Happy Birthday to Me!

I'd just like to say a big thank-you to everyone for all the cards and presents for my birthday. I'll still accept them if you haven't sent any already! We had a really good night at D-Tapas in Chelmsford last night, and it was really good to see everyone again.

It's still quite strange to see the number 30 on all the cards. I'm not sure I'm ready for all that grown-up business! Still, I'm sure I'll get over it.

Three Nights in Lyon and the Great Question of Karmic Balance...

So there we were, at half past six in the morning in Terminal 2 of Heathrow, having got up at stupid o'clock to get there. I needed some credit for my mobile, so I went into Boots to get a e-top up thingy for £20. The girls swiped the card and then my debit card. She gave me my receipt and I walked off while The Wife got credit for her phone. And then she said that my credit hadn't gone through, so she gave me back £20 in cash, and to try again later. The Wife got her credit without problem, so we went off to check in. And then I checked my balance and found the credit had gone through. So then you're faced with the big dilemma aren't you? Do you fess up, or do you just slink off and hope no-one realises? Well, as you can imagine, we scarpered off through check-in!

Lyon is gorgeous (once we'd worked out where the hotel was - it comes in handy that The Wife is fluent in French, and likes talking to Gendarmes...). I might upload some of the pictures I took if I can do it easily... BTW Photoshop Elements Panorama generator is pretty darn cool...

The food in Lyon is... unique. For some reason, they seem to like eating the parts of animals that other people think are best left to the actual animal - ie. internal organs, heads, feet... One night we decided to try some of the more palateable stuff. I had snails to start - they're not actually bad. All I could really taste was garlic and parsley. And then I had this sausage thing called andouiette, which is made up from suspect bits of pork, and tastes pretty good, once you get past the smell when you cut into it... Boiled cabbage, or something a touch more... flatulent. Still, it's all covered in a delicious creamy mustard sauce, and we ate like pigs.

We also discovered the delights of kirs - creme de cassis and white wine. So, as you can imagine, we HAD to buy a bottle of cassis to bring home. And the karmic balance of the universe swung our way again. The cassis cost about 12 euro (still keep calling them francs, but then so did most of the people in Lyon. I suppose we'd still say 5 quid if we had to join the euro-zone), and we paid with a 20 euro note... and then got about 12 euros change. Wahay!

It rained all day on the Sunday, and snowed on the Monday, so I suppose the karmic balance swung back the other way. Oh well, you can't have it all!

Thoughts on Turning Thirty

Yes, it's true. The big 3-0 approaches in less than three weeks. I can't say I'm that bothered, I just can't believe I've been on the planet that long! I mean, I kind of thought I'd have everything sorted by the time I was thirty, and I now feel that I've only just got started. Still, I've always felt that my life would get on the right track in my thirties, that I wasn't really cut out to be a teenager or a twentysomething, so I'll have to wait and see!

Everyone keeps asking me what I want, but I haven't really got a clue. I'm hoping to start an iPod fund (I'll settle for a mini), but I think people want to buy me a "proper" present. And then they get annoyed when I can't tell them what I want. I've vaguely said that I want some "art", but don't really know what that means. Some big framed movie posters would be cool - like old French movies, or classic Sci-Fi - Metropolis would be excellent. I'd also like weird sculpture-type things. I suppose art is a bit of a unique taste thing so I'm not really surprised people don't know what to get me. I've got a wish-list on Amazon.co.uk, so if you really want to get me something, you might get some ideas there.

Went to see Bird with a Pearl Necklace this weekend. Oh, wait, that's not the title, is it? (Though there'll hopefully be the porno version out soon!) Well, I'd been hogging the cinema choices recently (2 lots of The Matrix and LOTR:ROTK) and The Wife was getting a bit miffed. She'd read the book last year and loved it, and Colin "Britches" Firth was in it, so I agreed to go with her (not because Mr. Firth was in it, but in the spirit of marital harmony).

So anyway, I thought it was pretty good. It looked fantastic, and Scarlett Johansson was fabulous (and damn good looking too). I felt that it could have been a bit more erotic, but The Wife said that I was wrong. And I probably was. I just felt the sexual tension could have been more... tense. And will someone tell me what else Cillian Murphy has been in?

The New and Improved kinkyMachine

Look, one day I will stop arseing around with the design and actually write something. Just not today.

And yes, I do know this Blog isn't formatted the same as the rest of the site. I'm working on it.

It's just that I've nearly finished Ratchet and Clank. I highly recommend it to you if you are in posession of a PS2. It is so choice.