Luthiery...

I want to start getting properly into this luthiery business. The trouble is, it costs a lot of money to make a decent guitar. And, not knowing how i'll be living next year does make it slightly harder to plan ahead and buy wood. Until then, i'll have to just play the ones i've already made.

If anyone happens to stumble across this page, and decide "Yes, I want that man to make me a fine instrument", feel free to contact me. I can hope, anyway...


Here are the two latest guitars to have left the Greene workshop:

Eurasia: United

Well, that took a long time. Finally, after the two-week long treasure hunt, spanning seven countries, the entirety of the new Muse song was released.























I know it's just a band and all that, but Muse does seem a little bit special compared to other groups. You wouldn't catch the Fratellis setting up something like this, and I don't think Johnny Borrell even cares about making decent music, let alone decent treasure hunts...!

It also helps that Muse have weirdly-obsessive fans. I thought I had a problem, until I found some of these other people. Still, the band very kindly caters for all the nutcases around the worldd by making ridiculously extravagant trails, for a simple 5-minute track. Which, incidentally, is awesome, and the viola, vocals and piano at 04:48 are possibly the greatest part of any song, ever. Possibly.























Now, back to normal life, sans anagrams and palindromes, minus agents and USB keys. Wish I was a spy.

Advantages of having a Swedish girlfriend #2

When I went to stay with her over Christmas, I got to go ice-skating on this lake. I did think I was going to fall over/break the ice/die for a lot of the time, but the scenery was amazing. One day, i'll own a house looking across the lake, and sell hot tea to all the poor people who freeze their feet while extracting themselves from skates.

Advantages of having a Swedish girlfriend #1

Cold meats. from skinka, to julskinka. All damn good.

The Great Chessboard

The new Muse site went live yesterday, including a link to this site, where the following text can be found. It seems to be the begining of some long treasure hunt to get a download of the new single. It also seems like a lot of work to listen to one song...

Project Eurasia

FLASH BRIEFING DECLASSIFIED AND APPROVED FOR GENERAL RELEASE
PREVIOUS CLASSIFICATION: INDIGO ALPHA SHARD

GEOPOLITICAL EVENTS NOW NECESSITATE ACTIVATION OF THE STANDBY PLAN BRAVO NINER PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS GRAN AJEDREZ.

MARKERS INCLUDE REALTIME ASSESSMENT OF POLITICAL AND PUBLIC SENTIMENT AT -2.57 (KNIGHT INDEX), SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS AT [REDACTED], ENERGY STABILITY INDICATORS AT [REDACTED], GLOBAL MARKET VOLATILITY MARKERS AT [REDACTED] AND SOVEREIGN STATE MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS AT [REDACTED].

FOR GRAN AJEDREZ TO BE FULLY ACTIVATED, APPROVAL HAS BEEN GRANTED FOR WIDESPREAD MOBILISATION OF INITIATED NON-CONVENTIONAL HUMINT RESOURCES.

GRAN AJEDREZ WILL BE ACTIVATED IN A PHASED PROCESS. SUCCESSFUL ACTIVATION OF EACH PHASE WILL RESULT IN THE UNLOCKING AND DECRYPTION OF AN AUDIO BRIEFING. THE FULL PROJECT EURASIA / GRAN AJEDREZ AUDIO BRIEFING WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD UPON SUCCESSFUL ACTIVATION OF ALL PHASES.

I got to work yesterday to find the manageress standing there waiting for me, looking more annoyed than i've ever seen her. It turns out there was actually a just cause for the anger: the previous day at work i'd somehow inadvertently deleted £11,000 of stock from the store's computer.

Had to spend most of the afternoon trying to right all the figures. Ah, the joys of One Stop...

Nantes

I got a letter through the door yesterday, telling me where i'll be going in France next year. It's a place called Saint-Herblain, and it seems to be a suburb of Nantes. It looks reasonable enough. Except for that block of flats. Oh, and the ominous warning that there'll be CCTV watching me all the time...

Still, i'm sure it'll be a very nice place. Now to find a apartment...