Just Testing

Quite often recently I've been updating my blog using email, however for some stupid reason it likes to stick HTML formatting in which I don't like! So, I'm trying an application I've just got for my phone and this is me testing it!

Humph!

Well - the time has come to back to work tomorrow, and am I pleased about that?! Am I buffalo! I can feel a severe dose of the back to work blues coming on!

2009

I decided this New Year that I wasn't going to bother making resolutions as they'll just be forgotten about by February. I decided instead that I would try and make commitments instead. This year is also going to involve making some massive decisions too, both me and Katie have to find new jobs this year and more importantly decide where. It all really depends on where the jobs are but I know where I fancy living and it doesn't involve London!

Hopefully this year should be a more creative year for me and Katie, we're both a bit arty (Katie more so than me) but don't seem to be able to make time so hopefully this year we'll get the chance.

I'm also going to try and really cut back the amount of drinking I do - over the course of the last year I've really begun to lose the desire to drink lots. Lots of the boozes available are really not nice and I often find myself thinking "I'll have a pint of that just because it's the best of a bad bunch", but why? If I don't really like it then what is the point of drinking it! I absolutely love a good real ale and a good red wine but their availability isn't always great, there's always a neat Jack Daniels which really floats my boat but I don't want to just drink spirits. I think I'm going to try and just have drinks that I actually want to drink, not just what's on offer! I want to lose weight so reckon doing this should help - as well as stepping things up in the gym and watching what I eat! This starts tomorrow!

This Year

I'm very pleased to say that I had a very relaxing and enjoyable New Year. Me and Katie were invited by Paul and Mary to join them at a cottage they had rented in Craster on the Northumberland coast. Normally New Year is a massive anticlimax for me, with all the build up and expectations it invariably turns out to be pretty dull and uneventful and I normally end up completely sozzled! Although I did end up being a little bit drunk this year it wasn't the usual throwing drinks down my throat session. I had a bad chest during the evening and so decided to go out and get some fresh air about eleven, I just went for a wander round the village and it was extremely quiet - the only real noise I could hear came from a couple of cottages who seemed to have a sort of party going on - the rest was provided by seagulls and the sea crashing against the harbour - it was lovely! After taking a few photos I slowly wandered back to the cottage and welcomed in the New Year with Big Ben donging away on the TV and a glass of champagne in my hand. It was fantastic to spend the new year with Katie and her family and I cannot help thinking 2009 is going to be a good one.

Another one bites the dust...

At the moment it seems as though every time I either turn on the news or look at the BBC or Sky News websites there is another high street retailer on the brink of collapse and entering the black hole known as administration. I know we’re now in what is known as a recession but I can't help but think that there seem to be a lot of big companies on the verge of disappearing; most of them I would have thought would have the foresight to prepare for something like this. I do not even pretend to understand the major financial factors that have all played their part as things like interest rates etc don't appear high on my "things I need to understand" list but I cannot help thinking that somewhere in the non too distant past greed may have played its part; expanding when the money being freely spent over the last few years but not covering themselves when it dried up.

Most of the companies disappearing so far seem to fall into the "non-essential" bracket such as Pier, Whittards, and now USC but I cannot help think Woolworths could have been a victim of it's own doing. When I think of Woolworths I can remember every Saturday morning meeting up with school friends outside Woolworths in Chester-le-Street where we would all wander in and come away with either a cassette single, sweets or something completely useless; we knew almost exactly what they sold. Unfortunately over the last few days in conversation I asked a few people if they knew what Woolworths actually sold everybody said CD&s and Pick and Mix; although unfortunately from a recent visit the number of CD's they sold was extremely minimal and the Pick and Mix selection was tiny. So although they were a major high street brand and almost an institution does anybody actually what they sold apart from - just stuff

Great Pub

Not that it's very likely but if you're ever lurking in the area between Colliers Wood and South Wimbledon I'd definitely recommend popping into the Trafalgar Freehouse for a pint - very Royston Vasey but fantastic beer and great characters!

That's another one gone

After all the manic preperation and rushing around to make sure everybody has a present at the appropriate value Christmas 2008 has been and gone. I'm pleased to say that I defintely had a good one! I was a bit apprehensive about this year as it was our first Xmas since my brother died and even though we saw very little of him usually on Xmas Day I knew I would miss him - sure enough, I did! Having Katie around really helped both me and my parents, not just because she is fantastic to be around but it also meant there wasn't an empty seat for dinner - that would have been very strange! Now that Xmas is over attention turns immediately to the impending change from 2008 to 2009. Personally I cannot wait! I already know that 2009 is going to involve massive changes for me and Katie. My current job finishes at the end of March and so I have no choice about looking for something new. What, I do not know! After living in London for a year I have concluded that I definitely don't like it, and so any job hunting I do is going to be outside the M25 by quite a few hundred miles! This will definitely mean a pay cut and I guess a change in industry - but what I do not know! Any suggestions.....

London #2

It's probably just me but I've noticed that in London people seem to be lacking in the ability to walk in a straight line! Personally I'm a pretty fast walker, sauntering annoys me and more often than not when I make the move to go round somebody they decide for no reason to completely change direction. I know there's a lot to see in London but it's not an excuse for veering all over the place - I might start a petition for people to be fitted with indicators!

London #1

After the last week I know one this I really dislike about London - it doesn't snow here!! I love snow and when they announced it on the forecast I might have even let out a little 'Get In', but no! All we had this week was rain while back home it was snowing like there was no tomorrow! Humph!

London

Just under a year I ago I took the plunge and moved to London, since moving there I've come to experience all the good and bad things about the capital. I'm not just talking about the shootings, stabbings etc but there are more day to day annoyances that are starting to creep into daily life! I'm not going to go through them now as I'm in the middle of making tea, but I think I'll try and start to add them on here gradually! I'll try and be constructive!