This afternoon, Saturday 13th October 2007 I’m feeling very melancholy. No other word seems to fit; not adequately describe the sense of… Sense of loss,
Category: Stuff
Some are born great, some achieve greatness
and others just muddle their way through life, knocking over bicycles as they go My blogging awards from Mya have finally arrived. I blame their
The ghost of Christmas presents
No, this isn’t a Christmas post, I know it’s only October. It’s a post about random gifts that just happen to have been given at
The wrong name, Orson!
The group Orson have given their new single the unfortunate name: ‘Ain’t no Party’. Don’t they know that whenever anyone in the UK hears the
Vicky on Fridays early breakfast, BBC Radio 1
The BBC ‘powers that be’ have given us this talentless, bland, vapid, uninspiring, boring, tedious, mind-numbing, airhead who is only capable of talking in soundbites
Notice to HGV drivers
There is a fundamental rule that you all seem to be ignoring. The rule is enshrined in the Road Traffic Act. Supplementary information can be
Another piece of tedious pop trivia
The former bass player for Lloyd Cole and the Commotions is now the Golfing correspondent for The Guardian newspaper. Humour me, there won’t be much
Poptastic trivia!
Humour me, I’m not feeling well… Scritti Politti’s excellent track: ‘Oh Patty (Don’t Feel Sorry for Loverboy)’ features a truly amazing piece of trumpet virtuosity.
Mapping the genome (stupidity sectors)
OMG, he’s doing ‘driving’ again… I’ve lived in a bunch of other countries, yet it’s only in the UK (in general) and England and Wales
Calling Open University students
We know you’re bright, you know you’re competitive. You’ve also probably experienced a little of life, you might have been around a little, you may well have
After the Fire
Look, I really don’t know why I’m being random with my blog titles tonight; it’s a Neil Young track FFS… So I’m on the move
You are in a classroom
Cue: Twilight Zone music It isn’t any normal kind of classroom. It’s full of ghosts, the spirits of students past. The radiator clicks and buzzes
A103 update
Well there’s news and there’s not news, in a peculiarly ‘messed up’ kind of way. The big development is that I’ve switched tutor groups. The sole
My parents went to Majorca and all I got was this lousy T-shirt
Remember those T-shirts? They used to be on sale everywhere – at every beach-front retail outlet between Cumbria and Gran Canaria. And good old Mum
The Spice Girls – World Exclusive!
thanks to Mya for the prod We can now – in a World Exclusive – reveal that despite saying it would never happen again The
Poetry for the masses
Hey! It’s National Poetry Day. Ah, poetry… drifts off with a dopey expression I must go down to the sea again To the lonely sea
A103 blues (a bit like an Oxbridge blue. Not)
The Open University Internet bulletin board specific to the current module (A103) of my course carries two posts in particular that have irritated the hell
Everything in life is not a goal
You know those motorway signs that dispense helpful information about travel time and distance? The ones that say things like: ‘Time to J15 (for M4)
Danger Will Robinson, danger!
Driving past a college last night I was forced to take emergency avoiding action as an L-plated female motor-scooterist drove straight out of the college
Things seen on the Motorway (Part 387)
This morning on the hard shoulder of the M5 southbound approaching Gloucester, near a parked car was… A man walking his dog. No kidding! B.
Notice to Jaguar drivers
especially the driver of the S-Type, registration number: R16 EST Driving in the left-hand lane when there is no traffic on your inside is not
A public service announcement
To the driver of Ford Focus registration number: VK07 DKV Please be advised that your Ford Focus has special features that include: Indicators that enable you
The soul of discretion?
I’m reading a new (to me) blog written by a person who works in a supermarket. The writer chooses not to name either location or employer for fear
Just feeling a bit bloated
My stomach feels as though it’s the size of a small Channel Island. Just a small one, not Jersey or Guernsey. Maybe Sark? I must
Sunday afternoon music
The lovely sounds of Sigur Rós and some stunning views of the magical land of the ice and pixies. B.
Worn right out (but smiling muchly)
parental guidance warning, the following passage contains examples of extremely gratual laziness The first bit of good news is that the OU essay is finished. I
Feliz cumpleaños
Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday dear daughter Happy birthday to you! This evening’s phone call was fun. The big present
Quiet but not idle
Yeah, sorry. I’ve been busy as hell lately. Work and horses and reading and writing – chiefly those – have meant I’ve been remiss in
Facebook sucks, Dick
My friend Dick and I were having a discussion about Facebook. We’ve decided. It sucks. He said, “It’s really awful, adds nothing of value. It
One evening, two views…
I hate schooling horses on a winter weekday evening because… Dusk is beginning to settle as I pull in to the yard, the sun dipping
Two hour short story (update)
I recently wrote this piece about a short story that I’ve been working on – for some time – in my head. The story is transcribed
Not good writing by not good writers
I’ve been dipping – on an irregular basis – in to a blog that describes itself as ‘The ramblings of a procrastinating writer’. Yeah, I
And now from the Ministry of Stupidity
background: The world has given us automatic speed cameras. Vehicles that are detected as exceeding the speed limit are photographed. The policing authority in which the
This is a public service announcement
Short notice but… Tomorrow’s (Sunday 23rd September) fun ride/sponsored ride at Rushock, Worcestershire has been cancelled. Not that I could have gone anyway because Vinnie
The good news is
Yes! (stands up and punches the air as if he’d just scored the winning run in a Glamorgan v Essex match) This is truly excellent
Two hour short story
I’ve been playing with a scene that fits in to an early sequence of novel No 3 (Hard Drives). Over the last fortnight I’ve given it
New header photo
Sorry, should have said something about this. It’s one of the views from the yard – looking down the hill (westwards); Beech is the far
Small road trip
In five minutes I’m leaving Worcestershire for the dreaming spires mist-ridden and impenetrable one-way system of Cambridge. I can’t go there without thinking of the
A big long music and radio rant
Here’s a thing, the 1999 hit Drinkin’ in LA‘ by the never seen again group Bran Van 3000 contained these words: arse and butt-kiss. When
The silver screen
We’ve been to the cinema twice in the last couple of weeks. The first time we watched Transformers. It’s a good film in a ‘beat
A different slavery
Here’s an interesting thing that comes to you from one of my colleagues who mentioned an event that occurred a couple of hundred years ago. In
Sweet dreams
I’m so lucky. The Lovely S is back. On Thursday evening -her first night back – we fell in to bed I don’t know when
Aarrrrghhhhh!
I’m sitting on the couch pondering the injustices that life has dealt me today. Injustice the first; I have just realised that my wife belches better than I