Rip's Ramble
Life In The Eyes Of...
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Tuesday, April 29, 2003
From little acorns...
I spent this morning rolling in mud, swinging from ropes and crawling through tunnels... and I loved it :) There is an appeal on the go at the moment called The Mighty Oak Appeal. The aim is to raise £2m to provide new, bigger and better Hospice facilities for the Island. There are numerous fund raising events Island wide and one is being held at The Venture Centre in Maughold.
Companies around the Island have been invited to submit teams of five to tackle the assault course, riffle shooting and archery for a donation of £100 per team. We all had to race around the Assault course first with the time recorded from the first one setting off until the last one getting home, then in the shooting and archery, scores were added up and time penalties were added to the race figures depending on scores. Higher scores equalled smaller penalties. Each team's total scores will then generate a league table with prizes to be presented to the top team on May 13th.
Needless to say we all really enjoyed getting out of the office for the morning, and it was even suggested going back at a later date with more staff for a corperate day out. 12 teams have so far registered to take part (Phone Mike or Simon on 814240 to enter a team) and as I was just parking the car on my way back to work, the Venture Centre owner was on the radio giving an interview and said that out of the teams who have attended so far, We were top of the table :) On a downside, one thing I learnt today was that I stink at archery. Ah well, even I accept that I cannot be perfect at everything I do ;)
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Smiles on a sunny day
Swimming this morning was brilliant... nuff said ;) Then Junior and I drove over to see Ariel who couldn't make it to the pool, something about a bloke called Listener being over on the Island and large quantities of alcohol on Saturday night. A gloriously beautiful day here meant cups of coffee in the back garden, idle chit chat and a totally chilled out early afternoon. I had no previous knowledge about Listner apart from that which I have read on his blog. I know he appeared online to be an ok kinda guy and Ariel cannot sing his praises loud enough. I wasn't disapointed. He's a techie guy involved in Communications and Engineering, so we had relatively deep and meaningful discussions about various techie topics relating to his work. Ariel is quite techie too, so the three of us were able to bounce thoughts off each other.
Quite an educational meeting as it turned out :) The nice thing was that me, the wallflower in the corner when meeting a new face felt totally at ease and the chat and jokes flowed all afternoon.
W wasn't there today, she was with her Daddy, so Junior stole centre stage (nowt unusual there ;)) He had a couple of moments when he needed to be tugged back a bit, but overall I think he and I came away with our reputations in tact :)
Then Junior and I were onwards to meet another Blogger, Steve Zodiac. Another first face to face meeting and now I know that the guy on the bus from a couple of weeks ago was my mistake. Steve emailed me earlier in the week to ask me if I was interested in a few bits and pieces from a shop that he used to run a few years back. He had a box with paints, masks and toys for Junior. Jolly darn nice of him, I thought and it turns out he a jolly darn nice guy :) Junior and I intruded into his life for about an hour before we had to leave to head for Mummy's house. Before going we agreed to sort out a little drinky soon, both for socialising purposes and for me to say thankyou for his kindness.
I saw another online face today too (must be the sunshine) Bambi was just turning into a junction that I was pulling out of. Dunno if she saw me wave amongst all the traffic. (I'll email you tomorrow (Monday) about a lunchtime drink this week xx)
All in all this has been a great Sunday. I love sunny smiley days :)
nite nite :)
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Later that same day...
After food in the cafe followed by "see ya later" hugs it was time to head home for a while. A bit later the car was aimed towards the swimming pool. It was just after 3 when we got there and strangely quiet. Roughly 40 people in the water split between the pools.
I must admit it is nice to be able to meander up the stairs to the slides with little or no queues :) Junior still won't go on the 'green' slide. I blame the pool management as they insist on children being 1 metre tall to go on that one, so I had Junior asking to go on it and being told he wasn't allowed. Now that he is tall enough and then some, he is weary and will throw himself into the red opening before I can grab him and throw him down the other. I don't mind to a great extent, but it annoys me quietly inside that he has very few worries or concerns where I have been in control of his actions, yet in this instance my parential judgement was overruled.
Cobwebs
I think I need to buy a feather duster :o
I was feeling a bit down on Friday and over the weekend. Saturday just felt like a non event, full stop. Sunday felt better as Junior and I headed to Onchan Park to meet Ariel, W and Roo. We agreed to meet there as we've been having some gloriously hot days recently here on the Island and Roo didn't bring her swimming costume with her (as if I'd have complained).
The little ones had a good running around, climbing and sliding session. Poor Ariel seemed to be doing most of the pushing on the roundabout but she appeared to be in her element running round and round so I laughed a little and let her :Þ Junior wanted us all to go on the boats, but we opted for the little remote controlled versions. He and W were pretty darn good at steering them, opting to guide them round the pool rather than try head on dueling :) Mini racing cars next on a tiny little tarmac road. It is a shame that the area wasn't bigger to give the little ones more room to drive before crossing the start-finish line. Again good stearing from them both even though I saw that 'twinkle' in Junior's eye just before he accidently crashed into the barriers or another car.
Friday, April 18, 2003
A teacher was explaining how a double negative, when spoken, always gives a positive.
'This,' he said, 'is true in every language accross the world. However, there is no example in any culture where a double positive gives a negative!'
Looking proud, the teacher sits down, and there's a short silence, followed by a sarcastic voice: 'Yeah, right.'
Gandhi walked barefoot everywhere to the point that his feet became quite thick and hard. Even when he wasn't on a hunger strike he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was quite a spiritual person. Furthermore due to his diet he ended up with very bad breath. He became known as a "super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis".
If we didn't have thumbs, how would we eat sandwiches?
A bloke went to a fancy dress party with his girlfriend on his shoulders. When asked what he'd gone as, he replied "I'm a snail and this is Michelle"
The other day I phoned my local pizza delivery firm and asked for a thin and crusty supreme... They sent me Diana Ross.
Old telephone books make ideal personal address books if you simply cross out the names and addresses of people you don't know.
"Te aurdire no possum. Musa sapienum fixa est in aura." is Latin for "I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear."
Nothing succeeds like a budgie with no beak
Courtesy of I Want One Of Those.Com
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Apparently, this is me ?? Curious? Click the Pic find out more.
Monday, April 14, 2003
Head spinning, stomach churning, feeling dizzy and a little sick
There I was red faced, out of breath and preparing to pass out going round and round in circles and what did the kids sitting on the roundabout do? They screamed "Faster faster..." I'm getting too old for this ;) Twenty to eight we got home tonight.
The war in Iraq is something that I have avoided mentioning (apart from the link to the Dear Raed blog) but there is no way I can not share a site that I found from Manxnet Forums tonight. It is a website dedicated to the (former) Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. Click the pic to go to the homepage.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
:(
Today was the day that Sunderland FC are confirmed as a Division 1 team next year. Last season they survived in the Premiership by the skin of their teeth, this season they played worse. Peter Reid was sacked after seven and a half years so that a new manager (Wilkinson) could be brought in to turn around the team's fortunes and they got worse. Wilkinson was sacked and now Mick McCarthy will try and mould a team to regain their Premiership status. Did you know that Sunderland have the 3rd biggest ground in the English game after Man Utd and Newcastle (I don't know the capacities of Rangers and Celtic, so cannot say British Isles) and it has been voted the UK's best stadium by visiting fans?
It's funny in a way, there will be some teams being promoted from the 2nd Division into the 1st (and a few who were promoted since Sunderland moved up into the top flight) who will play at the Stadium of Light and be in total awe when they walk out onto the pitch. A lot of teams outside the Premiership are lucky to get 5 to 10,000 fans at a match, Sunderland's ground holds just short of 50,000. No comfort though for those fans who still travelled to today's game in Birmingham, wore their Shirts with pride and shed tears at the final whistle.
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
Grrrrrrrrrr
I choose to pay SKY TV for their subscription channels and the occasional pay per view movie. I don't choose to pay a UK licence fee for the BBC TV and radio stations which I never use here on this Non UK Island. I don't pay for newpapers that I don't want. The sooner the TV Licence fee is binned and I have the option to have the unwanted channels removed from my Satellite system, the better.
Monday, April 07, 2003
Mmmmm, Mazda
I haven't been very lucky with cars in the recent past. The one that suffered a snapped cambelt, the one with the worn out clutch and the one that went up in flames have all gone to the great car park in the sky. I was out with Mummy, S & Junior on Saturday and after eyeing up a new 32" widescreen and DVD player, we popped round to see a friend who sells cars. There was an old shape Mazda 323 1.8 GT. I have a bonus due from work in my next pay packet so I grabbed the keys, took Junior for a quick spin and returned with a smile on my face. I'm going back in a couple of weeks to offer it a new home :)
It looks like this, but in white.
Nappies
Ahhhhhh, Happy memories... "Cotton or disposable?" That's the question on all prospective parents (after "Will it hurt?" for her and "Six weeks??" for him)
Not being one for shameless plugs, but why not add your thoughts and experiences on the subject of all things green and gooey on the Manx Parents Forum Nappy Thread? Where we like to get to the bottom of things :)
Sunday, April 06, 2003
Hello again :)
I'm still alive, I haven't run away. I've been busy making the most of the sunshine and busy at home. Have a Happy Monday, Back to rambling soon :)
