A change is gonna come

Well here I am writing a blog for the first time in months. Last time I did this was before my birthday back in May, when I was suddenly rather taken by the idea of buying posh spoons.

Well. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting on tenterhooks since then, holding your breath for an update, but you'll all be glad to find out at last that the posh spoons are still in very good condition and have lasted longer than all the cheap ones we bought before. Hurrah!

Meanwhile, as several months have passed by, things have changed. First of all we moved house back in June. Or July. Or something.

The move was fairly painless thanks to the Mansfield removals company we used. Plus, having moved house far more often than I'm happy about, I'm now pretty good at moving house!

Here's Hayley enjoying our new house the night we got the keys and started moving things in. It doesn't look like that any more though, it has more furniture in it now. Duh. It's much bigger and nicer than our last house, it's in a better location, and best of all the landlord and house owner are kanine-friendly so DogBot isn't going to be getting us in any more trouble.

Secondly I got myself a new car which has changed my life quite a bit. The old Escort had an extremely reliable engine but other than that it was starting to fall apart and the maintenance bills were getting higher and higher, not to mention the shitty MPG costing me a fortune in fuel, so it had to go.
After securing the finance for it I shopped around for about 3 years, viewed about a thousand cars, and test drive what seemed like several hundred different models before eventually buying my new baby, Marina the Corsa.

While a Corsa is pretty hard to get excited about, the choice was made a no-brainer thanks to competetive pricing, high MPG, low insurance, virtually no road tax and Vauxhall's reliable build. It was a really nice drive too which was really the clincher.

Since I last posted we've also been on holiday! We booked a 3 days break in Krakow, Poland, for no reason other than we walked past the travel agents and the poster in the window was advertising a really cheap offer. The time between booking it and going flew by and before you know it there we were in Krakow soaking up the atmosphere, and of course, the beer!

We made sure to visit nearby Auschwitz because I thought it would be fun. It wasn't. But other than that rather morose trip it was a really gun holiday where we made lots of friends, had some wacky adventures, got some stories to tell, and drank a lot of beer (did I mention that already?).

And that pit-stop tour of the last few months brings us all up to date to now: a very snowy December 1st. Christmas is right around the corner but if you look out of the Window you'll believe it's here already. Here in Mansfield we've had tons and tons of it fall in the last 48 hours, the conditions are completely bonkers. Everybody is snowed in, pretty much nobody has gone to work anywhere. But, having a job I can do from a PC anywhere, I have to sit here at my desk and work from home. Boo!

That's all for now kids. Ta-ta.

Oh and points to anyone who spotted the Sam Cooke reference

Cinco de Mayo, Iron Man 2, and Posh Spoons

Over the last month or so I've turned into a right calorie counting, fat-weighing fag. My eating habits have improved so much, but at the risk of me being killed by the next person who hears me moan about how much salt is in my BLT.

I haven't been drinking much recently either. Alcohol is empty calories, you see. Swinkle knows these things. Tonight however, is different. Tonight I'm up late playing DJ Hero and sinking a few beers to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo, for those not in the know, is a Mexican national holiday, which is based on an unlikely victory of the Mexican army in some century too long ago to matter. But for the rest of us it's just a fairly obscure excuse to drink and party with anyone else who may know what it means. It's like Mexico's very own St Patrick's Day.

Tonight Hayley and I went to see Iron Man 2. It was ok, not as good as the first one. That's about as much of a review as you'll get out of me.

Then we went to Sainsburys for some stuff, and to hang out at the Nissan Micra party in the car park that we'd said we'd go to.

While there we bought posh new teaspoons. The reason for this is mainly bercause we ran out of teaspoons. But the reason we specifically bought the expensive ones is because apparently I'm old now. You see, there's a certain stage in your developing maturity, where you're no longer happy to have Sainsbury's basics, Tesco value and ASDA price in your house. So now I have posh spoons and I feel like an adult.

Now I'm going to go and moan about the weather and how it was always better in my day, and to bore the young'uns with stories about how, when I was a lad, I used to have to walk 15 miles to work at the pit, carrying a donkey on my back.

Still April

What's this, two posts in the same month? I must have been snorting pro plus in the moonlight! Or something that makes sense.

Tomorrow I'm going on a business meeting with the Big Boss and our Head of Sales to meet our newest suppliers. What's unusual about this meeting above others is that rather than driving there, we'll be flying the distance in a 4 seater Cessna biplane.

Although it does seem a bit over the top for a visit to Suffolk, I must say I'm quite looking forward to the flight. I'll be able to look down from the skies and spy on all my loyal minions (and perhaps more importantly, my not so loyal ones).

Meanwhile I should probably be in bed, but I'm not. That's mostly because I'm playing Forza.

OK, I admit it, I just lied. I'm not playing Forza, I'm writing a blog post. but I was playing and now I'm going to play some more.

Seeya tomorrow kids (look up)

Where do the weekends go?

Here I am on another Sunday evening wondering what happened to my weekend and why there's suddenly none of it left. They say time flies when you're having fun; maybe that's why it seems to be Monday morning as soon as you get used to it being Friday afternoon.

Anyway. It's been a good weekend at least.

Friday was a chance to see Cresswell's new house for the first time as he was hosting a fire party. It was a reasonably quiet night except for some idiot deciding to jump over the fire a few times, thinking he was dead clever. I got to drive down in a lovely car which isn't mine, and probably never will be ?

On Saturday I went to the gym. I joined up again a couple of weeks ago when I realised I'd gained over a stone and a half in the space of 2 months. So off I went on Saturday to row a few miles, because rowing is how the cool kids work out. By the time I lose this weight I'm destined to be an Olympic rowing champion.

But then came the main event of Saturday, as 2pm rolled by and it was time for the first barbecue of 2010! Things started off slowly and at first there were only 4 of us for a while, sat there thinking "well this is crap" but before long the guests began to arrive and before you know it things were in full swing.

Fast forward a few hours, everything was going fine and food had been flying off left right and centre as the place got more and more packed. By this time the back garden was heaving and inside was full of people too. Suddenly some cheese slices mysteriously landed on my spare bedroom window and the surrounding wall. Was this a giant cheese-shitting pigeon? No, it was a bunch of cocks who thought it would be hilarious to throw it everywhere. It wasn't.

Following me kicking off and subsequent cleanup of the cheese there was also a fiasco involving Colonel Mustard which was when things got really ugly!

Somebody was asked to leave, and a few others left too, but all in all drama was dealt with quickly by my swift hand of justice. I'm like a superhero.

The partying went on into the night, and even later for some, i.e. Shaun and Sean who were still up watching basketball pornos at 11am, bless 'em!

Eventually Sunday rolled by and we awoke to be greeted by an aftermath scene like something out of Skins, and nobody to help clean up. Bugger. But no worries because we had other things on our mind – Sunday was the day we had booked to go view new houses! Awesome!

We jumped in the batmobile mazda and headed off to Pleasley to view our potential new house, which, incidentally, is a layout that was designed by none other than Tim Burton. We were let loose with the keys and allowed to view it alone, so of course we scheduled another party. Shamefully nobody turned up this time so we just had to wander around looking at walls and floors instead.

Back home we went and after a hardcore cleaning session, that was the end of my fun weekend.

Next weekend I have not nearly as much partying planned, but it should be fun nonetheless as I am expecting to finally get my Xbox back, in fully working condition, after it being broken for 4 months!

Watch out kids 'cause once I get back on Xbox live you're all in for a whoopin!

The puzzle

The eternal debate. Is this a tomato or an orange? Answers on a postcard.

Or a comment...

February time

As these blogs are becoming quite routinely one-per-month, it seems fitting to name them after their months. That, and I'm far too lazy to attempt a witty blog title.

It wouldn't be funny, anyway.

Today has been valentines day. I am, as most of men in the UK, one of the growing crowd of people painfully aware that it's a bullshit holiday created by the greeting card industry. Nonetheless we're stuck going along with it until we can get the ladies on board with the rebellion.

Last weekend, in comparison, I shook off the femininity of my house to go watch the Stags-Gateshead game. Watching a football game feels so manly. The testosterone flowed so strongly that I walked out with a rather long beard that wasn't there as I entered.

For the last month I have had Fridays off work, for no reason other than I had some holidays to use up. While I do enjoy my job, to varying degrees depending on which way the wind blows, the regular time to myself has given me the perfect chance to brush up on my nunchaku, which has recently proven extremely useful. Not to go into too much detail on here - as it's public - but suffice to say when an intruder broke in the other night we didn't need Dogbot to defend the place.

Alas I have no more Fridays off so the black belt will just have to wait. Also, I'm going to be a bit preoccupied for a while, as I've got to find some time to create a website about stuffing bears....

Of new years and new starts, and as many other cliches as I can squeeze into a blog post

Here I am once again starting a blog with the thought "I should do this more often". I seem to have averaged out about a blog a month over the latter half of 2009 and I would love to say that blogging more is going to be one of my new years resolutions.

I would love to say it, but I can't. Because it won't.

Truth be told, I'm don't have any new years resolutions, and that's not completely because I'm not a tool, it's also because... well, ok, it's just because I'm not a tool.

As for 2009 in hindsight, it was very much a year of two halves. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... Wait - what the Dickens am I on about?

At the top end of 2009 I was still banned from driving, I was jobless and skint, miserably single, and still living with my parents, one of whom was seriously ill and didn't have long left to live. Obviously this was all a bit shit to be honest, so the year didn't start so well and it took a big turn for the worse when Mum died in February and I hit rock bottom.

But don't worry cause this blog post isn't all doom and gloom. Y'see, after that things started to look up. I mean, sure, my Mum had just died and I was feeling pretty shit about that but the show must go on, so I started to patch my life back together.

Now, fast forward 12 months and things have changed. I got my driving licence back ages ago now, and I have a job - and a good one at that, one I'm very happy in, and I have my own house, where I live with my wonderful girlfriend Hayley (and the DogBot) and things are looking pretty good right now, to be honest. Oh, and I now rock at solving a Rubik's cube.

Nonetheless I'm not satisfied with things yet. Sure, I've got it pretty neato at the moment, but things can always be better and that's what I'm going to make sure happens in 2010.

Targets for 2010 (note: I said targets, not resolutions):

• Hayley and I are looking to stop wasting money on renting this house, and buy somewhere instead. And we're hoping to get a newbuild which would be awesome.
• I'm looking forward to getting a new car in the fairly-near future. My old Escort Estate is on its last legs so I'm really ready for an upgrade. I've been looking at new cars as recently as yesterday and I've aranged to go view/test drive one next week so watch this space!
• Get my 1-years no claims bonus on my car insurance so I don't have to keep paying ridiculous amounts of money for insurance.
• To again attempt what I miserably failed at last year, training for and running the Mansfield Half Marathon in June
  

But I'm in no rush for any of that stuff to happen and I'm happy to leave it for now, 'cause I got a bed to get to...

Night kids.

La gra go deo. Or something.