things that worry me

I have been on nights this week, on an operation in the area I work in. Hence last night, it was 5.00am when I walked in the door and went to bed.

I have noticed a number of things that concern me slightly.

1) I got the first 484 bus of the day. That means that the bus company thought "It is too late for people to be going home but early enough for people to be going to work"

2) When I put the radio on, Alex Lester was wishing people a good morning as they got up. Good morning? It was still night! I hadn't slept by then!

3) My house mates knocked on my door at 2.30pm because they were worried about me. I was asleep as I had only been in bed a few hours. Much like I was when they were playing football in the corridor at 11am!

4) I was too tired to play football

So that's off my chest and I am just watching the cricket before attempting to re-enter a normal sleep cycle!

Timmy "Nights Fever" Magic

japanese name bandwagon

I am going to join the Japanese name generator party! Inspired by Lloyd, who is now on the link list on the left hand side

My Japanese name is
猿渡 Saruwatari (monkey on a crossing bridge) 亜門 Amon (asian gates)

Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Incidentally, the WBC computers block the website as "tasteless" - I have no idea why...

Timmy "Moshi Moshi" Magic

alors! une annonce de blog

Le mercredi j'ai acheté tous les DVDs d'Eddie Izzard, un comedien anglais. Dans un section d'un DVD il est fait un spectacle totalement en français.

Il m'inspire a faire 2 choses. Premièrement je dois retourner aux ètudier la langue français. Deuxièmement je dois ecrir une annonce de blog en français.

Maintainant j'ai fait un des deux! Magnifique!

Et pour les gens qui ne sont pas Bramwell ou un autre personne qui parlent français

On Wednesday, I bought all of Eddie Izzard, English comedian's DVDs. In one section of one of the DVDs he does a show entirely in French.

It inspired me to do two things. Firstly, I need to take up my French studies again. Secondly I need to write a blog post in French.

Now I have done one of the two! Magnificent!

Timmy "Magique" Magic

i like burton

Recently I have become a fan of Tim Burton. His dark take on life, reflected in his films, is really funny. He is, of course, best known for his films, including Batman, Edward Scissorhands and most recently, Corpse Bride.

He has also written a book of short stories and poems, entitled The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories. It also displays Burton's dark nature and is very much inspired by Edward Gorey. It is only 60 pages long and takes about 20 minutes to read from cover to cover (it has lots of pictures!), so is well worth buying or borrowing from a library (or me)

Timmy "Black Magic" Magic

cricket in turmoil

After the sudden death of Bob Woolmer, former England cricketer and Pakistan coach, following Pakistan's shock exit form the World Cup, most fans would wonder what else could unfold in this devastating tale.

BBC News have just reported on a statement by the Jamaican police that Woolmer was murdered, his cause of death being "asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation."

Timmy "RIP Bob" Magic

skiing in les mosses

I have just been skiing in Switzerland. It was fun. Thought there were some slight issues to overcome over the course of the week.

1) The fact that we had 5 coaches to get us to Switzerland and back

Coach 1 - Gerrard's Cross to Maidstone Services - broken (overheated engine)
Coach 2 - Maidstone to Les Mosses - broken (clutch)
Coach 3 - Leysin to Les Mosses - not broken (just borrowed)
Coach 4 - Les Mosses to La Barre- not broken (came to tow away coach 2 after its final expiry)
Coach 5 - La Barre to Gerrard's Cross - not broken (Swiss coach)

Coach 2 was actually repaired 3 times while in Switzerland.

2) The fact that the leader of the tour didn't speak French

I do. Hence I was one of the officially sanctioned interpreters for the week. Such delights included

"Nous sommes perdu notre billet de peage"
"Notre autobus ne marche pas"
"Notre autobus ne fonctionne pas"
"Notre autobus est mort. Encore"

3) I skied without suncream and a jumper and jacket on the first day

Thus I was quite burnt and now have delightfully panda-esque eyes.

4) I fell over lots

On the first day I fell over and have a sizable scab even now. My discomfort was not helped by my instructor informing me that there was only one thing for my bleeding arm. Snow. Snow which he felt the need to press onto my arm.

5) Brief stop at Maidstone (2 hours) meant we missed the ferry

No ferry means no bureau de change. No bureau de change means that I had 3 days of surviving on €50 and £140 in Switzerland.

6) Being British meant we couldn't waste food

Hence we had sausage and beans sandwiches one day and pork curry sandwiches another.

Having said all that, I had an amazing time and I am already looking forward to going again soon.

Now for some pictures



The view from our room on the first day



The air ambulance picking someone up



My panda eyes

Timmy "Got the ski bug" Magic

camberwell village

Today I was standing at my local village bus stop (15 buses an hour every day!) waiting for the bus to go to the local (super)market for a few groceries when the local Indian takeaway owner said hello.

I am slightly concerned and at the same time, slightly flattered, that the Denmark Hill Tandoori man knows me!

When you add that to the fact that the man from Oriental Cuisine knows when we (Stuart, Marjory and I) go in and on the last visit commented that I was having something different, I figure I might eat too much fast food!

Timmy "Carryout King" Magic

PS I will return tomorrow with my skiing anecdotes and some pictures