new home

I have moved this blog to this address. I used to host it on my own web space - but that caused a problem when people sent comments - ie. they never appeared until I re-published the blog. I think I could have sorted this out if I saved the login details of my own web space on blogspot but I didn't want to do that.

One Flew Easter

Easter for me was a few snatched hours up in Scotland with my nearest and dearest. I was told I had to work Easter Saturday, so instead of having a more sedate drive up on Good Friday, we flew up after I finished work on Saturday.

We wanted to get to Grangemouth in good time for my girlfriend's brother's surprise birthday party at Grangemouth Golf Club. We missed the surprise bagpipe tribute that welcomed his arrival, but got there in time for the food. So that was alright then. I sat down and felt like a complete mood hoover for an hour or two. Then, feeling like there was nothing else for it, got up and danced like - er well - I danced the rest of the night away. Apparently someone later commented 'Ben looked like he was enjoying himself'. I was. How much of a twat I looked, I can only guess at. Happy Birthday Stuart. Thanks to Irene for a great night - and for the vegan food!

After about twenty-two hours non-stop madness on Easter Saturday, I wasn't up to much more than a quiet day with my parents on Easter Day. We had the traditional Easter egg hunt. I fell asleep. On Easter Monday some of us went for a walk along a nearby stretch of river. I slept a lot. In the evening we all watched 'Catch Me If You Can' with Leonardo di Caprio, Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken. The story of this film is largely based on a father-son relationship. It reminded me of 'The Life Aquatic' which I gave to my dad as a Christmas present. I don't know if he has seen it yet. Every time I ask him, he says 'Bill Murray? That should be a good film...'.

On Tuesday morning I slept late. On our way to the airport, we had lunch with my parents at 'The Powfoulis Manor' - a huge, empty, hotel type place near the Kincardine Bridge. It was slightly disconcerting being the only diners (we only saw two other people, both members of staff) in such a huge place. Even though the food, service and prices were faultless (they went out of their way preparing vegan food for me), I didn't feel very cheered when we waved goodbye in the car park.

There just is never enough time.

Something from me to you...

I am going to be sealed in a aluminium can on Saturday for an hour or so as it is propelled from Stansted to Edinburgh, sharing a small amount of air with quite a few people. I am also brewing up a particularly juicy cold. If you are going to be on that flight - I apologise in advance! You may already have it by then though, seeing as I will have infected a large number of people via my job at the supermarket.

"I would like a seat with plenty of room to spread out, please."

A Moment of Contemplation

This happened some time ago.

When something truly dreadful happens in the world, if there is a national 'two minutes silence' being observed, our shop will join in.

Once, just as the two minutes silence was about to begin, I was serving someone who was hard of hearing. Someone, who actually had quite a loud voice, possibly so they could hear themselves talk.

The two minutes' silence started and the customer left my till. Then, just as a reverent silence fell on the store, my customer wheeled round and shouted: 'You short changed me! YOU SHORT CHANGED ME!'.

My girlfriend says...

I have emailed my girlfriend to boast about the fabulous run I've just been on. She replied saying I'll get iliotibial band syndrome and shin splints. She's just jealous.