The weekend approaches

Well, didn't that week go fast! Amazing!

One of my readers seems to have detected a somewhat naughty undertone to my posts recently - I am sure she imagined it (cough cough), but I will do my best to keep things "decent" :-)

The kids go back to school next week, so Saturday will involve the last minute stuff that is always necessary - making sure they have all of the equipment that they need, pens, rulers, calculators, that sort of stuff.

Tomorrow is supposed to be really hot too, so we will be having a barbeque in the evening - looking forward to that, it is like a newly discovered hobby that everyone enjoys the results of. I am hoping that I can get hold of some nice pork that I can marinade, and maybe some more lamb chops. I did some lamb last weekend and it was amazing, so much better than when it is done in the oven. I will be doing home made bread rolls too, as they are so easy and taste so good. I am SO hungry right now!

I will also be moving my PC into the shed so that I can concentrate on doing some recording - using the computer to provide drums, I will be recording bass and guitar tracks. I won't be singing, though, that would be too much! When I get something presentable I will post it here for you to listen to.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend! I am off to get some lunch...

DONG Power

It seems that some of the development of new energy sources for London has now been taken over by a Danish company called DONG Power.

Just thought I would share that with you all.

I wonder if they do t-shirts...

How hard can it be?

Red man - don't cross the road.

Green man - cross the road.

So why can't people do it properly? Every day I see people dashing across the street in front of trucks and buses, risking life and limb to save a few seconds of precious time. Don't they know how fragile life is? Is it really worth the risk?

Near where I live one of these crossings was installed on a nearby busy road after a young girl was killed by an 18-wheeler and there was a huge out-cry about how dangerous the road was and how we needed a crossing. We now have the crossing but I would think that around half of the people don't actually cross the road at this crossing, prefering to take a slightly shorter (50 yards at the most) route that is far more dangerous. Of those that actually cross at the crossing, most don't use it properly, including people with children who will grow up not knowing how to use the crossing, with the inevitable tragedy looming for at least one poor family. Agh!

But the drivers aren't much better! Many run the red lights, others don't attempt to slow down until the last minute so you stand there at the curb waiting for the dumb ass to stop before you step out. Then there are those who stop when their light is green, waving you across - when everyone else is still hammering along at 40mph - and get angry when you don't take them up on the offer!

How hard CAN it be?

Just another Manic Monday...

Well it is effectively Monday here, as yesterday was a holiday...

The day so far?

Woke up early, got out of bed late (heh hem), dashed to work, checked my blog, checked some other blogs but didn't have time to read them or comment (why is it that when you are short of time everyone seems to have posted a blog the size of War and Peace?), then hit the pile of work that was waiting for me!

Lunchtime I headed for town with my guitar on my back, checked the bank and found that we were richer than expected, so I grabbed lunch and then went and sat on the top of the mound that is in one of our local parks. I posted a pic of this a while back. I sat on top, eating lunch and playing a somewhat warped version of the Ray Charles song "Hallelujah I Love Her So". What I hadn't realised was that sitting on the other side of the memorial that is on top of the mound was an old couple who were visiting the town. I was very embarassed when they wandered around the corner and asked if they could take a photo so that when I was famous they could show people! I had to laugh!

Then back to work, a bit of time reading blogs and then more frantic work. Gah! Still, things are clearing now, just waiting for something to appear on my email and then I can go! Yippee!

Sorry for the crappy post!

The first record I ever bought

I loved music from an early age and by the age of 4 or 5 would sit and play piles of old records on an old mono record player - one of those old ones in a wooden box with an hinged lid and a speaker at the front. It had a long spindle that allowed you to stack up about 10 disks at once and drop a new one down when the previous song had finished. Ah, technology!

I would listen to The Beetles, Elvis, The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Tommy Steel, Bill Hayley and a load more that I have forgotten.

Then I started getting pocket money! My older brother realised that if he saved 2 weeks money he could afford a 45 (an old fashioned CD with one song on each side), so I started doing the same thing. I remember standing in the shop looking at the list of the top 30, trying to decide which song to buy. I remember narrowing it down to 2 songs - Robin Gibb's "Saved by the Bell" lost out to this one - Humble Pie's "Natural Born Boogie". The second one to sing is Peter Frampton, who some of you will have heard of even if you haven't heard of Humble Pie!

Have a good weekend! I have a half day today and Monday is August Bank Holiday, so back again on Tuesday! Hah!

Checking out the Goodies

Also known as Counting My Blessings... Nothing to do with the old TV series...

Here I sit, feeling a little hung-over after an evening playing games and drinking whisky and ginger wine - whisky-mac as we call it. Whisky - doesn't look right for some reason, I keep thinking I have spelt it wrong. Oh well.

Anyway, back to the topic!

I thought today I would like to count a few of my blessings. Here goes.

My wife. What can I say? She is the most wonderful person I can imagine. I have no idea where I would be now without her. She is amazingly funny, intelligent and strong, a rock I can cling to when I think the world is going to sweep me away. We are still totally in love. And yes, we still "do it" ;-) *

My children. They are the centre of my world and everything revolves around them. When we lost our eldest daughter I almost died at the same time, but it was having the other three that gave me the strength to keep going, whether they know it or not. Every day I draw strength from the joy and terror of being a parent.

True friends. Whether they are face to face or blogger friends, my true friends are a real blessing - the ones who are still there when the world craps on your head, the ones who say "if there is anything I can do" and actually mean it, the ones who don't mind if you vent your spleen once in a while, even the ones who force you to drink another whisky-mac when you have already had too many and still have to cycle 5 miles to get home. A true friend is worth a million others, and I am blessed to have so many.


* This comment goes back to an old discussion we had about sex education for our children, and the inevitable, uncomfortable question: "Do you and mummy still do it?"

Having a nutty day!

BACK SOON!