NED’s World

I’m supposed to go for a visit with the Uni of Sussex on Thursday, a Uni I work closely with and have a lot of respect for. I was meant to be there to have a look around to see if I fancied being a mature (or is that immature) student in 2011; but I have realised, as I have known for 25 years… I FUCKING HATE SCHOOL!! And, no offence, but Uni is school for adults.

I have no issues with going to Uni, fuck my Dad has gone back to do his PhD after he retired and I love the whole idea, but there are still rulles, reggullasions and whyknots that I don’t wannna stick to

So I am not going (sorry Mum); but maybe when I’m my Dad’s age I can put onto paper what I love about literature! (too many books to read yet; for me to start writing)

But I wait to see what my Dad has written

OK, don’t get too excited but there has been 2 posts in a week and not 1 of them mentioning one of my dead heroes…..

Or a video…..

What the fuck……

Well what to do, as my good friend Tevye the Milkman said above, it’s a shame being poor but no great honour either….

I am technically looking for work now, and for the very reason above. I love my job (I really do) but I do not get paid my worth at all. It misses by about 12K or 8K as I work for a not for profit. I don’t want to leave but there is only so long you can be that underpaid.

I sat in a meeting with the 3 new members of staff listening to my boss go on about how great the internship progamme is; 2nd best in the country; been used as a benchmark; talked about in parliament; the programme to use to set yours up by etc etc etc

300k of new funding, 65% increase in workload for me (100 internships in 14 mths, 177 now in the same time) but still on 23k and can’t get 5k payrise when, if I am honest, the work I am doing is worth 35k

Anyway, I digress……….. but bollocks to it none of you that read this are hiring so what’s it worth saying

I’m blaming @special_noodles (Andy Keetch) for this…. you bastard. But, it’s a Donkey and it’s called Dominick.

I can’t not really…. ‘Cos it’s Dominick the Christmas Donkey

As many of you who read this blog (or who have read it in the last 12 months) know my Nan passed away 3 years ago, someone who meant loads to me…. and today was the 3rd anniversary of her funeral and, what would’ve been her 95th birthday, and I forgot until 10pm tonight. I’ve been thinking of her all week and when it came down to it, I missed the mark.

So, thinking of a blog post to write about her on this anniversary I realised that I already wrote the best post I could; so better than BHCC can do, I’m going to recycle………

This is the post I wrote last year, and every fucking thing I wrote then still makes me happy but sad too…

Ok, I have tried to write this post many a time and deleted it the next day, as I have written it when I have been too many beers in and pretty shit faced (note to self, don’t write drunken blog posts, ‘cos anyone with it set up as an RSS feed gets your posts anyway!!!)

I miss Australia, I miss it loads. Not just ‘cos it’s now dark at work; or it’s cold or any other 1000 reason I can mention…

I miss it because my life was different there; I was healthier; tanned and happier than I am in the UK

I know Brighton rocks, it’s great to see my family and friends again but I feel all at sea here. I’m not settled, I am working out everyday how to get back, and in my reckoning it’s going to be 2 years to get back there once I pay off my parents (they helped me out to get home and also get settled here, as always they bailed me out…again); get enough money in the bank to come back comfy and find a new job…. but it’s hard, very hard everyday.

I had a great group of friends there (hello all; or should I say G’day!); a couple of which have a son that I have never seen after Isaac was born within days of me leaving; another couple who have a baby on the way (not sure Rich has grown up past 6 months though himself) and 6 weeks of winter that is a great amazing thing.

So, what do I do? At this stage nothing unless the lottery fairy lands in my lap. So I just have to suck it up; chill these 2 years until I get back there, as there are no other options (not enough grannies to mug to get the money to go)

So I will try to put a smile on my face and grin and bear it…. just praying that the next 5 months of shit weather flies by

Sorry for the delay in posting my blog post re: Egypt, but as anyone who speaks to me regularly knows I have been, and still is ill, 16 days to date. A Egypt bug and now a cold…. Colds, more snot than you know what to do with and no point to it either.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Egypt, the biggest hassle country I have ever been to. Where the word no means yes in 100 different ways; where hygiene is an after thought and the temperatures hit 40 degrees everyday (that last fact is a bonus, I love that heat…. so so much)

I went to Cairo for 2 days, a stopover of sorts on my way to Luxor. So I went uber tourist and saw the Pyramids @ Giza and the Egypt Musuem

Or the thing that I love the most in Cairo……

So there you go, Cairo

As many of you know (well the 6 of you that now read this blog) I bought a BMX a little while ago when I was living in Perth.

This Sunday 2 of my good friends came down with their BMX’s and we went out around Brighton and Hove for a bit of childish fun.

Now, as you will see from the title I am now 35, the youngest of the 3. Jim is the oldest, but I must say the most accomplished of BMX riders…. 5 10 (I have been told by Jim, although I didn’t see it, it was a longer wheelie than 5 metres)  metre wheelies is one of his tricks

Anyway we tooled around Brighton, drunk a couple of beers on the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. We rode from mine in Preston Circus to the higher level of the road at Kemptown to watch the extreme sports festival (or the biggest recruiting drive by the armed forces I’ve ever seen!); then to Hove (actually) lagoon and all the way back again via the marina.

It was an amazing day, one I hope to repeat again. It ended at the Open House, near where I live, with a beer and a chill.

It wasn’t roasting, as Jim said, “Perfect BMX riding weather”….. So I look forward to the next time, I hope it’s not too soon in the future

PS, bugger did my knees hurt in the morning….. 35, not 14!!

So my 2nd new post to the resurrected Ned’s World is about the loss of another one of my heroes

Keith Floyd past away last night, age 65 from a heart attack, I was gutted. He has been a major part of my childhood and teen years.

He wasn’t always that special to me, in fact he fucked me off something rotten when I was growing-up. Sundays with my Dad (a more massive Floyd fan than me) watching him again and again and again……… to the point of despair… (Hence why I read so much and am great at computer games)

But as I grew older (or was it some kind on brainwashing) I grew to enjoy his shows, his love of food, wine, international culture, wine, the shambolic nature of his shows, wine, “back to me Clive” and, does it need mentioning again, wine!

So here we are, the best fucking Chef in the world….. Rugby (we should’ve been wearing clogs);The Theme Music and Langoustine in in a pinquante tomato sauce

This is for you Dad, thanks for making me love this drunken bugger; I think I’m as gutted as you and the rest of us are (sorry couldn’t find zee little doog with zee little nooze zat findz zee truufles video)

OK, so it’s been months since I wrote here, but the eve of my 35th birthday seem like a good a time as any to start again.

As the title says, and many of you know who know me, I don’t have an issue with growing old. The gray hair, wrinkles and tiredness are all part and parcel with becoming, what is technically, middle aged.

However there are a few thing that start to give concern: A) I still think I’m 21, but that was 14 years ago; B) my dad is only 26 years older than me now, less than it is more; C) I’m technically middle aged! D) I’m not married or have kids E) I have friends I have now known for 19 years, and I am still friends with now F) my joints ache when it’s cold and damp (and at sometimes when it’s not) G) It takes me too fucking long to recover from a night out on the piss! H) My childhood heroes are dying more regularly than ever before.

However, I am not planning on growing-up soon. I still laugh writing “boobies” on a calculator; I still stick my arms out and be an aeroplane; I like jellybabies, jellytots and Tootie-Frooties; I still love my folks and need their help at times! I have a BMX, and XBOX360 and a penchant for Lego.

So all I am going to say is, growing old sucks, but it’s better to grow old than up.

So I leave you with this important note: Grab the nearest calculator and turn it upside down and type this: 5318008 it’ll make you smile!