Succumbing to madness

If you were me this Christmas, you probably spent your time;

1. Going on your departments Christmas meal, having a very good time and getting drunk, then inviting yourself to another company's Christmas night out the next evening, and getting not quite as drunk, because your still feeling it from the night before and making a new friend called Amy.

2. Feeling a great sense of injustice at having to spend a cold morning helping your father give the garage a clearout from the massive amount of junk which had built up. None of which, was anything to do with you.

3. Having a lot of quality Me-time, playing a lot of computer games which have built up in recent months, and also watching the DVD movies you like to watch every year at Christmas such as Home Alone and Trading Places.

4. Drinking too much alcohol, eating too many mince pies and chocolate and sleeping in too late, inducing a sense of dread at having to return to work in a week knowing that the alarm will be once again set for 5am.

5. Starting to feel as though your losing your mind, because you want to record music on your PC, but know it is going to be difficult because, what was your computer room/music studio, has been unnessacerily turned into a second living room by your parents meaning you blatantly do not have the room required to work, realising it's reached breaking point and you need to move into a place of your own but knowing you don't have the funds to do so.

6. Spending many hours last night, trying to install a new sound card into your brothers PC, but having the PC laugh at your feeble attempts to make it work! You know you have done everything exactly right, but it's not working, then hours later for no apparent reason it starts to work!

7. Knowing that your driving test is on the 4th February, your spending £160-200 a month on lessons (even though you don't think your eyesight is good enough to pass) and telling your family that Christmas is cancelled this year whilst your paying for driving lessons, and then thinking that you don't really like driving anyway!

8. Telling yourself that you will go back to the gym (that you pay so much money for each month) tomorrow, because your really starting to feel unfit and unhealthy, but knowing that your too lazy to do so.

As I slowly succumb to madness I hope you are having a great Christmas period and have a happy and prosperouse new year!!!

Kenny Giggle Buns

My Christmas holidays started last Friday! I still had loads of holidays left to take so I booked them all of before Christmas, so I'm not back at work until January 5th. My dad decided to take full advantage of this, by asking me to help him spend ALL of my Sunday helping him lay the new Bamboo hard wood flooring in the living room as pictured. I don't think we did a bad job of it considering it was the first time either of us had done anything like this! We started at 9 in the morning and finished at 9 on the evening, so we were pretty tired by the end, our dog Roxy seems to appreciate it!

Tomorrow night I am going to see 'Glasvegas' play at Hull Uni! Looking forward to that, especially as I didn't know they were even playing until my friend Rob texted me and asked if I wanted to go!

Rob has decided to stand as an independent in the next local government elections, so I will soon be helping him to make a short film, which will serve to outline what he stands for and why people should vote for him!

Oh and I have a new nickname, which I received last night whilst playing an online computer game! My online name is K G B 1 9 7 8, and when an American guy asked me if I was Russian, I said no, the KGB is the initials of my name, so he asked me if my name was "Kenny Giggle Buns" to which I burst out laughing, along with 10 other people, and after that I had a number of friend requests because everyone wanted to be friends with a guy like "Kenny Giggle Buns" so there you go, the joys of playing X-Box!

Departmental Politics!

Since I left working in the Laboratories and moved into processing, it has really highlighted what a cesspit of petty behavior, working in the labs really was! The constant need of one-upmanship by fellow co-workers was at times, beyond belief! I am not saying it doesn't happen in processing/manufacturing areas, because it does! I'm sure it happens in all areas of work! But nowhere near the levels I had become accustomed to in a certain QC department where I once worked.
When my sister worked in the same department she was subjected to some victimisation and backstabbing (enough to warrant a career change and become a nurse) and now my brother who works in this department has also just been at the hands of some backstabbing son's of bitches!

Let's remind ourselves what backstabbing is according to it's dictionary definitions:-

To attack (someone) unfairly, especially in an underhand, deceitful manner

treacherous actions or remarks that are likely to cause harm to a person

So two people from his department had words with the boss and said that he (my brother) and two other colleages that he works with are lazy, rude, nasty to people and unhelpful! (all of which, I can personally say, could be directly attributed to one of the people that we suspect, may have reported my brother) The boss raised these issues with my brother and the other two accused, as was his duty as area manager, but knowing my brothers personality, he chose to believe him! As I do, even though he is my brother!

My brother thinks he knows who reported him by eliminating certain persons who were not there at the time or people he would choose to trust, and so managed to narrow it down to the two people he thinks are the culprits, based on character traits and past histories! I guessed who he suspected straight away, but the truth of the matter is that you never really can tell what any of your colleages are thinking and/or plotting behind your back!

I think I know why this has happened, a short time ago, the previous area manger (as useless as she was) took a liking to my brother and he subsequently became her 'blue eyed boy' and could do no wrong, and this new course of backstabbing has come about due to envy, jelousy and a petty, self righteous feeling of giving my brother his 'just deserts' for being favoured by the previous manager!

Monitor speakers

After selling my PA system to my friend Dean, I now have the cash to buy some decent powered monitor speakers for my PC, so I can start making music again! So I have just ordered these lovely Yamaha HS-50M's online.
I still need a little mixing desk and them I am set to go again! With proper monitor speakers I'll be able to EQ my tracks to a slightly better standard then before! Now I am exited, but my brain is muddled due to the clutter in the room, which will probably prevent me starting straight away, when they arrive!
A friend of mine has recently bought some of these which I have listened to and I feel they will be very adequate for my intended use!

Song ideas and political debates

Another image I captured a few weeks ago whilst on walkabout!

I have my driving theory and hazard perception test booked for December 15th, once I pass these my instructor can book me in for my practical driving test!!!

Ideas are gathering in my mind for the 4th 'Legend of Sid' album! My one man alternative/ comedy/surrealist/piss-taking/totally un-serious virtual band (of which I have so far, only recorded one song towards, called 'Buxom Wench') I just need to get some monitor speakers and get my music recording studio (parents dining room) cleared of all my dads DIY stuff, a large stack of hard wood flooring and boxes of underlay, rolls of wallpaper, tubs of plaster that sort of thing! But it may be a number of weeks before that happens, and I finally get the required space to work and record!

I have been spending my time at work over this last couple of days discussing my friends articles from his blog with colleages, scribbling down notes and gathering ideas to form responses, which try and stimulate him into a debate! His blog is very much on the political side, which is something I think he may aspire to become more involved in, in the future, so I feel that debating his points of view will be essential practice for the real thing, should he ever get involved in politics on a real level! Maybe by standing as an independent in the next local elections, or joining one of the larger political parties! It's a shame that most of the independent candidates are overlooked during elections as many have good ideas, but most people bypass them and go straight to the usual tory, Labour and Lib Dem sections to place their cross! I must admit I have been guilty of that!

Weather is cold, wet and generally rubbish so i am getting lots of computer gaming time in, but dispite the dismal view outside I remain generally in high spirits, I have not read a book in ages, the last ones I read were 'England: History of a nation' and a no holds barred behind the scenes look at life with Led Zeppelin back in the good old days by their road manager. I have a Ronnie Wood autobiography to read and 'Cash' by Johnny Cash, a book on great battles a book on tyrants, plus Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' and a few others so I'll have to start reading one of those maybe!

A cold day out to watch the football

It was a very cold day out yesterday as my brother and I traveled down to Portsmouth on coach, a journey which took 5 hours and 40 minutes! We found out that Fratton Park is an absolute shithole! After the game we journeyed back up north to find on returning to Hull that it had been snowing!

I bought Guitar Hero: World Tour on Friday, I cant stop playing it, it's great!

Pat's Magical Mumbo Gumbo

After being so proud of Alex and me for creating a belly pork dish (Pork Belly is one of Pat's favorite things) He decided to treat us to one of his recipe's, this time a Gumbo containing ......you guessed it, pork! Which he served to us on jacket potatoes! It was really very nice and we named it 'Pat's Magical Mumbo Gumbo' there's me showing off my dinner with Pat over my shoulder and Alex to the side with Mark also sat at the table! Man that was some good Gumbo! Maybe we can talk him into making a Jambalaya or some Jerk Chicken next week!

I saw the light, whilst rocking out with guitar hero!

At first it seemed as though my weekend was going to be a bit rubbish, but in the end it proved to be a good one!
After spending Saturday morning helping my dad to mount his new plasma TV onto the living room wall (boring) I decided to get ready to go out and see 'The Strands' at 'The Welly' nightclub. I was due to meet a couple of friends at around 7:30 in the town center, however, when I went to put a top in the washing machine, I found to my displeasure, my sister was washing ALL her nursing uniforms and the machine was going to be blocked from use for some time. I just managed to get my top washed and dried for about 9:30!
I had already booked a taxi for 9:45 (after missing my earlier deadline) to take me to the welly where i planned to meet up with the guys and watch the band!
I was the first one in the nightclub except one lone girl playing 'Guitar Hero' in a corner and thought to myself where is everyone, the place is going to be very quiet! I wondered around until I finally bumped into John, the drummer with the strands, he said the band was in a back room and led me through a fire door and down a short narrow corridor which led into a grubby "bands only" area which was badly lit and covered in the graffiti of a thousand previous bands with a number of tatty old sofa's and chairs and a beer filled fridge in the corner!
It was a strange sensation being the first person into a nightclub (guitar hero girl not included) and being stone cold sober!
After I finished the bottle of beer that the band gave me I wondered back into the nightclub and found a few people had turned up, some of which I knew, after talking for a bit the club started to fill at this point we eyed the Guitar Hero game in the corner which the girl had vacated and I was instantly suckered into a guitar "rock off" with various people. Then my friends turned up who I was supposed to meet up with earlier (all very merry as they were 2.5 hours ahead of me in beer consumption) they joined the mock guitar fest, where we almost missed the strands starting their first song, as we were so caught up in our own little world in the corner!
The strands played a great set full of energy, then we partied and laughed afterwards reaching midnight when my friend Mark turned 23 and we partied some more! So it turned out to be one of the best nights out I have had in ages!

I woke up Sunday to the sound of my dads electric sander screaming in my ears which is not a good thing with a sore head! I got up and later we went to the football where Hull City had a 2-2 draw with Manchester City, and it was a very good game!
We came home and watched it on my dads TV and then I retired to my room and ended up watching 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!' another shit reality TV show full of people I have'nt heard of, except Robert Kilroy Silk (dickhead) and George Takai (legend) I think I will watch the next episode though purely for Sulu's quirky, funny as hell accent!

I also rang up Orange to find out why my mobile wasn't working and found out my contract had ended and I was due an upgrade, due to the "credit crunch" and "customer loyalty" (blah blah bullshit blah blah) I had my bill reduced from £25 to £18 a month with more free minutes etc. and a nice new phone to boot!

I will be buying 'Guitar Hero World Tour' this coming Friday! Why buy a computer game with a guitar shaped controller when you have a real guitar, you may ask! (as I did to others) Well all I can say is you need to play it to see the light!

Toilet humour

Yesterday was a very funny day at work! It seems that a few days ago, someone left a blockage in the toilet, in the male changing rooms at work! The toilet then "backed up" and spilled excrement over the floor.
Luckily I don't have to use this toilet or changing room, I'm in a different one!
Trying to enter the changing room was like hitting an invisible brick wall as I rebounded and retreated in horror after not being informed of the nasty situation!
So yesterday a man (who bizzarely seemed genuinely happy in his job) turned up to"rod out" the shit deamon which had set up camp in the changing room, this caused the smell to get worse and by the end of the day everyone was blaming everyone for the crime as the smell wafted through to the canteen next door!
However, there are three notorious suspects who regularly try to break records in that toilet, so I felt compelled to create this little poster which I attached to the door of the changing room of horrors!
I think it raised morale as everyone chuckled to themselves today, including the three people mentioned on the poster, which is a good thing because it could have been seen as harassment!

Better then life!

Whilst my dad had the electrics turned off earlier for some DIY, I thought I would take a walk and try and capture a few images in order to curb the boredom, seeing as I could not continue playing Fallout 3 on my XBox 360!

I took a walk into the old town and then onto the marina, I saw these derelict buildings in the old fruit market area and thought to myself they would look cool after a bit of "colour popping" in Photoshop!

Speaking of Fallout 3, it has taken over my life this past week to the point that I am glad I couldn't play it yesterday due to working on the Saturday morning and being at football in the afternoon and then with the electric being off today. I had been putting in so many hours in the post apocalyptic wastelands of Washington DC that it was giving me a headache! As my friend Dean kept saying to me "Kev, you should choose life" to which I replied "XBox and Fallout 3 is better then life." Since then he has bought Fallout 3 and has become obsessed with it also!

Just one last thing........is it right to burst out laughing when you witness your dad get an electric shock and scream like a girl?

Colorado

Prepare to be amazed/confused/abused and slapped in the face, by this music video featuring yours truly!

Belly Pork Baguette

What do you do if you go to work and realize you have forgotten your lunch and coincidentally one of your colleages has done the exact same thing?

Firstly you raid the fridge in the tea room and see what people can donate to your worthy cause.....

You take the ingredients you find and combine them to make a culinary wonder dish!

And behold the "Belly Pork Baguette" was invented by me and my colleage Alex!

We managed to scrape together some Pork belly, a tin of mushy peas, some gravy granules, two crusty baguettes and an onion!

It tasted great and everyone in the room clapped at our triumphant culinary adventure! Eat your heart out Ramsey and Blumenthal!!!

The sensation that is swoopo

Yet again I have left it too long since my last post! Why you may ask, well firstly I was ill for a couple of weeks with a cold/chest infection which seems to be going around at the minute, and as I sit here typing I am still coughing as it's symptoms linger! Secondly I have been helping my dad to tile the kitchen (one of his DIY projects) a skill which he assures me will come in useful when I have a family and a home of my own! In reality I will pay someone else to do it for me!

The driving lessons are going well, my instructor says I am almost ready for my test! If my eyesight is good enough to pass (it is borderline) then I look forward to traveling further afield to take pictures as I am finding Hull really uninspiring at the minute!

Speaking of taking pictures, last week I won a 10 megapixel Casio 'point and shoot' camera (which is going for £140 in places like Comet and Amazon) for a bargain price of £37 on www.swoopo.co.uk which I thought would be handy just to slip in my pocket when I am not carrying my bigger Panasonic Lumix around. I almost won a Cannon DSLR (worth £550 in shops) for around £90 but narrowly missed out! In the last 2 weeks, a friend of mine has won 3 laptops 2 nintendo Wii's an expensive watch, £150, a phone and a couple of other things on the same site! One of the laptops he paid in total just £40 for! Perhaps I should try and win a new XBox 360 as mine has just died! :(

Last night I watched one of those really badly dubbed 70's Kung Fu movies, I think it was called 'Genius School For Kung Fu' it was so bad I was compelled to watch it!

I am working tomorrow, but I have bought a pack of succulent looking bacon so I can make some bacon butties for me and my colleague in the morning, so life's not all bad!

The photo is one I took a while ago as I walked past the local 5 a side astroturf pitch!

Location Scouting

This morning I was up early so I could go to Beverley and do some location scouting for the "Four Foot Fez" music video, with my friends Dave and Phil! We had to get there early because Phil opens his jewelery shop at 9:00am. I took my camera along the proposed route, which was quit pleasant as there were hardly any people about, I thought I would share some of the photo's with you! In a few weeks I will be walking these streets with a four foot tall Fez on my head, providing we get permission to film from the local council.

Speaking of music videos, the 'Colorado' music video is almost complete and in perhaps a few days I will be able to share it with you here, this is not one of my 'Legend of Sid' songs but a 'Clem' song, so other then my actual performances in the video, I have had little input in the videos direction! But the choreography or lack of, makes for entertaining viewing!

She was a great dog!

As I sit here, still in a funk after having my 2 year old dog 'Layla' put to sleep on Tuesday, with next to no warning, after finding out she had bone cancer, I look out of the window to the dull and rainy weather and I realize that I have not taken any photo's in months.....I shall have to remedy this soon me thinks!
I also feel sad that I didn't take any recent photo's of Layla in the months before she died! It feels like only yesterday that I posted pictures of her and her brothers and sisters on this blog on the first night they had been born!

I also just had a craving for 'choc ices' and ate 3 in a row!

Facebook Stalking

My song of the week - check it out!

There's a girl who sat behind me in class way back when I was at school who I shall refer to as Sara, who befriended me and is stalking me on Facebook!
Perhaps stalking is a bit too strong a word but she just won't leave me alone, last week Sara was giving me hints such as " i miss having a boyfriend who I can cuddle up with and go to the cinema with and go to dinner with......tell me Kev are you single?" to which I replied with a massive lie "yeah I'm single, but I'm really liking being single again, I have just broken up from a long term relationship so a bit of freedom is just what I need right now" but she just kept going on and on about it!
Don't get me wrong, I am looking for a relationship but this girl just is not my type! Since then I have been going on to Facebook and first of all, checking if Sara is online, and if she is, I log straight back out again! I don't really want to be nasty to her so avoidance is the best solution as far as I can see, then she might get the hint that I'm not interested!

I had a nice weekend with Hull City winning their first ever game of Premiership football, a really good afternoon in the KC Stadium with a great atmosphere, getting right behind the Tigers! I had a bit of a hangover yesterday though!

PDR's

It makes me laugh when I see people start running around like headless chickens trying to do their "little projects" as PDR (Performance Development Review) time approaches.
Every year I hear these same people say "I ain't doing that, I don't even have time to do my job, let alone all these other things that my boss has asked me to do in my PDR" but then they put in a load of extra hours to get them done, and what are they doing it for.......an extra half percent on their salary!
So let's get this straight, for an extra £10 a week, these people are willing to put in hours of extra time at work to get their projects completed, and quite often putting in a good few hours at home as well! Why don't they just get a Saturday or evening job if they really want those extra few pounds.
I much prefer my way of doing things, simply just say "yeah OK, I'll try my best" and then not make any extra effort to complete these little tasks that the manager has set me. As far as I am concerned, If I am good at my job and get it done then that's OK for them and for me!

Enough of my ranting! The 'Dean and Kev Lotto Syndicate' didn't win at the weekend unfortunately, but it was fun when we found out Geoff had noted our numbers down and checked them over the weekend, in order to keep an eye on the success rate of our syndicate compared to his.....talk about sad!

DIY

A rainy day means that I am not out riding the hills of the Yorkshire Wolds, instead I am indoors helping my father with some DIY....Woohoo! I absolutely detest doing DIY, and building stud walls and door frames isn't how I would want to spend my Sunday!
I would much rather be on XBox Live or reading a book or watching the football on Skysports! We have the radio on so at least I can enjoy listening to some oldies such as Roy Orbison and Frank Sinatra and I just heard Glen Campbell doing a very good cover of Green Day's 'Time of your life' (Good Riddance) so not everything is bad!
In fact, now I think about it, I AM enjoying my Sunday, and I have a couple of beers in the fridge and some Dorito's and dips for later! Once we have the walls built and plastered, we can then move onto tiling the walls of the kitchen which my father has been promising my mother he would do for nearly 3 years!

The Dean & Kev Lottery Syndicate "It Rocks"

We have a character at work called Geoff! You may work with a person who is the same, basically everything that Geoff does is of the highest importance and is the best when done by Geoff, everything is a job that really only Geoff is capable and/or qualified to do......he is the man who can!
He holds it in high regard, that he facilitates the departmental lottery syndicate, and to show his importance and his authority, today he kicked my friend Dean out of the syndicate because he had missed a couple of payments, which highly amused Dean and the rest of us.
In addition to this, when I first started in the 'Fine Chemical Plant' (FCP) about two and a half years ago, I asked if I could join the syndicate, to which Geoff replied "No, there is no room for you." Since then we have had three new people start in the FCP who have all joined his syndicate, while I still waited for my invitation.
So, just for personal amusement, and because we know it will annoy the hell out of Geoff, Dean and I have gotten together and bought a lottery ticket and started our own rival lottery syndicate with the funky title 'Dean & Kev's Lotto Syndicate'.....and "It Rocks" written on the photocopy of our ticket and placed it on the wall in the place where Geoff likes to put his photocopy! We eagerly await Geoffs reaction when he sees there is a rival threat to his lottery syndicate facilitation! It's just like being at school again isn't it!
Already people are asking us if they can join our lottery syndicate because Geoff annoys them so much! I think we shall tempt them by telling them they will receive a free 'Dean & Kev's Lotto Syndicate' badge and be invited to attend "dress-up Fridays" but maybe not having to deal with Geoff would be enough to tempt them away! I have never wanted to win the lottery as much as I want us to win this weekend!

Got drunk!

I was out last night to Lamp, to watch my friends band 'The Strands' perform, unfortunately I had too much to drink as it had been six weeks or so since my last night out, due to working in that other area at work for 6 weeks. However I managed to retain a level head when talking to my friends beautiful cousin and managed not to make a fool of myself, she really was very attractive! The same cannot be said for my playing at the pool table which was in a typically drunken style, hence I didn't play very well.....so no change there then! I woke up late for work this morning and with a sore head, and felt quite sickly all morning, I even forgot to take my allergy tablets, so my nose kept bleeding. I was glad to get home at 2 o' clock and have a little sleep! I even bought myself some triple chocolate cookies to help with my recovery.

After six weeks of our dog Layla being ill, it looks like she is finally turning the corner and making a recovery. We don't know what is actually wrong with her, even after spending a lot of money on an endoscopy, a biopsy and several courses of antibiotics, the vet still don't have a clue either! But at least she's starting to look a bit happier and lively!

08 Specialized Rockhopper Disc

I just popped along to a bike shop that is a dealer of 'Specialized' brand mountain bikes, for a look at what he had in stock and to see if I could get any discount, I was also looking for a friend as well. I ended up putting a £150 deposit on this superb red Rockhopper and managed to get £50 knocked off it's price and £25 knocked of the price of the the next model down which my friend wanted, it's a bit higher specification then what I wanted, but I couldn't resist! I had been doing some research over the last few weeks and the reviews are excellent, it's all top notch stuff for the price bracket, I just have to scrape together another £400 next payday and it's all mine! Some friends are planning a trip up to Dalby Forest soon, to tackle the red route, so I'll be able to enjoy it to it's full potential! Can't wait!!!

I want to ride my bicycle...

Today I was back settling in to my old job after finishing my six week secondment in the factory were I work.......it's good to be back! Although the other job wasn't in itself terrible, it came with a lot of unnecessary hassle!

Just as an example, when things went wrong (as they often did) and there was going to be a delay in the production line getting their liquid for bottling and packing, I would have to ring up the man in charge (at all sorts of stupid hours) and inform him so he could organize some help, he would then ask me to go and tell another guy that he would not in fact be finishing his shift in a few minutes but would have to stay back until 2 in the morning! Even though that little devil inside you thinks it would be funny to wake your boss after he has just gone to sleep, you do feel some anguish at having to do it, and feel even worse when your the bearer of bad news to the guy who is going to have to stay while 2am!

Whilst I was working in this new area I also caught the bug for mountain biking and as I earned some extra cash due to overtime, I will be getting myself a newer and better mountain bike in a few weeks!
Last Saturday my brother and I went for a ride on our bikes cross country into the Yorkshire Wolds, only about 15 miles or so! There were some lovely places we rode by and next weekend I will take a camera so I can get a few nice images along the route, and as I explore a little bit further afield!

First we followed the Trans Pennine Trail from near my house along the banks of the Humber estuary along to the village of North Ferriby, we then crossed through the village and then followed the Wolds Way, a national trail which runs 79 miles up to the seaside town of Filey, for about 7 miles before heading back home and waking up the next day with sore thighs and lots of cuts and scratches from thorny bushes!

I thought i would serve half my sentance for good behaviour!

Tomorrow will be the end of my third of six weeks on secondment in the Liquids processing area of the factory, an area notorious for it's high demand and expectation of it's workforce. The factory used to be my old stomping ground before I moved to the chemical plant where I now work!
The first 2 weeks were absolutely shit, with a pitiful amount of training on a new manufacturing process that wasn't even fully operational and full of problems. On the Wednesday of last week I went to see the boss and gave him a stern telling off, telling him that my time over there had been a complete waste of my time and that I would prefer to go back to my regular department, he asked me to to stick it out to the end of this week as they were going to be really stuck for people who are on holiday or off sick (which is why I am working in this new area) I agreed and low and behold I was given some proper training this week and he then came back to me and asked me to stick out the rest of my 6 weeks, I agreed on the basis that there had been a marked improvement and I had agreed to a 6 week secondment in the first place.
I know what is coming next....they are going to try and keep me there for good (why would they spend 3 weeks training me just to run the process for another 3 weeks?) however, I have a cushy number where I usually work, it took me 5 years to get in there so I am not giving up without a fight. As i suspected they would try and keep me when first offered the secondment, I asked for it in writing that I would be returning to my department in 6 weeks time, which I received, so I am covered.

I love the song (There's Nothing) 'Sweet About Me' by Gabriella Cilmi, it's fantastic and really well sung, I can't believe she is only 16. I am going to buy her album based on the strength of this one song!

I have been really lazy this last few months, I have not been doing anything musically! I have just started to get back into it and plan to record some serious songs rather then the alternative/comedy/bizarre/piss take stuff I usually do, but all in good time!

I am getting excited now that Hull City AFC are signing new players ready for the start of their debut season of football (soccer if your American) in the Premiership! Just a few weeks and my season pass should arrive in the post!!! I will reserve judgement on these players until we are a few games into the season and I have seen them play!

Since my last post which was a good while ago (I should keep off playing XBox Live) I have started taking driving lessons, it's about time, I should have taken them 13 years ago when I was 17, although I wouldn't have been able to afford a car anyway! Even so, I wish I had, as I am a bit nervous, saying that, I have only had 3 lessons, but I feel I would have been more confident when I was younger, as much as trying to drive a car about whilst paying attention to whats in front and behind and to the side of me and trying to change gears and all that is taking it's toll on my nerves, I think my driving skills are also taking it's toll on my driving instructors nerves!......I'll see how I get on over the coming weeks I suppose!

WEMBLEY '08

Visited Wembley Stadium yesterday afternoon for the Championship playoff final, Bristol City Vs Hull City. Had a great day out, especially as Hull won! Next season we will be playing in the premier league for the first time in our 104 year history.....bring on Manchester United.....bring on Liverpool.....bring on Chelsea and bring on Arsenal and the rest of them!!!!

The Weekend Has Arrived!!!

A picture taken on my phone last weekend as Hull City walk around the stadium applauding the fans whilst the fans applaud them in return, in the last home game of the season!

Yes it's the weekend, it is supposed to be good weather tomorrow so I think the family and I shall have a BBQ in the garden, except for my sister who is going to Blackpool for the weekend for some nursing convention thingy (Jolly).
On Sunday I will be taking the 5 hour coach ride with my dad and brother to watch Hull City's final game of the season away at Ipswich, no matter what the result is, it's been a fantastic season of football! At the very least we will only finish 3rd with a playoff place, but if we win and Stoke lose then we will gain automatic promotion to the Premiership!
Can you believe my boss asked if I would work tomorrow!!! I said HA! NO CHANCE!!! Not on a bank holiday weekend! I shall be taking it steady though, my liver took a pounding last Saturday when my friend Alex, my brother and I went for a night around town, we didn't get home while 3am!.......I'm getting too old for this kind of behaviour!

The Beginnings Of A Story

Boo

Layla

As I sit here listening to 'The Last Shadow Puppets' I can't think of anything to say! I have just finished listening to 'Rodrigo Y Gabriela' and I feel quite tranquil! I also just took these photo's of our dogs Boo and Layla, I thought they looked nice so I wanted to share them with you!

I also found a story on my computer that I started working on a couple of years ago, it was only a few paragraphs but rather then leaving it to rot on my hard drive, I thought I would share it with you!.......

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The rain had been lashing down hard for maybe two hours when John Fallon turned onto the slip road to leave the Highway for the quieter country road. This would lead him to the Inn where he would rest for the night, before heading for his meeting with Mr Silva at ten o’clock the following morning. He couldn’t help but think of the strange dream he had the previous evening. Why had the vision of a man burning to death appeared in his consciousness?

The rain seemed as though it was not going to let up, at least not for the time being, of this he was sure. The road he now travelled seemed very quite, on the highway there had been few other vehicles, and since joining the single carriageway he had not passed another vehicle. Perhaps people had seen sense to avoid any journeys this evening due to the earlier forecast of heavy rain, and it did not surprise him there were no vehicles travelling this road, the pitch blackness of the country made the road ahead very hard to view, this was compounded by the rain hitting the windscreen, and now the road was becoming more and more serpentine as he journeyed forward, slippery and twisting.

His mind turned once again to the dream, he did not recognise the man in the dream, nor the street in which the scene had unfolded, but he was sure the strange images he had conceived were important some how, but overcast by childhood memories, the mental picture was hiding something, in the shadows maybe?

His thought turned to the road. John could see another vehicle now in the distance, its headlights twinkling, almost rippling with the added effect of the raindrops running down the windshield. He looked at his watch as the headlights of the other vehicle travelled closer, it was now nine thirty. Another person stupid enough to brave this shit storm he thought to himself. The car passed, it looked to John like a middle aged man and woman in the front seats, empty in the back.

As he looked ahead he could see a shadow in the road, moving, it was too dark up ahead to make anything out but, no he could see a car and next to it a person standing in the road, the dark figure started waving it’s hands then a light! A flashlight, it appeared the person was trying to wave him down. He started to slow the car and then indicated to pull over, ‘fuck’, he said to himself, ‘so close to a warm bed, a hot meal and a fucking shower’ and now this idiot, delaying me from my R n’ R.

He pulled to a stop about six feet behind the other car, a battered, rusting, red Ford. John started to wind down his window as the person, a woman, walked briskly up to the driver side of his car, ‘Hey thanks for stopping, could you by any chance give a girl a lift to the next garage? This shit heaps gone and died on me’ said the woman, pointing to her car.

She was around five feet eight inches, although it was hard to tell whilst she was bent down into his window. She was slim with an athletic build, olive skin, shoulder length black hair, lovely well formed breasts, and looked to be around twenty five. She was wearing blue jeans and a tight, light, short sleeved t shirt which showed her stomach and her arms, she was not wearing a coat and was soaking wet. ‘Sure, get in’ he said. She wasted no time, as he rolled up the window she ran around to the passenger side and opened the door. As she got in she laughed, a sort of bemused laugh which…….

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Yet another of the many projects I have started and then just laid to waste! It was going to be a sort of sci-fi thriller, I may actually do some more work on it one day!

Lathargy

Had a very quite weekend, I did absolutely nothing, I only left the house a couple of times to walk the dogs, as a result, I managed to catch up on a few TV series, namely Skins and My Name Is Earl, via Channel 4 On Demand (Streamed over the internet). The weather was rubbish and I was left feeling disappointed after Saturdays football match, although with Hull City (The Tigers) losing away at Sheffield, I was glad that I didn't manage to get a ticket for the game! But the lacklustre weekend has left me feeling lathergic, although I'm in a good mood, I just can't be bothered to do anything!
It should be a decent week though! I'm going to 'The Sesh' live music night tomorrow, to see a friends band, and I'm going to 'Sidekicks Lounge' on Wednesday night (another live music night) with my sister, to see her friends band!

The image is just another photo taken in Whitby of some Whitby Pirates! Whilst I was traveling the high seas!

Hole of Hocum

This is a photo of my dad and I, taken with my camera, by my brother (I like the jaunty angle) as we stopped at the 'Hole of Hocum' (not sure if it's Hocum or Horcum) on the north Yorkshire moors, on the way home from Whitby last weekend!
The 'Hole of Hocum' is about quarter of a mile wide a mile long and about six hundred feet deep, it was scooped out of the ground in rage by a giant called Wade, he threw it at his wife Bel who had infuriated him, but it missed her and landed two miles away to the east and formed a conical hill known as Blakey Topping.
What actually happened was streams that run down through the valley eroded the surface away and water from underground springs gradually undermined the area. But I like the story with the giants better, and it's an actual local legend, I didn't just make it up!

I don't really have much to say today, except IT'S FRIDAY!!! and it's been a long week! I was looking through a college prospectus today at work for an evening class that I would want to do out of personal interest, I think I want to do the class on writing sitcom's, it's a 10 week course. I have always wanted to star in a sitcom, what better way to get started then to write my own!!! Well it would be a bit of fun anyway, and how good would the homework be.......right everyone, I want you to go home and watch at least 2 sitcoms before next week!
I also want to do some Spanish evening classes and perhaps a creative writing class as well! I'll give these some thought before the next intake in September!

Gulls And Music

Here are some photo's of Seagulls that I took in Whitby, there were certainly plenty of them about!

One thing that I have failed to mention in recent posts is that during my absence from blogging, I have quit the band, the reason, I was not happy with the level of progress we had achieved as a band, and I was not happy that one member of the band thought the best way for us to get better and tighter as a band was not in fact to practice with each other but instead to just learn songs and practice on our own at our own places! This of course does not make sense and I felt it was a poor effort at disguising a bit of apprehension with regards to playing live in front of actual people in an actual live music venue!
Nevertheless, there are plans afoot! My musical/comedy side project 'Legend of Sid' which has gained in popularity, is going to be turned into a live performing act!!! Where I will be singing and playing acoustic guitar (the need to actually be able to sing for 'Legend of Sid' is not important, in fact the worse, the better!) whilst my old buddy Dean, singer of 'The Strands' is going to play drums (he has bought an electronic drum kit and has long harboured a desire to play the drums) and we hope that our friend Rob will join in and play keyboard. It will be a much more laid back affair, with occasional gigs and practices.
Dean reckons he will be ready for a first practice at the end of May. Although many of the existing songs will not make the transition to a live experience, we will have to rely on coming up with some new songs that will be more accessible to the general public with not so many "in jokes" although with three albums to my name, there should be some salvageable material!!!

A Disappointing and Sad Evening

Firstly, here's some Black and white shots taken in Whitby on Sunday!

Now, lets skip back to a conversation I had on Monday evening;

Father: Danny and I are going to get a ticket for tomorrows away match at Barnsley, would you like me to get you one when I go to the ticket office?

Me: No, I don't like away games on week nights as the traffic is usually bad, and it can be a bit of a risk making it to the stadium in time for the start of the match! Besides they are showing it on Sky Sports!

Then we skip to 16:00 yesterday;

Father: Are you ready?

Me: What for?

Father: The football game, it'll take about an hour and 20 minutes to get there!

Me: I said I didn't want to go, it's on sky, and the weather is pretty poor!

Father: Oh, I thought you said you wanted to go!

So, as he had already paid out £20 for me, I took the ticket, got ready and left the house, and we started the 70 mile drive to Barnsley. Everything was going great, except the weather, it was pouring down with rain! We were making excellent time and it looked like we would arrive one and a half hours before the game, and get a decent parking spot.
We were 50 miles down the M62, just 1 mile from the turn off we needed, when all of a sudden the traffic came to a standstill! We waited a while then one by one, emergency vehicles started passing us by on the "hard shoulder" in total 5 fire engines, an emergency support vehicle, 5 ambulances, an air ambulance and 8 police cars! Oh no we thought, this is serious!!! It turns out there had been a multi vehicle pile up involving six cars, started by the driver of a crane swerving, and resulting in a 10 year old boy (also a Hull City supporter on the way to the football match) being killed and 10 others seriously injured (the fire brigade had to cut people out of wreckage) all this happened about 1/4 a mile (30 seconds drive time?) in front of us, we could see the emergency vehicle lights flashing up ahead as we exited the car to look along the line of traffic!
So we sat there as the time to "kick off" approached, deciding it was very likely we would miss the start of the game............after 4 hours of sitting in our car, listening to the match on the radio, the game was almost over when we started to move and were directed to turn around up ahead and join a long line of cars waiting to follow a police car back up the "hard shoulder" in the wrong direction, to the previous turn off, where we journeyed back home listening to the Hull City fans phoning in the radio station, saying what a great game it had been, and the atmosphere in the stadium had been fantastic "like one huge party"...............................

Things to be thankful for...........1) We were not involved in the accident 2) Hull City won the game and are in an automatic promotion spot 3) We recorded the game on Sky+ 4) We weren't one of the articulated lorry drivers who couldn't turn around and probably had to wait until the early hours for the accident to be investigated and the road to be cleared!

Also, you cant help but feel for that poor boy, the other injured people, and their families!

The Busker

When we were walking through the narrow streets of Whitby, in the direction of the 199 steps which we would ascend to the old Abbey ruins, I heard a lovely female voice carrying through the lunch time air! when we turned the corner of the street which leads up to the steps, I saw this girl in the distance, sat on the bottom few steps, busking! I pointed my camera at her and zoomed in to take this shot!
Her voice was sweet and in perfect harmony with her acoustic guitar, but also powerful enough to carry through the streets, along with the delicious smell of proper fish n' chips! I was held captivated and stood for a few minutes just listening to her songs, then I tossed £2 onto her guitar bag and climbed the steps with the sound of her singing and strumming following me upwards!

You should click on the picture and view it full size to truly appreciate the warmth and beauty of this girl in mid song!

Whitby

The Grand Turk

Yesterday, I went to Whitby in North Yorkshire, as we left Hull, we were not optimistic regarding the weather, it was dark gray skies and rain, it continued all the way up to Whitby were upon, after an 80 mile car ride, the skies cleared for a warm-ish sunny afternoon.
The first thing we saw after parking the car was the Grand Turk, don't know the history behind the ship, but it was a nice thing to see, as we didn't know it would be there. We then spent the following 3 hours walking about the town including a trip up to the Abbey ruins of which I posted pictures yesterday.
We also took a ride on a boat out into the North Sea, the 25 minute round trip was extended to about 40 minutes as we spotted some Porpoise's and the captain hung around for a while, unfortunately my camera was never pointing at the right part of the sea when they surfaced....so no pics!

Saturday wasn't so great, I was working in the morning and went to the football in the afternoon, only to stand through a poor game.