Last night

Football was good last night, we lost to Chelsea 4-0, but it was expected, good atmosphere. They tried to build it up at the beginning with fireworks which were quite cool, and an opera tenor, it was almost verging on corny and cringe worthy, but not quite! It was worth paying the £21 just to see the Chelsea stars play some amazing stuff! I regret not taking my phone to get some pictures. It was cold sat there for a couple of hours.

I got home at about 10:20, to find my dog Mia on my bed (as pictured) who you may remember from some posts last year, when she gave birth to some pups, waiting for me to take her for a walk. So I did and then went to bed.

Got up, had my usual Cinnamon Bagle, and went to work for the usual. Got home and now I'm going to watch the football from last night which I recorded, and see if I can spot myself in the crowd.

Beverley Races

I am feeling a bit tender today! Yesterday around 200 employees and I, were at the Beverley Races, courtesy of the company.
After working in the morning we left work via coach at 12:00 and arrived at the racetrack (Horse racing) just before 13:00. We were then seated in a big marquee in the center paddock.
We had lunch whilst enjoying the sounds of the small jazz band and then proceeded to mingle amongst ourselves and place a few bets, the bar was £1.00 a pint/bottle/spirit with the pound going to the company's chosen charity, so as you can imagine, people got a little bit drunk! Not yours truly of course......well maybe a little bit, I do seem to remember making advances to a new girl that has started working in the Microbiology department!
I did not place one successful bet, but I didn't think I would, I'm not much of a gambler, so I was not too disheartened.
At 5:30 we departed the track where I enjoyed a pleasant, if slightly rowdy coach ride home, were I learned from a drunken French man I was sat next to, to insult my fellow co-workers in French! But it was all in good spirit.
Upon getting back into the town center, I left the company of some colleagues who (already very drunk, one of them was my boss!) were heading to another pub, and later to nightclubs and wot not. I thought this would be a bad idea because I would be at work for 6:00am and handling cyanide as well, so I went home.

When I arrived at work this morning, the person I was partnered with, rang in sick, leaving me with a lot of work to do, which is not a good thing when you have had a lot of beer the afternoon before. Needless to say, my boss did not look to healthy/happy.

I did not manage to take any pictures, but some may appear on the 'Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape' blog, on my links, because I did notice Johnny Jazz wandering about with his camera, I hope he did not get any photo's of me!

After leaving work I came home and rested my head for an hour, I was then woken by a delivery man, he was delivering some prizes that my brother won, by entering a competition on a coca-cola bottle, these were a 32" Plasma TV, a Nintendo Wii, and a coca-cola fridge with a few crates of soft drinks to put in it........the lucky b@#%rd, I'm not jealous at all lol!

Tonight I will be going to the football to watch my humble team Hull City AFC play Chelsea (giants of English and European football) in a cup game, a bit of a glamorous occasion by Hull's standards, so I have drank a high caffeine energy drink to wake me up a bit, and get me in the mood. I'll now get ready for the football and will be staying away from alcohol for the next few days. I will catch up with all your blogs tomorrow!

The picture is of Drypool bridge, which crosses the river Hull, in Hull.

Lazy day

Having a lazy day today, apart from going to the shops this morning to get some food in (the above picture shows the back entrance to St Stephens shopping mall with my brother walking towards me, carrying his shopping) I have done nothing much, although I did look at a couple of movie trailers on the internet. One for Aliens Vs Predator 2 (I am a self confessed sci-fi geek, apologies) and another for The Golden Compass, an adaption of the first book in Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials trilogy, both films look very promising and I look forward to seeing them!
I am actually going to start reading the Dark Materials trilogy again today, as I really enjoyed them the first time around! And whilst I'm on the subject of books, I would recommend reading Trudi Canavans Dark Magician trilogy, if you like fantasy books with witches and wizards and all that jazz. I read them about a year ago, they are fantastic!

Can I get a witness...

So I got up at 7:00 in order to get to work at 8:00 on a Saturday of all days....A SATURDAYYYYYY!!!! There was just myself and Dean, singer of the Strands (sounds like mid 90's brit-rock and who was the singer of my very first band, way back in '98) there at work until 11:00.
We left and he said he was going to check out the new 'St Stephens' shopping complex in town center, I needed to go anyway to get some lunch and wot-not, so I hitched a ride with Deano and he told me, he wanted to get a new pair of shoes, so I also tagged along with him to some of the more up-market clothes shops which the development has attracted. After a bit of looking I noticed a really nice shirt (I am one of those guys who will buy a shirt or pair of jeans and make them last for years....I'm not much of a shopper, I don't know how you ladies do it!) anyway, I ended up spending £30 on this shirt (43.5 Euros/60.4 US Dollars) and just to make the point clear, I have never spent more then half that on a shirt! But it just looked so nice!

The reason I decided I really needed a new shirt is because it's the company's, almost annual 'Beverley Races Day' next Tuesday afternoon (that's horse racing) and I needed a new shirt obviously!

Anyway......after we parted ways, I walked home, and just as I had entered my street and had walked about half way up it (30 feet) I heard a big car skidding noise and then a big smashing sound on the road at the end of our street, I thought I would be 'nosey' and see what had happened, so I turned around , walked, and popped my head around the end of the street to see a bus and a car with a crushed front end. The bus was half way through a narrowed point where the oncoming traffic had to give way, which was also situated on a long corner, walking away from the crash was a woman aged about 20, and running up to her was a man of "middle eastern appearance" who then said something to her and pointed to an alleyway.
The middle eastern man (enraged) then turned back and ran to his car and prised open the door to retrieve some mail (evidently mail that had his name and address on the front) when he got his mail and various other bits and pieces, he slammed the door shut and shouted " I hate this fucking country" and spat a number of times on to the road, he then walked past me, away from the scene of the accident and into a block of flats, just down the street.
During this time the bus driver was on the phone to whoever (either, his department or the police, or both) and then about 3 minutes later the police arrived!
The bus driver then told the policeman what happened ( the driver said that he was going through the narrowed point where he had right of way [which he did] when the middle eastern man came at speed around the corner, he swerved and hit the curb, this then caused him to swerve back into the bus, where he was then bounced back about 20 feet onto the grass verge, by the force of hitting the bus.
The policeman inspected the wreckage of the car driven by the middle eastern man, which he commented "smells very strongly of Vodka" I smelt this as he opened the door too! He also found a letter with a name and address in the flats where the man had walked off to, and a ominous bunch of keys, which were later found to be the "middle eastern" man's front door keys.
Another of the policemen went to the address displayed on the envelope and found said "middle eastern" man, who was then arrested and taken away for questioning after leaving the scene of a road accident. Upon walking past the alleyway mentioned earlier, I found an empty bottle of Vodka! The policeman (after talking to the bus driver) said he may need to get a statement from me, it's now 23:00 and no one has called, so I think it must have been sorted out...ha! Let's not forget the witnesses who were on the bus and also the other people who happened to be walking down the street at the time, who also gave the police their names and addresses! I don't think this guy will have a leg to stand on.

I do have another court appearance on 16th October to attend, as a witness, but I'll talk about that another time, I'm tired and need to sleep!

The photo is just another random one!

No rest for the wicked

This picture shows the old (now closed down) 'Tower nightclub' in Hull, a sleazy, cesspit of a place....but it does have an interesting and attractive facade I think! I also think it should be given a bit of renovation and turned into a nice live music venue!

Not got much to say today really, got up and went to work. I had to do the work of 2 people today because my work partner has gone on holiday to his house in Spain.....OK for some lol. Because of this, I ended up finishing at 15:00 instead of 13:00.....on a Friday of all days, and I'm at work tomorrow as well!!! No rest for the wicked as my religious colleague Phil would probably say......

Other notable mention....I discovered a fantastic tasting Lager, yesterday evening, from the USA no less! It's called Brooklyn Lager, it's breathtaking I suggest you try it! Oh, I already mentioned it in the last post, oh well!

I am now going to go and watch an unplugged Led Zeppelin....well actually a 'Page and Plant' DVD I have not seen before, it's called 'No Quarter' so will catch up with y'all tomorrow.

Dog Tired

Today I am extremely tired! I awoke at about 3am to find that all 3 of my dogs (Rottweilers) had opened my bedroom door and invited themselves to sleep on my bed! I was just too tired to try and push them off, so I just tried to find some space for my legs and tried to get back to sleep, for as much sleep as possible, before my alarm went off at 5am. Unfortunately I lay in such an uncomfortably contorted position that I could not get back to sleep, hence why I'm tired now.

Yesterday was a bit tediously annoying. Upon leaving work, I walked the 2 miles home to realise I had promised to pick up my brother and father's ticket for the away 'Hull City AFC' football match on Saturday. So I then walked the mile to the KC Stadium to collect the tickets, as I was half way home I realised I had nothing for my lunch at work for the next couple of days, so I turned around and walked all the way to the supermarket (about another 1.5 miles) where I did my shopping and went to the checkout. I noticed when I looked out the window, whilst standing in line, that it was now pouring down with rain outside. I then walked home (1 mile) in the pouring rain with no coat and 2 bags of shopping in each hand, not only that, but my Jeans became so laden with wetness, that they were starting to slip down and get caught under the heel of my shoes, causing them to pull down even further. I managed to get home without my jeans around my ankles to find one of the dogs had been sick all over the kitchen floor and had also pissed in several places.

Tonights band practice has been canceled because our drummer Garry had double booked with his other band, so I have a free evening to enjoy!

On the way home I popped through the new St Stephens shopping center which opened today (see previous post) to get something to eat, as I was in the supermarket I thought I would get a bottle of beer to drink with my meal when I get home. I tried a bottle called Brooklyn Lager, brewed in New York, and have to say it tastes fantastic, I would recommend, if you like lager, to try a bottle!

The photograph is just another random shot of a gas tower which was taken while I walked home.

St Stephens

Tomorrow sees the grand opening of the new £200 million St Stephens development here in Hull. As a lover of architecture and all things new and shiny and as a proud resident of the city of Hull, coupled with the fact that it will bring shops and a supermarket closer to my door, I am looking forward to it's opening.
There seems to be an air of sceptiscism around this development, in that people think it won't have a detrimental, positive effect on the city's economy (only 40% of people in Hull and the surrounding area actually spend their money shopping in Hull) and many actually believe it will have a negative impact as it leaves other parts of the city center with abandoned, boarded up shops.
I think this may be the case in the short term, but feel it will ultimately prove to be beneficial to the city, helping to improve the image.
I remember when construction began on 'The Deep' and the 'KC Stadium'(pictured in last post) just a few years ago, the words "white elephant' were being banded around like there was no tomorrow, but both of these buildings have been very good for the city, the KC stadium being a big factor in turning around the fortunes and success of my team 'Hull City AFC' and perhaps causing some of these people to "eat their words"(I know one or two of these people) and have definitely been very positive for the city. I have actually met people who preferred the times when Hull City AFC were languishing in the 4th division with crowds of only 5 thousand people.
I think Hull is a brilliant little city and would not want to live anywhere else, for sure it still requires a lot of investment, and has it's troubles like any other city, but for me the biggest problem it has, is the lack of pride and belief shown by it's own residents.
I remain convinced that as these development company's chip away at the areas which require improvements with their schemes it will all add to the bigger picture, which is the future of this city. Surely nobody would like to see the Ferensway of old!

Yarr!

Just a couple more random shots taken whilst walking to and fro.

I just popped on to Nessa's blog and tried her little pirate name thingy, here's how mine turned out;

My pirate name is:

Mad Davy Cash

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Whilst walking home

Not been up to much today, other then working of course! I am now going to finish a song I started yesterday which I am going to call 'Where Your Scribbles Lie In Secret Notebooks' then I will be listening to Hull City AFC on the radio tonight. I took this image on the way home from work, it shows the 5 a side football/basketball pitch just near my home, were I used to "lark about" in my teens.

Have a guess!

Spent yesterday afternoon recording another song for 'Legend of Sid' and since I got home from work today I have been recording another song. When I have got some words for it, that will be 33 songs recorded in the last couple of months. My aim now is to complete one song a week, so that there is something new for people to listen to when they visit my Myspace.

I created the displayed image on Photoshop, it is completely unrecognisable from the original, can you guess what it was a picture of?

Morning walk

I was up early this morning, nothing to do, so I took a walk to have a look at the new/revamped bus/rail transport interchange which opened today in Hull. I took these photo's whilst I was there.

The Football

Just been to the football to watch my team, Hull City AFC, play Stoke City at the KC Stadium. Wont bore you with too much detail, just to say that it was a draw (1-1) could have played better, I'm quite happy we managed to get a goal back because we did not look like we were going to score. I think we are still 18th in the table after 5 games.
I took these pictures on the way and whilst I was inside waiting for the game to begin, I think they look quite cool with this Photoshop filter added for good measure.
I spent the morning listening to the 4-track recordings made at practice on Thursday evening, listening for where I can make any improvements, and they did give me some ideas to work on. It's good to have a decent recording I can play along to! Anyway, I'll go and watch the rest of X-Factor

Band names please!

Last night we had our weekly band practice, did not get to bed while midnight (so I was tired whilst at work today) I took a couple of pics on my mobile and played around with them on Photoshop, one of a couple of guitars, shown here.
I suggested a couple of names for the band as we are yet to be named (the hardest part about starting a band) most of the suggestions were what someone else (a certain Mr Johnny Jazz) suggested. The names were: Dangerous Dog, The Dirty Monkey Racket, The Messy Furniture Company, Insane Badger, The Dirty Cow Gambit and Flamin' Nora. None of them seemed to go down well, I actually like them, they are imaginative.....on this note, if any of you have any suggestions you are welcome to put them forward!

The situation at work, with Pete (see previous post) got a little more heated today when another colleage 'Tony' (Harley Davidson rider with a bad haircut and a willingness to let people know how he feels when the mood strikes) made a comment in front of our manager about Pete leaving at 12:00 everyday last week, this did not go down well with Pete who then confronted Tony later on....they then set about having a little argument, later I witnessed Pete informing our manager about a number of misdemeanors that Tony had performed over recent months...nothing of any real importance, it was just Pete being petty really! There were no 'Yorkshire pudding' related incidents today either.
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It'll deflate!

People at work are becoming angry with Pete. There are 10 of us "Process Technicians" on the chemical plant, plus 1 manager, 1 planner, 1 engineer and 3 laboratory staff. We (the technicians) are left to our own devices when it comes to filling in our time sheets, and fair enough, everyone fiddles 15-30 minutes of extra time onto their total hours to make up for not getting paid on bank holidays like the rest of the site do.
Our plant manager knows this and "turns a blind eye" so long as the work gets done. But Pete is rushing the job in order to leave at 12:15 and claiming he is leaving at 14:00 when the rest of us leave.
Because of this, it's only a matter of time before they install a clocking in/out machine, which would then ruin it for the rest of us. Pete is a likeable old chap, but at times he is generally self centred and only thinks "what's in it for me" regardless of anyone else, which is a bad personality trait in my opinion.....there again it seems to be human nature!
I'll keep an eye on this situation and see what happens.

There was a brief but funny moment in the tearoom at lunchtime. Dean (young whippersnapper) entered the room and opened a ready meal, saw that the oven was on/in use and opened the oven door to see if there was any room for his meal. When he opened the oven, Pat (miserable old koot, who thinks he is the only one entitled to use the kitchen appliances) screamed NO!!!! and ran over to the oven, Dean jumped in shock and nearly tripped backwards over a chair, thinking the oven was going to explode. Then (clutching his chest after nearly suffering a heart attack) asked Pat "what's the matter?" to which Pat replied "I'm cooking a Yorkshire pudding and if you open the door, you'll let the heat escape, and it'll deflate" Dean (still clutching at his heart) just stared at him in disbelief.

What! No Beer Fest?

I have just got back from watching 'The Strands' playing live at 'Lamp', a good gig, I tried to take a photo but my mobile does not have a good enough flash/lens etc. to get a good pic in a darkened room! I left immediately after they played their last song as I will be getting up at 5am for work.

Another reasonable day at work on the chemical plant, when I arrived home at about 3:00pm, I planned to record a new song using my trusty 4-Track recorder(pictured). I have had a few ideas running through my mind over the last day or so, but when I got home I ended up sleeping for an hour or so!
I am becoming increasingly worried that this years 'Hull Beer Festival' will not be going ahead, I have checked the website to see if they have procured a venue because the usual venue (Hull City Hall) is not available. However, I am tempted to get a ticket for this years Nelsonica convention, which promises to be a real treat for guitar based music lovers....like me. It could coincide with the beer fest!

Things to do this week.....send off my 2 'Legend of Sid' CD's which I have spent the last two months recording, to BBC Radio Humberside's Raw Talent show, and see what they think/if it gets played.

Anyway, I'm tired and need to go to sleep!

Amusing appeal

Thoroughly enjoyed watching Commando yesterday afternoon, I had not seen it for a few years! I also have a couple of Russian movies to watch when I get chance, what I have borrowed off a friend at work who is obsessed with everything Russian, don't ask me why.....although some of those Russian ladies are very attractive! I cannot pronounce the names of the movies because they are in Russian hahaha.

I was back at work today after my extended weekend, not a bad day at work, I don't mind my job, I have it pretty easy really it's just slightly boring at times and slightly too labor intensive at other times. It did throw me though, starting on the Tuesday and not the Monday.

I saw a highly amusing bit on the news yesterday, upon finding that a bad/deadly/lethal batch of Heroin is out on the streets, a police chief has appealed to drug dealers not to supply the heroin and to heroin users not to take it, I don't think this chief lives in the real world do you!

It's funny that Bazza commented "the interior of the Cavern looked more like a bistro then a rock venue" because it did have a continental feel to it during the day time, although the numerous tourists (Japanese, German, to name a few that I saw/heard) did detract a little from this feeling, I don't recall them serving food though, but there were many places round and about that did. It did start to feel like a live music venue as time meandered into the evening and groups/artist began to do their stuff.

Speaking about groups doing their stuff.....I have a band practice on Thursday evening 7-11pm at the practice room, I'll need to bring my 4-track recorder so we can make some recordings.....not for other people to listen to, but for self improvement!

Tomorrow I may well pop down to Lamp (pictured) to watch The Strands again and also to observe what the Wednesday evening of live bands called 'Sidekicks Lounge' is like, as the Sidekicks Lounge will probably be the night were I play the first gig with my band(although we are a few weeks off that yet) so it should be interesting. But I may choose to stay in and watch England play Russia (Football) on the TV.

Trip to Liverpool

Went to Liverpool yesterday to watch some friends play a gig at the Cavern club where the Beatles once started out, and I took today off work in case I was feeling a bit crook!

Not a bad little road trip, where I journeyed on the bands hired mini bus. It was a decent gig although I was a little disapointed that for the second time, I didn't get to visit the Beatles museum. Also a little disapointed that my brother and a mate did not go due to illness and available seats on the bus.

I like the Cavern Club as a venue for live bands, it seems to have the right atmosphere! I also watched a few acoustic acts performing some Beatles numbers (as you would expect in Liverpool) and when my friends band 'The Strands' had finished playing we got away earlier then I was expecting for the 2 hour ride back to Hull and I was back in bed for around 1:30am, which was cool!

Today I popped along to the KC Stadium with my brother to pick up a ticket for myself and my dad, for the forthcoming game (Hull City[football{soccer}]) against Chelsea on the 26th of this month, then when I got back I had a blast playing Bioshock on my XBox 360.

Anyway I think I'll go and watch a movie.....maybe some classic Schwarzenegger like Commando!