Persistent

Westward Hooooo

 

Today I had to take the Jeep over too Carlisle for a service.

Carlisle has changed very little since I was last there, except it usually starts to rain in Cumbria about 11am and today it held off until nearly 3.30pm.

During a dry spell I heard some musicins playing in the city centre so I got snap happy. I think they were called Sol Doubt it.

Either that or there was a Cumbria wide panic at the late rains today and they were doing their best to call it down.

What is happening here?

It seems that no matter where Jason Thompson goes, strange and wondrous things do befall him.
I have never been around for the wondrous things so here is one of the strange ones taken in the waiting time between setting up for a Soul Doubt gig and actually going on stage.

I started getting a little snap happy in the bar, I managed to get a shot of Christine using a digital camera correctly (after going through the "your holding it backwards" and "its upside down Christine" ....then success, and forever captured in full colour.

Other than that things were quite normal untill I got home and saw this:
Now you might think that is quite normal, just another bad picture of two people who really dont care.

But then if you compare it to this

Scarey eh

Added extra Soul Doubt picture, just cos it's a good one and should be blogged somewhere, and anyway, I had a page to fill

Soul Doubt

 

A very enjoyable Saturday night spent videoing Soul Doubt, they let me, Rebecca and Allison (wheres your blog Allison?) loose with real video camera's, but I took this small clip with my little fuji digital cam.

Update:

It really has been a busy couple of weeks with little or no time to blog properly, added to that is the fact that I am boring and nothing ever happens to me.

Update:

Work is going very well, I am enjoying the job and finding it more than interesting. I have updated the advertising, tidied the office, got some standard business things ‘sorted’ and I am now busy learning about the business proper to see how my own experience can be applied.
Overall I am enjoying it immensely which is a blessing in itself as we really were just days from losing the house and I would have taken any job that came along.
I am constantly having my eyes opened to the world of betting, I never knew that there was so much made on horse racing. I didn’t know how to place a bet when I started and I still don’t have too much interest in it, however I had to learn and opened a Betfair account with £25 so that I could see what it was that was going on, and could at least understand a little.
After 1 successful £10 bet (which was a mistake, as I only meant to place a £5 bet but put two on as I was learning) I had £121.
There are people in our customer base who would have placed £500 or £1000 on that horse. It is more than a revelation for me to the world of big betting, and I hope that I will be invited to stay after the 3 month period. The company has some great products that I think are missing the mark from a marketing point of view and the business itself could do with a little pinching in the right places to get it into shape. I would love to be in for the long term.
More later when I know what is happening.

I seem to have had a bit of a character change since re-starting work, I was a bit more than despondent and very desperate in my attitude to everything. I have snapped out of it very quickly which just leaves my family & friends running to catch up with the new happier smiling Ian that hasn’t been around for a while.
Maybe they will catch up just as I turn again, that would be fun and would keep them on their toes.

We are currently looking at a week of peace and quiet, Simon has some parties to go to so he will be away to Thursday, Sophie is going away most of the week staying at a friends, Kieran is in Spain with Grandma and Grandad.
This has happened ‘once’ before, ‘No Children’ but every time it happens we just seem to be broke. Maybe there is a great cosmic sense of humour and it loves me so much it just hangs around to affect my life.

Oh...so it takes years of practice does it?

In case you ever wondered

http://www.oddschecker.com/betting/mode/c/card/specials-bigbrother/scard/8655 Y

You really can bet on anything.

Look Darling...wave at the nice hells angels

I'm late, grumpy and wrong

Gosh, I'm not even sure if I need anything more than the title, but lets face it, there are days when you get the bear, and there are days...
Im going to start with being wrong...My internet connection went off half way through a convo with Ruby yesterday, just as we were having a difference of opinion. Ruby, you were right and I was wrong, lets just take it that it was a bad time for both of us to be talking to each other as I was in one of my 'holier than thou' mentality's and you were in something else. I hope that you dont think I cut and run because I was going to lose though. I mean, just because I was so wrong that doesnt mean that I had to lose the argument...does it?
Ah it would appear that maybe I am still there. Ok I was just wrong.

Late, Im getting complained at by my own wife because my blog hasn't been updated, come on Rebecca, if you want to know whats happening in my life, you can collar me in the kitchen, or other more interesting places. You really dont have to read it in my blog.

Other Things.
I have been at work for a few weeks, and I love the job. I never knew that there was such a thing as managed gambling before this job and I certainly never ever realised just how much money it made for people.
The boss has gone on holiday for 2 months and has left me in joint charge of the business. It shows a lot of faith from his part in someone who is really not much more than a stranger, and it shows his trust in people when in the past he has been let down so many times.
He has even loaned me his wifes car to get to work in for the next few months while he is away. Its lovely to be back in 4x4 land. :-)
For me the largest part of a job is the enjoyment, the job is interesting, the people in the office are great, the problems that are there are not by any means insurmountable and it is a really nice place to work.It would appear that after the 12 months of hell (and it was) I have indeed landed in a bucket of roses. In case anyone else in blogland wonders what I do I'm making decisions for this company and this company . And I hope that if all goes well to be with them for a long time.

We went to Morpeth Show today. One day a year when everyone from miles around piles into Morpeth, street stalls, candy floss, fairground, parade all the usual wonderful things, oh and bagpipes which may not be so wonderful, but which a lot of people like so i will blog the video of them after this.
We went rowing on the river, rebecca and Sophie in one boat, Keiran and me in another. Keiran decided he wanted to row, and I expected to be going nowhere for a while, but he picked it up very quickly.

Rebecca decided she couldnt resist the chocolate fountain and now wants me to start scanning ebay for one. I want an ice cream maker first.

It was a lovely warm day, last year it was raining, but it was just as busy, we had the Geordie chapter of the Hells Angels in the parade again, I always laugh to think that once this amount of bikes revving through a small market town would have caused screams of panic, now the riders wave at small children and smile as people admire the bikes. Times change. I may blog that video too.

Was that everything....oh Grumpy....Bah I dont think so.

What a great day

I had a few things that IU had to do this morning, but that was alll ruined when Jason rang and asked if we would like to join them on a trip to Plankey Mill.
So it was run to the Co-op for sandwich stuff, pack the car grab the playthings and away.
When we arrived it wasn't very busy and we were the first to park on our field. The sun was warm the water was smooth and clear and we just proceeded to chill.

Different to last year in that this time Jason actually went into the water and spent some time admonishing me for not being in the water. We pointed out that not only had I been in an hour before him, but also a year before him too.
Such selective memory.

I had my first go with one of the Gold pan's that I sell on ebay and managed to produce one stone with tiny gold flecks and two very, very small gold flakes.
Not anywhere near enough to be in any way valuable, but great fun and proof that there really is gold in nearly ever river and stream if you take the time to look for it.

After Plankey Mill it was off to Paul & Jeans with Jason and Toni for a meal, where we met up with surprise guests Christine and Steve. We were surprised, but apparantly they knew in advance that they were going to be there.
There was an 8 man game of Dutch Blitz which was very interesting and I got to remain sober being the nights designated driver.

Enjoy the full set of Plankey Mill photo's in the gallery. I believe Rebecca is going to upload the funny video later.