1. Manchester Marathon

    April 30, 2012 by admin

    At the weekend a group of us went up to Manchester to supposedly give support to a mate who ran the Manchester Marathon. What that actually involved was us not seeing him until after the race, despite having arrived in Manc on the Friday night.

    We had a proper northern weekend. We ate shite, didn’t really sleep, we spent a fortune, met birds, lost birds, bought stuff we didn’t need, got thrown out of Revolution for being too rowdy, and then felt pretty awful yesterday, and of course it was foul weather. We were out on the road cheering Paul on, not long after some of us, me included, had gone to bed. Someone even drove us there – but I won’t say who for fear of getting him into trouble.

    But then the race. Oh shit! Now I’ve run a few half marathons in my time, and it’s pretty damn hard work. I’ve even turned in decent times, but I’d never even consider doubling the distance. Some of the people finishing looked in a really bad way, even those who were coming in just over three hours, I felt quite emotional at it all, and not just because I wanted to be asleep so badly. These guys were cold, disorientated, sometimes quite messed up, and the organisation was awful too, great big queues to get their clothes back.

    Big long sleep on the train home, and then straight to bed at 4.00 when I got to the flat. Still feeling ill, but probably better than many of the runners!

    Category Fitness, Time out | Tags: | No Comments

  2. My Name Ain’t Hey Baby

    April 23, 2012 by admin

    I was on a long drive yesterday and listening to Radio Four to stay awake.

    I heard this strange programme made by women protesting about being sexual objects.

    Their point was they should  be able to go where they like, dressed as thay like, and not be subject to sexual abuse, whether physical or verbal.

    Hello?

    Nice idea. But how far removed from reality is this?

    The shagmeister doesn’t condone bad male behaviour (even if I do engage in it). But if you dress like a whore/tart/slut, you’ll get treated as such.

    Whether man, woman, gay, straight.

    Wake up!

    Category My thoughts | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Might as well marry my sister!

    April 18, 2012 by admin

    As soon as I typed that I had to laugh, but decided to leave the title as it stands as the sentiment is what I was looking for even if the potential meaning is far from what I was looking for. Having spent a weekend with her I then took on the task of selling her car for her.

    She certainly needs to get rid of it, but I actually think towing it to the dump is more appropriate than trying to pass it on to someone else. I used this site Car valuations to try to prove the point, but then realised it was a US based place. Since her fella left her a couple of years back I’ve always been the person she turns to. Good job we’re good mates!

    Back in London now and the weather has been awful. I usually walk in to work, but needed to be an in agency in Brixton this morning for 9.00 o’clock, that meant getting the tube along with all the peasants, and not only that but the boogers were all wet making it a far worse experience. A coffee in Brixton Brasserie helped though, both because it was a cool place to hang out for twenty minutes waiting for the agency guy, and also because I got chatting with a lovely Brixton soul who make the best flat white I can remember. My name is actually a pain when sharing it in such circumstances. Perhaps I could marry her? She’s called Warsan, an odd name, odd girl. Lovely though.

    Category Family | Tags: | No Comments

  4. No new phone yet…

    April 16, 2012 by admin

    Ah. Technology.

    I spent my weekend trying to help sis change her broadband supplier back to BT.

    It seems to me that most people move away from BT for a better deal, but sis is convinced that the only way she’s going to get a decent connection speed is to go back to the devil she’d fled. She knows it’ll cost about a tenner a month more than she was paying with O2, but apparently it has been a rubbish service ever since it started.

    BT hasn’t been easy though. Call after call and the worse thing is the hanging on the line for ages. As she’d already cancelled the O2 line we had to make the calls on the mobile, which of course costs quite a lot even though it’s an 0800 number.

    We have a promise for the line to be in place by Wednesday – but I have little faith.

    While playing phones for sis I haven’t been thinking about changing my own. I’m getting more convinced that the i-phone is the way to go, even though this annoys me because I hate following the herd. The Recombu site was good for helping think about the stuff I need, but hasn’t closed the decision. I’m worried about dropping and breaking it as it costs nearly a hundred quid to fix the screen.

    Pah! Gets on my nerves trying to make simple decisions that will have a big long term impact.

    Category Technology | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Time for a new phone

    April 9, 2012 by admin

    When you sign up for a phone contract two years, or whatever time you choose to take it over, seems like a life time and you wonder how the device will possibly but up with all the use it will get.

    But I was really surprised to get a text from O2 last week to say my contract had expired and that I could get an upgrade or just move to a new phone. The Blackberry I’ve had for the last two years has lasted well and I even know how to use most of the features on it now. the keypad has worn quite a bit, but it has put up with all the sand that I usually have in my jeans from sitting on the beach whenever I get the chance.

    So now the big and exciting question is “What do I get next?”

    I read the Samsung Galaxy Y review and love the look of it, despite it being quite big, though I’m a bit worried at the ideal of the battery charge being a bit poor.

    I expect that I’ll go with the flow and end up with an i-phone 4s though. I love the pictures that other friends take with it, and I really like the idea of always having a decent camera in my pocket.

    The Samsung is sexy though. Who knows?

    Category Technology | Tags: | No Comments

  6. Working out what you’re good at

    April 5, 2012 by admin

    Some of my mates are obsessed with money.

    Some of those mates have a lot, but not all of them.

    Some of my mates really don’t seem to give a toss about money.

    Some of those mates also have a lot, and some have bugger all.

    So I was wondering what makes some of them wealthy, even when that’s not actually what they set out to be.

    I reckon it’s because some of them are doing jobs, be it well paid or crappy jobs, but the ones who make a lot of money are the ones who are doing what they are good at. Really good at.

    So I wandered around with these thoughts in my head, wondering what I’m good at.

    Difficult one that.

    Some people love me (mum isn’t allowed to be included, she has a certain bias), they know that what I do for them is right, and they love having me do it.

    But then some just can’t put up with me. I seem to wind them up a treat.

    I don’t actually set out to do so, but it’s the folk who are up tight every time.

    If someone is up tight I’ll make them worse, to the point that they’ll be desperate to get me off their patch.

    What I have to do is learn how to avoid those guys and work miracles for the laid back ones.

    Easy to write…

    Category My thoughts, People | Tags: | No Comments

  7. A habit lost – update

    April 4, 2012 by admin

    Since I allowed myself to lay off the blogging a bit I have so completely got out of the habit of clocking what’s happening around me and filtering out the good bits to give me something to write about. It probably means that I don’t remember anywhere near as much of what’s on the news because I’m not trying to find the funny bits, stupid bits, or just the bits that I badly disagree with.

    I don’t track my exploits, and so they feel less meaningful. That’s kinda crass, and kinda sad, but I can actually understand the process. Well, I am vaguely dating a lovely French girl, I probably mentioned the first time I asked her out, we talked, ate, had a lovely evening, and I turned down her invite for ‘coffee’. I considered that to be such a turning point for me. I thought about what we did next – it was a film, an old favourite of mine called Leon. And we actually discussed it like adults afterwards.

    At the weekend we’re going to see the Hirst Retrospective, again something I wouldn’t normally dream of.

    Maybe the shagmeister is growing up at last.

    But then again there have been the odd date or two in between too.

    Life’s good.

    Category About me, Home | Tags: | No Comments

  8. Taking Mother to the cinema

    March 19, 2012 by admin

    Mother came up at the weekend and while she’s only in her mid-fifties, I decided to take her to see the oldies film that is getting so much attention. We went into Hampstead to watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

    We cashed in on Pizza Express’s great deal on Saturday evening, thereby avoiding all the poor sods feeling guilty and taking their long abandoned mothers out for Sunday lunch. Mother being a star had brought along a voucher for three courses at just   a tenner a head, and we had a bottle in the cinema bar before we went in, so we were on fine form bantering and laughing before the film even started.

    Then the film itself was a complete hoot, I’m sure I enjoyed it as much as she did, and I so wanted to take the call centre girl home, hot damn she was gorgeous!

    Dad had gone to the six nations at Twickenham and we met him afterwards, he was on fantastic form after England pulled off a distinctive victory over Ireland who so often thrash England on our own turf. I reckon he’d had a few shandies too.

    It’s hard to pull off a weekend with the folks sometimes, but when it happens it leaves everyone feeling so happy. Getting up for work this morning I had a definite spring in my stride.

    Category Film | Tags: | No Comments

  9. Whoa! All getting a bit much…

    March 12, 2012 by admin

    Having done  great blogging job over a couple of months and really getting into the habit, I reckon I’m going to now scale back a bit. I’m happy writing an online diary of sorts, in fact I quite enjoy it as it makes me consider what I’ve been doing a little more, and what elements, if any, might be interesting.

    Trouble is it takes me ages. I fanny around at the keyboard, wondering what to write, wondering how to phrase stuff that will never get read by anyone other than me and mum.

    So I’m going to pare back my efforts.

    Maybe an update every week, or perhaps a couple.

    Sorry self. But then, just think about it. Even if I did come back to read any of this in a few years time, I’d only glance over it, and because of that I’m almost certainly better off taking the good bits and getting them down.

    Toodle pip then. Nothing to report from the weekend anyway.

    Christophe.

    Category Work | Tags: | No Comments

  10. Got me a new old B&O

    March 9, 2012 by admin

    I love B&O kit.

    Whether it’s TV or hi fi I just think it looks amazing and makes me think of a way that I dream I could live. All sleek and sophisticated, every little thing in your life immaculately tidy, I imagine the owner to have fine wines in one of those wine cooler fridges, reds at just the right temperature too.

    Alas that’s not me at all. I’m a bit chaotic. Stuff left hanging all over the place. I try to keep the flat tidy, but it seems determined to mess itself up. Fortunately I guess it’s small, so sorting the mess out is easy enough if I have to impress.

    But this is about B&O.

    I have just collected a mate’s dad’s old B&O music centre.

    It’s dated 1985, he still had the original sales brochure.

    It needed a serious clean up and doesn’t look great even now, but it does have a wonderful rich sound when playing vinyl. I’m going to become one of those guys who you see carrying around their latest 12″ LPs. And I can’t wait.

    I actually love the interruption that you get after 20 minutes to turn the record over. I like stuff to come in shorter bursts like that.

    The stylus sounds OK thank fully as I know they cost loads.

    My first album I played on it was Animal Magic by the Blow Monkeys. It was the closest I had to 1985 date wise – only a year out.

    I don’t expect many to understand, but for me it’s love!

    Category Music | Tags: | No Comments

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