Hard Luck

We improved again at the pub quiz on Monday from last week's 'mediocrity' to 'hard luck'. We still came 5th out of 7 though but were only 10 points off the prizes and 20 off the winners. This included 18/20 in the theme round and a record 31/31 in the music round helped (but only on a few) by a friend of Kate's mum who knows his music. JJ and I would have not come last had no-one else turned up as we would have got 33 between us (just).

I went to see Huddersfield play Sheffield Wednesday with David last night. There was a season record crowd there beating the previous record against Bradford by 11 and Town deservedly won 1-0. Steve Bruce's son was booed with every touch and cheered when he got sent off just before half time. He has to go down as Huddersfield's worst manager in living memory and this was clearly not forgotten by the home fans even though it is now 5 years since he pressed the self-destruct button and took us from automatic promotion place to the Premiership relegation to Division 2 (now League 1) in less than a year. We're on the way back now though! England also won tonight in unspectacular fashion beating Azerbaijan 2-0.

Sliding Doors, Unknown Band

Last night I watched Sliding Doors for the first time since I saw it at the cinema 7 years ago. I followed it past the first 20 minutes this time though and quite enjoyed it even though I couldn't relate any of the story at all to my own life which I like to do sometimes with films.

I went out into Halifax on Friday night to see a band with JJ, Sarah, and Kate (who knows someone in the band. I don't know the name of the band yet but I'll post it when I do find out. We got a free CD just for giving them our e-mail addresses (they weren't all that good though so they only got the one I check once a week). We then went to pubs but as it was Good Friday, they closed early so we went to Jumpin Jaks and stayed until late. It was a nice night out but felt like there was something missing.

England won, Huddersfield won, Bradford lost so it was a good weekend for football. Special mention to Town ending their run of 7 successive away defeats - nice one. I'm going on Tuesday to see Town play Sheffield Wednesday which should be a good match. I had a bit of trouble convincing the lady in the ticket office that I wasn't a Sheffield fan ut Ithink she believed me in the end. Must be something to do with me looking like a football hooligan (or not).

The Hour That Time Forgot

Clocks went forward less than an hour ago making it an hour later than normal. Last night I was leaving town around this time and it was just before 2:00am and now it's just before 3:00am. This makes up for the double hour we had about six months ago I suppose. I've just watched a 100 minute film which lasted 160 minutes though. It's a weird feeling. Anyway as it's two hours later than it was an hour ago I'd better be getting off to bed.

More Car Revelations

I've had my car 21 months now and last week, I worked out how to unlock both the driver side door and the passenger side door without using the key (or magic). A double press of the button on the door with the key in the pocket and hey presto, a passenger can enter the vehicle without me having to unlock the door from the inside.

A car round the corner from my street has a lump in the roof as if someone has been punching the glass in the sunroof but the car does not have a sunroof so has a lump instead.

It's been a Good Friday off work (pun intended) but I did have to wash my mum's car which was a bit of a chore on my day off. I think i'm going out tonight to see a band. I know very little about what's happening but it might be good. I'm sure readers will know in my next post.

Mediocrity

At the pub quiz on Monday night our team (Bill, Sarah, Kate, JJ and I) were described as mediocre which is quite an achievement given our normal performance. We were generally average throughout but maybe slightly better in the theme round (compass directions) and maybe slightly worse in the picture round as usual. It was a nice evening though.

I got a new computer at work on Monday which was always planned but was especially necessary as my old one died on before it's anticipated last day of use :-( Still it won't be missed as this one is over 25 times faster and the TFT monitor is far clearer and larger than the other one and doesn't have a scratch 2 inches long in the middle!

There's more 'interesting' car news to come in the next post for those that don't already know! Bet you can't wait. Lucky readers!

Ghost World and Mr Motivator

Last night JJ and I went round to Kate's for pizza and after lots and lots of deliberation decided to rent out Ghost World. It was a decent film and I'd probably rate it 7/10 but can't be bothered going inot itapart from I didn't feel any sympathy for Enid at all. Kate also bought a Mr Motivator video as part of a 3 for £3 deal.

On Friday after we'd received shock news earlier in the week about a former colleague, Rob and I went round Halifax which was a good night. I got recognised by someone saying I was from Sowerby Bridge High School but as i didn't go there it was no surprise I didn't recognise him. We also saw a couple of Rob's friends, one of which said I was "sweet". She's married.

Anyway, I'll finish with statements from Derrick Evams himself, "Don't die before you are dead. So get up and live. The price of success is perseverance - MOTIVATE YOURSELF" Maybe we should all take this advice to heart - while it's difficult to take him seriously when looking at him (reminded us of Howard from The Halifax adverts) he does seem to come up with some good points.

Camera Concern

Yesterday on my way home from work, I stopped at a set of traffic lights with no-one behind me with two fulllanes of traffic to the left of me. The lights had just turned red and then I saw an ambulance in my mirror hurtling towards me. My natural instictive reaction was to pull forward and let the ambulance through, however as I pulled forward I suddenly remembered the camera on the lights to stop people jumping them. With the flashing lights of the ambulance, i'm not sure if the camera flashed but if it had any film in it should have flashed when I went through and when the ambulance went through. I did stop before the junction but within sight of the camera so hopefully I won't get a fine. If I do I will appeal but any advice on the subject would be most welcome.

My brother beat me 3-1 at snooker tonight. I missed an easy pink to level it and he potted a long black to desrvedly win the night.

Neighbours Game, Bowling

I went bowling with BADCASS on Thursday night and while it was a quite disappointing turnout with only 2 Bradford firms attending, it was still good fun. I beat everyone I used to work with which was a major improvement on my last performance but it wasn't that impressive as I was the only one on our lane to get over 100. Came 5th in the second game as frustration set in but 104 and 73 isn't bad compared with 74 and 73 last time. I also beatthe male champion for the night in the first game which was quite pleasing.

I just went on the BBC Neighbours website to find out more about the big fire. There's a very funny game on it called Harold's Food Frenzy. You have to serve people coming into the coffee shop quickly and if you don't, you lose a life. If you lose all three lives then the coffee shop blows up. It also features real Harold sound effects! This got me thinking of other funny internet games I've liked in the past. Sadly it seems Fling The Cow is no longer operating. The high scores table doesn't work on the other one but it is funny for a while, especially the commentary (though perhaps not recommended if you're listening in a busy office). Just like horse racing, Arse Race lets you bet on the outcome of races by studying the form. Hope you have fun with these.

Super Chelsea (Just)

Tonight Chelsea were cruising at 3-0 up after 20 minutes against Barcelona (4-2 on aggregate) but then the opposition hit back to lead on away goals. A John Terry 76th minute winner sealed it for Chelsea who showed enough class even though they were outplayed for much of the game. The final result 5-4 on aggregate. Man Utd went out losing 2-0 on aggregate to AC Milan but this was great compared with Werder Bremen's 10-2 aggregate defeat to Lyon though i'm sure that's no consolation to United fans.

In my news, I went to play snooker last night with my brother and after a diabolical start I pulled back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, remaining unbeaten in erm 3 matches this year (July 2004 - June 2005). Perhaps I should use my membership more often. I'm going bowling again with old work and BADCASS on Thursday hoping to improve on last time.

No-one seems to be reading this anymore :-( Still it's nice for me to look back on even if no-one else is interested.

Double Derby Disaster

Bradford City beat Huddersfield Town for the second time in the league this season yesterday, 2-0 being the score. This is the first time since October that City have won at home and the first time since 1922 they have done the league double over Town. Town have now lost their last six away games which is very frustrating as mid table obscurity now seems a certainty even with a third of the season still to go. Better than relegation though and spare a thought for Hartlepool who lost 6-4 at home to troubled Wrexham. Must've been a good game to watch.

Just as I was getting close to the prizes in the mini league of Dream Team Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick which puts me well behind again. Not been a good weekend for football on the whole. However I did bet on Giancarlo Fisichella to win the Grand Prix which pocketed me around £20 to cheer me up a little. Always best to watch the race live even if it does start at 3am!

CASSH Dinner 2005

Last night was the Huddersfield Chartered Accountants Student Society annual dinner. It was held at Huddersfield University in a compact room but still nice with more than enough space. I felt it was very well organised on the whole however I wasn't really keen on the food (except the chocolate mousse) and the bar was just a table with drinks on but this didn't really make much difference.

Special mention must go to my fellow Bradford committee member who, not for the first time danced to the whole of The Cha Cha Slide. Again the DJ played his extra long version which went on for around 8 minutes until he finally stopped dancing (he was by himself for the duration!) and then informed him that he had been remixing parts of it!

We left about 11:00 to go to Livingstones night club and after a drink in there most of us went to Ethos and Visage. Lots seemed to be drunk and I found myself talking to quite a lot of people, even some who I didn't know. I left before the end though as Australian Grand Prix qualifying was on.

On the whole it was a good night and nice to see David again too.