Wednesday 28 January 2009

Wednesday already. Where does the time go? You know, I am not a fan of January, but this year it seems to have gone very quickly. It's light at 5pm and even a little beyond, so at last we're coming out of the gloom of winter. Having said that, I was a little peeved last night when I was out and about delivering product. The air had that damp wintry quality to it, there was a misty orange glow over the town, but Christmas has been over and done with for a full month. Boo and indeed, hoo!

Sunday 25 January 2009

So we creep gently to the close of another weekend. My efforts in working a full week Monday to Friday have been rewarded again with a very relaxing weekend. Yesterday pm we watched the original Indiana Jones trilogy. They are as strong a trio of films that you could hope for - perhaps the other really strong trilogy also stars Harrison Ford - Star Wars (Episodes IV - VI). To be sure, The Temple of Doom isn't the strongest, but even that has its attractions, for example, the mining cart sequence is as good as anything in any other similar film.

It's the third one, The Last Crusade, that seems to have a bit more about it. For a kick off, it seems to follow the template established by Raiders of The Lost Ark. Jones is fleshed out a little more - the flashback at the beginning reveals quite a deal about his character as does his relationship with his father. Connery's role as Henry Jones Sr. is very well played, a sort of James Bond for the over 60's, almost - well certainly his 'conquest' of Dr. Schneider is...

Friday 23 January 2009

Well good evening. It's ten past ten and I'm sat in bed watching a More 4 programme about UFO's and the perfectly rational explanation that that the myriad sightings of UFO's were actually due to the US's Cold War activities. For example, the guy who was tasked with coming up with a new design for a spy plane following the Russians' capture of Gary Powers' U2 spy plane, actually stated that the best design was basically a flying saucer. Mmm...

But, I've had half a bottle of red wine and a large (homemade) pizza, so I might be hallucinating myself as I type! My wife is softly snoring next to me - she's been up since four this morning, and I'm planning on sliding down the bed myself very shortly, so who knows, this may well be the case!

Please look out for my next project, that is the use of SMS messages from my phone as blog posts. Now on the face of, that's quite similar to twitter (you can follow the cosmicjellybaby now), but I'm going to add some value, I hope, to make them a little more readable. Watch this space...

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Hello Again, Hello. A sad day yesterday, my Uncle's funeral. There are so many tales to be told about funerals. The overwhelming sense is of grief and poignancy, but there is also great potential for levity at such an occasion. You only have to remember the beginning of The Crow Road by Iain Banks, with Grandad's exploding pacemaker.

Let me explain about yesterday. My Dad, whose brother it was, is a stickler for being on time, so with a twenty minute / half hour drive to get to the church, we leave at 11 o'clock for a midday service. It's a good job too, as all available parking spaces are full by about 11.30. Fortunately, we 're ok - we found a space.

The service passes, emotions are let out, hymns are sung, and then the vicar informs us that it's time to go out to the burial ground. Oh, and by the way, could the two cars parked by the gates be moved please, as there's a lorry load of concrete due at the sewage works which is at the bottom of the lane that runs alongside the cemetery. It's a) potentially highly amusing, and b) perhaps more poignantly, an homage to Uncle as he spent 30 years in the building trade. (Furthermore, I couldn't get the faint whiff of the sewage works out of my mind - I've been to the odd one or twenty, you see.)

On the way out to the open grave, there are a line of memorial stones and one name stands out a mile. One Fred Bloggs, Loving Son, born xx-a-1970, died yy-b-2008. I swallowed hard as Fred had been a schoolmate of mine. Apparently, Fred had taken the decision at 38 years old that he'd had enough of life and chose to end it. Of course, why he did, we'll never know - he took that with him...

Sunday 18 January 2009

Doctor Marten's Boots, Doctor Marten's Boots... here's a picture of mine. As you can see, they're purple. I first had a pair of Dr. Marten's way back in nineteen eighty.... something when as a secondary school boy, these were THE things to have on your feet. It made getting changed for PE quite an experience, I can tell you. And those long laces offered plenty of scope for the more mischievous amongst us to tie each other, quite literally, up in knots. NB, my picture is a very weak attempt at an arty picture. On no account should you try such a thing at home. I think that the floor tiles look better - I laid them myself. Took ages I can tell ya!

Anyway, what's been going on here since last time? Well yesterday I took the boy to basketball - and was able to leave him there, safe in the knowledge that he'd be getting a lift home with the coach. Why do all of the UK basketball types pronounce defence as DEE-fence, as per the US way when referring to basketball, yet when they stop and start on football, they use to the UK pronunciation, that is, defence with no emphasis? Oh yes, and just what is the attraction of basketball as a spectator sport?

Friday 16 January 2009

Good Morning. We have managed to get through to Friday once more, whoopee! Had a busy day yesterday, but, lo and behold, managed to get everything done that was planned. Recognising that now is the only time that is available to do anything is incredibly liberating, because doing unpleasant tasks first enables them to be done and out of the way without you going round thinking, 'oh no, I've still got to do x & y, and I hate doing x & y.' You're able to spin it, and say, 'I'm right glad that I've done x & y, 'cos now I can do a & b which I love doing...'

Where:

• x = unpleasant task number 1
• y = unpleasant task number 2
• a = thing I love doing number 1
• b = thing I love doing number 1

Please enjoy your Friday, and remember, Monday morning is just a state of mind.

Thursday 15 January 2009

Good morning Thursday! My what funny weather we're having. As I mentioned on Monday, the lovely crisp clear frosty weather we were having gave way to some warm and mild (nondescript) stuff. Tuesday was similar - apart from the beautiful blue sky, a precursor to the sharp frost that we had over night, making Wednesday morning another sparkly one. Today has dawned warmer again. Its seems it not able to make it's mind up.

If I remember, I'll give you an update tomorrow Friday on the latest. This blogging lark is a habit that I am trying to get into, and writing something everyday is the best way to acquire it. That way, once I get my momentum going, you'll have something a little more interesting to read, other than the trials and tribulations of the British weather. Heck, we live on a small island in the north Atlantic, what is that we expect???!

Monday 12 January 2009

Wow, what a refreshing and relaxing weekend. Having resolved to do so, I did absolutely nothing work related this weekend and it was brilliant. This morning, I was much better able to get up and get going. No sitting around waiting for some external stimulus to prod me into life, no sir! I was up an' at 'em straightaway.

The weather has changed. Gone is the frost. Out with the cold weather. We've got warm and windy with the odd shower. Personally I think that winter has lost its sparkle. This warm, wet, windy weather is just... well, nondescript really. Very drab, very plain. Come on Spring, we're all waiting...

PM update: Good news! The boy's Lego set has finally arrived. We ordered it direct from Lego on 30 December. Being only 9 he couldn't quite see how it could take so long for something to arrive in the post. We carefully explained to him that a) it was ordered during the Christmas / New Year break so it was unlikely that anybody would action it before the New Year and that b) it was coming from Germany! Kids eh?!

Saturday 10 January 2009

After resolving to properly employ myself during the working week, I enjoyed a proper day off today. We went into town, still seems very odd without Woolworths, don't think I'll ever get over it being closed. And I know that this is a silly, childish, irrational reaction, but it's been a part of my life for ever, and now it's gone. Talk about a national institution, that was Woolies, with was being the operative word, was not is. Shame.

It's going to get warmer tomorrow, and in this country in the winter, this means an additional thing, that is, it's going to get wetter too! We have enjoyed a nice dry spell so far this winter really, so it'll be a bit of a shock to go out and get wet. There's no avoiding it, and indeed feeling the rain on your face makes you feel alive, so it's not really a bad thing.

Thursday 8 January 2009

I've just re-read my two most recent posts. I started them both off with the phrase (or some variant of it), 'not as cold as it's been...' I do apologise, such imagination lacking and ultimately needless repetition is inexcusable. I do apologise, such imagination lacking and ultimately needless repetition is inexcusable.

What to talk about today then? Well I could start with my incredulity wrt the type of books that my 6 year old son is being asked to read at school. He's six, for goodness sake, and they've got him reading Birdsong. Well that's what I thought when I read his homelink book. But then I checked in his book bag and there it was, Bird Song, by Avelyn Davidson, illustrated by Jan Van Der Voo. So you can imagine my relief then, no Sebastian Faulks for us to read, just a counting story, making use of the supposed sounds of various birds. I really should get out more...

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Still cold today, but not as cold as the past few days. And, for anyone reading this in lands where it's below zero (or 32 if you still use F) for a lot longer than a few days, I do apologise. I've come to help my mother out - why are you typing this then?! - as she is little indisposed, having shattered her elbow in October. She's got much more movement in her arm now, but still needs to build it up and suffers greatly from the nerve damage - seemingly soft things such as fleeces seem to prickle like a Brillo pad. The task for today was supposed to be changing the beds, but in his time honoured tradition, me Dad had done it already before I arrived!

Sunday 4 January 2009

Still cold today, although perhaps not quite as cold as yesterday. I have had a lie in this morning, rising from my pit at about 8.30. I have been to the recylcing centre with cardboard and plastic bottles and a car battery. I then bought some insulating foam in order to stop the overflow from our boiler from freezing. This has happened on a couple of occasions just recently, and the flood in the kitchen, although minor is nevertheless frustrating and annoying!

Saturday 3 January 2009

Wow! What a day. I travelled to Birmingham's NIA for our company's New Year Showcase. Leaving Oswestry at 9.00 in the icy cold, initially visibility was good. However, it wasn't long until I was envoloped in the fog. It was nevertheless a beautiful day, the sun was up there, a watery orange globe off to the south-east, at road level it was as if driving into a white tunnel.

Suffice to say, I arrived in good time to take my seat for the 11 o'clock start. Talk from all the speakers was bullish, to the tune of recession, what recession. The most important message that I got from the day was that instant results are not possible. For this reason, you need to have a very real goal, quantified in terms of what it is and how long it's going to take you to get to it. Then you need a system to plug into, to give you the steps to follow in order to achieve your goal. It is then the case that you almost forget your end goal, focussing instead on several progressive goals as you move along. The only way that you are going to get to where you want to be is to take the necessary action - merely wishing to be somewhere wil not get you there. In three bullet points:

• Define your end goal
• Work out route map by plugging into system
• Follow route map by carrying out the necessary action

Friday 2 January 2009

Back to it then. As I noted yesterday,this holiday is the one whose passing I regret more than any other. Don't get me wrong, I love the time off at Easter and summer holidays and the like, but this one really pains me when it's over. I don't know if it's having a December birthday or what, but it's been a fact for all of my life.

I'm off out for the day tomorrow, but on Sunday I've got plans for a day in bed. Whether this comes off or not, is another thing.

Thursday 1 January 2009

So it's here. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Having gone to bed at 1 o'clock last night, I managed to sleep in until 9 thirty this morning. After a brief chat, my wife and I decided that a walk was in order before we could settle down to slobbing out for the rest of the day (well apart from my writing this!). We went to Ellesmere for one of our favourite walks. On the way there, we admired (for that is the only word for it) Jack Frost's handiwork. He operates a frozen earth policy does that chap, and the world is all the more beautiful for it when he does.

Back to work tomorrow (truth be told that I haven't really stopped - just doing the odd task here and there). Kids back to school on Monday, it's almost as if we haven't been off! I'm going to write a little on the nature of the Christmas Holidays over the next few days, but suffice to say (for now), I feel a real aching regret when this holiday is over that I just don't get after say, the summer holidays.