Thanks to everyone who came out on the 13th of November, to celebrate the completion of my bluelist. Between Land-rovers, waiting at airports and trying to sleep on planes, I had been travelling for 30 hours, but I still found the energy to stay out for a whole evening with my friends.
A couple of people asked me what I was going to do now its complete. Well, in the short term, I want to sort out my house, the bills, spend more time with friends/family, and stuff like that.
Once things get back to normal, I have another interesting idea, that I’m exploring at the moment. I read in the travel section of the Mail (in between articles on British values and broken society !) about someone who visited a different city for a weekend break, every month for a year.
The idea, is that if you don’t actually mind where you go, you can travel really cheaply.
I want to do that for a year, while I plan a 2nd bluelist. Places on my mind at the moment, are Cuba, Israel, Washington, San Francisco. If your reading this and you know somewhere cool to visit, then give me a shout.
Well, if the recession is biting, it certainly wasn’t showing on the streets of Chester on Saturday. They even had a chap doing ice sculptures.
A friend recently gave me a TV (he didn’t need it any more, and it was a lot better than the one that I had). I was immensely great full and I remembered a film some years ago called pay it forward.
The idea, is that you do a good deed for someone, and they pay it forward, to someone else, and so on and so on. My previous portable TV (which the “new” one replaced) was more reliable than one that belonged to another friend. Using a shopping trolley, I popped over with it the other evening.
Its Christmas after all, and even when times are hard, there is always some kindness that we can show.
Happy birthday to my old friend Lee Sawbridge (he was with me on my first adventures around the Alps and Europe 20 years ago, and more recently, dropped me at the Airport for the last of my bluelist journeys).
I wont be able to make it on Saturday Lee, but I sent you a card, which I actually chose myself.
In my local the other night, were a band called Severenth. Heavy metal isn’t really my thing, but there music was pretty catchy, and I found myself singing along to it.
It would be fair to say that the band and their fans (who completely filled the pub) weren’t exactly dressed for a job interview and that many of them, you wouldn’t have wanted to meet in the proverbial dark alley.
The thing that surprised (and frankly shocked) me, was how polite they were. People would say excuse me to get to the bar, hold the bathroom door open.
Just goes to show, that appearances can be deceiving. Several times a year, hundreds of suited “gentlemen” arrive in Chester for the races, and cause mayhem. Give me the HM crew any day.
Rumors continue, that the renowned internet sleuth Dave Mandy (aka Dizzy Dave) was somehow involved in the death of Micheal Jackson.
Speculation is based on Dave, having information about the death, before anyone else in the pub that night, despite a large portfolio of Smartphones being represented.
For the record, it was a HTC Android device that got there first, with 2nd place going to several IPhones.
Its was with a mixture of elation and regret, that I watched the final episode of the crime “drama” monk.
It ended on a high note, altough it was easy to work out who the murder was (or was that because Ive watched it so often, and got onto the “wavelength” of the writers).
For several years, I used to watch it on Saturday mornings. I really will miss that show.
Other drama, is that the rather excelent Doll House, has been cancelled. It was commented that this might be because nobody watches stuff on TV any more, everybody downloads, and because it usually misses out the adverts, the producers werent making any money.
I cant really comment, as I dont know the industry that well. Downloading certainly seems to have effected global tv listings. It used to be that house would shown in the UK, 4 months after it was shown in the use. These days, House and dozens of other shows are on less than a week later.
One thing that has shocked me, is the closing down of Mininova (a popular torrent site for downloading music, tv and films, for people that dont know). My suprise, hasn been the close down of the site itself, but the demographic of people who have emailed and called me about finding an alternative site.
I don’t praise or condemn downloading, but I know about technology. The people who contacted me, were mostly, the very last people in the world I would have expected to be “torrenting”.
I recorded Dr Who and the waters of Mars, while I was away in Capetown. I didn’t think it was as good as some of the other episodes Ive watched. That is of course from a story perspective. David Tarrent was as excellent as he’s ever been, playing a kind of manic Dr, who knows his days are numbered.
One other things about the episode, was that it raised a point Ive considered hundreds of times while watching Dr Who over the last 30 years. The question always arises, who doesnt the Dr just put the people who are in danger into the Tardis and “fly” away.
I know all the stuff about one of the people he saves might give birth to a future Hitler, and all the rest, but there and then, it must have occurred to him sometime, to put the present, before the future, and just help the people who are right in front of him. That question was answered for the first time in Waters of Mars.
Two other things Im watching at the moment at Mad Men (a brill program I started watching on the Plane back from Capetown) and season 4 of the Unit. I cant believe they stopped making that series, its amazing.
Near and Far have a great Christmas. The search for adventure continues (although its mostly at home for the time being :)…