Snow Pictures of North Wales & Manchester

In my last post, where I talked about You’re Supposed To Be At Home, Carly commented on the quality of pictures – which was nice, as it’s something I’ve been wanting to improve (I’ve got a great book on photography, and an ace camera – Kodak Easyshare Z915). So I’ve thought that now we’ve emerged from the Snow Days of Death™ in the bleak mid winters, I’d show a few pictures of the snow. Here you go:-

In other news: as part of my New Years Resolutions I’ve started kick boxing. Yes I’m sore, yes I’m aching, but yes it’s rather fun! Early shout for my Birthday (4th of March peeps & I’ve since discovered I’m now a fucking Aquarius) for Thai Kickboxing shorts. Purple Ones.

Blog Launch: You’re Supposed To Be At Home

As part of my new strategy on blogging I’ve decided rather to have a mish mash of blogs, I’m going to have a blog on each of my interests. So this is my football, sport & travel blog – You’re Supposed To Be At Home.

The blog was an idea of a mate of mine, who talked quite a lot about me starting a football blog, due to my travels. To keep it interesting, I’m also talking about other sports I’ve seen.

Got a few guest post lined up to promote it, but if you’re a football fan, I’ll also accept guest posts on YSTBAH (I really need a new acronym), you can see the guest post for YSTBAH page here.

You can Like YSTBAH on Facebook, subscribe to the feed or visit the blog here.

Dulcimer Chorlton & The Need of a Local

Update: Dulcimer is reported to reopen on the 24th March, 2011.

This photo makes me very sad.

R.I.P. Dulcimer

This is the Dulcimer in Chorlton. It sold real ale & fantastic cheeseboards (and ask the mother, I’m somebody who isn’t that into cheese bar Primula, Babybel & Brie), and was a great place where I shared many a banter with Shane, amongst others. Seriously, behind those shutters we put the world to rights, brokered a Middle East Peace Treaty, cured cancer, and made ourselves richer than the entire past, present & future cast of Dragon’s Den. Combined.

Until last night, where it shut down.

Unless you enjoy a beer as much as me, you’ll know how much this hurts. This was my local. I loved that place, a proper pub, with music, good ales, good food & banter. All at a reasonable price. I’ve never lost a local before (I was a little too young when Taylors became The Pen y Bryn). I don’t know what to do! It does feel like I’ve lost a leg.

Anyway, I need a new local in Chorlton, must:-

  • Serve Real Ale.
  • Have Good Food.
  • Not Too loud.

It’d be great if it has:-

  • A pub quiz.
  • A dartboard.

Any suggestions would be greatfully appreciated!

Stargazing

Orion's Belt

A bit of a confession here – I’m fascinated by astronomy.

I always has been, even though with the exception of Big Dipper & Orion I couldn’t name a constallation, nevertheless, my grandad installed a fascination of looking at the stars from an early age, a passion at least one of my uncles & my mum shares (which has also been passed onto me). It was a damn shame he passed on a couple of weeks before the Total Eclipse of 1999, which we were fortunate to see down in Devon.

One thing I have missed about home since moving to Manchester rather oddly is seeing the stars. It’s been wonderfully clear, which lead to that rather uninmpressive photo at the top of the page. Trust me, it was spectacular. I can’t remember noticing the stars in Manchester.

Anyway there’s going to be a programme on the BBC presented about Prof. Brian Cox called Stargazing on Monday (tonight!), which will be a bit like Springwatch, only amazing. I’m not sure what the programme will be about, but it could be about the partial solar eclipse happening on Tuesday morning – the peak of which is happening at about quarter past 8. Yeah I know it’s the first day back for most of us after Christmas, but surely you can be a few minutes late for work to see a partial solar eclipse?

My New Years Resolutions 2011

New Year 2011 - Greetings
Creative Commons License photo credit: valcanno

Happy new year everybody!

Yes it’s 2011 now, and as well as a new blog, I’ve thought long & hard about resolutions.

I know some people are against them, but often I make them & tell a few people, nobody cares & they usually fall apart. Hopefully with it written down, I’ll stick to them a little longer.

That’s the plan at least & with that all’s said, these are my new years resolutions:-

  • Lose a Bit of Weight – Bit of a big one for me (no pun intended). Really I’ve been above what I want to be for about a year. Really frustrating looking at photos of me when I thought I was a fat bastard & seeing me relatively thin. Would like to be like that again!
  • Get a (sporting) interest – I’d like to try something new, preferably a martial art. One of my friends does Karate & loves it. Again, whilst Chorlton gym is a stone’s throw from me, I’d like to explore a little further. But just take up something that’s a) not outside, b) I can meet people & c) not too shit at so I give up. Maybe basketball actually. Or some sort of martial art.
  • Declutter My Life! I’ve got far too many things on the go, and they’re mainly the same things. I need to either finish projects or ditch them. It was bad, I was staring at my cPanel login & all I could see was dead projects. No more new projects that are destined to remain unfinished. I’ll see you in 2030.

Right there’s a list, not too much (and the second one could help with the first one), but it’s three things I want to do in 2011. Any tips or suggestions will be gratefully appreciated!

As far as my wishes for 2011, I hope that we have Saturn Games to play on Xbox Live, the return of The Crystal Maze & Kelly Brook’s hand in marriage.

What are your resolutions? If you share them then maybe it’ll help you keep them!