And Now For Something Completely Different

Or - The Lighter Way To Enjoy Blogging

Looking back over the last few posts they've been... er... heavy to say the least. So tonight, sit back and enjoy Views from the Hill Top Lite...

Views From The Hillock

I was considering views from a mole hill, but moles are blind, so the view wouldn't be very far. Speaking of mole hills, I finally got round to tidying up my garden last weekend. Well, as tidy as I could make it before the rain hit. Here's another reason I blog - to confess my sins. I hadn't actually got the lawnmower out so far this year up until that point (slaps wrist).

Unfortunately for me "The Lawnmower was not enough!" (That sounds like a James Bond Film staring Alan Titchmarsh). I really needed a scythe for my lawn. The grass was so long, i'm not joking, if I didn't have the orange power cord to follow I could of lost my mower in my backgarden. But I resisted the temptation to buy a scythe in the end and just struggled with the mower.

The more I think about it, the cooler it sounds to "own a scythe" I mean the temptation would just be too great to wander round in a black robe (with hood) muttering "Cower mortals, it is now your time". Personally I blame Pratchett.

Anyway, I fought off the varied denziens of my garden to cut the grass to a respectable height, but it was very hard work. The "Hover mower" didn't really hover, I would of needed a helicopter to succeed with that feat. No, it was sheer brute strength in the end. I was hoping to find some Spinach growning in my garden. If TV has taught me anything it is that eating spinach will allow me feats of strenth beyond meer mortals, but not beyond Uri Geller .

On Monday I finally purchased a floor for my bathroom. I was undecided between wood laminate and tiles, so I went for both. I have bought some lamintate flooring that looks like white slate tiles. So my floor look like it has been tiled, but the laminate is much easier to lay. What's even better is that it's much easier to cut to shape to go round things such as the toilet and the sink. I'm going to try and lay this all by myself, it looks easy enough, but I also know those are the last words of the DIY amateur.

Also on the bathroom front, I used my new shower for the first time today. It has been a month since I last had a working shower and I've been chomping at the bin to get my new shower up and working. Unfortunately I've had to wait for the tiling to be finished and then wait 10 days before I could use it. I bought a shower curtain rail (and curtain) on Sunday and installed them almost immediately. So it's just been a waiting game until this morning.

Let's just say, that this mornings shower felt like one of the best ever. I could have stayed under it all day.

Finally here's a rumour you won't hear anywhere else. John Woo is to write and direct a live action adaptation of Disney's Bambi. This is due to the success of other Live action flicks that Disney has had recently, think Pirates of The Caribbean. I know, I know, this seems really far fetched, but if you don't believe me, check out the picture below.

I can just imagine the dialog now:-

"You killed my mother!" Followed by the hunter's beerkeg exploding in a shower of grenade shrapnel!

Or how about...

"Don't call me Flower" It turns out the skunk is homophobic, has a flick knife and isn't afraid to use it!

I can just see the little tagline that comes with the age certificate. This film contains scenes of mild animal peril, extreme violence and scenes of a discovery channel type sexual nature!

I vote for Bruce Willis to be the voice of Bambi.

5 Reasons why I Blog

After being tagged by Eileen it's time to post 5 reasons why I blog. I've never really thought about this before, so this should be interesting.

1. Because it's cheaper than using the phone. I love using the phone, as people can tell you I like to talk for hours. But with the current cost of using a phone (especially mobiles) it's cheaper to get more of the mundane (?) stuff out to the masses.

2. It is a record of my life. I have a terrible memory for things and this is a good way to help me look back on all the good/bad times.

3. It's just so much more glamourous than a paper diary. I mean for once the Geek side of like has Kudos. It's actually the fashionable thing to be a blogger. And for once that means I might just actually be fashionable. Maybe!

4. To fit in I suppose. All my firends blog, so it is another way to be I suppose.

5. The internet is more interactive than just writing it down. With a blog it is so easy to add extra content such as photgraohs and even video. Including things like this:



This is currently the song I can't stop humming as it runs around my head. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Not by any means. It's called "Soulmate" by Natasha Bedingfield. I do like some of her songs especially the slow/ballad ones. The last one I realled liked was "Wild Horses" no not that one, but a different one.

Anyway, this song has stuck with me, probably because it has struck a cord. Everybosy searches for the soul mate, including me. Maybe I blog to help me find her, who knows. All I know is they haven't found me yet, but there's always tomorrow!

Definately tomorrow.

Tagged:

Helen

The Answer

Not quite to life, the universe and everything. But at least to the poser I er, posed in my last post. I'm sure you remember this:




Well, let's just switch it off, zoom out, focus and we actually get:



Scroll down































This!




Yep, it's just the humble lightbulb. It was the only thing that fell easily to hand at Amanda's party, apart from the company I was keeping of course. And it certainly wasn't as interesting the company, but hey I thought it was an interesting photo none the less.



Speaking of interesting photo's the tiling in my bathroom is finally complete. Unfortunately I still can't use the shower for another week. Personally I can't wait until I can have a shower to help me wake up in the morning. Anyway this is how my bathroom currently looks:





The next thing need to do is install I shower curtain rail + curtain, this weekend so I'm ready to use the shower, the second the 7 days are up. Then I need to do something with the floor, but I'm not quite sure what. I'm definately not putting carpet down, but I can't decide on putting tiles down, or some sort of wood/laminate flooring instead.



I suppose like everything it'll come down to cost in the end.

Meet Mr Pointy!

In no way is ths post going to be on Topic!



Whenever anybody says, this may sting a bit. Please believe them!!! I went for a blood test this morning. This is not the first time I've had a blood test, but this is the first time it has really made me wince. I'm sure the poor old nurse was doing the best she could, but if I were to do a one word review of this particualr test it would be this:



Brutal.



Still at least she found the vein first time. I'd hate to think what would of happened if I became a human pin cushion. So why I am going through this, well as those of you who attended Amanda's party know I didn't exactly have a good journey. I was giving Dave and Simon a lift down to Sandhurst, when I began to feel "not well". I ended up having a panic attack and an ambulance was called while I was at a hotel.



I eventually made it to the party on the Saturday (along with Simon & Dave) and managed to really enjoy myself despite how I was feeling. I always enjoy it when I get together with friends and nights such as Eurovision make it all the better. Below are the edited highlights from the party. I'll setup an invite only account when I get to sort through the full set of photo's.

Martin and Rohan, can you guess which one is the party animal?

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Mike and Richard, I have no idea what is more intersting than me with my camera.
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Simon and H (our co-host and chef), somehow they found time between showers to barbeque.

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Helen & Amanda (our hostess), yes I know there is a third person i this one, I just don't know who it is.

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Can you guess what it is. I get really jealous (the good kind) of a "certain persons" arty shots on another blog and attempted to do my own. ;-) I don't think I'll be giving up my day job.
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I made it back on Sunday after a 5 hour drive in the pouring rain. After a night sleep I didn't really feel any better so I went to see my GP. And so I'm now going through a few rounds of tests. Last week was the first round and this morning was the second. No news yet and I hate waiting, but these things are never quick. It's just that my imagination works overtime and in the meantime I just have to put up with it in the meantime.

I actually stayed with my parents last week. Last week was one of those weeks where I couldn't face living on my own. Coming back to an empty house after work, I felt like I could just burst into tears. I'm back at my place now, it doesn't echo quite as badly as it seemed to last week.

But it stil does echo!

And so it begins...

Mwa ha ha ha ha *evil laugh*

It's a bank holiday, so guess what I've spent most of it doing? Yep as any good home owner knows bank holidays are there for one thing and one thing only. DIY. And of course there is just one DIY project worthy of the name in my house. The Bathroom.

In our last DIY epsiode as you know myself and my Dad spent the entire day ripping tiles off the wall and putting a few holes in the plaster board in the process. Well Sunday was spent fixing the holes in the plasterboard with filler (evil stuff) and then skimming the walls with fisihing plaster (v. evil stuff). My bathroom could have been mistaken for a solvent factory such was the smells coming from there and oh the pretty colours...

Anyway, today the walls were in a fit condition to actually begin tiling. I never realised how much palnning you have to do before you start tiling. I'd already spent sometime measuring the whole room up and working out hopw many tiles I would need. But we spent about half an hour discussing where to put that all important first tile. As we put the first tile on I couldn't help but feel we should have had "Ode to Joy" balring away in the background and myabe a visiting dignitry or something of that ilk.

We got a great system going whereby I prepared the tiles and spread the adhesive and my Dad put them on the wall and squared them all up. We worked for about 6 hours and below is the result.

So that's most of one wall down. 3 and a bit left to go, plus all the grouting of course. After today I've got high hopes that we might get this finished and that it'll actually look reasonbly good when it's done. When that'll be though is anybodies guess. Our first target is to get enough done so the plumber can come and finish and then I can start having showers again. Then we can finish the rest of the room, probably making the most of the next bank holiday!

Hope Floats...

... or in this case at least doesn't drown. ;-)


For once my prayers were answered. Maybe a bit more forcefully than I would of liked, but I am now actually back home from Norfolk. My boss actually wanted me back in the office today so he "motivated" anotehr engineer to finish on time to releave me. What that actually meant was he ask (read: ordered) me to come back after finishing cremations on the Tuesday night.

Although luck wasn't with me for the entire time I was there. I was actually in Kings Lynn (a place Dave knows well). And I quite agree with Dave, there isn't a lot there. I drove down there on the the Monday morning setting off very early about 6 ish. I also had to use my own car. As I explained on Sunday this was all hastily arranged. What I forgot to mention was that the company pool car was unavailable.

"We'll sort you a car, don't worry". Was a phrase used quite a lot that afternoon, but by the end of the afternoon/early evening (about 6:20 ish) there was just me, my boss and his boss left in the building and guess what? Yep, no car. This saga continues later. So as mentioned earlier Monday morning finds me in my little car full of tools, on the A17 getting...

... lost!!!

I have a sat nav program and to quote Top Gear's James May "It's only as good as the clot that programs it". I set it for the right street, but in the wrong part of town. Doh, doesn't even begin to cover it!

Anyway I eventually reached the crematorium, where I've actually had what could be called a fairly easy time of it. Yes, I've worked 2 12 hour days, but they were what could be really classed as "Babysitting". Hence why my boss wanted me back in the office to do some real work.

A word about the operators. I knw Norfolk can breed them 'odd' but I've yet to come across a group odder than this lot. They think they are funny, and most of the time they are, the other times they just made me cringe. The most cringe worthy of them all was actually Canadian though! Go figure!

So I finished work on the Monday evening and made all haste to the hotel. Only to find the hotel didn't have a booking for me. I have since discovered this was the hotels fault, but at the time I was contemplating crucifing the project manager at work. I tried the Travel Inn's but the nearest one with a room was a 30 miles away in Boston. I eventually was directed to a hotel in the centre of Kings Lynn that looked like it was waiting for the 80's to come back into fashion! Still it had a roof and would feed me so it would do for the evening.

Tuesday evening saw me driving back along the A17 towards home and getting stuck behind lots of slow HGV's and tractors. The A17 is a single carriageway with very few passing points especially for a car like mine.so it took me almost a 1/3 longer to get home becasue of it, finally getting back just in time for "Extra Time" in the football.

Back to the company car saga. When I got back in the office this morning I have been making big hints that I probably should have a company car with all of the last minute travelling I do. My boss has finally taken the hint, he's going to speak to his boss (eventually) although I'll probably have to keep reminding him. So watch this space...