englishteeth.co.uk

Yesterday was a beautiful day on the south cost and I got stuck in one of the best traffic jams ever. Much preferred to the usual morning congestion I hit this morning.

After taking my son to see Speed Racer (the visual equivalent of a massive sugar rush for a six year old boy), we looked round a collection of minis displayed around Gun Wharf Quays in Portsmouth. These were here by arrangement of the Italian Job, a charitable organisation run by mini enthusiasts who run a fund raising tour inspired by the the Italian Job film for the children’s charity KidsOut.

The culmination of yesterdays showcase was to be a “Moving Mile” of minis at Southsea Common. Despite only becoming aware of this at the eleventh hour, my mini was freshly polished and eager to be part of it.

As a result we found ourselves among another 150 or so minis of various ages and design. Even though there were only half the amount needed to break any records, it was really good fun and quite a spectacle.

On May 19th the European Space Agency are to start to recruit new European Astronauts.

The overall selection process will start on Monday 19 May and follow a by now well-established procedure:

1. Screening: the first step in the formal application will be online at www.esa.int/astronautselection. Applicants will have to provide the same medical examination certificate as private pilots, the examination for which must be conducted by an Aviation Medical Examiner certified by his/her national aviation medical authority.
2. Two stages of psychological and professional aptitude evaluation, including behavioural and cognitive skills tests.
3. Medical evaluation: this process includes clinical examination by aero- medical physicians and clinical specialists, laboratory screening tests, and special procedures.
4. Formal interview: as potential ESA staff members, the astronaut candidates will go before an ESA selection board for further professional assessment.
5. The final appointments will be officially announced in 2009.

The selected candidates will then join the European Astronaut Corps and begin basic training at the European Astronaut Centre (ESA-EAC) in Cologne, Germany.

The post title is a song lyric (from Man on the Moon, by Grinderman), rather than an aspiration.

Saying that, I can’t deny daydreaming about it a little after finding that I still fall within the age range for applicants (even if I can’t profess to having “demonstrated outstanding abilities in research, applications or the educational field”). I have applied for a couple of posts with ESA since I worked for them a decade or so ago, but nothing quite along these lines.

It would be cool though, wouldn’t it!

So, it’s Saturday morning and I’m browsing ent24, my favourite site for local gigs and events, and I notice that not all on the London dates for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are marked as sold out.

Not wanting to mess around, I’m straight on the phone and after a couple of minutes of automated messages I get to speak with an actual person…

“Hi, I’d like two tickets for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds.�
“Wicked! What date would you like?�
“Friday 9th May please.�
“And that would be the seven thirty performance�
“Yeah, that sounds about right�
“What seats would you like? We have £60, £30 and £15�
Odd. “Whereabouts are they?�
“The £15 and £30 tickets are in the stalls, the £60 is in the circle. Actually, the £15 ones are in really good positions.�
I look at the seating plan. “Ok then, I’ll go for those!�
I’m getting pretty excited by this point. Tickets for a gig I was sure would be sold out and cheaper than listed. Great!
“So, just to confirm… Two tickets for Wicked on Friday 9th May at 7:30�
“Er, just a second. Did you say ‘Wicked’ as in the show Wicked?�
“Yes�
“Isn’t Nick Cave playing on Friday 9th May at 7:30?�
“Victoria Apollo Friday 9th May at 7:30, Wicked.�
“I rang the number of the Hammersmith Apollo.�
“Oh, I’m sorry.�
“Phew, that was a narrow escape�
“Yes. The Hammersmith Apollo; who did you want tickets for?�
“Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds�
“No, sorry, I’m not getting any availability on that.�

I don’t know what sort of speech impediment I must have for Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to be heard as Wicked. I thought she was simply echoing my great taste! Either way, it looks like I’ll have to listen to Dig Lazarus Dig from home tomorrow…

Image is courtesy of gustavoBom’s photostream on flickr.

I haven’t been reading as much this week. I’ve been tired.

Though the titbits that have stood out have included:

• Andrew Tokeley’s blog here
• an application to turn you into a Simpson’s character here
• the home page of The Kills, who I saw on Friday here
• Gareth’s trouble with his new PS3 here
• and Alex miller’s blog, here.

How much more fun the internet has become …

From Joost: The Adventures Of Brisco County, Jr. - The Brooklyn Dodgers
Brisco (BRUCE CAMPBELL) and Bowler (JULIUS CARRY) help two orphans claim a valuable inheritance.

It had been quite a while since I looked at Joost, but an e-mail from them mentioning an old Bruce Campbell favourite enticed me back. But rather that watching much, I found myself experimenting with the built in blogging widget… with the above is the result.