Afraid Of The Dark?

I was in the Fox and Crown in Newark last night and came across this fantastic beer mat, I just had to take a couple home with me, scan one and share it! Anyone wanting to know more about Hobgoblin beers and Wychwood Brewery, click here.

Judgement Day

The Date for my driving test has come through, it is the 6th February at 2.32pm.

Any driving test tips would be most welcome, at the moment I am semi confident, though I am sure this could change nearer the time.

Bulgar Off !

So, the first Bulgarians disembarked at Victoria coach station in London yesterday now they and Romania have EU membership from January 1st. Metro newspaper asked two of them about their plans to which they replied ‘we have a friend who can help us find a house and then we’ll look for work’.

Obviously unskilled workers then with no real plans, other than get a place and get some more of their family and friends over, yep another tidal wave of East Europeans hits ours shores despite government assurances they’ll crack down, yeah right.

The Madness Returns

Celebrity Big Brother is back and I am of course in raptures! (Sad character that I am!)

A veritable cornucopia of C list celebrities this year all vying to make themselves look like complete idiots. I sat giggling at jaded film director Ken Russell’s entrance, as he wobbled down the aisle to meet Davina gurgling ‘I’m singing in the rain’ – cringe telly at its very best. Of course there are the usual none entities in there such as failed beauty queen and footballer shagger Danielle Lloyd and Jo from past none entity band S Club 7.

But then there’s Cleo Rocos……… drool, yes kinky 80’s babe Cleo Rocos from The Kenny Everett show. She looked hot back then; she still gives me a shiver now.

There’s also the awesomely beautiful Shilpa Shetty of Bollywood fame, Indian women always look amazing but Shilpa is a real jewel among them.

So who else is in the Big Brother house?

Punk singer Donny Tourettes of Towers of London, widely regarded as one of the biggest pricks in punk/indie music. Acidic Sun Journalist Carole Malone. Cigar puffing Dirk Benedict of A Team fame. Jackson Five singer Jermaine Jackson and talking of singers there’s my friend Pats favourite singer Leo Sayer (thanks for the Leo link Pat!). Now I don’t know the exact details but Pat met Leo some time ago in Coffee Cake and Kink in Covent Garden in London and it all remains pretty clandestine.

Oh yes and there’s ‘H’ from forgettable manufactured 90’s band ‘Steps’, well there had to be one token irritating Welshman in there I guess!

Let the madness Begin!

Here's a photo of the gorgeous Shilpa Shetty.

Moving

So it comes to pass that I am going to (deep breath) move home at long last!

I've been trying to move to Newark for over a year and this morning brought the confirmation I was looking for in the post. I'll probably be moving later this month, anticipating arount the 19th for some reason and now the hard slog of moving home begins. Changing addresses, settling bills, arranging transport for my stuff - all a logisitical nightmare if you're not used to it.

Personally I am really ready for the move, it is long overdue and with my upcoming surgery its going to be essential to get settled in my new home and environment. I'm really excited about my new place, a ground floor flat tucked away in a cul-de-sac with off road permit parking and very close to Newark town centre.

Best get some cardboard boxes sorted and get packing!

Dullsville

I was in Birmingham last Thursday for a day out, a very uneventful one at that. I didn't get chance to see much of the city because of time constraints and the weather was lousy too. shame as I'm sure it is a big place and has different areas such as Broad Street, the canals and the Jewelry quarter etc. So I only really got to see the Bull Ring Shopping area and Rag market but managed to bag a Frank Miller book in Nostalgia and Comics, also had some excellent noodles in wagamama's which was pretty heaving with sales shoppers. Compared to recent excursions it was pretty dullsville but I'm sure I shall return in the future perhaps. I found there was plenty of our East European friends there, especially when I tried asking for directions, I think the first two I spoke to were from Poland and said 'sorry I don't speak English', I felt like saying 'why?' but I'm far too polite for that, then there was an American religeous nut and eventually I found an English speaking person...... who wasn't sure on the directions!

I've been to Birmingham a few times and trained for my last job there, just never got around to seeing the city itself on foot.

As you can see from the photo below taken outside of the Bull Ring shopping centre, it was a grey day indeed.

And here is a photo of a crane for my friend Pat, just to show him how it's done!

2007

Well here it is, 2007 'a hobbits odyssey' - I wonder what it will bring?

I just hope it is not as stagnant a year as 2006 was for me.

Watching the fireworks last night on the telly in the pub made me muse 'why does it always have to be from London and in front of Big Ben?' Ok so we had the unremarkable London Eye to look at whilst there was a panoply of fireworks in the back drop. Why can't we have celebrations from another city or landmark, there's plenty to choose from. The news did show other places celebrating but as ever London has to be the focal point. Alright there's obvious answers to this, 'it is the capital etc etc blah blah' but it would just be refreshing to see it done from somewhere else.

Lines of immigrants marching home under the lighting of big ben would have been much more pleasing.

Onward

Well Christmas has been and gone, rather uneventfully for me, but that’s pretty much how I like it. I like to keep away from the materialistic masses and just have time to myself, review things and plan ahead for the New Year, also take time out to reflect about people that aren’t here anymore.

I’ve had a couple of good nights out and got to see my friend Gary that works in Hong Kong and came back to see his parents bringing his new baby over with him. He bought me the newest gadget from Hong Kong, a rechargeable remote control Helicopter that’s really tiny, its so fragile looking I’m scared of breaking it, though I have took it for a hover around my kitchen.

I went to Birmingham for a day out, maybe a blog coming on that one but it was rather uneventful to be honest.

There’s possibly a lot going to be happening in the New Year, that require separate blogs really, one being major surgery I have to face, the other being very much work in progress at the moment, so more later.

So all that remains is to wish all my friends a Happy New Year in 2007 !!!

Onwards and upwards!

Theory

Yay! I passed my driving theory test today, next is the practical test. The test itself was ok, though the test centre was a bit austere. On finishing the test the computer screen asked if wanted to volunteer to do some questions they were thinking of adding to future tests but I was more interested in my result! They give you the result in a folded piece of paper and the red certificate made me instantly think I'd failed, I hadn't, I'd got 34 right out of 35 so was well pleased.

With a broad grin I left the test centre and got hit by the No.38 bus !

Comments

It seems the new Blogger Beta has problems, especially with people trying to add comments. I'm not sure if this is fixed yet but perusing other blogs it would seems it is a wide spread problem. People on the old blogger can't seem to comment on the people that have switched to Blogger Beta. All I can say is after switching to Beta I haven't noticed a deal of difference, there are a couple of new features but things remain the same. I did have problems on the old blogger with photos occasionally but Beta seems again, ok.

So, sorry if you can't comment but keep trying or my ego will deflate!

Lincoln

Did some christmas shopping in Lincoln today with Pete who I used to work with and had a fab day. Though I've been through Lincoln lots of times and even stayed there for a beer or two in the past I've never really explored it.

Lincoln is a lovely city, though it doesn't really feel like a city, population wise it is smaller than where I live. Not being the largest of places its easy to navigate, apart from the steep hill leading to the cathedral but all the main shops are there plus a great variety of places to eat. Hopefully if I move over to Newark in the near future I'll be spending more time over in Lincoln.

The Cathedral
The road called 'Steep Hill' leading to the Cathedral area

Lincoln Canal leading to the marina

Quote Of The Week

I was in Newark yesterday (and Starbucks opened there on Sunday - yay), Anyway I was browsing on the flea market and chanced upon a cd by The Mission for a bargain price. So when I handed my purchase over to the middle aged stall holder he said with a little cackle;

'Hehehehehe... little goth'

Well it made me smile anyway!