Keith Hannon RIP

Believe it or not its now been two years since we lost Keith. The plan is as ever to go the beach and down a few drinks in his honour. I no longer work at the same place but I have actually stayed friends with a lot of the people I used to work with there. Its a very rare thing especially for me, we'll see how long it lasts I suppose. I play football with the lads every tuesday so that helps to keep some continuity there.

One of the joys of Flexi-working is I was abel to take yesterday afternoon off and do all the little jobs that had been driving me mad. we're away this weekend and I just wanted to get everything done ahead of schedule so I wasn't worrying about it whilst we're away DAAWN SOUFFF!

Its my Great Aunt Ritas birthday on sat and we're all heading down to the south of England to get the whole family together, We were fed up of only seeing people for funerals so we organized a big nosh up for a birthday party instead. 67 of my close family will be there which is a good turn out. Also my first opportunity to meet my American Nephew Jack! I'm so proud and happy for my brother and Amanda, They're so good together that I just know they're going to raise him right . Of Course I reserve the right to spoil him rotten on his trips over here!!

Got The first draft of Switch three back from The editors. More red ink on the page than black but he said he enjoyed it, I'm just needing to polish it up before its ready for mass consumption.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is highly enjoyable. Its very much switch off the brain and go along for the ride. Some plot points don't make sense, some characters are ill-used and badly drawn, and some of the CGI is a bit overly done. HOWEVER its enormous amounts of fun, Indy has some great lines, the humour is well used and not too OTT and, in the words of the great Warren Ellis, It obeys and enjoys the genre. Its a big summer popcorn action movie, the kind they didn't make anymore.

So as Lincoln said "The kind of person who enjoys this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they enjoy.". (No speechwriters in the early eighteen hundreds.)

Right I'm off to get drunk and remeber a good friend taken from us too soon.

Peace out houseys.

I've started and discarded six posts so far.


I am unable yet to sum up how I feel about what was possibly the best day of my life. I keep getting side tracked and getting a little over-emotional.

The warmth and generosity of our friends and family is truly overwhelming. Simply thank you is not enough. But while you're all waiting for your bouquet or troop of dancing monkeys, take a quick peak at the flickr tag on the top left. The only photos there are the ones I snapped using my phone so I'll put the good ones up when I'm back from Paris.

Its just been the most amazing and marvellous couple of days.

I am/we are so lucky.

Last work day for a while

Got a wedding in Kendal tomorrow and then I'll be back in Wales for friday to prepare for my own nuptials on the Sunday.

I'm pretty calm about it, apart from the moments of sheer mind-rending fear.

I know there's something important for the wedding I've forgotten but I can't for the life of me remeber what!

Just finishing up my last working day for a while. been a long drawn out battle from 9AM this morning but I think I'm getting near to finishing now!

As I'm going to be away for a bit now I'd like to leave you with the first episode of a series I call Switch. Let me know what you think.

Rob

My careering career

Morning!

Got a new job today and I'm all excited! Been waiting for the phonecall for a couple of days and been so nervous I couldn't actually write properly. I won't subject you to the graveyard of abandoned post. Needless to say grammar and form weren't really included in a post that simply would have read;

"Geeeeeeeeennnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyrrrrrrrrrr,!".

So, allowing for a physical, I'll be working for Conwy county council on their payroll. For those unfamilar with Conwy itself, its a walled town with a castle that was never meant to accomodate traffic. Hence my new commute will follow the road through the walled town and out the other side.

It looks a little like this and is astoundingly pretty.

Anyway still really happy.

Daze off

So I had two more study leave days which If I don't take them now I don't get. Work has calmed down so there was scope for the team to do without me for Thursday and Friday. So with about three hours actual coursework to do I managed to get it all done yesterday AND have time to go shopping. My question is who are all these people in town in the middle of the week? okay about half are holiday makers, you can tell them by their 'Oh my God is this it?' expression. It must be awful to have looked foward to their two weeks vacation and end up in Rhyl. We live here, we're used to its unique scent of desperation and faded, defiled dreams.

Anyways the entire centre was crowded which I can normally deal with but on my days off I like to be left the hell alone. Even stopping for a bit to eat got me even more agrophobic as I had to queue in the line of the shellsuited dead. Note to North Wales townies " You and the russian Maffia are the only peple that are still wearing shell suits. What does that tell you?"

The stag do is coming along nicely although a couple of people sadly can't make it due to other commitments. but so far there'll be seventeen of us painting Cardiff an attractive shade of vermillion.


Rambling a bit due to some exceptionally fine coffee.

Now the courseworks done I should be working on either our marriage vows or this radio thing. But instead I'm going to mess about on the computer for a couple of hours and then look at them this afternoon.

Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo, How about you?

Had a great stag do yesterday, spent all morning in Chester zoo looking at the animals looking at us. We followed a bunch of scousers around the Chimpanzee enclosure who kept offering the Chimps out for a fight.

As Ed will tell you Chimps are seven times stronger than even your biggest Scouser and they tend to pull each others fingers off for minor transgressions of established Chimp behaviour. I think your average human would last less than thirty seconds against an enraged chimp but these guys were so annoying I was willing to let them put it to the test.

After establishing that the spider monkeys and rhinos were actually in collusion and about to take over the world, we beat a hasty retreat back to the safety of Ed's garden and set up the barbeque.

Few images remain clear in my mind after we cracked open the third case of Peetermans Artoisbut a few things I am certain of;

1: Lightsabres are about a thousand time more fun if a guy who teaches stage fighting shows you a few basics and then tries to hit you. Also it helps if you have five of the heavy weight master replicas on hand, including Darth Mauls double bladed one.

2: Sticking your Ipod to a set of speakers and hitting random is bound to piss at least one person at a party off. Better to create a tracklist that will offend as few people as possible.

3: Two burgers= good. Three burgers = Better. Four burgers = Too much.

4: Some people are actually surprised when strippers aren't invited to a Stag do.

5: Good people have good people as friends. Even if you've never met them before you have at least one thing in common. And usually several.

Sundays are best used recovering from saturday. Hoorah for hair of the dog!

Boo to work tomorrow.

Travelblog:McDs

They've finally refitted the McDonalds in town. After twenty something years the crap faux nautical theme has been replaced by a dark green/midgreen/deep orange combo. Its achingly hip for those whose ideas of hip is a retro seventies design and sixties style chairs. In fact i was surprised not to see beanbags in the corner.

What's always struck me about places like this is they look great, but only without people in them.

As soon as actual humans, with their clashing colours and irregular curves enter into this pristine space the effect is ruined. These designs are there to be photographed and admired, not lived in.

The food is, of course, staggeringly mediocre. Like an impersonation of tasty without actually being so.

I wouldn't actually be here if i didn't need to be in town and nowhere else was open. But I seem to use that excuse a little too regularly!

End of Season.

No more rugby.

No more rushing home on a Friday to catch the highlights of the weeks games.

No more RBS podcasts listing the errors and woes of your team.

No more last minute penalties and desperate drives for the line.

No more dancing feet, up and unders or pressured scrums.

No more hero's no more villains.

No more chants, songs or hymns.

No more heart stopping moments or TV referrals.

No more questioning the lineage or vision of the ref.

(Until September, when the World Cup starts.)

Camp-age : The Return

Back now, smelling slightly of smoke and ever so faintly of good whisky.

Its funny how weekend when you stay in the time seems to just fly and they're gone before you know it. Other weekends when you go and do stuff seem like they last forever!

Up early on Sat and did a couple of hours on my coursework, then loaded up the car and headed out to Llyn Gwynant which is a small lake just by the end of the Snowdonian range.

When ever I go to the mountains. I take the coast road for one reason. As soon as I pass Conwy you hit the mountains of Penmaenmawr which jut out over the road, looking like they'll spill down into the sea. As soon as I see those mountains my whole body relaxes. All this tension I carry around like luggage just eases and my soul soars.

Sorry. Its true though, I see those mountains and I'm home.

Anyways we wound our way along the coast to Caernarvon and then took a sharp left up towards Beddgelert. One of my favourite things about driving in Snowdonia this time of year that you can drive for miles without even seeing another car. Its like those adverts where they show all this beautiful open curving road streching out invitingly ahead. Driving up there is an absolute pleasure, even in a 12 year old car!

We hit the campsite and then walked up to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel where they serve probably the finest pint of best bitter in the northern hemisphere. It could the hours walk uphill from the campsite that make me say that, all I know is beer never tases as good anywhere else in the world. Maybe the Time square brewery in New York or the Hobgoblin in Reading might come close but its the Pen-y-Gwryd for me everytime.

Then a leisurely stroll back to the car for some supper and a tot of good whisky or two by the fire before bed.

My idea of heaven.

Back to work tomorrow and I've had such a good weekend I don't care. And isn't that the idea of a short break?

Italian disaster for Wales.

.from mobile.
Well wales lose and the rest of the rugby playing world laugh. And i die a little inside.

Italy played well but some poor reffing contributes to some sore Welsh losers tonight and some sore Welsh heads tomorrow. Including mine.