:-) Go On! Cheer up ya old Buggah!!

OK..... after a lot of thought and a great deal of well wishes from others.... I have decided to cheer the F&$k up....

So if I have to be happy...... You all have to be happy!!!! ...... RIGHT?!

:-(

Not good today... been feeling a little down...

But all things must pass, and listening to this song sometimes makes me feel like there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Bushfire Appeal

I don't think anyone could have failed to have heard the news about the Australian Bushfires, some of you are probaby thinking that it's strange that an appeal for aid is being launched to assist another developed country, especially when considering the number of people dead compared with something like the Tsunami. I don't mean to play a numbers game or draw comparisons as these are real lives but the media that reports it does very often give us these figures to give us an idea of the scale of the disaster. In this case I think this is also leading to some desensitization of the disaster when people and the media do draw comparisons and quote statistics.

I have a friend who fought the last really big bush fires back in the 1980's when she was only 9 and for me no-one can tell me more about how much an impact it has and how terrifying it is to be trying to beat back a wall of flames while trying to make sure any embers that are blown by the wind don't set fire to your property.... imagine it.... all those little sparks caught up in the air and all it would take is just one landing on a roof and your whole life is changed.

Is anyone still wondering how it is people a developed country need aid?

Then take a few minutes to read some of the blogs from people on here especially those that had to fight the last really big one at the age of 9 and you'll begin to understand why this is such a disaster. I think the media struggles to comprehend what this disaster really means which is why they report more on the figures and numbers, it isn't over when the flames go out, it's barely the beginning, whatever you do don't play the numbers game with this.

I believe in setting an example, not because I expect people to follow it, it's for everyone as an individual to think about the sort of person that they are and then decide what they think is right. If I was in the position that some of these people are in I think all I would have right now that really mattered to me was hope.

I've given a little, not enough but I think with more people, not simply celebrities, just people that care and want to see the right thing done by other people will perhaps look at what's going on even if it's only their prayers of hope, it will make a massive difference.

Remember when you thought 30 was old? ##NEWSFLASH## IT IS!

OK.... so I know I'm not over the hill and that 34 is not really that old...... right!
Even so in my advancing years I know you need to look after yourself, bit of exercise, get your 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, watch what you eat, what you drink and..... perhaps take the odd vitamin supplament now and again.
So every morning at work I'll get up from my desk and head down to the water cooler with a Berocca tablet (a sort of fizzy vitamin pill) and give myself that all important boost.

Today, I got up from my desk, Berocca in one hand and casually said to the rest of the people "right I'm off for my Atomic Fizz Bomb", I should explain that I work in I.T. in an open plan office, bit like being on the bus during rush hour, you can't pick your nose or break wind without someone noticing.

In this case it was more like the later, pretty much everyone within ear shot, clacking away on their keyboard, as I am now doing.... stopped.... and began to look at me with blank quizical expressions...... "you know!..... Metal Mickey" i continued.

This did not enlighten them and they're faces seemed to grow more concerned like I was now approaching senility.

Everyone waited for the smell to clear but it didn't. Then one of them, bravely or stupidly, depending on which side of the 30 border they spit from, said "What's an Atomic Fizz Bomb?, Who's Metal Mickey?"....... They still sat there in silence, the stench still not clearing.... "It's an old kids TV show" I said, "There's this robot called Metal Mickey" I said, "It eats Automic Fizz Bombs" I explained. Still there was silence... still the smell lingered..... then a moment later, everyone returned to their keyboards.... while I shuffled off to look for my zimmer frame and to complete my trek to the water cooler.

Incase you can't remeber... because you are so bloody old!!!
This is Metal Mickey

Food Glorious Food!!

I love food, I don't so much mean that I like to eat, but more that I love the tastes, the flavours, the experience not really for the practicality side i.e. not starving to death. When I go to the supermarket, even if I'm broke and it's a choice between a loaf for the week or a focaccia that'll last 2 days.....   well it's focaccia everytime.... my motto is to deny myself nothing.

When friends come over and they see in my cupboard they think I'm starving myself or on a diet.
Today I got a blast from the past that may explain my bizarre behaviour. There is some other less conventional super markets here, some of the stuff is a little cheaper and sometimes a little unnusual. In this shop I saw something i used to have as a child "Bacon Grill"!!!!!...   "ARRSE" has a great description of "Bacon Grill" although I think the Ingredients from the one I bought will be description enough:-


Pork (43%)
Mechanically Recovered Pork
Water
Pork Fat
Maize Starch
Pork Rind
Salt
Milk Protien????
Stabiliser (Sodium Trisulphate)????
Smoke Flavour ?????
Sugar
Preservative (Sodium Nitrate)
Spice Extracts

YUM YUM huh?


When I think about all the stuff my parents used to feed me as a child I'm sure that these days they'd be arrested for child abuse, being Scottish this consisted of things like "Square Sausage", "Lard Sandwich's" and the worst cullinary crime of all........ sandwhich's made with either Tomatoe Sauce or with Brown Sauce (posh kids in our street had HP) sometimes both.

Entrecard

OK.... so far the only other way I've found of making dropping entre's faster and easier and with multiple tabs open is do open firefox add-on's and disable all the ones that aren't relevant including all the shockwave and flash ones.....

OK I wont be able to see youtube while I drop and read posts but It consumes a lot less memory.

GOOAALLLL!

OK the first month is well and truly out the window and I've decided to review my goals so far.

	No Drinking	Haven't drank since December 31st
	Keep Job	Still have a job :-)
	Update Blog	Doing it now and again, but want to actually have something to write, I want to avoid drivelling.
	Jogging	Go atleast twice a week
	Meditation	Still a bi apprehensive about going to the Bhuddist Center and doing a class.
	Fearless	Haggled in a store over a desk and got him to knock 50% off... and to take it out to my car :-)
	Drinking	See "No Drinking".

So haggling is great fun and saves you tons of $$$$ and £££££ and (euro's) sorry can't seem to do a euro symbol.... It would appear that all market forces are governed by one of two things "Fear" or "Greed", right now it seems to be more of the former and less of the later... woo hoo...

Just something to think about.

We've all done it, wondered what our lives would be like if we done things differently, either chosen a different path or chosen our words more carefully.......  yep I'm sometimes the later. But for better or worse the paths I've chosen, even though I may regret some of them have led me to some extraordinary circumstances or to some extraordinary people but better still led me to make some new friends. I may not be in much contact with some of them but I know I'll never forget them and if choosing a better path means never meeting them, I'll take the wrong path every time, because even when times are bad it can be these encounters which really redeem it. As I'm always saying to a very good friend that one encounter not too long ago brought me to "In times of trouble, you know who your friends are" and time and time again I've been proved right. I never write people off because I think that the hall mark of a good friend even when you appear to be falling out is being able to recognise the difference between having a discussion or a disagreement.

Right now there's a friend that is very close to me and always in my thoughts, even though she is going through a tough time right now and is the most fearless person I have ever met, I know that even fearless people still need the help and support of their real friends and she knows I'm there for her..... always!

So take a moment to think about all your friends and I don't mean weigh, measure and pigeon hole, because before you ask how good a friend they've been to you? ask the question how good a friend have you been to them? Even if you think you've been short changed in the friendship stakes, don't think you can get complacent or take them for granted, if you do they wont be around for long.

One friend that has been with me for a while and never let me down is music and I think of this song when I think of my friend and more so since the singer, John Martyn passed away.

I'm listening to this and going to try and dig out my old address book, there's a couple of people I've not spoken to in years and I think now I'd like to find out how they are.