Steven's random musings on stuff, the world, and more. http://www.maybememories.co.uk Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 BST en-uk http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=580 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=580 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=579 Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=579 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=578
Then there was a quick KFC for James, Daniel and me to quickly get down, before the annual trip to Sussex to hear some unrehearsed, badly performed songs. We got a bit lost trying to find the venue. Google Maps and my sat nav both took us to the same place, which was about a 20 minute walk from where we needed to be. We eventually got there, after asking in some posh hotel, and then asking some PCSOs. None the less, we made it, and as we were finding our seats, our host for the evening was just coming on stage beginning his first song. It was Go To Hell, done with what looked like some sort of child's music box, but presumably modified to give him the right notes for the song's intro. He is an artiste.

A few weeks back at work, I wrote a lovely little bit of code that I was quite fond of, and sadly due to changing requirements it may have to be dismantled, or at least heavily modified. (Yes, I know there's lots of magic numbers.)

/* Cumulatives first */
for (int i=0; i]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=578 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=577

When initially searching for a car, I completely forgot about the dear Honda Civics. I was talking to Imran about how all small family hatchbacks are so uninspiring to me (Euro boxes). He mentioned the new Civic, and I was quite taken to it. I did a test drive in a three door one a while back, and quite liked it, but was hesitant over the cost, and the reliability of my income. After a while I'd saved up a fair bit, and thought I've just got to go for it. I hadn't lost interest in these cars after several months of deliberating, which is usually a sign that I'm not going to regret the decision. It's been a few days now, and there's been some interesting observations, comparing it to my old car. It seems Ford make quite good handling cars, and while I've not exactly thrown this one round a roundabout at over 40mph yet, it already feels like it wouldn't be quite so comfortable with it. However, the engine in this thing is quite remarkable. In my Focus once you crossed about 4,000 RPM it just got really noisy and sounded like the engine was being lubricated with sandpaper. However this lovely Honda revs perfectly happily up to about 7,000, and gets louder in a more power sort of way, not just in a more noise sort of way. It also has this exciting i-VTEC thing, which impresses me. I don't fully understand it, but from what I've read it sounds quite clever. The gist of it is that there's two sets of cams, and above a certain rev range, it switches off the economy cams, and you suddenly get a bit more juice into the engine. While it's not quite as noticeable as it is in Imran's, there certainly is a change felt. However I think it's a bit more clever than that, and if you floor it lower down in the rev range, I think it switches cams quickly so that there is a bit more torque available. It's very clever anyway, and sometimes you can feel a very slight blip of no power before it revs up, which I assume to be the little solenoid thing shooting out and swapping the cams. Either that or it's a misfire, which would be very bad...

Anyway, aside from looking like it's from the future on the outside, the inside is remarkably exciting also.


That rev counter looks so lovely in day or night, with a screen in the middle for a trip computer (two trip computers, actually). Then there's the speedo at the top, which is nice and clear (and can be made to show kilometers). You can't see it in this picture, but there's a third screen at the top left which shows the song title currently being played (MP3 CD player), and any air conditioning, climate control, or simple old blower settings are shown on there too.

Anyway... Very pleased with it. It's a lovely machine, even if it is making my back ache and doesn't seem so willing to corner gracefully at speed.


The other thing I was going to write about, was the X Factor. I've watched it fairly religiously for the last few years, but I'm losing interest in it this year. Firstly, I really can't believe Ruth has gone. Especially as she went the week when I personally thought she was at her best. I was also a bit sad to see Diana go this week. I know a lot of people don't really like her, and I have to admit she was quite bad those last few weeks. But I thought she was sooo good earlier on, before that ill week she had. That Blondie cover I thought was absolutely superb. It wouldn't surprise me if we have an album from her following the X Factor, it will be bad, no one will buy it, and we'll never hear from her again. But I have a feeling we've not seen the last of her for now. Also Ruth, I'd quite like someone who isn't Simon Cowell to pick her up. I think she is actually a fantastic singer. She's a belter, which I like. Not unlike Kelly Clarkson in a way. Neither are amazing (though by no means bad) at soft quiet bits, but once they open up their lungs a bit and start belting I think they're both brilliant. So yes, I would like to hear from Ruth again, but I want her to be 'Ruth Lorenzo' and have her tour with a live band, rather than 'Ruth, X Factor runner up'.

My other complaint with the X Factor this year, is every bloody song seems to have a key change. Key changes can be quite good, and are widely used in pop music. Westlife liked to use them as an indicator of when to get up off their stools. Key changes generally can make the final chorus of a song sound particularly powerful (Ruth would do them well!), and I think also help keep the listener interested a bit by making the song suddenly sound a bit more interesting. But because the X Factor songs are typically only about two minutes long, we really don't need this change to wake us up. What I find happens instead is that the song starts in a key which is a bit too low for the singer, just so that they can have a key change and end up at their best. Several weeks back I remember Eoghan started a song and I said that it sounded a bit too low (in an uncomfortable sort of way)... Then about 60 seconds later it all got a bit higher and it suddenly sounded right for his voice.

So of who's left, I want Alexandra to win. However I sort of feel like Eoghan will. For the love of God though, I hope it's not JLS.]]> Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=577 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=576
In other news lately, I've had my first go on the Wii Fit thing. I was a bit skeptical, but it's actually lots of fun, and makes me genuinely sweat and ache. It's quite remarkable how it all works. For those that haven't seen it, it's basically this big-ish plastic slab that you put on the floor and stand on, and it measures your weight and postition on the board incredibly accurately. One problem I have with working in the line of work I'm in, is that I can't use anything like that without wondering how it works. I noticed it comes up as controller 4, however it only actually connects if the game is running, which then got me wondering what sort of negotiations controllers have to do before they're allowed to connect. Anyway... I assume there is quite a lot of sensors in this thing. If you make the teeniest change in balance left or right, forward or back, it picks it up.

So anyway, it first asks for your height and then weighs you, and you then get presented with your BMI score thing. Unsurprisingly I'm still the same weight I was in school, and consequently my BMI thing told me I was underweight (the actual score was 16 ish, for those who care). It then told me I need to build up more muscle mass. Excellent. I assumed it was going to help me with that. So once you're all set up and weighed, you can start playing the games and doing the excercises. There's a couple of sections, yoga, excercises, balance games, and I think a fourth one. The first two are a bit more serious, the latter being a bit more silly but still revolving around your fitness. One of the slightly easier but still fun games is jogging on the spot. You don't use the board for this one, but put the controller in your pocket and start jogging on the spot. It then measures how quickly your leg is moving up and down, and then works out the speed your running at. While all this is happening, on the screen is your Mii, running through a park. There is someone running in front of you setting the pace, and you've got to keep up with her. It's so cute though, and as you're running through this park every now and again you'll see your other Mii characters. This was particularly amusing as my parents were recently added onto it, and my dad's one looks brilliant! As I've done it enough times, I've unlocked the highest level (the longest jog) and I did it last night. It was twelve minutes of jogging on the spot and I was knackered. In a good way though.

There's some other cool games like a skiing slalom where you've got to lean forward to make him go fast, and then left and right to move the guy between the flags. Quite hard, but good once I got the hang of it. There's a little game similar to Dance Dance Revolution where you've got to step on and off the board in time with the music. One where you're having footballs thrown at you and you've got to head them in the goal by leaning towards the direction the ball was thrown at you. They're all quite good. Then the more serious ones are like you do press ups, with your hands on the board so it can measure the changes in weight as you go up and down and stuff. The big surprise for me though was the yoga excercises. I wasn't sure what they'd be like, and thought I wouldn't take them very seriously, but they were actually really good. It's actually made me want to keep doing some on a daily basis just at home. I was quite bad at keeping my breathing right (essentially I was holding my breath too much). There's one quite cool one where you have to lift up one leg and put the foot against your other leg's thigh, and then gently clasp your hands and hold them above your head, and stay balanced like that for about 30 seconds or so. That's a very long time to stand on one leg, especially when you're looking at the screen where it's showing every tiny little wobble in your foot. You then get scored on how stable you were. Anyway, yeah... It's very good. Much better than I had expected!

Now I need to eat.]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=576 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=575
I'm quite excited by this American election thing. I think it's fair to say that the outcome will affect Great Britain... However I've been thinking about this all day, and I can't really work out how. I guess its outcome will largely alter its effect on us. I wonder if it will be the end of our "very special relationship", or whatever it's called. I'm hoping to hear a result before I go to bed, though I understand there is a chance it could go on until the early hours. I've got LBC on, excitedly awaiting news. Something I've just heard on there though has hit a nerve with me slightly... I've just found out that McCain has spent $131 million on his advertising campaign, and Obama has spent $292 million. That's soooo much money. Why are we being told we're running out of money, when that much is being spent on advertising! I'm not saying this election isn't important, of course it is, but in a country with milllions of people without healthcare or even homes, that's so much!

On a slightly more amusing note, but still related, was the news the other day about Sarah Palin's wardrobe. She's apparently spent $150,000 on clothes in the last few months or something. Stolen this from another site I found:

For instance, drag a beige Valentino jacket and find out that this $2,500 jacket is a typical teacher’s monthly salary and the entire winter heating costs for two Midwestern families.

A pair of $450 Cole Haan boots costs three times as much as a family of four pays for a week’s groceries in Homer, Ark.

And that Louis Vuitton 865 bag? It could have bought 30 police officer uniforms.

Most amazing: that $22,800 spent on two weeks of campaign trail makeup? Gosh, that money would have paid for 224 mammograms, 651 flu shots or 13.9 years of Lipitor for one person.

Sigh.

The other thing which I was thinking about is how the Americans seem so keen on their democracy. For some reason no one in England can be bothered. Though that pretty much sums up our attitude to everything I think. I will confess for those who don't know, I have never voted. I have considered whether or not I will vote in the future, and I might... But I might not. As far as I can tell, there's two problems here. One is the public, the other is our politicians. Firstly the politicians. We essentially have a choice of two parties, both who are led by people who largely seem to come across as idiots. Whether this is because of something they've said or done, or simply just how the media has decided to portray them on a given day. Either way, neither really fill me with confidence in their ability to run the country. They're just constantly coming across as media figures all the time. I'm reminded of a while back where there had been some pictures published of them each with their wives on holiday. Holiday in England it should be noted, as the popular thing at the time was to cut down on unnessesary flying. So they both had hoidays in England so they could be seen to be green. The following day all the newspapers had pictures of them both out with their wives. The papers then all picked apart their outfit choices for their holidays. Their outfits?! Who cares that Gordy had trousers and a jacket on, while Dave went for the more casual look that his wife had picked out. What's that got to do with anything? Then I found out that both of these photos weren't even real photos... Both sides had organised a photo shoot of themselves enjoying their holiday in England with their wives and outfits. Really, what has that got to do with running our country? Sigh, again.

So... that's largely why I don't vote. I don't know who is worth voting for, and until that gets sorted out, I'd say there's a fair chance I shall continue to abstain. I read that Simon Cowell's genius has been working again, and he plans on making a TV show with the aim of inspiring the great British public to care about politics. Presumably to try and get a bigger voter turn out (I know, I know), and I believe to try and generate the same excitement and interests that the American's seem to have already. While reading an interview with Cowell about this, I found out something interesting, which I quite liked. Simon Cowell has never voted.

Anyway, this really was meant to be brief, I need to get on with stuff. It's now 1:30am, have just found out Obama's just won some big state but I've already forgotten which. Am going to keep listening!]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=575 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=574
Last weekend Daniel, James and I set sail towards Kingston and went to see High School Musical 3. We went for an 11pm showing. Not too surprisingly when we got there we literally were the only people there! Thankfully we were saved minutes before the adverts finished, as a group of three girls came in. As they were girls, it did little to make us feel less loserish. But I don't care. It was brilliant! It was everything it needed to be, the only thing I hadn't expected was the way they set all the characters up so that there could very easily be a fourth one. The good news though is that Sharpay would be in the fourth, if there was indeed one made. She's my favourite, so that was good.

It's got bloody cold lately, and I don't like it. I seem to get cold much easier than most, which is unfortunate. James and I went for a walk around Kingston this evening as it's late night shopping day, and it felt quite wintery in a good way. I quite like Kingston, I didn't really appreciate it enough when at uni. Oh well, at least it's getting used now! Tonight was quite nice as it was quite cold and dark, but there was a reasonable number of shoppers around still, and the whole place felt quite pleasant. Hard to explain really...

Oh the other thing I was going to write about, was my dreams this morning. As many will know, I have very weird dreams, and on the whole I quite like the crazy stuff my head comes up with. I was thinking the other day that I hadn't had any interesting dreams lately, particularly lucid dreams. Pleasingly this morning I woke up early, and then drifted back to sleep again. The perfect situation for lucid dreaming. Unfortunately I did not get any lucid dreams, but I did however have many hours of weird dreams going through my head, half waking up several times throughout them. My favourite this morning was one dream where I was at school, in a PE lesson... Except I wasn't actually at school, the building I was in was work! I remember it so clearly, and the layout of the "school" was exactly how work is, with only one addition of a cupboard next to where my desk is. In this cupboard was a large number of tennis rackets, which people were taking on their way outside to begin the PE lesson. None of this seemed at all strange at the time. Funny how dreams work...

Anyway, I really must get on with some work. It's going to be a late one I think.]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=574 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=573
At 4:30, Anthony and I both got out of bed, a bit bleary eyed. As the most awake of the two of us, I phoned Hayley to get an idea of how long they'd be. "We're just on the A322", she says. "Bloody hell, we've only just got out of bed!" comes my reply. So Anthony and I do our best to wake up quickly, throw some clothes on, and they soon arrive. We arrive in good time at the channel tunnel, and head for France.

France was fairly unexciting, we made good pace without wanting to speed (80 mph limit there), and soon we were heading for Belgium. I was expecting something like a big toll road with lots of booths, passport checks and stuff... I'd forgotten everyone is friends now in Europe, and there was little more than a blue sign with a ring of stars with Belgium written in it. We soon then learnt that Belgium's motorways aren't much of a pleasure to drive on. They're extremely boring, and all have a really awful surface, with some horrible noises coming from the cars a couple of times because of it. We were stuck on them for several hours though, so we just got on with it. In Belgium, we hit our first problem, where Matt almost decided to turn back and go home.

Matt's headlight had been smashed. It seemed like a nut (of nut and bolt, not from a tree) had been flicked up at his car, and smashed the glass, and broken the bulb. This wouldn't have been a huge problem in England, but in France you are required by law to keep spare bulbs in the car at all times. Matt didn't have any... The awkward bit is that it wouldn't have mattered as the glass was smashed anyway, but we weren't really sure what to do. There was also a concern that he wouldn't be allowed on the ring with it. He almost left to head back home, but pleasingly he decided to stay with us. We put duct tape over it, and the pair of cars kept going.

Eventually we were treated to another blue sign with stars, and we were in Germany. As soon we'd passed that sign, the roads immediately became amazingly smooth. Even their narrow single lane (but not one way) roads in the mountains were amazingly smooth and quiet.

Once we found the hotel, we went out for a walk in the little town we were in. Where we were staying was in the Eifel mountains. I've never been to Germany before, so I don't know what it's like on the whole, but I was very impressed with the bit I saw. It was so lovely!



That night we went to a nearby town and had a dinner that was really nice, far too big, and exceptionally cheap (€54 for the five of us, including drinks). Sometime that evening it became apparent that Anthony's car had developed a problem too. His back drivers side wheel made a knocking sound on every rotation. There was speculation that it might be a wheel bearing going, but whatever it was it didn't sound good, especially the day before it was going to be subject to 28 fast miles of "Green Hell".

The next morning we woke early, and were treated to a gigantic breakfast, and then headed off to The Ring. This was where I think we all got a bit annoyed and the general good spirits of the weekend began to subside. The ring was closed, because it was too misty. Visibilty was simply too low. We ended up waiting for ages, as more and more cars turned up. The concern here was that because Matt's light was out, we didn't really think it was wise him driving through France after dark, which we estimated to be about 6:30, so we agreed he should leave by 12:30pm. There was a lot of debate over what to do, as 12:30 crept ever closer, and the track was still shut. Towards 12 we heard an estimation of it being open in 30 to 60 minutes, however it could be longer if the mist returns. The suspense was building, and I think our optimism was fading. Matt's determination however wasn't, and was considering pushing back his leaving time and chancing the dark and the French police. Eventually to everyone's delight at about 12:35pm a siren noise was heard and the ring was announced to be open! He was off in a flash! Amazingly within about 30 seconds he had got on. We took a picture, of the last time we may ever see Matt and Hayley. Pleasingly though, they both returned alive! He seemed happy, we were happy, and we sent him off, fleeing for the border before dark!

Then Anthony went for a lap, with myself and Malcom (Hayley's Dad) as passengers. This was the first time we'd both see the track. It was the most strange thing I've ever seen. It really does feel like it's never going to end! The only thing which helped slightly was every kilometer there was a sign saying how far in you were. I did my best to inform Anthony of any cars of bikes going to overtake, but could tell this wasn't an easy track to negotiate. It was however lots of fun! Because we could, when his lap came to an end we didn't return to the car park, but went straight back to the queue to go round again. We very quickly each got out, and I took the drivers seat. I was *very* nervous. I glanced at the clock... I knew you're not meant to time your lap, but I looked. Half past the hour. Remembered. I then had to move forward to approach the barrier. I stalled the car. Bollocks. Calm. Restarted the engine, got to the barrier, the barrier went up, and I was off! What followed was truly without any doubt the most intense driving I have ever done. I've done track driving before, but only when I've been the only one on the road. Having to keep an eye out for all other traffic, as well as lining up racing lines corners where appropriate, and then moving right, indicating right, and letting them pass, was a lot more to do! Jeremy Clarkson said when he did it, that he's "never felt so alive", and I sort of get what he means. It wasn't the fastest I've ever driven (barely passed 80mph), but it was just corner after corner after corner. By the end I was sweating a hell of a lot! I'm not someone who sweats easily, even on our hottest summer days. When we were approaching the queue to get off the track, I actually asked Anthony if the heated seats were on as my back was sweating so much! They weren't of course, and the blowers were on at their lowest setting with cold air outside. Madness. Anyway... I had done it! I had however completely forgotten to check the time again, so I have no idea how long I took.

Some observations... Anthony's car is fast, but it really can't cope with a track. I've driven it on a track before and felt it was alright, but a little too slow, but on that track (generally considered to be the most demanding in the world) it simply didn't have enough power. I was mostly in 3rd and 4th gear between 50mph and 80mph, and on the rare few straights it just never felt like it wasn't accelerating enough despite keeping the revs up around 4,000 and higher. The other thing which became apparent as soon as I hit the first corner, was his brakes were knackered. Remember the car hadn't had any rest after Anthony's lap. I've heard them mention brakes fading on Top Gear, but never really experienced it myself. They were useless! I had to push really hard to get any effect from them. This didn't stop me though! :D

Another amusing obversation came from Hayley's Dad, who had now had a very quiet 30 minutes! He finally spoke up once we were coming off the track.

"I can tell the difference between your driving styles", he said. "Oh yeah? Who's better?", asked Anthony. I quickly interrupted with saying it wasn't about who's better... But the reply came, "Well, I can tell who owns the car... He was a lot more gentle with it"! I hope I wasn't too hard on the poor car. It is only a Ford. :( I since heard from Hayley that he also said I was braking much harder than Anthony too. The thing is, I sort of went out all guns blazing, trying to remember everything I'd learnt about driving fast. Fast down the straights, revs high, then brake hard, brake harder, gear change, look through corner, off brakes, on gas, look through corner, turn in to corner, gas, gas, straighten steering to leave corner, power, power, power. This was of course all intermixed with the mayhem of, "There's a yellow car behind us! Mind the bike! Aaah!". I'm pleased to say the car suffered no damage at all, and we then parked it back in the car park, opened the bonnet, and let the brakes rest (after I failed to park it in gear because I'm an idiot). The brakes were sooo hot. The heat coming off each wheel was about the same as what was coming off the engine (which for the record had never gone over its normal operating temperature). Oh, the other slightly amusing thing... In those two laps (approx 28 miles), Anthony and I had used half the tank of fuel. Half the tank!

Because the car was a bit cooked, we hung around for a bit longer, and met some English people that we made friends with. Mini drivers from up North. Eventually, by about 3:30 we decided we should head off to Calais and see if we'd be able to meet up with Matt and Hayley again. The knocking sound from the wheel was still there, and to my ear no worse which was good. So off we set, back through the endless miles of of Belgium's rough motorways. Annoyingly we went back a different way, and were in Belgium for even longer on the way back. We did stop for food on the way back (as we'd not eaten all day), and the service station food was surpsiingly good. Anthony had spaghetti bolognaise, and myself and Malcom had burgers and chips. All the food was freshly cooked, and tasty. For a service station, this seemed quite good. Very cheap again.

Eventually we made it back to the tunnel, and unfortunately by a matter of minutes had missed Matt and Hayley, who were on an earlier train. We made it home anyway, at about 11pm. It had been a very long two days, but an incredibly happy two days, and despite some minor problems with both cars, it ended very well for all of us. :-)]]> Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=573 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=572
We shall be departing from Woking at 5am Saturday morning, where I shall be at the helm of a Ford Mondeo (the fast one!). Alongside me will be Matt in his Ka, both heading for the channel tunnel. From there I believe Anthony is taking over driving responsibilities through France, with a planned stop in Belgium with a possible driver change again (Hayley or Malcom I assume). Anyway, we'll then go on from Belgium, passing through Holland, and then arriving in Germany. We've got some rooms booked in some sort of guest house thing in a town called Rodder. Rodder's entire population is 270. That's incredibly small. I've seen pictures of the place. It looks really lovely. I think Anthony is then going off to find a derestricted autobahn to see how fast his car goes. His aim is to hit 140mph (just to say he's legally driven twice the legal UK national speed limit), though it wouldn't surprise me if he keeps going on past 150mph. Fingers crossed he doesn't burst a tyre... I think during this time myself, Hayley and Matt are going off for a walk around Rodder to look at flowers or something. Then we shall find food (ordered by either pointing at a picture or shouting English slowly), and settle down for an early night.

Sunday is then death trap day. I think we're arriving at the ring as early as possible. Although I will joke about dying... There is a very real safety concern here. The ring is policed very well (both by staff and the actual police, I believe). It is officially a normal public road, so overtaking can only happen on the left, and only where it is safe to do so. My biggest concern isn't death or serious injury though, my biggest concern is actually breaking a car. Particularly if it's Anthonys we break as we almost certainly wouldn't all fit into Matt's Ka, with all our stuff. We're not worried about a bump of graze, or even a bent wheel, but if it's not driveable, we are about 600 miles from England, and our parents at the time will be on the west coast of America. So yes... This is a bit dangerous. Fortunately I think we're all fairly sensible, and I gather Ring ettiquete is maintained. Everyone's there for the same reason: to have a lot of fun in their cars. There is a proper list of what to do if you witness a crash actually. I will try to learn this, but I believe the first person stops, and alerts traffic behind them to the incident (by waving a hi-visibility jacket or something), the second has to phone The Ring's emergency phone number, and the third has to do first aid on the wounded. There is also people situated around the ring (I hope quite often) who will wave yellow flags (which I believe means no overtaking, but I'm not sure if there's a speed limit in force at that point as well). They will also obviously radio back to the starting line for an ambulance and whatever.

Then once The Ring closes, we've got to drive our slightly more worn in cars back out of Germany, through Holland, right across Belgium, and through France, back to ol' Blighty, where we will all be very tired, I'm sure.

Truthfully, I'm not that worried about death, but I am worried about a mangled Mondeo which isn't even able to crab home. Wish me luck!]]> Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=572 http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=571
Rob and Anthony stayed here for the night, and this morning I made Rob a cup of coffee, but wasn't really paying attention and put a tea bag and coffee in. He spotted this and corrected the situation. I apologised, but he said it was fine and that he sometimes drinks tea and coffee together like that... He said that he would call it 'toffee', but the name was taken by an 'inferior product'. Oh Rob, he's a bit funny at times.

On Friday I had a test drive in a Honda Civic. While I've got some issues pertaining to money to overcome at the moment, I think I would like one. It definitely felt happier to accelerate than my current car does. It also has little lights that light up as you approach the rev limiter, and those have a counterpart set of lights that tell you how 'eco' you're currently being. Give it a few months... We'll see.]]> Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 BST http://www.maybememories.co.uk/?id=571