Blog Archive

So, last night Jacky and I watched Julie and Julia, a film about a modern-day lady (Julie Powell) attempting to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes in Mastering The Art Of French cooking. No mean feat, as Julie has 524 recipes to complete in 365 days. The film was highly entertaining, with great perfomances from Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and a favourite of mine, Stanley Tucci (a young Artie Buco?).

Anyhoo, Julie Powell blogged her progress – this was back in 2002 when all the cool kids were doing blogs, before everyone jumped on the blogging bandwagon (myself included) in order to write about what they love, as opposed to me who just needs to vent occasionally.

I’m glad to say my wife Jacky falls into the former category and, inspired by the film, has started blog with a year-long timeframe. As she is a keen gardener and wannabe smallholder, Jacky will be blogging about her attempt to become even more self-sufficient (we already grow and use quite a bit), but there’s still some lawn that hasn’t been dug up yet

The blog can be found at A Year Of Self-Sufficiency, and I’ve dutifully included it in my blog roll. Her first post has been made this evening, stay tuned for more

H’ok, I’m now on Twitter, and I’ve added the Tweet button to each invidual blog post – let’s see what that does :-s

Now I’m definitely going to bed

Well, that’s all, really – installed the WordPress app onto my phone (Android OS) and away we go

Lots going on in-between posts: buying a new car as the Astra was crippling my knees, off on holiday to Malta again (slightly ruined by dodgy stomach, most odd), work, shouting at the television, enjoying the Govt meltdown, not enjoying the financial meltdown, making jams and chutneys and tomato ketchup, building a log store…

Ooh, it’s all go

That is all Make sure you wish everyone you meet a happy St. George’s Day – even Number 10 is is flying the flag!

It’s a good day to be in Morley, West Yorkshire for their celebrations (hat tip to Daily Referendum).

Incidentally, nice to see some good English weather for the day – yup, it’s raining

Ok, back to the blog after a very restful and very enjoyable Christmas and New Year.

It was a highly enjoyable Christmas, mostly spent with my excellent in-laws and family, and then a trip down South to visit my mother and sister for a couple of days. My son and my niece played together, and there was no running around screaming or shenanigans which has previously put a damper on the festive spirit.

As for presents, I was lucky enough to receive one of those iPod shuffle things, which I was very surprised about, and very pleased with – it will help me take my mind off how unwell I feel when I start jogging again

New Year’s Eve was also a lot of fun, some quick drinks at the in-laws and then back home to set a few fireworks off before my son went to bed. As the TV offerings were not too good for the evening, we watched Rush Hour 3 (not as bad as had been made out, 7/10) and then watched the BBC’s coverage of the bongs (of Big Ben, not stoners) for the last half-hour. The fireworks were phenomenal, very impressive and enjoyable, and it was good to see Gethin Jones presenting that section of the program.

As for new years resolutions, I’ve not made any. I’m not saying I’m perfect and don’t need to change, but rather than write something down and get all bummed out when I don’t meet them, I’ll just keep going as I am One thing I do need to do is blog more, as it’s quite cathartic – I also found I ranted a lot less over Christmas, which was good for all concerned

There’s plenty for me to write about, I fancy doing a rather large piece on driving in Britain, and how put upon motorists are, so that will be the next large post, I think. There’s also the usual Government incompetence to comment on and anything else that just hacks me off

But, for the moment, I’d just like to wish you a Merry New Year