Saturday, December 31, 2005

Happy New Year

Hogmanay already. I'm feeling somewhat sorry for myself, having not only spent an enjoyable night watching these chaps play live - The keyboard player does youthwork at the same place as me and also pretty much runs the Rockschool as well. They were excellent, definitely a lot heavier than they used to be. thewife is particularly fond of "Where I am" downloadable from their website. They haven't included it in their set for some time, so they did it as a request which was kind of them. We had ordered a taxi for fairly soon after they were finished, when what I thought were roadies were moving the equipment actually turned out to be a second band. They were just getting into their set and sounding really good, I mean Arctic Monkeys cover was excellent, when the taxi arrived. We had to leave wanting more which I suppose is the best way to go. Seems the pub is having gigs on Fridays regularly so could well be a fixture from now on. Anyway I was feeling somewhat sorry for myself as I not only had several pints whilst out, I also had to have a nightcap once home. Then its the start of silly drinking season for the next few nights on account of Scottish New Year traditions. Urgh ! Anyway a Happy New Year when it comes to one and all.
posted by timesnewroman at 3:50 PM  

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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Cold, Cold, Cold

thewife wanted to go to Glasgow yesterday to visit a Chinese supermarket for a number of things, for tonight's dinner. We are having Lady El round for a few drinks, okay loads of drinks and some tunes. thewife has decided that she is going to to do a couple of Chinese dishes and therefore requires a whole host of authentic jars of sauces. Interesting place too, lots of really weird shit as well as interesting stuff.

Our plans for an early start were somewhat blighted however, by the refusal of the motor to do anything. I reckon its the battery and ring for help in the form of a jump start. Doesn't help at all. I'm still convinced its the battery though, given the extreme cold. I reckon the jump-leads are just too wussey to do the job.

Half an hour later I'm fifty quid lighter, having a new battery, anti-freeze and a set of disc pads. New battery installed and it starts first time. I'll really need to get the brakes seen to though, there's a noise like its metal to metal when braking.

Despite the unexpected expense of vehicle parts, we didn't skimp at all on last night's dinner of Pheasant au Vin. Actually we did. I took two pheasants from the freezer where they've been hiding since the neighbour gave us them in early autumn. A Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, (who else?) recipe worked out just perfect, although I'm quite sure he'd have frowned at the site of Peruvian asparagus. We frowned too, not at the unseasonality of it. Quite the opposite in fact as it was overseasoned. Top tip folks, don't EVER cook asparagus in leftover stock. Apart from that we dined like aristocracy.
posted by timesnewroman at 11:38 AM  

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Monday, December 26, 2005

A Christmas Wish

Christmas greetings all. During this season of goodwill there are many things to celebrate indeed. Santa brought me a shitload of stuff that I'm extremely pleased with, stuff to read, listen to, drink, wear and this lil' ol' computer is running a whole lot faster too. Things are looking good on the sport front as you can see from the league table below, despite bidding farewell to our leading goalscorer. Kris Boyd is off to join one of the top 16 teams in Europe, apparently, although you may doubt this from the table below.



Looking Good

Further afield its a fabulous day that'll see this fascist old bastard in a court. Hope his British admirer takes a fatal turn for the worse and that would cap the year just nicely thank you.

posted by timesnewroman at 6:31 PM  

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Sunday, December 18, 2005

Missing Links

I use Firefox as a web browser most of the time. I've just noticed that when using Internet Explorer, my links to other blogs seem to be missing, yet they are all there when I use Firefox. Would you bloggers out there be kind enough to let me know in the comments area, what browser you use and whether you can see the links or not. Many thanks.
posted by timesnewroman at 1:24 PM  

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Letter writing for the overpaid and the case of the mistaken identity

I'm generally speaking on the Anti-smoking side and can't wait till its barred from pubs next year. There was a letter though in today's Guardian from Stephen Thornton, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, that got on my goat just a bit.

He was referring to a photograph in yesterday's paper of a firefighter with a fag in his mouth. Just from the photo you can see the guy had pretty much been through a particularly shitty Hemel Hempstead shift. So where the fuck does Mr Voluntary Sector Big Bucks in his safe, air-conditioned, comfortable, modern office get off? In the words of a certain Scottish Football Radio Pundit " And your point is caller?" Was he just trying to get the guy sacked or was he making a fuss about the Guardian's shameless promotion of tobacco products. At the kind of money he must be on you'd think he'd be able to present a positive anti-smoking message rather than spend all day scrutinising pictures in a newspaper to find incriminating pictures of hard pressed, poorly paid, public sector workers lung deep already in noxious chemical fumes. No wonder nanny state messages get taken seriously sometimes.

Overheard conversation at work. Ms A mentions to Ms B that it was the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Ms B says "Is he dead, I thought he was playing for Celtic" "No" says Ms A, "That's Neil Lennon." "Oh is that his son then?" Ahhhhrgghhhhh!
posted by timesnewroman at 7:47 PM  

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Sunday, December 11, 2005

Bollocks, The Dog's and just the plain kind

Friday evening we organised a fundraising quiz at work to raise money for the Asian Earthquake appeal. 17 teams participating at £10 per team and a lot of money from raffle ticket sales. I reckon all in we might have gathered close to £ 1,000. Bloody good night was had though by all attending and I managed a couple of pints before having to narrowly catch the very busy last train home. I'm sitting on the train listening to my walkman and concentrating on the crossword and suddenly there's four guys rolling around at the doorway knocking lumps out of each other. Two guys seemingly ran along the corridor and started laying into the two other guys for no reason. Fortunately there was a uniformed policeman on board who had to work bloody hard to separate them, before the assailants ran off at the next stop. Bastards.

Saturday went to Glasgow with thewife and had rather a nice day wandering round the place spending a fortune ending up with sore feet. I had to laugh at one point though when she expressed an urgency to get to a loo and then spent 10 minutes drooling over a shoe shop.

Sunday afternoon was spent at a gig. The youth drop in centre that I work at on Wednesdays runs a "Rock School" on Sundays. Six of the bands were playing and some of th lads who are regulars on Wednesday had asked me if I was going along to see them. Not having heard them before I reckoned I should. Given that this particular band, Pyro, are aged between 13 and 15 I was most impressed. Apparently they can be a bit hit or miss, when they're good they're very good and when they're bad they're dire. Today they were very good good. Tight sound, and just looked the part as well. Even the quiet one had a stage persona the opposite of his normal self. They need some work on the vocals but overall I was immensely pleased I'd gone along. Look out for them in about five years time.

It was a perfect afternoon until some bugger told us the fitba score. Bloody huns, get stuffed by everyone until they come up against us. There'll be no end of stick at work.

Oh and that quiz.. here's a wee sample

Easy Round

1. Who was the Trojan Prince who stole Helen from Menelaus causing the siege of Troy?

2. What was Wim Wenders’ 1984 Film, starring Harry Dean Stanton

______, Texas

3. What is the capital of France?

It wasn't all that easy. My favourite answer though was for:

What made Cape Town grocer Louis Washkansky world famous in 1967?

He was the first to use plastic carrier bags. Hmmph.
posted by timesnewroman at 6:13 PM  

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Thursday, December 08, 2005

Its good news week

Hope its nothing trivial!
posted by timesnewroman at 7:01 AM  

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Wednesday, December 07, 2005

We know where you live!

watching reidski

Google having bought Keyhole some time ago have now made it available to us free of charge as Google Earth. Hours of fun to be had with this brilliant download.
Posted by Picasa

posted by timesnewroman at 6:52 AM  

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Friday, December 02, 2005

Lights, Action

Went to see the mighty Mogwai the other night at a bash in aid of the Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees in the Arches. Incredible gig. I have seen them before, but the venue, the sound and the lighting on this occasion made it an event rather than a gig. The sweeping symphonic sound they emit just has to be encountered live. On disc its brilliant but you don't actually get to FEEL it. Live you do, the first song started with loud heavy pumping bass and drumbeat that pretty much matched your heartbeat, the result being you actually felt that the music was inside you. Weird but true nonetheless. The volume at times was crazy yet the sound wasn't distorted beyond the basic disonance that they are apt to create anyway. The light, particularly the strobe lights when they reach one of thos heavvvvy pulsating crescendos is wicked. I suggest if they are ever round your way, you should catch them.

Speaking of lights its the first of December, well it was yesterday, and a git round the corner ahs the full Santa and ensemble in lights outside his house already. Fuck off and die I say.
posted by timesnewroman at 7:38 AM  

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