While I’m waiting for my pc to be repaired so that I can share my holiday snaps with you, I thought I’d share an amusing incident that occurred in the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Las Vegas.
“The Beloved” was in the changing room trying on some clothes and I was hanging about waiting for him to finish and come back out. While I waited I was absently fiddling with a display of T-shirts when a rather attractive young man approached me carrying a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.
He smiled sweetly at me, handed me the pair of jeans, then asked me if I had them in his size and could he try the sweatshirt on.
Being slightly confused as I’d been day dreaming I was too embarrassed to tell him I wasn’t staff, so I pointed him in the direction of the changing rooms.
As soon as he was out of sight I found an assistant, explained what had happened and what the young man had requested.
The assistant found the incident very amusing and trotted off to find the correct size jeans for the young man.
I found the whole incident quite an ego boost and I realised why he’d made the mistake. Whilst I’d been fiddling with the t-shirt display I’d been absently folding t-shirts and tidying up the display. That and the fact I was wearing an Abercrombie T-shirt like a member of staff.
The reason I found it an ego boost, well have you seen the calibre of men that Abercrombie employ in their stores?
Well we’re back from Las Vegas and while I’ve been away my PC has died. I’m having to rely on my iPhone for the time being.
The vacation was great, as was Bette Midler, she really lived up to expectations. Our hotel room was lovely at The Mirage and made a fine base of operations.
Managed to cram so much into two weeks away that we were busy all the time!
But it’s good to be back. Will update blog with photos just as soon as I’m able.
I’m now on my way to my NEW job, but more of that later too!
Revealed to the world yesterday in all it’s glory, the new logo for 2010’s season of Doctor Who starring Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. I’m just loving the design of the new DW logo, the way the serifs on the DW mimic the top and bottom of the TARDIS. It’s one of those designs where you think, they must have done this before, then you realise that they never have!
I can see the DW logo on T-shirts already, who needs the words when you have an icon of such recognisable power staring at you! One Doctor Who fan sums it up when she says “That insignia on its own says, “I love Doctor Who. You can see I love Doctor Who. You don’t need to see the words ‘Doctor Who’ to know that. You and I are more intelligent than that.”"
This is the logo that will go out on all new episodes of the show and on all Doctor Who merchandise as from 2010, this includes any further releases of the classic era Doctor on DVD. Rumour has it that there will be two versions of the DVD cover, one in the new style and the reverse in the classic region 2 style, so as not to spoil the look of your DVD collection.
The word logo also harks back to the days of Jon Pertwee and of the logo used on the 1996 TV movie starring Paul McGann. This is a good sign, especially when the photos I’ve seen of the new TARDIS design is almost an exact replica of the TARDIS in William Harnell’s days, including the St Johns Ambulance sign on the opposite door to the police phone! (see left)
Sadly no pictures of the new TARDIS interior have been released or leaked as yet, but if they’ve done the “Modtro (Modern but Retro)” on the outside and on the logo then you can rest assured that the interior of the TARDIS has also had the same treatment.
The show’s design makeover isn’t something to be sniffed at or pooh poohed as a bad idea, it’s normal for the show’s logo to be changed, the theme tune to be reworked and the TARDIS interior including the console to be redesigned with the advent of each new Doctor.
It’s happened many times in the past and long may the tradition continue. It keeps the show alive and fresh and not bogged down in it’s own history.
Each new producer has wanted to model the show into his own vision of what Doctor Who should be and judging by the stories that new producer Stephen Moffat has done in the past, i think we can safely assume that the show is in good hands for the future, or at least until 2012 when Matt Smith’s contract as the 11th Doctor comes to an end. If he signs up for a 3rd year is yet to be seen, we’ll either love him or hate him, which is the way of all Doctors, past, present and future.
Well the last week has been a hive activity around me, I’ve been preparing myself to go back to work. I’ve charged up my laptop, phone and checked the batteries in my DVR just in case and all my work clothes are ironed and ready for my return next week.
We’ve also picked up the holiday tickets for Las Vegas which is also on the horizon, less than 2 weeks to go before we jet off to a much sunnier climate. “The Beloved” has also received confirmation for the tickets to see Bette Midler while we’re there on the 16th, which is the Friday night. He’s managed to get tickets 10 rows from the front and almost, but not quite, central. My inner excitement is beginning to boil!
I’ve also now exchanged my pounds for dollars, which always is the last but one step to going away, the last step is to actually pack my suitcase, which this year I’m restricted to 23kilos, which isn’t much. I’m not known for packing lightly!
The exchange rate for GBP to USD has been fluctuating wildly for the past week or so, but I think I got a good deal with mine. I managed to get $1.573 to £1, so I’m not complaining, but it’s a far cry from the $1.971 I got a year or so ago!
I just wish I could open up a US bank account as I’d transfer money to it on a monthly basis, that way I wouldn’t have to worry about the exchange rate ever again! I just need a US address to open one, but I guess that’s a little way off at the moment! One can still dream!
Speed cameras are the scourge of modern day drivers, there’s no doubt that strategically placed speed cameras or accident reduction cameras as they are sometimes euphamistically called, can be very effective in reducing the amount of accidents on certain roads where drivers have a propensity to put their feet down and where accidenta are common. There are many such roads arond where I live.
The police categorically say that they only use these cameras in areas where accidents have happened due to drivers travelling over the speed limit. I have absolutely no problem with this, as they are doing what they can to reduce the amount of speed related accidents.
I do, however, have a problem when the police place these cameras or mobile units, as in the pictures below, in places where there hasn’t been any accidents caused through excessive speed.
There is one such spot near to where I live. The police regularly place a mobile speed camera, sorry, accident reduction camera, at the bottom of a hill hoping to “reduce the amount of accidents” on that particular road. However, where the police have utterly failed in this venture is to check how many accidents have occured on this particular road in that particular spot. Well I happen to know exactly how many accidents there have been in that spot in the last 3 years that have been caused by excesive speed. The total of accidents is, none; zer0; zip!
The government’s guidelines for erecting cameras says that the location must have had at least four fatal and serious collisions in the last three calendar years. However, the Association of British Drivers has revealed this is not the case as many drivers have suspected. The ABD’s detailed report shows that cameras have been placed where there is absolutely no history of accidents. The Sunday Telegraph points at 4 further examples where in this case roads have opened with a camera already in place: the A12 in London, the Batheaston bypass near Bath, the A370 into Weston-super-Mare and the A6 Clapham bypass near Bedford.
So, tell me Mr speed camera operator, how can you reduce accidents any further from none! In this instance, this camera is being used for one reason and one reason only, revenue generation, and that really, really p*sses me off!
I heard an interesting story on the radio today regarding a product from yesteryear, you may remember Camp Coffee, which was developed in response to a request from the Gordon Highlanders for a quick way to brew coffee. The mixture consists of sugar, water, 4% coffee essence and 26% chicory. If my memory serves me right, it also tastes vile. One of those love it or hate it products like Marmite!
The story that I heard on the radio today relates to the product’s label. The label used to feature, as in the picture below, a highland soldier sat drinking coffee with what looks like a Sikh manservant stood by his side carrying a tray. The label was changed a few years ago amid a flurry of accusations over racism, allegedly from asian shop keepers who refused to stock the 100 year old product unless the label was changed, so now the Sikh gentleman is sat beside the soldier enjoying a cup with his comrade! Political correctness gone mad perhaps, who can say, but that’s not the most interesting part of the story, it relates to the kilted soldier himself.
The story behind the label is intriguing as the Scot is supposed to be Major General Sir Hector Macdonald, scourge of Afghans, Boers and the Dervishes of Sudan. He was the low-born soldier – son of a Scottish crofter – who turned down a Victoria Cross in favour of a commission, telling his superiors he would earn his medal later.
Known to millions as “Fighting Mac” he shot himself in the head in his bedroom in the Hotel Regina in Paris on 25 March 1903, minutes after reading a front-page story in the New York Herald suggesting he faced a “grave charge” – a Victorian euphemism for homosexuality, an offence considered so serious under Victorian military law that those “convicted” were shot.
It was he claimed he had gay affairs with a Boer prisoner of war and another while stationed in Belgium. He was also accused of a “habitual crime of misbehaviour with several schoolboys” in a railway carriage.
Macdonald was born in 1853 in Inverness, to a crofter and a dressmaker. He was an apprentice draper when he persuaded a recruiting sergeant from the Gordon Highlanders to accept him for training in the military at the age of 17. He became known as “Fighting Mac” for his exploits at the Battle of Omdurman, was wounded in the second Boer war. While serving in Afghanistan in 1879 as a regimental sergeant, he distinguished himself in battle to the extent that he was given the choice of a Victoria Cross, the ultimate military accolade, or a rare commission as an officer.
Whatever, the nature of his sexuality it should be noted that he did marry and he had two children.
I guess I can’t put it off any longer, my sick note runs out next Tuesday which means I’ve had about 6 weeks off from work. The job hunting has produced absolutely nothing. From all the applications that I’ve sent out I’ve had not a single reply. Depressing stuff. I can’t put off the inevitable any longer as I really don’t want to go onto SSP (Statutory Sick Pay) I can’t afford it so close to the Las Vegas trip!
I’m going to bite the bullet and go back next Wednesday. It’ll be hard and uncomfortable, but I just don’t have any choice. All I can do is put up with it until I can find something else and hope that the medication that the doctor has prescribed helps in coping with everything. As with most things in life, only time will tell.
When I was 14 years old I spent my summer holiday with my Aunt Joan researching our family tree, it’s been many years since I’ve looked into what we found, but the emergence of all these old photographs and bits of paperwork such as birth certificates etc has prompted me to carry on where we left off all those years ago. My Aunt Joan is now sadly no longer with us, having died of cancer in the early 1990s, so now the search is being carried out with mother.
Most of her side of the family has been discovered and certain myths about her background and ancestory have been proven as being true, her great great grandfather, we always suspected, came from Scotland and as the paper trail proved, he was born in Dundee and moved to Yorkshire around 1830. Making my mother a Walker, which is the MacGregor clan.
The new batch of paperwork which my Uncle David has provided has also highlighted a family myth on my father’s side. My grandmother’s maiden name was Louis, which we all presumed was French and have been happy in this assumption for many years, however, the papertrail leads us a little further afield than France.
My father’s great great grandfather, Theodore William Louis wasn’t actually French, but as it transpires, was born in a city called Lasi (or Jassy) in what is now Romania. At the time of his birth in 1821, Lasi was actually the capital city of Moldova. The borders of the country were changed approx 1859. This is Theodore below.
We believe that this was the reason for his emigration to the UK. He settled in Everton in Lancashire, where his son William Theodore Louis was born around 1866.
So, our French connection myth has been destroyed and my ancestry lies further into eastern Europe than we ever anticipated. I’ve had quite a bit of fun reading up on the history of the country as I knew very little about it. I’ve also explored Lasi via Google Earth, which has certainly been very interesting.
The Moldovan Flag
After a recent old photograph of my family came to light, I’ve been asking other members of my family for copies of old photos that they might have hiding away in bottoms of drawers and cupboards and in attics.
Over the weekend my father’s brother came to visit for the annual Penistone Show, he comes every year! A few days before he arrived I asked my father to phone him and ask him to bring any old photos he might have of members of the family, he agreed to bring what he could find.
On his arrival on Friday afternoon he produced a large envelope with lots of old photos and copies of birth, marriage and death certificates of lots of my family members on my fathers side. A geneologists dream!
I didn’t have chance to look through them properly as I was due to head over to Leeds and so my uncle agreed to leave the documents with us until his next visit.
I spent the weekend in Leeds and then came back over to Penistone this morning to find that my father hadn’t even opened the envelope, he said he was waiting for me to come back before going through them all. So after making a cup of tea we sat down and opened the envelope and spread the contents across the kitchen table. There were lots and lots of lovely old pictures dating back to the mid 1800s.
There were a few photos that also had protective paper covers and on opening one photo a piece of folded paper dropped out. It was yellow with age and smelled of dust. When it was carefully opened up, it was a poem, presumably written by my grandfather on the first of August 1944.
This is a photo of Fred, my grandfather, below.
The poem was titled “To The Doodle Bug”. I’m not sure if it’s finished or whether there is supposed to be more, but I have scanned the original for you to see below.
For those of you that do not know what a Doodlebug was, click here. Those that do know will understand that although it’s not a brilliant piece of poetry, it’s very poignant for those who lived through the blitz in 1944, and as we’re commemorating the start of WW2 over here in the UK, I thought I’d share this with you all.
I’ve also transcribed the poem below if you can’t read my grandfather’s handwriting!
To The Doodle Bug
Doodle doodle doodle bug,
How I hate your ugly mug,
Flying high in the sky,
Telling some-one they must die!
Fatser! Faster! Faster still,
As we all run up the hill,
Standing at the shelter door,
Hear your noisy engine roar
When we hear your engine stop,
In the shelter we must pop,
But with our jet propelled flame
We shall send you back again.
When we see the damage done
Then we think it’s time to run
Lots of us evacuate
When to others we relate.
Tomorrow, fair people of the world, is my 41st birthday. I have nothing special planned, I have no parties to attend, I have absolutely no feelings about my birthday at all. Is this strange? I used to look forward to birthdays with excitement and relish, I remember not being able to get to sleep the night before my birthday. I used to love ripping open the envelopes on greetings cards and opening the wrapping paper on any gifts I might receive. The love of birthdays has now gone, lost in the mists of time and youth.
Tomorrow morning I have a small, simple pile of cards to open, which I will do over my first cup of coffee of the day and that will be the end of my birthday for another year.
I do have gifts, but these I have already received. The present of a new Filofax from my parents has already been put to use, and my present from “The Beloved” is tickets to see Bette Midler in concert when we’re on holiday in Las Vegas in a few weeks time. I’m very grateful for these and I’m very much looking forward to seeing Bette in concert, I may even say excited.
Birthdays as a whole have lost their lustre, this happens as you get older and the passage of time is not something most people of a certain age wish to celebrate. I will be 41, it’s no big deal, I’m just not all that bothered about being 41. They say life begins at 40, or I think this has now changed to 50 I seem to have read somewhere.
My hair has turned greyer in the last few months, is that down to age or the stress that I have been under recently? One will never know! Aging has never been something I’ve thought about a great deal and I’m not about to start dwelling on it now.
I read a quote from someone a few years ago although I can’t remember who said it but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” I think it was Mark Twain but can’t be sure.
Los Hermanos Macana (Brothers in Tango)
As I’m still technically still off sick from work and there is only so much job hunting a person can do without going comepletely crazy, I’ve had to find other things to do to occupy my time, now that the effects of the flu like illness I’ve had have also dissipated.
My old bedroom at my parents house in Penistone is in dire need of redecorating, I think the last time it saw fresh paint was 8 years ago. So I’ve decided to give the room a complete overhaul. Currently the room is painted with 3 cream walls and one darker, “biscuit” type of colour. The curtains are a dark teal green as is the bedding to match. It’s old and outdated. As I’ve only really spent 3 nights a week here in Penistone for the past few years it’s not been high on my priorities, which is why it’s been left.
The room is also stuffed full tocapacity with “stuff” bits and pieces I’ve colected and accumulated over the years that I’ve just never gotten around to throwing away. I’m one of those people that doesn’t throw away boxes. So on top of the wardrobe are stacks of empty boxes, like the box my iPhone came in and also the box my camera came in etc. I’ve had them for a while now and I think it’s safe to drop them into the trash!
I also have years of accumulated paperwork and teaching materials that I’ve magpied from various places. Most of the stuff I’ve digitised and will never use the originals again so can also be trashed. To make some more space I’ve also decided to box up my dvd collection, I’ve done a quick count up and there are in excess of 300 dvds sat on bookshelves that could be safely stored up in the attic. Most of my film and tv collection I’ve digitised and have saved onto an external hard drive anyway, so don’t actually need the originals to hand.
It’s a process of decluttering which should create lots more space in the bedroom than I have now.
I just have to be really merciless when deciding on what to throw out and what to keep!
On Tuesday I had my follow up appointment with the doctor to see how my period away from work was coming on. I arrived early at the surgery and put my details into the touch screen display as directed, then went and sat down. I’d not even gotten myself comfortable when my name was called.
I entered the doctor’s room and sat down and we began to have a chat about how I felt. I began by telling her that things have been complicated somewhat by the fact I seem to have contracted a bizzare form of summer cold. I have no coughing, sneezing or blocked nose. I have completely lost my appatite and haven’t eaten anything solid since Friday. I feel as though I’m running a high temperature which is causing me to have serious sweating fits, my body temperature remains at 36.7, which is normal. My head feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton wool balls, especially behind the eyes and I’ve had a constant headache since Friday of last week. I feel like my brain is swollen, but it isn’t. I also haven’t had a full nights sleep in nearly a week. My sleeping pattern at the moment is around 1hour sleep, 4 hours awake, 1 hour sleep, awake until I give up and get out of bed.
The doctor is baffled.
Because of this she has signed me off for another 4 weeks, but I have to go back to see her next week if these other symptoms haven’t disappeared, if they’re still there, then it’s time for blood tests.
I had planned on going through to Leeds and “The Beloved’s” house early this morning, but once I’d showered and dressed and sat down with “The Loved Ones” for breakfast, mother asked that fatal question, “What are you up to today?” not thinking she had an alterior motive I said, “Not much, why?”
“Meadowhall?” she asked, which meant, would I fancy taking her on a shopping trip to our local shopping mall. This is something we used to do a lot of in the past, but not so much these days. I couldn’t really refuse, not that I would anyway.
So, after breakfast, off we went in Ms Lemon to Meadowhall. I knew the trip would consist of me following her around, nodding in all the right places at suggested clothing. I wasn’t wrong, but it also gave me the opportunity of purchasing what the Americans call “Men’s Furnishings” I love that term. Basically socks and some new pants.
We lunched at Nando’s and then continued our shopping Odyssey. Meadowhall is a big place, but it doesn’t compare to some American malls like Sawgrass Mill in Ft. Lauderdale or Bell’s in Las Vegas, but it’s a decent size.
We had a good time, quite a giggle and as I was watching her surf the clothing rails, I started to wonder just how many more of these shopping trips I’d have with her. She suffers from osteoporosis in her spine and does have difficulty walking for long stretches of time, we frequently have to sit down and rest before moving on between shops. Having these past few weeks off sick has been good in the fact that it’s allowed me to spend more time with both of the parents and still look around for another job.
I’ve come to cherish the time spent with her in this way and have realised that I don’t do enough of it.
The art of body painting has been around for millenia, and recently the artform has been used to great effect by the media and promotions companies to advertise their various wares. I’ve also noticed that it has become a regular sight at sports venues to wear body paint, face painting has been around for a long time, so why not!
Body painting for Halloween is also a good idea and a favourite theme for many body paint enthusiasts is superheroes…
and if you’re feeling a little more adventurous and dont want to wear the jeans, but still want to be your favourite super hero…
Body painting has also become popular with festival and pride goers too.
In fact it’s become such a common phenomenon, that even magazines have featured articles on body painting…all be it Brazillian ones…
and if you’re interested, I do have the larger shots of Gustavo Moretto as featured in the article..and some that aren’t shown above too! Drop me an email if you want them.
