Time flies, and in a couple of hours, so will I

Gorgeous roast beef baguette with fried onions and gravy

I had thought that the early pickup of my return transfer was going to give me far too much time at the airport.

Too much time has turned into enough time to enjoy the most delicious roast beef baguette I have ever tasted. Melt in the mouth gorgeousness cut from the joint in front of me by a very capable and very hard working guy behind the counter. I was tempted to go for the Jersey beef burger and chips, but when I saw how big the burgers were and how many chips the guy was serving I thought there's no way I can down that along with the preflight jitters. 

As it is the weather doesn't look so rosey right now, and a couple of flights into the island have been delayed by the weather. 

How is it that the facilities in Jersey's airport departure terminal are better by far than the ones in Southampton (which I flew out from) ? 

It's worth coming here just to turn round and go back out to get at the lovely food available here. 

Making use of the free wifi while I wait. 

As with the other holiday posts, I will attach pictures when I get back home. (done 18:09 09/05/14)

Last night in Jersey

Tomorrow is my last day in Jersey. I'm flying back to the UK tomorrow evening. Today was a very energetic day. 

One of the first things I'm going to do when I get back to my flat, after I put the kettle on, is to weigh myself. If I haven't lost weight this week I will not just be surprised I'll be fucking furious. Be warned. 

Today I decided to make the most of my last full day on the island and go on one of my 'I'm not lost, I'm exploring' ventures. This basically means heading off in one direction, either by foot or on by bike and seeing where the road takes me.  

Now in the uk, where I have access to free maps courtesy of GPS (as long as I have phone signal), it's not really possible to get truly lost. Here, well it is. It's not a dire panic because the locals speak English, but none the less there was a point this afternoon where I did stop a couple of times and get out the fee tourist map, to check reference points or clues. It doesn't have road names except for major roads, but my map reading skills are helpful. 

If I actually look at the map at the beginning it may have helped. When I started I negotiated the impossibly complicated one way systems of St Helier into the countryside.  You know, that's the place with all the green stuff, and animals. Without direction, by mid to late morning I was starting to think, 'ok, is there anything to see while I'm out this way'. Figuring that if I get back to the hotel and realise I was mere yards from some fanatstic attraction or sight that I would kick myself rather harshly. I kept seeing these signs for a wildlife park. That's nice. I thought. That sounds like it's worth a look. 

Every road I went down I was thinking there'd be some sign as to how far away this park was. But no. None of the signs gave any indication of how far away it was. At one point I rode about half a mile down one road, which I thought the sign had directed me down, only to give up and turn back when I realised I wasn't getting anywhere near close to this elusive bloody park. Did the thing even exist ? 

Eventually I did find it. I must have done a circuit right round the damn place. I'm sure if I look up on google earth I will discover that the park was 'just round the next corner' on that road I'd turned found on. 

I'd taken not one, not two, but three bottles of drink. I needed them. 

Anyway despite my moaning about getting there the park was more of a zoo, and well worth the trek, or maybe even getting a bus. After having cycled miles upon miles, I walked round filling up the memory card on my camera with lots of pictures. 

Zoos are funny places, it's always interesting to see different animals, but when you see the bored sorrowful faces of the Gorillas I feel ashamed and wrong, and wonder what's going through their minds, watching all these humans gawping, taking pictures. 

The human children playing in the play park didn't seem to be began in any differently to the other primates. 

I stopped for some lovely lunch at the wildlife park. Some beef pad Thai. When I'd spent a good couple of hours there, I decided it was time to head back in the direction of St Helier. Thankfully, leaving the park there were a couple of signs for cycle paths. A quick check, and double check of my map to figure out which one to take, and I was off in the right direction. 

As I cycled through ever remoter countryside I began to doubt this decision, and look for reassurance I was indeed on the right track. I'm male enough to not ask someone else for help, although there were moments that it got quite close, it's just that for most of the time I didn't see another soul. This got me to thinking, how much time before the sun goes down ? If anything happens to me, will anyone ever find me ? Panic wasn't setting in, but I was starting to wonder if I'd gone the right way. 

As it happened I passed the edge of a reservoir, checked my map, and found that not only was I in the right track, but that I was much closer to civilisation than I thought. The way back a much more direct route. 

The thought occurs to me that things only got stressful when I was trying to get somewhere, or started to sorry about the time being taken. Before all that I was rather content. Before I was trying to find the wildlife park I was exploring. Once I started trying to find it, I went from being exploring to lost. 

After a couple hours rest in the hotel (and returning the bike) I headed out again, on foot. Heading East. I'd headed West to St Aubin and Corbiere a couple of days before, so figured East was the way to go. Again there's something liberating about walking somewhere without an agenda, a place to be, by a certain time. 

Although I have to check out by ten tomorrow, the flight isn't until the evening, so I'll be able to leave my bag here until I'm picked up and taken to the airport. I think I may just get a bus somewhere tomorrow, see some other parts of the island. Maybe. See how it goes. 

It's a bitter sweet thing, leaving. I don't want to go back to 'real life', but I do miss home. I will be sad to leave Jersey though. Coming away has shown me who's easy it is to do, so there's nothing stopping me from going somewhere else. 

I guess I should down my drink and head off to start my packing. 

Itchy feet

April 28th 2014. 01:15.

Awake. Alert. At home.

After my overtime shift, walking home in the peaceful clear midnight streets, I'm hardly tired, either mentally or physically.

It's been the first time in a couple of months that I've been and done some overtime. Always really easy to get back in the swing of it, and nice to be there to help and advise people.

What shall I do with the time that I've booked off so suddenly ? I'm thinking of going away. I'll have to speak to my parents, to see if they can look after the cats, but I really want to get away. Even if not for the whole time, even if I don't go very far.

I just need to be somewhere else. Not because I'm running, not because I'm hiding, but because it's a big planet and I've only seen a very, very, very small part of it.

1 Day To Go

Friday 9th August. 2013. 00:27

A long and chaotic day this one. Thank fuck there's only one more until I'm off on holiday - with the teensmurf.

And it comes not a moment too soon. I just can't wait to get away. Get away from the chaos. From the mess. Sometimes you might wonder that if the organisation you work for ran a brothel, all the customers would go home virgins.

Nah. It's not that bad. Honest it's not.

I got out very late today. Ended up staying till 8pm. This means I did nearly a 12 hour day today. Like the not so good old days.

Still I am confident that there won't be any nasty little surprises for when I come back. The way I feel this week, I don't care. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. People are getting a little bit wound up at work. Tense times. It's very busy.

I guess being busy, and having too much work to do is better than the alternative.

Rain stops debate ?

Thursday. August 8th. 00:17

Tonight, the residents of the newly built estate that I live on are holding a meeting. They have decided to have this meeting, in the open air. Next to the recently constructed play-park that has been the object of much dissatisfaction.

There have been many, many, emails flying backward and forward amongst those who have a fuck to give about the state of the estate. There's arguments and confusion about which bits of it are still the responsibility of the builders (Taylor Wimpey) and which bits are the responsibility of the company that manages the estate - Chamonix Estates.


Lots of the residents are unhappy about the upkeep of the area, the general mess, seeming lack of maintenance and gardening - considering the hefty service charges we all pay to live here. These things are not the responsibility of the council, like they are in most areas. Our roads have not been adopted by the local council.

There's been a spate of bike thefts, and much is said about the locks being rubbish on the bike stores for the blocks of flats that are on the site.


I wonder if the fledgling democratic process will survive the English weather. Will the turnout be effected if it's colder, windier, or even rains ? I'm sure those that decide to go will be able to relocate somewhere else, to someone's house. It's not clear at the moment how many people are going.  Perhaps if our government was held open air, then the debates in the Houses of Parliament, would be more brief than present.

I have mixed thoughts about my attendance. As far as having an opinion about the 'service' provided by those that I am paying to provide such, and the upkeep of the site. I don't see how some of the charges can frankly be justified.

However, when I reported that my bike was stolen, and remarked in my email that perhaps this wouldn't have happened had the gate that was supposed to be there, as per the plans for the site at purchase, been present - within the space of about a week, they had organised for a gate to be fitted. This wasn't something that I've ever been billed for, but someone must have paid for it. This does now mean that I have 'claimed' ownership of the bit of the path to my front door that is onward of the gate. Therefore giving me a teeeny tiny bit of outdoor space.

And some ferocious bush plants that I have damaged my back trimming back. When I say trimming back, I mean - killing. The patch of greenery, bushes and grasses that are by my gate, and next to where the parking space is for my flat (that my Dad uses), have never been maintained. My Dad reckons that these are not maintained by the managing agents of the estate.

If this is the case, I fail to see what charges are levelled at my type of property, that aren't charged to all the other types of dwelling on the site for gardening, because the only areas that are adjacent to or attached to my flat aren't being looked after by any gardeners sent by Chamonix.

Part of me wants to get involved, part of me just wants to stay indoors and do some cleaning or writing. Considering how close the chosen location is to my flat, I could probably in all reason, actually listen from inside the flat. There's something about groups of people that aren't structured in any way, that I feel easily turn into an exercise in giving everyone a chance to speak, but no one a chance to actually answer anything or get anything done. All talk no action.

This may not be the case, but the number of emails I've seen flying backward and forward this week is getting close to those that I get at work. IE close to a level that I stop reading them. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Apparently, Chloe has died the tips of her hair blue. Brilliant, I'm going on holiday with a teenage smurf. 

Saturday. Oh, how I love you Saturday

This weekend's a bit out of the ordinary, because I'm not seeing my daughter. She's gone away for the weekend with her mother.

Nice for them to get away, and in a funny way, it also sets things up nicer for her to go away with me for the week. Making that just a little bit more special.

I have to be honest, I've been fighting the 'holiday mode' since booking the holiday last weekend. I have to keep reminding myself that I do need to get up at 7am and go to work each morning.

Got out of work late. Had to take a call from an unhappy customer. The day had been really quiet, and rather pleasurable in fact, just that as normal, as the shift ended, everyone else seems to be too busy to be able to deal with this.

In between making sure I don't enter holiday mode too early, I need to continue with the editing of the NaNoWriMo story, get some cleaning done, make a start on the editing of the episode of Stephen Brown and write a review.

Not a lot going on then. Easy enough to balance out really.

Tomorrow evening the BBC are showing a live TV show at 7pm, in which they announce who the new Doctor Who is. One set of waiting will be over, and then another starts, as the Whovians count down to November 23rd, when the 50th Anniversary episode is aired. The regeneration to the new as yet un-named Doctor won't occur until the Christmas special.

There's plenty of speculation online about who the 12th Doctor will be. Will it be someone Ginger ? Will they be black, will they be female or male ? I'm not about to launch into some detailed analysis of who the next person to fly the Tardis will be. I have no idea. I have no preference.

In Moffat we trust.

Photo by ADRIAN ROGERS – © BBC.  
"I guess we just have to watch the box and find out."

This Time Next Week...

I will be probably doing some last minute packing, or trying in vain to go to sleep, ready for the start of our holiday.

I just can't wait to get away. To spend some time away from work, and away from home, and time with Chloe.

I'll miss the cats, but I can't realistically bring them with us.

Went to the pub after work with Rob. Nice couple of Vodkas... okay maybe more than a couple. A couple of couples and some nattering about life, work, love. The usual sort of things. He was telling me how he's got himself a new girlfriend, which I think is really nice. He's a nice guy, and hasn't had a huge amount of luck lately - so good to see him find some happiness.

What about me ? (I don't hear you ask). I'm fine thank you very much. There's no one close, no one near. No one at all that I'd be remotely interested in.

Oh. Okay, maybe that's not entirely true. Anyone who knows me well enough, or for any small amount of time, will know that I have a sort of 'like, be pathetic, say nothing, do nothing' kind of policy when it comes to love. Worked for me so far. When I say 'worked' I think I'm using the word quite wrongly.

Day Off

No lazing in the sunshine for me. No sleeping in.

Not even considering that I'd been up till about 3am, reading. I did however get to lay in until about 9am. Although I had left my normal alarms in place (for 6:30am). This frustrated the cats a bit, as they were, no doubt hoping that I would get up at the normal time to feed them. 

They were mistaken, hungry and disappointed.

I did, however, get up at 9am and got myself ready for the day. I had previously arranged with Steve Launay to come down so that he could bring the files of footage and sound, that hopefully I am going to be able to edit into an episode of The Adventures Of Stephen Brown. 

Because I knew he was coming down around 10:30, I got my 'wiggle' on and got up, got washed and dressed, and went into Cosham. (funnily enough they don't react too well if I go the shops naked -No. I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty certain it wouldn't go well). 

I popped into the bank, to cash a cheque from my parents (toward Chloe's birthday present), brought a fleece, and then went and sat in Costa Coffee, writing - or more precisely editing my NaNoWriMo novel. Lately I have been moved by the content of some of the books I've read on my kindle, and the realisation that the only thing holding me back from self publishing on Kindle (as it's free) is myself, and the fact that I haven't finished editing the damn thing. 

Just pecking away at it, bit by bit each day means that I make sure and steady progress. Some days quite a lot, some not very much, but still a great deal more progress than I would have been making otherwise. 

The Chromebook comes into its own here. Enabling me to continue this editing process pretty much anywhere and to update the file on the 'cloud' which means I only have one version knocking about, and I can access that on my iMac, my ipad and of course the Chromebook. 

There's something more serious and focused about writing or editing on the Chromebook. I do still find myself trying to touch the screen in order to navigate on websites or the select a word or phrase. I still feel that for the £120 I spent buying it off Ebay, I got a really useful tool that's easy to use and super efficient. 

I have now found that I am leaving the ipad at home, and making sure that I always take the Chromebook. If it weren't for the contract that I have for the iPad, I would be thinking about getting rid of it, and considering a 7inch tablet (what you mean like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 that I donated to my Mum and Dad ?) for those moments when a tablet's portability and interface comes into its own. This does not need to be a £400 plus device. 

Helpful Youtube Video

Anyway, the workers in Costa, filtered the coffee, I filtered the noise, and there was a lot of it, in order to write / edit. I still got a fair bit of work done, and was interrupted, not by the rowdy people around me, but by Steve arriving. 

After downing my second unnecessarily huge coffee, we set off for mine, to complete the file transfer.

I also treated Steve to some lunch. 

The power units that enable me to use the power sockets to connect the iMac to the router, without resorting to wifi (because it's slower). These had ceased to work. So important is it to me that I have a hard wired internet connection for the iMac, that I'd stated to think about how I could reorganise the room, rearrange things in order to preserve that connection.

After struggling to get them to work, and being initially really angry that they had failed I turned, of course to the internet. 

On youtube I found a very useful video that showed me how to reconfigure them to work correctly. 

Celebration

My daughter's birthday. I'd offered to take the day off work, but she'd wanted to spend the day with her friends, and with her Mum.

Her Mum sent me a text message, pretty much echoing my thoughts about how I can't believe that our daughter is 14, of all the things that we've all been through in those 14 years, and how she's turned out. We're both really proud of her, and just can't quite find the words to express how surreal it is that she's that old. That she's growing up so fast. I know that she's doing very well at the whole 'teenager' thing.

She shares her birthday, with of all people. Wil Wheaton.

Happy Birthday to you both.

How did I get to be the parent of a 14 year old ? (I know the answer to that question. I'm not that stupid).

The summer wave has ended, or at the least been interrupted.

Still warm though. After booking the holiday yesterday, I really wish I could have been on holiday today. I wanted to be in that mode, of not getting up unless you wanted to. Not going somewhere unless you wanted to.

Looking forward to those sun-kissed walks, the open space. The Countryside. It may piss with rain all week for all I care. I would probably still go out and enjoy the outdoors.

The only thing I will miss, is the cats. I've asked my Mum to look after them, because I don't want my sister to end up having to do it when my Nephew can't be bothered to. She's got a pile on her plate at the moment, and well, really that's no different to normal. For her.

Holiday !!

In a mere two weeks time, Chloe and I are on holiday together. This is our annual time away, that we've been going on since she was about 6 years old. (The first few years we went to Butlins in Bognor).

Most recently we've been going to Waterside Caravan Park in Paignton, Devon. It's a lovely part of the world. Lots of beautiful scenery and lots of places to go and see, and things to do. Having been there now for three years we wanted to try somewhere else.

Devon is such a lovely part of the UK, I must admit that I'd not seriously considered us going to somewhere Eastwards. I don't know if it's the geography, or the greenery, or the general pace of life. Not sure. Something in my head feels a little 'lesser holiday' of an Eastward destination. Silly really. Very silly. I'm sure there are just a great places to the East of where we live. Maybe even North too. (The only things really South of here are the Isle Of Wight, or, well, water - unless we seriously consider going abroad...).

Anyway. I've been getting some emails from different holiday park companies. We stay at caravan parks. There's also something about staying in a caravan that makes it a holiday, as much as the train journey. The fact that you're spending time on a train etc, tells you that you're going away, and in a strange way literally allows you time to acclimatise to the change in pace and general relaxation and washing away of all the stresses.

Anyway. Some of these offers I got from Park Holidays were, to be honest, too silly to not look into.

We've booked today, for a nice seven day holiday at holiday park on the East Sussex coast. (Sorry stalkers, not telling you exactly where). Last year I spent well over £700 for the caravan alone. This I got for Under £400. With it being so cheap (was on offer at half price) I've upgraded the standard of caravan.

It'd begun to get worried that we wouldn't get somewhere for the dates that we wanted, or that it'd be somewhere not as nice as Waterside. By the looks of it, it's a really pretty town. Lots and lots of scenic walks for us.

We're not really into all the on-park entertainment, (except for the swimming pool), and walks in the countryside are just our thing. As long as there's 3g signal, we'll be ok.

Hot Hot Hot

It's been super hot lately, and this has coincided with the week that I am on standby for the emergency call centre. I have been in rather a lot, and tonight (Thursday night) is the last night of my stint, but also the only day so far this week that I haven't been called in.

I had thought, or hoped that it not being the middle of winter that I wouldn't see much 'action'. I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't know how the guys out in the field were keeping up with all the problems that were going on. Trees causing problems, fires, lines coming down, over zealous gardeners digging through cables. All sorts of things. You could tell how tough it was getting in the delays that were creeping in for first response to faults - because the engineers were already out on another job.

The most stupid thing has to be someone deciding to prove that the power's out by using a ladder to climb up the power pole and test the supply themselves. Lucky the supply was dead, because otherwise they would have been. Important bit of advice people, don't climb up power supply poles, don't go near the cables if they happen to come down. Don't touch them. They have a really bad habit of killing people.

Having not spoken too much to my daughter this week, I text her tonight for a cursory chat about things. I couldn't call her from my mobile because I have to leave the line open in case I'm called in. The chat moved from sms texting to facebook chat, where I then sent her a picture of my new Chromebook. She then proceeded to lecture me about how I didn't need another device and that I 'just keep buying things'.

The problem is, she may be right. Okay, I have brought another device. But I did buy it ridiculously cheaply, and can always sell it on if I don't want it any more. Having identified a need, that I thought could be filled with my iPad and a portable keyboard, I went for the absolutely cheapest way of filling that need. Not the most complicated or expensive. But she is right, that I have an iPad, and iMac, why, oh why, oh why do I need a laptop. Well I do. I need to be able to type easily. On Wednesday, when I sat in the 'garden' working on a 'Doorstops' script for Beacon, it was on the Chromebook that I did it. I couldn't have really managed to sit out there on my camping chair with my iPad and a bluetooth keyboard. I have done in the past, and it's a thing of managing to balance everything right, setting them at the right angle on my lap so that I've got room to move or sit comfortably and type. Also the heat doesn't really do nice things to my iPad. Last time it actually shut itself down and refused to work until it had cooled down somewhat. The device itself, being made of metal was white hot. Picking it up in my hand, I was genuinely concerned I was going to get branded by the Apple Logo, burning into my palm.

I know that I can come up with loads of different reasons to justify my expenditure. To justify it to myself maybe.

It is finally dawning on me that our holiday is not too far away, and I should really get my arse moving and actually book one. There are emails I get frequently from some of the holiday places, offering me short notice deals, but those are still too close - and not yet for the week that we want.

I am confident that we will be able to get something. Part of me would like to have been able to go to Jersey, but it turned out to be so fucking expensive that I would have nearly had to sell the flat in order for us to go.
I may have just exaggerated slightly. Slightly. There's something special about Devon. Heading westwards has a spiritual draw to it. Heading Eastwards, like we did a few years ago when we went to Hastings doesn't have the same charm. I don't know how to put that into words, or explain it, but that's how I feel.

I would also like to go to Scotland, or Ireland, but there's also the part of me that thinks we should not be heading further North. Further South = warmer. Further North = colder, in my mind. Would I feel cheated spending my summer holiday deliberately going somewhere colder ? So that when I come home, it's warmer ? Now that doesn't make sense.

If it was somewhere more special, maybe Iceland, or Canada, or cruise up the Norwegian fjords, then maybe, just maybe. But to damp Edinburgh ? Nah. Does not compute.

I'm probably talking a load of shite and am about to get lots of comments from very angry people in the Scottish Tourist Board.

We're not going on a (summer holiday)

Looking after my two nephews while my sister and brother in law go out for the evening. 

They're okay kids, and I do love them dearly. Because I have to. I do find myself revolted by their boyish exploits. I'm not sure if that's a measure of their revoltingness or in my near snobbery and difficulty to understand or get along easily with boys. 

I'm not expecting comments. 

The week has only one day of work left to go and then it is release ! Freedom ! - well for a whole two days there is. Sadly this weekend is only two days long, and there isn't another bank holiday weekend until August. 

I was looking online last night to sort something out for my holiday away with Chloe this year. We haven't booked anything yet, and had decided last year that we would not go to Paignton again, as although we both loved it, we wanted to try somewhere else this year. There's even the possibility, I guess of going abroad. After all, when you consider that it costs about seven to eight hundred pounds for Chloe and I to rent a caravan for the week, it's about what we would spend going abroad. 

I've not been abroad since I went to Corfu with Chloe's mum (before we were married) in the early 90s. I haven't been abroad for 20 years. My god. I don't just need to get out more I need to get out further ! 

I was looking at holidays in Jersey, which seem very reasonable, if I've read the prices right. I'll have to email them, but I don't think they'll have any spaces left. Worth a try though for the sake of an email though. We'd be able to catch a ferry from Portsmouth - so no trains, or we could get a train to Southampton and get a plane over. 

Anyway. Early days. May come to nothing. I do think there's also lots of places in the UK that we could go and see, even if we needed to by plane. I'd quite like to go to Scotland, but part of me resists the idea of going somewhere colder for my holiday. 

Well co-ordinated rain

Back to work today, after the week off, and with it being after a bank holiday weekend everyone else was as reluctant as I was to come back into work today. 

Odd really, when I've been working several hours over the last week in the emergency call centre. Somehow that feels different, because it's not my regular work location or role. They say that a change is as good as a rest, and how I feel about that certainly would prove that to be the case.

Although initially skeptical about what sort of things I would come into, what changes, what responses from my manager, I've been able to get in and get on with the things needing doing, feeling that I'm achieving things on day one. 

To celebrate the mood, the weather has taken a turn for things Autumnal, not bad considering we should be fast approaching Summer. Hey ho. Global warming and all that. 

One of the people in my team is leaving us. He's got a job working in a different bit of the same company. Lucky sod. What was really nice was that this is something he's been trying to do for quite a  while, and he'd literally missed out by a hair's breadth at an interview for a job a couple of weeks ago. Having made such a good impression, another role had come up, and this has been offered to him. I'm really pleased for him, I know how much this means to him. I will honestly be sad to see him go. He's a real character. 

Some people you work with, you build an acquaintance level relationship with, you both know that you work together and it's best to just find a way to get along. Some people though, you're really lucky to be able to call not just a colleague but also a friend. He is one of those people, and a nicer, more genuine, caring and giving person you couldn't hope to meet. 

Ok. I can stop gushing now. 

Day One

First day of my holiday. 

I'm pleased that I've managed to get up out of my bed at 8:30, although I may have managed to get coffee and orange juice and peanut butter on toast - just not yet gone as far as having a shower. Depending on how your imagination works, that may present quite a disturbing picture for you. 

Last night, the House of Commons debated for the 2nd time the proposal to legalise marriage for same sex partners. With the Bill as it stands, church bodies will not be forced to provide marriages for same sex couples, if their religious conscience forbids it. 

I was watching the Parliament channel, as they discussed and voted upon the different suggested clauses to the bill. These are amendment suggestions made by others, that may either add clarity to or increase the effectiveness of the bill when it passes into law. They may also provide the tactical opportunity to delay or even derail the bill itself. 

An example of those being, one where registrars (the people that work at the registry offices where such marriages would take place) should be able to not personally be involved in them. There were those that felt this meant they would be officiating over ceremonies which they did not agree with for either religious or other personal grounds. 

Another pointing out that by creating this law, with the motive of creating equality, the government are actually generating a fresh inequality, in that if it became law, same sex couples would be able to either get married or to create a civil partnership. Opposite sex couples would only have the choice to be married or unmarried. How can it be right to remove one unfairness, only to replace it with another. 

It is, I think, an interesting point. There can't be any gradations of equality. Things are either equal or they are not. The government's representative countered this suggestion by saying that the idea of allowing opposite sex couples to also have a civil partnership has not been explored. There had been no work done to see if there was indeed a need for such a law, or what the implications would be for widow or widowers that would then be able to receive a pension when surviving their partner. Those that currently as plain old cohabiters are entitled to nothing unless someone has the sense to make a will. 

Is it really such an unexpected request ? Did those involved in writing the bill really not consider this one ? It seems terribly short sighted of them - although I think incompetent would be a different way of describing it.  

Those suggesting this change to the piece of legislation are also being accused of doing so with ulterior motives. Their history of all things equality isn't exactly shining, and have previously been involved with trying to stop the law that created civil partnerships in the first place ten years ago, and also in not supporting previous laws for example the harmonising of the ages of consent for gay and straight people. 

You would think that the three options being to either allow gay and straight couples to both marry and create civil partnerships, remove civil partnerships, and provide equal marriages or.. then there's the way they are suggesting. Something about politics where compromise creates inefficient and ineffective or just downright confusing law. 

Democracy may not be the best solution to the problem of how to govern a country, but it certainly is the best of all the other alternatives. 

The bill that gets passed through to the House of Lords for further consideration (and I suspect will come against more fundamental opposition) will in some way be a halfway house, in that perhaps civil partnerships were in their own way the law that could get passed rather than the law that was really needed or called for.  Politics being the art of the possible, where sometimes everyone gets a little of what they don't want in order to achieve something the do want. 

The show must go on..

Sunshine has suddenly become an expected part of the weather in England. We've had glorious weather pretty much for about 4 days now, and before everyone starts moaning about it being 'too hot' or how stupid they were and that they got sunburned, I figured that I should just take a moment to enjoy it.

Done.

I now have a couple of days off work, due to the Easter holiday, and then am in for 5 hours on Saturday and not back in the office until Tuesday. This is all fantastic stuff, and really appreciated, coming as it does right toward the end of Script Frenzy. Realising that I haven't broken into double digits really does make it tough for me to achieve the 100 pages before the end of the month, but I guess that I won't get them sitting around on my arse writing my blog. I'll get them sitting around on my arse with a copy of Celtx open, writing some script.

I wasn't that well on Monday, and pretty much spent the day in bed. It'd been about 6 months since I last had a day off work through sickness, but I was absolutely wasted. Man flu ? Well, call it what you like, but I got up to get ready for work that day, and after calling in sick, went back to bed. I didn't wake up until about 7 hours later. Must have really needed that. Still got annoying cough and pains in my chest, from the coughing, but I am very much near mended. Went back to work Tuesday, but hate, hate, hate being off work. It also meant I certainly wasn't up to attending drama on Monday night.

This was the second session that I have had to miss. Poor Helen being left to carry the can. On both occasions the turnout from the cast has been lacklustre also. We can't afford to keep wasting these valuable rehearsals. Apart from the cost (£8 per hour), there is the cost in time. There are only so many weeks before the show is due to open. Helen was very good about the whole thing, and understanding. Wednesday's session was very good. We did about half of one of the more complicated scenes, and although I hadn't had a chance to go through it with Helen in advance, I planned it out on my own. The characters are really coming alive, with Jay Jay (Steve Penfold) and Troggie (Chris O'Connor) working very well. These scene was working out to show the desired amount of chaos and comedy, with Helen and I both finding it funny to watch, even at this early stage. Some of the cast, well most of them actually, haven't worked with us before and we've taken a bit of time to explain to them how our comedy works, why we have so many things happening at once and how at times, it appears to break most of the 'rules' of theatre, and get away with it.

We've gotten off to a rocky start, but if this is any indication of how the rest of the show will turn out, then we are on to a winner for sure.

Now on to some script frenzy !! If I'm good, and focused and get lots of work done, I may just treat myself with an afternoon out to Steve's BBQ tomorrow...

Wednesday cannot come too soon...

An email this morning from Apple confirmed that they had, at last processed my order, and would be delivering my new iMac on either the 9th or 10th of March. Next week. Of course it would be arriving after I go back to work.

At least I know that it's on its way. I am sure as the time passes I will get more excited, and will practically be impossible to be around on Tuesday. Inconsolable if it doesn't get delivered on Wednesday (as that's my day off).

An iMac, apparently cannot be rushed. Whilst I await my new shiny, Apple have gone and released another new such gorgeous machine, the second incarnation of the hugely successful Ipad.

As ever, they have produced a wonderfully exciting device, that is an improvement over the previous model. Astonishingly, the Ipad 2 is priced at the same level as was the first Ipad when it was released last year. When I wasn't frustrated about the time it is taking for my new computer to arrive I was salivating over the new ipad. I simply cannot afford to buy one. There are some deals at the moment with a variety of mobile phone companies (Orange & Three) - with Orange offering the Ipad (1, as I'm guessing we'll now learn to call it) for £99, with a monthly contract £25 to existing customers, £27 to new ones it is sorely tempting. None the less, as much as the kid let lose in the candy store feeling is exciting, in the real world you still have to find the money for the shiny thing.

When I wasn't either frustrated or dreaming (never saying that to a someone in Curry's again) I got some thrashing out of ideas for Laptop (the idea I'm developing for this years Script Frenzy). In short, there are more post-its.

It's probably not clear from the photo, but it is now evolving into three distinct acts. There are still plenty of gaps, but there's definitely a story there. You know, like with a beginning, a middle and an end. Feeling the glow of that creativity. Additional ideas pop into my head every now and then, and I just add them to the wall. It's a funny thing, the more I add, the more ideas I have. Once I get the ball rolling I find it has a life, a momentum all its own.

Far across town, in another idea..... Workshop numero three for drama. Stunningly there were more people this week. A whole 8 people turned up. This was the most we've had so far. It was a really good session for that reason, and also because rather than struggling to find ways to fill two hours with random games we spent the vast majority of the time playing with selected scenes from the show.

Those that hadn't seen the script before responded well to it, which is always encouraging. Hopefully by the next session then Helen and I would have been able to write some more. Helen is due back off her holiday, just as I finish mine, so our chance of cramming and writing a couple of days straight seems to have passed us by.

It's a bit worrying that our deadlines for getting the script completed are slipping away at a rate of knots. It is now four weeks since the initial readthru, and we haven't written anything extra in that time. A whole month. With now less than four months until the show opens, it's critical that we actually finish the script, and in good enough time to allow ourselves to edit it sufficiently and to give the cast time to get to know it.

So what happened to common sense... being driven... and well.. getting things done.

I have ! I have I tell you.

Despite a lack of comment at the progress, much was achieved during my self imposed exile, my holiday to the next room as it were. I was rather pleased with one script, and then got started on the other, the one that I am meant to be writing with Chris. We had done lots of fat chewing, ideas throwing and pretty got the scene by scene sorted. The scene by scene. Ah that wonderful thing that gives scripts their start, middle, end and how to get from one to the other, in easy baby steps.

I've done some 'thought showering' today. Funny really, as like a lot of other people, I sometimes come up with things in the shower/bath, on the loo or whatever. Usually in a place where you have no means by which to capture the idea.

But I've thrashed out a little to do with 'Retro Rocket' this idea that I had about purposefully recreating the look and feel of 70s & 80s scifi shows, with wobbly sets, the big shoulderpads, the even bigger hair. The eye-liner (and that was just the men). The really naff and unbelievably shallow female characters.. the special effects shots, where you could so easily see the wire pulling the model spaceship along. Did we care ? No. Did it spoil our enjoyment ? Not one bit. It was only when those nasty Hollywood types threw all their money at things that we started to feel ashamed about home grown scifi. Scifi like the original Dr Who, Blakes 7, Saphire & Steel, Space 1999. You only have to look at the collective works of Gerry Anderson to know that the odd string here and there doesn't dent the entertainment value of the show.

Somehow, back then, the sets were unstable, the performances had more ham than Waitrose at Christmas, but somehow, we were glued to the screen, we were absorbing the nature of science fiction. The 'believability' having absolutely nothing to do with how many carefully drawn CGI characters or spaceships there were. The baddies all looked like people in awkward poses with coloured cling film on them.. but it didn't seem to matter to us.

The imagination was the thing that was fired. That was allowed to grow and run amok. Today, everything is done for us. The scene is set, and given to us, we don't have to do any work at all. We're not involved in the ways we were in the 70s & 80s.

Have we, in making scifi mainstream, dumbed it down to the point that it fits into 'Hello' but has lost both the sci & the fi that gave the genre its name ?

Anyhoo... just to completely ruin my idea.. I've attached a scan of my scribblings.

Hopefully that works.

There's not a massive amount of data there to work on, but it's hard work, creating things when Homes Under The Hammer is on.

The ideas that Helen and I are forming into something we can work on for Scriptfrenzy exist at the moment as a load of pieces of paper, which I have allowed, in my infinite (lack of) wisdom, Helen to take away with her. I did cunningly, photograph them before she went. They are on my blackberry, and I haven't been bothered to get them off and put them onto a computer. Just yet.

I have suggested, on that front, that we do blog, and Vlog our progress, and efforts. This will hopefully, draw people to our youtube stuff, but also mean we are still uploading some films, even though the month of April is going to be so gloriously, and completely given over to ScriptFrenzy.

I do.. also have a back up, backup plan, just in case this one doesn't work. But for now, the idea of that script is... well, it's called 'Network' and is pretty much a social commentary on what would happen if people were no longer allowed to work, that workplaces, and all places of congregation are banned (for health and safety reasons, or for anti terror reasons, we're not sure). The idea being that people work from home, or from the park, on their laptops, all communicating by skype. Everyone with a headset. What would happen to the economy, without anyone buying petrol, cars, using public transport. All that lost tax revenue. No schools allowed to open, no supermarkets (homeshopping allowed with severe precautions).

We want to explore this in the comical way that we have explored all the other ideas we have had. For example, imagine a couple, in their kitchen, with their headsets on, awaiting calls from colleagues / customers, and they launch into a full blown argument, but have to pause it, when one of them gets a call. About to let fly again, when the other does too. Similar comedy may be found in when couples are trying to have sex.

The whole idea about home working, pushed to the limit. You may well go to work in your slippers and nightie, (again, that was just the men), but would people want to see you do that ? Video calls, leading to people dressing their upper bodies in office-wear, while remaining in just boxers and slippers etc below the belt.

There's comedy in them there hills. I'll have to get those ideas transferred, and uploaded. In the meantime, there's someone on their way down to do some writing, so I best go get ready.... and make sure I haven't forgotten to get completely dressed after all.

2nd day and going well

2nd day of my holiday away, but not very far (about 10 feet as it happens), and I'm feeling good.

I got up Monday about 8:30, and was at the desk, tapping away at the keyboard by 9. With the odd break or two, working the majority of the day until about 4, when I peeled myself away from a 98% completed 'The Adventures Of Stephen Brown' script, and went and had a bath.

What a skank, I hear you say. Soddit.

Anyhow. Even the curve ball that was thrown my way, which was that two of the principle guest characters in this story can't make any filming days together had been catered for. I just needed to throw in some reference to what was going to be happening in the next story, and I was done. I just didn't want it to look like I had just 'thrown it in'.

Helen came round Monday evening, and after what seems to have become the customary takeaway (last week was Pizza, this week was curry) - both of us stuffed to the gills with Korma (despite ordering Passanda - but that's another story entirely) we got to being creative. We came up with loads of ideas. Some we could film, some we could not. We gave up waiting for anyone else to arrive... we are a filming group of two at the moment. Which is intimate, and rather nice, as Helen and I get on so well together, but the idea of a club is that there is, well, some people in it. Anyway.

We threw our artistic sensibilities out of the window, and filmed me eating a poppadom, and then edited it to show... well, oh just watch the film it'd be easier... www.youtube.com/m27online

We got that edited and uploaded, as well as making some progress in getting last week's effort edited. I've noticed that the last few things have seen me in front of the camera, which had actually been some time. It's nice, for me to 'act' (or is that 'act up' ?). Helen is really good on the camera, and is so much the better of the two of us at 'going handheld'.

Chris came down today to work on our script for 'The 9th Man'. We were a little disheartened at first that we had not got further than we had previously. We spent the time reminding ourselves what we had talked about before, and fleshing that out into a scene by scene, just breaking the synopsis down into Excel and putting some more detail in. Looks like there's going to be some really interesting drama in those episodes, if only we can get the time to sit down and write the damn thing. I'm sure in this age of technology (Celtx being the preferred script writing software of choice) progress can be made, even when we can't be in the same room together.

By far though, the thing that really put me in a very good mood, was utterly unexpected. The best things always are. When I went to bed (just after arriving at my holiday residence on Sunday night), I wrote a blog entry, and then after that I checked up on my twitter page. It was at that point that I discovered that my daughter had, at some point during the day craftily updated my status a couple of times. One of the things she wrote was 'my dad is awesome, in a utterly weird kind of way'. That did bring a tear to my eye (and not because of the grammatical errors). It was so nice of her, and so unexpected. It doesn't matter what else the world throws at me. My daughter thinks I'm awesome (in an utterly weird kind of way). It's I think the greatest compliment I've ever received.

Today, after 4 failed attempts, my merchandising purchases from 'Script Frenzy' arrived. Two travel coffee mugs, with Script Frenzy iconography and 'Stop watching. Start writing. Script Frenzy. April' on them. So appropriate I thought, as it is the TV that sucks me in and swallows all my time in a manner a kin to the appetite of a black hole. I also brought a book 'No plot ? No problem !' - by Chris Baty.

Write here. Write now !! Do it !!! Sounds like a motivational speech given by Peggy Butcher. (get out of my pub, you're - the - bard).

1 script submitted. 1 film shot, edited and uploaded. Other projects moving forward. I should be on holiday more often. I'd get more done.

Have typewriter WONT travel.

After spending the first day of my holiday, not being on holiday (by
going into work) and having my daughter to stay overnight Saturday, I
guess I now start my holiday proper.
Everyone I speak to, that I tell that I'm going on holiday, will ask me,
'are you going anywhere'. No. I reply. I'm going to stay at home.
Sometimes I elaborate a little. Sometimes I don't. See the thing is, I
tell myself that the reason why I don't do as much writing as I would
like, is because I'm too stressed out from work to sit down and look at
a computer. Which we all know is rubbish, because anyone that knows me
will tell you that I spend my evenings with the computer, sometimes more
than one computer on. Just not doing anything useful with it.
Easy for me to blame work, but as I am now on holiday, I don't have that
excuse do I ? I've had some good days lately, where I've been due to be
at work late, so wouldn't normally get up until 10am. I've actually
gotten up much earlier and given myself a couple of hours first thing in
the morning to get some writing done. This indeed has worked, and I did
manage to get some pages done. Also the other week when I had a day off
midweek, likewise I got up stupidly early, for what was my day off, and
told myself I was going to be writing from 9am. And I was. The 'I've got
to be in the office by...' mentality seems to work for me. If I do the
writing at the other end of the day, then I find it very very easy to
come in from work, and a) put the TV on. That evil, evil thing in the
corner of the room that sucks away all my time. or, b) I sit down, and
think, 'I'll just give myself half an hour and then I'll start'. Well
that half an hour turns into an hour, turns into two, turns into three,
and then I tell myself 'oh, it's too late to start anything now, I'll
have a look tomorrow'. Tomorrow never comes. There's much
procrastination in my head. I find it very easy to talk myself out of
doing things, and that I can do them later on. It's funny, because I'd
never behave that way at work. At work, I'm always much more focussed
and driven by the power of the moment, and the yearn to 'just get things
done'.
I get too comfortable. I laze about.
When I have 'good writing days' I just get up, and get on with it. There
is no other common denominator than that. I love to read how other
people that write, have their methods, have their 'rituals'. I'm looking
for that 'eureka' moment, that revelation that when put into practice
will create this stream of fantastic and wonderful prose that emanates
from my brain, travels down my arms, into my fingers, where it is
skilfully and rapidly converted into text.
That's all rubbish of course. (or crubbish, as my daughter would say). I
forget who it was that said that the only way to write is to put in the
desk time. I paraphrase, badly. I'm so lazy, I can't be bothered to fire
up firefox, and go have a google to find out who the quote came from,
and actually quote it correctly. My only defence is, that if I fire up
firefox, I will be drawn inexorably into facebook, or twitter, or some
such other distraction. How many times a day can I hit refresh on the
BBC news website. Surely the world isn't going to end without me knowing
about it ?
So. To try and break the pattern. I am not staying at home. I am not
going away. I am going on a writing holiday, but not one of those ones
that cost you loads of money to go sit in some beautiful countryside
with a load of other people that also don't know how to write. (I have
no idea that's what those things are like, I've never been on one..
perhaps I should... but I'm too tight to do it. Too tight, and too
cynical. I digress). I mean I am going on holiday into the spare room.
I type this from my bed, and like the bed you sleep in on holiday, it's
unfamiliar to me. I've never slept in it before. I don't use this room a
lot, and infact, have never stayed in it. Even though, I am still in the
same flat, everything sounds different. The amount of darkness outside
the window is different. It's strange enough to me to not be
comfortable.
It's just that its cheaper than actually going away for the week. I have
my trusty netbook, my office chair (I wouldn't normally take that on
holiday somewhere with me, that would be wildly impractical). Wow, I'm
using up my whole years' quota of parenthesis in this entry. And I only
wanted to say a few short words. I don't know how many words this is,
because I'm on my netbook, and there is a limit to what it can be called
upon to do.
I am actually going to still get up in the mornings, just hopefully much
earlier than I have on previous 'stay at home' holidays. Sometimes I
haven't dragged myself out of bed much before midday.
This all does beg the question, how the hell do you continue to motivate
yourself to get up every day, if you, well, don't have a reason to get
up. If you're unemployed, or a kept woman, kept man for that matter. (I
live in hope). It must actually be hard to do that, and not descend into
an absolutely apathetically lazy, self serving ever decreasing spiral of
diminishing effort and returns.
After all, there's 'Jeremy Kyle' to get up for. I'd count that as a
reason to stay in bed until well after it's over. There's always 'Loose
Women'. I do love loose women, as much as the next man. You can take
that more than one way. A bit like the..... never mind.
Anyhoo. I will be, not hopefully, but am certain that I will be making a
difference this week.
Considering I want to write, I have a strange emotional attachment to
the idea of writing, and the elation that I get when I complete
something. The idea of starting something, when there's a blank page in
my pad, a blank screen on the computer and a blank head from whence the
ideas should flow to fill all the above is actually quite daunting. 'The
trick is, to stare at a blank piece of paper until your head bleeds' - I
believe is another badly remembered and uncredited quote. Uncredited
here. It is actually credited to someone. I just can't remember who.
When I'm actually in the throws of working out how to get a
character/story from plot/place/situation A to plot/place/situation B, I
don't think of the writing, I'm thinking of the problem at hand, which
is to get from A to B. Much in the same way you would think about
finding a route through a city you know, when you have the map memorised
in your head.
Like that, except, with this, you get to decide not just the route, but
also the layout of the city, the design of the buildings, the reason for
the journey and indeed the destination. Because there are so many
variables, and it's such an open field, its sometimes (I find) difficult
to know where to start.
Well, as Mary Poppins said, 'lets start at the very beginning, what a
very nice place to start'. Let's not confuse things by saying that when
writing you don't have to start at the beginning at all. That's just
going to get confusing, isn't it ? After all, even if you start at the
middle, it's still the start isn't it ?

Day two

Second day of the holiday.

I have gotten up much later than I had wanted. Having gone to bed a bit later. Still up in time to catch 'Homes Under The Hammer', just because I'm nosey enough to want to look at what other people are doing with their money, and how they are able to make more by refurbishing neglected properties. It's all good stuff. I like watching it, but think that I am teasing myself a little because I know full well, that as much as I would like to try something like that myself, I just don't have the money.

End of 2009, and I'm still renting. Still stuck without even a foot or hand on the property ladder. The hope that house prices would have crashed enough to allow me to buy something of my own has evaporated with the offers to lend money by all the banks that got us into this mess.

My current home is nice enough, but it would be good to be able to do the things that only owners can do. Decorate !

I want to be able to stick things on walls without worrying that pulling off paint or plaster will mean the loss of my deposit. I'd really like to be able to have a whole wall as a blackboard, so that I can 'brain storm' or 'mind shower' (depending how politically correct you are).

I've also got this idea of putting all my DVDs on a wall, with the covers showing, in order to give this collage effect which actually shows a passage of time marked in film releases. I like going round other people's houses and nosing through their book collections. Others like to look at their music - as indeed some people have with mine.

With everything going digital, and being stored on a computer, there isn't this conversation piece. It's such a shame. I just think there's something fundamentally beautiful about a well stocked bookcase. Something about the hodge podge of colours and styles. I guess that's like life itself, in that things aren't (thankfully) uniform and monotone. As much as I love my Mac Mini, or my Netbook, they're pretty soulless. All they say about me is that I can't resist a gadget or two.

If I were to entertain any visitors now, the thing that they would gather mostly about me, and the type of person that I am is that I am messy, and don't clean enough. I never did get around to the cleaning yesterday. I am trying to convince myself to get on with that, and at the same time to get into town and start my Christmas shopping. I am tempted to purchase a copy of the Star Trek film that has recently come out on DVD.

Do I buy it, or do I wait, and let someone buy it for me for Christmas ? Decisions, decisions. Every year my Mother asks me to give her a list of things that I want, for Christmas. Each year, I struggle to find things, because I don't sit around, waiting for Christmas to come about in order to get things that I need. I just go out and buy them myself. There are plenty of things that I want, but don't necessarily need. These things I usually learn to do without. Why would I want something that I don't actually need to have for Christmas.

It seems that procrastination is indeed an art form at which I excel.