Thursday 26 May 2011

Perfection

The perfect competition, almost…..
OK.  So it didn’t get off to a good start as people queued in droves to avoid entering the Blog of War… (There were unconfirmed reports that one person tried to hack off their fingers in order to try and avoid entering….now that’s harsh and untrue.  It was just a paper cut ….)

And it didn’t continue that well when only 2/3rds of the people who entered actually showed up for round 1…..(I should have taken an entry fee upfront….)

In the last round one of the three remaining candidates managed to disenfranchise themselves by selecting a blog that no one could vote for (Sorry, I feel it is my duty to overcomplicate everything, ask Mrs B if you don’t believe me….)….I honestly didn’t think it was that hard  a voting strategy – if you liked one of the selected blogs or  how it was championed, all you had to do was follow it….seems fairly simple to me.  You should have seen my early drafts…..

So, by default, we have  Lost.in.Idaho v Penwasser Place in the final…. Where they will go head to head in “The best of times the worst of times”

This leads me ask the question is there such a thing as perfection?

For instance is there a perfect song? Or is it just the case of a perfect moment for a song?

A good example of this was the heavens opening up at Glastonbury, a few years back, just as Travis hit the stage and started to sing “Why does it always rain on me….” It is still a great song on a bright sunny day but without that sudden and well timed dousing it just doesn’t have the same impact….

When it comes to a perfect instants I never seem to get my “Why does it always rain on me” moment.  Just when it’s all looking good something rears its ugly head and barfs all over my carefully prepared banquet…. Step into the BlackLOG time machine and I’ll take you back a couple of years to demonstrate….

Almost the perfect gig
In order to enjoy the perfect gig experience you need:

1. A decent journey to the venue;
2. A good parking space – only applicable if you are coming by car or happen to be the train/bus driver;
3. A great venue;
4. Reasonably priced food;
5. Fantastic seats – very important if your gig companion is cute and can snuggle under your armpit but not good for them being able to see the stage when they are standing (please note that the offer of snuggling under my Armpit is only open to Mrs B);
6. Make sure you bring the tickets with you.

So how did I do?

1. Check – Nafman took me directly to the venue. None of the usual trauma - it didn’t try and take me via Beirut, it didn’t dump me in the middle of nowhere and then decide to shut down for the evening. It didn’t even find the usual traffic jams it so normally excels in finding.

2. Check - Found a space less than a minute’s walk from the venue – when does this ever happen…….?

3. Check - Cadogan Hall just off Sloane Square. Intimate and atmospheric. None of your 120,000 "Can't see the stage from here" venues (Thanks Oasis - it might have done your bank balance the world of good, it might have been a world record crowd but in my opinion if you can only see the top of the stage it is a sh*t event....)

4. Check - A beer, cranberry juice, 2 bags of nuts and a bowl of olives: £7

5. Check - Front row gallery seats about 20 feet from the stage. The seats were comfortable and roomy too – whoo hoo.

Almost the perfect view 


6. Check – Tickets safely in wallet (wallet with me).

Now here come the bonus bits:

1. Mrs B arrived 15 minutes before the start – with her current workload, this is a novel experience. She normally arrives 20 minutes into a gig and we spend the next 20 minutes texting each other in an attempt to fight our way through the crowd to get together.

2. I hadn’t realised that there was a support act….

In an ideal world this Blog would end happily, at this point, as we enjoyed a wonderful evening……. but sadly this is BlackLOG

The fact that all the boxes ticked so neatly should have been a clue.

The non-rowdy crowd were not the normal type for this kind of gig - Some people were in suits - this should have sent alarm bells ringing.

It was only when the support act announced that he was going to play his entire new album did I start to worry. Just how long was he going to play for? I checked the ticket - it said “Roddy Frame (formerly of Aztec Camera fame)”

Mrs B asked to look at the ticket.

Mrs B started laughing and pointed at the date.

I looked at the date.

I looked at the date on my watch.

I looked back at the date on the ticket.

Nooooooooooo!!!!

I started to laugh – I had no choice. It was either that or I would have started crying.

We were 24 hours late. Numb nuts (that being me) had written down the wrong date on our events calendar at home. Unfortunately, whenever I checked when we were going I referred to the calendar not the ticket. The event we had inadvertently gate crashed was Tony Christie and since he was not showing any sign of playing “Road to Amarillo” we attempted to slink out. Typical of our turn in fortunes, we didn’t make a clean get away…

Member of staff - Leaving a bit early aren’t you?

Me – No - about 22 hours too late!!!!!!

I felt like I had kicked myself in the gonads (probably accounts for the numbness element). If anyone saw the Paul Merton trip through India – where the little Indian chap got people to run up and kick him between the legs - I now know exactly how he felt, particularly as it was effectively self-inflicted. Personally, I think he was actually enjoying the experience. I can assure you, I was not.


If you are going to crash a gig
make sure it is something a bit more
exciting than Tony Christie
In summary
I feel that my guide to the perfect gig experience is possibly lacking a little something….

Point 7 – Check the bloody date…….

You may ask why am I admitting to this act of stupidity? To be honest, it is a selfish attempt by me to exorcise the ghost of this event. No matter how much you laugh or pull my leg about it, you can’t hurt my feelings anymore than I have hurt them myself. This was the opportunity to see one of my favourite singers in an incredibly unique event. A part of me will regret this act of stupidity to my dying day.

There are some questions that may require a government inquiry to get to the bottom of:-

How did we managed to get through three separate ticket checks…..?

When will they invent time travel so I can rectify this hideous mistake?

If we are not getting time travel, what about BBC iPlayer for concerts? This would be useful even if you made it on the correct day. Want to go to the toilet? Need a drink? Just hit the pause button…..Come on boffins pull your fingers out………..

If there was a glimmer of an excuse that I can cling to for this catastrophe, it is possibly that I could blame fixture congestion. 4 gigs in ten days was a lot even by my standards.

Back to the present....or is it?
I now return you to the present, unless you are reading this tomorrow when this is technically the past.If you are reading this yesterday, congratulation on inventing  time travel and please use it responsibly ….

like going back a couple of months and stopping me from launching the Blog of War ….and going back a couple of years and making sure I go to the Roddy Frame gig on the right day. 

Please note if this blog suddenly vanishes, someone has managed to sort out time travel and I made it to the gig...For the record is was the perfect evening....

The perfect Local advert
To finish this account of perfection, I saw an advert in the local paper this week, for a new cafĂ© that is opening in Bishops Stortford.

It proudly claimed at the start “New to Bishops Stortford”  and then finished with “Proud to continue to serve Bishop Stortford for over 15 years….”  As I said the perfect advert, offering not only fresh new but trusty and experience, all rolled into one neat little lie….sorry I meant advert….those paper cuts can make it quite difficult to type at times...

Apologies to anyone in advertising but isn’t that what adverts are all about, neatly packaged lies to draw us suckers….sorry consumers, into purchasing  shoddy goods that can’t hope to meet the expectation that the advert promises. 

Which kind of brings me full circle on the question of perfection….perhaps perfection once existed but now clouded in the age that we live in, bombarded as we are with lies, broken promises and being sold impossible dreams, our expectations of perfection are as high as your average street corner hooker….

Advert some of the following claims might not be true…
Tune in next week when the BlackLOG promises to make you rich beyond my wildest dreams*, irresistible to the opposite sex**, happier than a pig in muck*** and more popular than the least popular person in the world****…All this just by reading

Small print
* Please note I may have lower expectations of wealth then you...

** Well the ones with low self esteem and desperate not to be left on the shelf, especially the ones that have gone way over their expiry date….  

*** This offer only applies  to swine who suffer from Automysophobia

**** Offer open to everyone….except the least popular person in the world


Show me the sunny
Monitoring our way to a fortune (or not) with our Solar Panels

KW Produced so far – 1258 -

KW generated in the week – 118

This has earned us approximately – £617

Record of the week

Perfect - by Fairground Attraction -   They have clearly not been walking in my shoes.....

Why does it always rain on me? by Travis - but only when I leave my umbrella at home or have the  carroof down....it is not a perfect world.....

Photo Finish 
Far from the perfect pictures... perhaps I set my standards to high in previous weeks

Perfect sleep position
 
Perfect diet – get someone else
to eat all your food
Hope to see you next time....



 

Sunday 15 May 2011

Blog of War round 2 & UK scandal

Blog of War – Round 2

The second round of the Blog of War and our 3 remaining contestants have been set the task of finding a small blog (less than 20 followers) and championing the hell out of it. The two contestants who manage to grow their chosen blog  (A blog’s growth is measured by the number of new followers it receives) go through to the final.

Please remember not to follow any of the featured blogs until all three entries have been posted and you have read all the entries. It was disappointing in the 1st round that a number of votes were cast before all the entries had even been loaded..... Either there are a number of clairvoyant readers out there or a bit of over-enthusiastic supporting is going on…..

The entries in alphabetical order: -
1).  Lost.in.Idaho - Starts with 6* followers
2). Penwasser Place Starts with 14* followers
3). Suniverse I have no idea, as fitting with the whole messed up concept of this competition** “the Follow” section on the blog that Suniverse has chosen to champion appears to be corrupt – I will try and find out the starting figure ASAP …. We have to face the prospect that Suniverse may have disenfranchised herself and selected a blog that you can’t actually vote for….. or is this just a much more polite way of bowing out of a competition than not actually showing up….Less to follow*** shortly

* Looks like some peole started following before the competition had opened....again....

** I believe the key to my failure is glorious consistency. One day the entire debacle behind the Blog of War will be turned into a one of those really bad made for TV film, based on an unreadable long forgotten blog….

*** Sorry given the circumstances that may have been a rather insensitive word to use…
Back to the BlackLOG - latest UK scandal
The UK news is currently full of horror stories about how millions of the Great British public are about to have thousands of pounds unfairly charged to their Visa cards with no warning and no right of reply.   This sounds like an absolute disgrace - more examples of rip-off Britain.  We should be up in arms about this, writing to our MP’s and getting them to ask questions in the House of Commons.  Letters of righteous indignation to anyone who will publish…..  

It’s only when you delve a little further into the story that you find out that these poor innocent people, who are about to be charged thousands of pounds that they can’t afford, are actually not so innocent after all.  They went onto the 2012 Olympics web site and decided that in order to maximise their chances of getting tickets (tickets being allocated on a ballot basis for oversubscried events) they would over order. The site clearly states that if you put in for tickets you must have the funds to pay for them.

They are now starting to panic of course and have realised that the chickens might be coming home to roost.  Instead of taking responsibility for their own actions they are now moaning about the system, suddenly claiming that a ballot is not a fair way to decide the destination of the tickets….Oh yes, so having to ring a number, early one morning, along with millions of other people and not being able to get through because Hilda on the switchboard has gone for her  tea break, is a much better idea….      

What these whingers have done is lessened the chance of sensible people getting tickets….Mrs B (the official sensible half of the BlackLOG family) and I (putting on a temporary sensible hat for this occasion – it’s very nice but McG keeps attempting to eat the feathers) set ourselves a maximum limit for what tickets we wanted and have left it in the hands of the disorganisers (it's Britain, there is bound to be a cock-up of monumental proportions.  Useful if making a blue movie but not so good when you are a fairly prudish nation with aspirations of actually being great on the world stage….It is hard when you were once a headline act but are now lucky to make the 2pm slot on stage 7, out beyond the toilets….. ) .  If only moaning was an official Olympic sport the UK would be guaranteed a hatful of medals :-

100 metre moan
Short and explosive - the blue ribbon event of the vocal antagonistic games or is it just that the air is blue with unprintable expletives…

3 day ranting  
Not just hard on the contestants but the spectators as well, 72 hours of non-stop ranting. If you are unfortunate enough to get tickets  bring earplugs and a good book….

Whinge wrestling
The object of the event is to pin your opponent down with intensive whingeing.

Beach grumble
Contestants stand on either side of a net, wearing as little as possible.  Serving mild insults with dark mumblings being returned…   

Marathon whinge
This event can last for what seems like ever. The current world record stands at 4 years 3 months, 12 days, 2 hours, 13 minute, 12 seconds,13 seconds, 14 seconds  and is ongoing by Mrs Edith Baxter 24 seconds, 25 seconds, who really knows how to get a whinge on…. 37 second, 38, seconds

Snivel vaulting
Taking snivelling to new heights

Modern griping
No old fashioned event this one but full on contemporary griping

Protest walking
Similar to marching but higher pitched and faster, can include pitch forks and burning torches for a more old fashioned feel….

Table whimpering
Contestants stand either side of the table and take it in turns to whimper back and forth until one of the competitors breaks down and gets dragged off by big burly men in white and provided with a free straight jacket.   A really good result is where both competitors get dragged off….

The triple grouse
Tripled distilled grousing …..taking grousing to whole new levels ….or should that be depths…

Rowing
No not on a lake but in a pub, your living room, in the car, with your partner, your friends or neighbours.  The hardest one is solo rowing, where you have to argue with yourself…     

Now before you write this idea off as a BlackLOG whimsy, the Modern Olympics has in its time included such epeic events as:

Poetry

Town Planning - I’m guessing that Bishops Stortford never won any medals for this….Not unless there was a special category for “When did you last see your designer…?”

Poodle Clipping (1908 Olympics)

and  

Pottery…..They could rebrand it as “Harry Pottery” and put some much needed magic back into the Olympics ...
I’m not even kidding otherwise I would have included :-

"Formation Knitting"

and

"Dry Cracker Eating"

Although sadly those of you who followed the above "Poodle Clipping" link and read the article will have noted that Poodle Clipping was actually an April Fool’s Day article from the Daily Telegraph – I’m gutted…..On a brighter note the makers of QI (a BBC TV programme) fell for it hook line and sinker.  The other events were included up to the 1948 London Olympics –
So would Olympic verbal sparring really be so farfetched……?  Obviously in order to stop the French from having a huge advantage the nonchalant shoulder shrug would be declared an illegal move….
Icicle Works 30th anniversary
It was off to see the Icicle Works 30th anniversary tour last week and a good opportunity to catch up with my Best Man, Robert, who I‘ve not seen for a few years.  Great concert from one of my favourite bands (well, Ian McNabb’s non-solo vehicle) who had not lost any of their stagecraft…although they did play around with one of my favourite songs Birds Fly (Whisper to a scream)…. As Mrs B likes to say, “You should never mess with a good thing” (apparently this doesn’t apply to me).

I had a deja vu feeling, which I discovered was the Icicle Works drummer, for the evening, was none other than Mathew Priest – The very same drummer who played with Dodgy at last week’s Stortfest.   


Show me the sunny
Monitoring our way to a fortune (or not) with our Solar Panels

KW Produced so far – 1155

KW generated in the week – 117

This has earned us approximately – £563
Of which £175 has been paid out so far…

Record of the week

Birds Fly (whsiper to a scream) - by the Icicle works

Hollow Horse - By The Icicle works - A good representation of the Blog of War competition

Shout - by Lulu - As close as I could get to representing a verbal argument with out getting truly offensive and wheeling out The Proclaimers….Believe me I was tempted

Photo Finish
Birds are finally making there way into the garden – enough that McG and Mischief are getting some exercise (well their eyes at least and occasionally they even manage to move their heads….) so managed to get some shots with The Beast.


Unfortunately I could not get The Beast into the Icicle Works and his low light ability was sorely missed. So the Mega Mini Beast struggled and ultimately didn’t achieve much worthwhile.....

Collared Dove, not sure if it attempting a fan dance

or it has just over balanced reaching for food…

Roy Corkhill - Icicle  works bass (1988 - 2011)

Ian McNabb, lead singer and founder member
"Love is a Wonderful Colour" - Purple I guess..

 Hollow horse....

Do pop in next week for another slice of irrelevant rubbish…..

Sunday 8 May 2011

Hot sauce collection


Hot sauce collection
You can blame lilpixie for this one – her post about A fire breathing fetish of sickly proportions ...… brought back memories of when I used to smother everything with hot sauces. It also reminded me that I still possibly had a fine collection of some of the hottest sauces known to man….Ones that have survived the ruthlessness of a Mrs B cupboard clear out. Possibly too hot for even her to handle .... in reverse order of killer heat.....

Susie’s hot sauce – Does not sound that harsh but it does come with a 4 day toilet warning, alongside a recommended minimum 12 bog roll requirement…

Tough Guy Hot Sauce - Guaranteed at least five days in the hospital of your choice… Bring your own changes of bed sheets, no less than 7, probably more ...

Zulu Sauce – comes with the serving suggestion: Add to food and then runaway, do not look back….. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is BEWARE! This is not a hot sauce for using -- this is a hot sauce for laying down and avoiding at all costs.

Who Dares Burns – Only the strong survive, as this sauce launches a full frontal assault on your soon to be ‘ex’ taste buds. It is famed for its legendary lingering after burn which it claims can been responsible for removing the gusset of good quality underpants for up to 6 months after initial contact ….

The Hottest F*ck*n’ Sauce - Famed for it's tripple burn action ...on the way in...during its very short visit...and very much on the way out....Some of the most intense ring sting action known to man.....Keep away from pets, small children (Personally I think they should have the opportunity to try it for themselves…sort of learn through play) and above all anyone who gets offended by bad language….includes a warning to avoid contact with sensitive areas….do they honestly think people are stupid enough to rub it on parts of their body…?

…..Errr, there will be a short delay while the author of this blog attempts to find gallons of ice cold water to cool off some of his extremities…..

Bishops Stortford Music Festival
Having failed to gear myself up and purchase advance tickets, £40 for 3 days worth of entertainment, I was a bit shocked to rock up at 6pm on Sunday and find we were being mugged - £30 each for the last couple of hours….A bit steep but hey it’s a local event so we decided to swallow it….

Pandora’s Box – I happen to know the lead singer, Chloe, she attends my Yoga class and so I felt duty bound to make up for all the screaming and odd faces that I pull during Yoga class.  Pandora’s Box is a great combo: they’re all still teenagers (take any two of them and add their ages together and I’m still older by way to many years for my comfort.  Although on a brighter note, the combined age of all four of them make me look positively youthful…  What can I say? You have to clutch at straws where you can.....) Their sound is very much a combination of Kate Bush, Florence and the Machine and with a dash of Tori Amos to add some spice.

Don't forget to pause the Jukebox before playing the video....

These guys have got talaent and although the odds are stacked against them, fingers crossed they become Bishops Storfords best export since Cecil Rhodes (with out the slavery of course). Go check them out
Pandora's Box. I'm positive you won't regret it and if you do, I'll come round and give you such a good musical educating, that you won't forget in a hurry....

Dodgy – Just what were the 90’s multi-million selling group doing playing the Bishops Stortford Music Festival? Is it a sign that Bishop Stortford is heading for the big time…. Is it too much to expect U2, Coldplay, the Rolling Stones and possibly Paul McCartney next year????

With Mrs B’s eyes glazing over, determined not to listen to another second of The Pink Floyd Dimension (a tribute band – not the real thing) she marched us off towards the - Silent Dance Tent …..This lasted seconds as an onslaught of drum and base and a legion of snotty nosed kids glaring at us as we dared to enter their domain drove us scuttling for home, with Mrs B moaning that that was not dance music nor was it silent for that matter….There was also the matter that we had missed Elvis Wesley Presley on the Friday night….

A shocking discovery that old people have started their own new form of communication….
I was in Delicious (my favourite coffee shop) the other day* when a little old lady shuffled in and asked Adam (the owner) what the soup of the day was and then said “I’ll be back in half an hour” ….

When I asked Adam what that was all about, he told me she is a regular who likes to keep him informed of what she’s doing.

I’m so glad I did not miss that exchange otherwise I would never have discovered old people use a verbal form of Tweeting.

* No Mrs B those are not cake crumbs…..besides, Lemon meringue cake counts as one part of my 5 a day….as would Rhubarb crumble cake (a new favourite) if they had had any in stock….

Show me the sunny
Monitoring our way to a fortune (or not) with our Solar Panels

KW Produced so far – 1038

KW generated in the week – 133

This has earned us approximately – £506 (Including savings estimated at £56 where we have used our own energy)
Of which £175 has been paid out so far…

Record of the week

The Show by Lenka - The Lyrics towards the end of the song remind me of the Blog Of war

Me “Just enjoy the show”

Lost in Idaho “I want my Money back….”

Me “Just enjoy the show”

Suniverse - “I want my Money back….”

Me “Just enjoy the show”

Penwasser Place - “I want my Money back….”

Burn Baby Burn by Ash - In homage to the hot sauce collection…..

Good Enough by Dodgy – Perhaps in the twilight years of their career but still able to cut the mustard…..

Old by Dexy's Midnight Runners – It’s going to happen to most of us, so give respect to those wrinkly wonders as they shuffle around acting as slow moving obstructions….Don’t underestimate those handbags and walking sticks, they can be lethal…..

Photo Finish
After a few weeks rest,  back comes The Beast with Some Stortfest Photo's

Mrs B my star of Stortfest 2011....

Chloe Tingey. lead singer and song writer for Pandora's Box
Perhaps one day , when they are  famous  she will
write a song about my trials and tribulations in Yoga.

Ben Cork - Keyboards

Tabitha Tingey - we had a cat called Tabitha a real
biter but I won't hold that against her...Anyone who can
handle a giant violin has got to be OK in my book....

Ash Howarth - Drums for Pandora's Box.

Andy Miller - Dodgy guitarist "Staying out for the summer" - To be
honest he looks like he might well have slept out through the winter as well..

Bishops Stortford press, more rabbit than
your average local paper....

Nigel Clark - "Good enough" I certainly think so....

Mathew Priest

Much kudos  for starting a F*ck*ng  swear box in front
of loads of under 10's - just as well their parent were all too
drunk to notice or really care....


How can you resist these little hotties???


Written off in January by the vets, given just weeks 
 but still here and fighting hard - One Tough Guy for sure....




Sunday 1 May 2011

Round 1 of “Blog of War” - A review of Kitkat’s Tales

Welcome to Round 1 of “Blog of War”

6 competitors are going head to head with each other, having been given the task of reviewing the site of one of their fellow competitors.

As readers please take the time to look at all 6 entries before deciding which review you think has done the best job.

Below you can find a link to the voting page and how to see the other 5 entries

Link to Blog of War

You have until the 7th May to vote – after which time the blogger with the fewest votes gets to take the long walk off a short pier….

A review of Kitkat’s Tales by BlackLOG
I think the term prolific covers the amount of writing Kitkat does as the sole proprietor of Kitkat’s Tales. Over 100 postings since opening the doors just six short months ago. That would be more than two years’ worth of postings for me….The level of excitement that was generated in celebration of the 100th post gave away her youth. It was amusing such a shame when she discovered that she had gone a few blogs early….just as well it only took a couple of days to correct the situation.

Subjects are varied and it is certainly a blog after my own heart in that it covers Kitkat’s life in a very detailed diary form (I’m guessing that Kitkat is possibly a very talkative person). Every couple of days the ups and downs of a Nigerian teenager, recently transported to Houston Texas, play out before the reader. We discover that Kitkat has an issue with Metro hobos who seem to be attracted to her (she is obviously going to have to change her brands of perfume, “Whiff of Tramp”, “Vagabond bouquet”, “O deur Meths” and “Whisky fragrance” which all clearly act as a magnet for any passing hobo…..).

Further delving and you discover that Kitkat is a big fan of Valentine’s day and a firm believer that girls can have a male bestie . For the more mature members of the audience you should note that a “Bestie” is not a popular Man Utd icon from the 1960’s (a decade that KitKat probably regards as truly ancient history, in the same way that us older generations think of cavemen and dinosaurs…..) but your best friend in the wholest, widest, most worldest world in the universe. That is until they do something to upset you and get consigned to the wastepaper bin of life. In sporting terms think of it like being a manager being given a vote of confidence from the Board - it is only a matter of time before the inevitable split…. You will find Kitkat has a rather more optimistic outlook on a bestie….

If I was scoring Kitkat I would have to mark her down slightly for not replying to each and every one of her comments but to be honest that is more my problem than hers (What can I say? I’m “commentary retentive”, I love the cut and thrust of comments so try not to let any go un-answered). I guess if I was such a prolific blogger and received as many comments I would probably not have the time and besides, KitKat’s many followers (or kittens as she cutely calls them) don’t seem to mind. Go check her out and don’t be surprised if you end up being provided with a saucer of milk and a very warm welcome…..


Subsequent to Kitkat dropping out of Blog of War, without saying a word (thank you so much), I would like to say a bit more but hey I did the review so have decided to let it stand as it is.


I’m busy putting the claws away and stepping back from the blog….

Deep breath, think nice thoughts, think nice thoughts….Grrr 10, 9, 8, 7, 6,5,4,3,2,1,

It’s not working…

1000, 999,998,997…..

At this point I would really like to crawl under a stone and wish Blog of War would go away… but I can’t….partly because I’m a stubborn git, partly because it was born out of a blog competition that I entered which started and then stopped and the started again and then stopped etc ….(A crash team was on constant standby) and mainly because three fine bloggers have done such a magnificent job that I have no option but to drag this dead carcass of a competition to its painful conclusion (luckily I now have access to a very experienced crash team - funny how life works out).

Take David and Goliath….did Goliath give up, with such huge odds stacked in his favour that he was inevitably going to lose?* Absolutely not - he played his part and had fun while getting stoned….

* As one of my favourite authors Terry Pratchett often says “Million to one chances work out 9 times out of 10”


Show me the sunny
Monitoring our way to a fortune (or not) with our Solar Panels
(good news we have had a 3% rise as from the beginning of April)

KW Produced so far – 905
KW generated in the week – 227

This has earned us approximately – £441 (Including savings estimated at £49 where we have used our own energy)
Of which £175 has been paid out so far…

Record of the week

How Do You Sleep - by John Lennon - I suspect very well but I had to ask the question....

Tug of War by Paul McCartney - I  probably should have used Suicide is painless,  apart from not being true, death by blogging hurts a lot....it's the neglect that gets you in the end, that and the pitying glances.....

Teenage kicks by KT Tunstall -

Photo Finish
Some catch up photos from the last couple of weeks. The firts two are from a weekend we spent with our good friends Teach and the Farmer in Linconshire, to celebrate the Farmers 50 years on this Earth. We took a river boate crusie on the Boston Belle. The third shot is Mrs B's parents dog Max from last weekend.

A Crane flying across the Witham..

A view of the Boston Stump from the Witham...

Max, wondering if he can have a bit of Kitkat....

Til next week....