Monday 29 March - Another Month Over, Last Night Tonight, Dan and Dan: The Daily Mail Song will go viral, Hostile Caller, Jongleurs Bites the Dust, Large Hadron Collider and Spaghettification.

Followed a link on Twitter this evening posted by Mrs Stephen Fry. Takes you to a YouTube video by Dan and Dan entitled “The Daily Mail Song”. Absolutely superb, I retweeted it only to discover that so had more than a 100 others already; Deb found it had been sent to her already when see accessed her Facebook page. It had 128 views 2 days ago and it has over 49,000 tonight. I predict it’ll be viral by tomorrow. The power of Stephen Fry.

Two calls so far both for DR second person very hostile started shouting at me and wouldn't listen to anything. I eventually managed to transfer her to the correct people God help the poor sod who has to deal with her. Apart from anything else it's virtually impossible to understand what she's saying.

Ash has just told me some awful news; apparently the Jongleurs comedy club in Leicester has closed down AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems a new comedy club has been opened in the same premises but he reports that when he and some friends went there the acts were crap. I’ve just checked on Wikipedia and it would appear that Regent Inns, which bought the brand went into administration in Oct 2009 and that a number of the clubs (those that weren’t closed) were sold to a company called Intertain who re-branded them as Highlight. The club in Leicester is one of these because it’s now known as Highlights. Lets hope that Ash’s evening was an exception; I very very very very* rarely frequent town at night ( THAT'S A BIG THANK YOU TO THE BINGE DRINKING  YUFF OF BRITAIN) but Jongleurs was somewhere I really enjoyed going too (I’ve been twice…it’s an exciting life I lead... Ah?). The only good news is that it would seem that the original owners of the Jongleurs brand have set about rebuilding the chain, now that restrictions on the use of the name have lapsed. So perhaps Leicester may, one day, again have Jongleurs of its own.

This could be my last blog post, and everyone else’s too, because today, for the first time, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will let two streams of partials cross and collide at energy levels never before achieved in any previous collider. If the Doomsayers are too believed, and they aren’t…I hope, then we may all be heading down a black hole later today. I’ve always enjoyed spaghetti but I don’t know that I’ve fancied experiencing Spaghettification as I’m sucked into the event horizon. I’ve I claimed that I did want to undergo this process then I’d be “stretching” the truth.

(Each of the four objects follows a slightly different course, because the gravity of the planet falls off with distance and acts from the center. The net result is elongation in one direction and squashing in the other.)

In the case of a human body it would look something like this

but nothing like this

It would, if I’ve understood the theory correctly, subjectively last forever! The only good news is that there will, no doubt, be contingency lawyers on the other side who, for a share of the damages, will be willing to attest that where there’s blame there’s a claim and will who immediately instigate proceeding against the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN.

I wish them luck!

If all goes as planned I’ll be back tomorrow but if not I look forward to meeting you the other side!

x

x

William (Buck) Wordsworth in the 21st Century

I wandered lonely; on a cloud
afloat, on a high of ales and pills.
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden giraffodils
Besides the lake, beneath the trees
Eating tins of processed peas

I wandered lonely as a fart
That floats on by o’er desks and chairs
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host a coughing by the stairs
Besides the coolers, beneath the eves

Puking and a retching upon their knees

Contagious was that fart of mine

And it lurked there all the day

They retched in never-ending line

Their nausea would not a bay

Ten or more saw I at a glance

Toss their guts; in unsightly dance

The waves of nausea inside them danced; but they
Out-sprayed the yellow waves in glee
An emetic was needed not that day
In such nauseated company
I gazed and gazed at what I‘d wrought
By blowing off without a thought!

William (Cockermouth*) Wordsworth in the 19th Century

Here's the original real poem, which I'd never "properly" read before, I'm begining to see what it is that other people see in poetry. In order to try and spoof it I had to keep rereading it in my mind and for once got the meaning behind the words. It turns out that by doing so I discovered what a beautifull poem it is. I particularly like the fourth and final verse.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

* COCKERMOUTH - THAT'S RUDE THAT IS!!!

Amazing Video of a Virtual Autopsy

The Virtual Autopsy Table from NorrköpingsVisualiseringscenter on Vimeo.

Sunday 28 March - Rugby: Getting it on with the Syston Satanists

Today we played the Syston RFC under 12’s, the team with the most horrible parents in this or any other universe. They are the pits of the world, they are nosiy and intimidating and utterly unsporting. There are in fact rumors that in order for your child to play for Syston RFC you, as a parent, are required to sell your soul to the Lord of the Flies, the dark demon himself Satan. Now this may be complete bollocks, and as an Atheist I CAN’T THINK OTHERWISE, but if it were possible to sell ones soul to the dark deceiver than this shower of faecal matter would be first in the queue to do so. They are awful; other teams dread visiting them or even playing them in tournaments held elsewhere! They are insanely competitive, they don’t celebrate scoring they moan conceding a score. When we finally got our act together in the second game and started scoring points against them you’d have thought that the world had come to an end. The team started bickering amongst themselves and the parents threatened harsh punishments for these transgressions. It was positively medieval!
Anyway, they creamed us in the first match, everyone creams the Vipers in their first match but in the second we put up a much better fight. We scored two tries; Nat scored one of them and helped support Brandon who scored the second. Nat’s getting in there like a terrier and appears to have no fear. If we can crack the sprinting problem, at present Nat jogs, then he’ll be unstoppable. There are very few single players who can stop him once he’s got that ball in his hands!


Han, as usual, had to try to be the center of attention doing cartwheels and generally calling attention to her self. Deb says it’s just sibling rivalry but at times it really grates. I supposed it doesn’t help that I’d just come off the night shift and was totally knackered.

We were away for 12:00 and home for 12:30; as soon as we were home I went straight to bed to “enjoy” a disturbed afternoon’s sleep. My knee was particularly painful and I needed a hot water bottle to help relive it somewhat. I slept but woke frequently and eventually woke at 6:00 feeling still totally tuckered out.

3rd night tonight, one more to go after this; then I’ve got the kids for the week as they are now off school for 2 weeks for the Easter break….. Goody!!!!

msmsmsm

I Love Google Street View

I've just spent the quiet part of the night looking at where I grew up and where I went to school. Why the heck do all these A-holes complain that GSV constitutes an invasion of privacy? The faces of people are pixelated out as are car number plates; the cameras can only photograph what people walking on the same streets can see. The photographs are approximately 2 years old by the time they get on line so they are not actually going to let a burglar know that the property’s empty! If you like to stand bollock naked in the front window of your house, displaying all you have to all and sundry, then that’s your business but you can't subsequently complain about privacy issues. Private-Exhibitionist is an oxymoron; and by that I don't mean you’re a stupid cow although you may well be!

Anyway back to my original point, I haven’t really walked these streets for the best part of 35 years but GSV makes it seem like only yesterday when I did. It’s amazing to see what has stayed the same as I remember and what’s changed. The café we used to get hot dogs from after the Saturday morning cinema is still there! I don’t know how long it was there before I started going to those performances but as an ongoing concern that business must be at least 50 years old! People bitch on about Google at the moment, that’s the cost of being successful and big, but they miss the point. Whilst Google certainly seems to represent a license to print money; at it's heart it remains a nerd’s paradise. Filled with very clever people who just want to see what they can do. Who else would have put the time and money into GSV other than a bunch of nerdy geeks who wanted to know if it was possible to realise an extraordinary idea. Well it proved to be possible and it’s bloody fantastic so why don’t all you moaning minis just go *&%$ yourselves! It’s like having a visual diary, smell may be the strongest sense for recalling old memories but vision is a close second. As I walked the virtual streets images triggered memories I hadn’t thought about for decades. I’m going to trawl through all the places were important and meant something to me as a child and try and write down the recollections they trigger. Maybe these will trigger further recollections and so on and so on until I can remember much of what I’d thought forgotten. No generation before ours has ever had such an opportunity! So to the naysayer’s I say (to quote Frankie Howard) Nay, Nay and Thrice Nay you Bummers!!!!

Back To Work

Well maybe the bad weather has finally passed. Total calls today at 8PM under 7000. Here comes the summer wish I was having my hip done in the winter not in May!

Miscellaneous Rugby Photos

Here's a selection of Rugby Photos that I'm not sure we've already uploaded. Some are Vipers games and some are School matches.

Friday 26 March - Re: School Concert, Paedophile Paranoia, Last Day of Term, Losing Track of Time,Han's Bunny Ears

Absolutely fantastic, the kids from the feeder primaries were superb and the musical director was astonishing. Talk about enthusiasm, she's it personified. The main school choir (Nat's Bit) were OK at backing them up but it was the primary kids who shone.

It's a real piss off that the school doesn't allow you to take photos or videos; this paedophile paranoia has gone too far. I lose the chance to record my children's achievements because people are terrified some sad pervert will upload it to the internet and other pervs will end up wanking over it. For F's Sake get a sense of perspective! We can't let our lives be ruled by these fears, it brings back to mind Ben Elton's sketch about the "Mythical Three Year Old Child" who may be watching.

It was a fantastic performance that deserved to be recorded for posterity and instead its been lost to our collective paranoia. What a sad world we live in!

It's the last day of term again already! Nat's been at his new school for two whole terms, I still think he's in his first few weeks and before you know it his first year will be over and Han's getting closer and closer to the end of her time at Millfield; it feels as if the last 3 years have just disappeared. Thank God I finally got round to blogging because I can't remember last year at all (08 not 09). Spain, my Op etc. seem like a distant memory. Jesus Obama's been in office for 15 months and I still fell like he's just taken over. I think that part of the problem is the fact that I work nights on this strange four on four off shift and that I've been virtually housebound for the last 20 or so months. Every day's been the same and just blended all into one amorphous mass.
Anyway, Han wore her bunny ears to school today and the pictures are below.

School Concert Tonight

We're off to school this evening to see Nat take part in the "Brockington Choral Project". Two performances, one at 4:30 the second at 6:00 PM. We're going to the 6:00 show and we only had to buy a ticket for Han because now Deb's become a Governor there (Copycat) she got two complementary tickets. Hooray for perks, I say, I want to be your M.P.

In fact the school seems to have quite an Arts programme, I've just read the monthly school bulletin and it's choca-block. I'm particularly looking forward to the "Rock Festival" this summer where it's an all afternoon outdoor event. Blankets and Picnics are positively encouraged. It'll be like Glastonbury except without the booze and the drugs, but then again you can't have everything!

There's also going to be an official school open day on 17 April to celebrate the completion of the Artificial Grass Pitch.

Fantastic Video - A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything

wed 24 - Heart Check UP at the General Hospital

I've had a heart attack? Well according to the technician who administered my ultrasound heart check up. She says it says so in my notes and that;'s probably why the consultant sent me for this check up before my hip transplant. News Too Me!!!!!

I had a slight scare last year when I got chest pains and went to the hospital purely as a precaution (my Mum died of a heart attack) but after an over night stay and a number of tests I was told I was in the clear. So are the records wrong or have I been kept in the dark? I'll have to ask the surgeon next week.

Sat 20 March - Hans Ballet and Weird Night at Work

Here are the Vidoes that Deb filmed of Han's ballet class putting on a show for their Parents and other guests. Unfortunately I couldn't be there because I was in bed asleep preparing for that nights work.

And talking about Work:-
Systems down all day and night today and tomorrow. Of course no one told me when I started this evening, luckily I write details down in anticipation of system crash so I was able to reconstruct jobs and raise them manually. Have started getting the usual influx of calls from people who have been let dow. This always happens when the systems are taken off line for update. Just had dreadfully upset lady on phone in floods of tears. I've raised an emergency job for her to see if our over night eng can effect a temporary repair.

It was a very weird night, at one point I thought there must be a full moon, I actually had some one swear at me and then complain about me. This was a person who had phoned us in error in the first place and who I then accessed the the internet for in order to find the the correct phone numbers they needed. The others on the team received some equally as odd calls.

Blog: Friday 19 March 2010 – Sports Relief, Responsibility, Reparations and Slavery

Once again, it’s Spots Sports Relief Day, and here’s yet another chance for celebrities to garner publicity by guilt tripping us Hoi polloi into shelling out scare cash for their sundry worthy causes.

Now paint me cynical if you will (I deserve it, I am cynical and body painting’s reputed to be quite a kinky experience I’ve been told – so go for it, do your worst, please …I initially wrote baby painting which, of course, isn’t (kinky), it’s just a Freudian slip… D’oh)

None of us, of course, get tired of repeatedly hearing how shitty a vast number of people’s lives are; that’s a lie, of course we do! The repetition is not so much uplifting as it is acutely depressing and that, in and of itself, is fatiguing of the soul*. No compassion fatigue, as I’m referring to it, is comprised of two different things entirely:

First, I’m , like I’m sure you are too, getting totally pissed off with self congratulatory celebrities continually trying to show me (in what is nothing more than a blatant attempt to enhance their popularity and bolster their egos) how much more caring, compassionate and understanding they are than am I;
Secondly, being made to feel guilty, by association, for the consequences of the actions of others, actions which I had no part in! I’ll attempt to expand on my second point below but I would suggest that there’s no need to do the same for my first; I think that we’ll find that we are all in complete accord on that one! We all know who it is we would like to be first against the wall if the revolution ever came; Big Brother contestants beware, you have been warned!

Now returning to point two:

My direct ancestors, on both sides, were wage slaves working in horrendous Welsh hellholes, otherwise known as coal mines, during the heyday of the British Empire; neither they, nor I, bear any responsibility, direct or otherwise, for the results of colonisation. My ancestors, the boring unadventurous underachieving bastards, weren’t exploiting Africans rather they were being similarly exploited by the people who were.
So I refuse, reasonably I’d say, to accept responsibility for the actions of others. I may have to accept my part in how Western societies currently impoverish the third world with our insatiable demand for ever cheaper resources; but I adamantly refuse to take responsibility for things that happened, not only before I was even born, but things which, so far as I can ascertain, my ancestors weren’t even involved in!
Indeed, even if my ancestors had been actively involved in the process how could their culpability, in any way, attach to me? This makes as much sense as executing the child of a murderer because the murderer is already dead. Come on folks, really, what’s the difference? Even if my ancestors were slavers, I’m not (we’re not talking reparations [SEE BELOW] here which are an entirely different issue) a slaver now so how can I be held accountable for their past actions.
In fact, now that I THINK OF IT, I can’t recall ever beating up my, or anyone else’s, kids, depriving them of a decent diet, condemning them to illiteracy, failing to inculcate any sense of morality in them and so on either; no, I think I’m correct in saying that, it was THEIR parents who did that to them**. Now, if you’re trying to blame someone for these parents then go point your finger at Maggie Thatcher (creator of the new British under-class) and hang her quick before she dies. If she does pop her clogs first then, contrary to everything I’ve previously said*** hang Mark he deserves it****.
So, there you go, I’ve proved it***** ; all the people, except for Eddie Izzard, Rufus Hound and Jimmy Carr, involved in Sports Relief are a bunch of self righteous Cents (spelling?) and as a result I’m fully justified in giving them no money at all. It’s a shame really because I WAS going to donate hundreds of pounds but it’s now become a point of principle and I must remain true to my principles, mustn’t I?

• *I’m actually using the term euphemistically actually, I don’t actually believe in an actual soul actually as in it actually being there in actuality! There actually seem to actually be too many actuallys in that sentence actually and in this one actually too actually; and now for an actual example!

• **Mind you if they hadn’t there wouldn’t be a Jeremy Kyle Show and that would be a significant loss to British culture as a whole!

• *** So I’m a hypocrite, live with it B-Atch!

• **** Not Carol, she just suffers from Foot in Mouth Disease.

• ***** At least to my satisfaction

• It’s a good thing I noticed the typo in the first line because originally I was going to have a rant against Spot Relief; after all no one would have supported me if I’d been anything less than sympathetic toward any efforts to help those plagued with bad acne!

REPARATIONS
The question of reparations addresses a somewhat different issue. Whilst it may be true that I cannot be held directly responsible for the actions of my ancestors; if I’m currently still enjoying the fruits (financially and/or otherwise) that stemmed directly from those actions, then a case could be made that I had a legal (as opposed to a moral) obligation to use those assets to make reparations to the descendants of the slaves who’s labours first created them. You see the difference, I’m not being asked to pay for the actions of my forbearers rather I’m being asked to return the assets they stole (appropriated?) to the descendants of their rightfully (?) owners. Could this be a simple, just and elegant solution to an old problem? It would certainly seem to be an attractive proposition to those would most likely benefit from it; unfortunately these things are never that simple. After all, who owes the debt, the last person (s) to buy and use the enslaved or the person (s) who first enslaved them? Is the end-user liable or does responsibility rest with those who created the initial situation. Certainly the descendants of the slave owners would argue that their ancestors were only following the mores of his times. They, it would be argued, should be judged in light of the prevailing morality of their times and not in the light of modern day morality and knowledge. If culpability could be established at all then, it would be argued, it should lie with those who initiated the situation. But even if this could be agreed upon then who were the initiators? Were the slave traders of the interior responsible or can we go further back still? Many ended up enslaved because they were taken prisoner during inter/intra-tribal conflict. By tradition, a tradition that the captured would no doubt have followed if they’d been the victors instead of the vanquished, prisoners were sold into slavery. Does this mean that, in the case of prisoners of war at least, the enslaved were the authors of their own misfortune; they understood the rules of war when they choose to engage in war and so, as a result, they gave an implied consent to ALL the possible outcomes including slavery? I would argue that this question would never result in an answer that was agreeable to all parties and would likely never be resolved.
A more interesting question is what are the rights of the children and their descendants, who were a result of the slave owner impregnating a slave? Many criticise Thomas Jefferson and others as hypocrites because at one and the same time they framed the Declaration of Independence, drafted the Constitution and owned and impregnated slaves. What if Jefferson’s first child had been a son born of a slave he’d impregnated? Under the rules of primogeniture then this child should have been his legal heir and should have inherited his entire estate upon his death. If the initial paternity could be proven then what would be the rights of the descendants of such a child? What, if any, claims could they make upon the estate of the slave owners legitimate descendants?

The Concept of Legal Repartions
Reparations For Slavery

Friday 19 march. Nat's Third Cookery Lesson

Today was my third lesson and first practical in/of cocking we made pizza toast with cheese and pepper and mushrooms and onion and even some herbs this is after having a bacon bap in breakfast club.Later that day i caught the bus home were I then watched some of the Cleveland show followed by going round Zacs house and playing halo online vs. a bunch of noobs why noobs you say well that because in captor the flag i got a mongoose and drove it to there bas and walked home with the flag not once but 43 times and reclaimed ours twice
so alright the I sat down watched the forgotten Spartans

and then I wrote this
By Nat.

Friday 19 March - Holding

Nat's Art Hand

Art Project school

Cooking Pittza

Sun 14 - Thursday 18 March - Holding

Rugby at Oadby

Rugby every day at school

Brockington Choral

Heart Exam

Bye Bye Jane - Happy Retirement

It's Jane's last night tonight so we are having a few (non-alcolic) drinks and some cuuries to wish her well. Lets hope she doen't decide to give her last night a miss! More details later.

Honestly, Flogging's Too Good For Them - Time to make a Stand

A teenager has been charged with the harassment of a man who collapsed and died in the garden of his Greater Manchester home.

Car death pair 'abused for years'

'Kids are just ruling this road'

I never ever thought that I would ever say this but… It’s time to bring back the birch and public humiliation for the feral wastrels infesting British society.

There’s absolutely no point appealing to their better natures because they don’t have any better natures to appeal too. The very concept that others might be possessed of rights is utterly alien to them. Behaviours that any “normally socialised” person would consider as simple matters of politeness and consideration they perceive solely as signs of weakness.

Thanks, in most part I would claim, to the social carnage wrought by the economic reforms of the 1980’s we in 21st Century Britain are possessed of (and need to deal with) an asocial underclass; made up of, in the main, the feral offspring of the abandoned casualties of the Thatcher years!

It doesn’t seem possible to reason with these people, the only rights they acknowledge and trumpet are their own. Where reason cannot prevail then the only recourse is to force; it’s time to pay them in the one coin they respect, personal pain and humiliation! They cannot be allowed to continue to ride roughshod over others; to continue to prey on the weak and helpless. To use the vernacular:

“They need to be Dis’d Big-time”

and the more publicly this is done the better. It’s hard to remain the “Big Man” when you’re publicly naked, crying like a baby and the record of this event is made permanently available on YouTube!

Surely, the "raison d'être" of the social contract is that it protects us from each other and from external threats. In return for this protection we renounce our right to violence against others and we require others, in return, to renounce theirs against us. Failure to voluntarily conform with this compact means that the State, using appropriate sanctions, steps in to force our compliance. I accept this constrain upon my license and it's time these lttle shits did likewise!

Saturday 13 March - Google Street View

Yes, it's finally here for the rest of us; Google Street View has rolled out for the UK as a whole so we can now see our homes in all their gory detail. It’s been a fun evening showing everyone here at work how to find their houses and how to the engage street view. JDM can now see a picture of his dearly beloved leaving the house via the side gate just as the GSV car passed by. Cynicism aside, it's an astonishing achievement and better still it works on a smart phone. I can now go virtually anywhere in the UK power up my GPS, load Google Maps and see the street I'm on and how to get from where I am to where I want to be. Add free world wide navigation from Nokia and augmented reality apps and you really have got the whole world in your pocket.

Friday 12 March - Brandon's Staying

Just before I left for work Brandon, who was over "playing" with nat, called his Mom and asked if he could stay the night with us. So Deb's off to the Chippie when she gets home to find food for the terrible trio.

Friday 12 March - Where's Jane?

Where's Jane, she's not at work again tonight? Jane's due to retire after this last four days but it appears she's not coming in after all. It'll be a shame if she does decide to call it quits as none of us will have a proper opportunity to say goodbye. I hope she's in tonight!

Thursday 11 March - Kids STFU, My Temper, Work, Logical Fallacies

Little or no sleep again today, occasional dozing it seemed, woken by kids coming home, first Han screaming then later after drifted off again Nat and Brandon in Nat's room on the X-Box. Laid into the pair of them later but it seems like water off a ducks back. They don't seem to realise how important it is that I am able to sleep. Let’s hope that once my hip is done it won't be so hard to do so! I’m sick and tired of being grouchy and short tempered. In addition it’s noticeable the Nat, in particular, and Han also are starting to copy my behaviour. That’s not something I would want to encourage!

At work I did copy Logical Fallacies into Word and I did reformat it before printing so this time I’ve got a perfect copy.
I’ve spent the quite parts of this evening bring this blog up to date so that’s about it for now.

Wednesday 10 March - Skeptoid, Ballet, Scouts, Logical Fallacies and Work

Back to work tonight, as I stayed up all night again I went to bed after everyone had left for the day as I’m back to work tonight. As usual I couldn’t get to sleep so spent most of the day catching up on the latest Skeptoid Podcasts, after all if Nat going to quiz me on logical fallacies I need to be up to speed. Deb and the kid’s home at the normal time, just in time to wake me after I’d finally managed to get to sleep. It’s no wonder that I’m always exhausted!


After dinner Deb took Han to ballet and around 06:45 Darren called for Nat and took him and Jonathon, his Son, to Scouts.

Deb was back at about 7:40 and she immediately drove me to work.

I printed out The Top Twenty Logical Fallacies from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe website for Nat without checking that the print had captured the whole document. When I checked it at home next morning it had chopped the right hand margin off so I’ll do again tonight but this time I’ll copy it into Word and reformat it first.

Tuesday 9 March - Busted PC, Bed, Scool Rugby, Logical Fallacies and Wispa Bars

9Yes the PC is broken again, tries to load and displays problem with hard drive. I’m sure that it’s just a loose connection after blowing the dust out. I’ll fix it at the weekend…probably. For now Han’s net-book does the job and I’m catching up on my ZZZZ’s in bed. Dosed off and on during the day, Deb rang to ask if I wanted to come with her to see Nat play rugby at school this afternoon. Deb picked me up after collecting Han and off we went. The match had started by the time we arrived but we didn’t miss much. Great game (name team) Brockington lost but it wasn’t a slaughter by any means. Nat continues to improve and really seems to enjoy himself. His situational awareness is coming along in leaps and bounds; also he’s now running and keeping up with play. When he’s gets there he has no hesitation about piling straight in. One of the Brockington lads was outstanding, which is worrying because he plays for the team that Vipers will be playing against next Sunday.


After the match we drove home; during the journey Nat started discussing Logical Fallacies and started testing me on which ones I knew. The lad’s been listening to too many episodes of Skeptoid. We stopped at Sainsburys in order for me to buy some beers. The kids asked if I would get them each a Wispa bar while I was there. I shouldn’t have said yes… they were 53 pence each!!!

Monday 8 March - No Ado About Not A Lot & Cubs

Really can't recall a great deal happening out of the ordinary.

The Kids were at school,
Deb was at work,
I was at Home, reading, watching the TV and messing about on the PC.
Nat had kickboxing in the evening and Han had Cubs – but didn’t go. It seems she’s not enjoying very much at present. Apparently they’ve had an influx from Beavers and everything’s become a little too childish for her. My how quick they grow!

Sunday 7 March - Rugby, Vipers, Jimmies, Chippingham, Vikings, Naughty Han,

The day started out fantastically (NOT) with Han being her usual sullen morning self. Unfortunately for her I really wasn’t in the mood to put up with this yet again and I exploded. I went to town big time and the poor thing was in floods of tears. She’s got to stop it though; EVERY morning is the same, it’s like she’s never had to get up wash dress and eat before. Everything is a huge effort and every nag from us is met by a dirty look from her. Thing came to such ahead that Deb was so upset she decided we weren’t going to Rugby after all. Finally things calmed down and we left but I must admit I kept Han on a very tight leash for the rest of the morning and forbad her from leaving our sides.


It was a shame as this certainly, in part, spoiled my morning and I’m sure she and Deb were equally ill at ease. Nat was plying rugby so was in general oblivious of the atmosphere.

Initially we were scheduled to be playing an away game against St James Rugby Club (henceforth Jimmies) but this was changed at the last minute because they were hosting a visiting team from Chippingham and there wouldn’t have been room at their club for all the teams to play. Therefore they sent their juniors to us and we sent our seniors to them. The Chippingham guys put our 2008 tout to shame. Whereas we had simply worn our underpants outside our trousers during our tour they had gone the whole hog and were all dressed as Vikings (see photos below).



TO BE UPLOADED



Vipers under 12’s followed their normal routine and gave away the first game. They may as well have surrendered at the start and saved everybody the disappointment. Neil, the trainer, was nearly apoplectic with rage at their initial performance. But, as usual, after that things only got better. It’s as if they haven’t woken up during the first match. In the following games they gave a much better account of themselves and during one of them Nat scored a try. I can’t remember what the final results were but it wasn’t a walk over for anyone. One slightly larger boy, playing for Jimmies as I recall, gave us all a display of his baboon like bottom throughout. His Mum really needs to buy him larger shorts. His were halfway down his arse and his arse was bright red. If a real baboon had been in the vicinity I would have feared for his virtue!

It was all over shortly after mid day so we came home, Han and I having kinda made our peace. At home I stripped down the PC and gave it a good going over with the air pump…Christ the amount of dust was incredible! Got it up and running again but must have loosened a connection somewhere as it crashed again on Tuesday. I’ll fix it next week after I’ve finished work meanwhile we’ll share Han’s net-book.

Spent the afternoon, after lunch, watching telly and sundry other incidentals none of which come to mind at this late date. I probably stayed up all night, as usual, so Deb could get some sleep without my continual tossing and turning keeping her awake.

Sat 6 March - Nat Nips 2 Notts

Saturday

Finished work at 7:30 and was picked up by Deb. I stayed awake for the rest of the day but can’t remember a great deal. I do recall Brandon’s Dad (Stephan, I think) turned up to pick up Nat to take him and Brandon to Nottingham to the original Gamesworkshop mega store there. Brandon’s Dad seemed to be a real nice guy and pretty trendy. So Nat left around 11:00 and shortly after Han had ballet so I had the house to myself for at least a few hours. Probably dosed off, can’t recall doing anything. I’d given Nat my faulty N95 as a mugger’s phone if he and Brandon got into any trouble. Despite the fact that the battery goes flat about 10 minutes after you switch it on Nat managed to use it to take a few photos of the place:



Nat was home at about 6:15 PM. I made tea, BLT Bagels…Yum and managed to stay awake until 8 PM after which I headed for bed and oblivion.

Friday 5 March - God's Gift

There Probably Is No.... Thanks to Crispian Jago who I nicked this from - It needs sharing

Thursday 4 March - No Sleep AGAIN

Totally knackered, head splitting feeling sick what joy!!! To make things even worse it would appear that tonight there is a full moon. I don't base this on empirical scientific observation nor even from consulting reputable internet sources on astronomy, no my opinion is based solely on the unending stream of Loonies who've called in tonight. If the irrational belief that a full moon causes madness is indeed true, and of course it is, then the parade of crazy Lady Gaga Wanabees who've called us tonight are incontrovertible evidence that the moon is indeed full!

Sometimes one just can’t grasp what it is that impels a person to ring up at 3:00 in the morning to book specialist upgrade work that they were advise needed doing months ago.

Tuesday 2 Wednesday 3 Thursday 4 March 2010

I received a letter from the General on Tuesday confirming my operation date (7.15 am!!!!! 05-05-2010 – 62 days to go); the same day I suffered horrendous pain in my leg. My hip was burning constantly and I have started to experience the groin pains I was about. The worst thing is that this makes it impossible to get a decent sleep. I went to bed on Tuesday evening (having booked yet another day’s holiday) but by midnight I was awake with a pillow between my knees and a constant burning pain in my left knee. I remained, so far as I’m aware, awake for the rest of the night. Similarly, during Wednesday I was wide awake until about 6PM when suddenly I became desperately tired and could hardly stay awake. Not a good scenario as I was due to go to work at 8PM. It’s now 01:09 Thursday morning and I’m on my second wind, hopefully by the time this shift finishes I’ll be so tired I’ll sleep all day regardless of the discomfort that lying in bed entails.

On a happier note; Nat played rugby for his school again on Tuesday where they slaughter Lancaster Boys. Brandon (a Vipers star) attends Lancaster and is frustrated beyond measure because he appears to be the only person there who knows how to play rugby. Nat seems to be getting into rugby now that he does it at school and gets to go to training sessions, Vipers training classes with scouts on a Wednesday.

Han still seems to be poorly, home from ballet tonight complaining again of a bad stomach. We’ll need to check on whether Miss Hewitt has clamped down on the two little bitches who have been bullying her and the other kids.

Somehow Nat’s managed to wangle a place on the schools new breakfast clud and so is leaving for school even earlier in the morning.

Tuesday 2/ Wednesday3 - HIps playing up again

Took yesterday as holiday due to tiedness, back in to night but totally knackered.