life

21:48:17 o'clock BST
Feeling Restless
Hearing Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross

Its a bit like Eurovision

When I undertake an audit at a station the result is given as a percentage which can be misleading as a location can fail miserably on some point but do well on others giving a fairly good total. Until today the lowest score I have given is 48%. Today I went to one of our stations in the Thames Gateway area and they got a resounding 0% !!! As my coleague comented 'the result of the Norwegian jury is nil pwoint' Yes we both have railwaymens sense of humour-thats to say a strange one.

Have ben loking through my music colection and have ben catching up with some old favourites. Its a strange feling listening to some tracks as they all have memories of one sort attached to them. Some memories are sad, some romantic and some even humerous. One track however is very poignant and even though it was released many years after my fathers death the lyrics expres exactly how I feel towards him and if I am honest it brings a tear to my eye. If you have never heard it, all I can say is you are missing out on a wonderful piece of music.

It is amazing to realise how much my musical tastes have changed over the years. I still have the first record I ever paid for myself- House of the Rising Sun by The Animals sadly though its unplayable. These days my musical tastes are somewhat different and amongst my favourites are Roberta Gambarani, Katie Melua, Norah Jones, Gwyneth Herbert and Diana Krall. However I have recently enjoyed Rising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant an interesting combination of a rocker and an angelic voiced bluegrass fiddle playing bluegrass singer- again I would recomend you give it a try.

Take Care

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 2 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

21:44:15 o'clock BST
Feeling Indifferent
Hearing Roberta Gambarini

Lies, dammed lies and statistics

We have all heard this saying I am sure.

Inflation is allegedly nudging the 3% mark and there are obviously variations in the price of seasonal goods. However I do not think that any thing like that applies to wheelie bin liners! I always use a liner in my bin,it means that the bin is easier to clean after emptying. Until recently you could buy a roll of 8 liners in that wonderful shop Wilkinsons for a £1, today they have gone up to £1.19 thats a 19% increase!

On the subject of shops I find both Wilkinsons and T J Hughes fascinating places, you can buy anything there from a box of teabags to a roll of roofing felt and all at good prices.

Spent the whole day at work today undertaking an investigation into some missing cash at one of our stations which proved to be totally inconclusive and frustrating. Tomorrow I am out with one of our local managers which has all the makings of a wasted day! I suppose you could always ring or text me during the morning, at least it will be something to look forward to.

Talking about looking forward to things I am at Hastings on Wednesday which only means one thing- fish and chips for lunch. If you dont know Hastings it has the highest concentration of good chippies that I know.

I am still struggling with my wireless keyboard,it seems to have an aversion to certain letters, which has led me to write some very strange things recently!

Take Care

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

00:20:24 o'clock BST
Feeling Crappy
Hearing Diana Krall Live in paris

What a week!!

Have you ever had one of those weeks which you wish had never happened.

Monday was sort of a non descript kind of day neither good nor bad.

Tuesday was ok during the day but disaster stuck during the evening. A friend rang me about half past eight and said that he ad been feeling ill all day and had just rang the emergency doctor on call service at Maidstone Hospital and could he get to A&E as soon as possible. As my friend has young children his partner could not take him so of course I said yes I would take him.

We arrived at A&E just after 9.00pm and they did every test imaginable ecg,blods urine etc, think the only thing they did not test was his inside leg measurement! To give them credit the staff were absolutely brillant- they told us everything that was going on. However I think the real star was the lady who turned up twice with the tea trolly. As well as tea and coffee she also had a selection of fresh fruit and all free of charge. That woman was a life saver!

We finally left the hospital at 2.40 in the morning and by the time I got home and into bed it was nearly 3.30 and I had to getup at 5.40 for work! I managed it but somehow I was not at my best for the rest of the week.

As you know I visit different locations each day and therefore anything I need I have to carr with me and on somedays my briefcase is rather heavy. On Thursday afteroon I was walking home rom the Park and Ride at Wilington Street when I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder. It was not excruting but bad enough to call the doctor. My doctor surgery is good in that even if  you dont have an appointment you can go at the end of surgery at 6.00pm and someone will see you. Anyway I have managed to pull a muscle inthe shoulder, and I have got he usual pain  killers for it. Its at its most painfull when in bed and its impossible to get comfortable.

I thin we all acept that with the increase in fuel prices prices in shops have to increase to reflect this. However I was disgusted to note that in the supermarket 'where evry little helps'  the price of there own label gingernuts has increased from 28p to 42p! Now I freely admit that I lke gingernuts and probably eat more than I should but thats a 50% increase in price!!!!

I have recently started using a wireless keyboard and mouse on this computer. However thekeyboard does not always respond when type certain letters and the mouse seems to get through bateries at an alarming ate.

Sitting here listening to the wonderfull Diana Krall live in Paris on my own somehow the words of the song 'lets fall in love' dont feel as good as they should when you are with someone special.

Take Care

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 7 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

04:05:36 o'clock BST
Feeling Disgusted

All this for 16p per packet!!!

I like food and to be honest who doesnt. Over the years though some of it has been dumbed down to such an extent do we honestly know what we are eating.

Take the humble sausage for example, years ago every town and village had its own butchers who made there own. Over the years there has been a marked decrease in these resulting in sausage 'globalisation' by a few companys. Thank god though there are still a few people around producing a good sausage, two favourites of mine are a lamb/mint garlic one produced by a butcher in Ringwood in Hampshire and my all time favorite the Beaminster Banger. As its name implys it is only to be found in the Dorset town of Beaminster and contains both mustard and worcester sauce. Sounds like an odd combination but one taste and you are hooked! There is also a locally produced one the Speldhurst sausage which is pretty good despite its confusing name. Speldhurst is a village in Kent and the sausages are produced in Eridge in Sussex.

Alongside all this there has been a slow but sure increase in the number of supermarket 'value' products. Some of these I must say are very good for examble Sainsburys chopped tomatoes, I use these when I nake a prawn curry and they are first rate.

In one of our free papers this week some one has highlighted the contents of Asda Smart Price sausages, they contain the following:

Pork 34%

Ammonium Carbonate

Sodium Metabisulphate

disphosperates

ascorbic acid

Sound delightfull dont they! But at 2p per sausage thats 16p per packet thats got to be a bargain hasnt it? Well I would not touch one with a barge pole thank you, I am not a food purist but how could anybody eat such things. Another moan I have about sausages is the quality of the skins, I bet these are encased in recycled inner tubes!

It brings bacvk memories of one of my favourite TV programmes-Yes Minister. They did one about an EU proposal to stop us calling sausages sausages but instead to call them 'emulsified fried fat and gristle tubes'. Maybe they knew something.

On the subject of food have you ever heard of a lutherburger? Neither had I but aparently its a sauce covered cheeseburger with the roll replaced by a Krispy Kreme Donut and comes in at over 1000 calories per burger. Think I will give that one a miss as well.

Have you noticed the subtle changes to AOL recently? Some time ago they replaced AOL groups with AIM groups which appeared to be a minimul change linked to AOLs march into AIM. Now they have decided to do away with groups all together with no explanation. Change for the sake of change or a portent of more changes in the future?

Take care

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

20:55:19 o'clock BST

Railway Humour

Thought I would share this one with you.

I did a full audit today at London Charing Cross and overheard the following conversation.

Customer: Can I get a combined ticket to Battle and the site of the Battle of Hastings.

Clerk: No but we do a combined ticket including admission to Battle Abbey which is next to the battle site.

Customer: Is there anything to see on the battle site?

Clerk: No Sir they are all dead

Customer: Oh

Clerk: Although if you are lucky enough you might get an eyeful of the action.

Customer: Sorry I dont understand.

I love spontaneous humour but its better spoken than written and I did feel like asking if the customers name was Harold or Norman!

Think they are coming to take me away soon!

Andy

 

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 4 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

02:54:40 o'clock BST

May all be coincidence but still strange

I recently mentioned that a friend of mine had invited me to the Sevenoaks Spiritulist centre and I said that knowing me I would forget all about it until it was to late. Yes thats what I did and it was on Sunday June 8th.

Went to bed and was in that lovely state of being half way between being awake and asleep when I thought I heard my father asking me why I had not been. Now I must admit to have been thinking about my father over the weekend as he died 47 years ago in June 1961 but this is the first time I have experienced anything like this.

As I could not sleep got up (its now 2.50 in the morning) thought I would look through some e mails and amongst them there was one from Bonnie saying that she was cross and angry and had left the Sevenoaks Spiritulist centre!

Now I dont know what any of this means but if its coincidence it is remarkedly uncanny. On the other hand if it does mean something than I am afraid I am missing it.

Anyone any ideas?

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 8 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

21:34:24 o'clock BST

Name games and Dr Crippen

Those who know what I do for a living know that I have to visit all South Eastern stations some once a year others four times. To add a little bit of amusement to life when I send the reports to Barbara Snell our office administrator I tend to change the name of the station to something humerous for example High Brooms becomes Tall Brushes and Woolwich becomes Satanic Sheep. Yes I know i have a strange sense of humour!

However after a couple of years I have run out of original ideas so I have started using the original meaning of the place name as in 'woodland pastures for mares' which has become present day Marden. Seems like there was sexism all thase years ago, wonder where the stalllions went! Anyway on Friday I was at Catford and I looked it up on Wikopedia which gave me the origins of the name and some other interesting facts. I knew that Ben Elton came from the area but did not realise that at one stage Cat Stevens lived in a flat above a furniture shop.

One thing however did stop me in my tracks and that was the name Ethel LeNeve. It sounded familiar but could not place it until I read the item fully. She was Dr Crippens mistress who for whatever reason was not prosecuted and moved to New York and on to Canada before coming back to London under the name of Miss Harvey subsequently marrying and settling in Catford with her husband and two children.

I have enclosed a link to the article

Ethel Le Neve. See Inside story: last refuge for a killer's mistress on www.telegraph.co.uk.

which will give you more detail but aparently she never told her children her true identity and no one is certain if her husband knew. When she died in 1967 her wish to be buried with her favourite locket was respected. Inside the locket was a picture of Dr Crippen.

I find it quite amazing that someone could keep that kind of secret for 50 years and not tell anyone. Could it of been true love was there as the article implies something more sinister in her actions.

Take care

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 4 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

21:07:03 o'clock BST
Feeling Wierd

Weird

No I am not really but those lovely people at AOL have now given us much more choice of moods to have.

Anyway I am pleased to see that Kate is making entries in her journal again after a health problem. Drop in and see her at http://journals.aol.co.uk/klassyshassy/Katewhoeversheis/

I am sure she will be delighted to hear from you.

As for going to the spiritulist church I honestly still have not made up my mind. This means that one of two things will happen, either I will just decide to go on the day and enjoy it or more likely for me forget about it until 2 days after the event. However sceptical about it I may seem I have to say that overall I think I believe in spiritulism as over the years I have come across for which there can be no logical explanation and if you know me you will know that I believe in logic.  Well I know what I mean anyway.

Otherwise life has carried on its normal weary way although I did manage to double the value of the car the other day-I filled up with petrol!

Take care and have fun

Andy

 

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

20:13:36 o'clock BST

Spiritulism

Thank you all for your kind comments regarding spiritulism which were helpful and I loved Kirsty's comments about chanting in my underpants! Congratulations to her by the way on her recent marriage to Mr Kirstykins.

However I must say that I am still undecided abut going or not. It must be something in my make up that I always try and find logical explanations for things which is one of the reasons that I consider myself to be christian but not religeous if that makes sense. In a way I suppose I would say that I am about 70% convinced that I should go, as it is at Sevenoaks the chances of anyone knowing me are remote and there could be no chance of anybody having any prior knowledge.

What does worry me is that I could be told something that will cloud my mind about a life changing decision I have to make sooner rather than later and cause me to make the wrong decision.

Because theFrench fishermen are blockading the ports in protest at the price of diesel Operation Stack is again in operation on the M20 meaning that all motorway traffic is diverted on to the local roads. Me thinks its not going to be a quiet night tonight!

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 8 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

21:48:05 o'clock BST

Madonna and others

Well the big weekend has been and gone and it was all surprisingly well organised.

I was able to sit out in the back garden on Saturday night and listen to Madonna live and with a glass in my hand it was very pleasant. On Sunday hardly heard a thing despite only being a quarter of a mile from Mote Park. As I said everything was very well organised and there was no trouble either at the event or in Maidstone town itself. Parking did not seem to be a problem either and there were no reports of any congestion, so well done to Radio 1.

A friend of mine is trying to get me to go to and join a spiriulist church as they are convinced that it will do me good. Being rather cynical and doing the job I do which means I have to use a lot of objective logic I am not to certain about it. Has anyone any experience of spiritulism? Again maybe I am just an old cynic but you do here of people being almost brainwashed by this kind of thing.

Andy

Written by andrewfrnd Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 9 comments: Show Recent | Add your own