Odd Thomas Odd Blog

Thanks to my good friend Tink* - who realised I'm as much of a food fan as she is - I have very much been looking forward to the BBC Good Food Show today ... and I have not been disappointed! It is very rare that I get excited about things any more, but I was like a kid in a sweet shop as soon as we arrived and made several purchases within the first half hour. In fact, I was so hyper when I got there that I succeeded in bursting a tomato from the first free taster, down my top and over my bag within the first five minutes**. Pillock. The only downside to buying everything so early on was then having to carry it all around for the rest of the visit: they did have a drop-in section - much like a cloakroom for food - but it was £1 per drop which would have widened the hole in the pocket fairly quickly with everything we bought between us! Here's a quick pic of all the stuff I finally arrived home with earlier today: Okay, it doesn't look like a great deal here, but treble ...

So, I guess I didn't quite get back into blogging mode then! Ah well, to be honest, there's not a great deal to report anyway. I've been at the new job for nearly two months now and hoping that there's even the faintest glimmer of a possibility that I can get back into development work. So far, I've just been pushing paper and any dev work has been cancelled as the customer has realised that they are going to have to pay for it: good for making them think about what they want but bad for me in this job role :-( Mind you, there are certain perks working with the rest of the guys and gals transferred from the support desk, working alongside the highly talented DJ Flip-U (who is the best wind-up merchant here) and the naturally comedic KitKat who has an affinity for headbutting waste bins (don't ask!) and, according to her Facebook status, loves both cock and rug!! Good times :-) Whilst I'm at it, I think I'll also take this opportunity to plug my cousin...

Holy cow, two posts within a week ... this could almost be habit forming!! Actually, its probably not a bad idea to start getting back into the habit of posting considering some of the ideas I've been having recently... With several friends all now looking at round-the-world trips, its gotten my little brain ticking over about something I considered a lot a number of years ago ... cycling the world! Okay, you can stop laughing now. Please. I know, I am 100% dreamer and 0% adventurer, but what's the harm in looking into it?? With the level of work I have to do at the moment, there really isn't a great deal of point my being here, especially as I am off to spend a day next week with another team so I can transfer my job knowledge to them. Was the promise of working on a mega-project for real or was it a line to tempt me? Who knows!!! Anyway, from what I have managed to find, there are actually a fair few people that have been doing this for a long time, such as these guys ...

Its hard to believe how long it has been since I last posted an entry here - okay, that might actually have been a good thing considering everything that has been happening!! This past year has been one of the busiest and most eventful in a while: a bit of an emotional rollercoaster I wish I'd put a seatbelt on for and certainly something I wish I had managed to blog about before now. As a very brief summary - which does not do justice to the experiences themselves - we have... Said our final farewells to family and friends as they move to the great beyond Had lots of illness and a variety of operations between family and friends Upgraded my Focus LX to a Mazda 3 Sport (lush!) Felt bullied by my boss Transferred employer under TUPE regulations Seen close friends split and come back together Celebrated several weddings/partnerships Put up with abuse from idiot kids * Appeared in two more plays with a third due at the end of this month ** Realised the parents are getting on a bit as ...

Have you ever wondered what a cross between Simon Pegg's Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy, Run would produce? No, me neither, but today I discovered what the result could look like as RoadRunner* kindly pointed out that the pics are in on the Great Run website, so now the world and his mum can see the full horror for themselves! Number seven says it all really... * Unfortunately, RoadRunner has stopped blogging, but you can still check out her pics with race number 35018 ;-)

Well, the curtain has been called and the set dismantled for another three-and-a-half months as our production of "A Murder is Announced" closes with a record audience number of around 130!! Henderson Hall is not a particularly large place and we generally have a maximum audience of 100, but due to so many advanced bookings for the Friday and Saturday nights, we had to put a couple of extra rows out.  Everyone has been astounded :-) I think it is safe to say that everyone felt Saturday night's performance was bugged by a few little gremlins, but everyone took it in their strides and the feedback from the audience was that it was a very enjoyable production, so smiles all round! As a way of saying thanks to the cast and crew, the producer managed to sneak some little gifts up to the dressing room for when the play closed and we all piled in full of the highs of a complete production ... I now have my very own Oscar!  LOL My first ... and final ... 'Oscar'!! Some o...

Whoever coined the phrase "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" wasn't far wrong! No sooner am I back from the Great North Run than I am straight into final rehearsals for the next production by the Centralian Players , "A Murder is Announced", a fifty-year celebration for one of the group's members. Fifty years! That's a long time to dedicate to a hobby - I usually get bored after just a couple! :-) After three days of technical rehearsals that ranged from absolute disaster* to pretty good run-through, we finally opened last night and that's when the nerves finally hit. Its fine when its just the group of you that learned the script together, but add an audience to the mix and my stomache suddenly starts somersaulting like a clumsy trapeze artist. In fact, its starting its little routine again as I sit here typing this! Andrex is making a mint out or me right now. * Tuesday's technical rehearsal was the worst to date. That said, I have...