Cold Sweat

It was the night before Christmas and not a thing was stirring…………ok maybe not, but at the time I was giddy as a boy scout on Christmas eve! as always I seem to have gotten a head of myself lets go back to the start, which truthfully was not a very good start.

Work had been a pain, I had been away for my course and then spent the following week trying to catch up, not complicated, just busy, on the Friday I had an appointment for fasting bloods first thing so I was able to travel in with the wife to work, which I happened to think was excellent, however the day was starting off with ominous omens, a single magpie (one for sorrow) Friday the 13^th, my phone ringing off the hook (but thankfully on silent) and nuggets attempting to drive (badly) in our way. I had agreed to hang back and travel homewards with the wife so hopefully a good start to our week off together!

The day dragged with some minor complications for me, I was thankful when the wife was ready to leave, I soon realised that it wasn’t going to be a happy journey home, she was in a foul mood and no matter what I said or did helped the situation, I was simply making matters worse, by now I had given up, I get it if she doesn’t like my advice she is an adult, however I do not like being spoken to in a raised voice (shouting I mean I was being polite) so I returned the compliment and it didn’t go down well, I could see this was spiralling out of control (probably our worst argument ever and one that could have been avoided) she snapped and pulled the car over and told me to get out, I didn’t need a second invitation, I got out and marched away (double quick time, I know how to march quickly I was in the infantry) deep breathing all the way, childishly I slammed the door I knew I had lost the plot as soon as I heard it slam into position.

I kept marching away at a really good pace I was soon out of sight, but no doubt not out of mind, I thought that the car would come up behind me and we would get over it sulk for the night and then come out of our respective corners in the morning feeling better for sleeping on it.  I heard a car toot and as I turned around I was surprised to see my boss who was trying drag me in the car , which was nice but I was still annoyed so declined the offer and kept on with my forced march, still no contact I decided that I would use the Derwent walk and yes I walked the 12 miles at double quick time, losing the madness with each step of the way, I was unhappy though and I couldn’t shake that feeling, was this the end, I truly didn’t know and I wouldn’t until I got  home, nearing the bottom of the hill to Gimpsville I realised I had made a bad mistake, my knees were now in agony and I still had the hard bit to do, when I got home I was actually happy to see that at least the car was parked up and that the wife hadn’t had an accident due to her upset state of mind!

I half expected to see a pile of my crap next to the front door , I would have accepted it as well, no matter how much we argue, my only wish is for the wife to be happy, but at some point I have to realise that if she is unhappy then so will I be, and that’s not good for me, I soon realised this was not the point this time she was in tears when I got in and we kind of patched things up, not perfect but at least we were on the same page and wanting the same things……………….peace!

Saturday and Sunday glided along with many cunning plans and other things going slightly astray (just don’t mention petrol) fences were mended but everything was tender and raw, I was home alone on the Saturday night as the ladies went out to celebrate the youngest’s 25^th birthday, they went off to see some drag queens (sorry not my cup of tea) I sat and did some reading and did some prep for the coming blog and munched through crap, my stomach felt off, I was hoping that it was just a blip!

Sunday I awoke at silly o clock with my mysterious exploding (from both ends) disease, and it got worse through the day, by close of play I simply wanted to die, I was as weak as a Kitten actually if I had been a kitten a vet would have put me down, cancellation of the trip was a reality, thankfully through the night I was better, walking wounded not perfect, but I was feeling human (just) we took the pooch off to his holiday home, he didn’t even look back as he was led away the ungrateful whelp! back home we packed and sorted the car out for an early start, I awoke early (me with my reputation) fingers crossed, I was still human, the trip was a go!

The name of the blog changed in the course of the trip it was originally going to be called “Panzer Division Destroyed”, a Budgie song before you decide to Google it, it was finally decided to call it “Cold Sweat” for a number of reasons firstly the first part of the trip down south looked as though it was taking me back to Dudley……oh hell no! we even stopped at the same services I was glad once we got past Birmingham.

I had a bath and then made breakfast for the sleeping beauties upstairs, we even left on time which is unusual for us, we then traveled southwards peacefully and visited at least 32 WHSmith’s well that what it felt like, I cracked a small tooth less than 8 miles from our front door (no surprise there then) we took a slow but steady approach to the journey as our designated driver needed plenty of stops to stretch her back, she did fantastic as well as there was hardly any swearing at all, we thought she had been swapped for a doppelganger! Doughnuts were bought for her as a treat because she had been so good, We arrived at the hotel to find it was on a main street and parking was first come first served, we were able to slot into the last spot thankfully a full-blown atomic explosion was avoided, the hotel was alright, it had obviously been an old coaching house, with oodles of history, the eating area had obviously been recently refurbished but the bedroom had a slightly worn feel to it, the bed was a cause for concern for the designated driver, we would have to cross that bridge when we came to it. We decide to have our evening meal within the hotel before venturing out and about, the food was nice however I thought that the price was outrageous, I was soon to discover that the whole area was off the map price wise, I know I’m from the north but the prices were ridiculous £5 for a pint of Guinness ( I must keep an eye out for a spoons) after the meal myself and my wallet staggered out the door.

 We had a smooch around the town centre and it was actually quite nice, in a holiday kind of way. Rest assured we discovered other eateries (but no spoons) slightly cheaper than the hotel, that’s a cunning plan for tomorrow, we sat and watched the ducks and the swans, the wife spotted an orange fish, turns out it was a reed (Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse won’t be inviting her to join them on any fishing trips LOL) we headed back to the room for a relatively quiet night, all of us peeps were tired after the long trip, me I just wanted to crack on. And somebody got hob nob crumbs in the bed and it wasn’t me I didn’t eat any!

It really was like Christmas eve as I was awake at 04.00 in the morning wide awake simply wanting to open my present, I had to wait for the other two, if my legs hadn’t been so sore, I probably would have been happy to head off on shanks pony! I hadn’t noticed the town hall clock directly outside the hotel but the wife and daughter did bless them, every hour on the hour LOL, I don’t mind clocks mind you I am slightly obsessed about time in all its forms! I used my MP3 player until everybody else stirred and we got sorted and headed for breakfast, a full English which was OK, we all did swapsies as some people didn’t want certain items, but I simply wanted to hit the road, we still had time to kill, we all read or played distractedly with mobile devices, we checked the distance to the museum and not long after 09.15 we were on our way arriving at our destination  just after 09.35, thankfully there was tons of stuff to look at within the car park areas, it was like my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one, I don’t normally get excited over much, I know that I can be a very boring person, I don’t even have a bucket list I awake everyday waiting for the reaper to come and collect me, in a non-morbid kind of way honest! this took me back to being a kid of about 7, I was blissfully happy, the lovely lady opened the doors and we were off, now I’m not going to go into great details about the various tanks and the such like, I will say that as I arrived at the ramp for the main hall I honestly thought the wife was going to slap me to keep me under control as I saw a Panther Panzer (OMG) thankfully we didn’t come to blows as we did the tour we took pictures, we viewed, I had a smile on so wide it could be viewed from space! We did the Tiger collection, twice, we then had an early light lunch and then I went berserk in the gift shop, I did a wife thing I bought whatever I wanted, to be honest I was a good boy I didn’t spend as much I thought I might, but it did indeed feel strange me being allowed to spend my hard earned cash!

And as soon as that it was done as I headed back to the car I was indeed a happy boy, I very rarely make requests but I’m glad that I did this time and I have to say a huge thank you to the youngest as she paid for the hotel and the tickets (which last a year, woo hoo me coming back…….maybe) we passed Monkey World on the way out I’m glad they didn’t want to call in I might have been kept in, who wants to pay £60 for the three of us to watch monkeys through shite around, I can do that every day at work, only kidding, but let’s do it next time,  and then we had a slow drive into Poole, with only one slight detour, which was lovely and did I say that the weather was stunning!

I found a record shop and probably for the first time ever in my life I didn’t find anything I wanted to buy (WTF) to be honest it was rather naff, we headed down to the harbour and had an ice cream, well isn’t that not what tourists do? We then had a cunning plan to make sure we all got a couple of cups of tea each we headed to the local asda to get a small carton of milk, came away with £40 worth of T-shirts including a Kiss one for the wife, go figure, at least Gene $immon$ will be happy! Once back in the room we had a short respite before heading out for food, we ended up in the Quay Inn were we all had a starter, then finished up with fish and chips, yes it was expensive, still cheaper than the hotel, yes it was lovely, just to do something a little different I actually felt connected to this spinning ball we call earth! we headed back up the slight incline and had a quiet evening I was the first asleep, I had been a good boy all day, I needed some peeps!

We all awoke around the same time it was our longest lie in of the trip we were all awake for 07.00, off for breakfast and trying to keep the youngest at arm’s length as she had turned into a snot monster and was suffering, we all did passy the breakfast items, some items didn’t agree with certain peeps, back to the room and packed all the items stowed away and then to hit the road, the daughter handed the key back and we waved farewell to Wareham, we started on our journey home in good spirits, it didn’t last long, Downton Abbey is filmed in this part of the world and we saw signs directing us, “shall we go” the wife asked in a jovial manner (danger danger danger) “hell no” I replied in an even jollier manner, we drove on.

At the first stop at the first opportunity the wife told me in no uncertain terms that she had wanted to go, it seemed like we had returned very quickly to the previous Friday! I soon pointed out that I thought she had been joking, I also pointed out (danger danger danger) that as she was the driver, she was in charge, I might as well kicked a dozing Lion right up the arse, at this point the trip was poisoned if my legs hadn’t been screwed up from the previous Friday’s sponsored walk I would have gladly grabbed my coat and fucked off right there and then and gladly walked the rest of the way back. After all the fuss it turns out that the bloody place wasn’t even open (WTF all that grief for nothing) I relegated myself to the back seat and kept a low profile, I was trying really hard to be a responsible adult, I don’t think it worked, the youngest picked up the vibe virtually straight away, I don’t do subtle…………….allegedly! it turns out that once the wife had vented her spleen she forgot all about it (yeah right) while I sat and festered in the back of the car, it wasn’t a pleasant return trip, we were also all concerned as we received a call from the kennels saying that the pooch had picked up an injury, we weren’t too bothered as it had happened before we knew what to do about it.

Once home we dropped into our respective spaces and kept everybody at a safe distance, watched some TV and vegged out, we were glad of our own pits once we had climbed the wooden hill, I felt for the snot monster as she was up to go to work at 5 in the morning I slept until 08.00 a bloody long lie in for me. We had our normal breakfasts and then had a slow trip to pick up the dog, he was pitiful when we got there, he had ran his pads raw bless him, he has slept on and off for nearly 48 hours he is only now coming back to life.

And that’s the jaunt, we had a mostly good time, something me and the wife need to work out though as I’m still crippled from the weeks half marathon, the wife and the youngest daughter are out to see Stephen Fry tonight me I have to prep to return to work in the morning I haven’t checked any emails at all in the last week, I am dreading heading back in, then a trip to Manchester for work and duty manager all next weekend, I will need a week off to recover from all of that lot! I did a lot of work on this one as I didn’t want bile to obliterate all of the good stuff that happened, it took me nine months to save for the trip, and I spent virtually penny within four days, and you know what if felt bloody good, now back to hum drum and to plot the next thing, the wife is going to sulk as I have asked her to contribute if we are indeed to return to that neck of the woods, nothing much just something for the fuel costs, I can see another battle ahead, until the next time……………………………..Toodles

Hotel Hell

I don’t normally blog about work or work related items, I’m going to break this rule just this once, don’t say I didn’t warn you…..Enjoy!

For the sake of the innocent the names of some of the inhabitants of this blog have been changed to protect the innocent!

For six years I had been bleating on about doing a particular course (BS 9999) and then all of a sudden it was agreed that we could do an over view, that sounds like a start, go on then I will, it was short notice, but I was able to get accommodation sorted while I was off on holiday and passed the details to other people who I worked with. It was decided that because there was three of us off to the course it was cheaper to get a hire car and that it would be easier for us to get there (you know where this is going don’t you!) the course was in Birmingham; everything was going swimmingly!

Well it was until I got in  my lifts car and my work belt burst, I have lost a little bit of weight so walking around with my hands in my pockets was not going to give the best impression to the new starters that I was going to be doing the induction for, I have lost about 10 inches off my waist mind the crap I ate over the next four days didn’t help, also what didn’t help was the lovely L&D person (that’s learning and development for you out there in the real world) was trying to ruin my reputation by saying I was a good person to know, I soon put them right on that score, pfft!

Because I had been on holiday I actually did an early start on the day (it benefited me, or so I hoped)as I  got in to see the hire car was already there, that was a tick in the box, I trawled through as much of my emails that I could, before I went off to buy a new belt I did not wish to be dropping my pants at work! I then carried out my portion of the induction course for new starters, again this went quite well I only went 5 minutes over my time slot, which really was a plus, I then had to see a few people and then myself and Porridge Boy (for the rest of the blog he will be known as PB) headed over the Tyne to pick up the Buffet Slayer (for the rest of the blog he will be known as BS) traffic was light so off we headed south to much merriment and jelly babies (don’t ask) I didn’t partake although I was getting a contact high from the sugar fumes. We only had one pit stop I stayed with the car as I actually wanted a quick snooze, the sugar really was knocking me off my game.

The drive down was long and tedious, well it was once we hit Birmingham, we had made really good time until we hit the outskirts in rush hour and then it added a full 90 minutes to reach the suburb called Dudley, I can honestly put my hand on my heart and can say I didn’t see any kind of architecture that cheered me up, I found Brum to be , well lets just say not nice. Our humour took on a much darker tone when we pulled into the hotel, it wouldn’t look out of place in Beirut after a particular bad Hezbollah attack, industrial with a 50’s vibe, well actually the vibe was from all  of the electrical substations that were buzzing due to the moisture in the air (that was not our tears!) around the camp I mean hotel, heavy industrial trains passed by on a regular basis, this was looking to be a different type of trip away from work!

We booked in and although the place was clean the staff (sorry the Hag) at the counter wasn’t really communicating to us in anything other than grunts, I was defeated I just wanted to go to bed but we decided to head off and get some food, arrangements made we headed to our cells I mean rooms which again were clean, but everything was jammed into one side of the room leaving what could only be described as enough space for a ballroom, maybe they had competitions on at the weekend, and our doors had good old fashioned keys not the electronic type, and people say we are backward, bag unpacked and stowed away we met downstairs and found ourselves down the road in a nice little Indians offering us substance, it was lovely and just what I needed, once we ate we headed back to base I needed my bed a long day with irregular eating habits had put me  on the back foot  we dropped BS off at a bar a couple of hundred yards from our camp I mean hotel, the Blue Brick was…….. I wont spoil it as it pops up again later in this story. I had no contact with the wife which was worrying but I dropped off to sleep a lot quicker than I normally do, maybe in the morning!

Next morning I was disappointed to discover that the breakfast that had been paid for was……erm not good, it would have put me in a hospital, all that sugar would have put me in a diabetic coma, I decided to pass, thankfully I had taken emergency rations so I was in a good place, I had at least had a good nights sleep as the bed was just how I like it, a quick bath, more like a bird bath! the sink was deeper I should have stuck my ass in there to get bathed, dressed like an adult, I was a proper shirt and tie guy not dressed like an Italian ice cream salesperson, we made our way to the course and then when we got there it was pleasing that we started to bump into familiar faces who were on the same course, BS told us a few tales of the Blue Brick, mmmm maybe lets avoid it having said that it did appear to be the only pub open to say the whole area was depressed was an understatement it looked like the Luftwaffe was still blitzing the place on a daily basis and the RAF was losing the battle! There were some modern buildings but even they were empty, most just abandoned overnight, maybe the shape of things to come for all of us!

I had been unhappy getting up (not a great start) thankfully friendly faces pulled me into the land of the living and I greatly enjoyed and actively  took part in the course, finally the wife opened lines of communication with some texts to make sure I was alive, I’m glad it was just text as she would have heard how unhappy I sounded, the course was also rather intense, at times in the first couple of hours I was drowning not waving, it was fine once the penny dropped, I soon picked up the baton and ran with it, I enjoyed day one, surely it was only going to get easier…………….erm nope!

Lunch wasn’t up too much, which was strange as normally the grub is a thing to look forward to on a course like this, there wasn’t much and the options were limited, we had opted to a short lunch break so that negated the opportunity to pop out and get something else, thankfully there were a few people who voiced their opinions on the food, maybe when my director popped out and came back with sandwiches for those of a vegetarian nature, I should have known that something would be said. Then straight back to the course, thankfully we were to be allowed an early finish (well 40 minutes) as the instructor could see that we were all punch drunk, we headed back to the camp in the knowledge that just about everybody (with the exception of one lucky person) were all staying with us in hotel hell, they were all worried after our description of our short term abode, it was all true. I sense that when they get back to their respective places of employment harsh words maybe said about the hotel!

After a slight detour ( what us lost never) we arrived back and we all made plans for an extended excursion into the battle zone known as Dudley, most of us agreed to head to the Blue Brick for a pint (yes folks I was definitely back on the drink) we thought the area was third world, the pub was down right ancient history, a real spit and sawdust kind of place (which I normally love) I think we startled the bar maid, people with their own teeth and out while the sun was still up, the company was great just what was needed the beer tasted like it was pulled directly from the Birmingham canal, it was bad, probably the worst pint that I ever have drank, and I do mean that, the place only had a one star food rating and that was for selling crisps (I hope), we gathered our senses and the rest of us and headed to a spoons for food, we arrived mob handed and filled the place (15 of us)  we were well behaved and we laughed long and hard as our director (new in the job and really was meeting most of the team for the first time) bought the first round and had his credit card declined, thankfully nothing wrong with the card just a glitch with the pubs machine.

Food ordered drink drunk and much nattering about life the universe and everything else, my soul was lifted and the drink barely dinted me, as always I love these situations talking to my opposite numbers to see what they are doing and do they have similar issues that I have (they do) the night was as always soon over and we all meandered back to our camp I mean hotel, with one or two sloping off into the Blue Brick, I needed my bed, I wanted to talk to the wife and I had a huge swelling on my gum, disease I could do without.

I was up with the larks, it was a wet morning it didn’t make the place look any better, my gum was inflamed, I did all the old tricks (mouth wash tooth pick to lance it etc) thankfully it all helps, we all gather down stairs and head off to find a cooked kind of breakfast, back to the centre some went off to find the centre’s spoon’s, I didn’t want something huge, so we attended the Geordie embassy (Greggs) one bacon sandwich later I could have fought the world, well not quite but at least I felt human again, and then the course was off again at a pace, again very heavy but thankfully I knew I was doing ok, Lunch today was more of the same but much better quality, and lots of it, people were happy, fed people really do equal happy people!

More small talk over lunch and for once I simply sat and listened it was a source of pure gold for me, mostly good things, only one or two things I wasn’t happy about, but I will keep them for a rainy day, back into the course, thankfully another early finish, by now I wasn’t wanting to play I really did want to be anti-social, as soon as I was back in my cell/room I pulled the curtains and sat in the dark contemplating being a pathfinder for the Luftwaffe so they could bomb the whole area flat, there was nothing really wrong I just wanted to be anti-social, I soon gave my head a shake and headed downstairs to eat tea, it seemed we were heading back to the same spoons as the night before, tonight it was full thankfully there was only 8 of us, we managed to get seats and ordered, another good meal and another uplifting night for me, the wife rang me and we conversed like adults and again that cheered me up, we decided to head to another pub which was really nice before heading home, again a nice slow walk back to camp, honestly we were only looking at the barges, we were not going to steal one, people from Nottingham have a tendency to lead people astray!

A few people again nipped back into the Blue Brick (including PB and BS) I needed the loo and didn’t want to risk going to the pubs and getting anything clean was not in the pub’s vocabulary, also I didn’t want to drink anymore canal water from there! PB wanted to see for himself the mystery that was the Blue Brick, ha he learnt the hard way. Back in my cell I packed and was soon in my bed asleep ready for the last day, I awoke the next day with Tinnitus actually its what woke me, it stayed with me all day, another scout around the room to make sure that I hadn’t left anything behind, I then sat watching the TV from 5 in the morning, let’s just say I was ready to leave! I made my bed (old habits die hard) unpacked and repacked my bag and sat next to the car in the vain hope we could get the hell out of dodge, we were actually the last car from our wagon train to leave, who would have thought that, bacon sandwich for breakfast then into the course to be told “oh there’s an exam” “Oh Bugger” is not what I really  thought but I’m trying to keep it clean.

Thankfully the exam wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but the course was still as dense as  the previous days, my tinnitus wasn’t helping, lunch came and went and was just as nice as the previous days (still not a patch on what we do) and we crossed the finishing line and we all said our goodbyes, I may have scored a couple of brownie points, I was a good boy and quite the adult, who would have thought, go figure, it was great to say hello to people who you know but don’t get to meet very often, some cunning work plots put into action, back to the car and then time to get out of dodge before the Luftwaffe, I mean rush hour snarled up the place.

The journey home was a little quicker with only one slight detour because of the amount of traffic, and it really was quite uneventful mainly because I was sitting in the back and the radio was on and my Tinnitus made me nearly deaf, I sulked towards the latter part of the journey my issue not PB or BS’s fault purely mine, a nice uneventful return and then just like that it was over, I was back in the arms of the family, admittedly the dog was the only one who was over joyed to see me, I took a lieu day to catch up with the family including the Hurricane on the Friday, the weekend is nearly finished as I type this up all my clothes are ready shoes are shined and I’m ready for the plague carrier in the morning its been a while but bus seat bingo returns tomorrow morning with a vengeance!

It would appear that I’m back in the saddle with this blog thing so keep spreading the disease, watch the skies for the next one until then…………………………. Toodles!

Now Hear This 4.

Ok so I have been a tad busy over the last couple of days, but so have you lot as I have been flooded with tons of queries some good , some strange, some well lets not go there, but obviously English is not your first language, these blogs go down quite well, I was going to use this format for the last blog (number 500 is fast approaching) but somehow I feel that there will be an abundance of questions for that one, so strap yourself in this could be a bumpy ride (NOT!).

Why do you not reread the old blogs?

I feel as though I would go around in circles if I did, my memory is not the best (dementia kicking in) and some people have questioned some of the things that I have written about, not the facts just the order that I write about them, it’s how I remember them and sometimes I really struggle, sometimes though I miss my friends and rereading them would just be a negative thing, it’s a great positive whilst writing it, but life is crap enough I don’t need to be reminded all the time that it is.

Are you happy if blogs do low numbers?

It doesn’t matter if nobody reads them, its simply a way of me trying to feel better in myself, I’m over the moon if they do well, again the blogs don’t do anywhere near the numbers that I got whilst blogging on myspace, but actually they are doing pretty close to it when you consider how many blogs I have written this year I have outstripped last year by more than 25% so I think it’s doing ok. I’m disappointed for my little ones if they don’t do good numbers as I don’t know why they didn’t get a better reaction, I suppose it’s a little bit like life!

Why Songs for Titles?

I get asked this all the time and to be honest its simply whatever I’m playing at the time of writing the blog, I have tried other ways of creating a title and its simply not conducive to the process, I have used film titles as well, I simply get drawn back to music, sorry if you don’t like the answer but I am being honest, it also usually gives an indication of the mood I’m in.

More Historical?

Again another question that gets asked all of the time, I can’t force these, the bulk of these are written when something is triggered “The Dawn Patrol” was written about a specific time in my life about a person who I loved dearly and I was despondent for days afterwards because I miss them so much, I think it’s a great blog, but I wasn’t prepared for all of the crap that came with it, again my memory isn’t what it used to be and I’m not going to do something half arsed for the sake of it, they will arrive when the time is right, rest assured there is a couple more that I do wish to tell!

Your boat appears to be leaking (boating analogies)?  

Well not as much as it used to, I used to use boating analogies all of the time, I have no idea why, but thankfully no more, well not very often I have no idea why maybe I have found my safe harbour (LOL).

Are You Honest when Writing?

Brutally so, these aren’t done off the cuff, I prep and then write these out long hand then type them up, altering them and polishing them every step of the way, then proof read them and finally I post them, there’s a whole heap of work goes into them before they get anywhere near posted, and yes sometimes there’s mistakes (I never said I was perfect) but again there’s always a timeframe even when I haven’t written in a while.

What makes you Happy?

Good friends, Family and believe it or not Work and yes sometimes I consider the blog is work, I used to run to cheer myself up, however with the state of my knees I can’t run anymore, I’m not as miserable as I used to be! hell no, you should have seen me as a younger person god I was a misery, I’m a work in progress some times there are good days and then sometimes there are bad, of late there are more good than bad, lets just take one day at a time!

Don’t You Have a Social Life?

Yes and No, there a large number of things to take into consideration, Finance is the main one, Fun isn’t cheap anymore, work is also a consideration strange shifts and work patterns, my own as well as the wife’s, but health is also a big consideration as well, I have some good days so does the wife but we both also have some crappy days and I’m not talking mental health, the wife was off yesterday and we were going to do wonderful things and even have a night out, she got up feeling like she had gone a dozen rounds with Mike Tyson bless her, a lot of things need to align, but yes from time to time we do go out, not as much as we would both would like, but The Tee Hee Club will ride again!

Plans for the Future?

Another often asked question, well the blog as we know it will end at blog number 500 (this is number 438) and although I do intend to still write just not in this format, more than likely music reviews albums and gigs and the such like, I’m sure at some point the “thing” will become more focused but that’s the current plan I’m sure numbers will dry up, that’s the nature of such things, the world will keep spinning there’s not a lot any of us can do about that, again I might spit my dummy out and go on for another 500 (don’t hold your breath) things blog wise have a tendency to stay “Fluid”!

Family – Doesn’t it Help?

Not that I’m aware of, I love my family even the annoying ones (oooh that would be all of them) this is about me and not them……………Allegedly!

Father Figure / Jealousy seemed kind of personal?

Those two blogs certainly hit a raw nerve, what do you want me to say that’s what I felt at the time of writing them, I don’t know the individual that spawned me, and I wasn’t too bothered about him until I discovered he was quite close to us all of this time, I’m in a better place now but I still have my moments, I don’t know how you can just abandon two children, they were two blogs written in the space of 24 hours, there was a lot of bile, lets just leave it there!

Obsession about Digits?

Well I am and then I’m not , it depends on the mood and whether I thought I had written something good, some that I think are OK go through the roof and some that I think are the best stuff I have written do next to nothing, I don’t know how it works I promote the blogs in a limited kind of way but sometimes some blogs have a life of their own, to be honest its just me trying to figure out how it actually works, it’s safe too say I haven’t yet!

What does your place of work think of the blogs?

As far as I’m aware nothing, I don’t promote it in that direction, and as far as I’m aware I know of only one person who has read it on a regular basis, I don’t really write about work, so I don’t thing it would be an issue, I will let you know when I get my P45 (for those of you in countries outside of the UK it’s the document you receive when you are made unemployed).

Technology?

I keep getting asked why I rant at technology, well its simple or rather I am, I am now and have always been shit with technology I have no patience, its all my own making, I was told by someone that I was a man born out of time, I should have been born in the 20’s not the 60’s, I do not disagree with that statement, please believe me that there is plenty more rage in this  older person to come, I would gladly live in a cave with no technology, I’m not saying its bad I’m saying I’m a dumbass!

Good Days, Bad Days, Meh Days?

As long as I start a day feeling happy then I can put up with just about anything, some days do spiral out of control (me with my reputation) and some days I do simply feel Meh, I don’t control it, it is what it is the fact that I have accepted it seems to mean more days being happier, I can live with that!

Why not post more stuff from the books now that they are deleted?

Sometimes I do, but it still has to be relevant to what I’m feeling at the time, so yes watch this space that could happen, like greatest hits kind of thing you never know!

Do You remember Writing the Old Blogs?

Honestly about 99% of the time that’s a big fat no, usually the title has not a lot to do with the blog, sometimes it has a lot to do with the blog, when my dementia kicks in I might reread them and chuckle or go who the hell is this miserable turd, its like in Harry Potter I drag them out onto the page and forget them , I have been asked specific questions about certain blogs and I have had to go back and reread them because I haven’t got a clue on what was written, not because it was a bad blog its simply to refresh this tired brain of mine!

Do You Miss Working in the Music industry?

Another big fat no, I miss some of the people , I enjoyed most of the times, but no I wouldn’t go back it was specific time in my life, its also like a muscle if you don’t use it you lose it, I have been asked to help a couple of friends out over the last few years and it was painful like smashing my head into a brick wall repeatedly, not enjoyable, back in the day (listen to this old timer) it was a pleasure, some lovely people some pure evil people but it was around five years of intensity that I feel that I am way too old to relive, thank you and bring me something fresh! If you want to know what I really think look for the blog “Kiss Like Judas” that really should tell you all that you need to know!

Do you feel Old?

Only in body not in spirit, inside I still feel 16, admittedly I wouldn’t want to be 16 now I do not envy the young!

What Advice would you give other Bloggers?

Cough splutter, have you been reading the blog , there are much better blogs/ bloggers out there, read them, chat to them, set your sights and simply go for it, if you enjoy writing that’s all you need to know the more you do it the better that you allegedly become at it, I’m doing alright as a number of you keep coming back to read them, do it to enjoy, don’t do it as a chore if you do it as a chore it will come across in the blog.

There you have it I hope that some of you have enjoyed this instalment of “Now Hear This” all of the questions or variants have been asked multiple times since the last episode, there are a number which keep getting asked if you feel that I have missed your question read the previous ones, you will find the answers there.

As always thanks to you who read who click like / share you all know who you are no names no pack drill, I’m, nearing the last lap of this blog, just over 50 or so to go so if you do have a question number 500 will be the last version of this, enjoy and watch the skies for incoming it will be just under a week as I am way for work on a course, play nice and I will see you all soon enough…….Toodles!