Thursday, January 29, 2009

up and down, up and down

In the past 7 days I have travelled around about 586 miles. That's an average of 3.42 mph since Thursday, even when I was asleep.

On Friday I went to Center Parcs with a gang from Nottingham William Booth Memorial Halls (just imagine the size of those epaulets)for a weekend of fun and games, and the customary relaxation. A fair amount of time was spent by all trying to decide what to do and then, unable to come to a decision, swimming.

Monday evening saw the return trip from Notts to London, a Burger King at London Gateway and sleeping

Tuesday was mainly spent on a train to Manchester, a brief visit to Dave's drum shop and a trip to see my Granddad.

Wednesday was the funeral of my mum's younger brother, Andrew, who died peacefully two weeks ago. It was a sad occasion that few people were expecting to be present at but a nice tribute to the life of a man who has experienced his fair sahre of difficulty in life.

I headed back to London after the service and dinner and arrived back in London for pizza at House 1.

Hopefully I can relax for a few more days before it's back to work on Monday.

Timmy "Tired Traveller" Magic

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

melburnian mates

Today my best buddy Becca flew of to Oz for the next (to be decided) weeks.
It will be odd to have my wingwoman (is that the word?) on the other side of the world and offset by 12 hours or so but she is keeping England updated on her travel blog.

Give it a quick read if you get the chance!

Timmy "Buddyless Bloke" Magic

Sunday, January 25, 2009

the getaway

I refer not to the series of Playstation games involving driving around a very realistic London, or the 1982 Chris de Burgh album, but to the fact that I am sat at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest.

I have had a reasonable hectic few weeks, with work stuff, house stuff and other bits going on. It has been great to escape the cold, wet, smoggy London for a couple of days and get away to cold, wet, fresh-aired Nottinghamshire.

I have indulged in a bit of swimming, badminton, Wii, Playstation, Starbucks, eating, drinking and general slobbing out.

It's been fab!

Timmy "Lazy daze" Magic

Monday, January 19, 2009

president obama

In about 18 hours time we will have a new US president. A new leader of the free world.

CNN are documenting the historic moment when Barack Obama takes the oath of office via their website.

They are asking people there to take 3 photos of the moment and send them into the site. They will then use Microsoft's technology to stich them together into one huge photo so you can get a perspective from anywhere in the locale.

Timmy "Barackly Blogging" Magic

Saturday, January 17, 2009

i am magic and only vaguely remember why

The BBC News Magazine had a feature this week on nicknames and how people had acquired theirs, all brought about by Prince Charles calling his friend Kolin Dhillon (presumably a post-imperial immigrant from India - his name is Colin Dillon after all) 'Sooty'. It has been said that this is a term of endearment and no offence is meant or taken by its use.

It made me wonder why I am Timmy Magic, exactly where it came from, and why it has lasted from my Chelmsford days until now (about 7 years), despite the fact I rarely see people from Chelmsford.

The fact remains, of course, that I like the name and not only use it frequently in the blogosphere and real life, but also encourage others to do so. The name has seen a number of variations but has stayed put until now. Hopefully it will last for another 7 years and even on past that!

After all, who wouldn't want a magic boyfriend, husband or father?

Timmy "Nice Nickname" Magic

Friday, January 16, 2009

sundance film festival

Just a quick one! 9 of the best short films from the Sundance Film Festival are available to download via iTunes.

Timmy "Flm - now that's a short film" Magic

grumpy old git

Another blog I have been reading recently is called Grumpy Old Git. It is written by a guy called Andy Greig and whose blog I came across via a few other people.

The first few posts are a bit banal, the traditional "I have a blog post" and general observations on life. Then Andy got an osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumour, and the tone of the blog changed a bit. The air turned a little blue, as may happen when you find out about your cancer, and the following posts document the ups and downs of his diagnosis and treatment.

This blog doesn't deserve to be in the blogroll on the right hand side, along with "photos of my cat at Christmas" and "what to do while bored in Basingstoke", it's far too touching, open, honest and real for that.

But it does deserve a read!

Timmy "Respecting Grumpy Gits" Magic

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

super dvd shops

I am assuming, dear readers, that you are doing just that - reading
I also feel it is safe to assume, therefore, that you have realised I like films, be they in the cinema or on DVD.

Because of this, I have been following the news to see which shops, more specifically which entertainment shops, have been struggling.

Woolworths went under, taking Entertainment UK with it.
The collapse of EUK meant that Zavvi, the new name for Virgin Megastores since the management buy-out, had nowhere to buy their stock from.
Zavvi stopped honouring gift cards and vouchers, wouldn't sell any further vouchers, stopped selling phone top up and iTunes cards and knocked 10% off the price of almost everything.
Zavvi then knocked a further 10% off their stock.
Zavvi closed some stores, and then today announced that they were going to close some more.
HMV, in my opinion a better music/DVD store, bought 14 stores from Zavvi, saving jobs and expanding their network of shops.

So in the time that I have been in London (about 5 1/2 years) Piccadilly will have seen its 3 music shops (HMV, Virgin and Tower Records) reduced to just one, HMV, following mergers, collapses and buy-outs.

Both a sad day and a happy day for entertainment fans everywhere (but especially places with an HMV and without a Zavvi)

Timmy "DVD Discounts" Magic

Sunday, January 11, 2009

new blogger

You may have noticed on the left hand side there is a list of blogger friends of mine.
The newest addition is Johnny Laird

I honestly have no idea how I know Johnny. We seem to know a lot of the same people, visit the same blogs, care about the same things and I imagine we would get on well if we spent time together. I am not sure if I have ever met him in real life, except possibly in passing at Roots sometime(?).

What is certain is that his blog makes for an insightful read into many things Army related, church related, Jesus related or generally living related.

Timmy "Virtually Friendly" Magic

Friday, January 09, 2009

a foggy day in london town

Today has been foggy in London, which reminded me of the Gershwin song, which is playing as I write this (Michael Bublé and Rufus Wainwright versions).

As I got the bus home from work, I thought I would take some photos of the view from Vauxhall Bridge. This view, as I often tell people, makes me fall in love with London a little bit more each time I see it. But it was foggy, so I ended up just taking pictures of the bus seat, stop button, windows, walls and grab rails.

Not very interesting at all - maybe next time the photos will be good!

Timmy "Mist Defied" Magic