Beer tonight with Patrick, Dave, Teresa and Malcolm, with sightings of Kristian and the long-lost Chris and Becs, looking as beautiful as ever (Becs, not Chris!). Light-hearted chit-chat, which is just what the doctor ordered.

When BBC news stories collide.

This week’s Friday diversion: online bubble wrap. via Nick.

Readers will undoubtedly be relieved to learn that there is a parallel Graybo in a secure and secret bunker, ready and able to continue compiling this site in the event of a weapon of mass destruction being used against me.
Actually, I’m sure that Mo has probably had a parallel system in place for ages.

In case you’re wondering, I’m feeling ok today. Not great, but ok. Yesterday’s developments were not a massive surprise to me, but are still an enormous disappointment. I’ll live to fight another day though.
And thank you to everyone that sent messages - they helped to cheer me up.

Beer tonight with Bren, Greg, Heidi, Paul F, Arron, Kearn, Simon and Jeremy. Sightings of Malcolm, Dave, Gary, Laura and a few others.
I’m ok. No, really, I am.

I have a headache and lots of work to do. And I have a lot on my mind.
None of which are good for blogging. So expect long pauses here for a day or two. Sorry.
Why not go check out some other blogs? Some of my favourites are in the navbar on the right of this page in the “personal sites” dropdown menu.

Beer tonight with Paul F, Malcolm, Kearn, DA, Dave, Gary, Phil, Kev, Simon, Andrea, Jeremy, Matt, Ian, Tanya, Claudine, Helen N, Justin and Caroline.
I’m still ok. Honest.

Happy birthday to Sarah. We’re having lunch together today to celebrate - must wrap her gift before she comes round.

Lunch with Sarah, Abby and her other half, Ross. And beer. Need to sleep now, but have to do more homework - guh.

One of the best things about using a grill to make toast is that you can cook just one side, so that you have a side that will absorb yummy cheesy scrambled egg whilst the underside will retain its crisp firmness and not go sloppy.
It’s the little things in life that make it all worthwhile.
And, yes, I’m still pretending to be ok.

I’m beginning to hate horoscopes.

They always tell me unpalatable truths that I’m already aware of.

What is wrong with this picture? Look closely now. via him.

Go help with Dan’s survey. The results should be interesting, to say the least.

When Bagpuss and the A-Team collide. via Vic.

I happen to know that Mo stacks shelves at his local Tesco. He likes to talk up his job by creating an air of mystery, but, in reality, it is nothing glamorous.

It’s a beautiful warm sunny early spring day. Damn. At this rate my mood will improve, and that would never do.

Beer tonight with DA, Kev, Andrea, Kearn, Aris and Dave. And a laugh at college.
I’m ok.

Sparks. Class.

TFF: 28 points, taking my total to 816.
Transfer: OUT: Terry, IN: Ziege.

Who likes a good conspiracy theory? Did a Boeing really crash into the Pentagon? via Nico.

Osama bin Laden’s weblog.

Went to see Blue Velvet this evening. It’s a strange world, Jeffrey.
Tomorrow: Mulholland Drive.
Bizarrely, Blue Velvet brought back some very distant and pleasant memories which only one person who only very occasionally reads this site will key in to.

Today’s top purchase - Amon Tobin’s Supermodified - go buy. Now. No, go on!!

Last night, John Peel played Sparks. Tonight - Roxy Music. And the Bays (web presence?). Which is why I love his show.
UPDATE: The Bays session is one of the best things I’ve ever heard on Peel. It’s going to be on the BBC website next week - remind me to link it.
FURTHER UPDATE: thebays.com.

Busy. So quiet here. Off to a seminar this afternoon, then cinema this evening. So likely to remain quiet too.

House prices continue to rocket. I saw a “For Sale” sign on a flat I’ve always coveted on my way to cinema last night, so on the way home I took a detour past the agent’s window to see what price it is. Ground floor. One bedroom. Parking space. £155,000. My flat (also one bed, parking space, ground floor) is worth around half that, and isn’t that much smaller.
Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to continue coveting.

Shockingly, the seminar I went to this afternoon actually proved to be useful, in a thought-provking kind of way.
Either way, it was good to get out of the office for a few hours, and network with a few people from other nurseries.

Mulholland Drive. Wow.
Go and see it if you haven’t done so already. It is visually and aurally stunning. I think I need to see it at least ten more times before I figure out exactly what the hell is going on. In fact, I could go and watch it again, right now.
Wow.

Sorry for the silence today - Blogger has been down all day (another opportunity for all those using other content management systems to be smug).
Anyway, more tomorrow.
But beer tonight with Bren, Greg, Arron, Stein, DA, Paul C, Kearn, Paul F, Helen N with sightings of Phil, Malcolm, Dave, Gary, Laura and many others.

Plan for today:

• Drink coffee
• Go to the bank
• Drink more coffee
• Do college work
• Have lunch
• Go to Waitrose
• Drink coffee
• Cook and eat dinner
• Head to the pub

Football - Brighton are playing away at Reading today. We need a win.

I must say that my idea of a perfect day off does not involve spending nearly six hours doing college work (and even then, not completing it). Sigh.

Beer tonight with the splendid Ian, the gorgeous Sasha (I’m not paid to say this stuff) as well as these fantastic people: Julie, Caroline, Paul F, Malcolm, Kearn, Arron, Dave, Helen N, Alison, Justin and many many more.

Somebody has found this page by looking for a Boards of Canada conspiracy theory. Anyone got anything on that one?

Now here is something useful for the linguists amongst my readership (I know you’re out there). Obviously a top quality site because it includes a link to Grayblog.
Actually, this site is more useful because it raises the issue of minority, dying and dead languages - a whole cultural and human rights issue that it would do us all well to ponder for at least a moment or two.
Of course, as someone recently pointed out, I have little room to talk on this subject:

Mothers’ Day today, and so I shall be hosting a dinner tonight for the parents at Chez Graybo. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to tidy up before they get here.

Today has that long day feeling already.

Meg has pointed me in the direction of MEMRI - The Middle East Media and Research Institute, “an independent, non-profit organization providing translations of the Arabic and Farsi media and original analysis and research on developments in the Middle East”. Excellent for culture, news and opinion addicts like me.

Today is going to be another long day - I’ve got lots of chores and errands to work through, and then I have to go to a village near Brighton this evening to give a lecture. Which means I won’t be home much before 10.30, and will be eating junk food at some ridiculous hour.
I ate pizza at some late hour last night, and consequently had some very very strange dreams involving my bathroom being converted into a pub (which is interesting as my flat was converted from a pub), then walking through verdant yet bleak mountains and watching snowploughs at work.
Interpretations anyone?

Ok. ‘Fess up - who’s having a laugh?

From the Bella-has-too-much-time-on-her-hands department: Portamoo.

Due to unfortunate administrative cock-ups involving the group I was supposed to speak to last night, I didn’t actually get home until gone 11pm, by which time I was totally exhausted. Thankfully, I’d had time before leaving to grab a fish and chip supper, so didn’t eat at ungodly o’clock.
However, I still had strange dreams. Not sure what they were about, but I woke up with that confused, slightly bizarre sensation that usually follows strange dreams.
Actually, I have that sensation most mornings.

Anyway, how are you? My regular comment-writers all seem to have been a bit quiet lately. Something I said?

Happiness is eating home-made doughnuts brought in to work by one of the girls. yum!

Brrr. The wind outside is certainly chilly, and managing to find its way into my office.
In spite of that, I’m being shockingly productive at the moment. I think I’ll reward myself by going to the pub tonight, after I’ve done a little college work.
This message sponsored by Nick “Interesting” Jordan.

Feel good. Washing up done. Homework well underway - will do more tomorrow night, and hopefully leave myself free to enjoy Sunday in peace. Now to cook and eat, and get to the pub by 10pm.

A useful marketing resource: SherpaBlog. I really must update my marketing pages - but when?

I’m concerned about someone at the moment. But I don’t know what to do to help them, or even if there is anything I can do. Or, for that matter, if I’m the right person to help. gah.

Incidentally, a couple of quiet beers last night in the Nags in the company of the newspaper, with sightings of wonderful Wanda, Simon, Terry, Dave, Teresa, Phil, Ricky and Clare.

You will be aware of my ongoing battles with EvilDuvet II - how it always tries to make me late for work by keeping me in bed for just that extra minute or ten. Well, it seems to have formed a pact with my pillows. I have four pillows on my bed, two on each side. This morning, when I woke up, all four were on top of my head. I think this was a deliberate ploy to muffle the sound of my clock radio, thereby ensuring my lateness. Unfortunately for their plan, nothing beats Sara Cox in the morning, the irritating bint.

TFF: 42 points, taking my total to 858. Could have been a lot more if I hadn’t signed Ziege last week, who got sent off twice in one week. Idiot.

A proper spring morning this morning - steady rain and mist, birds singing, pleasantly mild. And a flat that smells strongly of grilled mackerel. In spite of burning umpteen candles and leaving a window and door open for half an hour, the smell is still strong. But I don’t mind too much - there are far worse smells that I could have to put up with.

Readership figures down, comment writers quiet. I don’t know - if I was the sort to really worry about these things, I could get a complex. Maybe you’d all take more interest if I was to start talking in great detail about my emotions or something.
Actually, I think my readership dropped off around this time last year as well. Must be a spring thing.

How come we didn’t celebrate International First Person Plural Day this year? We thought it was suitably silly and good fun last year.

Yayyyy!
This news just received by email from Ian:

Excellent news! Congratulations to all three!
(Lightweight baby - not! Although not as big as me - I was 9lb 7oz.)

I know you shouldn’t make fun of other people’s names, but I’ve just had a Mr V D Speck on the phone. I had a really hard time stifling the laughter.

I’ve just been down to the maternity unit to see Sarah, Louis and DA. What a cute baby Louis is! And so much hair! Louis is sleeping it all off, Mum is doing fine and Dad is beaming all over his face. Utterly brilliant - I almost came over all paternal (almost, mark you!).

How cool is this? I’ve been invited to a film premiere! Popular Graypie Lizzie is screening her short film mockumentary Under the Skin next Thursday in Soho, and it sounds too good to miss. I need to shuffle a few things around in my diary, but hopefully I’ll be able to go (will call you, hun).

Beer last night with Patrick, DA, Kearn, Kev, Andrea, Wanda, Paul F, Paul C, Sarah, Nigel and numerous other people.
Went to Wimborne today to give a presentation, which went well.
Beer tonight with Jo, Wanda, Andrew, Julie, Bonny, Kearn, DA, James, Hamish, Matt and Arron with sightings of Cath, Helen, Greg, Dave, Gary, Phil, Malcolm and countless others.
Very tired.

Lunch in the company of Phil, Mark and Cath in the Nags.
I’m trying to just relax today. I need to. Even if it means not completing my homework. It’s been a long and very busy week, and the week ahead looks about the same, and I desperately need to wind down.

I wonder how big a problem this really is. I must have linked to hundreds of sites from Grayblog since I started (772 in fact). I simply haven’t got time to check all of the links regularly.
But then again, judging by some of the strange Google searches that people use to get here, some of you might actually be looking for dodgy web content.

This is not only useful (very useful in fact), but also easy to use and free.

Sometime very soon, the 50,000th visitor will pass through this site. If it is you, please say hello.

Monday morning:

• It is absolutely chucking it down outside.
• Visitor 50,000 still hasn’t arrived (check the counter in the navbar to see if it is you [scroll down]).
• I’m still tired in spite of my rest day and early night, although my sleep was disturbed.
• I have loads of work to do, so am likely to remain quiet for the timebeing.

Thanks to everyone who sent nice messages commemorating my 50,000th visitor.
Just completed a day of mad work and mad college, followed by cooking dinner and a glass of red. Now just about ready to collapse.
So much I need to get down here before I forget it, but no time or energy now.

Still incredibly busy here. So enjoy the quietitude whilst it lasts.

AFF: 17 points. I got some points last week too, but don’t think I mentioned it. Not really doing very well at fantasy football this season.
My itsagoal.com team are still doing well though, currently leading division 13.

madly busy. only just in from college. eating dinner. then going to pub. badly need to update here. no upper case either.

Article on the recent rise in left-handedness - I’m becoming less unusual, apparently.

Quick beer tonight with Arron and Aris.
Time to sleep.

Still very busy.
For some reason, the Stone Roses are running around and around inside my head. Must find some other music to listen to.
Cheesy DJ-style messages: biggup to Charlie, who needs cheering up; hi to Sally - you’re not forgotten; apologies to Lizzie - sorry I can’t make it; happy birthday to Fi for tomorrow and enjoy your break; soothing words to Julie, who is stressed; and hi to anyone else who knows me.
Back to work…

TFF: 29 points. 887 total.

Right - time for a slower evening I think, with a little college work, a lazy bachelor dinner, some good music, a cold beer and an early night.
I was monumentally productive today at work, and hopefully I’ll have something to show for it by either tomorrow or Friday that I’d like your collective opinion on. It won’t be very exciting, but with the smattering of web professionals that read this guff on a daily basis, there has to be some useful and valuable opinion and experience that I can gain from. But more on that in due course.
In other news: the postman has suddenly taken to leaving all the mail for my neighbour at my door. Not sure why - I thought I’d suddenly become popular, but was obviously disappointed when the reality became apparent.

Today has been spent fighting with HTML, Perl, a digital camera and other picture postcards. Tonight will be spent in the pub, celebrating Arron’s birthday.

Beer tonight with Arron and Nathan, with sightings of Dave, Teresa, Gary, Malcolm, Simon, Terry, Leah and Kristian. Then later with Paul F, Alison, Julie and Aris. Somehow, tonight W2 seemed like my true home. Maybe I’m just too sentimental after a few V&Ts?

Somehow I’ve really hurt my shoulder so that twisting and turning is agony. Sleep was very fitful last night, as every time I moved I was woken by the pain. Not good - pass the ibuprofen.

Update: shoulder still very sore. If this persists, I think I may seek medical attention - which will mean a lecture about my steadily increasing weight and my less-than-healthy drinking habits. And possibly also mention of the fact that I’ve not had a holiday in 15 months - my doctor has a thing about taking a break frequently.

The satirists are going to have a field day with this one.

Approved.

Ben Hollioake killed in car crash - very sad.

Beer tonight with Sarah, Nigel, Abby, Polly, Jacky, Paul F, Malcolm, Kev, Ian, Kearn, Paul C, Simon, Bren, Greg, Dave and numerous others. tired now. Shoulder still sore, but hopefully enough alcohol in the system to assure some sleep.

Beer tonight and a fair few laughs with Lady Bren, the Thin White Duke and Paul F, with sightings of Roy, Louise, Malcolm, Dave, Gary, Simon, Terry and numerous others.
Tired now and slightly forlorn.

I’ve woken in a shockingly good mood today, for no other reason than the sun is shining, I’ve some good music on (courtesy of Alicia Keys), a fresh cup of coffee is by my side and I’ve just enjoyed a couple of bagels with poached egg. Sunday mornings were meant to be like this. However, the day ahead is dominated by a massive amount of college homework. Thankfully, some of it is the sort I can carry to the park and do there.

Today is Palm Sunday.
um. Just thought I’d let you know.

UPDATE: actually, I’ve remembered what I was going to say about Palm Sunday. The first time I went to Barcelona, I was there during the run up to Palm Sunday. Like all Spaniards (got to be careful here - the Catalan people are very proud and independent and don’t like being lumped together with the rest of Spain, but I hope in this instance they can forgive me and that I won’t be firebombed by some separatist militants), the Barcelonetas like nothing more than a good parade, especially on religious festivals. It’s a shame I wasn’t there for the actual parade (there was one on when I went to the city for the second time, but the crowds were so enormous you could barely get close enough to see what was going on, and I was also tending to a girlfriend who was feeling a bit flaky). But I did get to see the special palm market on Rambla Catalunya, north of Plaça de Catalunya - a street full of stalls selling dried palm fronds, bleached to parchment white by the sun and towering six or eight feet above the heads of the purchasers. It makes an amazing sight - I’ve got some photos somewhere which I’ll hunt out and scan up if I get time.

Lunch with Sarah in the Hogshead, peoplewatching from the window overlooking South Street, followed by shopping at MVC (we both escaped empty handed), Oddbins (new case of beer) and Waterstones (three new paperbacks for me, and Sarah got some bits and pieces too).
Outside Waterstones, a couple of people seemed to be taking turns to lie in the middle of the pavement, as if they had collapsed there, whilst the other looked on from a discreet distance. They were both goths, clearly far too heavily influenced by Marilyn Manson to merit much respect in Chichester. The reaction of passers by was interesting - most clearly thought that the person lying there was merely drunk and had chosen to pass out in an inconvenient spot. I could see the whole thing from the bookshop, and I didn’t see anybody stop to help. One person did ask the assistant in the store if he thought that they should call an ambulance, but interestingly they did this without actually checking the condition of the person on the pavement. As for the assistant, I think he just found it slightly amusing, heading towards irritating, and was on the point of going out and asking them to move on. But it also provided a bit of light relief in his afternoon of credit card swiping and shelf rearrangement.
It’s been a beautiful day. My stroll down to Waitrose and back was bathed in pleasant warm sunshine, although there is a slight chill in the breeze. The daffodils are in full flower, and the birds are singing (you can hear a nest of chicks squealing as you cross the bridge over the Avenue de Chartres, although I couldn’t quite see which branch the nest was in) - I think it is safe to say that spring is truly here (cue: snow and howling gale).

Well, at long last, I’ve relaunched my work website - www.croftway.co.uk. It is still very much a work in progress - I need to add more images to break up the text, and I’ve still to sort out the old redundant pages that are lurking about on the server that Google and some other search engines still link to.
But I’d like your feedback. Take a look, and if you have something useful to say, plonk it in the comments here.

Worrying news for Brighton fans - during the disappointing 2-2 draw with Notts County on Saturday, star striker Bobby Zamora was injured, and it looks like he’ll be out for a fortnight - a fairly crucial fortnight in Brighton’s promotion battle. Gah!

I can’t believe that so many people have come here seeking pictures of the car crash that killed Ben Hollioake. It seems sick to me.
But are we becoming inured to such images? As we look through both traditional and online media almost every day, it seems that hardly a moment goes by when we do not see such an image. The most striking example is the terrorist attacks of September 11th - there are photos of the burning towers everywhere, and yet within those towers, people were trapped, dying and dead. Are we becoming desensitized? Isn’t this a bad thing?
Other examples: the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales; the aftermath of any one of the recent bomb attacks in Israel; images of bodies lying in the streets and dust in Afghanistan. I’m not saying that we should not see these things, but are they now treated with a ghoulishness that belittles the losses that the images represent?

They think it’s all over…. Kenneth Wolstenholme, RIP.

Mock exam at college tonight, which went fairly well.
Followed by beer with Paul F and Aris, including a couple of excellent Grolschs at W2 - I’m very tempted to make that my local again.

TFF: a rather good 45 points taking my total to 935 (with a correction for a miscalculation a couple of weeks ago).
Transfers: OUT Pires (ouch!), IN Ljunberg and OUT Gray, IN Henchoz. Considered transferring Ricketts out, but can’t afford anyone better.

A lazy evening this evening (long overdue) consisting of surfing, reading and generally flopping around and not doing much. I need to recharge a bit.

Dudley Moore, RIP.

All of a sudden, I feel very tired.
Anyone got any energy boosting ideas?

Tiredness update: I’ve just realised that I’ll be robbed of an hour’s sleep this weekend as British Summer Time begins. guh.

What is it with people coming to my door and asking directions lately? Do I have a big sign saying “lost? ask here!”? (nope, just been and checked). The other day someone was looking for number 197 in my street (that’ll be the big blue house with 197 on the door then) and I’ve just had a bloke at my door asking for 25 North Walls. Being as my house carries a number on the door that is not 25, and also happens to have a street name sign on the wall as well (which, as you may have guessed, does not say “North Walls”), you do have to wonder if anyone these days has any intelligence. Well, maybe that particular bloke doesn’t have any - it isn’t fair to brandish the whole of society as thick just because of one bloke.
But then again, who’s going to stop me…?

I’m ashamed to say that I know this man. His regular buns are much more edible.

Beer tonight (oh feck, it’s 1.10am!) with Paul F, Malcolm, Vince, Gary and numerous others.

Meanwhile, in spite of Dan induced good taste, I’ve never liked A-Ha, elves, washing up or garlic. Honestly. Well, maybe garlic. But only to keep vampires away.
I think I’ll go to bed now. And not phone any single women I know.
Because that would be a bad idea.
Yes, really, it would.

Decidedly fuzzy around the edges this morning (which is exactly what happens if you stand around drinking until 1am), and wondering what the hell I was going on about in that last post. Suggestions on a postcard please.

Happy birthday to Marianne.

It’s an absolutely gorgeous morning. And I’m filled with the urge to be ultra productive, so expect it to be fairly quiet here today.

Beer tonight with Clive and Matt, with sightings of Steve C, Sal, Declan, Vince, Phil, Malcolm, Gary, Dave, Clare, Kristian and a few others, with the added bonus of chat and flirting with Ruth, who merits the term “lovely”. Ego boosted. Don’t think anything will come of it, but good to have a chat and flirt.
And another late night. Gah. Off to bed now.

Queen Mum dies - look forward to hours of TV and radio specials, pages of newspaper supplements and lots more.

Beer tonight with Malcolm, Dave, Gary, Arron, Paul F, Paul C, Matt, Stein, Dom, James, DA, Tony (celebrating his stag night, but in a very low key way, so low key that it verged on boring), Jo, Julie, Andrew and Bonny, with sightings of Leah, Kristian, Helen N, Teresa, Alison and a few others. Time to sleep.

I’m sorry, but it is very sad that the Queen Mum has died - but for goodness sake, media people, the big stories are elsewhere, surely? War in the Middle East? Thousands homeless in Afghanistan? Children dying needlessly from preventable causes every day? Reality? Grip? Hello?

Further to my previous post - the Straits Times captures the real news.

Barry Took, RIP.

In other news, some bastard smashed the mirror off the car this morning. I’d left it parked near my flat alongside the kerb in a quiet residential street. I would guess that somebody walking home after too many beers down the pub decided to smash it off (it was the one nearest the kerb, so I know it wasn’t hit by another car). It’s annoying and probably expensive (it’s one of those electrically adjusted, heated mirrors, coloured to match the car bodywork). Looks like they smashed one off a Vauxhall parked a bit further up the street too.
Top marks to Sussex Police though. I’ve logged the crime with them, and they’ve been most efficient and helpful.

This fairly much mirrors my own experience of trying to get ADSL for work. I can get it here at home in Chichester city centre, but the nursery is in Barnham, and the local exchange (in Yapton) has not been upgraded for ADSL. BT now says that it is not going to upgrade any more exchanges except on a business case (fair enough - you don’t do something unless it pays) which means that around 200 customers have to sign up. I can’t imagine that there are that many people who will pay for it in the Yapton exchange area (which covers Yapton, Barnham and Walberton villages).
BT has recently offered us ADSL via satellite, but the installation costs are nearly £1000 and the rental is much higher than for a terrestial ADSL connection - we simply can not justify the expense. And yet the Internet is important for our business - more and more of our mail order transactions are now conducted over the net, and it is also a valuable promotion tool.
So what help is the Government giving to rural businesses to help us be part of “broadband Britain”. There was supposed to be lots of money being made available to help us get connected, but where has it been spent? The Scottish Assembly has given considerable backing and funds to getting remote parts of Scotland hooked up. Barnham is miles from being remote - and yet we can’t get a service that is available to a small crofter living in Skye.

Talking of the importance of the web to our business, this is one of our most important audience groups - we know more of them are going online, just from the feedback we get.

Beer tonight in the Nags with Paul F and the band (good session), Greg, Bren, Hugh, Arron, Helen N, blonde Sally, Malcolm, Vince, Dave, Gary, Laura, Phil, Sasha and countless others. Where were the usual crowd? Only Arron and Matt in evidence.
Anyway, very tired now, and long day tomorrow.