Football

Football kicked off last week - Hooray!  But I do have a small complaint.  Why do we have to start the pre-season in AUGUST, which is the hottest month in this very hot country.  Every year we read of players in colleges, and high schools suffering in the heat and some even die!  The actual season is just 16 games long and with the play-offs it's all over by the end of January - Duh?

So why do we have to start so early, and finish when winter is upon us?

Once football is over we are stuck with basketball, which a dreadfully slow game designed for seven-foot tall Negroes with pituitary gland problems.  It might be bearable if they raised the hoop a couple of feet, so that the smaller players could have a shot.

The game seems to last forever, and always comes down to the last couple of minutes and ends with a point or two difference, like 112 to 114.  Not a lot of fun at all.

Now if we began football in say October, when baseball is coming to an end, it would go on until the end of March when the pre-season for baseball has just started.

I have of course, not mentioned ice hockey as it's not a serious game and consists of men with no front teeth hitting each other with sticks.

Grandad

The other evening we watched the movie Master and Commander, and it made me think of my grandfather.  He died in 1964 aged 84, which means he was born in 1880.  He was a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and at first spent some time under sail, before he graduated to the engine rooms as an E.R.A. (Engine Room Artificer,) which was a fairly low rank. 

Lt. Commdr. William Victor Summons (1880 - 1964) in his formal uniform.
I have the sword under his picture in my office.

He served in the first world war and was in the Battle of Jutland.  He retired but was brought back again at the start of WWII to serve in motor torpedo boats up and down the English Channel.
One of his great heroes was Admiral Lord Nelson, who considering that he had already been dead for 75 years when my grandad was born, just shows how big the man was in naval folklore.

The movie, if you haven't seen it, is about as good a portrayal of life aboard a fighting ship in the time of Nelson with all its violence, and danger.  It also shows how a good commander can lead his men through these trials with an intimate knowledge of everyone on board.  It's one of my favorite movies.

As for my grandfather, he was a wonderful man and in the extremely unlikely event that we have the chance to meet up again after this particular ride in space, I should want to spend a lot of time with him as I did when I was a boy, and then a young man.

Meat

I'm surprised I've lived this long, when considering the unwise amounts of meat I've eaten in my early life.  All the dietitians I have ever heard talk about the matter have said that red meat it not good for you.  Over the last 20 years or so, I can say that we have cut down enormously on red meat as chicken is so widely available.  It's hard to imagine that as a child chicken was actually a luxury, and rarely available.

One of the treats when eating out in England used to be a mixed grill.  Often served in medium cost restaurants, this dish is a cardiologist's nightmare.  It consisted, if my memory serves me right of: a lamb's kidney; a small piece of gammon; a piece of steak; a sausage; a small lamb chop; half a tomato, and occasionally a fried egg.  So all the bases were covered.

I actually made one the other evening, minus the kidney of course, as "organ" meat as it's called out here is not easy to get.

When you consider that in addition most of us ate a full English breakfast before going to school, it's amazing that anyone survived beyond our forties.

Sunday's Column - San Bernardino Museum

We have a very good museum in San Bernardino.  It is split into several parts but perhaps the most intriguing is the floor devoted to birds.  They have the fifth largest collection of bird's eggs in the world here, but also every type of bird is on display.  If you try and find a Mountain Chickadee in the wild you are going to have to look very hard for it.  They are quite small and blend in, but their whistle is unmistakable - it's a little like the opening stanza of "We're in the Money."  I often wondered what they looked like and it was here at the museum that I found out.  Now I can spot them clearly, although rarely up in the trees.

When I was there last one of the other things that drew my attention was this replica of an odometer used by covered wagons when they traversed the country in the 19th century.

It had never occurred to me that they had a way of calculating the distance they had traveled, and it must have taken some sort of genius with numbers to work it all out.  (I bet my friend in England, Paul, could do it as he's always helping my out with my poor math skills.)

Outside the building they have a huge steam locomotive to remind us of the days of even more expansion, and in the basement you can stand up next to a polar bear; truly one of nature's most fearsome creatures.

They work hard at the museum to keep it an interesting place to visit and I always look forward to my regular trips there.

You can read the entire column as always at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Music Track - Ravel

My thanks to Richard and Rosie for sending me this piece, which is self explanitory.
http://www.classicalarchives.com/feature/dont_miss_this.html?utm_content=omega123@comcast.net&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Explore

Maybe we could get a flash mob going at Stater Brothers - perhaps in the produce section!

Children

The other day I was walking down a local road and found myself behind two fathers with two little boys in tow.  Now, I'm not very fond of children in general as I'm never sure quite what to do with them, or say to them.  They are in a different world and most of the time I can't figure out what the hell they're doing.  It's only when they get close to an adult view of things that I can relax with  them.  Once they reach say about 12, I find them quite interesting and even amusing.

But these two little boys were really cute and I asked one of the fathers how old they were: "Just coming up to three," was the reply.  I told them to take plenty of photographs as the time goes by so quickly.  My children are now 48, 47 and 37.  It doesn't seem possible!
Next week, we have our grandson, Evan, coming up.  He used to spend weeks with us here every summer, but this year, at age 16, it's just four days, but we shall enjoy it nonetheless.

Storm

I hope all my friends on the East Coast are keeping their heads down.  I can't imagine what it must be like to await a huge storm like the current one barrelling north.  Out here we have earthquakes and fires to worry about, but not storms. 
About nine years ago, Yvonne and I were in Puerto Rico and we were due to leave as a hurricane was coming in.  By the time we left San Juan, all the shops were boarded up and all the shutters were down.  We got out, but the turbulence on the ascent was not something either of us enjoyed or wish repeated. 

Jet Man

My friend John in England sent me this clip.  It's pretty amazing.  It takes 5 1/2 minutes and you'll have some great views of the Grand Canyon.  One of the  comments was that this man is certifiable, but he seems to know what he's doing. http://www.youtube.com/v/WgdIE2t8QkM?

Selling - Part II

I had my 30th birthday in New York.  I had won a sales competition and that was the prize; to attend a big conference there.  It was a turning point in my life.  Unlike British companies, whose managing directors were usually engineers or accountants, it appeared that all the CEO's of US companies were salesmen.  If they hadn't exactly come out of the ranks, they called themselves salesmen.  It was very refreshing.  I was offered a job and accepted, but the process of acquiring a green card was so long I had almost forgotten about it 15 months after it became available.  By then I was chasing a new position back in the UK

About this time I met a man who was a senior veterinary surgeon for the government.  During a conversation about our various jobs, I had used one of the old euphemisms for selling, like "area manager," and he said: "Oh, you're a company representative!"  I admitted it.  To which he told me this: "Soon after I left university, I was in a hotel with my old professor, and I noticed a number of extremely well dressed young men around. (this was in the days when there were virtually no women in the work force outside secretaries - sorry, ladies!)  I mentioned to my professor that maybe they were shooting a film there as there were so many of these smart young men.  He said no, they were company representatives to which I replied: 'Oh you mean they're just salesmen!'  He then said that I had underestimated their positions, as in fact they were hand-picked to represent their companies, rather like ambassadors.  He then said that the best person to represent a company was the managing director, but usually he was too occupied with so many other duties that he had to have personal representatives to do it for him.  So these men were chosen for that role."

I have had many young men and women join me for selling careers, and since that day I have always told them about this conversation I had so many years ago.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I'm getting more American, I think.  For several years I rather avoided football as I couldn't quite understand what was going on.  But over the last decade, I've become more interested in it.  It is, after all, barely concealed violence which I think is in our genes - well, the male ones at least, although a certain young lady did turn me on to the Philadelphia Eagles, who have a history of declared brutalilty.

I don't have a serious team as I've never quite bonded with one, so I have a certain purist attitude to games that appear on TV.  I've never been to a professional match although shortly after arriving here I did go with my sons and some others to the Rose Bowl to see a game between two local colleges.  We gave up after about half an hour as we didn't know the rules and there seemed to be no real fun going on.  Big men - or youths - sat around and then occasionally got up and ran around for about a minute, whereupon they went and sat down again.  Seemed pointless.

My son Simon is a diehard Raiders fan, and has no interest in any other team, which precludes watching any other matches, which I think is a shame.  Sadly the Raiders have done badly for some years now so there's little celebration in Simon's house during the season.

Music Track - Schumann

This is a performance of Horowitz playing Traumerei, by Robert Schumann.  It's a piece from Scenes from Childhood and it means "Dreaming."  It takes place in Moscow in 1986, and there was a lot going on in the USSR at that time, which no doubt created the emotional condition of the audience.  It's a piece I well remember my father playing when I was a child.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq7ncjhSqtk

Sunday's Column - Pharoahs

It's been a few years since I passed through the splendid door of Pharaoh's - San Bernardino's very own amusement park.  Over the years lots of plans have been made to upgrade this facility to make it even more interesting.  One season it hosted "raves" which caused the locals to get in a tizzy.  Today, the plans are more concrete and entail turning the site into an even bigger water themed park to make it the best in the Southland.

I met the president, Dave Simon who used to be with Disney and also ran the San Dimas water park, Raging Waters, so he certainly has the experience.  You can read the entire column at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels

Ride

Many thanks to Derek Hermon, the owner of Bear Valley Bikes, for taking time to drag my old bones around the 15 miles plus of the lake to shave a generous two minutes off my best time.  It makes a huge difference following a professional racer and from time to time getting into his drag.  He said the best distance was to be between one and two inches off his back wheel - Phew!  A little too close for comfort at speeds of around 25 miles per hour, but it made a huge difference when I managed it.

The final climb up Red Ant Hill was a little more that I wanted, but it had to be done as his business and our start and finish point ended at the top - a sort of miniature Alp d'Huez!  For those keeping score we came in at 52 minutes 45.3 seconds.  This picture is just before the off.  Once again. Thanks Derek!  And also for the snazzy jersey!

Birthday

These damned birthdays come round a little too quickly!  Today, I've hit another one and I've had so many that I've reached that age that should I have a cake, which I shall not, I'm only allowed one candle as the correct number would present a fire hazard!
However, I've decided to celebrate - if that's the right word - by cycling around the lake.  Furthermore this is to be a group effort to try and knock some time off my previous record, which is 55 minutes and 3 seconds.  Checking back I note that this was in 2002 when I was a mere wisp of a lad of 63.  But today, instead of going it alone, I have a team effort going on.  Our local professional cyclist, Derek Hermon, who owns Bear Valley Bikes has often said that with good pacing I could do better, so he's put together a "train," to help the old man get round.  We start at his shop at the top of Red Ant Hill, which means I have to ride there uphill to begin!  I shall report on progress tomorrow.  Regardless of the outcome, there will be a few pints downed tonight!