Well, Spain was fun, as ever

Wasn’t as warm as I would have liked, but 20 degrees is still better than it was here…

Nice hotel – even had a balcony – so I stood out on that and watched the traffic going by for a bit while waiting for the restaurant to open for dinner

This trip was a bit strange really – I was out in Girona only a couple of weeks back to test/inspect the de-icer there, and then out to Reus (200km south) this week. I flew into Reus for this one, but flew out from Girona. It would have made more sense for Ryanair to fly me to Reus, carry out the test there, then drive to Girona, carry out the test there, then jump on the late flight back to Stansted. Instead, I got a night in the hotel, and a hire car to get to Girona ugly looking thing though:

Still, was nice to drive, and the roads in Spain are well maintained and sign posted, so I didn’t get lost!

It didn’t bother me at all driving on the other side of the road (although changing gear with my right hand instead of the left was initially odd), but it felt weird when I was driving home from Stansted last night being on the left again – maybe I’m destined to live in mainland Europe?

I must sing the praises of the pilot from yesterday though – I’ve never experienced such a smooth landing EVER – you just didn’t even feel the wheels touch down, I only realised we were down when the brakes came on…

For once, Stansted border control was empty – another flight got there at the same time as the first ones off (that’ll be me then) from our flight so I was 8th in line and got through in super fast time. Seems they’ve given up looking for similarities between my passport photo and me – I mean, look:

Me in 2004, and now

Oh well, another trip completed – think that brings my flying this year up to about 13000 miles – testing is due in Dublin early next month, so that’ll add another 750 miles if I go, and still not heard about the line station testing due in Jamaica & Mexico…

Happy days

BU’ER – ANY CHANCE OF ANOTHER BLOG ENTRY THIS YEAR?

Looking at my post count (and some of the comments ), it seems it’s been a while since I posted.

Oh well…

Had a great weekend – spent it in London with Marina (there’s that name again). Friday night we spent in The World’s End pub in Camden Town – Friday night is music night, and the band was really good…few drinks there, then back to Marina’s (it takes longer to drive about 5 miles in London than it takes for me to travel by train home – about 65 miles).

Saturday started off very rainy, so we jumped on a bus (London public transport is great!) and went off to Islington and had a lovely pub meal in The York and watched the egg chasing rugby (very disappointing – England seemed happy to let Wilko kick us level rather than going for the killer tries – we ended up getting one anyway, so a result of 16-9 was good). A few pints of Guinness (for me – Marina had a mulled cider then switched to coffee – lightweight) later and we went to the cinema to see ‘Harry Brown‘ – great film, shows London’s estates as they really are (I lived in New Cross, Lewisham a few years back for a couple of months). After the film, we went to another good pub (can you see a pattern emerging here?) – the Camden Head where we got rather drunk then back on the bus home…

Sunday was a great day – sunny and bright so we took a walk across Victoria Park and had breakfast watching the birds on the lake. I played with the squirrels (totally amazed Marina how I could get them so close and even on my shoulder – I’m good with animals, probably better than I am with people).

And so, back to work today – and guess what? I’m off to Spain tomorrow, back late Wednesday. Couple of hours work out there, then lots of me time in the sun topping up my tan

I love my job…

So sue me – none of this content is my own – it’s all from here, but I like it

1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear!
“When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm,” says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose, and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. “This spasm relieves the tickle.”

2. Experience supersonic hearing!
If you’re stuck chatting up a mumbler at a ~censored~ party, lean in with your right ear. It’s better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Overcome your most primal urge!
Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? You are male? Then fantasize…
Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won’t feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.

4. Feel no pain!
German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the painconducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Clear your stuffed nose!
The easiest, quickest, and cheapest way to relieve sinus pressure is to alternately thrust your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then press between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you’ll feel your sinuses start to drain.

6. Fight fire without water!
Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle.
When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you’re on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity’s in your favor.

7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!
Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

8. Make burns disappear!
When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natual method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

9. Stop the world from spinning!
One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance, the
cupula, floats in a fluid of the same density as blood.
“As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises,” says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional footonthefloor wisdom.

10. Unstitch your side!
If you’re like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground.
This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!
Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed if you don’t mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums just behind that small dent below your nose and press against it, hard.
“Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose,” says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. “Pressing here helps stop them.”

12. Make your heart stand still!
Trying to quell firstdate jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It’ll get your heart rate back to normal.

13. Thaw your brain!
Too much ice-cream too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Abo. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an icecream headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

14. Prevent nearsightedness!
Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. “It’s usually caused by nearpoint stress.” In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles like
the eyes into relaxing as well.

15. Wake the dead!
If your hand falls asleep while you’re driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It’ll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don’t let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

16. Impress your friends!
Next time you’re at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He’ll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that’s a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will cave like the French. By misaligning his hips, you’ve offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., coowner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body’s ability to resist.

17. Breathe underwater!
If you’re dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first essentially, hyperventilate. When you’re underwater, it’s not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it’s the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin’ ain’t right. “When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity,” says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. “This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen.” It’ll buy you up to 10 seconds.

18. Read minds!
Your own! “If you’re giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep,” says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as longterm memory.

Some that is my own content is kinda personal, so I’m not posting it no I’m not proposing or anyintg…nor doing the love thing just a me thing… my l’il sis knows – I’m happy is all

My cold has gone!

Woo! and indeed, Yay!

All that’s left is this niggly cough – I’ll pickup some super strength, blow-your-head-off-if-you-drink-it-with-alcohol cough stuff later, and I’ll be right as rain* by Sunday (meeting up with Marina then).

I have a formula for buying anything medicinal…well, not a formula, more a guideline:

Does it say “May cause drowsiness” on the bottle/can/box? If not, move to the next one…in my experience, ONLY the drowsy ones actually work (antihistamines are a fine example of this).

I also need some lip stuff – whatsit called? (quick Google) – ah, Lypsyl. Not that my lips are cracked, but it’s great for getting rid of the red soreness around the nose after 2-3 days of blowing copious amounts of snot out

I did actually stop off at Tesco to buy said supplies (I would’ve asked for ‘lip stuff™’ if I didn’t actually see what the stuff was called (no Google in Tesco…well, unless I use my phone), but the pharmacy bit doesn’t open until 9…so, here’s a handy tip for anybody thinking of travelling to the UK:

DON’T GET ILL BEFORE 9AM!

* Where DOES this saying come from? quick look on Google gave me this:

Right as rain is a latecomer to this illustrious collection of curious similes. It may have first appeared at the very end of the nineteenth century, but the first example I can find is from Max Beerbohm’s book Yet Again of 1909: “He looked, as himself would undoubtedly have said, ‘fit as a fiddle,’ or ‘right as rain.’ His cheeks were rosy, his eyes sparkling”. Since then it has almost completely taken over from the others.

It makes no more sense than the variants it has usurped and is clearly just a play on words (though perhaps there’s a lurking idea that rain often comes straight down, in a right line, to use the old sense). But the alliteration was undoubtedly why it was created and has helped its survival. As right as ninepence has had a good run, too, but that has vanished even in Britain since we decimalised the coinage and since ninepence stopped being worth very much.

The page in it’s entirety can be found here (just wanted to pad the post out a bit ).

So there you have it – just another service I provide

So, this is Marina:

Not the best quality I know, but then the iPhone has a crap camera…unlike the VASTLY superior Nokia N97

Had a great 2 day break from work – apart from having this head cold…oh well, at least I got to see how good a nurse Marina can be (I’m fairly sure that a temperature shouldn’t be taken the way she did though – nor quite as often…)

And no, there are no pics

Oh yes, I forgot to mention: It’s far easier for me to travel to London by train – a Travelcard gets me there and I can use the public transport (which is VERY good in and around London) all for the price of £21 – bargain!

So Marina met me at Finsbury Park – last stop before Kings Cross. Now you may not know this, but Finsbury Park is just down the road from the ‘rubbish dump’ (aka ‘The Emirates’ – Arsenal’s stadium), and as such, is a bit of an Arsenal area.

So, we meet and she suggests having a quick drink. Off we toddle to a (from the outside) lovely looking pub, where I wander to the bar and get the drinks in.

I settle into my seat with a weary sigh (poetic license FTW!), sip my pint and glance at the wall…*COUGH, SPLUTTER*

“What’s up baby?” she asks worriedly…

Unable to speak – I point to the wall, where a large Arsenal flag is hanging.

“YOU BOUGHT ME INTO A BLOODY GOONER PUB!”

And that dear readers, is the first (and hopefully last) time I ever leave a full pint. We then drove to Tottenham where I relaxed in a PROPER pub

And to think – I WAS going to wear my t shirt emblazoned with ‘YID ARMY’…I really wish I had now – do you think I’d have got served in the first place?

I had a great time in London yesterday and a pretty good day at work today considering it’s a Monday…I’ve got 2 days off now, so tomorrow is gonna be spent doing housework, then I shall go meet Marina from work in the evening and spend some quality time with her

Have a picture of Harriett’s bum – she kept getting it out on Saturday:

She’ll kill me if she sees that

The Tudor had a Halloween party last night – what a laugh of course, more people could have made an effort and dressed up, but there was a lot of people who did, and the night went really well – I was a zombie:

Anyway, I’m off for a bath, then down to London pictures are up on Flikr…

What’s it all about? – this internet business?

I know from experience it’s a great way for companies to communicate across vast distances…

But, what’s it all about? I mean REALLY?

I’ve made so many friends over this ‘internet’ thing – fuck, you’re reading this for why? friends are friends whether they be people you meet up with regularly, or maybe just people you know..

I reckon 90% of the regular visitors to my blog are people I’ve never met – and yet they are my friends, people I share something with – people I relate to. I hate seeing them (their blog posts) sad, I’m so happy when they post happily…I laugh when they post a funny entry…I feel for them when they’re down. I honestly wish all their posts were like mine – I try to be light hearted and funny (yeah, try and sue me you fuckers), but it hurts me when they hurt – it really does. My life is going great right now – but I feel for my friends

So…I’m giving a HUGE hug to those who read this, you know who you are I’m not perfect – far from it, but I know you’ll be there when I need it

Happy Friday!

I was looking at Pseudonymph’s blog regarding green issues, so I did a quick calculation on miles I’ve flown this year: 10474. As I commented on her blog, I’ve saved the planet from all the emissions that would be there had I driven…

What?