13 January 2012 (Friday) - A Game of Cards

Having had a spate of mild weather, it was cold this morning. In the past I've not really been overly fussed by the dark winter mornings, but this year it seems to be getting to me. So much so that I think I am noticing the small amount by which it gets lighter every morning.

And so to work. A colleague (long since retired) used to take every Friday 13th as holiday just in case the date lived up to its reputation. And today it did for me. All that possibly could go wrong did go wrong. I actually achieved nothing today.

Home again: we had visitors. Terry and Irene were in the area and called in. A shame they live so far away - we don't meet up anywhere near as often as I'd like. And all too soon they had to set off. A shame they couldn't have stayed: with "er indoors ^TM" flogging candles I had the house, and so had decided to stage a game of cards. Eight of us sat down for an hour or so of Texas Hold 'em. Full houses, four of a kind - a really good game. And after a fag break (for those who like fag breaks) we had another hour or so of Omaha Hold 'em in which I amazed the assembled throng by achieving a straight flush.

All too soon it was time to pack up: and as we packed up, through the wonders of mobile technology we heard mention of rumours of an explosion in Folkestone. Bearing in mind half of our card school was heading back to Folkestone, we couldn't help but wonder what had exploded.

I've been playing poker (on and off) for at least six years, and tonight was the first time that I've actually hosted a game. I really like having a houseful, and a game of cards is a good excuse for having a houseful. I really must organise another game before too much longer...

12 January 2011 (Thursday) - Dull

A late finish at work last night followed by an astro club committee meeting meant for getting home very late. By the time I'd had a bit ot tea I didn't get to bed until far later than I should have done. Within minutes of nodding off I was woken by my mobile. I'd received a picture message of my grand-dog and grand-cat fast asleep. Feeling glad that someone was sleeping (!) I eventually got back to kip, only to be woken by some drunkard shouting the odds up the street at 3am.

Consequently I was rather tired today.

Work was work, and I came home to find "er indoors ^TM" out for the evening. Fending for myself entailed boiling myself up some beans on toast: a good trick if you can do it. I then turned on the telly and watched "Adventures of a Private Eye". It's an amazingly low budget film that was on telly at the weekend and I'd recorded onto the Sky-Plus box. If nothing else, it featured Jon Pertwee in the nip.

Having wasted an hour or so, I found myself at a bit of a loose end. There was nothing on the telly or on the Sky Plus box. I could have worked on my presentation for Stargazing Live. But I don't have Microsoft Office on my laptop and I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs. I could have got my paints out and been artistic. But I couldn't be bothered. Eventually I found that "Rock and Chips" - the prequel to "Only Fools and Horses" was on one of the satellite channels, so I put that on and spent the rest of the evening exchanging insults with most of humanity via Facebook instant messages. And occasionally getting angry with everyone else's ability at on-line scrabble. Why is it that I can make the word "contrafibularity" and only get two points, whilst everyone else gets ten thousand points for words like "it" and "the"...

Some days in my life are frankly wonderful. Others are so dull....

11 January 2012 (Wednesday) - Getting Ready

We had a relatively late night last night, but being on a late start meant I could have a bit of a lie-in this morning. And I did. I staggered out of my pit just as "er indoors ^TM" was going to work, and I had a rather leisurely toast and jam whilst I browsed the Internet. It’s amazing what happens there.

I saw that I have another follower on Twitter: the Health Channel is following my tweets. That’s nice of them. Someone else who is also following my tweets is miloochocinco64, who invited me to do unspeakable things to her chest area. I wonder how and why these people find me on Twitter – bearing in mind I’ve not twitted since last October.

I had an email about some kite festivals for the summer – in Lingfield, Shoreham and deepest Sussex. I might be more inclined to go to some of them if only they weren’t so far away.

And I got turned down for some of the jobs I applied for on Monday. But am I downhearted?

I had a go on Facebook: it’s amazing how much time I waste there. I realise that some of my loyal readers aren’t impressed with that website, but I find it invaluable for keeping up with what others are getting up to, for looking at photos, for showing off photos, for organising events and get - togethers. And for playing games – a shame that its version of scrabble (words with friends) is playing up at the moment.

To work, where I did my bit, and managed to get out a few minutes early: tonight we had an astro club committee meeting. The BBC2 TV program Stargazing Live 2012 is back on TV on the 16th, 17th and 18th of this month (next week!) and we are holding a "Stargazing Live" event a week on Saturday. Following on from last year's frankly amazing event, this time we will have a huge selection of telescopes set up outside for some public viewing (weather permitting). Inside the main hall, we will be having a selection of highly entertaining astronomical talks and planetarium shows on our main screen, including me wittering on about matters astronomical. There will be a telescope workshop with our resident experts and retail partners. Refreshments will be available, there is ample parking and all are welcome.

And as well as whatever the BBC throw at us for staging the event, the Federation of Astronomical Societies have given us a hundred quid for getting off of our backsides and doing something.

See you there?

10 January 2012 (Tuesday) - Entertainment

Over the last few weeks and months I've been watching "Terra Nova". It was really good, but still no decision has been made about the future of the show. Will it be cancelled? The jury is still out. And I've also been watching the re-imagined "Charlie's Angels": an entertaining show, but cancelled.

Last night I watched the latest David Jason comedy - "The Royal Bodyguard". Amazed with how bad the show was, it was promptly followed by "Mrs Brown's Boys" which was dreadful. These programs really sum up what is wrong with the entire concept of the BBC. With decent and watch-able telly programmes being cancelled, the "unique" funding of the BBC allows them to make absolute drivel when commercial companies struggle to keep good shows going.

After ten minutes I gave up, changed the channel and watched "Man vs Food". It was whilst on the Good Food Network that I saw an advert which made me think - the novels of Agatha Christie are being knocked out in newsagents at the moment. Starting with an introductory offer of two quid, subsequent books are a fiver each. When you bear in mind that after two minutes on Google you can download Christie's novels for free, I can't help but wonder why people pay good money for books.

I wonder if the days of the professional author are numbered: there are so many people who have published books in e-format that are available for free, and there are so many books that are out of copyright that are available for free. I've got weeks (probably months) of reading loaded onto my Kindle that I've downloaded for free. Why should I shell out good money when authors aren't asking for it?

9 January 2012 (Monday) - Stuff

This morning's news gave me food for thought. Or drink for thought, to be more precise. The latest recommendations (from those who recommend such things) is that we should all have at least two days a week when we don't have any alcoholic drinks. Well, I probably only have two days a week when I have a drink. (My problem is that I don't have "a" drink - I have too much in one go!)

The radio program interviewed a broadcaster who'd given up all alcoholic drinks for a month: the chap interviewed said that he hadn't really missed the booze. The radio program then interviewed a professor-type who claimed that not missing the booze was the reaction of most people. And, having been relatively off of the booze for the last few months as part of the ongoing diet, I'm coming to that point of view myself. In years gone by I would be looking forward to the upcoming beer festival at Dover. But (quite frankly) I'm finding myself questioning the sanity of spending the best part of one hundred pounds just to make myself feel ill for two days.

Don't get me wrong - I can't see myself going teetotal; but cutting back can't be a bad thing, and is probably going to be the way forward for this year.

Last Saturday I mentioned that I'd broken a tooth. I phoned the dentist today to see about getting a fix. They said they could fit me in at 2pm. So I sucked up to the boss, and got the afternoon off work. One economy I really don't want to make is my dental insurance. I shell out a monthly premium, and all my dentistry is done for free.

As I got into the dentist's chair, the dentist commented on how much weight I'd lost. He then rooted in my gob. Apparently in the fullness of time the broken tooth will need capping, but for now he's effected a fix to be getting on with. I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't cap the thing right away. But then I remembered another tooth that has a temporary fix on it: that temporary fix has been in place for five years.

Having booked the afternoon off work for the dentist, I found myself back home by 2.30pm. So I spent an hour or so putting in applications for jobs. I applied for a dozen or so jobs. the applications might do some good: they might not. If nothing else it will remind the agencies that I'm still keen.

And having prepared tea (to save "er indoors ^TM" a job) I climbed into my snuggie and slept in front of the telly.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to get my snuggie organised - it seemed to be very open at the front, and the pockets were in rather daft places. I've eventually found that wearing it back to front (that is with the opening at the back) puts the pockets in the right place and has me covered up at the front. All I need to do now is to figure out how to get it to go down to cover my feet. Mind you, when I stand up whilst wearing the thing I seem to trip over it. So extending it over my feet might not be a good idea.

Mind you, it's still early days as far as the snuggie is concerned...

8 January 2012 (Sunday) - Bored

We got home from the film night at about 12.30am last night. By the time we'd showered, written yesterday's history and watched a little telly we didn’t get to bed till nearly 3am. I quite like the late nights. But consequently I didn't wake till gone 11am. By the time I'd shaved and had brekky, I was resenting having wasted half the day.

The weekly weigh - in. For all that I lost another pound over the last week, over the last month I've put an inch on around my hips. I wonder what that's all about? And then whilst checking emails we found ourselves wrapped up watching "Willy Wonka" which was on the telly. That wasted more of my time.

Eventually we got to go out. Only food shopping, but it was still "out". First of all to Lidl for the makings of tea, and then on to Farm Foods for the makings of tea for the rest of the week. Whilst we were out we popped round to see Chris I was rather concerned that yesterday we'd left his pinball table in rather a state. It was mostly reassembled, but still not wired up. Whilst there was probably very little that I could have done, I wanted to be sure that the thing was up and running. It was. Mostly. One of the flippers is a bit sticky, and one of the effects isn't working, and there was (apparently) a burning smell at one point. But it was working well enough for me to have a go. I felt happier that we hadn't left him completely high and dry yesterday, and then we came home.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in front of the telly, wrapped in my snuggie, sleeping through episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" whilst "er indoors ^TM" sorted out tea. It has to be said that she boils up a decent bit of scran. And when she went bowling, I had a minor disaster.

Having planned to host a game of poker this coming Friday, I couldn't find my poker chips. Eventually they came to light, but it wasted half an hour I could have spent more productively. And then I carried on sleeping in front of more episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager"....

Yesterday was really good. Today was rather dull...

7 January 2012 (Saturday) - Helping Out

I really felt as though I couldn't be bothered to get out of my pit this morning, but eventually I hauled my carcass into action. With "er indoors ^TM" off to Folkestone to get her car doors fixed, I went up to town with Martin. First of all to the cheapo shop (what in better days was once Woolworths). I like the cheapo shop - everything costs ninety-nine pence, so I stocked up with several requisites. And then on to the market stall for some fruit and veg. Only to find that the stall wasn't there today. That was a nuisance: five apples and five carrots from the market stall are half the price that I pay in a supermarket.

And then another disaster - Martin gave me a jelly sweetie, and it took out half of a tooth. I shall have to get that fixed in the week.

And then we went round to Chris's for the afternoon. We'd volunteered to help out. Having sold a pinball table (Chris has four pinball tables in his house) he needed a bit of help to move the thing. The table which had been sold was upstairs, and so we needed to disassemble it, lug the bits downstairs, reassemble it (to prove to the buyer that it worked), lug the sold table to the buyer's car, disassemble one of the downstairs pinball tables, lug the bits upstairs and reassemble it. And then generally tidy up.

It all sounds fairly easy in theory - in principle it was (mostly). We soon found that a grandfather clock was seriously in the way, so we had a minor delay whilst we disassembled the clock and moved the bits. Moving the pinball tables was easy enough - albeit a bit heavy. Reassembling the table to be sold was easy enough - the wiring was labelled as to what wire went into what plug, and buyer arrived on time and was happy with what he saw. Four of us wrestled the table into his car, and sent him on his way (back to Brighton). I did wonder how he was going to unload the table when he got it home, but (to be blunt) that wasn't my problem.

Reassembling the table we'd taken upstairs wasn't so easy: the wiring wasn't labelled at all, and the instruction book only mentioned about half the cables. After an hour or so we gave up and spent an hour of so rebuilding the grandfather clock. Or that is we spent five minutes rebuilding the clock, and an hour getting the thing level. And then Chris ordered pizza. Good move.

With the house tidied, the clans gathered and we had the now standard Saturday night film night. First of all we watched "Limitless" - a very watch-able film following what happens when one takes a drug which gives super-intelligence. I liked that one. The second film, "Inception" featured Leonardo DiCaprio as a character who had the ability to interact with people's dreams. An interesting concept, but the film had far too much which was unexplained; not least of which was who were all the people going round with Leonardo DiCaprio's character. But it's always good to watch a film with friends....

We came home leaving Chris to finish off wiring up the pinball table. I wonder how he's getting on...