Firetop

It’s that time of year again where Grand National fever grips the UK population and everybody goes flutter crazy. With a four year winning streak behind me I’ll be looking to make this my 5th year of success with my spread betting technique. Last year I won £145, putting me up £115 after taking off the £30 outlay, a shame that I only ‘bet to win’ using my strategy and not ‘each way’ because I also managed to bet on McKelvey which came in second. I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the analysis again this year as usual and thanks to a Wikipedia Grand National winners chart decided to lower my maximum handicap threshold from 11-5 to 11-1. I may live to regret that as it rules out the yet to fall over ‘Vodka Bleu’ but fingers crossed it’ll be a wise move. (more…)

A week ago I began to pay a bit more attention to the political conferences and the responses of the various leaders to all the speculation of an autumn general election. Yesterday’s speech at the Tory Conference in Blackpool by David Cameron had me persuaded to vote for him by bedtime. One key reason is that speaking for an hour without supporting notes on a subject you aren’t passionate about and aren’t knowledgeable on is quite tough, so he comes across as somebody who will do what he says. I also found many of the subjects raised and suggested solutions rang true with me. Of course I’m not stupid enough to think it wasn’t all very well planned and researched, but even his joke about Facebook amused me despite being a blatant attempt at winning over young voters. Gordon Brown doesn’t seem to have made any effort, he has an air of complacency about him and I don’t trust his eyes… and I already blogged the irritating Brown chin. (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…)

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…)

With all the severe flooding we’ve been having of late in the UK, and tabloid headlines unsurprisingly attributing it all to ‘global warming’, I started looking at the alternating patterns of the Polar Jet Stream in years gone by to see if we really should be worried. The answer? Yes you guessed it… Man is always worried – in June 1974 it reportedly snowed in London because of an unusually low Polar Jet Stream, all around the world weather was very unsettled; drought, severe flooding and tornadoes. What tickled me most was finding an article from Time Magazine’s 1974 archive entitled ‘Another Ice Age’. (more…)

Six months after my first article about the use of Clubscan to scan the driving licences of all drinkers at the Rat and Parrot in Crawley, the news of my petition surfaced on the front of The London Metro newspaper today. It seems James Brokenshire (MP for Hornchurch and Shadow Home Affairs Minister) has heard about what’s going on with software like Clubscan and raised some concerns publicly. Yesterday I was contacted by the Metro news desk and asked for my thoughts – today I was quoted in the Metro. (more…)

Suzie_Q and I have just got back from an evening’s pram stroll up to the Yicken Chinese take-away on South Street to grab some easy dinner. On the way up we passed Waterstones bookshop where what looked like homeless people had taken up residence in the doorway. As we got closer I could see a sign outside saying ‘Welcome Muggles’ and it became clear that these were not vagrants but parents and children huddled with blankets awaiting the launch of the final Harry Potter book ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. It’s actually quite cold out this evening after the downpours, I’m quite surprised that the children can tolerate it, especially considering that they’re just going to find out that Harry dies and then cry themselves to sleep. (more…)

I’ve always found Gordon Brown’s strange chin dropping action as he inhales to be quite irritating, even Rory Bremner with his great attention to detail has never been shy of imitating the jaw drop at the start of each sentence. I noticed yesterday that during his first Prime Ministerial speech outside Number Ten, the ‘chin thing’ had gone. I was quite pleased, I’m guessing that Gordon’s had some coaching on that and been told to close his mouth promptly at the end of each statement. Whilst seeking out a picture of the old chin in action, I came across something far more disturbing - a video of Gordon Brown seemingly picking his nose and eating the contents whilst seated in the House of Commons. (more…)