The Fort 4/5

Just finished reading The Fort by Bernard Cornwell. It's a true-life page turner set during the American War of Independence and Cornwell (famous for the Sharpe stories) proves he can pretty much do what Anthony Beevor does, novelising historical events into a compelling and informative narrative. My mum bought it for me because she liked it, so it's not just for war nerds.

Independents Day +1

Yesterday was Independents Day when British consumers were encouraged to shop at their local independent retailers rather than putting their pennies the way of the big corporates. I failed. I took advantage of a £2.50 meal deal at Tesco.
Today, to show that local retailers are not just for Christmas (or Independents Day) I went to the excellent Food Hall in Northampton and bought myself a Mexican Chicken with Mayo roll (£2.35) and a packet of Burts hand fried potato chips - don't put your hand in the friers Burt - (0.72p). An additional 500ml Diet Coke from an independent newsagent cost £1.25, making the whole lot £4.32 - although to compare like with like I should have bought a can of diet coke which probably would have been more like 70p, so we are looking at something like the £3.80 mark.
It might not beat Tesco but it compares pretty favourably with a lot of lunch options. Hmmm, food for thought.

Just an ordinary pudding

In our house stuff like this can happen almost anytime...

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I woke up and there they were

Happy Fathers Day everybody

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White Room on the roof of the Chron

Good on em, cars hooting as they do a cover of Mr Brightside by The Killers

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I couldn't get this audioboo working earlier on but I'm still trying, so in the spirit of optimism:



Even better try this: http://yfrog.com/nggzuz

Down at the farm

The kids weren't particularly enthusiastic about going to the open farm before we got there. Once they were in among the animals, however, they soon discovered their inner doolittle.

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Blue Square Blues

If any team has to condemn Luton to another season in the Blue Square then I suppose I'm glad it's AFC Wimbledon. Their story of rags to nicer rags is inspiring and Hatters fans could do with some inspiration right now.

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The Lion King

Dougie's birthday treat is a show in London.

Princess day

Bonnie celebrates the royal wedding by dressing up special for nursery...

Me Cheeta

The autobiography of Tarzan's movie monkey sidekick is not a bellylaugh comedy, it's a warm smile of recognition comedy. Cheeta guides us through the debauchery of Golden Era Hollywood with his own brand of jaded animal innocence. There was one love in his life and this plays out touchingly. This could be a great movie one day. ****

Yes mum of course I tidied up afterwards

This is the last nightclub I visited in Northampton. Ouch.

Roadworks forever

Change is an essential part of the economy now. If we want to see continual improvements we will have to live with continual reconstruction.
Our dream of constant progress translates into a reality of constant contra flows, tailbacks and delays. It's the dieting dynamic applied to town planning.
It's all about the journey, the destination is secondary.
This is the kind of subversive thinking that comes out of having to wait two cycles of traffic light changes when the radio is broken in your vehicle.
Without the conformist psychobabble from the state approved broadcasters swamping my synapses the despair and futility of modern life is grotesquely exposed. But to be fair, grotesque exposure is what Grafton Street is all about. If I zipped along this northern boundary of Spring Boroughs without any ugly truth at all then I really would feel cheated.

They came with vans

The Co-op store at the end of our road is having a makeover and is going to be closed for a week. Yesterday they piled all the stock from the shelves into black plastic shopping baskets and loaded it on to vans. I was faintly impressed by Co-op's ability to mobilise manpower for the task, like it was some remote military outpost that suddenly got a visit from the rest of the army.

When traffic lights become terror suspects

Northampton town centre becomes the Guantanamo Bay for traffic lights.

BBC News - Why do people tell sick jokes about tragedies?

BBC News - Why do people tell sick jokes about tragedies?

The answer to this question always has to be... because they are funny. Perhaps the real question should be - Why do people laugh at sick jokes about tragedies?

I don't know if his name is Jack...

... But he has his own window at The Bear in Horsham.

Casuals on the march

Casuals under 7s claim their first silverware in the Alliance Shield

Bill made a spaceship

He did this himself. Proud moment for any geek dad.

HMS Warrior

The pride of The Black Fleet, Queen Victoria's awesome steam ironclad navy.