21 December 2006
Well hello all you kind people who have been following my blog over the last couple of months
Happy for me I am off to see my family in Ireland tomorrow, so will then spend the christmas period with my son and his family, as well as new years eve, then return home the following day.
This is of course subject to the fog at Manchester airport lifting before then, although I was suddenly reminded earlier today that this year when the security alert started on that fateful day I travelled to Ireland with only my papers wallet & the clothes I was dressed in. Lets hope that I am lucky again and manage to get there.
21 Dec 2006
16 Dec 2006
How to Use the Bus by Zorro
Well Zorro has struck again
He has sent from half way round the world this latest missive to help you travellers understand some of the pleasurers of being out there, when all we have to worry about is will it snow for christmas
There being no bus stops all you need to do is look for shade. Normally that is where you & any others will wait for the bus.
Now the hard part.When the bus stops( I use the term "stop" loosely) try to be the first on. It´s real bad luck if you are the only one waiting.The bus has three steep steps. The third step there is a turnstile!!! I am not making this up - this is what the driver does.Assuming you are the only one boarding he will only slow down. You have to grab the handles at the side of the first step and climb into the bus. There is much jolting and lurching that throws you off balance. This is because , apart form the bad roads, the driver is driving and trying to change gear, giving you your ticket and change, and has his cup of terére in another hand.Having got ticket you can negotiate the turnstile.Not good for me as I always have a day pack with me. Any poor soul ( normally me!!) is hanging on the second or first step.All buses get vendors selling Coca Cola, hair clips, batteries, sweets, bread, bananas, oranges, pineapples, etc this is not an exhaustive list . Those with nothing to sell sing or more entertaining tell you about finding god. These vendors do NOT pay bus fare. they climb over the turnstile complete with a dozen bottles of Coca cola etc. As they don´t pay a fare they wait till all the farepaying passengers are on board. This means very often they are running alside the bus while there are two or three on the steps waiting to pay and get through the stile!!! Incidentally young children up about 10 yrs old don´t not pay as long as they climb over or throught the stile.This applies to babes in arms!!
You are now through the stile and trying to keep your balance.You look carefully at the passengers. Where are most sat? Where most are will be the shady and coolest part of the bus. All these seats are taken before those on the sunny side.If there are any spare seats do NOT make a beeline for them. Are the seats over the wheel arches? If so there is no room for your feet. Very uncomfortable on long journey. If there are not near wheel arches examine very carefully. Usually it means the seat in broken and will collapse under your weight. On a journey of half hour or more you will move from a seat in the sun to one in the shade to one near the exit if you are lucky.
Once sat down you can enjoy listening to the venders spiel, feeling the cooling breeze from the open windows. There is always a breeze as the drivers make schumaker look pedestrian.Apart from the violent lurching life is great.
The moment you have dreaded. Time to get off. The bus will stop where ever you want. At traffic lights, in the middle of the road, anywhere. But how do you tell the driver? For you must exit at the rear of the bus. If you are very lucky it will be a bus that only has a turnstile at the front end. That bit of string ( really!!) that is on the roof, always on the right hand side is what you pull. If no string or string is broken there is usually a small button hidden near the rear door.If there are none of these then stand near the door. And wait!
Unfortunately, if you are the only one getting off then you have to get off while the bus is still moving. The kind driver has slowed down to walking pace.Buses are incredibly cheap but are not for the faint hearted!!
He has sent from half way round the world this latest missive to help you travellers understand some of the pleasurers of being out there, when all we have to worry about is will it snow for christmas
There being no bus stops all you need to do is look for shade. Normally that is where you & any others will wait for the bus.
Now the hard part.When the bus stops( I use the term "stop" loosely) try to be the first on. It´s real bad luck if you are the only one waiting.The bus has three steep steps. The third step there is a turnstile!!! I am not making this up - this is what the driver does.Assuming you are the only one boarding he will only slow down. You have to grab the handles at the side of the first step and climb into the bus. There is much jolting and lurching that throws you off balance. This is because , apart form the bad roads, the driver is driving and trying to change gear, giving you your ticket and change, and has his cup of terére in another hand.Having got ticket you can negotiate the turnstile.Not good for me as I always have a day pack with me. Any poor soul ( normally me!!) is hanging on the second or first step.All buses get vendors selling Coca Cola, hair clips, batteries, sweets, bread, bananas, oranges, pineapples, etc this is not an exhaustive list . Those with nothing to sell sing or more entertaining tell you about finding god. These vendors do NOT pay bus fare. they climb over the turnstile complete with a dozen bottles of Coca cola etc. As they don´t pay a fare they wait till all the farepaying passengers are on board. This means very often they are running alside the bus while there are two or three on the steps waiting to pay and get through the stile!!! Incidentally young children up about 10 yrs old don´t not pay as long as they climb over or throught the stile.This applies to babes in arms!!
You are now through the stile and trying to keep your balance.You look carefully at the passengers. Where are most sat? Where most are will be the shady and coolest part of the bus. All these seats are taken before those on the sunny side.If there are any spare seats do NOT make a beeline for them. Are the seats over the wheel arches? If so there is no room for your feet. Very uncomfortable on long journey. If there are not near wheel arches examine very carefully. Usually it means the seat in broken and will collapse under your weight. On a journey of half hour or more you will move from a seat in the sun to one in the shade to one near the exit if you are lucky.
Once sat down you can enjoy listening to the venders spiel, feeling the cooling breeze from the open windows. There is always a breeze as the drivers make schumaker look pedestrian.Apart from the violent lurching life is great.
The moment you have dreaded. Time to get off. The bus will stop where ever you want. At traffic lights, in the middle of the road, anywhere. But how do you tell the driver? For you must exit at the rear of the bus. If you are very lucky it will be a bus that only has a turnstile at the front end. That bit of string ( really!!) that is on the roof, always on the right hand side is what you pull. If no string or string is broken there is usually a small button hidden near the rear door.If there are none of these then stand near the door. And wait!
Unfortunately, if you are the only one getting off then you have to get off while the bus is still moving. The kind driver has slowed down to walking pace.Buses are incredibly cheap but are not for the faint hearted!!
15 Dec 2006
Zorros Adventures in Bogata
¡Hola !
You ask what is it like? Awful & dangerous!!!!!! Obviously when travelling independently I have to choose my own hotels.The internet sites They are like house adverts - they never show they are near the steel works or sewerage farm. my hotel was in a very safe neigbourhood, the people there were nice ( on the whole) but nothing worked.
Turning on some of the lights seemed very dangerous!!! The doors on the rooms made me feel that I couldn´t unpack my case and kept it locked at all times. My safe neighbourhood was not near any tourist haunts.
My hotel had lots of colombian tourists , so you can tell it was cheap. 99 pounds for a weeks bed/b.fast, beer, laundry, internet. Taxis I have never found so cheap or as honest as here. But there is a problema. My hotel phones for a safe cab but how do you get back? Everyone drills it into you don´t take a cab on the streets. Using taxis all the time ( buses here are brand new, the roads are great but they are dangerous for robbery Some have been held up!) I got to know the direction of my hotel.
One day I was going to their famous gold museum and I noticed the cab was going towards the mountains - not the city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very calmly ( well alright, controlled hysteria ) , I said "This isnt the normal way is it?" The driver , who looked like an film extra who ALWAYS played the cruel Mexican bandit, gave me this smile and said" I am turning left now, señor", which I knew was the right way. You have to be so careful here.
Now I know you will read this the wrong way but nonetheless is true. Within three hours of arrival at my hotel I had a 23year old girlfriend. She was really helpful & taught me a lot (NO! not that!). The woman was a recepcionista at the hotel and spoke no english. SHE paid for the taxis when we went out sightseeing, paid for coffee or a coke ( the drink not the white stuff), always warning me not to get money from my pocket. " You are always showing too much money" she would tell me. She never accepted a share of the fare/bill. Wages are not high here so if there was a scam it didnt cost me anything!!!!!
It is only 2 years since the army was fighting guerillas here in the capital so security is tight. Your bag is X rayed and you have a body search at any shopping mall. At the aeroport on arrival you are body searched by the customs then further along by the police and lastly before exit by the army.There are sniffer dogs all over the aeroport!!! I suspect this is to stop private enterprise rather than to stop smuggling as there were kilos of the white stuff discovered on the national airline, Avianca, when it landed in Madrid some months ago. Found, of course, in the diplomatic pouch no less.
The altitude makes me feel tired by 3 in the afternoon and I can´t wait to get away from here. I been to Avianca´s office this morning to change my ticket to the first available flight.
The weather is T shirt warm during the day but cold at night.On my second day I was caught in a deluge. Stepping off the pavement to cross the road I fell into a foot deep hole and got very wet. Still it wouldn´t be a South American holiday for me if I didn´t do that and twist an ankle. I´ve added that to my bout of sciatica with is probably from my heavy suitcases.
The above is a true account of Zorros adventure since he left the UK, with his permission, I will keep you up to date with any further adventures that he informs me of
You ask what is it like? Awful & dangerous!!!!!! Obviously when travelling independently I have to choose my own hotels.The internet sites They are like house adverts - they never show they are near the steel works or sewerage farm. my hotel was in a very safe neigbourhood, the people there were nice ( on the whole) but nothing worked.
Turning on some of the lights seemed very dangerous!!! The doors on the rooms made me feel that I couldn´t unpack my case and kept it locked at all times. My safe neighbourhood was not near any tourist haunts.
My hotel had lots of colombian tourists , so you can tell it was cheap. 99 pounds for a weeks bed/b.fast, beer, laundry, internet. Taxis I have never found so cheap or as honest as here. But there is a problema. My hotel phones for a safe cab but how do you get back? Everyone drills it into you don´t take a cab on the streets. Using taxis all the time ( buses here are brand new, the roads are great but they are dangerous for robbery Some have been held up!) I got to know the direction of my hotel.
One day I was going to their famous gold museum and I noticed the cab was going towards the mountains - not the city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very calmly ( well alright, controlled hysteria ) , I said "This isnt the normal way is it?" The driver , who looked like an film extra who ALWAYS played the cruel Mexican bandit, gave me this smile and said" I am turning left now, señor", which I knew was the right way. You have to be so careful here.
Now I know you will read this the wrong way but nonetheless is true. Within three hours of arrival at my hotel I had a 23year old girlfriend. She was really helpful & taught me a lot (NO! not that!). The woman was a recepcionista at the hotel and spoke no english. SHE paid for the taxis when we went out sightseeing, paid for coffee or a coke ( the drink not the white stuff), always warning me not to get money from my pocket. " You are always showing too much money" she would tell me. She never accepted a share of the fare/bill. Wages are not high here so if there was a scam it didnt cost me anything!!!!!
It is only 2 years since the army was fighting guerillas here in the capital so security is tight. Your bag is X rayed and you have a body search at any shopping mall. At the aeroport on arrival you are body searched by the customs then further along by the police and lastly before exit by the army.There are sniffer dogs all over the aeroport!!! I suspect this is to stop private enterprise rather than to stop smuggling as there were kilos of the white stuff discovered on the national airline, Avianca, when it landed in Madrid some months ago. Found, of course, in the diplomatic pouch no less.
The altitude makes me feel tired by 3 in the afternoon and I can´t wait to get away from here. I been to Avianca´s office this morning to change my ticket to the first available flight.
The weather is T shirt warm during the day but cold at night.On my second day I was caught in a deluge. Stepping off the pavement to cross the road I fell into a foot deep hole and got very wet. Still it wouldn´t be a South American holiday for me if I didn´t do that and twist an ankle. I´ve added that to my bout of sciatica with is probably from my heavy suitcases.
The above is a true account of Zorros adventure since he left the UK, with his permission, I will keep you up to date with any further adventures that he informs me of
10 Dec 2006
How do people get a blog viewed by others
After my previous discussion on blogs & how & why we view them it has been suggested that putting in words that may draw peoples attention, when they search for a chosen subject, may actually work better than the actual content, so i am going to try this with this latest posting for a week, please feel free to leave suitable comments on the idea
I have decided to put in words that friends have suggested such as Ken Dodd which worked last time, Cyclops for those interested in greek mythology, terry wogan & Mr Blobby my heros & my favourite singers at present Nat King Cole Katie Melua Neil Diamond
Because I am interested in photography in particular sunrises & sunsets, which my readers seem to like are included.
My interest in disability issues may also be something which people may be interested in, in particular issues relating to problems of carers of people
Well this will do for a start I will see how I go on in the course of the week and report back adding other words as the week goes on
156 December 2006
This week I have been full of a virus, and am just starting to come round again, so I am a little disapointed that so far the post has not attracted any more viewers.
Possibly another range of interests may draw some more readers, such as the fact I am going to try to read Eric Sykes autobiography over the xmas holidays between all the festivities.
When I visit my family in County Meath, they will hopefully of bought the new version of Buzz, which is an interactive game, on pop music which sadly I never seemed to win last year, apart from when grand daughters & friends who are teenagers helped by pressing my remote because their reactions are quicker than mine.
I suppose I could mention a range of musicals but having done that in a previous post, I suppose it is not worth the time spent typing at present. I could mention some of the artists I worked with in nightclubs when I was young such as Gene Pitney, who had a truelly original voice not changed by amplification & sound effects, another who I am facinated by is Tony Christie who was at his peak, when I had a week listening to him doing sound & lighting back in the 70s. Now thanks to Peter Kay he is back again with the same songs hitting the top spot again.
Other acts that I did the the sound & lighting for back at that time included, The Three Degrees, The Barron Knights,The Grumbleweeds, Matt Monro, & Vince Hill. It was at the time of the Comedians so I had the pleasure of watching Charlie Williams the interesting act of Bernard Manning as well as the rest of their circuit (sadly some names are stuck in my head)
Since my last entry, one of my faithful readers has given me permission to reproduce his e mail showing that even when people such as me are thinking its all right for those who can go abroad for months at a time when the rest of us are shivering in the cold, all is not sweetness & light for them over there, I am so impressed that I have decided to provide a new post just for the tale
So please go to Zorros adventures in Bogata for a fun read
I have decided to put in words that friends have suggested such as Ken Dodd which worked last time, Cyclops for those interested in greek mythology, terry wogan & Mr Blobby my heros & my favourite singers at present Nat King Cole Katie Melua Neil Diamond
Because I am interested in photography in particular sunrises & sunsets, which my readers seem to like are included.
My interest in disability issues may also be something which people may be interested in, in particular issues relating to problems of carers of people
Well this will do for a start I will see how I go on in the course of the week and report back adding other words as the week goes on
156 December 2006
This week I have been full of a virus, and am just starting to come round again, so I am a little disapointed that so far the post has not attracted any more viewers.
Possibly another range of interests may draw some more readers, such as the fact I am going to try to read Eric Sykes autobiography over the xmas holidays between all the festivities.
When I visit my family in County Meath, they will hopefully of bought the new version of Buzz, which is an interactive game, on pop music which sadly I never seemed to win last year, apart from when grand daughters & friends who are teenagers helped by pressing my remote because their reactions are quicker than mine.
I suppose I could mention a range of musicals but having done that in a previous post, I suppose it is not worth the time spent typing at present. I could mention some of the artists I worked with in nightclubs when I was young such as Gene Pitney, who had a truelly original voice not changed by amplification & sound effects, another who I am facinated by is Tony Christie who was at his peak, when I had a week listening to him doing sound & lighting back in the 70s. Now thanks to Peter Kay he is back again with the same songs hitting the top spot again.
Other acts that I did the the sound & lighting for back at that time included, The Three Degrees, The Barron Knights,The Grumbleweeds, Matt Monro, & Vince Hill. It was at the time of the Comedians so I had the pleasure of watching Charlie Williams the interesting act of Bernard Manning as well as the rest of their circuit (sadly some names are stuck in my head)
Since my last entry, one of my faithful readers has given me permission to reproduce his e mail showing that even when people such as me are thinking its all right for those who can go abroad for months at a time when the rest of us are shivering in the cold, all is not sweetness & light for them over there, I am so impressed that I have decided to provide a new post just for the tale
So please go to Zorros adventures in Bogata for a fun read
Plans for my 60th birthday at last
I have decided that now is a good time to start telling you about how the plans are going for my 60th birthday in 2007.
For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting this latest episode in my life, here we go.
Well I have sorted out the type of event which is to be fancy dress and the theme is to be musicals.
The next task was to decide a suitable costume, which those of you who have read my blog in detail will remember that I finally decided on a couple of ideas which I hope will work out but so as not to spoil the surprise I will keep secret until the day.
Some of you readers will already have been invited to the event, although I have not yet confirmed the date or venue, which I am hoping to do provisionally with your Christmas cards so you will have no excuse for saying I did not give enough notice.
The venue has been the main dilemma because some of my guests have mobility difficulties, one cannot cope with lifts and everybody has been giving me lots of places that may be suitable.
Well I decided on Radcliffe Civic suite, which was close to most of my guests, decided the price was okay and the facilities fitted my needs, so last week went to book, but was told one room was too big, and guess what the other was to small.
I then tried a range of other venues with little success but now feel at long last I have found the right venue, on a date close enough to my birthday. The only problems now are paying, and sorting out equipment that has to be passed as electrically safe for the disc jockey to use.
I will now have to start sorting out my costume, first to see if I can hire it, have it made, or find something not quite so different or original.
15 December 2006
Great news I have sorted out the venue and date, the provisional invitations have gone out and the deposit is paid at long last.
1 Dec 2006
Another exciting week in the life of a tog
1 December 2006
Good morning all you readers, after that last serious blog I will now return to my usual but unpredictable life adventures, hope you like the photo of sunrise from my bedroom.
According to research it appears that many people give up on their blog quite quickly, one of the reasons being lack of interest by others in the blog, because people are not aware of what a brilliant blog it is. (sorry felt had to say that)
Therefore please readers carry on reading, pass my details on to friends, continue complimenting me on my photos, so long as its true, and a special thankyou to friends in New Zealand Mike Jan Rachel & Abigail (thanks for the card) , Hamster, Amo, Brian, Alan (wherever you are) & Andy
If you have been following my journey you will remember that I have been struggling to resolve issues regarding my insurance claim as well as my neighbours claim.
Well good news for my neighbour finally her TV arrived and even I was impressed with the quality of the set as well as how easy it is to operate. She wanted to tell everybody about it until I reminded her that others may try to steal it because of the world we live in.
For me finally my replacement sound system arrived on Tuesday and I spent 2 hours setting it up, after removing the other system and its 5 speakers, by the way I now have in my home 11 speakers, plus the 5 that came with this system ( if anyone has ideas of what to do with them let me know).
Sadly the system would not work so contacted the supplier, they now want to replace the whole system including the speakers, so guess what I then had to put it all back in the boxes, so today another replacement arrives. So that’s another 2 hours spent, but finally maybe I can listen to a tape or CD , in splendid surround sound .
My car went for its MOT on Tuesday as well, again bad news it failed so I had to pay for a rusty brake pipe to be replaced, total cost £100, which will make a hole in xmas plans.
On a more interesting note at our team meeting 3 of the staff did a talk on Islam, which as well as being very interesting, answered some of the questions we are usually to embarrassed to ask and was a reminder that if we can be more tolerant as well as starting to understand other cultures and religions we can live and work together peacefully.
27 Nov 2006
A Togs thoughts on Blogs & Blogging
As a result of complaints from some of my readers, reluctantly this is going to be a serious Blog, there is a possibility that it will be reflective, that I will cogitate and give readers food for thought on the topic of Blog's.
When I was doing my research into Blog's I spent a lot of time looking at a whole range of other people's Blog's from the very serious through to the very humorous and lastly to the absolutely appalling which I hope my Blog isn't.
I was fascinated at the range of topics that are covered by people in their various Blog's, from one of my favourites the 43 bus to some that were so terrible I would not want to mention them and give them publicity they were that bad.
Friends suggested looking at Myspace and YouTube which I did and found that at YouTube a man in his 70s was one of the top Blog's although the average membership is around the 18 to 25 age group on the site. Further the video of his I saw was of him reminiscing about the First World War. I have a feeling that this will cause confusion to people such as psychologists and PR companies when they are trying to decide what people are really interested in with regard to Blogs.
Another thing that I wanted to look at was how could I improve the chances of other people reading my Blog, also what sort of topics would appeal to the sort of people who search for Blog's on the Internet. Sadly I have not found the answer as can be seen by me when I look at Sitemeter and the number of visitors and where they originate from ( I do wish I could find out who gren with envy, scarlett angel & annonomous are) to find out what drew them to my blog
This weekend in the Sunday Times there was an an article about Internet nuns who have their own Blog's, which will obviously of attracted a whole range of people for different reasons to read the material.
In my own Blog I mentioned a visit to see Ken Dodd which attracted readers sufficiently to make comments on my Blog quite quickly after I had posted the Blog, which show there are people out there constantly looking for information or knowledge about their particular interests and hobbies, often into the early hours of the morning.
Having said that in one of my Blog's I could not sleep one morning so got up at 5am and read the Sunday paper supplement and found an interesting article that then provoked me to then enter a new post on my Blog, interestingly enough nobody in my circle of friends and readers has passed any comment on the subject which I thought was unusual and was worth comment on the topic.
I'm not sure quite why I or any other person would want to sit at a computer for hours on end either typing, or in this particular instance, using speech recognition creating a Blog or posting, that possibly other people may never ever choose to read. Is it because it is a way to convey our thoughts, feelings and experiences to the outside world in a way which we would never ever do in public, because our friends often are not interested in our day-to-day life and interests, or we are reluctant to let people know of these same interests fears & feelings.
Hopefully therefore putting out our Blog for the millions of Blog readers to read, approve and helpfully comment positively as well as possibly giving some of us a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment when this occurs.
What is even stranger is the fact that there are people out there such as me who spend time reading and commenting on other people's Blog's, when there must be lots of other things that we could do to occupy our time. I suppose I can understand people who have shared interests searching for others and their Blog's to increase their knowledge on a particular subject and share with others. It is even understandable that some people use Blog's to convey their thoughts and feelings about the highs and lows of their lives in an anonymous manner to strangers.
What I personally struggled to understand are the people who have not made the effort to write in normal English that people such as I cannot understand or read without great difficulty. Maybe this is as a result of the growth in people using texting as a means of communication, that excludes a proportion of us Bloggers, but may be that is what the intention is.
In my own Blog more people have passed comment in personal conversation and by e-mail on the quality of my photos, than they have on the content of the rest of my posts despite the fact that I spend a lot of time thinking of content for the Blog's and then typing the piece into the Blog.
The question therefore is why on earth bother either reading or writing Blog's, unfortunately art present, I do not have the answer, to make it worse as my readers are aware, I have now with little success created another Blog on MySspace to widen the readership of my blogs, which so far nobody appears to be able to gain access to.
If this is typical of people entering into the world of Blogging and the difficulties they encounter when trying to make a statement or share an interest, is it really worth the effort and what lengths are we prepared to go in the hope of gaining an audience, which I feel maybe is why many such as myself do it.
But even this is a contradiction because I have chosen to use another name so only those who I have informed of the blog actually can identify me, so even if I gained a larger redership, I could meet readers of the blog on the street or elsewhere and none of us would know the other, so is this fame.
I remember a friend many years ago commenting on the fact that I enjoy being behind the scene as in theatre controlling the event, rather than as an actor who people can actually identify, she said there is a name for people such as me and possibly other bloggers, which is "eminence gris" that means "grey eminnce" which fits in with my personality.
Thanks for reading this Blog, I would be interested to hear any of your comments about the content, I do realise for 1 of my readers there is missing punctuation but unfortunately my throat is getting dry and it is now 10:30 PM so you readers will have to put up with the Blog as it is
24 Nov 2006
Problems of setting up a blog with MySpace
Good morning I was bored last night so I thought what can I do, I then thought not many people are reading my blog other than friends, so I decided to widen the chance of someone coming across my thoughts ideas & other rubbish to do with my life, then making comments/ constructive criticism about me and the blog so I decided a new blog on a different site was the answer
This has been achieved by my new blog on myspace I am having problems trying to access it through google at present.
For those of you who are desperate you can e mail me or try typing in "Thoughts on Life as a TOG" to gain access.
I have found the new format a little strange to work with in some respects & worried when a photo of someone called Tom appeared as a friend, fortunately he is a link to help at myspace, so I can see I will need him quite soon.
Despite this please do not be put off using myspace because it was a little late in the day after a rather complex day at work, when I was trying to relax, whilst playing on the computer & still listening to the tv, which just goes to show us males are not quite as good at multi tasking as we would like to think, or at least us older Togs have.
So far I have not tried to put any of my photos on the new blog, so all you nice people who have complemented me on the photos on this site will have to wait a little longer, plus Brian informs me that there is a problem with lots of photos for others to upload the information particularily on dial up (I think thats what he said )
I will later today try to work out how to create a link between the sites or better still ask brian to assist me with the technicality
7.30pm 24 November 2006
Well as Anonymous said in their comments, there are problems & my friend Alan has found the worst one which is that nobody can find my blog on Myspace including me unless I sign in.
I am not sure if it needs more time to appear, or if there is some fundamental mistake I & others are making, which seems unlikely because I have tried my own e mail address, name, blog title, & display name all with no success.
If any of you out there can tell me the answer please let me know, is it because I am a tog or is it the site, I am begining to think I may have to stick with Blogger & my limited audience of readers who now include, my latest reader Anonymous, I wish I could of thought of such an unusual name.
Maybe this is the right time to speak to my only friend on myspace Tom or one of his clever friends
Having said that I still have not found how to have a look at Green with Envys site on Blogger yet, I just worry that these people are those who know me but unwilling to let on they are as sold on my Blog as me.
I will keep you all informed of any progress with Myspace if you have not all given up already, if so please continue with this blog, because for those of you not yet aware, soon I will post a new blog about the progress of my plans for my birthday next year that will make a really good read ( says he hopefully)
This has been achieved by my new blog on myspace I am having problems trying to access it through google at present.
For those of you who are desperate you can e mail me or try typing in "Thoughts on Life as a TOG" to gain access.
I have found the new format a little strange to work with in some respects & worried when a photo of someone called Tom appeared as a friend, fortunately he is a link to help at myspace, so I can see I will need him quite soon.
Despite this please do not be put off using myspace because it was a little late in the day after a rather complex day at work, when I was trying to relax, whilst playing on the computer & still listening to the tv, which just goes to show us males are not quite as good at multi tasking as we would like to think, or at least us older Togs have.
So far I have not tried to put any of my photos on the new blog, so all you nice people who have complemented me on the photos on this site will have to wait a little longer, plus Brian informs me that there is a problem with lots of photos for others to upload the information particularily on dial up (I think thats what he said )
I will later today try to work out how to create a link between the sites or better still ask brian to assist me with the technicality
7.30pm 24 November 2006
Well as Anonymous said in their comments, there are problems & my friend Alan has found the worst one which is that nobody can find my blog on Myspace including me unless I sign in.
I am not sure if it needs more time to appear, or if there is some fundamental mistake I & others are making, which seems unlikely because I have tried my own e mail address, name, blog title, & display name all with no success.
If any of you out there can tell me the answer please let me know, is it because I am a tog or is it the site, I am begining to think I may have to stick with Blogger & my limited audience of readers who now include, my latest reader Anonymous, I wish I could of thought of such an unusual name.
Maybe this is the right time to speak to my only friend on myspace Tom or one of his clever friends
Having said that I still have not found how to have a look at Green with Envys site on Blogger yet, I just worry that these people are those who know me but unwilling to let on they are as sold on my Blog as me.
I will keep you all informed of any progress with Myspace if you have not all given up already, if so please continue with this blog, because for those of you not yet aware, soon I will post a new blog about the progress of my plans for my birthday next year that will make a really good read ( says he hopefully)
20 Nov 2006
What a strange day
Well after a marvelous weekend made better by the fact that someone who I did not know posted a comment ( shows how sad I am) namely scarlett angel, who has an interesting blog of her own, on my comments on Ken Dodds show.
This morning was one of those you do not want for some time. because I was taking a load of paper to be recycled to a church which I put in the car, then went to go out when I realised I had a puncture but could not get at the wheel because of the kerb.
On the way to work I was to have picked up a friend who is one of our volunteeers so decided to ring him to warn of the delay, but could not find his phone number. Eventually with the help of a friend I replaced the tyre and set off, with my friend taking the tyre to be sorted out.
It was one of those days when every traffic light is on red & every junction has a road works, so eventually I picked my friend up & then went to the church. Sadly there was no one to help with the papers then I had to carry onto work where I arrived 1 hour late.
On arriving before I had sat down there was a phone call from somebody that then lasted 1 hour. When I finally got off, other staff were then complaining about problems with the new heaters. I checked them & somebody had messed about with them, so I reset them & started work. Then one of the issues that started last week started again which took the rest of the morning to resolve.
Whatever I did today just took forever, plus I am doing a stall on wednesday so I needed to sort that out as well. Just before I left my boss arrived to tell me he needed some figures before the end of the week although I am only in work thursday afternoon. Eventually I decided to kill 2 birdss by going into work tomorrow whilst I am in town, carry out the task & collect the equipment for the dislay at the same time.
It then started again about the heaters, so I found myself defending myself for something that was nothing basically to do with me.
When I went to the car I realised that I was short on fuel as well as running late so it took forever to get home. Finally I went to meet my mate about the tyre only for him to tell me that he had left it with the tyre man, so I will now have another job to add to tomorrows load.
Because when I assembled my sound system, I found more parts would not work I tried to ring the suppliers, guess what after 10 minutes still no answer so will try again tomorrow.
I am now exausted so will finish this post & settle down, hoping the phone or door keep quiet tonight.
This morning was one of those you do not want for some time. because I was taking a load of paper to be recycled to a church which I put in the car, then went to go out when I realised I had a puncture but could not get at the wheel because of the kerb.
On the way to work I was to have picked up a friend who is one of our volunteeers so decided to ring him to warn of the delay, but could not find his phone number. Eventually with the help of a friend I replaced the tyre and set off, with my friend taking the tyre to be sorted out.
It was one of those days when every traffic light is on red & every junction has a road works, so eventually I picked my friend up & then went to the church. Sadly there was no one to help with the papers then I had to carry onto work where I arrived 1 hour late.
On arriving before I had sat down there was a phone call from somebody that then lasted 1 hour. When I finally got off, other staff were then complaining about problems with the new heaters. I checked them & somebody had messed about with them, so I reset them & started work. Then one of the issues that started last week started again which took the rest of the morning to resolve.
Whatever I did today just took forever, plus I am doing a stall on wednesday so I needed to sort that out as well. Just before I left my boss arrived to tell me he needed some figures before the end of the week although I am only in work thursday afternoon. Eventually I decided to kill 2 birdss by going into work tomorrow whilst I am in town, carry out the task & collect the equipment for the dislay at the same time.
It then started again about the heaters, so I found myself defending myself for something that was nothing basically to do with me.
When I went to the car I realised that I was short on fuel as well as running late so it took forever to get home. Finally I went to meet my mate about the tyre only for him to tell me that he had left it with the tyre man, so I will now have another job to add to tomorrows load.
Because when I assembled my sound system, I found more parts would not work I tried to ring the suppliers, guess what after 10 minutes still no answer so will try again tomorrow.
I am now exausted so will finish this post & settle down, hoping the phone or door keep quiet tonight.
19 Nov 2006
Ken Dodd Happiness Show What a brilliant Night
Well I am just recovering from a night at Tameside Theatre, where I went with Andy to watch Ken Dodds show.
People had warned us that it may be long but I felt it was a load of rubbish, nobody gives that much entertainment for £17 a person.
Well I was totally wrong, I do accept that there was other entertainment, which was also enjoyable, but how Ken can keep an audience for so long was absolutely incredible.
The pace that he set & how he kept it topical, relevent to the audiance that he had, mainly us older generation ( sorry Andy not including you) skowed a marvelous performer a true master of his craft.
The other thing I had forgotten was his singing ability, & how timeless his songs are.
I just wish I had a good memory, ten minutes worth of his act could keep me going for years.
The downside was that when I got home at 1pm I then could not get to sleep quickly and am still suffering for having sat down in one place for so long, but it really was worth it & I can only suggest if any of you out there has the chance go & see Ken.
The only strange thing seemed to be that members of the audiance seemed to come & go which I have never seen before & to me seemed quite ignorant, the only thing I can think is that they were smokers going into withdrawl.
People had warned us that it may be long but I felt it was a load of rubbish, nobody gives that much entertainment for £17 a person.
Well I was totally wrong, I do accept that there was other entertainment, which was also enjoyable, but how Ken can keep an audience for so long was absolutely incredible.
The pace that he set & how he kept it topical, relevent to the audiance that he had, mainly us older generation ( sorry Andy not including you) skowed a marvelous performer a true master of his craft.
The other thing I had forgotten was his singing ability, & how timeless his songs are.
I just wish I had a good memory, ten minutes worth of his act could keep me going for years.
The downside was that when I got home at 1pm I then could not get to sleep quickly and am still suffering for having sat down in one place for so long, but it really was worth it & I can only suggest if any of you out there has the chance go & see Ken.
The only strange thing seemed to be that members of the audiance seemed to come & go which I have never seen before & to me seemed quite ignorant, the only thing I can think is that they were smokers going into withdrawl.
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