We're all gonna die!

Review of the year

2009-12-31T11:56:00.003Z

Jan - a few kisses and a couple of dates. Lots of The Wire.
Feb - Meltdown in full effect. Off work. Four days in Chamonix with Neil and Jemma put me on the road to recovery
March - Still off work. Two weeks in the USA. Oregon, Texas and Florida. It rains every day which is symbolic and does nothing for my tan but I have a brilliant time catching up with old and very old friends and their beautiful families. Back to work and into a disciplinary process. Gah!
April - survived the disciplinary. Still recovering from the meltdown. Divorce comes through. Buy a car.
May - A week in Tarifa for Chas's birthday. Fantastic time was had by all. Well done Seany for coming along on that one. We laughed ourselves to sleep every night even when he had duck for starter and main course one evening and the smell made my eyes water.
June - Summer loving. Lots of make out time on the blanket of dreams. I do love the summer in London
July - Port Eliot literary festival. Great fun was had by all.
August - Redundancy. I knew I'd be top of the list if it happened. It happened and I was top of the list. Actually not the end of the world at all. Two months salary in lieu of notice.
September - New job as a contractor now. Good day rate and much less stress. Back in my little flat too. Big TV, PS3. Feeling better every day. Bestival. A couple of dates and some more kisses.
October - Work. Ticket to USA booked for next March.
November - More work. Ticket to French Alps booked for New Year's Day
December - Even more work. Contract renewed. Xmas bearable. Two nights in the Lake District with my dear old mum was very enjoyable.

Sadly missed - John Gilbert, Finian Gavin, Boris. RIP

That was 2009.
Many thanks to all the people who held my hand and told me it would be ok. I couldn't have done it without you. Your support and love has been essential and I thank you for it with all my heart. Here's to the back of 2009 and the start of 2010.

Fame at last

2009-04-06T14:02:00.000+01:00

I'm on Google's streetview

Five word reviews

2009-04-02T17:20:00.002+01:00

I was prompted by Facebook's 'People you may know tool' to view an ex-TMW colleagues profile and subsequently a blog that she runs called Five word reviews which is worth a look for the selection of London theatre reviews that are only five words long.

My own contribution covers three films all by the Richard Curtis:
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Notting Hill
Wimbledon

English twit meets American slut.

a' 'ight

2009-01-19T23:03:00.003Z

Another very pleasant weekend in sunny North London.
I've just binged the whole first season of 'The Wire' over the weekend. Three hours on Friday, four or five on Saturday and then the rest on Sunday after a great lunch with my folks.
I feel slightly guilty that I spent so much time watching television but I was out and about when the weather was fine and then sought shelter when it started to blow hard and piss down rain.
I did own the first season DVD box set and took it to NZ in Feb but it never made the return journey. Not to worry, it's only taken a year to catch up.

It was definitely worth the wait. I've been told that this TV is a slow burner and made an effort to watch the first three episodes (the first disk) in one sitting to get properly hooked.
The verdict: if you've seen it already you probably don't need me to tell you that it is excellent viewing. If you haven't seen it then get yourself to HMV and buy it now.
One the surface it is a police procedural but because it's HBO it doesn't pull any punches with respect to language, themes, violence or nudity so it's more like Hill Street XXX Blues. After downing the first three hours on Friday night I was hooked and spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday sheltering from the bad weather by hanging out on the mean streets of Baltimore.
Season two next
Recommended.

Norf London lads club:

2009-01-12T17:53:00.000Z

I've had a very local weekend.
Friday was a couple of drinks after work then straight home and an early night.
A lovely lie then a lazy Saturday morning in which hoovering my room was the most active thing that I did.
My flatmate/landlady cooked me bacon and eggs for breakfast. Bless her.
Early to pub for pre-match drinks then on to the Emirates for the game.
1-0 to the Arsenal after 85 minutes of quite unproductive football versus Bolton Wanderers. Having said that, Sam and I both thought that it was one of the better games of late, certainly with respect to atmosphere and player endeavour.
Back to the pub for post match analysis and drinks.
An early supper with Ian at my favourite Turkish restaurant, the Yildiz, then back to his. We watched Revolver on Virgin Media PPV. It had been recommended to me by a friend recently. It's a strange film with no plot to speak of and the script is largely incoherent but some of it is very pretty and well made indeed. Mark Strong is very good as an assassin. I was mildly intoxicated so the scenes that make no sense were easy to ignore yet the good bits and set pieces were fun to watch.
I had a very pleasant stroll back from Ian's to my flat listening to Mulatu AstatQe and letting my mind wander. I had to march hard up the hill to warm up as it was bitterly cold but once into my stride I can walk for miles like that.
It took me ages to go to sleep.

Sunday morning, up quickly for yoga then shopping for the week's breakfast and lazy bones until I went up to Mark's for a sirloin feed whilst we watched Manchester United drub Chelsea.

All in all a very pleasant, slow paced weekend. I got to spend some quality time with good friends doing some fairly mundane things but I loved every minute of it.

Woo hoo!

2008-12-20T09:25:00.002Z

School's out for Xmas. Yay.
After possibly the worst week of the year for me (ill, divorce hell and work bullshit all combining in a perfect storm of fuckyou) I am now off work until 2/1/2009.
Plans for the coming weeks include:
sleep
a party tonight
food
booze
presents
sleep
food
booze
presents
snowboarding lessons
writing
booze
sleep
another party on NYE
more sleep

I'll be in London until the 23rd and back on the 28th so get in contact if you are free for a drink or lunch.
Happy Chrimbo

One more orbit

2008-12-15T23:37:00.002Z

So, the day after tomorrow I'll be 38 years old.
Holy shit, I'd better start doing something with my life that isn't reading, drinking, eating, travelling, learning stuff, going to work and sleeping. Actually what else is there?
I'm not going to be President of Europe any time soon. I think re-training is the answer.
Meanwhile I had a lovely meal and a drinks with my folks and some friends on Sunday having spent pretty much all of Saturday watching it rain and getting a terrible dose of cabin fever.

I'm not sleeping very well at the moment.
Perhaps it's the full moon.

Mission Accomplished

2008-12-13T01:21:00.004Z

I had a day off today and had to spend the whole afternoon shifting furniture around North London using a Streetcar. It is immensely gratifying to do a day of labour. Get up, youghurt and cereal with tea, then coffee. A few minutes of Jeremy Kyle in my dressing gown then set off into Islington to buy my yoga teacher a Christmas gift. My sciatica was so bad at Easter I couldn't put my socks on because of the pain. Now I'm cured.
I gave some tourist wrong directions by mistake. Apologies to them. I should have corrected that.
I had a pleasant walk through Highbury fields and got a pep talk from my Mum on the phone. I bought Pain au chocolat and went to my former home to sort out the remaining items of mine that were there. It was a strange atmosphere in the house of course. Seeing new furniture in there and removing the old.
I spent two hours sorting, wrapping and boxing items. I rode my bike to my lodgings whilst it was still light. Then I picked up the car and loaded it with stuff. I collected Ian, God bless him, and he helped me store the first car load and returned to help with the heavy lifting. We couldn't dismantle the sofa and it was heavier and more unweildy than I remember. It started to rain.
We put the sofa into the car and two feet of it was sticking out of the open boot. Ian sat in the passenger seat and held on to it as I drove the 500 yards at 5mph.

We lugged the sofa up four flights of stairs and into the hallway outside the flat.
In order to make room for the sofa, every other large furniture item had to be moved into a new room. We only chipped off a bit of paint during this lengthy and strenuous maneuvering. The corridor is tight, the doors are narrow and two of the folding sofa beds were taller than the doors and nearly too wide. We escaped with all our fingers intact. It was plain sailing after that. We dropped off the car at 6 pm as planned and ate fine Turkish food as our reward.

A fairly trivial day in reality but I feel like I planned it well and accomplished all my goals which is a result.

I'm sad to move all my stuff out from my home, knowing that it's for good. I had to sort through it all too so I have a detailed inventory of what I own and how much I use or value it.

The past is gone, the future is imaginary, there is only now.
It's down to me to make sure that I don't regret the past, I don't fear the future and I make the most of now.

Life goes on and I am very very thankful for that.

VAT reduction bullshit

2008-12-11T14:08:00.003Z

I'm inclined to agree with some of what the German finance minister has said about the UKgov's response to the new depression.
A 2.5% reduction in VAT means that for example a device that cost £117.50 is now £115. Whoop di do! What a saving. Meanwhile the shops were already discounting very heavily to avoid closure. It seems to me yet another pathetic sticking plaster on a gushing artery.
Gordon's response: "Most people agree with me so I must be right."
I'm loathe to use well worn similes but this really does feel like fiddling whilst Rome burns. Oh and press ahead with another massively costly, pointless and useless IT mega proejct like ID cards. Nice one. Now fuck off.

RIP Woolies

2008-12-11T00:03:00.003Z

This is the branch in Islington that has been closed for a while and will become a branch of Waitrose soon.
My abiding choldhood memory is of the Hemel Hempstead branch which was basically shit and only good for sweets.

Action Man is back

2008-12-10T23:58:00.003Z

This is one of the window displays of Model Zone (formerly Beatties model shop) in Holborn. The Action Man 40th Anniversary Nostalgia re-issue. For £39.99 you get a figure and a spare outfit. I had the skier and the deep sea diver when I was younger. I'm tempted by the Colditz kit now.

New flat, new life

2008-12-09T19:04:00.004Z

So, life goes on it seems. It's been a while since my last post. Big apology to both my readers. The last year has gone from poor to bad, to very bad to not so bad and is moving towards improving now.
I'm nearly divorced which is strange thing to be writing. Not sure how I feel about it at the moment. My mood swings from 'Oh shit what do I do now?' through 'This is everybody's fault but mine' via 'Ho hum, I can't change the past so stop fretting' to 'thia could be the best thing that's ever happened to me' and then it swings all the way back again. Gah, damn the human condition. If I was a cat, life would be a darn site easier.
It's coming to the end of the year so it's a good time to count my blessings.
In 2008 I:
Got a new job
Moved into a new (rented) flat
Learned to surf
Started to practice yoga
Went to my first festival in years
Bought my first wetsuit
Met a lot of very nice people
Learned a lot about myself
Found an old friend on Facebook
Re-inforced my knowledge that I have some amazing friends
Lived on my own for the first time ever
Learned to give a cat an injection
Changed my Facebook status to 'Single'
Possibly worked out what I want to do with the rest of my working life
I've been to New Zealand and Lanzarote and have booked trips to the USA and Spain next year.

I'm sure there's more to add but that will do for now.
I shall endeavour to make more of this blog. I like to write and I have a few friends who are regular bloggers so it's nice to give them something back.
I do regret not making more notes about my emotional state over the last year because it may have helped to share them but it may not have. Once the dust has settled I'll share the story with those who are interested. Meanwhile I'll try to keep this up to date.

Do random searches make you feel safer?

2008-08-20T09:50:00.002+01:00

This person was able to video his random stop and search.

"You look well"

2008-08-11T11:14:00.003+01:00

For the 7th time in 7 days I have been complimented on my appearance of good health and well being, which has been extremely gratifying.
A fairly busy and not too toxic social schedule, some great company, a new job that I enjoy, sunshine and regular exercise seem to be paying big dividends.
This isn't a vanity post as given the circumstances I wouldn't or couldn't have predicted this sort of outcome.
Three months ago I was on a stress related crash weight loss emotional freak out.

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about:
After ten years of largely happy togetherness including six years of largely happy marriage my wife has decided to move out and seek her happiness elsewhere.
We undertook over a year of relationship counselling which I found exceptionally rewarding but circumstances and attitudes prevailed that led us to this situation and the decision to conclude our partnership.

I have wept a river of tears over this and have some regrets over my own conduct but the bottom line is if someone doesn't love you anymore then you're aren't doing yourself or them any good by ignoring it.

I wish her all the best in her search for whatever it is that she is seeking. I'll respect her privacy and dignity by not elaborating any further in a public forum. If you want to know more then contact me or her directly.

So I'm co-habiting with a cat now and most people seem to think I look well.

The future isn't what it used to be but it sure is getting brighter.

This cheered me up today

2008-08-06T16:53:00.001+01:00

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep..
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. You are special and unique.
8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.
11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

And always remember....when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt.

No future?

2008-07-28T12:08:00.002+01:00

John Prescott says that no one is good enough to replace Uncle Gordon.
Nice to see that the Labour Party is taking its succession planning seriously then.

I suppose they know that this is their last term for a while now and they don't need to select, train and promote a proper new leader.

Many thanks to the busker

2008-04-24T14:09:00.001+01:00

who was playing 'Green Door' on the Saxophone last night. It really cheered me up.

Is Krusty the Klown in Al Qaeda?

2007-07-03T13:00:00.001+01:00

Read this from the Register and decide

Typing weirdness

2007-06-22T16:46:00.000+01:00

There are the usual typos that are common to so many people e.g. how many of you type 'teh' instead of 'the'?
I've noticed that my hands are starting to play tricks on me. Today they tapped out the word 'won' instead of 'one'. I'm starting to worry about it a bit now.

Life's too short

2007-06-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

We were waiting to go on the pitch at 8.30 last night to play five-a-side football when one of the players just about to leave the pitch collapsed and died.
It was a horrible thing to witness nine lads watch their friend being resuscitated on the astro turf whilst we sat around not knowing what to do.
I've been on a couple of first aid courses over the years and carry the Red Cross Emergency Notes card in my wallet but I don't take my wallet or phone to football since someone had a bag stolen. I only take the cash.
We all seemed to fall into the sheep herd mentality of thinking someone else would know what to do and deal with it and although the staff of the leisure centre came out promptly they weren't really equipped or able to do anything more than bring out a blanket and call for an ambulance.
It is the worst case of coulda/woulda/shoulda that I have ever had and whilst I don't know if the lad would have survived under different circumstances I'm resolved to keeping my first aid knowledge more up to date (so I don't need the card in my wallet to remember what to do) and acting more decisively in future.

It's a shame that I had to see some poor bugger croak first.
Whoever you were, Rest in Peace.

Update - turns out he is intensive care being treated for an aneurysim.
Whoever you are, get well soon.

This is just so depressing in so many ways

2007-06-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure that I can even begin to comment on it yet.
Boo Hoo

Never sleeping city

2007-05-10T10:58:00.000+01:00

I made my first visit to New York City last weekend. It was the mrs' birthday and we did the following:
Friday
Depart home by taxi
Arrive Paddington station
Depart Paddington station
Arrive Heathrow
Annoying self check in (damn security requirements mean you have type your life story on a touch screen terminal).
Slow queue for baggage drop (this quick drop system seems to not reduce the time in queues very much at all).
Slow queue for security screening.
Minimal shopping, board, change seats with nice lady so that we I can sit with wifey. Fly! Nice cabin crew (a first for me on BA) bring chaampagne for the birthday girl and don't charge me.
Spider man 2 (it's set in New York)
Land, immigration, cab hell. Cancel first of many meal reservations for Balthazar.
NEW YORK, just like I pictured it, skyscrapers and everything!
Nice room at Soho House in the meatpacking district.
Lunch at Pastis which was so authentically French bistro (although built on the ground floor of an old meat warehouse) that they even had painted tobacco stains on the ceiling.
Drinks on the roof terrace of Soho House. It was the end of the Tribeca film festival so lots of movie types were about. Blimey they are boring and they eat weird too.
Met Gina went to see Passing Strange at the Public Theatre which was very good indeed.
Cabs and stroll back to hotel. Late snack and drink in bar. Bumped into Marco, one of Simon's stag do buddies who I've only met twice: once on the stag do, once at the wedding in Barca and now a third time in New York. La-Di-Da.
Bed, lovely bed.
Saturday
Up early with the jet lag, out onto the street. smoothie to take away and stroll down Hudson and Bleeker to spot a boutique or two for Yvonne. Barry Crabshaw is born(more about him later). Union square, the subway, Battery park, long lunch, fast water taxi round liberty island. Long walk back up town via Ground Zero.
Now we are staying at the Gershwin hotel behind Madison Square.
Fanelli's for a great burger dinner then caught up briefly with an old school buddy who is now resident in NY.
More drinks then back to Gershwin.
Sunday
Top of the Rock first of all. Brunch in a diner. Stroll back down past Macy's, Times Square. Yvonne went with Gina to MOMA in the afternoon. I have a nap, we meet in Central Park and have coffee by the boating lake. Cab back to hotel, it's the driver's first day on the job. Luckily it's a one street journey.
Fine dining in Il Buco in the evening with Gina.
Monday
Shopping: Macy's and Marc Jacobs for Yvonne, Foot Locker and Virgin Megastore for me. A nice breakfast first and then we strike a deal in which I go back to the room and pack whilst Yvonne waits for the shops to open. I have lunch in a 3rd Avenue 'Irish' pub.
Taxi to airport. Easy flight, IRIS at Heathrow. Back at my desk by half eight. Phew.

I'll Flickr my pics eventually. In the meantime here is one from my phone.

Why do people think it's weird?

2007-04-18T10:28:00.000+01:00

I get out of the shower in the morning, my body is clean. I put on clean clothes. I travel by public transport, I read a newspaper, I handle money, I eat, I use a keyboard, I open doors. I'm not wearing gloves.
Why then is it considered odd behaviour that I wash my hands BEFORE I piss?

BTW, I am not a hygiene freak by any stretch of the imagination but it just seems obvious to me that my hands are a good bit less clean than my glans (nice rhyme there).

Can it be true?

2007-03-24T09:59:00.000Z

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Ode to the internet

2007-03-23T11:28:00.001Z

When the every depressive has been made happy.
When the every penny share has been sold.
When everyone wears a high quality replica watch.
When every hot single in your area has been met.
When every woman has been satisfied.
When the every penis has been extended.
When every дешевых лекарств и имплантанты пениса.

Will we stop getting spam?