A Numpty travels.

My good friend Angus has suggested that as I am starting to go back to doing a bit more travelling I should put some comments on my blog about the places I've been so I will.
Over the last couple of weeks or so I have been in Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester and would recommend the Ibis in Glasgow as a reasonably priced place to stay ( the Novotel next door is also pretty good but costs a tad more). The State Bar just off Sauchiehall Street is always worth a visit.
The Copthorne in Birmingham is not bad, if a wee bit noisy but it is well placed for both Broad Street and the centre of town. The Shakespeare off New Street is a very pleasant watering hole.
Leeds Novotel is worth a stay, friendly staff although the rooms are a little warm at times. It is well placed for the station and is close to an Italian restaurant and a couple of bar/grills, that's bar/grills, not bear grylls. It is also handy for the city centre.
More to follow as the travelling goes on.

Its been a while

since I last said anything so I thought it about time to say hello to anyone who happens upon these ramblings and promise that at some stage I will say something interesting.

At the moment I am researching the next subjects I need to deliver courses on to colleagues later this month and in October and have just been involved in this year's leek show (more on leek shows another time) so I have been a little preoccupied.

I will try to blog more in the coming weeks and months and maybe even attract some readers.

Other things.

I see that Jose Enrique has left NUFC and moved to Liverpool. All I can say is that if a player isn't fully committed to the club it is probably best that they leave. Enrique is a good player, but he did have a propensity for trying to play fancy football in silly parts of the pitch.
I hope that the club can find a suitable replacement for him.  It seems that they are looking at Erik Pieters from PSV Eindhoven who is a young Dutch international, let us hope that if we do buy him he can slot into the team and play well. We shall see.

Riot or protest?

Is it mindless rioting or criminal looting or the protest of a disenfranchised youth? There is no reason why it can't be all three. I hesitate to pontificate on the recent goings on in London and elsewhere because so many words have been expended on the subject so far anyway. It does seem though that people have been divided widely on the subject. I doubt that I will add anything to the debate by adding my two-pennyworth so I will keep my counsel and move on to other things.

Still going on

This hacking scandal seems to me to go to the heart of governance and policing in the UK. Who paid whom to do what? What government decisions were influenced by whom? What a can of worms!

Trust.

Who can you trust these days?
Bankers? Nope.
Newspapers? Nope.
Politicians? Nope.
The Police? Nope.

What a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in when all these mainstays of society seem to be mired in sleaze and greed. It makes me wonder what can be done to get society back on track when selfishness and anger seem to be the default position for most people.

Maybe we should start by trying to help one another instead of passing by on the other side. A smile when you pass a stranger in the street, stand back and let someone go first, small things but they are a start.

I live in hope that people can be more caring than at present and make the world a better place.

Interesting question number 10

Should I give up asking interesting questions and just ramble in future?

I think the interesting question thing has lost its way a bit so in future I'm just going to talk about life the universe and everything and give people the benefit of my distorted thinking on the many aspects of the world around us and the people in it.

Sounds interesting, I hope.

Oh dear me.

Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich on Thursday signed into law a bill that allows gun owners in the state to carry concealed weapons into bars and other places where alcohol is served. What is he thinking about? OK the law prohibits people from consuming alcohol or being drunk or under the influence of drugs but that's going to make all the difference isn't it?
Guns and bars do not mix!
Also the law allows licensed concealed arms permit holders to carry a loaded weapon unsecured in their vehicle. Do not get into a road rage argument in Ohio.

Interesting question number 9

So what is this blog supposed to be about?

It's supposed to be a whimsical look at everyday life through the eyes of a middle aged baldy bloke.

Interesting question number 8

Why is it that airline flights can be hours late or not fly at all when if the bus is 5 minutes late the world gets it's shorts in an uproar?

Do airlines have a built-in lateness quotient that allows them to fly in at out at any old time regardless of what the schedule says and make up some cock-eyed excuse such as the wrong sort of cloud? They are worse than the railways used to be.

I'm grumbling because my poor wife is stuck in Lyon because of some mysterious event which has screwed up fights through Amsterdam but I'm going to stop now as this is likely to turn into a rant, which isn't what this blog is supposed to be about.

Interesting question number 7

What is it about English football teams at international tournaments?

I've just finished watching the English women's team play Mexico at the Women's World Cup. They seemed to be lethargic and devoid of ideas, much like the U21 men's team and the England men's senior team every time they walk onto a pitch.

I wonder what the problem is? You could argue with the men's teams, especially the seniors that they are vastly overpaid and don't have the hunger for the game that they should have when representing their country. But how does that argument sit with the women though?  They don't get paid huge amounts and many of them are still genuine part timers with day jobs so they are playing for the love of the game.
Maybe it's nerves, playing on the big stage.

Who knows? I certainly don't, I just hope they can pick themselves up from a disappointing result, win their remaining games and go on to win the thing, unlike their male counterparts.

Interesting question number 6

Why does always rain during the Hoppings?

Healthy eating

Mmmmm pizza!

Well

Another day at the coalface digging for gems of wisdom to pass on to my colleagues by way of a classroom training event.  All I've got to do now is work out how to cover all the areas required in half the time it once took. Still, it could be worse I could be sitting at a desk all day typing away at a compu, oh, right.

Anyway, I'm still looking for the magic words that will open up this blog to the world and allow people to hang on my every thought and deed. Maybe inspiration will come soon, hopefully carrying a bottle of rum and some jelly babies.

Right, off now to tweet, then dinner.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Rest assured that I will not be following the axiom in the title of this post. It does seem though that I am currently talking to myself in this blog, I need to broaden my audience somehow.

Relaxed.

Listening to US folk music online on my laptop. Amazing what entertainment you can get from a box full of wires sitting in your lap.

www.folkalley.com

Gibberish later.

Not enough drink taken to fall into gibbering mode so I'll have to leave it until I can think of something interesting to say. Don't hold your breath.

Saturday night

I will be going to the pub shortly, prepare for gibberish later.

Isn't science wonderful?

My dear wife (Karen by the way) is currently organising a 30th anniversary class reunion for her old high school in Warren Ohio in 2013. She is currently on a video call with an old classmate through the internet. Once upon a time it would have been a transatlantic phone call, telegrams and before that letters going back and forth.  I wonder how long it will be before these reunions will be done virtually, doing away with having to travel and actually meeting up in person!
Anyway, It should be fun to go along and see a little bit of American tradition and spend a few hours repeating myself because no one can understand my Geordie accent (which isn't that broad) and fending off people who assume I'm either Scottish or Irish because I don't speak with a BBC English accent. Still musn't be grumpy about it,all the Americans I've met so far in the years I've known Karen have been great and really friendly so I can't complain.

Anyway, dinner time, time to force my cooking on Mrs Hall.

Re: Interesting question number 5.

I may have been exaggerating a tad with the proportions of the rainstorm earlier.  In the great scheme of things what is falling from the sky just now is more of a gentle summer rain. However, that is not the point, it is still an impediment to my outdoor aspirations.
Just thought I'd clear that up.

One last thing, am I starting to look like Uncle Fester or is it a trick of the light?

Interesting question number 5

Why does it always rain when I need to get in the garden?  The sun has been cracking the flags all week but suddenly its Saturday and a deluge of Biblical proportions has descended upon our little patch of Earth stopping my paving slab laying activities in their tracks. Probably for the best in the long run; I'm sure I would have jiggered my back again and been useless for weeks-it has been said I've been useless for years anyway, but that's another story.
Anyway, at least the lack of outdoor work has allowed me to inflict more of my cooking on my much loved and long-suffering wife (to whom I will have been married for 8 years on Tuesday, they said it wouldn't last, pah!). Today she will be forcing down Baked gammon with sweet potatoes and corn bread. The corn bread could double as sound proofing if required or as a soft landing for a person trapped in a tall building, boing!
Enough of this now, time for a snooze before dinner, its tiring being a blogger, if that's what I am rather than a rambling buffoon.  OK, we'll go for the latter.

Ahh!

What a lovely day, the sun's a-shinin' and the garden is looking good. Time for a wee drinky methinks, sitting at the picnic table with my best girl by my side.

But first, flea treatment for the kitties.

The only trouble with a nice relaxing drink in the garden is that you end up planning a load of new jobs out there. Patio laying this weekend it is then.

Interesting question number 4

Have you ever started a job and wished halfway through that you hadn't?

It's like this, for a while now I've been meaning to cut down the old Christmas tree I planted out about 15 years ago thinking it would only grow to about 3 of 4 feet.  When it hit ten feet and started to block out the sun and never looked like stopping, or returning to being the dwarf conifer I bought it as I decided now was the time. Now being 7.30 pm today, 1 hour later covered in scratches from the barbs which pass for pine needles on this monster the very question at the top of the page started to creep into my mind.

Anyway, after much sawing, swearing, hacking, swearing, pushing, swearing and a bit more hacking, swearing and pushing we have reached this stage

.....to be continued.
9th June:
My old friend is now lying at the bottom of the garden waiting for me to get my arse in gear and cut him into manageable bits. Don't hold your breath though, this may occur some way into the future, if at all, seeing as it nearly finished me off getting to where we are today.

.......to be continued (I think not!)

Interesting question number 3

Are dandelions always weeds?


If dandelions were hard to grow, they would be most welcome on any lawn. ANDREW MASON

Interesting question number 2

Jelly babies, Bassetts or Sainsbury's own brand?  I used to be a Bassetts snob but having tasted the Sainsbury brand I could be persuaded.  Mind you half a bottle of rum with them does help.

Interesting question number 1.

Why does it seem to take longer to cut the grass on some days than it does on others?  Discuss.

Leeks, dontcha just love 'em?

Leeks are a versatile vegetable, they add that extra little something to any stew and can be used as a substitute for onions.  Who doesn't love a thick steaming bowl of leek and potato soup on a cold winter's day?
On the other hand, try growing show leeks, gee, whiz they are a pain when they want to be.  Rust and red spider, the blasted things look like they are going to come out smaller than when they went in, watering, feeding, weeding, how much work?  But come September, when they have finally grown and are sitting on the table all cleaned up and fresh, it's worth all the trials and tribulations to get them to the show.

Leeks, dontcha just love 'em?

News

Why is the news just presenters trying to goad guests into saying things without thinking so that they make news?  I'm all for a good exchange of views but it seems nowadays that the presenters want to make the news rather than report it.  Must be getting grumpy in my old age.
Anyway, I don't want my forays into the blogosphere to turn out to be a series of rants by a grouchy old gadgie so I will leave it for a few days before my next leap into cyberspace.

Post two, things are hotting up!

Still practicing this blogging lark, I hope posts will become more interesting as time goes on and I get more into it. Currently the empty void of my creative mind is echoing with a total lack of ideas as to what to write about. More, or less, soon.

First post

This is my new blog, another step into the cyber world.  It may or may not become more interesting as time goes on.