Get up,
Go to work,
Get home,
Spend a few hours doing stuff,
Go to bed.
At the moment my day works more like this:
Get up,
Spend a few hours doing stuff,
Go to work,
Get home,
Go to bed.
Today in my "doing stuff" I decided to give my car a clean. (!!) Cleaned out the inside, washed down the outside. Started giving it a wax but got bored. On the other hand I now know what kids are for. "Here's a fiver, go clean the car. And don't forget to wax!!" As long as you breed them tall enough to reach the roof!!
Bloody bendy-buses, bloody drunks* and bloody physists who really don't know what they're talking about.
And now I've got that off my chest I can go get a few hours kip before I go see the doctor.
*For those of a nervous dispostition I should point out that at no time was there actual blood involved with either the bendy-buses or the drunks. Just incase you were worried that there might have been, what the police call, "an incident.
miss tickle - I still reckon you're a work-shy tax vacuum.
Of course you do dearie and I would write more but I'm off to work. Or I would be if it wasn't for the fact that I'm so work-shy!!! :p
Speaking of which, it's surprisenly busy on Piccadilly at two in the morning... though I should appologise to the two people who were sent not quite the right way to Victoria Station. We didn't know the way then and so guessed!!
Just though I should mention that I have only really just gotten up. And before everyone starts, it's not a lie-in, oh no, because I'm working nights for at least the rest of the week and therefore, if anything, I've gotten up early!!
Just to be difficult I'm trying to remember a conversation that I had recently... problem is, I can't remember with whom I was having this conversation.
For those who might be interested (I suppose there might be some) we were talking about at what point in your life you switch from being a boy/girl into a man/woman?? Is there a point??
I know that there are some terms such as boy/girlfriend that you would always say, opposed to wo/manfriend, but at the same time once you hit pensioner years you are very rarely refered to in terms that remind people of little ones in long socks and shorts!!
Maybe there is a certain event after which one should be refered to in more mature terms... being married, kids, own house maybe?? Most "boys" aren't aged thirty-five and own their own house after all!!
I like to think that it's more a state of mind, you are as young as you feel that is. There will always be a part of me that is only aged eleven, that loves kicking piles of leaves, eating jelly and building sandcastles. Where a good day is one that involves icecream (make mine a '99) and maybe even a hotdog!!
Mmmmmm, hotdogs.....
Miss Tickle - for a real person it takes about eighteen months to do an MPhil, so graduating in two years, though in my case there were special circumstances including submitting OVER TWO YEARS ago. However, as anyone who has ever read Piled High and Deeper will know, graduating is not the goal of doing any sort of postgraduate work (Ohhh, now I tell you).
Wow, two posts in one evening.... it's like buses or bills, all turning up at the same time. I guess you're just as lucky.
Suppose I had better make this a good one then.....
Now that I'm graduating the question of what I want to do with my life is going to be raising it's head (on the other hand I've managed to write that sentance without looking at the keyboard). This is a slightly important question for any number of reasons, including the one that I shall soon be looking at the "Big Three Oh" in the face and quite frankly, it's about time that I should at least make a start at sorting things out.
Thing is, I don't know what I want to do...
Or where I want to do it...
And these are the slightly problamatic problems.
You see, if I knew what I wanted to do I could look at places where I can do whatever that was. It would give me a starting point to setting my life on this grand adventure.
Alternatively, if I knew that there was a specific place that I wanted to live, I could use that as a starting place and see what there was available at that place. But apart from not being in the middle of a large city (such as London/Birmingham/Toronto/New York) I'm not that fussed.
I shall have to decide something at some point... but I don't graduate until July, so maybe then....
Thankyou very much, I shall appologise for not saying that properly before. If you would like you may imagine that I have only just recovered from celebrating SIX YEARS of studying, though that would be a tiny lie. I don't get to celebrate until next month.
If anyone is interested I shall be graduating (yes, really) Thursday morning on July 17th with all the engineers. I mention this because my parents are flying out to South America on that day and subequently are unable to come. :o(
Well, in thirteen hours it starts and quite frankly, I'm now starting to get worried.
You know, I really don't want to do my viva tomorrow, but alas the university has apparently insisted that I pass and finish my degree before allowing me to graduate, and this means I have to do another viva.
Now my last one didn't go very well. Which is putting it mildly really. When you start stammering and get 50/50 questions wrong you know that it's just not your day.
Hopefully it'll be a lot better this time round. Having already done one I'll have an idea what's about to happen. I'm better prepared and I have got lots of answers for possible questions (please let them ask those questions) which'll hopefully fill up the allotted time. However long that is.
But if anyone has a few spare minutes free, around ten in the morning and would like to remember me in a prayer or something I wouldn't be adverse to that. I'm looking at it this way, I need as much help as possible and every little helps.
I suspect that there are a number of people here who would agree with me that Bon Jovi are pretty alright and that their songs are listenable, especially in a car (not so in a karaoke bar). I know I have put up their lyrics in the past and guess what, I'm going to do so again.
This is from the latest album (Lost Highway), which I've had for several months, and I love the general upbeat nature of this track (Summertime) in particular. The bit I especially love is the "how to stay happy" part. The "not giving up." There are times when we all need such things, some more often than most.
I keep a postcard in the back of my mind,
Of white sand, sunshine,
And you shining like a brand new dime,
That's keeping me from giving up,
Thinking that I've had enough.
I'm off to buy some more milk then it's back to the writing perfect answers to potential viva questions. On the other hand, I've been told that it should all be over by noon Friday.
There are times, when people who know me will say, when I can be rather argumentitive. I can admit this because it's true. There are some topics on which I am more likely to disagree with people than on others. These can range from increasing penalties for some offences (like drugs) or the defence of freedom and liberties that have made this country great.
The one that gets me, however, is a biggy. The free will/predestiny debate.
For those that can't guess, I'm on the side of Free Will. Mainly because it's true and predestiny isn't. (don't sit on the fence here!!)
As far as I'm aware there are some terrible holes in the theory for predestiny. These include the fact that;
A loving God would be willing to accept that vast people are going to Hell and there's nothing that they can do about it. I mean, this is the same God that so loved the world that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, so that we could be saved?? Isn't it?? He didn't do that because He had already decided who would be saved and who wouldn't. He did that so that WE ALL HAD THE CHANCE for salvation.
What else was there... oh yes, predestiny also degrades the Glory to God. If there is more rejoycing by the Angels in Heaven over one lost sheep coming into the flock, why would they bother if they already knew that the sheep was coming?? Where is the glory in singing His praises if He has already decided on who's in the choir?? The Glory comes from the fact that we have CHOSEN to sing His praises.
I mean, if there is no choice, no freedom what makes the whole thing different from any other totalitarian country?? What makes God different from any other despot leader?? I prefer to think that God is better than that. I prefer to think that we are worthy than that.
I know that there are some people who might dis/agree with me, some may even want to say so. Please be free, but no debating. I have a viva to revise for and so my mind is on other things.
My mum watches a lot of soaps... in fact, I think she watches all of them (one of the reasons for getting the tv arial fixed was because Neighbours and Home and Away are on channel five). When my parents go off on holiday it is up to me to make sure that all the videos are swapped over so she can catch up when she gets back.
However, now that we have (semi-)decent digital we have splashed out and bought one of these hard-drive recording units that can save a couple hundred hours worth of tv. Pretty cool eh?? Guess who it is who gets to work out how the damed thing works??
So last night I set it to record the Ice Hockey. I don't know which of the two games five were showing, but in both cases it was the deciding game in a best of seven series and so I don't want to know the result. Hopefully it'll be either Montreal beating Boston, or Washington beating Philledelphia.
I'd have prefered it to have been my Leafs beating someone, but quite frankly they have been rather sucky for the last few years. Oh well....
Twenty-six months ago (or end of Jan 2006) I submitted my thesis.
I just mention this as an example of how long it has been since I finished doing all the leg work for my thesis (the writing up as well as the practical work). My viva for all this work is going to be on the very first Friday of May, or in two weeks.
I wasn't really very happy with the first one (back in October 2006) because I got horribly nervous, stuttered, answered questions wrong and generally made a total mess of the entire thing. To the point that I was even answering easy 50:50 questions wrong... and somehow still managed to pass...
And that was with the knowledge that even if I really screwed up I would have another go.
...don't fix it as the saying goes. Because it'll only go wrong and you'll end up looking like a fool. But not as foolish as the design for the new coins of the realm.
Now, as a special commemorative set I would admit that having the Royal Standard over six coins (the penny to fifty pence pieces) with the image as a whole on the pound is very clever, however this is not planned on being a commemorative set. This is the brand new design that will be replacing all the old, no longer "fit for purpose" regular coins (apart from the two pound coin, that's ok).
This I'm not so happy about.
There are people who are going on about how having the denominations in writing as opposed to numerals will make it harder for non-english speakers to know what each is worth. There are others who might comment that unless you see the whole, individually they look rather... strange. Some comment on the fact that Wales isn't represented on the Royal Standard and therefore ask whether this "inclusiveness" doesn't include the Welsh (even though the designer is Welsh and the Royal Mint is based in Wales).
The reason why I'm annoyed is the fact that after over three-hundred and thirty years of appearing on British coins, Britannia is being taken away. In fact, she has appeared on coins for a lot longer, having been introduced by the Romans, but it was Charles II who brought her back.
Personally, I feel that this is simply change for changes sake. I know that graphic designers have got to do something with their time, but quite frankly there should be someone who had enough sense somewhere to tell the focus group (or whomever it was who thought that the coinage needed changing) where to get off. Preferably at the end of a pier, but I would settle for a long way away from things that are working without their help.
As the Royal Mint's website says, "familiar designs that have served us well for almost 40 years". It doesn't say why they have to be changed.
Left a bit.... a bit more... a little bit more.... no, back the other way....
(bimble, 12.04.08)
For some unknown reason, despite living in the commuter belt of London reception of most recievers (tv, radio, mobile phones) is pretty poor. And digital is worse.
Last week we had a tv arial guy come round to fix an arial that would do NASA proud to the roof of the house. What this means is that for the first time since we moved here (bout twelve years ago) BBC 1&2, ITV and C4 have clear reception and aren't fuzzy. What's more, we now have a watchable channel five!! What this means is that I can now watch NHL ice hockey. Just in time for the season to end.
Now ice hockey is one of my sporting passions. I got into it while working in my local. I'd be getting home late and it'd be the ony thing worth watching at that time. I say watch, the screen was so fuzzy that I couldn't actually watch the game, but I'd listen to the commentry.
But now, once the season restarts, I can watch it again!!!
Not only have we got channel five we have even found some digital channels on Freeview!! They can be a bit scratchy but it did mean I was able to watch Dr Who Confidential after the destruction of Pompei was casued by The Doctor. I was also able to watch 'Gavin and Stacey' last night and plan on watching Family Guy' tonight.... I love BBC3.
Alas, DAB digital radio still sucks and does mobile phone reception.
You know I mentioned my shoulder hurting in my last post? Woke up this morning unable to sit up! V.annoying especially with the alarm clock out of reach
The good, the bad and the slightly uncomfortable......
(bimble, 09.04.08)
Bit's of news here, bit of news there.... it's like the saying, 'stories, stories everywhere, and not a thing to blog..."
I mean, despite the snow on Sunday morning I still had to drive out to Chippenham, which was made all that more interesting by the fact that Surrey Council hadn't bothered to grit any of the roads. Even though the snow had been forecast for several days. Needless to say I thought they could have done better.
Or there's the fact that I have won my division in the university email archery league. Even though I didn't win a single event I managed to get to the top of the table to win by one point thanks to a personal best score for the final round. Something I think that Lewis Hamilton should take note. You don't have to win the individual events to come top. I only averaged fourth with a best finish of second (my only podium placing) in December.
Or I could talk about the fact that I've taken a real dislike to Hounslow, though if you were to ask me why I wouldn't be able to tell you. It's easy to get to, there are some nice cafes, parking was a bit expensive.
Or there's the email asking me if I'm able to represent my county next month. I decided that I would be available because I really want to shoot for my county!!
Or the fact that I've managed to pull something in my neck and am unable to turn my head or lift anything with my left arm... very, very annoying....
One of the things that really get me riled is bullies. Don't matter if it's me that's being bullied or someone else. I really hate bullies. I also now stand up to bullies, because I now don't give a damn.
The latest bullies that I've come across are from a parking enforcement company that are insisting that I pay up because my car was parked in a store's carpark. The ticket was placed on the car back in January but it has taken the company TWO MONTHS to get round to asking me to pay up.
Unfortunally, in those two months I've done some research and have discovered that you (as the keeper) are not obliged to pay these so called fines. Despite the fact that these companies will claim you do. Only the driver is obliged to pay, but you as the keeper don't have to say who the driver was (even if it was you), it's up to them to prove who the driver is.
The way it works is that when you receive the "enforcement notice"* they will tell you that as the owner of the vehicle you owe them this money. This is A LIE. So you reply that as the keeper you are not obliged to pay and that you have no intention to do so.
At this point you'll get a threatening letter saying that if you (the owner) don't pay they'll be sending your details off to a debt collectors. Reply again that it is the driver who has to pay and can they send the details of the driver.
Then you'll get a letter from a debt collectors (usually based in the same address... strange that) threatening bailiffs and court. You reply to this one saying that the ticket in question is in dispute and that they have to refer back to the parking company.
You will then get some more letters threatening court actions and the like. Now the debt collectors BY LAW aren't allowed to write to you any more so what they are doing is harassing you. You can ignore them, or if they get annoying write to them informing them that you are going to go to the police if you get any more letters.
Obviously keep all letters sent to you and copies of any replies you send. Just incase you happen to be the first person ever taken to court by some of these people. Don't let the bugger bully you and stand up for your rights!!!
I really should be in bed by now... I know this, it's late and I've been quite tired for the simple reason that I've been working quite hard in Salisbury for the last couple of days. And I really don't need to get into this film (Return To Me) as it's only just started and so it's going to be on for a while yet....
Anyway, I think a quick something to nibble on, a shower and then off to bed.
Now I am not a Londoner which means that I am unable to vote in the upcoming London Mayoral elections, however, as someone who does work in London quite often I know that the final result will effect me. Obviously, with my Conservative leanings I would be more tempted by Boris (Johnson), but even if I weren't I would still want my vote to go to him.
I know that he is famous for his gaffes, but remember that this is an MP who despite being in Westminster for only SIX YEARS is probably the most well-known Tory MP there is. David Cameron, William Hauge, Boris... and others...
Something a lot of people seem to forget is that there's more to Boris than meets the eye. Not only is he a classics scholar (from Oxford) but was also president of the union in his time there. He spent five years working at The Torygraph in Brussels as the European Correspondent.
He is someone who lives in London and is one of the City's most famous cyclists, though I sure that the Evening Standard now has a reporter following him for when he breaks the traffic laws.
I suspect that the battle with Willy Ken is going to be tough but I think Boris can win.
nb - yes, there is a slight mistake in that last line, I did it on purpose.
Well, despite a very good 4-2 win last night over table topping Montreal it seems that for the third year running my poor Toronto Maple Leafs are out of the playoffs and have no chance of trying to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in over forty years... yes it has been a while.
Yet again they put on a very show for the last month or so, looking like they might just scrape in (just like last year), but a very poor run of loses back in Jan/Feb (again, like last year) meant that the mountain they left themselves was just too much to climb.
But there's always next year!!
In local news my Guildford Flames did win the league and by beating Romford last night are currently sitting in second place in their playoff table, which would be good enough to make the semi-finals in a few weekends.... last year we lost in the final, but I'm hoping we can do better. Though I can't make the final this year, it clashes with my mum's birthday and I think I'd get in trouble if I went away then... Oooo, I wonder if she'd want to come...???
My all time favourite movie genre is that of the action-comedy (with or without a side order of romance). Indiana Jones, Lethal Weapon, Serenity and the latest bunch of comic book films (Superman, Batman, X-men, Spiderman). All of these are highly enjoyable.
My new film to add to the list is that of 'Stardust'.
In this film, a young man, Tristen (Charlie Cox), heads into a fantastical land in search of his mother and a falling star which he wishes to give to his love for her birthday in a weeks time. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.
For starters, it turns out that this fallen star is a celestial beauty named Yvaine (Claire Danes) who isn't best pleased with the thought of being presented as a love token, but conceeds on the promise of being returned back where she belongs.
But this is far too easy... to make it trickier an old witch, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) is also after Yvaine for her own neffarious purpose. As is the evil prince Lord Septimus. Throw in sky pirate Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Nero) and a shady trader (Ricky Gervais) and you have a full bag and a very entertaining film!!
Oh, did I mention that his mother was a princess being enslaved...??
Don't forget, British Summer Time starts tomorrow!!
Bimbling Along 
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