Category: My blog

What’s my name?!

When I’m abroad no-one seems to get my name right. In previous years I’ve been known as “Lay” on Starbucks cups, but I’m particularly proud if this one. To be fair it was ordered over the phone, but when I went to collect it even they were a bit puzzled as to how they got it SO wrong. Read more →

Spotted on holiday

Just in case you can’t work out how large this bottle is, those on the left are the NORMAL large bottles that you see on the supermarket. The ones on the right are the kind of thing that’s normally mounted upside-down in pubs. Because many of us don’t have the ability to mount each bottle to our walls, they gave… Read more →

The sad passing of Terry Nutkins

The Really Wild Show was on during my childhood and, along with Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, Terry Nutkins presented. He sadly passed away today at the age of 66 and loved animals all his life. He leaves 8 children (yes, 8!) Whilst this is a terribly sad day I must mention how fit Michaela Strachan still is, all these… Read more →

After 10 years of writing..

I have to admit that this is my finest work to date. Sure, you may think that it took just minutes to do, but there was blood, sweat and tears poured into that my friend.. If serious broadsheets like The Telegraph or The Times are listening, I’m heading your way… Link – Serious Adobe Flash Article Read more →

Morrisons have gone a bit space age

The local Morrisons have got themselves a … thing in their produce aisle. It seems to spray mist all over the vegetables. It all looks a bit space age if I’m honest. The people of Stoke-on-Trent seemed to ignore the fresh veg though, as the oatcakes were on special offer :) Read more →

Virgin manage to hold up West Coast decision

I’m quite a fan of Virgin trains. They run well, quickly and of you get a good ticket then they’re pretty cheap too. The recent decision to give the contract for the West Coast Mainline to First Group raised more than a few eye-brows. First Group bid very highly and seemed to guarantee a massive kick-back to the Govenment. One… Read more →

Solar power in the UK.. It confuses me

There’s a number of properties getting solar panels in our area. I’m assuming that they produce electricity which gets used in the home and it seems to be increasingly popular since the Government started pushing it. In Cyprus they also have solar panels, but these appear to produce hot water instead of electric. The tanks on top appear to store… Read more →

New hypersonic jet in testing

We could soon be flying at Mach 6 thanks to hypersonic jet “WaveRider”. It’s undergoing testing across the Pacific and could mean journey times of just an hour between London and New York. After hitching a ride on a B-52 it’ll detach and its’ engines will push it on to 4,300mph. After that the wingless plane will break into pieces… Read more →

Mars looks like parts of America

Que the conspiracy theorists, who will no doubt say that Nasa have actually spent $265 million on a drunken holiday to Las Vegas while one guy sticks a phone to a radio-controlled car a few miles up the road. Here’s the first high quality picture from outside Joes restaurant …. Oh, no.. sorry, I meant Mars.. Link – BBC News Read more →

How the world press viewed London 2012

Seeing the Olympic Games through rose-tinted glasses is easy if you’re a Brit, but what did those reporters from elsewhere think? Well, according to this BBC story, they were all incredibly impressed. Brand GB (and Northern Ireland) has grown and we should all be proud. Link – BBC Read more →

The Games are over. Now we must change.

Here in the UK we’re familiar with a never ending air of cynicism and pessimism. Daily complaining and whinging is part of life for some, and it’s one thing that annoys me. Newspapers like The Daily Mail are keen to jump on any failure, slip-up or change. They twist truths and deride any attempt to improve the status quo. Meanwhile,… Read more →

This is what happens if you drink and drive

The BBC have added video of a foreign truck driver who drank brandy before setting off on the M6. That alone is bad enough, but he took the wrong exit on the services and ended up driving 3 miles on the wrong side of the M6 …with no lights on. Luckily some brave truck drivers went head-on and stopped him,… Read more →

What do you think this is?

Take a look at this. What do you think it is? No, you dirty-minded monkey. It’s not one of those “special adverts” that keep ending up in your inbox. This is a new Meshworm robot, built by those clever people at the Pentagon. Apparently you can hit it with a hammer and it’ll carry on working. Ouch.. just saying that… Read more →

Plane crash filmed

What surprises me about this is the fact that the plane crashed, they all got out and, for some reason, they thought that capturing their own shocked expressions on video was the most important thing to do. Update – OK, it looks like they had cameras on their heads which were recording constantly, so perhaps they’re not as bonkers as… Read more →

The Commodore 64, some 30 years later

Can you convince the kids of today that the Commodore 64 is good? Well, how about if we take one to a primary and secondary school? Will the kids be impressed? Will they know what it is? Cassette players? Huge load times? Will kids actually wait that long to play a game? Well, the BBC have got a great video… Read more →

The toilet phone

I’ve mentioned this before but it continues to baffle me. Yet again someone came into the toilets to work, went into a cubicle and used his phone. This time was even worse because, as I was washing my hands, he proceeded to make a phone call. What was said I’m not entirely sure, but I had fun with the hand-dryer… Read more →