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Big Surprises

Friday, June 29, 2007

For those of you who haven't yet listened to Trunk Cast 95, you may have missed our big news.

Monday 2nd July is Richard's 40th birthday and I wanted to do something special to mark the occasion. Richard has long since mentioned that he would like to go to Madrid as it's a part of Spain that he has never visited but would love to.

At breakfast on Wednesday I presented Richard with a selection of guidebooks for Madrid as we are spending this weekend in the Spanish capital. :0D

I decided to let Richard know about his birthday treat early so that he had plenty of time to prepare - judging by his reaction and his plans for our holiday I think this was the correct decision.

So we have literally just gotten over our trip to Paris and here we are on our way to Spain ;0)

Thanks to EnergyMuscles over at Flickr for the pic

Thanks to EnergyMuscles over at Flickr for the pic

The added bonus for us is that it is Madrid Pride this weekend and we both looking forward to seeing how the Spaniards celebrate.

I have no doubt it'll be a hundred times happier, more colourful and fun than London Pride which also takes place this weekend (be under no illusion that this is a good thing to attend if visiting London. London Pride is awful, depressing and expensive).

On a more somber note I had a feeling when Gordon Brown was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on Wednesday that there may be some unrest. I don't know why I felt this but it seems to be a global pattern these days. Sure enough this morning the BBC announced breaking news that a "potentially viable explosive device" had been found in the heart of London.

Loosely translated a suspect vehicle was found in the theatre district which contained a bomb in transit or potentially for use in that location.

This morning central London has been cordoned off and once again we have memories of July 7th.

I just hope and pray that this is a one off and that we don't have to go back to watching our every move (believe me commuting in the capital can make you paranoid enough as it is).

OK I am not going to dwell on this I have a holiday to enjoy and other things to worry about (listen to my pod cast to find out more)...

Here comes the sun...

Hasta Luego

Labels: holiday, London, Politics, Richard, UK

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Tres Bien!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Our trip to Paris was Tres Bien.

Richard and I had a wonderfully relaxing, enlightening and romantic weekend in Paris.

Of course there was also the odd large aircraft to view!

You can browse the photo's at a more leisurely pace here!

We had a lovely time in Paris. Richard and I ended up going on our own but that was fine as we did everything at our own leisure.

We didn't give ourselves long to settle into the hotel before we got out and about. We visited a number of our favorite haunts and the location of the hotel was excellent.

Le Borgeut was as big and interesting as ever. Of course this being Paris there was more than one Airbus A380 on display. This again got the most attention from the visiting public. It was nice to see the show was much better organised than last time, and thankfully nowhere near as hot! That said we both caught the sun while watching the air displays.

For once I didn't come back with new clothes, mainly as we only took rucksacks so there was no room!

I do love Paris and once again cannot wait to go back.

You can also hear all about the trip by downloading Trunk Cast 95.

Labels: holiday, Richard, Trunk Cast, Weather

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Maybe...

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Maybe the course wasn't so bad after all...

I think the great thing about this week has been the other attendees and our excellent tutor. It was kind of awkward to have all those nationalities in one room at first (English, Swiss, Russian, German, French and Belgium), but we soon all relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed one anothers' company.

I would like to think I have made some great new friends this week and learnt a great deal in the process.

Roll on our next get together in September!

Labels: 365, Foundation, Friends, Photography, Work

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Pimm's o'clock

Last night ended with a bang and this morning started with a hang over of sorts.

After dinner last night we capitalized on the great clear evening and socialised in the grounds of our training centre. We introduced our foreign team mates to Pimm's no 1 and it was well recieved.

By 1230 we were out of booze but all much more relaxed and familiar. It's a great group and we're all looking forward to meeting again in September.

note: there are photos but I have yet to find the time to upload them. Keep an eye on Flickr.

Labels: Work

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Delayed start

Monday, June 18, 2007

Well I wasn't looking forward to my weeks training and starting it feeling so rough wasn't very encouraging. I think the driver thought he was Lewis Hamilton as he drove like a bat out of hell. I choose to try and get some shut eye on the way.

The centre reminds me of Cranfield where I used to work so it's pretty much my idea of hell.

The fellow attendees are very nice and come from places such as Switzerland and Russia. It's just a shame I am not currently that focussed on the content. I am sure I will settle in though!

Labels: Foundation, Work

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Another Round?

Sunday, June 17, 2007

As you can see from this photo we left London rather late last night - this followed our day in town with Carol and Dave.

They had had a cultural day looking around sights such as Tower Bridge and the Cabinet War Rooms, Richard went to the gym and I went shopping. By 4 o'clock we had all met at Piccadilly where we went to Richoux for afternoon tea.

This was a very refined and civilized way to start our day and an excellent opportunity to catch up with Carol and Dave.

When we left Richoux we decided to go walk about and gave them a tour of London.

We certainly gained a lot of ground on our tour and managed to take in the West End, Soho (where we happened to bump into Lee and Elvis!) and then found our way into our first pub.

Dave capturing us in the Disappearing Rooms

From there we made out way down to the river, we tried out the new Disappearing Rooms installation on the South Bank (see above) before heading along the Thames to another pub for more bevvies and some food.

All in all we had a wonderfully chilled out day, the weather behaved itself but I cannot say we did! It really was refreshing to see Carol and Dave again and we're looking froward to seeing them again in the not too distant future.

Thankfully it's much sunnier today so Dave will have good weather when he takes part in the Falklands parade this afternoon.

I am sure when they visit in a August there will be quite a fierce Wii tournament (especially as I bought Richard Wii Play yesterday!).

Oh well, I guess I had better pack for this course tomorrow :(

Labels: Friends, London, Weather, Wii

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Nice Package

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Last nights recording of French and Saunders at the BBC was hilarious.

As ever Dawn and Jennifer were even funnier off script than on it.

We were treated to a bevvy of clips from old shows and lots of new material. This is because the show in production is a 20 year celebration of work.

It's great to see that after that much time their comedy still remains fresh, funny and relevant.

This is even more relevant as the Head of Comedy for the BBC, John Plowman, presented Dawn with a Rockie Award which she had won from the Canadian Comedy Awards for The Vicar of Dibley.

As you can see from the photo, the BBC are definitely capitalizing on the success of Dr Who and have placed a Tardis outside the audience entrance, I couldn't resist getting my photo snapped inside it.

Unfortunately Richard was unable to make it due to work commitments but the mirth was shared with Dan and Matt.

We've quite a busy weekend ahead of us as Carol and Dave are in London this weekend as Dave is taking part in the Commemorative Falklands March tomorrow.

I doubt I may blog for a while as next week I am away on a course for work (boo). Straight after we are off to Paris for the Air show (yay!) - so at least you can expect lots of photos very soon!

After a short sabbatical Trunk Guy.com Trunk Casts returns to your ears in the form of show 94 ;o)

This show really builds on my blog entries and photos from the past couple of weeks with the odd twist. There is an appearance from a special guest too ;0)

Labels: 365, Friends, Humour, News, Pic-a-Day, Trunk Cast

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Safari on PC!

Monday, June 11, 2007

At last the worlds best browser is now available on PCs - yes Apple have released Safari to the PC market.

Goodbye IE for good!

Labels: Apple

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Raw Sex

In amongst all the recent activity I forgot to mention that I have won tickets to see French and Saunders record thier 20th anniversary special at the BBC on Friday.

As I managed to get four tickets a couple friends are coming with us.

I am sure it will be a riot as Dawn and Jennifer are funnier off script.

At least I have a goal to work to at the end of this week. It will be a nice way to spend time with Richard too. I am on a course all of next week so I will miss my baby.

Thankfully we'll be in Paris for the airshow the weekend afterwards.

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Weeeiiii!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Well it certainly has been a busy weekend!

It started with Richard and I travelling down to Southend to meet with Dan and Matt. As you may recall we went down a couple weeks ago as Dan was due to take a flying lesson - a gift from Matt.

The weather originally was terrible but thankfully this weekend was much better.

We had a lovely morning and Dan (albeit with two planes) managed to get off the ground.

As you can see from the photo's he was as pleased as punch!

Afterwards we all headed into Southend for celebratory fish and chips and a stroll along the prom.

Richard had the crazy idea to go to Lakeside on the way back where we managed to get our hands on a Wii (with extra controller, Sonic, Red Steel, Wii Sports and a GT).

Needless to say the majority of last night was spent with Richard and I swinging our arms around like we were demented.

I can certainly tell why the Wii has been such a big hit though. It's so much fun to play and to be honest I think you easily curb the amount of time playing as the games are so physical. I am sure I have wii tennis elbow already.

I do think wii sports is the best and I especially love the amount of aggression I can shed with the boxing ;0) Richard is a natural bowler although we did nearly loose our lamp shade on a couple of occasions!

Keep a look out for our Mii's as they are out in the wii-lderness!

Of course Saturday night also saw the BBC's broadcast of the Pet Shop Boys concert I attended on Monday... For this week only you can download it.

(p.s. you can blame Dan for the lack of pod cast this week as I have been editing the video of his flying lesson..) ;0)

Labels: 365, Friends, Pet Shop Boys, Photography, Pic-a-Day, Shopping, Wii, You Tube

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PSB at the BBC

Saturday, June 09, 2007

For those of you who would like to hear the Radio 2 Pet Shop Boys concert I attended on Monday - you can download it here.

Enjoy!

Labels: Pet Shop Boys

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Recovered!

Friday, June 08, 2007

Well I have just about recovered from the work conference. It did seem to be very intense and I think actually organising the event as well as attending just adds to the pressure.

I am really pleased that everyone enjoyed the team activity I had arranged. We were shown how to sculpt with ice and were given the challenge to pair up and come up with a wine cooler.

Lawrence and I took the challenge of keeping the exterior of the design minimal whilst focusing on the inside of the block - placing the bottle in the opposite way to normal whilst making a feature of the shards etc inside.

I think we achieved what we had set out to do and as everyone else seemed to knock the hell out of their blocks, we were certainly the only ones to follow this route.

That's not to say the rest of the team didn't do well, there were some great designs.

I am not sure I would arranged an activity which gave Lawrence control of power tools though. If you follow this link you will see the other photo where he is brandishing a saw - scary!

I look at this photo and I still hate my hair - I look bloody awful. I am certainly going to change my barbers as that's two terrible hair cuts in two visits.

The decor in the hotel and the total lack of hair did allow me to take a cool 365days photos yesterday which I titled "Red Letter Day".

Can you see me in the shot? I think it's very subtle but I like it.

BTW whoever thinks that the new Maroon 5 album sounds like Prince - or picks up on his influences needs their head read. It's fucking awful!

Labels: 365, London, Photography, Prince, Work

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One of the Crowd!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The Pet Shop Boys web site features a photo they took before the closed concert on Monday evening at the BBC. It's not a great picture but the circle points out where I am in the crowd.

Labels: 365, London, Pet Shop Boys

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Do I Have To?

Well today has been bloody manic and I feel my away days won't be very restful.

I find it odd the I have a marketing role and I appear to be doing anything but that.

I am so tired I cannot wait for the weekend to arrive. I think it'll seem to take forever to arrive though.

There was a small highlight in my day (which I almost forgot!). A number of us went to the Bridewell Theatre again for lunch time theatre and enjoyed a very jocular version of Twelfth Night.

I honestly don't know how the production company put on such great plays and turn them around in 45 minutes but they do. It was a very welcome break from work.

I doubt I will have any time to podcast this week which is annoying. Increasingly I appear to be loosing track of what I would like to do with my time.

As I have a course coming up I don't think pod casts will be happening any time soon. Maybe things will pick up when Richard and I go to Paris at the end of the month.

Oh well, I am going to sign off as I need to pack, I need to unwind and I want to catch the final Ugly Betty.

Labels: 365, London, Trunk Cast, Work

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Going downhill

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Well today started well enough. Sun was shining, Richard treated me to a bacon bagel, my morning smoothie woke me up and I was still elated following last nights gig.

I decided to get my hair cut and the day went down hill from there. To start with my request was simple enough: grade 1 sides with a trim. Sadly the barber was more interested in telling me about his move to London rather than paying attention. I now have a very short hair cut and I hate it.

I returned back to the office to an unpleasant scene and within 5 minutes wondered what I was doing there.

A 'chat' here and a 'meeting' there soon left me royaly fucked off. My whole day had been turned on it's head within a matter of minutes. Now I am heading home wondering why I got out of bed this morning.

The prospect of two days away with the team doesn't make me too happy. At least the weekend will arrive sooner.

Labels: 365, London, Work

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Kings Cross (eyed)

Monday, June 04, 2007

What an excellent night. The Pet Shop Boys at the BBC were superb.

I was lucky enough to be right up the front where the view was amazing.

The newly refurbished BBC radio theatre is an Art Deco jewel.

Once again Neil and Chris were on form and everything seemed much clearer than Hammersmith.

Additional numbers include Being Boring (which once again nearly made me weep) and Kings Cross which I don't think I have ever heard them perform live.

If you have access to BBC Radio 2 online, listen out for Saturdays broadcast of the concert at 9pm.

Going on my own was a little daunting but I have to say hi to the couple from Blackpool and Lee who I have never met before but recognised 'Trunk Guy' from my voice from my pod casts!

Labels: 365, Pet Shop Boys

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Green Men, Queershires and Buzzards

Sunday, June 03, 2007

I am starting to feel much better, thankfully my cold appears to be on it's way out now... I still have a headache, a slight sore throat and am a bit bunged up but believe me I am much better than I was last week.

We had a quiet day yesterday, choosing to take it easy at home.

Richard tried his hardest to get me to agree to go to the Suffolk coast today but I am sure he realises that I wasn't in the mood to go as I still wasn't feeling 100%. Plus it's a 2 and a half hour drive when the traffic is in your favour.

So we went to a local Pub which was first introduced to us by Ben where we had a lovely Sunday lunch.

The weather until now has been lovely and sunny. It was great to sit in the large pub conservatory and look out over the Hertfordshire/Bedforshire countryside.

Afterwards we headed into Knebworth and then into Welwyn Garden City for a browse around and an afternoon tea. I honestly don;t think I have been back there since I left my job in the NHS several years ago. It's not changed very much and considering how quiet it is I am glad I don't work there any more.

The City of London may be chaos and noisy but at least there is always something to see and do!

So I am feeling brighter and heading for a very busy week. We have a team event in central London this week but as I planned it, we will be staying in one of the newest hotels by the Thames ;0)

I just hope the weather stays nice - it looks like we're in for some thunder but at least it might clear the air.

Photo courtesy of the BBC

On another note I cannot begin to say how pleased I am that the southwest has finally had it's first gay pride event and it was held in my home city of Plymouth.

It would be even lovelier to see how well the locals reacted but as the bigoted, pensioner, BNP loving populous will prove (of course I mean everyone apart from my family and friends who are not controlled by the local rag); the local press didn't even choose to mention it. I found out through the BBC and this makes me worry whether things will actually ever get any better.

I know there is a scene there and as I hate parochial scenes I never ventured onto it (they are usually incredibly camp and OTT because the locals feel they need to be seen and to be different from everyone else), but I fear that although this is a great step, it will take some time to be recognised and taken into the arms of the wider community.

For now I fear there will be similar scenes as those seen in Moscow last weekend. I hope for all the queers in the South West, that things get better soon.

Still at least they are trying - bless...

Imagine my shock and surprise when I was happily minding my own business, hanging out the washing; enjoying the sound of the birds singing in the bushes at the end of our garden when I saw something swoop from the neighbours roof into the hedges.

Without so much chance as to think about what was going on (and will little resistance from the birds), a buzzard flew straight out of the undergrowth towards me with a chick in it's claws.

No amount of Bill Oddie or Springwatch could have prepared me for such a close encounter.

I know it's only natural etc but I do feel very sorry for our resident birds. I originally hoped it hadn't taken our Robin chicks but any swoop like this is sad. Still everything has to survive some how.

I just know in future to be extra vigilant when something swoops overhead!

Labels: London, UK, Weather

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OMG PSB again!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Guess who has won himself a ticket to the re-opening concert at the BBC Radio theatre on Monday night?

And guess which famous pop duo will be performing?

Yes (well the title gave it away)...

I have secured myself a ticket to see PSB at the BBC on Monday night. I am a little dissappointed that there is onyl one ticket - I would have liked to have taken Richard or Steve.

After some initial concerns and nerves about going on my own I realise I'd be mad not too - looks like there will be even more PSB chat to come!

Let me know if you are going too - maybe we could meet up!

Labels: London, Pet Shop Boys, UK

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No Free Papers

Last Friday when I left Blackfriars Station to walk the three minute journey to my office I was besieged by nine people trying to give me free newspapers and supplements.

Am I the only one who is getting really tired of this? The people block entrances and exits. They stand in the middle of corridors and pavements and some have taken to thrusting papers into my hand.

So far I have been polite and simply say no thank you but my patience is wearing thin.

I am also hacked off because the people who do read these papers readily discard them on the train/tubes or leave them hanging out of bins. I guess because they are free people don't' feel obliged to take them home or dispose of them properly.

I know the paper companies try to promote recycling but why not simply stop producing these wafer thing pieces of propaganda? When do you find a rubbish bin in Central London it's always full to the brim so where are we supposed to dispose of them?

So with this in mind I came up with the idea of designing a tee on Threadless which simply says "No Free Papers". It's awaiting approval but I would be grateful if you could vote for my design. I would love to see it make it to production and ultimately be worn by people in the Capital.

Come on Londoners, lets bin those free papers for good!

Labels: Threadless, UK

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