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Sunday 21 March 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy

In the last two weeks I've gone from spending my evenings slumped on the sofa to having a busy social life. Why? My thirteen year old son has fanally managed to get back into a council run club (he was asked to leave last summer) and I have joined the local camera club. On top of all this, I'm on a training course which runs quite late.

As a consequence this week has been manic and I'm already quite exhausted.

Monday nights are the worst. I (usualy) get in at about 5pm from work. Mrs. TE goes to Bingo at 6:15, Junior goes to his club at 6:30 and the camera club is at 7:45pm. The problems really start when it's time to come home. Junior finishes at 8:30, Mrs. TE at 9:30 and me at 10. All I can say is thank goodness for Grand Parents, as Grandma is the only one available to collect Junior.

The rest of the week is less hectic though.

Regards
Chris
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Posted from my iPhone

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The Biker Rides Again 8-)

Up until about 18 months ago I was a daily biker, riding to work no matter what the weather. I have even riden in the snow, but that was rather fool hardy and not an experience I want to repeat. Two years ago I bought a brand new bike and to keep the warrentee I had to have main dealer services. These were costing me a fortune, so I splashed out on a rail season ticket in stead. As a consequence I didn't ride anywhere near as much. In fact I have only riden 600 miles since last June and not at all since I lost my job last December.

Today however, I dusted my bike down, check everything was working and took her out for a spin..... Twice 8-) The first was a shake down to make sure everything was safe and the second was with Junior on the back. We both loved it.

I was worried I would struggle after such a long break, but it was just like riding a bike. Lol. The one thing that surprised me though was the acceleration. It's so much quicker than my new car. Which isn't really surprising when you consider it's 0 to 60 time is under 4 seconds!

What I'm really looking foward to is next Saturdays ride with Pablos. We're going on a 300 miles round trip to visit his Mum. I can't wait, but will the weather behave itself?

Regards
Chris
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Friday 19 March 2010

Key To People In My Blog

In my blog I chose not to use peoples real names to protect them from public ridicule and after all, they didn’t have a choice in the matter. Instead I have made up descriptive nick names that I feel accurately describe these people. I have listed them all here in an attempt to add context to my blog.

Mrs. TE = My wife, if you hadn't already guessed.
Junior = My teenage Son.
Pablos = A good friend & biker. Unfortuantly, he's extremely unlucky.
Cookie = She's an old school friend of mine & married to Pablos.
Chunky = My youngest Brother-in-Law. His mates chose the name, not me.
Chunkette = Chunkys' Girlfriend.
Dopey = My oldest Brother-in-Law.
I think that's everyone, but if not I'll add them later.

Regards


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Leftover: Boris to Cool Tube

This is a previously unpublished blog, which got forgotten about. Not wishing to deprive the world of my thoughtful insight I thought I'd post and be damned. LOL.
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BBC NEWS | England | London | 'Cool' underground train unveiled

Regards


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What To Do With The Leftovers?

I have been blogging sporadically for a few years now and I often start writing something, which I never finish. These “Leftovers” start off as good ideas, but invariably turn into either uncontrolled rants or end up as tedious rubbish which would bore any self respecting insomniac. Here are the titles of some of those,

- Boris to Cool Tube
- Key To People In My Blog
- I’ve Rediscovered Radio
- Busy, Busy, Busy
- I’m Artistic Don’t You Know!

The last three are quite resent and started off life on my new Apple iPhone, but the others are much older. I may just publish them and be damned. Lol.

While researching for this article, I noticed a rather worrying statistic. Since I started blogging in May 2006, I have written 183 entries and received only 44 comments. Does that mean that no one reads this waffle? Surely that cannot be correct!

Regards


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Thursday 18 March 2010

There are days you just want to scream!

And today is one of those very days!

My eldest Brother-in-Law or Dopey as I call him, has a "relationship" with alcohol. Over the last few years this "relationship" has seem off two wives, four children, one grandchild and most recently the job he had since leaving school. It's not a pretty story.

At 11:15pm last night we had a phone call from Dopey's lodger. He had drunken himself into a stuper and was complaining of sever pain just about everywhere. So off we went on the 5 mile journey in the fog to check him out.

When the Paramedic arrived, his story kept changing & the pain moved about somewhat. None of us were convinced that his condition was anything but drink induced. The paramedic took him to the hospital & we returned home, rather tired.

This morning I rose later than normal, feeling not at all fresh. While I munched on my Cornflakes the hospital called to comfirm that Dopey was in fact still alive. As we all expected, his moving pains were all drink related after all. I was halfway to the station before I noticed that in my rush to leave, I had inadvertently put my trainers on instead of my work shoes.





When I did get to the station I was just in time to see my train leaving without me. The next one was, as luck would have it, an "Extra Sardine" service.

Thankfully everyday is not quite that bad. Such is life.

Regards
Chris
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Wednesday 17 March 2010

Greenpeace Visit Nestle Tower in Croydon

I was walking allow George Street in Croydon this lunchtime and spotted this temporary banner hung over the usual advertising hoarding.
Give me a break


A little further down the road, outside Croydon College I spotted two more.

Give me a break #2

Nestle have their UK Headquarters, Nestle Tower, on the Wellesley Road in Croydon. I thought I'd pop down there to see if anything was going on.

Greenpeace Visit Croydon

Just about the banner are two protesters wearing climbing gear and one more either side of the canopy. In front of the building there are a number of protesters dressed as monkey and of course the Police were also there to keep an eye on things. There was no trouble and everyone seemed to be having a good and friendly time while making their point.

Greenpeace Visit Croydon


Their point, being a valid one (in my opinion at least) is that farmers wanting to make palm oil for Nestle are causing deforestation. This practice is destroying the habits of various species, including Primates.

What give us to right to vandalise vast parts of the world so we can maintain or comfy life style here in the West? You can't say it's not my fault, because we are all guilty of apathy as these things are done in our name!


Food for thought I think.

Read More Here - greenpeace.org.uk

Regards


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