ABC Wednesday - J

Maybe not the type of journey Mr Nesbitt took but my mind immediately went to the fantastic Steve Perry and his group

What an Easter weekend!

I know that Easter is a few weeks earlier this year, but what an amazing difference in the weather from last year's glorious weekend. Rain, hail, SNOW! and bitter cold. Of course now that we are back to work although it is still cold the sun is shining and there is a glorious blue sky. I wonder how long that is going to last?
At least I managed to get out on the allotment yesterday afternoon and managed to turn about three quarters of the plot but it was so wet and heavy it really was hard work. At least it kept me warm - no I mean HOT! I have potatoes in seed trays shooting and just waiting to go in but with these frosts and the wet ground I dare not even think about it yet.

I didn't get tickets (more to the point probably couldn't afford them) for The Eagles gig at the O2 arena on Sunday but managed the second best thing and went with Mrs DeeJay to see The Illegal Eagles at Folkestone. They were even better than I remember them from a couple of years ago due to a change in the line up with a brilliant new lead singer, Danny Vaughn, who is a pretty good guitarist also. I think that reading the reviews of The Eagles gig, I probably got the better deal.

Silly games

So seeing Cynnie's post about her sexy name and aristocratic title I just couldn't resist having a go.
My sexy name is

Get Your Sexy Name

Now I am all for the erotic joy bit but what the hell are yeses and how do you arouse them?


My aristocratic title is

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Marquess Deejay the Eerie of Dicken St Charles Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Damn that's boring

Now I have seen it all!!!

Recently there has been quite a lot of discussion about the completely nonsensical placement of TV news presenters in locations that are supposed to convey the context of a news story to us idiots who in the eyes of the producers would not understand it if the presenter was simply in a studio. An example is that when discussing rising petrol prices they have to put the presenter on a wet and windy forecourt of a filling station just in case we don't understand what they mean by petrol.

Well last night on our local news program there was a story about a poor unfortunate guy who went missing several weeks ago after a night out with the lads. Apparently his body was found yesterday in a local river, so the studio newsreader passed control to a reporter at the riverside. The said reporter was live at the river bank, which considering it was after 6 p.m. was in darkness with therefore nothing to see. However to top it all, the reporter started his broadcast with the words "a body was found in the river about 3 miles west of here"!!!! What was the point?

Latest set of apologies

So sorry to be such a intermittent blogger these days but my holiday, week off sick followed by yet another week of business travel to the U.S. has taken my eye off the blogging ball. I have however continued to keep up to date with all of my favourite reads - they are what keep me sane on these trips!

What a great sporting weekend. Some good rugby with a well deserved Grand Slam for Wales. An F1 Grand Prix that is once again a good spectacle from the viewing perspective now that the removal of the "driver aids" makes them actually put some driving skills back into the race. It was a pity that the intervention of the Race Car bunched the field up to conceal the real result of that skill, but hey that's life.

Got to ride my new bike into work today as the weather has started to improve a little bit. In truth I may have chickened out and used the car if I didn't have to take it back into the dealer to have the alarm/immobiliser fitted that they "forgot" to fit on delivery as it was actually raining when I left home. But I am now glad that I did as it didn't rain for long and it is now a beautiful day - its the long way home for me tonight.

A funny story from last week - Several of my colleagues took me out for lunch on Thursday to a fantastic BBQ place where they smoke the meats overnight and serve them in all sorts of ways with all sorts of BBQ sauces. I returned to the office with my coat smelling like a smoke house! Well one of the guys hat joined us was introduced to me and I was informed he was a vegetarian!!! We tucked into gorgeous pulled smoked pork, beef and ribs while he ate beans and corn bread. It was such a weird thing but I thought it was great of him to still join us when it would have been so easy for him to duck out.

Where has RESPECT gone?

So twice this week in my very limited radio listening I have heard variations on this theme.
Firstly there was a phone-in about the growing appearance of signs indicating intolerance to staff abuse and that instances will be reported to the Police. In the ensuing conversations it became obvious that there are many people out there who think it is quite in order to berate and abuse 'customer service' staff.
This morning I heard the news report that members of the Royal Air Force in the U.K. have been instructed to wear civilian clothes when off base owing to the number of abusive comments and threats being made to them as a result of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

I am speechless! And many of my colleagues will tell you that's a first.

Some Skiing pics as promised

Mrs DeeJay et moi!

A red run at the heart of the resort down to the most exquisite restaurant in an old monastery

The scariest black run of the week with a 70% gradient at one point in the middle!

Rugby Story

Catching up on my favourite blog reads after my holiday, I was amused by Liz's post "At the rugby again" in which she recounts the tale of not being allowed to take her plastic bottle of water into the game.
Well some previous colleague's of mine in an earlier like went to the England v France match in Paris and were not allowed to take drinks into the ground. One of them had a large plastic bottle of water and hid it under his sweater to sneak it in through the gates. However they were all subjected to a swift pat down search and the bottle was discovered. At this point my friend declared in a loud pidgen French voice that "It is only PLASTIQUE!" - BIG MISTAKE, 6 French Gendarmes immediately surrounded them with guns drawn to counter the threat of this high explosive!
Stan never ever forgot that French lesson and knows not to mix up plastic and plastique

Back from skiing

Hey everyone it seems as though I have been away for ages and not just 7 days.
Maybe it is because although the skiing was great and the weather brilliant (panda eyes again!), I have not been too well during the holiday. I seem to have developed a really nasty bronchial and sinus infection. A visit to the local pharmacist procured an expectorant and some tablets but they failed to get me a good night's sleep with incessant coughing keeping both me and Mrs DeeJay awake for most of the 6 nights we were there. Now that I am home my local GP has prescribed some antibiotics that will hopefully clear things up.

As I said we did however manage to really enjoy the skiing in Italy at Passo Tonale. I don't know how much longer they will be able to keep the season going though as the decent weather is really taking a toll on the lower slopes now.

I think we managed to find Italy's answer to Fawlty Towers for this stay. The proprietor was always but always to be found lurking around the next corner wherever you were situated in the hotel. It really was a scream. We think that he was always prowling to check out that everyone was obeying the million and one rules that he had posted around the hotel. The most prominent of which was "It is forbidden to attach every type of domestic electrical appliance to the sockets in your room". What is with this guy is he worried that we are going to start syphoning off his electricity and re-selling it or something? How much power does a phone charger, an MP3 player or Mrs DeeJay's straightening irons really consume?

Any way glad to be back with you all and I will post some photos later