tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13542262198659075902024-03-08T14:04:46.507+00:00Keep smiling through..."These were the times when the English,and particularly the Londoners,who had the place of honour,were seen at their best. Grim and gay,dogged and serviceable,with the confidence of an unconquered people in their bones,they adapted themselves to this strange new life,with all its terrors,with all its jolts and jars."-Winston Churchill.Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-64576461226180349032009-07-15T23:40:00.002+01:002009-07-16T00:06:23.643+01:00Cheap video time again!walking down the main Sydenham high street I saw one of the charidee shops with videos at a bargain 50p each, and an even bigger bargain of four for a quid. How could I resist?<br /><br />So four more old fashioned VHS videos, which I probably won't watch for years, but stored away for that proverbial rainy day. Which, with the amount of videos I've bought over the last few years, would be enough for a long, wet spell on Noahs Ark.<br /><br />for an outlay of only one pound I picked up the following:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/">'Falling Down'</a>. Some sort of vigilante type film, according to the blurb. Released in 1982, & starring Michael Douglas. I've heard of him ,not the film.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.allmovie.com/work/135865">'Hard Eight'.</a> About a veteran gambler, who is on run from the old bill, but has lots of other enemies. Four stars are named on the box. Gwyneth Paltrow & Samuel L. Jackson I've heard of. Philip Baker Hall & John C. Reilly I haven't.<br /><br /><a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/3662/Back-to-Bataan/overview">'Back to Bataan'</a>. an old war film, I've not heard of. Or maybe I have, but can't recall. An old black & white film, released in 1945, starring <a href="http://www.jwplace.com/">John Wayne</a>. Such is my lack of history I've not heard of <a href="http://www.bataansurvivor.com/">Bataan,</a> so I'm now looking forward to this film.<br /><br />Lastly <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043547/">'Flying Leathernecks'</a>. Another wartime John Wayne number, about a flying squadron. This one is in colour, released in 1951. There is actually an <a href="http://www.flyingleathernecks.org/">aviation museum</a> of the same name in America.Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-47070702738166143872009-07-15T23:15:00.002+01:002009-07-15T23:40:09.103+01:00Pepsi Max-imise your money!I was indoors all day today, updating one of my other blogs. I popped out a ten to four, as I had a routine appointment at the quacks, after another blood & urine test. All to do with my diabetes. This was a sort of follow on, after I was diagnosed with diabetes 2 back in January. And these tests were actually related to cholesterol. I knew this was coming, & wasn't looking forward to it. I eats lots of meat, & fried food. Though I also have pasta & rice as well. But I don't do vegetables. Apart from peas & potatoes. Mushrooms sometimes too. But in the main vegetables are what my dinner eats, which is one of my stock catchphrases.<br /><br />I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. My cholesterol levels were high, but not excessively so. I was told they were only slightly higher that they should be, and something that can be lowered if I lose some weight & sin't that much of a concern. He has decided not to write out a prescription for tablets to manage it. Result!<br /><br />On the walk back down the road I popped into Somerfield to pick up one or two things & saw that 12 cans of Pepsi Max were still on special offer, reduced to £2.99, from £4.80. Ignoring the reduction if you'd have told me this time last year I'd be drinking Pepsi Max & found it ok to my palate I'd have said you were crazy! At it happens it's actually slightly better than Diet Coke. Which is weird, as I always preferred regular Coca Cola to Pepsi! Explain that one, because I can't.<br /><br />Anyway, I was at the counter, & as I handed over a tenner for my purchases I was charged £9.29. more than I expected, but rather than query it on the spot i stepped away & studied the receipt, as I didn't want to hold up the queue.<br /><br />Instead of £2.99 I was charged £5.09! my first instinct was to think I'd picked up a larger back than was on offer, so I counted the tins & there were only twelve. I walked towards the exit, 'muttering' thoughts in my head- 'Fucking bastards! Trying to rip me off!' In fact they were not trying to rip me off. If I walked out of the door they WERE ripping me off.<br /><br />So I turned round & walked over to where I'd picked the cans up from. Sure enough the large A4 poster with the price clearly said £2.99. Rather than queue again I walked up to another member of staff, by some other tills, & told her I was overcharged, showing her my receipt, and telling her what I thought it should have been. She told me to just queue up again & they would sort it out at the tills. I told her. politely enough, that I wasn't going to queue up again as it wasn't my error. She called the manager over & he spoke to me. I told him what had happened and we went to the Pepsi display.<br /><br />He looked at the price poster, and read the very small print at the bottom & said that special offer had expired yesterday. He told me I could return the Pepsi if I wanted my money back. Or keep it. I had another idea. I suggested he refund me the change from £5.09 on my receipt to the £2.99 clearly displaced price, as that's what he was advertising it for sale as. Hee, hee! He had no choice but to agree, and took the poster down at the same time!<br /><br />One nil to the shopper!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-45513339365086512162009-07-15T22:57:00.003+01:002009-07-15T23:05:11.955+01:00Well,well, well!At last! I'm connected properly at home again!<br /><br />I've been busy for most of the day doing two large posts on my football grounds photo blog, so haven't had much chance to catch up here, but I do plan to...honest! ;-)<br /><br />This evening I popped out to a pre-season match at a local sportsground, an easy 15 minute stroll away from home, between Croydon, of the Combined Counties League & Redhill, from the Sussex County League.<br />It was entertaining enough, & I was in pleasant company, chatting to a couple of Croydon fans I know.<br /><br />The whole evening got me thinking, & I've now got an idea in my head for yet another wordy blog, from my 'real' blogging stable, that is blogs in my own name. I'm not entirely sure if I can keep it up, as I struggle to maintain all of the blogs I'm juggling with at the moment!<br /><br />I won't go into detail here, except to say it will be a sort of diary to my season. If it works then I will put a public link to it on my main grounds blog, but at the moment it will stay firmly hidden until I see if I can devote time to it or not.<br /><br />I'm trying not to raise my hopes about it, as although I'm actually quite positive & even a little excited by it, I tend to let myself down by starting projects I can't finish. And that's without life in general knocking me back when I get silly ambitious ideas in my head, way aove my station.<br /><br />Time will tell...Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-56143885296439226782009-07-13T12:36:00.002+01:002009-07-13T13:01:52.813+01:00At my wits end...Not quite, but not far off it!<br /><br />My internet is playing up again, hence my lack of posts. Both here, and elsewhere. You may recall it was fucked up a month or so ago. But service was restored. Last Tuesday it took me twenty minutes to get a connection. Since Wednesday morning-nothing!<br /><br />I phoned up to complain yet again. It's funny how they call you back if you say you will cancel your direct debit if they don't, once they say they can't!<br /><br />Anyway, after some more smarmy Indian call centre bullshit they asked me to check the laptop in another area, to see if it was the modem or not. Well I had no choice did I? They said it probably wasn't as I had been getting connections previously. So I said call me back in a couple of hours, and I would go out and check. This was about two o'clock in the afternoon, I hadn't been out yet, having got up late as it was my day off work, at about eleven. So I popped into the bathroom to have a wash before I left. I pick up my phone as I was about to leave & noticed two missed calls, caller withheld.<br /><br />I had a feeling the dongle thingy wouldn't work, I know it's fucked as they made me do the same thing a few weeks before. Surprise, surprise no connection at either London Bridge, or Trafalgar Square. When I got home they rang back...surprisingly-surprising because it was when they said they would-& apologised, saying they tried to call me back, but I hadn't answered earlier. The local towers were bering upgraded. Hmm...I said that's what they said last month. Yes, that was to check if they needed upgrading, now they were doing the work. Bullshit! He suggested sending a new modem, but said it would be the upgrade work, which was being completed tomorrow (Thursday). He would call me back on Friday evening to see that everything was ok, which he assured me it should be. Fair enough, though I didn't think it would.<br /><br />Come Friday, & no connection! I told him this when he called. He said he would order me a new modem & it would be at no extra cost...I butted in & said what do you mean no extra cost? I should hope not! As I hadn't broken anything! You're not supplying the service!<br /><br />Anyway I'm due to have one arrive, sent to me at work, tomorrow, Tuesday. I'm bringing my laptop in to work to test it there & then, & he will call me. If they try to fob me off I will ask them...how come, late on Friday evening, I actually got a connection? But then nothing for the rest of the weekend? It's a shocking, shoddy service from Three. Which is a shame,. as until these recent problems the service has been fine. But when something goes wrong...<br /><br />So it's only a computer! Am I addicted to the internet? A sort of surrogate alcohol? Maybe? I don't know.<br /><br />But what I do know is that I don't want to be sat in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous every night to keep sane. blogging calms me, & it's something I enjoy. I love taking photos, & my grounds photos blog has been well received all over the country, and,beleive it or not, across Europe! It's something that gives me a sense of worth & achievement far beyond what I ever thought I was capable of.<br /><br />My laptop is my emotional crutch. It is the use of the internet that keeps me from drinking & occupied. I am at a loss without it. It is no coincidence that I have been thinking more & more of 'just having a few drinks'. Not a huge bender, I don't suppose it would take much to get me drunk at the moment anyway, as I'm over seven years sober. But just enough to have 'one taste' again, & to 'escape' from the 'madness' that is going through my head, because I am so stressed out over a lump of metal that's not working, which is my laptop.<br /><br />And that's not a good frame of mind to be in, trust me! Which is why I went to an AA meeting last night, the first one I've been to in over a month. Maybe I don't go to enough of them, who knows? But I know where they are, I need them now & again, & this is one of them times.<br /><br />I don't know what I'll do if my computer doesn't work. I feel like I'm heading back to square one, & oblivion.<br /><br />Last Thursday the Supporters' Team had their annual cricket match with the Bromley fans. We won last year, but it's a bit like England & The Ashes. You only win once in a generation. And, sure enough, we lost again, so they lead 3-1 in the one off anuual 20/20 series against us. I was working til seven. But I dashed there & caught the end. I was after the usual team snap, & a chat to our lot, so I could knock up a small write up for the team blog. But a couple of mates started taking the piss, and refused when I wanted a team photo, so I never got one. I went off home, without staying afterwards. I was really pissed off. Stupid over such a little thing, but that's how fucked up I am at the moment, and being without internet doesn't help. Waiting that night at Mottingham station I had thoughts through my head that I haven't had for a long time, & the track did look inviting.<br /><br />I don't want to top myself, & hope I don't, but I do know that is how I will finish my life. I am very fragile emotionally at the moment, & just hope I can get my internet back, so I get in a stronger frame of mind mentally.<br /><br />My lunch break is over now, but I've said what I want to say really, and just by posting here a bit of a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Which is the whole point of blogging. I do enjoy it..but more importantly it keeps me sane. And if it does that job, others are welcome to joke that I'm addicted to the internet.Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-6633896283835282082009-06-30T13:30:00.000+01:002009-07-01T14:12:10.071+01:00Shouldn't charity help others?I had the chance to sponsor someone at work today. I turned them down. well not so much turned them down, I just ignored them.<br /><br />I was at a different workplace to my usual one, as they were short staffed. But I know everyone who works there. Not as friends, but as colleagues. And the difference? To use a drinking analogy, even tough I'm a sober, <a href="http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/">recovering</a> alcoholic-a friend is someone who would happily buy a drink in the pub after finishing work. A colleague is someone you work with, & once you finish at the end of the day you don't want to see until you get back to work the next day. Simple!<br /><br />Anyway, one person came into work for the afternoon & she dumped down a sponsor sheet onto the main desk & stated that everyone was going to sign it before she went home! Hmm... I've no problem with giving money to 'charidee' if I'm asked personally & nicely. You know: " I'm doing this walk to raise money for blahdeblah, would you be interested in sponsoring me.." But some people might just have different standards of communication skills to me, so I could let that go, if it's a charity I support, or just like the sound of.<br /><br />None of that was explained to me though. There were three of us on, other than her. Our line manager put herself down for a couple of quid, myself & the other bloke ignored it. She wandered past at one stage and said that we hadn't signed it yet! She picked it up not long after, then brought it back later, saying aloud again that we hadn't signed it! Fucking sharp or what! Can't you take a hint love? I'm not bloody well interested!<br /><br />And why not? A number of reasons actually. From where I'm sitting a sponsored event should be for a deserving cause, usually helping people in need, or supporting a community group. This was actually by her local <a href="http://www.londonbaptist.org.uk/lbacic.htm">church</a>, and the proceeds were for improvements to the church steps! that's like you or me having some tiles fall off of our roof then doing a sponsored event asking YOU to pay for something that only BENEFITS me! You really are taking the piss! If you were asking for some money to help, say, a soup run to benefit the local homeless, then maybe I could support that. I say maybe because I don't tend to support religious based charidees just so they can show how caring they are on the one hand, while totally denying equal rights & acceptance of gay people on the other. So no, if it is for a cause like the homeless, then I would support someone fundraising for an non-denominational organisation like <a href="http://www.shelter.org.uk/">Shelter</a>.<br /><br />Mentioning religious fundraising reminded me of the other week when I was out & about in the Croydon area on a Sunday. On my way from the centre of Croydon to the old airport visitor centre, four teenagers got on my bus. They had labels pinned onto their front & back, similar to numbers in an athletics race meeting, which clearly stated they were doing a sponsored walk for a local mosque. Well walking, apart from the mile or so they were on my bus. they jumped off right in front of a checkpoint & the chap there happily signed their sheets, with no mention of their cheating by taking public transport, just a cheery word, and a wave as they walked down the road, probably only as far as the next bus stop!<br /><br />The 'doorstep' appeal also failed my 'sponsorship checklist' by the actual event. Now call me old fashioned, but a sponsored event should be something that challenges you, exerts you, makes you earn the money you raise for a good cause. This one was a sponsored walk from the church itself, in Camberwell, to the River Thames! Which is a distance of, wait for it, three miles! And over flat ground! And you have the cheek to call that a sponsored walk? A stroll up the road more like!<br /><br />She eventually took the form away from the main desk after around two hours or os after she'd originally thrust it in our faces. At least she had the humilty not to ask us why we weren't sponsoring her, I think a bit of an argument with me might have ensued!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-7189522449779345502009-06-29T22:39:00.000+01:002009-06-29T23:16:43.279+01:00I don't want to jinx thingsBut I've managed to log on ok this evening. And yesterday too. Two days on the spin. Which on current form is a fucking miracle! My internet connection has been playing up for a few weeks now, part of the reason for my lack of posts on here.<br /><br />I use mobile broadband with Three, & i've been with them for about eighteen months now, since I bought my laptop through the gift vouchers I got a work in 'recognition' for my twenty years service to the local authority I work for.<br /><br />I'd not really had any problems. Sure it cut out sometimes, or didn't always log on immediately, but for just over fifteen quid a month I wasn't too fussed with these blips.<br /><br />But then I couldn't get any connections at all. So I rang the customer number. The first call I made from work, as they were free to Three phone customers, but my mobile is with 02. Fat lot of good that was, as I needed my laptop in front of me apparently. So I ended up, over a number of calls spending just under a score on my mobile. All to speak to some smarmy git in an Indian call centre! It was clear, through their transparent politeness they they didn't give a shit.<br /><br />I'm loathe to change over to another company, I'm old fashioned like that, if i buy something & like it i stick with it. But I came very close to stopping my monthly payment from my bank & signing up with someone else.<br /><br />The stupidness, some might say madness, going through my mind is that it's all my fault. That my life is so shit it serves me right for doing something that I enjoy, & gives me confidence and self worth. Which blogging does, none more so than my photoblog of football grounds, which is actually looked at by people from all over Europe!<br /><br /><br /><br />I'm just glad it's up and running at the moment, there's plenty I want to say on this blog, but it's been a long, hot day. So I'll chat again tomorrow, hopefully, if I can get online ok.<br /><br /><br /><br />At the weekend my mate Cookie got hold of a pair of the free tickets for the all ticketed 30,000 limit Armed Services Day at the old Chatham Dockyard. I'll tell you about that, probably. In the meantime I'm going to publish a load of photos of him below. For no other reason than he asked me to, and he has friends in America, & this is the only way they can see them. He did me the favour by sorting the tickets, so this is my way of paying him back.Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-32859378703875361262009-06-29T21:51:00.000+01:002009-06-29T23:09:05.609+01:00Cookie snaps!So here we go....<br /><br />On the way to the Armed Forces Day, huge Union Jack on show as we go past.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2nftc7TdjYOfHKJ5OVLinw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkktSQvWtMI/AAAAAAAABP4/5xpkH4cbSIg/s400/ChathamVets%20002.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Just inside the entrance to rhe old Naval Dockyard.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jaMR-T67wtJS0befL2BWOw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkktuAaes4I/AAAAAAAABQA/puBm0AELV98/s400/ChathamVets%20008.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Not the best of shots, into the sun, here he is as happy a little boy with new toys on Christmas Day!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ke2vZMEGHqSDJtFQODvtRg?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Skkt-v6oqeI/AAAAAAAABQM/fx0k8cU2QpY/s400/ChathamVets%20012.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Dads Army! With the Home Guard from WWII.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6M_SVy4RiJ9AhazQuYx5Qw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkuHj5zhXI/AAAAAAAABQQ/nYZVqwo6n1I/s400/ChathamVets%20013.JPG" /></a><br /><br />In front of one of the warships, this is HMS Cavalier. This is one of my favourite snaps.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xYjIQk0MoaN2UoXFYNl_zw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Skku3DjG2nI/AAAAAAAABQk/v6KZQ4FC6ro/s400/ChathamVets%20042.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Here he sits in the Captains chair.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_ZYI96stmcRWzW9xOjCdXw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkvM7iXzvI/AAAAAAAABQw/g4Ojg3oTUZY/s400/ChathamVets%20055.JPG" /></a><br /><br />And gets his most hated town of Colchester in his sights.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZqZBbKVK0x5Fqcic0N92LA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkvSe65baI/AAAAAAAABQ0/CgaAFfH_3IQ/s400/ChathamVets%20057.JPG" /></a><br /><br />One Medway Queen standing in front of another... ;-)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HRsXdV4RbW-UeNNQJB2_lA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkvbJ_EK2I/AAAAAAAABQ4/kUOyIG5m6-w/s400/ChathamVets%20064.JPG" /></a><br /><br />He begged me to take this one!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2U1YY6KM_xVegRenA2WHWw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Skkv5z9rCTI/AAAAAAAABRE/RXKHshtBQSQ/s400/ChathamVets%20073.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Talking about the history of this WWII American jeep, with it's owner.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lBmE_rJLVmnQlY8XAeCckA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkwFd2_60I/AAAAAAAABRI/4wibyYe2rDk/s400/ChathamVets%20075.JPG" /></a><br /><br />And standing next to it.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RoY1HJOEVn5PmFjmXS7Gzw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkwPyndFsI/AAAAAAAABRM/kOmi8Rw24rI/s400/ChathamVets%20076.JPG" /></a><br /><br />He doesn't like this one. "It shows my gaps!"<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VmR9qXiHpTc_rImoOeJ8Ww?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkwYW6SEvI/AAAAAAAABRQ/dinvXPA84Bo/s400/ChathamVets%20080.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Flying the flag for his friends over the pond!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-6EGYndFe0g2Qill1nSaEQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Skkwtb2fmdI/AAAAAAAABRY/sytt7EOHuas/s400/ChathamVets%20103.JPG" /></a><br /><br />With members of an Essex Battalion from WWI.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Y2Wo1iYEcVMVRfwJ-GCPJA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkxHtQn46I/AAAAAAAABRg/KGoOekbYYy4/s400/ChathamVets%20106.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Keep the bloody pin in!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/86RhVj2r4kggQTsZ9t85Fw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkxcuvGqyI/AAAAAAAABRs/qHowtMW6AQk/s400/ChathamVets%20112.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Guess what he wanted to be when he grew up? ;-)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/F8C7wxNvzAZt_Wv4_t416w?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkxkgopBVI/AAAAAAAABRw/RPolWvq1s08/s400/ChathamVets%20113.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Lovely double chin! ;-)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fklytHftI0VeXpmMGr_zbw?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkxshWJBYI/AAAAAAAABR0/3UUnUKGBKvc/s400/ChathamVets%20118.JPG" /></a><br /><br />One for the album before he gets nicked!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1i59braNyxtaULKJKSBxZA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Skkx5eQF3yI/AAAAAAAABR4/5X2QK7wPt_Q/s400/ChathamVets%20132.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Told you! Sitting in the cells...<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gb1LUMoWy1CwyR3UnUxz9Q?authkey=Gv1sRgCJKk1cjzxJui2QE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SkkyIrC4rXI/AAAAAAAABSA/qBkXgPgHpzw/s400/ChathamVets%20135.JPG" /></a>Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-12217793913306635172009-06-17T17:11:00.002+01:002009-06-17T18:27:38.008+01:00An ambition satisfied!There are some things in life that I've always wanted to do....at the weekend I achieved one of them!<br /><br />I was on holiday, so I could allow myself a few 'treats'...my diabetes 2 isn't going to kill me, so I can be 'naughty' now & again. Sunday night was such a time.<br /><br />The day before we'd been unable to locate a fish and chip shop that sold the world famous 'Deep Fried Mars Bar', that we're led to believe is a staple diet in Scotland, the heart attack capital of Europe!<br /><br />It sounds disgusting, but it was something we wanted to try, LoLo certainly did! But no luck in the few chip shops we looked at. Belgian Anorak couldn't believe there was such a snack, even after I'd told him to Google it!<br /><br />On the Sunday evening I was on my own, as the others were flying back home to London, or across the Channel. I'd been walking around for a few hours, & hadn't had much to eat, so was a bit peckish. I had planned to go to the<a href="http://www.glasgowspeedway.com/"> speedway</a>, which was at four, & headed to Queen Street station, having seen a poster at another station.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vBrHIxAhidBjOcsr08-AoA?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-_r_Xtg5fKhgE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Sjkl5HRpMSI/AAAAAAAABNI/jqKBFGfsqCg/s400/PIC_0070.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Which was lucky, as I'd forgotten the address of the stadium. my luck ran out.<br /><br />I was still in 'London mode' & had forgotten what a third world country it is north of the border. There was no Sunday train service on the line, where the station by the speedway was! Primitive or what?<br /><br />Instead I walked about, nowhere in particular, then headed for the famous Glasgow Necropolis, by the Cathedral. That was shut by the time I got there, so I'll save looking at that for another visit. <a href="http://www.glasgownecropolis.org/">The Necropolis</a> is wonderful! Set on a hillside, overlooking the city, my snap really doesn't do it justice.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7TsLyDKq49KYak1awhrV3g?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-_r_Xtg5fKhgE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/Sjkj8DmfAKI/AAAAAAAABMs/WIqbn9B3YjQ/s400/PIC_0060_001.jpg" /></a><br /><br />But the real highlight for me came after I'd been round it. Before I got there I stopped at a chippie & had sausage & chips. Well that's what I ordered, & yes, that's what I got. But they automatically dished up two sausages, not one. I wasn't complaining, but wasn't expecting two.<br />As I was leaving I clocked a sign in the window saying 'Fried Mars Bars'!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/t8WXuriNZKpOyFItmSBe-A?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-_r_Xtg5fKhgE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SjgWFIrUPkI/AAAAAAAABLw/fve_F9dv0BA/s400/PIC_0197.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Now being English, I was a bit paranoid about them thinking I was taking the piss by ordering it, so bottled it, believe it or not! besides I'd have looked stupid going back into the shock for one, was my lame excuse.<br /><br />But after leaving the cemetery, it was about nine o'clock by now, the rain was just starting, so I thought to myself: 'Fuck it, if I don't have one now I never will!'. So I ordered one! It takes a while, as the fat has to be very hot, to allow the batter to seal the Mars Bar in.<br />It was handed to me wrapped, so I didn't open it, with the rain now coming down. I dashed over the road to the train station, & unwrapped..<br /><br />The photos are a bit blurred, as I had the Mars Bar in one hand, and the camera & umbrella was in the other, with bag over my shoulder. But this is what it looked like:<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7m0wa2f73A_FfyhcZQdCiA?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-_r_Xtg5fKhgE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SjgWJgNHFkI/AAAAAAAABL0/Qq3r4nc-tXY/s400/PIC_0198.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Then I tasted tasted it. I felt like a naughty little kid!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/26WWAGY_F8gj8dini_3dEA?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-_r_Xtg5fKhgE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SjgWN9FMVBI/AAAAAAAABL4/o6xZe1eMzDY/s400/PIC_0199.jpg" /></a><br /><br />You know what? It was delicious! I wish I'd bought two!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-27678718751073253382009-06-17T16:57:00.002+01:002009-06-17T17:11:32.105+01:00Doh! Wrong airport!Last Thursday I flew up to Glasgow. Right destination, wrong airport!<br /><br />Luckily it was the one I arrived at, not left from! I was going from Luton, with Easyjet. I'd only been up to Glasgow once before, for a weekend with my brother & one of my mates, for a Celtic versus Leeds pre-season match. We flew up then, & went to <a href="http://www.gpia.co.uk/">GlasgowPrestwick</a> Airport, which is actually about 45 minutes train rides away from Glasgow Central station. I can't remember who we went up there with last time, but assumed it would be the same airport, which is a mere nine minutes from Ayr, in the other direction by train. And where I'd planned to spend the beginning of Thursday morning, to look at the football ground.<br /><br />Imagine my surprise on arriving to get off the plane, and into the arrivals bit, to think...'this doesn't look right', initially assuming thye'd rebuilt the terminal. But I couldn't see any signs for the railway station. Turns out we were at the <a href="http://www.glasgowairport.com/">other airport</a>, which is closer to the centre, only twenty minutes or so by express bus. It made no odds to me, I just felt a bit of an idiot for not realising!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-11915025839512841982009-06-17T16:25:00.003+01:002009-06-17T16:57:22.461+01:00The trouble I've had....with my bastard internet connection!<br /><br />I was THAT close to cancelling my direct debit with the bank & saying fuck off <a href="http://www.three.co.uk/Home">Three</a>!<br /><br />I got back from my trip to Glasgow on Monday night, & tried to log on. Still nothing! Yesterday evening I got in from work & again no luck. I gave it another go at around ten o'clock &...BINGO!<br /><br />This morning it was fucked again, but after another attempt, about an hour later it was fine. so maybe, just maybe, normal service is being resumed.<br /><br />It doesn't stop me being pissed off tohugh. I realise I pay not very much for the service, just over fifteen quid a month, but I'm still a bloody customer! And I resent being taken for an idiot, even if I know sod all about computers!<br /><br />I spent over fifteen pounds on three mobile phone calls, when complaining. And had no connection for two weeks. plus the stress worrying about it. Now I 'stress' is the new 'bad back', but it does do your head in!<br /><br />What pissed me off most was the bullshit from the callcentre. answered by someone in an Indian call centre, the English might be ok, but the accent is bloody difficult to understand. And then when I'm moaning they have the cheek to say 'sorry, it's a faint line'..I'm not surprised if you're halfway round the fucking world! More like a standard cop put excuse when you're getting moaned at by someone like me! The pretence of taking my number, promising to call me back, not once but twice, when clearly they had no intention of doing so! I've been far too polite this time. But if it happens again i'll show them what abusive can be!<br /><br />I can't really complain too much, as prior to this, I've generally been happy with the service. It can be a bit erratic, but at the price I pay what can I expect? But to be practically two weeks without a connection is simply not good enough.<br /><br />Hopefully I can catch up on my blogging, but to tell the truth there's only so much I can do, & I've had a number of football messageboards to catch up on, as well as putting some snaps from Glasgow on my Facebook, so it gets tiring after a while.<br /><br />Time for a small break from the keyboard I thinnk. Stick a pizza in the oven for dinne,r with extra cheese chucked on top, with a few splashes of <a href="http://www.splishme.com/">Worcester Sauce</a>. Then an episode of The <a href="http://www.thesimpsons.com/index.html">Simpsons</a> on <a href="http://www.channel4.com/">Channel Four.</a>Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-89701883044348489012009-06-07T23:37:00.003+01:002009-06-08T00:53:37.929+01:00Bloody Marvellous!I got in this evening & tried to log onto the internet. Still not working. So I played a bit of solitaire, with the telly on in the background. Almost as an afterthought, just before I switched off the laptop, I tried again. more in faint hope, than expectation....<br /><br />And, yes you've already guess it, there was a connection! I'm not sure that it won't play up again, but hopefully whatever was wrong is sorted!<br /><br />Now I'm on here I'm not in the mood for a long post! Despite having so much to say 'in my head' when I couldn't get onto my blog. Always the way eh? Plus I'm a bit tired now, having had a good few days of football messageboards to catch up with.<br /><br />I had a nice day today. The rain that was due had turned up overnight, & it was dry. So I set out to visit a couple of places that I'd seen from an email service I've signed up to with <a href="http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/events/">Ian. </a><br /><br />London, & the borders just outside, are full of untold amazing little places to see, which are way, way off the 'ordinary' tourist radar. It's those quirky little spots that I love. Two of them I visited today.<br /><br />The first was an airport visitor centre, at a place where there's no longer an airport! On the Purley Way there's the only remains of <a href="http://www.croydonairport.org.uk/">Croydon Airport</a>. Amazingly home to the first ever passenger service in the world. Though surely that should be joint-first, because if they were only the first they'd have had nowhere to land? It's popularity declined after the War, with the emergence of both Heathrow & Gatwick as the main London airports, as well as the urbanisation of the Croydon area, finally closing in September 1959. The old grass runways are long since built on, only the terminus buildings remain.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/72c6aIEo2EDYD1p2GHNUjw?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbb1anp0J2KPA&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SixAhBpe6VI/AAAAAAAABHw/lHUbrv9O-L8/s400/Shirley%26CroyAir%20001.JPG" /></a><br /><br />It's only open on the first Sunday of the month, but don't let that put you off. It's a working building, with a number of local businesses using it for offices, but at the back, up the stairs, the old control tower is now used as a couple of rooms for a small museum. We were taken round by an old boy who actually flew from here in the early thirties! As had another volunteer, who I chatted to, & he was ninety! Both were well spoken, & had no doubt had a privileged comfortable middle class up bringing, for early passenger aviation certainly wasn't within the price range of the working classes! I'm very much a working class (inverted) snob, but for once I listened & learned. They were fascinating. I love finding a little gem like this, free as well, & it was a cracking start to my day.<br /><br />I'd spent almost an hour & a half here, I didn't think it would be that long, most of the afternoon was still ahead of me. It was still only just after one.<br /><br />I got the bus back to Croydon, then jumped onto the <a href="http://www.croydon-tramlink.co.uk/">tram</a>, out towards Shirley. Another long lost local industry, but once again preserved. Again open only on the first Sunday of the month, & only from May to October. I was going to climb up the <a href="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/clive_higgins/">Shirley</a> <a href="http://www.windmillworld.com/millid/2624.htm">Windmill</a>!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/h7MYHM8oza6daYYgciGfBQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbb1anp0J2KPA&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SixASwPHy6I/AAAAAAAABHo/_11-vP6hDSs/s400/Shirley%26CroyAir%20060.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I got there a few minutes after two, & I only had ten minutes or so to wait until the next guided tour, at quarter past. You had to clamber up narrow staircases, & steep too, the steps like ladders, but without the 'gaps'. The chap giving the tour took us to the top, and talked us through each small floor, as we descended. I'll be honest, a lot of it went a little over my head, but only because I'm not that technically minded. I'm more 'local history' than 'industrial history'. But that's not to say it was boring. Another good hour spent here. I bought a guide book, and it also had a small walk around Shirley in it. As I didn't have time to head elswhere, as it was now almost four o'clock, I followed the route, & completed the not very strenuous circuit.<br /><br />Something that interested me was one of the local pubs.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jP5pTmo77eB6sCTp4-BQbQ?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbb1anp0J2KPA&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SixA983jW1I/AAAAAAAABIM/cCabWLspDq4/s400/Shirley%26CroyAir%20103.JPG" /></a><br /><br />Called <a href="http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/32/32645/Surprise/Croydon">'The Surprise'</a>, it had a local connection for me, as it was named after the rare <a href="http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Camberwell%20Beauty">Camberwell Beauty</a> butterfly, which was shown on the pub sign. This building was formerly two cottages, converted to an inn around 1867. One theory about how the pub got its name is that about a hundred years earlier the butterfly had suddenly, and briefly, appeared in such great numbers that the event was called "The Great Surprise". Later, towards the end of the 19th century, they became quite common again in the district, and visiting <a href="http://www.amentsoc.org/">entomologists</a> coming to see them are reported to have refreshed themselves at the inn here, which was duly renamed after the famous event.<br /><br />I also walked around, & photo-documented, the churchyard of <a href="http://www.stjohnsshirley.org.uk/">St. John the Evangelist</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/csJgFhDDHtrQZFOB5VGx9A?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbb1anp0J2KPA&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SixLLp5971I/AAAAAAAABIo/9OLfad10bxs/s400/Shirley%26CroyAir%20137.JPG" /></a><br /><br />This was a 'bonus' as I hadn't planned to visit any cemeteries, but have now added another one to the 'collection' of ones I've been to.<br /><br />All in all not a bad day. I wasn't able to get any surrepticious <a href="http://www.doesmybum.blogspot.com/">snaps of lardyarses</a>, but-in a similar vein-this old cartoon from the airport tickled me!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vE5daXijlD7JRaQxBK1Low?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbb1anp0J2KPA&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SixLTEUTnfI/AAAAAAAABIs/_gKIwvqzmUo/s400/Shirley%26CroyAir%20039.JPG" /></a>Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-49732941289661831282009-06-06T18:50:00.003+01:002009-06-07T23:37:51.946+01:00To anyone looking in....I've got some connection problems with my laptop. I'm typing this at my local internet cafe.<br /><br />I've been told by 'Three' that it's local connection upgrade, some sort of work involving the nearest mast(s) to me.<br /><br />To be honest I think they're bullshitting, but they've said it should be sorted by Tuesday, so I'll give them the benfit of the doubt.<br /><br />So far it's cost me eleven quid on mobile phone calls to them! So I'm not really that much of a happy chappy at the moment!<br /><br />Keep your fingers crossed for me...Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-13124424650657598162009-05-29T00:14:00.000+01:002009-06-01T00:19:14.985+01:00It must be love!A mate of mine has just started two new blogs.<br /><br />One is a <a href="http://www.wb5995.blogspot.com/">general wordy one.<br /></a><br />The other is a<a href="http://www.shoutingmen.blogspot.com/"> football one.<br /></a><br />It's early days at the moment, so he's not getting personal yet & talking about his love life...so I thought I'd be the one to 'out' him as a Marge lover!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZR0yajSLjjv56c7H51Dhxg?authkey=Gv1sRgCJaFsJ6RnvOBbQ&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/SiGQ0NAXiRI/AAAAAAAABE0/5bizlojkzxo/s400/PIC_0243.JPG" /></a>Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-63960202908249328642009-05-28T13:58:00.001+01:002009-05-28T13:58:55.822+01:00Sometimes there’s nothing wrong…With blowing your own trumpet. And today is one of those days. Here’s a question for you. Do you know exactly where you were seven years ago?<br />I do.<br /><br />I was lying at home in bed. Being sick, sweating hot & cold, shaking a little, & being sick until it hurt. Dashing to retch over the bath, throwing up nothing, as therewas no more to bring up, but my stomach still going through the painful motions.<br /><br />I’d just got back from the first ever Supporters’ Team tour, which I’d organised. Back them I was obviously aware I was a heavy drinker, & deep down knew I was an alcoholic. In fact just over a year before I’d stayed on the wagon for just under two weeks, & gone to a few meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. But I went back on the booze, ‘kidding’ myself I could control my drinking. The truth was AA was ready for me, but I wasn’t ready for AA.<br /><br />For every alcoholic there comes a moment in your life when you can’t get any lower from where you are (though many do fall further into their own personal abyss) & you accept you need help. I was lucky. I knew what AA was, at least.<br /><br />But I was still very, very frightened. I phoned up a fellow Hamlet fan Madge, & asked him if I could go with him to a meeting the next day. I actually shared my thoughts at that meeting, & was extremely nervous. Worried in case I said the wrong thing! How stupid is that?!<br /><br />I don’t go to many meeting nowadays, I know where they are when I need them, & I’m in the minority of people who use the ‘rooms’, as we like to call meetings, that hasn’t got a sponsor, or done the AA twelve step programme. Why? Don’t know really. Truth be know I think I’d let myself down, by lacking the dedication to follow them through. And at times I’m quite fragile emotionally anyway, so I don’t really know, or want to know, what can of worms I might open up for myself.<br /><br />I done ok, anyway.<br /><br />In case you haven’t worked out yet, I’m giving myself a huge, personal pat on the back, at today marks SEVEN YEARS OF SOBRIETY for me! It’s not something I shout from the rooftops, but I can to so on here!<br /><br />My life isn’t perfect, not by a long chalk. But it’s moving on, hopefully, where I can start to look ahead to three or four years time, where I will, hopefully, be debt free, & I can start thinking of nicer holidays & maybe even saving money for the first time in my life.<br /><br />But the most important thing is….even if I feel like shit, or am sinking into the depths of depression, my life is still a MILLION times better than when I was drinking.<br /><br />I didn’t really think how much this day means to me, until a customer walked into work today. He’s also in AA, & I told him quietly that I was seven years today! He was so pleased, congratulating me, and an emotional warmth came over me, through his genuine kindness, that I almost started crying with joy! I was welling up certainly. And had to pop out the back, away from the public areas, for a few moments to compose myself.<br /><br />This was three hours ago now (I’m typing this in my lunch-break) & I’m desperately trying to hide a huge grin ever since. But don’t worry I’m inwardly smiling, & I’ve got that all over ‘Ready Brek’ glow!<br /><br />Tomorrow is just another day…but the greatest thing about it is that it’s a day where I won’t pick up a drink!<br /> One day at a time! Marvellous!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-50339308594962047342009-05-27T00:41:00.002+01:002009-05-28T00:52:13.002+01:00You can't knock a freebieI was passing through Victoria today, and outside the station there was someone handing out promotional freebies of mini 150ml cans of Pepsi. Not bad eh? You can't knock something for nothing. Well not unless some total stranger punches you in the face.<br /><br />But this wasn't ordinary Pepsi. Or Pepsi Max. No! This was <a href="http://www.pepsiraw.co.uk/">PEPSI RAW.</a><br /><br />Pepsi what? Allow me....<br /><br />The blurb on the tin tells us that it is NATURAL BORN COLA. Apparently Pepsi Raw was born differently to other colas. You won't find anything but naturally sourced ingredients here except for the bubbles. What you will find is a naturally great cola taste.<br /><br />We're then invited to tell them what we think @ twitter.compepsiraw<br /><br />No chance! I've just about got my head round Facebook thank you very much. That's enough 'interacting' for me, or whatever it's called. I promise you there's no way I'm going to joing the 'Twittering classes'.<br /><br />Besides it wouldn't take me that long to tell them what I think of their Pepsi Max anyway...<br /><br />It's fucking disgusting!<br /><br />Not disgusting enough that I didn't go back & forth a few times claiming nine small tinnies in total. When it's free it's drinkable-just! But there's no way I'll be paying for the shit when it's on sale in the shops!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-71691004095709151792009-05-26T00:22:00.000+01:002009-05-28T00:40:13.203+01:00A terrible tragedyover in America when a little four year old girl died in an acident on a running treadmill. She was playing on it & somehow got her head caught up in it, & a cord that hung under the console somehow acted as a noose, & she later died in hospital.<br /><br />It's impossible to imagine what it must be like for anyone to lose a young child. Think about how bad it must be, then multiply it a thousand times or more, is my guess. My heart goes out to the childs mother.<br /><br />No mention of the dad from me? Ah....<br />This is where my sympathy ends. for the father is none other than the former boxer Mike Tyson. The obnoxious piece of shit who is a convicted rapist who has never ever shown any remorse. Whilst I wouldn't wish anyone's child to die-even his-I hope he is suffering inside. Really, really hurting. He really is a horrible bastard from where I'm sitting. Rape is just one step below kiddie fiddlers, as far as I'm concerned. I've more 'respect', if that's the right word, for 'ordinary murderers'.<br /><br />A few years ago the then loopy 'lost the plot' England manager Glenn Hoddle famously suggested in an interview with 'The Times' that he held a "controversial belief that the disabled, and others, are being punished for sins in a former life." No I'm coming round to this idea, with the death of Tyson's young daughter. He's not so much being punished for a previous life, though if reincarnation does exist I'm sure he was just as much a total cunt in that one too, but getting his just deserts for the way he's behaving in his current one. Bad karma comes back to haunt him and all that.<br /><br />As I've said it's terrible that such a premature & tragic death could befall such an innocent little girl. but if these unfathomable things must happen...it couldn't happen to a more 'deserving' father!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-47447923267410123612009-05-25T23:48:00.000+01:002009-05-28T00:13:41.091+01:00What a load of rubbish!A couple of weeks or so ago I was given a leaflet.<br /> The Sydenham and Forest Hill Youth Forum needs a makeover!<br />So the blurb said.<br /><br />It went on: "The Forum is a youth organisation that works with young people within Sydenham, Forest Hill and Perry Vale. We're launching a new youth led participation project but our name (the sydenham and forest Hill Youth Forum) is long, and we know it. So we're asking you to come up with a cool logo that people your age will recognise as the place to get involved in anything youth-related. the chosen logo will win a brand new laptop, plus a professional design package."<br /><br />So far so good, eh? Hmmm.....You can fell me going into 'old fogey mode' already can't you?<br />What they're actually doing is re-launching their youth project because their current one is clearly a total failure, or there'd be no need to 'launch' it. And as for the crap name, well YOU gave it the name in the first place!<br /><br />Still, what's my problem? Just moaning for the sake of it, as per usual? Ask yourself where did I get the leaflet from? The local library perhaps? Or doctors surgery? Housing office? Answer? None of the above.<br /><br />It was handed to me on a train. Well I'm 42, and look as if I've had a 'hard life' so you could easily guess another decade on my age, & it wouldn't surprise me. What I'm trying to say if I'm hardly within the catchment target group of this printed in thick card, in four colours (Ie: hardly cheap to produce) flier, so why was it dumped on me?<br /><br />Because it wasn't just dumped on me! I was on a train heading for London Bridge, in the middle of the morning, after the rush hour had finished, and we were heading towards New Cross Gate,, with the train having started from Caterham, in the heart of suburban leafy Surrey. A polite middle aged woman was walking down the train, carriage by carriage, leaving a couple of leaflets on each set of seats!<br /><br />Apart from the obvious about 'how fucking stupid!' as in who the bloody hell on this train is likely to be interested in this very youthful niche market, the person dishing them out is almost certainly ( now I don't know this, I guessing this based on my stereotypical compartmentaling) aone of the lefty, hoodie hugging, greenie save the planet brigade. Who, if I were to be dumping rubbish from my bag onto the floor of my carriage be tut-tutting away to themselves, but obviously, being a middle class tosser, not having the bollocks to speak up and have a moan.<br /><br />This is where I let myself down, because I didn't really take in what this litter lout was dumping down the whole train, and only really got wound up by it when I got off at London Bridge & walked past the front two carriages littered with them. Now you could say that maybe passengers would pick them up as the train went back & forth up & down the line, but anyone who uses public transport will tell you this doesn't happen. As cleaners are always jumping on board at the terminus to clean them up, mainly as a result in the explosion of cheap, throwaway papersin the last few years. As if the minimum wage cleaners don't have enough shit to shovel they had a few hundred expensively produced crap to deal with.<br /><br />It really makes me wonder what kind of idiots get jobs in the public sector like these sort of inter-acting forums with local youth? and you know what pisses me off most? I can guarantee you that the litter bug doing this vital youth consultation is paid a darn sight more than I am in my job!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-63386037088291561302009-05-24T00:14:00.000+01:002009-05-28T00:40:53.935+01:00It's enough to make you break the law...Or it would have been, if we still deported convicts to Australia!<br /><br />A Sydney magistrate handed down a four-year drving ban to a 19 year old man for speeding, & has threatened him with jail if he carries on driving. So far so good. But the threat he issued to the lad is shocking, if not tempting, were you not to take it as a serious comment:<br /><br />He was told that he will 'meet big, ugly, hairy,strong men there who will pay attention to you and your anatomy' & 'shower with the gorillas in the midst' if he fails to obey the ban.<br /><br />It might seem funny at first, but be serious for a moment. What the fuck are judges who hold peoples' futures in their hands doing coming out with shit like this? You can bet your bottom (Australian) dollar, as opposed to just beting your bottom if you're in jail, that he is one of those judges who think that 'women ask for it' if they get raped when pissed.Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-52199575573048673822009-05-23T00:58:00.000+01:002009-05-26T01:37:50.255+01:00Are they connected?I was over in north London yesterday. I went to the Emirates with a couple of colleagues from work to watch <a href="http://www.arsenal.com/home">Arsenal </a>take on Liverpool in the first leg of the <a href="http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/FACompetitions/TheFAYouthCup.aspx">FA Youth Cup</a> Final.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4E35ZusvL-J3QZaWLPBxEA?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrq5YKcvIXJoAE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4Tuyez2ROzA/ShrQBmxc7sI/AAAAAAAACxc/JLecTwm7ACg/s400/Arsenal%20etc%20139.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br />Great value at a fiver, & a cracking game, <a href="http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/arsenal-4-1-liverpool-youth-cup-final-report/">4-1 to the young Gooners</a>. But I'm not posting to tell you that.<br /><br />It was my 'half day', working til two, which happens every other Friday when it's my Saturday on. Rather than go home, then leave not long after, I walked around the Islington area for a while. Specifically visiting the local <a href="http://www.islington.gov.uk/leisure/LocalHistory/IslingtonMuseum/">Islington Museum </a>as I hadn't been there before.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Nnw31CdVf5wuWEx-zghE3Q?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLEtvGB_7LT3AE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4Tuyez2ROzA/Shs0NWs-VmI/AAAAAAAAC2o/hru6Y0jmWNo/s400/Arsenal%20etc%20043.JPG" /></a><br /><br />I'm going to tell you about that either. Except to say it's worth a visit if you like local municipal museums, and that it's on the lower ground floor, below Finsbury Library.<br /><br />It's the library that I do want to mention. now I'm a bit of a hoarder, when I'm in somewhere like a library outside my local area I always leave with a few free leaflets that I might find interesting. And this one was no different. Free local paper & some of historical walks around Islington, produced by the neighbourhood amenity group. Which are interesting in itself, but still not what I want to tell you about!<br /><br />Nope, what I really want to share with you was two leaflets that were side by side to each other, in a somewhat unfortunate 'product placement' type way, that perhaps tells you more about the way my mind works...<br /><br />The first was offering the services of <a href="http://www.londonfriend.org.uk/">London Friend. </a><br /><br />The second was for the South Islington <a href="http://www.stroke.org.uk/in_your_area/england/london/stroke_clubs/index.html">Stroke Club</a>! Which wasn't the sort of <a href="http://www.home.aone.net.au/~melbournewankers/world.html">'stroke club'</a> I'd associate with people who might need the services of the first leaflet!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-9879343739760142532009-05-22T00:01:00.002+01:002009-05-22T00:01:00.635+01:00What a fucking idiot I am!And for once I mean it!<br /><br />As I've mentioned, I'm off to Glasgow in three weeks, then the following weekend I will be in Brussels. I've had my flight booked for sweatyland for a few months, but Brussels is a recent thing. Wednesday was payday, so I booked my hostels for both trips, and my one in July to Helsinki & Riga. So far so good.<br /><br />Then I wnet to book a Eurostar ticket at lunchtime yesterday. I can only afford thecheap book in advance £59 returns, so am restricted to certain trains. I'd had the first one, early Friday morning picked out, & a late one Sunday to come back. But when I went to book it the Sunday ones had gone up in price, and out of my budget.<br /><br />So it was over to the Eurolines website to check the coach travel. not my chosen way, as it takes ten hours each way, but a neccesity, & as a little bonus I'll save about a fiver! Yes, you're right, that's no bonus at all really, I'm just trying to make myself feel a bit better.<br /><br />Anyway, I've booked the coach, then printed off the e-ticket...Oh fuck it! I've only gone & booked the wrong date! I've gone & vought a coach ticket for the Glasgow dates going to Brussels! Shit, shit shit!<br /><br />So I quickly phone up the number on the website, and am told it should be ok to change...then....because I've purchased a 'cheap deal' fun fare it's not possible to change it, & no refunds offered! Fuckity, fuck! The last thing I need, & can't afford, is to lose fifty quid! It's there right in front of my eyes, on the website, after I double check, when I've put the phone down.<br /><br />The bloke from the call centre tells me to purchase another ticket, & send in a letter of explanation, with both bookings, to their Customer Relations Department & informed that "it shouldn't be a problem" to get a refund."<br /><br />I won't be holding my breath waiting for one. It's my stupid mistake, which I simply shouldn't have done. Typical when I hve such a tight budget for my trips that I muck up like this. I'll cope, and if I get any money back that's a bonus.<br /><br />It wouldn't surprise me if they issue a 'credit note' for another trip, which isn't what I want, as I prefer to go abroad by train, and taking the coach is only ever out of financial neccesity.<br /><br />Nothing I can do about it, just got to get on with things eh?Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-55109929166996779772009-05-21T22:22:00.002+01:002009-05-21T23:08:13.001+01:00When is a crisp not a crisp?Well according to the makes of<a href="http://www.pringles.co.uk/en_GB/default.aspx"> Pringles</a> it's when it's a Pringle! Unfortunately for them the Court of Appeal disagreed. You might be wondering what the fuck they're bothering to go to court for? Of course they're bloody crisps! But this series of court cases wasn't about crisps, but tax evasion.<br />The Revenue people had said that they were potato snacks. Which is what crisps are made from. Why? Apparently most foods are exempt from VAT, but not 'potato snacks', as they're classed as 'savoury snacks'.<br />The Pringle merchants defence was that 'only' 42 per cent of the 'snacks' were potato, the rest made up of fat, flour, & assorted additives.<br /><br />Well they look like crisps, taste like crisps....so that makes them crisps from where I'm sitting. Albeit fucking expensive ones. They are tasty, but pricy. The only time I buy them is when they're on a special offer, like 'buy one, get one free' type thing.<br />They are very 'moreish', in that they are curved, so you can put them over your tongue, and let them 'melt' as you crunch them. <br />It's all in the presentation, which is why they cost a few bob more than your average packs of <a href="http://www.walkers.co.uk/">Walkers.</a> They're all the same shape & size. Almost a real life 'european banana' tale.You know the sort of anti-EU story that appears sporadically (& coming to you soon, with the European elections due) about all bananas needing to be a specific size & bend! (Thankfully not applied to cocks. Blow jobs would be much less fun if they were all the same shape & size!)<br /><br />Pringles are now crisps, something we always knew. Poncy, overpriced crisps, but still tasty! Well the salt & vinegar ones are anyway. I do love salt & vinegar crisps. Which is a bit of pain as I'm off to Brussels in four weeks time. And one thing your 'Johnny Foreigners' don't like is salt & vinegar crisps. You can get all sorts of smelly cheesy one, with added garlic or parika. But traditional salt & vinegar? Nowhere! To think we bailed out the plucky little Belgians not once, but twice in the World Wars. And how do they repay us? Fucking disgusting paprika crisps!<br />Ungrateful bastards! No wonder we have to remind them sometimes that " If it wasn't for the Enlgish you'd be Krauts! "Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-8700900619380936762009-05-20T00:06:00.001+01:002009-05-21T22:21:02.690+01:00Wednesday shopping!Day off today! I don't work Wednesdays in my job, as I'm sure those of you who know me realise.<br /><br />I indulged in one of little 'pikey' hobbies...all above board & legal, I hasten to add!<br /><br />While I had a large bag of dirty clothes going round in the local laundrette I picked up my pre-ordered prescription from the chemist. Then had a nose in one of the local 'charidee' shops & picked up four more videos at ten bob each. A veritable bargain. Though once you see my choices you'll see why they're so cheap. Very 'hit & miss' I know, but when it's only fifty pence at stake it's a darn sight easier to give something a go & take a gamble, knowing it might be a complete & utter shite!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxmovies.com/thinredline/">The Thin Red Line </a>A Second World War film, that looks half decent, set in the Pacific. The actors in it, among others, include Sean Penn & George Clooney. One to save for a rainy day, as it last for two & three quarter hours.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reelviews.net/movies/s/short_cuts.html">Short Cuts</a> is an unusual film, in that it's not an action one. It appears to be a, sort of, series of short films, interwoven into one, about 22 people in Los Angeles. the video was released on the arty-farty <a href="http://www.artificial-eye.com/home.php">Artificial Eye</a> label, which issues non-mainstream type films. Another lengthy one, lasting three hours!<br /><br /><a href="http://sirlespatterson.com/films/les-patterson-saves-the-world/">Les Patterson Saves The World</a>. He might well do...but I don't think he'll do much for the film industry! I'm not expecting this to be much cop at all, but it 'stars' both Sir Les Patterson & <a href="http://www.dame-edna.com/">Dame Edna Everage</a>. And I enjoy watching 'both' of them, so I thought I'd give this one a whirl.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.videovista.net/reviews/aug05/cleopard.html">Commando Leopard</a> Described as 'action trash' in one review, so I dread to think how awful this one is. The only reason it caught my eye was because it had <a href="http://collins.bistokidsfan.net/">Lewis Collins</a> in it. Not that he's a great actor, or anything. No, it's just that I watched every week as I grew up on <a href="http://www.personal.u-net.com/~carnfort/Professionals/">'The Professionals'</a>, & I did have a bit of a crush on his character Bodie in my early teens! ;-)Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-34130469817800836622009-05-19T00:14:00.003+01:002009-05-21T21:39:36.349+01:00I heard of little white lies...But this is bloody ridiculous!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DhfKjDX-Kd-tZYKcvjmFAw?authkey=Gv1sRgCLaFwZ33po3LuAE&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/ShSOoJqo8aI/AAAAAAAABDY/b33Dmo8l9pw/s400/IWMup%20town%20226.JPG" /></a><br /><br />So the (sub)Standard is under new ownership, but a leopard doesn't change it's spots!Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-70994066846377342532009-05-17T22:23:00.002+01:002009-05-17T22:29:15.289+01:00Army "Camp"I was out & about up town today, having watched the Youth Team in the morning. I wasn't going anywhere in particular, just wnadering about for a couple of hours. I ended up gravitating towards one of my favourite museums.<br /><br />In one of the First World War galleries there was a projected slideshow of recruitment propaganda posters.<br /><br />Is this one the gayest one ever or what!<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dbnXuTh1LO5Abzr5-TmI5Q?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGnp_fBuaKOZg&feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_KjwLFuslYvw/ShBmriGX96I/AAAAAAAAA_w/KHVS3ZVs4Ns/s400/IWMup%20town%20180.JPG" /></a>Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354226219865907590.post-86307769978551598132009-05-17T22:02:00.002+01:002009-05-17T22:23:13.289+01:00Money, money, money....Anyone got any spare?<br /><br />It's payday on Wednesday, & it begins very tight budgeting for me. So tight I should have spent a lot less in the last month, but I've still got a few pennies left.<br /><br />June & July sees me go on three trips, which is too many, my choice, but still a worry.<br /><br />The Supporters' Team tour is at the end of July. We're going back to Helsinki to play the HJK fans again. An expensive city at the best of times, more so now with the economic recession, & the pound crashing against the Euro. I arrive there on a Thursday morning, & stay til the Sunday, when I am then getting the boat over to Estonia, then the early morning coach to Riga, in Latvia, where I fly home from on the Wednesday morning. I don't spend much money anyway, out of neccesity, so I'll cope. Finland is expensive, but I'll eat very cheaply, then treat myself in much cheaper Riga.<br /><br />I also decided to go up to Glasgow for a long weekend, in June, as my good friend from Namur, Belgian Anorak, has his PSG Belgium supporters' team in the Queens Park FC supporters tournament at Lesser Hamden. Again I'm flying up, arriving Thursday, coming back on the Monday evening.<br />I'm also looking forward to that. There's a number of excellent free museums in glasgow, plus I'll try to get round some non-league grounds to photograph, if i can get into them. And it's 'normal' money, & chip shops are filling and cheap. not to mention the local delicacy! And on the Friday afternoon, when the Belgians arrive, we have a tour of the Scottish Football Museum arranged!<br /><br />What threw a spanner in the works was another Supporters' Team trip! Usually we go away for a weekend early in the year, January or February. But the Gaffer announced that we wouldn't go on one, which I was disappointed about, as people would need money for the expensive trip to Finland. Which was fair enough. I went over to Belgium for a footballing weekend, staying with Belgian Anorak & his fiancee Rocky. Which I really enjoyed.<br /><br />After I'd arranged to go to Glasgow though, flights already booked, the Gaffer announced we were going to Brussels in mid June-the weekend AFTER Glasgow luckily- for a tournament which he have got an invite for!<br /><br />So I'm having to try to save every penny I have, to go to all three. Of course I could miss Brussels. But I haven't missed a Supporters' Tour yet, since we first went abroad in May 2002, a record I am personally very proud of, & one I don't want to break. I have to decide very soon how much time I stay in Brussels. I hope to go by early Eurostar on the Friday morning, the competition is on the Saturday, and get the last one back on the Sunday evening. I'm restricted to these times, by the cheap £59 return fare. The only alternative would be to get the Friday night coach there, & the Saturday night coach back. I don't really want to do that, as it only saves about a fiver, will be quite tiring two nights on the spin, but will obviously save me spending money.<br /><br />I've fingers crossed I'll scrape/save enough shekels together for everything, & I know I'll enjoy my times away, even if I'm short of cash. I'm just scared I don't have the discipline/willpower to not spend any money over the next couple of months on anything else!<br /><br />Hopefully I'll be ok...fingers crossed for me! ;-)Roddershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14220379311247491253noreply@blogger.com0