On Saturday a courier tried to drop off a package for me but I was out for the count because I'd been up until 4:30am the previous night at Alton Towers. I had no idea who it was from or what it could be. I asked my family and they said they didn't send anything, not that I expected them to, as a family we don't do that type of thing.
On Facebook I mentioned that there was a package and everyone I suspected would or could send something denied all involvement, until my friend Lorna admitted it was her. She'd sent me a 'little something' for my birthday and that I shouldn't get overly excited, after all, it wasn't a blow up sheep or anything like that.
I have known Lorna since I moved to Gloucestershire, must be around 11-12 ears now. It's no secret that I have had a huge crush on her since I met her. It's been a lot of fun teasing her about it but alas this must now come to an end as she's getting married to a top bloke.
For some reason I never expected a gift from her, I don't know why, she's always been very generous and helpful, I suppose it's just my expectations for birthdays, I never get anything other than cards, perhaps a tenner here or there to buy a drink. So on Monday I arranged for a re-delivery of the parcel and it arrived today. The 'little something' turned up in a box as large as a chair!
Inside the box was a huge helium balloon with Happy Birthday scrawled all over it, it still floated as well, not bad for a balloon that had been in a box for five days, and also a mysterious wooden box.
It wasn't ticking so I was safe enough, so I courageously slid the cover off to reveal a magnum of vintage wine!
To be precise, a couple of bottles of Campo Viejo Gran Reserva 2002. What I know will be a tasty Rioja once I decide to sample them.
For those of you with an interest, here's what the Wines from Rioja, London have to say about them.
Gran Reserva
Gran Reservas are identified by a teal blue on the back of the bottle. These wines are made in the best years, using only the finest red grapes (whites and roses are rare). They must spend 5 years in the winery of which at least 2 years are spent in oak casks and three in bottle. These are the classic and often the most traditional Rioja wines and rank amongst the finest in the world.
Gran Reservas are identified by a teal blue on the back of the bottle. These wines are made in the best years, using only the finest red grapes (whites and roses are rare). They must spend 5 years in the winery of which at least 2 years are spent in oak casks and three in bottle. These are the classic and often the most traditional Rioja wines and rank amongst the finest in the world.
I'm slightly taken aback to be honest, this isn't a 'little something' it's a 'bloody big something'!!! Apart for the cost, which I'm sure was rather high, the thought behind it means more to me than its monetary value.
The note says "Hope this makes your day a little happier", I'd say this makes my whole month happier, it's truly an amazing gift!
However, I should have known who sent it and what it was from a few weeks ago. Lorna firstly asked me for my address, which I assumed would be for the invite to her evening party when she gets married. A few days later a message arrived asking about which wines I thought were nice, again I thought this was for her wedding. I do feel like a fool for not putting two and two together, I really should never trust her again! lol
All I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart Lorn for this very special gift, it really has made my day.
I'm glad it didn't arrive on my birthday though, I might have taken it upon myself to drink them! :D
There's been a little spat in the media over the sacking of Professor David Nutt, the chief advisor to the government on drugs. Professor Nutt advised that cannabis, LSD and ecstasy be downgraded to a Class C drug due to the limited harmful effects when compared to alcohol and tobacco.
Professor David Nutt graduated in 1972 and is a neuropsychopharmologist specialising in the research of drugs which affect the brain, he's the leading professor at the University of Bristol and he also holds a chair at Imperial College London. Amongst other things he's also the president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. So one would expect that this guy knows his onions.
So in the wake of a paper that the government asked and paid for which advised that certain drugs be downgraded, the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, fired him and went against his recommendations because he knew better than an eminently qualified professor.
Let me tell you a bit about Alan Johnson. He passed his '11 Plus' exam and his best achievement on record from his schooling is that he attended school, no qualifications to speak of. He left school to stack shelves and later became a postman. As far as I can see it, he's only in his position of power because of his union connections and by his own admission his Marxist leanings.
But this isn't the first time this has happened, back in May 2008 Jaqui Smith, the then Home Secretary went against her advisers about drug policy. This is the same Jaqui Smith who by her own admission smoked cannabis during university. At least she has an education, albeit a reasonably poor one as she initially went into teaching, and we all know that those who can't, teach! We also know that she's as corrupt as they come, allowing he husband to claim pornography on public expenses and paid her sister over £100.000 in public money for a house she didn't live in. This is also the woman who has slowly been responsible for eroding our civil liberties since 2006 in the name of protecting the public.
Now our illustrious unelected leader, Gordon Brown, has jumped on the bandwagon, as he does a week or two later, it takes him that long to make a decision. He's backing Alan Johnson saying that he was right in firing a man who knows more than he does on a subject because it's not Professor Nutt's place to comment on political policy. Well hang on a moment, didn't you ask him to write a paper and give his opinion on the subject of grading illegal drugs?
Professor Nutt only answered media questions after he'd been sacked, in response to Alan Johnson's vicious attack upon his reputation and credibility, and we all know how esteemed Professor Nutt is regarded by his peers, holding several professorships over the planet as he does.
Do we need to be ruled by these bunch of corrupt and idiotic Ministers who do not take advice from their own inquiries and only have their self interest at heart? I don't think so. We need out civil liberties back, we need the right to put justice before idiocy, but above all we need to be governed by a leader we elected.
Just so you know, I have been known to smoke a spliff now and again if offered, but overall I don't take drugs in any shape or form, I even forgo painkillers until the pain is so acute a hospital is required. I agree that the drugs I have mentioned in my post do cause some disruption in society, but not as much as alcohol does and it seems silly to me that we're not reaping the 17.5% VAT on these drugs if we made them legal. Legalising these drugs would mean that the criminals interested in importing them into the UK would lose interest as they would be freely available to whoever wants them by legal means, I suspect they would be cheaper too. There will not be a rush to try these drugs by our youngsters, in all likelihood most of them already know a shady dealer and have tried most drugs by the time they are 18 anyway. If you are that way inclined to abuse any substance, whether it be alcohol, cannabis or chocolate, you are going to do so if it's legal or not, and lets face it there are a lot of fat people in the UK so perhaps we should re-classify chocolate and chips as a Class B.
Another birthday has come and gone, I'm now 35, as someone pointed out, potentially halfway through my life.
So what did we all do on Halloween. Well, first of all SmilingGrump and I went to Cheltenham, mainly to look for Halloween costumes. I was pretty much sorted as I'd already bought my contact lenses a month ago and I had some make-up left over from a few years ago. All I needed was some fake blood and some different colour eye make-up. Lee however didn't have a clue what he wanted to go as, so we popped into the fancy dress shop and found that although they had some great wares, they were horrendously expensive. I suppose it was to be expected, buying stuff on the actual day and that places like that make all of their money on that day. Anyhow, after walking up and down Cheltenham for a couple of hours we managed to get away with finding what we needed and I also bought a copy of the entire series of 'Black Books'. That was my birthday present to myself.
As you can see from the photo, Lee went as Beast from X-men, however everyone thought he was a demented Smurf. I don't really know what I was, sort of zombie come dead thing, but everyone was impressed by our efforts. The funny thing was that nobody recognised me at all. I could stand next to people who I have known for years and they would stare at me four or five times before the penny dropped. Who would have thought that taking off my glasses would have such an impact!
Although it's hard to see in the photos, to achieve the overall effect I took a shaver to my head and took clumps of hair out for creepy effect. The upshot of this is that I had to shave my head the day after so I'm now as bald as a coot! At least I had total commitment to my costume.
As the evening wore on and more drink was consumed, we all got rather loud and had a lot of fun. The band was pretty good and Lee, the bastard, asked them to drag me up to the performing area and got the whole pub to sing me happy birthday! Quite embarrassing I tell you. Another round of power cuts meant that the music stopped early, story of my life that weekend, bloody power cuts everywhere, but it didn't spoil my evening.
The rest of the evening is pretty hazy, the free drink started to flow and I hate to waste anything. Luckily for me Old Rocky was kind enough to drive me home, I doubt I would have been able to walk all the way on my own. I'd hasten to add that Rocky is a doddering old bloke who's nearly 70 and his driving skills leave a lot to be desired. The mile home was scarier than any ride in Alton Towers!
Also I met a lovely lady who makes jewelry, I showed her my design for a ring and asked if she would be able to make it for me. She said it was no problem, just depended on how much I wanted to spend and she'd make it accordingly. So once I have a job I'll make a beeline for her door and get that sorted out as well. Amazing who you meet down your local.
Yesterday, as a birthday treat, Smiling Grump took me to Alton Towers with his cousin and a few friends. I'd never been to a theme park before and I've been looking forward to it for ages. Although I have been on a few small rollercoasters over the years, Alton Towers has the reputation of being one of the best places in the UK for such rides.
The day started off great, got out of bed for 6:30am got everything sorted before setting off and only once slightly getting lost due to Smiling Grump's £25 iPhone Sat Nav App losing its GPS signal and having to resort to me reading a map. Once there we debated the merits of which rides to go on and how we should go about tackling the park, this was a recurring theme for the next few hours.
However, during the afternoon we managed to experience the Tower of Terror, which was actually rather surprisingly good, actors dressed up in a dark castle, lots of frights and scares. We also managed to go on The Nemesis, although it was a good ride I thought it wasn't quick enough. Having now queued for over two hours for just two rides we decided to have a bit to eat then we split up to try and get as many rides as possible under our belts.
We managed to get on the Oblivion, which was short but it was a great rush due to the vertical drop, very much like the sensation of a bungee jump. Then went to queue for Rita, the most popular ride by the waiting times. We'd queued for about an hour before the entire park was hit by a power outage, nothing was working for a time, so we decided to stick it out in the queue we were in in the hope that the power would be restored and that we'd get on the ride. However after a long time standing in the dark it became apparent that nothing was going to happen.
Power was restored to one part of the park, the family area, so the rides there were a bit twee, but because we had nothing better to do we went on a couple of the kiddies rides and visited their aquarium, which was impressive in my mind.
In the time we'd been enjoying the water features, power had been restored in other places on the park, but by the time we managed to walk back to the main area for the good rides it was already closing time! :(
We did however have two more things to do, another couple of scary themed fright experiences, which were good, but not as impressive as the first one we went to at the beginning of the day.
So that was the end of the day, it was close to midnight and we'd managed to take in as few rides as possible due to the power failure but once we got back to the car we discovered that one of our crew had lost his car key. Much drama ensued, I just stayed in the other car and went to sleep.
Apparently he'd left the key in the door when he locked the car in the morning, a security guy found it and got it secured in the safe of the hotel, but having the safe unlocked took about an hour, not that I noticed as I was catching flies.
The drive home was uneventful for me, I was snoring peacefully, but it took much longer than usual due to an excessive amount of night-time roadworks along the motorways. I think we got home about 4 - 4:30am, secure in the knowledge that Smiling Grump will most likely be able to claim back the ticket fares due to nothing actually working at the theme park and aching all over due to walking miles all day.
Today, a trip to Cheltenham to look for Halloween bits and bobs, most likely a KFC, which I'd been looking forward to yesterday, but along with everything else was closed due to the power issue, and then we have a big fancy dress party in the evening. An eventful couple of days, hope we don't have any issues tonight...lol
Thanks to Smiling Grump though, we did have a good time, even though it went disastrously, but it was obviously nobody's fault so we just made the best with what was on offer. Not an ideal first visit to a theme park, but I certainly wont forget it.
No, not me but some Scouser that was held on a drugs charge in South Wales.
This little link will give you the full story. Apparently the guy was arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs in a police drugs bust, but none were found, but from reading the text messages on his mobile phone it was deduced that he'd stashed the heroin in condoms and swallowed them. What ensued was a sixteen day wait for the guy to produce the evidence needed to convict him 'at a huge expense to police time and resources'.
Now I'm not one to judge the criminal justice system, but surely a simple x-ray would have ascertained whether or not there were any little packages inside his colon, this would have saved a lot of time for the police and a lot of discomfort for the criminal. Having to wait nearly three weeks for him to take a dump seems a bit silly to me.
I'm also amazed by the guys willpower, I don't think I'd be able to hold on for even a fraction of that time. Just imagine not being able to take a shit for sixteen days! I think I may have gone a week or so once, but that was because I was severely ill in hospital and I hadn't eaten anything in all that time. Sixteen days of holding on! Jeeeeez...
I can only imagine what the toilet looked like when he finally decided that enough was enough.
I can also imagine the distaste of the poor officer who had to pick his way through the poo to find the heroin as well...
A topic that some of you Twitter users will have been unable to avoid this week, from Jan Moir's (now edited) article about Stephen Gately's unnatural death by homo bum bashing to Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time. I suppose that both of these 'newsworthy' events warranted a little airtime, but certainly not the total takeover of the airwaves that occurred.
Riots ensued at several BBC offices around the country due to Griffin being asked to appear on Question Time, Twitter was overloaded, the media went into meltdown. Why? For those of you who are not conversant with Griffin, I suppose you better take a look at his Wiki page. I'd say that he's now the acceptable face of Fascism in the UK, if such a thing can exist. I'd also like to point out that he's of a far right disposition, I know how you Republicans wrongly like to think that Fascism is a Socialist or Liberal phenomenon.
He's managed to wheedle himself into a position of political power by achieving a seat as an MEP, not really a position he can do much damage, but nevertheless, he has won an election as he's now managed to get political funding for his extremist views. As a democracy we can't oppose his influence, he's been fairly voted into his seat by the people, although everyone knows he's only there because a lot of people used the BNP as a form of protest vote against the main parties.
However, now that he's an MEP, the BBC decided it would be prudent to ask him to sit on the panel on Question Time to air his views on questions from the public. Personally I didn't think this would be a good idea because giving airtime to people like Griffin only fans the flames of acceptability. I do feel that after watching the show that Griffin and the BNP have been shown to be what they are, a bunch of violent, bigoted racists, so I doubt if they managed to gain any followers from his performance. I was bitterly disappointed with Jack Straw's performance, he seemed so flustered and avoided answering many of the questions directly, I suppose you should expect that from a cabinet minister. However the person that came out on top for me was Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, she continuously turned Griffins poor arguments into nothing more than what they were, hateful remarks from a man who hates everything that isn't white or Christian.
I found it extremely funny when David Dimbleby, the host and chair of the panel, repeatedly asked Griffin to explain some of his past comments, which Griffin would cringe and smile at, like why he thought the Holocaust was a myth or asking him why he had met with a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. Griffin was simply out of his depth and struggling as his torch seemed to get dimmer and dimmer towards the end of the show.
So in the aftermath of what should have been the BBC's most watched show in recent years, what are the opinions? The BNP thought the whole show was about bashing Nick Griffin, I'd agree, but that was only because the man couldn't defend his arguments. Did it warrant the amount of media coverage it had? I don't think so, like most people I tend to think that giving airtime to people like him is a waste of resources, plus all the protesting only highlighted the situation. I do believe that Thatcher had it right when she used her powers to stifle the IRA's media presence during the troubles, I suspect that today, using such power would result in a vast amount of naysayer's shouting about free speech and human rights. But one thing is for sure, I doubt that even a small percentage of yesterdays viewers will be watching Question Time next week.
I was a bit bored earlier so I decided to make a coat of arms for myself, here's what I came up with.
As always is the case with heraldry, everything has a significance. The colours represent peace and sincerity for silver; royal majesty, sovrereignty and justice for the purple and strength and magnanimity for red. I happen to quite like the colours too which is a bonus.
I obviously had to include a red dragon to symbolise my Welsh heritage but it also means valour and protection. I've also included the crown and the ankh for obvious reasons, but usually they represent royal authority and faith, both of which I have none, but since my screen name is KingOfAnkh I had to include them.
The helm represents my surname which is Williams, which stems from the Germanic for Wilhelm, which translates to helmed one. A helm also means wisdom, strength and protection.
The motto is a quote from Cicero, I've always liked it and translates as 'In times of war the law falls silent', never a truer statement said.
I'm off now to get my stationary printed and a few flags made, I'm also looking to hire a young serf to carry my standard, please apply in the comments if you are interested.
There's been a bit of a hubhub about the expenses that Britain's MP's have been claiming recently, if you live in the UK it would be quite hard not to have heard about it. Especially the politician who claimed for cleaning his moat on his second property or the one who claimed for a duck house for his lake.
I think all in all they have been taking the piss a little to say the least, but a few of the worst offenders have dived upon their swords and resigned and all of the thieving bastards have now got to pay all that they have over-claimed back into the coffers.
It's a bit of a joke when you consider that the 'Second House Allowance' is there to allow politicians who reside a fair distance from Westminster to keep a place of residence when they are in London, which I think is fair enough as traveling costs can be quite high if you have to travel hundreds of miles to do your job. However as most politicians are slimy opportunists it was no surprise to me when the scandal broke out that they were taking full advantage of any loophole that was available. Fair enough, they were caught out and they have to pay it back and that should be the end of it.
Well hang onto your horses there, I just read this article about our illustrious leader, Gordon Brown. It says he himself has to repay a certain amount because he's over-claimed for cleaning and gardening for his second home. This is the guy that lives in No.10 & 11 Downing Street, he's lived there for over ten years, he doesn't need a second home! He's managed to claim £12,415 for cleaning his second home over the last five years, on the hourly costs of the cleaner I had a while back, that's seven hours cleaning per week, for what should be a small flat or house to keep you comfortable whilst you are staying in London when you are there working.
Now I'm not one to cast aspersions on our MP's cleanliness, but if you need someone for an hour a day to clean up after you then you have a problem. When I had a cleaner it was an hour a week affair and I'm possibly one of the most untidy people I know. Even then she was in and out in less than half the time but I still paid her as she did a great job.
I understand that our leaders all have palatial dwellings, but to squander public finances like this is a bit naughty if you ask me.
Plus, according to the article, the general allowance per year for cleaning is £2000, that's roughly 6 hours worth of cleaning a week for what should be a one bedroom flat or a bedsit, because let's face it, if any of us had to keep a second home in London because we had to pay a visit two or three times a week for work reasons, we wouldn't be forking out on a 14 bedroom mansion with 20 acres of land, so why should they?
This isn't about envy, I couldn't care less if they did live in their little million pound houses, I just don't like the fact that they are allowed to claim a huge amount of taxpayers money to 'help' them with the upkeep, when in all fairness they should only have a small dwelling for work purposes.
Just to highlight this a little more, there are 645 MP's in parliament at the moment, if they all claimed their full £2000 yearly allowance for cleaning then the tax payer has to shell out £1,290,000 a year, just on their cleaning costs, lord alone knows how many other claims they have.
I'd say this though, if it was me who was in charge of their finances, they would only have an allowance for an hour a week cleaning, perhaps I'd stretch to £10 an hour as I'm nice that way. This would bring the yearly maximum allowance down to £335,400 a year, almost a saving of a million pounds! That would pay for the wages of 55 Grade D Nurses or 40 Police Officers!
But I still think the lazy bastards should do their own cleaning, but that's a utopian idea and we all know that things like that never happen in real life.
I love my iPhone, it's my favourite gadget, I simply can't see myself living without it, but there is one huge thing that's very wrong with it. O2, the UK's sole carrier at the moment.
O2 are shit, there is no simple way about it. I don't know how well Verizon, the US carrier, stands up, but O2 simply doesn't work most of the time. Whenever I meet up with friends they almost always tell me that they've been trying to get hold of me but never get through, which is a worry when you are looking for work as I may be missing calls for prospective job offers or interviews. The 3G signal is almost non-existant, when I do get a signal it's just as slow as normal GPRS/Edge which is useless when you want to do something online.
Ok, fair enough, I live out in the sticks, but even in the centre of town I can't get a signal most of the time. If I walk inside a building, goodbye O2, I might as well pop my phone into a lead lined coffin and bury the damn thing for all the good it is, all I have is a more expensive version of the iTouch!
But the main grievance I have is this. As a prepay credit user, if I run out of credit, which happens to me quite a lot and it might be a couple of weeks until I'm able to afford to top up again, O2 like to send me an automatic reminder that I need to top up each time I want to use the phone. Not much of a problem I hear you say, you have no credit so you can't use the phone anyway. Unfortunately, it isn't like that.
For prepay iPhone users you get your first year data-roaming free, so all applications that use the push technology set off this annoying message. Until you have ran out of credit you can't appreciate how many times your phone sends out and receives push notifications. It's absolutely fucking annoying! A constant chirp in your life. Even switching off push doesn't stop it completely, every couple of hours you get a helpful reminder you have run out of credit. Thanks O2, I wasn't aware of that, I forgot after you have already sent me 500 messages over the last two hours!
So being at the end of my tether, there's another thing O2 wont allow, tethering, I dutifully search the forums to see if it's possible to switch off this damn annoying O2 feature. Yes! It can be done, you call 4444 and get it turned off! Hooray!!!!!
Not so simple. If you turn it off then other features are disabled too, features I depend on, especially things like the credit left notification. Argh! So I'm stuck with constant messages or losing useful features! Fecking O2! If there was a way to spoil a brilliant gadget, you certainly get the gold star.
All is not lost however, Orange and Vodafone are coming into play very soon, I for one am going to jump ship as soon as is humanly possible. I have used both carriers in the past and have been very happy with them. Their coverage is better, their offers are better, plus with three carriers their costs will be more competitive. I can't wait, being able to use my phone in the pub for instance, very handy for cheating on the crosswords, even better for ending arguments, best of all for tweeting!
Hopefully the iPhone will be what it should always have been when I get a new carrier and damn O2 to Satan's sweaty ball sack in the nether regions of hell!
A new study by the UN was unveiled yesterday and it highlighted the fact the Britain has slipped out of the top twenty of the best countries to live in. Well I could have told you that without having to spend a dime in research.
In 1990 Britain was tenth in the league and has steadily been slipping down the rankings ever since. Not much of a surprise there, with the dumbing down of education and the rising tide of benefit bums this country has will bound to have had an effect. The scary thing is, all these figures are from 2007, before the recession hit the world, so undoubtedly Britain will have slipped much further down the ladder.
I think it's actually noticeable that the quality of life in Britain has gone down. The cost of living is much higher, the quality of housing is poorer, education is certainly much worse than it was, I know this first hand from trying a few exam papers last year and found them perfunctory at best, not to mention the politics degree student I know who hasn't got the faintest idea who is running the country nor the differences between the parties. Is it any wonder that the country is going to the dogs? Not really.
So who's at the top?
Norway. Well done them. A country predominantly led by a democratic socialist left wing coalition under a constitutional monarchy with a good reputation for environmental concerns and outstanding education. Not bad for a country of less than five million inhabitants with the reputation of being the most peaceful country on the planet. I think we could all learn a little from their example.
How are we in Britain going to pull our socks up? I don't know the answer to that, but that's the reason I'm not being paid to run the country. I'd suggest we start by voting out our current shambles of a government and concentrate on education and jobs.
I think that education in Britain has become a bit of a joke, university places are fought over by hundreds of thousands of students each year because they all have the same exemplary 'A' grades so selection of candidates is almost impossible. Once there the students generally spend an hour or two studying each week and the rest of the time drinking and getting fat. Further education is no longer seen as a way to improve yourself, but an excuse for a three/five year piss up.
Compare this to what I have seen in poorer countries, where students are truly grateful for the chance to better themselves and study very hard under difficult situations, it's no wonder that most of Britain's doctors and specialists come from abroad.
So here we are, not even in the top 10%, bit rubbish really aren't we!
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LilTreva said:
A lack of good education is also a great way to enslave a society. A "free people" ought to be... read more
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KingOfAnkh said:
I'm just working my way through the newspapers at the moment, it's a lot to read as I normally read... read more
on Drugs? No Drugs? -
LilTreva said:
I noticed that the Guardian has published a number of really good content on the topic of marijuana and marijuana... read more
on Drugs? No Drugs? -
Vicola said:
Love the outfits!! Brilliant. Bet Lee is still picking bits of blue facepaint out of his pores...and a belated happy... read more
on Halloween 2009
Thanks! :D read more
on Halloween 2009