29 June 2006

A picture of health !

For those who may be concerned I am no longer deaf !

Dreams of being one third of the way to being a pinball wizard dashed !

Comments should also be enabled for anyone now.

26 June 2006

Perfect isolation here behind my wall

Had a number of things I could have written about but have decided on the one that is causing me most grief at the moment.

Since last Wednesday I have been suffering from sinus blockage. I have been prone to this kind of thing most of my life, but in the past nine months have suffered quite badly, though thankfully not for long, three times. Basically, and this may be more information than you want to hear, I get all blocked up, bring up a lot of phlegm and usually suffer from a sore throat too. This time however, I have not had the throat problem, which last affected me on my first days in my new job and prevented me conversing very much with people as I would usually break down into uncontrollable and quite horribly "loose" coughing within a few sentences.

Instead the illness has borne the trajectory of :

Wednesday night - running nose
Thursday - blocked nose, coughing fits
Friday - coughing fits, pressure in right ear
Saturday - coughing, pressure in left ear
Sunday - coughin, pressure in left ear decreasing

The pressure in the ear, is not painful, but akin to deafness in that I can hear what I say amplified in my ear, but not what others say. This has lead to me talking very quietly but thinking that I'm shouting and turning the volume on the TV right up.

I thought I would be pretty much sorted today, but instead I am now equally deaf in both ears. This had led to feverish speculation in my mind that I am in fact, going deaf. Possibly brought on by the fact I have recently double the volume of the tracks on my iPod. Internet research indicates that "ear congestion" can be brought on by poor diet (check) or spinal/neck injury (possible side effect of my sporting injury ???)

Now, obviously my mind is running wild, and I have always had sinus problems from when I was a baby, though thankfully they don't happen too often. Hopefully by my next post the subject will be something else and not how I'm learning to live with deafness....

19 June 2006

...in the middle of our street

Well, I've bought a house. A flat to be exact.

And everyone seems to be cock-a-hoop about it.

Except me.

I now understand what people say about it being one of the most stressful things you can do in your life. I like knowing what I'm doing, so this has been a bit of a nightmare so far. Viewing properties without fully knowing what I should be looking for (I eventually picked all the things I looked for when I was looking for rental places plus central heating). Engaging a solicitor and working out what the bidding system involved. The vague information you get back from that. Speaking to mortgage advisors and taking their advice (incorrectly as it turned out in terms of how long it would take to finalise a mortgage, meaning I had to go back and try to renegotiate the entry date.) Dealing with the parents about what they were going to pay towards it, and what that would entitle them too (although it is a fantastic deal in those terms) Now I'm on to working out what furniture needs to be bought and how best to buy it (interest free credit, warranties, etc, etc.).

However, desipite it being a nightmare, it does mean I will have my own flat that I can have my way and all my little plans and schemes can come true. Which is nice.

And I know I'm lucky to be able to afford a flat in such a good location in these days but it's still a nightmare.

12 June 2006

A socially irresponsible post

Had a barbecue at the weekend. First time I've ever done one from start to finish, and it was lots of fun. The trick is to build little piles and then turn the coals over when they are white, spread them out and add others until your grill tray is full. Then you're ready to go, you need to top up every 45 minutes or so.

Anyway the most eventful thing was at one point the whole table on which the barbecues (there were two) were standing, caught fire, and I had to put it out. It reminded me of the old Public Information Films about the chip pan fires. I know they said, don't use water, but I figured that was because of the oil involved, so I used water. And towels to kill the fire at it's source. Within about 5 minutes it was all out. The only thing was I had to go pretty much back to the start with the barbecues, and that wasted some fuel.

I preferred the charcoal briquettes to the lumpwood, but it was all good.

Then, on Sunday I managed to get a sporting injury ! Considering how little sport I do, this is some feat, or perhaps that's why! Anyway, basically I fell over and my sunglasses cut my head, but because I was running between bases playing ball in the park it looked like I was making a heroic lunge for the base! And it looks as though I may get a cool scar over my eye! (How old are you !)

As Mark Corrigan would say :"I'm a man!"

06 June 2006

Snorty Licks

There is an advert on your telly (yes, it's on your telly, YOUR personal telly! There ought to be a law!) at the moment, which is advertising The Rolling Stones Forty Licks compilation. And there are two things about it which bother me....

The first is that of the Forty (geddit!) tracks on this compilation, representing The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World, the advert previews Ruby Tuesday, Miss You, Under My Thumb and Angie. All great songs (with the possible exception of Miss You) but hardly the rockingest selection when you could have the riffs of Satisfaction, The Last Time, Start Me Up and Brown Sugar, is it? They're the Rolling Stones for god's sake ! Maybe falling out of that tree did more damage to Keith than reported and this summer's concerts are going to be mid tempo all the way.

The second is the idea of "re-promotion", obviously the re-promotion is in aid of the concerts this summer (although they're not till August), but the concerts themselves are supposedly in support of A Bigger Bang, the latest "best Stones album since Some Girls", but that's not being repromoted, it's the greatest hits. However it does set the mind thinking on other possible re-promotions : "Out now, from the Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!", "The essential album of the year, Dire Straits Brothers In Arms (the year in question being 1986)" or "The breakthrough album from the new act everyone is talking about - The Bay City Rollers, Rollin'"

01 June 2006

First Post

This is my rant of the day.

John Prescott.

What's going on?

For a long time now I've been a fan of Prescott's. I think he is exactly the kind of person who people mean when they say "We should have more ordinary people in Parliament." I think it's great the fact that he used an official car to drive his wife 200 yards so her hair didn't get blown about is superb, and exactly what an ordinary person would do for their wife (not withstanding what has subsequently come to light about him).
I remember, back in University, we would have many a discussion about Mr Prescott in one particular seminar instead of whatever the actual subject of the seminar was meant to be. (Either Mr Prescott or Anne Widdecombe - our tutor had a bit of an obsession with both.)
However, much as I supported his actions, I was amazed by what occured in Swansea? during the 2001 general election. It seemed to me that the headline "Deputy Prime Minister Punches Voter During Election Campaign" would almost certainly spell the end of said minister's political career. Instead Tony Blair laughed it off with "Well, John's John you know." And I would have imagined this as a response from his own party. But no opposition politician, of any party, called for his resignation or even chastisement. He was transformed into a hero in my eyes. A man who was ridiculed on an almost daily basis but who was seemingly impervious to criticism, to the extent that no one even voiced that criticism. Here was a man, I thought, who knows where the bodies are buried. It can't simply be a case of knowing too much about the Blair-Brown Deal, because the opposition won't touch him either. Until today, and a fairly innocuous statement from George Osborne, more aimed at the Labour Government than Prescott in particular, no one outside the Labour Party has broached the subject.
And now here we are with another storm in a teacup, Prescott playing croquet when he was "running the country". As I understand it Tony Blair was not actually out of the country at the time in question, therefore was still "running the country". Also, for all we know, Prescott had been at his desk since 6am and decided he wanted a game of croquet over lunch. It wasn't as if he was drunk or on drugs, he could have been contacted any time had anything been required of him.
Yet, as a result of this, his own party are calling for his head ?
I'm afraid this could be the beginning of the kind of Labour in-fighting that saw the Tories stumble out of office without credibility as a working government. I think Labour MPs should think hard about exactly what this airing of their personal opinions in public could do.