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 – December 09

The random happenings in my life during December 2009.  The names of the guilty have been changed. But they should know who they are. I might even be subject to some retribution……. 

This is the month that the jolly big red coated chap arrives. Here he is: 

I asked for a million pounds and a blonde with a large chest. He failed to deliver.

Apart from the usual present fiasco, Christmas Day went well. Full tum, walk on the beach and unbelievably, first “spring” daffodil in bloom spotted. No, I’m not winding you up, as I have a picture to prove it. 

Picture taken around 4pm on Christmas Day 2009 at Playing Place, Truro, Cornwall

People walking on Beach at Falmouth, Cornwall, Christmas Day 2009

I hope you all enjoyed the festive season and New Year capers. One person I follow on Twitter is Mark Beaumont who is cycling from the north of America, right down to the Southernmost point. He was in Chile for Christmas, and his Christmas Day posting was “Must have a hole in tent as woken with thousands of ants all over my breakfast. Just trying to brush them off. Might be a crunchy meal”. I trust your Christmas Day started better! Puts life into perspective doesn’t it? 

Burger Boy is adamant that Father Christmas does not exist. Poor deluded chap. 

And my final Christmas Day thought goes to the person who accessed my joke section. Hope I made you smile and you enjoyed the day! 

It is the month of general excess and I had a heavy week of fun with too much food in the lead up to Christmas week. Had great company mind and a tremendous laugh as well. Cheers m’dears….. 

So I wander into the new superstore for Curry/PC World and look on in amazement. Wish the doors were wide enough for me to drive through. It’s so big I need SatNav. Wow. An hour later I walk out with the £1.99 bit I was after. 

This month, I had several trips. London for a few days and then onto Cornwall as “The Boss” was 83. She barked out her instructions, I raced around like a lunatic getting all the bits. Will she ever slow down? Then back down again for a few days at Christmas. 

As for London, well, it was grim weather, but still very enjoyable. It’s such a multi-cultural place; it was rare to hear English being spoken. Asked for directions three times, and they were all none English speaking people. So I muddled through with Nokia Maps and did just fine. 

 

Out of the blue, the man from Abergavenny rang. We had a quick update chat and will hook up for a proper natter in the New Year. I thanked him for the best advice I have ever received. He gave it to me about three years ago and it is now my mantra. Take life easy he said. You have worked too hard for too long. You need to have done everything, seen it all and got the t-shirt. And make sure you do it twice over before you are 75. Well, 2009 was the first year of my new life. I’ve had an utter blast. Hope it lasts!!! 

As you know, I like my gadgets. And I’ve just bought the best one for ages. It’s called a Power Monkey and I got the solar adaptor as well. No more using electricity to charge my gadgets. Now all solar power. Who would have thought I would go “green”. Interestingly, it charges under a normal light bulb. But no charge under an energy efficient bulb. Mmmmm. Assume this is a spectrum of light thing. It even charges in the weak winter sunshine. While it states on the blurb that a full charge will re-charge a mobile 3 times, it only does mine 1.5 times. Ahh, the cost of a smartphone, with monster battery…… 

Power Monkey at the back, solar charger in front

Bob the Builder now claims to make the best pina colada. His recipe is 25% Appletons Rum, 25% coconut cream, 25% Malibu, 25% pineapple juice, shaken with loads of crushed ice. What do you think? 

Another new Skype user joins the ranks with much video waiving. And then I read that Nokia have just released a beta version of full the full Skype program. So not too far away from an official release then. Simply cannot wait for that. I already use the Fring version on my E90 which is “cut down and basic”, so will be great when a full official version is available. Will let you know when I’ve used it. 

The Man from Lydney had an accident. Snapped achilles tendon diagnosed, operated on and duly plastered. It came as no surprise that he could not cope with crutches – if you have met him, you’ll know what I mean. So, swallowing pride, he does the zimmer frame thing. Must get a picture…… 

At long last the weather took a turn for the worse, and winter duly arrived. Burger Boy then complains about being cold at the football “don’t understand it” he says “I’m wearing 5 layers”. Oh dear. All this is old hat now and simply irrelevant. Modern day fabrics rule the roost. He was frozen wearing 5 layers. I was warm and toasty wearing just two. The main difference? His first layer was a cotton t-shirt. Cotton absorbs sweat and so cools you down. Useful in summer, rubbish in winter. I wore a man-made fabric next to my skin. It wicks away sweat and so keeps your body dry. And therefore warm. My second layer was a very untrendy “buffalo” jacket. As used by the British Army – to sleep in i.e. It has replaced sleeping bags. Wonderful use of fabrics means it keeps the body the same temperature in a range of 12C to -10C. Oh, and it withstands 1″ of rain per 45 mins. Untrendy, but I was nice and warm!! 

By the way, if you are ever desperately cold, shivering away, get home as soon as you can. Make a hot drink. Whilst it’s cooling down to a drinkable state, have a hot shower. And when getting dressed, put on fresh clothes – not the old cold ones. You should be nice and warm within 20 mins of getting home. 

I live near Cribbs Causeway on the outskirts of Bristol. This means when the sales are on, I’m at home due to grid-locked roads. I hope everyone who was at the shops or stuck in traffic around noon on Monday 28th enjoyed the free treat. One of the two resident Spitfires took off from Filton Airfield and did 20 mins of acrobatics. Utterly glorious sight. Oh, and the noise from that Merlin engine. Untold joy. 

I did watch some news this month. I established the weather went cold, snow fell, and it was a holiday period, so people did strange things – like eat too much and they all went to the shops at the same time. 

My cycling update is a tad bereft this month as too much snow, ice, wind and rain. Despite this, my best mate beat my PB when he did a 32 mile non-stop trip. Beat me by 2 miles, so gauntlet laid down then. 

General Randomness 

No new articles written this month, just loads of jokes. Go on, have a butchers…. 

Did you know that 31 December 2009 was literally “once in a blue moon”? No, well let me explain. A Blue Moon is when there are two full moons in the same calendar month. On average this happens every 2.5 years. The next one that occurs on New Years Eve will not be until 2028. 

If you like movies, I highly recommend watching Sherlock Holmes. A great storyline that has been put into pictures.

Sports News 

I only went to watch Bristol City this month as combination of bad weather and fixture clashes. Nice company as usual, shame about the poor standard of football. As for my beloved Birmingham City, well, what a first half of the season that was! Above Liverpool at Christmas. No one could have seen that coming. At least I’ve been a fan for more than 40 years, so I know what happens next…. 

The best sporting achievement of the year goes to James Bowthorpe. Bet you have never heard of him! He cycled around the world in just 174 days, beating the old world record by an astonishing 20 days. Get your calculator out – 18,000 miles in 174 days. He was 32 years old and it was a £1.8m fund-raiser for research into Parkinson’s Disease. Will he get an MBE in the New Year Honours list? Err, no he didn’t. Do I relax in case he was offered, but refused? Or do I witter on about an injustice?