Kenilworth

I work in the beautiful, leafy suburb of Kenilworth. It's often the case that you can rush around and not observe things around you, or, more likely that you take them for granted.

I took my camera out yesterday at lunch time and decided to de-stress, relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings that were just a few hundred yards up the road.

It's great to take stock and just take a moment to look at what others wouldn't neccesarily take for granted.

Click on the picture to get a larger image. Copy them if you like them, they're not great, but the subject matter is lovely. It was a cold day yesterday and the camera seems to have picked that up with the vivid colours.

Together

This is incredible.

Every woman every man, join the caravan of love

I was mooching about today and decided to have a peek in my caravan. I love it, and can't wait to use it so I can explore bits of Britain over the weekends when they're less arctic.

Looking from the back to the front of the van

Half way into the van

the shower

the loo

the cooker, fridge and washbasin

Looking into the shower room (loo and shower on left)

A great day for British Justice

We won, it was a long hard, bitter struggle with a great emotive finish.

I'll have to speak to the clients to see if they'd be willing to share their experience. This was, without question one of the highlights of my career.

I'm drained now, yet another 14 hour day.

I'm clammering for the weekend. I feel so drained.

Craving the weekend

The ludicrous 15 and 16 hour days continue. I'm going to meet myself coming back I'm so busy.

Incredibly, some law firms are laying people off, these, most notably are the big corporates that seek to dub themselves as the creme de la creme as they're losing the work.

Today I spent the day at trial with my very good mate, a QC who I've briefed on a really interesting trial. Because the trial has finished its first day, I can talk about it - it was held after all in open court so is now in the public domain.

My client - a relative of mine, is registered blind. The client attended a hotel specifically for the blind and fell down a 10 foot sheer drop within the grounds. The insurer admitted liability then reneged on it (you can these days, unfortunately).

The way that the insurer has dealt with the matter is just...breathtaking really. Today we had a surprise witness sprung on us - this after years of litigation. The day at court would be a best seller, there being so many twists and turns.

Waking up sweating at 4 in the morning is the normal fayre with these sorts of matters. If there's any justice in the world, we'll nail this shut. Watch out with insurers, they're quick enough to take the money off you, when it comes to paying out, they're pretty shy.

Tomorrow should see an end to it, I'm hoping to post a well deserved win.

I started at 8 this morning and finished at 9.45 pm this evening. Tomorrow looks the same. I crave the weekend.

Jade Goody in new diplomatic row.

Bless her, she's not the sharpest button in the box is she?

This girl appears to have been just slightly undiplomatic recently.

podcast no 147 Podcastpaul

Download the MP3 here
Podcastpaul 147
music from the podsafe music network:
The Reverse Engineers - Mercury in Retrograde
Mike Del Ferro - Swaziland Traditional Song
The Blue Alarm - When Mothers Conspire
Peopod - Music You live on Summertime
I talk about
Work - very busy
Wind & rain
Jade Goody - Shilpa Shethi
Tomorrow evening
The soundtrack of your life
mailto:paul@podcastpaul.com

What is the soundtrack to your life?

I was looking at a forum thread earlier. I got the gist completely wrong, but never mind. I thought the thred was asking what would be the sound track to your life? If you could choose any songs to the below pre-determined headings, wwhat would they be?

I have to say, I loved wasting 20 or 30 minutes on this.




Opening Credits: For those about to rock - we salute you - ACDC

First Day At School: Ghost Town - Specials

Falling In Love: Kiss Me - Tin Tin

Breaking Up: Cold As Ice - Foreigner

Prom/disco: Human League - Don't You want me baby

Mental Breakdown: The Lunatics have taken over the Assylum - Fun Boy 3

Flashbacks: Paranoid - Black Sabbath

Getting Back Together: (All I want to do is) See You - Depeche Mode

Wedding Scene: White Wedding - Billy Idol (Live)

Final Battle: Eruption - Van Halen

Death Scene: All of my Life - Magnum

Funeral Song: The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Sir John Rutter, sung by the Cambridge Singers)

End Credits: As - George Michael & Mary J Blige

Finale: Moving - Supergrass into....Planet Earth, Duran Duran.

All fixed now...again...

Phew... I lost the domain www.podcastpaul.com for a few days. My domain hosting company had changed names and had simply forgotten to mail me to remind me to continue the hosting. Even more annoying is the fact I couldn't trace 'em. Still - all fixed now thank goodness.

I said at the start of the year I wasn't going to get stressed. I'm trying the best I can to stay calm and focused, but it's very hard.

Work is incredibly demanding. You pay your money and you take your choice I suppose. I'm not working in terrible factory conditions, or couped up in some terrible call centre/ I work with people I like and do a job that is very rewarding, but it doesn't half take its toll.

Today I got up at 4.3o, started work downstairs on some files I had with me at 5.00am and then went into work via a conference in Birmingham.

I worked up to 4.30pm - 11 1/2 straight hours and then went into Uni, 6 - 9. I arrived 3/4 hour early so I could do a bit of prep. I got back at 9.20pm. I'd been on the go, constantly for nearly 161/2 hours. I thoght we lawyers were supposed to have it cushy.

Litigation is a job that also takes it toll. You are paid to professionally argue all day every day. Do it for 23 years and it gets tiresome. Change the rules of the game and get a busy caseload and it adds to the nightmare. In this job, you miss a deadline, you get struck out, you lose the case... you get the sack. You don't miss a deadline - you just wake at 1.30 am covered in sweat, convinced you've missed it.

The job has changed hugely, ask any litigator who has trodden the court carpet. Kids who enter the profession do so now with a huge arrogance, the firms are more corporate and costs concious, the character of the job, and the characters within the profession are all disappearing.

Maybe it's just tiredness - or the massive list of urgent jobs, needless admin, and plate spinning I have to manage every single day.

Swaziland and those wonderful kids permeate my every thought. I long to be back there. However, when I count my blessings and look at my healthy kids, I have so little to moan about and so much to be thankful for.

podcast146 - TPN Rock

Download MP3 Podcastpaul146/TPN Rock here



Tonight, I host TPN Rock - Ewn Spence's usual haunt.



It was great to play Tommy Vance for a night, I love playing great rock music - and this was a great excuse.



I play:



Stingray - Last Night

Observation by Agency

Weight of the World - Simon Apple

Demons - Paul Rose

Life in the Stars - Berman

Forget the Girl - Hollow Horse.

some random thoughts on wonderful Friday

I am beginning to love Fridays. I love being with my wonderful kids. Tonight I spent just half an hour with Harry doing a Doctor Who word search - and we both loved it. Something so simple, costs nothing and something that was a lovely shared experience.

Earlier in the week, I spent some quality time with Christian, sat at the drum kit going through riffs and enjoyed that tremendously too. Work is something I used to live for - not anymore and I certainly am not going to live to work.

I actually quite like Beckham, he's a reasonable sort of bloke and doesn't seem to have the ego that most celebrities do. But paying this bloke half a million quid a week to kick a bag of air around a grass strip for 90 minutes troubles me.

I get paid well for what I do, and I work hard. My mum works much harder, she's nearly 60 and looks after and cares for the elderly at 5 pounds an hour.

What's the most important job of the three of us? David showing his athletic prowess for an hour an half, me professionally arguing for folks - some deserving, some not, or my mum, looking after and caring for the elderly, trying to give them some dignity in the last days of their lives.

My mum's treated like dirt at her job, but she does it as she sees it as a privilege to help the elderly folk. They love her, and she loves them. She sees her job as a vocation and does it without any thanks, any reward or anyone really noticing - apart from those she cares for. David is adored everywher he goes and treated like a star. Screwed up isn't it?

I REALLY want one of these...

Wow! This comes out in the summer and may retail around the £100 mark. I definitely want one...


Apparently you can record DIRECTLY onto your ipod. How cool is that?

Apple continue to innovate.

This was apparently unleashed on the world today.

My phone is WIFI, has browser capability and Windows Media Player together with a sync to my calendar.

This looks great.... but it has a tie in to the world's most irritating musc directory.

If Carling could make the world's most irritating directory, they'd probably make Itunes.... I DON'T really want one of these.

podcast 145. The chilled cast, a grooved and beautiful mixtape with chat from the silky voiced lothario

Download the MP3 podcastpaul podcast145 here

podcast 145. The chilled cast, a grooved and beautiful mixtape with chat from the silky voiced lothario

show notes:

Podcastpaul 145
Show notes:
Happy New Year!
Up 4 the Downstroke - Matt Hoy, Jamie Little, Genevieve & co... www.jamielittle.co.uk
Great to be back - wonderful to have had a break.
I did nothing over Christmas and I'm so glad!
Benet Mclean http://www.ukmusicagency.com/Benet_McLean_Quartet.htm
Podsafe music, needles and haystacks.
New Years resolutions:
less weight
less stress
less projects... hmm.
Rob Hughes me me me www.robhughesmusic.com
my other show.. The Broadcasting Lawyer
Listen to This week in London, it's great! - www.flashing12.blogspot.com
check out podcastusermagazine.com - 12th edition now out and its free!
Paul Rose Cilla and Marg (PMN)

All fixed now....

My RSS feeds and links were out of kilt... or in English, the page displayed to some of you wasn't podcastpaul.com but the inane ramblings of some 16 year old Japanese girl in Text language... very odd.

Anyway, everything is all fixed now!

For the more tech savvy amongst you, my feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/englishpaul

For those of you (like my mum) who are thinking "eh?", just ignore it, it doesn't matter, keep coming back here and you can get all the shows and blog entries directly at www.podcastpaul.com