Three weeks today

Before I am on New Zealand time!

Until then things might be a bit quiet around here (as you may have noticed!).

The bury the jumper juncture has arrived

Yes - that's right, it's that time of year again...

Winter is officially over- signalled by that moment that all ladies of London wait for every year. The shorts are out and on, the pins liberated!

The official ceremony to celebrate this changing of the seasons has just been arranged and takes the traditional form - the first afternoon Gardy Bar session of the year.

Happy days.

Well he is my God son after all....

I have just seen this comment from MJD re one of the jnr's:

Hey Frit - guess what mate......yeah nothing Na just kidding - guess what happended in the Hornsberry house yesterday......still nothing!! :) :)

OK - for reading this far - I will tell you that I think your nephew Lucca is borderline genis! We know he's borderline pyshco - OK no borderline about that - but at under 3 years old and putting a 100 piece jig saw together - UPSIDE DOWN is getting a bit freaky - don't ya reckon?

Borderline genius he says.

Well, work to do on the 'borderline' bit, but a solid start for a two year old whose old man spells genius - 'genis' - (good back and look)! ;-)

See you soon mate. Can't wait to expand his vocab with some of my favourite old classics!

All quiet on the London front

Not much of interest happening at the moment.

Yup - that's about it...

Boozy phone call

Chaff Wong - next time I call you after I have spent the proceeding 10 hours with Boy - please politely remind me that it is not the best time for chat...

If I proposed, then please let me down gently!!

'Big thinkers'

A genius from Christchurch has decided that we need to be nice to Australians:

Poking fun at Australians has been something of a national sport for decades, but now New Zealand's tourism bosses want less teasing and more visitors.

The plea, which may astonish patriotic Kiwis, is a serious one and comes as New Zealand tourism agencies take the bold step of adopting Australia's national colours as a marketing tactic.

"While one comment is pretty innocuous, if every second Kiwi makes a comment [to Australian visitors] about the cricket or about the rugby, it will start to grate on them," said Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing chief executive Ian Bougen.

"If we want to keep those Aussie dollars rolling in ... maybe we need to learn to be a little bit more hospitable."

Oh for the love of Christchurch.... He goes on, and it gets worse.

"Canterbury's colours are normally red and black, but we've decided that it's time for us to turn green and gold - at least for a few months," Mr Bougen said. "It's a little bit cheeky and a little bit quirky."

It's a little bit zany, a little bit out there and I'm not even wearing underwear.... You tit.

There is nothing worse than someone that is not busy enough and has to justify there existence coming up with this sort of tosh!

Busy blah busy blah

Back to being stupidly busy at work, and only set to get worse before I come home. And to be honest - starting to feel more than a little sorry for myself!

2 office moves, develop and release 2 websites and back end platform, 2 businesses rebranding, merging 2 of our businesses into one entity blah blah blah....

All before when I leave early April. Bugger.

The good news is I'll be wrecked getting on the plane, sleep the whole way back and be well ready for tipping buckets of vino lakeside with the whole clan the day after I get back!

Ship it in.

Racist?

Tariana Turia when calling for a halt to those troublesome whiteys coming to New Zealand yesterday:

"No, we aren't playing the race card, because we are not talking about Asian immigration.

"In actual fact, the majority of immigrants who come to this country come from Great Britain, from Europe, from Canada, from Australia."

OK - so up the fences - skilled migrants are nothing but trouble. Lets be isolationist back water hicks shall we?

Oh - and if you do not have a slightly yellowish hue - apparently you are not 'of a race'.

And you wonder why I am here.

For all you Capatilist Pigs!!

I fail see a problem here!!!



Thanks to DPF for this one.

Section 59

So it looks like Section 59 - 'Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill' - is going to pass third reading and become law. I think it is a well intended Bill that might help send a message that child abuse is plain wrong - although the Bill itself is a slightly over the top intrusion.

Personally - I wouldn't have supported it - but that matters little. One thing that did get me thinking was around the implementation. What will happen the day before the law comes into force??? Will parents go round giving their kids one final whack?!?!

'Right, ten more minutes - come here son'. WHACK!

There will be kids everywhere saying, 'OOOwwww!! Just you wait you bastard, on the stroke of midnight I am going to piss in your slippers!'

I suppose I shouldn't make light of such a serious topic - but passing a law that could (but in reality won't) impact on 95% of parents, and have precisely zero impact on those it is suppose to target is a bit capricious if you ask me.

Flocking hilarious!

A new website has been set up for some of New Zealand's 'people in need....'



Click here for more

Baaaah ha ha!

Hot Date

Well, dinner with The Jones Girl at least. No less 'hot' but not a 'date' strictly speaking! And in a fairly dramatic move away from finding the dustiest smoke filled haven possible, we uncovered a very swanky Vodka bar in Soho called 'Revolution'.

It was very cool and , in keeping, with the 'revolution' theme - we stayed out late, not leaving said establishment until 10pm! Wild.

Otherwise, all is well but uneventful (a good thing). But I have taken to reading Immanuel Kant on the tube:

"All the preparations of reason, therefore, in what may be called pure philosophy, are in reality directed to those three problems only (God, Soul, Freedom). These themselves, however, have a still further object, namely, to know what ought to be done, if the will is free, if there is a God, and if there is a future world. As this concerns our actions with reference to the highest aims of life, we see that the ultimate intention of nature in her wise provision was really, in the constitution of our reason, directed to moral interests only. "

Oh God (if indeed you do exist!), I feel Richard Dawkins coming on...

Sal - give me a bell when you are online next - I need someone to 'read to'!

Sus - you would be proud

Walking out of an average meeting, saw shirt in shop window, liked the look of shirt, called the procession to a halt. Entered said shop.

"Do you have that shirt in a 42 inch neck?" said I.

"Yes sir, would you like to try this on, the changing rooms are this way. We also have this in other colours here look..." Replied he.

"Mate, please recognise when you are onto a quick win, bag it and let me out of here". And the job was done.

But bloody hell - wasn't he onto a good thing!! I didn't realise until leaving the shop that I had just shed near on $500 NZD for a shirt in less than 3 minutes!!

I think I like it...

You guessed it

Still haven't seen the wet stuff in Brighton.

Hopeless.

2nd attempt at tourism

After my first trip to Brighton I think I left as the only Kiwi to have visited the place without seeing water! Well, tomorrow I shall be putting that right when I return to the same supplier.

Looks like a bit of an eyesore if you ask me!



A beer on the pier, see you there...

It's a 'me' night...

Home early, BBQ Chicken Pizza, a few brews, phone off and Newcastle vs Waregem (Belgian Cup Champs in case you didn't know) in the European Cup - on poor mans telly!!

All this with my best mate. Me.

“In solitude, where we are least alone,” (Byron) - but rest assured I'll be thinking of all of you!

So that was winter then - yawn.

Back to double digits all day here in Londontown.

If there are two things that the Poms are obsessed with, and almost entirely inherently negative about, it is the Transport and the weather.

I think both are great - I truly didn't not believe I would live for two years without a car. But it is just the way it is over here - and it is fine!

The weather is great as well. Almost always still - which this Wellington boy rejoices in. Sure it gets cold - but cold and still is a doddle ---- if you HTFU!

Bah spit!!

A tube ride home with every second woman shoving flowers in my face and sporting an airy 'oh he really does love me despite being a shit for 360 odd days'; look on her face.

Blokes holding yet to be delivery bunches with an 'if this doesn't do the trick I'll be seriously dark'; look slapped all over their chevy chase.

American commercial festivals - don't you just love'em??

Bitter - not a bit of it!

It's all about me

Going to spend some pounds - eBay here I come.

I'm not particularly big on gadgets - but I sense at portable USB hard drive, maybe some DVD's and perhaps some Newcastle gear.

Has it come to this...

Ah Valentines Day

A day to think of the future. Dreams. Aspirations.

 

Bloody hell! A time 'to think' indeed!