Monday 31 January 2011

Heading to be done + tags

It was just after 6:00 when Nat came downstairs and asked me if I’d like to accompany him on his paper round and once again I said yes. The upside of doing this is that at least I get the chance to listen to a podcast whilst we’re out and given that they are accumulating faster than I can listen to them this isn’t a bad thing. The weather continues to be icy and every car we passed was frosted up. The hardest part of the round is getting to the newsagents because this is situated at the highest point on the Kingsway, after that it’s literally all down hill from there. We managed to complete the round in about 45 minutes and were home for 7:15, we left at 6:30. When I think back to my paper round, which I did on foot, if I’d done that at the same speed it would have taken me about four and a half hours to complete.


I spent most of the day, as usual, doing sod all on the PC; it’s astonishing how the time whizzes by when you’re engrossed on line doing nothing really.

Just before everyone was due home I started watching the BBC News technology programme Click which featured and article on on-line advertising aimed at children. When Deborah got home, she was first, I mentioned what I was watching and said that she might find this interesting especially considering how Hannah and Nat are always saying what they’ve seen on line and can they buy such and such. I mentioned that it was astonishing that the under nineteen’s spent over twelve billion pounds per annum on line and even more if you took into account family purchases that they had an input into. The point I was actually trying to make was that when you divided these totals by the population as a whole I kept being astonished that there was that much money in the economy, despite the effects of fifty years of inflation during just my lifetime. Of course I never managed to get that far before she jumped in to disagree with what she thought I was going to say. After the weekend just gone this was the straw that broke this camels back and I decided there and then that from now on my response to most things would be monosyllabic and that in future I wouldn’t instigate any further conversations. I’d had enough and since that time we’ve hardly spoken and when she’s spoken to me I’ve responded with the minimum necessary grunt, it’s just so much easier that way I just don’t want the hassle any longer.

So the pattern was set for another day of uncomfortable tension and in the end I just curled up on the sofa and went to sleep. Eventually I woke and decided to say “fuck it” to family finances, got her cash card and went to ASDA to buy some beers.

Hannah was supposed to go to Cubs that evening but claimed that she wasn’t feeling very well so didn’t. I just wish that all the overtime that was available last month was available now because if it was I’d spend the majority of my time at work just for the peace and quiet. Finally, everyone else went to bed and I stayed downstairs where once again I fell asleep on the sofa! If we ever win the lottery, which is now highly unlikely as we no longer have a syndicate at work and I rarely ever buy a ticket off of my own bat unless there’s a huge Euro Lottery Rollover, the first thing I’ll do is make sure I buy a place of my own as a retreat or a big house with a room for me with a lock on the door. It’s OK for the kids they’ve got their own rooms whereas there’s nowhere for either Deborah or I to go when we want some peace and quite. We’re forced to live on top of one another whether we want to be or not. Given the money situation it’s not even possible to escape to the pub for an hour or two. If things continue this way, finances or not, I can’t see us making it to our 30th anniversary!



I can’t really think of anything much else that happened on this day but as I’ve over two hundred words to go before I reach that magical thousand figure I’m going to have to think of something. I do recall now that I try that I didn’t discover any new software for my new phone or any new function on it. In point of fact from a “discovering new things your phone can do” point of view it was a distinctly negative day, much like the rest of the day in point of fact. Similarly, I didn’t experience any revelations that convinced me that there was a first cause to the Universe and that this first cause is indeed god as so many people profess to believe. On a related note it seems that every time I go to work there seem to be more and more men adopting Islamic dress which, it has to be said, in this climate looks ridiculous. I mean if they suddenly decided to convert to whatever faith it is that is held by Eskimos would they feel obliged to wear furs even if they happened to live in Africa? I hate to sound really Daily Mail about this but if their faith is of such importance to them why don’t they go and live in a country in the Islamic world or would they miss the comforts of western life too much? It doesn’t matter how long I live I don’t think I’ll ever understand how the religious can stay religious in the modern world. They reject science out of hand but forget that it’s modern science that feeds and clothes them. Cognitive dissonance it’s (1000) a wonderful thing allowing us all to be practicing unthinking and unknowing hypocrites!

Sunday 30 January 2011

Draft - Vipers v Market Harborough 30/1/11

This morning we are all off to watch Nat play rugby; there’s an actual match rather than a training session. This morning the lads are up against Market Harborough reserves/development team. We left home earlier than usual (“it’ll be very busy and we won’t be able to park if we don’t get there early” said Deborah) and arrived to find an empty car park. When we got into the car I thought I’d try the N8 FM transmitter and play something through the car radio. I was informed then that I had been informed previously that said radio was broken. I may well have been previously informed but if I had I’d forgotten. This exchange was to set the pattern for all further exchanges between Deborah and myself for the remainder of my off days. It’s no wonder that by Tuesday I was actually looking forward to going back to work. Not because work held any particular attraction but simply that it was the lesser of the two evils.


When we’d found a space and managed to squeeze the car into it (that’s called sarcasm) we disembarked and made our way around to the front of the club house. As the place was virtually deserted and because things had already gotten tense with Deborah I announced that I was going to go and sit inside and read until things started happening. You never know one day I’ll finish reading Adrian Mole the Prostrate Years because I think I managed ten or more pages before going back outside. I’ve been reading this damned booked since Xmas but only seem to get the chance to read a few pages at a time. I remember the days when I used to read at least one book a day!

I wanted to make use of the camera on the N8 to film the lads and photograph them using the zoom to see what the quality would be like and how easy it would be to stay on the action whilst in zoom mode. In addition I wanted to use the panorama application to take a few panoramic shots of the pitches and club house. The eventual results were patchy; I need a great deal more practice using the panorama app if I’m to master getting the shots I actually want. Things weren’t helped by the fact that the camera app itself was pretty glitchy and had a tendency to freeze up. The ordinary photos and videos weren’t too bad but again I was somewhat hampered by the app freezing. I’m going to wait for the anticipated big firmware update but if the N* continues to freeze regularly I’m going to send it back for repair or replacement.

When the teams finally came out we made our way over to pitch with Bruce (Jacob’s Dad) and Chris (Zak’s dad). As I already mentioned we were up against Market Harborough reserves/development but this didn’t mean that we were in for an easy game. Whereas Leicester, as a largish size city, has quiet a few rugby clubs the smaller towns generally only have one or perhaps two. This means that all the talent is focused into these few teams and they level of play is correspondingly high. In addition a few of their players were very much on the large size for under 13’s!

It was a good match but eventually MH gained the upper hand and the final score was 17 – 5 ion their favour. On the upside, the one try that was scored by The Vipers was in fact SCORED BY NAT…Yeah!!!!! Meanwhile, Hannah had been plying in the deep ditch that rounds around part of the grounds insisted that I come see what she could do vis. getting across to the other side I think that the photos below speak for themselves.



We left the club at approximately 12:00; we never stay for a drink afterward or socialise in the clubhouse bar because we’ve never got any money, there’s another pattern to go along with falling asleep on the sofa. On the journey home we got another example of Deborah’s absolute belief in the fact that she is never ever fucking wrong or in error. She said something or other to but inadvertently called him Hannah. How do I know that she said Hannah? I know because both Hannah and I heard it simultaneously and both of us, completely independently of one and other, said “Hannah?” Any normal person would, at this point, have simple said whoops and that would be that. Oh No not Deborah she insisted that she’s said Nat not Hannah and virtually accused BOTH Hannah and I of lying! First WTF would we do that and secondly, when on earth did we get the opportunity to get together decide to do so? Next October (or fucking November I can’t remember which) we will have been married for thirty years and during that time, plus the four years I knew her before we wed, I can count the number of times she’s apologised on the fingers of one hand and still have most of those fingers left unused. Fuck me I admit I can be stubborn but if I discover I’m wrong I’m more than willing to put my hands up and admit it not so her. So yet again a trivial slip of the tongue that should have resulted in nothing but a little laugh instead ends up causing yet another argument. I’m absolutely sick to death of this and to be honest if it was economically feasible I think I’d have packed my bags a while back. I never used to be on edge all the time and I’m still not when I’m anywhere else. I can deal with the most annoying rude arsehole and work and it’s water off of a ducks back but nowadays at home I’m just waiting for the next thing to kick off, be it Hannah having a paddy, Nat hitting her or Deborah deciding she knows what I’m saying instead of LISTENING TO WHAT I’M ACTUALLY SAYING! This tension in its turn of course has the effect of making me even more prickly and shouty and so the vicious spiral continues, inexorably, on its downward path.

So, we returned home to endure another uncomfortable afternoon of silences, Nat had the sense to piss off to the Fosse with Jacob and wasn’t seen again for a few hours. I went onto the PC and discovered a site that would allow me to convert word files into .epub format. Using this site I set about converting a number of the eBooks I have from .pdf to .epub and then transferring them onto the card memory on my phone. Hallelujah, they are eminently readable on the phone’s screen in this format. The display is made up of black type on a plain white background that automatically reformats itself to fit the screen should you adjust the font size. It would appear that I’ve created my very own Kindle on my N8. Of course every silver lining has a cloud and mine is this; now I’ve done this how I will ever be able to justify buying a standalone Kindle, especially the 3G version I’d like?

The happy day continued on course, Nat returned having spent yet more of his earnings on fast food and eventually they all went to bed and, after three, I fell asleep on the sofa!

Sunday 30 January 2011

Today I had rugby which was fun even though we lost why was it fun you ask I mean if you lost how could you enjoy yourself well the answer to that question is that I scored a try:) Later on I went to Foss park with Jacob first we got something to eat then we went to WHsmiths and then we sat in MacDonald drinking coke and talking after this we went to my house and went on the PC and the Xbox.

Saturday 29 January 2011

Headings and Tags to do

Nat came down at just after 6:00 and asked me if I’d like to go on his paper round with him, he seems to like it when I accompany him and isn’t at all embarrassed that his dad comes with him on his round especially on a Saturday when the papers are very large and heavy and he knows I’ll put them in the basket on the front of my bike and saved his poor shoulder. My Son either has the metabolism of a sloth on tranquilizers or else needs a new bike. I cannot comprehend how he is able to cycle so slowly, at his speed I either fall off my bike or, if there’s a strong wind, start going backward. Eventually we were done and headed home, Deborah and Hannah were still abed so we sat, had a hot drink and watched the BBC news channel. Eventually Nat suggested that, while Hannah was still in bed, he’d like to watch “The Joy of Teen Sex” which we’d taped previously. It’s a good thing that I don’t get embarrassed easily as it was quite a candid programme which provoked many questions from him. In fact it was a pretty good programme although I do have to admit that I did find the teenage reporter a little irritating. This may have more to do with my own prejudices than anything she actually did. She reminded my of Bob Geldof’s daughter “Peaches” who, a few years back, was also a spoilt socially advantaged teenage reporter who believed she was experienced enough to tell the rest of us who it “really was”! Peaches sweetie if it wasn’t for Daddy’s money you’d be behind a check out in ASDA! Yes our plucky teenage reporter had obviously had the benefit of an expensive private education and couldn’t wait to comment on and look down upon the strange sexual practices of the Oiks she’d spent her life being shielded from. To make matters worse she even looked a little like the aforementioned Peaches so she really wasn’t in with a chance with me. Well enough of me ranting against the iniquities of the Class System and its privileged babes and back to the subject at hand. Nat was fascinated and immediately the first programme concluded he wanted to watch the second. I was able to persuade him that it would be pointless to do so a Hannah would be out of bed shortly and that, despite the fact that she is 10 going on 20, the programme was just a little too advanced for her to watch. So instead I persuaded him that we should watch “Coming of Age” and told him that I was certain he would enjoy it. He was a little hesitant but I was proved to be right and by the end of it he was in tears. He especially liked the boy’s film about TITs which literally had both of us crying with laughter.


Deborah and Hannah finally put in and appearance and informed us that they were going shopping and so after they had left Nat and I started watching episode two of the joy of teenage sex. Strangely enough I found that our intrepid teenage reporter had grown on me…Not! Nat decided that he was going to go into town with his mates to the Warhammer store…Shock Horror he’s never done that before, well not unless you count every Saturday. He rang Brandon and Zak and arranged for Brandon to call to us and then he and Nat would be picked up by Zak and his dad/mum and dropped off in town. So, by 10:30, I was, once again, alone and able to continue developing my plot for World domination. This is coming along nicely, if somewhat slowly, and should be complete sometime around 2070 at which point I’ll start to implement it. Be ready world to sing the praises your Great Leader…ME.

Deborah and Hannah arrived back around 11:30 but were only home until 2:00 when they left for a ballet lesson with Miss Deidre.

At some point I received a text form work informing me that there was overtime available if I wanted to come in today. Given that I never get any benefit from the extra cash I though f**k it and didn’t respond. If I did 6 hours at time and a half then I’d gross approximately £120 and if I were allowed to take £20 of that for myself, each time I did that, then I’d happily do it because that would mean there were less days in which I could spend money but that on the days when I could I’d actually have something to spend. I’d just like to be able to afford to go into town one weekend and spend the afternoon doing the book and tech shops before spending the remained of the afternoon enjoying a few pints in the Wetherspoon’s Pub on High Street. Surely that’s not an overly lofty ambition, enough money to buy a few beers in Leicester’s cheapest pub.

Anyway, the days passed, as they all do, Nat came home with his mates in tow and ensconced themselves upstairs on the X-box, in Nat’s room, for the rest of the evening. Deborah and Hannah got back at about 4:45 and I don’t recall a great deal happening after that. Zak stayed until 8:30 and Brandon until 9:00. Shortly afterward they all went to bed while I remained downstairs watching the TV. Fell asleep on the sofa…anyone spotted a pattern yet? Well have you? Come on you at the back what’s the common theme at the end of many of these entries? There are two aren’t there? There is the fact that very time the blog seems to end with me falling asleep on the sofa and then there are my increasingly desperate attempts to break that arbitrary self imposed thousand word barrier and it looks as though I’ve managed to do exactly that once again (1000).

Friday 28 January 2011

Headings and Tags to do

Finished work and away just after 7:10 (it takes me ten minutes to put on all my travelling shit). Shortly before I left Haskh passed me a copy of the Company disciplinary code. Well bugger me, I damn near shat my pants and wondered what on earth I’d done now. Nothing’s wrong, he assured me, it’s just something for you to know. Well there could be a lot more to it than that. Now H is the Unison (that’s a UK trades union dearest foreign reader – if you are a future reader then you need to understand that these were the people who used to represent the workers in what was once the UK but is now, of course, The Great Atlantic Crater. Yes, where that gaping great hole is there was once a dear little country what I called mine own) { http://www.eos.ubc.ca/courses/Dist-Ed/SyllabusImages/tungurahua-volcano.jpg}Representative for the night shift but he’s been angling for sometime for a promotion up into the rarefied ranks of management should he manage to do so he will have to take off his union hat and doff his management one. That of course means that there will be a vacancy and after my involvement in the JDM affair he’s already hinted that I might be just the person to step into this role. I don’t know whether or not that’s something I’d be happy doing, Jesus Christ on a crutch the JDM affair stressed me out enough as it was, but on the upside Unison do give each rep their very own Unison mobile phone and it’s not just any old phone it’s an iPhone 4. Now that of it’s self is one hell of a temptation and provides a huge upside to balance what I perceive as the downsides! He has missed out on the EA promotion but appears to be trying to be closely involved with various projects that are currently in motion. This would explain his early morning conversation with Debbie (?) last week. It would be great for him and well deserved if he did manage to get a promotion but on the downside that would mean even less males on the overnight team and Id miss his company and his wife’s wonderful cooking. Only time will tell but there’s a chance I might get my hands on an iPhone after all.


Anyway, where was I; oh yes, so I left work at 7:10 and cycled home. Apparently this is our golden four days; we’re off for a long weekend Friday AM – Tuesday PM but it’s only golden if you’ve money to spend on things to do; when you’ve not then it’s nothing but a long weekend stuck at home with the family doing nothing other than watching your life pass you by. Now, clever readers, from my tone can you hazard a guess as to which of the two foregoing scenarios most closely resembled my own experience… anyone? Is it of little wonder then that I wasn’t expecting great things and I wasn’t surprised when the weekend lived up to my expectations in full measure.

With regards to specifics I don’t recall anything else in particular about that first day and will so end this entry here. Oh yes, I forgot, I went to bed around noon and slept until the early evening. As a result I once more stayed down stairs when all had gone to bed and eventually fell asleep on the sofa…again!

Friday 28 January 2011

Today was pretty boring at school but after school I went swimming with Jacob , Josh and there dad Bruce. We went to Beaumont lees and we went on the slides how brave is that especially as they go out of the building and its 6 o'clock and it's January and rather chilly. We also had races and played Bulldog which was owneg.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Headings and Tags to do

Yet another not a lot day but lets see what we can come up with to enhance the creative writing juices…nothing so far so what did happen today?


Got away from work late but at least the wind was in my favour on the way home and I arrived there only a little later than usual. Nat was back from his paper round and both he and Han were on the sofa watching some mind numbing Disney shit. Dragged them over to see Hannah’s panoramic photos on the PC; these hadn’t turned out the way I wanted but there was an unexpected bonus in that as the panorama progressed Han appeared to become more and more transparent until eventually you could see Monty through her almost totally transparent bottom half. Don’t know if I’ll be able how I did this and deliberately replicate it in future, that’ll have to be a project for another day.

After Deb had left to drop Nat at school, rugby today so too much kit for him to cycle I walked Han to school and we took Monty with us. As we left Shantelle, from a few doors up, her Mum and her brother (Leon?) came out too. It seems that Han and she are going through another of their “off again” phases so we didn’t walk together which was a shame because her Mum’s a bit of a Milf (merely window shopping dearest reader…honestly). Left Han at the school gates and took Monty home via the KW grass. When we arrived home I immediately spotted the letter that Hannah was supposed to have posted and went out and shoved it into the post box. No beer so a quick trip to ASDA was the next order of the day and this was quickly done. I returned just in time to start watching the inimitable JK show but for some reason couldn’t get into it, perhaps I’m reaching chav saturation point and starting to find them more annoying rather than amusing. It is frightening to know just how many imbecilely stupid people there are in this world, these are the kinds of people I wouldn’t trust to sit the right way round on a toilet seat (acknowledgement here for that phrase readily given to Rowan Atkinson’s superb Father of the Bride sketch).

I tinkered for a while on the PC messing round with the photos I’d taken of Han and the two panoramas I’d taken of the Winstanley Arms during the walk back home, I then uploaded these to Twitpic and FaceBook. Eventually Morpheus called out to me and I once again took that trip up the stairs to good old Bedfordshire. I’d had the foresight to fill the hot water bottle early and place it in the bed which was, as a result, warm and relaxing. I put the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast on and gradually drifted off to sleep. Awoke a number of times to visit the loo and once again experienced the downside of drinking a couple of beers immediately before going to bed. Aside from this I slept the sleep of the just untroubled by the enormous, wide ranging and frankly appalling sins of my pissed (whoops sorry) past which I have conveniently wiped from my memory. No longer was my sleep troubled by remembrances of downsizing, expropriation, corruption and sleaze; my time as one of Maggie’s Ministers of Mayhem and Destruction was a thing long forgotten.

Got up at 6:00 and came down to the usual noisy mayhem of my progeny; despite repeated requests to desist they continued to annoy until finally, I was forced to beat both of them to within an inch of their lives. Even after this they continued to annoy with their pitifully requests for an ambulance; I’m far too soft with the pair of them I think it’s time to unleash the studded belt of exceptional agony!

I left for work at 7:00 and once again battle against a strong wind all the way there and was exhausted by the time I arrives. It was very busy this evening compared to the previous three nights and we barely stopped, apart from a brief (OK Quick) brief, until around 1:00am. Things quietened down a lot after that and H and I chatted and plotted about how we could terminate, with extreme prejudice the Mersey Mouth without getting nicked because once more she spent the entire shift regaling the newbie’s (and the long suffering rest of us) with her tired old stories all told at the top of her annoying voice interspersed with her incredibly annoying laugh. I reckon that even if we were caught we would escape conviction if we relied on the defences of either provocation or diminished responsibility. No sane Jury would convict us once we adduced evidence as to the detrimental effects on ones mental faculties of working (enduring) of working with her over an extended period.

JDM’s now been back for the whole four nights and he Seems to be OK; to be honest, I’ve kept my distance I imagine that he just wants to put the whole sorry episode behind him and my harking on about it isn’t likely to be conductive to the achievement of that particular goal. Did you see how I made that sentence unnecessarily long because I’m trying to break the thousand word barrier? I’ve many similar tricks that permit me to waffle on endlessly about nothing whilst giving the impression that I’m actually saying something concrete. Far from it deceived readers I’ve not said anything of substance for at least the last hundred words but what I have managed to do is reach nine hundred and fifty words and put that elusive thousand word finish line that much closer. I’ve really got it in my sights now and there can’t be much more for me to say before I cross the absolutely arbitrary line. In fact I’d not be surprised if I’d not (1000) just done it! Hooray for waffle!

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Wednesday 26 January 2011

There was some news today I am not not through to the next stage if the selection process to get to Kenya and as it was a double negative at the beginning then I am through. Later on I went to Scouts where I played and won  a game of Hokey. I then went and did knife and saw stuff with the explorers:) (Because I had already got the badge the others where working for) except just as I got the knife I was called back in for the end of scouts.

Kenya Third Round, N8 Fiddling, Photo, Boxing, Work IT Problems, Feed By Hasmuhk, Return To Twitter,

It looks as if I’ll have to find even more money from somewhere (where???) as Nat advised us today that he’s been told that he is through to the 3rd round of the Kenya Trip selection process… Lucky Bugger! Now I’m in the position of hoping that next winter will prove to be as bad as this has been. If it is then I’ll at least have the opportunity to do masses of overtime and accumulate mucho needed spondoullies. This being the case then next year we’ll most likely have the mildest winter since records began…eternal optimist me.


I recall little else; I stayed up on the PC until approximately 12:30 after which I climbed the stairs sleepily to Bedfordshire where upon I alternated between napping and listening to podcasts. I think I was a little light on the napping because when I woke at 6:00 I was totally fricking knackered as we say here in Englishland (yes where the history comes from). Oh I forgot, I know what I was doing on the PC I was alternating between reading up on mobiles, the N8 in particular, and playing with the camera application on said mobile to see what it was capable. I took a series of close-up photos of Monty and then played about photographing the hot water bottle cover; yes I know that sounds weird but you’ll get the picture (ouch) from examining the pictures below. When I got up and after I’d eaten I continued doing this for a little while with Hannah, trying to get multiple images of her into a single panoramic photo. I wasn’t very successful at achieving the desired result, in part because she wasn’t sure what I wanted her to do and partly because I was in a rush to do it before changing to go to work. I’ll have to try again when I’m off and explain what I want her to do more clearly and take more time setting up the shots. Well you can’t learn from your mistakes if you don’t make any to begin with…can you?

The kids had been busy; when I first came downstairs Nat was away boxing and Han was at ballet. When they returned Nat immediately went upstairs to get changed for scouts where, typically, he faffed about and was still not dressed when Darren turned up to take him there.

Ended up leaving a little late and there was a strong head wind on the way in I barely made it to work on time. I told JDM that I’d be a little late starting to take calls because I needed to catch me breath. I needn’t have worried as soon as I’d signed on it was apparent that there were problems with my account and I couldn’t access the main programme we use. Fifty minutes, and many attempts, later the IT desk was finally able to solve the problem and finally at 20:45 I was able to start work.

The night was very changeable, early on, until 23:00, we were heavily overmanned and had little to do. At 23:00 when everyone other than our team left we were inundated for the best part of the next two hours. After that it settled down and was reasonably quiet throughout the rest of the night. Yet again H’s wife had made him far more food than he could possibly eat and Prash has brought his own so I, once more, had the pleasure of enjoying H’s wife’s wonderfully delicious Indian cooking. Why are people under the impression that vegetarian cooking is boring and tasteless? They couldn’t be more wrong! I feel a little guilty taking all this food but as H says if he goes home with uneaten stuff he gets into trouble so really it’s me that’s doing him a favour…does anyone think I should charge him for this or should I continue to be the selfless one?

Isn’t it weird a little while ago I was convinced that I had nothing to write about today and then before you know it I’m close to hitting the seven hundred word mark? Oh it truly is a strange world where these words can mysteriously appear from nowhere and it also obvious when someone has started writing drivel in order to reach that magic One Thousand Words point. Wait a mo, there’s no need for this pointless prevarication I’ve just thought of something real to write about.

Tonight signalled my real return to the Twitter sphere; I’ve made a few random posts over the last couple of nights but tonight I started remaking contact with some of those I exchanged regular tweets with prior to the inclement weather. Got back in contact with @RobinEccles earlier in the day and exchanged a number of tweets with @Fab44Me in Las Vegas; she’s the native American lady who’s son got a copy of Call of Duty on the same day that Nat did and who Nat’s played against a few times on his X-Box. Sent a terrible joke reply in response to @CrispySea

Re: his comment on sexing up the Opera;

@CrispySea Surely (yes I called U Shirley) there's no need to sex up Opera unless or until the Fat Lady Minges. So, Sorry I couldn't resist!

no response to that one as yet.

Tonight the Hash Tag I played with was #sagamusic and I think that I did manage to come up with quite a few pretty funny ones, certainly I had a retweet and a number of direct responses to a few of them. So, in all their glory here they are:

I Only Have Dies for You #sagamusic


I Wanna Be Sedated By Dignitas - The Ramones #sagamusic


I'm So Lonesome I Could Die, #sagamusic


Good Golly, Miss Molly...U Dead!, #sagamusic


Blueberry Hill Cemetery #sagamusic


I Heard It Through the Gravevine, #sagamusic


Papa's Got a Brand New Hag, #sagamusic


Tangled Up in Glue, Bob Dylan #sagamusic (for horses)


When a Man Out Lives a Woman, Percy Sledge #sagamusic


The Tracks of My Fears, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles #sagamusic


You've Lost That Livin' Feelin', The Righteous Brothers #sagamusic


(Shittin on) the Doc of the Day, Otis Redding #sagamusic My Fav


A Last Day in the Life, The Beatles #sagamusic


Old People Get Ready, The Impressions #sagamusic


Slowin' in the Wind, Bob Dylan #sagamusic


Ground Dog, Elvis Presley #sagamusic


Purple Haze With A Strange But Beautiful And So Alluring Shiny White Light I


Dust in the Wind #sagamusic


A (last) Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke #sagamusic


"(Last of) My Generation", The Who #sagamusic


Shells Like Teen Spirit #sagamusic


Johnny B. Gone, Chuck Berry #sagamusic Retweeted


Shake Rattle and Drool #sagamusic


"Last Nite (Of My Life)" by The Massive Strokes #sagamusic


"99 (Age Related) Problems" by Jay-Z #sagamusic


"Take Me Out (Of These incontinence Pants)" by Franz Ferdinand #sagamusic


"Jesus Walks With A Cane" by Kanye West #sagamusic

As everything changes so some things always remain the same and as usual C continues to loudly sound off with her very own Mersey Tunnel.

How true the famous proverb is;

The Emptiest Vessels Do Make The Most Noise!

Just another nine words and that’s twelve hundred altogether.

Monday 24 January 2011

Up All Night, TV Marathon, No Ordinary Family, Paper Round, Kenya Interview, Dinner...Yuck, Cubs, JDM Back, Bye Bye Lotto, Manuals, Mersey Mouth, Gun,

Having slept for most of the last four days when I got up last night I stayed up for the rest of the night catching up on some TV programmes. I rode with Nat on his paper round before we returned home and he got ready for school while we got Hannah out of bed. Asked Nat how his Kenya interview went on Friday; he told me he’d answered all the questions asked of him but couldn’t recall one of them. Those he remembered weren’t too bad, what will you contribute, what will you get out of it sort of thing but there was one specific question that he perhaps answered before thinking. This question was “what would you do with the children you are teaching if there was a One Hour power cut?” Nat’s 1st question was; “was this at night or during the daytime?” followed by “was the power cut inside or outside?” Whoops, I don’t think he’d be teaching them during the night and power cuts are generally inside! But hold on a minute Mr Criticism, he’s only 13years old and this was the 1st time he’d ever been interviewed by a panel of adults. All in all, that had to be quite stressful so give the kid a break!


After everyone had left I watched the 3rd episode of the new super hero series “No Ordinary Family” which isn’t at all bad; this was followed by two episodes of Silent Witness by which time it was 1:00 O’clock and time for bed. I tried to list to a few podcasts, All About Symbian which I managed to stay awake for and BBC Radio Four’s Friday Night Comedy “The news Quiz” which I kept falling asleep during and kept having to rewind. I still don’t think I heard it all and I’ll have to try again tomorrow.

Got up for dinner at 6:00 but was unable to eat it; the rice was dry and tasted awful while the chicken sticks were over cooked and hard and dry. These two things have never been on my list of foods I like/enjoy eating and tonight they were too much for me to stomach (ouch)! Hannah had no such reservations and proceeded to wolf the rice off of my plate before being collected by Donna and whisked off to cubs…not many more cubs meeting for her as she’ll be moving up to scouts shortly, where Nat’s a Sixer!!!

I got changed (still winter gear) and prepared to cycle to work; JDM’s back tonight so it’ll be nice to return back to the status quo; that’s saying nothing against Haskh who’s done a sterling job standing in for him. There were more changes in store as tonight yet another new person joined the team (Sharon); if Prash is serious about coming back he’d best get his arse in gear whilst there’s still a place for him, one more new starter and we’re at full complement and the door closes behind him permanently!

JDM arrived just before the shift was due to start and all the girls gave him huge hugs to show him how happy they were that he’d returned. He seemed, understandably, a little subdued but looked a thousand times better than he had last week. He ensconced himself with PD for quite a long and I imaging awkward chat in order to clear the air between them and let that religious man alleviate his feeling of guilt over having set off the whole sorry incident.

Later we had a team meeting where once more JDM was not yet his old self but hopefully a few days back in the saddle will have him feeling more like his old self.

There will be a few changes taking place, no more missed briefs and buzzes now we’re taking what we are entitled too and finally we’re killing off the lottery syndicate which has become completely unwieldy and a nightmare to administer. Maybe, or maybe note, we might start another smaller one at some point in the future but only time will tell. When the premium bonds are cashed in hopefully we’ll all end up approximately £40 the better off; oh dear reader what on earth will I do with such an enormous windfall…will it change, me will I become one of those arrogant wealthy self appointed people who look down their noses at those who are less well off…only time will tell, gentle reader, yes only time will tell?

Oh, I was on manuals tonight so nothing really to say, C withering on to the new girl, if Hashk only had a gun!

Monday 24 January 2011

Today I went to school and nothing happened when I got home nothing happened although I did watch some awesome videos on youtube.Ultimate showdownTenacious D tribute One and One make Two and Two and One makes Three!!! and that was about it for today.

Sunday 23 January 2011

Sunday 23 January 2010

Today I had rugby training, its was fun even though we did a lot of running and on the subject of running I managed to run I know how unbelievable is that!!!!!!!! we played 2 games and in the first smaller game I scored about 10 trys and in the second game I scored less trys but I ripped the ball of so many people!!! After rugby I went into town with Zak to the GW store I played a few games, had a Maryland for lunch as well as a coke from TJ'S I also "got" some models or more truthfully found them 3 Warhammer Sprue's, 8 Necrons, a large base and a tape measure. Later on Zak came round and we played a game I wiped out his entire force and only lost 3 men!!!

Saturday 22 January 2011

Saturday 22 January 2011

Today I got paid for doing my paper round. Later on I went to Fosse park with Jacob, Zak and Josh. First we got something to eat I had a KFC then we went to WHsmiths and Soccer Sports Then we went to Argos and I got a Nerf gun a semi-automatic Nerf gun. Later on I went to Hannah's Ballet Thing and at the end I was taken out of the audience to join in.      

Friday 21 January 2011

Friday 21 January

After school today I did something but I am not going to tell you what all I am going to do is pyscliy  project it into your mind!

OK have you got it

I had an interview for the Kenya trip I was interviewed by a panel of 2 teachers and was asked 6 questions which where

1: Q As space is limited what 2 items would you need to take?
A Clothes seeing as I can't run around naked and shoes because I don't want glass in my feet.

2: Q Describe your self in 2 words?
A Hard-working and committed

3: Q if there was a black out for 1 hour and yo had to occupy a bunch of young children what would you do?
A First I asked is it day or night they said ether then I asked is it out or in side they again said ether my answer was if it was day time I would go out side and play a game if it was night time I would play cards.

4: Q if there was a plate of goats meat and maze in front of you would you eat it?
A I said yes I will always try new food.

5:Q How would you cope with the emotional strain of being away from your parents and what you would actual see there?
A I have been on lots of Scout camps so I don't mind being away from my parents and I would Know I was helping to stop the horrible things I would see there so I would be able to cope.

6: Q What would you gain from the trip?
A  An understanding of different cultures, a new perspective of how lucky I actually am, life long friends and I Would come home knowing I made a difference to those peoples lives.

 

Thursday 20 January 2011

Thursday 20 January 2011

Today I played a rugby game for my school we missed period 6 which was OK we missed maths. I played as hooker as usual Which I did well wining all but 1 or 2 scrums out of about 10-12. We did lose 19-28  But they where a privet boarding school who don't do football in PE so not to bad but it could have been better but o'well we will learn from our mistakes.  

Wednesday 19 January 2011

More F**king Arguements

Got away on time this AM…almost, by the time I’d got into all of my cycling gear it was 7:10 but then I was away and the ride home was fairly pleasant. Arrived home and showed off my cake and vodka got the usual boring lecture about drinking too much. I wish they’d let up sometime and they say I nag (more on that later).


After Nat had left Deb departed too with Hannah in tow and dropped her at school. I got myself a beer and sat down at the PC to do??? What I didn’t do was follow up and finish creating the blog I’d started, on Tumblr, earlier that morning, so, something else for my never to do list to do. Watched the wonderful JK Show, as chavy as usual, drunk my miniature of vodka and went to bed. The vodka’s narcotic effects went to work rapidly and I slept for most of the day. If I’d known what was coming I’d have remained asleep. Came down stairs at 6:00pm to have dinner and yet again had to mention to Nat that, as usual, he wasn’t doing his blog entries…he’ll fuck up his exams big time if he doesn’t buckle down and sort out this writing problem, this is something I know from Bitter Personal Experience. I wasn’t being heavy but yet again when I looked to his Mother for support, as usual, she turned it back on me instead of presenting a united front. I’m utterly fucking sick of this, every fucking time instead of support I get shafted. I’d had enough and left the room to get dressed for work and get out of the fucking place as quickly as I could. I’m sick of making the effort and I don’t think I can be bothered to be bother for much longer. It’s like trying to get Hannah to watch educational programmes eventually, after seemingly endless attempts to spark her interest, you just give up. This is going to have some nasty consequences for Nat however because we made a deal, if he did his blog we’d pay for his skiing trip. Well he hasn’t kept to his side of the bargain so why the fuck should I keep to mine. Maybe it’s time he met the real work where you get fuck all for fuck all. What’s the point of making a promise if the person you’ve made it to has to spend all their time trying to get you to keep it? Deb appears to believe she knows everything, even though I’m the person who’s had to live with the consequences of Dyspraxia not her, so let her sort it out! She’s the PERFECT Mother and I’m simply sick and tired of always being the bad guy. It’s easy to stop shouting all you have to do is stop caring and why the fuck should I care when all I get in return is earfuls of grief. Well there’s nearly five hundred words of pent up bile and bitterness committed to paper and it’s only taken me twenty minutes to write; seeing as we’re asking Nat for only fifty words that should take him, with practice, about two minutes a day. Apparently that’s too much to ask of him but he wants £700 off me to go skiing. That’s how much money I get in 10 months. No doubt, if he gets picked, he’ll expect more money for nothing for the trip to Kenya. Boy has he got a shock coming when he finally encounters the real world sans the bank of Mum and Dad. Oh well that’s that off my chest or is it?

Just had a team brief and as usual C has to be an arsehole with Hmk always taking offence; all he did was expand on a simple answer, not for her, but for the new starters. She really is a piece of work I think my dislike of her grows with each passing day. That’s the problem with me, I don’t easily dislike someone but once I do I see their every fault magnified a thousand times. Oh well, it’s not as if I want to be bosom mates with her, far from it, I imagine As must be thanking his lucky stars that he’s moved back in day and managed to get away from her. That man has the patience of a saint because she focused on him as her best mate and he was stuck listening to her drone on and on night after night after night, the poor sod!

JDM is set to return at the start of the next shift and that should be interesting. I can’t imagine, after what was done to him that he’ll still have the commitment he previously had. Hopefully having this week off will have given him a chance to recuperate and recharge his batteries because last week he looked like a man who’d aged ten years. He was literally grey, drawn and haggard. I suspect we won’t be seeing AM again on this shift well not if the company has any sense we won’t!

I’m not sure whether or not I’m supposed to be going out for a drink tomorrow night with Hmk and sundry. It was mentioned repeatedly at the start of the week but not so now. I’ll keep stum and see what happens because it’ll probably be a pain getting back form the other side of town and I most certainly can’t afford to pay for a taxi.

Once more it appears that the Government intends to tackle a perceived social problem with an appropriately stupid knee-jerk policy decision.

There are, it appears, plans afoot to raise the minimum price of a can of beer to 38p. This, apparently will discourage binge drinking; how is it supposed to do this? How is this going to work?. Binge drinkers, as far as I’m aware, don’t generally buy cheap beer as there’s no point. Cheap beer generally has fairly low alcohol content by volume and therefore has no appeal to people whose avowed intentions are to get out of their heads as quickly as possible. Binge drinkers, who get tanked up before they go out, buy strong beer and cider and spirits, if you doubt this then watch the Binge Britain TV series, and as the price of these drinks will be unaffected, being already more expensive than the minimum 38pence, the price hike will have no effect on their consumption whatsoever! So who’s going to get shafted? I’ll tell you who, people like me, people who buy cheap beer because they like the taste of beer but don’t desire, nor can afford, to get pissed. Yeah thank you, you bunch of shitheads another stupid policy which will never achieve its stated aims. In point of fact if the price of low alcohol beer goes up surely that will encourage people to buy stronger beer because of the reduction in the price differential.

Wednesday 19 December 2011

Today I went to Scout's Where we cooked a meal, my patrol cooked Spaghetti Carbanara Which was as per usual lovely. I went to the shop and bought the ingredients bacon, Sauce, Paster and for desert Swiss role and custard. We then cooked he meal and ate it YUM YUM YUM. With Jacob I then helped to wash up after that I went home.
nothing at all happed this week nothing happed on Monday on Tuesday I had rugby at lunch but it was on the astroturf so no contact just touch :(

After school Brandon came round we watched a film and had a pizza from pizza hut which was nice mmmmmm

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Still Got Some catching Up To Do But It's Back To Really Time Blogging

Home this AM and finally not as exhausted as I had been for the last few days. I stayed up until about 11.30 before heading up the stairs to Bedfordshire. Managed to get to sleep and woke at 6:00 feeling a little more normal. Once again Brandon was here playing with Nat on his X-box; Deb had sent out for two pizzas and my half of mine and Hannah’s was spicy vegetable, the one people order at work, and it was hotly scrumptious. I’m unsure who paid for them, if I understood Deb correctly Nat paid for half. If that’s correct then well done that boy!


When I left for work I discovered that Brandon’s bicycle was also in the alleyway and so Deb had to come outside and help me make a path to get mine out. Once more I was pushed for time because of the delay and had to push it in order to get to work in time. JUST ABOUT MADE IT IN TIME BUT MY DESK WAS OCCUPIED SO I ENSCONCED MYSELF OVER ON OUR OLD BANK. Things were busy but calls fell off quiet rapidly and so, in order to keep my mind occupied, I logged onto Twitter and started playing on two of the humorous hashtags that were up that evening. These were #gluttonmovies and #welshremakes. Below are a selection of mine and some of the very clever ones I retweeted:

PD was in tonight and made his way over to me to discuss the JDM situation. I played it very diplomatically and agreed that it had been an unpleasant situation for all concerned. I suggested that it would be best if we treated this as water under the bridge and that perhaps he should have a private chat with JDM when he returned to work next week. I agreed that I would tell JDM about our talk when we next spoke.

Around about 10Pm I upped sticks and logged onto my normal work station and rejoined the rest of the O/N team. Things were fairly steady during the remainer of the night and at about 01:30 I sent Donna a text to advise her that I couldn’t follow her on Twitter because she had protected her tweets and I wouldn’t be able to follow her until she accepted my request to follow her. I suddenly realised the time and was a little concerned that I may have woken her. The night passed fairly quietly, received a cake and miniature of Vodka from Prash for helping out JDM, which was nice, I’ll have that this AM the kids and Deb will no doubt have the cake. Played about some more on Twitter and started organising lists of followers in order to more easily keep track of those tweets I actually want to read on a regular basis. No response from Donna so hopefully I didn’t wake her. Skipped lunch, again, just can’t be arsed to go into that pokey room and over microwave another ready meal…when will they finish refurbishing the canteen it’s been Four Months now and still no end in sight? It must be costing an absolute flipping fortune (note there how I avoided the unnecessary use of an expletive…how fucking awesome was that?).

C continues to regale the new starters with her boring stories and opinions on everything; I sent Hmk Dunck’s old emails about her tonight which made him grin. The late great Dunck certainly didn’t pull any punches when he sent these to JDM. I’ve copied them below for your edification dearest readers…Enjoy!

Ooh, the plot thickens...


-----Original Message-----


From: Dunck


Sent: 07 June 2006 00:57


To: JDM


Subject: RE: Team meeting.


Gotta be honest JDM, NO!


Every opinion C has is forced onto everyone else and unfortunately, you (and I think Sara) back her. I'm sick of it.


Your comment at the beginning was actually quite positive, about us all being individuals, but after she'd started ranting, you back tracked and agreed with her. We have to be individuals who do exactly the same, i.e. what she wants.


I don't listen to MP3's or watch DVD's because it puts me to sleep. That's why I always ask the Manuals Wallah for lots of writing up. The reason I do all the writing up on my own when I do Manuals is...her! I can’t stand her complaining about every aspect of the writing up, so I do it. It's purely to avoid arguments.


If someone wants to sit with an earplug listening to a film, ready to put it on hold and take a call (we're here to work, remember?) I don't see a problem with it.


It's only because C has one or two people less to tell her sad stories to or inflict her opinions on, that she has a problem. Let's not forget that Am brought his DVD player in on this shift and when he and C were bestest buddies that was fine. She even watched a few films and some episode of 24 with Am and M. Since they've had a falling out (and since M had the nerve to ask her not to shout as he was doing something) she's made it her mission to stop it. Where's the sense in that? It's unbelievably one-sided and unfair.


We sit apart as a "team" because no-one wants to sit next to her. Even her 2 closest friends here (As and Am) sat away from her last night because of the incessant noise coming out of her. I can’t sit near her.

:-(
Dunk


-----Original Message-----


From: JDM


Sent: 07 June 2006 00:29


To: Dunk


Subject: RE: Team meeting.


Hi Dunc,


Thank you for your comments so do think that there are any positives to come out of the meeting, I guess not?


Regards


JDM


-----Original Message-----


From: Dunk


Sent: 06 June 2006 23:58


To: JDM


Subject: Team meeting.


JDM,

I have to say that meeting was a shambles. C has gone too far and I think what she said and did was disgusting. The reason there is any animosity in the "team" is down solely to her. That's not just my opinion; most of the others feel that way but are afraid to speak up.


The reason I sit on my own is that I am sick and tired of her rubbish. She's mouthy to the extreme, rude, belligerent to customers and her "team mates" and is the most opinionated person I've ever had the misfortune to meet. Most of the others feel the same, that's why we all sit so spread apart. All this nonsense from her that she wants us all to sit together and chat is ridiculous. She just wants a platform with a captive audience to listen to her regurgitate her boring old stories AND arguments she's had over and over again.


The way she spoke to M, Me, Prash, Sue and anyone else who DARED to disagree with her was nothing short of disgusting.


Unless you confront the people one-to-one I don't think they'd have the bottle to speak up like this.


She is bringing the team down with her attitude, viciousness and "holier than thou" attitude. From now on, I will be sitting on my own and will not be attending anymore "team" meetings. Sorry to be so blunt, but if she thinks she's got problems, she should have a look at my life! My problems run rings round hers, but I don't sit there bleating about it in "team" meetings. It's unprofessional and unnecessary.


As for making M feel that he had to tell a group of 16 or so people about his dead daughter, I really felt for him. I was at PG in late 1999 on the same team as him and was there when he announced that his daughter had died that morning inside Deb at 8 months of her pregnancy.
Sorry to be the bringer of doom and gloom but I cant let this go. I've had enough.


Dunk


Dun "The Instigator" H****


Hi M,

hope you don't mind, but I felt compelled to send this to JDM after that meeting.

Solidanosch!!!

Strong stuff ah? Old Dunc’s been dead four years, he committed suicide, but reading the above it was as if he were still here. It’s such a shame I wasn’t able to save his other mails before the system wiped them when he was removed from the company’s records. Silly boy Dunc why didn’t you tell one of us what was going on? I’m sure we could have found a less drastic way out for you.

Monday 17 January 2011

17 January 2011

Today was pretty ordinary except that I am back to cycling to school 

Sunday 16 January 2011

Sunday 16 January 2010

Today I played rugby for the Vippers it was training and it was in the mud :) We practised Line outs and Scrums, then played a game which was fun because you got to smash people.

 Later on I went to Fosse park with Jacob, Zak was supposed to come but said he was't at the last minute so just me and Jacob went there. We had a KFC and went to WH Smiths MacDonald curry's and PC world.    

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Draft - Loughboro Lego Robots,

Fin wk

Nat Off to Loughboro for Lego Robot challenge, his team wins three competitions, see pics on Flickr

Walk Han School

09:00 spoke to JDM who received my update and would do more work and send me next draft

Slept and worried rest of day, knackered fell asleep downstairs went to bed about 18:00.

just one more day to in

inI'm Really Worried About TomorWe've Got Three Meeting Foodstuff Throng In The Morning At Work Re .s DisciplinaryrowOhmwhy actu i refuge text

Monday 10 January 2011

Saturday 8 January 2011

Today I had Lego robot building :) Where we finished off the presentation and got a few more challenges under our belts.
Later on I went in to town with my mum to pick Hannah and her friends up from a party t mega zone while we where in town I got a Cadian Command squad and a chimera. When I got home I made my models and very well to or at least that's what I think.

Sunday 2 January 2011

Sunday 2 January 2010

Today I had rugby Training. First we did a exercise where you had to push or pull your opponent over a line we also had to keep a person on the floor, then we switched over with our partners and get off the floor get up of the floor with someone trying to stop us getting up. After that we did sprinting and other running exercises then we played a game!! Which was fun as always. Latter on I went on the Xbox with Jacob and Zak.

Saturday 1 January 2011

Friday 24 December 2010

It's Christmas eve so we went to see a film the film was called Despicable Me. When we got home from the film we found out that the Elves had delivered presents while we where out the presents turned out to be PJ'S which was nice of the Elves to get me and my Sister!!! later on we used NORAD to track Santa across the world giving out present's. Then I went to bed to wait for Santa.