Is it plugged in Sir?

The highlight of Christmas Day TV has often been the double act Christmas special. Morecambe and Wise were the pace setters, with the Two Ronnies inheriting the mantel further down the line. Del Boy and Rodney took the tradition to the next level in Only Fools and Horses, after which Christmas television had deteriorated to such an extent that reality TV is seen as worthy of one of the prime slots.

I was, therefore, encouraged to see that an 80th birthday tribute to Ronnie Corbett was scheduled this year. It was, however, a poor imitation of the Two Ronnies format, with only a tinge of humour being evident in James Corden's attempt at a Ronnie Barker monologue, and this quite brilliant restyling of the 'Four Candles' hardware store sketch.

It was the first sketch of the programme so see it here and it will save you the pain of watching the rest of the show.

Lets hope its a permanent good night from him.

Deep and crisp and even

We were only in the pub about 90 minutes on Friday night,

but it was nearly enough time to get snowed in. There was not a flake when we arrived, but we then had the surreal experience of watching the landscape turn silky white before our eyes.

Yes we could have stayed longer and maybe experienced a lock in, but sense prevailed and we trudged home to our traditional take away curry. That in itself was almost a no go as the lads in the shop were very reluctant to deliver it, however, as we are regular users and not too far away from the restaurant they did the biz.

The weather scuppered our plans for a game of golf though.

What did you say?

One of the joys of linking modern technology and working practice is the ability to work from home. I do it a lot myself , and to be honest I go stir crazy when, for long periods of time I have no face to face contact.
The postman tries his best to pass the time of day, as does the lad in the paper shop, but at the end of the day there is no substitute for water cooler conversations. (Another Americanism to quietly infiltrate the English language)

I wonder whether, if I were to install one in the front wall of the house, people would stop and have a chat about interesting day to day matters like the X Factor results, Coronation Streets 4 deaths and a wedding, or the student riots. It may become famous as the 21st Century answer to the horse trough.

Without such a vehicle around which to base my daily people time I am forced to use the medium of conference calling to communicate with people. This clip shows the problems that can throw up.

So I hear you cry, I really must get out more, however, with expense cutbacks limiting travel, the local Post Office closed down, and my health being such that a visit to the local surgery would be seen as lead swinging, I am resigned to talking to myself, and we've had a good day today haven't we old son?

Itchycoo Park

Waterloo bridge has a series of metal plaques indicating to tourists, the sights they can see as they stroll across it. Sadly they are targeted quite regularly by vandals, and that is a pity, as Waterloo bridge is a micro climate for London street scenes.

as i wandered across the bridge last night though, I realised that I didn't really need the plaques as an aide memoir. There to the left were the obvious ones, the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. They were then easing the eye into the MOD and MAFF buildings.

I have danced on the roof of the MOD when it was a regular after rugby haunt for us, and our connections. This was around 1980 so I suspect thirty years on it would be a harder feat to achieve. I remember Stan the Man answering the 'Batphone' when it rang in the toilet, which nearly caused a major diplomatic incident.

The MAFF building, which is probably called Defra now, has been regularly photographed from St James Park, where it gives the impression of a Russian landscape akin to those seen in Moscow.

Further round still on the left are the Savoy and Shell Mex house. Then facing you on the right hand side is Somerset House with its magnificent skating rink, Kings Bollege as Monty Python fans call it, and then the whole panorama of the City of London and Canary Wharf.

Closer to home is the OXO tower, Alan Sugars IBM building and the National Theatre.

There is a Wellington pub not too far from each end of the bridge, and with the station to the South and the delights of Covent Garden on the North side, it really is a thoroughfare to grace any major City.

Its just a swine to navigate at rush hour when you are going the 'wrong' way!!!

Heave....

Goodness me its a bit chilly up here in Scouseland. That said, it was definitely brass monkey weather in London on Saturday. I am seriously in need of a spot welder.

I took it on myself to take the lads to Twickenham en masse, as the opportunity presented itself. So both sons, Tim and Kieran together with my nephew Matthew wrapped up warm and set off.....except Matthew but more of that later.

First stop had to be the Prince Blucher to allow the two boys a beer before kick-off. Then it was the standard hike through the Stoop to the ground and a chance for Kieran and Matthew to see their first England international game.

England got battered up front, and seemed unable to do anything about it. I still do wonder whether a plod at the helm is the right intellectual leadership criteria, and maybe new chief executive, John Steele , may think Johnno and Rob Andrew need some more help. It seems, though, that the latter is in more danger of dismissal.

With the game over it was back to the Blucher for more amber nectar, some friendly chit chat and back to our respective abodes.

So, Matthew was having his first taste of Twickenham and indicated that he had a good time. I did wonder though. The lad is only 12 and was at an all night party on the Friday ( well 22:30 which probably seemed like all night, I know it is for me these days!!), then he went to a paint ball party at 09:00 Saturday morning in Swindon, then to the match, then home.

He turned down the opportunity to wear his coat at the match as it is not cool to be so dressed up, I can't help thinking there is a Newcastle United supporter in their waiting to get out. That or he was hoping to catch a cold and have a few days off school in the snow.

Anyway, a good time was had by all, and when Matthews dad MSN'd us on the Sunday morning from Afghanistan I was able to tell him his son had been Bluchered, but the chance of turning him from a Wales fan to England had not worked so well due to the result. He indicated that it was good training for following the Dragon in the coming season of 6 Nations games. We shall see.

As part of the evening entertainment we searched out a few YouTube video's. Check out this one, a history of music in 3 minutes.

trouble at mill

The variants of the English language, and the dialects associated with different cultures and regions was brought home to me at the weekend.

We had flyer from a new curry house through the door, the Himalaya, and they had some interesting sounding dishes on the menu. Consequently we decided to give it a go at the weekend.

SWMBO had her usual biriyani, with madras hot sauce, and I by way of a change ordered the Chicken Naga.

It took ages to arrive and I had to ring to remind them, not a good sign. Eventually the food arrived and the biriyani looked great, but imagine my suprise when instead of Chicken Naga I opened up Chicken nuggets and chips.
When I rang up again they said they had trouble understanding my accent...great, like, ay pal.....

"Parker?" "Yes m'lady"

A school in Stockport has withdrawn the use of fountain pens from their students as the school scanners are struggling to interpret the decimal point in maths papers.

Is this the end of yet another traditional and important aspect of communication, the hand written letter or report?

I have been a keen fountain pen fan, from times far back where I am fast struggling to remember. My father had a classic gold cased Parker pen and pencil set, and signed his name in a flourish which resembled a caterpillar, the P of Paul being the head, and the continuation with a (for Alexander) and weathers with a small w making up the body.

I had several pens presented to me on my 21st birthday, the Parker with the italic nib I still have 35 years later. It was a present from the kind couple who lived below us in the flat in Balham when I was a student which I shared with three other chaps.

I have wheeled and dealed fountain pens on eBay over the years, selling some I have found about the house and some acquired from car boot sales. Parker continues to be the sought after brand, although Cross are a more modern collectible, and Mont Blanc have more recently established themselves as market leaders in the 'poseur' market populated by estate agents and bankers.

That said, each of our children was presented with a Mont Blanc fountain pen for their 18th birthday, and I do have one which I use myself for special communications. On a day to day basis I use a Lamy or one of my two Rotring Core pens. They are all cartridge powered now, although i do still have an ink converter for the Parker.

There is still no better sight than seeing a hand written envelope in the daily post tray, an image which leads to it being the first item opened. I do hope the fountain pen survives into the future, I wd h8 it 2 b ex'd

Careful, careful.....

I am delighted the Savoy is reopening in stages over the next few weeks, and will make the point of dining in the Grill and having a few cocktails in the Thames bar when I am in town and able to do so.

It always fascinated me as a lad that Savoy Street was, and still is, the only street in London where traffic drives on the right hand side of the road. It was to ensure the drivers could alight on the pavement and open the door for their clientele to do the same.

Such style.

Bah! bumbug!

I don't believe it. Two Christmas trees have just been erected in one of the offices I am using in London. Our finance team have a weird approach to the festive season and seem to do this sort of thing every year.

Its gloriously sunny outside, and here I am faced with one artificial and one real tree. They have even started humming carols as bemused salesmen and women look on with expressions crying out 'get a life chaps'

I am a bit of a stickler at home, having educated the kids to mention Christmas only after bonfire night has passed, but with the increasing commercialisation of the festive season by department stores and the like it has been a struggle. The rule used to be that anything they asked for before 5th November they would not get.

After a few tantrums, they soon worked out that the stuff they definitely did not want was the stuff they asked for early...crafty buggers.

Anyway, the turkey and tinsel season has definitely started early here, I must hang my stocking up.

Tarmac yer path guv?

We are very nearly the owners of a brand new kitchen. It has been a long journey , about two months in total, and we still await the covings from Poland, via Spain....yes really, and a new tap to replace the leaking one. Then I think we are done.

We are awaiting chairs from IKEA, they were out of stock when we ordered them, but are now available in store, but as we ordered by mail order they have to come from their main distribution centre in Rotherham. Oh well lets hope the wait is worth it.

We next need to sort out the bathrooms which are all well old and starting to develop problems. We need to sort them out before we can redecorate, much like the roof.

I would like to do a bit of work on the swimming pool as that is also in need of attention, so I dropped into CRS a pool company near Tarpoley to see if they had been the initial installation company. They were singularly unhelpful and asked me all the questions I was hoping they would have the answers to. I was firing buying signals at them all the time but they were totally oblivious to them, so have lost any chance they had of getting the refurbishing contract. Given pool maintenance companies are few and far between though, I will have to do some more research.

The highlight of the redevelopment so far though has been the work paving Dave and his mate Tony have done to turn our front path from a sloping Winter death trap into a fine set of steps which match in with the patio and house character very well....they are about to grout all the flags at the mo but are getting frustrated by the constant rain fall which is slowing them down.

I call him paving Dave as the kitchen fitters have Dave the sparks, Dave the tiles and Dave the odd job man, far too many Daves!

Four men on a raft

August Bank Holiday at the moment means only one thing to us, the annual Bampton raft race. This is the third year we have participated and we feel quite proud of the fact that we have revitalised the race and seen a marked increase in participants.

This year though it took a bit of a step backwards as the village was divided as to how it should be managed. The crew who have done it for years served notice of their retirement a couple of years ago, so this time there was no entry fee, no starter, no b-b-q or bar at the end, and no presentation of trophies. It all left a bot of a taste in the mouth, over and above that of the river!

Hopefully next year they will have their act together and it will be another true village event. We are already into costume design, with jolly jack tar's the theme for 2011. we have won the best dressed raft title twice in three years so need to keep up appearances.

The race itself was gruelling with the river too low to paddle the whole way. Pulling the raft along the river bed for several hundred yards put the lashings and our stamina to the test. i have to say our stamina stood up tot he task better.

Our thanks go to the ladies raft members who we overtook in the final stages, to avoid being last. We really do need to give some thought to a low draught raft for next time.

Dust, dust and more dust

My B-i-L has just completed his first month of the six month tour of Afghanistan, and has seen the best and worst the theatre has to offer.

There have been three vigils while he has been there, a time when the whole base turns out to see of the coffins of the fallen prior to their repatriation, there have been seven such fatalities so far. There is a religious farewell followed by a mates eulogy, then the minutes silence and the salvo of gun fire. Even reading about it, and transcribing it here sends a chill through the blood.

The medical facilities for the wounded sound first rate, and it is often the seriously maimed who survive, but do not get the press and publicity at our end, who face the hardest battle as they struggle to re-establish themselves outside of the force. Thankfully charities like 'Help for Hero's' and others are starting to make a difference as they strive to help both the personnel and places like Headley Hall where the rehabilitation process begins.

On the more positive side of his tour, he seems to have found a batman, in old speak, who is a bit like Radar in Mash, and can acquire a wide and varied selection of items, both military and civilian , all of which make like a little bit more bearable. He also now has access passes to the Swedish and American compounds giving him a wider choice of restaurants to visit....steak and lobster tails in the US base, and the best coffee in the area from the Swedes.

Communication with the outside world seems good, and we regularly exchange e-mails. He has shoe box size parcels which arrive periodically with malt loaf and maltesers being amongst his requested treats. He also has something called an e-bluey, but I think I will save the explanation of that for another blog entry.

Wheeler dealer

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has been featured in the tabloids recently for his alleged dalliances with members of the fairer sex, usually of the blond persuasion. This may well be getting him the nickname 'Boris the Bike'

Boris has, however, lent his name to another closely related colloquialism which is springing up around London, namely Boris Bikes. These contraptions are traditional sit up and beg style cycles positioned at docking stations around London and are designed to collect and drop at various places as you make your way around town. They are sponsored by Barclays who must be somewhat disappointed that they are not referred to as Barclay bikes.

The first 30 minutes of a hire is free, there on after a sliding charge applies . Some local authorities are reluctant to embrace the scheme, and a few well to do suburbs are resisting the planning applications for their streets, however the ones I have seen do not appear intrusive in the slightest, and with bike storage and security, a problem for flat owners I would have thought this is a great addition to the capitols transport system.

I am about to register for my dongle and may then try the system on the more quiet back lanes of London as my cycling skills are equivalent to those of a 6 or 7 year old, given I never owned one as a kid. The scheme does not supply helmets either, so we will see how I go.

As an aside, I have noticed an increase in privately owned sit up and beg bikes, mostly used by good looking women, maybe Boris is on some sort of alternative scheme with them too!!

Jaws IV

I have become a loan shark. I have ventured into it for a bit of fun and to see if there is an easy way to make money. It's through a web site called Zopa. You tell them how much you want to invest and give them a target rate of return and they do the rest.

I have stipulated a maximum loan of £30 per person and Zopa put together thousands of people to meet the requirement of a borrower. This is designed to minimise your risk. So at the moment I have interest in about twenty loans and am awaiting the interest rolling . You can also look at specific requests and loan as much or as little as you want against it. Most borrowers are looking for loan consolidation, a new car or some business venture funding and interest rates they are prepared to pay range from 5 to 15%. The borrowers are graded like A levels, from A* to C, and the lower the rating the more likely there will be some bad debt associated with them.

So I am up and running and all my borrowers are in the A* bracket, it will be interesting to see how it maps out. Find out more here http://uk.zopa.com/member/witherspoons you may fancy a dabble. I notice it featured in today's Daily telegraph, and with commercial rates lower that 3% it should be of interest !

Bob.....

Its the demolition and construction season up North. The house has had a leaky roof since we have owned it, and a series of patch ups has finally proved insufficient. So the decision was taken to do some major gully and leading work.

The roof is a mile high and surrounded by trees so it proved to be a challenge for the scaffolders. They managed to get access for the roofers, but these hardy chaps had to work in the wind and the rain for the most part.

Still it has been completed and only ran one day over schedule. That was in no small part due to them working long hours to get the job done.

Now compare that with project II, the kitchen. After several weeks of planning, the work started two weeks ago, when the old kitchen was ripped out. These lads though are from the school of short days. A 10am start and a 3pm finish has not been unusual, and they have popped off to do other snagging elsewhere on occasions.

That's all very well except that we are living out of take-away boxes, with a kettle and microwave as back-up, and yesterday SWMBO got upset over it all. not a good idea.

So, today there are workmen everywhere. The new units are almost completed, the tiler is around wanting to know which ones we want, the plumber has been and the sparks will be here tomorrow. SWMBO now revelling in her Cruella De Vil role, nobody is safe, but then we know that already!!

How!

A blast from the past landed on my desk at the weekend, an i-Spy book. It was presented free in the Daily Mail, and is sponsored by Michelin.

I grew up surrounded by i-Spy books. Each book covered a subject such as i-Spy Cars, on the Pavement, Churches, on a Train Journey, and so on. They were particularly successful in the 1950s and 1960s.

There were roughly forty small volumes that sold in hundreds of thousands. As we children spotted objects such as coal hole covers, oak trees, semaphore signals, fire engines, whelks, and so on, they were recorded in the relevant book, and gained points. Once the book was complete, it could be sent to Big Chief i-Spy for a feather and order of merit.

I can't remember sending any off myself, although I know friends did, and some had quite a collection of feathers.

The particular volume I received was 'on a car journey' and I have just missed the ideal opportunity to test drive it, so to speak. Yesterday I picked up my nephew, Matthew, from Swindon and we drove up to Scouseland. Once we had caught up on news and exhausted our other conversation he settled into his i-Pod and I listened to a bit of the cricket. It was only as we slowed down due to weight of Sunday traffic that I suggested we might play a car game, but with a lack of yellow cars and pub signs, nothing came of it.

As we approached Southport there was a queue of vintage and custom kit cars leaving the annual WoodVale car show. I notice there is and i-Spy book on vintage cars, so we might have ticked a few of those off.

The i-Spy book, I now have, however, would have been ideal for the longer journey as we could have searched out roadworks signs, police cars, flags, planes and a lot more. It seems as if they have combined many of the older categories into the one volume but is seems to work, so we might give it a go on the return journey next week.

Toot toot!

A week is a long time......

There has been a lot going on.

The World Cup got the final it deserved. It was by far the least exciting I can remember, and in some of the better ones, England failed to qualify , so their early exit was not a contribution. It was just dull football. The final was awful, enough said.

The Government seem to be tackling a few aspects of society which I have written about before. The classic, though, is their plan to introduce two year degree courses. Given the first year of a degree course is usually tailored to educating the dim and dimmer in the basics they should have learnt at school, why don't they just call the two year course 'A' levels, and be done with it?

The people of Rothbury must now be mightily relieved the siege of their village has ended. The police were clearly influenced by earlier events in Cumbria and could not risk a further massacre. The subsequent photo opportunities at the death site and on-line hero worship was way over the top and correctly condemned by our Prime Minister.

He is right on track again this week with his views on health and safety, school trip restrictions and the general nanny State initiatives which have spread through society. If he can reintroduce controlled danger for the next generation of inquisitive kids, he will be doing well.

Real and present danger does, of course, still exist in Afghanistan as demonstrated almost daily. With our brother-in-law about to embark on his tour of duty at the weekend, there could be many long weeks ahead.

Goodluck Jonathan

I have been running or jogging the streets for years. I tried to tie it in with my rugby training and then continued the habit once my playing days were behind me.

The most common route was a road run of just over 2.5 miles from and to Gunnersbury Station via Acton Town and Chiswick Park. In days gone by I could do it in about 20 minutes although I suspect today I would struggle to do it in less than 28.

I do wonder, though, whether it was doing me more harm than good, given that recent figures indicate 18 people a year die in Chiswick as a result of air pollution. I did move to running in the gym after I had my respiratory scare some years ago, and now that I am in Scouseland, I am able to run round Birkenhead Park and Wirral Ladies golf club which are havens of fresh air, by comparison.

Sunday saw the local Race for Life take place in said Park, and the girls, Hannah, Emma and Becky were able to complete the course in under 30 mins, with SWMBO managing a creditable 32 minutes, a little quicker than last year. Given her knee is shot and she is under the knife this week it was an excellent effort.

As with last year though I had to run the route to see how I would have done, and the answer is not too well. I went round today in 37.40. that was two minutes quicker than last weeks effort round the golf course, but still someway off my target of 35mins.

So its back on the treadmill for some serious training....the 10K in September, my one concession to Chiswick air quality, is looking a distant effort at the moment as I have 75mins to beat at that one

And the Rosslyn Park forwards all whisper 'heal'

So farewell Andy Ripley
A true gentleman of the finest order
A bohemian rugby player
He mucked around in boats
Was a true Superstar
And always had a good word for everyone
I ran in the Sunday Times fun run in Hyde Park with him and
I met him on the towpath at Chiswick one day in 2006
He was always a fighter, but in a very English way
It was hard to imagine he was ill
As a World class No8
That heavenly rugby team just got stronger

Going once, going twice.....

I have just had two fab days up in Scotland playing golf at Turnberry, the 2009 Open Championship course. I played the Ailsa twice, and am pleased to report that the game held up well and I was part of the winning team, and came third individually, with my second round 86 being as good as I have played for a while.

I am a bit of a golf anorak, so on my return home I was able to check my golf logbooks and identify that in 1989 when i last played the Ailsa course I went round in 98. My handicap was 19 in those days, and we had played the Arran ( now Kintyre) course in the morning. Progress is progress, however, and for that I am thankful.

In that week during 1989 we played 36 holes round Prestwick Old Links, Kilmarnock Barassie, and 18 holes round Troon and Largs. These days 18 is enough both from the stamina perspective and for the fact golf seems to take longer to play.

At Turnberry people started batting off at 06:30 and the last crew we saw on the 18th was 22:15, so they probably started about 18:30. That's twelve hours golf with average 20 people per hour paying £125 each. £30,000 per day just from the one course.

I only had one embarrassment. You know when you see somebody you think you know, either from the pub or work or somewhere else social, well that happened to me. When I confronted the innocent chap it turned out to be Philip Searle from The Antiques Road Show, and Bargain Hunt. What a pleasant chap he turned out to be, just there for the craic like the rest of us.

Happy birthday to you....

The third anniversary of the blog passed while we were away. Gosh doesn't time fly. I started the blog to track the sale of the London property and would not have guessed that it would have taken two and a half years to complete that process, and at some cost. Still i got a very pleasant e-mail from the new owners this week enforcing how pleased they were with the purchase.

One is never sure what these old houses unearth once renovations start so it is good that no skeletons have been found in the attic. I must have done a good job bricking them up!!!

The place needed a new touch and I know they have done some alterations so good luck to them. They have kept my stained glass windows which they removed, so I will need to collect those at some stage, and may get a guided tour then.

So what else is new since May 2007....Tim , our oldest, got married, Emma, our youngest, produced our first grand child, Ava. I got to play golf with Tiger Woods (almost) in a Pro-Am, I managed to hang onto my job, although for how much longer is up for debate. Everybody had maintained good health given age and circumstances and all in all life has moved on in a reasonable and controlled manner.

In three more years I will have retired, my countdown clock says 1015 days to go!! I am sure we will have other grand children by then, and Ava can show them the ropes. England may have won a football trophy to go with the rugby World Cup and the World 20/20 cricket victory, but will the mighty Green Army bounce back into the Championship (that's the new Premiership for poor clubs who play British players in the team)?

So into year four we go, the blog at least gives my Google entry some credibility and it sits nicely with my named brick in the Olympic Park in Atlanta, the S Club brick at Twickenham Stadium and my fathers golf trophy at the golf club in Plymouth. A trail of discovery awaits anybody researching the Weathers clan.

Yeah man

I am back from a few weeks of sun in the West Indies, getting a tan and grooving my swing for the upcoming golf challenges I face. The hotel had one communal tele and that was it, no internet feeds, no newspapers and no children. Deep joy.

The ash cloud did its best to prevent us getting there, but all credit to the Virgin Airways flight crew who worked to within 30 minutes of their legal hours to get us there, albeit 7 hours late. We returned on schedule, and what a changed place we arrived back to.

A hung parliament when we left meant we had no idea who was ruling Brittania, so it was interesting to see 'our' Dave had jumped into bed with young Clegg to form a Lib/Dem/Con government. Grumpy Gordon has fallen on his sword I hear so it will be interesting to have a new leader of the opposition. I am still catching up on the other political ramifications.

Money markets continue to drop on the back of the uncertainty in the Euro zone and I see an indiscreet IBM executive has forecast that the IBM worldwide work force could reduce by 299,000 employees in the next 5 years. Wow. Our leader is denying this and describes the comments as ludicrous. Time will tell.

I see Chelsea did the league and FA Cup double this year. Gone are the days when this was a rare feat for any team to achieve. it is now becoming much more the norm. One piece of sports news I did catch up with was England winning the 20/20 World Cup. As it was in the West Indies while we were there we did manage to take in a couple of group games and the England semi-final. All a good craic.

The sun has blasted the UK while we were away but has now done the usual and disappeared behind the clouds up here in Scouse, no doubt it will rain on the Bank Holiday weekend!!

So welcome back to Blighty I say. I will search out my first pint of Pride later today.

Soap box superstar

I had a drink with Frank Field on Friday night. Frank is the long standing Labour MP for Birkenhead, and he was in my local with his campaign team relaxing after a long week on the hustings.

They are a weird lot, volunteer canvassers. I group them with twitchers, train spotters and the Greenham Common peace camp occupants as right up there at the top of the anorak league table.

His campaign leader, however, was an all together more rounded chap. In his early 30's he was up from Central Office in London to add some structure and support to the campaign. I did indicate to him that Franks seat must be one of the most secure Labour seats in the Country, but he was gracious enough to say that nothing could be taken for granted.

When he realised I was from his neck of the woods, the conversation quickly changed to a discussion about Anne Keen, the current MP for Hounslow West. He indicated that the seat had become a marginal now, in no little way due to the fact that Anne and her husband Alan, were an expenses scandal even before there was an expenses scandal!!

I shall watch all three candidates with interest to see what becomes of them on Thursday night, or Friday morning.

Smoking can damage your health

Hmmm, cut off from the rest of the world as we seem to be at the moment, I can't help but imagine the disruption it is causing further down the supply chain.

My brother-in-law was due to fly to Delhi yesterday, en route to the Himalayas to climb K2 or some similar high peak. He was unable to go and at this stage is unsure whether a reschedule will be possible. He is frustrated, but think of the Sherpa's who are on standby to help, and the whole infrastructure over there that is dependent on mountaineers coming from Europe. They are their lifeline to a reasonable standard of living, and they are losing out.

Maxines parents nearly booked a last minute cruise last week. They would not have been able to make the flight to Athens to pick up the ship. What happens in that situation, does the ship sail half full, or less? Do they lay off half the staff for the duration of the cruise? Imagine the effect of a half full cruise liner arriving at various ports where the people survive on the back of t-shirt and souvenir sales. It could last a couple more months.

The flip side of the coin sees members of the 1st Rifle brigade stranded in Lisbon on their way back from Afghanistan. They are no doubt glad to be safe, but separated once more from their family and friends, just when they anticipated some R & R. (none of that in Lisbon then eh?....ed)

Airlines face crippling losses particularly when they need to accommodate their clients for extra days, and hoteliers will struggle to account for the lost revenue from tourists unable to travel to their destination of choice.

And what of my GPS system which I sent back to the States to get repairs.....will it be coming by sea or do UPS have contingency plans for such events....it will be interesting to see. We are away ourselves in a couple of weeks, hopefully Eyjafjallajokull has run its course now and not woken up its big sister Katla. If she gets grumpy we could be stranded for weeks.

Take your own luv....

I have just spend the Easter weekend, and some, repairing the fence and refurbishing the front gates. As I was applying the third coat of wood stain, and wondering what Michael Caine must be thinking about (a) the Wood Preservation Society, and (b) his support for the Conservative Party, I cast my mind back to Easters past when I was a lad, and I was forced into that scouting tradition 'Bob a Job week.

In years gone past Bob a Job was one of the biggest events of the year for Scouts and Cubs and one which, in general, scouts hated! So what was a Bob? well it was a shilling in those days, five new pence in later times For the week of Easter scouts spent their school holidays going around door to door all over the area, walking miles, knocking on door and saying 'Hello, this is Bob a Job week, do you want any jobs done?' Scouts took on tasks like cleaning out garages, walking pets, gardening, car washing, shopping, and so on....and the charge? One Shilling.....a BOB!,

Newspapers always cashed in on the good stories and it was a great publicity week for scouts, people thought it was great for young boys (no girls back then) to earn money for scouting....through slavery!!! This Bob A Job week went on for years and years until someone decided that it should be changed to Scout Job Week as the shilling was consigned to history when decimalisation took over. Five pence a Job week just did not have the same ring to it!

As time went on the idea of any young child knocking on any strangers door became a no-no and the great Bob a Job week came crashing down! Bob A Job was phased out, but it had generated much needed funds for scouting, and the days were more innocent then...and perhaps....dare I say....a lot more fun.?

Some Scout and Cub packs continue to embrace the concept, although work is confined to family, friends and near neighbours. There must have been undesirable adults around when we did it, but I can't recall any incidents in our area.

Ah well, looks like the fence will have to last a few years until the grandkids are old enough to join up, then they can all have a dib dib dib at it.

The Aye's have it

The Country waits.........but for what I wonder? The World Cup in June, and news of the first footie fan to be mugged for his or her scarf ? I do hope they are not seriously hurt. Alternatively we could be waiting for England to win the World Twenty/20 in the West indies. I suspect the ladies will have a better chance than the chaps, so who said its not a game for girls Mr Peterson.

No, I think the Country is waiting for the excitement and cracking repartee and riposte which will engulf us all as we prepare for the general election on May 6th . I know I am. President Obama does not care much for our Gordon, so will he become a pub quiz question by virtue of being added to the list of Prime Ministers who have never been elected? He must be hoping we all like him a bit more than they do over the pond.

I can't wait for the battle buses to pull up outside our house and the massed ranks of canvasser's descend on us with their questions and answers and bits of paper and coloured rosette's. It's all a bit like FA Cup Final day.

Consider as well that we have the joy of television debates featuring the party leaders, and no election would be complete without the BBC swingometer now would it?

So yes, the Country waits, and as Haggar The Horrible once said, while sitting in a bar, 'All things come to those who wait, and this looks as good a place to wait as any'

Tomorrow the world

Sorry about all this but Google have decided they will not support FTP transfers any more, so i have had to use their blogspot publishing option to migrate the site. That means the philanderer brand in the URL can't be used as somebody has registered it before me. I can do an auto redirect from my home page but that will take me a while to work out.

In the meantime all this should be the same with the exception of the pictures which have all disappeared. I will see if I can relink some of the more relevant ones into the various pages.

Frustrating thing is that the blog at thephilanderer.blogspot.com has never been used. I might make a bid for it......

Keep the faith, and here's hoping Google don't decide TCP/IP does not suit them any more. when they do that we will all be buggered!!!

One Foot in the Grave

I have just been browsing a few past blogs. I think the record could be quite useful later in life when one of the memory lapse diseases kicks in....did I really do that I can think to myself!!!

Anyway, one article I noted was about the passing of Clement Freud, chef, wine buff, politician and fanatical Plymouth Argyle supporter. Now the Green Army do not have too many celebrities in its ranks, so it was remiss of me to fail to recognise the passing of another political green Army stalwart, Michael Foot.

Michael was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992. He was also the Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Associated with the Labour left for most of his career, he was a passionate supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British withdrawal from the European Economic Community. A passionate orator, he was Labour leader at the 1983 general election when the party received its lowest share of the vote since 1918.

His parallel career as a journalist included his appointment as editor for the Tribune for several periods, and the London Evening Standard newspapers. His books include a biography of Jonathan Swift (The Pen and the Sword, 1957) and Aneurin Bevan.

Foot was educated initially in Plymouth, and was subsequently MP for Plymouth, Devonport so it was no surprise that he was a passionate supporter of the Argyle from his childhood and once remarked that he wasn't going to die until he had seen them play in the Premiership. I share the sentiment. Unlike Clement Freud though, he served for several years as a director of the club, seeing two promotions under his tenure.

For his 90th birthday, Foot was registered with the Football League as an honorary player and given the shirt number 90. This made him officially the oldest registered professional player in the history of football.

The boys could have done with a spiky left winger over the years and blow me there was one in the stands all along.....

1st floor, ladies and childrenswear, going up......

This weekend sees the first of a series of tower runs, as focused hill runners charge up the 42 flights of stairs in , wait for it, Tower 42 in the City of London. The male winners are expecting to do it in about 4 minutes. That's ten flights a minute, one every 6 seconds!!

It takes me back a few years, this tower running, and like a lot of things the youth of today think they invented, they didn't.

In 1982, a chum of mine, Neil Brown and I embarked on an adventure to the Far East. We were both single having recently come out of relationships and decided to go away for a few weeks. Our mate Figs fixed us up with accommodation in Singapore with AMF Phil, a Spurs supporter, and we made our own plans from there.

We were both fairly fit blokes so to break up some of the days we decided to have our own 'SuperStars' competition over the duration of the holiday. We started off with swimming which I won by virtue of doing the breastroke leg first, and holding Neil off on the return freestyle. He then trounced me at tennis, even after giving me a 0-40 start each game!

His racquet skills came to the fore again in the squash, but it was a close fought thing which finished when my bat smashed against the wall in the deciding set. We were in Penang, Malaysia by now, having tied the beer can pyramid competition on the train from Kuala Lumpa.

The hotel had a giant chess set in the grounds, and so we incorporated that into our competition. We set up after breakfast and gained a few interested parties as they made their way to the beach. Imagine their surprise then when we were still playing when they trooped back for lunch.I managed to dig myself out of a big hole to win that one, which left Neil and I all square as we returned to Singapore prior to our flight home.

Now Phil and Anne, our hosts, lived on the 32 floor of a condo somewhere down Nathan Road so it seemed sensible to have a decider by running the tower. So Phil went down in the lift with each of us in turn and timed us as we charged up the stairs. It was close, but Neil beat me to take the FESP trophy and the bragging rights.

The difference of course with Tower racing is that everybody starts off at the same time, imagine the scrum at the first corner eh!

And now the weather in Norwegian

I am finally immortalised on YouTube.

I really thought I was doing well with the Portuguese bit, but when seeing it now it was a fairly disjointed stumble through the guttural and the expressive. Still, I tried and it was appreciated by the key participants and the locals.

Next challenge is to play the piano at number one daughters wedding next year. 'Chopsticks' might not be enough, so I need to start banging those ivories soonest.

Put another jumper on

The Eastern European meter reader turned up at the door last week and I am waiting with much anxiety for the bills to arrive. I pay both gas and electricity by monthly standing order, so every now and then I get a wacking one off payment request to balance the books. I suspect it will arrive any time.

We have been in the house for about 8 years now and have three sources of energy drainage, The swimming pool, the domestic hot water and the heating. In that time my monthly outlay has almost doubled, so I have been motivated to investigate some of the alternative heat sources which are becoming the subject of much media discussion.

There are really only a few that I can consider, thermal/solar panels on the roof, a wind turbine on the house, or free standing in the garden, and a ground source heat pump.

The swimming pool would struggle to be heated by solar panels in the conventional way as the heat exchanger would need to be about twenty feet long. It would also struggle to work effectively during the Winter months. I could use it as a giant water storage source but the temperature would likely exceed the recommended level for the liner. Ground source heating is therefore the preferred option here.

The central heating is a real tricky one. The ground source heater would be able to do the necessary if we had under floor heating, but traditional radiators need much higher levels of heating to be able to heat effectively.

The domestic hot water could be supplemented by the solar panel solution, and that in turn could offset some of the central heating requirements by keeping the cylinder at a higher ambient temperature. we shall have to see.

All these systems will need pumps, so the attraction of wind power to reduce the electricity consumption has certain appeal. We don't live in Hill House without some blowy days. The trouble here is that the Energy Saving Trust web site is inconclusive when I enter my details, and when I discussed the matter with them they indicated a wind survey lasting a minimum of a year would be the best thing to do before outlaying the expense associated with a turbine.

So I await details of companies who can provide such surveys, but I have been more successful with the other alternative sources as I have convinced a local ( well Welsh) company to come over next week and chat through what I could and could not do. The roof should take panels if the sun can get to them enough, but the garden is too small for a wired ground source system, so it would need to be bore holes. I await his comments with interest.

On the day British gas reduced their prices by 7%, but pundits were predicting a 25% cost hike over the next ten years, it is certainly time for Maison Weathers to join the 21st century

Oink like a pig!

It was my sister-in-laws special birthday last weekend so we all decamped to Swindon for a bit of a 'do' It was a good craic and gave me a chance to catch up with my young nephew Matthew. he has recently started at a new school a good way from where he lives, and he went there knowing nobody from his junior school. Its a scenario I can relate to as it happened to me.

He is a pretty reasonable footie player and the school is a rugger and hockey place so he has fallen back on his natural running ability and has just qualified to represent Wiltshire in the U14 National cross country championships. Now for a 12 year old that's pretty good. He indicated the national championships might be held in Truro, at at that point I was aghast.

I had to point out to him that the average Cornish person had an extra leg, much like a Manxman and could, therefore, run quicker, they were partial to high sixes,not high fives, and the extra eye they had also gave them a sight advantage, and a real problem for the optician if they needed glasses. He laughed and suggested I was joking, but I assured him that being a man of Plymouth I knew a thing or two about those imbreds from across the Tamar valley.

Now SWMBO over heard this, and confirmed that I had always maintained that if we heard duelling banjo's as we swung over the Saltash road bridge, then we were in real trouble. She did feel though that my comments, albeit in jest could be construed as racist.

Image my delight yesterday then, when it was ruled in court that Cornish people were not an ethnic group and could not, therefore, be racially abused. They are not really a part of England anyway, being a Duchy rather than a county, and now it is legit to make fun of them as they press their noses against Dingles window, wishing they could afford to buy something.......ogi ogi ogi.......

Its life Jim but not as we know it....

The director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor starts a Radio 4 series next week discussing the 100 items which in his opinion have helped shape civilisation. Now some of the list are known already. The Sutton Hoo helmet, the chronometer from HMS Beagle and the drawing by Durer of the first rhino to land in modern Europe where published in the Sunday Times preview article. The 100th and final item however, is yet to be decided and Neil wants your help. Will it be an i-phone, a recycling bin or something else which is a more recent influence? You can offer your nomination by e-mail to communications@britishmuseum.org.

I wonder what would have been to the fore front as far as my parents were concerned? Firstly the atomic bomb and the part it played in bringing the second world war to a close should be on the list. I remember we had a car and I was pushed round in a Silver Cross pram but they were probably luxury items of the time. The internal combustion engine though ought to be in the list. We also had a TV when they were introduced , and as with many items in the list it is questionable whether civilisation has improved for having been presented with it.

Of more practical use was the refrigerator which replaced the larder as the means of keeping food cool, and the bucket of water in which the milk used to stand, and at work my father used a biro instead of his fountain pen, and a slide rule pre-dated the pocket calculator.

An early item I remember was the introduction of central heating and the difference a radiator in the house made. It replaced coal fires and made the London smogs a thing of the past. It is ironic that its use these days is seen as contributing to global warming, and that the re-introduction of coal fired power stations may need to be accelerated.

So what about my 50 years of evolution? well, from a sporting point of view the gum shield and screw-in studs in football boots saved my teeth and feet from being wrecked.

The personal computer and afore mentioned mobile phone were must haves, and the introduction of credit cards and ATM banking facilities led to a step change in money management. The Freddie Laker Skytrain was an introduction to cheap air travel and helped make the world the smaller planet it is now. Skiing was introduced to the masses and ancient civilisations in South America became tourist destinations.

Space travel has unlocked many new and innovative scientific advances and what would we do without plastic, be it bottles, packaging or construction materials. Where does the first high rise tower block fit into the list, and was the Tardis real or imaginary?

Our first grandchild has indicated that young parents would put disposable nappies at the top of the list but where would DVD's fit in the hierarchy of music media pioneered by 78 and 45rpm vinyl recordings, the cassette tape, and Betamax video systems!!!

The camera never used to lie, but now with digital technology and PhotShop one can never be sure.

Many things I have mentioned, and other items on the list will, I suspect, question whether they have benefited our civilisation long term. Munitions, CCTV cameras, the cane and its abolition, the Human Rights Act and the aeroplane which flew into the World Trade Centre all come to mind. I wonder what the 100th item will turn out to be?

Ooops, argh!

A belated happy New Year to all my readers, I will be back in the stirrups shortly.

My literary prowess has been somewhat diminished following an altercation with the road in Claughton Village as I went very quickly from the walking position to prone on backside. My left wrist took the full force and, at worse, I have cracked a bone, at best it is severely sprained.

Ouch!