Thursday 17 September 2009
Tuesday 15 September 2009
X factor
I hate X Factor. I hate everything about it. I hate the way it exploits people, I hate the way it makes fun of people and I hate the whole pointlessness of it all. I know most of you are probably fans of X Factor. Well just bear with me.
When did it become OK to publicly humiliate people on national TV? I know most of the people going on the show understand what they are getting themselves in to but there is also the very small amount people who are completely deluded. These poor people are thrust in front of the cameras, encouraged to perform then shot down my that absolute wanker Simon Cowell. Would you laugh in someones face if they had been asked to perform in front of you and they were crap? No you wouldn't, because it's just plain rude. It's at if we've been taken back hundreds of years to Roman times and we're all the emperors giving them the thumbs down so we can throw them to the lions!
Another pointless thing about X Factor is the actually prize. Nobody watches X factor because they want to see the next big thing. I admit there are the occasional ones that become successful, but on the whole, they go to number one at Christmas(if they win) or they release one song and then are suddenly dropped by the record company. There is a reason why these people haven't been found by record companies before, it's because generally they aren't really that good!
Please everyone read Ben Eltons Chart Throb. It is hilarious and absolutely rips apart the whole X Factor wonderfully.
I could go on and on but I'm sure by now you've already stopped reading.
Tara for now.
When did it become OK to publicly humiliate people on national TV? I know most of the people going on the show understand what they are getting themselves in to but there is also the very small amount people who are completely deluded. These poor people are thrust in front of the cameras, encouraged to perform then shot down my that absolute wanker Simon Cowell. Would you laugh in someones face if they had been asked to perform in front of you and they were crap? No you wouldn't, because it's just plain rude. It's at if we've been taken back hundreds of years to Roman times and we're all the emperors giving them the thumbs down so we can throw them to the lions!
Another pointless thing about X Factor is the actually prize. Nobody watches X factor because they want to see the next big thing. I admit there are the occasional ones that become successful, but on the whole, they go to number one at Christmas(if they win) or they release one song and then are suddenly dropped by the record company. There is a reason why these people haven't been found by record companies before, it's because generally they aren't really that good!
Please everyone read Ben Eltons Chart Throb. It is hilarious and absolutely rips apart the whole X Factor wonderfully.
I could go on and on but I'm sure by now you've already stopped reading.
Tara for now.
Saturday 12 September 2009
Allotment
I haven't written about my allotment yet! What have I been doing!
Well to start at the beginning. I got my plot June 2008. It was very overgrown and in need of much love and attention. So I started hacking and chopping to my hearts content. And then I continued hacking, chopping but also digging. (I officially hate dock, it's a weed for those of you who think I'm being horrible to someone I know called dock, I don't know anyone called dock, er where was I?) I suppose it took me and my family (thankyou all) only about 2 weeks to clear all the weeds.
I then started to draw a plan of what my plot would look like. As it's very long and narrow I thought it best to have a path straight down the middle with beds on either side. I wanted a few fruit trees and maybe a fruit patch too so decided to make the beds go only three quaters of the way down the plot. The last quater I decided was going to have berries, rhubarb, fruit trees, my compost bins and most importantly my shed!!
Now the next task was to find enough wood to make my beds. Fortunatly Biffys Grandad had loads of old wood in his garage. I think the wood I got from him made about 4 of my planned 9 beds. Oh and also I managed to get some old windows and a glass door which I made into my cold frame. I think the best bit of wood foraging I did was when I saw loads of planks in a skip. They looked to have been from a roof as one side was painted with black tar stuff. I asked the bloke who I knew the skip belonged to if it was OK to have the wood and he was more than happy for me to take it!
So I eventually got all the beds made. I think it was about January when I finshed them.
In October I had got my first produce in the ground, Onions! This meant I would have Onions for Spring/Summer.
I ordered all my seeds through the allotment seed scheme where you're given a catalogue and choose your seeds, then order them through the allotment trust, this is cheaper for me and I believe the trust gets some money from it.
My choices were: Potatoes; Red King Duke of York, Cara, and Kestrel. Tomatoes; Gardeners delight and Golden Sunrise. Sweetcorn, Beetroot, Runner Beans, French Dwarf beans, Parsnips, Leeks, and Celery. I also bought from garden centres Rhubarb, Blackcurrants and Autumn Raspberries. Plus I had leftover seeds from the previous year (from my small patch at home), they included Carrots, Thyme, Courgettes, Squash and Rocket. Blimey that's a lot of stuff!
I realise I'm wittering on here so i'll stop for now and continue another time, where I'll tell you all about the how I got my shed, my turf and fruit trees all for free!
Ta ta for now.
Well to start at the beginning. I got my plot June 2008. It was very overgrown and in need of much love and attention. So I started hacking and chopping to my hearts content. And then I continued hacking, chopping but also digging. (I officially hate dock, it's a weed for those of you who think I'm being horrible to someone I know called dock, I don't know anyone called dock, er where was I?) I suppose it took me and my family (thankyou all) only about 2 weeks to clear all the weeds.
I then started to draw a plan of what my plot would look like. As it's very long and narrow I thought it best to have a path straight down the middle with beds on either side. I wanted a few fruit trees and maybe a fruit patch too so decided to make the beds go only three quaters of the way down the plot. The last quater I decided was going to have berries, rhubarb, fruit trees, my compost bins and most importantly my shed!!
Now the next task was to find enough wood to make my beds. Fortunatly Biffys Grandad had loads of old wood in his garage. I think the wood I got from him made about 4 of my planned 9 beds. Oh and also I managed to get some old windows and a glass door which I made into my cold frame. I think the best bit of wood foraging I did was when I saw loads of planks in a skip. They looked to have been from a roof as one side was painted with black tar stuff. I asked the bloke who I knew the skip belonged to if it was OK to have the wood and he was more than happy for me to take it!
So I eventually got all the beds made. I think it was about January when I finshed them.
In October I had got my first produce in the ground, Onions! This meant I would have Onions for Spring/Summer.
I ordered all my seeds through the allotment seed scheme where you're given a catalogue and choose your seeds, then order them through the allotment trust, this is cheaper for me and I believe the trust gets some money from it.
My choices were: Potatoes; Red King Duke of York, Cara, and Kestrel. Tomatoes; Gardeners delight and Golden Sunrise. Sweetcorn, Beetroot, Runner Beans, French Dwarf beans, Parsnips, Leeks, and Celery. I also bought from garden centres Rhubarb, Blackcurrants and Autumn Raspberries. Plus I had leftover seeds from the previous year (from my small patch at home), they included Carrots, Thyme, Courgettes, Squash and Rocket. Blimey that's a lot of stuff!
I realise I'm wittering on here so i'll stop for now and continue another time, where I'll tell you all about the how I got my shed, my turf and fruit trees all for free!
Ta ta for now.
Thursday 10 September 2009
Kit Kats
Has anyone tried the new kit kat? It's caramel, well it's supposed to be. That's my problem. Whats the point in caramel flavour? Caramel is hardly difficult to make and it's probably more trouble to make a flavour and than just to put in a layer of tasty caramel in between the wafer and chocolate!
Oh if you hadn't guessed, i am severly dissapointed with the new kit kat.
What's next? Bringing back the marvelous whisper gold but only caramel flavoured? (probably not actually, whisper is made by the great cadburys not by the rubbish nestle which makes kitkat). Oh and on that note, bring back whisper golds!
This is nuts, i'm not even that much into chocolate!
House update
Well, it's all been go the last few days! Our 2nd offer was accepted on wednesday and now we can start thinking about moving! Well actually we've got a long way to go before then. We have the sale of our house first, then sorting out a mortgage, more than likely move out and into Biffys parents, sort out storage, get a surveyor in, and then finally move in! Wow that's a lot to do and hopefully all before christmas!
See I told you the saying was rubbish!
See I told you the saying was rubbish!
Sunday 6 September 2009
House buying
Well, today we think we've found our new house. It's pretty much exactly what we've been looking for. 3 beds, all good sizes, off-road parking, in berko, etc. Tomorrow i shall phone the estate agents and put an offer in!
Our search for a new house started about 3 months ago. We went through the usual houses, too small, too much, too much interest!
Finding a house is a funny thing, you work out what you want and how much you can afford and then go searching! Our first few houses were completely wrong for us, but then we saw an absolute gem. Unfortunately so did a load of property developers. So we canned that one quickly. After another few wrong'uns we found one that might just do, unfortunately it had a downstairs bathroom and a north facing garden. So again no winner. Then all went very quiet. Then suddenly we sold our house! Shock horror, after about 20 viewings and about 20 people saying that our house was lovely but our 2ND bedroom was too small someone finally saw the light the said sod the 2ND bedroom I'll have it! Thank the lord!!!!
So tomorrow we will put in an offer and wait and see. We're being very reserved and not holding out too much hope but hopefully they will say yes it's yours! Bloody stamp duty will be a real issue with the offer. We can actually afford more than the guide price but with Grace and other expenses we don't want to take a mortgage like that.
So tomorrow it all starts, they say you always lose your first house, but lets hope that's bollocks eh?
Our search for a new house started about 3 months ago. We went through the usual houses, too small, too much, too much interest!
Finding a house is a funny thing, you work out what you want and how much you can afford and then go searching! Our first few houses were completely wrong for us, but then we saw an absolute gem. Unfortunately so did a load of property developers. So we canned that one quickly. After another few wrong'uns we found one that might just do, unfortunately it had a downstairs bathroom and a north facing garden. So again no winner. Then all went very quiet. Then suddenly we sold our house! Shock horror, after about 20 viewings and about 20 people saying that our house was lovely but our 2ND bedroom was too small someone finally saw the light the said sod the 2ND bedroom I'll have it! Thank the lord!!!!
So tomorrow we will put in an offer and wait and see. We're being very reserved and not holding out too much hope but hopefully they will say yes it's yours! Bloody stamp duty will be a real issue with the offer. We can actually afford more than the guide price but with Grace and other expenses we don't want to take a mortgage like that.
So tomorrow it all starts, they say you always lose your first house, but lets hope that's bollocks eh?
Saturday 5 September 2009
Fatherhood
Well, in my first blog i thought I'd write about fatherhood and babies. (very manly)
When Biffy and I found out we were going to have a baby I felt very excited but nothing really changed then. It was a great day too as i got my allotment that day!
It wasn't really until the birth that it hit me that my life was about to change. The birth was amazing, all men out there, if you're there at the birth and can stomach it, go and see the business end because it is phenomenal. I won't go into detail but I will say that I TOTALLY respect every woman who gives birth.
The night Grace was born was surreal. I didn't know what to do with myself. I emailed my family, friends, looked at the pics on the camera, I was buzzing. I was in awe of Biffy for what she had just done and how amazing Grace was.
The first few weeks were intense. I was off for two weeks then back to work for one then off again! They say having a baby changes your life, it does. But for the better. Yes we were very tired, yes it was hard work, yes we didn't know what we were doing but we loved every minute of it.
Biffys parents were truly amazing, we can't thank them enough. My mum arrived when Grace was about 2 months old. (my mum lives in Thailand most of the time, i will write about her another time) She has been very supportive too. (thank you to all our families, we understand you can't help as much as Biffys parents do, they do only live around the corner!)
Anyways, Grace has always been a chilled out baby. She rarely cries and when she does it's usually for good reason! I remember the very first time i fed her. It was amazing, i was providing directly for my daughter. It was a great feeling.
Our first holiday was a challenge. We didn't really expect Grace to impact too much on what we wanted to do. Unfortunatly she did. Not her fault, she's only a baby. After the first 2 days we were wiped out. We had tried to do the usual things we do on holiday. See the sites, go walking, go for a drink, but Grace had other ideas. It was a complete oversite on our part. Grace didn't want to be carted around in her buggy for 3 hours while we looked at the sites. She got bored of being in the back carrier after a while too. So on day 3 we just started taking everyday as it came. We only did one thing a day, and it worked.
Jeez, i've written a lot. I better sign off now.
One last thing I want to say is to anyone thinking of having a baby, do it, but don't expect your life to be the same again. It's the greatest feeling to know that you "work" and have helped bring a living thing into this world.
Bye for now, see you soon.
When Biffy and I found out we were going to have a baby I felt very excited but nothing really changed then. It was a great day too as i got my allotment that day!
It wasn't really until the birth that it hit me that my life was about to change. The birth was amazing, all men out there, if you're there at the birth and can stomach it, go and see the business end because it is phenomenal. I won't go into detail but I will say that I TOTALLY respect every woman who gives birth.
The night Grace was born was surreal. I didn't know what to do with myself. I emailed my family, friends, looked at the pics on the camera, I was buzzing. I was in awe of Biffy for what she had just done and how amazing Grace was.
The first few weeks were intense. I was off for two weeks then back to work for one then off again! They say having a baby changes your life, it does. But for the better. Yes we were very tired, yes it was hard work, yes we didn't know what we were doing but we loved every minute of it.
Biffys parents were truly amazing, we can't thank them enough. My mum arrived when Grace was about 2 months old. (my mum lives in Thailand most of the time, i will write about her another time) She has been very supportive too. (thank you to all our families, we understand you can't help as much as Biffys parents do, they do only live around the corner!)
Anyways, Grace has always been a chilled out baby. She rarely cries and when she does it's usually for good reason! I remember the very first time i fed her. It was amazing, i was providing directly for my daughter. It was a great feeling.
Our first holiday was a challenge. We didn't really expect Grace to impact too much on what we wanted to do. Unfortunatly she did. Not her fault, she's only a baby. After the first 2 days we were wiped out. We had tried to do the usual things we do on holiday. See the sites, go walking, go for a drink, but Grace had other ideas. It was a complete oversite on our part. Grace didn't want to be carted around in her buggy for 3 hours while we looked at the sites. She got bored of being in the back carrier after a while too. So on day 3 we just started taking everyday as it came. We only did one thing a day, and it worked.
Jeez, i've written a lot. I better sign off now.
One last thing I want to say is to anyone thinking of having a baby, do it, but don't expect your life to be the same again. It's the greatest feeling to know that you "work" and have helped bring a living thing into this world.
Bye for now, see you soon.
Hello
Hello, i've always thought that having a blog was a bit geeky. Well i still think that a little but thought it might be a bit of a laugh. I'm married to the fantastic Biffy and a beautiful daughter Grace. I work as a theatre technician in london. I'm very interested in photography. This blog will be my thoughts on life. I might even put a picture or two up now and again. Anyways speak soon.
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