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2007 Blog Archive

What can I say about 2007? I went out saw, did and reviewed. All the important bits are below but the blog continued to grow with more shameless marketing. Although I think I will not join any more blog ring / communities for the foreseable future. I just built upon the solid foundations laid in 2006. More regular postings (but most of the time still not regular enough for Pav or The Admiral), more photos, more videos and more links. I failed in places but generally kept up some of the good work. Also switched to Haloscan for comments from August.

Sunday 30th December 2007

Went to see I Am Legend with my cousin-in-law yesterday evening. I booked two tickets for the Empire up the road, opting to walk rather than trek over to Reading. While we could have caught a later showing I preferred to go before the crowds begin to gather, so chose the 6pm screening. (This was the first time I had been to my local multiplex since watching the final Star Wars movie, Revenge Of The Sith on Friday 20th May 2005. That is 953 days or two years, seven months and nine days. After the screening I remembered why I always drive twenty odd miles to Vue.) The film is good and at times very good but we cannot expect too much with just a solitary, survivor on the screen for so long. Nevertheless, well worth going to see. Will Smith gives a great performance and it was good to have the story told in flashback, rather than the story being told right at the beginning as an explanation for the story. While I am not a fan of the horror genre, this is more suspense and jumpy than anything else. The ending and the third act for the most part is quite poor in relation to the first half of the movie but even so, it is a good movie and I would recommend you go to the cinema to watch it.

The movie makers can have fun with the audience because unlike many other films (such as I, Robot) the story takes place in the not to distant future (2012). The highlight in the movie for me, is Will Smith driving through Broadway and all the posters around. One in particular has drawn a fair share of blog postings. They may put it down, as complete fiction but reality is, there are a big fan of movie goers that would love to see The Man of Steel pitted against The Dark Knight.

I downloaded the iPlayer in the early hours of Saturday morning. I had missed the Friday visit to Albert Square so thought I would catch up. Rather than stream the soap online, I opted to download the iPlayer download manager and watch the episode offline. It took only ten minutes or so for the 160mb to download. Although on one page it was listed as 300mb download. After watching the show, I realised I no longer need to watch live television apart from football on Sky. I can download episodes from BBC or Channel 4 (they use similar software) and watch later. A little searching around the web, you discover how bad the iPlayer (then called myBBCPlayer) was during the beta testing phase earlier in the year. In the summer, there were generally positive reviews as most of the bugs had been ironed out. I of course would love to see the iPlayer integrated into the XBox Media Center, the guys are working on it. However, there are some major draw backs. There is no news or weather, which I am not that bothered about. I have a FreeView card, I can watch BBC News 24 and Sky News whenever I like. Sport is the real loss. This is due to some complicated rights issue, so no Match Of The Day or Football Focus. While I have Sky Sports News, it is not the same as listening to the Alan, Alan, Gary, Lawro and Manish in the studio. However there are more sinister powers at work here. The software is close to spy ware as it leaves a process (KService.exe) running in the background (even with you exit the download manager) so you are still uploading any content in your download folder. You can eventually, with some hacks stop this from happening (killing the process once only works until you reboot). If you want to learn more you can go and read the buzzing thread over at Digital Spy. A more balanced and positive review is over at Andy Hollyhead's blog. I agree with his summary, a good catchup service in case you miss any programmes you watch on a regular basis. For me, this will be the visit to E20. I occasionally miss the odd episode when there is football on the other side or I am out at the cinema on a Friday night.

Final planning for my ski trip this week. Off to Portsmouth to get my final bits on either Thursday or Friday (undecided yet). Then party Friday night, no time for sleep, load the car and head over to Gatwick. However, I must end with a quote from the 6-0-6 message boards over at the Beeb. "The Gunners went through that Everton team like a spoon through soggy Weetabix". Classic!

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Thursday 27th December 2007

Hope you had a great Christmas. It is strange that with all the build up, it is in fact just another twenty four hours. A special twenty four, but a day nonetheless.

Even though I am surrounded by amazing pieces of technology. I will be the first to admit that I do not make the most of them. Yes, I am a gadget freak but I perhaps use only five percent of the functionality of any given device. This I intend to change. Let me firstly though, take you back. To my time in Year Seven at primary school. I sat right opposite my form teacher's desk and she would always ask me the date (for some strange reason) and I had some photographic memory to give the date within an instant. Since then (that was 1993-4) I have always had a visual image of a calendar in my head and always planned in this way. I have never used diaries, personal calendars or any kind of PIM (personal information manager). Paper or electronic. I have never really had the need. All the import dates are in my head and anything crucial is noted down somewhere.

I have started the change and it is radical. Everything will be stored in Outlook 2003 and transferred to my N73. I have been a list person as long as I can remember and these will now move from the 3M Post It note to my smart phone also. In fact, anything time related will be transferred to my electronic calendar. I know to many this may seem like a lot of effort for a little return but my ultimate plan is to have my PC has the main information store and have multiple (or hopefully in the near future) a single device that syncs to have everything to carry around in my pocket. Well that is the plan, I will let you know how I get on.

How do I review 2007? Perhaps I should wait until next week? I have the time to reflect and although I gave a quick emotional outburst at the end of last month. Let me put it down to the fact that I was writing on a bad day. I will try and put together a review of some description to post on Sunday afternoon.

I miss KISS and only get to listen to the station when I am in my Mum's car. (Thankfully that will change in the middle of next month!) I heard what appeared to be a duet between Chris Brown and Rihanna but it was not the Umbrella remix. So when I got back home I did some Google searches with little luck. I then headed over to the Total Kiss dot com web site and play list page. I did not find what I was looking for but stumbled upon another gem. I have been quite a big fan of Cassie (as usual not at the time she burst onto the music world but many months later) but she disappeared some time ago from the music scene, apart from an appearance in Kanye West's Stronger video. I knew she was working on a second album as I had heard her song, Sometimes which was very good. A new song was listed on the Kiss play list and instead of downloading it straight away I headed over to YouTube to have a listen first. After about thirty seconds, there was no doubt I had to download the song and put it on my Zen. Like clockwork the track drops to perfectly reflect how I feel at this moment in time. Oh sorry, I nearly forgot to mention the title. Is It You?

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Monday 24th December 2007

Men were never designed to wrap presents. I find it does not matter how much I spend trying I cannot do the job. Even a educational video from YouTube could no help. Thankfully this year I did not have anything to cumbersome to wrap, just all standard box shapes but it does not make the job any easier.

Nothing more left to say expect Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope you have a fantastic time! I will try and blog sometime again before the weekend.

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Saturday 22nd December 2007

What have I been doing for the past few days? Apart from being exceptionally lazy, I completed my Christmas shopping in Milton Keynes and also went out for a meal in Chelsea.

On the recommendation of my sister, Samantha, I have been listening to the Leona Lewis album, Spirit. I must say I am very impressed. During the course of last year's X-Factor, Simon Cowell compared Lewis to Mariah Carey and it shows in several tracks on this album. Having borrowed many of the diva's production team may explain this but overall the album is very very good. My favourite two tracks originally were Yesterday and Angel (Stargate production, the same people that brought you Irreplaceable by B and With You by Chris Brown). However I was listening to it on the drive back from Central London, late on Thursday evening and my favourite now is track eleven, "The Best You Never Had". If it is released as a single, an acoustic version would sound absolutely amazing.

I thought I would make use of my time off and clean up my mp3 collection, although wiping and reinstalling Windows XP a fresh would have been a better idea. I will save that for a quiet weekend in February. I downloaded Media Monkey, which is very good, although for some reason I cannot get it to connect to the freecdb. If anyone can recommend any alternative music management software, all suggestions would be greatly received. When I used the peer-to-peer network Blubster for a short period, a few years ago. There was a discussion on the forum about how to name / label mp3 files. Since then I have kept to a pretty standard format for file names and ID3 Tags but even my great organisation needs to be cleared up from time to time.

Back in 2003, there was a breakthrough in technology. Networking using the power network in the conventional home. One of the lawyers at the law firm I was working for at the time was well impressed and thought it would be something he could have in his home. He was a little disappointed when I explained that you would have to buy some expensive kit to make it possible. The internet would not just work through the electric socket by magic! Fast forward four years, this morning I went over to PC World and picked up a kit for myself. It has been something that I have been looking at for a while. The Netgear router, now living under my desk means that the wireless reception in the lounge is rather week (ideal for web surfing but not major data intense activities). Plus, ever since taking the router from the back of my television, my XBox has been offline. To get around this in the past, I would use my old Netgear router, plug in my laptop and transfer any videos and carry out any maintenance. (Remember, I only got it back from brick status just under two months ago.) This is great but the whole beauty of XBMC is having it online, being able to see the BBC News headlines scroll on the main screen and download movie trailers direct from Apple. I also wanted to try out some new YouTube scripts and be able to transfer across content without having to setup an ad hoc network each and every time.

I confess, I do not know much about the technology. All I can say is that it works and works well, even with twenty-five year old circuitry in my house. The product remains true to plug and play philosophy. I just plugged in network cable from xbox to power socket and did the same on my router in my room. Instantly the two boxes on the wall started talking to each other. I then logged onto the XBox via FTP and wireless transferring across music videos at a blistering rate!

I have been rinsing my monthly bandwidth allocation via uTorrent and doubt I have any left. I watched the final two episodes of Journeyman, which were very good but I was expecting more. Do not get me wrong, I do not feel left down, I just expected the show to end on a bang, not a wimper! Hopefully there will be a second series. I suppose for a change, I can burn the DVD and ship it over to Pav. To make up for all the care packages he has sent me so far this lifetime.

I cannot finish without mentioning football. Three matches in seven days and three wins, and more importantly six points on the board. Two London derbies sandwiched between a thriller Carling cup-tie against Blackburn at Ewood Park and thanks to Sky, all televised! You can read match reports, for Chelsea, Rovers and arch-rivals Spurs.

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Tuesday 18th December 2007

I have been a fan of blogs at the Beeb for a while (look back to late March last year). However, I am totally addicted to the BBC Internet blog as it celebrates ten years of the corporation web services, giving an insight into the development hurdles faced to bring the Beeb online. The most interesting article (so far) was posted today by the man that registered the BBC dot co dot uk domain name. Funny how you do not think that the site which I use as my homepage (as I am sure millions of other people do across the planet) actually did start somewhere. Only occasionally do I go back and look at old pages that I linked to from 2002 in my blog but the Beeb web presence, started long before then. The BBC Internet Blog is a fantastic read and I must say for the true techie, it is reverting. The added weight of having contributions from all the big hitters from the Future Media team.

Typical, just as you get into a television series (okay, a few months late) and spend a whole week playing catch up, you discover that the show has been cancelled and the thirteen episode stint maybe the last. I watched episode twelve tonight (after the football) and it was fantastic. Such a shame there will not be a second series, most likely because it is not macho enough and the body count is low!

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Saturday 15th December 2007

You would think that having spent nearly five years writing this blog that it would become easier. Anything but. It actually becomes harder with every passing year and at times I find myself struggling for topics even worth discussing. The other day, a colleague went around asking everyone on our floor if they had had a good or bad year. Last night it got me thinking, how has my year been? To re-use an overused cliché, it has very much been a game of two halves. It started off so well, with the right intentions, my heart in the right place, but seven or eight months in, almost everything fell apart at the wayside. It is difficult to pinpoint a particular moment or series of events which caused this change but all I do know is that I have not been able to recover. Will I ever be able to?

While of course, I would have preferred the FA to appoint an Englishman, I fully understand their predicament. Although I do wonder what happened to the root and branch review we were promised. That I suppose is for the future, let us concentrate on the present. I do not know much about Fabio Capello but my dear friend Daniel believes he is the right man. He has put together a list of interesting articles following the appointment. Is he Mr. Right? I am not too sure. In fact, I will reserve my judgment until after the two games against Switzerland and more importantly France. I am not going to any more matches until I see a major improvement, actually I mean complete change in performances. He is Mr. Right Now, the management we need who can deal with egos, has experience with the difficult Italian and Spanish media. The language issue does bother me but then how many English people go abroad to work without learning the language of their host country. We shall see, all I can say is the press conference on Monday lunchtime at 1pm, will be entertaining! Before then, we have the ultra hyped, "Grand Slam Sunday" to look forward to. Nearly six hours sat in front of the television watching the "top four"!

This afternoon, after Football Focus I watched episode eleven of Journeyman to complete my marathon which had started last week. Excellent series with some fantastic twists. I will go as far to say the series is better than Bionic Woman (which premieres on ITV2 this Winter, or so the trails tell me!) but perhaps some distance away from the magic of Heroes. My favourite episode was called "Keepers" as it opened with Take On Me by A-ha. There is a double episode final next week and I have done well to catch up with the Sky One pace so quickly. The magic of the internet, is great!

Pav has been bugging me on MSN over the past few days, with updates after (or during) each IM conversation. Oh and by the way we have x amount of time left before we go skiing. So I thought I would put a count down timer on the site. The 5th January feels a million miles away but it will be creep up on me sooner than I think!

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Sunday 9th December 2007

After a tiring week, in and out of the office I had nothing major planned for this weekend. The 'Lost' Weekend if you will. On Saturday, I got up around 9.30am and after breakfast headed over to Reading in the heavy rain for a pre-arranged appointment. Then after a productive discussion, I headed over back to Wycombe. It was 11.50am as I was on the by-pass, just before the Marlow exit. I was tempted to head home and catch Football Focus but opted to go into town and get some jobs done. I parked, as I always do over in George Street and walked the short distance into the town centre, in the heavy rain. The walk way around Tesco was cut off and we had to walk underneath the ramp into the car park. Around the corner, the old bus station was under barriers, but they had been moved closer to the entrance of Tesco, so we had to make our way through a large puddle to make it into the Octagon. Here too, all change. The doors had been removed and the flooring covered. I went to Clinton Cards (as I do every year) to get my Christmas Cards. I then headed over to Zavvi.co.uk (formerly VShop, formerly Our Price) but could not find what I was looking for, so headed onto the High Street and into Woolworths. It was about 12.30pm, I headed home. In no real mood to stick around town, particularly with the dreadful weather and queues.

The rest of the weekend, I was lazy. Extremely lazy but I did spent a little time sorting out all my paperwork and doing some work for a client. Back in the mid 1990s, a friend of mine lent me a PC game. It was called the Journeyman Project and it was fantastic! You can read the full details about the game over on Wikipedia but a quick summary is as follows. The premise is time travel. You have to go back and stop ripples in time which could have a major effect on mankind. Like Back To The Future but rather than focus on the McFly family, the focus is the whole universe. It was not an easy game, and I needed a walkthrough to get through to much of the first part before I eventually gave up (and my friend wanted the CD back). Remember kids, these were the days before broadband internet access and CD-writers as standard. Something inside, is telling me I should get myself the game again and give it another crack.

I had seen the trailers for a television series with the same name (minus the 'Project') and it was only on Friday I thought I would download the first episode and give it ago. To begin with I was rather lost. Quite a lot going on but not much explanation, however I was persistent and towards the end really enjoyed the show. It is very clever, although not entirely original. It is a mixture of US sci-fi series Quantum Leap and UK Saturday night drama series Crime Traveller. I have the second episode on my machine now and will watch it after the Sports Personality Of The Year show on BBC One. Not sure if it is even worth putting on MOTD2 tonight!

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Tuesday 4th December 2007

Would not normally be having a race with Pav on a Tuesday morning. I would normally be pestering him to put the latest episode of Heroes onto his FTP site ready for me to download. This morning however, I decided to leave him alone and downloaded the avi file myself. Although it took me a while to find a genuine copy available. We used the same torrent, and even though he started forty-five minutes after me, his download finished over thirty minutes before. I had an average transfer rate of 60kbit/s, where has he has 300k. Bubble alerts in XP can be very annoying, but this bubble from uTorrent confirms the torrent file download is complete. Just a shame I had to wait some forty minutes later for my bubble!

When I got home from work that evening, around 6.30pm, I had an e-mail in my Hotmail (correction, MSN Live Mail). This was strange, an e-mail from Pav, with the subject "One for da blog". There was an attachment, two in fact. The body of the e-mail was short. Three simple words. These arrived today. If I ever thought I was not going on holiday next month, that illusion was shattered with the delivery of these tickets. In fact in exactly one month's time, I will be at a birthday party at Island Bar in Caversham, before then at the end of the night, getting ready to drive down to Gatwick for the flight to Innsbruck Airport, while of course I wish we were landing at Salzburg Airport which is named after the city's number one son, Mozart.

That links us to the topic of music. On my drive back from Guildford this afternoon, I was pondering what to listen to. As I pulled out of York Road car park, the traffic was quite heavy, so I had time, while sitting there to choose my album for the stereo. For some reason I decided I was in the mood for some garage. I had last really spoken about garage music on the phone to Dave. It was making a come back of sorts but under the re-branding of UKG (please, who thought that one up?). I bought the Pure Garage Platinum album back in April 2003 from HMV in Slough if my memory serves me correctly. I converted the three disc album into a single MP3 CD and gave the box set to my sister, Samantha. Listening to the songs and aided by a scrap of paper (which lists my favourite track from each directory (effectively disc) it brought back some fond memories of 2000. My first year at University. My favourite song is Imagine by Shola Ama, but I also found a new song Something by Amar featuring MC Rankin. Also it was a great opportunity to test out the power of the new sound system. Amar performed at the BBC Electronic Proms two months ago and is featured on Timbaland's album Shockvalue.

My route home, was relatively cross country up to Bracknell. Here I joined the A329(M) before heading onto the M4 towards London (westbound). As I took the exit to get onto the M4, I noticed the heavy traffic at a standstill underneath me, but it was too late to change lane. I had to bite the bullet. It was not too bad. We were stationary for a few minutes, then made steady progress for a mile before stopping again. Then a few minutes later we started moving again. There was no evidence of an accident, so I just assume it was 'sheer' wait of traffic as we constantly hear on the radio. (Apart from Teg because he cannot get any reception on any band!) While on the motorway, I switched to one of my drive time CDs. I have been burning music albums for myself for the past eight years, but to date, I have only ever created one complete album. This album I call, "Drivetime" and spans two disc. The idea behind this album was two fold, firstly predominately music to listen to in the car, secondly (and here is the clever bit) to have a song from three decades. I stuck with 80s, 90s and 00s. This worked perfectly and enables for a track listing that just works and does not conflict. One of the tracks on this album, was Walking Away by Craig David. The perfect song for the way I felt and memories of the music video, as David walks out of his 4x4 and walks through the traffic on a busy road in London. (Readers Stateside might be a bit lost as they had a completely different version!) However, the song was right for the moment, not for right now. So this time around my posting ends with lyrics from another song, which I listened to at least four times this evening.

Imagine If I Told You That I Want You
Imagine If It All Came True
Tell Me What You Would Do With Me
Would You Tell Me That You Feel The Same
Imagine If I Told You That I Need You
Would You Say Baby I Need You Too
No Matter What You Do
I Know You Should Be In Love With Me

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Sunday 2nd December 2007

If I gave my blog entries titles and I do very occasionally (when there is a need) this one would be entitled "Change of Plan". We always have a Christmas get together with my friends in early December. We had a dinner party on this weekend, last year. The original plan was to head over to Kev's house and have some food (or more likely snacks) there before heading on into town. To be honest, by Saturday lunchtime I was not really in the mood to go but some persuading from Charlie on the phone and Pav on MSN made me get ready and rush out around 8pm. (Pav in fact quoted a line from my previous blog entry from Friday night). Plans changed quite quickly, so we went from meeting at 7.30pm at Kev's to an hour later in town.

Pav asked that I get to his around 8.30pm, as they were catching a taxi to Oakford Social Club then. I was a little late and also running out of fuel but then nothing new there. Charlie called to check I was actually still coming out as I drive up through Caversham Heights. I spoke to Annie, who had trekked in from Canterbury. I had to be out, as she had made a special journey to be in Reading tonight. We caught a taxi into town and just as we pulled up outside the pub, Annie, Charlie and Nige were in the queue. Phil, Sarah, Kev, Andy and Eddie were already inside. We waited for ten minutes in the cold before being allowed in. It was around 9.10pm, twenty minutes before we would have been charged an entry fee.

After an hour or so in Oakford, we headed around the corner to Revolutions, where we were for most of the night. Then around 2am, we headed over to Bar Mango. It was a great night and we had some good laugh, particularly as there was such a big group of us out (in comparison to my birthday weekend, with only four of us!) Waiting for everyone to upload their photographs, a selection of the best from my N73 have been uploaded over at FlickR.

My Dad got me a Doctor Who advent calendar this year. I did not want Simpsons again after having one in 2005. Unlike my sisters, I usually forget to open the door and eat the chocolate each day, so tend build them up and end up eating five or more in a row. (Perhaps that is worse for my health!)

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Friday 30th November 2007

As we gently roll into December, I come to the point in my blog where I begin to reflect. Reflect on the year almost out and the new year about to spark to life. 2007 began with great optimism, more than usual. In fact I will go as far to say that more so than ever, my hopes and dreams and rested on this year. Quite a burden I agree, but it started so well. We even turned bad news into good, before the foggy end to 2006. Within the first month, I was liberated and to a certain extent given the opportunity to be myself. I tried hard, for a few months things went well. There were so many highlights, trips to North London for memorable nights, learning the piano, the curtain raised at Wembley, my first trip clubbing in Central London. Like the advert on television goes, LG - Life's Good and it was for a while.

So where did it all go wrong? It is difficult to pinpoint the precise moment or chain of events. A colleague had predicted much of the domino effect in January but little did I know how much it would affect me directly. I know I should not plan things, only God knows what the future will bring but at times I feel I have not helped matters. Friends move on, no matter how hard I find it to come to grips with. Some friends are gone forever. Another MSN contact is moved from the Work group into Friends. Rather symbolic don't you think? I find it difficult, extremely difficult to express how I feel in my own words. I have use song lyrics (as I have done throughout the five year history of this blog!). A case in point once again, I would use "The Living Daylights" from the same title James Bond movie. The lyrics are perfect.

We are where we are. There is little I can do to change the past, as much as I wish I could travel through time. I have to realise that I must focus my energies on the present and forget about what has been. (Quite hard when you can quite easily look back through rather rose tinted spectacles at the last five years years of your life under almost daily microscope!) So with 2008, very much like the England football, I start with a fresh piece of paper. I must concentrate on work and prove myself. No targets, no big objectives. Try as much to go with the flow?

Now back to our schedule programming. Back in August Sky (broadband arm, not the television leg) informed all users that their mail service was porting over to Google. No problem there, I had my own personal Google mail account and thought nothing more of it. When the move took place over early November, we were sent a PDF with full instructions on how to update our e-mail clients. The servers had changed as had the web mail login (with a complete revamp of the entire sky.com web site). While this was not a problem and I was able to change my settings across and eventually pick up my e-mail. (Apparently quite a few people had a problem) I had a major issue. The old SMTP server was fine but the new Google powered server added the following to any e-mails sent out not originating from the Google mail account mail @ t-e-g dot co dot uk on behalf of teg family @ sky dot com address. It just is not practice to send out e-mail with two addresses on the top, particularly as someone could respond to the sky address. An account I do not check regularly. Therefore I headed over to Sky User forum to get some advice. There was quite a few other people reporting the same problem. I had to bite the bullet and purchase a outbound mail service to be able to send my mail. It was just a case of which one? Plenty were recommended. In the end I opted for the DynDNS service. I found it by accident really while speaking to Pav about setting up my own FTP at home. Their Mail Hop Relay service costs $15 a year, which with a strong pound is about £8. I get to send limit of 150 relays per a day, which for me is too much. I rarely send more than five or six e-mails in a good week. Nice to have this issue solved. Now, start to write my action list for the weekend.

Set My Hopes Up Way Too High
Living's In The Way We Die

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Sunday 25th November 2007

It was going to happen, but even a Hollywood producer would not have dreamt this up. A rematch (of sorts) for the World Cup Qualifying campaign after the summer hiatus. I watched the draw live on BBCi. (Actually recording it for my football archives). So you can imagine my surprise when England found themselves in Group 6 with Croatia. On the plus point, there is a visit to the homeland of television celebrity Borat Sagdiyev. Count your blessings, we have a relatively easy group missing most of the big power houses of Europe, perhaps Greece being the other weak team in pot one. However, before I get carried away, did not I say something similar similar after the Euro 2008 Qualifying draw in January 2006?

I have not really done much today. I watched Chuck & Larry this afternoon as I was bored. Pav had given it to me last week but I had never found the couple of hours spare in the evenings after work. What can I say? Funny but not very funny, a movie you watch once and then almost completely forget about. There are some good cameos and one liners but overall, it is not a movie I will watch again and I am glad I did not rush to the cinema to watch the movie in mid September. Not as good as the teen comedies that I still love (even though I'm getting a bit old for them now!). I will go as far to say that I would not even recommend the movie. It is not that good!

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Friday 23rd November 2007

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Thursday 22nd November 2007

It was 17:27, I had been in the car for twenty minutes and traveled less than half a mile. I was stuck in traffic in the Cressex Industrial Park, trying to get into town and to the train station. I rang Dave, he was already on a train to Wembley but his stopped at every station through North West London. I hope the cars ahead would start moving so I could make it into town and jump on a train.

It was 18:22, as I walked up the steps of Wembley Stadium train station. There in front of me, Wembley and the silver arch was all aglow. The setting was in place and I was really looking forward to the match, which was less than two hours away. I took out my N73, to take a photograph but it started buzzing, Niko was calling me. He was on time! There is a first time for everything. Even though it was early there was a big group of people making their way to the stadium, the train had been packed with standing room only. Thankfully it had been semi-fast, stopping only at Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. I waited for a few minutes for Niko outside turnstile M. We went in but soon released that due to Uefa regulations there was no alcohol for sale. We grabbed some food and then chatted for a bit. We had plenty of time. This was the first time I had seen Niko for a while and our last real meeting had been at the same place back in August.

I had spoken about the match with colleagues at work and the Liverpool fan had said that Croatia would score early, England would constantly attack and in the 89th minute, Croatia would hit a killer blow on the break and win 2-0. I agreed that Croatia would score first and early. However, I expected this would be just the wake up call England would require to win the match and qualify. I was right about one thing, an early goal for the away side. I was lost for words when I discovered both Beckham and Robinson had been dropped. David James in goal would have been fine, he has the experience and has played our last European Championship campaign. What was Scott Carson doing between the sticks for his second ever international. I also did not agree with the formation, 4-5-1 is fine away from home and I could understand Steve's thinking. Play for the draw, hit the long ball up to Crouch in case we get lucky. This plan exploded in his face within eight minutes.

There was a surreal atmosphere in the stadium as we took our seats. It was quite empty and we used up the time to chat about most things apart from football, just to take our names away from the match. Slowly the grounded filled up, as the count down went from hour to thirty minutes to kick off. It was raining, but not hard and you could see the pitch was in a right state. Then the players came out for their warm up and we knew it was a matter of time before kick-off. I was looking forward to the match, and had been all week but I sensed that there was a great air of uncertainty in the air.

We looked like the away side, Croatia were passing and controlling the match and we were chasing everything. Then as predicted, Carson misjudged the ball and we were a goal down. So far as I predicted, but it was to get worse. Much worse. The state of the pitch was not helping but the Croatian players, buoyed by their magnificent support making great noise in the car corner, controlled the first half. Their second goal was a class move, orchestrated by Arsenal striker, Eduardo de Silva and the English defence were all over the shop. The crowd booed at half time, although I was tempted I reserved judgment until full time. The all important goal back before half time never materialised.

Beckham and Defoe came on at half time, to great cheers from the crowd, particularly the man wearing the unusual number 17. What a burden! Yet for his time on the pitch, he played extremely well. Just a shame only Crouch was the other player anywhere near his wavelength. Switching to 4-4-2, England looked more threatening going forward but there was more uncertainty at the back. However, some how England fought back, got lucky with a penalty and then Beckham delivered a pinpoint cross for Crouch to bring down and score. The crowd went wild. We jumping up and down as Crouch came over to salute the fans. It was a miracle. We were down and out at half time but somehow, we had managed to get back into the game and had a foot on the plane to Austria & Switzerland. My friend, Niko looked over at me and said, "Let's hope they hold onto it!". I thought that Carson would have grown in confidence and he had made a great save, which would have killed us off at 2-0. It was not to be and to be honest England did not deserve to be there. As if the script had been written by a movie producer, Croatia scored their third and England were out. There was no way back. They kept hoofing pointless long balls up to Crouch but he was well marked. The last throw of the dice from McClaren was to throw on Bent. He had an opportunity to score but his short went over the bar and onto the top of the net. That was it, I knew England could not pull it back again. It was inevitable. Three minutes of stoppage time came and went. At the final whistle, the boos could be heard all around, while Billić and his staff and player celebrated like they had won the World Cup. My final image (which is clear in my mind like a photograph) is a distraught David Beckham, clapping and thanking the fans. Could he find himself stranded on 99 caps forever?

There was a long queue as I walked back to the train station. I got out my Zen and listened to the radio. Unfortunately without AM (or DAB) I had to settle for LBC. Just my luck to find a presenter with no interest in football, fielding calls from angry and annoyed England fans. As I got down to the platform, I spotted Dermot Gallagher in the queue ahead. He was waiting for a train to his home in Banbury. The next train to arrive was heading to Aylesbury and packed. I scrabbled into the carriage but there was standing room only again. I gave up on talk radio and switched to some music to get me through. The first song that came on, took me back to memories of the summer of 2006. The Time Of Our Lives felt like a song written for a different generation and not just 531 days ago. The ironic thing is the song was produced by Steve Mac. I bet he could have done a better job as England Head Coach.

I got home just before midnight and switched on the television to Sky Sports News to hear what the man had to say for himself. After everything, he did not have the dignity to resign. Even Kevin Keegan for all his faults, was willing to expect the job was beyond and tendered his resignation in the toilets in the last game at the old Wembley in October 2000. To add insult to injury, he wouldn't walk, he had to be pushed. Just sums up the FA, the people that are supposed to be running the game but instead just pile the money into their own wallets. I must end however, with a strange observation on this point. At what point did England start performance so badly? The moment the Three Lions shield was moved from the centre of the shirt to the top right. The emblem had gone from the heart, soul, passion, up to the chest. Where most people keep their wallets!

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Tuesday 20th November 2007

This week has kind of crept up on me, almost out of nowhere. I know I should write the standard affair, of really looking forward to Friday and Saturday evening but I have to be honest and I am quite apprehensive.

On Friday, I watched Children In Need telethon on BBC1, all the way from 7pm until 2am. In a rare case of multitasking, I was reading a thread on the charity fundraising event over on Digital Spy and watching as people slated Terry Wogan's presentation style and the Spice Girls for not singing live from LA. My favourite moment from the evening was Terrance Wogan introducing the Sugababes. Post #833 describes events, just before 11pm. I responded with a comment in reply. Basically introducing the girl group playing the song, "Now About You". I thought for a split second that I had not come across the song on the album, Change. The usual highlight for me during these shows is the BBC News team but I felt rather left down this year, in comparison to some of the big numbers performed in the past.

Did not really do much this weekend, which will explain the lack of updates on the site. My site was also down from sometime on Friday evening, until Sunday morning due to a problem with DNS server over at my host, 123-Reg. In researching this problem on Saturday evening, I discovered the site Avoid 123-Reg. Long term readers of this blog, will know how much I struggled over two years to move from hopeless UK2.Net to my current provider. While I know 123-Reg are not perfect, they are a million times better than UK2. However, as I have now purchased so many domains through the site, there is little need for me to transfer unless there is a complete disaster. My experience of the service has been relatively good. Plus if I need to move across elsewhere in the future, I will do so.

There was a great debate on FiveLive last night regarding Michael Jackson. It felt a bit strange to be listening to something overall positive and focusing generally on the music. I would listen to FiveLive reguarly during the trial, two years ago, with weekly updates from Peter Bowes (he has a blog but it only started in July.) Here we were with a rather skeptical host asking the question, "Is Michael Jackson the greatest pop icon of all time?". Overall the debate was well run and many fans called in to give their views. I was extremely disappointed with Ash Atalla, producer of The Office and The IT Crowd for refering to MJ fans as "nut jobs". In the end, Richard was rather shocked for the positive light in which Michael is regarded, not just by fans but by the everyday public. His music is played at clubs every weekend, across the country. Plus, there is the fact that this debate is premature. We are talking as if the man had left this mortal coil. He has not. He has so much more to give. The new album may have been put back to an early 2008 release but there is nothing stopping the MJ publicity drive. He may not be appearing on The X Factor a week on Saturday (confirmed as false by his publicist Raymone Bain) but there appears to be a 25th anniversary edition of Thriller to be released featuring covers. One such song which has leaked onto the web is by Akon.

Off to my first proper England match tomorrow. Thankfully unlike my last two visits to Wembley (in June and August respectively) for friendlies, this time it really matters. Even though, it could have been very different depending on results from Saturday in the group. While a draw would be enough and fantastic (I remember watching the nil-nil draw in Turin back in 1997 on television) I think we need a convincing performance to prove that England are more than just a wannabe international side of millionnaire playboys.

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Friday 9th November 2007

It is with great sadness that I have to mention that Pav's Rover 216 SLi suffered a ghastly death on the westbound section of the M4 just past junction six on Tuesday night. I only got the news on MSN on Wednesday afternoon. I knew something was up, when Pav did not appear on MSN in the morning. When he eventually did materialize, he sent me three photographs taken by his N73.

The car was a legend! I had driven it as recently as mid May. It was an experience I will never forget. Thankfully, Pav was okay (just a few minor cuts and bruises). He had parked up on the hard shoulder as the car was playing up and then been hit from behind by a BMW. Luckily the crash barrier was there to stop him (along with the car) falling over the edge.Pav picked up his courtesy car yesterday morning and sent me an e-mail as soon as he got into work.

That brings me nicely onto my next topic. When I moved to Leicester in September 2000, I spent many days (and many more nights) in the city centre. Whenever I walked past the clock tower in the city centre, I would shout the immortal line from the Back To The Future movie, "Save The Clock Tower". In a strange twist of fate, looks like I had foreseen the future, just seven years early. I noticed a group on Facebook, which one of my uni mates had joined.

While the rest of the UK get their teeth into the first series of Heroes, I have been catching the second series. I think we have reached a major climax in season one, where as season two is just getting started. It has been excellent and this week's episode was great, revealing some wonderful intriguing twists to come. The amount of mystery in the show, keeps you hooked. It is like the writers have a tap running at a light drip, you are thirsty and just want to drink more! It is mixed blessing not to have all the episodes on DVD to just watch the next episode but sometimes I am impatient and cannot wait another week. I feel for the characters more and do not want anything to happen to them, particularly my favourites, Hiro and Mohinder.

After a rock and roll weekend (including week off before hand), this weekend is very much a time for rest. Nothing planned whatsoever really. I am out for a curry with some work colleagues in Maidenhead tonight but apart from that, the order of the day will be sleep. I think the next weekend to come will follow a similar pattern. There is a minor event to look forward to but it could be completely pointless.

Today's blog entry was brought to you by our one off sponsor, DJ Breezy.

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Sunday 4th November 2007

The David Jones Weekender

It is 2.38pm, as I begin writing this entry and I am going to find it difficult to put into words the events of the past three days. I know there are a stack of photos (okay, "stack" might be exaggerating it a little, quite a few) on my N73, Nikon CoolPix and bits of paper I need to capture to just start the process of piecing together the weekend. It will be an uphill struggle, but I am ready for challenge. Time to jump into our time machine and roll back the clock. Destination Friday early evening.

I thought Dave was going to arrive around 9pm but he actually called in around 2pm to say he was in Wycombe and would be over at 6.30pm. He arrived an hour earlier, calling me to get directions to my house. His brother, Stewart had turned right down Miersfield. I explained where to go and within a minute he was outside my door (even though he had forgotten the house number!). I am trying to remember the last time he was at my house but it must have been more than fourteen years ago. He had a big black Adidas hold all and man bag! Was he sure he was just staying for two nights? (Bear with me, as I referred to my extensive blog notes, made at 3.30am this morning!) We spent the evening, chilling in my room, catching up and watching Hollyoaks. I think it me posing my usual Friday night on Dave, but I am sure he did not mind. He spent most of the time on the phone to Lisa and his parents. At 7.30pm, after the E4 first look episode of Hollyoaks, we headed into the lounge to catch up, fill in the half hour before Eastenders and dinner. At 9pm, we headed over to TGI Friday's. As expected, it was quite busy but unknown to me (as I had not been in this American themed bar and restaurant since my 18th birthday back in late November 1999!) it does not have a late licence and closes at 11pm. While we were having a few drinks and chatting an Asian gentleman, in his mid thirties bumped into Dave. He overly apologised and then suddenly became our best friend, shaking hands with both of us. As he disappeared back to the bar, I commented to Dave that he always picks up the weirdos. He thought he was gonna start on him and was getting to smash his bottle on the table to have a weapon! Wycombe is bad but not that bad, is it? I would find out in less than twenty four hours.

We walked back to the house, as we were the restaurant started to cleared and closed. As we got home, my Dad arrived. The last time had seen Dave was when he took us to Slough (with Waheed) at the then Virgin Cinema to see The Shadow back in November 1994. Nearly thirteen years ago! It was nearly 1am. I went on my laptop and we did some checking up on FaceBook to see if there were any last minute takers to the reunion and searched for a few more people whom we thought we could invite. No joy on either front. We feel asleep around 1.30am, with texting Lisa for a while before nodding off.

Day Two, the first full day of the DJ weekender. My alarm went off at 8am, but I ignored it, switching off the phone and got up at 9am, when my Mum woke up. Dave had been awake for a while, texting of course! We got ready, cleared the lounge ready for breakfast. After a quick shower, we got ready and headed out of the house. First stop, Havenfield Road. This is where Dave used to live, all those days ago. We drove across because I was being lazy and if we had walked, it would have meant having a bad seat for the football in the pub. Yes, but these things are important. After taking a few photographs, we drove back to the house, Dave picked up his mobile and we walked up the road to the bus stop (town bound) on the Cressex Link. The 100 was due at 10:52 and it was on time (we saw the bus come from town up to the Park & Ride area opposite the Empire Cinema (formerly The Filmworks, formerly UCI, formerly Wycombe Six). I was going to get two adult returns but it worked out cheaper to get a family ticket for £2. The bus was busy as expected with many OAPs making their weekend trip into the town centre. We got off opposite the library and walked around down the High Street. Dave wanted to reminisce and discover what else had changed in the town. We walked around for a while, going to Game and then GameStation. As it is Dave's birthday on Monday, I got him FIFA08 for the XBOX360. Well worth shopping around for such items, even on the high street. After this, we walked through the Chilterns Shopping centre (to walk past HM Samuel) and onto the Litten Tree. It was relatively quiet, (before the storm?). We took a seat on the sofa opposite one of the screens and then ordered some food. It was perfecting timing, there was a mad rush soon afterwards. We watched all the build up from noon, with Dave an honorary Gooner for the afternoon. (Why support Palace in the first place, God knows!). However, I have to confess, the signs were not good. Every time I had seen a football match with Dave present, Arsenal had lost. This record begins back in October 1999, when Arsenal lost to Florentina, thanks to a goal from Batistuta. It was in fact, Wednesday 27th October 1999 (do you just not love Wikipedia!). I met up with Dave in the evening and we went to the Posthouse (as it was then) to watch the game. The next time was in April 2003. Saturday 26th April 2003 (mentioned briefly the following day in the archives!). We had lunch in the pub opposite Dave's flat and they happened to be showing the match. However, I had to rush back home to get to Milton Keynes in the evening, so only caught the first half. The 2 all draw with Bolton at the Reebok effectively let us surrender the title back to Old Trafford. So here we were, over four years later for a vital clash of the titans. Would it be a case of third time lucky? For a change, I did not take in all the pre-match build up to the day. Normally I am reading every little article online and constantly watching Sky Sports News. This year, I was too busy with all those other things to concentrate on during the week. So I watched every second of the pre-match build up to kick off. Sky as usual were pulling out all the stops. Then, our lunch arrived, perfect timing.

My prediction was 2-1 to the Gooners but DJ was over optimistic with 3-1, even naming scorers - Adebayor, Fabregas and Walcott. The match began, we were at the edge of our seats. The pub and filled up now. Not quite as full as it had been back on that sunday night in late June for the final World Cup Group Match against Sweden. For Dave this was a new experience, the atmosphere was electric compared to back home in Wrexham. There, I was told, you would just get five guys crowded around the one rather small television in a pub. Here there was a big mixture of Arsenal and Manchester United fans. (Slightly weighed in favour of the Northerners, if you ask me!). It was a great match, as we had hoped for, at times end to end stuff. The result was great and I was very happy for Gallas. I have not been his biggest fan since he came over (although was glad to get rid of Cole). For a chance he let his football do the talking and it reminded me of the goal he scored for Chelsea against arch rivals Tottenham when he too went and embraced the manager. You can read a full match report over on the Beeb, ArseBlog or The Cannon. After the match, we headed back into town, over to the bus station and waited for the next bus home. It was quarter past three, the reunion was closer than ever.

The Reunion

It had not been the plan, but with no one around to give us a lift and the bus service, not a viable option, I drove into town. We were late, as I was still getting my things together at ten to eight. I had a feeling we were going to be a little late but it did not matter. We parked the car over in George Street Car Park, when perhaps Dovecot would have been a better option. However, with all the construction work going on in that area, I opted to avoid rather than risk it, in place of a five minute walk. As we walked back, Lisa called, she was driving and on her way. As we walked to the town centre, I have to admit I felt a bit strange. Excited yes but nervous as well. Someone in the upper floors of the student halls of residence was blasting Sean Kingston's Me Love.

I am shocked for having to include the following but I cannot lie. As we approached the Litten Tree, I passed the doorman and was asked for ID! I could not believe it! I even actually said to the bouncer, "You ARE kidding me? How young do I look? I'm 26 in three weeks time!" Begrudgingly I got out my driving licence. "Take it as a compliment" said his younger male colleague. I was told I looked between 20-21, perhaps I should have opted not to have a shave. When I eventually got inside, Lisa was already there. Dave was wondering where I had gone. A few minutes later, Liz walked through the door. The event was minutes old and we already had someone who had not confirmed their attendance. We went to sit down by the front of the pub by the window (so we could see other potential old school mates walk past). It was a bit surreal to begin with, as Dave kept repeating (throughout the night). I had not seen any of these people since 1994. So much can change in a year, how much do you think will change in thirteen?

About ten minutes later, Robin arrived. Then I got a text from Juliet, she was on her way from the Roundtable Bonfire Night in Terriers. She arrived before 9pm. We thought that was it, even though Stephen Mockett, had said he was definitely gonna make an appearance with his girlfriend. He did arrive, but fashionably late. In fact, I saw his M-Reg dark blue Ford Fiesta (Mark III) pull up and park opposite the pub. It was a from a photo on Facebook, that I knew he had dreads, so trying to recognise him was easy. He then strode into the joint, with Sam. Dave and me waited by the door to surprise him!

They played Glamourous by Fergie in the Litten Tree. Nothing unusual there, I hear you cry. Sure but listening to the song took me back to a sunny January afternoon. How much I wish I could go back to that near perfect moment. It is only now I realise the importance of the song last night. The video (which I just watched the intro again) begins in 1994. The same year that I left Lansdowne County Middle School. Freaky? Don't you think?

We are all obviously getting old, because we decided to leave the Tree to go to the Falcon on the High Street as they do not play music. I felt a bit out of place in any case, because the crowd generally appeared to be people in their early twenties and I am sure I heard an announcement for a girl called Lisa turning 21. Maybe kids are just growing up too fast and keep their youthful looks. As we headed out, Dave was keen to grab a group photo outside the entrance to the Chiltern's Shopping Centre. Poor light meant it did not come out very well. We trekked across town, it was quiet for a Saturday night. Perhaps the excesses of the Rugby World Cup had been catching up with people. Although I was hardly in a position to comment. This was the first time I had been out in Wycombe for over four years. (The last time was April 2003, when I pumped into several old school friends, in Time (Here & Now) as it was called then. Heading over to The Falcon, you could tell it was a quiet night. There were no bouncers outside the main entrance by the Guildhall. As we walked in, I was surprised to find it quite full and the bar packed with queues. I hunted for a table while the others went to the bar. I found a table free in the middle of the pub and got some free chairs around. Then the drinks arrived. This gave me a chance to speak to Robin. The most bizarre thing is I have been going to his house on a regular basis. He lives across from where I have my piano lessons. How strange is that? It was great when he asked me if I knew the Leapark Estate in Thame! As he works in genetics, we had to talk about Heroes and human evolution. Even considering that the DNA database was a bad thing and much better to sign everyone up to Facebook at birth. Stephen and Sam left just after 11.30pm. They had to get back and check on their kids. This was a revelation to Robin, who shouted across the bar, "You've got kids?!" Before shaking Mr. Mockett firmly by the hand! As the bell rang for final orders, we thought we had plenty of time. We were wrong. The pub closed at midnight and we were quickly told to finish our drinks and leave. The bar staff had disappeared cleaning the other side of the pub, while rude bouncers tried to get us to finish our drinks. They should not have sold them to us, if they were going to throw us out, ten minutes later. Robin tried to make small talk with the head bouncer, with the old story that he used to work here but he wasn't having any of it and told him to finish his Guinness. Eventually we left and I think for the record were the last people to leave as they began closing up. We waited outside the pub as Liz and Juliet went to the RBS cash point. There was a tramp in the doorway of the bank, playing his harmonica. Robin, after disappearing for a call of nature returned to start speaking to him and inspected his vocal instrument. Eventually we left but not after Dave took several photos (and I joined in, as you can see below). Then, Mr. G made a comment that would stay with me for the rest of the weekend.

"I cannot believe I am out with Andrew Tegala!" Well, I know I am not a superstar (no where near the standards of David Jones!) It was a touching moment, almost surreal in the fact that the last time I had seen him, we were running around chasing other friends on the playground. I had thought the night would end here. It did not. We headed over to Pure. As we got around the corner of the Octagon Parade, Liz thought there was a big queue, but I quickly deduced it was just the smoking area outside. There was no queue! :) We walked straight through, although Dave had to explain to the female bouncer why he was Welsh and English at the same time. In the end he narrowed it down to, I'm here from Wales, visiting! It was £6 to get in and then £1.50 for the cloakroom. I left my camera in my jacket, opting to use my N73 for the rest of the night. Once everyone had given in their jacket / coat / outdoor clothing, we headed upstairs to Pure. (Or is that Obsession? I have forgotten already!) Anyhow, it was busy, but Liz got the drinks in. Dave was ready to boogie and already busting some moves on the dance floor. We then headed downstairs and got a table by the window (again). There was a bloke opposite, completely spark out on the sofa. Here we chatted for a while before we lost Liz, only to find her talking to a friend at the bar. We had almost sent out a search party, dogs and helicopter. We then headed back upstairs to dance. Although we did not make it to the dance floor. They played a dance remix of Rihanna's Umbrella but the girls had got out for a smoke, so we waited. Robin through his bottle of Beck's onto the floor, right behind a bouncer. He was given a stern warning, even though he did try and talk himself out of it. The bottle was picked up and placed on the side table. To prove how wrecked Robin was, I took a photo while we had been downstairs.

Juliet decided we should go downstairs as it was music aimed more towards our age group. We arrived to the sound of PJ & Duncan - "Let's Get Ready To Rumble". You would think it could not get any worse but it did. The next song they played was the Hen Night classic, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life from ultimate chick flick Dirty Dancing. The small dance floor was packed, even with a few guys. I reluctantly chose to stop myself jumping on the dance floor as well. However, when Billie Jean came on, I was on my feet, although not on the dance floor itself (very close though). The night was winding down, as we said good bye to Robin and Lisa. About ten to fifteen minutes later the last four people standing (Dave, Juliet, Liz and Teg) were leaving too. We went to Dennis's next door as Dave needed to get a kebab, before walking Liz back to her car in Dovecot and then walking back to my car in George Street. We got back home at exactly 3am.

Before going to bed, I scribbled down some notes, which I have been using to put together this entry. Before finally falling asleep at nearly 4am. However, the weekend did not end there, more punishment planned for Sunday. I should though, look back at the reunion. It was an outstanding success. Everyone had a good time and it was great to see everyone. It was strange to think nearly fourteen years had flown by but most of us were still around in the area (or in one special case still at school!). I look forward to helping organise the next reunion, which will be bigger and better. My photos have been uploaded to FlickR, plus there is a gallery from Pure online also (no pictures of any us I am afraid!)

On The Track

I parked my car for a maximum of three minutes outside Dave's brother house. Blocking the drive way of his neighbour, sure but not for a long period of time. It was just to get the luggage out and then moved the car onto Stewart's drive. I noticed a note had been left on my windscreen. Fantastic. A lovely way to start the day. At least my neighbours are not that bad, I would have killed several by now if that was the case.

We headed over to Rogue Racing on the Stokelake Industrial Park in Aylesbury. It was my fourth time go-karting but birthday boy, Dave was a virgin. We had a thirty minute wait but eventually got onto the circuit. It was great fun, even though the track itself is quite simple, with a few turns and a bridge. Woodley (which I went to last year with work) is far more challenging and wider! However, it was a good laugh, Dave enjoyed himself and Stewart had a good time breaking two go-karts in the process.

I could not improve on my lap time that much as there was a young boy on the track in our second session, so we had to watch out for him. Plus, the race was stop start. Or rather there is no racing, as the stewards tend to remind us. Stewart's kart packed in after about six laps and he went on again after us. There was no chance of him overtaking the amateur in the Honda jump suit. In end, he turned the tables on Stewart and lapped him before the end of the session. Time to head back home. My best time was thirty three seconds, I wanted to break the the thirty second barrier but could not due to the reasons given above.

It was around 12.30pm, that I said goodbye to Dave. It had been a fantastic forty two hours of fun. There was football, party and racing. What more could you ask for in a weekend? I just think I need to go and rest now.

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Wednesday 31st October 2007

Was back at Xscape this afternoon for an hour long Level Two lesson. My instructor was John once again but I had some company in the form of Dips. He had completed level one, just the hour before. The sixty minutes were well, I made much better progress than on Monday morning. However, when John tried to bring down the slope and get me to follow his turns, I panicked and twice went straight down the slope but luckily only once ended up crashing close to the poma lift. I think it was a case of trying to turn from too high up the slope. John advised me to go up to the midway point and try from there and the run was much better. However, I needed to improve further by actually making better use of the width of the slope. I tried this but crashed once again. Second time was much better and I was able to stop in time at the bottom. A few more runs and I was gaining in confidence and eventually passed Level Two. Would I be ready to face Fast Track session on Thursday morning? Level Three and Four looked much more intense, particularly from all the aspects that needed to be completed from the record of achievement card.

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Monday 29th October 2007

I brought the XBox back to life on Saturday afternoon. It had not been working since June, perhaps a little earlier when I screwed up the upgrade of the Xbox Media Centre. It has taken me so long to get around to fixing it, as my attempts in mid September failed miserably. For a time, I had an Evox Boot CD (created by MightyMouse back in August 2004, when we modded the XBox) but have lost it now. I took the ISO into the office and had it sitting on my desktop machine before my colleague deleted the file with my permission, dear I say! I searched the net and created one but it failed to work. I tried to search again and found a great bit of software built by a member of the community. XBINS-TIRC. It fully automates the process of connecting to IRC (Internet Relay Chat), connecting to the right channel, getting the password for the Xbins distribution FTP site and then opening built in FTP client (FileZilla) to connect you onto the site. Magic. Everything done right on your screen with no user interaction required. I downloaded the Evox Dash and burnt the Xbox ISO to CD-Rw. However as expected it did not work. I set up my laptop and downloaded the latest T3CH release to put on, along with all the videos I had downloaded over the past few months. I had to get the Xbox Media Center loading again, so by chance still had an old version from April 2006 on the drive. This used an old XML configuration file, which thankfully I had kept in the root of the drive. Copying to the two files off the Xbox, renaming them and placing them back onto the root of the device. Then the moment of truth. Reboot. It worked! Fantastic. I cannot explain the full technicalities, but if the Xbox Media Centre does not load as the main dashboard, the XBox goes into a recovery state. You can still login via FTP but not all the drives are available. F: changes to Q: but you cannot see anything about from the main files in the root. So the only alternative is to use the Evox Boot CD or get some form of dashboard running off the device. I copied over about over a gig worth of music videos. Then I upgraded to the latest version of the XBox Media Centre, carefully following the instructions on the wiki. We were back in business! Now, just to get that YouTube script downloaded and working!

Both the Admiral and Pav have been pushing hard for me to mention the events of Saturday night. It was a good night, we went to Cafe du Sport first, then headed over to Mango. The VIP lounge upstairs had been pre-booked for the birthday party. It was relatively quiet to begin with around 10.30pm, when we got there but slowly filled up. It was a Halloween themed night with a handful of people dressed up. Pav arrived around 11pm. Foxy soon followed with some friends. Then the party really started. Had a good time, but it was a shame that not more of the usual crowd were out. Then again, perhaps it was a good thing that they were not!

Went to the Snowdome at Xscape today for my first ski lesson. I had booked two sessions at the beginning of October and taken the week off to fit them both in. The fast track lessons seemed ideal, as it was three hours on the slope to get used a hang of the sport. However, I think I should have opted to take single hour long lessons per a session and build up my progress slowly. I took my sister along and we got into MK quite early, a few minutes after 8pm. Having left Wycombe in the dark at 6.45am. My session was not until 9am but I thought getting there early would give me a chance to suss out the place. I got changed and grabbed my ski equipment and then waited for the instructor to arrive. He was a few minutes late but no matter. There was four of us on the course, Claire, Martin and Mark, all beginners. Our instructor was John, in his early twenties and seemed to be quite knowledgeable. We headed onto the slope, walking under a bright blue sign which says, "This Is It..."

It was soon quite clear that progress was going to be slow for this three hour fast track session. To begin with I struggled to climb up the slope, sliding down several times and having to have John come down, take my hands and help me get up. I got the idea of balancing and the right stance, but it was the snowplough that I failed with. After a few short runs down the lesson slope, we were put onto the ski lift and told to ski down but in the snowplough position to come to a steady stop at the beginning. This took me some time to get used to. My positioning was wrong, too much weight was at the back of the skis, causing me to fall on my backside a few times. Other times, I would just not be able to stop and would end of up heading towards (and into) the red barrier. Progress was slow, I was getting frustrated and tired. By now, it was clear that two members of the group (Mark and Martin) were picking everything up quite quickly, were as myself and Claire was struggling. We had a quick ten minute break, I grabbed a drink before we headed out back onto the slope. This time we went up higher and after a few bad runs, John handed us over to a different instructor. He had given up, so this elder gentleman (who was already teaching two other women) decided to help Claire and I. He took us up half way and then came down with us, coaching on us step by step as we come down the slope. This helped, not just a little but a great deal! I got the snowplough and actually started working on my turns. I was growing in confidence and even with a few more crashes, some quite dramatic. However time, was not on my side and just as I was getting comfortable, it was time to exit the slope.

I had failed the Level 2 stage and would need to re-take this so I could progress onto the Fast Track Levels 3 & 4. The Snowdome people called and left a message on the voicemail during the afternoon. I will call them back tomorrow. So, how do I sum up my first ever skiing experience? Scary, inscillerating and tiring. So tiring, that I went for an afternoon nap when we got back home. Due to the strange shape of my right foot, I had scraped it against the inside of my ski boot and sliced a couple of layers of skin off. It sounds more painful than it feels or looks but I bandaged it up quite well. It will take a while to heal. Looks like I will be back at the Snowdome sooner than I expected.

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Sunday 28th October 2007

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Saturday 27th October 2007

It is 1.28am, as I begin writing this post. I have just got back from Maidenhead. Fantastic night at Phatz Bar with Buzzloft Trance Classics. I only decided to go around 5pm, this evening, after heavy persuasion from both Pav and Charlie. They actually both used the line from Back To The Future Part II. "So, McFly, are you in or out?". At first I said out but over the course of the afternoon, I was slowly persuaded by both of them to come out. The reality was I was just going to spend the evening on the computer, perhaps watch Bionic Woman, catch a movie and of course update this blog. In the end, I was glad I decided to go out. However, before we get to the night out, let me take you through some highlights from the week.

Following my quick update on Monday evening, I have some further news. After my video of Hope performing Umbrella on X Factor was removed for copyright violation. There has been a major cull across the video sharing web site. However there are still a handful of videos of this performance on YouTube (if you search hard enough!) (Embedded link below updated) The people behind the singing contest have created an official X Factor channel but footage tends to be very selective, focusing mainly on behind the scenes material.

On my drive home on Wednesday afternoon, I caught a glimpse of what looked like a R8. I only saw the rear brake lights come on, as the car took the slip road onto the M40 northbound. A road which Pav and Charlie described as "good circuit track". However, by the time I got close enough to be in a position to actually identify it, it had gone. I am looking forward to seeing the car on the road, it looks very impressive and will no doubt sound awesome. Talking of cars, I spotted the new shape Honda Civic Type-R, not once but twice on Thursday. Both in black, 57 plate on the M25. One on the journey east, the other on the journey west back home. It does not have the same presence as the previous model.

Friday night was great although I forgot to pick up my official mix CD off Pav! My Dad dropped me off at Maidenhead train station just before 9pm. I waited a few minutes for everyone to arrive but only Charlie appeared about ten past nine. Pav, Kev & Em had missed the train. We wanted to go the Roof for a drink before heading over to Phatz Bar but it was £7 to get in. They had some drum and bass DJs in from London. The Asian female bouncer, tried to convince us to go in but we opted to go to Phatz and wait to meet the others. We spotted Mel outside the Phatz and went in, while waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive. After a few drinks downstairs we went up stairs for the main event. The last time I had been here was a year and a week ago. There has been quite a refurbishment since then! There is a new bar upstairs and the projected television screen from the main room has gone. The floor has been reinforced and there was the strong smell of varnish as we walked in. It was quiet to begin with but slowly filled up. I had my Sony CyberShotU camera with me and took a few photos but with the smoky dark atmosphere, the photos are not great. I doubt I will upload them to FlickR. Very good night, with Paul Stevens and Pav sharing the set. Had a great time and really glad I came out!

I left around 1am. The party weekend however does not end there, out in Reading tonight. Birthday party at Mango tonight. Then a piano lesson tomorrow morning, big match in the afternoon. Not a bad weekend. Plus plenty adventures for next week, more on that later.

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Sunday 21st October 2007

It is 13:30 as I begin writing this entry. The sun is shining through my window, on a pleasant autumn afternoon. On Friday evening, I was searching for topics to write about, but right now I am bursting with things to mention and to report. I got up just after 9am and started work almost straight away on some bits and pieces that I should have got done on Friday in the office. However, let me take you back to Friday evening first and roundup my weekend (so far) chronologically.

On Friday evening, I finally got around to watching Grosse Point Blank, a movie that had eluded me for several years. I think it was even on terrestrial television in the past few years but I only watched the opening few minutes. The main reason I wanted to watch the movie was that it features a-ha's Take On Me. I wanted to watch the particular scene, even if the music was only featured as background music to the dialogue. I went over and updated the trivia on the section of the wikipedia dedicated to the classic 1980s single. It was while here I discovered a few more artists had covered the song, included hip hop group Little Brother. A little Googling and I discovered that although the song is not featured on their upcoming album, Get Back it has been recorded. It is not so much a cover but more a reworking with additional vocals and rapping. Sure it is hip-hop but very well produced. There is a respect shown for the original and I love the electronic beat in place of the keyboard instrumental. I suppose I should really talk about the movie but I wasn't really paying much attention, particularly at the end. Sure the whole premise of a professional assassin heading back to after ten years to his high school reunion was very clever but it was just too far fetched for even me to follow. Perhaps my brain was just lacking concentration after a heavy week in the office.

Saturday, I was lazy, extremely lazy in fact. The most strenuous of my tasks was to vacuum my car, then jump onto the sofa and remain there for the rest of the day. I listened to FiveLive coverage of Arsenal against Bolton but was sent to my room when my parents got back from shopping, so continued to listen there. As soon as I put on my stereo, Toure scored a free kick. Result! I then lay in bed while listening to coverage of Villa versus Man U. It was around 7pm, I finally got up and went into the lounge to watch the final few performances from The X Factor. I am afraid, even I cannot escape from this reality television show as my sisters are big fans. I mention the show every year and the last major entry was back on 20th August last year. Although I did mention it on 26th August this year. I must mention Hope. Their cover of Umbrella was absolutely appalling but the judges loved it! The song was never designed to be performed as a ballad. While their performance vocally was very good, the song choice was pathetic. If anything the song was too big for them. I did not watch the results show as I was out collecting my sister, so am watching the re-run on ITV1, as I write this.

[Video removed, however another version remains but I am unable to embed!]

I got home and onto my computer just after 11pm, to watch Toure's goal on Match Of The Day. I would have to watch the repeat this morning to be able to record the highlights in full. England had lost the World Cup final but it had hardly been a fantastic match to watch. I was disappointed that there were not any tries. Oh well, never mind, while defeat is never easy to take, there is some comfort in coming second best to the best team on the planet. After Saturday, I planned a productive Sunday, which so far has been so so. I have got a few things done but not nearly enough. Time to watch the Grand Prix!

I wonder how long it takes for TomTom / Google / A to Z to update their maps? The reason I ask is because the local council have built a new link road, replacing the original entrance into our estate. Chalfont Way is no more and has been replaced by the imaginitatively called Cressex Link. I will try and get out and take a photograph at some point.

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Friday 19th October 2007

Which mp3 player do you use? Not the physical piece of hardware, I am referring to the software on your PC or Mac. I have been using WinAmp since the dark ages, by which I mean nine years ago in 1998. I actually found out about the software while in a Trouble chat room. I was lounging around waiting for someone to jump in and observed a chat between two guys talking about a strange format. The URL came up on the screen and I went ahead and downloaded the software. It was a very late beta version, (0.99) I think (some screen shots through the years) . In any case, since then I have had every version of the software and seen it develop from a basic player, into a media library organiser, CD ripper and visualistion tool. In fact, during my time at college, Pav showed me how to use one of the many plug-ins to convert mp3s into WAV files to be burnt onto CD. Nowadays, the software does all that for you but back in 1999, you had to do it all manually. On Wednesday, I was prompted to download version 5.5, the 10th anniversary addition. Once again, the developers have surpassed themselves with a truly fantastic piece of kit. Sure, some people may swear by Windows Media Player, but I will always remain faithful to the llama. There are numerous new features but there are two which cry out to me. Firstly the ability to display album artwork, secondly the details of the track being play hover in a cloud above the system tray.

Received a strange letter from Arsenal this morning. An invitation to join their membership, "The Arsenal". Only one thing which is wrong with that, I am already a member and have been since May 2005. I also joined the Season Ticket waiting list, exactly one year before the 2006 Champions League final (in some strange twist of fate). I am going to write back to the football club and explain that I am already a member and concerned why such a administrative error has been made. If they can get something as simple as my membership wrong, how well will they do with the 33001th position I have on the waiting list. Two years down only another thirteen years to go.

Not much planned this weekend, I am going to get up relatively early on Sunday to do some work but apart from that there is not much on. Oh, there is a small case of a World Cup Final, which I will try and catch. I am sure Pav and Charlie will try and get me out to watch the game in Reading.

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Sunday 14th October 2007

I had seen the trailers for the movie back in 2004, although I wanted to see it, I would never have gone to the cinema or rented the DVD. I would have waited for EuroTrip to appear on Sky Movies or as on Friday night, on terrestrial television. BBC1 showed Old School last Friday night which is from the same team but although I started watching the first few minutes, I was not in the mood and went to bed instead. I only released it was on after checking the Radio Times (as I do most Friday nights at 8.30pm). What can I say? A typical American teen comedy, which is crude and at times completely absurd. It was one of those throwaway pop-corn movies. You watch for a laugh and never really take anything too seriously. The whole plot is so far fetched, you wonder what the script writers will think of next. The song, "Scotty Doesn't Know" was a great touch and there are great cameo appearances littered around to keep your attention. This genre appeals to me, I will admit because I am trying relive my youth. If only I could have gone to college across the pond! Suppose will just have to make do with the movies! Jacob Pitts plays the sidekick very well and does remind me of David Spade. If you have nothing better to do (and you really must be bored) give the movie ago, it is fun, just do not expect a great laugh. It has the odd laugh out loud moment but generally I doubt you will remember many funny things at the end.

I did not have much planned this weekend. There was talk with Pav of meeting up with Dee and Jav but it did not happen. Instead I just got my haircut yesterday morning and spent Saturday glued to the football. When I was on my computer in the evening, around 7pm, I got a phone call from Charlie. He asked why I wasn't in Reading and he had sent me a message on MSN this morning around 10am. I had come online but my PC had crashed, so I had missed any message he had sent me. In any case, he wanted me to head over to Pav's watch the first half of the Rugby World Cup semi-final with a curry then head into town. At first I did not want to go but my Dad and Mum persuaded me to get out and enjoy myself. I left around 7.20pm and got to Pav's just before the 8pm kick off time. As I pulled up to his drive, I noticed them rushing to the 5-Series. Charlie told me to hurry up and jump in the car. They headed down to The Village Tandoori. Pav wasn't driving fast enough for Charlie. We picked up the food, headed back and Pav served up while we started to watch the match. England took an early lead. Foxy had text us that O'Neil's was packed and far too busy, so they had headed to a quieter pub around the corner. We ordered a taxi and headed down into town at half-time. There was a ten minute queue outside O'Neil's although you could see the big screen from the window. We headed across the square over to The Cooper's Arms. It was relatively quiet, with Foxy and friends at a table in the back watching the match. Slowly the atmosphere got a bit lively, with a bunch of guys starting to sing Swing Low Sweet Chariot. This was with the game carefully balanced 9-8 in favour of the hosts. I am not a big rugby fan, but was here to just enjoy the game. Charlie was getting right into it, as he had been in the first half at Pav's place. I personally didn't think England would get back into the game, with the clock ticking down but I was proved wrong. At the final whistle the place arupted! Most of the crowd were cheering and dancing around and singing. I could only managed a few claps and shouts of "Yeah!".

We left the pub and headed towards Monks. At this point I parted company with Charlie and Pav. I was not feeling too great and not in the mood for a late night. So I walked back to Emner Green, which took me just over half an hour. )It was not the first time I had walked from the town centre to Pav's house. Although the first time was July 1999, the day we went to see Star Wars: Episode One, the walk was only to Caversham) I got into my car and drove home by about 11.15pm. I was tired but was glad I had ventured out on Saturday night.

A lazy Sunday today, with a piano lesson this afternoon. Lessons have been going well and I am making good progress. May even be in a position to take my first grade exam, in the middle of next year. However, I am in no rush, so will just take my time. The main thing is to keep practicing. Not much else to report I'm afraid, I really do wish I had something exciting to add but I do not. So, as the weekend draws to a close, it is nearly time. Time to face the music tomorrow morning.

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Friday 12th October 2007

I tend to blog at least every seven days, usually every few but always within ten. So you know something is wrong if I have not had the chance to update in nearly two weeks. The past twelve days have been strange. Emotionally I have been all over the shop. Professionally life is hitting the buffers and personally in places it has hit a brick wall. This is very different from the notes I had drafted for a proposed entry on Wednesday 3rd October. "Could life get any better?" is the phrase I see typed a few paragraphs down. I find myself asking the complete opposite, "Could life be any worse?".

The story begins back on Sunday 7th, almost a week ago. As I drove back home from Pav's house (he had taught me how to wash my car properly) somehow I my stereo picked up BBC Radio 2. It was playing the song, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". It was coming up to 4pm in the afternoon. The following evening, a little later, around 5.30pm, I was behind a silver Citroen C3 and in the window was what appeared to be a bright neon Baby On Board sign but at closer inspection it just had the words, "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Sentiments that keep ringing back in my mind. Along with other idiomatic expressions, such as "worse things happen at sea!",

The previous Monday (1st) evening I had received a friend request from my best friend from secondary school, Steve. He messaged me a few times on FaceBook but we eventually become friends (electronically) and exchanged MSN addresses. The last time I had any contact with Steve was back in 2001, I remember I sent him a birthday and Christmas card. It was the first semester of my second year at DMU. Feels like a whole lifetime ago now. I was exchanging these messages with Steve, while using the family Toshiba Satellite Pro in the lounge, minutes before Eastenders started at 8pm. I had an thirty minutes to fill after watching the First Look edition of Hollyoaks on E4.

Fast forward back to this week and on Tuesday afternoon, I was heading back to the office. The weather on the M25 was grim, grey, wet, with the visibility extremely poor with all the spray on the surface from the rain. I was in the middle lane, but wanted to overtake the vehicle ahead of me. I noticed a silver BMW 3-Series Compact overtake me first, so waited for him to clear before I headed into the fast lane. Due to the weather conditions, I was driving at a steady speed and with full concentration. I watched the Beemer ahead of me, and then was shocked by what happened. Time slowed down and I watched the events unfold in slow motion. His nearside rear wheel blew out and he slide towards the crash barrier and then span around. I slowed down just in time and put on my hazards to alert traffic behind. I came to a stop over the stones which had brushed across from the central reservation onto the fast lane. I jumped out of my car and helped the driver. He was visibly shaken but not injured. He seemed to be very concerned about getting to work. A patrolman for VW Audi group (how typical) pulled up, but although he works for the RAC in a roundabout sort of way, he could only help the driver get his car off onto the hard shoulder. It was time for me to depart, as I did so, the driver, gave me a firm shake of the hand, thanking me for stopping. Do not mention it at all, is what I said in response. All I had offered to do was make a call for him. He declined this, explaining he had RAC membership. It got me thinking, I had recently cancelled my membership.

Back on the road on Thursday, on my way to Croydon on the same motorway. I was once again in the middle lane, one vehicle behind a trailer carrying various Honda 4X4 SUVs. I just knew something was wrong, when I noticed him brake and the vehicle behind head into the fast lane to overtake. Then it happened, the truck driver slammed on his brakes, a tyre had blown and went under the trailer and the rubber smashed against the concrete barrier. The driver, with great experience and skill, managed to pull his long vehicle over onto the hard shoulder, a few hundred hards prior to a slip road. It could have been so much worse.

Sorry about the constant skipping back and forth through time, it will only be for this entry, trust me. I took my sister to the IMAX cinema on Saturday to watch Transformers. Even though I had seen the movie on a standard cinema screen back in July with Pav, I thought my sibling deserved the treat. Her first weekend back home. In 1998, I walked past the cinema, just a few minutes walk from Waterloo on my way to my YTS interview with IBM on the Southbank, it was heavily under construction then and one day I thought it would be lovely to catch a movie there. Only until recently have major releases been remastered for the biggest screen in the country (apparently, according to our tickets). We got to ticket office early, as I had been advised to on the phone and collected our tickets at 7pm, a good hour before the screening. We decided to head back to the station and check times for the final tube trains home. I had collected a Chiltern Railways timetable for Wycombe at Marylebone. I had been a bit stupid and forgotten that the Bakerloo Line runs to Waterloo, there had been no need for us to change for the Jubilee Line at Baker Street. Never mind, you live and learn. We went back to the cinema and headed upstairs to the auditorium, it was quite but slowly filled up. You could make out the large nature of the screen from the sloped ceiling. There was a small bar, selling nothing but Cobra beer. There was a tiny retail section with just two tills, selling the usual suspects. There was a long queue forming as 8pm came around. We had been one of the lucky early punters. The cinema seats five hundred. During the performances, the entrances are locked. We were eventually let in and took our seats to the left of the screen, in the middle. I was astounded by the size of the screen, it was impressive. We were all seated within minutes and a member of staff introduced us to the show. There was a brief sound and light show, explaining the sheer power behind the IMAX brand. The fact that the screen has tiny holes for the sound to travel through and all the main speakers are located behind there. Onto the main feature.

There were several IMAX special scenes, some which I noted, some which I missed, due to the sheer amount of action unfolding in front of my eyes. My sister loved it and I was glad she did. It was great to bring her out for this treat after her long year working on her Masters in Sheffield. While I have always stated I would never go to the cinema to see the same movie twice. (A pact I started with my good friend Andrew Todd, back in middle school) This case I will make an exception. The IMAX experience is something else, you really feel in the picture, even without those cheap 3D-glasses. The powerful sound system, bigger than life screen and full digital projection brings the movie to life. Just read some of the facts. Highly recommended. We just need more IMAX movies, not just DMR (digital up scaling to the IMAX format from standard film). Wouldn't life be great if every town and city had an IMAX cinema, as the de facto standard. Sure, it will never happen, because that would ruin the whole point of the experience.

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Sunday 30th September 2007

I must begin with a review. Bionic Women, the original 1970s series was before my time, but I remember watching one of the movies (Bionic Showdown) from the late 1980s staring a fresh faced Sandra Bullock. Well NBC have reworked, rather than remade the series with Michelle Ryan, giving a master class performance as Jaime Sommers. Most striking of all his her American accent. The audience Stateside would be shocked to see her coarse London accent from her 200 odd episode of Eastenders. The show was well directed, with several twists and turns. It was also very dark, a departure from the movie and from what I can tell the original television show. Refreshing to watch a more mature adult sci-fi drama. I will definitely be catching the next episode, think it will be come important weekend viewing. If you were to compare Torchwood with Bionic Woman, the American show would win hands down. There is just something about US production values that always wins over. Cardiff, Wales can never compete with San Francisco, California, no matter what any say. Plus you can clearly see the money spent on screen, where as the British sci-fi series relies on clever writing.

The return of Heroes was fantastic. I am looking forward to watching every Tuesday evening, while the rest of the UK, still lap up the first series on BBC2. I was glad to see most of the cast return, continuity is very important. You want to see the same group of characters develop. There already appears to be an air of mystery, plus some of the characters now, know each other. However, the villains are yet to surface although there has been a glimpse of new heroes whom we will get to know over the course of the next few episodes.

Once again, a quiet weekend. Did not really do much. Watched the Woman's World Cup Final this afternoon on BBC2. Germany beat Brazil 2-0 in Shanghai. Some great football, the game has improved a great deal since Euro 2005. The women's game is still some years behind the men's game but the technical skill has improved a great deal. I was very impressed with Marta, the Brazilian forward and Golden Boot winner. I think it will take some time for the game to reach the mass appeal of the men's game but in flashes, you can see moments of sheer brilliance. That move was worthy of Pele and very reminiscent of Dennis Bergkamp at his prime.

Had my twelfth piano lesson this evening at 5pm. Really glad I got a chance to truly appreciate the progress I have made and refocus on what I need to learn. On the drive home, I was stuck in traffic on the M40. It brought back memories of many trips back home on a Sunday afternoon with the rest of my family. We would be listening to the Chart Show on Radio One. (Although there was a time in the mid 1990s when we tuned into Doctor Fox over on Capital). I cannot believe the station is 40 today! Diamond Geezer does a fantastic entry on his blog with his personal memories and had done a nice spread over the past few days. He is, as always on the pulse of the online community. It was just a shame I could not pick up the station in my car on the drive home. Listening to the same mp3 CD for the past three weeks has got rather tedious. For more nostalgia head over to Radio Rewind.

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Friday 28th September 2007

Today, I forefilled one of my dreams. For sure, a dream perhaps on the third or fourth tier but nevertheless a dream. I drove past the 'office' as featured in the opening credits of The Office. As I a big fan of the series, I have often wondered where the site of the external shots of the Slough Trading Estate were from, but it was not until now, some four years since the final Christmas episode was screened that I found out. I had to visit a client around the corner and saw the office block, just as it appears on television, it was a surreal moment.

Now for a bit of girl on girl action. The reason I watch Hollyoaks, is not for the gritty storyline of revenge against Claire Devine. It is for the comic book moments, many of which I am recording and uploaded to YouTube. Jessica Harris, the snobish student down on her luck, played so well by Jennifer Bidall. I will stop boring you and let you just enjoy the clip. Someone obviously has a lot of fun scripting this show, just a shame it will never grow up to fill the boots of Brookside. If you pay close enough addition to the names of sum of the writers that appear at the opening, they appear made up.

My sister gets back from Uni on Sunday. My Dad and youngest sister are going to Sheffield to collect her. It will be the first time since Sunday 17th September 2000 (the day Paula Yates passed on), that everyone is back home. That was the day before I headed to Leicester to start my degree. Since then, both my sisters have been also and one has also completed a Masters. Time flies. It will be very strange experience to find everyone back at home again.

I met Murtaza at my first MJ event back on Sunday 2nd October 2005. We then exchanged the occassional message on MJ News Online. It was only when I found the video to Michael Jackson by The Mitchell Brothers that I realised he was on his way to stardom. He is nolonger on the discussion board, he may have been banned but I cannot be sure. He has a MySpace page. I dropped him a text after seeing the video and he sent me a reply towards the end of August, I just forgot to mention it before. He explained he had in the past week been working on with the Sugababes on their video, playing the role of a chef. That video, would be About You Now. It would not be until I had seen the music video at least a dozen times that I noticed it was him (it is a brief cameo appearance, blink and you too will miss it!)

Downloaded Bionic Woman this evening from uTorrent. I am off to go and watch Michelle Ryan go from Eastend London, to Hollywood TV superstar. Do you not, just love the digital age we live in?

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Wednesday 26th September 2007

I expected many more, but only had fifteen e-mails in my Inbox at work from the past week. I actually thought I would have had as many as fifty. Never mind, I suppose I should be grateful. To be honest, I doubt my presence in the office was actually missed. It was not like that back in the good old days on the helpdesk. I think it is the two week stage, when people will have expected to get a response or action to some work that things can get a little crazy.

Heroes returned to television screens on Monday this week. However there was one problem, those television screens were across the pond in the wonderful US of A. They are not due to be screened on the BBC (which actually bought rights to season two before season one) until next year. However, I had my friend Pav, a hardcore fan and we had both a will and a way. We were discussing in detail how to get hold of that all important first episode. Pav recommended, I download uTorrent a few weeks back. It is much less resource intensive as Azureus. Rather than worry about my situation, we had to make sure Breezy could get hold of the file first. He had a master plan, plus a contingency. He was going to use a colleagues personal laptop at work, logged onto the ADSL line to download the torrent from EZ TV Torrents. However, there was a problem, he could not monitor the download, so he messaged his Dad on MSN at home to also download the torrent. It took a few hours but it downloaded fine. When I got home, yesterday evening, I was going to download using the same torrent. I started the download and got as far as 400mb but by then, we had come up with a much better plan. A plan, MacGuyver would have been proud of. Pav created a ftp server which I could log in to, thanks to Serv-U FTP software. I logged in and for the first time, it worked first time. Pav copied the divx AVI file across but it was going to take a while. I couldn't afford to rinse my two gig bandwidth limit with Sky, so opted to download the file from work in the morning.

When I got into work just after 8am, I tried FileZilla, the FTP client installed on my laptop. (I use FlashFXP at home and it is the easily the best FTP client I have ever used and trust me, I've been through my fair share!) It didn't work. I was gutted. However, I remember my colleague Peter teaching me how to use the built in command line ftp program that comes free with Windows XP. To my joy, I logged in and accessed the directory. I quit and decided to create a batch file to copy the file. This way I could run the file every Tuesday morning, to download the week's episode. Fantastic. At 8.22am, I ran my batch file, then let the DOS window hide behind the rest of my screens, as I got on with proper work.

I kept Pav posted with my progress. He had checked his home PC was all ready in the morning before he left for work. Around 9.30am, the transfer rate started to crawl. Pav's Dad had started downloaded a few things and I calculated by timing the increase in the file size to between 6kb/s and 4kb/s. Eventually when Mr. K completed the download, going back to basic web surfing, the rate jumped back up to over 80kb/s. The downloaded completed at 11.54am. As the screen below details, the whole download took 11595.42 Seconds which equates to 3.22095 Hours.

My work laptop did not have the DivX codec, so I downloaded from the official site, just to make sure the video worked. I did not want to get disappointed by the time I got home. It is now 8:22pm, exactly twelve hours since I started downloading the file this morning. I think I will go and watch Hiro. Excuse me for the next fifty minutes, if you will.

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Thursday 20th September 2007

My last award show experience was less than twelve months ago, on 15th November. Who would have thought I would be at another prestigious event, within the year. However on this occasion, my experience was out of this world. I had discussed it for a few months with my friend Rikki on MSN. However, now it was a reality. We had our tickets, everything was in place and we were on our way. I left home at 3pm, my Mum gave me a lift to the station. I caught the 15:42 train into London, made my way to Piccadilly Circus and waited at the Waterstones for Rikki to meet me. We then headed down the road to Green Park and caught the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich. This was my first time to the O2 Arena, I had never visited the place in it's previous guise as the Millennium Dome. We walked around to the entrance and were greeted by heavy security. Our bags and coats had to go through the scanner and then we had to walk through the metal detectors. I passed through fine and we had arrived. I took a few photos, particularly of the extra large BMW grill which sits to the left of the main entrance. We then went through a second security check, our tickets were scanned and then we asked where to go next. Most other people were taking the escalators to their seats. We asked a member of staff and when we showed our silver wristbands, we were taken upstairs to the VIP lounge. This was an exclusive area behind the stage, with a few bar. We told that our wrist band would get us into the after party at Indigo. However, that is another story.

I was planning on catching the train back but called my Dad to arrange for him to pick me up. We had a few drinks in the lounge before heading down to our tables. A lovely member of staff, took us to the entrance for the tables and we found our table (61). It was right towards the back but it did not matter. We could select our own seats and chose them at the back, with the best view of the stage. A manager on the floor said, "That is where you want to be sitting." We were early and the amount of empty seats assured me that the show was already running late. It slowly began to fill up. We were joined by two competition winners, two guys from the music industry and a couple whom were friends with someone in the industry. To our left I saw Big Brother contestant, Charley take her seat on the table next to us. I would learn later she had to blag her way in as she had forgotten her pass. She was joined a bit later by the twins, Amanda and Sam. On the table to our right was X Factor winner, Leona Lewis. Soon later, the show began with some pre-show entertainment, introduced by former Mis-Teeq singer, Su-Elise.

Sometime around 8pm, the show began with a medley performance from Shaggy. The awards came thick and fast and I was mainly looking forward to two performances. Kano and Craig David, T-Pain and Neyo. Amy Whine performed two songs, she was not brilliant but considering her lifestyle, it was not too bad. I am sure you will have read about the performance else where. Kano and Craig David were very good, I do really like the song, "This Is The Girl". T-Pain really bought the house down with his hit, "Buy You A Drank" featuring Yung Juc (check out his bling!). Neyo closed the show with an impressive performance of Because of You.

With the show closed, we milled around for a while and got some photographs with some celebrities. I got my photograph with Shobna Gulati, whom you may remember from BBC sit com, dinner ladies or more recently Coronation Street. Then came Brian Bovell, Leo Valentine from Hollyoaks. He was the perfect gentleman, introducing himself and making sure we had a good time. I also got a photo of his on screen off spring, Sonny and Sasha (who are apparently an item, according to Wikipedia!). Then, I took a few photos of organiser Lanya King before heading towards the exit. I recognised a young girl that passed me. I turned around and saw her older sibling. It was the Ama sisters. They were standing at the back and I grabbed the opportunity to take a photograph. I mentioned I was looking forward to the album and really liked both Falling and Not Enough. Sadie thanked me for her support. I was gutted she had not won Best UK Newcomer, but I suppose in terms of exposure, N-Dubz deserved to win. Particularly as their videos had played constantly on Channel U.

At this point we were being asked to leave, so we headed for the exit and bar. We found out that the after party at Indigo was beginning to queue, so we got a drink before going down there. Now it is confession time. I made a big cock up. I had already clipped the wristbands together to keep them in the envelope. I was stupid and careless. As we queued to get into Indigo, the bouncer said we had to have the wristbands on, so we moved to the left to put them on. While doing this another bouncer came along (from out of nowhere) and snatched the bands from us. We tried to explain we had not used them, but he was not having of it. The barrier was opened and we told to leave. I was gutted. I was annoyed with myself more than you can believe. Rikki went back to try and convince the bouncer again but it was no good. I called my Dad, he was already on his way and would be be outside within a few moments. I took one last photo of the evening, a picture of the arena in the darkness. I got into the car, despondent and headed home. I got home around twenty past midnight, I jumped on the computer to check the awards show which I had recorded earlier and set a timer to shut down my PC straight afterwards. Terry came online at 0:39 to give me some news, "Bye bye Mourinho!". I hadn't caught any of the news, but the Chelsea man had gone!

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Wednesday 19th September 2007

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Tuesday 18th September 2007

Was a man on a mission today, for a variety of reasons. My friend called me yesterday afternoon to explain, I would need to go to the Mobo office to collect our tickets. Not a problem, I had only planned to spend the day at home working on a few bits and pieces. I did not mind, it gave me an excuse to get out of the house, but it was a trek into London and I did not know all the obsticles that would be placed in my way. I got up around 8am and was ready just after 9am. In fact, I sent a message to my friend via MSN to explain I was leaving, I got no reply, they were away from their computer screen. I collected my suit first from the dry cleaners and then came back to drop it off at home. This created a longer delay then I wanted because of all the roadworks taking place at the top of my road. They were supposed to be completed at the beginning of August, but as usual they have over run and it will be a few more weeks before the work is finished. Then I drove into Wycombe and my adventure began. I pulled into the car park at the train station and it was full. I drove around but some people had just abandoned their cars without a care, so the middle aile was blocked by a lovely silver VW Polo. Thank you! I then drove around the corner to Railway Place. This has 160 places, all taken. I then drove over across to the other side of town, George Street, which had 41 places all taken. Opposite this, Baker Street with 41 spaces was full. My final car park to check was Desborough Avenue with 115 spaces, all taken. (The district council provide a beautiful map if you are really interested!) So, I made an executive decision. I would dump the car at home, catch the Park & Ride service direct to the station. However, as I pulled up to my estate the first obsticle appeared. I could not get to my house.

I drove across to ASDA, parked my car there and walked up to the park and ride area. The service is every fifteen minutes and it was at 10.30am, I caught the 100 into town. The cost, £1.50 (parking at the railway station is £2.50 for a day off peak). I got to the station and caught the next available train to London. Thankfully, my luck turned. The 10.57 service was direct to Marylebone. Great and it was only a few minutes before the train arrived on platform three. The train was busy, as you would expect and I found myself in the quiet coach. No music, no mobile phones and 'quiet please' were clearly visible signs on all the windows throughout the carriage. I resisted the temptation to plug in my Zen.

I had text Rikki, twice but the text messages had not got through, so I gave a them a call just before I jumped on the Tube. I took the Bakerloo Line, one stop down to Baker Street. Here I changed onto the Circle Line eastbound towards Liverpool Street. Three stops down the line, I came off at Euston Square. Now, I had to find the offices. I had printed off the map from Google Maps this morning, Stephenson Way was a road behind the tube station. I came out of the correct exit and walked around and eventually homed into the offices. I went downstairs and collected the A4 envelope, after showing my driving licence as ID. We were going, I could start to get officially excited now. Before I left, I could not resist taking a photograph of the logo.

I called Rikki to pass on the great news and headed over to Picadilly Circus to meet with them for lunch. We met at the Eros statue. With London, there are countless options for food. We went to Wagamama. Somewhere I've never been to dine before. I like Chinese food and have tried Thai a few times but this Japanese menu was completely new to me. Thankfully my friend had been a few times so guided me on the best options. I was very happy with the food, and service was prompt. During lunch, we opened the enevelope. Obviously as it was not named for me, I was legally not in a position to open the envelope. Rikki opened the evenvelope and then let me take the booklet out. In a gloosy pamphlet, we had our tickets, security wristbands and information / schedule. I felt much better that we actually had tickets now, in our hands. We agreed on arrangements for tomorrow. As we walked back from Haymarket to Picadilly Circus, I noticed Nancy Dell'Olio head into a posh restaurant. After saying goodbye to Rikki, I headed down Regent Street, then Oxford Street in search of a pair of shoes.

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Sunday 16th September 2007

Charlie took me along to one of his rugby games yesterday afternoon. It was arranged quite late on Friday night. I got my camera and charged the batteries on Saturday morning. Charlie came to pick me up just after 1pm and we headed over to the rugby club in Marlow. I had only recently re-familiarised myself with the rules by watching a few matches of the World Cup in France. Never been a fan of the sport myself, I've always prefered football. However, I wanted to give the sport a chance, and I had already got a taste for how hard Charlie actually trains. The Wales versus Australia match was been shown on the big screen in the club house and I watched a few minutes before heading out to see the real deal.

I cannot help compare the game with football. In my opinion it is much more stop start, even if the actual nature of the game is more physical. I took over seventy photos in the sunshine, it was a glorious day. There were many things I noticed which came as a surprise. Firstly there is a great deal of respect between both teams and also the referee, who is always spoken to with the title, "Sir". Something you would never get in football. There is also a comradery within the team, a close knit bond which although exists in football is not as strong. Reading won, but only by a few points. I have to admit I am still getting used to the scoring system. At the final whistle, the losing team, stand in a parade to contratulate past the winning team and referee. Great sportsman ship, don't you think. This would normally be the point when I give you a link to a set over on FlickR but I sent the whole set of photos to Charlie and he has placed the best selection onto a FaceBook album.

I must be the only person in the world that goes to wash his car but it actually looks worse afterwards. I had bought a wash pad and some shampoo from Asda for the job on Saturday. When my Dad got back with the car around 1pm this afternoon I set to work. Rinse, foam, wash with two bucket techique then attempted to dry with a microfibre. Big mistake. I drove to my piano lesson over in Thame, ashamed at the state of my car. I was hoping it would rain later, so I could get away with the poor finish. The slight drizzle was not enough. Before I left for my lesson, I text Pav to let him know how useless I was. His reply was funny, "You should have taken notes from the last two times I washed your car!". He was coming to the end of a M3 detail weekender, covering 18 hours of hardcore car cleaning.

My piano lesson went well, considering there has been almost a two month gap since my last one. I have to confess that the honeymoon period is well and truly over. It is getting really tough, the pieces I have to learn over the coming fortnight are intense. However, I am determined to keep it up, even though I know I should be practicing more regularly than I do. I want to get to a high standard, even if that means not having taken any formal examinations. We all know my feelings on examinations and if I can avoid them, I will.

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Friday 14th September 2007

What a difference a week makes! Last Friday I was really kicking myself and that mood hung over the weekend, like a long autumn shadow. Tonight, I feel a spring in my step and a smile on my face. The reasons why, I could not tell you, because even I do not know. I am looking forward to the weekend, even though there is very little happening. I have piano lesson on Sunday evening. The first lesson in over two months and I have not been practicing enough at all. In the back of my mind is next week, but more on that nearer the time.

When I logged onto my work laptop, MSN automatically logs in. However, this morning, it came up with some absurd message that I had to upgrade to latest version. Great! Just what I needed. However, some how I got around this. Do not ask me how, I just declined the invitation to upgrade several times and then was able to login into MSN 7.5. Do not get me wrong, I love the IM client from Microsoft. However, I have always tried to hang onto the previous version as long as possible. There are many reasons for this. Firstly I customise and tweak Messenger, so it works perfectly for me. Any upgrade involves, multiple patching and updating, plus I have to reset all my customisation. So you can appreciate my annoyance when Richmond force it down your throat. When I got home, quite late last night, I came across the same situation as some twelve hours earlier in the office. However, on this occasion, I was not able to get around the update and had to oblige. Nav, back in the strange days of November 2003, recommended Messenger Plus to me. It was at this time, I started to use the instant message client as my main form of communications online. Seems a long time ago, but now I cannot live or breathe without the client being by my side (or rather system tray). The story continues from Leicester to the capital with the date log 20th July 2004. (Seems wherever I have worked, I been able to use MSN). There you can see the true power of Messenger Plus! add on. The software just got better and better with each update. The Boss key being one of the great features! However since the introducion of 6.2x, MSN have included lots of bloatware components to just get in the way. Not just advertising but pointless features on the right click context menu. I was not going to put up with this. It was bad enough being dictated into software upgrades, I was not going to let Microsoft win. Some work on Google helped me find the Mess with Messenger website and I downloaded their patch. This enables you to fully customise the IM client. You can remove the nudge protection, so to annoy your friends, you can send constant nudges without the minute delay that exists in the standard software. I highly recommend this tool to get the best out of Messenger and strip out all the dead wood.

Generally I have always been reluctant to upgrade to the latest version of messenger. I kept 6.2 until I was forced to upgrade and will be the same with the onset of 7.5 and so on. The reason for the abandoment of 7.5 is a security vulnerability. While I am sure this would affect every day casual users, I am quite capable to manage my own online security. I remember Chris at work downloading MSN Live and loading it on his machine (against my advice) only to find his contacts blank. As you can imagine, he quickly reverted back to 7.5. I suppose my main gripe with the latest version of the MS IM client is the visual appearance. It is in line with Vista, so therefore has that light blue, almost plastic finish. I suppose I will just have to put up with it. Doesn't mean I cannot publicly express my anger. Another thing, what are all those icons for?

I will finish my blog with a positive thought, which I saw as a personal message for one of my friends on MSN. "We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey." A fantastic quote from business guru, Stephen Covey. Something tells me that a new journey, with new friends is slowly beginning to form. My excitement outweighs my nervousness. I was going to write, "for a change", but the phrase I am actually looking for is "for the first time." For the first time in my life, I feel free.

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Tuesday 11th September 2007

What a difference 24 hours makes. I do not just feel better, I feel great. It is difficult to explain, the why and how. I will, however try my best. I hate having things hanging over me, particularly at work but by 5pm, the rain clouds had cleared. Not just that but I had great news from one of my friends on MSN and the sun had just come out. What more could you ask for?

As if the song had been written for me, for this moment, I have found the song for the moment. I headed over to PopJustice as I do most Monday evenings. I watched the video, from the first second I was hooked. The annoying thing is, I could have caught the first television performance on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV1 over the weekend. In fact, I saw the first few minutes of the return of the Geordie double act's prime time weekend show, which featured the artist hanging around the canteen. I have to be honest, I have been a closest fan for numerous years. My favourite line up, of course, does not feature Amelle or founding member Siobhán Donaghy. Their debut single (as most debut singles tend to) did not register with me whatsoever. In fact it was not until 2002, when I was placement that I started to realise how big this girl band were going to become. Back in those distant days I would listen to BBC Radio 1, in my cross country trip across through Aylesbury towards Milton Keynes but taking a sharp right to sunny Bedford. It was around this time, that "Round Round" reached number one and in a way became the anthem of the summer. My favourite song, up to now had been "In The Middle" closely followed by "Push The Button". To begin with I had did not like Easy but it grew on me and listening to it on the way to Islington did prove it to be a song that 'grows' on you. That brings me quite quickly to the present. I knew little about the song and had only heard about possible dismissal of Amelle from the band, thanks to a news bite over at ChartSingles. So you can imagine my surprise to find the YouTube video linked on the music blog, that is PopJustice. I listened briefly for a few minutes and knew within the opening few seconds that it was a great song. Great songs just come alive instantly. I downloaded the mp3, placed it onto my Zen and listened to it on repeat for a ages. While doing so, I browsed some old photographs on my Zen. The beauty of the Zen software is that it automatically copies across your photographs onto the device. I looked through some of the memories of the past two years. The Community Shield, final day drama at Highbury, Beckham's hero return against Brazil at Wembley, DeLorean & Lotus weekend in Norfolk. I could go on, but I will stop there.

Slowly, as the song played I began to realise how lucky I have been. How many amazing things I have seen and done and yet there are so many more to look forward. Strange how it takes a song for me to appreciate all the things that have happened and all the promise of the days ahead.

Nothing really planned for Sunday. I settled in front of the computer around 1pm. I was going to sort a few bits and pieces out and then go and wash the car. I heard a buzz. It was my phone, I had a missed call and two text messages and a voicemail. I checked the texts, they were from Pav. The Admiral had given Breezy a lift over to Hayes to collect his M3, so they wanted to pop into Wycombe for a drink and some food. The only requirement was a television to watch the Rugby World Cup. I called Charlie back. He asked what I was doing and I replied honestly that I was doing 'nothing'. They would be around in quarter of an hour. My computer was shut down, I got ready and waited. While doing so I vacuumed the car but never got around to the wash. Charlie pulled up, sunglasses on, in his Vectra Estate. Where was Pav, was my first question? He missed the turning for the M40 off the M4, so is coming down the by-pass. It was nice to see them both, when Pav did eventually arrive. I had proposed we pop down to The Litten Tree in the centre of town. However Charlie suggested the pub on the Wycombe Road, heading into Marlow. It is a real strange location for a public house, out in the middle of nowhere. The last time I had been here was with one of my friends for a quiet drink sometime in autumn 2002. Since then, it had been renovated. As we walked through the door Pav noted, "It's quite swish!". My reply was one of those classic lines, "It was never swish before!". Beefeater had been the proprietor before but this was now Mill & Carter, an upmarket steakhouse grill restaurant. We headed for the bar area with Charlie scourering the decks for a television. There was a small flat LCD job above the bar. We asked if it could be changed from Sky Sports News to ITV1, so we could watch the egg chasing. We were politely declined. Great. We went for the menu and decided what to have for our late lunch. Nice to get out of the house for an hour or two and enjoy the company of my friends. We discussed among other things, a clubbing trip into London, planned for next Friday and my 26th birthday (of all things). I have to admit that once the Admiral gets a idea into his head, it is very hard to get him to let go. Teaches me to give away the responsibility of organising my birthday to a mad man who just lives from one challenges to the next!

Can We Bring Yesterday Back Around
Cos I Know How I Feel About You Now
I Was Dumb
I Was Wrong
I Let You Down
But I Know How I Feel About You Now

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Friday 7th September 2007

I cannot tell you how glad I am, Friday is finally here. For the first time in several months, perhaps even years I am not in the mood to update this blog but I will because surprisingly I have plenty to get off my chest. The week started with so much promise, so much optimism. Now on Friday evening, I feel deflated, empty and cold. Proof that five days is a long time, even in my relatively lackluster life. I suppose I should not fret, it will all come out in the wash. Can't beat myself up about it all weekend.

I had to visit a client on Thursday morning, so was on the M25 heading clockwise around North London. The matrix signs warned of delays at Junction 25 and queues from Junction 23. The later is where the London Orbital joins the A1(M). Queues were backed up for over a mile but I was able to bypass them all from the fast lane. As I went past the exit slip road to my left, I changed into the middle lane. Traffic was at a standstill and I had missed my chance to escape. I had no idea how long I would be stuck on here for. My colleague rang me, the meeting had been put back to 2pm and my attendance cancelled. I was gutted. The traffic was not moving. I switched off my engine. I had been listened to an mp3 CD for the past hour or so, so decided to attempt to tune into the radio. I caught the trail end of Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2. What I really wanted to listen to was the traffic report. After a few songs, I switched over to five live. The traffic report was on but I missed the opening segment relating to the M25. After the report, Derbyshire switched back to debate, so I switched back to Radio 2 and then eventually CD. By now people were setting out of their cars to take a look at what the trouble up ahead was. Truckers, securing their lorries, the white van man to my left had fallen asleep at the wheel. I was stuck here for an hour but during the time, finally listened to a news report that Italian tenor Pavarotti had passed away. As if a Hollywood director was producing this morning masterpiece, this is how the my day unfolded. Requests had been flooding into Five Live for Nessun Dorma. They were also asking for people's memories of the summer of 1990 and more specifically Italia 90. Almost as inspiration, the song came on as the traffic started moving and I took the first exit at Potter's Bar to get off the motorway turn around and head back down the anticlockwise carriageway. The song came to it's climax as I joined picked up speed on the M25. Perfect.

I thought back those seventeen years ago, I was eight during that summer. I remember it in glimpses. I remember Coca Cola doing a promotion and offering these mini footballs if you collected so many ring pulls from their cans. I don't think I got my hands on one but my neighbour had one. I remember kicking it around on the driveway. As for the football, I was not really interested. My love of football would not come around until the next World Cup. I watched some of the matches, particularly Argentina. I watched the England match but was not really that interested or patriotic, I could only name a few of the players. Looking back I regret not paying more attention.

A bumper weekend of sport. With ODI cricket, rugby and international football, what more could a sports fan ask for? I think I will be spending most of the day in front of the television. My friend Charlie thinks I should watch a real 'man's' sport and recommended the All Blacks match tomorrow mid morning. I will give it a go, considering the last rugby match I watched was back in November 2003. (The day before my birthday in fact!)

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Tuesday 4th September 2007

A quiet weekend at home, nothing really planned. I had a few odd jobs to do in town in the morning, get my haircut, go to the bank. I left just before 9am and was back around 10.30am. Then, very much a coach potato Saturday in front of the television (or rather computer screen). I watched Football Focus and then Soccer Saturday, thanks to Sky Sports News (which is thankfully still broadcasting on Freeview, although I was told it was going to be pulled during the summer). In the afternoon before the football began, I watched The Simpsons Movie. Pav had sent me a care package, one DVD, which I received on Saturday morning. I had not seen the movie and was looking forward to it. My expectations were high, but then again I'm not a big fan of the series and my favourite character is Chief Clancy Wiggum. When the show is on television, be it Channel 4 or Sky One, I will watch it. It does make me laugh. I have most seasons, apart from the most recent three loaded on the XBox, thanks to MightyMouse. I was disappointed. Sure, there were a few good jokes and some funny scenes, but generally it did little to entertain. I think it was aimed at a younger audience, but I wanted to get something out of it. Towards the end it became rather predictable, which is a shame because that was one of the shows plus points, it was always completely unpredictable. I wanted more celebrity cameos, more multi-story plot lines, more emphasis on some of the smaller characters. Considering how long we had waited for a movie to be made, just adds to the feeling of being let down. The series brings together classic moments and lines. I find it difficult to remember anything apart from the 'spider pig' segment but that is more due to it being over played on constant trailers before the movie was released.

One day on MSN a few weeks ago, Pav was telling me about a new spin off series based on the Terminator movies. I explained how disappointed I was in Terminator 3, which I saw on five in November 2004 (blogged on 16th in fact, shown on 14th). Looking through the archives I did not really give a review of the movie because I was just too shocked that it was already having it's terrestrial network television premiere, having only been released on the big screen, the summer before. While the role of a female terminator was fantastic, it was just a rehash of the second movie with a few bigger special effects. The story was almost nonexistent and the ending was pathetic. Such a shame a great franchise had come down to this. The spin off series is hoping to kick start interest in the story, perhaps get a whole new generation interested in the movies and fill up some air time before the fourth movie.

Included in my care package, was the pilot episode. Fantastic is one word I can use to describe the movie. It stays true to the end of the second movie (first sequel) and continues from there on in. I find it hard to believe that Sarah would get herself involved with another man, it just is not her nature. However, that aside, it was great, action packed. The beginning scene was very well done but you could clearly see that as it is a television series the budget is much smaller than a feature film. The highlight for me is Summer Glau, taking a role of Cameron Phillips. She is someone I should already be familiar with, as I have her television series Firefly and movie Serenity, sitting on my shelf, still unopened. I bought the movies back on Friday 12th January but still have not got around to watching it. As I explained at the time of purchase, I want to watch the series first, then watch the movie. I will find time, somewhere.

Yesterday I was in Slough, do not ask why! Two moments occurred which had me thinking, "I must mention that on my blog". First, I was walking through the down centre and noticed a market stall set up in the pedestrianised area selling watches. Nothing new there. However, I then noticed the sign underneath, "Any wacth £15". Come on, some one must have learnt how to spell the most basic of words. If your ensure, ask somebody! Then, on the drive home, I was behind a silver BMW X3. Nothing unusual there, of course. However, as we came up to a little puddle, the driver did his best to avoid it! I could not believe it! You buy a mini-SUV and still avoid a little splash of water on the road. These people make me mad. They make my blood boil!

Generally speaking I do not remember my dreams. I drift off sometime before 1am, listening to Anita. No, not a girlfriend, but the BBC Radio Five Live presenter. However for the few nights I have remembered my dreams, they have been extremely vivid and at times enlightening. Last night the dream was split in two halves. The first part I was driving through Reading down streets I had never seen before. I headed up a high incline, which hit something insane line 75%. Then the next part I remember was my car being lodged on the flat roof of a house and group of big burly guys helping lift it down to ground level. I then remember racing down some stairs into a doctor's surgery reception. The receptionist was non other than Emma Rigby. You may know her better as Hannah from Hollyoaks. Very strange, but the dream continues, I try and arrange an appointment with my GP for some time in mid September. Then in a bit of a daze I woke up. My dream from Saturday evening, also had a Hollyoaks theme and starred Jennifer Biddall, better known as sultry eyed Jess Harris. However, I really think I should stop there before I go to far. All I can say, it is a good thing I cannot remember my dreams. They would make the worse possible topic for my blog. Unless of course you happen to be a Dream Reader!

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Friday 31st August 2007

The end of August and the start of my favourite month tomorrow. Life should be fantastic, but there is something missing. It is difficult to put my finger on it. There are few minor things in the pipeline but as nothing is confirmed, I am not in a position to openly publicise. It really is the start of that gravy train which takes us all the way to Christmas. There is however, a light at the end of the tunnel for me this time around. Straight after Christmas, I have my first ever ski trip to Kitzbuhel, Austria. I am planning on getting some lessons at the Snowdome over in Milton Keynes at some point in the next two months. Before I was really excited but I am slowly getting the nervous bug. Not all of us are born with the 'no fear' gene like Pav!

You have thought after reading about my commute over on the work log that the journey to and from work would no longer ever be an issue. So did I. How stupid do I feel. I left work as normal at quarter past five in the afternoon. I was eager to get home as my Mum and sister had got back from India that morning. You can imagine my frustration to discover the build up of traffic on the by-pass. I was stuck here for over half an hour. Originally I thought the lights must have packed up at Handycross (again!) but once I could see the roundabout, I discovered this was not the case. It was gone six o' clock by the time I had got here, so I opted to drive down Wycombe Road and take the back roads home. This is so complicated, I have had to build a Google Map.

A few people had taken my idea and were following me through the single track country roads, down underneath the by-pass, across Daws Hill Lane (over the M40) and up to Marlow Hill. Here, the traffic formed again but it was moving in more disciplined fashion than the chaos at Handycross. I headed across through Marlow Road but it was building up towards Cressex Road and the treaded M40 junction 4, so I opted to take a right turn down Desborough Avenue and then onto Lancaster Road. As I got down past the t-junction with Lincoln Road, the traffic built up again. It was stop start. So I decided to park the car, in the car park next to the Build Centre and walk home. It was 6.37pm, I was tired and about half a mile from home. I put my laptop case on my shoulder and headed home. I watched as drivers continued their journey home and was thankful I was near the end of my journey. There was a brand new, black Audi A5 in the queue. A powerful but somewhat quiet 3 litre diesel engine, with the full S-Line kit. I noticed the car had been purchased, or rather provided by Amersham Audi. The same dealership as mine. Very nice executive car, but not sure about the new shape. I think like most new models it will take a while to get used to it. The most annoying thing about this traffic jam was the lack of any news about it on the web. I suppose it is further compounded in my eyes by the fact I do not have a working radio in my car, so cannot get the latest travel news from Mix 107. However, so many people are affected, I wonder why it does not get mention in the local news.

Back on the 20th April I went to see The IT Crowd being filmed at Pinewood Studios with Chris. The episode we saw, was screened on Channel 4 this evening at 9.30pm (10.30pm on Channel 4 +1) sandwiched in between the finale of Big Brother. The second series only started last week but I forgot to mention it. Last week had me in complete stitches but this week was not that good. Perhaps because I had seen it shot and re-shot several times over three months ago. Nevertheless, I really enjoy the series, I just hope there is more continuity from each episode this time around. They appear to very much stand on their own, perhaps for the irregular viewer whom will just dip in and out at their choosing. Obviously a whole universe away from the other television series I have been watching (Heroes) but in it's own way, an entertaining way to spend half an hour on a Friday evening at home. Particularly when the curry you organised gets pulled at the last minute.

I have found several old friends on FaceBook recently. Some I used to work with, some I went to school with, others I went to college with. It is great to find a site that is open to all. Back in the day (1996) the only people you could seriously get in contact with, were the guys that lived and breathed online (much like myself). Great to see the internet become such an everyday necessity for all, rather than for the privilege few with the know how. I will happily admit that I spend too much time on the site day to day. However, how often should I update my status and how often should I change my profile photo? These excuses would only get me so far at work, even with their relatively lenient approach to staff internet access. While on one it does give you the ability to catch up with old friends, it also, for me personally gives me an indication of how much people have changed and at times how much I have been left behind.

A quiet weekend, no I would go as far as to say a whisper of a weekend. No real plans at all. At home, perhaps working on a few web projects but apart from that I think this is very much going to be the case for the rest of the month. Charlie has asked me to come and watch him play rugby, in Marlow but I am not sure if I will. Really depends on how I feel and if I get all those little errands done on Saturday morning. This may sound stupid but I am looking forward to watching Football Focus and then Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports News.

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Sunday 26th August 2007

Woke up yesterday morning with an acute headache. Not good. I had some breakfast, Coco Pops as my usual Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes was finished. Afterwards, I had a Nurofen tablet, hoping it would kick in the by the time I jumped into town to catch the train. I had quick shower, grabbed all my things and headed out the door by 11.30am. Parking the car, I noticed gangs of rugby fans in St. Helen tops all over the place, most queuing for tickets. I parked the car, headed to the station, bought a ticket from the FastTicket booth (now advertised across the network as a Time Machine! Oh whatever next!) Then headed across to platform three. It was quite busy, with a disabled chap, in a wheelchair with his Mum and Nan. They got onto the next London bound train after me and got chatting. It was nice to speak to some friendly people and made a change from my selfish anti-social act of listening to my Zen. The train was full and emptied somewhat at Wembley Stadium. I suppose with the nice weather on a Bank Holiday weekend, many of these people were walk on day trippers. At Marylebone, I topped up my Oyster Card, the site had been down for maintenance and actually moved servers. It would be a few days before I would be able to top up online. The reality was, I did not really need to put any extra money on but I hate the idea of my blue plastic going empty, particularly if my journey is extended for some strange reason. I bought a drink and plugged in my Zen, then headed down to the tube. The long queue for the tube ticket office and Chiltern Railways ticket office, confirmed that this was a big day for walk on fares.

I got to Finsbury Park quite early. I text Terry but no reply. I was hoping to meet him before hand and perhaps go for a drink before the match. I waited for a few minutes and then decided to head for the ground, I could wait for him there. As I got outside the grove, I was approached by an elderly couple. They asked where the shop was, I pointed them in the right direction. They were asking if a DVD would be on sale of the last time Manchester City beat us here (I assume they were referring to Highbury). I explained that I did not know but I was not convinced that it was from 1950. The programme which I bought shortly afterwards stated 1975. The museum was open and I was tempted to go and take a look inside. However, I knew it would close close to kick off and wanted more time in there. Perhaps when I come over for a stadium tour. I waited a good fifteen minutes for Terry but then opted to go into the ground, get a pie and then head for my seat. I was quite high up to the left of the goal. I was looking forward to a good performance, a convincing win and some goals.

The place was quiet, but there was over half an hour before kick off. While we were frustrated by Man City for a while, we were not taking our chances. Some personnel changes helped but man of the match (in my opinion) Alexander Hleb, passed a great ball through to Fabregas and he finished calming in front of goal. The place erupted. Justified result, particularly after the penalty that was not converted by Robin. You can read up the full details over on the Beeb web site. The performance was not great, but we kept City at bay and scored, eventually. After the match, Arsenal now host 'Extra Time'. This takes place in the lower tear by Block 31. They have music, guest speaker with Q&A session plus cheap drinks. Rather than normally rush off, as I would do, I decided to check this out. Clayton Stevens provided the entertainment in the form of music from the Rat Pack. There was New York, New York, which most of the crowd sang along to. Then we were joined by John Radford, Arsenal's fourth time all time goal scorer. I stayed just over the thirty minute mark and then decided to head home. The crowds had by now dispersed. I had seen the emotional scenes up at Goodison Park with the evening kick off of Everton versus Blackburn. I thought it best to head home. There were just a handful of people heading towards the tube station but the queue for Arsenal was long (as usual). I made my way across to Finsbury Park, jumped on a tube train and headed back home.

It only takes a few things to make a Saturday night perfect. My Dad collected pizza from Pizza Hut and we watched the final of DanceX. In strange twist of fate, I had seen the opening show several weeks ago, but then been out every Saturday evening to not see a single show until last night's grand final. I hate to see kids growing up these days, who think that Saturday night means phone in reality television shows. Such a shame. The golden era, in the 1980s and early 1990s are gone forever. Bruno's team won and they were the more convincing dancers and singers in my opinion. There dance to Michael Jackson's Black or White was the highlight of the show for me. However, if you could take members of both teams, you could in fact make a super-dance group. However, I do not want to give the impression that I am a fan of the show, the format, or the judges. However, having said that it is not as bad as X Factor. Now that is pure car crash television. One contestant, said something very profound without actually realising the power of what he had said. "I want to be the next Shayne Ward!". So talent show winners are inspiring other people to enter talent shows, even if said winner has achieved very little, apart from the number one single which is almost guaranteed from the moment you win.

Today, I got up at 9am and was very much ready for action. I was off to Birmingham, for the first time since January 2005. Then I went shopping with Nav who caught the train up from Leicester. Today, I was going to meet my friend, do a little shopping and just have a relaxing day. I had purchased my tickets in advance via Train Line. Chiltern Railways run a special £15 return fair, although the £5 E-Day ticket (each way) is not available on Sundays. That is a shame because I wanted to use that service, which sends a barcode to your mobile phone. Don't you just love technology. I got to Wycombe station early, just after 10am and had a bit of a wait for the 10:43am train. When it did arrive, we left waiting for ten minutes as a new driver was on his way via taxi from Aylesbury. We did eventually get going and were running about five minutes late. When we pulled into Moor Street, I was surprised by the station. It had been renovated but in 1930s period style. The last time I had been here, almost three years ago, the station was in a state of neglect. It is amazing when you approach the station, because you can make out the significant buildings of the Birmingham skyline. I am of course, referring to the Selfrdiges Building. Once off the station, I took a photography in the glorious August sunshine with my phone.

I waited for my friend, who arrived shortly afterwards and we headed off into the Bull Ring. We had coffee (tea for me of course) at Star Bucks, then headed down to the Mailbox. This was one of the places I had not visited on my last trip and was keen to have a look around. It is a strange building, which looks smaller from the outside. We at lunch at Red Peppers, a nice latino flavoured affair. Then went for a drink at Sante Fe, which over looks the canal. All seating outside was taken, so we had to make do with the air conditioned interior. We then went looking around a few shops in the Bull Ring but it was approaching 5pm and shops were closing down. Then over the mall tannoy, they announced the centre was closing in fifteen minutes. We headed across to Chinatown, had a drink at Arca. It was nice to just sit outside in the warm sunshine and relax. It was about quarter past six and time for me to catch my train back home. We headed back to Moor Street and said goodbye. I was looking forward to being back home. The sun was setting and I took a great photograph while sat at platform two.

It is time like that, you are glad you have a camera phone for such candid shots. Funny how all those years ago, when picture messaging first started that I was so against it. I got home at 8.30pm, after the journey on the train. I had been trying to tune into a local FM station to get the football scores but had not picked anything up. So in the end opted to listen to my mp3s instead. A lovely pleasant day and a change from what I would have normally done over a bank holiday weekend.

It is week two of Foxy watch. Pav has been texting me MMS over the weekend. One on Saturday was of Mr. Fantastic Fox at Reading festival. As you can see below, his Fred Perry man bag, never leaves his side.

In site news, I have changed my comment provider from Enetation who have been next to useless recently, to the popular Haloscan. I should have gone with them in the first place. I chose Enetation based on great feedback on a Blogger forum two years ago. However, the servers keep going down and readers find it difficult to leave messages without submitting them twice. I am going to retro place all old comments over to the new system but that will take some time. Also, this way I will also be able to monitor trackbacks (if there ever are any!)

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Friday 24th August 2007

I worked from home today, only the third time since I started my new position just over six months ago. Nice for a slower pace to the day for a change. Get up a little later, jump on the laptop and get working. I had a quite a few things to do and took some calls from the office. The sun came out in the late afternoon and the weekend was nearly here. Before I get to a preview of the next three days, let me just round up one final event from last weekend.

Sunday was officially a lazy day, I got up around 11am, chilled out and did very little. I watched both afternoon games on Sky and jumped on the computer in between. During dinner, we decided to watch Just My Luck. It was a movie I had seen advertised while at the cinema last year. However, it was something I would never go to see on the big screen or even really be keen to watch at home. However, I had a few hours to kill and wanted to watch something. Let me put the record straight, I am not a fan of Lindsay Lohan. I would not go as far to say I hate her, but I just cannot get over her freckly faced baby looks in The Parent Trap. I have seen her in Mean Girls, which was quite funny, but generally I do not appreciate her talents as an actress. However, this was a nice throw away movie, something quite light hearted to kill an evening. There was some classic funny moments, but just like the movie, they are quite easily forgotten. Throughout, I was sure I recognised one of her friends in the movie but just could not put a name or place to the face. It was not until I did a little searching on Wikipedia I realised that the actress started in Daniel Powter's music video, 'Bad Day'. With such an exotic name as Samaire, she surely deserves to push her co-star to the side and take up a leading role all for herself. In summary, a good movie to waste away some time of an evening, never too serious and with no real substance, it is very much throw away pop corn material. The main British interest is the background of the McFly US invasion, which is hardly convincing.

Now, back to the long Bank Holiday weekend. Pav is off to Reading Festival, having secured tickets on Tuesday. I am quite busy and the roller coaster begins tomorrow. Off to Arsenal for the first Saturday afternoon kick off at Ashburton Grove against Sven's Man City. Saturday evening may well be a takeaway pizza at home. Sunday, early start, off to Birmingham to meet a friend for the afternoon. Plan to do some shopping around the BullRing and Mailbox. Monday at the moment is free as day for admin plus also to relax a little. Eastenders this week had inspired me to arrange a day trip down to Brighton but Pav's view was no one would be interested, so I reluctantly did not create an event on FaceBook.

I cannot end without mentioning my visit to Wembley mid-week. I went with Niko from work. I got to the stadium just before 7pm but had to wait a good half hour for him to arrive. It was raining lightly as I waited outside turnstile N. The weather would be a good metaphor for the game were about to see. The build up had been marred by withdrawals due to injury, so England started with a far from main eleven. There were a handful of first choices and a debut with some new faces. Our seats were by the corner flag to the left of the pitch. I was looking forward to a convincing performance from England. What we got was far from that. I am actually not in the mood to even write up a review. Plus it is two days since the match and most people will have read all the comments and backlash. The result was disappointing but we expect more at home against our arch rivals. What makes matters worse is that it was to a certain extent a German 'B' team on show. Do we really deserve to be at the European Championships next year?

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Monday 20th August 2007

Got up around 8.30-9am on Saturday, which for me is later than usual. I made some breakfast and a cup of tea, and watched some television. Skipping between BBC News 24, Sky Sports News and the music channels. I was looking forward to the day, quite a few things happening but nothing too drastic. I left home around 11am, after a pit stop in Henley, got to Caversham around midday. Pav was in Winchester on his way back, collecting his M3 from a garage. After a few minutes, he arrived and we got on with washing the car. The main reason for this was to get Pav to have a look at the rear quarter panels and see how good a job the body shop had done. After a wash, under the dull grey skies of Reading, we reversed the car into the garage. It had started to rain, but only lightly. Pav polished the driver's side rear quarter to a brilliant shine and wanted to do a similar job on the passenger side, but I wanted to head over to Charlie's. It was 2pm. Time to go I think. I thanked Pav for his time, I know he wanted to go out in Reading drinking, I bid him goodbye and would see him again later at the party.

I called the Admiral and let him know I was on the way over. Twenty minutes down the road to Woodley. As soon I got out of my car, Charlie came to open the door. This was it. I went upstairs, was about to change footwear from my heavy Nike Air trainers, to my Puma classics, but was stopped in my tracks by Charlie. They were too light and would give me little support on our run. I stuck with the Nike trainers, took off my sweatshirt but opted out of the offer to borrow some shorts. We headed out, out of the courtyard and onto the main road. My first run, since my days of cross country back in the mid 1990s. To begin with I kept up the pace with Charlie but around the first corner, Charlie slowly took the lead and by half way, he was a good 100 yards ahead of me. I was looking to detail the run on Google Maps. However it is more complicated than it looks, I need to revise my first attempt. As I tried to regulate my breathing, my body just could not take it anymore and I slowed to a stroll and then stopped altogether to catch my breath. My personal trainer, spotting me, turned around and just shouted "Run! Run!". Sure enough, I gave out a sign and started running again. This would continue at numerous points through out the course. Charlie even made the comment that I was not running, I was merely 'power' walking! By the time we got back to Charlie's flat, I was completely shattered. You can imagine my surprise when Charlie said that it was just a warm up. We got back, I had a sip of some Lucozade Sport and then got down to some serious training. My press-up technique was bad, I knew that already but I was shocked that I had to get my chest as low as a 'fist' gap to the floor. I tried with little luck to get my body to the floor but managed thirty press-ups of sorts. Then came the sit-ups. Once my feet were secured down, I did much better. However, the improvement of my technique was to get the back of my shoulders to touch the floor. After these crawling tasks, I had to do squats. Charlie just laughed at the half squats I had been doing in training for the previous month. Then, after another short drink break, it was time for the weights. Now here comes the point, whereby I realise exactly how weak I am. First the bar was loaded with 35kg but this was dropped down to 15kg, as I struggled with the larger weight. I eventually managed twenty of these, although it felt like many more. We then switched over to some dumbbells. Once again, the weight was reduced and I had my back up against the wall and tried to do some biceps drills. It was hard work, but I got there in the end. Then Charlie, showed me a few other exercises with the dumbbell. Each harder than the last. Then, it was down on the floor again for some press-ups and sit-ups. It was 4pm, I was shattered. Time to head home. From the glazed look in Charlie's eyes, he was not impressed. I had plenty of work to do, to gain any level of fitness. As I left, I convinced Charlie to come to the party, although he did not need much convincing. I would be back in five hours to pick him up.

I headed home, and got some food, caught up with the football scores. Then, went to sleep for an hour or so, my body needed the rest, particularly if I was going to be partying into the small hours. My sister woke me up at 7pm, and I got up to get ready and left just after 8pm. I first picked up Charlie, then picked up Pav, then final pick up was Sarah. Then, as the taxi driver, we drove around the corner to Tesco Express petrol station, before finally heading over to Oxford Road and Kev's house. I parked the car around the corner and we headed in. We could see the tent from the back of the house and the laser light show. This looked good. As we walked through the door, we were greeted by Foxy. He was more than merry. He gave Charlie a hug, and then me as well, in a strange show of manly affection. I was glad he was here, there is always a lively party when he is there. A case in point is the weekend down in Cornwall back in May. Walking through the kitchen, now DJ booth, we headed outside into the garden. It was amazing, easily the best house party I had been to. The garden, considering how small it was, was covered in a tent, there were four silver glittering disco balls, an assortment of green laser lights. A small dance floor, leading to a grass area with sofas either side. There was a fridge, on the left, stocked with drinks. We moved up to the back to join the rest of our friends on the decking area. It was rather dark, but Julian, one of the organisers, soon provided us with a lamp. We sat down and the party began. There was a water feature to the side, a large shower head if you will, powering water down into a man made water fall under the decking. Due to lack of water, it only lasted for eight minutes and used around 14 litres of water. Then it just died. It was used twice during the night. Foxy was in great form, he asked Charlie if he was still playing rugby and jumped out of his chair to tackle him, the Admiral, a little slow to react but eventual fought off the T-Dogg move. It happened again a little later, but I was laughing so much I can't remember exactly how that one panned out. We were in for a night of pure entertainment. The party was great, it slowly filled up and was perhaps at it's peak around midnight. We got down onto the dance floor to bust some shapes before Pav's set around 12.30am. He played a great set and Foxy absolutely went crazy to an old classic. Josh Wink with a remix of Higher State of Consciousness. I have never seen the T-Dogg go so hyper. He was just loving it and giving Pav hi-fives through the window.

Around 3.30am, we were quite hungry, so headed down the road for some food. Pav told me that Mr. Cod was open until 4am, so you can imagine my surprise when it was closed. We then walked down Oxford Road to Hot Stuff, which was open until 4.30am. We got some food, paid for kindly by Charlie and then headed back to the party. Mr. Stevens had arrived by now, so we headed back to the dance floor for his set. It was good, but the party was dying down, with only the hardcore party animals left. (The purists, would stay until early afternoon on Sunday). Around 5am, we decide to make a move and left. I got back home at 6.03am. I jumped into my bed, completely shattered. The work out (as brief as it had been) had taken it's toll on me. The legend of all house parties on top, did not help.

What are the signs of a truly memorable night? Some people say, it is when you call your 2nd ambulance. Other's say it is when you have to grab onto your friends to carry you back home. In this case, it was Fox, collapsed in the door way of Kev's house around 3am. Such a shame he remembers very little about the whole weekend. Teach him to go into town and start drinking around 2pm, in the afternoon.

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Friday 17th August 2007

The weekend is here finally! Another long week in the office, but thankfully it is out of the way. Very busy but thankfully I have booked all my holiday, including my Austria trip in January. So, I have something to look forward to. I am going to try and pack my weeks off with several challenges (as Charlie would say) to keep me occupied. More on that nearer the time, for now, let me bring all back for this weekend.

Kev's house parties have been an annual event for the past few years. I was invited last year, when the party took place in early September. Unfortunately that was the day I went to meet up with Dave in London (9th September. I got home, completely shattered and opted to watch Star Wars on Sky Movies, rather than trek over to Reading for the party. They were screening all from the double trilogy back to back across six weekends. On that particular weekend, they were showing Return Of The Jedi. (In end, I would only watch the original trilogy and miss out on movies two and three from the most recent trilogy.) Pav did text me, but I was settled on the sofa by then and eating ice cream. There was no chance of moving me, even if the party went on until 6am. I missed out, by all accounts on a great party. Next year, I thought to myself.

This year, I was invited via text message (very 1999) and also sent an invitation to the event on FaceBook (very 2007). I am looking forward to the party and just looking at the party photos from years gone by, I know it will be a great laugh. Plus, we seemed to have got the whole gang out, which has been difficult over the summer. All the usual suspects will be there, Andy, (other Andy), Helen, Nige and of course the one and only T-Dogg. I am looking forward to it! Before that, I have a few things to do. Heading over to Pav's around 11am, to wash my car. It is in need of a good clean. Then, heading over to Charlie's flat. After my fitness course, it is time to step up. Step up to the mark and be counted. He is going to put me through my paces, with a run and some weight training. I'm slightly nervous but looking forward to the challenge. I know I can push myself and do this. Just tonight, discussing it with my friend online, he has sent me my own little program and included a mysterious 'test' in week four. If I thought Chris' fitness course was hard (Square of Death anyone?), this will be a the real deal. Charlie has played rugby since the tender age of six. You know you are in for hell, when you see his personal message on MSN; "It's hard being this darn good!". I may live to tell the tale. Just maybe.

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Wednesday 15th August 2007

It seems as if we had to wait an age for Rush Hour 3 to be made. You knew it was on the cards, from the out takes in the first sequel (as the credits rolled). Tucker clearly says, "He won't be in Rush Hour 3" after the villain throws himself out of a window. I was glad it was back and was looking forward to seeing it as soon as I could. Any other weekend, I would have gone on Friday night with Pav. However, as he was busy at a wedding, I went on Sunday afternoon with my sister. This was the ideal time to be in Reading town, with them playing Manchester United live on Sky. The Oracle was still quite busy as they had setup a sandy beach and attractions for the children down by the riverside. We got into the cinema and it was relatively quiet as I expected, we skipped popcorn and drinks. We had had a big lunch and were not really hungry, plus my sister had smuggled in some snacks. We took our seats and waited for the movie to begin.

When it finally ended some ninety minutes later, I was upset. I wanted the adventure to carry on, for just a bit longer. I should have guessed really, some of the elements can be found in the first two movies, particularly the twist at the end. The backdrop is Paris but the main plot is very similar to the first two movies. Why some people may feel rather annoyed for simply a rehashing with a few French actors with weak English accents. I really enjoyed the film, Chris Tucker was on excellent form. There were less action scenes, but what Ratner lacked in quantity he made up for in quality. Although, I wanted to see more trademark movies from Jackie. I know he is getting old but I just wanted him to raise his game, for the final of the trilogy. At times, I was in stitches, Tucker stealing the show. I am sure he has more on screen time in this sequel than the previous two but do not quote me on that. All in all, a fantastic way to waste away an hour and a half. Entertaining and fun. Sure the storyline you take with a pinch of salt. You just sit back and enjoy the right. I highly recommend you go and watch the movie, like me you will disappointed when it ends.

I visit the Pop Justice web site, at least once a week. You can imagine my surprise, when I read an e-mail (shown as an e-mail on the music blog) regarding a song called Michael Jackson and the remix by Calvin Harris. Reading further, I discovered the artist were The Mitchell Brothers. Before you start thinking of slap heads Grant & Phil, these boys are actually of Ghanaian extraction. I had to hear the song, so headed over to YouTube to watch a compilation of MJ clips along with the song. Annie Mac gives the intro with the comments, "hottest track at the moment". It sure is and it is only going to get better. I headed over to MJ News Online forum to find out what the fan's reaction to the song. Across two pages, all messages were positive. One person wanted to whip up the hype and excel the single to the top of the charts. A great way to get Michael back into the headlines for all the right reasons for a change. Take a listen, I am sure you will like it, the chorus is very catchy.

As you know, I am a big fan of Sadie Ama and long for her album to be released. I know she is hard at work in the studio putting on the finishes touches and also finalising plans for a tour. Fantastic. I headed over to her MySpace page and was pleased to find a new song to preview. Not Enough is fantastic and I will be bold enough to say even better than her first single, Falling. I am looking forward to more new material in the coming few months and hopefully dates for album and the tour. Hopefully it won't go down too badly that I started Sadie's Wikipedia page. Although I know I need to update it and write something more original and less record company talk. That is what you get for copying directly from a MySpace profile.

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Saturday 11th August 2007

A weekend at home, something of a luxury for me. I had loads to do. So much in fact, that I made a quick list on Friday night of all the things I wanted to achieve on Saturday alone. Ten items in total but a range of simple to complex tasks. I got up early this morning and headed out just after 8.30am, to go into town. I was long over due a haircut. However, I got to the barbers around 9am exactly, only to find it packed. Maybe I should not have wasted a few minutes, waiting in the car. It took over twenty minutes before I got seen to. Never mind, I was happy to wait. After my haircut, I headed to ASDA to give my suit in for dry cleaning and pick up some essentials for breakfast. When I got home, I showered and had some breakfast, planning in my head which task I would go for next. It was around 11am now, so I jumped on the computer for a while, burnt some albums for a friend and waited for Football Focus to return. Great to have the show back, even though I could watch Soccer Saturday on Freeview, I prefer the flagship show from the Beeb. At 1pm, it was time for me to get out into the sunshine and do some work. I cleaned the car inside and then gave it a quick wash and rinse, nothing spectacular, it was in need of a clean. Then I came inside, time for some lunch. Before I ate, I watched the closing twenty minutes of the lunchtime kick off. Fantastic to see Michael Chopra score the first goal of the new season. After lunch, I went over to my room, switched on my stereo to FiveLive and listened to live coverage. Next job was to clean my shower room, it was in a bad state. It took a while but I got there, then I went through and cleaned my room. I had loads of paperwork and bits and pieces to sort out. However, I was glad to get the mess out of the door.

I watched Soccer Saturday, as the results came in and continued to burn some more CDs for my friend. (Don't you just love having television on the PC.) Then, I put the radio back on for commentary on the evening kick off. Nice to see Liverpool win and of course Tottenham lose. I was looking forward to watching Match Of The Day tonight. While I had dinner, I watched Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life. I have the original on DVD (got it for Christmas in fact) and saw it a few years ago. It was quite enjoyable, for a popcorn movie even though I have never been a real fan of the games and only played the original on the PC. It was something to pass the time before the football highlights. It was good, but as usual the plot is so difficult to follow, although it was much more violent that then first movie, with a bigger emphasis on action. Will there be a third?

My final training session tomorrow morning, the results day. I will find out if I have made any progress since I started the course in mid July. I am looking forward to it, hoping I have made a good improvement. The main thing is to continue doing something active in the coming few weeks and stop myself from slipping back into a couch potato. After training, I will come back, have some lunch while listening to the radio commentary to Arsenal versus Fulham. Then around 3.30pm, I am heading over to Vue Reading to watch Rush Hour 3 with my sister. I am really looking forward to it, the first two movies were great and I saw the second movie while at University, in my first year. Chris Tucker is a talented comic, I just wish he would stop being so lazy and appear in a few more movies. Will post a review later in the week, perhaps even tomorrow night if I have time.

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Sunday 5th August 2007

Back in mid to late May, Pav put up a post over on his forum for a big summer camp, planned for some time in early August. As I had never been camping, I was keen to come along for the experience and some hardcore calor action! We slowly started debating which weekend to go and the location that was mentioned was Rhossili Bay. Pav and a few others had been there before and it was a good place to catch some waves, along with a camp site, right by the beach. With the move over to Facebook, Pav created an 'event' with 10 confirmed guests. However, by the time the weekend came, many people had dropped out. On Thursday evening (2nd), I offered to drive in the 307, as Charlie was ill and could not make it. We had to get there early to book our pitches and setup camp. Early start for Friday then, I had work to do. However, before all of that, I have to give a story about my training session.

I had obviously missed the session on Sunday, due to the Arsenal friendly even though the team actually had a friendly, so there was no scheduled training. What I am trying to say, is that it had been a week since I had last had a runabout. When I arrived, I noticed that Chris took hardly any equipment out of his car and there were no cones setup on on the field. Not a good sign. Chris gave me a knowing smirk, that we were in for something a bit different today. The drill, was named, doggies of death (I better explain doggies. This is the term that describes running from one cone to the other but in a staged way, so you run between point A and B, then back to A and to point C. Then back to A and to D. Does that make sense?) Normally they are spaced about five metres apart, on this occasion, we were using the markers of the full size football pitch. This was not good and I barely managed to finished the two runs we had at it, which included a two minute drink break. After this, we had to go a range of drills in two groups of four. It was a race against the clock to complete, for example 200 press-ups, 200 sit-ups between all members of the group. We lost but only just. Then we had to do some running, the length of the pitch and back, I was by this stage not really ready for physical torture but nevertheless went for two attempts, the first being under a minute. Then we had a game of football, we lost 3-1, I was on the side with dark coloured t-shirts. Chris tried his best to raise morale but to no avail, although we did get a consolation goal. Then, the keeper, whom had been training separately asked for us to take shots at him. The drill was simple, pass the ball to the feeder, request left or right foot, the ball is passed back and go for a sweet shot directly at goal, aiming for direction rather than power. I was one of the last few to go and was surprised by how good contact I got on the ball and then watched, in slow motion as the ball looped over the keeper into the back of the net. Earlier, in the day, I had been reading a very interesting article about time over on the BBC News Magazine. Stick with me here, it will be worth it. I understood, only now, how the magicians Berkgamp, Best and Gasicoigne performed their mastery. Envisioning the play in your end is one thing, but being able to have the power to actual slow play down, is something else. While I of course, am many light years (even decades) from the skill of these midfield maestros, for a few moments on Thursday evening. My training is slowly coming to a close, with only two further sessions remaining. The next step, is deciding what to do, to keep myself active and build on the small progress of the past month. A discussion for a blog entry, next week perhaps.

An early start on Friday then, I got up around 5.20am and after a shower, packed the car. My sister and I had packed everything I needed late on Thursday night, so it was a case of load the car and wagons roll. A few minutes after 6am, I was on my way over to Caversham. As I knocked on the door, there was no reply, so I tried again. Eventually the door was opened and we began to pack the car. It took over thirty minutes to arrange everything correctly. We had substantial amount of kit to take down, three tents, including my own and some food, drink and equipment. Even so, there was a group of things left by the door for Pav to bring down later in the evening. At 7.04am, we were on our way with a ETA of around 10.14am. I headed onto the M4 and switched the radio from my personal favourite, KISS to Radio 1. It was Scott Mills, looking after Breakfast, so I was happy to listen along. He was hilarious, particularly the Bookshop segment. Thanks to some diehard fans, you can download the best bits! With the radio playing some great songs, including the Freemasons' remix of Greenlight, the journey went well. The motorway was relatively clear, I had got over my tiredness and was very much looking forward to whatever the weekend had in store. Perhaps the most crucial element, was the bright sunshines and clear blue skies up ahead.

We hit traffic around 8.30am, around Newport. Traffic at a complete standstill, I took a call on my TomTom via hands free, it was Pav. He was surprised at the progress we had made. It was 8.36am, precisely, I note from the call log on my N73. We reminded our friend all the bits and pieces we had left for him back at home and anything else we needed him to collect before heading down himself. An hour later, we stopped for some breakfast at Cardiff Gate. A peculiar small services area built onto a business park. We had some pannis and tea, for a fifteen minute pit stop before heading back onto the road. The rest of the journey was stress free, well the motorway part at least. It was the moment we came off the moment, after Swansea that things begin to get interesting. Firstly you have to suddenly concentration and look out for caravans. The distance, as close as we were to the campsite, became meaningless, as we had to travel on winding country roads, which now mid morning on a Friday were quite busy. Sure enough, by 10.30am, we could clearly make out the coast in the distance. We were driving through residential streets now, with cars parked on either side and at times only clear passage for one vehicle at at time. We arrived at the campsite, Hillend around 11am, explained we had friends coming and booked ourselves in. We then drove down to the first camping area, it was surprisingly full. We moved onto the second, drove around and then came up to the entrance for the family enclosure, only to turn around and look for a spot. We choice one by the entrance to the second field, it was big enough for all three tents and three cars, when the others arrived. We then had to unpack the car and begin the task of setting up came.

As this was my first camping trip, I let Nigel take the lead and helped as much as I could. The first tent to go up was the daddy, two sleeping compartments either side of a large quite spacious living area. Then, we put up my tent, which took about twenty minutes, five minutes longer than the estimated time on the label. I was quite happy with my purchase from Halfords, although it states it is a three man tent, I think it is more suitable for two.

The final tent to go up, was for Andy and Helen, the final couple in our group. We then put in all our gear inside the tents and made a list. We had spotted a Tesco Express, part of an Esso petrol station about twenty minutes up the road and were going to go up and stock up on food for the weekend. Nigel and I had a drink, while Div made a list. In between, we had called Pav to let him know we had arrived, found a spot and were very much just waiting for him to arrive. We then headed down back towards civilisation, stopping at a local independent store, rather than the world's fourth largest retailer. We stuffed our trolley full of food and all the essentials we needed, including screw drivers to assemble the barbeque. We then headed back to the car and finally emptied the car of all the groceries. I assisted Nigel in putting the barbeque grill together. Not bad for £9.98 from B&Q! To celebrate a successful job done, we had some chocolate cakes to celebrate. The weather had taken a turn for the worst and it started to rain, so we moved back into the main tent. It was late afternoon and although we spent a bit of time chatting, I decided to go to my tent and rest. I had brought my Zen along, so listened to the radio and then some mp3s, while resting in my sleeping bag. I was started to quite enjoy the camping experience but there was so much more to come.

Around 7.30pm, the rain had cleared and we went for a walk to stretch our legs. We headed up the hill to the camp entrance, Nigel received a call from Em, they were stuck in traffic and were about an hour or so away. We headed back down to the tent, as it there was some light rain. To my surprise, cars were still coming into the camp area, some people turned away, some being offered what limited pitches remained. Surely it was full by now. We got back into the tent and I sat on the air bed. Using my super powers, I kept my super hearing on alert in the background. I then heard the distinct voice of Helen just walking past my car. I rushed out the tent to greet Helen and Andy. Nearly all the party were here, they went back to the entrance to pay their fee and grab their car. Their arrival made me feel better, Pav & Emily were about thirty minutes away, so the barbeque could start very soon.

The M3 pulled up at around 8.40pm, I went to the gate to meet Pav, and also explain we had already paid for the pitch. This of course was slightly bending the truth and we got past the security at the entrance. Pav parked up the M3, emptied out the luggage and the barbeque could begin. The food was good, with Chef Nigel looking after feeding the troops, we also got some drinks out of the cooler. This was the life, this was what camping was all about. Enjoying the company of my friends around the warm flames of the grill. After food, we were all stuffed and ended up moving into the main tent and chilling out while we had some more drinks. Pav handed me his Dad's Sony CyberShotU DSC-P12. I then started snapping away, as I would do for the rest of the weekend. At around 12.45am, I finally retired to my own tent to sleep. Although I listened to BBC Radio FiveLive for a while before finally drifting off to sleep. I woke up a few times during the night, disturbed by the wind howling against my tent. It sounded as if there was someone outside walking around. However, it was just my imagination going wild. My sleeping bag was comfortable but I kept stirring throughout the night. It was wet and windy outside, not the great weather we had hoped for.

I woke up initially around 7am, but actually got up around 9am. I could hear Nigel checking with the others if I was awake. I got up, went over to the washrooms to wash my face and then came back to our main base camp for breakfast. It was Nigel's Cafe open for business, with bagels on offer. Breakfast went down very well, I was quite hungary and it hit the spot. While we were eating we planned what to do with the day. Surf was up, well for some.

Andy, Pav & Helen headed to PJ's Surf Shop up the road to rent some surfboards, body boards and wet suits. When they got back, it was about midday, Helen was in Pav's lap on the back seat of Andy's beemer. This was so they could fit the two surf boards across the passenger seat and diagonally across in the saloon car. Someone should have bought a roof rack! Pav was excited and Andy, after a cigarette was ready for some action!

The weather was dull, grey, overcast and at times slightly wet. However, we all headed down to the beach, it was still quite busy, considering the weather. Most of the campers had come for some surf and were not going to let a little bit of drizzle get them down. We grabbed a place on the beach while the others headed down to the sea. We pitched up a small beach tent and had some more drinks. I had a little rest, but did not actually go to sleep. There was a hint of sunshine, as the the clouds cleared briefly to let the golden rays through. However, it did not come back out.

Around 3.30pm, we headed back to camp. Our surfer dudes wanted a shower and had to return the kit by 5pm. At camp, we had a little tidy up, while Andy and Pav went to return the gear. We opted for a light snack, rather than having a big meal on the barbeque. Pasta was the on offer and it was very good, along with a desert of Fox Classic biscuits. By now it was just after 6pm and we all retired to our tents for some rest. I only wanted to rest for about an hour and actually did not go to sleep. I got into my sleeping bag and listened to some music on my Zen. I was tired and was actually looking forward to going home. I was woken up around 7.30pm, the sun had come out and we decided to head down to the beach, armed with a Early Learning Centre cricket set (for ages between 5-8).

I really enjoyed the game, maybe more so because I am in the middle of my fitness course and am actually in the mood for doing active things. We took it in turns bat, bowling and fielding. I had a great period bowling, taking a consecutive four wickets (one directly, three with catches). Sorry, must sound I was taking a silly friendly game on the beach far to seriously but I am gaining a little competitive hunger inside. After cricket, the sun was starting to fade and the tide was coming in. The rest of the group headed back to camp to get dinner started, while I went for a walk down the beach with Emily. We walked quite far down the bay, away from the crowds. It was the first time meeting with sand flies. We turned around and walked back. I annoyed Emily by constantly thinking the sand dune on our left was the exit to came, when we were actually had quite a distance to go. Back at camp, we enjoyed some food before once again, talking and drinking through to the small hours. At 11pm, we were told to switch off the music, Helen had plugged her iPod into small battery powered speakers which was on random repeat. Once again just before 1am, I went off to my tent to go to sleep.

We awoke on Sunday to lovely sunshine, it was glorious! The great weather we had hoped for had finally arrived. We changed our plans and decided to head down to the beach for the early afternoon. Breakfast first though, with Emily taking over duties. It was a lovely bagel once again and once again I was stuffed. We headed down to the beach, it was extremely busy. Once again, we pitched our tent and had some drinks. The sunshine was beating down, so I decided to just lay down on our mat. This was the life, lovely weather and just enjoying the sea breeze. It was hot, extremely hot. Emily, Pav and Nige headed to the sea, while the rest of us just enjoyed the beach. Div continued to read her book. I was actually not looking forward to getting back to Wycombe. I could stay here for much longer. We eventually did though have to leave, pack up and head back to the camp. We started operation clean up, which took less time than I expected. Suppose, it is much easier with more hands on deck. The tents came down, the barbeque was packed away and then it was a case of loading the 307. It did not take that long at all. We had decided while down on the beach that we would pop over to the pub up the road for lunch before heading home. The King's Head has a patio and we sat outside in the sunshine to enjoy our lunch. Table 44. The food arrived quite quickly and it was the fuel I needed for the drive home. Div wanted desert but I wanted to get onto the road as quickly as possible. The compromise was an ice cream at the first services on the M4, as I would need to stop for fuel.

We followed Pav out of the pub car park and on the road back to Reading. As we got onto the motorway, he was behind us on the slip road. It would be the last I would see of him. We listened to BBC Radio One. Firstly the UK Chart, just to see who was number one. It reminded me Sunday afternoon's of my childhood. Driving down from a weekend with family in Nottingham or Hertfordshire, we would always listen to the countdown in the car. As part of their six weeks of summer, they were in Zante. David Pearce, broadcast live with Dance Anthems. He opened his show with DJ Sammy - Heaven. The perfect song to end a perfect weekend. Don't you think? I got home just after 8pm. I was completely shattered. Then I realised I had another challenge ahead of me. Write this blog entry and upload all the photographs.

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Monday 30th July 2007

I suppose I should start by explaining something. Recently, perhaps as little as the past two years, I have started to classify my weekends. Rank them in terms of 'events' and outrageousness. Almost a year ago, my big lad's weekend would have been described purely as 'premium'. Sure, two major international (if not global) events back to back. However, just over something missing that did not enable it to get the label, Ultimate. That is deserving only to weekends such as this. A weekend, that is so busy, you do not have time to breathe or even think. A weekend, where you end up having less than two and half hours sleep on Saturday night / Sunday morning. I will start, as all my best blog entries do, at the beginning.

I had quite a few errands to run on Saturday morning, so got my sister up early and we drove around town to pick up bits and pieces and get all the jobs done. By the time I got home, it was 10am and I quickly vacuumed and washed the 307. I cannot remember the last time it had been cleaned but I did not do a dedicated job, it was more a case of having a cleaner car to drive around, rather than sparkling detail. That could wait. I packed up my things, had a quick shower and as I was about to head out, got the phone call from Charlie. I was literally going to call him in a minute to explain I was late and leaving now. It was about 11.35am precisely. I was late, however, we had made a major logistical miscalculation. It would have been easier for Charlie to pick me up and drop me off as he would later drive right past my house, on our drive up to Stratford. Never mind. I got to Charlie's flat at 12:09pm, after the TomTom took me on an extended route around the back roads. As soon as I turned up, Charlie appeared at his door and was ready to go. I dropped my case and sleeping bag and we jumped in the Vectra. We drove around to the local Tesco Express, literally around the corner, got some food for lunch and were on the road. This is where we soon realised that it would have been easier to grab a lift, as Charlie explained his proposed route. He was going to get onto the M40, but get off at Banbury and take the country roads around to the festival venue. This would be best to avoid the traffic. He put the volume up on his dance compilation and put his foot down, we were on our way.

The journey was uneventful really, the Vectra Estate was quite happy to cruise at three figures. Not bad for a 1.9 diesel. Of course there were weekend drivers, clogging up the fast lane but we eventually got them to pull away and overtake. A white van man temporarily lost control of his vehicle while in the fast lane at around 80, but Mr. T had the reflexes of a cheetah and responded with the brake in plenty of time. We came off the motorway and then hit the country roads. The sun was shining and we were looking forward to a pleasant afternoon. On the country lanes, we came up against more slow movers, but Charlie dispensed with them quite easily, over taking in quick session. As we approached Long Marston, we spotted the AA road signs, we were heading the right way to the car park. We had made the journey in less than two hours. It struck 2pm exactly as we entered the car park. We were guided by quite depressed stewards, some just far to bored and lazy to even put up their arms fully, let alone smile. We drove for about ten minutes, circling the car park and being taken towards and then around the perimeter of the site and parking up in the field. We were the first row of cars, parked on the field, right up against the fence for one of the camping areas. I looked at the clock on the dash, 14:08. Not bad going at all.

We got out, and while a few of the people around us headed straight for the entrance, we had some food and drink. There was no rush, the gates and only just opened and we were here. Relax. Take the weight off your feet before the afternoon and long night of party begins. Charlie called a few friends, firstly Crystal. One of the people he had met on his camping trip up to Scotland in the last week of June. They were camping for the whole weekend and explained it was a total 'mud-fest'. Looking down at my shoes, I realised, maybe I should have brought my wellies! Never mind, how bad could it get. On the advice, Charlie changed from his trainers into walking boots. Wise man. After grabbing some drinks for the walk down, we locked up the car and headed down. The ground was quite dry and hard, apart from the odd puddle I had to leap over. So far so good, I thought. How naive would I feel some thirteen hours later. It was a good eight minute walk around to the entrance gate, and I expected security to be tight. I bought a programme, for £6 from a girl as we walked into quite a busy crowd of people. Some were collecting tickets, some waiting for their friends. As we went through, we had to first dispose of our drink cans and then have our tickets ripped up and thrown into a big black bag. Great! So much for the souvenir. We then came to the security check point, bags were being checked but no one was being searched. A police sniffer dog was patrolling, walking in and out between the people. However, police numbers looked light for an event of this size. As we walked through, we took a quick look around and headed for the main stage sponsored by BBC Radio One. I used the opportunity to take some photographs.

Crystal and friends were on their way from the camping area and would us by the Tuborg tent. This is a poor man's Carlsberg, for the the uninitiated. One of the sponsors of the festival I believe. We got some drinks and just waited to meet up with our friends. Charlie called Sarah, whom I had met twice last year. First in early August at the Tiesto gig at Slinky, Bournemouth. Then a little eight days later at Pav's legendary barbeque. They were just in Banbury and on the way down. They would call Charlie when they got in. We consulted my programme schedule and headed over to the nearby MixMag tent, which had a mixture of music just to warm up the crowd for the main event. The sun was out, the temperature was reasonable. I was looking forward to my second festival experience. This was much bigger than HiFi, which I had attended in Winchester last May. I think I have caught the festival bug, but more on that later. After fifteen twenty minutes, we were still waiting to meet up with Charlie's friends. In that time a girl had approached us twice and handed over a handful of Trident chewing gum, with the words, "You never know when you might get lucky!". Charlie gave me a knowing looking. After a few minutes of a phone call we found them. We then decided to head over to God's Kitchen tent as the Radio One stage, which had been scheduled to start at 3pm, was now delayed by an hour. It was when we headed this tent, the other side of the complex, I began to realise what they meant by mud. I was literally falling a few inches into the slush as I made my way half way through to the stage. We had been here just over an hour. Then as I watched the stage, I noticed a familiar face, walking down back through the middle of the revelers.

It was my school/college friend and former workmate, Daniel Crennell. I instantly walked over to greet him. At first he didn't recognise me, but eventually he did and gave me a hug. I tried to ask why he had not added me to Facebook or replied to my message but his response (if you can call it that) was undistinguishable. I think the medical term is, he was "off his face". He gave me a hug and then disappeared. I came back to Charlie to explain who I had just tried to say hello to. I wanted to get some photos of him and I did a bit later. We were outside, for a bit of a break and I noticed Daniel outside too. He had lost his friends and in his drunken stupor, tried to text and call them. I captured the few moments on camera. It was a shame really because that last time I had seen Crennell, as we used to call him, was almost exactly five years ago. Since then, we had lost touch as he had moved away from Wycombe. He appeared on FaceBook and for a time was in the London network before switched to no network and not responding to my friend request and message. Friends come and go, the odd few you meet up again several years later at a dance music festival.

After getting some more drinks, we decided to have a walk around. Crystal, Rob, Nicola and friends headed back to their tents to change and rest before the long evening session. We were supposed to meet them at the same place at 18.30 but we would not see them again. Charlie and myself headed around the site to take a look around the various tents and also the all important toilet break. The cubicles were provided by Andy (Andy's Loos) and were much better than those a HiFi. In Winchester, it was a communal high raised train with no flushing facilities. Not nice, trust me. We then headed back to the God's Kitchen tent and chilled out for the about an hour or so. It was at 6pm we heard from Sarah. She was by the Radio One stage. As we came out of the tent, the Red Arrows had started their display. (I had heard about their performance on BBC Radio One this morning, while driving in my sister's car). As we walked over, I grabbed my camera and grabbed a few patchy photographs. The blue skies had got a light shade of grey. Heading towards the front of the stage, we used the directions from Sarah's directions via text. Left of the main stage, twenty metres back from the left screen. We split up and looked around and could not find them. In between, I caught the climax of the performance up above. We had almost given up, when Charlie spotted Sarah in the crowd and we met up with them. There was Sarah, her boyfriend James and their friend Dan. Dan was a character, but little did I know how crazy he would be over the next nine odd hours. We watched the final few songs of David Guetta, with my favourite, "Love Don't Let Me Go". The crowd went absolutely nuts! We headed back to the God's Kitchen tent, this is where we would spend most of the night, into the small hours.

I have completely lost track at this moment in time. The line up, looking at my programme was as follows, Eddie Halliwell (6.30pm - 8pm), Judge Jules live on Radio 1 (8pm - 9.30pm). The the other highlights afterwards were, Armin Van Buuren (10.30pm - 12:00am) then the headliner, Paul Van Dyk from midnight until 2am. There was some light rain at 9pm, so we did not head over to see Basement Jaxx over on the main stage, but I was not that concerned, I was happy to stay with my friends as we were. It was around 8.30pm, that we ventured out into the drizzle to grab some food. We got some light snacks from the stalls behind the entrance to the tent. Charlie, Daniel and James went off to get drinks while Sarah and I tried to keep dry under the covers. After refueling, we went back in for some more, Judge Jules' set coming to a close for Radio One listeners. Charlie mentioned to me that he had hoped Pav had recorded the whole set. Van Buuren was very good, but the main draw was the man from East Berlin and he did not disappoint. Of course, I am only familiar with PvD from his commercial releases. (Although I also have another story. When I was in Berlin for my History trip back in October 1999, one of my friends Rachel was hunting down Dyk albums for her boyfriend, even going to the length of calling him to make sure it was the right CD.) He was amazing, really got the crowd going, the tent was packed out and we were near the front, to the left of the main stage. Perfect view of both the DJ and the dancers in front of the screens. There was a VIP area, behind the barrier with a few people dancing, quite self-consciously on a crate. Now, I could not tell you which tracks were played, although Charlie was quick to pick up and point out the 'classics'. However, I enjoyed the set, it was fantastic. The middle part did lose a little momentum but he was able to pick it up for a breathtaking finale! Well worth the ticket price and dancing around in the mud.

Any DJ to follow Paul was going to have to pull something out of the hat to match him, and as you can expect, Ferry Corsten was a bit of a let down. My feet by this time were absolutely buckling from sheer tiredness. I doubt I would last until 6am at this rate. Charlie, James and I went for a walk to clear my head and get some fresh air. That helped, we came back to the GK tent for a few more hours of trance action. At 3.20am, we made the decision to leave. Heading out, it took us a good ten minutes to walk to the gate and other fifteen minutes to walk back to the car. We said goodbye to Daniel, James and Sarah as they headed off ahead of us. Daniel back to his tent to go sleep. On our walk back, we were asked to help push a BMW 5-series out of the mud and gladly obliged. As it was rear wheel drive, it was quite easy to push out of the slush, once the driver followed our directions in terms of steering. Our car was parked around the corner, but there was a dark blue Corsa. The driver, Jenny was quite distressed. Her car had been parked next to ours but moved by someone and also damaged. The roof dented in. We offered to help moved it and after three attempts got it shifted to the left hand side, out of our way and onto the drier grass. Charlie had mentioned to me several times before today and on the journey down about hoping that is car did not get stuck in the mud. I had dismissed the comments, not paying any attention to him. I was foolish to be so ignorant. Switching back to his trainers and got into the drivers seat. I got out of my muddy shoes and took my socks off and threw them into a bag. He started his engine and off we went. The problem is, we did not get far, we got stuck two yards ahead, into the thick mud. There was no alternative, I had to get out and push. I put on Charlie's muddy walking boots and braved the muddy field. Jenny helped me and we got the car out of one ditch and into another. We asked some passersby for help and moved the car a little further but there was no luck. Charlie got out of his car now and we were considering waiting for a tractor or 4v4 to come pull us out. Jenny was more optimistic and we decided to clear the road of cars and then get a big gang of guys together for one final push. We first moved a gold Astra Cabriolet, then a silver Fiesta. By now, we had a group of guys helping us move the Vectra. The guy who was by the drivers side wheel got caked in mud. The car was a state, we took some photos before we eventually left the complex.

It was 3.30am, when we got to the car and it was 4.18am, by the time we were heading for the exit. I asked various people if they knew where the way out was but everyone did not, and we eventually came to a steward who told us it was straight ahead. There were moderate crowds of people leaving but you could still hear the music from the various tents on the other side of the fence. We got back onto the M40, the roads were clear. We pulled up at Handy Cross around 6am and had caught up with Sarah and James in their StreetKa. Charlie opened the window and explained our hour long adventure in the mud. We got back to Charlie's flat at 6.30am, we had some breakfast and a nice cup of strong tea (no sugar). After that, I set my alarm for 8.30am, and got into my sleeping bag on the sofa and drifted off to sleep. I got up and left at 9am, got some petrol and then headed home. The next part of the weekend adventure was about to begin.

This was literally a pit stop. I had a shower, got changed into my Arsenal gear, grabbed my things and was out the door about quarter past 10. I had wanted to leave around 11am originally but was glad I was ahead of schedule for a change. I got to the train station just after 10.30am, and it was busy. I bought my ticket and headed for platform three. I looked at the notice board and saw a message about Global Gathering this weekend. I would see it for first hand shortly. The next train was late but would be stopping at platform 3 at 10.33am, it was 10.31, so I ran across down to and through the subway. The area was packed for a Sunday, with one Arsenal fan and girlfriend in the corner. As the train arrived, I looked through the window of the carriages and was shocked at what I saw. Muddy wellies and foil sheets. It was jam packed with Global Gathering revelers, on their way back home. The train had no seats left and even standing room as at a premium. A few brave souls decided to push and shove their way on board. I opted to wait for the next train, after all it was a faster service. The next train arrived a few minutes later, it too was late (only by 5 minutes) but almost empty. I boarded the train, grabbed a seat and put on my Zen. At Beaconsfield a couple got on with their daughter, they were taking her to the game, she must have been two years old max. A family outing, it was a lovely picture moment really. Although the thought of a beer belly showing underneath the Arsenal top, reminded me I need to get back to the training later this week.

When we pulled into Marylebone, we were moments behind the earlier train. As I got to the barrier, I noticed the campers from Global queuing on the other side of the platform, I rushed through and down onto the tube station. The next part of my journey could begin. It was 11.25am, I noted from the clock and I got to Islington around midday. It was relatively quiet, with a few other early birds milling around. I headed straight to the stadium and decided to pop into the Armoury for a little window shopping. On my way, I bought a programme from the usual spot and asked about the result from yesterday afternoon's game. I had missed it from the radio on the drive back from Reading. The shop was packed with little room to move around. I checked out the new away kit first hand but opted against a purchase, I will wait for a while. I am not in a rush.

I headed back to my turnstile (A) and waited outside, the doors were not going to open until after 1pm. They eventually did, and I grabbed a pie before taking my seat. It was right by the dugout, within touching distance of Arsene and the team. It was only the second time I had sat in the lower tier (the first time being for DB10's testimonial) and then it had been at the opposite end. A selection of club officials (both home and visiting) were out by the dugout, including match referee Mark Halsey. They were joined by Arsené Wenger and Gerrard Houllier. I took some photos with my N73 but they were quite poor and the zoom is rather pathetic in these circumstances. The ground slowly filled up but was by no means up to capacity, with empty seats all over the place. The first game was good, but the fans were quite passive. PSG won, quite convincingly while Valencia went missing. Then it was time for the main event, the first time I had seen the Gooners in action since March. The result was great, but I was more impressed with the overall team performance. We continued to constantly press and probe, did not lose momentum by going a goal down and never gave up. I am looking forward to next season.

I left soon after the trophy was presented to the team and caught the Victoria line train from Finsbury Park. Perhaps I should have taken the Piccadilly. I got stuck at Warren Street, so got the Northern Line down to Embankment, then switched to the Bakerloo line. As I rushed up from the platform to Marylebone concourse, I was shocked to see more muddy wellingtons and camping gear! People were still coming back from Stafford-upon-Avon. It was about 7.30pm, thirteen hours since I had got back from the festival with Charlie!

Above is the final photograph from a wild weekend. I think you will agree that it sums up the two days very well. As "Rock & Roll" weekends go, it was one of the best. It perhaps goes down in the short history of this blog as one of the greatest weekends ever. However, the record will not last long, expect more in the coming few days, next weekend is camping in Wales!

Friday 27th July 2007

If I am honest, I have been waiting all my life for this movie to be made. You can imagine my excitement when I heard it was been filmed and scheduled for release in the summer 2007. I was a minor fan of the television series and had a movie (not the 1986 movie) but another on VHS, which I watched regularly as I was growing up. I even had a few toys but now, some years later, forget which characters they were. Tonight, I finally got to see the movie with Pav at Vue, Reading. As it clashed with the worldwide release of The Simpsons: Movie, we had to put up with screen three, for the 8:15pm showing. Never mind, we both knew it deserved to be shown in full glory on screen four, the biggest screen at the multiplex. The moment, the movie opened, and you heard the voice of Optimus Prime, you knew this was going to be an exciting ride. I loved every second, the producers got the balance just right, there was outrageous comedy, fast and furious action scenes and even a minor of love stories. Americans are the only nation able to give the full 'gun-ho' approach to a blockbuster of such proportions and they do a fantastic job. Sorry a bit of a general sweeping statement but once you have seen the movie you will understand. All the crucial elements are there, a hapless nerd turned hero, the popular girl, the stupid President in the background (out of sight and out of mind?), the token black dude come part time hacker, the head of a secret government agency with a thing getting his badge out. Perhaps I am giving far too much away, I apologise. As usual I kept myself aware from the main marketing blitz and just watched the standard trailers, although this week saw an extended trailer. I was wise, as usual not to read up too much, if anything at all and even avoided Daniel's review from two weeks ago (I will try and read it over the course of the weekend.) Right, let me try and get into a bit more of the detail. The story is set very well, and is integral to the movie. It makes a change to find such a well grounded story line both in terms of the robots and our human friends. Regardless of multi-million dollar special effects, it is the story that makes or breaks a film and I was glad to find it well founded. Perhaps a little more of how Sam got old of the important artifacts would have been useful, but nevertheless, they do not draw us away from their importance. The comic element is just crazy, it has that family friendly (at times a little unfriendly) Spielberg touch. Michael Bay however, concentrates on the action with his special ops team and it shows, very well indeed. All in all there is a good balance between the too, the movie does not take itself too seriously. The robots themselves are happy to laugh at themselves. Optimus Prime (my favourite from the series) is portrayed perfectly as the leader of the Autobots on the big screen. This was crucial, as his is a pivotal character and could have destroyed the potential franchise. I do have to mention the love story, as much as it is in the background. Megan Fox is truly breathtaking as the popular attractive girl that everyone wants to go out with. However, she proves she can act as well as being the eye candy and there are some truly cringe worthy lines in scenes between her and Shia LaBeouf but there is a visible chemistry. The robots are impressive and my particular favourite scene was their arrival onto Earth and their conversion into their modern vehicles. Watching the robots transform was amazing, particularly when you consider how simple it looked in an animated cartoon. I liked the idea of having the President take a backseat and the secretary for Defence take a lead role, this was refreshing.

Considering true fans have been waiting twenty one years and most would say a lifetime for this film, it does not disappoint. It went above and beyond my expectations, it was excellent entertainment from start to finish. It goes down as one of the best films I have seen, not just this year but in the last five. It is the first movie that had me feeling emotionally overwhelmed, just like The Matrix in June 1999. I left the cinema wanting more. Rumour has it we can expect a sequel, if not a whole series. This will reinvigorate the Hasbro franchise well, with a whole band of children, new to the whole concept buying toys and DVDs. They showed a trailer for the DVD boxsets and original movie before the film this evening and I am definitely added that onto my Wishlist. There is also another addition, I would like to add, but something tells me, it will not be coming with Santa in December. I can dream!

The ultimate weekend is here, but there is already some minor bad news. My piano lesson has been cancelled, which is actually a blessing, so I will be straight back home after the football. I will spend the evening sorting out all my mail, paperwork and generally getting my house in order. May go and watch the other big movie of the weekend with my sister! Before then we have Global Gathering festival. It is still a fantastic weekend and everything will be noted down for the blog over the next few days. The big question everyone is asking though, will Pav be going?

I know it sounds like something out of Indiana Jones or a story your granddad would tell you when you were six. However, the "Square of Death" is real. It is part of a fitness course for most athletes and I took part yesterday evening. Simple really, four markers are placed on the ground in the shape of a square, twenty metres apart. The objective is to walk between two markers, then at the second marker, switch to a job, then at the third switch to a sprint. You continue, until you drop basically. It is more grueling than it sounds, trust me. We only tred the death square for ten minutes, when for someone in tip top condition, the time is twenty five minutes standard, or until you drop dead. Plus, I forgot to mention that when carried out in a more competitive environment, the trainer would be running along side you and ensuring you sprint at the designated point, by giving you the hairdryer. Not nice, as you can probably imagine. I survived to tell the tale but it was not a fantastic experience. Training in particular last night was hard, but build up a big sweat as per previous sessions, it was just physically tough and I suppose my body is adjusting to the punishment. I feel better, slowly but surely but really need to consider my options at the end of this four week course. I am missing the next session on Sunday as the guys have a game and I myself am off to Ashburton Grove. Next scheduled session is Thursday evening. Bring on the pain. No Sacrifice. No Victory?

Sunday 22nd July 2007

Exactly a year ago, I was in the middle of a lad's weekend. That was a fantastic weekend and stands out as one of my highlights from 2006. This year, we have a triple header for next weekend. The Ultimate Weekend. Friday, I will head over to Reading Vue, to watch Transformers with Pav. Then Saturday we are off to the outskirts of Strafford for Global Gathering. The excitement does not end there, we should be on our way home at 6am on Sunday morning. Then, about five hours later I will on my way to Islington for the second and final day of the Emirates Cup. That is all to come, for now, let me concentrate on events of the past few days.

Like much of the rest of the online population, I am addicted to FaceBook. I log on every day and change my 'status' every couple of hours. More and more of my old school friends, colleague friends, uni housemates, ex work colleagues from years gone by are doing the same. It must be the most popular social network site in the world. I mentioned Penn Masala a few weeks ago, well apart from being the world's first Hindi acapella group, they have also done a parody video for FaceBook. I think, if you have joined the site, which most of you reading this have done, you will be in stitches watching it!

My first full weekend back in my room and it has been fantastic! I have been able to listen to the radio in the evenings, watch FreeView and get back to downloading mp3s. On Saturday morning, as I watched music television, as I always do, I made a list of new tracks and was able to download most of them online. Fantastic! It was good to be back. The rest of the day was spent working on a web site for a friend and I made excellent progress. In the evening, headed over to Tiger Garden in Marlow with my sister's to celebrate my Dad's birthday.

Training session this morning was a killer, the humid heat did not help much. I am enjoying the course, never the less, it is good fun and I feel better as each week goes by. I will miss the next two Sunday sessions, which is not ideal but I will continue to attend every Thursday evening session, just to make sure I don't let myself slip back into my lazy ways. Will keep you posted with my progress.

Wednesday 18th July 2007

Back in April I reported that my room was being redecorated and that I would be moving out for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into three months. However, I kept faith and ensured I blogged as often as I could, for a time using my work laptop. I cannot tell you what a great feeling it is to be back in my room. It has been 88 days, since I was last in here and perhaps two weeks more since I was using my PC. I moved all my main bits and pieces, including computer on Saturday evening. My clothes and final paperwork was moved during Sunday evening. You do not realise how much "stuff" you have until you have to do something like this. Gave me a good opportunity to sort out several things but I still have not thrown away as much as I possibly could.

I had a good weekend, how was yours? On Friday night, I had been speaking to Charlie online and opted to head over to his house to look at getting his new PC up and running. However, my first stop was Jerry Street Styles for a haircut. I got there dead on 9am and the door was locked. Within 30 seconds, Eddie came out and opened up. After my haircut, I headed over to Woodley. I found Charlie's flat and we set to work. Originally he had planned to back up some of his music. He had transferred all his photos and other personal files in a rather unconventional but nevertheless clever way of using MSN messenger and 2 MSN Passport accounts. His 10gig drive did not work in my USB caddy, so we bit the bullet and went for quick format and installed XP. It did not go perfectly to plan. Firstly the new machine would not boot to the hard drive, but eventually we got there and got the operating system installed. Some files were corrupted or not being read by the old CD drive. That is the only problem I could diagnose as the CD had been perfect for me for several installations (it was from Pav after all!). We got Windows XP SP2 up and running but there were some major issues. No Internet Explorer. I tried to installed it, first version 7, then version 6.2 but both failed. The problem was with the Microsoft Installer, it needed to be repaired. I carried out some extensive searches on Google. (Charlie has a work laptop, a Dell Latitude 510, with wireless) I tried to run some repairs but making changes to the registry and installing patches, but none of them work. We opted to download a new version of the Windows XP SP2 ISO with all patches up to June via BitTorrent. We left it running, while we went into town.

When I normally go into Reading, I always park in the Oracle. Sure, it is expensive, particularly during the day but it is convenient and safe. However, as we drove into town, Charlie got me to park by his old house. I was more than happy to walk twenty minutes to the centre, particularly on a nice sunny day. Plus, it gave Charlie and myself a chance to chat. Once in town, we went to grab some food. Although there was the option of Subway, Charlie thought we should get a Cornish Pasty from the West Cornwall Pasty Company. We then walked through the town centre, over to HSBC, before going over to the Oracle. The place was heaving! I just do not know where people get the money to spend the money. We headed through to the Riverside area, finished our food, then headed back to HMV. I noticed they had opened a Krispy Kreme store next to McDonalds. I got to the till at the music store and got them to get me a ticket for Global Gathering. The sales assistant had to go downstairs and collect the ticket from the safe. I purchased the ticket here for two reasons, first I save on booking fee and delivery costs, second I do not have to make sure someone is at home to sign for the ticket. Everyone is a winner! I am looking forward to my second ever festival, we are going on Saturday 28th. Should be a great laugh! On our way back to the car we stopped at The Outlook for a drink. We then headed back to the car and drove back to Woodley. It was great not to have to face all the usual queues coming out of the Oracle. When we got back to the house, I gave Charlie my XP CD for him to have another go, later that evening. He would report back on MSN by the time I got home.

I saw a trailer on Sunday night. The BBC are finally screening the first series of Heroes from next Wednesday (25th). The theme used during the trailer (which in my opinion shows far too much from the first few episodes) was "The End Of The World" a 1963 hit for Skeeter Davis. Although there is some debate online as to whether it is the Karen Carpenter version. Either way, the song fits the whole notion of the show and is quite dramatic when you watch the various clips of the characters. Go judge for yourself. This will enable everyone who has not seen the show to capture the magic before series two airs in the autumn.

I got up relatively late on Sunday, but I had been up quite late on Saturday night after setting up my computer. I wanted to be up a little bit earlier than 9am. I know some people may find that a bit strange. After a shower, I grabbed my stuff and was on the road a little after 10am. The Tesco Express garage was closed for a fuel delivery on Marlow Road, so I drove over to Henley and checked my tyre pressures at the Esso garage there. I arrived early with Chris setting up with Sean. We were soon joined by Chris' brother Gary and then a few other late arrivals. This was the first proper fitness session with a mixture of 'events'. First was a small obstacle course (not sure if that is the correct term). Then we had to go around agility course, this was the tough part of the two tasks. We had 45 seconds at each point with each of the pair taking turns. Bear in mind this was only my second session and my fitness levels are as low as they possibly could be. It does feel good to be out of breath, sweat like a pig and feel tired after a session. As I got in my car, a few minutes before midday I felt good. I feel I am slowly but surely getting better. While the progress may be more mental, than physical at this present moment, I am just proud of myself for finding something and sticking at it.

Once I got home, I showered, got changed, grabbed a light snack (very light, just a rice cake!) and then headed over to Oxfordshire for my piano lesson. I had originally planned to drive directly from Henley but opted to come home and change. It was my tenth lesson and a moment for me to truly consider if I wanted to continue my piano course. My progress has been steady, but I could be further ahead with more regular practice. I have decided to continue, aiming to have another ten lessons and take it from there. The experience is enjoyable, but not easy, learning music alone has been a struggle.

When I got home, I spent the afternoon, sorting out all the paperwork in my room. I know it sounds boring and I suppose it was, I had letter and bank statements to file away, which I had collected in a file for the past three months. In the evening, I watched Bulletproof Monk on Channel 4. I had seen it before on Sky Movies, so was not paying great attention as it played on the background on my PC. It is a good popcorn, throw away movie, nothing spectacular but entertaining in parts nevertheless. A nice way to end a low key weekend packed full of loads of bits and pieces.

Friday 13th July 2007

Throughout my quarter of century on this rock, I have gone through phases of wanting to get fit. In 2002, I joined Fitness First. (Don't laugh, Chris!) It was rather a stupid thing really as I was still a student in Leicester and the gym was a 15 minute walk from my house. My master plan was as follows, I would start my placement in July. I would hopefully work within a short drive of a gym and work out regularly in the week. However, I never really got started, I went a good number of times up to Easter before the exam period then just gave up, hoping to start up again in July. However, the closest branch at the time was in Berkhamsted, which I went to once. As it would happen, FF opened a branch in Wycombe in 2005. Too late for me then. I had canceled my membership in mid 2002. It was not until I joined my current firm and met fitness freak Christopher Williams, that I decided that I should really get into shape before I send myself to an early grave. We started with badminton on Monday evenings at the local centre but it was quite expensive as we were not members. After about a month, Chris became busy and wanted to change the evening and we just sort of let the regular slot slip. Then, kind of out of the blue, Chris mentioned he was running his own fitness sessions for his Sunday League team. I think it was the 1st June 2007 (blogged the day after) when we went to watch Brazil at Wembley. At the time I was apprehensive, but still said I would come and have a go. As the date drew nearer, I thought about it for a while. This was my chance. I am 25 years old and a complete couch potato. I had to do something to be more active. I bought boots a few weeks ago, while in Chester. I think I still need to get some more sporty clothes, perhaps even shorts but for the time being I will settle with what I have.

Mid morning, Chris showed me a print out. It was a list of activities I would have to complete in the evening. It made me anxious, as I had not carried out any of these activities since I had left school, some (and I am referring to the bleep test) I have never ever attempted (or until recently even heard of). By the time 5.15pm came, I was ready for it. I made a stupid mistake by going home to get some food and change before driving over to Henley. With the festival on, I got stuck in traffic heading into the town but made it to the YMCA a good few minutes before 7pm and was the fourth person to arrive. Once I let Gary and Chris know I was here, I went to grab my boots and changed and got ready for the drills.

I did as badly as I expected. I am only competiting against myself as Chris and Gary reminded me throughout the evening. I was partnered with Gary for the timed activities and he was inspiring, to motivate me for that extra press up. After careful consideration, I am not going to publish my scores, but have decided against it for the time being. After the course is finished and I have my final run of tests, I will publish both and you can see if I made any improvement. From what our fitness coach has already said, he is certain I will.

On Sunday night, I watched Initial D. It was the official UK DVD release lent to me by Dave. I was going to wait until this Sunday to watch the movie, but had a few hours to spare so put it on. The movie came to my attention after I watch Tokyo Drift the third installment of the Fast & Furious collection, over Christmas. I mentioned it on the blog in my first entry from 2007. I then had a discussion about it with Daniel from Malaysia. He rated the movie highly and also gave me a brief idea of what to expect. He explained that it was originally animated, Japanese manga and the movie is actually based on this. Having now watched the movie, I come back with a mixed review. It was entertaining to watch, the story line was great and it had comical moments of slapstick as well. However, I expected more. Why? Well I thought as it was based on Japanese animated series. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the love story, (if you can even call it that). I know that we cannot always have our rosy Hollywood endings, when the guy gets the girl. However, I wanted some closure on the whole episode. Okay, ignoring that flaw (which is minor considering this is a car racing movie for the boys). The race scenes themselves were excellent and amazing, considering no special effects are used. However, the main character, Takumi Fujiwara at times drives his AE86 Trueno with the casual look of a Sunday afternoon delivery driver. I am sure there are moments when he is yawning, just before drifting around a corner. It was as if there was no effort at all on his part, particularly in the final few races. These criticisms aside, I enjoyed the movie, it was great fun and in terms of race content and plot, much better than the American attempt. Although of course Tokyo had the better eye candy!

It was that time of year, my A3 was due a service and MOT. I had booked the car in with Amersham Audi, back in late May. I arrived early and parked up in the car park, with a good twenty five minutes before the 8am. I was so early, that the gates to the rear area were only opened a few minutes after my arrival. My courtesy vehicle for the day was an A4 S Line 2 litre TDI pushing out 170 bhp. The retail value of the vehicle was £26k and it had about 4700 miles on the clock. The leather interior and quality Bose CD stereo were nice touches and the car drove extremely well. I was surprised at how low it was, I expected a saloon to be slightly taller. However, with such a big car the engine was not quite up to the job in my opinion. Needed something with a little bit more punch. The color, a dark blue was very nice, (a close second to black in my opinion) just a shame about the big dealership signs on the doors and rear but never mind. However, at 6pm, when I pulled back up to pick up my car, I was glad to get behind the wheel of my own car. Sure the A4 has the luxury options, but I like the thrust of my A3.

Plans for the weekend? Well not much on the cards I am afraid. Haircut and then pop over to Wokingham. Helping Charlie with a few computer issues, then back home and spend some time sorting out, reorganising my room. Not the most exciting weekend ever, but nevertheless it will be good to get these things done.

Sunday 8th July 2007

A round up post, to clear up a few things and mention briefly a few things that are on my mind. I will start with the concert, that I was attending just a week ago. Many people have been quite outspoken in their opinion that it was rubbish. I was horrified by some of the comments (mainly from television viewers) over at the News Blog. Why do people always have to bash these kinds of events, particularly if they were not there to truly appreciate the experience. Sure, the line up could have been slightly better but overall I really enjoyed the six hour show and there were some wonderful performances. P. Diddy in particular stands out with a great performance. I received my DVDs of the concert (4 discs) from Hussein on Saturday morning. Fantastic! The quality is amazing, even though, the final few minutes of the show was missed. Never mind. I now have the task of trimming the clips down to individual songs / artist medleys, which is not going to be an easy task.

A moment of celebration this week, as I uploaded my 2000th photo to FlickR. Unfortunately it was not a photograph of note, it was just a photograph of Dave in his kitchen (which you can see from the previous entries). I am just amazed that I have been able to get so many photos online, having only joined the site in January 2006. Easily one of the best online purchases I have ever made and the site continues to improve and the people behind it keep adding additional functionality.

I went to see a friend in Bexleyheath, Kent yesterday morning. I left Wycombe around 9.30am and headed anti clockwise around the M25 (to avoid the £1 toll) and got to their house just before 11am. Just after 1pm, we headed to Bluewater. It was my first time to the shopping centre and it was absolutely amazing, I just wish I had had more time to spend there. After a quick bite to eat at TGI Friday's we went to have a look around a few of the sports shops. Then we got some double chocolate muffins from Millie's Cookies and headed back home. I left around 3.30pm and got home just before 5pm. The rest of my afternoon was spent watching Live Earth on BBC television. I could have gone but opted against it for a few reasons. Firstly cost, £55 a ticket, plus travel plus food. Secondly, I had already been there last weekend and even thought the set list was perhaps slightly better, preferred to watch on television. At least this way I could take in the other concerts around the world. I had pre-registered in April but when given the opportunity to buy a ticket, had poor seats in the stadium. My sister, Natalie offered me tickets through a friend but I once again declined. So, I missed Live 8 and Live Earth but I am not that concerned to be honest. Sure, it would have been great to attend either event and pledge my support to a great cause but being an armchair fan in some circumstances is not such a bad thing.

Music wise, I have been listening to the Freemasons remix of Greenlight by Beyoncé constantly this week. It is yet another example of a remix out doing the original. The last time I mentioned this was in late December 2004 with Britney Spears' Everytime. If you have not heard the song, tune into KISS or alternatively check out the video on YouTube. It is very infectious, believe me!

Wednesday 4th July 2007

After watching Sky News, I feel asleep around 2am. I got up early and Dave was awake soon after and in his smart work clothes. It was around 8.30am on Sunday morning. I declined the offer of tea and breakfast, opting to get the car packed and head out onto the road. I set the TomTom as I reversed out of the parking space, saying goodbye to Dave and thanking him for a great weekend. The ETA for High Wycombe was 12:00 exactly, the current time was 9.06am. I had a long busy journey ahead of me. My objective was to get back before midday and I try to make sure throughout the journey the estimated time of arrival reduced as much as possible. The sun was shining as I left Wrexham, I listened to the tail end of Nehal on BBC Radio One. He played the new Kanye West track, "Stronger" and I put the volume up a little. The listener chosen for the New Music Generator liked a diverse collection of music. From MJ, 'Billie Jean' to Beyoncé 'Irreplaceable'. The song chosen for him was Foundations by Kate Nash. Her style is similar to Lilly Allen, quite urban and street. At 10am, it was time for Vernon. The drive was fine, a little rain but nothing drastic. I overtook a few trucks and slow drivers and was happy with my progress. I got stuck behind a tanker of some kind on the single carriageway A5. However by the time I hit the M54, I was plain sailing. Of course, I wish I had my A3, to switch over into the fast lane and tear past the cars but had to make do with the ability of the courtesy car. I had music, which for is the most important ingredient of any long journey. If I had no radio or cassette, I would seriously have been insane behind the wheel. By the time I got onto the M6 heading south bound the heavens opened and it was very difficult to see vehicles up ahead. Taking no risks, whatsoever, I switched to the inside lane and crawled at a lousy 60 miles an hour. This would be the pattern as I hit the final two motorways on my journey, the M42 and finally the M40, which to me will always symbolise the home straight. On the radio, Newsbeat was mentioning the concert and this perhaps is a fitting time for me to explain all the secrecy.

I heard that the Princes' were arranging a concert to celebrate the memory of their late mother. I booked tickets literally the second they became available in early December. I however, did not tell anyone at the time. A few weeks later my Dad was in the living room and it was mentioned in the news and I explained I had bought tickets and smiled. We spoke nothing more about it until a few weeks ago, when the tickets arrived Special Delivery on a Friday morning in mid June. My plan had always been to take my Mum and elder two sisters. I wanted to take my Mum for her first trip to Wembley and also to a concert. Something she has never experienced before. It was not to be. When I called after the Doctor credits, I asked my Mum to pick up the tickets which I had left with a letter under the computer keyboard in my room. She passed the letter to my sister, Natalie read and I heard cheers in the background. My youngest sister, Julie was upset as she could not go. My Dad had said he would take her to the cinema. It was one of those unfortunate circumstances where I could only get four tickets, if I could have got more I would have. In any case, I was really looking forward to the concert, for the amazing set list and the fact that it would be one of the first handful of concerts to be held at the new Wembley. So here I was, hours away and many hundred of miles away from the main event and perhaps a milestone of my weekend.

I pulled up outside my house at 11:53am, I remember noting the clock on my dash. The train was at 12:55pm and I shouted to get my sisters to get ready. My parents were out with Natalie, so I hoped they would get back soon. I had a shower and changed and was ready by 12.30pm. My parents and my Mum gave up her ticket for Julie. I was upset but knew something like this would have happened. My sister grabbed her company Astra and we headed down to the station. We were be lucky to catch the train, but I bought tickets from the FastTicket machine while they parked the car. The train arrived on time on platform three and I looked at the clock on the platform as we left. Within an hour, I had come back from Wales, got ready and on the way to Wembley. Truly a rock and roll weekend. My sister, Natalie had a group she wanted me to listen to. Acappella songs, so she said. I have always liked acappella music, from the Flying Pickets to more recently, Rockapella and Noorkuu. This however was something different. My sister told me there name and got me to listen to the song. It was Desert Rose by Sting. The band were called, Penn Masala. I was impressed, they were a talent group. Skipping across the tracks on the iPod Shuffle. They played a mixture of Hindi / Bhangra songs combined with Western songs. We tried to hunt down Kangna but my sister could not find it. I was rather impressed with "Show Me The Meaning of Being Desi", which is a take on the Backstreet Boys hit song but rewritten for an Asian audience. I wanted to hear more and would do, on the way back.

When we got off at Wembley Stadium our tickets were checked before we walked up the stairs to the stadium. Everything had been cordoned off and we had to walk to the far side, even while our seats were to the left. We then joined a queue, it was before 2pm so I did not expect to wait for more than a few minutes. I explained to my sister Samantha, as she began to moan after just a few minutes that I had to wait nearly five hours back in November. I took a photo as we queued.

I decided against taking either of my digital cameras. The heighten security situation and then the nagging headache of having yet another thing to look after. My N73 was more than capable of taking a few photographs and overall did a stern job, even though I did not use it constantly. There were other people there with professional cameras and one guy to our right with a telescopic lenses! We eventually were allowed through, some twenty minutes later and had all our bags checked and were padded down by the security guards. The recent events over the weekend in London and Glasgow had made security a top priority, which was understandable. We rushed around to our entrance, K and went through the turnstiles. We headed up the escalator and went to find our seats. Then Natalie and myself went to get some food but nothing hot apart from chips was ready so we opted to wait a little while. On our second trip, I noticed the terrace bar and went to take a look. It was the same place we had seen so many England fans, exactly a month earlier for the friendly against Brazil. I decided to take some photos and once again, the sun shone behind the arch.

We grabbed some food and then headed for our seats. This is where I would sit for the next six and half hours of entertainment. I was excited. I was looking forward to the show. I was looking forward to being able to re-watch the whole thing in full via the MythTV recording MightyMouse had scheduled at home. My favourite performance of the evening was P.Diddy with his rendition of "I'll Be Missing You". It was a fitting tribute to Princess Diana and the star has amazing stage presence. Kanye West who performed before Diddy, was very good but played only a seven minute set which was a medley of old songs and his new single. I was frankly slightly disappointed. Other highlights including Fergie with Glamorous (although she had to ad lib the rap part of Ludicrous herself, to limited affect). Elton John, Tom Jones and Rod Stewart never disappointed. The Scotsman kicking several footballs into the crowd. Take That were fantastic, and a girl of around 17 from Newcastle, sitting behind me, went absolutely crazy the minute they came on stage. The screaming from girls was just too much. Roger Hodgson, was great with his SuperTramp medley, particularly as younger fans would know his music (myself included) from Scooter - The Logical Song and Cupid's Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes. The full list of performers and speakers can be found over on Wikipedia. When we left around 10.15pm, we did not have to wait long for a train. It was the walk all around and against the flow of other punters which was annoying. The first train at the platform was heading stopping at Wycombe. We got some seats, my sister gave me her Shuffle and I put it on. How ironic, Penn Masala started playing acapella version of Every Breathe You Take. The perfect way, to end a perfect evening and more so, a perfect weekend.

Monday 2nd July 2007

A one hundred per cent certified rock and roll weekend. So here I am, on Monday evening, trying to put together something interesting to say about the past three days. So much to cover and the pressure of time raging against me as always. (Along with Pav and Chris anticipating the next entry.) So here I go, trying to cover the misadventures of the past seventy two hours. Before the story begins, you need a quick background recap. My car is at the garage. Nothing too serious, just the colour for the driver's rear side quarter does not match the rest of the car. So on Monday last week, it was picked up and I was given a deep red 06 reg Fiat Punto (Mark 2 B) Active with a measly 1.2 engine. It was not so much of an issue on Tuesday or Wednesday but when I realised that my car would not be ready for Friday, I was gutted. One of the main reasons for my trip to Wrexham, was to show Dave my new ride. There was a moment, when I was seriously considering canceling the weekend. Having planned this trip months ago, I thought it unfair not to go. Plus, it was back in September that I last saw my friend. So, I headed out of my estate at 9:03am, knowing all to well that perhaps the biggest object I would miss would not be the two litre turbo diesel engine but the awesome sound system.

I tuned the radio into Kiss and as I came to a stop at my first roundabout, the opening few notes of Umbrella filled the car. My weekend could begin, in some strange way. After all, I was not on my way to the office and it was the last Friday of June. As I hit the motorway, I realised it was going to be a longer journey than normal. It was almost a case of back to the future, my last trip to this part of the world was in May 2003 for Dave's wedding in my Punto. More than four years have passed since then and I feel so different from that person. Before I go off on some silly tangent, let me focus on the story. My courtesy car was happy at 70, but any more and it groaned with displeasure. I was not in a major hurry but wanted to get to North Wales by midday. I had my Tom Tom 510 with me and it was predicting a few minutes after 12pm. The first major issue was having to switch from the London based urban radio station to BBC Radio One. The signal drops the moment you cut through the chalk cliffs of Oxfordshire. It was Chris Moyles and I listened to his interview with the Spice Girls along with his selection of music but it was not long before Jo Whiley was on air. She would keep me company for the rest of the drive. My next major concern, now that the music was in some way dealt with, was fuel. I had put in £12 in the other day, with the thought of getting back into my beautiful German automobile by Thursday. Thankfully, the on board computer has been vastly improved so you get details on the mileage you can cover before needed to refuel. The distance is around 180 miles and the computer reported 160 miles as I left but this fluctuated up and down slightly as I was on the motorway, but I opted to get as far as I could. If the truth be known, I am confident I could have made it all the way without stopping for fuel but I had to. Particularly when the computer stop displaying miles and replaced them with dashes! The drive was steady, not really that busy, until you hit the M42 and M6 interchanges. Then once you are past the heart of Birmingham you get a clear run onto the M54, when it the motorway becomes a dual carriage way and you are about an hour or so away from your destination. I stopped for fuel at the Welcome Break services at Telford. I was hoping for a BP station but had to with my old employers, Royal Dutch Shell. I put in £32 thinking I had filled the tank but finding it was only three quarters full. Enough for the weekend, or so I hoped. I was back on the road and listening again to Radio One. The rain came down in a strong torrent and I was battling to see ahead of me. After about ten minutes, the rain past and the road once again was clear. The journey is unique for me, I am so used to people living close to the motorway or at least a few main roads from a motorway. As the M54 ends and becomes the A5, you are on dual carriage roads for a good few miles before switching to single carriageway roads that cut through the green landscape.

I got into Wrexham just before 12pm. I went right past Dave's apartment complex, as I was concentrating on where the TomTom. The maps had not been updated, as the area had turned into a circle one way system. I drove around and parked up at the new retail centre and called my friend, I then called my Dad to let him know I had arrived safely. He came over a few minutes later and I jumped out the car to go and meet him. I had arrived. However, I had a bucket load of things to do before the weekend could officially begin. He jumped in my so called 'ride' and we drove around to his apartment. Well actually I got in the wrong lane first, heading out of Wrexham but turned around at the entrance to the railway station. We then saw Dave's Mum's 106 parked up in their spot, so I parked up further down the road. We then grabbed my things and entered for the flat. I was impressed, very impressed. I had not expected this. Gower Homes are behind the complex of luxury apartments here at Caxton Place. The only minor inconvenience was having my car park directly outside Dave's bedroom window but having to walk around to get inside. However, I could live with that plus, I am not that lazy yet. His place is on the second floor so we jumped in the lift and headed up. The corner flat in group of floor. I was surprised at how spacious it was for a one bedroom flat in close to a town centre. The plot had been disused when I was last up here, over four years ago. I quickly grabbed my laptop and started to get some work done. So much had to be done before I could relax.

I do not want to bore anyone with the details of the work that needed to be done but there are some social and personal items that needed to be crossed off the todo list, so I will do my best to cover everything. All of these things had been bubbling in my head, since I had been on the M40. First thing, I logged into Swift Cover rang the windscreen helpline. I was impressed with how helpful and courtious the young lady on the phone was. She took all my details, my location and said the RAC Windscreen workshop would call me. Although at the end she noted that on her system, she was taking bookings from Tuesday onwards. I knew that if a mobile unit could not come to me, I would have to drive and get it fixed somewhere. I noted down my reference number and then moved onto doing the work that needed to be done. In the background, I had FireFox running, logged into the FA website, queuing to get tickets for England versus Germany at Wembley in August. I got the work done and sent it down the line but had to keep a low profile, as MSN Messenger had signed me in. I remained offline, I did not want to give an impression to the wide world, that I was available to chat. The queue for the tickets eventually came down, as I enjoyed a nice cup of tea made by Dave. I eventually got into the online ticket shop, or so I hoped. I entered my user creditentials but the site crashed, two more attempts but then I was thrown to the back of the queue and had to start again. Dave wanted to go into town and I said I would try again later in the afternoon. I put my phone on general profile (something I rarely ever do) and we walked into town. There was gentle rain but nothing too trastic as we walked the few minutes to the town centre. It is literally a case of negiotating a T junction and you are there. We headed to Dave's shop. I better change that or he will get big headed, the store he works at. It is the high street jeweler HM Samuel. We were not here for long, I just said hello to his colleagues and manager and we headed around the town. Lisa was at the travel agent booking their next holiday. They had been home three days after their most recent trip to Bulgaria and would return in May. By this time, it was around 1.30pm and I called home to speak to my Dad and explain the situation with the windscreen. I few minutes later, I would miss the call from RAC Auto Windscreens in Chester and could only call them back once I got back to Dave's apartment, as the reference number was stored on my laptop. Great! My memory of events is patchy, even with notes, plus the constant chatting on MSN to my friends. Lisa's niece, Katlin was also out and forced Dave to take her to Eccelston Bakery so she could by some carrot cake. Once everything was confirmed at Going Places we headed back to the apartment for lunch. I called the windscreen fitters and booked an appointment for first thing Saturday morning. They were based at Sealands Industrial Estate, just outside Chester. Early start tomorrow Dave I said, as he served up the food.

It was nice to sit down for a meal for change and relax. The whole afternoon and evening was clear ahead of us and we could do whatever we wanted. So, what did we do? Katlin played on the 360. A mixture of games, including a downloaded version of the original Paper Boy (the SNES version I believe). A game which Mighty Mouse had running on his Treo a few years back. It was strange to see such outdated graphics but with Katlin using a wireless control. It was like we had stepped into the early 1990s. After she got bored, she played Bejeweled, which you may recognise if you have ever played the game on MSN. Katlin then played some other arcade games which were just single player demos that DJ had downloaded from XBox Market Place with his Microsoft Points. Then, having got bored for video games, she started to watch Pocohutas II on Disney Channel before her granddad arrived to sweep her away. I had by this time switched my attention to Dave's antique laptop.

It was a Dell Lattitude CPt, manufactured in May 1998, so ancient by modern technology standards. I tried my best to breathe new life into the machine but it was an uphill struggle. I removed unneccessary programs, fonts and other utilities. I also increased the size of the swap file and tidied up what I could. It was slighty faster but not much better so my only diagnosis was to advise to purchase a new one. Has to be done. We tried to sign Dave up onto FaceBook but IE 6 crashed. I had been telling him about the social networking site all day and shown him a few profile pages on my work laptop.

Lisa had the remote in her hand and it was the soap hour. She watched a variety, Home & Away, (twice, back to back with a screening on Five Life) Coronation Street and then finally my favourite Eastenders. After this, we decided what to do for the evening, I thought we might go to the cinema but we opted to stay in and watch the Premiere on Sky Movies. It was Lucky Number Slevin. It was a great movie but unfortunately I stopped watching towards the end, or rather paying little attention. Shame really because that was, from what patches I saw the best part of the movie. Never mind, I will catch it again in the near future. I cannot think what the distraction was, may have been looking at something online. I feel asleep on my air matteress around 1am, knowing all to well that there was a busy day ahead with yet another early start.

I over estimated, as I usually do in these circumstances. I was up at quarter to eight and wanted to be at the Sealands Industrial Park by 8.30am, to be the first car fitted with a new windscreen. As it panned out, we left Wrexham at 8.30am and did not get to Chester until just before 9am. The completion time jumped from an hour to ninety minutes, most likely as they had a BMW Z3 in the workshop already. Dave and I headed to the retail park the other side of the main road, in the rain. We were reminising about school, all those old faces. David kept throwing names at me and we would check out FaceBook later that evening. We headed first to PC World, just to get in from the wet. The whole retail park was dead, with just a few cars in each of the car parks. I was surprised at how friendly staff at PC World were. Perhaps they are trying to convince us that they are exactly like those actors from the television adverts. We had a look around, at laptops, some desktop machines and digital cameras. Then we slowly headed for the exit. We then walked around the complex, to find a Cineworld around the corner. Dave then thought we could pop into Next for a while, just to kill the time. We did, but there was little to see and all the shop assistance were just congreatated in the entrance area gossiping away. After Next, we went over to TK Maxx and then Soccer World. I bought some football boots, in anticipation of my fitness course which starts next Thursday. I am quite nervous about the whole thing actually and not looking forward to the stupid tests I will have to complete. However, I cannot moan too much, it is free and run by my friend Christopher Williams. Dave of course picked out the flashy gold, bright blue or white designs. I wanted something less "look at me" and more quiet and reserved to reflect my character as a person (but not footballer, as I could never be described as one of those). I chose a pair of black Nike boots with a white swoosh. I will take a photo and upload at some point. I also bought some football socks but opted out of shinguards. By this time it was approaching 10.20am, so we headed back to the car, it was still raining. With the car repaired we decided what to do. Should we go back to Wrexham or should we go into the city centre. I opted for the latter. I had wanted to come to Chester for a long time, one reason being that it is the location for the soap Hollyoaks (even though it is actually filmed in the Wirral). We parked in the multistorey car park at 10.50am and walked to the shopping centre. It was still raining. The place was extremely busy as it was Roman Day at Chester Racecourse. As you can imagine many people, dressed in their smart suits and over elaborate dresses were out in force across the town. Shame the weather had let them down. We went to get some lunch, after browsing a few shops. Dave pointed out the most expensive cereal on the planet. A box of Oreos retailing for some £7. Who would buy them? They seriously cannot be that good, can they? We headed out onto the High Street. We thought we would pop into Weatherspoons but it was packed and it was perhaps only 11.30am. We then opted for Yates around the corner, it was not as busy but still a long queue at the park. We got a table, ordered some food and waited. Just like when I was in the Yates in Leicester back on February 18th they played music from 2003, the year I was on placement and ironically the last time I had been up to Wreham to see Dave. It was strange watching all these old music videos be played on the screen. Lunch was very good, but the pub was packed by now, we had beated the rush but only just. Nice to have a leisurely meal with an old friend and just chat about old times, memories, the silly things, the stupid things. This was perhaps my favourite moment from the whole weekend. I wish I saw David more regularly than I do, but we cannot make fun of the 360 mile distance, particularly as Dave is still yet to put on those L plates. We speak on the phone regularly but it is not the same as seeing someone in the flesh.

There was only one way out of the multistorey car park (back down the way we came) but I decided to drive right to the top, onto the roof then turn around and drive back down. Stupid fool. Killed a few minutes of time and got my money's worth o £5.90 for three hours parking. As we pulled out onto the main road (it was 12:58pm) and picked up radio reception, the station was playing "Umbrella". I put the volume up on the factory fitted stereo. Pitiful performance but it would do the job. I commented to Dave how much better any music would have sounded in my A3. Such a shame things worked out the way they did. We got back to Wrexham at 1.30pm and it was time to jump on the laptop quickly before having a few rounds of Pro Evo 6 on the X360. David beat me in two of our three matches, Arsenal versus Barcelona, the other matching being a 1-1 draw. I surprised myself by scoring a magical Henry goal out of nothing from just outside the area. It was nice to play computer games again, as it must be several years since I last played any, let alone against someone else. Forza 2 was next with a run around the North Loop, but I was beaten well and truly by a good thirty seconds or so. Dave then had to go back to work to deal with an emergency and I opted to walk around the shops do a little bit of shopping before heading back to the flat and waiting for Lisa. Saturday had turned out to be extremely wet, particularly here in Wrexham. A few minutes later, Lisa arrived with her Dad and sister with the shopping from ASDA. They had left Katlin in the car and she wanted to get home for tea. After packing everything away, we sat down and watched Third Watch on FX. I was getting into, but decided to rest my head on the arm rest and then feel asleep. When I woke up, it was quarter to seven, Dave had come back to the flat and was a sleep on the sofa infront of me. My Dad had called me several times on my mobile and Dave had picked up the phone, exampled I was asleep and that I would call back later. I called back but my parents were out shopping, so I would call them after Doctor Who. I was looking forward to the finale of series three.

I was disappointed a little with the ending, not the story of how the Master was defeated but his actual death. Such a shame, because he has / was always the best foe for the Doctor. As usually, most aspects of the way the TimeLord is able to turn around an impossible situation is so far fetched perhaps even the youngest of viewers would see through it. Nevertheless, it was a nice touch to go back in time just as Uncle Sam is shot and return the planet to some sense of normalty. Captain Jack returns to Cardiff, which means Torchwood Series Two still has a ruthless leader in charge. Is it bad for me to say, I am looking forward more to the return of TW than Doctor Who Christmas Special (or Series Four). I suppose, I am growing up and realising that all I am watching is an amazing children entertainment show.

I thought we might go down to the 'pictures' (as they refer to it in this part of the world) but the local Odeon had last showing of 9pm. (Can you believe that for a Saturday evening?) There was nothing I really wanted to watch, so we opted to go out. I was not really in the mood if I am honest. A trip down to a bar would have been fine, but we ended up in Envy. I came here back in October 2002, but it had been renovated since then. The nightclub actually consists of two areas, Envy which is over 25's only and Liquid which is the bigger main part of the club and for over 18s. However, as we came into Envy our hands are stamped and we have unrestricted access to the Liquid area. This being the first weekend of the smoking ban in England, it was a surprise for me to find a 'Smoking Terrace'. One guy refused to put out his cigerette in Liquid and was thrown out by one of the bouncers. The joys of late night life in a town centre. The DJ in Envy was absolutely pants, not even attempting to mix tracks. While I can fully appreciate he is playing more commericial material for the crowd, a little talent on the decks would have been nice. Upstairs, the DJ was playing a good variety of dance tunes, but again absolutely no thought in terms of mixing tracks. The venue slowly filled up and before long was packed. After a few drinks and trips around both dance floors, I left my friends alone and went for a wonder. I spotted one of Dave's work colleagues all dressed up in black and white strips, with whistles and baseball caps. I then headed down to let him know but by the time we got back upstairs, the group had dispersed. It was nearly 1am, time to go I think.

Sunday 24th June 2007

So, after several weeks of speculation, he has finally gone to Spain. I would be lying if I said I was not gutted. I am extremely so. However, in a way I am glad he has gone. Over on the regular blogs I read, ArseBlog, East Lower and The Cannon. They have been doing an excellent job covering the rumour of the move, up to the breaking of the news confirmed late on Friday evening. While somewhat biased as Arsenal fans, they give a balanced view in terms of the great Frenchman's depature. He was easily the greatest player to ever play for Arsenal and in the modern era, his goal scoring record will perhaps stand the test of time and remain a true testament to his achievements at the North London club. However, no one is bigger than the club and I find some of his phrases in his open letter to The Sun quite disrespectful. The whole business of David Dein being a big blow and the uncertainty of Arsene Wenger's future is a smoke screen. He wanted to go to Barcelona for a new challenge, after our challenge for honours crashed and burned in early Spring. I wish he could be honest and just say this to the fans that adored him and to a certain extent worshipped him. £16 million is good business in the end and no one can deny that he is no longer at the peak of his powers. Last season proved that, with him spending far too much time on the sidelines. There is also the fact, that even though we have built him up as Superman, it would be painful to watch his slow decline over the coming few years. Having said that, I feel honoured to have been able to see him play at Ashburton Grove, particularly when you consider last summer, we had the same story being speculated by the tabloids. I recall the press conference very well, Dein made the comment, "Thierry has something to say to you all..." with a big grin on his face. His last ever contract apparently! I suppose I was stupid to believe that a footballer would honour his loyalty to the club. Funny how things have changed in less than twelve months. I make no excuse that the team has a whole under performed last season and the squad needs some serious surgery (even before the TH14 departure) and I have every faith that Arsene will make those shrude buys and produce more talent. I think many people have forgotten that it was the Frenchman who brought Henry in from the wilderness of Juventus, Italy and converted him from a winger to a deadly striker! There is little to be said that has not been said already. No one player is bigger than the club and we must learn to move on. The Thierry Henry chapter, as wonderful and glorious as it has been for the past eight years is now well and truly over. We must look to our future and the season ahead. I take great comfort from one aspect of what history has shown us. No ex-Arsenal player has ever really achieved much having left the club. Look at Overmars and Petit who went the same way. The plus point is the great youth system and the young kids coming through the ranks. We just need to bolster the squad with some experienced heads and then take it from there. The final word goes to Daniel, the Master & Apprentice head their separate ways.

Friday 22nd June 2007

Just the other night, before I fell asleep I was thinking that next year, it will have been a complete decade since I left school. Strange how time files and certain dates/years are significant in your life. I can remember my school days but those four years of secondary school feel like a universe away from where I am now and where I am heading. If I am honest, I am a completely different person from that child. While on placement, one of the secretaries commented to me that she has forgotten all about her time at school. There were no memories there left to recall. I hope when I grow up that I still will have a fondness for my secondary school (high school) days. (The best days of your life remember?) So you can imagine my surprise and joy at how events unfolded, quite unexpected this evening.

I was online, as I am most evenings. It was 6pm, I had been home for just over half an hour and I was chatting to some friends via MSN. They were winding down for the weekend and we were discussing each other's plans for the next two days. My N73 was on the side but had been rung at least twice and I had a text message. You might not know (I am sure I have mentioned it on several occasions on this blog) but I keep all my phones on silent) I checked the missed calls around 6.45pm, they were local. The text message made me smile. It was a old school friend. Someone whom I had not spoken to or seen in nearly six years. In fact the last time I saw her, was at her wedding day. Can you believe it? Who is this mystery woman? It is Jennie Medford (nee Small). She was in my form back in Sir William Ramsay and we Form Captains in Year 9 (95-96). She had been trying to track me down for a long time and only now had got my number and got in touch. So much has happened in that time, Jennie has a toddler son, Aaron aged 2 and a half years! God, I feel old! Jennie came onto MSN and actually told me she still remembers the last conversation I had with her. "The last thing you said to me was you look really lovely Jen and look after yourself. You also told El (hubby) to look after me. That was on our wedding day and that's was the last i heard or saw you."

This heart warming episode got me thinking, am I really that difficult to track down? I have a blog (two in fact). I have numerous web sites. I have a profile on MySpace, FaceBook and Hi5 and even FriendsReunited. Enter either my full name or nickname into Google. I would even consider that I am one of the easiest (non celebrity) people to find if you were looking for me with just a few scraps of information. My mobile number has never changed in nearly ten years. I still live at the same address. I still work in the area although I suppose as I spent so little time in the town centre in the evening and at weekends, I am not known to many other people that have stuck around.

Nothing planned this weekend but that can sometimes be a blessing. One of the reasons is of course all the excitement of next weekend. I know it is far too early to even be contemplating the next working week but I am just looking forward to 5.15pm on Thursday 28th. I think once again, I will have to do some major preparation, but the main thing is MightyMouse has come in and confirmed his willingness to cash in a favour. I need to burn a CD of music for the trip and I am hoping I can make the round trip without listening to the same track twice. A feat once, which would only be possible in Hussein's Fabia (and on board Empeg). You just do not know how hard it will be for me to keep the discipline to not hit the next track button on my Alpine stereo.

Sunday 17th June 2007

It is nearly midnight as I begin writing this post. Got in from Sheffield eight minutes before 11pm. Quite a nice relaxing day, we left at 9.30am and got into the steel city around midday. We then had tea and cake at my sister's student flat. My Dad, Uncle and youngest sister went into the city centre, while I watched the first part of the Eastenders Omnibus on BBC1. I should have gone with them but was not really in the mood for walking around the town centre. Some thirty minutes into the soap, I feel asleep. I woke up as my relatives returned from their shopping expedition. We then watched the closing part of the Falklands Ceremony before watching the second part of Eastenders Omnibus I had seen Thursday's episode but not Friday's.

Then just before 6pm we all headed off up the road to Butler's Balti House. It formerly had been a tea room. A very nice restaurant with excellent sharp service. After tea and ice cream in the lounge downstairs we headed back to Wycombe. It was my turn to drive. My sister had driven the 307 back from Birmingham a few weeks ago, so it was only fair and I did not mind. My Dad instructed me to stop at the next services, after we had been on the M1 for just over thirty minutes.

I had been struggling to find music to listen to on the journey down. Radio One were playing dance music, not ideal for a Sunday evening drive home. Magic was not available and I could not pick up any of the local stations at all. I used the opportunity of the stop at Donnington Park services to re-tune the radio. It switched to BBC Radio Nottingham and the opening of a song played. Harry Harish was the DJ and he played the song in full, no interruptions or silly voice over (I love you BBC!) We had actually heard this song, almost exactly twelve hours earlier at the Esso Turnpike petrol station, when I had checked the tyre pressures. Kejal on Sunrise Radio, had talked all over the introduction, even though at the end, she said she wanted to play the song in full, in dedication to all the father's for Father's Day. Although technically speaking the song is not related to the day, the lyrics do seem to fit. What am I talking about? While I may not be a fan of Bollywood now, back in the mid Eigthies I was hooked. In 1988 I was perhaps in the middle of my phase glued to these three hour epics. Times were changing as well, we were moving out of the action era into a more story based, substance based picture making. In any case, I digress. Aamir Khan starred in his first picture, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (which poetically translated means "Dazed & Confused", literally translated means "From Doomsday To Doomsday"). It was a movie I watched with great fondness, even though now I recall very little apart from the opening number. "Papa Kehte Hain" (My Dad Says) which was also the first hit for my personal favourite playback singer Udit Narayan. So you can understand why it was played twice (if not countless other times across Asian radio network today!). In a case of history repeating itself, Udit's son, Aditya performed the song, when taking over a new talent singing contest show over on India television. I updated the Wikipedia page with a YouTube link but it has been removed by the powers that be. Thankfully I can bring you the link myself. Also, for those non Hindi speaking among you, the translation can be found here. The song from the movie (excellent quality) can be found over there. Once again, I apologise for the rather cheesy lyrics but it was 1988 and it was a young Bollywood film. A complete rip off of Romeo & Juliet in fact, but don't tell William!

Saturday 16th June 2007

What a week! It is strange how one phone call and subsequent e-mail can turn a working week on it's head. I expected to be in the office most of the week but ended up having almost three days out on the road. It made a nice change but just means I have a bucket load of work to get done on my return. Got back into the office on Friday lunchtime, and my last appearance had been on Tuesday, so you can imagine, quite a lot to catch up on. In a usual week, I would travel on average just under 100 miles, this week, I have clocked up, 401 precisely as I pulled on up outside Pav's house!

Let me not bore you with work, let us focus on more important things. Pav messaged me yesterday afternoon, he was already at home and it was minutes before 4pm. He said if I came over early he would give my car a quick wash. I could not resist, particularly that 240 miles of motorway driving for the past two days had taken their toll on my car. I left home at 6.30pm and got to Emner Green at 7.10pm and parked up. Pav was getting his kit ready and within minutes was hitting it with his new hardcore foam gun. A few minutes later the cap broke.

After a foaming, rinse, wash and wax, the car was done. It took less than 40 minutes and it was a great improvement. I took the opportunity to take some photos with Nokia 73, which I have now uploaded to FlickR. The final result can be summed up by the following photograph.

No that is not a shot of the sky on a early Summer evening but in fact the reflection in my bonnet. Amazing finish and not bad considering the little amount of time and effort spent. Proves how good the car can look with just a top up wash done properly. Much better than my quick jet wash rinse at home on Tuesday evening when I got home from work. I also just washed the alloys as they were grey and in places going black from the brake dust. I was really glad that Pav offered to wash the car for me. As always he did a great job and it meant I would not have to wash the car myself over the weekend. Good thinking, because as I write this, it is pouring outside.

I went to see Fantastic Four with Pav back in July, just a month shy of two years ago (has it really been that long?). I should go on record as saying I enjoyed the movie, even if the ending did leave plenty to be desired. So I came back to see the sequel with low expectations, although from the trailers, it did look good. The main draw, as last time is Jessica Alba playing Susan Storm, AKA The Invisible Woman. The story begins very quickly, there is no slow build up as in other Marvel movie adoptions. This is a good thing, but expected as this is a sequel, we know all the main characters already. The action comes thick and fast and there are various comic moments thrown in for good measure, mainly by Johnny. However, in comparison to the first movie it falls down on several counts once again. The Silver Surfer character is not explored in enough detail, the plot in places is just completely unbelievable. I do not think Mr. Fantastic would ever work with Victor Von Doom again, regardless of the circumstances. The trip to London for a major set action pieces is not explained well enough and there is little support by UK personnel. It would be impossible for the US Army to arrive (with or without superhero team) on the South Bank and try and stop the London Eye collapsing. I was disappointed because it was an opportunity for the filmmakers to show the international presence, but instead they opted for the Fantastic Four team can save the day on their own, even in someone else's backyard. The ending was a disappointment, but less so than the first movie. It was left open ended once again but we wanted something more substantial. Sure the world is about to end but we need to feel the danger, the suspense, the fear. I think that is the problem with this franchise, it is family friendly (or at least tries it's best to be) and lacks the dark side, so predominately in other movies of the genre. The Fantastic Four are a perfect team of super heroes always able to react, always able to deal with the problems in the world. However we want to discover what happens when the perfect team is broken or torn apart? It is such a shame because I am sure with all the comic books, there is a wealth of material to work from which would adapt very well to the silver screen.

I joined Face Book back at the beginning of April. The social network website is just far too addictive. Once you join and create your profile, you then join a network (in my case London) you can start searching for friends (old and new). After only a few months, I have many work colleagues, uni friends and even old school friends on my friends list. The best aspect is that it is open source so people can write their own widgets for you to use, for example embedding video, creating a top 25 friend list from your contacts. Chris has been on the site a while and was glad I finally took the plunge by writing on my wall. The interface is clean and simple, and I like the option to write a few words to describe my current status. Give me the opportunity to give a quick short burst update rather than wait until I get around to updating this blog. Talking of blogs, my friend Charlie has just started a blog over on MySpace. As much as I hate the interface over there, I am going to read all about his adventures, particularly his trip up to Scotland next week.

Not much planned for this week, off to Sheffield tomorrow to see my sister and spend Father's Day with her and the rest of the family. There is little else on the agenda to be honest. Want to create a new mp3 album to listen to in the car, my most recent CD which is several weeks old, is getting a bit tired and I am tending to scrape around for music to listen to in the car. I am going to set myself a challenge for my next long distance trip. I must burn a CD and listen to it all the way through without skipping a single track. It will be hard for me, being a 'skipper' of music albums generally. We shall see.

Friday 8th June 2007

Being back online easily is the highlight of the week but there is so much else to mention and so much yet to come. Not sure where to start really. I suppose I will just take each topic as it comes into my head. Being back online has been fantastic! I have a stable 2 meg connection which went live on Wednesday afternoon. It was like I was never away, I booted up my machine, logged on and AVG updated itself, MSN signed in. We had lift off. I picked up all my e-mails and then started reading some of the blogs I had missed for the past three weeks. Then I had to go through a list of mp3s I wanted to listen to. I even got around to downloading Azureus. It had been mentioned on the Sky User forum which I have been living on, during lunch times at work. I am so impressed with the Bit Torrent Java Client that I removed both eMule and Ares from my machine. I downloaded Groove Armada latest album and Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad album within the space of twenty minutes. Result!

When Pav detailed my car several weeks ago, he wrote up the job over at Detailing World. You do not need to join to read the thread and comments. Unfortunately I never took many photos when I got the car back and it is so dirty that I need to give it a wash this weekend. (Yes, I have been really bad and not washed it since the detail three weeks ago. I really need to make more of an effort. I am free this weekend, so have no excuses.

I just walked into my sister's room to let her know I paid the London Congestion Charge for her, to be told by my younger sister that the new house mate was a Michael Jackson fan. I looked to the screen to find Seany entering the Big Brother house. I do not watch the reality television show but tend to be aware of who is in there and what is going on from afar. My sisters are all big fans and watch the live feed on E4 regularly (more so in their student days when they were back home for the holidays). Seany is someone I met back in early October 2005 at a London MJ event, and again most recently last November at the World Music Awards. Maybe I will have to break the habit of a lifetime and start tuning into to Channel 4. Strange to see someone you know on television, but I should qualify that statement. I know him a little, not that well. We have met a few times and spoken at length about MJ, the trial, the comeback and other related things. Now I find him on prime time television, for all the world to see.

Wednesday 6th June 2007

The final total period in the wilderness was 21 days 18 hours 3 minutes and 50 seconds!

Saturday 2nd June 2007

The injury time equalizer came as a bit of a blow to dampen what had been a great day. However, the draw aside I had a fantastic time. Let me start from the beginning, I woke up around 8am, which is late by my standards. Dropped my Mum off at work and then headed into town to get my haircut. About quarter to ten, I was back at home and started to get ready. Chris called, he sounded hangover and had just got up, he would get to my place around 11.30am. This gave me time to get all my things together and watch some television with my Dad in the lounge while I waited. Chris called again at 11.30am, he was just leaving. We were running slightly later than planned but it was not a major issue. Chris came to pick me up just before 12pm and I bought my tickets from the Fast Ticket machine at exactly 12:06pm. We were on our way. The next train to London departed in five minutes from Platform Three. However, when we got up to the platform, we noticed after two stops it would be heading directly to Marylebone. I had only bought a return ticket to Wembley Stadium as I had an Oyster Card for any tube trips. We turned around and headed back to Platform One, the next train was at 12:32, we waited a few minutes and then boarded the train as soon as it arrived. We were on our way to Wembley.

As the sun was shining and we had clear blue skies all around, I had planned the following for our day. Get over to Wembley, take some photographs while it was dead. Then walk down to Wembley Park tube station, get into city centre, grab some food, chill out, meet up with Chris' Uni mates and then head back for the stadium around 5pm. It was not perfect but better than our original plan, which was for me to head to Henley and then catch the train from there. This would have involved two changes and a hellish journey back. Looking back, I think we made the right choice.

As we pulled up at Wembley Stadium, quite a few other England fans had decided on the same course of action. The arch looked amazing against the backdrop of a clear blue sky. We took some photos, but my CyberShotU batteries packed up after just a few photographs and I was gutted. It was down to Chris to rescue the day and take photos for the rest of the day. We walked down to the Bobby Moore statue and took some photos with us standing next to the England legend. I looked up and noticed the sun just behind the arch, so grabbed Chris' camera and took a few photos. Easily my favourite photograph of the day.

We then walked down Olympic Way to Wembley Park Station. It was a hot and glorious day and we looked forward to the thought of coming back in four hours time and seeing the place packed with fans heading to the match. We jumped on the Jubilee Line heading to Green Park. Here we changed for the Piccadilly Line to Leicester Square. We then decided to get some food, opting for the Pizza Hut Buffet. I had been in this restaurant a few years ago (September 2003, in fact) with my sisters but did not realise there was additional seating downstairs. During our meal, there was an irate customer that started ranting and raving at the staff, including shouting "Get me your MANAGER!" at the top of his voice! There was just no need for that type of aggression, the manager appeared from somewhere to take the man into his office. After lunch we decided what to do, I was not really in the mood for doing anything to exaggerate (or expensive). We thought about catching a movie but opted to walk down to Trafalgar Square and relax. As we walked passed the National Portrait Gallery we saw the final few blows of a fight. Two guys were out cold on the floor and a third guy was being smashed down to the ground by a young lad, who swung at him with a kung fu kick. The victim went down like a sack of spuds. It was all over quickly and the gang responsible casually walked off, while bystanders went to the rescue of the three victims. It was not long before the police were called and two ambulances arrived.

The Square was packed, with many tourists all enjoying the first glimpse of June sunshine. As we walked up to one of the fountains, I noticed a girl in full cycle gear, being interview for television. The web URL on her top revealed, all Cycling.TV. We just chilled out here for a while, taking some photos and generally relaxing. Chris then suggested going and sitting at the bottom of Nelson's Column and so we did. There were many young children running around with their parents close at hand. It was the last day of the half term holiday after all. We had arranged to meet up with Chris' Uni friends for a drink before the game but they were not going to arrive until 2.30pm. We decided to head down to the river and on route, give them a call and locate them. We headed down Whitehall, based Horse guards Parade and Downing Street before crossing Westminster Bridge. I was handed the free London Lite paper and looked at the preview to the big match. They had Kaka against Reading's Nicky Shorey with the verdict, "Kaka too tricky for Nicky!" Chris text our colleague Peter, who is a Reading season ticket holder.

As you would expect the place was swarming with tourists. As we headed down towards the London Eye, we walked passed County Hall. They were hosting a Star Wars Exhibition. On another day, I would have popped in to take a look but I had to make do with the Clone Trooper posing for photographs outside. The Eye was extremely busy with the queue stretching across back towards the Shell building. As we walked by, the sky had turned a dull grey and we both knew it would start to rain any moment soon. Within a few minute, it start to lightly spit but not progress into a full shower. We went past the a skate park and then came under the cover of a railway bridge. There was a book sale on, but to the left was the BFI. A bar come cafe backed by I assume, The British Film Institute. We ordered some drinks and sat down. That was a well earned break. We decided what to do next. The anticipation was in the air. You could sense it. It was Friday afternoon, people were beginning to leave work to kick off their weekend. Chris spoke to his friends and they were about to make their way back to Wembley, so we decided to do the same. I grabbed my tube map just to confirm in my mind the trek back. Walk back to Waterloo, grab the Jubilee Line direct to Wembley Park. Twenty minutes or so? A few minutes later we were heading back. The roads and pavements were busy with commuters heading back home after a long week. We went to cash point first and joined a queue of six or seven. Then headed back to the Waterloo Underground entrance but realised that this was not for the Jubilee Line, so headed back down the station to the far left and entrance we required. Chris had never been on the tube at rush hour and this was going to be experience for him. Luckily, Waterloo has disable step free access, so we know where to board the train. There was standing room but not as tight a squeeze as I would have hoped. Looking out the window, I could see the arch in the distance and the sun softly setting in the distance. We rushed off the train and out of the station. The place was heaving with a great number of police and LU staff.

We walked down Olympic Way, it felt strange. We had been here just a few months back for the Under 21 international but the atmosphere now was different. Much better in my opinion. We walked past Jake Humphrey from CBBC (he occasionally has filled in on Football Focus). Chris does not watch peasant television, as he calls it and did not recognise the television celebrity. We walked half way up the left hand side ramp and waited. There was a barrier of policeman ahead of us, checking bags and looking out for suspicious characters. Some people had been granted access to the upper most tier of the stadium and were looking down at us. Lucky people! Further down, outside by the Booby Moore statue, a group of fans and tied a England flag of Saint George with the letter EFC and Everton Crest to the railings. Chris just had to take a photograph. His friends were on their way and eventually Andy B, Alex and Chris arrived and we made our way up to Wembley. They were in the upper tier and went in, as we walked around to turnstile N. As soon as we went through, I knew that we would not be able to go up and meet up with them for a drink. We asked a steward who said we could catch an escalator. We walked around but I was concerned we might not be able to get back to the lower tier. We came across a security guard and asked him. To give him credit, he was very helpful and pointed us in the direction of a team supervisor but left saying it had a special magic pass that enable to go anywhere. For a split second we thought he was going to do us a favour. We came to the realisation that there was no way of us going up to the upper tier, even though Chris did want to actually try and talk his way pass some stewards. He got a drink and we headed for our seats. Block 125.

We were half way between the goal and half way line (if that make sense?). Towards the left of the pitch. Sorry that is rather pathetic description of where we were sitting but for those of you whom caught the came on television, I think we were part of the 'O' of "Welcome Home" which was formed by the crowd (as well as the cross of Saint George) during the national anthem. It must have looked impressive on television, all I caught was the image replayed on the big screens within the stadium. It just was amazing to be part of something for a change, to be there. My first ever England international, the first at the home of football. It was a moment I had perhaps never really thought about until now. I remember Chris and I talking about getting tickets back in early 2006, discussing buying tickets with the accounts department at work. Here I was, minutes away from kick off.

Well it ended in a draw, which I suppose was a fair result. I have been given Chris' photos and uploaded the best over on a fresh FlickR set. As we headed out of the stadium we had to get into a queue for the Wembley Stadium station. Our queue, was in the middle and quite a long queue. This was for all trains heading northbound. The announcer was some camp guy, and after I thought about it for a while, he must have been the son of Gordon Brittas from the Brittas Empire. He over emphasized the words "Safety" and "Aylesbury" to great comic effect. This had most of us in the queue, including many children in stitches!

Thursday 31st May 2007

It is just before 11pm on Wednesday 30th May and I have just watch the finale to series one (or Volume One as the producers would prefer to call it) of Heroes! I stepped up my game and watched four episodes back to back last night. This was after my marathon session on Monday and Tuesday night. What can I say? I am really looking forward to the second series, which the BBC have already bought (strange when they are still yet to screen the 23 episodes I have just watched!). Super heroism, is one of my favourite genres and this series appealed to me in a way like no other. I should really qualify that statement by making it quite clear that I have not seen that many television shows, particularly US imports. I was surprised to discover that Executive Producer, Timonthy Kring, was also responsible for Teen Wolf Too (a movie I have not seen, as it surely could never live up to the original). With most shows, I can be quite disciplined and watch one episode a week, even if I have the whole boxset on DVD. Somehow, this show got right under my skin and I was hooked almost from the word go. Two characters appealed to me, Hiro from Tokyo and of course Mohinder from Madras. Not knowing what was coming next, not knowing how the story would end, it all added to the suspence. Sure, the series will always be listed as a drama but it is a pure scifi dream. There is a spin off Heroes Origins coming soon and then series two which should fall in September. I just cannot wait. In the meanwhile I have downloaded the 'web comics' (all 35, 538 megabytes worth!) to read over the weekend to kill some time.

It has been over two weeks without broadband and thanks to a television show, I have not gone completely insane but I am missing every aspect of my online life. My Dad got a call from Sky this afternoon in response to our letter of complaint and was given the activation date of 6th June. Although they did say the service could be switched on earlier depending on BT. By then, it will have been three weeks out in the wilderness. There is a sense of relieve that the ball is in the court of my new ISP and I am not tearing my hair out trying to get people to respond on the phone or to e-mails. However, there is a small sense of apprenhension, as I read the stories on Sky User of users spending hundreds of pounds on phone bills and going months with no active broadband connection, some going as far as to cancel their Sky connection. Fear not, Teg will return, it is just a few more painful days to go through.

Been waiting for a while but it is finally here. Just another football match? Another friendly? Friendlies are pointless, aren't they? Not if they are the first England game at the new Wembley Stadium. There could only be a handful of opponents that founding country of the game, could play and Brazil are perhaps the most gifted and entertaining to watch. Who would have believed that by the age of 25, I would have seen Brazil play on English soil, not once, twice but three times! However, the previous two occassions will not compare in anyway to tomorrow evening. Why? It will be my first ever England international (at senior level) at the home of football. Need I say any more?

At exactly 4.30pm on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon I received a text from Pav. It was a picture message with the following text, "Sorry to rub it in but I've hit a new record!". Part of me wanted to throw my phone at the wall, part of me wanted to jump for joy. I still do not know which feeling I felt most! I will let you judge for yourself, but something tells me the Guinness Book Records will not been in touch anytime soon mate!

Monday 28th May 2007

Did not really have much planned social wise over the Bank Holiday Weekend. I know this is not like me, but I prefer to keep things low key for a while. Saturday was quite busy, I was out the door soon after 8am and headed over to Amersham to get a courtesy health check on the A3. While the technician was looking at my car, I went for a walk down White Lion Road to Chalfont and then headed back to kill the forty minutes the inspection would take. I booked the car in for a service and MOT in early July. I then had to head into town. I was hoping to just been an hour but ended up being two. My N73 has been playing up, Vodafone refuse to replace it and instead requested I take it to a store to be sent off. I did this but they asked me to pop around the corner to Phoneland for a software upgrade (not necessary) but I thought I would jump through the hoops. This took an hour, so I had to waste away my Saturday morning, walking around my boring home town. The building of the Eden shopping centre slowly comes together, as it opens next Spring. I collected my phone from Phoneland and then took it back to the Vodafone store. Now this store is tiny with only three assistants (sorry, I mean advisors) so I was stuck in the queue for fifteen minutes and then it took another ten minutes for them to process the return.

I got home just before 12.30pm and watched the breaking news flood in of Beckham's recall to the England squad. I was pleased for him, as I know his experiences on the field have justified his inclusion. I wonder what my dear friend Daniel over in the Far East would say about this on this blog? He has never been a big fan of DB23. The best aspect of the whole saga, is I get to watch it all unfold live at Wembley on Friday evening. I cannot wait!

Saturday evening, I worked on some web sites and then started watching a television series. The reason for the trip over to Pav's on Thursday evening, had not just for him to see and hear my new stereo system in the A3, but I also went to collect a care package. The first in over a year at least, but only consisting of two DVDs. I had heard about the US show briefly and it had been given rave reviews but not had the chance to watch it. It had been mentioned by Pav, Foxy and Kev during our weekend in Cornwall and I thought I might as well give it a go. I watched three episodes Saturday night and another three last night. There are two elements to the show that make it so successful. There are several strains in terms of stories and building up powers slowly. You all know that in the comic books and movies, the superhero gets his or her power almost instantly in some freak accident or exposure to some radioactive ray beam. Heroes is different. I have become hooked and have been texting Pav, absolutely raving about it. I think I will try and catch a few more episodes of series one later this afternoon.

Vue cinemas have always had one minus point, an achilles heel if you will. If you ever got to the cinema late, you would be stuck with rubbish seats at the front and severe neck ache. On my visit yesterday morning with my sister, I discovered they now had reserved seating in place. Fantastic! :) This means that whenever I go to the cinema in future, we can pick the best seats, particularly important in Screen 4, the largest. We got to the Oracle at 10.30am, and I bought tickets and then my sister Samantha bought the popcorn and sweets. We got into the screen early but it was by no means busy. A handful of parents with their children. For me, there was no big anticipation for this sequel, as there was last July when I came to see Dead Man's Chest. It was entertaining but not amazing, I had got used to the characters and life at sea with a pirate. Good fun but the big adventure I expected and I am sure some of the younger children in the audience would have been hard pressed to follow the storyline. Then again, all things consider, Disney have not done that part, to make three box office smash hit movies on the back of a theme park ride!

Friday 25th May 2007

Nearly ten days without internet access. Painful is the only way I can describe it. Pav mentioned that it has been strange not seeing me online on MSN messenger in the evenings, and Sachin called me yesterday and had been wondering why I had been offline. Well the good news is that I placed my order for Sky broadband, for the third and hopefully last time. BT Wholesale had confirmed on Monday morning that the tag was scheduled to be removed on 25th and that I would be able to contact my new ISP on Saturday. However, after I got back from work this evening, I took a punt and gave Sky a call. The line was clear and my order was processed. However I was surprised that all three packages were now available on my line (2mb, 8mb, 16mb). I am so far from the local exchange that I thought 2 meg was my theoretical limit. While it was tempting to go for Mid or Max, I opted to remain with Base, after all I can upgrade later, if I ever feel the need. Something tells me that 'need' will never materialise. So, a ten day wait, even though the customer service operator mentioned it could take up to fifteen days. However, as I have written to BSkyB twice (including a letter right to the top) I am sure my order will be processed as quickly as possible. Just a case of the waiting game now, but at least everything I have needed to do has been done and the ball is in the court of my new ISP. The saga is slowly drawing to a close.

In other news? It is difficult to write anything else as life without the net is such a major headline in my world. Everything else is merely insignificant. I had the final few bits and pieces fixed on my A3 on Thursday evening. I left work early and headed over to the garage. Small speakers have been fitted underneath my seats now, to work along side the Parrot. The results are very good, as I took a phone call from Sachin on the way home. The problem with radio reception remains, although I went over to Pav's place and picked up reasonable reception on most stations, but the moment I head into Wycombe, the reception drops. To try and resolve this, I have joined a new forum, Audi Sport in the hope of finding a permanent solution. I will of course, keep you up to speed on my progress.

Friday 18th May 2007

Trust me, you do not appreciate the godsend a broadband internet pipe is, until it is gone. Then, I suppose that is the case with most things, the heart always longs for something that is no longer there. It has been nearly exactly three days without the broadband at home and I am truly suffering, particularly on a Friday night. Normally I would blog, download some new tunes, read up all the latest news on various blogs, forums and discussion groups and generally look forward to whatever the weekend has in store. Instead I find myself on the computer as usual, but very much offline. A strange experience, particularly for me, as I have been online in some shape or form for the past five years and before that, would always hog the phone line with dial up. Pav mentioned that it was a viable option (while on MSN at work this morning) but I prefer to continue cold turkey. Once you have broadband, going back to dial up would be a killer and there is very little I could achieve on 56k, apart from perhaps checking my e-mail. I wonder how long my counter will have to clock up before I am switched onto to Sky broadband. The latest update is that Orange still have a tag or marker on my line and it takes them up to ten days to get this removed by BT Wholesale. My discussions with BT Wholesale have proved the most shocking, from their records Orange have not even been in touch to have the tag removed. When I go back to my former ISP, I am told that it takes up to five days for it to appear on their systems. Strange how in 2007, the digital age, I am stuck between two different stories and more crucially no online access. I am sure I will survive but it is hard work, a tough test.

Left work at 5pm this afternoon and headed over to Pav's place. He was not there, and as I pulled up on his drive, it started to rain. Great(!) I had booked in the A3 for a full auto detail this weekend and was handed the keys to the trusty and rusty Rover. How do I even begin to describe driving the dark blue, M-reg car from Caversham back to Wycombe. The steering is feather touch light, the clutch loose and the brake squeaky but somehow I made it back home in one piece. You could tell the original engine had been replaced by a Honda model, it over revved at the finest of touches on the gas pedal. I am really looking forward to picking up my clean car on Sunday evening. Plans for the weekend? Not much really, FA Cup final tomorrow but beyond that nothing really exciting.

Wednesday 16th May 2007

Last night at approximately 11.30pm, I switched off my computer as normal. However it would be the last time I would have broadband internet access until my line is cleared and I switch over to Sky broadband. The count down starts here. I expect to be without broadband for two weeks but the wait could be longer as I am in the hands of Orange, BT, and then Sky. Not exactly shinying lights in terms of customer satisfaction recently.

Sunday 13th May 2007

It was several years ago, perhaps even 1999. I cannot remember exactly but the moment I recall like it was yesterday. I was listening to Five Live and more specifically Matthew Bannister's show as it was then (before Anita Anand took over). Nick Crosgrove come on for his business segment and mentioned a new technology that would soon be transforming the world. Being the gadget freak that I am I listened in to the conversation. It was a new wireless technology called Bluetooth that would enable different devices to talk to each other. I was skeptical to say the least, I did not think a technology like this would work or be adopted by the masses. I was wrong. Several years later, I got my first phone with bluetooth and was also messing around with bluetooth dongles to transfer files and contacts from a mobile phone to a PC. However it is only this week I have come to appreciate the true power and beauty of blueteeth.

I collected my car on Tuesday evening from Pro Installations and was blown away by the stereo. The Alpine unit looks fantastic, particularly at night with the red lumination which matches the rest of the dash. I now have two amps sitting snuggly on a false floor in the boot, one powering a brand new Pioneer sub woofer! The sound quality is just awesome and difficult to explain in words. The MB Quart Q-Line speakers have just perfect clarity, even at the high volumes, although I have not put the volume above level thirty yet! The other toy I've had fitted is the Parrot 3400 LS GPS Bluetooth car kit, which pairs with my N73. At first I had a few problems getting my phone to see the GPS device but eventually I got it working on Thursday. The problem was I needed to connect to the Parrot while in the TomTom Navigator software rather than pair with the phone first. This worked a treat and I now am fully up and running with sat nav! The phone aspect needs some work but that should be sorted out in a coming few weeks.

I searched for Ultra on Wikipedia at the beginning of last year but they did not have any entries. I was disappointed. You can imagine my surprise to discover that not only did they have a page on the online encyclopedia but they had released a second album in October last year. Their official web site was working a few weeks ago but appears to be down now. I hunted around on various peer to peer services to see if I could download the album but it was a big ask. I went over to You Tube and was pleased to find their videos, all uploaded by one user. The singles were their, Say You Do, Say It Once and the top ten UK smash, Rescue Me. However there was also two videos I had not seen before, Blind To The Groove and one of my personal favourite's from the debut album, The Right Time. Yesterday evening, I decided to download the album, having heard a few of the songs over on their official My Space. The cost of each track was 79p which I was more than willing to pay and worthwhile, since I had also purchased their album in December 1999, as a Christmas present for my sister. I tried Amazon first and then HMV but none of the major online retailers were stocking the album. Looks like this is ones of those for die hard fans only. I have had a quick listen to most of the tracks and really enjoyed the sound and vocals, it was as if they had never been away.

Talking of music, I'm officially obsessed with Umbrella by Rihanna (featuring Jay Z). I first heard about the song and accompanying video from Pop Justice on 26th April and headed over to You Tube to catch the show for myself. Very impressed, a new direction for our Barbados babe and absolutely amazing video. I particularly love the computer enhanced effect of Rihanna dodging the water (or is it paint?) falling across her (which occurs a minute in, during the chorus). This is another one of those songs which I am just going to rinse on WinAmp and now in my car, once I get around to burning an MP3 CD. Or should I be brave and attempt WMA?

Been a rather dull wet weekend with me achieving little more than a haircut and piano lesson (#9). I wanted to wash the car but High Wycombe had the heaviest rainfall in the country. So my plans were somewhat limited. I am not a big fan of Eurovision but I do tend to watch the show mainly for witty Wogan and the tactical voting but opted to listen to the BBC Radio 2 coverage on my computer instead this year. The least said about the UK entry the better.

Monday 7th May 2007

My weekend unofficially began on Friday morning. I was watching music television, something I never really do during working weekdays. I was channel hopping, as I do and came across Bliss. They were playing music videos from the 1980s (Golden era of the music video) and the opening bars of 'Take On Me' played. I thought how much I could turn things around in the space of a three minute song, but let that thought drift out of my mind and concentrated on the weekend. I was excited. I was looking forward to every aspect, the drive down, the company, the whole experience. So, as the video ended, I switched off the television and headed out to the client office. It was just gone 9am.

I got into my car, just after 4pm and it was baking hot. I said goodbye to my manager and wished him a good weekend and let the thought of work drift away. Switching to holiday mode as I drove through Gerrard's Cross. There was road works on the A40, so I was stuck in traffic for a few minutes. A woman in a 3-series BMW cabriolet, lost her patience and turned around, I waited in the queue and eventually we were let through. They were digging up the road opposite the BP garage, so had set up a traffic lights to control the flow of traffic. After this, I was stuck behind a big group of cars but did not care, I put the volume up and just relaxed. The weekend was about to begin and I was in a good mood.

As I pulled off the A4, into Sonning Common, I was stuck in heavy traffic. I took the opportunity to call one of my friends at their office and have a quick chat. The cars in front were not moving very quickly at all and I knew I would be stuck here for a while. I text Pav to let him know where I was and that I was on my way. It was 5.30pm by the time I pulled outside Pav's house. The weekend could officially begin. I gave my spare key to Nige and then a few minutes later Pav arrived. He had the touch up paint he had picked up from Audi Reading on the way back from work. I got changed out of my suit. Other Nige had arrived now, in his new Vectra SRi and we then just had to wait for Melanie before we could head over to CostCo. I transferred all my bits over into the 528i and sure enough around 6.30pm, an hour or so after I arrived we headed out. We had to go and collect Foxy from the other side of Reading before heading down to junction 11 of the M4.

The CostCo warehouse store is located just behind the Madjeski Stadium and just next to the wind mill that hangs over Green Park and is clearly visible from the motorway. We stocked up on drink mainly and we were in there for about thirty minutes, it was surprisingly busy. Several families stocking up for the long weekend. I was given the duty of pushing the trolley which was quite heavily stacked with boxes by the time we got to the till. Pav paid, as he has a trade card and we then headed for the exit. At the door, they had an employee checking off receipts with the goods in people's trolleys. I over took an elderly gentleman, who then said to me, "In a hurry?" I apologised and took my space back in the line, behind him. Our receipt was checked and signed off and we headed to the car to pack. Pav had no space left in the saloon, so we had to dump everything into Nige's Vectra. Then, it was a case of waiting for Kev and his friend to arrive. Foxy began to get into the swing of things, he was going to be the source of the majority of entertainment for the weekend. He started by blasting Lady Sovereign on Nige's car stereo. I am trying to wonder what we must have looked like. A group of young adults, standing around two parked up cars, away from the rest of the cars, listening to grime at loud volume. We called Kev again to find out where he was, he assured us he was on his way. It was getting cold and dark now, so we opted to sit inside the cars. Foxy put on Billy Bailey CD and it had us all in complete stitches, particularly the homage to Chris de Burgh and Billy Bragg. We were still waiting for Kev and it was 8.14pm. We had been waiting for nearly an hour and some of us were getting annoyed. We should have just headed out onto the motorway and started our journey instead of waiting, but as we were waiting there was no point now. It was another fifteen minutes or so before Kev finally pulled up in his silver Leon.

Pav took the lead, as he had the TomTom running on his N73, with Nige following closely behind with Kev a little further behind in the convoy. I got Pav to let me know the stats for our journey down to the south west coast. I made a note in my phone so I could note it on my blog. Journey time - four hours and four minutes and a distance of 223 miles. We had a long journey ahead of us. We were listening to Radio One with Pete Tong playing the Essential Collection to kick off the weekend for a couple of hours. They were heavily pressing the big weekend in Preston next weekend, requesting for listeners to logon onto the web site and register. We switched over to local radio and listened to GWR Wiltshire for a while. The passengers in our vehicle decided to sing along to Bryan Adams - Run To You at full voice. After fiddling around with the tuner for a while, we switched back to Radio One as the quality on local radio was just so poor. It was coming up to 9.30pm and we decided to stop for food and fuel. We stopped at Tauton Deane services on the M5. The queue for Burger King was quite long but we waited patiently and they did eventually open a new till. I was tempted to get a whole meal but just opted for a burger. Mel got web fries, which were promoting the new Spiderman movie. After food, we headed back to the cars and around to the Esso petrol station to get some fuel, Pav only put in enough petrol to get us down to Looe. We then headed back out onto the motorway, which was quiet by now. It was 10.09pm and the TomTom estimated three hours giving us an ETA of 01.09am. We were keen to get there a little bit before then. We switched on the radio and it was Annie Mac with her Friday mash up. Great fun and played some excellent tunes. She has a segment on her show called Knight Riders, requesting those driving to give details of their car and passengers and destination. Emily text in but we were knew it was unlikely our text would be read out. Around 11pm, I drifted off into a shallow sleep for about thirty minutes only to get up and be wide again almost instantly. There is not much more of the journey to note really, until we came up to Tamar Bridge. Quite an impressive structure but the true beauty was lost as we were driving across in the darkness. The TomTom had been programmed to avoid the toll bridge, so kept advising us to turn around before hand, as there was a main roundabout before the bridge. After the bridge, the roads switched to single carriage away affairs, rolling through the countryside. Pav was trying to keep a steady speed through these roads but it was hard with the winding turns and dips. Plus, I am sure the tidiness from the journey was kicking in. We pulled outside the cottage at 12.30am. As I got out of the car, we could smell and feel the cool sea breeze.

Once we unpacked all our stuff, quite a bit of luggage for a couple of days we settled down in the lounge. Em put the radio on, for some background music and we all began to relax. We just sat around and had a few drinks to unwind before we headed back to bed around 3am. I had a spot at the top of the stairs on a soft mattress. I drifted off to sleep quite quickly, I was tired and looking forward to the next few days. Kev woke up early and his movements woke me up. I asked him the time, it was 6.40am, I sunk back into my sleeping bag and feel asleep again. We eventually did get up around 10am and once everyone was ready, headed out for breakfast just before 11am. The walk into town was relatively short, but it was not the distance that was the problem, it was the incline. The road is uphill and then around the corner, you cross a small park heading downhill. Then onto gravel path all the way down to the town centre. The view was amazing and I wish I had brought my camera along, but my stomach was ruling my head, I needed food. The weather was great, warm golden sunshine and the sandy beach just below us was very busy. As we entered the town, we looked around for a place surfing breakfast. We popped into the Golden Guinea and took up two tables. As tempting as it would have been to go for a full English, I went for something less demanding. After breakfast we headed around the shops, I was looking to buy some shorts and even a t-shirt for the beach but could not find anything. We headed back out to the coastline. We could see the beach was busy, so decided to plan our afternoon. We headed around the beach over to the people beach around the corner, just down the road cottage we were staying at. Mel headed over to the beach on her own, while the rest of us headed back to the cottage.

We changed and grabbed drink and food for the beach, we then were waiting for a few of the others that had headed for the shop to buy ice bags. Kev, Kev and myself decided to head down and give Mel some company as she was on her own. We headed down the road, walking past a construction site. A new house was being built into the cliff face. It was an impressive view with the trees just falling in the right place to give the perfect amount of shadow around the property. Oh, what it would be like to own a place like that one day? A retirement home or even holiday home with a view of the sea. As I came out of my day dream, we realised there was quite a walk down to the beach and the walk up would far from easy.

We got to the beach and putting on my sunglasses, I joined Kev kicking the football around. I also took the opportunity to take some photographs. I was keen to get a picture for FlickR but I did not want to force my hand. I was cautious to the fact that the shot would come naturally during the day. We were waiting for Em, Foxy, Nige and Pav to arrive with the cooling bags and additional drink. I had only been able to bring down a small crate of Coca Cola cans. The sun was high in the sky and it was very hot. Enjoyable hot, not too bad, as the sea breeze was making the temperature quite gentle.

Eventually they arrived and we headed further down the beach to a little spot by the rock cliff face away from a few other small groups. Generally speaking the beach was quiet. There was a family having a barbeque to our left and a older couple tucked away to our right but apart from that the beach was dead. The odd walker would go past, some with dogs but no hoards of tourists. We settled down, while Foxy & Nige decided to kick the ball around. Foxy, in his Tottenhem Hotspur shorts showing off his skills with kick ups. We were all impressed of course(!) We settled down and I think for the first time all weekend, I was fully relaxed. I was handed a cool drink from the chiller bag of ice and laid down and took in the impressive view. This was the life. The time just flew by as we relaxed and chilled out by the beach. A little boy, aged about 6 came over in his Spiderman outfit (including mask) and asked if he could play with Foxy and Nige. He was very happy to be kicking the ball around for a while and came back again later in the afternoon.

A little while later, Em, Foxy, Nige and Pav decided to go crabbing. Not quite British Open Crabbing championship standard I'm afraid. They caught nothing in their hour long attempt, even after I came to over to give some encouragement and take some photos. By now we were all feeling a little peckish, so we decided to have a barbeque on the beach. However, I do not think we could compete with the group next to us, having a banquet on a big table. I headed up the road with Foxy, Nig and Pav. We headed around the corner into Looe to the petrol station and then the local Londis store. Foxy, conveniently forgot his wallet but we paid for the food somehow (thanks to Pav). We then headed back to the beach. Instant barbeques, burgers and sausages all at hand. We then settled down again and waited a while before we actually got down to cooking. Or rather some of us did while the others supervised.

It had been a tough challenge for me over the course of the weekend but I succeeded. I had no internet from Friday until Monday afternoon. I used my phone as little as possible, sending only a handful of emergency text and two phone calls. I was proud of myself and generally did not feel as bad as I have before without being connected to the world wide web. Pav, had agreed he would go cold turkey as well but he let the side down. He was online via his N73 constantly over the weekend and sent bucket loads of text messages. His criminal offense was to inform us all that his snow board had been sold on eBay as we lay on the beach. Most of us had been struggling for any GSM phone reception but Pav was surfing the information superhighway via GPRS and 3G. I am proud I was able to switch off for a few days. Only to return home and jump back online 1.09pm today to find 5 e-mails in my Hotmail and a staggering 64 e-mails in my Yahoo! account. The world does not stop.

After eating we had a further kick about on the beach. Thought I should actually get these tired old bones working, so I decided to have a pass the ball around between myself, Foxy and Kev. Unfortunately no one had a camera, for the moment, when I tried to smash the ball across the beach, only to the miss the ball and fall flat on my face. Laughter all around. The tide was drawing in and the sun was beginning to set behind the cliff face. It was time to make a move, we backed up our things and headed back to the cottage. We rested for a while, putting on the television. We had missed Doctor Who, but I was not too bothered, if I am honest. Plus, it was not for me to place my geeky habits on the rest of the gang. We ended up watching Grease Is The Word reality television show. Foxy is a big fan and was filling us all in on the events of last weekend on the show. We got ready and headed down into the town centre. It was about 8.30pm. We were going to go to Tex Mex, the Mexican restaurant (you never would have guessed from the name would you?) but there was a birthday party and they could not cater for our party of eight. We headed back down Fore Street to Peking Garden. Yes Foxy had to say it as we walked in, "Let's take a peek at the Peking Garden". The restaurant was relatively empty and we got our table straight away. After ordering drinks, we were discussing the weekend so far and our ski trip in January. There was a bang and the next thing I saw in slow motion was Pav's glass hurtled forward towards me. The contest spilt across the table and onto my jeans and t-shirt. I jumped up to try and escape but it was too late. I was soaked through. I headed upstairs to use the hand dryer to dry my jeans but as luck would have it, it was out of order. A little boy aged around 4 came in with his Dad. Looking at the state I was in, he made the comment as he left, "Dad, it looks like he's wee'd himself!". Thanks mate! :)

After dinner, which was very nice, we headed up the road to the Ship Inn. A busy pub with pool table and loud music. Just our type of establish then! We got some drinks in and headed over to the pool table, it was not in use, so Foxy took over. He introduced us to a game called Killer. I opted out, prefer to watch, while everyone else put in their £1. Pav won in the end, but Foxy took a percentage of the winnings for 'backing the winning horse'. After a second game, we headed back out into to our next drink stop. We were informed that the one and only night spot (open until after 11pm) was the Admiral Boscarn. As there were about 5 minutes or so before the venue would open, we headed to the bar around the corner. The Decker maybe thirty yards from the Boscarn but it is 30 years in the future! We had a round here before heading into Looe's one and only night club. As we went upstairs, we were told it was £3 entry. No problem. Foxy, who was ahead of me, asked if there was a cloakroom. No such luck. Perhaps down in the south west coast, they never require a coat or jacket in the summer months. We entered the main (and only room) to find a function room (converted very badly I might add) with a small dance floor in the middle, DJ booth at the back and bar opposite side. It was relatively empty but slowly filled up. They were playing classic radio friendly dance music, some several years old. The DJ was pathetic, not mixing in any tracks, simply playing one track and then after a gap playing the next completely different track. A selection of the tracks included, "Hey Ya!", "Sexiest Man In Jamaica" and Madonna's "Hang Up".

We left the night club (if you can actually call it that, is highly debatable) around 1.30am and headed outside. It was quite a walk back to the cottage, plus the in the dark and cold, it would not be an simple walk through the park. Or so I thought. By the time we got to pathway cutting through the cliff, I was surprised how well lit the place was from the moon (not street lighting!). As we headed up, I was up ahead with Foxy and the rest of the gang behind. We heard some noise behind us but kept walking. We found out that Nige had fallen into the bushes and trees below and Em rescued him. the chances of him falling were small but he had been holding on to some stingy nettles and branches to stop him dropping any further.

This is turning out to be yet another long blog entry and I am sure only the dedicated readers will get this far. Suppose I will have to rush through the events of Sunday. We got up a little later on Sunday morning and decided what to do. We decided to head down the coast to Polperro for some lunch at a pub. It was a ten minute drive about five miles west. We parked up and at first were going to go The Mill pub on the edge of the village. However, it was busy and the group was spilt between going inside or staying outside in the sunshine. We decided to walk further into the harbour and find a pub. They had horse and cart offering a taxi service but we opted to walk, it was much better. Even the offer of a whipped ice cream did not get us rushing to jump on the trailer cart. We walked past several pubs but could not find one where we could sit outside and the menu to please all tastes. Eventually we came to the Three Pilchards. We got some drinks and headed to the roof garden before ordering some food. Foxy, had to be awkward and order two starters! After lunch, we strolled back to the car, a few of us picking up fudge from the local shop, and got back to the house mid afternoon. Now what was the plan. It was here the plans for the weekend changed.

Originally we had always decided to stay Sunday night and drive back on Monday mid-morning. However, Kev, Kev and Mel were driving back tonight, which would leave just the four of us. We decided to head back tonight as well but drive over to Plymouth, catch Spiderman 3 at 7pm and then drive straight over to Pav's when the screening finished. So we decided to head into town for a final drink and pick up a few things and then wave goodbye to Kev & company before returning to the cottage ourselves, grabbing our stuff and heading to Plymouth. Great man! Pav checked the show times on his N73, there was a regular showing every hour or so, so if we were late it did not matter. We waited while Mel grabbed her things and Kev packed the car. They then drove down into the village while we walked down. We ended up drinking in the Salutation Inn. I over heard someone at the bar say that the Arsenal versus Chelsea score was nil nil with both Drogba and Cole out. I was missing the game and it was the first time in several years, perhaps even four that I was missing a big clash for the Gooners. It did not bother me that much really, I would catch any incidents on the radio on the way down to Plymouth. We started talking about the movie and how eagerly anticipated it was for us all. Being blokes we are all big superhero fans, but not really comic book. I just think that was not our era. It was the icing on top of a wonderful weekend and I was so glad that we had adjusted plans to do this.

We headed down to the a local fudge shop where I purchased an assorted box to take home. Then it was time to wave goodbye to Kev, Kev and Mel. They had just parked the Leon across in the car park opposite and were ready to roll. We then walked through the harbour to a chip shop, so Nige and Em could get some fish and chips. We then walked around back up to the cottage. By the pier, young kids were crabbing, some had caught three crabs already and were still going. We went to the wrong spot guys! We walked back up to the cottage and noticed the spot where Nige had fallen over the night before. The bushes were cleared and you could clearly make out where Nige had fallen and hung on for dear life. Back at the cottage, we packed the 528, while I switched on the radio to listen to the remaining ten minutes of commentatory of the match. It was 1-1 and Chelsea were within minutes of surrendering their Premiership to Manchester United. It was a close fought contest but in the end Arsenal hung on through the four minutes of added time to send the championship North.

I was getting excited as we got into the car, it was a short trip up the road to Plymouth. Plus it was at a Vue cinema, so I would still be able to enjoy the Pearl & Dean music before the advertisements. We left after 6pm and got to the cinema set in a leisure park just after 7pm. The reason for the long journey was Pav followed the TomTom directions, which meant we avoided the toll on Tamar Bridge but had to use the ferry service, which costs the same (£1). There was a strange six lane approach with a red light on all but the far inside lane. Then as we pulled behind the car in the queue, a green light appeared in our lane, so we headed down into lane two. We had a ten minute wait as the ferry rolled in and started letting drivers off so we could drive on. Then it was about fifteen minutes before we got to the other side, you could hardly tell we were moving. The send people around to collect the fee, no room for electronic pay tolls here.

As we pulled into the car park, we drove past a Renault Clio that had broken down. It was an old L reg model. Two guys were trying to push while their girlfriends stood to the side. It had started to rain. As we parked up, we offered to help. First, three of us pushed the car but it would not start. Pav then jumped in, replacing the driver (who looked about 17). Then we all pushed and Nige shouted "Go on Pav, hit it!" and in the next second the engine roared to live. As Pav climbed out of the car, he raised his arms in the air! Our superhero had come to the rescue! We now truly deserved to go and watch Spiderman!

We queued for tickets, it was busy. One bank of three ticket machines were 'unwell' and we assummed the other three on the oppossite side of the foyer were for ticket collection only. The queue was a handful of people deep and the cinema generally looked very busy. I was in the queue for ten minutes and got tickets for the 8pm showing for us all. We then thought we would quickly get a bite to eat. Pav wanted to go get a takeway from Nando's next door but it was a fifteen minute wait. He did not want to risk it. We headed back to the cinema and grabbed some food before heading upstairs to queue outside screen 9. This was a 15 screen cinema, the highest number for a Vue I had ever been to. Yet another first for the weekend. In the queue, we quickly ate our cheese nachoes and got through quite a bit of the popcorn. We where allowed through and Emily commented on the fact that she had never ever queued to get into a cinema, she had never really come to see a film with the mass appeal of Spiderman. The first summer blockbuster of the year. When we got into the screen, we realised how big it was, much bigger than Reading and also noticeably higher up. We grabbed perfected seats, selected by Foxy. Great job T-Dogg, we were sitting directly in the middle of the auditorium with a fantastic view of the screen. As we took our seats, the lights began to dim and that famous music came on...

Spiderman will always be my second favourite superhero after Superman and perhaps this movie, went a long way to cement that in my mind. Do not get me wrong, a fantastic movie, with action, suspence, a love story and a few twists and turns but not quite up to the standard, we had come to expect. All in all, well worth going to see. It was great but not much more than that. I suppose with any franchise by the time of the third movie, it can be somewhat tired formula. As the audience we know what to expect, the 'wow' factor has gone to a certain extent. Venom was great and worked well with CGI but Spiderman still has not faced a villian of the status to really give him a believable challenge. Go and see it and enjoy but I am sure you too will leave the cinema with a little ounce of disappointment.

Thursday 3rd May 2007

As I drove to my piano lesson in Thame last night, I headed towards the sun, setting over in the North West. It was quite a picture postcard scene, with the sun just above the Oxfordshire chalk hills. As I turned around and came back just under three hours later, I followed the bright full moon home. This time in the opposite direction. If I had my camera with me, I would have take photographs of both these heavenly bodies. However, in the space of my 8th lesson (yes, 8th!) I came to realise the importance to enjoy the sight of such everyday wonders. You never know when you will be gone, to never see them again.

Potentially three days without Internet access as I head down to the South West coast, to stay in a friend's cottage for the weekend. I am looking forward to it, particularly as I have never been to that part of the world before. The itinery is already semi-sorted, due to postings over on Pav's forum. I am heading over directly from work. I say work, I am actually going to be Gerrard's Cross, at a client site training. The plan is as follows but I will report back early next week on how close I kept to the master plan. I head over to Nige's garage. Pav should be there ahead of me. I hand over my car and parts and perhaps take a few final 'before' photos. Then the car is the safe hands of Pro Installations. I will pick up the car as soon as I get back, with Matt planning to do the preparation work Friday night and the installation across the weekend. Then I will head over to Pav's place in the trusty Rover, get changed and we head over to CostCo. Then, sometime around 7pm we will hit the road. It will take us around three and half hours to get to Looe. Pav has also hunted down a Vue cinema for me in Plymouth, so I can still enjoy the Pearl & Dean music before Spiderman 3. Normally the superhero flick (my second favourite after Superman) would be the highlight of any other weekend. But as you are beginning to realise, this is not any other weekend. I will take my camera everywhere and constantly be taking photos, so I have the perfect photograph from 5th May to upload to FlickR. We might come back Sunday evening or Monday, really depends how we all feel and what we get up to.

Been a highly emotional charged week for myself and I feel I should apologise. Apologise first, to my many close friends, to whom I am sure I have been an extra burden. I know I have been stupid, I know I have been thoughtless. I know I have been crucially careless. So here I find myself, late on Thursday evening, hoping and praying that tomorrow morning, I can turn it all around. I am not a magician, I am not a super hero, I confess my powers are limited. However, I have to believe that I have the ability to change certain things and be less bothered by those that I cannot. We shall see what news tomorrow may bring. My second and final apology, goes to you but hopefully sometime tomorrow morning you will get the message and get in touch.

Sunday 29th April 2007

All in all, a great weekend. Nothing spectacular but good fun! I left home to head up to Leicester around 2.30pm and got to the hotel a little after 4pm. I was not in a rush on the drive up, so took my time, enjoying the music and dipping in and out of the commentary from the lunchtime kick offs as they came to their conclusion on Five Live. The weather was lovely, pure sunshine all the way and the roads were relatively clear. Once I parked my car, I met up with Sachin and Shush in reception and explained why Darren was not with me. After checking in, we chilled for a bit and I got the low down on what had happened at the ceremony earlier. We then rushed over to ASDA in Oadby to get some drinks. It was about 5.30pm now and it all kicked off at 6pm. I went to my room to get changed and then headed out to the banqueting suite across the other side of the hotel.

According to the seating plan, I was on table 23, but all the other guests were embarrassingly missing. So, here I was stuck on a table on my own. No real surprise there. After the speeches, I went across and sat on table 24, so it looked like I actually had some friends. It was a fantastic wedding with a big turn out of family (rather than friends) but in any case, I had a good time. The highlight for me, was the dancers performing a range of well rehearsed steps. I had seen a sneak preview of this back in February and have a range of photographs you can take a look at. This time around, for the full performance, my view was severely restricted. However, that did not stop my enjoyment. The highlight was Thriller towards the middle of the night but they also danced to some recent Hindi songs, which I did not recognise, but what do you expect. Amazing to watch and very different to most Indian weddings.

The party finished around midnight and as they were clearing the room and removing the tables, I said my goodbyes to Rish and Sachin and headed to my room. After I feel asleep, it must have been around 1am. I got up around quarter to seven and thought I should get ready and get some breakfast before the rush. After breakfast, I came back to my room to pack up my things and watch Sky News to catch up with what was going on in the world. Then shortly after 9am, I packed my car and was off. I know I could have left a bit later, but I wanted to make use of the roads while they were quiet and I had to get some diesel as well. I was using the TomTom 510 for the last time before I switch to my own, smart phone solution. I had it on, not for navigation, but more to plan my ETA for Wycombe. You know me by now, I'm one of those people that needs to be fed constant information while driving. It estimated I would be back just after 11am, and it was precise as usual.

I had a few hours to kill before the Arsenal Fulham game. Ironically with this time keeping, I could have made it down to North London in time. Never mind, I can still enjoy from the sofa. I came onto the computer and uploaded the photos to a fresh FlickR set. A much needed win before the final two games of the season, even if the performance was a bit lethargic. Crazy Jens caught flapping once again for the Davies equaliser. During the match, they were flashing up The Emirates Cup on the electronic advertising boards, so I went over to Arsenal dot com to find out more. There is already a page on Wikipedia that reveals all. A pre-season tournament is just what you might expect after many years of us going across to Holland to play in the Amsterdam Tournament. I am looking forward to it and hope to get tickets for the second day as soon as they become available to red members, in a few weeks time.

Friday 27th April 2007

As long as I can remember, I have always wanted a great stereo system in the car that I drive. It all goes back some seven years ago, when I changed the factory fitted Philips cassette player in my Mum's 1990 Mini Mayfair to a Pioneer cassette radio with a bit more "oomph" and a digital radio receiver. I have a quick search online but cannot find any history of the model (it seems tape really is the format of yesteryear). I also got speakers as a birthday present, so had the factory fitted ones replaced. Even though the Pioneer head unit was cassette, I had a Portable Mini Disc player with car kit, so this enabled me to listen to my small (6 disc) collection in the car. When I got my Punto in June 2002, it was some time before any changes were made to the factory unit. I got a new Blaukpunkt head unit, named after a famous city! The Acapulco MP52 was capable of reading MP3 CDs, quite a new concept at the time. Then in March of the following year I had all the speakers replaced and an acoustic parcel shelf with some Kenwood 6x9 installed by Chameleon. Then, three years later, I completed the system by installing an amp. You can read up about that experience and look at some photos.

The journey to this moment in time starts almost exactly thirteen months ago. I was at Gallions Reach DLR station, having just come out from a meeting at a client site. Matt called me, it was regarding the company web site. We had briefly spoken about this when I had my amp installed three weeks earlier but I thought they had someone else lined up. I offered to do the web site at straight cost in exchange for a fantastic system installed in my 'next' car for nothing. The deal was done. It took a while for the site go live, but eventually we got there.

So here we are, late April, over a year since I first thought up the idea of having a grade 'A' sound system fitted to my car. Well I had to make certain of the one thing, get the car. The plan had been to replace the Punto in the summer but as you know. I proposed and God disposed, as you would expect. With the Punto gone I upgraded to an A3. I let Matt know and a week or so after getting the car, I drove it over to the garage for them to look at it. It was on Wednesday 17th January. Then, the e-mails started going back and forth with quotes and ideas on specifications for the system. I was keen to get the stereo installed as soon as possible. As things would pan out, I would keep adjusting and readjusting the specification. With friends recommending certain components, experts on forums suggesting something different and Matt giving additional advice. My first choice had been the Sony Bluetooth head unit but this was soon changed to Alpine with some gentle persuasion from Matt. I also went down to The Sound Gallery on London Road for a second opinion. The main reason behind my visit was to take a look a bluetooth car kit from French manufacturer Parrot. My former manager, Nic had looked at the spec in the office the day before and told me measured it out to be slightly smaller than a business card. I was intrigued to see if this would be the case for the device when I got to see it in the box. I was taken outside by one of the technician and shown an green S3, with the basic text display version in situ next to the headlight switch. He then came over to check my A3 and recommended the gap underneath the console. I got a quote, for what it was worth and sent it over to Matt to check over.

After several months and some 25 e-mails, I settled for the parts. Matt then delivered the bad news that he was off on holiday to Australia for a month from late March until late April. Although I was gutted that I would have to wait another couple of weeks, it actually gave me a chance to get my house in order. The week before he got to England, I ordered all the parts I needed and they now sit neatly downstairs on the side, ready to be taken for fitting. For once, I was able to ensure that everything needed was ready. Cabling, wiring and even sound proofing. Matt called me just after 2pm on Sunday. I was in a piano lesson but picked up the message on the drive home and gave him a call. He was back and ready to order the parts. The plan, finally began coming together. The parts would be ordered this week, they could fit everything this weekend but I am off to Leicester so postponed until next weekend. I am dropping my car off on Thursday evening, then getting a lift back from Pav. They will have my car the entire Bank Holiday weekend if they need to, as I will down in Cornwall with the rest of the gang. So in just over a week, I will have my new stereo system fitted, I cannot wait! Can you imagine a high street chain, such as Halfords carrying out a fitting over the holiday weekend and at such short notice? I don not think so, and even if they did, I do not expect it to be cheap.

Photography has long been a passion of mine but I have not really got involved much, particularly with FlickR. Even though I have held a pro account since January 2005. Well I have an opportunity to redeem myself next weekend. With their 24 hours of FlickR they have asked user to submit photographs taken on 5th May 2007. An ideal time for me to recapture the creative eye, I have so been lacking of the past few months.

Not much else to report really, heading up to Leicester tomorrow evening for Sachin's religious wedding celebration. Looking forward to it, booked into the Stage Hotel. I am sure I will have plenty of to report and photographs to upload when I get back on Sunday. The Arsenal match against Fulham is at 4pm, followed by Doctor Who on BBC Three at 8pm. What more do I need to find to make my weekend complete?

Friday 20th April 2007

Friday had come around again, and I realised as I was getting ready in the morning that a week ago at the same time I was on the BMI flight to Edinburgh. Strange how different things can be, just seven days later. Work itself has been busy but I am enjoying all the challenges as they come (thick and fast recently).

I had made a note in my diary for midday, tickets for the full international friendly between England and Brazil at Wembley would go on sale. I logged onto the englandfans web site with ten minutes to go and logged in. Eventually I got in but was placed in a queue with an estimated wait of 23 minutes. However I was placed over 2000 in the queue and there were over 4000 people behind me. I waited, I was confident that I would get through and order my tickets. However, the estimate was a joke, so my colleague Chris tried calling the ticket hotline, the phone just rang and and rang. Ten minutes in constant attempts, someone did answer the phone but within a split second hung up. Great(!). I by this time was minutes away from entering the site but had been waiting for over half an hour. I got in, put in my credentials and placed the order. Fantastic. We had potentially some of the best seats in the house. However as I went to confirm the order, the site crashed and an error had occurred. I had to go back and place an order again. You can appreciate my frustration at this point, so I picked up the phone and called the hotline myself. I was put through to the queuing system and after about ten minutes was put through to an operative. It was only then I realised that the FA were having tickets sold by Ticket Master but only via the englandfans web site and phone number. The guy on the phone was extremely helpful and I explained that I had already placed an order and it had crashed. He then took all the details from me and attempted to place an order but it was rejected as the englandfan numbers had been used already. So I just had to wait. It was touch and go as to whether my order had gone through, because there was no confirmation on their system and I had yet to receive an e-mail. If you are a diehard football fan, you can possibly understand how I felt. I went to my web mail account and kept refreshing the page every few minutes. I let Chris know and his frown spoke volumes. I felt bad but we were victims of the system. I could not place another order online and by then most of the good tickets would have gone. About an hour and a half later, I got the confirmation e-mail and I was over the moon. I went and filled out a holiday form straight away, strange to have a international friendly on a Friday evening but I think it best to make a day off it, rather than dash over from work, even with a half day. So, here I am, about to see Brazil play football in England for the third time. The first time was back in October 2003 when I saw them take on Jamaica at Walkers Stadium. Something so important, I forgot to blog about it, would you believe! The second time was as recently as last September when they played arch rivals Argentina at The Emirates. What more can I say, apart from the fact that 1st June cannot come around soon enough!

One Friday evening, several weeks ago I was wondering why a comedy programme had not reappeared on our screens for a second series. I am of course referring to The IT Crowd. My former manager had been the one to mention it to me in January last year, sending an e-mail and link to the Channel 4 web site around the select group of IT obsessed people in the office. I knew a second series had been commissioned, but surely if it was screened in February last year, they would get it back again for a similar time slot this year? I did some digging and ended up at Wikipedia (perhaps my second favourite resource after BBC News) to discover that they were filming the second series in April and May. More than this alone, I could apply to be in the audience for a showing, so I applied at Standing Room Only web site. I received a confirmation e-mail and was told that I would received a further e-mail if I had been lucky enough to be selected to attend. Last week, late on Wednesday evening, I picked up said e-mail. Fantastic! I invited Chris and my old helpdesk manager and asked around the office. I had four tickets, so potentially someone else could come along to. When I asked our finance colleague, his response was, "I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a pencil!". Great. I know the show was an acquired taste but it was a comedy and not just for the geeky computer people. In any case, in the end, it was just myself and Chris going. I was really looking forward to it, and after getting our England tickets semi-secured (waiting for them to be posted out) it was a something nice and not stressful to enjoy.

We left work at 5pm and headed over to my house were both changed and then hopped into my car to head down to Iver. I had my TomTom with me to make sure we got to Pinewood Studios but we also had written directions on the e-mail. We made it by ten past six and were quite early in our minds. However after parking the car and being shown to the entrance, there was a queue of at least sixty people ahead of us. Glad we did rush over, rather than stop on the way for a bite to eat. While waiting in the queue, we called Peter. He used to work on the helpdesk with us and would constantly give the line, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" in a strong Irish accent, which has become a catchphrase from the show. He was disappointed that we hadn't invited him but him being over in Kent was partly to blame. A few minutes later, the audience company representatives came over and checked my name off the list. We explained there were only us two and not four to which the response was, "We don't care because your both beautiful!". Now I can understand why people that work in television have inflated egos if the people they work with a constantly coming out with overblown compliments like that. We were given red bands to put on and explained we would be let through shortly. The group behind us were given green bands and told to go right through. Annoying is not the word, particularly as the next forty odd people were all given green bands, then they switched to red bands. About fifteen minutes later we were allowed in. We walked through, looking up across at the rebuilt James Bond Sound stage. We then had to queue for a few minutes outside studio TV One which is also used to record The Weakest Link. On the wall was a noticed that the producer was recording a documentary of the audience participation in the filming of the series and we had waived all our rights for compensation or payment. Great! There was an Irish telephone number at the moment if we had any queries. I expect the documentary to appear on the DVD release by Christmas. We walked around the corner to the studio and were presented with three sets, but in theory only two as one was the chairman's office and the other basement, with manager's adjoining office. We were ushered to seats at the back on the far right hand side, directly in front of the desks Moss and Roy sit at. After a few minutes, when the rest of the audience took their seats we were introduced to the floor manager, Rob.

This was my first time at a studio for filming of a television series. A great experience, as we watched the show projected on three big plasma screens above the stage as our views were obstructed by cameraman (I mean camera people) on moving trolleys. There was a considerable delay between takes and many scenes had to be repeated and "picked up". During pauses we were entertained by a Geordie called Patrick. He was hilarious, taking the mickey out of members of the audience and generally just fooling around. He even convinced a guy in the front row to do some rapping as he had mentioned he was a up and coming MC from Hemel Hempstead. He mentioned his MySpace address but I cannot recall it exactly. His rap or rather contemporary poetry was exceptional, as he talked about leaving his drape sales job.

The show was excellent and I am looking forward to seeing the show on television later this year. We saw a full episode but the filming was split over VT which had been shot on location earlier in the day. Chris enjoyed it too and we were very pleased as we left the studio. Three hundred people had been handpicked but over one thousand people had applied for tickets. There were some diehard fans in the building as they screened to be given signed magazines from the set. Some stayed behind to speak to Noel Fielding after filming. Some lucky people in reserved named seats (green band wearers perhaps?). As we headed back, we were starving so stopped at the Pizza Hut at Wycombe Retail Park for a quick bite to eat. We would have got there sooner but junction 3 exit was closed for Wycombe East, so I had to drive down into town from junction 4. All in all, a great night out and a change from the usual pub or club venue. The best part? It was all free!

My friend Sudhir is running the London Marathon on Sunday. You may notice him on television, he will be in the Spiderman costume! If you want to donate to his nomated charity (Diabeties UK) feel free to do so, he has nearly hit his target! I wish him all the best and I am sure he will stroll down the finish line within the four hour mark.

Wednesday 18th April 2007

I like it when things slowly fall into place. My N73 case and magnetic dock arrived on Monday. Then on Tuesday my Parrot Bluetooth GPS car kit arrived, I was surprised at how small it was, even the GPS antenna. We are getting there, slowly but surely. Matt gets back from his holiday in Oz on Saturday so I should be in the position to order the parts and have everything fitted before the month is out.

In other news, the Sky saga continues. I called up Sky on Monday to be told that my MAC code had been rejected for a second time and that 99% of migrations from Orange go the same way. Why could someone had not told me that before and saved me the grief! Anyway, I then had to call Orange and cancel my broadband but even without a contract (which expired sometime in late 2003) I still have to give 30 days notice. My broadband will be disconnected on 16th May. It will be the first time since September 2002, that I will be without internet access. I could of course go down the dial up route, which would be painful but an option. Or alternatively hijack one of the many wireless networks in my vicinity. However, most of those are securely locked down now and there is the recent case you might have picked up on the news. All I can say is that those ten days will be difficult without internet access but I am going to do my utter best to ensure the delay in moving providers is as minimal as possible. I am going to write to Sky and confirm my Orange cancellation date and make sure everything is in place.

Got invitation for Sachin's wedding on Monday. I am looking forward to it, but planning a quiet weekend, this weekend to prepare myself for the big night out in Leicester on 28th.

I thought I should show my support for the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston by displaying the link below.

Sunday 15th April 2007

What a weekend! So much to write up on but it will take me a while, so please bear with me. We will begin, as all my stories do at the beginning, which means heading back to the small hours of Friday morning. I did not sleep properly, drifting in and out. I got up before my alarm, which had been set for 4am. I can be slightly paranoid, when it comes to having to get up at an ungodly hour to rush over to Heathrow. However, I should be used it by now, as this was my fifth flight on business. Somehow, I got myself out of bed and got ready. The taxi came to pick me up just after 5am and I arrived at Terminal One some twenty, twenty-five minutes later. I headed straight to the self check in machine, swiped my credit card and printed my boarding pass. I then queued up with a few other early risers to drop off my luggage. I text my manager to let him know I was in the terminal building and would be through to the departure lounge shortly. The queue for security was nonexistent, but it was before 6am and that is when it generally starts to build up. As I found my manager, I looked up at the digital clock in the centre of the departure area. It had just clicked over to 05:50. I should be in bed!

As we boarded the flight, I had a whole row to myself, having booked into the window seat (which generally is always the case). The plane was half empty which was strange, as I would expect the flight at that time in the morning to be full of business customers. However, it was a week since Easter and also a Friday, so perhaps both those factors played a part in the aircraft being more than half empty. Everything appeared to be going smoothly, we were pushed back and turned around by the pull vehicle. Then the captain tried to start the engines. They didn't start. We were then informed that we would have to be moved back towards the terminal and an engineer called out to investigate further. Seconds earlier, I had just read from my complimentary copy of the Daily Mail that today (Friday 13th) saw an increase in claims made by vehicle drivers. Generally speaking I am not a superstitious person, I tend to be in the frame of mind that you make your own luck rather than having to rely upon some ritual. In any case, we were delayed for a good, twenty minutes, so I texted my colleague meeting us at Edinburgh airport of the delay. The captain came back on the pa system, to explain the technicalities of the problem. Unlike our car engines, which are started electrically, a jet engine on an aeroplane is started by water. As this was not working, they had to get a generated to pump water into the engines and start them up. To do so various paperwork had to be filled in, which added to the delay. We were supposed to take off at 6.50am and land in Bonnie Scotland at ten past eight. I thought that the pilot would just make up the time in the air. We arrived at twenty to nine and headed through to the baggage carousel. Eventually our luggage came through and we then met our colleague whom had been sitting reading the paper for the past fifteen minutes. Next stop Avis check in desk, I had to collect our hire car. I was served by a guy, who perhaps was on work experience or just started recently. When I gave my surname he could not find my reservation, even after spelling it out to him clearly. I passed over my e-mail reference number and credit card, hoping it would help. He could not find my booking and I was starting to get annoyed. Then, he did and explained we had been given a free upgrade to a Golf, (difficult to understand, but normally we are given a Focus). I signed the paperwork and produced both copies of my driving licence before being handed the keys. I realised then why my booking had taken so long to appear on the system. They had spelt my surname as Taglia. Not the first time and definitely not the last time someone will make that mistake. I thought the car would be located in the car park opposite the terminal building but we had to catch a bus and jump in the car, located at pay 79.

It was a dark blue, Golf TDI 1.9 120 BHp on AK07 plates (nearly AK47). I took the driving seat after quickly inspecting the vehicle and dumping all our luggage and laptops in the boot. As I pulled out of the space, I took a few moments to get used to the vehicle, heading the wrong way out towards a dead end, only to reverse and go around the the Avis compound round to the exit. Heading out of the airport complex, we hit the main dual carriageway and were on our way. My colleague was in the passenger seat and my manager was quite happy in the back. We called the client to let them know we had landed and were on our way to their office. It was about twenty past nine and the thirty six mile journey should take about an hour. By now I had got used to the car and it was hardly anything to shout home about. I am sure I have previously mentioned that in my humble opinion Golf's are one of the most overrated vehicles on the road. Can I be brave enough to say that I enjoyed driving my Punto more than this? Perhaps because it was brand new and it was a rental and I was on company business which added to the effect of a rigid driving experience. In any case, we switched on BBC Radio and enjoyed the wonderful views in the sunshine as we headed through the Scottish Borders.

I did take a slightly wrong turn at Carrington, Mid Lothian, instead of going under the railway bridge, I took the road along side it, but I was quickly able to pull to the lay by and turn the car around. we got to the client just after 10am. I had been driving quite steady and was careful not to stray over speed limits, plus the winding rounds around the mountains, do not really give you the opportunity to put your foot down. My colleague had commented as we pulled away from Avis rental station, that this was going to be like Driving Miss Daisy. Now I have not seen this film but can assure you that my driving is not that bad, really. I can be conservative when I want to be, but with the same token I can also flutter into road rage fueled boy racer, although that tends to happen less regularly than before.

Our meeting finished at 1pm, when we were taken to a local restaurant for lunch. It was pleasant, quiet venue and it was nice to go somewhere where you are similar asked, table for four rather than the supplementary question which is always "Smoking or Non?" as we have south of the border. Well under till July 1st. After lunch, we had originally planned to go over a few more things but decided it best to leave things as they were and head back to their airport in plenty of time for our flights. We dropped off my manager in the city centre around 3pm and then tried to navigate ourselves back to the airport. This is not as simple as it sounds, particularly when the bright sunshine has been replaced by a thick smoke which as enveloped the entire city. We were running late, there was traffic and I needed to put some diesel in the car (even though strictly speaking I think I would have got away with it.

As the clock on my dash ticked away, I got rather nervous that I was going to miss my flight. Just before 4pm, we were on the main road out of the city (but still yet to see sign posts for the airport). I saw a BP garage and quickly pulled over to put in a few pounds worth of fuel. We then headed back onto the main road and towards the airport. I then had a slight dilemma, check-in for my flight to Manchester would close at 4.15pm, 45 minutes before departure. Should I drive around to outside the terminal and leave the car there while I checked in before returning the vehicle or drop the car off first. My colleague, also heading in the same direction, had the luxury of already being in the possession of her boarding card. Just as we were around the corner from the airport, I put my foot down (for the first time in the whole day) and rushed back across to the airport. I made the executive decision to drop off the car first, to avoid any late penalties and then rush from bus into the terminal to check in. If I missed the flight, I would miss the flight and have to catch the later service. I waited for my car to checked over before signing off the paperwork. I then had to run to catch my colleague at the bus stop, we waited a few minutes for the next bus and then hoped it would rush around back to the terminal without picking up too many more passengers. There was a family with some big luggage that got off at the next stop which did delay us slightly but we were the first people off the bus at it pulled next to the terminal. I rushed to check the screens to find out which check-in desk to use, 19, 21 to 23 all of which were still open. Great, but the queues were several people deep, so I quickly joined the queue. I checked in and got my baggage put through to the hold and was given a seat next to my colleague. I should have given a great big sigh of relieve but in fact, this was only the first hurdle. We had to rush upstairs to security. As we got onto the escalated a big group of people, some for our flight joined us but we then ran through to the barrier before joining queues for the various x-ray machines. Thankfully I did not have to take my shoes off but several people ahead of me did and some were taken to the side for a heavy frisking. Through to airside, we checked the boards to discover that our departure gate was fourteen, right the other side of the building and the flight had been delayed by twenty minutes. I called my Dad to let him know I had arrived safely and now was about to jump on my second plane for the final flight of the day. We then grabbed some teas from the Costa outlet before heading down the corridor to our departure gate. We had a ten minute break and I was feeling the weekend was just about to begin. Eventually we were asked to board and headed downstairs and then outside onto the airfield. We boarded an small aircraft with proper, inside there were just two aisle of two for passengers. Some research on the web has confirmed the plane was a Dash 8.

This would be my first time in Manchester and I was looking forward to it, I had been planning to come up and see my friend for years but just never got around to it. As this meeting had come up with work, it seemed like a great opportunity to head down for a full weekend, rather than driving up from Wycombe which would have been much more tiring. We landed just after 7pm but were not directed through the right door, so ended up at Immigration Control. We then had to turn around and head back outside and through the UK Arrivals door rather than simply Arrivals. We got through to the baggage carousel and once again there was a good fifteen minute delay before my bag arrived. It did and I could then jump into a taxi to take me into town.

When I got to my friend's house, he gave me a quick tour of his house. The highlight of which was a Pioneer 50 inch plasma screen. Absolutely amazing, I was shown to my room for the weekend and quickly changed out of my suit. We set the Sky+ to record Eastenders and headed down the road to place order at the local chinese takeaway and get some diesel. When we got back, I watched Eastenders, while checking my e-mails and quickly login onto MSN. The weekend had officially begun.

As you know, I am not the type of guy for lie ins. I hate wasting my weekends away sleeping, there is no need. However, I did not want to be a bad guest, so got up naturally and put my laptop on, it was 7:59am exactly. My biological clock must be set to that for some reason because I generally always get up at that time on Saturday mornings, unless I have had a seriously crazy session, the night before. I went online and surfed the web for a bit, checking my e-mail and the news, only to then drift back to sleep for a little while longer. We had a big busy day planned with many things for me to do and see. After breakfast we headed over to Stockport. There is a Adidas Factory outlet centre and my friend knows an employee of the company quite well, so we got in using his pass and were also given additional discount on anything we bought. I picked up some summer t-shirts as most that I have at home are rather tatty now and can only really be used when washing the car or carrying out some gardening. We then headed into the city centre. I was given a full guided tour of the University campuses and the various areas of Manchester as we drove through, including the Royal Infirmary. We pulled up and parked at the Ardnale Centre as all residential parking in the area had been either suspended or cost 2.50 an hour until 6pm. We found a parking space on the 4th floor, next to the Car Spa jet wash valet service and then headed into the bustling metropolis. It was extremely busy but we made our way through the crowds, in the sweltering heat down Market Street. I was then taken around to the site of the IRA bombing, some eleven years ago, shown all the redevelopment that had taken place as a consequence. We were going to go into the Selfridges but opted to wait until our evening trip into the Trafford Centre. We walked through the Exchange Square which is being re-paved, across from which is the Triangle which has a big BBC screen on the side, which screens all the major sporting events, including the World Cup last year.

We headed into the Arndale and into some of the clothes shops. I love shopping centres, it is difficult to explain why, because firstly I am a bloke and am not a big shopper (anti-shopping if anything). Secondly I have not actually been to that many of them, apart from the BullRing in Birmingham a few times, most recently as January 2005. There is just something about big wide retail space that does it for me. I enjoy spending money, I cannot help it. Plus I do get quite a busy from looking around, which I did not have even a few short years ago.

I am conscious that this blog entry is already over stretched, so will quickly summarise the rest of the highlights of the weekend as quickly as I can. After browsing a few shops we grabbed a quick snack from the food court above the pedestrians and then headed to another clothes shop, before heading back to the car. I had to collect my train tickets from the FastTicket machine at Piccadilly station. So my friend dropped me behind the station and I rushed out to get my tickets printed. I had been told from the confirmation e-mail from Train Line that I would need to enter a reference code, which I had noted on my phone. However, as soon as I inserted my credit card, my tickets printed. Great. We then headed off towards Deansgate and I got to see close up the Beetham Tower. I had seen the three red lights on top of the building, which is also the Hilton hotel from the motorway on Friday evening. We then headed to the Theatre of Dreams. As much as I do not like Manchester United, there is mutual respect for football teams and particular their home stadia. I have never been there before, so had my photo taken outside the East Stand. My N73 was playing up, so my friend took some photos with his camera phone and finally sent them to be as MMS on Saturday 23rd June.

After the football ground, we headed around the corner through the industrial park to The Trafford Centre. We went to Selfridges first but I could not find a summer jacket to buy, if the design was okay, the colour was not quite right. We then headed through and around to the main eating area and decided which restaurant to go to. I made the executive decision to go to Giraffe, which sells itself as a world food restaurant. Menu was surprisingly very good, and afterwards we were stuffed. It was just gone half past nine and time to head home.

I had wanted to go to the cinema this weekend but we got back to my friend's house later than we expected so opted for ice cream and a DVD instead. I chose Hitch from his collection, as I was not really in the mood for some heavy action flick or anything too serious. I had seen parts of the movie on Sky Movies over the years and new some of the clips from trailers for the DVD. I am a big fan of Will Smith and also Eva Mendes, having seen her most recently in GhostRider. Overall a good, funny film that is light hearted and cozy in all the right places. Some moments are just completely hilarious, particularly towards the end. I know you will be thinking I have sold out on you all if I am in such praise for a chick flick but it was good fun and just the right way to round off a tiring but nevertheless fun Saturday. Plus it made a change from being stuck on my computer, chatting to various people on MSN. Although I missed Doctor Who (I am hoping to catch the repeat on BBC Three tonight) I was still able to catch MOTD. While we had been in a sports shop in the city centre, I had noticed that Arsenal were trailing to Bolton and feared the worse. A screen in Tesco Metro had been screening Sky News but as it switched to the sports bulletin the presenter concentrated on the Grand National and I had to leave when they perhaps would have moved onto football.

All in all a great weekend, particularly as I was able to write this blog entry on the Virgin Voyager train from Stockport to Banbury for a few hours on my laptop. I was seated in the Quiet Zone coach (F) but am sure my constant keyboard tapping was annoying various people, so opted to try and write as quietly and as quickly as possible. Thankfully Virgin provide power sockets, so I can plug my laptop in, if required but there is plenty of charge to last for the couple of hours I need it for. As I write this, we are just pulling into Birmingham New Street and the time is 15:34. Banbury, my stop is one after next and I think I may just pack my laptop away and get some well earned rest.

All in all, a fantastic weekend, which went very well. It felt good to be away from small town Wycombe and doing the usual same old things. However, I think, now I am back home, time to chill out a bit. Busy week ahead in and out of the office.

Wednesday 11th April 2007

I got to the office early yesterday morning. Early by even my standards. It was 8am and I was in the zone. I called Vodafone. It was the anniversary, it was my upgrade date. However, when I first called the computer system was down. The guy was going to call me back in 10 minutes but as I expected, he didn't. So I called back just before 9am and ordered my N73. It would be delivered first thing in the morning. I then thought that at lunchtime I would order my case and docking station (for the car) in preparation. I headed over to Proporta. I had already bought the Tom Tom travel kit for my sister's Tom Tom over Christmas. I also knew what I was going to purchase, I had checked them out a few weeks ago. The N73 flip case and the magnetic dock for the car. I then had to clean my current phone, ready to hand over to my Dad when I got home. When I got home, I could not find the Nokia 6230 software disc, so opted to download the software from the web site. I then made a backup of my contacts. Everything else was wiped, messages, images, wap bookmarks. Then, in a moment that hinted of freak paranoia, I also merged my contacts with Outlook Express. A fall safe, in case my backup did not transfer across onto the new phone. It was a good option in the end, as I do not use Outlook Express on my work laptop and it will enable me to have an electronic copy for future reference. For the record, I have 133 contacts of which perhaps only 10% I actually speak to on a regular basis.

Then it was the moment, I reset my phone using the reset to factory settings option. It was a strange moment, as my phone completely cleared of everything. I removed my SIM card, took my phone and placed it on the table in the lounge. I had got ordered the wonderful 6230 back on Friday 24th August 2004, over two years and two hundred and thirty days ago. I was to be phone less (on a personal level) until sometime later this morning.

As I pulled into the office seconds after 8am, I noticed the Parceline delivery van by reception. That is my phone I thought. Sure enough it was and I picked up the package a few minutes later. However, I had to head into training, so just had time to open the packaging and put the phone on charge. I spoke to Pav via MSN at lunchtime and he wanted me to give him the firmware software version so he could find out if it needed to be upgraded. I had decided to upgrade the firmware when i got home, as Nokia have provided a USB data cable. (Remember the days, some six or seven years ago, when you had to buy these things separately?). I then had to get back to my training, so had to rush offline and put the phone away in my pocket.

Pav is going to "pimp" my phone for me and convert it to the Music Edition, free of charge. This will involve me getting the black fascia from eBay. Then Pav will do the firmware upgrade to the Music Edition version, plus I need to get a Mini SD card. I was looking at 1 gigabyte but 2 gigabyte is affordable and even 4 gigabyte is available and slowly dropping in price. However, I think those luxuries can wait for a while. They are not top of the shopping list.

In my notes I have written 'busy working week ahead' but it is almost over. I have the final part of my training tomorrow and then am off across the border to Bonnie Scotland on Friday to see a client. Then I fly back to Manchester to spend the weekend there with a friend and I am looking forward to it. Not much planned really but I am sure it will involve some shopping and a trip to the cinema. Then on Sunday, I'm booked on a train home at 2pm which should get into Wycombe around 5.30pm.

Friday 6th April 2007

A nice relaxed Good Friday with nothing major planned. It panned out well considering. I had arranged to head over to Pav's for about 11am and he was going to give the A3, a quick wash and pre-detail inspection. The car was not really dirty but could do with a clean up anyway. I got up around 8.30am and headed out at 9am, to check the oil and tyre pressures on the car. The air machine at ASDA petrol station is still out of order and has been for several weeks (if not over a month by now) so I headed to the Tesco Express down the road. I came back, jumped on the computer for a bit, before getting ready and heading to Caversham. Around 11.30am, we were foaming the car down with the special shampoo from Chemical Guys. He then gave it a quick wash using the two bucket technique. One bucket to wash, another bucket (with gridguard) to rinse. This ensures that you only use clean water, on a clean sponge (or in this case mitt) on the bodywork. Then, a few minutes later he was applying the detailing spray and polishing off. Then, he masked off a square of the bonnet and got his polisher out just to do a test. His first coat did not remove much of the swirl marks at all but his second attempt with a stronger polish cream did an excellent job.

Phil and Sazzle had arrived by now and we quickly put everything into the garage before jumping into Phil's Mondeo and heading to Ascot. We had arranged to meet up with Mel and Kev at 1pm. Pav had already told me that the pub was a great place to go, particularly on a beautiful sunny afternoon like today. We drove down the A329(M) to Bracknell and then across to Ascot, pass the Racecourse. The Crispin is tucked away, off the beaten track but set against a wondeful quiet country atmosphere. A great choice I would have to agree. We got there early, quarter to 1pm. Mel and Kevin arrived just after 1pm. We left around 3pm, after a leisurely lunch. I was back home by 5pm, only to go back out the door to collect my cousin from Heathrow.

My Sky broadband was supposed to be activated today but it still has not been done. I will call them tomorrow to find out what the problem is. I have checked the unofficial Sky User and there have been numerous people with activation delays. Most likely my MAC code has been rejected and I will need to get a new MAC code generated. In reality, I should thank my lucky starts that I have an internet connection as many people have gone month after month in limbo waiting for their Sky to be switched on.

Wednesday 4th April 2007

Drove into Wycombe on Sunday and noticed a new post at the top of Marlow Hill. Sure enough, they are going to place a SPECS camera to catch even more speeding motorists. Making 1.2 million over the past four years obviously is not enough. I tried to do some research on the net but nothing really came up apart from Steve Cohen's editorial. Surprising really, if the previous campaign was such a success. I can see countless people being caught on this camera, particularly as there is no flash, the whole process is digital and no escape by simply slowing down. To be honest, I am surprised they have not made such a move earlier.

Sky broadband has been delayed, maybe until after Easter. My amended connection date was 2nd April but there is some problem, somewhere. My order has been escalated to another team but they cannot give me any further information. So I will chase them up again tomorrow. What have I let myself in for? Such a shame, because it was going swimmingly up to this point. Hopefully I will be online within a few weeks.

Moving onto more positive news, the cottage weekend has been confirmed for the Bank Holiday weekend in May. We are heading down to the West Coast for the weekend and am really looking forward to it. If the weather is good, we might have a barbeque!

Nothing planned for this Easter weekend really. Quiet really, relaxed at home, and actually I am looking forward to it, particularly when you consider the great time we had this time last year (although the long weekend break was a week later). A good opportunity to recharge my batteries, some busy weeks ahead with work and equally exhausting weekends outside of work.

This may be my last post in a while, as my room is being completely redecorated as of tomorrow morning and I will nolonger have access to my PC. I will try and log in via remote desktop from my work laptop but not sure how good that will be. At most, the work should take two weeks to complete, but I am aiming to be back quicker than that.

Saturday 31st March 2007

End of March already? Where is 2007 going? I was out for a curry with some work colleagues last night and Chris (the saviour that he is) drove me back home at half past midnight by which time his girlfriend had fallen asleep. If that relationship breaks down, I'm sure I will be the first to be blamed. Got up early this morning around 8am and headed into town at 9am precisely. I got my haircut and went into town quickly and was back to my car three minutes past ten and headed back home. My Mum made me some tea and toast and I then jumped on the computer for about an hour and a bit before the game.

At 60 odd minutes, with the score three nil, I decided to switch off the television and go and wash the car. As I was cleaning the alloys, it started to rain and I quickly finished the final two wheels and packed up and headed home. Right now the sun is back out but it is still somewhat overcast. Don't you just love the British weather. So much for going to mow the lawn, I am not going to take the risk. Instead just wrap myself into a little ball, until the Doctor comes back to rescue me in a few hours time. I would if my dear friend Sippy will be catching the episode too, in between parental duties.

My blog has been down, once again as I exceeded the bandwidth allowance, so the site was removed on Sunday 25th March. So I expect, if you are a regular devoted reader, you have a little of a backlog to catch up on, before I switch the calendar month over to April. I really need to reduce downtime of my site, particularly as so many more 'new' people are so keen to read the blog. The latest on my Sky broadband is that I should be switched over early next week. Although there has been some problem on the BT side, but it has been escalated to the relevant people. Will keep you posted.

Tuesday 27th March 2007

My manager (or rather former manager) gave me a disk for fixing my hard drive this afternoon. It was the legendary Hiren Boot CD. An amazing piece of plastic of just 68 megabytes. At first there was success, the partition table was able to be recovered, but still Windows refused to pick up the drive correctly. After rummaging around all the utilities, there must be hundreds, I found the HDD Regenerator. This was able to recover bad sectors and make them good again. This was what I was looking for, I let it run while I went to watch Hollyoaks (on E4) and then Eastenders in the lounge. When I got back to my room, 44 sectors had been repaired. Fantastic. Some goods news at last, after a weekend of false starts. I then tried to use some other software to get my hard drive back up and running but it did not work. It was about 9.30pm and I had a few options. I could leave some further diagnostic tools running over the day and hope that they rectified the problem. I turned to Easy Recovery (which Pav had found for me on Sunday night). It recovered about 468 mp3 files. Most were okay but a few were malgamated together, into bigger files ranging from 2gb to 16mb. I made an executive decision. I decided to scrap the recovery and start again. It was a tough decision, but I thought, rather than waste any more days on a rather pointless scheme, it would be better use of my time to roll back my collection to 2003. In a strange twist of fate, looking at my backup DVDs, I discovered that the files were last updated on 22nd March 2003. Four years to the day (almost) from when my hard drive failed. Don't believe me? Well you can actually look back at the archives. Strange how things work out. Of course, I wish I had actually got around to making backups earlier, as I always promised I would. Just other more important things always would get in the way. Although I do not have any excuse really, I have a DVD burner, plenty of blank DVDs and an external USB caddy with 320gb hard drive.

Rebuilding my mp3 collection will not be a major problem but missing some of the classic video I had recorded, including Arsenal highlights and comedy moments from Eastenders. Never mind, the lesson has been learnt, I have to backup everything onto both DVD and my external drive, just to be safe. Plus I can get some of the more important shows / clips back as I sent copies on DVD to some of my friends of Michael Jackson material and to Terry, the Highbury - The Final Salute.

Sunday 25th March 2007

What a weekend! I am not sure where to start really, I am tempted to work backwards from this afternoon but I do not know how well that will work when being read back. As I got into my car at Pav's house this afternoon, around 1pm (BST) I decided to head to Forbury Retail Park to buy Norton System works to help in the recovery of my hard drive. I will get to that later. As I drove home, the car bleeped at me to refuel, with the computer giving a range of 25 miles. I ran the risk and drove home to review at my local BP garage rather than do the sensible thing and stop at the nearest petrol station. I did something, I never do, I hit the A329(M) and linked up to the M4 Eastbound to get home, rather than take the A4, as I have always done in the past. This way, even though the route was slightly longer, I could sustain a more economical speed and get every last drop of out of the tank. There was a hairy moment when I got onto the A404 by-pass when the range was down to 5 miles and I continued to overtake the slow Sunday afternoon drivers. In any case, I got to the BP West End garage just in time to fill up, I had squeezed an extra 32 miles or so out of the tank compared to my last trek and that is from the super juice - BP Ultimate.

Saturday, an early start, even for me and I was out the door just after 8.30am as we headed to Uxbridge with my work colleagues. I was looking forward to the day. However, in my excitement I made one fatal mistake, I did not bring a jacket or jumper. I just had my away England top on and the minor convenience that it was full sleeve. We got to Sainsbury's car park but found it was limited to two hours parking, so we went into The Chimes car park and parked there, as there was no where else really and agreed to share out the parking cost, as it would be astronomical. After a quick stop at the cash point, we went over to McDonald's for some breakfast, we then headed to the tube station. Our other work mate, had called asking us to stick our hands out of the tube train as he rushed up the platform. We laughed before telling him we had just left the big M and were walking around to the station. Sure enough, there he was behind the ticket barrier waiting and eating his own McDonald's breakfast. This was a first, he was never on time for anything, including client meetings. I went through, thanks to my Oyster card while my colleagues when to buy a ticket. There was a funny moment when one had difficulty actually finding the right slot! He was gently guided by the ticket inspector at the gate. He then made a side comment, "Well I always used to just over in the past!". Enough said. Our train was waiting on platform one and relatively busy for the time of morning. A few other England fans as well but it was a good ten minutes before we finally set off, beauty of being at the end of the line.

As we pulled up to Wembley Park Station, you could clearly see the Arch sticking out across the landscape. That tinkling feeling inside started, as we came off the train and headed to Olympic Way. There were countless policemen and women across the station, guiding us out. We had stopped at the top of the stairs to take some photos but were shouted at for blocking the exit and to move on. I did, after taking a few photographs first. Then it was the history first walk down Olympic Way to the imposing stadium. Chris got his camera out and started filming. I was surprised by the number of early supporters whom had also arrived to take in the stadium before the match. We saw David Davies being interviewed by Sky Sports News and I quickly snapped a few photographs, while Chris tried to get in the background, walking into shot. We walked around to our turnstile, P, and waited to be permitted access. The gates would open at 10.30am, in a few minutes time. As we went through, we were greeted by a lovely guy in the booth, whom after taking our ticket wished us a great day of enjoyment. Then came my problems. Chris and I were both stopped and pulled to one side by the stewards. My camera was far too "big" apparently and I had to be seen my supervisor. In the end I approached the supervisor myself, who told me that if I took my camera out of my bag to take photos, I would be ejected from the ground. Enough said. Chris was pulled up as he had a camera but also food. Eventually they let him in. While all this had been happening my colleague had been taking photographs of us being searched. After that, we headed up the escalators to the upper tier concourse. My colleague made the call we should get our programmes now before getting any food and drink. This was an excellent decision in hindsight, as much later the queues were right around the block. I bought three programmes, and was offered a special deal for the Open Day programme from last week but explained I already had one. We laughed at the price list on the wall, in case there were any employees that failed GCSE Maths and could not count up in their three times table. We then headed to the bar, got some drinks and food. We were here and could relax. Pav text me at this point, he was waiting at Salzburg airport to catch his plane from Austria back to Gatwick. I explained I was at Wembley and was looking forward to the night out clubbing this evening.

Heading out to our seats, Chris again filmed walking up the stairs to his seat. The view was amazing and it was good to see a proper crowd of 60,000. Everyone was taking photographs so I was annoyed, particularly when many had professional cameras, of much higher quality than mine. Then perhaps forty odd minutes before kick off we went back down to the concourse to get some food. My colleague put a bet on for an England win at the Bet Fred kiosk, which opened to our left, as we took in the few over the White Horse Bridge. I convinced Chris to give me his jacket, as he already had a jumper. It helped and was much better than just my England flag, which I had on as a cape! The woman over the PA system informed us that the pre-match entertainment was about to start. We finished our food and headed out to back to our seats. The stadium was now almost full of the 60,000 supporters but there were no Italians fans anywhere visible to be seen. Perhaps they were scattered among the England fans. There was no entertainment on the pitch as far as we could see, the flags were brought out and the teams soon followed. It was a proud moment as Chris & I sang the national anthem at the top of our voices. While our colleague decide to laugh and take photographs!

The first official match at Wembley was about to kick off and the first incident came. Italy kicked off and just played the ball forward. The English defence just pushing back and no one went to tackle the number 9. Everyone knew he was going to have a crack, and he did just outside of the box and bang, one nil. The fastest goal scored at Wembley (new and old). It was 25 seconds on the clock! The crowd were deadly silent as the Italians celebrated by the corner flag. It would be a the story of an open game of football with almost end to end action. I will not bore you with much more, you can read a full match report over here. I just have to make the comment about David Bentley's free kick. Just before the referee blew the whistle to let the kick be taken, my colleague said that there was no chance he would score from there. In the next second, the ball was in the back of the net and he was eating his words.

We left at 85 minutes, which although goes against the very fabric of my football skin, had to be done to avoid the crowds. Our seats were in the middle of the row, so we had to annoy a group of people to get out. One of our colleagues (the non-football fan) decided to stay until the final whistle. We were not alone, thousands were leaving as we got to the stairs and headed out. There were arctic winds in the air as we were directed down the ramp around the back towards Olympic Way. There was barrier after barrier of police and we were stopped just before Wembley Park station to let the crowds die down. I jumped up to look behind. The crowds stretched back all the way back to the stadium. We had left just in time. Eventually we were allowed through and got down to platform two. The next train left in 13 minutes, it arrived, we got seats and were on our way home.

I got home around 4pm and after about 30 minutes on the computer, decided to have a quick power nap. My Dad woke me up before he left, it was 6.30pm, I was missing the England match. I switched on Five Live and quickly started to get ready. I had a long night ahead of me and loads of things to do, pack, shower, get ready and head off to Reading. Plus, I had to be there by 8pm. It was a mad rush as I got everything together, dumped clothes into my overnight bag, got some clothes out to wear. Then after a quick shower, it was about 7.30pm when I left. Just over an hour earlier, I had been fast asleep.

I got to Pav's place around 8.15pm to discover he was not home yet. A few other people going to Fabric had arrived but no Pav. Then a few minutes later, he walked through the door. At 8.30pm, the mini bus driver arrived, we waited for the final few people to get ready and then were on the road. Michael, our driver was a great guy and we were lucky to have him. He normally drove the limos but had been given our pick up tonight. Plus, he was an Arsenal fan ("Only one team in London!"). We had to pick up a few friends in Slough before heading down the M4 into the City. We had originally planned to go into Leicester Square, to a few bars before heading to Fabric. It was late as we got into town, so we headed directly to Fabric and were going to pop to a bar next door. The bar was called Beduin but the bouncer would not let Pav and a few our friends in. Their trainers were against the dress policy. Paul came out to convince the bouncer to let them in, explaining we had just bought a round of drinks. We were let off this time around. We headed downstairs and the night began. After a few drinks, we walked next door to Fabric. I had ordered my ticket beforehand, and had it delivered via post, rather than taking the option to keep a code on e-mail. There was a separate queue for me and the rest of us, so I went straight in. I have to admit, I was frisked quite strongly by the bouncer before being allowed through. I waited for the rest of us to gather before going through, down the stairs and into the club.

As you probably know, I am not a big clubber, but do enjoy going out with my friends. It was a great night out and the music was great. The club was big, with three rooms playing a range of music. It was busy, extremely busy and smoky too. You can judge for yourself, the photos have been uploaded by Pav, over on his gallery. We got picked up by Michael at 4.30am (BST) after I gave him a call. We were on our way back eventually, once everyone got back to the minibus. The club is actually open until 7am and Pav late told me that he would have loved to have danced the morning away! We got back to Pav's around 6am. I do not remember much, apart from finding a nice seat on the sofa for my sleeping bag and cheesy toasties that Pav made for me. A great way to end a wonderful night and excellent weekend. I had a really weird dream, as I often do when I'm sleeping away from my familiar bed at home. However, I cannot remember much, apart from waking up at 11am and deciding it was time I got up, got ready and headed home.

Friday 23rd March 2007

This was not how I intended to start the weekend. I could handle even a minor problem, something manageable but this was crazy and completely unexpected (as most computer problems are). My 200 gigabyte Maxtor drive, has become corrupt and unreadable. Do not fret, it is not my main system drive but my secondary drive which is just a dumping ground for all types of media, but specifically audio and video. I am gutted and have already tried several options over the past couple of hours (before Eastenders at 8pm) to get it back up and running. The drive is detectable fine under my BIOS and Windows XP but I just cannot gain access to it. CHKDSK ran itself first time and cleaned up some of the drive but every time I have run it subsequently, it remains stuck on 0% at the verifying file stage (part one of three) which is annoying. I am currently downloading the latest version of Knoppix to see if that will resolve the problem, or at least help me get most of my data back. Even though I am extremely annoyed by this technical blip, it is not as bad as you might at first glance believe. After the sheer stupidity of my actions back in early November last year, I went through a paranoid phase and backed up quite a significant amount of data. Most of this was onto DVD but I also had a external USB caddy with a 320gb hard drive to take some of the strange. However, even considering this, if I was to lose the data on the so called Media drive, I would still be out of pocket on quite a few important files. Particularly videos as I had recorded most of Arsenal's last two seasons, finale salute to Highbury and other bits and pieces. I could live without them I suppose, but even my world famous mp3 collection could be a handful to bring back together. I have backups from 2003 on DVD and a few backup of files here and there but I would be starting again in some cases and have to catch up on some 4 years of downloads. That would take some time, but at least I did the clever thing of updating my listing last weekend.

So, here I am. Having to switch back to the trusty CD and listen to BBC Radio One Live Lounge album on my stereo as I do not have access to any other music on my machine. Depressing to go from a choice of over 3000 songs and over 200 albums, down to a track listening of 20 tracks, from disc one. Oh well, never mind, worse things happen at sea, as I'm often told. Right back to the important things, close at hand. The weekend is here! I think officially this will be one of the biggest weekends of the year so far. I am sure I might have said that before, perhaps as recently as mid February but trust me on this one. We have football, clubbing and then maybe getting around to cleaning the car on Sunday afternoon but no piano lesson as my tutor is on holiday.

Wembley tomorrow, for the first officially game even if it is Under 21s and not senior level and just a friendly against Italy, being there again, just a week later will be amazing. I am most looking forward to hearing the national anthem being pumped around the stadium and bellowed out at the top of some 80,000 voices! I am really looking forward to it, my first ever experience of an England international and my first game at our national stadium. I cannot really say much more, you will just have to wait until perhaps Sunday evening when I get around to uploading the photos and perhaps writing my feelings down onto the web page.

Saturday evening, brings with it another first. I will be going into London, to Fabric for my first night clubbing in the capital. Should be a good laugh and interesting to watch an hour disappear from our night as we party on into the small hours.

Sunday, will be a me day, where I try and resolve the problem with my computer, or throw the hard drive against the wall. I hope the weather remains fair for Sunday, so I can get out and wash the car. (Checking BBC Weather, it states cloudy, which is good enough for me!) It is several weeks over due and I am not just going to hose it down with the pressure washer, I want to spend some time getting it clean and pristine, but perhaps not quite showroom finish. Pav will take care of the detailing sometime in late April.

Switched to listening to music on my Zen now, as I have been writing this and my Knoppix download has got up to 51%, just another 56 minutes remaining. I was hoping to switch over to Sky Broadband today. I received my written confirmation last Saturday and my router at work on Tuesday morning. However, on Wednesday, received a letter that my MAC code had been rejected, so I had to go back to Orange and get my code confirmed once again, then call Sky back and replace the order, including repaying the £40 connection fee, as my previous order had been cancelled. Strange system. You would think they would just put my order on freeze for me to ring them and then complete the final part of the process. However my MAC code was successfully cleared by BT and I am just waiting for my switch over date, which will hopefully be sometime next week. The process has not been too bad and I have been impressed with the level of customer service from the media giant. I am glad to be leaving Orange, after being a customer for over six years and nearly five of those on broadband. Perfect timing, as they just came up as the worse broadband provider in the UK following a BBC Watchdog viewer survey.

Wednesday 21st March 2007

Sunday 18th March 2007

Finally got around to updating my Audio page. Can you believe it has been over thirteen months since I last updated it? Rather poor by my high standards. Last Sunday I spent a little time organising my portable CD collection that I carry in my car. I removed all my MP3 CDs as I will not have the facilities to play any of that media until late April. I then thought I could check how many audio CDs I had actually burnt over the past few weeks. Makes for interesting reading.

2003 - 6
2004 - 6
2005 - 10
2006 - 8
2007 - 4 so far (3 months in)

I am looking forward to being able to burn mp3 CDs and even try the odd WMA CD to cram together all the CDs I have burnt over the past 4 years onto one disc.

Saturday 17th March 2007

I never went to the original Wembley. It sits as one of my greatest regrets of all time, but I do not want to make this a pessimistic posting. The closest I got, was planning a trip to see England play Saudi Arabia in a friendly back in late May 1998. I was going to organise a trip down with some of my college friends, but it just did not happen. In the end, I remember watching the match on Sky and then going online to have a major argument with an Arab in some chat room. For the final game at Wembley, I was at University, in Leicester, so not really in a position to make the pilgrimage down to North London.

Felt strange waking up this morning, knowing I would be heading back to the spiritual home of football, the national stadium, our national stadium. I got up just before 9am, and was out the door promptly at 10am. I did not want to leave it too late. I got to the station platform two, just in time to see the 10.13 service pull away from platform three. Never mind, the next train was only seven minutes, so I made my way over to platform three, only to discover the next train would not stop at Wembley Stadium. So I headed back down the subway to platform one and boarded the waiting train. The service would not depart until 10.31 but I knew it would be stopping at the right place. I plugged myself into my Zen and tried to relax. I was on my way. The carriage slowly began to fill and by the time we were at Northalt Park, there not even standing room. I put my mp3 player away at this point and just looked out of the window, waiting for the landmark to appear. It was a strange feeling. For five months I had gone past the construction site, twice a day. From time to time, I would look up and look forward to the day when I would eventually be allowed in. That was in 2004, some three years have passed and plenty of football has been played since then, along with all the talk, discussion, argument, opinion and money. I could see the Arch, it was partially lit and as the train began to slow, I felt funny. A mixture of excitement and apprehension. I got up off my seat and was surprised that most of the carriage did the same and headed off the train. Heading up the stairs, onto the new White Horse bridge. Then around the corner, I saw the stadium close up for the first time. There were thousands of people heading in the direction. I stopped by one of the street lights, coming out of the ground and got my camera out. It was time to get snapping and recording those all important memories.

As I went up the walkway, I noticed the queue for turnstile L was crazy. It was 11am, exactly, I had checked my watch the second I had got off the train. They had not yet opened, to let anyone in and the queue had worked itself around and was about 150 people deep (at least). I joined the back of the queue and waited. They had some Asian guys playing the dhols, which added a strange atmosphere to the setting. You would expect to hear the big drum banging along the score to The Great Escape but a desi vibe was different but nevertheless nice background entertainment. There was a big contingent of Asian families around. I mean the whole family, kids, grandparents and goldfish. This is understandable, consider that the tickets were mainly for Brent residents and only 30% had been issued to englandfans. On the BBC web site, it had said that they expected 60,000 football fans through the turnstiles, but it felt like there were much less outside waiting to get in. About 11.18am, we started to go in and the queue slowly started moving. I called Chris, I had text him on the way but he had not replied. Someone answer the phone but cancelled the call. Ten minutes later, he called me back. He was still half asleep and in bed. Oops. Half the day had gone and I explained that I was waiting to go back in but explained how impressive the stadium looked close up.

Not sure why but today went like clockwork, at 12pm I was through the turnstile. I was padded down and my bag checked before heading for the escalator. There are three which take you up to the upper tier. I was at block 536, which was just a few blocks down. I headed for my seat which was half the way down the tier. A couple were in my seat, they quickly realised my mistake and moved along. I was sitting next to a father with his son. They had come down all the way from Redditch this morning, which made my thirty minute train ride, feel completely insignificant. The celebrity match had just started but I was not really paying attention to the PA giving the names of the players on either side. I was too busy taking in the stadium, the structure, the television screens and the fact that it was now at 90,000 capacity. I am not in a position to compare with the original stadium, but in terms of world stadia, just the following phrase comes to mind.

After the first match, the local school kids came onto the pitch for a soccer skills session. After this, there was another match, this time featuring a Soccer AM team. Tim Lovejoy had mentioned this to Helen Chamberlain on the show earlier this morning, the brief glimpse I had caught. The Sky Sports television show beat the Geoff Thompson Charity XI team, coming back from 1-0 down to turn it around to 2-1. After this match, there was a break and I headed onto the concourse to get my free drink. I opted for tea, but they had run out of Wembley Stadium cups, so I had to live with a large Coca Cola cup instead. Never mind. I then decided to take a walk around the stadium and take some pictures on the way. Usually the division between each quadrant would be securely closed. There were steel gates in place but they were open, giving unrestricted access to the entire upper tier. I walked around in one full circle, taking photos and stopping to take everything in. I returned to my seat to watch the final few minutes of the final match and witness Soccer AM take the crown.

The true test will be next weekend, which I am really looking forward to. Oh, did I mention, the tickets arrived this morning. Sometimes I find it very hard to truly appreciate the fact that I am such a lucky man.

Tuesday 13th March 2007

This post corresponds to an entry from almost exactly one year, one month and three days ago. Back then I posted some photographs from FlickR. This morning, that dream became a reality. Seems as if I have surpassed 2006 already and three months have yet to pass by in 2007.

Sunday 11th March 2007

A quiet weekend, by my standards, but nothing wrong in that. I think next weekend will be quiet too. It is difficult to get the right balance, although I am hoping it switches back to big weekend, followed by a relaxing weekend. We were discussing or rather planning our big weekends for the rest of the year, there is plenty to look forward to. From clubbing in London in a few weeks, camping over the summer, to my first ever ski / snow board trip in January 2008. Of course, every moment will be recorded here, somehow.

Have you seen the video for Candyman, featuring three (yes three) Christina's! I think it is very good, Miss Aguilera pulls off the whole 1940s retro look extremely well. Even her voice is suited to this style of music. For a more detailed review and YouTube video link, head over to Brit Boy. Talking of music videos, I have seen a sneak peak of the new music video of Beyoncé and Shakira. Talk about a dream collaboration, I must have died and gone to heaven. As tempting as it is to hunt the full video down on YouTube, I will wait for the premiere on Monday. Would have loved to have been the director for that shoot? Actually I would have been happy being the errand boy.

Around 10.40am, I jumped off my computer to go and wash my car. I had plenty of time to give the car a clean before my lesson at 2pm. However, as I my Dad plugged in the pressure washer, it died. It had hardly been functioning brilliantly previously but had done the job fine for the past month or so. So I then made the decision to rush down to Homebase and pay a new one. My Dad came along and we headed over to the store underneath the M40 motorway. They only had demo washers on display. All gone. There were some red Xtreme Pressure Washers on sale but I did not want to buy one of those. I wanted the bright yellow, Karcher. I was going to head home and forget about it but my Dad suggested we head over to Slough, to the retail park off the Bath Road. At first I did not want to drive over there but as we were just by Junction 3, I headed onto the motorway and into Slough. We were behind a tractor with hay cart for a good five miles heading into the town. Annoying, but the sunshine and Magic on the radio kept me sane! At the retail park, there only was the 2.89 model, although I had originally wanted the next model down. They had had a 10% day on Friday, so they had flown off the shelves apparently. The change in weather (remember last Sunday anyone?) meant everyone was in garden centres across the UK, about to work on the garden, clean the car or decorate that spare room they had been planning for months. The ironic and rather stupid thing is, by the time I got home and my Dad and I put the washer together, I only had time to rinse the car down before having to get ready to head over to Oxfordshire for my piano lesson. A pain, but I will clean my car, properly next weekend, I promise.

Friday 9th March 2007

A disappointing week. You will know the reason and I will not spend any time going into the reasons why. They can be explored in depth over here, there and even over here. I am trying to find positive things to mention, noteworthy enough to make an appearance on my blog. It is not been an easy task so far.

Last weekend, I heard a new song played on Kiss. It was, if I may be so bold, a signature smooth RnB track. "How Do I Breathe" by Mario (please use my full name) Barrett. The male DJ was talking about going to see Freedom Writers at the cinema and giving away some free tickets. The instant the song started and the first words are sung of the vocals, I knew it was an instant hit for me. (You can see what I have been listening to recently directly on my audio page without having to head over to Last FM.)

Piano lessons are going well, I am up coming up to my 6th lesson this Sunday. I am enjoying the process and slowly but surely improving. Although I feel any dreams I had of playing my own tunes, will have to wait for now. Well at least until I am much more composed and self assure of my ability. I will decide the next step after lesson number ten, but that is some way off.

Not sure about you, but March has always been a busy month for me, with two of my sisters having birthdays, Mother's Day and a few friend's birthdays sprinkled on top for good measure. All theses things quickly add up to make it an expensive four weeks. Nice to slowly settle into 2007 and with the weather getting better, my thoughts will soon begin to turn to summer and the possibility of a holiday maybe. It is a strange time of the year, in the sense that the nights are drawing in later, with sunset almost the other side of 6pm. The thought of spring is in the air.

At least the weekend is here and an opportunity for a rest. Rather low-key compared to recent weeks and months. A quiet Saturday at home, carrying out domestic duties like cleaning my room. In the evening, I have a few options. Could go to Kingsbury for a birthday party at the Tonky Gorilla or go to a housewarming party in Caversham. Decision, decisions. Sunday I will try and wash the car and then a piano lesson in the afternoon as mentioned previously. I also want to spend some time working on some web sites for ASWD.

Sunday 4th March 2007

A dull, grey wet Sunday afternoon. A complete contrast to the weather yesterday. There was a slight nip in the air but with clear blue skies and the sun in the sky, I was looking forward to the afternoon game. I left home just after quarter to 11am. I wanted to catch the 11:04 service to Marylebone. I parked and walked to the Fast Ticket booth but this was going to be anything but fast. A family of three Eastern Europeans were trying to work out how to purchase a ticket. A railway worker came up to me and said he would get me a ticket and took me through to the Station Manager and he printed off a cheap day return for me, but I still had to get a parking ticket. I was in a minor dilemma. I had a £5 note and only £2 in coins. The parking over the weekend is £2.50, typical I was 50p short. The train would leave platform one in a few minutes. I did not have time to wait around. The parking attendant let me off the 50 pence and asked that I return the money to the booth at the end of the day. Chiltern Railways do have some good members of staff and I did take the time to thank them before running onto the train. As it would pan out, the train was delayed by a few minutes, letting an earlier London pass through via platform three. The journey down was uneventful, until we got to Wembley, by then my Zen had crashed. I had been skipping through tracks and it crashed. I needed to carry out a soft reset but I needed a paperclip or pin. That was to be my mission when I got to Paddington. Andy had text me and would meet me just after midday at Paddington This gave me some to find a stationary shop that sold paperclips. I did eventually find a WHSmith outlet that went beyond newspapers, magazines and crisps. Then just as I was paying, Andy called me. I called him back and eventually we met up at the barrier for the underground station. We were on our way to North London. I had seen mainly Reading fans all morning, some had stopped me and asked for directions. We got to Finsbury Park just after 1pm and headed for the Twelve Pins for a drink. It was eighteen minutes into the Liverpool - Manchester United game but still goalless. The pub was packed and at half time we headed towards the ground. First stop was Highbury, or rather what remains of the stadium as it slowly becomes luxury apartments.

We walked around to the Grove and Andy got to see the stadium for the first time. It was getting busy with a build up of crowds. Andy called his mates, they were in a pub but he wanted to get in and take a look inside. We said goodbye and thought we might meet up after the game. I had some food, watched some of the ManYoo game (it was still goal less) but headed up to my seat early. Thirty odd minutes before kick-off. It was nice to actually watch the players train and not be involved in the a mad dash down to the stadium. I could sit back and take it easy for a change. There was a school kid behind me, must have been aged around 12. He was on the phone for the majority of the game, updating his friend on every minor slice of action. One word. Annoying. Anyways, I put up with that and enjoyed the game, and hang on for the final whistle. Perhaps the most balanced match report is from The Guardian.

Do you remember a time before polyphonic ring tones? Before the Crazy Frog? It was the late nineties (it wasn't as late as 2001, was it?) and having a mobile phone was the lastest fashion accessory. MTV were quick to jump on the bandwagon. For some strange reason I recalled it on the way home and only bothered to check it on You Tube this afternoon. Fantastic. I love the whole dance routine and the friend, "Kanyo call me on my mobile!". Classic. Did not know that MTV released an actual song and music video on the back of the success of this spot. You can watch that (inferior version, in my humble opinion) here.

The dilemma now though, what would be more annoying as a ring tone? The above or the Pearl & Dean music? It does not really apply to me, I always keep my phone sent to silent, which sort of defeats the object of having a ringtone in the first place.

Friday 2nd March 2007

I exceeded my 3 gigabyte monthly bandwidth allowance in the early hours of Tuesday morning. No real bother, the site would return on the first of the month, when the quota is reset. It was actually my friend Nav, over in a different time zone that first noticed my site down, added my URL as his personal message on MSN. I was annoyed, but knew it was going to happen as I had received an e-mail warning me I had less than 250mb of my bandwidth remaining. My friend in India, said it was the price to pay for Teg going international. I actually think it is a mixture of me logging on to check updates I had made myself. The main thing though now, is the site is back and I will try and better watch the bandwidth.

I am moving to Sky broadband. I contacted Orange (formerly Wanadoo, formerly Freeserve) on Thursday evening and was put through Elizabeth (with a strong Indian accent). Obviously an Indian call centre! Their system was down so they could not do anything for me. First she said I should call back in an hour, then changed her mind and extended the delay to two hours. I gave up and thought I would call from work today. I did and was once again put through to an call centre on the subcontinent. Then I was transferred back to James in the UK who tried with little real effort to keep my business with Orange. He could tell from his records that I had been signed up since 2001 and had broadband in 2002 (the second it was available in my area) but it was time to move on and I could get a much better deal with Sky. They offered me a wireless package for £12.99 which was laughable. How could they compete with £5 a month for 8mb, when the best they could offer me at that "reduced" price was 2mb. No thanks. Bye. So I requested my MAC code and should have it within 5 working days and switch over by mid March. Many of my colleagues have Sky broadband, including my manager, but it took one person to switch to convince me. Pav has had NTL broadband for years and actually was one of the first people I know to switch to non-metered access back in the good old dial up days. He had switched over recently and had had no problems whatsoever. Being the trend setter, what he does, I generally tend to follow.

Went to see Ghost Rider with Pav this evening. The showing was at 9pm, at the Vue, Reading but we got there early. So early that we were the first handful of people to be admitted to screen 4, after it had been cleaned. (Any one remember last Friday at the flicks?) It was nice to get there early for change and avoid the queues, usually it is always a rush. Plus it gave us to have a good chat before the Pearl & Dean music played. Right to the movie. Everyone must know by now I am a big fan of super heroes movies, particularly those inspired from comic books. However, I must be careful not to make this review to turn into something from the Eva Mendes Appreciation Society (it is her birthday on Sunday don't you know!) Nicholas Cage is not the first person you would think of to play a superhero, or even perhaps more fittingly an anti-hero but he does pull it off quite well. The most interesting fact is from the Wikipedia page. Johnny Depp of all people had shown an interest in the role, but subsequently Cage, a fan of the comic book decided to also contract the production team and notify them of his desire to play the role. I am glad they chose Cage over Depp. I just cannot see the Pirates Of The Caribbean stay taking to the role with the serious conviction it requires. Overall entertaining movie, with good story and fantastic special effects. I perhaps wanted more from the final battle but that is a minor indiscretion. Eva Mendes is stunning as the love interest and actually becomes integral to the story. The last movie I saw her in was 2 Fast 2 Furious over Christmas. I still have not had a chance to sit down and watch Hitch. Even though it has been shown on Sky Movies countless times, I have never been in the living room just as it starts and do not want to pick it up in the middle. Plus you can forget about me buying or renting the DVD. Well renting the DVD is completely out of the question as Blockbusters closed down in Wycombe over a year ago. Back to the movie, definitely worth seeing if you are fan of either of the stars or comic book - super hero movie carnations in general. It was a blast, just do not expect too much and you will be impressed. I was.

We went to the Slug & Lettuce for a drink after the movie finished at 11pm. We decided to just chat about the year ahead and plan some of the things we are going to do. As we left, just before midnight, I recognised the man just outside, holding an umbrella. He was surrounded by a young blonde and the security guard (aka bouncer) was speaking to him. It was none other than John Madejski chairman of Reading football club. As we walked across the bridge, he went into the Slug. Talk about strange coincidences. I explained to Pav that I would most likely see him again tomorrow around 3pm at Ashburton Grove. My weekend had well and truly began.

Monday 26th February 2007

Teg Drives Again

It took me exactly two months and 4 days to get back on the road 'officially". Not bad considering that in that space of time we have had Christmas, the turn of the New Year, a car accident (or two) and a drop of snow. This morning I had my registration transferred onto my A3. It was a proud moment for me, for many reasons. It took me back to my placement year, over 2003/4 when I would at times drive past the very same Audi dealership and one day dream of owning a German sports car. So here I am, some three years later, living the dream. On my drive to Bedford, I would often go through West Wycombe to Aylesbury before heading out towards Milton Keynes and eventually Bedford. On my drive, I would drive past a building in the middle of nowhere. I often wondered what they did in that building and whether or not one day I would actually get to peer inside. Well, in a strange twist of fate, I went inside purely for professional reasons on Friday last week. I am not the only person to have the same thoughts in my head, my colleague also wondered exactly the same thing. It appears as if I am in a strange way achieving some of my short term dreams in record time.

Saturday 24th February 2007

This was a strange experience for us. We got to the cinema early and entered screen 10 as the credits were rolling from the early evening screening. As we looked up at the auditorium, there was just a middle aged couple still in their seats. The cleaners had not arrived yet, as there were empty popcorn buckets and drink cartons all over the place. In any case, we firstly double checked our tickets to confirm we were in the right screen and then took our seats. Central as possible, as always. The credits by this time had rolled and the projector was switched off. Music is switched on, someone was obviously in the mood for some 80s cheese as they started with The Word Girl by Scritti Politti. A few minutes later, the staff arrived to clean the cinema and were shocked that two guys were already seated waiting for the movie to begin. In any case, they carried on cleaning and we just waited for the movie to start. Well I of course was waiting for some famous music to play.

I had only seen a couple of trailers for the movie last weekend and had decided on Sunday to go and watch the movie. I am a fan of De Niro, although confess quite readily I have not seen most of his outstanding performances, but I am sure I will get around to it eventually. I knew a little about the content before hand but was very impressed. De Niro also directs this and has tried his best to leave his mark on throughout. My only complaint is the fragmentation, constantly jumping from through times lines, college years, World War II and the present (1961). I also expected more on the Cuban Missile Crisis but this was just a backdrop for the real story. The plot centres around Matt Damon and his development into one of the founding fathers of the CIA. The story is complex but well worth trying to get grips with. Jolie and others play a bit part in comparison to Damon, who gives a fantastic person as the lead throughout. The movie is all about him and his change from a human being into an emotionless ghost. Enjoyable, complex, disturbing but gritty and always at the edge is how I would describe the film. This is not for everyone, but if you enjoyed Munich last year, you will enjoy this as well. It is fascinating to know the story behind how such a big surveillance organisation was formed after the Second World War.

Spent the afternoon in London with Tazza. It was the first time I had seen him almost two years. I tried to look back through the archives to locate the exact date but I cannot. We had decided in early January to meet up, but this was the first weekend I was free. I left home just before midday and got to the station in time to catch the 12:04 service (which was running a few minutes late) into Marylebone. We met at Liverpool Street and headed for Tottenham Court Road. The original plan was to get lunch at the Tokyo Diner just off Leicester Square but we decided to go somewhere else, somewhere different. We went to a nice little Italian restaurant just off Tottenham Court Road. It was pleasant, the food was great and it was relatively inexpensive. Tazza remembered that the last time here was here (a few years ago) they did a wonderful lemon sorbet, so he ordered one. I decided to go for the mango sorbet. However they arrived in cones, when I expected them to be served on a plate or dish. Never mind, less washing up for the chef. Afterwards, we walked past the Italian cake shop next door. It had some amazing cakes on display in the window, a mountain of delicate flakes of chocolate. However, I was too full to even contemplate more food. We then decided to head over to Oxford Street and John Lewis in particularly. However as expected the item I was looking for was still out of stock and they did not expect an order in until sometime in March. Never mind. We then decided what we wanted to do. If the weather had been better, we would have ended down to the river, instead we catch the bus down to Oxford Circus and then catch the tube down (one stop) to Tottenham Court Road. I was all up for walking but my dear old friend, wanted to make use of public transport. We ended up in The Tottenham public house for a drink before we both said our goodbyes and headed in opposite directions home. It was good to see Tazza again, it had been nearly two years and I felt bad for not making more of an effort, particularly considering he is only in East London, not Outer Mongolia. Next time, I may drive and see him nearer his home in Manor Park.

I got home just after 6.30pm and felt tired. Pav text me and explained they were leaving at 9pm to head over to Brixton and I was welcome to come. A night out clubbing just did not appeal to me in my current physical state, so I declined. I am sure both my body and my wallet were happy with the evening off. Tomorrow I am going to try and give the car a clean, if the weather holds. Most likely end up just hoovering the inside, then piano lesson number five at 11am, then back home in time for the football. Not a bad weekend really, all things considered. I will not even try and mention what I will be up to next week.

I think I should just briefly mention the music I have been listening to over the past week or two. My sister came in and said Neyo had done a song with a girl group called Trinity. She was half right. The group are actually called Trinity Stone. The song is called Real Love and the the sound is unique in the sense it is less street and more harmonic radio pop. It is very good and you too will be hooked after the first listen. They have other singles out and are currently in the studio working on their debut album. Another vocalist I have been listening to recently is Ama. Sadie Ama. I was a big fan of her big sister, Shola and look forward to her return later this year. However, the younger sibling of the family is a great talent in her own right. I first heard her music on Kiss 100 and the single Falling which has had regular airplay since last autumn. I only listened to the song properly last weekend and fell in love with it. Sadie's voice is so angelic, soothing and mesmerizing. I am looking forward to hearing more of her material. Just a shame she has not quite made it onto music television just yet. Give her a chance.

Thursday 22nd February 2007

Sometimes it is good to do things, just for the experience. I agree, the whole episode (if I can call it that) was a great experience, even if I did not get the result I expect. Then again, I did not really know what to expect, so perhaps this was the right result this time around. I suppose, I just need to time. Time. A strange notion. However, I do not think I need to change anything about me, just perhaps my approach in places. That is something I can work on and improve. Sometimes, I wish I had the secret. The secret that Mickey Miller knows. It must be something, because he currently has two ladies falling (literally) at his feet. Some guys, get all the luck! :) Enjoy your weekend, I am far too busy to even give a preview tonight, but I am sure I will return on Sunday with details of all the action from all camera angles.

Sunday 18th February 2007

My weekend actually started on Friday morning at approximately 8.20am. The Robin Banks Breakfast show on KISS 100 played Sean Paul - Give It Up To Me followed by Nathan - Do Without My Love. I was happily singing along. It set me in a great mood for the day and look forward to the evening. It would be a classic night out if everyone who we had asked to come out did. My manager let me leave work early, so I was home by 5pm. However, the weekend could not officially start until I had completed some work. It was not much but I was pleased to meet the deadline as promised. I quickly packed my bag, grabbed my sleeping bag and headed over to Henley. I got to Chris' house around 8pm. Just as I pulling into his road, Peter called me. He was already in the town centre and headed for the Slug & Lettuce. We would be there shortly but just had to wait for everyone to get ready. Then came the arrival. Gary, Chris' older brother, whom I had not seen since July last year, rang the doorbell and came in. Not quite the entrance you would expect from a superhero but nevertheless, nice to see him and Sandy once again. Even if it had been almost seven months since I saw them both at the British Motor Show. Plus as you would expect, he had a little surprise. Chris had mentioned something during the week. I had an inkling it would be the full Superman cape but the Williams boy had gone for the original touch instead. A white t-shirt painted himself with his logo.

I could go into the details of the evening but there is no need. There is clear photographic evidence (much of which now Chris completely denies). It was nearly 9pm by the time we got to The Slug & Lettuce. I was shocked to see it virtually empty on a Friday night. Going around the corner to the pool table, we could see the whole area had been partitioned off. There were paper signs everyone confirming the reservation and the name of the 'host'. Chris quickly turned all the pieces of paper over. We stayed here for a few drinks but headed over to The Catherine Wheel around 10.30pm and were glad to discover it extremely busy. While it is nice to go to a lively location, there are a few downsides. The bar is extremely busy and they always appear to be understaffed. It took me over fifteen minutes to get served. Anyway, the night progressed with Gary joining an pensioner on the dance floor as they got their groove on (not together mind) to Akon's "Smack That".

Around 1am, we headed over to River (formerly Latinos). Henley's premier night spot, although I am not sure if it is the only night club in the town. Only a small group of us went to the club. It was time to say goodbye to Paul and Pete and a few others. In River, we were informed the first floor was closed. I gave my coat into the cloakroom and then headed to check out this club. I must say that Club Eden (in it's hay day) was a better venue than this. I know that is not saying much and unless you have been to either of the discotheque, my comparison perhaps is rather wasted. In any case, after a few hours and several drinks later we left. I think it was some time after 2am, around 2.30am possibly. The walk back to Chris' included a stop at the local kebab house. By the time I eventually fell asleep on the couch in the living room it must have been coming close to 3.30am. Some of Christophers' Uni friends were still out as far as we knew.

I woke up initially at 7am and had a strange moment. You know, you are still half a sleep and trying to get your bearings. Then you realise that you are somewhere different from the comfortable surrounds of your own home and more importantly your own bed. It took me a few minutes to adjust and realise, where I was, which day it was and which planet I was on. I tried to make out the time on the Panasonic tape recorder a few feet away, but my eyesight was completely blurred and I could just make out the unreadable dark yellow digits on the LCD display. I slowly drifted back off to sleep.

The next time I woke, it dawned on me that I had to go and collect my car from the garage. I couldn't spend all day in the sleeping bag, no matter how comfortable it was. Eventually I got myself off the sofa, got ready, and packed up all my things. Then I had a dilemma. Do I do the quick getaway (which I have picked up a reputation for) Or do I play the perfect guest and go upstairs and say goodbye to Chris. The house was silent and still. I did not really want to disturb the peace. Particularly with so many people quite delicate at this time. Rather than be rude, I tiptoed upstairs, knocked on the door and was surprised to see Chris awake. I told him I was leaving but more importantly thanked him for letting me stay. I then had one final obstacle. To collect my keys. As I went into the dining room, I noticed Christie asleep in her sleeping bag on the floor. I quietly picked my car keys from the rack and gently closed the door. I was off to pick up the A3 and I was looking forward to it.

After a wait of over an hour my car was parked up outside the garage and I grabbed my stuff from the Ka and placed them into my Audi. I was given the keys and revved the engine before heading off back to wards Henley and then home. I switched over to Kiss. I had not bought my CDs as I already had plenty to carry on board and the fact the Ka never had a CD player in the first place. I was happy with the company of the radio on what turned out to be a beautifully sunny day. I was listening to Kiss, and just before the ad break the DJ explained that the All Saints would be played as part of some Kisstory. I tuned to a few other stations but returned to KISS. It was one of my favourite songs of all time and it was only almost exactly seven years old. Pure Shores was the song that made me sit up and pay attention to the girl group. I can recall listening to the song continuously in January / February of 2000 in my bright red Mini. I listened to the song at full blast all the way home. My weekend had just started, but yet so much had happened already, plus there was so much more to come.

I got home and it was more of a pit stop than anything else. I had a few things to sort out, jump on the computer, check my e-mail and switch on the WinTV for the game. Then have a shower, pack my bag, grab my things, jump in my car and head onto the motorway. I took the standard M40 -> A46 - M69 route, which I had used many times during my time at University. Something told me that this weekend was going to be a mixture of looking back and looking forward. I left Wycombe around 1.30pm and the drive up was uneventful, with relatively clear roads. I cruised at around 80mph but when I needed to take over some slow riders, I just eased the gas pedal down and I would hit triple figures in the blink of an eye. I got into Leicester just before 3pm. I had been listening to the commentary of the second half of the game on Five Live but could tell it was a boring match with nil-nil written all over it, so opted to listen to my music. My colleague called me just as I was pulling off Narborough Road into the main city ring road asking for an update on the score. We had drawn and he was upset as he had some money on a home win. Never mind, but perhaps yet another reason why I do not believe in gambling. I had originally planned to park in The Shires Shopping Centre but decided that it would be easier to park closer to Welford Road. Why? Well I had booked to get my haircut at Hair by Minesh. He used to cut my hair over the three years I a student but also during my placement year, when I drove up to Leicester a few times. One weekend in particular I recall is March 2003. My appointment was for 3.30pm, so my timing (as always) was perfect. I parked in the Newark Street Car Park which is right next to the Phoenix Arts Centre.I had forgotten about this car park, even though I used to walk passed it at least once a week to go into the city centre. It was good to be back and catch up. Nice to have my haircut like I did when I was a student and see how Minesh was doing. I did however expect him to have two salons by now and take more of a management role. I am sure that will happen at some point. Anyway, after my haircut it was 4pm and I went over into the city centre to explore. In reality I should have jumped into my car and headed to my hotel but I wanted to see what had changed. I had not been in the town centre (okay technically the 10th largest city in the country but I still referred to it as a town) since August last year but not explored around for many years. I went to Clinton Cards but was surprised to see a main road in the process of being pedestrianised. The McDonald's on the corner had been refurbished. I headed down past the main square down Gallowtree Gate. I was shocked to see around twelve light poles coming out of the ground. What perhaps was most strange was that they were illuminated pink. (I would later discover that they actually change colour, but they stayed pink for a good ten minutes, if not more). I went into the Shires to just walk around for old times sake. Yet another example of work in progress. The floor was being relaid so it was a complete mess with black and blue tape all over the place and the heavy pot holes boarded up to allow wheelchair uses to actually gain access into the centre. The shopping mall was busy, but what did I expect for a Saturday afternoon. Leicester were playing at home, but I did not know about the rugby team. I felt a bit stupid really. Walking all this way, just to check the place out for old times sake. The clock tower was another victim of repairs, with construction boarding signs around it. Whenever I would walk past this momument, I would quote the line from my favourite film trilogy (of all time) "Save the Clock Tower!". Well finally, after over seven years, someone from the council has heard the call and is coming to the rescue.

It was started to get dark, as I headed back to the car park. I was looking forward to the evening but also in the back of my mind, had memories from the previous evening. (It is strange but the last time I came to Leicester I had a big night out in Bournemouth on the Friday). I drove back out of Leicester onto the M1 northbound. Nope, stay with me here people. In August I had stayed in the city centre but it was quite expensive (all things considered) so I opted for an alternative hotel this time around. The Days Inn hotel, is situated at the Welcome Break Services at Forest East. The hotel is actually owned and run by the Welcome Break group under the franchise of Days Inn. However, enough of the business studies lesson. The room was £ 35 which is really good and considering I am only going to get a few hours of sleep, it is ideal. I do not need major luxuries. Plus, I can always go next door for food (which I did). Plus the beauty was free secure parking right next to the hotel, where as most (if not all) hotels in the city were charging for the privelege. Once I checked in, I got had a shower and watched the evening FA Cup tie on BBC1. I then decided what to do for food. I opted to go next door and get a big meal, something to keep me going for the rest of the night. They had televisions screens on, so I continued to watch the remainder of the first half and saw Manchester United score. After dinner, I came backto my room and got ready. A taxi was booked for 7.30pm. I was conscious of last year, when I got there far too early, so thought with the journey I would get there around 8pm when most people would be arriving. My taxi driver, however had other ideas. He took me through a shortcut (illegally) as it was designed only for emergency vehicles from behind the service station to the Western Boulevard. The venue was the same as last August, The Quay. I was wrong again, I was early, the golden couple had not arrived yet, so I sat on a table on my own, like the billy-no-mates I am. Eventually I saw a familiar face walk up the stairs, it was Sachin's Uncle. I had worked with him at the Jacksons Stores in Narborough Road between October 2001 to late June 2002. Unforunately that is a pre-blogging period in my life, so you will have to just believe me. After speaking to him for a while and catching up, I went downstairs to get some drinks. Then, I bumped into my old housemate, Jaymin and his friend Chris. The party had well and truly started. Just as if my Bollywood magic, Rish and Sachin came in just a minute or two later. The DJ suddenley played Sexy Love by Neyo. Ironically the same song I had watched on the big screen while waiting for Rish and Sachin at their enagement party in early August last year.

Enough of my ramblings, let the photos above and the other thirty eight tell you the story of the night. Although of course that is only up to the witching hour of midnight. There are a few things I should mention, I got to meet Shush, who is organising the stag do (still pencilled in for late March). He made a speech (semi-Best man style) at the bar, you can see him above in the bright yellow top. It was nice to meet him finally as I had spoken to him previously on the phone. The other highlight was Rish's dance group (along with herself) dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller. They were amazing, to the extend that drinkers downstairs stopped what they were doing (dancing, smoking or ordering more drinks) to watch and appauld the talent on show. They were great and brilliant considering I last saw the performance by Chris Brown and entourage back in November in Earls Court. I was offered a drink down at Sachin's brother's house. However, Jaymin had other ideas. Chris and I, headed into town in his M-reg Volvo 440. We headed for Liquid (formerly known as Creations). There was not a queue outside but the bouncer said it was very busy inside (he would say that wouldn't he!) I was really comfortable paying £6 but was willing to go along just to remember those nights in there from my student days. It was relatively busy but not too packed. After a while in Liquid, we went into the second room, Envy. Here they were playing more cheesy classics but it was completely rammed and after a few minutes and a walk around we back to Liquid. The dancefloor was busy, but there is always enough room for Jaymin to bust a groove. They played some went through a phase of playing RnB tunes and I thought I might as well enjoy what remained of my Saturday evening (Sunday morning). Then the DJ dropped an abosolute anthem. A song I had listened to on Friday night in The Catherine Wheel, a song I had burnt onto CD to listen to on the drive up and even a song they had played in The Quay perhaps as much as an hour ago early. The song for me will always be associated with Leicester, with coming back to my University city. What perhaps make the song even more important to me personally is the fact that I have met the artist and he used to attend a regular RnB night on Thursdays in my first year, back in 2000. What am I going on about? Mark Morrison and his number one hit, "Return Of The Mack". I think I will download the music video as well. The sweet sweet memories. I know the song is over eleven years old and shows it's age but I love it! Plus, I also know that when I met Mark (okay served him some chewing gum in a petrol station) he was driving a black Range Rover with the number plate MM 96.

We did not stay in the night club long and ended back to the car. Next on the menu was some food. There was only one place we could go. JBS on Narborough Road. We got some food and once again it brought back memories of many nights out on the town. Funny how you remember all those stupid things that you did and all the fun you got to up as a student. Just a shame that none of them are really on this blog. Actually, thinking about it, that is a good thing. Jaymin and Chris dropped me at the hotel just after 3am. They were originally going to get a room themselves but opted to dead back to Redditich. All in all, a grand weekend and a fantastic Saturday night out.

I got up early on Sunday, do not ask me why. I felt fine and wanted to have something to do. I am not the sort of person to sit around reading Sunday newspapers. I had to check out by 11am in any case, so there was no option for a lazy lie in. (Well there was but it would turn out to be very expensive.) I had my usual breakfast of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and tea but above the M1 northbound carriageway instead the comfortable table back in Wycombe. I then watched television in my room, read a bit of The Independent on Sunday before my friend text me. They were busy but could meet in the town centre around 12pm. Okay, I checked out the hotel just before 11am, checked my tyre presures and then hit the motorway, coming off at the next junction and using my biological satelite navigation to get me into town. I parked in the same place and walked into the town centre. I thought I would just browse the shops and not give into the temptation to buy something (like designer clothes from USC). I walked around Debenhams and a few other shops and even popped into Thomas Cook before meeting up with my friend. We headed for Yates and had a nice lunch in there. It was quiet and it was nice to catch up properly. MSN can be great but nothing can beat good old fashioned face to face conversation. They had a television screen by our table, it was showing music videos from 2003. For example. Kym Marsh - Cry and Sarah Whatmore (remember her?) with her second single, "Automatic". I mentioned to my friend, that they seemed to be playing all the music videos from my placement year. Strange. After lunch, I jumped in the car and headed home. I had a piano lesson scheduled for 3pm, I was late by 30 minutes and obviously faced a penalty from my tutor.

Easily one of the best weekends of the year so far. Plus, with such an array of stars, what more could I ever ask for? There was Super Gary on Friday, then on Saturday my day was filled with Jaymin, Lilly Allen and Mark Morrison. When I got home, I realised that I must not leave it too long to go and visit Leicester again. Although I doubt I will be as dedicated as Chris and make the 100 mile trek, like he does every Sunday morning to Worcester.

Saturday 17th February 2007

The weekend has only just begun...

Wednesday 14th February 2007

As a general rule, I tend not to write a post on Valentine's Day. Over the years, I have tended to blog a few days after but this evening I have opted to break the mould. There is far too much happening and I have a major rock and roll weekend, so will not have time to give the usual Friday night update. I suppose I better explain what is going on before getting to the actual main headlines. Friday is Chris' birthday night out, although of course his birthday is not for a week later. He has a free house, with his parents away on holiday so a big group of us are staying over. Last year we went into Reading but this year we are keeping it local and going out in Henley. Originally it was supposed to be just a group of his friends, but we have roped in a number of work colleagues, so there will be a big posse of us out on the tiles in Henley-upon-Thames. You have been warned. Then, on Saturday I will pop back home, watch football (will get to that shortly) before heading over to Leicester for Sachin and Rish's civil wedding ceremony and reception.

Back to the present day, the weekend is still a full two days away. I have a courtesy car at the moment. I will not bore you with the details but it is the worse car in the universe. This is the first and hopefully last time I ever have to drive a Ford Ka. A tiny 1.3 petrol engine, cream flowery interior and general inferior feeling driving this girly car, makes me long for my A3 back. To add insult to injury, there is firstly no rev counter. Where this should be there is a Ka logo. Secondly the standard factory stereo is cassette tape. It is a 2006 registration, so you would think, it would be time to move over to CD. Even the Micra I had over 5 years ago, had a CD player. So I have had to deal with radio in the morning, switching between the Urban sounds of KISS 100 London and Moyles on Radio 1. Obviously I listened to KISS more as they play more of my genre of music and there is not so much chat. Although generally speaking I prefer to listen to wall to wall music, which is why I always listen to my music in the car instead of radio, particular on the work commute. Anyway, I am more than willing to put up with, and long to have my car back. Perhaps this is some psychological blackmail the garages and insurance companies use. They give you an absolutely rubbish group A car, so that you just pray to get your car returned as soon as possible. I know I could have argued for a bigger and more suitable car but I would rather just get my car fixed and returned without the aggrivation. When I got my Punto, I promised myself that I could never go below a minimum engine spec of 1.6 (either petrol or diesel) but this has been difficult to maintain.

Decisions, decisions. This evening we have the Brit Awards broadcast live (for the first time since 1989, remember that fateful night, don't we?) Well unfortunately this clashes perfectly with FA Cup replay between Arsenal and Bolton. If this was being screened on Sky, then we would have major problems, but as the match is on BBC1, I can make use of my dual tuner and record ITV1, while watching BBC1. Fantastic. Plus, I am sure there is a friend of mine, whom would like a DVD copy of the whole show.

Enjoyed what can only be described as a classic FA Cup replay this evening. I thought Arsenal had done enough but that injury time equaliser meant we were in for extra time. However, I had to drive to the station to pick up my Dad so had to switch over to Five Live. Only to hear Freddie score the crucial goal. The penalty misses and quality of the first half performance all added to the tension. Just a shame we could not get the job done with home advantage a few weeks ago. I am a big fan of the cup, particularly with the strong history and luck in recent years. While it is perhaps wrong to chase glory, but it would great to be at the first cup final at the new Wembley.

Sunday 11th February 2007

It is funny how a weekend can go from absolutely rubbish to fantastic over the space of 90 minutes (94 actually, including injury time) of Premiership football. Rather than go into the details, I can just say Saturday was a downer. However, it is nice to have alternative distractions. Normally I would just jump on the computer and listen to my mp3s. Now, I can sit down and practice the piano, which is what I decided to do on yesterday afternoon. It was time well spent and it was nice to switch off from all the real life concerns.

I first heard the song in Chris' car on the last Saturday of January, a few weeks back. He was singing along, tapping the steering wheel of his Ibiza Cupra. I have to admit, I liked the song. We listened to it a second time on the drive back to his house. But it has taken JT, three single releases to be be picked up on my musical radar. I did not like the first two singles. They both seemed the same were nothing new, in my humble opinion. The video is released tomorrow, with heavy buildup on a handful of the music television channels. They show a brief preview clip but reveal it will be premiered on Monday. I is not about Britney Spears (from what Justin tells us) but I generally like the idea of what comes around, goes around. Perhaps even more so after this weekend.

Talking of music, my youngest sister Julie, spotted a music video on MTV Base. I had seen the song before, and new the chorus vaguely. However, it my sister who gave the final piece of the jigsaw. It was Nathan, I had already obtained one of his other songs, "Come Into My Room" which is okay but nothing special in my opinion. However, this song, "Do Without My Love", is something else. The melody and the chorus and the quality of his vocals are immense. Although the video is reminiscent of NeYo's Sexy Love, I will forgive him. The lyrics are amazing and I have been half tempted to order the debut album, Masterpiece from Amazon. It is great to see a UK artist making such fresh music, I hope he gets the breaks he deserves in the RnB scene very soon. Some would say he is nearly there, if two of his singles have had wide airplay across the digital satellite channels. Although, he has a little work to do, no page on Wikipedia yet.

While we are talking about music, I should give a final review. Or perhaps rather a concluding review on my Creative Zen Vision:M. It is absolutely fantastic. Now I have a practical leather case, using the device on the road is easy. I also reorganised my music collection, so all the mp3s were ones I enjoyed listening to and kept the need to skip tracks to a minimum. The case ensures everything is protected while in my pocket but I can still take it out, open the flap and adjust the volume and then put it back into my pocket. No major fuss. The Bose in-ear headphones makes all the difference. The sound reproduction is amazing, with a more full body in the music, rather than the tinny sound you get from the factory ear phones. I just need to add some more of my favourite tunes. There are plenty of music videos, just not really bothered to watch any, while on the move. Do not need to be a show off (or give out the signal, please steal this toy). Ultimately every happy with this purchase and it very much deserves it's MM rating of five stars. (This is a special geek seal of approval from the one and only MightyMouse.)

Friday 9th February 2007

The week started early, I had to head over to Amersham to drop my car off at the dealer for some final bits and pieces of work to be carried out. I was given a 56 plate 1.6 A3 in light blue. Nice. However it had DSG transmission. Now as an geek, that acronym sounds great but in practice the gear box is rubbish. This my first time driving an automatic and I hated every second. I expected the drive to be much better, particularly in A3. However, in drive a computer decides when it will change up through the six gears. You can over rev the engine but it still takes an age to respond. Decision made. I was sold. I was never going to buy an automatic car. I know I flirted with the option of the Fiat Stilo Abarth with Selespeed gearbox back in July 2005 but I perhaps only now have become to appreciate the importance of a manual (6-speed) gear box.

Received my documents from the DVLA yesterday. Prompt considering how slow government agencies tend to be. Perhaps because everything is process by my local regional office and then the final documentation sent to Swansea for computer processing. I suppose being the registered owner and keeper of both vehicles helped. Then factor in recent events. However the plates will not be knocked up until next weekend as I have my bumper to be replaced next week. I am sure I will get a ragged out old Corsa as a courtesy car and would wish I was back in the A3. Actually, on second thoughts I will stick with the Corsa. Plus anything will be better than that white Nissan Micra I had for three weeks in December 2002.

2007 is panning out to be an excellent year with a special and strange announcement over on my other log. In other semi related news, Pav has this week handed in his notice having been offered a great web support engineer role over in Oxford. Before doing so, his manager had printed off the following chart for the previous period.

You have to click on the image and see the large version to truly appreciate the joke. Pav has closed over 2000 calls more than his nearest rival. This happens to be his good friend Jav (who went to the Nürburgring with us last Easter). A shock to the system, when Pav leaves in three weeks time. Almost comparable but my own situation, although I have to admit that Pav's role is far more technical and day to day is far more busier than I have been (or rather ever was) on the helpdesk. Bespoke software with the helpdesk supporting end users, while his scenario was more server side support for external IT managers or technicians. Try, if you will, to work out which one of us tend to be busy.

Friday evening is spent as always surfing the music television channels, to the annoyance of my sister. I was watching the hilarious video to First Date by Blink 182. However, by doing so, I missed something else. As I switched over to Chart Show TV, I heard the closing few frames of Glamorous video. I was disappointed. After Eastenders and my daily piano practice, I jumped on my computer and headed over to You Tube to find the music video. If it was on television, then someone, somewhere would have uploaded. They had. I watched the video and it was much better than I expected. Everything a music video should be. True to the story of the lyrics. After so many fan produced videos had been uploaded to the video sharing service, it was great to see the final product. Perhaps yet another example of a song which reflects how I feel, where I've been and where I am going. Without stretching too far back, beyond the pre-blogging days, I recall those weeks on placement, when by this time in a week I would have covered 600 miles and felt exhausted. I will of course try and record a copy once it reaches the play list of TMF and The Hits on FreeView. For the time being, we will have to cope with the embedded flash version.

Sunday 4th February 2007

Logged onto FlickR this morning, as I do most days and saw the following announcement. Those guys at FlickR are just crazy comedians!

Friday 2nd February 2007

Has January really gone? Are you sure? I know the month feels like it could last forever but we are here, into February. The second month of the year and here I find myself on the 2nd day, trying very hard to put together something coherent to say about the events of the past few days. There is just so much to cover, most of which is a blur in the far reaches of my memory banks. However, I will try write up the highlights. Let us start where my blog left you last weekend. Sunday was the FA Cup tie with Bolton but I had a few jobs or rather missions to complete before I could be given the afternoon off to enjoy the game. Dave had computer problems, or more specifically connectivity problems with his laptop and broadband. He had bought a wireless router but was not able to connect up. I had tried to help late on Friday evening last week but came to a brick wall when I realised that he had no ethernet port on his laptop or ethernet card in his old desktop. A workaround had been sought and provided by Lisa's Dad's laptop. Dave had this on Sunday morning and called me around 10am, he had a rare Sunday off work. Once we had everything plugged in correctly, it was quite straight forward to enable his Talk Talk broadband account and enable a secured wireless connection. He disappeared, having noted down the WEP key. I got on with getting ready for game. He sent me a text about half an hour later, he had just raced in Need for Speed Carbon against a guy from holiday. Not sure how well he did on his career mode and that all important XBox Live leader board. I was more than happy to help my best friend, after all it was something I would be doing on a day to day basis in the office. Anyway, with one very happy customers, all those hundred miles away in North Wales, I headed to Wycombe station, looking forward to a classic cup tie against Bolton. Our bogey team, but this was different. This was the first cup tie at our new home.

It was the same old story I am afraid. Giving away a goal, to let the visitors take a deserved lead. They carved us open like a knife through butter. It was humiliating to watch but for all their probing, Bolton deserved the lead. This was the wake up call we needed and we actually began playing some attacking football and Toure bought us level with a great header from a Fabregas free kick into the box. We should have pushed for the killer goal but it was not to be, there just was not the time. Plus, in all honesty Wanderers could have snatched a winner.

I got to my car, in the car park of Wycombe station at 19.48, just enough time to drive home and catch the return of Top Gear on BBC2. Not for me unfortunately. Firstly I had to get fuel, the computer system was politely bleeping at me, "Please refuel". I went to the BP garage on West Wycombe Road and filled up with BP Ultimate. I want to give the car a trial on the super juice but according to Pav, it takes the engine around five tankful to adjust. We shall see. It is more expensive and so far I have only noticed my tank empty slightly quicker than on the ordinary BP diesel but time will tell. Another good reason to refuel was a long drive. I did not head directly home, I had to drive to Henley and drop something off at Chris' place. It would be like my third trip into the town over the weekend. By the time I got home, Top Gear was over. I was gutted, plus there did not seem to be a repeat on during the week or the option to watch the show in full online. Beeb you disappointment me.

Talking of Aunty, this brings me onto my next subject. On Thursday I received two e-mails from You Tube. They were not nice e-mails. I had been warned about two infringements of copyright as the British Broadcasting Corporation had made a complaint that two clips were online which should not be. This was fair enough, they were referring to the interview with Richard Hammond I had 'taped' back in late December. I had a feeling that such a clip would be removed but uploaded it, purely to allow other people whom had missed the original screening of the interview (as had I) the change to watch it again in full. While I appreciate this was illegal and against the terms and conditions of my account with the video host, is there not an argument here. As a licence fee payer, am I not entitled to record and replay content, which I have already paid for? I suppose uploading it online was a mistake but then why does the BBC just not make such material available for download on their own web site(s).

On Monday evening, I finally started the regime to get fit. After dinner I headed over to Henley, to Chris' house, making it my fourth trip into the town over three days. We then went over to Gillotts Sports Centre, on the grounds of Chris' old secondary school. We got there a little early, so had to wait for a court to become available. We had court 1 or 3 from 9pm until 10pm, when the centre closes. I was rusty to begin with but slowly got into the game again after a few matches. It felt good to be running around, the blood pumping around my body and my heart beating at frantic pace. I had never really played the game within the rules before and it was good that Chris actually kept score. Is only criticism, was my lack of competitive aggressive nature in my play. I, however feel that will come over time. For a coach potato as myself, just being outside in a sports centre, away from the computer was a major step. We discovered that my Puma trainers are quite squeezed and that playing badminton in a thick hooded top is not recommended. Our next venue is Wycombe Badminton Centre, once again Monday evening.

Work has been exceptionally busy this week but I had Wednesday off. I wanted to work on some things at home, fit in my second piano lesson and then head over to Islington for the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final with the old enemy. Usually I would have swapped shifts and left the office around 3pm. Taking the day off was actually ideal. It enabled me to get some work done on some private matters, do some admin and actually take a break for a while. I then headed over to Thame for my second piano lesson. It went well, better than I expected and after a late lunch in the Bugle Horn towards Aylesbury I was about to head home. However, instead spent a bit of time working on a web site and looking at a few things for my friend. It was gone 5pm before I left. This was to have a knock on affect on the rest of my evening.

You would think, having the day off that I would make sure that I was on the train to Marylebone as early as I could. I had even commented to Terry just before the Bolton game at the weekend that I would be down early for the Carling Cup tie. He agreed with me, he would try and make it early. When I got home, it was coming up to 6pm and I had to rush around, change and then get my Dad to give me a lift to the station. The traffic on Marlow Hill was built up further up than normal. This did not help. Another thing that did not help was the fact I did not have a train timetable with me (I always tend to lose them) so had no idea when the next London bound train would be leaving. I was playing a dangerous game and considering that I could miss the kick off. A criminal offence in my book. (May this be the best time to mention that, I missed the entire first half of my first Arsenal match against Derby county back in 1997.) I got my ticket from the machine and headed onto platform one. The digital clock said 18:21, the next train was in three minutes time. Perfect timing. As I came up to platform three, the other side of the subway, I looked at the computer screen and realised this was the fast service, stopping only at Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. Great. Maybe I would make it to Ashburton Grove in time, maybe. As soon as the train pulled into Marylebone station I was off the carriage like a rocket and just ran all the way to the ticket barrier. It had just gone 19:00. Then out came the Oyster Card and I rushed down the escalator to the on coming tube train. Straight on and off.

I came up to my seat just as the match was about to kick off. Perfect timing. I was in for an eventful evening within an electric atmosphere. It had all the classic ingredients of a cup tie. The score level from the first leg and the entire balance of play hanging on a knife edge. The strange way in which Arsenal's two away goals would only count heading into extra time, gave some of the initiative to Spurs. We were nervous and it showed but given the young and inexperience across the spine of the team it was understandable. Here were were, 90 minutes away from Cardiff, as the PA announcer said before the match had kicked off. What a game! This was a clear example of why I love this sport and care so passionately for my team. The emotional roller coaster ride, Spurs scoring an equalisier, going into extra time and then killing the game off with two goals. Fantastic! What more could you ask for?

Saturday 27th January 2007

I have just a few minutes ago, got in from Reading (well technically Henley, but that would be splitting hairs). What an afternoon! I really do not know where to begin. For some reason, whenever I spend time with Chris outside our office environment, strange and stupid things happen. The plans changed late last night, I was originally going to get over for before 3pm, but it was switched an hour early so that Emma could do some shopping before she started her job. No problem, I had a few jobs to carry out in the morning. Perhaps that is a good place to start. I went to sleep relatively early last night, for a Friday night. I am usually up until at least 1am, but I was out cold by 12.30am, that I can remember. I got up just after 8am and after breakfast, got ready and headed into town. I had been considering coming back home after getting my haircut but decided it best to head direct over to Binfield Heath as soon as I was done in town. Parking my car, I noticed that Jerry's Street Styles was closed, with one customer waiting outside the door. I took a walk around the block, considering that if the saloon was not open on my return trip, I would go to Chaps just next door. As you can imagine, when I came back to the store, it was open but busy, a customer waiting with his son. No issue, I was happy to wait, it was a few minutes after 9am and I had plenty of time on my hands. So after my cut, I headed back to car, plugged the TomTom on and punched in the postcode provided by the car insurance company. Off I drove to Henley-upon-Thames. I was taken into the town, over the bridge and through the outskirts of the town. Then it took me down a road, which was had two way traffic but with residents vehicles parked on both sides, only one vehicle could pass in either direction. Thankfully I was able to get through without any problems. After a clearing I was headed into a single track road and the scenery had changed to farm land. Where was this garage? Looking at my ETA, it was still a good fifteen minutes to go. The journey, looking back was not that bad, but I was driving across country, through dirt tracks and it was no doing the cleanliness of car any good. I pulled up into a farm and my TomTom proclaimed I had reached my destination. This was wrong. I had reached the postcode as entered but the location was wrong. I was a stables, with many young girls taking out their horses to ride on this Saturday morning. I asked someone for help and he confirmed the postcode was correct but I was in the wrong place. He went to ask his daughter and then gave me clear directions, it was a couple of miles further down the road. I thanked him for his time and headed down to the garage, which I eventually found in the middle of nowhere. Trust me to be involved in accidents where the closest approved garage is in Binfield Heath, somewhere out in the sticks.

I wanted to get back to Wycombe by 12pm. A record I made within ten minutes, but I was under the foolish impression that Football Focus was on at 1pm, but instead it was live FA Cup Fourth Round action from Luton versus Blackburn Rovers. I was shocked to hear Gabby Logan and thought I had tuned into ITV1 by mistake but it was the Beeb. She had moved over recently but I had not noticed until now. I went for a shower, had some lunch and then got ready to head out the door again. What can I say about yet another "Rock n Roll" weekend! The sun was shining, I had my sunglasses on and I was listening to music in my car. I switched the radio on, for some strange reason I wanted to listen to KISS. I had a CD on my passenger seat, waiting to be loaded but something, some force wanted me to listen to the song being played. It had just started and it was a gentle, soft affair in comparison to the rest of the playlist on the premiere London Urban station. I picked up the chorus so had a title but did not know the artist. I would check the website as soon as I got home and get hold of the tune. I have now and I'm addicted, as the recent played list on Last FM will show you. The artist, is the faboulous Fergie. Now as now become the rule (not the exception) I was not a big fan of her debut solo single but this single I have become absolutely hooked on. Glamourous, perhaps this is the song I have been waiting for to kick start 2007. Maybe, just maybe it is vision of things to come, in the fast lane in my A3.

I arrived a little bit early to Chris's house but decided to kill some time finding out which oil goes into the A3. I noted down a VW code, hoping to be able to decipher it in Halfords later in the afternoon. So while Chris and Emma had breakfast, I tried to explain all the jobs I had completed while they were still asleep. We then headed over to Reading, the scenic route via Caversham. There was a slight argument on the direction to take to the Oracle carpark. I agreed with the other passenger that going around and back on yourself and avoiding the bridge and roundabout would have been the wiser choice. Our driver decided he knew better and we got stuck in quite heavy (but nevertheless moving traffic). I think it was more for sentimental reasons that Chris took us this way. It was to drive past the 'spot', so I grabbed onto the rear ceiling handbar at the precise moment of impact.

I realised once again, this is why I avoid city centres on Saturday's (particularly the afternoon when the world and his wife is awake). My attitude (with Wycombe in any case) is to get in and get out as early as physically possible. Here we were, a few hundred yards from the Oracle but stuck in traffic, moving a snail's pace. Chris was going to the 'secret' car park, as he refered to it. The Holly Brook Road car park is housed above (or is that within) the House of Fraiser department store. This backfired on him, as this car park was closed and the red dot matrix display was refered all drivers back to the Riverside Car Park. Great. Emma abandoned ship, as she was otherwise going to be late for work. Chris made some evasive maneouvers and we turned around and round the corner to try again. Sara Cox was playing on Radio One and as part of the competition to win tickets to see the PCD, she was playing their debut single. To kill the time and the frustration of the queue, we both sung along. After going through the barriers, we headed up the levels and I was requested to give my choice on the level. I chose level 3, as the first two levels looked both busy and lacked any free spaces at first sight. It was just a random guess but as we drove around, there was a lady packing in her shopping bags into a bright red VW Lupo but Chris was far too impatient to wait and as we drove up about 50 yards, there was a free space on the left. Result. Was it a case of the Teg magic working once again? Well, stick around, there would be one more dead of the day to follow.

We headed over to Sports World but their range of trainers were limited to say the least. So we headed into the town centre and more specifically JJB Sports. While we did find the trainers I needed, the customer services was appalling. Actually it was non-existant. I asked for the trainers in a size 9 and was handed over a box and the sales assistant disappeated. While I can appreciate it was busy for a Saturday afternoon, there must be some customer focus. Instead I was left to fend for myself to try on and check the fit for myself. Okay, I am not a ten year old buying his first trainers but this was the men section and you expected some level of customer interaction. Then when I explained I was happy with them, I began packing the box, the same sales assitant took over and said, "I'll do that, they will be waiting downstairs for you". Great. Slightly redeeming yourself there. Strange to see that they have rubbish sales assistance but a web blog. Chris bought a black Adidas top and we headed downstairs to the till. There was a long queue, stretching quite easily into double figures. While waiting we both noticed the music. At first listen, it sounded like the pop track you would hear on the radio or mp3 player. It was actually a cover version and extremely bad at that. Bad was not even the word, it was attrocious. Someone was trying to screech along to Promiscuous Girl by Nelly Furtado. Chris and I thought it might be some internal employee karaoke night. Personally I would rather complete silence than listen to this cheap tacky rubbish. I mean, if you cannot afford the licence for the actual music, why not have instrumental music like they have in Clinton Cards. Why get backing vocalists to record such a nightmare. Thank God I don't work at such an establishment. We left and not a minute too soon.

We headed into another high street store and then to mobile phone retailer, where the sales man quite quickly talked Chris out of buying a new bluetooh headset as he already had a working Nokia one. We headed back to the Oracle passed the department store formerly known as Heelas. It was here we came across a gang of kids perhaps in their early teens having an argument. The only meaning message we could make out was "You went out with Smurf!". While it perhaps would be great to be young again, I am glad that those years are long long behind me. It was strange to see these kids having such a pointless and in places explicit argument on the streets, while the public tried to make their way through. One name comes to mind - Vicky Pollard.

Now fast forward to us leaving the car park. After a light snack in Tootsies, we decided it was time to go home, it was nearly 6pm. We caught the lift up to our level. Only to find that the ticket payment machine was busted. Great. We headed upstairs to level 4 to find a long queue for at least eight people queuing. I just had to laugh. Afterall, the was not the first time we had trouble in multistorey car parks in the Berkshire county. I just wanted to laugh. Then I had to come to the rescue of the young lady ahead of us in the queue. Her £1 coin was constantly being rejected by the machine, so I traded her with mine and that failed too. She tried again and it worked. Super Teg to the rescue. Well, that is what Chris said, but I felt it was more of helping someone out, rather than an act of superheroism. I suppose the question is, "What would have Gary done?".

On the drive home to Henley, Chris wanted to put his foot down in the Ibiza Cupra, which is fine. By all means, let it rip. Burn as much as fuel as you want. However he decided to be a joyrider, to the wonderful soundtrack of Leona Lewis' debut single, "A Moment Like This". Talk about kill the moment. Chris, you have some amazing moves my friend, just such a shame in the musical tastes for the ride.

Friday 26th January 2007

It is my favourite day of the week and I'm on cloud nine. Amazing for me to say that, considering the week I have had. Anyway, let us not bother with that right now. Let us focus on the most important thing on a Friday. Having a good time and looking forward to yet another packed weekend. I say packed weekend, it is relatively quiet in comparison to last weekend and some of my crazy weekends from last year. Although I had up until a few weeks ago, planned to be in Leicester for a stag weekend and the possibility of an FA Cup Fourth Round tie, was also hanging tentatively in the balance. However, the weekend was postponed for the second time and will now take place some time in March.

Let me give you a run down of the dizzy heights that we aim to reach over the last weekend of January. Well Saturday will be a busy but rather steady affair. No rushing around. I promise. A haircut is on the cards, then a trip over to Binfield, which (for the record) is no where near Henley and actually the other side of the Thames. Then I will try and get home to catch Football Focus before heading back over to Henley-upon-Thames, to catch a lift with Mr. Williams and Emma to Reading. What is on the shopping list I hear you cry? Well I need to have suitable footwear for badminton. Something tells my 1998 Nike Air trainers come hiking boots will not be permitted.

Received my first Alumni magazine from my University this week. Not sure whether to actually read it or burn it. It had Kevin Bacon (of all people) on the front cover. I suppose, being the contentious ex-student I am, I will file it away, fill in their questionnaire and explain exactly why their service is so wonderful.

Sunday 21st January 2007

For some reason, when it comes to our annual trip over to Aylesbury to put Pav's M3 onto the dyno, something always goes wrong. Last year, Pav was missing one alloy wheel as it was either still being refurbished or had a major scratch. This year, he was missing one half of his grill. Nothing major, just the plastic cover which hides the fan. Not an issue, he had ordered replacements from one of the guys from the E36 Coupe forum. It was great to be back in the M3, even though he did miss his ETA by around forty minutes. He also had misplaced his GPS receiver and asked I bring my TomTom. There was no real need, I knew the way, but I suppose having an accurate ETA to work helped. We got there around 10am, when we had planned to be there at least half an hour earlier. Never mind, the main thing was we had made it and we could book in, get some breakfast and then take photographs of all the lovely cars on show. We arrived just as a Porsche GT2 was coming off the rollers. It had recorded a 502bhp which is just insane! Pav replaced his missing grill and then gave it a good polish before it went onto the rollers. Rather than ramble on about what happened and what cars appeared, just go and check out all the photos over on FlickR.

I switched my camera to video mode and fixed the lenses onto the computer screen showing the power output from Pav's M3 on it's three runs. Below is the best of the three, which was the second attempt. Make sure your speakers are on, or you have your headphones plugged in. The most important aspect is the sound of the car, the image is a bit blocky but you can make out the maximum brake horse power reading.

We had lunch at the Brewster pub just around the corner from DVA with Matt and Chris. I say lunch but it was around 4pm by the time we actually sat down to food. Then we left to head back home. It was getting dark, so any thoughts that I had for washing my car were dead in the water. Instead, we got back at 4.30pm and I took Pav for a quick spin. I was conscious of the time, so it was just a quick zip down the by-pass, up to the Marlow turn and back again. It did give him a flavour of the power of the car. I am sure I will be able to take him for a proper drive some time soon. Then for me it was a case of jumping on the computer, checking my e-mail, transferring some photographs over and also uploading the Quick Time video to You Tube. I then got ready and headed over to Caversham.

I got to Pav's at 7.30pm but he was still getting ready so I waited in the lounge, watching music television. We then headed over into the town, parking in the Oracle before going to walking to the Thai restaurant, which was towards the train station. We were late, but this has been the running theme with Pav ever since I met him (all those years ago). We eventually got around to ordering, it was very nice. It was only my second time at a thai restaurant but I enjoyed the food and company. Charlie was on great form, with some stories from the wacky time when Pav and him drove back from Sheffield to Reading in two hours. Record time, particularly when you have to go work on the Monday morning and you left the steel city at 6am. After the meal, we headed around the corner to Revolutions. The queue was quite long, so we had to wait a good fifteen minutes or so. Outside were the usual Saturday night revelers but there was a girl unconscious up ahead. One of Pav's friends decided to be the Good Samaritan and provide some assistance. There are some benefits of going out with an NHS employee. A few minutes later, an ambulance arrived. By this time, a bloke was also on the floor, completely smashed. Just an average weekend in Reading.

I dropped Pav off at 2am and got home just after 2.30am, texting Chris. I could and should have just stayed up and then gone over to Henley to collect him for his football game in Wickhamford. However, I was knocked out by 3am and got woken up at 7.47am by my phone ringing. I had left it on (as luck with have it). It was Chris. I apologised that I would not be able to make it. I was just too tired and he had to leave in the next fifteen minutes and it would take me longer to get ready in those fifteen minutes, let along bomb over to Henley. I apologised again and let him get on. I was so tired, I just went straight back to bed and did not get up again until around 10.30am.

Today has been quite lazy. I cleaned my car. I say clean but it was quite quick hoover and rinse this lunchtime. I used the pressure washer but also gave the car a polish inside. My alloys were dirty, so I gave them a wash with the Turtle Wax Shampoo. Then I came back inside and jumped on the computer for a few hours. It was more a case of filling in the time before the big match.

What more can I say? The Sky Sports machine had been in major overdrive with the whole Grand Slam weekend marketing hype. Did it live up to the billing? Well I was out yesterday, so did not see the Liverpool Chelsea game but only hope to watch Mr. José make some pitiful excuses. I watched the full hour of build up prior to kick off, including a big montage of the "big guns" going head to head (including fantastic gunshot sounds). Then, after another commercial break, the match started, as the teams came out at the Emirates.

It was edge of the seat stuff, right down to a nail biting finish. The main man, came to the rescue again. I am looking forward to what the Arseblogger says tomorrow and the fantastic that will be posted by lasagne chef over at The Cannon blog. We did Chelsea a favour but it was very important to win, keep the undefeated run at home running as well and once again come back from a goal down.

My parents came back from ASDA shopping with a gift. Talking Homer Simpson slippers. My weekend was complete. Perfect. What more could you ask for a weekend to bring? I will stop myself from uploading a photograph but am sure my friend Sippy is really jealous (if he has not got a pair himself). They are not the face slippers, but talking slippers. They are extremely comfortable, more so than my last pair.

Friday 19th January 2007

Normally I try and at least reflect on the working week before concentrating on the weekend. This entry will be in reverse. I am looking forward to the weekend, in fact I have been waiting for the weekend to come around since sometime mid Monday morning. Anyway, here we are, it is late on Friday night and I have loads to cover this in this weekend preview. Tomorrow has turned out to be a packed day with so much going on. Let me start with the morning. Pav, is picking me up at 8:42am precisely and we will head in a convoy to Aylesbury for the Rolling Road. This has become an annual event, with tomorrow being my third visit to the dyno with the E36 Coupe boys. My photographs from previous events are available over on FlickR from the first event in April 2005 and last year almost exactly to the day.

When we get back, which should be early afternoon, we will go for a quick spin in the A3 before he has to head home. Then I think I will give the car a good clean before it gets dark around 4pm. As Thames Water finally lifted the ban yesterday, I can get the pressure washer out and clean my car properly. No need to worry about a buzzer going off and the water slowing to a drip. It will be the first time in several years that I will actually clean my car, inside and out on my drive, rather than just hoover and polish inside and then drive to a jet / car wash to get the job done. I'm looking forward to it, for some strange reason. Must be a typical guy thing.

In a gleaming car (yes, black does get very dirty in comparison to my last car colour, which was steel grey) I will head over to Reading. It was Pav's birthday last Friday but he was out in Austria skiing, so we are having a belated birthday meal with him on Saturday night. I am looking forward to it as a big crowd of us going out and it will be good to catch up with everyone. Most of whom I have not seen New Year's Eve. Then we come to Sunday, the day of rest. Well this Sunday will be anything but. I know I have been promising Chris for over a year but I have finally decided to come up to a game. In fact I am driving there myself, so like an agent chauffeuring his star player to the game, I will driving to Wickhamford around 8am for an away game. The best part will be photographs of Mr. Williams (number 10, if you didn't know) wearing the away strip of red. Sacrarilige for him, as an Evertonian. You can ban the colour from your wedding mate, but when it comes to Sunday League football, you have to bite your tongue and live with it. Then after lunch, the drive back to Henley-upon-Thames before driving back home to Wycombe. Then I should be home, with an hour to spare before the second part of the Grand Slam on Sky Sports. Arsenal take on ManYoo at Ashburton Grove. After the game, regardless of the result I will spend some time with the keyboard and my music book. It will have been a week since my first lesson and plenty of homework to do before the next lesson, whenever that may be.

So as you can see, quite a packed weekend. If you break it down, a proper lad's weekend but perhaps not reaching the dizzy heights of late July last year, when we had football followed by cars. That is what is in the pipeline this weekend but I should really go back and discuss the events of this week. Work was busy but an unexpcted development meant we were put under pressure once again. We coped, just about as we always have done but not the ideal way to go into the second full week of the year. I know, deep down I wish things had worked our differently and the original master plan was in full force but there is always another way forward. I have faith that things will work out and that ultimately next week will be a better working week, on all levels.

Sunday 14th January 2007

A satisfactory day, if I must say so myself. Even if I did not get the chance to go and show Chris the new wheels. Never mind, you cannot have everything and it was a case of not trying to work around the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle of Mr. Williams. I suppose, I should pick up the story from Saturday morning. The day I had been waiting for. The weather was appalling, but I did not really have high hopes for mid January. I had an eye test at 10.15am, in the centre of town. My Dad dropped me off and did not have a long wait. New optician though, compared to the same lady, Jackie, whom has inspected my eyes since I was 13th. Then, at 10.40am, exactly I called my Dad, he came around the corner from the Octagon and we headed to Amersham. As we pulled up at the dealership, I saw one of the staff bring my car around to the front. Talking my time, I looked around the car and smiled. Then I went in to fill in the final pieces of paperwork before driving off.

Moving to a completely different nation of automobile and not just class, it unbelievable. While of course this was a mixture of an impulse and emergency purchase. I could have bought a different car, but this was the car I wanted. I am sure I will learn more about the car as I get used to it, but I joined up to VW Audi forum, a week ago. Not really made use of the services available under the A3 - S3 group, but I am sure I will do in time. I suppose there is little I can really add to the blog. If you know me, you will just have to ask to go for a drive around the block (or further a field) sometime soon. There is not much more to say but check out my latest set over at FlickR.

Apart from picking my new ride, I had a packed weekend. I came home, watched Football Focus (as I do almost every Saturday lunchtime) while having some lunch before heading over to Reading. Pav, as you may or may not know was over in Austria skiing, so I went to see Nige, so he could have a look at the car and we could get some ideas together for ICE. Then, I tried to call Chris again as I left, hoping to pop over to Henley from Caversham, rather than drive directly home. He did not pick up and I could not be bothered to leave a message again. For the record, I text him at 10.15 (approximately) then called him around 12.30pm and left a voicemail. Obviously, he had a much better offer. (Not sure whom, but fair enough). He called me back, while I was driving around 4pm, but I missed the call. Calling him back, I got the full explanation as to why he was unavailable at 10am and for most of the rest of the day and had just got into Reading. Talk about lazy. In any case, we rescheduled for this afternoon in the late afternoon before it got dark.

When I got home, I just wanted to watch television and spend time sorting out other bits and pieces on the computer. However my graphics card had died (see previous post) so I needed a replacement. My Sunday was already quiet busy, but I packed in a number of little jobs and tasks, which perhaps explained why I feel so satisfied here, on Sunday evening with the prospect of work not too far away. Before I get attacked left, right and centre, I know I could have ordered online and waited a few days and got it cheaper, but this was a life and death situation. My existing video adapter was melting, when in fact I could boil water on it's surface. So I headed to the Wycombe Retail Park and specifically PC World. To my shock and surprise, there were about 12 other people waiting for the shutters to come and the store to open. It was a few minutes before 11am, but these people were braving the cold (even though the winter sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky) desperate to go in. When the store did eventually open, I went and spoke to a sales assistant, whom was not very knowledgeable and handed me over to a technician at the upgrade counter. He was a typical geek, game playing with a vast amount of knowledge on everything computer related. I explained my problem and he recommended the Nvidia Ge Force 7800 GT (sounds more fancy than my new car!). Thankfully the price has dropped considerably since launch in August 2005. I could have gone for the equivalent ATi product, but I explained that I was never going to buy an ATi card every again. Heading out of the store, happy that at least I would be able to resurrect my machine later in the evening. My next stop took me in the direction of my secondary school, the other side of the town. I was there strictly on business. Thankfully I had my sisters TomTom to guide me on my journey.

Then I drove off to Oxfordshire for my first piano lesson, which was scheduled for 2pm but did not start until 4pm, as we decided to head over to Towersey for some lunch. All I can say is that I did not realise how demanding my first lesson would be and how much work I would have to do as 'homework'. I'm 25, I thought I had left homework back in the classroom, over ten years ago. I am determined to give it a good bash and improve my general confidence with music and learning music generally as well as learning a new skill. Progress (good or otherwise) will be reported on this blog. I called Chris as I drove home, he did not answer. If he had, I may just have driven down to Henley-upon-Thames, I was not that far away. He didn't answer for the third time over the weekend and I left a message to the effect that I was heading home.

I got home at 6pm and by 6.40pm had my new graphics card installed and was back up and running. Result. Hopefully this is the last major surgery I will need to carry out on my computer ever again. (Well until I decide there is something else I need to have). I must say this new graphics card is quiet and also must cooler, the general temperature of my unit, is much lower than before.

My sister's friend made my weekend though, she got out of my car on Sunday afternoon and made the passing comment, "You've got a lovely car by the way...". For a brief moment, you would not have been able to wipe the broad smile off my face, as I drove off into the distance, onto my next mission.

Saturday 13th January 2007

My best friend Dave, set me a target, back when we met in September last year. I was confident that I would meet it by the summer. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I have had to move the objective forward several months. What was this target? Well it was nothing serious, before you start to get worried. He made the comment that the next time we met, he expected to see a different set of car keys in my hand. I laughed this off, replying that I expected to see any car keys in his hand, as he was still (at the age of 25) to start taking lessons. The next image is just for you Dave.

Unfortunately, due to the rubbish weather this weekend, I have not been able to get any photographs taken, but will wait for the full Ultimate Winter detailing from Pav before getting the photographs onto FlickR.

I bet, like me you thought all my computer problems were over, after the mission impossible back in early November but they are back and with vengeance. Last Sunday, my graphics card started failing, but I thought it was a problem with my FreeView card as the reception became extremely poor. A colleague on MSN, put it down to atmospheric disturbance,and I wanted to believe him. However, this evening I have made the decision to go out and pay a replacement card. I will never buy an ATi card again. (Even if they have been bought out by AMD). I am going to go for a Ge Force graphics card from Nvidia, as most have great reviews and are not that expensive. The problem with my current card, the Radeon X700 is that is has began to overheat. A well known issue with these cards, and even a special ATi Tool that forces the fan to run at 100% fails to keep the temperature below 100 degrees, which is the point at which the card overheats and dies, sending my monitor into standby. So the question is, how am I writing this blog entry right now? Well I have booted Windows XP using VGA mode and have a lousy resolution of 640 by 400 by 8 bits. Believe me, it is not fun, particularly when WinTV will not load and I cannot watch MOTD. Never mind, will resolve all with an emergency graphics card purchase tomorrow morning.

Went to see The Pursuit of Happyness last night in Reading. It was very good, excellent in fact with Will Smith giving a tour de force performance as single father Chris Gardner with aspirations of a reaching a better place. The movie, as you would expect is an emotional roller coaster, with many ups and downs. However, the message is clear, although at times, very much a diluted part of the American dream. Perhaps most clear in the title, which is lifted directly from the Declaration of Independence, itself. Will's son, also gives a fantastic performance, and will surely have a textbook Hollywood career, should he wish to go down that path. In the end, the film perhaps was the pic k me up, I was looking for, to focus on the coming few weeks and what the future may bring.

Friday 12th January 2007

I am watching Neighbours. Something I can never do, because I would normally miss the 5.35pm edition as I'm still at work. I had a day off, to sort out the car situation. Everything came together and I can quite happily tick everything off the "to do" list. I live for days like this, although perhaps, today was a day from one of my nightmares. So, let me kick off the action. Last night I noted down the postcodes of all the specific locations I had to stop at over the course of the day and took this light blue Post-It note with me when I loaded the car. I dropped off my sister at school, but that was the familiarity of a normal standard day ended. I headed onto the bypass and towards my first destination, inputting the post code of the regional DVLA office, which thankfully is in Reading. Thanks to the TomTom I got there perfectly. Just before 9am, which meant a few minutes wait outside with a few other early risers. While I hate most government offices, there was a fresh approach here. A ticket system, similar to that found at your local deli counter in Tesco (or other supermarket chain). My number was 106 and I had a approximate fifteen wait, but it was more like ten. I requested the papers and asked how long the process took. Seven days. Great. I headed out, happy that my primary objective of the day had been completed. There were still a few more pending.

Next stop, The Oracle, in the town centre. My main reason was to book tickets in person for the cinema this evening but it was closed and would be until around 10.30am, too late for me. I headed over into the shopping mall itself. It was deserted with only a handful of the shops actually open, with late commuters making their way to their offices. I walked down to HMV and walked straight to the counter, to find out how much credit I had on my Gift Card. £20 was the reply from the assistance. I then asked about Firefly and Serenity. He was the man to ask, as he had seen both the movie and television series (in that reverse order). I suppose this part of the post goes out to Peter and Hussein. I have wanted to see the sci-fi movie for ages but turned down the DVD from Peter at work on the notion that I must see the television series first. This was on the suggestion of Mighty Mouse but I agree with him. In any case, this helpful sales assistant went off looking for the box set but it was nowhere to be found. It had apparently been a hot seller over Christmas. No joy, but I bought Serenity and would head over to the Friar Street store, the other side of town to check if they had it. I thanked the gentleman for his time, he had been extremely helpful. Even if he had dropped the minor bombshell that the movie was just the 'best bits' of the television series. Let me be the judge of that.

Next stop on the trail was Boots. I had been sent a replacement card over Christmas and had to get some points transferred across. Then I headed through WH Smith, to HMV. It was dead, there were three sales guys and absolutely no customers and classic Kylie from twenty years ago (yes, it truly has been that long!) playing on the PA system. I asked the girl at the counter about Firefly and straight away she took me to the TV drama section, F. It was the last box set in the store. The Oracle store had 52 on order but with no due date for delivery. I bought it. I have done it. Well not really, I am only half way there. I have to get around to watching the series and then movie.

Heading towards the car, I picked up some Chocolate and Vanilla danish pastries for Nige. I saw that the Vue cinema looked open (the show times for movies as screenings on the big red LED display behind the counter. However, as I headed towards the door. It was shut. Never mind, online booking as normal, not a major issue. I headed towards the car park. In another reply of Thursday lunchtime, I miss placed the ticket for the car park. Searching my wallets and pockets, only to find it eventually in my jacket pocket. Then I had to find my car, which was on Level One, not Two, Three or Four. This old age must be getting to me. I headed out into the dull grey Berkshire morning, inputting the next destination. Swallowfield.

I called Nige, just before I got to the magnificent Madejski Stadium, he was on his way and five minutes way, I consulted the TomTom, I was 15 minutes away. Result. The traffic was quiet and I made good progress. I was at the garage around 10.30am and we left some fourteen minutes later to head to Slough. This was never the way I had hoped for my Italian love affair to end. I must remember, that all is far, in love, war and motoring. Ironically, there was a foreign film on BBC4 last night. I did not watch, just noted it on the Radio Times web site."The Long Goodbye". How apt! The farewells would begin now.

Wednesday 10th January 2007

I pondered long and hard whether to post here or over on my work log. The events take place during office hours, on business but the subject is very close to my heart as a football fan. Usually my attendance at training events is planned weeks, if not months advance, but I was asked by my manager to floor walk on Monday (via MSN) and quickly agreed. I had little argument. The location was a stone throw away from my house. Little did I know how events would unfold over the course of the afternoon. At lunchtime we left our conference room suite and headed to the restaurant. Rumours were around that Chelsea had hijacked one of our rooms. Hotel staff had been searching for the main training organiser with some important news. It was true, the football players wanted to use our suite for fifteen minutes to talk tactics. We returned after lunch waiting outside our room, only for me to look through the keyhole and see the room empty. Disappointed I had missed the multimillionaire playboys, we asked the desk person to provide us with a key, opening the room and about to begin setup again, only for us to be told Chelsea had not used the room yet and to be thrown out again. As I walked out of the room, I noticed the noise from around the corner, with many of the females in the audience wearing big grins. As I turned to my left, I saw the blue and white. Mr. José Mourinho was there, at the front, leading his team. However he stopped dead in his tracks waiting for some of my colleagues to clear the room. He looked moody, upset and perhaps even angry. You did not really want to get in his way. While we waited for the team talk to end and for us to be readmitted to our room, we had to put up with a rather stout security guard at the tour, smiling contently to himself, sending and receiving text messages while occasionally peaking through the keyhole himself. I headed out into the car park with a colleague. We were going to grab a camera from the car. Typical, the batter had died on the CyberShotU and it was not a conventional battery, were we could go and buy replacements from a local supermarket. We had to do with two Nokia mobile phones, my personal 6230 and the updated version, the 6230i (with 1.3 Megapixel camera). However there was a problem, my colleagues personal mobile ran out of memory space, so I had to make do with just a poor quality video on my phone of the Special One leaving the room. I have uploaded the video to YouTube but the limitations of a camera phone are there for all to see.

Therefore I opted to upload some of the images I captured of the various superstars leaving the room. I did not take any pictures as they entered as I was rather startled and taken aback by their sudden appearance from around the corner. It is not every day of the week, you get to see a Championship Manager style of players walk past you. Team talks have moved on since back in the day, instead of a blackboard and chalk, Chelsea have a IBM Thinkpad. I would think the Portuguese manger, would have little use for such primitative technology, when surely he can use telepathy and clearly tell each player where he wants them to play and what he wants them to do. Much like a recent commercial for a famous debit card.

The lesson from the day is quite clear, always keep a digital camera with fully charged batteries close at hand. I have made a mental note and will carry one in my laptop case on all of my travels. For you never know when you might have a Premiership team hijack your training, with thousands of pounds of laptops lying around. The funniest moment was getting back into the room, having to re-arrange for the training to recommence and all the ladies fighting over the seat in which John Terry and Frank Lampard sat in. A guy from the back shouted at the top of his voice, "They're only footballers!" True but a brush with such sporting celebrity is something worth noting. Even if the rubles can push out to flowers to the organisers as a way of apology. No apology needed, you just made my day.

Sunday 7th January 2007

You would think that for me Christmas came late. Maybe. The first week back at the office came to an end and as I came home, I noticed two packages had arrived. Great. I had ordered them both on Christmas Day. Not bad turn around really, if you think about it? There was, always the time lag, you get with many gadgets these days. I had to wait for it to charge. It would take 60 minutes before the screen would light up and at least another 5 hours for a full charge. Annoying, but nevertheless required.

To be honest, so far all I have done is copied across some of my favourite music videos to the device. The conversion although time consuming, is required to enable some files to be converted into the correct format, which is WMV. The video playback and sound re-production is amazing but I am yet to copy over any mp3s. The reason for this is I want to ensure I have all the ID3 tags in place. So the album artwork appears on the device. Plus I want to build in play lists for different genres of music, e.g. RnB, Dance, Pop and Rock.

However, all this players have their own systems, own software and you very much have to work with their way, rather than be able to customize anything. I got around to copying over all my Michael Jackson songs and it has created a folder for each album including an "Unknown" directory for those mp3s which are special remixes or video versions. Not ideal but if it works, there is nothing much to worry about. I then created a MJ play list to listen to all these songs. It works very well. Still need to get around to all the fiddly options.

Who would have thought the first weekend of 2007, would be quiet, uneventful. Stay in, watch the football, chill out. Well I did, I suppose but you would never imagine how well the weekend would pan out. I suppose we have to start with the football. The drama of the FA Cup. I recall when and where I was when we played Liverpool in the first final in Cardiff back in 2001. As it was during those dark PB days, I will give you a full roundup. I was in Leicester, the Shires Shopping Centre in fact. I was there for a interview (at a famous high street department store) and annoyed that I was missing the final. However, for one of the many exercises we were out on the shop floor and I happened to walk past the television section, which was showing the game live. One of the sales boys, rush over to his colleague and said, "Ljungberg has scored!" I smiled, watching the replay on the big wide screen (HD was just a dream available in Japan back then!). However, it was only when I got out of the shopping centre and was heading home, back to my student digs, I realized what had actually had happened. On my then 7110, I went onto WAP to check the score. Michael Owen had scored twice and taken the Cup to the red half of Mersyside. I remember getting back just in time to see Liverpool awarded the trophy and see the dejected faces of Henry and goal scorer Freddie (with his red hair). Defeat, the hardest pill to swallow and in the final when you take the lead, even more so.

Here we were again and I was in pessimistic mood. We have an appalling record at Anifeld and the fact it has been a fortress for them over the course of the season, meant we were clear underdogs. However, Liverpool never really started playing attacking football until the second half. By then, the match was over as a contest, even though they got a goal back through Kuyt. Then, the King, whom had been relatively quiet for most of the match appeared to make the game safe. There is something about a win that brightens up your day, weekend and entire outlook. Knocking out the cup holders was also sweet but the manner of our performance and the classic counter attacking football. Rosicky with two classic goals. Henry with a special magic touch, typical goal from him!

My social calendar is already being booked up fast, with slots now only available from mid February. Can you believe it? Take Friday, when I'm going to the cinema to see the new Will Smith movie, The Pursuit Of Happyness. My friend and I saw the trailer when we went to see Casino Royale and said as soon as the trailer ended that we would go to see it. I have yet to book tickets, but it will most likely be Vue, Reading on Friday evening. No other major plans really, although Chris thinks I should really do something about keeping fit (correction, 'getting' fit). So therefore, I am considering joining the local Badmington Club, which is stone's through away from my house and doing that on a weekly basis to get fit. What do you think? Do not worry, it is not a new year resolution, as I do not believe in them. We shall see.

Wednesday 3rd January 2007

I got my mobile phone out of my jean pocket, it was 18:29 precisely. I had arrived a minute ahead of schedule. Perfect. Now I just had to wait for Terry. I was outside Finsbury Park tube station. It was the first Tuesday of 2007. I was about to head to a football game. Considering all the things that had happened, I felt good. I suppose, I should rewind and head back to my first day back in the office. Nothing like an easy day, to ease you back into the motions. The phone lines were dead. The calm before the storm perhaps but I think many people have taken an extended break and are not back in work until 8th March. Coming in early and leaving at 4.30pm perhaps helped, just a little as well.

I had borrowed my sister's Creative Zen V+ to give it a proper road (or rather more accurately tube) test. I had forgotten how great MJ sounds on ear phones. I was tapping along to Beat It, Smooth Criminal and the other tracks I had transferred across on Monday. Never before have I been able to escape in such away into the music and let the journey on the tube just drift into the background. For a brief moment, I wanted to break into an attempt at the moonwalk, but it was not appropriate and I already had the electric eyes all over me and did not need any further unnecessary attention.

The first game of 2007 was against Charlton, now under the stewardship of Alan Pardew. I had a feeling, when I booked my tickets over a month ago that Henry would come off the bench and score some goals. I was not too far off the mark. Instead of being on the bench, he started. Woo hoo! I was with Terry, he arrived a few minutes after I got to the station but we had to wait a good fifteen minutes for Henry. (No, not that Henry but Terry's work colleague). While we waited I bought two programmes, one for my work colleague and fellow Gooner Paul in the office. Terry was in one of his grumpy moods, where is is all pessimistic."You going to read the propaganda from the 'tain then? I refuse to read that BS". He does make me laugh. The Sheffield united defeat had got to him, but then every single defeat gets to him more than any other fan I know. I prefer to always remain positive, to look on the bright side. Defeat is not an easy pill to swallow but you know that the next 90 minutes is just around the corner. Redemption is never far away.

After grabbing a bite to eat and a drink of over priced mineral water, I headed to my seat. Shaking hands with both Terry and Henry, in what has become a pre-match tradition. I went up to my seat, which was right at the end of a row, which is both a blessing and a curse. Great view, but I have come to expect that now and quite a full house. I was looking forward to the game as the players came out. The atmosphere was good but once again one of the many golden rules were broken. Before we even scored our fourth, final decisive goal many people were walking out of the ground. That is just stupid. I would never dream to leave a game before the final whistle blows and can speak from bitter experience. Which I may bring up some time in the future. I can understand people have a long journey home but if you pay quite a bit of your hard earned cash for ticket, I expect my full monies worth. A great game to watch, you could see Thierry was in the mood and he was nowhere near match fit. Perhaps the most kind of gesture was him passing the ball to Robin for the second penalty. Some of the taunting of Pardew was derogatory but you could not say he did not deserve it.

I wanted to watch it tonight, I tried, honestly I did. However, my television tuner is off. What am I talking about? Celebrity Big Brother? Why would I watch this poor excuse for reality television? My record with this "genre" of television programme has perhaps been poor in recent years. For me, it started with ITV's The Popstars back in 2001, then the following year with Popstars: The Rivals but since then I've rarely watched beyond the auditions of the Pop Idol series and this year's X-Factor I gave up before the live shows started. A colleague at work, avoids them at all costs and personally I have never really watched BB (celebrity or nobody flavour). Although in my house it is unavoidable, as you will usually find one of my elder sisters tuned into the live feed on E4. This year I wanted to to at least watch the show on standard Channel 4 and perhaps catch the odd show on E4. I will not be watching and I will explain why. I read on BBC News that Bollywood actress, Shilpa Shetty would be taking part (for a cool £450,000, which at current exchange rates is 38,838,499.58 Indian rupees. They use a strange numbering system but she hardly needs the cash, being a chorepatni herself). Well that was the draw. Strange I know for me, someone who despises contemporary Bollywood cinema and longs for the action era of the 1980s. However, how could I not want to watch the stunning 32 year old (and single, apparently) actress on the show. Well, the she walked in and she opened her mouth. That was it. One of the few things that makes my blood boil, is Indians speaking English. I just find the accent so annoying. Now let me put this into context, I am sure I have already stated on this blog, several times that I think Hindi is the most romantic language in the world when sung and perhaps second only to French when spoken. However Indians speaking English just does not work. They try, I give them that, but to me it does not sound right.

Okay rant over. Trying to book Le Mans for the summer but it hardly looks like the cheapest holiday for a petrol head. We may also be going down of to a group of two instead of four which would be a shame but is fully understandable. You never know, Teg might be able to drill it down to a little better value.

Monday 1st January 2007

It is 02.37am, as the first few precious hours of 2007 come and go. I should not really be on my computer but for some reason I am. Anyway, house keeping down, 2006 archives updated.

West Side Story was being shown on Sky Cinema this afternoon at 3.20pm. There was a minor "temporary fault" so the titles did not play. Never mind, that was not a major issue for me. I had seen the opening twenty minutes before, on TCM, back in May 2005. I was about to do the same thing this afternoon. Why? Well I suppose I need to explain the story in full (and perhaps even upload a video to You Tube if there is not one already available.). There is no video there so perhaps I will have to upload my poor copy at some point. The BBC used an instrumental version of "America" from the musical as their score for the World Cup in 1994. For many years I wondered where the theme tune was from and it is perhaps only in the past seven or so I discovered the film. But it was not until two years that I actually saw it on television, even though by then I had the mp3 for some time. A fantastic song, but perhaps one day I should actually sit down and watch the movie in full.

This links me cleverly into my next item. I do not come from a football family, I discovered football at quite a late age and actually gained an interest through a different avenue from many other kids. My friends taught me the game at school and we played but I had little interest in the game as it was played every Saturday at 3pm. It was, however the 1994 World Cup, or referred to more commonly as US '94. My Uncle watched the games and this was perhaps my first interest in the game began. Then I bought Championship Manager for the PC. I was hooked over night. My football education had began. Fast forward over a decade and as an Arsenal fan I have been listening to the Arse Cast pod casts from Arse Blogger. The are sponsored by Classic Football Shirts and I headed over and wondered if they had a US 94 home strip, famously called the 'Stars & Stripes' was available. It was not, so I e-mailed them and got a response from Matt. The search was on. Now, I know what you are thinking, why the hell would I be interested in a football shirt for a country that deems the sport as "soccer" and secondly why would I want a used second hand shirt over twelve years old. The shirt is not to be worn. I have the strong believe that you should only wear the shirt of your country of your birth. Therefore I will only ever where an England shirt. The US shirt is a souvenir, a memory, a reminder that my love for football started when the US team qualified for the second round and played Brazil on 4th July 1994. I am not sure if I will get the shirt framed or yet not. I think once I get the Alexi Lalas to sign it, I will definitely have it framed. In any case I, they found me a shirt in great condition and held it for me as I wanted to receive it in time for Christmas.

Watched the final part of the The Fast & Furious Trilogy with Tokyo Drift. Having now seen all three movies, almost effectively back to back I can judge the whole franchise. First, let me focus on this, the most recent movie. The story was slightly far fetched, more so than the first two and in the end there is no real sense of justice. Although it does wrap up the three movies together nicely. I enjoyed it, it was aesthetically very pleasing to watch. The whole concepting of 'drifting' was both a joy to watch and understand. The magical movie moment, when you are lost as the car slowly drifts across the tarmac, was Although when the movie was released in cinemas last year, Daniel told me to catch the movie Initial D which is in his opinion much better, and the basis for this movie. I will try and catch that if I can. (I doubt I will be attempting such maneuvers on the hilly inclines, just across into the Berkshire border.) The story aside, which is relatively week, the cast are all quite fresh, including an appearance from Bow Wow (formerly the artist known as Lil' Bow Wow). Then there is, Nathalie Kelley, to paraphrase a line from the The Phantom Menace, "We shall watch over her career very closely".

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