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It’s snooker season on TV at the monemt, and it’s got me hooked again.  I could just sit there watching it for hours and hours and hours.  There’s just so much about it that seems so restful.  The whispered commentary, the green of the table, the lack of much roaring from the “crowd”, the relatively slow pace of the game…  Everything really!

And when there’s a long safety battle going on with the players trying for snookers I’m always reminded of a Japanese Zen rock garden where no matter where you look from you can only see so many rocks at once.

Maybe one day I’ll head to a session and sit there for a few hours soaking in the atmosphere.  Maybe.

Normally I get really excited around my birthday the other day, not because it’s my birthday (that’s pretty boring, and I hate having to try to work out just how old I am on my fingers), but because usually the weekend around that day is the first F1 Grand Prix of the year.

YAY! Lots of Sundays on the couch watching cars go round! I normally even get up at stupid times to watch the first race, normally Australia, live.

But this year, birthday long gone, and there’s still more than 9 days to go until the first race?!

It’s just not right. Not right at all.

And it’s starting to make me grumpy!

Some things are just better left to the back shed. Someone in Britain has taken the time and effort to create… Wait for it… A goldfish walker!

Yes, that’s right, you too can take your goldfish for a walk! See the Metro link here.

Thought: The reason no one has invented it before is because it’s A BLOODY STUPID IDEA! If you want a dog, then get a bloody dog!

Goldfish memories being what they are, added to the way light is going to travel through the water and the bowl means that the fish aren’t really going to have a great view of the world…

Sigh. Oh well, at least he’s famous now.

Yes. I know. I am the worst present shopper in the world. Yes. In the world! And I know it.

I just can’t seem to do it. At all, really. I’d like to think it’s because I’m not willing to just get just anything out of desperation for people, and want to get them something that would be really useful, or that they’d really, really like. But I can never seem to think of anything, or just see something and think “that would be good for xxxxx”…

Of course it doesn’t help that I really can’t be bothered to trek around the shops for very long. In fact at the moment, more than half an hour shopping is pushing it as it’s just so horrible trying to get 5 metres down the road, let alone actually getting close enough to see anything. Normally by this time the pressure of the Christmas day deadline has roused me to brave it for just long enough to fnd something for those who are most likely to really sulk without something, but this year it’s just far, far too hard.

Sitting in the pub watching football seems like a far, far more sensible idea.

So if you don’t get a present from me this year (and let’s face it, if you know me well, you shouldn’t actually be that surprised by that anyway), you should at least know that I tried! Sorry! And next time just tell me what to get you! And you might get it about February…

But I guess I’m a horrible person to buy for too. There’s nothing I could even tell you to buy me, as there’s nothing really I need or want at the moment. So I forgive you if you get me a pair of socks. In fact, that could be the most practical thing you could get me!

Bah humbug.

A couple of weeks ago we bought a cheap paper shredder to finally stop having to rip all the printed name and address bits off all the mail that we get sent, whether we want it or not. A shredder seems like it’s just about a compulsory piece of equipment in London now, to stop, or lower any chance of “identity theft”.

All the paper strips are just dying out for a hamster to use for a bit of nice bedding! I’m sure it would love snuggling up in visa card application forms, or suggestions on how we might like to sell a house we don’t have…. Or maybe it would enjoy peeing on them even more. I know I would!

But we can’t really even commit to a hamster as a pet at the moment. The responsibilty is just a bit much! How would we be able to go on holiday!?

But they are so cute!

I was looking through the photos that we’d taken while away and came across this one. My old boots left all alone in a rubbish bin in a hotel in Vegas when we left.

It might seem like a bit of an odd thing to take a photo of, but at the time it was just like saying goodbye to an old friend, and needed to be documented. A good pair of comfy boots is a joy to have, and a hard thing to let go of. But one day they just get past their use by, and hard decisions have to be taken.

I do wonder just how many kilometers I’d walked in them. Or even thousands of kilometers. They’ve certainly seen some sites with me around the country and world. I definitely know they’ve done a good many trips up and down the stairs to the front door!

But I have a new pair to replace them now. Of course I got them, and checked that they were relatively comfortable before I make the tough call to ditch the old. We’ll see if they last as well, and get a photo of their own someday. Hopefully not soon though!

Ok, this is it. A line has finally been crossed. I knew things were getting out of hand, and it seemed like every single TV programme had to have an “0900-Dial in and give us some money” aspect to it, but now it appears that they finally do have to…

The ITV NEWS has now had a 0900 competition during it! The NEWS! What the hell?!

I find this pretty damn disturbing. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right. It’s meant to be the news for goodness sake! Sigh.

But that reminds me. 0900 numbers have been in the newspaper lately for another reason. Well, the Metro at least. I’m sure that technically it counts as a newspaper.

Apparently there are some people really upset that they’d spent money on 0900 numbers to vote people off from Big Brother, only to find that they now have to spend more money though these numbers to stop the person that they’d voted off from coming back though some strange back door that the producers have thought up. There’s even talk of legal action over mis-selling the original 0900 numbers if they do come back.

Or something.

Can’t say I’ve really been that worried about it all.

All I can say is “get a life, and get over it, suckers!”

And actually, while I’m ranting, and on a related topic. The Metro seems to feel the need to have a “news item” about what happened the previous day in the Big Brother house. Look, either you watch the show, and you already know what happened, or you don’t watch it and really, really, really don’t care.

What the hell is the point!! Please give me some more real news. There has to be some around! And sack the journo who’s presumably made themselves a cushy job out of watching that shite all day to come up with a one inch “story”. They’ll be good for nothing now. Their brains must be mush!

I feel better now.