Best TV Series 2012-2020

Last Tango in Halifax is pretty much the perfect family series. Beginning in 2012 Series 5 came on the iPlayer in February this year. It's based on lead writer Sally Wainwright's personal experiences. She described it as "the most personal thing I've ever written". Her mother, Dorothy, lost contact with a childhood friend, Alec Walker, when she was 15, but they reconnected on the social networking website Friends Reunited 60 years later and within six months were married. Alan and Celia's romance is depicted alongside the troubles of their own grown-up daughters, and the series' official description says that its portrayal of family is "as dark as it is comic". There’s real beauty in seeing amazing characters depicted by equally amazing actors in a real life setting. 

Discussing the casting of Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, Wainwright stated: "we went for the best and we got them". Great stuff indeed.

Triple Crown 2020

A great chance unfortunately missed. Scotland and Wales already beaten but no luck for Ireland last Sunday in Twickenham. 



Once again England better in every respect on the day!

Keep on Dancing..

Joyce will be 13 this Friday, that got me thinking back to Silke at that age and remembering ..... 

"Keep on dancing
Like it was the last thing you did in your life
Keep on dancing
You're gonna have to sacrifice
Keep on dancing
And dance with a beautiful smile
Keep on dancing, dancing
Dance for the rest of your life."

Plenty of dancing, optimism and symbolism in this video from George Harrison. 

Leaving home for the first time (shrouded by fog), being off balance and wondering which direction to go (middle of the street on the double yellow lines), letting go of our childish ways (playground), growing in the sunshine (the garden), first love then lit by sunlight (forbidden forest), first real boyfriend and dancing into the future with optimism, idealism and hope.

(The video was made by fans and the Harrison estate selected the best of the entries. This was the one that won. Doesn't get much better than this down memory lane even if the hair colour is wrong and the dancing is not quite as good as Silke's in those days.)

72 this year

72 two weeks ago—and glad of it. Why regret getting older? I remember being young, ha! There are lessons to be taken from living so many years. Let me mention a few here:

• The cost of youth is ignorance; you know less than you think you do.
• The cost of wisdom is pain; there comes a point where you know more than you want to.
• Nothing is ever as simple as it first appears to be.
• Certainty is one of the great sins.

I could add a few, but what I might add (for example, things like God exists and cynicism is cowardice) are not so much lessons learned as personal convictions founded in faith. I remember Rev. Robin Armstrong in St. Canices, Finglas very well.

Thinking back on those days brought back a surprise memory of the Monkees, one of the most underrated groups of the sixties and a Youtube search revealed:

It was perhaps one of the best lyrics (Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil) 60's pop music produced. When the world (and I) were young, things were simple. The older I got, the more I realised that there were no simple answers to any difficult question, and sometimes no answers at all. Now there are only shades of gray. Nothing is simple, and nothing is certain. If you can't accept this, maybe you're still too young. Give it time. It worked for me.

Rugby, Six Nations

2020 - 1st February in Dublin: Ireland 19 Scotland 12, off to a good start this season.

And for the first time the Six Nations is powered by AWS.

First played in 1883 as the Home Nations Championship among England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, with the inclusion of France in 1910 and Italy in 2000, the Six Nations Championship is among the oldest surviving rugby traditions and is one of the best attended sporting events in the world. Working with AWS and its partner Stats Perform, Six Nations is adopting new technologies that will help fans better understand the complexities and nuances of decisions made on and off the pitch.

Oh, and Stuart Hogg dropped the ball!!!

Go Outside

Before you make a big decision, go for a walk around the block.

• If it’s raining out, take the dog for a run.
• End the meeting a few minutes early and go for a stroll with the team.
• Instead of an afternoon snack, consider some sunshine.

The less convenient, the more it pays. A hard habit to create, but definitely worth it. When in doubt, go outside. Especially when it’s inconvenient.

Gall's Law

Reflections on perbit Insight before 2020.

"A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system."

However he did add a qualifier "A simple system may or may not work."

-John Gall

See also Systemantics.