Brighton - First Few Pictures

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Hot off the press - the first few pictures from the week I spent in Brighton!
(1)Alex standing outside the Dr Who Tardis on Brighton Pier
(2)Alex rides the carousel on the Pier
(3)Alex as the "Grim Reaper" for Halloween Party
(4)Me and Dr Who Tardis
(5) Brighton Pavilion - view from the bus!

Lots more Dr Who Exhibition pictures yet to follow, which should keep a certain Australia fan happy!!

Back Home - Funny Email

Ok - the holiday is over and now it's time to recover from all the alcohol, late nights and fun.
I'll be posting pictures from my week in Brighton soon but now it's time to catch up on emails.

Here's the funniest so far:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly Compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon." In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press Release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):
1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of The windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.
4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.
6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.
7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.
8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna
9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Quickies

Ok - just a quickie................. I'm off to Brighton for the week to visit Alex so won't be online much.
I've got my Crossroads book to read, my Crossroads DVD so that should feed my hunger for all things soap wise.
I've worked out finally how to get songs onto my new MP3 player (how many weeks did it all take?!).

My bags half packed, I'm gonna get less than 3 1/2 hours sleep as I have work before travelling all day tomorrow and we're going clubbing @ night - so that should finish me off.
I've got a chest cold - very attractive I must say!
Oh and in the hour I've got between finishing work and going - I've got to finish packing, eat, bath and someone is calling to see the room.

Never a dull moment in my world................. wonder if I'll get to Blog?

Funny Email Story

A woman and a man are involved in a car accident on a snowy, cold Mondaymorning; it's a bad one. Both of their cars are totally demolished but amazinglyneither of them is hurt. God works in Mysterious ways. After they crawl out oftheir cars, the woman says, "So.... you're a man. That's interesting. I'm awoman. Wow, just look at our cars! There's nothing left, but we're unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together inpeace for the rest of our days". Flattered, the man replies, "Oh yes, I agreewith you completely, this must be a sign from God!" The woman continues, "Andlook at this, here's another miracle. My car is completely demolished but thisbottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine andcelebrate our good fortune. "Then she hands the bottle to the man. The man nodshis head in agreement, opens it and drinks half the bottle and then hands itback to the woman. The woman takes the bottle and immediately puts the cap backon, and hands it back to the man. The man asks, "Aren't you having any?" Thewoman replies, "No. I think I'll just wait for the police...."

MORAL OF THE STORY: Women are evil. Don't mess with them!

*sent to me by Daz Wood.

Icon of My Lifetime

Noele Gordon (aka Meg Mortimer/Meg Richardson - "Crossroads")

My all time icon has got to be the one and only Noele Gordon from the ATV/Central early evening soap "Crossroads". As a child in the late 70's I grew up watching Meg run a busy fictional hotel set near Birmingham. Yet there was something about her style that made her like a second mother to me, in a funny sort of way.
Maybe it was the authority she carried or maybe it was because she reminded me of my own mother. Indeed it was at my own mothers feet I would sit each evening and watch the soap opera.
Meg's voice was distinctive and helped create that aura that has lived on long after her departure from Crossroads in the early 80's and her sad death in 1985 , just three years before my mum's death (I think)

I salute you Meg!

The Meal - My Thoughts.

As you know , I had my brother and his wife around for dinner on Saturday for the first time ever.
We sat and talked and drank 3 bottles of wine until gone 2am in the morning, it was great to finally connect again with my brother after all these years. I'd only ever get to see him if he needed to borrow money or a death in the family etc so to be together on a personal social level was totally worth the effort.
I'm the youngest in my family so there is a lot of family history I don't know and my brother was sharing snippets about my parents or our up bringing that made me both happy and sad.
I know both my parents loved me very much, yet both had their own problems to contend with. We had a hard upbringing as my parents tried to raise 4 of us on a very tight budget.
Hopefully this meal will be the beginning of something new as I try and keep the bond there.

Families

This week I have been delivering mail in Stoke Aldermoor in Coventry and it suddenly dawned on me I was delivering down the street my grandparents lived in before they died. Now this might sound insignificant but it got me thinking...........
I have lived in Coventry all my life and yet I never got to meet my grandparents due to a family feud (my parents got married much to the disapproval of my grandmother).

This family feud meant that I missed out on the joys of growing up without ever knowing who my grandparents were - even though they lived just 30 minutes walk (5 min drive) away from my childhood home. How sad that we can allow such a thing to happen, sadly they both died before I had reached 16. But it got me thinking...................

Families are so important to the fabric of society and all my brothers and sisters live in the same city as me, yet I never really see them. So with this in mind I sent my brother a text today and invited him and his wife around for dinner tonight. It will be the first time ever I have had him around for dinner so I'm quite excited!

It's not that any of my brothers or sisters have "fallen out", I'm just so independent that I survive without the need to see any of them (plus I don't really have that much in common with them except my genes!!). But more important that being Mr Independent is the value of keeping "family" at the heart rather than at the garden gate!

Singles of the Month

At the start of the month, my single of the month would have clearly been the Sugababes with "Push the Button", it has been played so much in my CD player at home - a great "pop" tune that just gets your ass shaking into gear whenever the tune is played but.....................

Topping them has been Melanie C with "First Day of my Life", you can't get the single in the UK (I blame the press!) yet has just gone in at #6 in Germany. The song is the theme to a TV programme over there. I've been playing it non-stop in the car since my friend Emma sent me a copy in the post (*hugz*).

It's totally different from "Push the Button" , Melanie's single reminds me of Bryan Adams "Everything I Do.....". It's a loved up, heart searching track deserving of a UK release. Let's wait and see!

Rainbow

It's random I know but I was going to post this earlier but we had a powercut so I went to bed!
I took this picture on my mobile when I was in London 2 weeks ago, the picture hasn't been edited in any way - the rainbow was 100% natural.
Nature can be so beautiful..........

My 1 Second of Fame

For just 1 second I could be seen on ITV2's "Girls Aloud: Home Truths" at 21:00 tonight.
According to Alex you could see us waiting for Girls Aloud at the HMV record signing. I bet my bright orange Royal Mail coat stood out a mile!
Well, that's enough fame for one night, I'm off to sign autographs for the adoring fans outside my door.

Incase you want to watch the programme, it is being repeated on ITV2 this Friday at midnight.


"Girls Aloud: Home Truths

A whirlwind six months in the life of the girl group, during which they play their first national tour, release a summer single and record their third album. In between engagements, Nicola goes camping with her family in Devon, and Sarah gives a guided tour of her native Stockport."

Countdown to Brighton

Just another 11days til I finally get to Brighton on the South Coast for my first proper holiday of 2005. It'll be the first time I get to spend time with Alex down there and it's going to be one hell of a party as I share his room at University and sit in on a lecture or two.
Then I'm going to have to enter into the spirit of things by drinking late into the night - yes, every night and then get up as late as possible the next day to do it all over again.

My Housemates Last Night

Luke emailed these pictures he took on his and Natalie's final night together at mine. Click on them for a closer look. I love Alex's "photo" pose in 1,2,and 3 - totally unaware that by picture 3, Luke and I are making rude gestures to the camera and each other!
Picture 4 has me looking like a giant and the last picture has Natalie getting into the party mood as Alex and her went to an all night party down my street while Luke set off back to Poland and I went to work.

London Weekender - Part 3

So the final batch of photo's from last weekend in London and this time some are from Kev/Nana's flat, some in the pub earlier in the day and the pictures with glazed eyes are late into the night.
I love the fourth picture of Kully and I on the dancefloor, looking like two naughty boys!

London Weekender - Part 2

Kully loves a good night out, and this was his weekend. Here are the next batch of pictures taken @ The Garage in London.
(Click pictures to get a better/worse view!)
1. Kully before the alcohol took effect.
2. Rob and Nana deep in debate.
3. "Friends" UK style.
4. Nana looks on as we jumped around on the dancefloor.
5. A surprised Rob with Nana.
6. Rob in that scarf again.

Crossroads Forum Update

Its been 1 week since I joined the Crossroads forum (see link in previous post) as Adam Chance (see pic above). Already I've been slightly addicted with 73 posts already. It's rather different from most forums I have been on and seems very British, with good humour and lots of Crossroads characters alive and well on the forum. Although I have been neglecting my other forums of late...............

London Weekender - Part 1

We were all meeting up in London (home of Kev and Nana) for Kully's birthday last weekend. I don't normally do birthdays but I do do friends!
How could I say no when it was intended that Kully should die.
Luckily for him he didn't die,but it was a great opportunity for lots of alcohol and a great night out at "The Garage" for a night of pure indie music.
(Click picture to enlarge)
Picture 1 - Kully, Rob and Kev "best of mates".
Picture 2 - Rob in a party mood.
Picture 3 - The three drunk monkies!
Picture 4 - Rob, Kev and Nana at the bar before clubbing.

More to follow soon..............

The London Weekender

It might take a while because all the pictures were massive, so I'm going to resize them before they make it to the Blog in the next few days.
It was Kully's birthday and so Nana, Kev, Kully and myself hit the big city for two nights of partying!

More to follow soon............

Big Brother : Eugene !!

I didn't get to meet him but Alex took the picture on his mobile because Big Brother's Eugene was at the freshers week in Brighton promoting some radio station.

Good to see he looks exactly the same as his Big Brother days (fingers pointing etc). Trust Alex to mingle with the "stars" ........ I settled for a 48 hour drinking marathon in London. If I get any pictures from Kev I can show you - but I know how slow Kev is.................