Sunday 31 December 2006

Wishing you all

a happy, prosperous and germ free new year
Darren

Wednesday 27 December 2006

The Mighty Boosh

Why?

link

nuff said

2006 to 2007

Peace to you all*

*even Iceland managers, chicken manure farmers and people who don't like Milton Keynes

Friday 22 December 2006

Au revoir

we'll miss you
but
we'll meet again

you'll have no pain now
a little longer for us

see you one day

Thursday 21 December 2006

Fogbound

How I am saddened that some people have been stuck at the major airports around the country, unable to get away from the dank, dark and miserable weather that is currently blighting the UK. It is with a heavy heart that I hear the news that some people are having their winter getaway disrupted, meaning that they have had to endure the grey, fog laden skies for several more hours than they really want to. It is such a shame that they will not have their bones thawed and their clothes dried as soon as they wished, slurping martinis and scotch as their planes soar through the atmosphere creating a carbon footprint the Sasquatch would be proud of.

Envy is a bad thing isn't it?

Monday 18 December 2006

I've been tagged

I'd like to thank Katy for tagging me - cheers, what joy ;-)

Now, like everyone else who gets tagged I am also going to say that I don't normally do this sort of thing, and then continue to do it - such is life. Well the tag has requested that I tell you Five things you didn't know about me. As I don't know you that may be a bit hard as I don't know what you do know and what you don't :-) But here we go...

1 I was born into an impoverished life in the East End of London; a true cockney. I spent the early formative part of my life here, eeking a living and trying to survive in the heart of gangland. I left this battlefield of Pauline Fowlers and Krays at the age of two months.

2 I used to go clubbing regularly when I lived in London - when I could stay awake beyond 10pm - however, I very rarely paid for entry as I was always on the guest list.

3 My 'teen' band once played in front of about 2,000 people at the London Hippodrome

4 I passed the grade 5 exam on the clarinet

5 I left school in the middle of my A-levels to seek fame and fortune in the music industry. Within ten years I was a mature student getting the degree eduction I should have got years before

Well there you go. Five things about me.

I won't tag anyone else, as most of the people I know have already been tagged and as I hate doing this sort of thing myself, I won't inflict it on anyone else. Unless of course you really want to :-)

Friday 15 December 2006

My year meme

I have decided not to go back through my journal entries here, or elsewhere on the net, and create a 'year in review' post/meme*. Well actually that isn't exactly true. I did think of doing that and having a look back at all the fun and exciting things that I had got up to. However, when I started I noticed that my ife had been particularly bland this past year. I noticed that throughout this year I had settled into a routine that wasn't productive in many ways.

Added to this is the recent news that a friend has weeks to live, it has made me think how precious life and what we have is, and how important it is that we cherish each moment we get.

Therefore next year will take Steven Covey's first principle very seriously, 'Be proactive'.**


*sorry, just being net pretentious
**there are still 16 days of this year to go, and so the principle starts now if I am to cherish every moment

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Free calendar (not from me or Milton Keynes)

Dave Walker is a very funny and good cartoonist. He is also very generous. As such he is currently providing the world, through his blog, a free calendar for you to download, print out and stick where you want to - preferably somewhere you can see it to use. So if you want something a little different to post your deadlines you should head over here and download something wonderful.

Monday 11 December 2006

New website for Milton Keynes

Have noticed a few posters in shop windows promoting this website.

Please believe me when I say there is more to Milton Keynes that this sort of corporate, pale and numbed, narcolepsy inducing, stock photo using, pile of bland.

Please believe me, if you don't I may stop believing it myself.

Wednesday 6 December 2006

Christmas meal

In Look Back in Anger, Jimmy Porter laments that his Sundays are repetative and boring, as he says, 'Why do I do this every Sunday?'

In Milton Keynes, I also lament about the annual Christmas meal, 'Why do I do this every year?'

Actually it wasn't that bad, as follows:

Food = very nice
Company = friendly and chatty
Entertainment = very poor
Alcohol = enough

So on those terms it would get a mark of 75% which I suppose is very reasonable.

Monday 4 December 2006

Credit where is due

Iceland delivered all the shopping at the alloted time :-)

Cold northern chill

We await the delivery from Iceland. After ordering instore on Saturday, when the manager was very short (as in rude not as relative to Ronnie Corbet), and having to put one of the bags on the trolley ourselves, becasue it had been left on another checkout, I don't hold out much hope of a safe delivery.

It may also have something to do with the way our address was written in a blue highlighter pen as was our home phone number in case of emergencies.

I fear we may starve

Cold northern chill

We await the delivery from Iceland. After ordering instore on Saturday, when the manager was very short (as in rude not as relative to Ronnie Corbet), and having to put one of the bags on the trolley ourselves, becasue it had been left on another checkout, I don't hold out much hope of a safe delivery.

It may also have something to do with the way our address was written in a blue highlighter pen as was our home phone number in case of emergencies.

I fear we may starve

Sunday 3 December 2006

For someone living very close to one of the largest shopping centres in the UK, this is fantastic :-)

Mr Tomkins on Christmas

Now what shall I give up in order to feast?

Saturday 2 December 2006

Mums love Iceland

Now I know that people from Iceland are a little strange. I have known this since seeing the Sugarcubes and Bjork on Top of the Pops. As I understand, it has something to do with the very cold weather, the unusually long and dark winters (summers are long and light) and the general feeling that the island could explode with volcanic activity and send them all to a hot/cold death.

What I didn't expect was for the weirdness to extend itself to rudeness by the managers of one of their shops in Bletchley. Instead of explaining to us in a 'customer service' manner that they were unable to do something and apologising for any inconvenience caused. He stood there simply saying 'no' as if it was our fault and our causing - this the manager (Tom Peters would be turning in his grave if he was dead).

However, I now know the reason why 'Mums love Iceland' as Kerry Katona tells us in the advert. It is quite obvious really when you think about it. It must be because all women love to be treated badly.

So did we walk out, upset and vowing never to return? Of course not, they had some very good deals on.

Friday 1 December 2006

50 worst artists in Music at Blender

This has nothing to do with Milton Keynes, although if someone included Milton Keynes in one of their songs it may help to get on this list.*

The 50 worst artists in music

You'll agree with some (most? unless you like this sort of rubbish and some obviously do [did] as they have sold shedloads of CDs), disagree with some (come on Japan? They were voted most missed act two years in succession by the readers of Smash Hits - a discerning bunch of readers if ever there was) and laugh at most of it.

A fun list to spend a few minutes.

*If this has been done I'd like to know