A Month in My Life – April 10

The random happenings in my life during April 2010. The names of the guilty have been changed. But they should know who they are. I might even be subject to some retribution…….

The election was duly announced and so there was a massive pile of paper thru my letterbox. At least I found out that I was in a brand new constituency! And did you spot there was an obvious omission in all the manifesto’s? Well, here it is: “if elected and we fail to implement 75% of the manifesto, then we admit we are liars and useless in our jobs. Therefore we will not be standing again”. So in other words……..use your vote with care.

Burger Boy’s buckle belt looks like this:

Burger Boys Belt Buckle

You will have spotted that a certain volcano caused a lot of havoc. Masses of media attention and I do not know anyone who was caught up in it. No different from the Swine Flu then – I still don’t know anyone who caught it……. But I did enjoy all the jokes.

Now here is a classic tale about red tape. There is a Housing Charity that has done brilliant work for many years. In the last 3 years they have doubled in size and helped out countless people. Given their increased size, they decide to use the Law Society to review their work. Quality of work was given the thumbs up, but they now have tripled the amount of paperwork they used to do. As they do not have the funds for extra staffing, they have had to reduce the number of people they see. This means less help for people in the community. Less help due to extra paperwork. Quality of work unchanged. Sounds daft to me.

And one of the things the Charity is famous for?…….suing local Councils for making people homeless as they have not understood or applied the law properly. Mmmm, I’m going purple with rage again……

I spent a few days down in Cornwall and The Boss ran me ragged. Friends were also down that way and so we all hooked up. A very busy and thoroughly enjoyable few days were had. If you are ever in Truro, make sure you visit the Kathmandu for they do the finest curries you will ever come across. And if you are in the Gorran Haven area, pop into Treveague Farm and you will see nature in action:

New born lamb at Treveague Farm

Mr Ranter discovered that I have been blogging about him. Now you might just be a tad puzzled as to why he had no idea. Well, he’s not on Twatter and thinks Facewink is a pointless collection of non-friends. But he has only just discovered the delights of a smartphone, so there is a chink of light in the tunnel. Anyway, he wishes to point out he does NOT rant. He is the voice of reason. Yea, right!

I have just realised I have not had a rant over South Glos Council for a while. I mentioned all the potholes left after the winter snow a while back. Well, the really bad ones were fixed pretty quickly. The smaller ones were circled in yellow paint about 2 months back. There were so many circles, I described it as “the yellow brick road”. And I can now report that the paint is fading – fast. Any bets on which month the repairs will actually happen?

Went out for a long bike ride on a very gusty day, so it was hard work. OK, it damn near killed me! But finally, I experienced a tailwind that led me to accelerate rather nicely….uphill. First time I have had that one happen, and rare events are always nice! And I’m pleased to say that my perseverance with the wobble board has paid off. My bike handling is greatly improved.

General Randomness

Looks like I am about to embark on a spot of family tree research. Given my weird family, it is bound to be hysterically funny!

Probably the best thing I discovered this month was Dropbox. An online site where you can store up to 2GB for free. Never loose a file again. I like that. And it automatically updates changed files as well. Super, super stuff. My simple  guide is here: https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/dropbox/

Sports News

Firstly, big congratulations to that “little” team called Fulham. They have made it all the way to the Europa League Final. An amazing fairytale that started way back last July.

I was treated to some lovely hospitality for the Bristol City v Notts Forest game. The quality of the food was matched by the quality of the football: excellent (for once!). Interestingly, Burger Boy had a good go at eating a proper meal, but his eyes really lit up after the game – large pile of pizza. There’s no hope for the lad.

Mangotsfield’s Easter Monday derby with Yate saw them win. Unsoddinbelievable!! I have waited 5 years for this victory and it comes on a cool windy day. Lets hope this is the start of a decent run in the local derbies. Please. Pretty please ;). The season officially ended with the club in a comfortable 9th position. Hope they can build on this for next season.

And then the cricket season started with woeful performances by Gloucestershire. The whole team is just not performing and the body language is truly awful. Something is wrong. Seriously wrong. So why do I go? Well, I’m sat in the sun, nattering to all and sundry. So in other words it’s a massive social. Nowt to do with quality of cricket……But then on the last day of the month they pull off an away win at Lords. Onwards and upwards? We shall see.

The warmer weather sees the start of the Motorbike racing season. I have not been to the opening British Superbikes meets, but have been watching the TV coverage. Some very close racing going on in the support races.

And MotoGP also began. The first race was just littered with unexpected events – very, very enjoyable. In case you have not guessed, 2 wheels rule by the way 😉

The best sporting moment of the year so far is an utterly astonishing win in the World Snooker championship. Steve “interesting” Davis knocks out the World No 1 and reigning world champ. Steve is 52 years old. There’s life in the old dog then. Commentators described it as the best ever victory whilst the tournament has been at The Crucible. Needless to say he got utterly thrashed in the next match!

A month in my life – January 10

The random happenings in my life during January 2010.  The names of the guilty have been changed. But they should know who they are. I might even be subject to some retribution…….

The month started quietly as all of the country was covered in snow. The kids out my way were pretty useless. No one threw a snowball at me. My car alarm did not go off as they didn’t clear the snow of it. And to make matters even worse, a distinct lack of snowman. Poor, poor effort in my book.

We only had one day when the sun as out all day when we were still snow covered. I duly togged myself up and ventured out with the camera. I did a 2 hour walk in the morning and met…..just two people, even though the schools were still closed. Guess everyone likes the warmth of their house too much.

Snow covered Severn Estuary. Aust Bridge is in the background - that's the orginal bridge.

And the final tale of the cold weather goes to Cornwall. It was cold enough for pensioners to be awarded the extra Cold Weather payment. So even the warmest part of the country was cold. Believe it was the coldest in Cornwall since the 62/63 winter. And to think I took a picture of a daffodil on Christmas Day 2009!

Its early days, but word on the street is that Burger Boy has a girlfriend. But please don’t tell anyone as it’s a secret!

Regular readers will not be surprised that I have another South Glos Council moan. You received good press about having ample salt/grit supplies towards the end of the cold, snowy spell. Neighbouring Councils almost ran out. But when it thawed the state of the roads became truly awful. Yes, you had loads of salt/grit left as you didn’t put that much on the roads. Now get on with the road repair problem asap – please. Pretty please!

Now here’s a good one for the grey matter. A posh jewellers gets its front window smashed in by very amateur thief’s – who get caught quickly I add. Police disclose that the window items were all fakes. This was because it is a requirement of the insurance company. Makes sense to me…….but what if you walk into the shop and specifically ask to buy an item in the window? Are you sold a fake at full price? Mmmmm. Interesting!

My latest training gadget is a Wobble Board. A round piece of wood and a domed bit is underneath, centred in the middle. This puts the board about 4cm’s off the floor.  All you have to do is stand on it without holding onto anything. Simple. Er, no. Can just about manage 10 seconds. And what an unbelievable leg, knee and ankle exercise it is. Apart from extra leg strength, I’m hoping it makes my balance better. This should help my very low speed manoeuvring on the mountain bike. Will let you know how I get on.

I am fortunate enough to drive a BMW and it was time to get two new rear tyres fitted. If you have a Beamer, you will know that the tyres wear out in the centre, no matter what pressure they are run at. So instead of Michelins, I now have Dunlops fitted. They have a different tread pattern for the middle of the tyre and I hope this leads to better mileage.

Michelin on middle wear indicators, but loads of outside tread. Typical BMW wear.

New Dunlop. Note the different centre tread pattern compared to the Michelin.

Now you all need to pay attention here. For the umpteenth time, don’t go to an AGM. Ever, ever, ever. Got that? For reasons probably involving insanity I went to Gloucester Cricket Clubs AGM. Three hours of my life that I will never get back almost wasted. I say “almost” as at least it wound me up. And I walk out mystified and annoyed at the level of ineptitude at the club. So I cheered myself up and bought Somerset Membership.

It was rather nice of the man from Cambodia to offer me a place to stay for a holiday. My “to do” list gets even longer.

My cycling update is non existent! Weathers too cold. But I did take the bike to bits and give it a full service, so already to go when the weather picks up. Will you let me off?

And finally for this part, my advice is to go out and make someone smile. After all, it’s a free service.

General Randomness

I’ve managed to do a bit of writing this month and did a couple of articles (apart from the jokes):

UK’s Energy Supplies https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/uks-energy-supplies/

Weather Cycle https://smarty09.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/weather-cycle/

Sports News

It all starts on New Years Day. The big local derby saw Mangotsfield visit Yate and my 5 year record of watching Yate win this one…..continues. Dear me. A 4 – 2 loss. Dare I suggest that no less than 5 Mangotsfield players had too much “pop” the night before?

The world of darts crowns its World Champion early in the month. And for the 15th time, it was Phil “The Power” Taylor. 15th time? Nuff said. He is a legend. He won £200k, with the runner up getting £100k. Not bad for a pub game!

As for Bristol City, yes, I went to that game. Not often you see the home side get hammered 6 – 0!

And now onto cricket. England have been playing test matches in South Africa. Performances have been patchy as well. England do not have a Test batsman listed in the world’s top 16. Problem there then. Also the much lorded Kevin Pietersen only produces a good innings in every 20 odd. So why is he in the test team then? The problem with test cricket is that the England players cannot adapt from the one-day format. It’s as simple as that.