Having found the Medway to my taste, I have taken an apartment in Chatham overlooking the old Naval dockyards pro tem.
For a year I have been farting about, first on a boat near Battersea Bridge and then, peripatic, travelling light as they say… a blogger and his rucksack and a laptop – all one really needs, in fact, to have a most enjoyable year.
So… two Polish guys turned up in a Luton van and decanted some of my furniture from store, bringing it up three flights of stairs while I assisted materially, by explaining where they could put it. I work on the principle that no lawyer would let a client help with the legal work, so why should I help with the art of removals?… so I didn’t.
I did feel rather guilty when the two guys staggered in with a concrete Easter Island head weighing over 250lbs. My 25kg dumbells will give you some idea of scale!
I had quite forgotten that I still had it – I thought I had given it away. John watched mildly boggled eyed as Chinese furniture, a French settle from 1803 (which he described as hideous), a three foot balsa wood toucan, Venetian carnival masks, thirty odd paintings, various sculptures, netsuke, Chinese ivory pieces from the 16th Century and weird lamps arrived… he needed a cup of tea when my plastic lobster arrived (of which more later) and I could almost see him reaching for the brandy when I unsheathed my Samurai sword or katana, – a sword I used to use when I was into kendo and karate many years ago. When I say ‘used to use’ ….I used it for demonstrations, not combat – for that we used bamboo swords – shinai or bokutō, wooden swords to practice kata, which could still inflict a bit of damage despite the body armour….. I also used it at dinner parties, occasionally, especially if I had been out buying pineapples – which I was partial to. My then wife would raise her eyes to the heavens when I pulled it out when the pudding arrived, asked a mate to chuck it (a pineapple, not the pudding, into the air) and I then sliced the pineapple in two… well…that was the theory. Sometimes, perhaps because I was pissed, the blade didn’t hit the pineapple clean and I would wipe bits of pineapple off the dining room wall with the sang froid of the officer at the Charge of The Light Brigade who had his leg blown off by a cannon ball but remained seated on his horse.
It is good to have my Roman General prints and, of course, the Stephen’s Lion lamp back to cast light upon the keyboard as I write. Solicitors will recognise the design of the lamp. It is the Stephen’s Lion – the same design which adorns the railings at The Law Society in Chancery Lane. The keen eyed will have spotted this week’s edition of The Law Society Gazette to the right of my table…. A wine glass would normally be on the right hand side of the Vaio… but it is a bit early on a Monday afternoon to be hitting the juice. It will be there, be sure, this night.
Here are a few more pics of where I work and write nonsense….
The iMac, one of several Mac computers is used for film editing and I used to use it for podcasts. The Mac Towers are still in storage, as is a lifesize fake palm tree which would have been perfect for the balcony where I do my Smokedo overlooking the old naval dockyward basins.
Well… there we are… The Staterooms as I used to call my strange apartments in Bloomsbury and Chsiwick… now it is Staterooms-on-Sea…
So… what of other things that have been amusing me or attracted my attention?
US criminal defense lawyer has been rooting out eveil having foound himself inadvertantly ‘guest blogging’ on another US lawyer’s blog.
Mark writes a very good blog Defending People … in fact it won the ABA Journal
I don’t know why, but I would have expected someone who, like Melina Benninghoff, reads this blog to have the good sense not to steal posts.
Benninghoff has, apparently, been ripping off quite a few blog posts from well respected US bloggers and making it appear that they are guesting on her blog or writing for her… or someone is!
Frankly, I am appalled by this – it is a form of highway robbery and when done by a lawyer blogger it is pretty piss poor. I’m afraid I couldn’t resist commenting in response to one of the commenters on Mark’s blog post – who said she was from The Law Commission, appeared not to be able to write English and seems to think that The Law Commission is a regulator. I suspect, of course, that it was someone taking the piss… you can read what I wrote by way of comment on Mark’s blog post, should you have time on your hands. Do, however, try and take a look at what Mark is saying about this... and the later post about Benninghoff’s response (or someone called Wayne from her office).
And finally… Babybarista hits the big time in lawyer reviewer terms.
Walter Olsen of Overlawyered (who I had a good time doing a podcast with recently) has this….
Here’s something we’ve never tried at Overlawyered: a full-length, original book review by an outside contributor. Blogger David Giacalone, whose now-inactive EthicalEsq. (later f/k/a) is fondly remembered and has often been linked in this space, has kindly offered to let us publish his newly written review of BabyBarista and the Art of War
It is a good review…. so thumbs up for Babybarista from a respected writer and commentator in the States.
Best, as ever
Charon
PS… forgot the lobster….
When I was in publishing I used to have a hunt the Lobster competition – the first ten to find the latest pic of the lobster within the magazine could have a free pdf book or a Q&A pack. It was quite popular. Unfortunately, it all got out of hand and I started taking the lobster to play snooker with me – photograph of lobster playing snooker, photograph of the lobster on my Honda Fireblade motorcycle, photograph of lobster perusing the Times in a bar with me… etc etc… and then the doctors came to see me.
The LOBSTER is back!
You’ll be in Hello! magazine next…
‘Charon QC shows Hello! around his lovely home…
😀
It seems that Polish blokes have cornered the market in home removals.
Yours, avoiding finishing off Chapter 2 😉
Presumably this is all a preamble and lead up to your no doubt imminent appearance on the daily horrorfest that is Come Dine With Me?
White Rabbit… How did you know I was trying to get into HELLO CAMPERS magazine!
Are you moving as well? Excellent! I think i will stay put for a while…
Sumoking… There is NO chance of me appearing on Come Dine With me… be sure.
I may, however, be making a guest appearance on Strictly Come Drinking in the Autumn.
I’m still recovering from the trauma…
Talking of trauma I see Mike Mansfield just had his memoirs published
Amazon.co.uk rating – 23.
Now that really spoiled my day. My amazon.co.uk rating usually reads like a VAT numeber.
or number even…
My goodness – what a life!
Hello,
My name is Neccia Celli and I work for Newstex.com. We’ve reviewed your blog and think it might be a good fit for syndication with Newstex! If you’re interested in learning more, please send me a message at ncelli@newstex.com.
Thank you,
Neccia
I wanna see the lobster and the prawn wrestle!
send the lobster to newstex – they want money of course.
your sword story reminds me of my godson’s christening. we could not get the jeroboam of champagne open, try as we might. fortunately one uncle was a cavalry officer.
now even though late-20th century cavalry officers tend to ride apc’s not horses, they do still get to carry a bladed weapon. said bladed weapon was immediately pressed into service in the third of the four ways of opening a champagne bottle known to me (and none involve peculiarly-muscled thai ladies). the trick (it is said) is a brisk sliding of the blade edge up to where the neck widens. this flies off and the champagne is opened with minimum spillage and maximum impact. especially when he is in full dress uniform.
those who have seen it done will tell you just how impressive it all is. sadly, you will have to ask them exactly how impressive that is, because i can’t help you. the sabre ran cleanly up the side of the bottle as advertised, struck the wide bit cleanly as in the best text books and promptly shattered the bottle. i have to admit it did have a certain frothy impressiveness all its own. wiping up the floor afterwards was equally frothy but less impressive as you had to try and avoid all the glass shards. still, at least his dress boots got a really good clean.
was that relevant? oh well.
SW… Excellent…. I have heard of this technique… is it called something French? I’ve forgotten the French… Souvrage?
I may have to see if a katana can open a bottle of wine… it would certainly be able to open Wine in a Box!
I’m with John Bolch on this one.
frottage, perhaps? the american version is yet more dramatic and every bit as ineffective – carpet bombing.
SW… Of course I haven’t done this.. but I understand that *Frottage* is behaving weirdly on the Tube or confined spaces in an inappropriate manner…..with women.. There are few reported cases, I understand, of women doing it to men…. probably because they have more sense….and they are not so weird?
Now… back to cutting corks off wine bottles and champagne bottles… we shall try this when we drink together! I have a very long Australian Drizeabone… hiding a Samurai sword in it should not be a problem so PLod won’t need to trouble us…..
Crocstar!… You don’t like my hideous Settle? 🙂 I shall plot…
It’s alright; you can tell people it’s an amalgamation of ‘three eras’ and you’ve kept it all for sentimental reasons.
This will mitigate any possible bad feelings arising out of the odd epileptic fit or heart attack.
It’s okay. There’s no need to thank me.
Crocstar!… Like it…. I won’t thank you, of course!
My sense of humour is heinous. I expect to be assassinated for it one day. You sir, on the other hand, may yet pay for your crimes against fashion.
Frottage??? Ooh Matron!