Merry Christmas!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hochheilige Paar,
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'!
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'!

— Franz X. Gruber, December 24, 1818

We will kiss goodnight under a starlit sky

Like everyone, I imagine, I have favourite songs. Songs which are meaningful to me for all kinds of reasons; because they remind me of times or places or events. Some songs of course remind you of people. The songs which mean most to people I think are generally those which remind you of the person you love. I'm no exception. There are songs which remind me of my ex and songs which remind me of other girlfriends. And of course there are now songs which make me think of Erin.

In many cases such songs are simple declarations of adoration or longing or loss into which people often read whatever they wish. Dido's song "Don't Leave Home" is an excellent example of this. People commonly miss the point entirely and play it at their weddings, oblivious to the fact that the subject matter is actually drug addiction. The song which makes me think of Erin, "Hollow As A Bone" by the Cowboy Junkies, feels very different to me from most songs which make you think of a person because it's rare for a song both to put into words, save for one line, exactly what you're feeling and to express well a quite adult and complex feeling, that of being smitten with something so that you feel the need grasp it very tightly lest it slip away.

He could not help but hang his eyes
Her beauty held him so
If this was not a state of grace
Then grace he'd never know
I want to yell farewell from a crowded pier
Just me and a thousand goodbyes
The tears will be bittersweet
'cause soon she'll be back my side

If I lost you now
I would feel as hollow as a bone.

Knight in shining armour

The thing I love most about the Internet is the opportunities it affords for communication with people you would otherwise never have the chance to meet, to get help and give help. Here's a trivial, but in my opinion, excellent example. This afternoon, thanks to the Internet, I helped someone three and a half thousand miles away find her mobile phone.

I was chatting on MSN Messenger with the fabulous Michelle, Erin's friend from college in Alfred, NY, when she asked me for a favour. She couldn't remember where she had put her mobile phone so she asked if I would call it so she could hear it ring and locate it. A simple thing, right? Everyone's probably called their mobile at some time or other to try and find it. But in this case tricky because Michelle doesn't have a landline. No problem - just use the Internet to get someone on another continent to call it instead. Simple!

I am the one in ten

It was our company Christmas party last night. I have no tales of predictable debauchery to share, not least because I did a runner at 11pm. I'd had enough to drink and I had to be compos mentis this morning to run a training session. I was there long to witness two of the sales guys occupying the dancefloor for a few minutes in a rather impressive American Wedding-style dance-off. This cavorting brought to mind the statistic our CEO quoted at the end of the year-end company presentation that afternoon.

He said he had been reading an article in a management magazine which among other things claimed that 10% of employees have had sex in the office. He commented with a grin that as we now have 70 staff this had caused him and our CFO to wonder which were the seven among us. All of us, including of the dancing salesman who went a curious shade of red because everyone was staring at him, had a good giggle at how preposterous this idea was. Later, though, it did occur to me that, umm, I am actually one of the seven... ;-)

Ol' Big Nose puts it rather well

On Monday I wished it was Tuesday night
So I could wish for the weekend to come
On Tuesday I wished that the night would pass
So I could call you on the phone
Now a man can spend a lot of time
Wondering what was on Jack Ruby's mind
And time is all I have without you here

From one of my all-time favourite albums. Aye, cheers Bill. God, I miss that girl.

Online ordering is great

You can't beat shopping on the Internet. I love buying books, DVDs, CDs etc without ever getting out of bed. Except...... when someone cocks up the order. I've had a book called Easier Fatherland, about life in 21st Century Germany, on order for a few weeks. Got an envelope from my friends at play.com this morning. I thought, that looks suspiciously thin. This was because it contained Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures volume 1 instead. Cute, but of no interest to me. Sigh.