ROOOAAARR! I am the weather monster!

Yay! It's raining. I'm not talking about a bit of drizzle, nor a light drizzle. If rain is a Lada, this is a Ferrari! Ooh yes you have got to love storms. Unless of course you live on a floodplain. I might add that if this is the case then count yourself unlucky as development on floodplains has been banned on all but two European countries, and you live in one of them! In fact they are encouraging it in the Uk....strange....Anyway i digress! So here I am sat next to my window with it open, getting a little wet watching the storm. Alas it is nearly over now-they are always so short in England!

Something else that is nearly over is Christmas. Yes, after 4 days of festivities and fun with family and friends not to mention the food and general frivoloties. Oooh a whole lot of 'f's...how...clever!
I won't go into detail but I have been all the way down to bath and back, been a on a nice proper walk, and played traditional family games, inbetween eating. I also found time to do a quick spot of shopping. And so we move into the New Year celebrations...I'm off to Oxford tomorrow, for 2 days, which should be grreeeaaat! (As my friend Tony would say)

Well having written 2 paragraphs of pointless drivel, i won't change that now. I have been fairly busy and haven't had a lot of time to think, so maybe i'll do that later when i get back.

Finally, if anyone has ANY IDEA how to do a Rubicks cube, i HATE you! But don't tell me...i WILL do it!!

Happy Christmas and all that...

Happy Christmas! Yes it may be late, however it is the first real opportunity i have had to sit down and write something. I had a lovely day yesterday and also today, seeing my grandparents and spending time with the family etc etc. I got some really great presents too...I think i will maybe cover them a bit later, once the mayhem has died down a little.

So yes, i hope everyone had a joyful and merry (though not too much) Christmas and that you all got lots of lovely presents. Just thought seeing as its one of the most important times of year for people such as me, I should probably at least give it a mention. I was actually given Richard Dawkins latest book the God Delusion for christmas, and have started reading it-a very good read, and even better for taking apart the arguments one by one! Not that this time isn't important for everyone-I don't wish to belittle the family-time people enjoy or the meaning and attachment it may have to people, but i believe there is something distinctly more profound to Christmas.


I got sent this picture last year and think its still pretty relevant. Its sometimes hard to see through all the wealth, and affluence at a time like Christmas when there is such extravagence and distraction but on the other hand sometimes it is a time when people are reminded of the state our world is in. The outlook is pretty crap. Ok yeah there's good stuff, but theres a whoooollle load of bad stuff-and i'm sure i don't need to tell you about that! You see I think the world is pretty much in need of a saviour. Maybe you disagree, but I look around and I don't see much that suggests we're ever gonna sort ourselves out. I can't even sort myself out or look after myself!

So here's the good news. 'The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned'. Tada! So that's what Christmas is about for me. God's big plan for how to save the world, started by a miraculous birth 2000 years ago, exactly as was predicted. That's worth celebrating!

Hooray!

Exciting news everyone...pigeonboys sister site is now up and running!

Pigeonboy@podbean will hopefully be providing a more multimedia experience on top of the excitement of this wonderful blog...ok, this mediocre blog!

So please drop in and say hi!

Top...1...2...3....4 missing....5 ok....

I'm sure dentists speak a different language. I don't know what they learn at dentist school but I have visions of them all sat round like in secondary school language lessons, learning the language of dentistry. Chanting out 'slight overcrowding'....'5 partially erupted'....'6 capped'...and all the other oh so familiar phrases. And how the writer-downer ever manages to hear what the dentist mumbles I'll never know. I reckon those writer-downers are really just gossippy nosey people in the perfect career. They sit there snidely hearing all the intimate details of your teeth, shooting an unimpressed look if anything should be wrong or interested in everything you could possibly have wrong with your teeth-just nosey. ALSO, pleeaasee can they learn to control that sucky vaccuum thing (no innuendos there-hrmmm don't you think innuendo would be a good name for a games console...the Nintendo Innuendo....) I should mention that this post or this blog in no way endorses Nintendo blah blah blah *insert legal stuff here*

So...where was I, oh yes, that stupid sucky thing. So yeah good idea, need a small hoover thing to suck up saliva etc. But I draw a line at having my cheek, and the inner contents of my nose taken too! I mean are they that nervous-is it necessary to shake that much? I end up with a strange contorted face and a distinctly unblocked nose! My theory is that dentists just make up all that rubbish to intimidate you, to put you in your place (I believe Bill Bailey?!? Does a very funny section on dentists and their tools).

In case you hadn't guessed i went to the dentist today and guess what-I only have to go once a year now! Yay! I don't know why everyone dislikes the dentist so much-I've never had any major problems, but one less visit a year can only be good news.

Most annoying question this week...'So, you Christmas shopping?'!?!- 'No, i just thought i'd pop in now that it's quiet in town to get a BBQ for next summer oh and possibly some candles for Diwali'

And there wont be snow in Africa this Christmas time...

...The greatest gift they'll get this year is life. Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow.

Ahhh gotta love the good old Christmas songs. I'm not going to spend ages discussing the flaws in Band Aid's song, as for many people it will be old news. However if you have not considered it yet-just take a moment to consider the lyrics...possibly the most innacurate and some might argue racist song ever written! And that's one of the better Christmas songs!! The problem is that most Christmas songs are awful.

I have made one trip into town since I have been back-and hopefully wont have to make many more. The number of awful singers belting out or trying to belt out rubbish Christmas songs is just too much. The first few can be laughed off, but by the 20th set, you're wishing it was a silent night. Maybe thats just very scroogish of me, but i'm not a big fan of many christmas songs.

In fact the 4th Carol service of the year turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, with 10 choir anthems and about 5 carols i was allowed to sing! Ah well. There is only one thing for it-I shall write my own Christmas song. This time tomorrow you shall all be treated to my very own Christmas song! (Partly because i promised Katherine one!) Its going to be good! So listen out!

There has been nothing of note which has come to pass since my return from dunelm so i wont keep you any longer with the boring day to day news. 24hrs....hrmmmm

Well this is STILL nice

A year since I started blogging and still waiting for something meaningful! You must all be very patient people! 161 blogs in 365 accounts for one blog every 2 days 6hrs 24 minutes and 29 seconds roughly...


And as i write i find myself in very much the same position as last year. I'm the snow-scene shaker thing that 'snows' on the little scene inside when you shake it. I've just been shaken and so it'll take a while to settle. Maybe thats a bad analogy, but the ones involving the sheep, the pigeon, the pint and the magnetic field were even worse so count yourselves lucky.


And so begins the Christmas holidays...The names of days no longer exist, as I slowly dance between the two states of sleep and awake with very little mental distinguishment and slowly vegetate for a month! Or thereabouts. Well at least I wont be woken by the same alarm every morning at 7am!

It's been a while

Another term come and gone. I have now completed 4 out of my, hopefully 12 terms at University. It feels strange to be a third of the way through already. Last night was the traditional essay night, though i did manage more sleep than this time last year, and managed to hand in what was hopefully slightly better than the one last year. This afternoon we had traditional festivities, if a little early, and then had presents and suchlike. During which it must be note, i discovered the best book ever written (well, with the exception of one or two) 'Don't let the pigeon drive the bus'. Go out and buy it now-it is AMAAAZZZINNG!

So yes tomorrow is Edinburgh and then Friday is home. I think I am only just beginning to appreciate the lyrics 'Another year over, and a new one just begun'. It just keeps coming! Day after day, the sun climbs and falls, and the world continues and I try and make sense of it all. I woner if i will ever feel I have achieved anything near understanding. Life is so complex-rich some might say, but complex. Unlike the world, we don't remain constant-forever changing. When i think back to last year, I was so naive! Just started Uni, and next year I will probably look back in the same way. Its like Christmas. It never is the same. As the years go by, everything changes, people grow up, and childhood experiences fade. I hope that there will always be a part of me that is a child! Maybe just a childlike enthusiasm but an adults perception.

Thought for the Day: Have yourself a very merry Christmas!

Yesterday...

Of course the joke from my first blog was that i spent an entireblog referring to a landform and then called it by a different name-just to prove how little i knew about the subject. The pictures and explanations where in fact related to moraines, though drumlins are equally confusing.

You wanna know what else is confusing? The general lack of blogging! People are still reading mine, and yet disasterously failing to keep their blog up-to-date! I mean i know i hardly blog regularly, but I'm on the verge of stopping looking at certain blogs anymore! I must at this point note that Taj has been blogging very regularly, but that this is to be expected given the amount of time he spends on his computer.

The last few days have not been particularly memorable so i wont waste too much energy talking about them. Though i have been to 3 carol services, carols in the bar, 2 pantomimes and watched 3 football matches on TV in just 3 days!

A joke...

What is the difference between a drumlin and a random lump of Earth?

The answer? Who knows...But if anyone does manage to find out, please let me know (preferably before i have to go and try and identify them in the Lake District in January) For those who do not know much about glaciers, drumlins are deposits left by the glacier, that look suprisingly like lumps of Earth. And while the lecturer may enthusiasticly point out 'drumlins' in a photo and hence deduce the time period, speed, direction and favourite ice cream flavour of the glacier, i am afraid i am slightly more sceptical (or incompetent, one of the above).

In other news, it's nearly Christmas! All we need is some snow...

'And in the frosty season...

'...when the sun was set and visible for a mile, the cottage windows through the twilight blaz'd i heeded not the summons:-happy time it was indeed for all of us; to me it was a time of rapture: clear and loud, the village clock toll'd six, I wheel'd about Proud and exulting like an untir'd horse that cares not for his home-All shod with steel, we hiss'd along the polish'd ice...'

Hmph to gobal warming and the strangely warm beginning to December. Still at least we still have the those cheap flights to hop on and escape it all.

I went protesting yesterday. I won't go into detail now, but if anyone is reading and interested as to what twas all about check out this (Yes emma, that's a link). I also went out for a meal last night-which was grrreaaat! And then went round some college bars which was fun. Will write a more interesting blog when i come up with something more interesting to write! Til then tara

Thought for the Day: 'He who has not Christmas in his heart, will not find it under a tree'

The last day before i can start talking about the thing I'm not talking about

Yes, it is the eve of December, and we all know what happens in December...Yes, Tajs birthday. Sorry Taj, it's not that I'm looking forward too. I just can't tell you about it until tomorrow because November is too early.

I seem to be stuck...this is the third time I have tried to write the second paragraph-the first two just didn't sound right. It's not because i have nothing to say-rather i have no convenient way of stringing my somewhat wondering thoughts together-so here are some thoughts. Put them together as you desire

1) Although every square is a polygon, not every polygon is a square
2) I really feel the urge to stamp on a small dog-i was tempted on the way home
3) Life would be a lot easier for everyone if emotion did not exist-however it would be dull
4) I really must make sure i do not hit strangers when i yawn and stretch in public places
5) Arrghhh maths is actually impossible!
6) My room is a mess
7) How long is it realisitcally going to be before they invent self-writing essays
8) I need a drink
9) Casino Royale is an amazing film
10) I'm a nice guy-can't they just give me a degree
11) Hrmm, so many things I should be doing right now
12) Oooh its nearly C********!
13) Unlucky for some-not for me however
14) I wonder what would be an acceptable number to stop on...

Accidental transvestite

My main problem with clothes shopping, is the fear of becoming an accidental transvestite. Well ok, so i am using slightly the wrong term here but hey-If i cared i'd change it. The problem is, I don't have much dress sense. This might shock all of my closest friends, who have witnessed first hand my amazing co-ordination of colours and fantasticly fashionable attire. However it is true. I can cope with Burtons, or Next, most of the time. The problem arises with those shops who sell guys clothes...next to girls clothes. How does one tell the difference??

Obviously the mini skirt and lingerie section are easily distuingishable, but when we get down to the finer points such as jackets, jeans and shorts, how is one to know? Everytime i walk in to such a shop, i look around desperately for some assurance , on signs and boards, even in the clothes themselves, but sometimes the clothes themselves don't say. So if you see me walking round in what appears to be girls clothes, just give me a gentle nudge and a whisper in the ear and that would be much appreciated.

Toilets are great. You'd be hard pushed to beat a cubicle in the corner of a public loo. Ok so they smell bad, and the floor is often littered with all kinds of indescribable things, however i have to admit i have grown to love the humble cubicle. Why? Because it offers me a few minutes of pure alone time. Its like shrinking back into my brain for 5 mins. No-one else around, completely alone with your thoughts and your own space. Step out of the world and into the calm and serenity of four walls and just you inside (hopefully!?!). I may be odd, but i tend to enjoy being on my own, and going to the toilet gives me a 3 minute break to recover before re-entering the world. Urinals just aren't the same

I don't intend to keep you long

Because to be honest there are far better things to do in this world than sit and read the ramblings of an old man stuck in a young man's body! I realised again today that having not blogged in a fair while, was probably time i blogged again. You see Katie hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head (which i'm sure he was proverbially annoyed about, having been hit on numerous occasions in the past) in her blog when she talked about people liking to have something to moan about. It's not that i enjoy moaning especially, rather happy things don't always seem so exciting. However i will endeavour to write about all the happy times!


Life goes easy on me most of the time. And so it is, the last few weeks have been great. Despite the overhanging guilt of not working, everything is really good at the moment. What a rubbish word to describe so much. I won't go on too long, infact most of what i feel i want to say Katie has already said! lol. I feel very honoured to know the people i do, and to considered one of their friends, and feel truly blessed to be where I am. Cheesy as cheese on toast, but just as true (Don't ask me how cheese on toast is true...just sounded like it should work!)

Didn't keep you too long...

Whispers from a different now.

Every now and then, something happens. Out of the ordinary comes the extraordinary-out of the mundane, the awesome. It happened just the other night. Lack of sleep is never good, add that to a stressful day and a heap of work waiting to be done two days ago and you have what makes potentially for a difficult day. You may think these are pretty minor problems, but the magnitude of a problem is often only measured by the amount of coverage it gets in your head, so who can judge the size of problems?

Anyway i digress. I was busy scurrying along at night muttering to myself about the cold and the fact that i had to walk so far, when all of a sudden i glanced up at the sky, and there was the most awesome sight ever. The dark night sky with the looming dimly lit cathedral in the foreground. Lights flickered off the river to my left, and way up high, hundreds and thousands of stars twinkled brightly. Then along came a Grey Bar crawl...singing 'skies are grey, skies a grey' in an eerily high tone considering the number of 'guys' in tow. And that was it-my moment gone.

But just for that moment. I saw a different now. I don't know quite how to describe it, but it was as though for a few seconds, every problem had gone away and i was left with a peace that made me want to smile. Not a crappy little sense of good-nature, a deep sense of contentment. It's not always obviously there. There are times when the world gets to noisy, and troubles shut it out. But if you stop for a while, even in the loudest place the whisper can still be heard. I hope you have the privelege of hearing that same whisper.

Thought for the Day:
Frodo: "I wish The Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to face such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

CLII

I think sometimes in life things just have to be. There is a time for thinking, a time for pondering, but in the end sometimes we just have to get on with it. This may seem strange written on a blog that is sometimes far too philosophical, but the truth is i do like thinking. Thinking is abstract, beautiful and complex. Yet the complexity is a puzzle, which is enjoyed. It's nice to think about deep philosophical matters.

The problem is that life isn't the fun puzzle...its the jigsaw puzzle's evil twin. The one with pieces that bite as you put them in, or fit and then just when you are about to finish, you take a closer look and notice that the pieces don't quite fit. That's why i think sometimes you just have to stop thinking, and get on with it. Life cannot always be reasoned, or explained away. There are some things we will never know or understand, so there is no point trying to, or getting down about it. Just gotta keep going!

Go Live!

151

" You will accomplish whatever you sincerely believe you will accomplish. And you can believe whatever you choose to believe "

I read that today in a website, and felt compelled to remark at its absurdity. Firstly, as much as i may believe it will, my belief will not help fly me to the moon using only matchsticks, nor get me into the Manchester United first team. No alas, what we achieve has very little to do with how sincerely we believe it.

Secondly, how can we believe in what we choose to believe in? Belief is a deep-set strong conviction regarding a certain matter. To choose belief is an insane paradox. For our choices our governed by what we believe, but what we believe is supposedly up to us. Therefore what basis at all would we have for making any decision. I may choose to believe that I am superman, but no matter how much i choose to believe it, it is still in essence untrue. This is not contradicting an earlier blog, where i stated that truth is subjective. I am rather stressing that truth is undeniable and leads to belief. Unfortunately the truth we have in our heads is sometimes distorted by ourselves.

The other thing i noticed is that it mentions the word 'you' five times. So here is where the foundations begin to crumble. What if...we dare to assume that there is a world other than ourselves? That belief and accomplishment may not only be related to ourselves! That there may be issues of truth that extend beyond our mind.

Thought for the Day: If someone tells you 'There is no such thing as Truth', they are asking you not to believe them

Students Work ethic

You have probably heard of tennis elbow etc, but i doubt you have heard of students work ethic. The general attitude towards all things work related that comes from being a student. Oxymoronic you may think, but it is true! Since becoming a student i have become far more lazy and even sitting down to one maths homework can be a real challenge. Indeed it is unfortunately the case that as i write i should be doing some enthralling numerical analysis homework!

I realise it is a week since i last posted and would like to inform all my valuable readers that from now on i shall try to blog at least every other day! The problem is, i have nothing to say. There is no drama, no news, not really much to say at all! Like a postcard from the Western Front, i simply have nothing to say!

Life is good. This last week has been good. Back to school was amazing last wednesday, Halloween party was really cool too-so thanks no.1! So yeah pretty much all i can remember has been fantastic-though i did get a letter from the opticians today-have to go for another appointment! Grrr ok i maybe a little blind (don't even wear my glasses) but i am happy blind! Don't wanna go and stare at letters and numbers and have it sorted out at my expense!

Anyways, that'll be all!

Thought for the Day: A little less conversation, a little more action

A gap in space-time, a house monster or just incompetence?

So here is my quandry. I'm not even sure if i used that word correctly but i like it so i don't care! There have been many strange happenings in our house of late...It all happened roughly 4 weeks ago when following a houseparty one AA rechargable battery went missing. I hunted high and low but still ahve not managed to find it...Then two days ago our bin bags disappeared!?! Could it be coincidence? Is there a highly charged monster running round disguised as a bin bag? Or is there some strange time warp which means we will rediscover our bin bags in twenty years time hiding underneath an inconspicuous leaf? Who knows...or perhaps more importantly what is next?!? A banana, that wouldn't be so bad or maybe...a bed!?!

Or perhaps both will turn up tomorrow and all will be blamed on my incompetence!

Thought for the Day: Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired
Jules Renard

Burning like a flame inside of you

Is this just desire or the truth? Extra 'Chomp' bar for anyone who manages to work out which song that line is from...If indeed anyone does ever read this.

I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What a stupid statement to make. I mean who knows the truth? Is there any such thing as objective truth? And shouldn't objective truth require objective proof? Well as you all know from my incessant mutterings 'the only true proof is mathematical proof' which is undeniably proved given certain axioms. Interesting that even this most solid proof requires in its initial state, assumptions to be made.

So i suppose we resort to conviction-the idea that if we are convinced enough this in some way is proof. A kind of personal truth, that comes from belief in something that is so strong it is considered as fact. Now this comes in many types:It occurs within religion and faith, but also on a much smaller scale...opinion.

I have begun to realise recently that very little within our everyday lives actually revolves around the truth, around right and wrong. Rather it is all about perspective. We all have perspectives, if you like, our own truth, based upon who we are and what we feel. The problem is that often we all have very different 'truths' about what happens...The solution? I guess it revolves around a realisation that different people may have a very different opinion on something, and yet be equally convicted about it. Which can be hard when we 'know' we are right!

Thought for the Day: Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules. Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.

Zoom zoom zoom

I know that was a very very annoying advert, but i couldn't be bothered to think of a better title! Before i begin, may i first hand the worlds largest slice of humble pie to our dear friend Oli, who yesterday wrote his first blog-type thing on facebook! Something i thought i would never live to read!

Anyhow, term is well and truly underway, and although i have only had a little under 2 weeks of lectures, it feels as though term started ages ago! I will never quite get used to this time thing. The way 2 minutes ago i was 13 and in another 2 I shall probably be 40!!! No matter how good things are right now, I am faced with the simple truth that i do not want to grow up. I don't want my parents to get old. I don't want to be an adult with a job and responsibility. I don't like the fact that i can fast see my teenage years disappearing and with them, a simplicity that comes with being dependent. But then again, i love being independent, i want my own life, and having a job would be quite exciting....I guess what i really want is for me to change but everyone else to stay the same! Lol.

So i converge to this...'Carpe Momento'. For as it has been said, a day is simply too long a time period to seize. Can't stop life so just make the most of it while it is here!

Thought for the Day: Is mathematics the model applied to the world, or the law by which the world abides?

Of Early Mornings and Messed up rooms

Why oh why would anyone ever decide to hold a lecture at 9:00am? And why would anyone inflict 2 9ams in a row on me! This is the question i am left facing. I have spent the whole day practically on the science site, having woken up at a somewhat ridiculous hour, in order to get to a lecture, which it turns out confused me. This only improved with the later lecture which may as well have been in Ancient Greek, because i did not understand a single word of it. The saving grace-two hours of easy peasy maths inbetween. And while i while away the hours in Chem. Cafe, my room proceeded to messy itself.

Or maybe this is merely a distortion within my head of the fact that i myself have through negligence and pure apathy let my room get into a state whereby i would find it difficult to tell if i had been burgled! Actually thatb is unfair. I just have a lot of random half dried objects floating round mixed with various shoes, money keys etc etc.

So this is life for me at the moment. I must away now to my bed, in order to restart the cycle at 7.15 tomorrow morning. So Long!

Thought for the Day: Isn't it ironic...I just love irony, especially that song!

Parties and all that jazz

Last night was Party Night at No.5 We piled into the living room with drink and food and drink and lots and lots of people, and listened to lots of super cool music and even danced a little! Twas a good night, and a bad morning/afternoon followed-the house is a tip!

Time to go and hoover!

The twisted and tangled knot of life spins on

hello hello from sunny durham, where the sun is shining and the sky is blue, and where life continues much as it has done for the last age. I have now been here nearly two weeks, though it seems a lot longer. the year is properly underway now and i feel settled into my house.

It's a strange thing life. the other day i happened to be watching the Jeremy Kyle show, and there was a guy who had become a woman on, who was in a lesbian relationship with a younger woman. The problem wasthat the younger woman wanted to become a guy...The older woman had a friend who's husband had decided to become a woman a few years ago ad was advising them both. The problem was that the older woman wanted the younger to have 'their' baby before she became a man. The really weird thing is that if she did go through with the operation, they would be a hetrosexual couple!! very weird and strange stuff.

Everyday i realise more and more that we are all part of a complex web of friendships and relationships, of situations and events, and no matter how hard we try we can't escape. In fact often the harder we try the more stuck we become. Like thrashing around in sinking sand and slowly drowning. So why am i saying this.? Well i have decided that there is no point trying to remove yourself from the web-all you can do is try and stay untangled as possible!

Thought for the Day: This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hooray for student life!

Bonjour bon soir and all that lies between. It has been a very strange and busy few days hence very few posts. I am now back in Durham, in my very own house (well i own part of it!) cooking eating and sleeping in varying amounts. All is going well and the terrace is starting to feel like home.

Yesterday we bought a TV which was very exciting, and we played various card games today, as well as rubbish computer games such as Ski Free and rodent's revenge! (and vickys favourite, rattler race!)

I really am not selling this very well...ok, so its hard to describe days in which getting up to make a cup of tea counts as exercise, but the truth is-I'm loving every minute! Long may it last

Thought for the Day: People shouldn't be scared of the government, the government should be scared of the people. (V For Vendetta again...)

142...hrmmm

There is something special about that number-i just can't recall what...any suggestions welcome. But no linguists suggesting that it is prime, the answer to life the universe and everything or the first three Fibonacci numbers will be tolerated! I mean there's ignorance and then there's linguists. I don't quite know why the attack on linguists by the way, and i do apologise to all linguists who may be offended. I dunno, this is the way society has gone, that as soon as i insult a certain group i feel i have to immediately apologise. Just like old popey...

Popey is hardly my best friend (And i would like to take this opportunity to point out that he is NOT a representative of Christianity, merely Catholicism), anyway, there are plenty of reasons i could dislike him. Reasons too numerous to mention in fact. However give the poor guy a rest over the whole remarks thing. He quoted a very old person (not actually still alive, what i mean is he lived a long time ago) in what appeared to be a context which was misunderstood. Very few people even heard his speech, and yet after the media latched on, are now burning figures of the pope!?!

Has everyone gone insane? Can no one voice what they think these days? So second challenge of the blog...insult me!! Leave a comment insulting me. Don't worry i wont burn effigies of you, because i am an ADULT, i can cope with people disagreeing with me. Unlike the rest of the world it appears. We could even start something where you insult the person who left a comment before you...a kind of chain insult-revelling in our free speech-go on give it a click!

Right few explanations to finish. Firstly this is the 142nd blog, hence the number which i still haven't figured out...and also i did very little today, but i did watch V for Vendetta which is a very good film!

Thought for the Day: A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!

schllluurrrp

That is the noise of me licking an envelope. For today i have 'licked and sticked or 'luck and stuck' roughly 200 envelopes. Unfortunately for you this does not mean lots of letters to my lovely friends. Instead it was merely some admin work for my dad. It was two hours work sorting named letters into named envelopes, which as you can probably guess was greeaaaat fun, and landed a £10 in my back pocket which is always good.

So the tidying went ok today. The packing i'm afraid hasn't really started. But...i still have at least 48hrs so i am absolutely fine! No need to panic at all! I also now have a scanner which is highly useful as well as being very entertaining, scanning all kinds of things-just because i can!

Hi Griff! Just wanted to say a quick hi to my newest reader! That's all i have to say for today.

Thought for the Day: Today is a new Day... (chicken little)

You've seen the film, now read the facts!

Ok, firstly i apologise because these last two blogs have been a bit serious. This is not intentional, merely happened that these thoughts entered my head these last few days.

So firstly in response to a certain comment from Tajudin Abdullahi-named and shamed! lol. No, i think he makes a good point. It's very easy to say we should change, and to even want to change. However to actually go ahead and change is something very different. BUT, it is something we really must consider even if it means giving up one or two of our home comforts. So, just thought i'd say what i aim to do: avoid using air travel, buy local produce where possible, cut down on the amount of meat/eggs/dairy i eat (not massively, just making sure i don't eat too much), try to walk where possible, and try to stick an extra jumper on rather than use extra fuel heating the house. There you go, a few of the things i am going to try and do...

So the title of todays blog refers to The Constant Gardener. I don't have much to say about it. Except if you have not seen it-see it, and if you have seen it check out some of these-scarily similar facts. (I mention this because i watched it again a few days ago).
What the movie missed
Drugs testing

Ok, serious stuff over, jus a quick note to say Happy Birthday to Katherine, 21 today, and in a retirement home tomorrow. Tehehe. I promise the blog will have a lighter topic tomorrow!

Thought for the Day: As the film says...'Big pharmaceuticals are right up there with the arms dealers. It's how the world f***s Africa.

A comment on Sustainability and Global Warming

You’ve heard it all before: Ice caps are melting, the oceans are heating up and within the next few decades many animals will become extinct. All in all, a big bunch of bad news. Of course we are fully to blame, with all our nasty fossil fuel burning power stations, which in the end will be responsible for the extinction of the human race…or is that really true?

In Al Gore’s recent film, An Inconvenient Truth, we see pictures of glaciers and ice sheets 30 years ago and then today. Audiences gasp as they see just how much ice has disappeared. But is this really due to us? The problem is that if you’re going to understand anthropological climate change (caused by humans), you first have to understand natural climate change. The fact is that over the last 60 billion years the Earth has been heating up and cooling considerably. If we take the last 2 million years (known as the Quaternary) we can see that the Earth has been alternating between glacial and interglacial periods (lots of ice and then very little ice). No prizes for guessing then that we are in the middle of an interglacial. These are periods of time characterised by melting ice, and guess what…global warming!

It is this global warming over the last 20 000 years since the last ice age (glacial) that has enabled the Earth to sustain human life. So, given the temperature graphs for the last few thousand years, how can we begin to analyse the extent to which global warming is natural, and the extent to which we are causing it. The truth is that it isn’t really of much relevance.

You see, the main problem is with our perspective. Humans have never been good news for the Earth. In the short time humans have been around, they have had a massive effect on the Earth. We do not fit into a natural food chain; we do not live within a natural ecosystem and therefore we are the equivalent of a virus/cancer on the Earth (very similar to what Agent Smith says in the Matrix). That’s not true I hear you cry, but look around you-our idea of nature is an area of cultivated land, covered with one species of cow, with fences and walls, and perhaps the odd windy road. When was the last time you saw ‘real unadulterated nature’? (Probably on 'Walking with dinosaurs'). Now of course this all sounds very depressing, but it is the necessary background on which to base our thinking.

Living in perfect harmony with the environment may be impossible, but achieving the best balance possible should be our aim. In other words, minimising the impact we have on the Earth. This way, we are managing cause rather than effect. This is where our current approach goes wrong-we look at the effect we are having and then decide what to do. There are two main flaws with this approach. Firstly, as I have mentioned, it may be the case that some of the effects we are seeing are natural and not a result of human activity, and secondly there may be problems which are equally as important but less evident currently, which are paid no attention.

The solution? Global footprints. This is no new idea of mine; it is a widely known but not largely recognised method. Basically it involves considering the effect we have on the Earth by measuring it as a footprint, left on the Earth. For example a carbon footprint is often measured as the amount of trees that it would take to absorb the CO2 released by us. The focus is therefore on limiting the overall effect you have on the Earth. There are various ways of calculating such footprints, and the results are often very scary

So how is this approach different? Well it calls for an understanding that global warming, ecosystem management, water management, agriculture, pollution, waste, deforestation, land use, development, diversity, food production, energy sources etc all require consideration..

For example, current thinking is that burning fossil fuels = bad, hydroelectricity = good, because there are no emissions. But few people stop to consider the negative effects of building a dam, on habitats, local climate, water distribution, etc. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea-but it is important to take every impact into consideration.

The Keyword here is sustainability. Sustainable development is defined as ‘Development that meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation without compromising the ability to meet those of future generations.’ This definition is as old as me, so how comes in 19 years it has not been implemented on a macro scale? Sustainability is about limiting our effect on the environment, and managing social footprints too (the effect we are having on peoples lives i.e. Exploitation of 3^rd world).

So forget the hype and drama. What we need to do is change our lifestyles to minimise our global footprint, and then leave the Earth to do what it will.

Spot the Difference (and no it's not the clothes!!!)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Well, gone today actually, thnaks to a very traumatic hair cutting experience. My hair is now officially short once more! Oh yes, no more curls verging on mullet it's back to spiky short hair. Although this change is good, it still seems sad to part with my hair, which officially was left uncut for a massive 23 weeks and one day. So i didn't quite make half a year, but wasn't far off!

I will post another spot the difference tomorrow so you can all marvel at the change-or just scream as once again you are forced to see my face! And ears, which strangely enough have been covered for a good few months now. I may also post some Svedish piccies too.

Today i successfully went present shopping. This is a rare occurance for me. I tend to be the one who spends hours choosing what turns out to be the wrong present, which is followed by that really awkward silence post-giving. Still, i find a quick humming rendition of 'Raindrops keep falling on my head' goes a long way to solving the uneasiness, and quickly diverts attention away from the pile of rubbish i have just given someone on the most important day of the year! Is it just me that has that problem?

Anyway, i feel i am in need of a more thoughtful blog, hrmmm perhaps i will do one tomorrow, when i have a bowl of ice cold water to dunk my head in afterwards to let my brain cool down. Oh and by the way, 'ice cold'-what's that mean?? Soft drinks bottles often claim they are best enjoyed ice cold. Well unless you have added substantial amounts of salt to the drink (hence lowering the freezing point), your drink will be frozen in the bottle if served ice cold, and personally i find this quite a difficulty when trying to drink.

Thought for the Day: Why do we never say 'Best served steam hot'

Passing time

Operation Durham has begun! I am now back from my travels, after a lovely trip to Sweden. The boat was great, and though our cabin was small, and i mean the size of a shoebox! (well obviously i don't because that would be verging on the ridiculous) but it was very small! Lots of nice photos of sea, sky and gothenberg.

So now i am back, with just over one week until i return to Durham and i have a fair amount of ends to tie up before then. Tidying my room, buying stuff for this year, chatting to those friendly guys at npower, buying presents, getting my eyes tested, getting in touch with college daughters, course reading as well as sleeping eating and all the formalities. I appreciate this may not sound busy to you, but to a guy used to doing virtually nothing it seems like a lot!

Thought for the Day: Humility is like underwear. It should always be worn but never be seen.

We are sailing...

Tomorrow i set sail! I'm off to Sweden-yay! Me and Katherine are going on a lastminute.com cheapo trip to Sweden for 4 days. Now when i say Sweden, we only actually spend roughly 4 hours in Sweden. The boat sets off tomorrow afternoon, and arrives in Sweden at 5pm the next day. We then spend Tuesday evening in Gothenberg, before returning to the ship to sleep. Then wednesday morning we set off again and arrive back in Newcastle Thursday morning. All in all, a big bundle of excitement, at mithes prithes! (esure mouse advert)

So, that is where i will be for the next few days. Now just a brief update of the last few days...Last night i went to see Paddy McGuinness live, which was fantastic and really funny! This weekend a family friend from London was up for the weekend which was also cool. So yeah, a good, pretty uneventful few days. Hope all is well elsewhere in Blogland where the updates are less frequent!

Adios!

I need trance!

So here i am, sat in my room on a Friday evening, checking my imaginary cricket team online...Something is seriously wrong. Then as if from nowhere, hidden deep within the endless playlist of cheese, rubbish and pop...i hear the all too familiar intro...in disbelief i look around me-the pens don't respond, in desperation i search for some response, alas not even the bedside light flickers....now the lyrics come in...'Coming out of my cage, and I've been doing just fine'...and all of a sudden i get a flashback, no wait hundreds of flashbacks, to pubs, clubs, corridors!?! Cd players with 16 speakers...and Planet of sound! Ooooh yes i have many memories of dancing around stupidly (i find it difficult to dance sensibly) to Mr Brightside in the cheese room at Planet of Sound.

Ahhh now there's a way to spend a Friday night...locked in the ecstacy of trance and cheese, with sweat dripping from the walls, and girls dripping over Ditt...Well allegedly...that's me covered! There really is nothing quite like a good student night out in Durham-Especially if it has Mr Brightside AND trance! Now at this point the readers will be split into two groups-the group who are staring quizzically at the screen wondering quite what i am talking about, and the other group staring absent mindedly at the wall, druelling slightly! Well the good news my friends...is that in 3 weeks time-that's where I will be! Dancing my shoes socks and every-other piece-of-clothing-that-does-not-threaten-my-decency off and revelling in the madness! Join Me!

But for now, i will just have to sit here and dream!

Thought for the Day: If life is a highway, then i must be stuck in a traffic jam

Insensitive...probably

Apparently recently during an interview, Steve Irwin was asked what his favourite children's tv program was. He replied ' Well, I've got to admit I love Thunderbirds, but there will always be a special place in my heart for Stingray'

Ok, yes it may be slightly black humour-But i laughed. Perhaps i ought to clarify that i was a big fan of Steve Irwin too, and in no way am insulting his memory etc etc (you get the picture).
It's funny how some things people just don't laugh at-even though sometimes they are funny. I hope i die in a really amusing way so that whenever someone tries to tell someone how i died, they can't help but burst out laughing...mind you knowing me, i suppose it's not altogether unlikely...

In case you hadn't guessed-nothing happened today-absolutely nothing.

Thought for the Day: It's really annoying when people don't finish the

A drop in the ocean

I read today. To say i read would be an understatement. To say i read all day would be an overstatement. You choose, i guess it's one of those glass half full or half empty things. Personally the liquid never stays in the glass long enough for me to have such a dilemna! It's like saying person half dead, or half alive-it isn't as though you'd stop to consider the philisophical reprecussions of that now would you.

Nevertheless, i did read quite a large amount today. To be precise i read roughly 70 pages (spot the oxymoron). Furthermore the subject of my reading was glaciers and glaciation, and as interesting as the topic is, there is a limit to the amount one desires to read about pre-quaternary glaciations or glacial mass balance for that matter. Still having read 90 pages i feel i have achieved something. Mind you seeing as the book has 624 pages it's just

Newsflash: Contraceptives failure

Yes it appears that 9 months ago there must have been a dud batch of condoms or something circulating because it would appear a large number of people have become parents today. What makes this stranger is that the person to deliver all these babies was none other then Neil Crimes himself...hrmmm

Anyway, i have two brand spanking new children! Two lovely girls called Sophie and Helen. Of course these are not real children, rather my adopted college children ( i hope that explains the first paragraph to all who may be confused!) So yes i have two little freshers to write to and be generally nice to! Which is all rather exciting and reminds me that i am going back to Durham soon. Yay!

Other than that very exciting piece of news, today has been rather boring. I have a read a little, and mooched a lot. Tomorrow i must make an effort to get up early and kick myself into gear! Perhaps reverse would be a good place to start!

Thought for the Day: There is no such thing as luck. Everything happens by chance

Have you ever watched a hamster run in a ball??

Possibly the funniest thing in the world, except perhaps a pigeon running in a ball, which would probably be so fun, that i would die, from laughing too much. Another thing that is funny is comedy. Something that isn't comedy is Four Weddings and a Funeral, and that is something which unfortunately i watched this evening. This evening is coincidentally nearly up, so i wont dawdle!

Today i 'did'. Suffice to say, i carried out several important tasks, none worth a particular mention, but together, culminating in a rather significant part of the day. The rest was spent at Katherine's doing little more than 'did' in fact possibly less. Today was her day off, so she 'did not', though worryingly her 'did not' is still far busier than my 'did'. Was all very good fun.

Tomorrow i shall do something, which hopefully will provide a better read than todays endeavours. Til then, i shall stare at my eyelids.

Thought for the Day: Why did someone go to all the trouble of even bothering to make that film...

Terrorism and poor working conditions-Brilliant!

Global warming...a massive problem with no solution...or is there one? As sick and twisted as it is, i have observed that terrorism is quite a handy solution. What is the main source of emissions...you guessed it-Air Travel!! What decreased by an enormous percentage after the terrorist threats...Tada! That, thrown in with baggage handlers striking, has significantly decreased air travel over the last month. So how long will it be before the conspiracy theories start emerging, that Al-Qaeda is actually run from the Uk branch of greenpeace??

Right, anyway this was supposed to be about my holiday! So what did i do for two weeks. I heard lots of bagpipes!, walked around a lot of coastline, went to Ireland for the day and saw the magnificent Giant's causeway! (see emmas blog for details). I also went to some little tattoo thing in a small town which involved more bagpipes and some dancers...and i also looked round several towns, and saw a biiiig stone thing called Bruce's stone. For those who do not realise, Robert the ruce is actually an ancestor of mine, so was cool! lol. Went through a town called Marjoriebanks!! How amazing! And even found some random grave of someone of the same name. I should say with a name as uncommon as mine, these things can be quite special!
I am not sure we did anything else of any significance. It was very much a relaxing holiday not doing much at all

And for all those fearing about the whereabouts of Sweden...it is still there and i am still going there-it just didn't get from my head to my hand whilst blogging yesterday! Right well i'd best finish off there. More fantastical tales to come tomorrow no doubt!

Thought for the day: Life is like an egg, it can crack so easily

Bonjourno!

I'm back! Finally after roughly 4 weeks of being here, there and everywhere inbetween, i have touched back on terra ferma, not that i actually left, but what i mean is that i am home! Today i got back from two weeks in scotland, during which i encountered many exciting geological features, as well as ORANGE SHEEP!!! It was quite disturbing. Anyway, i will post properly later, but just a note to say hi! and for anyone wondering where i was, or even doubting whether i still existed-I am officially here! For 3 whole weeks, before i return up North to Dunelm for more fun and games! Tara!

If i lay here

If i just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget about the world. If only it were possible to lie down and forget about the world, and just be. Like when you see films in fast forward. To be able to sit back and watch life pass, without having to think or do.

Tomorrow i set off to sunny sunny Scotland (yeah right) so you wont be hearing from me for a good 2 weeks. I have done my research and studied the possible glacial landscapes to look out for, so I'm going to have a whale of a time. Yes i am extremely sad, but someone has got to be excited by such things, and so by being so, i am merely doing my duty and relieving someone else of the sad-ness. Maybe...or maybe its jus cos I'm a bit of a loser, who wears geographical society clothing!

Tonight i have to pack. I am sat here on my bed, as far away from the bag as possible, in some sort of denial that packing itself actually exists at all. Alas as fun as escapism and denial is, i fear that before i put my head down for the night i will have to confront the massive pile of clothes and junk that lies strewn before me across my room, and rearrange it into a somewhat more organised collection. I will pack suncream, just in case...

The title bit was by the way a lyric from Chasing Cars, from Snow Patrol's new album, which is absolutely fantastic! Go buy it! NOW!

Thought for the Day: He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool, shun him,
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a child, teach him,
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep, wake him,
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise, follow him.

Echoes

If you get a massive telescope...and i mean massive, you can see millions of miles out into the universe. You can see so far, that it acts as a time machine and you can see things far back into time, things which came into being milliseconds after the big bang. The very echoes of creation.
The 'white noise' of radiation can still be picked up on radiotelescopes, the past echoing into the future.

There are things in my life which still bounce quietly round my mind. Some hollow memories, some warm harmonies echoing around inside my head, and affecting me day to day. In fact memory itself is one large cacophone of sound, echoing back at different volumes and with different sounds.

I hope that in some way, my life will not fade out with my body. That echoes of my life will rebound around this world, in the minds of others-that my echo will live on, long after i have died. I hope that i will create an echo in the minds of whoever i meet-that i might have some positive effect on their life through who i am, what i say.
I hope that then they too will create an eternal echo.

Thought for the Day: What we do in life, echoes in eternity

The interval will last approximately 2 days

Welcome to the gap. Please mind it. It's really me. I am back having spent two amazing weeks in Lincolnshire. I leave again for Scotland on Saturday and so it really is like a short interval of 2 days.

So...Stage-Fright. Was an amazing two weeks of madness, for a week of which, we had 42 young people on camp. In 8 days we transformed one word into a play, performed (and thought up partly) amazingly by the cast of young people. It's an amazing privelege to be involved in a young persons life-especially at that age and i loved every minute of it, including hanging out with the other leaders, many of whom i knew from previous years. And two of which i unexpectedly discovered read this blog occasionally!

So now i have to try and adjust back to normal, boring life for a few days, then toddle of to Scotland for two weeks with the family! Should be good, but always slight aprehension as to how it will go.

So basically i am back! But not for long! Hope you are all still alive and well!

Thought for the Day: Love is not proud, nor self seeking
.

So Long, Farewell

Goodbye one and all. This evening i disappear of the face of the Earth for a week or so (well i'm off to Lincoln anyway). Yes i'm off to lead about 40 11-14 year olds on a weeks drama camp. Should be fun!

Today my brain finally collapsed due to the extreme pressure of having to remember stupid aounts of numbers. I got to the front of the queue in boots, slotted my card into the machine and completely forgot my PIN! Oops. All i had going round and round in my head was 7281...7281...which was my A-Level candidate number, and so not of much help. Finally after 30 seconds of staring blankly at the till operator it came to me and all was ok. I left in a state of shock. I am usually very good at remembering numbers, i just don't know what happened.

So there you go-it is a strange world. Have a lovely week my little minions. And don't go and do anything i wouldn't do...which does rule out a bit....though not dressing up as a pigeon and strutting round town, or making chicken noises at a randomer behind you in the queue.

Thought for the Day: 11 was a racehorse, 22 was 1 2. 11 1 1 race, 22 1 1 2.

The one before the one

Hello hello! I bring you the blog before th last blog for 2 weeks-ish (i think).

Unfortuantely i have not blogged for a few days. I do have legitimate reason however, due to not being here in the evening, and being busy in the evening. On Friday night i was at Katherines for a nice meal, and drinking a bottle of wine she got for Christmas!!! yes that was ages ago but it was worth the wait-it tasted gorgeous. Yesterday we had a big party thing for my dad's 50th. Wow my parents are starting to get ancient now...So amongst all the fun i had no time to blog. I blog now amidst much sorting out for going away tomorrow evening. I really do not feel ready to be going away.

Anwyays that is all i really have to say for now. Look out for an extra special blog tomorrow!

Thought for the Day: Do you ever find yourself looking at something and wondering if like the stars, you are seeing a dying image of something that burned up a long time ago?

I'm Nuts!

I had some pecan nuts at lunch, and you know what they say...
Tick tock tick tock, time is flying at the moment. Its not just flying, its got on Concorde with a tail wind. Its turning round and waving at light as it disappears into the distance. Yes time does seem to be passing extremely quickly at the moment. I realised this today, as it suddenly hit me that i am going away on Monday, basically for 4 weeks, back for 3 days or so in the middle. This is a very scary thought indeed! But also good, because then when i get back it will not be long until i return to Durham. Then a rock hit me too and my mind turned to other things.

I have been home alone today. Although seeing as i didn't leave my bed til 1ish, and then went out at 3ish, i didn't have much time to fully appreciate the solitude. I like solitude, give me people talking, noisy friends, parties and music, but then give me a still room to myself, with no noise-no distraction-just nature. I like being on my own, having time to ponder without interruption, letting my alsation of a mind off its leash for a while, to roam where it will. Then when all pointless thought is done-give me a blog to record it all!

Thought for the Day: Constrained thought is like an amazing chocolate cake left to go mouldy

Zu

I have groundbreaking news!!! You know that 11pm hunger feeling, or perhaps slightly earlier for some. When you just want to sit downa and eat? I have discovered why...we are missing a meal! There were intended to be 4 meals in a day...breakfast, lunch, tea and...Zu! Now firstly let me assure you this is perfectly logical and so by process shows that these are indeed the correct names for meals-none of this dinner rubbish. So what logic i hear you cry in a rather desperate tone.

Well...looking at the number of letters in each of the first 3 meals, the pattern indicates that the 4th meal should be a two letter word. Secondly, assigning the first letter of each word a number (a=1, B=2...) it is also clear that to follow the sequence, the fourth meal must begin with 26 (z). Hence we are left with Z?. Well now if we look at the opening vowel patterns we get ea, u, ea, ? which concludes my proof that the fourth meal of the day MUST be called Zu!

In other news, i rang NPower today and spoke to a lovely lady called Erica who solved all my problems (well my energy related ones anyway). I must depart now having had my Zu, to my bed, or at least somewhere near my bed for the sake of precision. Goodnight!

Thought for the Day: The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it
(James Truslow Adams)

5 CVT

Today i went on a little excursion up tp Durham for the afternoon which was all very exciting! In drove up in our car, (as opposed to in our mongoose) with Rachel and had a look round our house to check all was in order. It was actually very exciting. The house is now empty and just begging to be lived in. We have an aazing new kitchen which is all shiny and nice, and all the rooms seem bigger and better than i remember them being. All in all twas much fun, although i wish i was moving in now!

Watched Notting Hill this evening. Oh dear, it does appear that i am watching a daily film. Oh well, if they are there, someone has to watch them. Well i must be off now, i am very hungry!

Thought for the Day: If you can't beat them, you probably shouldn't try and compete against them...

A Problem shared...

is a problem halved...we all know that! Well having considered this recently i have discovered several major flaws with this outrageous statement. I mean supposing person A has a problem, and tells person B, then they now have 50% of the original problem. Now supposing person A goes and tells person C, person A is left with 25% of the problem, which is less than person B. This hardly seems a just reward for being person A's best friend. The only way in which person B could decrease his share of the problem would be to tell more people, which would be gossiping!! Wow, what a burden on person B.

The situation complicates further if person A repeatedly tells person B their problem. In which case, person A's proble tends to 0, whereas person Bs increases and tends to 100% of the original problem. Now this is just unfair! Unless of course person B returns the favour by moaning back to person A about their ever increasing problem, in which case if they take in turns to moan, starting with person A...person A is left with 66.6% of the problem and person B gets 33.3%. (thats suprisingly hard to work out, and yes, due to rounding, 0.1% is missing...).

Anyway, that was utterly pointless. I have had a reasonably dull day today. Though i may be going to Durham tomorrow! Yippee!

Thought for the Day: A problem shared is....a problem eased....slightly (subject to conditions)

Life goes easy on me, most of the time

So here it is...sunday evening. The end of an amazing weekend, and the beginning of an exciting week. Had great fun in Chester with Ditt, Ruth and Katherine. On Friday night, following a meal at Ditts, went out into Chester with Ditt and his friends and Ruth. Chester doesn't exactly have an amazing nightlub scene...but we gave it all a go then headed back to some crazy guys house and played ring of fire! Then stayed the night there, got a taxi back to Ruths in the morning, just in time to have a shower and then go and pick up Katherine from the station. Then we went round Chester and shopped (mostly Katherine and Ruth!) and then we went to the cinema to see Cars!! Which despite being full of cliches, is a good fil. The graphics/animation is amazing, and the film is a good laugh. That evening we went back to Ruths to watch a film and drink wine. Then finally this morning we went for ice cream by the river and then set off home! So there you go...my weekend!

This evening i watched a bit of The Truman Show-the best film ever made! This week begins gently with a day or two of nothingness, but then i have to take a trip to Durham to check out the new house, as well as several other things which need to be sorted out this week before i go away next week. I'm sure i'll still find plenty of time to blog however!

Thought for the Day: Idle time with friends is time well spent

Butterflies...

Some butterflies!





















Katherine and lil' sis
















Another butterfly!

Off to see the wizard...well Ditt anyway....

Yes, i write to you on th eve. of my mini adventure to Chester. I leave tomorrow afternoon to go to Chester to see Ruth (an old friend), Ditt (you all know who he is!), and Vicky (if she manages to actually get there!!). So yes, should be fun to meet up again. Even if it isn't everyone!

My train leaves at 13.14, so i shall be around til then. Today i finished painting the door which i had varnished. And it looks fantastic! A satisfying two days work! Now back to the idleness for another week or so! lol. This is the life for me. Short spouts of activity surrounded by oceans of nothingness. Wait a minute...this is beginning to sound like Andy's blog...oh dear!

Oooh also watched the amazing film that is 12 Monkeys tonight. Awesome film and brilliant acting from Brad Pitt. Wow...i really should work for a film advertising company!

Thought for the Day: COME TO CHESTER!!!

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

I must admit, my heart did sink a little when i was outvoted by the rest of my family, and hence forced to watch the aforementioned film, based on a book by George Orwell. Yes i was being very prejudiced and i soon learnt the error in my ways. The film was fantastic and well worth a watch. Highly recommend it to all readers...very interesting themes of class boundary and social goals, mixed with some good humour.

Here ends my outrageous plug...Tomorrow i am varnishing doors! Yes that's right seeing as i have nothing else to do, i shall be varnishing church doors with Katherine's brother Edd. Alas this means i must get to bed at a reasonable time, to be up and running for a 9.30 start! This will be i think my second earliest morning in the last 2 weeks, but still not a patch on 4.30am, whilst i was working at the Great Yorkshire Show. So finally i have something useful and constructive to do with some of my time!

Thought for the Day: The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose (Hada Bejar)

M is for Monday

Hello world. It seems like ages since i last posted, but in reality its only a few days! And the world does not seem to have collapsed or even stop turning. Alas i fear that people do not miss my blogging! Either that or they are all busy having lives! Anyway i shall plough on regardless.

Sunday was a beach day. I spent the whole day 'sunning' myself in Filey, and swimming in the sea-which was a soaring 15 degrees! Though after you got numb it was ok because you couldn't feel it anyway! Had fish 'n' chips in the evening to round off the day and then drove back, arriving home tired and happy at about 10ish. Altogether a ost enjoyable day!

Today was far less interesting though i did go out for a meal with Katherine and two old friends this evening. Was good to catch up, and had an amusing and enjoyable time.

Then i watched the news...big mistake. I do not want to rant again, for the sake of all readers, but i struggled to watch news of red cross vans being hit in lebannon, of USA 'diplomats' lying and pretending to care about something other than themselves, and then considered the apathy of 59 million people in the UK alone, towards anything that does not affect them.

Thought for the Day: Can we really afford not to care?

Hello

Just a quickie to apologise for my last post. Just letting off steam and all that! It's morning now, there was a biiiig thunderstorm last night, and things are better now. Have a good day everyone!

Why

Why aren't things the way they are supposed to be. You've seen the films you've read the books, yet somehow the mirror of real life is cracked. The image distorted, into some strange contortion. Everything is not as it appears...Nothing is quite as good as it seems. Every blessing has it's problem, and in the end it will be shrugged off with...'thats life'

And that is life indeed. A grand don't come for free, a man once said. Nothing, no nothing in this damn world is easy. Nothing is straightforward, as it should be, as it was intended. Even love itself is twisted into some bittersweet romance where hurt and pain thrive. Thoughts invade the mind, and change even the simplest things into the most complex of problems. Why, why, why i scream must things be so. Cannot what is meant to be, flow freely through time with unending ease and happiness. Must we struggle for that which we know we are intended. Or is it itself unintended, merely an illusion of the mind.

F**k you world! And yet i must endure you for another day...and another...and another

Thought for the Day: The game of life is hard to play, we're gonna lose it anyway....

Battrick eve.

Is it a bad sign that my week does tend to revolve around an imaginary cricket team! And now an imaginary penguin called Gerald who always has a very needy look about him. Oh and by the way, if you prod him a few times he loses his balance! Hehehe

I have been watching some videos on youtube today, and include a quite incredible one below! 24 is officially amazing, and if you search on youtube you will discover numerous video montages similar to the one below.

Today i have not really done much at all. I got up at a leisurely hour and moped about the house feeling hot. I ventured outside the house briefly to play frisbee and then came back for some tea! So there you go, i really did do nothing all day. Oh just some things to clear up from yesterday...i didnt really steal posters, they were there for the taking...50 is when mathematicians officially call a number large....and its ok i dont expect appreciation of my jokes! lol.

Thought for the Day: I am who i am, and no-one, i mean no-one can change that. You don't like it, look elsewhere.

gerald! Yes i know this is hypocritical!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Live and let Die

Today i struggled with MSN Live before realising that it was incompetent and reverting back to MSN 7.5!!! Still a few hours wasted wont do me any harm! Not as though i have anything else to do!

Went out into town tonight....had a nice drink, and got barred from club for 'distributing' their posters which they happened to leave lying around the bar. We simply stuffed them down our trousers....don't see what's so wrong about that?!? Anyways a good night and a good chance to catch up with good friends. I will post some cool vids i have tomorrow, when i may be slightly more capable. For now. Adios!

Thought for the Day: Live as though you are about to die, and die as though you are about to live.

Hitting the high numbers

No i have not been physically assaulting numbers larger than 50 with a large stick. Instead the title refers to the soaring temperatures being experienced as i speak. Reading 34 C in the sun, or of course 93.2 F. At least i think so...for those who do not know the conversion equation off by heart...
T(f)=9/5*T(c)+32, and of course one can simply rearrange that to do it the other way round!

Isn't it funny, how when its cold we use celsius so it sounds lower, and when its hot we use fahrenheit so it seems higher. It's just our way of overexagerating subtly i think. In the same way that we complain when its cold and wet, and then complain when its hot and dry. I think we like to talk about our weather alot. Which is great for enthusiasts like me! However this interest is not reflected in the standard of our TV forecasts. Blonde women, with wavery airy fairy uncertain gestures in the general direction of the uk, and moving symbols that look like they should belong on a gameshow, or a computer game. No...give me good old BBC weather logos, and a real meteorologist....

Today i am reminded of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Maybe it is because i read it over the summer, or maybe it is because it gets very hot in the book. Who knows, there is just something that makes me think of it...And on that subject, what a brilliant book. If anyone has not read it, put down your trashy summer novel and read it! Apart from the first chapter-it is well worth a read!

Thought for the Day: Carrying a gun, is an invitation to be shot (TKAM)

Wish people would talk about my lunchtime conversations

Maybe one day i will be important enough that my conversation over lunch will make all the national news bulletins. I guess i will have to find someone to talk to over lunch first-or just talk to myself. After all i am probably the only one who understands myself, or at least finds myself interesting. I fear the day, i talk myself to sleep. Surely you can't be bored with yourself?

Today i had a look at some of my possible 3rd year modules. Not quite sure why, just felt like it! Looks like i am going to be a very sad expert on gravel bed rivers, glaciers and climate change, and mountain envrionments by the time i enter my fourth year! ah well, i'm preparing myself through the purchase of geog. soc. anoraks. That has to be a start?!?

This whole Uni thing is rather scary. I'm still not sure i'm completely up to the standard required! I guess we'll soon find out eh! Maybe i shall go and read about glaciation a little before i sleep. Well goodnight one and all. Hope you are all plodding along well.

Thought for the Day: Its funny, how usually, the more mature you think you are, the less mature you actually are.

Twas Brillig and the slithy toves

...did gyre and gimble in the wabe, all mimsy were the borogroves and the mome raths outgrabe. No Hgerfd is not doing a guest blog, it is instead a line from the Jabberwocky. A poem that i rather like. Search it on google if you like and marvel it all day long.

Aha! Bet you weren't expecting that now were you! well, spontanaeity makes a pleasant change every now and again. Especially when it is utterly pointless! Today i had another BBQ at our house this time, saw my grandparents, played a bit of frisbee, which reminded me it is waaay to long since i last threw a frisbee! And now rather traditionally i am going to go to bed. Not just yet of course for that would be pre-12, which is just ridiculous.

As you may have guessed i actually have nothing to say now, except my hair has probably reached 'stupidly long by now (according to my hair length graph) and so after 14 weeks and 2 days, i may be forced to consider getting it cut soon. I think i'll try and squeeze another few days out of it though!

Thought for the Day: Are u a thermometer or a thermostat-do you change what goes on around you, or change to whatever goes on around you

Brmm brmm

Who needs a car when you can just walk along making car noises? It's far healthier and better for the environment, and walking gives you the chance and space to think...Not that i had any choice mind when my family disappeared off with the car when i was supposed to be using it, then when my brother used it when i needed picking up because i hadn't got the car, oh yeah and also when he gets to use it tomorrow despite the fact that i also need it. Still...walking is good!

So what amazing things have i been up to? Well i watched the second Pirates of the caribbean film today; entertaining, very funny, but ultimately not a fantastic film. I also went to a BBQ at Katherines house. Last night i went out into town with a few old friends and had a few drinks and played pool which was great also. All in all, not really a busy few days, but enjoyable ones.

Well tara for now my sweeties. Keep smiling and stay safe til we meet again

Thought for the Day: Learn to let go

BSc Hons Car Parking

It's a shame that such a degree does not exist, because after 4 days of directing and parking cars i now feel fully qualified. Yet i did not even receive a certificate or a badge. Just a modest wage packet at the end of it all. The skills i have learnt include 'judging regulation car parking space widths by eye', 'smiling and waving and gesturing for 6hrs non stop' and 'listening to 1 in 3 people make the sam joke as i park their car, for 3 whole days!!'. All very valuable skills i think. They will definitely be entered onto my C.V.

Without labouring a point too much-because that would not be like me at all!! Would it?? These last few days really have openend my eyes to the stupidity and mindlessness of the British public. Racist, ignorant, arrogant, arsey, complaining, moody, lazy... I could go on for hours, suffice to say that sometimes i wish i was a rabbit. Then at least i wouldn't have the shame of being human. I guess a non-british rabbit too. Ooh and by the way i saw Prince Charles' procession on its way to the show. Very exciting. Sorry if Oli reads this (which he wont because for him it represents 'self-indulgence'), alas i did not launch an assanination attempt.

So what else do i have to say. Well in a world as existentialist as mine, i could write about nothing, or everything and yet both would have equal point-in that they would both be pointLESS. However this does not ease my choice as i am still none the wiser as to where this wander should end. Is it a means to an end. Or is it, strange as it may seem, and end via a means-like walking somewhere just so on the way you can walk past a shop and buy something nice. A journey that exists purely for the journey and not the destination. Kind of the equivalent of a circular walk i guess. I never did get the point in them. Whereas a pub lunch, now there is our first category, where the walk is only justified by the meal which follows. Hmm i should go on a pub walk...then i can wear my geography anorak too. Might have problems finding companions for that reason though!

Thought for the Day: Speech when not used correctly can act as the exhaust pipe for the brain

The world is the world is the world.

And people will be people will be people. Yes the world spins on and on. I said i was going to say more about people today, so here goes.

You've gotta love them. Try as they may, people just can't manage to get on. Or is it that we don't try? Do we really want to get on, as a basic instinct, or are we all selfish beings with a disinterest towards the majority of people? It's not often you hear someone launch into a complaint that doesn't include the mahic word 'I' or 'me'. Complaints i heard today...'i want to park closer', 'He nicked my space', 'i was told i couldn't bring a dog', 'He's in my way', 'It's taken me hours to get in because of all the stupid queues', to name but a few. Some of these may even be valid (if so, still not necessarily much to do with a carpark supervisor!!!) but it sums up the whole attitude. The best one, is people thinking they know better than you and going completely against what you say...Now i've heard that my job is supposed to be unpopular...but i don't know how the cars would do without!!! Its a dog eat dog world where self interest rules!

In other news: old people.Just something i was thinking about today. Its one of the hardest things to do-watch someone dissolve into old age. Watch the flame within them go out, and all hope, life and excitement leave them. Everyone is changing, as one rather eager young band sang. People die, others get ill, and gradually the older generations fade out into a blurry and cracked impression of their former selves. Often stripped of dignity, fully dependent and unable to do what they used to enjoy. So what am i getting at? Well i don't mean to be overly depressing-just came up in conversation earlier. I guess there is nothing we can do but try and restore people, to provide something in their lives. I don't agree with 'dignified' deaths or euthanasia, instead i think it is vital that we do as much to make such peoples' lives enjoyble 'til the end arrives.

Thought for the Day: The only sure thing in life is death. It's our job to ensure everything else

now up 20 hours...

It's been a hectic few days. And it's only the beignning, on the back of 2 1/2 hrs sleep on saturday night, last night i got 4 hours sleep, was up at 4.30, in order to be up for work, worked from 6am-7pm, got home, had a shower, went to a friend's house as twas their birthday, and then got back about 40 mins ago. Since then i have had a nice cuppa and crashed. Now off to bed again, because it all starts again at 4.30, in just over that many hours... though at least i finish work at midday today, a mere 6hrs...less than half of whati did today! But with the money i am am getting i hae no right to complian. Though i am tired, and will be ill before long, the day itself was in most parts enjoyable, the weather was nice (too nice as i got burnt!!), and i had a good chat to the guy i was working with.

Its amazing how stupid people are though when they ask you questions. Maybe more on that tomorrow. My manager also got his foot intentionally run over, breaking 3 bones in his foot, following a heated discussion with a driver...the driver has since been arrested. And with that, as the screen blurs before my eyes, i bid a very fond farewell

Thought for the Day: isn't it strange the emphasis we place on clothing. Stick a luminous vest on and you automatically become a world renowned travel/parking/great yorkshire show expert. Is it worrying that we base so much on appearance?

I wanted to pay tribute to the portugese footballers, but all i could find was the diving team

Yes i know it's not particularly clever or funny but it had to be the title, in true honour of those portugese players who leapt, jumped and generally flew across the pitch last night. Thank goodness they are out! There must be some justice in this world!

Here are two fantastic clips of the match...(and did you know that Deco's first name is Art?)





Nothing else to say really...thanks to all who commented a number of times yesterday. Today i had the most pointless interview in the world. If there is one thing that really gets to me it is incompetence!! I mean who in their right mind would advertise a job as temporary, read your CV which clearly states your available working dates, and then still proceed to interview you, for a job which turns out to be full time!! Pure insanity and one biiiig waste of time! gggggggrrrroowll

Thought for the Day: If you are going to do something, at least do it well. (thanks Deco!!)

Well this is still nice...

Yes, 100 blogs later, and pigeonboy is still cooing away in the blogging world. It started just 8 days under 7 months ago, on the 16th December 2005, and who knows just how long it will go on for. There has been a thought for they day on all but 4 of the written entries, and NO thought has ever been repeated (Wear sunscreen was indeed part of the title of one early in January, and despite the fact that i have quoted that song 4 times as a thought, i have NEVER used the same line!).

Just thought i'd clear that up. Maybe i ought to collate all my thought for the days...make a book and become rich! lol. Well i have to admit i am suprised that i had the comitment to keep this thing going, and also that people are bothered/bored enough to read it! Well i shall leave you now and go and blow up some balloons or something. Maybe even throw a party. Not sure who to...and i don't want to go and drop it now do i...

Thought for the Day (i saved my fav. til now!!):

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest,
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes,
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of Kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,
It is enthroned in the hearts of Kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore Jew,
Though Justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation:we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer, doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea
Which if thou follow, this strict Court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the Merchant there

Today is rather unsuprisingly Tuesday

I awoke today, with all expectation that it would be a Wednesday. However, the ever predictable nature of time prevailed and it is only Tuesday. I don't know why i wanted it to be wednesday, in fact Tuesday it seems is a rather exciting day, but something inside me hoped for a wednesday. Well at least tomorrow my wish shall be granted, unless by some strange irony tonight is when time decides to change. I will be most annoyed if tomorrow turns out to be a Thursday. It'd jus be rude really.

Today i have been into town. In the holidays when i have nothing else to do, it seems to be a frequent 'last resort'. I am still open to suggestions of stupid things to do-up until Thursday, when alas i may actually be employed. I will post any reply i get from the LTA following my letter to them regarding their treatment of pigeons.

Right well must dash. I have a lot of nothing to do for the next 2hrs before i go off to Katherine's for the evening. Busy busy eh.

Thought for the Day: Wear sunscreen. If i could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. (no seriously otherwise you will get burnt and look like a lobster-its not pretty!)

Here's another Sunday Morning Call

Yes, although it is indeed monday, i have chosen to base my blog around Oasis' best ever song!

'Slip your shoes on and then out you crawl' thats kind of how i feel right now. Having missed a lot of sleep Saturday night (because i was helping at my old youth group's sleepover) and having been fairly busy yesterday, i am now absolutely knackered. Just to improve things, i was really breathless last night, so could hardly get to sleep. I feel slightly better this morning as i type from my bed, but still quite breathless.

'And in your head do you feel, What you're not supposed to feel' well now there's a story of life. I dunno, jus recently i have been struggling with negative thoughts. Lack of patience towards people, getting easily annoyed and generally being inwardly 'arsey'. I don't know why, maybe it's just because i am tired, or readjusting. Its almost as though at times my evil self takes over my brain temporarily.

'You take what you want, But you won't get it for free' We can't do things with a short term perspective. A short term solution is most often a long term problem, as there are always consequences of what we do 'for ourselves' in the here and now. Sorry if this seems irrelevant, jus wanted to share.

'But it's ok. It's alright' yes indeed with all the predicatability of one of my jokes, life goes on. The sun is shining, and i have a day of glorious nothingness ahead of me. So i shall leave my bed, have a shower, and venture forth into the day! Tada!

Thought for the Day: Slip your shoes on and then out you crawl into a day that couldn't give you more but what for?

One of my parents proudest moments...

So, 22 years later and my parents finally reap the full reward for the effort they have put in. On the same day, their eldest graduates from the University of Durham with a 2:1 MEng and their second eldest finds out they got a 1st in politics and philosophy at the University of York.

So excitemement levels are high. Their first graduation ceremony. My mum hasn't been able to sleep. She is babbling with excitement and keeps laughing almost hystrerically! The whole experience is something new for them. A novelty, a first time, one of the most important moments in their life.

What it is to be first child...Not that i doubt the equality within my family. I am old enough to realise there are no favourites. But it can be hard being the third, and my sister the fourth. Nothing is quite so...exciting...new...novelty. I will be their second durham graduate, they will be used to the cermony, been there done that, and bought the photo.

So what do i conclude from this? Well of course i look to others for support. Of course i aim to make others proud and happy. But as soon as i make that my focus in life, i am doomed to fail. There are only two people i am accountable in my life. Me, and God. I have my own goals, i have my own aims, and i strive towards them with all i am. They are not aims to do better than anyone else, or get one over on anyone. They are signs of me fulfilling my potential and working to the best of my ability. And sometimes (very often) i fail. And when i do, i get straight back up again and keep on going, without even a glance to anyone else. That is how i try to be....

Thought for the Day: 'This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man (Hamlet)

Alas poor Yoghurt

The famous lines from a forthcoming production of Hamlet, set in a fridge. It's called 'Omlette' and features such characters of the culinary kind. Coming to a cinema near you. In other news, today the academic year finally came to a close, with the release of the results. Glad to report that it seems to have been good news in general. Another sign of the next year approaching is the fact that as of tomorrow we will be paying gas and electricity bills, and rent will follow soon!

Today has been a day of strange but pleasant nothingess. I got up for 9:30-extremely early! Because Katherine finished work at 9 and wanted to come round. So then we just spent the whole day doing nothing really. Twas great fun. And now i look forward to an evening of nothing. The nothingness was broken briefly to find out my exact mark breakdown. 81% in the IT & Skills exam-wahoo! though i wouldn't be surprised if they boosted my mark just because i complained (kind of as a silencing method!!)

I have decided that i will officially start taking suggestions of stupid things to do this holiday to pass the time. So come up with suggestions and they shall be done with pic/video proof! Im that bored! Right onto important things!

***********************************************************************************
GET KATIE A BLOG
For just £9 a month (or a bit of hassling) we can persuade her to join the blogging community for real! So go on...leave a comment in support! Please....we need YOUR help
***********************************************************************************

hrmm Mr Brightside just came on...*sigh* the memories...

Thought for the Day: He who searches for contentment will never find it

24 is officially the best thing since sliced bread!

In fact no....it was still the best thing before sliced bread. Sliced bread merely created a temporary diversion from the truth. Right, anyway yes 24 is officially the best thing ever! I have just finished watching the las 6 episodes of 24 season 5, which i managed to download when i got back from Uni, though it did take about 3 days! Anyone who has not seen 24, then watch it!! And that includes those still catching up from series 1!

Hrmm, well i shalln't dwell on that for too long, seeing as none of my blog readers are particularly interested in 24! The trut is however that it has been the main occupant of my time today. I took a brief break from watching it t go and meet my school friend Ruth for a coffee. (She's the Cambridge one i have mentioned before). I also went shopping briefly and actually applied for a couple of semi-jobs, though I'm not sure I'll get any of them! Once again i am faced with the dilemna of wantng mone from work, but realising that no work=lots of sleep and laziness!! I guess i shall just have to wait and see what happens. I'd better go and leave my room now and convince my family that i do still exist!! Tara now

Thought for the Day: Success gains worth with failure (suitable perhaps for tomorrow!!)

Either today or yesterday, depending on whether i can be bothered to post later

Well hello there, strange people from distant lands and mythical dimensions. Welcome one and all to the madness of my blog. My blog is in fact now officially ancient having reached it's 93rd post today. What's perhaps more incredible is that so much can be written about so little. So, what fun things have i encountered since the sun last passed this way. Well i had a glorious lie in this morning. I rolled out of bed at 12ish to check on my 24 downloads.

It should be noted that since Saturday afternoon when I got back i have been downloading the remaining 7 episodes. The good news is that over 50hrs later, we are 50.3% done! Wahooo!
I ventured into town earlier in search of the all elusive job. Alas once again it got away. So predicatbly the purpose of today is carried over from yesterday much like a rogue ten, carried over in a basic addition, once all the units have been counted. Anyway i digress.

Hrm well as the edgy silence not too dissimilar to that experienced between two males making conversation descends upon me, and it dawns on me that i have nothing left to say....i shall hence depart to my bed. Goodnight.

Thought for the Day: Jaffa Cake- Cake or Big stick?