Sudanese arrest

What is happening when a slight cultural faux pas is taken to the extreme and a fairly Innocent person is jailed. Apparently there are now people (in Sudan) calling for her to be shot!

The FCO again appears toothless, it's quite simple Mr Milliband - you threaten to expel their diplomats unless she is released immediately. And you carry out that threat if need be. Do we really want diplomatic relations with such a backward country?

BT Part 2

Finally decided to bite the bullet and just hold on until I got through to a real person. Finally got through to somebody and managed to sort out paying my phone bill by Direct Debit. I'm also supposed to get Broadband tomorrow - watch this space!

Fireworks

Went to a Fireworks party over the weekend (as Bonfire night is a Monday it makes sense). Enjoyed myself far more than I thought I would. Knew more people there than I didn't for a change and was surprised at a few of the absentees (who I'm pretty sure were invited).

A lot better than last year mainly because nobody was actually hurt or property was damaged (last year ended up with three pairs of ripped/damaged trousers and one flesh wound).

Forgot to take my camera - sorry!

BT

Is their customer service bad or what?

I hadn't received my first correspondence from them when I moved in despite having the phone connected and informing them a week beforehand although there were two postal strikes, however, it's now TWO weeks and I even phoned them. Took a total of 1 hour 45 minutes before I actually got through to a real person!

I still haven't received my account number and can't set up Broadband without it, If I don't get it tomorrow morning I'm going to be seriously annoyed but the worst thing is most broadband goes through their network and you can't get broadband without a BT line.

Any ideas anyone?

Moved at last

Finally moved at the weekend and now for the first time ever living in a place that I own! Also living alone for the first time.

Absolutely hectic few days assembling furniture. Then the actual move, don't know how I fitted all my stuff into my room before.

Now I live further away from work but on the plus side it's an easier journey, before I always required either a bus or long walk. Now it takes me two minutes walk to get to the Tube station and I only have to change once to get to work, I doubt it will take me any longer to get to work.

Now I've moved, I will try and post more often, I'm still without Internet access at home at the moment but I hope to have that sorted in the near future.

The Bank holiday weekend

I just spent this past weekend in Brighton & Hove at my parents' house. My father decided to have a school reunion for his primary school that he attended about 50 years ago, he also asked me and my sister to come down to help out.

It was three days of entertaining, firstly 5 people were invited over on Friday night (so 8 in total) then three people came over for Saturday lunch (it was supposed to be two but one man turned up a day early). Then on Sunday we put out tables and chairs in the Garden and had 50 people (including my sister and I). Thankfully it was a warm, sunny day. My mother heavily over-catered so froze what she could and gave the rest away to the local homeless centre who were very grateful as all they were planning to serve that day was soup.

On top of that my parents are not going to have to buy alcohol or soft drinks until late this year as nearly nobody drank the soft drink cans and they ended up with more wine than they started with (due to people bringing bottles - one guy owns a vineyard).

Facebook

Been spending far too much time on this recently, For anyone who wants to contact me, add me as a friend etc, click here Facebook me!

Of course, you need to be a member to send me a message, etc.

Music to recommend

If you're up for a laugh may I recommend the CD Fitness to Practice by The Amateur Transplants. You will need to not be offended by needless expletives and have a little medical knowledge (for some songs) but you will find it somewhat funny. A number of the songs can be heard on the link. They're normally well know melodies with the words changed.
I haven't laughed at a song so much in years.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Finished this book in record time, after buying it at just past Midnight on Saturday morning, I got a normal night's sleep and finished it about 7 p.m. Still managed to watch some of the golf!

Another page turner from JKR but still a lot of questions unanswered/ I won't post them her as to not spoil it for those of you who are still reading it. One death was expected and the other major character wasn't.

Tasteless Joke: Downing Street are refusing to comment on the report that PM Gordon Brown's visit to Gloucestershire is in an effort to meet floating voters.

Various things

1. I'm in the process of moving at the moment so posts are going to be sporadic or non-existent until I've actually moved

2. Harry Potter - Movie #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - saw the movie last weekend. I actually really enjoyed it, it was lot darker than the previous 4 but on the other hand so is the book. Book 5 is also the longest book so lots was cut, however, considering the length of the book it was a fairly goo screenplay.

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , book #7. The book is published tomorrow and my local bookshop is opening at Midnight, as it's fairly out of the way, I'm going, hopefully won't be too busy. Was very tempted to read the New York Times review but will resist temptation as I don't want to know what happens.

4. Facebook. Recently signed up to this site and already making contact with people I haven't seen for years as well as more recent friends. Feel free to contact me. Sorry - no photos of me, but some including me, although I haven't identified myself. As any readers of this blog will know, I'm a bit of a cameraphobe.

Changes at work

Being a Civil Servant has it's ups and downs and last week was "interesting".

I used to work for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). With a new Prime Minister he wasnt to leave his mark and decided to split the Department (referred to as 'Machinery of Government' Changes - MoG for short) so I now work for the Department for Children, schools and Families (DfCSF or DCSF). So we've all had to have e-mail changes, stationery changes (headed paper, business cards, compliments slips etc) creating even more work.

Building collapse

As some of you may know, I work in Westminster and recently a building collapsed near us, here's a photo of the building after the collapse:







Here's some pictures of the motorbikes around during the crash:

Thankfully the mess is now more or less cleared up and I don't have to walk round the back streets to get to work, taking much longer to get in.

Sorry

I haven't been posting recently due to a number of events. Will post again when I get a chance.

JLGB London Sports Day

Yesterday was the JLGB London Sports Day held at Lee Valley Athletics Centre. After last year, when it was rained off as it was outside, the decision was taken to hold it indoors. As it turned out, the weather was fine but it was nice to use a nearly brand new facility.

There were three track events, the 60m, 200m and 400m and three field events, the long jump, high jump and Shot put. Boys and girls competed seperately and they were three age categories - 11 &12 year olds, 13 & 14 Year olds and over 14s.

As a company taking under 10 children we did extremely well. The boys won or came second in nearly all their events and the girls did well with a few wins and high places (we had twice as many boys as girls attending).

Television filming

Went to the Filming of Vernon Kay's Gameshow Marathon on Tuesday. This week it was Bullseye so as well as the "celebrities" - Andrea Catherwood, Michael Le Vell and Graeme Le Saux, it also featured - Raymond "Barney" von Barneveld, Martin "Wolfie" Adams and Phil "The Power" Taylor. As a fan of darts I enjoyed it.

However, I did find the warm-up act extremely amusing. I went with Danny and as he got there early we got in, just behind us the queue was sent home - standard for show filming (i.e. more tickets are given out than there are seats).

Photos

Photos from my weekend away can be viewed by clicking here. (NOW UPDATED)

All of the Photos are of Lincoln, mainly because we spent more time there and it's a far more interesting place than Newark.

I'm going to apologise that there's none of me, I'm a bit of a camera-phobe and much prefer to take pictures rather than have pictures taken of me.

Been away

Due to the long weekend I've just got back from a weekend trip.

Went to a village named Fiskerton near Newark, Nottinghamshire.

We stayed in a four bedroom residence named the Dovecote on the very edge of Fiskerton Village, based on Lodge farm there are three different residences, all of which are converted barns.

The group I went with are a group I've spent a long weekend with every year for the last six year (including this year). We try to go to a different place every year and in our first two years we went canal boating.

I know these people through Brigade as we are (or were) all involved at one point or another (five out of six of us are still involved).

I was picked up from Nottingham Station by the two people who were coming from Nottingham and we went straight to Fiskerton. We then decided to walk to the village shop, big mistake! Whilst it is possible to walk to the Village shop and it's not a long way, there's no walkway between the road we were on and into the Village, the road's fairly busy as well so it wasn't exactly a pleasant walk.

On the Saturday we went into Central Newark for the market, we returned to the Dovecote in the early afternoon and spent a fairly leisurely afternoon reading the papers and watching the Snooker. This was unusual, in previous years we've spent the whole day out only returning in the late afternoon or early evening.

On the Sunday we went in to Lincoln for the Cathedral and Castle, very interesting and took a walking guided tour of the city. Very old city, some remains of the Roman town and still some Norman houses remaining (and they're still in use).

I did take photos, but don't have the photos to hand, will add when I've downloaded them.

After going back to the Dovecote we later went out for a Pub Quiz at the local.

On Monday morning rather than going straight back as we normally do, we went to the local sports pavilion and fields as there was an event on which we'd read about earlier on the weekend. We ended up playing bowls and watching the dance display. I finally got back to my flat in London about 7.00 p.m.

Photos at last

Finally found a way (Just click on the link):

Grand Canyon

Biosphere 2

Sedona and the drive from Phoenix to Flagstaff

Sunset Crater National Monument

Other photos - these are captioned unlike the other albums so you know where they were taken.

Recovering from a holday

Despite sleeping 18 hours (on and off) from the time we left Houston until 2 p.m. BST on Monday afternoon I was still absolutely wrecked for the rest of the working even after working from home on Friday. Thankfully I slept about 10-11 hours both Friday and Saturday nights and now feel somewhat more recovered.

It was really quiet at work last week and still feels really quiet this week although there are a few more people round. Maybe it's because my team leader is still off and there are no non-London staff around.

I'm still having problems finding a place to post my photos as I can't post them all on here. But attached are a few more:


Grand Canyon





Indian Watchtower at the Grand Canyon

Some more photos

Just some places I've been:

Biosphere 2

Jerome


Sedona



There are loads of photos and as soon as I've got them online I'll try and get a link up.

Back home

Arrived back home at 10 a.m. this morning after a night flight from Houston. Not as bad as the journey there.

We stayed at the Doubletree Suite hotel near the airport and on our last two days the temperature reached 96 degrees.

The flights were uneventful and arrived on time. My sister and her boyfriend were already waiting for us with food when we got home.

I only slept four hours on the flight so got another four hours after my sister had gone out, hopefully that mean not too much jet lag.

A photo of the Grand Canyon (more or a link to follow):

Incredible, awesome

Today we visited the Grand Canyon with Angel's Gate Tours. We were picked up in a minibus from our hotel and driven to the Grand Canyon National Park picking up one other family on the way (there was already one family in the minibus when we were picked up).

Our guide who was extremely knowledgeable about the Canyon was named Kopavi. Despite the fact it is a Native American (Hopi) name, he was not a Native American. He said his parents were hippies and that's why they gave him a Native American name.

The first sight of the Grand Canyon itself is incredibly surreal. It almost looks like a film set or a picture, not a naturally occurring feature.

Having a guide, in my opinion, was essential. We were shown a number of different views and were at the Park roughly 5 hours, the average visit is 1 hour. We also were told a lot of other information which you just wouldn't get without a guide, plus lunch was provided so we didn't have to pay the vastly inflated prices in the Parks shops.

The Canyon is the only must-see on this holiday. You can't come to Arizona and not see the Canyon. We also saw 500 year old Indian paintings below the Rim and learnt far more about the Canyon than I already knew.

I have photos and will post them when I get a chance.

Heading North

On Sunday we just really relaxed by the pool and just went out to an Australian restaurant named Outback for supper. The waiter was a graduate student studying Political Science and my dad got into a conversation with him about how bad Bush was as president and he asked a few questions about Blair and the House of Lords.

Yesterday we drove up to Flagstaff from Phoenix/Scottsdale via a shopping outlet and Sedona. The altitude in Phoenix is about 400 metres and in Flagstaff it is about 2100 metres so at first breathing was a little hard, some of the views on the way are stupendous.

Today was interesting our Hotel is on Route 66, we drove along it to Williams which is a tiny town with very little to see except a typical old cowboy town and a few shops.

We then drove back to Flagstaff and wandered round the Historic town centre. After that we made out way up to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, wonderful site, wonderful views of lava flows and all with an explanatory booklet for a trail.

Only thing I found hard was the flies, it's too hot in Phoenix for many insects but there are many in Flagstaff.

Taking a tour to the Grand Canyon tommorow and giving my dad a break from driving.

Another 2 days in sunny Arizona (and footie)

Yesterday was interesting.

We went to Glendale which is supposed to be the Antiques centre of Phoenix. I suppose if you call assorted bric-a-brac : "antiques" then it was accurate. However, it was nice, well-kept and quiet area, so it was just nice to wander round.

There was one shop which I really liked , it was full of old dresses, bags and mainly women's stuff, however, it had some very funny noticed up and a list entitled "The World's Thinnest Books". These included the following

• Things I can't afford by Bill Gates
• What I like about Bill by Hilary Clinton
• The Amish Telephone directory
• How to build an Aeroplane by John Denver
• My Plan to Find the Real Killers by O. J. Simpson
• Things I Would Not Do for Money by Dennis Rodman
• The Wild Years by Al Gore
• Amelia Earhart's Guide to the Pacific Ocean
• Everything Women Know about Men
• To All the Men I've Loved Before by Ellen DeGeneres
• Mike Tyson's Guide to Dating Etiquette
• My Book of Morals by Bill Clinton, with a new introduction by Rev. Jesse Jackson

Then we went to a mall, mainly because none of us brought enough clothes with to last us until the end of the holiday. My favourite clothes store in the USA is "Old Navy", they're part of the Gap Group and they sell good quality clothes at fairly low prices so I bought a few T-shirts,a pair of shorts and even a formal shirt. It was then back to the hotel for a quick soak in the hot-tub and a swim.

Today was our first proper trip outside Phoenix, we drove toward Tuscon and visited Biosphere 2, which since my university qualifications are in Biological Sciences has long held an interest for me, now it's open to the public and just over 100 miles from our hotel it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.

On a slightly separate note I'm glad to see that we thrashed Arsenal 4-1, it sort of makes up for them dumping us out of both domestic cups. However, we're now above them in the league with a superior goal difference, we're still in the Champions league and all they have to aim for now is precisely nothing because there is no difference between finishing 3rd or 4th in the League, and Bolton are 5 points behind Arsenal and unlikely to catch them. Will ARSEne Whinger be out of a job at the end of the season?

We can still win the European Cup (again) and before telling me we can't - they said the same in the 2004-05 season and anyone who knows anything about football knows what happened.

I apologise for the lack of photo's from the holiday, but I can't download them here. so I promise a few once I'm back, unless of course one of the hotels I'm staying in has the capability and I get a chance.

Another lazy day

Today rather than lazing round the pool, using the hot-tub and sunbathing and then going out, we decided to do it the other way round. :-)

We went to Phoenix Zoo, it was supposed to be great. Well, I've never been so disappointed, the animals were either just lying around if they could be seen at all, the elephant looked ill and the trails were so long that by the time we left we were absolutely knackered. Some parts were interesting, for instance I've never seen giant tortoises before and there was a species of Gazelle which is actually extinct in the wild, but overall it was incredibly disappointing.

On a more positive note, we did go shopping near to the hotel (they run a minibus to some locations and this was one of them). We spent most of our time in a branch of Macy's and I came out with more than I planned. Just clothes, but I did intend to buy clothes.

Will probably post again soon.

Greetings from Arizona

After some sleep, I've finally woken to a nice sunny day in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Due to circumstances beyong our control , from waking up until going to bed was 26 Hours.

We were up at 6 a.m., a taxi picked us up at 7.45 a.m. and we were checked in before 9 a.m. (as required), however, we were told that the plane was running late and as we'd miss our connection at Houston, Texas we'd have to take the next available flight. Unfortunately, the next available flight was leaving Texas at 10.45 p.m. (Houston Time).

This meant we got into Phoenix at 11.49 p.m. (Phoenix time. 6 hours behind the UK). I eventually got to bed at 2 a.m. Phoenix time i.e. the equivalent of 8 a.m. British time. I find it hard to sleep on aeroplanes and therefore I'd got all of about 15 minutes sleep.

Surprisingly, I awoke at 8.30 a.m. this morning and have been fine all day.

After sunbathing, swimming and using the hot tub this morning we went into Scottsdale Old Town this afternoon.

I wouldn't say "Don't bother" but I would say "Look but don't buy". Unless you know exactly what you want and you can't get it anywhere else, don't buy. The prices they were charging for some everyday item were extortionate e.g. $40-$50 for a belt that would cost you $20 anywhere else or roughly £11-£12 (depending on the exact exchange rate).

Will post again if I get the chance before I get back.

Crazy weather in London

The weather seems to be going mad in London. After a particularly warm spell last week with unseasonally warm weather. The following happened

I was off work yesterday so went shopping, when I went out, although there was a stiff breeze it was sunny enough to wear sunglasses. I got back about 12:30 and went out again, by this time it was overcast, then it started hailing, which then turned into a cross between Hail and snow.

I was in Edgware and there was an extremely heavy snowstorm which combined with the wind made an extremely unpleasant mini-blizzard, in about two minutes there were area where the snow was piling up.

After I got home, the snow continued to fall and for the first ever, it was snow in a thunderstorm (with lightining).

I can't remember, however, the last time we had snow in March in London.

I'm off to warmer climes early next week, so I'll either post when I get back, or if I get the chance, I'll post whilst I'm away.

JLGB bands at the RAF

Yesterday, Sunday 18th March, JLGB bands (Hendon Bugle Band and Redbridge Band) were invited for a training day at RAF Uxbridge.

Although I'm a non-playing member of staff, I went along for the experience.

The journey was smooth and to our surprise we actually arrived at an event early. The day started with an introduction followed by a tea break and then the bands played some of their music to demonstrate how well they could play.

We quickly split into separate sections - i.e Percussion, brass and woodwind and the bands were given new tunes to learn.

After lunch we were going to do some drill practice on the Parade ground but it started raining, so it was postponed, when we finally got out it was absolutely freezing and therefore we didn't stay out too long:

We then played as an entire band whilst the younger, junior members were taken for a separate training session by the RAF's horn player.

Whilst I beleive it was an extremely worthwhile visit for the members, I won't be going again unless we are extremely short-staffed.

Champions League Football

Sorry to bore those of you who have no interest whatsoever in football but I just have to say congratulations to Liverpool, Chelsea and Man U for getting through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and commiserations to Arsenal who were knocked out.

The Quarter- final draw is as follows:

AC Milan v Bayern Munich
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Roma v Manchester United
Chelsea v Valencia

If we beat PSV then we could face Chelsea in teh semi-finals (again!)

Our much maligned public transport system

Whilst I'd agree that most public transport outside London (with a few exceptions) is shocking, I must take exception with the opinion that London's public transport system is bad.

We have the Underground system (including the Docklands Light Railway - DLR), which is the largest in the World and is being expanded as we speak.

We have an extensive bus system which has become more regular with more buses in recent months.

We have the National Rail lines in and around London.

And recently TfL (Tranport for London) has taken over the North London Line giving us the Overground trains.

Whilst I disagree with Ken Livingstone on a lot of issues he has improved public transport in London.

As a regular user of the Underground, buses and National Rail lines I have definite views:

1. As a whole the Tube is far better than it's detractors give it credit for. I've rarely experienced a delay on my most regular journey (Jubilee Line), even when severe delays were cited at my starting station the journey was only five minutes longer than normal (20 rather than 15). The information given about other lines is clear and concise and the boards at stations are kept up-to-date on a regular basis giving information to passengers wher they might encounter problems.

2. The whole ssytem works well so when one route is blocked another is available. For example on 7 July 2005 (7/7 terror attacks on London) it only took me 15 minutes longer to get home than normal despite the fact there were no National Rail or Tube services running (took two buses).

Friday Night

Last Friday my flatmate, Danny, persuaded me to come to a Friday night Dinner at St John's Wood Synagogue. He said we could either turn up at 7.15 p.m for the Service or at 8 p.m. for the meal. I chose the former. Although we were going to an Orthodox (United) Synagogue we drove as it's a little too far to walk (Although I was brought up in a traditional household, I don't consider myself religious).

The service was taken by Dayan (Judge) Ivan Binstock of the London Beth Din (Rabbinical court).

It was an extremely pleasant meal and I'm relatively sure that most people there were about my level of Judaism (prefer an orthodox synagogue but are not that religious). I know for a fact that on my table: one man was taking Public transport and another had driven. I knew one other man (other than Danny) quite well and he was the only one on the table I know for a fact keeps the Sabbath. He was staying with a friend locally.

There was supposed to be a speaker who is an American Expert on anti-Semitism but unfortunately he'd been unavoidably detained in the USA so instead Dayan Binstock gave a talk on the weekly Torah portion (which coincidentally was my Barmitzvah portion) and then led a discussion.open forum on whatever subject people wanted to talk about.

Football

For those of you don't know I'm a supporter of Liverpool FC. I couldn't let this week go past without mentioning the four English teams involved in Champions League action on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (all matches were the First leg, the matches are all over two legs with the aggregate score determining who goes through to the next round):

PSV Eindhoven 1-0 Arsenal
Lille 0 -1 The Scum
FC Porto 1-1 Chelsea
Barcelona 1-2 Liverpool

As all English Teams topped their table in the first stage of the Champions League they all play at home for the Second Leg.

Liverpool have done extremely well to beat Barcelona at the Nou Camp (so far our record at the Nou Camp is played: 4, Won: 2, Drawn: 2). We are still the only English Club to have played Barcelona at the Nou Camp and never to have lost there. However, Barcelona are arguably the best team left in this year's competition (as last year's winners). Unfortunately for them they have defensive vulnerability and we exploited that to score twice and take a huge advantage into the second leg, considering we haven't lost or drawn in Europe at home this season.

No doubt other football fans will have their own opinions.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, I went to work mainly because I can't bear taking just one day off midweek, it makes me feel overly tired.

At work it's customary to bring in cakes, pastries or something sweet, so I just popped down to the local Sainsbury's store and bought cookies and Muffins. As I normally do I overestimated how many people would want and ended up with a pack of Muffins left over.

As my father works in Central London I went and met up with him and my mother, we also met up with my sister at Brown's Restaurant in Covent Garden. Nice place, if a little noisy.

After leaving we went for a hot drink at a nearby coffee shop and then my parents decided that they had to leave as they had to get back home (Brighton). My sister and I travelled back via the Northern Line as far as Golders Green where I disembarked to get a bus home, my sister lives further North.

I got home just before 10.00 p.m. and was absolutely knackered as I'd woken up at 6.15 a.m.

Was in bed and asleep well before 11.30 p.m. Didn't really help woke up today at 7.2o a.m. But as I took today as leave was able to just turn over and go back to sleep.

Brigade last night

Went to Brigade last night for the first time in three weeks, due to missing one night through illness and the other as it was half-term.

I felt good all night, unlike my Commanding Officer (CO) who was looking distinctly green. He obviously felt very rough, he took a couple of Ibuprofen tablets and was perking up by the end of the evening.

We also had a visitor, our Battalion Sergeant-Major (BSM) Jason Braier. Also for the first time this year one of our Warrant Officers, Robert Rams, turned up , admittedly he's got a good excuse. He's a Councillor and had a by-election in his ward (see his blog for more details).

Illness and weather

I've unfortunately been fairly ill over the last few days. I was ill on Friday, worse over the weekend and bad on Monday. I've been into work for the last two days but I think Tuesday may have been a little too much and didn't do much good for my stress levels.

Being off on Friday I wasn't too annoyed at, as the snow was still on the ground and was icy and that makes it far, far worse than fresh snow which I don't mind. Of course now it's sunny and fairly warm for the winter.

Working from home today and it's hot in my lounge, mainly because we've got a South-facing patio window, so if the sun's shining it's like a greenhouse. It can be uncomfortable in the summer without a fan, but in the winter it saves on heating costs. :-)

Let it snow

Woke up this morning to about two inches of snow where I live. Thought about working from home today but decided to come in.

I was pleasantly surprised, the journey was not a complete nightmare, admittedly the train was packed but they were at least running and it only took about fifteen minutes longer than normal. It was still snowing when I left home at 7.20 a.m. I got in to work at 8.35 a.m. since then it's been intermittent from sleeting to snowing heavily. It appears to have stopped for the moment but it still seems too cold for it to thaw out.

As was expected many staff have decided not to come into the office today and I should imagine a large number are working from home. I know that when I looked out the window today I felt like going staright back to bed!

Richmond Park

Spent a few hours today at Richmond Park in South London. For those who don't know it, it is one of the Royal Parks and it is one of the few places in Britain that still has wild deer.

The reason for going was that Wednesday was my sister's birthday and it was a chance for my parents to see her. There were 5 of us - my parents, my sister, her boyfriend and myself. We ate at the restaurant in the park and then went for a long walk round part of the park to walk it off.

The walk may have been slightly more enjoyable if most of the paths weren't muddy and boggy and involved a lot of leaping across puddles to get to dryer land.

My sister was driving and due to traffic we decided to turn off and try and rejoin the road further up. This involved a detour through Ealing and getting lost, despite that we still rejoined the road only 15 minutes later and probably didn't take any more time than if we'd stayed in traffic.

Munchkin the game

When my Aunt was over, she said she tried to get me a game named Munchkin which is a card game based on role-playing games like Dungeon & Dragons, except far simpler. She couldn't buy it in The Netherlands so gave me the money to buy it over here, I picked it up in a shop in Central London.

I played it last night for the first time against a friend who was the first to introduce me to role-playing games when we were at school.

The game in itself is very amusing and doesn't last half as long as most normal role-playing/fantasy games do. It has echoes of the novels by Terry Pratchett and Tom Holt in it.

If you enjoy comic fantasy authors or role-playing games you'd probably enjoy this game but if you're into serious games only, forget it.

Masters Tournament final

As you'll know if you read my Blog I went to a live match at Wembley Arena last week. I was watching the final last night and Ronnie O'Sullivan proved he's a genius at the table and a genuinely caring human being, the compassion he showed to Ding at the interval and at the end of the match showed that's he not the really selfish man that a lot of people make him out to be.

Shaun Murphy's comments about Ronnie's exemption of talking to the media were typical of the crass, totally unsympathetic comments we've come to expect of the former World champion. He's supposed to be a committed Christian, well how about a little compassion and/or forgiveness Shaun? Ronnie has his problems and an exemption from talking to the media to help him conquer those problems is no great hardship, after all he did give an interview to Steve Davis during the tournament and after the trophy presentation. Or is it just sour grapes because he's a far better player then you?

Wembley Stadium

As I can view the new Wembley Stadium on my way home is was interesting to get up close last night. A few photo's attached:

Firstly two photos from a distance with the arch lit and half lit:

Then a couple of photos up close at night:

Looks impressive up close, doesn't it?

Just hope it looks as impressive inside once it's finished and it's finished at least for this year's FA Cup Final.

Saga Insurance Masters tournament

Last night went to the Saga Insurance Masters Tournament at Wembley Arena:

I'd never been to a live Snooker match before so was somewhat looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed. The match was Peter Ebdon versus Ding Junhui (the 19 year old Chinese sensation who's already won three ranking tournaments). Although Ebdon won the first two frames, Ding then won five in a row therefore requiring only one more to win. He came close in the eighth frame but lost it narrowly. The ninth frame was close but Ebdon conceded it when he missed an easy ball and left a red over the pocket when all Ding needed to do it was to pot the red.

The atmosphere was sensational and so different from watching at home, as you're only a matter of a few metres from the table you don't and can't miss anything.

Scottish Devolution and/or Independence

The Chancellor has been complaining over the fact that the UK is in danger of breaking up into its constituent countries. He's blaming the Scottish National Party (SNP) fort his but I actually think it's because he knows that if Labour lose control to the SNP they'll hold a referendum on full independence and if the answer is "Yes" then he and all other Scottish MPs will lose their Westminster seats.

The Conservatives have said that Mr Brown is intimidating Scotland by the"fear of the economic consequences of going it alone".

Let's not forget that without the support of the Scottish MPs in the last parliament the Government would have lost the vote on Tuition fees.

Should Scottish MPs be allowed to vote on purely English matters in Health, Education, Transport, etc? Or should English MPs only vote on purely English matters? Should a Scotsman be able to become the Prime Minister making decisions for England but nearly nothing that actually affects his own constituents.

Party

Was invited to a 30th Birthday party of a friend I've known for 19 years.

When I first met up with him after we'd both completed University (despite me being older than him I'd spent longer at uni) we were both living in London and both looking to move out. We ended up living in the same house for 11 months with another man we both knew.

At that time he called very few friends of his by their first name, at that time he did call me by my first name, but now I seem to be the only person he calls by a nickname with the exception of his wife.

He calls me "George"!(Long story and there are differing versions depending on whether it's me or him telling it)

Two things about his parties are:

a) You can usually tell who's going to be there to some extent

and

b) Most people will be working in computers from one angle or another.

I was last at that house for Bonfire night (5th November) last year and the majority of people who turned up were the same crowd.

I forgot to take my camera but I've asked for some photos as there were some people taking photos and if I get them and think they're appropriate I'll post some, either added to this post or as a new post.

My flatmate

My flatmate, Danny, has a terrible sense of humour,

Often when I make a totally innocent comment he'll come out with something that some people may find slightly amusing. For example I remarked to him that I'd bought a new iron and his comment was "We had a pressing need."

If this was an occasional thing I wouldn't care and may even find it amusing but it's nearly every day. A friend of his was round recently and when Danny said something. his friend asked me "How have you managed to live here so long without killing him?"

He also has a habit of sending me tasteless jokes by text message that he normally gets from a friend who lives on the South Coast, here's the last two:

(sent on 31 December 2006) - What an ignorant twat! I just rung Saddam to wish him a happy New Year and the bastard hung up!.

(sent on 15 December 2006) - Apparently there's a dyslexic Santa on the loose near Ipswich. He keeps leaving prozzies under the trees.

I don't know what you think of these but they both brought a smile to my face. Soory, i do have a rather sick sense of humour.

I will be publishing more of Danny's retorts as above in the hope of stopping him. I'll publish some of the jokes as well as at least some people will find them amusing.

Back to work and families

The Winter holidays are finally over and it's back to work for me.

It's really strange being back in the office after over 2 weeks off and it's still really quiet as a lot of people are still off.

Over the weekend I met up with my Aunt and one of my cousins who I haven't seen for a long time as they live abroad and aren't over very often.

We went to a restaurant that I'd never heard of called Baltic in Southwark. Drank far too much alcohol, I think I was a student when I last drank that much alcohol in one sitting, although as it was mainly with a meal it wasn't too bad, except for the dessert which was a smoothie made with raspberries, vodka and champagne!

Winter Camp 2006-2007

Just got back on New Year's Day from JLGB Winter Camp 2006-07.

From a personal view it wasn't a particularly good camp due to being violently ill in the middle. I've never been that ill on camp with one exception.

Overall in my role as Platoon Officer, it was a very good camp. Out of eight platoons we came second overall, we were the highest placed boys' platoon (no mixed platoons this camp). We won the activities, the boys' inspection (for the best kept room) plus a few other second and third places. Considering that for about seven boys (out of 16) it was their first Winter Camp- it's a good result.

My platoon:



I have to praise all the boys, especially the Sergeants (16-18 year old members) who did a sterling job.

I'd also like to thank Robert Rams for his kind text after camp, especially since he wasn't even present this year.