thai square

We visited Windsor this evening and dined at Thai Square which enjoys a prime position opposite the Queen's castle. Our group convened in the conservatory and included David, Maria, Maura, Teji, Jenny, Chris and Annalisa. We were there to meet Guy and to hear about his latest adventure and all spent a chatty evening including swapping places at random intervals during the meal.

Good food, including crab cakes and mini spring rolls with pan fried dishes, spicy and chile laden curries and house specials such as ped makham - chargrilled duck breast, thinly sliced and spread on crispy seaweed topped with tamarind sauce.

the tiger's pad

Out this evening with Clive, Alli, Elaine, Alan and others to the Tiger's Pad restaurant in Sunningdale. The restaurant and indeed the town was brightly decked out with Christmas lights.

Great Indian food served communally to our group made a typical informal English night out. And when we finished, there was still time for Elaine and I to separately visit Marks and Spencer's, which Elaine reminded me was open until midnight for late shopping.

dig that xmas hit?

The UK pop charts fill with novelty records leading to Christmas. The actual number that make it to the Number One spot is far less than most Brits would expect, as everyhit shows. Nowadays, singles charts are fairly defunct because sales are lower since internet, mtv and similar.

Just for fun, I'm going to speculate on an 'Offbeat' number one this year, with this song about a bullied schoolboy creating traffic jams whilst riding around with his father on a JCB digger. Kind of Bob the Builder meets Mad World, with a bit of The Streets. Here's the video and here's the interesting website.

What's your bet?

Please enter song and artist in this box

Some from the Past:
C= Charity/O=Offbeat/G=Girly/D=Desparate/N=Novelty/X=Xmas/P=Pop

2004: C Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas
2003: O Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World
2002: G Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground
2001: D Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Somethin' Stupid
2000: N Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It?
1999: P Westlife - I Have A Dream / Seasons In The Sun
1998: G Spice Girls - Goodbye
1997: G Spice Girls - Too Much
1996: G Spice Girls - 2 Become 1
1993: N Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby
1990: X Cliff Richard - Saviours' Day
1989: C Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas?
1988: X Cliff Richard - Mistletoe & Wine
1985: X Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
1984: C Band Aid - "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
1980: N St Winifred's Choir - There's No One Like Grandma
1978: N Boney M - Mary's Boy Child-Oh My Lord
1977: N Wings - Mull of Kintyre / Girls' School
1976: X Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born (Soleado)
1974: X Mud - Lonely This Christmas
1973: X Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
1972: N Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
1971: N Benny Hill - Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)
1969: N Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys
1968: N Scaffold - Lily The Pink


I've left out Pink Floyd, Queen and other big artists who happened to be there and the '67, 66, 65, 64 were Beatle songs. Have to stop somewhere!

do i stress you out?

Thanks to debra for a) recent inspiration and b) the alanis morissette song generator, designed to generate angst ridden songs of total dispair.

Here's my depressing entry...If you want to play the game, click the link.

"Will to Live"
I feel miserable
Poisons make me ill
I feel miserable
Unbelievers tear at my foundations
I feel miserable
Unnecessary critics are dragging me down to the depths of misery
I want to die

Is it because of negativity that I feel this way?
With the green rays of misery pounding on my brain?
Or am I lost in tales of adrian henry, adrift far from home
I don't think so, I don't think so.

Jojo Broke My Will to Live
Jojo Broke My Will to Live
Jojo Broke My Will to Live
I was getting better but then
Jojo Broke My Will to Live

I feel miserable
Sadnesses rot the flesh from my bones
I feel miserable
Spiteful people defeat my purpose
I feel miserable
Miserable are doing their best to impale my soul
I want to die

Is it because of negativity that I feel this way?
With the green rays of misery pounding on my brain?
Am I lost in tale of adrian henry, adrift far from home
I don't think so, I don't think so.

Jojo Broke My Will to Live
Jojo Broke My Will to Live
Oh God, jojo Broke My Will to Live
I was getting better but then
Jojo Broke My Will to Live

What a hoot! I think I shall make a tune to accompany it!

bunny rabbit trap

Melanie tells me that Ben has been here, impersonating a Welsh person looking for rabbits. My thanks to Sascha Ledinsky for the bunny above and here is here evidence of another Imposter.

wibbly

I'm making a few changes to rashbre central today.

Please do not adjust your set if the colours look a bit stranger than usual and also assume that this is part of ongoing modifications. As I use a mac normally, I need to retry everyting on a PC. I usually find that everything works fine with just about every browser under the sun except Microsoft Internet Explorer.

keep on blogging - a slight return

In July, my rather freshly baked blog included an article about the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Across on Chocolate and Vodka (great combination!) there is an ongoing debate about digital rights and various activities and initiatives.

I mention this because a comrade-in-link appears to have been deblogged recently. Its not my story to tell, but I suppose the advice on ways to blog and about blogging at work suggest a few useful points. After one of the Technorati had problems, there was a good discussion on the red couch at naked conversations.

Additionally, James Snell's comments at IBM received a lot of attention when IBM produced its guideline's and policy.

Be careful out there in hyperspace and of course, keep on blogging!

Tag: blog, blogging

wikablog

I've had a wander round the Wikablog and added rashbre as the 257th entry. The Wikablog's shadowy masters hope that it will fast become the ultimate wiki of blogs.

Like the Wikipedia, this is a website created by its readers. Wikablog, lets you, in just a couple of minutes, create a page about your blog or someone else's with a few words saying what it's about, with an ability for constructive editing by others. You can add Categories and add decriptions of the Categories too.

Be in on the ground floor. Join in.

Tag: wikablog, wiki, blogging

Thursday Thirteen (V3.0)

13 instant things (V3.0) about rashbre

1. I'm amazed that I have not done Thursday Thirteen since 20 October!
2. I like Leanne's "Regular" Icon, but have had to adapt it for my own purpose below;
3. I reckon that the NaNoWriMo thing stopped some of my other blogging activities;
4. Doing the writing has made me decide to try to get the "novel" onto Amazon, by Easter;
5. Item (4) above is not arrogant, it is mad;
6. After being spanked by the Princess, I decided to follow her some of her suggestions;
7. Now that we are in December, I will start to think about festive things;
8. I watched the excreable Mr and Mrs Smith DVD a few days ago. Don't.
9. From driving in fog, my car looks as if it has re-entered the earth's atmosphere at high velocity;
10. I am seeking the Eau d'Hadrian shower products I used in Cannes by Annick Goutal;
11. is still my favourite number;
12. I need to visit Michael's new web site about his new business but I don't have the address;
13. I still havn't watched Sin City, which I had just purchased the last time I did TT.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Leanne's Thirteen!
2. Raehan's Thirteen!
3. Colleen's Thirteen!
4. Carnealian's Thirteen!
5. Jen's Thirteen!
6. Shelli's Thirteen!
7. Barbara's Thirteen!
8. Enigma Chaos's Thirteen!
9. Angel's Thirteen!
X. (leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)

Get Leanne's Thursday Thirteen code here!



The purpose is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! Why not do this too? Then leave me a link as a comment or trackback and I will update my entry a link to yours, and you can continue the chain!

Tag: Thursday Thirteen

santa sighting

My first proper sighting of Santa Claus today. I don't count anything involving supermarkets in November, so this visit to my road of Santa with sleigh (optimised for narrow British roads, of course) counts as the real thing. He was laughing loudly and joining in with a few carols which seemed to be coming from somewhere about the sleigh.

I suppose I shall need to be good for the next few weeks.

Mince Pie

As the clock flicked from Wednesday to Thursday, we moved from NaNoWriMo into December. I added a few words yesterday towards the last chapter finalising my word count at an elegant 51111, and expect another 2,000 will see the first draft completed.

I decided to re-read the first section tonight with a celebratory mince pie topped with Grand Marnier and champagne cream (10 words) and although there are some obvious errors from my speed tiping and some "facts that are now wrong" (Like I forgot Jake's last name), I can see the potential to tidy it up into something presentable.

If anyone wants a peep at what I've been up to, try this link, which takes you to the book and then, by turning the page, to the first couple of thousand words, by way of an extract.

Opinions welcome, but please be slightly kind.

tonal variations

I get occasional comments about my phone ringtone, which is that of a yellow hammer bird for people I don't know and a reed warbler for people I do know. Both start with a few clicky sounds and then slowly get more intense, which is a useful characteristic for a phone tone. On low volume they are quite discreet but louder can be quite psychotic.

For a couple of years I'd noticed birds trying to copy the well-known Nokia tone and then saw the Richard Schneider bird conservation article which confirmed that birds were copying ringtones. Urban starlings and jays are supposed to be the best mimics. Maybe my bird ringtones are a small way to reverse the trend.