Friday 1 Jan 2010 - New Years Day

Happy New Year... Beware the Election...Cameron and Clegg together I predict!

Thursday 31 Dec - New Years Eve 2009

At Work; so far it seems to be quieter than it has been the last three nights. However time will tell as we are 4 staff down tonight, first let's see what happens at 9pm when the other centres close and then what it's like when everyone else has gone home and it's just the 8 of us!

Wed 30 Dec

Must catch up with Christmas happenings.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day the Weekend and Boxing Day 24-28 Deec 09

Christmas Eve

Somehow we all managed to wake at a reasonable hour and, eventually, washed, dressed and fed we set off for Leicester via the new park and ride site near Enderby. We had a cunning plan, park up, travel to town cheaply, head for the Highcross, get our cinema tickets early, do the shopping, go and see the films and then return home and have a takeaway. I suppose that in reality there was nothing particularly cunning about this plan but it sounds good to say there was and so, I will.
Luckily, for me, the cinema didn’t open until 10 am and we arrived at the Highcross Centre at 9:30 am. What a shame we had to spend a half an hour in the Apple store looking at all the lovely expensive goodies they make. By the time we left Deb had decided that out next computer was going to be an iMac, I was even more desperate to own an iPhone (I don’t need one I just want one, the stupid thing is that I use my existing phone, in the main, to take lots of photo’s and the iPhone’s camera is pretty crap and has no flash – so where’s the sense in wanting one?) and the kids had decided that next Xmas they each wanted an iPod touch. Oh the allure of the beautiful. Eventually it was 10:00 so we headed for the box office and got out tickets. 2 for Avatar and 2 for the 3D version of A Christmas Carol… £ 34!!!!!!!

We had an hour and half before Avatar started so we made for the other side of Town so that the kids could buy Deb her presents from Dedham’s the Jewellers in Belvoir Street. After we had negotiated the security door and had been locked in the shop they each chose and bought Deb a new charm for her charm bracelet. We made our way back to The Highcross, diverting only for Nat to show me the CEX shop that sells all the goods that have been stolen in Leicester. By now my hip was killing me and I was looking forward to sitting down. We got back to the Highcross and went straight into the cinema. Avatar started an hour before the girl’s film so Nat and I went upstairs while Deb and Han stayed outside to do a little (?) more shopping. Avatar was superb and lived up to all the hype, 2 hours 40 minutes plus adverts and trailers and I didn’t go to the toilet once, now that’s a real Christmas Miracle!
We met Deb and Han in the foyer afterward where they were waiting for us, their film started later and finished earlier (as I said “Avatar’s an epic”). It was time to leave town before it got rowdy with Christmas Eve drinkers. We caught the Park and Ride bus at the top of High Street. The bus held an unexpected surprise. If you switched on your phone’s Bluetooth it sent you adverts and token books fully of discounts and money off coupons and, in addition, there was supposed to be free wifi on board, if there was then the link was down when we rode. We made it back, safely, to the out of town parking opposite Leicestershire Police HQ and proceeded to slip and slide our way across the car park back to ours. Home around 4:30 no one felt like cooking so we decided to have a take away. The kids and I opted for an Indian whilst Deb preferred Chinese. Luckily there’s an Indian, Chinese and a Chippy a short way away so we headed there. The Indian was lovely but I think Nat and Han regretted their choice and found it a little hot for their tastes; they live in Leicester so they’d best get used to it!
Deb had bought the a “new” version of Trivial Pursuits for us all to play on Christmas Eve but it proved to be a huge disappointment and hardly resemble the original game. She had also bought the kids new pyjamas which they did like. Eventually I fell asleep on the sofa and later woke to find that everyone had gone to bed and that whilst I slept Santa had paid a visit!

Christmas Day

As usual the kids got more presents than most small African nations; Deb really really really goes over the top at Christmas. No wonder I never have and cash she’s sending it to Santa all year long! Nat’s listed elsewhere some of what he got and I’ll have to get Han to do the same. Deb and I got a few little things. My main present was a box of rather splendid bottled beers. I looked forward to quaffing the tasty suds soonest and acquainting my mouth with their hoppy flavour (Unfortunately I did exactly that which explains why I remember so little of Saturday morning and why I ended up in the pub Saturday afternoon after going for an extraordinarily long walk). Nat’s main present was the X-Box he’d been craving and pestering us for all year. Han had been equally determined to make us aware that she lusted after a net book and this was what she got as her main present. After setting up the X-Box and showing Han how to operate the lap book Deb and I opened a bottle of sparkling wine and had a drink.

The morning passed amicably, amazing when you’re talking about our kids who could squabble for Britain, and eventually it was time for Christmas dinner. As usual Deb had done a brilliant job and it was gorgeous. Best of all we all had sensible portions and Deb hadn’t gone OTT and cooked every traditional Christmas dinner accompaniment. The end result was that we all enjoyed the meal, finished our meals and we weren’t left bloated for the rest of the day. After, or was it before, dinner we opened the presents we hadn’t opened in the morning but I can’t recall now what any of them were.
The rest of the day passed quickly by, as Christmas day always does such a build up for such a little thing, and eventually it was time for the penultimate episode of Doctor Who. Perhaps I was slightly the worse for wear but I couldn’t make head nor tail of the first episode and as such I still haven’t watched the final one. Some day soon, when everyone’s out I’ll watch then both back to back and see the one with the London bus in the desert that I also haven’t yet watched. Perhaps I just don’t want to say goodbye to this incarnation of the Doctor. Soon it was late, Xmas day was over for another year and eventually the kids were persuaded to their beds. Deb followed shortly after and once again I fell asleep on the sofa……….Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Saturday 26 Dec.

I forget

Wed 23 December - Han's Birthday Present - Hannah Montana at the NEC

Deb and Han travelled to Redditch to see Deb’s Mum and Dad before continuing on to the NEC to see Mylie Cyrus in concert. Below are a few pictures and videos of the concert. Han said it was fantastic; Deb said it was fantastically loud!!!! They were Home around 11:30. Straight to bed (not) we have to be up early. We’re off to Town to do some last minute shopping and to visit the cinema.

Tuesday 22 Dec - Too Tired

Had to leave work last night after one hour because unable to stay awake. My hip is very painful and I hadn't slept for about 36 hours. Tried to tough it out but I was babbling on the phone. Been awake most of the rest of the night I'm going to bed now to see if I can finally fall asleep!

Monday 21 Dec - Oh My God....Again

It's now 01:05 and for the first time since I started work at 20:20 there aren't any calls in queue. It's been another hectic evening and I've dealt with over 50 people so far tonight. I know it's got cold but the volume of calls still seems extreme. We are planning to bring in munchies tonight to celebrate Xmas but if it remains this busy then there seems little point in doing so. I think I'll suggest we do this for New Year instead. It's now 01:22 and I've taken another two calls since I started writing this entry!!

Sunday 20 Dec - Oh My God!!!

Got to work at 20:00 to see that there were over 70 callsin queue!! I've not seen this for at least 4 years. Started taking calls at 20:25 and didn't stop until 01:30. After 21:00, when all other centers closed the queue jumped to over 170 at one point. To make matters worse it seems that there is a major backlog of work from Friday and we were having to offer people who weren't at risk, appointments from Wednesday onward. As one might expect this news was not greeted very favouably especially as many of these people had been on the phone for up to an hour waiting to get through. It's now 01:49 and we appear to be on top of everything but it looks as thought there's a mountain of writing up that needs to be done tonight. Thank the lord that some of those due to finish at midnight agreed to work on until we had cleared the backlog of calls! I'm shattered, my head's pounding and I've drunk so much water, because my voice was going croaky, that I now feel permanently in need of the loo. Oh the joys of a middle aged male bladder!

Ballet party and Rugby Party

Thursday 17 Dec - Missed School Events, Hip Appointment and....

It's not a very nice day today weather wise so Deb took Nat to school in the car this morning in order to avoid the possibility that he might have to cycle home in a blizzard and so I walked Han to school along with Monty. By the time I got home my good hip was hurting fit to burst(?) and so I plonked myself down on the sofa to rest it. It wasn't until later that I realized what the date was and that I'd forgotten about the events on at school today. The Christmas singing concert was scheduled for 10:00 (although Han didn't mention that she was in it) and the staff X-mas buffet at 12:00 where there was to be a presentation to Pam Boyer, the school's music teacher, who leaves to move to Yorkshire at the end of this term. Unfortunately it's now 12:56 and I guess I've missed both. On the upside, if I'd gone I would have most probably turned off my phone at school and would have missed the call from Leicester General Hospital. They rang me to see whether I could make an appointment to see the surgeon, Mr Davidson, at 09:25 on the 19 Feb 2010 to arrange to get my second replacement surgery carried out. Looks like I'm going to have to put up with the pain for a couple of more months and that my request to get it done sooner has not met with success.

First Snow

A Little later

Wednesday 16 Dec -Don't Remember Much

Sat around tied and napping, nothing of note other than watching

Jericho

and

Defying Gravity

How can you tell that a programme has potential and is worth investing some intellectual effort in to follow the plot properly and pick up the nuances? Easy if it gets canceled in the USA after 8 or so episodes it fits the bill. What is it about the attention span of TV viewers? It's a shame though because DG looked as if it could have been an innovative 5 yr series; as of now, if we're lucky, I think we'll get a whole 13 episodes. As for Jericho I've wanted to see this post-apocalyptic drama for a while but have always missed the beginning whenever the series has started a rerun. Just caught the 1st 4 episodes and must say enjoyed it a lot. At least Jericho ran for 2 series so there's still quite a bit to watch and I might get to find out what the new black guy in town is up to!

Tuesday - Much Pain days Holiday

Stayed home no sleep...again

Waht a Clever Octopus

Monday 14 Dec - Off Work

Not slept at all today, woke at 6pm absolutely shattered and with a killer headache. Called in and booked a days holiday. Watched the Gadget Show "Gadgets of the Decade" Show then fell asleep on the sofa. Woke-up at 3am and I've been been nodding off sporadically since. It's going to be difficult to write a 1,000 words today (my new daily target) as I've nothing to write about. So what happened in the news that I can comment on, I'll check it out tonight at work and finish this post then.

Monday 14 - Playing with Hasmuhk's Nokia 5800 Express and at Last a Google Phone

I've just had a play with my first resistive touch screen phone, Hasmukh's new Nokia 5800 Express Music on Orange. It's rather nice but I can see why people prefer capacitative screens. There is a hesitancy on this screen that you don't encounter on something like the iPhone and also a problem is that, sometimes you tap the screen once to execute a command and sometimes you have to double tap to execute a different command - very confusing. Saying this, I've never used one before and I was still able to install Google Maps on it for Hasmukh. Maybe you just get use to it over time.

So, Google have released their own phone to their employees to test, or "eat their own dog food" as Google phrased it. There are a few pictures circulating on the net and it looks pretty neat. The proof will however be in the pudding if they ever release it to the general public. The rumour seems to be that if this happens it will be sold sim free and not tied to any particular carrier.

Sunday 13 December - Tony Blair, Fern Britain, Tearful Han Discovers Opportunity Costs and Exactly 1000 Words!

Home this morning about 07:45, I knew Deb had to take Nat to Rugby training and wanted to get some firewood whilst he was there so I’d be looking after Han until they came home. That wasn’t a problem because I had wanted to stay up this morning anyway. I wasn’t going to miss the Fern Britton interviewing

Tony Blair about his Christian Faith and the role it played in his life and work.

There was no doubt, from the every start, that Tony Blair was a man with strongly held religious convictions. It was clear that he absolutely believes that,

1. God Exists; and

2. That God cares about, and takes an active interest in, what we humans do.

The question was, and remains, how much did these beliefs influence his behaviour and decisions when he was Prime Minister? Not a great deal, according to him, but snippets of interviews with those who had been close to him during this time appeared to paint a different picture.

It seems that he remains convinced of the rightness of his actions, he may appear to back peddle a little here and there but overall he’s never going to admit that he might have been wrong. His point regarding WMD’s is telling; if we’d known they weren’t any there, he says, then we may/would have had to come up with other reasons to justify the invasion and the subsequent change of regime. What does this mean, were WMD’s just a convenient justification for the implementation of a policy that had already been decided upon? For whatever reasons it seems fairly clear that Bush, in the aftermath of 9/11, if not before, was determined that the US was going to go to war with Iraq. The question that remains however is why Blair was such a staunch supporter of this policy? It’s hard to believe that in his place Gordon Brown, or any other British Prime Minister, would have followed the US lead so docilely. Bush was and is a “Born Again” Christian and Blair has the air of a religious zealot (you don’t convert to Catholicism unless you’re a zealot). Did they find a common ground in their faith; was the administration able to exert undue influence because of Blair’s feeling? We may never know for certain one way or another but like most secular people I’m loath to put the reins of Government into the hands of someone with these kinds of strong beliefs.

I’m not too concerned if a politician is a Cof E Lite because it usually means he’s/she’s simply keeping up appearances and making a gesture of support toward to the prevailing religious establishment; he/she isn’t likely let this bit of irrationality materially affect their judgement.

It’s bad enough that in “The Land of the Free” you have to believe, or at the very least appear to believe, this bovine excrement if you are to have any chance of being elected to public office. We’ve seen what this can result in, Creationist in charge of Boards of Education and

The Chimp

that said creationist say that Darwin said that man evolved from (he said no such thing) in charge of the White House for 8 long years.

I don’t want this in the UK, I don’t want this in Europe, I don’t want politicians with paper weights on their desks saying “What Would Jesus Do” I don’t give a flying f**k what a fictional 1st Century Jewish carpenter’s position would be on modern policy. What I want is the considered opinion of my elected representative. I want the separation of Church and State because one man’s beliefs are another man’s belly laugh. I don’t want a Sarah Palin thinkie/likie in any position where she/he might take the opportunity to hasten the onset of “The Rapture” by Nuking the Middle-East. No Siree, give me a secular expenses fiddler every time, you know where you are with these thieving bast**ds, in deed, with them, you always gets what they can make you Pay for!

I’ll forgive you your Duck Houses and your Moat cleaning bills as long as you leave your God in the lobbies when you enter the Chamber. I know politics attracts mendacious Kitty-Fiddlers (by that I don’t mean to imply that you insert your fingers or other body parts into pussy’s; I mean you may well insert things into pussy but I’m sure you only do so to human lady pussy not the feline kind because that would be perverted and who on Earth has ever heard of such a thing as a perverted politician, I ask you? No by kitty I mean a fund of monies) like yourselves but so long as you don’t walk into the Chamber side by side with a beardy man who normally lives on a cloud I’ll put up with you!

I didn’t actually get to watch the interview in one sitting rather I managed to catch chunks of it between Han’s demands on my attention. Han is such a funny little thing, so empathic; she came and asked me something about TB during the program that necessitated freezing the programme and having a discussion. I can’t quite remember what the initial question was but somehow, via the US medical system and “Death Panels” the conversation ended up discussing NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) and how scare resources are allocated between sick people, cost v benefit and opportunity costs. Poor thing, I was illustrating the point by explaining why you might not be able to give one person a drug that could extend their life because of the opportunity cost involved. That that single treatment would preclude the funding of other treatments. It was at this point that I noticed that she was crying because she felt so sad about the hypothetical cancer suffered we had just condemned to death. Silly Sausage!

Damn, after sausage I only needed another eighteen words to make these comments exactly one thousand words long!

Saturday 12 Dec - Sofa Sleeper, Curry and Back to Work

After everyone went to bed I stayed up intending to catch up on some TV, particularly the two latest episodes of Spooks. I watch one episode but can't recall anything about it and then fell asleep. I was still asleep it seems when everyone else woke up. I was left sleeping there until I finally returned to consciousness at about 1pm when Deb was taking Han to ballet. Did a few things then went to bed until 6pm.

Deb had bought curry for Han and I and pasta for Nat and herself. Han and I had Rogan Josh and Chicken Tikka Marsala with rice, nans and onion bargees. Lovely!!!

Off to work 7:45, busy as bollocks...again. It’s now 04:30 and I'm off to lunch.

Friday Dec 11 - Tesco Announce iPhone Prices, Brockington Xmas Fair, Birthday Meal and New Harry Potter DVD

At last a reasonable iPhone tariff I may finally treat myself! Tesco today announced their iPhone offering and on the face of it the 12mth deal looks pretty reasonable if I can save up enough for the upfront cost. I can't decide on whether to go for the 16GB or 32GB. I've managed OK with an 8GB card in my N95 and N82 so 16GB should be more than enough, however it seems to be the rule that the more space you've got the more you use so perhaps 32GB would be best. On the downside I know that the camera's pretty hopeless, no flash, but that's really the only problem. I can live without multitasking. I was tempted by the new Nokia X6 however Electricpig (a tech review site) have just given it a fairly poor review and more importantly Nokia have, for patently stupid reasons unknown , failed to include a digital compass in the specification. Without a DG it's impossible to use most augmented reality applications and these are the apps with the greatest potential. I want a phone that I can use as a virtual guide book when |I'm somewhere I’m unfamiliar with. Something, which, not only tells me where I am, but also what I'm looking at; and then how to get from there to where ever else I want to go. The lack of a DG means that despite GPS, the camera and the Internet the phone can't overlay information because it doesn't know in which direction it is pointing. Why oh why do Nokia keep doing this, they always seem to fail to include one essential element in very phone they produce!

Enough about phones Mysickbones you’re obsessed, waiting now for Nat to get home and get changed. When Deb's home with Han we're off to Nat's school's X-mas fair and then into town for Han's birthday meal more on these later.

The fair was great, we arrived there shortly after 4pm, I got five books for a Pound, Han got her nails and face painted and we discovered a stall with home made cakes and sausages which represented a small farm type shop in Endeby. We're off there later in the month to stock up for X-mas. Their cheesecake (something I've never been a huge fan off) was absolutely delicious and I'm intending to make sure that this is one of the things we will buy. We saw Donna, Jonathan, Sian and Josh there and Donna gave Deb one of the bottles of wine she's won in the tombolla, apparently she always wins.
We stayed for about 45 minutes then headed to the car to get to town in time for Han's birthday meal. Deb had booked a table for 4 at 5:30 at Zucchero on Charles Street in Leicester City center. It's one of those all you can eat restaurants and features food from around the world. The selection was very good and the quality also. Unfortunately there seemed to be no Mexican dishes on offer that night so I missed out on the chilli which was supposed to be superb. There was a sushi table and for the first time I was able to try a selection, pretty tasteless over all but not bad when you dip them in the spicy sauces. The broccoli cheese was outstanding. Typically Han and Nat headed straight for the buffet and returned with plates piled high. We tried to explain that it was best to get little helpings and to go back frequently. The staffs, without exception, were exceptionally pleasant and very helpful; on arrival Han mentioned it was her birthday and one of the staff brought her a free fruit cocktail a few moments later. There were only two faults, the drinks were too expensive (£3.50 for a can of beer) and the all in adult price was a little on the high side at £14+ per head.

 When we arrived 5:20 the restaurant wasn’t yet open so we walked to the town hall to see the Christmas decorations. Nat was not feeling very well and was in a bit of bad mood. I was overly harsh with him and claimed he was ruining Han’s birthday. This resulted in tears, sorry Nat, but he seemed to perk up when he saw all the food and shortly thereafter everything was forgotten.

 We left the restaurant at about 7:10 and drove home. To finish off the night we watched the new Harry Potter DVD and I drank Donna’s wine. Can’t decide whether |I liked the film or not, like the last two there’s so much left out because the books are so long that it’s sometimes hard to recognise the story. It’s like the last film in a way as soon as it ended I couldn’t really remember much of what had happened. It seems I’m not alone in feeling this way as a team mate at work told me that she’d only managed to watch the first half of the film before becoming bored and switching it off.

Interesting Links I've come across

American Beer

Leicester Chronicle: 2000 years of Leicester history

Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, Self-Reliance, translated into modern English

Thursday 10 Dec - Borders, Sundry Thoughts and Warhammer

I finally plucked up the courage to visit, the soon to be closed, Borders bookshop this afternoon; I love this shop, we took the kids there for the launch parties of the last two Harry Potter books and had a great time on both occasions. How depressing it was to see it absolutely full to bursting with people looking for last minute X-mas bargains and, sadly, covered in closing down and money off signs. It's failure is my fault as much as anyone's, I'd go there, browse, read a book, have a coffee and then come home and then buy whatever I'd seen and wanted on Amazon. Admittedly Borders were expensive, but that's the price you have to pay if you want to continue having real bookshops.

Speaking of Borders fall to the on-line retailers it begs the question; if everything goes on line and is automated where will most people work and where will the money come from to buy the things on sale on line? When I was younger (in my teens) I ran a kind of thought experiment in my head as to the possible effects of the mass automation of most industry. I concluded that the likely end result of an entirely automated society would be a socialist society, because in such a society the government would have to create jobs in order for people to have the incomes necessary for them to purchase the goods produced by these very factories. This in turn would lead to huge rates of corporation tax, to fund the jobs, which in effect would mean that the state effectively owned the means of production. So rather than through a deliberate act of political will on the part of the electorate socialism would emerge as the default way of dealing with automation. In other words Communism would be achieved via the back door. Whether I would have been proved to have been correct is moot but my projected outcome seems far less likely when one is dealing with transnational entities, who do not even necessarily have a physical presence in a territory, as is most often the case with e-commerce. With Governments around the industrialised world, strapped for cash, thank you near sighted bankers (didn't you play pass the parcel and musical chairs when you were kids?), and more and more jobs vulnerable to being replaced by on-line services that are substantially less labour intensive we may have real problems avoiding a situation of massive under(if not un)employment.

As if the current World economic situation wasn't bad enough there appears to be yet one more hurdle to be cleared. I hate to think it, especially as I have two young kids and can't be a dispassionate observer, but I'm more and more convinced that the Human Race is walking blindly into the perfect storm, Global warming, Over Population, Resource Scarcity and Under-Employment. Welcome to the wars of the 21st Century, first OIL then WATER then FOOD.
The potential blood letting of this century may well make the major wars of the 20th Century pale into insignificance. Imagine when the glaciers are gone (and make no mistake they are going) and the rivers Ganges and Yangtze and the other great rivers of Asia start to dry up:

India v China – Total Pop 2.5 Billion and rising.

In addition to the foregoing, we have half the population of the USA excitedly looking forward to nuclear Armageddon in the middle-east in order to usher in the Rapture so that they can sanctimoniously go live with a “beardy man on a cloud”, Islamic zealots who want to return the world to the middle ages and sundry other loonies. All in all it's not looking good for “God's” greatest creation!

Well, given that I was only intending to write about Borders that went a bit off topic, I'd probably be flamed in a chat room for that one. At least I think I would; I've never actually been in a chat room, I suppose that's why I haven't got any cyber friends

On a lighter note, Nat was supposed to be going to Brandon's new home after school with some friends to plat Warhammer 40,000. Then Brandon's Mum said no to four so Nat arranged for them to play here instead. It turned out that messages got mixed (my Son will one day learn to get peoples mobile numbers) and in the end it was just Brandon and him playing after all. I tried, honestly, to understand what they were doing but in the end I gave up and watched the 1920's episode of Andrew Marr's recent series on the history of Modern Britain. What a superb series and it ties in nicely with his previous series on post war Britain.

Wed Dec 9 - Birthday Girl - 9 Today

It's 05:02 and I wonder how much longer it will be before Hans up and about. She gets so exited during the run up to her birthday, will she have slept much tonight?

Her presents are under the Christmas tree and she has absolutely no idea about the big surprise we've hidden from her, even Nat's managed to keep stum.

Teen superstar Miley Cyrus will kick off her first ever UK tour at the end of this year, taking in Birmingham’s LG Arena on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 December. These highly anticipated shows will be the first chance for European fans to see one of the most exciting shows of the year. Miley will be supported by the chart topping pop/rock group Metro Station featuring older brother Trace Cyrus on vocals and guitar.

 I'm up having slept most of yesterday and only woken up at 10:30 last night.

Nine years old already; where has all the time gone?

Just after 7:00 she came tearing into the room; here's the photo's and videos:

















So it's now 15:06 and Han will be home soon for her birthday tea (we're going out for a meal on Friday) so I'll update later.

Han was home at 3:30, Nat shortly after, so we all had a birthday tea with cakes and sandwiches and other goodies. Han had a special 1 hour ballet lesson at six and Nat was off to Scouts at 6:45 so I just chilled and watched the Gadget Show. I was very sleepy when Han got home and eventually had to go to bed around 8 PM.

Sat 5 - Wed Dec 9

Well four more days have passed, working nights and sleeping days. It's been as busy as ever but the only real things of note are,

1. I've pulled a muscle in my neck which is extremely uncomfortable,
2. I sold all of Nat's school raffle tickets at work,
3. Dawn, very kindly, brought in a birthday present for Han.

Tuesday - Nat poorly so stayed home, he painted a few of his Warhammer Models and then he and I watched Batman Begins. I really do like this film and we must get a DVD of Dark Knight ASAP. Popped to bed for a few hours sleep at about 2pm but nobody bothered to wake me so slept until 22:30!!! That's why I'm writing this at 05:57 Wednesday morning.

NAT'S BLOG - Saturday 5 December

What a glorious Saturday, filled with Warhammer 40k I went into town at 11:30 to meet Brandon but I first met Zac and Sam who took me to Maryland Chicken where I had 2 pieces of Chicken,3 spice wings,lots of chips and a Pepsi all for £2.99. Back at the Warhammer I bought a tub of paint for £2 but because of the tax reduction it was 5p cheaper so thank you Gordon Brown!!!!

Sunday 6 Dec - Holding

awaiting update.
Well it appears that the anticipated update will never come. I've just noticed this post and can honestly say that I can't remember what it was that I intended to write so there you go.

This is the Tomb of the Unknown Posting

Friday 4 Dec - Pods and Blogs

My Tweet on Twitter was read out on Pods and Blogs, imagine my surprise sitting in bed listening to podcasts to hear "mysickbones said...." its about 16 mins into the the following episode:

Voting papers and robots 24th Nov 09
Tue, 24 Nov 09
This week Rhod and Jamillah discuss papery things (during the discussion re: Filofaxs and who still has one online, take a look at the voting season and to Jamillah's delight have a chat with the man who made R2D2.

Link to Pods and Blogs

Friday 4 Dec - Bed, Pods, Dreams and Work

Absolutely knackered, "slept" downstairs again. I'm going to stay up to see JK then to bed until 6 pm because its work again tonight....Oh God please let me win the lottery!!!

JK was a look back at an outside visit last year to a Youth Club set up in Manchester for underprivilaged Scallies (yes I know that Scallies is usually a Liverpudlian term however, Liverpool Manchester what's there to choose between them? They both appear to be violent shit holes where everyone speaks with a horrible accent - tweedledum/tweedledee) . Not watching that bollocks again so stayed on PC. Somehow, when I looked up it was 12 Noon so off to bed asap.

Hear myself on Pods and Blogs - see separate post. Then turned on The Skeptics Guide to the Uniniverse and started to catch-up on backlog. Must have fallen asleep because I had the weirdest dream where, somehow, the SGU team ended up visiting my home. Then I dreamed we went to Steven Novella's  house which was;

1. made of Gold and

2. filled to the brim with his Wife and all their kids. His wife looked to be an elf from Lord of the Rings and all the kids appeared to be clones of him.

After that the details get blurry; at 6 pm Nat woke me up and I releaised the SGU was still playing. I must have been aware of it as I slept hence the strange dream. If I listen to those pods again when I'm awake I may find out where some of the images in my dream came from.

As mentioned up at 6 pm and downstairs for dinner which I hardly touched. My appitite fluctuates wildly from ravenous to apathetic. Went to work at 7:40 for 7:50 logged on 8:20. At first quite but when the other call centers closed at 9:00 the calls started flooding in and we didn't really slow down until about 1 am. Even after this time there was a steady trickle throughout the night. I photocopied 50 manual job sheets at the begining of the evening and I've only got 8 left at 05:59, busy, bust, busy!!!!

Thursday 3 Dec - Morris . A life with bells

What a disappointment, it was amusing but seemed, I thought, somewhat forced. I didn't form any kind of bond with any of the characters and totally failed to understand why the leading man was "Rusticated" in the first place. Maybe I was too tired to appreciate it properly but for now I can understand now why it didn't get a cinema release. Morris: a life with bells
The new Phoenix Square building seemed  a very pleasant venue and was, when we arrived at 5.45, already  fairly full. We didn't have time to eat or drink there but the small bar area in the main reception was quite inviting... according to the website "Our Cafe Bar, the 'Screen Lounge' offers a wide range of enticing food and drink together with the unique opportunity to experience digital media presentations in a stylish and contemporary environment. With interactive touch screen tables, daily newspapers and WiFi technology, the Screen Lounge is a fantastic place for lunch, meetings, or to enjoy a few drinks with friends".
 The actual room (cinema 3) sat only 30 and was quite claustophobic I didn't get the chance to see the others. I wouldn't fancy trying to watch the 3D epic Avatar in a room quite this small. As Avatar is coming to the Pheonix lets hope the other cinemas are substancially larger! I've just been looking att he web site and it appears that the other projection rooms must be substancially larger because according to the wedsite  "Phoenix Square is ,to date, the only independent cultural cinema in the whole of Britain to be equipped with 3D, so that our commitment to bringing the very best in world cinema to the people of Leicester and beyond continues to develop and grow."
We didn't really get very much of a chance to see the whole building. The kids and I did a quick recce before the film but the important word here is brief. Upstairs there seem top be an outside quad on the first floor and this appeared to have some potential during the warmer parts of the year.

On the upside, this time last year at 6 PM on 3rd December 2008, I was on the operating table at Leicester General  having my right hip replaced whilst discussing smart phones with my anesthetist.

Militants

Monday 30 Nov - Sleep and that's about it!

I like to try and stay awake when my shift end as otherwise I lose a day off. Not to be today: stayed awake until about midday then had to crash. Woke up at 11.45pm!!!!!!!- NO Dinner!!! Downstairs on PC now and feeling in need of sleep again...Too Much Beer -making up for no dinner perhaps!

Thursday 26- Monday 30 of November

 

Thursday

At school to day we had English,Science,Geography,French,Math and Music and we went to a special practise room just 4 of us to practise the Hat Dance from Mexico. After school we had judo  Judo and it was kick assssss!!!!   

Friday

At school today I had: English,Math,ICT and DT  in which we are finishing off our light up key rings after school I went home and that's about it.  Now not in WINGDINGS after school I went home and that's about it. I also went to the Millfield school fair and won 4 cuddly toys

Saturday

Today instead of going to GW I stayed at home doing well nothing much went online went on some games watched TV but that's all.

Sunday

Oh what a day we won 2 rugby games out of 2 my good friend Jacob got MAM 

MAN OF THE MATCH we won the first one 27-0 and the second 21-7. After rugby I called an old friend Michal who like me is a GEEK.

Monday

Back to school I had Math,English,French,Science, and PE in which I scored my teams only goal yay me after school I had kick boxing and I saw Jacob and Brandon from rugby.

Sunday 29 Nov - Rugby, Machete, Andrew Marr, Harry Hill, Work

Home this A.M. to look after Han whilst Deb went to rugby with Nat. Vipers were playing Rugby Lions and apparently thrashed them. Deb says that Nat set up a number of the tries and Nat tells me that at one point in the game he ran half the field with the ball before being taken down. Proves my point, if you carry a machete they’re less likely to tackle you! Here' a picture of Nat's!

I tried to watch the Andrew Marr Show while looking after Han; not a chance, by 10am when it was due to finish I was running 20mins behind (I can freeze the programme) because for reasons unknown my 8 yr old daughter wanted all my attention….bloody kids!!

I eventually made it to bed at about 1pm hence the fact that I’m now at work and feel totally knackered. I watched some of Harry Hill’s TV Burp before leaving for work and honestly, BBC 3 gets more absurd by the day. HH was taking the P out of their new series “Young Butcher of the Year”… WTF!!!

Tonight’s been as frantic as the previous few, it’s now 23:53 and this is the first time since 8:30 that there haven’t been calls in queue. Some of the things that people ring about a t 11 pm are ridiculous; if an appointment was supposed to happen that morning and didn’t why would you wait until now to ring in about it. If I was expecting someone between 8-1 I’d be ringing shortly after 1pm not 10 hours later!

Sun 29 Nov - Nat Rugby, Han and Me at Home

To Do

Long Live Pat Condell Saying It Like It Is

Too Embrassed to wear a Bluetooth Headset? Then try the Bluetooth Butt-Plug

Snitch & Langford - The Bluetooth Buttplug from brianhogg on Vimeo.

Friday 27 Nov - New Glasses, Darkly Dreaming Mysickbones and Busy Busy Busy

Called into ASDA at 9am to see if my new glassses had arrived. Appalling service, not the assistants fault, only one member of staff on duty and I had to wait 20 minutes before I was attended to. My glasses were in and eventually I got home at 10:15 having arrived at ASDA at 9:00. Seem OK so far, going to try one pair tonight.

Today I had the weirdest of dreams, I don’t normally remember my dreams but on a scale of 1-10 this one was an 11. It involved, in no particular order, an iTrain (whatever that was, steam electric diesel? It seemed so clear at the time) which we (?) all kept going to see, the entire Army making a last ditch defence against persons (or things) unknown on the outskirts of the tiny Welsh village where I grew up, my new iPhone (I don’t have an iPhone) and US President Barack Obama on the iTrain licking my iPhone whilst pulling faces of delight as he did so, I don’t think it was sexual I think he just liked the phone.

When this, now fading – hence the lack of details, adventure ended I made my way Home via a bar that I can kind of still faintly visualise and which seemed of immense important, whilst I was there. Incidentally it was also choka block with famous people, none of whom I can now recall.
When I eventually arrived Home, I think I was in the bar a long time, I was confronted by my Wife and Kids who accused me of posting my Mother-in-Law a bottle of my piss. This, apparently, was accompanied by a note advising her to pour it through her nasty neighbour’s letter box. What they were hacked off about wasn’t my sending the piss but rather that someone who we knew socially had found out about it.
As I said, F**king Weird, but, in some ways, what was even stranger was that when I first woke;
1. I thought I was still in the dream because I thought the dream was reality and;
2. It stirred memories of similar vivid dreams I’ve had over the years and had almost forgotten about.
One of these dreams involved a very convoluted bus ride, I can sort of remember the various stops where I had to change buses, another involved an even more convoluted bicycle ride and a third (the strongest) a strong virtual false memory of jogging round the school grounds during lunchtime when I was in the sixth form (not true I was playing brag in the Common room during lunch) and jogging through the village and up to the top of the mountain in the evenings when I got home. Part of me is convinced that this really happened even though I’m “sure” it didn’t.
As I said previously, I’d almost forgotten these dreams but now I remember how vivid they seemed at the time and how, for years, I’ve never been totally sure whether the jogging memory was a dream or a real memory. It’s such a strong image that it’s difficult to believe it’s not a real memory, which it may be – I couldn’t, in all honestly, say definitely which it is.

It’s easy to see how people, with the right encouragement, can develop false memory syndrome. Remember how we were inundated with satanic abuse cases in the 1990’s (remember Cleveland anyone?); none of which turned out to be of any substance. Fathers accused of things they never did by daughters who had been encouraged to remember things that had never happened. Some families, it seems, never recovered.

Work – Busy, busy busy… we haven’t stopped tonight; I started at 8.30 and by 10.30 I’d taken over 30 calls. It’s now 00:54 and the calls are still coming thick and fast. They seem to be easing off slightly now, before there was a queue, but it’s still busier that it’s been all year up till now. Woprn new glasses tonight and not had any problems except for as little eye ache as my eyes adjusted to the new prescription.

Monday 23- Wednesday 25 of November

Monday
at school today we had RE,French,English,Science and PE in which we hockey after school I went to kickboxing where I demented several punch's and kikes to everyone.
Tuesday
On the way to school today I came off my bike badly spinning over my handlebars and twisting my ankle and bruising all of my shin at school we had PD,Fitness,History,Geography,Science and Drama and I got a commendation(yippee).
Wednesday
I went in the car because I could not cycle with yesterdays injury. At school we had English,Math,science,geography,French and History in which we did the Feudal System. after school I had Scouts where we made candles.

EA Update

I wasn't wrong; its now 00:18 and the pressures just begun to drop off. I haven't stopped taking closing calls since 11:00. The problem is that the message line over-rides everything so you get stuck listening to garbled messages whilst engineers can't contact you and so they leave even more garbled messages. I'd love to get my hands on the person who designed this new system and get them to use it for a night. Yet another example of something designed by someone who doesn't really understand what it is that the people they are designing for actually do!

Now That's A First
After we'd cleared the backlog I was expecting the overnight EA jobs to start hitting my terminal but this wasn't to be! For the first time ever, when I've done it anyway, we didn't issue a single EA from 1.30 until 7:00 when we finished for the night. I kept waiting for a late one to arrive just before close of play but it never came. It'll probably be another five years before that happens again.

Thursday 26 Nov - Sleep and Work

Slept allnight down stairs on sofa then went to bed at 7am whne Deb got up. Stayed in bed untill 6pm listening to podcasts and napping.
Corrected Nats blog entry re mix up in use of where and were and had to shout at Han, again, when she gavces us the silences. As always she started crying which only further fuels my annoyance, what is it with her and I?

Work tonight, as I guessed I've be put on EA so 11pm to 1am's going to be hectic.

Tuesday 24 Nov - Bicycle Boy, Governors Meeting and Meal

Yesterday morning Nat had an accident on his bike on the way to school. Ran into the back of Henri's bike and went over the handle bars. He called Deb who put the bike in the car and drove him the rest of the way. He managed to complete the day but looked quite drained when he got home, apparently he'd hurt his leg when he came off and it had been painful all day.

He Deb and Han left as soon as he was home to visit Deb's Mum and Dad in Redditch prior to Han's birthday. I stayed home as I had a Governors meeting in the evening.

The Governors meeting was supposed to be fairly brief as we were going out for our annual Xmas meal afterward. However there was one very important issue to be discussed which was the proposed closure of Holmfield Primary School. This is one of the five Primary schools in our area and it's closure is likely to have significant knock on effects to Millfield and the other three schools. It was agreed that we would oppose this decision and that as a first response a letter would be sent expressing our concern that this decision was being made on the basis of a 2 day Ofsted inspection carried out by a single inspector.

Afterward we went for a meal at the leftbank restaurant on Braunstone Gate.

Tracy gave Via and I a lift there and Carl drove us home at the end. The food was excellent and they were doing a special offer were you only paid for every other main course, so the overall price was very reasonable. I had home mad chicken liver and pork pate with Melba toast as a a starter and followed this with a Leak and Brie dish. While it was extremely nice I think next time I'll go with my first choice which was going to be the lamb. The only downside was the price of the beer. I bought  a pint of Heineken Export for myself and a pint of Budweiser for Carl and this came to £6.50!!!
The company was excellent and the conversation mixed and varied, I had a super evening. Maybe I'll bite the bad leg bullet and change my mind about missing our team's Xmas outing this year. Eventually arrives Home at about 10:45 where Han was in bed awake waiting for me to get home, so she could tell me about the huge purple parcel she's brought home from Redditch, whereas my injured little soldier was fast asleep. Stayed up to watch some TV, none of which I can recall, before falling asleep on the Sofa.
All in all not a bad day and far more active than is normal for me these days.

Nat's Blog – Nov 12 to Nov 21

Thursday
Today I cycled to school again with Alfie. At school it was a normal day but we finished the Battle of Hastings in History. After school Brandon came round we looked at his new Empire codex.
After that we went to judo where an official came to the club to see how it was doing.
That's all Nat.

Friday
Today I cycled to school again. At school we had humiliation Friday were (where)because Alfie got a C3 he had to sing telly tubes backwards and that was funny. Then we had tech were (where)we are making light up key rings. After school I went round Jonathan's house to watch Austin powers 1 it was great
now I must leave you Nat

Sunday

Today I went to rugby  were (where) it was as normal until I scored a try which is worth 5 points, after that we went home to a roast dinner and then watch Dr who “water on Mars”
and that was about it Nat

Monday
 Today I went to school and as normal it was a normal day yep it was normal very norrrrrrrrrrrrrrmal day but after school I had kick boxing were (where) I had to show people how to do certain things like frog hoping and punching
and that's it Nat

Tuesday

Today I cycled to school again and again not much happened but on the way home Henri and I were attacked and had stones thrown at us so we went back to school and we both wrote statements so their now in BIG trouble
and that's that Nat

Wednesday

Today I went to school in the car I went with Henri at school we had one more Wednesday like the one before and the one before that. I was taken home by Dave. Later on I went to scouts were (where) we made candles and played with Jacob's I pod touch and it had an app with weapons like a knife and an Uzi and an AK.

Thursday

Went to school on my bike when I got to school we had normal Thursday lessons but after school I went to Judo and kicked butt because I had an M 16 so relay (really / rarely?)was I ever going to be beaten at all
well would I.

Friday

Today because of some of the boys have miss behaved we had a lecture on good behavior then we had tech and we have all most finished our light up key rings.
I got 2 commendations in drama after school I had a relaxing afternoon with the TV and finally I watched Children in need.

Saturday

Today I got up around 8 and went down stairs to watch TV in the afternoon I went to help raise money for scouts we must of made a killing in thee 2 hours I was there and when I got home I watched some TV for about 2 hours then went on my pc.

Monday 23 Nov - Star Trek DVD, Sleep, Podcast Feed, Governors Meeting, Nats Blog

Went to bed yesterday at 6 PM awoke finally at 5:30 AM this morning, I actually got a full nights sleep and boy can I feel the difference. Before I went up the stairs to Bedfordshire we watched the DVD of the latest Star Trek film and it was as good as I remember it being at the cinema, let's hope that they make another. However, I kept expecting young Mr Spook to start pointing his finger at the heads of anyone who pissed him off and to start seeing their foreheads start to bleed (Heroes Villan ref here - it's the same actor who plays Sylar the psychotic brain eater)

I've just added a feed from Podcast.com to the blog so now I can listen to my favourite podcasts within the blog. It's down on the right for anyone who's interested.
There's a Governor's meeting tomorrow night, followed by our Xmas meal, so I've got a pile of papers that I'm going to have to work my way through sometime today.
I'm still waiting for Nat to input his blog entries, he says he written them on his PC but can't get this blog to open on his machine....another job for Daddy!

Hannah's Blog

friday

          this morning I got up as usual and got dressed for school.I eat my  cereal 
(coco pops) and went to school. At school it was non scool uniform because it was children in need and you got to bring your teddies to.  

Made It Too Work

Well I'm here, feeling knackered but not as much as before. Deb's out at a works meal so Donna was nice enough to give me a lift to work. Left the kids watching children in need, which seems to come round every couple of months.

Friday 20 Nov- Anniversary, Work tonight,

Today is Deb and my 28th Wedding Anniversary and we both forgot. If it wasn't on my phone as an annual reminder the chances are neither of us would have remembered. That's what having kids does to you, you forget about everything else because the little sods overwhelm your brain with noise.
Had last two nights off as holiday because I've been too tied to make it through the shift. managed to get some sleep on the sofa last night and I'm off to bed now so hopefully I'll drop off and be able to go in tonight. I feel in a state of constant exhaustion but I can't keep using up holiday like this! Role on the operation maybe I can then have some kind of life.

Friday13 - Friday 20

Friday 13
I kept being attacked by some psycho in a hockey mask wielding a bloody great knife.

Luckily I have a black belt in Llap-Goch 
(The Welsh art of self-defence that is based on just two simple principles;

1. Attack is the best form of defence
2. Surprise is the best form of attack

Therefore the perfect technique is to attack your attacker before he attacks you, or better still before the thought of attacking you has occurred to him.).

By utilizing these two techniques I was easily able to defeat my opponent before he’d even drawn his knife, or in fact I left him looking like 6 tins of cat food before he’d even had a chance to don his hockey mask and overalls! I’m sure many others would have been fooled by his cunning disguise and would have truly believed that he was just an innocent traffic warden issuing a ticket. Unfortunately for him this time he picked the wrong car and as a Master my training immediately enabled me to penetrate his cunning deception and take the appropriate action before it was too late. Its weird, this keep happening and for some reason it’s always on a Friday!

After I had disposed of the remains

I went to work.

Sat 14 – Film Night
Me to bed, Nat to the Games workshop, Han to Ballet, Deb goes shopping, Deb bought the DVD of Night at the Museum 2.

We all watched it that evening (I want to go to the Smithsonian) after which Nat and I started to watch Watchmen (for some reason Deb absolutely hates this film) and which we were going to turn off when Deb came back into the room. However she plonked herself on the PC then beat a retreat to an early bed so we didn’t get the chance.

Sun 15 – Rugby, Allotment and Wine

Sunday morning and it’s another early morning rugby match day at the Leicester Vipers. I can’t recall who it was that they played but the Nat’s side lost the first match. His team just can’t ever seem to get it together in the first match. They two teams played a second shortened match and right at the last minute Nat smashed his way through to score a try in the corner. You should have seen the look of pride on his face and the smile as his team mates congratulated him.


After the match we stopped at the allotment to try to clear it ready for winter. We took down the bean sticks and pulled up some veg that that gone passed it’s best. Now we need to arrange for a delivery of manure which we can be spread on the plot and left over the winter. That’s one for next week hopefully. Home for dinner, I got the potatoes and parsnips prepared and into the oven whilst Deb popped to Asda for a few things, including, because for some reason I’d had a craving for some for days, the first bottle of Liebfraumilch we’ve bought in years. Chilled the wine and had a glass with lunch it was a nice as I remembered it to be. I don’t know why, I hate sweet French wines but love sweet German ones.

Mon 16 – Opticians, Frozen Cars and Edward Woodward

I had an appointment to see the optician at Asda today. It’s been two years since I’ve had an eye test and I think my prescription needs adjusting, aside from which I’m tired of wearing glasses with sello-tape on the right arm. As I suspected there had been small changes and I got a new prescription (remember to take the receipt into work). I didn’t choose any new glasses as I can’t see what the frames look like without my glasses on so I said I’d come back with the family later in the week.

I returned Home sat and supped and generally felt sorry for myself. That’s the trouble with chronic pain it eventually wears you down to a point where you’re just apathetic. I don’t feel like I’ve actually done anything, on my own initiative, for months. About 2:45 I got an urgent call from Deb saying that the car was frozen. Apparently the batteries in the electronic key had gone flat and when she’d tried to start the car everything had locked up. She needed me to get the spares to her. It appeared she had already called Donna, who was picking up Nat and Sian from school, who was going to drop off the kids at our place, Han was already at Donna’s house, with Josh, having been collected from school by Jonathon. Donna arrived at about 3:40 and we were on the clock because she had an important appointment herself at 4:30 that she couldn’t miss. We made it by the skin of our teeth, got the car started, got Donna home before 4:30 and made it home. Nat went to kick boxing at 6:15 and Han went to Cubs. Sad news on tonight’s news, the actor Edward Woodward has passed away, I was always a fan, I don’t think I ever saw him in anything I didn’t enjoy.

Tues 17 - Brockington Bullies
Yet another night with little or no sleep. The hot water bottle sprung a leak and nearly scalded me. Had to chuck it in the bin and make do with putting the microwave bear between my knees. I’m afraid MB didn’t stay hot for very long and so proved to be something of a dud when it came to pain relief. We got an urgent call from Nat at about 3:30 that afternoon, it seems he and Henri had been cycling home when they were once again confronted by the lads they’d had problems with at the beginning of term. Words were exchanged, threats were made and stones were thrown. Nat and Henri had gone back to the school car park before Nat phoned us. Deb, Han and I piled into the car and headed for Enderby. We met the lads in the car park then went to reception to report what had happened. The school had better sort this out once and for all, my Son is NOT getting bullied, I went through for years and it scared me for life, and it’s not going to happen to Nat. I will have no compunction about ruining those other kids’ lives if I have too. We left the kids’ bikes at school and drove Henri home. Briefed his Dad about what had happened. Hopefully, after the debacle with Sian, Henri and the bike incident the other week, this time he and Maxine won’t go off half cocked. After dropping Henri off we dropped Nat at home before Deb, Han and I went to choose me some spectacles. It took them about 45 minutes to make my choices. I ended up ordering two pairs with veri-focal photo-reactive lens. Total cost £240! They should be ready in about 10 days.

Wed 18 / Thurs 19 – Sleepy Hols
Shattered from lack of sleep, went into work but once on site I booked a night’s holiday and Deb came and picked me up. I felt sick from lack of sleep. Spent the night down stairs on the settee and went to bed in the morning after everyone had gone. Yet again I didn’t manage to get much in the way of sleep so I called work and booked yet another day’s holiday.

Friday 20
Got a few hours sleep on the settee then went to bed around 10:30. Decided to listen to podcasts as this usually helps me to drift off, listened to the All About Symbian podcast first where I discovered that there was a new version of Google mobile apps available for my mobile which now included voice search. Downloaded and installed over the home wireless network. Fantastic, unlike Yahoo’s attempt at the same thing last year this actually works. Afterward I listened to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History episodes 27/28/29 on the war on the Eastern Front during WW2. His cast were as excellent as ever and I’m looking forward to listening to number 30 in bed tomorrow.

Deb was out tonight; after all it’s only our wedding anniversary, at a works do so Donna kindly took me to work. It’s been very busy tonight and at times I’ve really had to fight the tiredness, around 1:00 AM I thought I was going to heave I was suddenly so exhausted. At the moment it seems as if I’ve managed to tough it out. Hoping Dan puts me to sleep this morning, its OK Dan I’ll listen to it again another day, so that I’m less sleepy on Saturday night.

Shattered Absolutely Shattered

I't's 07:15am and I#ve just finished doing manuals over night whilst helping Julie B on EA. We haven't stopped since 11:00 PM when we took over. I was so short tempered by 4:00 pm that I swore at Prash when he was winding me up ( I did apologise later) and that's not like me.....At All. My legs hurting big time but even worse is the fact that my neck's as stiff as a broard because of the odd posiyions I've been in in bed trying to sleep. I'm thinking of calling into a Lloyds Pharmacy and buying one of the TENS machines they've currently got on special offr. Perhaps that would help relieve the pain?
Must try to get some sleep today whilst nat's in Town at the Games workshop and Deb and Han are at ballet.

wed 11 nov

Wednesday

Today I cycled to school with Alfie. It was a pretty boring day, after school I went to Scouts and lit a bonfire but it didn't light because the leaders helped everyone else then they burnt the kindling ( the b@**%$£&^$@). after I got home I watched the Family, then I went to bed.

By Nat.

Shakespear - Bill Bryson - Much Ado About Something

I bought this book from Waterstone's in January 2008 and I've only just got round to starting to read it (I bought it with the book tokens Deb's Parents sent me for Xmas 2007). The daft thing is that I've not really started reading it,actually I've started to dip into it whenever I go for my dinner break at work.

I rarely spend more than 5 minutes with it (I'm busy microwaving) but somehow I've still managed to read the first 80 pages or so already. It's remained in my rucksack at all other times.

The truth of the matter is that like ALL his other books this one just slips across your eyes and into your brain in the same way that a brick doesn't**. There's something utterly seductive about Bryson's style of writing; it draws you in and before you know it you've consumed great chunks of it. This latest work shares these qualities in full measure; I recommend it highly!

I'm looking forward to reading the rest but only at lunch lest it vanish in a flash. This way I can savor it for a little longer.


**Yes I fully acknowledge I nicked that metaphor lock stock and barrel from the late Douglas Adams.

Thursday 12 Nov - Back to Work

By lord it's busy tonight, haven't stopped since 20:30. There are a few people missing from the team because of sickness so I'm glad I bit the bullet and came in tonight. After all, every little helps.

Tuesday 10 nov

Tuesday

Today I cycled to school with Alfie but Henri caught up with us so we detoured and ditched him. Nothing much happened at school except I had to write a statement about when Henri ran into Sian (who's on crutches) .

Again after school nothing much happened but Henri's dad has had a go at Sian's mum.

I have also made a collage of a fishy.

By Nat.

Thursday 12 Nov - Phone call,

Fell asleep last night and forgot to call sick line. Rang them this AM everything OK. Didn't speak to the nurse as this is ongoing and there is nothing that she will be able to recommend. Planning on going back tonight hopefully by then these tablets will have worn off because at the moment my head feels like it's made of cotton wool.

mon 9 nov

Today Donna took me to school in the car I had re and thats not my favourite subject. In the afternoon I had P.E in wich we did guymnastics and I injured my shoulder.A fter school I went to Fosse Park with Brandon and then to borders to look at game and the warhammer books after eating half of a Galaxey cooky crumble.then to kick boxing in wich I kicked butt.
By Nat

Sat 6 & Sun 7 November - Sleepover, Games Workshop, Birthday Meal, Rugby. Rude to Daddy

Sat
Today I got home from Jacobs sleepover and that was a shame because I had an awesome night.  I arrived at just before 7pm to be bombarded by Nerf bullets before I had time to get out the nerf  gun I had brought (and thoroughly  thrash them ). I had been overwhelmed and died and that's NOT NICE!!!! after that we played several games involving nerf guns like take the fortress and 1vs3, then we settled down to snack food and the  XBOX  (say in booming voice) where we played cod(call of duty) halo and GTA (grand theft auto).
We did this till 7am so from Friday to Saturday I stayed up 24 hours!!!!
When I got home I was instructed to go to bed but I didn't sleep.
At about 12 I went into town with Brandon to the warhammer store where I played  a couple of games and won the zombie race. Later that day we went out to the Kaffir and had a meal for my dads birthday I had a tender, juicy and delicious lamb on mash covered in mint sauce and minestrone soup and ice cream (but not on the same plate).
sun
Woke up at about 9 ish to have a bagel but soon after that I went to rugby where we played south Leicester who beat us 3-0, but I had a terrific run I got up most of the pitch crushing skulls underfoot trampling fingers and cutting out hearts with my studs. On the way home Hannah and I played miny punch  and Hannah minged so dad had a go at us  and now he dosent like me.
When we got home I did my re homework wich was to do a rangoly paton this was easy so I did it in about 5 minites.
by Nat and remember IT'S NICE TO BE NICE.

Wed 11 Nov - Knackered. Pain and Understanding

I've managed to get tonight (Tuesday 10 Nov)off work......Thank God (if he was real) because I'm absolutely shattered. I haven't slept properly for about four days and I've reached the point where I can't keep my eyes open. I'm writing this at 02:47 AM having woken up after crashing on the bed at about 8:30 PM last evening. I still feel as if my head isn't in the right place and feel weirdly disorientated. My hip hurts like hell and it seems like this is a permanent state of affairs. I fully understand why people go to Switzerland to top themselves when they have an incurable disease with unending chronic pain. At least I know this isn't a permanent state of affairs and will end when my hip is replaced, if I had to face this everyday for the remainder of my life I too would be looking for an end to it. So you Sanctimonious Know It Alls what the F**K do you actually know? Maybe if you are ever in the situation of the people you deny relief to you might change your mind. Until then They have to suffer for Your absurd belief that it's God's decision.

Wednesday

Stll in much distress aand I'mm taking tonight off as well in order to try one of those very strong painkillers and see if this will get me to go to sleep. Sent JDM a text to see if I can take tonight as holiday. He sent reply contact sick line and book as sick rather than holiday.

Should All Drug Use Be Made Legal?

What Do You Think

Monday 9 Nov - The Intelligence Squared Debate - Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry vs. The Catholics

Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world?

"It stands up for the oppressed and offers spiritual succour to billions say the Church's supporters. But what about the Church's teachings on condoms, gays and women priests, ask the detractors."

Speaking for the motion, Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdencombe MP. Speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry.

Video in Five parts anf quite fiddly to find so below are the links in the correct order. Only about 45 minutes in total but worth watching.
One
Two
Three
Four
Five

Holding post for the weekend

1. Fireworks Braunstone Park

2. Nat Sleep Over

3. Beer Bottles

4. Han's Poem:

This is the poem/song that Han wrote for me for my birthday:-

Dun dun dun dundun yer yer yer

You are the best dad in the World

Ya I think you are the best dad dad dad dad

You are the greatest in the universe you are

You make me feel so important

Your the best man in the world

oh daddy you know I love you I love you

It's your birthday a special day for you

a special day for you and me tooooo

some time you make me feel like an angel

and sometimes you make me feel like a devil

 Is that sweet or what?

Is that sweet or what?

5. Birthday Dinner at The Kaffir Inn
Located in the heart of Whetstone Village, The Kaffir Inn is the perfect spot for lunch, dinner or weekend brunch with family and friends. The Kaffir is a chic yet casual, family orientated Inn yet contemporary in design. The Bar is modern and has light coloured floors and creamy walls contrasting beautifully with our dark expresso wood furniture. The restaurant is more traditional and has a warm, friendly, homely feel where you can dine in style with our superb service. We also provide tons of natural light with our outdoor patio and beer garden with our very own children’s play area ideal for the summer months with our independent car parking facilities.”
The food was excellent and as we ate at 6PM we were the only dinners there (others started arriving later)so the service was exceptional.
I had Wexford rump steak, half covered with melted stilton and; a creamy mushroom peppered sauce.
Deb had Surf and Turf.
Nat had Braised Lamb Shank served on chive mash.
Han had Chicken pieces.



Sunday.


Rugby


Argument

thurs 6 nov

School, today I cycled to school wear I had a pretty normal day except that we stated making our light up key rings mines a wolf head.    But on the way home I had found a shortcut home down a massive hill and guess what I said I said weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After school Brandon came over infact he only just left at 6pm after coming hear at about 2:45pm. soon I'm going to Jacobs soon for the sleepover so I will have to cut this abit short (only a bit) because I need to get ready Hannah is a pain as usual same with Henri. So time to go.

So time to go. by Nat

I am become Death, destroyer of worlds

The story of how the dinosaurs disappeared is getting more and more complicated

thusday 5 nov

Today I got taken to school again. At school did listening and reading tests in French. I also did acids in science but thats about it.

Dads birthday he got tickets to:gadget show live, a scarf, a pair of trousers and a belt wow what brilliant gifts I mean a belt!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I also went to Jacobs party at mega zone and that was brilliant.

I also went to judo and killed people ( not literally)

Yesterday I promised more on scouts well I Broke a light then I played some games then I watched  fireworks.

By Nat

Happy Birthday 2 Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Guess what today is? I'm finishing work now so, very shortly, I'll soon be sleeping my birthday away. I've been too busy tonight to even read the card my team mates got for me; so, as one can imagine, one is totally knackered. So it's, Home, a birthday beer for breakfast, many thanks Dawn, a good old dose of the superb J Kyle and his collection of chavs:
("I can't put sumfink on the end of it Jeremy cos I aint not all that coorientated thingy and stuff when I is hard and up for it.....innit" "Is it because I is a Twat"?)


Finally, 11:00, it's up the stairs to Bedfordshire. With any luck I'll manage to get some sleep before the kids come screaming through the door at 3:30. How are they supposed to remember that Daddy's asleep, after all I've only been doing this for five years?

Got home at 7.45 and was immediately set upon by the kids to open my pressies. First I did the cards (Photos to follow) then I opened the presents, I got......a belt......new trousers......a replacement Arab scarf (lost my old one a few years back) and finally...........TICKETS TO THIS YEARS GADGET SHOW LIVE AT THE NEC!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brilliant I mean

 WOW......A NEW BELT!!!!!!!!

After I'd managed to settle myself and regain my equilibrium (I mean, it was a flipping fantastic belt!!!!!) I kissed the kids goodbye and settled down to a few birthday beers before going to bed. Didn't drink the one Dawn gave me as it needed to be properly chilled to be fully appreciated so I wasn't going to waste it by guzzling it warm. Instead I had a couple of the beers I'd brought back from Devon and had a fight with the dog. Monty was mental this morning and I must have fought him for Ten Minutes!!!

Two rather lovely Devon beers later and after a better than usual dose of chavs curtsey of JK I retired for the day. Managed to drop off quite quickly despite my hip pain and got a reasonable sleep. Woke briefly at 4 PM when Nat left to go to Jacob's Laser Quest Birthday Party (so I saw my Son for a total of 30 minutes on my birthday!!) then slept again until 6 PM.

Deb's had one hell of a schedule today, 7.30 pick me up, 8.00 drop Han at Donna'a pick up Sian and take her and Nat to Brockington. Go to work, 3.30 pick up Nat and Sian, drop off Sian pick up Han, Home, 4.00 take Nat to Laser Quest, go to ASDA for my party cakes for work, Home, cook tea, 6.30 take Han to pick up Nat to take them to Judo for 7.45, pick up Jonathon (Donna's friend) 7.55 pick up me, drop me at work, take Jonathon to hospital to pick up Donna's medication, take Johnathon home, 8.45 pick up kids from Judo.......9.00 Home....LAZY COW!!!!!!


Work, took cakes bag and cushion in with me, nearly fell over, logged on and started taking calls. About 11 Pm I laid out the cakes and invited everyone to help themselves, also circulated large tin of Quality Street at the same time, initial take up slow and I worried I would be taking most of it back home. It's now 1.30 6/11 and there’s very little of the chocolate cake left and some of the other cakes have gone as well.
As for the Quality Street I haven't seen the tin for hours.

So that's my Birthday over for another year!