a little more conversation a little less action....sorry Elvis

It's been an odd week so far.

On Monday we sold our house (accepted an offer anyway) which is great, and so that's meant we've had to very quickly get some viewings organised to see others pretty quickly. So far we've seen 5 and have 2 more to see this weekend plus a second viewing of our favourite so far (I'll keep this updated as more happens).

On Tuesday I had a bit of a rough day, don't really think it was down to one single thing just a collection of things weighing me down and winding me up.

So yesterday when I looked in my diary and realised I had a lunch meeting with Grinner I guess I found myself in a bit of a no-mans land. I really like Grinner, I appreciate his honesty and how he is willing to be honest even when it might be easier to blur the truth. The downside of this is that I knew we were meeting to talk about me and for him to give me some feedback on some work we'd done together over the last 6 month or so. I wasn't sure if I was ready for his honesty yesterday.

Anyway we met and he was honest and I was honest and I felt like this massive weight I'd been carrying round all week was just gone. He got excited by one of the houses we like for the reasons that everyone else is warning us off it, he told me things that I do really well, he pointed out weaknesses in me, he allowed me to give him feedback on how he is to work with and lots more.

But most of all, he listened to me and asked me really difficult questions and gave me space to answer them honestly.

I didn't quite know what to expect but I know what I got - a really well timed, well needed space in my week.

*NEW FEATURE ALERT* p.s. Prayer Stuff - I've taken this idea from Anita's blog (I'll add you to my list really soon) but I like the idea of having a prayer spot in my blogs from time to time, this will hopefully keep me faithful to my prayer life and it'd be great if anyone wanted to join me.

p.s. - My friends Ben and Rachael get married tomorrow. For anyone who knows them or anything about them you'll know that this journey to their wedding has been anything but dull, and so I'm praying that God is going to bless their marriage and help them to grow in love and faith and they start their married lives together tomorrow. I pray that love, grace and peace will be really evident in their wedding day.

I expected more

So those of you that have read my blog before will know my feeling on the use of 100% (if not it's here)

And so this morning when I was e-mailed a link to read I was very disappointed to read the words of my very good friend Jon Mitson (it's right at the bottom of the page)

And so without further ado - click here

I'm not sure they'll see the irony

I've had a pretty mental weekend with carus, a think tank meeting, my friend Jon being enrolled as a member of The Salvation Army in Hendon and leading an evening service at my church in Chelmsford. I get quite nervous when it comes to doing stuff at my own church. I get the feeling that sometimes no matter how hard I try some people are convinced that I'm out to wreck everything they love or change everything they like.

So I led the meeting and I felt it had gone pretty well, nothing too dangerous (we did have some worship led by a guitar but people really got into that), nothing controversial and I had some really encouraging and positive feedback from people.

I did however make one error - I forgot the collection!!

I didn't do it on purpose, I'd left it off the meeting plan by mistake and the when I realised during the meeting I got sidetracked and forgot again. A complete blunder on my part and one for which I have and continue to apologise.

And so after the meeting finished, my brother Simon was helping me and Matt L pack up and get ready to head off to carus when he overhead this conversation between 2 older gentlemen;

Man 1 - Did you notice there was no collcection tonight??
Man 2 - Well that's Matt for you, probably doesn't believe in it.
Man 1 - Yeah he probaby thinks it's a sin or something

I'm feeling a little misunderstood!!

.........oh yeah in case you're interested the meeting was all about being accounable to one another and sharing our concerns with each other face to face.

Things that make you go....AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

So last night was our trip to see Take That and it turned out that there was a lot of screaming....... a lot!!!!

There seemed to be some kind of code that the band could use that would make the crowd scream and so in the name of science I tried to figure out what words or phrasesmake a crowd of 55,000 people (54,989 women and 11 men - 4 of whom are in the band) in Cardiff scream. The results are in;

1. Hello
2. Wales
3. Cardiff
4. Mark
5. Gary
6. Howard
7. Jason
8. Robbie
9. Good time
10. Great crowd
11. You lot
12. Thank you
13. Sing/sung
14. Back

Now with that in mind, imagine me standing next to a hysterical 20-something with a home made Take That T-shirt (so weird) screaming in my ear as Howard (it could have been Jason, I can't tell those 2 apart) said this;

HELLO WALES, it's great to be BACK here in CARDIFF. It's been a while since we've been here in WALES but we love CARDIFF and YOU LOT are a GREAT CROWD. Now we've SUNG a few songs but what abut YOU would YOU like to SING one?? We heard that YOU LOT in WALES can really sing and here in CARDIFF that must be true what do YOU think?? Come on lads, GARY, MARK, (he would have mentioned the other one here which could have helped me figure out who he was but by now the noise was deafening) let's get together with YOU LOT and SING and have a GOOD TIME what do YOU think??

I'm told the ringing in my ears should be gone by Tuesday!!

Oh and by the way - the picture is of me doing my first blog in Stabucks (I love my mac!!)

More cowboy hats than a Texan Wedding!!

So yesterday I took my lovely wife to see the Ultimate Tour - the reunion of Take That live. The tickets for this tour have been pretty hard to come by (I saw a pair going for £1400 on eBay) and so when, just before Christmas, I got an e-mail to tell me there were more being released and I had a chance to book early I did so. Millenium Stadiul, Cardiff.

Tuesday night after the game, Chris and I jumped in the car and headed off towards Cardiff. I had booked the "early performance" and so we decided to go on Tuesday night, stay in a travelodge (read Glyn's blog) and then head into Cardiff on Wednesday morning for some food and shopping before seeing the gig and being home and tucked up in bed by midnight......just a couple of problems;

Problem 1 - There were no beds between heathrow and Cardiff (including Cardiff) in a single travelodge on Tuesday night.

Problem 2 - When you ring the Holiday Inn and book a room they put you through to America and when you arrive at the hotel they've "booked" you into there are no rooms.

Problem 3 - When the Holiday Innspeak to America they look confused and annoyed but still have no rooms.

Problem 4 - by now it's 2.30am!!

Problem 5 - We get to our new hotel for 3am (thankfully it's really nice and we can stay until 12pm. A £250 for £75 and dry sheets - read Glyn's blog)

Problem 6 - We start to hear rumours that there is no early show!!

Problem 7 - There is no early show!!

Problem 8 - We get into bed at 3.30am

But with all of that in mind it was a brilliant and bizarre experience - Some thoughts;

Beverley Knight is amazing, buy her greatest hits. She has an awesome voice and an awesome band.

The Sugababes were pretty awful!! I was really looking forward to them but they had obviously employed a budget soundman who could only work one microphone at a time and thought backing track should go all the way to 11.

Men were outnumbered 50-1 at least. It was crazy!!

There were lots of cowboy hats that lit up - it made no sense.

There were lots of people who'd made their own T-shirts for the occasion

Take That were really good, the whole show was a 90s throwback with 90s dance moves and some really funny moments when they were happy to laugh at themselves at the whole music industry thing

Their band were amazing.....no seriously AMAZING!!

Women scream......a lot!! There were a lot of middle aged women screaming like they were 15 years old again

Some quick thoughts as I head out.....more later including;

Things to make you go AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! and The typecasts

dumbstruck

So for those of you who have been here before you may be noticing a few changes.

My blog has officially been souped up!!!! I'm a boy racer of the blogging world!!!!

My very talented friend Lloyd (www.larddesigns.com) has turned my blog into an iPod for me (complete with my favourite album sleeve!!) I had this bizarre idea ofputting my whole blog in an iPod (I'm rubbish with internet stuff so this was a wild hope that I could ever do it) so I mentioned it to Lloyd and he said he'd look into it - I saw it last night for the first time my response is in the title.

Massive thank you!!!! You are a legend!!!!

Oh and for anyone wondering track 6 on the album is called "Lonely is the night"..........I'm not sure what Lloyd was trying to say about me

Wholly inappropriate

Last night we spent some time with Nick & Lisa in Stratford (Nick's blog is in my friends who blog list on the left - check it out!) Anyway whilst enjoying a beautiful meal I was asked what my next blog might be about and I explained something that was beginning to wind me up and I was coming close to blogging about - everyone laughed at me and said I was becoming a grumpy old man and I decided to not blog about it (I'm really that easily led!!)

Then this afternoon whilst driving I was listening to Prime Minister's questions on FiveLive (before you say anything it was either that or Jo Whiley on Radio1 telling me all about the latest album that no-one else has heard but she has, and it's brilliant but by the time we mere mortals get to hear it, she'll be sick of it - SO PATRONISING!!!!!!)

Anyway........I was listening to the PM answer questions and as he did I am sure he said the following;

"I support him one-hundred and one percent"

Now this is what I was going to blog about - IT DOESN'T EXIST!!!!

100% is a whole - it's complete. It's only in having 100% do the other percentages make any sense!!

The other day on the radio someone said;

"I back him five-hundred and one percent"

What?!?!?! Was the extra 400 not enough for you?!??

100% is complete - It says I am giving you as much as I can. I couldn't support or back or agree with anymore even if I wanted to.

Now the argument from Nick, lisa and my ever supportive wife was that it's a turn of phrase like "sick as a dog" or "over the moon". You're not reall these things but they make the point they're trying to.

I disagree one-hundred percent!!

You see if we continue to allow this to go on we will devalue 100% as the whole that it is. And so I beg you please don't use the stupid phrase!!

RANT OVER - Thank you for listening!!

By the way this is the first blog I've typed on my new mac - It's awesome!!!!

p.s. I guarantee right now either Glyn or Matt L was planning their funny comment involving the use of 101%.........don't pretend you weren't!!!!

It's good for the soul apparently!!

One of the things that is a real plus in my job is the ability to work at home. As long as my internet is working and my phone’s next to me I can work from the comfort of my living room without distraction. There’s loads of bonuses of working at home but one of my favourites is being able to watch TV at lunchtime. And so last week whilst working at home I would work from morning to mid-afternoon and time my lunch break to coincide with either Murder She Wrote or Diagnosis Murder. A quick rundown for those who have never experienced the joys;

Murder She Wrote is a series about a female novelist who turns up around the time of suspicious deaths and despite countless police officers working full-time on the case she solves them all.

Diagnosis Murder is a series about a Doctor based at an inner city hospital whose son is a detective (interesting note the Doctor is played by Dick Van Dyke and his real son plays his son in the show. Each episode features an untimely death that is solved by the doctor and his team of friends (all doctors).

Now both shows have some striking similarities;

• There’s always a chief suspect who has no alibi, a great motive and was the last known person to have seen the victim and they were arguing. This person invariably gets arrested but pleads their innocence.
• Some minute detail in a conversation always brings about the realisation from novelist or doctor that the murderer was someone else.
• The murderer is always a minor character who killed the victim because they were after their share in some form of business of other (I’ve seen ice cream makers named Len & Terry, a Japanese motorcycle racing company, Estate agencies and the list goes on).
• There is always a love interest for any number of characters that disappear between episodes.
• There is never any mention of the last murder when the next one happens (continuity is zero between episodes)
• The police are useless!!! Whilst they ramble on about their suspect the murderer kills on and the doctor and novelist are allowed full access to all files, murder scenes and evidence!!

And finally……..ALL THE MURDERERS ARE STUPID!!

When the final reveal is executed it is usually some tiny detail like a safe full of files or a pair of glasses or spot of paint that they bring to confront the killer. This “evidence” is circumstantial at best and yet faced with this piece of non evidence the killer (who so far has managed to allude the police and everyone around them) suddenly confesses all. And to make matters worse the evidence is always false, the glasses are copies, the safe full of blank paper and the paint freshly placed there by doctor or novelist!!

So after 45 minutes of genius cover-up the murderer confesses all to a doctor or novelist before pulling a gun and threatening to kill them. It makes no sense!! The police confront them, they don’t confess. The victim’s family confront them, they don’t confess. But an interfering, nearly retired, story writer or doctor appear with a spot of paint that vaguely matches the colour of their new bathroom and they confess all. Bizarre!! But it works every time and with that in mind I can’t quite understand why so many crimes go unsolved all we need is Jackie Collins and that Perma-tanned Doctor from GMTV and the world will be a safer place!!

Oh one final similarity – at the moment of near death the police arrive having heard it all and arrest the killer……although they are likely to be released as the police probably won’t remember what was said by the time they get back to the car!!