Negative houses

Sometimes I get so bored on the train.

I discovered an 'effects' setting on my mobile phone. So I took a few pictures in 'negative' mode and 'solarize'. With a bit of practice and a careful eye I think I could get some interesting effects.

Manchester Blog meet

I was going to go, but to be honest I've had a crazy week. Yes, I've been on leave from work, but I'll be glad to get back into the office for a rest.

At some point during the week it was decided upon to do Bex's bedroom, so I had to rip out a fireplace and board/plaster it up. Add to that three hours of solid cleaning in the church on Thursday night, I'm just glad of a few hours to myself while the girls go shopping.

I'll go to the next one.

Dad and daughter day

So we went to the Trafford Centre (her choice) and we had a couple of games of Bowling (her choice). Not done that for many a year and I quite forgot how heavy those balls are. I also broke a nail. And the shoes!

The Trafford Centre went through a period of being very samey with the stores, but I think it's turned the corner a bit now and it seems to be getting back to good old days. Having said that, I do miss the Festival Village with that butcher offering free samples of his sausages and the Last Picture Show which was full of great TV tie-in stuff.

Public safety

I guess it's easy for me to say this as I'm not due to fly today, or in the next few weeks, but there's a sense of feeling secure when you hear about the foiled plot to blow up aircraft.

Some would say that today is going to be the safest day to fly with all the heightened security. Having said that, this isn't a time for complacency and we should be on our guard in other areas of public transport.

A diversion of attention can act as a very good smoke screen.

Too much TV

Bex is all fired up about decorating her room. She's starting off by dumping loads of junk - you know, the kind of stuff that she begged to have, used twice and then tossed aside.

She had a throne (it's a long story), but that's now going to a local church drama group as her friends couldn't find the room for it.

So she was on the phone to one of her friends telling her about how she's going to redecorate her room and I heard her say "Well, on the dominating wall I'm going to..."

Dominating wall? Dominating wall? Where did she get that one from? She's fifteen. Dominating wall? Bloody home make-over programmes.

Sale now on

Carpet Right have been open for about a week and they already have a massive clearance sale on.

If they don't need that stock anymore why put it in the new shop? Why not start off selling stuff that people want rather than the stuff that won't shift?

Or am I missing something?

Taking a few days off work

Usually by now I'm bored out of my brains and ready to return to work. But not this time. I'm actually enjoying my 'down time'. I mean when else would I find time to take pictures of the dog with a flower on his head?

I'm catching up on some of those little jobs that you just never get round to as well as getting back to doing some writing.

I've got a couple of exciting projects coming up at work that will involve some major writing and at the moment I'm trying to get back into the flow of things.

I'm not sure about other writers, but I'm quite lazy when it comes to sitting down and actually doing it. I can find a hundred and seven excuses not to write and then I get all pouty because I haven't written anything.

So forgive me in advance if I start rambling on and on about everything and nothing. I just need to write, write, write and at the moment anything will do.

Cash dash

If you dialed 999 today in Glossop and wondered why the fire engine took a little longer than expected, I can tell you. They stopped at the cash machine on the way.

It's true, we pulled up in the traffic waiting at the lights in the town centre. At the head of the cue, lights flashing, was the fire engine. I couldn't figure out what they were doing and one car pulled out and passed it as the lights turned green.

Then we spotted that one of the crew was at cash point at HSBC. He got his cash, strolled back to the appliance as then it headed off up Norfolk Street on its emergency call.

Hidden Manchester

On a whim, we took ourselves off to Manchester yesterday afternoon, principally to see the Liam Spencer exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery.

But we got to wandering around some other places too, like Afflecks Palace, where we saw the fish on the right, and round some of the back streets of Manchester where the history and architecture go hand in hand.

Every street tells a story and every building has its own character. What a fantastic place to be in.

Minute by minute

I just love some of the language and descriptions used on the BBC Sport website while they are doing real time action points from the Test Match. Here's a couple of examples from today's play:

1349: Gul serves up a lollipop and Collingwood smites him over square-leg for six.

1154: Inzamam brings Sami back into his attack from the Kirkstall Lane End and will be hoping for some more disciplined fare. However, Sami drops another one in short and Trescothick steers him through the covers for four. Sami, clearly frustrated, retaliates with a decent bouncer. But his final ball is over-pitched and smeered through the covers by Trescothick for yet another boundary. This is easy meat for England thus far.

1150: Nazir gets a good length ball to spit off the pitch and clatter Trescothick on the forearm - a bit of old-school Headingley. Another maiden from Nazir, who is bowling well.

1107: Sami invites Strauss up to the buffet with a short delivery and the England skipper, eyes bigger than his belly, cuts him away for four. Sami strays onto Strauss' legs with the final ball and is flicked away for another boundary. No devils in the pitch so far.

And the best one of the day so far:

1412: Pietersen sweeps Kaneria straight into Iqbal, who is fielding at short leg. Thankfully, the ball missed his unmentionables.

It's just like being there.

Border Terriers

Border Terriers get a bad press this morning.

Zoe Williams, writing in the Guardian's G2 says:

"This dog, as a nice coincidence, actually looks like a teddy bear, but that has no relevance here. What it has, above all things, is tenacity - it pleases many dog-toy manufacturers to stress the sturdiness of their product, so you will find a lot of "IndestructiBalls!" and "Just Try Break My Kong!" in the world of dog toys. And you will think, that would be good for the little fellow, he likes to chew, and your border will laugh in the face of these claims. "IndestructiBall, my doggy arse!" he will say. "Ha! Call that a Kong! I've already got half of it lodged in my lower intestine, and you only gave it to me 15 minutes ago!"

Actually, that's quite true.

A Thursday evening in Manchester

The great thing about both me and Deb working in Manchester is that from time to time we'll get opportunities to hit the town in an impromptu moment.

Last night for instance, we stayed behind at work for a swift drink and them had a wander round town. That led to a meal at Yum Yum (don't sit in the booths by the windows, they are so uncomfortably soft, your stomach is folded double and you can't eat as much buffet).

Then another stroll through the shops up to the station.

It was a lovely evening, the sky was blue and everyone seemed really happy and friendly and simply enjoying being in Manchester on a Thursday evening.

Bob Smithies

The former Granada Reports presenter Bob Smithies has died I see.

I remember him from his days presenting Granada Reports alongside the likes of Bob Greeves and in direct competition with Stuart Hall over on the BBC.

Smithies had a friendly presentation style, never far away from a smile or a hearty laugh and totally trustworthy.

I never met the guy but to a certain extent he's been a part of my life for a long time - after he left Granada he became a crossword setter for the Guardian - something I only discovered a couple of years ago when his jovial face turned up on University Challenge - The Professionals, on the crossword compliers team.

Telling porkies

We called into the Co-Op on the way home to get something for tea. We took at look at the bacon. They didn't have any Walls, so Deb started to study the labels. She pointed out that one pack of bacon contained 85% pork. That's bacon containing 85% pork. 85% pork.

A more expensive pack offered as much as 93% pork.

Remember, these are packs of bacon, not sausages or some other cut from this 'wonderful, magical animal' as Homer Simpson once called it, but slices of dead pig.

UFO

I stumbled upon an old episode of that great TV series UFO on ITV4 last night. Undoubtedly the stars of the show were the women on Moonbase wearing string vests (I spend many an adolescent evening carefully studying them). One of them was Ayshea Brough who also presented a kids TV show called Lift Off at some point in her career.

Of course the actual star was Ed Bishop. He played commander Ed Straker, but after the show finished he became a profession American, turning up in countless radio dramas playing someone very much from the States.

I've only just discovered that he died in June last year just five days after another UFO actor, Michael Billington, also died.

Comment

I was having a discussion with someone about Blogs and they said that all the best Bolgs offered comment on current affairs.

I don;t buy into that argument, but just in case I've started such a Blog over on Bloglines