marc.vic.max.elliot

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I just had a delivery by the postman.  I won a roll of film after entering a contest in a magazine a few months ago (just a “write and get lucky” one) – 1 whole roll of Kodak T400CN.  It’s a B&W film that can be machine processed in the standard shop machines – Great stuff (although it sometimes comes out with a colour cast)

Click on the “But wait……” link to see what it looked like after braving the meat-grinder that is our postal system!

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I went for a 30 minute run 2 days ago and, lightweight that I am, I had to stop and walk for about 2 mins in the middle of it. I was annoyed at myself for doing it but, damn, it was too hot for my poor little fat and unfit body to carry on!

I was going to go for a run today as well but it’s 26/79 at 09:00 and we’re aiming for a high of 28/83 or thereabouts.  Far too hot methinks so I might see how it is at about 22:00………

?  We got our appointment for our 20 week scan today so that’s something to look forward to   Everyone is asking if we are going to find out the sex of the baby and the topic is still under discussion.  My mother begged me not to find out on the phone this morning but this will, of course, have little effect on our decision   One option is to find out and not tell people unless the specifically ask.  The problem with this of course is that if I find out there is no way that I’ll be able to stop calling it him or her!

?  This story made me laugh……. New Zealand have just had elections and although this woman went through the selection process and got elected as a Member of Parliament no-one figured out that she wasn’t a New Zealand citizen!

? ?During the tri-nations match between SA nd NZ in the weekend a South African supporter ran onto the pitch and tackled the referee.  The ref suffered a dislocated shoulder and the “fan” has been charged with assault and trespass. Sure, there were dodgy decisions in the match as there are in almost all sporting endeavours but they were, IMO, pretty evenly spread in this match. Just because you feel aggrieved that is NO excuse to attack and official.

Given this I was amazed to read the The Citizen newspaper in Pretoria, South Africa had

branded the “fan” a martyr!! (NZ Herald story link) in it’s editorial.  Now I have no idea what type of paper this is (couldn’t find a web presence) so it may be that this is the type of stance it takes on a lot of things – who knows. One thing I do know is that articles like this don’t do anything to dispel the idea of South Africans as being arrogant and bullish.  Most of the South Africans that I have met have been very nice people and I count them amongst my friends but stories like this just play up to the stereotype that much of the world has.  What do my SA friends think?

Made my first contribution to The Mirror Project

A bit of fun

via Bekah

Angus’ party was a hoot on Saturday night.  The evening started with dinner at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. GBK was started by a kiwi bloke about a year back and, although not as good as the burgers from Gourmet Burgers at The Basin Reserve in Wellington, the burgers are pretty good.  For a taste sensation (and no friends) try their garlic mayo

Off to the party at about 22:00 and we were greeted by loads of extremely toned male bodies in sarongs (beach theme) I wasn’t the oldest there (that’s right, David was at the party;)) and there were a couple of people FOB (fresh off the boat) from NZ.  It’s always interesting how people react to being in the UK.  For most the fact of not working, having a bit of money and having relatively easy access to drugs makes the first couple of months pass in somewhat of a blur :zoink

David and I had to leave just after midnight so we could get the last tube home and in doing so gave up our seats in Fi’s car so that our wives could get a ride home instead of catching public transport at night……… such nice boys :  (we had a call from Angus at about 7pm on Sunday evening and he was still going strong!)

Bed at 01:30 awake at 07:00 (I have no idea why) and Sunday was basically spent chilling out and preparing for the week ahead.

PS: Before the rugby on Saturday Vic and I had been to the Kiwi Fruits Shop and bought Burger Rings, Tangy fruits, Jet Planes and L&P – YUM!  Most readers will have no idea what these are – they’re sweets and other party foods from NZ.  Just what you need when watching the AB’s Quite expensive though – 2 large packets of Burger rings, 1 pkt Jet Planes, 1 pkt Tangy Fruits and 2 cans of L&P cost 9.70GBP/15USD/32NZD

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Well the weekend’s here and so far it’s been a good one.

Vic and I went into the center of London this morning and I had this crazy idea of running home while Vic caught the tube back.  Given that the longest run I’ve done in the last 3 years is 18 minutes the 43 minute run I did today gave the old body a bit of a shock!  I ran from Westminster to home – I have no idea how far it is and it doesn’t really matter – it was just a looooong way!  It’s a really sunny day today (most of the time) and I was shattered when I got home…….. Vic only beat me home by about 10 minutes! lol!

Even better was the fact that I got home just in time for the kick off of the All Black – Springbok tri-nations match   An absolutely thrilling game that saw the AB’s come out on top and keep alive their championship hopes.  I heard on the TV that Australia have to beat South Africa by 26 points next week to take the title.  Fingers crossed that they don’t!

Tonight we’re off to our friend Angus’ place for his birthday party which this year has a beach party theme.  It’ll be an absolute riot without a doubt but with Vic being with child (hee hee) I doubt that we’ll stay long enough to see the gossip-worthy antics 🙁

Hope your weekends are going well and if the party is entry-worthy I’ll speak to you tomorrow

Nothing major going on at the moment so here are a few of life’s bullet points.

1)  It’s been over 2 weeks since I’ve been for a run and I thought I’d better get off my arse and start again!  With the hole in my heel taped over I was ready to go.  15:58! Another few seconds off my time and getting closer to that 15 minute mark (when I’ll start increasing the distance)  Mind you I was absolutely, positively knackered at the end of it. This was, however, somewhat alleviated by meeting my friend David when I was warming up and getting an invitation to pop over for a few beers after my run (and shower!) which of course I did

2)  My lovely Vic bought me a present the other day – Otherland IV: Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams.  I have the first three in the series and was working my through them for the second time and Vic thought it would be nice to have the last in the series which has recently been released.  It a paperback and is 1260 pages long! – quite some reading methinks….

3)  My first major sale at work came through yesterday   Hopefully enough to keep me in a job anyway!