Come out in London!

So, another pride London comes round again. I haven't been for about 5 years but the last time I went it was a great day out. I had to pay for tickets to get in to see the main stage then but I see this time it is in Trafalgar square so it must be free! Excellent. One of the main reasons I'm going is because my Daughter loves a parade and this one is usually very noisy and colouful (I actually marched in it once). We went along to Luton Carnival (as we do every year in May) and the damn thing was cancelled because of the rain. She was very dissapointed. Lets hope that the current events in London and the weather don't dampen things down this year. Will post some news about the day soon.

Ohhhh the stra-a-a-i-innn

I read somewhere recently (I think it was some study material associated with my OU course), that you can only concentrate properly on something for about 1 hour. I think the advice should be something like "you can only concentrate on something you aren't interested in for less then 1 hour". I find I can lose time in an activity that totally absorbs me. I'm sure many people are the same. When was the last time you forgot about the time because you where absorbed in a book or film or doing something creative. Watching football, fishing? being drunk doesn't count before you ask. I used to be able to lose days through being drunk but I don't think I was concentrating on anything in particular except perhaps trying not to throw-up.

So this leads me to think about the viability of an employer holding your attention for 7 hours (minimum) a day. Is this really possible? (rhetorical queston obviously). But then, how many individual tasks do you undertake that last a whole day? Probably not many. Perhaps an hour here doing one thing, then an hour there doing something else. Today, I have spent about 8.5 hours on one task. I think I deserve a raise. And I am working from home so the need to "pretend" I'm busy just doesn't arise. I have to say this is quite unusual because my day usually consists of several discreet tasks all lasting about 45 mins maximum each. I defy many to prove they carry out a task, that requires a high level of concentration, for longer then this period.

Proud of myself :-) So my unlimited Cinema pass is gonna get an outing.......

Goodbye Tony, *sniff*

NOTE : This post is written with no political axe to grind :-)


OK – So today is the day everything changes! Erm…… well… .Almost. I’ve been listening to all the analysis of Blairs time in office this morning on LBC radio (Nick Ferrari likes to wind people up – I’m sure his views can’t be so far from everyone elses! Anyhoo, Lately, my Daughter and I have taken to going on countryside drives in the evening as it’s too wet to do almost anything else. Considering everyone seems to be complaining about how badly off they are since Tony came to power, you should take a drive and see all the houses that are in these little villages. They are all like mansions. I mentioned a few weeks ago about a colleague who has just bought his house in the country and I hear about "Mad"onna buying the house next door to her in London for 6 million pounds. My colleague paid a 6th of that for his country mansion. When money is tight, how can anyone justify buying a house in London for 6 Million? So that leads to 2 conclusions. Either the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer or people are just not as badly off as they say or think they are (with a few exceptions). When I go out, I see more people in the pubs and clubs on more days. It used to be just Fridays and Saturdays people could afford to go out. One of our local nightspots is now opening on a Sunday until 2am and I regularly see advertisements for Wednesday and Thursday openings too. Ok, so this is good as now there is more choice but I doubt it means that the Fridays and Saturdays are thinning out, so it must mean people are going out and spending more which leads me to the conclusion they have the money to do it. Alternatively, personal debt must be growing, which leads me into thoughts about credit card companys fuelling personal debt. But that’s for another day. Overseas holiday centres a booming with people taking several holidays a year. The level of leisure time has increased with the drop in working hours and increases in annual leave allowance for most people. People aren’t sitting at home reading a book. They are getting out there, and this needs money. People are better off. It’s just we have expanded the ways to spend our money to fit our increasing purse.



So, what about everything else since Blair came to power. Hospitals seem to be better although in my humble opinion, the administrators in these places are corrupt. Also, how about competent Doctors being able to operate on their own. When my Daughter was admitted to hospital a few years ago, we dealt with one physician until the day she was released. We then had another walking around with about half a dozen Doctors following her, the original one we where dealing with included in the crowd. The "chief" doctor started to tell us "her" diagnosis of my Daughters condition! She only gleaned that information from her "junior" so what was the need for both of them? Wasteful. The NHS has enough money – They just need to spend it more wisely.



Education frankly is a bit of a lottery. It’s not through lack of funding or mismanagement but some of the teachers employed not being up to date with what they are teaching. Ok, in some subjects this isn’t important as the school system is something that provides a basic education in grounding topics to a level that has hardly altered in 100’s of years. However, Some of the newer teachers are coming out of training with brand new perspectives on the subject filled with newly discovered information (I’m talking about science subjects specifically) and are teaching that to the kids. "That’s great" I hear you cry, and it is. However, those kids with teachers trained in the dark ages and who do not keep up to date then produce a two tier education system. Also, those schools that can’t attract the new teachers are left with the lazy dinosaurs.



Wasn’t that a rant!

Sunday, Sunday - To good for me.

I'm going to have to take the "recluse" comment on my profile off soon. I've been out more times then I can count the past week. Partly because of my "sad, lonely bastard" cinema card and partly because I seem to have suddenly got loads of invites to places. Last night, I went to a friends Birthday get together and it was kind of fun. I guess I was a little embarassing as I was the only adult on the huge trampoline she has for the kids in the garden. I nearly broke my neck however because it had been raining and the bouncy bit was extremely wet. The kids seem to think I was either cool or deluded as they where all on there with me. Also, most of the adults seem to hang out in the kitchen where the booze was like it was going to be suddenly spirited away and they where going to miss out. As I'm now teetotal this was not a problem so I ended up in the living room where the tooons (as in music not cartoon characters) where having a waist slimming dance. It was fun.

Today, I'm supposed to be going for a country walk with a friend but I think the weather may stop that unfortunately (for the second or third time). Still, some lunch in a nice, warm, friendly country pub might be nice instead.

Seems to be a little bit of a slow news day today. The only major UK headline is about Gordon Brown taking over the premiership of the country from Tony Blair. How come political storys always dominate on a Sunday? I also see that the spice girls are reforming. My Daughter will be thrilled. No one else seems to be so at least the tickets will be available and cheap. If it's a sell-out 2 minutes after they come onto ticketmaster I will never believe what the press write again :-)

I'm really getting into the drawing at the moment and decided to put some of the early work up on web albums.

Ok - Off for my rainy walk.......

Motivation? can't be asked.....

I'm having a real problem getting motivated today. I'm currently studying with the Open University (which has some fantastic distance learning courses). I've just completed one course (maths) and I'm halfway (well, probably over half way now), through an Astronomy course. Most of the courses I've done so far have been completed on the basis of assignments only but this one has an examination. I have't done an exam since I was at school many many many years ago and this in itself is scaring me. In addition, I'm finding that I am having really terrible trouble retaining all the stuff I need from the course. As I feel I'm stating to get behind with the text too I'm starting to question both my ability and my motivation for putting myself through it when I'm unlikely, at my age, to make any contribution in either subject. Ok, so I get some really good skills on the way which are transferable to many aspects of life. If thats the only motivation for doing it, then perhaps I should take a course on "general skils" or just get back to reading (which I haven't done for as long as I can remember). So, right now, I'm quite depressed about the prospect of having to go through another 300 or so pages, 2 assignments and 1 exam in the next 2 months. It almost seems undo-able. BUT, if I have that attitude, then perhaps I have nothing to lose. keep on plodding on in my own time and see what happens. I think perhaps it might just be this weekend and the desperate need for a break after studying pretty much every free weekend for the past 2 1/2 years. So anyway, think I'll take a nap and see how I feel after that :-)

So, Distance learning - Friend or Foe? I would take my hat off, If I wore one, to the OU in that they do have excellent support for students. They run plenty of sessions where you can get together and work in groups for real or online. You also get good tutor support too. None of it seems to help when your motivation is low and you feel like you just aren't up to scratch in the skills required to make it a success. One drawback to some of the online groups is that it makes me feel even more stupid sometimes, but at least I get to ask the stooopid questions without having to hear the sniggers or show my embarrasment at showing I don't know something I should!

Ho Hum.....

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

It’s been a rather busy weekend and week and that’s why I’ve only managed to update things today. I had a "Monty Python" moment with a restaurant this weekend. I rang to make a reservation at a place that serves Chinese food and also has a disco after 10pm which my Daughter would absolutely love. I asked for a table for two and they said they could fit me in but only as a table on the dance floor. Obviously, we would have to finish before the disco started, which I thought was fine. After a series of other hurdles to negotiate, he asked me what we would be ordering! I hadn’t been before so I said I had no idea what they had on the menu and usually made that decision when we where seated in a restaurant. I think this pissed him off a little as after a moments silence, he said "Oh … no… I just realised….. we are fully booked tonight"! Immediately the Monty Python cheese sketch popped into my head! Go take a look and you’ll see what I mean.


A couple of news items caught my eye so far this week. Some, a bit controversial. Firstly, the news that Hammas has captured Gaza. I’m not making any comments about either Fatah or Hammas as I have a very limited understanding BUT, Isn’t the west for representation by Democracy? Didn’t Hammas win an election that was deemed by the international community to be fairly run? Doesn’t that mean that they have the support of the majority of their electorate? What would happen in the UK if the British populace elected one party in a general election and then certain powers decided they didn’t like the result so wouldn’t abide by the outcome? Please, world, get your act together and make peace. Do politicians really trust the electorate to take a balanced view when deciding who to vote for, or do they expect certain outcomes because the information given to the electorate is sketchy at best or innacurate and misleading at worst (the Iraq dossier springs to mind). Absolute power corrupts absolutely.


On a lighter note. I read this morning that the Broadcasting Advertising Clearance Centre (who? They tell advertisers what they can and can't do), have stopped the Egg Council from re-running a Tony Hancock egg commercial from the 50’s because it’s slogan "Go to work on an egg", breaks their rules on advertising a balanced diet. What about other adverts such as those for "Special K breakfast cereal" that tells you to have the same product for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for 2 weeks! Or the diet milkshake drink that tells you to have one for Breakfast, a normal Lunch and one for Dinner. How did they get through the "watchdog". Bizarre.

Ok - Towards another hectic day :-)

So what the heck is "Carbon trading"?

It just seems odd to me! Again, we see the company that can afford to buy its way out of the worlds problems doing so, and leaving those that can't , trying to offset them. In addition to my ramblings the other day about the rising cost of public transport, I begin to wonder if all the recycling and "carbon reduction" attempts we are all making is really worth it when big business and, indeed, world powers can carry on polluting the world and just trade away there responsibilities. I got into the frame of mind the other week that no-one I care about is likely to be around in 100 years so when things really get bad so why the hell should I bother? America is taking the same stance and pointing at Chinas increase in the use of coal powered electricity generation and basically washing there hands of the whole affair. It's a bit of a mess right? And guess what. There have been about 10 trees removed in my local vacinity in recent months because they either "make a mess of my car" or "block out my light". That just about sums up most peoples view of this global catastrophe in the making. So, I'll do what I can but until I hear of those that can really make a difference doing so, I'm unlikely to radically alter my way of life just so those that have the money can screw the rest of us (as usual).

Give me a reason to change my opinion?

PS. Watch the trailer for the Simpsons movie. It's hilarious! It reminds me that the start of the Hitcher movie has a CGI rabbit at the beginning which becomes roadkill. I bet some thought it was a real one. Didn't look real.

So you think you have problems?

Damn this system sometimes! I spent most of the evening uninstalling Internet Explorer 7 after it virtually forced me to install it. aftwich, I couldn't access an-eeee-thing!!!

To cap it all, I then couldn't access my blogger account. Why do people make things so difficult sometimes. Anyway, what made me happier was a quick wander around the garden to reduce the stress. The flowers (see pic) have come out great this year and it's still (relatively) early. Also the veg patch is coming on nicely to. Nothing to eat from it yet but I did start a little late. Better timing next year I hope.

Yesterday was pretty good in the end to. I had a visit to one of our people in the afternoon who has just moved to a new house. And what a fantastic house too! I think it was owned previously by someone in the leisure industry as it has an underground recording/rehearsal studio. I'm not talking an small room that you couldn't swing a cat in. This was very spectacular. In addition to the very large house with a host of extensions, massive grounds and a lovely indoor/outdoor (the glass panels pull right back) pool this is the sort of house anyone would love to live in. To complete the setting, uninterrupted views of the countryside from the back of the property.

Apparently, no-one knows who the previous owner was so the mind starts to wander to someone really famous or so rich they can afford such follys. I wonder who....... Answers on a postcard (I can't obviously tell you where it was).

So, After work, another visit to the cinema to see the new version of "Hitcher". The old one was the one that I think launched Rutger Hauer's career in film and was extremely scary. The new one isn't a patch on it. I would compare it to the original slasher movies of the 80's like that one set around a lake where everyone gets killed (name escapes me). And thats pretty much it. No real atmosphere at all and certainly yukky rather then scary. Maybe I'm just getting immune to it. You see worse things in real life these days unfortunately. I've got something to say about the current news story about parenting and obesity but thats gonna have to wait til later as I have to get back to work soon.....

If in doubt, Sleep!

Yesterday, the feeling of "stuff to do" was a little overwhelming. After a nights sleep, it doesn't seem so bad. How come sleeping has this capacity to cleanse? I still have all those things to do, but I feel a lot more relaxed about it. Just a simple thing like making sure the kitchen was clear last night before bed, makes the following day seem a whole lot more manageable. Perhaps the sun shining and the flood of vitamin D my body is expecting may also have something to do with it. I still have to try and gain some motivation and inspiration to tackle the remainder of this course..... Ooohhh - I'll talk about that later :-(

Goodbye sweety

Life has some unexpected turns. I had two cats. Named by the previous owners who where obviously Faulty Towers fans (Cybil and Basil). Sadly, a few weeks ago, Cybil fell ill and within a few days had passed away. Of course these things throw us a curve ball, but this threw me for 6. The last pet I had, which was about 20 years ago, was Duke, the dog. A lovely crossbread alsation. He got cancer and I had to take him to the vet and have him put to sleep. It was a very sad experience and I ended up losing 4 days from work because I was so upset. He had been with me for about 10 years. I really didn't think the loss of a pet now would affect me so much, but it did. Basil, Cybils Brother misses her terribly. He's been moping around quite a bit since she went. BUT... Time heals and I'm sure he will bounce back soon enough......

Pic of George at Wemb-er-ley

I Forgot to post a piccy of Wembley and George! Yup! He's the dot in the centre of the stage! When you consider How far away from the stage we actually where, that pictures actually grows into something miraculous! I also thought that my camera would have been confiscated or something (There is a sign on the gate on the way in saying you can't take them in). Despite being searched by security, I still got it in. Now that is either some kind hearted security gaurd or complete ineptitude for a job. I'd like to think the latter.

art for arts sake

I'm sure thats not what he meant when he said that!

So this one was done one evening when watching something or other on the tube. Something I rarely do these days as there really isn't a lot worth watching....except... something called Filthy rich and homeless (taken over from the omnibus edition of the Apprentice). Unfortunately, I think it finishes this week. D'oh!

Busy weekend!

This weekend was pretty good all in all. I had decided to finally balance things a little. So a day of work and a day of play!

Work day weapon of choice? Study. I had and assignment due this week so I thought I had better get that finished and then in the post. I also thought I had better catch up with a little work from another course I'm doing.

Later on in the day, the urge to go to the cinema stuck me so I did! Nothing like spontaniety. I signed up for one of those "unlimited" cinema passes! Wow! being an avid film watcher anyway, 10.99 a month and I get to see as many films as I want. Blockbuster and the like are going to lose out big time if they don't get there act together on the rental front. The cost of hiring a film and all the hassle that goes with it (posting etc) are not warranted if you can just pop into the local fleapit anytime you like. Online film downloads are just not there yet are they? So, after paying ofr my first months subs and then watching both Oceans 13 and Pirates I think I got my moneys worth in the first weekend. Anything else is a bonus.

Sunday, sunday...... I trip to London :-) I couldn't believe the cost of a travelcard. £17. The rail and public transport companys are going to have to do much better then that if they want us to leave our cars behind and use them. Flippin heck - it would have only cost me a fiver in the car and then 4 quid for a ticket to ride the tube (which I have to say has improved recently). Some recommendations for places to visit - The national Portrait gallery (fantastic and free), and the Science Museum (above). The latter always a great place to visit which is (mostly) free.

The evening was a stroke of luck! A friend had a spare ticket to see George Michael at Wembly stadium! The chance to see the new wembly on the weekend of it's first concert was a chance not to be missed. Oh, and George was good too! ;-) Only kidding, he is brilliant as he always has been. Shame about his troubles. He didn't seem to worried about offending his partner though which I was a bit shocked about (Easily shocked obviously)!

Anyhooo.