Other stuff…

My new camera is unbelievably outstanding – I’m simply stunned at the pictures it takes!!
I left my previous camera to my mate in Chepstow, and frankly I’m glad I had to buy another. It’s a Samsung ST500 bought from Camerbox.co.uk for a fraction of what Amazon charge for it.

I have continued my ruthless cutting of people I follow on Twitter. Some of whom are even friends of sorts, but this is not to say I’m falling out with anyone as we can still communicate on twitter without the following thing. It actually stops ‘extra’ followers appearing which had become a hassle… This is, except for one UK follower who has turned out to be a stunning and insightful individual whom I won’t mention (other than they get larger by the day).

The big spring clean is under way here as I rip through my place throwing out EVERYTHING I don’t use. I’ve always travelled light, and always have the need to live light – but rarely succeed… Until now (I’m hoping). Besides, I live alone and if anything were to happen to me it’d make the job of clearing me out of the way much easier (I’m laughing here – yeah, good luck with that!!)

Most admin has been carried out other than requiring a medical for my truck licence…(£113). So I’m simply cracking on with life and looking forward to warmer weather.

News also this week is that they’re gonna release a load of new bugs into the UK. These weird mite-like critters suck the life out of a plant called the Japanese Knot Weed which has become a real problem in the UK. While it can grow a meter in 3 weeks, what you see is a bit like the tip of an Iceberg – the root structure is vast!!
I guess we’ll end up being over run with those too at some point..

Work colleague and Farmerist WKD and hubby ‘C’ have been preparing for lambing. I had no idea just how hard work this is until JK of all people started lecturing me about it.
This (for those who may read this blog) is a bit of a concern… I can’t be having JK learning more about this farmerist business!!
Hopefully WKD will furnish us with pictures of the whole process and lots of ickle lambs… (hint!) 

My cousin’s lad and friend ‘Matt’ has been having an odd year.. Matt is an avid climber of sorts. I say ‘of sorts’ because he’s into ‘Bouldering’ (no, not blundering as the this spell checker would have me write). While he does the odd rock face, he loves nothing more than to wrap himself around large oversized pebbles! This sounds ok until you realise Matt is around 40 ft tall and has the wing span of a 747!!
This last year he’s had the misfortune of having his Land Rover stolen and as such getting to he most favoured places of the Peak District curtailed. This however did not stop him legging it to India to do some climbing a few weeks ago.
Matt is at a place in his life I know all too well as I’ve actually been where he is now – and I’m sorely envious of him.
If Matt is anything like me, he’ll probably head off and work his way around Europe at some point. The only thing I would recommend to him is to get his HGV class 1 – because love it or hate it, it’s one hell of a fall back income.
However, Matt is very much his own man! He’ll do what he wants and he’ll do it his way – and I of all people get that.
I do of course hate him for it lol

I have been quite busy on Twitter lately, it’s a useful medium to say the least. I have met some fantastic people on there and with recent events most have been wonderful.
Now I’m not going to sit here and go through my entire list of people I follow or people whom follow me because, well I just rid of half of them LOL!

Twitter is weird, the main reason is that you’re having conversations with people who actually mean little or nothing to you’re life – but are just great to chat to.
In recent times four people have stood out head and shoulders above all others and I really like their input on both my life and general chattiness.
But talking about heads…. Lets have a look at a picture;
This is Gabby from Gabsatrucker – who (for what ever excuse she claims) started trying to take her office furniture apart with what appears to be her head…
Seriously though – have you ever seen a better Cartoon bump than that?!

Moving on

This week unelected Prime Minister of the UK gave evidence at the Iraq Inquiry – ‘so what?’ you may ask…
Well after numerous heads of the Armed forces stated that Mr Brown refused extra money and desperately needed helicopters – Mr Brown sat there and said he never said no, there was any and all funds available for anything the MoD needed!!
Odd!!
But I read the ‘Blair Years’ by Alistair Campbell and to me after 911 there was a real change in our government (other that ignoring it’s people). The UK govt only either listened to the US or responded to media outrage and pressure – which is why the armed forces eventually got more helicopters and vehicles!
I assume this is the belief that the media in some way has it’s finger on the pulse of a nation – well just how wrong they are.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that basically Mr Brown made himself totally unelectable for lying so damn blatantly – bit like Blair did over Kosovo!!
But the public can be blinded…

And finally…

The paper I wrote appears to have fallen on deaf ears or blind eyes… Infact everyone seems to be more bothered about what goes on in Sweden that using their bloody commonsense and trying to think for themselves – it’s all too painfully obvious, yet these days everyone seems to need to spend a crazy amount of money to come up with little or sod all – go figure LOL

Sadly though, as milk is a live product, it can’t be stored for very long and we must have moved the milk from farm to Dairy in under 24hrs. Dairies can only cope with so much. Cheese factories can only process a steady consistent amount and this means the rest go to Westbury where they turn it into milk powder. In fact they turn 60,000 ltrs into powder every 15 minutes!

However, last night was a simple run to a weird place called Rattery (I’ve mentioned it before) and then onto Cadbury’s (as in the Chocolate).
Getting down to the farm at Rattery it was dark, I dropped an empty trailer, took the numberplate off and hooked into the steps of the fuel tank and went to find out which trailer was mine…
Bouncing about over mud and puddles I eventually find my trailer and go to put the numberplate back on – only to find it missing…. 15 minutes it took me to find it!!
By now I was looking like a hobo who just lost a mud wrestling match!!

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful other than my hours running out and needing to take a break within minutes of getting to Cadburys. I ended up having to squeeze ‘Florence’ (the name of this particular truck) under a petrol station canopy where I eventually took my break.

Cadbury’s has recently been taken over by the large US multi national ‘Kraft’ much to the dislike of much of the staff of the company. So, of course – I see this as an opertunity to get to know the staff better.
With questions like;
Still got the sign up then I see – you keeping it?
Are you gonna be going all American on us then?
How long do you think you’ll be keeping your jobs?

And so on…. I don’t think my bonding worked!

A fast paced run back via Monmouth, Newport, dawn breaking the sky over the Severn Bridge and the Sunrise across Sedgemoor was a great end to ‘different’ night.

Arriving back at base WKD came over to my truck all beaming and bobby along – I swear, I’ve never met anyone so Jolly – ever!!
Beaming away she told me that someone had stink-bombed her truck and was off to get coffee. I stopped and wished her Happy New Year as I hadn’t actually seen her since just after Christmas!
But even with social communication and media of today and keeping in touch, and frankly when I was injured between Her and Gabby – they were the most consistent voices of care – and I aint repeating THAT!!

I dropped my trailer on a bay and went and had a chat properly in that ‘you have 2 mins – Go!!’ kinda way we talk.
It was indeed good to see her and to know all is well with her world.

So… in all, a great 12hr shift

In the contact section there is a new email address – gone is the old twbrit@gmail.com and replaced with twb@twbrit.com.

Now, if, as and when anyone of my Who’s Who crowd decide they’d like to write a post on here, they’ll get an email address also and under their assumed blog handle/name. There are few people that i’d like to add to the Who’s Who section, but as yet I can not.

Anyway, do have a great weekend

I’m working tomorrow evening so I’ll be a little scarce on the ground…

I wanna go!!

I think everyone who has ever read this blog or knows me knows that when it comes to Laptop purchasing – I strongly recommend Dell!
I’ve been messing around with laptops for years and have learned many things to double check before purchasing one.
There are also companies I will no longer go near like Sony, Toshiba and Apple, and for good reason!
If you want instant bang for your buck, then you opt for Acer, if you want equal bang for your buck but robustness and lost cost parts availability then you go for Dell.
The trick with Dell is to find as near perfect model, power and features on thier website and then RING THEM!!! Tell them you can’t find ‘exactly’ what you want and make sure you tell them you don’t want to spend more than a given amount – the trick is for that figure to be £100 less that what you did want to spend… Because true to any sales person – they’ll try to tempt you to part with just a little more! They will then bulid you the laptop!

In a moment I’ll prove this fact with what our intrepid reader and commenter Fenny has just done!

But when it comes to power and innovation – Dell always win hands down!!  While many people will rave about the Macbook Air, what they don’t know is that Dell had already produced a thinner, stronger and far more powerful version of that design for less money than the Mac book – the irony is the shear number of Air users switching to Windows 7!!

After all, Dell producted the first ever multi touch tablet that is fully functional and truly works – unlike many of the competitors!

Their latest Latitude Z is a very smart bit of kit and has been around since Sept 09, yet again – we’re hear little or nothing about it. Heck it has auto document  scanning and facial recognition from it’s webcam – the moment you step away it logs you off, like wise upon your return it recognises you, unlocks the laptop and logs you on. It also has induction charging if you so want it and smartphone connectivity.

As for parts : You must remember that the real cost value of a laptop to a manufacturer is around $120! The single most expensive part is the screen and these cost them $12.50. Your screen is never covered by the warranty and I replaced mine for £60. But I’ve worn out the keyboard on my Inspiron 6400 and it cost me £10.41 for a brand new one on Ebay! As such I NEVER purchase a warranty… It just isnt worth it (to me anyway).

So as of Feb 2010, what was the best bang for Fenny’s buck?
Well Fenny and I sat down over the phone and went through the process of looking at all the available things on the market – the top of the resulting list was Acer and Lenovo!
We then went to the Dell site and looked at the nearest Laptop for price… It came down to processor and wifi/Bluetooth and ram quantities.
A day later and Fenny had phoned Dell and what she got even astounded me!!

Dell Inspiron in Obsidian Black   
Intel® Core  i5-430M (2.26Ghz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 2.53 GHz,3M cache) 
15.6″ High Definition (1366×768) WLED    
1.3 Mega pixel Integrated Web Camera    
4096MB 1067MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM [2x2048]    
500GB (5400RPM) Serial ATA Hard Drive    
DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)     
Primary 6-cell 48 WHr Lithium Ion battery    
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450  1  
Dell Wireless 1397 Mini Card (802.11 b/g)    
Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module
90W AC Adaptor

Now, I went off around the web looking for a laptop with that power and the cheapest I found was £980! Cozmic took a wild guess at £1400…
Total cost – try £600!!!!

So yeah, you want power – reliability and ultimate quality…. Now you know where and how to buy it!!
Just so we’re clear about this – I’m not talking to Fenny at the moment!

Now I might be wrong about that, and so what if I am? But when Apple thinks or even sniffs that someone might be encroaching on their space – out come the lawyers!!  Thats no biggy really because the likes of Nokia (and everyone else) having been suing Apple for years – after all ‘Apps’ aren’t an Apple thing at all!!

Here’s an article from the BBC:

Apple sues HTC over phone patents

Jobs: “Competitors should create their own original technology” Apple has taken legal action against phone maker HTC, alleging it has infringed patented technology. HTC has been accused of infringing 20 patents owned by Apple that are used in the iPhone. Apple said the patent infringements covered technology used in the iPhone interface as well as its “underlying hardware and architecture.” HTC makes phones for many firms including Google and was behind the Nexus One handset. In a statement Apple boss Steve Jobs said: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. “We’ve decided to do something about it,” he said. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” In its legal filing, Apple is seeking a lasting injunction which would effectively bar HTC from selling phones that use the disputed technology in the US. The legal action has been filed with the US International Trade Commission and a district court in Delaware. In its response to the legal action, HTC said it had only just learned about Apple’s legal action and has not had the chance to investigate the filing. “Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made against HTC,” it said in a statement. In addition to making the Nexus One, the first handset to be branded by Google, HTC has also made several handsets that use Google’s Android operating system. At the same time Apple is locked in legal action with Nokia. The Finnish phone giant sued Apple for patent infringement in October 2009, alleging it had stolen patented technology. In response, Apple countersued in December 2009. Nokia launched a second round of legal action in the closing days of 2009.

So, I was looking for a good camera and found one, actually there were two, but the lower model number was far better bang for you buck than the top of the range. This was the Samsung ST500, and as Fenny described it – it went all the way to 11!

But what was more important, I got it an awesome price from Amazon. Also, if I signed up for the trail of Amazon Prime, I’d get it delivered next day for free!

I ordered it Wednesday night and cringed when I saw the courier was CityLink whom I believe to be the most useless courier in the UK!!

Sure enough, first thing Thursday morning I get an email stating it would be with me around Friday lunchtime… I tracked it anyway to the local distribution point and like with all things CityLink – everything turned to Sh*t!!! It arrived in Exeter originally at 05:05 am – this later changed to 05:55 am, more then enough time to get it to me…

It’s Monday evening, and the CityLink office has had it for 4 days and not once have they tried to deliver it!  Heck, they could have posted it from there and I would have got it Saturday!!

So I’ve emailed Amazon, I’ve told them that I’ve unsubscribed from their ‘Prime’ until such time they removed CityLink from their courier list and told them no to deliver it under any circumstances! I also told them I expect a prompt refund of my money.

Of course, the reality is that nothing will change, CityLink are a cheap company, Amazon rarely actually care and as such I see it as a simple parting of the ways.

But let me be absolutely clear about this, and I can back up what I say. CityLink ARE the worst courier in the UK and you’d do well to avoid any use of these people at all!!!!

The shoulder ached a lot on the first day but after that it’s been a steady improvement.
My licence is up for renewal in the next 30 days and as yet I have made no effort to act upon it.

I saw WKD’s red missile on Saturday, but it was moving soooo fast, it was simply a blur lol. I then realised I haven’t actually seen her at all in 2010!! Well, I don’t think so.. almost a quarter of the way into the year as well.
Heck, British Summer Time starts in 4 weeks!!

But hey, this is all life I guess…

Give it a watch and I’ll continue…

Don’t get be wrong here, I don’t pretty much like how our present government has sold the UK down the river on every level, but for Chile to then ask the UK for help is a bit rich to say the least.
And no thanks to Chavez to talk to/about HM Queen like that and to state what he has stated – he’s basically shot himself and his continent in the foot as far as I’m concerned.

While at ‘that’ age where most men are grumpy, I do believe myself to be a fair guy. I do look at the other sides of arguments etc. And it is rare that a decision is completely absolute…

But on this matter? Well lets just say that our gutless yellow bellied and apparently bullying leader better not even contemplate giving them a hand.

Just so we’re absolutely clear on this fact – The United Kingdom of Great Britain were the first country to ever put a flag on the Falklands and every now and then we have to go and kick someone else off them…
And we’ll do it again!!

But then this was 1980, the 19th of Feb and the guy was Bon Scott.

Since  the infusion of legendary record producer Robert (Mutt) Lange with the Highway to Hell album, ACDC has never looked back. Many have now said that the meeting of minds of Bon Scott and Mutt Lange was something to behold and only later did people start to understand what truly could have been developed from these joint seeds of genius. But it didn’t finish there.

Within months the band regrouped and produced an album that for the most part had been written by and even demo’d by the original singer.

Built on a rock solid foundation by Bon and the present members. The release of the Back in Black album made music history and today it still does – being the No1 selling rock album of all time and the disputed 2nd most sold album in the history of the music industry.
It’s still selling fast today, it still holds it’s own and in time will eventually take the top spot. Not bad for a band who out sold the Beatles!

The first time I saw the band live I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, a school boy sitting on top of Bon Scott’s shoulders running through the audience!

Yes I missed the anniversary by a couple of days, but hey – life gets a bit foggy after an added 30yrs

30years!!!! I can’t believe it’s truly been so long.

So this evening, I raise a glass and say “To Bon Scott” and for just so much entertainment and fun – even after 30yrs

So far the results are:  4 x London 1 x ex-UK 1 x Sheffield.

Feel free to pop along and add your vote HERE It’s ok to sign up if you want, takes less than a minute and to follow me i’m    @twbrit

You could also download the Tweetdeck by Adobe which is totally free and available HERE

Well I woke up again at the 6hrs sleep point last night, this was a two fold result, as I made it to 6hrs again but this time it wasn’t my shoulder that woke me but a bout of indigestion – this is a huge result.
Yer know, after 4 weeks of just 2hrs a night, I know I’m getting better – I truly had no idea how long it would take.

The British govt. have been releasing more UFO files and there is an interesting one with quite a large number of witnesses where a massive triangular shaped craft, twice the size of an airliner was seen hovering over the then Home Secretary Michael Howard’s Kent home.
This would go a long way to explain Mr Howard at the best of times – he’s a fricking ALIEN!!!

Other news that comes from the Winter Olympics…
The apparent unfortunate start of one particular skier in the women’s downhill race…
Fr**ch skier Marion Rolland is an exemplary skier, she is the type of skier we Brits just love.
It has to be said that not only can I not fault her style, but wonder just where the school is that taught her.

So, it’s late in the evening of the 3rd/4th Feb 2010… Somewhere deep in the middle of the Atlantic…

When out of nowhere some lame assed Fr**ch driver runs straight in the HMS Vanguard, the first of the British Trident Nuclear Submarines!!

Ok, that’s not quite fair at all, but this has been dubbed the worst under water accidents since the sinking of the Russian submarine – the Kursk…

It is funny to me that no one has perfected underwater optics yet, but I digress…
This news isn’t new – but the sheer cost of repairs is!!

While I could go on and on about there being a possible £50million repair bill, not to HMS Vanguard, but to the Sub-le-frog! I’ll leave you in the knowledge the Fr**ch sub came off much worse with all it’s sonar kit being completely ripping off.

So England 1, Fr**ce 0

All is well with the world

You voted and we listened! Consumers around the world voted for Barbie® Doll’s next career and we are pleased to announce that her 126th career will be Computer Engineer! The winning careers were announced at New York Toy Fair on February 12th.
Having Barbie® as an ambassador for female computer
engineers can help inspire a new generation of girls to hone in on
their computer skills and become a part of this growing profession.
“Girls who discover their futures through Barbie will learn that they – just like engineers – are free to explore infi nite possibilities, and that their dreams can go as far as their imaginations take them,” said Nora Lin, President, Society of Women Engineers. “As a computer engineer, Barbie will show girls that women can design products that have an important and positive impact on people’s everyday lives, such as inventing a technology to conserve home energy or programming a newborn monitoring device.”
To ensure the doll accurately refl ects this occupation, Barbie® designers worked with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Academy of Engineering to ensure that accessories, clothing and packaging were realistic and representative of a real computer engineer. Looking geek chic, Computer Engineer Barbie® wears a t-shirt featuring binary code and computer/keyboard icon along with a pair of black knit skinny pants.
Computer Engineer carries a Barbie® smart phone, fashionable laptop case, fl at watch and Bluetooth earpiece. With stylish pink-frame glasses and a shiny laptop, she is ready to conquer the day’s
tasks on the go or from her desk.
For girls to further experience the reality of being a computer engineer, the dollalso includes a special code to unlock exclusive online game content on Barbie.com. Computer Engineer Barbie is now available for pre-order at www.MattelShop.com and will be available at retailers nationwide in
Winter 2010.

Microsoft has earned another reason to get appreciation by deciding to launch a new customized version of the IE8 in order to promote online safety for families. This step has been taken in collaboration with CEOP, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The new customized version of IE8 contains advice, help and report services directly into the toolbar and also provides access to information on cyber bullying, viruses, hacking, mobile protection, harmful content and sexual behaviour.

Regarding the release, the Microsoft business and marketing officer, Methew Bishop said, “As more and more young people are learning, playing and communicating online, it is vital we provide the appropriate safety information as we know this is one of the most effective ways of helping to protect people.”

In addition to this, IE8 has released with the improvements on the shortcomings of IE6 and IE7. But the IE8 is not recommended for the users who are much concerned about the security threat from the viruses and bugs. Moreover, IE8 is slower as comparable to the other browsers

Weaker persons have questioned this ladies pregnancy, and the fact that Mr Cameron went to school with her husband, anything to distract from the real issues of the day.
Thankfully Westminster North has had it’s slap down, been sorted out and because the resignation was NOT accepted, this candidate has re taken her position and is ready for the fight.

Even a quick glance the Westminster North website shows a thoroughly dedicated team of people trying to do so much for the people they represent. A team dedicated to the systematic cutting out the dead wood, old school, un-effective people and policies. This system is a methodology that has become a trade mark of what David Cameron actually stands for.
So, whoever or whatever the background of this candidate, I can tell you that you will find a more hard working, dedicated, and dare I say more caring individual person than Conservative Candidate for Westminster North, Joanne Cash.

I’ve used twitter under one name or the other from not long after it started. It really isn’t the device where you text that you’re on the 3rd stir of your cup of tea, it’s an awesome near realtime communication tool and an even greater leveller of people from so many walks of life.
For the most part I have communicated with so many people I would not have met, socialised with or even entered their sphere of influence.
As such I had a rule that I’ve only broken twice, you see I noticed that once people went past the 30,000 followers mark, they would begin to suffer from the shear number of tweets, which they lose touch and indeed the ability of the tool is no longer viable in a personal way.
After 30,000 it becomes a PR device and little more – so has it been of use to me? and why have stayed connected to people over the 30k threshold.

Yes it has been of use to me and no more so then during this last six months. It really became noticeable while I was working very late one Saturday night when I sent out the message “In a muddy field in the middle of nowhere”. This is actually quite a normal place for me to be when hauling milk tankers about. But the response from one person was instant, and I realised that while I need to be a little more careful of what I write, right there was a voice of care and the ability to gain immediate assistance.

I now use Google Latitude, so not only can people send tweets, they can follow me on a map on the web.

In more recent times and for regular readers, they know I’ve been recuperating from injuring my shoulder… Now I feel that the TWBrit must bare a little soul here;

I’m often not a nice person, it’s a floor of mine. I have an arrogant air that often astounds even me and I don’t like it. But in these past weeks I have been truly humbled by the care and distinct affection shown to me by people on twitter.
I don’t say this lightly, people Direct Messaging me daily to check I’m alright etc.
I am humbled, I have not asked anyone to drop by, but I know I only have to ask and they will.

Today, in a world so full of greed and hatred, people often show their greater and more natural sides in this medium, I too have noticed an old (better) trait of mine coming back. You see I’m not impressed by celebrity, fame, power because having witnessed bad things around the world, you realise that we are weak, emotional and fragile. I truly believe in people first, only if the mandate of a job is so vital that it’s sensitivity is taken on board would anything change me from this. If someone needs real help and I can assist – irrespective of work or anything else I will – and I haven’t really had that mindset for quite a while.
So it’s a breath of fresh air to talk and feel care from quarters you wouldn’t and I am grateful.
My life has been a real adventure, but I am more often than not a grumpy old guy – so yes, it’s good to feel humbled and it’s right to sometimes be disarmed and I truly thank everyone who has shown this care through this medium.

As for going over 30k, well just the other day someone who I really don’t know personally, but seem to tweet with quite a bit with - hit the 30k. Now while she lives kinda around the corner from me, she was also aware that I (and others) drop people at 30k. The moment they passed the threshold she tweeted ‘are you still there?’
I didn’t initially respond because, well,  I’m an evil s.o.b. with a cheesy grin, but later I did make a remark and her response (a human one) guaranteed my not dropping her and probable continued follow for while she ever uses this medium and thats what this is all about – being human and communicating.

So twitter….

It is worth it, it’s useful, you will meet people from all over the world. For the most part I talk to people I wouldn’t normally know but you know what? I’ve learned cool places to eat, where to go, how to get things I normally couldn’t and so many other useful things. Yet to take a moment you realise that anyone of these people could be the person who saves your life…

Amazing!!

I have made reference here to several people and the crazy thing – I’ve not met anyone whom I’ve refered to! There is someone whom I will mention soon, but I’m doing a little work for at the moment, so I shall refrain.

But simply – thank you.

Some things are just infuriating, like Vodafone telling me that I don’t have the two cell phone packages they told me I did have when I took out my HD2 contract. One being international calls package and the other – the Internet… I was told I actually had to have the internet package when I ordered the phone and I said ok….
But apparently they LIED, MISLEAD and basically CONNED me…
So I have emailed them I told them to send the appropriate packaging so I may return the phone and cancel my contract….
Funnily enough, I’ve not heard a word since.
Shame, it’s a great phone!!

Why oh why can’t these people just do what they’re going to say they’re gonna do – why lie, con and cheat? It makes no sense at all.

The Shoulder is improving – YAY!!
It’s still not good enough to return to work sadly – heck I still can’t achieve more than 3hrs sleep with it.
But it is improving

I wrote my paper and sent it to Dr Sue Black this week having reduced it from 36 pages to 6!
I’m still not happy with it but considering I haven’t felt like I’ve been living on this planet for over 3 weeks, it’s the best I can do for now.
I will post it as a page listed in the sidebar as it’s still too long to go here.
Just writing the basic ‘action’ bullet points to add to the bottom of it.

It’s HERE

That’s enough for now and I wish everyone a great weekend.

Once and originally the 33rd afoot, then joined with the 76th afoot, later to be named The Duke of Wellingtons Regt. And now the 3rd Bn The Yorkshire Regt.
But they are still and referred to as such as the 33rd and the Dukes.

Corporal Liam Riley and Lance Corporal Graham Shaw

Prince Harry, who served with Cpl Riley at a military training unit in Canada in 2007, said he was a “legend”.

Cpl Riley was 21 years old, while L/Cpl Shaw turned 27 on Sunday.

Prince Harry, who spent 10 weeks on the frontline in Afghanistan before being flown home in February 2008, said it had been a “privilege” to work alongside Cpl Riley at the training unit in Canada.

“He was a legend. A really special man who got us all going and heading in the right direction,” he said.

“It is incredibly sad also to hear that Liam died alongside his friend, Lance Corporal Graham Shaw.

“My heart goes out to their loved ones, and to their many, many friends in their regiment and the wider Army.”

Cpl Riley, from Sheffield, and L/Cpl Shaw, from Huddersfield, were on foot patrol when two bombs exploded.

Typically today’s losses are harder than they should be, these men did not die in a manner they would have wished, not in the heat of any soon forgotten battle nor while trying to save the lives of others – they were killed by yet another road side bomb… And that my friends is a cruel waste.

I would like to say I’m back to being fighting fit but sadly the reality is very different.
It’s almost like 1 step forward – 3 steps back, and it’s getting frustrating.
Yesterday I felt almost 100%, went grocery shopping (as this prevents death) and made sure I didn’t get any sleep until I could no longer keep my eyes open…
Now, even with a near midnight run to London on an urgent errand that rectified itself and wasn’t required – I turned in looking forward to possibly my first full nights sleep…
2hrs later I’m up and wide awake and yet again in pain!!
Today, I’ve been stuck in an arm chair with hotwater bottle on my shoulder fidgeting away getting very frustrated.
At least I’m not taking Codeine anymore , but at this rate I’ll soon be back on it.

So, while I truly want to be back on my feet and doing things (like earning money – which is now taking a toll), I have to resign myself to being almost stationary for the next few days.

I can’t even begin to say how annoying this is – but alas, onward and upward! – just slowly…

Well, so much for a great beginning to 20-10ty
As most know, I’ve been laid up after sustaining a shoulder injury and to be quite honest, I still cant believe just how painful an injury of this kind can actually be. And yet so many people suffer them!
However, with only getting sporadic sleep and Codeine that  seemed to be effective only when and if wanted to be, I thought I was slowly going nuts until the other day when the pain finally started to ease a little.
So much so infact that two days ago I started going longer without the Codeine and halved the dosage.
Yesterday after taking just one table after 8hrs something very strange happened – I almost started tripping out on the drug!!!
It was like instead of one. I had taken 20… The effect was awful and I found myself waking up all over the place – yeah, weird huh?
Unable to do much the worse part was I didn’t care.
But a huge thank you to Gabsatrucker, WKD and JK who mithered me throughout and to all of you both on here and Twitter who kept me sane and kept checking up on me…I would snog you all – but then end up in jail – so I wont. Oh and WKD sent me a photo today while out cow spotting and also while asking if I was ok…. (I’m kinda hoping those are just tags in it’s ears).

Around 7pm I started to come around and get myself together enough to know not to take anymore Codeine.

Today I have been really quite groggy but have managed with thanks to Rachel Beer Co-founder of Beautiful World to find a Graphic Artist to look at my Blog Logo and at the moment we look like we’re starting from scratch!!

Also, it came to my notice that while lagging behind badly in the Tablet Computing stakes, Apple launched the iPad yesterday. Anyway,as people started raving about it and whom appear not to have noticed 20 other such products on the market – and with the fact that for the last 5years (2 on this blog) I have been telling people until I am blue in the face about what was coming in the technology world for the end user (most of whom just 4yrs ago couldn’t understand the concept).

Anyway, it’s time to return to the world of technology so the The Wondering Brit IS available for work (contract or otherwise)!
As long as it’s interesting stuff and besides, I’m tired of having all this knowledge and doing nothing with it. (as long as I have a little time to get over my injury) I’m Available – so are you ready to be challenged?

Three weeks ago I received a letter offering me a fully approved loan for nearly £10,000. I haven’t asked for one and didn’t need one.
The only time I actually ever needed one – they turned me down.
The odd thing is that I simply have no debt to speak of and apparently this is a bad thing.

So the other day my wreck of a car starts the road to permanent failure so when I’m next on my internet banking site I look at all the pre-approved things available to me.
They would extend my unused free over draft facility  a further £750 and there was another fully pre-approved loan available – this time I could have from £1000 to £25000… and at a far more reasonable APR than before.

I went away and just laughed at it. But I looked at replacing my car for a model of the right age to verify the kind of price I would be looking at and when I realise all the things I wished and need to do this year, I came to the conclusion that I could and possibly should make the move and at least consider the loan. Not the full amount but somewhere in the middle would be easily affordable and just right.

Now while I thought it odd that the bank had been changing their offers around quickly I decided to opt for a bit of a test.
I would take the extra free overdraft of £750 and see if that had any kind of impact of the so called pre approved loan value.

Here’s what happened;
Click a couple of boxes and the overdraft is approved – great
Right lets look to see if there is still £25000 available to me…. Nope! There was just £5000 available.
At this point I started laughing hysterically in disbelief – a £750 overdraft removes £20000 from your loan eligibility??!! No way!!! Who makes this rubbish up?
Only disappointed for not buying a Land Rover, 5 mins later I felt relieved because if that’s how they do business, would I really want to be indebted to these people?
This morning while paying bills online the £5000 has all but disappeared and there is NO available loan…

Barclays Bank – you’re terrible, laughingly hilarious and quite obviously know little about money, and more importantly – your customers!!!

Stop telling us what you can’t do because of new banking rule and tell us what you can do – AND  STICK  TO  IT!!!