Wu Wei

Putin's New Year Speech

In Britain we are very conscious that an essential part of Christmas is the Queen's Speech to the Commonwealth.  When I say essential, I mean it is essential to decide whether the family will watch it or not.  As a child we always listened to it on the radio with my mother.  I am sure my father did not hold with such royalist notions.

These days, extracts are relayed on the BBC News in any case, so you get the gist of it whether you like it or not.

At lunch today we were discussing the invasion of Russians to Vilnius over the New Year.  It seems that all the hotels and restaurants were full.  They came in civilised family groups and their main requirement was a plasma TV to watch Putin's New Year Speech and champagne to drink with it. 

My informant could not say whether the speech was favourably received, which left me with some unanswered questions:

• Was it prerecorded so without any reference to the demonstrations?
• Is it too early to predict an "Annus Horribilis"* for next year's speech?
• Was it acceptable to boo in front of the children, and in a foreign country?

And what did he say anyway?  I seem to have slept through an important message.

*One year, the Queen complained about her Annus Horribilis (horrible year) in her Christmas message.  True there had been a fire in the Castle (someone smoking in bed, the rumours were) and her children all got divorced rather publicly and crossly.  Since most people were taking Diana's side, the discussion afterwards was all about how families had coped with their own Anni Horribili, and theirs had definitely been worse, without the money at her disposal. 

Technophobe about earphones

Despite having all the kit, I have never managed to get used to listening to music on earphones.  So I almost never use my iPhone or iPad for listening to music on a plane.  I have proper speakers with a dock at home and the sound is much better. 

For the same reason I can't really ever get on with podcasts.

I didn't realise why, until a friend said he didn't like stuff in his ears, and I have to say I feel the same.  I guess those big ear muffs might be better, but I don't like the idea of going round with boxing gloves on my head.  Nor do I like feeling it's a bit dangerous not to hear what's going on in the background.

Am I really missing something?

New Year Resolution

I am 64 and wondering what I am going to do next in my career. I have plenty of work and nobody thinks about my retiring, but I am a bit bored after doing more or less the same job since 1994 (17 years). Before that, the longest I ever stayed in the same job was 9 years, even though the work changed every one or two years.

Wu Wei has been my personal blog since January 2005, which has followed my home moves from Greece back to the UK to Lithuania, and my work moves from Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Turkish Cyprus, and for the last 4 years to Georgia (Caucasus).  Its title came from my interest in the Tao, my need for some way to understand life's buffeting as I grappled with temporary contracts in different countries and tried to keep a stable life for my growing kids.

I used to blog when I was sitting bored, either at home (doubting about my next contract) or in a hotel room in a strange country, but Georgia is no longer strange, and I have friends and a life as well.  My blog seems to have a life of its own, with the popular posts remaining with large numbers of hits (it seems there are still plenty of people who want to know about Greek horta and reviews of Albanian novels about blood feuds).

My family history (the Eastern European father of known but mysterious provenance) and my own early adventures (travels, marriages, homes in various parts of the UK) are still a work in progress, but  being written. Family photos are nearly all scanned but not yet forming any story.  

I now communicate with blog friends by Facebook and twitter, or even in person sometimes.  So the blog has been rarely updated recently.

But now I feel the urge to write stuff again.  My contract in Georgia is coming to an end, I am wondering whether to go back to university for a year, my ailments are growing and my kids are independent. Life in Russia is getting more interesting to comment on. Thanks to Bee studying social anthropology and learning Arabic, my holidays are more exotic than my work these days.

So what next?  I thought I would explore that on the blog.  So maybe I could find encouragement and a different set of blog friends.  I hope my younger blog friends will not mind the occasional (hopefully) foray into diet restrictions, illnesses and any memory lapses.  Probably there will be some changes in the design of the blog to keep my IT skills up to date. Irritation and rants will be as normal (being a feature of most people's blogs) but hopefully they will not take over, indicating I am becoming a grumpy old person. 

I have only one friend older than me, and while I am very fond of her,  it is difficult to discuss careers and ageing with only one person available.  So I decided to look for blogs on ageing, or at least blogs from older people who are still active, and willing to discuss ageing issues.  So links may increasingly go to those blogs.

Best wishes for the New Year.  As the Chinese curse has it, may we all live in interesting times.