Sitting on a train

I'm sitting on the train to London which could be the way I start everyday soon. I suppose there are worse ways to earn a living and it means I will be working with some good people who I like and respect so that's no bad thing. So in a few days I will be unemployed or committed.

Interesting.

Sent from Samsung Mobile

How long?

Well over a year since my last entry. I think I have been seduced by Facebook but I can't say what I really think there. Short, insignificant platitudes is what I specialise in on Facebook.

This blog has more meaning for me as a record of how I feel/felt so I think it's time to start again.

Windows 7

I've upgraded my laptop from Vista to Windows 7 and so far I like the usability improvements a lot. I can't say there's a big difference in starting up etc but it's early days.

A good Christmas and the snow returns?

The TV weather forecast suggests that heavy snow will return tomorrow but that doesn't seem to be confirmed by the Met Office. What will happen?

Diverted by drink

We decided to walk round the line of the city walls tonight and starting from Chapelfield we got as far as St Crispins but then we realised how close we were to the Golden Star.

That was it. I had a pint of Big Red from the Ossett Brewery which was excellent and with a pickled egg it was pretty much perfect. A second pint and I would still be in there now. It was that good.

Little Chef Surprise

A couple of times recently I have driven to Loughborough on business and stopped at the Kettering Little Chef and had a cracking breakfast. Properly cooked tomatoes, tasty bacon and sausage, wonderful mushrooms, fresh egg and the toast is gorgeous. That is all after real, freshly squeezed OJ. I also love the new decor and the musical toilets and I've been running on to anyone who'll listen about how transformed the LC experience is.

I've just seen a programme on Channel 4 about Heston Blumenthal revamping three Little Chefs and apparently Kettering was one of them. Now I don't feel quite so embarrassed that I took a photo of my breakfast on Monday so here it is.

If you are anywhere near Kettering please try the Little Chef. They're trying very hard and I love it.

Clouds of smoke have a silver lining

We've been moaning like mad the last couple of weekends because our next door neighbour has been waiting until the weekend before going into bonfire mode and producing ridiculous amounts of smoke that drift down towards the houses instead of across the fields when the wind is in the approved bonfire direction. It happened again yesterday morning and we were pretty annoyed as we have to keep the windows and doors closed and we were hosting a birthday breakfast for Soupy. I had to go down the garden to get a spare table out of the shed and "imagine my surprise" (I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again 1973) when I saw that the wilderness that was the bottom of the neighbour's garden has been cleared and tidied.

This is really great news because the bottom of our garden, where we spend a lot of time, was dominated by the neighbour's 20 feet high laurels and conifers and they have all been reduced to about 6 feet so all that smoke will be worth putting up with for the difference it is already making to our garden.

Good job I didn't say anything in the heat and smoke of the moment!