Looking Down The Burrell

London Madness

2011-08-11T00:06:00.012+01:00

Walworth Road 10.08.2011

A few snaps I took on a bus ride down back to Elephant and Castle. This was only the pictures I managed to get that weren't blurry and only on the right hand side. Nearly every shop was affected by the events of this week. It needs to stop!

Here are some other images I didn't expect to see...

About 10 riot vans speeding to who knows where? Including those new heavy duty bombproof looking black ones.

Police stopping for a re-up at Peckham Petrol station

A trip to Surrey Quays which was also hit. Currys staff were working tirelessly to clear the store in the hope of reopening by Friday. The T-Mobile shop was also looted while other phone shops removed all working display models. JD Sports had its window smashed but looters weren't able to gain access.

Decathlon outside was broken into through the cafe, where food was stolen. Looters stole bikes for sale as well as staff bikes from the locker room.

More photos to follow...

Horrible Bosses Review (15)

2011-07-17T21:56:00.009+01:00

Trailer

Went along to the preview of this at 10.30am this morning. It was definitely worth getting up early on a Sunday and travelling across South London to see.

The great thing about this preview screening was that there were no trailers. A perfect touch compared to the pre-show that came before Harry Potter yesterday.

The film centres around Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day) who all hate their bosses for different reasons.

Nick's boss, played by a cynical slave-driving Kevin Spacey, is a typical douchebag of a boss but with a funny side that makes the audience warm to him slightly.

Kurt really liked his boss but finds himself working under his mentally unhinged, cocaine addict of a son played by Colin Farrell with a comb-over. I don't know if it was just my over-active brain which always picks up on people who I know are speaking with a foreign accent to their natural one, but I could definitely hear some unintentional Irish coming out through the American accent.

Finally, Dale, who is played by a relative newcomer to films in Charlie Day, has to suffer at the hands of his boss the dentist, Julia, played by Jennifer Aniston of 'Friends' fame. I thought Charlie Day did really well, and his character Dale was my favourite of the film. Being the bumbling, misfortunate one like Evan in Superbad.

Aniston, who I haven't really seen in a film since Bruce Almighty, has been more seen in more Romance films of late. However, she plays the comedy role well in this film as the sex-mad dentist. My highlight of the film could quite possibly be the scene where she is in nothing but her knickers and a dental lab coat.

So... Dale clearly has the hardest time of the three main characters. Resisting a woman who is oozing sex-appeal, with her new brunette hairdo, and nearly old enough to be my mum, just to stay faithful to his new fiancée.

All three hatch a plan to kill their bosses and go about it by searching for a hitman but eventually settling for a bald, tattooed man called "Motherfucker Jones", played by singer slash actor Jamie Foxx. (Does he still sing?)

The film also features brief cameos from the man from the Old Spice ads, and Wendell Pierce (Bunk from The Wire)

As predicted from a light-hearted comedy like this, various things work themselves out and laughs will be had along the way.

However, the ending seemed lazy and abrupt and at just 98 minutes this was a fairly short film.

Don't expect anything too serious or a deep tale, but it is a well made film with some big names.

My score- 7/10

IMDB Score at time of publishing- 7.7/10

Horrible Bosses is at UK Cinemas from July 22

It's that time of year again...

2011-07-02T14:05:00.003+01:00

Yes, the time of year when I remember that I actually own a blog and perhaps start to put time and effort back into keeping this updated.

A few days ago I told someone that I love writing. However, I just haven't been on top of my game recently and have been lacking in creativity.

I hope to keep my blog nurtured and cared for over the next few months and perhaps give an insight into my life and the events that are to unfold over this summer.

J

Mudfest 2011 at Glastonbury

2011-07-02T14:03:00.017+01:00

For the second year in a row I decided to get involved with stewarding at Glastonbury festival. This time I didn't just go with my best friend Mohassin but also my mate Joe.

This year was a stark contrast in weather to the heatwave of 2010.

Also, the lack of world cup action left a slight void in daytime activities. Waking up every day to rain tipping down outside your tent (and condensation dripping onto your face inside your tent, in my case) is not really motivation to get up, get ready and chill out to some music.

Working at the festival offers a view into a different side of the festival as you were a vital part of how the festival is run. Working on the entry gates and perimeter fence reminded me of my holiday job where I was working on admissions at a Madame Tussauds.

On my first shift I worked on the Wednesday from 3pm-11pm. I was checking wristbands and passes for eight hours but the time went surprisingly fast.
We were allowed to talk to each other and be friendly with other festival-goers, mainly coming and going from their cars with bedding and ALCOHOL.
Surely mattresses and pillows are unnecessary luxuries for a camping/ festival experience though? I felt no real sympathy for many of the people trying to trudge through the mud with these items.
It was also interesting seeing that most men had so much stuff that they had their girlfriends carrying their alcohol. I think I lost count of the amount of people that Mohassin saluted who were carrying Guinness for someone else.

On my second shift it was a 7am start up until 3 in the afternoon. I was on another gate but this time instead of checking wristbands and passes I was stopping the flow of traffic/ people to ensure that the cars didn't hit the people as they crossed the vehicle track. It was generally agreed by most of us stewarding that the supervisors were idiots and none of them were nice people ("pricks" was a word often used). The first supervisor on this shift was annoying but I got used to him. However, mid-way through he was switched for someone more senior. A fat black man with a shaving rash on his neck arrived and he resembled a rhino in both looks and his crowd management techniques.

I was told originally that getting people into the festival was the main priority and that we could stop cars and make them wait for as long as necessary. However Rhino-man was intent on stopping the flow of people every time any vehicle came along.

"CUT IT OFF!" he'd shout every time he'd want to stop the people. Which was not only funny for me but the building queue of pedestrians being made to wait.

On this shift I saw a few vans of performers but only recognised Ed Sheeran out of all the people driving past.
Towards the end of the shift I also spotted Coleen Rooney in a group leaving a minibus. She was wearing massive sunglasses but I'd read rumours that her and Wayne were going to Glasto. I pointed her out to one of the lads I was working with from Bangor that I'd just met and she smiled at me.

A guy with a thick Liverpudlian accent then asked me:

"Is this the way in mate?" > Rooney's brother, spitting image of the shin-bicycle-kick scoring wonder.

I then glimpsed Wayne sporting a hat and big, dark sunglasses.

The majority of my time on shift was clock-watching, eagerly awaiting the land rover or van that would pick us up and take us back to camp so we could get ready for musical enjoyment.

We saw a pretty diverse amount of music this year and tended to spend most of our time in the Dance Village once we'd managed to trudge through the mud.

Tuesday- Arrived and then checked the place out
Wednesday- Shift and then Chilling
Thursday- Shift

Trolley Snatcha, Ms Dynamite, Julio Bashmore, Maya Jane Coles, Netsky - All of which smashed it!

Maya Jane Coles I'd never heard of but may have lost my attention because she didn't have an MC with her.

Friday- Missed Wu-Tang Clan due to the rain and catching up on sleep but could hear it from my tent.

U2- who kept my attention and had a load more songs that I'd heard before than I'd thought.

Fatboy Slim

Saturday-

Rumer- definitely not a rapper as Mohassin thought but chilled soulful music that was far too relaxed for the mood.

Caught the end of Jessie J's set and really liked that she got a little girl out of the crowd to sing on stage with her.

Tinie Tempah- really tested the bass of the Pyramid Stage but meant that we missed out on Giggs' performance.

P-Money - brought Blacks and Little Dee out to perform a new single "Run this town"

Skepta- disappointed that he didn't bring any special guests to feature- particularly on "Too Many Man"

Mistajam- good tunes and really good at entertaining the crowd.

Caught the end of Maverick Sabre singing "Jungle" and then saw Danny Byrd put on a great set.

Then I got exempt from a shift and hit up the crazy world of Shangri-La and the massive Arcadia stage which I mentioned in the blog last year. A giant metal spider that shoots fire- What more could you want?

Sunday (the day the weather was so nice we HAD to leave our tents)

Mr Nice

Camo and Krooked

London Elektricity

Plan B- bursting from his waistcoat and did too many slow songs but we wanted to keep our space for Pendulum and Beyonce.

Pendlum- big sweaty mosh pits. Lots of water, beer and punches thrown as was expected.

Beyonce- very watchable set but obviously a lot of people were disappointed at no guest feature a la Jay-Z/ Kanye. Her dancers were pretty sick, and she was looking hot. Busted out a few sing-along Destiny's Child and Beyonce classics too.

Took ages to get from the Pyramid to the Dance Village after Beyonce but we eventually got to Pussy Parlure. We didn't make it in there last year but I wondered why I hadn't spent my whole festival inside here.

A massive circular room with bouncy wooden floors. We thought we'd see about 5 minutes of Foreign Beggars but actually got more like an hour. This was one of the craziest sets I've ever seen in my life. It began with a woman stage diving into the crowd and ended with half the room running at the other and basically brawling in a mosh-pit. A few litres of sweat and the odd busted lip later we walked out.

What a great few days, lots of alcohol, lots of music, barely any sleep and some crazy sights all topped off by meeting some great people and some good weather on the last day.

ROLL ON 2013 (Fields are being rested next year so no festival)Although I may not be stewarding then!

"It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world"

2011-04-20T10:46:00.005+01:00

Titled quoted from American Beauty (1999). A film that I recommend everyone should watch.

Thought I'd share this with you. Watch it full screen.

A week in the life of the Milky Way: Video of the galaxy filmed from on top of Spain's highest mountain

Thanks to Terje Sorgjerd

BLAME GAME

2011-03-16T23:51:00.006Z

This is an unofficial video for Kanye West's song 'Blame Game'

Moving video.

Mobile phones or life accessories?

2011-02-23T18:05:00.017Z

A few years ago decent mobile phones were the reserve of the rich kids at school with many of my friends and I not getting phones at all until around 12 or 13 years old. These days eight year-olds can be seen nattering away idly on the streets to who I'm not really sure.

My first phone (pictured, right) was a Mitsubishi Trium Geo- used mainly to enter competitions on Saturday morning kids' TV and check football results because we only had Channels 1-5 back in the days before Freeview! I definitely wasn't allowed to take it out of the house and it was hardly 'mobile' anyway. Loading these mobile internet pages would take anything up to 10 minutes to check a score using the WAP technology.

These days we've got 3G, 4G soon to be rolled out and even WiFi on mobile phones. Is it all getting too much though? I've noticed we're all getting so antisocial and Facebook, Twitter are taking over our lives both at home and on the move. I was dead against twitter in 2009 when I wrote this blog entry (May 2009-pretty basic writing style in retrospect). I now have over 2,000 tweets.

With Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Pingchat, WhatsApp and other instant messaging services, so persistent that you can even check when your messages have been read, also invading our phones like MSN Messenger once did on our PCs- I feel that mobile phones are perhaps becoming too integral to our daily lives.

Driving while using phones is actually illegal and can actually land you in magistrates court or with a hefty fine. It can also cause scenes like the videos posted below:

Using phones in the cinema is also particularly annoying- either the light pollution that they cause or the vibrating alerts. I don't go to the cinema often but I frequently see people tweeting that they are seeing a certain film from inside a cinema.

Lectures are another place where constant use of phones is a distraction. Whether it be the clicking of the keypad, the light shining underneath desks or even the noise of text alerts, it is pretty insulting to your lecturers and after all you are paying upwards of £3000 each year to get a degree so why not focus fully.

Walking and crossing roads is a pretty common sense situation. No matter how good you think you are at multitasking, you may not always get so lucky. Quite a few people have bumped into me or narrowly avoided doing so due to using their phones while walking and I'm sure that I'm not alone. Take a moment to take in the world around you before you next check who the latest person to 'ping' you is.

Hospitals used to prohibit the use of mobile phones to stop them interfering with the equipment. Nobody really seems to listen to this now though.

Even on the Underground where there is not an ounce of signal. It's perfectly fine to have a game of Angry Birds to cure boredom, but what is the point of trying to send a message or tweet knowing that you could just as easily wait until you leave the station.

Phones can help in really awkward situations for example if you're stuck in a room with someone with very little to talk about. However, they have reduced the socialising that we used to do face to face.

I feel that texting or messaging people while out on a date is probably the most disrespect someone could show me. Nothing is really that urgent is it?

As well as phones being disrespectful and a potential safety risk they are now also very pretentious. Referring to phones by name e.g my iPhone, my Blackberry, my crackberry, my berry or even my baby (Megan Smith, Guardian, August 2010) is pretty annoying. Whatever happened to just saying "I'll check on my phone" We never used to broadcast to the world that we were just going to check our Nokia 3210?

I'm not saying I'm innocent, or that phones should be only used for calls and texts. I think it's just a case of using them at the right times.

What do you think? Leave comments below.

Oh yeah!

2011-02-06T23:58:00.013Z

Been away for a while.

Going to write something proper later on in the week but I'll leave you with this for now.

After the success of Taken which I really enjoyed, Liam Neeson is back with some more shouty, shooty action in "Unknown"

And I've just downloaded "22 Bullets" this so will be watching soon

YEAH ACTION! Stick that in your entertainment gland.

Uneventful yet eventful summer

2010-10-26T17:26:00.007+01:00

This too was written a few months back but still wanted to share it...

So... it's been six weeks now since I began working in the city taking photographs of tourists with waxworks at Madame Tussauds and there has been little to share of my life other than working and sleeping (mainly on trains).

Some tales to share however are the journeys to and from work which always seemed to have some highlight.

Me eating fruit on the swanky new London Overground trains then realising that there is nowhere to dispose of it other than waiting until the next stop to throw them onto the tracks is a daily occurrence.

The Waterloo Station train announcer like "Ready to Rumble" ring announcer Michael Buffer, "This train is readyyyy tooo depart... pleaase stand cleaaarr"

The Chelsea fan getting his head fully slammed in the doors after the community shield match. Serves the bastards right for clogging up my trains and making my walk to the station a mild inconvenience.

The Chinese couple running for the train who got split up by the closing doors. Her face was left looking like her cat had just died.

Me falling asleep (many times), luckily on this occasion it was on the last train to West Croydon and not the Brighton or Gatwick train. :/

Losing my brand new phone one night and somehow then waking up in Willesden, completely other side of the river and a part of London I had never been to.

Padlocking my locker at work with someone else's padlock and almost having to get on the tube home wearing the Madame Tussauds uniform before having to get their padlock cut off with bolt cutters.

There are more stories but I forget and am tired. Met some great people at this job and kind of miss it.

Hope you enjoy the new blog layout too!

Bestival 2010- Horizontally Speaking

2010-10-26T17:25:00.012+01:00

(Blog post from 2010 I've just got round to posting.)

46,000 people attended Bestival on the Isle of Wight in this its seventh year

I had quite a painless train then ferry journey from London to Ryde managing to get a seat on both with my rucksack full of alcohol and pop-up tent.

A taxi to the festival from the ferry port worked out for the best at under £5 a head and guaranteed us comfort and space unlike the packed shuttle buses.

We arrived and had to walk quite a way into Black camp. Eventually we found quite a large plot and were pitched by 3pm on the Thursday and due to some selfishness and funny excuses managed to save the plot big enough for our 11 friends that eventually turned up at 10pm after a terrible journey from Sheffield via Southampton.

Having stewarded at Glatstonbury earlier in the year this festival was far less about the music for me, particularly as I'm more of a fan of Dubstep/ DnB/ Electro and House stuff and had seen a lot of music there.

The prices were what I expected from a festival- £4 for pints is not even that much more than most places in London. It was the £7 "cocktail" of ice I got in Cocktails and dreams that peeved me more.

I came prepared this time with more than enough food and alcohol and even managed to share most of my snacks with my 13 friends.

Loved the Arcadia stage with the flames and electric guys as well as the quirky things like the dinosaur army truck that was driving around. A major complaint was trying to dance on a slope in the Big Top and Chai Wallahs tent often resulted in me drunkenly falling into people. Will try and return next summer!

Just some of the acts that I saw:

Vegetable Orchestra – "Greenhouse" the first tune they opened with and my favourite of the set

The Wailers- Bob Marley's old band played some of his songs as well

Bit of Jaguar Skills djing before The Wailers came on- He played the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune and some other popular hip-hop tunes to get the crowd hyped up.

The XX- screaming and sleeping was apparently what I got up to during their set. A result of Tesco Value Whiskey!

Bit of Rolf Harris- although he played exactly the same set as at Glastonbury it was still enjoyable. (loved his glamorous assistant)

Audio Bullys on the Arcadia Spider with fire and lightning fighters. Giggs played on this stage as well but I didn't get an opportunity to see him.

Dub Pistols also on the Arcadia stage on the last night had a technical difficulties. And I also saw a man try to climb the Arcadia spider!

Sub Focus smashing the big top

Bestival Radio tent shocking out to electro even when I’d sobered up

Egyptian Hip Hop synthing out. When I bumped into an oddly dressed old friend of mine.

Gentleman’s Dub Club in the Chai Wallahs tent.

Weird food, weird fancy dress- loved the Jesus with Oompa Loompa disciples

Cocktails and dreams was the most surreal of all the arenas. Expensive cocktails filled with ice- infectious house music and lots of pilled-up 30-somethings reliving their youth as well as tons of hot girls. It was definitely an odd experience walking in there. It felt like being transported to a crazy beach party- even the security in there were off their faces.

Painless return to Ryde ferry port, £3.50 taxi with 3 other girls

Straight onto a ferry which moved faster than the ferry that took us there. Then I waited just 10minutes before getting on a train straight to Waterloo from Portsmouth. On this train I was able to catch up on some well earned sleep and even had a seat for my rucksack.

I arrived in London by noon while my other friends who went via Southampton port waited until 6pm for a prebooked train back up to Sheffield.

“I loved it and it was perfect as a second festival of the year.”

Glastonburrrrry 2010! (A few months late)

2010-10-26T17:23:00.016+01:00

It's been a while (FOUR MONTHS) since I've blogged but I'm officially back!

We arrived at Glastonbury at the end of July fresh faced and full of excitement. We were ready to work as stewards but the blazing sun and freezing nights were something we hadn't prepared for.

Glastonbury was in its 40th year this year and we got to experience World Cup win against Slovenia with 100,000 other revellers before heartbreak Germany.

Michael Eavis, started Glastonbury Festival back in 1970 in a small field and it has grown ever since. He makes enough money each year to live the rest of his life but gives to charity and enjoys putting on his festival which now sees hundreds of thousands of visitors.

I also cocked up on the food front as a baguette is clearly not enough food for like two people for 5 days. Here's my analysis of the music I saw (In no particular order):

Gorillaz 22:00 23:45 Pyramid Stage Friday- missed due to working a shift. Apparently Snoop Dogg made an appearance to come and freestyle to 'Clint Eastwood'.

Dizzee Rascal 20:00 21:00 Pyramid Stage Friday- I was so glad that that James Corden twat didn't come out for a cameo. I started off unsure about the set because he was doing some acoustic shit and ruining some of his good old stuff a la 'Stand Up Tall'. Brought out Florence for a performance of 'You Got the Dirtee Love'. We were treated to a proper mosh pit for when he came back out and did 'Bonkers'! The crowd here as expected was mainly like 16-20 and a few guys had to catch an elbow.

Went mad when he performed 'HEAVY' and was one of the few people rapping along and getting on it.

Vampire Weekend 18:30 19:30 Pyramid Stage Friday- Really did not like or enjoy this performance, quite possibly the most uncomfortable hour of my life. We were only trying to keep our good spot for Dizzee's performance. They only had two vaguely listenable tracks and they also looked very gay but I guess it's not my type of music.

Snoop Dogg 17:00 18:00 Pyramid Stage Friday- Amazing performance, banger after banger. He had a huge and diverse audience and managed to appeal to everyone including the "sexy ladies" who flashed him.

Willie Nelson 15:15 16:30 Pyramid Stage Friday- To get into the spirit this is when I decided to drink most of my whiskey :) Pleasantly surprised by some of his songs- he has an enjoyable back catalogue.

Corinne Bailey-Rae 13:45 14:40 Pyramid Stage Friday- Unexpectedly good once again. The weather was really nice and it was good to chill out for a little bit. Thoroughly enjoyed this and she's a very pretty woman in the flesh too.

Femi Kuti 12:15 13:05 Pyramid Stage Friday- A Nigerian musician that I had never heard of before but they had good energy and were crowd pleasing. Good Saxophony and playing from the rest of the live band and the booty shaking was also a bonus. I loved the song 'Bang bang bang'/ 'Beng beng beng'. Was treated to the fact that "Kuti" basically means "bitch" in his language.

Rolf Harris-Rolf basically was treated to opening the main stage. An old legend, didn't think he'd be so good once again, had everyone singing. Had beatboxer, BB Harris, as well who I'm sure I saw driving a coach another day while working on shift.

Rolf is an 80year old that I questioned how much material he had but he definitely delivered in that respect. (Even saw the same set a second time at Bestival in September!)

Muse- thought they were a shit band that I wouldn't like as I've never specifically listened to any of their stuff, I was pleasantly surprised to recognise many of their songs even if I didn't know any of the words. Had good pyrotechnics and light show but the instrumental solos after each number got a little repetitive. Apparently their new stuff is not as good as their proper old stuff but we got an appearance from the Edge from U2 for last song.

Shakira- the woman with the moves- personal highlight of her performance was her basically grinding on one of her speakers. Not sure if BBC footage caught that bit though. Beautiful woman and she sang well.

The Lightning Seeds - only briefly heard them while walking to another stage but obviously had to belt out my rendition of 3 Lions when they sung that.

Tinchy Stryder- heard him from my tent while waking up after the night shift, says how much of a fan I am.

Stevie Wonder 21:45 23:15 Pyramid Stage Sunday- An amazing performance! For a blind man he managed to put a smile on everyone's face.

"I'm not the type of person that wishes death on people but haters can drink some haterade and just die!"

His message to world leaders to make the world accessible to everyone also really touched me.

Faithless- A great performance from legends in the music scene. We were pretty far back but still soaked up the atmosphere.

Alabama 3- The lead singer approached us drunk in the car park while working a shift and we just thought she was a random, crazy, drunk smackhead. Completely disbelieved her at the time but got home and saw her pictures on the net and the band website and realised that they performed 'The Sopranos' theme tune.

I got her "assistance" by radioing in my supervisors. B-)

Sub Focus weren't there playing when we got there, perhaps there were technical difficulties, but it would have been good to see them live because I really like their album.

Missed Chase and Status- saw them quite a few times at uni during first year. I would have loved to go mad to 'HEAVY' again though.

mistajam- wasn't really in the mood at this point after a long day so had to sit down and chill but he was doing well. Got everyone having fun with musical statues to dubstep and grime tunes.

Giggs- Represented South London to the fullest. Brought out Shola Ama to perform 'Blow 'em Away'.

Giggs really went all out as he was performing his first ever festival, didn't look nervous at all. Buck was there as well to support the big man. I was the only one really rapping along- especially during his new tune 'Look What The Cat Dragged In'. BUY the album people. Good performance and a "positive look" as he kept reaffirming. 'Talking the Hardest' was big and Skepta came out to MC on 'Look Out' as well

chiddybang- Were okay, just okay though. Again not really my type of music. More aimed at the kiddies hence why they played in that stage where there seemed to be like an average age of about 16 or 17.

Skepta-was expecting all of Boy Better Know after Ras Kwame was hyping him up beforehand. No Jammer no JME and no sign of Frisco. solid performance though. Did all his new stuff but would have liked to have seen some proper old school Skepta or even 'Dark'.

Scorcher- Good again but was apprehensive about the set when he started off with 'Lipsin Ting'. I definitely wasn't wrong to be as average age here seemed about 15.

Mixhell- Had never heard of them but their combo of drums and djing worked very well and the woman was giving me 'the eye'all the way through. I'm definitely a fan.

Neville Staple- Alright but not for me.

Dub Pistols- Were good, had an established fanbase so quite an old crowd. But Glasto was their chance to reach out to people like me. I was expecting a bad dubstep act by the name but was surprised with a reggae sort of feel and some Drum n Bass style MCing. Lead singer was cracked out though but it was a good laugh and he was hyping the crowd. I quote "when you take pills just make sure you drink lots of water" The woman that came out and performed 'Just be good to me' looked messy but in that dirty sexy way

Narrowly missed Prince Charles as he entered at the gate down from the one we were doing stewarding. Remember hearing over the radio, "Prince Charles is here with 3 cars but he doesn't have any passes or a wristband, can you just let him in though please." LOL

We did get to guard the house of Michael Eavis, GLASTONBURY FOUNDER and owner of all the fields and also met his daughter, Emily, who co-runs the festival.

Jakwob 15:30 16:30 Wow! Saturday - Out raving in the sunshine to a young DJ that I really rate playing out of a giant pineapple. He makes music I don't like into tracks that I do.

The Ratpack 01:30 02:30 Wow! Sunday- We got very lean and stumbled out on our last night to see what was going on. We got lucky with the ratpack, nice remix of 'Use Somebody' at the end in a tent full of hardcore pillheads.

Beardyman 20:00 21:00 Wow! Thursday - Only heard him from the back of tent, couldn't see him and the soundsystem was really lacking here. Got quite pissed off cos it was so rammed so ended up leaving.

Boy George 21:00 21:45 Wow! Thursday- Heard from afar while waiting for some people who did go to see his set. They assured me he was good, I wasn't so sure.

Pulled Apart by Horses 19:50 20:15 BBC Introducing Tent- Up and coming Rock band. Came at the end just before Roll Deep and the lead singer guy was topless crowdsurfing out of the tent!

Roll Deep plus Guests 20:35 21:00 BBC Introducing Tent- Shockingly bad performance and came out on a boyband tip. Used to rate J2K and Manga more before this but Donaeo who was also a Guest actually put on a better show than all of them put together. I liked Doneaeo's new song 'I'm Fly' hence why you see me happy as larry during donaeos performance but plainfacing all the way through Roll Deep.

Saw Dappy from N-Dubz backstage and so happy he didnt come on because I despise him. Jodie Connor was looking nice though.

Pussy Parlure another tent we wanted to go to all weekend was always rammed out so couldn't see many good acts that were playing there. Loved the drunk girl grinding with the giant plastic blocks at Cube Henge though, endless entertainment.

Apparently Kylie Minogue came out for Scissor Sisters but definitely didnt wanna see those gays.

We stood near a South Korea flag guy that must have had the same spot every day and just stayed for like every performance, however, the best flag had to be these scousers we met with Clay Davis from the wire that they had made themself. SHHHEEEEEEIT

What a week! Bring on 2011

Some Summer Films

2010-07-03T15:30:00.004+01:00

Another post about upcoming films. I would usually just post these on Facebook but there are quite a few and my blog has been severely neglected lately. Haven't been to the cinema in months but some of these may tempt me (after Toy Story 3 of course!)

1. 'Inception'- Leo Di Caprio and Ellen Page. Looks like it will be a good film. I really enjoyed Shutter Island as well. Not so sure about the plot for this though. Released July 16.

2. 'Cyrus'- Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly. I think this will be a good comedy. Released September 17.

3. 'Dinner for Schmucks'- Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd. Even an appearance from Chris O'Dowd from the I.T Crowd. Looks laugh out loud funny. Released August 20.

4. 'The Other Guys'- Samuel L Jackson and "The Rock", Will Ferrell, Marky Mark Wahlberg. Not too sure about this one but may be alright. Released September 2.

5. 'Salt'- Originally meant to star Tom Cruise but was rewritten for Angelina Jolie. No complaints from me on that one. Released August 20.

What is this monstrosity?

2010-06-06T16:10:00.005+01:00

World Cup songs have gone so far downhill!

I respect Dizzee Rascal's hustle in the sense he's made grime, some very successful pop stuff and even one of my personal favourite tunes at the moment with his collaboration with Chase and Status on 'Heavy', which has a very dubby feel to it.

Although this is only the unofficial song and royalties will be donated to charity, I have no idea what Cowell or Dizzee Rascal were thinking with this.

This song is meant to represent England and inspire the players. After listening I have realised it is actually three really bad songs in one. Dizzee is way off in his delivery here. At the start I was questioning why he was telling football players to put down their shanks (knives), but he actually said champs (champagne). Not really a sing-a-long classic.

I am annoyed that James Corden has the audacity to try and do music (even if it could be said that it is not a serious attempt at chart topping) when he's already irritatingly invaded everything on television. Him and that Matthew Horne (who my student union have decided to book for a second appearance of the year at the end of exams party!) are both lacking in talent and also annoying. Neither are that funny in my opinion and one is really only famous for being a fat b*****d. (See my hate for them in my blog about their "FILM")

I guess I may have even enjoyed 'Gavin and Stacey' or at least given it a chance if it didn't star these two mugs!

Best of luck to England in the upcoming World Cup, although realistically, I feel the next time we'll see another star on the England shirt could be as late as 2066. Hopefully we can conjure up something better musically if we get the opportunity to host the World Cup.

Bring back the full original 'World In Motion' avec John Barnes rap I say.

odd

2010-05-27T11:53:00.004+01:00

i don't drink milk

i eat dry frosties cereal

i am partial to a mug of hot ribena

i can't swim

i enjoy raw jelly, especially since I found at uni that it can help a hangover immensely

i'm no good at tying knots

This is me...

Stop, Hammertime

2010-05-09T10:23:00.004+01:00

My head is in a weird place right now.
Exam stress is not usually something that affects me, however these are possibly the most expensive/ important exams I will have ever taken. Despite the old "first year doesn't count" saying, we paid over £3000 for this year and the ups and downs. On top of this I have shelled out another £76 in examination fees to take exams that will further qualify my status as a Journalist. It seems I may have put all my eggs in one basket in that I have no back-up plan for if Journalism doesn't work out for me either in the long term or after this year if things don't go as planned.

At home, I used to hate the constant nagging of my Mum especially around exam time, however, it was the case that in the end she was probably the only reason I would actually start revision. She still is. "Failure is not an option" was one of her stand out quotes.

Tonight I got "the fear" that people often speak of around this time of year, I guess there is a first time for everything. So I just STOPPED EVERYTHING. I literally put my life on pause and decided to sort things out. I passed up 2 birthday nights out, a poker night and a film night and locked myself in my room. These would all make me happy in the short term but more pressing matters arose.

This video kind of sums up what's going down. I went to the crunch and I didn't like what I saw, sacrifices had to be made. Naboo said he'd sort his situation out given it out given more time. Time is certainly something slipping away from me and success is what I want in my crunch.
OVER AND OUT

Thanks Jesus

2010-04-05T22:32:00.004+01:00

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Happy Easter everyone! Spare a thought from your Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns for the reason for the season. And to those of you who aren't Christian, don't believe in God but get money for Easter... give me some, I'm broke!

PHONESHOP

2010-03-08T11:42:00.003Z

The sooner this gets a full series the better my life will be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8PoCIT-dY

Recommended watch on 4od. Just got one full episode at the moment.

My middle name is Graeme, just saying init!

Quotational

2010-02-11T20:25:00.004Z

After a discussion with my friend Ato we decided that all actions that people do in life is either to make money or ultimately impress others or gain respect. What do you think? YES, YOU

Another quote I picked up from a bit of wider reading:

"Journalism is a skill that can only be acquired on the job and at the end of the day it depends on whether someone has a burning individual talent" - Sir David English, 1994

I definitely think I have the desire but I guess I'll have to wait until exam results are published and let you know if the talent is there too...

Semester 2

2010-02-11T20:17:00.004Z

Lectures so far have been boring.

Shorthand has been tedious.

Gym sessions have been non-existent.

Alcohol has been flowing.

Money has been going.

I guess second Semester's gonna be a lot like the first.

I took a trip to Liverpool last night with my scouse supporting Chester flatmate to experience another city I've never visited. We got into Liverpool around 4.30 after going straight from lectures.

We basically sampled a few pubs and bars for a few (many) pints and then on to O'Neill's for Arsenal vs Liverpool. (1-0). All in all a good night, Flanagan's was my favourite of the pubs but Jamie Carragher's sports bar was the most high class place we sampled at £3 a pint (still cheaper than many in London).

Got into Manchester around midnight with an hour to kill before our connecting train and got some Burger King, then went directly onto Sheffield.

All in all a good trip.

Fresh Prince of Glen Ayre

2010-02-08T00:51:00.008Z

When I said the next post will be epic I had something in mind, but now I've completely forgotten.

After finishing my exams on 25^th January I had time to kill until lectures started on Monday.

I took a trip to Mohassin’s new ‘home’ of Southampton to celebrate his 19^th last weekend.

After debate over getting a lift from London to Southampton and nearly being charged £60 for the return journey we decided on a considerably cheaper coach journey.

Once again leaving Sheffield proved to be a bit problematic. Due to signalling problems I had to change at Derby and catch another train onto St Pancras. It wasn't too bad this time but it seems a pattern is starting to show.

I got into London and after a few celebratory pints with the Genetics students in Bar One before leaving Sheff I was kind of in the mood to go out. Instead, I got home and tried for decent night’s sleep for the first time in months. A drunken call from my flatmate who managed to lock himself out without people’s phone numbers and my Mum vomiting early in the morning stopped this.

The coach was bearable and made more jokes when we decided call Mohassin to collect us an hour before we were due into Southampton. He wasn’t too happy about the fact we sent him to a non-existent courtyard and then a fake pub. As soon as we got past the traffic and finally arrived, we hit the booze and in particular Jasmin’s Rum Cake which tasted so good and was more rum than cake.

Jesters (given the title of worst nightclub in Britain, gaining the title after the previous worst club shut) is somewhere with cheap drink, similar to Corporation in Sheffield. Although that is really all it has going for it. Puddles of sick are not cleaned up on nights out and flooded toilets are common. The smoking area and tiny dance floor are the more popular spots. I got more drunk as the night went on, spending about 40quid, much of which went on a drink called a Jesticle which had four alcoholic shots in it and then juice despite tasting just like fruit juice.

The rest of the night including getting back to Montefiore Halls was just a blur and I woke up sitting upright on a kitchen chair with my vest down my trousers?

At the coach station we sat in a little theatre place where we caught jokes at the shaggy haired man running out calling for a first aider to the men’s toilets. I jokingly said someone probably wet themselves, however, after a while we discovered a man had fully zipped his cock in his jeans and was writhing on the toilet floor in agony. I was literally IN TEARS. (I guess you had to be there!)

The coach back was a lot more swift and I found myself at Victoria in no time, about three hours too early for my return train up north. I was so bored I bought an earlier ticket for £30!

When I got back to Sheffield it was raining as it usually does, but I guess I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I went to my first ever headphone disco that night, which was interesting but a bit screwy when both channels play cheese/ crap songs. Lion King and Chase and Status songs were my personal favourites.

Winspiration

2010-01-28T10:22:00.004Z

Nothing particularly spectacular going on in my life at this moment in time, my exams are over, student finance finally sorted out my money. I guess it's now time to say something that every university student seems to say every few weeks or so, but "I need to get my life back on track".

I'm now officially a member of a five a side football team. We're deciding on a definite name but 'Where's your Black Guy F.C' is one of many suggestions seeing as we've been stripped of 'Real Ale Madrid C.F.'

We are currently looking for sponsors and our kit deal is looking pretty lucrative. We opened the season with an inspired 14-3 win against a football team sponsored by Northern Sole (a local chip shop) which may have explained their performance. You'll be pleased to know that your favourite blogger scored a penalty, however it was the performance of the team as a whole that meant we could record our first victory.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next blog, it shall be epic.

Films for 2010

2010-01-04T14:11:00.010Z

Here are some of my films to see in the next few months:

Daybreakers

-Haven't seen any of that Twilight stuff but I'm hoping that this isn't anything like that.

The Book of Eli

The Road

-I really enjoyed 'No Country for Old Men' and the book that this film is based on is by the same writer.

^All pretty centred on the apocalyptic theme so maybe the end of the world is near...

Plus Toy Story 3, the fist part of the final Harry Potter book and a Tron movie to look forward to.

From 2009 I know but also need to be seen:

Avatar

-Been told it's not worth seeing unless you see it in 3D. And I would prefer to see it at an IMAX if anywhere, just that it's sold out weeks in advance.

Harry Brown

Law Abiding Citizen

Happy new year people and the next blog may well be in February!

2009 Roundup

2009-12-31T15:11:00.005Z

This NYE I will not be working so no blogging about troublesome customers. However, 3 months of uni has also meant that I am bankrupt.

This year I have achieved quite a lot.

Completing 14 years of schooling!
Getting into a university
Meeting some great people here
Getting drunk and going out more than ever before
Not sleeping
Going to mostly all of my lectures
Visiting Machester and Lincoln
Getting an overdraft
Spending a lot of it
Turning 19-(old man now)
Watching Kevin Blackwell's Red and White wizards (Sheffield United) play at Bramall lane
Falling asleep on one of these occasions
Seeing a few of my favourite artists performing on stages around the country (Tempa T, Dizzee Rascal, Major Lazer, Chase and Status twice, FWD>> Rinse again to name just a few)
Acquiring a place to live next year in a flat with 3 other lads- for only £80 a week, all bills, internet, sky and a tv licence included! After a long search with ups and downs and some really nightmarish viewings we'll now be closer to both Tesco and KFC!
A great christmas day with the family
And hopefully an eventful New Years Eve!

(More to follow)

What does next year have to hold then other than exams and moving house in summer.

Well hopefully a holiday, seeing Tiesto play in March. Should also be going to see Pendulum and the Prodigy as well. Maybe a new job somewhere down the line as it is desperately needed. I FORGOT AMSTERDAM with Journalism peeps! And generally I hope for another term at uni as good as this one and a year even better than this one.

Happy New Year and see you in 2010

Are we human?

2009-12-24T18:37:00.006Z

Season's greetings from London where my night out in Central yesterday acted as an eye opener after so many nights out in Sheffield town centre.

Up in Sheffvegas it's no exaggeration to say I'm surrounded by Northerners and mediators in the North/ South divide from the Midlands. We argue over daily meals (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner), pronunciation (grass and "grarse") and even what to put on your chips.

Nothing like a bit of healthy debate. The one thing that we tend to agree on is London. Although it has its ups and downs most people I've met would like to live there or at least visit. However, last night's visit justified my decision to move away from here for at least the next three years.

After getting off the train at London Bridge and being told Wednesday would not be a good night for clubbing in Central London I thought we should at least chance Leicester Square seeing as it was Christmas Eve, eve. We got there in the rain at around 1.30 and as we approached the entrance to the square we found 'OXYGEN Bar'.

The online description of the bar as,

"A breath of fresh air in Leicester Square. Spread over 3 floors, Oxygen has everything a night needs; a trendy terrace to soak up the afternoon rays; a chilled and refreshing main bar, with lots of seating and room to dance, this area is a recipe for an electric night! The Lounge bar produces the perfect setting next to fire places from the corporate to the most intimate of events. No night is complete without a large dance floor accompanied by DJ's who are guaranteed to get you dancing every night!

Our basement club creates a energised atmosphere garnished with a dark sexy vibe. We have three very different but equally enticing bars to suit all moods and occasions all under one roof!"

would be enough to attract even the most discerning of party animals.

This coupled with the sales patter of the guy outside trying to draw us in with discounts and promises and my want for a night on the town meant I was re-entering a club I swore never to revisit after a previous bad experience if only to give it a second chance on a "studenty night"

I saw about ten women in the whole club- far less than the 'loads' promised, especially considering there were at least 60 men!

Drinks were a very reasonable price for London but still ridiculous in comparison to the great student deals elsewhere in the country.

The music left a lot to be desired and the crowd moving along to it seemed far from being students unless they were all international and very 'mature'. All this and the top floor wasn't even open after all this.

Needless to say we left before closing time and managed to drive others away from the guy that persuaded us to go in.

To wind down we got post-club McDonald's.

My £1.99 voucher was not valid after 11pm
Six Chicken Nuggets Meal was not sold after 11 either- only the 9 meal for like £5.60
I settled for 9 nuggets with no chips and a regular drink for £3.98 refusing to pay 20p for Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce!

The night ended with a tramp smacking a man to the floor with two punches for "mocking man" before saying "TASTE YOUR BLOOD!"

Since when has it been commonplace for a fast food restaurant to NEED bouncers and even have to call for community police?

Man, I love London

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all

Home again, Home again, Jiggety Jig

2009-11-24T11:08:00.009Z

"The prodigal son/ king returned to the capital of the country on Friday to the open arms of his family..."

My first trip back to London since leaving just eight weeks ago. It has really felt like a lifetime. As I told my little brother I now have two places I consider "home" and I have definitely not moved out as I haven't even sorted where I'm living next year yet.

My coach journey down had all the potential to be great. £5 each way, 4hours- (enough time to sleep/ do some reading if I wanted), and my mate Jonny was coming along for the ride too.

Everyone warned me off the coach but I did not realise just how bad it could be.

Issues

We had to run to the coach station with 2 minutes to get there from getting off the bus, leaving us sweaty and in crap seats.
The coach had stopped twice before we even left Chesterfield
The coach then broke down almost instantly as we hit the motorway due to an 'overheating clutch'- and we were rocked side to side with every lorry that sped past
We had to wait 30mins for a replacement coach and then we were sat at the back by the toilet
Then the toilet broke- one of the dirty buggers that used it apparently blocked it!

The things I do for raving/ seeing family...

Instant text message "NIGHTMARE JOURNEY. MUM, BOOK ME A TRAIN BACK PLEASE"

I got home and did the ring on the doorbell seeing as I don't have house keys any more. I walked in feeling that my house had shrunk. All my family were the same, most things were in the same place but I felt as though I'd grown out of the place.

The curry chicken and rice was a great welcome home courtesy of my Grandma and my Mum as was the food that followed for the rest of the weekend.

Fast forward to my friend's uni halls (right by Trafalgar Square and cheaper than my accomodation too) for pre-drinks before setting off to the night out. They all seemed to have problem free coach journeys.

FWD>> + Rinse was a great rave once again although I can't help but feel it couldn't compare to the previous one. (Even if my throat didn't agree when I got home at 6.30am the next day.)

Saturday was a day to collect stuff to bring back with me to Sheff, and then in the evening I caught up with two good friends still holding it down in London for a few drinks but passed up clubbing again due to lack of funds or energy. The Arsenal shirt probably wouldn't have gone down too well in Lloyd's Bar either after the banter/ abuse I received in the pub.

On Sunday I went to church for the first time in ages with all the family and caught up with more familiar faces. Then I set off to St Pancras for my train back to my term- time address, suitcase and all.

This train was due to take about 4hours but as usual something went wrong...

Due to "staff shortages" (lazy buggers) trains were only going as far as Derby where I had to change and wait for a train onto Sheffield.

Tipping down with rain once again on leaving the station- seems like there is some theme here? This song springs to mind?

My train to return home for £3.30 has been booked and the tickets arrived today so not long before I see everyone again!

Wish me luck with the rest of my week. (Football Manager 2010 is certainly not helping!)

"Reading Week"

2009-11-12T20:04:00.006Z

We all know university has turned me into a lazy person- as can be seen by the lack of blogging.

So what better than a whole week off lectures to get stuff done. Hah. This week had all the makings of success. This obviously wasn't how it panned out however.

After my two lectures on Monday and Tuesday I went on a mini adventure to the pastures new of Manchester. Manchester Invasion was a £20 return coach trip that also included a trip to the Printworks complex and five of the clubs inside and a snazzy T-Shirt with challenges and ample writing space for stuff like "RIVERSIDE", "London Boy", "OASIS R SHIT" and "I heart various people/ places". I had a great time here despite quite high alcohol prices that I expected, and met some really cool people from other universities in Leeds ;-) (and none from Liverpool really!)

On an impulse I decided to skip the coach back and stay with a friend up in Manchester University halls.

After getting lost around Madchester's own equivalent of Chinatown I finally found the pub where he was and we headed back to a place called Fallowfield taking in the sights of the "curry mile." (Mohassin)

We got back to his flat and somehow ate like 100 £1 Sainsbury's Chicken Nuggets. (Blame it on the alcohol!) The next day was spent mostly in his room watching YouTube videos and chilling around the flat before properly surfacing at around 6pm due to the fact he had decided on a four week break from lectures and tutorials.

Bearing in mind I had been clubbing, I had no change of clothes whatsoever. This didn't put me off more clubbing at all though. We hit a club called Joshua Brooks and club Joshy B's didn't disappoint. Good music, good atmosphere and I had a good night listening to some dubstep delights. When we left we bumped into some local guys from back home that are right from our neck of the woods but we had somehow never met.

I also discovered a guy with a hairstyle he'd called a "Sidehawk"© which was basically a mohican coming out the side of his head that he assured me everyone would be sporting in the next year!

Headed back to Fallowfield with the Croydon boys and some girls they knew from the halls for a little after party where an old schoolmate decided to trash their flat in a drunken stupor. He had to be put bed so we carried him back to bed as a four.

Then we carried on trying to finish our vodka until 7am. Undiluted sour orange Robinson's squash was a bad idea for mixer though. We randomly met a nursing student off to practice at 8am who convinced us to walk her to the bus stop as we were still outside drinking. 8-5 is a mad days work though. (Glad for the contact hours I have for Journalism!) We were up and not tired so thought a trip to McDonalds for breakfast a good idea- until we ate the dirtiest bagel ever.

Overall a great two nights away with sound people. I wouldn't say that it's better than Sheffers but it's definitely different! His accomodation, like the Maccy D's bagel, was what you pay for.

Had to run through Manchester city centre later that day in search of the station where I would catch my 52minute train back to Sheffield. However, I managed to get the wrong one which ended up taking an hour and a half. Oh well- I took in some nature and saw probably the biggest hill/ mountain thing I've ever seen in my life.

Arriving in Sheffield in my two T-Shirts, jeans and nothing else I was soaked by the pouring rain on the walk to the bus stop.

Yes, very productive...

You know you're not all there when you try to roll deodorant onto your toothbrush!

2009-11-03T08:37:00.014Z

Is it me or does everybody now own a checked shirt? The people I call 'The Checked Shirt Brigade' seem to be out in force as per usual on nights out up here- I neither own one or hope to any time soon. Just another one of those fashion trends that I don't think is compatible with my need to not be a clone.

I celebrated my 19th Birthday this week and although it was my second away from home and my family (after an epic night on Birmingham's Broad Street for my 18th- YouTube search 'Josh Burrell bday'!) it felt a bit weird being at uni.

I saw in the night after midnight washing my clothes but then all havoc broke loose when I returned to my flat.

The girls next door had earlier played a drinking game called Centurion where a shot of alcohol is consumed every minute for 100 minutes and sure enough, vomit and passing out was what followed.

I'm assured by the winner (you know who you are) that it was not worth the win while holding her head over her toilet and trying to get her to drink water on the beginning of my birthday! Video footage of the night is coming soon, but it's not for the faint hearted. I did win like £5 from guessing the nearest order that they'd drop out.

Carnage was another highlight of recent weeks. After the chaos and mayhem of the first of these bar crawls in Sheffield where Philip Laing urinated on a War Memorial and made a national fool of himself (See multiple facebook groups for the hate backlash), the memorial was heavily guarded and multiple rules imposed. THEY TOOK MY MARKER PEN on the grounds that it may be used to deface things in clubs. Carnage said to the BBC that free soft drinks are available at all bars on the crawl which is clearly a lie since I enquired about the price of Coke at "Sheffield's only superclub", Embrace, after being quoted the price of £6.50 for a double vodka and red bull- hah. To the girl that tried to write her number on my top, where's the rest of the digits...?

Nineties cheesy pop is also quite big up here at union nights. The day after my birthday I went to see Scott from boyband 5ive versus Bradley 'The black one' from S Club 7, who I subjected to drunken abuse after saying that all the posh kids go to Sheff Uni and daddy pays their fees :/

It then led me to think "how long until the '90s becomes the new '80s and becomes and worthy of retro clubs like Reflex", that my Croydon people will be happy to hear has a club in here in 'sunny' Sheffield! I found such a club called Babylon but am yet to go there.

Another rant about Embrace was the same that me and my flatmates set out with free drink tokens which we looked forward to cashing in, to our disappointment we were given mini shots of vodka jelly which were really hard to consume and left us all with sticky hands and angered faces! Total con seeing as the voucher actually says "Excludes Champagne, doubles and cocktails."

Listening to some good old early morning 1xtra- good to hear Joss Stone, posh girl from Dover in Kent no longer has the fake yank accent that she used at the Brits back in '07! >

She is still singing with it though, but I guess that's part of her soulful style.

Ultimate WTF of the week- 2 bottles of my beloved Ginger Beer at Tesco on West Street Sheffield for £1.60, fair enough, but one bottle costs 70p? That's an anti deal right there!

Peace out

Early Morning

2009-10-11T01:48:00.006+01:00

It's 2am on a Sunday morning and I thought this was more worthy of a quick blog than a facebook status update which people MUST be getting bored of by now.

(Why would the spellchecker on a blogging website think that 'blog' is a spelling error?)

I haven't really drunk tonight so am in a very fit state to be doing this even though sleep is pretty important. Bit of a lazy day today but crammed quite a bit in:

Woke up pretty early to lock into OBK's Radio slot 'The Punchline' (10.30am, Saturdays online on Forge Radio). Was very good despite the poundland CDs almost trying to rain on the parade.

Also tuned in to a slot from two fellow Journos which I liked surprisingly- although it did lack the emo that I was expecting from the title!

Spoke to the Mother and my two younger brothers- I'll see them in a few weeks so no need for homesickness.

Watched a spot of football in the student village bar, The Edge, but due to the farce that is England being broadcast exclusively online I could only bring myself to watch the first half of the game due to the fuzzy picture and slow bandwidth. It honestly felt like watching a video on dial up Internet.

To put off learning shorthand even further I had a few hours of online TV when I got back.

Then returned to The Edge to sample the delights of drunken wailing (aka bad Karaoke)!

After giving up on that I went to the Derwent guys flat and watched Pulp Fiction!

Being one of those films you have to see before you die and all I thought I better see it now before I open Dawn Johnston's Teeline for Journalists again. It's a great film if not mildly erratic in its plot but it is Tarantino doing what he does so well and I would recommend it to anyone that hasn't seen it.

I returned home a little while ago and thought what better than a quick catch up on Eastenders seeing as I have exhausted the whole collection of shows on Iplayer and 4OD. Cannot believe they have changed the opening titles, it looks all weird now. It seems worse than when I gave up on watching it many months ago, and most characters are unknown to me. However, the breakdown of Stacy Slater showed me I did choose quite a good episode to watch. The acting from Lacey Turner was very good as she put in a solid performance. I began to draw parallels between her depiction of the spiral into mental fragility and Ophelia from Hamlet- anyone else see it? (Year 12 English Lit aha)

Now to write a shopping list for Tesco later, brace myself to actually do some work and also get some sleep! Hopefully I won't have to let anyone else in Yarncliffe F/G Block tonight- I feel like some sort of hotel porter! peace

"I Love College" HAYYY

2009-09-29T22:40:00.006+01:00

It's been yonks since I've written on here. I've been caught up in the "best summer of my life", plagued with writer's block and have been meaning to write about a load of things (my holiday to Prague being one of them), but my laptop died an untimely death and as a result I haven't been able to.

Today I learnt an important lesson,

Don't drink heavily before a full day of lectures. I was absolutely hanging!

This uni malarkey really is awesome though. Freshers week was amazing- a bunch of great nights and met even greater people- even if names do escape me at times! RIVERSIDE MOTHERF*CKER!

I'm living on very little sleep but it's all good as that's what weekends are for. You really do appreciate how much noise three or four drunken people can make when you're up at 3.35 am.

I'm feel like a bit of a geek at the moment because I'm actually enjoying my lectures (to an extent) in Journalism, Philosophy and Sociology :)

It is meant to be the best few years of your life but I'm struggling to think of a time when I've really enjoyed education.

Shorthand however is one aspect of my course I feel is going to challenge me.

I guess the longer I put it off the less likely I am to get to 100words per minute of crazy symbols!

I think another trip to the party that is the student village laundrette is on the cards for me soon.

Still staying strong as a twitter-phobe but my Facebook status updating has probably become pretty annoying since I've started at Sheffield University.

(I've realised how basic my blog is from being here with other journos) RIVERSIDE MOTHERFUCKER

Busy Buzz

2009-08-08T22:15:00.004+01:00

My summer's been ram-jampacked hence my lengthy absence.

Still not given into the evil twitter!

More to come from me in due course.

F**k girls aloud when these lot are about

Germany's answer to 'The Saturdays'- THERE'S NO UGLY ONE!

Some of you may actually enjoy this music but it works just as well on mute :)

"Untitled"

2009-06-21T21:24:00.004+01:00

LOL

Crufts and the Chelsea Flower Show, I mean really what the hell people sit and watch this. What a waste of television time! Also sports like darts, can't you just watch it live or even highlights- does it really warrant hours of prime time slots on Channels 1-5. Keep it to the sports channels at least.

Eurovision- what a joke that is! The UK did alright this year actually.

I want to be a journalist as some of you may know, or maybe my literary interest wasn't made blatantly obvious. Anyway, DVD review magazines are also quite funny. I read one in the dentist a few weeks ago, true boredom!

Each review is basically a copy of a film review but 6 months later with the addition of like which special features have been included. Seems like easy work to me.

I didn't even realise until I'd finished flicking through that it was from 2007!

Why are DVDs still like £10 though. It's almost as if they are forcing us to download films or buy them (on pirate as soon as they come out.)

It's not all hate right about now, I'm actually loving the racially biased KFC from a while back- I got free sauce thrown in no asking needed, white guy had to ask and pay. Why do they charge anyway? How can they slap!

Anyway I'm sure there's somewhere I'm meant to be right now or some beverage I should be consuming? ¬¬

This cannot be life...

2009-05-23T20:18:00.010+01:00

Guess who's back, back again, JB's back tell a friend. As promised (just got it in before the end of the week!)

Exams really were on top of me and while this was yet another distraction from my revision "Schedule" I didn't feel this was worthy of posting before due to the high calibre of my other posts

To all those that feel this blog should be daily, shove your opinions up your backside. I'll do what I want. As with all creation- "perfection cannot be ready made". A blog this good takes time and effort and after all I am only human. (Irenaeus and A-Level RS taught me well)

TWITTER IS BENEATH ME- I'll be damned if I reduce my musings into sentence long posts. And chatting ish to "Celebrities"!

Blackberries are an actual hype these days.

To think I had one before they blew up! (Nice little profit from that) But so many wasted guys are on them now. I see they have many benefits but freaking come on they aren't made for twitter and wastebook- they're meant for business and MAKING MONEY! This needs to fix up before I kill someone.

/end rant (felt good)

It's summer so Get Paper, peace

Just One Of Them Guys

2009-04-28T17:41:00.011+01:00

^WATCH BEFORE READING ON-VERY INTERESTING WATCH^ - (sorry if it's blocked)Good old Maleven gets me every time an he is deadly serious. This is a guy that as he says "likes crime and "wants money". His situation and upbringing is what drives him to act the way he does but I'm horrified when people in this country plead poverty as most of them have seen nothing like the conditions in South Africa.

What drives people to commit these extreme crimes for money in the UK? Surely fraud is more honourable (seen as victimless and there is no need to put victims through distress) or even, God forbid, an honest day's work?

Two men robbed a jewellers in Glasgow wearing full Muslim female dress, including the Niqab headscarf, and were carrying handbags. Surely there's some sort of desperation there to go to such great lengths but it has meant that women wearing veils are now banned from this shop.
Will other shops follow suit as a nation of fear is increasing? It's ridiculous... People are going to great lengths to eat these days wow.

Speaking of eating this article also caught my eye. Not content with being the fattest ever mother of triplets this woman feels the need to plump up her kids. The aptronymically named Leanne Salt has been feeding her kids MaccyDeez since they were six months. Such responsible parenting. It's so true that some people do not deserve kids! My little brother doesn't even drink fizzy drinks.
Which (black) man seriously impregnated this?!? not that race is of any importance but this 24 YEAR OLD seriously is Jeremy Kyle-fodder!

It's tragic that it took this guy to be accidentally killed by his own friend for me to recognise him as an artist- R.I.P Jade Defoe / Esco Bars.

Anyone else eaten this by the way?- tastes so goood...

APRIL Update

2009-04-28T16:51:00.008+01:00

Some of my trusted followers were figuratively foaming at the mouth at the thought of a new blog entry so here you go :-)

Finished the mountain that is ICT coursework.

Anyone that says ICT is a soft subject/ easy A-Level really should rethink that 'touching sentiment'. The three of us in the class have worked tirelessly to complete this despite an aggravating change of teacher halfway through the year. I know that certain subjects such as ART, D.T, P.E. and MEDIA are usually looked down upon in terms of A-Levels but in actual fact I feel it is the effort put into a subject that defines its difficulty. Even the ICT exams are more than simply the common sense questions asked at GCSE level- having the OCR exams board also makes everything a lot worse.

Half of these subjects are becoming redundant in my place of education due to lack of interest or the fact that "it's not viable to run lessons with class sizes this small". I'm happy to be in one of these elite small classes and the school can go and F**k itself for all I care. UNI SOON COME FOR ME.

Oh well, it's been a busy month for me hence the lack of posts on here and now that I've put myself on "lockdown" I guess May is going to be very dead. I'm going to have to focus on Revision and work seeing as that is all I'm going to be doing!

X:Men Origins: Wolverine should be a good watch I may do another film review on that...

Enjoy the last few days of April - I want to see loads of comments!

COME ON THE ARSENAL !!!

Love/ Hate

2009-03-30T22:05:00.007+01:00

Bullet pointed because I just wrote a pretty deep and wordy entry before.

Love

I'm loving Costco at the moment. It's like a bigger Makro with better stuff. Really cheap and the cafe served the largest slice of pizza I have ever seen. Drinks with free refills there as well.
Southwark (a borough in South East London for those that don't know) my spiritual home. Returning there recently not just Dulwich but Elephant 'n' Castle and Walworth etc. Reminded me of why I both loved and hated living there. The Girls! I feel almost obliged to know Spanish when I'm in Elephant. Damn French- useless subject in this country.
Staring at the moon out of my window and thinking deeply.
Finally drove my mum's car. Like 2metres, forward to move out of a disabled space.
My Uni offer means I only need BB from my 3 A-Levels. Had a great overnight stay and experience of Uni life up in Sheffield last week.
The smoking priest in his robes at West Croydon- a disgrace to organised religion ("body a temple" etc.), but very funny.
A performance called "Pit to the Palace". A modern retelling of the story of Joseph and his technicolor coat. It featured a friend of mine and also a cast of talented young actors. It was brilliantly written and entertaining throughout. Very well written and performed!
The football team Lamadrid that had 18 players sent off in a brawl and had to have a match abandoned.
Google maps for capturing me twice on their new street view service. I'm famous now, but it is quite an invasion of my privacy.

Hate

The foxes that were interrupting my like under 7 hours of sleep a night with their high pitched squealing. That's the first time I've heard them through the double glazing and I promptly told them shut up causing them to go clanging into neighbours bins and make even more noise.
The crime in Southwark, general grimness and constant screwface painted on the face of the 'yutes'. I'm 18, they should respect their elders with a welcoming expression!
The lack of me driving and my want for a car.
The confused weather. Bastard conditions gave this annoying cold and it's not going away very fast.
The moon shining directly into my eyes when I WANT to sleep. Damn I need some curtains/ blinds.
The o2 and Michael Jackson. F**k you. I wanted to make some money but my network only reserved a tiny proportion of tickets for the shows out of the full capacity. I could have made a tidy profit. To make matters worse their crappy severs couldn't handle the number of people that tried to access these tickets and the phone line was constantly engaged.
POW (also known as people of Wallington)- The stereotypical people found on Wallington High Street during the daytime. Very, very weird!

Comment!

It's been a long time coming

2009-03-19T22:13:00.003Z

Another blog for your reading pleasure is to follow.

Keep it Moving

2009-03-19T22:08:00.012Z

I'm back again after my blog drought guys!

News of Cesc Fabregas spitting at Hull backroom staff has been causing a bit of a storm in the footballing world. If you ask me it's nothing- it was at his feet for pete's sake and was probably blown way out of proportion. If you ask me they deserve it for having the audacity to beat Arsenal earlier in the season!

A story that particularly caught my eye a few weeks ago was related to something being referred to as 'Sexting' by the older generation. Basically a girl committed suicide in America after nude pictures of her were sent to people in her school. (R.I.P) I'm sure that sort of incriminating evidence could not be circulated if she'd never sent it to him in the first place? Or alternatively she could have kept him sweet knowing he had it? full story
Reminded me of a certain schoolmate and an infamous picture of a teacher's daughter in Year 11. (Minus the suicide)

Another story I found disturbing was about a man who was killed in a restaurant. Well, I say a restaurant it was actually a Burger King, in Manchester. Rather than intervening or even calling the authorities, people were seen to either continue eating (greedy bastards) or even just watch as if playing extras in some extremely crude episode of Coronation Street. How people can be desensitised to such an extent amazes me.

IN AN UPDATE TO A PREVIOUS ENTRY:

NO FUN WAS HAD AT THE FAIR! IT'S NOW FINISHED WITH NO REPORTED INCIDENTS.
It was actually limited to weekend so as I predicted low profit, as well as the lack of good weather. It seemed to be crawling with police every time I passed it as well.

Even today the news has got more weird and wonderful as a man has died playing Wii Fit. I always knew Nintendo were evil. Come on how can they make so many friendly, non-violent games and still be successful. It had to be some sort of witchcraft or dealing with the devil! A 25 year old with his whole life ahead of him as well.

Much like our National Treasure Jade Goody. Aside from the constant news pages she filled (wasted) she did do a good thing providing for her kids and also raised the profile of that cervical cancer jab. (R.I.P)

Inbetweeners back on Thursdays- Make sure to tune in! I'm glad skins is over because it was absolute bull****. Nothing happened and it ended with me asking what just happened in the last 6 weeks or so.

Watch The Wire tonight (30th March) BBC2 at 11.20 and every week day for the foreseeable future.

TRUST ME IT IS ADDICTIVE!

Thanks for all the support and keep on reading guys.

Not at all serious

2009-03-06T17:15:00.007Z

Due to popular demand for a new blog I decided to be generous and give you TWO new entries in ONE night. This one is far less serious than the last but is a platform to release any news I've wished to blog recently that didn't really relate to anything.

Firstly, I was well pleased with my Spaghetti Bolognese effort earlier this week. It tasted so good I think I'm gonna have a pop at Lasagne next week. I'm aiming for culinary greatness before I enter the big wide world of uni!

My brother is in a school play so I'm being treated to constant renditions of Bohemian Rhapsody- yes the 5 minutes and 55 seconds Queen classic from 1975! Also, my mum seems to be on a eco-warrior obsession. I seem to be getting told off for leaving chargers/ plugs left on around the house even when it's not my fault.

I was also surprised to hear the word stoner blanked out in this song on Kiss 100 yet on ChoiceFM- who frequently advertise for "talk to frank" it is left in. I'm still undecided on which version I like better but I know which video I prefer ;-).

Who noticed the similarities between the new Ford Fiesta and the new Fod Ka? It seems they are practically the same design now.

New Fiesta? ----------------------------------------------------------------New Ka?

Hyper

2009-03-06T16:25:00.005Z

I'm also not shaving for lent now as well as giving up sweets.

I'm actually enjoying this random sunshine we're having in London. It seems we've reached the dizzying heights of 12 degrees!

Who else thinks that the idea of a fun fair in Crystal Palace is completely absurd, especially in these times where young people seem to be constantly hyped? Crystal Palace touches the five boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham and the epidemic of postcode wars and inter- area 'beef' is not calmed by the fact that the area itself covers three postcodes (SE19, SE20, SE26) . The fair is set to close at 10.30p.m every night but will undoubtedly be locked off at least once before March 29th.
The fact that it's going to be mainly run during school time is also a bit of a testament to their great economic business brains. The Credit Crunch means no-one has money and the school term also means less free time. Maybe I'm being purely pessimistic but rest assured I won't be paying £1 to enter a fun fair being held in a public park- there may be some decent teenage girls (16+) out but there's also likely to be tension as well the fact that with the fun fair comes an influx of foreign workers intent on stealing any loose pocket change by spinning the waltzer (or other crappy/ unsafe rides) as fast as possible.

Disclaimer- I'm sorry for any offence caused to fun fair workers.

Where's all my fans at? Subscribe to the blog and I won't have to keep harassing people on MSN/ Facebook. Remember to leave comments as well guys.

January Exam Unit Results next Week!

Don't laugh, I didn't tell a joke?

2009-02-24T23:48:00.010Z

This blog has been a long time coming I know but once again I've been preoccupied.
I now have my university application sorted for October so now I should really just focus on getting the required grades to study my Journalism course.

Not currently reading "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat...", although I did see this striking title at work the other day.
It's not quite as interesting as it sounds but instead a book about neurology and a man with Visual agnosia (the inability of the brain to make sense of or recognize familiar objects or faces) etc.

Here is a story (More info) that I've been meaning to cover on here for a while but had to take a while to give it the proper coverage.
Rapelay as the name suggests is a video game fully centred on sexual assault. It was created by some quirky geeks in Japan however, it seems they went too far this time!

A spokesman for the company said: "We believe there is no problem with the software, which has cleared the domestic ratings of an ethics watchdog body."

Perhaps rape is less frowned upon in these cultures, but even so, a game relating to this is just plain wrong. Apparently these sorts of games are commonplace in Japan along with a video genre called 'hentai' which roughly translates as abnormality or sexual perversion.

These people clearly lack ethics as rape is never acceptable and what sort of "extraneous" ratings must these bodies use when testing games? I understand certain games may be an escape from reality but this is actually sick.
Grand Theft Auto and games like Fable 2 may have some scenes of a sexual suggestion but nothing as explicit as this which

Encourages players to force the virtual woman they rape to have an abortion.
Allows the option of throwing characters under a train if they do give birth.
It also has a feature allowing several players to team up against individual women.

The game was available to buy on common UK shopping sites such as amazon and Ebay but has since been pulled according the article.

Another recent hate of mine is that new stroke advert. I know it aims to raise awareness and help save lives in the event of a stroke, but it is really disturbing-
(you try explaining what the hell is going on in it to your baby brother.)

Croydon Council are actually taking the piss now as well! They have not taken the recycling since about mid January and the pile outside is becoming immense.

Until Next time- Wish me luck with my 40 days and 40 nights with no sweets!

Still slowly reading McMafia
R.I.P Wendy Richards

Is Anybody Out There?

2009-02-07T21:47:00.014Z

(I've Been away from this for a while.)
What a hectic week I've had. But apparently this is becoming too diary-like, so I won't fill you in.

Apparently Kaka read my blog and decided not to go to Manchester City.

I heard Barack Obama say this week on the news:

"For top executives to award themselves these kinds of compensation packages in the midst of this economic crisis isn't just bad taste, its bad strategy, and I will not tolerate it as president! We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for Federal Aid, so that when firms seek new federal dollars we wont find them up to the same old tricks"

I don't have a clue what this means but the way it just rolled off is tongue and sounded so assertive was amazing. I guess I've just jumped on a bandwagon!

It also turns out that Obama wrote a book called "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance", first published in 1995 after he was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, but before his political career began.

Apparently signed first editions of this book can fetch up to $5000 today so any future presidents, politicians or novelists I know now, make sure you send me a copy of your published work!

It was also quite funny to hear that in the audio book of it, read by Obama he even reads all the swear words himself from quotes.

Listen Here

I recently finished a book called 'Street Boys: 7 Kids. 1 Estate. No Way Out. The True Story of a Lost Childhood ' and would thoroughly recommend it and I'm now about to start reading 'McMafia' by Misha Glenny. It's a funny name for a man I know but he is a former news correspondent for The Guardian and the BBC and I'm getting into true crime books at the moment.

For anyone out there watching the new series of Skins you can follow this link to find out all the songs used in the new series and there were some decent sounding African tunes in the last episode.

So, I Guess I'm a Film Critic Now?

2009-01-21T22:41:00.016Z

(In no chronological order)

When I received an invite on Friday from Momentum Pictures to attend a "private screening of a SURPRISE new film", I felt honoured and hoped for a great movie similar to when I went to the Superbad screening.

"exciting new film, so hot off the press we're not even allowed to tell you its name"
"new comedy that you'll be seeing months before your friends!"
"not for the easily offended and you must be aged 15-19."
"Be aware this film is not for the faint-hearted, there is some blood & gore."

Was all that was given away. I even tried searching for the film but couldn't find any details.

We arrived at the screening in a nice little mini-cinema in the downstairs of a nice office building in the West End, and sat towards the back. We were warned that no recording was allowed and that phones had to be switched off, as well as the fact that we could not eat in there. They used the threat of a big (but not 'hard' looking) security guard to throw people out if they didn't do as told.

We were then told the title of the film was 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' of course now I was thinking "this could be interesting". Don't judge a film by its title!

It was not about lesbian vampire slayers, but in fact, lesbians being slain by the guys from 'Gavin and Stacey' (James Corden and Mathew Horne) along with another actress. The producers obviously believed in the idea that "Sex Sells" however they took it to an extreme level. If I was a mindless drone with no sense of humour that just wanted to see breasts this would have been my ideal film. Don't wanna give too much away, but it really bugged me how the main female characters had such ambiguous accents (Swedish, Dutch, Irish, sometimes they just gave up and stuck with English). As well as the fact that they all seemed to be Hollyoaks rejects.

After watching I realised why the title was not given away, there would have been a room full of pervs (some possibly over 19) and perhaps some lesbians. They definitely would not have got the accurate cross-section of their target audience that they were after.

My entertainment for the night came courtesy of my '+1' who despite their warnings decided to spend five minutes rustling in his pockets for his sweets he snuck in. Then when I thought I couldn't get any more laughs for the night: off goes his Top Cat ring tone. While he was taking his phone out, the other one started going off (same ring tone). Although he slyly tried to conceal them and muffle the echoing sound of "Top Cat! The most effectual...".

The 'bouncer' approached and after suspecting ME, he asked '+1' if he had turned his phone off. My friend quickly replied with "Yeah, I did turn it off, but it must have switched itself back on in my pocket". King of Cover-ups he managed to evade getting us kicked out of a FREE screening, (Good thing he didn't open the popcorn.)

At the end we were asked to fill in a questionnaire to gauge just how much we (dis)liked the film. I actually would not recommend the film and believe it should be straight to DVD (judging by the trailer it should be In Cinemas Soon). It tried way too hard to be like 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Hot Fuzz' but was nowhere near as funny. However, I wouldn't go as far as echoing the sentiment of my guest that filled in his comment box: "IT WAS S**T!"

I left disappointed by the film with my free sticker and pen in hand.

(P.S just discovered a comedy called 'Snuff Box' from 2006 on youtube and it looks hilarious!)

Silly Money

2009-01-16T17:10:00.004Z

(Venting)

I'm sure most people have heard by now about the rumoured transfer of Brazilian player Kaka to Manchester City for £100m! As well as the fact that that is a hell of a lot of money, why would a(nother) Brazilian footballer who happens to be both European and World Player of the Year for 2007 join a typically mid table club that currently lie in 15th place out of 20 in the Premier League?

Although they are a prospect for UEFA Cup success this season, Kaka will be cup-tied and therefore unavailable to play

GREED, that is why.

Wouldn't we all bite the hands off of someone offering us £1million to do a job. Now multiply that feeling by 100 and add the feeling of earning £500,000-a-week wages on top of that.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan may worth £15billion but, is anyone on earth deserving of that transfer fee?

Perhaps he should send a few million to poorer countries. Maybe he could even start a new football club.

Beckham's move to L.A. was reportedly £128m but that was to a club that saw a great business opportunity. (Although, Beckham may not be returning from Milan). Mark Hughes will most probably be sacked before the end of 2009, and in this economic climate it will seem like a bit of a slap across the face for us paupers to see a deal like this go through.

By the way, Hello Obama, Bye-Bye Bush!

Just a FEW Reasons why I NEED a Car

2009-01-07T17:53:00.007Z

(More light hearted than my last entry)

I know I'm strapped for cash but this is why I feel a car is necessary for me at this point in time:

1. I have a licence and feel like it's going to waste getting dirty in my wallet. Although, I guess it is useful I.D in clubs and pubs.

2. The bus is unreliable and cold. If I had a car I'd have both the privilege of proper lie-ins and heating that I can control.

3. Lack of headphones or an MP3 player mean that I ride the bus with no musical entertainment at all, often alone.

4. These kids on the bus probably think I'm their age when they're screaming and having idle conversation, annoying me more and more with every syllable. With a car I could escape it all.

5. My punctuality would massively improve. I'd never be late to meeting people again!
6. Imagine it- just me, 4 friends and the open road, venturing around London and the U.K.

7. I'd drink alcohol a lot less thus improving my physical fitness and life expectancy.

8. I could save the environment by carrying multiple friends at a time and even earn some extra money by charging a small fee.

9. I'd have an extra place to sleep if I don't feel like coming home.

10. I'm sure it would just be one big adventure and what would be more 'jokes' than ME behind the wheel?

11. Trips to IKEA without the possibility of being late back to school in free periods. (mmm, 97p breakfast)

12. I could store and carry stuff and generally clear out my house. (That one is to you Mum!)

13. An opportunity to escape when I get bored of home- at any time, on any day.

If you can help me wire me the monies to george-addgdwengo@fonejacker.com (Disclaimer: Don't actually do this)

I guess I'll have to settle for using the free London bus travel until uni and then extortionate travel prices for the next 3 years.

2008 Ends with a Bang!

2009-01-02T12:06:00.005Z

(This entry has been severely delayed due to exams leaving me with little free time.)

I was going to come on here to post about the downfall of Libraries, but unfortunately more pressing matters distracted me on New Year's Eve.
After a long, very slow day at work, just as we were preparing to close up, a customer finally came to get her documents printed off.

Total £5.60- nothing suspicious, yet.

She then reached into her handbag and produces a fifty pound note. Nooooo!

I explain that I doubt we have change for that amount but I can check the till, and being the friendly Library Assistant I am, I did, but with no success. I called my colleague over to see if she could help and she said that she would go to the safe to get some extra change out.

After a long day this was the last thing I needed. (I assure you that trying to finalise some hectic New Years arrangements while working a 9-6 is not at all easy.) I then realised this lady, her toddler and I were alone out in the Library.
She said to me "Have you been working here long...?" Alarm bells then began ringing in my head. Why was she being so nice to me, in fact why was she talking to me at all?

I have been working in the Library now for a year and months and let her know that I was not being "observed" by my colleague.

I could almost picture myself at the New Year countdown enjoying myself and being merry.
When my colleague returned our customer instantly piped up with:
"Where's my fifty pound note? I gave it to you and you didn't give it back."

I knew all along that neither of us even handled the fifty pound note, let alone pocketed it. Although we urged her to search her bags, pockets and purse she did so in a very non-committal fashion. Seeds of doubt grew in our minds, I even at one point thought, what if I did take her money and accidentally pocket it? Although a quick check allayed my fears and proved my innocence. My colleague had no pockets t check, as well as the fact that she didn't even see the fifty.

The lady refused to re-search her items more carefully and then demanded CCTV evidence. We played it to her and she showed little concern. (And I was quite embarrassed by the amount of time I spent standing still for the last hour).

Still looking for a way to blame us, despite my constant affirmation that neither of us took her money and video evidence as confirmation, she claimed it was "our word against hers".
However she didn't call the police as you would imagine someone shooting such allegations about would do. She instead answered her mobile phone to what I believe was actually no-one on the other end.
"I've lost all the money from Christmas, yeah, it's all gone. I gave it to the people at the Library and they can't find it, and they're saying I didn't give it to them. Oh well, what can you do?"

After her call we made an effort to help her just in case she had lost it, however she then refused to give us any contact details or even her name. Once again, not the actions of someone that had just 'lost' a fifty pound note. She left despite her daughter visibly needing to use the toilet, declining our offer to use the staff facilities. Apparently, she is known as a pest in the borough Libraries and has been abusive in the past but I'm sure I was very lucky to have such an easy escape from her and her psychiatric problems.

And that's the end of that story. I left work about half an hour late but still managed to reach my destination and enjoy a fantastic New Year's Eve. Bring on 2009!

Welcome Back

2008-12-30T17:06:00.001Z

In the words of American artist Mase, "Welcome Back" (to my blog that is). Many thanks to all of you that supported my old blog, but unfortunately for me my free hosting ran out. I'm trying to get the hang of Blogspot and the 'g' button on my keyboard is being very temperamental so apologies in advance for any spelling mistakes.

Hopefully my newly titled blog will attract more visitors and also give you more of my perspective on topical issues and goings-on in the world of Joshua Burrell.