On Sunday evening we travelled just short of 1,000 miles from Tuscany to Gatwick in a fraction over 90 minutes. Our travel time, by car,
Category: Stuff
Gatwick and Horses and Mullets?
We’re in the departure lounge at South Terminal, it’s such a familiar place that I have my favourite seat at Costa. I am sad, it’s
Literary bullying. Stop it now
It is a given to anyone with half a brain that American author Dan Brown cannot write. Even the most basic rules of English literature
It is Sunday morning
10.15 We really should get dressed. Instead we are watching Friday evening’s Daren Darren Deren Derren Brown show, the one where he mass-hypnotised his TV
So I’m awake
The laptop, you’ll no doubt be pleased to hear, not only survived yesterday’s open heart surgery, it’s out of bed, doing press-ups and power-lifting the
Random thoughts while grappling my laptop to death
I’m unpicking a laptop problem that’s been around for a little while but has decided to make itself big, bad and painful. It comes not
Something for the weekend, sir?
Hairdressers. Barbers. Places where a chap can get ones hair shortened and not have the wallet lightened by too much Usually I get ‘done’ by
On why people are sometimes not a good idea (2)
Soph was away on christening duties yesterday and although it was a tough call, after much mental wrestling I decided to take K to Blenheim
I’ve been reading the Daily Mail again (1)
Yes I know. I’m sorry. I really should stop. But… Rowan Pelling’s Sex Advice Column (and does anyone else have a really good laugh at
On why people are sometimes not a good idea (1)
My gold credit card was cloned last week. The utter bastards who did it have tried to rip me/the credit card company off to the
El fin de semana
Here we are, halfway through the weekend (because you knew what el fin de semana meant, right?) and it’s already time to sit down and
There are more questions than answers
I’ve been for a walk around the green – to give myself that ‘break’ from staring at the monitor that one is supposed to have.
So here’s the plan for the week…
Mon: Write an album review for a media magazine/website Tue: Get Vin up to Leicestershire and back for an appointment with the equine physiotherapist Wed:
Ranty podcast
With no apology whatsoever, this week’s podcast seems to feature two heartfelt rants: 1. Children on aircraft, 2. Foreigners driving cars, yet being unable to
The highs and lows of a family trip
Since I arrived in Andalusia on my quest to spend some quality time with Daughter I’ve moved from sea level to 3,468 metres, spending most
Media question, opinions needed
With a difference, this week’s podcast comes at you from the two mentalists who seem never to get thrown out of Studio L in Witney.
iHola España!
So. This bright and breezy bonk bank holiday weekend I am away to sunny Spain to spend some quality time with Daughter. Or perhaps I
Bonkers economics
News just in from the Department of Silly Ideas All public services in the US City of Chicago have been shut down for the day
Peculiar news made by peculiar people
Peculiar news from Oxfordshire where the local Powers That Be have chosen to rename Kidlington Airport, Oxford. It’s now called London Oxford Airport. Yesterday it
Booking things
I’m almost done… After a difficult series of telephone calls with Daughter last night – but only difficult because, well, you know, she’s a girl
Are Vauxhall main dealers ripping off their customers?
This is a debating question and I’m asking because of a like-for-like e’ent Not long ago I took my ‘ectra to a local ‘auxhall main
Want to be a reviewer?
If you fancy your chances as a music reviewer, now’s the time to step forward. The This Reality Podcast website (which, uncannily, can be found
Hiiiiiiiiii…. (fake smile)
How are you? Mwah, mwah. It’s been simply ages darling. You look gorgeous as usual. Was it really two weeks ago when I sat down
It’s been a weird 24 hours
People who know me/us will know that on a Friday evening we usually order in a couple of pizzas, make cups of tea, put on
A day in the life of an Oxford Tube commuter
Morning: It’s the first working day of August 2009 and we’re flying down the M40 towards London. It’s about 06.40 and we’ve just gone past
I am not doing that again
which is a silly fucking statement to make because i made it several weeks ago, but somehow i got talked in to doing it by
And now, to bed
This is a late one for us – 23.55- and we’re still going strong! We’ve just got back from dinner with friends in Oxford; it’s
We should write scripts
I’ve often said that Soph and I should write scripts together; we live in a sitcom. When she came downstairs this morning and told me
It was a clash of Titans
The spry, sprightly and slightly caffeine-hyped young woman dragged her husband from his near-death-bed, where he was recovering from a v. serious illness, and threw
Backing up
beep beep beep No, not the kind of backing up that one might do in a vehicle of some description. Backing up your data. I
So I am still here
At home. Not ‘still here’ as in the slogan that one of my T-Shirts bears: ‘Not Dead Yet’. Although, coincidentally, I am actually ‘not dead
Grumpy guy goes to bed
I can’t hack it. It’s 21.15 and I’ve got to throw in the towel and rock up them stairs with a mug of tea and
Literary grumpiness
obviously, being unwell doesn’t agree with my sunny disposition; no gerbils were harmed in the writing of this piece When an author, you know, actually
It’s the Emperor’s New Clothes. Again
It is 09.02 Monday and I am at home. I have the day off because of a long-standing hospital appointment; nothing serious, the medical specialists
And the bad girls and boys are back
Email consters are starting to think a little bit. But just a little. Those ‘I need to move £68 squillion through your bank account from
They’re messing with your head
OK, on television a couple of minutes ago was an Advertorial from the company formerly known as Ulay but now bizarrely rebranded as Olay. Almost
And the weekend starts… right here!
So it’s Thursday evening. Soph and I are ankle-deep in sleeping bags, rucksacks, quick-drying towels, cutlery and the usual bits and bobs that accompany a
A question no-one seems to be asking
This may offend someone. Tough. I’ve had a shit day. How is it that Michael Jackson (d’cd), a black man who may have had a
Selfish fucking cunting people
This one reason makes me hate people more than almost any other. I get on the coach, I go to the nearest table and it
How far would you go? [nudge nudge, wink wink]
How far would you go to get home on time? And what’s your worth to the rest of us? This story about a returning-from-holiday aviation
Even more grump going on
I’ve just twittered and feel so unsatisfied by it I feel compelled to ellaborate. The tweet was: “Really really f*ck*ng grumpy. Totally f*ck*ng got the
Another cup of grump, anyone?
Maybe be it’s me. Maybe I’m wrong when I think that we’re becoming a more self-centred, less caring society. I mean, I dislike intolerance as
And we’re back in 5, 4, 3, 2…
Hello, welcome back! [canned audience applause] Before the break we were speaking to John and Donny about their gay love for each other and how
Tax disc Win! (eventually)
A few weeks ago an envelope from the DVLA dropped through the letter box. Inside was not one, but two reminders. The first reminded me
Working with people, ha ha ha (apols to Roddy Doyle)
this is a purely hypothetical situation Wouldn’t it be funny if after weeks of System Testing and then weeks of User Acceptance Testing during which