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Calling all Southerners

*ahem*

Blinks in Brighton.  Somewhere random near the train station.  At some point in the evening.

Come on, what more information do you need?

I'm the tall chap in the suit who has a pony tail that has got messy as a result of the high coastal winds and the fact that I keep touching my hair to make sure it hasn't all fallen out.  Regular bloggers will appreciate the artist's impression of me in an earlier blog.

I'm planning on finding a WiFi connection and blogging the venue at the last minute.  You know, just to make it a bit mysterious.  Is there anywhere in Brighton that I should avoid?  I'm probably leaving it up to Chloe (The Slytherin Head Girl) to let me know where to go.  She is a resident after all and therefore an expert on all things Brightony.  Of course, she is at work until 8pm so I may be well into my cups by the time she gets there.

Drinks, good company, the chance to stroke a magic wishing frog.  What more could you want out of an evening out?

Jigsaw

I bought a 1000 piece jigsaw on Sunday of New York city's skyline and the Statue of Liberty.  It was an old image as it had the twin towers in the background.  I got it because Snarly is obsessed with New York and I thought it would be good to spend some kid\dad time with her before she stops speaking all together.

As a budding teenager (I think tween is the correct term) she is becoming increasingly withdrawn and communicates either by grunting or by text.  On the plus side she spends a lot of time reading.  Having a large family means that we don't get to spend much one on one time with the kids.  It's more of a huge crowd of kids swarming everywhere with the loudest (Cake Worm) gettign the most attention.  The jigsaw thing was an effort on my part to redress this balance slightly.

We finished it last night.

There is one piece missing.

That just about sums up everything that I try to do these days.

 

I am currently trying to work hard

Instead the noise of the people I share an office with has forced me to waste my time doing this instead: 

How is your day going?

Current mood: In need of silence


"Borrowed heavily" from Racheroo

SOUNDTRACK TO MY LIFE:
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool and no disclaimers allowed.

Opening Credits:
Flinch - Alanis Morissette

Waking Up:
Infidelity (Only You) - Skunk Anansie

First Day At School:
Susie and Jeffrey - Blondie

Falling In Love:
Picture This - Blondie

Fight Song:
Tell Him - Vonda Shepard

Breaking Up:
Charity - Skunk Anansie

Prom:
Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd

Mental Breakdown:
Kielbasa - Tenacious D

Driving:
Don't Get Me Involved - Betty Curse

Flashback:
Mobile - Avril Lavigne

Getting back together:
Diamond Dogs - David Bowie

Wedding:
Uninvited - Alanis Morissette

Birth of Child:
For Pete's Sake - The Monkees

Final Battle:
Inward Singing - Tenacious D

Death Scene:
The Moderd World - The Jam

Funeral Song:
Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies

End Credits:
Outside the Wall - Pink Floyd

---

Well that was suprisings strange.

Derek Acorah's got nothing on me

Further to my post the other day I am now in regular contact with Gregory Peck.

I may just go out and buy myself some leather trousers, get my ears pierced and talk to the "spirits" when people start questioning me.  I'm not getting possessed though or fainting.  That's just going too far.

In addition to buying software from famous dead people I also get training courses from Annie Lennox.  He prefers to be called Andy and hides the Scottish accent behind a Basingstoke stutter but I know who he really is.

Go on.  Drop some names.  You know you want to.

Currently playing: Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams

Pogonophobia

On my morning commute I had a very annoying start to the day.  I missed catching my train and was forced to watch while the guard mocked me with his stupid beardy face and jangled his door opening keys at me.  Damn the rule about shutting the door 30 seconds before leaving.  Damn it.

So I had to travel all the way down to Hellsea to catch the connecting train but, damn it all, the cursed thing stopped before it got there.  It stopped just long enough to let the connecting train leave the station just before I'd reached the doors.  A different beardy guard mocked me this time.  He mocked me with his stupid Quaker oats beard and his wide mouth.

So, back to Havant town to catch the next train to work.  No, I didn't miss this one but the train did travel at an excruciatingly slow rate just to annoy me.  Damn it.

Finally on the proper train I ambled casually to my usual seat.  Some crazy bearded fool had taken my seat.  My seat!  Don't they know that I specially reserve that seat in case I miss my usualy train?  I had to move down the train to find another seat but they all seemed to be taken up by bearded men.  In fact, there were so many bearded men on the train that I began to suspect that there was a bearded man convention locally.  Or, perhaps, I had slipped into an alternate reality where the wearing of beards was law.

The Hildy was no help when I sent her a "rescue me from the beardies" emergency text.  Her reply was simply "Beware the beardies, they are trying to hide something".

Now I'm really worried.  Famous beardies include Jesus Christ, Rasputin, Karl Marx, Osama Bin Laden and Harold Shipman.

Currently playing: Gimme All Your Lovin'
Current mood: Very Afraid


Quotes from beyond the grave

I've just got a quote for upgrading our accounting software from Gregory Peck.  What does it say about me that I am unreasonably thrilled at this?

"I see" said the blind man to his deaf daughter

Today my right eye looks like this:

The Black Eye Galaxy.

I look like I've been playing with a novelty telescope.  Plus I've got a stinking cold.

Kicking

There is a gang of bored chavs who hang around in the car park of the local Aldi.  Their favourite activity is to yell abuse at passers by.  I consider them an irritant and wonder why they don't spend their time doing something a bit more constructive.

Anyway, I went out to a birthday drink yesterday after work and was on my way from saud drink to the train station at about 9:30 when the rowdy gang started yelling at this bloke in front of me from across the road and then me as I passed.  Not to be outdone I decided that I would join in the fun game and return their abuse with a few choice hand signals.  There is something about these people that annoys me.  Only in a gang of a half dozen or more are they able to get away with what is essentially anti-social behaviour.

I passed the group and was 100 yards down the road when I was suddenly jumped on from behind and punched and kicked.  I remember sinking my teeth into the leg of one of my attackers and hearing him yell in pain.  The whole thing was probably over in a few seconds because the police arrived and the gang ran off.  The police called an ambulance and they insisted I go to hospital to get checked out.  Probably because my memories of the actual attack are so sparse and the injuries are mainly about my head.  I couldn't identify my attackers because I didn't really pay much attention to them.  If I'd known they were going to jump me I'd have commited their faces to memory, but I didn't.  Instead of getting home safely at 10pm I finally got home at 2am.  Poor Hildy was very worried.

I am left with minor injuries: a few cuts and bruises, two black eyes, some aching ribs, a foot print on my side, and a very swollen nose.  I'm also very angry.  It has taken me back to my school days in Reading where I would be jumped and attacked on a regular basis for no reason at all.  I always fought back but I never really won.  It isn't a fight when you have six to one odds, it's a kicking.  And that's what I got on Friday.

Bastards.

Current mood: Angry


Exercise and more lazy blogging

Current mood: Still busy like a bee


Much ado about nothing

Have you ever been in a situation where you've got so much to do that nothing ever gets done?

Well, that's me at the moment.  Again. 

I keep getting into this situation.  It isn't too much blogging or too much staring out of the windows at the antics of the ducks or the crows.  It's just too much...everything.

I'm delegating everything tomorrow when I get to work.  Everything.

Everything except reply to the lovely Michelle, which is about 5 days overdue.  And possibly design that new product database....and the supporting mandate system...and the associated Local Authority database.....

...oh bum.

I'll catch up soon.

Current mood: Big-Smiley


Guilty

Obviously I've done something wrong....

...it would be good to know what though.

Current mood: Angry


Only a week late

13 things in the room that you are in right now (as suggested by the adorable Michelle):

1. A black chalk mug for black coffee.  Currently I have nothing written on it.
2. A Purple Ronnie pint mug for tea
3. A travel mug from VeriSign that leaks
4. A large 200g jar of Carte Noire that is nearly empty.  I go through one every other week.
5. My "Insult a Day" calendar.  Day 32 (Today) says "I'm busy now, can I ignore you some other time?"
6. A Communities and Local Government White Paper entitled "Home Information Pack Update: towards 1 June"
7. A resume supplied by the aforementioned Michelle that I really need to read again so I can reply to her email.
8. My work shoes.  I'm not wearing them till the visitors arrive this afternoon.
9. My trainers that I wore to work today.  The shoeses are all under my desk in an appropriately tidy manner.
10. A massive buffet lunch for 8 people.  I'm not one of them but for some reason my desk must have seemed like a good place to leave it.  It smells great and looks delicious.  Hungry!
11. Five spider plants.  All descended from the first plant I bought when I moved into my first house back in Cardiff.
12. A print out of an overview on the costings for digital pens.
13. An old Gestetner P7027 that used to be upstairs in the office but now it's down here.  Even though it jams up every week it's still my favourite printer.

As you can probably guess I am at work.

Current mood: Big-Smiley