07.07 I gaze out of the window at the frost-covered Oxfordshire countryside. The sunrise is breaking over the horizon, blindingly low, painfully bright. The flock
Year: 2008
Sad news from Pau
Upsetting news that Zara Phillips’ horse Tsunami II was put to sleep after being injured in a horrendous fall at the Pau ***** FEI Classic
Flying tonight
So, the quest for trainers at our new base in Oxfordshire has taken another step forward. I should explain. During the winter JP Sheffield comes
I’m feeling very unwell!
I’ve just been watching (in a ‘moving wallpaper’ kind of way) a programme on BBC 1 called ‘Through the Wall’. One of the contestants is
I didn’t think life would turn out like this…
I am on the express coach to Oxford. I have had a drink but not much. Enough to know that the guy sitting opposite me
And breathe…
I’m protective of everything I love in my life. I know this. There really isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do to protect anyone who is
Equine update
I’ve been keeping quiet about Vin; no big reason, so here’s a 16.2hh-shaped splurge of information. Vin seems to have settled nicely at his new
It comes in such cute containers*
Yesterday we staggered out of bed in the early afternoon, showered, dressed and made our way to Abingdon for a walkabout, a look around and
BritBlog directory
With the recent demise of the BritBlog website a number of us have felt that this created a hole in what some call the blogosphere.
Life in cartoon characters
In between our customary morning giggles we have invented a new Viz character, Daffy Duck’s little-known cousin: Guffy Duck. B.
A minor presentational change
As promised (in the comments section to one of Sophie’s posts), I’ve rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in to the php code behind
The Art of Guilt
I am sitting in the mobile fast-food restaurant, we’re currently dodging London village taxis (you’ll understand that they aren’t bound by the normal rules of
Broken down again
This morning’s Oxford Tube coach service to London got as far as Shepherd’s Bush before it broke down. Again. The pattern that is clearly forming
Daughter reports…
Daughter has this evening reported that Baron the puppy (who at almost ten years of age isn’t really a puppy) has chicken pox. Here’s a
Trying to plan/not to plan for the future
We are saving. We are saving. La la la lah, la la laaaaa. Sad but true. We are being very busy not spending money. Apart
Gig review: Jonquil at Zodiac at The Oxford Academy, Saturday 11th October 2008
Our Oxfordshire-based gigging began on Saturday 11th October 2008 with a visit to Zodiac at The Oxford Academy. The first band of the night to
Weekend ending
Yesterday (Saturday) kicked off with an early morning podcast. The first couple of hundred emails indicate that it went very well – especially now that
Stupid TV advert wordage
There was an advert on C5 a moment ago for something called the Red Driving School, it was an advert aimed at recruiting people as
Phone call
“Hi. It’s me. Yeah. Fine. You’ll never guess who I saw this morning. Taragon. Taragon Fuller. Yeah. She saw me she knew it was me
WTF? (again)
You know that really huge fuck-off road junction just outside the BBC at Shepherds Bush? The huuuuuuuge roundabout that has had one lane closed all
MMG (More Morning Grumpiness)
So my friends. Do you remember the sour-faced old boot I told you about yesterday? Ah, let’s just pause for a moment and drink in
Fishing from an Oxford Tube bus?
To fish A well-established phrase meaning to entice, through means of bait, an object to a position where it may be captured. People fish for
Not a morning person
I’m guessing a certain amount of stuff here but one thing is for certain. She is not a morning person. Or maybe she is and
A very equine commute
This has been an unusual day. Going in to London village this morning… Oh boy. There is a story and a half behind the words
A letter of complaint
Dear BBC This Sunday morning while I was channel hopping scouring the airwaves to see what terrestrial television could offer, I was disturbed to find
Music industry changes
If you really have no life you’ll know I’ve been considering setting up an indie record label – the concept was also aired in last
Surveying the countryside
You may know that I do surveys for cash? They’re a little bit more involved than ticking boxes and getting money by return, but generally
It was the summer of 19-something-or-other…
It had been a hard day at the office. The office, at that time, was a small recruitment agency in Islington. I worked in a
Costa is a coffee shop, not a crèche
Most people have a degree of civilisation about them. Any degree. From a wafer-thin veneer to a big fat juicy chunk of civil behaviour. Today,
Podcast greens
The problem that stopped this morning’s podcast episode from being recorded seems to have been a broken microphone-to-mixer deck cable. Tests with replacement equipment indicates
Podcast blues
Two hours of unsuccessful fiddling about (which is a highly technical term) have yielded absolutely no fruit. There’s a problem with the config. I have
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit
The two oriental-looking-but-eastern-european-speaking girls sitting behind me haven’t stopped yammering since we got on the coach in Victoria. We’re now in Buckinghamshire. I’ve got no
The new routine
Yesterday – Monday – might not be typical; being the first full working day based at the new house, the temptation was to try and
This is weird
I’m doing about 60mph down the Oxford to London motorway (known to the locals as the M40). There’s a guy on my left picking his
This post comes magically from the past
It is 20.56 Sunday evening in the Jones household. And we are in bed. I am pitter-pattering on the laptop keys and Soph is reading
So it’s goodbye from me, and it’s goodbye from her
The house move has been completed. We sit, semi-surrounded by boxes (there are more upstairs), in our new Oxfordshire home. Home to us now is
The manflu rages on
My cold near terminal case of bubonic plague flu continues its attempt to strike me down as I soldier on gamely at the office. You know
Cleaning out my (virtual) closet
I hate throwing anything away. Let’s face it, one day that left-handed screwdriver might be precisely what I’m looking for! I’m as reluctant to throw
I have no life. Sob! :)
Jane Austen wrote: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a
Echoes of a life gone by
There’s a lot of stuff appearing on the web about Richard Wright but so few articles fully appreciate the magic ingredient that he and the
OMG, Richard Wright’s dead!
This evening I’m shocked at the news that founder member of and keyboardist with The Pink Floyd (to use the full and proper name), Richard
Sitemeter is crap, Bloglines isn’t working
** Updated ** As Citronella has so kindly pointed out in her comment to this post, I’m thrilled (and I’m sad enough to actually mean
Sunday: 08.31
We Are Up. Yeah I know. How random is this? We are up in a ‘both been awake since 07.15, both had breakfast, Soph’s showered
Move along, nothing to see here (sea hear?)
I’m fine this morning thanks. Yep indeedlydoodly. Rocktastically good. Excellent. Brilliant. Really very well indeed. Oh yes. Sorry about last night’s post though. And the
Today’s lesson comes from the book of Alk-oHol
And so it came to pass that He had drunk much, for with His colleagues didst He go out in to the wilderness being Victoria
Lazy web designers
When is a door not a door? When it is ajar. When is a website not a website? When it only meets part of its
After a night out…
So… You. Yes you. The girl so far up your own arse that if you shoved a toothbrush up your bum you could clean your
I am mortified
A text rolls in. ‘Billy Crystal has your bottom. Yours is nicer tho, obv’ I mean… What? If he’s got my bottom how can mine