90ish days too soon

I went into London this afternoon, in search of food, DVDs and somehwere that wasn't the college.

I ended up, as I often do, on Oxford Street. I felt the need for a little culture so instead of heading straight to HMV and Virgin Megastore, I went to Books Etc/Borders (whichever one it is next to Superdrug on the east side of Oxford Circus)

I ventured towards the crime section. It was all very good. Likewise with the computer book section, the language book section and the music book section.

It was only as I descended the escalator (which I suppose would make it a de-escalator) I spotted something that sickened me.

Calendars.

More specifically, calendars for the year 2008. If you glance to the top of this post you will see today's date. 25th September 2007. 97 days before we greet the New Year. That is over 3 months until the festivites. Over a quarter of the year is still left.
So why do we need next year's calendars now? We don't for a few months!

Timmy "Dust off the decorations" Magic

i love perry

I love perry! Not Como, not Kevin's chum but the drink.

Only the non-alcoholic version however. This is, of course, essentially just fizzy pear juice but it's nice nonetheless.

Kopparberg in Sweden is the home of the drink, and it has made the town famous.
The Wikipedia page for the drink states that it is actually a pear cider, but I am not sure!

Sadly it is only available in a very limited range of places, such as Swedish uber-furniture store, IKEA and JD Wetherspoon's pubs. Whilst there are quite a few Wetherspoon's around, most of them are havens for those who like to start drinking before lunch and not stop until they fall over.

In conclusion, pick up a bottle or can soon - it's great!

Timmy "Eat, Drink and be Perry" Magic

i am magic and i'm an addict

Yes - that's right, I have a problem. I am a Facebook addict. I know I have blogged before about how great Facebook is but I discovered yesterday that I have an addiction to it.

The story goes thus...

I was kindly invited to visit my good friends in Wickford, Mr Mike and Mrs AJ McCredie for a curry and some banter. I accepted this cordial invitation and made my way to sunny Essex. As more time passed, more people arrived and so on.

Shortly after the arrival of various people, I began to muse how many of the people in the room were my Facebook friends. For most of the evening there were only 2 people who were not also virtual chums. I then logged onto Facebook via the medium of my mobile and began poking people in said room.

This worried me. Why was I facebooking (new word!) people who were sat in the room with me? I could have just talked to them!

So that was the day I realised I had a problem

Timmy "Facecrack Addict" Magic

twenty20 cricket - is it or isn't it?

Over the past few days, the Twenty20 World Cup has been taking place. Some cricketing purists don't like the fact that it is shortening the game even more than 40 over games and the now-extinct Power Cricket (BBC News report).

I, however, am not that much of a purist and therefore love the game! It is exciting and fast paced and is bringing people back into grounds to watch live cricket.

The elation from the Ashes win is now but a distant memory and interest has waned once again. If this game can re-energize the interest of people, especially children, that can only be a good thing.

Timmy "Twenty20 Approver" Magic

lack of blogging

I know that a number of fellow bloggers have lapsed into not blogging, some have retired, so are resting and some are awaiting inspiration.
Others still have fallen foul of Facebook addictions, possibly including myself.

But I feel that there are other reasons I haven't been blogging.

a) If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything

This has been said by a number of people as to why blogging is not as prevalent.

b) I have rediscovered having friends nearby

When I was in halls, I had friends nearby to hang out with. At home in Edgware and Chelmsford, I had my parents and a few mates close by. Now in the Denmark Hill ghetto I have a great bunch of close friends (all of whom I love dearly and hope they know that)

c) I have been working a lot

Summer has happened, people have been on school holidays and it has been busy

d) I have been hob-nobbing

I have in the past 2 days had dealings with three celebrities, two of whom are well known TV stars and one who is a former international sportsman

e) I have not got very good Internet access

I don't need to explain this. I have dial-up

Timmy "May be back to the blogosphere soon" Magic

not pc magic

It just occured to me that as I haven't told many poeple, most blog readers won't know that I got my results for my Met Police PC interview last week and I was unsuccessful.

I did better on some things from my last interview but worse on others, so the end result was the same - not getting the job!

I am going to give it another go in 6 months time but for now I will still be rolling around the streets of West London on my bike!

Timmy "CycloPCSO" Magic

trilingual weddings

I say weddings, but I refer to just one. The marriage of Alex and Sian in Wales this weekend. Here is a whistlestop tour of the happenings.

We stayed in a Travelodge in Llanelli - amusingly named "Lalalelly" but a certain Antipodean lady amongst us

We dined on American breakfasts in the Little Thief next door

We sang in English, Welsh and Latin at the service

We (I mean, I) flew kites on the beach

We ate at a Welsh pub, where we irked the owner by all wanting to sit down

We had a fun time at the reception overlooking sea or river

We came home

Timmy "Welsh Rare Bit" Magic

a week of discovery

I, Mr T Magic, have discovered a number of things

1) Films from childhood are cool

Especially ones you never saw as a child. I bought both Ghostbusters fils, the Naked Gun trilogy and rewatched The Breakfast Club. Movies back then were far simpler and its great to see how far special effects have come, but how humour doesn't really change

2) World cinema is pretty good

I have got a few foreign films that I hadn't watched until recently. Black Book, a Dutch film is powerful, U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, an African film is a great reworking of a classical opera and any of the Studio Ghibli films (Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and My Neighbours The Yamadas) are a good use of time.

3) Becoming a police officer isn't easy

I found out on Wednesday that I was unsuccessful in my application to join the Metropolitan Police as a police officer. I am really bummed out by this but realise that I still have a job I love to do, which many don't! I have to wait 6 months before I can apply again but I am going to use the time to prepare.

4) Kite flying in a storm is bad

I flew my kite in Hyde Park today. Well, I sort of did. It wasn't especially windy or consistently windy so it didn't fly very well. It then started to be mega windy and I realised that a) it was a storm, b) there would be lightening and c) it was raining really hard! Maybe another day.

5) Pringles Rice Infusions are nice

There is no explanation to that. They just are.

6) When you need it, friends are really great

The people I have seen in the past few days have been good mates to me, as it hasn't been the best of weeks. They know who they are (hopefully) and realise (hopefully) how much their support is valued.

Timmy "Glad the week is over" Magic

star spangled screamer

Sorry to follow on the trend for putting YouTube videos and here and claiming it's blogging, but this just has to be heard/seen!

Davo, myself, Stuart and Marjory are fans of this group and often try to imitate them on the way to the Army!

Enjoy...



Timmy "Trying Tenor" Magic

magic is back in action

I am back from Italy, I am back from Ireland, I am back from my PC interview and I am back at work.

My interview yesterday went pretty well. I feel confident that I should get it but am realistic to the fact that I didn't last time! The interviewers were all nice and I wasn't quite as scared this time round.

Ireland was also good. I managed to catch up with a few chums while I was there and overall, the craic was good!

Italy was nice and warm, but I was there for too short a time to -

a) get a great suntan
b) fly my kite
c) catch any fish
d) learn any Italian

Timmy "Continent Trotter" Magic