My disreputable jaws

My disreputable lower jaw
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Yup, that's a plaster cast of my lower jaw. Taken recently in order to make a custom gumshield to help prevent nocturnal tooth grinding which is making my already unhelpfully deep pockets deeper. That's pockets around the teeth you understand, where stuff can get trapped and erode away at the roots. Although as I seem to spend a fortune on dentists every year they must think I have deep pockets elsewhere too.

Back in the first wave of this blog (2003 late summer to autumn if anyone feels like looking back, I can't be bothered to dig out the entries!) I had my jawbone rebuilt (upper and lower) with bone grafts as I have naturally dissolving issues. It was not fun and set me back over a grand which we could ill afford, but decided to go for it. I was predicted to be full of gaps/false teeth by now otherwise so I think it was worth both the expense and the pain. (Some might say I would at least then end up with straight teeth, as these are a bit wonky!)

Anyway, I now get to see the hygenist every 3 months to be tortured and recently she noticed a new pocket developing which has been put down to pressure caused by teeth clenching and grinding at night. So now there is a plastic layer between my jaws as I snooze (click on the pic to go to flickr if you want to see that too!) which I am slowly getting used to.

Nothing thrilling to add to that, just a glimpse into my life and fulfilling the promise last time to talk about teeth! I hit 39 on Sunday so will no doubt think of something about age for a forthcoming post.

Links where they may not exist

Is it just me or is it totally unsurprising when links turn up between disparate items these days? Maybe I have been sensitised to it by recent media coverage (e.g. the London copper who
yesterday got sentenced for framing an innocent man turned out of have a history of "issues" and blemishes on his record that had been overlooked by him claiming harassment, and an article sent to me about a murder of a black kid by a white one in Seattle) but I am seeing elements of racism and racial politics everywhere I turn at the moment.

I feel totally unqualified to comment on the matter, as apart from my brother-in-law (and son) and the people in the Chinese takeaway at the end of the road my life is whiter than white. Not
through choice, there just isn't anyone else from any other ethnic background living nearby, working in my department, driving my bus, selling me groceries or just hanging around street corners trying to engage with me. It has been the same old story most of my life, and I have a deep ingrained feeling that I ought to do something about it, but then that would just be tokenism.

Anyway, what I meant to say was that the matter has cropped up in three of my latest, totally unconnected books. In the worlds of fiction the last two I read were Terry Pratchett's Nation and Dr Who tie-in Sting Of The Zygons. The former sees a young white girl stranded on a pseudo-Polynesian Island (in a parallel universe) and covers culture clashes, colonial attitudes and differences between religion and science in a generally lighthearted manner. The Who book, sees the Doctor and Martha thrown into 1910 Scotland with Martha receiving backhanded comments and snide looks from establishment figures. Both of these are ostensibly children's books and there is nothing overt or too offensive in the attitudes portrayed, but they both struck a chord.

The question is, would they have registered with me in this way if I hadn't simultaneously been listening to part three of Simon Schama's History of Britain? Throughout the three volumes, as we have seen the empire growing etc, he has covered the appalling treatment Britain inflicted on conquered peoples in a manner that makes me uncomfortable about descending from those times. OK, there is nothing in there I haven't come across before in other texts, lessons, tv shows and so forth but coming across all three references to the subject in close succession has rammed it home once more.

So, is everything interconnected? Do we just see links between things and events when they don't really exist or am I just being a tad sensitive? Answers on a postcard or sealed antelope...

I'll talk about teeth or something less thought-provoking next time!

Mobile test.

Just seeing if I can blog from my phone.

Left on the shelf

Left on the shelf
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

As I have now found time to sort out the stats, here are the the surprising number of books I managed to get through last year. Those marked * were audio, which I get through on the way to work, when travelling to meetings or site visits etc which helps the total numbers no end!

A few comments to add along the way, and more on some of the others another day. Oh, and these are in order of finishing them which may go some way to explaining how there are groups of audio or paper together at random. Some weeks I just don't have time for one type or the other.

Ian Fleming - Goldfinger
David Eddings - Enchanter's End Game* (the series wrapped over the year break)
Gareth Roberts - Doctor Who: I Am A Dalek
Stuart Maconie - Pies And Prejudice
Martin Wainwright - Morris Minor: The Biography
David Eddings - Guardians Of The West*
J. K. Rowling - The Tales Of Beedle The Bard (I came to the Potter books after being talked into a group outing to see the first film and while I found the series quite derivative and the later books full of padding did enjoy them)
David Quantick - Grumpy Old Men On Holiday
Andy Summers - One Train Later (possibly the best music book I have yet encountered)
David Eddings - King Of The Murgos*
Ian Fleming - For Your Eyes Only
David Eddings - Demon Lord Of Karanda*
Bill Watterson - There's Treasure Everywhere (Calvin and Hobbes is the greatest comic strip ever created and while I applaud Watterson for dropping out rather than be mega-exploited I'd kill for some more)
Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There
David Eddings - Sorceress Of Darshiva*
David Eddings - Seeress Of Kell*
Bill Watterson - It's A Magical World
Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine - Last Chance To See* (Thought I had best re-visit this one before the Stephen Fry tv series aired)
Bram Stoker - Dracula (this was read in deliberate preparation for Paul Bibeau below)
David & Leigh Eddings - Belgarath The Sorcerer*
Andrew Collins - That's Me In The Corner
Mike Tucker - Doctor Who: The Nightmare Of Black Island (I have no problem with tv tie-ins if the story is gripping enough)
Mike Mullane - Riding Rockets
Ian Fleming - Thunderball (you may have picked up a pattern by now - more in a future post on this)
David & Leigh Eddings - Polgara The Sorceress*
Tim Fountain - Rude Britannia
David & Leigh Eddings - The Rivan Codex (Couldn't get this in audio so had to actually read it myself!)
Bob Kane et al - The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told Vol 2 (along with C&H I started to go back over comic collections as an alternative to magazines to accompany my breakfasts)
Paul Bibeau - Sundays With Vlad
Terry Brooks - First King Of Shannara*
Stephen Cole - Doctor Who: The Art Of Destruction
Nigel Slater - Toast
Ian Fleming - The Spy Who Loved Me
Jeremy Clarkson - Don't Stop Me Now
Terry Brooks - The Sword Of Shannara*
Terry Brooks - The Elfstones Of Shannara*
Bob Kane et al - Batman Vs The Riddler & Two-Face
Kim Stanley Robinson - The Years Of Rice & Salt (a hard slog but worth it)
Terry Brooks - The Wishsong Of Shannara*
Giles Chapman & Richard Porter - Top Gear: My Dad Had One Of Those (these were "Breakfast books" as well)
Don Hale - Mallard
Colin Brake - Doctor Who: The Price Of Paradise
Terry Pratchett - The Colour Of Magic*
Matt Master - Top Gear's Midlife Crisis Cars
Andrew Collins - Where Did It All Go Right?*
Terry Pratchett - The Light Fantastic*
Ben Fogle - The Teatime Islands
David Eddings - The Diamond Throne*
Ian Fleming - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
David Eddings - The Ruby Knight*
Bill Bryson - A Walk In The Woods
David Eddings - The Sapphire Rose*
Brian Augustyn et al - Batman: Gotham By Gaslight
Terry Pratchett - Equal Rites*
Peter Ashley - Pubs And Inns
Bruce Sterling - Schismatrix Plus
Terry Brooks - The Scions Of Shannara*
Terrance Dicks - Doctor Who: Made Of Steel
Terry Brooks - The Druid Of Shannara*
Richard Fortey - Dry Store Room No. 1
Terry Brooks - The Elf Queen Of Shannara*
Alan Witton - ECW Buses And Coaches (As made in Lowestoft, and a crying shame that the factory was replaced by a retail park)
Ian Fleming - You Only Live Twice
Tim Fitzhigham - In The Bath
Frank Miller et al - Batman: Year One
Mike Barr et al - Batman: Year Two
Terry Brooks - The Talismans Of Shannara*
Terry Pratchett - Mort*
Eric Clapton - The Autobiography* (read by Bill Nighy, who has the right sort of voice for the job, but I can't get the hang of something as personal as an autobiography not being read by the author!)
Jacquline Rayner - Doctor Who: The Last Dodo
Charlotte Morgan & Stan Fowler - The Little Book Of Camper Van
Richard Porter - Top Gear: Crap Cars
Simon Schama - A History of Britain I: At the Edge of the World? - 3000 BC-AD 1603*
Christopher Winn - I Never Knew That About London
Neil Oliver - Coast: From The Air
Dan Kieran & Ian Vince - Three Men In A Float (Lowestoft to Land's End in a milk float, absolutely hilarious!)
Simon Schama - A History of Britain II: British Wars 1603-1776*
Brian Minchin - Torchwood: The Sin Eaters* (I took an audio break for a month after this due to being in Canada and having no guaranteed listening time)
Ian Fleming - The Man With The Golden Gun (and so we end the year where we came in...)

Not staying in

Although I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions, I did decide while we were away that we need to get out and do more things during 2010. Not that we spend all night every night slumped in front of the telly or banging away at the keyboard - it just seems like most of them! I think it was partly realising that while we were in Canada we were out and about a bit more than we would be here. Now, I know some of that is the being on holiday syndrome, or there being more shops open late or just having relatives on hand with ideas of things to do, but we were definitely doing stuff. Here we seem to fall into a routine of, for example, shopping on a Sunday when we could just as easily go of an evening and then have the whole Sunday to do something else, go somewhere etc.

To that end we were out on Saturday night with friends for a nice meal and then to see Mansfield Park And Ride, the Christmas show from local theatre group Eastern Angles. The brief description on their page only gives a very faint flavour of the evening of laughs that awaited us. A quality cast of five managing to squeeze in at least 12 roles between them, song, dance and lots of breaking the fourth wall. Although as we saw them in a venue with seats on two sides of the stage I guess they broke the third one as well. We have heard good reviews of the Christmas shows in the past just never managed to catch them. This year I am very glad we did.

MrsB is a huge fan of the costume drama as perfected by the BBC, and I have been known to enjoy them from time to time as well (and sit politely through others!) so a send up of the genre was bound to make us laugh. Unlike any of the works of the Austens, Brontes or Dickens of this world it was set in the Ipswich Area and thus poked gentle fun at the Park & Ride services I look after in my daily life. And of course any play where the characters complain about the lack of production budget has to be worth seeing.

I am now very tempted by a show they are putting on at the old Bentwaters airfield in the summer which I am sure will not be a comedy but still worth investigating. In fact it sounds similar to something we saw at Landguard Fort here in Felixstowe last year which also featured a small cast in numerous roles, acting on the move between different rooms and ghosts.

Oh, and I popped out at lunch time to get tickets for Julian Clary next month. Never seen a proper stand-up in the flesh so this will be a first for both of us. Hopefully not a last.

The glories of the A&W Mama burger

The glories of the A&W Mama burger
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

While many people will probably disagree, the North American continent is not generally known for amazing cuisine and is more likely to be associated with fast food, huge steaks and huger people eating them. Although I can't exactly disagree with that general diagnosis we did have some very nice meals over in that Canada so here's a bit about some of the places we ate.

A&W - bill themselves as the home of the burger family, and for a fast food outlet I think they do pretty well. If nothing else they get credit for not putting ice in the drinks (as they reckon they are cold enough to start with) and the burgers have an actual beefiness about them.

Swiss Chalet - no longer have the waitresses dressed as Swiss milk maids, but for a chain restaurant do good quality food at reasonable prices. Their speciality is rotisserie chicken in various formats, my favourite being the gravy smothered classic sandwich, and they have a trademark dipping sauce which I'm not keen on. Part of a group which also includes:

Harveys - a slightly more upmarket burger joint where they take the time to assemble your beef in a bun in front of you, allowing your own choice of pickles, relishes, salad items etc. This was also where I finally got round to having the Canadian speciality Poutine. Which is basically a bowl of chips with gravy and runny cheese on the top. Not a staggering addition to the world of fine dining, but very tasty and warming on a winter's night.

Milestones - also linked to the two above. And a further rung or two up the quality ladder. For example their burgers are made with Kobe beef rather than you average Canadian cow. And they will sell them to you in miniature-slider form as a starter should you so desire. Very nice butternut squash soup as well.

Tim Hortons - the most widespread and successful coffee shop chain in Canada, named for the late Hockey player who started them but now owned by Wendys. Fabulous donuts (mine's a Maple dip), tasty bagels, soup, wraps and so forth. They always seem to have the longest queue of any outlet in a mall food court and there are even a couple of outlets here in the UK now.

I also enjoyed our Greek last supper, cinamon beaver tails (no beaver involved) in Ottawa, Japanese and Chinese lunches and other stuff too.

But the chocolate is still disgusting.

A Mountie always gets his reindeer

A Mountie always gets his reindeer
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

We went, we saw, we had a Canadian Christmas and we did a lot of shopping. Oh yes, that was an interesting three weeks away. And how come we have been back a week already? Where does the time go? Anyway, we managed to avoid the worst of Britain's Big Freeze (or Snowpocalypse if you prefer) but the start of it did affect our departure...

Travelogue stuff part one!

Ma and Pa very kindly took us down to Gatwick for the flight out, arrival being slightly delayed by frozen screen wash requiring numerous stops in lay-bys and on the hard shoulder to clear vision by hand. Then the plane was delayed by two hours while they cleared the runway and de-iced. Not that I was particularly bothered by that - we had decided to upgrade as a Christmas treat so I was able to sleep through the hanging around in a bit more comfort.

The trip was more intended to be a Christmas celebration with the part of the family we normally only see in warmer months. While my lot are all over here, MrsB has one sister here and the other in Canada. And she has children and grandchildren out there too so we were intending to spend as much time with them as possible rather than necessarily hitting the tourist spots. It certainly started off in fine family form with mother, daughter and grandaughter there to meet us as we fell wearily out of the arrivals gate.

Home for the next three weeks was Sheila and Stuart's house in Burlington. Which for those who have never heard of it is about 45 minutes west of Toronto. And if you keep going west and south another 45 minutes or so you end up staring at Niagara Falls. It is a nice little city with a couple of malls, lots of lovely parks and walks along the lake shore and far too many Canada Geese. S&S's daughter Caroline lives in town as well, with hubby Chris, daughter Bryanna and son Austin so there was lots of catching up with them to do. And from Austin'r point of view meeting us as he was only 6 months last time he was here.

What was missing, however, was snow. When we booked up in August we were told we were mad for going in the winter as there would be so much snow and cold weather that we wouldn't be able to go out half the time and would be stuck in the house. That didn't put us off, of course. And proved to be a false prediction. In fact most of the time we had lovely blue skies, although it struggled to reach freezing most days and lows of up to minus 25 were experienced. Still, Ma and Pa had also given us money for Christmas to buy new coats with, so after a trip to Mapleview Mall and then on to Mark's Work Wearhouse we were sorted for the rest of the trip.

So other than sitting around in various houses what did we get up to?

As intimated, and despite flying out with suitcases full of Christmas present, English sweets, Christmas puddings/cake etc we managed to obtain enough stuff to come back 16kg overweight. So that was the biggest dent on the credit card all holiday. As much as I try to resist when we do end up in the Malls, I seem to have developed a fondness over the years for Old Navy t-shirts. And even with the pound only hitting 1.6 dollars rather than the 2 we have had in the past, the CD prices just make them irresistable.

As can be determined by that photo, we did indeed make it to Niagara Falls for a look at all that unfrozen water. They are always a spectacular sight, especially if you can ignore all the tat up on Clifton Hill and the Casinos. Although Sheila did manage to pocket $1,000+ on the slots while we were wandering around! Even in the sub-zero conditions I could quite happily have spent hours just watching the power of nature at work. Amazing to realise what humble h2o is capable of when left to get on with things. Not that what we see today is all that natural any more with over half of the water running through tunnels and turbine to generate electricity rather than flowing over the top. Still wouldn't fancy the trip over in a barrel though.

A six hour car journey took us up to Ottawa for a few nights with Darrell and Marnie (S&S's son and wife) with their daughter Stevie. That was another first meeting as she was still a bump when we were over there in 2007. Plenty of snow up there (like, 3 or 4 feet in places) so I got to do proper driveway clearing after the snowplough had been past and heaped it all onto the sidewalks. The capital is a lovely city and one of these days we want to go there for a week or more to properly explore it, take in the museums, parliament etc in suitable detail.

We also managed to squeeze in some ice hockey, lots of overdecorated houses, festivals of lights, icewine, more food than was strictly necessary and a brief interlude of bus spotting. Oh, and between us reeled off the best part of 2,000 photos which are slowly being sorted and put up on flickr, so feel free to click on our faces to see more for now and I'll write something else about other parts of the trip next time...

And so this is Christmas

As we head of for Canada on Sunday this will be my last post of the year and while I thought of several topics I could cover (snow!, Christmas telly, chiropodists, cameras) I am instead leaving this year with some random reminiscences from Christmas past...

Delight at finding the biggest parcel under the tree was for me - and even more delight on finding it to contain a set of dropped handlebars for my bike!

Sharing a room with my brother every Christmas Eve for years due to a grandmother stopping over.

Waking up to find the future MrsB making a cooked breakfast on our first Christmas together.

The family stories of Christmas events that come out every year - Uncle David with a big red circle on his forehead after being hit by a sucker arrow, baby me crawling round the tree removing the labels from all the presents leading to much guesswork, how the Danish side of the family wouldn't put their tree up until Christmas Eve - and have real candles on it and so on and so forth.

Being slightly creeped out by my Dad dancing to Sade with my cousin.

Uncle Mick slouching so low in his chair that only his head was vertical, party hat askew and glass of wine dangling perilously.

The first time MrsB and I hosted Christmas dinner - taking the empty plates back to the kitchen and coming back with the desert to find her family had put the telly on in the two minutes we were occupied.

Lengths of string bearing a zillion cards crashing down in the night.

Spending hours licking and sticking paper chains together.

Working late-night shopping when still at Argos.

The joy on the face of an Australian Christmas temp when she saw her first snow at the age of 23.


So, have a great Christmas and New Year. Thanks to everyone who has read my ramblings, look out for more in 2010!

Music for the masses

Well, as much as I get frustrated by things being sealed before they are ready*, I have just cast my votes in the YakYak Dancing About Architecture Festive Fifty to add my views on the music of the year.

So, for what it is worth, here are my favourite songs of the year:

1 – The Prodigy: Omen. This was destined to be my number one for the year as soon as I heard it, just top notch stuff.
2 – The Wildhearts: You Took The Sunshine From New York. Would have been number one if not for the Prodge. A sad song when you listen to it, but I find it quite uplifting musically and as some of my flickr contacts have been to the big apple this year I have some great images to go withi this.
3 – The Black Crowes: I Ain’t Hiding. The Crowes get funky in a 70s disco.
4 – Bruce Springsteen: Queen of The Supermarket. He can still do beautiful stuff about the ordinary world, although I wonder when he was last in a supermarket.
5 – Heaven And Hell: Eating The Cannibals. Dio/Iommi/Butler/Appice - Metal majesty!
6 – Jem: I Want You To… Not sure why, but this song has been stuck in my head all year so had to go on the list.
7 – Go Home Productions: Everybody’s Looking Rosy In My Garden. Home grown fun.
8 – Iron Maiden: Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (Live). A cheat really, but having loved the song since the 80s the live album gives me an excuse to vote for it.
9 – Pixie Lott: Girls And Boys. Fun pop and very catchy.
10 – Slayer: Americon. Maximum heaviosity.

Not expecting much from my selection to make the final fifty as I seem to be quite wide of the beam from many other forumites, but participation is the name of the game.

Other lists of things I liked this year to follow after it finishes!

* I can still recall being gobsmacked at seeing the book "The Chronicle Of The 20th Century" in the shops in the late '80s and thinking stuff might still happen that was worth putting in. Given that a few months later the Berlin Wall came down, communism collapsed etc I think I was ight to never buy the thing.

Moving Swiftly Along

I've just noticed that my phone now believes me to have walked over 1,000 miles this year and that I will pass the 2,000,000 step mark next week. And that's without trying at all over the last couple of months since dark evenings and generally wet lunchtimes set in. Now I suppose I will have to use that as a target to beat next year.

Register this

Prehistoric Buick
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

There is something about number/registration/licence plates that has always seemed to catch my attention. We used to make up words or sentences from them on long family journeys and eagerly looked for the first new car whenever the year letters changed. I can remember my Dad's old cars (CBM130T and FTM252Y spring immediately to mind), ones that made me laugh when we were out as a family (BOO36T had us in hysterics for no real reason) or other prominent vehicles (ADX1 is the first Ipswich motor bus, now in the Ipswich transport museum).

Maybe it was Lady Penelope's FAB1 in Thunderbirds that grabbed me early on, but I seem to spend half my life scanning plates as I pass them or they overtake me (usually the latter as I have this annoying habit of keeping within the speed limit). I used to judge whether I was early or late for work by where on the road into Ipswich I would see L15ETT coming the other way - never considering that she might have been the one not running to time - and could pick out other members of staff in the car park from their plates rather than the type of car (well, there were always duplicates of model and colour).

So when I stumbled across Richard Herring's Consecutive Number Plate Spotting (where you look for 1-999 in order) I had no choice but to give it a go.

After over a year of looking, last week I finally passed the 100 milestone (which was becoming something of a Millstone). I'd been dedicated enough not to count the new style 02, 03, 04... and 53, 53, 54... seeking instead older plates with those digits, but that didn't really slow me down. In fact both runs that could have been got through "cheating" actually fell to me each within a single day when I reached them numerically. No, I don't believe it either, but it is the truth. No point playing this game if you can't be honest about it.

The scrappage scheme which is taking older cars off the road has made me wonder if I will ever get to 999 (there are at least three 999 cars in Felixstowe that I know of, but they can't be counted until their time) but I am aware of myself enough to know that I will never give up.

Oh, the picture was one I saw in Canada two years ago, and one day I might post my American States plates collection...

Mixed feelings on news from the past

Just had a text from MrsB - one of our former managers from the Argos days has died, and another ex-employee I didn't know has killed himself. Not got any details, and we haven't been in contact with the manager in question for 10 years or so. But, not sure how I feel or ought to be feeling about it.

On the one hand he was actually quite an inspiring manager for me, helped me out with applications and encouraged me to go for promotions, gave me more responsibility than I should have had in store. But on the other he definitely scuppered MrsB's chances of a promotion in favour of another, was against our relationship (claiming it would never work, yet here we are 14 years of married life later) and, in theory the extra responsibilities I had could be seen as others dumping stuff on me they should have been doing themselves.

I don't know whether there is a family for my thoughts to be with or anything like that, but all told feel a little bit odd just now.

...of little brain

I have just seen a woman in the corridor clutching some sort of stuffed dog, and across the office from me I can see Paddington propped up against a monitor.

Turns out it is Bring Your Bear To Work day. Oh what joy.

I hope nobody brings one to the meeting I have later and expects me to take them seriously. Not meaning to be a grump, but I think this is one charity thing too far. I wore it pink last week for Breast Cancer (well, I have two pink shirts and wear them to work anyway), I've donned my Jeans for Genes and will no doubt come casual for Children in Need but I'm not lugging Mr Fox around with me all day.

Read me a story

As I think I have mentioned, I do like a nice audio book. Since getting a phone with built in MP3 player I have become particularly addicted to them, but this is an interest going back as far as I can remember. Maybe it links back to Mum and Dad reading to us, then story time at school and Jackanory on the tv but there really is nothing like having a tale read out to you while driving around, sitting on the bus or just wandering aimlessly around town. Non-fiction can also work well too, I hasten to add.

The first ones I can recall hearing over and over again were four LPs of the Rev Awdry's railway stories narrated by Johnny Morris, complete with whistles and brilliant voices as per Animal Magic. The disappointment when the TV series got Ringo to do them... I now have copies of these on CD for occasional nostalgia blasts. Other childhood favourites were an LP of Swallows and Amazons (not exactly a book that one, but the dialogue from the film version with added narration), Alice in Wonderland and, er, The Guns of Navarone.

Yesterday I finished another lot of Terry Brooks Shanarra tales. I know I have been troubled by the continuity in those before, but you would think that a writer would remember chopping the arm off one of his own creations and not have him later place both palms against a door etc. It may only be a fantasy epic but still needs to pass a few tests for rigour!

Time for something meatier now I think, and I've got Simon Schama's history of Britain lined up for when I have time to update my memory card.

(Uncanny Update - on publishing this post Blogger found me an advert for Audible. Why, you could almost believe they search for key words and line things up to match!)

Sister Act and other diversions

Sister Act
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

As foreshadowed, Saturday saw our visit to London to see Sister Act. It was absolutely superb - definitely the best west end production we have seen so far. OK, so perhaps they have an advantage at the Palladium with revolving stage, trapdoors etc that you may not see in other venues, but by 'eck do they make the most of it. Acting, singing, dancing and the scenery all superb.

We were both impressed by Patina Miller in the lead role and Sheila Hancock as the Mother Superior with perfect comic timing. For our show we got the understudy for the priest, instead of the anticipated Ian Lavender* but he was really good anyway, and somehow the thought of Private Pike with an American accent would have been wrong anyway.

As we arrived with four hours to kill we had a bit of a mooch around Oxford Street, Soho and the general area. No real intentions other than seeing some of the back streets and bits we've not wandered around before. Plus it wasn't enough time to get to and then do justice to a museum or gallery as well as fitting in a bite of lunch. Some more pics gradually making their way up onto flickr.


* This was not such a disappointment for me as I have actually met him. We were holding a bus users forum in Bury St Edmunds which he attended with some questions for us. Nice to see someone with a modicum of fame using public transport. Anyway, one of my colleagues got the job of taking down his details and had no idea who he was talking to. When he asked for his name I had to bite my tongue to not shout out "Don't tell him, Pike". I'm sure he must get that all the time.

Sweet Emulsion

Some comedian I can't recall once said that you know you are getting old/turning into your Dad when you see a stick and think "I'll keep that for stirring paint" or something along those lines. In my case it is a strip of plastic edging from when we had the kitchen refitted, but the idea is much the same. And it got a fair bit of use this weekend as I chose to recover from my cold by repainting the bathroom. Again.

Can anyone tell me what a normal level of decoration rotation should be?

We've been in this house thirteen years now and have so far done:

Kitchen, Bathroom, Lounge - four times each
Bedroom, Dining Room - three times
Stairs/Landing, Spare Room, Study - twice

Those totals seem a bit extreme to me, when compared with my nearest point of reference - my parents. They have been in their current house twenty years now and only got round to redoing each room for the first time since taking possession about two or three years ago. And only then because they had an extension built which meant some walls got moved around. In the one we lived in for eighteen years before that I can't remember any room being done more than twice.

I know it isn't constant, but it seems like we are always thinking about colours and how to do each room next. And I just can't say no to MrsB when she starts hinting that a freshen up is in order. I think she may be obsessed with change. And its not that I object to the actual slapping on of paint, it is just all the preparation, living with a room out of use and all the contents distributed everywhere else for a few days etc that gets me down.

And there are a couple of pots of Moroccan red waiting for the kitchen to get a fifth look this side of Christmas too...

Atchooo!

So, this week I have mostly been off work with a cold. Sounds pathetic really, doesn't it? I felt a bit grotty and did lots of sneezing on Sunday, struggled in on Monday then gave up half way through the day and haven't been back. I always feel guilty when I'm off sick whatever the cause, but this really does feel a bit stupid to be home with. The trouble is, when I do get a bad cold I get dizzy and have trouble staying upright.

What with hayfever and a dust-mite allergy I sneeze pretty much all year round, so can cope with that side of the business just fine. But when I can't more than a dozen steps without feeling like I could fall over or throw up, it kind of makes being in an office all day a bit tricky. And the thought of driving with it was just too much.

As such, I've done lots of sleeping, a bit of reading and watched a few old video tapes that have been sitting around waiting for me (no Sky+ here you know!). Oh, I've also consumed lots of Lemsip and done some general feeling sorry for myself. Feel almost back to normal again now so hopefully back to the real world on Monday.

Mixing with the gricers

Georgina
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Took a trip to Duxford yesterday for the Showbus event. Went four years in a row when I first started at the council due to free bus journeys and reduced entry being offered, but this was my first visit since 2001.

A glorious day in terms of weather (they normally call it Showerbus) and I quite enjoyed getting back into the old buses as art kind of thing. And of course I like to see the planes as well. Lots of pictures which will gradually make their way onto the usual place.

OK, so the buses do bring out the bus enthusiasts, some of whom can be a little scary in their obsessions (and in need of a good wash/spray down with Sure), and there really was no need for wooly hats yesterday, but a generally harmless crowd. Some of whom I know of old, and some of whom drive me to work on a regular basis. Good to bump into some of them.

Funniest moment was two women I overheard. As they reached the end of a line of buses one said "Oh no, not more of them" and the other responded with "Aye, there's not much here for them of us as don't like buses or planes". Which tickled me. I assume they had husbands off jotting down chassis numbers somewhere.

Hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Bad start to the day
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Eagle-eyed readers will already have spotted what greeted me when we left the house this morning. It seems that somewhere on the way home last night my car got screwed (click pick to go through the Flickr and you can see the actual screw in the next image - top class photo reporting here!). And of course this particular tyre has only been on for two weeks. Fortunately I bought some with a lifetime guarantee which includes accidental damage so it was repaired OK at no cost.

This is only my second puncture in 21 years behind the wheel, so I guess I've been pretty lucky. The first was within days of having moved up to Felixstowe. Mum and I were heading in to Ipswich to meet Dad for lunch, taking some rubbish to the tip on the way. I was still on L plates at that point. Having turned off the A45 onto the road up to the tip we immediately noticed a real rumble, limped a bit further up to the next village and pulled over. As this was 1989 we weren't equipped with mobiles so while I started emptying the boot to get the spare Mum went in search of a phoen to warn that we would be late.

She was able to flag down a passing police motorbike before I had finished unloading. Turned out not to be a copper but a mechanic taking the bike for a test ride so he gallantly did the tyre change for us in about thrity seconds flat.

My only other experience of a flat tyre was at the age of 10 or 11 on the way back from a chess tournament (I wasn't playing, just supporting my friend Howard). His dad had to do a change in the dark with us two far enough away from the edge of the road to be safe but near enough to hold a torch for him.

Here's hoping it can be another 10 or more years until the next one.

Sources of annoyance

Came home tonight to find the third charity bag through the door in as many days. Whay have they all decided to target us this week? Something to do with the distributors having been off over the school hols perhaps? They have all gone straight back outside where they will no douibt sit on the drive for a week before we give up and thrown them in the bin. I've never known an empty one be picked up for re-use despite them promising to. When we have clothes to get rid of they are generally in no fit state to go on to anyone so these bags really are a waste of time. So on that note, here are a few more things annoying me riight now...

Masterchef - The Professionals. Who the hell thought up the broadcast format for this? Having 45 minutes per group of hopefuls rather than 30 is great, but why is the first show split over two days? Makes no sense at all. Loving the show though, nice to see people who think they can do it all making the same mistakes as the amateurs.

People phoning up to complain about bus shelters. Especially the ones who see a pole or kerb go in and assume we will follow it up with a shelter. If only I had the budget. (OK, that's a pretty specific moan that won't be relevant to most people!)

Dark evenings. Autumn isn't supposed to come on this quickly. When I come home from work I want to enjoy a nice light evening still, not be thinking about putting the lights on to make the drive. It is still only September after all.

The Beatles remasters being yet again full-price discs. Haven't they had enough money off us all over the years? They should have done the decent thing and made them bargains. Especially when the first three albums would probably fit together on one CD.

Not being able to remember the other thing I was going to moan about!