Cats

An interesting phenonemon seems to be occuring on the net which I'm not sure I like. Cats are taking over.

I was in Flickr the other day and for some reason some photos were getting blocked. Turns out the privacy settings had kicked in and Flicr thought photos of my Dad's X5 were porn - random enough in itself. Then it asked me if I was sure I wanted to view it which I assured it I did. It then showed the photo and a button called "show me the kittens" which immediatly showed a lot of kittens on screen. Now, these were undeniably cute (if you like that sort of thing - my other thought it was brilliant), and has a sense of humour about it, it fuelled my thoughts that cats are taking over - hundreds of photos of cats!!! You Tube is the same.

So if I start sneezing while at my desk, the cat allergy has kicked in via the medium of the screen...

Also, I was sent this great link which which lets you see runs people have done in your area, and allows you to create your own as well (although, you need to sync your ipod nano to it first). Neat use of google maps from Nike.

Dull

Ah great joy. Another week, another early start, another 145 mile motorway journey. Uneventful and boring, although it was glorious weather.

Up for a few days in the midlands, fighting to keep a desk (although it's well marshalled), a few meetings, hotel, and a couple of games of squash.

Same as ever really...

Going Orange

So the Dutch season finishes with a bang!

Going into the last day of the season and three teams can win the league. AZ are top of the league on goal difference, followed by Ajax and PSV. All have the same points, only seperated by goal difference. AZ having a goal difference of 53, Ajax 5 behind, and PSV 1 behind that.

AZ lost 3-2, which ruled them out, although a bit gutting having led and having a much better goal difference. Ajax score two, which means they have a plus 3 goal difference which you would think is enough. Except PSV scored five and let one in, to win the league by one goal.

Amazing!

It's brilliant, and what football is all about. If you've not read it, I recommend reading "Brilliant Orange" which describes the Dutch football culture and why they play the way they do - perhaps we should not be surprised the season finished like that!

Cars and football

A nice drive back last night, although a bit late. But at least it gives me time to consider the next car (about a year away, but with a weekly 2.5 - 3 hour drive, your mind wanders). I'd thought of another BMW, but they cost so much money, so may not do that. Audi is similar, I like the A3 but why would you buy one when it's a rebadeged Golf and they are cheaper? Volvos new C30 looks interesting but would the missus let me get another 3 door when we've just got married? Can't see that one lasting long if we did go for it. So it needs to be a 4 door. Saab 93 is an option, but it's getting on a bit now. VW Golf is the same - 4 years into this run, will be replaced in 3 years. New Passat has a stunning interior, and with the new 170BHP TDI it would be in with a good shout. However let me throw a wild card - new Mondeo. By all accounts, it's as good as anything BMW and Audi have made (if not better), but it's 5K cheaper. I've seen one on the road, driving up the M40 (in a wierd traffic jam - between an Aerial Atom and a couple of supercars - AM DB9 and a yellow Gallardo). When they are officially released I'll need to have a closer look. Thing is, I like the RWD the BMW gives you, and you sit low in it which I like, so will see.

On another matter, for those who love football, isn't this a bit too scary?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r5c9_comparativa-gol-de-messi-y-marad

Messi, being argentinian, probably knew the goal was similar and has even celebrated in the same way. It's magical to watch, almost as good as the Rooney goals for Utd this week (as if - this beats them easily!)

Well, managed to get thorugh yesterday without upsetting anyone (well, not to my knowledge anyway!)

Went to the hotel last night only to find they didn't have Sky Sports. So I put in a complaint card saying it wasn't there. I mean, why do hotels only give you 6 channels? (the standard 5 plus a sky channel, either Sky News or Sky Sports News?) I mean, it's not that hard to supply more channels, and would make me stay there again.

However, I suspect the reason is so that they can try and get more money from you as your bored and decide to buy a film instead.

It's not as though the place is cheap. I noted from the menu that a large glass of wine cost £7.45. You can buy a nice bottle for that!!

A long day of meetings ahead, with a late departure home. Great joy.

Oh, and happy minus 1 wedding anniversary to the missus - a year today I'll be getting married. Not that it's looming large over us at all...

Grumpy

Dear lord, I've been up for hours. It feels like I've not slept. For some bizarre reason, I just could not get to sleep last night. Eventually got off at some time after 1, and then was up again at 5:45 to drive to Worcester.

Suspect I may be a tad grumpy today.

Travelodge hell

"Travelodge - Everything you need, nothing you don't"

How apt. That doesn't seem to include customer service.

So I'd booked a room with them for two nights this week, as at the time that was all I needed. Turns out I now only need one night. No problem, as I've got a flexible rate I can change it up until 12 on the day. You try it...

Turns out, the way it does this is by making you a new booking, then cancelling the existing one. This works great unless the hotel is full, which it was. So the only way I could do it was to cancel my room and make another booking, with no guarantee I'd get a room. This was only explained after 25 minutes of hold music as the automated system couldn't do it either. Great customer service - you cannot break the phone system to talk to someone either. The phone system has to realise it can't help you either.

So I cancelled it, went to the Hilton up the road. Two minutes, talked to a really person, and I'll bet I get a room upgrade as I've got Silver VIP membership on their reward cards. And it's only £20 more expensive a night, which includes breakfast, so in all it's only about £10 more expensive as at the Travelodge it's extra.

In the days now where everybody wants cheap and easy, there are times when it goes too far. I'm sure Travelodge save a fortune in labour costs this way, but it doesn't exactly endear you to the brand does it? And when brand is all powerful, is that really something they can ignore?

Google

This is great. Go to google maps, and get directions from New York to London. Number 24 would be, erm challenging!

Atchoo

First up - Atchoo in Lithuanian means "thank you". That kept us all very amused the other weekend.

Well, I've felt better over weekends. A stinking cold made it's intentions known on Friday and proceeded to take full effect on Saturday, receding slightly now. Still feel rubbish.

Saturday was spent looking at the number one wedding venue of choice for me and the missus. In reality, I should have stayed at home, but as it's a year to the day to the wedding it was important to get photos of the grounds to see what it's going to look like for our wedding. It looks amazing and we spent 2 hours there looking around. Discovered that it has a tennis court, which we'll never get to use but might be useful to lock my (to be, but feel like they are already) niece and nephew in with a football, and possibly my brother.

Afterwards, we went to a shopping village looking for dresses for my missus. I couldn't stand it (the cold was kicking in big style) so stayed in the car. Good result as she got a dress that she is more than happy with.

Saturday night was a lively one - me trying to stay awake with a lemsip and 2 boxes of tissues. Rock and Roll...

Sunday was playing with the niece and nephew as the cold had subsided a bit. They are very amusing. The eldest one (she's 4) said about her little brother (who's 1):

Erm, Mummy, my brothers interests are milk, winging, and stairs.

Brilliant. Not "my brother likes" but "his interests are". 4 going on 40.

hybrid aggresion

As ever, a trip on a commuter train into London is always a joy. I just look back at the time I did it every day and wonder - how!?! Supplier meeting this morning, if it went as well as yesterdays it should be a good day.

Played squash the other night, which was good fun (I think it helped that I won by a mile, which to be fair didn't reflect the game). Looking forward to playing again next week, although my opponent opened with "yeah, I love squash, it's a great way to get out your aggrivations". I'll be the only person in history to play squash in full kevlar body armour.

A statistic came my way today which got the brain thinking. As I've talked about cars a bit this week, how's this one grab you. In California, there are 34 million cars. Which is a lot. Of those, approx 135,000 are hybrids, which accounts for about 0.3% of cars in California. That 135,000 also accounts for a quarter of all hybrid sales in the US.

To coin a famous catchphrase - "We're all dooomed!!"

Another day, another scare...

Another day, another health fear. This time it's the saviour of the car industry, E85 Bio Ethanol.

Apparently, when some geeks ran a computer model on the levels of C02 in 2020 using variable figures of cars running on E85 and some with petrol and diesel, the C02 levels were in some cases higher than with petrol. This in turn has a higher risk of respiratory disease. Some levels of nastys were reduced, while others were increased.

It should be noted that bio fuels still emit carbon dioxide, it's just that it (buzzword of the day coming up) offsets against that by absorbing it when the plants are growing.

So, should we stop using it? I say no - it's better than what we are using now and it's sustainable. It will help the farming industry. However, until we are all driving hydrogen powered cars, or the levels of C02 emitted are reduced, it's only ever going to be a short term fix.

I should add a little footnote to this. I'm one of those people who belives that anyone can massage figures for their own gain, so today a report says bio fuel is evil, tomorrow will be one that says it is the saviour. It's all about personal choice and balance.

I'm cured!

I see this morning that bacon can increase the risk of lung disease. Another day, another food that causes disease. Now, on further investigation it turns out that the suspected cause is the amount of nitrates that is the cause, and it seems this is related to the curing process as it's all cured meets.

I'm a big advocate of sensible eating habits. You eat a little of what you like, and balance it all out. So, while I'm working away I might have a curry one night, but I'll try and choose one without tons of cheese or cream in the sauce (you can't really avoid the oil in an indian, but you can minimise the damage!). Equally, I won't have a fry up when I'm away (in fact, I've not had one in ages, I think a grand total of two this year).

I'm also in support of organic local food, which is why I spend so much of my time at home working out food miles and going to local farmers markets instead of supermarkets.

This is not supposed to be a "how good am I post". I struggle with this stuff all the time, (the desire to shovel Pringles down my throat while watching Friday night tele is ongoing, so I just don't buy them) but it's all about being sensible. I don't want a government advisor, a food research agency or a supermarket telling me what and how I should eat. I make my own choices, and I'm happy with them.

I love bacon rolls every now and again, and this won't put me off it, but it'll just be one of those things I eat every now and again - as it is now.

Weekend bliss

A busy weekend in the homeland, with very good weather to go with it. The flight on Thursday was uneventful enough, but the views were amazing. As I was flying in what can only be described as a toilet roll with wings and engines, we didn't fly very high. The view over the Pentlands and Edinburgh was good enough, but then when we got to Perth you could see Edinburgh, the Pentlands, Dundee, Perth, and all that goes along with it. Stunning.

Friday night with spent catching up with some friends, and an invitation to usher at a weeding to one of my best friends which was a nice surprise. Saturday the girls went dress shopping for bridesmaid dresses and the boys went to play golf. I'm now never playing with my brother again - he scored 2 eagles in his round. Not fair. Very good meal on Saturday in Nargile with the family although we all ate too much!

Sunday was spent with the grandparents and family, and I caught up with an old school mate who I'd not seen in ages. He's had a rough time of it but seems to finally be getting himself sorted out which was good to see. A good routine with his work and the smoking ban have definetly hepled him as he has stopped smoking as a result. . Interestingly, he was talking about a recent trip to London where he was in a bar. He went to smoke and stood up to leave the bar as he would have done at home. After some amusement and bemused looks from the locals, he still left the bar as he found it very smokey and unpleasant, and didn't want to contribute!

It's very nice to be back here, the smoking ban has transformed the experience of bars and clubs and only for the better. Most of my friends who used to smoke have stopped or are stopping, and that is an even better reason for it. Can't wait for July when it comes in to effect in England.

Bristol goes missing

This is sad.

Link - Muppets

Use the force?

I got fed up with recieving an annoying pop-up warning on my chat program yesterday, so I upgraded to the newest version as I was told to.

As far as I can tell, the differences seem cosmetic, apart from one interesting option that you can select at log-on to "Work Offline". Now, this is an online chat program, so what on earth would you want to do with it offline????

Euro dreaming

Ah, what a night for Man Utd!

I had a gym induction last night (the guy looked bored until I turned up - I think he was keen to have something different to do, but nobody had told him I'm already a gym member and already have a program. The equiptment is not really up to date and they've obviously bought cheaper stuff than they could have, but it's cheap and will do the job nicely.

The result of this was that I missed going out for dinner with some collegues, however I did time my hotel room return to see United score 3 goals. At that point I decided against going to the Thai place round the corner and ordered room service to wtach the game instead.

It was a bit of a dilema - go and have a great meal, but miss what is a brilliant game of football, or order room service, expect to be disappointed, but get to watch the game. As it was, dinner was ok. Well, my baked potato was unedible in the bottom third, the bread of the garlic bread wasn't cooked but the top was burnt and the salad consisted of one sliced up tomato, 3 slices of gem lettuce, half a litre of balsamic vinegar and a lemon. It's a sad state of affairs that I looked upon it as better than expected!

Anyway, I was happy, great game and I can't wait for Liverpool tonight, hopefully to send 3 English teams into the semi-finals. Brilliant.

I should add, I'm desperate for United to win the Champions League again. As a club, they should have won it more, in recent years they should have won it at least twice. I want Fergie to win it, and this United side have played some of the best football in the Premiership and in Europe - I want the best footballing side to win. I can't help feeling - if Fergie leads United to another treble - would he retire at the end of the season?

April fools

I was a tad hungover on April the 1st, but stored these up for when I had a few April Fools from this and recent years.

One of the guys made a reference to Tony Blair resigning, but we were all too jaded and tired to take it in at the time :-)

This was a favourite - google does printing:
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html

The internet over birds (the IETF actually made this one!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers

America beat the Russians in the first ever Quidditch match
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070401.html

So, the fence is upright again - thankfully! Turns out my neigbour isn't much into DIY but together we fixed it. The fence post was rotten and had split as it was in the ground a long way but had not been treated with anything so was rotten right through. You could actually squeeze it and loads of water came out!!

Had great fun yesterday tidying the shed while the missus attacked the garden. I managed to do all those little jobs I'd been putting off for ages and the shed is now somewhere you don't mind spending some time. All the tools are now hanging up (although the missus has had to restrain my natural urge to draw all around them - she seems to think I'll want a flat cap if I do that). I will need a plan a trip to the local recycling place, and the tip to get rid of some rubbish but once that's done it's fully useable again. I even started to make a new door for the BBQ as the current one has rotted through at the base. The simple joys of woodworking :-)

Bugger.

Tiger loses his distance control in the final round of the Masters and a 200-1 shot wins. To be fair, I'd not have picked him anyway. Maybe it's an American thing, but the name Zach annoys me - don't know why and I'm sure people hate my name. Hence I'd have avoided him and picked a European. So, next up is the Grand National. I'm off to phone the missus Grandma, who has won for the last 3 years based purely on luck and chosing the colours she likes. In saying that, I won the sweep at a golf club last year so I can't complain, although only because it was the only horse left in the thing!

A bank holiday is never the same without a trip to the garden centre. So we went there today to get some bedding plants and some stones to finish off a path we made last year - they've not had the stones in stock since then. Never ceases to amaze me the amount of plants there, but I guess that's like saying it's surprising to see CD's in HMV.

Right, best get to the garden to put into a fence post or three before the fence falls over.

Sport

Love this weekend of sport - brilliant!

So, the boys from Oxford really helped me out by losing in dramatic fashion. I mean, how hard can it be to row up a very still Thames? Still, they are all bigger than me (except the cox) so I'll say well done - the 10 months of training was worth it.

I'm still in the running for the golf - come on in Tiger! Not quite as good if one of my 22/1 or 28/1 came in, but right now I'll just take a win! Fingers crossed.

Lewis Hamilton - you are a star. Two races in to his Grand Prix life and he goes round the outside of a Ferrai on the second bend. Good man, you've made me very happy - the look on Kimi's face at the end was also very much worth it!! I'm quite sure big Ron was loving that as well.

United blew it yesterday, they looked tired in midfield. Not as tired as me - I had to go the gym to watch it! Was knackered by the end. I can't wait for them to get a true out and out goalscorer again up front, picking up the scraps from Rooney and Ronaldo. If they had that this season, they would have walked the title by now (did somebody say Ruud?).

Bit of boxing news - Khan and Calzaghe win again - good for them. About time these guys went and boxed in the states though as it's easy for Calzaghe to win at Cardiff in front of 35,000 locals.

Nothing quite like shopping...with three weddings coming up we spent yesterday looking for suitable outfits for my other half. After 4 hours and her trying on at least 20 dresses, we think we have found the winner. Thankfully!

I am feeling jinxed. I never really gamble, but always put a few quid on golf - the Masters and the Ryder Cup. Last Ryder Cup saw me on a roll, and won a shed load but it would seem my touch has gone as all the people I've put money on are struggling. Have 2 quid on the boat race - it's something I've never really "got" despite having gone to watch it a lot in recent years as the start is only a couple of miles from the front door. Today we'll watch i from home, but on my recent form I'd be putting money on Cambridge (unlike me...)

The art of conversation

The next time someone strikes up a conversation and you don't fancy it, this could be a good tatic!

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know", said the stranger. "How about nuclear power?"

"OK," she said. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass, the same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?"

The stranger thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea", to which the little girl replies;

"Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know sh*t?"

Thai it up

Well, bit of a funny day yesterday what with the usual changes in government IT projects. Looking forward to the weekend and the bank holiday and some chill out time.

Great result for Liverpool last night, much fun abusing my mate after his now infamous "Barcelona can beat Liverpool easily" text. Oh yeah?

Went for a great Thai last night - hadn't been there in ages and the food was superb and the staff great. Am suffereing a bit of a cold setting on so a three chilli soup had the sinuses working overtime!

Worn out

A bit of a chill out day yesterday, call it recovery from the abuse I've put myself through the last few days. I appear to be coming down with a cold, which isn't really surprising given the sleep deprivation of the last few days, and the hectic last two weeks.

Been planning some alterations to the house as well, new floor in the bathroom is on the cards, although I'm trying to work out if I'm brave enough to tile it myself.

Recieved this by email, tickled me on a day of rediculous project news.

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Ride on

I've just got back from a weekend in Lithunania, in the city of Vilnius. The occasion was a stag weekend, and with 13 of us on our way from Gatwick much fun was had. Of course, the rules of the weekend are that I can't reveal details, but the weekend consisted of beer and dancing, going to bed at 5am, karting, and riding about on a segway. Segways are brilliant, much fun was had!!!

Will maybe write some more once I get the use of my eyes back, as they are a tad bloodshot at the moment.

This is my kind of music!!!

Absolute joy and music to my ears - Ferrari F1 cars through the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qT_q8PXFrw

Nightmare trip

Phew, what a long day yesterday was! Trip to see some potential suppliers in Devon. All very useful. The scenery and sense of space down there was brilliant, loved it.

Got into my hotel at nearly 9, and (having left a different hotel at 6:30, was desperate for a good nights sleep) was greeted by the news that I'd been upgraded. What a room! Teweksbury Park have done up a lot of rooms, and this was just great with an ENORMOUS bed! So sat back, ordered some room service and watched Scotland get beat by the Italians. Good overall perfromance from a bit of a makeshift team.

Put it this way, we lose 2-0 to the Italians(that's the world Champions btw - last time we played the current world champions (france) we got beat 6-0), everyone agrees we played well but were realistic about the likely outcome. Unlike some other neighbouring countries we could mention...

I mean, if your team isn't playing well, your not going to beat anyone 6-0. Gerrard showed his class with a typical driving performance (even allowing for him dropping out of the game for a bit). Don't think he would have played like that had Lampard was next to him.

Knackered

It's been a long day. Up at the crack of dawn (it was still dark actually) and drove up to Worcester. Busy day, lots of meetings, some of which actually had positive outcomes! Off to the hotel now then some dinner and some much needed kip! Tomorrow offers no respite - a 7am departure to drive to Devon for all day meetings. Can't wait for the weekend at the moment, can't come too soon!

Prescott

I know someone who will like this quote....

"I've been told that my job as deputy pm is a bit of a knob-job"
John Prescott, before correcting himself. Personally, he may have been right the first time...

Write Off

I should have said yesterday - Sunday was a complete write off as a result of to much port and not enough kip. Still, we only need to do it all again for two days this weekend on the stag do (same people!)

Today being a work day will see me trail through reems of paperwork for expense submissions, so today is looking like a write off too. Total joy. There are better ways to spend my time.

Port

So a bit of a boys weekend has been had. We all got together in the morning and then went off and played squash for a bit. A bit turned out to be 90 minutes. Which is a LOT of squash. Not having played in about 8 years, I am today a physical wreck. My back hurts, my legs are sore but it was great fun so I'm going to play more (although, maybe not for a few days!)

Afterwards, we watched England struggle against 11 defenders, went for a curry and ended up playing some random dice game until 2am drinking port. One of those days...

Scotland had a cracking result against Georgia, although I think it's all going to come off the rails on Wednesday. I think the best we can hope for is a draw as we are missing so many players, but you just never know.

Phone home

I've been negotiating to purchase an PDA style mobile phone for work purposes from a friend. It's not the most modern of devices but will do the job for me. I mainly want a Microsoft Mobile client so I can download documents to it, for example, maps and the like so I don't need to boot up my laptop every time I think I've gone the wrong way. Personally, I think work should give me something like this but apparently I'm not senior enough for that. Anyway, she is not the most reliable and has, at every step, tried to stop the deal happening (not on purpose!)

First, she threw the software and manuals away in a recent house move. No problem thinks me, I can get it from the 02 site. Nope, they don't let you do that. So a quick email or two to friends who have the smae phone came up trumps.

Second, I confirm I want it and she says now she can't find the charger. Eventually that turns up. Now, she's lost the stylus for it.

Still, I'm willing to wait as it'll make life easier and replacement stylus can be bought on ebay for less than a fiver. As it turns out she has just posted it to me, so hopefully I should get it early next week, although the software will be a week behind as my mate is on holiday now. Still, got to love new toys [:)].

Guiness

Survived two days in Ireland. Dublin is a crakcing place, really enjoyed being there (although with work you don't see much of it!) Managed a couple of pints of Guiness and it's so true - it tastes better in Dublin. But a good trip with excellent information picked up.

Had an amusing taxi home with a cab driver who just talked the whole way home. He'd actually picked up my other half the week before and had to wait 3 hours for her at Heathrow after BAA had lost the bags (actually, that's not true. They knew where they were, but as they had already towed the plane to it's parking stand for the night (with bags in it) they didn't fancy crossing both runways with trolley bags...).

The other half is off a mates hen do, so (true to form) the boys are getting together for moutain biking, beer, football and curry. What can you do ;-)

Tax

Fuel tax sucks big style.

I don;t have a big car, it's pretty fuel efficient, but not emmision friendly it would appear. As a band F, I'm almost at the be "strung up and quatered" stage from a tax point of view.

Time to invest in a diesel...

Cider

It's just after 7am. I'm at Londons busiest airport awaiting my flight to Ireland. (mental note - one hour check in for Dublin, no matter what they say it is...). Anyway, I'm sitting in a coffee shop/bar place as all good airports have open at this time of the morning. And the guy next to me, in a suit a full work clothes, orders a pint of Magners. Now, how can anyone drink anything such as cider at 7am? Why is it that if your at an airport people always seem to order booze!

I suspect it's a particularly British thing, a bit like only liking tennis for two weeks in the summer. Come on Tim!

(Note: I don't actually like Henman, good player but blew it. Could still whip my arse though on a tennis court.)

Spurs

Gutted for Spurs last night (mainly as they should have the first leg, but there you go). Lennon was marked so closely by Mikel he just couldn't influence the game. Occasional flashes of brilliance though. It's interesting, people say you can snub out "flair players" but having watched a fair bit of Ronaldo this season he never seems to be snubbed! Berbatov looks class (and there are rumours of a huge bid coming in for him in the summer from the NE of England...) and Spurs seem to have hit a bit of form at the right time. Could yet win the Uefa cup. Good luck to them.

Favourite moment last night was watching Cashley Cole get booed everytime he got the ball. At one point amid the boos all you heard was a broad London accept shouting "wa**er!!!" Just amused me a lot [:)]

Packed a lot into the last couple of days it has to be said! Yesterday was spent amusing the niece and nephew (well, "to be" once I get married) and family. 4 year olds are hard work! But supreme fun. The little one was cute as well, he can walk for ages now on his own and has very funny likes and dislikes - he hates standing on grass for example. Random, but really amusing when you put him on grass to see what he does.

Last night we went to the local theatre (we times it - 3 minutes 27 seconds door to door - that counts as local in my book!) to see The New Statesman with Rik Mayell. Absolutely hilarious, with some very dodgy lines and completely not politically correct and all the better for it.

Today I spent 2 and half hours in the gym working out how I can get fitter quicker with a trainer. The end result was that I could hardly lift anything when I got in but feel much better for it. So to celebrate I've made a curry for dinner ;-)

Quick note on the return of F1 - great to see Lewis Hamilton doing well in his first race. Heidfeld is lucky to still have a head after Coultard nearly swiped it off with the underside of his car. However I watched the race in sheer desperation for a good showing and it was duller than the M25 in rush hour. The sooner they introduce the new rear wing the better - no overtaking after the first corner until the pitstops. Going to see some DTM and F3 races this year - plenty of action there! Even F2 is a better series now than F1.

Calendar Entries

OK, for a while now I've tried to work out how to get my Lotus Notes calendar onto my mobile phone (a Sony W810i). I've even thought about buying a new PDA just to do this. I use the calendar as my main one for both work and socially, so having it on my phone would be great, but it never works as I use Notes and nobody ever supports that for the syncronisation.

Yesterday however, I had a euraka moment.

Having hunted about on Sonys web site, there is an application called Sync Station which syncronises "stuff" to your phone. It's aim is mainly Outlook (of course, as everyone uses it). However, in the very small print it says it supports Notes 6. Hmm thinks me, wonder if it would actually work with Notes 7? So I downloaded it and installed it and tried it out.

Nada. Doesn't list the Notes client as an option to sync with. So, thinks me, where is it getting the info from that says which version of Notes I use? A quick google throws up a possible solution. So I copy the Notes 7 reg key and create a new one called (wait for it) Notes 6. I then re-open the Sync Station client.

It now lists Notes as a valid source of calendar!! So I configure it (love this software for this) and it allows you to chose a date range for syncronising - I only really need the next 14 days on there, so it does this and will clean up old entries as well. I hit sync.

It works an absolute treat. My phone is paired to my laptop via bluetooth, and my calendar is now on the phone. I'm a very happy man.

Wilderness

I apologise for the late posting of this entry, however last night I stayed at a place a mere 10 miles out of Worcester and yet it felt like the back of beyond. No phones, no wireless, no mobile coverage....

So, I spent last night in the bar in the "pub with rooms" I was staying at. I'm sitting here with my laptop in the bar writing this up, listening to others peoples conversations as it's more interesting than the options papers I'm writing. However they are very funny and I can't help but listen in.

For example - Bloke to new girlfriend (I cant help thinking she has a boyfirend and shouldn't be here, don't know why)

but you tick all my boxes. Ooops, really shouldn't have said that. Did I say it out loud?.......really like this pub. Well, it's not really a pub.

Such a bad line... and her reaction was priceless. He then went on to his singing ability and how he could "hold a tune". I suspect he means he has once held in his hands a Nat King Cole CD.

There were also two dotty old birds in the restaurant. Took then 25 mins to eat a bowl of bloody soup. Talking about somebody called "princess" and horses. "Has he still got his ponys?", "no, just the stallion". Too many jokes so I'll stop...

Good result

Very pleasant drive up this morning, amazing the difference leaving a little bit earlier can make (although, I just know I'm going to be knackered later!)

Great result for Aberdeen last night, 2-0 win over Motherwell. Hopefully it'll let the chairman (wiggy) open the purse strings a bit and we can keep Gary Dempsey (who's been offered a contract from Yeovil!). I see we're getting a new centre half, just hope that means we're not flogging any of our current defence who've been brilliant this season.

Off to stay in the middle of nowhere tonight in a little village as I couldn't get a decent rate in any of the usual hotels. I've stayed there before, cracking food but looking forward to some home comforts on Thursday. I suspect it'll be full of drunk Irish guys going to the horse racing at Cheltenham.

Mighty Reds

A very full, but fulfilling day today. Working as I do with lots of different people doing similar roles, it's amazing the different tactics and styles people use. Some get on and do it, some need hand holding. I'll never get used to it, but might try and avoid the latter too much (mainly as it generates me more work ;-))

An unusual trip to the office home base on the banks of the Thames. I never usually go in these days (mainly as I either work from home, Worcester, Guildford or Farnborough) and it's always nice to see a few familiar faces.

Tonight I'm enjoying the Man U v Europe XI and trying to work out how on earth a Brazilian can play for Europe...The subplot and much more important game is of course Motherwell and Aberdeen which sees us after 35 minutes 1-0 up. Keep it up boys! At this rate, the mighty reds will be back in Europe next season in the UEFA Cup, no doubt playing (and getting thumped) by some obscure Swiss team in the first round. Well, will be the first European foray since 2002 anyway. Just need to beat Rangers on Saturday, and we could end up in the Champions League!!!

Buda

Ah, the joys of the first day back after holiday.

A wonderful holiday was spent on the banks of the river Danube in Budapest. A bit of a slow burner this one, not a city that immediatly grabbed us and said "yes, it's great to be here" but by the end of the holiday it's charms had kicked in and we loved it.

Day one was spent mooching about the Parliament building, but as it was raining we took shelter in a number of cafes having very strong coffee! In the afternoon we wandered round one of the museums, detailing the history of the country. It's a very interesting place and some of the words used were very carefully chosen (I may be being cynical) but along the lines of "the germans gave us no option but to help them" etc. Now, my world history of Hungary in the war is not up to much, so I may be doing them an injustice, but it did make a really interesting visit.

Day 2 was spent up at the castle and in Gellert Hill. Anyone who goes to budapest I would implore you to explain to me how on earth the Hilton hotel beside the castle got planning permission. I'll put up a photo later, but oh my god it's hideous!!

Dinner was had in numerous great restaurants, Cafe Kor was superb, as was a little place (which was SO cheap). Tom George was an incredible experience, although the food lacked a little from Cafe Kor and it's goulash. What was very good was the wine, and the price of drinks. We went to this very stylish cocktail bar and drank champagne cocktails for less than £2.50 - in London you'd be paying 10 quid for a similar drink.

Even sleazyjet with it's delayed homebound flight (an hour and 30 mins late, which was then met by South West Trains finest not managing to finish engineering works in time, meaning we had to wait for a train as well) means I'm quite tired today (got in the door at 9:40). However, the missus had to leave at 8 this morning to spend the week in Glasgow, I'm very glad to be working from home.

Well, an entertaining day yesterday. Had to do the same presentation 5 times to different people. While I think they found it good, I was absolutely knackered by the end of it!

The evening involved lots of beer and chat, and ended up in a games room playing table football (undefeated) and then pool (lost every time). Think I'll stick to table football, or maybe practice some more on my own pool table (people always laugh when they see how bad I am at pool and I own up I have my own table).

Today will be a long morning or meetings, followed by a nice drive back to London for I'm on holiday tomorrow! Can't wait.

Not going to be a lot of blog action for a few days, details will follow as to why...

Did enjoy this story - pillock crashes a Bugatti Veryon.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007100574,00.html

OOh, naughty me hasn't blogged all weekend!

Friday night was good fun, was nice catching up with the good and the bad of some friends lives. Not too late which was a good thing as I was knackered!

Saturday was spent in the gym in the morning which made me realise I'd made an error. I don't have sky at home as we've not missed it and the money they charge is quite a lot for only watching football. Man Utd v Liverpool was on and I'd timed my gym trip by an hour too early. An hour later and I could have watched it. Ah well, back to trusty old Five Live. Saturday nght had a really good meal with some friends in the Dog And Fox in Wimbledon. It used to be an old fashioned pub and they have expanded it into what was a chinese restaurant and it's now massive, half pub and half gastro pub. The food was good, the company great, and a good time had by all. My friends, ever thoughtful, thought they should get me a present. Weybridge station at 7pm on a Staurday doesn't have a lot of options, so a bag of haribo sweets and an iced bakewell tart from the vending machine was bought. They're nothing but thoughful :-)

Yesterday was back in the gym, in time to watch Bolton play Blackburn. Quite how Blackburn won I'm not sure, it was all Bolton in the bit I watched.

The final episode of Top Gear in the series last night - what on earth am I to do now on a Saturday? It's going to be back to fending off chick flicks on DVD...

Buzz!

Ah, a cracking birthday was had yesterday. I arrived home to find Katy had made some birthday muffins instead of a cake :-) Then we headed out for a wonderful meal in Zero Quattro in Wimbledon, and home to play Buzz on the playstation (which was a birthday present). Buzz is a cracking game, it's like a gameshow and you have a buzzer and four coloured options for every answer. Games like fastest finger etc are all on there so we played a lot last night and kept ourselves very amused :-)

Today has been spent working on a paper while dealing with plans and project managers. Quite a frustrating day. However, tonight meeting up with some friends in Wandsworth for an engagement party for Lewis & Kirsten. Some old collegues are going, so will be nice to catch up with them.

Birthday blues

Today I'm feeling a bit iffy. It's my 31st birthday today and it feels worse than being 30. Waking up in a Travellodge on your birthday also sucks, particulalrly when all night you've had drunk people wandering the corriders chatting. Gits. Hope they all had horrid hangovers this morning.

So I can't wait to get home to my own bed and see my wonderful fiance (she hates the word!), and a lovely dinner is planned in a local favourite Italian (my favourite food country - this place does a cracking rack of lamb).

Dinner last night was a laugh. Mexican food is always great for a change (cheese, meat, salsa - what's not to like!) and it was good to get in somewhere new.

On the plus side, this weekend promises to be a good one - engagement party for an old collegue on Friday, birthday drinks for me on Saturday. Have also received an email, so there is now a planned trip home at the end of March for a bit of a party with some my oldest and best friends. Will be good, but March is looking very busy now!!!

Where's the kit kat?

Sometimes, you just can't make stuff up. This is an article about Swiss farmers who've been feeding cattle cannabis.

Switzerland's Agriculture Ministry has called on the country's farmers to stop feeding their cows cannabis.

Several recent adverts have promoted feeding hemp to farm animals even after a March 2005 law banning its use.

The Agriculture Ministry has now warned that farmers doping their cows will be prosecuted.

Farmers consider the cheap and easy to grow plant is good for their cows.

They believe the active ingredient in cannabis, THC, makes cows happy and produce more milk, but the Agriculture Ministry say THC can get into the milk and create a health risk.

They also said that there was a risk that Swiss cheese products could be contaminated.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2211071.html?menu=news.quirkies.animaltales

Balls.

Sometimes, my job is great. At others, I wish I had a standard 9-5 home every night type job. Having been offered tickets for next weeks Chelski v Porto game, in cracking seats, I've had to turn it down as I'm at a work conference.

Gutted.

The annoying thing is, it's from the same guy who had a spare ticket for Brazil v Portugal at the new Arsenal stadium a few weeks ago and I couldn't go then either. The end result is I've not seen this mate for ages, even though we both live in London, and he may stop offereing me these tickets as I can never go.

How annoying.

Life is what you make it

So yesterday went well, the place is still lovely and is taking shape. Afterwards lunch was had in a little village (which turns out to be close to Chequers), in a little pub and was really tasty. Shame it tipped it doen all day!

Lot's of people have been very excited about Second Life recently. Personally, I don't think it's anything particularly new and has been done for years (one example - The Sims anyone?). Anyway, I liked this website, which kind of sums it all up to me:
http://www.getafirstlife.com/

I mean, seriously, get outside! You spend all day in front of a PC, you don't really want to spend all night there too do you? I've been going to the gym a lot recently, but nothing beats getting the mountain bike out and flying down a hill. You get the exercise and learn some skills such as balance and judgement (do you really want to do 30mph over that log? - you only do it once...) and sheer joy. I've never left the gym feeling joyous.

Road trip

It is with some trepidation I approach today. For it is today that we take the future in-laws to the see the potential wedding venue. It's an hour away in the car. Which on the way up will have lots of questions about what else we've done about the wedding (honestly? not too much). On the way back, it'll be all about the venue and practicalities of the day. Great joy. I'm driving, so can't resort to my usual method of getting through these trips by turning to whisky. I jest, however it is one of those days that I'll be glad when I get home.

The rugby yesterday - Scotland have learned that you cannot give a 21 point head start to anyone, including the Italians, in international rugby. Unbelievable. At least I was at a friends house playing with the new cat, which meant I couldn't see the tv due to the allergic reaction. Why are cat's always attracted to people who are allergic to them?

6 nations

A special day for the 6 nations today - Ireland play England at Croke Park. Historic day as it was here the "first" bloody Sunday took place many years ago (1920 to be exact) where British forces shot and killed players and fans watching a Gaelic Football match. Since then, the Gaelic association always said they would never have "English" sports played at Croke Park. Well, money talks and they are (due to Landsdown Road getting done up).

I only hope that the 6 nations fans behave and that the people who could cause trouble are far away. 6 Nations rugby is great as all fans mix in together and you never get trouble. There is such a nice atmosphere of people coming together for the love of the sport. Even if you don't particularly like rugby, a 6 nations game is special.

I used to go all the time to Murrayfield when I lived in Edinburgh as I lived very close. I miss it, and Edinburgh for that matter. I would go with my Dad to all the games and it was "something we did". Loved it for the rugby, and the time spent with him. And yet, now I live miles away purely for work reasons and it's just not economical to go. Real shame.

Romanov goes mad

Well, Scottish football does get called dull at times, but with people like Romanov in charge at Hearts things are never dull. His latest statement is just odd, obviously aimed at reporters and about referees who've been bought by the Old Firm. Now, there is no evidence that this happens, however I think any referee who isn't a bit intimidated by 50/60,000 screaming Old Firm fans for their team when they are more used to refereeing in front of 8000 fans at Dunfermline just wouldn;t be normal. That doesn't mean they are bought.

Anyway, the boy is nuts so here is his latest tirade.

Dear Monkeys,

Today I will not be showing your portrait to you. It is pointless. You are one step away from becoming human beings.

Go and carefully have a look at yourself in the mirror. Don't you see a human in it?

Stop fighting for the values which the ex-captain of Hearts was fighting for.

Education and truthful information - that should be your input to humankind.

Your leader Mowgli is not taking bananas any more, now he is taking money for lies and untruthful interpretation. However he is greedy and makes you collect rotten information from cesspits and poisons readers with it.

This is unworthy even of a monkey.

Today I will express my opinion in English about refereeing in order that your Mowgli will not make you tell lies.

To discuss whether referees take money or not is the same as discussing a woman who gives herself with no love.

Isn't it better to concentrate on the standard of their work instead of looking for reasons for their poor performance?

A woman cheats herself and nature if she gives herself without love. If a referee officiates a game based on his personal love, he commits a cynical crime, especially when the public has trusted him.

I respect those referees who take money from two stupid teams and then honestly officiates a game. They do not harm football in any way. Though it is bad, still everybody is equal for them. Perhaps that is the reason why football in Italy will never die despite all the scandals that continuously shake it.

I think that is much better than being the champions for 40 years while building up the same system for further 40 years.

Now it has become obvious to me why you, the Monkeys, were trying to ruin Hearts not only in the Championship, but in European competitions as well. I think it was not without your help that the 'frozen' referee from Russia was selected to officiate our match and that in the games against the Greek side we got three red cards.

It is not without your help that traitors were presented as heroes thus showing the road to children for betrayal.

You will always call teachers silly because unlike you they lead children along the correct path.

Protecting your values in that way just spoils not only football, but also a Scotsman's proud name.

I beg you Mowgli, take the monkeys back to the Safari Park!

You'll never watch alone

Last night was a bit of a wierd one. Most people had gone home or were working late, so I ventured into the night alone. Dinner was fine (was welcomed with open arms into a favoured local restaurant) and then off to the pub to watch Liverpool. A newcomer (and fellow Scot) to the project then turned up halfway through the game and so we discussed the failings of Scottish football, and generally put the world to rights. One for the road was had in a local Austrian pub. You forget how strong that stuff is...

Anyway, some interesting web sites I've come across lately:
RFID gone mad...
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=939

List of all router passwords for wireless routers.
http://www.routerpasswords.com/

Oh, and happy birthday GF :-)

Tuesday night curry club...

...is no more! The cycle was broken by a desire to head to the favoured local Chinese. Gorse Fox was on sparkling form (fuelled by a pre-dinner beer) and a most enjoyable night was had.

Went back to watch some of the Champions League games and was stunned by the actions of Lille in the Man Utd game. Tricky one for Platini to sort out...In other games, Celtic seemed to have followed Strachens pre match team talk well. He said, in reply to what the young players should do if they feel the occasion getting to them "Just run aboot". Genius. PSV scored a screamer against The Forces Of Darkness, the boy from Ecuador will never hit a ball as sweet again (indeed - he was shocking at the World Cup, hence why we supported Trinidad and Tobago when we watched them in a balmy night in Kaiserlautern).

Actually, this is from that very same night (bit late - approx 3am, fuelled by margharitas)

Veg

Had a cracking walk yesterday, just outside Haslemere at a place called BlackDown. Blew away a few cobwebs and although the views were good, will be better in the summer when it's clearer.

Stopped off at a local farm shop in Haselmere and was stunned at how cheap everything was! If only it was closer, we could cut down on the amount of shopping (and waste!) we do in the supermarkets. As it stands, driving 30 miles down the road to get your veggies doesn't seem a particulalry good use of time or petrol.

Highlight of the trip were the cakes in the shop - just like you used to get in church fetes and the like, with the little crystalised orange segments on them - not seem one like that in years!! Made our day.

Roll on

Ah, you cannot beat a spring ride on the old mountain bike.

You'd never believe this was London would you?

iTunes hell!

So, I upgraded to iTunes 7 the other week. It looks fantastic with the options for artwork flicking and the like (like your flicking through a set of CD's in a shop). However, I have a problem with it. It runs like an absolute pig. I've never seen an app that is as CPU hungry as this. It's an audio player first and foremost, and it doesn't do that! If I do ANYTHING else on the PC while playing music in iTunes, if I surf a web site, flick a window open, anything, the audio stutters.

It's the most frustrating thing. A quick scoot through some forums and it seems people running much higher end kit than me have the same problem. Apple, I love your stuff, but please, please fix it!!!!

Going to spend the weekend trying to go back to version 6 of iTunes. One thing I have learnt - if you get one of the new iPods they will ONLY run in version 7 of iTunes. I'm glad I have the option.

Brits

So people are complaining about Russell Brands jokes from the Brits. Having read what he said (and watched part of it) I got the impression it was a tad self indulgent on his part but the Brits got a presenter with the wit who can pull of such an event. However, I've seen and heard worse on TV every day, but I think partly it was that it was him and partly a Wednesday night ITV audience who are complaining. It's like Top Gear - I'll bet people watched it so they could complain. Read his article in the Guardian on a Saturday in the sports section - it's brilliantly written.

Personally, the constant dulling of sound to cover "bad language" was so annoying, I nearly turned off. It was 10pm, after the watershed - why dull it? If that's what you are going to do, I'd rather you ran a 15 minute delay on transmission so you don't ruin my enjoyment of it. Every time Liam got near a microphone it was dulled - he would provide more comedy than most of the so called pop stars there are now.

Bass!!!

The onboard soundcard in my PC had been causing me grief when importing CD's to iTunes (jumping) so new soundcard was ordered and fitted (see related"user error" post a few days ago). Alongside that, a new set of speakers were ordered from Mr Amazon to support the new card and make it sound the way it should. The end result can be summed up in three words - "Feel the bass!!!!" The speakers are on 1/4 volume, the subwoofer is set to 1/6th and the sound is already immense. Very impressed.

Downside - Amazon had used home delivery network to deliver the speakers. They had delivered them outside the house in the porch as no-one was in. And that is where they sat for two days...Amazed they were still there.

Other news - living in SW London is worrying. All these kids getting shot - the latest is an area close to here. The move out cannot come soon enough. That, combined with the traffic has nailed it for me. I am fed up being cut up by muppets who cannot drive in London, or those who think they have a right to go. 3 sets of lights I hit tonight went amber just after I had crossed the line. Every time, at the very least one car behind me came through behind me on red. Why? What are the 2 minutes going to give you? You'll only be in traffic round the corner anyway.

Curry

Dinner last night consisted of the usual Tuesday night curry club in Worcester. At 8.95 for an all you can eat buffet, it's brilliant. Temptation needs to be tempered though as I'm on a bit of a health kick (this goes back a while and was not hugely sucessful last time - see my entry from August ;-)) so it's out with bhajis and samosas, and in with tandoori chicken, no breads, plain rice and salad.

At the end of the day, we still have a laugh as a group (7 of us last night) and the food is good so it's still enjoyable. Will see what tonight brings!

As an aside, I've just worked out that I'll have worked on this particular project for 15 months next week. That works out about 20000 motorway miles, and about 60 curries ;-)

Driving onward

Spent a lot of time in the car the last few of days, both mine and a borrowed Seat Leon 2.0 turbo FR. Today, a trip to Guildford and onto Worcester was nearly uneventful apart from a near miss with a transit van. He'd obviously been fiddling with something as he was going stright across toward the central reservation as he entered a bend. Little bit of panic steering, with everyone around him hitting the brakes, saw the incident avoided.

The Seat was a cracking car, brilliant engine (the power!!!) and seats. Downside is the dash, which was uninspriring. Good toys (USB connection for your MP3 player for example), but the dash would annoy me too much. It doesn't backlight any of the heating or stereo controls in daylight, which made reading them very tricky. I'd be forever driving with sidelights on, which would just annoy me too much.

Ah well, just have to keep saving for that BMW 335i coupe (in my dreams!)

Gordon

So Gordon Brown thinks England should try to host the World Cup in 2018. Of course he does. If the majority of the country think he supports the English cause, the Scotsman might just win the election. Expect to see him in various other headline catching quotes for the next few months as the spin begins to work overtime.

I read an article about him recently where Piers Morgan said - you are a very different public face than the one I know who is very funny and sociable. Now, bearing in mind politics is all about personality these days, (sad but true) keeping it hidden may not have been his greatest ploy.

Windows Media!!!

Stupidly, I agreed to upgrade from Windows Media Player 10 to 11. The install package is quite large, but what harm (I thought). Now, I don't use Media Player a lot, the odd video maybe, as all my music is in iTunes. However I tried it yesterday to get a message about needing to log on as Admin to finish the install - I am the admin!

So, 20 minutes later, I find a forum in the middle of nowhere on the internet telling me to delete a reg key and the install will work. Slightly dubious, but the key seemed a sensible place and I tried it - sure enough it went in straight away!

Why do Microsoft release code with this stuff in there? It served no purpose other than to go wrong, and it's why they get a bad reputation.

(the key, in case you need it, HKLM, Software, Microsoft, Media Player, InstallResult)

So David Cameron liked a smoke before he became a politician. So what? Radio news seem fixated on the fact that he like regae music at the time. Must be a link there somewhere...

Seriously though, he was a kid. Drop it.

Last night had a cracking night out celebrating a friend birthday in Putney. Dinner in Isola Del Sole was great, they had a great table that seated 4 on each side. Very sociable way to eat! Then off to dance the night away at which point I realised that I was too old to be doing that :-)

Conditions

So, the media having exhausted the bird flu story, they now try and create a new one by highlighting the conditions the birds are kept in. How is this new news?

Must be a slow news day...

Doh!

Installing new PC hardware - Rule number 1.

If, while installing a new hardware device in your PC, you find that what was working two minutes prior isn't after you've moved some of the connections into the correct socket, it almost certainly isn't the software that you've just installed, uninstalled, re-installed, played with the settings in the control panel, panicked that you've buggered the card and then thought, hang on, maybe I'll just check that the microphone isn't in the speaker socket and vice versa.

I hang my head in shame....

Le Mans

Ah, diesel cars. Smelly, slow, fitted to estate cars.

Really? Well, you may not be aware that of late Audi has wiped the floor with pretty much anyone at Le Mans 24hr race of late, taking 1,2,3 finishes, and winning every race since 2000 (officially, Bentley won it in 2003, but as they are owned by VW/Audi group, and Audi didn't race that year, I think it's safe to assume that with a splash of paint it was the Audi car painted and rebadged). Last year they got so cocky, they entered a V10 diesel - and won.

Well, the French have had enough. Peugeot confirmed they would be entering this years race, and now the car has done some track time. Now, Peugeot are interesting as they wiped the floor in the early 90's before becoming bored and entered F1 (where they failed spectacularly), then rallying (where again they won everything). Now, with no F1 and no rally car to build, they've gone back to 24 hour racing. And built a 5.5 litre, twin turbo V12 diesel, with 700bhp and nearly 900lb/ft of torque. That's immense! Plus, it sounds like a proper race car and not a diesel with lots of driveshaft and gearbox whine.

Plus, without the paint on it, it looks like a Stealth bomber. Roll on June....

Video link - http://www.eurosport.co.uk/carracing/mc_vid32301.shtml

Home

Well, the drive home yesterday through "snow chaos" was the easiest and quickest I've ever driven from Worcester to London. The car park had turned to slush, and with hardly any cars on the road with clear roads it was actually a very pleasant drive home.

While driving it did make me wonder what the fuss had been about. Granted, earlier in the day it had been heavy, and I wasn't on anything other than major routes, but was this an example of media hysetria perhaps? At least the snow got them over the bird flu fixation...Oh no, apparently it's all out war with Hungary over that one.

It makes me think - when did the news become a mission in blame? It may be rose tinted glasses, but looking back I can't recall the news ever being a witch hunt. An example...So Steve McLaren loses, suddenly he is the "under fire" manager. Why? Because some players didn't play well? They haven't noticed that they haven't played well for 6 years....

The media could be doing with learning some realism, although I don't suppose that sells papers and gets them viewing figures.

Snow!

OK, so it's snowing. A lot. Had to scrape 5cm off the car to get it out of the car park this morning, however taking it easy out of the car park managed to negotiate out. The town roads seemed ok, quite slushy but nobody was in a hurry and they were quiet. 20mph was plenty!

The trickiest bit was the car park!!!! Like an ice rink, very slippy. Car broke away twice into a little slide, nothing nasty as I was only doing 5mph, but enough just to remind you what your driving on has no traction whatsoever!

Public speaking

Things not to say in public....

Extract:
Romanian President Basescu was meeting the software giant's chairman in Bucharest to celebrate the opening of a Microsoft global technical center in the Romanian capital.

"Piracy helped the young generation discover computers. It set off the development of the IT industry in Romania,"

Bill gates apparently made no comment.

Link - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020100715.html

Snowing

Well, it's not snowing yet but it can't be far away. Had to really scrape the car this morning, however as I'd packed for the farm I have my heavy boots, gloves, scarves and thermals all in the car. Think I might need them.

Talking of the farm, a very pleasant afternoon was spent yesterday down the farm, helping on a test. By helping I mean - keeping as far away as possible of the two ton "monsters of mayhem" (a phrase coined by a member of our team) while writing down what I was told to. Interesting to see how it all works, and you forget just how big a cow can get. And as for the bull...

Cracking weekend

Yesterday continued what was a great weekend. Very nice walk round Richmond Park in the afternoon, dodging the dear who look a bit startled at the moment (well, they are all a bit shaggy and it's the annual cull, I'll excuse them) and chatting about wedding plans. Seems we have a date now, if not a venue. The plan at least is to book the venue provisionally today, then go and see it later this month again when it'll be a bit more finished, and also suss out the area some more for local hotels we can put people in. It's not a hardship - the surrounding area is just stunning so I can see a pleasant weekend coming up.

A early dinner out at the local Thai (always stunning food and brilliant service) was had before heading to the Wimbledon Theatre. It's funny, I can see it from my back door, it's less than 2 minutes walk away, and yet it's only the second time we've been. Anyway, it's all been done up and now gets the touring west end shows which has revitalised it. Last night, we had Omid Djalili, the Iranian British comedian ("the only Iranian comic - still 3 more than Germany!"). Very funny, although some of it is a little close to the "I shouldn't laugh at that but it's so true" line. Recommended though.

Link to some of his material: http://www.seeitfirst.co.uk/boundandgagged/omiddjalili.html

How to wash your car

OK, so yesterday I didn't get to wash the car, but today I have. Absolutely filthy, but worth the effort. Anyway, most people don't look after their cars properly (I'll admit the odd bout of neglect as well) but even washing weekly can screw up your paint if you do it wrong. So a little tutorial is in order...

1. rinse the worst of the deposits off the car (using a hosepipe if possible, if not a light wipe with warm water will do)
2. fill two buckets with warm water, adding car shampoo to one
3. using a sheepskin mitt, wash the car starting at the roof. After each use, rinse the mitt in the bucket of water to get most of the grit and deposits out of it - this avoids any light scratching and swirls in your paint.
4. once you've been over the car, do the wheels - wipe with mitt and rinse. If necessary, use an alloy cleaner for as small a time as possible!!! Use a toothbrush if your alloys are fiddly
5. rinse the car with clean warm water (or hose it)
6. dry the car
   

there you go, a quick overview. You can then wax the car, using polish if you've got a weekend to lose. One tip is to get some car wax and wax your alloys when clean - this just makes it harder to get bits stuck to them and easier to clean.

Some products - I really Meguiars stuff (I love the NXT shampoo). I binned all the Autoglym stuff after I'd tried it, it really is very good. Big bottle may look expensive, but it last ages and it smells nice ;-) Get some of their microfible cloths as well, really useful for polishing and drying and machine washable. The best Megs stuff I've used is in the NXT range - the wax is a doddle to put on. Cut down the time I take to wax the car by at least half! Other stuff worth looking at is P12s wax, and Poorboys has a good reputation too.

Megs is available in Halfrauds, or www.seriousperformance.co.uk for the full range.

You can also get into clay bars and stuff - but that's when you lose SERIOUS time. Worth doing if the car has a lot of tar marks or sap on it, but remember to wax AND polish afterwards, ideally in multiple coats.

Just remember, if your thinking this all sounds like too much hassle and use fairly liquid (a HUGE no no - it strips all your wax off) - your car is likely to be the second most expensive thing you own - look after it and it'll be worth more come trade in.

Video technology

At least 5 times this season someone has brought up that football should use video technology. This is usually just after someone (usually playing for Arsenal) has been judged to have been fouled and play was left to continue and Wenger was furious as a result (I always find his eyesight a cause for concern. If I missed everything contentious that my team had done and yet, miraculously, could see everything done to my own team, I'd be getting my eyesight checked, but that's by the by).

The argument goes that it's used in rugby and cricket and doesn't disrupt the game. I would argue that it does, but rugby and cricket have more natural breaks (setting up a scrum for example) so it's less noticable. Football is a wonderful, fast flowing game and one of it's appeals is being aggrived when you don't get the breaks (hence famous songs involving fans questioning parental lineage and the referee). It evens itself out over a season (yes, even for you, West Ham fans - having spent millions on a new defensive partnership only to see them both out injured within a week - gutting).

Now, yesterday was a prime example of why video technology is not fool proof. Wilkinson scores a try for England. He certainly (and this pains me, but he played very well) deserved it. As he flew through the air to touch it down, some questions were raised if he had touched the flag on it's way (which would indicate he was out of touch and the try should not be awarded). Actually, it was his right leg that was on the floor in touch, certainly all of him from his knee down was well grounded before he touched the ball down. This should have resulted in no try being awarded, but yet, the video ref missed it and the try was given.

So there you go, video technology is good, but mistaked can happen - it's not the answer to all our prayers. Much better to allow mistakes in the heat of the moment and allow the game to flow, than to slow it up, and STILL have mistakes made.

And anyway, Wenger would still claim he'd forgotten to set his video and had missed it...

Balls. That was a bit of a one sided show...Ah well, fair play to Wilkinson, played very well for a man who has only played 40 minutes of club rugby this season. If he makes it through the championships playing like that, England have a chance at the world cup if they can keep him fit.

Still putting an each way on Ireland for the World Cup - NZ will win it easily.,

Rugby

Today being a Saturday, it's always a day to look forward to. However, today is also the start of the Six Nations and, being a Scot surrounded by English (not strictly true, Wimbledon seems full of South Africans and Australians these days) it's going to be a good day. Hopefully I'll still think that about 5:40 this afternoon once we've made it 8 losses in 9 games for England! For the championship to spice things up (lets be honest, the Scottish chances of winning are slim) I've put some money on Ireland to win it. I quite fancy them to do well in the World Cup later this year as they are just peaking at the right time, Australia are not as good as they were but New Zealand are just awesome and I think everybody will struggle to beat them.

Off to see the in-laws later, they've been looking after the other half's niece (4) and nephew (1) since Thursday, so we're going in as backup to take over :-) So, lazy morning (might even try and wsah the car, something I've not done since November to my eternal shame) then an afternoon of being jumped on, pretending to be animals, and made to watch cbeebies. Great!

In other news, my mates have all realised what I've been saying for a year - that we're getting on a bit. A weekend away has been planned in July to celebrate one of our numbers 30th, and to mark a last weekend of freedom before 3 of us get married (including myself). Should be good fun, the plan is currently to go to Dublin for a music festival and camp, which has divided our number (half want to stay in a hotel, half don't). Personally, camping is part of it if you ask me, but the Monday after it would be a nightmare!

Bit of Saturday fun - I'd love to try this!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vk4_2xboOE

Back home

Well, after a frantic few days with the client, I'm back home again now. I'm quite relieved in a way, it's always nice to be home and having the Friday being able to work at home lets me gather my thoughts on the week and get all the little things for work done that you can't do in the office. Downside is the wife to be isn't home yet, still in Scandinavia for another night before she gets home. It's a long week when she is away all week, and it means coming home is something to look forward to, but not as much as when someone is there to say hi when you open the door.

Next week I've been "volunteered" to go on a site visit with work. Which means getting the wellies, the waterproofs and long gloves out. Apparently the smell lasts a good 24 hours. Can hardly wait...

August!!!

OK, so I may have neglected this blog a tad (well, with a last submission date of August)

In the interim time, I've been busy trying to plan a wedding (since I proposed in September), got through Christmas, been skiing in france for the first time (that's skiiing, not going to France), joined a new gym and avoided going to it, and generally got on with stuff.

I'll expand on some of this in more detail over the next few days (better make that weeks ;-)).

I'll stop for now with a story from Jeremy Clarkson, who had written in his blog about how after Sundays episode of Top Gear he received a complaint from the Scottish Green Party. As he rightly points out, what are an environmentalist party watching Top Gear for? What do they hope to gain insight into? And the nature of the complaint? That they said "Speed Kills" at the end and didn't mean it. Pathetic....

Maybe I should write more bad things about Aberdeen! 2-0 against Motherwell. Plus, the scorer was Darren Mackie! The boy can't finish a jigsaw and he scores two! Happy days! Just need Liverpool to continue to beat Chelsea this afternoon and I'll be even happier (can't see it though).

Have the missus best mate staying this weekend. They started on the wine at lunch yesterday and ended 12 hours later. I missed the first 5 hours (hit the driving range in an attempt to get some practice) but had a cracking laugh. Ended up going to a local Thai place for dinner - the food is superb and I can't wait to go back.

Just wish this rain would stop! It's buggering up my plans (was going to get the bike out and give it a thrashing, but it's chucking it down so that's out).

Wish I had sky so I could settle in to watch the Liverpool game...

So, nothing new happens really. Aberdeen start the season poorly, and save the best performance so far for a testimonial against Everton. Typical! But as the player in question is a friend of my brother, it's a worthy game and he deserves it. Russell for Scotland (Come on Walter, what are you playing at....) Highlight for me was Willie Miller (Scotland and Aberdeen legend, European Cup Winner) saying that Russell has achieved more than he had in the game. Really? 10 seasons of SPL action, 2 cup final defeats (very bad season 2000 - nearly relegated and two cup finals!). Willie won what? 10 medals? Maybe 11? 5 league winners medals, 2 european medals, 65 caps for Scotland. Enough said, but Willie - you must have been on the happy pills when you said that!

Last night I found myself in Droitwich which would appear to have two curry houses, a dodgy looking brasserie and a few bars. So we went for a second curry in a row to Spice Fusion. Decoration was somewhat garish, the food was pretty good, but nothing outstanding. (Chicken Makhani btw - should never be served with a craft cheese slice in the top) Having one curry a week up here I know there are better in the area. Dilshad the night before was good, but why serve everything in Balti dishes! Just makes it harder to eat! Although one of our number found himself seeing a lot more of the toilet in the night than he would like after that one...Serves him right for eating most of the menu... :-)

Mandela Day

Oh, and it would appear that the Aberdeen team who are doing pre-season in South Africa are to meet Nelson Mandela. That'll be the highlight for next season, then....

So, it would appear to be hot and sweaty in London again. However, I spent the day in Coventry (something we used to joke about in the office - you know when your in trouble when they send you to Coventry - well, they have). So an hour across London on the train and tube and then spent an hour coming across London by tube on the way home. Now, this was not a pleasant experience - it was hot, sweaty, and very crowded. The reason? Waterloo was closed because of a fire alert. No more details, like when it would reopen or the like, or even if I could get to vauxhall and get my train from there. This would at least have meant I'd see some daylight and some fresh air (if that exists in central London).

So all that put me in a cracking mood tonight. Ah well, only have to do it all again tomorrow...Joy.

So further to my last post about brake fluid service, I made some phone calls. Turns out it's about half hour labour and fluid to do a brake fluid service on my car, which makes the 120 quid seem even more rediculous! So after some phoning around have managed to get it down to 70 quid inc vat. What does annoy me (a lot!) is that this is also at a main dealer. It is also part of the same group who wanted to charge me 120 quid! How? I've no idea. They are less than 5 miles apart and the service is the same (they even offered to book me in for a one hour slot which includes the time it takes to wash the car - now that is very much needed!)

One annoyance is that I found somebody had scratched the car. It's only small, looks like a handbag in a car park. Very annoying.

Oh, and look at www.beedogs.com. Very amusing, if very scary.

OK, so here's the thing. I'm useless at keeping this thing up to date. I have no excuse other than I slipped out of the routine. Ah well, so be it, but I've been very busy!

So what's been going on in the 6 weeks or so since I posted last? Well, I've been to Amsterdam for a stag weekend (great fun, but the realisation that we were all over 30 made things interesting! Late nights and long lies were the order of the day, can't party like I used to!), been to Germany for some world cup games with a couple of very good friends living in a camper van (the less said about the van the better. It stank by the end of the 10 days, and was hotter than hell).

So what else? Well, I'm to be an usher at my mates wedding next year in September (thankfully, not the same weekend as my brother gets married, but only 2 weeks prior!) and I'm really looking forward to them both. It's a real honour to be asked and I'm chuffed to bits. Plus, it means I can now have an input into both stag do and the best mans speech. Fortunately, the German trip provided great input for both :-)

I've also been getting annoyed at the costs of running the car - having serviced it in January it now needs a brake fluid change (every 2 years apparently) at 120 quid!!! May need to see if I can do this somewhere other than a main dealer....

Right enough for now, got to check in to a hotel so I can watch the 2nd semi final of the World Cup tonight. Come on France! Playing well and led by Zidane, a footballing great if ever there was one.

Sync Software

Have come across a piece of microsoft software called sync toy. For those of you with external hard drives or backups for you digital photos, this is great - it will run (when you tell it) and echo the folder contents. Easy to use and very helpful. Oh, and it's free.

Well, it would appear that I find myself in some real rubbish hotels.

This one, which shall rename nameless, is not great. It's in Worcestershire and is somewhat shabby. The bar feels like an old staff canteen mixed with an old 70's style pub. It has green padding around the bar (nice touch). It's only saving grace is a pub called the Bear and Ragged Staff (look it up in beer in the evening web site). Food was superb, great pork steak with puy lentils and pink peppercorns. Fantastic. Plus, they had a morgan owners meeting so the place was full of very smart Morgans. Great!

Still trying to get fitter, went to the hotel gym (not great but not the worst hotel gym I've been in) and still trying to eat and drink more healtily. Getting there, but going to take a while!

Spotted...Arsene Wenger

Did you see this man leaving an east end London hotel at the weekend?

Pin

My friends know that I have issues with certain things (James Blunt for example - how???). Chip and Pin is one of them. I've never been convinced that it's any safer as anyone can look over your shoulder and see you enter your pin. Once they have that, it's fair game. There are stories of shops aiming video cameras over tills to see peoples pins. And it seems this is what may hav ehappened at Shell Petrol stations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4980190.stm

To me, it's a stupid idea but as it's been deployed all over the place (including Barcelona I noted last week) it's never going to change. I suspect I may have to learn to live with this one, but I don't think it's any better than signing your name. If anything, it's worse.

weighty issues

Those who know will say that I don't need to lose weight (they may think it, but nobody ever tells me). Anyway, after the Barcelona trip and the cold months, it's time for me to lose some weight. So I've eaten salad for lunch all week, with healthy dinners. I should add that the night we got back from Barcelona we went and got a takeaway curry, but let's skip over that for now.

I've even (god forbid) been to the gym! Twice! Am feeling better for it so think I'll keep it up for a bit. After all, I need to lose some to trim up a bit. I wouldn't look a fantastic sight on the beach at the moment....more whale than baywatch.

Anyway, this weekend will be spent with friends, relaxing, drinking and eating. Hardly the best way to lose weight however they do say you need to laugh to lose weight and there will be plenty of that. Roll on tonight and the first drink!

Talking of drink, haven't had any since I started this fitness thing. Well, I had a glass of cider last night as we had to use some in a marinade for dinner (fantastic it was, both dinner and the cider). Hmm, could it be that my old age means that I am beginning to appreciate cider?

Some more on Barcelona.

It's a fantastic city, I loved it. The weather was good as it was in the low to mid 20's all the time, which is perfect for exploring and wandering about it. Glorious sunshine all day with a 10 minute blast of rain in the early evening which was fine as that's when we were getting ready to go out for the night!

Some tips and things I noticed....

It's not the type of place where you feel uncomfortable (although on the first night we were in some areas where we felt we wanted to get out quickly). The thing with it is, it's no worse than any other big city, and as I live in London I didn't feel any different. What I did notice - the streets were clean (mostly!) and never too busy which is great.

PLaces to go - drinks and dinner you have to try the Born district, down at the bottom of the Ramblas and over behind port olympic. In fact, it's probably nearer the Barceloneta. It's bordered by carrer de la princessa and viva laietana. Lots of little squares and trendy bars. Great. The other places we went to were down Port Olympic, which was nice and a great location but it didn't really feel like Barcelona.

We had dinner in a wee tapas place at the bottom of the Ramblas one night before going to Neu Camp, which was brilliant! watched the game against Cadiz. which they won 1-0.

The other place which was great for morning coffee was Poblenou. Very local but a big long street with lots of trees and nice coffee places. Actually, there was a fantastic place on the beach where we had coffee that was great.

Anyway, more soon.

Barca

You turn up for a tour of the Barcelona FC Stadium, and the worlds best player just happens to be there....I missed the shot of him doing keepie ups.... 

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Checkered meal

Well, a return trip to Chesters in Worcester was had last night. Service was slow last night, but with 3 others there the banter was flowing and lots of laughs were had. The place was busy but they seriously need to sort out the music, it was rubbish last night. Too many bassy dance tracks followed by chart pop - make your mind up! I mean, how hard can it be to chose the right music in a restaurant?

Food was fine, refried bean parcel to start followed by chilli beef Chimichanga and a mountain of brown rice. I've never seen so much rice in my life, it would have been enough for 3 people at least. Plus it was brown rice, which is so chewy it's unreal. Bit of salad on the side but it was very tasty. Far too much though!

Usual problem of refried beans is making it's appearance in the office this morning. May have to open the windows soon....

One of the guys mentioned that Bluebeckers for ribs, will need to check it out in surrey sometime. They seems to be a place in Hampton Court, could be worth a trip.

We ended the night going on, as all good techies do, about the joys of microcode and fixing someone elses code. Always a joy :-)

A quick mention must be made to the joys of the customer canteen. It's crap. Don't go there. It's the only place I've ever had a veg hotpot where the potatoes were not cooked through. I mean, how much effort does that take to get right!!!

Tapas

With an impending trip to Barcelona on the cards it was suggested that last nights dinner be had at a new tapas place (I say new - autumn last year was when it opened!) in Ryanes Park. It's next to a great place called the Aviary and is owned by the same people. So we popped down to Bar 191. Ordered a very nice Vionier (they have great wine - lot of French stuff but always good). We had 5 things, of which the meatballs were great, but the star was the baked Aubergine. Loved it. The patatas Bravas were good, but were basiaccly big chips with some sauce on them. Not quite what I had in mind but very pleasant.

Good meal, great wine, and a very nice place. Staff were friendly and prompt service. And it came in under 40 quid. Superb.

They do mains as well as tapas, next time I'd try one main for sharing and some tapas to go with it - the pork kebabs looked fantastic.

Unrelated but interesting....

How come the mafia boss was found the day after Berlusconi lost the election....

Latin America....in yorkshire?

Saturday night was spent in Yorkshire visting friends. The whole weekend was fantatsic, it was great to catch up with people who we'd not seen in ages.

Saturday day the boys headed to play golf. I can't remember the name of the club, I'll dig out my scorecard as it's on there. Really nice place, they'd spent a LOT of money on it. Won the sweepstake there anyway on the National :-) Also, great food! Bacon and Egg butty - just what was needed at the time as the weather was blooming awful. Driving into the wind, I creamed a 3 iron only to see it get caught in the wind and travel 60 yards instead of over 200. Gutted. Good fun though!

Saturday night was spent in Bobo Lobo, a latin American place in the middle of York. Decor wise, it's great, although be warned - it's a LONG walk to the toilets and a LOT of stairs! My advice, stick with the Mexican stuff - huge platefuls and it looked and tasted great. Not as good as the mexican in Wimbledon (Tu Chicas - a local of ours) but still very good. A few beers afterwards - bar 1331 I think and once called Oscars. Such nice bars with late opening, what in my mind late night drinking should be about - decent music (not too loud), great beer and great company. 3am was a bit late for my bed mind, I'm getting on a bit these days :-)

http://www.bobolobo.co.uk/york/index.php

Sunday, headed over to Cattal to meet my uncle and aunt who live in Harrogate. Was really nice to catch up with them, not seen them in ages. Went to the Victoria pub in Cattal for lunch - was fantastic. The Lime cheesecake was possibly the best I've ever had.

The weekend made me realise just what a difference the late night drinking laws make when you can be sensible about it. Around us it's just a cheaper night by not going to a club. Too much loud music and too many chavs wasted on Stella. I wonder if I should be looking to get out of SW London and find somewhere where the bars are more like those we found in York. Maybe I need to spread my wings and find other bars, I think there are a couple in the village here that may be better for what I have in mind, although I suspect the people in them will be less like what I would like. Will see....

Tonight, heading out for dinner but who knows where. The missus has demanded that we start the weekend with a bit of a bang as it's easter so we are off for 4 days. I'm all up for that :-)

Curries...

So last week I ended up in Malvern for a night. This is both a good and a bad thing. On the plus side, it's a stunning little town, with the hills right behind you. It's really nice and the kind of place you forget exists in the world of London village. The hotel is a vast old building which, I think, used to be where the clergy lived for the next door abbey. The views from the back of the hotel are gorgeous, looking straight down the vale as far as the eye can see. However, my view was of the car park entrance at the front. This is the bad bit. The room was clean and nicely decorated (certainly a lot better than the Fownes!) however they have these phones that I don't like. They have a display on them that glows , it's backlight with a bright green. This keeps me awake at night. Over breakfast the following morning, a collegue owned up to covering his every time he stayed with a pair of pants. Mental note: Never use the phones in that hotel!!!!!

The other downside to this hotel is the drive to work. I left at 7:30 and it took 40 minutes to get to the office. A real pain in the ass. Oh, and one more thing. To the barman - it's never too much hassle to change a barrel, and you can trust people to wait while you do it....I had meant to mention in my last post, we started that night in the Swan with two nicks - a real pub, old beams, lot's of beer and whisky. The round cost £3.90, with mine mates pint costing £1.30. A pint. Madness.

On to dinner. Having waited for another collegue for ages (we caught him out later when he said his tv wasn't working properly that he had been watching tele!) we headed to the Bengal Brassarie. This place was chosen on the basis, as my collegue said, he wanted a dirty curry. The other curry house we like in Malvern is quite posh and modern inside, this one isn't. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, just not up to the Anupam. Some poppadoms and dips were the starter (as always!), although they impressed me with the lime pickle which we don't see all the time. I then had the Chadli chicken. It was nice, not too hot, tomato based sauce with yoghurt I think. It was a few days ago now and my brain can't recall it! All in all, everybody had a good meal, very tasty and we will be back there soon....

At the weekend, we ventured out with some friends to a local Mexican place called tu chicas. While the decor leaves a lot to be desired, the food was superb. Everything Chimichangas wasn't. We shared the starters - some bbq nachos (superb!), jalepenos with cheese filling deep fried (so much better than the earlier effort this week - they were fresh and with a nice chilli bite to them). Some breaded mushrooms and a rack of ribs completed the starters (there were four of us I should add!). The ribs came in a bbq sauce, different to the nachos. There were so many ribs! meat was cooked perfectly, they just fell of the bone. For mains, I'd always steered clear of the chilli as it comes with a warning that it's hot, but feeling brave and egged on by my mate, we both went for it. It was superb. They apparently add some tequila to it, and would never know. It was really dark and looked like a chilli should. It came with guacamole, cheese, salsa and sour cream, and loads of tortilla chips. Nobody was able to finish as there was so much food, everybody loved it. We drank margaritas all night which was a bit of a mistake as the cold gave my friend a headache and mine took me an hour to drink! They came in little glasses with a sleeping mexican with a sombrero on the stem. Told the decor was class.... :-)

Options and opions....

It's time to decide what to do with this. I think that rather than a daily blog, which I didn't get into the habit of, it's best that this becomes a repository for my thoughts on pubs, restauarnts and hotels of places I go on business. Where possible, I'll show you photos, but don't bank on that.

So, to get us started....

Spent a night in Worcester, staying at the Fownes Hotel. It's in the middle of town, and I stay there a lot. The hotel used to be a glove factory and has been converted into a hotel, sometime in the 80's I think. I've never eaten dinner there, but breakfast is ok, good selection of juices, fruit and cereals. The fat boy option is also good, with additions of black pudding and hash browns! Staff are young and can hardly say two words to you. Always look bored and often a tad scruffy. The rooms are in need of updating, but are usually a reasonable size. The heating can be very hot and can also make the odd noise. The tv does have satellite tv, but it's restricted to Sky news and sky sports news, not sky sports itself (most annoying!!!!). The bathrooms are not great, the shower heads are too low and they are a bit institutioanl. Overall, it;s not bad value for money and it's right in town close to the decent pubs and restaturants.

Ate at Chimichanga last night. Mexican place on one of the main streets. It looks great, nice decor and the staff were pretty good. We actually tried to get into the other Mexican we like (Chesters) but it was full. This place we suspected didn't make all the stuff onsite. For example, my jalepeno peppers filled with cream cheese were out of a packet, but tasted pretty good. Chicken Burrito was decent, nice rice and black beans and not too expensive (was under a tenner). The beer selection was poor, with only three bottled beers and no draft, but it was well presented in an iced glass. Was under £24 a head, all had starters and 2 drinks. Overall feeling - was ok, would go back but only if Chesters was full. I'll write it up next time we go there. Tonight is a trip to Malvern and a curry....

Oops

OK, I admit it, I'm useless. It's been over a week since I last updated this thing! For which, I'm most sorry. It was a very busy week in which I turned 30 and when I get a minute I'll write some more about it. It did involve cheesy dancing in two nightclubs....

Oh, and here is a link to a great blog!

http://russelldavies.typepad.com/eggbaconchipsandbeans/