Life is a journey, not a destination

Lifeblog post

Originally uploaded by kev_hickey_uk

Thu 08/05/2008 17:56 08052008042 How many nurses does it take to close a door?

An update:

Simon was working nights for ages although he did take a night off to go and see Erasure in Preston.  They were obviously past their best, as was the crowd, but they were fun, especially the backing singers who looked liked they were hired from pertemps.  

The following weekend we had Simons nephews up and used them as an excuse to do things we wanted to do, like going to the fireworks competition on the prom and after a day down the beach  taking the kids to the swimming pool, we took them up on a helicopter ride around the tower.  To be honest the kids weren’t over keen on this trip but we loved it, and that’s the main thing.

That was a couple of weeks ago and other than a drunken night out last weekend, we haven’t been up till much.  But yesterday Simon and I both packed in work for a week and a half, so today we partied like crazy….. well we pottered around a craft fair in Lythem St Annes.

Other the that the 2 main things I forgot to mention, we won the quiz night again, and Simon managed to get a new job nursing in a different part of the hospital.  He blew them away at the interview without even trying.

According to my stats, someone has found my blog after googling the phase “swingers in winsford”. I don’t claim to be an expert on swingers in winsford, and don’t recall posting any information on, or reference to swingers in winsford, in any post previous to this one.

Having said that I realize that the blog is now going to be found by more surfers trying to locate information on Cheshire’s sexually adventurous couples as this post alone has four references to swingers in winsford (make that five). In fact i might try to receive a few extra hits by saying hello to all you doggers in Dagenham and cottagers in Cheadle.

Although i have spent a significant part of this weekend on the computer either facebooking or setting up this new blog, I have managed to drag myself away from it for part of the weekend.

After several weeks of camping, festivals and ther such things, Simon and I went out for our first blackpool night out in over a month.  It started badly as we got fed up with every bar playing awful tacky party music and being full of drunken scroats.  The lowpoint was being squashed between a group of smelly tourists while as they played a “Naughties” version of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, complete with swearing in the chorus and a rap for the verses.  Thankfully the night improved and  this morning I had the hangover to prove it.

After dropping Simon off for work, I knew that I had to get back to crack on with a pile of housework, so I ran away.  After a short random drive I found myself in Lytham St. Annes.  I’d never really bean before.  It’s quite a posh place with a sophisticated high street, full of coffee shops and shops selling high quality trinkets.  In other words the exact opposite of Blackpool.  So I relaxed in one of the coffee shops with an americano, cherry scone and a Douglas Adams novel (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency).

I think i’ll be returning to Lytham the next time I need a breather from all that is Blackpool.

02 Sep 2007

A Moving blog This will be my last myspace blog, as I have decided to move to wordpress.  WordPress is easier to use and has a lot more functionality, such as allowing anyone to comment, not just myspace members and keeping stats on who has been looking at the blog.     So the blog is now at http://hickey.wordpress.com/ and the rss feed is http://hickey.wordpress.com/feed/   All previous posts have been copied over (although the formatting is a bit all over the place). 18:36 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

31 Aug 2007 V Wet It’s the night of the blackpool lights switch on and its pissing down, so I’m listening to the festivities on the radio from the comfort of the living room, ive had enough of listening to bands in the rain recently….whih brings me on to this years V festival which had its highs and lows. Lows: Rain, ebay thieves, police dogs, rain, people in a bad mood cos of the rain, Greta having a bad eye, carrying tons of tents and stuff through miles of mud.   Highs: Lilly allen pissed on stage, Taking the piss out of greta having a bad eye (she was the Spanish widow, talking rubbish with friends in the tent (ask golden Virginia and I still say Man City would be a great name for a gay bar) and dancing the night away on the Sunday night.   Despite the hastles of camping in the rain, we went camping again the following week in a beer garden in Inglewhite, during the day we walked the 6 miles up and around beacon fell. As usual tyler was bounced around it with no problem while we struggled on behind. During the evening we bought as much booze as we could from the pub then back to the tent for a final bottle of wine.   Although it’s the light swith on tonight Simon and I had a preview when we cycled down the prom and back along with 100’s of others. It was a great evening and fairly healthy (apart from the sausage roll, donuts and southern comfort we had on the way)   Right I’d best head off Tra’ 21:03 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

re-Toon-ing part 2 So after the art we popped back to pick up oscar and his new housemate Lee. We headedover to tyne mouth where we discovered there was a festival on although. We didn’t really see much part the crowds other than the odd brass horn and some smoke. The tyne mouth market was interesting as ever selling everything from dolls that look babys suffering from a lack of oxygen, to plaques of the old tourist posters telling the world ‘Life is gay,in whitly bay’. While browsing simon and I could hear oscar the other side of the market ‘enthusiasticly’ explain to Lee why a gollywog was not just an innocent childs toy. I felt sorry for ian on the journey home as he was trapped in a car with 3 gay men and a shirley bassey cd. Simon and me them started our evening about 4.30 by meeting martin in the beautifully converted train station building, the centurion. Simon listened to martin and of reminise about our wild drinking nights, involving strip clubs,chillie vodka, and the scar martin still has after my 30th birthday. We left martin and headed back down the scene to surprise diane, my favorite karaoke hostess .lots of screams, hugs and kisses plus a couple of karaoke numbers. The night continued onto several bars. I was driving so i stuck with soft drinks. Si however was feeling the affects of drinking for several hours so he moved onto the still orange drink reef. How was he supposed to know it was 5%. So other than stopping off at haidrians wall and carlisle on the way home, that was our trip to newcastle. 9:46 - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

re_Toon_ing part 1

I dragged Si up to Newcastle this weekend to see all my old mates as I haven’t been back since I moved to blackpool a year ago.

A missed shortcut meant we got their late but manage to drive past the angel of the north ond over the Tyne bridge to Oscars. A quick chill later we were off into the toon and first stop was the Trent House which is a great student pub which has been loved by generations, It has a cabinet of novelty condoms and claims to have the best juke box in the world. From there we moved over to a similar pub called the Forth which was far too noisy so after a toilet break it was off to Coco.v which was full of hen parties, stag parties and a waiter with a fantastic butt, as Oscar pointed out.

Then on to the Gay scene we started at a new bar called gossip which is part of the club. Bland bar, high prices. Then down to The Eagle (or the Vulture as oscar called it) this was always my HQ where the nights out would begin and end. When Simon saw the place he pointed out it looked like the hillbilly shooting range at the amusement arcade on the North Pier. By this point I had consumed several vodkas so recollections may get haizy. Over the course of the night we met up with many old friends including Mitch, Jeff, Bobby, Jason and many whos name I couldn’t remember not to mention a few I have no recollection of ever seeing before in my life, but they all asked how I was doing in Blackpool. At some point we ended up over at the yard and heavens above although I cant remember much from there other than a fight broke out on the stairs. When we drunkenly made it back to the eagle se met up with paddy, a good friend who is far to intelligent and thinks too much or his own good.

By then it was time to go home, particularly as the drinks rounds were astronomical, as was the taxi fair home.

Day 2 started with the full tourist thing, breakfast in blakes (according to the observer the 50^th best place in the country for breakfast) Then down the beautiful dean street, through the Sunday market and over the winking eye bridge to the Baltic art gallery where we popped up to the viewing platform to see the bridge raise . We then looked at all of the exhibitions, includeing a collection of paintings by Beryl Cook. This collection included a painting of sailors getting tattooed, which was slightly different to the drawing, on the same subject, by Tom of Finlad that we say earlier in the day in Oscars

collection.

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Boo

Every so often, especially on a busy and bright weekend, It still find it odd to step outside my frount door and find Blackpool there.

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Social Net hard Work

Is it just me or is everyone getting loads of emails at the moment from friends asking to join one social network or another? On the whole myspace seems to work for me as i can blog, customize my profile and keep in touch with people. It would be better if you could manage it on a mobile or text in a blog entry.

But after a recent flurry of invites i have got myself a Facebook account, although its early days so i can’t really see what the advantages are over myspace. I have also set myself up on twitter ,which allows me to say what i’m doing via sms which then appears as if by magic on my other profiles.

And for those in the know i still keep in touch with friends via G’dar.

Not to mention MSN Messenger and Skype.

There are others that i’ve not managed to get set up on or not kept upto date with such as second life, elgg and tag. Its no wonder i haven’t found time to try my favorite social network, The New Road Inn on karaoke night.

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OH MY GOD

Kylie in DR Who? I may explode

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i’m back in the blogosphere

Its coming up to a month since my last post so here’s an update of whats been going on. Simon and I took Tyler camping again. It was good but next time we go we will have to get something to repell the midges. Any suggestions? It was my birthday earlier in the month so we went down to delamere forest in cheshire and spend a day there at go ape which is an asault course of zip wires, rope bridges and cargo nets in the trees. That evening we returned to the forest to see The Feeling at a great open air concert. It was like a very posh festival, well it was Cheshire. After that Simons been working nights and ive been skint so the rest of the month was fairly quiet. As a birthday treat I got myself a PS2 from ebay and have been keeping myself busy with lego starwars and prince of persia games.

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Mixed Emotions

Evil selfish posh bird is out the apprentice, but only cos she quit. I wanted her to be fired.

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Camp

After a working week of arguments and tension and a Saturday morning of chores and housework, which somehow made the house look worse than when i’d started, I picked up Simon from work early Saturday afternoon and randomly suggested we go camping. So an hour or 2 later we were on the road with a tent and a dog in the back. We got into a nice little campsite near lake Windermere. With tyler tied to a fence we got the tent up and the kettle on in no time at all. We enjoyed a wander in widemer where tyler received a hissing off some swans, a conversation with a farting horse, an evening of a few cans with fellow campers james and jade (we recon they were swingers), a night of trying to sleep on the hard ground ( we forgot the airbed) and Tyler taking over half the sleeping bag. In the morning we had time for campfire bacon butties before we packed up and headed home.

Big Brother started this week and I have no shame in saying I am watching it. I know most us BB fans are looked down upon by the rest of society, most of whom are proud of the fact they have never watched it, although I don’t see how anyone can be proud of never doing something. It’s a building of opinionated, volatile personalities who cant make a simple decision, such as who uses the hair straighteners, without going through a full committee, that cant agree, and never stick to the decisions they make. It’s very familiar.

Today I was loaned a copy of “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. I have only got through chapter one so far but I love it already. Its not just that the subject matter is interesting, but I really enjoy Richards cantankerous style of pointing out the arrogance and stupidity of other people, particularly religious fundamentalists like the protester with the placard “Behead those who say Islam is a violent religion”.

Currently reading : The God Delusion By Richard Dawkins Release date: 18 September, 2006

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Home and dry

It was Simons 38th Birthday yesterday so its been a busy weekend.

On Saturday Mark, Simons ex was up with Mandy from Manchesterford. Before doing the now obligatory bars and club till 6 in the morning, we went to the new show at Funny Girls. It was by far the best show I have ever seen there with feathers, fireworks and fancy footwork. Their version of riverdance had me in stitches.

Sunday we should have been recovering, but instead we drove down to Winsford to introduce ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Tyler to Simons parents and the nephews. At one point everyone was sat on the floor apart from Simons mom and Tyler who wasted no time in making herself comfortable on the sofa.

Sunday night, just past midnight was prezzie time. I think Simon liked everything with the possible exception of the daniel o’donnel singing birthday card.

On Monday we got the train down to Manchester where we shopped before seeing the pet shop boys at the Apollo. Great venue and the gig was ok, although It didn’t blow me away as much as the funny girls show. Simon enjoyed it although he spent so much time filming it on his mobile, he missed some of what was going on and is only catching up on it now as he rewatches the clips. Of course the evening was finished off with canal street bars and a club before returning to our hotel.

And today we have done little more than recover.

One more thing, Saturdays Doctor Who was one of the best have ever seen. Not because of over the top effects or CGI aliens, but great story telling well written, acted and directed.

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26 May 2007 Fly me I almost forgot. we went to see Pam Ann. During the week. Shes a piss take of 60’s style air hostess, plus a few other air hostess characters such as the B.A Bitch who slowly turns into a horse, the dumb “virgin atlantic” blonde who gets lost walking down the eisle and the trashy easyjet charver who wants a new uniform with “Easy” typed on the back of orange short skirt and crazy frog of the soles of the trainers. She works to her main 2 audiences, Air stewards/stewardesses ( about 1/3 of the audience seemed to work on planes), and the gays (lots of jokes about dark rooms and a menu item of fisted chicken). I’d recomend her for anyone who isn’t easilly shocked. 1:52 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

I don’t feel like dancin’ Last Saturday we went to the radio one free festival at Preston. There was an entire day of live acts culminating with the scissor sisters and groove armada. We left early. The venue and acoustics weren’t great, there were long gaps with us just wandering around waiting and the sun got to me. We both got bored and decided to leave.   We then caught up with the end of blackpool pride and partied well into the night…..and morning. This partying involved visiting blackpools new “Trades” bar. I won’t go into details about the place but I was shocked……..and I’ve been to Berlin.   Since starting blogging I have made an effort not to discuss work, but there has been some big news recently. The manager is leaving and we are moving to Lancaster Uni. Big changes, it’ll be interesting to see how the dust settles. 1:43 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Thank you Charlie

Today saw the start of a new power sharing government in Northern Ireland. To mark this historic event UK Gold showed the first episode of “Charlies Angels” which featured a young woman called “Jerry Adams”

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life in the fast lane

I am meant to be on the way to a work meeting but apparently someone wants to jump off a bridge so i have been parked up on the fast lane of the m55 for the last 80 mins. It is a surprisingly social experience with most people getting out their cars and chatting with each other and enjoying the sunshine and I’ve just seen one guy walking his dog down the empty lanes going in the opposite direction.

Currently listening : 3 Years 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of– By Arrested Development Release date: 24 March, 1992

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In the ground and up the wall
Current mood: sleepy

Excuse my bad mood this morning but I couldn’t sleep last night and I had to be up at the crack of dawn to give Simon a lift into work, and give Tyler a walk. Plus my PC is playing up and this is my 2^nd attempt at starting the blog. Tyler is sat next to me after running around with her 2 current favourite toys, one is a radioactive yellow, squeaky cube and the other looks like something from the sleazy section of Clone Zone.

So this week We had my grandmothers funeral. For me this involved seeing lots of cousins, uncles and aunts who I haven’t seen in the best part of a decade. There were lots of tears and alcohol and comments like “It’s such a shock” (she was 91, how much of a shock can it be), “She was firm but fair” (she was stubborn and nasty), “We really must keep in touch” (No chance). If the amount of booze my dad was knocking back and his permanently ‘rosy’ cheeks, is anything to go by, he’ll be next.

The best thing about going back was seeing my old schoolmate Teresa. I called her on the drive down and she said “that’s great, you can go climbing with me.” So after bringing the body into the church, I met up with Teresa in what looked like a disused warehouse. Inside it was full of skateboarding ramps and climbing walls of various hights and angles. After seeing Teresa speed up to the top of one of these walls, panic started setting in and I considered just watching her. But I had got this far so I decided to get harnessed up and have a go myself. My 1^st attempt was fairly pitiful getting about 8 foot up. But I persevered and found an easier wall and managed to get to the top. As I climbed I was petrified but determined. At several points I was ready to call to Teresa to let her know I was coming down, but I somehow drew on my own stubbornness to make it to the top. We then went around to different walls where we could both have a go. The hardest part was trying to concentrate on the climbing while all around me were fantastically good looking young men, showing off their perfectly toned tattooed bodies, speeding around impossibly difficult slopes, bends and curves.

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ignore this one

Technorati Profile

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‘Bonnie’ Tyler

I am tired and full after a big fish supper so this will be a quick blog. The reason we needed a fish supper is because me, simon and Tyler spent an hour or so playing on the beach.
summer has come early so Tylers 1st week with us has been full of fun long play sessions on the beach. she loves running around and digging holes, she is getting quite good at sitting and staying on command, but needs work on coming when called and not pulling on the lead.

Other things from this week went to a wedding on Saturday, one of simons work mates. The great weather helped make it a great day although we peaked too early and couldnt cope long in the evening. And the other news is my Nan died on Friday. No offence but i’m not upset, she waqs in her 90’s and I hadn’t seen her in years. I doubt i’ll be in the will.

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Pics of Tyler

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Children and Animals
Current mood: excited

It’s been busy week so I’ll try to be as brief as possible.

We finally lost a pub quiz this week, to a visiting team, at least we beat all the locals. But I did win the spot prize buy knowing guessing that Sir Alec Guinness was born in 1914, which won us a few quid which went towards getting a dvd player with surround sound. Later in the week we tested this out with james bond.

Yesterday we went down to Simons parents and today we took his nephews down to Manchester to see a Doctor who exhibition, and yes, I wanted to go as much as the kids Before we could get in to the exhibit, there was lots of running around old trains and various engines in the science museum and a few races around the old roman fort, which mainly involved them being pushed into the trenches, and pushing me. The attention span of a kid meant that once inside the exhibit, they were only exited about seeing K9, A cyberman, a Darlek or the arachnid queen, when they spotted them from a distance. As they rushed towards any model they saw another in the corner of their eye and got excited about that one instead. They looked as though they were having a great time until it was time to take photos. For some reason when the camera came out they all looked miserable as hell. After Dr Who we took them into town for a Pizza Hut treat. Connor wasn’t happy about all this walking and repeatedly said hit feet were burning and why couldn’t any one carry him. All that was forgotten when the prospect of unlimited pizza arrived. By the end of the day everyone was over tired, especially Me and Simon, and a joke fight got out of hand and ended in tears. Our cue to leave them with their parents.

We had a few visitors over the weekend. Keith and Jason form Newcastle and Dawn from Manchester. A good night out was had by all, especially Dawn who received an interesting tip from Jason involving Antiseptic throat lozenges.

The main news of the week is Tyler. After a few trips to the RSPCA we found a beautiful Sandy coloured, 11 month old, female, Staffordshire bull terrier. She is currently called Sandy but we are planning to rename her Tyler, this shouldn’t be a problem as she doesn’t respond to Sandy anyway. We have taken her for a couple o walks where she ran around like a whirlwind and spent a bit of time with her. She is very affectionate and excitable and had a slight look of a Labrador about her. We had a house visit to make sure we would be suitable parents, which we passed. And I am going to pick her up this afternoon. Can’t wait.

Currently listening : Doctor Who - Original Television Soundtrack By Murray Gold Release date: 13 February, 2007

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Spring is springing

The combination of the start of spring and the fact that I have been feeling sorry for myself due to my weight and lack of fitness, has spurred me on to start cycling. It started last Saturday with a leisurely 10 miles down the beach and around the town. During the week Simon joined me for a 9 mile round trip to Clevelys and I started this morning off with another 11 miles. Look here’s the proof http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=819049 Unfortunately any health benefits have been counteracted by the mammoth amounts of crap I have been eating. So that’s the next thing to change. One of the horrific side effects of these long cycle journeys is that it makes my willy shrink to the size of an acorn. What’s all that about? And I know what you’re thinking, too much information.

The hunt for a puppy continues, we have made a few trips to various rescue centres, and seen lots of dogs, loud ones, quiet ones, confident ones and nervous ones but we still haven’t found the one for us yet.

For the fist time in living memory we didn’t win the pub quiz, but only because we were out on Si’s payday party at the time. Like cinder’s I headed off before the clock struck midnight while they partied into the wee small hours. Although by all accounts it was a relatively uneventful night

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2 Mar 2007 Weeee are the champions, my friend Si and me just won the pub quiz for the 6th or 7th time in a row (maybe more) I say we. It was basicly him. He’s dead clever on top of everything else. 1:53 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

a long week I’ll just post a quick blog while Si is in the shower. Its sunday afternoon and we are about to go for a pub lunch. Actually i have had pub lunches pritty much every day this week. That could go some way to explaining why less and less of my clothes are fitting me. Its been a really long week. There have been dramas at work, i was in birmingham on tuesday and wednesday where I saw my dad and went to a conferance. I got very excited this week when i realised that blackpool residents can collect vouchers and get free entry to the sea life center for a year. I wanna go and see the sea horses, my favorate of all the animals. Talking of animals Si and I have been talking about getting a puppy. Watch this space. This week i’m going to see Dolly Parton with Simon. The things we do for love. Currently listening : Ultimate Dolly Parton By Dolly Parton Release date: 03 November, 2006 16:21 - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Blair Boffered???

The sound quality is crap and it could well be deleted off youtube soon for copyright reasons but you really should see this, It is REALLY funny

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Big Girls, you are beautiful

Its been a while since my last entry. Far too long. I even missed my 1st yr aniversary of blogging. Oh well.

The exciting news of the moment is the tickets are booked for V 2007. Last year I had about 2 days to get excited about the festival. This year I’ve got months, Im gunna wear myself out way before them. The people I realy wanna see are Lilly allen and Mika. If you haven’t heard the Mika album yet then you really should, Big Girls is fab.

Other news isnt so good. My weight is now of mamoth proportions, and buying a sofa bed and fancy bookcase over the last few months has really cleared out my bank account. Boo. But the good news is simon and I are currently winning every week on the pub quiz.

Currently listening : Life in Cartoon Motion By Mika Release date: 27 March, 2007

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A weekend in Manchesterford

Last weekends sickness continued through the week. It hit Simon on Monday so we were looking after each other. I decided not to give in to my Roman Catholic guilt and I stayed off until I was sure I was well enough to go back, unlike my boss who boasted to me that he came in even though he had been feeling bad. All this achieved was him needing longer to recover and coughing his germs over everyone else in the office.

After the stress of the last few weeks at work followed by our bout of sickness, I treated Simon and me to a valentine’s weekend in Manchester. We stayed in the Jarvis at Piccadilly which was a nice enough hotel although the lifts refused to take us to the floor we wanted. Simon took me to a really good Chinese buffet restaurant, unfortunately we couldn’t make too much use of the all you could eat offer as we had to rush off to the exchange theatre. This was a beautiful old hall, with lots of marble pillars. This hall area contained a smaller futuristic round building with seating all around and a circular stage in the centre. Our cheap seats mean we were very high up looking down. It meant there were some parts of the play we couldn’t see properly, but it did allow us a good vantage point for bitching about the rest of the audience.

The play was a 1940’s Noel coward romp called the vortex starring Will Young, whose character went from happy go lucky fop to angry young man. However his bare footed skip off the stage after the final bow summed up how angry he actually got.

A brief freshen up at the hotel and we were off on a Canal street pub crawl, Simon keen to show me the bars he used to know so well. They included The Thompson arms, the New Union, The Rembrandt, Via Fossa, Trobica, AXN, queer, and the one underneath it, velvet, Churchill’s, Company bar and napoleons. Funnily enough we were feeling a little worse for wear after this so it was back to the hotel via a pizza, which for some reason was loaded with pepperoni and tuna.

In my drunken stupor I didn’t manage to take out my contact lenses until the morning, and I must have messed up when I eventually did, as I had an unbelievably painful eye for the rest of the day. Thankfully Simon nipped out and got me some eye drops. After checking out from the hotel we took a tram to the GMex area and took a leisurely stroll along the canal side. Simon took a few photos, which was handy as I couldn’t see much thanks to my dodgy eye. He got very nostalgic as we past a metal wall documenting the history of the Hacienda. We left the canal side at Canal Street for a spot of lunch at via fossa. We then went for a whistle spot tour of the Art Gallery before heading to the cinema at the filmworks to see ‘Hot Fuzz’, the new Simon pegg comedy on a big digital screen. Unfortunately the crystal clear large screen was enough to set off my dodgy eye during the more action packed scenes.

Then it was back home where we collapsed on the sofa for the evening.

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flu
Current mood: uncomfortable

i’m sick. i managed to convince myself it was bird flu, then i realised it was the opposite, bloke flu. far worse.

but i have sofa, duvet and bugsy malone on the telly, so i should be ok.

Si is really looking after me.

Currently watching : Bugsy Malone Release date: 11 October, 2005

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up up and away

I’m writing this blog while several thousand feet above the Irish sea returning from a work meeting in Belfast

I had to get up at the crack of dawn yesterday and head over to Blackpool international Airport. Ahh bless It’s a quaint little place.

As I waited in the departure lounge I looked across to see the minibus with wings with a manx2 logo on the side Thankfully I don’t mind living dangerously so I was looking Forward to flying in this thing.

It wasn’t long before I was called to board along with the 11 other passengers. I took my seat just behind the empty co-pilot seat. Although there was a partition between us and the cockpit it was narrow enough for me to see the dashboard of dials and leavers which I guessed were older than me. The stewardess was a strict looking blonde woman whose large frame seemed very uncomfortable in this tiny cabin she Kneeled on one of the front seats and asked if we could all hear her in a strong German accent. she pointed out the exits, clicked and unckicked the demo seat belt half heatedly with a shrug saying ‘’see, its easy. Any questions? No.” She then turned her back on us, put on her headphones and took her place in the Co-pilot seat.

I felt a great adrenaline rush as our little vehicle rattled along the runway at top speed. As I looked out i wondered if those propellers were supposed to wobble like that. But despite all the odds & several laws of physics, we left the ground and managed to climb above Blackpool’s ‘Big One’ thanks to a combination of antique mechanics and will power. The screen in front prevented me from seeing the captain but I’m sure he patted the dashboard in the same way i used to do when my first car managed to reach the top of a particularly steep hill.

20 mins later we touched down at our first destination, the Isle of Man. The stewardess/ co-pilot apologised as she asked us to wait in the departure lounge while they refuelled. i guess the little beast can’t go for a full half hour without a rest and top up.

A quick wander around the Manx gift shop and we were aloud to get back on board. A small team of firemen came over and tapped on the side. The multi talented German opened her door and talked to them. She then turned to the unseen pilot and explained that a small amount of fuel had spilled and would have to slowly push back while they checked it out. “The fucking engineers” was the response we all heard. after being informed that this might not have been the most professional way to behave he leaned back to address the passengers directly. It was the first time i had got to see the pilot who appeared to be an east European schoolboy. He quickly apologised for the delay before hiding behind the screen.

30 mins later i arrived in Belfast for an afternoon of training followed by an evening of networking, followed by a morning of hangover due to too much networking.

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Busy Busy Busy

Its Sunday evening and I am still recovering from Friday evenings festivities. I wont say too much as Simon has already blogged about it http://blog.myspace.com/simonc69, but it did involve the sugarbabes and Lenny Henry.

So what shall I talk about then? well i could bore you with how excited I am about my new phone (orange spv m600, pda thing) or I could get myself stressed by going on about office politics and pressures, or I could add my opinion on the Big Brother racism/ bullying story, I could even give you my excuses on why my new year health drive isn’t going quite as planned. But I wont.

Unfortunately that doesn’t give me much left to say other than get well soon to Wildeman, Happy Birthday to Katie and I recomend everyone to check out Lisa’s cotton knickers here

Currently listening : Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches By Happy Mondays Release date: 13 December, 1990

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Heroes
Current mood: hopeful

The other night I was watching the 1 giant leap dvd I got for Christmas, and I felt the need to post a message on their website www.1giantleap.tv saying how much i loved the cd and dvd and how much I was looking forward to the new album. The next day I checked the site and found I had several replies, including one from Jamie Catto, one of the 2 guys from 1 giant leap. I know its silly but I was really excired to get a reply from one of my heros.
http://www.1giantleap.tv/php/bboard.php?id=8&post_id=426..:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

Today I red a story that filled me with fear as well as hope. The fear was because the lead dancer of English National Ballet is a member of the BNP. Now I hate Ballet but this news could potentially improve the image of those BNP bastards.

As I read the story I found the hope. Anti BNP protesters marched outside Londons coliseum where she was performing and because of this 62 year old Judy Chan walked out of the performance, handed her ticket back and offered to join the protesters handing out leaflets.

“This would have only been the second ballet I have gone to and I don’t have that much money. But I cannot sit there and clap that woman knowing what I now know.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6255195.stm

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Cowboy Style

Returning from a collge visit this morning, Benita and I were driving out of Lancaster on the A6 when we noticed the traffic jam a head. Within moments we could see the reason for this was a herd of cows which had escaped from a nearby field. I called 999 and left the details with the police as cattle herders weren’t listed as one of the emergency services. Benita decided that something needed to be done immediately as the cows were galloping southwards. So before I knew it, I was running down the road while behind me Benita was shouting at me to stay on the side of the truck so they couldn’t see me. She was also trying to shout at cars and vans ahead to park across the road to block them going any further, and eventually one did.
We managed to get behind them and, following Benita’s lead, I started shouting “mush mush” in an effort to get them back.

Meanwhile a woman had got out of her truck and was making her own attempts at musshing them along, unfortunately in the opposite direction, “Oi Missess, Stop!” shouted Benita, who by now was in fully in the role of chief herder.

We found a large garden and tried to get them in there, out of the way. Unfortunately there was a cattle grid blocking the cows at the front from going any further, although that didn’t stop the ones at the back pushing. Some how one of the cows managed to get in the garden and was crying to his friends as we managed to get them back down the road.

By now they were panicking. They did this by running around, making strange noises and shitting everywhere. In the confusion I tried to mush the heard along although by this point, some had ended up in nearby fields, some had started to double back and some were almost falling down a ditch. I felt more in control, moving what was left of the herd back, when Benita shouted to me “Slow them down” How the hell was I supposed to do that? I looked behind me and saw I was surrounded. While all this was going on the jam of unmoving cars grew larger. No one getting out, just watching and laughing at this guy in a suit mushing cattle down the A6.

Eventually the farmer drove up on a quad bike, and then drove past to collect the stragglers. So I continued to move them along to the turn in the road where I met a confused policeman who had blocked one end of the road with his car, and decided the best thing he could do was stay with the car “I’m making sure none of them go towards the motorway”.

As they all got mushed into the field, Benita and I let the farmers take over as we got back into the car and rode off into the sunset, considering a new career as rustlers.

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07 Jan 2007 Resolution Like half the world I have decided that New Year is time for me to start getting healthy again. So I’ve joined a gym. Not the best gym in the world but its cheap and cheerful and Simon is already a member so we now get cheaper joint membership.  So I’ve been a few times, and have tried to improve my eating habits.  The hardest part will be trying to not give in when Simon has had a bad day at work and demands a pizza/curry/Chinese. I’ve also signed up to a website to keep track of my progress. so if you want to know how im doing go to http://kevhickeyuk.traineo.com Also I am looking for some motivators.  I think it just means you get an email with updates from the website.  Please let me know if you will be my motivator. Other than that, nothing to report. Tra’ 15:28 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Christmas and new year Current mood: full Its been a while since my last blog so here’s how our xmas and new year went -         A couple of days at Simons parents which included giving prezzies to his nephews, and playing with them. When we left the kids were getting used to the tongue twister “Kevin Mickey jimmy Hickey” -         A party at Simons friends, Dawn and Carl involving clothes pegs and candle wax (don’t ask) -         Christmas eve at the NRI -         Christmas eve opening of prezzies, I got loads of stuff including a fred perry t-shirt and camping books. -         Christmas day at Lynzi and Kates house, including a late night vistit from a stray kitten we christened Boney (as in Boney M) -         3 days over new year in a cottage in the lake district. Short walks and long nights. Would have been great if it wasn’t for sleeping in 2 single beds pushed together. That’s basicly been it.  It has all led to several pounds being transferred from my bank account to my waisteline.  So now is the time to get back to work (I start in 50 mins) and get fit.  Watch this space 8:12 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Pizzamania

Last week we went out on Simons works do.  Before we went we got in the mood by listening to a load of old tunes, everything from the best of Mel and Kim to Pizzaman (which is what Norman cook called himself before he became fatboy slim).  The night out went as works Christmas nights out should, food, drink, tears, illicit snogs.  Just for a change I was the only one who was sober enough to remember.