Tales From The Dark Side: I was built by a team of scientists, trying to create an insane robot...but it looks like they failed!

It’s all go in this part of the world, firstly Hythe high street is under threat, yes, threat! Due to the plans to build a Sainsbury’s on the site of the old seeboard offices. Hythe has two supermarkets, Waitrose and Aldi, does Aldi count as a supermarket? Both do everything that Sainsbury’s offer although Aldi doesn’t have butchers. There is a perfectly good local butcher on the high street. There’s also a blooming good fruit and veg shop. If the new shop opens, it will seriously damage the traders on the high street. It will result in more shops going out of business; it will leave a few of the more expensive shops, which will also fail as fewer people visit the high street. Whilst I rarely shop in Hythe but I do have a vested interest in one retailer, the shop where I oversee the gaming group. If that goes under I will be very sad, primarily because a good friend’s livelihood will have been lost. Secondly because I really look forward to and enjoy running the group. It would also mean that the guys would be without a structured gaming venue. I have been told that the planning permission has been suspended pending a court inquiry. One of my friends spoke to the MP for the constituency of Folkestone & Hythe asking him for his views on the matter. Mr Howards response was that he does “not get involved in local affairs!” is it me or does that sound a little odd? The local government representative is not prepared to involve himself in an issue which is going to affect around 2 -300 voters. Oh dear Mr Howard, come the next election you may find yourself looking for a new constituency. Of course him being matey with members of the Sainsbury family has no influence in his decision at all.

On a lighter note I covered the shop today, leaving the gamers to get on with it. I still had to threaten them with being eaten occasionally. Of course this has no effect on them, aside from the exact opposite. They usually roar with laughter and feign fear. The little monkeys! January has not been a good month by way of trade for the shop. People are still feeling the crunch after Christmas which means that they’re not going into town or if they do, they leave the little darlings at home. However, the first few weeks after Xmas usually means that the little darlings have oodles of cash that’s burning holes in their pockets. Of course the best place for them to part with the dosh is the shop. This is pretty much what happened today. Lots of little cherubs wanting to know more about 40k, which army is best, what paints do they need and so on. I am, of course, duty bound to give them the best advice I can and separate them from their little portraits of the Queen. The result of the day was a good end of day figure. That should please the proprietor when I take her bag down to her. Another upside of covering the shop is that, although I don’t get paid for the Saturdays I cover when herself is away. I do get stuff; this has made it very easy for me to amass such a good and varied collection.

Whilst I was at the shop I got a call from a friend saying that he was having trouble connecting to the internet. So off I went to see my bud Roger, on inspecting his computer set up I discovered that the Ethernet cable had broken at the connection and beyond my ability to repair it. Fortunately he has a wireless network card in the pc. After a bit of fiddling with WEP codes and authorisation keys I finally managed the PC to Rogers wireless router and left him a happy bunny. Then off to meet up with Trudes at her folks for tea cake. Woo hoo! Then home to feed the masterful moggie. His royal feline cuteness was as pleased to see me as ever. People who don’t like cats just won’t get how comforting being a cat owner is. You never truly own a cat; they just lodge with you until the food and the fussing run out. So far everyone who’s met my mogs has liked him, not difficult to understand considering what a great little chap he is. He does like a lap!

Tomorrow I have to make time for Obi Kat, so I’ll use the time to watch Most Haunted – The Live Series; it should be worth a giggle. Although it’s not as enjoyable as it was when Derek was in it, it’s still a very amusing pile of tosh. Well that’s tomorrow sorted, just Monday and Tuesday to get through before I have a day of to visit the 2010 toy fair which I am rather looking forward to. There’s a slim chance that I may skip out a bit early to have a quick wander through the Waterhouse and Dinosaur galleries at the Natural History Museum and a quick browse around the museum shops, the feathered Tyrannosaurs look rather cool.