Four Years

Jesus. Four years since my last post?  Doesn't seem like that long ago.  It's been a period of ups and downs.  Here's things in point form:

- not worked since I took voluntary redundancy - I've not needed to - decent payout and sold my rental flat (which paid off our mortgage)

- sold my rental property - which took ages - the tenant was a cunt, had to take them to court to get them out - twice. The buyers were cunts, the building society were cunts.   

- My mother was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer and died almost six months to the day of being told it was terminal

- my mother in law died - from cancer

- we were scammed by rogue builders and lost tens of thousands of pounds and had to take on a small mortgage again (we'd paid it off) to fix things.

- my partner is being screwed around at work, being victimised with false claims and has been on stress leave since Feb this year.

- fucking pandemic.

I have done some fun things too....holidays to Canada, Nashville and New York (for a rugby tournament) cruises to Norway, Amsterdam and a 10 day posh one around the Mediterranean starting and ending in Rome last September.  We had three more cruises planned this year - all cancelled thanks to the pandemic.

oh and our boiler died - so at least we got refunds from the cruises to pay for a new boiler.

All Change

This is going to be quick.  I've not kept up my blog for a few years and that's not good.  When I was writing, I quite enjoyed it.  It's been sheer laziness that has prevented me from writing more.

Well, last Friday, I took voluntary redundancy from my soon to be ex-employer.  I've been there just over 25 years so I'll be getting a massive pay out.

I plan to take a year off and have a career break and explore some of my interests in more depth.

I have a holiday coming up so my focus is on that.  When I get back I have a to-do list of post employment things.  Hopefully I'll be able to get back into a habit of keeping this up to date.

So for now, this post is essentially to ensure this blog stays active.

Back soon.

Getting better...

My last post was February 2012.  The gap before that one was even longer.  So I guess ten months isn't so bad this time around.

Quick update for now:

My hubby Scooter is back from working away on a funny little island and is now back at home.  He had enough back in May, so  quit, upped sticks and 'took a career' break until the end of October and is now back in full time employment.  It was a bit of a squeeze being the only bread winner in the house for so long but it was nice to have dinner ready and waiting.  I guess we'll have to get a houseboy now.

Surprised my Mom for her 70th back in Canada - we flew first class too.  I could get used to that.

That's it for now...I need to pee.

At Least It's Not Three Years

OK - so my last post said I'd not leave the 'next' post quite so long as three years. June 2011 isn't anywhere near three years, so I suppose that's pretty good.

Actually, it's still crap given I used to write entries on a regular basis. I suppose I could blame work - too busy to blog when I'm meant to be working but that's a lame excuse and I don't trust my work PC / browser anymore (out of date/crashes constantly).

So what's been going on?

I've been racking up the frequent flyer points to Guernsey that's what. Scooter is still there and very much enjoying the lifestyle there - has a lovely harbour view flat and can walk to work in five minutes. That I envy very much. I hate commuting on the tube/bus so much but I don't really have a choice. Walking 10k to work each day would not be fun and although I have ridden my bike in the past to work and back, it's a pretty frightening and somewhat dangerous journey thanks to idiot drivers, idiot cyclists, idiot pedestrians and idiot roads (can inanimate objects be idiots?).

I sound like I'm ready to pass my audition for "Grumpy Old Men" - a show that I love and almost always agree with. I'm one of those people who do 'sweat the small things' and sometimes it does my head in. The small things, in my opinion, are things regular people can actually do something about, yet don't. I tend not to be too worried about the state of the economy or terrorism or global warming because so much of that is out of my direct control (and yes, I know we can all do the 'little things that help', and I do try) but it's the small things like saying 'thank you' or standing on the left of an escalator, or actually queuing properly for a bus, or reading the emails I send to you as part of my job. Those are things that can be sorted out if people weren't such idiots all the time.

Jeez - this was meant to be a 'catch up' from June last year and now it's turning into a rant.

Right - since June - lots of visits to Guernsey, lots of fun with mates, lots of booze and food in my garden with said mates, our shirts off in the summer, getting sunburned and more food and booze and shit.

One of my closest mates (both in terms of relationship and distance) has really been crucial in supporting me with Scooter's absence - we were always at each other's place over the summer. He's going to work in the far east until the end of 2012 for his job - I'm totally gutted about this. Of course I'm extremely happy for him - it's a great opportunity and I certainly wouldn't turn down a chance like this either. However it's my blog, and it's all about me. Granted I'm doing much better about having a long distance relationship with Scooter but am going to sorely miss my mate being around all the time, especially over the summer. He and I 'put the world to rights' so many times over far too much wine and for some reason, it always seemed to be on a Sunday afternoon / evening so Monday at work was always a struggle.

So I'm going to really miss him this summer (my liver will not). I am hoping that Scooter and I will be able to visit him whilst he's there - we already have two mates living in the same place so we can kill three birds with two place tickets. Time will tell if we're able to afford it though - Guernsey, though not far, isn't as cheap to get to as I'd like and we have a family visit planned to Canada in May...and another big gay rugby tournament in June to attend.

So there you go - bored yet?

Let's see how long it takes for the next post.

HOW long?

Oh jeez...I knew it had been quite some time sinced I'd done any blogging on here but didn't realise it had been just over three years!! Yikes - tempus fugit and all that. I had a notion to review my blogs today as I thought it's been awhile and then when I saw the date of the last one was rather surprised to see just how long it had been.

I've not done 'nothing' since then, in fact lots has gone on in my life but I guess I simply fell out of the habit. I enjoy writing and had a long trip down memory lane re-reading lots of my older posts and again thinking 'was it really that long ago I did that'?

So maybe a little recap of the past three years, in point form, is in order....

- I have another neice - Sophia Elisabeth, who was born October 8, 2008. Scooter and I went home to Canada for Christmas that year so I was able to meet her. The christening was cancelled because of a very heavy snowstorm. We spent New Year's in Las Vegas and had the trip from hell courtesy of Delta Airlines - our luggage didn't arrive back in London for a few days after we got back. I'll never use them again...ever. I love Vegas though and want to go back. I'll never forget New Year's eve at a huge gay club there stuffing money in gogo boys shorts...I have the photos to prove it too much to my mother's embarassment.

- We went to Dublin for a big gay rugby tournament with a group of our friends and then a few days in Cork for a mate's 30th birthday - it was a 'tart and vicar theme'. We dressed as priests. It rained in Cork - alot. I got drenched by a speeding truck in a huge downpour.

- I got myself back into a gym routine in 2009 and had a personal trainer for about a year and a half. Not cheap but worth the effort as I shed about 40 pounds. (I've since put on about 15 of that but trying hard to get rid of it). I did my first 10k run in the summer of 2009 as well. Did it in just over an hour - my high school gym teacher would be so proud!

- Our last proper vacation was in the summer of 2009. We spent a week in Rennes, France with two of our best mates at their parents converted farmhouse. It was a lovely time full of laughs, wine, pastries and swimming. I'm so glad I paid attention in french class - it reall paid off that week.

- After Rennes, Scooter and I went to Sitges, Spain for a week for a beach holiday. It had been over 15 years since I'd been swimming in the Mediterranean Sea so it was a very welcome return. We did a day trip to Barcelona as well and vowed we would return to that city for a longer stay next time.

- Last summer instead of taking a holiday we decided to do some work on the house. We had leak from the bathroom that went through the kitchen ceiling. As it had happened once before we though we need to bite the bullet and put it right once and for all....so from April until July our house was a building site. We hired contractors (who were mostly ok) and had the entire kitchen ceiling replaced. It meant having most of the kitchen units taken out and under a tent in the garden and everything else in the lounge. A huge job but worth it in the end.

- Once that was done, we had our lounge stripped back to the barebones, replastered, had a nasty curved arch replaced (from the previous owners) and had it squared off. Scooter and I did all the painting and had new carpets laid. It was a total transformation and everyone loves the new look. So all that was our vacation time and money...but we're glad we did it.

- Scooter and I had a "2010" party last summer to celebrate my 20 years of living in the UK and our 10 years together. It was a blast - the weather was mostly ok except for a few summer downpours (lucky we put up our marquee). We hired a 'butler in the buff' to serve drinks, food and clean up - a very fit young man wearing an apron around his waist and nothing else. He was very popular. It was our best party ever. ;-)

The BIGGEST news however is about Scooter. He took voluntary redundancy in November last year. He wasn't happy at that job and was considering looking elsewhere so the time was right. He enjoyed a few months off and registered with some recruitment agents.

He was presented with an oppoprtunity for an interview with KPMG in their Guernsey office (that's in the Channel Islands by the way). He nailed the interview and was offered the job. We both thought long and hard about what this would mean for us. In the end we decided it was too good to pass up for his career. We also realised I was too long in my job to give it up either. So for the next three years he's living there and I'm living here. It's still early days and we are finding the distance difficult but talk every day and hopefully he'll get online at his flat very soon (nothing happens quickly over there). We did a reccy there in March and we went over again April for him to start work. We found him a nice one bed flat with a view of the harbour and he's very happy with life there for the most part. I do envy the fact that he can walk to work in five minutes. I'm looking forward to a week there next month. He's made some friends over there which is good and I have our friends here who I know will look after me if I need it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that I suppose.

So there you go....that's three years in a nutshell. Of course lots of other stuff has gone on too but those are the more memorable things.

I'll try not to leave it so long next time....

A New A-Choir'd Taste

On Tuesday this week, Scooter and I went to a concert in the evening at the Purcell Room in the South Bank Centre. It had been years since I'd been to that venue, but used to be a semi-regular visitor many years ago. I've seen Oscar Peterson, Diana Krall, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Manhattan Transfer, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Philip Glass...to name more than a few!

This vist however was different. It was my first exposure to choral music! I love most forms of music, esecially jazz (see names above) and classical, but for some reason, never went to a concert given by a choir.

Well, that has now changed. A friend of mine (who also plays for the Steelers!) sings in a choir called 'Chantage'. Not just any choir either, but the current BBC Radio 3 Choir of the year.

I had no idea what to expect other than a wide range of music as my friend told me. He wasn't wrong. The show started with a tune by none other than Henry VIII and worked it's way through amazing arrangements of 'Under My Skin', 'Chile Con Carne', 'Let's Dance', 'Hit Me Baby One More Time', 'Tears in Heaven', 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 'Clocks', and 'Cry Me A River' (the Justin Timberlake version.

Never mind the fact their director must have scanned my brain for some of my favourite tunes to perform but they were expertly arranged. I should add, this choir sang a cappella.

I was full of shivers and practically moved to tears on some of the songs and picking my jaw up off the floor on others.

It was also my first introduction to Beatboxing! The choir had the London beatboxing champion doing background vocals on Cry Me A River. He was amazing - I've never heard anything like that in my life. The next surprise was my friend doing the lead vocals on that song - I'd not heard him sing before and was very impressed indeed. Never mind the fact he looks great in a tux, he gave a fantastic performance. Mr. Timberlake would have been jealous.

So, all in all it was a wonderful evening, especially since I got to experience something new in the musical world, which for me, doesn't happen very often. I look forward to hearing more from Chantage and my mate's velvet tones in the future.

The quintessential English art?

A number of years ago I was watching 'Have I Got News For You' and one of the items was a story on how foreign students coming to the UK for the first time were being given lessons on 'queuing' (or waiting in a line for my friends across the Atlantic). I laughed at the time, but sure enough it was true - here's the BBC story.

Apparently queuing is a quintessential English art. Oh really? It must be a 'lost art', certainly 'round my manor. No one at any of the bus stops pays any mind to 'who was there first'. Of course, I notice this most when I'm the sole person waiting for a bus. Like a good citizen, I form an orderly queue of one. Then other arrive and fail to stand behind me. The bus pulls in halfway down the queue, and NOT at the actual bus stop post where I am standing. Clearly the bus driver has to take some blame here.

Sometimes I feel like yelling - 'excuse me, where any of you here first?', but then think better of it as I'd rather not be knifed or shot or looked at as if I was some sort of mental case. I can sort of forgive this behaviour on places like Oxford Street where the whole stretch of it is one giant bun fight, but where I live I just can't abide it.

What put me in mind to write this was two people, or 'queue jumping bitches' as I like to call them. One in Starbucks yesterday morning. I'd already had a nightmare journey in to work thanks to the Central line going tits up and this woman, headphones blaring away, waltzes past everyone, and then the person at the front of the queue says 'oh, after you'. I couldn't believe it!

Then today, at the post office, I'm at the head of the queue, corralled by those tensile ropes and posts, with about five people behind me. A middle aged woman ignores all that, and the automated 'Cashier number 4 voice', walks right up to an empty wicket and begins her business like none of us were there! The staff just served her as if she was next.

These two women were British and should 'ruddy well know better'. Maybe queuing lessons should be given to British people instead of foreigners.

For the time being though, whenever it happens, I'll just roll my eyes and mutter under my breath 'tsk, honestly'.

Now THAT is quintessentially English.

Doorway To Hell

Yikes - it's April and I've only had one entry so far. That's not very good is it? I must admit I've been stuck for ideas. I'm not really one to simply write about my daily life, although many bloggers do, like my friend RetroGoose, and I enjoy reading hers very much, but then she is a professional writer and I have no doubt she could write an enthralling blog about the simple act of making toast.

So, I must do better. I've been surfing around the net and found there's loads of sites for people with brain block like me that supply ideas for blogging. We'll see. Or I could stop using Facebook quite so much.

One thing I keep meaning to write about is the laziness of people. In particular how people act when approaching a set of doors a building. It seems they will automatically head to the one that is left open, even if there's a queue to get in or out of said open door. I see this ALL the time at the West One Centre at Bond Street Station.

At the main entrance there's three sets of double doors. The left set has a sensor that automatically opens them, the other two sets are manually operated, in other words the Herculean task of pushing or pulling it open is required. More often than not, one of the doors on the right side is wedged open and it just beggars belief how many people will walk towards that one to the point of having to wait to get through. Now I know this only takes a few seconds, but for gawd's sake, what is wrong with pushing open the adjacent door to get in or out?? Clearly a large majority of people are unclear on this concept.

I despair for humanity, I really do.

Liar!

I saw this book in the window of Waterstone's today.

I had a flip through and am considering reporting the author under the Trade Descriptions Act.

Nowhere does it tell me how to get Jake Gyllenhaal's body.

He's a celebrity, I want his body. I don't want to look like him, I want him.

It's just not on I tell you. ;-)

That's a Wrap!

All over for another year! It really bothers me just how quickly the years are flying by. I guess that's a sign of getting older. At least that's what people tell me who are older than me. Of course now I'm 40 (*sobs*) I'm getting close to being one of those older people. I certainly feel older when I mutter under my breath about unruly school children on the tubes and buses (as I did in a previous post). My mother-in-law assures me she had a great time in her 40's, so I will hold her accountable if I don't.

Yesterday and today on my way to work I saw a number of christmas trees sitting forlornly on the pavement (that's a sidewalk to the rest of you!). It's always a bit sad for me to take down all the decorations and realise all the build up to Christmas and New Year is all over for another eleven months. Or six if you're in the retail industry.

We really glitzed up our home this year and I thought it looked lovely. I would love to put lights outside and a big fancy wreath on the front door but I know they'd be nicked within five minutes of putting them out there. So all the 'tack' is inside, and now it's down and back up in the loft.

We had a lovely time over the holidays although I don't think I've ever spent so much time in our kitchen in such a short space of time. It all started with the scottish shortbread which I've been making for Christmas for a few years now. I always loved it as a child when my mom made it. Now she's a continent away and finds it difficult to make as you have to knead it all by hand. So I decided I'd learn how to do it. I've had a few goofs along the way - burned several batches and this year I doubled one batch, only to put in a single measure of sugar. It took me ages to figure out why that batch tasted a bit 'flour-ery'. Oops. Luckily Scooter was happy to eat them. Whatever is left would be good for a cheesecake base.

I also made fudge for the first time and that turned out really well. It was chocolate fudge of course, I mean, is there any other kind?

Scooter and I did Christmas dinner for four friends with all the trimmings including the stuffing which never made it to the table as we forgot! Oops. Damn that champagne! Still it was a wonderful night full of laughs and the occaissional fart. Damn those brussel sprouts!

We also hosted New Year's as well and had three other friends for dinner. More bubbly was the order of the day, one of the boys made his fantastic cheesecake with enough left over for the next day! Hurrah. They brought over their Wii games console as well. I've never been much for video games, but I'd buy one of these things - it's much more interactive and you feel like you're actually playing rather than simply pressing buttons.

Scooter and I were a bit sore in the shoulders from tennis, golf, target shooting and bowling. Oh and boxing too. So I think once we get a bit of extra cash we may treat ourselves.

So all in all it was a lovely time - we worked inbetween which I'd not done for about five years. It wasn't too bad, the buses and tubes were quiet and the office was practically dead.

I'm not making any official resolutions this year - I never seem to keep them, so should make a list of 'trys' instead...lose weight, get fit, save more money and try to blog more. I said that last year too, but maybe this year I'll do better.

Happy New Year!

The Year in Review

Last post October? Crickey - I've not been very good this year...frankly I've found it difficult to think of things to ramble on about, hence the lack of postings. Hopefully my 'muse' will find me in 2008. In any case, there's been lots going on in the last six months - I got married and turned 40. Eek! So I thought the best way to let people catch up (if anyone reads this blog) is to post my annual Christmas letter I sent to friends and family abroad. So, without any further ado, here it is. Enjoy and I'll try better come January! xx
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Another year has passed. Twelve months gone. Fifty-two weeks finished. Three hundred and sixty-five days done and dusted. Eight thousand seven hundred and sixty trips of the hour hand. Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred trips of the minute hand…well, you get the idea. It’s the end of the year which can only mean it’s the beginning of my annual letter! How very exciting for you!!

This year saw two important milestones for me. I got married and I turned 40. One I couldn’t wait to do, the other I could do without! But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, so put on the kettle (if it will fit), have a few cookies to hand sit down in your favourite chair…oh, and log off Facebook already! Here we go!

January
We saw in the New Year with our friends David and Matthew who came to ours for dinner, drinks and board games. Much fun was had, much champagne was consumed and not much was remembered! I’d much rather spend new year like this than in some over crowded and overpriced club where you can’t even hear yourself think let alone get to the bar before the place closes. We had a fairly quiet month, but the ever approaching wedding day meant that we were sending emails back and forth to my parents planning all the details.

February
The highlight of this month was being in the audience of CBC’s ‘The Hour’ – the show was in London for a week to tape shows, and we managed to get in the audience to see George Strombolopous do his thing. If you looked really hard, you would have seen the back of my head – well, the lights bouncing off of it actually! Oh, and more wedding planning. In fact, we set up our Gift Registry this month at John Lewis (like Eatons or The Bay, if you don’t know) and we had a fun afternoon going around the shop with a barcode reader ‘zapping’ all the things we wanted. We were tempted to add their 108” flat screen TV to the list, but the fifty thousand pound price tag may have put a few people off, not to mention we’d never get it through our front door!

March
Abercrombie and Fitch open their first store in the UK to much fanfare. I walk by it quite often actually as it’s on one of my usual ‘routes’ to Soho. If you’re in London, my advice is to walk on by unless you want to ogle over the good looking staff. Unless you look like them nothing will fit you and you’ll pass out at the prices! Bring back Eaton’s I say!

I also finished my six month stint at our office in Trafalgar Square and moved back to Grosvenor Square. I had a lovely time there and the change was very refreshing. Hopefully I’ll be back there in the summer of 2008, which will be great, if only because the building has air conditioning! Oh, and more wedding planning.

April
We’re into serious wedding planning mode now with the big event only six weeks away. We’re finalising details, chasing up those who have not yet replied (a major effort I hate to say!) and going over all the little bits and pieces. We did have a few diversions that month by way of a lovely Hot Cross Bun breakfast on Good Friday at a friend’s from the rugby club and a London Marathon breakfast at Matthew and David’s home (they live right on the route). We also spent a weekend with Scott’s family and friends in Newbury so they could wish us on our way (for those who couldn’t make it).

May
We start this month with our stag night. Since we’ve been living in sin for so long and have so many friends in common (or is that ‘common friends’?) my best man threw a joint one for both of us. We began upstairs at our usual Soho pub for a few hours then about 25 of us headed off to a giant arcade on the south bank of London for ten pin bowling, bumper cars, video games, drinks and food. We had a blast – and were presented with a lovely card signed by a number of the guys who’d pooled their money to buy a fabulous flat screen telly! We were overwhelmed to say the least. After that we went off clubbing into the wee hours. It was a great send off with our mates, esp. with those who weren’t able to attend the wedding.

Two days later we flew out to Victoria to spend our last few days together as official bachelors. We flew out with Scott’s parents, his brother and his wife and another family friend. I was very excited as we finally had a modern airplane with seat-back screens to watch whatever you’d like. I thought to myself, finally Air Canada has modernised. Sadly, the return trip was on an old plane and I think the stewards/ess were almost as old as the plane itself. But never mind, we had more important things to think about. We were met at the airport by my family and whisked to home to hit the ground running. We were up early the next day for tux fittings, a visit to the hotel to see it and meet our contact there. The next few days were extremely busy running around town, sorting things out, doing a bit of shopping and meeting up with our UK friends for drinks who’d flow over. We had the rehearsal on the afternoon before and followed that with dinner with everyone at a local Italian restaurant. I also managed a few games of five pin bowling at the local alley before it was knocked down for condos. That was a bit of nostalgia for me as I’d practically grew up at the place and had lots of fond memories.

The big day arrived and we packed up our stuff and went down to the hotel and checked into the honeymoon suite overlooking the harbour. It was a day I’ll never forget even though it seemed to fly by so quickly. The weather wasn’t too hot and it stayed dry which was great as we held the ceremony outside. We had about 90 guests and about a dozen or so of our friends from the UK were able to join us as well. Much laughter and tears throughout the day – it was really everything I’d hoped for. We’d planned for so long I couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Of course, none of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for the tireless efforts of my parents. There’s no way we could have done it without them esp. as we were so far away.

The hotel put on a sumptuous buffet, everyone gave wonderful and moving speeches and my former piano teacher, Louise Rose entertained everyone with a few of my favourite songs on the piano. Then the cake was cut, the gramophone cranked up and we danced until the wee small hours. It was all over far too quickly but it was a day I’ll remember forever (mostly because that’s how long it will take to pay for it!!), but it was worth every last penny. The next morning we came down for breakfast with the family and friends who stayed over and they noticed we were a little ‘red in the face’ – we had been in the Jacuzzi in our room having a lovely cold bottle of white wine. Well, it had to be done, so we started our first morning as a married couple a tiny bit pickled! Start as you mean to go on, I say. Later in the day, we gave our UK friends a bit of a tour around the town, then I’d arranged for the only and only gay club in Victoria to reserve us an area. We had dinner at The Keg steakhouse (about 15 of us) then went to the club – they treated us like royalty and ensured we all had a great time.

On the Sunday my parents hosted a reception at their home for everyone which was wonderful. Two days later we flew out to Las Vegas for our honeymoon. We had three nights and four days there – first time for both of us and we can’t wait to go back! We stayed at the Luxor Hotel (the big black pyramid) and walked all over the place – didn’t gamble too much, but at least we broke even. We saw a couple of shows and I dragged Scott to the Liberace Museum which I simply had to visit. I’m so glad I did, it was tacky and over the top and I loved it! All too quickly it was over and we spent our last few days in Vancouver and met up with two of our UK friends who were at our wedding who were touring around. So a few last hurrahs then it was back to London and back to reality with a bump.

June
We hit the ground running again once we got back to London. We attended a number of events connected with our rugby club, a sports day and their annual dinner. We also were finalising plans for our ‘London Wedding party’ in July. The end of the month saw the second annual Canada Day in Trafalgar Square which was great fun celebrating all things Canadian.

July
We began the month by attending the annual Pride festival and parade – unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it was cool and wet. In fact that was pretty much what our summer was like for the whole season. It seemed like we went from spring to autumn without having any hint of summer.

After that, my parents arrived for a two week visit as they were attending our London party and of course it gave them a good excuse to visit London again. We held our party in a hotel opposite Hyde Park. We had about one hundred people attend throughout the evening, and everyone had a great time. We got a great deal through the hotel as they sponsor our rugby club, and they gave us a suite on the house for two nights as well. A friend of ours did the DJ-ing for free and we hired a drag queen to put on a show as well. I don’t think our parents had seen anything quite like it, but she was very popular with everyone. The following weekend saw the delivery of all our wedding presents! It was like Christmas but without the eggnog! So we had fun unwrapping everything and trying to find room to put everything as well. We had a lot of lovely gifts. In fact we’re going to get married every year!

August
We took our annual long weekend down to Brighton for their Pride Festival and had a lovely time. For once it was lovely, warm and sunny. We had become ‘friends of the festival’ which meant we had the use of posh loos – trust me at a huge festival like that, it’s worth spending ten pounds to be able to spend a penny in a clean bathroom! Plus every little helps the festival continue on for another year.

September
Our friend Andrew arranged a tour of the UK Parliament. We had a personal tour all around the ‘Palace of Westminster’ (to give it the official name) and were able to go into the House of Commons and the House of Lords as well. Extremely interesting tour and learned all about the history. I’d highly recommend it if you’re in London. We also went to ‘Scrum in the Park’ which was a promotion to drum up support for the England rugby team in advance of the Rugby World Cup – it was a fun day out and great to see some of our favourite players in the flesh.

October
I waved goodbye to my 30’s. It really doesn’t seem that long since I said a tearful goodbye to my 20’s! Boo hoo! Still, I’m told life begins at 40, so we’ll see. Scott arranged a night out with a group of friends – I didn’t want anything too big and besides we’d put our friends through enough this year with the stag, the wedding and the July party. So much so, we decided to give our annual ‘end of summer’ party at our house a miss this year. The day after my birthday we helped organise our annual rugby club fundraiser and it was a huge success. We raised almost four grand for our club by shaking buckets and getting the players to strip on stage. Poor old me – I had to take photos the whole night. Such a chore….not!

November
My best man Jason finally turned 40. For years we assumed he was the older one until one night we actually compared birthday and it turned out he was 56 days younger than me: a fact he’s never let me forget, especially in the run up to me turning 40. At least now he’s there as well, and not before time I say!

December
The ‘silly season’ in London is now well underway. The lights and decorations have been up in the shops since August but now the crowds are getting bigger on Oxford Street as they shop like their life depended on in. Luckily I can pop into the shops bit by bit at lunchtimes and shop on line too. Much better than fighting for the last and latest ‘must have gift of the year ‘. This year we’re hosting Christmas dinner for four friends, so our house is all very Christmassy, lights and tree are up and presents are appearing under the tree. We’re also having a repeat of last year and having our friends Matthew and David over – they now have a ‘Wii games console’ and have promised to bring it over, so that will provide hours of entertainment for the night!

So that’s the year in review. We’ve done a few cultural bits and bobs – our friend Matthew is an up and coming orchestra conductor so we’ve been lucky to support him by going to his concerts. Our involvement with the rugby club continues and Scott is in his second year as their treasurer. I’m also in my second year as the staff association chairman at work (kind of like a shop steward but without the union), so that keeps me busy. We managed to see a few shows this year – the ones that stand out are a new version of ‘Rent’ which I loved, and Macbeth staring Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame).

For those if you who are interested and have a few hours to kill, a few sites of interest.

To see some photos of the previous year, visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philboze and for our wedding photos (official and from others) http://www.flickr.com/photos/philandscottgetmarried/
And if you’re wondering what all this rugby club stuff is about, you can visit our official site at: http://www.kxsrfc.com

Oh, and like millions of other people, I’m on Facebook…so go on, ‘poke me’!

Scott and I hope this letter finds you happy and healthy and we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic Near Year!

Happy Holidays!!

Guess It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Oh my, I seemed to missed out September completely...frankly I've not been that inspired to blog recently. I don't know why, perhaps once I turn 40 (in a few days) I'll suddenly be inspired to write about my life experiences having reached such a momentous age, but I doubt it.

However today, I'm having a winge. If I did a blog where I did nothing but have a moan, I'd no doubt have many more entries. I think I'm turning into an old man, a la Victor Meldrew, which maybe isn't a bad thing, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

On the bus home today, yet again my ears were subjected to horrible tinny noise pollution in the form of a stupid teenager who no doubt thought she was so cool by playing music through the speaker of her mobile phone.

I would love to meet the person who came up with this idea in the first place. Why did they think any music would sound good through such a small speaker that was designed simply to play a sound (or annoying ring tone) to let you know you have a call or text?

The most sublime rendition of Nessun Dorma would sound like fingernails being dragged along a chalkboard when played through a mobile phone. I really don't know why these kids do it except they have no appreciation for audio quality nor do they have any fucking manners.

If you're walking down the street, I suppose it's not so bad to have your mobile wailing some gangster rap shit, but I honestly cannot comprehend why this socially inept twats need to subject everyone on the bus to their horrible taste in music.

Of course no one ever says anything to these cretins for fear of being verbally or physically abused within an inch of their life. I can only suggest everyone who has a phone that can play music to start playing theirs - best put on opera or classical music or something they wouldn't understand and maybe they would get the idea.

At the very least I would love to see the bus drivers to refuse to board people who have music playing or stop the bus until they stop their music.

I know there's devices out there that will jam the signal of a mobile phone, but I would love to know if there's one that will stop music from being played. I would pay over the odds for something like that.

I'm sure there's been loads of blogs about this, but I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way.

effing Blogger

I would like to apologise for the lack of carriage returns in my previous post. Things were going fine until I added a photo. Then Blogger decided to put two extra blank lines between every paragraph.

Of course, this is bad. I tried to fix it. Foolish me. I didn't work.

I tried removing all the stupid coding beind the page and it didn't work. Can someon please tell me why Blogger uses [div] tags for new paragraphs? What's wrong with the good old [p] for fuck's sake.

I'd forgotten about this annoyance and now remember it was one of the reasons I stopped blogging for a few months - it was just too much effort to go back and fix everything once my train of thought had arrived at the station and it's passengers disembarked.

If you know why Blogger does this, please enlighten me. I emailed their support ages ago and never got an answer.

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck!

Show Me The (Too Much?) Money!

The recent announcement about the UK's biggest lottery winner (just over £35m) put me in mind of a conversation I had about a year or so ago with some people about winning the lottery.

The story on everyone's lips at the time was the huge £100m+ jackpot in the Euromillions lottery. I even spent twenty quid on tickets for that one and I hardly ever play the lottery (but am in a pool at work).

Just about everyone involved in the conversation was saying that they would never want to win £100m - it's just too much money. They would be happy with one or two million, but that huge amount is just too much - they wouldn't know what to do with it.I think I shocked them all when I said I'd love to win £100m. They thought I was mad and even a bit greedy.

Well, I replied back and said I think them saying they would only want one or two million instead of one hundred million pounds was selfish. In part, if they didn't want to win that much money, why did they all buy tickets and reduce MY chances of winning the big prize?

Now putting aside all the arguments for and against national lotteries, the fact remains the potential for a huge life changing win, however small, is there for anyone who buys a ticket.

Now the reason I said I would love to win the £100m is simply because not only would it change my life for the better (and of course create other problems too), but I would be able to help so many other people with the money.

No one really needs £100m all to themselves to ensure they live a comfortable care free life. I know I don't. Ten million would do it for me, so that leaves 90 million for me to pay off family and friend's mortgages, pay for a fab first class holiday for everyone - Necker Island anyone?. Then there's all the charities you could help or maybe help fund scholarships for your old high school and univerisites.

There's just so much GOOD you could do with a huge pile of cash like that. Yes, I'll be honest and say I'd allow myself a million pounds from that 100 million and go mad. I mean, why the hell not? You only live once and money like that will never come around again, so enjoy it!

I've always wanted a huge house with a pool and cinema, bowling alley etc, and by gawd, I'd have it too...but with all those things, you can still only use them one at a time (well, maybe an underwater bowling alley!), so once the 'stuff' is out of the way, I'd go out and spread the wealth.

My job from that point would be ensuring the rest of the money is put to very good use to help others.

Once I explained all that to them they got the picture - mumbles of 'good idea' and 'oh, I never thought of it that way', and a 'jeez, that's too much work, just give me a few million and I'll be on my way'. Well, there's always one isn't there?

So the next time you or someone else thinks a lottery jackpot is just too much money to win, please think again....or I'm liable to give you a smack and take away your ticket.

Drop Kicked off the Blogroll!

Oh dear. It has been some time since my last post. I keep meaning to update it and then get distracted by looking at porn other things on the internet. Lately I've been spending too much time on Facebook. Yes, I've succumbed like many other people and am now poking, prodding, throwing sheep at and sending / replying to messages that start with 'remember me?'.

Mostly it's all in good fun....I know enough to limit my profile info to strangers, but you can't stop people from trying to add you as friends. I've had one or two send friend requests that I didn't like years ago when I had to be around them, so why would I want to be on-line friends with them now? I just click the ignore button - so much easier than telling them to fuck off really. Plus, I'm too polite to say something like that.

Looking at my last post, it was all about the stag night. Well, things moved on since then and I'm married! Woohoo! I keep planning to do a day by day blog for everyone who wanted to know what when on (and for my one memory too) - I even have all the notes right here beside my PC - *waves paper*. Still, I haven't done it, but it's written down.

For those of you who want the short / abridged / Coles Notes / Readers Digest version, here it goes.

Had the stag night - it was fab. Got the telly delivered a week before the wedding. It's beautiful (now have a new PC attached to it as well, so it's great for going through all our photos, music, and porn other stuff).

Got to Victoria on Monday evening, welcomed by all the family and settled in. Got fitted for tuxes the next day, did some shopping, went to the hotel and met our photographer (*phwoar!*) and generally did wedding stuff.

Met up with some of our London friends at an Irish bar (they are everywhere), talked about Canada - first time for many of them, drank and laughed. Thursday did the rehersal - and figured out what went where etc.

Friday - got married. Fantastic day, lovely speeches by everyone - and from all reports most people thought it was the best wedding they'd been to. I should hope so - us gay boys know how to put on a party. Of course, it would have been not so great if my parents had not helped organise so much of it. They even put on a big party on the Sunday at their home for everyone.

Tuesday, me and my new husband flew out to Las Vegas and stayed in the Luxor Hotel. Wow - what a place that is, both the hotel and the city. Truly a playground for grownups. Didn't win big, but had fun playing the slots, wandering around and being tourists. Even made it to the Liberace Museum! woohoo! It's a long bloody walk from the strip, that's for sure. We took the shuttle bus back.

Oh, and Jason from Krave was a rather lovely highlight. Shame the girl who spilled a drink on me never got around to sending me a picture of the two of us with him. She was so drunk she probably drank my business card with my email. It was the only time we didn't take the camera. Oh well....

Had a few days in Vancouver, met up with friends there then it was all over and back to London with a few more days off.

My parents visited in July for two weeks as they were coming for our post London party which was an enormous success - almost 100 people there with a drag queen for a bit of cabaret thrown in for fun. All our gay friends were most annoyed as they told us 'we'd set the bar rather high' and they'd have to try and outdo us. Even my best man, Jason told me he was not pleased as 'he's the one that throws great parties.' Trust me, that is quite a compliment coming from him.

So now it's summer....well, that what the calendar says, but for the most part the weather in London has been rather crap. We've had two nice warm weekends so far, but that's it. At least it was nothing but warm sunshine for Brighton Pride - all those disco bunnies got their disco tits out!

So, in a nutshell that's what I've been up to. The comment in the previous blog is from one of my favourite bloggers - he's dumping people off his blogroll that haven't been blogging for at least two months. So that's prompted me into action. Mind you, he took a break for more than two months...although he did announce it...whereas I've just mostly been lazy, and at times stuck for words - which really is not like me at all.

So must do better. We'll see. But Big Brother is on now, so must run.

Yes, I'm that sad.

Stags 'n Fags

The countdown to matrimony started last night. It was the stag party, rather, 'sten' party - a combination of 'stag' and 'hen', although there were no women at the event, there were lots of 'girls', 24 gay men and one straight guy thrown in for good measure. In addition, it was a party for both me and Scooter as we have so many friends in common, we didn't think it was fair to subject them to two expensive evenings, esp. since many of them will be flying to Canada for our wedding. As far as I know, only two people had to cancel, one as he had the flu, the other as he was too tired from working late the night before.

We started off at our local Soho pub, the Duke of Wellington aka 'The Welly' at 6pm. Jason, my best man, had an area upstairs reserved with lovely balloons and we arrived there just after six. We had a few pints whilst some of the guys arrived, lots of 'mwahs' and well wishes. We hopped into a cab about an hour later, not knowing our destination. All I knew was it involved bowling as someone spilled the beans a few days later.

We arrived at London's County Hall, just on the other side of the Thames to Big Ben. Inside is Namco Station, a huge arcade with bowling alleys, dodgem cars, video games and everything in between. We had an area roped off to eat and drink and exclusive use of six lanes for almost three hours. The lanes were 'short' and you didn't need proper bowling shoes, so it made for an interesting experience as several people found out when they fell flat on their faces forgetting they couldn't 'slide' on the lane. No serious harm done, although one person broke a nail! Shock horror!

I lost count of the number of games I played, but I think my best score was about 157, but towards the end, after several drinks, no one cared and was bowling between their legs, backwards and any other silly way they could play.

Jason had also arranged a huge bag of tokens so we could drive like maniacs on the dodgem cars. Apparently they are the fastest ones in Europe and I believe it! You really zoomed around, and of course, it make for some extremely violent collisions. We were all rather banged and bruised by the end of it, but it was great fun!

Just before we left, everyone gathered together and Jason presented us with a card signed by a number of the guys - they had al pooled their money together and bought a flat screen telly! A Sony Bravia one to be exact! (Had it delievered on the Tuesday - it's fantastic!). We were surprised and over the moon with such a lovely gift.

After that, about a dozen of us headed off to XXL to drink and dance the night away. Jason had got us on the guest list, so we didn't have to queue up, or pay. The management even had a really nice bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us.

Scooter and I finally left there around 3:30am, got a cab home and were in bed by 4:30. Sunday of course, was pretty much a total write off, but had a fantastic evening with a fantastic bunch of mates.

So, a HUGE thanks to my best man Jason for organising a great night for me and Scooter, and thanks to everyone who came along, namely: Jason, Paul B, David, Matthew, BHP, Garret (in absentia, but contributed to the telly), Nigel, Davey, Kevin, Keith, Gareth, Albert, Jez, Will, Shaun, Neil, Blake, Gavin, Jeffrey, Justin, and Ricky. You're all a great bunch of mates and we're glad you were able to take part in the fun!

Price Check on the Idiot on Till 3 Please

Some people really have no clue about technology. Even the most simple things confound them.

I was in my local branch of 'chav'DA yesterday evening after picking up my new gym membership card. I only had a few items in my basket so decided to use the self-checkout they recently introduced there. Now, I'm a veteran at these things - I use them whenever I can - at Tesco, Sainsbury etc. They save time, I don't have to talk to a surly checkout clerk who looks like they should still be in playschool and, I have to admit, it's kind of fun to play checkout girl for real.

But today, several people were obviously unclear on the concept. Honestly. Scan item, place in bag. Scan next item, place in bag. Lather, rinse, repeat. The computer even tells you what to do in a polite English accent.

That might be the problem. Maybe it should be a bit more forceful and say things like "point the barcode at the red-laser thingie you moron", in a really loud voice so everyone can hear you.

If you get it wrong three times, a siren should go off, and the screen should read "Sorry, it appears you are unable to correctly press a button in an elevator, let alone use our made-for-idiots software! Please jump under the nearest bus on your way out."

So after what seemed like an hour of rolling my eyes and 'tutting' under my breath (I'm so British now), it's my turn. I stroll confidently towards the checkout thinking, I'll show these technologically challenged people how it's done.

I scan my freshly made pizza - "Please scan your item BEOFRE you placed it in the bag". Ooops. Maybe I went too fast. I forgot the sort of clientelle they normally market towards in that shop. I scan it again and place it in the bag. Hurrah.

I scan in my Special K Red Berries. "Item not recognized". I try again. Same thing. Grrr. Luckily there's someone there running the whole thing and can bypass my till from hers. So she does....after every single item I scan. Of course, now I'm swearing under my breath, and then utter F*CK after the third time I try to swipe my Visa card.

What should have been a stress free checkout is now hell with everyone looking at me thinking I'm one of those people I mentioned earlier. But I'm in IT I think to myself...I know what to do - I could reprogramme these things to charge me a penny for everything I scan dammit.

I finally pay and get my receipt. I notice the self scan till two along from me is out of order. The screen is very clearly broken, and I don't mean a scratch or crack. The pattern of the breakage can only suggest someone got very fed up and slammed their tin of baked beans into it.

I know how they feel.

Four Weeks and Counting!

Four weeks on Friday I'll be hitched. I'll have the old ball and chain tied to my ankle. I'll officially have 'an other half'. I can't believe it's almost here.

It's all becoming more and more real as time goes by, especially since our gift list at John Lewis is open and people have bought things already! We got 'stuff' woo hoo! Of course, the wedding isn't about presents, but they certainly don't hurt either now, do they?

All but two people have replied now, but I still couldn't believe how much 'chasing up' we had to do to get people to give us an answer. It's annoying - do they think weddings just magically happen? Maybe the think the 'wedding fairy' waves her magic wand or something.

Well, we have our own wedding fairy in the form of my Mom and Dad - there's no way in hell's bathroom (sorry, I heard that line on 'Everyone Loves Raymond' the other day and it made me laugh) that we could pull off this whole shindig without them.

It is stressful being thousands of miles away however and not being able to be directly involved, but it's the best we can do and I know it will be ok on the day.

The hotel - The Laurel Point Inn looks lovely and is in the picture above. Oh, we would like to thank them for changing the menus and uping the price by five bucks a head. Grrr. Still, it's too late now to do anything about it, but the food should be fabulous.

Not only is this taking place, but two days later, my parents are having a party at their home for everyone. I can imagine my Mom's house is filled with lists upon lists. And lists to make lists about making lists. And more lists after that. She is so organised, it's amazing.

On the London side, we're planning a reception here in July for all our UK friends and family. Many will have been to the wedding as well, but this is more about those who were not able to make it, or those that we didn't invite to the wedding for one reason or another.

I found out last night my parents will be coming to London for that party, so not only will be sorting that out, but getting the house in order to pass my mom's white glove test! OK, she's not that bad at all, but I want the place to look perfect. I really am my mother's son in that way. I think I get the 'stress' factor from my Dad and my maternal grandmother.

Genes...who'd have 'em eh?

But all in all, it will be a good few days...I hope!

RSVP GOD DAMMIT!

About ten weeks from now I will no longer be a single man. I'm sure if you asked my partner, he would be able to tell you just how many weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds there are to go. He's THAT excited, bless his cotton socks!

I'm excited too I must admit and more than a little nervous. I'm not nervous about saying "I Do" but just nervous and FUCKING STRESSED about everything that needs to be done. Luckily the major bits are all done and dusted, thanks in a very large part to my parents in my home town without whom we wouldn't be able to pull this shingdig off.

What I can't fathom is how slow the invitation replies are in coming back. Maybe because the wedding is on a Friday afternoon and people need to get the day, or very least, the afternoon off work, but we sent them about in January. It is now March 7th and we put April 5th as the deadline for replies. We even included self addressed stamped envelopes (in all but a few to far reaching climes) to encourage people to reply. I mean, they didn't even have to queue in the post office for a stamp or waste valuable spit on sealing the envelopes. They are peel 'n stick. Plus we put pretty little star stickers on them....ooh shiney!

Still, we get a 'verbal' sorry, or an email instead. Fine, I'd rather have that than nothing at all, but for everyone who got an inviation...please, post the reply back to us. We went to great effort and expense...and would really appreciate you taking a moment to send the reply back in the correct fashion.

We realise, at least for our UK friends, the trip to Canada is a very long way and not a cheap trip either. But, we are planning on holding a party in London in the summer to celebrate with our UK chums. Those who got an invite to the wedding will also get an invite to the party....that is, if they've taken the time to reply to the wedding invite.

If you've NOT yet replied, please do so NOW, don't leave it until the very last day. Weddings don't organise themselves, and the total number of people attending is rather an important thing to know, especially if you want feeding after the ceremony and at my parent's party two days later.

I know I'm being whiney, but have to get it off my chest. I also know hardly anyone who has been invited actually reads my blog. I guess I'm just stressed about the whole thing and wish everyone would reply right away even though I know it's not possible for that to happen. It's out of my control, which I hate.

Some might say, 'calm down dear, it's only a wedding...it's not like you're planning to invade a country'.

They're right. Invading a country would be far easier and at least you don't have to worry about the catering.

WWWhere Do WWWe Go Next?

The internet is cool. It's 'neat-o'. It's the dog bollocks it is.

I've thought so since day I discovered it. Working in IT, I've been lucky to see the growth from a 'fad' to pretty much a way of life for a large part of the world. I remember building my first website in NOTEPAD, using only 'HTML in Seven Days' as my guide. I kind of fell into it - someone at work said, I think we would benefit from one of this web page thingies - why don't you do it - you're good with computers? And so it began. I had the first web site out there for the rather large organisation in which I work as well as the first internet as well. Hell, if you've picked up some of the booklets from a certain department within the organisation, chances are some of the design elements are based on what I did a number of years ago.

But I digress...I think the evolution of the internet is extremely interesting, exciting, and a little bit frightening too. From simple little websites to giants like Amazon, Ebay, MySpace and Blogger. You can run your life without ever having to leave your house. You can ruin your life without ever having to leave your house. I met the man of my dreams thanks to the internet and there's no way in hell we would be able to plan our wedding in Canada if it wasn't for the magic of the web.

I wonder if Tim Berners-Lee had any idea what his little creation would become....and where it would go next. And to me, that's the exciting bit - where are we taking the internet, and where is it taking us?

This marvellous video has some interesting ideas about that.





Makes you think don't it?