Hello Mum

I'm not a huge fan of Eastenders but remember it fondly from the past when Ethel with Willy would be talking to MMMmmm damn it I cant think of her name. Got it Lou Beale, that hurt the old memory banks !! Who in turn would be shouting at Arthur to get a life and Pauline to see that Pete was OK on the stall. Where was drugged up Mark and why Michelle always round the pub talking to Sharons old man Den and why he was serving another portion of divorce after closing time.

Arr Happy days hey. Well as I said I have not really been watching but had to watch tonights one in the background. There it was the brothers are back. Yep the Mitchells are back and they looked pissed off. Give it to them Phil and Grant and welcome back to the East End :-), Grant had the speaking part this episode: Hello Mum (Shot was look at Camera "Hello Mum" and a cheeky but menacing grin)

Dont know where his tan and daughter were but I'm sure that we will find out and hey it was dark.

Footy News: Well Palace won again 2-0 but some of the crowd were getting on the players backs even though we were winning and won. Got the mighty European Champs Liverpool tomorrow night, I wont be there though because I have a work thing and it is on Sky so will try and watch it in the pub with a beer. Come on you Eagles.

Baby News: 5 weeks and counting tomorrow, tried the car seat out on Sunday and a 3 door Pug 206 is not the best car !!! Managed to get it in etc. but want to have another go at the weekend to make sure it is OK. We dont really want to buy a bigger car until we move out of London but it all depends on how it goes.

Bloody Brighton

Went to the football last night, Palace played our biggest rivals last night, Brighton.

It's a strange one why we are such big rivals because Millwall are are closest team and Charlton tend to think that they should be our rivals but the only team that a Palace fan would love to beat would be Brighton. It goes back to the late 70's why we are such rivals and I wont go into here because it may not interest everyone. There was a bit of trouble at the game but nothing major. A Palace fan tried to get in the Brighton section and was stopped. I thought it would be great to let him go because I bet he wanted to be stopped. I can just imagine him running at the Brighton fans and the stewards and police just stand back saying "go on son, you must be a man now to try and take on 5,000 fans" I can imagine he would run straight back to where he started from.

I often wonder why so many teams dislike Palace because I always thought we were a good bunch but if you look around the following teams have pretty much no feeling of goodness towards Palace: Brighton, Millwall, Charlton, Gillingham, Wimbledon , Man United (Certain French bloke jumped into our stand and now they hate us) QPR and recently even Norwich fans have been on the Palace site giving it some. Strange because every time I go to an away game there is no trouble and more often then not other clubs say we have one of the best away following and loudest songs.

We lost last night in a very poor way, we were terrible and never looked like scoring (although we did have a goal ruled out for offside), not really a lot to say about that other then it also poured as I got home and the roads were flooding.

Today I have had to drive to Manchester for a meeting. I hate the roads, it took hours and hours of sitting in jams to get there and back. Saw a transit van that had left the road and embedded itself front on into a bridge, I hope the driver is OK and that was why the M6 northbound was closed. I was going southbound. Why is it though that people can not drive in the rain? it is almost as soon as the rain comes brain goes !

I saw some car with a baby on board sign weaving like an idiot through the traffic I just hope that the baby was not on board.

Last moan about cars.. Cars from Poland on the road, Where I live there are hundreds of them going round. I dont mind people from Poland being here and all that, this is not about that BUT it is about a car from Poland that is not taxed in this country, probably not insured, not with a UK MOT and also can go through London without paying the congestion charge or getting fined because they do not have a link to the Polish database (If it is still being driven by the registered owner) They can also beat the speed cameras until they get pulled over by the police. What would I do, good question, I guess maybe enforce somehow that if a car is staying for more then 6 months it has to have a UK MOT and pay a tax for using the roads.

Baby News: Been a little while since the last update. Well Faye is now 34 weeks and we only have about 6 weeks to go :-) The baby is kicking and punching a lot and it must be down to the fact that there is not a lot of room. We are quite ready now for the baby and only have a few things left to sort.

James

PowerBook Woe

In my post a couple of days ago I mentioned that I had got the new iMac because the PowerBook was starting to be get old. Well last night the screen broke ! it is as though it locked itself and when I closed the lid it snapped off ! it is still working though !! I now have no button 6, the CD drive is cracked, headphone input is split and now the screen has come apart. Still works well.

I have been emailed by TNT to call them about collection of the iMac so should be picked up early next week and hopefully will have the new new one in 2-3 weeks, it's still 10 days before shipping and mine will need to be checked before they send me the new one.

Here is a couple of shots of the powerbook with snapped hinges. I can not even move the broken bits.


It's as though it locked or even melted ! I am going to have a search through the Apple site this afternoon, What else. well I will listen to the Palace game on the radio and rebuild the iMac so all my data is removed and pack it up ready to go back.

James

New iMac MMMmmmm YES PLEASE

Have called apple and as luck would have it I can return my iMac for the latest and better one :-) Well chuffed. I have to send the old (I say old, not even two weeks !) one back and then wait for the new one so I think that it will take a while. It's not even in the country for for at least 10 days. I am now waiting for Apple to call me back with a date to collect it but I have the number. I am going to call again tomorrow just to confirm it all. It's 14 days tomorrow. I have also emailed and did it online as well !



I did get offfered a goodwill gesture of £50 but said no as I thought at the end of the day I might as well have the iSight built in and new mouse (approx. £150). They did say that I might have a problem because I had a wireless keyboard and mouse but it seems OK. Can you change the rules of return just because I wanted a better then standard one? Quite a result, because to be honest if I never got the wireless then I would of received iMac earlier and then would not be able to return it.

Thanks Apple and that's now 2 things this week that have been good including the stapler !

Keep your fingers crossed because I wont be happy until the mac goes back.

James

iMac it had to happen

No sooner do I buy the G5. It gets a face lift :-) I knew it would happen but I waited past the Paris Expo and nothing so went for it. I'm not even that bitter. If you read on the Apple sites and you would think that Apple had to tell the world 3 months ago that it was happening. Well people that is not the way it happens with Apple.

As it happens though I might be able to send it back for 60GBP because it was delivered 30th Sept and you get 14 days to return so that would mean Friday. I am going to call tomorrow and find out. Then I will buy/exchange for the new one

Fingers crossed for me !!!

PS iPod looks good and am I gutted about buying one a few months, nope, still does what I wanted it do at the time as does the iMac I bought so if I can not return it I wont be too upset.

What a nice man

Bloggers,

Went to a shop today. Its a local one in the town I work at called Rickmansworth. The shop is called Serves U Right and it's a kind of shop that sells everything. It is incredible. It sells anything from light bulbs and dimmer switches to Candles and matches. The last item I bought last week was a lampshade holder keeper upper thing, its like a rim that screws on to the rose. I mean what sort of shop would have that. As I said it is a real have everything shop and so I went in today to get a bag of little U shaped nails to hold up some fairy lights for the baby room.... I looked and I looked but could not found nowt, although I did find nails to fit all sizes and cable nail things (as you can tell I dont know the names and am not really a handyman kind of guy) I couldn't find the correct size so I asked at the counter and she sends me down to the secret magical part of the shop where the owner Stephen is in the middle of something in the staff only area. "Stephen" I hollow and out he comes to show me round his store trying to find a bag of small U shaped nails. Well he cant find them and has to order them in so it's going to take a couple of days. He asked what it was for and so I tell him and he calls me back to the staff area where his painter mate is (He looked like a painter anyway. Although he could just have bad dress sense and like paint style clothes) and asked him what he used because he has a little baby girl and has done the same thing i.e. used fairy lights in the room. Well it turns out he borrowed Stephens industrial stapler so he turns round says I look honest and gives me a stapler with a bag of staples and tells me to get it done tonight and bring back in tomorrow.

What a top bloke and a rare thing to happen !!!

Last week some guy reversed into my car door and rather then go through all the insurance and it being a smallish dent I let him off and now I feel that because I was nice it is starting to pay back.

Lost

It's not a bad program but I'm kind of getting a bit bored with it. It's just running so slow at the moment. Also I have to say that the adverts are always on. I guess that as four paid so much money for it and it is one of their top shows they can get more adverts for the money. It's also a USA show and prob uses the same advert pattern. Bit like 24, I bought the DVD set of the first series and it had bits cut out because the first UK DVD sets we got had the episodes shown in the USA. When it was shown here in the UK it was on BBC2 and therefore no adverts and could be a bit longer.

Anyway back to lost the main question I have to ask is..... How have they all kept their teeth so clean !

iMac and Windscreen

It's been a while but lets try and get back to this blogging stuff.

Whats gone on, well I have yet another windscreen in the car after a stone flew through the air and gawd knows hey managed to hit my car. Now you have to picture that the lorry was about 100 meters and some up the road and I had pulled out to the overtaking lane or middle cruising lane for the old and BMW drivers, no other cars out there and out of nowhere "CRACK" window needs replacing. The stone somehow has flown 100 meters and with the accuracy of a SAS sniper taken my window out.

Some good news - well the iMac G3 has gone to a good home and my PowerBook was dying so we have replaced it with the top of the range G5 iMac - WOW is all I can say and it has been taking some of my time up playing and setting it up. It's a beauty I tell thee. Have bought the EyeTV adapter to turn it into a TV as well. That part is not going great because I need to sort the aerial out. We dont have an outside link in the bedroom so have to get an internal one and the last one would get a different set of channels each time and I have yet to get ITV channels. It's to do with the MUX signal at Crystal Palace I have been told. I cant believe that Crystal Palace is to blame :-)

Now solved the TV problem getting a new aerial. Its a strange flat one from One for all but it is working a treat.

Music Copyright Question

I am thinking of doing a music "quiz" once a week. Am I right in thinking that as long as the snippet is under 30 seconds am I OK to use it?

Thanks.

Also I still need help looking for a camcorder. JVC GR-D270 is the I am looking at.

Here

Dirty Phone Calls

So I get a phone call from Mrs PF "so what you got on?" Well I thought it was the start of a dirty phone call but nope she meant what have I got to do at work. Oh well.

I have been up north and travelled from Sheffield to Manchester for a meeting this morning. It was quite a bit nicer then my drive up the M1 and across the M25 for my normal drive to work.

I even managed to get a couple of photos as I was driving. Not the safest thing to do but hey I had to show you all.


Will take some on Monday of my normal drive !

Baby news - We are getting there now and the baby is due in less then 10 weeks.

Footy News - Preston at home tomorrow so will be there.

Todays Fact - According to a recent survey, more than half of British adults have had sex in a public place!

On this day - I had sex in a public place :-) and in 2000: Redgrave wins fifth Olympic gold.

British rower Steve Redgrave has entered Olympic history by winning his fifth consecutive gold medal.

Redgrave won his gold alongside Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster and James Cracknell in the coxless fours on day eight of the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

The crowd of 22,000 dominated by British fans, let out a roar of triumph and relief after a thrilling and nail-biting race that saw the British crew win by less than half a second ahead of their closest rivals Italy at Penrith Lakes.

Joke of the day - What a wally !!! put it out man.

Camcorder advice wanted:

I'm after a camcorder so that I can get some film of Chosen One growing up.

I only really want to spend a max of £300 GB pounds (If the pound sign has not come out) a) running out of money and b) never used one before

Prob could do with DV in and out I guess so that I can edit on the camera.

Think it will go nice with the new iMac :-), I still have my powerbook though so I can start to play and edit asap.

Thanks bloggers,

Where does time go?

This baby stuff really starts to eat into your time, you have so much to do and prepare that most of your time is taken up with that.

We managed to get out yesterday and had a nice lunch in Camden with our friends. Went to a great thai by the Market at the North End of Town. Been a while since we had a stroll round the market and being so close we should really try a bit more BUT dont think we will take the baby round there. Just not enough room to get around.

It does seem to be losing it's charm and all the stalls are becoming a bit commericial , you can still get the "strange" but mostly it seems the "norm". I took the camera but only took 2 shots. 1 of my foot very boring and 1 of people getting off the bus that I used a serpia setting. Did it so I can compare it to Photoshop's conversion.

Off again tonight to Anti natal. We were discussing on the way home from the market about wetting Chosen Ones head, well I was and I was saying it would be great to go out and see some bands with my mates. Mrs PF thinks it is really nice of me to think of mates after she has done all that work. All heart me.

Tomorrow is the Mac Expo in Paris and I hope that a new iMac G5 is coming out so I can buy it :-), if not I will have to wait for Brent Cross to open. Went there Saturday and still no signs that it is even going to be there.

Baby news - Today is my compressed day off so I have put up a black out blind today in the nursery. Tommorow is 30 weeks so have 10 weeks to go, really feels like it is happening now and we can start the 10,9,8,7... countdown :-)

Footy News - Lucky we have bought forwards because we have none left. Still wish that we could call Sandor Torghelle from Greece. Got Coventry tomorrow in the League cup, again I wont be going :-0

Todays Fact - 70% of the land in Britain is owned by 1% population

Shocking but true

On this day - 19th September 1985: Mexico suffers devastating earthquake
A massive earthquake has hit Mexico not far from its capital, Mexico City, causing untold casualties and widespread damage.

Officials say at least 170 people have been killed and thousands injured, but it is feared the death toll may rise into the thousands.

The quake hit the west coast near the resort town of Acapulco early this morning, and was measured by the US Geological Survey at a magnitude of 7.8.

It lasted for 50 seconds, and devastated three states on the Pacific coast.

"A part of a mountain just slid away, falling on the peasants who were just getting up to go to work," said Lieutenant Manuel Sanchez, from the fire department's headquarters in the state of Jalisco.

More info on BBC website Here

Joke of the day Thanks to Mrs PF for this one:

3 tortoises, Mick, Andy and Roy, decide to go on a picnic.
Mick packs the picnic basket with beer and sandwiches.
The trouble is the picnic site is ten miles away so it takes them ten days to get there.
Mick unpacks the food and the beer.
"ok Roy, give me the bottle opener" he says.
"I didn't bring it" says Roy, "I thought you did."
Mick gets worried; he turns to Andy and says, "Did you bring the bottle opener?" Naturally, Andy didn't bring it, so they're stuck 10 miles from home without a bottle opener.
Mick and Andy beg Roy to go back for it. But he refuses as he says they will eat all the sandwiches and leave none for him.
After two hours of bickering, and them promising on their lives that they will not eat the sarnies, Roy agrees to go back.
So Roy sets off down the road at a steady pace. Twenty days pass and still he isn't back and Mick and Andy are starving, but they remember their promise and stay away from the sandwiches.
Another five days and he still isn't back, but a promise is a promise. Finally, they can't take it any longer,.so they take out a sandwhich each, and just as they are about to eat them, Roy pops out from behind a rock and shouts, " I knew it...I'm not f***ing going now, you b8stards!"

Katrina Photos - Real or Not?

Today I recd these photo's my mate is not sure that they are real (it was Nascot Dan, link on side)

Me, I'n not sure but what do you think?

A picture blog

A picture blog

I dont know why my format is so all over the place so sorry about that.

Baby news - Here is a a picture of our cot, We have not finished the room so decor is not correct.



Footy News - Come on Palace, Won 2-0 against Hull. See the report Here.

Nice to see Morrison get a goal but it was after a great run from Tom Soares.

This is the view from my seat:

The Hull fans:

AJ after scoring (Patting Andews on the back): Not very clear

Final Whistle:

Todays Fact - It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up.

On this day - 10th Sep 1547
Defeat for the Scots by the English at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, Edinburgh

Joke of the day How to spot a millionaire:

Pug Jumping

I want to say sorry to all the people that were parked on the side of the road as I went past them only to release it was a traffic jam and I had jumped most of the queue :-0 Not my fault honest. It was a transit that had the blanked out windows so I just presummed no one was in it but I guess there most of been. So if you were in one of the industrial parks near Watford and a 206 went past. SORRY.

I will have a good apple blog soon but in the meantime the Nano looks good, I have the iPod photo one and mine seems loads better for cost value etc.. Cant wait to see it in the flesh though. I can not believe that they dropped the Mini range. Still waiting for the Brent Cross shop to open and I will be buying my new computer. They normally have an opening special.

Baby news - Well only 1 man never turned up at the anti natal class last night, His wife said he was working late but then when I mentioned about the football being on TV her face kind of twisted.

Last night I learnt that women in the 70's were shaved with a blunt razor and then had a pipe and warm water squirted up their arse before giving birth. It was all part of the way it was.... scary hey.

I also learnt that Mrs PF will have a show that I dont really want to go to before going into labour.

Footy News - Oh dear.....

Todays Fact - You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

On this day - 8/9/1968
British tennis player Virginia Wade beats American Billie Jean King to win the US Open

Joke of the day

Only some baby news really

Baby news - Well we have received our cot\bed, wardrobe, drawers. We have managed to set it all up apart from the wardrobe because we have to return part of that due to a corner being slightly damaged. Do you realise that the baby furniture cost more then our room (we do have built in wardrobes but still a more then our bed etc.)

We have chosen and received our travel system. We have gone for a Chicco CT0.1 trio auto-fix system and we even got a couple of bits free like a lightweight stroller and a high chair (Chosen one has to be 6 months old before using it though). It seems really really good and all just clicks on top of the frames. It also has a carry cot that we can use for chosen one to start off in so saves us getting a moses basket

We have also gone to our first Anti Natal class. 2 hours long :-0 We have another one on Wednesday. Yep as the footy kicks off I will be learning to relax and breathe....

Footy News - Well what is Sven going to do then tomorrow, I bet Owen plays and the guy has not played a competive game since the end of last season. Play Johnson I say, but then I would wouldn't I.

Todays Fact - Because metal was scarce; the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster.

On this day - 6th September 1997
Millions of people around the world watch live television pictures from London of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales who had died in a car crash in Paris a week earlier. Britain comes to a virtual standstill for the whole day with an estimated two million mourners either outside Westminster Abbey or lining the route and a further 32 million watching the funeral on television.The worldwide TV audience is estimated at two billion

Cant say I did.

Joke of the day Thanks to a girl at work for this one. She does not read this blog though:

A brain and a pair of jump leads walk into a bar. The jump leads take a seat
and the brain gets the round in, but the bartender refuses to serve the
brain.

"How come?" says the brain.


"Well," replies the bartender, "you're out of your head and your mate looks
like he's gonna start something."

It Walks, it is alive

Yipee, I'm out of bed. Still a bit sore BUT it walks. I have managed to get downstairs and have even managed to sit rather then lie. I'm off tomorrow anyway on a compressed day so will be resting yet again.

Hey, I found my friend today on the blogger circuit. I will add a link but have look a Here, cant believe he never mentioned it to me but i think he was seeing how he got on first. Oh and yes he has a bad back as well. Strange...

Baby news - We have a midwife appointment tomorrow morning and we have our nursery furniture coming tomorrow afternoon. If it's no lifting then I will try and set it up.

Footy News - OK well we signed no one.

Todays Fact - Babies start dreaming even before they're born.

On this day - 1st September 1879 In southern Africa, Britain signs a peace treaty with Zulu chiefs.

Watched Zulu the film again a couple of weeks and never rembered it being so long and drawn out.

Joke of the day So who has noticed we have not had one? I'm going to post them again soon.

Heres one though: How do dinosaurs pay their bills?
With Tyrannosaurus checks.

Doctors

Quite an eventful day today, I mean un-eventful. First of all it took 2 hours to get through to the doctors only to be told that I had to ring back at 2pm. I had to "shuffle" up the road to get some painkillers so I am went in and saw the receptionist only to shuffle back out to ring at 2pm. Decided then and there that if I never got an appointment this afternoon I would of gone into that surgery and lied on the floor, I would of been lying down and singing. I will not, I will not be moved. I will not, I CANT be moved.

Anyway I managed to get an appointment and have been told to lie down for at least 3 days, take tablets (at a cost of £6.50 per box) and do not a lot. It's not too bad but I feel useless. I am not ill, feel alright but am not comfortable and in quite a bit of pain. I have been logging into work and doing some stuff so at least it's not too boring. I am one of those strange people that really likes work so would rather be there and not here in bed.

Did manage to get a bit of time to "tidy" up the blog. Think it looks a lot cleaner now.

Baby news - Now in week 27 and Mrs PF has had some Braxton Hicks contractions.

Footy News - Looks like, if the rumour is to be believed, that Bentley from Arsenal is signing tomorrow for us. Along with Jamal Campbell Ryce from Rotherham. Tomorrow is the last day before transfer deadline.

Mr Owen is going to be a geordie hero. Think he is better off going there then Liverpool as the fans will love him plus from a selfish point of view how good to see the England partnership I have wanted to see for years !

Just looked on the FA site and they have that Owen is already playing for Newcastle. Click Here

Todays Fact - There is no tipping at restaurants in Japan

Somewhere I have not been so if you can validate this one that would be great. It's so expensive that you prob can not afford to.

Also has anyone seen a book called Fruits, it has lots of pictures of these people all dressed up in Tokyo. A really good book, we got it from Amazon but managed to see a art thing in New Zealand on it so I wrote all the details down so we could order it when we were back.

On this day - 30th August 30 B.C: Cleopatra commits suicide

Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. The daughter of King Ptolemy XII, Cleopatra became the lover of Julius Caesar, who helped her seize the Egyptian throne from her brother in 47 B.C. After Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony, another powerful Roman, fell in love with her, and in 36 B.C. they were married. Four years later, Octavian, the designated heir of Caesar, declared war against Antony and Cleopatra. In 31 B.C., they were defeated at the Battle of Actium and fled to Alexandria. Soon after, Mark Antony committed suicide after hearing a false report of Cleopatra's death. Rather than fall into Octavian's hands, Cleopatra likewise ended her life.

Greetings from a very sunny North London I am meant to be outside at a local park flying my kite and having a laugh with some friends. Im not though I am lying in my bed looking out of the window at the sun. Gutted.

Yesterday my back went and I am in agony. I can not move from my bed because when I stand it puts so much pain on my back that I huddle over and fall on the floor crawling to get to the loo. Quite a site to see I would think. I dont know what caused it to go although I have been suffering for a couple of weeks with the back.

I have never had a problem with my back and just hope it clears up. Mrs PF has said that if it was not for the pain it would be my ideal day as I am lying in bed typing on the powerbook, browsing, learning how to use photoshop, got the web radio going with some football on (Five Live) to be honest it's not too bad apart from the pain. Got lunch and a coffee being brought up in a minute :-)

Baby news - Went to Mums on Saturday and both her and my sister got us lots of stuff for the baby so cant wait to get the baby furniture on Friday and start to set everything up. Back permitting !!

Footy News - AJ for England. Shouldnt really of gone to the match on Saturday because we were out to my Mums for a meal and had to leave earlier to drive BUT I had to go as it was Clintons home coming. Palace won 2-0 and we did deserve it but we never played well. I left early so I could get the fast train back to London Bridge. But I did manage to see the last goal. Andrew Johnson really is a class above everyone else. Our young left back Borrowdale is having bit of a nightmare at the moment but until Granville is back we have to stick with him. Clinton did well when he came on but I thought that Macken had a great game.

England squad was named and AJ is in again. David James has been "dropped" and I think it is for the best. He seems to have a problem when playing for England that when he pulls on the shirt he goes blind. It's in Man City's favour because I do believe that he is a good keeper when he plays for his club.

Todays Fact - Avocados are poisonous to birds.

I'm going to have one with my lunch BUT do I test the the fact on the pigeons?

On this day - 29th Aug 1835
Founding of the Australian city of Melbourne

Im a movie, Im a movie what movie am I?

Not a lot to blog about other then looking forward to the bank holiday.

Here is some movie reviews of films that we have recently watched. I'm going to keep them short:

6 word film reviews

The Island - Logans Run meets the truman show
Skeleton Key - Voodoo Magic with great end twist
Dukes Of hazzards - crap film crap car crap stars

Baby news - Went to my mates at lunchtime and saw his little girl and also his slighter older son. Good lungs on her.

Footy News - Watching Liverpool on TV tonight but looking forward to Clinton Morrison playing tomorrow for the Eagles

Todays Fact - To take an oath, ancient Romans put a hand on their testicles…that’s where the word “testimony” comes from

On this day - 26th Aug 1959
British car manufacturers Austin and Morris launch a small family car known as the 'Mini'.

Went out in a new one today and was very good fun !