History Repeating

Tomorrow we set off for the delightful Lands End. Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure that it is delightful as the last time I went there I was about 5 years old. When planning our holiday we had to take into account the little cherub (who is 5 months old now). A trip to the continent was initially the favourite but once we sat down to organise it we found a few limiting factors namely,the inflated cost of staying in a hotel once you admit to having an ankle biter in your entourage, the fact that every destination we investigated was chav infested and somewhere we would usually avoid going, Air travel, because we simply do not know how she will react to it and don't want to spend the entire time worrying about the return flight if the outward one was taxin, the heat of potential Mediterranean resort, and an irrational fear of foreign baby snatchers.

Taking these factors into account we decided to stay in blighty. My earliest memory of holidaying is of Lands End and I decided that it would be a nice way of inducting the daughter into the wonderful world of travel. We also know that she settles down nicely on car journeys and felt that this was also another plus point to staying domestic.

I will post a few piccies on my return.

Procrastinating Visitors

The visitor map that's displayed on the right hand side of the page has experienced some activity recently with people visiting from Ireland, The Americas, India, Eastern Europe, and somewhere in Indonesia.

To all you curious blog travellers I say hello. I often wonder whether anyone actually reads any of this but seeing all the new red dots appear over the last week has been exciting as I can now take comfort in the fact that there is someone who spends at least a second flicking over my work-aversion technique.

However you managed to stumble across my banal ramblings I hope that some of them will cause you to raise a smile or pause for a minute in contemplation. Please feel free to say hello in the comments section and I will be only too pleased to read your blog in return for spending a few minutes perusing mine.

GWOT

A few weeks ago I did the unthinkable and judged a book by its cover. The book in question was "Where in the world is Osama Bin Laden?". I thought it might be a light hearted but serious book aiming to find at the worlds most elusive figure. The artwork on the cover made me quietly chuckle to myself and as it was written by Morgan Spurlock (of super size me fame), I thought it might be quite good.

The first chapter deals with impending fatherdom (a topic with which I could identify), and attempts to explain some of the main reasons why America is hated by the rest of world so much. Anyone living in a cave (Mr Bin Laden excluded) might be unaware of the latest "conflict" and will find a good "why the world hates America 101 lesson" within it's pages. For those of us with access to Television and the internet however, the causes of western hatred have already been documented at great length, and I felt that this book doesn't add anything new to the mix.

What you will notice when you start reading it (I did anyway) is that it's quite obviously aimed at a younger American audience and at times can be like watching an episode on MTV cribs. I'm sure that fans of Mr Spurlock will find the book (and the newly released film which I haven't ruled out hiring on DVD in a few months) to be entertaining and Informative at the same time.

One point that really annoyed me about this book is in one of the first chapters. The chapter which deals with religious extremism in the UK is good up to the point where he says he visits Liverpool in Lancashire.

For the life of me I can't remember when Liverpool changed county. Perhaps moving into Lancashire was neccessary inorder for it to be crowned Capital of Culture.

All in the mind

A new chap started at work this week. Seems pleasant enough but he does have a resemblance to David Brent and a tendency to finish my sentences for me. This would not be bad thing if he knew how I intended to finish them. It is causing me much confusion as his interruptions throw my thinking off track and I tend to forget the initial point of our conversation which leaves me with a blank expression on my face whilst I try to remember my initial point.

I put these little annoyances down to the fact that he is new and trying to appear willing and eager to do a good job. Once he's settled down I'm sure he will be fine as he has exhibited more intellect than the other workers in the office.

One thing that he did say however made me think. Upon investigating I discover that he is the same age as me (30) and he was adamant that he was an old fart, full of aches and pains. As I have just reached this milestone age I feel I'm qualified to comment on his declaration of knackeredness. At no point in the last two weeks have I felt any different to when I was twenty one - this is not entirely true as I like to think myself less arrogant than I was back then and a little more worldly and wise.

I've come to the conclusion after much deliberation over a cigarette and a coffee that feeling one's age is all in the mind. If you're convinced you're a coffin dodger at 30 then that's exactly how you're going to feel.

I think I'll have an extra rendition of wheels on the bus with the little one when I get home in order to keep myself feeling sprightly.