colinmurtagh

For the first time in a long time, actually since February, we managed to grab some decent time off. Couple of weeks back we made our way back to Cambridge to say Goodbye to the flat, clear some stuff out of it, and hand over the keys. So that's us done with Cambridge then.
Did get to see some folk before we left. Wandered down to Savinios the best little coffee shop in Cambridge, and we wandered into Oxfam to see my old store. Anyone in the Cambridge area who has a few hours and is looking for something to do, wander into the Oxfam book shop and volunteer a couple of hours. Whatever you do though, don't tell Roger you know me. He'll spend hours telling you how bad I am.
Last week was our wedding anniversary so as is our habit, we took the week off and vanished off. Ended up in Glasgow for the week. It was so nice seeing the family again, it's been too long, but we were shocked at how big all the nephews and nieces had got. Who gave them permission to grow up?
We had a wonderful time, spent too much, ate too much drank too much (well Jill did), walked too much. It's strange going home, everything keeps changing until it gets to the stage where we get lost occasionally. Most embarrassing. As a wedding anniversary present, Jill got me the second volume of the Absolute Sandman. Have I mentioned how fond of her I am?
Got home late Sunday night which might have been a mistake. Straight back to work Monday Morning, and it's taken me until today to catch up. We both managed to pick up a cold while we were at it, so it's 9pm and I'm ready for bed. Think I'm turning into a soft southerner.

I finally got round to spending the Amazon voucher I got when I left Anglian Water. I wanted something I normally wouldn't buy myself, or something I couldn't justify spending so much money on. I wanted something that would be special, that I would keep. There was a couple of books I fancied, but they were a bit expensive. Well Amazon had a sale, knocked them down to half price, so I bought them both. No laughing at me!


The Complete Far Side

A two-volume collection features every Far Side cartoon ever syndicated, more than four thousand in all, presented in chronological order by year of publication, including more than 1,100 that have never appeared in book form.


The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Brings together every "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon that has ever appeared in syndication, along with stories and poems from classic collections.
Big box sets of books, both of them weigh in at over 10kg, and I had them delivered to the work so I had to carry them home. If nothing else it keeps me fit. It's a couple of books I'm really going to treasure. Now all I need is the time to read them

That's not me, that's budgie_uk

Colin Murtagh --
[noun]:

A master of storytelling

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com</td>

I was so fed up listening to budgie_uk complaining about his foot, I decided I'd do mine in as well just to keep him company.
Walking to work yesterday morning, I was walking to work, slipped off the kerb, and twisted my ankle. Thought at first it was just a sprain, but by the time I got home last night, my ankle was three times the size it should be, and I couldn't put any weight on it. So about 8.30 last night we wandered, well hobbled, up to A&E to get it looked at. Took a while, but after an X-Ray it turns out it is just a sprain, but a bad one. The up shot is, I've got two days off, with my foot up, ice packs and extra strong pain killers. I feel like Dr. House

18 years after I finished my degree, and I'm going back to school. was in Sheffield today to enrol at college to start a new management course. For the next thirty weeks, I'll be spending one day a week at college, learning how to be a proper manager. I reckon it's a good idea, the course should be interesting and I'm sure there's lots of stuff I'll be able to pick up that I'm maybe not doing as well as I should.
However the idea at the age of 40-something I'm going back to school, does worry me. It's been a long time since I've had to do homework, or any real studying, so getting back into the swing of it may be tricky. College is for young, carefree, energetic folk, (yes 9livesbaby I'm thinking of you). How an old fart like me is going to do, is another matter.

Happy Birthday budgie_uk hope it's a good one

ever since we've moved up here, Jill has been fascinated with the garden and with growing things. I've been more fascinated with how much of my salary goes towards keeping her in plants. as we're only renting here, she's not keen on planting anything, but she's started growing lots of pots of things. I thought I'd share some of it, under a cut as it's a bit picture heavy, and there's a quiz at the end. There's no prize except her undying gratitude.
( Read more... )

Well the last week has been fun. Luckily the house is quite high up a hill, so that was OK. We had to evacuate the lab Monday lunchtime. lab lost power about 4pm. The house lost power about 930pm, didn't come back on in the house till about lunchtime Tuesday. Got power back to the lab about 5pm Tuesday, but didn't get the IT back up until Wednesday lunchtime.  I managed to make it into work on Tuesday, but there was only about 5 of us did, which isn't bad out of a workforce of 120. The road outside the lab was under about 5 foot of water, but at least it didn't make it into the building. Wednesday we found one of the eaves from a building site across the road outside the door. This was about 40 foot long by 20 foot tall solid wood. It must have weighed a ton. Still having problems getting into work. My normal route when I walk in goes under an underpass which is still under 4 foot of water. Better than the 7 foot it was on Tuesday.

The entire city centre was without power most of Tuesday, some of the shops are still shut due to water damage. In fact Meadowhall, the big shopping Mall isn't due to reopen until Monday, train station is still shut, so we couldn't get away like we wanted to at the weekend, and some of the out of town shops will be at least another fortnight until they get re-opened. Was only on Friday we managed to get a supermarket open. Thank gawd we'd only just done a big shop. Drying out now, just hoping the rain doesn't come back.

For the second time in a fortnight, I'm sitting at home when I should be at work. Fortnight ago the rain was so heavy we couldn't get into work. Most the roads around Rotherham leading to Sheffield were shut. The road outside the lab was under three feet of water. Today, the rain has been so heavy, and the standing water building up so much, we were scared we weren't going to get out. As it was a couple of the roads around the lab were already shut, so by lunchtime, we were all off home. I knew it could get a bit damp up here, but I wasn't expecting this.

Well this time tomorrow the flat will be packed up. Removal men have arrived already to make an early start to it, so I don't even know if I'll have a PC when I get home. My google mail account is active, and hopefully I'll be able to pick up my mail at work next week, but apart from that, I'm now offline until we get everything set up at the new place.
Wish us luck

budgie_uk asked what we were doing ten years ago, and threatened me with a very bad photo. Well, he should remember, but just in case he can't, 10 years ago, this was what was taking up most my time.

Finished my last shift in Oxfam today. Was supposed to be yesterday, but ended up working this morning for a couple of hours. I'm really going to miss that shop. It's been wonderful fun working there, some really wonderful staff (have to say that, just in case 9livesbaby or Janet are listening) and some really nice customers.
There isn't an Oxfam in Rotherham, although there is in Sheffield, so I may end up working up there.

On the topic of Oxfam, I should have posted this a while back. For red nose day this year, someone dared me to come to work in my kilt. Well you know how well I take to a dare, so I did. Doesn't quite go so well with a lab coat however. Couple of the other lads came in dressed up on the same day, one in a British uniform from the Boer war, and one in an old peasant outfit complete with 7 foot spear. Pictures are under the cut.

( May not be suitable for folks who don't like men in kilts )

After I left today, I got to meet up with budgie_uk, Laura and baby budgie_uk, who we haven't seen in a while. Of course budgie_uk couldn't turn up without running away with a couple of bags worth of books. I swear he can’t tell the difference between me and a library.
Probably going to be the last we see of them for a while, so all in all it's been a bit of an emotional day. The move is starting to become a bit more real now. We seem to be at the stage where we are saying goodbye to people. I'm so not looking forward to the last day at work. Saying goodbye to everyone there will be tough.

Well we've had quite a week. Last Saturday we were at a wedding, so had to dust the kilt down. Great fun, the wedding itself was in a barn in a farm a few miles away, which was followed by a pig roast, and then a ceilidh. Lots of dances I hadn't done in years, especially not at the sort of speeds the band was playing at, but all in all it was great fun. Course with it being a bit away, we stayed in a hotel overnight, came home Sunday just in time to get packed up, so we could go off to Newcastle on Monday for a week away.
Every year on our anniversary I take Jill away for a break. This year we decided to run up to Newcastle, as I've never been there, and Jills brother lives there. Unfortunately he was due to leave on the Tuesday, so we only got to have one night with him, but we had fun. Hit a couple of bars, then went out for a meal. All you may have heard about the night life in Newcastle is true. It's an amazing town, that really seems to come to life at night. Saying that, during the day there was enough going on to keep us busy. Hit a lot of the art galleries, museums, and even managed to climb to the top of the castle.
The hotel was right on the top of the train station. Lovely old Victorian place, that had a really nice feel to it. After we'd arrived I had a quiet word with one of the duty managers, and managed to get Jill a bunch of flowers delivered to the room on our Anniversary. On the day the flowers arrived, beautiful bouquet, but accompanied by a letter, from the duty manager, wishing us a happy anniversary, and offering us a free upgrade to the bridal suite. The suite was beautiful, and to be honest, probably bigger than our flat.
It was actually typical of the way we were treated up there. Everyone was really nice, and just couldn't seem to do enough for us. Found a lovely little coffee shop that we ended up using a lot, owner was really nice, and gave us a free cuppa on our last day when we said we were going home. We also found a not very good Forbidden Planet, two doors down from an excellent little comic shop. I picked up the new Fables hardback, and for my anniversary I got the Absolute Sandman, and Absolute Authority collections from Jill. I do so love my wife. I also managed to pick up the new Fish DVD, and a copy of a new Biography of Ritchie Blackmore, so I am going to be a busy bunny for a while.
We'll be up there again soon, the pair of us really loved the place.
On the bad side, with us being out drinking so much, I started smoking again, so I've restarted trying to stop over the weekend since we got back. I'll get this beat yet.

I don't think I've mentioned it much before, but I've now got a second job. The only problem is I don't actually get paid for it. I've started working for Oxfam as a volunteer in the book shop in Cambridge. It's all totally different from my normal day job. There's no real pressure, it's certainly a lot more physical, than the day job, running up and down the stairs all day with boxes of books is doing wonders with my calves, although I have had a few cramps lately over it.
I'm getting to know the regulars, a lot of whom are a lot of fun. We do tend to have a lot of laughs while we're working. The manager there, Roger, is a riot, and when the two of us are in the right mood, it's almost a floor show. More than anything else, it's fun. It's getting me out the house when Jill's working, I'm meeting a lot of new people. and I'm actually enjoying myself. Now if only that paid as much as my normal job.

I really need to be posting more often, but life keeps getting in the way. Had my Mother down from Glasgow for a week to visit us. First time since our wedding she's spent any appreciable amount of time with us, so we loved it. Went out and about a lot, spoiled her a bit, and basically gave her a good rest, so I feel happy. Been working a lot at the weekends in the local Oxfam bookshop. That can be hard work, but it's a lot of fun. Just as well seeing as they don't pay me for it, still you get the staff you pay for.
On the music front, I did manage to drop some reviews off to Will, I'm so far behind on them and feeling really guilty about it. I've a backlog of about a dozen albums to do, so I've got to get that caught up. I'll post something here over the next few nights. This months Classic Rock magazine was fun. Loads of stuff about Prog, including a round table on the state of prog, and an interesting piece dispelling the myth that punk killed it. Free CD with it isn't bad either.
It's getting quite sad now. I've got at least a dozen albums I've ripped onto the iPod, including the new Iron Maiden album, and can't work out when I'm going to get them listened to. If someone can arrange an extra 24 hours in a day, I'd be grateful

A friend of mine budgie_uk does something particularly interesting. Give him a title, no more than 4 words, and a unconnected word, and he'll write a short fiction of exactly 200 words.

Now Lee is a lovely guy, cheerful, friendly, so why does he write some of the darkest short fiction going?

You can see his take on my suggestion here http://budgie-uk.livejournal.com/564414.html

I was like a kid at Christmas this morning. Postman arrived with shed loads of CDs. Got Jadis Photoplay, and new albums from Darwin Radio, touchstone and Cerebus effect, all of which I'll have reviews written for by the end of the week. Also picked up from eBay Changes by Collage, Let there be Rockgrass by Hayseed Dixie. Then from his website I got the new album from JR Blackmore. Recognise that name? Yup it's his son. Funnily enough he doesn't mention his dad as an influence, and there's not that much of his dads sound there. Very good instrumental album though, definitely got his dads skill.
Finally, picked up the new albums from the Story, and from Answer, both on the recommendation of Classic Rock magazine.
The Story album is amazing, Welsh band, who manage to merge the British sound with the Californian sound of the Eagles. Apparently they have been supporting Elton John, so with a bit of luck they will be getting a bit more press
The Answer album though is even better. This is the real old classic rock album, it could have been recorded by :Led Zeppelin or Free back in the good old days. really recommend you hear this one if you enjoy good old fashioned classic rock.

For a while I've been singing the praises of http://www.caerllysimusic.co.uk/ which in my opinion is the best source for prog rock in the UK. Well I can now announce that I'm officially signed up to provide them with reviews. They will range from one liners, up to the huge review just uploaded on the new Magenta double album. There will be new reviews added at least weekly as I try and keep up with what's coming out, along with catching up on the older music.
Feel free to pop along and have a look, and if you don't agree with the reviews, feel free to disagree with me :)

Went down to John Lewis today, walked out with a new 30Gb iPod. My but it's thin. I couldn't believe the size of it, Especially compared to the Sony. Got it plugged in now, and it's downloading away nicely to the iPod. Now I understand what stuwest meant about iTunes. The software is wonderful. Compared with the Sony versions, it's amazing. It's incredibly easy to use, and it's nowhere near as intrusive as the Sony one is. There's no way I could be updating here, if I had Connect on it'd be so resource heavy I couldn't do anything else. All I need now is to replace the USB port with a USB 2 port and I'm set.

Of course with it being an iPod there's so many accessories for them. We were looking at some bits and bobs while we are at. I bought a case, to clip it to my waist. Don't really want it sitting in my pocket, that'd be asking for trouble. The girl in the shop was saying she's had a couple brought back cause folk have sat on them, or in one case, forgot it was in their pocket, so it went through the washing machine. Not covered by the warranty I would think. Jill was thinking about the speaker docking station. She reckons it'd be great for the bed room to have some music at night. I'm not convinced it's such a good idea. I can see us getting all romantic one night, and it throwing onto the Macc Lads, or starting up some Spocks Beard track that I would end up singing along to.

Much to my shock, I got a letter from Sony today. Didn't get much of an apology, and no explanation, however what I did get was an offer to buy the unit back at the original retail price.
So, I've got £200 roughly to spend on an MP3 player. Must have at least 20Gb of disc space, I've got 20Gb of MP3 on the hard drive, so it'd be nice to have it all. Must not be a Sony, never touching them again. Any suggestions, reviews?