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22-08-08
Is it really so long since I last wrote here? Amazing! Along with MySpace I now also have a Facebook page; I wasn't going to after spending so much time getting the MySpace set-up, but I can blame Steve again for nagging me to do it.
Compared to most, I have few friends (I mean the site - or do I..?) but it's another little foothold in cyberspace and I've used it to chat to Steve in the late evenings when it's lunchtime for him. That's been great; I've never really been into the instant chat element of the web but this has been fun and a more immediate communication than just exchanging emails.
Anyhow, in a couple of weeks' time I fly out to the States for the first time and I'll be staying with Steve, which I'm really excited about. I'm fully expecting this to be my one and only visit so I'm determined to absorb as much as possible like some kind of tourist sponge!
24-04-07
Today, my brother Steve flies to the States to take up his new job. Knowing that I'll still email, MySpace and call him as much as ever can't really properly erase the realisation that he is now halfway round the world and eight hours behind us. However, flying back on a plane from Chicago and driving from Walsall to Tonbridge in his old Polo probably equates to about the same journey time.
20-04-07
A big Happy Birthday to the very wonderful Mr. Mike Portnoy, drummer for the overwhelmingly fabulous beat combo Dream Theater and, incidentally, the only member of the band I haven't yet met...
06-04-07
Today I turn 40 - watch this space for news of bits falling off or not working any more...
21-03-07
I've succumbed to the lure of a MySpace page, thanks to Steve, not that I need one any more than I do a website but there you go! I've tried to make it look similar in style to this site but, if you've ever tried modding MySpace's idea of CSS coding, you'll have to accept that it's far from perfect!
Anyway, check it out at http://www.myspace.com/therealbesty
19-03-07
Well, last Friday was great! Started taking calls around 8pm and finished with the last stragglers at just before 2am Saturday morning. Took around 50 calls and several hundred pounds-worth of donations. Roll on 2009!!
13-03-07
Hmm... That pesky Iritis has been back again; I'm just back at work after another spell off. I'm having tests done to see if there's anything sinister behind it all.
On the positive front, I'm once again manning the phones for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day this coming Friday night - I did it before four years ago when I worked for NPI/AMP; this time it's at Kent County Council's call centre in Maidstone. Should be good!
02-12-06
Sincere apologies for the lack of new content recently. Apart from having some time off work last month with Iritis (no, I hadn't heard of it either; it's an inflammation of the iris and it's bl**dy painful!) we've just been steadily ticking along.
Anyway, we're still alive, still solvent (although the jury's out on the one...) and looking forward to Christmas; my brother is moving to the USA sometime in the New Year so I hope to spend a bit of time with him before he goes. I'm wondering if I should somehow maybe warn them he's coming...?!
01-12-06
Good news, fact fans! This site is now ranked second on Google for those desperate or weird enough to be putting my name in there!
19-07-06
I had my first listen to Metallica's "Black album" last night. I know - what the hell took me so long? Well, I got there eventually and I'm glad I did. I had to check the sleeve to see that it really is 15 years old. What a classic...
18-07-06
This site is now on Google.co.uk! I feel like I've finally arrived!!
17-07-06
Hmm, long time no news... Actually, I've been without my home PC since the end of April (a dodgy memory module seems to be the source of my XP-not-booting issues, which has mucked up all my settings blah blah blah!). I do, however, get some access at work so all is not lost apart, that is, from all my personal files at home :-(
Anyway, for the sake of something to say, here are some questions that just begged for an answer:
1. Yes it IS a long way to Tipperary. About 360 miles from London, as far as I can tell.2. The way to Amarillo appears to be due west out of Oklahoma City on highway 40
3. The way to San Jose is to go south-east out of San Fransisco on the 380 / 101
There. I hope that puts an end to all the speculation...
06-04-06
Well, today's my birthday, I'm at work until 7pm, it's a beautiful, bright, sunny day, overshadowed somewhat by the migraine I got at 2.30 (it's now 5.45 and almost gone) and I'm incredibly grateful for all the many fantastic presents I got this year. Thanks, everyone - you know who you are!
29-03-06
Firstly, I've started to upload the new home-made css version of this site, so if bits are missing or don't work then rest assured that I am on the case and hate it as much as you do (the not-working part...).
Secondly, I go back the the ENT department of the K&S Hospital this afternoon to see if further surgery is necessary on my bunged-up sinuses. Nice!
27-03-06
Took a nostalgic trip to see No. 14 one last time (probably) before it's sold and becomes somebody else's property. Took loads of pictures for old times' sake...
28-02-06
16:15 - Hmm... snow driving in out of a sky so sunny you have to sheild your eyes: the Tonbridge Effect stikes again!
By the way, by Friday morning all the media had gone from the Depot robbery scene leaving us to once again be a place nobody is particularly interested in.
23-02-06
Well, who'd a thunk it; Tonbridge on both national and international news bulletins! Okay, it's because of a robbery, but at least it's a decent-sized one. They're saying it's the biggest cash heist in British history, which puts it ahead of the Great Train Robbery, Brinks Mat and all the others you could name (and those you can't). And it's literally right around the corner from where I live - I would have been walking past the place on my way home from work as per usual on Tuesday evening; it took place in the early hours of yesterday, when all I was thinking about was going to see Guys and Dolls in the West End... I saw Police going inside as I went past on my way to the local supermarket (presumably REAL officers this time), but thought nothing of it. Little did I realise how close I was to a worldwide news story!
22-02-06
I took Mum to see Nigel Harmon in Guys and Dolls at the Picadilly Theatre in the West End this afternoon. It's her 70th birthday next week so I reckon she deserved something special, and we got it. It's my first London musical and, if you're going to go and see your first, you might as well see the daddy of all Broadway musical hits. No Sarah Lancashire this time but I can't imagine she'd have played it any better than her understudy today. Some great songs, nice comic acting, impressive dance sequences and an ace band, some of whom must have been UNDER the edge of the stage! A great show and highly recommended.
02-02-06
Pat Metheny Group - Speaking Of Now [2002]
What a beautiful piece of work - luscious harmonies, beguiling progressions and an uplifting mood make for a memorably mellow experiance. Ad, of course, there's THAT Lyle Mays synth sound; hearing that again was like meeting an old friend! Each track is so special you almost fear for the next but the quality is maintained throughout. He also appears to have invented a new category - singalong jazz! The use of wordless vocals really adds a human element to the mix.
If I have a beef it's the fading of one or two tracks (something I'm really irritated by; you finish them when you play them live, so you MUST know how they end!), notably the first track, As It Is. I must now review his back-catalogue so that I can get some more of this feel-good music!
27-01-06
Mum's put the house up for sale. An everyday-enough occurrence, I grant you. However, I confess to feeling a little less matter-of-fact about it. It's OUR house - our family seat. I lived out my first twenty-five years there. I know pretty much every nook, cranny, crack and creaky bit of it. I was born in it. I think I can confidently say that I can identify, to within a foot or so, the exact point in three-dimensional space that I entered this world. I may not have lived in it for fourteen years but still each bit conjures up memories.
I can show you a little smudge of white paintwork on the outside wall near the shed that marks the point where there was a white, wooden trellis gate in the sixties. Next door has the same smudge. I could show you the point where some of the rabbits and guinea pigs are buried in the garden. I could identify the location of the strip of old carpet that was meant to protect the lawn from two young budding cricketers, but which invariably chewed it up anyway due to its rough finish underneath. I can show you Minstrel's tree and tell you about the rose bush that preceeded it.
I could even point to the spot where Nan fell into the bushes on a red bicycle and lay there, helpless and laughing, while Dad went and got his camera before pulling her up again. I could point out the site of the old strawberry tree planted when my brother was born, the compost heap, the sand pit and the tree that used to be outside the End Room window before I cut it down. I could go on - I may even do so someday, but not here. And Mum's put it up for sale.
Fair enough. I hope, though, she gets a damn good price.