a new baby has been born and l am scared

Had some outrageous news tonight. The FPO's sister (Louise) has only gone and dropped a baby. When l say dropped, l mean suffering for ages and then producing a rather large (9 pound something) baby. Looking at the father, and the size of his fat head, l did think the baby might be a bit unusual. But there is more. Louise was born on Friday the 13th, and this baby (girl, no name yet), has been born on Halloween. I am scared, very scared.

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work, work, bloody work (and reginald perrin)

Damn! (and Damn! again). l have been working way too hard as we still have not got all the new starters inducted yet, people are on holiday, and l have to slave away. Damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much as l love money and the spending of it, most of the time l don't really care about it, so even though l am earning a lot more in my new job, l would rather have an easy life. At least we are all off to Berlin soon, so there is something to look foreward to (as well as Christmas and the New Year). l also suppose that once all the new starters are inducted and working normally (or as normally as you can within our houses), life will be so much cushier. If not, it's time to do a Reginald Perrin and claim the insurance.

Two points.

1 : l am not insured, so if l do die, it is not an insurance scam, my FPO has probably killed me.

2 : l saw some of the new series of Reginald Perrin the other night. My giddy aunt, it was crap. Who the hell writes that kind of rubbish? If l was not such a lazy working class oink, l would get off my loathsome spotty behind and write something better myself.

Actually, three points.

3 : l am a spotty bottomed working class oink, so don't try and make me write something or do any extra work.

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cd packaging and prices

This has been bugging me for a while. All the record companies do is whine about how sales are dropping and people are downloading everything for free nowadays. A bit like back in the day when 'Home taping is killing music' was on the go. Admittedly it is worse now, but once the technology is there to replicate a CD pretty much how it is in the shops, you will do so, printing off the covers as well. Especially when the record companies had no qualms about overpricing product and ripping off the most loyal, record buying customers in the past. Remember the fact that CD's were about £15 years ago, including all the old acts that the companies had already paid out for, promoted, and then sold the same product back to the most loyal fans at outrageously inflated prices. Bastards. They reap what they sewed (that can't be the right spelling) back in those days and l can't blame people (like me) taking the free option. It's also galling when they prosecute either kids, or in the other case long term music fans (like me eventually), who have spent a lot of their disposable income on records, CD's and concerts already. they are also not too bothered about selling blank media (CD's, DVD's or tapes) so we can make those copies. It's about time the tables were turned and the customer had some power.

As Lennon said - Power to the people (and l'll see you in court)

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mostly girls poster

I like this old poster from 1936, as it advertises directly, to the point, and with no added fuss. Mostly girls.

They knew how to market shows in those days.

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new album sleeves (again)

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childhood in the states many years ago

Here's a couple of old photographs of kids in the USA from many moons ago. The top one was taken in September 1939 of a couple of Milwaukee lads watching a parade. Just look at the clothes on the lad to the right, they must have been pretty poor (ripped jeans, no shoes).

Then again, look at the clothes on the bottom picture. This is a Massachusetts street gang from1916. My my, they new how to strike a pose. I think l may start bringing those trousers back into fashion. It's a hard task, but l am up for it.

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even more old stars

Time is flying by way too quickly

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more rock stars getting old

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the little pea

What a great result this afternoon. Backs against the wall, Rooney out, and yet The Little Pea comes up with two goals. As a rather fantastic footballer (back in the day) l know a decent player when l see one. The Little Pea is 0ne of them.

The one thing that surprised me today was the fact no-one mentioned Gerd Muller scoring against England in the 1970 World cup (2-0 up and then losing 3-2) as Gerd (or Mr Muller) scored with a backward header similar to The Little peas today (but against Peter Bonetti).

Without a knowledge of your history, you're like a vegetable in this society (Aswad)

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Football - it's great

the new book by keith richards

l am looking forward to getting the new Keith Richards autobiography next week (if not sooner), even though it will have a load of dodgy tales in it that may not all be true.

There is no way it can ever be as good as fans of his want, but anything is better than nothing.

On the Stones front, here's some before and after pics of them.

Old age - what a bummer.

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jose was right about wayne rooney

Very insightful from Jose, but l am still pissed off with Rooney (or his advisers) for slagging off the club and players. I hope he still scores and plays well for United, as my love for them overrides everything, but, like Ronaldo, he has now blown it for me. He could have been up there with the Best, Laws, Hughes and Cantonas and become a legend. Now there's just a sour taste in the mouth.

Scouse money grabbing bastard

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is thatcher dead yet

What a great site this is- simple, yet straight to the point.

l'm stocking up on the party poppers.

http://www.isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

And l don't care that she is now a frail old lady - you reap what you sow (the old 'no such thing as society' witch)

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how to pet a kitty

If you desire a poster of this, go to :

http://shop.theoatmeal.com/products/how-to-pet-a-kitty-poster

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rooney not signing

So it looks like Wayne Rooney will not be signing a new contract at Manchester United and wants to leave, even though (according to Sir Alex on MUTV today) there had been no falling out between them.

Personally, l think Manchester United should just offer £50,000 a week max to everyone, as let's face it, that is still a ridiculous amount of money for a (probably working class) footballer to be earning.

If players don't want to sign for United and decide to go elsewhere for more money, l say fuck 'em, let them go. I would rather have someone playing for the love of the club rather than a mercenary just after a large pay packet.

It's also about time the pay came down as the amount players earn is obscene.

If the pay ceiling also means United don't win everything, so what? It's about principles, the same as l would rather see United attacking and trying to win games, even if this sometimes meant losing. Rather that than become a team like '1-0 to the Arsenal'.

Good luck to Blackpool for sticking to £10,000 a week wages. l really hope they stay up because of it. In fact the pay should be £10,000 at United as well, bugger the £50,000. If players started out knowing they would be getting paid £10,000 a week for playing football, they would snap it up and still consider themselves lucky.

l'd make them travel to the ground on the bus as well - pampered bastards.

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new album sleeves

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walking the bloody dog by the swale

Went to see the relatives yesterday at their caravan by the river Swale, outside Richmond. Only popped up for an hour or so as there was a few people there, but got lumbered into taking Bill's dog for a walk (and po-po) as Bill was doing some woodwork/carpentry around the caravan with Ken. My, how l complained all the way round, l could have gone for the same kind of walk a couple of hundred yards from where l live. Still, it's putting the hours in and remaining as The Golden Child. Called into the Co-op on the way home for some food and bottles of wine (Arniston Bay, red, 2009), and for a change, we didn't even drink them all. Better to have too many bottles than too few though.

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fermats last theorem and the collatz conjuncture

I really need to get out more and get a life. I went to bed last night thinking about The Collatz Conjuncture,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collatz_conjecture

which was bugging me as l couldn't get it out of my mind, doing mental arithmetic which kept me awake for a while (while also listening to The Knife album 'Tomorrow, in a year' on earphones, which didn't help). Then this morning l have been reading about Fermat's Last Theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat's_Last_Theorem

which l do not understand at all. Mind you, it was a long, long time ago since l was taught any mathematics and l have pretty much forgotten everything l learnt back then.

It still annoys me though, and no doubt it will still be bugging me later.

Thank God l go to see Joseph on a Monday

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what your tattoo tells others about you

So true

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teeth poster

This is the new poster which is going in the bathroom. All it needs now is a frame and someone to get round to putting it up. It's good though (and sooooo retro!!).

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model in the water at wicki wachee springs, florida 1947

This is just such a great picture by Toni Frissell of a model floating in the water at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida in 1947. Here's three different versions of it, but my favourite is probably the bottom one which has been colourised.

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karel gott -the golden voice of prague

I can't decide if it's a genius version which sounds a bit like Scott Walker, or just crap.

Decisions decisions..

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new york skyline in 1915

The New York skyline from Manhattan Bridge in 1915. It looks a bit different now.

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bloody spies

Had a soak in the bath this evening, relaxing, reading, and trying to scrape the filth of myself.

However, when l finally emerged, God like from it, l caught this little lady trying to catch me unawares (and that can be painful).

Bloody spies, you're not even safe in your own home any more.

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darlington forum, interviews, and lots of work

Finished work this evening after slaving away since 8am on Wednesday. Spent all day doing interviews in Northallerton, then off to work for a sleepover and work the next day until 4.30pm.

Then it was off to The Forum in Darlington for the Mencap fundraiser. Rook and Deb played and provided transport to the gig, then myself and the FPO decided to stay with Richard and Claire and get drunk, lashing out for a taxi home. Luckily we then got a lift off Kerrie so we got drunk and saved money as well. That's if you look at it like that, the bottles of wine we were drinking were £10.99 each, and by jimmy me lad, there were a few of them consumed. Even ended up playing table football with some old blokes (see picture above). They might have been good, but l was better (still undefeated).

Back into work on Friday, then sleepover and straight through until 8.30pm this evening. Then l came home to discover Louise and Dazzer here, empty Indian take away boxes, and a demand from the FPO for £10 towards it. Good job l managed to force myself to eat what was left over while catching up on the TV (Inbetweeners, An Idiot Abroad, Match Of The Day and the Spanish football).

Lie in tomorrow morning, lying in bed reading the Sunday paper with a bacon buttie. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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bonnie and clyde

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway certainly look a bit different to the real Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow), but l guess that's the magic of Hollywood and film, and I certainly enjoyed the movie.

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who are these people?

The top one went a teezy weezy bit power crazy, and the bottom one is a favourite of the ladies.

OK, didn't take long for me to crumble, it's Hitler and George Clooney

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africa is pretty big

As the saying goes, l wouldn't like to paint it

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china's got talent winner

Beats the UK version

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banksy does the simpsons

This is a special opening of the Simpsons done by Banksy and he takes the piss out of Fox. Good on them for showing it though.

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the mighty status quo

I heard a couple of old Status Quo songs when l had my ipod on shuffle recently, and by jove and Jimmy me lad, they were still pretty darn good.

Obviously they have now become some kind of British institution and also a bit of a joke, but back in the day they were pretty much the alternative rock scene (and sound). It was either them or the progessive sound of Pink Floyd, ELP, The Moody Blues, Tangerine Dream ad infinitum.

I know it is now hard to believe, but l present before your baffled and bemused eyes some visual proof and representation of how highly they were regarded.

Now if only l had some kind of time machine to take me back to those days......... (which some people would say l have never really left anyway).

O Happy Days!! (and l still had a 28" waist)

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