2005

OK, so Happy New Year to people out there in the world. And I understand that some people won't be entirely happy, so my heart goes out to those who aren't having such a good time, so if there's anything I can do, as a web guy, just shout. The people out in Asia need some assistance right now, so the starting point might be to check out Google's Tsunami Relief page for some places to help...

So, no resolutions for me, just a few things that I'd like to do this year...

1. Go to Wales and climb/bike some hills & mountains.
2. MOT my sportscar for the first time in 3 years
3. Then go visit some car shows again
   
4. Get on my mountain bike more than I did in 2004 (visiting Whistler would be cool)
   
5. Pay off all the cards & loans - never again
6. Pass my motorbike test
   
7. Visit the Tour de France rather than just watch it on TV
8. Get trickier with my BMX
9. Work a 40 hour week and do little more than that unless it's at a good rate
   
10. Visit the USA again
11. See more bands/live music
12. Get my amp fixed, replace my old mongrel electric guitar, play the damn guitar again, buy a 12 string acoustic and maybe a bass
13. Go shooting again - rifles, pistols and try out shotguns - clay pigeon shooting sounds good
    
14. Fly - somewhere on holiday, go up in a microlight, small plane, helicopter or glider :D
15. Take one of the cars on a track day
16. Eat fewer artificial additives (see the Onion Rings post)
17. Visit the Lake District some more
    

Have I forgotten anything? (Rhetorical question... so I just added #11, #12) The more suggestions there are, the more fun it will be whittling it down to a manageable number of items :D

20050103 - Thought of 13 and 14 because I miss flying and shooting and added 15 because it's better to thrash the car somewhere like the Nurburgring than down the M3, 16 because the Onion Rings made me do it and 17 because I felt guilty after singling out the hills & mountains of #1 (It's closer than Cumbria)

TFFT - Christmas is over

I'm pleased Christmas is over... managed to see all the family (some far more than others), everyone got practical & useful presents, there was no "overdoing it" in financial, culinary or alcoholic terms, the recycling bin is full, the credit card is NOT maxed out and there's only the small matter of getting New Year celebrations out of the way before getting back to business and having a good 2005...

Hope you all had a good Christmas. Happy New Year to y'all :D

Dog Doo Surprise

What do you get for the person who has everything... everything of yours in a messy lawsuit or divorce proceedings? DOG DOO.

That's right dog doo, doo from a dog at www.dogdoo.com. I'm serious, no shit. Well actually yes shit. You see, DogDoo.com will pick & pack a turd, for a price dependant on size of the dog's egg, and deliver it with the message of your choice, totally anonymously to the one you... want to have a dog doo delivered anonymously to.

If you were looking for the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, then they're here.

They've got it down to an art form; canned meat makes the pooch's plop too runny and dry scooby snacks mean the canine crap is too crumbly. Mix the two together and what do you get? The perfect dog doo.

So, hurry folks, to get your dog doo posted for Christmas, get your order in by December 19 - from the Econo-Poop to the PooPooGrande, dogodoo.com has a turd for every ocassion.

"For me? Ooooh, I wonder what it can be...?"

No Half Measures

Yesterday, as soon as I found out that there was another Farmers' Market in town I picked up the phone and called Mr Whitehead to make sure he could reserve a keg for me.

Mr Whitehead is, of course, the man behind Mr Whitehead's Cider and the Heart of Hampshire cider in particular. Heart of Hampshire is 6% ABV, no added sugar and really creeps up on you.

"I liked it so much I bought a whole barrel" - and here it is, sitting outside my kitchen, staying cool in the December air. I will try my best not to drink all 36 pints before Christmas :)

Have you seen Bungle's Twanger?

LMFAO - Just been over to the Lost in a World of my Own blog and saw a link to a TV show from my childhood "Rainbow"... OMGFG I was on the floor. You just gotta see the clip; it's not just British humour, it's universal... Twangers Clip

The Beany has landed

OK, for those of you into hand-drawn personal art "The Beany" has landed...

"The Beany is artist Michael Nobbs' new paperback hand drawn journal. Follow his adventures as he draws his way through his small and insignificant life on the west coast of wales."

I read my copy of "The Beany" #1 this morning and an inspiration it is too. I've been chilling a lot more recently anyway but now I wanna get drawing again too.

Order your copy at www.thebeany.com and take a look at Michael's blog "learning to do less"

10p per 8 minutes?

WTF are Portsmouth City Council thinking? I popped in to Southsea (part of Portsmouth for those that don't know) the other week, it was a Sunday, the sun was shining. I parked the car and went to pay for a ticket. 70p - OK, expensive but where else am I going to park? Now I reckon I'll need a ticket for what, say 3 hours? Right, so that'll be... HTF are people supposed to work that out? 10p per 8 minutes of stay? Someone's having a laugh.

OK it's not hard, but all I want to do is park, pay and piss off without having to do maths to work out that the ticket will cost er...

You can't even divide 60, 30, 20, 10 or any 'usual' part of an hour by 8 exactly. So 8 into 60 goes 7 remainder 4, so 2 hours parking is 70p + (7 x 10p) = £1.40. And that's not strictly true because for £1.40 you only get 1 hour and 56 minutes parking, so you're over time and liable to a £60 fine.

I want to stay for 3 hours, so there's a remainder of 4 minutes per extra hour after the first which gives me 70p + ((7x 10p) x2) + 10p = £2.20

Got there. Took some working out but I finally got there...

...oh, and as per usual, NO CHANGE GIVEN. Tight b*st*rds !!

The Way of Wyrd

'The Way of Wyrd' by Brian Bates.

Background: I first read the book "The Way of Wyrd" by Brian Bates some ten years ago, maybe more. At the time I was well into my thrash metal and this English band, Sabbat, had written an album entitled "History of a Time to Come".

The lyrics particularly appealled to me as they were exceptionally well crafted, they were deeper than your average pop tune and I can still remember some of them, which is no mean feat if you know me. Here's a snapshot, though I must make it clear that they may appear a little harsher in their attitude toward christianity than the book actually implies...

The clerical conspiracy begins,
We'll wash away your sins,
We've come to purify.
To purge you of your liberty,
Absolve you of all sanity,
The truth you want to hear we shall provide.

and other poetic beauties like...

Whilst living your life, like an arrow in flight,
You must always remember the end is in sight.
Be grateful, at least, for the fact that you knew,
That you came to death he did not come to you.

So, reading more of the Sabbat album cover and sleeve (vinyl - oh yesss!) it revealed the concept was based on the book "The Way of Wyrd" by Brian Bates. So, completely intrigued, I ordered "The Way of Wyrd" and read...

Being of Scottish/English/Irish descent I was removed from the lapsed Catholic domain was raised as a Church of England kid, not especially religious but had been bombarded with lots of biblical readings and hymns. And then as a teen found myself reading about a Christian scribe sent to report to his superiors on the ways of the Anglo-Saxons so that his church could come and convert the pagans... and all because of thrash metal.

The Book: The scribe, Wat Brand, is sent on his mission to the Anglo-Saxon British Isles, leaving behind the relative safety and routine life of the cloisters back in France. As soon as he sets foot in Britain his teachings about the "dark" pagan rituals take over his thoughts and turn his new reallity into nightmare.

Brand's guide and mentor is the sorceror and mystic, Wulf, who introduces him to the customs of the land and Brand's journey leads him to discover the sacred rites of Anglo-Saxon Britain, the animals, runes, plants & spirits and the all important concept of "wyrd" or "all that was sacred and unexplainable".

"The Way of Wyrd" is quite an unusual book, highlighting a time in our Anglo-Saxon past that receives far less attention than the popular and romantic view of the Celtic aspect. It draws upon a lot of other works, with a good bibliography to delve into should you require further reading.

Like Tolkien, Bates has contributed a lot of detail to the potential British mythos and how we once were, and like Carlos Castaneda in his Teachings of Don Juan, reveals a possible level of ritual so far from modern day life. And yet, it all parallels with the Tao (and physics ;) and works on a deeper and wider level than some religions. Though this is not a book on religion, rather about what religion replaced in Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Further info can be found at www.wayofwyrd.com, at the author's site www.brianbates.co.uk or you can order your own copy of "The Way of Wyrd".

I'm a Lazy Bastard

Yep. I said it. I'm a lazy bastard. That's nearly 2 weeks without blogging, hence I'm a lazy bastard. I spent 5/6 days completing Halo 2, read 2x novels, did 40+ hours/week work, ran my business on the side and STILL had time to blog. But, all of a sudden have become lazy - well, I've only had 4 days holiday this year so it's probably about time things slowed down and went nice and easy...

...Hold on, with 16 days holiday owed and only 19 working days of the year left, you know what that means...