Been Away

So, yes, we've been away to the Yorkshire Dales. We stayed in a cottage in a lovely village called Giggleswick (is that a great name or what?) The pictures, in order are, at the top, Malham Tarn, in the middle, meeting some of the locals and finally, at the bottom, Katie and Harry try to work out how long it will take dad to get from the cottage to the pub (yes that really is our cottage)

Waves video

Find the waves video at You Tube. Search for "Waves at Hornsea 2". Coming soon, waterfalls on video, bet you can't wait! Actually, we're going away for a few days and internet access won't be available, so no posts until next Saturday/Sunday. See you then.

Waves......again

You know me and waves. Can I interest anyone in the movie version of this? or would that really be overkill? Oh, and Gawpo, if you look real careful, this time you might see some Jasper.

Garden....again

You've already seen the vegetable end of our garden, this is the prettier end, near the house where we sit.

Allotment to be happening

The bottom of our garden is dedicated to growing vegetables and fruit. This little patch has Broad Beans, peas, cabbages and courgettes. Everything in the garden is looking good at the moment, despite the best efforts of next doors cats and squirells!

Camera Obscura - LLoyd, I´m ready to be heartbroken

I haven't posted any music for a while, so here goes. Dodgy video, great tune.

Blue eyes, Brown eyes

I attended a seminar today called The 'Anatomy of Prejudice'. the speaker was a lady called Jane Elliott who developed the blue eyes, brown eyes exercise in discrimination. I found it equally inspiring and depressing. Still it's nice to think that in Hull we are at least trying to do something, it's a start.

It's all true

NICKNAMES: If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah. If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

MONEY: A man will pay £2 for a £1 item he needs. A woman will pay £1 for a £2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS: A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel. The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

OFFSPRING: Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favourite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

ARGUMENTS: A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Any married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

Waves at Hornsea

let this wash over you for 30 seconds.

Sanctimonious gits

I made a complaint to the BBC today, I felt strongly about something, and decided I couldn't let it go. I feel better now I have complained, I am still angry, but I feel better. I think I should complain more, I think I should become a thorn in the side of corporations and bureaucracy, yeah I feel good.

Castles in the sky

An aerial view of fortress Bazza.

Bank Holiday Monday

It's a bank holiday, so it has to be the seaside. We chose Hornsea.

Bobbins

Hull FC lost and Paul Cooke didn't get laid out once. Hull City lost their last game of the season. We've had the in laws down all weekend. I suppose there's still tomorrow to go.

A bit of fun

Saw this on Dr. John's blog and thought I would try it. You have eight things to put behind your name like “needs”, “is”, “ wants”. You take your name and one of the them like “ John is” and Google it. Put the results here.

1. Bazza "needs" Hi energy tea (surely this should have said Jack Daniels)
2. Bazza "is" what Bazza is (of course)
3. Bazza "likes" to sky dive (only off the top of the wardrobe!)
4. Bazza "wants" a non milking cow (always wanted one of those)
5. Bazza "gets" turned away at the door for being too drunk (hmmm!)
6. Bazza "says" just keep taking the tablets dear (usually after 5.)
7. Bazza "does" a crunk version of copacabana (very passable to)
8. Bazza "eats" up the worms (I would have to slip off the vegetarian wagon)

I have to be honest and say I didn't always pick the top entry, but all were on the first page, and number 2 was the top answer, which I'm quite proud of.

Bridge

An alternative view of the Humber Bridge.

Shaun the sheep

The whole family is addicted to this, see what you think.

This lamb had been born about 1 hour when I took this picture at Far Ings nature reserve. No jokes about the black sheep of the family please!

Woo hoo

This is the woo hoo tunnel. Because it has a great echo, we all shout woo hoo as we go through it.

This weeks big thing

For those of you who thought the new album by the Arctic Monkeys was this weeks big event, think again. Tomorrow is the Eugene Hope Fest 2007 organised by Cindra and Tom. I will be wearing my Eugene Hope Fest 2006 t shirt in honour of the event. We send our best wishes, and hope everything goes off as it should. More info here:-
http://www.justbecauseoregon.com:80/

Woodstream

Came across this little stream whilst wandering through the woods, as you do.

On reflection

Guess who?

Mark Ronson - Stop Me

I'm listening to it, you might as well too.

This is my shed at the bottom of my garden, most houses round here have a shed, the duck however, is optional.

My computer desk

I've been tagged by Catch to show my workspace, so here it is. Those of you with a keen eye will notice The Art of Knitting binder, the bottle of beer (you didn't think I blogged sober did you?) and the serving hatch. Other than that, it's the same as everyone else's isn't it?

The other half

This is Normanby Hall, in the top picture you can see the chandelier lights are on, and you could also see the staff in their crisp black and white uniforms. At 9.30am I guess they were serving up breakfast. Maybe Lozman could see if they've got a spare room or two.

Show off

Had a great day out today at Normanby Hall, especially nice to see a couple of Jays building a nest and a Green Woodpecker. The Peacock was also out to impress. Will post more photos throughout the week.

Sea

One day I will be in the right place at the right time to get some amazing crashing wave shots. In the mean time I'll make do with this.

Filey Brig

I took this photo last Sunday, give it a click to get a better view.

Not what it seems.

It looks like an ancient prehistoric landscape, but actually it's the cliffs at Filey.

Funny, or is it?

A young man named Gordon bought a donkey from an old farmer for £100.00.
The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day, but when the farmer drove up he said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news... the donkey is on my truck, but unfortunately he's dead."
Gordon replied, "Well then, just give me my money back." The farmer said, "I can't do that, because I've spent it already."
Gordon said, "OK then, well just unload the donkey anyway."
The farmer asked, "What are you going to do with him?"
Gordon answered, "I'm going to raffle him off."
To which the farmer exclaimed, "Surely you can't raffle off a dead donkey!" But Gordon, with a wicked smile on his face said, "Of course I can, you watch me. I just won't bother to tell anybody that he's dead."
A month later the farmer met up with Gordon and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"
Gordon said, "I raffled him off, sold 500 tickets at two pounds a piece, and made a huge, fat profit!!" Totally amazed, the farmer asked, "Didn't anyone complain that you had stolen their money because you lied about the donkey being dead?"
To which Gordon replied, "The only guy who found out about the donkey being dead was the raffle winner when he came to claim his prize. So I gave him his £2 raffle ticket money back plus an extra £200, which as you know is double the going rate for a donkey, so he thought I was a great guy!!"
Gordon grew up and eventually became the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and no matter how many times he lied, or how much money he stole from the British voters, as long as he gave them back some of the stolen money, most of them, unfortunately, still thought he was a great guy.
The moral of this story is that, if you think Gordon is about to play fair and do something for the everyday people of the country for once in his miserable, lying life, think again my friend, because you'll be better off flogging a dead donkey!

New York

Due to the kids getting PC games for easter I can't get on my computer at home to post my photos of Filey. However as a bonus here's a picture from Dons holiday in New York. Don retired on 31st March and is now officially a layabout, which makes him a happy man and me a jealous one.

Diddle diddle dumpling

What do you take to bed ?

Happy Easter

Bubbles

You should have seen the size of the ones I did!

It's faster by train (not)

This morning I was due to pick up my Mother in Law from the train station. She had very kindly agreed to come and look after the kids for the day. Her train was due to leave Leeds at 7.20am and get to Hull at 8.20am, a journey of 1 hour. Unfortunately when she got to the station and boarded the train she was informed that it had been cancelled, but not to worry a coach was being laid on. At this point she rang me to inform me that she might be a little late. The coach duly arrived, but instead of taking her all the way to Hull, it dropped her off at a half way point called Howden, informing her she could get a train from there to Hull. She eventually arrived in Hull at 10.15am a journey of nearly 3 hours. The knock on effect of this of course is that I was nearly 2 hours late for work. At no point was a refund offered, nor refreshments of any kind. And to be quite frank they can shove their easily rolled off the tongue apologies up their incompetent, idle, arses. This is not a one off incident, it happens frequently, the british rail network is a joke and an embarrassment, as well as being an over priced rip off. Have I missed anything out?

Waves at Sandsend

Listen out for Katie's scream of glee towards the end.

Statement or Challenge?

You decide.

Update

So the big meeting went ahead on Wednesday to decide the future of those who are left (including me), and the decision that was made..... Let's wait and see what happens. In the mean time though if you could just try and absorb the work of all those who have left it would of course be appreciated. Well I'm still in a job, let's look on the bright side eh.

Time for a Whinge

This car is parked outside my house, it's quite nice, a sporty little number, an MG, probably worth a few quid. It's been there for a month now, hasn't moved, not once. Its owner pops out every saturday and starts the engine and lets it run for a few minutes then goes back to his house. He has another car, which he uses every day, a nice BMW. What is it with the MG, it's just rotting away. I accept that I don't have a divine right to park outside my house, I don't have a problem with that (honestly!). What really bugs me is the sheer waste of it all.

The Shins - Australia

My kind of music, and I bet Don's chuffed to bits now I can post videos again!

Sad

A sad day today as 2 much loved colleagues left for ever. The remaining few (including me) learn our fate tomorrow. Having said that, if we're treated with the same sensitivity as those who were leaving, they'll probably leave it a few weeks before deciding our fate. So good luck to Don and Mel for the future and I look forward to the big bash on April 20th.

Robin or Robin?

Nessa recently posted a photo of an American Robin on her site and allthough there is an obvious similarity between it and it's British cousin, I was quite surprised at how different they are.

Early Starter

Took this photo of a Red Admiral in the back garden today. Strange thing is they're not supposed to arrive in this country until May. So this one either forgot to go home last year or got an early flight this year.

Watch out Lamp, here we come.

It's a strange day at work today, lots of people are expecting to hear whether they have been accepted for voluntary early retirement and voluntary severance. In my office, 4 out of 7 have applied for it (not me!). If they all get it, our office will be severely depleted, which may have implications for those left behind (ie me). Still, look on the bright side, it's a good excuse for a piss-up.

Tree

Up river from the stepping stones at Egton Bridge.

Radio goo goo

Another gem from Radio Viking's Fact of the Day team. Sam, "did you know, Venus is the only planet that orbits the sun clockwise". Co-presenter, "you mean all the others go anti clockwise". I feel insulted that the presenters feel the need to state the bleedin' obvious in case the thickies out there didn't understand the first time round. So I'd just like to say that Radio Viking is rubbish, and by that I mean it's crap, in case you weren't sure what I meant by rubbish.

Mother's Day

Took wifey to Whitby today so the kids could buy her some Amber ear-rings. This image caught my eye.

The morning after

I took this at approx 5.30am the morning after the full eclipse of the moon, which of course is probably irrelevant. It was taken from our back bedroom window.

Luke the Lion

Luke the Lion came with us to Sewerby, he enjoyed meeting the penguins.

Dega?

Also spotted these chaps at Sewerby Hall, I think they are called Degas, but I stand to be corrected. Not sure if they were cold or whether they just like each other!

Up close and personal

Met this fella at Sewerby Hall today.

Fame

Found this article hidden away on page three of the Times (or was it the local free rag, I forget). Anyway, you might think with a population of around 250,000 it would have generated a few hits, but no, not a single one. I guess that makes me a bit of a geek, either that or no other bugger reads the paper, no wonder Laurie left for pastures new. I suspect this may have been his parting shot. Good luck in Louth, young man.

Modern London

I know most people like the traditional old buildings, but there's some quite groovy new ones too.

More London

The top picture is Southwark Cathedral, it's old and it's Gothic apparently. The bottom picture is a boat. The thing on the front of the boat is a deer (also known as a Hind) and it was Golden in colour, see if you can guess what it's called.

The touristy bit

St Pauls Cathedral and Tower Bridge.

Going down, down, down

This is the underground, the little blue sign says keep to the right. This is because people who live and work in London run every where. It's quite strange to be going down, or up an escalator, to have people running past you, and I'm not talking fast walking here, I'm talking running. And another thing, this picture doesn't do it justice, but these escalators are frighteningly steep. Having said all that the underground is brilliant, getting from a to b couldn't be easier, and it's cheap too.

It's a hotel

The conference that I attended was at a very posh hotel, it even had a tree growing inside the hotel. I shouldn't really call it a hotel though, as it's really called an Urban Lodge, no seriously, it is.

Not finished yet

I went to London for the day, but they were still designing it and it's not finished yet.

Capital

I'm spending the day in London tomorrow, so I should have some snaps for you on Saturday.