Oh dear

You know it's time to take the play dough away when you child starts calling it "Eat". I personaly don't see the attraction it is rather salty, does not have a very attractive smell an is chewy to the taste but poppy seems to love it. Needless to say play dough is making a quiet exit from the toy box.
however what has now been introduced is a rather funky fire truck with lots of buttons to push that produce everything from sirens to water spray noises, I am very happy with my new toy....... What!....Hang on.
..
..
What do you mean its for poppy?
I paid for it!
..
..
Apprently it is for poppy and not for me which I tend to disagree with, but there you go I've still got the wooden train set.....
...
Oh come on!
- posted by J @ 18:57

 

Oh god it's Pinter.

Now I know that it is fasionable among the theatre set to say things like;
"oh Pinter, how wonderful" or
"Isn't Pinter a wonderful writer"
The answer to both these questions is
"yes valium is a wonderful thing"
Let's face it people, the only thing a Pinter play is good for is insomnia and the only reason to say you like Pinter is to fit into a crowd of people, who probably don't like it either but feel they need to say they do to fit in.
His plays are dull {betrayal is the exception but not by very much}, his scripts are like wadeing through porrage, not difficult just tireing.
So why are we doing another! well my only conclusion is that the world has gone mad. The way I have reached this epifany is fairly simple, I have NEVER met anyone who can actualy say, truthfully, that they enjoy watching a Pinter play.
So if that is the case can we please stop doing them and move on.
- posted by J @ 15:21

 

New taxes

A higher tax on SUV's (because let's be honest you can't really call them 4X4s).
Sounds like a great idea to me why wasn't it done sooner.
- posted by J @ 19:33

 

The clocks

Once again I am confused {it doesn't take a lot}, do I loose an hours sleep or gain one?
- posted by J @ 18:31

 

Who ate all the muffins.

I go to work and there is a full pack of ten orange and ginger mini muffins, I come home five hours later and there is one.
That's the problem in this house i'm out numberd by women. There is only me and the cat and he is farely useless, one look from poppy and he is off like a shot, Coward!
- posted by J @ 14:01

 

Life really gets in the way

Somtimes life can really get in the way of things. Work does seem to be the main culprit of this.
Having said that we have finally managed to finish poppy's room and she is all moved in and happy, this does now mean we should really start on another part of the house.
The main problem is where? it is one of those knock on dilema situations where you can't start one job with out doing another and you can't start that job until you get time. Now! time, as the people with kids will know, is a comodity that is not in abundance but I am sure it will happen at some point.
I have sometimes wonderd how much we could do if we did'nt need to sleep. It would of course be totaly useless as we would probably have to work more anyway and therefore get no more done than we do now, but is an interesting thought none the less.
Saying all that with carefull manipulation of my lunch and dinner hours, the use of my phone and a clever program on my pc I have managed to watch the entire series of Space: Above and beyond. It is as good as I remember it and the people at Fox should be shot for cancelling it.
- posted by J @ 22:28

 
From the autobiography of a one year old...

- posted by J @ 23:22

 

Abandon hope.

Well folks it has finaly happend. Intel are now making chips for mac. The last bastion of hope has fallen and pentium chip has invaded. This does however have a plus side with hopes that AMD will follow suit. An athalon mac would be a nice machine and a very viable prospect of gamers, if they ever sort out there software compatability.
- posted by J @ 15:40

 
Things to see before you die.
I have a list of all the places I would like to see before I kick off my mortal coil. Some I know I will never see due to money, health and the urge not to get shot. I thought I would share some of them.

1. Machu Picchu, Peru: because it shows to me the shear belligerence of the human spirit, if your going to build it at the top of a mountain, do it properly.
2. Angor wat, Cambodia: Would love to see it but you do tend to run the risk of getting shot by whatever group is rampaging through the countryside at the time.
3. The Taj Mahal, India: have seen it once and would love to see it again, it appeals to my romantic soul and is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
4. The moving rocks of death valley, Nevada: For me one of three reasons to go to the US, one of natures more bizarre moments.
5. Dubai: Money, Money, Money.
6. New York, New York: Because I should really meet sara's folks.
7. Tokyo, Japan: Apart from the urge to buy random stuff I have a great deal of interest in there culture and the clash of old and new.
8. The Cook islands: Beach, crystal clear water, sun and cocktails. Need I say more.
9. Rio de Jinero: Madis gras and a big statue.
10. Iceland: Anywhere in Iceland I don't mind.
11. The Rock Churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia: Once again the proof of human bloody mindedness.

There you go. Thought I would stop at 11 before you all got bored. The main reason I posted this apart from the need to stop myself falling asleep waiting for my next cue, I wanted to hear you thoughts and lists.
see ya.
- posted by J @ 17:20

 
Time is a funny thing.
In 1915, in a small terraced house in Liverpool a baby was born to a loving family. He spent the first days of his life with the bottom draw of his mothers chest of drawers as his crib, you see he was born premature and his family we not quite ready for his arrival. In fact people were not even sure he would survive, but survive he did.
Over the years he grew into a man full of honor and integrity, he followed in his fathers footsteps and with a lot of hard work became a metal worker producing a fine body of work over the years. From the worlds largest lead window box (a source of great amusement to him) which still runs around the Peter Jones store in London to work on the QE2 casino, beds, jewelry boxes etc. You name it he built it.
He met, during the war, a wonderful woman. Who he married and spent 50 wonderful years with. Like most people he had his hardships through life, burying his father, mother and lastly his brother along the way. All through his life though he carried his head high and acted with the same grace and humility as he had been born with.
This man was warm, loving, kind and with an open mind for the ever changing world, he had no dislike of race, colour, religion or lifestyle and would debate life with anyone who would challenge him. Over the years he had seen many things and been to many places, but all these things must come to an end.

On the 8th March 2005 he died. Leaving behind a loving wife, a loving daughter and a loving grandson.

I can only hope that when I die I will be half the man he was, because he was Hubert Paul Roberts, he was my grandfather and this is for him.


- posted by J @ 22:28

 

Starship bloopers.

Yesterday it seemed that channel 5 had gone scifi mad showing several films in a row. Well I managed to catch a bit of forbidden planet and after vic had gone to bed I decided to watch Starship troopers 2, having enjoyed the tongue in cheekiness of the first.
This proved however to be a mistake, it wasn't the bad plot or the bizzare choice of actors or even the effects
.
No! wait! it was all that. It was bad! not the worst I have seen but nearly there.
The plot was dull having seen most of it in the first one. Human, bug im sure you can work the rest out. You had no affinity with the actors, in fact after about 10 mins you were willing them to get eaten and one of them seems to spend most of the film trying to fix a door.
The effects were ok, at least they didn't try and skimp to much on that, but it was to little to late.
As you can probably tell I am not taken with this film at all and won't be adding it to my collection.

But each to there own I suppose.
- posted by J @ 21:21

 

Yummmms

Well it was vic's birthday yesterday and I managed to get the night off and take her out for dinner. We decided to go somewhere we havn't been before and headed to Bells Diner for what was to prove an odd but lovley dinner.
Vic opted for a starter of Honey toffee canaloni (insted of pasta) wrapped around goats cheese with melon, which while nice was definatly an aquired taste, while I went for cornish crab with avacado ice cream (wow), pineapple jus and mango coulis which was a fantastic taste sensation. Spurred on by a couple of glasses of vino, main courses consisted of lamb on sweet potato puree with beetroot cakes for vic and pork on savoy cabbage with truffle macaroni cheese for me. The whole meal was bought to a close with creme brule on rubbarb with white strawberry sorbet washed down with a superb dessert wine and culminating with coffee.
Well feeling nicely full we returned home and curled up on the sofa.
- posted by J @ 21:20

 

ahh bisto!

The title has nothing to do with this post I just wanted to use it.

I am currently posting from the gallery of the theatre sat next to my follow spot waiting for the second half of the show to start for the 20th time and i'm bored, so please forgive me if I ramble.

On of the bright points of today was being able to take poppy to baby gym. It is fantastic! with trampolines, crash mat flooring and all the stuff you would find in a proper gym (which it is the rest of the time).
Unfortunatly I had to come to work this evening but that was inevitable, I have however just recived my copy of Space: Above and beyond.
Now I don't expect many of you in the UK to know what I am going on about as the series was aired late at night and was short lived. It was however, in my eyes a good series. Not fantastic, but watchable none the less.
This ill fated series was cancelled after 1 season (probably to pay for another episode of friends or somthing) which is a shame. This fact however has made it more appealing in my eyes (i must admit I am a bit of a crap scifi addict). It is however made me think about other scifi series that either outlived the time or were given an early grave.

ooops be right back, have to do a que.

back! where was I? oh yes scifi series. below is a list of series that crossed my mind.
Space 1999 - classic
Blake 7 - classic
War of the worlds - crap
Earth 2 - Pulled before it's time
Seaquest DSV - crap but easy viewing
Tek war - ok but a little disjointed
Street hawk - holy shit I hope someone lost there job on that one.
Just as a side note if anyone has a fav not on the list let me know as I may be interested to find it.

Anyway I have rambled long enough about that, time for somthing different.
Today is the first day of lent and as you are supposed to give somting up I have decided to give up monkeys, yes that's right my monkey collection has now reached mammouth proportions so I feel I should give it up.

Also I now feel it is time to bid a fond farewell to kel, seeing as she has'nt posted since april 2005 I think she may have fallen by the wayside. All my best wishes go out to her and wonder girl where ever they are.

Ahhh I feel I have wasted your time enough and will let you back to your lives.
- posted by J @ 21:28