I was reading my book on the train on the way to work today, Remote Control by the British author (and ex-SAS soldier) Andy McNab, and came across a line that made me laugh.  It wasn’t just any laugh though, but a sudden outburst, the kind that makes you look like the special autistic child or some kind of greasy pervert, the kind that directs eyes toward you.  Hundred’s of the beady little f$%kers.

I should prefix this with a bit of background, after about thirty or forty pages of the authors build up to an action scene, the main character, Nick Stone,  describes in detail how stealth is the key to any subtle operation.  He describes in full the surveillance required in the stake out, and how each part of the target (IRA headquarters) was broken into without extreme force.  This goes on, and on, and as you’d expect thing’s eventually go hay wire as Stone is discovered and is seconds away from death via handgun down his throat after being taken out by a fire extinguisher to the back of the head.

By this point, I’m engrossed, the build up was enormous, and I’m literally hanging off the end of my seat wondering what on Earth is going to happen next.  There’s a small scuffle and Stone jams the gun, temporarily disabling it and a scuffle breaks out eventually resulting in the enemy being shot in the head.

This was followed by:

“He was going to die soon.

Tough Shit.”

It’s a pillow, what a horrible prank!

In hindsight it doesn’t seem anywhere near as funny, but it blew me away at the time.  After such an enourmous build up with everything and every moment described in such precious detail, the climax was abrupt, like a kick in the guts.  I have to liken this to getting amazing sex, mind blowing passion with the ultimate build up:

"mmmm...."

"ah..."

"MMMMmmmmm yea!"

"Oh.  Job's done"

"Yea, would you like a cup of tea?"

I’d half expected another ten pages describing the blood as it made its passage from the chest driven by the last few beats of the heart, up the arteries, and out the convinient new escape vent in the head.  But no.. He was dead, and that was it.

Bloody good book though, both Andy McNab books I’ve read so far have been an excellent read, which makes them incredibly hard to put down.

The topic of tonights discussion is taste, and what made me think of that is the slowly changing choice of music that sits on my iPod every week. But this could be attributed to anything in day to day life, like the sandwich I used to find tasty from Marks & Spencer is now quite bland, and a similar Sainsburys one is twice as good (and half the price).  Things change over time, for sure, but I often wonder just how permanent these kinds of changes are:

Music

I brought up my ipod before, and the reason I did this, is that anyone who knows me (or those who don’t and are devote readers of this HD911 prodigy, I’m a huge trance music fan.  In fact, since I got this handy little music device over 18 months ago it would have been cleared on average once a week, and contained anything but trance/electronic/DnB music ever so occasionally.  I now find myself on a half Trance/half Other basis, which is a big shift in Dynamic, as it’s a huge difference swapping from Armin van Buuren’s set at LoveParade 2008 straight to Johnny Cash, The Shins, Damien Rice or any other slow rock hit that sits between the uplifting euphoric forest.

Loveparade - It’s even better, with sound!

Yes, I did just say Johnny Cash, whom seems to stand out like a sore thumb even from the older music I’ve liked in the past.  But it’s no surprise, I seem to have taken a liking to a bunch of music that my Mum listened to when I was a kid, and I just thought was the same old country crap…  I’ve liked Dad’s music for years, from Beatles, Dire Straits, The Doors, Simon & Garfunkel, Genisis/Peter Gabriel/Paul Collins, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Bread, America, etc  It’s about time I picked something out of her music collection right?

Gotta be better than Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion or Patsy Cline, anyway.

Lame Web Idea:  www.whatsonmyipod.com

The Sandwich

I’m making an effort to eat healthily at the moment, I’m still not doing very well mind you (nothings changed), but after seeing this news article on TV the other night (similar to this) about false labels, unhealthy and downright bad for you sandwiches that are available in London, it got me thinking.  I love most of the sandwiches available from the nicer shops, (i.e M & S, Sainsburys & Pret a Manger), but according to this article most all of these lunch treats are packed full of Salt and Saturated salt, even when you’re under the assumption they’re relatively healthy.

Pret - Home of the tastiest lunch time snack in all of England

Stupidly, there’s a sandwich from Pret which I assumed was at least relatively healthy, which is the roasted tomato and cheddar cheese on grain bread.  Really, if I wanted to eat unhealthily, I’d make the trip to a McDonalds and get a large Quarterpounder Meal.  You can imagine my surprise when the man in the television claimed that this particular sandwich was worse in salt and saturated fat content than the Maccy D’s meal.  I get it, there’s nothing specifically healthy about any type of cheese (especially cheddar), or tomato’s that have been dried and stored in oil since last year, but you don’t go out for a sandwich expecting it to be that unhealthy.

Which begs the question, what on earth are you supposed to eat, whilst on the go in a big city, which won’t add to the body’s fat content.  A stick of Celery perhaps?  Nope, probably not good enough, it’s probably had salt artificially added to it.  I’m realising that added salt is this invisible villian, but then I wonder why it’s been added in the first place?  Personally, the only food I’ll ever add additional salt to is Chips/Fries, and don’t see why it needs to be added to other foods, especially not a roasted chicken sandwich.

Yes, the connisours (spelling?) will probably say that its not tasty enough, but I don’t notice the difference in taste.  Seems the only way I’ve got of winning the health war is to make my own lunch, though I think the Salmonella and other harmful bacteria/disease acquired by chicken bits on my 30 minute train ride to the city and 10 minute in the tube/sauna is probably a whole lot worse than even Salt anyway.

Celery it is, just hold the salt… OK?