first walkman

hello there


yes. i do know that, look you see, and i appreciate what you are thinking 'walkman' is a brand name, and one that is trademarked by them off of Sony. the correct term for a non-Sony personal cassette player is, as point of fact, a personal cassette player. but everyone knows it as a walkman, and Sony should thus be proud that their brand has become a byword. if not, well, they are welcome to suck basically anything i have that they can access without causing me distress until they get over it.

and, after that laboured introduction, onwards we go. today i bought a walkman (see above), but not my first ever walkman. no, that's one we will get to on the travels through this blog. today i bought young William his first ever walkman (except for a basic mp3 player that he has been making do with).

why did i purchase this for him? because he has been after one for close to a year. why, in the year 2015, would he want a walkman, especially when he already has a serviceable mp3 player? that's a question that needs no answer if you happened to have seen Guardians Of The Galaxy. and if for some reason you have not seen it, see it - it's a wonderful, brilliant adventure film; very much a new Star Wars for a new generation. so much so, in fact, that this is maybe why i am not that excited about Episode VII : Mission To Moscow.

what William actually wanted was one of Daddy's "music thingies", for he knows that i have two. this was something i would have been delighted to give him. my efforts in this regard, alas, have failed. i spent every spare hour, and some that i did not have to spare, going through all the boxes of all our stuff. i found several items of great interest - my blu ray collection, for instance, and as point of fact a whole stack of tapes - but sadly not one single one of the two walman thingies, or if you like walkmen, that i have. weirdly, one is an actual, genuine walkman, for it is a Sony one with the word "walkman" emblazoned on it. so off i went, then, to purchase a walkman for him during lunch off of verk today.

where did i get this Bush portable cassette recorded / walkman from, and how much did it cost? Argos, for £9.99 coins of money, reduced from £14.99. did i select this one for him because it was the best one they had or the cheapest? neither case; it was bought for it was the only one they had listed as being available.

this has, of course, brought back all sorts of enthusiasm and memories for the first walkman i had. it was a very big and boxy thing, sort of metallic blue and silver. Mum & Dad got it for me in 1981 or 1982, for reasons i can only guess at of being related to birthday or christmas motivations.

first and favourite tapes? one of the first i had, and this i played on a "ghetto blaster" on the plane from England to Australia with massive headphones on, was one of them storybooks of one of the better Star Wars motion pictures, Empire Strikes Back. first music would probably have been the tape of the album of Prince Charming by Adam And The Ants. the fondest memory i have of my first tapes, however, is a tape that my Dad made me on his smart stereo of Queen's rightly celebrated Greatest Hits album.

that was a tape that was made of tougher stuff than you or i. it once, when we were staying in a hotel whilst moving from Sydney to Brisbane (as i am sure we all did at some point), the tape fell several storeys off a balcony and onto a rather menacing air conditioning system. an employee of the hotel (thank you) climbed out of a close by window and retrieved it for me; it was slightly cracked but i could still play it. let's see you do that with one of your fancy Apple iGalaxy Tablet things.

onwards to the now, then, and what tape was it that William was so very keen to play on his shiny brand new walkman? i would wager that if you have been paying attention, you can guess, but if not or you simply cannot be bothered, here you go.

yep, my first use proper of my newly reinstated stag was to convert the Guardians Of The Galaxy CD into the tape format that it was always intended to be in.

a video of me playing the first CD on the stag as i taped? why not.

oddly, i could have bought the soundtrack on tape for £5.99 off of HMV, but i didn't know it was to be available for one week only, so gave it a miss. now, of course, people are selling it on eBay for ten times that cost. hey ho, my taping skills shall suffice. 

but isn't hope taping killing music and, in brackets at the bottom as if to suggest the record labels were not sure of this claim, illegal? probably. somewhere on this blog is a copy of the NME from 1980 or 1981, in which the record labels said that home taping was costing them "about a billion dollars a year" and that the music industry would cease to exist by the mid-80s. we all know how that worked out.

so, what does William think of the experience now that he has a walkman with the tape he so desperately wanted for it? it was with interest that he observed that, on both the tape and CD, the songs are not in the right order, which is to say they are different from the sequence in which they appear in the film.

also, he has now accepted as fact that skipping backwards and forwards between songs on a walkman is not, as point of fact, as easy as it is to do on an mp3 player. Mummy and Daddy have been trying to caution him in this respect, but it did not bring an end to his determination to have one of these fine, fine machines. none, i should point out, of these observations have in any way, shape or form stopped or ended his enthusiasm for having the means to listen to music in the exact same way that Star Lord off of Guardians Of The Galaxy does.

do i get all nostalgic for tape? no, not really. i mean, i really do miss the romance and the challenge of making the perfect mix tape, and indeed the fact that you had to actually listen to the music as it recorded. but, if we are honest, Apple got it spot on with the iPod - the only success they had that i would say was well earned. mp3 may very well be a crap format to listen to music to when compared to vinyl or CD, but my word it is convenient when you are out and about.

just for a last picture for now on this subject, here, look, you see the running length of the CD for the soundtrack off of Guardians Of The Galaxy?

yeah, right. whoever made this made it with their mind on how long you had on one side of a blank 90 minute tape, and made it fit accordingly. nice one. and yes, William has on the go a 90 minute tape with this soundtrack recorded on both sides. it seemed to make life easier.

both of our children have a wonderful passion for music, even if for the most part it's the rubbish they make today. in that regard, my (considerably) better half and i must surely have done something right as parents, and we remain very happy to support them exploring whatever music does it for them.

if this blog post has brought back for you some memories of your first tape, your first CD mix, or the first time someone handed you a 64GB memory stick with a whole load of music that they had illegally downloaded for you, so much the better.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more unpacking finds

hi there


well, look you see, i did warn you of the more regular nature in visiting here that nostalgia was going to come along from time to time as we finally get all of our stuff unpacked. i am doing my best, however, to limit taking random pictures and uploading them here to only that which might be of some interest somewhere.

on that one, something that will be of interest to many, no doubt, is the safe unpacking of my somewhat scuffed brown shoes

yeah, that's right. the inspiration, or if you like starting point, for my infamous and indeed controversial cowboy look are unpacked and ready to go. well, sort of ready to go - i suppose they need a bit of a clean and a polish and that. anyway, the important thing is that they have survived potential dangers such as theft by Somali pirates, death by shark and vanishing via a sinking ship.

for those at a bit of a loss as to the significance of this, i refer you to some of my posts throughout 2013. in short, i was only able to get boots my size in the brown you see above. the problem with this was that i only had black strides, and was always led to believe that under no circumstances should you wear brown footwear with black strides. thus, for the first time in my life, i bought blue jeans, and started off with what i considered to be a cowboy look as i went off on my adventures.

have i found any memorabilia or relics from my stag night, you ask? why, surely.

that paddle you see above you was hard work, so it was. i had to drink six shooters in 30 seconds, and i remain convinced the 5th one was petrol. after that i was stripped naked by a gang of ladies, all in front of my contemporaries and peers, and thrown in a cold shower (that's my excuse).

my abiding memories of my stag night? there was a lady that did a really smart trick with a R50 note. other than that, it was being woken up by my (considerably) better half late into the following day, with her asking why exactly my boxer shorts were soaking wet and in a ball in the car (i have no idea), and me crawling into a similar ball, crying and begging for Mummy to make the banging in my head stop.

back a bit further in time, you say? friends from my rather more formative school will, i trust, be delighted to see this chap well looked after and all in one piece.

would it be controversial or wrong to suggest that i do hope that no incumbent prime ministers from around the world are attracted to this blog by the above and likely to be disappointed with the content they found?

the above was bought for me by my fellow students in form E1 as means of a farewell gift before i set off around the world. and now it's back home, pretty much where it started off. nice one.

anyway, it's getting late and indeed somewhat cold in this elevated shed of mine. time to go warm up some, and possibly to retire for the evening.

more memories to follow as and when i get exciting stuff unpacked. actually, i have also unpacked 4TB of external hard drives and, believe me, there is some very exciting stuff on them, but not that which i can share here, alas.

hope you've all had a bonza boss weekend!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the elevated shed

hello there

well, this is peculiar. this is, look you see, the first time i have sat at my desk and written a blog post since early December 2013. like, wow. will being back at my desk make these posts better or worse? it's probably best to let you muddle along and work that one out.

my elevated shed, as in the loft that i have been exiled to in our new home, is coming together. today was a day that i finally got the chance to move some stuff up and start using it proper, as it were.

no, sure, i have not done all that much, but then again getting what i have up through two levels was something of a challenge.

there is no heating here up in my elevated shed, which is why i suspect i have been shoved up here. i'm sat in a jumper, no less - an act that is indeed a crime no Yorkshireman should ever be found to have committed.

other than having the computer up and running i have one of my vibes machines on the go. not my immense stag of a stereo, dear reader, but the smart Sony "ghetto blaster" sort of thing on which i make tapes for my Mum & Dad (no, Dad, not yet, will see if i can make one for you soon).

the first thing i played on it after plugging it in here at home in England for the first time? no tape or CD yet, but the first radio station i hit when testing it was some sort of classical affair, and they happened to be playing a piece from the original score for the film Midnight Cowboy. after that i tuned in to the coverage of the football and listened to Boro draw at home to, of all teams, Fulham.

in respect of decorations, or if you like beautifying, my elevated shed, i've not done all that much beyond the acquisition of the smart Quadrophenia canvas, but i did find this in a storage box, so on the desk it is.

yeah, i probably should perhaps have held off on sharing this one until November 5, so i could have done yet another of them "anniversary" posts i have a tendency to bore you with. hard to believe that it's now close to 24 years since that gig.

why am i calling this an elevated shed and not, say a "man cave" or just the loft? well, the loft sounds a bit dull, and "man cave" is a rather too American term for me. no quarrel or issues with the Americans and whatever it is they do, i just always picture a "man cave" as being set in one of them smart basements all American houses seem to have. a shed is a distinctly English thing, so my elevated shed it is.

and yes, dear reader, oh yes - in fact nothing short of f*** yes will do here - there is a door on my elevated shed and i can close it so that i may be undisturbed.

that said, i am off downstairs now, to go and see what's what, like.





be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cards

hello there

well, that's another verking week down, look you see, so onwards to the weekend. a weekend that shall no doubt, or if you like undoubtedly be spent engaging in further adventures in unpacking and putting together our new home, which is still new i suppose.

it's that sentiment which has in a sense prompted this particular blog post. i have elected to share our new address with a select number of people (if not you and you are kind of expecting to learn it that's because i ran out of stamps). this has prompted some kind souls to send on their congratulations and good wishes in, as the title suggests, card form.

many thanks to, as you see them, Gran and Gramps and then then formidable Sharpy and his smart family for these lovely cards. they were greatly appreciated and kind gestures.

these actually represent the second and third such cards we got. the first was off of Mum & Dad, who for some reason chose to post them to us over a month before we actually moved. we still have those cards that they sent, but they are packed up somewhere.

speaking of Mum & Dad, and indeed bringing that in with unpacking, i have located my smart JVC CD player and tape deck. just not the power cord for it, but hey ho. a consequence of this is that Mum & Dad are looking forward to the first new tape in close to two years being made for them and sent. so best i find a power cord.

i do have a stockpile of blank tapes somewhere, but as Tesco were selling a pack of 5 for £1.50 i decided to take the easy option and buy some. well, they were listed as £1.50, when the lady ran them up on the smart computer till thingie they came up as £4.50. i drew her attention to this and some nice chap went and fixed it all up so i paid the advertised price.

i find the packaging on these tapes interesting if not fascinating. i appreciate that i took this image with my blueberry phone camera thing so the quality is not that great, but to the side there you can see the recommended uses for this tape. Maxell, in their wisdom, suggest that these tapes are perfect for use for either voice recorders, in car stereos, on a walkman or on a stereo in your home.

unless i am missing something, those four options are pretty much the only practical things you could do with a tape to extract any sort of value out of it. the only other thing i could think of to do that Maxell see as unsuitable is to use it to copy Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum games. so i will cross that off of my list, then.

anyway, off towards the weekend, then. let us see what adventures it brings.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bridge

hi there

i do, look you see, retain an interest in all the places on the planet which were once home. this has always struck me as being somewhat a natural thing to do. it is, at the least, not something which has ever struck me as peculiar. i am still, for instance, rather curious as to why our family home in Slacks Creek (the one in Australia) is now nothing more than a lawn or patch of grass, but i've not yet found out what exactly happened there.

to the extent of the spirit of the above, if not the specifics, i was somewhat horrified yesterday. then, when my brother sent me word of an incident on Grayston Drive; the busiest intersection on what is widely regarded as the busiest highway one would find in Africa. a new bridge which was being built collapsed, killing at least two so far and injuring many, many more.

i believe (hope) that these are pictures he pulled from the net, although he tells me that we was more or less "an hour" away from being involved in this. obviously, i am relieved to learn that he was not, and indeed as far as my (considerably) better half and i can work out no one we know was involved. which is a relief, but does not detract from the suffering of others.

in the midst of trying to get to those injured in order to save lives, there has been the usual accusations as to what caused this. many have jumped to the conclusion that untrained and unsuited staff probably built the thing, whilst others have suggested that perhaps people have been stealing parts of the metal of it which were important to the structural integrity. whereas, wisely, a mother of one of the victims has pleaded with people to not start pointing fingers, the sad reality of South Africa is that one of those accusations is quite likely to be if not correct then very close to the truth.

whatever hopes, dreams and ideals were in place for the brave new South Africa, one that was to be free and fair, the reality is that the rulers and leaders are rotten to the core, with corruption outstripping responsibility at a rate which would make FIFA blush.

oh i quite agree, dear reader - for a man who loves the money and wealth as much as he does, it is quite baffling to see him wrestle with numbers so.

this morning i noted, depressingly, that the usual gobsh!tes had come out of the compost in regards of this terrible incident (the bridge, not the election of just about the most incompetent person you could think of to the highest office possible). across the internet - and no doubt all over radio phone ins, self designated "experts" were saying "ja, when i went past the bridge i saw it was wobbling and i just knew that something like this would happen". what a great pity that these twats didn't take a moment out of being so knowledgeable and patronizing to phone someone to alert them of the problems, rather than just waiting for it to happen so they could tell anyone prepared to listen that, in their minds, they told you so.

i once brought this intersection to a standstill, by the way. it would have been around Sept 6, 7 or 8 2001; a Friday afternoon. my beloved car, the original fanny magnet, kind of sort of blew up on the flyover.

this bridge collapse happened on Wednesday, and a team worked through the night to get the highway open again on Thursday afternoon. it was ready to be used for quite a while before it was opened again, but a delay was imposed. for safety and security checks? no, not quite.

a decision was taken to delay the re-opening of the highway, something which would relieve the no doubt incredible and almost unbearable congestion being experienced, by over an hour so that the Mayor could come along and officially re-open it. yes, reader, i will leave that there for a moment for you to consider before i write some really angry stuff.

welcome to the world of African political leadership. if an event is newsworthy and will secure an appearance in the press or television, an African politician will be all over it like sh!t in a toilet at a celebrated curry house. what the f*** were they playing at? it's not like closures on roads due to death and disaster are all that rare in Johannesburg, but i am not aware of the Mayor coming along to re-open roads once those scenes are cleared away.

is it, i wonder, that the Mayor is that thick that he thought it was an official opening ceremony for some completed roadworks, or is he just so callous and uncaring for the city he theoretically represents and serves that just not one single f*** was given about how much further delays and inconvenience he caused, so long as his excellency was further celebrated?

may those affected by this find peace. may those responsible pay. may no one, but no one, forget that an elected official thought that the above was a brilliant photo opportunity.


with the exception of certain dickhead elected officials,

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lynx final edition under review

hello there

apologies, look you see, for the lack of updates once again. sorry and that, just busy moving, unpacking, cleaning, sorting, driving the length of the country for no apparent reason as it turns out and that sort of thing. i do try to throw something together here when i can, such as now.

to that end, then, another look, or if you like sniff, of the world of lynx deodorants. for previous ones, and i seem to do one every two months or so, clicky if you like here, here, kind of here and here. or just read this one.

it should go without saying that if i am using a deodorant other than lynx excite it's because i've found a variant of lynx which was selling for a little or a lot less than it. this would indeed be the case with something called "lynx final edition 2012", or possibly "lynx 2012 final edition", it's difficult to tell from the way the text is presented on the can.

ah, now that i look again, no it is not difficult; lynx 2012 final edition it clearly is. even in the magic of Commodore 64 mode.

why is it branded as it is? i am going to go out on a limb here and suggest it's to do with all that bull$h!t about how the world was to end on 21 December 2012. this was, you may recall, on the basis of some sort of Mayan calendar "predicting" it. i would suggest that you check this next bit out on a relevant site, but from what i recall the Einsteins that worked out that the Mayans, whoever they are (i think Mel Gibson might have made them u for an historically accurate film), predicted our universal doom on that date "forgot" things like how the Romans and those crazy-ass mentalists the Gregorian Monks had messed with the calendar, and indeed overlooked them leap year things. when someone did it properly, the date which the Mayan calendar ran out was July 1997.

anyway, on to a review of this lynx 2012 final edition deodorant in respect of how it smells, how it performs and basically if it does that which lynx suggests it does in the adverts, which is to turn the wearer into a complete and utter fanny magnet. eventually. first, this.

 

yes i am indeed going full experimental with all of my body cleansing stuff. that's some fancy new body wash, and one of them ultimate blends shampoo things which does not feature lemon. yes, the selection of all of these was purely financial; they were on offer or if you like on special.

i am particularly excited about trying the japanese spa one, in truth. this is partially due to my growing relationship with the Japanese, but mostly because Spiros has recently joined an exclusive, private Geisha club. i am not 100% sure what a Geisha or related club is, but it sounds exciting. i think it involves Japanese tea, there was a book about a Geisha Girl and her Memoirs, the title of which escapes me, but when i read it i was a different person and i got bored and gave up on it after a few chapters.

so, getting somewhat slightly back on track, what's lynx 2012 final edition like? bland, pointless and ineffective, in truth.

i cannot give my usual description of the scent as i am unable to detect it. it's so unobtrusive, yet weirdly there, that it defies comparison. it's like it is the perfect tribute to the protagonist off of Suskind's novel Perfume; a novel turned into a superb, difficult to watch and not widely seen film and indeed a novel which inspired the song Scentless Apprentice off of Nirvana.

in this respect, i suppose, it can be said that the scent of this is not as offensive as some brands of lynx i have purchased on the cheap. that's a plus.

has wearing this made me any more attractive or alluring to the ladies and gents that i pass as i go about my day? not noticeably, no. i mean, it's difficult to tell. i am resigned to the fact that i am lumbered with being a universally craved, desired and sought after sexual magnet (i know, we all have at least one cross to bear so i don't go on about it), so it's quite tricky to tell if the ladies and gents who throw themselves at me are doing it as a consequence of my natural appeal or if it is because what sort of lynx i have on. to ask them would be to pretend that i am in some way interested in the reason, and that would be, like, totes dishonest of me.

would i suggest or recommend that you get some lynx 2012 final edition yourself? maybe. i mean, my main motivation for purchase was the price - £1.49 a tin is what i think i paid. that's a decent pricing for any lynx deodorant, in truth.

wellm there you go. nice one if this information has been of any use or interest.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more FIGHTING with SPIROS

hi there

a little while ago i was reluctantly very happy indeed, look you see, to share with you all some of the class fighting that Spiros gets involved with on a daily basis. well, when i say involved, i mean "starts". for those of you who find this interesting, here you go, have some more.

for the most part Spiros is involved in negotiations to hold an exhibition, yet highly competitive, ultimate fighting kickboxing bout against a three year old girl. sorry, i can't find the link to it, but Spiros recently became aware of this three year old girl in a new story in which she implied that she felt she could handle herself, and further that her sensei off of her dojo, or whatever, was equally confident. Spiros would very much like to test this confidence they have against his skills. this is both a noble and brave ambition of Spiros, considering the last time such a thing happened he got totally and utterly battered in one of them kickboxing bout things off of an eleven year old girl.

anyway, in the hear and now, Spiros has taken to fighting the good fight for the right of the homeless to be left alone in their happy life.

Spiros was recently in one of the posher areas of London, presumably to meet a better class of gent in a more discerning public lavatory. whilst there, he saw these protestors - or twats, as he prefers to call them - demanding that homeless people not be homeless.

what they are doing is no doubt noble and well intentioned, but it's also stamping on the dream of Spiros. he wants the freedom associated with the homeless life, to be able to sit and drink cider anywhere he cares to, to fall asleep on any bench or under any hedge and not be disturbed.

is it irresponsible for either Spiros to fight against this or for me to celebrate Spiros doing this? probably, but let us not lose sight of the fact that it is you, not me, that decided to read this far.

i am not 100% sure if the member of the constabulary in the above picture is there as a direct result of Spiros "discussing" with the protesters the class benefits of being homeless, but i would like to think that is the case.

more later, eventually.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the coffee bong

hi there

as the post i did on the wonders of the fridge promised it, look you see, here's a rundown on the success of our armed and operational coffee machine thingie, or if you like our coffee bong. sorry in advance if this goes astray; or if you like Diane it's 8:36 on a Sunday morning and i am not quite awake yet.

our coffee machine is actually the coffee machine of my (considerably) better half. it was a gift from her friends and colleagues when she, with a heavy heart, left the coffee company that she was working for at the time in order to pursue the pizazz and glamour of the world of finance. should any of her friends and colleagues from those hedonistic, wild days be reading this, i trust you take delight in seeing it up and running once again.

yes indeed, it's big, it's shiny and it's at the uppermost of the toppermost level of the range of coffee making machines you can get. my apologies if that sounds flash and showy offy, but it actually isn't. as mentioned above, this was a very generous, heartfelt gift, and there's absolutely no way at all we would have ever considered spending the amount this costs on a coffee machine.

although, well, yes, i might have been tempted to do so on the basis of how shiny it is.

wow, Blogger seriously needs some coffee, it seems. i am presently struggling to get a video to upload, and here, look, they have uploaded the last picture as the second one. i cannot be bothered changing it around, so here you go, here's the finished product of the coffee bong.

how has the coffee turned out? damned fine, which is somewhat surprising as you shall see when we get to the coffee used part of this blog. so good, in fact, i am going to go and have another cup now, and will finish writing this later. although you won't know that, as there will be no coffee drinking delay between this and the next section you read.

well, not a natural break at the least - you may decide to pause and have some coffee yourself before reading this. if so, welcome back.

welcome back. i am led to believe that water is an integral part of any form of bong. i am sorry, i am unaware of this is true, what with me taking the moral high ground for most of my life. anyway, this coffee bong requires water, somewhat obviously in order to produce the coffee off of the power stuff.

whereas lesser filter or if you like drip coffee machines require you to pour water directly into them, risking electrocution and death by fire, this one has a fancy bucket you take out to fill. here it is.

that is indeed the coffee bong water bucket sat on a semi-shiny new Ikea table. i put the table together; my (considerably) better half did the chairs and bench.

a full post on my adventures with Ikea will be coming one of these days, but a quick observation for you. in my conversations with people about Ikea, i have found that an equal number of people love them compared to those that hate them. i have worked this difference out, or if you like clocked it. those that love Ikea have clearly only engaged in their desks, sofa lounges and clothes storing equipment. those that hate the Swedes have experienced the joys of putting one of their tables together. but that is a post for another time.

another important ingredient of a bong is that which one is, so to speak, "bonging". may i say how impressed i am that a spelling warning has not flashed up for the word bonging, i had no idea that term existed in the dictionary. moving on, then, i needed some coffee to test the machine out with.

my beloved Fortnum & Mason, of course, beautifully craft and provide the greatest coffee one could obtain; coffee off a class that would be most suitable for this splendid machine. they have one in particular called Gunpowder which i am very excited about trying.

it was the case, however, that my (considerably) better half said that i was not, as point of fact, going to London to get some coffee to try out, so i just went off and got the cheapest one possible to try.

yeah, that's a bag of Morrisons 'French Style' coffee, purchased for just slightly north of £2. i agree, dear reader - the phrase "French style" does sound like the perfect personification of the term oxymoron, but no matter, this was the most financially viable one to get. do bear in mind, dear reader, that when i bought the coffee i had no idea if the machine was working.

working it was, though, and indeed is. it shall be some fancy coffee from now on for it. perhaps i will consult the possibility of purchasing from Fortnum & Mason off of this "internet" thing i have heard about, or otherwise ask Spiros if he is allowed back into the store yet.

a picture of the coffee bong working? sure.

normally i would say that the videos i post here are a waste of your time and best avoided. not so with this one, however, if it has worked properly. well, it's not so much the video, but the audio. the coffee bong makes some truly awesome, and indeed formidable, sounds as it does its thing.

i cannot be bothered to switch the sound on my computer to see if the sounds have come across ok, so happy days if it has. and, in a very real sense, sorry if it has turned out to be silent.

i am fast running out of things to say of the coffee bong, yet i have another picture of it uploaded here.

no, we have not tried all the other fancy features which require the use of milk and that smaller, empty coffee jug you see here. the device, somewhere, has one of them smart nut crusher things about it, where one puts in the nuts of the coffee and crushes them in the most feminist way possible. we will have a go at all of that eventually, no doubt.

right, i am off to have some more coffee, some breakfast and get on with my day. i will wager that the day shall feature more boxes, unpacking and moving. such is life. i hope that whatever you are doing with the day today, no matter which particular day it is that you read this, is awesome.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice one Samsung

hello again

yeah, i know. no posts for four or so days, look you see, then three in one day. go figure, that's the exciting, crazy-ass life i live. thank you for sharing it with me in passing, by the way.

this is indeed one of them posts relating to our move and unpacking stuff, so if you find such things dull then you might want to move along. this one, though, might give some insights of interest to one or two.

i've not hesitated to bash companies in the past here, in particular Samsung when they unleashed a completely arse-headed monitor that was not "plug and play" compatible with Windows 7. all the more reason, then, to give praise and credit when it's due, or if you like earned.

unpacking and sorting out the house today got to the stage where i could position and plug in the fridge. position, plug in and hope for the best. the general consensus around the time of our moving was that moving a fridge was to request disappointment; that in many cases people ship one from one part of the world to another and discover that it doesn't work after an extended period of time being off.

despite being boxed up for close to two years, i am happy to say that when we plugged it in, it was raring to go. this is all the more impressive when you consider that it sailed the seas for a while too, so as well as surviving being boxed up it also survived possible attacks by Somalian pirates and sharks, as well as the unsolicited sexual attentions of salty sea dogs, but i really don't like to dwell on the latter.

a very great deal of credit must of course, once again, go to those magnificent people at Bayleys who packed it up and shipped it, along with everything else, for us. at, it has to be pointed out, at far lower prices than the majority of companies out there shipping from the Africa of the South. even my Dad was impressed with them, and those who know him know his particularly low tolerance threshold for, well, for just about anything.

whereas i was optimistic that the fridge would work just fine, i was somewhat cautious. i wasn't going to be so foolhardy as to plug in the fridge and test it with six cows worth of milk, for instance. a can of Coke struck me as the most sensible thing to put it and try, for with that it was either a case of it getting cold or just staying the same.

here it is, as you can see rather than sense, getting very chilled indeed.

bravo, then, Samsung. if the general consensus is that a used fridge cannot handle being shipped cross equator and stored for over a year, they have made a mockery of the consensus.

it was that the fridge was pretty robust and strong that i bought it in the first instance, a few years before i contemplated moving home. yes, it is true that a big part of the attraction of this unit was that it is so shiny, but it also happens to be the same model that Sun City put in their vacation club villas. i figured as Sun City was unlikely to select fridges that were not tough and able to handle the different uses, demands and expectations of a varied range of guests would make and have of them, so it seemed like a fairly safe bet. as it has turned out, it's a decision that paid off.

yes, the freezer section works too. i didn't have access to a known illegal immigrant smuggler turned hero of the rebellion to try it out on, and i doubt he would have fitted in anyway, so instead of Han Solo i tried it out on a rudimentary plastic bowl with some water in it.

hopefully the message coming across from that image is ice.

well, that's just about all off the electronic stuff unpacked and working. we also unloaded the big massive coffee bong today too - working as in the lights come on, but we've not made coffee with it as such as yet. that might well be the focus of a blog post tomorrow, or later.

so, in conclusion, if you are looking for a tough, robust, heavy duty fridge freezer that can withstand pretty much anything thrown at it, i can't think of any harder challenges that i could have thrown at a Samsung one and it came through it all perfectly.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the stolen tea of spiros

hello there

outside of a quick post earlier today, apologies for the lack of updates for the more unusual of you who check in here on a regular basis. yes, that's right, still busy days with the move. mostly this has been unpacking and that, but there's been, look you see, a little bit of wrestling with Swedish furniture proprietors. i was going to say manufacturers, but the stickers say that the Swedes get the Chinese to make it all; they just give it all a silly name and shove it in a box.

anyway, stolen tea. in a recent parcel, and indeed a recent post, Spiros sent me some tea which he had cunningly obtained from a secret place. please note that i did not explicitly state that he liberated it off of Kew Gardens, and nor did i suggest he did this as some sort of bizarre attempt at revenge for paying for a lifetime membership there. i took that particular tea to Gran & Gramps, as i believe i mentioned i would (sorry, i don't read or re-read my own stuff). whereas they were not too taken with the strawberry and vanilla one, they did really enjoy the rhubarb. they suggested to me that if Spiros were of a mind to go back to wherever it was (Kew Gardens) and get some more, they would be most happy to receive further shipments from him.

Spiros, despite having a hectic schedule of drinking cider, seeing what he can persuade tramps to do in exchange for £1 and conducting some minor legal compliance work, was delighted to, as it were, acquire the above box and send it on.

just so we are clear, yes, that's right what you are thinking. two people over the age of 40 with more degrees between them than they have arms have set up an elaborate network to divert tea from visitors of a famous Gardens in Kew towards two people rather close to 90 in age. this is pretty much, we believe, the most interesting and exciting use of our education and obtained skills thereof.

there you go, there's Gran very pleased with the shipment of rhubarb tea. nice one Spiros.

one of the most endearing things about my circle of close friends is their natural, not obliged to do so dedication to my family. in regards of me myself my chums will always take great delight in letting me get on with it, going as far as making life difficult or challenging where they can. for my family, though, they will, if they feel it appropriate, draw the blood of others on their behalf, and make any acquisition that takes their fancy.

if that sounds all a bit Godfather to you, my good friend Blondie and i did hold discussions about the unification of our two families via him marrying my sister. plans broke down when Blondie pointed out that when that happened in The Godfather and the marriage hit a rocky patch, the character who was in the position in the film he would be in was beaten close to death with his own shoe in the middle of a street by the character that would have been in the position i would have been in in the film. we decided that such a possibility should have all risk of ever happening eliminated, so the plans never went ahead. was my sister happy, disappointed or some other emotion about all of this? in truth we never discussed it with her as such at the time, and when we mentioned it a few years later i just got one of them funny looks off of her.

so, anyway, rhubarb tea. what is it? i mean, do you mean what's all the fuss about? i have no idea, as i have not tried it. all i know is that Gran & Gramps really, really like it, hence Spiros and i ensuring that they are able to have as much of it as they want. as they now have an abundance of the stuff, i may join them for a cup of it over the weekend.
 
here's Gramps, clearly very happy indeed with the haul that has landed from Spiros.

are my Gran & Gramps not concerned or bothered by the fact that Spiros is stealing tea and sending it to them? not especially. well, i mean, sure there were some concerns at first, but i assured them that it was complimentary tea that Spiros was taking, offered to him as a gesture of thanks for paying so much money to go and have a look at stuff that grows naturally and you could pretty much see for free anyway. that has kind of put their minds to rest; in truth i don't think they are likely to ask too many questions about how this silk road of tea flows, so long as the tea keeps flowing.

many of you, i know, are all too eager to live the Spiros life. to that end, if you believe that you can get your hands on some similar complimentary items that you'd think my Gran & Gramps would like, get in touch. we can arrange something and i will happily make sure it gets to them.

if this rhubarb tea is as exciting as Gran & Gramps say it is, i will do my best to post a review here as soon as i can after tasting it.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

scooby doo jacket hanging on the line

hello there

yes indeed, look you see, this is one of them randomly done posts that exist purely as i feel bad about not having done any updates for a while.

there was an "incident" at school during the week which saw William be given unrestricted access to a good deal of mud. this is something which makes William particularly happy, but also is something that challenges the upper powers of clothes washing mechanisms. to this end, the Scooby Doo jacket he had on when he engaged the mud has taken some cleaning.

this is, should such things require to be recorded, the very first item of clothing we have hung on our washing line at our new home. indeed it is quite bonza bonkers that we can do such a thing as hang clothes outside in October, and has been done mostly as some sort of label in the jacket (well, not some sort but an actual straightforward one) said that you may not tumble dry it.

right, that's about all i can say on that. more later, hopefully soon!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mostly posters

hello there

yes, indeed, look you see, a little bit of unpacking adventures to come, but for the most part some boss new posters for you. well, one poster that's ho hum and one canvas thingie that's absolutely bonza boss, it is.

first then, as promised if not offered in the title, the poster. it was some sort of book fair at school for the boys today, so i innocently sent money along with them in the expectation that they would be purchasing a book or two. this they kind of did, but they (well, William) also invested in a poster. one of the first posters i have seen for that Batman vs Superman Dawn Of Justice thing.

yes indeed, it does appear - bravely - to be referencing the artwork for The Dark Knight. that takes some balls, that does - best this film be good.

quality wise, when i first saw it i just kind of assumed that William had got a new comic and this was taken out of it, for it has all the texture and class of one of them freebies you find in the middle of publications from time to time. not so, dear reader - it was on sale at the aforementioned book fair, and apparently this cost me £2.99, or if you like just south of £3. that's basically three items off of Pound Land, that is, less the cost of the plastic bag, of course.

am i expecting Batman vs Superman Dawn Of Justice to be any good? not really. i mean, i am one of the few who really, really liked Man Of Steel, and i have no quarrel with that Ben Affleck chap being the Bat. the problem is that it seems like they are throwing every DC character they can think of at the film. the two great ensemble super hero films, Avengers (Assemble) and Avengers Age Of Ultron worked because they wisely approached it as sequels - Thor 1.5 and Iron Man 3.5 respectively - and did not fanny about introducing characters as they were introduced in their own films, or the assumption was taken that the audience was not stupid. i am not sure the same will happen here; it doesn't sound like either Man Of Steel 1.5 or similar will be what they offer.

right, onto the bonza boss canvas print thing, which i have safely moved up to my shed / study sort of thing. a shed / study sort of thing that i haven't done a lot with (as in nothing) since i put the desk together.

yes indeed that is a smart canvas print celebrating all things Quadrophenia. it was up until today sat in a corner at verk. we are doing something of a revamp and renovation in the office, with items no longer wanted or required being sold off. i was delighted to purchase this at what i consider to be a very reasonable price indeed.

some more adventures and finds in the world of unpacking? surely. i am thrilled, indeed delighted, to report that this evening i am drinking coffee from my chalice of The King, Elvis Prelsey.

  

nice one that it made it through the seas of Somali pirates and sharks during shipping, and indeed equally nice one that it made it through my somewhat cavalier, somewhat robust approach to moving stuff about in storage.

if i recall right, and i am steadfast and sure that i do, my Aunty (no, the other one) originally brought this chalice of The King, Elvis Presley to me from England to Africa of the South. equally impressive, then, that it has survived the round trip.

anyway, another look at that smart Quadrophenia canvas print? i cannot think of a single reason why we should not, so here you go, enjoy.

 

the only other thing of consequence today was that i got some cables. as they are not plugged into anything as such as yet, however, i do not feel like they are worth your time having a gander at.

off i go, then, wondering what other adventures the rest of the week shall bring to report on here. i would imagine, to warn you, that they are unlikely to be adventures featuring any more posters.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 mile

hi there

indeed, look you see, the title of this blog post is 12.8km for those of you who, so to speak, "rock the metric" instead of classical British Imperial measurements. each to their own.

whether miles or km, that's my journey to and from verk, and it took just over an hour today. that's even longer than it used to be on the bus. some sort of lorry caught fire on a highway, apparently, and further disgraced itself by spilling oil all over the road. lanes closed as a consequence, my roads more clogged up than usual as a result. this kind of brought back memories that are most certainly not fond of the time it took north of five (5) hours to travel from my old verk to home, a distance of 16.5 miles (26.7km) when a petrol tanker decided to set its ass on fire.

here, at the least, efforts were made to extinguish the fire and clear the road, rather than having lots of overweight people in uniforms standing around, saying "eish" and eating KFC until it all magically sorted itself out.

a delight to get home, then, and a delight to see my (considerably) better half tackle some top level cooking so that we may eat of an evening.

yes that is indeed lemon chicken on the go, and oh yes indeed that is a whisk she is taking to it. why? because she and Aunty (no, the other one) did such a good job of packing up the wooden cooking spoons, or if you like the cooking spoons of wood, that we have been unable to find them.

i would not have you think that my (considerably) better half jumped all over the whisk as a solution in the first instance. far from it, dear reader - first she had a go at it with a metal spoon, and proved conclusively all that "conductivity" business, or whatever it is, as the spoon was rather hot to the touch after she left it in the pot and then went to grab it.

how was what we ate? tasty, very tasty indeed. as was, indeed, an item i bought today that cost me all of £1, and it was not from Pound Land.

yes, that is indeed a very smart One Direction branded messenger bag thing. behold, for it has my favourites on - him and all them other great guys who are, or until recently were, in the band.

some might say that it's redundant merchandise, as one of them in the picture has still left. to that i say, really? if i saw a bag or t-shirt with the original members of The Who in it, i would not say "take it away and bring me one with Kenny Jones featured instead of Keith Moon". also, should i be presented with merchandise related to the Jimi Hendrix experience, i doubt i would be going "Jimi is dead, remove him so the picture only shows them other two that no one knows the name of, although one might be called Chas".

will i be using my One Direction bag? like, totes, doll. i am thinking of using it purely for any and all legal matters or court business. it will be boss, and impress any sort of judge or civil leader no end.

right, i am off to enjoy my smart new One Direction bag some more and, weirdly, read some French literature, although of course translated into a proper language.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my inheritance

hi there

well, look you see, this is yet another of several posts relating mostly to moving into our new home and finding things of stuffs as we finally, after some two years, get ourselves unpacked and well proper settled. there are one or two shiny things, so i do hope that you will stick with it and find a few things of interest, even if only mildly so.

yes, as the title suggests, that which is my theoretical inheritance off of my Dad - who i assure you is very much still with us - has been unpacked and is in, well, if not perfect condition, then the best condition that it (or they) could possibly be in. but first, check this out.

yeah, that's Jim Bowen and Bullseye on a big screen TV, assuming that a 40" set is still considered to be big screen; i am led to believe that 60" is now possible. but this is big enough for us. and yeah, that is a Lego Iron Man at the bottom of the TV, or if you like underneath the screen, for scale.

enough of that excitement and on towards my inheritance, then. to give some clarity as to why i have that now, it's all due to practicalities. whereas Mum & Dad were off to New Zealand, i was in South Africa and destined for a return home to England. it made practical sense, then, to give over that which my Dad intended me to carry on in his honour one day many, many years from now. also, him giving me my inheritance when he did saved him from throwing them in the bin.

yep, those are indeed the infamous red shoes that he had which he wore, as you may well observe, to the point of disintegration. as an inheritance goes, i suppose it's not exactly a country estate, looted nazi gold or some other such big pile of money, but it's the thought and intention that counts.

in our new home, you may well ask, do i have the space and margin to recreate my study? why yes, as it happens, i do. this is mostly due to my (considerably) better half and my Aunty (no, the other one) looking at the house and deciding that it would be in the best interests of everyone to shove me in the loft.

to that end, then, i have started establishing my presence up there.

the bookcase was there when we moved in, which shall be most handy as my bookcases have apparently been designated for use by the boys. it's cool, i gave most of my books away to someone who was setting up a rural library before we left Africa. yes, a heartbreaking decision, but they were books that i would not read again and may they bring much interest and information to others.

i had to assemble the desk myself, however. i did, as i think you can see, a pretty decent job. i was able to put it together with the aid of an electronic screwdriver that Lance gave me (nice one mate) and my mega drill, which was far too powerful for the job. all done with no harm befalling anyone or anything, and i shall be able to use the drill again once i've found my pliers and have been able to remove the screwdriver bit i kind of forced in it to get the job done.

back to my inheritance then, and a look at them from a slightly different angle.

indeed i did send these images on to my Dad. he was absolutely thrilled to see that they had made it all ok. he pointed out that the laces are in very good condition, if not outstanding. i shall be sure to mention that fact on the eventual ebay listing, hoping that the brightness and class quality of them distracts possible purchasers away from the other qualities of the shoes.

i am absolutely knacked after four solid days of moving, carrying, lifting, unpacking and what have you, and it's verk in the morning. methinks it could be time to retire for the evening.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just under half; towards a new theory of relativity

hello there


at some stage over these last very busy four days, look you see, my (considerably) better half requested that i take her car to do some loading, unloading and general moving. the reason for this was that her petrol was low, and she requested that i add some to it.

i agreed to this request, because that's the kind of chap i am. in order to properly budget for this adventure i asked my (considerably) better half exactly how low down it was. "just under half" was her considered response to this. this is what greeted me in the car.

that is quite an interesting interpretation of what does and does not constitute as being "just under", is it not? maybe i am being picky or pedantic, but to my thinking "it's on a quarter tank" would have been a far more accurate answer to my question.

see, i promised we would be back to my usual sort of stuff on the blog. but yeah, another one about moving and that on the way soonish.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the South African burger paradox

hi there

a slight move away from the moans and groans of moving, which create dull blog posts, to do a regular, standard kind of blog post which is dull in its own right, look you see.

whilst moving (i did say slight move away) the idea of cooking and the ability to cook are challenges best answered by the many, many fine businesses set up which cook food for you and let you take it away and eat it in exchange for coins of money. that is precisely what we elected to do on Thursday, the day of the main move proper, so to speak.

where better to go than McDonalds? i mean, it's celebrated for being all that food can be, and this week they had, as their "burger of the world", the South African burger.

what does McDonalds UK consider to be a South African burger? well, that there non-SA bread, cheese, a burger patty (like totes obvs), lettuce, bacon and some barbecue sauce / chutney affair. in it's own right it was ok; it did the job whilst keeping the taste value to an absolute minimum, lest it taste so good that you get the preposterous circumstance of people becoming in some way addicted to it.

some of my friends and family in the Africa of the South will be already baffled by one of the ingredients i listed there. for the benefit of everyone else, bacon in a South African or if you like Seowth Efriken, McDonalds burger is incorrect. McDonalds is, as indeed is the case with KFC, in South Africa, owned by a Muslim business, and thus there are no bacon items on the menu.

a South African burger featuring bacon would be a Steers one. that's theoretically McDonald's biggest rival in South Africa, except it isn't as Steers tastes far better and would always be first choice. also, the staff at Steers don't steal all the monopoly stickers for themselves, but that's another story.

as for the "burgers of the world" thing that McDonald's unleash in five week bursts from time to time, t's pretty banal. i mean, yes, you get to pay 59p or so more for a meal than you would for a Big Mac one, and you do get to have a different burger that's theoretically different.

me? i can't but help notice that every burger of the world seems to feature a combination of cheese, bacon and barbecue sauce in a slightly different coloured bun, irrespective of which country it is supposed to represent. well, ok, they did mix it up some by using chicken for their Indian burger of the week, with some lovely spicy chutney. i would have thought, though, that a vegetarian dish would have been better to represent India, knowing how amazing Indian vegetable based cuisine is.

i need to do more moving and unpacking and stuff. should i survive it, i will be back to do another dull and only partially interesting post at a later stage.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

blood

hello there

well, if it's October, look you see, then i guess it's traditionally the time to make blood sacrifices, lest the gods be angered and punish us. to that end, then, i made something of a blood sacrifice to the gods of safe moving, as you can observe in this picture right here. well, when i say right here, i mean below.

well, ok, when i say i made a blood sacrifice then yeah, it's fair to say i lost an argument with the rigidity of a door frame when i was moving a box, but same thing, sort of. looks sore, i can assure you that yes, indeed it did smart quite a bit when it happened, and i may have - rather out of character - allowed some expletives into my description of my feelings about it when it occurred.

how has the move that caused my delay gone? well, if you are all that interested, the question should be more one of how is the move going, for it's still underway. that said, to answer your question, all about done, and it's gone rather well. the only casualty, bar my hand, has been a mug - one that was old and knacked anyway, and got shipped over from the Africa of the South.

the pine wood off of our bed, now that i think, looks like it might have warped some, or whatever it is a bit of wood does when it changes shape. however, it's been put together and seems to be holding. i shall be testing it just now, but in the mean time here are some elements of bed on a trailer.

i am really tired. i mean, exhausted. like totes. i am worn out and am aching all over. it has been a hell of a week, all things considered, with the physical elements of the move just being a minor part of it.

when i sleep i don't know anything about it until i wake up, and then all i can think is how it would be awesome to still asleep. i assume i dream, as everyone dreams when asleep whether they remember it or not. in those dreams i like to think i am dreaming of sausage and chips.

them there are the sausage and chips what i had for lunch on Wednesday. i was going to have them on Monday, when they are on special and 30p cheaper, but life didn't work out that way. they were really, really good when i have them, and i long to have them again.

just as good as sausage and chips is coffee. here is some coffee action for you, with an image taken mostly to show off our smart new kettle but partially also to give you a fragment of an idea of our new kitchen.

yeah, the Vimto mug is mine, whereas my (considerably) better half uses that there smart Dracula one. i don't, off the top of my head, remember with any accuracy what that coffee was like when i had it, but i would wager that it was one i enjoyed very much. 

this is indeed my most smart, beloved desk chair; the one i have not sat in for close to two years. i still have not, dear reader. it's unpacked and is up in the area which shall be my new working space. i just need to get up there and fix the desk up.

where am i writing this now? sat on the lounge floor, with the pc set up on the glass topped coffee table which arrived in perfect condition from the Africa of the South and survived in storage for however long. it's a temporary measure until i have everything sorted out.

i've done that thing again where i need to come up with some text to wrap around the picture i have aligned to the left. bear with me.

overall, then, it's going well in the new place. we were, are, and always shall be, exceptionally grateful for the first home we had on my return home and the coming home of the 75% of my family that you all actually like. but we had outlived it - the place was far too small for us, and we lived a life of bumping into to each other. not the case at all here where we are now, although we have some serious, top level unpacking to do.

for now, though, i am off to bed. actually, maybe i shall cleanse myself a bit first, as i can assure you that i absolutely stink.

a big thanks to all who have helped us out with the move thus far; the end is near!

more as and when i have the energy!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!