Friday night - Saturday morning

It`s 0120am and i`m sitting here with a glass of wine and an unfeasiably large roll-up, watching BBC4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/listings/programme.shtml?filename=20050430/20050430_2335_4544_23107_60

Lin is asleep in bed with the telly on and i`m alone downstairs except for the dog who`s snoring on the sofa.

It`s been a funny few days .......

Turnout for Chrispin's requiem was fantastic!

Nice to see so many youngsters there and I was lucky enough to bump into an old schoolmate's father. My schoolmate is now professor of history at a university in Australia, having his 4th book published - i`m working "in retail". I always knew that when teachers told me to pay attention - they meant it !

Just bought a new camera :

A Canon EOS 350DS

It`s got a *few* more settings than my current "happy-snappy" Olympus C-100 and as it`s been a while since i`ve used an SLR i`m at the steep bit of a re-learning curve !

http://www.cameras2u.com/products/details.cfm?product=0210B014AA

Funny Old Day ...................?

It's been a funny old day . We were "on stock" which means we've been stocktaking. This is a delightful 6-monthly ritual which involves all the *suits* in "Britain`s most admired company" running around like lemmings, generally panicking and getting very excited about things they barely understand! I kept well out of the way, although I did shake my head on numerous occasions and say "it's a worry?" at every available opportunity - but, then again - you've got to have some *sport* at work ........?

Tonight i'm going to Church for a Service for a young lad from work who died last week - he had problems with his kidneys and unfortunately he lost the fight.

He was 28.

He was a nice polite lad from Africa who was studying at the local College. He didn't drink or smoke but did like his footie. Before his last bout of illness he had worked for McDonalds and the lads have arranged a football match to raise some cash towards repatriating his body. We're also running a raffle and obviously accepting donations. Our social club has donated £800 - which I think is fantastic - well done.

I hope there's a good turn out for a young lad in a strange country and a long way from home.

Sunday Sunday .....?

We appear to have gained a dog for the weekend



He arrived on Friday and has been hard at work being asleep ever since !

Lin is asleep in sympathy and they are both curled up on the sofa. The cat is asleep at the top of the stairs, not in sympathy with the dog but as a territorial advantage.

Note to Abigail - if you can name `em , you can have `em :-)

VENCEREMOS COMPANEROS Y COMPANERAS!

Welcome to my Blog

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I`m not sure what to do now that i`ve created this thing so i`ll start with a round-up of the situation here:

I`ve just opened a bottle of wine , Lin is cooking roast beef with all the trimmings and my home-study course is in front of me - as it has been for a week (!)

The new Pope has just been signed-up and i`ve never seen so many big hats and so much bling - it`s like Ladies Day at Ascot - without the smell !

The Hustings are in full swing and the fascist British National Party (BNP) have just published their manifesto - a free *citizen`s assault rifle* to keep at home if you do National Service (conscription).That could be a real vote-winner, but it obviously depends on the gun ? I`m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to these things and would like to think it will be an AK-47 (or even an AK-M or AK-S if it comes to it) - classic , retro design and a great hookline - "the widowmaker". Unfortunately, it will probably be an SA80 (dull), a M16A2 (ok , but the grenades are a bugger to get hold of) or an HK MP5 (ok if you are a gadget monster?)

I remember in the 1974 election, Alen Coren did a wonderful spoof NF (National Front) Political Broadcast in Punch magazine - the repatriation of immigrants was a huge undertaking - all those dinner-ladies who would have to have their heads shaved and all the school desks that would have to be burnt as they had been contaminated. AND - where do you get a job-lot of cattle-trucks at short notice ....?