resident, please consider doing the same.

Just a brief aside on the history of The Stables.

Wavendon Allmusic Plan Ltd (WAP), a registered charity, was founded in 1969 by the world-renowned jazz musicians Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, with an aim to provide a centre of musical activity which would break down barriers between music genres and introduce music to as many people as possible regardless of age or social background.

The vision was realised with the development of The Stables Theatre, in some outbuildings at their home, as a venue for concerts and education activities. In October 2000, the new Stables Theatre opened its doors on a 398 seat auditorium which now presents over 200 concerts and over 200 education sessions each year.

So about 5 minutes before it was due to start, we went through the entrance to the auditorium and made our way down to the front row. We had seats one and two and were sat about 5 foot from the stage. The stage was only slightly raised, about a foot, so you felt that you were almost on stage. They weren’t fully booked for the event, only the main seating area was full, the side areas weren’t used.

Anyway, we were here to see The Mandolinquents, who I had described in an earlier post as a quartet of mandolin players. I had subsequently, done some more reading about them and realised that that was not quite right. The Mandolinquents consist of Simon Mayor, Gerald Garcia, Hilary James and Richard Collins. Before I booked the tickets, I knew nothing about them, so I had to check out their website to find the following:

Simon Mayor is one of the world’s leading mandolinists as well as a fine fiddle player, guitarist, composer and wit. His live performances are a riot of humourous anecdotes and off-the-cuff wit alongside dazzling musicianship. Gerald Garcia’s reputation is confirmed as one of the world’s finest guitarists. In September 1995 he toured four Chinese cities in a duo with guitarist John Williams. Hilary James may be best known for her fine singing, but she also takes her place in the Mandolinquents pounding the mighty mandobass. By his mid-teens Richard Collins was much in demand at bluegrass festivals and arts centres in his native Hampshire. Now highly regarded as a mandolinist and guitarist, he is also one of the hottest (and subtlest) 5 string banjo players around.

They came out on stage and without so much as an introduction, started into their repertoire. Wow, they can play. It was stunning. They started with Apanhei-Te Cavaquinho by Nazareth, but after that, I can’t remember what order anything was played or in which half, but it was a full selection crossing many genres. We had Pizzicato by Delibes, Song of India by Rimsky-Korsakov, Loch Lomad wonderfully sung by Hilary James, Rigaudon by Grieg, Will You Come to the Bower by John Clare sung by Hilary James, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy by Tchaikovsky, Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum from the musical Carmen Jones, Cheek to Cheek by Irvin Berlin, Russian Rag and The Piccolino.  The songs were interspersed with bit about the tunes and songs from any of the members. There was also a lovely Chinese tune lead by Gerald Garcia and a banjo and fiddle piece with Simon and Richard.

They finished off with an encore of The Spider in the Shed. This is one of over fifty pieces that Simon and Hilary had written for children and is available through their website ChildrensMusic.co.uk. They even had us, the audience, joining in with the chorus.

At the break half way through, we bought some of the CDs and DVDs that were available. Jo wanted a copy of the New Celtic Mandolin and ended up getting the CD, DVD and book. We also got a copy of the current album Dance of the Comedians and Hilary James’ Love, Lust & Loss album. Jo asked Gerald Garcia about a support he had on his guitar. It is a gitano, and allows you to play with your feet flat and without a footstool by raising the guitar. He said it takes a bit of getting used to, but it is worth trying. We’ll have a look around and get one to try.

It was a very enjoyable evening and I would thoroughly recommend going along to see them if you get the chance.

I have finally got around to putting up a piece of our work, so here it is.

Scarborough Fair & When I’m Sixty Four