Early Bird

Arrived for work at 06:30 this morning, an extra early start to catch up on things.

It's lovely driving in this early, hardly a car on the road, no road rage and getting to work in a relaxed mood.... to find someone has unpluged the power lead from my laptop and the battery has died, grrrr!

Toilet Watch: Still blocked, plumber didn't turn up last night....

It's nearly the weekend, no plans, but the boat race takes place on Sunday afternoon and it's also the Australian F1 Grand Prix this weekend.

I love the boat race, I rowed for my village club for 5 or 6 years when I was younger, it's a great sport. We travelled all around northern England and southern Scotland attending regatta's, there were some great days out. Sometimes the club would put a coach on and friends and family would come and support the crews, I have fond memories of sunny days at Northwich and Talkin Tarn. I actually went out with a very talented female oarswoman for a couple of years, she made it as far as the national championships in Nottingham several years running. My favourire regatta though has to be Durham, just because it's a local one and it always seems to take place on a red hot day. I've been back in the North East for exactly 4 years and haven't caught Durham regatta yet, I'm gonna look for the date straight after I post here and make sure I'm there this year!

On the car cd: David Gilmour - On An Island

On this day: The first ever WrestleMania is held in New York City's Madison Square Garden (1985)

Talk Hard!
H.

Days since last cigarette: 250

Another...

...day off. Back tomorrow though for definate.

Not much going on, toilet is still blocked, plumber eventually arrived, around 21:30 last night, but couldn't fix it, he's coming back tonight. He's also gonna fit my nice new posh bathroom taps while he's here.

Watched Jarhead last night, was ok but not that good. At least there's an episode of House to look forward to tonight.


Penshaw Monument as taken by me

Forgot to mention that I'm reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code at the moment, started a couple of days ago, about half way through it now. It's not bad, but I'm yet to understand why there's been so much hype, unless I still have that part to come?

On the car cd:

On this day: Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen Mother had died peacefully in her sleep aged 101 (2002)

Talk Hard!
H.

Days since last cigarette: 249

Day Off

Put a day's hol in today, toilet is blocked! I've had all the drains up outside and they are clear, I even went to B&Q and bought a telescopic thing that you push down the toilet and poke around, but that's clear too. Called a plumber who said he'll be here at 18:00.... it's now 19:58 and no sign, typical tradesman. Luckily it's not totally blocked, it runs away quite quickly.

Well, the boys have one foot in the semi finals, it was a breathtaking display against Juve last night. It was master (Viera) v pupil (Fabregas) and the pupil EASILY came out on top, scoring the first and setting up the second.

Gonna settle down for an early night, some two parter starting on Sky One called Supernova. It doesn't say that it's a repeat but I have a feeling that it may have been on before...?

On the car cd:

On this day: (2004) The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants (I stopped 248 days ago)

Talk hard!
H.

Sailing across the sea, to see my Uncle Sam

Ok, well maybe not the sea but it was fun to cross the Tyne on the ferry this morning....
We even stood out on the deck in the fresh air, something my mate is in need of, he's very pale you know. Forgot my camera, really disappointed, wanted to get some cool shots on the crossing.
Our lift was waiting for us at the other side to whip us off to work and would you believe it, another car coincidence, as we were driving to the office we ended alongside another friend of ours who lives in North Shields.

The boys take on Juventus at Highbury this evening in the Champions League quarter final first leg. It's gonna be tough but after beating Real Madrid across two legs in the last round there's no reason why we can't do it again. Was going to go watch it in the pub, maybe it's an early on set of old age but I just can't be bothered, sitting in front of the TV at home with a glass of vino sounds much more appealing.

Looking forward to the return trip tonight, never had so much fun on the journey to work!!!
Must dash, lots of "work" to do....

On the ferry cd: Some bloke telling me to read the safety notices

On this day: The first pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, is established (1964)

Talk hard!
H.

Tunnel Vision

Hi, and a special hello to Malcolm, my first confirmed reader!!!!

I went to Manchester on Friday afternoon and I normally wouldn't normally go near a computer while i'm down there, but I needed to look at something on Ebay and thought I'd check my mail while I was there. Imagine my smile on seeing a blog comment sat there in my inbox. I've had a quick look at Malcolm's site, quick enough to steal the map and the weather links from him, but not long enough to really get into it. I'll have a good read tomorrow morning.

Apologies for stealing the two links Malcolm, but I do like cool stuff, and as the first confirmed commenter on my blog, I'll be adding a link straight back to your blog in my menu bar.

I like the pic of the big wheel in Manchester centre that you have, I had a go on it last month when I was down on my regular monthly Manchester visit, I don't like heights, very scary.....

As far as the links go, the map one reports that I've had 13 visitors today. Discounting half of them as having arrived at my page by accident, that leaves 6 people reading my blog. 6 or 666, it sure beats not knowing if anyone at all is reading.

Speaking of Manchester, this doesn't happen very often at all, but on my way back up the M1 on Saturday afternoon I ended up being passed by, them ended up following, a friend who drinks in the same bar as I. He has a daughter in Manchester who is unwell and had been visiting her. He's also travelled down on the Friday afternoon.......

So, the Tyne Tunnel closes at 11pm tonight and doesn't open again until 11pm tomorrow night due to industrial action. I have three alternatives:

I can follow the A1 up past the Metro Centre
I can use the Felling Bypass and go across the Toon Bridge
I can drive to South Shields and get the Ferry across the Tyne to North Shields

The A1 is not worth thinking about, it has standing traffic and tailbacks each morning and evening without dumping Tyne Tunnel traffic on it.
Not sure about the Toon Bridge, again I bet that it's pretty busy on a normal day and that it will be a nightmare with the extra traffic.
So, my choice is to drive to my mates house in South Shields, he's driving us to the river taxi stop, we get the river taxi to North Shields and a girl who works for me is picking us up at the other side and taking us to work.

Oh what fun. Actually, I am pretty excited about getting on the river taxi, I will be insisting we are out on deck for the trip across and might even take my new camera.

An excellent site I'm recommending at the moment is pipelinecard.org. I won't go into it here, just use the FAQ section on his site for details, all I'll say is that it looks like an excellent opportunity to get discount when buying fuel at the petrol station.

Have a good one!

On the car cd: Jamiroquai - Dynamite

On this day: FART construction was completed (1923)

Talk hard!
H.

/sigh

Coming up 2 months now since I started this blog and still no comments. I did get one but my celebrations where cut short when it turned out to be spam. Even though there are no comments, there might still be folks reading this, I'm just not sure of a way to tell. I wonder why blogger.com don't incorperate a counter on the bottom of each page to say how many times your blog has been read?

4 hours sleep last night, added to the fact that i'm not sure that anyone is reading my blog equals me not being motivated to write anything, taking a half day, returning to blogland on Monday.

Have a nice weekend....

On the car cd: U2 - Best of

On this day: The Playstaion Portable is released in North America (2005)

Talk Hard!
H.

Back Ache

No post yesterday, too busy speanding wages.

Getting bad pressure headaches, pain right up my back, through my neck. Think I'll have my eyes tested on Saturday, it's 4 years since I had them done, supposed to get them checked every 2 years aren't you? Might be connected, don't really know.

Can't really look at the screen today, so a very short post.

On the car cd: Robbie Williams - Escapology

On this day: Please Please Me, the first Beatles album, is released in the UK (1963)

Talk Hard!
H.

12th

Morning, and the 12th Monday of 2006 finds me going to the dentist this afternoon... for the first time in around 3 years. Not looking forward to it, never been too happy going to get my teeth looked at, but touch wood, they are in pretty decent nick, I hope!

The team had another good win at the weekend, beating Charlton 3-0. Goals for French Bob, new striker bloke and Hleb and a clean sheet to boot.

Pay day tomorrow, HURRAH!

On the car cd: Orson - Bright Idea (Advance copy, released May 15th 2006)

On this day: The World Cup is stolen from Central Hall, London (1966)

Talk Hard!
H.

Hurrah!

It's the end of the week again. I plan to be away just before 3 today to beat the tunnel traffic, if you see a car approaching the toll booths at 135mph, get out of the way, there's a man inside who's in a hurry to start his weekend.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm working in a new office my company has just opened. My boss and I are setting up a desk which will, when live, provide computer support to users. It's a large desk, our staff on this floor alone will number 150+ when it's fully operational.

I found out this morning what our nicknames are. It's always funny when you take on new staff, they think they are the bees knees and know everything there is to know about computers, support and the world in general. Also this time we have a large number of guys who are starting their first jobs since leaving uni/college, it's so funny listening to guys 10+ years younger express their views on life.

Played with the camera for an hour or two last night. I think I've made the wrong choice though, I'm quite clearly not intelligent enough to use it. Joking aside, the basics are very easy, it's just point and shoot. But there is tons of stuff in there for the more serious photographer. I will certainly learn how to use some of it but I am quite certain there are features that I will not even come close to ever needing.
Looking forward to useing the photo stitch facility though, that looks really cool, you can take several pictures, moving left/right or up/down each time, then stitch them together to make a panaramic photo, just like the example above.

The team host Charlton tomorrow, could be a difficult game but we need those three points, we can't afford to drop any at all now, the race for the last Champions League spot is so tight. My favoured end to the season would be to see us finish fifth behind Sp*rs who claim the last Champions spot, but then to win the cup ourselves this year and knock them out of it. That would make me soooooo happy.

On the car cd: George Michael - Ladies and Gentlemen (Disc 1 - For The Heart)

On this day: The rubber band is invented (1845)

Talk Hard!
H.

Man Flu

Morning

I have man flu. I'm dying. I have my BUPA health screen this afternoon. Typical.

On the car cd: Tackhead - Friendly As A Handgrenade

On this day: Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London (1872)

Talk Hard!
H.

Did I mention I'm tired?

Doing 12 hour shifts this week as 1, the stupid automatic shift creator tool thing doesn't take into consideration who is security cleared to lock up the building and 2, because I'm skint and need the money. So it's been work, pub, food, sleep for the last 2 days....can't stop yawning.

Toys are here today, just checked the interweb and it says "dispatched" on my order, so hopefully won't be too long before it gets here. Only problem is that I can't play with it in here, because of the 'secret' stuff we do, this office is high security which means no phones, pda's, cameras, pen drives or anything wireless / bluetooth / infared etc etc. I'm lucky to get my laptop in and out....

Think I forgot to talk about the F1 race on Sunday. Was pretty cool to be honest, although the most exciting bit was the qualifying on Saturday. As I predicted, Jenson did absolutley nothing. One commentator remarked that he had fought his way through the field to 4th place, well as he started in 3rd I don't think that's really worth shouting about is it?

Arseblog was extra funny yesterday, follow the link on the right hand side of this page to read his blog, it will amuse all Gooners and most footy fans, unless you support Sp*rs or chelski.

On the car cd: George Michael - Ladies and Gentlemen (Disc 2 - For The Feet)

On this day: Rolls-Royce Ltd is registered (1906)

Talk Hard!
H.

Toys

Snow, snow, snow and more snow. The local council, as usual, were caught out by the sudden snowfall. I mean come on, they'd only been predicting it for a week, how could you expect them to be prepared! It's still snowing now, I hope I don't get snowed in at work, it's happened before, how bad would that be. One time a couplle of years ago, when I worked at the Peterlee office, it started snowing early morning. It snowed and snowed and snowed. We let the staff leave early around 3pm to miss the traffic but, typically, everyone did the same thing. I remember Boy Racer leaving the building at 3pm, at nearly 5pm he'd made it to the other side of the building. We were still taking coffee's to his car at 6pm........ I think I left around 10:30pm after everything had calmed down.

Ordered a new digital camera yesterday. After lots and lots and lots and lots of thought, I went for the Canon Ixus 55. Managed to get it off the Interweb for £198 with a free 128mb SD card and an extra years warrenty. Should get it tomorrow, can't wait, there's nothing like playing with new toys!

On the car cd: Radio 2 (again)

On this day: A jury in Dallas, Texas finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

Talk Hard!
H.

Another Monday

Morning

A good win again yesterday against the scousers, 2-1 with Terry scoring both goals. Up to 5th place now, but Champions League football next year still seems a far off dream.

White van man on his mobile phone tried to kill me this morning in the entrance to the tunnel, but I survived and was able to 'politely' point out his mistake to him.

Not in the best of moods, boss off this week and I have all his work to do......

On the car cd: Radio 2 (for a change)

On this day: The Dumblane Massacre in Dumblane, Scotland, 16 children and 1 adult teacher are shot dead by a spree killer who then commits suicide (1996)

Talk Hard!
H.

Grrrr!!!

Not happy, sat at work, it's 13:02 as I write this, been here since 07:45.
Third line support are winding me up, whining and whinging about servers, I would like to punch him in the face if that's ok with everyone?

I should be at home watching F1 qualifying in Bahrain, this is the season Jenson will be crowned champion and everyone who has laughed at my predictions will have to eat their hats.
Lets hope that the new season is exciting and keeps everyone on their feet, although reading Clarkson in the tabloids this morning, he predicts no change and boredom.

Been to the gym this morning. Mcfly, one of the staff at JJB who is the bloke supposed to advise me, says I'm not doing enough Cardio. I've upped it to 30 minutes now and it bloody kills me. The staff are ok, they don't go out of their way to be nice. There's Rita Marley, Timmeh!, triangle girl, frazzle, river boat boy, bitchie, baldy, titch and council estate boy. There are more staff but they've yet to come to my attention.
There was two blokes in when I was getting changed to leave. Both adorned Newcastle tattooes which, to be honest, could have been 2 ft by 2ft there was that much fat available. Each one of them took up the entire bench, no bloody consideration for anyone else. They took no notice of the people around them who were having to put their stuff on the floor, or get changed with no where to sit. INGNORANT FAT GEORDIE BASTARDS is all I can say, learn some bloody manners! They were going on and on about how "my missus gets everything she wants" and "yeah, mine too, so she shouldn't be complaining about having to look after the kids" and "I got up at 10am this morning but it's ok, I can go back to bed for the afternoon". You fat f**kin slobs, get a life!

Right, there's the rant over......


Looking forward to tomorrow, the F1 Bahrain grand prix starts at 10am and Livepool v Arsenal at 4pm. A fine day of sport, let's just hope Jenson is on the button and Arsenal aren't suffering from a European hangover.

On the car cd: Scritti Politti - Anomie and Bonhomie

On this day: The first regular English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London (1702)

Talk Hard!
H.

Nearly The Weekend...

There was a conspiracy to stop me getting to work this morning!
Any car, van or lorry travelling slower than I which had an opportunity to pull in front of me, did. I had to reverse out of the toll lane I was in at the tunnel because the vehicle, or more likely the driver, I was behind was having problems. I switched to the next lane and still got stuck, this time behind a driver who needed 3 attemps at throwing his £1 coin into the shute.

The Tyne Tunnel


Not looking forward to today, have to sort out all my pension, health care, life insurance etc etc
I also have my Health Screen next week, it's sort of a 24,000 mile service for your body.

Add to that that my boss in holiday next week and I need to cover all his work, my head is spinning......

On the car cd: Jamiroquai - Live In Verona

On this day: Buffy The Vampire Slayer premieres on the WB network (1997)

Talk Hard!
H.

Marching On

Well, we did it, a brave battle against Madrid saw us through to the quarter finals. Both sides had chances to score but in the end a goalless draw was enought to take us through.

The draw for the quarter finals takes place tomorrow and includes Milan, Lyon, Benfica, Barcelona, Villarreal, Juve and Ajax/Inter as well as the Arsenal. I'd like to suggest a weak team for us to be drawn against, but, there are no easy ties in the quarter finals of the Champions league.

Went to the gym last night, first time in ages, Need to start going regular again. The perfect ass was in last night. Not a particularly stunning face, but very pretty with a perfect rear end. Can't go tonight though, really need a haircut.....

On the car cd: Nik Kershaw - The Riddle

On this day: Barbie, the world's best-selling doll, debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York City (1959)

Talk Hard!
H.

Come on you Reds!

Tired but happy this morning, sat at the traffic lights on the A19 at testo's, some boy racer tried to burn me off but I left him eating dust, never mess with the Yellow Peril !!!

Well it's put up or shut up tonight. we're 90 odd minutes away from knocking Madrid out of the champions league. It's gonna be close, all they need is an away goal and they are right back in it. I'm hoping young Cesc plays out of his skin as he did in the first leg, this match will make or break our season. Fingers (and everything else) crossed.

Forgot my lunch today. Picked up my bag but didn't put anything in it, came to work with an empty bag....? No doubt it will be force fed to me for dinner as a punishment.

On the car cd: Def Leppard - Best Of

On this day: Princess Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1702)

Talk Hard!
H.

Tired again....

I must be getting about 3 minutes sleep every night. I think all the stress is getting to me, so I've decided to stop work and become a hippie. The pic below is of my new friends and I enjoying ourselves. I am the semi naked one in the middle wearing the trendy neck tie.



Went to the pub again last night, getting back into the habit, although I think I drink in the most boring bar in Europe, last nights topics included long johns and cheese?!

Mountain of work to do, some exec in the US wants me sacked and I have to dig some mails out to save myself.....

On the car cd: Dave Gilmour - On An Island (again)

On this day: Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the telephone, patent #174464 (1876)

Talk Hard!
H.

Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning

Back to work, I have the same feeling, the one where I feel like I've not been away from my desk more than 2 minutes.

Thursday, went to Durham for the day. Peaceful and relaxing. Walked around a lot, had lunch in the Market Tavern, then walked around some more. The river walks are absolutely stunning, it's so peaceful walking along the riverbanks, watching the oarsmen row back and forth, watching the birds feeding in the river etc etc. It's a place I wouldn't mind living, much more quaint than York.

Friday I managed to 'obtain' a copy of Dave Gilmour's new solo album On An Island. Got it three days early due to underhanded deceitful methods that I won't go into here. Listened to it about 3 times now and it's growing on me. Not bad, not bad at all, very much Pink Floyd stylee.

The team won on Saturday, a convincing 0-4 win at Fulham.
I went to the pub on Saturday night. Yes, that's right, I know you won't believe it, but I did. After an absence of 23 ish days I returned to the bar. As usual nothing had changed. The same folks sat in the same seats moaning about the same things.
Then home to watch the Calzaghe fight. What an absolute corker, probably the best fight I've seen in a long time.

Sunday I watched the mighty mackems lose to Man City. Nuff said.......

On the car cd: Dave Gilmour - On An Island

On this day: British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 on board (1987)

Talk Hard!
H.

Holiberries!

Last day of the week for me, having 4 days off to do absolutely nothing. Might fit in some job hunting somewhere along the line, really can't be bothered here anymore.

Don't know if there are any Doctor's out there who can do an online diagnosis but I started having chest pains last night and they are still present this morning. It hurts when I breath in but only an the end of the inhilation if you know what I mean? If I take short breaths there is no pain. The pain is just below right pec (left as you look at me), it's as if my lungs are too big at the end of the breath and are trying to burst out of my rib cage.....

Gonna crawl into a corner and die.....

On the car cd: Duran Duran - Greatest

On this day: Swatch introduce their first timepieces (1983)

Talk Hard!
H.