Every silver lining has a bloomin’ cloud!

Friday was a bit bonkers really, work was hectic as usual. Most of the guys had been at the blue smarties and cheap orange squash again. This brings all manner of chaos, trying to encourage a 40 year old to settle down is hard enough, throw in the fact that the 40 year old is as strong as an ox and thinks it’s fun to see if he can squash your head makes it all the more difficult. It’s strange what the guys view as a fun social activity. Seeing as how Friday is generally P.O.E.T.S day, I managed to get away at about 15:45, woo hoo! When I got home there was a red card from the postie telling me that I had a letter that wouldn’t fit through the slot. So off I trotted into town to collect the mystery package. I couldn’t recall ordering anything and started trying to work out if I’d entered any competitions. The puzzle was soon solved when I collected the thing from the sorting office. I hadn’t won anything, I had been sent a pot and a letter from the doctor asking me to return it full, I won’t say what with, but I think my doctor’s taking the p*ss. Especially as I gave them a similar pot, with contents at the beginning of the week.

On my return journey my dearest betrothed rang to say that she was taking DTWP for a stroll and had decided to stroll down for a cuppa. This was a welcomed event as I wasn’t expecting to see either of them until sometime on Saturday. So a brew was had and then I said ta ta to herself and wonder pup and headed off to Woodchurch for astronomy club. This month I was going armed with my scope so that it could be collimated and then I could use it for a spot of astro-photography.

The clubs talk was being given by Manky, I really enjoy his talks and I was particularly looking forward to tonight’s as it was about Saturn, which was the first thing I saw through the scope I had with me. As usual the manky one excelled and gave yet another fantastic talk. After the talk I collared the club chairman so that he could sort out my scope and get it all set up right. It was actually easier than I thought. This surprised me considering the beatings it’s taken over the years. Once the job was done I headed outside to test my newly aligned instrument. I got about two minutes observing time before the sky clouded over. PANTS! Eventually I headed home somewhat disappointed by the clouds.

When I got home I settled down to a large mug of tea and an episode of Dead Like Me. Then a bit of work to prepare for the 40k group, with that all done I realised it was way past bedtime. All too soon the alarm was shouting at me about getting up to go to Hythe, so I gathered up books and models and set off.

The shop was good and we had a couple of new lads in who seemed to enjoy their first battles. Later in the afternoon Tea arrived accompanied by mum, they were off for a bit of a wander along the high street and a cuppa and a bun. Before she left, Tea mentioned that there was a telescope for sale in one of the (many) second hand shops. I arranged to meet her and walk down to take a look. I was hoping it would be an altazimuth mount so that I could use it as spares for my Tasco. It turned out that it was, and it’s possible that it’s the same type. All the numbers seem to match up at least. So I relieved Trudes of £32, which will be returned as soon as my bank details are sorted. Yes I’ve changed my bank. I’m now with Think Banking, they can offer me a debit card which means that I will be able to manage my finances better and make online purchases without relying on other people. Hoorah! The new scope is stored in a rather natchy case and will have to be put together each time I want to use it, but it’ll be worth it in the long run. Now all I have to do is save up some dosh for the wedding and then I can start saving toward a Meade with GOTO tracking.

Sadly there was a bit of a low point as i was travelling to the future in-laws. one of the centre’s service users was on the bus, a cheerful chap who almost always has a kind word and a warm smile. he greeted me in his usual manner, a cross between blissful happiness and wild excitement. whilst i was sat staring out of the window, watching the world whizz by, i thought he called me. Sadly. to my disbelief, it was actually a teenager who thought it would be amusing to mock the bloke. The service user has learning difficulties and as a result his speech is a little slurred, add in the excitable demeanor and he can be a little difficult to understand and somewhat loud. this is something that never bothers me as I encounter it on an almost daily basis. initially i chose to ignore the behaviour of the idiots at the back of the bus, until i heard discussing how hilarious it would be if they all took the p*ss at the same time. i now felt it was time for a gentle word, so I loudly advised them to Grow up and show some respect. unfortunately they took no notice and continued with the name calling. although one of them did voice concerns that i may be about to exact some violence on them. maybe they would have understood that a bit better. however i wasn’t prepared to sink to their level. i was once told never to argue with an idiot, he’ll bring you down to his level, then beat you with experience. when i arrived at my stop I told the service user to ignore the little scrotes and then mentioned to the driver what had been happening. he promptly shut the bus down and gave them all a “you should know better” look.

it surprises me that in this multi-cultural world where the youth of today are supposedly taught about acceptance and equality, that there are people who still think it funny to mock someone who’s not as fortunate as themselves. do they get some sense of acheivement from it? I wonder if the next time i encounter a similar situation i should explain to the offenders that it only takes a slight blow to the head in the right place and they won’t be in full control of their own faculties. based on the behaviour of the twonks on the bus, it’s clear that their gene pool doesn’t have a life guard.

so there’s my rant for today. but, if ever any of my readers witness such a situation, please slap the annoying gets responsible. preferably with an iron bar!

So that’s pretty much it for now, I post an update on the new scope once I’ve had a chance to field test it.

Ta ta peeps

War has never been so much fun

Ok, there’s been a bit of a gap between posts, mainly because not a lot’s happened over the last week or so. Well I say not a lot, what I mean is, nothing drastically exciting. I saw the boy last Saturday and had a brief chat with him. He asked if I would like for him to come up over Easter, I told him that was a ridiculous question, I would love to spend some time with him. So he’s going to get in touch and let me know when he’s coming and what he’s like to do. Huzzah! Smiffy and I finally finished the Orcs for the shop, and I’ve also made headway into DSS’s Necrons. I had the stonkingly brilliant idea of altering the stance of one of the warriors. I have a spare skull from a set of terminators, so I’ve repositioned the legs of one of the models so that the left foot is resting on the skull. This meant that the right leg had to be straightened. So far it looks good and I hope DSS will be pleased with the end result. When it’s finished I’ll post a pic of it alongside a standard warrior so that the difference can be seen. Once the Necrons are done I can crack on with Mike’s Mumak and then I can alternate between finishing the Space Marines and starting the Tau. There have been some significant additions to the Marine army. Including the new plastic venerable Dreadnought, it is a rather nice model and will make a fine addition to the force.

DSS came to the shop on Saturday, he had a game, playing my Necrons against a small marine force, I got first strike, but on his first turn he decimated my force, wiping out one full squad, and half of the second. I lost the other half of the second squad when they routed after failing a moral test. My second turn saw my third squad attempt retaliation, but they only managed to take down four Necron Warriors. Fortunately I managed to immobilise and then stun his Monolith, effectively removing that threat. However, on his second and final turn, he realised that my Devastator heavy weapon squad were a significant threat and proceeded to eliminate them. He then turned the rest of his force on my third and final squad, cutting them down in a frenzy of gauss fire, reducing the squad to just four men. So DSS had a clear victory, hopefully, he’ll be back next week so that I can exact some revenge on him for such a crushing defeat. The Chapter Aurelius are thirsty for blood and no Xenos is safe.

Well I can’t think of anything else so I shall sign off.

Night all

War has never been so much fun

Ok, there’s been a bit of a gap between posts, mainly because not a lot’s happened over the last week or so. Well I say not a lot, what I mean is, nothing drastically exciting. I saw the boy last Saturday and had a brief chat with him. He asked if I would like for him t come up over Easter, I told him that was a ridiculous question, I would love to spend some time with him. So he’s going to get in touch and let me know when he’s coming and what he’s like to do. Huzzah! Smiffy and I finally finished the Orcs for the shop, and I’ve also made headway into Bens’ Necrons. I had the stonkingly brilliant idea of altering the stance of one of the warriors. I have a spare skull from a set of terminators, so I’ve repositioned the legs of one of the models so that the left foot is resting on the skull. This meant that the right leg had to be straightened. So far it looks good and I hope Ben will be pleased with end result. When it’s finished I’ll post a pic of it alongside a standard warrior so that the difference can be seen. Once the Necrons are done I can crack on with Mike’s Mumak and then I can alternate between finishing the Space Marines and stating the Tau. There have been some significant additions to the Marine army. Including the new plastic venerable Dreadnought, it is a rather nice model and will make a fine addition to the force.

DSS came to the shop on Saturday, he had a game, playing my Necrons against a small marine force, I got first strike, but on his first turn he decimated my force, wiping out one full squad, and half of the second. I lost the other half of the second squad when they routed after failing a moral test. My second turn saw my third squad attempt retaliation, but they only managed to take down four Necron Warriors. Fortunately I managed to immobilise and then stun his Monolith, effectively removing that threat. However, on his second and final turn, he realised that my Devastator heavy weapon squad were a significant threat and proceeded to eliminate them. He then turned the rest of his force on my third and final squad, cutting them down in a frenzy of gauss fire, reducing the squad to just four men. So SS had a clear victory, hopefully, he’ll be back next week so that I can exact some revenge on him for such a crushing defeat. The Chapter Aurelius are thirsty for blood and no Xenos is safe.

Well I can’t think of anything else so I shall sign off.

Night all

You wanna know the difference between right and wrong? Easy, I’m right you’re wrong! What part of that confuses you?

It is said that we are judged by our actions, whether you call it karma or divine retribution, some believe that we pay for the hurt we cause others through our misdeeds.

The other day I was having one of those intense conversations with the missus, we were talking about our pasts and how they have made us what the people we are today. I know she’s no saint, and that she has a history, but hey, don’t we all? Personally I don’t agree with holding someone’s past against them, it’s the here and now that matters. She also knows some of my previous history, which to be honest, why she didn’t run away very fast when she learned about it I will never know! Still, we are polar opposites and it is said that opposites attract, so that explains why she never ran!

On a brighter note I returned to work after having a couple of days off due to being slightly dead, and only a few blogs back I was saying how I’m never ill, well I was quite poorly and needed, and received, lots of TLC from ‘erself, Lord bless her. She was a superstar, considering that she’s not well herself she really pulled out all the stops in nursing me back to health. So with my ailments resolved I can return to ensuring that her royal gorgeousness has her every need pandered to. Well as best as I can anyway.

Regular readers may notice that a second blog page has been added, this is primarily for the benefit of the guys at the shop on Saturdays, hopefully the guys will be able to check the blog at least once a week to find out what’s planned for each week. Whilst it is an open blog it is aimed at the 40k players I know and a lot of it won’t make sense to the non gamer. It’s another plan to encourage the lads to take notice of what’s happening at the club, once the blog is established and the guys are aware of it, I will post game plans and the missions they will be playing and the points values they’ll need.

Still, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

Missy has been talking about having some time away once her current treatment has finished, we’re looking at a couple of places to visit. She has said that she would like to go somewhere she can indulge herself in developing a new interest. Whilst it would be lovely if I could convince her to catch the fossil bug, I don’t think she’ll be up to smashing rocks open. Having seen what the first two doses have done to her, by the time the course finishes I doubt she’ll have the strength to lift a hammer. So we need to find her something a little less intense. She’s mentioned that she might like to take up bird watching. Fortunately this won’t be as hard as it sounds. As an amateur astronomer I have two very good binoculars so all she needs is a comfy chair, (Cardinal Biggles has one) whilst the thought of sitting still for hours on end in the hope you may glimpse the tail feather of a lesser spotted throat warbler does not appeal to me, I’m sure we can find a location that will suit her wish to stare at sparrows all day and allow me to go off and look for the remains of their ancestors, well sort of! She’s not keen on the idea of a certain town in Dorset, so that means looking for a new dig site. Having consulted friends at the UKGS and have a few locations in Wales that may be interesting, the earliest rocks being Ordovician and the youngest fossil bearing rocks being Jurassic. Whilst I’d like the chance to get stuck into some Cretaceous rock, Tea’s very keen to see Red Kites. My sister is a keen twitcher and has said that some of the best places to see them are in North Wales; the good fossil grounds are in the south. So we may have to meet in the middle. I don’t like leeks, and daffodils make me sneeze. Unless I can find a way of persuading a couple of these Red Kite things to nest on the Isle of Wight. Or I could ask a few friends to take some red flexifoils there. That’s a kiting joke for the benefit of one or two of my readers. (Tee hee!)

Anyway, I’m off to write an entry for other blogs and stuff.

Cheerio

Some say that each of his toenails are exactly the same as a woman's nipples, and that he thinks that "credit-crunch" is some kind of a breakfast cereal.

Hello everybody peeps, well I’ve recovered from the long queues and madness that was the SFX Weekender. despite a few shortfalls I did have a very good time. Tea thoroughly enjoyed herself, although it has taken its toll and she’s totally knackered. On a brighter note she has officially been transformed from a minor geek-girl to a major one. she spent most of Sunday looking for the next Con, bless her.

Also in the news, Mickey, who i went to London with a few weeks back, rang me last week and said that he has a couple of tickets for a ghost hunt on Sunday 21st Feb. It’s at Dover Castle, Woo Hoo! Sadly this will entail a lot of climbing up and down some very steep stair cases and I’m not sure Tea would be able to managed it. So I’ll be taking my future stepson. he’s rather stoked with the idea.

I’ve started a new project, you can view its early stages here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalon1701/. please feel free to take a look, and leave any (polite) comments. I’ll add to it as and when i get new pics. I'm also going to sort out some that I already have.

enjoy the pics, I look forward to your comments.

Bye for now.

Rgds

They say your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the moment before you die? That might be true if you're terminally ill, or your parachute doesn't open…

A couple of weeks ago a friend asked me if the missus and I would be interested in attending the SFX Weekender at Camber Sands Pontins. Naturally I said yes! Since then we’ve been in regular contact finalising details. Pick up times and such like. Friday morning started with the arrival of mum and pops who were picking up DTWP, who was going to spend the weekend with them, he’ll be back Sunday. Richard & Carol picked us up at about 10:30ish and we were soon speeding along the A295 to Camber. There a brief stop in order to purchase the nosh for the day and a second one to visit a cash point. We got to Pontins just before noon; Carol had to go to reception to register us. Apparently this was a bit of a shambles as the staff had no clue as to what they were doing. What should have been a five minute book in took almost 20. Whilst waiting for Carol I indulged in a game of spot the geek. My goodness it was harder than I thought! Firstly I think the stereotypical geek is becoming extinct. There were very few attendees dressed up and most of the crowd would not have looked out of place at a rock concert or some chav magnet night club. It seems the days of a dozen people turning up at an event like this as characters are a thing of the past. There were a few Storm Troopers, Clone Troopers and dodgy looking Jedi, and later in the evening I spotted four people in Starfleet uniform. Not a single Klingon to be seen. Perhaps the Empires foothold on this planet has slipped. By far the most popular character to pose as was the tenth doctor. However, this only applies to tall, skinny lads with big hair. Stick on a suit and a pair of converse and you’re sorted. Well, you have the big hair but David Tennant you clearly ain’t! After a brief look around a poor show in the way of merchandise and trader stands headed down to the screening room to watch the very first episode of Red Dwarf. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it. A bit more mooching about before we headed back to the main hall where we sat down to listen to a debate on the effect that the current series of Doctor Who has had on sci-fi, namely good or bad. Whilst this session was enjoyable and, at times, quite humorous the main point of the debate was never clearly defined. So I guess it’s down to the viewers to decide. The current DW series has certainly caused a run of other sci-fi based shows. Some good, some not so good. I’ll let you think about which is which! After the “debate” off for a spot of lunch. Now I mentioned above that we bought nosh off site, thinking the prices would be extortionate, but this wasn’t really the case. Whilst watching Red Dwarf, Tea and I tucked in to some rather tasty hot dogs and a glass of OJ. The OJ was because they didn’t serve hot drinks at the bar. However lunch was the sandwich I bought earlier. Then we returned to the main hall for another browse of the traders stand. This included a stand from forbidden planet. I have to say that I thought the traders turn out for Friday was extremely poor. Even the stall from FP had very little to offer. Hopefully things will be better on Saturday. Before I get to the next thing we sat down for I feel I must mention the venue. Appalling does not describe accurately enough! The place is dire! I used to go to Camber Pontins twice a year when I was but a lad. It hasn’t changed at all. It even smells the same! What on earth possesses people to spend a week or two there I have no idea. I’m not sure I’d want to spend the two nights there. The facilities are in a poor state of repair, in some parts of the main hall the lino flooring had bubbled and raised creating a possible trip hazard. The area being used as the screening room had the same carpet down that was there when I was 12. In all honesty the venue is poor, I have a few more grumbles but I’ll get to that later.

After lunch we decided to sit down to hear what a fella called James Marsters  had to say. For those that don’t who he is, he played Spike in Buffy and Angel and Captain John Hart in Torchwood. He was very entertaining and amusing to listen to. He spoke highly of all the people he has worked with, particularly Anthony Head (Giles) and John Barrowman. The latter of which he had a lot of praise for. It was also very clear that he really appreciates the fans and at the end of his 45 minute stint there was the impression that he wanted to stay longer. He apologised to the audience,  explaining that he had to head off for another engagement. A bit more walking around, I personally felt that there was too much time between events. There was a lot of time when nothing happened. We were also feeling a bit peckish by now, so we managed to find a burger bar, a cross between MacDonald’s and KFC. Now having worked on a funfair, for a considerable amount of time, I’ve eaten some very dodgy burgers. This, however, was the first time I’d eaten a crispy one. I’d like to say that the crispiness was down to the freshness of the lettuce. Sadly, no! The chips were nice though. After the crunchy burger we were entertained with a showing of “Once More with Feeling” the musical episode from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I really like this episode, and as an added bonus the subtitles were being displayed so that the audience could sing along. Not that I did, but Trudes and Carol gave it their all. After much discussion, Trudes and I decided that we’d go halves on a signing pass for the next day. She desperately wanted to get her John Hart action figure signed by James Marsters but we didn’t have the pass at the time, so sadly she missed out. We went to the reception desk to ask about passes. The chap behind the counter said they were £40! My initial thought was “bloody hell!” when I protested the price, I was told that the quoted price of £30 was only valid if the pass was bought online. I told Trudes this and she was upset as she really wanted to get Elisabeth Sladens autograph for her son. Then I remembered that in the event handbook it states that signing passes are £30. I took the book to the desk and pointed this out to the nice lady, the chap had gone. I explained that nowhere in the book does it say anything about an online purchase price. She folded and let me have a pass for 30. Back upstairs again for something described as “The Imaginarium Funfair and Cabaret. The event organisers really should have some comprehension of the trading standards act. To me a funfair has rides and side stalls, there were none of these. What we were seeing was a stage show featuring a few scantily clad girlies jiggling their bits. Granted they were fire eating and spitting jets of flame everywhere, there was also some madman juggling with burning sticks. This was impressive. Then there was a re-enactment of an alien autopsy, the problem with this was that it was on the stage and you couldn’t really see what was happening. More dancing girls and juggling then an homage to King Kong, more dancing girls and a rather poor Frankenstein effort. Then they bought out a Derren Brown type bloke. He was surprisingly good, we I thought so, I’m not sure my companions would agree. More dancing girls, this time they were scantily clad in fairy lights and accompanied by some sort of robot, also covered with fairy lights. After that came some blokes dressed as Egyptian market traders who performed what must be the most appalling rap ever. Then more dancing girls, with one of them carrying a rather nice, if somewhat bored, looking albino python. Then a few more girls with flaming sticks. At this point it seemed to be that the show was going to follow a pattern so we decided to make an exit. Richard and Carol dropped us at home at about 23:30 and arranged to pick us up just after 9 in the morning.

SATURDAY

Re-entry to the event was fairly painless, apart from the main gate being closed. Carol drove to the secondary gate. A security guard asked for a name, which was provided, and we were directing into the complex. Trudes and I got out of the car and headed for the main hall. To find Darth Vader, a couple of Storm troopers a rebel soldier greeting the punters. Lord Vader took the pee out of Tea and me for having a heated debate, so I told her to go and stand with him for a photo opp. Bless her. The first call of the day was the signing line with the intent of getting Tom Baker, Lis Sladen and Gareth David Lloyds autograph. Oh dear! Firstly there was no clear indication of where the line started or ended. It was announced that one of the two lines was for VIP guests and the other was for everyone else. I stood in line for around two and a half hours only to be told that the guests had stopped signing for now and if we wanted their scratch on our picture of them, we’d have to come back later. Fortunately they wrote numbers on everyone’s hand so that we could rejoin the queue at the point we were stopped. This plan sort of worked, I got Ianto’s and Sarah Jane’s with no trouble. Getting Tom Bakers was a different story. For him there were three lines. VIPs, people with numbers on their hands and everyone else. I foolishly thought that there would be some sort of structure to the system, but no. Firstly the line for everyone else was moving much quicker than the other two, and the people who’d had numbers written on their hands were milling about in no particular order. I had 65 on my hand, behind and in front of me were people with both higher and lower numbers. We were being over seen by security guys who had two four main problems. 1. They had no idea on fairness or what the word “priority” meant 2. They saw the whole event as a chance to chat up the “pretty” girls and be downright rude to anyone that didn’t have a trim figure. 3. When not ogling the girls they were making negative comments about the people in general. I clearly heard one of them describe the people in the line as “nutters”, “weirdoes” and “idiots”. 4. They had no clear system in place and were letting people through at random intervals. Sometimes 4 or 5 from line, then 8 to 10 from another and three from another. Now and then they let people in from two lines i.e. VIP then everyone else the VIP and everyone else again. Completely ignoring the line of people who had a number on their hand who were supposed to have priority. Eventually I got to Tom Baker and he signed my picture of him surrounded by Daleks. Hoorah! Earlier in the day tom had been on stage being interviewed, the man is completely off his trolley. It’s a shame to describe one of my childhood idols this way but there’s no other way to put it. He is totally bonkers. When asked anything about his tenure as The Doctor, he either avoided answering or answered the question very quickly and the babbled on about copping off with old ladies. I missed the interview with Gerry Anderson due to queuing.

But I managed listen in on Gareth David Lloyd and Elisabeth Sladen, both of them were very interesting to listen to. Elisabeth was very keen to talk about her work on Doctor Who, both old and new. She also talked about K9 & Company, with mock terror and the Sarah Jane Adventures. She mentioned that when she was approached about SJA she thought that she may get offered a part in Torchwood. I like the sound of that; we’d get to see Sarah Jane in a whole new light. She may even be a little naughty. Snerk!

The guy who plays Ianto was hilarious; he did say that it was extremely unlikely that he would be reprising the role if another series comes along. Although Trudes came up with the idea of Ianto contracting immortality as an STD! We left about 19:00 and decided to pick up DTWP and give Ben the things we’d bought him, he was very pleased with it all. So that’s it! All in all the weekend was fairly good, the Trader stalls didn’t get any better on the Saturday and nothing really appealed. I bought a couple of 8” x 10” photos and got my photo of Tom “bonkers” Baker signed. Trudes is knackered and I plan for her to rest as much as possible on Sunday. I shall, at some point have to go home to take care of Obi; he’s been a bit neglected this weekend. Fortunately a friend had offered to pop in on him for me. But he’ll still need to see his main provider. Aw bless!

Apparently the SFX weekender 2 is already in the planning stages, I’d be happy to go, we may even stay in the complex next time. Although I really hope that they will have sorted out some of the hiccups this one had. Overall it wasn’t a bad event, a bit poorly managed but it was the first one. I don’t think they’ll hold it at Pontins for a third year. They may even relocate 2011’s.

Well it’s been a very long two days for me and Trudes so in the words of Zebedee, “time for bed!” well maybe a cuppa first.

Night all!

You're a classic example of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.

I stayed home on Friday night. Tea had been to see her consultant during the day and as a result she wanted a bit of time to herself to get her head round her results. Needless to say they were not what she was hoping for. Since most of my readers have, by now, either met her or they are aware of what the poor bugger has been through, I feel I have no need to with hold any information regarding her results. The one “lump” has shown an increase in size, this means that Tea has a couple of options. One is a treatment of chemotherapy the other is surgery followed by radiotherapy, Tea has gone for the former. She rang me when she returned home and told me the results and what would be happening next. Whilst I’m worried about her, naturally, she has said that it’s not as bad as it sounds, Hmmmmm! The problem is that herself is extremely strong willed and she has an independent streak a mile wide. This makes helping and supporting her over the next few months very difficult. She will, doubtless refuse almost any help I offer and she will certainly not permit me to accompany her when she goes to the hospital. Cancer is probably one of the most unpleasant conditions anyone could have. I watched, helplessly, as the strongest woman I have ever known slip away to a frail and fragile old lady, and when she finally went she was unrecognisable as the mother I’d grown up with. So I have firsthand experience of how destructive it can be, not just to the person, but to those who hold them dear. So I have to be strong for the girl I have every intention of marrying at some point in the next eleven months. It goes without saying that my emotional state at the moment is not good. This was reflected today at work, my fuse was more than a little short. It hasn’t been like that for a while now, so due to the fact that I was a bit snappy toward one of my bosses today I expect to be dragged into the office by the other one. I will be honest and tell my boss exactly what’s happened, hopefully they will understand. So with my emotions on a knife edge anyone who wants to take a pop at my missus had better be prepared to take both barrels. This is not a stubbed toe or a hammered finger that can be laughed at, this is a serious thing that can, and will affect everyone around her. Including a young lad who’s the same I was when my mother told me and my sisters what will happen to her. Am I worried that the same will happen to Trudes? Of course! In a selfish way I’m worried for myself, but she will never see the worry on my face. I hope that the only thing she ever sees is love and care, but if I need to blub she will not see that. I’ll happily let her see me blub because my cats poorly or I’ve had a crap time, but not when she needs me to be strong for her.

Anyway moving on, Saturday was quite eventful, I arose later than usual for a Saturday, after a bus ride to Hythe I arrive at the shop for the gaming group. We had a few new faces which is always nice; if I’m honest I was a little distracted and was a little off with my duties. This distraction was not helped by the arrival of young Mickey, who appeared with a new toy in hand. A NERF N-Series Recon. So I did what I did best and showed my disapproval of such things by buying one. These things are blooming good fun. It’s a gun that fires soft darts so it’s perfect for shooting in the shop. Initially Sue was unimpressed by such immature behaviour, that was until people started buying up the remaining stock. She had 5 recons in stock, not including the one I’d grabbed, by the end of the day they’d all gone and Sue is having to reorder to meet demand. So in one fell swoop Mike and me had gone from being royal pains in the butt to in store demonstrators.

I left the shop earlier than usual as Tea was picking me up en route to her folks. We were off to Mankys for a belated Christmas celebration. Many of my old friends were there plus one or two people I hadn’t met before. It wasn’t long before I realised how much fun the guys I was with are. We have about fifteen years of history behind us and I hope that there are more good times to be had. We reminisced about the days gone by, such as having a Klingon, a Vulcan and a (poxy) Bajoran stuck in London. Dave ruining my chances of pulling a very fit, yet very dim, blonde lass on the underground, to name but two. Ok so I may not have stood a chance of pulling, I was very Klingon, but it’s my story so that’s exactly how it happened. I miss the odd trip up to London for a trekkie night out. By 23:30, maybe later, Trudes had seriously flagged so I asked a mate if there was a chance of a lift back home. He readily agreed and we were, sadly, heading down the motorway for home. I say sadly cos it was such a fantastic evening, and no reflection on Teas state of health.

Sunday was the usual quiet affair, I went into town to grab a bit of shopping then head home to attend to my lord Moggy Bogs. He was his usual bouncy self and very pleased to see me. He is such a welcoming little chap. Whilst I was on my way home Trudes phoned. During the call she told me that her chemo had in fact started on Friday. The naughty sausage! I pottered about at home for a bit then headed up to Trudes for the rest of the evening.

Monday morning had me wake up earlier than usual, there was a cup of coffee beside me and a vision of loveliness holding a wrapped up box. The contents of the box were some individually wrapped gifts for my birthday. When the coffee had been drunk and the pressies had been deprived of their wrappings I headed off for work. After a fairly naff day I went to the health centre to see a podiatrist. Apparently my feet are in very good condition all things considered, I have good circulation. Finally some good news. Huzzah!

Well that’s about it for now, I shall leave you with this little snippet:

A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

A wise man knows how much he doesn't know.

It’s Thursday evening, her royal gorgeousness is crashed out on the sofa, fortunately no talk of research or wooden Messerschmitt, and my poor feet are still recovering from walking millions of miles around London yesterday. Wednesday morning had me getting up at 05:30, dear god! So that I could be ready for Mickey’s arrival at 6 (am). He was 2 minutes early so off I trotted out to the car and we set off for Londonshire. The journey was fairly uneventful, except for Mike missing a turning! Whilst he was muttering something about finding a point to do a u-turn or cut across country to get on to the road that he wanted, I whipped out my spangly all singing phone, started the built in sat-nav and soon had a route sorted that didn’t need u-turns or driving through fields full of sheep. Mind you, we did at one point drive through a group of morons who had about as much road sense as a dead hedgehog, and all the courtesy of a, well, someone who’s not at all courteous. People were pulling out in front of others, no indication, they were using the hard shoulder to get further along the queue of traffic, and the concept of “right of way” was more a case of “might is right”. To be honest it was scary, I’m glad I wasn’t driving. Mike’s a braver man than I am. Anyway, about ten minutes on from motorway madness, we arrived at a car park near the O2 arena and walked to the tube station. I’ve been on the tube a few times in the past but never that early, 08:00, dear god there are so many people. After a glance around I think I may have figured out the etiquette for the tube in the rush hour. Firstly no one speaks, not even to someone they know, if you do speak to someone it’s only to say “excuse me” or “sorry” and occasionally “thank you” although I think the latter is considered to be an expletive. Secondly, where ever possible be reading something, or at least pretend to be. People seemed to be using the cover provided by a book or newspaper as a shield almost as if to say, “I have a book so don’t disturb me!” thirdly and, I suspect, most importantly, do NOT make eye contact with anyone! This is the most difficult one as the expressions people have on their faces fascinates me. The final one and I think this sort of ties in with the first, having a silly conversation with a travelling companion is also disapproved of. I was getting very unimpressed looks from the people stood next to me in the carriage after saying something about having my toes squished. We temporarily disembarked the tube at Westminster, the intention was to get some breakfast. Sadly there are no cafes of any kind in the area. We did see some people protesting about Tesco, but sadly we never really figured out what Tesco has done to warrant the protest. Anyway back on the tube to Olympia, when we arrived we found a swanky place to get nosh. After which we headed back to Olympia and in to the toy fair.

Sadly I don’t have much to report. I had planned on leaking some info about the forth coming Doctor who releases from Character Options, but because the shop doesn’t deal directly with them they weren’t prepared to admit us into the secure shed that house the doctor who merchandise. I was also hoping to get into the Hasbro display, but as we’re not a supermarket that orders around 60000 units, they gave me the brush saying that all the reps wouldn’t be available until after 6, odd as the place closed at 6. I know a brush off when I hear one. Had my badge read Tesco or Asda or the other one, I suspect I would have been having tea and biscuits with a rep and on first name terms with him. I did get a warm welcome from a guy called Oliver who was running the stand for a company called Esdevium, a long standing supplier of RPGs and CCGs in England. He showed me the most amazing boxed set for the new release of Warhammer Fantasy RPG,  with a retail of £60 it’s a bit pricey but it’s very well packaged and more than meets the high standards expected from a licensed GW product. It’s produced by a company call Fantasy Flight Games. They’re also producing some 40k tie in games, so they’re one to watch. The quality of the thing makes it worth any RPGer owning. I also discovered an easy to play card game called Jurassic Wars. It’s simple but brilliant. Published by a company called Dice Maestro, it’ll be perfect for keeping the lads occupied whilst they’re waiting for a table to become free. It reminded me of a card game a friend discover at the last Gencon I went to. The game was called lunch money, and basically revolved around play ground fighting. It too was brilliant. I wonder if Chippy still has it. Mike and I left the Toy Fair at 14:00 and headed over to the Natural History Museum. We did, what I call “my guided tour” it’s an ideal way of seeing the main attractions of the museum. We started off in the Exhibition Road entrance; we had a brief look at some of the exhibits there, then up the escalator to the active earth gallery, volcanoes and earthquakes. Then we go to the earth’s treasury, precious stones and the like. Finally on to from the beginning, this is about earth’s history, from its formation to the present day and its future. This gallery also features some beautiful fossils including a croc skull from between 83 to 71 million years old, its right next to a tyrannosaurus Rex skull. Then we headed down to the marine reptile fossils. Then in to the central gallery, Mike’s a few years younger than me and he’s never been. It was quite a treat to see that he had exactly the same reaction as a 7 year old Jay did when he first saw the Diplodocus skeleton. After he’s picked his jaw off the floor we headed into the main dinosaur gallery. Whilst we were walking along the raised walkway I was explaining the exhibits to Mike, we were about halfway along when I noticed that we had a bit of a following. We’d picked up a group of about 8 children and what appeared to be their teacher. They appeared to be quite captivated by what I was telling Mike. Then in to see the Animated Rex, He may be getting on a bit, he’s about 10 years old now, but he’s still fantastic. The technology to make these things has come on in leaps and bounds. Last year Mike and I went to see the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Experience, quite simply “WOW!” so I really do think that as lovely as  the museums Rex is, he’s well past an update. We then set off to see the blue whale, sadly the gallery is closed until March but Mike got to peek through a window to get a rough idea of the size of the thing. The fish gallery was next, well I say fish, it covers pretty much all marine life that isn’t extinct. This was also the location of my first oops. I was looking at a preserved Horseshoe Crab; it’s up ended so the underside is visible. It looks like an alien face hugger, as I studied the thing I said to Mike “that’s horrible!” this attracted the attention of a young fella who was sat sketching a crab. He looked at me a bit odd, so I clarified that I meant the Horseshoe Crab and not his drawing. He didn’t seem amused. Shortly after that I phoned Tea, during this time I said some, possibly, derogatory remarks about the Americans. These remarks attracted the attention of a young lass who glared at me even harder than the lad with the drawing. I suspect from the Paddington hard stare she was giving me that she may have been a resident of the colony. OOPS! Oh how I laughed. So after my efforts to further English/American relations and a coffee we headed into central Londinium and the Forbidden Planet. Apart from being located at what for me is a new premises on Shaftsbury Avenue, it’s pretty much the same. Staff who don’t want you to be there and seem to want to be somewhere else. The things they have for sale are mostly good, but some of it does seem a little over priced. Still I managed to get a future sonic screwdriver and a Wonder Woman key fob for Trudes, apt I think! I also picked up two tins of skeleton mints for DTWP. As we headed away from TFP, Mike wanted to pop into a DVD shop, not wanting to myself I took advantage of the time to have a smoke, a habit I should be trying harder to quit. Whilst was doing so I looked across the road and saw a shop front decorated in black and yellow and called “Orcs Nest” I have been trying to find this shop for the better part of 25 years. I finally stumble over it purely by chance. Funny how things turn out! Back on to the tube for more train riding. By this time it’s 19:00. Where the heck do all the people come from? We didn’t get on the train as it seemed half of Londonville was crammed on it; the second one had the other half. The third train was less packed so we hopped on and after a quick change we finally arrived back at O2 and the car for the run home. An hour and thirty minutes later I got home, with sore feet, and aching back and a warm welcome from DTWP and Tea. Doogs had some mints; I gave missy her key fob and the tiger’s eye and rose quartz that I got for her at the museum. Eventually I went to bed leaving Trudes cooing over the star Images 2010 catalogue, bless!

Back to work this morning, my feet are still sore and I’m completely knackered but it was a good day.

So that’s it, I suspect this is the longest entry I’ve written, hope you have enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed the events it covers. Although I now want to take Trudes and Ben to the NHM more than ever now. If anyone’s up for a trip one Saturday let me know. I promise not to be too geeky, well, I’ll try really hard not to, I can’t promise because I get so enthusiastic when I’m there.

TTFN for now may all your dreams be monster free!

Once upon a time, (or more specifically at the dawn of time), god—lower case "g"—was getting busy with creation, as the kids these days are saying. He gave Toad a clay jar and said,

"Be careful with this. It's got death inside".

Pleased as punch and oblivious to the fact that he was about to become god's fall guy on the whole death issue, Toad promised to guard the jar. Then one day Toad met Frog.

"Let me hold the jar of death, or whatever you call it", Frog begged. With a nod to Nancy Reagan's pearls of wisdom, Toad just said 'no'. But Frog was determined, and after much whining, Toad finally gave in.

"You can hold it, but only for a second", he said.

In his excitement, Frog began to hop around and juggle the death jar from one foot to the other.

Frog... was an asshole.

"Stop" Toad cried out, but it was too late, Frog dropped the jar and it shattered to the ground. When it broke open death got out and ever since all living things have to die. Makes you wonder how much better the world would be if Frog had stuck to hocking beer. So there you have it, the mystery of death finally revealed, we all die, some of us sooner than later. Hopefully mine will be much later!

Everyday I give my best efforts, If I don't succeed I run the risk of failure!

It’s been a pleasant couple of days, as readers will know I covered the shop on Saturday, today I phoned to hint at the takings for the day but had my thunder stolen when told that she’d checked the reading when she started this morning. Still considering I took more in one day than she took over the whole of last week, I rightfully claimed bragging rights. There a bit of friendly competition going between me and Sue. When I cover for her I really want to have a good day sales wise. So presenting her with a high end of day record is always nice. Unfortunately it doesn’t take her long to steal bragging rights back. I think I have to wait until August now for another day so she’ll have plenty of time to set me a target.

This Wednesday I shall be heading off to the 2010 toy fair at Olympia. Apparently I’m being picked up at 6 in the morning. Dear god that’s early! I’ll have to have an early night tomorrow. The good thing is that the journey there and back will give me a good chance to have a proper play with the sat nav on my phone, and Google earth. Silly I know but fun all the same. I’ve also worked out that Olympia is only a mile and a half from the natural history museum, so if we leave the toy fair a bit early I could pop in quickly. The mate who I’m travelling to London with has also mentioned the possibility of visiting Forbidden Planet. I haven’t been there for years. It’s no longer on Tottenham Court Road, it’s moved to Shaftsbury Ave. I’ve seen a few things that have raised my interest, time will tell.

I was buying stuff for Obi Kat today; it occurred to me that the little fella’s quite a fussy little thing. If I buy him something like Tesco’s own brand he’ll turn his nose up at him. However if I get him Felix or Whiskas he can’t get enough of the stuff. It’s the same with DTWP, buy him supermarket own brand and he looks at it as if to say “I ain’t eating that muck!” but put pricey butter roasted chicken down for him and it’s munched up in no time. What puzzles me about this is that they won’t eat cheap food cos it may not taste nice, but they spend an awful lot of time licking their bums! How does that work?

In closing I shall leave you with this little snippet to ponder;

If a cat always lands on its feet, and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what would happen if you tied buttered bread on top of a cat?

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.

In closing I leave you with this little gem:

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

If you’re living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room!

I sit here with the telly blabbering away incessantly, my main squeeze is compiling a shopping list for oriental type grub and I really fancy chocolate ice cream. Sadly it’s yet another item of food that has been relegated to the forbidden list. I’m seeing an old friend in a couple of weeks who has had diabetes for as long as I’ve known him, so I may pick his brains about how he copes. I remember him once saying that he even has to be careful with something as innocent as a grape.

I know that I prattle on a bit but it’s still a bit of a shock, I’m never ill, ok I get the odd cold or my back plays up now and then. But my last sick day was about 8 months ago. I surprise myself really, my managers are always going on about the fact that they eat healthy and exercising and blah blah blah! But they’re often off because they’re sick or their children are ill. Before I continue I must stress that I think the world of my managers, I couldn’t ask for better employers, they also have the most adorable kids. My rant here is the fact that they are so often ill. From the way I see it, living a healthy lifestyle should make you healthy. Here’s me, overweight, over 40, living on a diet of tea, sugar and lard and I’m never, well hardly, ill. Ok so I have high blood pressure and diabetes, but that’s my fault. It’s down to the way I’ve lived my life. Yes, if I scoffed less in the way of fast food and more in the way of green grub I wouldn’t be in the condition I’m in. But hey what’s done is done, is it too late to change? Probably not. The big question is do I want to change? Well that remains to be seen.

On a brighter note, I’m emotionally healthy. I have a wonderful girl in my life, and she cares deeply about me, and I feel the same way about her. I have some remarkable friends who do not judge me, when you consider that some of them have seen me at my lowest and most ridiculous. So I thank my friends for all the support they’ve given me over the years. You know who you are! I also wish one in particular a safe and happy journey on the road to his new life. I will miss him when he goes, I know that we don’t speak much, but he knows that I’m always about should he need me, all he has to do is pick up the phone.

It’s funny that eleven months ago things weren’t very positive, and I was heading down a very steep road to a very dark place. The realisation came when I went to bed at night hoping I didn’t wake up and I was almost angry with the fact that I had woken up. I felt as though I served very little purpose. But that all changed with the arrival of, oddly enough, Obi Kat at first. Then things between Tea and me grew and well the rest is history. It just goes to show that you never know what’s around the next corner. So I’m glad that I didn’t give in to some of the thoughts I had a few months ago.

A bit deep this one, probably not a good idea to publish as it may give a few people ammunition, but this is, as I often point out, my blog space. So if you don’t like it, naff off!

So all in all I’m a much happier bunny than I was and my life has taken a turn down a new road that appears to lead to a brighter future. So here’s to the future, raise your glass and wassail!

Until next time dear reader(s).

May you find a large slice of the happiness cake, with marzipan and icing? Yummo!

 

I’ve just seen on the telly box that channel 4 are going to run a documentary about the recent cold weather the blurb on it is “Early 2010 has been one of the coldest winters in Britain for decades. This documentary examines what has happened and why, the consequences, and what weather we can expect in the future.”

Um let’s think about this for a minute, it’s January, we live on an island just over a thousand miles from the Arctic Circle. The wind for the first two weeks of the month was coming from the north east, and a region of high pressure was sitting over the north Atlantic. As a result of this it got cold! Can we expect this kind of weather in the future, well DUH! This reminds me of a time when I was waiting for a bus, two elderly ladies were having the standard old persons moan about everything from the price of tea and small yappy dog food. I overheard them talking about that year’s summer, 2007. It had been particularly rubbish, it rained, a lot! Anyway one of the old dears pointed out this fact, the other agreed that the weather had been terrible but then ended the statement with the words, and I kid you not! “Someone really should do something about it!” ok first off, who? secondly, what?

Predicting, sorry, forecasting the weather is sketchy at best. In reality any forecast can only be accurate for 24 to 36 hours, beyond that there’s little point. Weather patterns are the finest example of the chaos theory you’re ever going to see. The best forecasts I’ve ever heard were from Jeremy Paxman and a KMFM dj. Paxman had been told that Newsnight was to include a weather forecast at the end of the show, much to Paxmans chagrin, but he soldiered on and his forecast went something like this. “it’s April, what do you expect!” the dj advised his listeners to look out of the nearest window, he then said that it would be like that, in this case slightly overcast, for the next hour at least. I read on a friend’s blog a week ago that the ecomentalists are no longer worried about global warming, as the recent weather is a clear indication that we’re heading into a short ice age. Well here’s a bit of news for you regarding ice ages. As long as there’s ice on the planet, we’re in an ice age!

Ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres; by this definition we are still in the ice age that began at the start of the Pleistocene (because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).

Right, I'll put my soap box away for now

ta ta.

I don’t care what you think, strawberry milkshake does count as one of my five a day!

It’s Saturday evening and I sit here typing this in the half light of the front room and the telly babbling away in the corner. Friday was the usual festivities that are Fridays, with the exception of one of the usual offenders, who’d chosen to go elsewhere, oh well, no real loss, and young Pete who called time early due to being a poorly pickle. I retired earlyish; to be joined by my most affectionate mogs for the duration of the night, there’s something very odd about having a cat sleeping beside you, particularly when he snores. Today was not a shop day, I cancelled it this week as I was expecting the gang down to throw some paint around, sadly this was not the case. So I’ve spent most of the day with my cat on my chest whilst I flicked through the sky channels. All those channels and virtually nothing to watch. So I resorted to the stuff I’d downloaded on I-player. Although one of the programmes I wanted to watch had timed out, oh bugger! Still heroes and being human are back on, and survivors has returned with a second season so it’s not all bad.

I’m not doing well sticking to my New Year resolution. I’ve managed to paint half a Necron heavy destroyer, and it’s not mine. So I must make more effort on my models, I really want to get on with the buildings, but I know that I daren’t start on those or none of the armies will get finished. Not to mention the Mumak for the lord of the rings. Plus there’s a possibility that GW are releasing some more scenery models, particularly two space marine statues. If the rumour’s true, they’ll make excellent pieces for the entrance to the destroyed city I’m building. There’s also talk of a couple of new space marine models, oh dear! Plus there may be some new Tau and Necron models looming on the edge of possible. Curse Games Workshop and their new releases!

Tomorrow looks to be quiet, taking care of the bestest moggie in the world, and then spending the rest of the day with the loveliest girlie in the world, and her little dog, who is, without a doubt, the bestest little pup ever.

So until next time I leave you with this...

Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure?

Yes! Well, I'm polymerized tree sap and you're an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you.

I have come to the conclusion that TV is a load of rubbish, well almost.

This evening (Monday) there have been four episodes of three soaps a couple of current affairs documentaries and some reality TV. I’m not adverse to the fact that people enjoy soaps, even though they’re primarily tales of human misery, if you didn’t want to open a wrist before watching one you probably do afterwards. The thing is, I like sci-fi, and I make no secret of it, all my friends are aware of it and a fair few share my enthusiasm for it. Last year we had very little by way of sci-fi, we had Ashes to Ashes, whilst technically not science fiction I do enjoy it. We also had a couple of doctor who specials. There was the abysmal failure that was Demon and Primeval. Which was cancelled by ITV, the reason behind the cancellation was that ITV wants to concentrate on more adult drama. What drama? celebrities falling on their backsides, Ant & Dec, washed up singers turning to opera, Ant & Dec, some stupid dating show which involves some egotistical twonk trying desperately to impress a couple of dozen brainless bimbos, Ant & Dec, sport, Ant & Dec, more soap and just in case we feel we’re missing out, Ant & Dec! the BBC aren’t any better, Saturday nights line up comprised of a ridiculous game show which features the contestants trying to injure themselves jumping on giant inflatable balls, another game show in a similar vein. Then there’s another pointless talent show, this one is people throwing themselves around like an epileptic octopus having 4000 volts shove up its left nostril. Sundays are just as bad, the closest thing to anything entertaining was a program that centred on some mad bloke being stuck in a jungle trying to get back to his wedding. Still, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, well sort of. There’s a second season of survivors, a third and final season of ashes to ashes, the remake of the prisoner that seems interesting. But we’ll have the usual pile of mindless rubbish that involves making phone calls to determine which talentless numpty makes it to next week’s brain melting instalment. Some people reading this may get the impression that I don’t like these sort of programs because I’m jealous of the people that have the testicular fortitude to put themselves forward for it, exactly the opposite, I think that some of the people really do have talent. Having sat through last year’s X factor the majority of the finalists could sing. what makes me fume is the fact that the ones who get voted off still get some sort of recording contract whilst the ones that get through to the final are rarely heard of again. It must make the winner angry when they find out that the fella that went out in week four has a number one single, whilst the single they released got to number 5; it makes you wonder who the real winners are. Well obviously it’s the production company. They make a fortune from the people who phone in every week and then they make a fortune from the record and merchandise sales. day time TV’s just as bad, it’s all about selling your tat and making your house look nice. Except not nice how you would like it, oh no that wouldn’t be fun. Instead they get a couple interior designers to redo the house telling you that the old broken dining chair that they spent £400 on, then another £80 doing that up is going to look fabulous in your brand new art deco kitchen. 400 quid on one chair? And that’s broken! So you need seating for a minimum of 4 people at the table, that’s at least 1600 quid gone straight away. If it were proper reality house doing up, they’d take the 1600 quid to Argos and do up the whole bloomin’ kitchen.

Now I know I'm old, I’ll be saying things like “what happened to tunes you could whistle to?” Right I’m off to watch I’m a celebrity’s opera skating big brother on ice, followed by the latest tragedy on East Coronation Farm.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. then you’re a mile away, and you have their shoes!

It’s the weekend, only another eleven to go until I can have a decent amount of time off work. It’s a bit daft really, here I am having just returned to work after having a week and a half away and I’m looking forward to April already, that’s when my leave renews. I plan to have a long weekend with Tea where we can just kick back and chill. It’s possible that we’ll be living together by then, which also means that Jedi Master Obi Kat Kenobi will be living back with Tea as well. I’m sure he’ll settle right back in with few issues. Although April may be a bit ambitious and the move may occur later in the year. There are a few things to consider before the final decision is made.

You know there are times when I really wish I could tell certain people to just grow up, I try very hard to keep this blog fairly family friendly so I won’t express my full thoughts here, but there are a few things I’d like to clear up. I don’t need Viagra, nor do I need any part of my anatomy lengthened or widened. I also have no use for a Rolex watch, real or fake, to be honest, I don’t like Rolex watches. In fact I think they’re a bit dull. I don’t require a Russian, Vietnamese, Philippine or Taiwanese bride, besides; I don’t think the missus would be too impressed. I don’t want to give my bank details to some nutter in Nigeria, and I don’t want a share in the finances of a dead banker. So would you please stop putting my email address forward for all this crap! Dear god there are some morons around, I mean any idiot with half a brain will realise that I’m bound to figure out who the complete back-birth is, fortunately I don’t use the e-mail address that’s being put onto all these stupid sites and only a handful of people have it. I think it only fair that if you’re going to put some ones e-mail address forward for a ton of useless crap, they’d have the courtesy to provide it to some useful ones too. I’d love free samples of useful stuff like beer and chocolate, but seeing as the person I suspect it to be don’t have a real world address for me, I guess I’ll just have to continue adding the junk I get through to my spam filter. I thought I’d seen the last of brain dead morons when I quit working in catering, but I guess it doesn’t matter what you do and no matter how hard you try you’re still going to encounter those who can only count to 20 by taking their shoes and socks off, and are clear evidence that cousins shouldn’t breed.

On the brighter side of things we still have snow and the country is in the grip of yet another ice age, and there’s now a shortage of rock salt and grit. A man on the news, probably related to my phantom spammer, said that the winter was unexpected, what were they expecting? That autumn was going to give it a miss and slip straight into spring? Apparently a third of the world’s rock salt comes from a mine in Northern Ireland, so if we stopped exporting it and importing less from Russia we’d have enough. But then that the mind set of this government, export 6 million tonnes of stuff out of the country and import three million to meet demands.

I’ve just been reminded of something I miss, well more someone than some thing. That someone is a fella called Derek Acorah. Now for those of my readers who are not familiar with him, Derek is a spirit medium who was involved with a program called Most Haunted. He is hilarious, if you have a spare few minutes go to you tube and search him out, in particular look for a video labelled “Most Haunted, Mary Loves Dick!” no it’s not rude, it’s in connection with a notorious highwayman. It is, without a doubt one of his funniest moments.

So I shall leave you with that and hope that it brings smile to your face.

Stay safe and warm and I like Galaxy chocolate!

Superior?! You're not superior to an amoeba with special needs..

So here we are, 24 hours later and we still have snow, woo hoo! We’ve had about 4 inches, yes, dearest readers, and a whole four inches. I know I’ve opened up the potential for rude comments and other opportunities, but they’re all a bit too obvious so I wouldn’t bother. When I look at the photo’s from t’other side of the Atlantic, I sort of feel I’m missing out on something. Wisconsin has had a few feet of snow, and parts of Massachusetts have had about the same. Still I got sent home from work early and it looks like we’re closing early tomorrow. The problem is that the snow could affect the plans for the weekend, but they’re a hardy bunch so I doubt that a bit of snow will deter them.

I haven’t let Obi out in the snow, although he did have a look out of the kitchen window and gave me a look that said “sod that!” he then went and curled up next to a radiator, can’t say I blame him, I’d do the same if I could fit under one.

Apparently England is experiencing the lowest temperatures for around 30 years, so much for global warming; oh I do love a bit of controversy!

In just under three weeks I’m off to this year’s toy fair, I am a tad excited, particularly seeing the character options display, at the last toy fair I went to I had to sign a nondisclosure form before I went into the doctor who section, not disclosing anything was very difficult. Sadly I know for a fact that I won’t be allowed to take pictures, you need a media pass to do that, so I won’t have any sneaky peaks at the new releases to publish. Still, it’s still worth a visit, and I shall be with good company too, which is always good. The other thing I’m looking forward to is the release of a game called Mass Effect 2. I haven’t bought a good game in a while and ME2 looks to be very good. I’ve gathered up all my Never winter disks, seeing one of my mates mentioning it quite regularly in his blog has given me the bug again. I’m fairly sure that my laptop will run it and the expansions, it won’t run NW2, for which I discovered yesterday that there’s another expansion set for it. Something else I have to start visiting again is Guild Wars; I would imagine that my character’s extremely bored as I haven’t played in well over a year. Sadly my laptop won’t run it all so it’ll have to go on the main PC. Which is a shame, I don’t even think it’s worth trying. Still it’ll be nice to stomp my way through the Forgotten Realms again. Now if only I can remember where I left my sword...

Oh how I miss the regular Monday night role-plays, we used to have such fun. Especially a certain mad spell caster who had a passion for incinerating donkeys. My our PC’s dined well that night. Fireball in a hay loft, I ask ya! I need to start writing a campaign for The Call of Cthulhu RPG; it’s been a while since I last ran it. I have basic story outlined but fleshing it out is the hard bit for me. My friend Philip was probably the best ‘thuhlu ref I’ve ever known. He could run the game on the fly and no matter how hard we tried; he always managed to get round anything we threw at him, although I’ll never forgive him for the incident with the mirror in the basement. (Toe rag)

So the weekend may be closer than usual due to the weather, and probably not as long as I’d like.

That’s it for now, fairly random this one, but I shall leave you with this thought, why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

I'm sorry, guys. I never meant to hurt you. Just to destroy everything you ever believed in.

And lo he did look upon the land and saw that it was white and fluffy. Yes my precious little minions, we have SNOW! Not real snow, you know, the 6 foot deep in 35 minutes kind. NO! We have the 2 inches over night and the whole of England goes into panic buying and stocking up on bread milk and custard, or is the custard bit just me?

DTWP made the best of the snow, running around like a little Tasmanian devil snuffling in the snow. Every time he lifted his head, he had a chin full of snow, he did look very cute, bless ‘im

Anyhoo here we are, half way through the week and I’m absolutely shattered. My health has taken a bit of a down turn. A visit to the doctor revealed that my BP’s a bit high, although I think other things that are ailing me have lead to that. Still not much to worry about I’m sure it’ll sort itself eventually.

I’ve been discussing a short break wiv da misses, those who read my last entry may remember that I wrote about returning to Lyme Regis for either a long weekend or even a week. After much consideration I thought that the Isle of Wight would be a better venue as there’s more things to do when not fossil collecting or star gazing. I planned to visit the IoW in September of last year but other things got in the way of it and I didn’t actually do any of the things I actually planned to do, ah well, there’s always this year.

I wonder if the snow will affect work, a few years ago we had to close because of the stuff; I’d quite like a snow day. I very much doubt the minibus will get out so at least one of the team will get a snow day, which good cos at the mo, he very much needs a bit of time. Having gone through what he’s going through, albeit much younger, I can empathise with him. I know that those who know him and have a faith will be saying a prayer for him.

Well that’s about it for now, until next time.

Be careful out there, it’s cold, wet and slippery. Unless you’re located between the tropics, in which case it’s mild at worst.

I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling. So why don't we just ignore each other until we go away?

So where’s this snow everyone’s babbling on about? I have friends and family in the USA, the friends aren’t too far away from Chicago and the family are south of Boston, and they’ve had snow. According to the met office this is possibly the coldest winter we’ve had for about 30 years. Ok it’s cold. But so far the best we’ve had in my end of the country is an inch, and that’s bought the region to a standstill. It’s a shame really cos I really like snow, I like the way it seems to muffle sound and how cool, no pun intended, everything looks covered in a big white blanket. I’ve half a mind to create an e-mail address so my loyal reader can send the best of their snow pics, but I think that would open a door to all manner of unpleasantness so I best not. Shame really! Still the people who really know me have ways and means of mailing me their pics so I shall settle for that.

I know it’s only January, but I’m actually thinking about a spring or summer break. I’d love to head back to Lyme Regis and Charmouth again but the problem with the Jurassic coast is that it gets heavily harvested by professionals and nothing much gets left for the amateur. South Wales has quite a few areas of Jurassic rocks so there’s always an option. I’d also like to return to Cornwall but there are very few fossiliferous areas. The places I’d really love to take my hammers and chisels are, of course the Dakotas and Montana in North America and Alberta in Canada, but financially speaking that extremely unrealistic. Unless, of course there’s a lottery win between now and then. Of course a trip away would have to involve the other half, DTWP and possibly super kid. I really want to take him and herself up to the Natural History Museum. I will never forget the expression on my lads face when he saw the Diplodocus skeleton. He was absolutely awestruck, it took him a few minutes to pick his chin up off the floor, and that was after seeing all the marine reptiles in the Waterhouse Gallery. Another visit is well over due but I think I shall leave for another few months until the Deep Sea exhibition opens.

The other thing I’d like to do, if I get the chance, is to return to Lyme is take my telescope, the camp site I like there is in a designated area of dark skies, so the light pollution is at a minimum. This means that so much more is visible; not only with the naked eye but through a good pair of binoculars or a good scope the wonders available to see are phenomenal. So a trip to Lyme would allow me to indulge two of my hobbies, three, if I take a couple of books. The only problem I foresee is keeping my two companions amused. If you’re not collecting fossils or looking through a telescope, there’s not a great deal to do whilst you there. There is a good pub called the Talbot Arms, they do a great selection ales of ales, including some from Sharp’s in Cornwall which is where Doom Bar comes from and Otter Brewery which makes an ale called Otter Head which I also find a bit good. The food was also good the last time I was there. I had a steak that was done to perfection. Getting back to the issue of things to do there are a few local attraction to visit, so a rainy day excursion wouldn’t be ruled out.

Anyway, that’s a while of yet, when herself reads about the possibility of a break in Dorset she’s bound to mention our forth coming nuptials, have we settled on a date yet? Last I heard it was October, Davey, you may want to take it off your forth coming events list until we can confirm a date. Oh she’s gonna hurt me.

I wonder how difficult it is to type with broken fingers.

Until next time, be good to yourself, and each other!

Love & blessings

Kalon

Kalon’s blog additional: still no luck on the Christmas Pud situation, I may have to rally the troops and declare war!

Kalon’s blog, Stardate 63513.7: there has been a development on the Christmas pudding front, all hands have been ordered to stand down and red alert status has been deactivated.

I reckon you've got concussion - I couldn't give a tart's furry cup if half your brains are falling out. Don't ever waltz into my kingdom acting king of the jungle.

It’s been an interesting day; I was late for work, only by five minutes, but all the same late. I do hope this isn’t going to be a trend for the coming year. I get really cross with myself when I’m late; it sets me up for a bad day. Fortunately today was the first day back after the Christmas break so seeing the guys was something to look forward to. That helped to set me up for a good day.

I had an interesting series of e-mails today, all from a women’s health clinic, I suspect some simple minded fool thought that it would be amusing to put my address on the mailing list. It’s some complete brain below with too much time on their hands. It’s all well and good but I’m fairly sure I know who it is and I hope they enjoy themselves looking for new and interesting ways to endeavour to bother me. With luck they’ll visit the wrong kind of site and pick a virus or spyware and then have a hacker go through their drive. I know it’s very unlikely but I do find the image I have in my head of the look of terror when they realise they’ve had personal details copied very amusing.

Something else that amuses me is how people find it ok to treat others with contempt and disrespect but don’t like it when the tide turns. A few months ago I posted a few somewhat unpleasant remarks on my blog, one person felt that the remarks were aimed directly at them and demanded that I apologise and retract the post. So in the interest of peace and harmony I did as I had been asked. Now irrespective of who or what the remarks were in reference to, I never once wrote anything unpleasant about serious illness, mental or otherwise. However, it has been bought to my attention that it’s absolutely fine for other people to make unpleasant comments about a serious that can, and does, devastate lives and effects those left behind for years to come. Now that’s wrong! Not to mention downright nasty. I don’t care what disputes people may have with each other, but wishing someone had died of said illness is beyond evil. Because what that person is doing is basically saying that they wished that every person closely involved felt the pain of losing a mother or father, daughter or son, sister or brother, and some people have the nerve to consider themselves human! It’s a shame that people carry grudges, I for one try my hardest not to. I like to think that I’m a fairly easy going chap, yes I can be annoying and a bit full on, but I like to think that everyone has some good in them. There are a few exceptions, Hitler, Idi Amin, Osama Bin Laden, Papa Doc, the list is endless. How one person could wish another die a painful and agonising death is beyond me. Having firsthand experience of how such an illness does affect people and families, I would never express such thoughts toward another person. I’m no saint; in fact I’m far from it. I may have a laugh at another’s expense but not where it result in serious injury or illness. I think that such attitude is bad enough when you know the person the remarks are aimed at, but formulating an opinion on someone you’ve never met and your basing such an opinion on hearsay and second hand information, well that’s just stupid.

Anyway the long and the short of it is this, this is my blog, and I shall post what I wish. If you feel that any of the comments I make are offensive then feel free to express your views in a mature and adult manner. Don’t try to use the text here to endeavour to gain information about my friends or family by reading between the lines. If reading my blog makes you want to vomit, don’t read it! If however, you find that something I write makes you smile or stirs up an emotion then I’m pleased!

Anyway, peace, love and harmony to you all,

blessed be.

One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad.

I’ve had a nice weekend; the 40k group had its first session of the year. Whilst it was quiet it was good to be back in the swing of things. I’ve introduced a new set of house rules; sadly they’re already upsetting Imperial Guard players. I was assailed with cries of “I can’t make a combat patrol squad limited to 500 points” “wah blub”. Oh dear, what have I done? Now I know that my loyal readers won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, but rest assured the new rules will make for some unhappy bunnies, ooh I’m so wicked. (Tee hee)

On my return from the shop, I spoke to the missus as I got a text saying she needed to ask me something. She phoned me and said that her wee man was coming over for the night and that they would be off to the flicks on Sunday, it turned out that it was, in fact, two things she needed to ask me. The first was if I could keep DTWP company whilst they went to see Sherlock Holmes. Now anyone who knows me well will know that I’m not overly keen on small dogs, but this little fella is one of the most friendly and affectionate pups I’ve ever encountered, the second in fact. The first being a very distinguished Cairn Terrier. So the opportunity to spoil DWTP was too good to miss, plus it would give mother and son a chance to spend some quality time together. They haven’t spent a great deal of time with each for a while, he was very ill before Christmas and given the fact that my girlies immune system is shot it wasn’t a good idea for them to be around each other. Then herself became poorly. So finally they got some quality time together. Oh yeah, the second favour, the boy plays 40k and about a year ago he bought a Necron battle force. He made a start on painting and putting them together, but with homework and schooling and family time, he hasn’t had much time to get on with the models. So I was asked to give him a hand, I like painting miniatures; it’s my favourite thing about the gaming hobby. From opening the box, prepping the components and getting the model finished is something I really enjoy. Fortunately Necrons are easy to paint and I should have them finished in a few days, although I have to leave a few for my future step son to complete. Bless ‘im. He’s a fantastic lad and I think we’re gonna get on really well. He has a sense of humour, he’s polite and respectful, (most of the time) but every lad around his age can have their moments. But all in all he’s a nice kid. The worst thing about the whole thing is seeing missy virtually broken over the fact that he’s not with her. New Year’s Day was probably the worst; fortunately the departure of a certain time travelling medic gave her the perfect chance to let some of the pain out. Which in a strange way, I think it did some good.

Tomorrow I return to work, oh joy! Still it could be worse, couldn’t it? Seriously I am looking forward to Monday, how scary is that? It’ll be nice to see the guys and hear all about their Christmas break.

Oh yeah I would like to express my displeasure at the way I was teased with Christmas Pud earlier today! Using one of my favourite examples of festive fare is decidedly naughty! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (Tee hee!)

Luvs ya hunnee!

I bought these Star Wars sheets but they turned out to be much too stimulating to be compatible with a good night's sleep. I don't like the way Darth Vader stares at me.

Well here we are firmly placed in 2010, out with the old and in with the new. It was a fairly un-typical Christmas for me, aside from the standard sitting in with the telly box and going to bed at stupid o’clock in the morning then getting up sometime close to midday, the main difference was, dare I say it, DIET! Foul word indeed. This blooming diabetes thing is, to be honest, a right royal pain in the wrongun, the 25^th December came and went and not a crumb of Christmas pud, I had trifle, which I think is the best dessert in the world, but I also really like Christmas pud. Well this year I had none and I feel robbed, yes dear readers, ROBBED! Those who know me well are more than aware that I have a very sweet tooth. When I go out to eat I choose my pudding first then base the main meal on that, it means I look forward to pudding more because I choose a meal that has strong savoury flavours which tends to bring out the richness of something containing high quantities of sugar. In fact my ideal meal would be three courses and every course was some type of sugary naughtiness. In fact as I’m typing this I can smell treacle sponge. All I need now is a whiff of custard and I’m sorted. I got some really good pressies, 3 fossils one of which is 70 million year old reptile poop, otherwise known as coprolite, a Spinosaur tooth and a Mososaur tooth. Each one is a thing of beauty. I would love to visit Montana, North Dakota and Alberta to dig for fossils; A Tyrannosaurus Tooth would be a joy to find. I also received Star Trek and half blood prince on DVD plus a really cool book titled “why Steve is late” it couldn’t be better suited. Over the last few months I’ve regularly been late to work in the morning. If I were my boss I would have given me my marching orders. I consider myself very fortunate to work with brilliant folk.

I have a shop day on the 23^rd of the month and a trip to this year’s toy fair at the Olympia on the 27^th and astronomy club at the end of the month. On the 30^th there may be a chance to resolve my Xmas pud dilemma when we all meet up at casa Manky for a very special event. One of my close friends has a calendar of sorts that lists the years forth coming events, it impresses me how he does it, I can just about manage a month ahead, let alone a whole year. So far I can think of five upcoming events for the next 12 months and that’s not including birthdays. So I shall sit back and watch the next 363 days pass by, hopefully without too much strife.

Finally, if you want to see some really amusing, buy your missus a transformer, then sit back and giggle your socks off, inwardly of course, don’t let her know that you find the expression of pure frustration on her face absolutely side splitting. I think I may have to by her another one just for the giggle.

I realise, of course that I’m going to be severely chastised for the above comments, but what’re you gonna do!

So as I prepare to howl in agony, I shall bid you farewell until more random thoughts leap into my head like a leapy, springy thing.

Ttfn!