Some stuff I like.

Had a nice walk in the New Forest with my parents this morning, so on the topic of things I like, thought I'd give you two of my current favourite things.

First of all, Take That's next single
which I think I have mentioned before. Well, the video is out now and I think it's great, Mark Owen dances his little socks off and it's a great catchy feelgood tune, even though it is blatently a rip-off of the Beatles.

Next, Dancing on Ice. I had a few skating lessons at school as it wasn't too far from a rink, and still enjoy it from time to time. So watching celebs do it is a great idea for saturday night TV, and this series is enhanced no end by the fact that they have got ex-England rugby international Kyran Bracken to take part. My flatmate Liz and I had a real thing for him in the first year of uni, and it's good to see him again seeing as he always seemed to be injured during matches so we only got to see him play a couple of times. We had it all worked out you know, he was going to live on the large storage shelf (which we would rename the "mezzanine level") in the flat, and he would have to wear rugby shorts all day and be available to do cleaning and stuff for us all in the flat, and take care of any needs that we had... Anyway, I went off him a few years later as he had a rather severe haircut which looked a bit odd where he was receding a bit, but he's now grown it back again to how it was originally and so he's back up there on my list. Regular readers may have noticed that I also mentioned Martin Johnson in the same sort of context and can therefore summise that I have a bit of a thing for rugby players, I freely admit that it is totally true, whilst I'm not into the drinking-your-team-mate's-piss after a game thing, they are so much better than footballers as they are more manly and less inclined to fuss over what their hair looks like. Not into the props with no neck though, but I'm a sucker for broad shoulders and a few muscles - not too many like a body-builder, but the sort who won't snap in half and can look after you in a fight. Anyone who fits that description please feel free to get in touch!

The Plague of Flies

My latest attempt to grow my own produce is going a bit wrong. Last year I managed to grow tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, and chillis on my patio, which was pretty successful overall, so I decided to make a start on some other stuff this year - and as it's too early to plant anything outside, I thought I'd try growing some mushrooms. I bought one of those kits from the garden centre whereby you put some compost in a polystyrene box and water it for 10 days, then add some other stuff to it, and then get mushrooms in around 2-3 weeks. So far so good, but the first part of it has to be kept in warm, dark, conditions for optimum effect. So I put it in my airing cupboard.

What I hadn't realised was that there must have been some fly eggs or something in it, as the box seems to be spewing forth tiny black flies that are beginning to escape into the house. I've been trying to keep them at bay by going into it every so often and squashing all the ones I can see with a bit of loo roll, but I don't think it's the answer. Later on this week I can move the box somewhere cooler, but still not sure what to do with it as it can't really go outside unless I get a mini-greenhouse to protect it from the frost. But I don't want a plague of flies in my house! What should I do? Should I give up the whole thing and chuck it away? Or should I keep going? I've also put up some fly paper in the airing cupboard so will see how many it catches over the next couple of days, but I might have to give in and just buy my mushrooms from the shops. Seemed like a good idea at the time though. Will definitely do the tomatoes and chillis again this summer, and of course there's the apple tree which might bear fruit if I'm lucky! It's like the "Good Life"!

Got wind?

I could spend today's entry talking about Celebrity Big Brother, but I'm not going to because it's in all the papers and I'm not going to give Jade Goody any more of my time... will probably bitch about her at some point though in the coming days as she is (hopefully) evicted.

So instead I'll show you a picture of what the storm has done to the garage block next to my house. It's blown the bloody front of it off! My garage is unaffected as it is one of the ones on the lower level (the access to which has been blocked by fallen rubble), but I have no idea what's going to be done about it. Thing is, we all own our individual garages so I guess it's for the owners of the broken ones to sort, however since I never use mine (it's cold and damp and unlit down there), I'd rather they were demolished and some grass and a few more parking spaces put there instead. If the council wants to do this and give me lots of money for my garage then they're welcome to it!

Funniest thing heard today outside the gym from a small child who ran up to his mum who was talking to a friend : "Mummy, mummy! I touched a poo!" Said child had found a dog turd on the ground and had obviously prodded it, he could not understand why his mother was not sharing his excitement...

Enough to sink the titanic...

Had a reasonably productive day today, Mum and Dad came up this morning to help cut down the massive plant that grows up the back of my house, it had become so out of control that it had grown into the window sill and started dislodging bricks, so it's been chopped right back, I only hope it hasn't killed it altogether! It's a mixture of honeysuckle and passion flower, for those of you who may be of a horticultural bent.

Then I went to the gym and my trainer would have been proud of me, had he been there, as I went on the rowing machine without being forced to. It's my most hated bit of equipment because it's just so damn boring, but since it's one of the best for all-round fitness, I'm making myself do it in preparation for ski-ing. Only managed 10 minutes before getting bored though, but it's better than nothing.

After that it was time for something else productive, and that was to defrost my freezer as I've never done it since I moved here and that was 5 years ago! There had been a bit of build-up of ice and I couldn't actually open the top compartment, and with the realisation that I'm not ever going to be able to resist buying bargains to go in it, I had to take everything out and do the whole bowls of hot water thing. Twas strangely satisfying actually, after about half an hour of melting I was able to prise off huge iceberg-sized chunks of ice, and it's increased the capacity greatly and should be more efficient now. I did take a photo of all the ice stacked up in my sink because it was quite funny, but then realised that I'd used my phone to take it and I can't upload pics to here from it as despite it being a nice phone in that it is pink and has various girl-friendly features, it is actually a bit rubbish in terms of proper functions and will soon end up being upgraded.

My friend Steve has been busy this weekend experimenting with video blogging and has come up with this rather entertaining short which he calls "The Lawnmower Man". Check out the sound effects on this, I thought it was quite funny. I did try and link directly to it but the first attempt produced a page of gibberish so I think he must have done something technical and clever with the navigation on his site, but it can be found on the January 14th entry if you can be bothered to do a couple more clicks!

Cheat!

Ah, Jade Goody. Someone has been telling porkies! After spectacularly failing to finish the London Marathon last year, she's been on a bit of a fitness drive and has lost two stone. As a result of this she's just released a tie-in fitness DVD where she poses looking very svelte on the cover (aside from her comedy plastic boobs, of course). Anyway, I've obviously not got the DVD or anything, but apparently it has now been discovered that the weight loss was achieved not by the methods she promotes in her DVD, but by paying a surgeon £4,500 to vacuum out her adipose tissue. Liposuction, for the uninitiated. I'm not criticising her for being fat or anything (as I'm hardly Kate Moss), but it's rather underhand to rake in even more money from the unsuspecting public who are desperate to lose those Christmas pounds when you yourself have cheated. That goes for you too, Anne Diamond, going on Celebrity Fat Club and going on about how you've conquered your overeating habits, then sheepishly revealing that it was only because you'd had a gastric band fitted making it impossible for you to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls at a time.

Have been to the gym today and clearing out the wardrobe in the spare room which is like a tardis, now got to try and get everything back in apart from the stuff I'm throwing out. Off to have a bath now, but if you want something to do this evening please consider adding your signature to this, which is a petition against MMC which is the new "improved" training scheme for postgraduate medical education in the UK. Basically in the past, you qualified, did a year as a house officer, 2-4 years as an SHO then got onto a training programme depending on which speciality you wanted to work in. Made rough sense, as long as you don't look too closely at the general organisation of the NHS or the working hours in some jobs! Anyway, those who are in charge have decided to mess it all up bandying around mumbo-jumbo-newspeak phrases such as "competancy-based training" and "flexibility" without really being able to convince anyone how it's going to work. The way I understand it, everyone does a 2 year foundation programme where you do a few different jobs (this bit sounds ok), but it's after that where it all goes wrong. Lots of current doctors will be told they are overqualified for the next step on the ladder so will be stuck in jobs with no hope of career progression, and there seem to be a surplus of jobs that aren't recognised for training so the exodus of staff to Australia will continue. I'm lucky that I don't work in a hospital any more so it will not affect me directly, but I am told by friends who are currently negotiating the system, that it is A Very Bad Thing. Not expecting the petition to change anything at all, but it's a way of showing support!

Off to the slopes!

I've got 5 weeks to get fit again, as I've just booked a ski holiday. Sadly couldn't go with the same lot as last year as some are going with others, and others can't afford it (not that I can really, but what are credit cards for?) Wish that more of my friends were interested in ski-ing but hardly any of them are, so I'm joining a random group thing for people in the same position. Should be a laugh anyway, is all-inclusive and pretty good value and some lessons are thrown in so maybe it's for the best as I'll get a chance to get techically a bit better before next year when hopefully it'll be back to going with the friends!

Was back at work today which was good, apart from an alcoholic sitting in my room moaning for 20 minutes and then leaving the room stinking like a brewery.

Had a bit of a shock on saturday again when I woke up with a really swollen top lip, I looked like Leslie Ash with her trout pout. Have no idea what caused it, the same thing had actually happened a week before although that was more to one side, but it settled down after I took an antihistamine. Baffling! But not worried as got no other symptoms with it, probably just one of those things. Cough is now much better, I managed to go to the gym yesterday and did my usual run without problems, although did start to cough a bit later on. Think I'll need to get my trainer on the case again as only got 5 weeks before I hit the slopes!

Nothing else interesting to report, I'm having a big wardrobe clear out at the moment and got lots of things to get rid of, am going to try and flog some of them on ebay and give the rest to the charity shop. I'm a terrible hoarder of things, and clothes are no exception. Still got lots of things that I've had for 6 or 7 years, and decided that even though they are perfectly wearable, that doesn't mean I have to wear them, especially as I used to have the bad habit of buying things (particularly in the sales) just because they fit, not because I actually liked them. So being ruthless now and they have to go... then I can go and buy lots of lovely new clothes!

It's back!

Don't actually think I can be bothered any more to do a review of the year as I haven't got the inclination to think of any categories, so instead I shall just do the two categories I'd already thought of, which will lead nicely into the most important topic for today.

The first award is for "Most Pointless Celebrity", which goes to the delightful bloke pictured here, who is Fran Cosgrave. He wins by virtue of being the only celeb I have knowingly spotted this year, in the bar at Gatwick when were were having a fry up whilst waiting to fly out for the ski holiday. Forgive my ignorance, but I'm still not exactly sure what he is famous for. Started off by all acounts as a bouncer for Westlife, then he got one of Atomic Kitten pregnant, and since then has carved a "career" out of being a nob-about-town and alleged nightclub owner. Anyway, we were trying to eat our fry-up in a corner of the pub when there was all this commotion from a crowd of lads in the middle, far too much hair gel and chunky gold chains for our liking, and in came Fran Cosgrave grinning smugly and trying to get loads of attention, which the wide-boys were giving him by the shedload. Ruined our meal, having this pretentious idiot acting like he was all that. All twat more like.

The other award is for "Least Surprising News Story", which has been won by Ian "H" Watkins, formerly of Steps, for coming out as gay. I'd never have guessed. I did have evidence of this several years ago though, as a gay friend of mine sheepishly admittted to having snogged him when he was very drunk in a gay club a few years back. Apparently he wasn't very good and tasted of cigarettes. Anyway, he has joined the other z-listers in the Celebrity Big Brother house which I am inevitably going to be glued to for the next month or so. This year's selection seems promising, but I shan't make any initial judgements as I'd like to give them a chance to shine before I slag them off. I'm sure I will mention it on here as it unfolds.

Had a lie-in this morning, went to the library, the cough seems to be improving, still not back to normal yet but hopefully should be able to get back to the gym in the next few days - have booked my summer holiday today so need to start getting fit to cope with the altitude and trekking and stuff. Off to bed now, bye!

Happy New Year!

So, 2007. Thought I'd have squeezed in a final blog entry for 2006 but have been too busy these last few days entertaining, got the house to myself again now so time to catch up on everything. New Year wasn't too bad this year, we ended up staying in and having a nice dinner, champagne, vodka jelly and that sort of thing, and didn't get to bed til around 5am according to the times of the photos! Ended up extending the visit until today in an attempt to avoid the usual January 1st blues, everyone seems to have lots of plans and things to do this year so we shall have to see what happens.

The cold that I had last time has "gone onto my chest" and so I am taking my own advice (ie FOIAV - a medical acronym that basically means go away because antibiotics won't work) and having lots of hot baths and steamy showers to try and loosen everything. Bought some cough mixture as well but not tried it yet, don't feel unwell in myself luckily, but sound as if I have a 60-a-day habit which is not nice. Not coughing up blood any more though, which is obviously good.

Today I've been to the bottle bank to get rid of the evidence from the weekend, as would be expected for this week, the bottle bank at the gym was full so I had to go to Tesco. Gave the gym a miss despite my good intentions, as didn't think my chest could cope with running. May have a sauna later in the week actually, that might help. There was a queue at the Tesco bottle bank which was a pain, caused mainly by well-meaning parents allowing their small (slow) children to put the bottles in which took about 4 times as long as it would have otherwise done, but I just stood there and let them, because I'm nice like that. Then went to Tesco, got a few bits but not a lot as still got some gourmet leftovers from the weekend (for "gourmet", read home-cooked), but thought I ought to get some stuff like mushroom ketchup which apparently is good for putting in pies and casseroles.


Wanted as well to put a photo of my friend Russ playing with his chopper, he had it out most of the weekend despite being told to put it away. Even though he kept bashing it into walls (and also into my head a couple of times) when drunk, it seems to have survived intact. You can't really get an accurate idea of size from the picture, but I measured it at about 7 inches long, and it's a nice red colour. He can get it up for only about five minutes at a time before it loses energy and it sinks to the ground, then after about 20 minutes recovery time, it's ready to rise again. I am of course referring to the indoor remote-control helicopter which I bought for him for Christmas. Never seen a present give anybody such enjoyment! If you're stuck for present ideas for a bloke, you can't go wrong with this!

I haven't forgotten about my end of year awards that I mentioned a while back, I'll think of something along these lines later in the week but now really need to go and soak in a nice hot bath. Hope you all had a great New Year and are looking forward to a fantastic 2007!