Jog on Hallmark .. Jog on ...

I love my wife (probably don't tell her enough, but I do), but refuse to pay a stupid amount of money on a card written by to someone else ... So, in true tongue-sticking-out-with-concentration style, I made her a Valentines card :

I don't like how the card companies have taken over ... We don't send Christmas cards at all, instead we make a donation to a charity (This year it was the Salvation Army, so someone else could have a good Christmas), but stuff like Valentines Day and 'Grandparents Day' (What's that all about?!) seem like money-spinners for the card companies to me. If I dabbled in shares, I'd be buying into Hallmark or the like - The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year, behind Christmas -think how much money was spent on those cards? How many trees were used to make them and their envelopes ... (look at me, going all green on yo'ass ...!). who keeps the cards from years gone by?

I have friends who love the concept and really go to town on the whole idea, and I have other friends who disagree with being told when they can tell their loved one that they love them. But me? Birthdays, Mothers Day, anniversaries, from now on it's home-made cards all the way, as to me that's a deeper expression of love, something made from the heart.

Hallmark ... do one ...!

When in Ireland ...

Do as the Irish ...

My day in Dublin actually turned out to be quite productive. Got what I needed doing in the office done, and also went to lunch with two work collegues, Catherine and Paddy. (Yes, I know a real Irishman called Paddy).

Left the office at 3pm and had the 2nd most boring cab driver in Ireland take me to the airport. Now whenever I get a cab in Dublin, I always make the point of mentioning my parents lived there for 3 years, and also asking if we're going the M50 or Malahide Road way to Dublin .. When I first went over, I got an unwanted guided tour which nearly cleared me out of my Euros, so have learnt my lesson.

As for the cab driver, once he discovered I worked for a bank then he wanted to talk economic crisis ... Me telling him that I don't actually have anything to do with the finance side of things, I look after the computers, didn't stop him - he carried on regardless. In between economic crisis, he'd give me a potted history of where we were - have to admit some of it was interesting especially as he took me a route to the airport I'd never travelled before, and it did get him off the subject of banks.

So, Dublin Airport. Yesterday due to the diverse route taken by the cab driver, we missed the sign that greets you as soon as you enter the airport. The sign to the morgue .. Always good for nervous flyers. Though of course the cab driver had an opinion on why the morgue is so well signposted, something to do with the amount of ex-pat Irish being flown home to Ireland when they've died so they can be buried in the home land.

I was on a RyanAir flight, which bearing in mind RyanAir is an Irish airline, you'd expect their planes would be relatively simple to get to. No ... RyanAir are positioned as far away from the security checks as possible, and requires a 10 minute hike to get to the departure gates.

RyanAir also charge you for everything. Checking in at the airport as opposed to online, that'll be 6euros. Want priority boarding, another 2euros please. More than one bag, prepare to remortage your house. As for on the plane itself, I'm surprised the stewardesses don't pass a hat around once they've done the safety demonstration. Tea, coffee, drinks, all chargable (As opposed to my BA flight out where I had a nice sandwich and drink, for free!). To be fair we did land early at Stansted, and to celebrate RyanAir play a fanfare over the planes tannoy to celebrate this momentous occasion - unfortunately they didn't take into account the snow at Stansted and the 45 minutes we spent sat on the runway waiting for somewhere to park the 'plane...

And when we did get off the 'plane ... SNOW!

The best bit about coming to Dublin ...

White Pudding!

Before my first work visit to Dublin, I had never had it before but I now have to buy one at Dublin airport whenever I'm leaving. Apparently it consists of pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into the shape of a large sausage. Earlier versions (pre-1990) often had brain matter (sheep) added as a binding agent - which I assuming gave it that extra kick ...

The flight from London City Airport was good (Although we left late), as we flew over the Thames and the Docklands. Wish I had my camera as Canary Wharf looked great from the air. I did have my phone on 'flight' mode during the flight, so took a few pictures out of the window, mainly of clouds, but I did get the occasional shot of snow covered fields.

The cab driver from the airport bored me silly, telling me the life story of his BMW 520d. Normally I'd talk football, but I found the one cab driver in Ireland who doesn't like the game, and was mighty annoyed as Ireland were playing last night which meant we had to avoid Croke Park like the plague ...

And now I'm in the office. I might try and go for a walk at lunchtime, but other than that I'm counting down the hours until 3pm when I leave for home!

I'm not in a good mood today ...

Little things are irritating me, the inane conversation in the office is doing my head in so I'm sat here with my headphones on listening to 'Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama' (After deciding that 'Faith No More' or 'Rage Against The Machine' probably wouldn't help my mood) to drown out the irritation that is middle-aged women and their on-going problems ...

I woke up in a bad mood, and have put it down to the fact that I'm flying to Dublin this evening for a series of meetings tomorrow. I don't really want to go, and if truth be told I'm in a mood because I'm missing my family already! I like doing the evening stuff with the girls. Having Bethany read me her latest reading book from school, and practice her spellings. Listening to Charlotte tell me the latest scandal and gossip in the life of a 10 year old in Year 6. Walking the dog either by myself or with one or both girls. Putting the girls to bed, reading Bethany a story (Charlotte is too big for a bedtime story so reads her own, but I'm sure she listens in to B's) and then extracting myself from the series of delaying tactic hugs that she has to give me, before getting a goodnight kiss from Charlotte (And making sure her mobile phone isn't in the room with her, otherwise she'd be texting all night!). And then just doing nothing with Mia for a couple of hours before dragging myself off to bed. But not tonight ...

But in other news ... Mia has bought me a ticket to see 'Rob Brydon' (US people, he's a Welsh comedian and a character actor) on his stand-up tour for Valentines Day (I bought Mia a make-up brush from Mac at the weekend, and nearly passed out when I saw the price. For that amount of money I'd expect the brush to be made from the fur from a lima or something ..)

Rob Brydon playing the Ipswich Regent in May, and I for one am looking forward to it and I'll tell you for why, I've seen him in various TV shows and love his portrayal of Brynn in 'Gavin and Stacey' and have a feeling he won't disappoint. The last comedian I saw live was Billy Connolly, and he did disappoint. The show was basically a greatest hits tour, as he regurgitated his act from the previous 40 years. Billy could tell the audience wasn't impressed, as he asked at one point if he was performing to a painting ... Shame really, as I loved him when I was younger and had heard the stories the first time around.

Apologies for the lameness of this post, I'm really not in the mood ...!

I'm going to struggle with this ...!

25 "interesting" facts about me ... I have to admit Lorrie (Over there on my blog list thing) tagged me with the 25 fact thing over a week ago, and it's been on my mind ever since - mainly because I'm struggling to think of 25 things. So I warn you now, it may stop at 17 or something ...

1. In the early 90's I appeared on Channel 4's 'Big Breakfast', on a segment called 'Ding dong what's that song'. So if I ever become famous, some researcher somewhere will be pulling the clip for one of those 'Before they were famous' TV shows.
2. My earliest memory is the Summer of 1976. The UK had a drought, and I can remember going to a standpipe with my Dad to get water and carrying back a small bucket worth. By the time I got back to the house I had spilt the lot and was not impressed. I'd have been around 3 years old.
3. I detest roast potatoes, and place the blame firmly at the door of Miss Williams, headmistress at my infant school. She force fed me them one school lunchtime, which then caused a stand-up row between her and one of the lunchtime assistants. I've not touched one since.
4. I have a partially slipped disc in my back, and nerve damage to the C4 and C5 nerves in my spine. No idea how I got it and more often than not it's fine, but when it hurts, IT HURTS!
5. The first concert I ever saw was Level 42 at Wembley Arena in 1989. "Techno pop crap" as my old friend Quinton used to call them ...
6. I first went on a aeroplane when I was 15, when my parents and I flew to Belfast to stay at my sister's house. I kept all the bits from the plane (Menu, napkins etc) for ages after ... My first long-haul flight was 1993, when I went to Portland, Oregon via Sans Francisco.
7. I proposed to Maria on the end of Paignton Pier, on the 15th June 1996. I remember the date as England were playing Scotland in Euro '96 that day! When Paignton Pier was refurbished, my Father-in-law went and got me a bit of the original decking, which is now somewhere in my garages!
8. My first ever football match was Aldershot v Oxford United, and I was taken by my brother-in-law's Dad! I can't remember the score, only that it was a mid-week match.
9. I never met either of my Grandfathers; however I wear my maternal Grandfather's wedding ring as my own wedding ring.
10. Although I can play guitar, bass guitar, and drums, I'm unable to read a note of music. If there's a musical dyslexia, then I have it.
11. I've had a mobile phone since I was 17. It was the size of a house brick with an aerial that was 6 inches long and liable to snap if knocked against anything.
12. On April 5th, I'd have been married for exactly 1/3 of my life.
13. Both my Grandmother's died when I was in America. My paternal grandmother in 1993 (I was in the Camp Kuratli swimming pool when told), and my maternal grandmother in 1994 (I was refitting the Camp Kuratli craft house when told). When I returned to Camp in 1995 , the family all checked their life insurance. (And my Aunt survived a heart attack whilst I was out there!)
14. I have the attention span of a forgetful goldfish. You're lucky I've got this far without going off and doing something else.
15. My favourite drink is chilled water, which I drink by the litre during the working day. I've stopped drinking coffee after 9am which explains why I'm dead on my feet come 8pm.
16. I throw myself into projects, but then the attention span thing kicks in and I get bored. (For example, the 56 churches in London thing .. I think I'll only write about 10 of them!)
17. I own the digital studio that the seminal 'Steps' classic, "5,6,7,8" was written on (US friends, Youtube it), bought from the ex-musical director of the Steps arena tour. I'm yet to do anything with it. Attention span again ...
18. At one point I owned 10 guitars and 4 basses, then I got married. I now have 3 guitars and 2 basses, and very rarely play them.
19. When a child, I wanted to be a stunt man when I was a grown up! Lee Majors and 'The Fall Guy' has a lot to answer for.
20. I love driving. I'll happily drive to Devon and back in a day (A 10 hour round trip) as it gives me time to think.
21. I miss the days of making mix-tapes for the car. Planning out each side of the tape, ensuring that no two songs by the same artist followed each other, and that there was a couple of fast tracks then a couple of slow which was then followed by something loud. And then there was trying to find a song which ran for the correct amount of time so there wasn't a load of silence at the end of the tape!
22. I refuse to use GPS or sat-nav. A map or directions from the AA website do me just fine thank you very much.
23. The first song I ever learnt to play on guitar was Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight'. I taught myself it whilst holed up in a hotel room in Basingstoke for a week, whilst on a course.
24. I rarely sit down to watch TV, that said I have watched the entire 5 seasons of 'House' on my PSP whilst going to and from work, and I'm now working my way through 'The Wire' (Just started season 4!).
25. I find it almost impossible to sleep on trains, plane, or car journies. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've done it in my adult life.

There you go, 25 facts about me ...

And please leave a comment when dropping by! The funky little app over to the right tells me who has come in from where (Though London, Dublin and Santa Clara (My phone browser must go via there!) is often me ..).

Made it!

By some quirk of fate our trip to London actually went ahead on Saturday. No disasters, no mass snow fall, no train failures, nothing ... We made it!

Mia, Charlotte, Bethany and I caught the train to London on Saturday morning, Bethany clutching her London Underground map as she was navigator. B and I sat down Friday night and I showed her where on the map our 'big' train would come into London (Liverpool St), explained the different underground lines to her, and we then plotted our journey from Liverpool St to the theatre and beyond.

With Bethany's assistance we successfully made it to Holborn underground station ("Red line Dad!") and we all walked across to Covent Garden. The area around the theatre had masses of outside broadcast TV vans, scaffolding, and cables running everywhere, we soon discovered that the Baftas award ceremony was being held in the area on Sunday evening which explained all the big sweaty blokes putting up lights and things.

I let slip to Mia that there's a Mac make-up shop in Covent Garden, so off we went so Mia could get advice on foundation. I kept Bethany away from the lady advising Mia, as she was dressed somewhat strangely (to a 5 year old anyway), and I knew B would comment on it, very loudly. Once when walking the dog, a feller with the biggest sticking out ears walked past us, and B remarked very loudly "Did you that man's ears?! They're massive! They're like this ..." (Puts her hands to her ears , palms facing forward). Once I regained my composure I explained to B that some things are best left unsaid.

B paitently waited for her make-over, but never got it.

Mia and Charlotte went off to watch 'Oliver', and B and I (With Tube map in hand) went off to the Science Museum ("Purple line Dad!"). Originally we were going to go to the Florence Nightingale Museum, but the website made the place look really boring, so we decided to go somewhere fun, where B could push buttons, and I was really looking forward to it. Needless to say I was really disappointed! Half the exhibits were closed, none of the shows we wanted to see where on, and the majority of the things to play with were broken. We did see 'The Rocket', the first ever train, and we walked over a green glass bridge which for some reason really excited B, but gave the place up as a lost cause and decided to go elsewhere.

So back to the Underground we went, and got the train to Green Park so Bethany could see "the Queen's house". Walking through Green Park with B was my highlight, as her imagination went into overdrive. Apparently she made everything around Green Park, but a wicked witch turned her back into a baby, then her friends rescued her only for the wicked witch to turn her back into a baby again, and now her friends are all DEAD as they'd all grown up and died, but she didn'tmind being a baby again as she'd got to be our baby. (Which was nice!) I did ask her why she made some of the mud in the park, but apparently that was the wicked witch's doing (said with rolled eyes, and real disdain in her voice!).

After the Queen's house (Buckingham Palace for those not in the know) we headed back over to Covent Garden, where we watched some of the entertainment going on around the garden. B was most taken by the man in hot pink lycra pants, who was riding an incredibly tall uni-cycle whilst juggling chain saws! (What makes you take that career choice?! I'd love to meet the careers advisor who told him "We have an opening .. How are you with chainsaws and lycra?").

And that was it. Mia and Charlotte enjoyed Oliver, Bethany and I enjoyed our adventure around London, but if you ask B what was her favourite part she'll tell you it was having KFC on the train home ...

Kids ....

Why my career as a professional footballer never took off ...

I've finally accepted the inevitable. At the age of almost 36, I'm unlikely to make it as a professional footballer - though I don't think it's anything to do with my kicking stance ...
And sadly, I think Bethany is unlikely to turn out for England Ladies .. (You'll note the tennis ball to the left of her standing foot!)

Come the revolution ...

When I'm supreme ruler, anyone found in possesion of an umbrella will be first up against the wall to be shot. Harsh, but fair.

I hate the walk into work in the morning when there's a slight bit of moisture in the air, as apparently that means people with umbrellas can lose all spatial awareness and disregard all others. "I have an umbrella, so get out of my way as I won't be moving my umbrella" is the order of the day.

What is the need for an umbrella? There's only a small amount of time it can be used, if the wind is too strong then the umbrella blows inside out anyway. After all, the umbrella is protecting you from what? Water falling, that's what. If you're that concerned put up a hood, or wear a hat; don't carry an instrument that is liable to take my eye out because you're incapable of walking in a straight line and holding an object at the same time. And if you're lighting a cigarette or trying to text at the same time, then you're just asking for it ...

Umbrellas (along with sweetcorn) are the work of the Devil. Golf umbrellas, whilst apparently useful on golf course (Though I'm yet to see one in use on a golf course) are not needed on a crowded city street. And beware all those companies that feel the need to advertise on umbrellas - seeing your name emblazoned on an umbrella is more likely to have me on Google finding your direct competitor than spend any of my hard-earned money on your product.

I repeat. It's water falling, you're not going to melt or anything.

Viva la revolution!

I'm getting bored of churches now ...

Got out yesterday lunchtime for the first time this week (Been too busy with snow related stuff on Monday and Tuesday ...), so decided to just go for a walk and see where I ended up. I ended up at St Michael Paternoster Royal, which is next to one of the only bits of grass near my office.

St Michael's is a church in the City of London associated with the historical Dick Whittingdon. First recorded in the 13th century, St Michael’s was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. St Michael’s was severely damaged by German Bombers during the London Blitz of the World War 2 and was restored in 1966 – 8.

It is very impressive inside, but it's not what I was looking for ... I'm interested in the history of the churches around me and seeing all the original features, but this church was rebuilt in the mid 60's, and the fittings (Panelling, pews, flooring) all date from that period. (And the pews are very uncomfortable). The candelabra does date from 1644 (And to continue a theme my American friends, yes, we have candles older than your country!), but turns out came from another church, so even that isn't original. Even the stained glass windows are from the 60s', and to be honest seem more dated than those from 100's of years ago.

They're impressive though ...

Last night I had a look at a website I had found listing the 56 churches in London, and to be honest I'm going to skip the majority of them. Most were severely damaged in World War 2 ("By the enemies of the King" as one church so nicely puts it!) and when rebuilt embraced more of the architectural designs from the 1950's and 1960's than those of Sir Christopher Wren. There a couple I will go and look at, which either have been restored to former glories or were missed by the enemies of the King - so that's something for you to look forward to ...

Heading back to work I saw this sign:

I thought it rather vague ... "Near this spot ...", well where then? Was it what is now an expensive shoe shop, or was it the video game shop where he was born? I did think whilst walking away that we could put a plaque up saying 'Near to this spot, man first stepped on the moon', as after all you can see the moon from there ...

Apologies in advance if you're going to London on Saturday ...

You'd think I'd learn ... I bought Mia tickets to 'Oliver' for Christmas, and we're due to go this Saturday (I say we, Mia and Charlotte are going to see the musical, whilst Bethany and I hit the Florence Nightingale Museum as B is learning about her at school), but our track record for musicals isn't good ...

Before we were married I bought Mia tickets to see 'Doctor Doolittle', but I picked up a bug and threw up the entire journey there! We made it to the theatre where we refunded the tickets, and went home - Mia saw the stage at least, but not the musical.

We did manage to see 'Beauty and The Beast' where I was woken up by the John Barrowman played Beast roaring in my ear as he went past (I'd been on nights, and musicals aren't really my thing so fell asleep!). We also saw a very disappointing production of 'Return to the Forbidden Planet', and an even more disappointing production of 'Grease' - starring a loser from X-Factor, except they didn't perform in the show the day we went ...

Then there was the Spice Girls at the O2 .. I spent all Saturday afternoon on the 'phone to work as there were major problems in our Dublin office, broke off to drive Mia and Charlotte (And the people they were going with) to the O2, then went into work to work more on the Dublin problem. I fixed the issue ('cos I'm bloody brilliant) and then drove back to the O2 and sat in the car park for an hour whilst I waited for them all to come out. Work did pay for my ticket, and gave Charlotte £200 of Amazon vouchers for "spoiling" her Christmas trip with Mum and Dad, which was nice.

Then we move onto 'Billy Elliott', the first attempt at buying musical tickets as Christmas presents. One week before we were due to go, Mia contracted tonsilitis and ended up spending 4 days in hospital - still my parents enjoyed the unexpected trip to see the show.

Attempt two at buying musical tickets as Christmas presents was 'Hairspray', which Mia and Charlotte were going to see the day after we returned from Tenerife, whilst B and I did London stuff - except George our golden retreiver died whilst we were in Tenerife, and we found out the day after we returned ... Charlotte was devasted (We all were, but she and George had grown up together), so was too upset to go. (And to compound it all, as I now wasn't going to London I managed to get a ticket for Colchester v Ipswich, which unfortunately was in the Colchester end. We lost, and I had to pretend to be delighted...)

So apologies if you were planning on going anywhere this weekend, as me buying Oliver tickets will mean the entire country has ground to a halt due to a snow blizzard which beats all other snow blizzards. Sorry.

But ... Over in Dublin it's snowing, and I'm informed by my boss that it's like a winter wonderland. Having seen the view from her office window, I find it hard to believe that Spar and the dodgy kebab shop constitute a 'winter wonderland'; however, spare a thought for the group of people from Mumbai, India, currently working in our Dublin office - they have never seen snow before, and apparently were getting very excited in the office yesterday afternoon. I have done the honourable thing, and e-mailed them and told them not to eat the yellow snow ... Think of it as my good deed for the week.

When you're 5 ...

this tree is VERY scary ...

Charlotte, Bethany, Jackson the dog, and I all went for a walk in the woods again on Sunday, where the weather alternated between flurries of snow or blazing sunshine. My fingers would freeze, then defrost, freeze, then defrost, and Jackson would alternate between from being a black dog with flashes of white, to being a white dog with flashes of black.



We did have a wander round the churchyard of our local church (St Mary's), where I always wonder about the grave shown in the picture.

I want to know how he was 'tragically killed' at Manningtree Station ... So when I got home I googled his name and 'Lawford' (The area where the church is), and got a result on a family tree site! The paternal great-neice got in touch with me, and is going to swap a copy of the inquest for a photo of the grave!

Then it was back to the woods, to find a non-scary tree (Apparently the one at the top of the blog looks like a 'baddie tree' from Harry Potter!) to take photos around. My phone kept locking up in the cold, but we got there in the end.

And as I had a massive field to play with, and two ready and willing models, if would have been rude not to do another panoramic photo ...

It NEVER snows in central London .... *ahem*

London Bridge - around 07:30am

A bike ... Near London Bridge

Monument Underground Station

Outside Liverpool Street station

The Royal Exchange

Arrived at work!

So that's what that button does ....!

Playing around with my mobile yesterday, and found the 'Panoramic' setting on the camera, so took these beauties with it ...:

Hours of fun! It's also got a function on the video camera setting that records at 120 frames per second, so essentially the footage is in slow motion. When I can think of something wacky enough to video, I'll upload an example.

What went wrong ...?

When I was little there was a nursery rhyme we used to sing called 'Orange and Lemons', basically it was:

"Oranges and lemons", say the bells of St. Clement's
"You owe me five farthings", say the bells of St. Martin's
"When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey
"When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch
"When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know", says the great bell of Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

The origins of Oranges and Lemons are not well known, but are thought to date to at least the 17th or 18th century. Given that the bells of St. Clements Eastcheap were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, it is likely that the rhyme predates it. Some believe that the rhyme may be a reference to the beheading of King Charles I, as all the church bells rang to mark his execution, and the final lines may refer to his head being chopped off! (And that line was my favourite when a child! Could explain a lot ...)

So why the lesson on an old English nursery rhyme? Well yesterday I visited St Clements, which is literally across the road from my office, and was a bit disappointed with it to be honest. The inside was very worn and uncared for, with mismatching chairs, temporary partitions blocking off areas of the church, rugs strewn around the floor, all a bit sad, and also a reflection on a lot of churches around the square mile - possibly down to the fact they're rarely used, a lot of them don't even open on a Sunday!

And not one orange or lemon was to be seen ...

Then I went to Leadenhall Market:

The market dates back to the fourteenth century. It is open from 07:00-late Monday to Friday, and sells fresh food; among the vendors there are cheesemongers, butchers and florists. Originally a meat, game and poultry market, it stands on what was the centre of Roman London.

The ornate roof structure, painted green, maroon and cream, and cobbled floors of the current building, designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones (who was also the architect of Billingsgate and Smithfield Markets), make the building a tourist attraction. It was used to represent the area of London near The Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley in the film 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', and of course I didn't annoy everyone I was watching the film with by constantly saying "That's near my work!" everytime I saw the place. The marker is also popular among local city workers specifically from the nearby Lloyd's Building - which can be seen in the background of the top right market picture.

Leadenhall Market is another one of those 'old amongst the new' type buildings in London, as the entrance is situated between two office blocks, and round the back the Lloyds Building (Which is frankly hideous) adjoins the market. What gets me when walking round London, is seeing buildings like Leadenhall Market, St Pauls, The Tower of London, and then looking at new buildings either just built or being built and wondering "What went wrong?!" ...

However, there is a new building being built round the corner (Everything is round to corner to me...) where the front of the original building has been kept, and the new building is being built onto the existing front - how cool does that look?!

"Exactly ..."

Yesterday lunchtime I visited 'The Guild Church of Saint Mary Abchurch", which just happens to be attached to the back of the building I work in ...

A church has stood on the site since the 12th century, but was burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666 (Which started about 300m to the left of the church). All that remains from the original church are three pieces of the alter plate, a silver chalice made in 1581, and the church registers from 1538, along with the vaulted crypt under the present churchyard (Where we gather for our fire alarm tests!), which means the two bars adjoining the churchyard can't have tables outside as alcohol is not permitted in a churchyard! (and no, the photo wasn't taken whilst under the influence ...)

Work on rebuilding the church commenced in 1681, built to designs by Sir Christopher Wren (He also designed St Paul's Cathedral), and was completed 5 years later. Wren, at that time was experimenting with domes, and the church has one of his earlier attempts. The dome itself is an architectural marvel as it has no external thrusts, but stands on 4 plain brick walls without any need of buttresses.

Other than the removal of box pews in the 19th century, when the present low pews, choir stalls and alter rails were installed, the church has changed very little since its completion in 1686.

The church is only open to the public on a Tuesday lunchtime, so I planned my week accordingly (I really *should* get out more) to visit. There was a bloke with a folder ready to talk to visitors about the building if they wished, but as he was busy with a group of tourists I had a wander around. The first thing that struck me was how the building smelt like a church - there's always a smell I associate with churches, a musty, old books, old wood, just old really smell. I also had that 'church' feeling, which I didn't have in the last church I visited. The other thing that stuck was how non-descript the building is on the outside, compared to how it is inside. I've mentioned the dome, but unless you know it's there you'd never realise from looking at the building from the outside there was a 40 foot dome on the building!

The feller with the folder became available, and came over to have a chat .. So I mentioned how I was planning on going round all 56 churches in the square mile, the American friends I have who read this blog, and generally said nice things about the church - to which his replies all started with "Exactly ...". Still, he was a nice bloke and let me ignore the 'Private' sign leading up to the organ gallery to take pictures.

The organ was impressive (Though the 21st century fire extinguishers detract from the 16th century organ!), though I didn't feel entirely safe up there - people in the 16th century obviously weren't 6 feet tall - or quite as health and safety concious as we are now as the ledge which would stop me falling into the nave of the church came up to my knees ...

The gallery did me the opportunity to look at the dome a lot more closely though. The dome isn't lit as the light causes the already faint paint to fade. The artwork was quite amazing, especially when you consider it was painted by a parishoner, William Snow, in 1708 (He was paid £170 for his work!). The painting depicts 'the worship of heaven, with, in the centre the Divine Name in Hebrew characters surrounded rays of glory, with worshipping figures of angels and chreubs beneath' - or so the leaflet I paid 20p for tells me, and I'll have to take its word for it as the painting has seen better days ... The picture below was taken by putting my camera phone on the floor directly beneath the centre of the dome, and setting the timer ...

Still, I liked this church ...

"Where were you when you were sh$%!"

Saturday was FA Cup 4th round day, and Ipswich were away to Chelsea. Now for the benefit of my American friends, there are 4 leagues in the UK football (That's football, the game where you use your feet to kick a ball, and not the one where you wear an inordinate amount of padding and run with the ball in your hands whilst trying to avoid other people in padding trying to decapitate you), The Premiership (The top tier), the Championship (Next one down) and League 1 and League 2.

Chelsea are in the Premiership and are owned by a Russian billionaire, who has pumped 100's of millions into the club. Players "earn" between £70,000 to £100,000 a week playing for Chelsea, whereas Ipswich have recently been bought by a millionaire who has given our manager £12 million to play with (And our players "earn" upto £12,000 a week, just don't get me started on footballers wages ...).

The big problem with Chelsea is now they're owned by a billionaire, the average fan can no longer afford to goto matches. My ticket on Saturday was £24.50 - A FA Cup promotion - However for the average league game the seat I was in would cost £50! I've often been in a London cab, driven by a Chelsea supporter who no longer goes to games due to the expense ..

Which is why we spent the majority of the second half singing to the Chelsea fans "Where were you when you were sh%&!" ...

We lost 3-1, but were drawing 1-1 at haf-time after we equalised their opener. The celebrations for our goal were immense, a real hug a stranger moment! It was only when people started to make their way down to the bar before half-time (To beat the rush ...) did we realise that during our celebrations we had actually managed to move one seat to the right and the person on the end was stood in the aisle!

6000 Ipswich fans made their way to the game, and where we were stood appeared to be where the singers were congregated. Come the end of the match and after all the singing, I had developed a voice that sounded like I'd been chewing sandpaper whilsting smoking 120 cigarettes - but it was worth it.

We didn't expect to win (Though Southend, a team from League 1 had drawn with Chelsea in the previous round) but went along for the day out and the hope we might sneak something. We had our chances, and could have gone in 2-1 up at the break, but two fantastic free-kicks by Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard in the 2nd half defeated our plucky lads ...! The gulf between the billionaire owned Chelsea and the millionaire owned Ipswich was summed up quite nicely in the 2nd half when Chelsea took off Michael Ballack (A World Cup and European Championship runner-up with Germany, and twice Champions League runner-up) and replaced him with Deco (two times Champions League winner and Portugal international), whereas we took off Tommy Miller (hasn't won anything but has never missed a penalty!) and replaced him with Alan Quinn (Won an internet player of the year award in 2002 ...)!

And the worst part of the day? After being surprised how quick it was to get out of Chelsea and back to Liverpool Street (We left the ground at 5pm and were back at Liverpool St by 6pm), it took 30 minutes for McDonalds to produce my order! And I only wanted two chicken salsa wraps - not that hard is it?!

If I can last 2 whole weeks ....

Made the momentous decision today to delete my Facebook account. I've been toying with the idea for awhile, and had discussed the whole Facebook concept with a couple of friends ...
My problem was this ... I had over 160 friends on Facebook, yet actually interacted with probably 20 of those. And out of that 20 I probably only kept in daily/weekly contact with 3 or 4 ...

Facebook was good to get in contact with old friends, from school, America, or just people I've met along the way - but once you've done the initial contact bit, everything goes quiet and you and you new-found friend have become a figure in your respective friend lists (Obviously this isn't always the case, but in the majority).

The thing with deleting a Facebook account though, is you have to search the internet to find how to actually delete your account, as Facebook don't make it straight forward. They give you the option to 'de-activate' your account, but not delete ... But Google is my friend, and I found where to go to delete - but even then there's a 2 week wait for the accout to go, so Feb 8th I should be no more on Facebook ...

So .. I've sent messages to the majority of people in my friends list, giving them my e-mail, a link to here, and my mobile number - if they want to keep in touch, then it's down to them! (And if you're one of my Facebook friends and have got this far, send me a mail or at least leave a comment on the blog!)

1 down .. 55 to go ...

So today I went to 'The Guild Church of St Margaret Pattens', which appears to have a building society attached to it on one side, and an office block tacked onto the back.

Apparently, for at least nine hundred years a church dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch has stood in what now is Eastcheap (About 5 minutes walk from my office).

The earliest known reference is to a small wooden building in the year 1067. Later this church is referred to in mediaeval records by various names such as “St Margaret Pattens” and “St. Margaret near the Tower”.

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was rebuilt at the cost of approx. £5000 between 1684 and 1687, on the original foundations.

The church was damaged again in World War 2, and again restored in 1955-56.

However, I have no idea how the place survives in the present day.

You are greeted by signs advertising Weightwatcher classes and a yoga class when you enter, but the church itself seemed desolate.

Don't get me wrong, the interior is amazing - lots of solid wood and everything built to last - but it all looks so drab and uncared for.

The pile of hymn books illustrates my point quite nicely ...

The building felt just like, well, a building. There was none of feeling you get when to enter a church, that feeling where you automatically lower your voice and try not to make too much noise with your shoes. Where you wonder if it's disrepectful to walk around with your hands in your coat pockets, or what you're supposed to do when you walk in front of the alter. It just felt like a large, cold building with some very nice old, wooden furniture.

But there was one thing I did like ...: