The Time Bubble

For some completely random reason that will not be explained I have invited a guest speaker to introduce tonight's blog, the legendary Alfred Hitchcock whose name keeps popping up for one reason or another just lately. So here he is again. Good Evening! Thank-you Alfred. We could have done with you to introduce last night's horror story. Anyway, this evening I shall mostly be talking to you about the exciting world of chips, and my relationship with them down the years. From chip shops to the latest hi-tech gadgets, this is where it is at. I became aware of chips at a relatively early age, as both of my grandmothers were a dab hand with the old chip pan. Now I am fairly sure that it is a universal constant, that no matter how much parents battle to get their children to eat healthily, the more laid back grandparents when given free rein for the odd day are quite happy to spoil the little darlings. Perhaps it's a revenge thing. Maybe we worry about it more in our 30s...

Time is money. Money is power. Sure we've all heard those lots of times. But what is the greatest resource of all? Well, I think it has to be "Information". Let's face it, those that have got lots of money and power didn't get it by luck. Well apart from footballers, pop stars, lottery winners, film stars...oh actually, that's quite a lot...scrub that argument. OK, well let's forget about using information to make money (it can be done). I'm more interested in using information to save money or get the best possible value for money. Whenever one contemplates a purchase of any kind, from the lowest (say a newspaper) to the highest (say a house) our lives are one constant round of decision making processes. Generally the more expensive the purchase the more important we get it right and the more time one should invest upon it. Generally I would say that it is not worth spending all morning on the internet in order to decide what sandwich you a...

It's been quite a long time since I wrote a blog entry about my feet (the last one if you wish to refer back was titled "massaging me bits"), so thought I'd update you with my latest pedicure tip. Despite using the massager, I am still suffering from very sore feet a lot of the time. One of the problems I have is a huge build up of hard dry skin on my heels, and to a lesser degree other parts of the foot - and before you all start going "urgghh, gross", I reckon this is something loads of people have issues with, yet for some reason it seems to be a taboo subject. Now you can splash out good cash going to see a specialist, or you can follow a little bit of advice I am going to offer you now. It's generally acknowledged that you do need to look after your feet, and this can involve moisturising with special creams, pumice stones and such like, but quite honestly I find a lot of this ineffective. Let's take pumice stones. I have tried these on ...

So here we are once again expecting major snowfalls across the UK... And here we go again with all the favourite cliches and comments from "Clever Dicks" (see earlier blog). WHY WHY WHY??? Do we have to hear the same tired old predictable comments... We've had all the usual ones already, "It's too cold to snow and all that". After the snow has fallen and there's been traffic problems, I guarantee every pub, shop, office, factory in the land will have someone fond of their own voice coming out with the old "What's the matter with this country, little snow shower and everything grinds to a halt, would never happen in Finland, blah blah blah..." as if no-one has ever ventured this opinion before Look let me put it in capitals for these bores..."SHUT UP - WE'VE HEARD IT All BEFORE"... It needs one of those "Batman" pictures that are starting to appear on facebook to shut them up I think. In fact I have found ...

I've been thinking a lot about the whole business of chains of retailers going bust, independent shops closing down, not just in Bicester but across the country if not the world, and I have come to the conclusion that efforts made by us to fight it are ultimately doomed to failure. Not a pessimistic outlook, just a realistic one. The fact of the matter is, the world is constantly evolving, new and more efficient ways are found of doing things, and the old ways disappear. Not immediately, of course. Every new technology that comes along has its early adopters but is initially both unproven and expensive. These things take time. Eventually the new technology is so much more efficient and economical than the old that it takes over. Gradually the population embraces the new thing, whatever it is. This can take 5, 10, 20, maybe even 50 years but eventually the transformation is complete, except for a few  die hard fans and a "niche" market. In order to understand what is...

January, February won't you come around? So sang Barbara Dickson. Well here they are. Poor old January - no-one seems to have a kind word to say about it. But I can't see why. I much prefer it to November time when the clocks have gone back and there's several months of darkness ahead. So let's hear it for January! Here are some reasons to cut it some slack. 1) The nights are drawing out every day!. Sunsets are already well past 4pm now and the mornings are growing lighter now too. Spring is only weeks away, and even this early one can spot the signs, early bulbs sprouting and such like. 2) No matter how much we all love Christmas, let's face it there's a certain relief when the decorations come down and we don't have to worry about it for another 10 months or so. No pressure about presents, how we are going to spend it etc, just nice comforting normality. 3) The X Factor has finished! 4) If you don't have children this is actually a fantasti...

I have really enjoyed this past week or so with the kids. In fact I am really going to miss them when they go back to school. Playing with the boys, well we are like 3 kids really, I just join in with them. Whether it's chasing each other round the kitchen table, building elaborate train systems with our ever growing collection of track and accessories (the wooden kind) there is always plenty to do. We had a nice day out in Oxford yesterday as well, so easy to jump on the train and take them, at £2.50 return well that's a bargain in my book, can't see what all the moaning is for about train fares in the papers. I've hardly seen or spoken to any adults this week, but I've been just fine. The thing is, I think holidays should be dedicated to the kids, there is less holiday time than term time, so I can catch up with my friends (most of whom also have kids) once they go back to school. I'm really getting through to Ollie now, and I think we've built a rappo...