Ramblings Of A Less Than Chuffed Radio Reporter

2011-10-27T17:29:00.002Z

Its been a while! sorry, been very busy doing all sorts of BBC stuff, and not spending much time at home, she who must shop is less than chuffed with that, but its a neccesary evil sadly.

2011-02-22T08:38:00.003Z

Well blow me down with a wet kipper and call me Cyril, if i have not blogged for a while! A lot has happened since the last blog, Charlton have a new manager,

I escaped a house fire by the skin of my teeth, and Charlton Live goes from strength to strength with a new website and a weekly podcast!

The new website is www.charltonlive.biz and you can download Charlton Live from iTunes!

Will do a proper blog later

2011-01-02T08:32:00.002Z

Morning all and a happy new year, been a while since I blogged! It has been seriously busy with work and all things CAFC, I am in the middle of a nightmare weekend, spent all day yesterday at Colchester Utd, left at 9am got home from the game at 10pm, it took two hours to upload photos and stories to the club website, so got home last night knackered, today its a rehearsal at 1 followed by Charlton Live at 7-9pm, tomorrow we have a press conference at the Valley with the old and new chairman and then the game at 5 so its another busy day.

Young Finch is at his mothers, and seems very content with his Xmas present from dad, I thought a Blackberry would go down a treat and it has. It dawned on him at just after midnight on New Year that he is off on his jamboree trip this year, talk about excited, but in fairness he has worked incredibly hard to raise the cash, so he deserves it. He continues to do extremely well at school, topping the class in triple science amd geography and is on target to get himself to uni, he is fiercely determined to achieve this.

Xmas day was lovely, had a quiet one at home with no guests, just us and Tiberius the Turkey, I managed to go the whole festive period in a reasonably sober state, partly due to a particularly bad case of Man Flu the week before, which really knocked me for 6.

The new year promises lots of hard work and some adventures, planning a sailing trip in April, a holiday with the the other half in the summer.

The end of the last year was tinged with sadness, we discovered she who must shop was pregnant only to lose the baby at 11 weeks just before the first scan, a very tough time, only told a few people at the time, it was devastating for us both, but Drs say everything is fine and we can try again, which we will do.
Right thats it, Happy New Year to you all.

2010-11-08T16:23:00.002Z

Another busy period has found me at Barnet last weekend for BBC London and BBC Kent, all good fun, fair amount of travelling, which leaves me a little knackered on a Saturday night!

This weekend was exceptionally difficult as I had the CAFC press office and various others on the phone a lot as a journo at the BBC had been feeding me some info about potential takeovers at the Club, as it turns out the info I had was spot on, and the said takeover did not happen, after a weekend of silence from the Club on the matter, despite intense speculation, the Club finally released a statement this morning and its as you were chaps!

This coming weekend its a well earned break from football as we head to Wales for Rally GB, promise to be fun but bloody cold and very possible wet....photos will appear here after the weekend.

Brace yourself, the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team are off on the rampage in a matter of weeks, more news to follow, needless to say it will involve alcohol, fine food, bad behaviour and the odd walk here and there.

Poor young Finch is in for a hell of a shock very soon, more on this soon!!!

2010-10-20T13:57:00.002Z

Been a busy time lately, work has been manic and Radio stuff for Charlton has really taken off, unlike the team who seem to be heading the wrong way and for a management change.

Last weekend after the Charlton game Young Finch had a Jambo Fundraiser, Wingit played and we raised £460, a good night and thanks to the band who played for free.

Sunday night I was back at The Valley for Charlton Live, with guests Derek Hales and Garry Nelson. A great evening with those two, and lots of emails from fans irate following the 0-4 against Brighton. This weekend see's me heading off to Carlisle at the request of BBC to cover the Charlton game, a very early start is required followed a very late finish......

2010-09-26T11:46:00.003Z

A busy time lately, been doing match summary for Charlton games on BBC London and BBC Kent, quite enjoyable but very difficult to remain impartial! also working on Charlton Live, a radio venture with Charlton Athletic, which is about to expand to provide a full matchday service for the club. Yesterday before the game I was so lucky to meet with former Charlton legend Lennie Lawrence and interview him for tonights show, in the short time i had with him his love for the club came across, and he was genuiely not sure what reception he would get whe introduced to the crowd at half time, I did reassure him it would be fine, and it was !

2010-08-12T12:29:00.002Z

Been a busy few weeks again, working for Charlton Athletic on matchdays as a commentator for there internet service, and I have been asked to do some stuff for BBC London, so thats all good news. SHe who must shop has decided that I need some new suits, of course I have no say in the matter, but hey ho!

She has taken to trying to get one over on my brothers at various times on Facebook, sadly being the blonde she is it is clearly not working for her, bless.....

Young Finch has broken another poor girls heart, callously dumping the poor lass when she dared have a go at one of his mates!

We are off on our Holidays in two weeks time, cannot wait, I got myself 3 books to read on holiday, read all three last weekend!

New Year this year is being spent in the Lake District, we have a cottage booked with a log fire in the middle of nowhere, I cannot wait, perfect way to end the year.

Off out this afternoon to the Staff Summer Party, we are being collected at 3pm and taken by coach to a stately home for an afternoon and evening of bad behaviour.

2010-07-28T16:15:00.004Z

Sorry its been a while since I blogged! Young Callum is getting bigger veeryday and cuter and more smiley!

Sinch my last blog its all been happening, the company I work for was taken over, other than having to travel to Essex its all good for us.

Been on a sailing trip, had a great and drunken time with the boss and some contractors whose boat we were on, I have never drunk so much on a work night in all my life! the following morning was quiet until I convinced everyone Liam Gallagher was on the yacht next door!

Been on a few camps, been elected as District Chairman for Scouts and now also have a new appointment at County level.

We had a trip to Wales, myself, Mark and old big nose, we made another bold attmept on Pen Y Fan, same route we tried a year ago same problem, driving rain, 20 metres visibility but somehow we made it to the top!

Off to Wales again in 3 weeks with the now rampant Young Finch who views every 16 year old female as a challenge and is doing rather well at it! And at the end of Aug we are off 0n Holiday for the week, somewhere nice and warm! Denmark looms in October for more whiskey drinking.

Oh and from this Saturday I will be heard via the Charlton Athletic website providing punditry and interviews and a radio show for the Valley failthful, if you really want to listen you will have to pay! it is beuing announced on the clubs website tomorrow, so exciting times ahead!

2010-06-28T11:46:00.002Z

Another busy weekend, Saturday morning shopping for clothes with young Finch, then my first game of cricket in a while in the afternoon, sadly we lost, after 5 weeks out with a buggered hand I got eased in by our skipper, "Pete fancy opening the bowling" I was a tad rusty but unlucky not to get a wicket! Saturday evening was a race night to raise money for the Jamboree, I appear to have drunk a fair amount!

Sunday dawned with an invite to my nephews for a BBQ and to watch England (we shall gloss over that bit of the day) I decided it was quite clearly Pimms o'clock...

2010-06-15T05:06:00.002Z

Woke up with a nasty cold this morning, no warning, just woke up with it!

Its a busy time at work at the moment, I am out of the office two days a week visiting branches, these are surprise visits, mostly I am welcomed, with the exception of Chelsea, where the manager could not have been more frosty! still he got the report he so richly deserves....... Hampstead I was warned about the Manager, was told she would give me a hard time, having been there and sorted the smelly sewer out I knew different, and so it proved, except young Holly who works there makes the worst cup of coffee in the world!

Friday afternoon saw us having a stroll round Hampstead Heath, and sitting on Parliament Hill I pointed out to she who must shop that in the distance Shooters Hill could be seen, she was convinced I was wrong so much so she said unless I proved it was I had to pay a forfeit, so when we got home I very quickly proved I was right...... now she has a forfeit which I am very much looking forward to.

We are off on holiday at the end of August, looking forward to that, and heading to Denmark in Oct for a few days break. I have a few days sailing looming in a stunning looking racing yacht, setting off from Hamble, I am so looking forward to that! The boss has invited me up to have a go on his Laser, a tiny racing boat, so that needs to be organised asap, it looks terrific fun!

Driving lessons going well, Test is soon, as soon as I pass I will have a shiny new VW Passatt to play with.

2010-06-13T07:23:00.000Z

This is Callum. He loves football, honest....

2010-06-03T07:53:00.002Z

I was due to return to cricket action this weekend, but my hand is still not right, I cannot grip the bat with my left hand, so thats me free all day Saturday, now do I mention this to she who shops? I may end up in Bluewater if I am not clever, so I am hastily arranging some Scout stuff to do!

Young Finch is off on a Jambo trainnig weekend at Frylands, his 2nd weekend away on the trot, and then the weekend after we are back down Frylands for our crew weekend. I am seriously tired following last weekend, which can make me a moody sod as my ex wife discovered last night when she dropped in to pack Young Finch's stuff for the weekend, my claims that at 14 he should be doing ith himself were met with her laughter, then she proceeded to pack 3 pairs of my brand new socks, which were purchased for me, if she had bothered to slacken the jaw muscle and gone to his room she would have found plenty in his drawer, I raised my objections, which she dismissed, so once the old bag had buggered off home my son and I repacked his bag properly and replaced my socks with his......cheeky cow.

She who must shop is a shocking cook, she admits it quite openly, it appears she is intent on going on a cookery course......god help us! She is an amazing baker though, her lemeon drizzle is stunning and extremely popular at work with my colleagues, she nips up to the office every other week and delivers us cake....now thats dedication!

She is currently claiming that I accuse her of sitting on her arse all day, I have never said this to her, but her days do seem to be filled with cathcing up with last nights soap, Jeremy Kyle, This Morning and coffee at Starbucks with her friends....I have never accused her off this, but.......
She just text me to tell me she is loading the 3rd wash of the day into the washing machine! which takes maximum of 5 minutes, we will have to look into what she does for the rest of the day!!

2010-06-01T19:26:00.002Z

Had a good weekend at Gilwell with the District, lots of fun and young Finch was about being chased by more females, all of them older then him.... Got home Monday to find my nice new shiny full time contract from work! happy days are here again, Young Finch is already asking for an rise in his allowance, this from the boy who is having 2k shelled out on his trip next year!

More good news today, I am off at the end of the month sailing on a racing yacht for a few days, if all goes well its the Fastnet Race for me! dangerous I know but man alive what an experience, one of the most challenging races in the world.

The little fella in the previous pics is called Callum and is just gorgeous with a fabulous set of lungs! and he seems intent on not sleeping at all....

Right have to go I have a driving lesson! would tell you when my test is, but I have decided to keep it quiet!

Isn't he lovely

2010-05-21T19:54:00.001Z

2010-05-18T05:39:00.002Z

Turned out to be an eventful night last night, I was just getting off the train at Woolwich when the pone went summoning me to The Valley to play the music at the game, as their usual man was not going to make it! A very exciting game that went to penalties, sadly we lost, never felt so down in my life, absolutely awful.

2010-05-17T10:17:00.002Z

Had a funny old weekend, the gig Friday night at Langley Park Golf Club went very well, even with a stand in drummer! The audience were well and truly up for it, and after several encores we managed to escape to our very plush dressing room, the club looked after us very well, providing food and drink and the play off semi on the tv! got home about 2.30am.

Saturday's cricket was a painful affair, I attempted to take a catch, and wrecked my left hand in the process, but was still able to bowl, sadly this did not go too well either, after some yes, no, Wait! confusion by the oppositions batsmen I was at the stumps to recieve the a throw in for a run out, just as the ball arrived so to did the batsman, the largest player on their team known as 'The Tank' the ensuing collision was apparently very funny, to the rest of my team, but not to myself and Tank, he was flying when he me pushed us both onto the stumps, and whacking my left knee with his bat on the way through, absololute agony... he then dusted himself down ready for my next over and hit me to all parts, by this time I was a mess, my left hand was swelling up and my knee was throbbing away, frankly I wanted to get off the pitch as soon as possible. After making 176 -4 off 40 overs we thought we could do the business and get a win, several dropped catches proved very costly as last week 3 were off my bowling, 1 by the skipper, 1 by our guest player, one D Finch (who retired hurt with a pulled thigh muscle later) and one by myself, sadly my knackered left hand stopped me gripping the ball off my own bowling.

2010-05-13T19:14:00.002Z

Wow it seems to get better and better, was working on a fixed term contract, which ended and now on a week to week (bit like an out of contract footballer) as they are taking me on full time, sat down with the boss last week to discuss salary, I made my opening offer and he laughed, I was a bit concerned until he stopped laughing and said add 8k to that figure and we have a deal, best negotiation I have ever had! So thats that sorted, off to Dubai and India with work soon followed by Casablanca and Milan and Rome, and once the driving test is done I get a nice new shiny VW Passat in red of course!

Away from work I have a new Scout Appointment, cant say nothing til July but its a corker! Played my first game of cricket for Footscray CC last week and bowled very well and took my first wicket for them, less said about that batting the better I think.

Young Finch is doing well at school and having a great time with Scouts, has some top notch friends and away almost every weekend it seems.

Just booked a holiday in August to the Kent Coast and then in October we will all be off somewhere warm for a week, cannot wait, life has never been better.

2010-04-24T20:05:00.002Z

This is Young Finch on his first Jambo training weekend, the once little horror is 6 foot tall now! I have a weekend without the little horror, so do I get a nice quiet restful weekend? no.....I am up to my eyes in DIY, the carpet on the stairs has gone, to be replaced with gloss paint, or so I am told. Was looking forward to catching up with some stuff on BBCi but I had to sit through Britains Got Talent, I may get in trouble saying this, but it's crap....

We are up at 5.30am as Wingit are playing at the London Marathon in the morning, somewhere around the 4 mile mark, yours truly has to belt out his song I am told.... Jesus those poor runners.... so its an early night for us.

2010-04-23T07:50:00.002Z

Morning all, long time no blog, been a tad busy at work and having the builders in donig the kitchen, happily it is now finished! Looks good except the floor which I do not like. Work is going well, keeping me veru busy with lots of projects on the go. She who must be obeyed is working on plans for the living room, it will I am told have a feature wall, whatever thats is! she has the ideas, I seem to have to do the work, as well as being absolutely useless at cooking she cannot do DIY, unlike most of the Finch family, I can!
Its the marathon this weekend, so Wingit are playing at the around the 4 mile mark, they will feature a guest vocalist at some stage in the morning, beltin out Chantilly Lace to the poor hapless runners, I mentioned to the boss that we were doing bacon butties before the Marathon Sunday, apparently she was surprised when I mentioned that they would arrive at 6am, being blonde in outlook she thought we just got up went to 4 maile mark and played, oh dear, poor lass was a tad put out when she realised we will have to be there for 7am as it takes an hour and a half to set the gear up!
She is also a tad cut up that I have organised and evening out Saturday, apparently this means she will miss Britains Got Talent, I believe I am in actual fact doing her a favour, this appears to be lost on her, strange woman.

Young Finch is doing well, the Scouts had a Jamboree fundraiser the other week and raised £2000, thats one of the four going, just £6000 to go. Yours truly is growing his hair long (i have more than other Finch's) so I can have it shaved off to fundraise in July!

Having a few issues with ,my left hip, the medical term I understand is that it's fucked.... but regardless, I am now a member of 2 cricket club, having been tapped up by Footscray Cricket Club during the week, first game on May 1st, cannot wait, best get my sorry arse into the nets.

2010-04-15T06:09:00.002Z

Me and my temper are usually pretty well behaved, only a few things really set me off, one of them happened to stray into my sights last night. Last night was a parents meeting for the Jamboree, very important to remember, parents! I arrived before in a very good mood, my ex wife attended as well, just as we were about to start my ex wife's other half entered, what the fuck he was doing there is anyones guess, it was a parents evening, he is not my sons parent, he just happens to be the arsehole my wife left for! so I was not best pleased, its fair to say I was steaming mad, I managed to get through the meeting without incident, luckily he made an arse of himself with his pathetic ideas, then they went, and then I exploded, luckily a few good friends were there to sort me out, so far I have said nothing to the pair, slept on it and I am still seething, I will wait til tonight then politely ask her what the fuck is she thinking......

2010-04-07T12:06:00.002Z

Made a huge error last night, tried to have a kickabout with my son, I must start realising I am 47 not 27, on the way to work this morning my hip started seizing up, its very very sore now and walking is an issue, but I battled bravely to Tesco and grabbed some Pea and Ham soup, it was seriously nice with some fresh bread.
Miss W wants to meet for coffee, been a while, if she could just get her arse in gear I would treat her to a cake as well!

2010-04-07T05:31:00.003Z

Been a busy time, spent Easter in Wales with Young Finch, nephew and his partner, on Easter Sunday we headed home via Bristol to see the hordes based there, very fruitful trip as I came away with a box of my Aunts home made cakes, sadly Young Finch was wise to this and promptly scoffed half of the box! luckily work is taking me back there in May so I will have all the cake to myself!

The weekend saw a rare thing, the mighty Charlton Athletic managed two wins on the spin, we went to the game on Monday, and Charlton werent good, luckily Carlisle were worse.

Last night saw me back in rehearsals with the band, next gig is London Marathon on April 25th.

2010-03-19T21:14:00.002Z

Very strange journey home from work today, very strange indeed the 17.39 was visited by a bona fide nutter full blown loony, although to look at him he looked reasonable, aged late 20s smartly dressed, seemed quite normal, just this side of London Bridge his phone came out, and rather than stick some headphones on he played it loud so the whole carriage could hear it, just what you need after a day of deadlines! one of our more fearless carriage dwellers politely asked him to turn it down, which was his queue to reveal his less than friendly nature, the poor fella who asked him to turn it down was treated with a tirade of abuse, and was threatened, when others in the carriage stuck up for our man, the nutter announced to all in the carriage that he would take al; of us on, now looking around there were some big fellas in that carriage and our nutter was asking for all sorts of trouble, it was only as we passed though Maze Hill we noticed what this violent and threatening man was actually listening to, Iron Maiden? The Killers? Marilyn Manson? no.....Brotherhood of Man, by now the carriage had twigged there may be a few sandwich's missing from this particular picnic, and the titters started, now I don't like tittering ( i dont like any coastal town) but this evening I was beginning to chuckle a tad, the chuckles from all and sundry burst into loud laughter when picnic fella started to sing along with Angelo every few lines he would spit out obscenities at anyone who looked at him, its a shame Woolwich Arsenal appeared, I was keen on finding out what was next on his playlist!

2010-03-16T13:29:00.002Z

Oh and whilst we are on the subject of food emporiums, can I mention the local Beef Clown (Macdonalds to you) I go in there for breakfast now and again, never lunch though, but I there is a manager that works there, I shall not tell you his name (Ali), but if he were my boss he would have had a right hander very quickly, watching this twat in action is everything you should not do as a man manager, he is loud, bullying and this morning I saw him push a member of staff, I am sorely tempted to contact the Beef Clown Head Office and complain about him.

2010-03-16T13:15:00.002Z

Across the road from my office is a Greigs Bakers, very handy for as pie muncher such as myself, so far so good, so I can nip out of the office across the road and grab a sandwich and obilgatory pasty/sausage roll, great so far, sadly it all goes tits up once you attempt to purchase anything from the imbeciles that work there, now I would have thought working in a shop in the City that a reasonable grasp of the English language would be useful, not here in Eastcheaps very own Greigs, oh no ask for a pastie and you get a cheese and onion melt (whatever that is) they really do struggle, but that is overcome with a bit of pointing and smiling! sadly the customer service levels are appaling! they are rude, and snappy and I have never heard them ever be nice to anyone, there rude behaviour is met with knowing smiles from all of us regulars of this place, today after a stressful morning I decided to fight back, having ordered my items the female at my till ushered me along to the next till to make a payment which had a queue already, I had been in her queue for 10 minutes at this stage so I did not take kindly to being told to queue again, so I said no I will pay here just as your last customer did, she did not take kindly to this at all and told me, and anybody else listening that i was holding the queue up, i stood my ground and said i was not prepared to queue again and would pay here, she told me she was busy, I proceeded to let her know that I too was very busy and just wanted to pay for my items and get back to work, and just for effect I added a magic phrase which galvanised the poor woman into actually doing her job and operating her till, i said "chop chop then" and lo and behold she took my money!
So when faced with poor customer service, make your request then add the words chop chop.....it works!!!

2010-03-13T06:49:00.004Z

Morning all, work is going well, my role is changing slightly, I will be spending only 3 days a week in the the office in the City, the other two I am off out an about, next week I am in Marlborough and Bath, the week after it looks like two days in Bristol, which may give me a chance to pop in and say hello to my Aunt and Uncle, and the Tuesday after Easter I am off to Dubai for 4 days work! The boss has told me to get a move on and pass my driving test as their will be a nice new shiny VW Passat when I pass! Young Finch is quite keen on me getting a car for some reason! She who must be taken shopping has also declared I need to be driving, so that's me told...

Had my new double glazing fitted the other day, house is so much warmer, and I have designed my new kitchen which will be in by the end of the month.

Young Finch has selected his options for school, Geography, Triple Science, English, Maths, History and French, he seems happy with that little lot, and is determined to get himself to Uni.

She who loves to shop is not good in the kitchen, she will admit that herself, she is awful, this is a regular topic of discussion at work, we look forward to the text telling us what she is cooking, and then try and work out how it will go wrong, Mark my admin fella is a keen cook, we sit and swap recipes a fair amount, yesterday he sent me a recipe he thought she could manage which i publish below, for some reason she did not like it!!

4 - 5 lb. Chicken
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing
1 cup uncooked popcorn
Salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brush chicken well with melted butter salt, and pepper.
Fill cavity with stuffing mixed with popcorn.
Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven.

Listen for the popping sounds. When the chicken's arse blows the oven door open and the chicken flies across the room and lands on the
table, it's done and ready to eat.

2010-02-27T08:03:00.002Z

Wow what a week, as you may recall, young Finch was placed on the reserve list for the World Scout Jamboree 2011 in Sweden, well Monday he was invited to attend!! the little fella when mad with joy! and as a result he is away this weekend on his first training camp, leaving me and she who must shop to have a quiet weekend. I was told Monday lunchtime that he was going to be invited to attend but was not allowed to tell him, had I been at work all would have been good, but I was at home recuperating following a knacker related issue that saw me at A&E with Mr Blackett Sunday night, anyway the teenager arrived home at 4 in a mood, I could have lifted this mood instantly but was not allowed to! it was torture until the call came at 7.30, when he took the call his face burst into a huge grin, he put the phone down and of course wanted to jump and dance around with the old man, sadly my knackered knacker would not allow this! so he jumped on his mother who was visiting! So he is away on his first weekend as I write, and will be coming to terms that he is not allowed Ipods or mobile phones on the training weekends or in Sweden! so as yet he has no idea that Charlton actually won last 2-1 last night!!!

2010-02-21T05:49:00.000Z

2010-02-21T05:37:00.002Z

Had a brilliant week in France, staying in Conde Folie, we visited New Foundland Cemetery which still has bunkers and shell holes, and some impressive memorials to those that died. Amiens was well worth the visit, a lovely city with a wonderful cathedral. Friday we drove north to Fromelles, to see the burial of soliders from the battle of Pheasants Wood, where 5300 Australians and British soldiers died in 24 hours, a mass grave was discovered in 2008 and over the past month they have been conducting military funerals, Friday saw the last of these. As yet they remain unidentified, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission are carrying out DNA tests to find out who they are.

The service we saw was very emotional, and a rare chance to see what will probably be the last of theses burials, the coffins were carried by both Australian and British soldiers, the kids with us were visibly moved by what they were seeing, as well as us adults. We managed to talk to 3 retired soldiers who were happy to talk to the boys and us and pass on all sorts of information. A long drive for us but well worth it, something I will never forget. I will post more pictures shortly.

2010-02-15T17:43:00.002Z

Had a great weekend with the Firepower Explorers on Crew at Frylands Wood. Going to bed each night at 3am and then getting up at 7am is not something I should be doing! Young Finch had an early birthday celebration, smashing cake and a card from everyone, he is very at hone with this lot, very pleasing, and a change of Scouts Groups is on the cards for both of us, Young Finch because his mates are at a different group and me for entirely different reasons, but thats not for this forum!

Off work this week, had anew boiler fitted this morning, the heating is ticking over very nicely now!

Had a visit to the Dr first thing as a result i am off for x-rays on my knee, shoulder and elbow on my return from France.

I seem to be very happy and content lately, no moans and groans, aint life grand!

Off to France in the morning til the weekend, cant wait to get there for a break.

2010-02-07T08:59:00.003Z

The new job is going very well, working up in the City is a new experience for me, which I am quite enjoying, despite an incident with a Brompton rider last week. For those who do not know a Brompton is a folding bike and is it appears the choice of Accountants, I say this with some authority, Older Finch has one and is an accountant, neither Middle Finch or myself have one! I was nearly run down by one of the beasties last week, the rider decided a red light for him was to be ignored, I did offer him a full and frank appraisal of his abilities. I discussed this in depth with my admin assistant and my boss, it was my boss who announced that they were all accountants! I have noticed how things are slightly different in the commercial world, I have been up to now working in Charities and Local Government, and the big difference seems to be birthdays, in previous jobs the cakes were all home made and a bit iffy, here in the City we are extremely close to an outlet selling Krispy Kreme doughuts, I approve of the commercial sides views.

It seems things at home will change very shortly! I appear to be under instructions to get the paint out and curtains are to be replaced by blinds.... god help me

2010-01-30T08:18:00.002Z

Morning all, Started my new job this week for an international property company, this week was all about settling in next week I start out on my travels with visits to Andover and Newbury, with plenty of travelling required over the next few weeks. I seem to quite enjoy the fact I am working in the City at the moment, we are moving offices soon, either Pimlico or Grosvenor Square!

Got to get my self back into finishing the panto script, and then off I am told for a shopping trip, I am not buying anything, just got to be there to hold the bags!!

2010-01-24T22:39:00.002Z

There were tears in the Finch household this morning, Jamboree selection was made and Young Finch did not get in, but he is reserve and still stands a good chance of going. Poor lad was devastated, as was I, but he was very quick to say well done to his mates who did get in, very very proud of him for that. But fingers crossed the little rascal should still get there.

Off away to France on 16th Feb that should be good, and there will be some news after Easter!!!! its big!!!

2010-01-20T12:30:00.002Z

Went to the Valley last night, the game was poor despite Charlton winning 2-1, the highlight to be fair was the young man who entered the field of play with minutes to go, I cannot describe the young fella as a streaker as he was wearing a Borat Mankini, from our angle he looked cold. Young Finch was rather taken with a female supporter sitting behind us, apparently she is Da boom ting, whatever that means....standard.

I would like to point out the pic of the streaker is from Charlton's Press Officer's phone.

Young Finch is in a nervy state as he has to wait til Sunday morning to see if he got into the Jamboree, poor lad so keen, and will be heartbroken if he does not get in. They will telephone me on Sunday morning with the news good or bad! Its going to be a long few days.

Disco is getting bigger by the day, still dancing and now appears to be boxing judging by the latest scan! Charlton Baby Grow's are on order.

2010-01-16T10:17:00.002Z

Well its nearly 3 weeks since I stopped smoking, definitely feeling better and tasting food, the pills are working well.

Finally Miss White has joined the real world and at last joined the fun on Facebook, whenever I mentioned it to her she has turned her nose up at the idea, I now think she is rather enjoying. Facebook can, though get you into trouble, take this status from a certain family member in Wales "I'd better go and get my wife back from London I suppose. She's cheaper there mind, no internet shopping access" I did speak to him briefly last night, and he reckoned she does not read Facebook so she wont see it, so that's good, Oh!!! hang on, she reads my blog!!! oh dear, sorry!

Young Finch is a bundle of nerves ahead of his selection weekend, he desperately wants to go, I really hope he gets through we will find out a week Sunday. It could be a long week for him and his parents.

Had a phone call Wednesday, which means only one thing, it ,means dust down then ralgex, find the knee bandage, up to the loft, Net practice begins next Friday evening at Avery Hill, which means my post a week today will be me writing how much I ache! the first session is always good, the quicks spray the ball everywhere, batsmen think they can hit every ball for 6 and the added bonus this year is Middle Finch with his newly repaired shoulder bowling his trundlers...

2010-01-11T08:11:00.002Z

Its now 11 days without a fag, starting to feel better, breath a little easier, and smell nicer! The snow has caused havoc with Young Finch's school, they opened everyday but sent the kids home at 11am each day, the young un is a strange beastie as he was not at all happy about his school closing. Big weekend looms for him, Sunday is his selection weekend for the World Jamboree. 49 scouts and only 36 places, fingers crossed for the little sod, he desperately wants to go.

2010-01-03T12:04:00.002Z

Young Finch has picked a good weekend to go to his mothers, I gave up smoking on New Years Day, using Zyban and its been going ok, had a few wobbles but on the whole its not going too bad. In fact mood seems positively chipper!

New Years Eve was as usual spent and Stephen and Julies, making the most of this one as next time we will be in Switzerland enjoying the Ice Bar! I was invited to the Scouts NYE bash, but I much prefer going to Stephen and Julies, its a good night in with food and plenty of red wine and a very relaxed family atmosphere, after midnight had come and gone Stephen and I murdered a few tunes on Sing Star, and by god did we murder them. Young Finch and I headed home around 4am, another very good night.

The Panto script is coming along and we have a good team now in place to help, so its all coming together well.

Spoke to G the other day she was in the bath as usual, a very good chat as per normal with G, she was very pleased with my news! must meet up with her in the New Year.

Disco is getting much bigger and is a hell of a mover!

2009-12-30T08:32:00.002Z

I have been getting up rather early the last few days to watch the Test Match in South Africa, very exciting it is too, as I write England need just two wickets to clinch the second test and go 1 up in the series. All in all its been a pretty good Test Match, it has similarities with England vs Australia during the summer, at the end of the First Test against Australia England had to battle for survival on the final day, and then went on to win the next test and the series, well in the First Test here England had to bat to survive, which they managed, and now in the Second Test her thanks to Englands excellent batting and some stunning bowling from Stuart Broad and Graham Swann England are on the verge of a massive victory, are we finally becoming a consistent top rated team? I think so.

Sunday night was one of those messy nights I have from time to time, we have decided to put on a Panto next Christmas for the District Scouts, I have been appointed Producer and chief writer, so 4 of us met up to put together a story line, our District Commisioner brought some food, ant the rest of us brought Gin, Bombay Sapphire to be precise! As you can imagine putting us in a room with gin has a certain effect, the measures where getting more outrageous as the evening progressed, we have a great storyline and started working on some sketches which to be honest were in places filth! luckily we have toned it down, but it does seem very funny in the cold light of day, all was going well until our DC produced a bottle of Merlin. Merlin is Penderyn Whisky's version of Baileys, and what a fine drink it is, by the end of the evening two bottles of Gin had gone as had Matt's fine bottle of Merlin! the rest of the evening descended into a giggling mess, and my poor son had to put up with his dad singing and then lying in bed giggling, poor lad, Monday morning was a tad quiet. I spent the best part of yesterday was spent writing the opening scenes, which have been done and looked at by those he need to and apparently it is funny, and most importantly suitable for a young audience, we have managed to cast the major roles, and for once I will not be wearing a dress!

2009-12-26T09:45:00.002Z

Belated Yuletide greetings! Had a very nice Xmas Day with friends and their family, we were very well catered for. Young Finch has spent this Xmas at his mum's because next year we will be heading off to Switzerland for our Ski Trip.

Went out for a drink with friends Christmas Eve, started off in the Old Mill, but quickly realised the pub was a dump so we headed off to the The Star, much more to our liking that one. As a result of our evenings drinking I have been asked to produce a panto next year for the District! looking forward to it already, we are writing a brand new panto, which will involve all the panto characters, we had some ideas Xmas eve and will meet up again Sunday evening for food, drink and a bit of panto writing.

2009-12-20T10:46:00.000Z

2009-12-19T09:34:00.002Z

Well its here! Wingit tonight and your truly taking to the stage to belt a tune out, had a rehearsal Thursday evening, which was ragged to say the least, but that in my experience that is all the good thing, in all the years I have been getting up on stage, I have noticed that if the last rehearsal is cack the show itself is usually pretty good, so here's hoping that is true on this occaision! The old butterflies are kicking in a little this morning!

Middle brother had surgery yesterday on his shoulder, cant slow down his bowling any further as its as slow as it canbe already, he has not used the injury to explain how my batting and bowling averages were better than his just yet, but in time I am sure he will.

2009-12-17T14:38:00.002Z

Well this damn stomach bug is taking its time to clear! Still at least its not as bad as it was on the weekend. Just started on a course of pills to help me give up smoking, started them first thing Monday and was high as a kite for the rest of the day, much to the amusement of others! Scouts have finished for the year now, only a couple of weeks off then its backto the new Scout Hall.

Our Scout trip to Switzerland is booked, an we have 20 of us travelling next Xmas night, all 20 are very excited and now focussed on fundraising!

Tonight its my final rehearsal with Wingit before the Xmas do Saturday night, entry is by ticket now, so if you want one give me a call! Young Finch is attending tonights rehearsal, one band member has suggested ear plugs for the lad, because of the noise factor of course!

We are aiming to have a quiet night Friday, catch up on some Sky + viewing, I have two Top Gears to catch up with.

2009-12-13T13:40:00.002Z

Afternoon all, its been a strange weekend. I have been struck down with some sort of stomach bug, it has felt like the mother of all battles going on in my stomach, deeply unpleasant and although not as bad as yesterday I am still suffering! Young Finch has taken it all in his stride by ignoring my plight...ungrateful little sod.
His size is now becoming an issue, he is 5" 10 and still growing, so much so that he went out this morning and as he walked away from the house I noticed he was wearing my trainers!

Still in a bit of wonder having seen Disco doing his stuff on the scan Friday (See Friday blog) Disco is the right name for the little tyke as he was continually moving around making life very difficult for the poor Dr on the scanning machine!

Next Thursday sees me rehearsing with Wingit for their annual Xmas shindig next Saturday, I have been given Chantilly Lace to sing by the boys, and the whole event is being recorded on video, so no doubt You Tube will be graced with my presence soon enough! The event is at Charlton Park Rugby Club next Saturday the band are on at 9pm and tickets are a fiver on the door! As well as singing, sound engineer and roadie I will be spinning the tunes before and after!

2009-12-12T08:03:00.002Z

I was at an ultra sound scan yesterday with a friend, have not done that for 14 years, wow, the 3d image was awesome, and its a lively bugger thats been christened Disco......

PC Christmas

2009-12-09T09:38:00.001Z

Its the time of year when Carol Services are all the rage, I managed to miss the District Scout Service, very careless! In this day and age these things must be PC, so here goes.....
Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

'A risk assessment must be submitted before an open sleigh is considered safe for members of the public to travel on. The risk assessment must also consider whether it is appropriate to use only one horse for such a venture, particularly if passengers are of larger proportions. Please note, permission must be gained from landowners before entering their fields. To avoid offending those not participating in celebrations, we would request that laughter is moderate only and not loud enough to be considered a noise nuisance.'

While Shepherds Watched
While shepherds watched
Their flocks by night
All seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord came down
And glory shone around

'The union of Shepherds has complained that it breaches health and safety regulations to insist that shepherds watch their flocks without appropriate seating arrangements being provided, therefore benches, stools and orthopaedic chairs are now available. Shepherds have also requested that due to the inclement weather conditions at this time of year that they should watch their flocks via CCTV cameras from centrally heated shepherd observation huts.

Please note, the angel of the lord is reminded that before shining his / her glory all around he / she must ascertain that all shepherds have been issued with glasses capable of filtering out the harmful effects of UVA, UVB and Glory.'

Little Donkey
Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road
Got to keep on plodding onwards with your precious load

'The RSPCA have issued strict guidelines with regard to how heavy a load that a donkey of small stature is permitted to carry, also included in the guidelines is guidance regarding how often to feed the donkey and how many rest breaks are required over a four hour plodding period. Please note that due to the increased risk of pollution from the dusty road, Mary and Joseph are required to wear face masks to prevent inhalation of any airborne particles. The donkey has expressed his discomfort at being labelled 'little' and would prefer just to be simply referred to as Mr. Donkey. To comment upon his height or lack thereof may be considered an infringement of his equine rights.'

We Three Kings
We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain
Following yonder star

'Whilst the gift of gold is still considered acceptable - as it may be redeemed at a later date through such organisations as 'cash for gold' etc, gifts of frankincense and myrrh are not appropriate due to the potential risk of oils and fragrances causing allergic reactions. A suggested gift alternative would be to make a donation to a worthy cause in the recipients name or perhaps give a gift voucher.

We would not advise that the traversing kings rely on navigation by stars in order to reach their destinations and suggest the use of RAC routefinder or satellite navigation, which will provide the quickest route and advice regarding fuel consumption. Please note as per the guidelines from the RSPCA for Mr Donkey, the camels carrying the three kings of Orient will require regular food and rest breaks. Facemasks for the three kings are also advisable due to the likelihood of dust from the camels' hooves.'

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw him,
you would even say it glows.

'You are advised that under the Equal Opportunities for All policy, it is inappropriate for persons to make comment with regard to the ruddiness of any part of Mr. R. Reindeer. Further to this, exclusion of Mr R Reindeer from the Reindeer Games will be considered discriminatory and disciplinary action will be taken against those found guilty of this offence. A full investigation will be implemented and sanctions - including suspension on full pay - will be considered whilst this investigation takes place.'

2009-12-04T13:49:00.003Z

School parents evening went well last night, you will note the image of Vesuvius on the left, this has little to do with me losing the plot, more about the volcanoe later, first Parents evening, we managed to see most of the little oiks teachers, he was trying to steer us to the ones he thought were better from him, I on the other hand was very keen to speak to his science and tech teachers, two who as far as I was concerened were in for a bit of a rocket... the Tech teacher I felt a bit sorry for in the end, after talking to her it was clear she was being asked to do way too much! so she was spared the wrath of Finch, as for the science teacher, her explanations as to why in the last 6 lessons she spent the best part of them moving desks around, well they were pathetic and revolved around challenging behaviour, I asked if young Finch was one of those displayed this sort of behaviour, she said no he was a good pupil, at which point I asked why my sons educaiton should be affected by other pupils behaviour and her lack of control over them, poor lass began to flounder at this, and tried to explain but I ended up tearing her arguments to shreds.... We bumped into his Duke of Edinburgh leader, a young Aussie, the ex got the hump when we all started discussing cricket and the art of left arm spin bowling! We visited his geography teacher, it is quite obviolus that she views my son as her star pupil! so much so that later this year he will be heading off to Italy to visit Pompei and Vesuvius and she is thinking that in two years they will head off on a trip to Africa! the ex who usually gets a few questions during the evening had very little chance all night! His RE teacher is a scream, not what I always had in mind as far as RE teachers go! young Finch clearly enjoys his lessons with this teacher.
Dans music teacher was another who was gushing about the boy, sadly I missed what she was saying as for some reason I was not concentrating on her lips!

2009-12-03T10:17:00.002Z

Tonight is young Finch's school parents evening, and I am looking forward to it, this term we have had a fair amount of phone calls home and a couple of letters from teachers, but these are not about the young un misbehaving, they are in praise of the boy, especially his geography teacher who thinks he is a star pupil with tremendous ability and potential in the subject, so much so he was sent up to the Royal Geographical Society for a days workshops and career advice which he enjoyed. Sadly there appears to be one teacher who is not enamoured with my boy, his Tech teacher has been having a few run ins, not just with my son but with plenty of other pupils, she seems to think its ok to change desks every week, a process that appears to be taking 20 mins a time in each lesson, now the fact that other teachers think my son is a bit of a star and only one seems to have issues with him leads me to believe that maybe the teachers attitude or ability is not up to scratch, this is also the same teacher who earlier this year was leaving the classroom and locking her pupils into the class, I ended up threatening the school with the fire safety officer from the local brigade ( someone i have owrked with a lot). So tonight I am looking forward to finally meeting this teacher and having a good old chin wag with her, I doubt if she will enjoy it that much but I will.

2009-11-30T11:08:00.003Z

What a fabulous weekend, We set out Friday slightly delayed as the Team seemed to be enjoying the Star Inn a tad too much, after a few stops to collect alcohol and a few stragglers we headed off, as soon as we pulled away the sound of cans being opened was obvious, and several were consumed, this had severe repercussions, having passed Clackett Lane services with no issues it became apparent that several members were becoming increasingly in need of a comfort break, one member was in deep discomfort, sadly the hard shoulder on the M25 was not suitable for a comfort break, it was not until we arrived at Reading services was relief available, I have never seen so many men run to the facilities so fast before! Lessons were learnt and the rest of the journey passed by without any issues, other than one member trying to consume the Samosas, his attempts were given away by the whiff of the spices everytime he opened the container, we arrived around 6pm had a quick cuppa and set off for the local Asda in Aberdare, Rich assured us his Sat Nav would get us there, as we approached Methyr and after a few dead ends we decided Richards sat nav was apile of cack, eventually we found a Tesco in Methyr and whilst the lads vanished to where the beer was stocked I was left alone to do the shopping.
We had a curry on Friday evening then settled down in the lounge for a few drinks promising ourselves not to over do it, sadly we only managed to get to bed at 4am......
Saturday was spent on a short walk to the Waterfalls and the cave then a visit to the Penderyn Distillery, after a few beers at the Lamb Hotel, a great tour of the place was had, our tour guide was very very good and picked up on our general demeanor and adjusted his tour to suit, a young Italian couple joined us and looked absolutley mystified as to what was going on, our guide took us throught the process which included asking for a volunteer to sample the whiskey at its 90% proof stage, none of the lads accepted the challenge, so I took one for the team, man alive it was good! At the end of the tour there were samples which we all took a very active part in and then of into the shop were a fair few quid were spent, including one member of the team purchasing a bottle for 275 notes!! A very good tour which we will take again....

New Romney Moutain Rescue Weeken 2009

2009-11-30T11:07:00.002Z

2009-11-29T22:41:00.003Z

The weekend was a huge success, and the highlight was a visit to the Penderyn Whisky Distillery...great weekend

2009-11-26T11:49:00.002Z

I have a busy day ahead of me, I have 40 samosas to make, 2 different curries and some packing to do for the weekends festivities with the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team, I came home from the shops to see two people chatting to my neighbour, and quickly worked out they were Jehovahs Witness's and the pair of them were pretty aggresive in getting there views across to my neighbour, she is a tough cookie but I felt the odds were a tad unfair, and they were being way too aggresive, so I took the shopping in and went out and asked them why thought it was ok to be aggresive to a woman just because she was not a follower of their particular brand? they told me they were just trying to put their views across, I did pont out to them that the way they were doing was unacceptable and the they needed to learn to accept the fact not everyone shared their views, and asked them nicely to leaver her alone and bugger off! which they did, neighbour said thank you and I returned to unpacking my shopping, there was a knock at the door, and who do you think was at my door? bloody JWs....pair of twats, they started off their little pitch at which point I stopped them and pointed out I was disgraced catholic priest living in sin with his gay partner (I am not) at which point they made their apologies and left....

2009-11-25T00:45:00.003Z

Wingit, my mate Ians band are playing their annual xmas gig for friends in Dec, 19th to be precise, the sound engineer (me) has been told he is doing a turn! so tonight I attended rehearsals with the boys to run through my song, and got roped into backing vocals for songs such as The Feeling, Eagles and their new Beatles medley, which is pretty top notch, they saved my bit til the end of the evening, seemed to go ok, had to turn the monitors up so I could here myself, but the boys seemed pleased with how it sounded, not sure of ticket prices yet but it will be around a fiver. Should be a giggle, and if previous years are anything to go by it will be a good night with a fair amount of drink flowing, so by the time I get up to do my thing I should be nicely relaxed.

2009-11-23T21:40:00.002Z

Something very strange has happened, A certain Johnny Wilkinson aka The English Patient, has managed 3 England games without getting injured...its just a question of time.

2009-11-23T11:32:00.003Z

If you are bored next weekend you can follow the New Romney Mountain Rescue Team in Wales via Twitter our info is @NRMRT just add that and we will be posting pics direct from Wales.

2009-11-22T23:30:00.001Z

You may recall about a year ago I did a QI TV spin-off, I have just been told it will never see the loght of day. Crying shame, you will be deprived of a group of drunken fools talking total bollocks.....

2009-11-18T22:57:00.005Z

The chaps are girding their loins in anticipation of the trip a week this Friday, it now seems the entire team will be travelling in the mini bus, a discussion was held with my brother about transporting his mother in law to Wales with us, he obviously gets on with her as he is going to drive down and pick up himself rather than have her put up with us lot...a wise move.

Young Finch is doing extremely well, he has been asked to attend the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington for a careers chat, as he is described as 'gifted' in Geography, the RGS want to show him and two other pupils what sort of careers are open to them! The lucky little sod is also going on a field trip, to Italy! to view an active volcano and a dormant volcano, I thought field trips were spent in a sodden field drinking cheap cider whilst wiping mud of yout totally inappropriate clothing. He is not doing bad here, he has a trip to France with me in Feb, Switzerland, Italy, and if he gets to to the Jamboree you can add Denmark, Sweden and one of Lithuania, Finland, Estonia or Poland, he does argue he spent a day in Poland, which is true, sadly the part of Poland we visited on a day trip from Cottbus, Germany was an absolute shit hole with not a plumber in site!
Talking of travelling, Miss W has been to the Himalyas and has got me an ethnic hat, I have not got the hat in my grubby little mits yet, but Miss W did send me a photo live from their hotel, as usual Miss W is being her usual magnificent self and I must meet up for coffee in my favourite coffee shop in the world over in Leyton, trouble is I would have to travel through Stratford, dont feel easy round there!

Dec 19th is a date for the diary, Wingit are doing there annual Xmas gig for friends, and the Sound Man (me) is getting up and belting a tune out...the Big Bopper had better watch out is all I can say, tickets are available drop me a line if you want to join us for a good night out with a cheap bar!

I would like to point out here and now a suitable wedding present is not a rolling pin signed by all your mates, but the bride approves I am told!!!

2009-11-14T08:56:00.003Z

Young Finch and I attended Scout DHQ last night for a Jamboree meeting, he is very very keen to attend in Sweden 2011, it looks a hell of a trip, they are away for 3 weeks or so, starting off in Copenhagen for 3 days then the Jamboree and then off to stay with a family in either, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. The young is very fired up and will have to attend a selection weekend in January. Only one other Explorer from his unit want to attend, a few of the older ones attended the UK version 2 years ago. Talking to Paul a good mate and the 2007 Unit Leader he reckons I should put my hat in the ring to attend Japan in 2015 as one of the Unit Leaders, by then young Finch will at Uni hopefully, so 3 weeks away would not be an issue!
This years Jamboree leader is Debbie, who also happens to be organising our ski trip to Switzerland, we were chatting about the ski trip last night, seems we will be getting a healthy discount on our ski clothing hire!
We are booked in to visit our friends in Conde Folie, France, and a trip to the Somme trenches is planned as well as a days duck hunting with the locals, having seen these lunatics running around the Picardy countryside with guns it should be very interesting! We are off in half term week February, Young Finch cannot wait neither can I as the locals are very welcoming especially my mate Michel in Bar Tabac, my little bolt hole for an early morning coffee and bad attempts at speaking French with the locals.

2009-11-07T13:56:00.001Z

Oh I think I am going to a wedding today......

2009-11-07T10:47:00.002Z

2009-11-03T22:05:00.002Z

Plans are well advanced for the New Romney Mountain Rescue weekend at the end o f November, the bunkhouse is booked, the van is booked, and the lads are hatching plans for the weekend, this year we have as usual our PA system, Ipods, Digital Radio and new this year a full blown Karaoke, as well as the Kinder Egg challenge we will have the all new Ferrero Rocher challenge. We have ordered a polypin of beer and Andy is bringing 40 pints of home brew....god help us. Our major activity this weekend is a walk to the local distillery for a tour and tasting session, I fear this will get messy....

2009-11-01T11:42:00.001Z

Ouch my head hurts

2009-10-31T09:40:00.003Z

What a good night last night, they recorded two shows. First show was hosted by Ed Byrne who had Adma Hills and Gina Yashere, Adam Hills was awesome, seriously very funny. The second show had Rhod Gilbert as host and featured John Bishop, Rhod being one of my favourite comedians was very good, a good night that the 6 of us enjoyed!

2009-10-31T01:02:00.003Z

2009-10-30T08:05:00.002Z

Last weekend in Wales was good, an succesful assault on Pen Y Fan was managed although due to a twanging hamstring I ended up at the coffee bar at the foot of the mountain kicking my heels, conditions on the hill were bad, driving rain, high winds, low cloudbase, but they all got up there, Sunday was spent at the Rally, what a great day, lots of action lots of rain but fun.
This weekend promises to be a bit lively, its Live at The Apollo tonight for 6 of us, then up in the morning to start the stag do with a game of golf, then off out and about Saturday night doing what you do on a stag night! Sunday will be quiet, and then its my birthday Monday, nowt planned yet for the birthday, but I am sure we will do something.

2009-10-29T09:54:00.002Z

Wales Oct 09

2009-10-25T22:26:00.003Z

2009-10-23T09:31:00.003Z

Off away this weekend to Wales for a walk up Pen Y Fan as part of our 3 Peaks training and then on Sunday we are off to the GB Rally, hopefully the weather will hold up.

We all make mistakes in life, christ knows I have made a few! but my son is learning the hard way, he found his PE Teacher used to play for Millwall back in the day, so this sent him on a voyage of discovery using google images, the lad has found a fiar amount of pics of said teacher with dodgy hair and Teddy Sheringham! he intends to take these into school after half term, I fear the retribution from Mr Massey...
PS Stag don next weekend.....yikes....

2009-10-11T09:29:00.002Z

I use Twitter, its a bit of harmless fun, I enjoy regular conversations with Phill Jupitus and a few others, but it seems the England Cricket top brass, including Andrew Strauss do not, current players, Jimmy Anderson, Graham Swann and Tim Bresnan use it, Jimmy and Graham used towards the end of the Ashes and had a competition to see who could attract the most followers, this led on to some very funny banter between the pair of them, Jonathan Agnew and David Lloyd are also keen Twitters and joined these two in the harmless banter. Phil Hughes the young Aussie opener was a regular Twitter user, until he mentioned his omission from the Aussie test team 24 hours before the team was announced, this led to him not using Twitter, Darren Bent also fell foul of his Spurs bosses, frustrated by the on off move to Sunderland he announced on Twitter he wanted Spurs to sort it out asap, as result he made back page headlines and the closing down of his Twitter account. The England team flew off to South Africa for the ICC Trophy series and Tim Bresnan joined the Twitter brigade in the England and launched into the hilarious banter with Swann and Anderson, until somebody posted a photoshop type photo portraying him as a bit of a chunky lad, this obviously touched a nerve with Bresnan who posted his annoyance on his Twitter, as a result the England management had a word and since then he has hardly used Twitter, Swann and Anderson continue and provide a sometimes funny sometimes serious insight into the life of an international cricketer. Sadly Andrew Strauss has stated that this will be banned on the tour to South Africa. What a shame, in these days where the media releases are controlled by a small group of suits it was refreshing to hear what the players themselves thought.

Lastr nights Poxy Shirt Poker night was good, reasonably sober yours truly triumphed!!!

2009-10-09T19:37:00.001Z

Right click on this link and you can see the band I do the sound for, a good bunch, I have known them all far too long!
www.wingit.co.uk

2009-10-08T06:46:00.003Z

I am insanely jealous of Miss G, she is buggering off to the Himalayas for a bit inspecting hotels....sweet jesus, and they call that work? man alive the lucky sod, I have instructed her to return with a hat for yours truly, we discussed the said hat over the phone and she thought i wanted a panama type job, so I had to explain I wanted something ethinc! glad we sorted that, di not want to have to feign pleasure when she arrived back with panama hat.
Off to a wedding today, my niece is getting hitched, there will be a full turn out of Finch's at the wedding in Sidcup ths afternoon. Stag night for the end of the month is sorted, a game of golf is planned to start the festivities, after that heaven knows what will happen! am I getting too old for these sort of things. For the weding I have been instructed to learn to dance properly, so yours truly has been having some lesson, eat your heart out Tuffers....
This weekend is our long awaited return to Poxy Shirt Poker Nights, I lost the last game so I am determined to win and capture the shirt back on Saturday.
New Romney Mountain Rescue are off away late Nov, plans are afoot for all sorts of shenanigans, we have several newbies joining us, poor lads have no idea what to expect, one of the new ones stepped over the line of decency asking if he could bring his other half....dear god we had to put him right on that error, it cost him a few beers for even suggesting such a thing...women? whatever next. We will be looking pretty splendid when we pile into the van as we have ordered New Romney Mountain Rescue Fleeces which should be with us before very long, I cannot wait to see Brian the landlords face when we meet up in his pub.....

2009-10-07T22:28:00.002Z

Well had the lump checked out its a cyst! but Dr thinks other symptoms are something else, thinks I have a thyroid problem, so took myself down to the local hospital to get some blood tests done, now got to wait for the results. I really am not keen on needles at all, the only time I have been ok with needles is when being prepared for my knacker surgery, mind you being dosed up to the eyeballs on morphine at the time I did not have a care in the world...

2009-10-05T07:14:00.002Z

Another busy weekend was planned, but I cancelled my weekend away, good idea it seems, woke up feeling rough Saturday and hat stayed with me all day, spent a fair amount of time finding a joint of beef for Sunday! nobody had any decent cuts, the only buthcers we now have in Woolwich are Halal, and dont really cater for the regular market, and the joints Sainsburys had were a joke, ended up finding one in Somerfield, a shop which is usually avoided like the plague.
Was up at 5am Sunday to watch the GP with Young Finch and my Nephew, decent enough race, made more enjoyable by the plate of bacon sandwichs, went back to bed for a bit, got up cooked lunch and retired to the sofa, later in the day we arrranged to visit friends, just as we were about to leave I threw up with little warning, bit worried now as I have discovered a lump so its off to the Dr today to have it checked out.

2009-09-29T06:50:00.001Z

Just had another good weekend, away at Frylands Wood Campsite working as crew, great fun but hard work.
Last night I was on a Scout Course, and as part of it we have another weekend away this weekend, trouble is one person on the course is ruining it for everyone else, everything is too much trouble, for her, and she spent the entire night last night moaning, which makes me wonder what she is like withthe Cubs she looks after....

2009-09-25T09:26:00.001Z

Click on this link and you can hear me somewhere in there, you may recognise the tune as well...
http://bigdavelockwood.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vfr.mp3

2009-09-21T08:53:00.003Z

Had a great weekend in the Gower, weather was superb, scenery was stunning, it has left us in no doubt what is required for the 3 Peaks Challenge next year, bring it on.

2009-09-18T06:30:00.002Z

We are off to Port Eynon on the Gower coast today, for a change we will not be in tents, we have a motor home for the weekend, with all mod cons, including heating, dvd and a fridge, way to luxurious for my liking... the weather looks good for our walking, just a bit nippy in the morning!

It seems that nearly 30 years experience as a Scout Leader is not enough, yours truly has been told to go on a camping skills course to enable me to take the blighters away..... so the first weekend in Oct I am off for the weekend learning to suck eggs... October and November are looking busy months.... fund raiser for the ski trip, weekend of walking and of course a stag weekend, also throw in my nieces wedding.... and November we have the wedding, and New Romney Mountain Rescue Weekend, and the band will have a few gigs as well.

Young Finch spent all summer complaining about the new school uniform, they have changed from polo shirt and sweatshirt into shirt tie and jacket, you would have thought by the amount of bleating from him that the new uniform had itching powder in it the way he went on, turns out he quite likes it!

2009-09-13T21:49:00.002Z

PC is working ok, touch wood! Nice easy weekend, Dan buggered off to his mothers Friday night... a novelty for him to spend some time with her... Friday night was a quiet one for me, a few rounds of golf on the Wii, then settled down to watch Jonathon Ross, featuring one Barry Manilow, man live he looks ill, he is also quiet clearly a big fan of Botox!!
Saturday was laundry and a lovely fry up, cooked for me! in the evening had a brief Scout meeting, and today I visited my nephew for lunch and a Grand Prix, could not stop laughing when Lewis Hamilton crashed on the final lap.

Next weekend Young Finch, myself and a friend are off to South Wales to wander along the Gower Coast, we are taking a cracking camper van, so its a little more luxury for us this time. Going to pop into my brothers on the way home on the Sunday in the hope we may get a cup of tea and maybe cake or something!!
Young Finch is now a fully signed up Explorer Scout, and is joining us in Switzerland in 2010 and is up for selection to attend the World Scout Jamboree in Sweden in 2011....lucky little sod. His love life has calmed down, after he dumped Georgia, he got fed up with her following him everywhere, adding all his friends and family on Facebook, so he dumped her, something I can relate to!

2009-09-10T20:46:00.001Z

Gawd I had a rant in my last post!
Been a bit quiet here on the blog, the reason? My pc buggered itself, so the hammer has come out and its ow working, will blog again when something happens!

2009-09-01T10:26:00.002Z

Sorry to moan about this on here, but I have just worked out over the course of the school holidays, my ex wife has had her son for 3 weekends, thats precisely 6 nights, she had him this weekend, normally on Bank Holidays she has him until Monday night, but not this time, yesterday I got a text from my son saying he will be home later that evening, at the time I was playing cricket, so then had to make arrangements to collect him after and take him out with me. Normally during summer holidays she has him at least for a week, to give me a break, this year she has not even bothered, obviously I need a break from him and he needs a break from me, last week things were a tad tense at home, and I am sure he would have liked to have spent some time with his mother, she quite clearly does not want to interrupt her busy life to see her son too much, since we split in 2001 she has taken him away on holiday once..... her idea of a holiday is to go with her husband and not take her son, when I go on holiday I take my son. I am sick and tired of this woman, and really wish I never met her.

2009-08-31T09:08:00.004Z

A good day at the cricket yesterday for me, we had a new skipper yesterday for the day, step forward Older Finch.... who promptly went and lost the toss, and was then accused of being a useless tosser, now I cant think who would have called him that....due to the late arrival of one of our opening bowlers, I volunteered to open the bowling with young Sam our lightning quick, the last time I bowled I went for far too many! so I was a tad worried, I bowled four overs at medium pace and had a few very close calls, the batsmen seemed to have a bit of trouble with me, in the end my figures were 4 over for only 7 runs! a cracking start! sadly Billericay made 231 off 40 overs, a good score, and one we were going to have trouble chasing, but the situation called for a skippers innings, and bles the old bugger he blocked the first then wallop was bowled, tis brought me to the crease to steady the ship, sadly at the start of the next over the other opener was gone, not the best start, I was joined by young Simba and we proceeded to put on another 50 or so before he was stumped, despite me warning him about their wicket keeper! I had decided to hang around and just nick singles but got beaten by a very good ball and so was back in the pavillion just when I felt comfortable, maybe too comfortable!
Sadly we lost, but we had a smashing tea, then headed home for a BBQ, met up with Young Finch and off we went, now the trouble with taking yor son to a BBQ with all your mates is that they then proceed to relive past glories and holidays we went on, Young Finch was amused at the thought of his dad doing naked star jumps outside a Norfolk bakers at 3am in the morning, I had to point out that of course I was very very very drunk..... also a sign appeared which I was told I aquired again in Norfolk, again in the early hours of the morning! oh dear...

2009-08-30T09:06:00.002Z

The band had a gig last night at a wedding, a very long day, met up at 1pm then headed off to the venue, set up, and then ran into problems with the equipment, so the set up took way too long, having sorted out the problems we finally had a break at 6, so we had 2 and a half hours to kill, so we managed it by sitting in the sun outside the gorgeous manor house we were playing. The Gig when it started was good, party goers were all up for a giggle, all went well until Ian managed to wreck his guitar, luckily yours truly had been tuning up the Strat, so a disaster was averted.
Finished around midnight, then packed up and buggered off home, got indoors about 2am. They had a buffet at this do, very nice, a selection of cheeses, Wensleydale with Cranberry..awesome, and some Wild Boar Pate which I rather enjoyed, several members of the band got a shock when they tried the chilli bread!
Up early this am for a bacon buttie and I am now off to play cricket in Billericay, then rushing home for a BBQ...busy day

2009-08-28T00:15:00.003Z

Busy old day today, bit of work this morning, then over to Ian's for a lesson in how to tune a guitar, and I know how to play the opeing chords of Queen's Tie Your Mother Down, spent an hour in the garden laering it today, of course this was no use for the gig tonight at Brands Hatch, but still it was fun despite the state of my fingers now, one of which has a cracking blood blister! There was a track day at Brands as we arrived to set the equipment up, loads of speed merchants flogging their road cars round the famous old track. The gig went well, and we managed to sit down and have cup of coffee after and look through the band profiles for the website, another gig looms in Bromley on Saturday.
Ian's neighbour has taken a shine to me, nice woman who looked dissapointed when told I was off the market!
Tomorrow after a 4 long weeks, I lose Young Finch for a long weekend, its very dissapointing when his mother does not even have him for a few days during the holiday, you would think she would want to spend some time with him, apparently not, she has hardly seen him in the holiday, too busy obviously....
This SUnday I havr a cricket match at Billericays ground, the ground is used by Essex's second team, we played there last year, the pitch is stunning and the clubhouse is good, here's hoping the tea is better than last year and that I can get a few runs....

2009-08-23T22:02:00.003Z

Amazing scenes today at the Oval, The Aussies were never going to make 500+ where they? I admit to being a bit concerned with Ponting batting, until Freddie ran him out. It has been a funny series, Australia will say they were short of Brett Lee, but we had Pietersen out and Freddie misinng at Headingly, to be fair the stats point to an Aussie win, leading wicket takers, most centuries, yet when it all boiled down to it England were the better side, Broads spell on Friday that obliterated the Aussie 1st Innings was amazing, helped by Graham Swann who as the spinner was under huge pressure, this was the Aussies bottling it, its all very well making 300+ in the second innings when chasing 500+, but where were they on Friday when the big score was needed. Its all very sweet stuff, after Headingly it looked bad for England, to bounce back afte that with this win is an incredible achievement.

2009-08-21T09:36:00.001Z

Three Blokes....Three Mountains......24 Hours.....The Challenge!

2009-08-17T19:19:00.002Z

Well the camp was entirley succesful, the Explorers loved it and the weather was stunning so much so I have a very brown crown (its not a bald spot) and young finch has brown legs, although that may be dirt!
One of the highlights was a scavenger hunt, myself and a fellow leader accompanied our group on the hunt which was our way of livening up a 3 mile walk to Deal, as we got closer to Deal we hatched a plot, we decided we would all act as French tourists.... so speaking no English we entered Deal with some very dodgy French phrases, mine were mainly "the monkey is in the tree" and "the cat is under the table" armed with this we caused chaos including attempts to order 8 99's with a flake, one of the items they had to collect was a photo of them in a telephone box, once the 6 or so Explorers were i myself and my rather rotund companion announced our intention to join them in the box.....chaos......but we managed it.
The site was stunning and the view out to sea everyday was awesome as was the meteor shower we stayed up and watched, to have 14 inner city kids lying out in a field watching something like that was amazing!
Now we are back preperations are in full swing for many events, the Mountain rescue boys are off in late November, we have a walk along the Mumbles and a trip to the rally, throw in a Stag weekend somwhere not revealed and a wedding its a busy time!

More Photos!

2009-08-16T18:18:00.002Z

Photos from camp at Kingsdown

2009-08-16T18:16:00.002Z

2009-08-08T07:44:00.003Z

Today the new League One season starts, its only 3 seasons ago that Charlton were in the Premier League and we had Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal ad Chelsea to look forward to, the club was held up as a model of how to survive in the Premier League, as we all know something went horribly wrong and today we look forward to Wycombe Wanderers, Hereford and Hartlepool, bit of a come down, we even have the joys of Milwall later in the year, oh how we cannot wait for that... as a result the club has lost around about 7000 season ticket holders, and to date have sold around 10,000 for the coming year, Young Finch has had his faith in the club sorely tested. but to his credit he will be venturing back to the Valley where for the past 3 years he has been miserable as sin, watching as a group of clueless gutless players took the money and ran, to his eternal credit using his own money that he has saved he has purchased two tickets for himself, so he can take friends along, one in particular is a Milwall fan and went with him a few times last year, and the boy reckons this Millwall fan could turn turtle and become a fan of the Addicks! get in there my son.
I am not sure of what our expectations are this season, a few overpaid prima donnas have buggered off, and a few new signings have been made, it does look a bit flaky in the defensive area, the midfield looks solid and has some talent, the forward line is an issue though, Andy Gray can if in the right shape get 20 goals a season, sadly last year the combination of his wife being seriously ill and his injury he looked more like our old favourite Carl Leaburn... if we can keep him fit and get him scoring we have a chance. Off the field it is a bot of a worry, the Club is in debt, but it is all owed to the Directors, so its a friendly debt, but we have had to put up wth all sorts of rumours about a takeover, the Charlton message boards have been full of people who "know someone" and have come up with various dates for the takeover that so far has not materialised, although 10 days ago the Club did finally admit something could be happening and according to the South London Press the takeover could be complete next week, if thats the case then great, hopefully some money will be available to sign fresh players. As for Phil Parkinson, he gets a lot of stick form fans who think he should be gone, but he inherited a squad that had suffered relegation, then put up with the fantasies of Alan Pardew, they were demoralised and lacking in confidence, financially speaking he was the only option, we should give the man a chance, he has signed a couple of players and I hope the fans give him the benefit of the doubt.
SOme of our fans worry me, there expectations have alwasy been way too high, I went to the first game of the season in the Championship, when at half time the team were playing ok but not winning the boo's started, this does not help, Charlton fans are not the best in the land as they like to think they are, they played their part in our fall, sometimes the apathy at the Valley is astounding, its time for them to get behind the team for a change rather than boo because its 1-1 at half time....

2009-08-07T09:27:00.002Z

Will be quite on here for a bit, I am off to camp on Sunday, Young Finch is attending as well, should be good fun, although the thought of a week under canvas does not fill me with joy....

2009-08-04T22:44:00.002Z

Age is creeping up on me, late this afternoon a friend rang and asked if I fancied some cricket practice in the nets, being a fool I agreed, I have not picked up a bat or bowled in ages, and to be honest tonight in the nets I felt very very rusty, but worse has followed, my knee has blown up like a balloon, my wrist is very sore and I have done something to my elbow, not sure what but it does not bend as it should, coupled with the fact the Babe Magnet (Young Finch) had to help me out of the chair to have bath, I am considering if its worth whle putting myself through this for a game of cricket?
Talking of the Babe Magnet, I met his squeeze last night, her name is Georgia, a pretty little thing who is totally smitten with Young Finch and he likewise with her, I was evicted from my own living room after dinner last night, this lasted for about half an hour until the boys arrived for our game of Golf on the Wii, all credit to the lass she coped well with us lot and stood her ground, although she really enjoyed the photo of Young Finch meeting the Queen a few years ago in Elizabethan costume, he protested rather loudly at this, but as I pointed out with at least two females he has dragged out a pic of me with rather dodgy hair colouring, and no G I will not scan it and put it on here!
So the boy is in love, and I predict tears by September.
A stag do and a wedding loom in Nov, oh dear, I do worry.......

2009-08-03T14:40:00.002Z

The cricket, when played, this weekend has been very entertaining, a few short years ago I used to enjoy having the tv on with the sound down and Test Match Special on the radio, simply the best way to enjoy a Test Match, sadly in the age of Digital TV, Digital Radio this does not seem possible because of the delay, I have tried various different ways but they are always out of time with each other, a great shame...

I vividly recall visiting my nan as a small boy and her listening to the Test on Radio 4, I am not 100% sure she liked cricket but just liked the gentle chat in the background. The commentators in those days were a joy, Johnners, Jim Laker, Fiery Fred Trueman who was never quite sure "what was going on out there", Fred was a harsh critic of bowlers "the lad can't bowl a hoop down a hill" was a quote I recall. These Days we have Aggers, Blowers and Boycott, Boycott gets on my nerves a bot these days, nobody is any good, the batsmen are all useless and the bowlers cant bowl, about time Geoffrey changed the record, poor fella was on with Matt Hayden last week and was quite clearly losing the argument so he stormed off with the hump.....

2009-08-02T08:15:00.002Z

Human behaviour confuses me sometimes, its bad enough to work out what a woman wants or is thinking, but ti gets worse, I have a neighbour, about 65-70 mad as a bag of frogs and on a few occaisions he has been carted away by the men in white coats, two weeks ago he flipped again, this time aimed at me, he (wrongly) accused young Finch of damaging his air vent on his kitchen window, I know it was not the boy as I saw who did it..... So two weekends ago Young Finch was outside with a cricket bat, no ball, practising his defensive stroke, all very good, and highly impressive of the lad, after a while I heard the nutter having a go at someone, on looking out side the old git was at his bedroom window gesticulating at my son and shouting the odds, this pissed me off a tad so I went outside and asked what was happening, at which the old git launched in to a verbal attack on the lad and myself, I was coping quite well until he said Young Finch was stupid...at which point my tone raised somewhat and I defended my son pointed out to the old git that the vent had been dmaged by someone else and told him who it was, this was quite clearly not enough and he announced he was coming down to me, by now Dans amusement had turned to anger, then the old git came storming out of his front door stood a matter of feet from me and started ranting, I noticed Young Finch moving and managed to stop the now agitated lad before he dealt with the old git himself, after a battle I managed to get Young Finch back in the house and then wnet back out to see the old git was still fuming, and calling me all the names under the sun, and then he decided that a fight was required...sweet jesus... with a slight difference he shouted at me to throw the first punch....now I am not stupid, had I thrown the first punch I would be the aggressor, whcih I was not, so I refrained and invited him to throw the first punch with the following immortal line " you hit me and there will be two more hits, I hit you you hit the deck" jesus what a crap line, this went on for a good five minutes, him trying to goad me into whacking him, luckily I have good self control and did not, so eventually the old git backed down and buggered off indoors, in the two weeks that have passed there has been a silence, until last night when I got home and there he was all smiles saying hello as if we were old mates, all very confusing it sems he had forgotten the whole incident, so I did what any normal human would do......... I told him to fuck off...

2009-08-02T07:34:00.002Z

I see a problem looming at summer camp,. Young Finch will be in attendance, trouble is he is "in love" he has a girlfriend, young Georgia is very pretty and the pair are besotted, its very noticeable, when his phone goes and he gets a text he moves very fast dropping whatever he is doing and whoosh he is out the door, now this happened last week when his mother came to see him, they were chatting away and the phone vibrated and whoosh the lad was out the door without a word, now me being a caring parent and not a nosey sod was intruiged with this behaviour, so upstairs to my bedroom I crept and peered through the nets, there was my son in a clinch with a female of the species!!! I could see her not him, so a plot formed in my mind, summoning his mother i decided to throw some rubbish away! which would mean I would have to go outside the house and walk past the couple, not that these two would notice anything else going on! so items were gathered and off I went....I guessed right neither of them noticed me creeping past, but I got a good look at who I now know is Georgia.... very pretty and way to classy for a Finch!!! this behaviour has continued all week and the poor lad is very distracted, his mum wanted him to go shopping but no, he was concerned he would miss Georgia, of course being a leading expert in the dating game (yeah right) I have offered my advice to the poor lad, one little gem is as follows, never do anything for them in the early days of a relationship that you may live to regret, and are not prepared to do when in a mood, like buy them flowers on the way home from a trip with the lads, or agree to meet them at the airport to carry the luggage, in the early days of a relationship its easy to be too eager, once its all settled down a year or so later when frankly the idea of a trip to the airport to greet them with a hug and a kiss does not appeal as footie is on tv, you will live to regret the first flush of eagerness, you tell them you will see them when they get home, this is never commented on by the female until and argument over the toilet seat or something petty ensues and then it will be dragged up "you never met me at the airport like you did when we first went out together" so dont be to eager.... there thats one of the Finch gems to a long fruitful relationship.... I do hope he listened to the voice of experience.... barring the odd nutter/stalker/pyscho I have done ok to date.
Well the issue is we are away on camp for a week from next Sunday and I have sneaking suspicion we will have a love sick 13 year old on our hands.....god help us....

2009-08-02T07:25:00.002Z

Its been a good weekend, Friday night was a quiet night in doing absolutely bugger all, then up early Saturday cooked breakfast for my self and Big Nose Bruffton and then we were off, first stop Waverley Crescent, to the District Scout HQ to load up the van with camping equipment, our Explorer Scouts were heading for Windsor Great Park for a weeks activities, it was only when we hit the M25 that we realised we lacked certain information, where the camp was, and how to contact the leaders who had just helped us load the van!!! I tried messaging them on Facebook via my phone, no luck we phoned people at home for numbers, no luck, and in no time Windsor Castle loomed in view, after a delightful tour of Windsor we spotted a AA sign for the event and managed to get there and even beat the Scouts and their leaders! having unloaded part two was upon us and off to Banbury we went ot collect a group who had just finished there weeks camp, looking at them on our arrival told a 1000 stories, damp, tired and ready to go home....these poor sods had a hard old week of rain, rain and then a bit more rain.... so we loaded the damp kit up and headed to Bermondsey, it was at this point that Big Nose and I decided to have a sing song on our own in the van, so the Beatles was stuck on and off we went, what an unholy racket, luckily we can both hold a tune, so that helped pass the time! finally got home at 7 12 hours after we started the day. Today its down to my own Scout Hall to sort the kit for our camp next weekend..... cannot wait.

2009-07-28T21:20:00.000Z

Pooh Goes Apeshit

A.A. Milne

Everything was rather quiet in the hundred acre wood. The trees whispered to each other as the wind rustled their leaves. Under a large oak tree, there lived Pooh bear. From inside Pooh's house, there came a steady bang...bang... bang!, that was making his honey jars rattle on the sideboard. The light came through the window, and in the evening sun Pooh raised the axe once more and brought it down on the tattered remains of Christopher Robin.

"Why...won't... he...fit..." puffed Pooh to himself as the axe came down once more.

There was a small pile of earth, and a hole next to it, which Pooh had hidden with his favourite rug. Christopher Robin, selfish prat that he was, didn't quite fit in the hole Pooh had dug, so instead of making it wider he had decided to hack Christopher Robin's legs off.

"A far more sensible idea", thought Pooh, and hummed a little song to himself as he cut the last tendon and rammed the rest of the body in the hole, finally covering it up with the rug.

"Always too bossy", thought Pooh, "Always too bossy, always grabbing me by the paw and saying 'Come on Pooh lets have an adventure' or 'Pooh you are silly!' in that affected cutesy spoilt brat voice, and his stupid little shorts - bastard!"

Pooh had waited all afternoon for Christopher Robin to come round, humming a little tuneless song to himself whilst gazing blankly into the fire and fondling the oaken handle of the axe. When C.R. had finally turned up, squeaking in his child-actor voice "Come on Pooh! Open Up!", Pooh had answered the door normal as anything, talked about the weather, and then went to the cupboard and fetched the axe. While C.R. had sat there, prattling on about what a silly bear Pooh was and how he had very little brain (which wound Pooh up no end) Pooh had raised the axe high and brought it down with a satisfying thud on Christopher Robin's skull, cleaving it virtually in two, with just some muscle fibre in place to keep the pieces upright, and freezing C.R's eyes wide in horror that Pooh, lovable Pooh, could do such a thing! Pooh giggled a little and wiped some saliva from his mouth with a shaky paw. Then Pooh, calm as anything, had mopped up the blood, washed the axe and begun to dig the hole.

Piglet had wondered why Pooh had not called for him that morning, to have his tea and biscuits, and so he decided to visit Pooh instead. He admired the evening sun, blood red, and listened to the birds singing. Pooh watched him get nearer and nearer, and plugged in the drill.

Piglet had no time to realise what had happened - the drill pierced his skull, sending a beautiful fountain of blood all over Pooh's orange hide. He rubbed the blood in and all over himself, licking, licking, always licking. Then he pulled Piglet inside and put him in the cupboard. The syringe lay on the sideboard, and Pooh picked it up, paws shaking and sweating, and filled it full of solution of the funny white powder that had been given to him by a strangely spaced-out Rabbit. It was a strange effect at first, and Pooh thought he had seen many strange things, but then experienced a euphoric feeling of power. It made him irritable, and C.R. and Piglet had everything that was coming to them, no doubt at all. When night had fully fallen, Pooh dragged the bodies out and buried them in a makeshift grave.

"Adios, dear 'friends'", Pooh giggled, "Things are going to change around the 100-acre wood now I'm in charge" he laughed hysterically and went indoors.

The next day Tigger and Roo made their way happily to Pooh's house, to see if he knew where C.R. and Piglet were, as no-one had seen them since yesterday. They were sure Pooh would know, as he had had tea with Piglet yesterday and was meant to be playing Pooh-sticks with C.R. in the morning.

When they reached Pooh's house the door was wide open and Pooh was nowhere to be seen. Tigger and Roo looked inside Pooh's house and noticed a large hole in Pooh's floor and a notice was stuck on the wall with a large blob of congealing honey "OWT CHAGIG THE DRAGGN" (spelling had never been one of Pooh's strong points).

"That's odd", though Tigger, "there are no dragons in the 100-acre wood only heffalumps. What is that silly bear up to now?"

Not even Tigger would have imagined what Pooh was up to at that moment. That morning Pooh had woken with a splitting headache and a rather snotty nose. So he had taken a large dose of the white powder and a little while later had a brilliant idea! He left the house with a container marked insecticide in big red letters. He took the container and went to Eeyore's favourite patch of thistles.

"This will serve that manic depressive donkey right" laughed Pooh aloud, "always cheating at Pooh-sticks, cheats never prosper", Pooh said to himself.

Then he hid behind a tree to watch the unsuspecting Eeyore eat himself to death - sheer poetic justice thought Pooh as he dumped the nearly dead body of Eeyore in the same grave as C.R. and Piglet.

"Shouldn't cheat should you?", shouted Pooh as Eeyore's eyes stared with disbelief. "You're lucky I didn't chop you up into little bits and feed you to Tigger!", laughed Pooh manically, before he covered the makeshift grave over.

Pooh didn't return to the house until dinner time as he was totally spaced out all morning. So when he returned to his house he was in an awful mood and all he needed to make him absolutely mad was the sight of Tigger and Roo bouncing up and down outside his house singing "bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, the wonderful....".

"'Wonderful'?", thought Pooh aloud, "My foot, you'd think the writer of this shitty story could think up better lyrics for a song than that, and to think, they released the sound-track album on cassette and CD; a lot of people are going to get ripped off." This lightened Pooh's mood somewhat, but the respite was brief.

"What was that you said?", asked Roo.

"God does he never stop asking pathetic questions?", Pooh thought furiously. "I'm going to have to deal with these prats as well. Is there no-one in this place with intelligence apart from me?" Pooh asked despairingly."

Pooh felt himself extremely lucky as Roo had to go home for his afternoon sleep and that left Tigger at his mercy. Even better, Tigger suggested that himself and Pooh go and play Pooh-sticks; Pooh had smiled slyly as an idea formed in his overactive brain, and agreed.

"What an opportunity", Pooh whispered to himself as he followed the innocent Tigger to the bridge.

Once on the bridge, and the rather pointless game of Pooh-sticks was under way, Pooh thought he'd much rather push his stick up Tigger's arse, rather than throwing it into the stream. Tigger was leaning over the side of the bridge looking for his stick. So he did not see Pooh's wide horrific grin as he outstretched his arms and moved toward Tigger with the intent of pushing the stupid cat into the stream.

"Cats hate water, tee hee, he'll drown."

There was a loud splash as Tigger hit the water and started to struggle as his head was covered by water, he gulped and choked. Pooh was holding on to the rail of the bridge and jumping up and down with excitement and was joyously shouting at the drowning Tigger.

"Why?", spluttered Tigger as he slowly started to turn blue with the cold, which Pooh found hysterical, after all a blue Tigger? How absolutely silly.

"I'll tell you why you bastard", screamed Pooh, "It serves you right, hiding behind doors and jumping out, and scaring the shit out of people." Tigger did not hear Pooh's answer as he was already floating downstream face down in the water, dead. "Good riddance", laughed Pooh, and looked at his watch. "Still time to get that little dick-head Roo before he wakes up."

Pooh sneaked to the sleeping form of Roo's mum and saw Roo's ear poking out of her pouch.

"Now I've got you, you little git", Pooh thought, smiling, as he threaded a needle with extra strong cotton. He was jolly grateful for Piglet's sewing lessons now, because he would be able to sew up Roo nice and tightly, so he would not be able to get out and his mum would not be able to rescue him. So very slowly and carefully Pooh began to sew Roo into his pouch and thereby suffocating the annoying idiotic twit. After the deed was done Pooh made his way back to his house wondering how Roo's mum would take the death of Roo. Badly, hoped Pooh, as he began to cough uncontrollably and felt general nausea overcome him.

By the time Pooh got home he had puked up several times and was very desperate for some more of the white solution. He trembled as he picked up the syringe and gave himself the remaining amount. An awfully large amount, one might say, for a small little bear like Pooh. In fact too much, Pooh died of an overdose, but he died with a smile on his face: he was dreaming that he was the only teddy bear made with a willy and dreamed how he surprised Eeyore one day - but that's a story for another day.

2009-07-26T22:22:00.003Z

What a weekend, a gig with Wingit on Friday, up at 5am to drive to Wales and an attempt to reach the top of Pen Y Fan, sadly with driving rain and a very low cloud base we had to go for an alternative walk, still very invigotating, and Young Finch coped very well and seemed to enjoy himself!
Dinner today as Pork and Beans followed by Rhubarb and Custard, a lethal combination, and so it proved on the journey back to London!

The old knee seems to have given up, I have no trouble wlaking on it, but bending when sat down is proving harder, I fear the ligament injury of 18 months ago has returned....

2009-07-22T14:32:00.003Z

Well as you can see from the photos Chillax was a giggle, we had a clock malfunction on Saturday morning, after going to bed at 3.30 am, then being woken up by a 16 year old who wanted to make as much noise as possible, we were awoken my Mr Blackett asking me what the time was, barely awake I said 6.30 so up 3 of us got put the kettle on and started thinking about cooking breakfast, it was a this point that Mr Sweenet noticed that my reading of the time was somewhat inaccurate, it was in fact 5.30 am, so after 2 hours sleep we were up and away, sadly for us Mr Sweeney spent the rest of the weekend abusing us! Saturday went well depsite the heat in the kitchen when cooking breakfastsmall kitchen two large men cooking = hot sweaty and horrid, in the evening we did a BBQ for 60 hungry bods, very hard work, then settled down to the Karaoke where the 3 of us let rip with Sweet Transvestite from the Rocky Horror Show, not sure what our charges made of it!
Sunday night at home was a tad quiet, and early night loomed.

School Summer holidays have arrived and this means that Young Finch is about the house, I have given him instructions that he must go outside and tear himself away from the computer, but luckily there is a female on the scene, so its nice and quiet.....

Chillax!

2009-07-20T21:47:00.002Z

2009-07-17T06:33:00.003Z

Well the 2nd Ashes Test started yesterday, Cook and Strauss got England off to a flier and dominated the poor Aussi bowling from the word go. Mitchell Johnson who came here with a big reputation could not bowl a hoop down a hill (cue Fred Trueman chuntering on) he was a shocker, apparently he is a confidence bowler, well his confidence is shot to pieces. At one stage England were 196-0 and finished the day at 364-6, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior or Flintoff had the opportunity to build a good score and put England firmly in the driving seat, but they all failed, and its left to Strauss and Stuart Broad to try and get England over the 400 mark, when clearly 500+ was on the cards, what is it with our middle order? we needed just one of them to knuckle down and get a big score with Strauss, Bopara looks very nervous, and it just seems to show how awful the West Indies were, Pietersen did his level best to chuck his wicket away before tea. Someone needs to tell them we need to bat for two days on this wicket, and then we are totally in control. Hopefully Broad, Strauss and Swann will add a few more runs today.
Kiwi is ok after her break in, they got in at 4am stole her car keys and made off with the car, the Police came took prints and dont seem to be that confident in catching the buggers.

I see Alan Pardew has been appointed Southampton Manager, well thats them shagged! and I can only imagine the level of abuse that will be aimed at him when he brings the Saints to the Valley, the last time I heard the Charlton fans slaughter someone was when Darren Pitcher (then a Palace player) came back to do a half time draw, the level of abuse was stunning! Pardew will get all he deserves, the fat headed twat.

Off away this weekend with 50 Scouts, following a rather severe hair cut I appear to be almost bald....

2009-07-15T10:18:00.003Z

Bad news this morning, The Kiwi was broken into last night she heard a noise at 4am, and woke up to find someone had broken in through the front door and stole her car keys, and now her car is gone! thieving bastards...