Welcome to Ali's blog. A blog that has absolutely nothing to do with juggling monkeys. It doesn't really have anything to do with much, just me rambling on about random things.
If you're one of my friends and are looking for ideas of what to buy me for birthday or Christmas, try my wishlist:
There was no shout of ice-cream and I made Barry superpowerful, yet still it was a massacre. How sad :-(
I was just going to leave it at that, but maybe that's just a little too random and you'll all just go "huh". I found Speedball 2 in a charity shop last week, so much of the day has been spent playing it. However we made it into the higher league and were too rubbish. Barry was our goalie.
Random observation of the day
According to a book that described roles of people at weddings, in my role as usher at my friend's wedding, I will have to dance with any ladies that don't have partners :-) that should be interesting. Maybe that duty doesn't count for female ushers, the book didn't give an option of female ushers, which I attributed to its age, but then when looking at the best man page it said something along the lines of "In a few notable cases the best man has been a woman" so they let women by best men, but not ushers, odd. Though they didn't sound particularly pleased with the concept of a female Best Man.
Oh and this may be a bit contentious, but it's my blog, so I can say what I like and flout public opinion, though quite possibly not the opinion of the blogger masses, but Pride and Prejudice is a very boring book. possibly more boring than the terribly boring TV dramatisation of it. At least with that you didn't have to read it, you could just sit and pretend to pay attention. Though I seem to be reading bits and not taking them in anyway. Then I feel bad and re-read, meaning I'm reading chunks of the boring book twice. I'm not sure I'll manage this whole reading the top 21 books thing, the problem is those of them that I hadn't read are mostly those that I never had any desire to read. Hmm. I read a book that wasn't on the top 21 this week, because I was so bored of Pride and Prejudice, I read Enigma by Robert Harris, it seduced me with its lack of Mr Darcy and the existence of an actual interesting plot. It was very good, that may just be in comparison to Pride and Prejudice, but Helen said she couldn't put it down and her Mum really liked it, so it probably is actually very good. Hmm, it seems that I never updated my time back onto GMT, so blogger thinks it's Tuesday when I post this, which would mean I have to think of another Random observation, or I can go and change the date and time, this could be the random observation, now I have to think of which is the easiest, can I be bothered faffing about changing things, it would be more accurate if I did, hmm, do I want accuracy or ease. Hmm, oh, I'll be good and change the time. It's not like it's a major hassle.
Of course since I changed the time of this one and not the evening's earlier post it's now put it beneath it, which possibly for ease of reading makes more sense, but which I don't think I can put up with because all other posts are in order from most recent and this one would then be out of sequence, which means changing the time of the other post, more hassle. ho hum.
Of course once I've sorted all that out you won't see any of this out of synch stuff, so you'll just have to imagine it, or not.
Went to Cambridge this weekend with Helen and Rob, stayed at my Dad's place while he was back home for the weekend. That was quite fun, Helen's blog gives you a lot more detail of some of the stuff we've done together this week, I don't seem to have been particularly verbose of late, sorry.
Also, one of the things we did during my week off (did I ever actually mention that I had a week off? Or did I just seem to be disappearing around the country? Oh well, maybe you figured out I had a holiday, maybe you didn't, it probably didn't impact your life much, or even matter much for reading this blog) was drive around Leicestershire and Rutland, visiting many small villages, which was nice. Anyway, there was a village called Whitwell, nice small village, lovely, but on entering the village we kind of did a double-take when we saw the sign, you know those now entering signs. This one said Whitwell twinned with Paris. Paris! As in Capital of France? How on earth can a small village in Rutland be twinned with Paris, that makes no sense at all!
I felt that rather than simply put this as an observation I would do some research, so I went to great lengths to perform an exhaustive research stint and provide an answer to this taxing question and so one google search later (a search during which I neglected to use any kind of proper search techniques such as inverted commas) I unearthed the reason and it made me laugh, so I'm posting it here, with absolutely no permission to do so...
Mr. Alan Duncan (Rutland and Melton) : The House will look kindly on the warm and generous words that the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours) had for my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Mr. Lester), which reflected not only on the merits of my hon. Friend's Bill but on him personally.
Okay, that bit wasn't funny, but let's you know the riveting material I waded through on your behalf (well, okay, maybe I just used the find tool and didn't read the rest of the page, so I guess it's possible it's actually a spoof page and nothing is true, but I looked at a bit and it looked boring and still, some effort) I hope you appreciate the lengths I've gone to for you, my devoted readers.
In an excellent speech, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, South (Mr. Ottaway) referred to some unpronounceable town in Hungary that is twinned with Chorley. That struck a particular note with me. If one drives, as I often do, past Rutland Water and through the small village of Whitwell, one cannot help but notice a large sign proclaiming, "Whitwell--twinned with Paris".
One might ask how such a tiny mouse of a town could be twinned with such an elephant of a European capital. That came about because the parish council, which is very internationalist in its outlook, wrote to the mayor of Paris explaining that Whitwell lay at the heart of England and wished to twin with an important capital on the European mainland. The council received no reply. It wrote again, and still no reply came. On the third occasion, the council's letter included a paragraph stating, "If we receive no reply within five weeks, Mr. Mayor, we shall assume that you have agreed to our proposal." The sign was erected in the fifth week and has remained there ever since.
I don't know what I can say to add to that, nothing really, just one of those fantastic true stories. Maybe there's a lesson to be learnt, but I can't be bothered and who'd be listening anyway?
Random observation of the day
The singer that Helen and I were ridiculing on top of the Pops the other night without knowing who he was, turned out to be none other than Matt Goss! Wow, that pleases me, I was sitting there saying he's out of tune and criticising his song and it's a person who I thought was a bad singer during my childhood. I remember the Bros jokes comparing bros fans to planks of wood. Confirming that I did have taste as a kid and was right to think he couldn't sing. I had no idea he was back on the scene, wonder what his brother's up to, maybe realising that they didn't have talent.
I was just going to leave it at that, but maybe that's just a little too random and you'll all just go "huh". I found Speedball 2 in a charity shop last week, so much of the day has been spent playing it. However we made it into the higher league and were too rubbish. Barry was our goalie.
Random observation of the day
According to a book that described roles of people at weddings, in my role as usher at my friend's wedding, I will have to dance with any ladies that don't have partners :-) that should be interesting. Maybe that duty doesn't count for female ushers, the book didn't give an option of female ushers, which I attributed to its age, but then when looking at the best man page it said something along the lines of "In a few notable cases the best man has been a woman" so they let women by best men, but not ushers, odd. Though they didn't sound particularly pleased with the concept of a female Best Man.
Of course since I changed the time of this one and not the evening's earlier post it's now put it beneath it, which possibly for ease of reading makes more sense, but which I don't think I can put up with because all other posts are in order from most recent and this one would then be out of sequence, which means changing the time of the other post, more hassle. ho hum.
Of course once I've sorted all that out you won't see any of this out of synch stuff, so you'll just have to imagine it, or not.
Also, one of the things we did during my week off (did I ever actually mention that I had a week off? Or did I just seem to be disappearing around the country? Oh well, maybe you figured out I had a holiday, maybe you didn't, it probably didn't impact your life much, or even matter much for reading this blog) was drive around Leicestershire and Rutland, visiting many small villages, which was nice. Anyway, there was a village called Whitwell, nice small village, lovely, but on entering the village we kind of did a double-take when we saw the sign, you know those now entering signs. This one said Whitwell twinned with Paris. Paris! As in Capital of France? How on earth can a small village in Rutland be twinned with Paris, that makes no sense at all!
I felt that rather than simply put this as an observation I would do some research, so I went to great lengths to perform an exhaustive research stint and provide an answer to this taxing question and so one google search later (a search during which I neglected to use any kind of proper search techniques such as inverted commas) I unearthed the reason and it made me laugh, so I'm posting it here, with absolutely no permission to do so...
From House of Commons Hansard for 11 Dec 1992
Okay, that bit wasn't funny, but let's you know the riveting material I waded through on your behalf (well, okay, maybe I just used the find tool and didn't read the rest of the page, so I guess it's possible it's actually a spoof page and nothing is true, but I looked at a bit and it looked boring and still, some effort) I hope you appreciate the lengths I've gone to for you, my devoted readers.
I don't know what I can say to add to that, nothing really, just one of those fantastic true stories. Maybe there's a lesson to be learnt, but I can't be bothered and who'd be listening anyway?
Random observation of the day
The singer that Helen and I were ridiculing on top of the Pops the other night without knowing who he was, turned out to be none other than Matt Goss! Wow, that pleases me, I was sitting there saying he's out of tune and criticising his song and it's a person who I thought was a bad singer during my childhood. I remember the Bros jokes comparing bros fans to planks of wood. Confirming that I did have taste as a kid and was right to think he couldn't sing. I had no idea he was back on the scene, wonder what his brother's up to, maybe realising that they didn't have talent.