Weird World

Today I pressed the wrong button.

I was messing around with the side bar, you will see the new weight loss button, there so I can hopefully get prodded when it starts going back towards zero pounds lost!

And so I inserted the html. Threw in a bit more code. Went mad with br tags.

Then I pressed a button.

Next thing I knew I had a new template, different layout, half my personalised sections had disappeared.

New additions were everything in the world to do with Google!

Worked out how to get the old template back.

Good!

Wasting Away

Created by MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Triumph Two

Following on from the success of The Olympic Opening Ceremony, last night's Paralympic curtain raiser was just as good. And I've become a fan of Nicola Miles-Wildin who played Miranda.

She's worked with Graeae Theatr company who are about to put on a production at The Southbank Centre. Sorely tempted to go up and see something if she's taking part, and I rarely go to the theatre or at least not for straight acting. I suspect she isn't involved though althougb some of those taking centre stage in the production of Spasticus Autisticus will be. I wonder what Ian Drury would have thought about it? Pleased, I hope.

And good to see Stephen Hawkin given such a major role. The highlight for me being his final words that no matter what, everyone has the ability to excel at something.

And in a last minute dive across the living room to get an apple each, M & I took part in the World's Largest Apple Bite.

Twiggymatic

Well, hardly the shape of Twiggy yet which is as well, although at the moment I've probably got bigger boobs than her. Anyway, I have started once again on yet another diet. Except this time I am using an internet based diet stats site My Fitness Pal plus it's android app partner.

Apart from putting in the wrong start weight as I decided there were only 12 lbs in a stone, it is rather good. I've completed a whole day without having "cheated" by not counting something. Made somewhat easier because I was at home all day we'll see how it goes when I'm out and about and also it's new and exciting and you get to use the bar scanner and allsorts. It does hold a remarkable database of food items though although some of the figures seem a bit suspect. The ones I think don't look quite right I shall check.

As always, my recommended weight is completely unachievable, even at the top end. Starting from 18 stone 3 I am hoping to lose 2 stone and get back to what I consider my cruising weight of 16:3 with a waist measurement around 34 inches. Ideally from there I take another stone off and get back to my "fighting" weight of 15:3 but I'll not sweat, probably literally, if I don't reach that. To get to the recommended BMI of 25 maximum though I need to hit 13 stone 5! I was that once during my adult life. I was 23, had a waist measurement of 24 inches and played squash 5 times a week. My knees would be hard pushed these days to stand up to playing tiddlywinks 5 times a week!

I shall bore you with the occasional update as and when. I don't see why I should be the only one to suffer!

Rural Charm

Yesterday was a choice. Do we go to Wells Next The Sea and carry on round the coast to Kings Lynn or head inland to a picturesque market town.

The latter won. We headed for Fakenham.

All I really knew about Fakenham was that it had a racecourse, and as there isn't a meeting till October it must be a National Hunt course I guess. What I do know now is that the racecourse must be all that is going for it.

Monday saw quite a few shops closed but of those open the hairdresser was staffed by young girls sporting the popular hair colouring of dark hair with the bottom 3 or 4 inched dyed blonde, but not white blonde, a sort of murky creamy yellow colour. We passed the tattoo parlour where a young woman was having her thighs tattooed on the couch by the window. Luckily she was wering underwear otherwise it could have doubled as a gynaecologists examination room. Everything else appeared to be either a charity shop, a discount store or a fried chicken/fish and chip/chinese take out. (That's not a choice of one of the three but an amalgamation of all three).

To be fair I guess it is no worse than most other small towns around the UK, nor for that matter, suburbs of London and we did feel rather snobbish. Not so snobbish though that we didn't avail ourselves the chance to buy a set of measuring spoons/cups from the discount store for the princely sum of £1.25.

The Horizontal Sticks

I went to the local quiz last night.

There was a question on "which piece of equipment did Beth Tweddle win her Olympic medal on"? I of course answered the asymetric bars.

I was marked as wrong.

They had the answer, the uneven bars.

Don't be ridiculous I said.

On checking the news reports this morning I discover they are now called the uneven bars.

We have dumbed down gymnastic equipment!

Roll on the kickybally season!

Early Warning.

Visited Latham's Store in Potter Heigham today.

They have their christmas deorations on sale!

Not even Tesco have managed that yet.

Epic Fail

Nope, the mojo is still missing. I could be blogging about my trip to the Olympic Park last Tuesday or the meal at Bel Canto, the opera based restaurant, on Wednesday evening, but the fingers/brain/will interface just ain't working.

I'm off on holiday on Monday for the best part of a fortnight so maybe I'll find one somewhere up in the Norfolk Broads. I thought I better mention I'm going otherwise you wouldn't realise I'd gone. I'm not taking my laptop so maybe I will come back refreshed and raring to go. And if by some chance I get over this slump as I'm staying at my dads I can use their computer.

Keep Calm and Carry On.

Kennamatic to Earth

Well, I've been a quiet bunny haven't I.

Not because there haven't been things to blog about but mainly because I never have time to blog them, Or at least, other things have more priority in those times when I could be blogging. Must try harder as Messrs Hayter, Osborne, Davies, Collins, McNee, Wakely and other teachers at school would, and most definitely did, say.

So the headlines have been;

Work has been busy. Even better, I've even managed to sell stuff so there is income.

Being chairman of HLO is time consuming! Not only that, I had to have a talk with someone to remove them from the role in the next production because they aren't up to it. Not his fault, he should never have been cast. Our MD is skating on very thin ice!

As well as having Linda homeless a mate t work, 69 and suffering from a heart complaint has ended up homeless and his council are being as much use as Linda's.In addition, whilst helping at a gig I ended up sorting out another homeless person who turned up on the door who was rather ill. I'm thinking of changing my name to Mother Theresa! The percentage of Buddhist in me does however like to think that maybe the new sales and income might be karmicly linked to helping the homeless.

And on the music front I've been helping out at gigs for
Claude Bourbon.
Neads & Prince.
Ian McNabb
All the above for Helen Martin


Still, who knows. Maybe I'll blog again soon.

Food for Thought

Well, the world of blogging has hit the headlines today. I shouldn't think anyone is now unaware of NeverSeconds, a blog by a 9 year old girl reviewing her school lunches. It looks like she will now be allowed to carry on with her blog as the council appears to have come to it's senses.

Two points I would like to make though.

1) The council were very quick to attack a nine year old who hadn't really done anything, (the problem coming from a national newspaper who used the blog to make a point), in order to protect it's employees, the "dinner ladies". Yet, when a councils' other employees, teachers and TA's, are attacked by students online, they seem somewhat reticent to get involved as those students have the right to self-expression. It seems it'd easier to deal with a 9 year old than a group of bolshie teenagers.

2) Amongst the many directives that the government has sent down to schools are to get children engaged with the online world in a responsible way, to encourage children to be involved in activities that widen their horizons and for a school to have links with a school in another part of the world. If you read her blog whe appears to be very intelligent in the way she approaches her blogging, is talking to people all over the world and engaging with children around the world and encouraging them to join in with her idea. In addition she is raising money for feeding kids in Africa. Still, at least she is learning early that in Britain for all the talk of encouraging success nobody likes someone who is. And that girl is a real success.

Credit Where Credit's Due

Firstly, I seem to have completely lost the art of posting. Without the discipline of having to post every day I never seem to get round to it. Anyway......

I had a phone call from "3" today. Following up their calls of the last few days when the leave a message but not saying who they are. It's actually their collections department because I owe them two rental for my online dongle which I asked them to cancel as I no longer need it. The person who rang obviously reckons themselves as a credit controller. They know how to get money out of people - you threaten them that their credit rating will be damaged if they don't pay up. A great tactic if the person you are threatening actually gives a toss about their credit rating. I don't. Mine's so destroyed that a debt of £39.00 probably isn't going to bring me to my knees.

He spent a great deal of time telling me that they would have to put a black mark against my name and I spent a lot of time replying that he was welcome to do that but I wasn't going to be paying him any money today. So we spent 15 minutes in a repetitive argument where he became more agitated that his one weapon was failing miserably. So we left it there, with a promise from the nice young gentleman that he will be ringing again. No doubt to tell me that they are still considering putting a black mark against my name.

You what?

As most pubs have no sound running on their television sets they usually have what were once called sub-titles but now have a different name that I can't remember. Quite often they have BBC news on where I go and it is becoming obvious that the text is being done by voice recognition programs as there are hours of fun to be had just watching the mistakes. The best one so far was a report on the Olympic Flame being brought to the UK which informed us that "David Beckham set alight the Olympic Porch".

Bloody Arsonist!

Movable Feast

I saw some Jaffa Oranges today in Tesco.

From South Africa.

They'd just be Oranges then.

Rested and Returned

Well there we go from 3 months blogging to nearly a week off.

I haven't done any "personal" blogging for nearly two months, so what's been happening.

Not a great deal so you haven't missed much.

I nearly got fired for poor sales, which would be fair enough, but they didn't. It might not make any difference anyway as I might have landed a new job. Having worked for an insurance company, a double glazing company and a bank I might be going to the other evil group, estate agents! I won't be on the selling side though. They need my skills in property management at the group headquarters. Assuming all goes well and I get it, it will be the first secure monthly wage packet I have brought in since 1983.

It's audition week for our next production so I'm throwing myself into the fray in order to give my public what they crave. I've decided to audition for three parts which is a bit stupid because I've now got three songs to learn instead of one. Heigh Ho.

Other than that there's nothing to trouble you with so that's it for now.

D.I.D. - Day 30

So here we are, the last day. I haven't left my favourite song till last, just a song that I like and that has a line the I relate to. Halfway through is the line "Cathy I'm lost", I said, though I knew she was sleeping. "I'm hungry and aching and I don't know why". I've always thought that a powerful line and I feel the same and have for some time. Maybe it's just a midlife crisis, who knows. Anyway, enjoy the whole song.

America - Simon & Garfunkel

In addition, I get to take a book. It will be my favourite one, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

And as for a luxury, a piano, because surely if I had enough time I could finally learn to ply it with some measure of skill.

And that rounds off my month of Desert Island Discs. As for April, just so Masher doesn't worry about my sanity, I am returning to normal blogging as and when. Three months solid has been interesting but if I went any longer I'd be thinking about trying to complete a year and that would be madness!

D.I.D. - Day 29

Today I am picking 5 records I am taking with me for one express purpose. If I become very frustrated with my lot on the desert island I shall want to smash things and what better than these five records. They all have one thing in common. They are records that my compatriots feel they have to dance to at a wedding or other social occasion. It is music for Dads to relive their youth to. They are;

We Are The Champions by Queen - I'm sure when they wrote this there was a very good reason and I'm sure it wasn't so that slightly inebriated 50 years olds had something to sway to and sing at the top of their voices.

Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones - Just what you need. Two dozen dads strutting round the floor like Mick Jagger, pouting their lips and punching the air.

Imagine by John Lennon - For when they have too much to drink and become maudlin.

Simply The Best by Tina Turner. More strutting I'm afraid, but in a vaguely feminine way.

And worst of the lot: Hi Ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck. Dear God, whatever possessed the Muse of Music to allow this to be written. I have been known to walk out of rooms when this gets played. And I only get as far as that because three minutes doesn't allow me to escape the country.

I can put up with virtually any other piece of music rather than the 5 above. Stockhausen, thrash metal, the entire S Club 7 back catalogue, all can be suffered, but not those. I'd forgotten I am allowed to take a luxury with me, I shall decide what it is tomorrow, but a very large hammer to smash the above might be a good choice.

D.I.D. - Day 28

I have to be careful here not to go into a major Grumpy Old Man rant but one of the things I reckon is wrong with life these days is that kids are treated as adults too early. One embodiment of that is that there is very little children's music about after nursery rhymes lose their appeal. One day it's Baa Baa Black Sheep, assuming that is still allowable, the next it's all shaking your booty and pimping lord knows what.

Back in the day though Saturday Morning's were set aside for Junior Choice, and I suspect before that it must have been Uncle Mac, but that's even before my time. There would usually be a piece of classical music, often The Dambusters, and a pop record by no-one more controversial than The Seekers or Marmalade. The rest would be records that were thought to appeal to a young audience. I'm a Pink Toothbrush by Max Bygraves, anything by Rolf Harris, Burl Ives' Ugly Bug Ball or Big Rock Candy Mountain and a record I cannot find which was The Mastersingers singing The Highway Code. There were a couple of big numbers though. One was Danny Kaye's version of Tubby The Tuba and the other was the one I've plumped for.

Sparky's Magic Piano - Henry Blair.

Tomorrow, a bit of a twist.

D.I.D. - Day 27

Growing up in a house that had more than it's fair share of Big Band music playing it would be hard not to be influenced by Frank Sinatra. The greatest exponent of Swing singing there has been. Swing is very under-rated. Technically very difficult to do as well as Frank did it. You only have to have witnessed Robbie Williams attempt to realise that just because you have Sinatra's band behind you it don't mean a thing. As in It don't mean a thing if it aint got that swing.

What track to pick though. In the end I chose one that I like singing. And I aren't much good at it either. More than a song, you can picture the scene as he goes through the verses. You can seethe bar, the smoke, the slouch on the bar and the bottle of scotch just by the empty glass.

Ol' Blue Eyes might never be back but whilst people appreciate great singers he'll never disappear either.

In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning.

D.I.D. - Day 26

If I had thought ahead I would have kept the track from the Sparks concert until today as the friend I went with celebrates his birthday on this very day. But I didn't. So that's that. But as he lurks on this site on a regular basis, and as I haven't sent him a card - Happy Birthday A.J.!

Right, on with today. This is another track I became aware of through television. In fact if you read the blurb on the link it mentions it came to general prominence when it was used in Grey's Anatomy. I can't say I've ever been taken by any of their other songs. At one of our recent concerts someone sang this and murdered it. Luckily I have expunged his version from my memory!

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

D.I.D. - Day 25

Whether it's because I grew up listening to music from the 40s and 50s I appreciate a good lyric. One of the best wordsmiths is Billy Bragg. politically we are on other sidss of a very wide divide but I admire his song writing abilities greatly. Today's song has two of my favourite ever lyrics.

I loved you then as I love you still,
Though I put you on a pedestal you put me on the p.ill

and

I saw a shooting star last night, I wished and wished but it was just a satellite,
It's hard to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish, I wish you were there.

And the whole thing is here. Kirsty MacColl - New England