deadheaduk

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Sarah’s Dad is in Australia at the moment visiting her sister….

As if it wasn’t bad enough that Sarah’s sister rang us up the other day to tell us she was pregnant again and set us off wanting to go back over there……

As if it wasn’t bad enough that we celebrated our wedding Anniversary the other day in the middle of winter when we got married on a beautiful summers day……

Then I had to go and discover Google maps have created Street View for Barwon Heads!

So I typed in the address of the house we stayed in and then pressed street view and hey presto there I was standing outside 79 Carr Street!

So I decided to go for a walk! I wandered down to Bridge street and looked across at “At the Heads” and the sea out beyond the mouth of the river.  I turned and wandered up Bridge street back towards the town. On my right was the little cafe where I had stopped for coffee on my birthday bike ride, further up was the drive through booze emporium and next door to that the small supermarket where we used to shop.

I wandered further into town and turned right into Hitchcock Avenue. I wandered along past the chippy till I found Tonik the surf shop where I paused to reminisce for a while. Finally I wandered down to the end of Hitchcock Ave where I turned left and went to see the school crossing that we drove past everyday which is made of wooden soldiers.

Oh to go back then again sometime soon…….

It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and we decided to go out somewhere as a break from the Christmas preparations. We were looking for somewhere to go and found just the thing on Lastminute

So we set off by train up to London yesterday and as we got off at Waterloo East it was a bit parky.

Her: God it’s freezing

Me: yeah I know we should have got married in the Summer

Her: We did!

Anyway after a nice meal we arrived at the Festival Hall to see the Lost & Found Orchestra

The Lost and Found Orchestra is the latest project from the people who brought us Stomp. I’ve never seem Stomp but Sarah has and has always said how much she enjoyed it. The difference is that L&F features more melodic instruments where as Stomp is mainly percussive. Like Stomp the instruments are made from things that you could find lying around like water cooler bottles, traffic cones or bicycles!

There were many strange and wonderful instruments such as an organ made from a dozen or more sets of bellows that blew across the necks of bottles to produce sounds. There was a rubbish shoot which had been transformed into a giant rainstick, bowed saws and traffic cones that were used as trumpets!!

I’d highly recommend going to see it especially if Lastminute still have their tickets for £10 offer on!

My daughter is 18 years old today

It doesn’t seem like 5 minutes since she was born at 4:14 am on the 19th December 1990.

I still remember the first time I saw her and look at her now!

Happy Birthday Beth xx

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this morning was film Producer Michael Deeley who, among many well known films, is responsible for making the original Italian Job. One of the things he revealed was that he had hoped to make a sequel which started where the first film ended i.e with a bus load of gold bars hanging precariously over the side of a cliff.

He also revealed how they were going to get out of that predicament and it had nothing to do with Michael Caines final pronouncement “Hang on lads – I’ve got an idea”

The sequel was going to start with the shot of the gang inside of the bus and then a humming noise would be heard, distant at first and then getting louder and louder. Suddenly the bus would start moving back towards the cliff and safety. The shot would then change to an outside shot of two helicopters with a wire between them dragging the bus back to the cliff where the doors would come open and all of the gang and gold would fall out and land at the feet of the Italian Mafia…..

So one of the great cliffhangers (excuse the pun) has finally been put to rest – but to be honest…….

…..I’m not sure if I really wanted to know that!

Driving up the A2 on my way to work this morning the traffic suddenly ground to a halt. I could see that 200 yards in front of me the road was empty and I figured that an accident had just happened up ahead. Slowly the traffic started moving again but all four lanes had to move into the inside lane.

As I passed the scene of the accident I could see cars on the hard shoulder and in the outside lane and a motorbike on it’s side in the middle of the road. I had to stop to let someone who was crossing from the outline lane to the hard shoulder to pass safely.

As I sat there I looked around and suddenly realised that the biker was underneath one of the cars.

Apparently he was very seriously injured and the air ambulance had to be called out and for the second time in just over a week the motorway was closed due to an accident involving a motorbike.

It’s that time of year when I feel the need to warn you all about the most evil thing about Christmas……

Stay away from them they are the Devil’s vegetable! That’s why you put the crosses on their bottoms! Don’t eat the horrid green flatulence inducing monsters!!

I’ve been having a Kafka-esque time with paypal recently where I have had my account suspended for vague reasons that have never been fully explained and I am having to prove myself to be me in order to have it restored.

The story so far….

September I got an e-mail saying my account was limited but as I didn’t need to use it I left it to sort out later. As my birthday came around and I wanted to use my birthday money to buy a camera I decided it would be a good idea to un limit it.

I logged in and changed the password and followed all the instructions but it was still limited and there was nothing obvious that I needed to do. Eventually I got an e-mail in which I was asked to send them a utility bill which I did on Friday.

I got a response saying to allow 24-72 hours for the account to be reinstated but then got another saying that the bill I had faxed did not include my name and address. Which it clearly did. I then scanned in the documents and in photoshop I ringed the address in red!! I then uploaded it to them.
When it was still limited on Monday I rang them and was told that the reason it was still limited was that the bill only had Mr G****y-Shewan not Mr Kevin G****y-Shewan. So I had a look in my bag and found my driving licence and asked if that would do – I was told it would so I faxed and uploaded it to them

Then at 5 minutes to midnight last night I got an e-mail asking for a Utility bill again

Apparently my driving licence has Mr Kevin R***e G****y-Shewan which isn’t the same as the name on the account which is Mr Kevin G****y-Shewan!!!

So I called again this morning I have now found 3 more bills which I have uploaded and I’m told the council tax one is acceptable so the account should be usable with 24 hours.

I wouldn’t mind but I still have no idea why they limited my account other than they say it may have been accessed by a third party. It seems odd though that I should have to go to such lengths just to prove who I am and that I should be made to feel like a criminal when I am (apparently) the victim.

Footnote: Eventually after 51/2 days my account was restored at 12 minutes past midnight on the 17th December

You only see me for the clothes that I wear
Or did the interest go so much deeper?
It must have been the colour of my hair

Public image

It’s probably just me but I think Ben looks like Johnny Rotten in this picture!

It was the nativity at Ben’s school today – Ben was a sheep as you can see from the picture above. He looked so cute in the sheep costume that Sarah bought him from Woolworths. The show was very good especially as most of the kids were under 4. Ben looked bemused by the whole thing but I think he was tired before it even started.