Your Blogging With Dr P... search result is below this annoucement.
In April 2008 Blogging With Dr P... moved to Blog Bypass.
If you're using the Blog Studio Search Facility to find a link to a previous blog, then I've been very generous, and NOT included an automatic re-direct which would take you there.
So, what this means is you have to use this link: Blog Bypass to find more Blogging With Dr P....
Thank you to Blog Studio for all the help over years! :)
(Feb 2010 Update): Haloscan is no more. Therefore the comments on this blog are no more. Sad, but true. I'm not paying $12 a year for the occasional comment with Echo. Apologies to all those who have commented. I have saved them and may well stick them somewhere else at some point.
Friday, October 31, 2003
Halloween! It's Tonight!
And me & the missus are going to be here:
Remember - set your VCR/Sky boxes/Tivos etc for Most Haunted, Living TV 9:00pm until just after midnight. I shall try and get my ugly mug on there.
For y'all overseas - I'll be recording it meself, and should I get on TV, I'll take a screenshot and post it on here later.
It's so exciting! I must go and pack....thermal vest, thermal long-johns, thermal gloves - basically all the kit I took up the Andes back in 2001 :)
Have a great Halloween everyone - don't drink too much - or eat too much candy!
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Thursday, October 30, 2003
Dikshunairy Madness
This might seem like an alarming stupid statement to make, but dictionaries aren't really much good if you don't know how to spell the word (!) in the first place. I mean, the main purpose of the dictionary is to alphabetically list the words, with correct spelling & meanings etc. And, (hopefully rightly so), I'm guessing that a dictionary's main purpose is to tell you how to spell a word correctly.
But how do you look up a word to see if you've spelt it correctly......if you don't know how to spell it in the first place?
The reason I'm asking this, is because it's just happened again. I wasn't going to mention this strange thought which pops into my head everytime I reach for the dictionary to check my spelling on something. But a nuff is a nuff!
Answers please. (Check your spelling first TW :) )
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Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Fondue Sets - Just Say "No!"
I was reminded about fondue sets whilst in BHS yesterday. There, on the shelves, was last years unwanted Christmas gifts - on sale. (Remember in Retailing Land, all the Christmas stuff you see on the shelves now - is last years stock. How can you tell? It's all battered to death as if it's been stored in a big brown box in the stockroom for 12 months!). The biggest display was the stack of fondue sets.
Apparently,(and don't ask me how this newspaper got this statistic!) there are 3.8 million unused fondue sets kicking around the nation's homes in the UK. This represents a staggering ?114 million.....AARRGGHH!!!! That is a lot of bread Fred. I mean even at 75ff in your average car boot boot sale, that still leaves approx. ?3.5 million worth of fondue sets being displayed on rickety old tables in fields from Cumbria down to Cornwall.
So, do your bit for the British economy this Christmas - "JUST SAY NO TO FONDUE SETS!" - and let BHS, (and others like them), destroy them humanely in some sort of fondue genocidal culling ceremony.
That is all.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Todays Decorating Tasks Included......
Taking down all those 'things' fixed to the bathroom walls - before painting it. Just go and have a look in your own bathroom.....go on....I'll wait...(dum de dum.....dum de dum.....) - back? Oh good. Did you have any of these in there:
1. Wall shaving mirror
2. Towel rack
3. Shelf, (or two!)
4. Toilet roll holder
5. Cabinet
6. Shower rail
Well, let me tell you - unscrewing isn't have as much fun as screwing,( - and you can read into that what you will! ;)). So there was a lot of arsing around with stuff before the initial paint off. I've also learnt to be wary of things that say non-drip - it is still possible. I discovered this after I'd finished painting, packed everything away, used the toilet, grabbed hold of the handle to flush it - and a huge dollop of paint was lurking on there - and was then all over my hands. AARRGGHH!!
Anyway - I delayed the mounting of the new bathroom blind, and the afixing of the mirror until tomorrow. I collected a PC for my bro Joe, and I'm just about to re-format and load dubious bits of software onto it for him.
End of vacation Day Two......:)
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Monday, October 27, 2003
"Decorating For Fun"
Have you ever noticed how you never see a book with that title? I mean, go on, search your local libraries - in fact - go search the internet. (The nearest I found was this, which, you'll agree, is not exactly the same thing). I make this claim after having a less than fun day painting the hallway: Day One of the vacation. Oh joy.
I'd forgotten the excitement of resurrecting paint brushes back to life, (those which had been laying idle in the garage since I first decorated this apartment just over three years ago). I'd also forgotten the buzz of my head as I had it only a few inches away from a pot/tray of paint all day. And who could forget the aching limbs after a hard days slog climbing up & down a stepladder, crawling on the floor, wiping up spillages, (swearing like trooper.....hmm....side issue: how did/do troopers describe themselves when they swear?......),? Well, I forgot what it was like until I finally stopped...........and then tried to get out of my chair again.....OMG......thank God I fitted ramps up into my blog so I wouldn't have to manouevre up any stairs :)
Day Two of the vacation sees me painting the bathroom, fitting a blind, and hanging a mirror.....can someone remind what these vacation things are all about? :)
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Sunday, October 26, 2003
CLOCKS!
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Saturday, October 25, 2003
Update On The Mother Visiting Front....!
Due to some outrageously bad nanny planning by my brother, Dom, me mammy is playing nanny for some sections of this week to the munchkins, (two of them at the moment, then another three arrive on Wednesday). So, our plan was to steal her away for Wednesday night over here, (Dom lives in Dulwich......West Catford really...lol...), and return her on Thursday night. But that can't be done for no-nanny reasons
So now we are going over to collect her in about 15mins. And for the last hour or so we've, (mostly Sue if truth be told!), we have been running around like mad things - dusting, cleaning, bagging-up etc. Because, as you know, no matter how clean you think you're place is......your mother will always find something wrong. (Hopefully she'll spot the bits I've left for her to spot...and miss the really bad bits we both missed!)
Okay - so it's off for Operation Mom Swoop......gawd, sarf of the river on a Saturday afternoon - I must be going mad(der!).
See y'all later - have a nice weekend. Be good to your moms :)
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Friday, October 24, 2003
Time for Some Hols
Remember this timetable? I'm up to Next Week 3 - which means vacation time next week, and decorating - HURRAH !...............duh.......:(
Well, Sue's parents are coming over for the New Year, and the place could do with a bit of a winter clean, as opposed to a spring clean. So, it's paint the hall, paint the bathroom, paint bits of the kitchen, hang that blind, that full length mirror - and generally tart the place up. I reckon I can get all that done over Mon/Tues next week. That'll leave Wednesday to pop over and rescue my mother from the all my nephew & nieces over at my brother's place,(she's come down from the North East of England to visit). Thursday to sit around with me mum. Friday to go down to Hampshire for the Most Haunted Halloween programme. Saturday to play the tourist down in Hampshire, (we've booked a hotel for the night nearby. Can't be travelling back from a spooky abbey on Halloween night! :))and then drive back up here - Sat/Sun to chill out before going back to work.
And this weekend? Start as I mean to end..........chilling :)
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Thursday, October 23, 2003
I'm No Expert...
- but did Winter just arrive? (Okay Sue tells me that the folks back home in Texas are having a heatwave in the 90's!), but here in little old England I seem to be freezing my arse off these past few mornings.
I have been working in one of the companies LDC's - Local Distribution Centres - the past three days. It was fairly cold in there - I even ended up wearing my thermal underwear(!)(These were the ones I wore when I went trekking up the Andes Mountains for charity back in 2001 - and they still fit...lol...:)). But warehouses are notoriously cold any time of here, and I suppose getting up at 5.30am doesn't help either.
I know - I'll take next week off on hols - and stay in bed! Well, we do have a weeks vacation next week - HURRAH! - but we shan't be staying in all the time. Are you doing anything 'different' for Halloween, (next Friday)? We are going to be on TV! Tup - there's a TV programme called "Most Haunted" - and they are doing a live broadcast from Beaulieu Abbey on Halloween - and we have tickets to go to be in the audience. Spooky, eh?
Expect to see me live on Sky TV next Friday evening - and if anyone misses it - I'll be taping it as well :)
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Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Boy Meets Girl...
There was an 80's band called "Haircut 100" who had a hit with a song of the same title. I think they also had a hit called "Fantastic day" as well. But, I digress......
The subject of today's little missal is the observations I have made whilst driving home in the suburbs. When I get within a few miles of the vinicity of where I live, there are several schools. And, not surprisingly, the schools contain teenage kids. Bless them. But let's not get into any gripes & groans about teenage kids - lets talk about the different walks home that the boy-meets-girl situation can demonstrate. I think I've probably seen them all:
The Fast Walking Girl
Definately says "Leave me alone. Why did you ever wait for me!" sad to say that the boy can't see this. Smitten by his mad attraction to the love-of-his-life, the only time he'll get the message is when she turns into her driveway - and hits him with her bag!
The Fast Walking Boy
Similar to the fast walking girl. Although he is probably more confused as to why she is following him because she doesn't have Grand Theft Auto, or an X-Box, so what on earth does she want?
The Mutual Slow Walk - Attached
These kids just don't want to go home! I mean they have serious teenage stuff to get up to :) In their minds right then - their parents don't understand them, their friends don't understand them - I mean the guy doesn't even play GTA on his X-Box anymore!
The Mutual Slow Walk - Unattached
This is an interesting one, and has various sub-categories. Sometimes the guy is 'keen' - trying to put his arm around the girl, hold her hand, trying to kiss her etc - but she doesn't want to know, or doesn't realise.
But the best one is the guy who doesn't realise that a girl is severely interested in him. All her body language etc is saying "Hey dude! I'm here! Remember we've been flirting with each other all term? Here I am!"
I just want to stop my car, wind the window down and shut "Will you just kiss her and get on with it! I can't sit around here all day wondering what is going to happen next - my dinner's being cooked!"
D'you think he'll understand...lol...;)
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Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Little Temptations....
So what little temptations tempted you today, eh? C'mon - y'know there were some. Was it a guy, was it girl? Was it a large jam & custard filled sugar coated doughnut sitting seductively on a plate no more than an arms stretch away from you on the desk - and was everyone eating them as well? Yes - people were eating doughnuts around me today. But I was good. And I avoided that temptation.
On the way I noticed that several people had swept the leaves off their drives into huge piles. One guy had swept them onto the road in front of his house. Oh yes. That was very tempting! One swift flick of the wheel - and I could have made a thousand leaf explosion! Ha. But, I avoided that temptation as well.
God, it's boring being a good boy, eh? :)
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Monday, October 20, 2003
A Recent Survey Says...
About blogs.........
* Total number of blogs: 4.12 million.
* Number of blogs that lasted only one day: 1.09 million.
* Number of blogs that have been abandoned: 2.72 million.
* Of the 1.4 million remaining "active" blogs, only 106,000 are updated at least weekly.
* Only about 50,000 are updated daily.
"Blogs are currently the province of the young, with 92.4f blogs created by people under the age of 30."
Blogs created by age: 13-19 -- 51.520-29 -- 39.630-39 -- 5.8
So - is this you? :)
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Sunday, October 19, 2003
Meanwhile, back in London....
I was working in Oxford St this morning,(no, not digging the roads), in the Dixons store at the Marble Arch end of Oxford Street. A jolly nice place to drive & park around 6.30am - yum,yum. Anyway, on my way back around this afternoon I caught in a traffic jam whilst going up the A5. "And Lo!", (it is Sunday after all - so I thought I'd throw in a bit of biblical flavour), "There - in the west was a tradesmen...", (there was this dodgey looking geezer with a collapsible table selling stuff from the pavement in Kilburn),"...hawking his wares by the dusty roadside. Humbled by his abject poverty, and yet amiable outlook on life, I slowed down to observe this character of kind human nature..."( I was stuck in a traffic jam and thought I'd see what the sly old git was trying to stick the punters with!).
Anyway, he was selling LARGE CHOCOLATE CIGARETTES. Okay, there is a few questions to be asked here:
1. Why?
2. Why......hadn't he been arrested yet?
As I pulled away there was a young guy buying one off him. I got the impression that perhaps he was buying it for a present. But for who?...
1. His girlfriend? - "Hi honey - guess what I got for you?" Nah.....
2. His grandfather - "Hi grandpa - wanna light this big choccy cigarette?" - Nah...
3. The kids at his youth centre - "Hi Kids - yeah cigarettes are great - you can eat them and smoke them"......hmmm.....it is inner London here with their weird education authorities - so it might not be too far wrong!
Needless to say I didn't stop and buy one. Choccy ciggies can damage your health y'know!
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Saturday, October 18, 2003
Webcam Techie Stuff - WebShots
Whilst using the old Blogchat, (of which there are only a few people using this amazingly free, easy-to-use, imbedded chat software), I got talking to Lisa, and she was wondering about webcam software for her website. Well, I've looked at this before, and I never found any streaming video software that I could embed into my webpage. However, after talking with Lisa, I did another search and came up with WebSHots, which I downloaded from download.com. It's still not streaming pics, but gives an extremely good, refreshable live still pic.
As long as the sofware is 'switched on', an image will appear on the page. (If the software is swithced off, then you'll see a broken link sign there). If you refresh my page then you'll get a refreshed webcam pic. Now, as I happen to be sitting at the desk - it won't be such an exciting action pic...lol....but I'll have the Blogchat on as well, so we can be as interactive as possible.
Technology, eh? Don't ya just love it!?
Oh, yes, we subscribed to the North American Sports Network channel, (420 on Sky), so Sue could watch the New York Yankees in the World Series. Naturally, we've only subscribed for a month - then it goes :)
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Saturday morning - out shopping etc. Noticed that fishing mags are next to girlie mags on top shelf in newsagent. "Top Two Mens Reading Material " ? ; )
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Like The Circles That You Find.....
Remember this little car? Yes, it was embarassing and did provide me and many of you some source of amusement. But now there's news concerning it's owner.
Far be it from me to say that the company which we both work for,(or which he doesn't work for now), has done him any kind of injustice, messed him about, treated him in a ridiculous manner etc etc. But he has just resigned with the news that he has sold his house - and him & the family are off to live in Spain. Ah.
Sue & I dropped in for a little drinkette with him and some of the folks from the local store, (before we went off to pig out at a Brewster Inn restaurant). I was surprised - and pleased for him. Although it seemed as though his hand was forced, he had always talked about doing something like this. When I used to witter on about France - he would always say that he fancied doing something like that in Spain. And now he is.
And d'you know what else? He found his property, his mortgage, and all his details for the place he is living - off the internet. We used to talk about chat rooms, (and how I met Sue through a Yahoo chat room), and now he's put his internet skills to extremely good use.
Good luck mate! :)
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Thursday, October 16, 2003
The Thing At The End Of The Glass Tube III
I took so many photos on my last trip, that I thought I'd share a few more of them with you here, and damn the page loading time. I was quite proud of this little effort...
Sneaky Oriental Girl Pic
They were flying out to Paris as well. I don't know why. But it made a good photo. And I couldn't help but post a few more from Versailles. it's such a photogenic place. This next series comes from a litte arena type place made of the most beautifully coloured marbles with little fountains in there as well. It was previously closed off on other visits there - so this was a first time viewing for me...so I had to take lots of photos :)
 
 
 
There's that strange guy again! He gets everywhere! :)
And I spied a lovely sunset at Heathrow Airport from the bus on the way back to the long term car park...
I hope y'all enjoyed that little photo trip. If you do get the chance to go to Versailles - take it! But talk to me first - I'll let you know where the good restaurants are to avoid the pigs willys! :)
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Wednesday, October 15, 2003
The Thing At The End Of The Glass Tube II
So, how did it all go over the last few weeks? A bit like this.....
Sunday 5th October 2003
It was a dark and stormy night - otherwise known as brilliant sunshine, as we boarded flight AF1371 on our way to gay Paris. And sure enough in a totally uneventful foodless flight, (save that for a packet of unsavoury savoury biscuits), we arrived 5 minutes after we set off. Damned clever these French. I promised my colleague Barb that we would get to play on the 'bouncy travelator' on the way back. Sometimes it's the only way to get people to come on these foreign business trips - 'airport incentives' and the opportunity to arse about in a foreign country.
French taxi drivers as you may recall from Steph and I's little adventure in Lille (Feb 19th), should never be underated for their navigation skills - or lack of them. 120E (!!) later, whilst navigating by mobile phone/hands free kit with someone with a map, our inscrutable Chinese taxi driver arrived at the Mercure Hotel, Every (link). Don't be fooled by the sign & description on that link. Remember, many a Victorian lunatic asylum were also painted white & built on the edge of towns....
As per usual, (and something I'd forgotten), the hotel restaurant was shut on a Sunday evening. This was like reaching the end of the Oregon Trail (link) and finding that the drive-through MacDonalds wouldn't allow a wagon through because the horse crapped everywhere and the wagons were too high for the windows. (Actually, that's not the best analogy - but it is an amusing image). Basically, we had nowhere to eat that night. But with a few rushed sentences of Franglais we learnt of a restaurant which was "...cinq minutes a pieds...."And the rest. We had to traverse our way along the south side of a minor road which had no street lighting - and it was bloody dark! We had asked if we could borrow un "lampe de poche" (torch) - and the guy gave me a bicycle lamp - my French evaded at this point. What I really wanted to say was - "Are you taking the piss?", But what came out was - "Merci monsieur". He could have at least supplied the bicycle, srtripey top & garland of onions. (Side issue: With all this garlic in France, do the French have a problem with vampires?).
The meal at the restaurant was okay. Barb had ordered some sort of meat dish - which turned out to be something resembling a large pig's willy. Yes. A large pig's willy. It tasted revolting. (Now, how can I possibly say that it tasted like a large pig's willy, eh?!). Barb was probably not half as pissed off as the poor porker who used to be the wll hung dude in the sty, and is now known as "Monsieur Non Pinky" to his mates. Still c'est la vie. The ice-cream dessert was good.
In amongst all of this activity in France, we had some days at work. As i write, (about 6.45am on Tuesday 7th October), this is the start of out third day here. Sunday, after locating our hotel, (see above), on the south side of Nowheresville, Paris - we went to visit the first store at Villebon. Everything was superb. The audit, (the reason we are here), went extremely well on Monday. We even got separate executive sandwiches at lunch - salmon - superb. Today, we go back to finalise the audit - and eat at a restaurant near the store. The hotel restaurant we ate at last night had one big biffer of a girl for a waitress, (probably a former asylum inmate), and seats with an interesting array of stains on them....
Wednesday 8th October
Every - an interesting town off the beaten tourist track - and for good reason. I'm not saying that the French Town Fairy didn't wave her magic wand here - and she was tired. Maybe she did - and her aim wasn't that good that day. Or then again - maybe she forgot. Whatever the reason, I find it strange that a town with so many hotels seems such a disagreable place to stay in.
Our hotel is on the edge of town - attached to the edge of a light industrial estate. Advertised as being good for "...wedding receptions, conferences etc" - oddly not being advertised as a good place to stay for more than one night.
Every - an interesting town off the beaten tourist track - and for good reason....
And a strange mast like antenna on top of an office block which seemed to attract the birds. And when they filled it all up - it looked like a ship:
Sunday 12th - Tuesday 14th October
In complete contrast was the three day stay in Versailles - rather than say a great deal about it, I'll just show you some of the sights of a glorious late summer afternoon in the palace gardens...
 
 
 
Who is that masked man in that last pic? ;)
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Yes - I'm Here!
Listen I've been a bit busy - what can I say? I'll be posting a little bit of my French adventures up here very shortly. But just to give you a taster of what it was like, take a little peek at this piccy here - this was Versailles last Sunday afternoon - My Gawd it was OUTRAGEOUSLY HOT! :)
A bientot
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Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Versailles - took a trip around the palace gardens - got a bit of a suntan. No wonder Louis XIV was called the "Sun King".... Lol : )
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Versailler - some things never change... The palace is still magnificient, but my favourite Indiam restaurant has closed.... Lol : )
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Saturday, October 11, 2003
The Thing At The End Of The Glass Tube I
My Gawd after one week I come home speaking wiz dis OUTRAGEOUS ACCENT! - and I don't understand why you drive on ze other side of ze road? My Gawd - are you mad or zomething,eh? La plume de ma tente!
I am ere for one day only, and then I ave to return to stay in Versailles for a couple of days. My Gawd - it is a tough life, non? ;)
Until I return to give you the full details of ma recent adventures, ere is a little piccy of an outrageous French woman pulling er hair out whilst wating for the plane to go.....!
A bientot mes amies :)
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Thursday, October 09, 2003
France - il y a un homme avec "Le Grande Snore !" dans un autre chambre...Je ne dormit pas! ( Maybe this is what Sue says she hears from me sometimes? !)
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Wednesday, October 08, 2003
France - eating a Chinese meal in Evry near Paris... Lol : )
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Sunday, October 05, 2003
Off To France...
...early tomorrow morning. I'll send a phone WAP phone entries in from over there :)
I'll let y'all know all about it when I get back. See ya.
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Thursday, October 02, 2003
The Bell Hotel, Thetford, Norfolk - HAUNTED!
It's true! And here is the haunted corridor outside room 10:
Okay, it's not that spectacular. But you try taking a sneaky photo in an old coaching inn - with all the floors and walls creaking around you - with ghosts and real people :)
I did have a real spooky room though:
All the lighting in the hotel was by wall lamps - no central lighting because of all the oak beams running arcoss the ceilings. It was like sleeping in the Adams Family home :). I did have a 'haunted' wardrobe....
- well, at least the door kept opening by itself, which always seems to be good enough for the "Most Haunted" people to rant and rave about. But the most strange going ons were in the bathroom.....
- what a sight, eh?......:)
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Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Thetford - the waiteresses name is Kylie. Australian. She keeps 'pushing' the wine list... I didn't know Fosters made wine? :)
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