Life eh?

Well things have been pretty mundane of late, the good news is the legs on the mend, the bad news is I'm having problems with my eyes now, another test Friday on them and hopefully good news.

Bills have seemingly started to roll in at the wrong time and the car MOT is due soon too. To be honest I want to get Christmas over and done with and begin the New Year. Even though I'm off work at the moment after the op they rang Friday to invite me to the Christmas party and drinks after and check if I was ok to go health wise etc. I will be there, and I'm looking forward to it, the leg is up to moderate socialising now I think. There's also a band called the 'Jonnyguns' on at my local this Saturday who consist of some members who work at the same place as me.

So, despite feeling a bit subdued lately, things are generally ok, even better when I get to the bottom of this eye problem.

Bored Stiff

Well the leg is healing slowly, though the boredom is killing me, so is the irregular sleep. I'm missing work and a routine. All I seem to be doing is watching crappy daytime TV, playing video games or watching dvds for the umpteenth time.

soooo BORED!

I need a woman around here with a big arse and tits that kisses like a sink plunger to keep me busy!

Footy

I'm not a great lover of football. Sure, I watch World and European cups and enjoy the occasion, I also look out for the Notts County result come Saturday. It occured to me last night whilst watching the England Vs Croatia European qualifier that it's always expected that we win or qualify every single time. Well yes, thats the name of the game I hear you all say.

The thing is, it seems to be always read that England qualify or reach a tournament, it's just unthinkable to lose. It is always a case of 'We are England - we should be there' irrespective of if we actually play crap football along the way which results in us not qualifying, I just hate the 'we should be there no matter what because we are England' mentality.

I'm as patriotic as the next Englishman, I love to see us win, mainly because its bloody good for national morale, lets be honest we don't have much to celebrate these days do we?

So this time for the European qualifiers we didn't play so well, but thats sport, you win some - you lose some, to cap it all we got our arse kicked last night and we are out of the European cup.

Reality check.

So today we sack our manager and will most probably take on another foreign manager in the next few days, who of course we will over pay - and so the circle goes on.

Ouch time (again)

Got back out of hospital yesterday after getting the right hip sorted. I feel drained and sore. Last night, even though I was in my own bed I took ages to drift off to sleep, that said, I did sleep ok when I eventually fell into slumber.

The operation was done by my consultant at the Nuffield private hospital to cut down on the NHS waiting etc, the NHS paid - bless them! The thing is, private hospitals are lonely places, there's no common or smoke room at the end of the ward, I'd have gladly braved cigarette smoke for some company. my room was ok, en suite with a small portable tv, sadly it was situated near the main ward reception desk, so not all that quiet with room alarms going off regularly.

Nurses are no different in private hospitals, no less busy, apart from one who was a total idle cow. On the whole they do a marvellous job and in fairness I was a moaning git after the op with all the pain. So, private hospitals, apart from the food being only marginally better aren't really any different from NHS ones, more soulless perhaps.

So, here is a photo of my lovely bruising I took a couple of hours ago, it's spreading nicely down my leg!

Little things mean a lot

Today I left 'Unique Social Enterprise' where I'd been working for the last few months, I left because I have to go into hospital tomorrow for the second hip replacement operation.

Just before leaving today I was surprised to be presented with a couple of really cool leaving presents and a farewell card, it was unexpected as I've not really been there that long but I ended up hiding a rising lump in my throat. Such a lovely bunch of people to work with and such a great place for young people get education and life skills.

It's been a pleasure working there and thanks to everyone!

Madness

I Read this story on the net today.

Another reason religeon is beyond comprehension at times, a mother refusing a blood transfusion, her kids live, she dies - crazy. It wasn't so long back I had Jehovah's witnesses at my door with their twisted magazines they leave you to browse. In the issue they gave me it mentioned how to check that you aren't really gay! Of course what they were really saying is in their eyes its wrong to be gay. Of course if you think you may be gay the jehovahs witness answer is 'Throw all your anxieties upon jehovah in prayer, confident that he cares for you' or... 'this can give you the power beyond what is normal to keep you acting on wrong desires. Quoted of course from their bible, as they tend to back everything up with quotes anyway.

Get in an argument with them, show them logic and the quotes come at which they stick rigidly too.

Barking mad, the lot of them!

Open Microphone Night

A bit late posting this, as 'Open Microphone Night' was actually on the 23rd September in my local the Fox and Crown. It wasn't really a roaring success, as Andy the landlord hadn't really advertised it well so not many played, erm you could count them on one hand in fact!

Each person got to play 3 songs of their choice, only with a few turning up to play they got to play much more!

Here's a photo of my old man playing!

Baker's Banter

So, I was in the bakers in town today when I turned and noticed the guy in front of me was none other than the actor that plays Eric Pollard in Emmerdale (ITV, weekdays, 7pm)

He lives on the outskirts of town, I've seen him before a couple of times, The actress that plays Edna Birch lives in a village nearby too.

As I order some bread, he orders some cakes and jokes with the very attentive staff he intends to munch on the cakes later in the car.

The two female staff remain really polite and are all smiles till the moment he leaves.
Then one turns to the other and says;

'My lad went to school with his lad, my lad says his lad is a bit of an arse!'

The people in the shop burst out into fits of laughter.

The Fab Two

Had a really good and erm... tequila filled night at my local last night, The Fox and Crown. Returning again to the Fox was a Beatles tribute band called the Fab Two, and being a fan of the Beatles I had to be there. I'd actually seen the Fab Two in the Fox before and enjoyed them immensely.

Last night was also a charity night where the 'tequila wheel of death' was out in action again. Basically the tequila wheel is a wooden wheel that holds plastic cups filled with either water or tequila, the wheel gets spun and you drink the nearest beaker to you, it was 50p for 2 spins of the wheel and all proceeds went to charity.

The Fab Two were even better this time, playing other stuff besides the Beatles they really showed how versatile they are, they have great vocal harmonies and can really play guitar, they also played my fave Beatles track 'I'll be back' on request.

It was a great night, I had a stinking hangover to show for it this morning, I must have had 8 shots of tequila and about 5 pints!

The Fab Two (apologies for the dark photo)

Cor Blimey Guv'nor

The second boys away day with Gary being over from Hong Kong was a trip down to London, only a brisk 1 hour and 2o mins on the train, have a cuppa and read the paper and you're pulling into Kings Cross.

My first mistake of the day was telling Gary about the Harry Potter 9 and something platform just outside one of the entrances of the station. I was harangued till I took him there for a photo under the platform sign pushing the trolly through the wall, just so he could show the Chinese Harry Potter fanatics back home. I joked a Brian Potter platform from the Tv Series Phoenix nights would be more to my liking.

After that we headed down to the tube and onto Oxford Street, Down Berwick street where there are some fab cheap cd shops before meandering around China Town for a while and taking some photos.

Then it was off to my beloved Camden for some really blister inducing retail therapy. We were definately on a mission and hit shop after shop in search of clothing. I bagged a lovely hoody top from Cyberdog and several t-shirts from the several markets. We had some lovely Chinese food from the Stables market area before sitting down for a coffee and the second round of shopping. Ideally I wanted to do Covent Garden too but we just didn't have the time.

Later I managed to fit in a quick coffee with my old friend Pat at Starbucks near Kings Cross before we both exhaustedly caught the train home at 7pm - I must do London more often, perhaps a weekend in Camden even.

Somewhere in Soho ;-)

Somewhere in China Town

Dragonfly wall in Camden

Gary at Camden Lock

Skegness and Swordfish

I went over to the coast last week with my friend Gary whilst he was over from Hong Kong visiting his family. We decided to do the nostalgia trip and visit Skegness, home of our misspent early drinking years, namely Easter and August Bank holidays.

The weather was really fantastic and we marvelled at some of the changes in the much maligned Lincolnshire resort, even in September it was still bustling with people. We ventured onto the famous 'Chip Alley' and had ourselves some swordfish, chips and peas with a steaming mug of tea - it was amazing!

Sadly the fairground is a shadow of its former self, the rides for most part seem empty and the whole area wouldn't look out of place in a zombie flick, it needs a massive make over to compete with the likes of Butlins and Funcoast world a couple of miles down the road.

Skegness for me will always be a place of childhood memories and drunken weekends camping in crappy tents and trying to sneak into Butlins! It may not be the best holiday place in the country but it holds nothing but happy memories for me..... and some very hazy ones!

The Big Wheel (with some added effects!)

The Jolly Fisherman

Gary by the sea!

Never Forgotten

The beautiful girl pictured below was my mum as a child, in happier days, she died 2 years ago today, she would have been 60 this year.

A candle burns for her memory this day, tears fall.

A son never forgets.

Love always and ever.