Palace fan thats a NEW Dad

The end of the blog

2010-05-30T23:07:00.002+01:00

5 years ago today I started this blog and have met some truly great bloggers that have stayed and quite a few that have moved on OR is it that I moved on?

I think that I moved on and stopped reading and getting so involved with blogging, WHY? I hear you cry, well time to be honest. I don’t get enough time to blog all the time (5 posts in a year is not good), I am hitting twitter a lot more now @simmo1972 is where you can catch me and my life has moved on from being a Palace Fan thats a new dad. I haven’t stopped being a huge Palace fan but I have given my season ticket to my brother to get it out of my system and I’m a still a dad to two brilliant and amazing kids.

The reason for giving up my season ticket was to ensure that I wouldn’t get too hung up about Palace when we made up our minds to move to Australia from England and to give my time to my family.

Palace have had a shit time of it recently and it still does not look good for my team. This though will not be a post of who is to blame and what went wrong (SJ not getting the ground and playing a silly game with city investors (Agilo)).

I have grown up with Palace with my granddad taking me along with my dad, my whole childhood revolved around Palace matches with my dad and granddad. My granddad needed a reason to stop going so that he could get his time with his wife, my nan, back and he used the sale of Jerry Murphy to do it. He never went to another game after that.

I have had so many up's and down's being a Palace fan that I would never change that for any other team. It’s in my blood and it it will always be and whilst I feel sorry that I will not be taking my boy to a Palace game, just yet, I feel as though I saved him from many “wasted” weekends of not doing things as footy is on. In the last year I have spent so many weekends with my family that it has been really good and positive for us all. Whilst I have made a few games this year and I have missed the time with my dad, the group around us and with Palace. I still feel as though it was something I needed to do after 30 years of going, the last 20 years as a season ticket holder, and it was good.

The last year has had many highs with the top being that I have got a visa to live in Australia and quite a few lows including redundancy, tough first contact and struggling to get my foot back in the door working.

So what next? Well we have moved from Berkhamsted and I am moving the family to Brisbane and looking forward.The house has still not actually exchanged but our possessions are heading off to Brisbane. I will be starting a new blog about how I made it there and what is happening with the great move. I am still yet to sort out the domain and get writing but I will. As soon as I have a new link I will post it here.

Thanks for everything and this is the end of this blog on the 5 year anniversary........but the start of a new chapter in the life of a Palace Fan thats a new dad.

James

Busy busy busy

2010-04-22T09:34:00.002+01:00

Well I am now really busy with looking for work on the other side of the world. Our plans to move to Brisbane are steaming forward.

House is sold and going through.

Kids are really happy, not that a 4 and 2 year old really know what is happening!

I have also stared another website http://monopods.org.uk, I'm getting quite into the websites and online marketing etc. something I am enjoying learning about. No money in it for me but it is just a bit of "fun" and learning for me at the moment.

Spending lots of time running down the dump and researching places to live in Brisbane. Started saying goodbye to friends and will start saying goodbye to family shortly wont be easy.

Spent last weekend saying goodbye to my football buddies and Palace left me with a loss to QPR to remember them although I may go to West Brom but then again I might go to the pub!

Laters,
James

Administration for Palace

2010-01-29T15:24:00.002Z

Gutted.

Not sure how this has happened, well I think I do.

All I know is the timing is terrible and shocking that a company that is owed just over 10% of the total debt has managed to get us in administration.

Agilo are the company that forced us in administration over a loan by Simon Jordan that they are worried will not be paid. They are owed about 5 million from what I have been reading. Jordan is "owed" 20 million and the other 5 million is owed to tax man and other clubs I believe.

What is heart breaking is that Palace never called in the administrators so in a way should we have 10 points deducted before even agreeing a way out, the 10 points is to stop clubs wiping the debt clear and starting again so if we paid everyone back in full except Jordan would we get out points back?

There is a rumour that an invester would be willing to do just that and pay the debts except Jordan.

I expect Moses to go on the cheap now and I dont think he even wants to go ! It's terrible that Agilo have done it and just as bad that Jordan has given them the power to do it.

We had a real chance of making the play offs and the lottery of getting promoted.

Hopefully something can be sorted asap.

It's all part of the fun of being a Palace fan, something that I would never change.

Good luck Palace.

Sure Man United have just released debts of 600 million, doesn't seem right.

Update

2009-12-28T14:57:00.002Z

Well I had a great Xmas and been good to get away from work. I am on my last days of the contract now so best start looking for my next role. Only got this week to go.

The USB memory is selling well and I have now sold out of 4GB Lego bricks, I have some 2GB left and have the England ones still. The England ones have not sold as quick as I had hoped. Will be able to spend some time marketing them next week. Might take new shots of them in a computer port.

Have a look at SkyeMax2002 and let me know what you think of the site.

If you like something use the code iknowsimmo for 10% off. I really recommend the England ones.

Will optimise the site next week to get the images loading quicker and have a general freshen up of it.

Trying to persuade Mrs Palace Fan that we need a digital SLR, quite like the look of the Nikon D3000.

Best get back to eating.....

Getting tougher to update

2009-10-25T21:34:00.004Z

Really must start to allow more time for my personal blog.

Well I'm still working hard but have also started to work on a new venture that I hope pays off. I am working on my "first" proper website. The site will sell USB Memory sticks, One I have designed as well, and have created a site for it. I will also go through eBay. Not happy with the charges on eBay hence why I want to direct traffic through to my website SkyeMax2002. It is not live yet but as soon as it is I will let you know. I will also give you a discount code.

It is going to take some time to get the site up and running. Lots of testing to be done with the PayPal element, lots of writing to get content on the site and I am waiting for my order to come through.

Will be great to get your feedback on the site so I will "beta" it with you prior to going full on live and submitting it to search engines and promoting it more.

Looking forward to seeing how it goes and have spent time reading up on ways to promote the site etc.

You can also follow the site on twitter

Home alone for a few days so going to crack on with the site in the evenings.

Only got another 9-10 weeks left at work now before my contract runs out and the project is finished. Been fun but would also be good to spend time working on the site and some plans that I have for it.

I hope you are all well and I will let you know when the site is open.

Hello Strangers

2009-08-21T21:38:00.003+01:00

Well it has been a really long time. Sorry all (as if people actually read this :-)).

I am working again. It took about 3 months and only got 3 interviews but was lucky enough to get offered 2 of those. One perm in Docklands but it never quite worked out as I had to wait for a deal to be done before getting the contract and whilst waiting for it I saw a temp role that really interested me and I managed to get it. I took the temp role and pulled out of the other. I am working as a Project Manager for an eCommerce department rather than an IT department, still for a large retailer to Xmas. My first time out of "IT" for many many years but I am really enjoying the fact that I am managing rather than doing the project. Quite funny though as I have gone in with a "Prince2" hat on so have shed loads of risks and paperwork such as action and decision logs, status reports, schedule plans, resource plans etc. and all my boss wants to know are we on target :-). I have a good team of 12 reporting into me and we have the rather daunting task of getting 21000 products online and checking a further 15000 that are currently online are listed corrected. Are we on target? Not quite but it is going well and we will pull the lost time back. Hard work but but I am only working 9-5 and no stress. Unlike before where I was working long hours and stressed, maybe thats the difference when you are not actually employed and doing everything. I feel a strong connection to get a job done and to the company I am working at but not to be an actual martyr.

I'm over at Milton Keynes now and enjoying the shops ;-) shame I can only look and not buy though.

Seems strange not having a season ticket but I am actually going to the match tomorrow so will sit in "my" seat and as it happens have only missed one home game :-) Do feel guilty as I am now working so will miss my kids but we are going to have a good time on Sunday and hopefully will go and have a picnic while Faye has bit of a break.

Did you see the goal that wasnt given? Disgrace really.

Other news is that I have finally got a decent phone, HTC Magic and I love it. It is great and helps the train journey go quickly and keeps in touch with email, twitter, browsing and many many other things. Best toy of the year so far.

Take it easy and dont forget to follow me on twitter.

Happy Birthday Blog

2009-05-30T16:19:00.002+01:00

4 years old today.

Sorry I have been as slack as always but with the Oz computer application and looking for work I have not had much time.

The Oz application has been sent to Sydney and I am waiting for my assessment number and then the wait for 10 to 12 weeks for my result.

Job hunting is starting to pick up and I am looking and chasing now. Not had an interview yet but fingers crossed that will change soon.

So since I started this blog I have moved from North London to Berkhamsted, Had 2 children one of each, lost my job and looking for a new one, changed my car and grown some grey hair as well as lose some.

Another big thing though is that I have handed my season ticket to my brother for next season ! Yes I am taking at least a year off to get it out of my system prior to hopefully getting to Australia. I'm quite looking forward to the break as my "passion" was starting to go and I want to spend more time with my family. I will still make an effort and get to some away games as well as home but away games are much better and I am normally home the same time !

Right I'm heading to the garden in a moment.

Good luck Jane, not long now :-0

James

Connect2earth

2009-05-24T20:41:00.003+01:00

Just wanted to make you aware of a website I have looked at recently.

www.Connect2earth.org is your green online community, where you can tell the world why you care about the environment and why it should be protected.

It is a very good website so have a look.

ACS update on my RPL

2009-04-28T14:30:00.003+01:00

I actually have more than I thought I had to do, only one more paper then i thought but it is hard work getting through them all.

Below is the list of subjects that I have experience off and I need to write about the last 8 years of my learning's in each section.

1 Computer Organisation and Architecture
4 Data Communications and Networks
7 Ethical/Social Implications/Professional Practice
8 Interpersonal Communications
10 Project Management
11 Security
13 Systems Analysis and Design
14 Systems Software
PR1 Project Report 1
PR2 Project Report 2

The numbers are out as I have deleted the ones that I am not doing. In total there are 10 sections and my status today is this:
2 Finished and signed off (papers 7 and 8)
2 First drafts waiting for feedback (papers 4 and 11)
1 Written and waiting sign off (paper 1)
5 to write including the 2 project reports.

Also Have 2 references out to be signed and sent back to me plus 2 detailed personal references that need to be approved prior to sending them out.

Why does everything need to be approved? I am using an agent to help guide me through the process and application. Does help BUT they do not write it for you :-(

Whats RPL - Thats Recognition of prior learning

Hard work but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

James

Twitter and an update

2009-04-26T20:14:00.002+01:00

Well I have started another thing that probably wont last. I am now using twitter for quick updates and follow people.

I'm Simmo1972 if you want to follow me and I have also added a widget to this blog.

What have I been doing, well I have had a great first week not working. I have been working on writing papers for assessment by the ACS (Australian Computer Society) Hopefully I will get passed by them to emigrate to Australia next year. That's the plan anyway. I have only managed to write 2 in about 2 1/2 months prior to last week and managed to get another 2 written just last week. I have to write 9 including 2 project reports in total.

I have not even looked for work :-0 I did get a phone call Friday from a company looking for a PM and they may call back this week for an interview. We will see, that came through Monster.co.uk and was the actual company not an agency.

Next week though is more work on the Australian papers. I want to get the papers in and then focus on work.

James

The Eagles have won

2009-04-19T23:45:00.002+01:00

Been waiting a while to post this one !!!

Thanks for the comments re job everyone, this made me smile. Listen to the end for "My" bit.

Giz a job

2009-04-05T15:45:00.004+01:00

Well I am about to join the many looking for a new job as I have been made redundant from Comet. Whilst it was not a shock it was actually a surprise as I have delivered some good projects in the last 6 months. I do honestly think that this could be the best thing to happen. I have a chance to find something else to do, work on my Australian visa application (Yes we want to migrate next year) and get Comet out of my system. Including Kingfisher and Comet I was in the group for 10 years so probably best to have a change.

Might be tricky getting back into looking and interviews but fingers crossed it wont be too long.

What do I want? Well I quite fancy a bit of contracting to go and see some new companies, make new friends and see how projects are run differently. The other idea is maybe a junior project manager role in another industry i.e. construction and have a break from IT. I can use my redundancy to supplement the drop in wages. Oh who knows but I do know that I am looking forwards and not backwards.

What else has happened. I'm another year older, Not managed to get to Palace much although that has been nice (Last game was Watford away and that was crap), Have bought a couple of watches:
Casio G Shock (For the weekends)

And this Tissot for a special day (Not collected this watch just yet)

Now I need to start living to my means though so no more watches :-(

If you know if any Project Manager roles please let me know,
I am a qualified Prince2 Practitioner and would label myself a Technical or Infrastructure IT Project Manager.

The Manor

2009-02-15T00:21:00.003Z

I now live in a little village outside of London, on an estate that is quite nice but I look out and see number 116. That to me means it is not so small....... I happen to live at Number One, uno or just the first if you want to leave it at that.

For some very strange reason though when I am out there smoking a sneaky cig, yes I was meant of given up a long time ago, I like to stand at the top pretending it is my manor and I am Tony. Am I strange or just weird? I do live at the top of the hill I might add so I do "look" down at people :-)

Next week I am in Hull so I will see if there is a buzz about the place because last time I was there footy was good, as was rugby, and I know it's not quite the same.

Skye is now walking about the house and it seems to be quicker then Max was i.e. she started taking steps and is now walking a lot more confident than Maxie Boy so already seems to be "running" faster than walking.

J

Happy New Year

2009-01-12T21:27:00.002Z

Happy new year everyone.

Well Xmas is over and we start yet another year.

Skye will be one in three weeks :-0 I can not believe just how fast it has gone. She has started cruising around the furniture and can balance really well so it will not be long before she is walking.

She is a cutie.

Lost Bloggers

2008-12-23T00:27:00.003Z

I must sort out my links and the time that I spend on blogs. I need to find some more time or at least cut the number that I have bookmarked.

I still have my favorites and you know who you are but I was surprised to realise that three of my links now fail :-(, Now Tartan I knew about but just have not got round to "removing" he got the hump when Wrexham went down :-), But the 2 bloggers that I started blogging with have now "gone" i.e. Wyndham was the first ever person to post on my blog and I think I am right in saying that I was the first to post on Slothblogs.

I was surfing around wishing happy Xmas when I noticed they have gone. Miss yer if you are still reading mine.

Reading back I just realised that in my very first post, I blogged back on the 30/5/05 that, I would get round to putting the legs on the BBQ back on correctly. Thats still on the list. The post that started it all here

HAPPY XMAS ALL

Back to front

2008-12-01T22:29:00.002Z

Skye has started crawling and standing now and has taken quite a fancy to the TV. I have had our LCD TV on a stand for over 2 years and to create a bit more space (plus get her fingers off it) I am thinking of wall mounting in the corner on a swing arm.

I started to look at the way I could set it up etc. etc. when I suddenly realised that I could get some space back by actually turning the stand round. Yes for over 2 years I have had the stand the wrong way round, what a wally ! It should go in to the corner and for some reason I set it up from day one the wrong way round so have had the "corner" sticking out!

A job for the weekend I think.

Max is now 3 ! It was his birthday yesterday. I set this blog up a while ago to talk about the experiences of becoming a dad and have now gone through that another time. I count myself very lucky to have such great children that I love more then anything.

Stone Gods and Airbourne

2008-11-28T21:32:00.004Z

Last night I went to the Astoria with a quite a few mates and saw Airbourne. It was my first time of seeing them live but after recommendations from said friends that had seen them live I got the album "Runnin' Wild" and was hooked. They are very AC/DC and also happen to be from Oz.

Loud is all I can say ! I don't know if I am getting old or not but it seemed to be one of the loudest concerts I have been to. It was brilliant. Hot, sweaty, got soaked in beer and stayed in the mosh pit all night. Couple of arsholes trying to punch people but all in all it was quite civilised.

The band was ace and before them was a band called Stone Gods and they to had the sound of very heavy rock and got the crowd going. Surprise of the night for me was after the concert, ears ringing, knee killing me (too much bouncing etc.) my mate said that they have been born out of the Darkness.

I'm off to rest that knee....

New Watch - Ollech & Weis

2008-11-04T21:24:00.003Z

My new watch turned up today, it is an O&W diver model ID 3077.

It's rather lovely to be honest. I have been thinking about a new watch for a while and thought of a "name" watch second hand like Omega or Tag but after spending time looking into the actual movements, faces etc. I discovered this little Swiss company after going to a few websites and have bought a quality watch for less than a second hand "name"

This is the description:
25 Jewel Automatic wind Eta 2824-2, with quick set date and hack seconds.
43mm (Including Crown) All steel case with screw on back. Rotating ratchet bezel. Screw Down crown. Sapphire Crystal. 200m Water Resistant.
Black calendar dial.
Solid link steel bracelet with screwed links.

It was bought from Roy at this site: http://www.rltwatches.co.uk

He makes some quality watches himself so have a look.

Lets hope history does repeat itself

2008-10-22T14:13:00.002+01:00

Fact.

When Robbie Keane left Wolves they got relegated.

When Robbie Keane left Coventry they got relegated.

When Robbie Keane left Leeds they got relegated.

When Robbie Keane left Tottenham?

Should of stayed Bostock.

AC/DC

2008-10-19T20:39:00.003+01:00

Well I have pre ordered the album, got the t-shirt on the way BUT can I get a ticket for the concert..... Can I bollocks.

How can they sell out within 5 minutes of going on sale on Ticketmaster? It's a joke and then they turn up on eBay. Winds me up.

I'm still going to try and get a ticket.

Off to see a band called Airbourne in a few weeks time at the Astoria, they are actually a bit like AC/DC, will be one of the last times I see the place as the goverment have bought it to make way for a new station :-( Holds memories of some great concerts. The Foos at the Astoria will always be with me. What a great venue. Will be replaced by some plastic venue no doubt.

Smart Crossblade

2008-10-10T19:35:00.002+01:00

What a mad car. Saw one on the road today with "biggles" driving. As he went past the school kids I think every one looked, pointed or waved. Not too many cars can get that reaction.

I want one !

Little shit !

2008-10-03T20:39:00.002+01:00

I can not believe the story on the BBC site today.

Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile
Camera footage of the boy at the zoo in Australia
The boy was caught on security camera at the reptile centre

A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile.

Footage from the security cameras at Alice Springs Reptile Centre caught the child smiling as he killed a total of 13 animals.

During his 30-minute spree, he was seen hurling the animals over the security fence into the crocodile enclosure.

Zoo officials described the boy's actions as "unbelievable".

They are considering suing the parents as the boy is too young to be prosecuted.

'Difficult to replace'

The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms.

Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure.

At one point, he tried scaling the outer enclosure himself to get to "Terry", the 11ft (3.3m) saltwater crocodile.

A turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and the zoo's 20-year-old goanna were among those killed.

Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and would be difficult to replace.

"The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable," he told Reuters news agency.

Mr Neindorf said the boy had "clammed up" when questioned by police.

As children under the age of 10 cannot be held accountable for their actions in the Northern Territory, the zoo would be seeking to take action against the parents.

"We'll be looking at suing the parents, who were supposedly in control of him at the time," he said.

We went there when we had our year travelling. This photo was taken there:

Gutted.

Back again

2008-10-02T22:07:00.002+01:00

Been over the water in that Europe and ended up in the South of France. Had 2 great weeks there. Drove the car all the way, 2000 miles in all, Petrol was not cheap though although everything was expensive ! I couldnt believe how much it all cost out there.

Here is a tip though, make sure you lock the roof box before tearing up the motorway at 100mph or Kmh if your the French police reading ;-). Yep like a forgetful idiot I forgot to lock the box and it came open as I went pass a lorry. I looked in the mirror and saw the sleeping bags bouncing across the road. Pulled straight over and Faye legged it to collect the bits that flew out. We was so lucky that we never caused a major accident. Lost some items Faye saw pants in the road and some beach toys plus oil had "vanished" If it was England and on the roads here it would of because of how busy the roads but luckily in France the roads are clear so no harm was caused. Dont think it really sank in how lucky we was and also how damn right stupid I was for not locking it and also Faye for running across the motorway. Oh well, wont do that again.

Really rated Eurocamp and France was really good so will look at doing that again. The thing that saved us from falling out during the 2000 miles.... Tom Tom, what a great gadget.

AI

2008-08-25T19:41:00.001+01:00

Simple one today:

I watched AI.... It made me cry :-0

Is it because I now have children? I don't normally cry at films !

Come on in Watson

2008-08-11T21:13:00.002+01:00

from cpfc.co.uk

Went to football on Saturday, bit poor to be honest and the midfield never turned up.

For once a Daily Mail reporter summed it up here

This is the interesting bit and the exact thing I said before the game. Although I used the word Will rather then is and how,

Neil Warnock's stubbornness in refusing to use unsettled midfielder Ben Watson is backfiring on Crystal Palace. While Watson has refused to sign a new contract, Warnock is leaving him out.

But how Palace missed his pinpoint passing, clever free-kicks and long-range shots which got them out of many holes last season and into the play-offs in this goalless draw. Why not put him in the shop window and aid Palace, long on youth and short on experience?

Says it all really, Come on in the Ginger Zidane.

Mini Diggers for hire

2008-08-01T20:21:00.003+01:00

Drove past our local hire shop and they had a sign for Mini Diggers to hire. I need to to sort my driveway so thought I would pop in.

Imagine my shock when I saw this out back.....

Mini Diggers

Credit to Flickr user jojobear99 for the photo,

Mamm,Mamma,MAX

2008-07-31T20:53:00.004+01:00

I dont think I have any chance of getting Skye Lilly to say Dada as her first words. Faye and Max just say MamaMamaMax to her all the time. Only found out this morning when I was saying Dada to Skye when Max went "NO we say mammamammamax to Skye"

I was going to lock Max up but found this picture of him from last week while he was went a great show (and Free!) called Jump Up, it's run by Nick Jr so he met all his fav stars, Peppa Pig, Dora, Diego etc. I couldn't go though as I had to cook lunch for my family. Somehow I managed to arrange my family coming for lunch on the same day.
Max Locked up on Thomas

Pete's Game

2008-07-28T20:07:00.003+01:00

Saw this and looked interesting.

WARNING TAKES A WHILE TO COPY AND PASTE

1. type your answer to each question below into Flickr Search
2. using only the first page of results, pick an image
3. copy and paste each URL into fd’s mosaic maker
4. blog it!

1. Q&A: What is your first name? James - Cool car
2. What is your favorite food? Faggots :-0 bit of a risky search, this made me smile
3. What high school did you go to? I changed this to secondary, Ash Manor - how did a dog make the first page
4. What is your favorite color? blue - Drop
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Drew Barrymore - Grrrr
6. What is your favorite drink? lager - mmmm beer
7. Dream vacation? Austrailia - Upside down
8. Favorite dessert? banoffee pie - You know you want it
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? alive - bit weird
10. What do you love most in life? Family and Palace - of course it is just family but I wanted a more interesting search .... strange
11. One word to describe you? Procrastinator - took a spell checker.., Laptop
12. Your flickr name? james1972 - all about me, my Fave shot

Yep that a while !!

I Like it though:

Bow for Prince Max

2008-07-27T21:19:00.002+01:00

Max last year

Max told us today that he was Prince Max and we had to bow down when we spoke to him.

We went to Cassiobury Park in Watford for a picnic and had a great time there, never realised we had such a good park close to us. Max went on the mini train, bouncy castle, had a paddle in the paddling pools and had a great walk. Shattered is how we all feel !

Pre-season is almost over

2008-07-24T19:57:00.002+01:00

Well, I fancied a break from this blogging malarkey but I guess I best get back to it.

What have I been up since the last post, well I have seen the Foo Fighters and Terrorvision, had a few beers and thats about it so not really anything to blog about.

Still a bit upset about Bostock but hey I have said all along that Moses is going to be the star. I do hope that Bostock does OK as that will help Palace get more money. I'm not as bitter and dare I say twisted as lot of other Palace fans who actually wish him harm and do be a failure.

Skye is doing really well and is pretty much sitting on her own already. Max is now interacting with her all the time and seems to be the only one to make her giggle.

Skye 5 months

Bostock's dad says it's not about the money!

2008-05-29T23:12:00.002+01:00

Thanks for nothing

John Bostock's move to Tottenham Hotspur from Crystal Palace has nothing to do with money - according to his dad.

Michael Brown believes the Eagles' 16-year-old wonderkid is signing for Spurs because that is where he can develop best.

Chelsea and Barcelona had been chasing Bostock and Brown insists he could have gone to either club if the family wanted the cash.

"If John was leaving Crystal Palace for money, he would’ve gone to the biggest and richest club in the world, which he could have done," Brown told the South London Press.

"You can name a big club in England rumoured to be interested in him and it’s a fact. There was great interest from Barcelona but from a family point of view it was never an option because John wasn’t going to leave London.

"But John turned down the richest club in the world and he chose instead to go to the club where he believes he will develop best.

"He’s had a fantastic time at Palace. He’s been at the club since the age of seven and has got a lot of great memories. He’s got to thank everybody there for what’s happened because if it wasn’t for Palace he wouldn’t be where he is today."

Errr Yeah thanks Bostock family for repaying that 7 years by walking out when when we was about to help you help us.

Watch out John Terry...

2008-05-22T10:15:00.004+01:00

Damn it

In a good game of footy, apart from the Chelsea players giving it big and moaning at the ref way too much, Man United won on penalty's in a game that drained the players BUT they get paid enough and will no doubt be having the full treatment today.

Men Rule - I'm Gay

2008-05-19T21:23:00.004+01:00

Windass - Local boy done good, not gay that I know of...

Nope I have not suddenly realised that I like men. I saw it on the back of a car and it made me laugh. Whereas you normally see, Clean me I'm dirty OR the old classic Also available in White. A VW Passett had MEN RULE I'M GAY scrawled across the back.

Less said about football the better.... Well apart from good luck to Hull though as I have lots of mates from up there north.

Come on you Eagles

2008-05-13T16:00:00.004+01:00

Been a while again...
First off my thoughts are with the people of Burma, for those that do not know my mother is Burmese and although we dont have family, as such, in the country it is still heart breaking to see the Junta refuse help. Faye and I travelled round Burma during our year out and it is a great place with the nicest people you could meet.

Footy News
Well after not receiving my ticket for Saturdays game against Bristol City there was bit of a mad panic to pick up my tickets pre match although saying that I just walked up to the window that had my Surname detailed, not sure why 100's queued up behind A-E unless they are are all in that range, personally I guess they love the English way of queuing.

Is bit of a story behind my ticket though as I laughed at my Dad because Faye had said that my ticket had arrived so after laughing at him getting stressed I go home for a BBQ (Details to follow) and sat down to a nice beer and some food when he calls to say he is ringing the PO sorting office up at 6am to see if the ticket was there before box office at 7.45 to get the ticket ready for a pick up, I grab my tickets saying they are in my hand when it occurred to me to check and they had only sent my guest tickets and not my season ticket one. Oh how he laughed...

Dont know why they could not just "credit" the season ticket as it is a smart card.

We played quite poor on Saturday after a good game last week when we beat Burnley 5-0 but I still think we will do it tonight.

Bostock is meant to be off but I will post more on my views of that later in the week.

BBQ News
What a nightmare, first off I never cleaned the BBQ properly so it was a mess and the gas was empty so tearing round to many gas places I discover there is a huge shortage for 5KG patio gas so I could not get one BUT then had a result as the boy in the petrol station sold me a 13KG one and took the 5KG in exchange saved some dosh there as I should of paid for an upgrade as well as the gas.

Kids Club
Max is getting so grown up and last night he went to bed with no nappy on. He has been dry throughout the night for a while but last night was his first with no nappy.

Skye is trying to pull herself up all the time now and is very cute. Still not easy to make her smile like Max was but it is more rewarding when she does.

I will post a picture up very soon but I'm at work for this post.

Sure there was lots of other things to blog about so will try harder to get some time, enjoy the sun.

Wii Fit and Mario Kart

2008-04-30T20:36:00.003+01:00

Wii Fit

We pre-ordered the Wii Fit a while ago from Tesco Direct and it turned up on Monday. Since then I have spent a bit on it BUT Faye has been on it loads. It's quite good from the quick go I had but Faye is unlocking all sorts of games and is loving it !

I also picked up Mario Kart for the Wii on Monday from Comet, after trying over the weekend to get the game my friend emailed and said that Comet have them in stock ! Didnt even realise that we would, that will teach me not to check the company I work for ! The game itself is a classic made better and I'm looking forward to playing him online tomorrow. Just wish I could get Faye off the Wii so I can practice.

Both are great games and I give them a Simmo thumbs up rather then the finger.

Wish I didnt say that !

2008-04-19T23:45:00.003+01:00

Today has been a good day, although Palace can not get automatic promotion we had a very good win at Watford today and many of the other results also went our well. Nice to see that Charlton are not going to make the play offs this year and 3 points "should" be enough for us. Lets hope Wolves lose on Tuesday V Cardiff. Ref was really poor today and the guy next to me said he was ref for the FA Cup final :-0

Who would of thought it when Warnock took over and couldn't get a win !

Before the game we went into town, picture this, we went to a shop in Berkhamsted and the young shop assistants are chatting to Max as Faye paid for a few items and amazed at his talking skills for such a young boy when he starts touching the china items so I say "Max what do we say... looky looky NO Touchy touchy" in a slight Thai accent and he starts saying it. The girls did laugh it has to be said. As I walked up the road thinking about it I suddenly turn to Faye and said that I might of sounded a bit like a perv. She agreed....... Wish I didn't say that !

Catfish

2008-04-18T19:38:00.003+01:00

Photo is of us all last Sunday.

OK Since I posted back in September that the catfish had babies and seemed to love the Bioube. Well the tank is "infested" with them now :-0 We have 17 and they seem to be having babies every month. We are going to have to split them all up now as they keep breading and the tank is just too small for them.

Cool to have so many but bad for the tank and poor old Coppell has no space.

Off to Watford tomorrow for the footy, really looking forward to a quick journey rather then 1 1/2 hours each way. Might have to have a beer or two and I can enjoy getting to see the whole game. For some reason though the box office have sent me a concession ticket rather then an adult one. I have printed the confirmation off just in case the bloke on the door gets "Funny"

My car also failed the MOT so I have been ringing round the breakers to get a new seat belt, the baby car seat has started to tear the belt ! Audi want £150 for the belt plus they wont let me fit it so would be at least 1 hour's work at £110 the robbing bastards. I managed to get one and should get it soon but have to fit it. £45 delivered. Sorted. Do have a problem though as car is getting brakes done (also failed MOT on those) on Monday and the belt might not come until Monday so my timing on the re-test might be a bit... well screwed.

Watford FC

2008-04-10T10:34:00.004+01:00

One Size who has thankfully left us

I had to smile as I saw the bbc pages updating last night and Watford went down 3-0 at home to Barnsley. They blew the chance to go top, we seem to be in a league where no one wants to actually go up!

We are playing them next week and seeing as they are now, by default, my "local" side I will be there in the away end.

Should we beat Scunthorpe on Saturday we will send them down and the game against Watford will have even more meaning as I can not see them (Watford) beating WBA on Saturday. What a tight league we have this year !

RIP Charlton Heston

2008-04-08T20:37:00.002+01:00

Shame to hear about the great man, Planet of the Apes, Ben Hur and of course Wayne's World 2.

He will be missed.

WHAT !

2008-03-31T00:00:00.003+01:00

Max has started saying WHAT at every moment he can now and we know we shouldn't so we are trying hard not to laugh because he does it just to wind us up ! He knows it gets us so he keeps saying it even though he has heard us.

It's our own fault for laughing so much the first time he said it. Even worse I know but every time he says it I keep thinking of Pulp Fiction.

Just say WHAT one more time.......... It is on youtube and here is the link you have to get through to about 04.40 before you get to the scene but it's such a class film enjoy the first 4 mins !

Coffee

2008-03-23T11:37:00.003Z

Francis Francis

I have bought a new Francis Francis coffee machine and it is great. I have been using it with lots of different coffees and have managed to get a good crema almost every time. Went down to Whittards and bought this really special coffee called Blue Mountain Jamaica and it is 5 times more expensive then all the other coffees and it is good. Not sure it is really worth £11 for 125grams when the other coffee is about £2 but it is less "harsh" and really suits a Latte.

There is quite a lot to making a coffee when you start reading the internet for the best way to make coffee. Now to find out what stretching the milk means and if you should or shouldn't use flavoured syrups.

Here is a picture of Max with Skye.

Moses

2008-03-09T00:04:00.002Z

borrowed from Jesuswalk.com

All hail a new king is born at Selhurst and his name is Victor Moses. A while ago I blogged about Bostock making his debut for Palace and said something along the lines of yeah he is good but it's Moses you need to watch out for....

Today I finally got my first "live" viewing of the young prodigy. I was taken back just how good he looked and how good he is going to be, he glides with the ball and does some stuff where he is away from the ball but the ball is under total control, it is a strange thing to see that this young 17 year old just shift his body and the ball seems to be gone but then it is back again under his feet. Incredible.

The only part of his game I dont like and I'm sure Warnock will beat it out of him is that he goes down like he has been shot. I'm sure it is hard for a 17 year old to keep getting hit by tackles but he does seem to go down a tad easy but then he still needs to toughen up. His game is missing a bit of speed and determination but he is young and the good times are coming.

Yes I finally got to my first game since New years day and it was great to be back :-) I got some stick from the gents around me but not too much. The only problem I had was that I drove so that I could leave a bit earlier to give a hand with bathtime and I would not of been able to get back fast enough on the trains. It took 1 1/2 hours there and the same back with clear traffic so a bit quicker then the trains but as I say it was clear on the roads. From Berko I ended up going right round the M25 and up A3 to miss the traffic going through London and it seemed OK. Was strange going that way as it was the way I used to drive (up A3) until I moved to London. Things dont 'alf change and it seemed like a different route. The TomTom kept trying to send me different ways but I stuck with the route that I learnt as a lad and sometimes I wonder why I took the TomTom but the speed camera warnings were good. Next time though I will try the way it says once I leave the A3 at Raynes Park.

Oh and I missed the winning goal by Prince Harry AKA Watson as I left at 4.25 and he scored as I turned the radio on in the car :-( Still 2-1 to the Palace so happy.

They call me James......

2008-03-02T20:02:00.002Z

Max and Skye Lilly

My name is James and they all now call me James, Max has started copying everything we say and now calls me James rather then daddy not all the time but quite a bit, See yer James he shouts as I go to work although I do get a daddy on the phone calls and when I get home. It's amazing really how good his speech is. It is so good he has even stared to copy me taking the "mickey" for example, the other day someone who was round asked for a cup of tea so in my best cockney accent I said
"Cup of rosie lee coming up" and lo and behold the boy said it as well with the accent. Brilliant really. Not sure I like it when he hears Faye call me honey and he copies that, it does make me laugh though.

His other favorite word is NO and that gets used a bit more then we would like.

Max and Skye are both doing really well, Skye seems a bit like me....... She is quite grumpy and frowns a lot :-) She is really cute and beautiful with it. Her sleeping is not bad although we have moved her to her own room, bit sooner then most but she is noisy and I snore so it is best for all.

2008-02-29T21:09:00.002Z

All is OK and we are enjoying being a bigger family. As mentioned it does seem easier the 2nd time round.

I love the fact that we had a little girl and my mate said that we now have a Gentlemens family of a Boy and Girl. Not heard that saying but I like it.

I have been sipping Honey Dew by Fullers this week and if you like a beer I really recommend it. I get it from Waitrose and not bad value at £1.85 or something.

Take care and I will post some pictures over the weekend,

Back to the guitar

2008-02-16T23:12:00.003Z

My Gibson SG
Recently I have been getting nearly all my blogging fixes from the Croydon Chronicles written by the very funny Istvanski , whilst on his site I got listening to a youtube video of a couple of quite talented girls (although I did think the older one was a boy for a while) playing guitar and singing. I then surfed round youtube at guitar videos and it got me thinking wouldn't it be good to play guitar and then I thought.... You know what I am meant to be able to play a couple of chords and spent a shed load of money a few years ago on a SG so I dusted it off, still needs a good clean !, tuned it up by plugging it into a tuner as I'm tone deaf and banged out a couple of chords and I mean only a few. Think it was Em, D, C, C that I used in my little "play". Still not plugged in the amp though ! I might run it through my laptop later as the amp is in the bedroom and there is a baby Skye in there so cant get it.

I also went out and bought Total Guitar in my new found eagerness to learn the guitar and will have a read through that and see if there is anything easy I can try. They do have Feeders Forget about tomorrow tabbed and Feeder are a real favorite of mine so I might have a look at that.

Skye one week on

2008-02-12T20:21:00.000Z

Skye Lilly at one week

Well here we are over a week into having Skye with us and all is good !

Faye is feeding her lots and lots as she always wants feeding, Faye is a bit shattered by all the feeding but all in all we are coping loads better then with Max.

Skye's weight is already back to her birth weight and that is a great sign.

So why is it all so much easier this time? Well I think there are a few reasons:
1) Fayes labour was a lot shorter.
2) We have had more time to establish our lives with her.
3) We have a bigger house.
4) Been there and done it !!

1 - Rather then starting at lunchtime on the 29th and Max arriving just before midnight on the 30th involving a couple of trips to the hospital and lots of stress and no sleep, Faye had a twinge in the morning and 4pm felt strong contractions and when we arrived at the hospital, about 17.30, she was already 9cm dilated ! Skye Lilly arrived into the world at 20.20.

2 - rather then having everyone round straight away we have basically set our own times and not had anyone round until we was ready for people.

3 - a 2 up and 2 down full of people is no fun whereas a 3 bed house with lounge and diner has enough space for everyone.

4 - Yeah a strange one but simple things like dressing her is quicker, with Max we was both so worried about hurting him we would hardly bend his arms and it would take ages to get ready whereas with Skye we just get on with it and it is done really quick.

She had her first bath today and even that was quite easy :-) I sat there with the new camcorder so was a breeze for me :-)

We have decided that she will be Skye Lilly and no middle name but known as Skye for day to day. Thanks everyone.

On the camcorder front I bought the JVC GZ-MG175 and it is a HDD model and well after a bit more research it is not as Mac friendly as I hoped as the USB is not seen by iMovie HD but is by iMovie 08. iMovie 08 is slated and a reason why I have not bothered with iLife08. To get round it I had to use mpeg streamclip with a Quicktime add in then save as DV format BUT have since worked out that I can just connect the DV cable / firewire from my older DV camcorder to the dock and play it and to see the clip in iMovie and import it. I'm still playing and getting there with it now so will hopefully have something to show you soon. It seems as though JVC sorted it by adding a DV output to the dock on my model.

The Simmonds' PART 2

2008-02-05T11:54:00.000Z

Max has been really really good with Skye and as you can see from the following shot he loves Baby Skye very much.

What do you think we should do with Skye's name, Skye Lilly as a first name OR Skye and Lilly as a second name?

Thanks for the messages,
James, Faye, Max and Skye Lilly

Just off to collect...

2008-02-04T14:13:00.000Z

Image "borrowed" from www.krittercards.com

A camcorder and a BABY GIRL, hooray Faye gave birth last night to a daughter and we have names her Skye Lilly. She was born without any complications at 20.20 last night and weighed in at 7lb 15 and a bit. She is shorter then Max so a bit chubbier. As births go she was a lot easier then Max and Faye did really really well and had no pain relief.

The camcorder has also arrived so I will collect that just before I collect the "girls"

I will post up a photo a bit later.
James

Still Waiting...

2008-02-02T16:06:00.000Z

Well today is the day that our 2nd baby is due. Faye has gone out for a walk with Max and her mum to try and hurry things along while I popped out to the greatest electrical shop there is... Comet, Yeah I work for them but they do have some great deals and the layout of the shop in Hemel is so much better then the Currys on the same site. I went in Currys and it was terrible for a new refitted shop.

We have puchased a new camcorder because the one we have, a Sony DCR TRV20E, a great camcorder and the spec is still really good but it is a bit "Large" nowadays.

We have had to wait for the price to drop on the smaller ones to get a mega pixel camcorder for the sort of price we wanted to pay. They have always been over £300 but Comet have the JVC GZ-MG175EK at a great price of £249.99 can not argue with that and once I added my discount (I get a couple of 20% voucher once a year) I ended up paying £199. Collect it Wednesday although it might be in on Monday so I will have to wait before using.

Hopefully will be filming the new baby for you all to see.........

Unicorn

2008-01-25T22:47:00.000Z

Image "borrowed" off a google search....

Well it's only a week and a bit to go now so starting to get a bit nervy when the phone rings and I see 'home' or 'Faye Mobile', we do have a good system though where Faye calls and hangs up if it is just a chat and then I can call her back when I'm free. This works great until it keeps ringing and the reason is she forgot to hang up !

Max's speech is just getting better and better at the moment, I called home and spoke to him yesterday. He normally just says "How are you" "bye bye" and "love you" plus a few other words in there when coached on what he has been doing BUT yesterday we had a proper conversation where he told me everything he had been up to and that he was playing football and blowing his whistle when I called ! Amazing.

Faye saw a picture of a unicorn today and Max called it a Rhino Horse. Pretty clever we thought.

Snoring Ring, Sleep Knight

2008-01-19T20:44:00.000Z

The ring has gone back to boots, never worked very well to be honest. Didnt think it would but anything is worth trying.

Warnock's red and blue army are still marching and it's now unbeaten in 15 matches !

Max has started playing footy on a Saturday morning now with Little Kickers and hopefully he will get signed up :-) Faye and I need to retire as this working stuff is no good, saying that though, a guy at work's son was signed by Chelsea and he was happy for a bit but then was released after just a year. It turns out that almost the whole of the team that he played in was signed and then released. What the clubs do is sign up almost the whole of a good team that are winning everything and out of, say, 200 boys about 5 get kept whilst the other 195 get released with their hearts broken. As it turns out though the guy at works son is now signed up by Reading so we will see.... and his age is 12 !

The baby is due in just 2 weeks today :-0

Balachaung

2008-01-13T22:11:00.000Z

Balachaung

What the hell is that I hear you say well... For those that dont know me or might know me but not know the following (Hope that makes sense !) I am half Burmese, the good half my Mum would say and you must of guessed that to be a Palace Fan then my Dad and Grandad must of "made" me. Same as we will do to Max. Balachaung is a Burmese condiment that goes very well with Rice and can be dry or wet, I used to get it from Mum who got it from a place in South London (Just up the road from the Palace) but the person that makes it died. Now whilst I am sad about someone dying I never knew them and it does mean that I can not get any Balachaung anymore so I did a few searches on the web last night and managed to get a recipe and have recreated it this afternoon after going to a Chinese supermarket for some bits. Turned out all right even if I say so myself so I will be getting my mum to taste and see if it compares.

The picture above is taken on the built in isight so not great quality.
The receipe I based mine on is here in full but I used the following:

100g dried shrimp
10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 cup crisp-fried sliced shallots
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
1 Tbs ground dried chillies
2 teaspoons salt
2 cm/1 in square of dried shrimp paste
1/2 cup vinegar (I used Rice)
"chunk" of ginger blended in the processor or grated will do.

Put the dried shrimp into a food processor and process, I gave them a good "cutting" down.
Fried the fresh garlic,until golden and drained on a kitchen towel. It then starts to crisp up. Dont over do them as they will go black and horrible. I tested a couple before placing them all in. I used a wok and wire drainer.

Pour off 1 cup of oil.

Reheat remaining oil and fry the dried prawn for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, goes a bit frothy but keep stiring. Add the Ginger, Add chillies mixed with the vinegar, salt and shrimp paste. Fry until crisp, stirring constantly. Allow to cool completely before mixing in the fried onion and garlic, stirring to distribute evenly.

I then gave it another blitz in the processor to cut it down a bit more.

It stunk the kitchen out but was worth it.

Silent Knight, Not great to be honest it just does not seem to work so will take it back this week after 2 nights.

Palace - Come on, Now in the playoffs. Thats it for me though for a month or so :-( so I will be sending my season ticket to my brother. Have already bought my ticket for next year though :-)

Not so Silent Knight 2 and 3

2008-01-05T09:51:00.000Z

BOSTOCK

It does not seem to be working at the moment, the benefit of doubt is that I am having bad sinus pains so that might a problem BUT I'm not sure if this snoring ring is working or indeed will work. It does say to stick at it for a bit so I will.

Wanted to go to the Watford V Palace FA Cup game today but Watford have only given Palace 2500 tickets and they sold out last week. Would of been good to see some of our prospects playing. I might be able to get in the home end but we will see if I fancy it later, Have done it a couple of times before and it is no real fun watching in the home end. Although being in the home end in Germany when England won 1-5 was very good !

I am only about 15-20 mins from Watford on the train rather then my usual 2 hours to Palace so would be a nice trip.

Have also bought my season ticket for next year so don't really have the money for todays game anyway.

Good luck Palace.

Istvanski the ring thing was bought from Boots for more money then it is worth, £30, would of been cheaper then all the potions that i am currently trying though.

Silent Knight Night 1

2008-01-03T16:30:00.000Z

Well... Faye who most of you know is due next month is not sleeping great, we guess it is natures way of preparing you for the sleepless nights ! was up quite early, 5am, and said that I did not snore even while on my back and that is unheard of !

I did some google searches last night and could not find anyone that had "honestly" tried the ring but lots of people knocking it so we will see in a few days. I'm a bit s unsure of it all and it might be a fluke that it worked so i will try again tonight and let you know.

Snoring

2008-01-02T21:41:00.001Z

I snore and have done for quite a while, I have tried everything and last night used a nasal spray, breath right strip and snoreeze throat strip and still snored. I have been to see a private doctor you said that an operation to tighten the throat would cost £3500 be painful and still not guaranteed to work, he put it down to allergies.

Tonight I am going to try a Silent Knight ring. It is a small silver ring that goes on your little finger and according to the website, and I quote,

Silent Knight Ring uses acupressure - tried and tested over the past 3,500 years!

The raised part on the inside of Silent Knight Ring acts, when correctly positioned, on one of the meridian lines in the little finger of the snorer. It uses age-old principle of Accupressure, specifically the principle of Tuina (pronounced 'twee nah') which is a form of Oriental bodywork used in China. It's a combination of massage, acupressure, and other forms of body manipulation.

You might have heard of Reflexology, where pressure is applied to the hands, feet, and even ears to treat a variety of conditions. Tuina is a form of reflexology that has a history pre-dating ANY conventional western medicine by thousands of years.

To make Silent Knight Ring work for you all you have to do is put it on about an hour before you go to bed, correctly position the Accupressure Stimulator (full instructions are included) and give the ring one gentle squeeze to apply pressure - that's it! Tuina and Silent Knight Ring are working together for you to cut out your problem snoring completely!

have a good night's sleep at last! Order your own Silent Knight Ring NOW

will let you know how it goes.....

Merry Xmas

2007-12-29T22:17:00.000Z

As usual I'm late posting but I hope that everyone that reads this had a great Xmas. This year was really good because Max has the hang of opening the presents and understands that Father Christmas brings them. Great day. The photo above is Max opening his "big" present.

Only 5 weeks to go before No.2 comes along.... blimey it's coming quick.
Faye has sorted most of the nursery out but we still need to buy a new stroller and cot bed. Best get buying...

At the car wash baby....

2007-12-20T23:37:00.000Z

There are some great things you should do as a dad:
Go to the park, play in the castle, play hide and seek. You get the picture.

One thing you shouldn't do is take him to the car wash. When your son starts crying and saying I'm sorry daddy, I'm sorry, thats the moment your heart breaks and you think it was a bad time to get the car washed.

I Passed, I'm now fully PRINCE2

2007-12-14T22:35:00.000Z

Hooray.. I chased up today and I have passed the exam so I am now Prince2 Practitioner. Got a strange email back saying that it is still not official but I had passed and I will know for def in a couple of days. Thats good enough for me.

Yes I am very happy but I knew I would pass :-)

As mentioned though it was hard, if you find me through a search then let me know and I will give you my foundation study guides from the web plus links and I might be able to sort out the latest mock exams for you.

Will be good for the CV if nothing else ;-0

Faye got me a nice red that was drunk in a rather fast manor but I had a project to drink and lets hope it's not the only project I finish early.........

Xmas is coming

2007-12-08T21:20:00.000Z

Max helped decorate the tree yesterday. Looks just like Marc Bolan !

Last week was Max's birthday and a great day was had by all. Spinning round until you fall, running through bubbles and lots of dancing...... was done by me, the kids enjoyed pass the parcel.

Above is Max, me and the fat controller along with Thomas. If you look closely I am doing my best Thomas impression. Was a very wet day but Max loved it. Best bit was when Father Christmas came into our carriage and said to the little kid opposite "Whats your name?"
"Samuel" says said kid then adds "but why didnt you remember as I told you that last year."

Still no exam result so I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

Palace are doing really well at the moment and it's unbeaten in 8 for us now. We seem to be playing with a bit more hunger and not sitting back. Warnock is making a difference and it's good to see the players really trying. The difference in Morrison is just amazing, he really runs for the whole game and looks like he is going to score all the time. I laughed when my dad said he was going to put some money on us to go up but he went ahead and did it and got 250-1 so fingers crossed for him, me, Palace and Faye who is still pregnant !

Latest news

2007-11-18T15:24:00.000Z

Kitchen

Hooray, done a bit more on the kitchen. Collected the splashback yesterday so fitted that and the extractor fan yesterday along with almost finishing the tile splashback behind the sink, still need to "finish" that off. Last week I connected up the new spotlight and clock. Slowly getting there.

I do like the red star knob, we got that to get over the problem of the handles catching on that side, plus it adds some colour.

Fish

We now have 4 baby catfish ! Not sure why but since we got the new fish tank, that Biube one, they have started mating.

Exams

2007-11-16T21:04:00.000Z

I have been taking the PRINCE2 exams. Was on a course for 4 days last week that ended with the foundation exam, managed to pass that one. Today I had the 3 hour Practitioner exam, blimey it was hard. I have been studying to pass and the mocks that I had I thought were fine and not really a problem BUT todays was bloody hard. Not sure if it was because of the exam conditions but it was tricky. I hope that I managed to "read" the questions correctly and get the right answers. It was the new style objective testing rather then the "old" essay style one. The examiner also did the exam as it so new and she wants to get an understanding of them, and she said it was a lot harder then the ones she has done in the past ! Apparently since changing the exam the pass mark was around 85% compared to around 75% on the old style SO they was going to make it harder, well it looks like they did !

The old way you used be able to explain the reasons for your answers but now it is YES or NO and nothing in the middle. Personally I think it is harder ;-)

I will let you know if I pass, if it goes quiet then you know I failed :-)

Used to take at least 12 weeks for the marking but it is 2-4 weeks now that a computer sorts them out.

Max and Faye went to a birthday party today. Faye managed to get a some new maternity clothes. She looks fab. Will get some of us all on here soon.

Got Max's 2nd birthday in a couple of weeks time, man how time flies ! He is now in a "real" bed and touch wood he seems fine and is staying in there ! We did have to change his sleep wear though from a sleeping bag to a sleeping suit. Oh and a major that I should of said ages ago was he is now toilet trained, Faye got him trained up a couple of months ago!

Talk soon,
James

Oi Santa, Make some toys

2007-11-03T21:39:00.000Z

Todays date is the 3rd of November so why oh why have I have been listening to bloody Mariah Carey singing that she wants me for christmas and get this I only saw a Santa out on the high street in Berkhamsted. We have not even had firework night yet !

It's wrong I tell you wrong.

Oh and why is there a Superman in the photo !

Bostock

2007-10-30T20:23:00.000Z

All hail the new kid has arrived.

OK so the result was not want we wanted but it was great to see young John Bostock make his debut and become the youngest Palace player in history. Some touches and he looked very comfortable for a 15 year old, I'm 20 years older then him :-( Man I feel old.

Victor Moses should be due back soon and watch this space because if you thought Rooney was something special at a young age, wait for Victor.

The futures bright our chairman is orangeImages taken from the Palace site.

Im still here, Taylors not

2007-10-08T19:32:00.000+01:00

Image from BBC and full story here

Well Palace have finally sacked Peter Taylor. I think it is the right time for a change, he lost the fans a while ago and from the reports he has also lost the players so as I say, it is time for a change.

Who next though? Neil Warnock seems to the red hot favorite so we will see.

What happening with us, well the kitchen is still a work in progress, we have a long list of things to do on the house. I have kind of been having a break from the kitchen so need to get my head back into it asap, Faye has been painting in there so I need to focus again. Prob go to Ikea one night this week, not looking forward to it but we have stuff to take back and also need to buy a couple of items.

Baby News

2007-09-19T23:09:00.000+01:00

Faye and I are expecting another baby, No.2 or Chilli as I am calling him/her is due on the 2nd February. We had our 20 week scan today and everything is good. Max will be 2 Years and 2 months old, gawd help us !

We could of found out what we are are expecting but we never, Faye thinks girl and I think boy.

It's quite strange the second time round because I'm not "following" the pregnancy anywhere as close as I was with Max. It is going really fast this time and we are not preparing like we did last time. Guess we best start sorting it out soon.

Max does understand all ready that Faye has a baby in the tummy and today Baby Digger seemed like a good name to him. Have to admit I quite like that too.

James

Max does an advert...

2007-09-10T21:35:00.000+01:00

For those in the UK, not sure if it was shown in other countries, who remembers the Guinness advert where the bloke stands around waiting for his pint to be poured?

Well I got the camera out to video Max doing his drum impression for a mate at work and imported it into iMovie. If you have used iMovie with iSight you will know that as soon as you remove your camera it defaults to the built in iSight. Max started staring at himself on the computer and went a little bit "strange" I managed to record most of it and the video I have uploaded to youtube has hardly any editing on it. It is also worth pointing out that there was no music or anything going on in the house. Just a Normal Sunday morning really ;-)

Movie is HERE, it is 14 meg and about 3 minutes long

James

Kitchen is getting there

2007-09-09T22:35:00.000+01:00

Managed to get most of the handles on today BUT have not bought enough and also have a slight problem with 2 cupboards being too close and the handles will clash so I will have to buy a "knob" for a cupboard rather then a nice handle.

I have posted some photos on flickr, must get a pro account this week !, but this is before and now. I say now because it is still not finished so therefore is not an after.

Before

Now

Update

2007-09-08T20:47:00.000+01:00

Catfish News..

The babies are starting to venture out a bit more and Faye managed to get the above photo of one of them.

Kitchen News.

Getting there, still needs a paint, the handles screwed on, under sink area sorted, plug socket set it wall, new window ledge installed plus of course the blue protection removed to show off the nice white under them plus a 101 other little jobs.

This is the cabs going in.

This is Bill (My father in law) working on the plumbing.

And this is the hob and sink plus oiled worktops. They have had about 4 coats of oil so far with a light sand in between. Hard work but have been told numerous times that it is so important to oil it at the start. I am going to try and oil it once a day for first week then every 3 days for a couple of weeks before going to once every other week. That should sort it.

I was thinking of having oak ends but once we started looking it would of been too much. So I now have 2.9m of solid oak going on ebay !

Catfish Parents

2007-09-02T21:47:00.000+01:00

Faye cleaned out the fish tank and discovered that our catfish have mated and we have at least 2 baby catfish !!

I will try and get a photo when I can but they are quite quick !

Here is a picture of our worktops, all ready for cutting. The kitchen is still drying so we can not paint it just yet but I have started to put some units together and set them up on the wall that has not been plastered. My father in law is down tomorrow to give me some help with the kitchen for a couple of days and it is still on course to be finished in a few days time.

Went to the football on Saturday and well, sometimes you have to ask why.....

Warnock to replace Taylor is the latest rumour, not sure if that is what I want.

Plastered

2007-08-31T21:21:00.000+01:00

Kitchen walls have been plastered, we used a company called ATM in Berkhamsted and they have been brilliant. They did what looks like a good job and kept everything clean and tidy.

Also took delivery of the worktops. Man they are heavy, I had to help bring them in, all part of the cheaper option ! they look really good. They are Oak and 40mm depth and currently 4 meters long ! i honestly thought I was going to pass out when I helped carry them. Gawd knows how the guy can do that all day long. Will take a picture on them in the morning.

Kitchen

2007-08-27T23:30:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts but the kitchen has been taking up most of my time !

It's been hard work but we are starting to see the end now.

Tiles have been taken off the wall. The tiles where put straight on the plaster boards rather then a skim so now we need new boards up.

The gas man has disconnect the hob so everything could be removed out, the Ikea bits have been delivered.

A new wood floor was installed last week.

New tiles laid on the floor over the weekend.

Needs a clean but gives you an idea.

Friday the plasterer is coming, as is the new worktops and in the mean time I need to sort the electrics out. Next week my father in law is coming down for a few days to help me and Mark the man to install worktops is out on Wednesday before the gas man connects the new hob on Thursday. Be glad when it is a week Friday and we can start to look at the finishing touches.

Looking forward to Friday.......

Beer, Beer, BEER

2007-08-12T22:34:00.000+01:00

I have taken the above photo from flickr user Yyokota, I hope he does not mind and I have sent an email.

The reason for the use of the photo is because Max has started shouting beer at everything I drink ! I could be drinking water and he shouts beer , I could be drinking a coffee and he shouts beer. Ask him what i drink and he shouts beer !

I dont even drink that much beer, I prefer a nice red to be honest... although I did crack open some Foster twists and managed to have 4 in a hour because they were so refreshing. Not getting them again as they go too fast.

Now then....

2007-08-12T22:01:00.000+01:00

Max drives us up North

We went to see our new niece yesterday up near Barnsley / Sheffield, we could not get Jasper in the kennel so we decided that we should buy a new tent and try camping with Max and the dog.

Had a great time although it got very cold and rained during the night. Only cost £5 for all of us and the dog ! Max thought it was great and really enjoyed being next to the chickens and sheep. He loved all the tractors !

My Niece is very cute and you just forget how small new borns are.

Max ready for bed?

On the way up we stopped just outside Loughborough at somewhere called Beacon Hill, Max found a chair made just for him !

King Max

I have also managed to rip all the tiles off the kitchen wall, had to call my plasterer up though to get him round to have another look because it looked a mess. I might also add that i did try and take the tiles off neatly.

Oh dear

He said it was not great and he will have to put new boards up before plastering over the top of those. He said that he could not believe that someone would put the boards up and tile straight over without any plaster. Must of been the original builders. I want nice straight clean walls with no tiles so need it sorted. The plasterer though has said he wont charge me more because I have given him time to sort it out :-) Will let you know what he is like. He is due 31st to do the job.

This week I have the units all coming from Ikea on Thursday and everything is still on track to be finished around the 7h September. Wish I could just crack on get it sorted but I cant get the plastering done prior.

New Niece

2007-08-08T20:44:00.000+01:00

Say HELLO to my new niece. She is called Connie Isabel Crossfield. Not sure on the exact spellings !

She was born on Monday 6th at 07.50 and weighed in at 6lb12

Mike Reid

2007-08-05T19:53:00.000+01:00

"G-g-g-g-go!"

"Runaround... now!"

Bit of a late post, I was sad to hear that the legend of a host on Runaround Mike Reid died.

He is better known though for this classic in Eastenders.

Nice to see though that a local band in Berkhamsted will still carry on... Bass player, Matt Tinsley, said "We will most definitely carry on under the name Frank Butcher and the slags. We feel as though Mike would of found it funny and would have recognised that we named it in good spirit. We are all fans of him." Catch him at their web page on myspace here Also read down the comments for a jpeg of the article.

It's Over

2007-07-31T22:32:00.000+01:00

I have been picked to be a beta tester for the FM LIVE game from sigames, here is the
link and between that and watching the last couple of Prison Breaks see you all soon !!!!

I will post about the game and the other links soon........

Kitchen

2007-07-28T21:54:00.000+01:00

CURRENT KITCHEN

Well we have finally started to order the bits for the kitchen. So far we have a sink and tap physically in our hands and have made an order for the units from Ikea. We ordered them over the web rather then actually making the painful trip to Ikea.

We have gone for the high gloss white Abstrakt ones and I will try and post some plans up. We are getting the worktops from somewhere else though and have gone for solid oak ones.

Update more later. I'm addicted to Prison Break at the moment so have to watch that now !!!

James

Harry Potter

2007-07-23T21:58:00.000+01:00

Faye got the book and I read the back page......... It was all a dream :-0

Nothing in life is FREE !!!!

2007-07-13T21:50:00.000+01:00

OK so we now have two 16 year old girls that say they have been duped in to carrying drugs.

Yasemin told Channel 4 News on Thursday night they were tricked into carrying drugs to London.

Speaking by telephone from prison in Accra, she said: "There were basically two boys over here who gave us two bags and told us... it was an empty bag.

"We never thought anything bad was inside... and they told us to go to the UK and drop it off to some boy... at the airport."

"It was basically like a set-up. They didn't tell us nothing, we didn't think nothing, because basically we are innocent.

"We don't know nothing about this drugs and stuff."

First of all you get asked to go on a "free" holiday and then to carry 2 empty bags back to the UK, what the fuck do you think are you going to be carrying? I'm sorry but I say lock them up for 10 years at least and lets hope they dont have kids !!!

I'm sure at 16 years old I will still be helping Max out and lets be honest if we ever let him go on a "free" holiday to bring back an "empty" bag then we also deserve to be sharing porridge with him.

Fuckwits and I do try really hard never to swear on this site !

"I'm carrying back an empty bag but it is weighed down a bit by 300K worth of Coke." Well it ain't empty then is it !

Bubble Boy

2007-07-12T23:31:00.000+01:00

Today, thanks to a work health plan, I went to the Bupa hospital over in Harpenden for some test because I have not been able to breath through my nose and snore quite a bit. I also wake up with bruised ribs but then that is where Faye jabs me during the night to turn on to my side.

I had a thing shoved up my nose and ended up taking an allergy test, As it turns out I'm allergic to my house i.e. Dust and Dogs :-) ! The Dr though wants me to get floorboards rather then carpets etc. etc. well it wont happen because personally I'm not a fan of wood floors. We will get the carpet cleaners in and will also start to look another hoover. Ours is only a couple years old but it's suction is not as good as it was. I have tried cleaning it out etc. but it's just not that good. Was a £200 hoover like a Dyson but maybe not as good as it turns out.

I have been given a spray and some allergy tabs and go back in a month. If it solves the swelling in the nose and my sinus and breathing is better then I will probably be on the spray and tabs for ever and if not then I need to look at surgery to "bore" the nose passage a bit bigger.

I called Faye and she seemed almost disappointed that they never found any lumps or bits obstructing the nose and it was only swollen ! Think Faye wanted a quick answer by surgery to my snoring !

Kitchen

2007-07-11T21:58:00.000+01:00

Above photo by Flickr user John Wilkie what a stunning shot.

Found it while looking for a shot of "Oak" because Faye and I are looking into replacing the kitchen and one option is Oak worktops. I would like to know if anyone has them and what their thoughts are on them.

We are also looking at Ikea so any thoughts of the quality etc. on their kitchens would be good as well. I have read about there not being enough of a void behind the cabinets but I am now looking at using a wooden baton to bring the base unit out if needed.

Should be fun trying to organise all of the bits to happen in the correct order and making sure I can get the correct people at the right time i.e. Plasterer as soon as the old units are removed. I am going to try and do most of it myself with some help from my Father in-law. I will keep you updated with plans and ideas.

James

Berkhamsted Bird of Prey

2007-07-08T20:53:00.000+01:00

We had bit of a "shock" this morning, we was loading Max into the car at about 9 this morning. We heard some rustling in the trees and looked up to see a bird in a bit of distress. Couldn't quite work it out and then all of a sudden a Falcon lands on our front garden really close to us with a chick from the bird box (on the tree opposite our house) in it's talons. It then flew off when the chicks parents came down but it never let go of the chick. Was really quite cool to see and I wish that we had our camera ready.

Spice Girl Post

2007-07-04T14:30:00.000+01:00

Well the wife wanted to know why on earth I posted about the Spice Girls getting back together because I'm not a fan, she never got the reason for the post so now I have a feeling that maybe people are going to label me as a Spice Girl fan :-0

The reason for the post was a joke on the flag they were holding and Gerri's mini skirt from all those years ago.

Just for the record I'm not a spice girl fan !

Biube

2007-07-04T14:03:00.000+01:00

We are looking at sorting out or should I say ripping out our kitchen and replacing it. The Ikea high gloss with Oak tops seem to be our fave at the moment. I am going to try and I mean try to use Google Sketch to get an idea of the look because the online planner does not work with the mac (or Vista ! so I can not boot into that !)

In preparation of that though we have to do a few things and one is to move the fish from the kitchen to a new home so we went the whole hog and bought them a new tank, stand etc. It is called the Biube and if it does what it says then it should make looking after them a lot easier.

In over a week the tank still looks very clear and the LED light is really good. So it looks good and the fish (2 Fancy, 3 Cat fish and 1 fantail) are all happy. The white fancy fish is Coppell after Steve Coppell as he used to be a more Copper colour and the other fancy fish is Damien because Faye liked the name and I wont call a son of mine that. Those 2 are about 6 years old now. The others have no name.

Who will have my Fowler?

2007-07-02T14:16:00.000+01:00

Now that they have all left Eastenders it turns out that Robbie Fowler is the latest Fowler to struggle getting work.

I would have down at the Palace, Get the cheque book out Mr Jordan although I bet it's a lot of money for him and we need a fast pacy forward.
Story here: Click Me

Spice Girls are back

2007-06-29T20:38:00.000+01:00

Yes there are more important things happening in England at the moment BUT

the spice girls are back.

Here they are courtesy of the BBC

Cant believe Geri still has her dress....

Blakey

2007-06-26T20:46:00.000+01:00

I have had some blakeys fitted to a pair of my shoes and whilst they are dead loud and make me sound like a girl walking down the road they will hopefully save me having to keep getting the heel done.

It did get a couple of us thinking about the era of blakeys. Burgundy stay press trousers, White towelling socks or one pink and one green, karate slipper, highlights, dyeing just the front of your hair !, Choose Life T-Shirts, Parker and harrington coats.

Happy days

Eggs Banned

2007-06-20T21:05:00.000+01:00

Can you believe it, an advertising watchdog has banned an egg advert (from the 50's) because it does not promote a balanced diet !! The amount of crap and junk food on the TV and they ban this.

Story is on the BBC site

Ban on rerun of eggs TV advert

Tony Hancock
Comedian Tony Hancock featured in the advertisement

The 1950s TV adverts
Reruns of a TV commercial from the 1950s which urged viewers to "go to work on an egg" have been banned.

An advertising watchdog said the slogan went against the principle of eating a varied diet.

The Egg Information Service had wanted to screen the advert, which featured comedian Tony Hancock, to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Author Fay Weldon, who headed the team which came up with the slogan, has described the decision as absurd.

"When you think of what can be run and what is being run, like low-cost airlines and cars - cars kill, eggs aren't actually likely to do so," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

She said she was proud of the adverts and remembered how Hancock was reluctant to take part.

"He hated doing them, he felt it was a great comedown, he didn't want to do them and did them as a kind of mockery.

"I sat in the studio listening to him moaning and complaining, so we just wrote what he wanted.

"One of them said 'I hate doing this advertisement' - we just thought the truth might work best."

'Accepted advice'

The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) defended its decision, insisting that the adverts did not suggest a varied diet.

BACC spokesman Kristoffer Hammer said: "Dietary considerations have been at the centre of the new rules for advertising and in consideration of this we felt that these adverts did not suggest a varied diet.

"The concept of eating eggs every day for breakfast goes against what is now the generally accepted advice of a varied diet and we therefore could not approve the ads for broadcast."

British Egg Information Service spokesperson Amanda Cryer said: "We have been shocked by this ruling as eggs are a healthy, natural food which are recommended by nutritionists."

"What's more, there are no restrictions on the number of eggs people can eat, which was recently confirmed by the Food Standards Agency, and between five and seven eggs a week would be totally acceptable for most people."

Ms Cryer added: "In addition, many other advertisers clearly promote their products to be eaten every day such as breakfast cereals so we are very surprised that eggs have been singled out in this way."

Facebook

2007-06-15T23:24:00.000+01:00

I still dont really get it but have met a couple of mates through it all but if you would like to link or be my friend over in facebook here is my profile link http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=622101555

Palace 1 Dowie 0

2007-06-15T23:19:00.000+01:00

Finally a judge in the land who understands something about contracts. Foot ball has always made me laugh by the fact that you can do such a bad job mnaging a team that you get sacked but then you get paid up your contract. Anyway this is aboout Dowie getting his just reward. I have nothing against Dowie but I am glad that we won the case.

I posted this last year ....

Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Why Dowie, why?

I'm glad that Jordan is serving Dowie a writ. BBC story here. At the end of the day he left Palace to be nearer his family so was mutually released from his contact at Palace and then he turns up at Charlton (Who for some reason think they are our rivals, your not). Not good and not right, on the Palace sites they are saying he is worse the Steve Bruce when he walked. At least Steve Bruce asked for permission to talk to Birmingham, not that he was allowed but thats another long story !

AJ has signed for Everton and I wish him all the best.

Never a dull moment being a Palace fan !!

Mr Dowie will get one back when he signs Borrowdale though. A good player but again greed has the better of him and he is leaving.

Ouch - Woman jailed for testicle attack

2007-06-14T21:28:00.000+01:00

Men, get something to dry your eyes before reading on.....

From BBC

Woman jailed for testicle attack
A woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has been sent to prison.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Mr Jones saying: "That's yours."

Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

'Pulled hard'

Sentencing Monti, Judge Charles James said it was "a very serious injury" and that Monti was not acting in self defence.

The court heard that Mr Jones had ended his long-term but "open relationship" with Monti towards the end of May last year.

The pair remained on good terms and on 30 May she picked him up from a party in Crosby and went back for drinks with friends at Mr Jones's house.

An argument ensued and Mr Jones said there was a struggle between them.

In his statement, Mr Jones said she grabbed his genitals and "pulled hard".

He added: "That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was completely naked and in excruciating pain."

The court heard that a friend saw Monti put Mr Jones's testicle into her mouth and try to swallow it.

She choked and spat it back into her hand before the friend grabbed it and gave it back to Mr Jones. Doctors were unable to re-attach the organ.

In a letter to the court, Monti said she was sorry for what she had done.

She said: "It was never my intention to cause harm to Geoff and the fact that I have caused him injury will live with me forever. I am in no way a violent person."

The letter added: "I have challenged myself to explain what has happened but still I just cannot remember. This has caused much anguish to me and will do for the rest of my life."

Ouch. I love her statement that she is not a violent person. Could you imagine what she would of done if she was :-0

Stats

2007-06-11T20:41:00.000+01:00

I was reading a blog about stats so thought I would check mine out.

My mates are currently doing a round the world tour (see link on the right, Matt and Michelle)

At least I thought they were until I see that they have been on my blog for nearly 24 hours.....

Have a look at their blog there has been some good posts.

Micro Chips

2007-06-09T22:47:00.000+01:00

We have all been in the Isle Of Wight the last 5 days. We had a great time but wish I was there over the weekend for the festival.

We left Friday and there was loads coming over on the ferry.

I had not been to the Isle Of Wight since I was little and really enjoyed it, we stayed in a caravan and I took my laptop. I wanted the laptop to try and get some wireless but only managed to get online once in Ryde centre.

When I never took the laptop I "hid" it in the grill section of the oven. Great idea I thought until we came home and just put Max's food in the oven and turned it on. After about 30 mins I realised that the laptop was above it in the grill !!! Luckily everything seems OK although it was very hot !

Here are a couple of photos from the trip.

Happy Blog Birthday

2007-05-30T22:20:00.001+01:00

Today is the 2nd birthday of this blog and I have managed just, and I mean just, over 200 posts. It's still fun and something to keep my friends and family up to date with things happening in the world of the Simmonds'. Sometimes it feels like a chore rather then a pleasure and I wish I had a "thing" that made people come back to the blog but I do have repeat visitors so thank you if you are one of them. When I started I had various ideas i.e. fact and joke of the day plus what happened on this day BUT again it became a chore rather then something I enjoyed so I dropped it.

What do I wish I could do, well to be brutally honest I wish it was more "secret" i.e. I could never really talk about my work because I know some of my work colleagues read the blog, I know my family read the blog and you know sometimes I would like a good moan about them (very rarely of course !!)

I still love you all though......

Happy Birthday to Slothblog and Wyndham as well

MacBook Pro and Vista Ultimate

2007-05-25T20:15:00.000+01:00

Oh my gawd I have joined the darkside... I have loaded on Vista Ultimate on to my Macbook.

I am working on a new project at work and it means working with Vista so I got a copy ordered and have installed it.

Shocking but my first impressions are good :-0, Will NEVER take the place of OSX though.

Will post more on Vista and how it compares with OSX. I am interested to hear how other people are finding Visa and how it runs older apps.

200th Post !! Joost in time

2007-05-20T21:23:00.000+01:00

I'm hopefully going to get an invite to have a look at Joost thanks to Random Good Stuff.

I mean I have given him my 200th Post so it's only fair.

Please visit his website HERE

Sore Testicles

2007-05-19T11:38:00.000+01:00

Faye is not feeling well and says she has swollen testicles, I think (and hope) she means tonsils !!!

Wonder what sort of google search traffic comes my way this week with the title as is.

Dizzy

2007-05-10T21:03:00.000+01:00

Max has now started to just make himself dizzy by going round and round until he stops, giggles and then falls over. Quite a worry really but makes us laugh.

He is also pulling this rather funny face all the time:

The Agents did it...

2007-05-07T22:18:00.000+01:00

Charlton are relegated

Last year I posted this:

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Agent Dowie takes his seat

Agent Coppell moved from Palace to Brighton and took them down
Agent Tuttle played for Palace and took Millwall down
Agent Bruce went to Birmingham and it took a couple of seasons but finally did his job and took them back down, he also gave us Johnson and then gave us back Morrison so in total from that deal we made about 12 million and kept Morrison :-0. What an Agent.

AND NOW

Agent Dowie goes to Charlton or the Clowns as they are somtimes known, lets see what happens :-)

Now it didn't quite happen as posted but it was OK because Agent Pardew (or Super Al as he is known to the Palace faithful after THAT semi V Liverpool) did actually take them down after taking over from Dowie.

Dirty cheating Leeds

2007-05-04T20:04:00.000+01:00

Leeds have gone into receivership today and been deducted 10 points so therefore are relegated.

What gets me though is that if they had done this after Sunday OR had already been "mathematically" relegated then they would be deducted 10 points at the start of next season but what they have done is knowing that if they don't have a miracle on Sunday then are down. Hull need to lose by 5 goals and Leeds win by 5 goals !

What I think should happen is that they should play until they have accumulated 10 points starting from now. So should they happen to win on Sunday they would still start next season with minus 7 points.

Guess who bought the club straight off the receivers......Ken Bates the current chairman !
The story is on the BBC here