Current Music = Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd
When I first saw "The Truman Show" with Jim Carey I preicted that it was a defining moment in cinema.
A film parody of a tv programme in which cameras followed a person as they went through life. Pathetic idea, would never catch on.
Well it did, alas.
We now live in a world where entertainment is watching someone else suffer. Cameras probe every moment, from the birth of a child to the end of someones life. Watching people go into accident and emergency wards with a leg missing, watching someone stay in a house that doesn't really exists in order to beat 12 other people to some prize, watching someone who is terminal ,head off to Switzerland, in order to end their life. All of this and much much worse has now come to the tv as an entertainment programme??
Apparently someone who embraced this form of entertainment died last night. Its a shame, but the last thing that should have happened was that she should be doing it in the glare of publicity. She wasn't famous for anything other than not being famous???
One upon a time in the Imagination of an Idiot
Current Music = Look Out Sunshine by The Fratellis
What a nice day. A bit on the chilly side, but sunny. Am on way down to Banbury to work Mon & Tues, AND (added bonus) managed to find a table seat on the Bournemouth train. Now most people will tell you that un-reserved seats on the Bournemouth train just don’t happen. The train gets VERY busy. However, for some reason, one of the carriages was totally un-reserved. Ahhh, relax. Breathe.
Current Music = Stragglers Moon by The Fratellis
One of the girls at work has just become an agent for Ann Summers. She was asking me quiz questions that they would run on the Saturday night. Needless to say they were rude if you thought of them in the wrong way. Anyway, we got chatting about the parties and she imparted a piece of wisdom that I had never heard before. Apparently ladies, if you go to one of these parties you should touch the tip of your nose with the sex toys. If t makes you sneeze then apparently THAT’S the one for you!!! My suggestion that I could make a fortune with a crate of black pepper grinders was dismissed with contempt. Mine you, it WOULD explain lots of things about waiters and Italian restaurants….oh and maybe the shape of the pepper grinders.
Current Music – Acid Jazz Singer by The Fratellis
I didn’t want to get up this morning. 3 days off had left me feeling dozy. Blimey, 2 weeks and I would probably never move. How the hell anyone can sit by a pool for 2 weeks is beyond me. I was climbing the walls after a day and a half. Oh well, diversity is a good thing. It would be no god if everyone hated holidays, after all, all the holiday companies would go out of business. There would be a decline in cultural exchange. Governments would distrust each other, and that would lead to more wars. Oh no, I’m responsible for wars throughout the world!!!
Current Music = Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses
We just passed Alderley Edge, and on a morning like today it looks superb. No need for myths about King Arthur, just a nice place to wake up. Actually, one of the places in the second book (Elidor) was a church I used to walk past everyday on the way to school. On Oldham Road, near the Copenhagen Pub (well, what WAS the Copenhagen Pub) there was a huge church. Totally out of character with the rest of the area. Everywhere else was small terraced streets, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, was this HUGE gothic type church. Obviously when Manchester was expanding in the early 19th Century, someone said “I know lets build a massive church for all these poor mill workers who don’t have 2 farthings to rub together” and someone in the hierarchy of the church was game for a laugh and said “ok then”.
When you walk around the area of Manchester that I live in, you can see that once upon a time it was a huge industrial area. There was Mather & Platt, massive pump works. There was the CIS Wholesale warehouse, which was once an AVRO factory, and before that it was the factory where Mr Rolls & Mr Royce decided that the car industry was where it was at. You can still see the name on one of the chimneys. Alas, well alas for the area, Mr Rolls & Mr Royce decided that the car making industry would be much better suited to some big factory in Derby rather than a small road in Newton Heath and buggered off. Well, not totally, there is still a Rolls Royce engine plant just up the road. Least I think it’s an engine plant. Given that one of there factories a few years ago was discovered to be dealing in nuclear material, and one of the workers was carrying the stuff around in a bucket, it may explain the look of a few folk from Openshaw.
Current Music = Live & Let Die by Guns N Roses
I was discussing, with my taxi driver, €the proposed increase in alcohol prices. Obviously the Government has run away from that one like a scared puppydog, but would it actually be such a bad thing? Firstly, if you drink in pubs it will make sod all difference, as the price of beer in the pubs is obviously more than 50p a point. Pint = £3.00 points = 2. So, anyone who drinks beer in proper places shouldn’t have a problem, and to be honest, if they were proposing such I thing I would be leading the charge on my warhorse, with banners flying at the rear. No, what they appear to be proposing is the increase in price of cheap crap lager and cider. Even a premium lager such as Stella (spit!) wouldn’t actually increase in price. It would be the cheap crap that kids go for. That makes them hang around in parks and on street corners acting like a bunch of idiots and making them think they just invented drinking. Yes, I know that some people like a drink at home, but unless your tastes run to REALLY bad lager, or incredibly cheap nasty cider, I still can’t see it making a HUGE amount of difference. So wine will be at least £4 a bottle, well I’m of the opinion that it should be that much if you want anything that isn’t the liquid wiped off the foot of a Frenchman who has been treading grapes for the last 200 years with an untreated varicose vein!.
Current Music = A Town Called Malice by The Jam
My taxi driver is a funny old stick. He has been driving for the company for many years, and has been picking me up for the last 15 or so. He can NEVER remember my name and has to ask me whenever I get in the cab. Over the years we have had many an interesting discussion, mostly about money and finance. He also goes off and does peoples gardens when he gets bored with doing the taxis. Every time I get him as my cabby he starts to tell me about his gardening business. Nice guy though!
Current Music = Tales from the Riverbank by The Jam
Just arrived in Stafford. Needless to say the train is now getting busier. Lots of people will commute from Stafford to Birmingham, and will be piling onto this train to get them there just in time to start work. The thing that amazes me is the number of people using laptops to do work that obviously has to be ready for today. Last week there were 2 blokes on the train, doing a presentation for some government agency that they needed to present later that day. Now don’t get me wrong, I have had to do stuff in a hurry before, but only when someone comes up to you and says “I need this in 10 minutes”. These people have been given this to do as a project and just haven’t bothered until the morning of the presentation. The guy sat next to me was making the powerpoint presentation. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had spelt Environment wrong. After all, it’s not MY presentation is it??
Current Music = Sex on Fire by The Kings of Leon.
One of the problems with being an opinionated bastard (me) is occasionally you get on peoples tits. I was reading a blog by some guy who lives in the USA. In it he bands Manchester into his own little groups. Obviously the place where I come from has been classed as “unintelligent people, who have difficulty walking without their knuckles scraping on the floor, who don’t work and would rather rob you than say good morning” Needless to say I waded in. In know, I should just call him a tosser and walk away, but I can’t. It’s the opinionated bit of me. There he is accusing me and my neighbours of being nothing more than pondlife and expects everyone to agree with him. The guy appears to be reasonably intelligent (he is an author after a fashion) and no longer lives in Manc. As far as I am concerned the therefore has no right to comment. If you can’t be arse living in a city, then shut the fuck up. I have stopped reading his stuff, mainly because he annoyed me so much. I asked him to place me in one of his pre-ordained groups and needless to say he wasn’t able to do it. Oh well. Another piece of internet mindblasting goes off into the ether.
Current Music = Kayleigh by Marillion
Am currently playing the mind games I sometimes play on the train. Look at all the other passengers and decide which role they would play in Star Trek, or which character they would play in the Allo Allo. Currently, in the carriage I am sat in, we have one commanding officer, 2 storm troopers, and a member of the French resistance. I am working on the rest. Possibly one RAF officer and 2 French waitresses! No Italians and no Gastapo. For years I sent my friends cards based upon which character they were out of Winnie the Pooh. So Tigger like characters got Tigger cards, Piglets got Piglets etc etc. Simple things eh!!! Oh dear, a Herr Flick just walked in. Poor lad!!
Current Music = Script for a Jesters Tear by Marillion
I was staying in Lichfield, and started talking to a bloke who worked on the railways. He was upgrading the west coast mainline and had been working on it for a couple of years. The money that they pay was massive, however, that current job was coming to an end. He told me that the next big upgrade was for New Street Station. Oh fantastic. The one station in the UK where everyone has to get off/get on/change trains etc etc. Needless to say, travel chaos ahead. The bloody infrastructure in this country is so far down the tubes its unbelievable. That’s what happens when you get 15 years of a conservative Government with no capital investment into the infrastructure of the country. I suppose 15 years of the Tories before that didn’t help either! 30 years of shit going on in a country and no bugger raise a whimper.
Current Music = Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd.
Do you know I couldn’t tell you the last time I read a book and enjoyed it? I buy books off Stations to read on the rain and, so far this year, everything I have read has been generic crap. Another DaVinci Code rip off etc etc. I know it’s probably the fact that these are what currently catch my eye, but even so. Nothing is jumping up and down saying “read me read me” Anyone have any suggestions? I’m open to offers?
I recently aquired an Ipod Touch. Now totally full of music, it helps while away the train trips. However, I have a problem. My ears are not designed for earphones? Is it just me? For some reason I would rather stick red hot pokers in my ears than use a pair of Apple ear phones? They hurt like fuck! I usually go to the newsagents and buy a crappy pair that sit over my head like proper earphones, that have nice soft padding and don’t leave me feeling like I have a punctured ear drum. However, this morning I forgot to do that so I am having to use the Apple ones. Ears hurt a lot now.
Placing the Ipod on shuffle brings up too much crazy music. For some reason (well the fact that I have LOADS) most of my music doesn’t fit on the ipod touch. I have yet to figure out how to make the music I want fit on it, so currenly 20% of the thing is taken up by Kevin Bloody Wilson entire album collection. Now Kevin Bloody Wilson is ok in small doses bit I wouldn’t; want to listen to him for 7 hours. The rest of it is Pink Floyd (all albums) Marillion (all Albums) , The Jam (all Albums) and some random other stuff. The Last of The Shadow Puppets is quite good. So is Seasick Steve. Generally looking through however, leads me to think that I stopped buying music around about the middle 80’s! I could fire up the external hard drive but it’s a pain in the bum to link it all together.
Current Music = Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd.
For all those who keep asking, Nobby is well. He is a very independent cat and likes his own company. Even when I am in the house, he will often wander off and 3 or 4 hours later I will find him asleep on top of a pile of socks etc. He is a very intelligent cat, so intelligent that yesterday morning he opened the cupboard and managed to open a box of Whiskers biscuits because he was hungry. Needless to say he learnt the error of his ways after being hung upside down for a minute with Geoff shouting “naughty cat”
Current Music = Mother by Pink Floyd.
Current Music = Cedars of Lebanon by U2
I am on holiday for 3 days, and I have spent 2 days of it cooking..lol I have made so much food that the freezer is now full. It just means that I can have something to eat when I get in late, something that isn't pizza or some other crap takeaway. Tomorrow I will make some veggie curry, some more chilli and some more sausage casserole. I bought some pork and black pudding sausage, they sound nice but I may just have them for breakfast :) I also made a bout a pint of leek & Potato soup. I froze that along with most of the other stuff. To be honest I'm not a huge soup fan at the best of times, mainly because it always seems to require a large amount of dead animal as well as the soup in order to make it edible.
Current Music = Rosie By Fairport Convention
Last night was Comic Relief. I donated via mobile phone, which seems like a superb way to get people to donate. Simple, no hassle, no fuss, no messing about. Text a number and off you go. No wonder they managed to raise 25% more than last time. We are living in a text generation.
Current Music = Sir B McKenzies.... By Fairport Convention
In this weeks news we, once again, see numerous people being killed by "Nutters with Guns" Seems like people are willing to accept the blowing away of numerous kiddies in order for their rights to be protected.
The right to carry a weapon (in defence of a township, but they always forget that bit).
The right to defend their homes (and go and blow away a large number of students)
The right to behave like a fucking imbicile and shoot the shit out of loads of innocents. Sounds about right to me.
"From my cold dead hand".....can probably be arranged if you get enough fucking nutters with guns at your daughters school!
Current Music = Gogo don't Go by The Chalets
I am on holiday for 3 days this week, and am sort of pacing the floor. I hate being on holiday. It means I have to amuse myself rather than allowing work to amuse me. I have teased the cat, played computer games, gone shopping to Manchester, gone shopping to Asda (Walmart to our American gun lovers), cooked, cleaned kitchens, teased the cat again and now I'm bored. I even had an afternoon nap. Christ..only OLD people and babies have afternoon naps.
The thing that worries me about holidays is that I will start to sleep late, take things easy and, then when I need to get back to doing what I do I will find that I am still stuck on holiday and getting up at 4 am will become difficult.
Current Music = Adams Psychedelic Breakfast by Pink Floyd.
Last weekend was the Boardgames Auction. A chance to spend a day auctioning boardgames, chatting with friends, meeting new people and joking our way through the afternoon.
Now, given the fact that this takes a huge amount or organisation, that its intense, keeping the thing flowing is difficult enough and all the time you are trying to get as much money for the items on sale as you can, needless to say I was less than impressed when some studenty type person who keeps attending events in order to get his degree in photography, proceeded to stick a microphone in front of my face in order to ask me some questions. My response to said microphone incident was "get that fucking thing out of my face before I hurt you" will probably be looked on as harsh, but fair.
Tim ended up running around keeping the bloke out of my hair. Oh well. Maybe next year he will ask before he sticks a microphone in someones face.
ta ta for now. I'm off to bed.
Current Music = I will follow by U2
Tomorrow is the annual boardgame auction. Once again we will spend 6 hours selling boardgames in order to help raise money both for the games club and for an ex-servicemens home in Salford. Usually we end up at a dodgy pizzeria in Withington, mainly because I think Tim is on commission.
Sunday will be spent sleeping, then I am off to Banbury on Mon & Tues. I get to play on Wed, Thursday & Friday. We will see if I actually bother doing anything or if I just sleep.
Apparently, so it has just been announced on the news, the UK Gov have increased their stake in Lloyds to 60% of the shares with voting rights? Hmm, one wonders when this will end. It certainly seems very serious.
Current Music = Car Crash by The Art of Dying
Its now 10.50 and I am still wide awake. Why the shit can't I get to sleep at any sort of reasonable hour? I fall asleep around 2 am, and I wake up again at 5? Wonder what my head thinks???
