Following this recent comment, yesterday I was waved out of a side road by a blonde in a sports car. She didn’t get any financial or sexual benefits either. Who is the loser?

In the ongoing saga of my new windows, I have now received a letter from the district council telling me that I do need full planning consent. This is because my property is a flat and not a house. I think this is a ridiculous piece of discrimination, and if anyone had sufficient time and money to challenge the law in court, I’m sure it would be easy to prove that it is an infringement of human rights.
Anyway, the letter goes on to suggest that the council is unlikely to approve the installation of uPVC windows. So I telephoned the planning office and pointed out that my neighbour has similar style windows to those that I intend to install, as do at least three other nearby houses. This was met with silence. I asked if this would not, in fact, make it pretty much impossible for the council to refuse me permission. “Ah, yes, you’re probably right. I’d recommend that you put an application in, in that case”.
If there is one thing that my family enjoys more than anything else, it is taking on planning authorities. With so much experience down the years, I can usually run rings around them. They must hate me!
The bad news is that because I have to make a full application, it will cost me and Frannie (who owns the upstairs flat) £190, just in application fees. guh.

Having a packet of custard creams in a desk drawer suddenly seems such a sensible idea.

Am I British Or Not – via Luke.

Why cows have legs. I always wondered, to be honest, but now i know. via Nico.

another Friday night. I really must stop having Fridays. Highlights included:

• being chatted up online by a girl called Karen
• being chatted up in the bar by another girl called Karen (a new divorcee – you’d think I’d learn really, wouldn’t you – but hey! being chatted up is such a rare event lately that I make the most of it.)
• beer in the company of Arron, his mates Paul (he’s from Huddersfield you know) and his fiancee/wife Lizzie (Canadian, by all accounts), Matt and the wonderful bar staff Joel, Michelle and the eternally gorgeous (ok, I fancy the pants off her!) Ginny. Also spotted were Kristian and Sal.

And now I’m pissed as a fart. At least I’m honest about it. So to bed, my little furry chums.

oh, and my date for Sunday is definitely off. guh.

at last, anti-Seamus software! – via Marcia.

Life is strange. I’m in a strange mood. I’ve done a few strange things. People are being strange. Everything is just ….strange.

It’s true. I did eat five nectarines at one sitting. And a banana.

Beer last night in Waxy’s Little Sister in Wardour Street, Soho, with Meau, Katie, Nique and James. Nique has posted some pictures. That’s not me, that’s Beaker from the Muppets. Whereas I’m more like this character.

Apparently Ian got very drunk in W2 last night and told Ginny that I fancy her. She couldn’t remember who I was. In a way, I’m glad I wasn’t there.
Also last night, on the train home I was chatted up by a pretty blonde – that’s the second time in two days! I was wearing the same shirt on each occasion – clearly, this shirt has some strange power over women, because I can think of no other reason why they should be attracted to me!

More fun with the Frisbee this evening in the company of the pulchritudinous Tam, Clive, Matt (who has a new squeeze), Sacha, Ian and Arron (complete with fabulous home-made chocs). Just back for dinner and to freshen-up before heading with the others down to W2 to sort out the mess with Ginny. How embarrassing is this going to be?

Update (and I know you are all waiting with baited breath for this):
Ginny wasn’t in the bar by the time I got there. Which is probably a good thing. I reckon she’ll have forgotten about the whole thing by now, so I can go on with life just as normal. Cool.
Drinks with the pulchritudinous Tam (who so needs a good massage – so much tension in those shoulder muscles!), Arron (what?! no chocs?!), Paul F (back from holiday, tanned and with his drug-dealer shirt on – and don’t ask about the squid), Clive (who will be starting work at 4.30am – mad), Matt (who apparently got his end away in his hair salon the other day, but we don’t think it was captured on this webcam which is located there), Aris (needs a wig for the full Ginola effect, we feel), and Ian (a one-man smoke machine). Also seen were Sal, DJ, Agnes, Kristian, Leah (looking the worse for wear after a major session last night) and Joel. A really good end to the day – relaxing with friends over a few beers.
And, in time-honoured tradition, and just to satisfy a very small number of readers who expect me to say this: I’ve had a few beers, and I’m really tired, so I’m going to bed now, in the company of EvilDuvet II.

Links for Drinks logo added to navbar – I think you can get the drift. Alternatively, I have been know to do links for Amazon wishlist gifts.

There is a really splendid specimen of Robinia pseudoacacia growing about twenty yards from my front door. It is planted at the base of the city walls, and towers above them. At the moment, it is festooned with masses of clusters of white flowers which give a thick, heady scent. It is a tree that you see planted all over Europe (it is an American native), and the scent on a warm evening always reminds me of holidays in warmer places.
I saw a statistic recently that suggested that Britons think about holidays every two minutes on average. Someone, somewhere, is not thinking about holidays anything like as much as I am at the moment.

It’s always very worrying when you are chatting to a friend on AIM, and they type “shit, bombscare” and go quiet. More bulletins as events develop.

Revision in a sun-drenched Priory Park last night, which was both restful and productive, followed by beer with Paul F and Paul S in the Nags, moving to W2 later to join Simone, Bek, their French friend (Celine?) and Joel. Bek generously gave me her phone number and insisted I call her – and I wasn’t even wearing my lucky shirt. Perhaps the fact that Bek was slightly the worse for wear had more to do with it.

bloody hell, what a busy day! Work is mad at the moment.
No word from Meg yet, but equally no word of a bomb going off in London, so one must assume that she is ok.

Meg wasn’t blown up, which is a relief.

Another evening spent revising in the most beautiful park for miles, Priory Park. I am incredibly lucky that it is only two minutes walk from my front door, equipped with benches affording fantastic views of the Guildhall and cathedral.

Today is World Environment Day. Make sure that you think about the consequences of what you do, not just today, but every day.

Having read her site a long while ago, and decided that she really must be quite frightening, I’ve exchanged a couple of emails with Lyssa over the last couple of days, and come to the conclusion that she isn’t frightening at all. Which is nice. So she’s now in the blog list in the nav bar (the highest accolade bestowed at Grayblog, I can tell you!).

Apologies for the paucity of blogging. Work is mad at the moment, and then there are exams to think about as well. So expect a quiet few days here. I promise I will post something if anything really newsworthy happens.
A few days ago, I posted my voting intentions here. I have seen nothing to change my mind, so that is exactly what I’ll be doing tomorrow (early on – want to get it done and leave the rest of the day free for lots of work – guh.)

linked all over, but worth linking again

ok, I wasn’t going to, but I ended up down the pub. Seen in action: Paul F, Paul S, the eternally gorgeous Ginny, Kristian, Sal, Leah and Patrick, sporting what looked suspiciously like a particularly gorgeous squeeze – how does he do it with a mullet like that?

hehehe

Fantastic! If you search Google for W C Fields and orange and vodka and inject (!!!), this site comes top of the results page!

Comedy election story, thanks to the Telegraph.

I am concerned the orgasms are now classed as ickle. Or maybe I’m just bragging. Either way, they are a rare event round here lately, so that makes them a big deal.

Inevitable political comment post follows (feel free to go make a cup of tea if this doesn’t interest you):

• Election result: no surprise
• Turnout: even less of a surprise, and probably speaks more than the result itself
• Conservative party leadership: not surprising either. Though, it has to be said, if there was a Portillo-Clarke pact (as has been mooted by some journalists already) that could effectively hold the two sides of the party together in the same way that the Blair-Prescott pact has so far, then the party might have a future. It would need a serious dose of rebranding though – “New Conservative”? or has that been done before? And if that doesn’t work, then Charles Kennedy might be right, and the LibDems will become the true party of opposition.
• Widdecombe: please, someone save us from the woman.

Beer last night with Paul F (who had won an inordinate amount of cash on the gee-gees at Goodwood), Kearn, DA, DAGS and Sacha. Also noted: Cat, Michelle, Steve and Joel.

Blissful slumber was rudely interrupted at 4.20am last night by the sound of smashing glass and laughter. Some bright spark had decided that it would be hilariously funny to smash my bedroom window, presumably with the aid of a beer bottle judging by the shape of the hole. If it hadn’t been for my secondary glazing, I would have been showered in tiny shards of glass as I lay in bed.
I usually sleep naked, so with only a sheet to cover myself, I decided that leaping out of bed and giving chase through the streets of Chichester was probably not wise. However, needless to say, I was seriously pissed off about the whole episode, particularly as I was in the middle of a rather pleasant dream (the details of which I will not go into here). I got up and checked that none of the other windows had been damaged (they hadn’t), put on some clothes and had a quick look around outside (it being quite light by this time) – no sign of anyone, or anything that could be used to break a window.
So I went back to bed, feeling incredibly tired. It probably will not surprise you to learn that I didn’t sleep much after that.
When the time came to get up, I swept and hoovered up all the glass shards (it was like dust – the pane had completely disintegrated), had breakfast, and left for work (my windows are due for replacement, and can’t actually be opened, so I wasn’t too worried about security). When I got to work (a show at Stansted House), I put a call in to Mum and Dad to tell them what had happened, and Dad went over and fixed the window – fantastic! So I picked up a bottle of white Rioja for him on the way home as a token of thanks. Dads are great (well, mine is anyway!).

I am very strung out. Today has been a very strange, hard, difficult and emotional day:

• firstly, my experience with the window (see below) – they say that your home is a castle. Well, today the defences were breached. I feel that my home has been sullied in some way.
• secondly, having to give apologies for not attending an informal memorial for a guy I knew only a little, who died in unusual circumstances at the beginning of the year
• thirdly, some news for people who remember the old Grayblog, which you will now find linked in the navbar (it seemed appropriate to do so). Today, Kev and Andrea announced their engagement. Sarah called me to tell me. I was a little taken aback, and decided that I needed to think on things for an hour or two at least. As is usual for me, if I need to think, I retreat to the bath – it is a distraction-free zone – and that is where I spent an hour this evening, deciding how I feel, what to do, and so on.
  For those that do not know, Kev was my closest friend for nearly twenty years. Andrea was my lover for nearly a year. I found dealing with the fact that we broke up and they then started seeing each other very hard to handle, the most difficult thing I have ever had to handle.
  Tonight, I took one of the more difficult decisions I have ever had to take. Whilst it is not a case of forgive and forget, because I don’t think I can do that, it is a case of moving on.
  So, having taken my very long bath, I got dressed and headed down to the bar, where Sarah had told me they would be. I had a lot of thoughts racing through my head – I was physically shaking, and was far from convinced that I could hold myself together once there. But I had decided to go there and congratulate them, and give them my best wishes, and that is what I did, with the aid of a bottle of champagne. Tears flowed liberally in all quarters.
  I am still very hurt by what happened, I still feel betrayed, and I still miss what went before. But, at the end of the day, Kev and Andrea are starting out on a big new part of their lives, and I don’t think it is right that I should be begrudging of that. Please don’t expect me to be positively ecstatic about the situation, but times have moved on, and so have the people involved.
  As I said above – this is not forgive and forget. This is moving on.

So I’m fraught tonight. And tired. And more than a little lonely. Tonight, more than any other for a long time, I would give anything to have a warm pair of arms around me.
But warm words and sentiments from friends mean so much. So thanks to Kearn, DA, Stein, Paul F, Michelle, my brother Tim, Jane P, Marcia, Matt, Nick and, of course, to Sarah, the very best friend anyone could wish for.
The next few days, with emotional stress, work stress, exam stress and flat stress are likely to be hard.

not for viewing near the boss

Silent Film – Animals That Swim.
At the moment, I feel that I am watching life from a great height. It’s possibly silent too.

A long long long weekend. I’m still a bit strung out, and very very tired. Brief beer tonight with Aris (who is getting older), Paul F and Joel. A hug would be good now. Much kudos to my fabulous friends.

Davo becomes a blog of note at Blogger. We, of course, have known that for ages.

my bestest online pal is, officially, ickle.

My horoscope for today:

You seem to have hit a dead end. Retracing your steps is the only option, painful as that may be. A truly special friendship is forged by extreme circumstances. While you probably won’t be celebrating a victory over the next few days, you can probably take comfort in the fact that some crisis has brought you much closer to someone you thought you hardly knew — or never considered becoming good friends with. The great thing about human problems is that they bring out compassion and humility.

Which is all kinda true.

Today would have been an utterly fantastic day if it had not been for the revision! I got up late (by my standards – still fairly early for most other people when taking a day off work), and, after breakfast, took my revision notes and books the short walk to Priory Park, sat on a bench on “The Mound” (site of a Norman bailey) and read my notes, enjoyed the sun (got burnt!), watched the groundsman going round and around the cricket pitch on his mower, and took in the view of the trees, Guildhall, cathedral and city skyline.
After three hours of reading, I took a break, and headed to St Martin’s Tearoom for the house speciality – welsh rarebit. St Martin’s is a fantastic tearoom, serving organic vegetarian food that is really good – the rarebit is to die for, especially when enjoyed in the garden in the dappled shade of a cherry tree, with a good cup of coffee and a book. An expensive luxury, admittedly, but I get lunch out so rarely, and I felt I deserved it after three hours of revising.
After lunch, I wandered off to the shops to buy a new calculator and pencil for tomorrow’s exam, as well as a phone voucher, sunblock (shutting the door after the horse has bolted) and some food. In my travels I bumped into Simone, Bek (sober this time) and Bora. There was, inevitably, chewing of the cud. I also got a call from Heather too, and we discussed tomorrow’s exam and the cud.
After all that and an ice cream, I headed back to the park for another three hours of revision, this time distracted by snogging teenagers, toddlers toddling and cricketers practising in the nets. Then home for tea and a rest.
If only every day could be spent in a beautiful sun-kissed park!

Bizarre Google search of the day.

This morning’s exam was not too bad at all – pretty straightforward. Question 2 was particularly easy – “using an organisation of your choice, describe how they are using the internet and ICT in the marketing mix” – i.e. write about your job for 30 minutes. Still not looking forward to tomorrow’s though – back to the park and revision I think.

Beer and food at lunchtime with Paul F, Sarah and the long lost Chas in the Toad. Very pleasant. We were well pandered to, as Paul highlighted.

today in brief….
- exam this morning – the last one! wahey! not the worst, but not the easiest either. I think I gave possibly the most waffle-filled answers I have ever given, but I think (hope?) I have done enough to pass. I certainly do not want to have to do it again.
- lunch with Becky, Will, Chris and Gill from the course in the Hogs Head. Very pleasant.
- back to work, which was a bummer, followed by four hours driving around Sussex fly-posting in a highly illegal manner.
- then to W2 for beer with Paul F, Arron and Simone. A relaxing end to the day.

I’ve always suffered from a conflict of interest when it comes to things like this. You see, flowers and plants are my job, but I have been known to sneeze for Britain when given the right combination of mood, irritant and weather. However, it has to be said that carpet shops always make me sneeze more than plants, but I’m strange like that.

Paul F had the entire grille removed from his car by these people. What on earth do you do with a collection of car badges? And a whole grille for that matter? Stash them under your bed? Why??

although the exams are done, I continue to be very busy, mainly with organising the Garden Event at West Dean which is nearly upon us. So sparse blogging for the next ten days or so, then normal service will be resumed.
On the subject of exams, in case you were wondering, I should get there results sometime around the third week of August.

There are some nights when it pays to go out. Tonight, I got home quite late from work in a completely blue mood, then poked about on the net, got the cricket score (guh) and cooked dinner. Then, feeling a bit morose and at a loose end, I headed for the bar. Absolutely nobody else out (only Joel and Rory behind the bar, plus sightings of Simone, Bek, Celine, Kristian, Hayley, Leah and Sal – which, since most of them are W2 staff, barely counts). But, thanks to the arrival of four foreign dentistry students, the evening improved radically. They provided top entertainment for the evening by knocking back quantities of tequila, quizzing Rory about his lovelife (top improvisation by the man!) and being generally pissed and funny. Then, suddenly I found myself talking with Emma, 28, Polish and very lovely (the pick of the bunch according to the other guys). We had a long chat about Chichester, politics and dentistry (no, really! – the advantages of dealing with old dears in Chichester as opposed to wife-beating victims in London, and the highly Conservative nature of Chichester), our photo was taken and I can still smell her perfume now. What an incredible shame that they are all going back to London tomorrow! But she did succeed in putting a big smile on my face, and promised she would be back in two years when she has finished her course, as she wants to get a post in Chichester (she hates London). Well, I told her where to find me (at the bar in W2 of course!), and hopefully she will look me up!

Peter Pan – 47 and single. Can’t imagine why.

Next time there is a blogmeet, I’m going to make sure I go so that I can stamp on ideas like this before they get started.

There is Chinese food all over my table, cigarette butts and empty glasses. And I have a very big smile on my face.

<mantra>
I must not screw up
I must not screw up
I must not screw up
</mantra>

Beer and advice tonight from Brenda, Greg, Arron, Simone, Leah, Sal and Joel – everyone else had cleared off to the foot and mouth ball. Txt msgs from v drunk Sarah. Head full, going to bed.

I am not stressed about this whole situation at all. No, I’m not. Really.

ok, maybe just a bit.
Ridiculous – there is nothing to stress about. I mean, it’s not as if anything happened really, or any commitments were made. Gah! Refer to mantra below.

Another long day at work, followed by another take away, to be followed by a bath and then out for a swift pint to catch up on the gossip from last night’s ball.

This morning I have a sore throat and feel decidedly off-colour – no doubt the result of Friday night’s activities combined with spending Saturday stood in the rain.
Maybe as a result of that, coupled with the Silence Of The Telephone, the optimism which has carried me at great height through the weekend is slowly beginning to ebb away. No, I’m not stressing about it, no really, I’m not. Honest.

I just wish she’d call. I hate waiting. I’m crap at waiting.

Beer last night with Arron, Aris, Dan, Joel and Simone. Tried to catch up with the gossip from the Foot and Mouth Ball, but it seems there wasn’t much, which I find surprising.
I haven’t talked about the Ball much, mainly because I didn’t go – it was held on a farm just outside of Chichester, to raise money for charities supporting communities hit by the foot and mouth crisis. It was organised by Steve and a couple of other guys from down the bar (including Mich), and featured DJs and Paul F’s band. I know they sold more than 350 tickets at £25, and that most of the stuff they needed (venue, bands, beer) was provided free – so hopefully they raised a lot of money. Kudos to the organisers.
Why didn’t I go? Well, I knew I had long days at work on Saturday and Sunday, and as the ball was an all-nighter, going on until 6am, I thought it wise not to go. But on Saturday, I was wondering if I had made the right decision, as just about everyone else was going, including a Certain Someone. But where do you find a dinner jacket at short notice on a Saturday afternoon when you are stuck in a field with lousy mobile phone reception? So I resigned myself to not going, which in view of the fact I was so tired at the end of the day was probably a good thing. But I was left wondering what went on there.
Certain Someone asked me by SMS on Saturday if I would be going – I think she was hoping I would. Wish I had – perhaps then I wouldn’t be left wondering, as I am now.

Arf.

Look, this is getting embarrassing. Go and vote now please.

My horoscope:

Your beauty eclipses every other celestial body. The sweeping force of love is at your disposal, however you care to use it. Seek out the people with whom you are best matched. The result will be a harmonious melody that wafts over the landscape and lulls everybody into a very real state of security. Even though it won’t last forever, it will provide plenty of hope and optimism for those who need it most. Others, like you, will hardly need a reason to keep smiling and laughing.

Hmmm. Wise words or hippy tree-hugging crap? At the moment, the tide of optimism is still sufficiently strong to carry me to the wise words camp.

For the umpteenth night in recent times, I’ve only just got in from work. This weekend should hopefully see the reward for all this effort. I think I deserve to be rewarded handsomely, and the weather forecast suggests that the omens are good.
In other news:

• I have a brutal new haircut which I love. Thanks Jo.
• I have more votes, but still need more
• The Silence Of The Telephone continues.

Sneaky swift beer last night with Paul F and Peter Pan (a.k.a. Aris), joined by Simone, Leah, Tina and Sal. Viewed Sal’s pictures from the ball – looks good, but I’m still disappointed that nothing scandalous took place.

It’s my mum’s birthday today, so buns and doughnuts all round.

And I plan to end The Silence Of The Telephone at 7pm today. Keep your fingers crossed.

I’m not stressed. No, I’m not.

I’m going to outlaw mobile phone answering services. If you have a mobile phone, it should be switched on at all times, and you should answer it. End of story.
Gah. Back to the waiting, which I suspect will ultimately be futile.

The waiting was not futile.
I’m wearing an enormous grin.

still grinning!

yup – still grinning, even now.

I’ve just spent the evening in the company of a very beautiful woman, enjoying good food (cooked by me – chicken in wild mushroom and champagne sauce, followed by fresh strawberries and cream), good wine (well, the remnants of the champagne and a bottle of chablis) and lots and lots of talking.
I’m waiting to see where this leads – there is nervousness in both camps for various reasons, but there also seems to be a desire to meet again and spend more time together. Take each day as it comes I guess.
And Graybo’s top tip for today: buy flowers, preferably a lovely big bouquet of white and gold flowers from the best florist for miles. It worked tonight.

hmmm.

Not sure how I feel this morning. Uncertain? All I can say with any certainty is that I’m really tired and my flat is a mess. As for the other matter – well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what unfolds over the next few days and weeks. And waiting for things to unfold has never been one of my strongest traits.
But it was a good evening – and I think and hope that there will be more evenings like that one to come.

And in other news:

• Cal has rearranged the poll results so that you can see at a glance how badly I am doing. guh.
• the weather forecast for the weekend remains excellent, so hopefully some useful money making opportunities
• I need a holiday

I’ll vouch for her. Meg is real.

Who, oh why, am I still at work?
Probably because if everything goes well, the money-making opportunities this weekend will be large.
Of course, if things don’t go well, then I’ll have ovulations on my fizog.
The phone is quiet again too, but I didn’t really expect it to be otherwise.

*STILL* at work. guh. but going home now.

“Halfwit”? huf.
I usually refuse to be drawn into justifying my blog content once again, but for Nancy’s benefit, I’ll do it here.
I blog the way I do because I want to. I am open about my blog. The person who I had the date with on Wednesday is aware of my site, although she isn’t aware of its content – yet. I fully intend to tell her, but only when the time is right. Also, Nancy (and I tend only to use people’s names when they have really wound me up), there is nothing in what I posted that is in any way personal or revealing about the person concerned. I think all that I have said so far is that we had a really nice evening together (which is true), that I’d like to see her again (also true), but that we are both a bit nervous (I mean, c’mon! look at what has happened so far this year – you expect me *not* to be nervous?). Nothing I have said reveals the identity of the person concerned (not even her Christian name) or anything about her – where she lives, her age, what she does, her background ….. not even the colour of her hair.
So please, Nancy, get out of my face.

Beer tonight with Greg, Brenda, DA, DAGS, Sacha, Ian, Kev, Andrea, Tanya, Kearn, Hev, Terry and a long lost friend – Liv. Liv used to work behind the bar in W2, and I haven’t seen her for ages. When she worked there, we always got on really well, and seeing her tonight, albeit breifly, felt as if it was only last week that I last saw her. She’s lovely – I miss her being around.

A long long long day. Up just after 5am to get to West Dean by 6am, and run my event there. The day mostly went smoothly, aided by glorious sunshine. Lots of visitors will help to swill my coffers, which is always a bonus. But I’m really tired now.
And if you fancy a garden-oriented day out, the event is on tomorrow as well, from 10.30 to 5 at West Dean Gardens, near Chichester.

plug ends.

And two text messages from a certain someone (henceforth referred to as CS) helped make it a good day too.

Have updated the Graybiography, mainly with alterations to the friends list, with a bit of housekeeping too.

For all those people who have come here searching for pictures of the killers of James Bulger, you will not find them here.
Opinion: anyone who thinks of trying to track down these boys and commit some sort of revenge act against them is as low as any other perpetrator of violence. What would such an act achieve? Nothing. Nothing at all. It would serve only to compound the tragedy of this story by robbing two more families of their sons. Two wrongs never make a right.

yay! another good day at the Garden Event, with lots of people. Looks like we have got around 4000 people over the two days – will have the official figures tomorrow. I’ve put a lot of work into this year’s event, so I’m so glad and relieved that it worked well.
I’m absolutely exhausted now – so very very tired. I’m going to have a soak in the bath and then a long night of sleep.

and, to top off the day, two text messages from CS and a phone call. A friend said today that I was walking around with a coathanger in my mouth! (in other words, for the hard of understanding, I’m still grinning like the Cheshire cat)

tip for today: rush out and buy Nitin Sawhney’s album Prophesy. It’s utterly brilliant, especially the track ‘Cold and Intimate’.

gosh, it’s hot.

In poll news, I’m coming up behind Brooke quickly. Insert your own joke here.

Very useful. especially for Americans listening to TMS on the net.

Beer tonight with Paul F, Ian, Claudette and the lovely Simone, as well as her mate Paul (didn’t get his surname – how do I distinguish him from all the other Pauls? “Paul X”? Noooooo, that makes him sound like a porn star. Maybe he is a porn star?). A relaxing evening, filled with the usual banter and smutty comments – just about what I needed to keep me grounded and in touch with reality (which is increasingly difficult).

strange. But ..um.. rather good. Link nabbed from Robyn.

I’m considering taking a short break. Having browsed a few online lastminute.com type places, I’ve got a shortlist: Oporto, Verona, Naples, Venice and Seville. Unfortunately, Stockholm wasn’t available. Recommendations anyone?

yet another way to avoid doing useful work. I blame Mo.

hmm. Readymeals. Instructions:
Remove your meal from the card wrapper and remove the film lid. Preheat the oven to an unbearable temperature. Place the meal in the oven. Leave it there until your flat is unbearably hot. Remove it when you can stand it no more. Discover that your meal is so darned hot that you can not eat it for 20 minutes. Have a banana instead.

I have the day off work tomorrow – it’ll be the first day that I haven’t worked since May 13th – yes, that’s right, I have worked every day for nearly six weeks (other than when I was doing my exams, and I don’t count that as holiday). So I’m going to lay in bed late, then probably head over to Brighton to mooch about the shops – if anyone is in Brighton and fancies meeting up for lunch/coffee/beer, give me a shout.

Not so much Dinnerblog as Graybo’s Handy Recipe Reference. A couple of people have asked for the recipe for the chicken dish I cooked last week that went so well – so here it is:

Chicken with wild mushroom and champagne sauce
Serves 4 (or two greedy people)
Preparation takes about 10 minutes if you are organised, and cooking 30 minutes. It pays to pre-heat your oven to a low temperature so that you can keep the chicken warm.

Ingredients:

• 500g chicken breast fillets (i.e. 4 fillets)
• 300ml champagne (although you can use cava or any other sparkling dry white wine – but nothing impresses a guest quite like champagne!)
• a little olive oil for frying
• 250g wild mushrooms, cleaned and larger mushrooms halved (wild mushrooms includes all those funny ones you don’t often see – ceps, blewitts, girolles, chanterelles – whatever you can get in your local deli – did I say this recipe was cheap? no, I did not)
• 2 tbsp half fat crème fraîche (the only concession to calorie reduction in this meal)
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (I actually used about twice this amount)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Place the chicken breasts in a single layer in a large saucepan. Pour over the champagne and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken breasts are thoroughly cooked.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the mushrooms for 2-3 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden. Strain the chicken breasts, reserving the liquor, and keep warm (see! I told you to warm the oven!). Add the reserved liquor to the mushrooms and allow to bubble for 3-4 minutes. Reduce the heat and stir in the crème fraîche and tarragon. Simmer gently for 2 minutes, until the sauce has thickened slightly. Season to taste.
• Slice the chicken breasts diagonally into thick slices and arrange of warmed serving plates. Pour over the sauce straight away and serve.

I served this on a bed on white and wild rice mixed with fresh green beans, which worked really well. But then the second bottle of wine had been opened by this point, so it could have tasted of anything to be honest!
Thanks to Waitrose for the recipe.

Book review time (haven’t had one of these for a while – college, work and everything else has got in the way of reading, but now I’ve found more time, and will gradually work through the backlog of books):
Don’t Tell Me The Truth About Love by Dan Rhodes – an excellent collection of short stories all themed around love. I have to agree with some of the other reviews that I have read – Dan Rhodes is brilliantly sparing with words – he can convey not only description, but raw and powerful emotion, using the minimum amount of words. In consequence, his stories flow without being interrupted by long wads of prose trying to convey something – excellent stuff.
The stories themselves manage to convey something of the reality of love, using quite unreal situations – in particular, he focuses on love’s imperfections, on how things rarely work out as well as we dream.
My advice – go get it, read it, enjoy.
Thanks to Vaughan once again.

Results of my trip to Brighton today:

• a new jacket, ready for a trip to the races on Friday, as well as a new shirt and smart trousers. Bizarrely for me, all these things came from Debenhams, who seemed to have been exposed to a swift kick up the backside in the menswear department. I was seriously tempted by some Fahri stuff I saw, but it was way beyond my budget – but very cool, nonetheless.
• a new book, Three To See The King by Magnus Mills. Already I’m half way through, so expect a review shortly. So far, I like it. Lots.
• lunch in Food for Friends.
• birthday gifts and cards for the weekend.
• two CDs: Slag Boom Van Loon: So Soon and Andrea Parker: The Dark Ages – all good stuff.
• some bath ballistics.
• a new pair of shoelaces (woohoo).
• ….plus some odds and ends from Habitat.

Beer tonight with Paul S, Sal, Paul F, Ginny, Leah, Kristian, Trev and some very drunk people. Nice.

A worthy cause it seems to me. If you have a website, I think you need to read this and adopt it. I have enough problems attracting readers without Microsoft nabbing the few I get. Via Nico.

hmmm. I’ve not been following Big Brother at all (I don’t have a TV, and frankly, this sort of thing bores me witless) – but, I am fairly convinced that Narinder is someone I had a lengthy e-mail friendship with a few years ago, although we have lost touch now. Does anyone have any info on her? The woman I knew lived in Nottingham.

In the holiday choice stakes, Verona and Venice are nudging a gentle lead from Oporto (which is my preferred destination), with Seville trailing badly (too hot at this time of year, apparently). Nobody has anything to say about Naples. I plan to book this over the weekend, so you still have a little time to get comments in.
Oh, and I am *not* going to Ibiza.

Political comment for today: let me see if I have got this right – the government is going to give employees the right to ask for something, and preserve the employer’s right to say “no”. So, um, what is the point of this, exactly? Who, other than the bureaucrats, actually gains from this gem of New Labour thinking?

Condolences to the Morgan family.
When I was born, I had a full set of grandparents. My maternal grandfather died within two weeks of my birth. I am told he was an amazing character, one of the nicest people you could wish to meet with a fantastic sense of humour. In a way, I’m glad he was alive to see the day his youngest grandchild was born.
My paternal grandparents both died before I was ten years old, so my memories of them are vague at best. My maternal grandmother lived until I was in my late teens, reaching the mighty age of 93 – and therein lies a source of regret. Like just about every other teenager on the planet, I was too obsessed with youth and my own perceived troubles to spend much time with my grandmother. She lived through two world wars, survived being bombed-out of her home, raised six children only to see one die in her teens, witnessed social and technological change that would stagger the imagination and went through life with a cheerful, positive and friendly demeanour.
If only I had spent more time with her, perhaps I might have learned a few things that would be useful to me today.

today, you can colour me a particularly green-and-olive shade of fatigued. I’m really struggling to stay awake and keep focused on anything. My mind is wandering all over the place, and one or two things are filling my thoughts rather more than I would like. It isn’t an entirely positive situation, but I do have a good evening to look forward to (I hope!).

In other news, this man has a doppelganger. As I was driving through Chichester this morning, I passed a man who looked just like him. However, when challenged, Mr Jordan denied being in the city at 8.30am today. I must say that this character did not seem to be accosting passers-by with tales of his genitalia, which should have been a giveaway really.
However, Nick has threatened to come down here unannounced and walk around the city just to freak me out. In fact, it has even been suggested that he might just hang around near the homes of random ukbloggers, purely for the purpose of freaking them out. Evil walking around – a new blood sport? It could catch on.

I seem to be clicking much more than usual today. By “clicking”, I mean that my knees and ankles make a clicking noise as I walk. They’ve done it for years (since my teens at least) and they do it more on some days than others. An ex-girlfriend advised me to take cod liver oil as a supplement to help suppress this, but I can’t say that my daily dose has made a whole heap of difference.
So why click more today? I took my CLO pill this morning as usual. Maybe not getting that much sleep, and getting what I did in an unusual environment, has had an impact.
Any readers know anything about clicking joints? What should I do to alleviate it? And why does it always happen more in quiet corridors?

“I swear the whole internet is like a creepy group therapy session for every fucked up thing imaginable.” Yup. Blogging especially.

According to the days calculator, I was 11,000 days old last Saturday. The next landmark for me is reaching the grand old age of 1 billion seconds, which I will reach on January 19 2003. Link via Richard.

What an evening! Eventually made it to the races for the last race, where, thanks to the guidance of another, a winner was picked, which went part-way towards the cost of the champagne and sweetened my mood considerably. In action tonight were Paul F, Ian, Sacha, Greg, Brenda, Anne, Trev, Simone, Becky, Gill and several others.
Now the scene is one of empty wine glasses, chinese food, burning candles and a big smile.

Horoscope for today.

The time has come to sink or swim. Drop your ballast to increase mobility. Anyone who matters is sure to be attracted by your new attitude of honesty and efficiency. This means that in the forthcoming days, you need to go to extra pains to be yourself. Either that, or you need to put on a mask of who you are — the most accurate likeness you can find — and show that to the rest of the world. You are a really not as vulnerable as you feel, so perhaps you can venture a little farther into the unknown than you could last time. Quite a bit has changed since then.

Today I went to Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum to attend a food fair there (it was work, honest!). Firstly, doesn’t the combination of wildfowl and vintage cars strike you as an odd mix? And secondly, why collect fowl? I’m not sure that I see the attraction of keeping around a thousand ducks, geese and swans in captivity. Admittedly, they looked pretty contented, in large smart clean enclosures, with lots of grass and trees and shrubs, as well as access to plenty of water to bathe, paddle and swim in. But it did strike me that this was like “twitching” without the thrill of the chase (if that is what makes birdwatching such a “fun” activity).
Although I will confess that the ducklings were cute.

Specially trained gerbils??

Beer with Stein and Simone. Nobody else out at all, which is unusual for a Saturday. So I’ve come home early and will now head to bed as I am exhausted.

yet another reason to worry about Marcia.