|
|
| Sun
28 Dec 2003 |
Not
feeling too well, we came home via Calne to see my boss. Peter cooked
us a very nice meal while Steve tinkered with his PC. |
|
|
| Sat
27 Dec 2003 |
Alan
not feeling too well so we took Roxana and Geoff to a pub for a meal. |
|
|
| Fri
26 Dec 2003 |
To
Roxana's today. Very pleasant exchange of presents etc. Saw Alison
and Richard too. |
|
|
Thu
25 Dec 2003
Christmas Day |
Last
night we arrived at Steve's parents' to spend Christmas. Today Steve
took over the kitchen and produced a delicious meal. I got lots of
lovely presents from Santa, including from Steve a DVD recorder (although
it was a picture of one because it hadn't arrived!), and some books
and other bits and pieces. Steve and I were also given a beautiful
corkscrew by Paul and Frank, and a really useful electric screwdriver
by Estelle and Rob. |
|
|
| Wed
24 Dec 2003 |
Happy
Christmas, everyone! |
|
|
| Sat
13 Dec 2003 |
While
Steve was in London at a party I put the Christmas tree up as a surprise
for him. As we will be away over Christmas we had said we wouldn't
bother with the tree, but it wouldn't really be Christmas without
it. It looks nice, anyway. |
|
|
| Fri
12 Dec 2003 |
Blimey
- Sir
Mick Jagger! |
|
|
| Thu
11 Dec 2003 |
Uncle
Rupert* brought us our Sky+ box today. Yippee!
*I am of course referring to Rupert Murdoch, the Dirty
Digger |
|
|
| Mon
08 Dec 2003 |
Predictive
texting - isn't it marvellous? Type 382 into my mobile with the intention
of spelling 'eta' (meaning estimated time of arrival) and the first
suggestion, as you might expect, is 'etc'. But amazingly the next
suggestion it offers is 'eva'. How many more people, I wonder, are
likely to want to text someone about their extra-vehicular activity
(space-walks to you and me) than letting someone know when they plan
to arrive somewhere?
Found out today what the 'kith' in 'kith and kin' means. Kith are
your relations who are not blood-relations, as compared with kin,
who are. |
|
|
| Tue
25 Nov 2003 |
Don't
you just hate sports shops? They are not places I go into very often,
but today I needed to buy some new trainers. The stock in these stores
is so densely packed in that you cannot take (I am not exaggerating)
more than two paces without having to turn sideways to squeeze past
or between racks or stands of clothes. Many of the shoppers - as you
might presume - had pushchairs, and they were faring worse than I
was. How can a store operate like this? I suppose it gets enough custom,
and so doesn't care particularly. Greed wins, again. |
|
|
| Mon
24 Nov 2003 |
How
confusing is this? A black panther is a leopard with basically the
opposite of albinism. Other names for a cougar (which is an American
mountain lion and not a leopard) include panther and puma. Ford in
the UK made two completely different models of car, one called a Cougar
and the other a Puma. And then of course there's Jaguar, who are owned
by Ford... Sorry, I'm rambling. |
|
|
| Sat
22 Nov 2003 |
Wow,
what a match! And what a tense time you gave the spectators! Pure
entertainment from first to final whistle! And you're bringing home
the Webb Ellis Trophy! Congratulations to Clive Woodward, Martin Johnson
and especially Jonny Wilkinson! |
| |
|
| Fri
21 Nov 2003 |
Things
happen in a strange way. I had booted up the laptop to update this
journal with some inconsequential nonsense about a film I'd just watched
on television and an episode of Rhoda I'd just seen, when I heard
that Geoffrey's cat Padfoot had died. If you've been reading regularly
you'll know he hasn't been well. It's very upsetting particularly
because he was a real 'character', if you know what I mean. He would
shred the post off the doormat, or run off with the car keys, and
he had a stump of a tail because of a run-in with something large
and four-wheeled some time ago. He liked rough-and-tumble play, but
also loved being loved. And he was Geoff's, and Geoff is going to
miss him like crazy. |
| |
|
| Wed
19 Nov 2003 |
It's
interesting, I find, to follow some of the 'headline' links at the
top of this page, because they sometimes give another country's interesting
perspective on events in the UK. For example, at the moment we can
read what the Miami Herald and USA Today are saying about Bush's visit
to the UK. |
|
|
| Sun
16 Nov 2003 |
We've
returned home this evening from spending the weekend up with Steve's
parents. We drove up Friday evening, and on Saturday went into Birmingham,
to the Jewellery Quarter to get Steve a chain, then to the city centre
and to the new, huge and very, very crowded, Bullring shopping centre
- which is impressive if you like shops, but is essentially just another
shopping centre. Watched the rugby Sunday morning. |
|
|
| Sun
09 Nov 2003 |
We
have heard today that Padfoot (see yesterday) is back home, still
not himself, but hopefully on the mend.
Why does every t-shirt - and I mean every single one - turn itself
inside-out in the washing machine? |
| |
|
| Sat
08 Nov 2003 |
We've
booked our holiday for next year! 16 nights in Orlando!
It's like Beirut - or perhaps Baghdad - outside this evening, and
has been every night this week. (For overseas readers, last Wednesday
was the 5th of November, when the British 'celebrate' the fact that
in 1605 a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the King
was discovered at the last minute. This is done by the burning of
an effigy or 'guy' of one of the plotters, Guy Fawkes, on bonfires,
and the letting off of fireworks. A better explanation is here.)
Not that most of the young hooligans detonating louder and louder
explosions all over the place until ungodly hours of the night have
the faintest idea of this history - they just think it's tremendous
fun keeping their neighbours awake, and pets scared, for a couple
of weeks every autumn. About time they were banned. (The fireworks,
that is, not the hoolig... actually, now you mention it...)
Cat news: our friends Simon and Elizabeth have found, safe and reasonably
well, one of their cats which went missing five days ago, locked in
a cupboard at a neighbour's house, a mystery which will be solved
soon, we hope; and Geoffrey's black & white cat, Padfoot,
is very poorly, and at the vets under observation, as I write - an
update is promised tomorrow. We wish him well. |
|
|
| Sun
02 Nov 2003 |
This
morning watched a thrilling match from Australia: England 111-13 Uruguay.
Blimey, that Josh
Lewsey's a good player, isn't he? |
|
|
| Sat
01 Nov 2003 |
My
birthday! And Steve took me into London to watch Jumpers by Tom Stoppard
at the National Theatre (or Royal National Theatre as it has somehow
bizarrely been renamed). Not entirely comprehensible, but great fun,
entertaining and even slightly instructive nevertheless. Afterwards,
a meal at Pizza Express. |
|
|
| Thu
30 Oct 2003 |
Seen
on a huge advertising hoarding near Birmingham, an advert
designed to look as if it was promoting a headache tablet. The strapline:
"M6 Toll - fast effective relief from the M6". Personally,
I can't wait until they open this new
road. |
|
|
| Wed
29 Oct 2003 |
Walking
through Croydon today, passed a film crew (always exciting for me...)
and the Channel 4 presenter of 'Location, Location, Location'
Phil
Spencer. |
|
|
| Sat
25 Oct 2003 |
Unreal.
Oh ok, it's America, so not unreal at all. |
| |
|
| Fri
24 Oct 2003 |
At
home for most of the day today, with half an ear and eye on BBC News
24 for Concorde's last flights. Just now at 1043 I'm watching a former
Concorde pilot on a webcast, and the moderator/presenter read my e-mail
first! I asked the pilot, Captain Benn, when the last time was that
he had personally flown Concorde, and the answer was yesterday - he
piloted the Cardiff flight (see below). He is in a temporary BBC studio
at Heathrow from which many of BBC News's programmes seem to be coming
today, and behind him outside is the 'spare' aircraft, in fact the
one he flew yesterday, and one of the five planes which will line
up after 4pm this afternoon. In just over an hour BA002 will take
off from New York to become the last passenger service on Concorde
to land, and services which started in 1976, when I was 9 years old,
will end. Click here
for a description of my own first ever glimpse of Concorde, from about
1971.
Well it was a sad day - I watched the three planes touch down (on
the TV of course) and decided that this was indeed "the end of
an era" despite the cliché. I will now never travel on
Concorde. A lifelong dream dashed. Thanks BA.
Oh yes, I went out to try and capture the plane on video, as I knew
the flightpath towards Heathrow was going to be over Croydon (many
is the time I've heard the distinctive sound of those Rolls-Royce
Olympus engines and rushed outside), and for my efforts I have about
5 seconds of an out-of-focus dart disappearing into a cloud.
This
story says it all quite well. |
| |
|
| Mon
20 Oct 2003 |
Here's
a table which might be useful if you live somewhere near Heathrow
and you're interested in seeing Concorde flying for the last times.
I've indicated take-offs and landings at Heathrow from tomorrow
to Friday.
| Tue
21 |
BA9020/1 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1000 |
- |
BFS |
1145 |
'Tour
of Britain' to Belfast (take off) |
| |
BA9020/1
|
BFS |
1605 |
- |
LHR |
1745 |
|
|
|
lands
from Belfast |
| |
BA001 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1830 |
- |
JFK |
1725 |
scheduled
flight to New York |
|
|
| Wed
22 |
BA9020/1 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1000 |
- |
MAN |
1145 |
'Tour
of Britain' to Manchester (take off) |
| |
BA9020/1 |
MAN |
1605 |
- |
LHR |
1745 |
|
|
|
lands
from Manchester |
| |
BA002 |
JFK |
0900 |
- |
LHR |
1800 |
|
|
|
scheduled
flight lands from New York |
|
|
| Thu
23 |
BA9020/1 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1000 |
- |
CWL |
1145 |
'Tour
of Britain' to Cardiff (take off) |
| |
BA9020/1 |
CWL |
1605 |
- |
LHR |
1745 |
|
|
|
lands
from Cardiff |
| |
BA001 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1830 |
- |
JFK |
1725 |
last scheduled
flight to New York |
|
|
| Fri
24 |
BA9020/1 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1005 |
- |
EDI |
1145 |
'Tour
of Britain' to Edinburgh (take off) |
| |
BA9010 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1425 |
|
|
|
Heathrow-Heathrow
round trip departs |
| |
BA9010 |
|
|
|
LHR |
1600 |
|
|
|
(1) round
trip lands |
| |
BA9020/1 |
EDI |
1420 |
- |
LHR |
1600 |
|
|
|
(2) lands
from Edinburgh |
| |
BA002 |
JFK |
0700 |
- |
LHR |
1600 |
|
|
|
(3) last
ever scheduled flight lands from NY |
information from
British Airways
and concordesst.com
In addition all five airworthy BA Concordes will take off for their
final destinations from Heathrow:
Mon 27 Oct to the USS Intrepid Air & Space Museum in New York;
Fri 31 Oct to Manchester;
Mon 3 Nov to Seattle;
Mon 10 Nov to Barbados (unless this aircraft is kept in the UK for
airshows);
Mon 17 Nov to Filton, Bristol, where she was built. |
|
|
| Sat
18 Oct 2003 |
Sadly
the last British Airways Concorde will fly for the last time commercially
next Friday. To mark the event I have republished my 'Images of Concorde'
page.
The other day the washing machine stopped working, and early this
morning a cheeerful repair man turned up and fitted a new pump (apparently
the impeller had broken in the old one...), and the machine is absolutely
purring now!
To Peter & Chris's tonight - haven't seen them for weeks - for
a Chinese takeaway, and we singularly failed to reconnect their audio-visual
system back up, which is supposed to be our party piece. Anyway, we're
popping back over tomorrow to have another go.
Steve bought one of those bizarre potato-head things with grass seed
in and a couple of eyes stuck on the front a few weeks ago, and I've
just given its green hair a trim. |
|
|
| Thu
15 Oct 2003 |
Last
week I was driving along the M4 as I often do and I passed a car transporter.
This is also not an unusual occurrence, but this time I did a double
take. Now you often see on a car transporter cars of the same model,
factory-wrapped in white plastic presumably to protect the new paintwork
from chips as they are delivered to a showroom or customer. However...
the plastic-coated cars on this particular transporter, which were
a very nice shade of pale blue, were all old-style Volkswagen Beetles!
Weird. Where do you go to buy one of those? |
|
|
| Wed
14 Oct 2003 |
Dropped
Steve and his parents off at Victoria Coach Station so he could see
them off, before I drove on to Swindon.
At work I helped my colleague who keeps our department's intranet
site up-to-date with a small technical issue (an unnecessary scroll
bar on a page), using the crap tools we are given (MS Word); this
made me feel good and encouraged me that I do sometimes know what
I'm talking about!
For some bizarre reason I remembered today a cat which a colleague
from years ago in the photographic trade had. He was a handsome ginger
tom named Billingham Mecablitz III, shortened to Billy. Billingham
was (probably still is) the name of an expensive and high-quality
English brand of camera bag; and there was a German flashgun called
a Metz Mecabiltz. Wonderful name!
This evening I was driving home and pulled up at a red light on Trinity
Road in Wandsworth... as you do. And there beside me, peddling backwards
and forwards, with a miner's lamp attached to his cycling helmet (where
else could he put it?) was a unicyclist! Mind you it was only a few
minutes later that he overtook me, so maybe he wasn't so mad! |
|
|
| Mon
13 Oct 2003 |
After
work I picked Steve and his mum up from Waterloo. Despite the new
fast bit of track through Kent, the Eurostar was late in. Oh, and
apparently Standard Class is quite nice. I've only ever travelled
First, you see... |
|
|
| Sun
12 Oct 2003 |
Watched
'enry the Eightf on TV. Ray Winstone is a fine actor, but a bit too
East End to play a king, I feel. |
|
|
| Sat
11 Oct 2003 |
Popped
into town to post another tape of British TV programmes to Darren
and Karen, then did a bit of website work before Steve's dad and I
settled down to some huge helpings of a lasagne Steve had made before
he went away. It was delicious. |
| |
|
| Fri
10 Oct 2003 |
Up
pretty damn early this morning, driving the team into London. Said
goodbye to Steve and his mum at Waterloo International at the start
of their extended weekend in Paris, then brought Steve's dad back
to Croydon where I left him at the library before I came home. He
bought us fish & chips in the evening. |
|
|
| Thu
09 Oct 2003 |
While
I was at work Steve went and picked up his parents from Rowley Regis,
and I got home just
in time to sit down with them to a delicious chicken, leek and bacon
casserole. |
|
|
| Wed
08 Oct 2003 |
I
had been asked to visit the WHSmith concept store in Guildford today
to film an appearance and talk by Bear
Grylls. However, discovered to my huge annoyance when I had set
everything up that he wouldn't allow himself to be filmed. Not his
fault, rather the HR lady who had organised the event hadn't checked.
I was able to film some elements of the event, but I had left some
other very important work back in Swindon in order to attend, so I
wasn't best pleased! |
|
|
| Sun
05 Oct 2003 |
Steve
made a delicious pepper-stuffed-with-lamb (apparently a Turkish recipe)
tonight, and we cracked a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the confirmation
that last weekend the upstairs neighbours have definitely left for
the winter. See Steve's
website blog entry for July 28th for why this was worth celebrating. |
| |
|
| Sat
04 Oct 2003 |
Took
Pippa to the vet this morning before going into town, to have her
weight checked (constant since last visit despite strict diet), and
to get her claws clipped.
Steve out, so spent all evening in lounge mostly watching TV and updating
this site, with Pippa in here all the time sitting on the arm of the
sofa - most unusual but lovely. |
|
|
| Sun
28 Sep 2003 |
Three
days in Cambridge: saw Ian and his new place, had lots to drink, met
his friends again Chris & Jane (with whom we went to Dublin last
December for Ian's fiftieth) and had a great home-made curry; on Saturday
went out to the very pretty village of Hemingford Abbots near Huntingdon
where we walked, then had a super sausage pub lunch in honour of both
Chris's and Jane's recent birthdays, then back into Cambridge for
more drink and a take-away Chinese, and watched a Monty Python back
at C&J's; then on Sunday to a great little record/DVD shop, lunch...
and home.
Read about the Italian
blackout when we got home and thought of Karen and Darren.
Apparently 'Dr Who' which I used to watch when I was little is coming
back to British TV. This news makes Steve very happy, but bothers
me not a jot. |
|
|
| Sun
21 Sep 2003 |
Back
from a couple of days in Salisbury, where Steve set up a new monitor
on Roxana's PC; we went to work with Roxana to the beautiful garrison
church at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain where she now verges;
and had lunch at a lovely village pub near Calne with my boss Peter. |
|
|
| Thu
18 Sep 2003 |
The
repeal of the insidious and downright nasty 'Section 28' has received
Royal Assent today. Not before time. |
|
|
| Sun
14 Sep 2003 |
We
are back from hols, had no time to catch up on here. Summary: southern
Italy fantastic, Pompeii unbelievable. More soon. |
|
|
| Wed
03 Sep 2003 |
He
he he... guess where we're going tomorrow? |
|
|
| Sat
30 Aug 2003 |
We
popped into Croydon in the morning, did a bit of shopping in Next,
and then picked up some beer to take with us to Aylesbury, where we
had been invited to a barbecue at Simon and Elizabeth's. Dave
was there too (Marie was unwell), and so were newly-married George
and Hilda. A great time was had by all, and after the food had
been eaten we sat around the fire Simon created in the barbecue 'hearth'
and talked until the early hours. Then next-door to bed to the house
Simon and Elizabeth are doing up to let out. Very handy! |
|
|
| Fri
29 Aug 2003 |
I
went into London in the afternoon and walked from Victoria Station
up to Buckingham Palace, then up Birdcage Walk towards Horse Guards,
along Whitehall past Downing Street towards Trafalgar Square (where
the new development looks great in theory, but you still have to cross
about ten pedestrian crossings to get to the main square, and it takes
an age), then down to the Strand and along to Waterloo Bridge where
I crossed the river and met Steve who'd driven down from work and
parked near the National theatre. We had a sandwich and a cup of coffee
and wandered around a bit before taking our seats in the Royal Festival
Hall to watch On
Your Toes. I've seen Adam Cooper in Swan Lake, and knew he was
a good dancer, but he can act and sing and dance other styles well
too, including tap. The staging and lighting were very good (especially
considering the RFH isn't actually a theatre), and the show had some
very funny moments. The first half had too slow a pace for my liking,
but things picked up after the interval, and overall we thoroughly
enjoyed it. |
|
|
| Thu
28 Aug 2003 |
Somewhere
today on the earth a boy or girl is growing up who will become the
first person to walk on Mars. |
| |
|
Mon
25 Aug 2003
Bank Holiday |
Went
reluctantly to PC World today, to help Peter and Chris choose a laptop
for a friend of theirs in Spain. That went badly as the store had
no stock of anything they had on display, and the staff were their
usual unhelpful selves.
After we'd helped them, we went back in to choose a new flat-screen
monitor for ourselves, which we did without any problem, but on getting
it home we discovered it was faulty, and of course we found out when
we took it back that it was the only example they had in stock. So
we ended up buying a more expensive one (although it is very nice...) |
| |
|
| Sun
24 Aug 2003 |
OK,
we now now have the definitive guide
to directory enquiry pricing, courtesy of the BBC. |
|
|
| Thu
21 Aug 2003 |
The
last couple of days I've had a hire car. Because of my job it needs
to be an estate car, and because I sometimes carry ladders on the
roof, it also has to be a Vauxhall, as I have the roof bars to fit
this make. This means in practice it's usually a Zafira.
It's not a bad car, and I will certainly be looking closely at it
when new-car-choosing-time comes around again soon: it has heaps of
space, and not a bad driving position - although this isn't as high
as many MPVs, and actually serves to block the view of the high-level
centre brake light of the car in front of the car in front, which
is annoying. The seats were quite uncomfortable in the Club I drove,
but much nicer in the Design model. |
|
|
| Wed
20 Aug 2003 |
I
hate David Bailey. Let me explain. David is one of my colleagues at
work. I'm out 'in the field' and so is he, and I don't see him very
often, just like many of the rest of the team I'm in. Today he and
I were both, independently, working quite late in the office. By coincidence
we left at the same time, and we were talking about cars. David has
a VW
Golf GT TDI, the one with the 1.9 130PS engine. Since I will be
choosing a new car soonish, I asked to have a look at it as it's on
my short list - or at least an estate variant will be. Somehow he
persuaded me to take it for a spin, and now I'm smitten! The problem
is that he is paying a certain amount extra each month because it's
over his allowance, and with the estate version even more expensive,
so would I have to if I chose it. Damn! |
|
|
| Tue
19 Aug 2003 |
How
long does it take to get from A
to B? Well tonight, it took me 70 minutes to travel about one
mile through the M25/M23 junction. Annoyed I was. Oh yes. And all
because at a set of traffic lights (just to the north of the map)
they had coned off one of the two lanes.
Actually that junction is becoming a bit of a nightmare: last week,
going the other way, I made contact with the back of a Transit van
there, when he moved in front of me as we pulled away from the same
set of lights, and made a bit of a mess of my near-side front wing.
I read this
article with a happy heart and a renewed confidence in the benign
eccentricity of the British... right up to the last paragraph. |
|
|
| Sat
16 Aug 2003 |
This
evening we went to Peter and Chris's for takeaway asian. Nice weather,
and their decorating (well, re-building really) is coming on very
well. |
|
|
| Mon
11 Aug 2003 |
It's
only a couple of weeks to go before the old 192 directory enquiry
service goes for good, and I thought I'd have a look at what the alternatives
(the so-called '118' numbers) offer. First of all I looked here,
but I got confused - they all seem to offer something different, and
the pricing is inconsistent and there is no table to easily compare
the different services. So I thought I'd look here
for some clarity. Well! I've never seen a scheme so poorly-conceived,
vague and unclear. It's full of phrases like "they may offer
this, or that, or both", "the service provider should...",
"In some cases, it may be cheaper...", "This will vary
from one service provider to another..." How on earth are we,
the general public, supposed to make informed choices with that kind
of vagueness from the regulator?
Even the website itself is poorly executed: the document title which
appears at the top of the browser window is mis-spelled; and at one
point it says "see question 20 below" - but the questions
aren't numbered! I've written to them and I'll let you know what they
say when (if) they reply. |
| |
|
| Sun
10 Aug 2003 |
Phew
What A Scorcher. Records smashed all day apparently. |
|
|
| Sat
09 Aug 2003 |
We
had a great day today - calling in on the café in Guildford to pick
the bag up on our way down to Salisbury. It was extremely hot at Roxana's
and there was a fair amount to drink, so I guess I got a little the
worse for wear. Steve was the nominated driver so he had to sit and
watch everyone else get tiddled, which is never nice. My turn next
time! We saw loads of people that we'd met before, and lots of new
people - one of whom is Alan's sister Leslie's
husband Elessar, who was hugely entertaining. We were planning
to pop in and see my boss in Calne on the way home, but just before
we were about to set off we heard that Duncan
was on his way, so of course we waited to see him. That was really
nice. |
|
|
| Fri
08 Aug 2003 |
As
you know I work for WHSmith, and we have just opened a new 'concept'
store in Guildford. It's radically different from any of our other
shops around the country - or even these days around the world - with
a totally new look and feel, although most of the products are the
ones we sell everywhere else. Anyway, Steve and I were both off today
so we decided to go and take a look, and we were very impressed. The
store only opened last Friday, the staff are very enthusiastic, and
the public seem to really like it too.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it) we popped
in to an art gallery - by which I mean a shop selling original paintings
- on the way to Smiths, and were both taken by a couple of the items
on show. Ever since we had the lounge decorated we've both been on
the lookout for some really great paintings to finish the project
off - and now we've found them! But it's made us poor...
We also managed to leave our WHSmith shopping in a café, so we are
going to have to call in to Guildford again tomorrow. |
|
|
| Sat
02 Aug 2003 |
Steve
was off in London for the day, so I went down to Salisbury and saw
Mum & Dad, as well as popping in to see Roxana and Alan. |
|
|
| Thu
31 Jul 2003 |
What's
the web's favourite
colour? |
|
|
| Sun
27 Jul 2003 |
Mild
panic (OK... major panic) this afternoon as Pippa pushed a window
open wide enough to get out. After an hour of both Steve and I intermittently
chasing her round the garden and rattling food bowls, she trotted
back in of her own volition. We haven't let her out since Ilford died
two and a half years ago, so you can understand why we were worried.
She just thought she was having an adventure, I'm sure. |
|
|
| Fri
25 Jul 2003 |
A
very long day indeed - back up to Merseyside, and all the way home. |
|
|
| Thu
24 Jul 2003 |
Steve
has spent much of the last week developing his own website.
It's very good, so please take a look! |
|
|
| Sat
19 Jul 2003 |
Steve
and I went into London last night, to watch a performance by the London
Gay Men's Chorus at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. Tremendous
show, mostly 'songs from the shows'. Afterwards we had a very nice
meal inside the Royal Festival Hall. All in all a very pleasant evening. |
|
|
| Thu
17 Jul 2003 |
Last
night stayed in a hotel in the Merseyside area with no air-conditioning,
and it was a hot and airless night so not comfortable. Mind you
I didn't arrive at the hotel until very late and they made me a
big plate of sandwiches and brought me a beer so I can't complain
about the standards, and I did sleep OK - because I was pretty tired
to be honest. I discovered this morning that perhaps they have been
reading my comments here about the design
of hotel showers - mine had separate controls for the shower, with
clear temperature and flow controls; I had a lovely shower.
'Parceline' - why is it spelled like that? Is it really 'Parce Line',
or 'Parcel Ine'?
On my way up the M6 yesterday I spent mile after mile travelling
at 50mph, and there seemed to be cones along half its length; coming
back down I think I managed around 60mph, but most of the traffic
was in the outside lane. I expect that on the M25 - which is just
a gigantic roundabout - but the M6 actually goes somewhere!
At one point there was an accident on the other side, but all the
rubberneckers on our side slowed down. I think the police should
put up huge screens around all accidents so no-one can be distracted...
I really do.
Twee but true thought from the radio: you are walking along the
street, you see a stranger and you smile at them; this reminds them
of an old friend and when they get home they phone the friend for
a chat; by your smile you've started a chain which travels around
the world. |
|
|
| Wed
16 Jul 2003 |
Can
anyone tell me when did some 'L' Liverpool postcodes become 'CH'?
Most confusing...
If you click here
you will be playing a fantastic corporate video from North
Korea, promoting some sort of joint venture car manufacturing with
Fiat of Italy. I have downloaded it for keeps, so if it ever disappears
from the official North Korean website (or N Korea itself ever disappears!)
I'll make it available on this site. They only appear to have ten
cars, but it's the awful music and pseudo-Top Gear style that gets
me. Watch out for the empty motorways, where our featured vehicles
literally double the traffic... And with North Korea likely to be
the next target of America's new-found global righter-of-wrongs, watch
this space, and the N
Korean government's website - oh and check out the lyrics to their
national anthem!
Went into Croydon this morning, and decided to have my car valeted
while I shopped, but I was unimpressed - they took longer than they
said, then rushed to finish off when I came back for it, missing several
vital bits.
Driving up the M1 this afternoon, I was delighted and not a little
surprised to see a Royal Mail train also proceeding northwards somewhere
near Northampton: I thought they'd stopped running them? |
|
|
| Tue
15 Jul 2003 |
There's
a company near us called Surrey Beds. Kind of a bit like Cornwall
Northants, or perhaps Rutland Berks?
What colour does a Smurf turn if you choke it?
Heavy industry across the industrialised western world has caused
global warming, the greenhouse effect, and now as a consequence summers
are hotter than ever, so... everyone has fans and air-conditioning
units on everywhere, causing power stations to produce more polluting
greenhouses gases! Clever, aren't we? |
|
|
| Mon
14 Jul 2003 |
Fantastic
to see this proposed huge investment in wind electricity generation
off the British coast. It's about time! We cannot continue to exploit
the earth's non-renewable resources for very much longer, nor can
we continue to put up with the resulting pollution either. But while
the moon continues to go round the earth and the earth goes round
the sun, there's a constant free supply of solar, wind and wave power,
and we've barely begun to exploit any of it. Exciting times ahead. |
|
|
| Sun
13 Jul 2003 |
I
like Sunday evenings - Top Gear and Fighting The War (the excellent
behind-the-scenes documentary about the recent war in Iraq) on BBC2,
meanwhile taping A French Affair (about a not-so-sleepy French village)
on Channel 4. |
|
|
| Sat
05 Jul 2003 |
Spent
all last week editing a video for work ('Everything You Need To Know
About Stationery', if you'd like to know), and next week I'll be editing
'Everything ... News', which was shot at around the same time as the
other one. We filmed them in Merry Hill (near Dudley), Reading, Fosse
Park (in Leicester) and Stratford, and we used a professional presenter
to introduce them, so that meant learning how to set up and use a
teleprompter, in addition to my skills as cameraman, lighting man,
sound man... and so on!
What with all the driving and everything, I sometimes get audio books
out of the library to listen to in the car. Just finished 'Himoff!'
by Richard Whiteley - very funny, and the man is very self-deprecating.
Incidentally, the title comes from the thing Richard constantly hears
people saying: "It's him off the telly."
Woke up this morning after a very odd dream; I rarely remember them,
so this was unusual. Obviously connected to the recent filming...
but I was in the kitchen of the house we lived in when I was little
(but I was grown up), and Philip Schofield had just called round to
pick me up, as we were off to film him somewhere (see the connection?).
Except Philip Schofield's name was actually Christopher Schofield,
and I was discussing with someone in another room whether or not I
should ask him, once we got in the car, if he preferred to be called
Christopher or Chris. I mean, it would have been just as valid with
his real name ("Philip or Phil?") so I don't understand
how he came to be Christopher. But it was him. |
|
|
| Thu
26 Jun 2003 |
Sorry there haven't been many updates here recently, and few birthday
photos on the front page. I've been very busy filming over the last
few days, and I'm looking forward to two weeks of solid editing coming
up - but it's what I enjoy most about my job, so I'm fine with it.
But things have been missed.
Happy Birthday to Dad and to Matthew - the cards are in the post! |
|
|
| Sat
21 Jun 2003 |
Booked
our holiday for September to southern Italy. We'll be staying here.
We met the owners (friends of Roxana and Alan's) back last February
(click here).
William, I think my invitation to the party
must have got lost in the post... |
| |
|
| Fri
20 Jun 2003 |
Happy
Birthday Steve. |
|
|
| Tue
17 Jun 2003 |
I
registered on the Royal Mail website today, because I wanted to check
someone's postcode from their address, and now you have to sign up
first. I received a 'welcome' e-mail afterwards, in English as you
might expect, but at the very end of the message was the usual company
registration number and official address information, in English and
then repeated in Welsh. Now I suppose that's fair enough (although
find me a Welsh-speaker who can't also speak English...), but I discover
from this that the Welsh have a word for London (it's Llundain, if
you care). I thought the whole point of this sop to Welsh nationalism
involving dual-signing everything at enormous cost in the Principality
was a) that it was only actually necessary in Wales and b) that all
Welsh towns and cities could be called something-long-and-unpronounceable-without-any-vowels,
if that's what (some extreme) Welsh people wanted, but it really doesn't
have to extend to renaming the capital city of the United Kingdom,
which is called LONDON. OK? |
|
|
| Sun
08 Jun 2003 |
Anyone who knows me will tell you how keen I am on the correct use
of English, and how my particular hobby-horse is the misuse of the
apostrophe. Imagine how delighted I was, therefore, to discover this
website. What a joy! I'm not the only one! |
|
|
| Sat
07 Jun 2003 |
We
watched 28
Hours Later with Peter and Chris after a delicious bangers and
mash meal. Pretty good film, although very violent - but in a thought-provoking
and necessary way. |
|
|
| Tue
03 Jun 2003 |
I've
got a tube of Smarties! Happened to mention to Steve the other day
that I hadn't had any for years, and he brought some home for me tonight...
and they haven't changed a bit I'm pleased to say (except they're
made by bloody Nestlé, of course). |
| |
|
| Mon
02 Jun 2003 |
Went
shopping at Sainsbury's this evening, and I got the Dream Trolley:
it went in a perfectly straight line, it didn't squeak, it didn't
roll off. I tell you, it was as good as winning the lottery! |
|
|
| Sun
01 Jun 2003 |
I
have very, very, very, short hair now. |
|
|
| Sat
31 May 2003 |
Was
very sick last night, and have felt pretty low all day. And then this
evening Steve has started to feel unwell too. Great. |
| |
|
| Thu
29 May 2003 |
Got
home just in time for the AGM of our block, which this time was held
in our flat. Steve was one of the directors of the management company,
but he has resigned and I've been elected... which was nice. |
|
|
Mon
26 May 2003
Bank Holiday |
Chris's
Dad died this morning. Our thoughts are with Chris and Lyn and the
rest of the family. |
| |
|
| Sun
25 May 2003 |
Met
Paul and Frank in town for pizza lunch at Auberge, including warm
white wine, which they sent back!
And in the evening I experienced a strange time-warp whilst waiting
in the chip shop down the hill for my fish to be cooked: an Irish
woman, probably about 50-something, came in from a house across the
road and ordered some chips, having forgotten (she said) to cook something
for her grandchild. But it was how she was dressed - a pink dress,
which may have been a night-dress; a frilly yellow pinny or apron;
and carpet slippers. I was suddenly in about 1978. |
|
|
| Sat
24 May 2003 |
With
Chris's Dad seriously ill, and other invitees out of the country,
we cancelled the Eurovision party, but Steve and I ordered in a curry
and watched on our own. Didn't we do well? (That was irony.) Steve
voted for Turkey, who won, and I voted for Latvia... who didn't. |
|
|
| Sun
18 May 2003 |
Sunday
and I've had to work :-( Was back home at half-four though :-) |
|
|
| Wed
14 May 2003 |
Unblemished
driving licence? Not no more! 3 points and a £60 fine, thank
you very much Surrey Police, for just squeezing through an amber light
as it went red, rather unfortunately just in front of a police Range
Rover. Ah well, nearly 17 years clean... |
|
|
| Tue
13 May 2003 |
Came
across Waterloo Bridge this evening, and looking right I could see
the huge white wheel of the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament,
and the white structure of Hungerford (railway) Bridge highlighted
brightly against a dark and menacing grey sky. |
|
|
| Sun
11 May 2003 |
I've
just found out that Kate Moss was born down the road from us, in Addiscombe,
Croydon. Thought you'd like to know that! |
| |
|
| Sat
10 May 2003 |
My
boss's son, who's in the Royal Marines, is home today from Iraq. I
think Peter's quite relieved. |
| |
|
| Sun
04 May 2003 |
Had
a great time at the pub last night.
Ah. Apparently spam is 25 years old today. No cause to celebrate.
I'm getting around fifteen every single day, and I'm fed up with it. |
|
|
| Sat
03 May 2003 |
"So
what did you do today?" "Ah. Nice of you to ask. We drove
to Swindon and bought a hairdryer." Not quite, but almost. We
went and visited my niece and her two beautiful daughters in Farnham.
First time I've seen Nessie for.. ooh.. around five or six years,
and first time ever to meet Amber and Chloe. It was lovely! Then on
to Swindon to pick up the key I should have remembered to bring home
yesterday for a job I have to do on Tuesday. Peter (boss) was in the
office so said hi and had a coffee with him, and while we were there
we had lunch at Chiquitos near the office, and bought the hairdryer
from Currys.
Off out this evening to the Goose and Carrot with Peter & Chris. |
|
|
| Tue
29 Apr 2003 |
Just
got back from fab five days in Paris with Steve. There'll be a holiday
diary and some pics in a while. Meantime I'm sorting through the 95
e-mails, 65 of which were unsolicited junk. |
| |
|
| Wed
23 Apr 2003 |
Updated
the Links page. Bigger, better, bolder, betcetera. |
|
|
| Tue
22 Apr 2003 |
Tummy
hurts. Too much chocolate easter egg, perhaps? |
|
|
Sun
20 Apr 2003
Easter Day |
You
may have heard of the X-prize - $10 million to the first private individual
or company who can get 3 people into orbit, safely back down, and
then repeat the exercise in the same vehicle with ten days. I think
this
is the company that's going to do it - just watch over the next few
months. The BBC
have a story on it too.
I'm a published man! Last month's Gay Times had a letter from someone
wondering about the etiquette for a commitment ceremony - should there
be a best man, speeches etc? The editor invited responses to be passed
on to the couple, so I e-mailed. Got a shock when I opened this month's
issue and found they'd published it! Click here. |
|
|
| Sat
19 Apr 2003 |
Random
Saturday morning thought: if I was designing a new letterbox (for
front doors), I'd talk to a load of postmen first, I think.
Changing the subject... totally fab evening with Peter and Chris,
at ours. After the meal (wonderfully presented as usual by Steve),
we decided to just sit and chat with cheesy music on the stereo instead
of watching a DVD. Set the world to rights, of course; decided to
go to Pride
this summer* (26th July); and, most importantly, laid the foundations
for a totally camp Eurovision
party on 24th May: it's going to be so cool!
*nice to see everyone's so tolerant... |
|
|
Fri
18 Apr 2003
Good Friday |
The
Company Director: I'm watching a silver Mondeo, quite a new,
top-of-the-range one, on the M3, in very slow-moving, stop/start traffic,
this morning. Zipping in and out, veering sharply between the lanes,
trying to gain any short-term advantage he can, he must move through
the creeping traffic a tiny bit quicker than everyone else. He sees
all those around him as competition, and thinks to lose a single place
will be seen as weakness. He cares little for others, as long as he's
OK.
------------------------------------------------------------
Left late this morning, on my own, for Salisbury. The intention was
to take Mum and Dad down to Odstock Hospital where sister Alison has
been with a gall bladder problem. But after fighting the traffic on
M25, M3 and A303, arrived to find Richard had collected her and she
was at my parents' house. She looked very pleased to be out; a little
exhausted, but quite cheerful. We all had lunch.
Loads and loads of motorbikes everywhere on the way home, some ridden
by idiots. |
| |
|
| Thu
17 April 2003 |
Everyone's
heard of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the Iraqi Information Minister,
haven't they? You remember, the one who claimed that the Americans
"infidels" would never capture Baghdad, as US tanks rolled
past behind him? Well, you have to see this
website! |
|
|
| Wed
16 April 2003 |
The
Rep: it's funny what you can tell by watching someone drive
their car. I'm following a white W-reg Mondeo on the motorway this
morning; he nearly crashes into the cones where the outside lane disappears
for bridge repairs ahead. He's driving very aggressively, and is clearly
suffering from a severe case of reps' neck*. The car's in a poor state
of repair, with a broken valance below the rear bumper, and only the
high-level centre brake light working. It's also so overloaded the
driver can't see anything out of the rear-view mirror. As I drive
past him (he's managed to manoeuvre himself into the slowest-moving
lane) I see the flushed red face and premature grey of the early heart
attack/stroke/brain haemorrhage victim - the rep under a lot of pressure.
Actually, he's either a spectacularly unsuccessful rep with his four-year-old
and battered car and he's simply desperate to hang on to his job,
or he's very successful but works for a spectacularly unsuccessful
company. Whichever, I steer clear of him, and watch him power off
into the distance as soon as the traffic thins.
* reps' neck: a condition associated with motorway-driving
sales reps, usually in BMWs, where they spend so much time driving
on the bumper of the car in front in the outside lane, desperately
trying to peer round it to see why it won't move out of their way,
that their head has set into a permanent slant to the right^, almost
touching the side window of the car.
^ obviously I'm talking from a UK perspective.
------------------------------------------------------------
Decided there's soon going to be a bit of an overhaul to the site,
with more emphasis on the writing. Watch out for some changes over
the next few weeks. |
|
|
| Tue
15 April 2003 |
Hands
up if you wear glasses. Lots of us do; indeed more and more of us
do. I think it's time we all get together to start a campaign forcing
the world's hotel chains - and let's start in this country - to produce
standardised, easy to work out shower on/off and mixer controls. Every
hotel bathroom has a different design, and I spend ages, without my
glasses on, working out how it works, which control does what before
hoping I have got it right and I don't freeze or scald myself. There
should be standardisation: two on-wall controls, separate to the bath
taps, with one for pressure, and one for temperature, both clearly
marked so when glasses are steamy you see what to do. Who'll join
me?
On the way down to Swindon from my overnight stay in the hotel with
the difficult-to-use shower... I decided to pop into the village of
Cricklade, on the A419 between Cirencester and Swindon. I went to
prep school there many years ago, and keep meaning to divert off the
bypass, but never normally have the time. I can report that I experienced
a very odd feeling indeed. I really didn't enjoy my time at that school
(although I did like the senior school I went to later in Bath - click
on the 'My Life before..' link above) and so I guess that's where
a real feeling of uneasiness and even perhaps mild fear came from.
Unpleasant, and shan't do it again.
Whole experience also slightly spoiled by a lorry which pulled out
of a turning on the other side of the road just after I'd passed the
school. He had to make a wide turn, and in doing so blocked the road
ahead, so I stopped - well I had to. Having straightened up he found
that I was in his way due to the fact that he had to overtake a parked
car on his side of the road, and thus needed to drive where I was
stopped - waiting for him to get of my way, you'll remember! Then
he started gesticulating to me to get out of his way! Obviously he
shouldn't have turned out of his turning until the road was clear,
so taking it out on me really wound me up, and didn't help the slightly
weird feelings I was already experiencing. |
|
|
| Sat
12 April 2003 |
This
morning to Twickenham for Dave and Marie's wedding. Very nice ceremony
in York House, a seventeenth century mansion in beautiful grounds;
afterwards drinks and cake, then Simon & Elizabeth, George &
Hilde, Steve and I found a pub doing barbecue lunches. Very honoured
to be invited to the wedding, and with great weather and such lovely
surroundings, it was a memorable day. Pictures in Galleries | Weddings
- check out the fantastic little individual cakes we each got! |
|
|
| Fri
11 April 2003 |
Woken
this morning at 5.15 by our Moroccan neighbour, on his way to mosque,
spotting someone breaking into our garage. We raced out, but the culprit
had disappeared, along with half the contents of the garage, including
the bikes and boxes of books and videotapes.
We did a quick note to put through all the other residents' letterboxes,
suggesting they checked their garages before going to work. Police
came later, took some details from me and the neighbour, and we phoned
the insurance company...
A little later Steve took a call from a guy who owns one of the flats,
to say that his tenant had phoned him with the news that when he'd
looked in his garage this morning he'd discovered a load of stuff
he didn't recognise. When the tenant returned home in the evening
I went to take a look... and sure enough it was all our stuff! We
think that when he was disturbed the thief dumped everything in another
garage, which happened to be open and nearly empty, intending to return
for it later. It's all nice and safe now, with a new, more secure
garage door on order.
So a most peculiar day. |
|
|
| Thu
10 April 2003 |
Continuing
saga with my car has meant me driving a rather fab pool car yesterday
- a Vectra
2.2 diesel Elegance, but today a horrible hire car, which I wouldn't
ever recommend to anybody: a Citroen
Xsara Picasso. Urgh! |
|
|
| Wed
09 April 2003 |
Very
sad that Concorde will be taken out of service at the end of summer.
As I'm sure regular readers of this website will know, I'm a huge
fan, and have always wanted to travel on her. A good article is here.
|
|
|
| Sunday
6th April 2003 |
So
much has happened, and I just haven't had a moment to write it up:
major problems with my car culminating in a breakdown on the M25 one
very cold morning a couple of weeks ago; two hire cars (including
a rather lovely Vauxhall Zafira)
have got me around the country, from Cornwall to Manchester and just
about everywhere in between; having just done my expenses for last
month I realised I'd travelled 4600 miles; filmed two videos for work,
in Manchester and Cribbs Causeway (near Bristol) - one is totally
finished, one still in post-production; long, long hours at work have
meant that updating this site has been the last thing on my mind.
Well, maybe it's been on my mind to do it, but finding the time and
the energy has been next to impossible.
Spring is in the air, which always perks me up - and on Friday at
Cribbs Causeway the temperature hit 20, and with the local boys in
tight t-shirts and muscle vests, I certainly felt perkier than I have
for a while!!
New resolution is to update this site when I have something worthwhile
to write, but to at least catch up once a week... we'll see how it
goes. I have a few thoughts about the war, but I'll save those for
another day. |
|
|
| Monday
17th Mar 2003 |
A
very happy St.Patrick's Day to you, to be sure. |
|
|
| Sunday
16th Mar 2003 |
Quite
a spring-like day, so we were encouraged to throw open the windows
and spring-clean. |
|
|
| Sat
15th Mar 2003 |
Our
anniversary (six years!), so we went to Coombe
Lodge. Very pleasant. |
| |
|
| Tuesday
11th Mar 2003 |
Browsing
the 'net, as you do, came across this
very nicely told story. |
| |
|
| Monday
10th Mar 2003 |
The
GPS button (left) works now - have a look if you like. |
|
|
| Sat
8th Mar 2003 |
We
stayed the day at Roxana's, and took all of them out to dinner at
the Wheatsheaf in... erm... a little village just outside Salisbury.
Might have been something-Woodford. Or Woodford-something. Sorry,
can't remember. Nice though. Scared the pants off Geoffrey when we
were walking back to the car and I zapped the central locking remote
control thingy! |
| |
|
| Sunday
2nd Mar 2003 |
Congratulations
and felicitations to the following peeps who are celebrating birthdays
around this time: Duncan and Roxana (today); Richard (last Friday);
Amber (Thursday); and Peter (also Thursday). Not all received cards.
I'm sorry. It's no excuse, but I was a bit preoccupied. I didn't forget
- I did actually think of everyone... just a bit late to send cards
in most cases. |
|
|
| Sat
1st Mar 2003 |
End
of a very long week - up to Glasgow and back, then Wednesday/Thursday
almost to the very tip of Cornwall, and back. So not especially wanting
to do anything especially taxing over the weekend, especially. |
|
|
| Wed
27th Feb 2003 |
Got
back last night from two days filming in Glasgow. Had to drive up
Sunday, which took about 6 1/2 hours, spent Monday with two colleagues
from work (who'd flown up) filming in one of our stores, had a very
good time out on the town in the evening, then did some location filming
on Tuesday morning before the drive back. |
| |
|
| Wed
19th Feb 2003 |
Stayed
the night here.
Main hotel building is on an island in a huge lake; my room (about
the size of Luxembourg, and complete with four-poster, sofa and countless
armchairs) in another building on the mainland. In the middle of nowhere,
too, and without sat nav I'd never have found it.
Umm, the hotel, not the bedroom. |
|
|
| Monday
17th Feb 2003 |
North
Korea.
'The
state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun accused the US of pushing the
dispute with Pyongyang "to the brink of war". "All servicemen of
the Korea People's Army should always be on the alert," the newspaper's
editorial said. "All party members and workers must burn with hatred
and hostility in their hearts toward US imperialists." '
Charming. |
|
|
| Sunday
16th Feb 2003 |
We
got up somewhat later, and headed off down to Salisbury, where we
had lunch at Roxana's with two of their friends, the wonderfully-named
Darren and Karen, who run a B&B in southern Italy. They are truly
lovely people, very funny, and Roxana, Alan and Geoffrey are due to
go out to visit them over Easter. We were so taken with the idea of
visiting 'real' Italy, and perhaps trips to Pompeii and Salerno, that
we have just about decided to go ourselves in September. You can read
all about the guesthouse here.
Trying to work out if it's affordable to do it by train...
Popped round to see Mum and Dad, and picked up my Christmas present
from Alison and Richard!
Later on when we got back home Steve looked up zenith in our Oxford
Concise. Guess what? "The highest point in the sky reached by
a given celestial object". I'm da man. |
|
|
| Sat
15th Feb 2003 |
In
the afternoon to my boss Peter's house in Calne, where he cooked us
a totally fab meal (king prawns in garlic to start, followed by a
chicken and pasta dish, then strawberries (!), ice cream and strawberry
sauce) while we helped him reconfigure his AV system, so he can now
watch Sky and VHS in surround, then Steve sorted out a few problems
he had with his computer.
Steve and I played dictionary definitions with Peter's Collins, and
I was pretty certain that my definition of 'zenith' ("the highest
point an observer sees an object, such as a planet or missile, reach
in an arc") was more accurate that Peter's dictionary's ("the
point in the sky directly above the observer's head").
Finally we settled down and watched Goldeneye on DVD. I think we got
to bed around 3am, and Peter was due to be up and off to coach hockey
at about 6.30... |
|
|
| Friday
14th Feb 2003 |
Valentines
Day and we were both off so for a change we went to Canterbury for
the afternoon. Nice place - I've only ever been for work before. The
cathedral was closed by the time we got to it, but we walked around
the outside and through the cloisters. It's very impressive, but I
couldn't help thinking all the time that Salisbury's better!
We headed back and went straight to Paul and Frank's: they had ordered
in a Chinese banquet, though we started off with Champagne, which
was great! They were having a rare evening together, because they
had managed to coincide schedules. We got a taxi home from there. |
|
|
| Tuesday
11th Feb 2003 |
Had
occasion to go to Wembley Exhibition Centre today - and saw just the
remains of the left-hand tower of the stadium still standing. Not
a footie fan myself, but it's a familiar national landmark or symbol,
so it seems a bit sad. I hope whatever goes up in its place is as
good.
Trivial: do you look at newsgroups? If so, check this one out: uk.food+drink.sausages.
I've posted! Also has my favourite recipe... (the reply to the topic
S.P.O. posted by PubNut 11/02/03 18:48).
Serious: is it only me who thinks that the US is in some sense reaping
the harvest of its own arrogance, greed and ignorance of the recent
past (I mean the last sixty or seventy years or so)? There is no excuse
- no excuse - for mass murder or terrorism of any description (that
goes without saying) but with al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein on the one
hand, and most of the population of Europe opposed to a war on the
other, they do seem a little isolated at the moment. Have they noticed?
Are they concerned? And exactly why is Britain - in the shape of Blair
and Straw - so intent on cosying up to them? If you can answer any
of these questions, please do so here. |
|
|
| Monday
10th Feb 2003 |
Snowdrops
outside the kitchen window. |
| |
|
| Thursday
6th Feb 2003 |
Last
night I was working up in Mer-zee-saad, and I stayed in the fab Marriott
Hotel in Liverpool, near the airport. It's a bit like a hotel in Croydon,
in that it used to be the terminal building for the original aerodrome,
pre-war. There's even a plane parked outside reception, like Croydon!
And today my satellite navigation system guided me succesesfully to
the centre of Liverpool (where I saw the Liver Building!) and Birmingham,
before bringing me home. It has a few foibles, which I'm going to
post on a page on this site very soon, but I do like it. |
| |
|
| Sat
1st Feb 2003 |
I
can barely believe the tragedy of the loss of Columbia and her crew
of seven, just 15 minutes before touchdown. The pictures on TV of
a thin vapour trail splitting into four or five only hints at the
horror. I don't really want to think about it. I love - always have
- rockets, astronauts, space travel, and especially the Shuttle. I
just hope the programme continues. |
|
|
| Friday
31st Jan 2003 |
Well,
Kent wasn't closed when I drove into it yesterday lunchtime. Bloody
freezing though: the wind went right through my quilted 'hot-water-tank-lagging'
jacket. But by the time I left the port town I was visiting at around
7pm, the road back (the M20) was getting treacherous. Max speed 40mph,
single file traffic all the way. Nearly missed the turning onto the
M25 in the whiteout. But got back safely.
Meanwhile, up in Hatfield, Steve and his colleagues were venturing
out to their cars and hastening back indoors fairly quickly - the
A1, M25 and other roads north of London were totally gridlocked. He
stayed in the office until 11, and finally got back home at one in
the morning. Not a happy evening, really. We both stayed and worked
from home today.
Having just finished Kate Adie's autobiography 'The Kindness of Strangers',
I was saddened to read this.
Paul phoned this evening, to say he and Frank had had a great time
cruising on the Norway,
the liner which used to be called the SS France (it was built to rival
the QE2, and if I remember rightly was deliberately 1 metre longer!).
Apparently weather wasn't good for them, but they liked the fact that
the ship creaked - it felt more 'real' that the usual floating hotels
they normally go on!
And Mum phoned as well, to make sure we were all well after yesterday,
which was really nice. |
| |
|
| Thursday
30th Jan 2003 |
Apparently
the country's covered in snow? Not here, though it's a bit overcast.
Kent'll be closed, then. |
| |
|
| Sat
25th Jan 2003 |
As
it was Burns Night, and I am a bit Scottish (well, we both are), we
had haggis, neeps and tatties. Really, really nice. |
|
|
| Sat
18th Jan 2003 |
We
went into town and I got one heck of a bargain in River Island - a
pair of trousers and a belt in their sale sell-off for a total of
£7.50!
Then we went to PC World and accidentally came away with a DVD writer
for the PC - oops. It's pretty cool though, and now means we can burn
DVDs with holiday videos and stuff on, and I can archive a few bits
and pieces of video I've had knocking around for years, and we can
play them back in the lounge in high quality, or take them to friends.
Steve's pleased because he can do computer backups easily.
Peter and Chris came to dinner, and Steve made 'Greek potato and lamb
pie' - which in reality is Moussaka made with potatoes not aubergines
because he doesn't like aubergines! It was lovely though, and all
got eaten. |
|
|
| Friday
17th Jan 2003 |
Used
the sat nav thingy for the first time. It's pretty cool, and got me
to a town 10 miles away quite happily, though it tried to bring me
home an odd way. Steve has one of these too with different software
and his sometimes does odd things as well. I guess you get used to
what you've got. |
|
|
| Wed
15th Jan 2003 |
Have
you a moment? I'd like to tell you a story... Last Thursday while
at home I ordered, via the internet from Expansys,
a company based in Manchester, a PDA (personal digital assistant
- or very small palm-sized computer) with some extra satellite navigation
software/hardware. The deal was if ordered by 3pm, it would be delivered
next day. There was a bit of a saga, and today - seven days later
- the postman has just delivered the balance of the order. Click
here for the letter I wrote to the
company - it kind of explains everything... |
|
|
| Friday
10th Jan 2003 |
Boo-hoo.
Snow's melting. Wanted to take my sledge to the park on Sunday. Pants.
|
|
|
| Wed
8th Jan 2003 |
Passing
Heathrow this morning in heavy snow and saw a BA 747 do a 'go-around'
- maybe a snow-plough was on the runway? |
|
|
| Tuesday
7th Jan 2003 |
Woke
up this morning to this
scene!
Oops - apologies to David Bowie, and thanks to Jon, for getting date
of Mr B's birthday wrong. It's tomorrow, apparently, not yesterday.
56 he'll be, if you care. |
|
|
| Sunday
5th Jan 2003 |
Paul
and Frank popped over for coffee, and to tell us about their next
cruise! |
|
|
| Sat
4th Jan 2003 |
Sheperd's
pie at Peter & Chris's this evening. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Watched
'Saving Grace', too. Have you seen it? Very funny Brit film. If you
like things like 'Brassed Off' and 'Full Monty', you'll like it. |
|
|
| Friday
3rd Jan 2003 |
Back
to work. Aaarrgghhhh..... |
| |
|
Wed
1st Jan 2003
New Year's Day |
Saw
in the New Year at home, just the two of us and a bottle of Champagne!
Peter and Chris came to lunch - roast dinner with a superb joint of
beef, then more Christmas pudding. Chilled out with a Star Trek film
afterwards. |
|
