Firetop

Saturday evenings are sometimes a weekly ‘baby escape’ for Suzie_Q and I, a time when our babysitting in-laws kindly take charge of listening to the baby monitor for the night. This week, having successfully ventured to Dorking and Guildford in the past month, we thought we’d really push the boat out… and go to Redhill - the town we first lived in together. We began our evening at ‘The Sun’ (a Wetherspoons pub) and reminisced about how every Friday it used to be full of deaf people busily signing to each other, odd really that they should have chosen the only non-music playing establishment to do that, since presumably anywhere would have been OK in even the loudest environment? It was after perhaps fifteen minutes in the Sun that we suddenly realised we had changed an awful lot this year what with the wedding and becoming parents - unfortunately it seems we have become responsible adults. (more…)

I’ve been rather amused at the grammar being used on two sign-posts in Crawley, West Sussex. The first of many on the A264 approach from Horsham says ‘Alcohol Controlled Zone’. I have to say I’ve not seen many signs of the area being controlled by alcohol so far, but keep expecting to see drunks directing traffic and driving dust carts erratically. I think what they mean is either ‘Alcohol Control Zone’ or ‘Controlled Alcohol Zone’ as per other town’s signs like Dorking, but then again maybe the local council know something I don’t. The other sign of much amusement to me is on Crawley’s Broadfield Football Stadium - ‘No Offensive Weapons’… which begs the question what makes a weapon offensive? If I take a baseball bat inside covered in the word ’sorry’ is that an inoffensive weapon? Photographic evidence to follow when I get the opportunity. (more…)

This morning I popped down to Dorking high street with Maria in the pram and found lots of queuing old people lining the street. I didn’t pay much attention to the first queue which seemed to be outside the betting shop, the bus stop on the other side of the road seemed unusually busy - as if an outing of Age Concern was gathering. It was only when I got home and saw the news on TV about Northern Rock liquidity worries that I realised the old folk had been queuing at Dorking’s Northern Rock building society to withdraw their money. I now wish I’d taken a bit more interest in what was going on to see the real life re-enactment of movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. (more…)

On weekdays I typically eat lunch in the car whilst listening to the radio. On London’s LBC at 1pm they have a show dedicated to improving your life (life coaches etc.), which also features the odd ‘green’ environmental tip. Last month one piece of advice was ‘Drive your car with the tank half full - saving fuel and money, whilst cutting emissions to reduce global warming’. I wondered how much of a difference this would really make, so I did a test of 40 litres of petrol versus 20 litres of petrol – discovering that my little 1.1 litre Peugeot will go an extra 40 miles (worth £5.00) on two separate fuel stops, instead of one big one. (more…)

On Saturday evening Suzie_Q and I had the in-law babysitters in place and, with Maria now sleeping through the night, we felt safe to venture a bit further afield. I went online and found an Italian restaurant in central Guildford called Da Gennaro. Upon discovering their website to be up-to-date I gambled on a table reservation - if a website is being updated then some reasonably professional enterprise must be behind it (in my opinion). Gnocchi was also on the menu - this was the main thing to draw us in, you can’t find that anywhere in Dorking except Sainsbury’s! (more…)

Having recently discovered artist father and daughter Stan and Georgia Peskett I’m beginning to wonder if I should have pursued my art studies beyond my GCSE A-grade. Initially I started A-level Art & Design but when the first semester (at a different consortium school) turned out to be ‘Basic Photography’ I dropped the subject because I’d just spent two years on GCSE Photography… the UK & US Politics lessons I chose instead regrettably bored me to tears. Stan and Georgia Peskett are both contemporary artists - and very successful from the look of their biographies (lots of exhibitions and works produced). (more…)

When I joined Facebook in February it wasn’t really with any expectation of what I might do with the account, I joined everything ‘Web 2.0′ to see what different web developers were up to. In the UK Facebook wasn’t all that popular and it seemed to be filled with students and people a decade younger than my good self. With that in mind I think Facebook’s extremely rapid growth in all age ranges of the UK population is quite phenomenal. Unlike Friends Reunited which, let’s face it, was good for a week or two but few people ever went back to it regularly, Facebook has become a vital ingredient in communications among friends. For the most part the ease with which one can message friends informally, load photographs and engage in pointless ‘poking’ and ‘vampire bashing’ FREE has made the service incredibly useful and fun. I’ve had very little choice about connecting this blog to my Facebook profile (and vice versa) if I am to avoid duplicating my efforts. (more…)

I don’t know about anybody else but we still find watching many of the Freeview channels almost impossible due to a poor digital reception in our area. We’ve tried various different digital boxes over the past few years sadly to no avail. With the 2012 analogue signal close down fast approaching I’m wondering if it will ever get any better, perhaps we’ll have to give up watching television for the Olympics? Another thing I’ve noticed is that all of our tried and tested digital boxes seem to be psychic devices which wait until the most crucial moment of a TV programme before going into a glitching frenzy, causing me to go into fits of hysteria and throw things. (more…)