Apple iPad

Why is it that I'm reminded of Dom Joly's Trigger Happy TV when I see todays revelation of the new Apple iPad? Perhaps I'm just used to gadget's getting smaller, not bigger. I'm still waiting for the flexible screen that you roll up to fit your pocket and you unroll when you want to use it.

Friend Face Tweet

What's it with the social networking explosion at the moment? Perhaps everyone got an i-phone for Christmas?

It's a bit like '94 to '98 when everybody started getting a home 'puter with a dial up modem and started emailing Hi! by email.

Lots of people I know seem to be discovering the likes ofFacebook and Twitter. Friends, Family, Friends of Friends etc.
Only a few are blogging (takes more effort), but most are tweeting in one way or another.

Can't be a bad thing as it's great to get in touch again and find out what folk are up to.

I'm carrying on with my blog, and feeding the posts into Facebook. Facebook is barred at work - unlike blogspot and twitter. I don't tweet much, but I reckon that twitter is more suited to i-phone like gadgets.

Old Friends

Drove over to Rawtenstall last night, to meet up with a bunch of old friends from college days (and beyond) and a semi-surprise 40th Birthday celebration for one of them.

We went out to the White Bull in Crawshabooth for a few beers (Copperhead Dragon - an excellent pint!), and then onto the Indian Harvest Restaurant - which conveniently is in the upper part of the same building.

Lots of catching up, reminiscing and a very tasty curry - then caught a taxi at 1am back to the house and carried on the conversations, and drinking until bedtime at 3am.

Up at 11am for strong coffee, fried breakfast, fond farewells and driving home.

Quote of the weekend from a small child early in the evening, as the adults were arriving was "Mummy, - those people look like Rock Stars!"

Bill Bailey's Bird Watching Bonanza

For a surreal comedy experience try Bill Bailey's Bird Watching Bonanza on Sky 1.
It's a "celebrity" bird watching competition/quiz!

I've just watched the first episode, with my finger hovering over the channel changer, but without switching over.

Conclusion - not just for twitchers. Watch hopeless amateurs trying out bird watching activities, with amusing results

Winter Wonderland - Snow Day

I did my bit for community safety in todays inclement weather (worst snowfall for 30 years), and spread about 4 buckets of grit on the icy paths around our house, the route to the local post box, and near the local library and recycling bins. The public grit bin was about three quarters full afterwards.
One of the local restaurants and the pet shop also spread few shovelfuls about until a chap turned up in a British Gas van and swiped about 3 or 4 sackfuls, virtually emptying the bin in one fell swoop. He mumbled something about his mothers drive. With grit in short supply this got me wondering about how big his mothers drive is, how many grit bins he's visited in the area, and if British Gas know what he's using their van for?

First day back at school for Frodo and Samwise. The teachers decided to take a snow day and tried to close the school for the afternoon. Most parents didn't get the message, and picked up their kids at the usual time. It will definitely be completely shut tomorrow.

Rather than risk taking the car to pick them up, I walked up to the school, with a pair of wellies in a bag for each of them, and we returned via the park.

Introduced Frodo to the avalanche dangers of standing under a snow laden tree, whilst your companions are armed with snowballs!

Returned home to build a mutant snowman in the back garden.



You can see Frodo in the bottom right corner of the above photo demonstrating the effectiveness of snow camouflage.




Also see impworks snowfall 2 - the return of the white stuff

January Sales - Primeval

Nipped into our local Tesco this morning, with Samwise, just to pick up a couple of pint's of milk before visiting his Grandma.

We discovered that they're selling off the Primeval TV series action figures that came out last year, but at the reduced price of 2 quid, as opposed to a tenner, which they originally retailed for.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/479579/primeval-action-figures-reduced-fro

Since the boys love the TV series, Samwise spent some of his Christmas money on 7 boxes of figures. They're made up as they now have a complete anomaly detector computer rig, which would normally cost a lot of pocket money, as it takes 3 sets of figures to collect all the parts.

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

Ended up doing a 13.5 hour overnight shift at work yesterday - with the result that I got the day off work today - which once I'd caught up on lost sleep makes a relaxing New Year's Eve. I've booked the first week of January off work - so I get a break after the mayhem of the festive season.

2010 arrived, as most years do. The neighbours were doing "Auld Lang Syne" in the street, but far too cold to stay out there, so as ever we're in watching Jools Holland's Hootenanny.

There's usually something on this music wise that attracts my attention, and requires further investigation. Past years have introduced me to the likes of The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, and Seasick Steve.

This year it's a latin acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela playing Buster Voodoo. They've miked up their instruments, and piped them through a few effects pedals - predominantly a Wah Wah, resulting in something that sounds like a Mexican version of one of the Starsky and Hutch themes. Something new for my souped up i-pod.

I've also just seen Dizzy Rascal rapping to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and Florence and the Machine covering Nina Simone's "My Baby Don't Care".

Kasabian are on again now, with a bunch of "violin babes" backing them - blokes aren't allowed to play bowed instruments unless they're in an orchestra or a folk group :)

Oh no, they've all got together to form an all star "supergroup", singing "Down by the Riverside" for the finale - these things just never work!