LOW-GRADE LOW-EFFORT GLASTONBURY REVIEW

I didn't actually watch much, due to work, and camping, and other family stuff, and just generally enjoying the gorgeous weather.
However:
ACT I WASN'T AWARE OF THAT I WILL DEFINITELY BE LISTENING TO NOW: CMAT
Band I WAS aware of but had a great reminder of how good they are: BLOSSOMS
Band I had forgotten about since the last time they were at Glastonbury but I'm so glad to be reminded of: ST VINCENT
Without question the BEST act of the weekend - GETDOWN SERVICES
A general thought: I don't suppose there's any point me trying to make the point that all the featured female soloists who are supposed to be role models for young women and girls all dressed and acted on stage like they were trying to pick up strangers in a nightclub, so I'll leave that one there.
And a final thought: Great to see WUNDERHORSE do their thang on a big setting, but if the lead singer keeps using his voice like that, I fear his career will be over before he's 30.

RC 30-6-25

questioning

Does anyone actually trust anyone anymore?
That's what I've been musing on today. There are so many scams about, and there's so much infidelity, and there are so many predators and liars and schemers and chancers, that I wonder whether everyone hasn't become overrun by cynicism and we all refuse to believe the simplest thing now. Even if we haven't fallen prey to bad things ourselves, we are constantly seeing the stories on social media, and on consumer programmes on television, and in articles. The modern world is skewed towards the negative and so we are always hearing the worst of people. And if we're hearing the worst, then we're fearing the worst, that's my concern. No-one is giving anyone else a chance to be true, and I think that will just gather steam as it rolls downhill and we'll start to see people act in a way that says, "Well, stuff it. If everyone thinks I'm an arsehole, I might as well be one" and the whole thing will self-perpetuate and spiral and we'll all put up more and more defences to protect ourselves and no-one will ever interact in a human, trusting way anymore. We'll all end up barricaded in our own homes lest we be swept away by a torrent of bullshit and carried away into heartbreak and bankruptcy.
Or maybe it's just me...

RC 28-6-25

camping

I've put our tent up in the garden and Mathew and I are going to sleep in it tonight. This has filled us both with a wonderful feeling of excitement. Me especially!
We're going to watch a film together in our pyjamas with a hot chocolate and some snacks and then venture out into the wilds and enjoy a night under the stars. I'm calling it a 'Home Holiday' to lessen the shock of the post-vacation blues and to stop him asking constantly when we can go back to Ireland. It'll be fun. Obviously, I have to get up at a sensible hour to get ready for work, but he is such an early riser that I don't think it will be an issue, and as there's only about 20 minutes of darkness per night at the moment it's not as if it's likely we'll oversleep. Philippa has asked why I didn't plan it tomorrow and I said, "because, my love, if it goes well tonight, we can do it again tomorrow. If Saturday was our first night, it would be our only night, as I can't imagine you wanting Mathew outside in a tent on a Sunday night before a school day." Or something like that. I probably didn't put it quite as well as that, but I'm a writer, not a talker, I guess.
Anyway - the point is, once you're in the tent with the doors closed you could literally be anywhere, so I'll be getting him to imagine all sorts of amazing places that we might have pitched up, and encourage him to explore them all in his mind. Halfway up Mount Everest, in the Grand Canyon, next to Lake Titicaca, even on the Moon; wherever he decides to place us I shall go along with it and encourage it. Because I honestly believe the most important gift we can give our children is the gift of imagination.

RC 27-6-25

post-fun blues

With our Irish adventure in the rear view mirror, I need some things to look forward to...
So...
We might still have at least three months of glorious Summery weather. We've been very spoiled already, and there's still a week left in June!
A lot of this recent heat is probably down to climate change, which means this might become an annual pattern now, rather than just the occasional one-off.
The sea is pleasantly warm already.
Work will be busy for the next few months, but 'work' involves helping people have a good time, so it's something I can be proud of.
Mathew will finish school in a few weeks, so our mornings won't be dominated by trying to get him ready on time, and trying to get him out of the door.
Rian is developing daily and becoming a real character, despite his young age.
Wimbledon starts next week and I am strangely excited about watching it (mostly on my laptop at work, I would imagine).
There will be beach trips, and barbecues, and family gatherings, to enjoy.
And we're already talking about booking another holiday for later in the year, so there's that...

RC 26-6-25

reflections on Ireland

It rains a lot.
The pace of life is perfect.
People, generally, are friendlier.
It's a very different country; we just speak the same language.
Everyone wants to talk about your children.
There's a lot of swearing.
There's a lot of drinking.
They really do consume a hell of a lot of Guinness. (I'd guess 85% of most drinks ordered in most places we visited was a pint of Guinness.)
The countryside is beautiful.
There seem to be more Australians, Americans and Germans than there are Irish.

RC 25-6-25

night terrors (trumped edition)

Well I would like to say that the current tensions in the Middle East are not affecting my mood and my life, but then I had one of my head-twisting vivid dreams last night that would suggest that maybe recent events and political affairs have unsettled me...
Somehow - and I think I may remember something like this happening before in one of my overnight weird imaginings - I was part of the American government. Not sure what my actual role and position was, but I was around all the important people and I was being asked for my opinion often, and I was walking around with a clipboard that had a picture of the Presidential seal on it, which tells you I was a bod of note. Part of my duties seemed to involve sorting out the logistical details for an upcoming foreign visit somewhere. I had a list of civic events that we were expected to show up at, a plan of photo opportunities at significant locations and various wristbands and passes to dish out to the relevant individuals. There was also something about meeting the Pope for breakfast but I can't quite bring that fully to mind.
Anyway, it transpired, through a series of events that would only ever make sense in a dream, that I had somehow mixed up a couple of lists and then e-mailed them to the wrong people, so my travel itinerary full of interesting locations and historical venues got switched with a list of possible military targets in Iran. And no-one had noticed the error. So now we were minutes away from bombing the shit out of a friendly country while simultaneously sending the President on a jolly tour of a hostile nation. And it was all my fault and there was nothing I could do about it except sweat.
And then I woke up sweating....

Now I don't want to scare anybody this morning, so, if you're worried about what might be about to unfold over there in the Middle East, I assure you that - outside of last night's dream - I'm not really involved in any way, so I'm sure it will all work out absolutely fine...

RC 23-6-25

obsessed with alliteration

Another weekend, another wave of wanderers descending upon our sites for a welcome week of hearty holiday fun and stupendous Suffolk sunshine. Cheerful children bounce and bound their way through our wondrous wood, playful parents watch and wait while toddlers tumble in the soft play settings, and families fancifully fulfil their vacation vocations and merrily make memories.
I feel genuinely glad and bountifully blessed that my occupation offers me the opportunity to be of benefit to both old and young alike; that my management movements might amply amplify the heartfelt happiness of holidaymakers and lead them to a satisfying stay. And maybe that will lead to a therapeutic 'thanks' and a rave review.
I'll stop now...

RC 22-6-25

Jaunty June

I will hate myself for doing this, but I feel that I have to do it anyway - return to my old topic of the passing of time and the horrible nature of how seasons speed up. Someone at work today mentioned the fact that it's the Summer Solstice and it actually made me feel sick and brought me to the verge of a panic attack. It feels like two days ago I was delighted to be changing the clocks, how have we already reached the point where the amount of daylight we get will be shrinking again??? I really can't get my head around it, and it feels so unfair. I always get this lovely burst of energy in late-March and I look forward to six months of uninterrupted daylight and warmth. I know we very rarely get that here in the UK, but it's nice to dream about it and forlornly expect it, and my mood always flies as the Spring months advance. And, Covid notwithstanding, that has happened in 2025, at least as much as in any previous year. And yet now we're suddenly at a point where we're heading into the last month of June, and we're heading onto the downward slope towards Winter. And it barely feels like a week since the last one ended.
But what can I do about it?
Well - I can milk the shit out of every second of Summer while we still have it. I can finish work tonight and then go for a swim in the sea, which is beautifully warm now after a couple of very hot weeks. I can go home and enjoy a walk in the countryside with my wonderful family. I can make sure that I take advantage of every decent day and every nice night and every exquisite evening and then I can get to the onset of Autumn - which is still MONTHS away, by the way - with a treasure trove of memories locked in my head that I can revisit during the dire days of darkness.

RC 20-6-25

Perpetual planning

I'm looking for ideas of things that I can plan to do with Mathew during the Summer Hols. I know it's a few weeks away yet, but I don't get to spend too much time with him, what with work being flat out busy at the very time that he has some spare days he could spend with me, so I want to make the most of every available second. Philippa has already pencilled in some playdays with other families, and we have a couple of barbecues in the calendar already (one of which we are hosting), so it's not as if he's facing six weeks of absolute nothingness, but it would still be nice to have some other activities planned.
Maybe this is a situation where my work head and my home head are getting a bit confused with each other and overlapping. I'm so used to making sure that our visitors have things to occupy them while they are occupying one of our caravans that I feel I have to do the same for my offspring. But satisfying customers who have paid for a full week of fun is different to satisfying a son who is supposed to be having a month and a half of rest. After a tough year of schooling, it may just be that he will be happy to chill at home and play with his toys, and that dragging him out all over East Anglia will actually annoy the Hell out of him. But - again - it would be nice to have the options.

RC 19-6-25

dark clouds despite bright skies

There seem to be a lot of people going through a lot of personal problems at the moment, and it saddens me when the weather is so beautiful and I want everyone to feel contented and full of the joys of Summer.  I'm pleased to report that, apart from a bout of Covid-that-isn't-Covid, I feel pretty good about life again. Lacking a bit of energy and producing a lot of snot, but putting that aside I am in quite good shape, I feel, both physically and mentally. We have lots going on at work, as we always do, but I'm on top of it all and we're getting through what needs to be gotten through, whilst also getting ready for the mercurial madness of the upcoming school holidays. Mathew and Rian are both progressing well, my wife is content with the way her various work roles are going, and we have some good friends and family members to enjoy the lovely light evenings with. So what is there to complain about?
That's actually a question I have found myself asking several people in the past week or so. I know the default British setting has always been morose and moany, but it seems to have reached a particularly pessimistic peak recently. At a rough guess, 80% of the people I encounter are locked in a negative frame of mind despite having lots to be happy about. And I hate to be repetitive, but I'm assuming it's down to social media and the actual media. If your phone is constantly pinging with updates about Iran vs Israel, Russia vs Ukraine, Hamas vs Palestine, Trump vs Musk, etc etc, then no wonder you're finding it hard to look forward with any confidence. If you're constantly seeing photos of people 'living their best life' in that fake bullshit way that dominates the online world these days, then no wonder you're finding it hard to view yourself in a way that is self-loving and self-appreciative. So I say - again - Switch Off and Start Smiling!

RC 18-6-25

Side effects

I have to say I am glad that I didn't get more into drug use when I was younger. Coming down off those stimulants from the decongestant last week was bloody horrible!
And the pisser is - I STILL have the sodding virus...

RC 17-6-25

Perfect Sunday?

Sometimes the world just presents you with a day that makes all the other days of discomfort worth suffering through. Every so often, the clouds of personal pain will lift and the people and places around you will make you so glad you are still alive that every atom in your body is dripping with gratitude and chockful of love. And the strange thing is, they're not normally the big, all-encompassing, full-on days where it's a big birthday or a trip to a concert or something, they're normally simple little things like an afternoon in a beautiful garden, a walk through a sunlit meadow, or a play on the beach with your family. Or, as was the case for me yesterday, all three of those things on the same day. We were invited to a lovely little 'garden party with barbecue' in which the hosts wanted to show off their lovely new decking and summer house, which made me bristle a little as I hate talking to people about what they have done to their homes recently, but I have to confess it was delightful. About 20 guests, all different ages, all very personable, all mucking in together by bringing different food and then helping to prepare it and serve it. Not just one person or one couple having to do everything for everybody else and trying to achieve the status of 'perfect hosts'. And it was so lovely. So relaxed. And because everyone was involved, you automatically chatted to more people and the conversation flowed, so I was able to avoid those stereotypical banal topics such as 'What do you?', 'Where do you live?' and 'What do you drive?' which really are the anti-Rory soul-destroying trifecta tropes that make me want to pick up a salad spoon and drive it through my own amygdala.
So there was none of that, thankfully.
And I have to say the food was excellent.
Then some of us took a bit of a stroll across a nearby area of farmland (sticking to designated footpaths, I assure you) admiring the stunning wildflowers and the multitude of butterflies and dragonflies that alighted upon them. Mathew loved chasing the insects, without ever being cruel in attempting to stop their progress and without ever intending to catch them or cause them harm. He was just appreciating their beauty and interacting with them, which is wonderful.
After a late afternoon drink in the garden, we drove to the coast for an evening stroll and paddled and built sandcastles and generally had a lovely, lovely time.
Father's Day does seem to be getting better and better as my boys get older and older, and yesterday will take some beating.

RC 16-6-25

Silly Rory

Well, hopefully this will be a lesson we can all learn from...
I was feeling so crap yesterday that I popped to a pharmacy on my lunch break to ask for some advice and some drugs to help alleviate my suffering. The kindly young lady recommended a box of pills that contain both paracetamol and a decongestant. She said that would take away the aches and pains and help shift the blockage in my sinuses.
She was right.
By the time I got home last night I was feeling much, much better, having dosed myself up in the early afternoon and again before I left work. I enjoyed my tea, had a great evening with the family and went to bed to read "Precipice" - the latest book by Robert Harris. I took the pills again before going to sleep as I thought they could work their magic while I lay there and they would give me a night of uninterrupted snoozing, after a couple of nights of coughing myself awake constantly. But it didn't quite pan out that way.
I woke up at 2am as if someone had just jolted me out of a power nap. My heart was a bit on the fast side and my brain was firing like a savant, running through ideas for stuff at work, starting to fret about Christmas schedules (yes, really) and then coming up with an idea for a collection of short stories that I could add to this blogsite as posts one month. I even picked up a notepad and started scribbling down some ideas for characters. Then I got up and walked around the kitchen, I had a little step outside to see what the Moon was doing, and I kept thinking, "Well, insomnia is back but it doesn't normally feel like this."
I managed to calm down a bit at about 4am, so I put on a guided meditation and slowly drifted off to sleep.
I mentioned it to Philippa this morning and she said, "Did those pills have caffeine in? That might explain what happened..." so I had a little look at the leaflet, and that was when I realised what I had done. Caffeine wasn't mentioned, but it clearly said, "DO NOT TAKE MORE THAN 4 TABLETS IN ANY 24 HOURS". I had taken 6 in about 9 hours.... See, I had misunderstood what the kindly lady said and I thought they were just paracetamol with an extra ingredient, and of course, with paracetamol you take two tablets every four hours, so that was what I had done. The leaflet made it quite clear that if you took too many, you should tell someone, so off I drove to the pharmacy.
Turns out that the decongestant in the pills is also a massive stimulant. So I had overmedicated myself with something that had put my brain into overdrive. No wonder I was planning things for December...
Anyway, no real harm done. I have to drink a lot of fluids today to make sure it's all flushed out of my kidneys, I have to avoid ANY over-the-counter remedies for the next day, and I have to damn well make sure I read everything properly when I get given new medication in the future. But all I'm left with is a rather tired feeling, a slight hangover, and a notepad that reads like a teenage cry for help or the insane ramblings of a psychotic.

RC 11-6-25

Poory Rory

I refer you back to my blog posting on Tues 15th April, entitled "Symptoms and Suffering" because it sums up exactly how I feel today. Another sodding cold has invaded my system and left me feeling utterly shite. Having gone over a year (I think) without any respiratory viruses at all, I now seem to have succumbed twice in two months.  My throat and chest are burning, every time I cough it's like being stabbed in the lungs, and my face feels like someone has put a cricket ball in my sinuses.
Thank God it looks like we'll have bright sunshine for the rest of the week or I might start feeling sorry for myself and feeling low!

RC 10-6-25

To pass time at work - A LIST (or two)

As it's the 9th, here's some 'Top 9' ponderings...

9 things I would like to do, just once, just so I could know what it would feel like...

Be an NFL quarterback
Experience an orgasm as a woman
Accept the Nobel Prize for chemistry
Watch all 6 of my numbers come out on the Lotto draw
Kiss Princess Catherine
Look at the Earth from the surface of the Moon
Cook the perfect omelette
Stand atop Mount Everest
Find a practical use for my degree, such as clean energy or climate help

9 celebrities I would least like to spend time with...

Leonardo di Caprio
Michael Bay
Michael McIntyre
Kate Winslet
Any politician
Will Smith
Most footballers
Any football pundit
David Walliams

9 flavours of fizzy drink I would love to try...

Coconutade
Elderflower and Ginger
Watermelon Coke
Toblerone
Battered Fish
Frosties
Spaghetti Carbonara
Butterade
Kale

RC 9-6-25

Sunday morning thoughts

I am so proud of myself - SO proud - that my last blog entry was exactly 300 words long! I'm not sure I've ever done that before, but I'm thinking it might be the way forward. Every posting being a uniform length, with that being 300 words each time.
As a sidenote - I wonder how much time (and indeed, how many words) I use up just talking about weird things I can do with this blog, and what challenges I might achieve, rather than actually writing something worthwhile?

I'm quite sad that we're already heading into the last week of SpringWatch. It barely feels like an hour ago I sat down to watch episode 1, and suddenly we're two-thirds of the way through it, and heading for the home straight. I have to say I have enjoyed it, despite the un-Springlike weather I've been experiencing during the series. I liked the addition of the 'SpringWatch Street' stuff - that was a nice new angle - and the little highlights they've shown from past series were nice reminders of how much the technology has developed.
I was a bit worried by the unexplained disappearance of Megan from week two. Was she always going to be involved as a guest presenter for the first week only, or has something untoward befallen her? My last image of her was of her surrounded by bats, which as we know can carry unpleasant viruses, so I hope she hasn't gone down as Patient Zero for Covid25 or something similar...

Today we are heading to an indoor bug place that we haven't been to before. Mathew has a bit of a thing for spiders at the moment, (which I'm pleased about, it's better than him being terrified of them), and this place has all sorts of weird and wonderful worldwide arachnids, both dead and alive, so he's very excited. The place looks really cool too. Philippa showed me their website and the photos are very impressive. Two rooms full of butterflies, for a start, and the promise of 'previously unseen critters from the deepest jungles and rainforests.'
Personally, I've always had a soft spot for the Madagascan hissing cockroach, so I'm hoping they have a colony of those there too.

RC 8-6-25

reflections on rubbish

I'm still feeling braindead after my online shitshow (sorry - 'seminar') this week.
Jesus, what a waste of time.
I don't know what you do for a living, but let's imagine, just for the sake of argument, that you are a butcher. Now imagine that your boss tells you that you need to attend some additional online training stuff to keep you up to speed on how to be a good butcher. Now imagine that the person leading that training does not have a background in butchery, or in any kind of customer service, or in any kind of skilled manual labour that might be applied to your job with a bit of tinkering. Imagine instead that the person leading the training looks like they have literally just fallen off the stage at a graduation ceremony at a lower-grade university somewhere after getting a low-grade degree in something completely unrelated to the field about which they are talking, and imagine that they have compiled one (and only one) PowerPoint presentation full of flowery buzzwords and management wankspeak, and that they have decided to present that presentation regardless of its relevance to their audience. So instead of useful CPD stuff about how you cut and serve certain parts of certain animals, or how you treat customers, or how you develop your business to reach a larger market, or anything that might remotely resemble an iota of something worthwhile and useful to your trade, you have to spend all day sitting through a collection of pie charts and waffly articles, brought to you by some Home Counties oik who looks like he still needs acne cream and hasn't been taught how to tie a Windsor knot properly without breaking two fingers.
That's pretty much what I went through yesterday.
Waste of time.

RC 6-6-25

Yuck

I have to do an online seminar today that I am not looking forward to at all. It's pointless, it's a waste of my time when I could be doing something much more worthwhile, and it's being led by someone who is less qualified and experienced than I am, but has somehow convinced a consultancy firm to hire him, and somehow convinced my boss he is worth paying to sit in his bedroom at home and lead a seminar via Zoom.
Gavin got a bug up his bum about CPD and ongoing training and all that bollocks, so now I have to commit to doing some additional hours of 'informational education' and this is the first part of it. It's entitled "Smiling Sharks - How To Be Outwardly Charming But Inwardly Ruthless" or something similar. Sounds like an utter pile of otter wank and I would rather sit here slowly having my feet sewn together than have to go through it; but go through it I shall.
In other news, the continental-style Spring seems to have deserted us, leaving us with yet another British-style season, complete with overcast skies and plenty of drizzle. Honestly, as soon as Meteorological Summer officially arrived, we had to get back to this old shite - greyer than a greylag goose and damper than a sailor's sock. I am thinking of resetting my laptop to display the 'crackling log fire' screensaver that I use to get me through Winter...

RC 5-6-25

Ireland imminent

It has suddenly struck me how incredibly close I am to taking my family over to Ireland!! I'm not going to give you the exact dates, because I'm paranoid and I don't want everyone with access to the internet knowing when our house is empty, but it's soon! I am nervous, excited, delighted and damp (although the last one may be because I sat on a bench at work without realising it had just been cleaned).
I'm looking forward to the challenge of blogging without making it obvious that I'm not even in England anymore. Call me sneaky, but I want to write from a place of subterfuge and convince you life is continuing as normal, when actually I'm several hundred miles away from home. Of course, the likelihood is that I will simply get lost in what we're doing and not even type one word, but my intention is to stay in touch with you regularly while we're away.
It feels so weird to be planning and prepping for my own break when all my working hours are spent ensuring holidays go well for others. It's hard not to overdo it and make an itinerary without a spare second in it, but I have to remember that the point of all this is for us to have time away as a family and relax together and just enjoy the adventure. I don't need to fill each day with activities, I just need to pamper Philippa, and to show my sons how to make the most of a week where someone has kindly loaned you a property without charging you obscene amounts for it.
My main worry is about Mathew and Rian flying for the first time. I want them to see it as fun, which means I'll have to hide my own fears and discomfort and set a good example. I also don't want to be the family that ruins everyone else's journey by having a screaming infant and a kid that can't sit still on the plane.
But the flight's not very long so I'm sure we'll be fine...

RC 4-6-25

June is already going by too quickly...

Into another month.
I search my mind for a challenge.
I think of ways to make this blog more appealing.
More exciting. More dynamic.
When really I should just write the bloody thing more regularly and stop overthinking what I'm doing with it.

A little poem there, to kickstart my efforts in a new month.
On Sunday, I thought to myself how much fun it would be to post a blog every day in June, to make up for the slightly lacking scenario I put you through in May; but then I was playing in the garden with my sons, and then I mowed for the first time since the end of April, and then we had visitors, and then suddenly I was in bed after a few glasses of wine and hadn't bothered.
I think, maybe, I need to do a managerial review on myself and look at why I'm struggling for motivation and creativity at the moment. I hate doing those annual check-in interview things that I have to do with staff members, but they do seem to find them beneficial, so maybe it's what I need in my personal life. I mean, I do have a wife who is happy to point out the things I'm not doing very well, but that's not the same as taking a constructive look at my day-to-day activities and giving me an honest appraisal on them. And maybe that's what I need....
Anyway - time to find an excuse to close my office door so I can catch up on last night's SpringWatch...

RC 3-6-25