Cultural vacuum

It was off to see the Leonardo Da Vinci (The Milan years) at the National Gallery this week .

As with most things cultural it proved a leap too far for me – I’m o.k. on a superficial level (never knowingly left out of a conversation, on any subject, no matter how far out of my depth I get – none of that sissy drowning in a couple of inches of water for me, when I drown it’s the Mariana Trench or nothing) one could say I know a lot about very little or possibly nothing about everything.

We had received rave reviews about the exhibition from an American, whilst travelling in the Peak to Peak Gondola  in Whistler.  The guy could not have spoken more highly of it – (we were about 436m off the ground, over Fitzsimmons Creek – so technically he could have been much higher but 436 meters is quite impressive from most people’s  point of view) so when we were offered free tickets for the exhibition we jumped at the chance (Don’t worry we were not in the Peak to Peak Gondola at the time of the offering  – that might well have ended up very messy).

We met up with some of Mrs B’s  contacts  and as I had not met them before I attempt to break  the ice and tried to crack a joke about chipping the hand of god section out of the Sistine chapel and bringing it across to be included in the exhibition.  OK not a great joke so when it did not get a laugh it wasn’t the end of my world.....

Now onto the art work, sorry Brandon and Bryan of a  “A beer for the shower” fame – Leonardo’s art work just edges yours out but take heart, his cartoons are rubbish.  They’re not funny at all or even non-PC for that matter (not unless you count painting the 16 year old mistress of his 39 year old patron Ludovico Sforza,  which is fairly non-PC even by today’s standards but probably not by those lax 15^th/16^th centuries ones). I did however find the pretentious amateur art critics, wandering around the gallery, difficult  to stomach with their preposterous statements such as :-

·         “Have you seen the way Leonardo captures the light in the subject’s eyes?  You can almost tell the time of day he painted it.” (Only if he showed the reflection of a sundial in them)

·         “Did you know they did infrared tests on some of Leonardo’s work which shows his incredible preparation work?” (No it showed he didn’t have a very good eraser for when he went wrong)

·         “He didn’t paint any of them you know they were all done by Shakespeare” (Ok, I made the last one up,  but it’s the sort of thing that pretentious self-important art critic know it all’s would say.  Plus it’s about time poor Shakespeare, who is often accused of being a fraud, got some sort of payback – Shakespeare you are welcome, but if you ever try and take credit for writing the BlackLOG things won’t go well for you.....)

The Leonardo exhibition was split over two levels,  which meant having to traipse through  a number of the gallery’s other rooms.  This gave us the opportunity to appreciate Leonardo’s attention to detail, particularly with the eyes (Gosh - you can almost tell the time that the picture was painted  ) and hands,  making  the other artists look like they were children doing potato prints....I bet those other artists must really hate Leonardo for showing them up....

Just before we leave the exhibition I’ll remind you of my attempt at a little Ice breaker earlier in the blog..... we reached the last room and my resistance to the culture overload  was on the wane. Mrs B took this opportunity to sidle across and whisper lovingly in my ear ....

Mrs B –“In case I forget it was Michael Angelo that painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel ”

Me - “What?”

Mrs B – “That thing you said earlier, about the Sistine Chapel.  Da Vinci didn’t paint it ”

Me - “Hmmm, are you sure...”

Mrs B – “He didn’t even visit Rome”

Me – “Not even in his helicopter...”

Mrs B – “No not even in that....”

Me - “Doh!”

When we returned to the rest of the group this was eating me up.....if only Mrs B had left me alone with my ignorance.

I fessed up to my art stupidity....

"Don’t worry”

one of the other members of the party piped In

“I did something far more embarrassing....I inquired at the main desk if the Mona Lisa was going to be on display”. 

She had been  informed by a rather snooty person that

"The Mona Lisa was painted in Florence and not Milan and so would obviously not be included madam...." 

As lovely as it was to try and cover up my cultural faux pas,  not knowing that a painting was painted in Florence rather than Milan is hardly in the same league as getting the wrong artist for one of the most famous pieces of artwork in the world (although thinking about it the angle of the light should of course had made it obvious it was painted in Florence).  

Just as well it wasn’t the last question on “Who wants to be a Millionaire”.  Now that would have been upsetting...

Kitchen update

As indicated in previous blogs, Mrs B’s purchase of a bright red coffee machine has come with a lot more than I had bargained for.  I’ll hold off for the moment on updateing  you on the  work to revamp the kitchen (in order for it to  fit in with  the coffee machine) as Mrs B's plans continue to expand, much like a size zero model after guzzling down a grain of rice....

Record of the week

State of Art by Friends Again - Probably doing better than me....

At the art gallery by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - Not strictly a record (well not really a record at all) but so apt for this week I had to include it.  It starts a bit slowly but does get better especially when they start to discuss the placing of gauze,  the sad loss of cherubs and why Da vinci’s cartoons aren’t that funny.

Photo Finish
This week sees some pictures from Chinese New Year. My first sight of an electric car in action and a new visitor to the garden..... All pictures Courtesy of The Beast

Chinese New Year - China Town London



Welcome to the Year of the Dragon....

“Rubbish decorations”

You have to be impressed that they went to so much

trouble decorating even the bin areas...

I love the juxtaposition between the Gas guzzling stretched

limo passing  the snub nosed electric car,  which is shackled

 to a charge point.  No doubt suckling power in preparation for 

 an ambitious attempted trip around Greys in square.  Fingers

crossed that it might just make it back to the power point,  an

estimated journey of 600 meters, before the only other electric

car in London gets pushed into the vacant space....

Why do  electric cars have to be so ugly?



With Batman nowhere in sight Robin returned to his old

thieving ways and did a flyer from the garden restaurant

without settling his bill  -

When arrested by the old Bill* and dragged before

the beak** he claimed it was a ducks bill and

had nothing to do with him.....

* Slang term for the police and not

nicked by a piece of paper

** Slang for a judge – You can’t make this stuff up

....well you can but no one would believe you...

 Thanks for dropping in and hope enjoyed yourself enough to tune in again next week

Having difficulty letting go of 2011

Apologies for the tardy start to the BlackLOG 2012, it seems to have been a struggle to find the time or the inclination but  I’ve dragged myself back into cyberspace with my first proper blog for 2012....

So, hello 2012.  I’m starting with a  bit of a catch-up,  which unfortunately takes me back to 2011 –

Sorry,  I’m clearly having difficulty letting go of 2011 –

What can I say?  It was a good year –

However I can promise it is only a brief trip while I fill in some background and then it will be into the current year....(Unless you are reading this from the future, in which case where have you been? P.S. if you have any tips on what happened in 2012 it would be much appreciated.  If you could leave these in the comments section,  I promise to use them exclusively for betting purposes  and then dedicate the winnings to living a more interesting life,  which will then be reported in the BlackLOG..... ) 

Whistler

It was off to Whistler for New Year – now at this point regular readers will already have it in mind that the next few paragraphs  will offer a sad tale of airport mix ups, luggage problems and general travel chaos....

I’m sorry to have to report that nothing could be further from the truth, so anyone who enjoys seeing high levels of suffering in the BlackLOG  should probably leave now and come back another time...

The story starts on the internet, at the beginning of December, when Mrs B found BA Business Class flights to Vancouver for only £100 more than cattle class sorry I mean economy  class tickets.   With the snow levels in Europe running on empty  at the time we jumped at the chance.

Business class travel

The problem with getting cheap Business class flights is you can get used to them – to put things in perspective Mrs B checked on the flight prices a couple of week later and discovered that our seats would cost an additional £4,000 each .....so I guess we won’t be getting Business class flights very often...

So what do you get once you step out of DVT* class?

• Treated with respect, almost deference, from the moment you check in – they clearly don’t know how much you paid for your seat, we felt a bit fraudulent and expected someone to flag us up and march us back into economy....  
• Extra luggage allowance that not even The Beast could break through.
• Proper plates and cutlery and better quality food on the plane.
• A seat that turns into a bed
• A bigger screen for watching films
• The chance to sit up in the bubble on a Jumbo Jet.
• The opportunity to take off sitting backwards
• Access to the Lounge at the airport where complimentary food and drink is provided.
• Priority unload ticket on your luggage – although the ticket was the only thing that said “priority” about the experience.  If anything, our luggage came out after everyone else’s – maybe I missed the wording that said “Priority -  left till last because you haven’t paid full price for your ticket.....”

What I don’t get is what you could possibly get travelling First class, which makes it twice the price of Business Class . The only thing that I can think of is that you are paying for privacy so the great and the good don’t have to mix with us, the great unwashed...   

* DVT - Deep Vein Thrombosis - Even the dodgiest of supermarkets would be hard pushed to pass off economy passengers as free range....  The thing to remember with DVT is that just a few precautions can help reduce the risk. These include :- 

• Earn loads of money so you don’t have to travel in the chicken coop  at the back of the plane...
• Get someone else to pay for your business class ticket....
• Learn to look like someone famous and wait for an upgrade....
• Always go to the airport on stilts and complain about the lack of legroom....

Kindness of friends

We had booked a car, as we were landing late and then having to get back to Vancouver airport for an early flight on the way home, so the bus from Vancouver was not really an option.....  

We phoned our friend Mitch, who lives in Vancouver and told him we were going to be out in Whistler and if he wanted to join us for a few days he was welcome to crash on our sofa.....

He asked us how we were getting out to Whistler and we told him we had booked a car – Cancel it he said I can pick you up, spend a couple of days skiing with you and then pick you up and drop you off at the airport – we tried to tell him it was going to be late getting into Whistler on New Year’s Eve and an early start (4am) the following week to get back to Vancouver.  He insisted on being our chauffeur, how cool is that ...? Thanks Mitch.  That really is taking friendship above and beyond the call of duty....  

It had been a while since we had skied at Whistler, they were still bidding for the 2010 Olympics last time we were there, so that was probably about 2006.  We had been worried that it would be ruined by the Olympic building development so had avoided it.  TIn the event the only change we could see was the new Peak to Peak Gondola that was installed for the Olympics...

I don’t really get it. Whistler has two huge mountains that each have more than enough skiing for a week let alone half a day.... We did make the trip across,  waiting  for the glass bottom gondola, which gave some great photo opportunities but struck me,  at a cost of around CDN$51 million as quite expensive for a few of my holiday snaps.....

CDN$51 million seems a lot to pay for a photo opportunity

Three falls but  no submissions  

I almost managed to have my first  fall-free ski holiday, with just the one when I fell while avoiding a small child who skied in front of me– I had been feeling guilty  as the day before I had gone to spray Mitch who raised his skis and forced me to jump sideways, tapping the back of some poor girls skis,  sending her spinning to the ground. I had just about recovered without falling myself  and had gone back to apologise and help her pick herself up.  Even I felt I couldn’t have two collisions in two days, which incidentally was my first collision in about 26 years. I don’t want you to get the impression that I’m a serial collider......

Mrs B admitted to 2 ½ falls, although I think there might have been a few more and I’m waiting for the publication of her official fall audit.  I only witnessed 1 ½ of her falls which was the dramatic collapse in a lift queue and I’m guessing the half was when she was walking back to her skis  after lunch and started to topple – a small passing child proved a god send,  as Mrs B lost her footing and managed to push down on the child’s head as she toppled forward.  While Mrs B rose back up the small child got pushed gently into the snow....with the recent snow fall it’s probably still stuck there......   

Much as I love Canada I do have a  few problems with you

Now don’t get me wrong I like Canada but I have a few issues with :-

• your Bacon - which appears to be 100% fat with a little pink stripe painted on the side              –  F.Y.I. that’s not bacon that’s fat.... 
• your Food being so sweet.  How much sugar do you add to your products? I suspect even your sugar content is 200% sugar....
• Taking everything said to you so literally.  I was out for a coffee with Mitch one evening and we were chatting to the Barrista who was very excited that she had served someone famous earlier in the day.

Barrista – “I served Sam Neill today - you know, the star of Jurassic Park”

Me – “I would have been more impressed if you had served one of the Velociraptors”

Barrister – “They don’t drink coffee do they?”

Me – “Do bears shit in the woods?”

Barrister – “Don’t mention bears I’m frightened of them”

Me – “No need to worry....” pointing at Mitch, in his Sheepskin flying jacket, “My friend Mitch kills and skins bears for a living...”

Barrista – “Gosh, that’s a real bearskin coat” she said admiring Mitch’s Sheepskin coat....

Me – “No it’s a Velociraptor coat, they were out of bears”

Barrista – “Wow....are they expensive????”

I decided to leave the conversation at that point  before I confused her any more.  Just as well I hadn’t told her that Mitch killed and skinned Sam Neill’s for a living.....

Being me though I didn’t stop there.....................  

I was moving across to a water fountain in one of the ski Lodges when a Canadian lady shoved passed me

Me - “After you” I said in my best polite English voice....

Canadian Skier – “Thank you” she said taking a gulp

Me – “No Problem, I always like to get people to test my food and drink before I partake, in case it has been poisoned”

I thought she was going to spit the water out as she glared at me and stomped off again...

I guess no matter how much I like Canada I would never be able to live there permanently  – Mitch had tried to warn me that many Canadians take everything said as factual and my sense of humour would get me into a lot of trouble – I would almost certainly have to carry a sign saying “Only joking....”    

   

Blogger Comment problems

Is it me or is anyone else having problems with Blogger comments – I had to change my blog comments from embedded  to pop-up window as the embedded version  keeps freezing.   I’m  also getting this when I try and comment on some other peoples’ Blogger pages – most frustrating or possibly relieving  for some of the blogger accounts I tried to comment on.

I tried using the updated blogger interface but that freezes as well....Hmmm do I need  to think about changing home to Wordpress or another alternative???

Watch of the week

The regular section in support of Joe (Stunt Cock) and his growing watch business Xupes. Joe mentioned that they had been getting a number of hits via the BlackLOG.

Xupes has been trading for over 3 years and  Joe has recently developed some great contacts in the trade which enables him to pick up surplus stock and sell them at great prices. Mrs B is a regular purchaser from his jewellery section, going self service once she finally realised that her husband is not the jewellery buying type…

FRANCK MULLER CASABLANCA 5850

Xupes price

£5,995.00

Xupes price

£5,995.00

This is your chance to acquire an excellent condition mens Franck Muller Casablanca 5850 Large SS automatic watch on black crocodile leather strap with stainless steel black tang buckle. This is the mens large size measuring 31.5mm by 38.8mm. The dial is mocha. This watch is stamped special on the reverse engraved with the Kuwait Royal Family Crest for whom the watch was manufactured in a very limited run of around 10 pieces. The watch is complete with original boxes & guarantee stamped and dated 24th December 2003. You are very unlikely to see another like this - Certainly a collectors piece for the future.

Record of the week

 Letting Go by Wings - I probably need to take note of this bit of advice from Mr McCartney

Sweets For My Sweet by The Searchers - Yes Canada and USA, you appear to have a very sweet tooth

Photo Finish
A Beast Eye view of Whistler

Tappan village restaurant,
as our chef laughs in the face of that
 age old advice not to play with
the food..

Whistlers Ski hosts, like an interactive piste map...



Christmas lights in the lower village....
if you look closely you can just see
 the Velociraptor skin coat in
 the foreground.... 

Looks Like Mrs B either needs to

either use Head and Shoulders or 

wear light coloured clothes.....  

 

At the top of one of the chairlifts we ran into

this little Ptarmigan.  It literally shat itself, 

when I whipped out The Beast.  That's not
subtle shading but a genuine Ptarmigan log...

The Olmpic rings, a  reminder of 2010

More views from the Peak to Peak Gondola


A skier demonstrating pants skiing of the

highest order....I bet he’s glad he didn’t

sew his name tag onto his underwear

and so can remain in relative obscurity.



As a skier I always like to take every opportunity

that I can to grab the moral high ground from

those pesky boarders.....

Tune in next time for the joys of a kitchen makeover, after I foolishly allowed Mrs B to get a red coffee machine.....

If a picture paints a thousand words....

If a picture paints a thousand words....you guys are in trouble,  prepare yourself for a pictorial War and Peace, as The Beast takes you through some of the highlights of BlackLOG 2011.  It’s odd but it has taken longer to put this together than a normal BlackLOG, so apologies that we are halfway through 2012..

McG -

We start with McG, given a death sentence by our ex vet
(can you guess why) in January last year but still going strong
thanks to a change in diet and a lot of love and understanding
(he was having a few accidents - cured by taking any
stress out of his life).

 Skiing - Val d'Isere March-April



Joe gets featured because he looks like he can ski
It's all smoke and mirrors

 Wales - June

Alfie - Kirsty and Joe's dog who joined us in Wales...



The running man - waterfall shot....

Spotted fly catcher

Red Kite

Mischief


Mischief - who often gets over overshadowed by McG

V-Festival - Chelmsford

Another great year and already booked up for 2012, before Mrs B changes her mind....



Noisettes
"Don't upset The Rhythm"

Not so much a case of “Where's Wally?” – as 
 “Where isn’t there a Wally?”

Eliza Doolittle
"Skinny Genes"

Hard-Fi
"Tied Up Too Tight"

The most asked questions when people see The Beast 


Are you famous?
can you take our picture?

 Safari South Africa

Can't a girl have some privacy when she goes into the bush...

“I blow raspberries in your general direction....”

This Lion taunter knows how to give  some stick

Pack your trunks guys - it's holiday time again....

In case you didn't notice I like to
capture birds in flight...

I don't think I'm too bad at it....

Mauritius
Technically the same holiday as the safari

Red  sails in the Sunset



Mauritius seems to specialise in Sunsets....



Told you I liked trying to capture birds in flight...

My first photo pass - Love and Money
One more high in a year full of highs....



So that's how you play one handed guitar...

 

James Grant - "Walk the Last Mile"

And ending as we started with McG
lets hope we can get him through 2012...

The photos probably don't even come close to doing justice to 2011 but I'm sure you have already started to get bored,  I can see some of you fidgeting and checking your watches....

Favourite film of last year - My week with Marilyn

Favourite album  - probably Velociraptor by Kasabian

Next week catch up with us in Canada for our New Year Ski trip to Whistler

A change of lifestyle and the secret of Blog success

Nespresso – not so much a case of you changing your coffee but buying into a whole new lifestyle

After months of badgering Mrs B finally wore me down and convinced me that we needed a Nespresso machine in our lives (Is this revenge for filling her living room with a large TV and for covering her new Dining room table with a full size air-hockey table*) Not just any Nespresso machine but a fire engine-red Nespresso machine. Now with my purchases it tends to end there. With a Mrs B purchase, however, it often means just the start.

The next thing I know the kitchen floor is apparently in a fight to the death with the Nespresso machine i.e. according to Mrs B they are clashing....which means the new floor is bound to clash with the cupboards which will in turn clash with the walls.... Who could have predicted that agreeing to a new coffee machine would result in a totally new kitchen....? It’s clear I’m going to have to review Mrs B’s requests more carefully in the future....

Change of toilet paper = A new Bathroom
New coat hangers = a whole new range of clothes
New light switch in the garage = A new car
New light bulbs = A new house

* In my defence it was her Christmas present from a few years back, after I noticed how excited Mrs B got whenever she got to play Air hockey ... Apparently that is still the case..... just away from home and not in the dining room....Doh!

I have been fighting back, however, and while Mrs B has been planning changes to the house I’ve concentrated on completing the Nespresso lifestyle collection

In the Nespresso range you can get:-

16 varieties of coffee (+ special limited** edition flavours)
A Coffee Frother
Matching sugar sachets (same sugar different coloured packets)
Mugs (Oh yes they can match the colour )
Glasses (for seeing the layers in your coffee)
Trays
Sugar bowls
Ice Crushers (always been a fan of Iced coffee)
Coffee capsule dispensers – many varieties with one thing in common – all expensive
3D coffee (kidding, but if they thought they could get away with it I’m sure they would)
Biscuits
Chocolates
Sugared almonds
Chocolates

You can keep your traditional Japanese Tea ritual. Welcome to the BlackLOG coffee rite.....I wonder if I can export it to Japan when we drop in next year?

** So limited you can’t actually get them – making getting Olympic tickets look like collecting pebbles on Brighton beach

Nespresso even have recycling but, much to the amusement of our friend Penny, I don’t seem to have got my head around it. The principle is that you can hand back your used coffee pods for recycling when you receive your next coffee order. I pointed out to Penny that I’m never there when they deliver my coffee...........

Penny – “Just leave the recycling bag outside.”

Me – “But I never know what day they are going to deliver.”

Penny – laughing “It’s not like any one is going to steal them!”

Me – “Doh!”

Just another sign that I’m definitely losing touch with reality in this ever-processed world in which we live in

Sometimes I can’t see the Wood for the trees........Mrs B wanted some lime juice. I was going to the supermarket so added it to the list - none in Waitrose, none in Sainsbury’s and when I struck out at Tesco’s I called Mrs B:

Me – “Bad news - loads of lemon juice but it’s as if Lime juice never existed.”

Mrs B – “What about fresh limes? We can squeeze them.”

Me – Dumb struck – Doh! now why didn’t I think of that.....?

Mrs B is not exempt from not always thinking through

I was drinking my second Milky coffee of the day – As I’m not into product placement I won’t name the brand but I figure that you can probably guess......

Mrs B – “You know too much milk and caffeine is not good for you”

Me – “It’s decaffeinated coffee and semi-skimmed milk.... ”

Mrs B – “I just worry about you”

Me – Glancing over at Mrs B’s rather large glass of milk .... “You gotta be kidding me?”

Mrs B - “Hmm, I suppose I could have timed that better...”

I’m so going to hell

I’ve always known that I’m not great with children (even when I was one – I think I might have hated myself). A couple of weeks ago (true story) I managed to hit a low point even for me.

I was in the queue for lunch at work when two people came up behind me and started pestering me to donate for a children’s charity.

I told them I was not a fan of children and turned to face them, only they weren’t at eye level – they were at considerably lower than eye level. I looked down to see two school uniforms....
“I’m not kidding” I said and then I caught the eye of their disapproving teacher, who was about 4 feet away .

“I always find honesty is the best policy” as I carried on digging while trying to surreptitiously hide the name on my work pass. So that’s me going to hell then and knowing my luck it’s going to be full of damned kids.

Shed Seven
It was off to Shepherds Bush with my friend Robert to see Shed Seven for the last gig of the year - yet another 80’s band – I never realised I was getting so retro

OMD
Aztec Camera
Love and Money
Duran Duran

If 80’s Rewind didn’t clash with the V-festival I might go to that....No hang on a second Rick Astley play there.....I’ve got some pride....

The secret of Blog success
I’ve been given the key to the door on how to make my lame old blog go stellar. Only I can’t use it.....

ryoko861 kindly showed me the way but with all good things in life it generally involves a catch and in this case the catch is you have to open a Twitter account (I feel unclean just typing those words)– ryoko861 assured me that I wouldn’t have to actually tweet anything but I would have to have an account that makes me feel dirty (and I don’t mean in a good way) just typing the name.

I’m afraid I view twitter (excuse me while I just purge my lunch) in the same low regard as I hold cigarettes – If someone told me they would give me a million pounds if I would just buy a packet of cigarettes (I wouldn’t even have to smoke one) I would still have to decline. You may call me stupid but I have certain principles – OK I’m no saint but I have been cursed/blessed (you decide) with a gritty determination – How else do you think I managed to give up alcohol a week before my 18th Birthday and have not return to it 28 years? My feeling about buying those cigarettes are that I would be supporting something that I despise – an industry that happily purveys death. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that twittering (excuse me while I just go and have a shower) will cause cancer (I’m still waiting for the results of the study I commissioned before I make that claim) and perhaps I’m missing the point of twitter but then again I feel millions of other people twittering (mind the pavement pizza – I’ll clear that up later) their nonsense about nothing in particular have as well .

Maybe I’m a hypocrite, as I type out my nonsense in far too many words than is fair on any passing reader - I can’t even put a finger on why I have such an aversion to Twitter (is that diced carrots? I’ve not had carrots in 35 years) except maybe the whole abridged thing - or perhaps I just realise that any fans of twitter (no, nothing left now. Just retching air and my innards....) are never going to get passed my first sentence let alone into the meat of my overblown subjects...

For those of you who want to boost your readership contact ryoko861.

Ryoko861 - “If you sign up for Triberr.com (I have to give you a membership code AND you have to have a Twitter account-you don't have to tweet anything) it'll help bring people to your site. What you do is once you're all set up and signed in (it's not hard-if I can do it anyone can) join a tribe that shares the same interests as your blog. (yeah, a tribe and you even get to inbreed-I know, it's bizarre). For example, your blog is humorous, so you find a tribe that is looking for humorous blogs or maybe even a tribe that has all UK members in it. You can even leave a post that you're looking for a tribe to join. THEN...when you join a tribe, any followers you have on Twitter are added to that Tribes member's twitter followers count. When you post a blog post, it will automatically send a twitter post to twitter through all the members of the tribe's twitter accounts. SO if there's 15 members in the tribe, it will go out on all 15 accounts PLUS all their followers will see it! Understand? The secret is out!”

Is it just me or does that sound like pyramid blogging?

P.S. ryoko861 - Sorry if I sound ungrateful – you weren’t to know I have a mental allergy to all things Twitter (God is that one of my lungs and part of my intestine?) It was a kindly gesture and if you can find a way of doing it without me having to sell my soul to the devil and projectile vomit I’ll promise that I will be the first in line.

Happy New Year everyone - see you next time for a BlackLOG review of 2011

Record of the week

Another Cup Of Coffee - Paul Carrack - Just make sure you don't have too much Milk otherwise Mrs B will be on your case

Going For Gold - Shed Seven

Chasing Rainbows - Shed Seven

Photo Finish
Photo's this week are by Mega Mini Beast - The Beast a.k.a. Mr Snappy is having a holiday

Danger - purchase of one of these machines might
set you back as much as the cost of a new kitchen....

Rick Witter - Shed Seven
Going for Gold

Chasing Rainbows