not much time to write today, as I have to scoot off in a minute to London to spend half the day staffing a promotional stand for the Hardy Plant Society – and, yes, that is as dull as it sounds.

have been getting this blog listed on a couple of blogdirectories, so hopefully there are a few new people reading this – so “Hello” to all of you. Send me a mail if you feel that way inclined.

yup – yesterday *was* boring. I wasn’t impressed by the way that about four people pointed out that I have put on weight – one even asked when the baby was due. not impressed. maybe I’ll have to give up on beer and eating and do some exercise……naaaaah!

TPL – 30 points this week. total now 178. I’d be much happier if it was nearer 250. no trophy for me unless there is an amazing turnaround in fortunes.

weekend report – Friday. went to the bar. got drunk.
Saturday – work by day (doing a lecture in Dorset), pub by night. AW went home early, so I went to IC’s after the pub and shared a cab back with DA and SH. more interestingly, KF is back from holiday and waxing lyrical about the Kennedy Space Center and lap dancers. Hopefully, I’ll extract more details from him when he has his photos (he says there aren’t too many – I thought he’d have gazillions of them). also, JG, who introduced me to AW, has got engaged to AM – and amazingly happy they look too, which is all good stuff.
Sunday – spent the day with AW, went for pub lunch, generally flopped about and did not a lot, which was good, and much needed. I’m still a bit run down after my cold (and still coughing too), so a rest day was good.

work to do….

most curious phrase read on a weblog today:
“to go postal”
meaning: to loose one’s rag, go ballistic, become angry.

I have days when I could go postal. Thankfully, today isn’t one of them.

fixed the bug on the work website yesterday – seems to work now, which is good.

got our textbooks at college last night (at last). they are bloody heavy.
guess I might have to read them. guh.

have been co-ordinating tonight’s post-college piss-up. looks like we should get at least some people to turn up, although Sue (most likely of the newbies to get pissed) and Sally (popular newbie) are not coming. but I think about 7 or 8 of us should go. but then I did say that last time. somehow, I have to drag myself to the dentist by 8am tomorrow as well. god knows how.

you will notice that I have used names for people here. I’m considering dropping the idea of abbreviating people’s names, and actually using, like, um, their names. not sure if it is a good idea (being slightly paranoid that the net has more than its fair share of stalkers and cranks [not **you** of course!!]), but it will make it easier to read if I do. oh I don’t know……..I guess I’ll maintain the status quo for now. (no Rick Parfitt jokes please).

can’t focus on work today – really tired, and not enough caffeine.

so focussed on work that I’ve just spent the last 45 minutes fiddling with the Blogger template settings. ho-hum.

right…..off to college

well, I think that last night’s beer session could be classed as a success. Nine people turned up – me, Hev, Charlotte, Georgie, Phil, Chris, Leigh, Libby and Patrick – not a bad show. Some of them mooched off fairly early, but the die-hards stuck it out to the end (me, Hev and Patrick). AW, DA, KM, and SH turned up too, towards the end of the evening, having spent part of the evening listening to PF and the band in the Punch House. James showed up too. Unbelievable that the Punch House, which has been completely rebuilt inside since it was gutted by fire (and is now called the Royal Arms, which no-one likes), is so unbelievably awful – you’d think they would have taken the opportunity to make it a great pub, but no, it’s still as crap as it always was.
Tried out new choccy treat from you know where last night too, although we were both a bit too drunk to fully appreciate it – have plans for tonight though (-;
Right – much to do….

weekend report:
Friday night – stayed in *shock*. Cooked absolutely fantastic (in my opinion) Catalan style chicken with chorizo – was lovely.
Saturday – spent the day working with my Dad to fix my plumbing – will take more time yet, probably several days. In the evening – stayed in again *shock*. Cooked chorizo, mushroom and tomato with pasta.
Sunday – pootled about not doing much. Worked on AW’s website for work and had lunch at the Park Tavern.

so a quiet and restful weekend, although I still feel very very tired. Why?

other news: not much. and it’s raining. guh.

ohmiiiiiigod! will it *ever* stop raining?? the ground is so wet that working on it is impossible. the fields and roads are flooded – I had to wade to work this morning! if we don’t get some dry weather soon, I’m going to start building an ark.

college last night was more dull than dullness itself – we’re just going over what we did last year but in less detail – dull-o. tonight I have a tutorial, for which I have prepared nothing at all.
so to cheer myself up, I went to the pub last night with KF – all verrrry interesting. we had a long chaaaaaaat about “stuff” – haven’t done that for ages, and it’s actually quite gratifying to know that we still can.

of course, this morning I’m completely shattered – and *still* coughing! why? will it ever end?

right, ought to do some work, and maybe spend some time at www.connex.co.uk in preparation for the tutorial. guh.

you can now rate this site on BlogHop.com
please be gentle – I bruise easily

callng all regular users of Connex – want a laugh? read this

here’s a pic of me and AW that RW said looked like an advert for healthy living. not sure if she meant the magazine, or healthy living in general. what do you think?

incidentally, no TPL score this week, as no matches played at the weekend due to the farce at Wembley.
nooooooooo! stoppit! I’m **not** interested in football! really! it was a lapse! I’m sorry!

news review: (Ananova is my favourite web news provider)
middle east:
about as much chance of lasting peace there, as there is in northern ireland. i think that there is a group of people in each place who are so entrenched in their viewpoints that they can not possibly consider a compromise, as, to them, compromise = selling out.
the trouble with the middle east is that any disturbances there have wider implications for the rest of the world. already saddam hussein is moving his troops, and there have been two terrorist acts in yemen. the price of crude oil has shot up overnight, and the dow and ftse are falling fast.
so whist it may not seem to be that important to our daily lives in cosy southern england, it will in the long term have a direct impact on us – some analysts are even muttering that it might trigger global recession.
the first “great war” of the new millennium? let’s hope not.

flooding in sussex:
well, I can’t remember it being as wet as this at any time since january 1988, when it rained for a month without ceasing. the fields here are waterlogged, and many roads are flooded. at least we haven’t had it as bad here this time – uckfield and that area seem to have taken the brunt. in 1993, it was barnham and chichester that got it – 63 homes flooded out in barnham, and a goodly number of homes and businesses in the eastern end of chichester, both places hit by that lovely mixture of storm water and raw sewage. not nice.
we desperately need dry weather – this has the makings of one of the wettest years since records began.

my college tutorial didn’t go too badly last night. thankfully, i had time yesterday to grab some relevant stuff off the web, and so was able to blag my way through with some sensible sounding answers. of course, it might be useful if i did a bit more work in time for the exams in the first week of december.

yesterday’s other discovery was webcams – i mean, i knew about them already, but i hadn’t been to any of the big sites before. yesterday i took a butchers at jennicam – i didn’t realise quite how sordid these things were! i mean, there are pictures of her shagging and everything. now, i’m not a total prude, but i’m not sure i’d be too happy if AW installed a camera over the bed so that all and sundry could have a peep at us getting it away (i’m less sure that anyone would want to look!).

but then, now that you’ve seen a picture of us, you might not agree!

thanks to RW I have been foolish enough to submit myself to humiliation on the “Am I Hot Or Not??” website. You can look at my likeness displayed there, and watch as people consistently vote me as “not”.
i’m not yet sure what value this adds to society, but it is suitably silly. or depressing. not sure which.

Weekend update:

Friday – yet another beer session in W2. the world *and* it’s wife were present, which is nice.
Saturday – work. dull. did lecture to Hardy Plant Society and was thus lauded as the new Messiah by yet another bunch of old dears. Doing it again tonight in Old Dear Central (a.k.a. West Wittering).
Sunday – went shopping in Southampton at the new West Quay Shopping Centre thingy which was pretty interesting. Went with AW and SJP, so inevitably there was much clothes looking-at. I went and hid in Tower Records for a while and succumbed to the new Leila album and also the Andrea Parker DJ-Kicks thing. I would add some links, but hey, I’m feeling lazy and I have a sore throat, and if you like music and you like the web, you know where to look. Haven’t had enough time to make a decision about the Leila album, although initial reactions are *mostly* favourable. The Andrea Parker jobby is, of course, fine in extremis. Surprised myself by limiting purchase to just two CDs, although shocked at extortionate Tower prices. Will stick to cd-zone in future. or the labels.

right – slides to prepare to amaze more old bids.

TPL score: 32, taking total to 210. Could do better, especially in defence.

Feeling guilty about not including links for Leila and Andrea Parker yesterday, so here goes:
Leila at XL Recordings
Andrea Parker at Studio K7

happy now?

no, my cold isn’t any better. thanks for asking. goodness, anyone reading this blog would think I’m some poor weakling, always ill.

I’m perturbed. According to RW, your youth runs out when you are thirty. This gives me little more than six months of youth left to mis-spend. But then I guess the world looks that way when you are 25.
Actually, now I am 29 [nearly 30], I’ve come to the conclusion that mis-spendable youth comes in two varieties – that which exists between years 0 and 18 or 21, and that which occurs after you are 31. 29 is the least youthful age of all, and yet all my 31+ friends seem to mis-spend as much of their time as they possibly can. I also think the capacity for mis-spending increases with wealth, and how many 21 – 29 year olds do you know with enough money to seriously mis-spend their time?

of course, my feeling of youthfulness is probably related to my health. As I now have a headache in addition to the sore throat *and* it’s raining **and** I have to go to college tonight ***and*** I have no food in the house, I’m feeling particularly unyouthful!

I’m having a bad hair day. By that, I mean my hair looks bad. No amount of wetting, combing, gentle persuasion or loud cursing will do anything – it just sticks straight up. Whilst this provides a source of mirth for others, I find it downright irritating. Suggestions?

My cold is slightly better today, but I think the chances of shaking it completely before boarding the ferry tomorrow night are slim. guh. At least I have the prospect of a weekend in Brittany to look forward to – assuming I’m not violently seasick on the ferry. The weather forecast I heard yesterday was not inspiring.

links are now “teal” as opposed to old “orange” which I was getting bored with. It was also too bright and didn’t really fit in with the “Grayblog” image (the name is a bit of a pun, and those who truly know who I am will get it – it is *not* an American spelling of grey!).

far more exciting than that – in less than 13 hours, I’ll be on holiday! whoopee! off to Brittany again to stay at Chateau de Kermezen once more. really looking forward to it, although not so sure about the crossing, as the sea state is described as “moderate to rough”. I’ve checked out the pharmacy for seasick pills, but they all cause drowsiness, which is no good as I will be driving too. Interestingly, the pharmacist recommended eating ginger – and everyone else I speak to says the same thing. So, on their recommendation, I’ve purchased a pack of ginger biscuits. Can’t say that I’m convinced myself. I’d rather fly, but AW is terrified of flying, something which I hope over the next few years I can help her get over.

right – work to do, then home to pack.

back from holiday….
and yes, it was great, thanks!

highlights:
- it’s a long way from Cherbourg to Treguier
- going back to the chateau was brilliant – spoilt rotten, which was lovely.
- Morlaix, Granville (haute ville), Saint Malo (intra muros) and Dinan are all super places
- Breton Gateaux consumption should be mandatory
- you can’t buy fuel on a Sunday unless you have a French credit card (see below)
- it’s a long way from Treguier to Cherbourg
- ginger nuts really do prevent seasickness

I have got some piccies, but they are still in the camera – I’ll try and come up with an excuse to use the rest of the film soon, and get a few on here so you can see them. (Yes, if I had a digital camera, I wouldn’t have that problem – I know!)

Amusing petrol story in France:
on Sunday, we were driving about (as you do). Noticed fuel guage in red quartile. Also noticed that most petrol stations closed. Found some labelled “24/24″ and went in. Totally unstaffed, you have to shove your credit card into the pump. And soon we discovered that you need a French credit card to make them work. This left us with a problem – miles from the chateau, with not-many-miles-worth of fuel to get us there. So we end up in Lannion, in a 24 hour service station, on a deserted road, waiting for a French person to come in, in the vague hope that with our very bad French, we can persuade him/her to let us use their card in exchange for cash.
No, I didn’t rate our chances either.
Anyway, after about 15 mniutes, a car pulls up. This guy gets out, and AW (with immense bravery) explains to him what our problem is. He agrees to help (phew) and looks in his car for his card. Which he can’t find. Great. Turns out he is meeting his “friend” in the petrol station, and says we can use his friend’s card. About five minutes later, his friend arrives. Now, I’m not one to cast aspertions (sp?), but would you arrange to meet a female friend (if you were a bloke) in a deserted service station in the middle of Sunday night? no, you wouldn’t. unless you had something to hide of course.
So whilst they were getting on with their extra-marital shenanigans, we got 200F worth of petrol, gave hearty thanks, and made a quiet exit. Tres amusant, mes amis.

Anyway, regardless of all that, we had a brilliant time, and shall be heading back in the spring for a few days – probably a bit longer next time so that we can really wind down.
And if you want to do what we did, here are some handy weblinks:
- P&O Ferries
- Chateau de Kermezen (enter “kermezen” as your search string)
- Treguier

The ferry crossing on the way back was really quite rough, although far from stormy. No hurling here though, thanks to Ginger Nuts! (can’t believe that there is no McVities website – unless I’m looking in the wrong place. The United Biscuits one is dull and doesn’t have any product info).

Other news: Connex South Central lose franchise – more on that tomorrow.

celebration 1:
it’s officially autumn, which I love. the leaves have done some major falling overnight, and the colours are fantastic. now we can look forward to crisp sunny mornings – definitely the best hangover cure in the world.

celebration 2:
today is exactly eight months since my first date with AW. we’re both happy smiley people. ahhh….bless.

celebration 3:
connex have lost the southcentral rail franchise to govia, operator of thames trains and thameslink. not sure if this is entirely good, and i think that connex get blamed for an awful lot that is not entirely their fault. i think the more important factor is the new strategic rail authority, which is a regulator with teeth at last. the new franchise imposes much stricter conditions than the old one, and i think that will have a greater impact on rail services than who actually operates them.
look out for a nice messy divorce as govia attempt to negotiate an early end to connex’s existing contract. govia say they want to get in within a year, but the connex franchise still has 30 months to run.
and don’t expect anything to change quickly. govia say that they will not replace the slam-door trains until 2005, whereas connex had said they would introduce new stock from next year.

TPL:
a measly 21 points this week. total now 231.

according to the death clock I’m going to die on 21 Feb 2045, which is a Tuesday, and just two days after AW. spooky.

this morning I had a hangover, and it was crisp and sunny. neat.
however, none of this prevented me from being nearly an hour late for work. curses on connex and railtrack. and crappy alarm clocks.

why is there such a stigma attached to attending Tupperware parties?

Naked News could become my new favourite web news service provider.

an online version of the paper-rock-scissors game. whatever next?

following on from yesterday’s rhetorical question (“an online version of the paper-rock-scissors game. whatever next?”), comes this answer.

“breasts are powerful”. okaaaaaay.

some “kind soul” has rated my site as “bad” at bloghop. **sulk**

and the fireworks display I was going to go to tonight has been cancelled due to the weather. guh.

Discovered this rather smart blog today not so soft [a world unfolding] [v8.1] courtesy of GBlogs (link at left). Particularly like the Mayfly Project – wherein visitors submit a summary of their personal year in not more than twenty words. I think what worries me most is that the bulk of them are so depressing – are all bloggers miserable? I have to confess that I haven’t found many cheerful blogs so far. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places.

Following a link from the above-named blog, I found Graham Barker’s Navel Fluff Page – to which the only reaction has to be “eeewwwwww!”. I mean, red fluff??! mine is a more typical grey-blue shade. Ugh, really don’t want to think about that.

happiness is working at your PC with a warm cat asleep on your lap (and snoring!)

my god, it’s wet out there. and rough. no trains. flooding. trees down. go check the news for the gory details.

sheep in blue nightdress??

don’t you just hate it when the clocks change, and suddenly it is dark at 5pm. ugh. I can see why some creatures hibernate now.
prospects are not good for getting a train home tonight – looks like connex are still not running any sort of service.

there are still torrents of water pouring off the fields here, although we haven’t had any new rain since mid-morning. having surveyed the nursery, damage seems to be limited to severe waterlogging, some flooding, two fallen trees and two damaged trees – a pretty low score really. instantly, some people are comparing it to the “Great Storm” of 1987. I was here then, and i can tell you for free that what we got last night and this morning was **nothing** in comparison to 87!

GHERKINS, WEIRD SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICAL ODDMENTS
some people have waaaaay too much time

AW has suggested that people reading this blog might think that I’m as miserable as sin and (to use her words) “an old fart”. humph.
well, for the record, I’m not an old fart. well, not much anyway.
I get precious little feedback from Grayblog users, so be a pal and send me mail, otherwise how can I possibly tell if I’m a fart or not??

AW has also suggested that I have belittled the storms that we have had for the last few days. Perhaps I haven’t made myself clear. What I meant was that the gales and winds were nothing compared to 1987. The flooding, on the other hand, is much worse, more like 1988. So yeh, if you are reading this whilst up to your neck in muddy water, then it is pretty bad, and you have my sympathy.

Boyfriend for hire – ah, Romanians…don’t we just love ‘em?

Neighbours complain about naked woman’s singing. Romanians again. I like the guy’s story about being in the lift at the same time – what a coincidence!