Lost To Tomorrow

SkyRide and Sports Day

2011-08-22T15:45:00.007Z

Feeling sore and achy today after yesterday's SkyRide and charity sports day event! I got up at 6:30am and headed down to East Coast Bicycles to help them set up a display for the passing cyclists as it would be great publicity for ECB. I had the pleasure of riding a few bikes from the shop to the event including the beautiful Electra Mullholland.
I then returned home to get my bike and together with Fruitfingers and my brother we rode into the city center and joined the mass of people (5500) to cycle the route around the city center and 'The Deep' and after a couple of laps we then had to head home and go out again for a charity sports day that Fruitfingers had organised to raise money for the 'Great North Run' she's doing in a few weeks.
The sports day was great fun and featured all the classics....egg and spoon, sack race, skipping etc. Of which I won the skipping of all things! I also got second in the egg and spoon and 3 legged race and got third in another event.
The day ended in exhaustion and sunburn but the Chinese we had from the takeaway made up for that!

Hangovers and a Race for Life

2011-07-18T07:10:00.005Z

Well the weekend is over! It started with a visit to our friends Mark and Sarah on Friday evening for Sarahs birthday. It was a good and enjoyable night but Fruitfingers and I, along with most of the other people there, got very drunk and therefore we paid for it on the saturday with a massive hangover.
On the Saturday we had a visit from my brother and father but other then that, it was a wasted and un-eventful day of sitting on the couch watching episodes of 'The IT Crowd' and a couple of films.

Sunday was slightly more eventful, we got up at a reasonable time and got a lift to the Costello athletics stadium so Fruitfingers could take part in the 'Race for Life' and although she was still recovering from a foot' injury, she was in better shape then last year when she had to do it with a rather large hangover.
This year our friend Sarah was taking part with friends and family as part of "Team Justice" and it was more fun then last year, having more people to talk to during the race build up and Mark was there which was good, having some one to hang out with during the race, compared to last year when I was stood on my own for 40 minutes!
I have to say it was a little annoying though, last year when Fruitfingers ran it, some people in attendance at this years race sponsored her but never actually gave her the money, but since then a relative of theirs has had cancer and luckily come through it OK. But because it had hit a little closer to home, it was suddenly more important to them to raise money for such a cause, when Fruitfingers has been doing this for a number of years and they wern't interested!

We also registered for 'Shine' last night, Shine is a charity based event for Cancer Research UK in which we are going to walk a marathon (26 miles) through the night, on the streets of London, and after paying £50 to travel down there and to participate and to lose a full nights sleep, I hope we can raise a couple of hundred pounds for such a worthy cause! Our sponsorship page can be found at www.sponsormetoshine.org/kevandamy

Another Ride Another Run

2011-07-14T15:42:00.006Z

I took another ride out with my fellow ECB Knights on Tuesday evening! Once again we met up at the shop just before 19:00 and then we were off. The ride was a lot faster then the previous week and I could really feel the strain from Monday nights 10k run on my legs as we sped along at the faster pace, with my thighs feeling like they were on fire.
We cut through the avenues, then up towards Orchard Park, through to Cottingham and then back down Priory Road. We then cut through onto a cycle path and followed it to Anlaby Road, we had a cycle around the KC Stadium then back to East Coast Bicycles to collect baggage before riding a hundred yards up the road to Pave for a relaxing couple of beers.
I was delighted to find they served Brooklyn Lager, my favorite beer, which I hadn't been able to find for a couple of years (apart from the bottle I had in London last year) and after chatting for an hour, I headed home! A very enjoyable evening.

I came home from work today with the intention of running another 10k in preparation for the 'Jane Tomlinson Run For All' in a couple of weeks. I popped to the shop for a Boost chocolate bar to charge my batteries before I set off. 20 minutes later I left the house and immediately found it a struggle due to my legs being stiff from Monday nights run, the first 2k was horrendous and not very enjoyable at all, but eventually my legs loosened off and I picked up the pace and was really enjoying the run until about 3k from the end when I could feel my legs start to tighten, managed to keep going until I was just 1k from home and then they totally seized, I halted running and walked a hundred yards to see if a short rest would help but much to my anguish , when I tried to run again they had completely locked up and I had to stop my timer and walk the last bit home. I was on track to beat Mondays time by a minute despite running slowly at the beginning and towards the end so at least that was a good sign. I'll now rest my legs until either Sunday or Monday and see how they are feeling then!

Now I await the imminent arrival of Fruitfingers with a Chinese takeaway for tea...yum!!!

Oodles of Noodles

2011-07-11T19:26:00.008Z

Yesterday I was feeling a little restless, I was in one of those moods to do something but didn't know what. After tinkering around on my guitar for an hour, I rang my old folks to see if they fancied a ride to the seaside, only to find they were busy and thinking to myself that I should go for a ride out on my Create "fixie" instead, until I finally remembered that my brother had mentioned a new noodle bar had opened up in the city center. So based on my brothers positive review of the place we set of for a relaxed walk into town.
On the way we noticed a bike show in full swing in the car park of the pub opposite our favorite shop 'East Coast Bicycles' and decided that if it was still going on when we returned from town, we would have a look and check out some of the Harley's, Trikes, street fighters, scooters and Super bikes that were on show.
The noodle bar was excellent! I ordered the large 'Pad Thai Box' and Fruitfingers got the large "Combi Box' and we also got the large sharing platter to start which included the usual things you would expect such as spring rolls, stuffed fried king prawns etc. The noodles came in those square boxes like they have in America, I always wanted to eat from those, ever since watching films like 'The Lost Boys' back in the 80's, I don't know why but it just looked a lot cooler then the take away cartons we tend to get in this country (although I don't doubt these have been about in places like London for ages, we lead sheltered lives up in Hull obviously). The boxes were also deceptively large and neither me or Fruity finished our meal.
Although the food tasted nice, at the end of the day it was just your standard Chinese food but cleverly marketed. Put in those cool little boxes and with the open kitchen so you can watch the chefs cook your food I was really impressed with the re-marketing of something that has been around for a long time!

Had my "One to One" performance review at work today, it actually went well which was a surprise to me, but other then that, today has been pretty uneventful.
I did just get back from doing a 10k run, my time was 0:53:40 which despite not running regularly, is way above my target of 45 minutes when I do the York 10k in a few weeks time, so my next running objective is to get it under 50 minutes when I go again on Thursday. We'll see!

Community Spirit Is Alive In Ella Street!

2011-07-10T11:17:00.007Z

Last night was a good night; Fruitfingers had gone out for the evening and left me alone. So armed with 8 cans of beer, the movie ‘300’ and ‘Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight festival’ from way back in 1970, I had a lovely time on my own. I love Fruitfingers to bits and cherish every moment we spend together, she’s my world, but it did feel good to sit on my own and watch Hendrix play the guitar, drink a few cans and chill out and forget the rest of the world existed. I watched 300 and was disappointed after being told “if you like Spartacus, you’ll love this” actually NO, I loved Spartacus and 300 was OK.

Yesterday Fruity and I took a nice stroll to Planet Coffee on Newland Ave with the intention of walking down Ella Street and passing through the ‘Ella Street Festival’ which we had seen advertised the previous week on our walk to ‘La Piola’.

The festival itself was quite interesting. The residents of Ella Street had decorated the trees outside their homes, with a different and individual look to them all, from spotted material covering the trunk with cd’s hanging from the branches to stripy material covering the trunk and shoes hanging from another. Residents had put up stalls outside their homes selling various homemade items including cupcakes, jewellery, jams and preserves, clothing, teas and coffee, cakes and my particular favourite…jam and cream filled scones, which Fruitfingers and I tried and were delicious!

There were a number of other things going on as well; there were charity tents and stalls, a stage with various live acts performing such as the traditional African singers we watched. Also there were street performers and magicians doing their thing.

A couple of months ago, I visited Fruitfingers hometown of Hebden Bridge for Easter. Every year they hold a street performance called a Pace Egg, which is now a traditional and legendary event and what I noticed about it was that it really brings the community together. It would be nice to introduce a similar thing to the Ella Street festival, to add an extra dimension and focal point to the whole thing.

But it was nice to witness the Ella Street Festival and see a group of residents proud of their community and willing to celebrate it. It is things like this that a lot of society miss out on and it’s nice to see a part of the so called “broken Britain” that isn’t broken, a community that interacts and works together…truly inspiring!

The exact words of the evil dictator Margaret Thatcher, I am told were "There's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people and people must look after themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves, and then, also, to look after our neighbours." 1979

There is everything wrong with that statement by Thatcher and you see its evil consequences the instant you step into Britain. There is such a thing as society and consequently a public realm.

In Britain, this public realm is not valued as it is in other countries, so there's no wonder it's a "broken Britain" and it is noticeable, down to the smallest details. People don't generally drop litter in Scandinavia. The pavements are not spotted with chewing gum. If you travel on a train you will find a brush and paper towels in the toilet. That is only possible when everyone recognises that there is such a thing as society.

Community spirit is local people working together for a mutually positive and sometimes pleasurable result. This could be apparent at a community fair such as the ‘Ella Street Festival’, a school fete, or in more practical situations where a local is in need of help and the community rally round to provide appropriate support. It was good to see the community spirit apparent and thriving in Ella Street, so well done to them!

On a different note, I intended to do a 10k run this morning but unfortunately my knee is playing up so will have to give it a miss and fit one in during the week!

Fixed and Strung

2011-07-08T15:45:00.005Z

Yesterday evening I finally got around to registering for the Jane Tomlinson 'Run For All' York 10k, After witnessing Fruitfingers do the Hull 10k and then going and doing the Leeds 10k, my jealousy/envy/what ever you call it, got the better of me.
So £26 for a six mile run that I'm going to have to pay petrol money to get to, let's hope I can run it in a decent time (I hope to do it in around 45 minutes) which will please me to no end.
I'm not raising any sponsorship for it as Fruitfingers has already asked everyone we know and I don't think it would be fair on them!
I always loved running! From quite an early age of perhaps 12 years old, I used to go with my dad and run 3 miles 3 times a week and always found I was natural to it. However, since I injured my knee in the summer of 1996, due to basically overworking it from playing football for 2 hours every evening and on a Saturday and Sunday, as well as doing a power lifting weight training programme on my legs, It all took it's toll and when my knee got smacked during a game of football, it was never the same again! Ever since then, I have always had trouble with my knee and from time to time they have been so swollen I have been unable to walk on it, but usually it's just an aching soreness witch makes anything that involves me knees extra hard work!

My guitars are now strung with fresh, clean, bright sounding strings so I can finally get back into playing regularly and enjoying the guitar as I used to before I became disenchanted with it when I was playing in bands, I'm just gonna enjoy it and enjoy playing for myself!

Yesterday I flipped my rear wheel over to turn my bike from a plain old single gear, into an exciting "Fixie" which I need to get used to, I hope I enjoy being fixed and losing the comforting and sometimes enjoyable feeling of being able to coast along without peddling. It'll take a bit of getting used to but I did go to work and back on it today without incident!

So ends another week at work and although I'm very tired and looking forward to a lie in in the morning, I'm going to go out and do a cheeky 10k run before settling down with a few beers to relax. I've also decided to purchase the 'Game of Thrones' books as a set, it's £25 on Amazon and after finishing season 1 last night I'm hungry for more and a few people have told me they are a good read!

The ECB Knights - Cruise No 1

2011-07-06T16:58:00.007Z

Last night was my first ride out with the "ECB Knights" on my single speed! The ECB Knights are Nick, owner of East Coast Bicycles (ECB), Colin, his best mate and a rag tag bunch of ECB customers who've bought single speed and fixed gear bikes from ECB, which now includes myself.
One of the things I was looking forward to (apart from getting to and from work quicker) was participating in these regular Tuesday evening bike rides,, open to anyone with a fixed/single geared bike where a different route is undertaken each week but always finishes at Pave bar.

I had been very excited about my first ride since getting my bike last Friday and when yesterday finally arrived I literally couldn't wait. When it got to less then an hour before I was due to depart for East Coast Bicycles (the 19:00 meeting point) I suddenly started feeling very nervous and started worrying that my fitness levels were not going to be of a high enough standard.
Finally the time came and just as I opened the door to set off the sky opened up and the rain began to pour down. I immediately hesitated and tried convincing my self I would foolishly be the only one to turn up. I then thought it stupid that after being excited and waiting for so long about doing this, that I should go anyway and just see what happened.

A few minutes later I arrived at ECB and already there was a guy waiting outside with his bike whilst Nick and Col locked up the shop. Sure enough after another minute or so a couple of other lads turned up and then another one, then another and another, until there were eleven of us!
Pleased with the turn out Nick suggested we set of, much to our delight the rain had also stopped. Colin also informed us he would be filming the ride with a bike mounted video camera...cool! I too had brought along my camera to snap a few pics during the journey.

We headed from the shop along my route to work and turned off near the Hull College at the periphery of the city center to head across to The Deep and then onto the river front. We then cycled along the river front to the North Sea Ferry terminal, here we then cut onto the terminal access roads and headed over to Hedon Road and back towards the city center. We then changed course and headed past my work and onto Wilmington Bridge (of which I have previously taken pictures of on this blog) and headed down a few bike paths back to Princes Ave and Pave bar. The route took approx 50 minutes and was at a good speed which I found easy to keep, my worries were totally unfounded!

We locked the bikes up outside Pave and enjoyed a few beers and talked about bikes and I had a comical discussion about Jazz (a Jazz band were playing in Pave) before the short ride home! Very enjoyable, can't wait for next week!

La Piola and cycling to work

2011-07-04T16:00:00.007Z

So yesterday, after we had been for our run and watched the Wimbledon tennis final between Nadal and Djokovic, Fruitfingers and I decided to take a stroll seeing as the weather was so warm, sunny and generally glorious. We had only been walking a few minutes when Fruity suggested we eat out seeing as it was approaching teatime.
We decided that we would walk to Newland Avenue (a popular area of Hull generally inhabited by lots of students and an increasingly vibrant cafe/coffee house scene) and see where we fancied eating once we got there. After walking past a few places we like, we decided to experience a new place 'La Piola' a restaurant/cafe/bar, a venue we had been wanting to try out for a while.
We entered the restaurant and asked to see the menu and deciding that the prices suited us, we chose to sit out front on the veranda in the sunshine, in a nice spot with partial shade.
After a few minutes a very friendly waitress came and took our drinks order (a bottle of house white) and a short while later we supped wine and chilled water and awaited our meals. Fruitfingers ordered a simple pasta dish of Linguine, tomatoes, cream, mushrooms and pancetta and I ordered the Pizza Deviola - topped with red onion, fresh chilli, Oregano, and lemon soaked Olives. The food was reasonably priced and a standard portion size and tasted absolutely fantastic!!! Usually when I order a pizza out, I feel a little bit like I'm missing out on experiencing something a little more special to mark the occasion of eating out and not just something I could have ordered from a takeaway, but this pizza was something special and taste wise, I could not fault it. Fruity also enjoyed her pasta, of which I had a little taste and concurred, it too was a tasty and very enjoyable dish. Definitely a place to go again and I'm certain we will! Later we took a stroll back home and inevitably drank another bottle of wine.

So today is Monday and this meant back to work! Although I wasn't looking forward to another week of late finishes due to the day being unintentionally dragged out by the joys of training new starters and delays due to the plant standing down for a Cyanide charge, I was looking forward to trying out my new bike on the way to and from work. So I didn't find it too difficult to arise from my eternal pit of sleep and tiredness.
The ride in at 05:30 was nice although a bit tough, due to my thighs being very sore from the weekends jogging escapades, and when I left at 15:45 the ride home was a speedy dream! My other ride is described by my colleagues as an armchair on wheels, my new bike....a multicoloured razor blade! I now look forward to meeting up with Nick and Col from East Coast Bicycles and other customers tomorrow night for a single speed jaunt around the streets of Hull, ending in a beer or two at Pave bar.

Failures, Fights, Fitness and My Fender

2011-07-03T11:15:00.006Z

So last night I went to my friend Coop Coopers house to watch the Haye v Klitschko boxing match, I had already been to the shop and bought myself 8 beers to take with me and when we arrived after getting a lift with friends Grant and James via a takeaway stop off, the first obvious thing to do was open a beer and talk about manly stuff such as Coopers latest DIY projects and general rubbish. When the other guys had arrived (Frosty, Edgy and Matt) we migrated to the living room beers in hand and Coops revealed that despite inviting us round to watch the fight a week ago, he hadn't actually ordered the fight. So for the next hour 5 of us repeatedly rang the sky box office lines trying to get through but failing miserably, all the while telling Coops that his organisational skills needed to be improved, and recounting tales of his other epic failures, much to our amusement.
At half nine we made the decision to ring up some pubs and watch it there. Darley's was the nearest choice and we set off beer in hand for the 15 minute walk. Once at the pub, Coops bought us all a round of beer or two, to make up for his failings.
The boxing itself was rubbish and I ached longingly for a return to the good era's of boxing, such as the 80's and the Marvelous Marvin Hagler's, the Sugar Ray Leonard's, the Tyson's etc.
After the match we had another beer then walked back to Coops house and James who wasn't drinking, drove us home!

I awoke today feeling a little rough after the many beers the night before and thought the best thing to do was get out for another 4 mile run, which we completed in 39min 50sec. I found it easier then yesterday, despite stopping a few times for Fruitfingers to stretch out and catch her breath and feeling a little hungover, the jog felt good and I felt better for doing it...after a shower that is! We even had some bonus entertainment as we ran past a group of people doing community service, removing graffiti under the supervision of a Police officer.

My agenda for today is to get back into playing my guitars, my lovely Fender 'Big Apple' Stratocaster and my acoustic Yamaha Compass. First job was to get onto Ebay and buy some new strings, then I picked up my acoustic and started reacquainting myself with the finer joys of playing music.

I also aim to watch a few more episodes of Game of Thrones before the days end.

New Bike

2011-07-02T15:56:00.005Z

So I was at work yesterday when I received a text from Fruitfingers saying she had a surprise waiting for me when I get home, of course I was excited, I love surprises, who doesn't? So when the end of my shift came, I jumped on to my Electra 'Hellbilly' Cruiser and slowly made my way home. I had been wondering and trying to guess what my surprise was since she had sent me the message earlier and had not had any ideas at all until I was riding past East Coast Bicycles on the way home. I had been into the shop a few weeks ago and spoken to Nick the owner about buying a new single speed and subsequently layed down a deposit on a particular bike that I liked.
As I passed the shop I noticed my soon to be new bike was gone from the window display, of course it hadn't been sold, there was only one explanation (it's a small shop and he had not put a new bike in it's place, therefore ruled out that he had just placed it further into the shop) Fruitfingers had obviously bought me my new bike and taken it home to surprise me. I was very excited at this point and increased my peddling rate, to arrive home even quicker!
As I came through the front door it was there in front of me, in all it's colourful glory, I put my other bike away, gave Fruity a big kiss and said thankyou and was just about to fly out the door to take it for a spin after a quick visit to the shop for a photo (Nick always takes a photo of his customers with their new bikes) when I received a call from my friend Alex who was on a flying visit to Hull with his wife Gina and was just outside my house and in need of a cuppa! So I sat there and chatted with Alex and Gina for about 45 minutes until they had to leave, then grabbed my new bike and off I went!!! All in all a very pleasant and lovely end to an awful week!

Started watching Game of Thrones last night, waited until the full series had been aired so I could watch it all at once (or at least over a few days) and I have to say I'm impressed so far, it's looking very promising although I have not read the books and have no idea where it's going!

Today I woke up still feeling lethargic and also restless at the same time so after the old folks had been over for a lunch time barbecue, Fruitfingers and I decided to go for a 4 mile run. Fruity was struggling from the start and I was struggling to keep at a slow enough pace to stay together as my natural running pace was trying it's hardest to pull me along faster! When we arrived home 40 min 24sec later, I decided as a cool down to take my new bike out for a 10 minute ride at a decent pace. I felt very good when I arrived back home!

Time now to get a shower and ready for a visit to Coopers house tonight for the boxing!!!

Spartacus and Lathargy

2011-06-30T15:41:00.007Z

Well I have finished Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, the follow up mini series and prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and I have to say I was very impressed with both series, the nudity and violence was of course an enjoyable aspect, but it was the plotting, scheming, the twists and the building climax of the two series which kept me glued to my seat! I'm looking forward to the next series with anticipation and excitement and cannot recommend this programme highly enough, but must now move on to the Lord of the Rings-esque Game of Thrones!

I have been feeling a considerable amount of lethargy and tiredness at work this week, not sure if it was the effects of the weekend taking it's toll on me, or perhaps it was the hot weather or maybe a bug that's had me out of sorts. Whatever the cause, I'm glad that I'm not on the rota to work this Saturday, I definitely need a full weekend to spend with my wonderful wife and crazy cats.

It's been a welcome relief this week to have been training the new guy Nic at work, he's a step above some of the people I've had to train over this last year and it makes life easier when you're training someone who grasps what your telling them and why!

Looking forward to the weekend, it's the Haye V Klitschko fight on Saturday evening and I'll be heading to my friend Coops house to watch it with the guys and a few tasty beverages!

One final thought...is it really worthy front page news that Cheryl Cole has dyed her hair a different colour??? Really, the British obsession with "celebrity" never ceases to amaze me, but whatever makes people happy I suppose!

Anyway, as I sit here in my Danger Mouse Slippers, I have more important things to be getting on with, such as the Chicken Jalfrezi and cold beer that awaits!!!

BBQ weather is back!

2011-06-29T14:53:00.007Z

Once again I try to get back into some form of regular blogging after another lengthy lay off!!!
It will be yet another thing for me to try and split my time doing, when I already struggle to find time to do other things I enjoy, such as watching movies, getting out and about with my camera, trying to learn Spanish, playing my guitars and Ukulele, playing games on my XBox and catching up on TV series that I like (although I don't actually watch live TV regularly)
Currently I'm watching House Season 1 and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, with Game of Thrones, Rome, The Pacific and Breaking Bad waiting in the wings!

I like to read wich I also struggle to find time for, and as well as currently reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and the Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton, I'm also waiting to start reading Game of Thrones!

Only today do I feel back to normal after getting extremely drunk at the weekend, yes it's Barbecue weather again and Fruity and I thought it would be a very good idea to go out and buy a BBQ and invite a few friends over for an afternoon of booze and meat, of which both were consumed in excess, which I was reminded of by the fact that my body can no longer take the punishment!
On Sunday we decided to take a walk around the Humber bridge country park to clear our heads, we thought a bit of fresh air would do us good rather then sitting in all day feeling sorry for ourselves and it worked too!

Fruithawk playing the water flute

2010-12-29T17:06:00.001Z

December...destroyer of finances!!!

2010-12-21T20:31:00.005Z

Still no internet so I'm being very sneaky on another computer! Christmas is nearly upon us, it's been a very expensive month already, it was our first wedding anniversary on the 4th and then it was Fruithawk's birthday on Sunday. Both occasions required me to take her out for dinner and drinks afterwards, not to mention presents and champagne with breakfast, and having people around for a small lunch time party, it all adds up! The cats really got into the party spirit though!

The days events went something like this.....

I woke up early on Sunday still full of cold and chest infection, I got up and proceeded to blow up 20 ballons, then put up a happy birthday banner on the wall. I then placed all her presents and cards on the coffee table with a sprinkle of happy birthday and star confetti.

I then cooked a breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and toast and and placed it in the living room with the champagne.

I called for her to get up and she came down stairs and had breakfast and opened her cards and presents.

We finished the champagne and were then in the party mood (sort of, I still was not feeling great) and listened to her new CD's whilst preparing to have a few friends over for some nibbles and drinks (and jelly and ice cream of course!) and then we hit the rum and wine.

A few short hours later we hopped onto a bus into town and I took her to see Burlesque which she has been itching to see for a few months, due to it featuring her fave artist Christina Aquilera.

Then we headed to another part of town and I took her to a Moroccan restaurant iv'e been wanting to visit for ages called Marrakech. The food was superb and I think it is my new favorite place to eat in Hull! I opted for the Lamb Tagine and Fruithawk had a Red Snapper grill accompanied with a bottle of wine, we just had a main as we were still full from the lunch time party food.

We then stayed out and got ridiculous and worked our way through another 4 bottles of wine in the various bars and cafe's down from the restaurant.

We headed home and the following day she stayed at home feeling worse for wear whilst I had to get up and go to work (feeling worse for wear). That's the difference between having an actual job and someone who does a PhD. :(

Can't believe it's been so long!

2010-10-31T10:17:00.001Z

Hopefully I'll get some internet sorted out soon!

Easter in Bruges

2010-04-12T08:35:00.010Z

On Easter weekend Fruitylicious surprised me with a trip to Bruges via P&O North Sea Ferries. It was a fantastic couple of days getting merry on the ferry, wandering around the streets of Bruges for a day, cruising the canals on a boat, drinking Belgian beers, eating Belgian waffles and trying "the best cup of hot chocolate in Belgium" in a little tea room above a chocolatiers!

Fridge Magnet Excitement

2010-03-22T11:05:00.001Z

Well it's back to work for another week of late shifts, although I don't mind them as there is no one around, so I don't get drawn into office politics and some of the pettiness that is so ever present during the day.
Speaking of work...I'm currently finding plenty of personal amusement in trying to "bring back the Filofax" at work, yes single handedly trying to bring it back into fashion for no real reason other then the confused and disgusted stares bringing me much amusement.

Yesterday was nice and relaxing! I got up with Fruitylicious and we had breakfast, then she jogged to the Uni Netball courts for some Sunday practice, with a team she had never played with before. Meanwhile I pumped up the volume on my stereo and listened to a few albums, including U2 - Achtung Baby, Jimi Hendrix - Are you experienced? and Bill Nelson - Plaything.
Later when she returned home, we took a walk to the local pub for something to eat and a few pints of 'Black Sheep'(well I did, she opted for pure orange and soda water) and after I had had enough of 'The Independent on Sunday', we returned home for a DVD and general pottering-about-iness.(I had intended to do some homework for the ever so dull NVQ in 'Business Improvement Techniques' that I'm doing for work, 5S, continuous improvement, Kaizan and all that rubbish, but really couldn't be bothered)
I should also be reading up on Chemistry, ready for the degree in Chemistry that I'll be starting in September.
I later spent a little while trying to gather a few ideas for a play that I want to write. Fruitylicious's sister down in London, told me of a theater production company where if you send in your plays, they read through them and if they are any good, there's a chance they could get performed.

Started playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on my XBox last night, I've borrowed that and AVP off my brother. I'm also thinking of trading in a few old games and getting Final Fantasy XIII and Bioshock 2.

Finally happy 5th blog birthday to Fink!

I'll leave you now with one question....is it wrong to be excited by the arrival of new fridge magnets??? I ordered some on the internet the other day and can't wait for them to arrive, I think I'm becoming one of those weird people who collects fridge magnets!

A Very Morich Shopping Experience

2010-03-11T16:19:00.008Z

Have you ever walked past one of those foreign food stores and wondered what kind of stuff they sell? I decided yesterday to pop into one of these places, a local shop called 'Indian Continental Stores' whilst walking back home from the city center.

As I entered the store it was like stepping into a store in downtown Bangladesh, with shelves choc full with odd looking labels in foreign languages and jars and packets containing their curious contents. (I would have taken photo's inside but the owner seemed a bit suspicious of a pretty fly white guy walking around his store as it was and if I had been taking pictures the little Indian fellow could have thought I was casing the joint!)

There was so much information for my eyes to take in, 25Kg sacks of various rices and spices, pickles, powders, fruit, veg, etc. I meandered along the shelves until my eyes settled upon a small jar of 'Mr Naga's Hot Pepper Pickle'.
I immediately picked up the jar to read the ingredients (luckily they were listed in English as well as it's native language) and found it was made up of 70% Naga Morich Chilli's (one of the worlds hottest chilli's) and decided right then that I needed this little jar in our cupboard back home. I then waited in line with a few other Indian folk, paid for my Spicy delight and trotted off home to try it. It's good stuff and really quite hot (although still not a match for Dave's Special Reserve Insanity Sauce) now I just need to cook a few dishes I can add it to!

Speaking of Chilli's, there has still been no sign of growth from my seeds and have taken Fink's advice and put them in a large plastic bag (with a few air holes) to retain warmth and moisture! Hopefully we'll get some positive growth action ehh!!!

Growing Chilli's

2010-03-08T10:16:00.003Z

For Christmas Amy got me a chilli growing kit, due to my slight obsession with eating chilli peppers and chiili based sauces, and the there is the fact that I try to add a chilli to anything I cook.(much to Amy's annoyance)

I planted them in their little Coir pots 12 days ago and so far they haven't germinated. I'm slightly disappointed because it says they should germinate at approx 10 days. I'm not giving up hope and I'm sure I will see little green shoots appearing soon enough....hopefully!

I'm growing 5 varieties; Anaheim, Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeno, Tabasco and Demon Red and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they look like when they fruit and also tasting them of course!
If I'm successful then I'll turn it into a yearly hobby and move onto some of the more challenging ones!

I suspect the cold weather is the major factor in their lack of germination as it says in my instruction growing guide the optimum indoors temperature should be between 18 - 20C and our kitchen gets very cold, although I do have them in direct sunlight and have a little heater on in the kitchen during the day which should help.

I'll keep you posted with any developments!

Beautiful Uke and Obscene Hot Chocolate

2010-03-03T15:58:00.003Z

It was my birthday yesterday and I was woken by an excited Amy at 7am so I could open my presents. We had the day off and getting up at 7am wouldn't have been anything to moan about if it wasn't for the bottles of wine we had stayed up till 1am drinking the night before. However, I was delighted to find she had bought me this beautiful Ukelele so she was quickly forgiven.
The day was a laid back n enjoyable one, which included a walk to a local coffee house to sit and read some magazines. Whilst there we decided to indulge in an obscene hot chocolate each, but all that cream proved too much for me and I had to accept defeat, alas I did not finish it.

Firsts

2010-02-25T10:13:00.003Z

Again so long since my last post, but I do now finally have the internet again, so can start visiting some of your blogs.
Since my last post Amy and I had our first Valentines day together, as it was our first one we decided to do something different from the usual romantic meal, as to be honest we had enough of those in Cuba to last a lifetime. So what did we do, well I took her to watch the wrestling!!!

Last Saturday I was also best man at my brothers wedding and gave my first nerve wracking best man speech, which to my surprise was received very well, with the full room laughing all the way through it.

A few snippets...

...let me just say that the formative years I spent in the company of my younger brother, means that he’s had as much a part in developing the content of this speech as anyone. So although I have tried to make this speech as funny and exciting as possible, it is in fact boring and uninteresting, not to say that Danny is, but the past doesn’t lie!...

...When Danny asked me to be his best man I thought ‘well doesn’t he have any actual friends?...

...To be honest, I’m actually amazed Danny ever met Shemel. In fact before he met Shemel he lived solely in his bedroom playing computer games and I think his only previous long term relationship was with Lara Croft...

...Danny once told me that before Shemel he didn’t believe in love at first sight.....I assumed that was because he’s partially sighted......but seriously after meeting Shemel, that has all changed... (my brother is actually partially sighted and that one went down very well!)

It really was a fun reception, other highlights included me making a tit of myself by being first up on Karaoke singing 'Simply The Best' and throwing out some shapes on the dance floor to Vanilla Ice and Jedward!

Highly recommended

2010-01-16T12:06:00.002Z

Moving on from the winter weather, I took this photo of mine and Amy's feet in December whilst enjoying a morning on the resorts beach. We stayed at the 'Paradisus Rio de Oro' and would recommend it to any couple wanting a quiet retreat!

We are having a few friends over for dinner tonight which should be fun, the wife has gone for a slightly Mexican theme, including chilli con carne, fajita's and Pinata table confetti!!!

Early morning isolation

2010-01-16T07:04:00.003Z

It's 7am and iv'e been at work half an hour! It's just me and my colleage Pete in today and so far there is no sign of him. Iv'e been in since 6:30 and so far I just have my bouncy ball to keep me company! It's reminding me of that film Castaway with Tom Hanks, he only had a basketball to talk to, didn't he shout "shut up Spalding" when he was arguing with it? If I start talking to my bouncy ball (Mr Reboundington) I'll start to worry!!!

Who will go for the bacon butties??? It would have to be Mr Reboundington because I can't leave a bouncy ball in charge of a chemical plant, he can't use a telephone in case of emergency!!!

Oh good Pete's just arrived!!!

Wintery scenes

2010-01-12T11:43:00.005Z

A collection of images I took last week during the recent snowfall!

2010-01-07T21:00:00.003Z

A few images I snapped recently after some snowfall!

Lizards in Cuba

2010-01-07T10:46:00.008Z

Spent the first 2 weeks of December in Cuba getting married and here's a few shots of the local wildlife I snapped whilst there! It'll be a few more weeks till I have the internet again, so I'm just using my brothers for now!

Quick update

2009-12-21T19:38:00.000Z

Sorry for leaving you lovely people for these last few months, but i have been a bit busy! I moved house and as yet dont have internet, but this will hopefully change in the next day or so!

Whirlwind Romance (I'm engaged!)

2009-09-10T16:55:00.005Z

I've only been going out with Amy for about 3 months now and yet we have come so far in our relationship and done so much. After a rocky start due to both our insecurities from previous relationships, we both realised just how much we actually liked each other when we spent a few days apart recently when I had a long weekend in Whitby, and since then our love for each other has grown stronger and stronger (pass the sick bucket hahaha) until we have reached the point where we find it hard spending time apart.
This meant that when Amy spent 2 weeks in Rome recently learning Italian before starting her PhD, we both struggled with each others absence and found those two weeks very hard going.

But more then this, we have a lot going on at the minute, we have gotten engaged, we are moving into a rented house together in a week or so, we are in the process of buying another house, we are flying out to Cuba on 30th November for two weeks and whilst there we are getting married on the 9th December (I'm very much looking forward to this) we have an engagement/housewarming/halloween party to organise, we have a wedding reception to organise for just after christmas and of course Amy has started her PhD.
Some stressfull times ahead over the coming months I suspect, and it would'nt surprise me if I got the news we had a baby on the way at some point, you never know!

So a bit of a whirlwind romance that has taken some people by surprise, but we are not teenagers or even twenty somethings anymore, and we know and can recognise what true love is, but I suspect this is going to be a very interesting adventure into the unknown (for me at least) and also one that I'm looking forward to living, even though it will be full of up's and downs!

We do keep doing daft things for personal amusement and the other day in a spare of the moment thing, we both got matching tattoos of each others name on our wrists, this picture above (apologies for the quality but is was taken on my mobile) shows mine.

2009-08-12T07:18:00.000Z

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2009-08-10T17:30:00.000Z

Taken in Flamborough

2009-08-08T10:55:00.000Z

Yet another one taken in Whitby. Hopefully going to Flamborough this afternoon!!!

2009-08-06T19:17:00.000Z

Bi-plane in the skies over Whitby

2009-08-04T14:19:00.000Z

2009-08-02T08:41:00.000Z

2009-08-01T15:06:00.000Z

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2009-07-29T15:24:00.000Z

Whitby Abbey

2009-07-28T15:52:00.001Z

Scary old me!

2009-07-27T14:50:00.000Z

2009-07-26T18:29:00.000Z

Dating

2009-06-15T18:26:00.005Z

Nothing much has been going on recently other then in my lovelife. It's weird because only a few weeks ago I couldn't get the new Polish girl who started working in our labs off my mind, she's attractive and has a beautiful figure and I spent a whole 2 weeks waiting for the right sort of moment to ask her out on a date, not only because I was very attracted to her, but also because it would earn me valuable respect with the guys I work with who were all to nervous to ask her out. When the opportunity did present itself I seized the moment and to my astonishment she thought it would be a good idea for us to go out.

So the following week we went out and had a very pleasant evening and talked a lot about this and that and got on really well, but she also said she had just been in a horrible relationship and wasn't sure she was ready for relationships just yet.
When I returned home I thought I would check my Facebook and whilst I was seeing what's what, I got a message from Amy.

I met Amy at Christmas when I invited myself to the Christmas party of a company I don't work for and got talking to her, she was dressed as a Christmas elf which I thought was quite cute at the time and after talking for a bit we parted ways. A few days later I got a friend request from Amy on Facebook and for the last six months we chatted back and forth and a couple of times I asked her out, but a day before we were due to go out she would cancel and I eventually saw her as just an aquaintance.

A few weeks ago I noticed she had created a "how well do you know Amy" quiz on Facebook and for a laugh I took the quiz....scoring 0%! I received a message the next day from Amy, saying "0%??? we really need to go for that drink!" so again we organised a night out and this time she didn't cancel.

All that week leading up to my night out I had lovely Krystyna on my mind, but it came to my night with Amy. It was quite weird because we just hit it off and got on so well, it actually took me by surprise, I wan't looking forward to my evening with Amy and wasn't particularly attracted to her beforehand, but I was left taken aback by how suited we are and she admitted by text message later that night that she was also surprised by how well the evening had gone. I found all that following week I couldn't get Amy off my mind and she also said the same to me as we texted back and forth. I also found I wasn't attracted to Krystyna as much anymore and she wasn't on my mind at all.

We went out on a number of other dates the following week which were equally as excellent as the first one. We then went out to see my friends band last Friday night, and had another great night getting very drunk. The following morning as we were lying in bed I got the feeling she wanted to say something and asked her what it was. She said that as she was going back to uni to do her PhD in a month and didn't want the hassle of relationships etc to get in the way. I said as long as we stay good friends I would be happy with that. We spent the rest of that Saturday watching DVD's and nursing our hangovers.

On Sunday I stopped recieving texts from Amy and she wasn't responding to mine. I was wondering if I had done something wrong and felt a bit depressed that my "lack of match practice" in relationships (after about 5 years of being happily single) had probably been the cause somehow.

Then last night about 2 minutes after I had gone to bed Amy rang me, she was a bit emotional, she had been sipping the vino and had a real heart to heart with me saying that I was constantly on her mind and it had freaked her out and she had been panicking about how strongly she was feeling towards me and that she needed to sort out her thoughts and feelings and that she had been seeking the advice of her friend who had told her she went through the same thing before meeting her current boyfriend etc etc, and that there is probably hope for us and that she isnt a lost cause. I replied by saying whatever she decides she wants to do wether we stay as friends or if she wants us to carry on into a relationship, that I would be happy with whatever she chooses to do.
Today she is talking again and she has asked me if we can go out again one night this week. After all this I remembered why I dicided I needed to be single for a bit in the first place....women are crazy!!!

Today is a good day for a Hull City supporter!

2009-05-25T09:58:00.002Z

Absolutely delighted today that Hull City remain a premier league team even though it was by the narrowest of margins! All the worry and uncertainty of the last 2 months is gone. It is a good time for Hull City supporters and the city of Hull! Happy days...........

Thinking abroad and sunset

2009-05-16T17:39:00.007Z

Apologies for leaving my blog as a desolate wilderness of abandonment for the last month! I have not been up to much since my last post other then playing friends at Scrabble and Chess on Facebook, taking photo's of the 'Hull Hornets' American football team for their website, attending a few nights out and hitting the gym everyday after work, and worrying a little bit about 'Hull City's position in the Premiership.

I have been thinking more and more about going abroad, and since a friend of mine has been posting fantastic pictures of his wonderful adventures backpacking around the far east on Facebook, I have been getting insanely envious and I am making going abroad for the first time, my number one priority. I have the remaining amount to pay for my Hull City season ticket next payday, making me skint next month, but the payday after that I will be applying for my passport and saving for three or four days in Bruges. A town I have wanted to visit since watching the movie 'In Bruges' a film I like very much. I hope this will be the first of many little adventures abroad.

Speaking of films, I went to see Star Trek at the cinema last Monday, very enjoyable and really would recommend it!

I am making good progress at the gym, I have gone from having skinny weak arms, man boobs and a beer belly, to having a flat stomach and actual muscles. Last Monday I started a diet specifically for building muscle and losing fat and in just one week I have lost 1 kilogram in weight. But there is still much to be done...more muscles and an 8 pack on my stomach before I will be happy.

I have a long weekend in Whitby booked with friends in about a month which I am looking forward to, and tonight I am going to a local nightclub to watch my friends band 'The Strands' play a gig! So I'll leave it at that for now, and just share these sunset pictures I took from the landing window a few nights ago!

Trying my hand at sports photography

2009-04-12T15:20:00.012Z

This morning I went to watch the 'Hull Hornets' American Football team in their final training session before the season starts next week.
I'm a big fan of American Football and watch as much NFL as I can. Later this year I will be going to Wembley, to watch the NFL international game, were I will be supporting the underdogs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who will be taking on the New England Patriots.
My friend Mark plays for the Hornets (who play in the NFL endorsed 'British American Football League' ) and he asked me if I would become the teams official match photographer.
I have never done any sports photography before, so I though it would be interesting to have a go. So I went to the training session to get some practice before the real games start. It was an interesting experience and I am mostly pleased with the results. I took around 130 photo's and only about 10 of them were blurred and needed deleting when I checked them out on my PC later.

A bird shot for Bazza

2009-03-26T17:43:00.000Z

It's a poor photo but can you enlighten me?

Scafell Pike - The Lake District

2009-03-22T21:05:00.009Z

After allowing just one day recovery, from being laid in bed exhausted and full of Cold, I set off for the lake district with my friend and colleague Alex to climb Scafell Pike, which is the largest "mountain" in England at 978m. I was in relatively good company with Alex, he had recently climbed mount Elbrus in Russia which stands at around 5642m. REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE IMAGES!!!

We set off from Hull at 6am to get an early start, arriving at Wasdale Head at 10am. That gave me a little bit of time to look around for some nice photo's, but I instantly wished I had brought my tripod for som HDR shots.

The photo's have uploaded in a random way, this one is when we finished the climb, back at the 'Wasdale Head Inn' for a pint of the local beer.

The descent is a tiring one, not much in the way of flat solid ground causing a lot of jarring of the knees.

A nice little stream which we followed down the mountain.

We stopped at this big rock during the descent, even though we were tired because it looked cool and fun.

Me at the summit...IT WAS BLOODY WINDY AND VERY VERY COLD, THAT'S WHY I'M SHOUTING!!!

The large 6 ft Cairn at the summit of Scafell Pike.

Me looking knackered about 100m from the summit....yeah I'm OK to carry on...just..give...me..a minute...to catch my breath!

There be snow in these hills!

A view of the 'Wasdale Head Lake' (the deepest lake in England) whilst climbing the hill we didn't need to climb!

Who would think that when we reached the top, we would have to go down the other side and up another valley to get the track we needed!

Alex (and me) having a well earned rest during the ascent, time for some water and a bite to eat.

Alex

Jazz getting me through

2009-03-19T12:32:00.003Z

Listening to some Jazz on my day off work, I'm full of cold but I have plenty of Jazz to get me through. Miles Davis and John Coltrane to be precise...Bitches Brew, A love Supreme, On The Corner and Interstellar Space! I still have 'Birth of the Cool' and 'A Kind of Blue' to go!

I'll catch up with you lovely peoples soon!

Barbershop Quartet

2009-02-23T16:40:00.003Z

Purely for self amusement, I have been trying to convince a few of the guys at work to form a Barbershop Quartet with me, and just to show them how dapper we would look, I did a quick mock up of the four of us on Photoshop. From left to right, Grant, Me, Mark and Dean...check me out, looking sublime on that stool! :)

Electronique Soundz (da da) by Clem

2009-02-18T18:28:00.002Z

Check me out in this far out futuristic music video, playing a three handed keyboardist!!!

25 Things about me

2009-02-10T18:21:00.000Z

1. I don’t like going to café’s, sandwich bars, fast food counters or anywhere where the menu is on the wall behind the counter, because my poor eyesight means I can’t see what they have to offer and I don’t want to make a tit of myself when the person asks what I would like to eat.

2. The first album I ever bought was ‘Jagged Little Pill’ by Alanis Morissette, I still love this album to this day and play it regularly.

3. When I was at school I used to tell people I hated Rugby and sport in general, and would never get involved in PE, but I secretly played for a local Rugby team outside school. I still haven’t got a clue why I did this?

4. The only material thing I want in life, is my own home.

5. My secret ambition in life would be to star in a cult comedy series.

6. I hate people that borrow things from me long term because they heard 'I want them back as soon as possible' as 'please keep them forever'. Hey I paid £10-15 for that CD/DVD so yeah I want it back. I want my guitar tab books back, what I lent you, so you could learn a particular song and never gave back.

7. I once had a den and tree house on a huge roundabout which we called “The Island” I miss my childhood.

8. I grew up on the largest council estate in Europe (called ‘projects’ in the US I think).

9. I have a phobia of going into the sea. Ever since I saw Jaws as a kid I have had a fear of the sea, not just for getting attacked by sharks or giant squid or whatever, but mostly because you don’t know what is beneath you.

10. I miss every dog I ever owned and look forward to meeting all of them again on whatever plane exists outside of this one.

11. Although I respect anyone who joins up to fight for their country, I wonder were they find the motivation, when they are fighting for someone else’s big salary, pension and big city bonus, I couldn’t do it.

12. The first gig I went to (not including local bands) was Peter Green’s Splinter Group

13. My favorite meal in the whole wide world is Sausages, mash potato and onion gravy, followed closely by Mash potato, beans and Steak and Ale Pie, followed closely by Madras Curry.

14. I own a Fender Stratocaster and her name is Mary Jane.

15. My top five favorite movies ever are (1)Aliens (2)Predator (3)Ghostbusters (4)High Fidelity (5) Shaun of the Dead

16. I dislike ambitious people and find them very disturbing.

17. My favorite song ever is ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye.

18. I think that ice hockey is the greatest team sport ever invented. I would follow/support it if I lived in the US.

19. I was once banned from the local ice arena for 9 months, for fighting with fairground Gypsies.

20. I will always feel guilty because I once had a fight with my younger brother and broke his hand, meaning he could no longer play his drum kit, because his hand starts to cramp and ache.

21. I was very shy when I was younger (still am to some extent) but I have always pushed myself into situations which force me to conquer my shyness, I nearly pushed myself too far once when I joined a band as lead guitarist, and almost fainted after playing the first song, when everyone started clapping I suddenly felt very self-aware.

22. I have hated almost every moment of being employed by other people, but on the flipside, I have met some brilliant people and made some good friends through my employment.

23. I will be 31 on 2^nd March and still don’t know what I want to do in life, I just keep drifting through life with little care and attention, but every now and again I have a little panic and wonder where I will find a woman who I will settle down with and have children, then on another day I ask myself, am I really bothered?

24. I hate greedy and ruthless people who seem to need more then most people and will stop at nothing to attain it. True capitalists! Oh yeah, and twisted people who only seem to feel happy when they are dropping you in the shit or trying to make you feel unhappy.

25. The first movie I ever went to see at the cinema was ‘Return of the Jedi’ with my uncle Tom. The first movie I ever went to see on my own with friends was ‘Home Alone’.

Rubbish Eyesight And A Lack Of Protestors

2009-02-04T16:27:00.005Z

A shot of the Humber bridge from the south bank, taken from the window of the car on the return journey.

What I think is an interesting looking part of the oil refinery.

Local and national news teams report on the workers strike.

Today was my driving test, I had a 1.5 hour driving lesson before hand and afterwards my instructor said he thought I would easily pass my test (providing I could get through the eyesight part) going on my standard of driving over those last 2 or 3 lessons.
Unfortunately I didn't get through the eyesight part of the test and was not able to read a number plate from 20.5m, getting 2 of the 7 digits wrong. So I didn't even get to drive the examiner about so he could asses my standard of driving. As a result I am not legally allowed to drive a car at all and can no longer take lessons.
I hope I can go back to my optician and squeeze a little bit more from my prescription but know this is unlikely as my problem isn't one that can be corrected with specs or any form of surgery. I have a genetic eye disorder called 'X-Linked Retina Schisis' which is a desease of the nerve tissue in the eye. It effects the retinal cells in the macular (the central fixation point of vision in the back of the eye, and is also the area responsable for fine detail) but I had to give driving a go or I would never have known if my eyes were good enough! Anyway I personally curse the DVLA/DSA to a thousand years of bad breath and vow to give them all a Chinese burn!

This afternoon my friend Rob and I decided to take a drive over to the other side of the Humber bridge into north Lincolnshire to mingle with the Lindsey Oil Refinery protestors.
Workers had been angry a sub-contractor was "excluding" british workers in the way it was importing a ready made workforce from Europe. This sparked a number of similar protests around the country over the last week!
Unfortunately the protestors were nowhere to be seen, as they had gone to a meeting to discuss a possible end to the protests and therefore scuppered my chance to get some gritty monochrome photo's of the workers protesting with their placards!
Rob was also interested in talking with the protestors and gaining their views on the matters!

A bit of snow!

2009-02-02T18:34:00.002Z

This was the scene at 5:45am in Hull city center, as I spent 35 minutes walking to work this morning. A bit of snow and the country falls to pieces, with lots of people not making it into work all over the country today......tut tut!

Feeling happy over the past few days as I can now make/record music again. It is almost exactly a year since I last recorded an album due to various issues, but now I'm good to go, the only thing is that the ends of my fingers have gone soft, so I quickly get sore fingers when playing my guitar. I reckon it'll take a few weeks before I'm back up to a reasonable standard, and my fingers stop feeling sluggish.

Driving test on Wednesday morning, starting to feel a little apprehensive, although it could be canceled if the "extreme" weather does get any worse! That would be annoying because I'm well and truly fed up of walking to work in the freezing cold every morning!

Sunday Morning Walk

2009-01-25T16:04:00.011Z

I have not taken any photo's in ages, so this morning I decided to take the dog for an alternative walk with a little detour through Hull's older part of the city center, and bring my camera along for thrills and spills! Nothing much caught my eye, but I took these shots and I fiddled with them in Photoshop, and I think they look OK! Enlarge them for a better view!

I spent yesterday working until 1 o'clock then I went home and got ready for the football match. The football match was pretty dull itself, but I didn't get to see most of it anyway, because a large contingent of the Millwall supporters were only at the game for trouble and trouble they caused! I spent most of the game looking to my right, keeping an eye out for flying objects (I sit very close to the away supporters) as they ripped out over 50 seats and the metal brackets which the seats are bolted onto, and launched them into our supporters and at the police officers who had been called in to stop them charging into our crowd. Having said that, it was a good day at the office for me personally as I didn't actually get hit by any of the seats, brackets and coins they were throwing at us, but had a £1 coin and a 50 pence piece land at my feet, and as the game was quite dull they did at least provide me with entertainment as they battled with the police, who were in full riot gear with batons at the ready!

I have also treated myself recently to some DVD's of programme's I used to watch when I was young. I already have Transformers and Thundercats on DVD but I have also just added Voltron: Defender of the Universe and Terrahawks (Zelda and her clan used to scare me as a 5 year old kid!) I am also waiting for a decent DVD release of Fraggle Rock.

Last piece of the jigsaw

2009-01-22T18:50:00.005Z

Yesterday I ordered this small mixing desk, the last piece of equipment I need, so I can start recording the fourth 'Legend of Sid' album 'Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap' so far I have only recorded one track for the album 'Buxom Wench' which I recorded last year before the old folks started moving rooms and furniture around!
Basically, I was using my hi-fi connected to my PC, to playback my music during recording sessions, but I can't do that anymore because, I did have a large room on the ground floor, but now i'm in a small room on the top floor and cannot fit both my hi-fi and PC desk into my current bedroom, so I used it as an opportunity to get a more professional set up, for a more professional quality of sound, meaning the mixing desk and some monitor speakers...just need speaker cables now!
I am currently working on the following songs for the album;

Fish Finger Devastation>>>>>>>>>>> a brand new one!
Posh Coffee & Shitty Stains
Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap!
Pat's Medical Mumbo Gumbo
Listen & Jerk Off
I will get you off in seconds!
Unzip & Unload
Cheap recordings

and a number of others, that I can't remember the name of at this very minute! Those last four songs titles were actual telephone-sex advert titles in the back of the FHM/ Nuts/ Zoo magazines which a colleague keeps bringing in to the canteen at work. I thought they were too funny not to be used as song titles, so they will form part of a seedy musical suite called 'The Soundz of Sex Suite' marvelous!

Fish Finger Devastation

2009-01-21T12:03:00.004Z

I now know the feeling of devastation! I look in the cupboards, fridge and freezer, trying to decide what I will have for lunch. I decide upon having a fish finger sandwich, after spotting a box of fish fingers with exactly four fish fingers in it....perfect for a sandwich I thought, and subsequently put the fish fingers in the oven for 10-15 minutes, and sit and wait patient and hungry. I prepare my bread and then take the fish fingers out of the oven. I get the gribber-grabbers out of the drawer and start to place them on the bread using the gribber-grabbers until I reach the forth and final one, where I then proceed to pick it up and place it onto the bread with it's three other friends, but something happened....due to an unforeseen and unexplainable cosmic incident, the fish finger slides out of the gribber-grabbers and onto the floor, leaving me with an unbalanced and uneven fish finger sandwich and in an unconsolable state!!! Devastating! I think I will turn this experience into a new 'Legend of Sid' song!

Last night I was introduced to a fantastic comedy series by my friend Mark! He has been going on about a show called 'Flight Of The Conchords' for a number of weeks saying "it is a must see show" and "it's very funny and utterly brilliant" so with some sceptascism, I borrow his season 1 DVD. It is FANTASTIC! One of the funniest and best comedy shows I have seen in ages! If you get a chance to see it, then you absolutely must watch it!!!
Flight of the Conchords follows the trials and tribulations of a two man, digi-folk band from New Zealand as they try to make a name for themselves in their adopted home of New York City. The band is made up of Bret McKenzie on guitar and vocals, and Jemaine Clement on guitar and vocals.
Bret and Jemaine have moved to New York in the hope of forging a successful music career. So far they've managed to find a manager (whose "other" job is at the New Zealand Consulate), one fan (a married obsessive) and one friend (who owns the local pawn shop) -- but not much else.

I have also just started work on writing a story called 'The Curious and Forbidding World Of Dorman Runner' can't really say too much about it yet, but if my progress on it turns out OK, I will create a separate blog just for my story and place a link on here! But as my friend Johnny Jazz is always telling me, I take on too many projects and never end up finishing them, so we'll see how that goes!

Having a cold isn't so dynamite!

2009-01-19T15:18:00.008Z

Two things really annoyed me in the last 24 hours, one last night and one this morning!

Firstly, when I had a look on Facebook last night before going to bed, I noticed some old looking, faded photo's on my page where an old school friend of mine had "tagged" me, it just so happens that when these pictures were taken when I was about 14 years old, I just happened to look similar to Napoleon Dynamite (pictured) which means I will now have all my current friends laughing and taking the piss out of me for a good few days, I really would have liked for my friends to not see these old photo's of me! So, that teaches me to say hello, when an old school friend adds me as a friend!

Second, I had a nasty cold all weekend meaning I sat on the sofa for two days with my eyes constantly watering, my nose constantly running, which is annoying as hell, a headache and bunged up ears. This all started to clear late yesterday afternoon, but I still felt quite shitty and generally lacking in energy and motivation, so I was trying to decide weather I should be ringing in sick at work on the Monday morning.
I decided that if I felt that I could realistically be of use, then I would go in as I hate taking 'sick days' and so when my alarm went off at 5am, I felt I could just about get through a day at work, given that a monday morning usually involves half an hour or so of heavy, manual labour. I really didn't want to leave this all to my work partner, that I had been paired up with for this week, so with the though **I can't let my work partner down**I trotted off to work, hoping I would be rewarded with an easy day for my efforts to come in.
When I arrived at work, a colleage informed me that my partner had rang in sick because he wasn't very well....just great I thought, and instantly knew that I was in for a very busy day because I had to do 2 peoples share of work and still have it done in the same amount of time, so it did not effect/impact on any other processes which were also ongoing, so I realised that I should have just rang in sick in the first place and not worried about leaving my colleages to do all the work, because when it's them, they won't give it a second thought!!!

Despite these two annoying events, I still arrived home this afternoon in a good mood.... a sense of achievement perhaps??? Or just glad to be back home.

I feel like listening to music this evening, so I will now go and listen to Katy Perry then some Motown and then some Simon & Garfunckle because that's what I feel like listening to and you ain't gonna stop me!

Steve Vai - Whispering A Prayer (Live at The Astoria)

2009-01-17T22:00:00.003Z

As I sat around earlier listening to my Ipod during a brief respite from the bunged up ears which I now have, as a result of slipping deeper into that horrible state of having a nasty cold, (made worse by sitting in the freezing cold this evening, to watch Hull City get undeservedly beat by Arsenal) this beautiful guitar instrumental by Steve Vai came on and instantly cheered me up, so I had a quick look on You Tube to see if I could share it with you guys....so here it is! Not sure about his stage costume though, it looks like after he gets off stage, he is going to march on to Helms Deep!

Bob, avert your eyes and ears, this really isn't your cup of tea!!!!

I Love Insanity Sauce

2009-01-16T14:31:00.004Z

The other day my bottle of 'Dave's Gourmet Special Reserve Insanity sauce' arrived in the post. This sauce is so hot and generally bad ass, that it comes in it's own coffin! It's expensive though, including the £2.00 postage, it cost me £27.99.
Each year those lovely people at Dave's Gourmet, formulate a special sauce with three times the heat of standard Insanity Sauce. It's hand signed by Dave, numbered, vintage dated and laid to rest in a wooden coffin wrapped in caution tape. 5 oz. Heat Insane +++ It also tastes superb, at least for the first few seconds, then you can't taste anything except the burn, and that caution on the front of the bottle is no exaggeration, you literally use it one drop at a time. I am trying to push my personal limit, and can currently handle 8 drops in a chilli or curry or whatever.
We collectively bought a bottle of last years private reserve at work for the canteen fridge, but I also wanted a bottle for home to add a kick to the occasional dish.....and also to play nasty evil tricks on friends and family! Hopefully I can capture a reaction and post it on Youtube Mwuhahahahaha!

In the arms of a Tiger

2009-01-15T16:28:00.004Z

I took this image of our cat Millie last night because I had said to my mother, that the cat sleeps in the arms of the tiger, but she thought I was making it up because she had never seen her do it, even though cat hairs keep congregating around its paws, so now I have proof!!!

I have finally succumbed to this horrible virus that's been going around for the last couple of months.....you know the one, with the chesty, phlegmy lungs and sore throat etc. So I'm in for a few miserable weeks, BOOOOO!

In my performance development review at the end of last year, I said I wouldn't mind doing some form of qualification this year, meaning something like a HNC in Chemical Engineering, which I could carry on and turn into a degree, if I wasn't fed up with it at the end of the first 3 years. So what did my manager put me in for....an NVQ in Business Improvement Techniques! Well, not exactly what I had in mind, but if the company are paying for it, I suppose it will be something I can add to my CV. But I will still be asking to do that HNC! So today meant a late finish, because as well as training a colleage, I had to attend a boring 2 hour meeting with the NVQ people, to discuss what it's all about.

I'm no longer a Subways virgin!

2009-01-11T18:30:00.008Z

This mark in the back stage area, proves that there is another band called the Strands, somewhere in the universe!

Dean's getting worried and frustrated at the lack of audience!

Setting up!

Two nights out in a row! On Friday I went along to the Lamp with my bro for a few too many beers and games of drunken Pool, and to listen to some live bands. I didn't really want to go out because I was going on a trip to Liverpool on the Saturday night to 'The Cavern Club' to watch 'The Strands' and begin work on filming a rockumentary about the highs and lows of being in a touring, unsigned band! But I promised my friend Jo that I would go to the Lamp with her as she didn't have anyone to go with and really wanted to see the bands.

I awoke the next morning with a fuzzy brain and a dry throat, and wondered how I was going to make it through another evening out. By around 1 o'clock however, I was feeling fine and looked forward to the arrival of the Strands "Mega Bus" which would take us on our journey to the "European city of culture" (at least until midnight that evening, when the title would be handed over to another city)

I had spoken previously to Dean (the singer) at work, about doing a rockumentary, purely for shits and giggles, and he seemed up for it! The trip to the Cavern was largely uneventful until we reached the city center, were John (the drummer) who was driving, decided to ignore the satnav on 3 occasions, meaning lots of wrong turns and confusion, with the air turning blue (mostly by John himself) until the satnav finally corrected Johns errors!

The band set up and did their soundcheck and then we had a few hours to kill, so we took a walk to find something to eat. We walked past a Subway, but the general feeling that a McDonalds or Burger King would be more suited, so I showed the way to the Burger King I usually go to when I visit the Cavern Club, but when we arrived there were about a hundred thousand people in the vicinity, probably to do with the last night of city of culture status, we tried both "eating joints" but the cues were horrendous and we were getting very hungry, so we headed back to Subways, were I had my first ever Subways sandwhich, breaking my Subways virgin status.

Back in the club the first band went on stage to a reasonable audience (they were local lads) they were then were followed by an Italian rock band who were horrendous and managed to clear out most of the people who had hung around, this and the fact that there was a local slimeball promoter running the evening (I say running in the loosest possible sense, because all he did all night was stand at the door to the live music room, like a guard dog, trying to charge £3.50 entry fee, meaning most people turned back and stayed in the front part of the club) so when The Strands came on, they played a blinding set to about 10 people, which is a hard job to do, to capture the presence and spirit of things when your playing to an empty room, but as I was filming the gig they managed to do a respectable job! Luckily, due to my filming duties I had to remain professional and drink very little, but after the gig, I started to feel very tired and looked forward to returning home. The band were extremely disappointed as they had basically paid £70 to the venue, just to play to an empty room. Whilst it was a low for the band and prompted a quiet and reserved ride home, it was good for my film, because as I had said to them, the aim of the film is to get the highs AND lows of touring! The "mega bus" as it turned out, wasn't that mega, because it didn't have a radio and no heating, which meant for a cold ride home, and to add insult to injury, our boiler has broken down meaning a cold bed when I got home! I was home for 2:30am and straight into that cold bed!

Oh yeah and this week, I have mostly been amusing myself by leaving random lines from movies on my friends Facebook pages!

Tough Titty!

2009-01-07T19:26:00.005Z

Only 3 days into the new working year and it seems some of my colleages have spent an intensive Christmas period preparing for a good irate moan upon their return!
It has been common knowledge for at least 6 months, that when we returned to work this year, at some point we would start working split shifts (6am-2pm and 12pm-8pm) and working regular Saturdays.
So for the last three days, 2 of my colleages have sat in the tea room, moaning and shouting to anyone who will listen and anyone who won't, because management have decided to implement the changes that we knew were coming, and nobody tried to fight.
It states in our contract that they can call upon us anytime between 6am and 12am during weekdays and Saturdays, so as far as I can see, the company is quite within it's right to ask us to do this.
For the last 2 years I have worked on the "shop floor" as one of the grunts, I have worked more then my share of Saturdays as have others in the department, (last year I worked 10 Saturdays whilst most of the others, barr 2 or 3 worked none) but these were always on a voluntary basis! (My feelings were that if I put my hand up and volunteered when it suited me (i.e when I am not going to watch Hull City on a saturday afternoon) then I would be in a good position to say "no ask someone else" when they needed people on days when I was going to the football.
The problem with all this, is that when we all applied for jobs working in this department, we all asked about the working hours and wether we work saturdays, to which the management replied "we only work one shift (6am-2pm) and we never work Saturdays and there are no plans for this to change in the future" so people took the jobs on that basis, as some people have young children and do most activities with them on a Saturday. Other then getting to the football matches I don't have any worries or commitments such as kids.
As it stands, my only veiw on this is "tough titty" to us, but nevertheless, people are looking at bringing in a union rep/solicitor to see where we stand!
On a personal level I'm not entirely bothered about the changes, they won't effect me that much, although my attitude would change if I couldn't get to the football as a result, but feel they would be willing to accomodate me in that respect, but I also feel that we shouldn't let the company walk all over us, with out us putting up any kind of resistance, so if the people want to fight it, then I'm in! Who knows, maybe this could lead me onto fighting my own revolution in the future, just like the great Ernesto 'Che' Guevara! Oh hang on a minute, I've rambled off into Walter Mitty territory, I'll stop now.

Grant's Birthday

2009-01-04T13:05:00.011Z

The birthday boy, pulling his trademark photo face!

Group hug, from left : Mark, random guy, Grant and Me

It's a thumbs up from Rob!

I ams what I am Olive!

Me looking bemused at Rob's decision to have a glass of Rose in a pub on a Saturday night!

The tale end of a political debate between Rob and Mark, which lasted for hours!

Another thumbs up from Rob!

A pair of metrosexuals?

Mark and Grant, eyeing each other up for a licking!

Went out last night for my friend Grant's birthday, drank loads and have a queezy stomach today as a result! I just had to watch 'Jeff Dunham's very special Christmas show' to make my self laugh and take my mind off my hungover state - 'Acmed The Dead Terrorist' was a good cure, I now feel much better!
My usual cure for a hangover is a big fry-up, but not today! The only thing I could manage to eat was a Pot Noodle!

I have been off work on holiday now for a month, tomorrow I go back to work........I am NOT looking forward to that!

Succumbing to madness

2008-12-29T08:37:00.005Z

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

2008-12-10T10:04:00.002Z

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!

2008-12-06T12:30:00.008Z

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

2008-11-28T18:08:00.004Z

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

2008-11-26T14:45:00.008Z

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

2008-11-23T17:57:00.001Z

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

2008-11-19T16:46:00.004Z

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!

2008-11-17T17:12:00.002Z

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

2008-11-12T19:08:00.002Z

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!

2008-11-09T17:43:00.003Z

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

2008-10-31T19:18:00.001Z

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

Belly Pork Baguette

2008-10-30T17:27:00.009Z

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

2008-10-17T15:12:00.004Z

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

2008-09-20T11:01:00.006Z

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!

2008-09-05T13:24:00.002Z

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

2008-08-18T15:12:00.002Z

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

2008-08-11T14:15:00.003Z

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

2008-08-10T12:39:00.002Z

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"

2008-08-08T12:33:00.002Z

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!

2008-08-07T19:49:00.002Z

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

2008-08-05T16:21:00.002Z

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...

2008-08-04T16:56:00.006Z

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!

2008-07-10T16:04:00.006Z

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

2008-05-25T11:55:00.012Z

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!!!

2008-05-02T16:21:00.002Z

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

2008-04-24T15:11:00.004Z

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!.......

.................................................................

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…….

..................................................................

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

2008-04-21T13:12:00.003Z

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

2008-04-18T12:47:00.007Z

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

2008-04-17T12:07:00.009Z

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

2008-04-16T13:59:00.014Z

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

2008-04-14T18:23:00.005Z

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

2008-04-14T13:19:00.014Z

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.

Whitby Abbey

2008-04-13T18:48:00.011Z

A Good Evening With The Strands!!!

2008-04-10T14:55:00.007Z

Had a good evening last night watching the Strands and a couple of other bands, it was a shame that the crowd wasn't very large and a load of people cleared off after the first band had finished which is a bit disrespectful to the other bands I think!
It was a bit weird at first because there was some awkwardness between Joanne and me, but that was maybe to be expected after we took our friendship a bit too far the other week in our drunken states. I guess things are a bit strange when you have known someone as a friend for a while then you hop on the good foot and do the bad thing when you really did not mean too, and things were really good before, and your both left thinking why and how did that happen! Luckily after a few drinks we relaxed and are back to normal again, I was the envy of the bar last night because Joanne brought two attractive friends with her and there wasn't many females in the place, and I was sat with three of them all to myself chatting away!
Jo was pleased because the Strands dedicated a song to her for her birthday and she then made me laugh by replying "thankyou" in the sweetest possible voice.
They finished their set and then Dean the singer gave me a lift home, I went to bed and I had the best sleep in over 2 weeks before being rudely awoken by the alarm for work, had a horrible morning at work because I was tired and lacking energy and motivation......but it was, I suppose, my own fault!

When I got home (I left work early at 12:00, but I can make the hours up because I am working Saturday morning) I messaged Jo to see if she enjoyed last night, chatting for a while and then I carried on with reading the bible, I am not actually a religious person, but wanted to read the bible and find out whats actually in it, especially as it is deeply rooted within popular culture, with references in music and film and TV etc. I just think it's good to gain a better understanding! If anything I would be Buddhist, i do try to follow the 8-fold path of right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration and try to adhere to the 10 Theravada perfections of generosity, moral discipline, patience, effort, medatative concentration, wisdom, renunciation, loving kindness and equanimity, I may not be perfect in my practices by a long way, but even if you take on a little, then your a little bit better a person for it I think!

The above image is of my two aftershaves, the Davidoff Adventure being my favorite fragrance, it really is wonderful smelling stuff and the girls ain't complaining about it so thats a good sign! Whereas I am happy having the two, my sister seems to collect perfumes and has maybe 20 different ones! I thought the nice colours would make a good image contrasting against the white background!

So, it's a full weekend coming up! I will be working Saturday morning then I'll be going to football in the afternoon as Hull City continue their push for promotion to the premiership where they could be playing the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. On Sunday, if it's good weather we will be taking a drive to Whitby, a beautiful scenic coastal town, which will be a good opportunity for taking photographs!!!! And have a nice walk about.

I have also been listening to Estelle, Paramore and MGMT......oh yeah and lots of Miles Davis, I do love a bit of Jazz!

Dilemma

2008-04-09T14:11:00.004Z

OK, I have reached a fork in the road! Do I (A) save up my pennies and then move out of my parents house and get a place of my own, leaving me with a lot less monies to spend on stuff, or (B) do my bike test and then buy a new Triumph Bonneville (pictured) and live the dream of owning and riding this beauty, but with the spirit crushing reality of still living with the annoying old folks plus my sis and bro (who are also annoying), this is the dilemma I have reached! If I carry on living in this house much longer I think I may go mad, and if I get the bike I may be killed to death by a crazy car driver, those are the bad points!

End of June I will be attending a bike rally near Scarborough, even though I do not own a bike, it should be a fun weekend camping in a field next to a pub with live bands, booze and of course...bikes!

Tonight I am going to watch the Strands play, I will not take my camera as I have earache and feel very tired and so I do not feel like moving about and taking pictures, probably because I spent 2 hours in the freezing cold this morning unloading and loading a lorry with the forklift truck at work, in fact I will rest right now and then I may feel better for tonight!

I am also a bit annoyed, I have been called in to the Lab tomorrow morning to do some testing because the lab people are not going to be in, I wouldn't have minded but the lab and plant managers have neglected to keep me up to speed in the lab by not having me do this testing on a more regular basis (9 months since I last did some testing in the lab) so I'm a bit rusty, not that I want to spend too much time in there, that's why I applied for my current job as a pharmaceutical manufacturing process technician, so I could escape the lab.....and it's manager! Besides, in my current role I get 10 times as many tea breaks, it's easy, I get to make drugs that help with peoples pain and I drive a forklift truck which is fun........when the weather is good!

Karaoke, Darts & Trilby's

2008-04-06T15:16:00.008Z

I have just wished my little friend Joanne a happy birthday, she's 20 today bless her!

Last night I went to Beverley a town just north of Hull and attended a karaoke night run by some friends of a friend, thankfully for the world, I did not attempt to sing a song though, I would have done but there was nothing that took my fancy! Instead I played a friendly darts tournament and won, which was nice because I don't play darts....saying that i think only one or two of the other lads did, but I retired as champion and left the pub to go into Hull city center and attend a few more pubs, I was not in the mood for a nightclub though and left to go home at around 12pm.

I have only ever sang on a karaoke once before, about 6 years ago at a works night out, I was set up to sing American Pie by Don Maclean, this was quite evil actually as there are like a million verses so I struggled. I deserved it though because I was putting everyone elses name in to sing songs, including my boss at the time, I got her up to sing I'm A Bitch by Meredith Brooks, luckily she saw the funny side and I think it was her that set me up!

Next Wednesday night there is another 'Strands' gig at Springhead pub, I will take my camera and see if I can get some decent pictures I think!

In other news, I bought myself a straw Trilby yesterday, I love hats and Trilby's in particular, but I have now realised I don't own any clothing which would particularly suit a trilby, so I need to buy some new clothes as well! But I did want a hat for summer as 2 years ago I badly sunburnt my head which resulted in a bit of sunstroke and from that day I vowed to buy a hat. I wouldn't want to wear a baseball cap as they are part of a burglar/chav's attire!

During my blogging absence, we rescued a young cat from the streets, who has since become best friends with one of our dogs Layla and they are always playing together, she's a funny little thing, my mother named her Millie! It's like we have a ready made eco-system now....the cat can eat my rats and the dogs can eat the cat!

Only me!

2008-04-01T17:45:00.004Z

Sooooo long since I last posted! So long in fact, that i forgot my password, and there have literally been loads of things I could have blogged about. Let's see if I can remember anything!
There have been a few nights out, in particular, when my friend Alex drove us the 180 miles down to London after work one Friday to watch my friend Dean's band 'The Strands' play a gig at the world famous 'Cafe De Paris' at Leicester square. We parked on the edge of London and then I had my first experience of using the underground as we rode it to leicester square and made it to the gig just as the band were starting their second song (they were only playing for half an hour) we stayed for another hour so Alex could catch up with some old friends from Uni which gave me time to have a few drinks! We then had to leave at 23:45 to catch the last tube train back to the car and drove home, arriving back in Hull during the early morning hours.

I have been to quit a few Hull City AFC away matches in recent months!

I have not had much time to use my new camera and take pictures, so you'll have to wait a bit longer for new photo's.

The above image is from a week last Monday when 'The Strands' played a charity gig at a bar in town. From that gig up until this last weekend was a great week!!! At that gig my friend Joanne (who I mentioned in previous posts) and myself both got VERY drunk (it was a bank holiday) and for a week, we took our friendship to a whole other level (Ah hum!) and I was about 3 hours late for work the next morning! Then last Thursday it was the '2008 Hull Real Ale & Cider Festival' which Joanne and my brother and friends Alex and Rob and myself all attended and had a very good time, Jo and me continued our new level of relationship, but luckily I had booked the next day off work as a holiday. Then at the weekend we calmed down and are back to normal! Which is good because I sensed a bit of awkwardness developing between Jo and me and would not want to lose her as a friend. It all served to get me out of my rut though and can move on with my search for a soulmate, crazy thing is that I get on really well with Jo, we have been friends for 5 or 6 months and if she was 5 years older and wiser she would be a soulmate consideration, but she isn't and still has a very young attitude and outlook on life, although we share a common interest in many things and many of our views are the same...sometimes we are very different!

Maybe I am just getting too old too soon, even though I fool myself into thinking I'm still 18, I celebrated my 30th birthday in early March! Jo celebrates her 20th next week! She has gotten me into this funny buisiness of text messaging each other every 5 minutes, before last week I perhaps only used my phone once a week!

I have a passport application form right here and I will fill it in soon, I really must go abroad this year as I have never left the British isles!

Oh yeah, when at the beer festival I had a go on the tombola raffle, 4 tickets for a £1. Opened the first one and won a bottle of wine, opened the second one and won a bottle of beer, opened the third one and won a pen, opened the fourth one and won a 2 course meal for 2 at a country pub with a good reputation for it's food! I'm going to give the meal ticket to Pete at work who lives near this pub and in return he is going to take me and Alex out on his new speedboat para-gliding and shark fishing in summer......how cool will that be!!!!