Odd Thomas Odd Blog

Going home at the end of the working day seems to be something that other people do. It is rapidly approaching 8pm on a Friday night , by which time you guys will either be propping up bars or cuddling up on the sofa with something other than a hot cuppa ... and I'm still sitting in the office.  Waiting. With a semi-hot cuppa.  In a plastic cup. So much for going on a training run tonight. *sigh* Ah well, since I have some down time, it's probably a good opportunity to ramble aimlessly through another post.  If anything, I can at least take some joy in the fact that it will make my colleague have to stay longer than he wanted to, after just telling someone that I'm giving him a lift home ... and he hasn't even asked me if it's okay.  Cheeky fecker. Anyhoo, speaking of down time, last Sunday saw Pygmie and I back down at the bottom of Vobster Quay quarry, in water cold enough to instantly chill a six-pack ... and certainly a darn sight more than that if i...

Ever since a wee young bairn, I have enjoyed writing. My sis and I would regularly write out stories on A4 paper, stapling them together to make books, then re-write them to make them more interesting. Unsurprisingly, nobody ever wanted to read them. Geez, that was a while ago! As I got older, I found myself drifting toward horror novels and sci-fi TV* and spent more time day-dreaming than writing, so my head filled up with ideas that became mostly forgotten: though I do still have one novel and one mini TV series that have been banging around at the back of my head since college days, back in ... um ... oh ... 1989. *cough* Actually, this is where blogging comes in. I may not actually write about much that is particularly interesting, but it is still writing ... and it seems I have inadvertantly written a trilogy. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you ... Dive Stores ... (bear with me, I'm tired and delirious!) As is want with these things, we started at Episode IV - A New Hobby, wh...

I have been rather bad with blogging lately, but I do have some very good reasons ... half of which I can't talk about at the moment... Okay, that probably sounds a lot more ominous than it actually needs to be, but I've gotta hook you in for more somehow ;-) In the meantime, I think I'll bore you with yet more diving stories! In preparation for the three adventure dives at Capernwray next weekend, the last three needed to complete the Advanced Open Water Diver certification, Pygmie and I went up to Tiger Dive in Sheffield for a dry suit orientation course. It may be that we were spoiled by going to Emperor Divers in Sharm el Sheikh as they have now set the standard by which all other dive training centres are going to be measured.  Our experience with Emperor was so good that the apparent mayhem at Tiger was something of a disappointment. It probably didn't help that the seven open water learners were not booked in to hire the full kit, so there was something of a ...

So, after just four days, Pygmie and I had succeeded in becoming PADI-certified open water recreational divers! How cool?!?! No more Mr Nerd Guy for me!! I always thought it would be a whole lot harder to learn to dive than it actually was ... probably not helped by the doc who checked us out, giving us the horror stories about asthmatics and our exploding lungs. However, with the full course completed and an excursion dive under our belts, we were buzzing and ready to take on more. Admittedly, it had always been Pygmie's plan to spend the last day diving, but it wasn't until we were doing the course that we realised the option of doing a couple of adventure dives to go towards the Advanced Open Water Diver certification. The advantage of going for the advanced cert is that we can then go down to 30 metres rather than the Open Water Diver limit of 18 metres. Not that I'm complaining about 18 metres, that's a bloody long way down as far as I'm concerned! Advent...

Dive Course: Day 1 So, all tucked in to the hotel and rested, first thing Monday Pygmie and I made our way out to Emperor Divers which was conveniently located directly next to the hotel ... though in my case it was more yoyo-ing my way to the dive centre as I forgot my medical form, which meant hiking back across the vast hotel plot to my room only to find that I had left the key to my suitcase in the bag I had left with my cousin back at Emperor: cue much sweating before the day had even started. Not that I was panicking and not thinking straight!! Thankfully, they were in the process of organising dive trips and our instructor hadn't shown his face yet, so we just sat and took in what was going on for the next fifteen minutes or so. Then up popped our instructor, right hand with a swab stuck to it covering stitches and introduced himself as Walid. First things first, we were despatched off to the equipment shed where we got ourselves kitted out with wetsuit, boots, BCD , face ...

I have to confess that since I arrived back from Egypt I haven't been particularly inclined to post any entries, hence the last couple of rather half-arsed posts! So, I guess its about time to update you on the rather excellent time I had out there :-) The whole purpose of the break was for my cousin and I to gain the PADI Open Water Diver certification, something that - at that time - I wasn't particularly interested in doing, but it was a break from work so why not?! He had hoped to achieve his certification whilst on his honeymoon in the Maldives but despite numerous questions about what he would need, they neglected to inform him that he needed a medical because of his asthma.  Normally, this would not have been a problem as they have a doc out there.  Unfortunately for my cousin, the doc went on holiday the same day he landed in Kuredu! Talk about bad timing. So Egypt became the target with yours truly chosen as the buddy and accompanied by my cousin's wife and her fri...

... that owls are the only bird that can see the colour blue? According to one of the radio stations I hopped into on my journey to visit family this weekend, this is an alledged fact.  How do they know this?  Did they hold up a series of cards of different colours and ask it what colour it was? Red card: "ooooooh" Yellow card: "oooh" Blue card: "bloo-hooo" *whistles nonchalantly* Aaaanyhoo, I just thought I would say a fond farewell to thee my merry readers, for tomorrow I am off to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt to get my PADI cert, and this is the last chance I will have to post for a while. After the palaver with getting the underwater housing for the camera, I can now confirm that I have one in my sweaty palms so, hopefully, I will come back with some half-decent shots of some Red Sea wildlife to share with you :-) In the meantime, let me leave you with a smile and the next episode of Simon's Cat... Laters!!