A Very Civilised Evening

Last night I left work a whole glorious hour early and made my way to the Thomas Moore pub near St Katherine's Dock. I settled in with a pint of beer, reading the Guardian and awaited the arrival of Jim, Mark and Jo. They arrived shortly afterwards and we had a couple of drinks and spoke about DIY problems in the house.

That conversation was brought on by an incident the other day when Jim accidentally left the kitchen taps on whilst answering a phone call and came back to the kitchen to discover a mini flood... which sadly went through some crack into the neighbours flat below. Poor Jim was so upset.

Anyway after that we meandered down to our favourite restaurant, Il Bordello. As usual the service was faultless, the food divine and the cost moderate. Feeling rather full after a Bruscetta and a Spaghetti Carbonara (on my part at least!) we headed down to the Captain Kidd pub in Wapping for the usual Sam Smith fare (Alpine Lager is about the only thing in there I like).

The taxi home was quick and surprisingly inexpensive, surprising because the only times I normally get a taxi home are in the early hours whilst very drunk.

It was such a lovely night out... I really do love that place, especially as it was the restaurant Jim and I had our first real date in.

Today is pay day... it's been six long weeks since I was last paid. Today has been good for me. So far... there's still an hour and a half until the phones get turned off... then the day will be perfect...

Jeremy Beadle Passes Away

I'll tell you about the lovely evening I've just had tomorrow. Tonight Jeremy Beadle has passed away. For me, a child of the eighties, that's probably the saddest news I could hear beyond a personal bereavement.

My thoughts are with his family and friends. Thanks for all the laughter Jeremy, may you rest in peace.

2 Brothers Lip Sync
Uploaded by doyler01

Tick Tock

What? Did you think I'd stopped dreaming about an evening, or five, along with the magnificent Charles Dera? Think again!

Three more days until I'm paid!!!

Surreal moment of the day: laughing with a Mormon at how stupid Scientology is. What strange bedfellows one can find in shared amusement at a weird cult.

Back From The Wonderful Land of Kent

Well it's been a busy weekend down with my family. I've been to Wickes and B+Q. I fell in love with a computer. I saw my Auntie Martine, Rhys and Fran. I have grown increasingly tired. It's good to be home.

In Eurovision news... lots of countries have selected their entries already! So I'll start compiling a list for you all... see the Czech Republics entry below to keep you going!

The End Of January Is A Shite Time Of The Year

Pay is now less than a week away. Thank the Lord!

This morning we headed up to London City Airport to collect some Thai Baht. This lead to many odd looks from the Travelex staff. In hindsight it's probably not the most usual currency for them to deal with. After much double checking we got our hands on the money, had a spot of breakfast and wandering around Canary Wharf via Waitrose before heading home.

I'm off down to Folkestone today to see my family... wish me luck!

Hodge Podge.

Shamelessly yoinked from Gay Boy Thailand. Andre Nilsen combines the best of East and West.

Since last we spoke the internet is even more a buzz with talk of Scientology. An battle has been declared it would seem...



Will this "war" fizzle out quickly or will it develop into an all out fight? Only time will tell, but it'll be interesting to watch.

Heath Ledger has passed away... what a waste. 28 years old is far too young.

The ever lovely Zoe becomes the first person to donate to the Thames Reach fund. Thank you!!

The resignation of Peter Hain seems to put another nail in the coffin of the Brown Government. Now usually when such scandals are uncovered and people lose their jobs I cheer but the prospect of the Brown Government falling to a Cameron Government fills me with despair. Not only are the Tories proven to be terrible at Government but Cameron has been very much on the wrong side of every issue of note for a long time (in my humble opinion anyway!).

Scientology: Isn't It Fascinating?

Scientology has been all over the news of late thanks to a leak of a Tom Cruise awards acceptance speech.



I've been fascinated with this organisation for a while. Now when I tell people I'm fascinated by Scientology they often start to back away whilst stringing out the word "Rrrrrright" in order to escape through the nearest door. I'm not fascinated by it in that way! I'm fascinated with it on a "Wow... are they really just trying to make money or, worse, do they really believe this stuff??" kind of way.

Digg has a link to Scientology's Orientation video. Jesus did that add some fuel to my internal debate over them... basically it's got 20 minutes of infomercials ("if you buy all these books we'll throw in this book free of charge!" Yes... that is a real paraphrase of part of the video), 2 minutes of disturbing anti-psychology ranting and 8 minutes of pure weirdness in which the presenter informs the viewer that to leave the screening room and walk away is their right but it'd be damn stupid as they will live the next trillion years (yes... trillion) in despair and confusion (P.S. Don't forget to buy L. Ron Hubbarbs extremely popular books before they all sell out again because, did we mention, they are extremely popular books).

Honestly it was pretty crap. If I had to sit through that for 30 minutes I'd probably not hang around afterwards unless there was some sort of free cake offer going along with it.

Much better is The Bridge, which is a very interesting movie plus of course the two Panorama documentaries of which I think the 1980s one is far superior (Scientlogy And Me was a bit too... populist pulp).

For some extremely harsh, but maybe well deserved, criticism of the church why not check out Operation Clambake. Not KSW! Probably run by SPs no doubt. ;) Yeah when I study something... I really study it.

An Interesting Lunch

The company I work for is in a building directly opposite a homelessness shelter, ThamesReach Bondway (where a mate from the local, Mark, works). For years people have been complaining about the homeless who frequent the street between our buildings and blaming the shelter.

Well today half of the company (and a few volunteers such as myself) wandered across to their building for lunch and a presentation which consisted of a video of a documentary that was shot there in 2004 and a question and answer session with some of the managers of the centre.

It was very informative and quite interesting, especially listening to some of my colleagues questions which seriously made me think... "Who are these people I thought I knew??" Some of the questions were either worringly ill informed or just bigoted.

So... having since the good work these people do at helping people move from a life of horror on the streets to a more secure and hopeful future I thought maybe it was time I lent a hand... so in that vein I begin by begging... you know guys, thanks to the money my Mum got to me before Christmas no one bought me a Christmas present from my wishlist!! So instead... I plead with you to donate some money to the Thames Reach organisation via this page, if you donate some money I will be eternally grateful!

Oh The Horror!

I finally watched this movie all the way through and my initial reaction of "Yuck it sucks" has been replaced with "Hmm... it's pretty much a nothingness". It's good in parts but nothing really holds your attention. It feels quite pointless. Which is bad as to me Predator, Alien and Aliens are three of the best movies I've ever seen. To have this as their legacy is quite disgusting. Alien3, Resurrection and Predator 2 might have been a mixed bag and AvP may have been less than perfect but at least I felt they tried!

AvP:R is a disappointment on a grand scale... Personally I think they should scrap the AvP franchise, put the Predator on hiatus and focus on restoring the Alien franchise back to some pre Alien3 glory.



And again... I'd waited forever for this movie and then never got round to watching it until today. It was good. Very good in places. What I loved was how faithful to Stephen King's original story it was. However the ending, and for once I won't give it away, is extremely bleak and quite unlike the novellas ambiguous ending. It did let me down a little.

The movie managed to get across one of Stephen Kings reoccuring themes very well: monsters might be scary but people are truly terrifying. Marcia Gay Harden's Mrs Carmody sent shivers down my spine as she called out for blood.

One More Year

Oh yes folks. Throughout the life of this blog the President of the United States has been George W. Bush. And now, thankfully, there is just one year left of his Presidency.

So the thoughts of the world outside of the US turn to who next they will pick to lead them (and thus our weak spineless leaders) for the next four years.

Firstly we have the GOP candidates. Now obviously I'd rather see Dubya in charge rather than Mike "But you know, if anybody wants to believe they’re the descendants of a primate, they’re welcome to do it." Huckabee. Say what you like about us homos... but if you believe in the Bible's version of Intelligent Design I'm probably not going to get on with you. (And why do people think that evolution couldn't be the creation of an intelligent being... it's quite efficient!). Then there's Romney... shudder. He sure can flip flop... Senator McCain is my, reluctant, choice if we had to put up with a Republican in the White House, he has honour and dignity. Obviously I'd hope none of them win.... Republicans today are an insult to the memory of the party of Abraham Lincoln.

Then we have the Democratic candidates. A Gravel/Kuncinich ticket is obviously my dream... but as that is as likely to happen as the Lib Dems winning a landslide election then I'll have to lower my sights a little. I feel sorry for Edwards. He has some good policies. However his statement: "Do I believe they should have the right to marry? I'm just not there yet..." makes me think... No. Obama... I think his policies seem alright but I just can't seem to like him. I think a lot of that is my hatred of "fads". He's the in thing and in things tend not to be my style. And then you've got Hillary Clinton.

You know... firstly she's become a bit of the underdog. And being British I love an underdog. Secondly, she's the wife of a man who I greatly admire. If he likes her, she can't be all that bad! Then her policies. Not so great in a lot of instances but not so bad as to be awful. After all us liberals and social libertarians can't have it all our own way! So this blog, for what it's worth being a British blog, hopes for a Clinton victory.

Mapilicious

Jim has introduced me to another great site: Wikimapia. It's brilliant for finding out about an area (like my local area). I agree with Jim in that it's probably not going to be great for long... the more edits the longer it'll take to load.

I've also discovered NATO Books. It's a free service allowing you to receive NATO books and publications free of charge! Well it's our tax money at work so I'm planning on get some freebies!

I'm so glad it's the weekend. It means I have time to waste on Betfair and looking at notpron (relax, it's a game!)

It's a Tiger Not A Liger!

I've been following the death of one human and one tiger at San Francisco zoo with through the news and Cryptomundo.

Cryptomundo reported the possible sightings of the boys taunting animals around the zoo and now it is beginning to be backed up by more evidence. I cannot believe people could be so callous as to taunt or upset an animal held in enclosure especially one as beautiful and majestic as a tiger. It just goes to show that sometimes karma can come right back round and kick you in the butt. Sure no one deserves to die but it goes to prove the lesson that wild animals deserve respect... even if you think you are safe from them. As Ian Malcolm says...

"If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, expands to new territory, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously."

TFIFT

I've found a wonderful new site to add to the 500 million sites I'm already signed up to; Spock.

Here's an interesting BBC article, although I take the therapy culture stuff with a little pinch of salt, the consumer stuff is spot on.

And then we have the plane crash at Heathrow. Nothing like a bit of bad news to allow a local MP to push his cause a little further.

John McDonnell MP, whose Hayes and Harlington constituency includes Heathrow, said the incident underlined concerns about extending the airport.

"This is a near miracle that neither passengers or anyone on the ground has been seriously injured," Mr McDonnell said.

Underlined? I thought the major problems with the proposed extension were environmental and quality of life issues? Planes crashing is a bit of a silly thing to worry about when it happens fairly rarely and can't really be avoided. But hey why not take advantage of other peoples misery (they might have survived relatively unscathed but I doubt any of them will be sleeping too well tonight) and push your agenda.

And in the Antarctic... the two guys taken hostage on the Yshing Maru 2 have been released. To keep up to date with the ongoing saga involving the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Greenpeace and Japanese Whalers keep an eye on the Sea Shepherd site.

There is no reason to be killing whales in this day and age. Their meat might be dangerous, and I've heard the Japanese appetite for the meat is beginning to fade. It's time to leave these giants alone... we do want at least a few examples of megafauna to pass to the next generation after all!

Talking of megafauna... it's been over a day since I last mentioned ligers...

It All Starts Here...

Yes! It's that time of year again... Eurovision launched their 2008 contest's website. It looks very snazzy and obviously you'll be hearing a lot more about it as we get closer to May. That, Thailand and the London elections all in one month... it's too exciting for words!!

I had a love evening out last night with Jim, Paul and Jane at our favourite haunts; the Thomas More, Il Bordello and Captain Kidd (where I made friends with a gorgeous dog!) in Wapping.

If I hear another bloody thing about Princess Diana I may just scream...

The second series of Torchwood starts in half an hour...

And did anyone catch the first episode of season 2 of Primeval? I thought it was pretty much the same as the last series... brilliant moments but it still doesn't feel right...

Elections

Today Brian Paddick launched his campaign to be Mayor of London. Good luck to him, I think that after two terms of Ken it's time for a change (he's done a lot of good but he's too wild) and we don't need Boris in charge (wild x infinity)!

I remembered yesterday I'll probably leave for Thailand two days before the election so I registered myself for a postal vote so I don't miss out on my chance to vote. Remember to register to vote people (unless you're voting BNP in which case feel free to forget if you can)!



(Sorry I've forgotten where I yoinked that from!)

I love Ligers.

This Country Is Going To The (English/Scottish/Welsh) Dogs

I'm watching the Politics Show and find it utterly depressing that the presenters on there seem to be treating Scotland as if it is a foreign country (even using the term country to describe it and England... they are nations not countries!) and act as if English and Scottish people are simply unable to get along. If you look at just the last months worth of news stories on Google News you'll find most journalists have proclaimed the end is nigh.

I just want to leave this country. It's not the country I was brought up to live in. There is no pride here, just nationalist jingoism. There is no unity, just squabbling over the dying Union.

What with Belgium suffering a similar malaise over it's union, it can't be long before even the mighty Germany might start to find it's regions pulling apart. Then we can all get back to never ending wars again like the good old days of the last millennium. Joy! Now I wonder what the immigration requirements are for Thailand...

The Weekend - Thank God!

I hate the barbers! I've said it before and I will say it again!

I am not at all shocked by the sleazy stories coming out about Labours deputy leadership election. I am, however, shocked by the kind of sums of money being bandied about. Was John Prescott's old job really that powerful a position as to warrant hundreds of thousands of pounds of money going to possibly unsuccessful bids for it??

The politics of Britain today are starting to rival the 18th and 19th Century's for sleaziness and scandal. And that is bloody saying something!

I long for a politician who is at once a great thinker and a great speaker who might once again raise this country back to hope... rather than these seedy back room dealers who act more like dodgy street sellers than leaders of this great country.

It feels like it really is time for a change... the Tories fell to scandal and now Labour is doing the same. We are in the middle of a turbulent decade and we need a real leader rather than these wannabe CEOs to help guide us through these cynical times.

Back To Bangkok?

It looks quite like Jim and I will be returning to Bangkok in May 2 years after our last visit. Jim is currently fretting over which airline to fly there with...

This doesn't mean we don't want to travel somewhere close by as well this year but we have been talking about going back to Bangkok since the day we arrived back in the UK from our last visit.

Thanks for some of your suggestions guys on European destinations... keep them coming if you get anymore ideas... now I need to go download Ugly Betty and see what all the fuss is about!

No Power!

There was a power cut in Vauxhall today meaning I got off work early. May I just say, Lord, this more than makes up for the lack of snow earlier this month...

It's been seven days into the new year and there has not been one half naked man. This will not stand!



I keep catching parts of Ugly Betty during lunch at work and I think I really must watch that show properly as it seems bloody good. Any opinions, ever so helpful Dear Constant Reader?

Panorama: One Click From Danger

Jesus... how can parents be so naive???

I was fairly shocked recently when I went down to my family and found my 11 year old sister now had internet access in her room. However I know my step father and I know he'll ensure she can only use it for seconds a day and will keep a close eye on her (prior experience as a teenage web surfer in that house!). By the time we left, Jim had installed some cyber nanny that stopped her even viewing youtube (much to her disgust). So even if I am slightly jealous of her given the best I got was the dining room, I know she will be watched like a hawk.

So how can these parents on this Panorama show still not even know what a/s/l (age/sex/location) means??? It's 2008 people!! I was still chatting up girls online when I learnt what that meant (ok, they were chatting me up in AOL Chat and I was desperately thinking "Why did I ever come into this UK Science Fiction room??)!! Now that's a long time age!

It's truly scary how some people haven't learnt basic internet stuff... how to use Google, what lol means, how to bloody look after your children and not let them get accosted. If parents don't understand these things how can they even begin to protect their children?? My Mums got Facebook so I'm confident she's not a dullard.

At work I'm consistently amazed at how many people can't work the internet... of all ages. They think a Google Ad is actually a search result, they don't understand that if they type a word into Google and click the first link it might not actually be what they are looking for or the most dumb... they try one combination of words then give up when a moments thought will not only find what they are looking for but maybe something better!

It's high time people started attending internet basics classes. I've spoken to 90 year old women who are all over "cookies" and social networking... so younger folk have no excuse for their "I'm too old" type responses. Yawn... you are never too old!

If you are a parent with a kid on the net and you haven't even basic internet knowledge then you are just asking for trouble.

Where Next?

Jim and I have been wondering where to take our holiday this year and I was wondering if you, Dear Constant Reader, had any ideas?

We don't want to go too far afield and our current ideas include Iceland, Germany and Greece... anyone got any input on those destinations?

And on a related matter I've created a map of everywhere I can remember having been! Wooooo...

• View my profile


• Visit TripAdvisor.com

Getting To Know All About You

We've been together for quite a while now Dear Constant Reader. This year will be our 7th anniversary which means I've been writing here for more than 25% of my life! Shocking.

Since I've been writing here George W Bush has gone from monkey impersonator, to American hero, back to monkey impersonator and through to todays comedic turn as "a monkey impersonating Mussolini" for which he is so reknowned.



Whole new countries have appeared! Hi Montenegro and Timor-Leste!





Homosexual marriage has begun it's spread around the world (The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain and Massachusetts) destroying heterosexual marriages left right and centre and ushering in the beginning of the end of human civilisation...



There's been 4 leaders of the Tory party including my very own former constituency MP Michael Howard, showing their continued active support for diversity in the work place...



Peace and happiness has spread around the world...



The United Kingdom came close to winning Eurovision on several occasions...





Suggestions on a postcard for other "important" events since 2001...

Blogs of Note

As I haven't got much of interest to say today I thought I'd just give you a few links to some blogs that have piqued my interest of late.

Gay Boy Thailand - a mixture of witty posts about life in Thailand and picture posts of cute Asians. Mmm...

The Greenwich Phantom - a well known local blog around Greenwich with great reviews, some gossip, idle speculation and wonderful little insights into the borough I live in.

Proceed at your own risk - pictures of cute random guys, naked yoga and some really interesting political/religious/news related posts.

Cryptomundo - Up to the minute cryptozoology (and normal zoology!) news.

Now obviously these are my current faves, but they'll never replace my regulars!

Thank God for Google Reader; it's made me a better blog reader. I used to be terrible... but trust me I read you all now every post.

Complaint To God

Dear God,

I'm most upset. Most upset indeed. You allow all these people up north to have loads of snow but you don't give me one drop?

This is terrible service and I will be writing to your predecessor (oh might Zeus) to make a complaint about the riff raff he's left in charge of our weather system.

Yours Grumpily

Jason

The Blame Game

Homosexuals what are we good for? Absolutely everything if you're trying to pass the blame on just about any subject under the Sun.

Hitler and the German Nazi Regime (and by extension the Holocaust) were OF COURSE a homosexual conspiracy. Well that's all according to the Pink Swastika (See also here). Of course we had to kill a few thousand other homosexuals, and imprison 50,000 more (not counting the castrated and abused) to meet our objectives. Or not. All kinds of flippant disregard for the Nazi abuse of homosexuals (and the fact that this abuse was NOT acknowledged after the war unlike most other affected groups) is common with people sneering at "the small numbers killed" or suggesting Hitler himself was gay.

Imagine saying the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, or that the Nazi party was run by Jews. You'd rightly be condemned but suggest it was homosexuals and you're fine.

It is amazing that even here in the 21st Century, homosexuals are still very much second class citizens of our various nations. To suggest that homosexuals are some kind of "conspiring" group set on ruining the lives of the "innocent" heterosexuals through means such as taking over Germany and turning it into a fascist state are not just crazy... they are deeply insulting.

Of course it's mainly the misguided Christians (i.e. those who skimmed over the Gospels and only read the bloody bits of the Bible) who promote this hate. How very Christian of them. Maybe they could take a leaf out of a real Christians book like Maximilian Kolbe

If you want to find out what actually happened to homosexual men (although I'd say the whole GLBT community was pretty much affected!) I suggest you start with the sources on Wikipedias page

The Second Post - An Apology

I made a resolution last year. That resolution was inspired by the failure to meet my 2006 resolutions. Again I failed to meet that single resolution. D'oh! So firstly please, Dear Constant Reader, accept my sincere apologies!

This year I have "plans". I've seen a 1 year course at Birkbeck, University of London for a Social Policy Certificate of Higher Education. I plan to apply for it and then if I am successful and I find it enjoyable (after all we don't want to run before we can walk) I can use it as credit towards a B.Sc., i.e. an actual university degree. Birkbeck is famous for being an evening university so it shouldn't interfere with my work. And I should be able to afford the course even without assistance from my Mum plus I can see there's a few Government grants I might be able to make use of... I need to get my taxes back somehow!

I will try not to hate my job so much in the meantime.

I will try to lose some weight but I make no promises. :( It's hard... chocolate is so yummy, alcohol so tempting and takeaways so easy.

I need to keep to the budget I set out in November... fingers crossed!

And this blog. 2007 was a crap year in terms of quality on this blog. I am so sorry! I will try to rectify that and get back on track!

2008... here we come!

The First Post

Happy New Year! 2008 already... who would have thought it. We only have 4 more years to live!!

Last night, after work, Jim and I headed out to the local with our neighbours and their friends for a new years knees up. We stayed until 4 a.m. but despite my drinking constantly I still was unable to move beyond slightly merry. Not a bad thing I suppose as when I woke up this morning I was minus a hangover. Bonus!

The pub was fun and there was singing, Anna Lee told me about her time in the Luftwaffe in '43/'44. Bloody interesting that. My neighbour Rod and his mate Chris got depressed as they are soon to turn 40... midlife crisis ahead!

I trust you, Dear Constant Reader, had a good one!!