Exchange

Our Chinese exchange student
seems to have settled in well
on her first full day here
I think these exchange trips
are a great way to find out
about the life and culture
of a foreign country

and get a real understanding of how

different we are

so tonight we took her to the local
Chinese restaurant

Tonight's the night

I'm off now to see the
world premier
of my play

and then later we
have a chinese student
coming to stay

Alan Rickman

Gosh those Alan Rickman fans
are a lively lot
no sooner had I mentioned him on the
BBC Manchester Blog
they were demanding copies of the
interviews
offering all sorts in order to have their way
of course we bowed to pressure
and popped a couple of interviews up

even my picture of him on
Flickr got loads of hits

that's one popular guy

Name dropper

Last night I joined the ranks
of the paparazzi and took up
my position behind the photographer's
barrier
at the Palace Theatre in Manchester
for the gala opening of Monkey: Journey To The West
We were expecting Jude Law
we got Dennis Hopper
(and Jude Law)
pushing and shunting to get the best shot
I loved it
then I had to pack my camera away
and go the other side of the barrier to take my
seat for the show
Dennis was in the row behind me with
Jamie Hewlett, Chen Shi-Zheng and Damon Albarn
in the row behind him

Blood line

I just spoke to one of the
actors from the play
"I'm covered in fake blood"
but there isn't any blood in the play
"I know"

Play time

There are posters all over
Glossop
for a new play which is being
performed tomorrow night
it's The Book Club
by Richard Fair



that's me

Lego is iam

I go away for twenty fours hours
and when I get back they've only gone and changed
the Prime Minister
outside Downing Street Mr Brown quoted
his old school motto
"the best of chances for everyone"
I think it was, but I can't be sure
I mean I can't even remember my own
school motto - if indeed we had one

no wait, I think it was something like
tribuo nos vestri prandium viaticus vos intumesco
or translated into English
"give me your dinner money you puff"
is it any wonder it closed

Just got back from...

Leicester
the roof of my hotel was occupying
three bays in the car park
they didn't do English breakfast
but they did have a Ginsters Pasties
vending machine in reception
I was in room 121
and I don't remember that last time I
went to bed after 1am
nor after 2am
or 2.30am for that matter
and no English breakfast to help
kick start the day

This is me

There's this website that claims
to be able to match your looks
with those of celebrities

it has to be done



Not sure how I feel that my top
lookalike
turned out to be Jennifer Love Hewitt

hey Georges Brassens seems like a
good looking guy

Summertime

So summer is here
but really
have the papers got nothing else to write about
other than Shirley Bassey and mud
(the wet soil not the Tiger Feet group)
at Glastonbury?

actually it can only be a matter
of time before Mud do appear

A good day

The decorating is done
and just in time for
quiz night in the Globe

I slept like a Blog...

Woke up at my computer
workstation

Father's Day

There's a feeling of
sadness
when I walk past all the
Father's Day cards
it's the second year I haven't
had the need to buy one

Is there a funny smell in here or is it me?

Been having some vivid dreams
these last few nights
one starring David Walliams
and another set in an old
workplace where the toilets had been turned
into an aquatics shop

I put it down to the paint and
the PVA glue mixture
we used to seal the walls
fortunately
as I was saying to my friend
with the three eyes and horses legs
the fumes only seem to be effecting
my sleeping hours

Paper boy

You can actually buy
wallpaper
that you put the paste on the wall
not the paper

or the carpet
ahem

University Challenged

Last night we stumbled upon
a quiz
in The Globe
the place was packed with students
all eager to show off their
superior knowledge
or to get a gob full of the free hot pot which I have to say was rather delicious
there were thirty-six questions in all
and we only passed on one
with hindsight I think we would have been
better passing on most of them as
the marking showed that we'd only
managed to get nineteen correct
while the boffins in the next room got thirty-four
and someone in there won the raffle
bloody students
shouldn't they have been at home revising or something
and who set the questions anyway?
'What is the name for the number system based on sixteen?'
"Err, I'll have another pint of the home-brew stout please landlord"

The Antiques Rogue Show

I hate pushy shopkeepers
I'd only been in the antique shop
two minutes when I found myself
in the middle of a sales pitch for a chair
priced at £415 but,
according to Sotheby's
who the guy had only just got off the phone to,
it should be selling for £800-£1000
a bargain and the matching desk a snip at £675, sir
'but I can do something with that price'
I eventually settled for a set of
painted drawers
I'll ring Sotheby's in the morning
and see how much I was over charged

Notes and Qwertys

It took just half a bottle of wine
to come up with the name
Notes and Qwertys
the name of my new blog that
will carry short stories and
reviews and travelogues

first up my trip to Paris
plus the story that Transmission
didn't run in favour of the
one they did
what do you think?

Notes and Qwertys
you'll love it
now where's that half full
bottle of wine

Paris (not Hilton but France)

Had a couple of days working
in Paris this week
I'll post a more detailed travelogue
in the next day or so
but can I just warn anyone thinking
of travelling over there that
when the green man comes on
idiots on scooters
are allowed to drive straight at you
even if you are still on the pavement
and taxi drivers are not much better
mine drove several miles along a busy
motorway while reading the paper

On the brink

Russian President Putin
threats to aim weapons at Europe
puts my worry about not having a
Co2 detector in the house
into context

Quote of the day

"He's a sixty-year-old shoplifter
he steals (razor)blades and
deodorant."

You know, for some reason
I'd like to meet him

Jobs

Mother has a new fireplace
and new central heating
and a list of jobs that needs doing
that is longer than the total
length of piping used to connect
all her new radiators
it's going to be a long summer

The no jays

There are advantages of not having
the letter J
in your Scrabble set
especially when tying to form words
under the influence of The Globe's
Amber brew
not sure what other letters are missing
but if you do decide to pop along and
you're in the mood for a game
bring you own J with you

with or without the J
I think I still would have
come third

Springtime in Paris

Se diriger plus d'à Paris
plus tard cette semaine
pour un couple des jours visitant
une station par radio là-bas
je dois être à l'aéroport le mercredi
à 5.30

Translation by Babel Fish

Going over old ground

It's a long while since I
called into the Glossop Labour Club
for a drink
it looked bigger than
I remembered
some of the old faces are still there
but it did seem to lack that
creative atmosphere that made it
THE place to hang out on a Friday
although that meant your body was in no fit state
for the delicious creams cakes they used
to sell in the cafe on a Saturday morning
be nice to know if the old gang still go
they may well have kept away last night
because of the football

oh
and they've sold the car park