It's about the Vodka

My last Blogger post

2006-01-28T19:30:00.000Z

This is to be my last Blogger post, but fear not (like you really care) I am using wordpress on my own domain. link below

30 Somethings

you know I said

2006-01-22T12:04:00.000Z

normal service will resume today, well I lied, I have chicken Pox so no blog today( well apart from this bit)

Today I am quite cross

2006-01-21T18:43:00.000Z

This may be a slightly controversial blog, a few bits of news have made my cross today and yesterday.

The fuss the British public have made about a monkey coat and a whale are frankly unbelievable. Now don't get me wrong using fur in this day and age is terrible and It is sad about the whale, but the news this has generated is massive, I imagine a lot of people who are worried about both items were probably discussing it over a Corporate Death Burger or other food that has been factory farmed, I am not tarring everyone with the same brush I just thing we need some prospective on stuff. I mean tonight the lead item on the evening news tonight was about the whale, tucked quietly behind the main piece was this article about the fact the police have DNA records of 24,000 10 - 18 year olds, despite them never having been cautioned, charged or convicted of an offence.

Yeah, yeah I know if you have nothing to hide you have got nothing to fear.

No tip tonight I am too cross, normal service will resume Sunday

BTW for the record I have been a veggie for about 10 years.

Dan
xx

It's a bloody con

2006-01-20T19:57:00.000Z

All the time you hear on TV press the red button for interactive TV, well ever time I press the red button and my TV turns off.

Nothing else to say,I am sure someone will mention the Whale in the Thames or the sad news about soul legend Wilson Picketts death. so I will leave you with:-

Dan's Eco Tip/Fact/Comment of the Day

Your fridge will work more efficiently if it is free standing in a cool environment.

Silly Things

2006-01-18T22:10:00.000Z

I have done today:-

1. Put Five Pounds on Burton to beat Man'ure in the cup.
2. Really believed they might win

Dan's Eco Tip/Fact/Comment of the Day

If you keep the tap running when you clean your teeth,you can waste upto 4.5 litres of water

Sorry but I can't help it

2006-01-17T21:09:00.000Z

i have been looking back over some of my posts and realized that my spelling and grammar is terrible , I do have a bit of an excuse for this, I have NF1 one the symptoms of which is mild dyslexia/dispraxiya( dyslexia, bloody bone idle more like :-) )

Anyway spell checkers sort out the spelling but not the grammar, It can't sort out when I miss words out either, so thanks for struggling through my blogs.

Dan's Eco Tip/Fact/comment of the Day

If every household in the UK swapped a normal bulb with an energy efficient bulb we could close a power station.
They also last 10 -12 times longer than normal ones, you can save up to £57 over the lifetime of the bulb

Do'h I loose

2006-01-17T14:36:00.000Z

The Game

Just a quick afternoon update to say I lost The Game

More later
(although I forgot my notebook so I am not sure how much more)

Well I was going to..

2006-01-16T21:09:00.000Z

write about cats tonight but I see Fox has been and bloody nicked my idea......sorry only joking, in fact I was going to write about the fact that during the day I often think of something interesting ( no, honestly i do) I say to myself that would be good in the blog latter. So I get Will to bed, get a glass of wine or sometimes whisky or vodka or very occasionally something more herbal ( I have to go in the garage for this but I have a Wi-Fi connection so thats book*) sorry where was I , ahh yeah I sit down at the Mac with what ever relaxant I am partaking of and can I remember what I was think would make a good blog, can I feck.

*Book is what I believe the "Hip Kids" are saying instead of Cool these days, this comes from the fact that if you type cool in a phone with t9 (predictive text) the first word that comes up is book.

Also I have noticed that it is the fashion to have a regular bit at the bottom of your blog, though for the day, whatever.

Mine is going to be eco tip/comment/fact of the day, I will keep this going until I run out of tips/comments/fact( or get bored)

Dan's Eco Tip/Comment/Fact of the Day.

In the UK 5 billion plastic cups are thrown away each year.

You don't understand the timeless beauty......

2006-01-15T19:16:00.000Z

...of it Rick, we sow the seed, nature grows the seed and we eat the seed.
In a move the will no doubt cause the The Prof a great deal of amusement, we have got ourselves an allotment

My Shed

Sarah, Will and the wilderness

Lots of digging to do

We have been thinking about growing a few veg for a while, the original plan was to plant a few in the garden. Then a few days ago my cousin, Craig told me that they had just got an allotment. Turns out there was a spare plot on the same site and it only costs £20 a year so we thought why not, better than digging grass up from our back garden.

I know not the first thing about gardening, so I got myself a book and have looked up stuff on the net.

Not sure how long it will last, if I will ever get a veg grown but I will of course post update on this very site.

A quick mini blog

2006-01-15T11:01:00.000Z

Just a quick one to tell you this joke:

Best Blonde Joke Ever

will blog more later

Flea Bay

2006-01-14T23:58:00.000Z

I have nothing to blog about today so have a link to a song about e-bay

The eBay Song

Am I a Blogger now

2006-01-13T20:30:00.000Z

I have only been blogging for a little while but feel I have "made' it due to the fact I an on the Blog list of the one known as FoX.

Nanny Gina ( my Mum) has little Will tonight, the first night he has stayed away from home. I have not been sleeping very well because Will has been a bit ill( Chickenpox, cold and cough) and has not been sleeping through the night. Lydia is asleep some I am "Kicking Back" with a nice glass of red.( Sarah can't drink at the moment due to the fact she is still breast-feeding Lydia )

Right thats it the wine is calling........

Before I answer the call of the Cab Sauv just a quick update on crushmy307.co.uk over 7,000 hits in a week.

Oh I give in

2006-01-12T21:17:00.000Z

Seeing as nearly everyone in the uk seems to be talking about i have a something to say about Big Brother ( I don't actively watch it but Sarah does so I do by default).

Any word is that Sir Jimmy Savile is going into the house for the weekend.

I have today, been trying to sort the online shop for the Grip On website, it is not live yet, I think it will take about another few days and then a few more days to sort the payment gateway out.

Geeks R Us

2006-01-10T23:23:00.000Z

Today was the Key Note Speech at Mac expo by Apple Head Honcho Steve Jobs. I have been looking forward to this for days ( what a geek).

Big news was a dual core Intel latop, which is 4 times faster than current Powerbooks, brighter screen, built-in iSight, front row and other things.

My Powerbook is only a year old so good enough for me but by the time I am looking to replace mine, these new babies will be cheaper than the rather steep ( even for Apple) price than they are now.

Loads of other bits launched too, including some nice bloging capabilities in iLife 06

Opps nearly forgot I promised a friend I would do my bit in spreading the word on his new site so

PLUG crushmy307.co.uk

Four cyclists killed in car crash

2006-01-08T19:05:00.000Z

Four cyclists killed in car crash

Sorry to have such sad news in my blog but what with recent talk on the blog "circle" about cycling I thought it was poignant.

Although it seems neither the driver or riders were at fault it serves as a reminder for the cyclists amongst us to to take care when out on the road.

I've had a lovely time.....

2006-01-07T21:09:00.000Z

Just been watching "Who wants to be a Millionaire" ( check the link if you don't know the format) anyway I decided that if I ever got on it, which to be fair is unlikely as I have never entered, I would answer the first question, then say

"I have had a lovely day Chris I think I will leave it there"

You live and learn

2006-01-05T22:40:00.000Z

Today I was buttering some bread to have with my dinner and I discovered two things.

1. There was no knife washed up and being a lazy git I could not be bothered to wash a knife up so I used the back of a teaspoon. It worked better than a knife, much smoother and none of the ripping of the bread that can sometimes happen with a knife.

2. I thought I would have a cracker to keep me going until dinner, as I already had the bread on the plate, I put the cracker on top of the pile of bread to butter it. Normally I have big problems with crackers breaking whilst applying butter but no breakage occurs when the cracker is cushioned by the bread underneath.

Dan
X

Bum Note

2006-01-04T22:28:00.000Z

I don't know if the Andrex toilet roll brand is worldwide or not, so if you are not aware of the brand, for as long as I can remember they have used a little puppy ( the ones they use for guide dogs) in all their adverts and on the packing. Today whilst in the smallest room I noticed that the said puppies are embossed on the roll itself. Now is it just me or is that a bit wrong, wiping your bum on a puppy?

In other news Will is still a bit rough with Chicken Pox, poor boy is really struggling to sleep at night, and as such I am currently using matchsticks to keep my eyes open. The joys of parenthood and do you know I would not change it for anything.

So far Lydia is clear of the spots but I doubt she will be for long.

A change is as good as a rest

2006-01-03T23:40:00.000Z

or something like that anyway.

Just a quick blog to state the obvious and tell you a changed my template today, the main reason was my last template went a bit wonky, so instead of trying to fix it I changed the template.

Thats it

As you were.

Dan
x

2006-01-02T22:59:00.000Z

Great start to the New Year, little Will has Chicken Pox, I blame cousin Ted ;-), He does not seem to bothered by it at the moment , so hopefully it will stay that way. It might explain why he has been such a pain in the arse about going to bed the last few days, he has been ok so far tonight though, yay for Calpol.

Went to see West Brom Vs Villa today, used my Father -in-Laws season ticket, because he could not make it. West Brom lost 1-2 and played poorly, I have come to the conclusion I am a jinx at football games, I can't remember the last game I saw when the team I was there to see won.

Ooh I nearly forgot, for Xmas some friends, The Prof & Tree, bought me a huge part popper thing, when I say huge I mean about 1 metre in hight and the diameter of the inside of a loo roll, I let it off in the front garden, not expecting it to be much cop, however it fired what looked like 1/2 a ton of coloured tissue paper squares about 10 metres in the air. The resulting fallout out covered mine and two neighbours front gardens. Cue me borrowing a garden vac and spending 1/2 an hour cleaning up, mind you 15 minutes of that was due to me discovering the garden van had a blow setting and me using to keep a plastic football airbourne.

Dan

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T21:01:00.000Z

Happy New Year, another celebration nicked from Pagans, although most Pagans celebrate this holiday at what we now as Halloween. Pagans call it Samhain, pronounced “sow-inn” or “sow-een”, is Scots Gaelic for “summer’s end.”

Some old Celtic traditions don’t celebrate the new year until Yule, leaving the period from Samhain to the winter solstice as a magickal time outside of time. This is what we know as Hogmanay (or New Year) it's origins date back to the rituals that marked the time of the winter solstice.

Roman celebrations of the winter festival of Saturnalia and Viking celebrations of Yule (the origin of the twelve days of Christmas) contributed to celebrations in Scotland around the new year. These celebrations and other ceremonies evolved over the centuries to become the Hogmanay holiday celebrated in Scotland today

Anyway whatever you believe I hope you have a Good New Year

Peace and Love

Dan

2005-12-29T13:30:00.001Z

Originally uploaded by Worcester Dan.

Wills first go on trike

2005-12-29T13:30:00.000Z

Wills first go on trike
Originally uploaded by Worcester Dan.

Santas Little Helper

2005-12-29T13:29:00.000Z

Santas Little Helper
Originally uploaded by Worcester Dan.

The little man meets the big man

2005-12-29T13:28:00.000Z

The little man meets the big man
Originally uploaded by Worcester Dan.

a few pictures from Xmas

sorry about the new blog entry for each photo I can't seem to be able to upload multiple photos from flickr

Well thats that....

2005-12-26T22:26:00.000Z

for another year.

After what was over a months frenzied build up it is all over for another year( well it is for Christians anyway, the 12 days is a Pagan tradition). Will( aged 22 months old) and Lydia ( 2 months old) are both to young to get excited about xmas, although Will had a bit of an idea what was going on. Although he enjoyed giving the presents out more that opening his own( good lad).

This year me a Sarah said we would only get a small gift for each other( she is taking a year off work to have some qt with the kids, so money is a bit tight)

I also asked people to give a few quid to a charity of their choice rather that get presents although inevitably you still get some stuff( for which I am not ungrateful), I got a cool book about Tai Chi and the autobiography that John Peel was writing before he died, the last half has been finished by his family I also got enough money to get myself an iPod shuffle to use when I am riding my bike.

Will & Lydia got more stuff than they really need( thats Nans and Grandads for you) , the highlights of which where a pedal trike for Will and a cuddly unicorn toy for Lydia.

We ate well at my Mum and Dads Xmas day and at Sarahs Mum and Dads today. I also had Scotch for the first time, well first time since I was about 12 and nicked some out my dads drinks cabinet and made myself sick, I think I could get into it especially a nice single malt.

Hope you all had a good one.

PS Top marks to the FoX for blogging xmas day

NORAD Tracks Santa 2005

2005-12-24T23:12:00.000Z

NORAD Tracks Santa 2005

Useful link for tonight.

Happy Yule Folks

Peace, Love & Happiness

Dan

XXXXXX

Nicholas Van Whats his Face

2005-12-19T23:12:00.000Z

Nicholas Van Whats his Face
I see that this evil git has got his comeuppance (sort of)

he first came to my attention in the lyrics of a song by my favorite band Carter The Unstoppable Sex machine:-

Sheriff Fatman started out in business
as a granny farmer
he was infamous for fifteen minutes
and he appeared in Panorama
Then he somehow got himself on board
The Starship Enterprise Allowance Scheme
With a Prince of Wales award
for pushing valium and amphetamines
Now he's moving up onto second base
behind Nicholas Van Wotsisface
At six foot six and a hundred tons
the undisputed king of the slums
With more alias' than Klaus Barbie
the master butcher of Leigh-on-Sea
Just about to take the stage
the one and only
hold the front page
Fatman's got something to sell
to the capital's homeless
At The Crossroads Motel
for the no-fixed-abodeless
Where you can live life in style
you can sleep in a closet
And if you flash him a smile
he'll take your teeth as deposit
There's bats in the belfry
the windows are jammed
The toilets ain't healthy
and he don't give a damn
he just chuckles and smiles
and laughs like a madman,
a born again Rachman
Here comes Sheriff Fatman
With his valium, amphetamines
his sick notes and his phoney prescriptions
And just when you thought it was safe
to go back into the kitchen, Dead legs and cracked heads
Bunk-beds and breakfasts
Wake up you sleepy headcases . . . check this . . .
Moving up now to take the place
of Nicholas Van Wotsisface
At six foot six and a hundred tons
the undisputed king of the slums
With more alias' than Klaus Barbie
the master butcher of Leigh-on-Sea
In a hatchback from Notre Dame,
the one and only Sheriff Fatman
In goes another left hook
and now I'm losing my patience
Someone call up Roger Cook and The United Nations
he's buying up houses for hasbeens (help me)
From Lands End to Southend and Chelsea
There's bats in the belfrey
the windows are jammed
The toilets ain't healthy
he don't give a damn
He just chuckles and smiles
and laughs like a madman
Ladies and gentlemen,
I give you . . .
SHERIFF FATMAN!

the song also name checks Rachman, who was also a slum landlord, I believe sheriff fatman is also a reference to a landlord but I don't remember who.

Just watched a great documentary about how the song " Fairy Tale of New York" came to be written. It was quite emotional when they were talking about Kirsty MacColl.

"I could of been someone"

"Well so could anyone"

Will Tiger

2005-12-19T20:52:00.000Z

Will Tiger
Originally uploaded by Worcester Dan.

Just testing my flickr page

Get the feed

2005-12-14T04:06:00.000Z

It's about the Vodka

if you ever stop by you will know I don't update everyday( either nothing to say or no time to say it).

Using the feed will tell you quickly if I have updated the site.

By the way it is 4am UK time as I write this, baby Lydia is awake so I am typing with one hand while cuddling her in the other.

In fact her little eyes keep closing so I think she is getting sleepy again.

Just a quick update on Space Cadets, they choose 4 of the 12 including 1 who is in on the whole thing. They think they are now in Space. To be fair the bit where the shutters on the "space craft" opened to revel I big projection of earth did look convincing.

England get Sweden in the World Cup Draw

2005-12-10T10:19:00.000Z

World Cup

Enland face SpoileChile's side Trinidad and Tobago in the world cup another of the teams in our group is Sweden, if we win our group and Brazil win theirs we will probably meet in the semi-finals(if we win our knock out games.

Now my Dad( age nearly 60) is having a second childhood thing at the moment and is well into his rock music. Last night he dragged me off to Birmingham to see a band called Seether. I am not sure which exact genre they fit in but the are basically Rock done in a really obvious way, start song all quiet, loads of overdriven guitars in the middle then finish all quiet again.

I have seen worse bands, but I have seen loads better too(even bands playing the same style music)

Anyway my main point of all this is the Kids today have not got a clue about "Moshing" When I used to go to lots of gigs you came out the Mosh Pit completely knackered and your tee shirt was soaked with sweat, now they just bounce up and down a little bit. They are more interested in trying to take pictures on their phones then having a good dance. still that said I bet my Dad was the only Grandad down the front;-)

Cheers for the help

2005-12-07T23:01:00.000Z

Thank to all off you who( well the two of you) helped with my form problem.

if you are interested the bit of code causing the problem was this:-

//// Make sure the form was posted from an approved host name.

//if(!in_array(($wwwUsed === false ? $fromArray['host'] : substr(stristr($fromArray['host'], '.'), 1)), $authHosts)){

// //logBadRequest();

die("Direct access to this page is forbidden");

exit;

//}

it is all better now.

Just got over Will being ill and now Lydia has a bit of a sniffle. Still as long as she has her Mums boob and she seems fine.

For the UK peeps, did anyone see that Space Cadet programme? I will give it a little longer before I comment.

Right thats me done, small blog better than no blog.

Dan

Do us a favour(please)

2005-12-06T23:16:00.000Z

Can any readers help me out?

I have been doing some development on our company web site( as I mentioned before the Company is me , my farther-in-law and our Swiss partner)

So could you click on the section of the website called contact and fill in the form then send it.

One of two things will happen.

1. It will work and you will get a screen saying message sent.
or
2. it will say contact in fo @ grip - on. co..uk(without spaces) for assistance.

Could I also trouble you to post a comment to which way it went.

Thanks

Dan

You win some and you lose some

2005-12-04T22:33:00.000Z

Not the best write up

Well done to FoX's team Huddersfield for their plucky display at St George's Lane home of the mighty Worcester City....ahh hang on that should of been the other way around.

I was proud to be wearing a Worcester shirt today, I never thought we would win and was proved to be right however we did not disgrace ourselves one bit and during a few point of the game I thought we would sneak a win, maybe a draw would of been a fair result( although I am sure Huddersfield would of beaten us easily on a better pitch)

One of the highlights for me was getting a large portion of the Worcester crowd to sing *It's just like watching Brazil, It's just like watching Brazil* after we had just strung a bout 3 passes together. I also enjoyed signing *I'd rather be a City than a Town*

Away from the football I have been feeling ill( again) and so has little Will. Will sounds like he has been smoking 20 Marlboro a day, so I have not been getting much sleep 'cos I have been up with him.

On top of this my boss and I have had our Swiss business partner over for meetings all this week end( apart from when I went to the footy ;-) ) So I have had a very busy weekend.

Still It has been very good, I didn't want to go to Chelsea anyway!

Today I have mostly been ill

2005-11-30T22:28:00.000Z

The White Stuff

2005-11-29T23:26:00.000Z

Hello peps, on Sunday we went into Worcester( local town) to the Victorian Fayre, which is basically loads of craft type stalls outside in the cold and a few people walking round dressed up in vaguely Victorian costumes( they say it is the biggest of its kind in the UK, I think the truth is it is the only of it's kind) a couple of the characters were pushing a cart with a couple of dead body dummies on it, rather predictably our conversation went a bit like this:-

Bring out your dead!

Here's one

Here -- he says he's not dead!

Well, he will be soon, he's very ill

I can't take him like that -- it's against regulations

****

I could not remember how the rest of the scene went so I left it at that

Anyway that was not the main thing I was trying to tell you.

They had an Old fashioned carrousel (sp?) , you know the one with the horses that go up and down while the whole thing is going round and round. I took Will on it, he was laughing all the way round, I thought it was a bit too fast, that and I was still upset at paying £4.00 for me and Will, meant I did not enjoy at much as I should of. There were about 40 people on the ride at £2.00 each, That's £80.00 every ten minutes that ride was taking.

Still the whole thing is good for the City.

Monday night it snowed a bit and I thought it might settle so I was quite excited, not for me you understand, for Will, honest. Got up in the morning to a tiny bit of snow, not enough for a snowball never mind a snow(wo)man.

Today this has upset me 'Oldest squat' residents evicted what ever you think the rights and wrongs of squatting are, there are no 60 more homeless people in London on one of the coldest nights of the year. The local council say they are owed 4 million in unpaid rent, when this street was fist squatted 30 years ago the house were in a bad state of repair and in that 30 years lts of people have lived in that street. I do not now the figures but i bet it would of cost the council more in housing benefits than 4 million.

Latest news is that all residents have now been moved, and the bulldozers are going in tomorrow ( Most people were not able to collect their belongings). The council say they will use the land to build at least 75% social housing, what about the other 25%?

Got my ticket

2005-11-26T21:56:00.000Z

I have got my ticket for the big Football match on Sunday, if FoX is reading, he knows the one,Worcester Vs Huddersfield in the great competition that is the FA Cup. a crowd of 4,500 is expected( not bad when Worcester average crowd is about 900). you will have too bear with me on this one, If might well be banging on about it all week, I am very excited.
While I am talking about football I would like to pay my respects to the Legend George Best, I think he did a lot of wrong but you can not take away from his skill on the football field, he bought joy to thousands.

I would like to say hello to Niel if he is reading, he has just recorded some demos of his solo stuff, his myspace, which has his some of his music on it is here, check him out www.myspace.com/neilcharlesh.

I was just asking my lovely wife, Sarah, what else I could write about., she has just reminded my about when we where changing Lydia's nappy earlier. The changing unit thingie is downstairs at the moment, we had he on it , had just taken the old nappy off and Lydia did a big poo, which shoot out her bum so far and fast you would not believe it. It went far enough to get baby poo on my laptop which is on a desk about a meter away :-). Thats one to tell her first boyfriend.

Will has spent most the day walking backwards, which he has just learnt to do.

Have also just got him a little trike for Christmas. I can't wait for Xmas this year, I think Will will be really into it, he was too young last year.

Its slipping

2005-11-20T20:07:00.000Z

After starting well and doing my blog most days, I have slipped a bit lately, now the main reason is I have been busy with our new little baby but also as I have said before I don't want it to turn into, got up , went to work, came home , went to bed.

One think has pissed my off a bit recently BP have been running ads in the media in the UK which gives you a link to their website with a Carbon Footprint calculator on it.
They ask the question "How big is your Carbon Footprint?"
well I have a question for BP

How big is your 'carbon footprint'?

On their website they say

"We are now investing $350 million over five years to reduce our internal CO2 emissions by up to one million tonnes each year."

$350 million is a drop in the Ocean to a company like BP they are just paying lip service.

Funnily enough they don't mention this on their website

Closer to home, well at home, William is not limping at all now and the x-ray came back with nothing bad on it, so that is good news. I was very concerned about it, and if I am honest it stopped my enjoying baby Lydia as much as I should of.

Now Will is better , Lydia is getting loads of attention from me, she is changing everyday at the moment and gave me a little smile today( It was probably wind,but it looked like a smile)

Dan

Football again.

2005-11-14T22:24:00.000Z

Linkage

Well Worcester are through to the next round of the FA Cup and have a home draw against Huddersfield which is being shown on Live on BBC 1, this alone is worth 75 grand to the club( which at non-league is a load of money.

2-1 to the Swindon town

2005-11-11T23:11:00.000Z

yea about time, Swindon Town beat Bristol City 2-1 tonight and It was on $ky TV so I watched it, which was nice. It is the first league game we have won since August. OK we are still at the bottom of the table but the only way is up as they say.

Anyway sorry for the lack of blogage lately but as you can imagine it has been a bit busy round these parts. Baby Lydia is changing everyday and has got passed that "screwed up face" newborn stage.

Wills leg seems better, we still have not got the x-ray results back yet but I took him to the Doctors again and she was very confident that it was nothing serious.

again sorry for the slackness in updates but when things are more settled I will make more of an effort for my army, well two, readers.

Bang Bang

2005-11-06T20:25:00.000Z

I know it is a day late for Guy Fawkes Night, The Gunpowder Plot but tonight I took Will to a firework display at Worcester Rugby Club, they were bloody loud and the little man loved it, he was saying "Look at that" every time the rockets went off.

Early in the day we went to my Mum and Dads for Sunday Lunch (Hooray for Mum and Dads), then we watched ( on TV) the Non League Chasetown take on Oldham in the FA Cup Chasetown Vs Oldham I thought that Chasetown, did themselves proud.

My team Swindon have a home draw against Doncaster ( if we beat Boston), my other team Worcester City have a home draw against Huddersfield if they beat Chippenham Town.

No Sleep till.........

2005-11-04T23:30:00.000Z

It has been a trying week, Mum and baby Lydia are fine but Mum is not able to do much for 6 weeks, Lydia was born by c-section, as was Will but he was an emergency one with complications so for this pregnancy we decided to cut out the worry of that happing again and go straight for the sunroof option.

Little Will still has his limp, but it does not seem to bother him, we have a health visitor coming to see him tuesday, well she is coming to see Lydia but it just so happens that her specialist subject is Hip problems.

Me and Will went into Worcester today on a flyering and poster mission for the most brill Chris TT whos new album 9 Red Songs came out last week. I think it is ace but then I love all his stuff, I am a bit crap at reviews, I know what I like and why I like it but am a bit pony at explaining so I will just give you the lyrics to my favorite song on the album.

The Huntsman Comes A-Marchin'
Chris: singing, guitar

The countryside is dying
They're closing village stores
While shepherds watched their flocks by night
The government burned them all
And here's another post office
With boards across the door

The people from the city came
To breathe the cleaner air
They listen to The Archers
Buy new coats and grow their hair
Then they buy up all the houses
So country people born-and-bred
Can't afford to live there

Now the Countryside Alliance
We'll call them 'the c**ts' for short
They promised in defiance
That a battle would be fought
Then ignored the real problems
To shout about their bloody sport

Call it a betrayal - it looks like that to me
Call it bad behaviour and a waste of time and money
I've never been in favour of police brutality
But when the huntsman comes a-marchin'
Well give him one for me, officer, give him one for me.

Now the c**ts have come to London
To give us all what for:
There were only 20 thousand of them
Marching down through Whitehall
But they were such a bunch of thugs
The police arrested more
Than when 2 million normal people
Marched against the war

Call it a betrayal - looks like that to me
Call it bad behaviour and a waste of time and money
I've never been in favour of police brutality
But when the huntsman comes a-marchin'
Well give him one for me, officer, give him one for me.

Where were you when the miners fought to save their livelihoods?
Dressed up in red velvet somewhere deep in the woods
You loved the fucking poll tax, you propped up Margaret Thatcher
And you didn't give a fuck about Tony Blair
'Til he threw your hobby back at ya.

The countryside is dying
Some say it's already dead
And the huntsman has a boner as the dogs pull it to shreds
Then he wipes the blood on his daughter's face
And drags her back to bed.

Call it a betrayal - looks like that to me
Call it bad behaviour and a waste of time and money
And I've never been in favour of police brutality
But when the huntsman comes a-marchin'
Well give him one for me, officer, give him one for me.

I rate Chris as one of the finest songwriters of this generation it is criminal he is not more widely recognised, I think the closest he got to fame was when Jack Osborne called him a twat.( this was due to a Chris TT song called Eminem is gay)

In other news a bought a £2.70 bottle of wine from Tescos today an Aussie Red and I think it tastes as good as bottle costing 7 or 8 quid.

Finally hello to Simon who can sometimes be found on the Carter Forum.

Sorry for the lack of updates

2005-11-02T23:31:00.000Z

It is all a bit hectic around here at the moment.

Mum and baby Lydia doing well, Lydia is sleeping eating and shitting so thats all normal for a baby :-)

Will still has a bit of a limp, the Doctor did not know what was wrong, no bruising or swelling, so we have had to have an X-Ray
it will take a while for the results to come back. I have been looking for advice on the net and have come up with all sorts of grim things it might be, so I am just going to sit tight until the results of the X ray come back.

Apart from that he is fine, he is already protective over his baby sister and gets quite concerned when she cries,

" Baby Ly-d-ia cry-ing"

Will try and post some more pics over the weekend if i can.

If anyone apart from SpoileChile reads this blog, I would love a comment, just so I know. Cheers

She's home!!

2005-10-30T21:57:00.000Z

Yay, our new baby daughter came home today at 5.30 pm . She is fab.

Not writing much as it is all a bit hectic still.

Will has been limping today, he started doing it at his Nans after his nap. Iit does not look swollen or anything so I am not too worried but I will take him too the Doctors in the morning , just in case.

Anyway I am off now, to grab what sleep I can

Quick Update

2005-10-29T11:15:00.000Z

Just a quick update(lots to do)

Mum and Baby Lydia still in Hospital but doing very well, probably home tomorrow, (anyone tell me how to work the vacuum cleaner:-) 0

Will, poor thing does not know if he is coming or going, one minute he is with me then up at the hospital, then to Nanny Kays, then to Nanny Gs. Then back home.

Will can say Lydia, I am going to get a bit of video and post it on line, it is very cute.

Best go and start tiding up

It has been a good day

2005-10-27T20:12:00.000Z

Who's The Daddy?
Hello everybody sorry for lack of update the link will explain all, I will blog again soon

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US civil rights icon Parks dies

2005-10-25T09:37:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US civil rights icon Parks dies

Little did she know what she would start when she got on that bus.

RIP Rossa Parks

one of them days

2005-10-24T17:48:00.000Z

Did not get much sleep last night, due to being up most the night with William( who is 20 months old) The poor little chap has not been well, he was very hot and restless last night and has been right of his food. We took him to the Doctors today and he, the Dr., was not that concerned, he said will had a slight throat infection and it would clear up in a few days. So just keep giving Calpol to keep the temperature down.

So I get to work, as you may remember we have just moved our office to my Bosses house( who incidentally is my Father in Law)
and we have ordered a franking machine.

To start with they delivered the machine to the wrong house, in fact the wrong town. Then no one could tell me if I could post franked mail in a normal mail box. Royal Mail( the guys that do the post in the UK) told me one thing, the franking machine people another. Sorted it in the end, you can post in a normal box if it is contained in a special envelope.

On the bright side I tidied up my links on here which was nice.

Will is going to bed now, I may or may not post more later.

Bless, the little man went straight to sleep although I imagine he will wake up about midnight.

Sarah and me are currently putting together a CD for her to play in the hospital when she is having the new baby

Track-listing ( So Far)

Teardrop - Massive Attack
Sun is shining - Bob Marley
Giraffes Nr 3 - Chris TT
Touchy Feely - Jim's Super Stereo world
Proud as I am - BB Seaton
Can't take My eyes off of you - Andy Williams
At The River - Grove Armada
Mystrons - Portishead

this is not complete yet will post full list when it is ready

Bloody Hell Someone is reading

2005-10-23T19:23:00.000Z

Its A SpoileChile Life

I started this blog to put up the pictures of the vodka experiment and outside the few people I mentioned it to, I never thought anyone would listen.

So imagine how surprised I was to click on a comment expecting the normal spam, you know the type, I love your site would you like a portable walrus polishing kit?, but NO it was from a proper reader SpoileChile which is nice. It has just occurred to me that to my knowledge the only person that has read this blog is SpoileChile and she knows where her site is so does not need a link.

If you are not SpoileChile and are reading this blog, you should visit her site, it is very pink and she likes Cycling which is cool.

Oh and she is from Trinidad and Tobago, thats why I love the net, you can write anything and someone from the other side of the world can read it.

William has got my cold/flu thing and the poor little man is feeling very poorly.

As asked by SpoileChick the new baby is due on the 1st of November, I will of course keep you posted.

Bloody X factor

2005-10-22T19:49:00.000Z

Sarah is a big fan of shows like the X Factor, so guess what is on TV on a Saturday night.

I am sure this has been said before a million times but it seems to my the show is more about the Judges than the contestants.

I hate shows like this, build 'em up Knock 'em down, The only bit i do enjoy is the first few weeks when they have the auditions , some of the people who are absolutely convinced they can sing, now I know I could not hold a tune in a bag but even I can sing better than some of them.

I love it when they tell that Cowell dude that he does not know what he is talking about, as much as I am not a fan of him or the sort of shit music he peddles, he knows his onions in that market.

I have been quite enjoying the ballroom dancing thing with the celebrities and even though that and the X Factor are on at the same time through the wonders of our twin tuner sky+ we can watch them both. Lucky old me ;-0

Talking of Sky TV

A few months ago I phoned Sky up to cancel our subs (40 squid a month) and just receive free to air channels, the woman asked why I wanted to cancel and I said money , so she offered me 3 months free, which was nice, after that 3 months was up I phoned again and they repeated the free offer, so it might be worth giving it ago.

Bloody cough

2005-10-22T02:09:00.000Z

Grrrrr.( did you see what I did there)

It is 3 am and My cough has woke me up. As I am awake I better post this

Mmm somethings afoot in Poppies land.

Now I am quite exited by this but the concept of reforming old bands is something I struggle with( as any of you reading that may of come over from Les and Jim's site will know)

Take Carter USM probably, no definitely, my favorite band of all time, both Les and Jim are doing their own things now both of which I really like, you see time moves on. Don't get me wrong if Carter did a reunion show, like the Poppies did I would be there like a shot, (as indeed I was with the PWEI reunion shows) Its just that people seem to live in the past to much.

One of the great things about Abdoujaparov/iDou Fruity's band and Jim Bob is seeing them in smaller venues and having a few pints and a chat with them after the gig.

I am not really making any point here am I? (no change) What I am trying to say is don't spend your life looking back at you past, yes I am exited about the possibility of new PWEI Material/Shows ( possibly in an animation style if my information is right) *Gives nod to Gill* but if they never played again, well no big deal I have seen them live several times and loved every minute of it. Incidentally one of Sarah ( my wife) and my first dates was at a PWEI concert.

When I was into my 90's music Carter, PWEI and the like I used to hate it when people went on about the eighties music being the best, so I don't want to do the same thing.

I realy h0pe the Poppies don't turn into some kind of Madness type act, doing a few big shows every year, that would be sad.

Feeling 'ick

2005-10-21T22:38:00.000Z

Not been posting for a while for a number of reasons,

1.Like I said before I don't want this to turn into This morning I got up and had a coffee.

2. I have felt like absolute shit, being a bloke I probably only had a sniffle or something but it felt like I had full on flu and bird flu at that.

Just noticed I said a number of reasons, now I know two is indeed a number so strictly speaking I am right however a number of reasons gives the impression of more than two so sorry for that.

Not long until baby number two is born, so that is a little nerve wracking ( not sure if that is the right spelling).

Apart from posting the occasional rant and bits of family news( and of course the vodka experiment) another reason I started a blog was to post links to other sites I find funny or interesting.

so here's one took my a few minutes to work out how is done but it is still quite good.

MagicTricksMR

The Official Shotgun Rules

2005-10-18T10:41:00.000Z

The Official Shotgun Rules

Another one of Stumbles finds

Welcome to Woz.org

2005-10-17T15:08:00.000Z

Welcome to Woz.org

He invented athe Apple computer don't ya know.

Apple (UK and Ireland)

2005-10-12T18:18:00.000Z

Apple (UK and Ireland)

mmmm now where is my credit card

Bunny suicides

2005-10-10T16:24:00.000Z

Bunny suicides

yes, I know this has done the ropunds before, but I Stumble(ed)upon it today and it still makes me smile.

Amy & Owen

2005-10-08T08:10:00.000Z

Yesterday I drove to York for the wedding of my cousin Amy, who was married to the all round nice chap, Owen ( welcome to the clan dude ;-) )

My good lady wife, being 36 weeks pregnant with our second child, did not feel she would be comfortable for the journey so she stopped at home with our son William.

There is a saying amongst some of my mates, M5, M42, Gateway to the world( due to a lot of journeys from Worcester using that route). Unfortunately I have to change the saying to, M5, Pay £2.50 to travel 5 miles out your way because you got on the chuffing M6 TOLL by mistake and had to double back on yourself to get back on the M42, gateway to the world.

Any way back to the day, It was very nice to catch up with the family and to be together for such a happy occasion.
********************************************************************
(going to have to stop here for a bit going to football)

Right sorry 'bout that back now, not that I should of bothered we lost (just for a change).
********************************************************************
When I got to Grosvenor Terrace( My Uncle and Aunties House) a lot of my side of the family were there. Amy the Bride to be, was very chilled.

Around 2.30 pm we started making our way to St. Olave's Church. Amy looked fabulous in her dress and Jenny made a lovely Bridesmaid ( Owen scrubs up ok too)

Amy arrived the obligatory 5 mins late (I thought maybe Uncle Vin had decided to knock a room through or build a wall before they left for the Church ).

After the Wedding ceremony we gathered for some photos in the gardens behind the church (Museum Gardens).

During the walk back to Grosvenor Terrace, we passed a pub, a strange force pulled Me and Craig in and would not let us go until we had a drink. :-)

Back at Grosvenor Terrace there was Champagne and sarnies a plenty, people drifted around chatting. By about 5.30pm people had started to leave to get ready for the meal later that night.

The people remaining at Grosvenor Terrace ( Amy and Owen included) left for Bettys CafeTea Rooms Where we had the Evening meal , It was nice to have a good veggie option I really loved the Art Deco interior of the Tea Rooms.

I have to say I was very disappointed that Uncle Vins speech was so short ( about 15 mins ) I had settled back and was hoping for at least a hour, but what he did do was very good, as were the other speeches.

As I had to drive back to Worcester I had to leave shortly after the speeches. Thanks to Red Bull and several expresso coffees for helping me home.

I got home at just gone 3 am.

Thanks to all for a lovely day.

Just one more thing to add, Instead of presents Amy and Owen asked for donations to WaterAid Big up to them both for that.

More Photos Here

And it's Goodnight from him.

2005-10-04T14:44:00.000Z

Sad news indeed.

Spent many a Sunday evening watching Open All Hours when I was younger. I still laugh and it now, that and Porridge.

"What have I learned, Mr Mackay? Three things. One - bide your time. Two - keep your nose clean. And three - don't let the bastards grind you down"

or as Arkwright might of said "RRRRest in PPPPPeace RRRonnie"

Some old Photos

2005-10-03T13:23:00.000Z

Was doing a bit of spring cleaning on the computer and I came across these of photos of my days as a deeeejaaay mate, not arf.

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet! Alright all you Europrats, listen to me. My name is Davenport Nice, I'm a-standing, Yes - Davenport. I'm a-standing firm for Britain, for her Tuesdays, for her Wombles, for a Bachman, for a Turner and most of all for a noble Overdrive.

You ain't seen nothing yet, Euro Poppers - Let us rock!

Photos from Vodka Tasting

2005-10-02T18:40:00.000Z

A few photos I did not have time to put up the other day when I did the Vodka Tasting

BEFORE

AFTER

I have started making some more PV Vodka as the last lot was so good.

Well time to taste

2005-09-29T20:29:00.000Z

Again showing my lack of patience, I gave the vodka a try today and too my surprise it tastes very good, I think I will do a few more bottles, a few Xmas presents sorted out me thinks.

Also going to try a few more flavours, marmite ( well twiglet) has been suggested, I think I will give it a go but probably just a small amount, maybe a glass, then if it tastes good, which I doubt, I will scale upto a bottle.

Just watching the episode of Lost ( recorded last night) from E4, they are one in front of the Channel 4 run, anyway there were bloody adverts on before the opening titles, < Grrrrr >

I've got wires

2005-09-29T17:19:00.000Z

Today we set up the new office,I spent half the day pulling my hair out trying to get the Wi-Fi connnection to go online only to find, after about three bloody hours, that there was a space after the password, once I had deleted it, it all worked.

Still got wires heaped around my feet, printers, phones and fax machines all over the place and the contents of the draws and intrays of the old office in a big box and it is 6.20 pm but a rather get it sorted so I can start fresh tommorow, so I better crack on.

Vodka Update

2005-09-28T23:10:00.000Z

Time for an update on the Parma Violet Vodka( see a few posts below)

As you can see from the photo directly below the vodka still looks cloudy. As I have the attention span of a goldfish, I thought it was time to speed it up a bit.

So it is time to get the filter on the go.

After two runs through some coffee filter paper it now looks a rather nice shade of blue, and you can see through the bottle, the only slight problem is I have lost some content due to paper soakage.

Right nearly ready for tasting, a day or two in the freezer and the jobs a good 'un.

Leaving in a Transit

2005-09-28T19:57:00.000Z

Bloody busy day today, we moved the office (well not the office but the stuff therein). My boss has moved to a bigger house so we are going to work from his house for a while until we find a good office in Worcester, where we both now live.

It was quite sad leaving Bewdley, I have worked there for three years now, thats a lot of lunchtimes spent in pubs, I went to the Mug House for lunch today and loads of people had gone in especially to say bye to me, which was nice. I will also miss some of the people who had offices in the same offices as we were.

This story caught me eye today:-

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | BMW boy, 11, banned from driving

I mean WTF how can you ban an eleven year old from driving? Will he be allowed to drive again when he is twelve :-)

Grand Illusions

2005-09-27T18:21:00.000Z

Grand Illusions

I think this is probably quite old but if you not seen this illusion, well you have to see it to believe it.

Make sure you follow the instructions on the pdf exactly ( especially the folds).

Let me know what you think.

Ex-MP Tony Benn taken to hospital

2005-09-27T17:22:00.000Z

Just seen this glad he is ok, one of the good ones

Well as it is here

2005-09-26T23:14:00.000Z

As I have set this blog up I might as well use it I suppose. I will try and make not sound like one of the diaries I did as a kid you know the type of thing:-

Got up at 7.30
Had coco pops for breakfast
School was rubbish( as usual)
came home

********************

So I will have ago:-

Got up at 7.30
Had a quick cup of coffee
Work was rubbish ( as usual)

oh hang on, bollocks It is harder than you think, talking about your day without turning it into a list. Right I think I will just waffle for a bit and see how it goes, although to be fair, if this blog is anything like the aforementioned diaries I will be pissed of with the whole thing by next week.

As you might of read below the best news of the day is The Mighty Red Army ( Swindon Town FC) got rid of the baffon that is Andy King, he has been at the club 5 years and had little success, although I think he is a good talent spotter, his tactical and man management skills left a lot to be desired. When fans got on his back he would really slag them off, this was one of his worst points for me I have several times, seen him stick the "vs" upto the Town End( our main vocal support) anyway coach Iffy Onuora has been placed in temporary charge. I would love to see a big name come in ( we have done it in the past Macari, Ozzie and Hoddle) but i doubt anyone would want to come to a debt ridden club like ours.

BBC SPORT | King parts company with Swindon

2005-09-26T11:37:00.000Z

About bloody time, I might even try and get to a game now.

Lets hope Chalkie White wants the job

Steve White, Steve White, Give the ball to Stevie White..............
Ah Happy Memories

2005-09-26T08:36:00.000Z

Morning
Just having a go at posting from my work PC rather than the Mac and I am very pissed off to discover you get far more WYSIWYG editing options using the PC ( running Firefox) than you do with a Mac running Safari. Still It is free and still easy to use so I suppose you can't complain.

Vodka Update

Was still a bit cloudy this morning, but the Parma Violet powder is definitely dissolving will get another photo when I get home.

2005-09-26T01:40:00.000Z

The Parma Violet Vodka Experiment

A few weeks ago on a forum I occasionally :-) post on (the Carter USM forum) there was a brief discussion about making flavored Vodka. One of the posters Micky Teaspoon wondered if you could make Parma Violet Vodka I said I would find out so here you go.

The first problem was buying the sweets I looked in loads of shops before I found some. I was going to buy a quality Vodka but then saw a bottle for a fiver in the Spar,( the same place I eventually tracked down the Parma Violets, which for the record are no longer 2p a pack ) For old times sake I asked the shop keeper for one Benson and a match, he told me that they only come in Tens or Twenties

The Ingredients

As you can see from the photo below I put the Parma Violets in a bowl ready for crushing

Let the crushing begin

When all I had left in my bowl was Parma Violet powder I thought that I better make some room in the bottle.

Well this is what I was left with, I think in needs a while to settle.

If it was not sad enough spending the best part of an hour crushing sweets putting them in vodka and recording the whole event on this website, I made a label.

Just in case you did not guess it is a rip off of the Classic Absolute label