Monday, December 31, 2001

 
New Years Eve, a day for reflecting on the past year, but not for me. I don't really go in for all that analasys stuff. I like nostalgia, and there have been things that have happened this year that I will remember but you'll be pleased to know I'm not doing a review of them here. Anyway, that's really what the blog is about once the day has gone, and if anyone's that interested it's pretty well summed up in my Mayfly Project entry.

I'm more likely to spend my time looking at the coming year. I don't make resolutions as I know I'll have let them slide by mid-Jan, but there are one or two predictions I could make. I might post them, I might not, I'll see how the mood takes me.

posted at 16:07.......link.......



Sunday, December 30, 2001

 
Why do some people think they have the right to openly criticise others driving ability?

Driving home just now the car in front of me pulled onto the roundabout at the top of Richmond Hill and turned to come off right. A car slowly entered from the left, which of course they shouldn't have done, but wasn't particularly in his way. He didn't need to take any evasive action but certainly felt the need to hoot his horn, then stop, then back up, still whilst negotiating the roundabout, and point out to the woman driving the error of her ways whilst he blocked the roundabout.

Having concluded his lecture, he then turned off down Richmond Hill, went across a zebra crossing with a pedestrian waiting which following the changes in the last few years is either against the Highway Code or perhaps even now a traffic offence, turned right at the bottom of the hill without indicating, drives a car spouting visible pollution and with his rear offside brake light not working which is both an M.O.T. failure and a traffic offence.

It's always the same, those who are least in the position of taking the moral highground seem to feel it's their duty.

And no, I don't think I'm the worlds greatest driver either. In fact the other day I nearly went into the side of someone, admittedly, doing 3 m.p.h. coming out of a side road with vans parked on the corners obscuring my view but had I have hit him it would have been my fault. Fair enough. Apparently the driver of that car wasn't overly pleased as he used sign language to indicate that he thought I perhaps relied on my own manual dexterity to achieve sexual gratification.

In the end, if someone's a bad driver they will end up getting their come-uppance and no-one should believe they are so good as to point out others mistakes. "Specks", "motes" and "eyes" spring to mind.

posted at 15:38.......link.......



Saturday, December 29, 2001

 
Being relatively new to this game I hadn't previously taken The Sparks Purity Test. I came out 40% pure. I thought this would be pretty average, (yes, I know 50% is average), but apparently only 11% of the 9.1 million that have already taken it are less pure than me.

Come on everyone, let's try harder!

posted at 19:59.......link.......





 
Somebody, somewhere, is terribly, terribly dissapointed!

I was one of only two sites to come up on the search and the other was just a list of search requests for November. Boy, are there some seriously weird people out there! Don't look if you're faint-hearted or have an aversion to monkeys, Albanians or cucumbers.

posted at 19:25.......link.......



Friday, December 28, 2001

 
My name is Dave, and I fancy Lowri Turner.

I know, I know. I don't know what's wrong with me. There's just something about her. Am I the only bloke who fancies her? Does anyone have an address for Lowri Turner Anonymous?

posted at 19:41.......link.......





 
Boo Hoo! I've got to work in the morning.

I can't really complain, I haven't done an appointment since the 6th so I've pretty much had three weeks off and I feel a damn sight better for it as well. Don't tell anyone but I'm actually quite looking forward to it, although that will no doubt change after 5 minutes but there we go.

I better enjoy the inner peace at the moment because 30%-40% of the years work is done in January so in four weeks time I'll only be capable of lying in a darkened room and mumbling odd facts about conservatories and alarm systems.

posted at 19:33.......link.......





 
Happiness is...... finally working out how to fix some of the coding on your site and getting it corrected first time!

posted at 10:04.......link.......





 
Oh Dear, oh dear, oh dear! I got weighed yesterday whilst in Boots. They have a great weighing machine which keeps a record of your start point and also the last ten "weigh-ins". I knew I'd perhaps put on a bit of weight this year but apparently since Jan 6th this year I've managed to pack on exactly a stone and a half! (21lbs/9.5kgs).

I haven't quite worked out what adjective to use to describe this event but pathetic is running favourite at the moment. This gives me even more incentive to do the swimathon as the training will help lop off a few pounds. I'd better do otherwise I'm liable to come under attack by the Japanese whaling fleet!

posted at 10:02.......link.......



Thursday, December 27, 2001

 
One of the people who've hit the site over Christmas came via a search for "the first million selling c.d.". I'd mentioned this a few weeks back, it was Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, but there can only be one reason that I can think of that they were searching for such info on Christmas Day afternoon. A game of Trivial Pursuit, Who Wants to be a Millionaire or some other such quiz.

If by any chance it was you, did we win? posted at 10:25.......link.......





 
I'm thinking about taking part in Swimathon 2002 in March next year. I'd have to swim 5000 metres, about 200 lengths of most swimming baths. I've done it once before, about 11 years ago and I didn't train for it. I got away with it that time, just, but not now. I think I'll have a swim later and just make sure I can handle 20 lengths now. If so, I reckon that I can train myself back up to 200 without a problem by end of March. posted at 10:24.......link.......





 
And so the online community wakes up after it's Christmas inaction, but somewhat later than it might have been for some of us because of a "hacker" attack on Blogger. What is the point, quite honestly. I can see why someone might attack a big company to expose security risks in "the public interest", but Blogger, why? I don't think they've ever claimed to have high security, as far as I know they don't keep sensitive information that would give someone a pecuniary advantage, (although I can't be certain about that), it just seems pointless.

So if those that did it are reading this, and I don't imagine they are for one minute, it isn't big and it isn't clever. If of course they did it because they'd be talked about as part of our personal weblogs then congratulations, you've managed it, I hope it makes you happy you sad fucks!

Many thanks to "Ev" who must have spent most of his Boxing Day restoring the site so that we can all go back to detailing the minutiae of our lives. posted at 10:21.......link.......



Tuesday, December 25, 2001

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who passes through this site, be it on purpose or by accident. I hope Father Christmas brought you everything you wanted. posted at 10:06.......link.......



Monday, December 24, 2001

 
One reason for no posting today so far is we didn't get to bed until 3:30 this morning. Once a year I get to be Lord Bountiful. Our Christmas sales competition has hampers as the prizes and as Linda doesn't have any of the stuff out of it, and I only keep the Quality Street and other sweets, the rest gets distributed round the family, except this year Kev was also included as with him not working there was no chance of him getting one. I also "borrowed" one of his orders which got me a better hamper. Oh, and I keep the drink that's in it as well, 16 bottles in this years case. Mmmmm. Anyway, the splitting and repackaging of the "food parcels" took till the early hours. The rest of the day has been about doing the rounds and giving stuff out, but at least I got to see the family and they appreciate getting stuff they wouldn't normally buy themselves. posted at 20:59.......link.......



Sunday, December 23, 2001

 
Oh good, an early Christmas present. It looks like I might have another digestive disorder. Not many now and I'll be able to complete the set! posted at 22:25.......link.......





 
I am 46% evil.




I could go either way. I have sinned quite a bit but I still have a bit of room for error. My life is a tug of war between good and evil.


Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com


Damn, now it looks like Father Christmas visit this year is going to go right down to the wire. posted at 22:24.......link.......





 
Whilst i'm not much of a football fan, as I've said before, if I support anyone these days it is still Leeds United, but for Gods sake guys, what are you playing at? That's three games in a row you've let two goals in in the last few minutes. It's lucky we had a 3-0 lead over Everton or we'd have had no points at all. If you carry on playing like that I shall expect the phone call to come and play! posted at 18:19.......link.......





 
Well, I'm full up on alcohol! Not drunk, not in the least, but just full to the brim. If you walked in and offered me a glass of anything whatsoever I'd have to decline. I've been drinking every day bar one for the last week and I've had enough. Do you remember the old Tom & Jerry cartoons where one of them would drink a barrel of water/petrol/juice etc. and their eyes would turn into fuel guages and register full. Well that's me! posted at 18:12.......link.......





 
So, most of the other sites I read are beginning to shut down for Christmas. People are returning to their family homes to anticipate a fun, loving time with mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, aunts, uncles and more besides. Heading towards that picture perfect scene of the family sat round the festive table with father carving the turkey whilst the kids pull crackers, or sat in front of the television in post-prandial lethargy awaiting the broadcast from Her Majesty. If that's your kind of Christmas I hope you find it.

I guess the downside of not having kids is that Christmas isn't quite as much fun, the urgency isn't there, and luckily neither is the expenditure. We will be putting the Xmas tree up today, and probably hanging the cards up as well. Relatively late in the day, but one year we never even got round to it. The christmas cards went out last post on the last posting day, and I've still got one more present to buy.

I miss the family christmasses of my childhood, of waking up about 10 minutes after my parents had finally got to bed and then running, rollerskating, cycling or whatever the major present was, all over the house with my brother in tow. I do however know that I can't get them back anyway. It's like holidays you had as a child, I've revisited some of the places since and they just aren't the same. I guess it's the sense of wonder and amazement.

Whoops, going a bit lowkey there and I don't mean to, it's not like I won't be having fun or that I will be on my own. Anyway, whatever kind of Christmas you've got planned I hope it's special for you. posted at 10:01.......link.......



Saturday, December 22, 2001

 
Visited the Dali Universe exhibition on The South Bank. Very good, and a lot of stuff that you just wouldn't associate with him. By the end of it you get to be very good at spotting his trademark inclusions. Favourite items were a sculpture of a snail with an angel on its back and some glassware that he created in conjunction with Daum. You can also buy items at the exhibition but take along a few thousand quid if you do fancy a little Christmas present for yourself! posted at 17:41.......link.......





 
During the day yesterday I met up with Kev, partly to tell him about what he missed at the do, but also to grab a quick shower down at the gym. Whilst we were under the water, someone came into the changing rooms and nicked his sportsbag. Luckily there was nothing in it as he'd left some of his stuff at home and his keys and money were in my car. In the end, the only thing the thief got away with was some medicated talc and some of Kevs toxic after shave. As I said to Kev, "police are on the lookout for a guy with itchy balls and no sense of smell"!

There are cctv cameras all over the place at the gym so hopefully they'll have the perpertrator on film. We took a walk from the gym towards the estate that we second guessed the thief would have come from and be heading to and sure enough, by the side of the path, was his bag, dumped, with the aforementioned items missing. The police have been informed and maybe they'll get the bloke or not, but with any luck if he's on cctv we might see who it is and that will be interesting if we should bump into him at some point! posted at 09:21.......link.......





 
After the conference JWW, TGP, new rep Simon and myself went off to the casino I belong to. I managed to lose my money virtually straight away, I couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo, but the others all did o.k. JWW did best and walked away with about £70. I had a win last year so I suppose I shouldn't be too disgruntled but I really didn't get a run for my money which means there wasn't much enjoyment in it.

Whilst we sat in the bar afterwards the Manager came across and had a chat. He's been in the business since the early 70's and was regaling us with anecdotes of people he's met and some of the things they got up to. It was really enjoyable and considering I only use the casino a couple of times a year, made us feel as though we were valued clients. I guess we are, we left quite a bit of our money there! One thing though, he gave us all a free tie with musical capabilities, so you never know, if you see someone walking down the road with a penguin tie on playing Jingle Bells plus other festive tunes, it might just be me! posted at 09:13.......link.......





 
So that's the Christmas Sales Conference over for another year. Ours being no different to any other sales organisation, basically it boils down to "You've all done very well this year, now go do better next".

One great thing that happened, particularly from a personal point of view, was that our guest of honour was Sir Steven Redgrave. He was there to give us a motivational talk, but over lunch I got a chance to chat with him as we have a mutual acquaintence, the Head of British Rowing, David Tanner. He was my history master at school. It was obvious from what Steve said that they've had their disagreements so that's one thing I share with hiim as looking back at my old school reports I certainly didn't see eye to eye with him, particularly with what he thought about me. In Davids biog link above it mentions the medal won at the Moscow Olympics. Two of the four that rowed on that occasion were in my class at school and it was really strange to watch someone I knew well competing at that level. The Moscow Olympics were also the last that Redgrave didn't compete in, 20 years ago! Having tried out for the school rowing team (unsuccesfully), and knowing what a lot of hard work was needed, I have at least some idea how impressive his achievements have been. posted at 09:10.......link.......



Wednesday, December 19, 2001

 
Company Christmas do tomorrow. Nothing from me until Friday 'cos it's an all dayer of speeches followed by our team going out on an all nighter of fun. posted at 20:20.......link.......





 
So, I've done the hospital run. He can walk still which is a major advantage and at the moment the anaesthetic is still working but he has an awful feeling that when it wears off pain will ensue.

They had to use twice as much anaesthetic as normal because he could feel everything going on after one shot. Everything being the insertion of a red hot wire into his nether regions. Then there was smoke! He asked the doctor if he was meant to be self combusting but he was assured that this was normal and patients were never told in advance as it tended to lead to the doc being smacked on the head if the patient was ready for it.

I found out afterwards that the doctor, having discovered that someone was waiting for him, wanted to know if I would like to go and watch. Kev declined on my behalf, and on reflection, despite watching with interest some medical programmes on tele and Kev being my best mate, the thought of looking at him with his legs apart and smouldering gently, this was probably for the best. Particularly because we'd found a copy of Loaded magazine in the waiting room with a very interesting article on Emily Lloyd, including topless photos. Honest, I was just keeping it available for when he came out!

Right, I think we'll get off this subject now before it puts you off your tea but with that thought of Kev on the table I bet it's reminded you to order the Christmas turkey! posted at 18:12.......link.......





 
Ooh, Blogback has gone festive. Leave a comment and see what I mean. posted at 18:04.......link.......





 
I'm taking Kev to hospital later today. He's having the snip! After four children, three of which I know were not planned and I wouldn't vouch for the other either, many of us would say, "and about bloody time too!".

Nurse, could you just pass those two half bricks. posted at 09:07.......link.......





 
Why does it take us five hours to a shop at Sainsburys?
I'll tell you.

1. If Linda buys a cake or a ready meal or a bottle of drink she has to compare every item on the shelf to see which is the best. The best can change from week to week, but even if there were thirty bottles each one would be measured to see which is the fullest, the clearest, the whateverest.



2. She buys 20 bottles of water and each has to have the same use by date, same batch code, and they must be stacked in the trolley, even just as far as the till, in chronological ordrer of the fill time. Did you even know they had a fill time on them? And when it comes to consumption they must be used in chronological order.



3. All the shopping is hand listed, then manually added up and finally added up on a calculator. Why? So we can just go over the pound in order to minimise the wastage for bonus points. You wouldn't want to spend the odd 98p and lose out on a point would you? That would be wasting a penny you know!



4. Tidying up the shelves in the supermarket should be carried out whenever possible. General moan regarding the standard of some peoples work should accompany this activity.

Your advices please. Is this woman obsessive or what. posted at 09:04.......link.......





 
The mists have finally risen and I'm beginning to remember things from yesterday.

Graham (TGP) was telling us about his first trip to the states, years ago before Ronald McDonald started placing restaurants on every street in Britain. Friends of his took him to their local McD's and when the food arrived he just sat there. Eventually one of them asked him what was wrong. He told them he was waiting for the cutlery! In his defence, the only burger chain we had then, Wimpy, did indeed give you cutlery. His friends of course found him wonderfully British and eccentric.

Simon, our new reps', claim to fame, is that after leaving the army he took a short term fill in job as a security guard. One day he was at a bowling alley when none other than Miss Kylie Minogue came up to him and asked if he could look after her for a couple of hours whilst she bowled. Funnily enough, he agreed, and it's pretty obvious he has some very pleasant memories of the occasion too even though she was there with her boyfriend of the moment.

Well, o.k., it's not the most exciting of gossip but I'm afraid it's as good as it gets!

posted at 00:41.......link.......



Tuesday, December 18, 2001

 
Here we go. No doubt the rumours that he is isn't dead at all will start soon and all the lyrics of every song he's ever recorded will be analysed for clues. And they wonder why he was reclusive. posted at 10:34.......link.......





 
............ and now I can't remember anything I was going to say! posted at 10:03.......link.......



Monday, December 17, 2001

 
So, I've returned from my team lunch some 10 hours later. As I believe there should be a law about not drinking and posting I'll leave it till tomorrow to say anymore, as otherwise there might be a nasty accident involving sarcasm, bitterness and malevolence. posted at 22:05.......link.......



Sunday, December 16, 2001

 
Sore throat alert! I'm pretty certain that in the morning I'm going to wake up with a raging sore throat. Really useful, I only have two work Christmas parties a year and they're both this week. The first is tomorrow which consists mainly of a meal which no doubt I won't be able to swallow. Oh well, I suppose it's better to get it over with now rather than next week during Christmas itself. posted at 22:32.......link.......





 
Why is it that when you get the chance to have a lie-in you wake up earlier than normal? Does that happen to everyone or am I just particularly perverse. posted at 09:01.......link.......



Saturday, December 15, 2001

 
One of the things I did today was to go see my niece Bianca who is 11 today. She has always been brought up to realise she is very special, the reaon being that she has two "fathers". One is my brother Graham, the father you would expect, but the other is Lord Robert Winston, the pioneer of in vitro fertilisation. Bianca was a test tube baby.

You often here of a youngster being called a child of their times, well, Bianca is part of the first generation of test tube babies and without his work at Hammersmith Hospital would never have been with us, and for our family that would have been a great loss as she is the shining light in all our lives, and as my brother has had no more children and I have none either, she is also the sole future of our side of the family.

Happy Birthday B. posted at 19:30.......link.......





 
On the radio this morning, (it's just struck me how old fasioned the word radio sounds!), someone phoned in with a story of a disaster backstage. It occurred at my local church hall. A firm of plasterers went out to quote for some work on the hall and whilst crossing the stage with the curtains shut and in subdued lighting, one of them stood on a piece of hardboard covering a hole. His leg went straight through and in addition to the blood and swelling of the said leg, he resorted to the traditional language of the builder in reigning insults down upon the head of the parentless person who had not covered the hole more safely. Some 3 or 4 minutes into this diatribe a head came through the curtains from the audience side. It was a Brown Owl informing him that there were children present. On looking through the curtains there sat a circle of some 15 young girls of 7-10 years old. The vocabulary of our local Brownies has been extended in terms of colour way beyond the normal range of their peers. posted at 17:38.......link.......



Friday, December 14, 2001

 
I occasionally get this very strange feeling. Not strong enough to be a fear, but just a general uneasiness. It occurs as I open doors to go into rooms. As I open the door I "expect" there to be an explosion. I'm not anticipating one, it's just that as the door opens I visualise it. I have no idea why this should be. I've never been caught in a bomb blast or anything, I don't know anyone who has. This has been going on for years intermittently and it's back this evening. posted at 20:47.......link.......





 
I am writing this entry as I have left a comment on this entry of Ang/Momblogs site. The post is to do with the release of sex offenders who commit further related crimes. In the comments I allude to the time when homosexuals were imprisoned and society attempted to "rehabilitate" them. The point I was making is that I don't believe that "sex offenders" can be rehabilitated.

Please note the following :

1. I am not saying that homosexuals are sex offenders. This is the description society gave them in a much less enlightened time not so long ago.



2. I do not believe, and neither should anyone else with an ounce of intelligence, that there is any connection between your average homosexual and any sex crime involving children, any more so than there is between the average heterosexual and such crimes.

I know from the past, and on reading other peoples sites, that it's astonishingly easy for people to take offence. Often it is because they haven't read the full piece before they go off on one, or, because of the restrictions of the written word in certain circumstances, it is possible to misinterpret what has been said.

In the end, I don't mind people not agreeing with me in how to deal with criminals, but I don't want to end up in a war about me being homophobic because believe me, homophobia and racism are two things I hate and won't tolerate.

There, I just wanted to get my defence in first. posted at 17:31.......link.......





 
Have spent the day at home doing bits and pieces. Made up a Christmas card for J.C. who I'm meeting for a drink on Sunday and am still working on some sort of present although it might end up being this c.d. from H.M.V. Listening to Meg on the Radio. Catching up on e-mails and shuffling bits of paper. Actually, the shuffling of the paper hasn't happened yet and they're taking over my desk in an untidy pile but I'm not certain they are going to be sorted today. posted at 16:25.......link.......



Thursday, December 13, 2001

 
Web User magazine has listed it's top 101 websites. Apart from blogger featuring at no. 22, their top site is Orisinal, a site full of addictive little games. Check out that and any other of the sites via the web user shortcut list. posted at 21:20.......link.......





 
I think everyone has an age they reach and it hits them. You're getting old. Some people don't like the idea of being 30. Didn't bother me a bit. I know people dreading 40. Your still young at 40, there's probably over half your life left. But today I've hit 45. Now that in itself doesn't bother me. What has got under my skin and won't go away is that as of 13:47 and a nanosecond, I was nearer 50 than 40 and 50 sounds old! When I get there it may not bother me but at long last it has finally dawned on me that perhaps, just maybe, I should start to make some provision for getting older, like a pension might be a good idea! The other bit about it is, at 45 I'm pretty certain I am over halfway through my life.

In the next couple of days this will all fade into the background and it won't trouble me anymore, or at least not until 13th December 2006, but just this once and for the first time, I'm feeling old. posted at 20:53.......link.......





 
"So what form have the natal anniversary celebrations taken?" I hear you ask.

Well thanks for asking. As usual in the humdrum existence of Kennamatic, not much. Went over to Kev's this morning and we shot off to Guildford for a drink, but not before buying light bulbs in Homebase. (Try to stay calm, let the excitement build gradually). Wasn't keen on the pub in Guildford, so back to Weybridge and a session in the Hogshead. Most upset to see they have a quiz tonight with a first prize of £100 plus all the winning teams food and drink for the night is paid for as well! The notices haven't been up very long because they weren't there at the weekend. If they had of been I would have been showing off with the rest of the usual suspects in my quiz group. Anyway, back from the pub and out for a quick meal with her indoors and that concludes the heady celebrations. posted at 20:46.......link.......





 
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday dear Kennamatic/Dave/des10e or any other name you know me by,
Happy Birthday to me.

Owww!!
Sorry.
I appear to have just run into old age! posted at 00:24.......link.......



Wednesday, December 12, 2001

 
Saw a c.d. yesterday. One of those "Thegreatestbestestmostwonderfulsuperbchristmassongsinadifferentordersincetimeimmemorial volume 3859" type compilations. All the normal ones were there, but it had one track on it that I could not listen to if they paid me a million quid. "Fairytale of New York" with Maire Brennan of Clannad covering the Kirsty MacColl part, but who was covering Shane McGowan of the Pogues part. Bearing in mind this is a song about a couple who's lives have gone from bad to worse due to his drinking destroying all their dreams. Yes it's that gravelly voiced, had a hard life, songster, Ronan Keating! Ronan Keating? What next, Cliff Richard sings The Best of Slipknot? posted at 20:14.......link.......





 
Isn't punctuation a wonderful thing. Seen today. A notice on a charity shop:

We are a charity for children in desperate need of a videorecorder......

When you read it twice you realise what they mean, but a comma between the words "children" and "in" might stop the odd misunderstanding. posted at 19:48.......link.......





 
We've spent 11 hours walking round the shops today. It's now 1:20 in the morning. What have we been doing for the last two hours? Linda has been projecting what day Christmas day is in relation to weekends when she has housework to do to avoid a clash. Why was it so importnt to do it now? Because the clash happens in 2004, and we wouldn't want to be unprepared would we? Aaaaaaargh!! posted at 01:16.......link.......



Tuesday, December 11, 2001

 
Off shopping today with Linda, another all day stint but our last before Christmas. Appointments tomorrow and then that is probably it for this year. I know it's already very quiet, so there will probably be only one, maybe two, more customers to see before Christmas but that will be all. I really need this break. Apart from that there will be either birthday celebrations or Christmas meals to go to. Funnily enough, I'm not too tired to go to those! posted at 07:41.......link.......



Sunday, December 09, 2001

 
Spent most of the day tramping through mud and getting my feet wet. More geocaching I'm afraid, and then, having failed to achieve what we set out to do, Kev and I resorted to taking ale at the Wetherspoons in Woking. Not one of their best!

Tomorrow is an early start as I have to get to JWWs house by 9:00 a.m. which is going some. We then have to ge over to Croydon for 10:00. for some meeting. Not going to make it. Then in the evening I'm meeting up with yet another old school friend we've just made contact with. He has a daughter of 20! How did that happen? Obviously not physically, I know that, but it is unbelievable guys I went to school with have children that old. posted at 23:14.......link.......



Saturday, December 08, 2001

 
Was in Highgate Cemetry yesterday, (don't ask!), and saw Karl Marx's grave. If the bust on top of it is real size, boy, did that guy have a big head! posted at 08:38.......link.......





 
Apparently Sir Alex Ferguson is going to be given a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. A spokesman said, and I quote, "who better to receive it than Sir Alec". Now, leaving aside the fact that M.U. fans will agree with it and non-M.U. fans will disagree, I echo the question. Who better? posted at 08:37.......link.......





 
Whilst driving around with Kev yesterday we came up with a new way to travel from one place to another. Basically every road has a "portal" on it leading to a road anywhere else that shares the same name. You could enter the tunnel at Green Lane in Leeds and exit at Green Lane in Bradford or Green Lane, New Malden, or perhaps choose to travel down St. Oswalds Road, Bristol emerging in St. Oswalds Road, Birmingham. Get the idea?

There needs to be some sort of a restriction. You can't do it with High Streets, High Roads, or Station Roads as these would just become too congested and then we'd be no better off than now.

Now all we I need is someone who's well versed in quantum physics, (I think thats the branch of science who'll set this up), and away we go! posted at 08:36.......link.......





 
I worked out a longish piece on why posts have been a bit few and far between recently and then immediately saved something over it. Pratt! It was probably only a case of same old,same old, anyway. posted at 08:34.......link.......



Wednesday, December 05, 2001

 
Had a morning of culture with a visit to The Victoria and Albert Museum with Tricia. When she lived in London before she was forever going round them and it's the biggest thing she's missed whilst in Aus. The only problem is you need about 4 days to look at everything properly, but now the museums are free again, (Hooray!), it's more tempting to drop in for an hour or so when time permits. posted at 17:05.......link.......



Tuesday, December 04, 2001

 
Yesterday, at our weekly sales meeting, Peter quoted the lyrics of a song I hadn't heard for years.

"My eyes are dim, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me, I have not brought my specs with me".

I think they come from an old song called "The Quartermasters Store". My grandad used to sing it to me and that is going back a bit as he died when I was about 7. I couldn't remember any more of it until about an hour ago when one of the verses suddenly came to me.

"There were rats, rats, as big as blooming cats, in the store, in the store.
There were rats, rats, as big as blooming cats, in the quartermasters store".

I have no idea where this song originated, but as a quartermasters store is where the provisions are kept for an army I assume it is a troop song from, probably, World War 1.

Now I also remember Grandad singing "Chick, Chick, Chicken", "Run RabbitRun" and "The Galloping Major". Strange how it's all come flooding back.

posted at 22:44.......link.......





 
The government launches this years Drink/Drive campaign. I'll make a deal with you. If I try and stick to it, will you try as well?

posted at 12:05.......link.......



Monday, December 03, 2001

 
When you have a really important piece of work to do, and you've delayed doing it until the very last minute, it really doesn't help to have mislayed the piece of paper that has all the vital figures on it. posted at 23:02.......link.......





 
Panic at our weekly meeting this morning. I had my laptop open in front of me and JWW had his at 90 degrees to mine but behind it. His battery went flat and I went to pull the power cord out of mine to put into his and knocked a cup of coffee, which he had cleverly concealed behind the lid of mine, all over his keyboard. There were people jumping everywhere grabbing bits of cloth, watching the coffee drip out of the bottom. He spent the next 45 minutes holding under the hand drier in the Gents trying to dry it out. An hour or so later it was as good as new. I knew it would be o.k. That's why Big Blue has the reputation it does. You can throw them about and abuse them roundly and they just keep going. Well, they have so far!

posted at 22:49.......link.......





 


Thank God for that! If I hadn't been I would have been really worried! posted at 22:23.......link.......





 
I've had a picture accepted for The Mirror Project. I'd taken a couple of pictures earlier which I didn't think were good enough, and I can't say David Bailey's got much to worry about over this one, but it was the best of the three. I'm quite pleased with it as I'm pretty useless at taking photos because I just don't seem to have an eye for it which is a shame as it's one art form I really wish I could get to grips with. posted at 08:41.......link.......



Sunday, December 02, 2001

 
Is there a size limit for posting on Blogger? I've tried to make two reasonable size posts in the last week and both seem to reject. I shall have to decide what to do, whether I try again or start up a rant page elsewhere and link in. posted at 18:22.......link.......



Saturday, December 01, 2001

 
There's a great full moon tonight. When I first spotted it it was quite low on the horizon and quite large. I like anythng to do with space, be it a natural thing or man made. I suspect it is partly because I am of the generation that, whilst being a bit too young to remember John F Kennedys speech about going to the moon, I was old enough to remember the landing. I was 12 at the time and my dad got me up in the early hours of the morning to watch it take place. It was also the day I got mumps. If there is one date I remember of my medical history it is that. posted at 20:26.......link.......